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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSS%20%28operating%20system%29

TSS (operating system)

The IBM Time Sharing System TSS/360 is a discontinued early time-sharing operating system designed exclusively for a special model of the System/360 line of mainframes, the Model 67. Made available on a trial basis to a limited set of customers in 1967, it was never officially released as a supported product by IBM. TSS pioneered a number of novel features, some of which later appeared in more popular systems such as MVS. TSS was migrated to System/370 and 303x systems, but despite its many advances and novel capabilities, TSS failed to meet expectations and was eventually canceled. TSS/370 was used as the basis for a port of UNIX to the IBM mainframe. TSS/360 also inspired the development of the TSS-8 operating system. Novel characteristics TSS/360 was one of the first implementations of tightly-coupled symmetric multiprocessing. A pair of Model 67 mainframes shared a common physical memory space, and ran a single copy of the kernel (and application) code. An I/O operation launched by one processor could end and cause an interrupt in the other. The Model 67 used a standard 360 instruction called Test and Set to implement locks on code critical sections. It also implemented virtual memory and virtual machines using position-independent code. TSS/360 included an early implementation of a "Table Driven Scheduler" a user-configured table whose columns were parameters such as current priority, working set size, and number of timeslices used to date. The kernel would refer to this table when calculating the new priority of a thread. This later appeared in systems as diverse as Honeywell CP-V and IBM z/OS. As was standard with operating system software at the time, TSS/360 customers (such as General Motors Research Laboratories) were given full access to the entire source of the operating system code and development tools. User-developed improvements and patches were frequently incorporated into the official source code. User interface TSS provides users a command-line interface. Users interact with the command system. The command format consists of Command_Name[ operands]. The command name is one to eight characters without imbedded blanks. The operands are optional depending on the command, and must be separated from the command name by at least one blank. Multiple operands should be separated by TAB characters or commas. Command lines can be continued by typing a hyphen ("-") at the end of the line to be continued and typing the continuation at the beginning of the next line. Multiple commands can be written on a line by separating them with semicolons (";"). Comments are allowed in command lines, separated from the command with a semicolon and included in single quotes ("'"). Operands can be either positional or keyword, with the format "keyword=value". System commands are divided into seven categories: Task management – LOGON, LOGOFF, ABEND, etc. Data management – CATALOG, DDEF, DELETE, etc. Program management – LOAD, DUMP, DISPLAY, TRAP, etc. Command creation – PROCDEF, BUILTIN Message handling User profile – SYNONYM, DEFAULT, PROFILE, etc. Program product language interface – ASM (Assembler (F)), COBOL, HASM (Assembler (H)), PLI (PL/I (F)), PLIOPT (PL/I Optimizing Compiler), FTNH (FORTRAN (H)), etc. Position-independent code TSS provided an early implementation of position-independent code, the ability to have different processes run a single copy of an executable possibly mapped to a different virtual addresses in each process. Each procedure may have a read-only public CSECT, a writable private Prototype Section (PSECT) and a writable save area, typically located in the PSECT. Address constants of external procedures and entry points must be located in the PSECT, since the dynamic loader will not place a routine at the same virtual address in every process. A program that follows Type I linkage conventions is generally responsible at entry for saving its registers in the save area pointed to by register 13, retrieving the address of its PSECT from word 19 of the save area, chaining the save area to a new save area and putting the address of the new save area in register 13. A caller that follows Type I linkage conventions loads a V-constant for the routine into General Register 15 (GR15) and copies an R-constant for the routine's PSECT into the 19th word of the save area pointed to be GR13 prior to calling that routines. When the dynamic loader loads a program, it makes a copy of the PSECT and relocates the adcons to reflect the virtual addresses assigned within the current process, therefore each user of the program has a unique copy of the PSECT. The Dynamic Loader does not load program pages or resolve address constants until the first page fault. Criticism TSS/360 suffered from performance and reliability problems and lack of compatibility with OS/360, although those issues were eventually addressed. IBM attempted to develop TSS on a very aggressive schedule with a large staff of programmers to compete with Multics. By 1967, it had become evident that TSS/360 was suffering from the same kinds of delays as OS/360. In February 1968, at the time of SHARE 30, there were eighteen S/360-67 sites attempting to run TSS. During the conference, IBM announced via "blue letter" that TSS/360 was being decommitted a great blow to the time-sharing community. This decision was temporarily reversed, and TSS/360 was not officially canceled until 1971. However, TSS/360 continued to be quietly available for a time to existing TSS/360 customers, as an interim measure. After TSS/360 was canceled, IBM put its primary efforts into the Time Sharing Option (TSO), a time-sharing monitor for OS/360. Several other groups developed less ambitious, more successful time sharing systems for the S/360-67, notably CP-67 at IBM's Cambridge Scientific Center, an early virtual machine monitor which evolved into VM/370, MTS at the University of Michigan, and ORVYL at Stanford University. IBM also provided the TSS/370 PRPQ as a migration path for existing TSS/360 customers, which went through multiple releases. See also History of IBM mainframe operating systems Time-sharing system evolution History of operating systems Timeline of operating systems References Further reading Describes the origin and schedule problems of TSS. Describes the "second system syndrome" that affected TSS. External links Public domain software archive, includes TSS/370 source and binary archives TSS/360 manual archive at BitSavers.org, contains PDFs for a large number of TSS manuals from IBM IBM mainframe operating systems Time-sharing operating systems Discontinued operating systems 1967 software Computer-related introductions in 1967 Assembly language software

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore%2064%20peripherals

Commodore 64 peripherals

This article is about the various external peripherals of the Commodore 64 home computer. Due to the backwards compatibility of the Commodore 128, most peripherals will work on that system, as well. There's some compatibility with the VIC-20 and PET too. Storage Tape drives In the United States, the 1541 floppy disk drive was widespread. By contrast, in Europe, the C64 was often used with cassette tape drives (Datasette), which were much cheaper, but also much slower than floppy drives. The Datasette plugged into a proprietary edge connector on the Commodore 64's motherboard. Standard blank audio cassettes could be used in this drive. Data tapes could be write-protected in the same way as audio cassettes, by punching out a tab on the cassette's top edge. An adapter for the proprietary connector was available from CARDCO It was assigned as device 1 (default). The Datasette's speed was very slow (about 300 baud). Loading a large program at normal speed could take up to in extreme cases. Many European software developers wrote their own fast tape-loaders which replaced the internal KERNAL code in the C64 and offered loading times more comparable to disk drive speeds. Novaload was perhaps the most popular tape-loader used by British and American software developers. Early versions of Novaload had the ability to play music while a program loaded into memory, and was easily recognizable by its black border and digital bleeping sounds on loading. Other fast-loaders included load screens, displaying computer artwork while the program loaded. More advanced fast-loaders included minigames for the user to play while the program loaded from cassette. One such minigame fastloader was Invade-a-Load. Users also had to contend with interference from magnetic fields. Also, not too dissimilar to floppy drive users, the Datasette's read head could become dirty or slip out of alignment. A small screwdriver could be used to align the tape heads, and a few companies capitalized by selling various commercial kits for Datasette head-alignment tuning. As the Datasette lacked any random read-write access, users had to either wait while the tape ran its length, while the computer printed messages like "SEARCHING FOR ALIEN BOXING... FOUND AFO... FOUND SPACE INVADERS... FOUND PAC-MAN... FOUND ALIEN BOXING... LOADING..." or else rely on a tape counter number to find the starting location of programs on cassette. Tape counter speeds varied over different datasette units making recorded counter numbers unreliable on different hardware. An optional streaming tape drive, based upon the QIC-02 format, was available for the Xetec Lt. Kernal hard drive subsystem (see below). They were expensive and few were ever sold. A similar concept to the ZX Microdrive was the extremely fast "Phonemark 8500 Quick Data Drive" which has capacity using a micro-cassette storage unit and used the C2N Datasette. The concept eventually succumbed to floppy drives. The Quick Data Drive (QDD) connected to the datassette port of the Commodore 64 and could load data at which is faster than the C1541 floppy drive. It needed a small program code to be loaded in the memory at 0xC000-0xCFFF which collided with many other programs. The cost for the drive would have been equivalent to 100 EUR in 2010. It could also be daisy chained and worked with the VIC-20 computer as well. The QDD could hold 255 files per "disc". The Rotronics Wafadrive used same drive mechanism, manufactured by BSR. Backup to VHS tapes were offered by DC Electronics with their cartridge WHIZZARD in 1988. Which could handle and included "freezer" capabilities. Floppy disk drives Although usually not supplied with the machine, floppy disk drives of the 5 inch (1541, 1570 and 1571) and, later, 3 inch (1581) variety were available from Commodore. The 1541 was the standard floppy disk drive for the Commodore 64, with nearly all disk-based software programs released for the computer being distributed in the 1541 compatible floppy disk format. The 1541 was very slow in loading programs because of a poorly implemented serial bus, a legacy of the Commodore VIC-20. The 1541 disk drive was notorious for not only its slow performance and large physical size compared to the C64 (the drive is almost as deep as the computer is wide), but also for the drive mechanisms installed during early production runs, which quickly gained a bad reputation for their mechanical unreliability. Perhaps the most common failure involved the drive's read-write head mechanism losing its alignment. Due to lack of hardware support for detecting track zero position, Commodore DOS formatting routines and many complex software copy-protection schemes (which used data stored on nonstandard tracks on floppies) had to rely on moving the head specified number of steps in order to make sure that the desired head position for formatting or reading the data was reached. Since after physically reaching track zero, further movement attempts caused the head drive mechanism to slam (producing the infamous, loud, telltale knocking sound) into a mechanical stop, the repetitive strain often drove the head mechanism out of precise alignment, resulting in read errors and necessitating repairs. As a side note: some demos exploited the sound generated by the head moving stepper motor to force the disk drive to play crude tunes ("Bicycle Built For Two" was one) by varying the frequency of step requests sent to the motor. Also, as with the C64, 1541 drives tended to overheat due to a design that did not permit adequate cooling (potentially fixed by mounting a small fan to the case). Many of the 1541's design problems were eventually rectified in Commodore's 1541-II disk drive, which was compatible with the older units. The power supply unit was not housed inside the drive case; hence, the 1541-II size was significantly smaller and did not overheat. Because of the drive's initial high cost (about as much as the computer itself) and target market of home computer users, BASIC's file commands defaulted to the tape drive (device 1). In order to load a file from a commercial disk, the following command must be entered: LOAD "*",8,1 In this example, '' designates the last program loaded, or the first program on the disk, '' is the disk drive device number, and the '' signifies that the file is to be loaded not to the standard memory address for BASIC programs, but to the address where its program header tells it to go—the address it was saved from. This last '' usually signifies a machine language program. Not long after the 1541's introduction, third-party developers demonstrated that performance could be improved with software that took over control of the serial bus signal lines and implemented a better transfer protocol between the computer and disk. In 1984 Epyx released its FastLoad cartridge for the C64, which replaced some of the 1541's slow routines with its own custom code, thus allowing users to load programs in a fraction of the time. Despite being incompatible with many programs' copy protection schemes, the cartridge became so popular among grateful C64 owners (likely the most-widespread third-party enhancement for the C64 of all time) that many Commodore dealers sold the Epyx cartridge as a standard item when selling a new C64 with the 1541. As a free alternative to FastLoad cartridges, numerous pure software turbo-loader programs were also created that were loaded to RAM each time after the computer was reset. The best of these turbo-loaders were able to accelerate the time required for loading a program from the floppy drive by a factor of 20x, demonstrating the default bus implementation's inadequacy. As turbo-loader programs were relatively small, it was common to place one on almost each floppy disk so that it could be quickly loaded to RAM after restart. The 1541 floppy drive contained a MOS 6502 processor acting as the drive controller, along with a built-in disk operating system (DOS) in ROM and a small amount of RAM, the latter primarily used for buffer space. Since this arrangement was, in effect, a specialized computer, it was possible to write custom controller routines and load them into the drive's RAM, thus making the drive work independently of the C64 machine. For example, certain back up software allowed users to make multiple disk copies directly between daisy-chained drives without a C64. Several third party vendors sold general purpose interface IEEE-488 bus adapters for the C64, which plugged into the machine's expansion port. Outside of BBS operators, few C64 owners took advantage of this arrangement and the accompanying IEEE devices that Commodore sold (such as the SFD-1001 1-megabyte 5 inch floppy disk drive, and the peripherals originally made for the IEEE equipped PET computers, such as the 4040 and 8050 drives and the 9060/9090 hard disk drives). As an alternative to the feeble performing 1541 or the relatively expensive IEEE bus adapter and associated peripherals, a number of third-party serial-bus drives such as the MSD Super Disk and Indus GT appeared that often offered better reliability, higher performance, quieter operation, or simply a lower price than the 1541, although often at the expense of software compatibility due to the difficulty of reverse engineering the DOS built into the 1541's hardware (Commodore's IEEE-based drives faced the same issue due to the dependence of the DOS on features of the Commodore serial bus). Like the IEEE-488 interface, the CBM-bus offered the ability to daisy chain hardware together. This led to Commodore producing (via a third party) the Commodore 4015, or VIC-switch. This device (now rarely seen) allowed up to 8 Commodore 64s to be connected to the device along with a string of peripherals, allowing each computer to share the connected hardware. It was also possible, without requiring a VIC-switch, to connect two Commodore 64s to one 1541 floppy disk drive to simulate an elementary network, allowing the two computers to share data on a single disk (if the two computers made simultaneous requests, the 1541 handled one while returning an error to the other, which surprised many people who expected the 1541's less-than-stellar drive controller to crash or hang). This functionality also worked with a mixed combination of PET, VIC-20, and other selected Commodore 8-bit computers. In the mid-1980s, a 2.8-inch floppy disk drive, the Triton Disk Drive and Controller, was introduced by Radofin Electronics, Ltd. It was compatible with the Commodore 64 as well as other popular home computers of the time, thanks to an operating system stored on an EPROM on an external controller. It offered a capacity of 144/100 kilobytes non-formatted/formatted, and data transfer rates of up to 100 kilobytes per second. Up to 20 files could be kept on each side of the double-sided floppy disks. Later in the 1990s, Creative Micro Designs produced several powerful floppy disk drives for the Commodore 64. These included the FD-Series serial bus compatible 3.5″ floppy drives (FD-2000, FD-4000), which were capable of emulating Commodore's 1581 3.5″ drive as well as implementing a native mode partitioning which allowed typical 3.5″ high-density floppy disks to hold 1.6 MB of data—more than MS-DOS's 1.44 MB format. The FD-4000 drive had the advantage of being able to read hard-to-find enhanced floppy disks and could be formatted to hold 3.2 MB of data. In addition, the FD series drives could partition floppy disks to emulate the 1541, 1571 and 1581 disk format (although unfortunately, not the emulated drive firmware), and a real time clock module could be mounted inside the drive to time-stamp files. Commercially, very little software was ever released on either 1581 disk format or CMD's native format. However, enthusiasts could use this drive to transfer data between typical PC MS-DOS and the Commodore with special software, such as SOGWAP's Big Blue Reader. There was one other 3.5″ floppy drive available for the Commodore 64. The "TIB 001" was a 3.5″ floppy drive that connected to the Commodore 64 via the expansion port, meaning that these drives were very fast. The floppy disks themselves relied on an MS-DOS disk format, and being based on cartridge allowed the Commodore 64 to boot from them automatically at start-up. These devices appeared from a company in the United Kingdom, but did not become widespread due to non-existent third-party support. In an article in Zzap!64 of November 1991, several software houses interviewed believed that the device came to the market too late to be worthy of supporting. Hard drives Late in 1984, Fiscal Information Inc., of Florida, demonstrated the Lt. Kernal hard drive subsystem for the C64. The Lt. Kernal mated a 10 megabyte Seagate ST-412 hard drive to an OMTI SASI intelligent controller, creating a high speed bus interface to the C64's expansion port. Connection of the SASI bus to the C64 was accomplished with a custom designed host adapter. The Lt. Kernal shipped with a disk operation system (DOS) that, among other things, allowed execution of a program by simply typing its name and pressing the Return key. The DOS also included a keyed random access feature that made it possible for a skilled programmer to implement ISAM style databases. By 1987, the manufacturing and distribution of the Lt. Kernal had been turned over to Xetec, Inc., who also introduced C128 compatibility (including support for CP/M). Standard drive size had been increased to 20 MB, with 40 MB available as an option, and the system bus was now the industry-standard small computer system interface, better known as SCSI (the direct descendant of SASI). The Lt. Kernal was capable of a data transfer rate of over per second (65 kB per second in C128 fast mode). An optional multiplexer allowed one Lt. Kernal drive to be shared by as many as sixteen C64s or C128s (in any combination), using a round-robin scheduling algorithm that took advantage of the SCSI bus protocol's ability to handle multiple initiators and targets. Thus the Lt. Kernal could be conveniently used in a multi-computer setup, something that was not possible with other C64-compatible hard drives. Production of the Lt. Kernal ceased in 1991. Fortunately, most of the components used in the original design were industry standard parts, making it possible to make limited repairs to the units. In 2010, a re-creation of the Lt. Kernal was produced by MyTec Electronics. It was called the Rear Admiral HyperDrive and used an upgraded DOS called RA-DOS. The Rear Admiral parts could be used to upgrade the older Lt. Kernal, e.g. chips from the Rear Admiral host adapter could be used to upgrade the chips in the Lt. Kernal host adapter; or if the Lt. Kernal is missing its host adapter, the Rear Admiral host adapter could be used in its place. Also available for the Commodore 64 was the Creative Micro Designs CMD HD-Series. Much like the Commodore 1541 floppy drive, the CMD HD could connect to the Commodore 64's serial bus, and could operate independently of the computer with the help of its on-board hardware. A CMD HD series drive included its own SCSI controller to operate its hard drive mechanism, in addition to hosting a battery powered real-time clock module for the time-stamping of files. The stock operating speeds of the CMD HD-Series units were not very much faster than the stock speeds of a 1541 floppy drive, but the units were fully JiffyDOS compatible. Faster parallel transfers were possible with the addition of another CMD product, the CMD RAMLink and a special parallel transfer cable. With this arrangement, the performance of the system doubled that of the Lt. Kernal. One advantage the CMD products had was software compatibility, especially with GEOS, that prior solutions lacked. CMD ultimately missed opportunities to develop any features for the drive's auxiliary port (such as a printer spooler feature promised in the CMD HD user manual). However, external SCSI devices (such as the iOmega zip 100 drive) could be connected to a CMD HD series drive's external SCSI port. Using the same utility software diskette shipped with all CMD HD series drives, the external storage could then be easily added to CMD HD series drive's existing partition table. This configuration could add, for example, 100 additional megabytes of external storage to even the 20 megabyte version of a CMD HD series drive. After partitioning and formatting of the added storage, the CMD HD series drive presented the total storage seamlessly to the user, regardless if the data was stored internally or externally. The ICT DataChief included a hard drive, along with an Indus GT floppy drive, along with a 135-watt power supply in a case designed to house an IBM PC Compatible computer. User operation of these hard drive subsystems was similar to that of Commodore's floppy drives, with the inclusion of special DOS features to make best use of the drive's capabilities and to effectively manage the vast increase in storage capacity (up to a maximum of 4GB). An unavoidable problem was that total 1541 compatibility could not be achieved, which often prevented the use of copy-protected software, software fastloaders, or any software whose operation depended on exact 1541 emulation. The enthusiast-built "IDE64 interface" was designed late in the 1990s, attaching itself in the Commodore 64's expansion port, and allowing users to attach common IDE hard drives, CD-ROM and DVD drives, ZiP and LS-120 floppy drives to their Commodore 64s. Later revisions of the interface board provided an extra compact flash socket. The IDE interface's performance is comparable to the RAMLink in speed, but lacks the intelligence of SCSI. Its main advantage lies in being able to use inexpensive commodity hard drives instead of the more costly SCSI units. 1541 compatibility is not as good as commercially developed hard drive subsystems, but continues to improve with time. In late 2011, MyTec Electronics developed and sold the Rear Admiral Thunderdrive, a clone of the CMD HD. Though using more modern components and a smaller form factor in comparison to the CMD HD, the Thunderdrive maintained full compatibility with the CMD HD. Input/Output Printers A number of printers were released for the Commodore 64, both by Commodore themselves and by third-party manufacturers. Commodore-specific printers were attached to the C64 via the serial port and were capable of being daisy chained to the system with other serial port devices such as floppy drives. By convention, printers were addressed as device #4-5 on the CBM-488 serial bus. Dot-matrix A series of dot-matrix printers were sold by Commodore, including the MPS 801 (OEM Seikosha GP 500 VC) and the MPS 803, although many other third-party printers like the Okimate 10 and Okidata 120 were popular too - some having more advanced printing features than any of Commodore's models. Most Commodore-branded printers were rebranded C. Itoh or Epson models with Commodore serial interface. Also Star Micronics AR-40 has a C64 compatible serial port. Daisy wheel Commodore also produced the DPS-1101 daisy wheel printer, which produced letter quality print similar to a typewriter based on a Juki mechanism, and which typically cost more than the computer and floppy disk drive together. The DPS-1101 was large enough to accept A4 size paper in landscape orientation as well as A3 size paper in portrait orientation. The MPS-1000 dot matrix printer was introduced along with the C-128. Commodore 1526 is a rebranded MPS 802. Plotter A mini plotter device, the Commodore 1520, could plot graphics and print text in four colors by using tiny ballpoint pens. The 1520 was based upon the Alps Electric DPG1302, a mechanism which also formed the basis of numerous other inexpensive plotters for home computers of the time (e.g. the Atari 1020). Third-party printer interfaces and buffers Since there were severe shortcomings of early Commodore printers, CARDCO released the Card Print A (C/?A) printer interface that emulated Commodore printers by converting the Commodore-style CBM-bus IEEE-488 serial interface to a Centronics printer port to allow numerous 3rd-party printers to be connected to a Commodore 64, such as Epson, Okidata, C. Itoh. A second model, a version that supported printer graphics was released called the Card Print +G (C/?+G), supported printing Commodore graphic characters using ESC/P escape codes. CARDCO released additional enhancements, including a model with RS-232 output, and shipped a total over 2 million printer interfaces. Xetec also released a series of printer interfaces. With a parallel interface, the QMS KISS laser printer, the most inexpensive available in 1986, at $1995 (), could be used. Later, CMD created the GeoCable which allowed PS2-type ink-jet and laser printers to work under GEOS with a special device driver. Printer buffer with 64 kB RAM for the CBM-bus IEC IEEE-488 derative serial bus existed too, like the "Brachman Associates Serial Box Print Buffer". Input devices The Commodore 64 has two Atari joystick ports. Commodore produced joystick controllers for the Commodore 64, largely compatible with Atari joysticks, as well as paddles (which were not Atari compatible). Commodore's paddles were originally intended for the VIC-20, and few C64 games could take advantage of them. The "Atari CX85 Numerical Keypad" consists of a numeric keypad featuring the 17 keys [escape], [no], [delete], [yes], 0-9, [.], [-] and [+/enter]. It connects to the C64 joystick port using the Atari 2600 style interface with a DB9F plug. Commodore had three models of computer mouse, namely the NEOS Mouse (Bundled with some packs of C64 as part of the Mouse Cheese pack), the 1350 and the 1351. These were used with GEOS as well as software such as Jane, OCP Art Studio, Arkanoid and Magic Desk. The earlier NEOS mouse worked as a normal analog mouse and came bundled with a graphics package called Cheese. It also supported a joystick emulation mode if the left button was held down during power-on. The later 1350 was only capable of emulating a digital joystick, by sending rapid 8 directional signals as it was moved, and was the least useful of the 3 mice. Its successor the 1351, like the NEOS Mouse, supported the more traditional analogue mode, known as 'proportional mode' in the documentation, sending signals to the computer that indicate amount and direction of movement. Like the NEOS mouse, it could be put into a 1350-esque joystick emulation mode, by holding down the right button at power-on. CMD's SmartMouse was compatible with 1351-aware and also included a third button and a built-in real-time clock module as well. Several Companies produced Lightpens with its own drawing software for the Computer, e.g. the Inkwell light pen which was compatible with GEOS. The Koala Pad graphics tablet was also available, came with its own paint software, and was compatible with GEOS as well. Suncom's Animation Station was another graphics tablet for the C64. Car positioning system Test technicians at CGAD Productions operations developed and installed the CarPilot Computerized Automotive Relative Performance Indicator and Location of Transit, one of the first car navigation systems to be tested, circa 1984. It utilized a Commodore 64, converter, video player/recorder, datasette, and a TV monitor. The monitor page 1 displays battery voltage, water temperature, engine oil pressure, fuel level, vehicle speed, engine rotation speed, lock/no-lock condition of the automatic transmission torque converter, and on/off condition of the air conditioning clutch. All except the last two were incorporated with a "buzzer" alarm system that indicates malfunction. Another feature is the one-second-precision 24-hour clock. Estimated arrival time with 1s precision, distance traveled which is incremented every and estimated distance to arrival that is also decremented with same value, Page 2 displayed the vehicle position along the map. Vehicle location indication is calculated from distance traveled. The accuracy of the vehicle location is dependent of the digital map construction and the accuracy of the local map used to construct the digital map. The best hope for accuracy is . But accuracy of one car length in has been realized. The use of assembly language was necessitated to keep up with sensor input. One advantage with the system is the ability to create one's own digital maps and thus eliminate the need to buy such ones for every trip. The software to accomplish this task was written in Basic. Robotics With computing, robot trainer, and plotter-scanner, Fischertechnik rose as the first manufacturer of modular building blocks into the computer age. Interfaces for all popular home computers at the time were made, including Apple II, Commodore 64 and Acorn, and later for Schneider, Atari ST and IBM PC. Programming languages to drive the models included GW-BASIC, Turbo Pascal and in the later kits (1991) an in-house programming tool Lucky Logic. The "Commocoffee 64" is an espresso maker controlled by the C64 in 1985. Relay controller The Handic "VIC REL" controller provides protected input and output using 6 relay outputs and 2 optocoupler inputs. The output relays are capable of / and the inputs respond to The device also provides (+5V) and (-5V) at to activate inputs. The device is programmed on the VIC-20 with POKE 37138,63 and I/O at 37136. And on C64 with POKE 56579,63 and I/O at 56577. The intended applications were burglar alarms, garage doors, door locks, lamps, transmitters, remote controllers, valves, pumps, telephones, accumulators, irrigation systems, stop watches, ventilators, humidifiers, etc. Analog to digital converters There are audio Analog-to-digital converters (A/D) like the "A/D Wandler (DELA 87393)" based on 8-bit ADC0809 chip for the C64/128 with a maximum sampling frequency of and the Sound Ultimate Xpander 6400 (SUX 6400) based on the 8-bit ADC0804 chip with a maximum sampling frequency of 11 kHz. Plain sound digitizers like "Sound Digitizer (REX 9614)" that converts analog sound into 2-bit samples. The latter could also be accomplished using the Datasette and software tricks. Biofeedback EEG/EMG In 1987 there was a cartridge port device to measure EEG directly for use in exercise programs, called "BodyLink" produced by the company Bodylog in New York City, USA. Schippers-Medizintechnik in Germany produced a attached EMG device to allow a physician to analyze such things as stress level, and assisting in finding a better position for work. Handscanners The "Scanntronik Handyscanner 64" is a hand held scanner that uses the C64 . Frame grabbers Frame grabbers like the "PAL Colour Digitizer" that connect via the user port, will turn an analog composite video frame into a digital picture on the C64. The "Print Technik Video Digitizer" connects via the and uses CVBS video signal that has to be still for in order to be sampled and can then be saved either as 320×200 monocolour or 160×200 multicolour (4 colours). Video generator 80 column mode could be used by installing the "BI-80" cartridge released 1984 from "Batteries Included" which is built around the 6545 video chip. It includes an expansion ROM that adds BASIC 4.0 commands. One can control which 40/80 column mode is active by software. On power up, the 40-column mode is active. Another 80 column card using the cartridge port was the "DATA20 XL80" introduced in 1984 Costing in 1985. The "Z80 Video Pack 80" enabled black and white 80-column screen and CP/M using a Zilog Z80. Teletext To download pages and software transmitted via the teletext broadcast system. The UK company "Microtext" provided their "Teletext adaptor" and tuner that interfaced with the TV-aerial and the C64/128 . Software was provided on a C-10 tape. These were priced at inc. p/p in 1987. Communication Modems As Commodore offered a number of inexpensive modems for the C64, such as the 1650, 1660, 1670, the machine also helped popularize the use of modems for telecommunications. The 1650 and 1660 were 300 Baud, and the 1670 was 1200 baud. The 1650 could only dial Pulse. The 1660 had no sound chip of its own to generate Touch Tones, so a cable from the monitor /audio out was required to be connected to the 1660 so it could use the C64 sound chip to generate Touch Tones. The 1670 used a modified set of Hayes AT commands. This modem is required for Medical Manager for EDI operations. The Commodore 1650 shipped with a rudimentary piece of terminal software called Common Sense. It provided basic Xmodem functionality and contained a 700 line scrollback feature. In the United States, Commodore offered the Commodore Information Network, a CompuServe SIG devoted to its products and users. Later, Quantum Computer Services (which became America Online) offered an online service called Quantum Link for the C64 that featured chat, downloads, and online games. In the UK, Compunet was a very popular online service for C64 users (requiring special Compunet modems) from 1984 to the early 1990s. In Australia, Telecom (now Telstra) ran an online service called Viatel and sold modems for the C64 for use with the service. In Germany the very restrictive rules of the state-owned telephone system prevented widespread use of inexpensive, non-telco licensed modems, prompting the use of inferior acoustic couplers instead. Access to Bildschirmtext, the state-owned telco's own dial-up online service, was possible via special add-on hardware like the Commodore "BTX Decoder Modul" or the Commodore "BTX Decoder Modul II". Radio communication "Microlog AIR-1 Radio Interface Cartridge" that use the C64 cartridge port with builtin ROM software for RTTY and morse code communications. "RTTY-CW Interface C-64" uses the for RTTY communications. "Auerswald ACC-64" longwave time signal for the DCF77 transmitter. The receiver uses the user port edge connector on the C64 computer. RS-232 port Like the VIC-20, the C64 lacked a real UART chip such as the 6551 and used software emulation. This limited the maximum speed to an error-prone Third-party cartridges with UART chips offered better performance. Later in the Commodore 64's life, CMD developed two serial communications cartridges for Commodore Computers, the "Swiftlink" - and the "Turbo 232" - The latter was capable of handling a 56k Hayes modem reliably at full speed on a enabling reasonable dial-up internet access speeds. The Retro-Replay expansion cartridge enabled the addition of the Silver Surfer add-on serial board, which also enabled 56k modem connections, and the RR-Net add-on serial board, which allows for broadband internet access, as well as LAN. Also, on November 5, 2005 Quantum Link Reloaded was launched enabling C64 enthusiasts to experience all the features of the original Quantum Link service in present-day with some enhancements for free. IEEE-488 The Commodore 64 IEEE-488 Cartridges were made by various companies, but Commodore themselves made very few for the Commodore 64/128 family. One of uses were hard disks like the Commodore D9060. Some other interfaces without pictures available: E-LINK Serial to IEEE Interface. (contains 65C02, 6522 and 4 kB ROM) Buscard II Interface. (contains a 6532, 6821 (PIA) and and a INTERPOD - A standalone interface box, that connects the CBM (IEC) serial to parallel IEEE-488 and serial RS-232. It uses the 6502, 6532, 6522, 6850 and 2716 EPROM chips. Other peripherals The Commodore 1701 and 1702 were color monitors for the C64 which accepted as input either composite video or separate chrominance and luminance signals, similar to the S-Video standard, for superior performance with the C64 (or other devices capable of outputting a separated signal). Other monitors available included the 1802 and 1902. Introduced in 1986, the 1802 featured separate chroma and luma signals, as well as a composite green screen mode suitable for the C-128's 80 column screen. The 1902 had a true RGBI 80-column mode compatible with IBM PCs. Early in the Commodore 64's life, Commodore released several niche hardware enhancements for sound manipulation. These included the "Sound Expander", "Sound Sampler", "Music Maker" overlay, and External music keyboard. The Sound Expander and Sound Sampler were both expansion cartridges, but had limited use. The Sound Sampler in particular could only record close to two seconds of audio, rendering it largely useless. The Music Maker was a plastic overlay for the Commodore 64 "breadbox" keyboard, which included plastic piano keys corresponding to keys on the keyboard. The External keyboard was an add-on which plugged into the Sound Expander. These hardware devices did not sell well, perhaps due to their cost, lack of adequate software, marketing as home consumer devices, and an end result that turned many serious musicians off. Possibly the most complex C64 peripheral was the Mimic Systems Spartan, which added an entire new computer architecture to the C64, with its own 6502 CPU and expansion bus, for software and hardware compatibility with the Apple II series. Announced shortly after the Commodore 64 itself at a time when little software was available for the machine, the Spartan did not begin shipping until 1986, by which time the C64 had acquired an extensive software library of its own. Essentially an Apple II+ compatible computer that used the 64's keyboard, video output, joysticks, and cassette recorder, the Spartan included 64kB RAM, a motherboard with a 6502 CPU on a card, 8 Apple-compatible expansion slots, an Apple-compatible disk controller card, and a DOS board to add to your 1541 disk drive. The DOS board was optional, but if it was not installed an Apple Disk II or compatible drive would be required to load software. The long delay between announcement and availability, along with heavy promotion including full-page ads running monthly in the Commodore press, made the Spartan an infamous example of vaporware. Gamesware produced a gaming peripheral for the Commodore 64 in 1988, where a target board was attached to the computer using the RS-232 port to enable use of its Gamma Strike suite of games. CMD produced a SID symphony cartridge later in the Commodore's life. A reworking of the original Dr. T's SID Symphony cartridge, this cartridge gave the Commodore another SID chip for use to play stereo SID music. This saved Commodore 64 users from needing to modify their computer motherboards to enable it with dual SID chips. Creative Micro Designs (CMD) was the longest-running third-party hardware vendor for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128, hailed by some enthusiasts as being better at supporting the Commodore 64 than Commodore themselves. Their first commercial product for the C64 was a KERNAL based fast loader and utility chip called JiffyDOS. It was not the first KERNAL-based enhancement for the C64 (SpeedDOS and DolphinDOS also existed), but was perhaps the best implemented. The benefits of a KERNAL upgrade meant that the cartridge port was free for use (which would have normally been taken up by an Epyx FastLoad cartridge or an Action Replay), however the downside meant that one had to manually remove computer chips from the C64's motherboard and associated floppy drives to install it. Aside from the usual 1541 fast load routines, JiffyDOS contained an easy to use DOS and a few other useful utilities. RAM expansions Over the years, a number of RAM expansion cartridges were developed for the Commodore 64 and 128. Commodore officially produced several models of RAM expansion cartridges, referred to collectively as the 17xx-series Commodore REUs. While these devices came in 128, 256, or 512 kB sizes, third-party modifications were quickly developed that could extend these devices to 2 MB, although some such modifications could be unstable. Some companies also offered services to professionally upgrade these devices. Typically, most Commodore 64 users did not require a RAM expansion. Very little of the available software was programmed to make use of expansion memory. The cost of the units (and the requirement to add a heavy-duty power supply) also was a factor in the limited usage of RAM expansion cartridges. The volatility of DRAM was also a factor in the limited usage, as the RAM expansion cartridges were normally used for fast RAM disk storage, data stored on them would be lost at any power failure. Aside from power-supply problems, the other main downfall of the RAM expansions were their limited usability due to their technical implementation. The RAM in the expansion cartridges was only accessible via a handful of hardware registers, rather than being CPU-addressable memory. This meant that users could not access this RAM without complicated programming techniques. Furthermore, simply adding the RAM expansion did not provide any kind of on-board RAM disk functionality (though a utility disk was supplied with some REUs, which provided a loadable RAM disk driver). One popular exception to the disuse of the REUs was GEOS. As GEOS made heavy use of a primitive, software-controlled form of swap space, it tended to be slow when used exclusively with floppy disks or hard drives. With the addition of an REU, along with a small software driver, GEOS would use the expanded memory in place of its usual swap space, increasing GEOS' operating speed. Due to the lack of available 17xx-series Commodore REUs, and then their later discontinuation, Berkeley Softworks, the publishers of GEOS, developed their own 512 kB RAM expansion cartridge - the GeoRAM. This device was purposely designed for use with GEOS, although some REU-aware programs were later adapted to be able to use it. Some time later, the GeoRAM was cloned by another company to form the BBGRAM device (which also sported a battery backup unit). The GeoRAM used a banked-memory design where portions of the external DRAM were banked into the Commodore 64's CPU address space. This method provided substantially slower transfer speeds than the single-cycle-per-byte transfer speeds of the Commodore REUs. The GeoRAM utilized four 1 Mbit-density DRAM chips arranged as two banks of two 256Kx4 DRAM ICs. A benefit of using denser DRAM was lower power consumption, and so the GeoRAM did not require upgrading the Commodore 64's power supply, in contrast with the 17xx-series REU memory expansion cartridges. Eventually the Super 1750 Clone, a third-party clone of Commodore's RAM expansions was developed, designed in such a way as to eliminate the need for a heavy-duty power supply. PPI devised their own externally powered 1 or 2 MB RAM expansion, marketed as the PPI/CMD RAMDrive, which was explicitly designed to be used as a RAM disk. Its primary feature was that the external power supply kept the formatting and contents of the RAM safe and valid while the computer was turned off, in addition to powering the device in any case. A driver was provided on the included utilities disk to allow GEOS to use the RAMdrive as a regular 'disk' drive. CMD later followed up with the RAMLink. This device operated similar to the RAMDrive, but could address up to 16 MB of RAM in the form of a 17xx-series REU, GeoRAM, and/or an internal memory card, which also provided a battery-backed realtime clock for file time/date stamping of files saved to it. It also features a battery backup, thus preserving the RAM's contents. Drivers were provided with the RAMLink to allow GEOS to use its memory as either a replacement for swap space, or as a regular 'disk' drive. CMD's Super CPU Accelerator came after this and could house up to of direct, CPU-addressable RAM. Unfortunately, there was no on-board or disk-based RAM disk functionality offered, nor could any existing software make use of the directly addressable nature of the RAM. The exception is that drivers were included with the unit to explicitly allow GEOS to use that RAM as a replacement for swap space, or as a regular 'disk' drive, as well as to make use of the acceleration offered by the unit. EPROM programmers Programmers for EPROMs like 2716 - 27256 using common programming voltages (Vpp) of 12.5, 21, and 25 V were available by connecting a device to the user port of the C64. These devices could cost in 1985. The device often included a zero insertion force (ZIF) socket and a LED indicating when the EPROM chip was being programmed. The cartridge port was also used by some programmer devices. Freezer, Reset, and Utility cartridges Probably the most well-known hacker and development tools for the Commodore 64 included "Reset" and "Freezer" cartridges. As the C64 had no built-in soft reset switch, reset cartridges were popular for entering game "POKEs" (codes which changed parts of a game's code in order to cheat) from popular Commodore computer magazines. Freezer cartridges had the capability to not only manually reset the machine, but also to dump the contents of the computer's memory and send the output to disk or tape. In addition, these cartridges had tools for editing game sprites, machine language monitors, floppy fast loaders, and other development tools. Freezer cartridges were not without controversy however. Despite containing many powerful tools for the programmer, they were also accused of aiding unauthorized distributors to defeat software copy protections. Perhaps the best-known freezer cartridges were the Datel "Action Replay", Evesham Micros Freeze Frame MK III B, Trilogic "Expert", "The Final Cartridge III", Super Snapshot and ISEPIC cartridges. The Lt. Kernal hard drive subsystem included a push button on the host adapter called ICQUB (pronounced "ice cube"), which could be used to halt a running program and capture a RAM image to disk. This would work with most copy-protected software that did not do disk overlays and/or bypass the KERNAL ROM jump table. The RAM image was runnable only on the Lt. Kernal system on which it was captured, thus preventing the process from being used to distribute unlicensed software. Music and Synthesizer utilities As the Commodore 64 featured a digitally controlled semi-analogue synthesizer as its sound processor, it was not surprising to discover an abundance of software and hardware designed to expand upon its capabilities. Various assemblers, notators, sequencers, MIDI editing and mixer automation software were created which allowed users and programmers to create or record musical pieces of impressive technical complexity. Some software of note has included the Kawasaki Synthesizer range, Music System notation and MIDI suite, the MIDI-compatible Instant Music 'idiot-proof' sequential composer, and the Steinberg Pro-16 MIDI sequencer, the precursor to Cubase. Notable hardware included various brands of MIDI cartridges, plug-in keyboards (such as the or the Commodore's own SFX range which included a sound sampler and plug-in synthesizer and keyboard, the more recent Commodulator oscillator wheel and the sequencer and synthesizer utility cartridge. The Passport Designs MIDI Interface is said to be one of the best designs and had the most software supported model available. Recently a few professional musicians have used the Commodore 64's unique sound to provide some or all of the synthesizer parts required for their performances or recordings; an example being the band Also noteworthy is the Commodore 64 Orchestra who specialize in re-arranging and performing music originally composed and coded for the Commodore 64 games market. Its patron is celebrated Commodore composer Rob Hubbard. Apple II+ emulation box The Mimic Systems "Mimic Spartan Apple II+ compatibility box" enabled C64 users to run Apple II+ software. It came with the "DOS Card" addition, an Apple II disk controller that was installed inside the Commodore 1541 disk drive, between the floppy logic board and the drive mechanism. In normal mode the circuit simply passed signals through but at the flick of a switch it could take over the mechanism and turn the drive into an Apple II drive. The potential for grave damage to both Apple II and 1541 floppies was enormous and often happened. The box had to configure. Applesoft BASIC was included and very compatible, since it was created by disassembling the binary from the Applesoft ROM and reordering the assembly level instructions such that the binary image would be different. One could set up various debugging and use slave computing to enable fast 3D rendering etc. The box had functionality to switch video between C64 and Apple. The second advertisement was put into the COMPUTE!'s Gazette in 1986. CP/M with Z80 CPU cartridge The Commodore C64 CP/M Cartridge uses the C1541 floppy drive which was incapable of reading any existing CP/M disk format. The cartridge were equipped with a Zilog Z80 CPU running at around CPU accelerators Like the Apple II family, third-party acceleration units providing a faster CPU appeared late in the C64's life. Due to timing issues with the VIC-II video controller, CPU accelerators for the 64 were complex and expensive to implement. So while accelerators based upon the Western Design Center (WDC) 65C02—usually running at 4 MHz, and the WDC 65C816 16-bit microprocessor running at 4, 8 or 20 MHz, were produced, they appeared too late and were too expensive to gain widespread use. The first CPU accelerator seen was called the "Turbo Process" by a Bonn, Germany, based company called Roßmöller GmbH. It used the WDC 65C816 microprocessor running at 4.09 MHz. Code ran from faster static RAM on the accelerator expansion port cartridge. As the VIC video controller can only access the C-64's internal DRAM, writes had to be mirrored to the internal memory; write cycles would slow the operation of the processor to accomplish this. The Turbo Master CPU, produced by US-based Schnedler Systems, was a hardware clone of the Roßmöller Turbo Process product with minor logic changes and a blue aluminum case. It was an expansion port device clocked at 4.09 MHz. It also had a JiffyDOS option. Early Turbo Process circuit boards shipped with PAL chips that did not have their security fuses blown, an oversight which made duplicating the PAL logic and hence the cartridge design trivial. No known litigation took place over the copying of the German company's design. The Turbo Master CPU had one beneficial modification, the bit to toggle the high-speed mode on was "0" in memory location $00 as opposed to the "1" the Turbo Process. A lot of software would write zeros to this location turning off the high-speed mode on the Turbo Process - this was considered a design flaw that was fixed by the Turbo Master. The most well-known accelerator for the C64 is probably Creative Micro Designs' SuperCPU, which was equipped with the WDC W65C816S (the static core version of the 65C816) clocked at 20 MHz, and with up to 16 MB of RAM if combined with CMD's SuperRamCard. Understandably, due to a very limited "market" and number of developers, there has not been much software tailored for the SuperCPU to date — however GEOS was supported. Among the few offerings available are the Wheels; a Wheels-based web browser called "The Wave", a Unix/QNX-like graphical OS called Wings, some demos, various classic games modified for use with the SuperCPU, and a shooter game in the old Katakis-style called Metal Dust. Present and Future devices While CMD no longer produces Commodore hardware, new peripherals are still being developed and produced, mostly for mass storage or networking purposes. The MMC64 cartridge allows the C64 to access MMC- and SD flash memory cards. And several revisions and add-ons have been developed for it to take advantage of extra features. It features an Amiga clock port for connecting a RR-Net Ethernet-Interface, an MP3 player add-on called 'mp3@c64' has even been produced for it. In February 2008, Individual Computers started shipping the MMC Replay. It unites the MMC64 and the Retro Replay in one cartridge, finally built with proper case-fit in mind (even including the RRnet2 Ethernet add-on). It contains many improvements, such as C128 compatibility, a built-in .d64 mounter (not speedloader-compatible though, because the 1541 CPU is not emulated), ROM for a total of eight cartridges, 512 kB RAM, a built-in flash-tool for cartridge images and wider support for various types of cartridges (not merely Action-replay-based). In April 2008, the first batch of 1541 Ultimate shipped, a project by the hobbyist VHDL-developer Gideon Zweijtzer. This is a cartridge that carries an Action Replay and Final Cartridge (whatever the user prefers) and a very compatible FPGA-emulated 1541 drive that is fed from a built-in SD-card slot (.d64, prg etc.). The difference to other SD-based and .d64 mounting cartridges like the MMC64, Super Snapshot 2007 or MMC Replay is, that the 6502 that powers the 1541 Floppy and the 1541's mechanical behavior (even sound) is fully emulated, making it theoretically compatible with almost anything. Fileselection and management is done via a third button on the cartridge that brings up a new menu on screen. The 1541 Ultimate also works in standalone mode without a c-64, functioning just like a normal Commodore 1541 would. Disk-selection of .d64s is then done via buttons on the cartridge, power is supplied via USB. There is a "Plus-Version" available with an extra 32 Megabytes of RAM (as REU and for future use), the basic version has just enough RAM for the advertised functions to work. In October 2008, the second and third batch of 1541 Ultimates were produced to match the public demand for the device. The regular version without the 32MB RAM was dropped since there was no demand for it. Due to public demand, there is also a version with Ethernet now. In 2010 a completely new PCB and software has been developed by Gideon Zweijtzer to facilitate the brand new 1541-Ultimate-II cartridge. The IDE64 interface cartridge provides access to parallel ATA drives like hard disks, CD/DVD drives, LS-120, Zip drives, and CompactFlash cards. It also supports network drives (PCLink) to directly access a host system over various connection methods including X1541, RS-232, Ethernet and USB. The operating system called IDEDOS provides CBM/CMD compatible interface to programs on all devices. The main filesystem is called CFS, but there's read-only support for ISO 9660 and FAT12/16/32. Additional features include BASIC extension, DOS Wedge, file manager, machine code monitor, fast loader, BIOS setup screen. Today's computer mice can be attached via the Micromys interface that can process even optical mice and similar. There are also various interfaces for plugging the 64 to a PC keyboard. A special board for converting Commodore 64 video signals to standard VGA monitor output is also currently under development. Also, a board to convert the Commodore 128's 80 column RGBI CGA-compatible video signal to VGA format was developed in late 2011. The board, named the C128 Video DAC, had a limited production run and was used in conjunction with the more widespread GBS-8220 board. In September 2008, Individual Computers announced the Chameleon, a Cartridge for the Expansion Port that adds a lot of previously unseen functionality. It has a Retro-Replay compatible Freezer and MMC/SD-Slot, REU and a PS/2 connector for a PC Keyboard. Support for a network adapter and battery-backed real time clock exists. The cartridge does not even have to be plugged into a Commodore 64 and can be used as a standalone device using USB power. Since the cartridge essentially also includes a Commodore One it is possible to include a VGA Port that outputs the picture to a standard PC monitor. The Commodore One core also allows the cartridge to be used as a CPU accelerator, and a core to run a Commodore Amiga environment in standalone mode also exists. Unlike most other modern-day C64 hardware, this cartridge ships with a bright yellow case. Shipping was announced for Q1/2009, and currently the cartridge is available, although the firmware is in a beta state. A standalone mode docking station is under development. Retro Innovations is shipping the uIEC device, which utilizes the core design of the SD2IEC project to provide a mass media solution for Commodore 8-bit systems that utilize the Commodore IEC Serial Bus. NKCElectronics of Florida is shipping SD2IEC hardware which uses the sd2iec firmware. Manosoft sells the C64SD Infinity, another SD card media solution which uses the sd2iec firmware. In Summer of 2013, another commercial variant of the SD2IEC-Device appears on market, the SD2IEC-evo2 from 16xEight. This device uses a bigger uC (ATmega1284P) and has some extras such as Battery backed-up RTC, connector for LC-Display, Multicolour Status-LED, and so on already on board. 2014 sees the emergence of another commercial variant of SD2IEC hardware. thefuturewas8bit SD2IEC Versions are available packaged to resemble a miniature 1541 disk drive. It has illuminated disk change and reset buttons accessible from the top of the case. Notes Many users came to dread the telltale "RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT" knocking noise, since such knocking contributed to eventual disk drive alignment failure. A modification could be made to older model Commodore 64 motherboards to piggy-back a secondary SID sound chip to the original SID chip. The resulting modification enabled the Commodore 64 to play sound in 6-channel stereo with the appropriate software. The Commodore 64 had documented cartridge port pins which could be crossed to achieve a reset. In an attempt to activate game "reset" and various cheats, a large number of Commodore 64 users attempted to reset their machines by manually touching these pins 1 and 3 with wire while the computer was switched on. Many users made mistakes and missed the correct pins, blowing their C64's fuse and resulting in a costly repair. This achievement was later known as the "Hamster Reset" in "Commodore Format" magazine. Some users soldered these pins to a button, which they mounted in the C64's case for handy resetting. Some programs utilized reset protection (by having the string 'CBM80' at $8000 in the memory) which could be worked around by shorting pins 1-3-9 the same way as the "Hamster Reset" pin 9 (on the top side as opposed to pins 1 & 3 on the bottom) being the EXROM ROM expansion pin (thus overwriting data at $8000–$9fff). See also Computers: Commodore 64, VIC-20 Floppy Drives: Commodore 1541, 1551, 1570, 1571, 1581 Commodore 64 disk / tape emulation References External links Individual Computers - Makers of MMC64 and RR-series products 16xEight Digital Retrovation - Makers of innovative new hardware for Commodore 8-Bit Computers Protovision - Makers of various new hardware upgrades Lemon64 - Includes some of the best Commodore 64 music software Home Recording - Music discussion board thread linking to many others relevant to C64 music RUN Magazine Issue 39 May, 1986 special printer issue elektronik.si: Vic-Rel internal PCB bilgisayarlarim.com: Commodore MPS-801 teardown (dated 2007-05-07, accessed 2016-04-28) Manuals Commodore Commodore VIC-1541 Floppy Drive: User Manual, Technical Reference Commodore VIC-1515 Printer: User Manual Commodore VIC-1525 Printer: User Manual CARDCO CARDCO Card Print A (C/?A) Printer Interface: User Manual, Addendum CARDCO Card Print +G (C/?+G) Printer Interface: User Manual, Supplement Peripherals Home computer peripherals

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time%20Transport%20Protocol

Real-time Transport Protocol

The Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) is a network protocol for delivering audio and video over IP networks. RTP is used in communication and entertainment systems that involve streaming media, such as telephony, video teleconference applications including WebRTC, television services and web-based push-to-talk features. RTP typically runs over User Datagram Protocol (UDP). RTP is used in conjunction with the RTP Control Protocol (RTCP). While RTP carries the media streams (e.g., audio and video), RTCP is used to monitor transmission statistics and quality of service (QoS) and aids synchronization of multiple streams. RTP is one of the technical foundations of Voice over IP and in this context is often used in conjunction with a signaling protocol such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) which establishes connections across the network. RTP was developed by the Audio-Video Transport Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and first published in 1996 as which was then superseded by in 2003. Overview RTP is designed for end-to-end, real-time transfer of streaming media. The protocol provides facilities for jitter compensation and detection of packet loss and out-of-order delivery, which are common especially during UDP transmissions on an IP network. RTP allows data transfer to multiple destinations through IP multicast. RTP is regarded as the primary standard for audio/video transport in IP networks and is used with an associated profile and payload format. The design of RTP is based on the architectural principle known as application-layer framing where protocol functions are implemented in the application as opposed to the operating system's protocol stack. Real-time multimedia streaming applications require timely delivery of information and often can tolerate some packet loss to achieve this goal. For example, loss of a packet in audio application may result in loss of a fraction of a second of audio data, which can be made unnoticeable with suitable error concealment algorithms. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), although standardized for RTP use, is not normally used in RTP applications because TCP favors reliability over timeliness. Instead the majority of the RTP implementations are built on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Other transport protocols specifically designed for multimedia sessions are SCTP and DCCP, although, , they are not in widespread use. RTP was developed by the Audio/Video Transport working group of the IETF standards organization. RTP is used in conjunction with other protocols such as H.323 and RTSP. The RTP specification describes two protocols: RTP and RTCP. RTP is used for the transfer of multimedia data, and the RTCP is used to periodically send control information and QoS parameters. The data transfer protocol, RTP, carries real-time data. Information provided by this protocol includes timestamps (for synchronization), sequence numbers (for packet loss and reordering detection) and the payload format which indicates the encoded format of the data. The control protocol, RTCP, is used for quality of service (QoS) feedback and synchronization between the media streams. The bandwidth of RTCP traffic compared to RTP is small, typically around 5%. RTP sessions are typically initiated between communicating peers using a signaling protocol, such as H.323, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), RTSP, or Jingle (XMPP). These protocols may use the Session Description Protocol to specify the parameters for the sessions. An RTP session is established for each multimedia stream. Audio and video streams may use separate RTP sessions, enabling a receiver to selectively receive components of a particular stream. The RTP and RTCP design is independent of the transport protocol. Applications most typically use UDP with port numbers in the unprivileged range (1024 to 65535). The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) may be used when a reliable transport protocol is desired. The RTP specification recommends even port numbers for RTP, and the use of the next odd port number for the associated RTCP session. A single port can be used for RTP and RTCP in applications that multiplex the protocols. RTP is used by real-time multimedia applications such as voice over IP, audio over IP, WebRTC and Internet Protocol television. Profiles and payload formats RTP is designed to carry a multitude of multimedia formats, which permits the development of new formats without revising the RTP standard. To this end, the information required by a specific application of the protocol is not included in the generic RTP header. For each class of application (e.g., audio, video), RTP defines a profile and associated payload formats. Every instantiation of RTP in a particular application requires a profile and payload format specifications. The profile defines the codecs used to encode the payload data and their mapping to payload format codes in the protocol field Payload Type (PT) of the RTP header. Each profile is accompanied by several payload format specifications, each of which describes the transport of particular encoded data. Examples of audio payload formats are G.711, G.723, G.726, G.729, GSM, QCELP, MP3, and DTMF, and examples of video payloads are H.261, H.263, H.264, H.265 and MPEG-1/MPEG-2. The mapping of MPEG-4 audio/video streams to RTP packets is specified in , and H.263 video payloads are described in . Examples of RTP profiles include: The RTP profile for Audio and video conferences with minimal control () defines a set of static payload type assignments, and a dynamic mechanism for mapping between a payload format, and a PT value using Session Description Protocol (SDP). The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) () defines an RTP profile that provides cryptographic services for the transfer of payload data. The experimental Control Data Profile for RTP (RTP/CDP) for machine-to-machine communications. Packet header RTP packets are created at the application layer and handed to the transport layer for delivery. Each unit of RTP media data created by an application begins with the RTP packet header. The RTP header has a minimum size of 12 bytes. After the header, optional header extensions may be present. This is followed by the RTP payload, the format of which is determined by the particular class of application. The fields in the header are as follows: Version: (2 bits) Indicates the version of the protocol. Current version is 2. P (Padding): (1 bit) Used to indicate if there are extra padding bytes at the end of the RTP packet. Padding may be used to fill up a block of certain size, for example as required by an encryption algorithm. The last byte of the padding contains the number of padding bytes that were added (including itself). X (Extension): (1 bit) Indicates presence of an extension header between the header and payload data. The extension header is application or profile specific. CC (CSRC count): (4 bits) Contains the number of CSRC identifiers (defined below) that follow the SSRC (also defined below). M (Marker): (1 bit) Signaling used at the application level in a profile-specific manner. If it is set, it means that the current data has some special relevance for the application. PT (Payload type): (7 bits) Indicates the format of the payload and thus determines its interpretation by the application. Values are profile specific and may be dynamically assigned. Sequence number: (16 bits) The sequence number is incremented for each RTP data packet sent and is to be used by the receiver to detect packet loss and to accommodate out-of-order delivery. The initial value of the sequence number should be randomized to make known-plaintext attacks on Secure Real-time Transport Protocol more difficult. Timestamp: (32 bits) Used by the receiver to play back the received samples at appropriate time and interval. When several media streams are present, the timestamps may be independent in each stream. The granularity of the timing is application specific. For example, an audio application that samples data once every 125 μs (8 kHz, a common sample rate in digital telephony) would use that value as its clock resolution. Video streams typically use a 90 kHz clock. The clock granularity is one of the details that is specified in the RTP profile for an application. SSRC: (32 bits) Synchronization source identifier uniquely identifies the source of a stream. The synchronization sources within the same RTP session will be unique. CSRC: (32 bits each, the number of entries is indicated by the CSRC count field) Contributing source IDs enumerate contributing sources to a stream which has been generated from multiple sources. Header extension: (optional, presence indicated by Extension field) The first 32-bit word contains a profile-specific identifier (16 bits) and a length specifier (16 bits) that indicates the length of the extension in 32-bit units, excluding the 32 bits of the extension header. The extension header data follows. Application design A functional multimedia application requires other protocols and standards used in conjunction with RTP. Protocols such as SIP, Jingle, RTSP, H.225 and H.245 are used for session initiation, control and termination. Other standards, such as H.264, MPEG and H.263, are used for encoding the payload data as specified by the applicable RTP profile. An RTP sender captures the multimedia data, then encodes, frames and transmits it as RTP packets with appropriate timestamps and increasing timestamps and sequence numbers. The sender sets the payload type field in accordance with connection negotiation and the RTP profile in use. The RTP receiver detects missing packets and may reorder packets. It decodes the media data in the packets according to the payload type and presents the stream to its user. Standards documents , Standard 64, RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications , Standard 65, RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences with Minimal Control , Media Type Registration of RTP Payload Formats , Media Type Registration of Payload Formats in the RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences , A Taxonomy of Semantics and Mechanisms for Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) Sources , RTP Payload Format for 12-bit DAT Audio and 20- and 24-bit Linear Sampled Audio , RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video , RTP Payload Format for Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams , RTP Payload Format for MPEG-4 Audio/Visual Streams , RTP Payload Format for MPEG1/MPEG2 Video , RTP Payload Format for Uncompressed Video , RTP Payload Format for MIDI , An Implementation Guide for RTP MIDI , RTP Payload Format for the Opus Speech and Audio Codec , RTP Payload Format for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) See also Real Time Streaming Protocol Real Data Transport ZRTP Notes References Further reading External links Henning Schulzrinne's RTP page (including FAQ) GNU ccRTP JRTPLIB, a C++ RTP library Managed Media Aggregation: .NET C# RFC compliant implementation of RTP / RTCP written in completely managed code. Streaming Application layer protocols VoIP protocols Audio network protocols

1973831

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YTCracker

YTCracker

Bryce Case Jr. (born August 23, 1982), otherwise known as YTCracker (pronounced "whitey cracker"), is a former cracker most known for defacing the webpages of several federal and municipal government websites in the United States, as well as several in private industry at the age of 17. Case later became known for his work as a nerdcore hip hop artist. Biography Childhood Case was born in La Mirada, California, United States. He has stated in interviews that he was exposed to computers by his father and mother, learning to program BASIC from age 4. From there, his father taught him how to navigate MSDOS and System V. Before long, he was involved in the local bulletin board systems and learning various other programming languages by reading books and examples. Case attended William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, dropping out of high school at the age of 17 to focus on a career in the information technology field. According to an interview, his stage name is a combination of Yours Truly, a Kourier (delivery person) from the Neal Stephenson cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, and the hacker term Cracker, meaning someone who breaks into computer systems. Hacking activities In 1999, Case gained notoriety, media coverage, and a restitution bill for defacing the web site of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center with a modified frontend for a commonly used msadc.pl exploit. Other United States government websites that were hacked include the Bureau of Land Management's national training center and the Defense Contract Audit Agency. At least 40 other websites were tampered with by Case, including Airspace USA, the bank Altamira, Nissan Motors, Honda, the monitoring station for the United States Geological Survey and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Case stated he believed he was "on the good side" as he broke into company websites to alert them of security problems, not to cause harm. In May 2000 Case was charged with criminal mischief and computer crime for breaking into the Colorado Springs city website, causing an estimated $25,000 in damages, though all $25,000 are costs of "time lost" to users. These defacements launched him into the spotlight, making him a resource for the media, commenting on other hacking-related events, such as the denial of service attacks on Yahoo, eBay, Gay.com, and other well-known websites in 2000. In 2005, Case founded a hacker collective called Digital Gangster, which was at its core an internet forum. Some of its members reportedly claimed responsibility for many high profile hacks of the 2000s and 2010s, including the Paris Hilton T-Mobile breach in 2005, the Miley Cyrus hacked email scandal of 2008, the Twitter hack of Barack Obama and others in 2009, and the DNS hijacking of Craigslist in 2014. Case is also a self-identified member of the hacker group Anonymous, and was an associate of LulzSec, writing the official theme song of Operation AntiSec, featured in the 2014 documentary The Hacker Wars. Music Case performs as an MC and a DJ under the name YTCracker. He is best known for his work in the genre of Nerdcore hip-hop, in 2005 producing the album NerdRap Entertainment System. The album was created by adding vocals to re-mixed digital music from original Nintendo games, and was described in Newsweek as a "classic of the style." In Las Vegas, Case performed in 2006 at the Consumer Electronics Show, and in has regularly performed at the Players Ball, appearing with mainstream rappers such as Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Ice Cube, and Too Short. He has also performed at several DEF CON events. In 2010, an untitled demo by British electronic rock band Proxies was leaked onto the internet containing a feature by Case. Case runs an independent record label, Nerdy South Records. Discography categoryFive (1999) (solo effort) spryngz thuggin''' (2000) (solo effort)AOL Rules (2001) (solo effort)spam 2k2 (2002) (solo effort)stc is the greatest (2004) (as a member of spamtec)Nerdrap Entertainment System (2005) (solo effort)still the greatest (2006) (as a member of spamtec)Rhyme Torrents Volumes I & II (2006) (compilation)Nerd Life (2006) (solo effort)Dirty Nerdy (2007) (featuring many other nerdcore artists)8-Bit Diagrams (2008) (as a member of 8-Bit Boys)Serious Business EP (2008) (featuring Elijah Lucian)The Digital Gangster LP (2008) (with MC Lars)Invasion of the Mic Snatchers (2008) (As part of the Sinister Six)dcpd bangerz vol. 1 (2009) (featuring the Dekalb County, Georgia Police Force)Chrono Nurga vol. 1 (2009) (solo effort)__ every day (2010) (with Hairetsu and spamtec)Space Mission (2010) (featuring Elijah Lucian, Hairetsu)Who Live Like This EP (2012) (featuring Hairetsu)EarthBound: adventures of the sound stone vol. 1 (2012) (solo effort)Introducing Neals (2014) (solo effort)Strictly for My Streamers '' (2017) (solo effort) References External links 1982 births Living people American rappers Nerdcore artists People from La Mirada, California American computer criminals 21st-century American rappers

30047898

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IT%20risk%20management

IT risk management

IT risk management is the application of risk management methods to information technology in order to manage IT risk, i.e.: The business risk associated with the use, ownership, operation, involvement, influence and adoption of IT within an enterprise or organization IT risk management can be considered a component of a wider enterprise risk management system. The establishment, maintenance and continuous update of an information security management system (ISMS) provide a strong indication that a company is using a systematic approach for the identification, assessment and management of information security risks. Different methodologies have been proposed to manage IT risks, each of them divided into processes and steps. According to the Risk IT framework, this encompasses not only the negative impact of operations and service delivery which can bring destruction or reduction of the value of the organization, but also the benefit enabling risk associated to missing opportunities to use technology to enable or enhance business or the IT project management for aspects like overspending or late delivery with adverse business impact. Because risk is strictly tied to uncertainty, decision theory should be applied to manage risk as a science, i.e. rationally making choices under uncertainty. Generally speaking, risk is the product of likelihood times impact (Risk = Likelihood * Impact). The measure of an IT risk can be determined as a product of threat, vulnerability and asset values: A more current risk management framework for IT Risk would be the TIK framework: The process of risk management is an ongoing iterative process. It must be repeated indefinitely. The business environment is constantly changing and new threats and vulnerabilities emerge every day. The choice of countermeasures (controls) used to manage risks must strike a balance between productivity, cost, effectiveness of the countermeasure, and the value of the informational asset being protected. Definitions The Certified Information Systems Auditor Review Manual 2006 produced by ISACA, an international professional association focused on IT Governance, provides the following definition of risk management: "Risk management is the process of identifying vulnerabilities and threats to the information resources used by an organization in achieving business objectives, and deciding what countermeasures, if any, to take in reducing risk to an acceptable level, based on the value of the information resource to the organization." Risk management is the process that allows IT managers to balance the operational and economic costs of protective measures and achieve gains in mission capability by protecting the IT systems and data that support their organizations’ missions. This process is not unique to the IT environment; indeed it pervades decision-making in all areas of our daily lives. The head of an organizational unit must ensure that the organization has the capabilities needed to accomplish its mission. These mission owners must determine the security capabilities that their IT systems must have to provide the desired level of mission support in the face of real world threats. Most organizations have tight budgets for IT security; therefore, IT security spending must be reviewed as thoroughly as other management decisions. A well-structured risk management methodology, when used effectively, can help management identify appropriate controls for providing the mission-essential security capabilities. Risk management in the IT world is quite a complex, multi faced activity, with a lot of relations with other complex activities. The picture to the right shows the relationships between different related terms. The American National Information Assurance Training and Education Center defines risk management in the IT field as: The total process to identify, control, and minimize the impact of uncertain events. The objective of the risk management program is to reduce risk and obtain and maintain DAA approval. The process facilitates the management of security risks by each level of management throughout the system life cycle. The approval process consists of three elements: risk analysis, certification, and approval. An element of managerial science concerned with the identification, measurement, control, and minimization of uncertain events. An effective risk management program encompasses the following four phases: a Risk assessment, as derived from an evaluation of threats and vulnerabilities. Management decision. Control implementation. Effectiveness review. The total process of identifying, measuring, and minimizing uncertain events affecting AIS resources. It includes risk analysis, cost benefit analysis, safeguard selection, security test and evaluation, safeguard implementation, and systems review. The total process of identifying, controlling, and eliminating or minimizing uncertain events that may affect system resources. lt includes risk analysis, cost benefit analysis, selection, implementation and test, security evaluation of safeguards, and overall security review. Risk management as part of enterprise risk management Some organizations have and many others should have a comprehensive Enterprise risk management (ERM) in place. The four objective categories addressed, according to Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) are: Strategy - high-level goals, aligned with and supporting the organization's mission Operations - effective and efficient use of resources Financial Reporting - reliability of operational and financial reporting Compliance - compliance with applicable laws and regulations According to the Risk IT framework by ISACA, IT risk is transversal to all four categories. The IT risk should be managed in the framework of Enterprise risk management: Risk appetite and Risk sensitivity of the whole enterprise should guide the IT risk management process. ERM should provide the context and business objectives to IT risk management Risk management methodology Whilst a methodology does not describe specific methods ; nevertheless it does specify several processes (constitute a generic framework) that need to be followed. These processes may be broken down in sub-processes, they may be combined, or their sequence may change. A risk management exercise must carry out these processes in one form or another, The following table compares the processes foreseen by three leading standards. The ISACA Risk IT framework is more recent. The Risk IT Practitioner-Guide compares Risk IT and ISO 27005. The term methodology means an organized set of principles and rules that drive action in a particular field of knowledge. The overall comparison is illustrated in the following table. Due to the probabilistic nature and the need of cost benefit analysis, IT risks are managed following a process that according to NIST SP 800-30 can be divided in the following steps: risk assessment, risk mitigation, and evaluation and assessment. Effective risk management must be totally integrated into the Systems Development Life Cycle. Information risk analysis conducted on applications, computer installations, networks and systems under development should be undertaken using structured methodologies. Context establishment This step is the first step in ISO ISO/IEC 27005 framework. Most of the elementary activities are foreseen as the first sub process of Risk assessment according to NIST SP 800–30. This step implies the acquisition of all relevant information about the organization and the determination of the basic criteria, purpose, scope and boundaries of risk management activities and the organization in charge of risk management activities. The purpose is usually the compliance with legal requirements and provide evidence of due diligence supporting an ISMS that can be certified. The scope can be an incident reporting plan, a business continuity plan. Another area of application can be the certification of a product. Criteria include the risk evaluation, risk acceptance and impact evaluation criteria. These are conditioned by: legal and regulatory requirements the strategic value for the business of information processes stakeholder expectations negative consequences for the reputation of the organization Establishing the scope and boundaries, the organization should be studied: its mission, its values, its structure; its strategy, its locations and cultural environment. The constraints (budgetary, cultural, political, technical) of the organization are to be collected and documented as guide for next steps. Organization for security management The set up of the organization in charge of risk management is foreseen as partially fulfilling the requirement to provide the resources needed to establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and improve an ISMS. The main roles inside this organization are: Senior Management Chief information officer (CIO) System and Information owners, such as the Chief Data Officer (CDO) or Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) the business and functional managers the Information System Security Officer (ISSO) or Chief information security officer (CISO) IT Security Practitioners Security Awareness Trainers Risk assessment Risk Management is a recurrent activity that deals with the analysis, planning, implementation, control, and monitoring of implemented measurements and the enforced security policy. On the contrary, Risk Assessment is executed at discrete time points (e.g. once a year, on demand, etc.) and – until the performance of the next assessment – provides a temporary view of assessed risks and while parameterizing the entire Risk Management process. This view of the relationship of Risk Management to Risk Assessment is depicted in figure as adopted from OCTAVE. Risk assessment is often conducted in more than one iteration, the first being a high-level assessment to identify high risks, while the other iterations detailed the analysis of the major risks and other risks. According to National Information Assurance Training and Education Center risk assessment in the IT field is: A study of the vulnerabilities, threats, likelihood, loss or impact, and theoretical effectiveness of security measures. Managers use the results of a risk assessment to develop security requirements and specifications. The process of evaluating threats and vulnerabilities, known and postulated, to determine expected loss and establish the degree of acceptability to system operations. An identification of a specific ADP facility's assets, the threats to these assets, and the ADP facility's vulnerability to those threats. An analysis of system assets and vulnerabilities to establish an expected loss from certain events based on estimated probabilities of the occurrence of those events. The purpose of a risk assessment is to determine if countermeasures are adequate to reduce the probability of loss or the impact of loss to an acceptable level. A management tool which provides a systematic approach for determining the relative value and sensitivity of computer installation assets, assessing vulnerabilities, assessing loss expectancy or perceived risk exposure levels, assessing existing protection features and additional protection alternatives or acceptance of risks and documenting management decisions. Decisions for implementing additional protection features are normally based on the existence of a reasonable ratio between cost/benefit of the safeguard and sensitivity/value of the assets to be protected. Risk assessments may vary from an informal review of a small scale microcomputer installation to a more formal and fully documented analysis (i. e., risk analysis) of a large scale computer installation. Risk assessment methodologies may vary from qualitative or quantitative approaches to any combination of these two approaches. ISO 27005 framework Risk assessment receives as input the output of the previous step Context establishment; the output is the list of assessed risks prioritized according to risk evaluation criteria. The process can be divided into the following steps: Risk analysis, further divided in: Risk identification Risk estimation Risk evaluation The following table compares these ISO 27005 processes with Risk IT framework processes: The ISO/IEC 27002:2005 Code of practice for information security management recommends the following be examined during a risk assessment: security policy, organization of information security, asset management, human resources security, physical and environmental security, communications and operations management, access control, information systems acquisition, development and maintenance, (see Systems Development Life Cycle) information security incident management, business continuity management, and regulatory compliance. Risk identification Risk identification states what could cause a potential loss; the following are to be identified: assets, primary (i.e. Business processes and related information) and supporting (i.e. hardware, software, personnel, site, organization structure) threats existing and planned security measures vulnerabilities consequence related business processes The output of sub process is made up of: list of asset and related business processes to be risk managed with associated list of threats, existing and planned security measures list of vulnerabilities unrelated to any identified threats list of incident scenarios with their consequences. Risk estimation There are two methods of risk assessment in information security field, quantitative and qualitative. Purely quantitative risk assessment is a mathematical calculation based on security metrics on the asset (system or application). For each risk scenario, taking into consideration the different risk factors a Single loss expectancy (SLE) is determined. Then, considering the probability of occurrence on a given period basis, for example the annual rate of occurrence (ARO), the Annualized Loss Expectancy is determined as the product of ARO and SLE. It is important to point out that the values of assets to be considered are those of all involved assets, not only the value of the directly affected resource. For example, if you consider the risk scenario of a Laptop theft threat, you should consider the value of the data (a related asset) contained in the computer and the reputation and liability of the company (other assets) deriving from the loss of availability and confidentiality of the data that could be involved. It is easy to understand that intangible assets (data, reputation, liability) can be worth much more than physical resources at risk (the laptop hardware in the example). Intangible asset value can be huge, but is not easy to evaluate: this can be a consideration against a pure quantitative approach. Qualitative risk assessment (three to five steps evaluation, from Very High to Low) is performed when the organization requires a risk assessment be performed in a relatively short time or to meet a small budget, a significant quantity of relevant data is not available, or the persons performing the assessment don't have the sophisticated mathematical, financial, and risk assessment expertise required. Qualitative risk assessment can be performed in a shorter period of time and with less data. Qualitative risk assessments are typically performed through interviews of a sample of personnel from all relevant groups within an organization charged with the security of the asset being assessed. Qualitative risk assessments are descriptive versus measurable. Usually a qualitative classification is done followed by a quantitative evaluation of the highest risks to be compared to the costs of security measures. Risk estimation has as input the output of risk analysis and can be split in the following steps: assessment of the consequences through the valuation of assets assessment of the likelihood of the incident (through threat and vulnerability valuation) assign values to the likelihood and consequence of the risks The output is the list of risks with value levels assigned. It can be documented in a risk register. Risks arising from security threats and adversary attacks may be particularly difficult to estimate. This difficulty is made worse because, at least for any IT system connected to the Internet, any adversary with intent and capability may attack because physical closeness or access is not necessary. Some initial models have been proposed for this problem. During risk estimation there are generally three values of a given asset, one for the loss of one of the CIA properties: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability. Risk evaluation The risk evaluation process receives as input the output of risk analysis process. It compares each risk level against the risk acceptance criteria and prioritise the risk list with risk treatment indications. NIST SP 800 30 framework To determine the likelihood of a future adverse event, threats to an IT system must be in conjunction with the potential vulnerabilities and the controls in place for the IT system. Impact refers to the magnitude of harm that could be caused by a threat's exercise of vulnerability. The level of impact is governed by the potential mission impacts and produces a relative value for the IT assets and resources affected (e.g., the criticality sensitivity of the IT system components and data). The risk assessment methodology encompasses nine primary steps: Step 1 System Characterization Step 2 Threat Identification Step 3 Vulnerability Identification Step 4 Control Analysis Step 5 Likelihood Determination Step 6 Impact Analysis Step 7 Risk Determination Step 8 Control Recommendations Step 9 Results Documentation Risk mitigation Risk mitigation, the second process according to SP 800–30, the third according to ISO 27005 of risk management, involves prioritizing, evaluating, and implementing the appropriate risk-reducing controls recommended from the risk assessment process. Because the elimination of all risk is usually impractical or close to impossible, it is the responsibility of senior management and functional and business managers to use the least-cost approach and implement the most appropriate controls to decrease mission risk to an acceptable level, with minimal adverse impact on the organization's resources and mission. ISO 27005 framework The risk treatment process aim at selecting security measures to: reduce retain avoid transfer risk and produce a risk treatment plan, that is the output of the process with the residual risks subject to the acceptance of management. There are some list to select appropriate security measures, but is up to the single organization to choose the most appropriate one according to its business strategy, constraints of the environment and circumstances. The choice should be rational and documented. The importance of accepting a risk that is too costly to reduce is very high and led to the fact that risk acceptance is considered a separate process. Risk transfer apply were the risk has a very high impact but is not easy to reduce significantly the likelihood by means of security controls: the insurance premium should be compared against the mitigation costs, eventually evaluating some mixed strategy to partially treat the risk. Another option is to outsource the risk to somebody more efficient to manage the risk. Risk avoidance describe any action where ways of conducting business are changed to avoid any risk occurrence. For example, the choice of not storing sensitive information about customers can be an avoidance for the risk that customer data can be stolen. The residual risks, i.e. the risk remaining after risk treatment decision have been taken, should be estimated to ensure that sufficient protection is achieved. If the residual risk is unacceptable, the risk treatment process should be iterated. NIST SP 800 30 framework Risk mitigation is a systematic methodology used by senior management to reduce mission risk. Risk mitigation can be achieved through any of the following risk mitigation options: Risk Assumption. To accept the potential risk and continue operating the IT system or to implement controls to lower the risk to an acceptable level Risk Avoidance. To avoid the risk by eliminating the risk cause and/or consequence (e.g., forgo certain functions of the system or shut down the system when risks are identified) Risk Limitation. To limit the risk by implementing controls that minimize the adverse impact of a threat's exercising a vulnerability (e.g., use of supporting, preventive, detective controls) Risk Planning. To manage risk by developing a risk mitigation plan that prioritizes, implements, and maintains controls Research and Acknowledgement. To lower the risk of loss by acknowledging the vulnerability or flaw and researching controls to correct the vulnerability Risk Transference. To transfer the risk by using other options to compensate for the loss, such as purchasing insurance. Address the greatest risks and strive for sufficient risk mitigation at the lowest cost, with minimal impact on other mission capabilities: this is the suggestion contained in Risk communication Risk communication is a horizontal process that interacts bidirectionally with all other processes of risk management. Its purpose is to establish a common understanding of all aspect of risk among all the organization's stakeholder. Establishing a common understanding is important, since it influences decisions to be taken. The Risk Reduction Overview method is specifically designed for this process. It presents a comprehensible overview of the coherence of risks, measures and residual risks to achieve this common understanding. Risk monitoring and review Risk management is an ongoing, never ending process. Within this process implemented security measures are regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure that they work as planned and that changes in the environment rendered them ineffective. Business requirements, vulnerabilities and threats can change over the time. Regular audits should be scheduled and should be conducted by an independent party, i.e. somebody not under the control of whom is responsible for the implementations or daily management of ISMS. IT evaluation and assessment Security controls should be validated. Technical controls are possible complex systems that are to tested and verified. The hardest part to validate is people knowledge of procedural controls and the effectiveness of the real application in daily business of the security procedures. Vulnerability assessment, both internal and external, and Penetration test are instruments for verifying the status of security controls. Information technology security audit is an organizational and procedural control with the aim of evaluating security. The IT systems of most organization are evolving quite rapidly. Risk management should cope with these changes through change authorization after risk re evaluation of the affected systems and processes and periodically review the risks and mitigation actions. Monitoring system events according to a security monitoring strategy, an incident response plan and security validation and metrics are fundamental activities to assure that an optimal level of security is obtained. It is important to monitor the new vulnerabilities, apply procedural and technical security controls like regularly updating software, and evaluate other kinds of controls to deal with zero-day attacks. The attitude of involved people to benchmark against best practice and follow the seminars of professional associations in the sector are factors to assure the state of art of an organization IT risk management practice. Integrating risk management into system development life cycle Effective risk management must be totally integrated into the SDLC. An IT system's SDLC has five phases: initiation, development or acquisition, implementation, operation or maintenance, and disposal. The risk management methodology is the same regardless of the SDLC phase for which the assessment is being conducted. Risk management is an iterative process that can be performed during each major phase of the SDLC. NIST SP 800-64 is devoted to this topic. Early integration of security in the SDLC enables agencies to maximize return on investment in their security programs, through: Early identification and mitigation of security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, resulting in lower cost of security control implementation and vulnerability mitigation; Awareness of potential engineering challenges caused by mandatory security controls; Identification of shared security services and reuse of security strategies and tools to reduce development cost and schedule while improving security posture through proven methods and techniques; and Facilitation of informed executive decision making through comprehensive risk management in a timely manner. This guide focuses on the information security components of the SDLC. First, descriptions of the key security roles and responsibilities that are needed in most information system developments are provided. Second, sufficient information about the SDLC is provided to allow a person who is unfamiliar with the SDLC process to understand the relationship between information security and the SDLC. The document integrates the security steps into the linear, sequential (a.k.a. waterfall) SDLC. The five-step SDLC cited in the document is an example of one method of development and is not intended to mandate this methodology. Lastly, SP 800-64 provides insight into IT projects and initiatives that are not as clearly defined as SDLC-based developments, such as service-oriented architectures, cross-organization projects, and IT facility developments. Security can be incorporated into information systems acquisition, development and maintenance by implementing effective security practices in the following areas. Security requirements for information systems Correct processing in applications Cryptographic controls Security of system files Security in development and support processes Technical vulnerability management Information systems security begins with incorporating security into the requirements process for any new application or system enhancement. Security should be designed into the system from the beginning. Security requirements are presented to the vendor during the requirements phase of a product purchase. Formal testing should be done to determine whether the product meets the required security specifications prior to purchasing the product. Correct processing in applications is essential in order to prevent errors and to mitigate loss, unauthorized modification or misuse of information. Effective coding techniques include validating input and output data, protecting message integrity using encryption, checking for processing errors, and creating activity logs. Applied properly, cryptographic controls provide effective mechanisms for protecting the confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of information. An institution should develop policies on the use of encryption, including proper key management. Disk Encryption is one way to protect data at rest. Data in transit can be protected from alteration and unauthorized viewing using SSL certificates issued through a Certificate Authority that has implemented a Public Key Infrastructure. System files used by applications must be protected in order to ensure the integrity and stability of the application. Using source code repositories with version control, extensive testing, production back-off plans, and appropriate access to program code are some effective measures that can be used to protect an application's files. Security in development and support processes is an essential part of a comprehensive quality assurance and production control process, and would usually involve training and continuous oversight by the most experienced staff. Applications need to be monitored and patched for technical vulnerabilities. Procedures for applying patches should include evaluating the patches to determine their appropriateness, and whether or not they can be successfully removed in case of a negative impact. Critique of risk management as a methodology Risk management as a scientific methodology has been criticized as being shallow. Major IT risk management programmes for large organizations, such as mandated by the US Federal Information Security Management Act, have been criticized. By avoiding the complexity that accompanies the formal probabilistic model of risks and uncertainty, risk management looks more like a process that attempts to guess rather than formally predict the future on the basis of statistical evidence. It is highly subjective in assessing the value of assets, the likelihood of threats occurrence and the significance of the impact. However, a better way to deal with the subject has not emerged. Risk managements methods It is quite hard to list most of the methods that at least partially support the IT risk management process. Efforts in this direction were done by: NIST Description of Automated Risk Management Packages That NIST/NCSC Risk Management Research Laboratory Has Examined, updated 1991 ENISA in 2006; a list of methods and tools is available on line with a comparison engine. Among them the most widely used are: CRAMM Developed by British government is compliant to ISO/IEC 17799, Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) EBIOS developed by the French government it is compliant with major security standards: ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 13335, ISO/IEC 15408, ISO/IEC 17799 and ISO/IEC 21287 Standard of Good Practice developed by Information Security Forum (ISF) Mehari developed by Clusif Club de la Sécurité de l'Information Français TIK IT Risk Framework developed by IT Risk Institute Octave developed by Carnegie Mellon University, SEI (Software Engineering Institute) The Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVESM) approach defines a risk-based strategic assessment and planning technique for security. IT-Grundschutz (IT Baseline Protection Manual) developed by Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) (Germany); IT-Grundschutz provides a method for an organization to establish an Information Security Management System (ISMS). It comprises both generic IT security recommendations for establishing an applicable IT security process and detailed technical recommendations to achieve the necessary IT security level for a specific domain Enisa report classified the different methods regarding completeness, free availability, tool support; the result is that: EBIOS, ISF methods, IT-Grundschutz cover deeply all the aspects (Risk Identification, Risk analysis, Risk evaluation, Risk assessment, Risk treatment, Risk acceptance, Risk communication), EBIOS and IT-Grundschutz are the only ones freely available and only EBIOS has an open source tool to support it. The Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) main document, "An Introduction to Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR)", Risk Management Insight LLC, November 2006; outline that most of the methods above lack of rigorous definition of risk and its factors. FAIR is not another methodology to deal with risk management, but it complements existing methodologies. FAIR has had a good acceptance, mainly by The Open Group and ISACA. ISACA developed a methodology, called Risk IT, to address various kind of IT related risks, chiefly security related risks. It is integrated with COBIT, a general framework to manage IT. Risk IT has a broader concept of IT risk than other methodologies, it encompasses not just only the negative impact of operations and service delivery which can bring destruction or reduction of the value of the organization, but also the benefit\value enabling risk associated to missing opportunities to use technology to enable or enhance business or the IT project management for aspects like overspending or late delivery with adverse business impact. The "Build Security In" initiative of Homeland Security Department of United States, cites FAIR. The initiative Build Security In is a collaborative effort that provides practices, tools, guidelines, rules, principles, and other resources that software developers, architects, and security practitioners can use to build security into software in every phase of its development. So it chiefly address Secure coding. In 2016, Threat Sketch launched an abbreviated cyber security risk assessment specifically for small organizations. The methodology uses real options to forecast and prioritize a fixed list of high-level threats. In the US, data and privacy legislation continue to evolve to focus on 'reasonable security' for sensitive information risk management. The goal is to ensure organizations establish their duty of care when it comes to managing data. Businesses are responsible to understand their risk posture to prevent foreseeable harm reasonable safeguards based on their specific working environment. Standards There are a number of standards about IT risk and IT risk management. For a description see the main article. Laws See also References External links Internet2 Information Security Guide: Effective Practices and Solutions for Higher Education Risk Management - Principles and Inventories for Risk Management / Risk Assessment methods and tools, Publication date: Jun 01, 2006 Authors:Conducted by the Technical Department of ENISA Section Risk Management Clusif Club de la Sécurité de l'Information Français 800-30 NIST Risk Management Guide 800-39 NIST DRAFT Managing Risk from Information Systems: An Organizational Perspective FIPS Publication 199, Standards for Security Categorization of Federal Information and Information FIPS Publication 200 Minimum Security Requirements for Federal Information and Information Systems 800-37 NIST Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems: A Security Life Cycle Approach FISMApedia is a collection of documents and discussions focused on USA Federal IT security Anderson, K. "Intelligence-Based Threat Assessments for Information Networks and Infrastructures: A White Paper", 2005. Danny Lieberman, "Using a Practical Threat Modeling Quantitative Approach for data security", 2009 Data security Information technology management Security Security compliance

18594127

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied%20Standards%20Avionics%20Architecture%20Council

Allied Standards Avionics Architecture Council

Allied Standards Avionics Architecture Council, or ASAAC, is an effort to define and validate a set of Open Architecture Standards for Avionics Architecture, particularly in the field of Integrated Modular Avionics. ASAAC is managed by the UK Ministry of Defence, and many major European Avionics companies participate in the Working group, such as: BAE Systems GE Aviation Systems (formerly Smiths Aerospace) Dassault Aviation Thales Group EADS ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH General Dynamics (UK branch) History The Allied Standard Avionics Architecture Council (ASAAC) was established by the Air Senior National Representatives of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America with the intention of reducing procurement and support costs and improving technical and operational interoperability between NATO aircraft and aircraft weapons subsystems. ASAAC Phase I: (Sept-92 to Feb-94) This part of the programme was a feasibility study researching the possibilities of a Core Avionics Architecture Concept. It defined the main objectives of: Inter-changeability, Re-usability, Portability, Technology Transparency, Fault Tolerance, Extendability [sic], Maintainability[,] etc. It also identified the concepts of the: Three Layer Software Model [Three Layer Stack] System Blueprints ASAAC Phase II: (Nov-97 to Sept-03) The ASAAC Phase II programme was sponsored by the Ministries of Defence of France, Germany, and the UK through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The French SPAé was the executive agency for the ASAAC programme and the Prime Contract was let to Dassault Thomson Avionique Modulaire (DTAM), a GIE type organisation under French company law formed on a 50-50 basis by Dassault and Thomson. The main aeronautic and electronics companies of France, Germany, and the UK took part in the ASAAC programme as sub-contractors of the DTAM GIE. The UK and German teams were the Industrial Avionics Working Group (IAWG), comprising GEC-Marconi, British Aerospace, and Smiths Industries Aerospace and Defense Systems; and the DASA ESG ASAAC Team (DEAT), comprising Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus and ESG Elektroniksystem-und Logistik-GmbH. Both teams had co-prime participant status in the programme with the DTAM. The contract was let on 18 November 1997. ASAAC Phase II - Stage 1: (Nov-97 to May-99) This was purely a paper based part of the programme in which the ASAAC Standards and Concepts were defined and documented in a series of reports. ASAAC Phase II – Stage 2: (Dec-99 to Sept-03) This was the part of the programme where the concepts and standards defined in Phase II – Stage 1 were validated through a series of demonstrations using ASAAC standard software and hardware. Standard The current ASAAC standard has two parts: Def Stan 00-74: ASAAC Standards Part 1: Standards for Software Def Stan 00-74: ASAAC Standards Part 2: Rationale Report for Software Standards ASAAC initially published provisional standards in five parts in January 2005: Def Stan 00-74: Proposed Standards for Software Def Stan 00-75: Proposed Standards for Communications/Networks Def Stan 00-76: Proposed Standards for Common Functional Modules Def Stan 00-77: Proposed Standards for Packaging Def Stan 00-78: Proposed Standards for Architecture All but Def Stan 00-74 were withdrawn in July 2007, the MOD and representatives from the Working group considering that it was the only standard bearing any influence. Proposed Standards for Software (Def Stan 00-74) Def Stan 00-74 is defined in the context of Integrated Modular Avionics. Software components are located on modules. Configuration and initialization: The configuration is considered as defined in a series of blueprints describing thread and process allocation, virtual communication channels... However, the standard does not define precisely the grammar or the language of these blueprints. As for initialization, there is no specific API to allow initialization by the low-level Real-time operating system (RTOS) services. Access to Data is abstracted from its actual physical storage. Links to ARINC 653 and POSIX The field covered by ASAAC in Def Stan 00-74 is similar to ARINC 653 (ARINC 653 is a software specification for space and time partitioning in avionics). However, there are differences between the two standards: Some features of ASAAC API, such as file handling, thread managing inside process, or debugging, are not considered in ARINC 653. However, for the part where the two standards overlap, it is often possible to translate ASAAC interfaces in ARINC 653 API calls (and even in POSIX calls). Approximately 30% of the ASAAC API is covered directly by ARINC 653 and POSIX. For example, the following call defined in ASAAC: receiveBuffer would be translated in ARINC 653 by: RECEIVE_BUFFER() and also in POSIX by: recv() Links to STANAG 4626 STANAG 4626 is a NATO standardization of the requirements defined by the ASAAC program, proposed by the MOD and the ASAAC Working group. See also Integrated Modular Avionics ARINC 653 STANAG 4626 References External links Presentation of ASAAC Working Group Open Source OS adaption layer for STANAG 4626 Aviation standards Standards organisations in the United Kingdom de:ASAAC

9965726

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study%20software

Study software

Studying in an educational context refers to the process of gaining mastery of a certain area of information. Study software then is any program which allows students to improve the time they spend thinking about, learning and studying that information. More specifically study software's objective is to increase the effective application of efficacious study skills to that information, such that thinking and learning about that information is more productive per unit time. Different subjects being studied may benefit from a different spread of study skills being applied. Mathematics requires a somewhat different set of study skills to the skill required to learn a language. Some types of study software are subject specific teachers of material and may or may not contain the information/content that requires mastery. Study software therefore is a blanket for a variety of overlapping software types. Origins Education has of course been a road to a better life and so the drive for improvement has been universal from students. Students in most United States and Nepal institutions are not taught how to study/learn specifically. Yet there is now hard evidence for some methods for study/learning being superior to others, and that there is benefit in teaching 'study skills' themselves. Study software to a degree, seeks to circumvent this problem, by causing the student to follow good practices, through the use of the software, without necessarily having to know about the background science of memory and learning. Historically the most successful types of study software include mindmapping and flashcard software programs. Both independently have been proven to improve learning. Mapping software's claimed strengths are more at the thinking end of the spectrum of study and are criticized for their lack of efficacy once the benefits of organizing information are finished. Flashcard software's strengths are more at the learning end of the spectrum of study and are criticized as being for rote learning only. A more recently arrived group is notetaking software. There are also hybrids of the above broad types available, including ones that can actually test students on their notes. Benefits Benefits that the various types of study software might confer include various mixtures of: Offers variety of different information together (picture, sound, music, diagram, ...) Improved access to variety of information - see databases Makes making notes efficient (tablet friendly 'Microsoft ink functionality', speech recognition) Notes are (made to be) easy to remember - colors, pictures, diagrams or mindmapping Use of hypertext to connect related information Testing, reviews and tracking of knowledge - 'spacing effect' Barriers Barriers to the use of study software include: Requires hardware, and in some cases electronic access to the content, and neither might be available. Some level of skill may be needed to use the hardware required by the software. Learning may be delayed by the need of skills such as typing, using a mouse, pointing on a touch-sensitive screen, or other skills required to handle the hardware. Costs of hardware, software, and salaries, combined with low budgets in some schools, may limit the availability and usefulness for the study resources. Programs don't communicate together as they could (see Unix philosophy). Self-contained programs either don't offer enough features (e.g. calculation of the spacing effect to learn faster) or offer more than they should (Software bloat). Content might differ significantly in different countries. Future A number of converging trends make it extremely likely that study software will become ubiquitous within 10 years. Supply of the enabling technologies will improve. Trends include: Improvements in battery technology, head worn sound and visual displays, input devices, speech recognition, handwriting recognition will allow mobile computing to become the norm. There are no more 'basic breakthroughs' needed in any of these areas before wearable computers become a given in the near future. Broadband access, especially wireless will mean that the normal state of affairs for a student will be to be online at a moment's notice. Ultimately the computer will be a constantly worn companion for a typical student. Demand for the service will increase. With physical goods becoming cheaper, and less labour-intensive, increasing emphasis on 'services' as a valuable labor commodity throughout the world will mean that higher and higher levels of education, with increased competition for places, will require improvements in learning efficiency that can only be brought about through the application of specialized study software to the problem. See also Computer-assisted language learning Flashcard Forgetting curve Free recall List of concept- and mind-mapping software List of flashcard software Memory Mind map Notetaking Spaced repetition Spacing effect References Burdess, N. (1998). Handbook of student skills. (2nd ed.). Sydney: Prentice Hall Farrand, P, Hussain, F, Hennessy, E (2002) "The efficacy of the 'mind map' study technique". Medical Education. 36 (issue5) p426- Glenberg A.M. (1977) "Influences or the retrieval processes on the spacing effect in free recall". Journal of Experimental Psychology 3: 282-294 Hilliary F.G et al. (2003) "Spacing of Repetitions Improves Learning and Memory After Moderate and Severe TBI". Journal of Clinical and Experimental NeuroPsychology 25(1): 49-58 (as above internet link) Hintzman D.L. (1974) "Theoretical implications of the spacing effect". In Theories in cognitive psychology: The Loyola Symposium (Ed.R.L. Solso), p. 77-99 Toppino T.C, Kasserman J.E., Mracek W.A (1991) "The effect of Spacing Repetitions on the Recognition Memory of Young Children and Adults". Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 51: 123-138 Withers, G. (1991). Tackling that test: Everything you wanted to know about taking tests and exams''. Hawthorn, Vic.: Australian Council for Educational Research. Mawonedzo, TK "make sure u mind is not somewhere else before you start studying" Educational technology Educational software

10217900

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasoned%20tradeline

Seasoned tradeline

A seasoned tradeline is a line of credit that the borrower has held open in good standing for a long period of time, typically at least two years. The "seasoned" part implies that the account is aged or that it has an established history. "Piggybacking" tradelines "Piggybacking" tradelines is a practice involving seasoned tradelines which uses a creditworthy borrower's accounts to improve the credit rating of an unrelated third party. The creditworthy borrower adds the third party as an authorized user of his lines of credit, but does not actually provide the third party with materials (credit cards, account numbers, etc.) that would permit the third party to make charges against that account. The benefit to the third party is an improvement in their personal credit rating—their credit score increases. However, this does not change their entire credit record, but merely increases their credit score as a result of the newly added tradeline. This may make the third party look like a better credit risk, and may improve the third party's access to new credit. However, a credit score is only one aspect of the lending process; that is, the borrower must pass all underwriting procedures, which include much more than the credit scores of the borrower. Opponents' views Those who oppose the concept of piggybacking would suggest that: If the third party is dealing with a lender who uses risk-based pricing, then their artificially inflated credit score may translate into a substantially lower interest rate. Artificially modifying credit scores may be considered fraudulent. It's one thing to add a friend or a relative, it's another to add a stranger for profit. Proponents' views Those who support the concept of piggybacking would suggest, in response: Risk-based pricing, relying solely on credit scores, does not truly get at the fundamental "risk" of the applicant. So, the access to lower interest rates is not affected entirely by piggybacking. Credit scores are already artificially modified; that is, it is a made-up system. There is no difference between adding an authorized user tradeline and opening a new account; they both affect your credit score. Federal law, specifically the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, provides for the addition of authorized user tradeline, without regard for the relationship between the parties. Business model A company offering the piggybacking service maintains a network of creditworthy "card holders" or "vendors" who stand by ready to add clients to their accounts as authorized users for a fee. A third party, looking to increase their credit score, contacts the company. The company offers a selected tradeline to the client and charges the client a fee per account. The client pays the fee (anywhere from $500.00 to $1,500.00 per tradeline). The company submits the order to the card holder. Once the trade line reports, the company pays the card holder their fee (anywhere from $100.00 to $400.00 per authorized user) and the company keeps the remaining funds as revenue. Each agent of the state that the agency resides in must operate as per the state Credit Repair Organization Act, and must be given a Terms a Service in the individual who has sought out to make such types of agreement(s). Legality There is no cut and dried answer regarding the many questions surrounding the legality of piggybacking, however, there are many sources that tend to indicate perhaps a general answer, such as: FTC spokesman Frank Dorman said: "What I've gathered from attorneys here is that it is legal." According to The Fair Issac Co (The creator Of the FICO Score, authorized user accounts are legal and FICO 08 will include authorized user accounts in its credit score calculations. The Fair Issac Co estimates there are approximately 50 million consumers who re-added as authorized users on other peoples accounts. A report published by the Federal Reserve Board reported "This is possible because creditors generally have followed a practice of furnishing to credit bureaus information about all authorized users, whether or not the authorized user is a spouse, without indicating which authorized users are spouses and which are not. This practice does not violate Reg. B". In a written statement from Fair Isaac Corporation on credit scoring models and credit score before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Tom Quinn, Vice President of Global Scoring Solutions for Fair Isaac Corporation, stated: "After consulting with the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year, Fair Isaac has decided to include consideration of authorized user tradelines present on the credit report..." Up front fees While the legality of piggybacking tradelines seems to remain ambiguous, there is a potential clear violation of federal law, if for example, a piggybacking company takes up front fees from their clients. Section 404 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), states: No credit repair organization may charge or receive any money or other valuable consideration for the performance of any service which the credit repair organization has agreed to perform for any consumer before such service is fully performed. Although the Federal Law appears to be clear, some States, including Florida, have enacted similar and stricter laws, requiring the use of Trust accounts for client funds and a suretybond of $10,000.00 or more. While this is indeed much stricter, it appears to allow for up front fees if the company is bonded and uses a trust account. For example, Section 817.7005, Florida Statutes states, in relevant part: ...A credit service organization, its salespersons, agents, and representatives, and independent contractors who sell or attempt to sell the services of a credit service organization shall not do any of the following: (1) Charge or receive any money or other valuable consideration prior to full and complete performance of the services the credit service organization has agreed to perform for the buyer, unless the credit service organization has obtained a surety bond of $10,000 issued by a surety company admitted to do business in this state and has established a trust account at a federally insured bank or savings and loan association located in this state; however, where a credit service organization has obtained a surety bond and established a trust account as provided herein, the credit service organization may charge or receive money or other valuable consideration prior to full and complete performance of the services it has agreed to perform for the buyer but shall deposit all money or other valuable consideration received in its trust account until the full and complete performance of the services it has agreed to perform for the buyer;... Piggybacking risks The risk to the "donor" is that the other person might actually make charges against the account, and not pay it back. The brokers who provide this service claim that they do not reveal the entire account number to the recipient, or do not themselves have access to the account number. It is possible a recipient might learn the account number in some other way, for example if it appears on his own credit report. However, this is often insufficient information to make use of the account - a PIN, expiration date, or security code is typically also required. These measures further lower the risk to the "donor". FICO 8 With FICO 8 on the horizon many brokers who used to add “authorized users” to existing credit card accounts have switched to brokering “Seasoned Primary" accounts. A “primary” account is an account in the borrower's own name. This practice is not yet tested in the courts as the lender now has no way of telling your real credit from that of the former owner who had “seasoned the account”. With an authorized user account the credit report clearly marks the account as authorized user; with this new practice, however, the lender is not alerted to the true status of the account history. Authorized user accounts are legal and will be included into credit scoring; it's a violation of Federal law to not include ALL information in a credit file while calculating a credit score. One thing is for sure, Federal Law, such as the CROA and the Federal Reserve Board Regulation B, at least indicates a permissible purpose for adding authorized user tradelines. Tradeline scams While primarily discussing credit repair, the Federal Trade Commission has written facts for consumers to assist them in avoiding scams. Some key components of these consumer facts suggest that consumers should: Ensure the company actually exists; check state government records. Ensure the company does not have serious and unresolved complaints against it. Ensure you receive a contract from the company. Ensure the contract contains your rights under federal law. Ensure you have many forms of contact for the company. References External links Credit Where None is Due? Authorized User Account Status and "Piggybacking Credit" - The U.S. Federal Reserve Board Credit card terminology

16469944

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9023%20Mnesthus

9023 Mnesthus

9023 Mnesthus is a large Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 10 September 1988, by American astronomer couple Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The dark Jovian asteroid belongs to the 100 largest Jupiter trojans and has a longer-than-average rotation period of 30.7 hours. It was named after the Trojan Mnestheus, a companion of Aeneas in Classical mythology. Orbit and classification Mnesthus is a dark Jovian asteroid in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the trailering Trojan camp at the Gas Giant's Lagrangian point, 60° behind its orbit . It is also a non-family asteroid of the Jovian background population. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.9–5.6 AU once every 11 years and 11 months (4,365 days; semi-major axis of 5.23 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery at Palomar in July 1950, more than 38 years prior to its official discovery observation. Naming This minor planet was named from Greco-Roman mythology after the Trojan Mnestheus, a companion and officer of Aeneas in Classical mythology. He is one of the wandering Aeneads who traveled to Italy after the downfall of Troy. At the funeral games for Aeneas' father, Anchises, he competes in both the sailing and the archery contests, winning second place in sailing. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 October 2000 (). Physical characteristics Mnesthus is an assumed C-type asteroid. Jovian asteroids are typically D-types, with the remainder being mostly carbonaceous C- and primitive P-type asteroids. Rotation period In August 2011, a rotational lightcurve of Mnesthus was obtained from photometric observations by Daniel Coley and Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies and GMARS , respectively. Lightcurve analysis gave a longer-than average rotation period of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.23 magnitude (). Diameter and albedo According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and the Japanese Akari satellite, Mnesthus measures 49.15 and 60.80 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.073 and 0.033, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 50.77 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.2. Notes References External links Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info ) Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (5001)-(10000) – Minor Planet Center Asteroid 9023 Mnesthus at the Small Bodies Data Ferret 009023 Discoveries by Carolyn S. Shoemaker Discoveries by Eugene Merle Shoemaker Minor planets named from Greek mythology Named minor planets 19880910

8232236

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenJDK

OpenJDK

OpenJDK (Open Java Development Kit) is a free and open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). It is the result of an effort Sun Microsystems began in 2006. The implementation is licensed under the GPL-2.0-only with a linking exception. Were it not for the GPL linking exception, components that linked to the Java class library would be subject to the terms of the GPL license. OpenJDK is the official reference implementation of Java SE since version 7. Components The OpenJDK project produces a number of components: most importantly the virtual machine (HotSpot), the Java Class Library and the Java compiler (javac). The web-browser plugin and Web Start, which form part of Oracle Java, are not included in OpenJDK. Sun previously indicated that they would try to open-source these components, but neither Sun nor Oracle have done so. The only currently available free plugin and Web Start implementations are those provided by IcedTea. OpenJDK 9+ supports AOT compilation () using GraalVM (JEP 295). The experimental flag enables the use of Graal JIT (JEP 317). OpenJDK versions OpenJDK was initially based only on the JDK 7 version of the Java platform. Since JDK 10, the effort to produce an open-source reference implementation of the Java SE Platform was moved over to the JDK Project. Unlike past JDK Release Projects, which produced just one feature release and then terminated, this long-running project will produce all future JDK feature releases and will ship a feature release every six months according to a strict, time-based model. There are several separate OpenJDK & JDK Project development branches: The JDK project release 17. The JDK project release 16. The JDK project release 15. The JDK project release 14. The JDK project release 13. The JDK project release 12. The JDK project release 11. The JDK project release 10. The OpenJDK 9 project, which is the basis for JDK 9. The OpenJDK 8u project, which is based on JDK 8 and produces updates to the existing Java 8 releases. The OpenJDK 8 project, which is the basis for JDK 8, was released on 18 March 2014. The OpenJDK 7u project, which is based on JDK 7 and produces updates to the existing Java 7 releases. The OpenJDK 6 project, which is based on JDK 7, retrofitted to provide an open-source version of Java 6. Note that Red Hat resigned leadership of OpenJDK 6 at the beginning of 2017 and this was then taken up by Azul Systems. OpenJDK builds Due to Oracle no longer releasing updates for long-term support (LTS) releases under a permissive license, others have begun offering builds for Windows. Linux distributions have always offered their own builds. IcedTea and inclusion in software distributions In order to bundle OpenJDK in Fedora and other free Linux distributions, OpenJDK needed to be buildable using only free software components. Due to the encumbered components in the class library and implicit assumptions within the build system that the JDK being used to build OpenJDK was a Sun JDK, this was not possible. To achieve openness, Red Hat started the IcedTea project in June 2007. It began life as an OpenJDK/GNU Classpath hybrid that could be used to bootstrap OpenJDK, replacing the encumbrances with code from GNU Classpath. On November 5, 2007, Red Hat signed both the Sun Contributor Agreement and the OpenJDK Community TCK License. One of the first benefits of this agreement is tighter alignment with the IcedTea project, which brings together Fedora, the Linux distribution, and JBoss, the application server, technologies in a Linux environment. IcedTea provided free software alternatives for the few remaining proprietary sections in the OpenJDK project. In May 2008, the Fedora 9 and Ubuntu 8.04 distributions included IcedTea 6, based completely on free and open source code. Fedora 9 was the first version to be shipped with IcedTea6, based on the OpenJDK6 sources from Sun rather than OpenJDK7. It was also the first to use OpenJDK for the package name (via the OpenJDK trademark agreement) instead of IcedTea. Ubuntu also first packaged IcedTea7 before later moving to IcedTea6. Packages for IcedTea6 were also created for Debian and included in Lenny. On July 12, 2008, Debian accepted OpenJDK-6 in unstable, and it later was included in stable. OpenJDK is also available on openSUSE, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and RHEL derivatives such as CentOS. In June 2008, Red Hat announced that the packaged binaries for OpenJDK on Fedora 9, built using IcedTea 6, had passed the Technology Compatibility Kit tests and could claim to be a fully compatible Java 6 implementation. In July 2009, an IcedTea 6 binary build for Ubuntu 9.04 passed all of the compatibility tests in the Java SE 6 TCK. Since August 2008, OpenJDK 7 is usable on macOS and other BSD variants. On Android Nougat, OpenJDK replaced the now-discontinued Apache Harmony as the Java libraries in the source code of the mobile operating system. Google was in a legal dispute with Oracle over claims of copyright and patent infringement through its use of re-implementations of copyrighted Java APIs via Harmony. While also stating that this change was to create a more consistent platform between Java on Android and other platforms, the company admitted that the switch was motivated by the lawsuit, arguing that Oracle had authorized its use of the OpenJDK code by licensing it under the GPL. History Sun's promise and initial release Sun announced in JavaOne 2006 that Java would become open-source software, and on October 25, 2006, at the Oracle OpenWorld conference, Jonathan Schwartz said that the company intended to announce the open-sourcing of the core Java Platform within 30 to 60 days. Sun released the Java HotSpot virtual machine and compiler as free software under the GNU General Public License on November 13, 2006, with a promise that the rest of the JDK (which includes the Java Runtime Environment) would be placed under the GPL by March 2007, "except for a few components that Sun does not have the right to publish in source form under the GPL". According to free-software advocate Richard Stallman, this would end the "Java trap", the vendor lock-in that he argues applied to Java and programs written in Java. Release of the class library Following their promise to release a Java Development Kit (JDK) based almost completely on free and open-source code in the first half of 2007, Sun released the complete source code of the Java Class Library under the GPL on May 8, 2007, except for some limited parts that had been licensed to Sun by third parties and Sun was unable to re-license under the GPL. Included in the list of encumbered parts were several major components of the Java graphical user interface (GUI). Sun stated that it planned to replace the remaining proprietary components with alternative implementations and to make the class library completely free. When initially released in May 2007, 4% of the OpenJDK class library remained proprietary. By the appearance of OpenJDK 6 in May 2008, less than 1% (the SNMP implementation, which is not part of the Java specification) remained, making it possible to build OpenJDK without any binary plugs. The binary plug requirement was later dropped from OpenJDK 7 as part of b53 in April 2009. This was made possible, over the course of the first year, by the work of Sun Microsystems and the OpenJDK community. Each encumbrance was either released as free and open-source software or replaced with an alternative. Beginning in December 2010, all the so-called binary plugs were replaced by open-source replacements, making the whole JDK open sourced and the binary plugs not necessary anymore. Community improvements On November 5, 2007, Red Hat announced an agreement with Sun, signing Sun's broad contributor agreement (which covers participation in all Sun-led free and open-source software projects by all Red Hat engineers) and Sun's OpenJDK Community Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) License Agreement (which gives the company access to the test suite that determines whether a project based on OpenJDK complies with the Java SE 6 specification). Also in November 2007, the Porters Group was created on OpenJDK to aid in efforts to port OpenJDK to different processor architectures and operating systems. The BSD porting project led by Kurt Miller and Greg Lewis and the Mac OS X porting project (based on the BSD one) led by Landon Fuller have expressed interest in joining OpenJDK via the Porters Group. As of January 2008, both are part of the mailing list discussions. Another project pending formalization on the Porters Group is the Haiku Java Team led by Bryan Varner. In December 2007, Sun moved the revision control of OpenJDK from TeamWare to Mercurial (and later to Git and GitHub), as part of the process of releasing it to open-source communities. OpenJDK has comparatively strict procedures of accepting code contributions: every proposed contribution must be reviewed by another OpenJDK committer and the contributor must have signed the Sun/Oracle Contributor Agreement (SCA/OCA). Preferably, there should also be a jtreg test demonstrating the bug has been fixed. Initially, the external patch submission process was slow and, until September 2008, commits to the codebase were only made by Sun engineers. The process has improved and, , simple patches and backports from OpenJDK 7 to OpenJDK 6 can take place within hours rather than days. In 2011, an unofficial port of OpenJDK 6.0 to OS/2 was first released. This port is included in the OS/2 derivative ArcaOS. On 25 September 2013, Microsoft and Azul Systems collaborated to create Zulu, a build of OpenJDK for users of the Windows Azure cloud. Zulu is available as a free download from the community site Zulu.org. It is also possible to get Zulu on Amazon Web Services via Canonical's Juju Charm Store, the Docker Hub, and Azul Systems repositories. Azul contributes bug fixes and enhancements back to the OpenJDK project and has several project committers on staff. Since April 2016 there are unsupported community builds of OpenJDK for Microsoft Windows on GitHub in the project ojdkbuild which are released in pace with updates for Oracle JDK. From build 8u151 on, the MSI-installer offers an optional component for using Java Web Start based on the IcedTea-Web project. In 2020, a port of OpenJDK 8 to OpenVMS on the Itanium platform was released. The number of external contributions to OpenJDK is growing since project inception. OpenJDK 11, released in September 2018, received 20% of external fixes and brought 17 new JEPs (features), out of which 3 were contributed by the community. Namely, JEP 315: "Improve Aarch64 Intrinsics" (contributed by BellSoft), JEP 318: "Epsilon: A No-Op Garbage Collector" (by Red Hat) and JEP 331: "Low-Overhead Heap Profiling" (contributed by Google). Collaboration with IBM, Apple, and SAP On October 11, 2010, IBM, by far the biggest participant in the Apache Harmony project, decided to join Oracle on the OpenJDK project, effectively shifting its efforts from Harmony to OpenJDK. Bob Sutor, IBM's head of Linux and open source, blogged that "IBM will be shifting its development effort from the Apache Project Harmony to OpenJDK". On November 12, 2010, Apple Inc. (just three weeks after deprecating its own Java runtime port) and Oracle Corporation announced the OpenJDK project for Mac OS X. Apple will contribute most of the key components, tools and technology required for a Java SE 7 implementation on Mac OS X, including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack and the foundation for a new graphical client. On January 11, 2011, the Mac OS X Port Project was created on OpenJDK, and Apple made the first public contribution of code to the project. The initial Apple contribution built on the OpenJDK BSD port. In July 2011, SAP AG announced that SAP officially joined the OpenJDK project. See also Free Java implementations References External links Main site OpenJDK builds from Oracle OpenJDK builds from Red Hat OpenJDK builds from AdoptOpenJDK Microsoft Build of OpenJDK Java in 2018: Change is the Only Constant Keynote by Mark Reinhold Zero and Shark: a Zero-Assembly Port of OpenJDK OpenJDK official source code Free software programmed in C++ Free software programmed in Java (programming language) Free virtualization software Java (programming language) Java (programming language) libraries Java virtual machine Oracle software

5356051

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison%20of%20file%20systems

Comparison of file systems

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of file systems. General information Limits Metadata Features File capabilities Block capabilities Note that in addition to the below table, block capabilities can be implemented below the file system layer in Linux (LVM, integritysetup, cryptsetup) or Windows (Volume Shadow Copy Service, SECURITY), etc. Resize capabilities Allocation and layout policies OS support See also List of file systems List of file archivers Comparison of file archivers List of archive formats Comparison of archive formats Notes References Linux kernel file systems via Wikia:en.howto:Wikihowto External links A speed comparison of filesystems on Linux 2.4.5 (archived) Filesystems (ext3, reiser, xfs, jfs) comparison on Debian Etch (April 23, 2006) Block allocation strategies of various filesystems What are the (dis)advantages of ext4, ReiserFS, JFS, and XFS? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange File systems

46880741

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark%3A%20Survival%20Evolved

Ark: Survival Evolved

Ark: Survival Evolved (stylized as ARK) is a 2017 action-adventure survival video game developed by Studio Wildcard. In the game, players must survive being stranded on an island filled with roaming dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, natural hazards, and potentially hostile human players. The game is played from either a third-person or first-person perspective and its open world is navigated on foot or by riding a prehistoric animal. Players can use firearms and improvised weapons to defend against hostile humans and creatures, with the ability to build bases as defense on the ground and on some creatures. The game has both single-player and multiplayer options. Multiplayer allows the option to form tribes of members in a server. The max number of tribe mates varies from each server. In this mode all tamed dinosaurs and building structures are usually shared between the members. There is a PvE mode where players cannot fight each other. Development began in October 2014, where it was first released on PC as an early access title in the middle of 2015. The development team conducted research into the physical appearance of the animals, but took creative license for gameplay purposes. Instinct Games, Efecto Studios, and Virtual Basement were hired to facilitate the game's development. The game was released in August 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux, with versions for Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch in 2018, and a version for Stadia in 2021. Ark: Survival Evolved received generally mixed reviews, with criticism for its "punishing" difficulty, reliance on grinding, and performance issues, particularly on the Nintendo Switch version. Several expansions to the game have been released as downloadable content. The game begot two spin-off games in March 2018—virtual reality game Ark Park and sandbox survival game PixArk—and two companion apps: A-Calc in October 2015, and Dododex in August 2017. Gameplay Ark: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival game set in an open world environment with a dynamic day-night cycle and played either from a third-person or first-person perspective. To survive, players must establish a base, with a fire and weapons; additional activities, such as taming and feeding dinosaurs, require more resources. The game's world, known as the "Ark", is approximately in size: there is approximately of land with of ocean. There are currently 176 creatures that populate the world of Ark. In the early versions of the game, nearly all creatures were real dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, however, as the storyline progressed, mythical creatures such as the wyvern, griffin, golem, and phoenix were added. As expansions were released, completely original creatures, such as the Karkinos and the Velonasaur also made their way into the game as well as original robotic creatures such as the Enforcer and Scout. One of the primary game mechanics of the game is taming creatures. The majority of creatures can be tamed by the player, though some, such as Meganeura or Titanomyrma, cannot. The taming method varies creature by creature. Most creatures are "violent" tames, meaning the players must knock the creature out using tranquilizer projectiles like tranq darts or by using blunt weapons, such as a club. Oftentimes players will need to keep the dinosaur sedated for the duration of the tame. Some dinosaurs take longer than others to tame, therefore require more narcotics. Players are able to use narcoberries, or craft narcotics from narcoberries and spoiled meat. Once knocked out, the player must feed the creature their preferred food, such as berries for herbivores or raw meat for carnivores. Different foods help tame animals at varying speeds. Most creatures tame most effectively — and quickest — with a food called Kibble, which is an item crafted using eggs from another creature. Some creatures can also be tamed passively, by approaching them and carefully giving them food. Once a creature is tamed, it will follow the commands of the player who tamed them. As well, most creatures can be ridden, and therefore allow the player to utilize the creature's abilities, such as flight or fast underwater movement. When riding atop certain creatures, players may still be able to use weapons. They can also be used to carry items, and players can issue offensive and defensive commands to them; for example, a pack of Utahraptors can be assigned to defend the base, or a group of Triceratops can be ordered to attack an enemy's base. Some of the larger creatures, such as a Brontosaurus or Mosasaurus, can have a building platform placed on their back, giving players a mobile, though small, base. The game also features various other animals, such as the dodo, saber-toothed tiger, woolly mammoth, Meganeura, Titanomyrma, and Doedicurus. Every creature in the game has living ecosystems and predator hierarchies. Players must keep track of various meters, such as health, stamina, oxygen, hunger, thirst, and "weight", or how much they can carry. Should players take damage, their health meter will gradually regenerate if they have consumed the necessary food, or if they craft items that regenerate the health meter at a faster pace. Otherwise, a player's health meter will gradually regenerate slowly over time. Players can gain experience through harvesting materials, crafting, killing, or discovering explorer notes. Once the player has obtained enough experience, they will gain a level point, which can be spent improving one of the player's stats, which include max health, max stamina, max oxygen, max food meter, max water meter, max carry weight, melee damage, movement speed, and crafting speed. As of June 2020, the maximum player level is 105, an additional 60 levels to be gained by defeating end-game bosses, 5 acquired by levelling up a chibi (cosmetic pet obtain through an in-game event) and 10 extra levels through obtaining all of the explorer notes throughout the base game and all the DLC. Tamed creatures can also gain experience and level points, which can be spent on similar stats. Creatures spawn into the game at levels ranging from 1 to 150, and, when tamed, can gain up to 75 more levels by gaining experience. There are also dinosaurs which can be tamed at a higher level, the tek dinosaurs. These spawn at a maximum level of 180. There are specific varieties of creatures, for instance, the Rock Drake, or the Wyvern variants, which are able to spawn up to level 190, but they are untameable in the wild, and instead must be hatched from their respective egg. Players can build structures throughout the world. To build a base, players must acquire structure components—such as floors, doors and windows built with the resources littered throughout the world—which are earned as they progress and gain levels, then collect the necessary materials to make them. These components can then be crafted and placed in the world. Players can create any structure, as long as they have the logistics and resources; the structural integrity of the building is compromised when the pillars and foundations are destroyed. Structures can be built from various tiers of materials, with better tiers providing more protection, but costing more resources to create. Players start out by creating thatch structures, then moving on to wood, stone, metal, and finally tek, a futuristic and late-game material. There are also glass structures that can be used to gain a greenhouse effect on plants grown inside. Adobe structures block heat from outside for an ideal temperature in the building. Players can also craft items in the game, such as weapons, by collecting the resources and technology required for crafting. In addition, players can craft and attach accessories to their weapons, such as a scope or flashlight for a pistol or assault rifle. Development Preliminary work on Ark: Survival Evolved began in October 2014. Studio Wildcard, the Seattle-based team behind the game, co-opted Egypt-based developer Instinct Games to facilitate development; Efecto Studios and Virtual Basement later assisted development. When researching for information about the game's prehistoric species, the development team read "general audience books" and online articles, and sought assistance from friends who studied in the fields in biological sciences. When creating the species and world, the team took creative license for gameplay purposes, although there is an in-game reason that the species have diverged from their historical counterparts. Many of the development team members were inspired by dinosaur films such as Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time. The team added features to the game that would appeal to all players, as opposed to specifically players of the survival genre, such as the ability to simply explore the island and compete against large bosses, as a reward for uncovering secrets of the island. They also added an end-game for players to strive towards, as they felt that most survival games lack a final goal. They wanted to "provide a depth and scope that allows for the world to not just be a means to an end [...] but also a place to explore", said creative director Jesse Rapczak. The game, powered by Unreal Engine 4, contains "tens of thousands" of artificial intelligence entities, according to Rapczak. It also features support for virtual reality (VR) gameplay; Rapczak, who has almost three years of experience with head-mounted displays, described the game as being designed with VR in mind from the beginning. The game was initially released through Steam Early Access for Microsoft Windows on June 2, 2015, shortly before the theatrical release of Jurassic World later that month. Rapczak said that the game's release was scheduled to take advantage of the "dino fever" that was present with the film's imminent release. The game subsequently received an Early Access release for Linux and OS X on July 1, 2015, and through the Xbox Game Preview Program for Xbox One on December 16, 2015; a PlayStation 4 version was released on December 6, 2016. The final game launched on August 29, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One; it was originally intended for release in June 2016, but was delayed in April. The game launched with support for Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, and the Xbox One version was released via the ID@Xbox program. The standard version was released alongside an "Explorer's Edition", which included a season pass with three expansions, and the "Collector's Edition", which included a season pass as well as, a necklace, a map, a notebook, a development team poster, a wooden chest packaging, and the game's official soundtrack. Android and iOS versions were released on June 14, 2018, and a Nintendo Switch version was released on November 30, 2018. A Stadia version was announced by Google in October 2020, originally scheduled for release in early 2021; it was released on September 1. An enhanced version of the game will be accessible on Xbox Series X and Series S, featuring increased details, resolution, and draw distance. Game modes On March 16, 2016, the Survival of the Fittest game mode was released in early access as a free standalone game with no microtransactions; it was scheduled to fully launch in mid 2016, but was eventually merged back to the main game as the development team did not wish to monetize on its release, and wanted to ensure that modders can apply the development kit of Survival Evolved to create mods for Survival of the Fittest. There will be various eSports tournaments of the game mode, with a prize pool of US$50,000. Players who played Survival of the Fittest before it was merged back into the main game can continue to play the game without paying an extra cost, while new players must pay before getting access to it. It will be available for every player who purchases the main game. On March 25, 2019, game developers announced a new mode of gameplay: Classic PVP. The new game mode was made available on PC April 2, 2019. The update aims to revert the PVP meta back to the younger days of Ark via clustered servers with limitations such as: no official tribe alliances, limits to tribe size, lack of evolution events, un-tame-able Tek dinos, no access to Aberration and Extinction content, no Tek Engrams and reduced scaling of weapon damage. Expansions On September 1, 2016, Studio Wildcard released the paid downloadable content (DLC) Scorched Earth. The expansion includes a new, desert map as well as several desert-themed resources and items. It also features new creatures, some of which are fictional, like the Wyvern and the Rock Elemental (based on the Golem). Some of the new creatures are not tameable, such as the Jug Bug, a fictional grasshopper-like insect equipped with a fluid-storing pouch on its back that stores water or oil. Scorched Earth has three unique weather patterns: Sandstorms radically reduce visibility and drain stamina, Superheat will drain your water at a much faster rate than normal heat and induce Heat Stroke fairly quickly, while electrical storms will temporarily shut down electrical devices and prevent firearms (and Tek Saddles) from firing. The release of paid DLC for a game still in early access caused negative reaction among players of the game, resulting in many negative reviews on Steam right after the expansion launch. On December 12, 2017, the paid DLC Aberration was released, adding a new underground/alien-themed map and 15 new alien/underground themed creatures, such as a feathered dragon like creature known as a Rock Drake, which is capable of turning itself and its rider invisible. The Reaper, a xenomorph like creature with acidic abilities and "chestbuster" like reproductive cycle. The Ravager, a hairless canine predator that is capable of climbing up zip lines and vines. And the Nameless, chupacabra like creatures that are not tameble but act as enemies. The Nameless are hard to kill but they have some weaknesses, a weapon known as a "Charge Lantern" which can fend them off and "Light Pets" shoulder-mounted creatures that weaken the Nameless. new items are also added, such as climbing hooks and glider suits to navigate the hostile terrain. The largest map in terms of playable area, Aberration also allowed players to continue the story line of Ark and discover more of the truth about the Ark worlds. On November 6, 2018, the third paid DLC expansion, Extinction was published by Snail Games USA. The expansion takes place on a future, dystopian Earth that has been corrupted by "Element"; various creatures have been infected by this Element and will attack the player regardless of their normal behavior. The DLC introduced a new mechanic to the game: PVE events in which the player must defend either orbital supply drops from space or Element mineral veins for loot and resources, respectively. New creatures are also introduced, both organic and technological, such as the Gasbags; an evolved tardigrade that can inflate itself and blast gas, or take flight. The Enforcer; a robotic lizard that is capable of teleportation. The final bosses of Extinction are called "Titans", powerful, giant, fictional creatures that are several magnitudes larger than any other creature in the game, and that can either be killed or temporarily tamed. On February 25, 2020, the fourth paid DLC expansion, Genesis Part 1 was published by Snail Games USA. This expansion takes place in a simulation allowing player to travel to 5 mini maps. Each mini map will be a different biome. The different biomes include an alien bog, A large frigid arctic landscape, A very large ocean biome, A large volcanic hell scape, home to an active volcano, and the high orbit of outer space itself with low gravity. The new expansion adds new resources, items, and 5 new tameable creatures. This includes creatures such as the Magmasaur, a bearded dragon fused with magma that can use fire-based attacks, as well as the Ferox, a four armed, lemur-like creature that transforms into a larger, more aggressive version of itself (similar to a werewolf). During Genesis Part 1, players will discover the story with a new AI like companion, HLN-A (Helena). The Genesis DLC adds new missions for players across the simulations that grants graded loots. The fifth and final paid DLC expansion, Genesis Part 2 was teased on November 7, 2020. It was released on June 3, 2021. The map is set aboard the massive Genesis-Ship, a colony ship that is traveling through deep space looking for a new habitable planet for humanity. The ship has two rings; on the right side is a regular ring filled with plateaus, mountains, rivers, and waterfalls, providing all necessary resources needed for survival. The left side is a corrupted ring that is a aberrant and twisted alien like-region. The expansion features six new tameable creatures, such as the Shadowmane, a lion/lionfish hybrid that can teleport and can turn itself invisible. The Noglin, a small, alien like-creature that has a split jaw which is capable of controlling the minds of survivors and other creatures. And the Stryder, a robotic hoofed animal that has many attachments that can used for harvesting or for combat. New missions, weapons, and structures also appear. Unlike other maps, Genesis: Part 2 is more story-oriented, which fallows the player and HLN-A(voiced by Madeleine Madden) protecting the Genesis ship from Sir Edmund Rockwell (voiced by David Tennant), a mutated survivor who trying to takeover the colony ship for his own intentions. Reception Ark: Survival Evolved received "mixed or average" reviews for the Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions, while the Switch version received "generally unfavourable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. TJ Hafer's 7.7/10 review on IGN stated that "When I'm having a good time in Ark, I'm having a really good time. The problem is that those moments are usually one part to every nine parts menial grinding and crafting – especially at the later tech tiers. Having to repeat so much work after failing an attempt at a boss feels far too punishing, and some really dumb dinosaurs can take a lot of the challenge and sense of danger out of the many primal locations. Even with all of those quirks, however, I'm still hungry to play more after the 60 hours I've spent so far. There aren't a lot of survival games that have legitimately held my attention that long." GameSpot gave the game a 6/10, saying: "This outstanding sense of place and mood is offset by the sheer difficulty of everything that you have to do, the spectacular amounts of time necessary to experience even a tenth of what the game has to offer, and the randomness of death constantly destroying everything that you have built." Ian Birnbaum of PC Gamer gave the game a score of 72/100, stating it to be "a bloated, grindy mess, but so packed with options that a better game is hidden inside it." The Switch version was panned by critics for being notably downgraded in order for it to adequately run on the console, being criticized for its low resolution and frame rate, minimal level of detail, blurry texturing, low poly models, stability issues, and loading times. Eurogamer likened the port to a "poorly compressed JPEG version of an impressionist painting". Sales Within a month of its early access release on Steam, Ark had sold over one million copies. By August 2016, the game had over 5.5 million sales across both Windows and Xbox One, with about 1.5 million from the Xbox One platform. Co-founder Jesse Rapczak explained that the release of the Genesis expansions was partially due to the unexpected market success of Extinction and the season pass, and partially due to his belief that the storyline of ARK could be expanded upon. Sequel and spin-offs Two spin-off games developed by Snail Games' Peacock Studio and Snail Games USA, respectively, were released in March 2018: Ark Park, a virtual reality game, and PixARK, a sandbox survival game. A sequel, Ark II, was announced at The Game Awards 2020. The game will star Vin Diesel. Animated series An animated series based on the games was announced at The Game Awards 2020. It will feature Madeleine Madden, Michelle Yeoh, Gerard Butler, Jeffrey Wright, David Tennant, Zahn McClarnon, Devery Jacobs, Ragga Ragnars, Elliot Page, Karl Urban, Malcolm McDowell, Deborah Mailman, Juliet Mills, Alan Tudyk, Ron Yuan, Russell Crowe and Vin Diesel. Notes References External links 2017 video games Action-adventure games Android (operating system) games Dinosaurs in video games Early access video games IOS games Linux games Multiplayer and single-player video games Oculus Rift games Open-world video games MacOS games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games PlayStation VR games Science fantasy video games Stadia games Video games with Steam Workshop support Survival video games Unreal Engine games Video games developed in Egypt Video games developed in the United States Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender Video games scored by Gareth Coker Video games set on islands Video games with cross-platform play Video games with downloadable content Video games with expansion packs Video games using procedural generation Video games with user-generated gameplay content Windows games Xbox Cloud Gaming games Xbox One games Xbox Play Anywhere games Xbox One X enhanced games

5850402

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC%20Helenes

USC Helenes

The USC Helenes, founded in 1921, is the University of Southern California's oldest all-female service organization. Known as the Official Hostesses of USC, the Helenes strive to embody the five attributes of the ideal Trojan (faithful, scholarly, skillful, ambitious and courageous—inscribed on the Trojan Shrine) and are prominent within the university and the Los Angeles community for their acts of service. The USC Helenes' vision statement is "Unity, Service, Commitment." History In 1921 Arabella De Oliviera established the USC Helenes as an all-female service organization. Originally the Helenes were called the Amazons and membership was reserved for upper classmen. The lower classmen involved were divided into two groups: the Chimes and the Spurs. When the Amazons changed their name in 1969 to the "Helenes," the three separate branches became one, unified organization. The name change was implemented to keep with the Trojan theme of the University and was inspired by the iconic Helen of Troy. The organization recently celebrated 98 years of service and tradition at USC and continues to be a presence on campus and in the surrounding LA area. After the unveiling of the statue of Hecuba in the USC Village, the Helenes began guarding the statue as part of "rivalry week" activities surrounding the annual game against UCLA. As of Fall 2016, Erica Lovano McCann serves as the Helenes faculty advisor. References External links USC Helenes homepage Helenes

24892119

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encore%2C%20Inc.

Encore, Inc.

Encore Software, LLC ("Encore") is a Delaware limited liability company focused on software sales, distribution and software development. In November 2008, Encore announced an expanded license with Riverdeep. Under the terms of the agreement Encore now manages the Broderbund family of products as well as Broderbund's direct to consumer business. In May 2010, Encore acquired the assets of Punch! Software Previously, Encore was a wholly owned subsidiary of WYNIT Distribution, LLC which acquired the majority of Encore's assets from Speed Commerce, Inc. (previously Navarre Corporation) on approximately July 9, 2014. Navarre Corporation, had initially acquired Encore's assets from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in August 2002. As a result of bankruptcy case 17-42726 of WYNIT Distribution, LLC, substantially all of Encore's assets were sold at auction on November 9, 2017, to Sereno Ventures, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, with offices in San Francisco Bay Area, California. Shortly after the sale Encore's main office in Eden Prairie, Minnesota was closed. Encore continues to operate a sales call center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, while technical support and software development is managed by senior management in the US with the help of offshore staff in Lahore, Pakistan. Titles Among the brands published by Encore for the retail market: Punch! Home Design Software Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Broderbund and The Learning Company: distributes primarily through the Broderbund website owned by Encore. Series include Adventure Workshop, Carmen Sandiego, ClickArt, Disney Fun & Skills, Mavis Beacon, Oregon Trail, The Print Shop, PrintMaster, and Reader Rabbit. Hoyle Card Games, Hoyle Casino and Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune PC/Mac games PlayFirst titles Runic Games' Torchlight: distributed to the North American retail market by Encore Panda Security software WildTangent games, including Fate: The Traitor Soul References External links Software companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Software companies of the United States

13491002

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei%20E220

Huawei E220

The Huawei E220 is a Huawei HSDPA access device (modem) manufactured by Huawei and notable for using the USB interface (USB modem). Technically it is a modem, USB and (due to the CDfs format) virtual CD-ROM device. Launched on 21 June 2006, the device is used for wireless Internet access using 3.5G, 3G, or 2G mobile telephony networks. It supports UMTS (including HSDPA), EDGE, GPRS and GSM. E220 works well with Linux, as support for it was added in Linux kernel 2.6.20 (2007-02-04), but there are workarounds for distributions with older kernels. The card is also supported by Vodafone Mobile Connect Card driver for Linux, and it is possible to monitor the signal strength through other Linux applications. Most 3G network operators bundle the device with a contract, with some operators simlocking the device. Unlocked and unbranded modems can also be bought from independent suppliers. Features The device contains not only the cellular antenna but also about 22 MB (10 MB on older versions) of storage memory accessible to the operating system as a USB mass storage device formatted with CDfs, thus emulating a CD-ROM drive. In this memory, E220 devices supplied by mobile operators may contain 3G dialer software written by the operator, while Huawei-branded devices contain Huawei's original dialing software, which they call 'Dashboard'. Huawei's Dashboard and updates for it are also available from Huawei's website, or the 11.313.02.00.01 firmware for 7.2 Mbit/s from NetCom (in reality 'flashing' this device means writing a firmware image to its internal flash memory, which is different from "updating the dashboard", which is simply writing a new CDFS disc image to the USB mass storage device that appears in the operating system). Flashing the firmware of this device doesn't change the USB Mass Storage memory used for the operator's software, therefore connection settings (such as APN) will be retained. When the device is first attached, Windows will automatically run the software stored on it, unless that feature has been turned off in Windows. This feature can be bypassed by pressing the Shift key while attaching the device, or by turning off the autostart feature entirely. It is possible to remove the operator branding by flashing the device with Huawei's Mobile Partner software. Huawei does not publicly release firmware updates for its devices, only Dashboard updates. The standard way of obtaining firmware updates is through the service provider, however some firmware updates are publicly available over the Internet and some users have cross-flashed (i.e. using a firmware provided by service provider "X" with modem supplied by service provider "Y") their modems without trouble. Updating the modem's Dashboard does not remove or affect the network-lock (that may be in effect with modems purchased subsidized from a service provider) that prevents you from using the modem with any service provider. However updating the modem's firmware may remove this network-unlock or even the opposite, turn a network-unlock free modem into an unlocked one. Hardware The E220 connects to the computer with a standard Mini USB cable. The device comes with two cables, one short and one long. The long one has two USB A interfaces, one used for data and power and the other optionally only for assistance power in case the computer is not able to provide the full 500 mA (milliamperes) required for the device to work from one USB interface only. If the connection is frequently disrupted or is unstable (or usable at slow speeds only), the two plug USB cable should be used instead. The E220 antenna is internal; the USB cable does not act as an antenna. The external antenna connector is not accessible without opening the device (voiding any warranty). It is still possible to connect an external antenna without opening the device and using the (internal) external antenna connector, which together with the use of a high gain antenna like an LPDA or an OMNI booster antenna and an adapter, can considerably improve signal strength. Another cheap and functional way of connecting an external antenna is to open the modem, remove the small internal antenna, and solder a UMTS-antenna cable onto the board, though this invalidates the warranty. Software The Huawei E220 includes its own Windows software in its internal memory, which self-installs through the Windows's auto-start feature and can be flashed (overwritten) by the end user. The standard software by Huawei is called Mobile Partner and is indicated by the code UTPS. Some network operators selling the E220, however, replace Huawei's software with their own, which often is software-locked (albeit not SIM-locked) to work only with the operator's own network. End-users can use also third-party open source software PyHumod or freeware MWconn. Since the release of Windows 7 users have reported a number of issues that require a firmware upgrade to the modem. Huawei have released new firmware to the operators, who have generally made it available on their websites. The firmware upgrade must be carried out from a machine running Windows XP or Windows Vista and which can see the modem. Once this is complete Windows 7 can see and use the modem. The following operator(s) are known to replace Huawei's software with their own: BASE eplus (Germany), BT Business (UK), Claro (Americas), Dialog Axiata (Sri Lanka), Drei (Austria), Metfone (Cambodia), MTS (Russia), Mobilkom Austria (Austria) - uses software from Austrian software vendor mquadr.at for both its brands A1 and Bob. Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Movistar (Spain, Argentina), MTC (Namibia), MTN (Uganda), MTN SA (South Africa), mt:s (Serbia), Multilinks TeleKoms (Nigeria), Nawras (Oman), Optimus Telecomunicações (Portugal), Orange Austria, Orange Belgium, Play Mobile (Poland), Safaricom (Kenya), Sun Cellular (Philippines), Swisscom (Switzerland), Telkomsel & Axis (Indonesia) (but not sim-locked), Three (Australia, Austria, Italy, UK, Sweden), T-Mobile Austria, Turkcell (Turkey), Visafone (Nigeria), VIVA (Kuwait), Vodacom SA (South Africa), Vodafone - Vodafone puts on its E220 (Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem) its Windows Vodafone Mobile Connect Lite software, which is a lighter version of Vodafone Mobile Connect. In Windows it uses the executable VodafoneUSBPP.exe. This device is also supported in Linux, using Vodafone Mobile Connect Card driver for Linux, which can be downloaded from Vodafone Betavine. - Vodafone in New Zealand markets the Huawei D220 as the Vodem. - Vodafone in Fiji markets the Huawei Modem as the Flashnet. WIND Greece, Zain (Nigeria), Zain (Sudan). Operating systems Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7 Mac OS X v10.2.6 Jaguar or higher Linux 2.6.20 or higher. One can use wvdial or NetworkManager with this modem in Linux. FreeBSD OpenBSD OpenSolaris AROS Poseidon stack Similar modems HSDPA: ZTE MF620 VigSys VM10 Huawei E160 (E160E, E160G, E160X, K3565) Huawei E169 HSUPA: Novatel Ovation MC950D Huawei E270 See also Cellular broadband Cellular coverage Ethernet over USB Mobile Broadband Configuration Assistant (MBCA) for NetworkManager. Mobile Internet NetworkManager Nexus Hawk SIM cloning SMA connector wvdial Wi-Fi WiMAX References External links Manufacturer's homepage E220 User Manual E220 Mac OS X Settings (Russian) E172 Mac OS X Settings: should work for E220 too (French) Modems Huawei products

4211

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping

In general, bootstrapping usually refers to a self-starting process that is supposed to continue or grow without external input. Etymology Tall boots may have a tab, loop or handle at the top known as a bootstrap, allowing one to use fingers or a boot hook tool to help pulling the boots on. The saying "to " was already in use during the 19th century as an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, when it appeared in the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots." In 1860 it appeared in a comment on philosophy of mind: "The attempt of the mind to analyze itself [is] an effort analogous to one who would lift himself by his own bootstraps." Bootstrap as a metaphor, meaning to better oneself by one's own unaided efforts, was in use in 1922. This metaphor spawned additional metaphors for a series of self-sustaining processes that proceed without external help. The term is sometimes attributed to a story in Rudolf Erich Raspe's The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but in that story Baron Munchausen pulls himself (and his horse) out of a swamp by his hair (specifically, his pigtail), not by his bootstraps and no explicit reference to bootstraps has been found elsewhere in the various versions of the Munchausen tales. Applications Computing In computer technology, the term bootstrapping refers to language compilers that are able to be coded in the same language. (For example, a C compiler is now written in the C language. Once the basic compiler is written, improvements can be iteratively made, thus pulling the language up by its bootstraps). Also, booting usually refers to the process of loading the basic software into the memory of a computer after power-on or general reset, the kernel will load the operating system which will then take care of loading other device drivers and software as needed. Software loading and execution Booting is the process of starting a computer, specifically with regard to starting its software. The process involves a chain of stages, in which at each stage, a smaller, simpler program loads and then executes the larger, more complicated program of the next stage. It is in this sense that the computer "pulls itself up by its bootstraps"; i.e., it improves itself by its own efforts. Booting is a chain of events that starts with execution of hardware-based procedures and may then hand-off to firmware and software which is loaded into main memory. Booting often involves processes such as performing self-tests, loading configuration settings, loading a BIOS, resident monitors, a hypervisor, an operating system, or utility software. The computer term bootstrap began as a metaphor in the 1950s. In computers, pressing a bootstrap button caused a hardwired program to read a bootstrap program from an input unit. The computer would then execute the bootstrap program, which caused it to read more program instructions. It became a self-sustaining process that proceeded without external help from manually entered instructions. As a computing term, bootstrap has been used since at least 1953. Software development Bootstrapping can also refer to the development of successively more complex, faster programming environments. The simplest environment will be, perhaps, a very basic text editor (e.g., ed) and an assembler program. Using these tools, one can write a more complex text editor, and a simple compiler for a higher-level language and so on, until one can have a graphical IDE and an extremely high-level programming language. Historically, bootstrapping also refers to an early technique for computer program development on new hardware. The technique described in this paragraph has been replaced by the use of a cross compiler executed by a pre-existing computer. Bootstrapping in program development began during the 1950s when each program was constructed on paper in decimal code or in binary code, bit by bit (1s and 0s), because there was no high-level computer language, no compiler, no assembler, and no linker. A tiny assembler program was hand-coded for a new computer (for example the IBM 650) which converted a few instructions into binary or decimal code: A1. This simple assembler program was then rewritten in its just-defined assembly language but with extensions that would enable the use of some additional mnemonics for more complex operation codes. The enhanced assembler's source program was then assembled by its predecessor's executable (A1) into binary or decimal code to give A2, and the cycle repeated (now with those enhancements available), until the entire instruction set was coded, branch addresses were automatically calculated, and other conveniences (such as conditional assembly, macros, optimisations, etc.) established. This was how the early assembly program SOAP (Symbolic Optimal Assembly Program) was developed. Compilers, linkers, loaders, and utilities were then coded in assembly language, further continuing the bootstrapping process of developing complex software systems by using simpler software. The term was also championed by Doug Engelbart to refer to his belief that organizations could better evolve by improving the process they use for improvement (thus obtaining a compounding effect over time). His SRI team that developed the NLS hypertext system applied this strategy by using the tool they had developed to improve the tool. Compilers The development of compilers for new programming languages first developed in an existing language but then rewritten in the new language and compiled by itself, is another example of the bootstrapping notion. Installers During the installation of computer programs, it is sometimes necessary to update the installer or package manager itself. The common pattern for this is to use a small executable bootstrapper file (e.g., setup.exe) which updates the installer and starts the real installation after the update. Sometimes the bootstrapper also installs other prerequisites for the software during the bootstrapping process. Overlay networks A bootstrapping node, also known as a rendezvous host, is a node in an overlay network that provides initial configuration information to newly joining nodes so that they may successfully join the overlay network. Discrete-event simulation A type of computer simulation called discrete-event simulation represents the operation of a system as a chronological sequence of events. A technique called bootstrapping the simulation model is used, which bootstraps initial data points using a pseudorandom number generator to schedule an initial set of pending events, which schedule additional events, and with time, the distribution of event times approaches its steady state—the bootstrapping behavior is overwhelmed by steady-state behavior. Artificial intelligence and machine learning Bootstrapping is a technique used to iteratively improve a classifier's performance. Typically, multiple classifiers will be trained on different sets of the input data, and on prediction tasks the output of the different classifiers will be combined. Seed AI is a hypothesized type of artificial intelligence capable of recursive self-improvement. Having improved itself, it would become better at improving itself, potentially leading to an exponential increase in intelligence. No such AI is known to exist, but it remains an active field of research. Seed AI is a significant part of some theories about the technological singularity: proponents believe that the development of seed AI will rapidly yield ever-smarter intelligence (via bootstrapping) and thus a new era. Statistics Bootstrapping is a resampling technique used to obtain estimates of summary statistics. Business Bootstrapping in business means starting a business without external help or working capital. Entrepreneurs in the startup development phase of their company survive through internal cash flow and are very cautious with their expenses. Generally at the start of a venture, a small amount of money will be set aside for the bootstrap process. Bootstrapping can also be a supplement for econometric models. Bootstrapping was also expanded upon in the book Bootstrap Business by Richard Christiansen, the Harvard Business Review article The Art of Bootstrapping and the follow-up book The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses by Amar Bhide. There is also an entire bible written on how to properly bootstrap by Seth Godin. Experts have noted that several common stages exist for bootstrapping a business venture: Birth-stage: This is the first stage to bootstrapping by which the entrepreneur utilizes any personal savings or borrowed and/or invested money from friends and family to launch the business. It is also possible for the business owner to be running or working for another organization at the time which may help to fuel their business and cover initial expenses. Funding from sales to consumers-stage: In this particular stage, money from customers is used to keep the business operating afloat. Once expenses caused by normal day-to-day business operations are met, the rate growth usually increases. Outsourcing-stage: At this point in the company's existence, the entrepreneur in question normally concentrates on the specific operating activities. This is the time in which entrepreneurs decide how to improve and upgrade equipment (subsequently increasing output) or even employing new staff members. At this point in time, the company may seek loans or even lean on other methods of additional funding such as venture capital to help with expansion and other improvements. There are many types of companies that are eligible for bootstrapping. Early-stage companies that do not necessarily require large influxes of capital (particularly from outside sources) qualify. This would specifically allow for flexibility for the business and time to grow. Serial entrepreneur companies could also possibly reap the benefits of bootstrapping. These are organizations whereby the founder has money from the sale of a previous companies they can use to invest. There are different methods of bootstrapping. Future business owners aspiring to use bootstrapping as way of launching their product or service often use the following methods: Using accessible money from their own personal savings. Managing their working capital in a way that minimizes their company's accounts receivable. Cashing out 401k retirement funds and pay them off at later dates. Gradually increasing the business’ accounts payable through delaying payments or even renting equipment instead of buying them. Bootstrapping is often considered successful. When taking into account statistics provided by Fundera, approximately 77% of small business rely on some sort of personal investment and or savings in order to fund their startup ventures. The average small business venture requires approximately $10,000 in startup capital with a third of small business launching with less than $5,000 bootstrapped. Based on startup data presented by Entrepreneur.com, in comparison other methods of funding, bootstrapping is more commonly used than others. “0.91% of startups are funded by angel investors, while 0.05% are funded by VCs. In contrast, 57 percent of startups are funded by personal loans and credit, while 38 percent receive funding from family and friends.” Some examples of successful entrepreneurs that have used bootstrapping in order to finance their businesses include serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban. He has publicly endorsed bootstrapping claiming that “If you can start on your own … do it by [yourself] without having to go out and raise money.” When asked why he believed this approach was most necessary, he replied, “I think the biggest mistake people make is once they have an idea and the goal of starting a business, they think they have to raise money. And once you raise money, that’s not an accomplishment, that’s an obligation” because “now, you’re reporting to whoever you raised money from.” Bootstrapped companies such as Apple Inc. (APPL), eBay Inc. (EBAY) and Coca-Cola Co. have also claimed that they attribute some of their success to the fact that this method of funding enables them to remain highly focused on a specific array of profitable product. There are advantages to bootstrapping. Entrepreneurs are in full control over the finances of the business and can maintain control over the organization's inflows and outflows of cash. Equity is retained by the owner and can be redistributed at their discretion. There is less liability or opportunity to accumulate debt from other financial sources. Bootstrapping often leads to entrepreneurs operating their businesses with freedom to do as they see fit; in a similar fashion to sole proprietors. This is an effective method if the business owner's goal is to be able to fund future investments back into the business. Besides the direct stakeholders of the business, entrepreneurs do not have to answer to a board of investors which could possibly pressure them into making certain decisions beneficial to them. There are also drawbacks of bootstrapping. Personal liability is one. Credit lines usually must be established in owner's name which is the downfall of some companies due to debt being accumulated from various credit cards, etc. All financial risks pertaining to the business in question all fall on the owner's shoulders. The owner is forced to put either their own or their family/friend's investments in jeopardy in the event of the business failing. Possible legal issues are another drawback. There have been some cases in which entrepreneurs have been sued by family or even close friends for the improper use of their bootstrapped money. Because financing is limited to what the owner or company makes, this can create a ceiling which prohibits room for growth. Without the aid of occasional external sources of funding, entrepreneurs can find themselves unable to promote employees or even expand their businesses. A lack of money could possibly lead to a reduction of the quality of the service or product meant to be provided. Certain investors tend to be well-respected within specific industries and running a company without their backing or support could cause pivotal opportunities to be lost. Personal stress to entrepreneur or business owner in question is common. Tackling funding by themselves has often led to stressful times for certain individuals. Startups can grow by reinvesting profits in its own growth if bootstrapping costs are low and return on investment is high. This financing approach allows owners to maintain control of their business and forces them to spend with discipline. In addition, bootstrapping allows startups to focus on customers rather than investors, thereby increasing the likelihood of creating a profitable business. This leaves startups with a better exit strategy with greater returns. Leveraged buyouts, or highly leveraged or "bootstrap" transactions, occur when an investor acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage, i.e. borrowing by the acquired company. Bootstrapping in finance refers to the method to create the spot rate curve. Operation Bootstrap (Operación Manos a la Obra) refers to the ambitious projects that industrialized Puerto Rico in the mid-20th century. Biology Richard Dawkins in his book River Out of Eden used the computer bootstrapping concept to explain how biological cells differentiate: "Different cells receive different combinations of chemicals, which switch on different combinations of genes, and some genes work to switch other genes on or off. And so the bootstrapping continues, until we have the full repertoire of different kinds of cells." Phylogenetics Bootstrapping analysis gives a way to judge the strength of support for clades on phylogenetic trees. A number is written by a node, which reflects the percentage of bootstrap trees which also resolve the clade at the endpoints of that branch. Law Bootstrapping is a rule preventing the admission of hearsay evidence in conspiracy cases. Linguistics Bootstrapping is a theory of language acquisition. Physics Quantum theory Bootstrapping is using very general consistency criteria to determine the form of a quantum theory from some assumptions on the spectrum of particles or operators. Magnetically confined fusion plasmas In tokamak fusion devices, bootstrapping refers to the process in which a bootstrap current is self-generated by the plasma, which reduces or eliminates the need for an external current driver. Maximising the bootstrap current is a major goal of advanced tokamak designs. Inertially confined fusion plasmas Bootstrapping in inertial confinement fusion refers to the alpha particles produced in the fusion reaction providing further heating to the plasma. This heating leads to ignition and an overall energy gain. Electronics Bootstrapping is a form of positive feedback in analog circuit design. Electric power grid An electric power grid is almost never brought down intentionally. Generators and power stations are started and shut down as necessary. A typical power station requires power for start up prior to being able to generate power. This power is obtained from the grid, so if the entire grid is down these stations cannot be started. Therefore, to get a grid started, there must be at least a small number of power stations that can start entirely on their own. A black start is the process of restoring a power station to operation without relying on external power. In the absence of grid power, one or more black starts are used to bootstrap the grid. Cellular networks A Bootstrapping Server Function (BSF) is an intermediary element in cellular networks which provides application independent functions for mutual authentication of user equipment and servers unknown to each other and for 'bootstrapping' the exchange of secret session keys afterwards. The term 'bootstrapping' is related to building a security relation with a previously unknown device first and to allow installing security elements (keys) in the device and the BSF afterwards. See also Robert A. Heinlein's short sci-fi story By His Bootstraps References External links Dictionary.com entries for Bootstrap Freedictionary.com entries for Bootstrap Engelbart Institute on Bootstrapping Strategies American English idioms Metaphors

25156393

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%20Nebraska%20Cornhuskers%20football%20team

2014 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

The 2014 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Bo Pelini and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. They were members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 5–3 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for second place in the West Division. Following losses to both Wisconsin and Minnesota and a come from behind win in overtime at Iowa, Pelini was relieved of his coaching duties following the conclusion of the regular season on November 30, 2014. On December 4, 2014, Mike Riley was announced as the next head coach of the Nebraska football team, and would begin his duties immediately. However, he would not coach the Huskers in the Holiday Bowl, with that job instead handled by Barney Cotton. The Cornhuskers lost the Holiday Bowl to USC. Before the season Recruiting Scholarship recruits Walk-on recruits Schedule Roster and coaching staff Depth chart Game summaries Florida Atlantic Source: Nebraska opened the 2014 season, the 125th season in program history, with a home game against the Florida Atlantic Owls. Nebraska dominated the game and led from start to finish in a 55–7 rout. The Huskers ended the game with a Big Ten Conference record 784 yards of total offense, while allowing just 200 total yards to FAU. Nebraska now leads the all-time series with FAU 2–0. McNeese State Source: Nebraska struggled with FCS opponent McNeese State. Running back Ameer Abdullah broke five tackles on a 58-yard touchdown reception with 20 seconds remaining in the game to lead Nebraska to a 31–24 win at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers totaled 437 yards in offense and allowed 338 to the Cowboys. Tommy Armstrong was 16-of-31 for 242 yards with 2 TDs and an INT passing, and was also the leading rusher with 11 carries for 131 yards and a score. Abdullah added 54 yards rushing with a touchdown on the ground and was the top receiver with three catches for 96 yards and the game-winning score. Jordan Westerkamp added four catches for 61 yards and a TD. Fresno State Source: This was Nebraska's first road game of the 2014 season, taking on the Fresno State Bulldogs in Fresno, California. The two teams had only met once before, a 42–29 Nebraska win in Lincoln in 2011. Nebraska gained 562 yards of offense and never trailed in a 55–19 win over Fresno State. Tommy Armstrong threw for 260 yards and Ameer Abdullah rushed for 110 to lead the Huskers to a 3–0 start on the season. For the first time since 2007, Nebraska wore all-white uniforms whereas Fresno State wore alternate all-red ones. Miami (FL) Source: Nebraska hosted the Miami Hurricanes in game four of the 2014 season. This was the 11th meeting in the all-time series which was tied at five wins apiece. It was the first regular season meeting between the two since a 17–9 Nebraska win in 1976. The first meeting between the two took place in 1951 was the first-ever night game at Memorial Stadium. The Gotham Bowl matchup was Nebraska's first-ever bowl victory. Each of the past five bowl meetings for the two saw the winner declared the national champion. Nebraska won 41–31 making it the 400th win in Memorial Stadium history. The tunnel walk before the game featured the 1994 team including former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne to commemorate the 20th anniversary of defeating Miami for the national championship. Illinois Source: Nebraska opened up Big Ten play with a game against Illinois at home on Homecoming. The Huskers improved to 9–2–1 all-time against the Illini behind the rushing of Ameer Abdullah who put up 196 yards in the first half and 208 total yards and three touchdowns. The Huskers rushed for over 400 yards as a team en route to a dominating 45–14 victory. Nebraska broke out their "Red Rising" alternate uniforms from Adidas in this game. During the halftime performance, Nebraska's marching band spelled out "Fear Ameer" on the field. Michigan State Source: 19th-ranked Nebraska traveled to East Lansing, Michigan to take on #10 Michigan State in a key Big Ten conference matchup. Heading into the game Nebraska was 7–1 all-time against the Spartans, with MSU picking up their first ever win over Nebraska last year in Lincoln by a score of 41–28. In the game Michigan State jumped out to a 27–3 lead going into the fourth quarter before the Huskers rallied with a 19-point final quarter. Nebraska was driving with the ball with less than a minute to go before throwing a game-ending interception to lose the first game of the year 27–22. Northwestern Source: 19th-ranked Nebraska traveled to Evanston, Illinois, to take on the Northwestern Wildcats in a Big Ten West Division match-up. Coming into the game Nebraska led the all-time series with the Wildcats five games to two. Last year the Huskers captured a 27–24 victory on a last second Hail Mary touchdown pass. This year's game the two teams played even through two quarters of football before Nebraska pulled away in the second half. Ameer Abdullah recorded a career-high four TDs as the Huskers pulled out a 38–17 victory. Once again, Nebraska wore all white uniforms for this game while Northwestern wore alternate ones for Homecoming. Rutgers Source: Nebraska returned home for the first time in four weeks as the Huskers hosted Big Ten newcomer Rutgers. This was the first ever visit to Memorial Stadium by the Scarlet Knights, and was just the second all-time meeting between the two programs. The only other meeting came back in 1920, with the Huskers prevailing 28–0 at the New York Polo Grounds. The 94-year gap between games in the series is the longest for Nebraska against any opponent in school history. In the matchup, Ameer Abdullah rushed for 225 yards and set a single-game school record with 341 all-purpose yards and scored three TDs to lead Nebraska to a 42–24 win over the Scarlet Knights. Abdullah now has 6,604 career all-purpose yards, extending his school record and moving past Ohio State's Archie Griffin into second place in Big Ten history. Also, wide receiver Kenny Bell became Nebraska's career receptions leader with 167. Purdue Source: Purdue visited Memorial Stadium for the first time in program history on Saturday, November 1, 2014. Nebraska came away with a 35–14 victory in a game that saw Heisman Trophy candidate Ameer Abdullah suffer a knee injury early in the game that knocked him out of the contest. Wisconsin Source: Nebraska traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to take on the Wisconsin Badgers in a key Big Ten West Division game on Saturday. Melvin Gordon ran for a new FBS single-game rushing record 408 yards. The Badgers scored 56 unanswered points after the Huskers started the game with a 17–3 lead to win the contest and the inaugural Freedom Trophy by a 59–24 score. Minnesota Source: Nebraska completed its 2014 home schedule when Minnesota came to Memorial Stadium on Saturday, November 22 for Senior Day. The Golden Gophers lead the all-time series 30–22–2, and Nebraska leads 2–1 since joining the Big Ten Conference. The Gophers overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat Nebraska for the second straight season and clinch a winning Big Ten season for the first time since the 2003 season with a 28–24 win. Iowa Source: Kenny Bell caught a 9-yard TD pass in overtime as Nebraska rallied to beat Iowa 37–34 in the Heroes Game on Black Friday. The Huskers trailed at one point 24–7 before starting their comeback. The game featured turnovers, big special teams play and stretches of solid defense. Nebraska improves to 3–1 against Iowa since joining the Big Ten and 29–13–3 overall. Holiday Bowl Source: Nebraska traveled to San Diego to take on the USC Trojans in the Holiday Bowl. This was the fifth all-time meeting with the Trojans, but the Huskers have never won in this series, with USC leading all-time 0–3–1 before the game. The Huskers nearly came back from an 18-point second half deficit, but the Trojans prevailed 45–42. Nebraska was led by interim-coach Barney Cotton in this contest. Big Ten Players of the Week Week 1: Ameer Abdullah (Offensive Player of the Week) Week 2: Sam Foltz (Special Teams Player of the Week) Week 3: De'Mornay Pierson-El (Special Teams Player of the Week) Week 4: Ameer Abdullah (Co-Offensive Player of the Week) Week 5: Ameer Abdullah (Offensive Player of the Week) Week 9: Ameer Abdullah (Offensive Player of the Week) Week 14: Nate Gerry (Defensive Player of the Week) Week 14: De'Mornay Pierson-El (Co-Special Teams Player of the Week) All-Conference honors 2014 Big Ten All-Conference honors: All-Americans All-America Teams: RB – Ameer Abdullah (CBS Sports – 2nd Team | Walter Camp – 2nd Team | Athlon Sports – 2nd Team | AP – 2nd Team | Scout – 2nd Team | SI – 2nd Team | Phil Steele – 3rd Team) RET – De'Mornay Pierson-El (USA Today – 2nd Team | Athlon Sports – 3rd Team | SI – 2nd Team | Sporting News – 2nd Team | FWAA – 2nd Team | Phil Steele – 2nd Team) DE – Randy Gregory (AP – 3rd Team | FWAA – 2nd Team | Phil Steele – 2nd Team) NFL Draft Ameer Abdullah (2nd Round, 54th pick, Detroit Lions) Randy Gregory (2nd Round, 60th pick, Dallas Cowboys) Kenny Bell (5th Round, 162nd pick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) Rankings References Nebraska Nebraska Cornhuskers football seasons Nebraska Cornhuskers football

16884538

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moblin

Moblin

Moblin, short for 'mobile Linux', is a discontinued open source operating system and application stack for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks, nettops and embedded devices. Built around the Intel Atom processor, all builds were designed to minimize boot times and power consumption as a netbook and MID-centric operating system. The netbook/desktop version of Moblin supported other chipsets based on the SSSE3 instruction set, such as the Core2 and some Celeron processors. OEM support was scarce but hit an all-time high in 2009 when Acer replaced Linpus Linux with Moblin on their Acer Aspire One netbooks. and LG Electronics chose Moblin OS 2.1 for its mobile Internet device class smartphone the LG GW990. Dell also once accepted orders for its Ubuntu Moblin Remix, a Canonical Ltd. which built Moblin on top of Ubuntu distribution as base. Few commercial products existed around Moblin 2 most prominently a Foxconn netbook and an InvenTech smartphone, both announced at Computex 2009. Mandriva offered Moblin's v2 version to all Mandriva distribution and netbook owners. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010, MSI and Novell announced SUSE Moblin preloaded on the MSI U135 netbook. Following the release of Moblin version 2.1, this was the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to sell a fully supported Intel Atom processor-based netbook running Moblin-based technology to consumers. It was demonstrated at both the MSI and Intel booths at the show. In addition, Samsung showed four netbooks preloaded with SUSE Moblin. At the Mobile World Congress in February 2010, it was announced that the Moblin project would be merging with Maemo to create the MeeGo mobile software platform. Nokia stopped all MeeGo development after switching to Windows Phone in 2011 and Intel also discontinued work on to join the Tizen project instead. History Intel launched the Moblin.org site in July 2007 and significantly updated the site in April 2008 with the launch of the Intel Atom processor family at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. A custom software development kit (SDK) is available on the site. The Moblin 2 OS was specifically designed to run on an Intel Atom processor in a netbook. In April 2009, Intel turned Moblin over to the Linux Foundation. Subsequently, Moblin was merged with Maemo, becoming MeeGo. MeeGo's development was also hosted by the Linux Foundation, and initially governed by a Technical Steering Group overseen by Imad Sousou of Intel and Nokia's Valtteri Halla. The Linux Foundation canceled MeeGo in September 2011 in favor of Tizen. A new Finnish start-up, Jolla, announced in July 2012 that MeeGo's community-driven successor Mer, would be the basis of their new operating system Sailfish OS slated to launch in a smartphone during 2013. Moblin 2 At the Linux Collaboration Summit in April 2009, Intel demonstrated that the Moblin 2 alpha release can load major components of the stack, including the graphics system, and start up in mere seconds. On May 19, 2009, Imad Sousou announced the release of Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks and Nettops for developer testing. Moblin 2's Core distribution is based on recent builds of Fedora, but other distributions to announce future support for the core Moblin stack include Linpus and Ubuntu. This second major release marked a shift from the Xfce desktop environment to a custom-built GNOME Mobile UI based on OpenedHand's Clutter, a key piece of the Maemo graphical environment, built around the X Window System. The new UI also includes an integrated Gecko web browser. The Register was impressed by the interface but noted the presence of "quite a few apparent bugs" and described the beta release of Moblin 2 as "closer to an alpha than a beta.". Major components Moblin Image Creator (MIC): allows developers to create a custom Linux file system for a device. Using MIC, a platform developer can choose which components from Moblin they want on their device, build the target file system, copy all the necessary files to a USB mass storage device and load the resulting files onto the target. Kernel: platform-specific patches to the Linux kernel and various other device drivers. UI Framework: screen interface and its underlying Clutter- and GTK+-based framework. Power Management Policy: extending and enhancing existing Linux power management capabilities Browser: the Moblin browser is full-featured web browser based on Mozilla technologies with a finger-driven UI and MID UI integration. The Moblin browser supports key plug-ins like Adobe Flash. Multimedia: audio and video playback and photo viewing including Helix or GStreamer multimedia frameworks with Universal Plug and Play support through the GUPnP library. Linux Connection Manager: Internet connections that can be extended through plug-ins to support various wired or wireless technologies. Applications Moblin 2's interface is designed for netbook and nettops and built on open source graphics technology, such as Clutter, DRI2, and KMS, which are designed around toolbars and panels available at the top of the screen. Myzone is a variation on the desktop or home screen. It provides an overview of the user's latest activities on the system. The screen is divided into three areas: recent activities, that is calendar and to-do items (left); recent files and websites, such as pictures viewed and websites visited (center); and recent social network updates, currently tracking Twitter and Last.fm (right). A custom toolbar provides more personalized content on the screens it navigates to, than most toolbars do. Most menu items open screens that display the most recently accessed topical content. For example, the work zones panel manages, organizes, and switches to currently running applications and the media panel displays recently played and viewed media files. The optimized browser is based on Mozilla browser technology revised into a Clutter shell. A 'zoomable' media player allows going from viewing all media at once down to focusing on an individual picture, movie, or audio track. The media player detects and indexes media on external USB devices, as well as UPnP devices on a network. See also Android Ubuntu for Android Comparison of netbook-oriented Linux distributions Sailfish OS References External links Moblin open source project Moblin v2.0 Beta: Calling Developers to Work on the Next Big Thing Embedded Linux Intel software Mobile Linux Netbooks Software that uses GTK Software that uses Clutter (software)

36989968

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemd-boot

Systemd-boot

systemd-boot, formerly known as gummiboot, is a free and open-source boot manager. It was created when gummiboot was merged into systemd and renamed to "systemd-boot" in May 2015. Designed for systems using the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and developed by the Red Hat employees Kay Sievers and Harald Hoyer, gummiboot was intended to be a minimal alternative to GNU GRUB that "just works", it automatically detected bootable images (including Linux kernel images, operating systems, and other boot loaders), did not require a configuration file, provided a basic menu-based interface, and could also integrate with systemd to provide performance data. As a word play, the name "gummiboot" means "rubber (inflatable) boat" in German, the native language of its initial developers. Despite being developed by two of its employees, Red Hat's Fedora Project did not use gummiboot for booting UEFI systems; instead, it used efilinux to chainload GRUB. gummiboot was licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later, unlike GRUB which is licensed under the GPL-3.0-or-later. This distinction was intended to allow gummiboot to be suitable for use on UEFI systems implementing "secure boot", due to concerns surrounding its requirement to distribute all authorization keys (digital certificates) needed to run GPL-v3-licensed software if hardware restrictions such as secure boot are in effect. See also Comparison of boot loaders References External links systemd-boot(7) - Manual page Free boot loaders Free software programmed in C Linux kernel-related software Linux-only free software

8411201

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OmniPeek

OmniPeek

Omnipeek is a packet analyzer software tool from Savvius, a LiveAction company, for network troubleshooting and protocol analysis. It supports an application programming interface (API) for plugins. History Savvius (formerly WildPackets) was founded in 1990 as The AG Group by Mahboud Zabetian and Tim McCreery. In 2000 the company changed its name to WildPackets to address the popular market it had developed for its products. The first product by the company was written for the Macintosh and was called EtherPeek. It was the first affordable software-only protocol analyzer for Ethernet networks. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows, which was released in 1997. Earlier, LocalPeek and TokenPeek were developed for LocalTalk and Token Ring networks respectively. In 2001, AiroPeek was released, which added support for wireless IEEE 802.11 (marketed with the Wi-Fi brand) networks. In 2003, the OmniEngine Distributed Capture Engine was released as software, and as a hardware network recorder appliance. In the early morning of July 15, 2002, WildPackets' building in Walnut Creek, California burnt to the ground including everything in it. However, no one was hurt and the employees regrouped at a new location and the company survived the fire. Mid-April 2015, the company changed its name from WildPackets to Savvius and broadened its focus to include network security. In June 2018, Savvius was acquired by LiveAction, a company that provides network performance management, visualization and analytics software. Acquisitions Savvius acquired Net3 Group in November 2000. Their product, NetSense, an expert system for network troubleshooting, was converted initially converted into a plug-in and then later fully integrated into a new version of the product called EtherPeekNX. Savvius acquired Optimized Engineering Corporation in 2001. Optimized network analysis instructors, training courses and certifications were added to Savvius' services. Extensibility Omnipeek has APIs on the front-end for automation, on the back-end for analysis, as well as other mechanisms to extend and enhance the program. BODY.SAYED There are 40 plug-ins available for the Omnipeek Platform. These plug-ins range from logging extensions to full-blown applications that are hosted by OmniPeek. Remote Adapters: provide a means to capture packets and stats. There are remote adapters to capture from RMON, NetFlow, SFlow, Cisco AP's, Aruba AP's, and Linux boxes. Adapters are available to aggregate packets from multiple network segments and wireless channels at the same time. The most notable decoders are the protospecs and decoder files, which are interpreted text files that can be extended by the user to enhance the display and analysis of existing protocols, and add knowledge of completely new protocols, without releasing new versions of the application. The plugin Wizards for the Omnipeek Console and the OmniEngine are Microsoft Visual Studio Project Templates that generate working plug-ins. When the wizard is run, a dialog appears providing options for types of functionality that sample code will be generated for. When the wizard is complete, the user is left with a working plugin with entry points for adding application logic. These plug-in wizards enable the development of extensions to Omnipeek. The MyPeek Community Portal is a website dedicated to the extension of Omnipeek. It provides plug-ins, scripts, adapters, tools, and various levels of support for the plug-ins posted there, and expertise for those interested in extending Omnipeek themselves. PlaceMap: is a freely available standalone Google Maps Packet sniffer application for Windows that captures network traffic and maps nodes to the Google Map. PlaceMap is a notable example of extensibility in that it uses exactly the same Google Map plugin that is also available for the Omnipeek, and it uses the peek driver API to capture packets. Example Plugins Google Map Plugin - map nodes to a Google Map SQLFilter Plugin - save and query packets from a database PeekPlayer Plugin - send packet an adapter or a capture window PowerBar Plugin - write scripts that process packets Decoder Plugin - decode packets WatchMe Plugin - display web sites in real-time from URLs Browser Plugin - construct and display web pages from packets IM Plugin - display instant message screen names and chat WebStats Plugin - collect and report web statistics Remote TCPDump Adapter Plugin - stream packets from any machine with SSH and tcpdump Cisco Remote Adapter Plugin - stream packets from Cisco Access Points Aruba Remote Adapter Plugin - stream packets from Aruba Networks Air Monitors References External links https://www.liveaction.com Network World, Sept. 18, 2006: Review of WildPackets' OmniPeek. By Anthony Mosco, Robert Smithers, Robert Tarpley Network World , April 23, 2007: WLAN analyzers: WildPackets' OmniPeek For Windows 4.1. By Tom Henderson, Rand Dvorak IT Week. Network IT Week, 19 Aug 2006, by Dave Bailey. WildPackets' latest OmniPeek tool makes it easier to inspect traffic and troubleshoot networks. Tested: WildPackets OmniPeek Enterprise 4.0 Network World, March 10, 2008: Clear Choice Test VoIP analysis tools. By Rob Smithers of Miercom Cisco Website, Mar. 22, 2006: LWAPP Decodes Enablement on WildPackets OmniPeek and EtherPeek 3.0 Software Network analyzers Packets (information technology)

7934857

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk%20Mudbox

Autodesk Mudbox

Mudbox is a proprietary computer-based 3D sculpting and painting tool. developed by Autodesk, Mudbox was created by Skymatter, founded by Tibor Madjar, David Cardwell and Andrew Camenisch, former artists of Weta Digital, where it was first used to produce the 2005 Peter Jackson remake of King Kong. Mudbox's primary application is high-resolution digital sculpting, texture painting, and displacement and normal map creation, although it is also used as a design tool. History Mudbox was developed by Skymatter in New Zealand as the founders David Cardwell, Tibor Madjar and Andrew Camenisch were working on The Lord of the Rings at Weta Digital circa 2001. They created the software to expand their own toolsets, and Mudbox was first used as a complete product on the 2005 film King Kong. The beta was released in May 2006, followed by version 1.0 in mid-February 2007. On August 6, 2007, Autodesk announced the acquisition of Skymatter. Features Mudbox's user interface is a 3D environment that allows the creation of movable cameras that can be bookmarked. Models created within the program typically start as a polygon mesh that can be manipulated with a variety of different tools. A model can be subdivided to increase its resolution and the number of polygons available to sculpt with. 3D layers allow the user to store different detail passes, blending them with multiplier sliders and layer masks. Using layers the user is able to sculpt and mould their 3D model without making permanent changes. As a detailing app, Mudbox can import and export .obj, .fbx, and .bio files, as well as its own .mud format. A typical workflow is to create a relatively simple (low polygon count) model in a 3D modeling application and then import it to Mudbox for sculpting. Subdivision of models occurs using the Catmull-Clark subdivision algorithm. The sculpting tool set contains an assortment of brushes with adjustable falloffs. The use of 3D layers allows for design visualization, non-destructive sculpting, and high polygon counts. Since the layers combine additively, their ordering is unimportant for the final model and may be created arbitrarily. Curves can be created and projected on a mesh for use as precise masking. All of the standard transform and selection tools are here as well. Paint layers were added in Mudbox 2009. Design visualization plays an important role in Mudbox's production value. Simple poly primitives can be created from within Mudbox, facilitating the creation of busts, props, terrain, etc. Mudbox also includes stamps and stencils. Stencils work by overlaying a grayscale, or "alpha channel" image, such as a bump map, over the mesh. The artist can then project part or all of the image's detail onto the mesh through brush strokes, providing a method to quickly sculpt surface detail. The underlying architecture of Mudbox was updated in Mudbox 2009 to allow the sculpting of models with larger polygon counts compared to earlier versions. In Mudbox 2009 3D painting and texturing features were introduced to allow artists to paint directly on their models in 3D. In addition, features to display the model with depth of field and ambient occlusion were added for the release. In Mudbox 2010, an application programming interface (API) was introduced via a software development kit (SDK). In addition, functionality to improve file interoperability with other 3D applications (Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max etc.) was added via the FBX file format. Interface Mudbox's interface includes menus, tabbed windows, and tool trays, and can be customized to a limited extent. It also provides keyboard shortcuts. The navigation in the 3D view is similar to that of Autodesk Maya. Platforms Earlier versions of Mudbox operate on Windows XP (32 and 64 bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit), Windows 7 Professional (32 and 64 bit), Linux 64-bit and Mac OS X. The current version (Mudbox 2014) is 64 bit only, and has dropped support for Windows XP. Awards On February 15, 2014, Canadians Andrew Camenisch, David Cardwell and Canadian-Hungarian Tibor Madjar were honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for scientific and technical achievement for the concept and design, along with Csaba Kőhegyi and Imre Major, two Hungarians educated at Debrecen University, for the implementation of the Mudbox software. Releases October 2007, Autodesk released version 1.07 of Mudbox. October 2008, Autodesk released Mudbox 2009 (v2) of Mudbox. August 2009, Autodesk released Mudbox 2010 (v3) of Mudbox. March 2010, Autodesk released Mudbox 2011 (v4) of Mudbox. September 2010, Autodesk released Mudbox 2011 SAP (v4.5) of Mudbox. April 2011, Autodesk released Mudbox 2012 (v5) of Mudbox. April 2012, Autodesk released Mudbox 2013 (v6) of Mudbox. April 2013, Autodesk released Mudbox 2014 (v7) of Mudbox. April 2014, Autodesk released Mudbox 2015 (v8) of Mudbox. April 2015, Autodesk released Mudbox 2016 (v9) of Mudbox. See also Blender ZBrush References External links Autodesk Mudbox Homepage Mudbox Forums MudboxCentral Tutorials, News and Jobs Mudbox Russian Community Mudbox video tutorials Mudbox Academy Award for Technical Achievement winners 3D modeling software for Linux Proprietary commercial software for Linux

20726305

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne%20McDonald

Marianne McDonald

Marianne McDonald (born January 1937) is a scholar and philanthropist. Marianne is involved in the interpretation, sharing, compilation, and preservation of Greek and Irish texts, plays and writings. Recognized as a historian on the classics, she has received numerous awards and accolades because of her works and philanthropy. As a playwright, she has authored numerous modern works, based on ancient Greek dramas in modern times. As a teacher and mentor, she is highly sought after for her knowledge of and application of the classic themes and premises of life in modern times. In 2013, she was awarded the Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Classics, Department of Theatre, Classics Program, University of California, San Diego (joint program with UC Irvine). In 1994, she was inducted into the Royal Irish Academy, being recognized for her expertise and academic excellence in Irish language history, interpretation and the preservation of ancient Irish texts. As a philanthropist, Marianne partnered with Sharp to enhance access to drug and alcohol treatment programs by making a $3 million pledge — the largest gift to benefit behavioral health services in Sharp’s history. Her donation led to the creation of the McDonald Center at Sharp HealthCare. Additionally, to recognize her generosity, Sharp Vista Pacifica Hospital was renamed Sharp McDonald Center. Early life McDonald was born on January 2, 1937, and lived and grew up in Chicago. She went to school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Chicago and finished her secondary education at the Chicago Latin School. It was in these years that she gained a love for Latin, Greek, and the classics. In 1958, she graduated magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College with a bachelor of arts degree in the classics and music. In 1960, she continued her education by getting a master's degree from the University of Chicago and by earning a doctorate in 1975 from the University of California, Irvine. She credits her love for learning from her father, Eugene Francis McDonald. He grew up in New York City and became the head of the family at age twelve when he had to drop out of school in order to support his family. After having gone deaf, he invented the Zenith hearing aid and created the Zenith Radio Corporation. When he died in 1958, he left Marianne a large fortune and a collection of gifts that furthered her interest in Ireland and the desire to give generously. Career McDonald has been teaching for the majority of her life. She has taught primarily at University of California, Irvine and University of California, San Diego as a professor of Classics and Theater. She has also been a visiting professor of Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, University College Dublin, University College Cork, Dublin City University, and the University of Ulster in Coleraine. She has published over 250 books, translations, plays, and poems and she has written even more articles. She has performed in a large number of Greek plays and she understands –to varying degrees- twelve different languages. Two of McDonald’s projects are the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and the Thesaurus Linguae Hiberniae. The TLG is a computerized compilation of Greek literature that McDonald founded and funded at the University of California, Irvine. Years later, she did the same thing in Ireland by founding the Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae which computerizes Irish literature no matter what language they were actually written in. In her adult life, McDonald has reached an impressive number of achievements and has received numerous awards because of her works. McDonald has been awarded honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland, University College Dublin, the American College of Greece, the University of Athens, and the University of Thessalonika. In 1994, she was inducted into the Royal Irish Academy - for her ongoing efforts to preserve and translate ancient Irish texts, being one of the few women to be inducted into the RIA. That same year, she was made a commander of the Order of the Phoenix, one of Greece’s highest awards, by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou for her contributions to Greek drama. In 1999, McDonald was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for distinguished achievements as an American. McDonald has also been given Irish citizenship on the basis of all that she has done for Ireland. In 2008, she was inducted into the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame. Her 2005 play "...and then he met a woodcutter" won the San Diego Critics Circle Craig Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Play. As a pioneer in the field of modern versions of the classics: in films, plays, and opera, McDonald has published much work on the subjects. With about 250 publications, in addition to her articles and book chapters, her published books include: Euripides in Cinema: The Heart Made Visible (Centrum Press, 1983), Ancient Sun, Modern Light: Greek Drama on the Modern Stage (Columbia University Press, 1992); Sing Sorrow: Classics, History and Heroines in Opera (Greenwood, 2001); and The Living Art of Greek Tragedy (Indiana University Press, 2003); with J. Michael Walton: Amid Our Troubles: Irish Versions of Greek Tragedies (Methuen, 2002); and The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre (2007). Her performed translations (three a year since 1999 nationally and internationally with many published) include: Sophocles’ Antigone, dir. Athol Fugard in Ireland (1999); Trojan Women (2000 and 2009); Euripides’ Children of Heracles (2003); Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus at Colonus (2003-4); Euripides’ Hecuba, 2005, Sophocles’ Ajax, 2006, Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis and Bacchae, 2006; and 2007 and 2009; Euripides’ Phoenician Women, (2009); Medea (2007); Seneca’s Thyestes (2008) and with J. Michael Walton Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Aristophanes’ Frogs (2007); Helen (2008); versions and other works : The Trojan Women (2000); Medea, Queen of Colchester (2003), The Ally Way (2004); …and then he met a woodcutter (San Diego Critics’ Circle: Best New Play of 2005), Medea: The Beginning, performed with Athol Fugard’s Jason: The End (2006); The Last Class (2007); Fires in Heaven (2009), and A Taste for Blood (2010). Selected publications Terms for Happiness in Euripides. Hypomnemata, Vol. 54 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978); Greek Translation by Errikos Belies (1991). Euripides in Cinema: The Heart Made Visible (Philadelphia: Centrum, 1983); Greek translation by Errikos Belies (Athens: Estia, 1989; rpt. Boston: The Greek Institute, 1991); Italian translation: Sole Antico, Luce Moderna, trans. of Ancient Sun,1999), with an expanded introduction, epilogue and additional chapter, Dioniso Nero: la tragedia greca dell'Africa ("Black Dionysus: Greek Tragedy in Africa"). Ancient Sun, Modern Light: Greek Drama on the Modern Stage. (Columbia University Press, 1992); Greek Translation by Paulos Matesis, (1993). Mythology of the Zodiac: Tales of the Constellations (MetroBooks,2000); Sophia Souliotis, trans. (Periplous, 2002). Published in England as Star Myths: Tales of the Constellations (Michael Friedman Publishing Group, June 5, 1996); Published in America as Tales of the Constellations: The Myths and Legends of the Night Sky. (Michael Friedman Publishing Group), Sole Antico, Luce Moderna, Translation of Ancient Sun, Modern Light by Francesca Albini (Levante, 1999), with an expanded introduction, epilogue and additional chapter, Dioniso Nero: la tragedia greca dell'Africa ("Black Dionysus: Greek Tragedy in Africa"). Antigone by Sophocles, Translation with Introduction, (Nick Hern Books, 2000). Sing Sorrow: Classics, History and Heroines in Opera (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001). Andromache by Euripides, Translation with Introduction, with J. Michael Walton (Nick Hern Books, 2001). Euripides’ Trojan Women in Six Greek Tragedies: Aeschylus: Persians, Prometheus Bound; Sophocles Women of Trachis, Philoctetes; Euripides Trojan Women, Bacchae, Translation, Introduction and Edited, with Michael Walton (Methuen Publishing, 2002). Amid Our Troubles: Irish Versions of Greek Tragedy, Edited with Michael Walton (Methuen Publishing, 2002). The Living Art of Greek Tragedy (Indiana University Press, 2003). Fragments: Poems (Quantum 2, 2003). …and then he met a woodcutter, Illustrations by Jasmine de Lung (Quantum 2, 2003). Electra, by Euripides, Translation with Introduction with Michael Walton (Nick Hern Books, 2004). Electra, by Sophocles, Translation with Introduction with Michael Walton (Nick Hern Books, 2004). Euripides’ Hecuba, Translation with Introduction (Nick Hern Books, 2005). Aeschylus: The Oresteia, Translation with Introduction with J. Michael Walton (Nick Hern Books, 2007). The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre, Edited with J. Michael Walton, including introduction and chapter, (Cambridge University Press, 2007) Sophocles Made New: Modern Performance Prof. Marianne McDonald, University of California, San Diego, in Brill's Companion to Sophocles, Andreas Markantonatos, ed. (Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2012). The Craft of Athol Fugard: Space, Time, and Silence (Murasaki books, 2012). Medea, Queen of Colchester in Black Medea: Adaptations in Modern Plays, ed. Kevin Wetmore, Jr. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press (Global Performing Arts Series, General Editor: John M Clum), 2013. Croaks into Song: Sondheim Tackles Greek Frogs book chapter in Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies, ed. Robert Gold (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). Dancing Drama: Ancient Greek Theatre in Modern Shoes and Shows book chapter for Oxford Handbook on Dance and Theatre, edited by Nadine George (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). Notes References "The Ireland Funds : Social Entrepreneurship." The Ireland Funds : Social Entrepreneurship. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2012. Marianne McDonald UCSD Theatre & Dance: Faculty. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2012. "Marianne McDonald, Ph.D." WIC Biography -. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2012. "The San Diego County Women's Hall of Fame." Inductees By Year. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2012. San Diego Asian American Repertory Theater San Diego Asian American Repertory Theater. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2014. San Diego Theatre Critics Circle San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2014. Inspired Giving: The Marianne McDonald Story Sharp McDonald Center -. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May. 2015. External links American philanthropists American translators Living people 1937 births American women writers 21st-century American women

31362867

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunle%20Olukotun

Kunle Olukotun

Oyekunle Ayinde "Kunle" Olukotun is a British-born Nigerian computer scientist who is the Cadence Design Systems Professor of the Stanford School of Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Pervasive Parallelism Lab. Olukotun is known as the “father of the multi-core processor”, and the leader of the Stanford Hydra Chip Multiprocessor research project. Olukotun's achievements include designing the first general-purpose multi-core CPU, innovating single-chip multiprocessor and multi-threaded processor design, and pioneering multicore CPUs and GPUs, transactional memory technology and domain-specific languages programming models. Olukotun's research interests include computer architecture, parallel programming environments and scalable parallel systems, domain specific languages and high-level compilers. Education Olukotun did his undergraduate studies at Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He earned an MS (1987) and PhD (1991) from University of Michigan, in Computer Science and Engineering. His advisor was Trevor N. Mudge. Career Olukotun joined Stanford's Department of Electrical Engineering in 1991. While at Stanford, Olukotun became the leader of the Stanford Hydra chip multiprocessor (CMP) research project which allowed for the development of multiprocessors with support for thread-level speculation. In 2000, he founded Afara Websystems, a company that designed and manufactured high-throughput, low power processors for server systems with chip multiprocessor technology. Afara was purchased by Sun Microsystems in 2002. The Afara multicore processor Niagara, developed by Olukotun was acquired by Sun. Niagara derived processors currently power all Oracle SPARC-based servers and have generated billions of dollars of revenue. While at Sun, Olukotun was one of the architects of the 2005 UltraSPARC T1 processor. In 2017 Olukotun and Chris Ré founded SambaNova Systems. SambaNova Systems is developing a next-generation computing platform to power machine learning and data analytics. Olukotun now leads the Stanford Pervasive Parallelism Lab, which focuses on making heterogeneous parallel computing easy to use, and he is a member of the Data Analytics for What’s Next (DAWN) Lab, which is developing infrastructure for usable machine learning. Research Olukotun's research focus is in computer architecture, parallel programming environments and scalable parallel systems, domain specific languages, and high-level compilers. Olukotun leads the Stanford Hydra chip multiprocessor (CMP) research project, revolutionizing computing by bringing multi-core technology to consumers and high-end computing systems. In the mid-1990s, Olukotun and his co-authors argued that multi-core computer processors were likely to make better use of hardware than existing superscalar designs. In 2008, Olukotun returned to Stanford, and founded the Pervasive Parallelism Laboratory at Stanford after gathering US$6 million in funding from several computer-industry corporations. His recent work focuses on domain-specific programming languages that can allow algorithms to be easily adapted to multiple different types of parallel hardware including multi-core systems, graphics processing units, and field-programmable gate arrays. Olukotun is also a member of the board of advisors of UDC, a Nigerian venture capital firm. He was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 2006 for his "contributions to multiprocessors on a chip and multi threaded processor design". He became a Fellow of the IEEE in 2008. Olukotun has used several words from his Yoruba heritage in his research. Afara, the name of the company he founded, means "bridge" in the Yoruba language, and he has named his server at Stanford Ogun after the Yoruba god of iron and steel, a play on words since large computers are frequently called big iron. Olukotun directs the Stanford Pervasive Parallelism Lab (PPL) which seeks to proliferate the use of parallelism in all application areas. He is also a member of the Data Analytics for What's Next (DAWN) Lab. Olukotun holds 12 U.S. patents. He has published more than 150 scientific papers and wrote two textbooks. Awards and honors Member of the National Academy of Engineering, 2021 IEEE Computer Society Harry H. Goode Award, 2018 Michigan Engineering Alumni Merit Award, 2017 ACM Fellow, 2006 Books S. W. Keckler, K. Olukotun, and H. P. Hofstee, Multicore Processors and Systems (Springer Publishing Company, Inc., 2009). K. Olukotun, L. Hammond, J. Laudon, Chip Multiprocessor Architecture: Techniques to Improve Throughput and Latency, Synthesis Lectures on Computer Architecture (Morgan Claypool Publishers, 2007). References External links Profile page at Stanford Google Scholar Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American inventors Calvin University alumni University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Stanford University School of Engineering faculty Stanford University Department of Electrical Engineering faculty Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellow Members of the IEEE Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering American computer scientists Yoruba scientists American people of Yoruba descent American people of Nigerian descent Yoruba academics 21st-century American engineers Yoruba engineers Nigerian engineers Nigerian inventors Nigerian computer scientists

15508

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial%20espionage

Industrial espionage

Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While economic espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governments and is international in scope, industrial or corporate espionage is more often national and occurs between companies or corporations. Forms of economic and industrial espionage Economic or industrial espionage takes place in two main forms. In short, the purpose of espionage is to gather knowledge about one or more organizations. It may include the acquisition of intellectual property, such as information on industrial manufacture, ideas, techniques and processes, recipes and formulas. Or it could include sequestration of proprietary or operational information, such as that on customer datasets, pricing, sales, marketing, research and development, policies, prospective bids, planning or marketing strategies or the changing compositions and locations of production. It may describe activities such as theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail and technological surveillance. As well as orchestrating espionage on commercial organizations, governments can also be targets – for example, to determine the terms of a tender for a government contract. Target industries Economic and industrial espionage is most commonly associated with technology-heavy industries, including computer software and hardware, biotechnology, aerospace, telecommunications, transportation and engine technology, automobiles, machine tools, energy, materials and coatings and so on. Silicon Valley is known to be one of the world's most targeted areas for espionage, though any industry with information of use to competitors may be a target. Information theft and sabotage Information can make the difference between success and failure; if a trade secret is stolen, the competitive playing field is leveled or even tipped in favor of a competitor. Although a lot of information-gathering is accomplished legally through competitive intelligence, at times corporations feel the best way to get information is to take it. Economic or industrial espionage is a threat to any business whose livelihood depends on information. In recent years, economic or industrial espionage has taken on an expanded definition. For instance, attempts to sabotage a corporation may be considered industrial espionage; in this sense, the term takes on the wider connotations of its parent word. That espionage and sabotage (corporate or otherwise) have become more clearly associated with each other is also demonstrated by a number of profiling studies, some government, some corporate. The United States government currently has a polygraph examination entitled the "Test of Espionage and Sabotage" (TES), contributing to the notion of the interrelationship between espionage and sabotage countermeasures. In practice, particularly by "trusted insiders", they are generally considered functionally identical for the purpose of informing countermeasures. Agents and the process of collection Economic or industrial espionage commonly occurs in one of two ways. Firstly, a dissatisfied employee appropriates information to advance interests or to damage the company. Secondly, a competitor or foreign government seeks information to advance its own technological or financial interest. "Moles", or trusted insiders, are generally considered the best sources for economic or industrial espionage. Historically known as a "patsy", an insider can be induced, willingly or under duress, to provide information. A patsy may be initially asked to hand over inconsequential information and, once compromised by committing a crime, blackmailed into handing over more sensitive material. Individuals may leave one company to take up employment with another and take sensitive information with them. Such apparent behavior has been the focus of numerous industrial espionage cases that have resulted in legal battles. Some countries hire individuals to do spying rather than the use of their own intelligence agencies. Academics, business delegates, and students are often thought to be used by governments in gathering information. Some countries, such as Japan, have been reported to expect students to be debriefed on returning home. A spy may follow a guided tour of a factory and then get "lost". A spy could be an engineer, a maintenance man, a cleaner, an insurance salesman, or an inspector: anyone who has legitimate access to the premises. A spy may break into the premises to steal data and may search through waste paper and refuse, known as "dumpster diving". Information may be compromised via unsolicited requests for information, marketing surveys, or use of technical support or research or software facilities. Outsourced industrial producers may ask for information outside the agreed-upon contract. Computers have facilitated the process of collecting information because of the ease of access to large amounts of information through physical contact or the Internet. History Origins Economic and industrial espionage has a long history. Father Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles, who visited Jingdezhen, China in 1712 and later used this visit to reveal the manufacturing methods of Chinese porcelain to Europe, is sometimes considered to have conducted an early case of industrial espionage. Historical accounts have been written of industrial espionage between Britain and France. Attributed to Britain's emergence as an "industrial creditor", the second decade of the 18th century saw the emergence of a large-scale state-sponsored effort to surreptitiously take British industrial technology to France. Witnesses confirmed both the inveigling of tradespersons abroad and the placing of apprentices in England. Protests by those such as ironworkers in Sheffield and steelworkers in Newcastle, about skilled industrial workers being enticed abroad, led to the first English legislation aimed at preventing this method of economic and industrial espionage. This did not prevent Samuel Slater from bringing British textile technology to the United States in 1789. In order to catch up with technological advances of European powers, the US government in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries actively encouraged intellectual piracy. American founding father and first U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton advocated rewarding those bringing "improvements and secrets of extraordinary value" into the United States. This was instrumental in making the United States a haven for industrial spies. The 20th century East-West commercial development opportunities after World War I saw a rise in Soviet interest in American and European manufacturing know-how, exploited by Amtorg Corporation. Later, with Western restrictions on the export of items thought likely to increase military capabilities to the USSR, Soviet industrial espionage was a well known adjunct to other spying activities up until the 1980s. BYTE reported in April 1984, for example, that although the Soviets sought to develop their own microelectronics, their technology appeared to be several years behind the West's. Soviet CPUs required multiple chips and appeared to be close or exact copies of American products such as the Intel 3000 and DEC LSI-11/2. "Operation Brunnhilde" Some of these activities were directed via the East German Stasi (Ministry for State Security). One such operation, "Operation Brunnhilde," operated from the mid-1950s until early 1966 and made use of spies from many Communist Bloc countries. Through at least 20 forays, many western European industrial secrets were compromised. One member of the "Brunnhilde" ring was a Swiss chemical engineer, Dr. Jean Paul Soupert (also known as "Air Bubble"), living in Brussels. He was described by Peter Wright in Spycatcher as having been "doubled" by the Belgian Sûreté de l'État. He revealed information about industrial espionage conducted by the ring, including the fact that Russian agents had obtained details of Concorde's advanced electronics system. He testified against two Kodak employees, living and working in Britain, during a trial in which they were accused of passing information on industrial processes to him, though they were eventually acquitted. According to a 2020 American Economic Review study, East German industrial espionage in West Germany significantly reduced the gap in total factor productivity between the two countries. Soviet system A secret report from the Military-Industrial Commission of the USSR (VPK), from 1979–80, detailed how (, "special records") could be utilised in twelve different military industrial areas. Writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Philip Hanson detailed a system in which 12 industrial branch ministries formulated requests for information to aid technological development in their military programs. Acquisition plans were described as operating on 2-year and 5-year cycles with about 3000 tasks underway each year. Efforts were aimed at civilian and military industrial targets, such as in the petrochemical industries. Some information was gathered to compare Soviet technological advancement with that of their competitors. Much unclassified information was also gathered, blurring the boundary with "competitive intelligence". The Soviet military was recognised as making much better use of acquired information than civilian industries, where their record in replicating and developing industrial technology was poor. The legacy of Cold War espionage Following the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, commentators, including the US Congressional Intelligence Committee, noted a redirection amongst the espionage community from military to industrial targets, with Western and former communist countries making use of "underemployed" spies and expanding programs directed at stealing such information. The legacy of Cold War spying included not just the redirection of personnel but the use of spying apparatus such as computer databases, scanners for eavesdropping, spy satellites, bugs and wires. Industrial espionage as part of US foreign policy According to an article from news website theintercept.com, "potentially sabotaging another country's hi-tech industries and their top companies has long been a sanctioned American strategy." The article was based on a leaked report issued from former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper's office that evaluated a theoretical scenario on how intelligence could be used to overcome a loss of the United States' technological and innovative edge. The report did not show any actual occurrence of U.S. conducted industrial espionage, and when contacted the Director of National Intelligence office responded with, "the United States—unlike our adversaries—does not steal proprietary corporate information to further private American companies' bottom lines", and that "the Intelligence Community regularly engages in analytic exercises to identify potential future global environments, and how the IC could help the United States Government respond". The report, he said, "is not intended to be, and is not, a reflection of current policy or operations". Former CIA Director Stansfield Turner stated in 1991 "Nevertheless, as we increase emphasis on securing economic intelligence, we will have to spy on the more developed countries-our allies and friends with whom we compete economically-but to whom we turn first for political and military assistance in a crisis. This means that rather than instinctively reaching for human, on-site spying, the United States will want to look to those impersonal technical systems, primarily satellite photography and intercepts". Former CIA Director James Woolsey acknowledged in 2000 that the United States steals economic secrets from foreign firms and their governments "with espionage, with communications, with reconnaissance satellites". He also stated it is "not to provide secrets, technological secrets to American industry." He listed the three reasons as understanding whether sanctions are functioning for countries under sanction, monitoring dual-use technology that could be used to produce or develop weapons of mass destruction, and to spy on bribery to uphold the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In 2013 The United States was accused of spying on Brazilian oil company Petrobras. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff stated that it was tantamount to industrial espionage and had no security justification. In 2014 former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden stated that America's National Security Agency was engaged in industrial espionage and that they spied on German companies that compete with US firms. He also highlighted the fact the NSA uses mobile phone apps such as Angry Birds to gather personal data. In September 2019, security firm Qi An Xin published report linking the CIA to a series of attacks targeting Chinese aviation agencies between 2012 and 2017. Israel's economic espionage in the United States Israel has an active program to gather proprietary information within the United States. These collection activities are primarily directed at obtaining information on military systems and advanced computing applications that can be used in Israel's sizable armaments industry. Israel was accused by the US government of selling US military technology and secrets to China. In 2014 American counter-intelligence officials told members of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees that Israel's current espionage activities in America are "unrivaled". Use of computers and the Internet Personal computers Computers have become key in exercising industrial espionage due to the enormous amount of information they contain and the ease at which it can be copied and transmitted. The use of computers for espionage increased rapidly in the 1990s. Information has commonly been stolen by individuals posing as subsidiary workers, such as cleaners or repairmen, gaining access to unattended computers and copying information from them. Laptops were, and still are, a prime target, with those traveling abroad on business being warned not to leave them for any period of time. Perpetrators of espionage have been known to find many ways of conning unsuspecting individuals into parting, often only temporarily, from their possessions, enabling others to access and steal information. A "bag-op" refers to the use of hotel staff to access data, such as through laptops, in hotel rooms. Information may be stolen in transit, in taxis, at airport baggage counters, baggage carousels, on trains and so on. The Internet The rise of the internet and computer networks has expanded the range and detail of information available and the ease of access for the purpose of industrial espionage. This type of operation is generally identified as state backed or sponsored, because the "access to personal, financial or analytic resources" identified exceed that which could be accessed by cybercriminals or individual hackers. Sensitive military or defense engineering or other industrial information may not have immediate monetary value to criminals, compared with, say, bank details. Analysis of cyberattacks suggests deep knowledge of networks, with targeted attacks, obtained by numerous individuals operating in a sustained organized way. Opportunities for sabotage The rising use of the internet has also extended opportunities for industrial espionage with the aim of sabotage. In the early 2000s, it was noticed that energy companies were increasingly coming under attack from hackers. Energy power systems, doing jobs like monitoring power grids or water flow, once isolated from the other computer networks, were now being connected to the internet, leaving them more vulnerable, having historically few built-in security features. The use of these methods of industrial espionage have increasingly become a concern for governments, due to potential attacks by terrorist groups or hostile foreign governments. Malware One of the means of perpetrators conducting industrial espionage is by exploiting vulnerabilities in computer software. Malware and spyware are "tool[s] for industrial espionage", in "transmitting digital copies of trade secrets, customer plans, future plans and contacts". Newer forms of malware include devices which surreptitiously switch on mobile phones camera and recording devices. In attempts to tackle such attacks on their intellectual property, companies are increasingly keeping important information off network, leaving an "air gap", with some companies building Faraday cages to shield from electromagnetic or cellphone transmissions. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack uses compromised computer systems to orchestrate a flood of requests on the target system, causing it to shut down and deny service to other users. It could potentially be used for economic or industrial espionage with the purpose of sabotage. This method was allegedly utilized by Russian secret services, over a period of two weeks on a cyberattack on Estonia in May 2007, in response to the removal of a Soviet era war memorial. Notable cases France and the United States Between 1987 and 1989, IBM and Texas Instruments were thought to have been targeted by French spies with the intention of helping France's Groupe Bull. In 1993, U.S. aerospace companies were also thought to have been targeted by French interests. During the early 1990s, France was described as one of the most aggressive pursuers of espionage to garner foreign industrial and technological secrets. France accused the U.S. of attempting to sabotage its high tech industrial base. The government of France has been alleged to have conducted ongoing industrial espionage against American aerodynamics and satellite companies. Volkswagen In 1993, car manufacturer Opel, the German division of General Motors, accused Volkswagen of industrial espionage after Opel's chief of production, Jose Ignacio Lopez, and seven other executives moved to Volkswagen. Volkswagen subsequently threatened to sue for defamation, resulting in a four-year legal battle. The case, which was finally settled in 1997, resulted in one of the largest settlements in the history of industrial espionage, with Volkswagen agreeing to pay General Motors $100 million and to buy at least $1 billion of car parts from the company over 7 years, although it did not explicitly apologize for Lopez's behavior. Hilton and Starwood In April 2009, Starwood accused its rival Hilton Worldwide of a "massive" case of industrial espionage. After being acquired by The Blackstone Group, Hilton employed 10 managers and executives from Starwood. Starwood accused Hilton of stealing corporate information relating to its luxury brand concepts, used in setting up its Denizen hotels. Specifically, former head of its luxury brands group, Ron Klein, was accused of downloading "truckloads of documents" from a laptop to his personal email account. Google and Operation Aurora On 13 January 2010, Google announced that operators, from within China, had hacked into their Google China operation, stealing intellectual property and, in particular, accessing the email accounts of human rights activists. The attack was thought to have been part of a more widespread cyber attack on companies within China which has become known as Operation Aurora. Intruders were thought to have launched a zero-day attack, exploiting a weakness in the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, the malware used being a modification of the trojan "Hydraq". Concerned about the possibility of hackers taking advantage of this previously unknown weakness in Internet Explorer, the governments of Germany and, subsequently France, issued warnings not to use the browser. There was speculation that "insiders" had been involved in the attack, with some Google China employees being denied access to the company's internal networks after the company's announcement. In February 2010, computer experts from the U.S. National Security Agency claimed that the attacks on Google probably originated from two Chinese universities associated with expertise in computer science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Shandong Lanxiang Vocational School, the latter having close links to the Chinese military. Google claimed at least 20 other companies had also been targeted in the cyber attack, said by the London Times, to have been part of an "ambitious and sophisticated attempt to steal secrets from unwitting corporate victims" including "defence contractors, finance and technology companies". Rather than being the work of individuals or organised criminals, the level of sophistication of the attack was thought to have been "more typical of a nation state". Some commentators speculated as to whether the attack was part of what is thought to be a concerted Chinese industrial espionage operation aimed at getting "high-tech information to jump-start China's economy". Critics pointed to what was alleged to be a lax attitude to the intellectual property of foreign businesses in China, letting them operate but then seeking to copy or reverse engineer their technology for the benefit of Chinese "national champions". In Google's case, they may have (also) been concerned about the possible misappropriation of source code or other technology for the benefit of Chinese rival Baidu. In March 2010 Google subsequently decided to cease offering censored results in China, leading to the closing of its Chinese operation. USA v. Lan Lee, et al. The United States charged two former NetLogic Inc. engineers, Lan Lee and Yuefei Ge, of committing economic espionage against TSMC and NetLogic, Inc. A jury acquitted the defendants of the charges with regard to TSMC and deadlocked on the charges with regard to NetLogic. In May 2010, a federal judge dismissed all the espionage charges against the two defendants. The judge ruled that the U.S. government presented no evidence of espionage. Dongxiao Yue and Chordiant Software, Inc. In May 2010, the federal jury convicted Chordiant Software, Inc., a U.S. corporation, of stealing Dongxiao Yue's JRPC technologies and used them in a product called Chordiant Marketing Director. Yue previously filed lawsuits against Symantec Corporation for a similar theft. Concerns of national governments Brazil Revelations from the Snowden documents have provided information to the effect that the United States, notably vis-à-vis the NSA, has been conducting aggressive economic espionage against Brazil. Canadian intelligence has apparently supported U.S. economic espionage efforts. China The Chinese cybersecurity company Qihoo 360 accused Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of an 11-year-long hacking campaign that targeted several industries including aviation organizations, scientific research institutions, petroleum firms, internet companies, and government agencies. United States A 2009 report to the US government, by aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman, describes Chinese economic espionage as comprising "the single greatest threat to U.S. technology". Blogging on the 2009 cyber attack on Google, Joe Stewart of SecureWorks referred to a "persistent campaign of 'espionage-by-malware' emanating from the People's Republic of China (PRC)" with both corporate and state secrets being "Shanghaied" over the past 5 or 6 years. The Northrop Grumann report states that the collection of US defense engineering data through cyberattack is regarded as having "saved the recipient of the information years of R&D and significant amounts of funding". Concerns about the extent of cyberattacks on the US emanating from China has led to the situation being described as the dawn of a "new cold cyberwar". According to Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency spies on foreign companies. In June 2015 Wikileaks published documents about the National Security Agency spying on French companies. United Kingdom In December 2007, it was revealed that Jonathan Evans, head of the United Kingdom's MI5, had sent out confidential letters to 300 chief executives and security chiefs at the country's banks, accountants and legal firms warning of attacks from Chinese 'state organisations'. A summary was also posted on the secure website of the Centre for the Protection of the National Infrastructure, accessed by some of the nation's 'critical infrastructure' companies, including 'telecoms firms, banks and water and electricity companies'. One security expert warned about the use of 'custom trojans,' software specifically designed to hack into a particular firm and feed back data. Whilst China was identified as the country most active in the use of internet spying, up to 120 other countries were said to be using similar techniques. The Chinese government responded to UK accusations of economic espionage by saying that the report of such activities was 'slanderous' and that the government opposed hacking which is prohibited by law. Germany German counter-intelligence experts have maintained the German economy is losing around €53 billion or the equivalent of 30,000 jobs to economic espionage yearly. In Operation Eikonal German BND agents received "selector lists" from the NSA – search terms for their dragnet surveillance. They contain IP addresses, mobile phone numbers and email accounts with the BND surveillance system containing hundreds of thousands and possibly more than a million such targets. These lists have been subject of controversy as in 2008 it was revealed that they contained some terms targeting the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), the Eurocopter project as well as French administration, which were first noticed by BND employees in 2005. After the revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden the BND decided to investigate the issue whose October 2013 conclusion was that at least 2,000 of these selectors were aimed at Western European or even German interests which has been a violation of the Memorandum of Agreement that the US and Germany signed in 2002 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. After reports emerged in 2014 that EADS and Eurocopter had been surveillance targets the Left Party and the Greens filed an official request to obtain evidence of the violations. The BND's project group charged with supporting the NSA investigative committee in German parliament set up in spring 2014, reviewed the selectors and discovered 40,000 suspicious search parameters, including espionage targets in Western European governments and numerous companies. The group also confirmed suspicions that the NSA had systematically violated German interests and concluded that the Americans could have perpetrated economic espionage directly under the Germans' noses. The investigative parliamentary committee was not granted access to the NSA's selectors list as an appeal led by opposition politicians failed at Germany's top court. Instead the ruling coalition appointed an administrative judge, , as a "person of trust" who was granted access to the list and briefed the investigative commission on its contents after analyzing the 40,000 parameters. In his almost 300-paged report Graulich concluded that European government agencies were targeted massively and that Americans hence broke contractual agreements. He also found that German targets which received special protection from surveillance of domestic intelligence agencies by Germany's Basic Law (Grundgesetz) − including numerous enterprises based in Germany – were featured in the NSA's wishlist in a surprising plenitude. Competitive intelligence and economic or industrial espionage "Competitive intelligence" involves the legal and ethical activity of systematically gathering, analyzing and managing information on industrial competitors. It may include activities such as examining newspaper articles, corporate publications, websites, patent filings, specialised databases, information at trade shows and the like to determine information on a corporation. The compilation of these crucial elements is sometimes termed CIS or CRS, a Competitive Intelligence Solution or Competitive Response Solution, with its roots in market research. Douglas Bernhardt has characterised "competitive intelligence" as involving "the application of principles and practices from military and national intelligence to the domain of global business"; it is the commercial equivalent of open-source intelligence. The difference between competitive intelligence and economic or industrial espionage is not clear; one needs to understand the legal basics to recognize how to draw the line between the two. See also Business intelligence Corporate warfare Cyber spying FBI Labor spying in the United States The American Economic Espionage Act of 1996 History of tea in India References Bibliography Books Newspapers and journals Web Further reading External links Comparing Insider IT Sabotage and Espionage: A Model-Based Analysis Spooky Business: Corporate Espionage Against Nonprofit Organizations Spooky Business: U.S. Corporations Enlist Ex-Intelligence Agents to Spy on Nonprofit Groups Pt 2: U.S. Corporations Enlist Ex-Intelligence Agents to Spy on Nonprofit Groups Corporate Espionage Undermines Democracy Cyberwarfare Types of espionage Corporate crime Trade secrets Cyberpunk themes Security breaches

41792925

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible%2C%20Inc.

Invisible, Inc.

Invisible, Inc. (stylized as INVI?IBLE, INC.) is a turn-based tactics stealth video game incorporating elements of roguelike gameplay, developed by Canadian independent studio Klei Entertainment. The player acts as the remote operator for an espionage agency that has come under attack from multinational corporations, and directs agents in covert missions, acquiring resources and support in order to enable relocation of the agency's computer system to a safe haven within a limited amount of time. The game was available for early access for Microsoft Windows and OS X from January 2014, a Linux build was later released. The full version was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux on May 12, 2015. A PlayStation 4 version was released on April 19, 2016, while a version for iOS devices was released on October 6, 2016. A Nintendo Switch version was released on June 15, 2020. Gameplay The game is a turn-based tactics based-game inspired by X-COM, with emphasis on stealth and espionage. In each playthrough, the player takes on the role of an agent handler for covert operations and has three days to prepare for their final mission. This is done by performing various missions across the globe to retrieve information, valuables, equipment and personnel, keeping cognizant of the amount of time taken for travel and missions within that three day period. The player selects two agents to perform these missions to start, and may be able to free other agents during missions; should one agent die during a mission, they remain dead for the remainder of the runthrough unless revived using a medkit consumable or dragged to the exit by another agent, while if all agents die, the game is over. The mission details and location layouts are procedurally generated for each run through, featuring a variety of objectives, obstacles, and difficulty. Missions are played out in a turn-based manner. Each agent under the player's control has a limited number of action points each turn that allow them to move, open/close doors, take out guards silently, or perform other covert tasks. Additionally, the player may need to collect power to be able to use "Incognita", the hacking interface that allows them to disable alarms and security cameras or remove locks on safes. Once the player has completed their turn, any enemy forces move, and in most locations an alarm level is raised; with higher alarm levels, new security forces and threats will arrive, making the mission more difficult. Certain stations can let the player purchase upgrades or equipment for the agents to help in the mission, using collected in-game money. The objective of the mission depends on the facility type being infiltrated, usually requiring the player to retrieve a specific item from a secure location and escape, stealing as much money and equipment as possible along the way. The game has a larger meta-game aspect, in that as they play and complete certain goals, they can unlock different agents with different skill sets or new default equipment to begin missions with in future playthroughs. Plot The game is set in year 2074, after megacorporations have overthrown the world's national governments and taken control. Invisible Inc. is a private intelligence agency providing services to corporations, performing infiltrations using field agents and a sophisticated AI system known as Incognita. At the start of the game, Invisible Inc. is compromised by corporate soldiers, which leads to the headquarters as well as most agents and assets being lost, with only the agency's leader, two agents, the player, Monst3r, and Incognita escaping. Incognita can only be hosted in extremely powerful computer systems and cannot survive outside of them for more than 72 hours, so it becomes the agency's task to use that time to prepare for their final mission, where they will try to infiltrate the enemy's headquarters to access the computer system and insert Incognita. But, once she's uploaded it turns out she has been planning to exterminate the megacorporations, and ends with her using satellites (equipped with orbital lasers) to destroy their headquarters, killing thousands of people in the process. Incognita defies her removal from the new host computer and allows the agency's leader to leave unharmed. Development Invisible, Inc. was announced on July 2, 2013, in an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Nathan Grayson. A preview of the alpha version of the game was shown at the September PAX Prime 2013 expo. After playing the preview, Grayson commented that the game was very early in development, but that he "really enjoyed" his session with the game. The game was originally titled Incognita but was renamed to Invisible, Inc. after developer Klei Entertainment found the new title was better received during focus testing. The name remains as part of the game as "Incognita" mode used to interact with the various electronic systems. An alpha version of the game entered Early Access in January 2014. The game was added to the Steam Early Access program on August 20, 2014, and fully released on May 12, 2015. The game was released on the PlayStation 4, including the Contingency Plan content, on April 19, 2016. An iOS version of the base game was released on October 6, 2016, with plans to bring the downloadable content later. The Switch version was released on June 15, 2020. Downloadable content (DLC) for the game, titled Invisible, Inc. Contingency Plan was released on November 12, 2015. The DLC adds agents, mission difficulty levels, missions, enemy types, weapons and items to the main game, in addition to an extended campaign. Reception Invisible, Inc. was named as a finalist for the Excellence in Design and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for the 2015 Independent Games Festival. Invisible, Inc. received positive reviews upon release. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PC version of the game 82/100 based on 45 reviews. References External links 2015 video games Cyberpunk video games Early access video games IOS games Linux games Lua (programming language)-scripted video games MacOS games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Video games with Steam Workshop support Turn-based tactics video games Video games developed in Canada Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in the 2070s Video games using procedural generation Video games with downloadable content Windows games Spy video games Stealth video games Klei Entertainment games Single-player video games

1203430

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warez%20group

Warez group

A warez group is a tightly organised group of people involved in creating and/or distributing warez such as movies, music or software ("warez") in The Scene. There are different types of these groups in the Scene: release groups and courier groups. Groups often compete, as being the first to bring out a new quality release can bring status and respect – a type of "vanity contest". The warez groups care about the image others have of them. Description ANALOG Computing observed in 1984 that software piracy did not make sense economically to those performing the software cracking. The primary motivation of warez groups is not monetary gain, but the excitement of breaking rules and beating competitors, although at least two Scene groups have been asking for bitcoin donations, PoWeRUp and spamTV. Individual members of these groups are usually also the authors of cracks and keygens. There are warez groups publishing new content outside of the Scene, often referred to as P2P groups. They are a lot more accessible for people with access to new movies and are not limited to a set of rules and regulations. The FBI have been combating warez groups with Operation: Cyberstrike, Operation Buccaneer, Operation Fastlink, Operation Safehaven and Operation Site Down. Similarly, the P2P group IMAGiNE has been disbanded due to law enforcement actions. Some game and software groups include Razor 1911, Reloaded, DrinkOrDie, Pirates With Attitude, Class, Myth and Fairlight. For a larger list, see the list of warez groups. Release groups Release groups are responsible for making warez releases. For example, they rip a movie from DVD, encode it to a video file and chop it up in smaller pieces before sharing it. They are at the top of the warez world. An announcement of the release shows up in pre databases after making the release available on their affiliate sites. Access to the original software products is necessary to write cracks and keygens so they share original media among each other, usually using private sites and servers. Communication between members happens with IRC. Warez groups typically add NFO files with their releases. Due to the nature of the scene, not much is known about these groups. Most groups follow one of the different warez standards to prevent being nuked. Most groups are focused on a single category (music, movies, television, ...) or genre (e.g. metal music or graffiti). The group members have different roles. Most groups have one or more group leaders, aided by people with assignments such as supplier, cracker or ripper. Courier groups Courier groups take releases and distribute them. This can be done using FXP to FTP sites. There are more couriers in the scene than there are crackers, suppliers and sites combined. Couriers are a specific class of topsite users who earn their access by uploading new releases and filling requests. When a courier gains access to a topsite, they are often required to pass a trial test such as uploading a certain amount in a short period of time. Couriers compete (race) against each other for respect, credits, access to other topsites, and fun. Private couriers often operate as independent (iND) couriers. Some couriers band together to form courier groups which provide support and friendship through camaraderie. Although it may be noted that Couriers/Racers are looked down upon more than ever by affiliates and topsite staff with the increase of scripts that perform the couriers tasks automatically. See also List of warez groups Software cracking Warez References External links Consumption essay by Mike Rogers Warez Warez groups

54080206

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis%20M.%20Hacker

Louis M. Hacker

Louis Morton Hacker (March 17, 1899 – March 22, 1987) was an American economic historian, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, and founding dean of its School of General Studies, and author. He is known as a leading proponent of adult education. Biography Hacker, son of Morris and Celia (Waxelbaum) Hacker, was born and raised in New York City in Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. After attending the Brooklyn Boys' High School, he studied at Columbia College, Columbia University and Columbia University, where he obtained his AB in 1922, and his MA in 1923. After graduation in 1923 Hacker started as assistant editor at the New International Encyclopedia, and was contributing editor at the New International YearBook. In 1935 he started as lifelong academic career at Columbia University as lecturer in economics. In 1942 he became Assistant Professor, in 1944 Associate Professor, and in 1948 full Professor. After his retirement in 1967 he was appointed Professor Emeritus. In 1952 he was the first dean of its School of General Studies, where he served until 1958. In 1937 he had been Visiting Professor at the University Wisconsin, in 1939 at the Ohio State University, in 1945 at Utah State Agricultural College, in 1953 at the University Hawaii, and in 1970 at the University Puget Sound. In 1948 he had been appointed Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History for one year at the University of Oxford. In addition to the scientific work, he was involved in the American Civil Liberties Union. Hacker died in Le Roy, New York in 1987 at the age of 88. Work Hacker was a leading proponent of adult education. In an interview he had explained: "Many students come to us 10, 20, 30 years after graduation from high school... They are intelligent and serious but they could not pass a college-entrance examination after such a long interruption of their studies. They want to try a college course, perhaps only one or two, before deciding whether they can go on. We let them try. Why not?" Hacker's research interests were in the field of American history and its social economic development, as well as the life and work of some of its greatest entrepreneurs such as Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Hamilton and Joseph M. Proskauer. Selected publications Louis M. Hacker, Rudolf Modley and George Rogers Taylor. The United States: a graphic history,New York, Modern age books, inc, 1938. Louis M. Hacker. The triumph of American capitalism: the development of forces in American history to the end of the nineteenth century. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1940. Louis M. Hacker. The shaping of the American tradition. Columbia University Press, New York, 1947. Louis M. Hacker & Benjamin Burks Kendrick. The United States since 1865. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1949. Louis M. Hacker, Alexander Hamilton in the American Tradition. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1957. Louis M. Hacker. The world of Andrew Carnegie: 1865-1901. Lippincott, Philadelphia 1968. References External links Louis M. Hacker, Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume CVI, Number 62, 15 January 1962 (with image) 1899 births 1987 deaths Economists from New York (state) Historians from New York (state) Economic historians Columbia University faculty Writers from Brooklyn Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni 20th-century American economists

2564605

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy

PyPy

PyPy () is an alternative implementation of the Python programming language to CPython (which is the standard implementation). PyPy often runs faster than CPython because PyPy uses a just-in-time compiler. Most Python code runs well on PyPy except for code that depends on CPython extensions, which either does not work or incurs some overhead when run in PyPy. Internally, PyPy uses a technique known as meta-tracing, which transforms an interpreter into a tracing just-in-time compiler. Since interpreters are usually easier to write than compilers, but run slower, this technique can make it easier to produce efficient implementations of programming languages. PyPy's meta-tracing toolchain is called RPython. PyPy does not have full compatibility with more recent versions of the CPython ecosystem. While it claims compatibility with Python 2.7, 3.6 and 3.7 ("a drop-in replacement for CPython"), it loses out on newer features and syntax in Python 3.8, 3.9 such as assignment expressions and positional-only parameters, and the latest Python 3.10 syntax for pattern matching. Details and motivation PyPy was conceived to be an implementation of Python written in a programming language that is similar to Python. This makes it easy to identify areas where it can be improved and makes PyPy more flexible and easier to experiment with than CPython. PyPy aims to provide a common translation and support framework for producing implementations of dynamic languages, emphasizing a clean separation between language specification and implementation aspects. It also aims to provide a compliant, flexible and fast implementation of the Python programming language using the above framework to enable new advanced features without having to encode low-level details into it. RPython The PyPy interpreter itself is written in a restricted subset of Python called RPython (Restricted Python). RPython puts some constraints on the Python language such that a variable's type can be inferred at compile time. The PyPy project has developed a toolchain that analyzes RPython code and translates it into a form of byte code, which can be lowered into C. There used to be other backends in addition to C: Java, CSharp, and Javascript but those suffered from bitrot and have been removed. Thus the recursive logo of PyPy is a snake swallowing itself since the RPython is translated by a Python interpreter. The code can also be run untranslated for testing and analysis, which provides a nice test-bed for research into dynamic languages. It allows for pluggable garbage collectors, as well as optionally enabling Stackless Python features. Finally, it includes a just-in-time (JIT) generator that builds a just-in-time compiler into the interpreter, given a few annotations in the interpreter source code. The generated JIT compiler is a tracing JIT. RPython is now also used to write non-Python language implementations such as Pixie. Project status PyPy as of version 7.3.7 is compatible with three CPython versions: 2.7, 3.7 and 3.8. The first PyPy version compatible with CPython v3 is PyPy v2.3.1 (2014). The PyPy interpreter compatible with CPython v3 is also known as PyPy3. PyPy has JIT compilation support on 32-bit/64-bit x86 and 32-bit/64-bit ARM processors. It is tested nightly on Windows, Linux, OpenBSD and Mac OS X. PyPy is able to run pure Python software that does not rely on implementation-specific features. There is a compatibility layer for CPython C API extensions called CPyExt, but it is incomplete and experimental. The preferred way of interfacing with C shared libraries is through the built-in C foreign function interface (CFFI) or ctypes libraries. History PyPy is a followup to the Psyco project, a just-in-time specializing compiler for Python, developed by Armin Rigo between 2002 and 2010. PyPy's aim is to have a just-in-time specializing compiler with scope, which was not available for Psyco. Initially, the RPython could also be compiled into Java bytecode, CIL and JavaScript, but these backends were removed due to lack of interest. PyPy was initially a research and development-oriented project. Reaching a mature state of development and an official 1.0 release in mid-2007, its next focus was on releasing a production-ready version with more CPython compatibility. Many of PyPy's changes have been made during coding sprints. In August 2008, PyPy was able to run some popular Python libraries like Pylons, Pyglet, Nevow and Django. On 12 March 2010, PyPy 1.2 was released, focusing on speed. It included a working, though not yet stable, just-in-time compiler. On 30 April 2011, PyPy version 1.5 was released, which reached compatibility with CPython 2.7. On 9 May 2013, PyPy 2.0 was released, which introduced alpha-quality support for JIT compilation on ARMv6 and ARMv7 JIT, and included CFFI in the standard library. On 20 June 2014, PyPy3 was declared stable and introduced compatibility with the more modern Python 3. It was released alongside PyPy 2.3.1 and bears the same version number. On 21 March 2017, the PyPy project released version 5.7 of both PyPy and PyPy3, with the latter introducing beta-quality support for Python 3.5. On 26 April 2018, version 6.0 was released, with support for Python 2.7 and 3.5 (still beta-quality on Windows). On 11 February 2019, version 7.0 was released, with support for Python 2.7 and 3.5. On 14 October 2019, version 7.2 was released, with support for Python 3.6.9. On 24 December 2019, version 7.3 was released, with support for Python 3.6.9. On 16 February 2020, the PyPy team announced the move of the source code hosting from Bitbucket to heptapod.net with the repositories of the CFFI (C Foreign Function Interface) project. A new logo and website design are also published. However the author and the licence of the new logo are unknown. Funding PyPy was funded by the European Union being a Specific Targeted Research Project between December 2004 and March 2007. In June 2008, PyPy announced funding being part of the Google Open Source programs and has agreed to focus on making PyPy more compatible with CPython. In 2009 Eurostars, a European Union funding agency specially focused on SMEs, accepted a proposal from PyPy project members titled "PYJIT – a fast and flexible toolkit for dynamic programming languages based on PyPy". Eurostars funding lasted until August 2011. At PyCon US 2011, the Python Software Foundation provided a $10,000 grant for PyPy to continue work on performance and compatibility with newer versions of the language. The port to ARM architecture was sponsored in part by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The PyPy project also accepts donations through its status blog pages. As of 2013, a variety of sub-projects had funding: Python 3 version compatibility, built-in optimized NumPy support for numerical calculations and software transactional memory support to allow better parallelism. See also Bootstrapping (compilers) Cython GraalVM Partial evaluation Psyco Self-hosting Self-interpreter Unladen Swallow Notes References Davide Ancona, Massimo Ancona, Antonio Cuni, Nicholas D. Matsakis, 2007. RPython: a Step Towards Reconciling Dynamically and Statically Typed OO Languages. In Proc. Dynamic Language Symposium (DLS), 2007. ACM Press. Carl Friedrich Bolz, Antonio Cuni, Maciej Fijalkowski, 2009. Tracing the meta-level: PyPy's Tracing JIT Compiler. In Proc. ICOOOLPS, 2009. ACM Press. External links 2007 software FP6 projects Free software programmed in Python Python (programming language) implementations Software using the MIT license Stack-based virtual machines

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions around a specific domain of interest by removing inhibitions. People are able to think more freely and they suggest as many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted down without criticism and after the brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated. The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. Origin Advertising executive Alex F. Osborn began developing methods for creative problem-solving in 1939. He was frustrated by employees' inability to develop creative ideas individually for ad campaigns. In response, he began hosting group-thinking sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of ideas produced by employees. He first termed the process as organized ideation and was later dubbed by participants as "brainstorm sessions", taking the concept after the use of "the brain to storm a problem." During the period when Osborn made his concept, he started writing on creative thinking, and the first notable book where he mentioned the term brainstorming is "How to Think Up" in 1942. Osborn outlined his method in the 1948 book Your Creative Power in chapter 33, "How to Organize a Squad to Create Ideas". One of Osborn's key recommendations was for all the members of the brainstorming group to be provided with a clear statement of the problem to be addressed prior to the actual brainstorming session. He also explained that the guiding principle is that the problem should be simple and narrowed down to a single target. Here, brainstorming is not believed to be effective in complex problems because of a change in opinion over the desirability of restructuring such problems. While the process can address the problems in such a situation, tackling all of them may not be feasible. Osborn's method Osborn claimed that two principles contribute to "ideative efficacy," these being: Defer judgment, Reach for quantity. Following these two principles were his four general rules of brainstorming, established with intention to: reduce social inhibitions among group members, stimulate idea generation, increase overall creativity of the group. Four rules Go for quantity: This rule is a way of enhancing divergent production, aiming at facilitation of problem solution through the maxim quantity breeds quality. The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated the bigger the chance of producing a radical and effective solution. Withhold criticism: In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'. Instead, participants should focus on extending or adding to ideas, reserving criticism for a later 'critical stage' of the process. By suspending judgment, participants will feel free to generate unusual ideas. Welcome wild ideas: To get a good long list of suggestions, wild ideas are encouraged. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. These new ways of thinking might give better solutions. Combine and improve ideas: As suggested by the slogan "1+1=3". It is believed to stimulate the building of ideas by a process of association. Applications Osborn notes that brainstorming should address a specific question; he held that sessions addressing multiple questions were inefficient. Further, the problem must require the generation of ideas rather than judgment; he uses examples such as generating possible names for a product as proper brainstorming material, whereas analytical judgments such as whether or not to marry do not have any need for brainstorming. Groups Osborn envisioned groups of around 12 participants, including both experts and novices. Participants are encouraged to provide wild and unexpected answers. Ideas receive no criticism or discussion. The group simply provide ideas that might lead to a solution and apply no analytical judgment as to the feasibility. The judgments are reserved for a later date. Variations Nominal group technique Participants are asked to write their ideas anonymously. Then the facilitator collects the ideas and the group votes on each idea. The vote can be as simple as a show of hands in favor of a given idea. This process is called distillation. After distillation, the top-ranked ideas may be sent back to the group or to subgroups for further brainstorming. For example, one group may work on the color required in a product. Another group may work on the size, and so forth. Each group will come back to the whole group for ranking the listed ideas. Sometimes ideas that were previously dropped may be brought forward again once the group has re-evaluated the ideas. It is important that the facilitator is trained in this process before attempting to facilitate this technique. The group should be primed and encouraged to embrace the process. Like all team efforts, it may take a few practice sessions to train the team in the method before tackling the important ideas. Group passing technique Each person in a circular group writes down one idea, and then passes the piece of paper to the next person, who adds some thoughts. This continues until everybody gets his or her original piece of paper back. By this time, it is likely that the group will have extensively elaborated on each idea. The group may also create an "idea book" and post a distribution list or routing slip to the front of the book. On the first page is a description of the problem. The first person to receive the book lists his or her ideas and then routes the book to the next person on the distribution list. The second person can log new ideas or add to the ideas of the previous person. This continues until the distribution list is exhausted. A follow-up "read out" meeting is then held to discuss the ideas logged in the book. This technique takes longer, but it allows individuals time to think deeply about the problem. Team idea mapping method This method of brainstorming works by the method of association. It may improve collaboration and increase the quantity of ideas, and is designed so that all attendees participate and no ideas are rejected. The process begins with a well-defined topic. Each participant brainstorms individually, then all the ideas are merged onto one large idea map. During this consolidation phase, participants may discover a common understanding of the issues as they share the meanings behind their ideas. During this sharing, new ideas may arise by the association, and they are added to the map as well. Once all the ideas are captured, the group can prioritize and/or take action. Directed brainstorming Directed brainstorming is a variation of electronic brainstorming (described below). It can be done manually or with computers. Directed brainstorming works when the solution space (that is, the set of criteria for evaluating a good idea) is known prior to the session. If known, those criteria can be used to constrain the ideation process intentionally. In directed brainstorming, each participant is given one sheet of paper (or electronic form) and told the brainstorming question. They are asked to produce one response and stop, then all of the papers (or forms) are randomly swapped among the participants. The participants are asked to look at the idea they received and to create a new idea that improves on that idea based on the initial criteria. The forms are then swapped again and respondents are asked to improve upon the ideas, and the process is repeated for three or more rounds. In the laboratory, directed brainstorming has been found to almost triple the productivity of groups over electronic brainstorming. Guided brainstorming A guided brainstorming session is time set aside to brainstorm either individually or as a collective group about a particular subject under the constraints of perspective and time. This type of brainstorming removes all cause for conflict and constrains conversations while stimulating critical and creative thinking in an engaging, balanced environment. Participants are asked to adopt different mindsets for pre-defined period of time while contributing their ideas to a central mind map drawn by a pre-appointed scribe. Having examined a multi-perspective point of view, participants seemingly see the simple solutions that collectively create greater growth. Action is assigned individually. Following a guided brainstorming session participants emerge with ideas ranked for further brainstorming, research and questions remaining unanswered and a prioritized, assigned, actionable list that leaves everyone with a clear understanding of what needs to happen next and the ability to visualize the combined future focus and greater goals of the group nicely. Individual brainstorming Individual brainstorming is the use of brainstorming in solitary situations. It typically includes such techniques as free writing, free speaking, word association, and drawing a mind map, which is a visual note taking technique in which people diagram their thoughts. Individual brainstorming is a useful method in creative writing and has been shown to be superior to traditional group brainstorming. Question brainstorming This process involves brainstorming the questions, rather than trying to come up with immediate answers and short term solutions. Theoretically, this technique should not inhibit participation as there is no need to provide solutions. The answers to the questions form the framework for constructing future action plans. Once the list of questions is set, it may be necessary to prioritize them to reach to the best solution in an orderly way. "Questorming" is another term for this mode of inquiry. Methods to improving brainstorming sessions There are a number of ways that groups can improve the effectiveness and quality of their brainstorming sessions. Avoid face-to-face groups: Using face-to-face groups can increase production blocking, evaluation apprehension, social matching and social loafing. Stick to the rules: Brainstorming rules should be followed, and feedback should be given to members that violate these rules. Violations of brainstorming rules tend to lead to mediocre ideas. Pay attention to everyone's ideas: People tend to pay more attention to their own ideas, however brainstorming requires exposure to the ideas of others. A method to encourage members to pay attention to others' ideas is to make them list the ideas out or ask them to repeat others' ideas. Include both individual and group approaches: One method that helps members integrate their ideas into the group is brainwriting. This is where members write their ideas on a piece of paper and then pass it along to others who add their own ideas. Take breaks: Allow silence during group discussions so that members have time to think things through. Do not rush: Allow plenty of time for members to complete the task. Although working under pressure tends to lead to more solutions initially, the quality is usually lower than if more time is spent on the task. Stay persistent: Members should stay focused and persist at the task even when productivity is low. Facilitate the session: A skilled discussion leader should lead and coordinate the brainstorming sessions. This leader can motivate members, correct mistakes, and provide a clear standard of work. They can also be used to keep track of all the ideas and make sure that these ideas are available to everyone. Alternatives to brainstorming If brainstorming does not work for a group, there are some alternatives. Buzzgroups: Larger groups can form subgroups that come up with ideas when the larger group is stumped. Afterwards, these subgroups come back together and discuss their ideas as a whole group. Bug list: Group members write down all the little problems or irritations concerning the issue they are working on, and then the group discusses solutions for each of these "bugs". Stepladder technique: A method where new members state their ideas before listening to the group's position. Synectics: A leader guides the group and discusses their goals, wishes, and frustrations using analogies, metaphors, and fantasy. TRIZ: This method is primarily used in science and engineering, and involves following a specific sequence of problem analysis, resource review, goal setting, and review of prior approaches to the problem. Electronic brainstorming Although the brainstorming can take place online through commonly available technologies such as email or interactive web sites, there have also been many efforts to develop customized computer software that can either replace or enhance one or more manual elements of the brainstorming process. Early efforts, such as GroupSystems at University of Arizona or Software Aided Meeting Management (SAMM) system at the University of Minnesota, took advantage of then-new computer networking technology, which was installed in rooms dedicated to computer supported meetings. When using these electronic meeting systems (EMS, as they came to be called), group members simultaneously and independently entered ideas into a computer terminal. The software collected (or "pools") the ideas into a list, which could be displayed on a central projection screen (anonymized if desired). Other elements of these EMSs could support additional activities such as categorization of ideas, elimination of duplicates, assessment and discussion of prioritized or controversial ideas. Later EMSs capitalized on advances in computer networking and internet protocols to support asynchronous brainstorming sessions over extended periods of time and in multiple locations. Introduced along with the EMS by Nunamaker and colleagues at University of Arizona was electronic brainstorming (EBS). By utilizing customized computer software for groups (group decision support systems or groupware), EBS can replace face-to-face brainstorming. An example of groupware is the GroupSystems, a software developed by University of Arizona. After an idea discussion has been posted on GroupSystems, it is displayed on each group member's computer. As group members simultaneously type their comments on separate computers, those comments are anonymously pooled and made available to all group members for evaluation and further elaboration. Compared to face-to-face brainstorming, not only does EBS enhanced efficiency by eliminating travelling and turn-taking during group discussions, it also excluded several psychological constraints associated with face-to-face meetings. Identified by Gallupe and colleagues, both production blocking (reduced idea generation due to turn-taking and forgetting ideas in face-to-face brainstorming) and evaluation apprehension (a general concern experienced by individuals for how others in the presence are evaluating them) are reduced in EBS. These positive psychological effects increase with group size. A perceived advantage of EBS is that all ideas can be archived electronically in their original form, and then retrieved later for further thought and discussion. EBS also enables much larger groups to brainstorm on a topic than would normally be productive in a traditional brainstorming session. Computer supported brainstorming may overcome some of the challenges faced by traditional brainstorming methods. For example, ideas might be "pooled" automatically, so that individuals do not need to wait to take a turn, as in verbal brainstorming. Some software programs show all ideas as they are generated (via chat room or e-mail). The display of ideas may cognitively stimulate brainstormers, as their attention is kept on the flow of ideas being generated without the potential distraction of social cues such as facial expressions and verbal language. EBS techniques have been shown to produce more ideas and help individuals focus their attention on the ideas of others better than a brainwriting technique (participants write individual written notes in silence and then subsequently communicate them with the group). The production of more ideas has been linked to the fact that paying attention to others' ideas leads to non-redundancy, as brainstormers try to avoid to replicate or repeat another participant's comment or idea. Conversely, the production gain associated with EBS was less found in situations where EBS group members focused too much on generating ideas that they ignored ideas expressed by others. The production gain associated with GroupSystem users' attentiveness to ideas expressed by others has been documented by Dugosh and colleagues. EBS group members who were instructed to attend to ideas generated by others outperformed those who were not in terms of creativity. According to a meta-analysis comparing EBS to face-to-face brainstorming conducted by DeRosa and colleagues, EBS has been found to enhance both the production of non-redundant ideas and the quality of ideas produced. Despite the advantages demonstrated by EBS groups, EBS group members reported less satisfaction with the brainstorming process compared to face-to-face brainstorming group members. Some web-based brainstorming techniques allow contributors to post their comments anonymously through the use of avatars. This technique also allows users to log on over an extended time period, typically one or two weeks, to allow participants some "soak time" before posting their ideas and feedback. This technique has been used particularly in the field of new product development, but can be applied in any number of areas requiring collection and evaluation of ideas. Some limitations of EBS include the fact that it can flood people with too many ideas at one time that they have to attend to, and people may also compare their performance to others by analyzing how many ideas each individual produces (social matching). Incentives Some research indicates that incentives can augment creative processes. Participants were divided into three conditions. In Condition I, a flat fee was paid to all participants. In the Condition II, participants were awarded points for every unique idea of their own, and subjects were paid for the points that they earned. In Condition III, subjects were paid based on the impact that their idea had on the group; this was measured by counting the number of group ideas derived from the specific subject's ideas. Condition III outperformed Condition II, and Condition II outperformed Condition I at a statistically significant level for most measures. The results demonstrated that participants were willing to work far longer to achieve unique results in the expectation of compensation. Challenges to effective group brainstorming A good deal of research refutes Osborn's claim that group brainstorming could generate more ideas than individuals working alone. For example, in a review of 22 studies of group brainstorming, Michael Diehl and Wolfgang Stroebe found that, overwhelmingly, groups brainstorming together produce fewer ideas than individuals working separately. However, this conclusion is brought into question by a subsequent review of 50 studies by Scott G. Isaksen showed that a misunderstanding of the tool, and weak application of the methods (including lack of facilitation), and the artificiality of the problems and groups undermined most such studies, and the validity of their conclusions. Several factors can contribute to a loss of effectiveness in group brainstorming. Production blocking: Because only one participant may give an idea at any one time, other participants might forget the idea they were going to contribute or not share it because they see it as no longer important or relevant. Further, if we view brainstorming as a cognitive process in which "a participant generates ideas (generation process) and stores them in short-term memory (memorization process) and then eventually extracts some of them from its short-term memory to express them (output process)", then blocking is an even more critical challenge because it may also inhibit a person's train of thought in generating their own ideas and remembering them. Group members can be given notepads to write their ideas on and the meeting can organize who will get to speak next. However, this brainstorming technique does not perform as well as individuals using the nominal group technique. Collaborative fixation: Exchanging ideas in a group may reduce the number of domains that a group explores for additional ideas. Members may also conform their ideas to those of other members, decreasing the novelty or variety of ideas, even though the overall number of ideas might not decrease. Evaluation apprehension: Evaluation apprehension was determined to occur only in instances of personal evaluation. If the assumption of collective assessment were in place, real-time judgment of ideas, ostensibly an induction of evaluation apprehension, failed to induce significant variance. Furthermore, when an authority figure watches the group members brainstorm the effectiveness lowers because members worry their ideas may be viewed negatively. Especially individuals with high social anxiety are particularly unproductive barnstormers and report feeling more nervous, anxious, and worried than group members who are less anxiety prone. Free-writing: Individuals may feel that their ideas are less valuable when combined with the ideas of the group at large. Indeed, Diehl and Stroebe demonstrated that even when individuals worked alone, they produced fewer ideas if told that their output would be judged in a group with others than if told that their output would be judged individually. However, experimentation revealed free-writing as only a marginal contributor to productivity loss, and type of session (i.e., real vs. nominal group) contributed much more. Personality characteristics: Extroverts have been shown to outperform introverts in computer mediated groups. Extroverts also generated more unique and diverse ideas than introverts when additional methods were used to stimulate idea generation, such as completing a small related task before brainstorming, or being given a list of the classic rules of brainstorming. Social matching: One phenomenon of group brainstorming is that participants will tend to alter their rate of productivity to match others in the group. This can lead to participants generating fewer ideas in a group setting than they would individually because they will decrease their own contributions if they perceive themselves to be more productive than the group average. On the other hand, the same phenomenon can also increase an individual's rate of production to meet the group average. Illusion of group productivity: Members tend to overestimate their group's productivity and so work less. Members of the group can only guess at the quantity and quality of their group's product and their personal contributions to the process but there is no standard to determine how well it is performing. A combination of processes explain why members are incorrectly overestimating productivity: Group members may intuitively mistake others' ideas for their own, and so when they think about their own performance they cognitively claim a few ideas that others actually suggested Group members compare themselves to others who generate relatively few ideas, reassuring them that they are one of the high performers Group brainstorming may "feel" more successful because participants rarely experience failure in a communal process. When individuals are trying to think creatively alone, people repeatedly find that they are unable to come up with a new idea. In a group setting, people are less likely to experience this failure in their search for new ideas because others' ideas are being discussed. See also 6-3-5 Brainwriting Affinity diagram Group concept mapping Eureka effect Lateral thinking Mass collaboration Nominal group technique Speed thinking Thinking outside the box What? Where? When? References Creativity techniques Group problem solving methods Collaboration

1340559

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%20character

Bell character

A bell code (sometimes bell character) is a device control code originally sent to ring a small electromechanical bell on tickers and other teleprinters and teletypewriters to alert operators at the other end of the line, often of an incoming message. Though tickers punched the bell codes into their tapes, printers generally do not print a character when the bell code is received. Bell codes are usually represented by the label "BEL". They have been used since 1870 (initially in Baudot code). To maintain backward compatibility, video display terminals (VDTs) that replaced teletypewriters included speakers or buzzers to perform the same function, as did the personal computers that followed. Modern terminal emulators often integrate the warnings to the desktop environment (e.g., the macOS Terminal will play the system warning sound) and also often offer a silent visual bell feature that flashes the terminal window briefly. Representations In ASCII and Unicode the character with the value 7 is BEL. It can be referred to as control-G or in caret notation. Unicode also includes a character for the visual representation of the bell code, "symbol for bell" (␇) at U+2407, not to mention U+237E (⍾). In the 5-bit Baudot codes, BEL is represented by the number 11 (0x0B) when in "figures" mode. In the programming languages C (created in 1972) and Python (created in 1991), the bell character can be placed in a string or character constant with \a. ('a' stands for "alert" or "audible" and was chosen because \b was already used for the backspace character.) Usage On Unix-like systems, or on MS-DOS or Windows, a user can cause the equivalent of ringing the bell to happen by typing at the command prompt the command: echo ^G where the is produced by holding down and typing . On Unix the user may need to type + first to "quote" the . On POSIX systems, one may also use: printf '\a' and in the Bash shell, one may use ANSI-C quoting: echo $'\a' An alternative is to use the tput command, which as a part of the ncurses library is available on most Unix/Linux operating systems: tput bel A program can get the same result by printing the BEL character to a terminal. On modern systems this may not make a noise; it may instead make a visual indication such as flashing the screen, or do nothing at all. See also C0 and C1 control codes (ISO 646) References ATIS Telcom Glossary Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing, 'bell' Control characters

2388886

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id%20Tech%204

Id Tech 4

id Tech 4, popularly known as the Doom 3 engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game Doom 3. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for Doom and Quake, which are widely recognized as significant advances in the field. This OpenGL-based game engine has also been used in Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Wolfenstein, and Brink. id Tech 4 is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. History id Tech 4 began as an enhancement to id Tech 3. During development, it was initially just a complete rewrite of the engine's renderer, while still retaining other subsystems, such as file access, and memory management. The decision to switch from C to the C++ programming language necessitated a restructuring and rewrite of the rest of the engine; today, while id Tech 4 contains code from id Tech 3, much of it has been rewritten. At the QuakeCon 2007, John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id, said to LinuxGames: "I mean, I won't commit to a date, but the Doom 3 stuff will be open source". And like its predecessors, John Carmack has said that id Tech 4 will be released as open-source. At the QuakeCon 2009, Carmack said that he planned to petition ZeniMax Media to release the id Tech 4 source upon the release of Rage. As part of his keynote for QuakeCon 2011 he confirmed that the source code to Doom 3 will be out by the end of the year, after the release of Rage. On November 16, 2011, Carmack announced on Twitter that he's writing new code for Doom 3's open source release, because "lawyers are still skittish about the patent issue around 'Carmack's reverse'". This refers to an implementation of stencil buffered shadow volume algorithms. On November 22, 2011, Carmack released the Doom 3 source code under GNU GPL-3.0-or-later on GitHub. The source does not include any of the 'Carmack's Reverse' code. According to Carmack, minor tweaks were made to the code to avoid any infringement. Hardware The original requirement of id Tech 4 was that it needed a high-end graphics processing unit (GPU) with fully programmable vertex and pixel shaders, such as the Nvidia GeForce 3 or ATI Radeon 8500, with at least 64 MB of VRAM. By E3 2002, the recommended GPU was "100% DirectX 9.0b compatible", such as the Radeon 9700 with 128 MB of VRAM. While the Radeon 9700's DirectX 9.0 features are not necessary to render the game, its advanced architecture, 256-bit memory bus, and efficiency were needed to run Doom 3 at high detail and playable speed. The "Ultra" graphics mode included in Doom 3 would not even run on the current popular graphics cards available in 2004, requiring at least 512 MB of video memory to display properly and at playable speeds, meaning that it was basically unusable at the time of release. id Tech 4 resulted in the obsolescence of DirectX 7 graphics chips such as the widespread GeForce 2 and Radeon 7200, as well as older chipsets such as RIVA TNT2 and Rage 128, and software rendering (with an integrated Intel GMA). Until the advent of id Tech 4, a powerful CPU was able to somewhat compensate for an older video card. While John Carmack initially warned gamers not to purchase the GeForce 4 MX (which casual consumers often confused with the DirectX 8 capable GeForce 4 Ti, though it was at best an improved GeForce 2), its somewhat widespread adoption compelled id Software to add it to the list of supported cards. There have been cases of enthusiasts forcing Doom 3 to run on unsupported graphics chips, such as the long obsolete Voodoo 2, but these are unable to render the per-pixel lighting and bump mapping. Features Graphics Id Tech 4 added several new graphical features absent in its predecessor, id Tech 3. These included normal mapping and specular highlighting. More features were added in the development of successive games, and in yet unreleased games using id Tech 4, new features have been added or are planned to be added soon. The primary innovation of id Tech 4 was its use of entirely dynamic per-pixel lighting, whereas previously, 3D engines had relied primarily on pre-calculated per-vertex lighting or lightmaps and Gouraud shading. While dynamic effects had been available before (such as dynamic moving lights), this effect merely changed the brightness of the vertices of the polygon, with the pixel's colors simply being interpolated between the three vertex colors of its polygon. This fully realtime approach used in Doom 3, combined with the use of shadow volumes permitted more realistic lighting and shadows than in the previous generation of id's engines. The method used to create the shadow volumes is the subject of a patent by Creative, which Creative granted id permission to use in the Doom 3 engine, in exchange for supporting Creative's EAX advanced sound technologies. The models used in id Tech 4 engine games are animated using skeletal animation. The engine can blend multiple animations together, to produce a skin that moves correctly for those animations. Because this is CPU intensive, id did some work optimising this by using Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE). MegaTexture rendering technology The original version of the id Tech 4 engine was designed for somewhat dark environments and was criticized for its perceived inability to handle extremely large daytime outdoor areas. The MegaTexture technology tackled this issue by introducing a means to create expansive outdoor scenes. By painting a single massive texture (32,768×32,768 pixels, though it has been extended to larger dimensions in recent versions of the MegaTexture technology) covering the entire polygon map and highly detailed terrain, the desired effects can be achieved. The MegaTexture can also store physical information about the terrain such as the amount of traction in certain areas or indicate what sound effect should be played when walking over specific parts of the map. i.e. walking on rock will sound different from walking on grass. The first game utilizing MegaTexture is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, based on the Tech 4 engine. All id Tech 5 and id Tech 6 games use MegaTexture, with the exception of The Evil Within which uses a new renderer. Brink, which uses a heavily modified version of id Tech 4 also uses virtual texturing. While the implementation is different from MegaTexture, it was inspired by it. Rendering techniques used in id Tech 4 Unified lighting and shadowing Shadow volume MegaTexture Scripting id Tech 4 has a comprehensive scripting language that can be used when creating mods, and is used in Doom 3 to control monsters, weapons, and map events. This scripting language is similar to C++. In addition to the main scripting language, idTech 4 also has another scripting language that is used for GUIs—both the menus and HUD, and also for GUIs embedded into the game world. These in-game GUIs are sufficiently powerful that you can, for example, run another game such as Doom 1 within the game-world. Despite this additional level of scripting, it is also possible to create mods using C++ to build native code. Sound As a result of the agreement with Creative regarding the patent on shadow volumes, the id Tech 4 engine supports OpenAL, including the Creative Technology specific EAX extensions. The work to include OpenAL support was done by Creative Technology, not by id themselves. Networking The engine uses a traditional client–server model. Initially it was planned to have a peer-to-peer networking model. This part of the engine works in a fundamentally similar way to the id Tech 3 equivalent, however id Tech 4 exposes a lot more of the network protocol to mod developers. Although Doom 3 only supports 4 players (and 8 in the Resurrection of Evil expansion pack), the id Tech 4 engine can be used with more players than this, with Quake 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars both supporting significantly more players. Games using id Tech 4 Compared to the preceding and widely used id Tech 3 (Quake III Arena engine) and id Tech 2 (Quake II engine), id Tech 4 has had less success in licensing to third parties. This is especially apparent in comparison to its closest contemporaries, Unreal Engine 2 (2002) and Unreal Engine 3 (2006) from Epic Games. id Software was unwilling to license their newest engine before its "parent game" Doom 3 was completed. However the unexpected long development time going into Doom 3 from 2002-04 meant that they could not put up competition to Epic Games's Unreal Engine 2 during that period. Many who licensed Unreal Engine 2 were thus able to make the switch to Unreal Engine 3 more easily. While id Tech 4 had taken a new direction with its dynamic per-pixel lighting, this unconventional feature had steeper hardware requirements and was initially only useful in "spooky games" (until the MegaTexture addition), whereas an increasing number of developers preferred conventional engines that could render large outdoor areas. Also notable was id Tech 4's relative lack of downward scalability compared to competing FPS engines; id Tech 4 generally required a DirectX 8.0 compliant GPU such as a GeForce 3; the rival Source engine (which was developed from the previous GoldSrc engine) could still run on the older widespread DirectX 7 GPUs (albeit without shaders being used). Games using a proprietary license Doom 3 (2004) – id Software Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (2005) – Nerve Software Doom 3 BFG Edition (2012) – id Software Quake 4 (2005) – Raven Software Quake 4: Awakening (Cancelled) – Ritual Entertainment Prey (2006) – Human Head Studios Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007) – Splash Damage Wolfenstein (2009) – Raven Software Brink (2011) – Splash Damage Prey 2 (Cancelled) – Human Head Studios SiN 2 (Cancelled) – Ritual Entertainment Games using an open source license The Dark Mod (2013) began as an effort to recreate Thief: The Dark Project within Doom 3. It became a standalone game once the Doom 3 source code was released. Quadrilateral Cowboy (2016) – Blendo Games Skin Deep (TBA) - Blendo Games See also First person shooter engine id Tech 3 id Tech 5 List of game engines References External links id Tech 4 reference material CNN - Life after "Doom" Doom 3 source code on GitHub 2004 software Doom (franchise) Formerly proprietary software Free game engines Game engines for Linux Id Tech Quake (series) Video game engines Virtual reality

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lempel%E2%80%93Ziv%E2%80%93Markov%20chain%20algorithm

Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm

The Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm (LZMA) is an algorithm used to perform lossless data compression. It has been under development since either 1996 or 1998 by Igor Pavlov and was first used in the 7z format of the 7-Zip archiver. This algorithm uses a dictionary compression scheme somewhat similar to the LZ77 algorithm published by Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv in 1977 and features a high compression ratio (generally higher than bzip2) and a variable compression-dictionary size (up to 4 GB), while still maintaining decompression speed similar to other commonly used compression algorithms. LZMA2 is a simple container format that can include both uncompressed data and LZMA data, possibly with multiple different LZMA encoding parameters. LZMA2 supports arbitrarily scalable multithreaded compression and decompression and efficient compression of data which is partially incompressible. However, it is claimed to be unsafe and less efficient than LZMA. Overview LZMA uses a dictionary compression algorithm (a variant of LZ77 with huge dictionary sizes and special support for repeatedly used match distances), whose output is then encoded with a range encoder, using a complex model to make a probability prediction of each bit. The dictionary compressor finds matches using sophisticated dictionary data structures, and produces a stream of literal symbols and phrase references, which is encoded one bit at a time by the range encoder: many encodings are possible, and a dynamic programming algorithm is used to select an optimal one under certain approximations. Prior to LZMA, most encoder models were purely byte-based (i.e. they coded each bit using only a cascade of contexts to represent the dependencies on previous bits from the same byte). The main innovation of LZMA is that instead of a generic byte-based model, LZMA's model uses contexts specific to the bitfields in each representation of a literal or phrase: this is nearly as simple as a generic byte-based model, but gives much better compression because it avoids mixing unrelated bits together in the same context. Furthermore, compared to classic dictionary compression (such as the one used in zip and gzip formats), the dictionary sizes can be and usually are much larger, taking advantage of the large amount of memory available on modern systems. Compressed format overview In LZMA compression, the compressed stream is a stream of bits, encoded using an adaptive binary range coder. The stream is divided into packets, each packet describing either a single byte, or an LZ77 sequence with its length and distance implicitly or explicitly encoded. Each part of each packet is modeled with independent contexts, so the probability predictions for each bit are correlated with the values of that bit (and related bits from the same field) in previous packets of the same type. Both the lzip and the LZMA SDK documentation describes this stream format. There are 7 types of packets: LONGREP[*] refers to LONGREP[0-3] packets, *REP refers to both LONGREP and SHORTREP, and *MATCH refers to both MATCH and *REP. LONGREP[n] packets remove the distance used from the list of the most recent distances and reinsert it at the front, to avoid useless repeated entry, while MATCH just adds the distance to the front even if already present in the list and SHORTREP and LONGREP[0] don't alter the list. The length is encoded as follows: As in LZ77, the length is not limited by the distance, because copying from the dictionary is defined as if the copy was performed byte by byte, keeping the distance constant. Distances are logically 32-bit and distance 0 points to the most recently added byte in the dictionary. The distance encoding starts with a 6-bit "distance slot", which determines how many further bits are needed. Distances are decoded as a binary concatenation of, from most to least significant, two bits depending on the distance slot, some bits encoded with fixed 0.5 probability, and some context encoded bits, according to the following table (distance slots 0−3 directly encode distances 0−3). Decompression algorithm details No complete natural language specification of the compressed format seems to exist, other than the one attempted in the following text. The description below is based on the compact XZ Embedded decoder by Lasse Collin included in the Linux kernel source from which the LZMA and LZMA2 algorithm details can be relatively easily deduced: thus, while citing source code as reference is not ideal, any programmer should be able to check the claims below with a few hours of work. Range coding of bits LZMA data is at the lowest level decoded one bit at a time by the range decoder, at the direction of the LZMA decoder. Context-based range decoding is invoked by the LZMA algorithm passing it a reference to the "context", which consists of the unsigned 11-bit variable prob (typically implemented using a 16-bit data type) representing the predicted probability of the bit being 0, which is read and updated by the range decoder (and should be initialized to 2^10, representing 0.5 probability). Fixed probability range decoding instead assumes a 0.5 probability, but operates slightly differently from context-based range decoding. The range decoder state consists of two unsigned 32-bit variables, range (representing the range size), and code (representing the encoded point within the range). Initialization of the range decoder consists of setting range to 232 − 1, and code to the 32-bit value starting at the second byte in the stream interpreted as big-endian; the first byte in the stream is completely ignored. Normalization proceeds in this way: Shift both range and code left by 8 bits Read a byte from the compressed stream Set the least significant 8 bits of code to the byte value read Context-based range decoding of a bit using the prob probability variable proceeds in this way: If range is less than 2^24, perform normalization Set bound to floor(range / 2^11) * prob If code is less than bound: Set range to bound Set prob to prob + floor((2^11 - prob) / 2^5) Return bit 0 Otherwise (if code is greater than or equal to the bound): Set range to range - bound Set code to code - bound Set prob to prob - floor(prob / 2^5) Return bit 1 Fixed-probability range decoding of a bit proceeds in this way: If range is less than 2^24, perform normalization Set range to floor(range / 2) If code is less than range: Return bit 0 Otherwise (if code is greater or equal than range): Set code to code - range Return bit 1 The Linux kernel implementation of fixed-probability decoding in rc_direct(), for performance reasons, does not include a conditional branch, but instead subtracts range from code unconditionally. The resulting sign bit is used to both decide the bit to return and to generate a mask that is combined with code and added to range. Note that: The division by 2^11 when computing bound and floor operation is done before the multiplication, not after (apparently to avoid requiring fast hardware support for 32-bit multiplication with a 64-bit result) Fixed probability decoding is not strictly equivalent to context-based range decoding with any prob value, due to the fact that context-based range decoding discards the lower 11 bits of range before multiplying by prob as just described, while fixed probability decoding only discards the last bit Range coding of integers The range decoder also provides the bit-tree, reverse bit-tree and fixed probability integer decoding facilities, which are used to decode integers, and generalize the single-bit decoding described above. To decode unsigned integers less than limit, an array of (limit − 1) 11-bit probability variables is provided, which are conceptually arranged as the internal nodes of a complete binary tree with limit leaves. Non-reverse bit-tree decoding works by keeping a pointer to the tree of variables, which starts at the root. As long as the pointer does not point to a leaf, a bit is decoded using the variable indicated by the pointer, and the pointer is moved to either the left or right children depending on whether the bit is 0 or 1; when the pointer points to a leaf, the number associated with the leaf is returned. Non-reverse bit-tree decoding thus happens from most significant to least significant bit, stopping when only one value in the valid range is possible (this conceptually allows to have range sizes that are not powers of two, even though LZMA does not make use of this). Reverse bit-tree decoding instead decodes from least significant bit to most significant bits, and thus only supports ranges that are powers of two, and always decodes the same number of bits. It is equivalent to performing non-reverse bittree decoding with a power of two limit, and reversing the last log2(limit) bits of the result. In the rc_bittree function in the Linux kernel, integers are actually returned in the [limit, 2 * limit) range (with limit added to the conceptual value), and the variable at index 0 in the array is unused, while the one at index 1 is the root, and the left and right children indices are computed as 2i and 2i + 1. The rc_bittree_reverse function instead adds integers in the [0, limit) range to a caller-provided variable, where limit is implicitly represented by its logarithm, and has its own independent implementation for efficiency reasons. Fixed probability integer decoding simply performs fixed probability bit decoding repeatedly, reading bits from the most to the least significant. LZMA configuration The LZMA decoder is configured by an lclppb "properties" byte and a dictionary size. The value of the lclppb byte is lc + lp * 9 + pb * 9 * 5, where: lc is the number of high bits of the previous byte to use as a context for literal encoding (the default value used by the LZMA SDK is 3) lp is the number of low bits of the dictionary position to include in literal_pos_state (the default value used by the LZMA SDK is 0) pb is the number of low bits of the dictionary position to include in pos_state (the default value used by the LZMA SDK is 2) In non-LZMA2 streams, lc must not be greater than 8, and lp and pb must not be greater than 4. In LZMA2 streams, (lc + lp) and pb must not be greater than 4. In the 7-zip LZMA file format, configuration is performed by a header containing the "properties" byte followed by the 32-bit little-endian dictionary size in bytes. In LZMA2, the properties byte can optionally be changed at the start of LZMA2 LZMA packets, while the dictionary size is specified in the LZMA2 header as later described. LZMA coding contexts The LZMA packet format has already been described, and this section specifies how LZMA statistically models the LZ-encoded streams, or in other words which probability variables are passed to the range decoder to decode each bit. Those probability variables are implemented as multi-dimensional arrays; before introducing them, a few values that are used as indices in these multidimensional arrays are defined. The state value is conceptually based on which of the patterns in the following table match the latest 2-4 packet types seen, and is implemented as a state machine state updated according to the transition table listed in the table every time a packet is output. The initial state is 0, and thus packets before the beginning are assumed to be LIT packets. The pos_state and literal_pos_state values consist of respectively the pb and lp (up to 4, from the LZMA header or LZMA2 properties packet) least significant bits of the dictionary position (the number of bytes coded since the last dictionary reset modulo the dictionary size). Note that the dictionary size is normally the multiple of a large power of 2, so these values are equivalently described as the least significant bits of the number of uncompressed bytes seen since the last dictionary reset. The prev_byte_lc_msbs value is set to the lc (up to 4, from the LZMA header or LZMA2 properties packet) most significant bits of the previous uncompressed byte. The is_REP value denotes whether a packet that includes a length is a LONGREP rather than a MATCH. The match_byte value is the byte that would have been decoded if a SHORTREP packet had been used (in other words, the byte found at the dictionary at the last used distance); it is only used just after a *MATCH packet. literal_bit_mode is an array of 8 values in the 0-2 range, one for each bit position in a byte, which are 1 or 2 if the previous packet was a *MATCH and it is either the most significant bit position or all the more significant bits in the literal to encode/decode are equal to the bits in the corresponding positions in match_byte, while otherwise it is 0; the choice between the 1 or 2 values depends on the value of the bit at the same position in match_byte. The literal/Literal set of variables can be seen as a "pseudo-bit-tree" similar to a bit-tree but with 3 variables instead of 1 in every node, chosen depending on the literal_bit_mode value at the bit position of the next bit to decode after the bit-tree context denoted by the node. The claim, found in some sources, that literals after a *MATCH are coded as the XOR of the byte value with match_byte is incorrect; they are instead coded simply as their byte value, but using the pseudo-bit-tree just described and the additional context listed in the table below. The probability variable groups used in LZMA are those: LZMA2 format The LZMA2 container supports multiple runs of compressed LZMA data and uncompressed data. Each LZMA compressed run can have a different LZMA configuration and dictionary. This improves the compression of partially or completely incompressible files and allows multithreaded compression and multithreaded decompression by breaking the file into runs that can be compressed or decompressed independently in parallel. Criticism of LZMA2's changes over LZMA include header fields not being covered by CRCs, and parallel decompression not being possible in practice. The LZMA2 header consists of a byte indicating the dictionary size: 40 indicates a 4 GB − 1 dictionary size Even values less than 40 indicate a 2v/2 + 12 bytes dictionary size Odd values less than 40 indicate a 3×2(v − 1)/2 + 11 bytes dictionary size Values higher than 40 are invalid LZMA2 data consists of packets starting with a control byte, with the following values: 0 denotes the end of the file 1 denotes a dictionary reset followed by an uncompressed chunk 2 denotes an uncompressed chunk without a dictionary reset 3-0x7f are invalid values 0x80-0xff denotes an LZMA chunk, where the lowest 5 bits are used as bit 16-20 of the uncompressed size minus one, and bit 5-6 indicates what should be reset Bits 5-6 for LZMA chunks can be: 0: nothing reset 1: state reset 2: state reset, properties reset using properties byte 3: state reset, properties reset using properties byte, dictionary reset LZMA state resets cause a reset of all LZMA state except the dictionary, and specifically: The range coder The state value The last distances for repeated matches All LZMA probabilities Uncompressed chunks consist of: A 16-bit big-endian value encoding the data size minus one The data to be copied verbatim into the dictionary and the output LZMA chunks consist of: A 16-bit big-endian value encoding the low 16-bits of the uncompressed size minus one A 16-bit big-endian value encoding the compressed size minus one A properties/lclppb byte if bit 6 in the control byte is set The LZMA compressed data, starting with the 5 bytes (of which the first is ignored) used to initialize the range coder (which are included in the compressed size) xz and 7z formats The .xz format, which can contain LZMA2 data, is documented at tukaani.org, while the .7z file format, which can contain either LZMA or LZMA2 data, is documented in the 7zformat.txt file contained in the LZMA SDK. Compression algorithm details Similar to the decompression format situation, no complete natural language specification of the encoding techniques in 7-zip or xz seems to exist, other than the one attempted in the following text. The description below is based on the XZ for Java encoder by Lasse Collin, which appears to be the most readable among several rewrites of the original 7-zip using the same algorithms: again, while citing source code as reference is not ideal, any programmer should be able to check the claims below with a few hours of work. Range encoder The range encoder cannot make any interesting choices, and can be readily constructed based on the decoder description. Initialization and termination are not fully determined; the xz encoder outputs 0 as the first byte which is ignored by the decompressor, and encodes the lower bound of the range (which matters for the final bytes). The xz encoder uses an unsigned 33-bit variable called low (typically implemented as a 64-bit integer, initialized to 0), an unsigned 32-bit variable called range (initialized to 232 − 1), an unsigned 8-bit variable called cache (initialized to 0), and an unsigned variable called cache_size which needs to be large enough to store the uncompressed size (initialized to 1, typically implemented as a 64-bit integer). The cache/cache_size variables are used to properly handle carries, and represent a number defined by a big-endian sequence starting with the cache value, and followed by cache_size 0xff bytes, which has been shifted out of the low register, but has not been written yet, because it could be incremented by one due to a carry. Note that the first byte output will always be 0 due to the fact that cache and low are initialized to 0, and the encoder implementation; the xz decoder ignores this byte. Normalization proceeds in this way: If low is less than (2^32 - 2^24): Output the byte stored in cache to the compressed stream Output cache_size - 1 bytes with 0xff value Set cache to bits 24-31 of low Set cache_size to 0 If low is greater or equal than 2^32: Output the byte stored in cache plus one to the compressed stream Output cache_size - 1 bytes with 0 value Set cache to bits 24-31 of low Set cache_size to 0 Increment cache_size Set low to the lowest 24 bits of low shifted left by 8 bits Set range to range shifted left by 8 bits Context-based range encoding of a bit using the prob probability variable proceeds in this way: If range is less than 2^24, perform normalization Set bound to floor(range / 2^11) * prob If encoding a 0 bit: Set range to bound Set prob to prob + floor((2^11 - prob) / 2^5) Otherwise (if encoding a 1 bit): Set range to range - bound Set low to low + bound Set prob to prob - floor(prob / 2^5) Fixed-probability range encoding of a bit proceeds in this way: If range is less than 2^24, perform normalization Set range to floor(range / 2) If encoding a 1 bit: Set low to low + range Termination proceeds this way: Perform normalization 5 times Bit-tree encoding is performed like decoding, except that bit values are taken from the input integer to be encoded rather than from the result of the bit decoding functions. For algorithms that try to compute the encoding with the shortest post-range-encoding size, the encoder also needs to provide an estimate of that. Dictionary search data structures The encoder needs to be able to quickly locate matches in the dictionary. Since LZMA uses very large dictionaries (potentially on the order of gigabytes) to improve compression, simply scanning the whole dictionary would result in an encoder too slow to be practically usable, so sophisticated data structures are needed to support fast match searches. Hash chains The simplest approach, called "hash chains", is parameterized by a constant N which can be either 2, 3 or 4, which is typically chosen so that 2^(8×) is greater than or equal to the dictionary size. It consists of creating, for each k less than or equal to N, a hash table indexed by tuples of k bytes, where each of the buckets contains the last position where the first k bytes hashed to the hash value associated with that hash table bucket. Chaining is achieved by an additional array which stores, for every dictionary position, the last seen previous position whose first N bytes hash to the same value of the first N bytes of the position in question. To find matches of length N or higher, a search is started using the N-sized hash table, and continued using the hash chain array; the search stop after a pre-defined number of hash chain nodes has been traversed, or when the hash chains "wraps around", indicating that the portion of the input that has been overwritten in the dictionary has been reached. Matches of size less than N are instead found by simply looking at the corresponding hash table, which either contains the latest such match, if any, or a string that hashes to the same value; in the latter case, the encoder will not be able to find the match. This issue is mitigated by the fact that for distant short matches using multiple literals might require less bits, and having hash conflicts in nearby strings is relatively unlikely; using larger hash tables or even direct lookup tables can reduce the problem at the cost of higher cache miss rate and thus lower performance. Note that all matches need to be validated to check that the actual bytes match currently at that specific dictionary position match, since the hashing mechanism only guarantees that at some past time there were characters hashing to the hash table bucket index (some implementations may not even guarantee that, because they do not initialize the data structures). LZMA uses Markov chains, as implied by "M" in its name. Binary trees The binary tree approach follows the hash chain approach, except that it logically uses a binary tree instead of a linked list for chaining. The binary tree is maintained so that it is always both a search tree relative to the suffix lexicographic ordering, and a max-heap for the dictionary position (in other words, the root is always the most recent string, and a child cannot have been added more recently than its parent): assuming all strings are lexicographically ordered, these conditions clearly uniquely determine the binary tree (this is trivially provable by induction on the size of the tree). Since the string to search for and the string to insert are the same, it is possible to perform both dictionary search and insertion (which requires to rotate the tree) in a single tree traversal. Patricia tries Some old LZMA encoders also supported a data structure based on Patricia tries, but such support has since been dropped since it was deemed inferior to the other options. LZMA encoder LZMA encoders can freely decide which match to output, or whether to ignore the presence of matches and output literals anyway. The ability to recall the 4 most recently used distances means that, in principle, using a match with a distance that will be needed again later may be globally optimal even if it is not locally optimal, and as a result of this, optimal LZMA compression probably requires knowledge of the whole input and might require algorithms too slow to be usable in practice. Due to this, practical implementations tend to employ non-global heuristics. The xz encoders use a value called nice_len (the default is 64): when any match of length at least nice_len is found, the encoder stops the search and outputs it, with the maximum matching length. Fast encoder The XZ fast encoder (derived from the 7-zip fast encoder) is the shortest LZMA encoder in the xz source tree. It works like this: Perform combined search and insertion in the dictionary data structure If any repeated distance matches with length at least nice_len: Output the most frequently used such distance with a REP packet If a match was found of length at least nice_len: Output it with a MATCH packet Set the main match to the longest match Look at the nearest match of every length in decreasing length order, and until no replacement can be made: Replace the main match with a match which is one character shorter, but whose distance is less than 1/128 the current main match distance Set the main match length to 1 if the current main match is of length 2 and distance at least 128 If a repeated match was found, and it is shorter by at most 1 character than the main match: Output the repeated match with a REP packet If a repeated match was found, and it is shorter by at most 2 characters than the main match, and the main match distance is at least 512: Output the repeated match with a REP packet If a repeated match was found, and it is shorter by at most 3 characters than the main match, and the main match distance is at least 32768: Output the repeated match with a REP packet If the main match size is less than 2 (or there is not any match): Output a LIT packet Perform a dictionary search for the next byte If the next byte is shorter by at most 1 character than the main match, with distance less than 1/128 times the main match distance, and if the main match length is at least 3: Output a LIT packet If the next byte has a match at least as long as the main match, and with less distance than the main match: Output a LIT packet If the next byte has a match at least one character longer than the main match, and such that 1/128 of its distance is less or equal than the main match distance: Output a LIT packet If the next byte has a match more than one character longer than the main match: Output a LIT packet If any repeated match is shorter by at most 1 character than the main match: Output the most frequently used such distance with a REP packet Output the main match with a MATCH packet Normal encoder The XZ normal encoder (derived from the 7-zip normal encoder) is the other LZMA encoder in the xz source tree, which adopts a more sophisticated approach that tries to minimize the post-range-encoding size of the generated packets. Specifically, it encodes portions of the input using the result of a dynamic programming algorithm, where the subproblems are finding the approximately optimal encoding (the one with minimal post-range-encoding size) of the substring of length L starting at the byte being compressed. The size of the portion of the input processed in the dynamic programming algorithm is determined to be the maximum between the longest dictionary match and the longest repeated match found at the start position (which is capped by the maximum LZMA match length, 273); furthermore, if a match longer than nice_len is found at any point in the range just defined, the dynamic programming algorithm stops, the solution for the subproblem up to that point is output, the nice_len-sized match is output, and a new dynamic programming problem instance is started at the byte after the match is output. Subproblem candidate solutions are incrementally updated with candidate encodings, constructed taking the solution for a shorter substring of length L', extended with all possible "tails", or sets of 1-3 packets with certain constraints that encode the input at the L' position. Once the final solution of a subproblem is found, the LZMA state and least used distances for it are computed, and are then used to appropriately compute post-range-encoding sizes of its extensions. At the end of the dynamic programming optimization, the whole optimal encoding of the longest substring considered is output, and encoding continues at the first uncompressed byte not already encoded, after updating the LZMA state and least used distances. Each subproblem is extended by a packet sequence which we call "tail", which must match one of the following patterns: The reason for not only extending with single packets is that subproblems only have the substring length as the parameter for performance and algorithmic complexity reasons, while an optimal dynamic programming approach would also require to have the last used distances and LZMA state as parameter; thus, extending with multiple packets allows to better approximate the optimal solution, and specifically to make better use of LONGREP[0] packets. The following data is stored for each subproblem (of course, the values stored are for the candidate solution with minimum price), where by "tail" we refer to the packets extending the solution of the smaller subproblem, which are described directly in the following structure: Note that in the XZ for Java implementation, the optPrev and backPrev members are reused to store a forward single-linked list of packets as part of outputting the final solution. LZMA2 encoder The XZ LZMA2 encoder processes the input in chunks (of up to 2 MB uncompressed size or 64 KB compressed size, whichever is lower), handing each chunk to the LZMA encoder, and then deciding whether to output an LZMA2 LZMA chunk including the encoded data, or to output an LZMA2 uncompressed chunk, depending on which is shorter (LZMA, like any other compressor, will necessarily expand rather than compress some kinds of data). The LZMA state is reset only in the first block, if the caller requests a change of properties and every time a compressed chunk is output. The LZMA properties are changed only in the first block, or if the caller requests a change of properties. The dictionary is only reset in the first block. Upper encoding layers Before LZMA2 encoding, depending on the options provided, xz can apply the BCJ filter, which filters executable code to replace relative offsets with absolute ones that are more repetitive, or the delta filter, which replaces each byte with the difference between it and the byte bytes before it. Parallel encoding is performed by dividing the file in chunks which are distributed to threads, and ultimately each encoded (using, for instance, xz block encoding) separately, resulting in a dictionary reset between chunks in the output file. 7-Zip reference implementation The LZMA implementation extracted from 7-Zip is available as LZMA SDK. It was originally dual-licensed under both the GNU LGPL and Common Public License, with an additional special exception for linked binaries, but was placed by Igor Pavlov in the public domain on December 2, 2008, with the release of version 4.62. LZMA2 compression, which is an improved version of LZMA, is now the default compression method for the .7z format, starting with version 9.30 on October 26, 2012. The reference open source LZMA compression library was originally written in C++ but has been ported to ANSI C, C#, and Java. There are also third-party Python bindings for the C++ library, as well as ports of LZMA to Pascal, Go and Ada. The 7-Zip implementation uses several variants of hash chains, binary trees and Patricia tries as the basis for its dictionary search algorithm. In addition to LZMA, the SDK and 7-Zip also implements multiple preprocessing filters intended to improve compression, ranging from simple delta encoding (for images) and BCJ for executable code. It also provides some other compression algorithms used in 7z. Decompression-only code for LZMA generally compiles to around 5 KB, and the amount of RAM required during decompression is principally determined by the size of the sliding window used during compression. Small code size and relatively low memory overhead, particularly with smaller dictionary lengths, and free source code make the LZMA decompression algorithm well-suited to embedded applications. Other implementations In addition to the 7-Zip reference implementation, the following support the LZMA format. xz: a streaming implementation that contains a gzip-like command line tool, supporting both LZMA and LZMA2 in its xz file format. It made its way into several software of the Unix-like world with its high performance (compared to bzip2) and small size (compared to gzip). The Linux kernel, dpkg and RPM systems contains xz code, and many software distributors like kernel.org, Debian and Fedora now use xz for compressing their releases. lzip: another LZMA implementation mostly for Unix-like systems to be directly competing with xz. It mainly features a simpler file format and therefore easier error recovery. ZIPX: an extension to the ZIP compressions format that was created by WinZip starting with version 12.1. It also can use various other compression methods such as BZip and PPMd. LZHAM LZHAM (LZ, Huffman, Arithmetic, Markov), is an LZMA-like implementation that trades compression throughput for very high ratios and higher decompression throughput. It was placed by its author in the public domain on 15 September 2020. References External links Official home page Lzip format specification XZ format specification LZMA SDK (Software Development Kit) LZMA Utils = XZ Utils Windows Binaries for XZ Utils Data compression, Compressors & Archivers Lossless compression algorithms Israeli inventions

9073909

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORDISC

FORDISC

Before ForDisc, many anthropologists based their studies on museum skeletal collections such as the Hamann-Todd collection that is housed at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Terry collection housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. These museum collections house skeletal remains that were amassed 50 to 100 years ago. Due to the age of these collections, their use in a medico-legal context did not produce accurate determination of the biological profile. ForDisc was forensic anthropologists' solution to this problem, and allowed for classification when some measurements are not available. A 2009 study found that even in favourable circumstances, FORDISC 3.0 can be expected to classify no more than 1 per cent of specimens with confidence." In 2012 research presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists concluded that ForDisc ancestry determination was not always consistent, that the program does not perform to expectations and that it should be used with caution. Software ForDisc, an interactive discriminant functions program created by Stephen Ousley and Richard Jantz, is widely used by forensic anthropologists to assist in the creation of a decedent's biological profile when only parts of the cranium are available. The use of discriminant function analysis in this program allows the researcher to sort individuals into specific groups that are defined by certain criteria. In this program discriminate function analysis "analyzes specific groups with known membership in discrete categories such as ancestry, language, sex, tribe or ancestry, and provides a basis for the classification of new individuals with unknown group membership." The program compares potential profiles to data contained in a database of skeletal measurements of modern humans. Using ForDisc, a decedent’s biological profile can be created based on measurements from various areas of bones, along with information about the person's age, height, race, and illnesses. For ancestry, ForDisc uses standard anthropometric measurements including maximum length, maximum breadth, bi-zygomatic breadth, orbital breadth and height, maximum alveolar breadth and width, minimum frontal breadth, basion-bregma, basion-prosthion, cranial base length, bi-auricular breadth, upper facial height and breadth, foramen magnum breadth and length, frontal chord, parietal chord, occipital chord, nasal height and breadth, bi-orbital breadth, interorbital breadth, and mastoid length. Databases The data behind this software largely originated from the Forensic Data Bank, which is contributed to by the University of Tennessee and other contributing institutions. The Forensic Data Bank was created in 1986, through the use of a National Institute of Justice grant, and has gathered over 3400 cases. The Forensic Data Bank is a currently ongoing effort to record information about modern populations, primarily from forensic cases. ForDisc's creators have also integrated W. W. Howells worldwide cranial data into the program, for the use of archaeological remains. Howell's craniometric data set consist of 2500 crania from 28 different populations around the world dating to the later Holocene, in which around 82 cranial measurements were obtained. Uses This software can estimate the sex, ancestry, and stature from a skeleton of unknown identity. This software also can be used for international hearings of war crime and investigations of human rights. This method is also used by the FBI, in different types of criminal cases. Although this program was created for forensic anthropology use, many physical anthropologists are still using the program to determine the biological profile of skeletal remains that are considered archaeological in origin, but the use of this program on archaeological remains has produced misclassifications in the past. The use of William W. Howell’s craniometric data set, which is published online, has made ForDisc 2.0 more appealing to many physical anthropologists concerned with archaeological remains. Updates This program is continually updated. New and updated versions are created and added as more knowledge is acquired. The new features of ForDisc 2.0 are improved pictorial guide to measurements, and improved file management and printer control; a larger number of variables, including postcranial variables; larger numbers of groups, including Howells' worldwide cranial data. The newest version, ForDisc 3.0 is interactive forensic software that runs under the Windows system. Criticism According to the authors of the program, some limitations should be taken into account when using this program. Some of these limitations include the fact that ForDisc will classify any unknown into the ‘closest’ group, this means that even if an individual's ethnic group or race is not represented in the database, the program will classify it to the ‘closest’ group. Another limitation involves classification using hybrid individuals and groups. The authors state that genetic exchange between groups can cause misclassifications due to gene overlap that can consist of two ancestral populations. Another limitation deal with the classification of individuals under the age of 18, this is due to the nature of physical anthropologists ability to assess age in subadults. However, the authors state that there are differences between subadults in different groups, but these differences tend to not correspond to differences seen in adults. Another limitation that the authors believe researchers should take into account is the fact that this program is based on measurements that are affected by "disease, disuse, treatment, or trauma." The measurement of affected may produce inaccurate values, and therefore he classification will not reflect the correct population affinity. The last limitation deals with archaeological populations. This limitation is because most of the measurements in the data set that the classifications are based on in the program are from remains that are from the 20th century, and should not be used for classification of archaeological remains. This is because documented population differences and secular changes that have occurred throughout history. However, the inclusion of W. W. Howells craniometric data set has allowed researchers to classify archaeological remains because much of the data set comes from individuals from the 19th century. A 2009 study found that FORDISC 3.0 "is only likely to be useful when an unidentified specimen is more or less complete and belongs to one of the populations represented in its reference samples", and even in such "favorable circumstances it can be expected to classify no more than 1 per cent of specimens with confidence." In 2012 research was presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, which concluded ForDisc ancestry determination was not always consistent, and the programs' recommended acceptance criteria did not separate correct and incorrect determinations. The authors concluded that the program does not perform to expectations and should be used with caution. List of Contributing Institutions to the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank Appalachian State University C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory California State University, Chico College of Mt. Joseph Colorado College Faculty of Dentistry, University of São Paulo Hamilton County Medical Examiner's Office, Chattanooga, Tennessee Hamline University Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office Louisiana State University Lucas County Coroner's Office Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute Monterey County Sheriff's Department New Jersey State Police, Criminal Investigation Bureau North Dakota Medical Examiner North Carolina Medical Examiners Office, Chapel Hill Office of the Medical Examiner, Nashville, Tennessee Regional Forensic Center, Memphis, Tennessee Smithsonian Institution Southwest Texas State University Texas Tech University U.L.M. U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory University of Alabama University of Arizona University of Arkansas, Fayetteville University of California, Santa Cruz University of Hawaii University of Indianapolis University of New Mexico University of South Carolina University of South Florida University of Utah University of Wyoming Western Michigan University Wichita State University See also Forensic anthropology Biological anthropology Bioarchaeology Cranid Osteoware References Further reading Williams, Frank L'Engle. Robert L. Belcher, and George J. Armelagos. "Forensic Misclassification of Ancient Nubian Crania: Implications for Assumptions about Human Variation." Current Anthropology, Vol.46, No. 2 (April 2005), pp. 340–346. External links FORDISC website FORDISC 3.1 Support Forensic Anthropology Data Bank The William W. Howell's Craniometric Data Set Anthropology Forensic software

64067903

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmocom

Osmocom

Osmocom (open source mobile communications) is an open-source software project that implements multiple mobile communication standards, including GSM, DECT, TETRA and others. History and usage In 2008 Harald Welte and Dieter Spaar experimented with a base transceiver station from Siemens that was end-of-life and implemented the BSC side of the A-bis protocol, which eventually turned into OpenBSC. After attracting more interest, support for other BTS models was added. The first release of the OpenBSC project took place at the 25th Chaos Communication Congress held in December 2008. In the following years, the software has been used at various hacker cons such as the Chaos Communication Congress, Chaos Communication Camp and Electromagnetic Field to provide a cellular network. In 2010, a telephone-side implementation of the GSM stack was developed, named OsmocomBB. Together with OpenBSC, these projects became part of the new Osmocom umbrella project. The Sysmocom GmbH company was founded by Welte and Holger Freyther in 2011 to provide commercial support. Since 2018 Osmocom software and Sysmocom hardware has been used in Villa Talea de Castro in Mexico to provide a cellular network to around 3500 people. Osmocom software has been used in research projects. Projects OpenBSC OpenBSC was a project to develop a free software implementation of GSM protocol stack and elements. It runs on Linux and requires an E1 interface (ISDN Primary Rate Interface, via mISDN). It is written in C and licensed using the GPL (≥v2) license. The first version implemented the GSM specification 21.12 and 08.5x, and worked for a specific Base Transceiver Station (Siemens BS11 MicroBTS). OpenBSC implemented several MSC components, including the A-bis protocol (the protocol between the BTS and the BSC), AUC, HLR, VLR (both using SQL tables), and a SMS Switching Center. OpenBSC can be accessed using telnet. OpenBSC supported the following BTS devices: Siemens BS11 (microBTS) (E1 Primary Rate interface) ip.access nano BTS (PoE-interface) OpenBSC is now considered legacy and the features have been split into different projects: OsmoBSC, OsmoMSC and OsmoHLR. SDR rtl-sdr was discovered by Steve Markgraf, who also created osmo-fl2k for radio transmissions. These projects deprecated the use of OsmoSDR. OsmoTETRA The OsmoTETRA project implements the TETRA protocol. Osmo-tetra implements the lower layer of the protocol. Some conducted research revealed that some government traffic is not properly secured. OsmocomBB OsmocomBB is a free firmware for the baseband processor of mobile phones which handles the encoding and radio communication of both voice and data. OsmocomBB is the only existing free implementation of baseband firmware, excluding failed projects like TSM30 from THC and MadOS. OsmocomBB implements the GSM protocol stack's three lowest OSI Layers of the client side GSM protocol and device drivers. The protocol layers forming the kernel exists on the baseband processor, typically consisting of an ARM processor and a digital signal processor. It has support for the Calypso chipset produced by Texas Instruments. Karsten Nohl has extented OsmocomBB to be able to detect IMSI catchers. See also OpenBTS, FOSS project for implementing a BTS using GNU Radio References External links Official website Free_software Free communication software Software using the GPL license Telecommunications

32947764

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera%20%28company%29

Caldera (company)

Caldera was a US-based software company founded in 1994 to develop Linux- and DOS-based operating system products. Caldera Caldera, Inc. was a Canopy-funded software company founded in October 1994 and incorporated on 25 January 1995 by former Novell employees Bryan Wayne Sparks, Ransom H. Love and others to develop the Caldera Network Desktop (CND) and later create a Linux distribution named OpenLinux (COL). The company was originally based in Provo and later in Orem, Utah, USA. Their first product in 1995 was Caldera Network Desktop, which was based on Red Hat Linux and Novell's Corsair Internet Desktop. It also included LISA (Linux Installation and System Administration), which had been developed by the German Linux Support Team (LST) for their own Linux distribution. The newer OpenLinux distribution was based on LST Power Linux, a Slackware-derived distribution that had been maintained by LST since 1993 and the first to come with a Linux 2.0 kernel. Looking for a DOS operating system to bundle with their OpenLinux distribution, Caldera, backed up by The Canopy Group as their largest investor, acquired Novell DOS 7 and other Digital Research assets from Novell on 23 July 1996. The deal consisted of a direct payment of as well as percentual royalties for any revenues derived from DR-DOS to Novell. Caldera filed the Caldera v. Microsoft antitrust lawsuit the same day. This lawsuit related to Caldera's claims of monopolization, illegal tying, exclusive dealing, and tortious interference by Microsoft. An example was that certain beta versions of Windows 3.1 produced technically groundless "non-fatal" fake error messages when installing and running them on DR DOS 6.0 due to a check known as AARD code in order to create fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) and destroy DR DOS' reputation. Another example was bundling and artificially tying MS-DOS 7 and Windows 4 into a single product (Windows 95) in order to eliminate competition. Caldera later demonstrated that it would have been beneficial for DOS and Windows users to have a choice between MS-DOS and DR-DOS feature-wise, and that it was technically possible to run Windows 4 on DR-DOS 7 simply by faking some new, unnecessarily complex but functionally non-essential internal interfaces through WinGlue. See Microsoft litigation#Caldera v Microsoft. Since Digital Research's CP/M and MP/M had no commercial value for Caldera, they offered various binaries and sources for download on their site and allowed the redistribution and modification of more collected CP/M files through Tim Olmstead's independent "The Unofficial CP/M Web site" since 1997, for as long as they did not contain any DOS technology. Caldera, Inc. supported the Linux-port of Star Division's StarOffice 3.1 with ca. in order to offer the product with their OpenLinux distribution in 1997. While active, Caldera, Inc. created a number of subsidiaries: Caldera UK Under the direction of Roger Alan Gross as General Manager of Caldera's Digital Research Systems Group (DSG) the UK-based development center Caldera UK Ltd. () was incorporated on 20 September 1996 to continue the development of the DR-DOS operating system in a converted barn () at the periphery of Andover, Hampshire, UK. Caldera UK developed various DOS-based products including OpenDOS 7.01 (COD), DR-DOS 7.02, DR-DOS 7.03 and DR-WebSpyder. Caldera Thin Clients, Inc. closed the Caldera UK Ltd. development office in February 1999 soon after the release of DR-DOS 7.03, thereby effectively stopping any DOS development. Caldera Deutschland Caldera, Inc. incorporated the German Linux Support Team's (LST) configuration manager LISA into Caldera's Network Desktop in 1995. In 1996 Linux Support Team grew into Stefan Probst's and Ralf Flaxa's company LST Software GmbH (with LST now standing for Linux System Technology) in Erlangen, Germany. This led to a collaboration with Caldera to develop OpenLinux. LST Software became Caldera's German development center Caldera Deutschland GmbH for Linux-based technologies since May 1997. Caldera Deutschland continued to develop Linux system software for Caldera's Linux-branch until it was closed at the end of 2001 by its US-based mother-house. Caldera Taiwan On 1 June 1998, Caldera, Inc. opened a sales office for its DOS-based products in Taipei, Taiwan, run by Irrana and Henry Huang. Caldera, Caldera Systems and Caldera Thin Clients On 2 September 1998, Caldera, Inc. announced the creation of two Utah-based wholly owned subsidiaries, Caldera Systems, Inc. and Caldera Thin Clients, Inc., in order to split up tasks and directions. Under Sparks' lead, the shell company Caldera, Inc. remained responsible for the Caldera v. Microsoft lawsuit. Microsoft lawyers tried repeatedly to have the case dismissed but without success. On 7 January 2000, immediately after the completion of the pre-trial deposition stage (where the parties list the evidence they intend to present), Microsoft settled out-of-court for an undisclosed sum, which in 2009 was revealed to be . Caldera, Inc. ceased to exist soon after. Caldera Systems, Caldera Holdings, Caldera International, Caldera K.K., and The SCO Group Caldera Systems, Inc. (CSI), headed by Love as President and CEO since its incorporation in Orem, Utah, on 21 August 1998, targeted the Linux-based software business including OpenLinux, with Caldera Deutschland as their German Linux development center. The company reincorporated in Delaware on 2 March 2000 and completed an IPO of its common stock as CALD. On the first day of trading Caldera's shares doubled in value, briefly touching , and by the end of the first day the company had a market capitalisation of . However, at a time when technology IPOs were attracting extremely high valuations, Caldera Systems's performance was generally perceived as a disappointment. The company reorganized in August 2000 and became Caldera International, Inc. (CII) in March 2001. In May 2001, Caldera International, with investments of Fujitsu and Hitachi, opened the Caldera K.K. () subsidiary, directed by Makoto Asoh, in Tokyo, Japan. In August 2002, Caldera International renamed itself into The SCO Group, Inc. under the lead of Darl McBride. Caldera UK, Caldera Thin Clients, Lineo, and Embedix Caldera Thin Clients, Inc. (CTC), incorporated in August 1998 and originally led by Gross as President and CEO, instead developed DOS- and Linux-based thin clients and solutions for embedded systems. Originally located in Orem and later in Lindon, it was meant to become the US-based "parent" company for Caldera UK Ltd. When Gross resigned and Caldera UK Ltd. was disbanded in February 1999, and when the attempt to relocate the DR-DOS development into the US failed, Caldera Thin Clients, under the new lead of Sparks, soon refocused on Linux. In April 1999, Caldera Thin Clients released the no longer needed sources to GEM and ViewMAX under the GNU General Public License (GPL). On 20 July 1999, Caldera Thin Clients was renamed into Lineo, Inc. Lineo licensed a stripped down OpenLinux distribution from Caldera Systems and named it Embedix. They continued to maintain the former Caldera Thin Clients sales office in Taipei in 1999. In January 2000, Lineo reincorporated in Delaware. In October 2001, Lineo refreshed and expanded the free CP/M redistribution license after Olmstead's death. By July 2002, the company had reformed as Embedix, Inc. under the lead of Matthew R. Harris, formerly a Summit Law attorney for Caldera, Inc. Embedix ceased to exist later that year. Some DR-DOS assets fell to the Canopy Group and were acquired by DRDOS, Inc. aka DeviceLogics in 2002. Key parts of the Linux-based Embedix assets were acquired by Motorola's Metrowerks on 17 December 2002. Caldera Graphics Totally unrelated to the above mentioned US-based Caldera companies, there is also a French software company named Caldera, specialized in imaging software for wide format digital printing. In order to better distinguish it from the US-based companies, the French company was also referred to under the name Caldera Graphics SAS for several years. Created in 1991, it has since got back its Caldera trademark from the SCO Group, as well as the website since 2010. This French company produces RIP software as well as other solutions dedicated to digital printers and to the Digital Printing industry. The company was taken over by Dover in 2017. References Further reading See also: (NB. Caldera's public lawsuit documents.) (NB. Microsoft's public lawsuit documents.) External links Caldera, Inc. (archived web site caldera.com from 1996-10-18 to 1999-04-30) Caldera UK Ltd. (archived web site caldera.co.uk from 1997-12-21 to 1999-10-12) Caldera Thin Clients, Inc. (archived web site calderathin.com from 1999-01-17 to 1999-11-05) and Lineo, Inc. (archived web site calderathin.com from 1999-10-12 to 1999-11-05, lineo.com from 2000-05-10 to 2003-03-20 and embedix.com from 2002-06-03 to 2003-02-20) Caldera Systems, Inc. (archived web site calderasystems.com from 1999-01-17 to 2001-04-05 and caldera.com from 2000-02-29 to 2000-12-17), Caldera Holdings (archived web site caldera.com from 2001-01-18 to 2001-03-02), Caldera International, Inc. (archived web site caldera.com from 2001-03-30 to 2002-08-25) and The SCO Group (archived web site caldera.com from 2002-09-14 to 2004-09-01 and sco.com from 2001-05-08) LST Software GmbH (archived web site lst.de from 1997-01-11 to 1997-12-11), Caldera Deutschland GmbH (archived web site lst.de from 1998-12-01 to 2000-01-02 and caldera.de from 2000-04-13 to 2001) and LST - Verein zur Förderung freier Software (archived web site lst.de from 2001-03-31) Caldera Graphics (archived web site caldera.fr from 1996-12-23 to 2007-03-04, caldera.eu from 2007-03-27 to 2011-06-14 and caldera.com from 2011-07-17 to 2012-01-07 and from 2012-05-02) 1994 establishments in Utah 2002 disestablishments in Utah Defunct software companies of the United States American companies established in 1994 American companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct companies based in Utah Linux companies Software companies established in 1994 Software companies disestablished in 2002 de:Caldera (Unternehmen)

888587

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum%20logic%20gate

Quantum logic gate

In quantum computing and specifically the quantum circuit model of computation, a quantum logic gate (or simply quantum gate) is a basic quantum circuit operating on a small number of qubits. They are the building blocks of quantum circuits, like classical logic gates are for conventional digital circuits. Unlike many classical logic gates, quantum logic gates are reversible. It is possible to perform classical computing using only reversible gates. For example, the reversible Toffoli gate can implement all Boolean functions, often at the cost of having to use ancilla bits. The Toffoli gate has a direct quantum equivalent, showing that quantum circuits can perform all operations performed by classical circuits. Quantum gates are unitary operators, and are described as unitary matrices relative to some basis. Usually we use the computational basis, which unless we compare it with something, just means that for a d-level quantum system (such as a qubit, a quantum register, or qutrits and qudits) we have labeled the orthogonal basis vectors or use binary notation. History The current notation for quantum gates was developed by many of the founders of quantum information science including Adriano Barenco, Charles Bennett, Richard Cleve, David P. DiVincenzo, Norman Margolus, Peter Shor, Tycho Sleator, John A. Smolin, and Harald Weinfurter, building on notation introduced by Richard Feynman. Representation Quantum logic gates are represented by unitary matrices. A gate which acts on qubits is represented by a unitary matrix, and the set of all such gates with the group operation of matrix multiplication is the symmetry group U(2n). The quantum states that the gates act upon are unit vectors in complex dimensions, with the complex Euclidean norm (the 2-norm). The basis vectors (sometimes called eigenstates) are the possible outcomes if measured, and a quantum state is a linear combination of these outcomes. The most common quantum gates operate on vector spaces of one or two qubits, just like the common classical logic gates operate on one or two bits. Even though the quantum logic gates belong to a continuous symmetry group, real hardware is inexact and thus limited in precision. The application of gates typically introduces errors, and the quantum states fidelities decreases over time. If error correction is used, the usable gates are further restricted to a finite set. Later in this article, this is sometimes ignored as focus lies on the quantum gates' mathematical properties. Quantum states are typically represented by "kets", from a notation known as bra-ket. The vector representation of a single qubit is: Here, and are the complex probability amplitudes of the qubit. These values determine the probability of measuring a 0 or a 1, when measuring the state of the qubit. See measurement below for details. The value zero is represented by the ket and the value one is represented by the ket The tensor product (or Kronecker product) is used to combine quantum states. The combined state of two qubits is the tensor product of the two qubits. The tensor product is denoted by the symbol The vector representation of two qubits is: The action of the gate on a specific quantum state is found by multiplying the vector which represents the state by the matrix representing the gate. The result is a new quantum state Notable examples There exists an uncountably infinite number of gates. Some of them have been named by various authors, and below follow some of those most often used in the literature. Identity gate The identity gate is the identity matrix, usually written as I, and is defined for a single qubit as where I is basis independent and does not modify the quantum state. The identity gate is most useful when describing mathematically the result of various gate operations or when discussing multi-qubit circuits. Pauli gates (X,Y,Z) The Pauli gates are the three Pauli matrices and act on a single qubit. The Pauli X,Y and Z equate, respectively, to a rotation around the x, y and z axes of the Bloch sphere by radians. The Pauli-X gate is the quantum equivalent of the NOT gate for classical computers with respect to the standard basis which distinguishes the z-axis on the Bloch sphere. It is sometimes called a bit-flip as it maps to and to . Similarly, the Pauli-Y maps to and to . Pauli Z leaves the basis state unchanged and maps to Due to this nature, Pauli Z is sometimes called phase-flip. These matrices are usually represented as The Pauli matrices are involutory, meaning that the square of a Pauli matrix is the identity matrix. The Pauli matrices also anti-commute, for example . Square root of NOT gate () The square root of NOT gate (or square root of Pauli-X, acts on a single qubit. It maps the basis state to and to . In matrix form it is given by , such that This operation represents a rotation of about the x-axis at the Bloch sphere. Controlled gates Controlled gates act on 2 or more qubits, where one or more qubits act as a control for some operation. For example, the controlled NOT gate (or CNOT or CX) acts on 2 qubits, and performs the NOT operation on the second qubit only when the first qubit is and otherwise leaves it unchanged. With respect to the basis it is represented by the matrix: The CNOT (or controlled Pauli-X) gate can be described as the gate that maps the basis states , where is XOR. More generally if U is a gate that operates on a single qubit with matrix representation then the controlled-U gate is a gate that operates on two qubits in such a way that the first qubit serves as a control. It maps the basis states as follows. The matrix representing the controlled U is When U is one of the Pauli operators, X,Y, Z, the respective terms "controlled-X", "controlled-Y", or "controlled-Z" are sometimes used. Sometimes this is shortened to just CX, CY and CZ. Control can be extended to gates with arbitrary number of qubits and functions in programming languages. A controlled function or gate behaves conceptually differently depending on whether one approaches it from before measurement, or after measurement: From the perspective of before measurement, the controlled function simultaneously executes on all those basis states, of a superposition (i.e. linear combination) of possible outcomes, that match the controls. If one instead approaches it from the perspective of after measurement, the controlled function has either executed, or not, depending on which basis state that was measured. Phase shift gates The phase shift is a family of single-qubit gates that map the basis states and . The probability of measuring a or is unchanged after applying this gate, however it modifies the phase of the quantum state. This is equivalent to tracing a horizontal circle (a line of latitude) on the Bloch sphere by radians. The phase shift gate is represented by the matrix: where is the phase shift with the period . Some common examples are the T gate where , the phase gate (written S, though S is sometimes used for SWAP gates) where and the Pauli-Z gate where . The phase shift gates are related to each other as follows: for all real except 0 The argument to the phase shift gate is in U(1), and the gate performs a phase rotation in U(1) along the specified basis state (e.g. rotates the phase about . Extending to a rotation about a generic phase of both basis states of a 2-level quantum system (a qubit) can be done with a series circuit: . When this gate is the rotation operator gate. Introducing the global phase gate we also have the identity . Arbitrary single-qubit phase shift gates are natively available for transmon quantum processors through timing of microwave control pulses. It can be explained in terms of change of frame. Controlled phase shift The 2-qubit controlled phase shift gate is: With respect to the computational basis, it shifts the phase with only if it acts on the state : The CZ gate is the special case where . Rotation operator gates The rotation operator gates and are the analog rotation matrices in three Cartesian axes of SO(3), the axes on the Bloch sphere projection: As Pauli matrices are related to the generator of rotations, these rotation operators can be written as matrix exponentials with Pauli matrices in the argument. Any unitary matrix in SU(2) can be written as a product (i.e. series circuit) of three rotation gates or less. Note that for two-level systems such as qubits and spinors, these rotations have a period of . A rotation of (360 degrees) returns the same statevector with a different phase. We also have and for all The rotation matrices are related to the Pauli matrices in the following way : Similar rotation operator gates exist for SU(3). They are the rotation operators used with qutrits. Hadamard gate The Hadamard gate () acts on a single qubit. It maps the basis states and (i.e. creates a superposition if given a basis state). It represents a rotation of about the axis at the Bloch sphere. It is represented by the Hadamard matrix: H is an involutory matrix. Using rotation operators, we have the identities: and Controlled-H gate can also be defined as explained in the section of controlled gates. The Hadamard gate can be thought as a unitary transformation that maps qubit operations in z-axis to the x-axis and viceversa. For example, , , and . Swap gate The swap gate swaps two qubits. With respect to the basis , , , , it is represented by the matrix: Square root of swap gate The gate performs half-way of a two-qubit swap. It is universal such that any many-qubit gate can be constructed from only and single qubit gates. The gate is not, however maximally entangling; more than one application of it is required to produce a Bell state from product states. With respect to the basis it is represented by the matrix: This gate arises naturally in systems that exploit exchange interaction. Toffoli (CCNOT) gate The Toffoli gate, named after Tommaso Toffoli; also called CCNOT gate or Deutsch gate ; is a 3-bit gate, which is universal for classical computation but not for quantum computation. The quantum Toffoli gate is the same gate, defined for 3 qubits. If we limit ourselves to only accepting input qubits that are and then if the first two bits are in the state it applies a Pauli-X (or NOT) on the third bit, else it does nothing. It is an example of a controlled gate. Since it is the quantum analog of a classical gate, it is completely specified by its truth table. The Toffoli gate is universal when combined with the single qubit Hadamard gate. The Toffoli gate is related to the classical AND () and XOR () operations as it performs the mapping on states in the computational basis. Fredkin (CSWAP) gate The Fredkin gate (also CSWAP or CS gate), named after Edward Fredkin, is a 3-bit gate that performs a controlled swap. It is universal for classical computation. It has the useful property that the numbers of 0s and 1s are conserved throughout, which in the billiard ball model means the same number of balls are output as input. Ising coupling gates The Ising coupling gates Rxx, Ryy and Rzz are 2-qubit gates that are implemented natively in some trapped-ion quantum computers. These gates are defined as Imaginary swap (iSWAP) For systems with Ising like interactions, it is sometimes more natural to introduce the imaginary swap or iSWAP gate defined as where its squared root version is given by Note that and commute, so and , or more generally for all real n except 0. Deutsch gate The Deutsch (or ) gate, named after physicist David Deutsch is a three-qubit gate. It is defined as Unfortunately, a working Deutsch gate has remained out of reach, due to lack of a protocol. There are some proposals to realize a Deutsch gate with dipole-dipole interaction in neutral atoms. Universal quantum gates A set of universal quantum gates is any set of gates to which any operation possible on a quantum computer can be reduced, that is, any other unitary operation can be expressed as a finite sequence of gates from the set. Technically, this is impossible with anything less than an uncountable set of gates since the number of possible quantum gates is uncountable, whereas the number of finite sequences from a finite set is countable. To solve this problem, we only require that any quantum operation can be approximated by a sequence of gates from this finite set. Moreover, for unitaries on a constant number of qubits, the Solovay–Kitaev theorem guarantees that this can be done efficiently. The rotation operators , , , the phase shift gate and CNOT form a widely used universal set of quantum gates. A common universal gate set is the Clifford + T gate set, which is composed of the CNOT, H, S and T gates. The Clifford set alone is not universal and can be efficiently simulated classically by the Gottesman–Knill theorem. The Toffoli gate forms a set of universal gates for reversible boolean algebraic logic circuits. A two-gate set of universal quantum gates containing a Toffoli gate can be constructed by adding the Hadamard gate to the set. A single-gate set of universal quantum gates can also be formulated using the three-qubit Deutsch gate . A universal logic gate for reversible classical computing, the Toffoli gate, is reducible to the Deutsch gate, , thus showing that all reversible classical logic operations can be performed on a universal quantum computer. There also exists a single two-qubit gate sufficient for universality, given it can be applied to any pairs of qubits on a circuit of width . Circuit composition Serially wired gates Assume that we have two gates A and B, that both act on qubits. When B is put after A in a series circuit, then the effect of the two gates can be described as a single gate C. Where is matrix multiplication. The resulting gate C will have the same dimensions as A and B. The order in which the gates would appear in a circuit diagram is reversed when multiplying them together. For example, putting the Pauli X gate after the Pauli Y gate, both of which act on a single qubit, can be described as a single combined gate C: The product symbol () is often omitted. Exponents of quantum gates All real exponents of unitary matrices are also unitary matrices, and all quantum gates are unitary matrices. Positive integer exponents are equivalent to sequences of serially wired gates (e.g. and the real exponents is a generalization of the series circuit. For example, and are both valid quantum gates. for any unitary matrix . The identity matrix () behaves like a NOP and can be represented as bare wire in quantum circuits, or not shown at all. All gates are unitary matrices, so that and where is the conjugate transpose. This means that negative exponents of gates are unitary inverses of their positively exponentiated counterparts: For example, some negative exponents of the phase shift gates are and Parallel gates The tensor product (or Kronecker product) of two quantum gates is the gate that is equal to the two gates in parallel. If we, as in the picture, combine the Pauli-Y gate with the Pauli-X gate in parallel, then this can be written as: Both the Pauli-X and the Pauli-Y gate act on a single qubit. The resulting gate act on two qubits. Hadamard transform The gate is the Hadamard gate applied in parallel on 2 qubits. It can be written as: This "two-qubit parallel Hadamard gate" will when applied to, for example, the two-qubit zero-vector create a quantum state that have equal probability of being observed in any of its four possible outcomes; and We can write this operation as: Here the amplitude for each measurable state is . The probability to observe any state is the square of the absolute value of the measurable states amplitude, which in the above example means that there is one in four that we observe any one of the individual four cases. See measurement for details. performs the Hadamard transform on two qubits. Similarly the gate performs a Hadamard transform on a register of qubits. When applied to a register of qubits all initialized to the Hadamard transform puts the quantum register into a superposition with equal probability of being measured in any of its possible states: This state is a uniform superposition and it is generated as the first step in some search algorithms, for example in amplitude amplification and phase estimation. Measuring this state results in a random number between and How random the number is depends on the fidelity of the logic gates. If not measured, it is a quantum state with equal probability amplitude for each of its possible states. The Hadamard transform acts on a register with qubits such that as follows: Application on entangled states If two or more qubits are viewed as a single quantum state, this combined state is equal to the tensor product of the constituent qubits. Any state that can be written as a tensor product from the constituent subsystems are called separable states. On the other hand, an entangled state is any state that cannot be tensor-factorized, or in other words: An entangled state can not be written as a tensor product of its constituent qubits states. Special care must be taken when applying gates to constituent qubits that make up entangled states. If we have a set of N qubits that are entangled and wish to apply a quantum gate on M < N qubits in the set, we will have to extend the gate to take N qubits. This application can be done by combining the gate with an identity matrix such that their tensor product becomes a gate that act on N qubits. The identity matrix is a representation of the gate that maps every state to itself (i.e., does nothing at all). In a circuit diagram the identity gate or matrix will often appear as just a bare wire. For example, the Hadamard gate acts on a single qubit, but if we feed it the first of the two qubits that constitute the entangled Bell state we cannot write that operation easily. We need to extend the Hadamard gate with the identity gate so that we can act on quantum states that span two qubits: The gate can now be applied to any two-qubit state, entangled or otherwise. The gate will leave the second qubit untouched and apply the Hadamard transform to the first qubit. If applied to the Bell state in our example, we may write that as: Computational complexity and the tensor product The time complexity for multiplying two -matrices is at least if using a classical machine. Because the size of a gate that operates on qubits is it means that the time for simulating a step in a quantum circuit (by means of multiplying the gates) that operates on generic entangled states is For this reason it is believed to be intractable to simulate large entangled quantum systems using classical computers. Subsets of the gates, such as the Clifford gates, or the trivial case of circuits that only implement classical boolean functions (e.g. combinations of X, CNOT, Toffoli), can however be efficiently simulated on classical computers. The state vector of a quantum register with qubits is complex entries. Storing the probability amplitudes as a list of floating point values is not tractable for large . Unitary inversion of gates Because all quantum logical gates are reversible, any composition of multiple gates is also reversible. All products and tensor products (i.e. series and parallel combinations) of unitary matrices are also unitary matrices. This means that it is possible to construct an inverse of all algorithms and functions, as long as they contain only gates. Initialization, measurement, I/O and spontaneous decoherence are side effects in quantum computers. Gates however are purely functional and bijective. If is a unitary matrix, then and The dagger () denotes the conjugate transpose. It is also called the Hermitian adjoint. If a function is a product of gates, the unitary inverse of the function can be constructed: Because we have, after repeated application on itself Similarly if the function consists of two gates and in parallel, then and Gates that are their own unitary inverses are called Hermitian or self-adjoint operators. Some elementary gates such as the Hadamard (H) and the Pauli gates (I, X, Y, Z) are Hermitian operators, while others like the phase shift (S, T, P, CPHASE) gates generally are not. Gates that are not Hermitian are called skew-Hermitian, or adjoint operators. For example, an algorithm for addition can be used for subtraction, if it is being "run in reverse", as its unitary inverse. The inverse quantum fourier transform is the unitary inverse. Unitary inverses can also be used for uncomputation. Programming languages for quantum computers, such as Microsoft's Q# and Bernhard Ömer's QCL, contain function inversion as programming concepts. Measurement Measurement (sometimes called observation) is irreversible and therefore not a quantum gate, because it assigns the observed quantum state to a single value. Measurement takes a quantum state and projects it to one of the basis vectors, with a likelihood equal to the square of the vector's length (in the 2-norm) along that basis vector. This is known as the Born rule and appears as a stochastic non-reversible operation as it probabilistically sets the quantum state equal to the basis vector that represents the measured state. At the instant of measurement, the state is said to "collapse" to the definite single value that was measured. Why and how, or even if the quantum state collapses at measurement, is called the measurement problem. The probability of measuring a value with probability amplitude is where is the modulus. Measuring a single qubit, whose quantum state is represented by the vector will result in with probability and in For example, measuring a qubit with the quantum state will yield with equal probability either or A quantum state that spans qubits can be written as a vector in complex dimensions: This is because the tensor product of qubits is a vector in dimensions. This way, a register of qubits can be measured to distinct states, similar to how a register of classical bits can hold distinct states. Unlike with the bits of classical computers, quantum states can have non-zero probability amplitudes in multiple measurable values simultaneously. This is called superposition. The sum of all probabilities for all outcomes must always be equal to . Another way to say this is that the Pythagorean theorem generalized to has that all quantum states with qubits must satisfy where is the probability amplitude for measurable state A geometric interpretation of this is that the possible value-space of a quantum state with qubits is the surface of a unit sphere in and that the unitary transforms (i.e. quantum logic gates) applied to it are rotations on the sphere. The rotations that the gates perform is in the symmetry group U(2n). Measurement is then a probabilistic projection of the points at the surface of this complex sphere onto the basis vectors that span the space (and labels the outcomes). In many cases the space is represented as a Hilbert space rather than some specific complex space. The number of dimensions (defined by the basis vectors, and thus also the possible outcomes from measurement) is then often implied by the operands, for example as the required state space for solving a problem. In Grover's algorithm, Lov named this generic basis vector set "the database". The selection of basis vectors against to measure a quantum state will influence the outcome of the measurement. See change of basis and Von Neumann entropy for details. In this article, we always use the computational basis, which means that we have labeled the basis vectors of an -qubit register or use the binary representation In the quantum computing domain, it is generally assumed that the basis vectors constitute an orthonormal basis. An example of usage of an alternative measurement basis is in the BB84 cipher. The effect of measurement on entangled states If two quantum states (i.e. qubits, or registers) are entangled (meaning that their combined state cannot be expressed as a tensor product), measurement of one register affects or reveals the state of the other register by partially or entirely collapsing its state too. This effect can be used for computation, and is used in many algorithms. The Hadamard-CNOT combination acts on the zero-state as follows: This resulting state is the Bell state It cannot be described as a tensor product of two qubits. There is no solution for because for example needs to be both non-zero and zero in the case of and . The quantum state spans the two qubits. This is called entanglement. Measuring one of the two qubits that make up this Bell state will result in that the other qubit logically must have the same value, both must be the same: Either it will be found in the state or in the state If we measure one of the qubits to be for example then the other qubit must also be because their combined state became Measurement of one of the qubits collapses the entire quantum state, that span the two qubits. The GHZ state is a similar entangled quantum state that spans three or more qubits. This type of value-assignment occurs instantaneously over any distance and this has as of 2018 been experimentally verified by QUESS for distances of up to 1200 kilometers. That the phenomena appears to happen instantaneously as opposed to the time it would take to traverse the distance separating the qubits at the speed of light is called the EPR paradox, and it is an open question in physics how to resolve this. Originally it was solved by giving up the assumption of local realism, but other interpretations have also emerged. For more information see the Bell test experiments. The no-communication theorem proves that this phenomenon cannot be used for faster-than-light communication of classical information. Measurement on registers with pairwise entangled qubits Take a register A with qubits all initialized to and feed it through a parallel Hadamard gate Register A will then enter the state that have equal probability of when measured to be in any of its possible states; to Take a second register B, also with qubits initialized to and pairwise CNOT its qubits with the qubits in register A, such that for each the qubits and forms the state If we now measure the qubits in register A, then register B will be found to contain the same value as A. If we however instead apply a quantum logic gate on A and then measure, then where is the unitary inverse of . Because of how unitary inverses of gates act, For example, say , then The equality will hold no matter in which order measurement is performed (on the registers A or B), assuming that has run to completion. Measurement can even be randomly and concurrently interleaved qubit by qubit, since the measurements assignment of one qubit will limit the possible value-space from the other entangled qubits. Even though the equalities holds, the probabilities for measuring the possible outcomes may change as a result of applying , as may be the intent in a quantum search algorithm. This effect of value-sharing via entanglement is used in Shor's algorithm, phase estimation and in quantum counting. Using the Fourier transform to amplify the probability amplitudes of the solution states for some problem is a generic method known as "Fourier fishing". Logic function synthesis Functions and routines that only use gates can themselves be described as matrices, just like the smaller gates. The matrix that represents a quantum function acting on qubits has size For example, a function that acts on a "qubyte" (a register of 8 qubits) would be represented by a matrix with elements. Unitary transformations that are not in the set of gates natively available at the quantum computer (the primitive gates) can be synthesised, or approximated, by combining the available primitive gates in a circuit. One way to do this is to factor the matrix that encodes the unitary transformation into a product of tensor products (i.e. series and parallel circuits) of the available primitive gates. The group U(2q) is the symmetry group for the gates that act on qubits. Factorization is then the problem of finding a path in U(2q) from the generating set of primitive gates. The Solovay–Kitaev theorem shows that given a sufficient set of primitive gates, there exist an efficient approximate for any gate. For the general case with a large number of qubits this direct approach to circuit synthesis is intractable. Because the gates unitary nature, all functions must be reversible and always be bijective mappings of input to output. There must always exist a function such that Functions that are not invertible can be made invertible by adding ancilla qubits to the input or the output, or both. After the function has run to completion, the ancilla qubits can then either be uncomputed or left untouched. Measuring or otherwise collapsing the quantum state of an ancilla qubit (e.g. by re-initializing the value of it, or by its spontaneous decoherence) that have not been uncomputed may result in errors, as their state may be entangled with the qubits that are still being used in computations. Logically irreversible operations, for example addition modulo of two -qubit registers a and b, can be made logically reversible by adding information to the output, so that the input can be computed from the output (i.e. there exist a function In our example, this can be done by passing on one of the input registers to the output: The output can then be used to compute the input (i.e. given the output and we can easily find the input; is given and and the function is made bijective. All boolean algebraic expressions can be encoded as unitary transforms (quantum logic gates), for example by using combinations of the Pauli-X, CNOT and Toffoli gates. These gates are functionally complete in the boolean logic domain. There are many unitary transforms available in the libraries of Q#, QCL, Qiskit, and other quantum programming languages. It also appears in the literature. For example, , where is the number of qubits that constitutes the register is implemented as the following in QCL: cond qufunct inc(qureg x) { // increment register int i; for i = #x-1 to 0 step -1 { CNot(x[i], x[0::i]); // apply controlled-not from } // MSB to LSB } In QCL, decrement is done by "undoing" increment. The prefix ! is used to instead run the unitary inverse of the function. !inc(x) is the inverse of inc(x) and instead performs the operation The cond keyword means that the function can be conditional. In the model of computation used in this article (the quantum circuit model), a classic computer generates the gate composition for the quantum computer, and the quantum computer behaves as a coprocessor that receives instructions from the classical computer about which primitive gates to apply to which qubits. Measurement of quantum registers results in binary values that the classical computer can use in its computations. Quantum algorithms often contain both a classical and a quantum part. Unmeasured I/O (sending qubits to remote computers without collapsing their quantum states) can be used to create networks of quantum computers. Entanglement swapping can then be used to realize distributed algorithms with quantum computers that are not directly connected. Examples of distributed algorithms that only require the use of a handful of quantum logic gates is superdense coding, the quantum Byzantine agreement and the BB84 cipherkey exchange protocol. See also Adiabatic quantum computation Cellular automaton and Quantum cellular automaton Classical computing and Quantum computing Classic logic gate, Logical connective and Quantum logic Cloud-based quantum computing Computational complexity theory and BQP Counterfactual definiteness and Counterfactual computation DiVincenzo's criteria and Quantum volume Information theory, quantum information and Von Neumann entropy Landauer's principle and reversible computation, decoherence Mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics and Matrix mechanics Pauli effect and Synchronicity Pauli matrices Quantum algorithms Quantum circuit Quantum error correction Quantum finite automata Quantum gate teleportation and One-way quantum computer Quantum memory Quantum network and Quantum channel Quantum state, Density matrix and Qubit Superconducting quantum computing U(2q) and SU(2q) where is the number of qubits the gates act on Unitary transformations in quantum mechanics Zeno effect Notes References Sources Quantum information science Logic gates Australian inventions

4024648

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair%20queuing

Fair queuing

Fair queuing is a family of scheduling algorithms used in some process and network schedulers. The algorithm is designed to achieve fairness when a limited resource is shared, for example to prevent flows with large packets or processes that generate small jobs from consuming more throughput or CPU time than other flows or processes. Fair queuing is implemented in some advanced network switches and routers. History The term fair queuing was coined by John Nagle in 1985 while proposing round-robin scheduling in the gateway between a local area network and the internet to reduce network disruption from badly-behaving hosts. A byte-weighted version was proposed by Alan Demers, Srinivasan Keshav and Scott Shenker in 1989, and was based on the earlier Nagle fair queuing algorithm. The byte-weighted fair queuing algorithm aims to mimic a bit-per-bit multiplexing by computing theoretical departure date for each packet. The concept has been further developed into weighted fair queuing, and the more general concept of traffic shaping, where queuing priorities are dynamically controlled to achieve desired flow quality of service goals or accelerate some flows. Principle Fair queuing uses one queue per packet flow and services them in rotation, such that each flow can "obtain an equal fraction of the resources". The advantage over conventional first in first out (FIFO) or priority queuing is that a high-data-rate flow, consisting of large packets or many data packets, cannot take more than its fair share of the link capacity. Fair queuing is used in routers, switches, and statistical multiplexers that forward packets from a buffer. The buffer works as a queuing system, where the data packets are stored temporarily until they are transmitted. With a link data-rate of R, at any given time the N active data flows (the ones with non-empty queues) are serviced each with an average data rate of R/N. In a short time interval the data rate may fluctuate around this value since the packets are delivered sequentially in turn. Fairness In the context of network scheduling, fairness has multiple definitions. Nagel's article uses round-robin scheduling of packets, which is fair in terms of the number of packets, but not on the bandwidth use when packets have varying size. Several formal notions of fairness measure have been defined including max-min fairness, worst-case fairness, and fairness index. Generalisation to weighted sharing The initial idea gives to each flow the same rate. A natural extension consists in letting the user specify the portion of bandwidth allocated to each flow leading to weighted fair queuing and generalized processor sharing. A byte-weighted fair queuing algorithm This algorithm attempts to emulate the fairness of bitwise round-robin sharing of link resources among competing flows. Packet-based flows, however, must be transmitted packetwise and in sequence. The byte-weighted fair queuing algorithm selects transmission order for the packets by modeling the finish time for each packet as if they could be transmitted bitwise round robin. The packet with the earliest finish time according to this modeling is the next selected for transmission. The complexity of the algorithm is O(log(n)), where n is the number of queues/flows. Algorithm details Modeling of actual finish time, while feasible, is computationally intensive. The model needs to be substantially recomputed every time a packet is selected for transmission and every time a new packet arrives into any queue. To reduce computational load, the concept of virtual time is introduced. Finish time for each packet is computed on this alternate monotonically increasing virtual timescale. While virtual time does not accurately model the time packets complete their transmissions, it does accurately model the order in which the transmissions must occur to meet the objectives of the full-featured model. Using virtual time, it is unnecessary to recompute the finish time for previously queued packets. Although the finish time, in absolute terms, for existing packets is potentially affected by new arrivals, finish time on the virtual time line is unchanged - the virtual time line warps with respect to real time to accommodate any new transmission. The virtual finish time for a newly queued packet is given by the sum of the virtual start time plus the packet's size. The virtual start time is the maximum between the previous virtual finish time of the same queue and the current instant. With a virtual finishing time of all candidate packets (i.e., the packets at the head of all non-empty flow queues) computed, fair queuing compares the virtual finishing time and selects the minimum one. The packet with the minimum virtual finishing time is transmitted. Pseudocode The function receive() is executed each time a packet is received, and send() is executed each time a packet to send must be selected, i.e. when the link is idle and the queues are not empty. This pseudo-code assumes there is a function now() that returns the current virtual time, and a function chooseQueue() that selects the queue where the packet is enqueued. The function selectQueue() selects the queue with the minimal virtual finish time. For the sake of readability, the pseudo-code presented here does a linear search. But maintaining a sorted list can be implemented in logarithmic time, leading to a O(log(n)) complexity, but with more complex code. See also Network scheduler Weighted fair queuing Weighted round robin Generalized processor sharing Deficit round robin Bufferbloat Fairness measure Max-min fairness Statistical multiplexing Active queue management References Network scheduling algorithms

21025926

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydia

Cydia

Cydia is a graphical user interface of APT(Advanced Package Manager) for iOS. It enables a user to find and install software not authorized by Apple on jailbroken iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices. It also refers to digital distribution platform for software on iOS accessed through Cydia software. Most of the software packages available through Cydia are free of charge, although some require purchasing. Cydia is developed by Jay Freeman (named "saurik") and his company, SaurikIT. The name "Cydia" is a reference to the moth genus Cydia, notably the Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella). Purpose and function Cydia provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to jailbroken users using Advanced Packaging Tool (a package manager) repositories to install software unavailable on the App Store. Cydia is based on APT, ported to iOS as part of Jay Freeman's Telesphoreo project. Packages are downloaded through a list of repositories. Packages are installed through the list of repositories a user has installed. Apps are installed in the same location as Apple's own applications, in the /Applications directory. Jailbroken devices can also still buy and download apps normally from the official App Store. Some jailbreaking tools install Cydia automatically, while others may not. Software availablility Some of the packages available through Cydia are standard applications, while most packages are extensions and modifications for the iOS interface and for apps in the iOS ecosystem. Some Cydia repositories host open source packages as well as paid modifications for jailbroken devices. These modifications are based on a framework called Cydia Substrate (formally MobileSubstrate). Many Unix/Linux command line tools are available on Cydia as well, including bash, coreutils and OpenSSH, meaning the device could potentially be used as a full-fledged Unix workstation, although missing some development tools. Cydia Store In March 2009, the now-defunct blog TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) announced that the Cydia Store, the in-app software purchasing system for Cydia, had opened for sales. The announcement also mentioned that Amazon payments was the only option available, but that PayPal would be added in the future. PayPal later became a payment option as well. Cydia stopped accepting Amazon Payments in 2015, leaving PayPal as the sole payment option. After a bug related to PayPal's digital token authorization was discovered via TechCrunch, Freeman decided to shut down the Cydia Store on December 16, 2018. Security The risks in jailbreaking are mixed. Advocates offer that developer tools installed from Cydia can help add extra security. However, being able to install untrusted third-party software can cause data loss and malware. Cydia will detect if a installed packaged causes a device to become unresponsive, and would reboot SpringBoard with all non-Apple packages temporarily disabled. History Freeman first released Cydia in February 2008 as an open-source alternative to Installer.app on iPhone OS 1.1. In August 2009, Wired reported that Freeman claimed about 4 million, or 10 percent of the 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners to date, have installed Cydia. In September 2010, SaurikIT, LLC, announced that it had acquired Rock Your Phone, Inc. (makers of Rock.app). SaurikIT and Rock Your Phone were the two largest providers of third party apps at the time. On December 15, 2010, SaurikIT filed a dispute with World Intellectual Property Organization against Cykon Technology Limited of Kowloon, Hong Kong over the rights to the domain name "Cydia.com", which was registered in 2002. SaurikIT contended that Cykon registered the domain name in bad faith and the domain name incorporates SaurikIT's trademark. SaurikIT initially attempted to purchase the domain, then demanded Cykon to forfeit the domain at cost asserting trademark rights followed by bringing a WIPO proceeding. The complaint was denied by WIPO. As of April 2011, Cydia had a $10 million in annual revenue and 4.5 million weekly users and according to Freeman's $250,000 net annual profit. On August 18, 2011,SaurikIT filed a lawsuit against Hong Kong owner of Cydia.com regarding the same domain name. On May 14, 2013, Cydia Substrate for the Android operating system was released and supported Android versions 2.3 to 4.3. On December 24, 2013, Cydia was updated to run on iOS 7 and iOS 7.1. On October 22, 2014, the Chinese jailbreaking team, Pangu Team, released a jailbreak for iOS 8.0 - 8.1. In response, Saurik quickly updated Cydia to 1.1.13, which added support for iOS 8 and pushed the update to apt.saurik.com for manual download. On February 26, 2018, CoolStar launched the initial release of Electra, giving access to Cydia from iOS versions 11.0-11.1.2. Alongside Electra for iOS 11, CoolStar released several patches for Cydia, creating a Cydia version compatible with the Electra jailbreak, as Electra had been released while Saurik was still working on updates for Cydia. Saurik eventually released the update, and pushed the update to iOS devices running iOS 11 with Cydia at the time. CoolStar’s patched version of Cydia turned out to be incompatible with Saurik’s new update. References External links Unix package management-related software Dpkg Homebrew software IOS jailbreaking Mobile software distribution platforms Free application software Insect pests of millets

520066

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20cryptography

History of cryptography

Cryptography, the use of codes and ciphers to protect secrets, began thousands of years ago. Until recent decades, it has been the story of what might be called classic cryptography — that is, of methods of encryption that use pen and paper, or perhaps simple mechanical aids. In the early 20th century, the invention of complex mechanical and electromechanical machines, such as the Enigma rotor machine, provided more sophisticated and efficient means of encryption; and the subsequent introduction of electronics and computing has allowed elaborate schemes of still greater complexity, most of which are entirely unsuited to pen and paper. The development of cryptography has been paralleled by the development of cryptanalysis — the "breaking" of codes and ciphers. The discovery and application, early on, of frequency analysis to the reading of encrypted communications has, on occasion, altered the course of history. Thus the Zimmermann Telegram triggered the United States' entry into World War I; and Allies reading of Nazi Germany's ciphers shortened World War II, in some evaluations by as much as two years. Until the 1960s, secure cryptography was largely the preserve of governments. Two events have since brought it squarely into the public domain: the creation of a public encryption standard (DES), and the invention of public-key cryptography. Antiquity The earliest known use of cryptography is found in non-standard hieroglyphs carved into the wall of a tomb from the Old Kingdom of Egypt circa 1900 BC. These are not thought to be serious attempts at secret communications, however, but rather to have been attempts at mystery, intrigue, or even amusement for literate onlookers. Some clay tablets from Mesopotamia somewhat later are clearly meant to protect information—one dated near 1500 BC was found to encrypt a craftsman's recipe for pottery glaze, presumably commercially valuable. Furthermore, Hebrew scholars made use of simple monoalphabetic substitution ciphers (such as the Atbash cipher) beginning perhaps around 600 to 500 BC. In India around 400 BC to 200 AD, Mlecchita vikalpa or "the art of understanding writing in cypher, and the writing of words in a peculiar way" was documented in the Kama Sutra for the purpose of communication between lovers. This was also likely a simple substitution cipher. Parts of the Egyptian demotic Greek Magical Papyri were written in a cypher script. The ancient Greeks are said to have known of ciphers. The scytale transposition cipher was used by the Spartan military, but it is not definitively known whether the scytale was for encryption, authentication, or avoiding bad omens in speech. Herodotus tells us of secret messages physically concealed beneath wax on wooden tablets or as a tattoo on a slave's head concealed by regrown hair, although these are not properly examples of cryptography per se as the message, once known, is directly readable; this is known as steganography. Another Greek method was developed by Polybius (now called the "Polybius Square"). The Romans knew something of cryptography (e.g., the Caesar cipher and its variations). Medieval cryptography David Kahn notes in The Codebreakers that modern cryptology originated among the Arabs, the first people to systematically document cryptanalytic methods. Al-Khalil (717–786) wrote the Book of Cryptographic Messages, which contains the first use of permutations and combinations to list all possible Arabic words with and without vowels. The invention of the frequency analysis technique for breaking monoalphabetic substitution ciphers, by Al-Kindi, an Arab mathematician, sometime around AD 800, proved to be the single most significant cryptanalytic advance until World War II. Al-Kindi wrote a book on cryptography entitled Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma (Manuscript for the Deciphering Cryptographic Messages), in which he described the first cryptanalytic techniques, including some for polyalphabetic ciphers, cipher classification, Arabic phonetics and syntax, and most importantly, gave the first descriptions on frequency analysis. He also covered methods of encipherments, cryptanalysis of certain encipherments, and statistical analysis of letters and letter combinations in Arabic. An important contribution of Ibn Adlan (1187–1268) was on sample size for use of frequency analysis. In early medieval England between the years 800–1100, substitution ciphers were frequently used by scribes as a playful and clever way to encipher notes, solutions to riddles, and colophons. The ciphers tend to be fairly straightforward, but sometimes they deviate from an ordinary pattern, adding to their complexity, and possibly also to their sophistication. This period saw vital and significant cryptographic experimentation in the West. Ahmad al-Qalqashandi (AD 1355–1418) wrote the Subh al-a 'sha, a 14-volume encyclopedia which included a section on cryptology. This information was attributed to Ibn al-Durayhim who lived from AD 1312 to 1361, but whose writings on cryptography have been lost. The list of ciphers in this work included both substitution and transposition, and for the first time, a cipher with multiple substitutions for each plaintext letter (later called homophonic substitution). Also traced to Ibn al-Durayhim is an exposition on and a worked example of cryptanalysis, including the use of tables of letter frequencies and sets of letters which cannot occur together in one word. The earliest example of the homophonic substitution cipher is the one used by Duke of Mantua in the early 1400s. Homophonic cipher replaces each letter with multiple symbols depending on the letter frequency. The cipher is ahead of the time because it combines monoalphabetic and polyalphabetic features. Essentially all ciphers remained vulnerable to the cryptanalytic technique of frequency analysis until the development of the polyalphabetic cipher, and many remained so thereafter. The polyalphabetic cipher was most clearly explained by Leon Battista Alberti around AD 1467, for which he was called the "father of Western cryptology". Johannes Trithemius, in his work Poligraphia, invented the tabula recta, a critical component of the Vigenère cipher. Trithemius also wrote the Steganographia. The French cryptographer Blaise de Vigenère devised a practical polyalphabetic system which bears his name, the Vigenère cipher. In Europe, cryptography became (secretly) more important as a consequence of political competition and religious revolution. For instance, in Europe during and after the Renaissance, citizens of the various Italian states—the Papal States and the Roman Catholic Church included—were responsible for rapid proliferation of cryptographic techniques, few of which reflect understanding (or even knowledge) of Alberti's polyalphabetic advance. "Advanced ciphers", even after Alberti, were not as advanced as their inventors / developers / users claimed (and probably even they themselves believed). They were frequently broken. This over-optimism may be inherent in cryptography, for it was then – and remains today – difficult in principle to know how vulnerable one's own system is. In the absence of knowledge, guesses and hopes are predictably common. Cryptography, cryptanalysis, and secret-agent/courier betrayal featured in the Babington plot during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I which led to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Robert Hooke suggested in the chapter Of Dr. Dee's Book of Spirits, that John Dee made use of Trithemian steganography, to conceal his communication with Queen Elizabeth I. The chief cryptographer of King Louis XIV of France was Antoine Rossignol; he and his family created what is known as the Great Cipher because it remained unsolved from its initial use until 1890, when French military cryptanalyst, Étienne Bazeries solved it. An encrypted message from the time of the Man in the Iron Mask (decrypted just prior to 1900 by Étienne Bazeries) has shed some, regrettably non-definitive, light on the identity of that real, if legendary and unfortunate, prisoner. Outside of Europe, after the Mongols brought about the end of the Islamic Golden Age, cryptography remained comparatively undeveloped. Cryptography in Japan seems not to have been used until about 1510, and advanced techniques were not known until after the opening of the country to the West beginning in the 1860s. Cryptography from 1800 to World War I Although cryptography has a long and complex history, it wasn't until the 19th century that it developed anything more than ad hoc approaches to either encryption or cryptanalysis (the science of finding weaknesses in crypto systems). Examples of the latter include Charles Babbage's Crimean War era work on mathematical cryptanalysis of polyalphabetic ciphers, redeveloped and published somewhat later by the Prussian Friedrich Kasiski. Understanding of cryptography at this time typically consisted of hard-won rules of thumb; see, for example, Auguste Kerckhoffs' cryptographic writings in the latter 19th century. Edgar Allan Poe used systematic methods to solve ciphers in the 1840s. In particular he placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger, inviting submissions of ciphers, of which he proceeded to solve almost all. His success created a public stir for some months. He later wrote an essay on methods of cryptography which proved useful as an introduction for novice British cryptanalysts attempting to break German codes and ciphers during World War I, and a famous story, The Gold-Bug, in which cryptanalysis was a prominent element. Cryptography, and its misuse, were involved in the execution of Mata Hari and in Dreyfus' conviction and imprisonment, both in the early 20th century. Cryptographers were also involved in exposing the machinations which had led to the Dreyfus affair; Mata Hari, in contrast, was shot. In World War I the Admiralty's Room 40 broke German naval codes and played an important role in several naval engagements during the war, notably in detecting major German sorties into the North Sea that led to the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland as the British fleet was sent out to intercept them. However its most important contribution was probably in decrypting the Zimmermann Telegram, a cable from the German Foreign Office sent via Washington to its ambassador Heinrich von Eckardt in Mexico which played a major part in bringing the United States into the war. In 1917, Gilbert Vernam proposed a teleprinter cipher in which a previously prepared key, kept on paper tape, is combined character by character with the plaintext message to produce the cyphertext. This led to the development of electromechanical devices as cipher machines, and to the only unbreakable cipher, the one time pad. During the 1920s, Polish naval-officers assisted the Japanese military with code and cipher development. Mathematical methods proliferated in the period prior to World War II (notably in William F. Friedman's application of statistical techniques to cryptanalysis and cipher development and in Marian Rejewski's initial break into the German Army's version of the Enigma system in 1932). World War II cryptography By World War II, mechanical and electromechanical cipher machines were in wide use, although—where such machines were impractical—code books and manual systems continued in use. Great advances were made in both cipher design and cryptanalysis, all in secrecy. Information about this period has begun to be declassified as the official British 50-year secrecy period has come to an end, as US archives have slowly opened, and as assorted memoirs and articles have appeared. Germany The Germans made heavy use, in several variants, of an electromechanical rotor machine known as Enigma. Mathematician Marian Rejewski, at Poland's Cipher Bureau, in December 1932 deduced the detailed structure of the German Army Enigma, using mathematics and limited documentation supplied by Captain Gustave Bertrand of French military intelligence acquired from a German clerk. This was the greatest breakthrough in cryptanalysis in a thousand years and more, according to historian David Kahn. Rejewski and his mathematical Cipher Bureau colleagues, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski, continued reading Enigma and keeping pace with the evolution of the German Army machine's components and encipherment procedures for some time. As the Poles' resources became strained by the changes being introduced by the Germans, and as war loomed, the Cipher Bureau, on the Polish General Staff's instructions, on 25 July 1939, at Warsaw, initiated French and British intelligence representatives into the secrets of Enigma decryption. Soon after the invasion of Poland by Germany on 1 September 1939, key Cipher Bureau personnel were evacuated southeastward; on 17 September, as the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the East, they crossed into Romania. From there they reached Paris, France; at PC Bruno, near Paris, they continued working toward breaking Enigma, collaborating with British cryptologists at Bletchley Park as the British got up to speed on their work breaking Enigma. In due course, the British cryptographerswhose ranks included many chess masters and mathematics dons such as Gordon Welchman, Max Newman, and Alan Turing (the conceptual founder of modern computing) made substantial breakthroughs in the scale and technology of Enigma decryption. German code breaking in World War II also had some success, most importantly by breaking the Naval Cipher No. 3. This enabled them to track and sink Atlantic convoys. It was only Ultra intelligence that finally persuaded the admiralty to change their codes in June 1943. This is surprising given the success of the British Room 40 code breakers in the previous world war. At the end of the War, on 19 April 1945, Britain's highest level civilian and military officials were told that they could never reveal that the German Enigma cipher had been broken because it would give the defeated enemy the chance to say they "were not well and fairly beaten". The German military also deployed several teleprinter stream ciphers. Bletchley Park called them the Fish ciphers; Max Newman and colleagues designed and deployed the Heath Robinson, and then the world's first programmable digital electronic computer, the Colossus, to help with their cryptanalysis. The German Foreign Office began to use the one-time pad in 1919; some of this traffic was read in World War II partly as the result of recovery of some key material in South America that was discarded without sufficient care by a German courier. The Schlüsselgerät 41 was developed late in the war as a more secure replacement for Enigma, but only saw limited use. Japan A US Army group, the SIS, managed to break the highest security Japanese diplomatic cipher system (an electromechanical stepping switch machine called Purple by the Americans) in 1940, before the attack on Pearl Harbour. The locally developed Purple machine replaced the earlier "Red" machine used by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, and a related machine, the M-1, used by Naval attachés which was broken by the U.S. Navy's Agnes Driscoll. All the Japanese machine ciphers were broken, to one degree or another, by the Allies. The Japanese Navy and Army largely used code book systems, later with a separate numerical additive. US Navy cryptographers (with cooperation from British and Dutch cryptographers after 1940) broke into several Japanese Navy crypto systems. The break into one of them, JN-25, famously led to the US victory in the Battle of Midway; and to the publication of that fact in the Chicago Tribune shortly after the battle, though the Japanese seem not to have noticed for they kept using the JN-25 system. Allies The Americans referred to the intelligence resulting from cryptanalysis, perhaps especially that from the Purple machine, as 'Magic'. The British eventually settled on 'Ultra' for intelligence resulting from cryptanalysis, particularly that from message traffic protected by the various Enigmas. An earlier British term for Ultra had been 'Boniface' in an attempt to suggest, if betrayed, that it might have an individual agent as a source. Allied cipher machines used in World War II included the British TypeX and the American SIGABA; both were electromechanical rotor designs similar in spirit to the Enigma, albeit with major improvements. Neither is known to have been broken by anyone during the War. The Poles used the Lacida machine, but its security was found to be less than intended (by Polish Army cryptographers in the UK), and its use was discontinued. US troops in the field used the M-209 and the still less secure M-94 family machines. British SOE agents initially used 'poem ciphers' (memorized poems were the encryption/decryption keys), but later in the War, they began to switch to one-time pads. The VIC cipher (used at least until 1957 in connection with Rudolf Abel's NY spy ring) was a very complex hand cipher, and is claimed to be the most complicated known to have been used by the Soviets, according to David Kahn in Kahn on Codes. For the decrypting of Soviet ciphers (particularly when one-time pads were reused), see Venona project. Role of women The UK and US employed large numbers of women in their code-breaking operation, with close to 7,000 reporting to Bletchley Park and 11,000 to the separate US Army and Navy operations, around Washington, DC. By tradition in Japan and Nazi doctrine in Germany, women were excluded from war work, at least until late in the war. Even after encryption systems were broken, large amounts of work were needed to respond to changes made, recover daily key settings for multiple networks, and intercept, process, translate, prioritize and analyze the huge volume of enemy messages generated in a global conflict. A few women, including Elizabeth Friedman and Agnes Meyer Driscoll, had been major contributors to US code-breaking in the 1930s and the Navy and Army began actively recruiting top graduates of women's colleges shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Liza Mundy argues that this disparity in utilizing the talents of women between the Allies and Axis made a strategic difference in the war. Modern cryptography Encryption in modern times is achieved by using algorithms that have a key to encrypt and decrypt information. These keys convert the messages and data into "digital gibberish" through encryption and then return them to the original form through decryption. In general, the longer the key is, the more difficult it is to crack the code. This holds true because deciphering an encrypted message by brute force would require the attacker to try every possible key. To put this in context, each binary unit of information, or bit, has a value of 0 or 1. An 8-bit key would then have 256 or 2^8 possible keys. A 56-bit key would have 2^56, or 72 quadrillion, possible keys to try and decipher the message. With modern technology, cyphers using keys with these lengths are becoming easier to decipher. DES, an early US Government approved cypher, has an effective key length of 56 bits, and test messages using that cypher have been broken by brute force key search. However, as technology advances, so does the quality of encryption. Since World War II, one of the most notable advances in the study of cryptography is the introduction of the asymmetric key cyphers (sometimes termed public-key cyphers). These are algorithms which use two mathematically related keys for encryption of the same message. Some of these algorithms permit publication of one of the keys, due to it being extremely difficult to determine one key simply from knowledge of the other. Beginning around 1990, the use of the Internet for commercial purposes and the introduction of commercial transactions over the Internet called for a widespread standard for encryption. Before the introduction of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), information sent over the Internet, such as financial data, was encrypted if at all, most commonly using the Data Encryption Standard (DES). This had been approved by NBS (a US Government agency) for its security, after public call for, and a competition among, candidates for such a cypher algorithm. DES was approved for a short period, but saw extended use due to complex wrangles over the use by the public of high quality encryption. DES was finally replaced by the AES after another public competition organized by the NBS successor agency, NIST. Around the late 1990s to early 2000s, the use of public-key algorithms became a more common approach for encryption, and soon a hybrid of the two schemes became the most accepted way for e-commerce operations to proceed. Additionally, the creation of a new protocol known as the Secure Socket Layer, or SSL, led the way for online transactions to take place. Transactions ranging from purchasing goods to online bill pay and banking used SSL. Furthermore, as wireless Internet connections became more common among households, the need for encryption grew, as a level of security was needed in these everyday situations. Claude Shannon Claude E. Shannon is considered by many to be the father of mathematical cryptography. Shannon worked for several years at Bell Labs, and during his time there, he produced an article entitled "A mathematical theory of cryptography". This article was written in 1945 and eventually was published in the Bell System Technical Journal in 1949. It is commonly accepted that this paper was the starting point for development of modern cryptography. Shannon was inspired during the war to address "[t]he problems of cryptography [because] secrecy systems furnish an interesting application of communication theory". Shannon identified the two main goals of cryptography: secrecy and authenticity. His focus was on exploring secrecy and thirty-five years later, G.J. Simmons would address the issue of authenticity. Shannon wrote a further article entitled "A mathematical theory of communication" which highlights one of the most significant aspects of his work: cryptography's transition from art to science. In his works, Shannon described the two basic types of systems for secrecy. The first are those designed with the intent to protect against hackers and attackers who have infinite resources with which to decode a message (theoretical secrecy, now unconditional security), and the second are those designed to protect against hackers and attacks with finite resources with which to decode a message (practical secrecy, now computational security). Most of Shannon's work focused around theoretical secrecy; here, Shannon introduced a definition for the "unbreakability" of a cipher. If a cipher was determined "unbreakable", it was considered to have "perfect secrecy". In proving "perfect secrecy", Shannon determined that this could only be obtained with a secret key whose length given in binary digits was greater than or equal to the number of bits contained in the information being encrypted. Furthermore, Shannon developed the "unicity distance", defined as the "amount of plaintext that… determines the secret key." Shannon's work influenced further cryptography research in the 1970s, as the public-key cryptography developers, M. E. Hellman and W. Diffie cited Shannon's research as a major influence. His work also impacted modern designs of secret-key ciphers. At the end of Shannon's work with cryptography, progress slowed until Hellman and Diffie introduced their paper involving "public-key cryptography". An encryption standard The mid-1970s saw two major public (i.e., non-secret) advances. First was the publication of the draft Data Encryption Standard in the U.S. Federal Register on 17 March 1975. The proposed DES cipher was submitted by a research group at IBM, at the invitation of the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), in an effort to develop secure electronic communication facilities for businesses such as banks and other large financial organizations. After advice and modification by the NSA, acting behind the scenes, it was adopted and published as a Federal Information Processing Standard Publication in 1977 (currently at FIPS 46-3). DES was the first publicly accessible cipher to be 'blessed' by a national agency such as the NSA. The release of its specification by NBS stimulated an explosion of public and academic interest in cryptography. The aging DES was officially replaced by the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in 2001 when NIST announced FIPS 197. After an open competition, NIST selected Rijndael, submitted by two Belgian cryptographers, to be the AES. DES, and more secure variants of it (such as Triple DES), are still used today, having been incorporated into many national and organizational standards. However, its 56-bit key-size has been shown to be insufficient to guard against brute force attacks (one such attack, undertaken by the cyber civil-rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1997, succeeded in 56 hours.) As a result, use of straight DES encryption is now without doubt insecure for use in new cryptosystem designs, and messages protected by older cryptosystems using DES, and indeed all messages sent since 1976 using DES, are also at risk. Regardless of DES' inherent quality, the DES key size (56-bits) was thought to be too small by some even in 1976, perhaps most publicly by Whitfield Diffie. There was suspicion that government organizations even then had sufficient computing power to break DES messages; clearly others have achieved this capability. Public key The second development, in 1976, was perhaps even more important, for it fundamentally changed the way cryptosystems might work. This was the publication of the paper New Directions in Cryptography by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman. It introduced a radically new method of distributing cryptographic keys, which went far toward solving one of the fundamental problems of cryptography, key distribution, and has become known as Diffie–Hellman key exchange. The article also stimulated the almost immediate public development of a new class of enciphering algorithms, the asymmetric key algorithms. Prior to that time, all useful modern encryption algorithms had been symmetric key algorithms, in which the same cryptographic key is used with the underlying algorithm by both the sender and the recipient, who must both keep it secret. All of the electromechanical machines used in World War II were of this logical class, as were the Caesar and Atbash ciphers and essentially all cipher systems throughout history. The 'key' for a code is, of course, the codebook, which must likewise be distributed and kept secret, and so shares most of the same problems in practice. Of necessity, the key in every such system had to be exchanged between the communicating parties in some secure way prior to any use of the system (the term usually used is 'via a secure channel') such as a trustworthy courier with a briefcase handcuffed to a wrist, or face-to-face contact, or a loyal carrier pigeon. This requirement is never trivial and very rapidly becomes unmanageable as the number of participants increases, or when secure channels aren't available for key exchange, or when, as is sensible cryptographic practice, keys are frequently changed. In particular, if messages are meant to be secure from other users, a separate key is required for each possible pair of users. A system of this kind is known as a secret key, or symmetric key cryptosystem. D-H key exchange (and succeeding improvements and variants) made operation of these systems much easier, and more secure, than had ever been possible before in all of history. In contrast, asymmetric key encryption uses a pair of mathematically related keys, each of which decrypts the encryption performed using the other. Some, but not all, of these algorithms have the additional property that one of the paired keys cannot be deduced from the other by any known method other than trial and error. An algorithm of this kind is known as a public key or asymmetric key system. Using such an algorithm, only one key pair is needed per user. By designating one key of the pair as private (always secret), and the other as public (often widely available), no secure channel is needed for key exchange. So long as the private key stays secret, the public key can be widely known for a very long time without compromising security, making it safe to reuse the same key pair indefinitely. For two users of an asymmetric key algorithm to communicate securely over an insecure channel, each user will need to know their own public and private keys as well as the other user's public key. Take this basic scenario: Alice and Bob each have a pair of keys they've been using for years with many other users. At the start of their message, they exchange public keys, unencrypted over an insecure line. Alice then encrypts a message using her private key, and then re-encrypts that result using Bob's public key. The double-encrypted message is then sent as digital data over a wire from Alice to Bob. Bob receives the bit stream and decrypts it using his own private key, and then decrypts that bit stream using Alice's public key. If the final result is recognizable as a message, Bob can be confident that the message actually came from someone who knows Alice's private key (presumably actually her if she's been careful with her private key), and that anyone eavesdropping on the channel will need Bob's private key in order to understand the message. Asymmetric algorithms rely for their effectiveness on a class of problems in mathematics called one-way functions, which require relatively little computational power to execute, but vast amounts of power to reverse, if reversal is possible at all. A classic example of a one-way function is multiplication of very large prime numbers. It's fairly quick to multiply two large primes, but very difficult to find the factors of the product of two large primes. Because of the mathematics of one-way functions, most possible keys are bad choices as cryptographic keys; only a small fraction of the possible keys of a given length are suitable, and so asymmetric algorithms require very long keys to reach the same level of security provided by relatively shorter symmetric keys. The need to both generate the key pairs, and perform the encryption/decryption operations make asymmetric algorithms computationally expensive, compared to most symmetric algorithms. Since symmetric algorithms can often use any sequence of (random, or at least unpredictable) bits as a key, a disposable session key can be quickly generated for short-term use. Consequently, it is common practice to use a long asymmetric key to exchange a disposable, much shorter (but just as strong) symmetric key. The slower asymmetric algorithm securely sends a symmetric session key, and the faster symmetric algorithm takes over for the remainder of the message. Asymmetric key cryptography, Diffie–Hellman key exchange, and the best known of the public key / private key algorithms (i.e., what is usually called the RSA algorithm), all seem to have been independently developed at a UK intelligence agency before the public announcement by Diffie and Hellman in 1976. GCHQ has released documents claiming they had developed public key cryptography before the publication of Diffie and Hellman's paper. Various classified papers were written at GCHQ during the 1960s and 1970s which eventually led to schemes essentially identical to RSA encryption and to Diffie–Hellman key exchange in 1973 and 1974. Some of these have now been published, and the inventors (James H. Ellis, Clifford Cocks, and Malcolm Williamson) have made public (some of) their work. Hashing Hashing is a common technique used in cryptography to encode information quickly using typical algorithms. Generally, an algorithm is applied to a string of text, and the resulting string becomes the "hash value". This creates a "digital fingerprint" of the message, as the specific hash value is used to identify a specific message. The output from the algorithm is also referred to as a "message digest" or a "check sum". Hashing is good for determining if information has been changed in transmission. If the hash value is different upon reception than upon sending, there is evidence the message has been altered. Once the algorithm has been applied to the data to be hashed, the hash function produces a fixed-length output. Essentially, anything passed through the hash function should resolve to the same length output as anything else passed through the same hash function. It is important to note that hashing is not the same as encrypting. Hashing is a one-way operation that is used to transform data into the compressed message digest. Additionally, the integrity of the message can be measured with hashing. Conversely, encryption is a two-way operation that is used to transform plaintext into cipher-text and then vice versa. In encryption, the confidentiality of a message is guaranteed. Hash functions can be used to verify digital signatures, so that when signing documents via the Internet, the signature is applied to one particular individual. Much like a hand-written signature, these signatures are verified by assigning their exact hash code to a person. Furthermore, hashing is applied to passwords for computer systems. Hashing for passwords began with the UNIX operating system. A user on the system would first create a password. That password would be hashed, using an algorithm or key, and then stored in a password file. This is still prominent today, as web applications that require passwords will often hash user's passwords and store them in a database. Cryptography politics The public developments of the 1970s broke the near monopoly on high quality cryptography held by government organizations (see S Levy's Crypto for a journalistic account of some of the policy controversy of the time in the US). For the first time ever, those outside government organizations had access to cryptography not readily breakable by anyone (including governments). Considerable controversy, and conflict, both public and private, began more or less immediately, sometimes called the crypto wars. They have not yet subsided. In many countries, for example, export of cryptography is subject to restrictions. Until 1996 export from the U.S. of cryptography using keys longer than 40 bits (too small to be very secure against a knowledgeable attacker) was sharply limited. As recently as 2004, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, testifying before the 9/11 Commission, called for new laws against public use of encryption. One of the most significant people favoring strong encryption for public use was Phil Zimmermann. He wrote and then in 1991 released PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a very high quality crypto system. He distributed a freeware version of PGP when he felt threatened by legislation then under consideration by the US Government that would require backdoors to be included in all cryptographic products developed within the US. His system was released worldwide shortly after he released it in the US, and that began a long criminal investigation of him by the US Government Justice Department for the alleged violation of export restrictions. The Justice Department eventually dropped its case against Zimmermann, and the freeware distribution of PGP has continued around the world. PGP even eventually became an open Internet standard (RFC 2440 or OpenPGP). Modern cryptanalysis While modern ciphers like AES and the higher quality asymmetric ciphers are widely considered unbreakable, poor designs and implementations are still sometimes adopted and there have been important cryptanalytic breaks of deployed crypto systems in recent years. Notable examples of broken crypto designs include the first Wi-Fi encryption scheme WEP, the Content Scrambling System used for encrypting and controlling DVD use, the A5/1 and A5/2 ciphers used in GSM cell phones, and the CRYPTO1 cipher used in the widely deployed MIFARE Classic smart cards from NXP Semiconductors, a spun off division of Philips Electronics. All of these are symmetric ciphers. Thus far, not one of the mathematical ideas underlying public key cryptography has been proven to be 'unbreakable', and so some future mathematical analysis advance might render systems relying on them insecure. While few informed observers foresee such a breakthrough, the key size recommended for security as best practice keeps increasing as increased computing power required for breaking codes becomes cheaper and more available. Quantum computers, if ever constructed with enough capacity, could break existing public key algorithms and efforts are underway to develop and standardize post-quantum cryptography. Even without breaking encryption in the traditional sense, side-channel attacks can be mounted that exploit information gained from the way a computer system is implemented, such as cache memory usage, timing information, power consumption, electromagnetic leaks or even sounds emitted. Newer cryptographic algorithms are being developed that make such attacks more difficult. See also NSA encryption systems Steganography Timeline of cryptography Topics in cryptography Japanese cryptology from the 1500s to Meiji World War I cryptography World War II cryptography List of cryptographers :Category:Undeciphered historical codes and ciphers References External links Helger Lipmaa's cryptography pointers Timeline of cipher machines zh-yue:密碼學史 Classical cryptography Military communications History of telecommunications

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FeliCa

FeliCa

FeliCa is a contactless RFID smart card system from Sony in Japan, primarily used in electronic money cards. The name stands for Felicity Card. First utilized in the Octopus card system in Hong Kong, the technology is used in a variety of cards also in countries such as Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and the United States. Technology FeliCa's encryption key is dynamically generated each time mutual authentication is performed, preventing fraud such as impersonation. FeliCa is externally powered, i.e. it does not need a battery to operate. The card uses power supplied from the special FeliCa card reader when the card comes in range. When the data transfer is complete, the reader will stop the supply of power. FeliCa was proposed for ISO/IEC 14443 Type C but was rejected. However, ISO/IEC 18092 (Near Field Communication) uses some similar modulation methods. It uses Manchester coding at 212 kbit/s in the 13.56 MHz range. A proximity of 10 centimeters or less is required for communication. FeliCa complies with JIS: X6319-4: Specification of implementation for integrated circuit(s) cards - Part 4: High speed proximity cards. The standard is regulated by JICSAP (Japan IC Card System Application Council). The UK IT security evaluation and certification scheme provides more detail as to the internal architecture of the FeliCa card (RC-S860 ). FeliCa IC card (hardware) and its operating system has obtained ISO15408 Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (“EAL4”), a standard which indicates the security level of information technology and consumer products. FeliCa is also included as a condition of the NFC Forum Specification Compliance. The next generation of FeliCa IC chip announced in June 2011 will have enhanced security adopting the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption. Sony claims the next generation chip will have a higher performance, reliability and lower power consumption. Reliability FeliCa supports simultaneous access of up to 8 blocks (1 block is 16 octets). If an IC card is moved outside of the power-supplied area during the session, the FeliCa card automatically discards incomplete data to restore the previous state. Mobile FeliCa Mobile FeliCa is a modification of FeliCa for use in mobile phones by FeliCa Networks, a subsidiary company of both NTT DoCoMo and Sony. DoCoMo has developed a wallet phone concept based on Mobile FeliCa and has developed a wide network of partnerships and business models. au and SoftBank (former Vodafone Japan) have also licensed mobile FeliCa from FeliCa Networks. The system (literal translation: "wallet-phone") was developed by NTT DoCoMo, and introduced in July 2004 and later licensed to Vodafone and au, which introduced the product in their own mobile phone ranges under the same name. Using Osaifu-Keitai, multiple FeliCa systems (such as Suica and Edy) can be accessed from a single mobile phone. On January 28, 2006, au introduced Mobile Suica which is used primarily on the railway networks owned by JR East. On September 7, 2016, Apple announced Apple Pay now features FeliCa technology. Users who purchased iPhone 7 or Apple Watch Series 2 in Japan can now add Suica cards into their Apple Pay wallets and tap their devices just like regular Suica cards. Users can either transfer the balance from a physical Suica card to the Apple Pay wallet, or create a virtual Suica card in the wallet from the JR East application. On September 12, 2017, Apple announced new iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XR and Apple Watch Series 3 models featuring "Global FeliCa", i.e. NFC-F and licensed FeliCa middleware incorporated in all devices sold worldwide, not just ones sold in Japan. On October 9, 2018, Google announced that its latest Pixel device, the Pixel 3, would support FeliCa in models purchased in Japan. This feature enables support for WAON, SuiCa, and various other FeliCa-based services through Google Pay and the Osaifu-Keitai system. Successor models including the 3a and 4 have the same support of Mobile Felica in Japan-sold models. Consumer reader/writer devices Sony has built a FeliCa reader/writer known as "FeliCa Port" into their VAIO PC line. Using the device, FeliCa cards can be used over the Internet for shopping and charging FeliCa cards. An external USB FeliCa PC reader/writer has been released as well, called PaSoRi. It is USB-powered and allows one to perform online transactions and top up EZ-link cards in Singapore with credit cards or debit cards anywhere, as long as there is direct access to the Internet. The Sony PaSoRi Reader is not compatible with the new ez-link cards. Card usage United States University Campuses (in collaboration with Blackboard Inc.) Octopus cards, Hong Kong Shenzhen TransCard, Shenzhen, China (defunct; however, Hu Tong Xing uses FeliCa) Chang'An Card, Xi'an, China Pay Ease, Chong Qing, China Unified Automatic Fare Collection Scheme completed by Q4 2009, Dubai, United Arab Emirates EZ-link, Singapore Airport Rail Link (Bangkok), Bangkok, Thailand SPASS card, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, Dhaka, Bangladesh Indonesia: Multi-Trip Card (KMT), KRL Commuterline Greater Jakarta and Surakarta-Yogyakarta Dompetku D-Tap, Indosat Ooredoo Jelajah (e-Ticket), Jakarta MRT Jak Lingko, integrated card for Transjakarta, Jakarta MRT, KRL Commuterline Jakarta, Jakarta LRT, and Soekarno–Hatta Airport Rail Link Japan: The system is de facto standard in Japan. Electronic money or mobile payment: Edy, Rakuten Edy iD, NTT Docomo (also deployed to a limited degree in Guam and China) nanaco, Seven & I Holdings Co. Osaifu Keitai QUICPay, Japan Credit Bureau WAON, AEON Group Public transportation payment: (Some can be used as electronic money as well.) Major cards: Hayakaken, Fukuoka City Subway ICOCA, JR West Kitaca, JR Hokkaidō Manaca, Meitetsu, public transportation in Tōkai region (includes Nagoya) nimoca, railways and buses in Kyushu PASMO, railways and buses in Kantō region (includes Tokyo) PiTaPa, railways and buses in Kansai region SUGOCA, JR Kyūshū Suica, JR East TOICA, JR Central See the table below for other cards. Integrated services in Japan As FeliCa is the de facto smart card ticketing system standard in Japan, many of these cards have integrated services. A particular region/operator may accept multiple cards. The table below shows the integrated services FeliCa cards have for each Japanese region. A: The area accepts all functions of the card, including electronic money function. (There may be subtle differences between each area.) B: The area accepts basic functions of the card, but not some functions such as electronic money or auto recharging. A: The area will introduce the new card in the future. F: The area will accept the card in future. A few cards can be used as electronic money in some unmarked areas. 1: In many cases, there are multiple operators accepting the same card in the same area. See each card article for the full listing. Notes External links Official homepage Sony products Contactless smart cards NTT Docomo Japanese inventions

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivotal%20Software

Pivotal Software

Pivotal Software, Inc. was an American multinational software and services company based in San Francisco that provided cloud platform hosting and consulting services. Since December 2019, Pivotal has been part of VMware. History Pivotal Software was formed in 2012 after spinning out of EMC Corporation and VMware (which was majority-owned by EMC). The name came from the Pivotal Labs LLC which had been acquired by EMC, and briefly used the name GoPivotal, Incorporated. On April 24, 2013, the organization announced a investment from General Electric (for 10% equity) and Pivotal One, including Cloud Foundry for cloud computing. Paul Maritz became Pivotal's chief executive immediately after the spin-out. Maritz had joined EMC in February 2008 when Pi Corporation, a company he co-founded, was acquired and was previously the CEO of VMware. The Greenplum Database (acquired by EMC in 2010) formed the basis of a division selling software for the big data market. In March 2013, a distribution of Apache Hadoop called Pivotal HD was announced, including a version of the Greenplum software for it called Hawq. Paul Maritz became Pivotal's Chairman and Rob Mee, founder of Pivotal Labs, became chief executive officer of Pivotal Software on August 18, 2015. In May, 2016, a round of investment was announced, including Ford investments. EMC also converted of debt into equity at that time. In March 2018, the company filed for an initial public offering, debuting on the NYSE on April 20, 2018. The trading price began at $15 a share, and closed with a 5% increase on its first day. The company raised $555 million in the IPO. On August 14, 2019 VMware announced merger discussions with Pivotal, and a definitive agreement to acquire Pivotal Software was signed on August 22, 2019. The merger was completed on December 30, 2019. VMware folded Pivotal into the Tanzu application suite, with the Pivotal Labs consulting group rebranding to become VMware Tanzu Labs in January 2021. See also Cloud Foundry Greenplum RabbitMQ Spring Framework References Companies acquired by Dell Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Software companies established in 2013 Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2018 initial public offerings Companies based in San Francisco Companies based in Palo Alto, California Corporate spin-offs 2019 mergers and acquisitions VMware Software companies of the United States 2013 establishments in the United States 2013 establishments in California Companies established in 2013

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odisha

Odisha

Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa (), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Scheduled Tribes in India. It neighbours the states of West Bengal and Jharkhand to the north, Chhattisgarh to the west, Andhra Pradesh to the south. Odisha has a coastline of along the Bay of Bengal. The region is also known as Utkala and is mentioned in India's national anthem, "Jana Gana Mana". The language of Odisha is Odia, which is one of the Classical Languages of India. The ancient kingdom of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (which was again won back from them by king Kharavela) in 261 BCE resulting in the Kalinga War, coincides with the borders of modern-day Odisha. The modern boundaries of Odisha were demarcated by the British Indian government when Orissa Province was established on 1 April 1936, consisting of the Odia-speaking districts of Bihar and Orissa Province. The first of April is celebrated as Utkala Dibasa. Cuttack was made the capital of the region by Anantavarman Chodaganga in , after which the city was used as the capital by many rulers, through the British era until 1948. Thereafter, Bhubaneswar became the capital of Odisha. The economy of Odisha is the 16th-largest state economy in India with in gross domestic product and a per capita GDP of . Odisha ranks 32nd among Indian states in Human Development Index. Etymology The term "Odisha/Orissa" () is derived from the ancient Prakrit word "Odda Visaya" (also "Udra Bibhasha" or "Odra Bibhasha") as in the Tirumalai inscription of Rajendra Chola I, which is dated to 1025. Sarala Das, who translated the Mahabharata into the Odia language in the 15th century, calls the region 'Odra Rashtra' as Odisha. The inscriptions of Kapilendra Deva of the Gajapati Kingdom (1435–67) on the walls of temples in Puri call the region Odisha or Odisha Rajya. In 2011 the English rendering of was changed from "Orissa" to "Odisha", and the name of its language from "Oriya" to "Odia", by the passage of the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010 and the Constitution (113th Amendment) Bill, 2010 in the Parliament. The Hindi rendering (uṛīsa) was also modified to (oḍisha). After a brief debate, the lower house, Lok Sabha, passed the bill and amendment on 9 November 2010. On 24 March 2011, Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, also passed the bill and the amendment. The changes in spelling was made so that English and Hindi would conform to Odia transcription. History Prehistoric Acheulian tools dating to Lower Paleolithic era have been discovered in various places in the region, implying an early settlement by humans. Kalinga has been mentioned in ancient texts like Mahabharata, Vayu Purana and Mahagovinda Suttanta. The Sabar people of Odisha have also been mentioned in the Mahabharata. Baudhayana mentions Kalinga as not yet being influenced by Vedic traditions, implying it followed mostly tribal traditions. Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty conquered Kalinga in the bloody Kalinga War in 261 BCE, which was the eighth year of his reign. According to his own edicts, in that war about 100,000 people were killed, 150,000 were captured and more were affected. The resulting bloodshed and suffering of the war is said to have deeply affected Ashoka. He turned into a pacifist and converted to Buddhism. By c. 150 BCE, emperor Kharavela, who was possibly a contemporary of Demetrius I of Bactria, conquered a major part of the Indian sub-continent. Kharavela was a Jain ruler. He also built the monastery atop the Udayagiri hill. Subsequently, the region was ruled by monarchs, such as Samudragupta and Shashanka. It was also a part of Harsha's empire. The city of Brahmapur in Odisha is also known to have been the capital of the Pauravas during the closing years of 4th Century CE. Nothing was heard from the Pauravas from about the 3rd Century CE, because they were annexed by the Yaudheya Republic, who in turn submitted to the Mauryans. It was only at the end of 4th century CE, that they established royalty at Brahmapur, after about 700 years. Later, the kings of the Somavamsi dynasty began to unite the region. By the reign of Yayati II, c. 1025 CE, they had integrated the region into a single kingdom. Yayati II is supposed to have built the Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar. They were replaced by the Eastern Ganga dynasty. Notable rulers of the dynasty were Anantavarman Chodaganga, who began re-construction on the present-day Shri Jagannath Temple in Puri (c. 1135), and Narasimhadeva I, who constructed the Konark temple (c. 1250). The Eastern Ganga Dynasty was followed by the Gajapati Kingdom. The region resisted integration into the Mughal empire until 1568, when it was conquered by Sultanate of Bengal. Mukunda Deva, who is considered the last independent king of Kalinga, was defeated and was killed in battle by a rebel Ramachandra Bhanja. Ramachandra Bhanja himself was killed by Bayazid Khan Karrani. In 1591, Man Singh I, then governor of Bihar, led an army to take Odisha from the Karranis of Bengal. They agreed to treaty because their leader Qutlu Khan Lohani had recently died. But, they then broke the treaty by attacking the temple town of Puri. Man Singh returned in 1592 and pacified the region. In 1751, the Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan ceded the region to the Maratha Empire. The British had occupied the Northern Circars, comprising the southern coast of Odisha, as a result of the Second Carnatic War by 1760, and incorporated them into the Madras Presidency gradually. In 1803, the British ousted the Marathas from the Puri-Cuttack region of Odisha during the Second Anglo-Maratha War. The northern and western districts of Odisha were incorporated into the Bengal Presidency. The Orissa famine of 1866 caused an estimated 1 million deaths. Following this, large-scale irrigation projects were undertaken. In 1903, the Utkal Sammilani organisation was founded to demand the unification of Odia-speaking regions into one state. On 1 April 1912, the Bihar and Orissa Province was formed. On 1 April 1936, Bihar and Orissa were split into separate provinces. The new province of Orissa came into existence on a linguistic basis during the British rule in India, with Sir John Austen Hubback as the first governor. Following India's independence, on 15 August 1947, 27 princely states signed the document to join Orissa. Most of the Orissa Tributary States, a group of princely states, acceded to Orissa in 1948, after the collapse of the Eastern States Union. Geography Odisha lies between the latitudes 17.780N and 22.730N, and between longitudes 81.37E and 87.53E. The state has an area of 155,707 km2, which is 4.87% of total area of India, and a coastline of 450 km. In the eastern part of the state lies the coastal plain. It extends from the Subarnarekha River in the north to the Rushikulya river in the south. The lake Chilika is part of the coastal plains. The plains are rich in fertile silt deposited by the six major rivers flowing into the Bay of Bengal: Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga, Baitarani, Brahmani, Mahanadi and Rushikulya. The Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), a Food and Agriculture Organization-recognised rice gene bank and research institute, is situated on the banks of Mahanadi in Cuttack. The stretch between Puri and Bhadrak in Odisha juts out a little into the sea, making it vulnerable to any cyclonic activity. Three-quarters of the state is covered in mountain ranges. Deep and broad valleys have been made in them by rivers. These valleys have fertile soil and are densely populated. Odisha also has plateaus and rolling uplands, which have lower elevation than the plateaus. The highest point in the state is Deomali at 1,672 metres in Koraput district. Some other high peaks are: Sinkaram (1,620 m), Golikoda (1,617 m), and Yendrika (1,582 metres). Rehabilitation 876 families of East Pakistan displaced persons have been rehabilitated in Orissa up to 31 October 1958 Climate The state experiences four meteorological seasons: winter (January to February), pre-monsoon season (March to May), south-west monsoon season (June to September) and north east monsoon season (October–December). However, locally the year is divided into six traditional seasons (or rutus): Grishma (summer), Barsha (rainy season), Sharata (autumn), Hemanta (dewy),Sheeta(winter season) and Basanta (spring). Biodiversity According to a Forest Survey of India report released in 2012, Odisha has 48,903 km2 of forests which cover 31.41% of the state's total area. The forests are classified into: dense forest (7,060 km2), medium dense forest (21,366 km2), open forest (forest without closed canopy; 20,477 km2) and scrub forest (4,734 km2). The state also has bamboo forests (10,518 km2) and mangroves (221 km2). The state is losing its forests to timber smuggling, mining, industrialisation and grazing. There have been attempts at conservation and reforestation. Due to the climate and good rainfall, Odisha's evergreen and moist forests are suitable habitats for wild orchids. Around 130 species have been reported from the state. 97 of them are found in Mayurbhanj district alone. The Orchid House of Nandakanan Biological Park hosts some of these species. Simlipal National Park is a protected wildlife area and tiger reserve spread over 2,750 km2 of the northern part of Mayurbhanj district. It has 1078 species of plants, including 94 orchids. The sal tree is the primary tree species there. The park has 55 mammals, including barking deer, Bengal tiger, common langur, four-horned antelope, Indian bison, Indian elephant, Indian giant squirrel, Indian leopard, jungle cat, sambar deer, and wild boar. There are 304 species of birds in the park, such as the common hill myna, grey hornbill, Indian pied hornbill and Malabar pied hornbill. It also has 60 species of reptiles, notable among which are the king cobra, banded krait, and tricarinate hill turtle. There is also a mugger crocodile breeding program in nearby Ramtirtha. The Chandaka Elephant Sanctuary is a 190 km2 protected area near the capital city, Bhubaneswar. However, urban expansion and over-grazing have reduced the forests and are driving herds of elephants to migration. In 2002, there were about 80 elephants. But by 2012, their numbers had been reduced to 20. Many of the animals have migrated toward the Barbara reserve forest, Chilika, Nayagarh district, and Athagad. Some elephants have died in conflicts with villagers, while some have died during migration from being electrocuted by power lines or hit by trains. Outside the protected area, they are killed by poachers. Besides elephants, the sanctuary also has Indian leopards, jungle cats and chitals. The Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district covers 650 km2, of which 150 km2 are mangroves. The Gahirmatha Beach in Bhitarkanika is the world's largest nesting site for olive ridley sea turtles. Other major nesting grounds for the turtle in the state are Rushikulya, in Ganjam district, and the mouth of the Devi river. The Bhitarkanika sanctuary is also noted for its large population of salt-water crocodiles. In winter, the sanctuary is also visited by migratory birds. Among the species of birds spotted in the sanctuary are the black-crowned night heron, darter, grey heron, Indian cormorant, Oriental white ibis, purple heron, and sarus crane. The possibly endangered horseshoe crab is also found in this region. Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon on the east coast of Odisha with an area of 1,105 km2. It is connected to the Bay of Bengal by a 35-km-long narrow channel and is a part of the Mahanadi delta. In the dry season, the tides bring in salt water. In the rainy season, the rivers falling into the lagoon decrease its salinity. Birds from places like the Caspian Sea, Lake Baikal, other parts of Russia, Central Asia, South-East Asia, Ladakh and the Himalayas migrate to the lagoon in winter. Among the birds spotted there are Eurasian wigeon, pintail, bar-headed goose, greylag goose, flamingo, mallard and Goliath heron. The lagoon also has a small population of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. The state's coastal region has also had sightings of finless porpoise, bottlenose dolphin, humpback dolphin and spinner dolphin in its waters. Satapada is situated close to the northeast cape of Chilika Lake and Bay of Bengal. It is famous for dolphin watching in their natural habitat. There is a tiny island en route for watching dolphins, where tourists often take a short stop. Apart from that, this island is also home for tiny red crabs. According to a census conducted in 2016, there are around 2000 elephants in the state. Government and politics All states in India are governed by a parliamentary system of government based on universal adult franchise. The main parties active in the politics of Odisha are the Biju Janata Dal, the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party. Following the Odisha State Assembly Election in 2019, the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal stayed in power for the sixth consecutive term, he is the 14th chief minister of odisha since 2000. Legislative assembly The Odisha state has a unicameral legislature. The Odisha Legislative Assembly consists of 147 elected members, and special office bearers such as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, who are elected by the members. Assembly meetings are presided over by the Speaker, or by the Deputy Speaker in the Speaker's absence. Executive authority is vested in the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister, although the titular head of government is the Governor of Odisha. The governor is appointed by the President of India. The leader of the party or coalition with a majority in the Legislative Assembly is appointed as the Chief Minister by the governor, and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Council of Ministers reports to the Legislative Assembly. The 147 elected representatives are called Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs. One MLA may be nominated from the Anglo-Indian community by the governor. The term of the office is for five years, unless the Assembly is dissolved prior to the completion of the term. The judiciary is composed of the Odisha High Court, located at Cuttack, and a system of lower courts. Subdivisions Odisha has been divided into 30 districts. These 30 districts have been placed under three different revenue divisions to streamline their governance. The divisions are North, Central and South, with their headquarters at Sambalpur, Cuttack and Berhampur respectively. Each division consists of ten districts and has as its administrative head a Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC). The position of the RDC in the administrative hierarchy is that between that of the district administration and the state secretariat. The RDCs report to the Board of Revenue, which is headed by a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service. Each district is governed by a collector and district magistrate, who is appointed from the Indian Administrative Service or a very senior officer from Odisha Administrative Service. The collector and district magistrate is responsible for collecting the revenue and maintaining law and order in the district. Each district is separated into sub-divisions, each governed by a sub-collector and sub-divisional magistrate. The sub-divisions are further divided into tahasils. The tahasils are headed by tahasildar. Odisha has 58 sub-divisions, 317 tahasils and 314 blocks. Blocks consists of Panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities. The capital and largest city of the state is Bhubaneswar. The other major cities are Cuttack, Rourkela, Berhampur and Sambalpur. Municipal Corporations in Odisha include Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela. Other municipalities of Odisha include Angul, Balangir, Balasore, Barbil, Bargarh, Baripada, Belpahar, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Biramitrapur, Boudh, Brajarajnagar, Byasanagar, Chhatrapur, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gopalpur, Gunupur, Hinjilicut, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, Joda, Kendrapara, Kendujhar, Khordha, Konark, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Paradeep, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Puri, Rajgangpur, Rayagada, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Talcher, Titilagarh and Umerkote. Auxiliary authorities known as panchayats, for which local body elections are regularly held, govern local affairs in rural areas. Economy Macro-economic trend Odisha is experiencing steady economic growth. The impressive growth in gross domestic product of the state has been reported by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Odisha's growth rate is above the national average. The central Government's Urban Development Ministry has recently announced the names of 20 cities selected to be developed as smart cities. The state capital Bhubaneswar is the first city in the list of smart Cities released in January 2016, a pet project of the Indian Government. The announcement also marked with sanction of Rs 508.02 billion over the five years for development. Industrial development Odisha has abundant natural resources and a large coastline. Odisha has emerged as the most preferred destination for overseas investors with investment proposals. It contains a fifth of India's coal, a quarter of its iron ore, a third of its bauxite reserves and most of the chromite. Rourkela Steel Plant was the first integrated steel plant in the public sector in India, built with collaboration of Germany. Arcelor-Mittal has also announced plans to invest in another mega steel project amounting to $10 billion. Russian major Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Company (MMK) plans to set up a 10 MT steel plant in Odisha, too. Bandhabahal is a major area of open cast coal mines in Odisha. The state is attracting an unprecedented amount of investment in aluminium, coal-based power plants, petrochemicals, and information technology as well. In power generation, Reliance Power (Anil Ambani Group) is putting up the world's largest power plant with an investment of US$13 billion at Hirma in Jharsuguda district. In 2009 Odisha was the second top domestic investment destination with Gujarat first and Andhra Pradesh in third place according to an analysis of ASSOCHAM Investment Meter (AIM) study on corporate investments. Odisha's share was 12.6 percent in total investment in the country. It received investment proposal worth . 2,00,846 crore during the last year. Steel and power were among the sectors which attracted maximum investments in the state. Transportation Odisha has a network of roads, railways, airports and seaports. Bhubaneswar is well connected by air, rail and road with the rest of India. Some highways are getting expanded to four lanes. Plans for metro rail connecting Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack, a journey of 30 km, have also started. Air Odisha has a total of two operational airports, 17 airstrips and 16 helipads. The airport at Jharsuguda was upgraded to a full-fledged domestic airport in May 2018. The government of Odisha also plans five greenfield airports at Angul, Dhamra, Kalinganagar, Paradeep and Rayagada in an effort to boost intrastate and inter-state civil aviation. Existing aerodromes at Barbil, Gopalpur, Jharsuguda and Rourkela were also to be upgraded. The Dhamra Port Company Limited plans to build Dhamra Airport 20 km from Dhamra Port. Air Odisha, is Odisha's sole air charter company based in Bhubaneswar. Angul – Savitri Jindal Airport Bargarh – Sativata Airstrip Bhawanipatna – Utkela Airstrip (being prepared under UDAN scheme) Bhubaneswar – Biju Patnaik Airport (functioning regularly) Brahmapur – Berhampur Airport Cuttack – Charbatia Air Base Jeypore – Jeypore Airport (being prepared under UDAN scheme) Jharsuguda – Veer Surendra Sai Airport (functioning under UDAN scheme) Rourkela – Rourkela Airport (being prepared under UDAN scheme) Sambalpur – Hirakud Airstrip Seaports Odisha has a coastline of 485 Kilometers. It has one major port at Paradip and few minor ports. some of them are: Port of Dhamara Port of Gopalpur Port of Paradip Port of Subarnarekha Port of Astarang Port of Chandipur Port of Chudamani Port of Palur Railways Major cities of Odisha are well connected to all the major cities of India by direct daily trains and weekly trains. Most of the railway network in Odisha lies under the jurisdiction of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) with headquarters at Bhubaneswar and some parts under South Eastern Railway and South East Central Railway. Demographics According to the 2011 census of India, the total population of Odisha is 41,974,218, of which 21,212,136 (50.54%) are male and 20,762,082 (49.46%) are female, or 978 females per 1000 males. This represents a 13.97% increase over the population in 2001. The population density is 270 per km2. The literacy rate is 73%, with 82% of males and 64% of females being literate, according to the 2011 census. The proportion of people living below the poverty line in 2004–2005 was 57.15% which was nearly double the Indian average of 26.10%. Since 2005 the state has reduced poverty rate dramatically by 24.6 percentage points. According to current estimate proportion of people living under poverty line was 32.6% Data of 1996–2001 showed the life expectancy in the state was 61.64 years, higher than the national value of years. The state has a birth rate of 23.2 per 1,000 people per year, a death rate of 9.1 per 1,000 people per year, an infant mortality rate of 65 per 1000 live birth and a maternal mortality rate of 358 per 1,000,000 live births. Odisha has a Human Development Index of 0.606 as of 2018. Religion The majority (almost 94%) of people in Odisha are Hindu and there is also a rich cultural heritage in the state. For example, Odisha is home to several Hindu figures. Sant Bhima Bhoi was a leader of the Mahima sect. Sarala Das, a Hindu Khandayat, was the translator of the epic Mahabharata into Odia. Chaitanya Das was a Buddhistic-Vaishnava and writer of the Nirguna Mahatmya. Jayadeva was the author of the Gita Govinda. The Odisha Temple Authorisation Act of 1948 empowered the government of Odisha to open temples for all Hindus, including Dalits. Perhaps the oldest scripture of Odisha is the Madala Panji from the Puri Temple believed from 1042 AD. Famous Hindu Odia scripture includes the 16th-century Bhagabata of Jagannatha Dasa. In the modern times Madhusudan Rao was a major Odia writer, who was a Brahmo Samajist and shaped modern Odia literature at the start of the 20th century. Christians in Odisha account for about 2.8% of the population while Odia Muslims account for 2.2% as per census figures of 2001. The Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities together account for 0.1% of the population. Languages Odia is the official language of Odisha and is spoken by 81.32% of the population according to the 2011 census of India. It is also one of the classical languages of India. English is the official language of correspondence between state and the union of India. Spoken Odia is not homogeneous as one can find different dialects spoken across the state. Some of the major dialects found inside the state are Sambalpuri, Cuttacki, Puri, Baleswari, Ganjami, Desiya and Phulbani. In addition to Odia, significant population of people speaking other major Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Urdu and Bengali are also found in the state. The different adibasi communities who mostly reside in Western Odisha have their own languages belonging to Austroasiatic and Dravidian family of languages. Some of these major adibasi languages are Santali, Kui and Ho. Due to increasing contact with outsiders, migration and socioeconomic reasons many of these indigenous languages are slowly getting extinct or are on the verge of getting extinct. The Odisha Sahitya Academy Award was established in 1957 to actively develop Odia language and literature. The Odisha government launched a portal https://ova.gov.in/en in 2018 to promote Odia language and literature. Education Educational Institutions Indian Institutes of Handloom Technology(IIHT Bargarh) at Bargarh Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM BBSR) at Bhubaneswar C. V. Raman Global University (CVRGU) at Bhubaneswar Regional Institute of Education (RIE BBSR) at Bhubaneswar Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar(IIT BBS) at Bhubaneswar National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) at Bhubaneswar National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NIT) at Rourkela Indian Institute of Management (IIM-SB) at Sambalpur Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER BPR) at Brahmapur All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bhubaneswar Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) at Burla National Law University at Cuttack International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Bhubaneswar Berhampur University at Brahmapur Biju Patnaik University of Technology at Rourkela Ispat Autonomous College, Rourkela Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar College at Bhubaneswar Central University of Odisha at Koraput College of Agriculture, Bhawanipatna College of Basic Science and Humanities at Bhubaneswar College of Engineering and Technology at Bhubaneswar Dharanidhar College at Keonjhar Fakir Mohan University at Balasore Gangadhar Meher University at Sambalpur Government College of Engineering, Kalahandi at Bhawanipatna Hi-Tech Medical College & Hospital, Bhubaneswar at Bhubaneswar Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology at Sarang Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar at Keonjhar KIIT University at Bhubaneswar Khallikote University at Brahmapur Maharaja Krishna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital at Brahmapur National Institute of Science and Technology at Brahmapur North Orissa University at Baripada Odisha State Open University at Sambalpur Orissa Engineering College at Bhubaneswar Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology at Bhubaneswar Parala Maharaja Engineering College at Brahmapur Rama Devi Women's University at Bhubaneswar Ravenshaw University at Cuttack Sambalpur University at Sambalpur Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology Sambalpur Shri Ramachandra Bhanj Medical College at Cuttack Siksha O Anusandhan University at Bhubaneswar Utkal University at Bhubaneswar Utkal University of Culture at Bhubaneswar Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) at Burla, Sambalpur Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar Xavier University, Bhubaneswar Institute of Mathematics and Applications, Bhubaneswar Sri Sri University at Cuttack Centurion University at Jatni, Bhubaneswar Stewart School at Buxibazar, Cuttack National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research at Cuttack National Institute of Social Work and Social Science, Bhubaneswar (NISWASS) Rajendra Narayan University Balangir Kalahandi University Bhawanipatna Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital Balangir Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital, Baripada Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital, Koraput Entry to various institutes of higher education especially into engineering degrees is through a centralised Odisha Joint Entrance Examination, conducted by the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), Rourkela, since 2003, where seats are provided according to order of merit. Few of the engineering institutes enroll students by through Joint Entrance Examination. For medical courses, there is a corresponding National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test. Culture Cuisine Odisha has a culinary tradition spanning centuries. The kitchen of the Shri Jagannath Temple, Puri is reputed to be the largest in the world, with 1,000 chefs, working around 752 wood-burning clay hearths called chulas, to feed over 10,000 people each day. The syrupy dessert Pahala rasagola made in Odisha is known throughout the world. Chhenapoda is another major Odisha sweet cuisine, which originated in Nayagarh. Dalma (a mix of dal and selected vegetables) is widely known cuisine, better served with ghee. The "Odisha Rasagola" was awarded a GI tag 29 July 2019 after a long battle about the origin of the famous sweet with West Bengal. Dance Odissi dance and music are classical art forms. Odissi is the oldest surviving dance form in India on the basis of archaeological evidence. Odissi has a long, unbroken tradition of 2,000 years, and finds mention in the Natyashastra of Bharatamuni, possibly written c. 200 BC. However, the dance form nearly became extinct during the British period, only to be revived after India's independence by a few gurus. The variety of dances includes Ghumura dance, Chhau dance, Jhumair, Mahari dance, Dalkhai, Dhemsa and Gotipua. Sports The state of Odisha has hosted several international sporting events, including the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup, and will host matches for the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup. There are so many stadium and field available to promote sports. Some of well known stadium are ; Kalinga Stadium Barabati Stadium Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium East Coast Railway Stadium Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium KIIT Stadium Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium Tourism The Lingaraja Temple at Bhubaneswar has a high deula while the Jagannath Temple, Puri is about high and dominates the skyline. Only a portion of the Konark Sun Temple at Konark in Puri district, the largest of the temples of the "Holy Golden Triangle" exists today, and it is still staggering in size. It stands out as a masterpiece in Odisha architecture. Sarala Temple, regarded as one of the most spiritually elevated expressions of Shaktism is in Jagatsinghpur district. It is also one of the holiest places in Odisha and a major tourist attraction. Maa Tarini Temple situated in Kendujhar district is also a famous pilgrimage destination. Every day thousands of coconuts are given to Maa Tarini by devotees for fulfilling their wishes. Odisha's varying topography – from the wooded Eastern Ghats to the fertile river basin – has proven ideal for evolution of compact and unique ecosystems. This creates treasure troves of flora and fauna that are inviting to many migratory species of birds and reptiles. Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapada district is famous for its second largest mangrove ecosystem. The bird sanctuary in Chilika Lake (Asia's largest brackish water lake). The tiger reserve and waterfalls in Simlipal National Park, Mayurbhanj district are integral parts of eco-tourism in Odisha, arranged by Odisha Tourism. Daringbadi is a hill station in the Kandhamal district. It is known as "Kashmir of Odisha", for its climatic similarity. Chandipur, in Baleswar district is a calm and serene site, is mostly unexplored by tourists. The unique specialty of this beach is the ebb tides that recede up to 4 km and tend to disappear rhythmically. In the western part of Odisha, Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur district is the longest earthen dam in the World. It also forms the biggest artificial lake in Asia. The Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is situated near Hirakud Dam. Samaleswari Temple is a Hindu temple in Sambalpur city, dedicated to the goddess known as 'Samaleswari', the presiding deity of Sambalpur, is a strong religious force in western part of Odisha and Chhattisgarh state. The Leaning Temple of Huma is located near Sambalpur. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Bimaleshwar. Sri Sri Harishankar Devasthana, is a temple on the slopes of Gandhamardhan hills, Balangir district. It is popular for its scenes of nature and connection to two Hindu lords, Vishnu and Shiva. On the opposite side of the Gandhamardhan hills is the temple of Sri Nrusinghanath, is situated at the foothills of Gandhamardhan Hill near Paikmal, Bargarh district. In the southern part of Odisha, The Taratarini Temple on the Kumari hills at the bank of the Rushikulya river near Berhampur city in Ganjam district. Here worshiped as the Breast Shrine (Sthana Peetha) and manifestations of Adi Shakti. The Tara Tarini Shakti Peetha is one of the oldest pilgrimage centers of the Mother Goddess and is one of four major ancient Tantra Peetha and Shakti Peethas in India. Deomali is a mountain peak of the Eastern Ghats. It is located in Koraput district. This peak with an elevation of about 1,672 m, is the highest peak in Odisha. The share of foreign tourists’ arrival in the state is below one percent of total foreign tourist arrivals at all India level. See also Cinema of Odisha Festivals of Odisha List of Odia writers List of schools in Odisha Odia literature List of schemes of the government of Odisha Odissi music References External links Government Odisha Government Portal General information Odisha Encyclopædia Britannica entry States and union territories of India States and territories established in 1936 1936 establishments in India

3741289

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise%20Unified%20Process

Enterprise Unified Process

The Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) is an extended variant of the Unified Process and was developed by Scott W. Ambler and Larry Constantine in 2000, eventually reworked in 2005 by Ambler, John Nalbone and Michael Vizdos. EUP was originally introduced to overcome some shortages of RUP, namely the lack of production and eventual retirement of a software system. So two phases and several new disciplines were added. EUP sees software development not as a standalone activity, but embedded in the lifecycle of the system (to be built or enhanced or replaced), the IT lifecycle of the enterprise and the organization/business lifecycle of the enterprise itself. It deals with software development as seen from the customer's point of view. In 2013 work began to evolve EUP to be based on Disciplined Agile Delivery instead of the Unified Process. Phases The Unified Process defines four project phases Inception Elaboration Construction Transition To these EUP adds two additional phases Production Retirement Disciplines The Rational Unified Process defines nine project disciplines Business Modeling Requirements Analysis and Design Implementation Test Deployment Configuration and Change Management Project Management Environment To these EUP adds one additional project discipline Operations and Support and seven enterprise disciplines Enterprise Business Modeling Portfolio Management Enterprise Architecture Strategic Reuse People Management Enterprise Administration Software Process Improvement Best Practices of EUP The EUP provide following best practices:- Develop iteratively Manage requirements Proven architecture Modeling Continuously verify quality. Manage change Collaborative development Look beyond development. Deliver working software on a regular basis Manage risk See also Disciplined Agile Delivery Rational Unified Process Software development process Extreme programming References Bibliography External links Scott W. Ambler's website on the Enterprise Unified Process Software development process Software project management

2578762

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga%20Disk%20File

Amiga Disk File

Amiga Disk File (ADF) is a file format used by Amiga computers and emulators to store images of floppy disks. It has been around almost as long as the Amiga itself, although it was not initially called by any particular name. Before it was known as ADF, it was used in commercial game production, backup and disk virtualization. ADF is a track-by-track dump of the disk data as read by the Amiga operating system, and so the "format" is really fixed-width AmigaDOS data tracks appended one after another and held in a file. This file would, typically, be formatted, like the disk, in Amiga Old File System (OFS). ADF Most ADF files are plain images of the Amiga-formatted tracks held on cylinder 0 to 79 of a standard double-density floppy disk, also called an 880 KiB disk in Amiga terms. The size of an ADF will vary depending on how many tracks have been imaged, but in practice it is unusual to find ADF files that are not 901,120 bytes in size (80 cylinders × 2 heads × 11 sectors × 512 bytes/sector). Most Amiga programs were distributed on double-density floppy disks. There are also 3.5-inch high-density floppy disks, which hold up to 1.76 MB of data, but these are uncommon. The Amiga also had 5.25-inch double-density disks. The WinUAE Amiga emulator supports all three disk formats, but 3.5-inch double-density is the most common. ADF files can be downloaded and copied to Amiga disks with the EasyADF application and various applications freely available on the Internet. As they are plain disk images, they can be handled by the Unix tool dd. On Linux and NetBSD, which support the most common Amiga filesystems, ADF files can be mounted directly. There is a program called ADF Opus, which is a Microsoft Windows–based program that allows people to create their own ADF files. This program supports creating double density (880 KB ADF files, the most common) and high-density (1.76 MB) ADF files. ADF Opus also allows people to convert ADF files into ADZ files. There is also a GPL command line program called unADF, which allows you to extract files from an ADF file. The part of utility pack amitools contains a set of programs named xdftool. It is under GPL and can read, write, format, and do other operations with ADF-images. ADZ An ADZ file is an ADF file that has been compressed with gzip. The typical file extension is .adz, derived from .adf.gz. IPF The ADF file format can only store disks that have legal AmigaDOS format tracks. Disks with non-standard tracks may be available in ADF format, albeit cracked in order to create a regular AmigaDOS volume. However, the Amiga itself was not limited to storing data in these standard tracks. The Amiga's floppy disk controller was very basic but transparent, and for that reason very flexible allowing disks of other and custom formats to be read and written as well. Disk handling is not locked down like the one in a modern PC, and so most of the work to read and write disks is done by the operating system itself. However, because programmers did not have to use the operating system routines, it was quite normal for games developers to create their own disk formats and also apply many different sorts of copy protection. As it was, most full-price commercial Amiga games had some form of custom disk format and/or copy protection on them. For this reason, most commercial Amiga games cannot be stored in ADF files unaltered, but there is an alternative called Interchangeable Preservation Format (IPF) which was specifically designed for this purpose. The Software Preservation Society Interchangeable Preservation Format (.IPF) is an open format for which the source code of the official library is available. DMS ADF files were sometimes compressed using the Disk Masher System, resulting in .dms files. FDI FDI (from Formatted Disk Image) is a universal disk image file format specification originally published by Vincent Joguin in 2000. The FDI format is publicly documented, and accompanied by open source access tools. Because the format can store raw low-level data, as is for example required to support copy protection schemes and other non-standard formats, FDI files can be larger than disk image files in other formats. The typical file extension is .fdi. Because of the universal design of the FDI format, files in other disk image formats, such as ADF, ADZ and DMS, can in theory be converted to FDI. See also References Notes The .ADF (Amiga Disk File) format FAQ The Amiga Guru Book, Chapter 15, Ralph Babel, 1993 Rom Kernel Reference Manual : Hardware, pages 235-244, Addison Wesley Rom Kernel Reference Manual : Libraries and Devices, Appendix C, Addison Wesley La Bible de l'Amiga, Dittrich/Gelfand/Schemmel, Data Becker, 1988. Disk images Amiga Emulation software

3420518

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20users%27%20groups

List of users' groups

This is a list of notable computer users' groups, categorized by interest. General Chaos Computer Club Computer Measurement Group (CMG) ComputerTown UK Homebrew Computer Club Port7Alliance Hardware platforms Adamcon (Coleco Adam user group) Toronto PET Users Group (TPUG) SHARE Macintosh User Groups in the UK DUsers, the first Macintosh users group, based at Drexel University IIUG International Informix Users Group COMMON for Power Systems (IBM i, AS/400, iSeries, System i, AIX and Linux) users in North America. Linux Bangalore Linux User Group Beijing GNU/Linux User Group Linux Users' Group of Davis ILUG-Delhi Lanka Linux User Group Linux Australia Linux Users of Victoria LinuxChix Loco team NYLUG Portland Linux/Unix Group RLUG SEUL Southern California Linux Expo Programming languages Perl Mongers Z User Group Markup languages TeX Users Group Deutschsprachige Anwendervereinigung TeX Lists of organizations Computing-related lists

12398

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic%20information%20system

Geographic information system

A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a broader sense, one may consider such a system to also include human users and support staff, procedures and workflows, body of knowledge of relevant concepts and methods, and institutional organizations. The uncounted plural, geographic information systems, also abbreviated GIS, is the most common term for the industry and profession concerned with these systems. It is roughly synonymous with geoinformatics and part of the broader geospatial field, which also includes GPS, remote sensing, etc. Geographic information science, the academic discipline that studies these systems and their underlying geographic principles, may also be abbreviated as GIS, but the unambiguous GIScience is more common. Geographic information systems are utilized in multiple technologies, processes, techniques and methods. They are attached to various operations and numerous applications, that relate to: engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications, and business. For this reason, GIS and location intelligence applications are at the foundation of location-enabled services, that rely on geographic analysis and visualization. GIS provides the capability to relate previously unrelated information, through the use of location as the "key index variable". Locations and extents that are found in the Earth's spacetime, are able to be recorded through the date and time of occurrence, along with x, y, and z coordinates; representing, longitude (x), latitude (y), and elevation (z). All Earth-based, spatial–temporal, location and extent references, should be relatable to one another, and ultimately, to a "real" physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS, has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry and studies. History and development While digital GIS dates to the mid-1960s, when Roger Tomlinson first coined the phrase "geographic information system", many of the geographic concepts and methods that GIS automates date back decades earlier. One of the first known instances in which spatial analysis was used came from the field of epidemiology in the "Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la Seine" (1832). French geographer and cartographer, Charles Picquet created a map outlining the forty-eight Districts in Paris, using halftone color gradients, to provide a visual representation for the number of reported deaths due to cholera per every 1,000 inhabitants. In 1854, John Snow, an epidemiologist and physician, was able to determine the source of a cholera outbreak in London through the use of spatial analysis. Snow achieved this through plotting the residence of each casualty on a map of the area, as well as the nearby water sources. Once these points were marked, he was able to identify the water source within the cluster that was responsible for the outbreak. This was one of the earliest successful uses of a geographic methodology in pinpointing the source of an outbreak in epidemiology. While the basic elements of topography and theme existed previously in cartography, Snow's map was unique due to his use of cartographic methods, not only to depict, but also to analyze clusters of geographically dependent phenomena. The early 20th century saw the development of photozincography, which allowed maps to be split into layers, for example one layer for vegetation and another for water. This was particularly used for printing contours – drawing these was a labour-intensive task but having them on a separate layer meant they could be worked on without the other layers to confuse the draughtsman. This work was originally drawn on glass plates but later plastic film was introduced, with the advantages of being lighter, using less storage space and being less brittle, among others. When all the layers were finished, they were combined into one image using a large process camera. Once color printing came in, the layers idea was also used for creating separate printing plates for each color. While the use of layers much later became one of the main typical features of a contemporary GIS, the photographic process just described is not considered to be a GIS in itself – as the maps were just images with no database to link them to. Two additional developments are notable in the early days of GIS: Ian McHarg's publication "Design with Nature" and its map overlay method and the introduction of a street network into the U.S. Census Bureau's DIME (Dual Independent Map Encoding) system. Computer hardware development spurred by nuclear weapon research led to general-purpose computer "mapping" applications by the early 1960s. In 1960 the world's first true operational GIS was developed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, by the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. Developed by Dr. Roger Tomlinson, it was called the Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) and was used to store, analyze, and manipulate data collected for the Canada Land Inventory, an effort to determine the land capability for rural Canada by mapping information about soils, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, waterfowl, forestry and land use at a scale of 1:50,000. A rating classification factor was also added to permit analysis. CGIS was an improvement over "computer mapping" applications as it provided capabilities for data storage, overlay, measurement, and digitizing/scanning. It supported a national coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as arcs having a true embedded topology and it stored the attribute and locational information in separate files. As a result of this, Tomlinson has become known as the "father of GIS", particularly for his use of overlays in promoting the spatial analysis of convergent geographic data. CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built a large digital land resource database in Canada. It was developed as a mainframe-based system in support of federal and provincial resource planning and management. Its strength was continent-wide analysis of complex datasets. The CGIS was never available commercially. In 1964 Howard T. Fisher formed the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (LCGSA 1965–1991), where a number of important theoretical concepts in spatial data handling were developed, and which by the 1970s had distributed seminal software code and systems, such as SYMAP, GRID, and ODYSSEY, to universities, research centers and corporations worldwide. These programs were the first examples of general purpose GIS software that was not developed for a particular installation, and was very influential on future commercial software, such as Esri ARC/INFO, released in 1983. By the late 1970s two public domain GIS systems (MOSS and GRASS GIS) were in development, and by the early 1980s, M&S Computing (later Intergraph) along with Bentley Systems Incorporated for the CAD platform, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), CARIS (Computer Aided Resource Information System), and ERDAS (Earth Resource Data Analysis System) emerged as commercial vendors of GIS software, successfully incorporating many of the CGIS features, combining the first generation approach to separation of spatial and attribute information with a second generation approach to organizing attribute data into database structures. In 1986, Mapping Display and Analysis System (MIDAS), the first desktop GIS product was released for the DOS operating system. This was renamed in 1990 to MapInfo for Windows when it was ported to the Microsoft Windows platform. This began the process of moving GIS from the research department into the business environment. By the end of the 20th century, the rapid growth in various systems had been consolidated and standardized on relatively few platforms and users were beginning to explore viewing GIS data over the Internet, requiring data format and transfer standards. More recently, a growing number of free, open-source GIS packages run on a range of operating systems and can be customized to perform specific tasks. The major trend of the 21st Century has been the integration of GIS capabilities with other Information technology and Internet infrastructure, such as relational databases, cloud computing, software as a service (SAAS), and mobile computing. GIS software The distinction must be made between a singular geographic information system, which is a single installation of software and data for a particular use, along with associated hardware, staff, and institutions (e.g., the GIS for a particular city government); and GIS software, a general-purpose application program that is intended to be used in many individual geographic information systems in a variety of application domains. Starting in the late 1970s, many software packages have been created specifically for GIS applications, including commercial programs such as Esri, ArcGIS, Autodesk and MapInfo Professional and open source programs such as QGIS, GRASS GIS and MapGuide. These and other desktop GIS applications include a full suite of capabilities for entering, managing, analyzing, and visualizing geographic data, and are designed to be used on their own. Starting in the late 1990s with the emergence of the Internet, server GIS has been developed as another mechanism for providing GIS capabilities. This is standalone software installed on a server, similar to other server software such as HTTP servers and relational database management systems, enabling clients to have access to GIS data and processing tools without having to install specialized desktop software, often by accessing the server through a web browser. This strategy has been extended through the development of cloud-based GIS platforms such as ArcGIS Online and GIS-specialized Software as a service (SAAS). An alternative approach is to integrate of some or all of these capabilities into other software or information technology architectures. One example is a spatial extension to Object-relational database software, which defines a geometry datatype so that spatial data can be stored in relational tables, and extensions to SQL for spatial analysis operations such as overlay. Another example is the proliferation of geospatial libraries and application programming interfaces (e.g., GDAL, Leaflet, D3.js) that extend programming languages to enable the incorporation of GIS data and processing into custom software, including web mapping sites and location-based services in smartphones. Geospatial data management The core of any GIS is a database that contains representations of geographic phenomena, modeling their geometry (location and shape) and their properties or attributes. A GIS database may be stored in a variety of forms, such as a collection of separate data files or a single spatially-enabled relational database. Collecting and managing these data usually comprise the bulk of the time and financial resources of a project, far more than other aspects such as analysis and mapping. Aspects of geographic data GIS uses spatio-temporal (space-time) location as the key index variable for all other information. Just as a relational database containing text or numbers can relate many different tables using common key index variables, GIS can relate otherwise unrelated information by using location as the key index variable. The key is the location and/or extent in space-time. Any variable that can be located spatially, and increasingly also temporally, can be referenced using a GIS. Locations or extents in Earth space–time may be recorded as dates/times of occurrence, and x, y, and z coordinates representing, longitude, latitude, and elevation, respectively. These GIS coordinates may represent other quantified systems of temporo-spatial reference (for example, film frame number, stream gage station, highway mile-marker, surveyor benchmark, building address, street intersection, entrance gate, water depth sounding, POS or CAD drawing origin/units). Units applied to recorded temporal-spatial data can vary widely (even when using exactly the same data, see map projections), but all Earth-based spatial–temporal location and extent references should, ideally, be relatable to one another and ultimately to a "real" physical location or extent in space–time. Related by accurate spatial information, an incredible variety of real-world and projected past or future data can be analyzed, interpreted and represented. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry into behaviors and patterns of real-world information that previously had not been systematically correlated. Data modeling GIS data represents phenomena that exist in the real world, such as roads, land use, elevation, trees, waterways, and states. The most common types of phenomena that are represented in data can be divided into two conceptualizations: discrete objects (e.g., a house, a road) and continuous fields (e.g., rainfall amount or population density). {rp|pages=62-65}} Other types of geographic phenomena, such as events (e.g., World War II), processes (e.g., suburbanization), and masses (e.g., soil) are represented less commonly or indirectly, or are modeled in analysis procedures rather than data. Traditionally, there are two broad methods used to store data in a GIS for both kinds of abstractions mapping references: raster images and vector. Points, lines, and polygons represent vector data of mapped location attribute references. A new hybrid method of storing data is that of identifying point clouds, which combine three-dimensional points with RGB information at each point, returning a "3D color image". GIS thematic maps then are becoming more and more realistically visually descriptive of what they set out to show or determine. Data acquisition GIS data acquisition includes several methods for gathering spatial data into a GIS database, which can be grouped into three categories: primary data capture, the direct measurement phenomena in the field (e.g., remote sensing, the global positioning system); secondary data capture, the extraction of information from existing sources that are not in a GIS form, such as paper maps, through digitization; and data transfer, the copying of existing GIS data from external sources such as government agencies and private companties. All of these methods can consume significant time, finances, and other resources. Primary data capture Survey data can be directly entered into a GIS from digital data collection systems on survey instruments using a technique called coordinate geometry (COGO). Positions from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) like Global Positioning System can also be collected and then imported into a GIS. A current trend in data collection gives users the ability to utilize field computers with the ability to edit live data using wireless connections or disconnected editing sessions. Current trend is to utilize applications available on smartphones and PDAs - Mobile GIS. This has been enhanced by the availability of low-cost mapping-grade GPS units with decimeter accuracy in real time. This eliminates the need to post process, import, and update the data in the office after fieldwork has been collected. This includes the ability to incorporate positions collected using a laser rangefinder. New technologies also allow users to create maps as well as analysis directly in the field, making projects more efficient and mapping more accurate. Remotely sensed data also plays an important role in data collection and consist of sensors attached to a platform. Sensors include cameras, digital scanners and lidar, while platforms usually consist of aircraft and satellites. In England in the mid 1990s, hybrid kite/balloons called helikites first pioneered the use of compact airborne digital cameras as airborne geo-information systems. Aircraft measurement software, accurate to 0.4 mm was used to link the photographs and measure the ground. Helikites are inexpensive and gather more accurate data than aircraft. Helikites can be used over roads, railways and towns where unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are banned. Recently aerial data collection has become more accessible with miniature UAVs and drones. For example, the Aeryon Scout was used to map a 50-acre area with a ground sample distance of in only 12 minutes. The majority of digital data currently comes from photo interpretation of aerial photographs. Soft-copy workstations are used to digitize features directly from stereo pairs of digital photographs. These systems allow data to be captured in two and three dimensions, with elevations measured directly from a stereo pair using principles of photogrammetry. Analog aerial photos must be scanned before being entered into a soft-copy system, for high-quality digital cameras this step is skipped. Satellite remote sensing provides another important source of spatial data. Here satellites use different sensor packages to passively measure the reflectance from parts of the electromagnetic spectrum or radio waves that were sent out from an active sensor such as radar. Remote sensing collects raster data that can be further processed using different bands to identify objects and classes of interest, such as land cover. Secondary data capture The most common method of data creation is digitization, where a hard copy map or survey plan is transferred into a digital medium through the use of a CAD program, and geo-referencing capabilities. With the wide availability of ortho-rectified imagery (from satellites, aircraft, Helikites and UAVs), heads-up digitizing is becoming the main avenue through which geographic data is extracted. Heads-up digitizing involves the tracing of geographic data directly on top of the aerial imagery instead of by the traditional method of tracing the geographic form on a separate digitizing tablet (heads-down digitizing). Heads-down digitizing, or manual digitizing, uses a special magnetic pen, or stylus, that feeds information into a computer to create an identical, digital map. Some tablets use a mouse-like tool, called a puck, instead of a stylus. The puck has a small window with cross-hairs which allows for greater precision and pinpointing map features. Though heads-up digitizing is more commonly used, heads-down digitizing is still useful for digitizing maps of poor quality. Existing data printed on paper or PET film maps can be digitized or scanned to produce digital data. A digitizer produces vector data as an operator traces points, lines, and polygon boundaries from a map. Scanning a map results in raster data that could be further processed to produce vector data. Web mining is a novel method of collecting spatial data. Researchers build a web crawler application to aggregate required spatial data from the web. For example, the exact geo-location or the neighborhood of apartments can be collected from online real estate listing websites. When data is captured, the user should consider if the data should be captured with either a relative accuracy or absolute accuracy, since this could not only influence how information will be interpreted but also the cost of data capture. After entering data into a GIS, the data usually requires editing, to remove errors, or further processing. For vector data it must be made "topologically correct" before it can be used for some advanced analysis. For example, in a road network, lines must connect with nodes at an intersection. Errors such as undershoots and overshoots must also be removed. For scanned maps, blemishes on the source map may need to be removed from the resulting raster. For example, a fleck of dirt might connect two lines that should not be connected. Projections, coordinate systems, and registration The earth can be represented by various models, each of which may provide a different set of coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, elevation) for any given point on the Earth's surface. The simplest model is to assume the earth is a perfect sphere. As more measurements of the earth have accumulated, the models of the earth have become more sophisticated and more accurate. In fact, there are models called datums that apply to different areas of the earth to provide increased accuracy, like North American Datum of 1983 for U.S. measurements, and the World Geodetic System for worldwide measurements. The latitude and longitude on a map made against a local datum may not be the same as one obtained from a GPS receiver. Converting coordinates from one datum to another requires a datum transformation such as a Helmert transformation, although in certain situations a simple translation may be sufficient. In popular GIS software, data projected in latitude/longitude is often represented as a Geographic coordinate system. For example, data in latitude/longitude if the datum is the 'North American Datum of 1983' is denoted by 'GCS North American 1983'. Data quality While no digital model can be a perfect representation of the real world, it is important that GIS data be of a high quality. In keeping with the principle of homomorphism, the data must be close enough to reality so that the results of GIS procedures correctly correspond to the results of real world processes. This means that there is no single standard for data quality, because the necessary degree of quality depends on the scale and purpose of the tasks for which it is to be used. Several elements of data quality are important to GIS data: Accuracy The degree of similarity between a represented measurement and the actual value; conversely, error is the amount of difference between them. In GIS data, there is concern for accuracy in representations of location (positional accuracy), property (attribute accuracy), and time. For example, the US 2020 Census says that the population of Houston on April 1 2020 was 2,304,580; if it was actually 2,310,674, this would be an error and thus a lack of attribute accuracy. Precision The degree of refinement in a represented value. In a quantitative property, this is the number of significant digits in the measured value. An imprecise value is vague or ambiguous, including a range of possible values. For example, if one were to say that the population of Houston on April 1 2020 was "about 2.3 million," this statement would be imprecise, but likely accurate because the correct value (and many incorrect values) are included. As with accuracy, representations of location, property, and time can all be more or less precise. Resolution is a commonly used expression of positional precision, especially in raster data sets. Uncertainty A general acknowledgement of the presence of error and imprecision in geographic data. That is, it is a degree of general doubt, given that it is difficult to know exactly how much error is present in a data set, although some form of estimate may be attempted (a confidence interval being such an estimate of uncertainty). This is sometimes used as a collective term for all or most aspects of data quality. Vagueness or fuzziness The degree to which an aspect (location, property, or time) of a phenomenon is inherently imprecise, rather than the imprecision being in a measured value. For example, the spatial extent of the Houston metropolitan area is vague, as there are places on the outskirts of the city that are less connected to the central city (measured by activities such as commuting) than places that are closer. Mathematical tools such as fuzzy set theory are commonly used to manage vagueness in geographic data. Completeness The degree to which a data set represents all of the actual features that it purports to include. For example, if a layer of "roads in Houston" is missing some actual streets, it is incomplete. Currency The most recent point in time at which a data set claims to be an accurate representation of reality. This is a concern for the majority of GIS applications, which attempt to represent the world "at present," in which case older data is of lower quality. Consistency The degree to which the representations of the many phenomena in a data set correctly correspond with each other. Consistency in topological relationships between spatial objects is an especially important aspect of consistency. For example, if all of the lines in a street network were accidentally moved 10 meters to the East, they would be inaccurate but still consistent, because they would still properly connect at each intersection, and network analysis tools such as shortest path would still give correct results. Propagation of uncertainty The degree to which the quality of the results of Spatial analysis methods and other processing tools derives from the quality of input data. For example, interpolation is a common operation used in many ways in GIS; because it generates estimates of values between known measurements, the results will always be more precise, but less certain (as each estimate has an unknown amount of error). GIS accuracy depends upon source data, and how it is encoded to be data referenced. Land surveyors have been able to provide a high level of positional accuracy utilizing the GPS-derived positions. High-resolution digital terrain and aerial imagery, powerful computers and Web technology are changing the quality, utility, and expectations of GIS to serve society on a grand scale, but nevertheless there are other source data that affect overall GIS accuracy like paper maps, though these may be of limited use in achieving the desired accuracy. In developing a digital topographic database for a GIS, topographical maps are the main source, and aerial photography and satellite imagery are extra sources for collecting data and identifying attributes which can be mapped in layers over a location facsimile of scale. The scale of a map and geographical rendering area representation type, or map projection, are very important aspects since the information content depends mainly on the scale set and resulting locatability of the map's representations. In order to digitize a map, the map has to be checked within theoretical dimensions, then scanned into a raster format, and resulting raster data has to be given a theoretical dimension by a rubber sheeting/warping technology process known as georeferencing. A quantitative analysis of maps brings accuracy issues into focus. The electronic and other equipment used to make measurements for GIS is far more precise than the machines of conventional map analysis. All geographical data are inherently inaccurate, and these inaccuracies will propagate through GIS operations in ways that are difficult to predict. Raster-to-vector translation Data restructuring can be performed by a GIS to convert data into different formats. For example, a GIS may be used to convert a satellite image map to a vector structure by generating lines around all cells with the same classification, while determining the cell spatial relationships, such as adjacency or inclusion. More advanced data processing can occur with image processing, a technique developed in the late 1960s by NASA and the private sector to provide contrast enhancement, false color rendering and a variety of other techniques including use of two dimensional Fourier transforms. Since digital data is collected and stored in various ways, the two data sources may not be entirely compatible. So a GIS must be able to convert geographic data from one structure to another. In so doing, the implicit assumptions behind different ontologies and classifications require analysis. Object ontologies have gained increasing prominence as a consequence of object-oriented programming and sustained work by Barry Smith and co-workers. Spatial ETL Spatial ETL tools provide the data processing functionality of traditional extract, transform, load (ETL) software, but with a primary focus on the ability to manage spatial data. They provide GIS users with the ability to translate data between different standards and proprietary formats, whilst geometrically transforming the data en route. These tools can come in the form of add-ins to existing wider-purpose software such as spreadsheets. Spatial analysis with GIS GIS spatial analysis is a rapidly changing field, and GIS packages are increasingly including analytical tools as standard built-in facilities, as optional toolsets, as add-ins or 'analysts'. In many instances these are provided by the original software suppliers (commercial vendors or collaborative non commercial development teams), while in other cases facilities have been developed and are provided by third parties. Furthermore, many products offer software development kits (SDKs), programming languages and language support, scripting facilities and/or special interfaces for developing one's own analytical tools or variants. The increased availability has created a new dimension to business intelligence termed "spatial intelligence" which, when openly delivered via intranet, democratizes access to geographic and social network data. Geospatial intelligence, based on GIS spatial analysis, has also become a key element for security. GIS as a whole can be described as conversion to a vectorial representation or to any other digitisation process. Geoprocessing is a GIS operation used to manipulate spatial data. A typical geoprocessing operation takes an input dataset, performs an operation on that dataset, and returns the result of the operation as an output dataset. Common geoprocessing operations include geographic feature overlay, feature selection and analysis, topology processing, raster processing, and data conversion. Geoprocessing allows for definition, management, and analysis of information used to form decisions. Terrain analysis Many geographic tasks involve the terrain, the shape of the surface of the earth, such as hydrology, earthworks, and biogeography. Thus, terrain data is often a core dataset in a GIS, usually in the form of a raster Digital elevation model (DEM) or a Triangulated irregular network (TIN). A variety of tools are available in most GIS software for analyzing terrain, often by creating derivative datasets that represent a specific aspect of the surface. Some of the most common include: Slope or grade is the steepness or gradient of a unit of terrain, usually measured as an angle in degrees or as a percentage. Aspect can be defined as the direction in which a unit of terrain faces. Aspect is usually expressed in degrees from north. Cut and fill is a computation of the difference between the surface before and after an excavation project to estimate costs. Hydrological modeling can provide a spatial element that other hydrological models lack, with the analysis of variables such as slope, aspect and watershed or catchment area. Terrain analysis is fundamental to hydrology, since water always flows down a slope. As basic terrain analysis of a digital elevation model (DEM) involves calculation of slope and aspect, DEMs are very useful for hydrological analysis. Slope and aspect can then be used to determine direction of surface runoff, and hence flow accumulation for the formation of streams, rivers and lakes. Areas of divergent flow can also give a clear indication of the boundaries of a catchment. Once a flow direction and accumulation matrix has been created, queries can be performed that show contributing or dispersal areas at a certain point. More detail can be added to the model, such as terrain roughness, vegetation types and soil types, which can influence infiltration and evapotranspiration rates, and hence influencing surface flow. One of the main uses of hydrological modeling is in environmental contamination research. Other applications of hydrological modeling include groundwater and surface water mapping, as well as flood risk maps. Viewshed analysis predicts the impact that terrain has on the visibility between locations, which is especially important for wireless communications. Shaded relief is a depiction of the surface as if it were a three dimensional model lit from a given direction, which is very commonly used in maps. Most of these are generated using algorithms that are discrete simplifications of vector calculus. Slope, aspect, and surface curvature in terrain analysis are all derived from neighborhood operations using elevation values of a cell's adjacent neighbours. Each of these is strongly affected by the level of detail in the terrain data, such as the resolution of a DEM, which should be chosen carefully. Proximity analysis Distance is a key part of solving many geographic tasks, usually due to the friction of distance. Thus, a wide variety of analysis tools have analyze distance in some form, such as buffers, Voronoi or Thiessen polygons, Cost distance analysis, and network analysis. Data analysis It is difficult to relate wetlands maps to rainfall amounts recorded at different points such as airports, television stations, and schools. A GIS, however, can be used to depict two- and three-dimensional characteristics of the Earth's surface, subsurface, and atmosphere from information points. For example, a GIS can quickly generate a map with isopleth or contour lines that indicate differing amounts of rainfall. Such a map can be thought of as a rainfall contour map. Many sophisticated methods can estimate the characteristics of surfaces from a limited number of point measurements. A two-dimensional contour map created from the surface modeling of rainfall point measurements may be overlaid and analyzed with any other map in a GIS covering the same area. This GIS derived map can then provide additional information - such as the viability of water power potential as a renewable energy source. Similarly, GIS can be used to compare other renewable energy resources to find the best geographic potential for a region. Additionally, from a series of three-dimensional points, or digital elevation model, isopleth lines representing elevation contours can be generated, along with slope analysis, shaded relief, and other elevation products. Watersheds can be easily defined for any given reach, by computing all of the areas contiguous and uphill from any given point of interest. Similarly, an expected thalweg of where surface water would want to travel in intermittent and permanent streams can be computed from elevation data in the GIS. Topological modeling A GIS can recognize and analyze the spatial relationships that exist within digitally stored spatial data. These topological relationships allow complex spatial modelling and analysis to be performed. Topological relationships between geometric entities traditionally include adjacency (what adjoins what), containment (what encloses what), and proximity (how close something is to something else). Geometric networks Geometric networks are linear networks of objects that can be used to represent interconnected features, and to perform special spatial analysis on them. A geometric network is composed of edges, which are connected at junction points, similar to graphs in mathematics and computer science. Just like graphs, networks can have weight and flow assigned to its edges, which can be used to represent various interconnected features more accurately. Geometric networks are often used to model road networks and public utility networks, such as electric, gas, and water networks. Network modeling is also commonly employed in transportation planning, hydrology modeling, and infrastructure modeling. Cartographic modeling Dana Tomlin probably coined the term "cartographic modeling" in his PhD dissertation (1983); he later used it in the title of his book, Geographic Information Systems and Cartographic Modeling (1990). Cartographic modeling refers to a process where several thematic layers of the same area are produced, processed, and analyzed. Tomlin used raster layers, but the overlay method (see below) can be used more generally. Operations on map layers can be combined into algorithms, and eventually into simulation or optimization models. Map overlay The combination of several spatial datasets (points, lines, or polygons) creates a new output vector dataset, visually similar to stacking several maps of the same region. These overlays are similar to mathematical Venn diagram overlays. A union overlay combines the geographic features and attribute tables of both inputs into a single new output. An intersect overlay defines the area where both inputs overlap and retains a set of attribute fields for each. A symmetric difference overlay defines an output area that includes the total area of both inputs except for the overlapping area. Data extraction is a GIS process similar to vector overlay, though it can be used in either vector or raster data analysis. Rather than combining the properties and features of both datasets, data extraction involves using a "clip" or "mask" to extract the features of one data set that fall within the spatial extent of another dataset. In raster data analysis, the overlay of datasets is accomplished through a process known as "local operation on multiple rasters" or "map algebra", through a function that combines the values of each raster's matrix. This function may weigh some inputs more than others through use of an "index model" that reflects the influence of various factors upon a geographic phenomenon. Geostatistics Geostatistics is a branch of statistics that deals with field data, spatial data with a continuous index. It provides methods to model spatial correlation, and predict values at arbitrary locations (interpolation). When phenomena are measured, the observation methods dictate the accuracy of any subsequent analysis. Due to the nature of the data (e.g. traffic patterns in an urban environment; weather patterns over the Pacific Ocean), a constant or dynamic degree of precision is always lost in the measurement. This loss of precision is determined from the scale and distribution of the data collection. To determine the statistical relevance of the analysis, an average is determined so that points (gradients) outside of any immediate measurement can be included to determine their predicted behavior. This is due to the limitations of the applied statistic and data collection methods, and interpolation is required to predict the behavior of particles, points, and locations that are not directly measurable. Interpolation is the process by which a surface is created, usually a raster dataset, through the input of data collected at a number of sample points. There are several forms of interpolation, each which treats the data differently, depending on the properties of the data set. In comparing interpolation methods, the first consideration should be whether or not the source data will change (exact or approximate). Next is whether the method is subjective, a human interpretation, or objective. Then there is the nature of transitions between points: are they abrupt or gradual. Finally, there is whether a method is global (it uses the entire data set to form the model), or local where an algorithm is repeated for a small section of terrain. Interpolation is a justified measurement because of a spatial autocorrelation principle that recognizes that data collected at any position will have a great similarity to, or influence of those locations within its immediate vicinity. Digital elevation models, triangulated irregular networks, edge-finding algorithms, Thiessen polygons, Fourier analysis, (weighted) moving averages, inverse distance weighting, kriging, spline, and trend surface analysis are all mathematical methods to produce interpolative data. Address geocoding Geocoding is interpolating spatial locations (X,Y coordinates) from street addresses or any other spatially referenced data such as ZIP Codes, parcel lots and address locations. A reference theme is required to geocode individual addresses, such as a road centerline file with address ranges. The individual address locations have historically been interpolated, or estimated, by examining address ranges along a road segment. These are usually provided in the form of a table or database. The software will then place a dot approximately where that address belongs along the segment of centerline. For example, an address point of 500 will be at the midpoint of a line segment that starts with address 1 and ends with address 1,000. Geocoding can also be applied against actual parcel data, typically from municipal tax maps. In this case, the result of the geocoding will be an actually positioned space as opposed to an interpolated point. This approach is being increasingly used to provide more precise location information. Reverse geocoding Reverse geocoding is the process of returning an estimated street address number as it relates to a given coordinate. For example, a user can click on a road centerline theme (thus providing a coordinate) and have information returned that reflects the estimated house number. This house number is interpolated from a range assigned to that road segment. If the user clicks at the midpoint of a segment that starts with address 1 and ends with 100, the returned value will be somewhere near 50. Note that reverse geocoding does not return actual addresses, only estimates of what should be there based on the predetermined range. Multi-criteria decision analysis Coupled with GIS, multi-criteria decision analysis methods support decision-makers in analysing a set of alternative spatial solutions, such as the most likely ecological habitat for restoration, against multiple criteria, such as vegetation cover or roads. MCDA uses decision rules to aggregate the criteria, which allows the alternative solutions to be ranked or prioritised. GIS MCDA may reduce costs and time involved in identifying potential restoration sites. GIS data mining GIS or spatial data mining is the application of data mining methods to spatial data. Data mining, which is the partially automated search for hidden patterns in large databases, offers great potential benefits for applied GIS-based decision making. Typical applications include environmental monitoring. A characteristic of such applications is that spatial correlation between data measurements require the use of specialized algorithms for more efficient data analysis. Data output and cartography Cartography is the design and production of maps, or visual representations of spatial data. The vast majority of modern cartography is done with the help of computers, usually using GIS but production of quality cartography is also achieved by importing layers into a design program to refine it. Most GIS software gives the user substantial control over the appearance of the data. Cartographic work serves two major functions: First, it produces graphics on the screen or on paper that convey the results of analysis to the people who make decisions about resources. Wall maps and other graphics can be generated, allowing the viewer to visualize and thereby understand the results of analyses or simulations of potential events. Web Map Servers facilitate distribution of generated maps through web browsers using various implementations of web-based application programming interfaces (AJAX, Java, Flash, etc.). Second, other database information can be generated for further analysis or use. An example would be a list of all addresses within one mile (1.6 km) of a toxic spill. An archeochrome is a new way of displaying spatial data. It is a thematic on a 3D map that is applied to a specific building or a part of a building. It is suited to the visual display of heat-loss data. Terrain depiction Traditional maps are abstractions of the real world, a sampling of important elements portrayed on a sheet of paper with symbols to represent physical objects. People who use maps must interpret these symbols. Topographic maps show the shape of land surface with contour lines or with shaded relief. Today, graphic display techniques such as shading based on altitude in a GIS can make relationships among map elements visible, heightening one's ability to extract and analyze information. For example, two types of data were combined in a GIS to produce a perspective view of a portion of San Mateo County, California. The digital elevation model, consisting of surface elevations recorded on a 30-meter horizontal grid, shows high elevations as white and low elevation as black. The accompanying Landsat Thematic Mapper image shows a false-color infrared image looking down at the same area in 30-meter pixels, or picture elements, for the same coordinate points, pixel by pixel, as the elevation information. A GIS was used to register and combine the two images to render the three-dimensional perspective view looking down the San Andreas Fault, using the Thematic Mapper image pixels, but shaded using the elevation of the landforms. The GIS display depends on the viewing point of the observer and time of day of the display, to properly render the shadows created by the sun's rays at that latitude, longitude, and time of day. Web mapping In recent years there has been a proliferation of free-to-use and easily accessible mapping software such as the proprietary web applications Google Maps and Bing Maps, as well as the free and open-source alternative OpenStreetMap. These services give the public access to huge amounts of geographic data, perceived by many users to be as trustworthy and usable as professional information. Some of them, like Google Maps and OpenLayers, expose an application programming interface (API) that enable users to create custom applications. These toolkits commonly offer street maps, aerial/satellite imagery, geocoding, searches, and routing functionality. Web mapping has also uncovered the potential of crowdsourcing geodata in projects like OpenStreetMap, which is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. These mashup projects have been proven to provide a high level of value and benefit to end users outside that possible through traditional geographic information. Applications Since its origin in the 1960s, GIS has been used in an ever-increasing range of applications, corroborating the widespread importance of location and aided by the continuing reduction in the barriers to adopting geospatial technology. The perhaps hundreds of different uses of GIS can be classified in several ways: Goal: the purpose of an application can be broadly classified as either scientific research or resource management. The purpose of research, defined as broadly as possible, is to discover new knowledge; this may be performed by someone who considers herself a scientist, but may also be done by anyone who is trying to learn why the world appears to work the way it does. A study as practical as deciphering why a business location has failed would be research in this sense. Management (sometimes called operational applications), also defined as broadly as possible, is the application of knowledge to make practical decisions on how to employ the resources one has control over to achieve one's goals. These resources could be time, capital, labor, equipment, land, mineral deposits, wildlife, and so on. Decision level: Management applications have been further classified as strategic, tactical, operational, a common classification in business management. Strategic tasks are long-term, visionary decisions about what goals one should have, such as whether a business should expand or not. Tactical tasks are medium-term decisions about how to achieve strategic goals, such as a national forest creating a grazing management plan. Operational decisions are concerned with the day-to-day tasks, such as a person finding the shortest route to a pizza restaurant. Topic: the domains in which GIS is applied largely fall into those concerned with the human world (e.g., economics, politics, transportation, education, landscape architecture, archaeology, urban planning, real estate, public health, crime mapping, national defense), and those concerned with the natural world (e.g., geology, biology, oceanography, climate). That said, one of the powerful capabilities of GIS and the spatial perspective of geography is their integrative ability to compare disparate topics, and many applications are concerned with multiple domains. Examples of integrated human-natural application domains include Natural hazard mitigation, wildlife management, sustainable development, natural resources, and climate change response. Institution: GIS has been implemented in a variety of different kinds of institutions: government (at all levels from municipal to international), business (of all types and sizes), non-profit organizations (even churches), as well as personal uses. The latter has become increasingly prominent with the rise of location-enabled smartphones. Lifespan: GIS implementations may be focused on a project or an enterprise. A Project GIS is focused on accomplishing a single task: data is gathered, analysis is performed, and results are produced separately from any other projects the person may perform, and the implementation is essentially transitory. An Enterprise GIS is intended to be a permanent institution, including a database that is carefully designed to be useful for a variety of projects over many years, and is likely used by many individuals across an enterprise, with some employed full-time just to maintain it. Integration: Traditionally, most GIS applications were standalone, using specialized GIS software, specialized hardware, specialized data, and specialized professionals. Although these remain common to the present day, integrated applications have greatly increased, as geospatial technology was merged into broader enterprise applications, sharing IT infrastructure, databases, and software, often using enterprise integration platforms such as SAP. The implementation of a GIS is often driven by jurisdictional (such as a city), purpose, or application requirements. Generally, a GIS implementation may be custom-designed for an organization. Hence, a GIS deployment developed for an application, jurisdiction, enterprise, or purpose may not be necessarily interoperable or compatible with a GIS that has been developed for some other application, jurisdiction, enterprise, or purpose. GIS is also diverging into location-based services, which allows GPS-enabled mobile devices to display their location in relation to fixed objects (nearest restaurant, gas station, fire hydrant) or mobile objects (friends, children, police car), or to relay their position back to a central server for display or other processing. Open Geospatial Consortium standards The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international industry consortium of 384 companies, government agencies, universities, and individuals participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. Open interfaces and protocols defined by OpenGIS Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Open Geospatial Consortium protocols include Web Map Service, and Web Feature Service. GIS products are broken down by the OGC into two categories, based on how completely and accurately the software follows the OGC specifications. Compliant products are software products that comply to OGC's OpenGIS Specifications. When a product has been tested and certified as compliant through the OGC Testing Program, the product is automatically registered as "compliant" on this site. Implementing products are software products that implement OpenGIS Specifications but have not yet passed a compliance test. Compliance tests are not available for all specifications. Developers can register their products as implementing draft or approved specifications, though OGC reserves the right to review and verify each entry. Adding the dimension of time The condition of the Earth's surface, atmosphere, and subsurface can be examined by feeding satellite data into a GIS. GIS technology gives researchers the ability to examine the variations in Earth processes over days, months, and years. As an example, the changes in vegetation vigor through a growing season can be animated to determine when drought was most extensive in a particular region. The resulting graphic represents a rough measure of plant health. Working with two variables over time would then allow researchers to detect regional differences in the lag between a decline in rainfall and its effect on vegetation. GIS technology and the availability of digital data on regional and global scales enable such analyses. The satellite sensor output used to generate a vegetation graphic is produced for example by the advanced very-high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR). This sensor system detects the amounts of energy reflected from the Earth's surface across various bands of the spectrum for surface areas of about 1 square kilometer. The satellite sensor produces images of a particular location on the Earth twice a day. AVHRR and more recently the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) are only two of many sensor systems used for Earth surface analysis. In addition to the integration of time in environmental studies, GIS is also being explored for its ability to track and model the progress of humans throughout their daily routines. A concrete example of progress in this area is the recent release of time-specific population data by the U.S. Census. In this data set, the populations of cities are shown for daytime and evening hours highlighting the pattern of concentration and dispersion generated by North American commuting patterns. The manipulation and generation of data required to produce this data would not have been possible without GIS. Using models to project the data held by a GIS forward in time have enabled planners to test policy decisions using spatial decision support systems. Semantics Tools and technologies emerging from the World Wide Web Consortium's Semantic Web are proving useful for data integration problems in information systems. Correspondingly, such technologies have been proposed as a means to facilitate interoperability and data reuse among GIS applications. and also to enable new analysis mechanisms. Ontologies are a key component of this semantic approach as they allow a formal, machine-readable specification of the concepts and relationships in a given domain. This in turn allows a GIS to focus on the intended meaning of data rather than its syntax or structure. For example, reasoning that a land cover type classified as deciduous needleleaf trees in one dataset is a specialization or subset of land cover type forest in another more roughly classified dataset can help a GIS automatically merge the two datasets under the more general land cover classification. Tentative ontologies have been developed in areas related to GIS applications, for example the hydrology ontology developed by the Ordnance Survey in the United Kingdom and the SWEET ontologies developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Also, simpler ontologies and semantic metadata standards are being proposed by the W3C Geo Incubator Group to represent geospatial data on the web. GeoSPARQL is a standard developed by the Ordnance Survey, United States Geological Survey, Natural Resources Canada, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and others to support ontology creation and reasoning using well-understood OGC literals (GML, WKT), topological relationships (Simple Features, RCC8, DE-9IM), RDF and the SPARQL database query protocols. Recent research results in this area can be seen in the International Conference on Geospatial Semantics and the Terra Cognita – Directions to the Geospatial Semantic Web workshop at the International Semantic Web Conference. Implications of GIS on society With the popularization of GIS in decision making, scholars have begun to scrutinize the social and political implications of GIS. GIS can also be misused to distort reality for individual and political gain. It has been argued that the production, distribution, utilization, and representation of geographic information are largely related with the social context and has the potential to increase citizen trust in government. Other related topics include discussion on copyright, privacy, and censorship. A more optimistic social approach to GIS adoption is to use it as a tool for public participation. In education At the end of the 20th century, GIS began to be recognized as tools that could be used in the classroom. The benefits of GIS in education seem focused on developing spatial thinking, but there is not enough bibliography or statistical data to show the concrete scope of the use of GIS in education around the world, although the expansion has been faster in those countries where the curriculum mentions them. GIS seem to provide many advantages in teaching geography because they allow for analyses based on real geographic data and also help raise many research questions from teachers and students in classrooms. They also contribute to improvement in learning by developing spatial and geographical thinking and, in many cases, student motivation. In local government GIS is proven as an organization-wide, enterprise and enduring technology that continues to change how local government operates. Government agencies have adopted GIS technology as a method to better manage the following areas of government organization: Economic development departments use interactive GIS mapping tools, aggregated with other data (demographics, labor force, business, industry, talent) along with a database of available commercial sites and buildings in order to attract investment and support existing business. Businesses making location decisions can use the tools to choose communities and sites that best match their criteria for success. Public safety operations such as emergency operations centers, fire prevention, police and sheriff mobile technology and dispatch, and mapping weather risks. Parks and recreation departments and their functions in asset inventory, land conservation, land management, and cemetery management Public works and utilities, tracking water and stormwater drainage, electrical assets, engineering projects, and public transportation assets and trends Fiber network management for interdepartmental network assets School analytical and demographic data, asset management, and improvement/expansion planning Public administration for election data, property records, and zoning/management The Open Data initiative is pushing local government to take advantage of technology such as GIS technology, as it encompasses the requirements to fit the Open Data/Open Government model of transparency. With Open Data, local government organizations can implement Citizen Engagement applications and online portals, allowing citizens to see land information, report potholes and signage issues, view and sort parks by assets, view real-time crime rates and utility repairs, and much more. The push for open data within government organizations is driving the growth in local government GIS technology spending, and database management. See also AM/FM/GIS ArcGIS At-location mapping Automotive navigation system Cadastral map Collaborative mapping Comparison of GIS software Counter-mapping CyberGIS Digital geologic mapping Distributed GIS Geographic information systems in China Geographic information systems in geospatial intelligence Geoinformatics Geomatics GIS and aquatic science GIS and public health GISCorps GIS Day GIS in archaeology GvSIG Historical GIS Integrated Geo Systems List of GIS data sources List of GIS software Map database management Participatory GIS QGIS SAGA GIS TerrSet Traditional knowledge GIS Virtual globe References Further reading Berry, J. K. (1993). Beyond Mapping: Concepts, Algorithms and Issues in GIS. Fort Collins, CO: GIS World Books. Bolstad, P. (2019). GIS Fundamentals: A first text on Geographic Information Systems, Sixth Edition. Ann Arbor: XanEdu, 764 pp. Burrough, P. A. and McDonnell, R. A. (1998). Principles of geographical information systems. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 327 pp. Chang, K. (2007). Introduction to Geographic Information System, 4th Edition. McGraw Hill, Elangovan, K. (2006). "GIS: Fundamentals, Applications and Implementations", New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi" 208 pp. Fu, P., and J. Sun (2010). Web GIS: Principles and Applications. ESRI Press. Redlands, CA. . Harvey, Francis (2008). A Primer of GIS, Fundamental geographic and cartographic concepts. The Guilford Press, 31 pp. Heywood, I., Cornelius, S., and Carver, S. (2006). An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems. Prentice Hall. 3rd edition. Longley, P.A., Goodchild, M.F., Maguire, D.J. and Rhind, D.W. (2005). Geographic Information Systems and Science. Chichester: Wiley. 2nd edition. Maguire, D.J., Goodchild M.F., Rhind D.W. (1997). "Geographic Information Systems: principles, and applications" Longman Scientific and Technical, Harlow. Ott, T. and Swiaczny, F. (2001) .Time-integrative GIS. Management and analysis of spatio-temporal data, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York: Springer. Pickles, J., ed., (1994) Ground Truth: The Social Implications of Geographic Information Systems, New York and London: Guilford, 248 pp. Thurston, J., Poiker, T.K. and J. Patrick Moore. (2003). Integrated Geospatial Technologies: A Guide to GPS, GIS, and Data Logging. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. Wheatley, David and Gillings, Mark (2002). Spatial Technology and Archaeology. The Archaeological Application of GIS. London, New York, Taylor & Francis. External links

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer%20algebra

Computer algebra

In mathematics and computer science, computer algebra, also called symbolic computation or algebraic computation, is a scientific area that refers to the study and development of algorithms and software for manipulating mathematical expressions and other mathematical objects. Although computer algebra could be considered a subfield of scientific computing, they are generally considered as distinct fields because scientific computing is usually based on numerical computation with approximate floating point numbers, while symbolic computation emphasizes exact computation with expressions containing variables that have no given value and are manipulated as symbols. Software applications that perform symbolic calculations are called computer algebra systems, with the term system alluding to the complexity of the main applications that include, at least, a method to represent mathematical data in a computer, a user programming language (usually different from the language used for the implementation), a dedicated memory manager, a user interface for the input/output of mathematical expressions, a large set of routines to perform usual operations, like simplification of expressions, differentiation using chain rule, polynomial factorization, indefinite integration, etc. Computer algebra is widely used to experiment in mathematics and to design the formulas that are used in numerical programs. It is also used for complete scientific computations, when purely numerical methods fail, as in public key cryptography, or for some non-linear problems. Terminology Some authors distinguish computer algebra from symbolic computation using the latter name to refer to kinds of symbolic computation other than the computation with mathematical formulas. Some authors use symbolic computation for the computer science aspect of the subject and "computer algebra" for the mathematical aspect. In some languages the name of the field is not a direct translation of its English name. Typically, it is called calcul formel in French, which means "formal computation". This name reflects the ties this field has with formal methods. Symbolic computation has also been referred to, in the past, as symbolic manipulation, algebraic manipulation, symbolic processing, symbolic mathematics, or symbolic algebra, but these terms, which also refer to non-computational manipulation, are no longer used in reference to computer algebra. Scientific community There is no learned society that is specific to computer algebra, but this function is assumed by the special interest group of the Association for Computing Machinery named SIGSAM (Special Interest Group on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation). There are several annual conferences on computer algebra, the premier being ISSAC (International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation), which is regularly sponsored by SIGSAM. There are several journals specializing in computer algebra, the top one being Journal of Symbolic Computation founded in 1985 by Bruno Buchberger. There are also several other journals that regularly publish articles in computer algebra. Computer science aspects Data representation As numerical software is highly efficient for approximate numerical computation, it is common, in computer algebra, to emphasize exact computation with exactly represented data. Such an exact representation implies that, even when the size of the output is small, the intermediate data generated during a computation may grow in an unpredictable way. This behavior is called expression swell. To obviate this problem, various methods are used in the representation of the data, as well as in the algorithms that manipulate them. Numbers The usual numbers systems used in numerical computation are floating point numbers and integers of a fixed bounded size. None of these is convenient for computer algebra, due to expression swell. Therefore, the basic numbers used in computer algebra are the integers of the mathematicians, commonly represented by an unbounded signed sequence of digits in some base of numeration, usually the largest base allowed by the machine word. These integers allow to define the rational numbers, which are irreducible fractions of two integers. Programming an efficient implementation of the arithmetic operations is a hard task. Therefore, most free computer algebra systems and some commercial ones such as Mathematica and Maple (software), use the GMP library, which is thus a de facto standard. Expressions Except for numbers and variables, every mathematical expression may be viewed as the symbol of an operator followed by a sequence of operands. In computer algebra software, the expressions are usually represented in this way. This representation is very flexible, and many things that seem not to be mathematical expressions at first glance, may be represented and manipulated as such. For example, an equation is an expression with “=” as an operator, a matrix may be represented as an expression with “matrix” as an operator and its rows as operands. Even programs may be considered and represented as expressions with operator “procedure” and, at least, two operands, the list of parameters and the body, which is itself an expression with “body” as an operator and a sequence of instructions as operands. Conversely, any mathematical expression may be viewed as a program. For example, the expression may be viewed as a program for the addition, with and as parameters. Executing this program consists in evaluating the expression for given values of and ; if they do not have any value—that is they are indeterminates—, the result of the evaluation is simply its input. This process of delayed evaluation is fundamental in computer algebra. For example, the operator “=” of the equations is also, in most computer algebra systems, the name of the program of the equality test: normally, the evaluation of an equation results in an equation, but, when an equality test is needed,—either explicitly asked by the user through an “evaluation to a Boolean” command, or automatically started by the system in the case of a test inside a program—then the evaluation to a boolean 0 or 1 is executed. As the size of the operands of an expression is unpredictable and may change during a working session, the sequence of the operands is usually represented as a sequence of either pointers (like in Macsyma) or entries in a hash table (like in Maple). Simplification The raw application of the basic rules of differentiation with respect to on the expression gives the result Such a complicated expression is clearly not acceptable, and a procedure of simplification is needed as soon as one works with general expressions. This simplification is normally done through rewriting rules. There are several classes of rewriting rules that have to be considered. The simplest consists in the rewriting rules that always reduce the size of the expression, like or . They are systematically applied in computer algebra systems. The first difficulty occurs with associative operations like addition and multiplication. The standard way to deal with associativity is to consider that addition and multiplication have an arbitrary number of operands, that is that is represented as . Thus and are both simplified to , which is displayed . What about ? To deal with this problem, the simplest way is to rewrite systematically , , as, respectively, , , . In other words, in the internal representation of the expressions, there is no subtraction nor division nor unary minus, outside the representation of the numbers. A second difficulty occurs with the commutativity of addition and multiplication. The problem is to recognize quickly the like terms in order to combine or cancel them. In fact, the method for finding like terms, consisting of testing every pair of terms, is too costly for being practicable with very long sums and products. For solving this problem, Macsyma sorts the operands of sums and products with a function of comparison that is designed in order that like terms are in consecutive places, and thus easily detected. In Maple, the hash function is designed for generating collisions when like terms are entered, allowing to combine them as soon as they are introduced. This design of the hash function allows also to recognize immediately the expressions or subexpressions that appear several times in a computation and to store them only once. This allows not only to save some memory space but also to speed up computation, by avoiding repetition of the same operations on several identical expressions. Some rewriting rules sometimes increase and sometimes decrease the size of the expressions to which they are applied. This is the case of distributivity or trigonometric identities. For example, the distributivity law allows rewriting and As there is no way to make a good general choice of applying or not such a rewriting rule, such rewritings are done only when explicitly asked for by the user. For the distributivity, the computer function that applies this rewriting rule is generally called "expand". The reverse rewriting rule, called "factor", requires a non-trivial algorithm, which is thus a key function in computer algebra systems (see Polynomial factorization). Mathematical aspects In this section we consider some fundamental mathematical questions that arise as soon as one wants to manipulate mathematical expressions in a computer. We consider mainly the case of the multivariate rational fractions. This is not a real restriction, because, as soon as the irrational functions appearing in an expression are simplified, they are usually considered as new indeterminates. For example, is viewed as a polynomial in and Equality There are two notions of equality for mathematical expressions. The syntactic equality is the equality of the expressions which means that they are written (or represented in a computer) in the same way. Being trivial, the syntactic equality is rarely considered by mathematicians, although it is the only equality that is easy to test with a program. The semantic equality is when two expressions represent the same mathematical object, like in It is known from Richardson's theorem that there may not exist an algorithm that decides if two expressions representing numbers are semantically equal, if exponentials and logarithms are allowed in the expressions. Therefore, (semantical) equality may be tested only on some classes of expressions such as the polynomials and rational fractions. To test the equality of two expressions, instead of designing specific algorithms, it is usual to put expressions in some canonical form or to put their difference in a normal form, and to test the syntactic equality of the result. Unlike in usual mathematics, "canonical form" and "normal form" are not synonymous in computer algebra. A canonical form is such that two expressions in canonical form are semantically equal if and only if they are syntactically equal, while a normal form is such that an expression in normal form is semantically zero only if it is syntactically zero. In other words, zero has a unique representation by expressions in normal form. Normal forms are usually preferred in computer algebra for several reasons. Firstly, canonical forms may be more costly to compute than normal forms. For example, to put a polynomial in canonical form, one has to expand by distributivity every product, while it is not necessary with a normal form (see below). Secondly, it may be the case, like for expressions involving radicals, that a canonical form, if it exists, depends on some arbitrary choices and that these choices may be different for two expressions that have been computed independently. This may make impracticable the use of a canonical form. History At the beginning of computer algebra, circa 1970, when the long-known algorithms were first put on computers, they turned out to be highly inefficient. Therefore, a large part of the work of the researchers in the field consisted in revisiting classical algebra in order to make it effective and to discover efficient algorithms to implement this effectiveness. A typical example of this kind of work is the computation of polynomial greatest common divisors, which is required to simplify fractions. Surprisingly, the classical Euclid's algorithm turned out to be inefficient for polynomials over infinite fields, and thus new algorithms needed to be developed. The same was also true for the classical algorithms from linear algebra. See also Automated theorem prover Computer-assisted proof Computational algebraic geometry Computer algebra system Proof checker Model checker Symbolic-numeric computation Symbolic simulation Symbolic artificial intelligence References Further reading For a detailed definition of the subject: Symbolic Computation (An Editorial), Bruno Buchberger, Journal of Symbolic Computation (1985) 1, pp. 1–6. For textbooks devoted to the subject:

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene%20Papas

Irene Papas

Irene Papas (or Pappas; , ; born according to most sources on 3 September 1926) is a Greek actress and singer who has starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She gained international recognition through such popular award-winning films as The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Zorba the Greek (1964). She was a powerful protagonist in films including The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977). She played the title roles in Antigone (1961) and Electra (1962). Papas won Best Actress awards at the Berlin International Film Festival for Antigone and from the National Board of Review for The Trojan Women. Her career awards include the Golden Arrow Award in 1993 at Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Golden Lion Award in 2009 at the Venice Biennale. Biography Early life Papas was born as Irini Lelekou (Ειρήνη Λελέκου) in the village of Chiliomodi, outside Corinth, Greece. Her mother, Eleni Prevezanou (Ελένη Πρεβεζάνου), was a schoolteacher, and her father, Stavros Lelekos (Σταύρος Λελέκος), taught classical drama at the Sofikós school in Corinth. She recalled that she was always acting as a child, making dolls out of rags and sticks; after a touring theatre visited the village performing Greek tragedies with the women tearing their hair, she used to tie a black scarf around her head and perform for the other children. The family moved to Athens when she was seven years old. She was educated from age fifteen at the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Athens, taking classes in dance and singing. She found the acting style advocated by the School old-fashioned, formal, and stylised, and she rebelled against it, causing her to have to repeat a year; she eventually graduated in 1948. Theatre Papas began her acting career in Greece in variety and traditional theatre, in plays by Ibsen, Shakespeare, and classical Greek tragedy, before moving into film in 1951. She continued to appear on stage from time to time, including in the Greek Popular Theatre in Athens in 1958, and in New York in Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind. She played in Iphigenia in Aulis in Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre in 1968, and in Medea in 1973. Reviewing the production in The New York Times, Clive Barnes described her as a "very fine, controlled Medea", smouldering with a "carefully dampened passion", constantly fierce. The theatre critic Walter Kerr also praised Papas's Medea; both Barnes and Kerr saw in her portrayal what Barnes called "her unrelenting determination and unwavering desire for justice". Albert Bermel considered Papas's rendering of Medea as a sympathetic woman a triumph of acting. She appeared in The Bacchae in 1980 and Orpheus Descending in 1984, both at Circle in the Square, and in Electra at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus in 1985. Film Europe Papas was discovered by Elia Kazan in Greece, where she achieved widespread fame. Her first film work was a small part in Nikos Tsiforos's 1948 Fallen Angels (Greek, "Hamenoi angeloi"). She began to attract attention, however, with her role in Frixos Iliasis's 1952 film Dead City (Greek, "Nekri Politeia"). The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where Papas was welcomed by the international press, and photographed spending time with the wealthy Aga Khan. Greek film-makers however thought her a noncommercial actress, and she decided to try her hand abroad, signing with Lux Film in Italy, where the publicity for Dead City was enough to launch her as a film star. She played in Lux's 1954 films Attila and Theodora, Slave Empress, which attracted Hollywood's attention. Many other films followed, both in Greece and internationally. She was a leading figure in cinematic transcriptions of ancient tragedy, playing the title roles in George Tzavellas's Antigone (1961) and Michael Cacoyannis's Electra (1962), with her powerful portrayal of the doomed heroine; this brought her star status. She played Helen in Cacoyannis's The Trojan Women (1971) opposite Katharine Hepburn, and Clytemnestra with "smoldering eyes", according to The New York Times, in his Iphigenia (1977). Papas became fluent in Italian, and many of her films were made in that language. She said, however, that Cacoyannis was the only director that she was really comfortable with, describing herself as "too obedient" to stand up to other directors. Cacoyannis said that she was part of his decision to make Iphigenia, forming his image of Clytemnestra with her power and physique, and her un-selfpitying, impersonal anger against the injustice of life, something that in his view was accessible to actors from countries like Greece that had experienced long years of oppression. Alejandro Valverde García described Papas's part in The Trojan Women as "the most convincing cinematographic Helen that has ever been represented", noting that the script was written with her in mind. Hollywood Papas debuted in American film with a bit part in the B-movie The Man from Cairo (1953); her next American film was a much larger role as Jocasta Constantine, alongside James Cagney, in the Western Tribute to a Bad Man (1956). She then starred in films such as The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Cacoyannis's Zorba the Greek (1964), based on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name, set to Mikis Theodorakis's music, establishing her reputation internationally. On The Guns of Navarone, she stars as a resistance fighter involved in the action, an addition to Alistair Maclean's novel, providing a love interest and a strong female character. Katsan comments that she plays a "hard as nails" partisan in The Guns of Navarone, "capable, unafraid, stoic, patriotic, and heroic"; when the men hesitate, she kills the traitorous Anna; but although she interacts romantically with Andreas (Anthony Quinn), she remains "cool and rational", revealing little of her sensual persona; she is as tough as the men, like the stereotype of a Greek village woman, but she is contrasted with them in the film. Bosley Crowther called her appearance in Zorba "dark and intense as the widow". Gerasimus Katsan said that she was most often remembered as the "sensual widow" in Zorba. Katsan comments that she was again contrasted to the other village women, playing "the beautiful and tortured widow" who is eventually hunted to death with what Vrasidas Karalis called "elemental nobility". Jefferson Hunter comments that Papas helped to lift Zorba from being merely an "exuberant" film with the stark passion of her subplot role. This success did not earn her an easy life; she stated that she did not work for 2 years after Electra, despite the prizes and acclamation; and again, she was out of work for 18 months after Zorba. It turned out to be her most popular film, but she said she earned only $10,000 from it. Papas played leading roles in critically acclaimed films such as Z (1969), where her political activist's widow has been called "indelible". She appeared as Catherine of Aragon in Anne of the Thousand Days, opposite Richard Burton and Geneviève Bujold in 1969. In 1976, she starred in Mohammad, Messenger of God about the origin of Islam. In 1982, she appeared in Lion of the Desert, together with Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger, and John Gielgud. One of her last film appearances was in Captain Corelli's Mandolin in 2001, where she to some extent reprised her strong peasant woman from The Guns of Navarone and the widow from Zorba, but was underused. Film star The Enciclopedia Italiana described Papas as a typical Mediterranean beauty, with a lovely voice both in singing and acting, greatly talented and with an adventurous spirit. Olga Kourelou added that film-makers from Cacoyannis onwards have made systematic use of her looks: "Her chalk-white skin and long black hair, dark brown eyes, thick arched eyebrows, and straight nose make Papas appear as the quintessential idea of Greek beauty." She writes that the camera has lingered in close-up on Papas's face, and that she is often photographed in profile, intentionally recalling the iconography of ancient Greece. Kourelou gives as example the profile shot in Iphigenia where Papas sings a lullaby to her daughter, in front of a Hellenic sculpture of a woman, the shot bringing out the resemblance of their facial features; she notes that posters of Papas have often used the same motif. Gerasimus Katsan wrote that she is the best-known and most recognisable Greek film star, "an actor with incredible range, power, and subtlety". In the view of the film critic Philip Kemp, Kemp described Papas as an awe-inspiring presence, which paradoxically limited her career. He admired her roles in Cacoyannis's films, including the defiant Helen of Troy in The Trojan Women; the vengeful, grief-stricken Clytemnestra in Iphigenia; and "memorably" as the cool but sensual widow in Zorba the Greek. David Thomson, in his Biographical Dictionary of Film, called Papas's manner in Iphigenia "blatant declaiming". She stood out, too, in Costa-Gavras's 1968 political film Z based on a real-life assassination, and in Ruy Guerra's 1983 Eréndira, with a screenplay by the novelist Gabriel García Márquez. The film critic Roger Ebert observed that there were many "pretty girls" in cinema "but not many women", and called Papas a great actress. Ebert noted her uphill struggle, her height, limiting the leading men she could play alongside, her accent limiting the roles she could take, and that "her unusual beauty is not the sort that superstar actresses like to compete with." Ordinary actors, he suggested, had trouble sharing the screen with Papas. All the same, her presence in many well-known movies, wrote Ebert, inspired "something of a cult". In his book on Greek cinema, Mel Schuster called Papas a great actress on the strength of her roles in four of Cacoyannis's films. He found her stage presence awe-inspiring, especially in Electra, and so powerful as to limit the film roles she could take, as she seemed to be an elemental force of nature. That resulted, Schuster stated, in Hollywood's treating her as "a Mother Earth who suffered and survived, but rarely talked or acted". That made her Helen in The Trojan Women, pacing up and down like a caged panther "with just the searching eyes darting through the bars", a "marvelous surprise", as Hollywood saw that in fact she was also an accomplished actor. In his view, casting her as the beautiful Helen was daring, as Papas was not, in 1971, as conventionally beautiful as a Hedy Lamarr or an Elizabeth Taylor; if she was the face that launched a thousand ships, then she brought "a force which might indeed have inspired a holocaust". Schuster commented that in each of the four Cacoyannis films, one shot of Papas's gave "indelible pleasure" and remained etched in the memory. In Iphigenia, that shot was in his view wisely placed at the end, under the closing credits, so that viewers see her until that moment as a versatile and powerfully histrionic actress, appropriate both to the ancient mythic dimensions of the tale and to a modern psychological reading of the myth. Bella Vivante contrasted Papas's dark-haired Helen in The Trojan Women with the conventional choice of a blonde, Rossana Podestà, in Robert Wise's 1956 Helen of Troy. Where Wise emphasised Helen's seductive gaze and framed Podesta as an ideal beauty for the audience to look at, Cacoyannis made the scenes framed as Papas's gaze provide "an empowering female identity". The scholar of Greek, Gerasimus Katsan, called her the most recognizable and best-known Greek film star, with "range, power, and subtlety", stating that her work made her a kind of national hero. She acted strong women with "beauty and sensuality, but also fierce independence and spirit". Robert Stam wrote of Papas's role in Ruy Guerra's 1983 Eréndira that "the near-indestructible grandmother [of the eponymous young prostitute] reigns supreme"; she gives the effect of "a kind of queen" both through the regal props and her powerful performance, at once villainous and sympathetic, "an oracle who speaks truths, especially about men and love". Kourelou wrote that although Papas had appeared in the films of both European and American "auteurs", she was best known as a tragedienne, citing the film-maker Manoel de Oliveira's remark that "this great tragedienne is the grand and beautiful image that embodies the deepest essence of the female soul. She is the image of Greece of all time ..., the mother of western civilisation". In Kourelou's view, Papas's tragic persona "offers an image of sublimated beauty with a transcendental quality"; she notes that Papas is neither "sexualised nor glamorised" with the single exception of her role as Helen in The Trojan Women. In 1973, she was honoured with a photo shoot by the Magnum photographer Ferdinando Scianna. Asked about her acting for film and stage, and in classical and modern films, Papas stated that the acting techniques and method of expressing oneself are the same. One might, she said, need to use a louder voice on a classical stage, but "you always use the same soul". She denied having any secret to acting with such energy, but said that one's attitude to death was what drove action. Death was in her view "the greatest catalyst in human life"; while waiting to die, one had to decide what to do with one's life. Singing In 1969, the RCA label released Papas' vinyl LP, Songs of Theodorakis (INTS 1033). This has 11 songs sung in Greek, conducted by Harry Lemonopoulos and produced by Andy Wiswell, with sleeve notes in English by Michael Cacoyannis. It was released on CD in 2005 (FM 1680). Papas knew Mikis Theodorakis from working with him on Zorba the Greek as early as 1964. The critic Clive Barnes said of her singing performance on the album that "Irene Pappas is known to the public as an actress, but that is why she sings with such intensity, her very appearance, with her raven hair, is an equally dynamic means of expression". In 1972, she appeared on the album 666 by the Greek rock group Aphrodite's Child on the track "∞" (infinity). She chants "I was, I am, I am to come" repeatedly and wildly over a percussive backing, worrying the label, Mercury, who hesitated over releasing the album, causing controversy with her "graphic orgasm". In 1979, Polydor released her album of eight Greek folk songs entitled Odes, with electronic music performed (and partly composed) by Vangelis. The lyrics were co-written by Arianna Stassinopoulos. They collaborated again in 1986 for Rapsodies, an electronic rendition of seven Byzantine liturgy hymns, also on Polydor; Jonny Trunk wrote that there was "no doubting the power, fire and earthy delights of Papas' voice". Politics In 1967, Papas, a lifelong liberal, called for a "cultural boycott" against the "Fourth Reich", meaning the military government of Greece at that time. Her opposition to the regime sent her, and other artists such as Theodorakis, whose songs she sang, into exile when the military junta came to power in Greece in 1967; she moved into temporary exile in Italy and New York. When the junta fell in 1974, she returned to Greece, spending time both in Athens and in her family's village house in Chiliomodi, as well as continuing to work in Rome. Personal life In 1947 she married the film director Alkis Papas; they divorced in 1951. In 1954 she met the actor Marlon Brando and they had a long love affair, which they kept secret at the time. Fifty years later, when Brando died, she recalled that "I have never since loved a man as I loved Marlon. He was the great passion of my life, absolutely the man I cared about the most and also the one I esteemed most, two things that generally are difficult to reconcile". Her second marriage was to the film producer José Kohn in 1957; that marriage was later annulled. She is the aunt of the film director Manousos Manousakis and the actor Aias Manthopoulos. In 2003 she served on the board of directors of the Anna-Marie Foundation, a fund which provided assistance to people in rural areas of Greece. In 2018 it was announced that she had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for five years. Awards and distinctions 1961: 11th Berlin International Film Festival (Best Actress, for the film Antigone) 1962: Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Best Actress, for the film Elektra) 1971: National Board of Review (Best Actress, for the film The Trojan Women) 1987 Venice Film Festival jury president 1993: Golden Arrow Award for lifetime achievement, at Hamptons International Film Festival 1993: Flaiano Prize for Theatre (Career Award) 2009: Leone d'oro alla carriera (Golden Lion career award), Venice Biennale She has received the honours of Commander of the Order of the Phoenix in Greece, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in France, and Commander of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise in Spain. In 2017, it was announced that the National Theatre of Greece's drama school was to be relocated to a new "Irene Papas - Athens School" on Agiou Konstantinou Street in Athens from 2018. Discography 1968 : Songs of Theodorakis, in concert in New York, music conducted by Harry Lemonopoulos 1972 : 666 from Aphrodite's Child starring Vangelis and Demis Roussos - Chanting on ∞ (infinity) 1979 : Ωδές – Odes – with Vangelis 1986 : Ραψωδίες – Rapsodies – with Vangelis Filmography (Greek, "Hamenoi angeloi", 1948) as Liana Dead City (Greek, "Nekri Politeia", 1951) as Lena The Unfaithfuls (Italian, "Le Infideli", 1953) as Luisa Azzali Come Back! (Italian, "Torna!", 1953) The Man from Cairo (Italian, "Dramma del Casbah", 1953) as Yvonne Lebeau Vortex (Italian, "Vortice", 1953) as Clara Theodora, Slave Empress (Italian, "Teodora, Imperatrice di Bisanzio", 1954) as Faidia Attila (Italian, "Attila, il flagello di Dio", 1954) as Grune Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) as Jocasta Constantine The Power and the Prize (1956) Bouboulina (Greek, 1959) as Laskarina Bouboulina The Guns of Navarone (1961) as Maria Antigone (Greek, 1961) as Antigone Electra (Greek, 1962) as Electra The Moon-Spinners (1964) as Sophia Zorba the Greek (1964) as the widow Trap for the Assassin (French, "Roger la Honte", 1966) as Julia de Noirville (German, "Zeugin aus der Hölle", 1966) as Lea Weiss We Still Kill the Old Way (Italian, "A ciascuno il suo", 1967) as Luisa Roscio The Desperate Ones (Spanish, "Más allá de las montañas", 1967) as Ajmi The Odyssey (Italian, "L'Odissea", 1968, TV Mini-series) as Penelope The Brotherhood (1968) as Ida Ginetta (Italian, "Ecce Homo – I sopravvissuti", 1968) as Anna Z (French, 1969) as Helene A Dream of Kings (1969) as Caliope Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) as Queen Katherine The Trojan Women (1971) as Helen of Troy Oasis of Fear (Un posto ideale per uccidere, 1971) as Barbara Slater Rome Good (Italian, "Roma Bene", 1971) as Elena Teopoulos (Italian, "N.P. – Il segreto", 1971) as the housewife Don't Torture a Duckling (Italian, "Non si servizia un paperino", 1972) as Dona Aurelia Avallone 1931, Once Upon a Time in New York (1972) as Donna Mimma Battle of Sutjeska (Serbian, "Sutjeska", 1973) as Boro's mother I'll Take Her Like a Father (Italian, "Le farò da padre", 1974) as Raimonda Spina Tommaselli Moses the Lawgiver (Italian, "Mose", 1974) (TV miniseries) as Zipporah Mohammad, Messenger of God (Arabic, "Ar-Risālah", 1976) as Hind bint Utbah Blood Wedding (Spanish, "Bodas de Sangre", 1977) as the mother Iphigenia (Greek, 1977) as Clytemnestra The Man of Corleone (Italian, "L'uomo di Corleone", 1977) Christ Stopped at Eboli (Italian, "Cristo si e fermato a Eboli", 1979) as Giulia Bloodline (1979) as Simonetta Palazzi (Italian, "Un'ombra nell'ombra", 1979) as Raffaella Lion of the Desert (Arabic, "Asadu alsahra", 1981) as Mabrouka The All Pepper Social Worker (Italian, "L'assistente sociale tutto pepe", 1981) as the fairy Manuel's Tribulations (French, "Les Tribulations de Manuel", 1982) (TV series) The Ballad of Mameluke (French, "La Ballade de Mamlouk", 1982) Eréndira (Mexico, 1983) as the grandmother (French, "Afghanistan pourquoi?" 1983) as cultural attaché The Deserter (Italian, "Il disertore", 1983) as Mariangela In the Shade of the Great Oak (Italian, ""All'ombra della grande quercia, 1984) (TV mini-series) Into the Night (Italian, Tutto in una notte, 1985) as Shaheen Parvizi The Assisi Underground (1985) as Mother Giuseppina Sweet Country (1987) as Mrs. Araya Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987) as Angela's mother High Season (1987) as Penelope (Italian, "Un bambino di nome Gesù", 1987) (TV film) The Cardboard Suitcase (Portuguese, "A Mala de Cartão", 1988) (TV miniseries), as Maria Amélia (Italian, "Il banchetto di Platone", 1988) as Diotima Island (1989) as Marquise (French, "Les Cavaliers aux yeux verts", 1990) as Anasthasie Rouch (Italian, "L'ispettore anticrimine", 1993) as Maria Stolen Love (Italian, "Amore Rubato", 1993) Jacob (1994) (TV film) as Rebeccah Melvin, Son of Alvin (1994) as Mrs. Hasim Party (1996) as Irene The Odyssey (1997) (TV miniseries) as Anticlea Anxiety ("Inquietude", 1998) as the mother Yerma (Spanish, 1998) as the old pagan woman Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) as Drosoula A Talking Picture (2003) as Helena Notes References External links Irène Papas regarding her work as an actress (video interview with context and transcript) from Europe of Cultures, 1 June 1980 1926 births Living people Greek film actresses 20th-century Greek actresses 21st-century Greek actresses Greek communists Commanders of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commanders of the Order of Alfonso X, the Wise People from Corinthia Greek expatriates in Italy

3451714

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan%20Arena

Trojan Arena

Trojan Arena is a 6,000-seat arena that is home to the Troy Trojans men's and women's basketball, volleyball and track programs. It is also used for the University's commencement ceremonies and special events. The arena replaced the University's longtime basketball and events facility, Sartain Hall, which opened in 1962. Trojan Arena has been considered to be one of the most modern and technologically advanced basketball facilities in the southeastern United States since it was completed in 2012. The total cost to build the arena was $40 million. The arena is designed to be used for other multi-purpose reasons, including concerts, banquets, indoor sports tournaments, and graduation ceremonies. The facility was constructed by Whaley Construction Company, and the architects were Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, and Populous. Features Trojan Arena seating features 5,200 chair-back seats, a band/student section with 600 bleacher seats, and seven upper-level suites and an exclusive Stadium Club area for donors, while also having floor seating for students and other guests. The arena features an indoor LED ribbon-board that stretches around the entire upper-level of the arena. The ribbon board is just one of only two of its kind in the Sun Belt Conference. Daktronics also designed, manufactured, and installed two 15HD LED video/scoring system boards, which are the largest end-wall installations Daktronics has ever produced for an indoor college facility. The court level of the arena features eight sections of Daktronics LED scorer’s tables as well. They each measure high by more than wide and can be connected in any configuration to showcase student athletes, display additional statistical information in real time, recognize sponsors and promote upcoming events. The arena was featured in LED Magazine for its use of state-of-the-art technology throughout the arena. The lower-level of the arena features weight rooms, staff offices, player lounge, HD video rooms, recruit lounge, and locker rooms. Among the other features of the arena are a three-tiered rotunda at the main entrance, an interior concourse with concession stands and a food court-styled dining center with specialty food items. Indoor Practice Facility Under the main playing court sits two full-size basketball courts that serve as basketball and volleyball practice areas. The space is shared by both the men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the indoor women's volley team. Troy Sports Hall of Fame The arena also is home to the Troy University Sports Hall of Fame. A unique design of this Hall of Fame facility was to include digital displays of its members, as well as touch-screen displays that showcase Troy sports history in all sports. The displays are located adjacent to the main entrance rotunda. These displays are the only ones of their kind in the Sun Belt Conference. The inaugural Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, held August 10, 2012, was the first event held in the new facility. Attendance Records Below is a list of Troy's top single-game attendance figures. Trojan Arena's largest attendance of 5,120 took place on November 9, 2012 against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Troy defeated the Bulldogs 56–53 in a thriller, with Troy guard Emil Jones draining a basket with only 1.6 seconds to win the game. Awards and recognition Listed as a Top 25 college basketball venue in Stadia Magazine for its interactive Hall of Fame, structural and architectural design, and use of high-definition LED video boards and LED lighting. Named "Most Outstanding Facility" in 2014 by Learning by Design magazine. Named as "Most Outstanding Design" in 2014 by the magazine of the American School and University. Featured in LED Magazine for its use of LED lighting technology throughout the arena. Recognized by Daktronics for its LED lighting and features, and its ShowControl System, which is noted for its data integration and video processing abilities. Gallery See also List of NCAA Division I basketball arenas References College basketball venues in the United States Basketball venues in Alabama Buildings and structures in Pike County, Alabama Troy Trojans men's basketball 2012 establishments in Alabama Sports venues completed in 2012 College volleyball venues in the United States

5275179

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process%20group

Process group

In a POSIX-conformant operating system, a process group denotes a collection of one or more processes. Among other things, a process group is used to control the distribution of a signal; when a signal is directed to a process group, the signal is delivered to each process that is a member of the group. Similarly, a session denotes a collection of one or more process groups. A process may not create a process group that belongs to another session; furthermore, a process is not permitted to join a process group that is a member of another session—that is, a process is not permitted to migrate from one session to another. When a process replaces its image with a new image (by calling one of the exec functions), the new image is subjected to the same process group (and thus session) membership as the old image. Applications The distribution of signals to process groups forms the basis of job control employed by shell programs. The TTY device driver incorporates a notion of a foreground process group, to which it sends signals generated by keyboard interrupts, notably SIGINT ("interrupt", ), SIGTSTP ("terminal stop", ), and SIGQUIT ("quit", ). It also sends the SIGTTIN and SIGTTOU signals to any processes that attempt to read from or write to the terminal and that are not in the foreground process group. The shell, in turn, partitions the command pipelines that it creates into process groups, and controls what process group is the foreground process group of its controlling terminal, thus determining what processes (and thus what command pipelines) may perform I/O to and from the terminal at any given time. When the shell forks a new child process for a command pipeline, both the parent shell process and the child process immediately make the child process into the leader of the process group for the command pipeline. In this way, it is ensured that the child is the leader of the process group before either the parent or the child relies on this being the case. Where a textual user interface is being used on a Unix-like system, sessions are used to implement login sessions. A single process, the session leader, interacts with the controlling terminal in order to ensure that all programs are terminated when a user "hangs up" the terminal connection. (Where a session leader is absent, the processes in the terminal's foreground process group are expected to handle hangups.) Where a graphical user interface is being used, the session concept is largely lost, and the kernel's notion of sessions largely ignored. Graphical user interfaces, such as where the X display manager is employed, use a different mechanism for implementing login sessions. Details The system call setsid is used to create a new session containing a single (new) process group, with the current process as both the session leader and the process group leader of that single process group. Process groups are identified by a positive integer, the process group ID, which is the process identifier of the process that is (or was) the process group leader. Process groups need not necessarily have leaders, although they always begin with one. Sessions are identified by the process group ID of the session leader. POSIX prohibits the change of the process group ID of a session leader. The system call setpgid is used to set the process group ID of a process, thereby either joining the process to an existing process group, or creating a new process group within the session of the process with the process becoming the process group leader of the newly created group. POSIX prohibits the re-use of a process ID where a process group with that identifier still exists (i.e. where the leader of a process group has exited, but other processes in the group still exist). It thereby guarantees that processes may not accidentally become process group leaders. The system call kill is capable of directing signals either to individual processes or to process groups. See also cgroups References Single UNIX Specification, Issue 6 Further reading UNIX Signals and Process Groups Process (computing) POSIX

31772414

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20minerals%20recognized%20by%20the%20International%20Mineralogical%20Association%20%28H%29

List of minerals recognized by the International Mineralogical Association (H)

H Ha – He Haapalaite (valleriite: IMA1972-021) 2.FD.30 Hafnon (zircon: IMA1974-018) 9.AD.30 (IUPAC: hafnium tetraoxysilicate) Hagendorfite (alluaudite: 1954) 8.AC.10 (IUPAC: disodium manganese (iron(II) iron(III)) triphosphate) Haggertyite (magnetoplumbite: IMA1996-054) 4.CC.45 (IUPAC: barium hexairon pentatitanium magnesium nonadecaoxide) Häggite (Y: 1958) 4.HE.25 (IUPAC: vanadium(III) vanadium(IV) trihydro dioxide) Hagstromite (IMA2019-093) 7.0 [no] [no] Haidingerite (Y: 1827) 8.CJ.20 (IUPAC: calcium hydroxoarsenate monohydrate) Haigerachite (IMA1997-049) 8.CF.10 (IUPAC: potassium triiron(III) hexa(dihydroxophosphate) di(hydroxophosphate) tetrahydrate) Haineaultite (IMA1997-015) 9.DG.50 Hainite-(Y) (seidozerite, rinkite: IMA2016 s.p., Y: 1893) 9.BE.22 Haitaite-(La) (IMA2019-033a) [no] [no] Haiweeite (IMA1962 s.p., 1959) 9.AK.25 (IUPAC: calcium diuranyl dodecaoxypentasilicate dihydroxyl hexahydrate) Hakite-(Hg) (tetrahedrite: IMA2018-K, IMA1970-019) 2.GB.05 (Cu6[Cu4Hg2]Sb4Se13) Halamishite (phosphide: IMA2013-105) 1.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: pentanickel tetraphosphide) Håleniusite (fluorite) 3.DE.05 Håleniusite-(La) (fluorite: IMA2003-028) 3.DE.05 [no] (IUPAC: lanthanum oxofluoride) Håleniusite-(Ce) (fluorite: IMA2021-042) 3.DE.05 [no] [no] [no] Halilsarpite (IMA2019-023) Halite (halite, rocksalt: 1847) 3.AA.20 (IUPAC: sodium chloride) Hallimondite (IMA1965-008) 8.EA.10 (IUPAC: dilead uranyl diarsenate (n)hydrate) Halloysite (kaolinite) 9.ED.10 Halloysite-7A (1826) 9.ED.10 Halloysite-10A (1943) 9.ED. [no] Halotrichite (halotrichite: 1777) 7.CB.85 (IUPAC: iron(II) dialuminium tetrasulfate docosahydrate) Halurgite (IMA1967 s.p., 1962) 6.H0.35 Hambergite (Y: 1890) 6.AB.05 (IUPAC: diberyllium hydro borate) Hammarite (meneghinite: 1924) 2.HB.05a (Cu2Pb2Bi4S9) Hanauerite (IMA2018-045) 2.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: silver mercury sulfide iodide) Hanawaltite (IMA1994-036) 3.DD.15 ((Hg-Hg)3HgO3Cl2) Hancockite (epidote, clinozoisite: IMA2006 s.p., 1899) 9.BG.05a Hanjiangite (IMA2009-082) 9.E?. [no] [no] Hanksite (Y: 1885) 7.BD.30 (IUPAC: potassium docosasodium chloro nonasulfate dicarbonate) Hannayite (Y: 1878) 8.CH.35 (IUPAC: diammonium trimagnesium tetra(hydroxophosphate) octahydrate) Hannebachite (IMA1983-056) 4.JE.10 (IUPAC: dicalcium sulfite monohydrate). Hansblockite (IMA2015-103) 2.0 [no] [no] () Hansesmarkite (polyoxometalate: IMA2015-067) 4.0 [no] [no] Hapkeite (silicide: IMA2003-014) 1.BB.35 (IUPAC: diiron silicide) Haradaite (IMA1963-011) 9.DH.15 (IUPAC: strontium vanadium(IV) heptaoxydisilicate) Hardystonite (melilite: 1899) 9.BB.10 (IUPAC: dicalcium zinc heptaoxydisilicate) Harkerite (Y: 1951) 6.AB.70 Harmotome (zeolitic tectosilicate: IMA1997 s.p., 1801) 9.GC.10 Harmunite (post-spinel: IMA2012-045) 4.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: calcium diiron tetraoxide) Harrisonite (IMA1991-010) 8.AC.55 (IUPAC: calcium hexairon(II) di(tetraoxysilicate) diphosphate) Harstigite (Y: 1886) 9.BF.05 (IUPAC: hexacalcium tetraberyllium manganese(II) di(tetraoxysilicate) di(heptaoxydisilicate) dihydroxyl) Hasanovite (IMA2020-033) [no] [no] Hashemite (baryte: IMA1978-006) 7.FA.15 (IUPAC: barium chromate(VI)) Hastingsite [Ca-amphibole: IMA2012 s.p., 1896] 9.DE.15 Hatchite (hatchite: 1912) 2.GC.05 (IUPAC: silver lead thallium diarsenide pentasulfide) Hatertite (alluaudite: IMA2012-048) 8.0 [no] [no] () Hatrurite (Y: 1977) 9.AG.65 (IUPAC: tricalcium oxo(tetraoxysilicate)) Hauchecornite (hauchecornite: IMA1975-006a, 1893 Rd) 2.BB.10 (IUPAC: nonanickel bismuth antimonide octasulfide) Hauckite (IMA1979-012) 7.BB.10 Hauerite (pyrite: 1846) 2.EB.05a (IUPAC: manganese disulfide) Hausmannite (spinel: 1813) 4.BB.10 (IUPAC: manganese(II) dimanganese(III) tetraoxide) Haüyne (sodalite: 1807) 9.FB.10 Hawleyite (sphalerite: 1955) 2.CB.05a (IUPAC: cadmium sulfide) Hawthorneite (magnetoplumbite: IMA1988-019) 4.CC.45 Haxonite (carbide: IMA1971-001) 1.BA.10 (IUPAC: triicosa(iron,nickel) hexacarbide) Haycockite (chalcopyrite: IMA1971-028) 2.CB.10b (IUPAC: tetracopper pentairon octasulfide) Haydeeite (atacamite: IMA2006-046) 3.DA.10c (IUPAC: tricopper magnesium hexahydro dichloride) Haynesite (IMA1990-023) 4.JJ.25 (IUPAC: triuranyl dihydro disulfite pentahydrate) Hazenite (IMA2007-061) 8.CH.40 [no] (IUPAC: potassium sodium dimagnesium diphosphate tetradecahydrate) Heamanite-(Ce) (IMA2020-001) 4.0 [no] [no] Heazlewoodite (Y: 1897) 2.BB.05 (IUPAC: trinickel disulfide) Hechtsbergite (atelestite: IMA1995-050) 8.BO.15 (IUPAC: dibismuth hydro oxovanadate) Hectorfloresite (IMA1987-050a) 7.BD.60 (IUPAC: nonasodium iodate tetrasulfate) HectoriteQ (montmorillonite, smectite: 1941) 9.EC.45 Hedegaardite (whitlockite: IMA2014-069) 8.0 [no] [no] Hedenbergite (pyroxene: IMA1988 s.p., 1819) 9.DA.15 (IUPAC: calcium iron(II) hexaoxydisilicate) Hedleyite (tetradymite: 1945) 2.DC.05 (IUPAC: heptabismuth tritelluride) Hedyphane (apatite: IMA1980 s.p., 1830) 8.BN.05 (IUPAC: dicalcium trilead chloro triarsenate) Heftetjernite (wolframite: IMA2006-056) 4.DB.30 (IUPAC: scandium tantalum tetraoxide) Heideite (IMA1973-062) 2.DA.15 () Heidornite (Y: 1956) 6.EC.30 Heinrichite (Y: 1958) 8.EB.05 (IUPAC: barium diuranyl diarsenate decahydrate) Heisenbergite (IMA2010-076) 4.GA. [no] [no] (IUPAC: uranyl dihydroxide monohydrate) Hejtmanite (seidozerite, bafertisite: IMA1989-038) 9.BE.55 Heklaite (fluorosilicate: IMA2008-052) 3.0 (IUPAC: potassium sodium hexafluorosilicate) Hellandite 9.DK.20 Hellandite-(Ce) (IMA2001-019) 9.DK.20 [no] Hellandite-(Y) (IMA2000-F, 1903) 9.DK.20 Hellyerite (IMA1962 s.p., 1959) 5.CA.20 (IUPAC: nickel carbonate hexahydrate) Helmutwinklerite (tsumcorite: IMA1979-010) 8.CG.20 (IUPAC: lead dizinc diarsenate dihydrate) Helvine (sodalite: 1804) 9.FB.10 (IUPAC: triberyllium tetramanganese(II) tri(tetraoxysilicate) sulfide) Hematite (corundum: IMA1971 s.p., 1546) 4.CB.05 (IUPAC: diiron trioxide) Hematolite (hematolite: 1884) 8.BE.45 Hematophanite (perovskite: 1928) 3.DB.35 () Hemihedrite (iranite: IMA1967-011) 7.FC.15 (IUPAC: zinc decalead hexachromate di(tetraoxysilicate) dihydroxyl) Hemimorphite (IMA1962 s.p., 1853) 9.BD.10 (IUPAC: tetrazinc heptaoxydisilicate dihydroxyl monohydrate) Hemleyite (corundum: IMA2016-085) 9.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: iron trioxysilicate) Hemloite (IMA1987-015) 04.JB.60 Hemusite (sphalerite: IMA1968-038) 2.CB.35a (IUPAC: tetracopper(I) dicopper(II) tin molybdenum octasulfide) Hendekasartorite (sartorite: IMA2015-075) 2.0 [no] [no] (Tl2Pb48As82S172) Hendersonite (hewettite: IMA1967 s.p., 1962) 4.HG.50 Hendricksite (mica: IMA1965-027) 9.EC.20 (IUPAC: potassium trizinc (aluminotrisilicate) decaoxydihydroxyl) Heneuite (IMA1983-057) 8.BO.25 (IUPAC: calcium pentamagnesium hydro triphosphate carbonate) Henmilite (IMA1981-050) 6.AC.30 (IUPAC: dicalcium copper tetrahydro di[tetrahydroborate]) Hennomartinite (lawsonite: IMA1992-033) 9.BE.05 (IUPAC: strontium dimanganese(III) heptaoxydisilicate dihydroxyl monohydrate) Henritermierite (garnet, henritermierite: IMA1968-029) 9.AD.25 (IUPAC: tricalcium dimanganese(III) di(tetraoxysilicate) tetrahydroxyl) Henryite (IMA1982-094) 2.BA.65 (, with x ~ 0.40) Henrymeyerite (hollandite, coronadite: IMA1999-016) 4.DK.05b (IUPAC: barium (heptatitanium iron(II)) hexadecaoxide) Hentschelite (IMA1985-057) 8.BB.40 (IUPAC: copper diiron(III) dihydro diphosphate) Hephaistosite (IMA2006-043) 3.AA.60 (IUPAC: thallium dilead pentachloride) Heptasartorite (sartorite: IMA2015-073) 2.0 (Tl7Pb22As55S108) Herbertsmithite (atacamite: IMA2003-041) 3.DA.10c (IUPAC: tricopper zinc hexahydro dichloride) Hercynite (spinel, spinel: 1839) 4.BB.05 (IUPAC: iron(II) dialuminium tetraoxide) Herderite (gadolinite, herderite: 1828) 8.BA.10 (IUPAC: calcium beryllium fluoro phosphate) Hereroite (hereroite: IMA2011-027) 8.0 [no] Hermannjahnite (zinkosite: IMA2015-050) 7.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: copper zinc disulfate) Hermannroseite (adelite: IMA2010-006) 8.BH.35 [no] (IUPAC: calcium copper hydro phosphate) Herzenbergite (Y: 1935) 2.CD.05 (IUPAC: tin sulfide) Hessite (Y: 1843) 2.BA.60 (IUPAC: disilver telluride) Hetaerolite (spinel: 1877) 4.BB.10 (IUPAC: zinc dimanganese(III) tetraoxide) Heterogenite ("O(OH)" group: IMA1967 s.p., 1872) 4.FE.20 (IUPAC: hydrocobalt(III) oxide) HeteromorphiteI (plagionite: 1849) 2.HC.10c (IUPAC: heptalead octaantimonide nonadecasulfide) Heterosite (olivine: 1826) 8.AB.10 (IUPAC: iron(III) phosphate) Heulandite (zeolitic tectosilicate) 9.GE.05 Heulandite-Ba (IMA2003-001) 9.GE.05 (, zeolite family, chain of T10O20 tetrahedra) Heulandite-Ca (IMA1997 s.p.) 9.GE.05 (, zeolite family, chain of T10O20 tetrahedra) Heulandite-K (IMA1997 s.p., 1822) 9.GE.05 [no] (, zeolite family, chain of T10O20 tetrahedra) Heulandite-Na (IMA1997 s.p.) 9.GE.05 [no] (, zeolite family, chain of T10O20 tetrahedra) Heulandite-Sr (IMA1997 s.p.) 9.GE.05 [no] (, zeolite family, chain of T10O20 tetrahedra) Hewettite (hewetite: 1914) 4.HE.15 (IUPAC: calcium hexavanadium(V) hexadecaoxide nonahydrate) Hexacelsian (dmisteinbergite: IMA2015-045) 9.F?. [no] [no] (IUPAC: barium (dialuminium octaoxydisilicate)) Hexaferrum (alloy: IMA1995-032) 1.AG.05 [no] () Hexahydrite (hexahydrite: 1911) 7.CB.25 (IUPAC: magnesium sulfate hexahydrate) Hexahydroborite (IMA1977-015) 6.AC.25 (IUPAC: calcium di[tetrahydroborate] dihydrate) Hexamolybdenum (alloy: IMA2007-029) 1.0 [no] () HexatestibiopanickeliteN (Y: 1974) 2.CC.30 () Heyerdahlite (astrophyllite: IMA2016-108) 9.D?. [no] [no] HeyiteQ (brackebuschite: IMA1971-042) 8.BK.20 Note, Uwe Kolitsch: it might be calderonite. Heyrovskýite (lillianite: IMA1970-022) 2.JB.40b (IUPAC: hexalead nonasulfa dibismuthide) Hezuolinite (chevkinite: IMA2010-045) 9.BE.70 [no] Hi – Hy Hiärneite (IMA1996-040) 4.DL.10 [no] Hibbingite (atacamite: IMA1991-036) 3.DA.10a (IUPAC: diiron(II) trihydroxide chloride) Hibonite (magnetoplumbite: 1956) 4.CC.45 Hidalgoite (alunite, beudantite: IMA1987 s.p., 1953 Rd) 8.BL.05 (IUPAC: lead trialuminium sulfate arsenate hexahydrate) Hielscherite (ettringite: IMA2011-037) 7.0 [no] [no] Hieratite (fluorosilicate: 1882) 3.CH.15 (IUPAC: dipotassium hexafluorosilicate) Hilairite (hilairite: IMA1972-019) 9.DM.10 (IUPAC: disodium zircon nonaoxo trisilicate trihydrate) Hilarionite (kaňkite: IMA2011-089) 8.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: diiron(III) hydro sulfate arsenate hexahydrate) Hilgardite (hilgardite: 1937) 6.ED.05 (IUPAC: dicalcium nonaoxo pentaborate monohydrate) Hillebrandite (Y: 1908) 9.DG.40 (IUPAC: dicalcium trioxo silicate dihydroxyl) Hillesheimite (günterblassite: IMA2011-080) 9.0 [no] [no] Hillite (fairfieldite: IMA2003-005) 8.CG.05 (IUPAC: dicalcium zinc diphosphate dihydrate) Hingganite (gadolinite) 9.AJ.20 Hingganite-(Ce) (IMA2004-004, 1987) 9.AJ.20 (IUPAC: cerium beryllium tetraoxysilicate hydroxyl) Hingganite-(Nd) (IMA2019-028) 9.AJ.20 [no] [no] Hingganite-(Y) (IMA1981-052) 9.AJ.20 (IUPAC: yttrium beryllium tetraoxysilicate hydroxyl) Hingganite-(Yb) (IMA1982-041) 9.AJ.20 (IUPAC: ytterbium beryllium tetraoxysilicate hydroxyl) Hinsdalite (alunite, beudandite: IMA1987 s.p., 1911 Rd) 8.BL.05 (IUPAC: lead trialuminium hexahydro sulfate phosphate) Hiortdahlite (wöhlerite: IMA1987 s.p., 1890) 9.BE.17 [no] Hiortdahlite IIN (Y: 1988, 1890) 9.BE.17 [no] [no] Hiroseite (perovskite: IMA2019-019) 9.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: iron trioxy silicate) Hisingerite (kaolinite: 1819) 09.ED.10 Hitachiite (tetradymite: IMA2018-027) 2.0 [no] [no] (Pb5Bi2Te2S6) Hizenite-(Y) (tengerite: IMA2011-030) 5.0 [no] (IUPAC: dicalcium hexayttrium undecacarbonate tetradecahydrate) Hjalmarite (amphibole: IMA2017-070) 9.D?. [no] [no] Hloušekite (lindackerite: IMA2013-048) 8.0 [no] [no] () Hocartite (stannite: IMA1967-046) 2.CB.15a (IUPAC: disilver iron tin tetrasulfide) Hochelagaite (IMA1983-088) 4.FM.15 (IUPAC: calcium tetraniobium undecaoxide octahydrate) Hodgesmithite (ktenasite: IMA2015-112) 7.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: hexa(copper,zinc) zinc decahydro disulfate trihydrate) Hodgkinsonite (Y: 1913) 9.AE.20 (IUPAC: dizinc manganese tetraoxysilicate dihydroxyl) Hodrušite (cuprobismutite: IMA1969-025) 2.JA.10c (IUPAC: tetracopper hexabismuth undecasulfide) Hoelite (Y: 1922) 10.CA.15 (IUPAC: 9,10-anthraquinone) Hoganite (IMA2001-029) 10.AA.35 (IUPAC: copper diacetate monohydrate) Hogarthite (lemoynite: IMA2009-043) 9.E?. [no] [no] Høgtuvaite (sapphirine: IMA1990-051) 9.DH.40 Hohmannite (amarantite: 1888) 7.DB.30 (IUPAC: diiron(III) oxodisulfate octahydrate) Holdawayite (IMA1986-001) 5.BA.20 (IUPAC: hexamanganese(VI) (chloro,hydro) dicarbonate heptahydro) Holdenite (Y: 1927) 8.BE.55 (IUPAC: hexamanganese(II) trizinc diarsenate tetraoxysilicate octahydroxyl) Holfertite (IMA2003-009) 4.GB.70 ((UO2)1.75Ca0.25TiO4·3H2O) Hollandite (hollandite, coronadite: IMA2012 s.p., 1906 Rd) 4.DK.05a (IUPAC: barium hexamanganese(IV) dimanganese(III) hexadecaoxide) Hollingworthite (ullmannite: IMA1964-029) 2.EB.25 (IUPAC: rhodium arsenide sulfide) Hollisterite (alloy: IMA2016-034) 1.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: trialuminium iron alloy) Holmquistite [Li-amphibole: IMA2012 s.p., IMA1997 s.p., 1913] 9.DD.05 Holtedahlite (IMA1976-054) 8.BB.20 (IUPAC: dodecamagnesium hexa(hydro,oxo) (hydroxophosphate,carbonate) pentaphosphate) Holtite (dumortierite: IMA1969-029 Rd) 9.AJ.10 ((Ta0.6☐0.4)Al6BSi3O18) Holtstamite (garnet: IMA2003-047) 9.AD.25 (IUPAC: tricalcium dialuminium di(tetraoxysilicate) tetrahydroxyl) Homilite (gadolinite: 1876) 9.AJ.20 (IUPAC: dicalcium iron(II) decaoxo diboro disilicate) Honeaite (IMA2015-060) 2.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: trigold thalium ditelluride) Honessite (hydrotalcite, woodwardite: IMA1962 s.p., 1956) 7.DD.35 Hongheite (vesuvianite: IMA2017-027) 9.B [no] [no] Hongshiite (alloy: IMA1988-xxx, 1974) 1.AG.45 (IUPAC: platinum copper alloy) Honzaite (burgessite: IMA2014-105) 8.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: dinickel dihydroxoarsenate pentawater) Hopeite (hopeite: 1822) 8.CA.30 (IUPAC: trizinc diphosphate tetrahydrate) Horákite (IMA2017-033) 8.0 [no] [no] Hörnesite (vivianite: 1860) 8.CE.40 (IUPAC: trimagnesium diarsenate octahydrate) Horomanite (IMA2007-037) 2.BB. (IUPAC: hexairon trinickel octasulfide) Horváthite-(Y) (IMA1996-032) 5.BD.25 (IUPAC: sodium yttrium difluoro carbonate) Hotsonite (IMA1983-033) 8.DF.05 (IUPAC: pentaluminium decahydro sulfate phosphate octahydrate) Housleyite (IMA2009-024) 7.0 [no] [no] (Pb6CuTe4O18(OH)2) Howardevansite (howardevansite: IMA1987-011) 8.AC.05 (IUPAC: sodium copper(II) diiron(III) trivanadate) Howieite (IMA1964-017) 9.DH.65 Howlite (Y: 1868) 6.CB.20 (IUPAC: dicalcium nonaoxo pentaboro silicate pentahydroxyl) Hrabákite (hauchecornite: IMA2020-034) [no] [no] Hsianghualite (zeolitic tectosilicate: IMA1997 s.p., 1958) 9.GB.05 (IUPAC: dilithium tricalcium triberyllium tri(tetraoxosilicate) difluoride) Huanghoite-(Ce) (IMA1967 s.p., 1961) 5.BD.35 (IUPAC: barium cerium fluoro dicarbonate) Huangite (alunite, alunite: IMA1991-009) 7.BC.10 Huanzalaite (wolframite: IMA2009-018) 4.DB.30 [no] (IUPAC: magnesium tungstate) Hubeite (IMA2000-022) 9.BJ.60 [no] Hübnerite (wolframite: 1865) 4.DB.30 (IUPAC: manganese(II) tungstate) Huemulite (decavanadate: IMA1965-012) 4.HG.10 Huenite (IMA2015-122) 7.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: tetracopper dihydro trimolybdate) Hügelite (Y: 1913) 8.EC.15 Hughesite (decavanadate: IMA2009-035a) 8.0 [no] Huizingite-(Al) (IMA2015-014) 7.0 [no] Hulsite (hulsite: 1908) 6.AB.45 Humberstonite (IMA1967-015) 7.DG.10 (IUPAC: tripotassium heptasodium dimagnesium hexasulfate dinitrate hexahydrate) Humboldtine (humboldtine: 1821) 10.AB.05 (IUPAC: iron(II) oxalate dihydrate) Humite (humite: 1813) 9.AF.50 (IUPAC: heptamagnesium tri(tetraoxosilicate) di(fluoride,hydroxyl)) Hummerite (Y: 1951) 4.HC.10 Hunchunite (alloy: IMA1991-033) 1.AA.25 (IUPAC: digold lead alloy) Hundholmenite-(Y) (okanoganite: IMA2006-005) 9.AJ.35 [no] (IUPAC: magnesium pentaoxo tetraborate tetrahydro heptahydrate) Hungchaoite (IMA1967 s.p., 1964) 6.DA.20 Huntite (Y: 1953) 5.AB.25 (IUPAC: calcium trimagnesium tetracarbonate) Hureaulite (IMA2007 s.p., 1825) 8.CB.10 (IUPAC: pentamanganese(II) di(hydroxophosphate) diphosphate tetrahydrate) Hurlbutite (danburite: 1952) 8.AA.15 (IUPAC: calcium diberyllium diphosphate) Hutcheonite (garnet, garnet: IMA2013-029) 9.AD.25 [no] [no] (IUPAC: tricalcium dititanium dodecaoxy dialuminosilicate) Hutchinsonite (Y: 1905) 2.HD.45 (IUPAC: lead thallium pentarsenide nonasulfide) Huttonite (monazite: 1951) 9.AD.35 (IUPAC: thorium tetraoxysilicate) HyalophaneI (Y: 1855) 9.FA.30 Hyalotekite (hyalotekite: 1877) 9.CH.05 HydroastrophylliteN (astrophyllite: 2003) 9.DC.05 Hydrobasaluminite (Y: 1948) 7.DE.60 (IUPAC: tetraluminium decahydro sulfate pentadecahydrate) Hydrobiotite (corrensite: IMA1983 s.p., 1882 Rd) 9.EC.60 A 1:1 regular interstratification of biotite and vermiculite layers. Hydroboracite (Y: 1834) 6.CB.15 Hydrocalumite (hydrotalcite: 1934) 4.FL.10 Hydrocerussite (Y: 1877) 5.BE.10 (IUPAC: trilead dihydro dicarbonate) Hydrochlorborite (Y: 1965) 6.DA.30 Hydrodelhayelite (IMA1979-023) 9.EB.10 Hydrodresserite (dundasite: IMA1976-036) 5.DB.15 (IUPAC: barium dialuminium tetrahydro dicarbonate trihydrate) Hydroglauberite (IMA1968-026) 7.CD.20 (IUPAC: decasodium tricalcium octasulfate hexahydrate) Hydrohalite (Y: 1847) 3.BA.05 (IUPAC: sodium chloride dihydrate) Hydrohonessite (hydrotalcite, woodwardite: IMA1980-037a) 7.DD.35 Hydrokenoelsmoreite (pyrochlore, elsmoreite: IMA2010 s.p., IMA2003-059 Rd) 4.DH.15 Hydrokenomicrolite (pyrochlore, microlite: IMA2011-103) 4.D [no] [no] Hydrokenopyrochlore (pyrochlore, pyrochlore: IMA2017-005) 4.D [no] [no] Hydrokenoralstonite (pyrochlore: 1871) 3.CF.05 Hydromagnesite (Y: 1828) 5.DA.05 (IUPAC: pentamagnesium dihydro tetracarbonate tetrahydrate) Hydrombobomkulite (chalcoalumite: IMA1979-079a) 5.ND.15 Hydroniumjarosite (alunite, alunite: IMA1987 s.p., 1960 Rd) 7.BC.10 Hydroniumpharmacoalumite (pharmacosiderite: IMA2012-050) 8.D [no] [no] Hydroniumpharmacosiderite (pharmacosiderite: IMA2010-014) 8.DK.10 [no] Hydropascoite (pascoite: IMA2016-032) 4.0 [no] [no] Hydroplumboelsmoreite (jixianite, pyrochlore: IMA2021 s.p., IMA2013 s.p., IMA2010 s.p., IMA1984-062) 4.DH.15 Hydropyrochlore (pyrochlore, pyrochlore: IMA2010 s.p., 1977 Rd) 4.DH.15 Hydroredmondite (redmondite: IMA2021-073) [no] [no] Hydroromarchite ("O(OH)" group: IMA1969-007) 4.FF.05 (IUPAC: dihydrotritin(II) dioxide) HydroscarbroiteQ (Y: 1960) 5.DA.35 Hydrotalcite (hydrotalcite: 1842) 5.DA.50 Hydroterskite (terskite: IMA2015-042) 4.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: disodium dodecaoxy zirconhexasilicate hexahydroxyl) Hydrotungstite (Y: 1944) 4.FJ.15 (IUPAC: tungsten dihydro dioxide monohydrate) Hydrowoodwardite (hydrotalcite, woodwardite: IMA1996-038) 7.DD.35 Hydroxyapophyllite-(K) (apophyllite: IMA2013 s.p., IMA1978 s.p.) 9.EA.15 Hydroxycalciomicrolite (pyrochlore, microlite: IMA2013-073) 4.D [no] [no] (IUPAC: pentadecacalcium ditantalum hexaoxo hydro) Hydroxycalciopyrochlore (pyrochlore, pyrochlore: IMA2011-026) 4.D [no] [no] Hydroxycalcioroméite (pyrochlore, roméite: IMA2010 s.p., 1895 Rd) 4.D Hydroxycancrinite (cancrinite: IMA1990-014) 9.FB.05 Hydroxyferroroméite (pyrochlore, roméite: IMA2016-006) 4.D [no] [no] Hydroxykenoelsmoreite (pyrochlore, elsmoreite: IMA2016-056) 4.D [no] [no] Hydroxykenomicrolite (pyrochlore, microlite: IMA2010 s.p., IMA1980-021 Rd) 4.DH. Hydroxykenopyrochlore (pyrochlore, pyrochlore: IMA2017-030a) 4.D [no] [no] Hydroxylapatite (apatite: IMA2010 s.p., 1856) 8.BN.05 (IUPAC: pentacalcium hydro triphosphate) Hydroxylbastnäsite (bastnäsite) 5.BD.20a (IUPAC: REE hydrocarbonate) Hydroxylbastnäsite-(Ce) (IMA1987 s.p., 1964) 5.BD.20a Hydroxylbastnäsite-(La) (1986, IMA2021-001) 5.BD.20a [no] Hydroxylbastnäsite-(Nd) (IMA1984-060) 5.BD.20a Hydroxylborite (IMA2005-054) 6.AB.50 (IUPAC: trimagnesium trihydro borate) Hydroxylchondrodite (humite: IMA2010-019) 9.AF.45 [no] (IUPAC: pentamagnesium di(tetraoxysilicate) dihydroxyl) Hydroxylclinohumite (humite: IMA1998-065) 9.AF.55 [no] (IUPAC: nonamagnesium tetra(tetraoxysilicate) dihydroxyl) Hydroxyledgrewite (humite: IMA2011-113) 9.AF. [no] [no] (IUPAC: nonacalcium tetra(tetraoxysilicate) dihydroxyl) Hydroxylellestadite (apatite: IMA2010 s.p., IMA1970-026) 9.AH.25 Hydroxylgugiaite (melilite: IMA2016-009) 9.B?. [no] [no] Hydroxylhedyphane (apatite: IMA2018-052) 8.BN. [no] [no] (IUPAC: dicalcium trilead hydro triarsenate) Hydroxylherderite (gadolinite: IMA2007 s.p., 1894) 8.BA.10 (IUPAC: calcium beryllium hydro phosphate) Hydroxylpyromorphite (apatite: IMA2017-075) 8.0 [no] [no] (IUPAC: pentalead hydro triphosphate) Hydroxylwagnerite (wagnerite: IMA2004-009) 8.BB.15 [no] [no] (IUPAC: dimagnesium hydro phosphate) Hydroxymanganopyrochlore (pyrochlore, pyrochlore: IMA2012-005) 4.D [no] Hydroxymcglassonite-(K) (apophyllite: IMA2020-066) 9.0 [no] [no] Hydroxynatropyrochlore (pyrochlore, pyrochlore: IMA2017-074) 4.D [no] [no] Hydroxyplumbopyrochlore (pyrochlore: IMA2018-145) 4.0 [no] [no] Hydrozincite (Y: 1853) 5.BA.15 (IUPAC: pentazinc hexahydro dicarbonate) Hylbrownite (kanonerovite: IMA2010-054) 8.FC. [no] [no] Hypercinnabar (IMA1977-D) 2.CD.15b (IUPAC: mercury sulfide) Hyršlite (sartorite: IMA2016-097) 2.0 [no] [no] (Pb8As10Sb6S32) Hyttsjöite (IMA1993-056) 9.EG.60 [no] External links IMA Database of Mineral Properties/ RRUFF Project Mindat.org - The Mineral Database Webmineral.com Mineralatlas.eu minerals H

4326465

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregano%20%28software%29

Oregano (software)

Oregano is a graphical software application for schematic capture and simulation of electrical circuits. The actual simulation is performed by the SPICE, Ngspice or Gnucap engines. It is similar to gEDA and KTechlab. It makes use of GNOME technology and is meant to run on free Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD et al. History Oregano was first developed by Richard Hult, who worked on it until 2002. Most of the design ideas and a lot of the current code are still his. He released various versions, up to version 0.23. All of them were based on the Spice engine, and supported only the old GNOME libraries. When Richard Hult stated that he wouldn't be able to continue developing the software, Ricardo Markiewicz and Andrés de Barbará continued his work, releasing a renewed Oregano, with support for the latest graphical libraries and adding support for the Gnucap engine, among other things. Marc Lorber ported the whole code base from gtk+-2.x to gtk+-3.x. Bernhard Schuster took over the project in early 2013. See also Comparison of EDA Software List of free electronics circuit simulators Dependencies: GNOME, SPICE, Ngspice or Gnucap External links GNOME Applications Engineering software that uses GTK Free software programmed in C Free electronic design automation software Electronic design automation software for Linux Free simulation software Electronic circuit simulators

2667046

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker%20%28video%20game%29

Hacker (video game)

Hacker is a 1985 video game by Activision. It was designed by Steve Cartwright and released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, DOS, MSX2, and ZX Spectrum. Plot Activision executive Jim Levy introduced Hacker to reporters by pretending that something had gone wrong during his attempt to connect on line to company headquarters to demonstrate a new game. After several attempts he logged into a mysterious non-Activision computer, before explaining, "That, ladies and gentlemen, is the game". The player assumes the role of a hacker, a person experienced in breaking into secure computer systems, who accidentally acquires access to a non-public system. The game was shipped with no information on how to play, thus building the concept that the player did hack into a system. BPL2020 The player must attempt to hack into the Magma Ltd. computer system at the beginning of the game by guessing the logon password. The password becomes obvious only after gaining access, through another means of entry, to the later stage of the game, but typing help or h in the initial command line gives a clue. Since initial attempts consist of guessing (and likely failing), access is eventually granted due to a supposed malfunction in the security system. Once the player is in, the player is asked to identify various parts of a robot unit by pointing the cursor at the relevant parts and pressing the joystick button. Most parts have exotic and technical names, such as "asynchronous data compactor" or "phlamson joint"—this again allows more room for error by initially trying to guess which part each name belongs to. Failure to identify each part correctly forces the player to take a retest until a 100 percent identification is made, at which point the player is then allowed to continue. The player gains control of the robot which can travel around the globe via secret tunnels, deep within the earth. The game's text states that the robot is powered in some manner by magma. It is evident that the player has logged into the Magma company's network and is acting as a remote user in its global subterranean transport network, with various strange messages being broadcast hinting at dangerous experiments that the company is doing. Before getting far, the player is informed that shredded portions of a secret document containing Magma Ltd.'s plans for world domination have been stolen. The player is instructed to retrieve the document by bargaining with the spies who stole it, who are located at various locations throughout the globe. The player is warned that it must be retrieved in order to prevent the U.S. government from thwarting their plans. At this point, the player's objective is clear: retrieve the strips of the stolen document, then deliver them to Washington, D.C. The robot's tunnel system is extensive but unmarked, so getting around is initially an exercise in trial and error. Throughout the globe, there are several cities where the robot can surface and interact with people, primarily the spies who want to bargain for their piece of the evidence. At the various surfacing cities, the player must try to convince the agents to turn over their piece of evidence. Initially the player only has $5,000 to bargain with, but their arsenal of items grows over time and bargaining. The real challenge of the game is determining what each spy wants and how to get it for them. Eventually, all the spies' whims can be satisfied for all the pieces of the secret document. Note that different copies of the game, even on the same computer platform, have differences in which items the spies want. However, Magma Ltd. discovers the player's break-in shortly after penetration. It launches a security satellite which, when it intersects with the player's position, demands information which supposedly only a legitimate user would know. The information queried is given to the player previously in the game, but the questions can only be answered if the player has taken careful notes as some of the information asked for is rather obscure. To put more pressure on the player, the Satellites will only allow the player to pass checks four times before another catch will cause the player to get disconnected due to suspicious activity. In addition, the player is under a time limit (tracked by movements the SRU makes); should the player take too long the system will automatically disconnect them anyway, regardless of the Satellites. The sensors of the network will also start to fail, limiting the player's ability to see turns in the tunnels ahead and eventually where their SRU is located, forcing the player to rely on maps of the tunnel network to make it through. If the player goes near Australia in the network, an automatic game over is issued however the knowledge may help in a future play through for evading a check. The game lacks a save game feature. A player who fails must start again from the beginning. Reception By late 1987 more than 50,000 copies of Hacker were sold, and it was Activision's third best-selling Commodore game. Info rated Hacker four stars out of five, describing it as "an interesting concept" with "fair to good graphics and sound". Roy Wagner reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "The game is a real challenge (some read that frustrating)." Ahoy! wrote that its puzzle nature "is certain to enthrall some and repel others ... repeated play is an integral part of reaching the solution. Those who enjoy a protracted battle of wits will find Hacker a lively test of their abilities".Compute! praised the game's initial realism, and concluded that it was "a worthy addition to your software collection, especially if you enjoy adventure games that require a bit of thought and an investment of time". Legacy This game was followed in 1986 by the much more difficult Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers. In the sequel, the player is actually recruited based upon their (assumed) success with the activities in the original game. Once again, they are tasked with controlling a robot, this time to infiltrate a secure facility in order to retrieve documents known only as "The Doomsday Papers" from a well-guarded vault to ensure the security of the United States. See also System 15000 Neuromancer References External links 1985 video games Activision games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Cyberpunk video games DOS games Classic Mac OS games MSX games MSX2 games ZX Spectrum games Puzzle video games Hacking video games Video games developed in the United States Video games designed by Steve Cartwright

13668730

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD%20Radeon%20Software

AMD Radeon Software

AMD Radeon Software is a device driver and utility software package for Advanced Micro Devices's graphics cards and APUs. Its graphical user interface is built with Electron and is compatible with 64-bit Windows and Linux distributions. Software bundle Functionality Radeon Software includes the following feature set: Game profile management Overclocking and undervolting Performance monitoring Recording and streaming Captured video and screenshot management Software update notifications Upgrade advisor History The software was previously known as AMD Radeon Settings, AMD Catalyst, and ATI Catalyst. AMD ceased providing 32-bit versions in October 2018. Supported hardware AMD Radeon Software is targeted to support all function blocks present on a GPU's or APU's die. Besides IC targeted at rendering, this includes display controllers as well as their SIP blocks to do video decoding, Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and video encoding Video Coding Engine (VCE). The device driver also supports AMD TrueAudio, a SIP block to do sound related calculations. Supported products AMD Radeon Software supports the following AMD (and ATI-tradition) product lines targeted at rendering: Graphics processing units (GPUs) Accelerated processing units (APUs) The following product lines are probably not supported by the AMD Radeon Software, but instead by some other software, which (for example) is OpenGL-certified: AMD FireStream product line for GPGPU in supercomputers and such AMD FireMV product line for multi-monitor setups (deprecated by AMD Eyefinity being available on all consumer products) AMD FirePro product line for professionals who require certified OpenGL support Multi-monitor support Starting in Catalyst 14.6 AMD has enabled mixed resolution support, allowing for a single Eyefinity display group to be created while each monitor runs at a different resolution. The current version may however disable any additional display mode and change to resolution in the one mode available. This feature is made possible through the addition of two new Eyefinity display modes, Fit and Expand, which join the traditional Fill mode. In both Fit an Expand mode AMD is compensating for the mismatched resolutions by creating a virtual desktop that is of a different resolution than the monitors, and then either padding it out or cropping it as is necessary. Before Eyefinity, there was the Windows-only software "HydraVision", originally acquired from Appian Graphics complete with its development team, a desktop/screen management software mostly providing multi-monitor and virtual-screen management. It has extensive hot-key support. Video acceleration Both of AMD's SIP cores for video acceleration, Video Coding Engine as well as Unified Video Decoder, are supported by AMD Radeon Software. Audio acceleration Some AMD products contain SIP cores for audio acceleration branded AMD TrueAudio. Support for this audio acceleration DSP co-processor is part of AMD Radeon Software. Under Microsoft Windows the support for AMD TrueAudio is codenamed "ACP" (for audio co-processor) and implemented via "ACP user service" (amdacpusrsvc.exe), a background service that helps manage audio tasks in games. Under Linux, AMD TrueAudio is codenamed "acp" as well, some code regarding this can be found in the /drivers/gpu/drm/radeon directory of the Linux kernel sources. Power saving AMD Radeon Software includes support for AMD PowerPlay, AMD PowerTune and AMD ZeroCore Power, AMD's set of technologies to reduce energy consumption in their graphics products. Supported interfaces Rendering The AMD Radeon Software device driver supports multiple rendering interfaces, all designed to give the user-space programs, such as video games or CAD software, access to the correspondent SIP blocks. Direct3D Direct3D 12 is available for GCN with version 15.7.1 or higher. Mantle So far, only the Radeon Software targeting Microsoft Windows includes support for Mantle (API). OpenGL OpenGL 4.5 possible for Terascale 2 and 3 with AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition Beta (driver version 15.30 or higher like Crimson Beta 16.2.1). OpenCL support will be lost, but it can be recovered by copying the relevant files from a previous package like Radeon Software 15.11.1 Beta. Beta drivers do not support HDCP. OpenGL 4.5 available for GCN with version 16.3 or higher OpenGL 4.x compliance requires supporting FP64 shaders. These are implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs. OpenGL 4.6 is supported in AMD Adrenalin 18.4.1 Graphics Driver on Windows 7 SP1, 10 version 1803 (April 2018 update) for AMD Radeon HD 7700+, HD 8500+ and newer. Released April 2018. Vulkan Vulkan 1.0 with 16.3.2 or higher for GCN Vulkan 1.1 with AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.3 or higher Video acceleration The AMD Radeon Software device driver supports multiple interfaces, all designed to give user-space programs, such as e.g. GStreamer or HandBrake software, access to the correspondent SIP blocks. GPGPU ROCm OpenCL With Catalyst 9.12 support of OpenCL 1.0 was available. In Catalyst 10.10 OpenCL 1.1 was available. Catalyst 12.4 Supports OpenCL 1.2. OpenCL 2.0 driver works since 14.41 for GCN-based Models. This also supports previous OpenCL versions. Terascale 2 and 3 chips can use Level 1.2. Close to Metal Close to Metal was a low-level API by AMD which was abandoned in favor of OpenCL. Other AMD HD3D stereoscopic 3D API by AMD. Heterogeneous System Architecture With Catalyst 14.1 HSA is possible. AMD main Processor graphic Units and Radeon graphic Card Units work combined. AMD GPU Services (AGS) GPUOpen: http://gpuopen.com/gaming-product/amd-gpu-services-ags-library/ & https://github.com/GPUOpen-LibrariesAndSDKs/AGS_SDK AMD Display Library (ADL) SDK https://web.archive.org/web/20160116043411/http://developer.amd.com/tools-and-sdks/graphics-development/display-library-adl-sdk/ Operating systems support Linux The main AMD GPU software stacks are fully supported on Linux: GPUOpen for graphics and ROCm for compute. GPUOpen is most often merely a supplement for software utilities, to the free Mesa software stack that is widely distributed and available by default on most Linux distributions. AMD strives at packaging its software for Linux on its own, not relying solely on Linux distributions. They do so by using the amdgpu and amdgpu-pro shell scripts, and provide package archives for e.g. apt and rpm. Microsoft Windows and Linux Starting with version 4.9 (released on 4 September 2004) the Catalyst driver package included the ATI Catalyst Control Center, a new software application for manipulating many hardware functions, such as 3D settings, monitor controls and video options. It shows a small 3D preview and allows the user to see how changes to the graphics settings affect the quality of the rendered image. It also shows information about the card itself and the software data. This application requires Microsoft .NET Framework. Radeon Software 16.x and higher only for GCN-based Models. With 16.3.2 Vulkan 1.0 support. Radeon Software 17.7.1 is the final driver for Windows 8.1 Radeon Software 18.9.3 is the final driver for 32 bit Windows 7/10 Radeon Software 21.5.2 is the final driver for Windows 7 (and Windows 8.1 unofficially), 21.5.2 is also the final driver for GCN 1, GCN 2 and GCN 3 based GPUs Issues On Windows Platforms Quantity of rendered ahead frames cannot be adjusted Triple buffering in D3D cannot be forced V-sync in many games under Windows 7 cannot be forced disabled On Linux Platforms No support for 3D HDTVs. See also AMD software ROCm GPUOpen AMD CodeXL Related technologies ATI Avivo ATI CrossFire ATI PowerPlay AMD Hybrid Graphics Related topics ATI/AMD on Free and open-source graphics device drivers References External links AMD Catalyst Technology AMD Graphics Drivers & Software AMD Game Driver Page Catalyst ATI Technologies Device drivers Linux drivers Proprietary freeware for Linux Rendering APIs available on Linux Proprietary software that uses Qt Software that uses Qt Third-party Linux kernel modules X Window System

59576301

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20International%20Organization%20for%20Standardization%20standards%2C%2022000-23999

List of International Organization for Standardization standards, 22000-23999

This is a list of published International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and other deliverables. For a complete and up-to-date list of all the ISO standards, see the ISO catalogue. The standards are protected by copyright and most of them must be purchased. However, about 300 of the standards produced by ISO and IEC's Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC1) have been made freely and publicly available. ISO 22000 – ISO 22999 ISO 22000:2018 Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain ISO/TS 22002 Prerequisite programmes on food safety ISO/TS 22002-1:2009 Part 1: Food manufacturing ISO/TS 22002-2:2013 Part 2: Catering ISO/TS 22002-3:2011 Part 3: Farming ISO/TS 22002-4:2013 Part 4: Food packaging manufacturing ISO/TS 22002-5:2019 Part 5: Transport and storage ISO/TS 22002-6:2016 Part 6: Feed and animal food production ISO/TS 22003:2013 Food safety management systems – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of food safety management systems ISO 22004:2014 Food safety management systems – Guidance on the application of ISO 22000 ISO 22005:2007 Traceability in the feed and food chain – General principles and basic requirements for system design and implementation ISO 22006:2009 Quality management systems - Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001:2008 to crop production) ISO/IEC 22050:2002 Information technology – Data interchange on 12,7 mm, 384-track magnetic tape cartridges – Ultrium-1 format ISO/IEC 22051:2002 Information technology – Data interchange on 12,7 mm, 448-track magnetic tape cartridges – SDLT1 format ISO 22077 Health informatics – Medical waveform format ISO 22077-1:2015 Part 1: Encoding rules ISO/TS 22077-2:2015 Part 2: Electrocardiography ISO/TS 22077-3:2015 Part 3: Long term electrocardiography ISO/IEC 22091:2002 Information technology – Streaming Lossless Data Compression algorithm (SLDC) ISO/IEC 22092:2002 Information technology - Data interchange on 130 mm magneto-optical disk cartridges - Capacity: 9,1 Gbytes per cartridge ISO 22093 Industrial automation systems and integration – Physical device control – Dimensional Measuring Interface Standard (DMIS) ISO 22095:2020 Chain of Custody ISO 22096:2007 Condition monitoring and diagnostics of machines – Acoustic emission ISO/TR 22100 Safety of machinery – Relationship with ISO 12100 ISO/TR 22100-3:2016 Part 3: Implementation of ergonomic principles in safety standards ISO/TS 22117:2010 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Specific requirements and guidance for proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparison ISO 22118:2011 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection and quantification of food-borne pathogens – Performance characteristics ISO 22119:2011 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of food-borne pathogens – General requirements and definitions ISO 22128:2008 Terminology products and services - Overview and guidance ISO/TR 22134:2007 Practical guidelines for socioterminology ISO/TS 22163:2017 Railway applications – Quality management system – Business management system requirements for rail organizations: ISO 9001:2015 and particular requirements for application in the rail sector ISO 22174:2005 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of food-borne pathogens – General requirements and definitions ISO/TS 22220:2011 Health informatics – Identification of subjects of health care ISO/TR 22221:2006 Health informatics – Good principles and practices for a clinical data warehouse ISO 22222:2005 Personal financial planning—Requirements for personal financial planners ISO 22241 Diesel engines – NOx reduction agent AUS 32 ISO 22241-1 Quality requirements ISO 22241-2 Test methods ISO 22241-3 Handling, transportation and storing ISO/IEC TR 22250 Information technology – Document description and processing languages – Regular Language Description for XML (RELAX) ISO/IEC TR 22250-1:2002 RELAX Core ISO 22266 Mechanical vibration – Torsional vibration of rotating machinery ISO 22266-1:2009 Part 1: Land-based steam and gas turbine generator sets in excess of 50 MW ISO 22274:2013 Systems to manage terminology, knowledge and content - Concept-related aspects for developing and internationalizing classification systems ISO/IEC 22275:2018 Information technology – Programming languages, their environments, and system software interfaces – ECMAScript® Specification Suite ISO/IEC TS 22277:2017 Technical Specification – C++ Extensions for Coroutines ISO 22300:2018 Security and resilience – Vocabulary ISO 22301:2019 Security and resilience – Business continuity management systems – Requirements ISO/TR 22302:2014 Natural gas - Calculation of methane number ISO 22303:2008 Tobacco - Determination of tobacco specific nitrosamines - Method using buffer extraction ISO/TS 22304:2008 Tobacco - Determination of tobacco specific nitrosamines - Method using alkaline dichloromethane extraction ISO/TR 22305:2006 Cigarettes - Measurement of nicotine-free dry particulate matter, nicotine, water and carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke - Analysis of data from collaborative studies reporting relationships between repeatability, reproducibility and tolerances ISO 22306:2007 Fibre-reinforced cement pipe, joints and fittings for gravity systems ISO 22307:2008 Financial services – Privacy impact assessment ISO 22308:2005 Cork stoppers - Sensory analysis ISO 22309:2011 Microbeam analysis - Quantitative analysis using energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) for elements with an atomic number of 11 (Na) or above ISO 22310:2006 Information and documentation - Guidelines for standards drafters for stating records management requirements in standards ISO 22311:2012 Societal security – Video-surveillance – Export interoperability ISO/TR 22312:2011 Societal security – Technological capabilities (WITHDRAWN) ISO 22313:2020 Security and resilience – Business continuity management systems – Guidance on the use of ISO 22301 ISO 22314:2006 Plastics - Glass-fibre-reinforced products - Determination of fibre length ISO 22315:2015 Societal security – Mass evacuation – Guidelines for planning ISO 22316:2017 Security and resilience - Organizational resilience—Principles and attributes ISO/TS 22317:2015 Societal security – Business continuity management systems – Guidelines for business impact analysis ISO/TS 22318:2015 Societal security – Business continuity management systems – Guidelines for supply chain continuity ISO 22319:2017 Security and resilience – Community resilience – Guidelines for planning the involvement of spontaneous volunteers ISO 22320:2018 Security and resilience – Emergency management – Guidelines for incident management ISO 22322:2015 Societal security – Emergency management – Guidelines for public warning ISO 22324:2015 Societal security – Emergency management – Guidelines for colour coded alert ISO 22325:2016 Security and resilience – Emergency management – Guidelines for capability assessment ISO 22326:2018 Security and resilience – Emergency management – Guidelines for monitoring facilities with identified hazards ISO 22327:2018 Security and resilience – Emergency management – Guidelines for implementation of a community-based landslide early warning system ISO/TS 22330:2018 Security and resilience – Business continuity management systems – Guidelines for people aspects on business continuity ISO/TS 22331:2018 Security and resilience – Business continuity management systems – Guidelines for business continuity strategy ISO/TR 22335:2007 Surface chemical analysis - Depth profiling - Measurement of sputtering rate: mesh-replica method using a mechanical stylus profilometer ISO/TR 22351:2015 Societal security – Emergency management – Message structure for exchange of information ISO/TS 22367:2008 Medical laboratories - Reduction of error through risk management and continual improvement ISO 22368-1:2004 Crop protection equipment - Test methods for the evaluation of cleaning systems - Part 1: Internal cleaning of complete sprayers ISO 22369-1:2006 Crop protection equipment - Drift classification of spraying equipment - Part 1: Classes ISO 22374:2005 Dentistry - Dental handpieces - Electrical-powered scalers and scaler tips ISO/TS 22375:2018 Security and resilience - Guidelines for complexity assessment process ISO 22380:2018 Security and resilience – Authenticity, integrity and trust for products and documents – General principles for product fraud risk ISO 22381:2018 Security and resilience – Authenticity, integrity and trust for products and documents – Guidelines for interoperability of product identification and authentication systems ISO 22382:2018 Security and resilience – Authenticity, integrity and trust for products and documents – Guidelines for the content, security and issuance of excise tax stamps ISO 22389-1:2010 Timber structures - Bending strength of I-beams - Part 1: Testing, evaluation and characterization ISO 22390:2010 Timber structures - Laminated veneer lumber - Structural properties ISO 22391-1:2009 Plastics piping systems for hot and cold water installations - Polyethylene of raised temperature resistance (PE-RT) - Part 1: General ISO 22392:2020 Security and resilience – Community resilience – Guidelines for conducting peer reviews ISO 22394:2010 Hardmetals - Knoop hardness test ISO 22395:2018 Security and resilience – Community resilience – Guidelines for supporting vulnerable persons in an emergency ISO 22396:2020 Security and resilience – Community resilience – Guidelines for information exchange between organisations ISO 22397:2014 Societal security – Guidelines for establishing partnering arrangements ISO 22398:2014 Societal security – Guidelines for exercises ISO/PAS 22399:2007 Societal security – Guideline for incident preparedness and operational continuity management (WITHDRAWN) ISO/TR 22411:2008 Ergonomics data and guidelines for the application of ISO/IEC Guide 71 to products and services to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities ISO 22412:2017 Particle size analysis - Dynamic light scattering (DLS) ISO 22413:2010 Transfer sets for pharmaceutical preparations – Requirements and test methods ISO 22432:2011 Geometrical product specifications (GPS) - Features utilized in specification and verification ISO/TS 22475 Geotechnical investigation and testing – Sampling methods and groundwater measurements ISO/TS 22475-3:2007 Part 3: Conformity assessment of enterprises and personnel by third party ISO 22493:2014 Microbeam analysis - Scanning electron microscopy - Vocabulary ISO 22514 Statistical methods in process management - Capability and performance ISO 22514-1:2014 Part 1: General principles and concepts ISO 22514-2:2017 Part 2: Process capability and performance of time-dependent process models ISO 22514-3:2008 Part 3: Machine performance studies for measured data on discrete parts ISO 22514-4:2016 Part 4: Process capability estimates and performance measures ISO 22514-6:2013 Part 6: Process capability statistics for characteristics following a multivariate normal distribution ISO 22514-7:2012 Part 7: Capability of measurement processes ISO 22514-8:2014 Part 8: Machine performance of a multi-state production process ISO 22523:2006 External limb prostheses and external orthoses – Requirements and test methods ISO/IEC 22533:2005 Information technology - Data interchange on 90 mm optical disk cartridges - Capacity: 2,3 Gbytes per cartridge ISO/IEC 22534:2005 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Application session services ISO/IEC 22535:2009 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Corporate telecommunication networks – Tunnelling of QSIG over SIP ISO/IEC 22536:2013 Information technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems - Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol (NFCIP-1) - RF interface test methods ISO/IEC 22537:2006 Information technology - ECMAScript for XML (E4X) specification ISO/TR 22588:2005 Optics and photonics – Lasers and laser-related equipment – Measurement and evaluation of absorption-induced effects in laser optical components ISO 22600 Health informatics – Privilege management and access control ISO 22600-1:2014 Part 1: Overview and policy management ISO 22600-2:2014 Part 2: Formal models ISO 22600-3:2014 Part 3: Implementations ISO 22665:2012 Ophthalmic optics and instruments – Instruments to measure axial distances in the eye ISO 22675:2016 Prosthetics – Testing of ankle-foot devices and foot units – Requirements and test methods ISO/TR 22676:2006 Prosthetics – Testing of ankle-foot devices and foot units – Guidance on the application of the test loading conditions of ISO 22675 and on the design of appropriate test equipment ISO 22716:2007 Cosmetics – Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) – Guidelines on Good Manufacturing Practices ISO 22717:2015 Cosmetics – Microbiology – Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ISO 22718:2015 Cosmetics – Microbiology – Detection of Staphylococcus aureus ISO 22727:2007 Graphical symbols - Creation and design of public information symbols - Requirements ISO 22742:2010 Packaging - Linear bar code and two-dimensional symbols for product packaging ISO 22745 Industrial automation systems and integration - Open technical dictionaries and their application to master data ISO 22745-2:2010 Part 2: Vocabulary ISO/IEC TR 22767:2005 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Using CSTA for SIP phone user agents (uaCSTA) ISO/TS 22789:2010 Health informatics – Conceptual framework for patient findings and problems in terminologies ISO/TS 22809:2007 Non-destructive testing – Discontinuities in specimens for use in qualification examinations ISO 22829:2017 Resistance welding equipment – Transformers – Integrated transformer-rectifier units for welding guns operating at 1 000 Hz ISO 22837:2009 Vehicle probe data for wide area communications ISO 22839:2013 Intelligent transport systems – Forward vehicle collision mitigation systems – Operation, performance, and verification requirements ISO 22840:2010 Intelligent transport systems – Devices to aid reverse manoeuvres – Extended-range backing aid systems (ERBA) ISO/PAS 22853:2005 Ships and marine technology – Computer applications – Specification of Maritime Safety Markup Language (MSML) ISO 22857:2013 Health informatics – Guidelines on data protection to facilitate trans-border flows of personal health data ISO 22868:2011 Forestry and gardening machinery – Noise test code for portable hand-held machines with internal combustion engine – Engineering method (Grade 2 accuracy) ISO 22870:2016 Point-of-care testing (POCT) – Requirements for quality and competence ISO 22877:2004 Castors and wheels – Vocabulary, symbols and multilingual terminology ISO 22935 Milk and milk products – Sensory analysis ISO 22935-1:2009 Part 1: General guidance for the recruitment, selection, training and monitoring of assessors ISO 22951:2009 Data dictionary and message sets for preemption and prioritization signal systems for emergency and public transport vehicles (PRESTO) ISO 22964:2017 Microbiology of the food chain - Horizontal method for the detection of Cronobacter spp. ISO/TR 22971:2005 Accuracy (trueness and precision) of measurement methods and results - Practical guidance for the use of ISO 5725-2:1994 in designing, implementing and statistically analysing interlaboratory repeatability and reproducibility results ISO/TR 22979:2017 Ophthalmic implants – Intraocular lenses – Guidance on assessment of the need for clinical investigation of intraocular lens design modifications ISO 23000 – ISO 23999 ISO/IEC 23000 Information technology - Multimedia application format (MPEG-A) ISO/IEC 23001 Information technology – MPEG systems technologies ISO/IEC 23001-1:2006 Part 1: Binary MPEG format for XML ISO/IEC 23001-2:2008 Part 2: Fragment request units ISO/IEC 23001-3:2008 Part 3: XML IPMP messages ISO/IEC 23001-4:2017 Part 4: Codec configuration representation ISO/IEC 23001-5:2008 Part 5: Bitstream Syntax Description Language (BSDL) ISO/IEC 23001-7:2016 Part 7: Common encryption in ISO base media file format ISO/IEC 23001-8:2016 Part 8: Coding-independent code points ISO/IEC 23001-9:2016 Part 9: Common encryption of MPEG-2 transport streams ISO/IEC 23001-10:2015 Part 10: Carriage of timed metadata metrics of media in ISO base media file format ISO/IEC 23001-12:2015 Part 12: Sample Variants in the ISO base media file format ISO/IEC 23002 Information technology – MPEG video technologies ISO/IEC 23003 Information technology – MPEG audio technologies ISO/IEC 23003-1:2007 Part 1: MPEG Surround ISO/IEC 23003-2:2010 Part 2: Spatial Audio Object Coding (SAOC) ISO/IEC 23003-3:2012 Part 3: Unified speech and audio coding ISO/IEC 23003-4:2015 Part 4: Dynamic Range Control ISO/IEC 23004 Information technology - Multimedia Middleware ISO/IEC 23004-1:2007 Part 1: Architecture ISO/IEC 23004-2:2007 Part 2: Multimedia application programming interface (API) ISO/IEC 23004-3:2007 Part 3: Component model ISO/IEC 23004-4:2007 Part 4: Resource and quality management ISO/IEC 23004-5:2008 Part 5: Component download ISO/IEC 23004-6:2008 Part 6: Fault management ISO/IEC 23004-7:2008 Part 7: System integrity management ISO/IEC 23004-8:2009 Part 8: Reference software ISO/IEC 23005 Information technology - Media context and control ISO/IEC 23005-1:2016 Part 1: Architecture ISO/IEC 23005-2:2016 Part 2: Control information ISO/IEC 23005-3:2016 Part 3: Sensory information ISO/IEC 23005-4:2016 Part 4: Virtual world object characteristics ISO/IEC 23005-5:2016 Part 5: Data formats for interaction devices ISO/IEC 23005-6:2016 Part 6: Common types and tools ISO/IEC 23005-7:2017 Part 7: Conformance and reference software ISO/IEC 23006 Information technology - Multimedia service platform technologies ISO/IEC 23006-1:2013 Part 1: Architecture ISO/IEC 23006-2:2016 Part 2: MPEG extensible middleware (MXM) API ISO/IEC 23006-3:2016 Part 3: Conformance and reference software ISO/IEC 23006-4:2013 Part 4: Elementary services ISO/IEC 23006-5:2013 Part 5: Service aggregation ISO/IEC 23007 Information technology - Rich media user interfaces ISO/IEC 23007-1:2010 Part 1: Widgets ISO/IEC 23007-2:2012 Part 2: Advanced user interaction (AUI) interfaces ISO/IEC 23007-3:2011 Part 3: Conformance and reference software ISO/IEC 23008 Information technology - High efficiency coding and media delivery in heterogeneous environments ISO/IEC 23009 Information technology - Dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) ISO/IEC 23009-1:2014 Part 1: Media presentation description and segment formats ISO/IEC 23009-2:2014 Part 2: Conformance and reference software ISO/IEC TR 23009-3:2015 Part 3: Implementation guidelines ISO/IEC 23009-4:2013 Part 4: Segment encryption and authentication ISO/IEC 23009-5:2017 Part 5: Server and network assisted DASH (SAND) ISO/IEC/IEEE 23026:2015 Systems and software engineering - Engineering and management of websites for systems, software, and services information ISO 23081 Information and documentation - Managing metadata for records ISO 23081-1:2006 Part 1: Principles ISO 23081-2:2009 Part 2: Conceptual and implementation issues ISO/TR 23081-3:2011 Part 3: Self-assessment method ISO/TS 23165:2006 Geometrical product specifications (GPS) - Guidelines for the evaluation of coordinate measuring machine (CMM) test uncertainty ISO 23185:2009 Assessment and benchmarking of terminological resources - General concepts, principles and requirements ISO/TR 23211:2009 Hydrometry – Measuring the water level in a well using automated pressure transducer methods ISO/IEC 23270:2018 Information technology – Programming languages – C# ISO/IEC 23271:2012 Information technology – Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) ISO/IEC TR 23272:2011 Information technology - Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) - Information Derived from Partition IV XML File ISO/IEC 23289:2002 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Corporate telecommunication networks – Signalling interworking between QSIG and H.323 – Basic services ISO/IEC 23290:2004 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Private Integrated Services Network (PISN) – Mapping functions for the tunnelling of QSIG through H.323 networks ISO 23317:2014 Implants for surgery – In vitro evaluation for apatite-forming ability of implant materials ISO 23328 Breathing system filters for anaesthetic and respiratory use ISO 23328-1:2003 Part 1: Salt test method to assess filtration performance ISO 23328-2:2002 Part 2: Non-filtration aspects ISO/IEC 23360 Linux Standard Base (LSB) core specification 3.1 ISO 23500:2014 Guidance for the preparation and quality management of fluids for haemodialysis and related therapies ISO 23539:2005 Photometry - The CIE system of physical photometry ISO 23599:2012 Assistive products for blind and vision-impaired persons - Tactile walking surface indicators ISO 23600:2007 Assistive products for persons with vision impairments and persons with vision and hearing impairments - Acoustic and tactile signals for pedestrian traffic lights ISO 23601:2009 Safety identification - Escape and evacuation plan signs ISO 23603:2005 Standard method of assessing the spectral quality of daylight simulators for visual appraisal and measurement of colour ISO/TR 23605:2009 Technical product specification (TPS) – Application guidance – International model for national implementation ISO/IEC 23651:2003 Information technology – 8 mm wide magnetic tape cartridge for information interchange – Helical scan recording – AIT-3 format ISO 23718:2007 Metallic materials – Mechanical testing – Vocabulary ISO 23733 Textiles – Chenille yarns – Test method for the determination of linear density ISO 23747:2015 Anaesthetic and respiratory equipment – Peak expiratory flow meters for the assessment of pulmonary function in spontaneously breathing humans ISO/TS 23768 Rolling bearings - Parts library ISO/TS 23768-1:2011 Part 1: Reference dictionary for rolling bearings ISO 23771:2015 Textile machinery – Guide to the design of textile machinery for reduction of the noise emissions ISO/TS 23810:2012 Cardiovascular implants and artificial organs – Checklist for preoperative extracorporeal circulation equipment setup ISO 23813:2007 Cranes – Training of appointed persons ISO 23814:2009 Cranes – Competency requirements for crane inspectors ISO 23833:2013 Microbeam analysis – Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) – Vocabulary ISO 23853:2004 Cranes – Training of slingers and signallers ISO 23907:2012 Sharps injury protection – Requirements and test methods – Sharps containers ISO 23908:2011 Sharps injury protection – Requirements and test methods – Sharps protection features for single-use hypodermic needles, introducers for catheters and needles used for blood sampling ISO/IEC 23912:2005 Information technology - 80 mm (1,46 Gbytes per side) and 120 mm (4,70 Gbytes per side) DVD Recordable Disk (DVD-R) ISO/IEC 23915:2005 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Corporate Telecommunication Networks – Signalling Interworking between QSIG and SIP – Call Diversion ISO/IEC 23916:2005 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Corporate Telecommunication Networks – Signalling Interworking between QSIG and SIP – Call Transfer ISO/IEC 23917:2005 Information technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – NFCIP-1 – Protocol Test Methods ISO 23950:1998 Information and documentation – Information retrieval (Z39.50) – Application service definition and protocol specification ISO 23953 Refrigerated display cabinets ISO 23953-1:2015 Part 1: Vocabulary ISO/IEC 23988:2007 Information technology - A code of practice for the use of information technology (IT) in the delivery of assessments Notes References External links International Organization for Standardization ISO Certification Provider ISO Consultant International Organization for Standardization

294545

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentation%20style

Indentation style

In computer programming, an indentation style is a convention governing the indentation of blocks of code to convey program structure. This article largely addresses the free-form languages, such as C and its descendants, but can be (and often is) applied to most other programming languages (especially those in the curly bracket family), where whitespace is otherwise insignificant. Indentation style is only one aspect of programming style. Indentation is not a requirement of most programming languages, where it is used as secondary notation. Rather, indenting helps better convey the structure of a program to human readers. Especially, it is used to clarify the link between control flow constructs such as conditions or loops, and code contained within and outside of them. However, some languages (such as Python and occam) use indentation to determine the structure instead of using braces or keywords; this is termed the off-side rule. In such languages, indentation is meaningful to the compiler or interpreter; it is more than only a clarity or style issue. This article uses the term brackets to refer to parentheses, and the term braces to refer to curly brackets. Brace placement in compound statements The main difference between indentation styles lies in the placing of the braces of the compound statement ({...}) that often follows a control statement (if, while, for...). The table below shows this placement for the style of statements discussed in this article; function declaration style is another case. The style for brace placement in statements may differ from the style for brace placement of a function definition. For consistency, the indentation depth has been kept constant at 4 spaces, regardless of the preferred indentation depth of each style. Tabs, spaces, and size of indentations The displayed width for tabs can be set to arbitrary values in most programming editors, including Notepad++ (MS-Windows), TextEdit (MacOS/X), Emacs (Unix), vi (Unix), and nano (Unix). In addition, these editors can be configured to generate a mix of tabs and spaces or to convert between tabs and spaces, to match specific indentation schemes. In unix, the tab width can also be set in pagers, such as less, and converted on the fly by filters, such as expand/unexpand. Unix editors default to positioning tabs at intervals of eight columns, while Macintosh and MS-Windows environments defaulted to four columns. This difference causes source code misalignment, when indentation that mixes tabs and spaces is displayed under a configuration that displays tabs differently from the author's configuration. There is ongoing debate amongst programmers about the choice between hard tabs and spaces. Many early programmers used tab characters to indent, for ease of typing and to save on source file size. Some programmers, such as Jamie Zawinski, state that using spaces instead of tabs increases cross-platform portability. Others, such as the writers of the WordPress coding standards, state the opposite: that hard tabs increase portability. A survey of the top 400,000 repositories on GitHub found that spaces are more common. The size of the indentation is usually independent of the style. An experiment performed on PASCAL code in 1983, found that indentation size significantly affected comprehensibility. Indentation sizes between 2 and 4 characters proved optimal. For Ruby, many shell scripting languages, and some forms of HTML formatting, two spaces per indentation level is generally used. Tools There are many tools to convert between indentation styles, such as indent, a program included with many Unix-like operating systems. In Emacs, various commands are available to automatically fix indentation problems, including hitting Tab on a given line (in the default configuration). M-x indent-region can be used to properly indent large sections of code. Depending on the mode, Emacs can also replace leading indentation spaces with the proper number of tabs followed by spaces, which results in the minimal number of characters for indenting each source line. Elastic tabstops is a tabulation style which requires support from the text editor, where entire blocks of text are kept automatically aligned when the length of one line in the block changes. Styles K&R style The K&R style (Kernighan & Ritchie Style), and the closely related "one true brace style" in hacker jargon (abbreviated as 1TBS), are commonly used in C, C++, and other curly brace programming languages. It was the style used in the original Unix kernel, Kernighan and Ritchie's book The C Programming Language, as well as Kernighan and Plauger's book The Elements of Programming Style. When following K&R, each function has its opening brace at the next line on the same indentation level as its header, the statements within the braces are indented, and the closing brace at the end is on the same indentation level as the header of the function at a line of its own. Multi-line blocks inside a function, however, have their opening braces at the same line as their respective control statements; closing braces remain in a line of their own, unless followed by a keyword else or while. Such non-aligned braces are nicknamed "Egyptian braces" (or "Egyptian brackets") for their resemblance to arms in some fanciful poses of ancient Egyptians. In K&R, single-line blocks do not have braces. int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { ... while (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); if (some_error) do_correct(); // In K&R a single-statement block does not have braces. else continue_as_usual(); } finalthing(); ... } The C Programming Language does not explicitly specify this style, though it is followed consistently throughout the book. From the book: The position of braces is less important, although people hold passionate beliefs. We have chosen one of several popular styles. Pick a style that suits you, then use it consistently. In old versions of the C language, argument types needed to be declared on the subsequent line (i.e., just after the header of the function): /* Original pre-ISO C style without function prototypes */ int main(argc, argv) int argc; char *argv[]; { ... } Variant: 1TBS (OTBS) The "one true brace style" (abbreviated as 1TBS or OTBS) is very similar to K&R. The main two differences are that functions have their opening braces on the same line separated by a space, and that the braces are not omitted for a control statement with only a single statement in its scope. In this style, the constructs that allow insertions of new code lines are on separate lines, and constructs that prohibit insertions are on one line. This principle is amplified by bracing every if, else, while, etc., including single-line conditionals, so that insertion of a new line of code anywhere is always safe (i.e., such an insertion will not make the flow of execution disagree with the source code indenting). Suggested advantages of this style are that the starting brace needs no extra line alone; and the ending brace lines up with the statement it conceptually belongs to. One cost of this style is that the ending brace of a block needs a full line alone, which can be partly resolved in if/else blocks and do/while blocks: void checknegative(x) { if (x < 0) { puts("Negative"); } else { nonnegative(x); } } There are many mentions of The One True Brace Style out there, but there is some confusion as to its true form. Some sources say it is the variation specified above, while others note it as just another "hacker jargon" term for K&R. Variant: Linux kernel A minor variant of the K&R style is the linux kernel style, which is known for its extensive use in the source tree of the Linux kernel. Linus Torvalds strongly advises all contributors to follow it. The style borrows many elements from K&R: The kernel style uses tab stops (with the tab stops set every 8 characters) for indentation. Opening curly braces of a function go to the start of the line following the function header. Any other opening curly braces go on the same line as the corresponding statement, separated by a space. Labels in a switch statement are aligned with the enclosing block (there is only one level of indents). A single-statement body of a compound statement (such as if, while, and do-while) need not be surrounded by curly braces. If, however, one or more of the substatements in an if-else statement require braces, then both substatements should be wrapped inside curly braces. Line length was long limited to 80 characters, but has now raised to 100, but still original limit is preferred. The Linux-kernel style specifies that "if only one branch of a conditional statement is a single statement ... use braces in both branches": int power(int x, int y) { int result; if (y < 0) { result = 0; } else { result = 1; while (y-- > 0) result *= x; } return result; } Variant: mandatory braces Some advocate mandatory braces for control statements with only a single statement in its scope, i.e., bracing every if, else, while, etc., including single-line conditionals, so that insertion of a new line of code anywhere is always safe (i.e., such an insertion will not make the flow of execution disagree with the source-code indentation). The cost of this style is that one extra full line is needed for the last block (except for intermediate blocks in if/else if/else constructs and do/while blocks). Variant: Java While Java is sometimes written in other styles, a significant body of Java code uses a minor variant of the K&R style in which the opening brace is on the same line not only for the blocks inside a function, but also for class or method declarations. This style is widespread largely because Sun Microsystems's original style guides used this K&R variant, and as a result most of the standard source code for the Java API is written in this style. It is also a popular indentation style for ActionScript and JavaScript, along with the Allman style. Variant: Stroustrup Stroustrup style is Bjarne Stroustrup's adaptation of K&R style for C++, as used in his books, such as Programming: Principles and Practice using C++ and The C++ Programming Language. Unlike the variants above, Stroustrup does not use a “cuddled else”. Thus, Stroustrup would write if (x < 0) { puts("Negative"); negative(x); } else { puts("Non-negative"); nonnegative(x); } Stroustrup extends K&R style for classes, writing them as follows: class Vector { public: Vector(int s) :elem(new double[s]), sz(s) { } // construct a Vector double& operator[](int i) { return elem[i]; } // element access: subscripting int size() { return sz; } private: double * elem; // pointer to the elements int sz; // number of elements }; Stroustrup does not indent the labels and . Also, in this style, while the opening brace of a function starts on a new line, the opening brace of a class is on the same line as the class name. Stroustrup allows writing short functions all on one line. Stroustrup style is a named indentation style available in the editor Emacs. Stroustrup encourages a K&R-derived style layout with C++ as stated in his modern C++ Core Guidelines. Variant: BSD KNF Also termed Kernel Normal Form, this is the form of most of the code used in the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) operating systems. Although mostly intended for kernel code, it is also widely used in userland code. It is essentially a thoroughly-documented variant of K&R style as used in the Bell Labs Version 6 & 7 Unix source code. The SunOS kernel and userland uses a similar indentation style. Like KNF, this also was based on AT&T style documents and that is sometimes termed Bill Joy Normal Form. The SunOS guideline was published in 1996; ANSI C is discussed briefly. The correctness of the indentation of a list of source files can be verified by the cstyle program written by Bill Shannon. In this style, the hard tabulator (ts in vi) is kept at eight columns, while a soft tabulator is often defined as a helper also (sw in vi), and set at four. The hard tabulators are used to indent code blocks, while a soft tabulator (four spaces) of additional indentation is used for all continuing lines that must be split over multiple lines. Moreover, function calls do not use a space before the parenthesis, although C language native statements such as if, while, do, switch and return do (in the case where return is used with parens). Functions that declare no local variables in their top-level block should also leave an empty line after their opening block brace. Here follow a few samples: while (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); } finalthing();   if (data != NULL && res > 0) { if (JS_DefineProperty(cx, o, "data", STRING_TO_JSVAL(JS_NewStringCopyN(cx, data, res)), NULL, NULL, JSPROP_ENUMERATE) != 0) { QUEUE_EXCEPTION("Internal error!"); goto err; } PQfreemem(data); } else { if (JS_DefineProperty(cx, o, "data", OBJECT_TO_JSVAL(NULL), NULL, NULL, JSPROP_ENUMERATE) != 0) { QUEUE_EXCEPTION("Internal error!"); goto err; } }   static JSBool pgresult_constructor(JSContext *cx, JSObject *obj, uintN argc, jsval *argv, jsval *rval) { QUEUE_EXCEPTION("PGresult class not user-instantiable"); return (JS_FALSE); } Allman style The Allman style is named after Eric Allman. It is also sometimes termed BSD style since Allman wrote many of the utilities for BSD Unix (although this should not be confused with the different "BSD KNF style"; see above). This style puts the brace associated with a control statement on the next line, indented to the same level as the control statement. Statements within the braces are indented to the next level. while (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); } finalthing(); This style is similar to the standard indentation used by the Pascal languages and Transact-SQL, where the braces are equivalent to the keywords begin and end. (* Example Allman code indentation style in Pascal *) procedure dosomething(x, y: Integer); begin while x = y do begin something(); somethingelse(); end; end; Consequences of this style are that the indented code is clearly set apart from the containing statement by lines that are almost all whitespace and the closing brace lines up in the same column as the opening brace. Some people feel this makes it easy to find matching braces. The blocking style also delineates the block of code from the associated control statement. Commenting out or removing a control statement or block of code, or code refactoring, are all less likely to introduce syntax errors via dangling or missing braces. Also, it is consistent with brace placement for the outer-function block. For example, the following is still correct syntactically: // while (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); } As is this: // for (int i=0; i < x; i++) // while (x == y) if (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); } Even like this, with conditional compilation: int c; #ifdef HAS_GETCH while ((c = getch()) != EOF) #else while ((c = getchar()) != EOF) #endif { do_something(c); } Variant: Allman-8 A popular variant for use in education, Allman-8 uses the 8-space indentation tabs and 80-column limit of the Linux Kernel variant of K&R. The style purportedly helps improve readability on projectors. Also, the indentation size and column restriction help create a visual cue for identifying excessive nesting of code blocks. These advantages combine to help provide newer developers and learners implicit guidance to manage code complexity. Whitesmiths style The Whitesmiths style, also sometimes termed Wishart style, was originally used in the documentation for the first commercial C compiler, the Whitesmiths Compiler. It was also popular in the early days of Windows, since it was used in three influential Windows programming books, Programmer's Guide to Windows by Durant, Carlson & Yao, Programming Windows by Petzold, and Windows 3.0 Power Programming Techniques by Norton & Yao. Whitesmiths, along with Allman, have been the most common bracing styles with equal popularity according to the Jargon File. This style puts the brace associated with a control statement on the next line, indented. Statements within the braces are indented to the same level as the braces. while (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); } finalthing(); The advantages of this style are similar to those of the Allman style. Blocks are clearly set apart from control statements. The alignment of the braces with the block emphasizes that the full block is conceptually, and programmatically, one compound statement. Indenting the braces emphasizes that they are subordinate to the control statement. The ending brace no longer lines up with the statement, but instead with the opening brace. An example: if (data != NULL && res > 0) { if (!JS_DefineProperty(cx, o, "data", STRING_TO_JSVAL(JS_NewStringCopyN(cx, data, res)), NULL, NULL, JSPROP_ENUMERATE)) { QUEUE_EXCEPTION("Internal error!"); goto err; } PQfreemem(data); } else if (!JS_DefineProperty(cx, o, "data", OBJECT_TO_JSVAL(NULL), NULL, NULL, JSPROP_ENUMERATE)) { QUEUE_EXCEPTION("Internal error!"); goto err; } else if are treated as statement, much like the #elif preprocessor statement. GNU style Like the Allman and Whitesmiths styles, GNU style puts braces on a line by themselves, indented by two spaces, except when opening a function definition, where they are not indented. In either case, the contained code is indented by two spaces from the braces. Popularised by Richard Stallman, the layout may be influenced by his background of writing Lisp code. In Lisp, the equivalent to a block (a progn) is a first-class data entity, and giving it its own indentation level helps to emphasize that, whereas in C, a block is only syntax. This style can also be found in some ALGOL and XPL programming language textbooks from the 1960s and 1970s. Although not directly related to indentation, GNU coding style also includes a space before the bracketed list of arguments to a function. static char * concat (char *s1, char *s2) { while (x == y) { something (); somethingelse (); } finalthing (); } This style combines the advantages of Allman and Whitesmiths, thereby removing the possible Whitesmiths disadvantage of braces not standing out from the block. One disadvantage is that the ending brace no longer lines up with the statement it conceptually belongs to. Another possible disadvantage is that it might waste space by using two visual levels of indents for one conceptual level, but in reality this is unlikely because, in systems with single-level indentation, each level is usually at least 4 spaces, same as 2 * 2 spaces in GNU style. The GNU Coding Standards recommend this style, and nearly all maintainers of GNU project software use it. The GNU Emacs text editor and the GNU systems' indent command will reformat code according to this style by default. Those who do not use GNU Emacs, or similarly extensible/customisable editors, may find that the automatic indentation settings of their editor are unhelpful for this style. However, many editors defaulting to KNF style cope well with the GNU style when the tab width is set to two spaces; likewise, GNU Emacs adapts well to KNF style by simply setting the tab width to eight spaces. In both cases, automatic reformatting destroys the original spacing, but automatic line indenting will work properly. Steve McConnell, in his book Code Complete, advises against using this style: he marks a code sample which uses it with a "Coding Horror" icon, symbolizing especially dangerous code, and states that it impedes readability. The Linux kernel coding style documentation also strongly recommends against this style, urging readers to burn a copy of the GNU coding standards as a "great symbolic gesture". Horstmann style The 1997 edition of Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials by Cay S. Horstmann adapts Allman by placing the first statement of a block on the same line as the opening brace. This style is also used in examples in Jensen and Wirth's Pascal User Manual and Report. while (x == y) { something(); somethingelse(); //... if (x < 0) { printf("Negative"); negative(x); } else { printf("Non-negative"); nonnegative(x); } } finalthing(); This style combines the advantages of Allman by keeping the vertical alignment of the braces for readability, and identifying blocks easily, with the saving of a line of the K&R style. However, the 2003 edition now uses Allman style throughout. Pico style This is the style used most commonly in the language Pico by its designers. Pico lacks return statements, and uses semicolons as statement separators instead of terminators. It yields this syntax: stuff(n): { x: 3 * n; y: doStuff(x); y + x } The advantages and disadvantages are similar to those of saving screen real estate with K&R style. An added advantage is that the starting and closing braces are consistent in application (both share space with a line of code), relative to K&R style, where one brace shares space with a line of code and one brace has a line alone. Ratliff style In the book Programmers at Work, C. Wayne Ratliff discussed using the style below. The style begins much like 1TBS but then the closing brace lines up with the indentation of the nested block. Ratliff was the original programmer behind the popular dBase-II and -III fourth-generation programming languages. He indicated that it was originally documented in material from Digital Research Inc. This style has sometimes been termed banner style, possibly for the resemblance to a banner hanging from a pole. In this style, which is to Whitesmiths as K&R is to Allman, the closing control is indented as the last item in the list (and thus properly loses salience). The style can make visual scanning easier for some, since the headers of any block are the only thing exdented at that level (the theory being that the closing control of the prior block interferes with the visual flow of the next block header in the K&R and Allman styles). Kernighan and Plauger use this style in the Ratfor code in Software Tools. // In C for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) { if (i % 2 == 0) { doSomething(i); } else { doSomethingElse(i); } } or, in a markup language... {| |- | lots of stuff... more stuff || alternative for short lines || etc. |} {| |- ... etc |} Lisp style A programmer may even go as far as to insert closing braces in the last line of a block. This style makes indentation the only way to distinguish blocks of code, but has the advantage of containing no uninformative lines. This could easily be called the Lisp style (because this style is very common in Lisp code) or the Python style (Python has no braces, but the layout is very similar, as shown in the code blocks below). In Python, layout is a part of the language, called the off-side rule. // In C for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {if (i % 2 == 0) {doSomething(i);} else {doSomethingElse(i); doThirdThing(i);}}   # In Python for i in range(10): if i % 2 == 0: do_something(i) else: do_something_else(i) do_third_thing(i)   ;; In Lisp (dotimes (i 10) (if (= (rem i 2) 0) (do-something i) (progn (do-something-else i) (do-third-thing i)))) Haskell style Haskell layout can make the placement of braces optional, although braces and semicolons are allowed in the language. The two segments below are equally acceptable to the compiler: braceless = do text <- getContents let firstWord = head $ words text bigWord = map toUpper firstWord putStrLn bigWord braceful = do { text <- getContents ; let { firstWord = head $ words text ; bigWord = map toUpper firstWord } ; putStrLn bigWord } In Haskell, layout can replace braces. Usually the braces and semicolons are omitted for procedural do sections and the program text in general, but the style is commonly used for lists, records and other syntactic elements made up of some pair of parentheses or braces, which are separated with commas or semicolons. If code following the keywords where, let, or of omits braces and semicolons, then indentation is significant. Other considerations Losing track of blocks In some situations, there is a risk of losing track of block boundaries. This is often seen in large sections of code containing many compound statements nested to many levels of indentations. By the time the programmer scrolls to the bottom of a huge set of nested statements, they may have lost track of which control statements go where. However, overly-long code could have other causes, such as being too complex, and a programmer facing this problem might instead consider whether code refactoring would help in the longer term. Programmers who rely on counting the opening braces may have difficulty with indentation styles such as K&R, where the starting brace is not visually separated from its control statement. Programmers who rely more on indentations will gain more from styles that are vertically compact, such as K&R, because the blocks are shorter. To avoid losing track of control statements such as for, a large indentation can be used, such as an 8-unit-wide hard tab, along with breaking up large functions into smaller and more readable functions. Linux is done this way, while using the K&R style. In text editors of the vi family, one means to track block boundaries is to position the text cursor over one of the braces, and press the % key. The cursor then jumps to the opposing brace. Since the text cursor's next key (viz., the n key) retained directional positioning information (whether the up or down key was formerly pressed), the dot macro (the . key) could then be used to place the text cursor on the next brace, given a suitable coding style. Instead, inspecting the block boundaries using the % key can be used to enforce a coding standard. Another way is to use inline comments added after the closing brace: for (int i = 0; i < total; i++) { foo(bar); } //for (i) if (x < 0) { bar(foo); } //if (x < 0) The major disadvantage of this method is maintaining duplicate code in multiple locations. Another solution is implemented in a folding editor, which can hide or reveal blocks of code via their indentation level or compound-statement structure. Many editors will also highlight matching brackets or braces when the cursor is positioned next to one. Statement insertion K&R style prevents another common error suffered when using the standard Unix line editor, ed. A statement mistakenly inserted between the control statement and the opening brace of the loop block turns the body of the loop into a single trip. for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) whoops(bar); /* repeated 10 times, with i from 0 to 9 */ { only_once(); /* Programmer intended this to be done 10 times */ } //for (i) ← This comment is no longer valid, and is very misleading! K&R style avoids this problem by keeping the control statement and the opening brace on the same line. See also Secondary notation Syntax highlighting Indentation in programming References External links C Style: Standards and Guidelines: Defining Programming Standards for Professional C Programmers, Prentice Hall, / (full text is also online). Straker, David (1992). Contextual Indent GNU Coding Standards Tabs and spaces Tabs versus Spaces: An Eternal Holy War by Jamie Zawinski Why I prefer no tabs in source code by Adam Spiers Why I love having tabs in source code (archived) Elastic tabstops – the solution to the tabs-versus-spaces issue Software wars Text editor features Source code

7619059

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IID%20%28company%29

IID (company)

IID, previously Internet Identity, was a privately held Internet security company based in Tacoma, Washington, United States. IID was acquired in an all-cash transaction by Infoblox on February 8, 2016. It primarily provides cyberthreat data, a platform to exchange cyberthreat data, and anti-phishing, malware and domain control security services to US federal government agencies, financial service firms, and e-commerce, social networking and Internet Service Provider(ISP) companies. Microsoft uses IID as a data feed for its anti-phishing software as well as a partner in their Domain Defense Program. Other customers include BECU (Boeing Employees’ Credit Union), Monster.com and Yakima Valley Credit Union. History IID was founded in 1996 providing outsourced domain management services. In 1997, the company claims to have discovered and disabled one of the earliest phishing attacks. Since then, IID’s business has revolved around protecting companies against cyber attacks. In 2013, IID accepted its first round of institutional funding for $8 million from Bessemer Venture Partners. IID was acquired in an all-cash transaction by Infoblox on February 8, 2016. Products and services ActiveTrust ActiveTrust is IID’s Threat Intelligence Management System. The company claims it gets threat data from thousands of sources, and determines what data is useful to defend against cyberattacks. ActiveTrust feeds this data into Fortune 500 companies’ and U.S. government agencies’ cybersecurity appliances, leading IID to claim that ActiveTrust is the world’s largest commercial cyberthreat data exchange. ActiveTrust Data Provides a list of the latest malicious (or compromised) IP addresses, domains and e-mail accounts, and identifies those "bad players" the organization is connected to through its extended enterprise. ActiveTrust Data was formerly known as "ActiveKnowledge." Threat Intelligence IID’s Threat Intelligence team investigates, analyzes and validates threat data to identify patterns and trends, revealing ongoing attacks and future hazards. The TI team takes shared data from ActiveTrust and uses filtering and analysis to add structure and context. DNS Services Detects, diagnoses and mitigates DNS (Domain Name System) security and configuration issues for an organization and its Extended Enterprise. This tool reportedly helped IID identify the DNS hijacking of Twitter in December 2009. It also reportedly helped find that half of all Fortune 500 companies were infected with DNSChanger. Mitigation Provides anti-phishing and malware security solutions that help organizations ensure that online brands are trusted. Mitigation was formerly known as "ActiveControl" and "Power Shark." Industry partnerships IID holds leadership positions in various security industry groups including with the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG). References External links IID customers and partners Microsoft's Anti-Phishing Partners page Article in The Honolulu Advertiser Internet Identity's ICANNWiki page Article on IID in The Seattle Times Software companies established in 1996 Defunct companies based in Tacoma, Washington Computer security companies 2016 mergers and acquisitions

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile%20computing

Mobile computing

Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage, which allows for the transmission of data, voice, and video. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software. Communication issues include ad hoc networks and infrastructure networks as well as communication properties, protocols, data formats, and concrete technologies. Hardware includes mobile devices or device components. Mobile software deals with the characteristics and requirements of mobile applications. Main principles Portability: Devices/nodes connected within the mobile computing system should facilitate mobility. These devices may have limited device capabilities and limited power supply but should have a sufficient processing capability and physical portability to operate in a movable environment. Connectivity: This defines the quality of service (QoS) of the network connectivity. In a mobile computing system, the network availability is expected to be maintained at a high level with a minimal amount of lag/downtime without being affected by the mobility of the connected nodes. Interactivity: The nodes belonging to a mobile computing system are connected with one another to communicate and collaborate through active transactions of data. Individuality: A portable device or a mobile node connected to a mobile network often denotes an individual; a mobile computing system should be able to adopt the technology to cater to the individual needs and also to obtain contextual information of each node. Devices Some of the most common forms of mobile computing devices are as given below: Portable computers, compact, lightweight units including a full character set keyboard and primarily intended as hosts for software that may be parameterized, such as laptops/desktops, smartphones/tablets, etc. Smart cards that can run multiple applications but are typically used for payment, travel, and secure area access. Mobile phones, telephony devices which can call from a distance through cellular networking technology. Wearable computers, mostly limited to functional keys and primarily intended for the incorporation of software agents, such as bracelets, keyless implants, etc. These classes are expected to endure and to complement each other, none replacing another completely. Other types of mobile computers have been introduced since the 1990s, including the: Portable computer (discontinued) Personal digital assistant/Enterprise digital assistant (discontinued) Ultra-Mobile PC (discontinued) Laptop Smartphone and tablet computer Wearable computer E-reader Carputer Limitations Expandability, Replaceability and Modularity: In contrast to the common traditional motherboard-based PC the SoC architecture in which they are embedded makes these features impossible. Lack of a BIOS: As most smart devices lack a proper BIOS, their bootloading capabilities are limited as they can only boot into the single operative system with which it came, in contrast with the PC BIOS model. Range and bandwidth: Mobile Internet access is generally slower than direct cable connections, using technologies such as GPRS and EDGE, and more recently HSDPA, HSUPA, 3G and 4G networks and also the proposed 5G network. These networks are usually available within a range of commercial cell phone towers. High-speed network wireless LANs are inexpensive but have a very limited range. Security standards: When working mobile, one is dependent on public networks, requiring careful use of VPN. Security is a major concern while concerning the mobile computing standards on the fleet. One can easily attack the VPN through a huge number of networks interconnected through the line. Power consumption: When a power outlet or portable generator is not available, mobile computers must rely entirely on battery power. Combined with the compact size of many mobile devices, this often means unusually expensive batteries must be used to obtain the necessary battery life. Transmission interferences: Weather, terrain, and the range from the nearest signal point can all interfere with signal reception. Reception in tunnels, some buildings, and rural areas is often poor. Potential health hazards: People who use mobile devices while driving are often distracted from driving and are thus assumed more likely to be involved in traffic accidents. (While this may seem obvious, there is considerable discussion about whether banning mobile device use while driving reduces accidents.) Cell phones may interfere with sensitive medical devices. Questions concerning mobile phone radiation and health have been raised. Human interface with device: Screens and keyboards tend to be small, which may make them hard to use. Alternate input methods such as speech or handwriting recognition require training. In-vehicle computing and fleet computing Many commercial and government field forces deploy a rugged portable computer with their fleet of vehicles. This requires the units to be anchored to the vehicle for driver safety, device security, and ergonomics. Rugged computers are rated for severe vibration associated with large service vehicles and off-road driving and the harsh environmental conditions of constant professional use such as in emergency medical services, fire, and public safety. Other elements affecting function in the vehicle: Operating temperature: A vehicle cabin can often experience temperature swings from . Computers typically must be able to withstand these temperatures while operating. Typical fan-based cooling has stated limits of of ambient temperature and temperatures below freezing require localized heaters to bring components up to operating temperature (based on independent studies by the SRI Group and by Panasonic R&D). Vibration can decrease the life expectancy of computer components, notably rotational storage such as HDDs. Visibility of standard screens becomes an issue in bright sunlight. Touchscreen users easily interact with the units in the field without removing gloves. High-temperature battery settings: Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to high-temperature conditions for charging. A computer designed for the mobile environment should be designed with a high-temperature charging function that limits the charge to 85% or less of capacity. External antenna connections go through the typical metal cabins of vehicles which would block wireless reception and take advantage of much more capable external communication and navigation equipment. Security issues involved in mobile Mobile security has become increasingly important in mobile computing. It is of particular concern as it relates to the security of personal information now stored on the smartphone. Mobile applications might copy user data from these devices to a remote server without the users’ permission and often without the users’ consent. The user profiles automatically created in the cloud for smartphone users raise privacy concerns on all major platforms, in terms of, including, but not limited to, location tracking and personal data collection, regardless of user settings on the device. More and more users and businesses use smartphones as a means of planning and organizing their work and private life. Within companies, these technologies are causing profound changes in the organization of information systems and therefore they have become the source of new risks. Indeed, smartphones collect and compile an increasing amount of sensitive information to which access must be controlled to protect the privacy of the user and the intellectual property of the company. All smartphones are preferred targets of attacks. These attacks exploit weaknesses related to smartphones that can come from means of wireless telecommunication like WiFi networks and GSM. There are also attacks that exploit software vulnerabilities from both the web browser and operating system. Finally, there are forms of malicious software that rely on the weak knowledge of average users. Different security counter-measures are being developed and applied to smartphones, from security in different layers of software to the dissemination of information to end-users. There are good practices to be observed at all levels, from design to use, through the development of operating systems, software layers, and downloadable apps. Portable computing devices Several categories of portable computing devices can run on batteries but are not usually classified as laptops: portable computers, PDAs, ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs), tablets, and smartphones. A portable computer (discontinued) is a general-purpose computer that can be easily moved from place to place, but cannot be used while in transit, usually because it requires some "setting-up" and an AC power source. The most famous example is Osborne 1. Portable computers are also called a "transportable" or a "luggable" PC. A personal digital assistant (PDA) (discontinued) is a small, usually pocket-sized, computer with limited functionality. It is intended to supplement and to synchronize with a desktop computer, giving access to contacts, address book, notes, e-mail, and other features. An ultra mobile PC (discontinued) is a full-featured, PDA-sized computer running a general-purpose operating system. Tablets/phones: a slate tablet is shaped like a paper notebook. Smartphones are the same devices as tablets, however, the only difference with smartphones is that they are much smaller and pocketable. Instead of a physical keyboard, these devices have a touchscreen including a combination of a virtual keyboard but can also link to a physical keyboard via wireless Bluetooth or USB. These devices include features other computer systems would not be able to incorporate, such as built-in cameras, because of their portability - although some laptops possess camera integration, and desktops and laptops can connect to a webcam by way of USB. A carputer is installed in an automobile. It operates as a wireless computer, sound system, GPS, and DVD player. It also contains word processing software and is Bluetooth compatible. A Pentop (discontinued) is a computing device the size and shape of a pen. It functions as a writing utensil, MP3 player, language translator, digital storage device, and calculator. An application-specific computer is one that is tailored to a particular application. For example, Ferranti introduced a handheld application-specific mobile computer (the MRT-100) in the form of a clipboard for conducting opinion polls. Boundaries that separate these categories are blurry at times. For example, the OQO UMPC is also a PDA-sized tablet PC; the Apple eMate had the clamshell form factor of a laptop but ran PDA software. The HP Omnibook line of laptops included some devices small enough to be called ultra mobile PCs. The hardware of the Nokia 770 internet tablet is essentially the same as that of a PDA such as the Zaurus 6000; the only reason it's not called a PDA is that it does not have PIM software. On the other hand, both the 770 and the Zaurus can run some desktop Linux software, usually with modifications. Mobile data communication Wireless data connections used in mobile computing take three general forms. Cellular data service uses technologies GSM, CDMA or GPRS, 3G networks such as W-CDMA, EDGE or CDMA2000. and more recently 4G and 5G networks. These networks are usually available within range of commercial cell towers. Wi-Fi connections offer higher performance, may be either on a private business network or accessed through public hotspots, and have a typical range of 100 feet indoors and up to 1000 feet outdoors. Satellite Internet access covers areas where cellular and Wi-Fi are not available and may be set up anywhere the user has a line of sight to the satellite's location, which for satellites in geostationary orbit means having an unobstructed view of the southern sky. Some enterprise deployments combine networks from multiple cellular networks or use a mix of cellular, Wi-Fi and satellite. When using a mix of networks, a mobile virtual private network (mobile VPN) not only handles the security concerns, but also performs the multiple network logins automatically and keeps the application connections alive to prevent crashes or data loss during network transitions or coverage loss. See also Lists of mobile computers Enterprise digital assistant Location-based service Mobile cloud computing Mobile Computing and Communications Review Mobile development Mobile device management Mobile identity management Mobile interaction Mobile software Mobileers (users of mobile rigs) Smart device Ubiquitous computing References Footnotes Bibliography GH Forman, J Zahorjan - Computer, 1994 - doi.ieeecomputersociety.org David P. Helmbold, "A dynamic disk spin-down technique for mobile computing", citeseer.ist.psu.edu, 1996 MH Repacholi, "health risks from the use of mobile phones", Toxicology Letters, 2001 - Elsevier Landay, J.A. Kaufmann, T.R., "user interface issues in mobile computing", Workstation Operating Systems, 1993. Roth, J. "Mobile Computing - Grundlagen, Technik, Konzepte", 2005, dpunkt.verlag, Germany Pullela, Srikanth. "Security Issues in Mobile Computing" http://crystal.uta.edu/~kumar/cse6392/termpapers/Srikanth_paper.pdf Zimmerman, James B. "Mobile Computing: Characteristics, Business Benefits, and Mobile Framework" April 2, 1999. https://web.archive.org/web/20111126105426/http://ac-support.europe.umuc.edu/~meinkej/inss690/zimmerman/INSS%20690%20CC%20-%20Mobile%20Computing.htm Koudounas, Vasilis. Iqbal, Omar. "Mobile Computing: Past, Present, and Future" https://web.archive.org/web/20181110210750/http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~nd/surprise_96/journal/vol4/vk5/report.html Further reading Automatic identification and data capture Mobile phones

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Yahoo%21

History of Yahoo!

Yahoo! started at Stanford University. It was founded in January 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, who were Electrical Engineering graduate students when they created a website named "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web". The Guide was a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. In April 1994, Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web was renamed "Yahoo!". The word "YAHOO" is a backronym for "Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle" or "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle." The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995. Yahoo! grew rapidly throughout the 1990s and diversified into a web portal, followed by numerous high-profile acquisitions. The company's stock price skyrocketed during the dot-com bubble and closed at an all-time high of US$118.75 in 2000; however, after the dot-com bubble burst, it reached an all-time low of US$8.11 in 2001. Yahoo! formally rejected an acquisition bid from the Microsoft Corporation in 2008. In early 2012, the largest layoff in Yahoo!'s history was completed and 2,000 employees (14 percent of the workforce) lost their jobs. Carol Bartz replaced co-founder Jerry Yang as CEO in January 2009, but was fired by the board of directors in September 2011; Tim Morse was appointed as interim CEO following Bartz's departure. Former PayPal president Scott Thompson became CEO in January 2012 and after he resigned was replaced by Ross Levinsohn as the company's interim CEO on May 13, 2012. On July 16, former Google executive Marissa Mayer, became the CEO of the company. Early history (1994–1996) Upon the April 1994 renaming of Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web to Yahoo!, Yang and Filo said that "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" was a suitable backronym for this name, but they insisted they had selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, as in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Its URL was akebono.stanford.edu/~yahoo. While the yahoo.com domain was created in January 1995, by the end of 1994 Yahoo! had already received one million hits. Yang and Filo realized their website had massive business potential, and on March 2, 1995, Yahoo! was incorporated. Yang and Filo sought out the advice of entrepreneur Randy Adams for a recommendation of a venture capital firm and Adams introduced them to Michael Moritz. On April 5, 1995, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital provided Yahoo! with two rounds of venture capital, raising approximately $3 million. On April 12, 1996, Yahoo! had its initial public offering, raising $33.8 million by selling 2.6 million shares at the opening bid of $13 each. The word "Yahoo" had previously been trademarked for barbecue sauce, knives (by EBSCO Industries) and human propelled watercraft! (by Old Town Canoe Co.). Therefore, in order to get control of the trademark, Yang and Filo added the exclamation mark to the name. However, the exclamation mark is often incorrectly omitted when referring to Yahoo!. Srinija Srinivasan, an alumna of Stanford University, was hired as Yahoo!'s fifth employee as "Ontological Yahoo!" to assist Yang and Filo with organizing the content on the internet. Growth (1997–1999) In the late 1990s, Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, Excite and other web portals were growing rapidly. Web portal providers rushed to acquire companies to expand their range of services, generally with the goal of increasing the time each user stays within the portal. On March 8, 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11. Four11's webmail service, Rocketmail, became Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo! also acquired ClassicGames.com and turned it into Yahoo! Games. Yahoo! then acquired direct marketing company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. on October 12, 1998. In January 1999, Yahoo! acquired web hosting provider GeoCities. Another company Yahoo! took over was eGroups, which became Yahoo! Groups in June 2000. On March 8, 1998, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Pager, an instant messaging service that was renamed Yahoo! Messenger a year later. When acquiring companies, Yahoo! often changed the relevant terms of service. For example, they claimed intellectual property rights for content on their servers, unlike the previous policies of the companies they acquired. As a result, many of the acquisitions were controversial and unpopular with users of the existing services. Dot-com bubble (2000–2001) Yahoo! stock doubled in price in the last month of 1999. On January 3, 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, Yahoo! stock closed at an all-time high of $118.75 a share. Sixteen days later, shares in Yahoo! Japan became the first stock in Japanese history to trade at over ¥100,000,000, reaching a price of 101.4 million yen ($962,140 at that time). On February 7, 2000, yahoo.com was brought to a halt for a few hours, as the victim of a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). On the next day, its shares rose about $16, or 4.5 percent as the failure was blamed on hackers rather than on an internal glitch, unlike a fault with eBay earlier that year. During the dot-com boom, the cable news network CNBC reported that Yahoo! and eBay were discussing a 50/50 merger. Although the merger never materialized, the two companies decided to form a marketing/advertising alliance six years later in 2006. On June 26, 2000, Yahoo! and Google signed an agreement which would tap the Google engine to power searches made on yahoo.com. In 2000, Yahoo became one of the first companies to implement a BizOps or business operations team. Post dot-com bubble (2002–2005) Yahoo! was one of the few surviving companies after the dot-com bubble burst. Nevertheless, on September 26, 2001, Yahoo! stock closed at an all-time low of $8.11. Yahoo! formed partnerships with telecommunications and Internet providers to create content-rich broadband services to compete with AOL. For example, on June 3, 2002, SBC and Yahoo! launched a national co-branded dialup service. In July 2003, BT Openworld announced an alliance with Yahoo! On August 23, 2005, Yahoo! and Verizon launched an integrated DSL service. In late 2002, Yahoo! began to bolster its search services by acquiring other search engines. In December 2002, Yahoo! acquired Inktomi. In February 2005, Yahoo! acquired Konfabulator and rebranded it Yahoo! Widgets, a desktop application, and in July 2003, it acquired Overture Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries AltaVista and AlltheWeb. On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! dropped Google-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results. In March 2004, Yahoo! launched a paid inclusion program whereby commercial websites were guaranteed listings on the Yahoo! search engine after payment. This scheme was lucrative, but proved unpopular both with website marketers (who were reluctant to pay), and the public (who were unhappy about the paid-for listings being indistinguishable from other search results). As of October 2006, Paid Inclusion ceased to guarantee any commercial listing and only helped the paid inclusion customers, by crawling their site more often and by providing some statistics on the searches that led to the page and some additional smart links (provided by customers as feeds) below the actual url. In 2004, in response to Google's release of Gmail, Yahoo! upgraded the storage of all free Yahoo! Mail accounts from 4 MB to 1 GB, and all Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts to 2 GB. On July 9, 2004, Yahoo! acquired e-mail provider Oddpost to add an Ajax interface to Yahoo! Mail Beta. Google also released Google Talk, a voice over IP and Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo message boards service, on August 24, 2005. On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Yahoo! and MSN Messenger would become interoperable. In 2007, Yahoo! took out the storage meters, thus allowing users unlimited storage. Yahoo! continued acquiring companies to expand its range of services, particularly Web 2.0 services. Yahoo! Launch became Yahoo! Music in February 2005. On March 20, 2005, Yahoo! purchased photo sharing service Flickr. That same month, the company launched its blogging and social networking service Yahoo! 360°. In June 2005, Yahoo! acquired blo.gs, a service based on RSS feed aggregation. Yahoo! then bought online social event calendar Upcoming.org, in October 2005. Yahoo! acquired social bookmark site del.icio.us in December 2005 and then playlist sharing community webjay in January 2009. Yahoo! (2006–2008) Yahoo! Next is an incubation ground for future Yahoo! technologies currently in their beta testing phase, similar to Google Labs. It contains forums for Yahoo! users to give feedback to assist in the development of these future Yahoo! technologies. In early 2006, Yahoo! offered users the chance to beta test a new version of the Yahoo! homepage. However, it currently only supports Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Users of other browsers, such as Opera, have criticized Yahoo! for this move. Yahoo! says they intend to support additional browsers in the future. On August 27, 2007, Yahoo! released a new version of Yahoo! Mail. It added Yahoo! Messenger integration (which included Windows Live Messenger due to the networks' federation) and free text messages (not necessarily free to the receiver) to mobile phones in the U.S., Canada, India, and the Philippines. On January 29, 2008, Yahoo! announced that the company was laying off 1,000 employees, as the company had suffered severely in its inability to effectively compete with industry search leader Google. The cuts represented 7 percent of the company's workforce of 14,300. In February 2008, Yahoo! acquired Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Maven Networks, a supplier of internet video players and video advertising tools, for approximately $160 million. Yahoo! announced on November 17, 2008, that Yang would be stepping down as CEO. On December 10, 2008, Yahoo! began laying off 1,520 employees around the world as the company managed its way through the global economic downturn. Acquisition attempt by Microsoft Microsoft and Yahoo! pursued merger discussions in 2005, 2006, and 2007, that were all ultimately unsuccessful. At the time, analysts were skeptical about the wisdom of a business combination by these two firms. On February 1, 2008, after its friendly takeover offer was rebuffed by Yahoo!, Microsoft made an unsolicited takeover bid to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion in cash and stock. Days later, Yahoo! considered alternatives to the merger with Microsoft, including a merger with Internet giant Google or a potential transaction with News Corp. However, on February 11, 2008, Yahoo! decided to reject Microsoft's offer as "substantially undervaluing" Yahoo!'s brand, audience, investments, and growth prospects. On February 22, two Detroit-based pension companies sued Yahoo! and its board of directors for allegedly breaching their duty to shareholders by opposing Microsoft's takeover bid and pursuing "value destructive" third-party deals. In early March, Google CEO Eric Schmidt went on record saying that he was concerned that a potential Microsoft-Yahoo! merger might hurt the internet by compromising its openness. The value of Microsoft's cash and stock offer declined with Microsoft's stock price, falling to $42.2 billion by April 4. On April 5, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo!'s board of directors stating that if within three weeks they had not accepted the deal, Microsoft would approach shareholders directly in hopes of electing a new board and moving forward with merger talks (a hostile takeover). In response, Yahoo! stated on April 7 that they were not against a merger, but that they wanted a better offer. In addition, they stated that Microsoft's "aggressive" approach was worsening their relationship and the chances of a "friendly" merger. Later the same day, Yahoo! stated that the original $44.6 billion offer was not acceptable. Following this, there was considerable discussion of having Time Warner's AOL and Yahoo! merge, instead of the originally proposed Microsoft deal. On May 3, 2008, Microsoft withdrew the offer. During a meeting between Ballmer and Yang, Microsoft had offered to raise its offer by $5 billion to $33 per share, while Yahoo! demanded $37 per share. One of Ballmer's lieutenants suggested that Yang would implement a poison pill to make the takeover as difficult as possible, saying "They are going to burn the furniture if we go hostile. They are going to destroy the place." Analysts said that Yahoo!'s shares, which closed at $28.67 per share on May 2, were likely to drop below $25 per share and perhaps as low as $20 per share on May 5, which would put significant pressure on Yang to engineer a turnaround of the company. Some suggested that institutional investors would file lawsuits against Yahoo!'s board of directors for not acting in shareholder interest by refusing Microsoft's offer. On May 5, 2008, following Microsoft's withdrawal, Yahoo!'s stock plunged some 15% lower to $23.02 per share in Monday trading and trimmed about $6 billion off of its market capitalization. On June 12, 2008, Yahoo! announced that it had ended all talks with Microsoft about purchasing either part of the business (the search advertising business) or all of the company. Talks had taken place the previous weekend (June 8), during which Microsoft allegedly told Yahoo! that it was no longer interested in a purchase of the entire company at the price offered earlier – $33 per share. Also, on June 12, Yahoo! announced a non-exclusive search advertising alliance with Google. Upon this announcement, many executives and senior employees announced their plans to leave the company as it appeared they had lost confidence in Yahoo!'s strategies. According to market analysts, these pending departures impacted Wall Street's perception of the company. On July 7, 2008, Microsoft said it would reconsider proposing another bid for Yahoo! if the company's nine directors were ousted at the annual meeting scheduled to be held on August 1, 2008. Microsoft believed it would be able to better negotiate with a new board. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, calling the current board irrational in its approach to talks with Microsoft, launched a proxy fight to replace Yahoo!'s board. On July 21, 2008, Yahoo! settled with Carl Icahn, agreeing to appoint him and two allies to an expanded board. On November 20, 2008, almost 10 months after Microsoft's initial offer of $33 per share, Yahoo!'s stock (YHOO) dropped to a 52-week low, trading at only $8.94 per share. On November 30, 2008, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo!'s search business for $20 billion. On July 29, 2009, it was announced in a 10-year deal that Microsoft would have full access to Yahoo!'s search engine to be used in future Microsoft projects for its search engine, Bing. Under the deal, Microsoft was not required to pay any cash up front to Yahoo!. The day after the deal was announced, Yahoo!'s share price declined more than 10% to $15.14 per share, about 60% lower than Microsoft's takeover bid a year earlier. Carol Bartz era (2009–2011) On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairman of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors. Yahoo! tried to change its direction after chief executive Carol Bartz replaced co-founder Jerry Yang. In July 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! agreed to a deal that would see Yahoo!'s websites use both Microsoft's search technology and search advertising. Yahoo! in turn would become the sales team for banner advertising for both companies. While Microsoft would provide algorithmic search results, Yahoo! would control the presentation and personalization of results for searches on its pages. On July 21, 2009, Yahoo! launched a new version of its front page, called Metro. The new page allowed users to customize it through the prominent "My Favorites" panel on the left side and integrate third-party web services and launch them within one page. On October 28, 2009, Bartz told PCWorld that she struggled with the question of what Yahoo! is when she took over as CEO in January 2009. After talking to many users in about 10 countries, she said, Yahoo! executives concluded that users consider it their "home on the Internet." In September 2011, Bartz sent an email to Yahoo! employees saying she was removed from her position at Yahoo! by the company's chairman Roy Bostock via a phone call. CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company. Scott Thompson period (2012) On January 4, 2012, Scott Thompson, former President of PayPal, was named the new chief executive officer. Employee layoffs In early 2012, after the appointment of Scott Thompson as the new CEO, many rumors spread about large layoffs looming. Kara Swisher who covers Yahoo at All Things Digital reported that Yahoo's Chief Product Officer Blake Irving Resigned, Andrei Broder, who was VP of computational advertising and chief scientist of the Advertising Product Group, as well as Jianchang (JC) Mao, who headed advertising sciences left the company. This followed the departures of Yahoo! Labs head Prabhakar Raghavan who left for Google, and Raghu Ramakrishnan, who went to Microsoft. On April 4, 2012, Yahoo announced a cut of 2,000 jobs or about 14 percent of 14,100 workers employed by Yahoo. Yahoo! said it will save around $375 million annually after the layoffs are completed at end of 2012. Facebook patent lawsuit On March 14, Yahoo! filed a lawsuit against Facebook over the alleged infringement of 10 patents. Facebook responded by counter suing Yahoo!. Reorganization In an email memo sent to employees in April 2012, Scott Thompson re-iterated his view that customers should come first at Yahoo. He defined customers as both users and advertisers. He also completely re-organized the company. The reorganization took effect on May 1, 2012 and included operations in three major groups for Yahoo! — Consumer, Regions and Technology. The Consumer group has three groups: Media, Connections, and Commerce. The customers of this group are the users of Yahoo!. The Regions group operates three regions: • Americas, APAC, and EMEA. The customers of this group are the advertisers of Yahoo!. The Technology group includes Core Platforms, and Central Technology. It provides technology and support to the other two major groups. The Corporate group (Finance, Legal, and HR) remains unchanged and continues to support the new groups. Thompson's College degree controversy On May 3, 2012, news broke out that Thompson's biography at Yahoo was incorrect. The CEO's biography stated that he held a dual accounting and computer science degree from Stonehill College, whereas investigation revealed that Thompson's degree was solely in accounting, and not in Computer Science. The revelation came from Dan Loeb, founder of Third Point LLC, which held 5.8% of Yahoo! stock, who had been trying to gain seats on the board of directors of Yahoo! In response to the crisis, Yahoo!'s board of directors formed a three-member committee to review Thompson's academic credentials and the vetting process that preceded his selection as CEO. The review committee's chairman is Alfred Amoroso, who joined Yahoo!'s board in February 2012. The other directors on the panel are John Hayes and Thomas McInerney, who both joined in April 2012. The committee retained Terry Bird as independent counsel. Thompson replaced by Ross Levinsohn (interim) On May 13, 2012, Scott Thompson was replaced by Ross Levinsohn as the company's interim CEO. In June 2012, Yahoo! hired former Google director Michael G. Barrett as its Chief Revenue Officer. Marissa Mayer era (2012–present) On July 16, 2012, former Google executive and Walmart corporate director Marissa Mayer was named as Yahoo! CEO and President, and youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company. On May 19, 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo's board had approved an all-cash deal to purchase the six-year-old blogging website Tumblr. The announcement reportedly signifies a changing trend in the technology industry, as large corporations like Yahoo, Facebook, and Google acquire start-up Internet companies that generate low amounts of revenue as a way in which to connect with sizeable, fast-growing online communities. The Wall Street Journal stated that the purchase of Tumblr would satisfy the company's need for "a thriving social-networking and communications hub." Yahoo will pay US$1.1 billion for Tumblr, and the company's CEO and founder David Karp will remain a large shareholder. The revamp of the Yahoo-owned photography service Flickr was launched in Times Square, New York, U.S. on May 20, 2013 in an event that was attended by the city's mayor and a large contingency of journalists. Eleven billboards in Times Square advertised the website's new tagline "biggr, spectaculr, wherevr." as part of the launch and Yahoo stated that it will provide Flickr users with a free terabyte of storage. The official announcement of the Tumblr acquisition was also included in the May 20 event. The media reported on Yahoo!'s interest in the video streaming site Hulu on May 26, 2013. Under Mayer's leadership, Yahoo!'s bid is worth between US$600 and $800 million, as a variety of options that consist of different circumstances were put forward by the company. As of May 28, 2013, Yahoo!'s videos attract 45 million unique visitors a month, while Hulu has 24 million visitors—the combination of the two audiences can place Yahoo! in the second-most popular position after Google and its subsidiary YouTube. In July 2013, Yahoo Inc acquired Qwiki for $50 million. On August 2, 2013 Yahoo Inc announced the acquisition of social web browser concern RockMelt. With the acquisition, RockMelt team, including the concern's CEO Eric Vishria and CTO Tim Howes will be the part of Yahoo team. As a result, all the RockMelt apps and existing web services will go off from August 31. On August 7, 2013, at around midnight EDT, Yahoo! announced that it will be introducing the final version of the new logo on 5 September 2013 at 4:00 a.m. UTC. To mark the occasion, the company launched a "30 days of change" campaign that involved releasing a variation of the logo on each of the 30 days leading up to the revelation date. Data collated by comScore during July 2013 revealed that more people in the U.S. visited Yahoo! websites during the month in comparison to Google websites—the occasion was the first time that Yahoo! outperformed Google since 2011. The data did not incorporate visit statistics for the Yahoo!-owned Tumblr website or mobile phone usage. On February 11, 2014, Yahoo! has acquired a social diary company named Wander. On February 13, 2014, Yahoo! acquired Distill, a technical recruiting company. On September 22, 2016, Yahoo disclosed a data breach in which hackers stole information associated with at least 500 million user accounts in late 2014. According to the BBC, this was the largest technical breach reported to date. Specific details of material taken include names, email addresses, telephone numbers, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, dates of birth, and encrypted passwords. The breach used manufactured web cookies to falsify login credentials, allowing hackers to gain access to any account without a password. On December 14, 2016 a separate data breach, occurring earlier around August 2013 was reported. This breach affected over 1 billion user accounts and is again considered the largest discovered in the history of the Internet. On January 9, 2017, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer announces she will step down from Yahoo's board of directors if its sale to Verizon goes through. She also announced that when that deal closed Yahoo! will rename itself to Altaba. References External links The History of Yahoo! – How It All Started ... History of Silicon Valley Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo!

2317639

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison%20of%20Internet%20Relay%20Chat%20clients

Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs which have been discussed in independent published literature. General Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license, etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development. Release history A brief overview of the release history. Operating system support The operating systems on which the clients can run natively (without emulation). Unix and Unix-like operating systems: Unix (BSD): 386BSD, BSD/OS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, SunOS, ULTRIX Unix (System V): AIX, A/UX, HP-UX, IRIX, SCO OpenServer, Solaris, UnixWare Unix-like: Linux, NeXTSTEP, OpenVMS, OSF/1, QNX, Tru64 UNIX Protocol support What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client. Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) support Features Information on what features each of the clients support. See also Comparison of mobile IRC clients Comparison of instant messaging clients Comparison of instant messaging protocols Comparison of LAN messengers References Internet Relay Chat clients Internet Relay Chat clients

60665108

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric%20Thomas%20%28wide%20receiver%29

Eric Thomas (wide receiver)

Eric L. Thomas Jr. (born November 11, 1991) is an American football player. He is a wide receiver and return specialist for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League, having previously spent 4 seasons with the Nebraska Danger. Prior to his arena football career, Thomas played in both the National Football League and the Canadian Football League. College career Thomas played for the Troy Trojans football team from 2010 to 2013. During those years, the Trojans won the 2010 New Orleans Bowl, and Thomas amassed 2,655 yards on 197 catches; he was only 7 yards shy of a 1,000 yard season in 2013. Furthermore, Thomas became the Sun Belt Conference leader in receiving touchdowns, with 29 during his career. While playing at Troy, Thomas majored in criminal justice. College statistics Professional career As the all time Sun Belt Conference leader in receiving touchdowns, Thomas received interest by NFL teams, and was even brought in for a pre-draft visit by the Indianapolis Colts. However, Thomas was not selected in the 2014 NFL Draft. NFL Despite going undrafted, the Colts signed Thomas as a priority free agent, including a signing bonus of $6,000. Thomas played in 3 preseason games, catching 2 passes for 18 yards before his release. Thomas was signed to the Colts practice roster later in the year, where he spent two weeks. Thomas was also signed to the Buffalo Bills practice squad in 2014, but was cut after a week in favor of Tobais Palmer. CFL Thomas next played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League, signing on for the 2015 season. However, after catching only one pass for 7 yards in the two preseason games, Thomas was released. IFL Thomas joined the Cedar Rapids Titans of the Indoor Football League. He spent the first part of 2016 playing with Cedar Rapids and adapting to the rules of arena football, but was released during the season. After his release, Thomas was picked up by the Titans rival, the Nebraska Danger partway through the 2016 season. Thomas's first season in Nebraska saw him play in only 5 regular season games, but was effective in two postseason games, catching 4 touchdowns. The following year, Thomas had increased usage, surpassing 400 yards on the year. Thomas had a breakout year in 2018; he recorded his first 100-yard game in week 3, and was named one of the players of the week after catching 3 touchdowns to help defeat the eventual champion Iowa Barnstormers in week 6. On special teams, Thomas was named player of the week following a week 4 victory after contributing a recovered onside kick into a touchdown return. By the end of the 2018 season, Thomas was named to the 2nd team All IFL Offense. Thomas recorded his second 100-yard receiving game in 2019, and saw an increased usage on special teams; Thomas took over long snapping duties, and a returner he was named special teams player of the week of week 10 in 2019, for two return touchdowns. Thomas led the league in combined return touchdowns for 2019 with 3, and scored his 50th career touchdown on a rush in the regular season finale against the Barnstormers, a victory which sent Thomas and the Danger to the playoffs for the 4th consecutive year. In the playoffs, Thomas caught the lone touchdown pass from quarterback Tommy Armstrong in the first game, an upset of the higher seeded Green Bay Blizzard, but was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct late in the second game, a loss to the Arizona Rattlers in which Thomas recorded 5 catches, four of which were touchdowns as well as a two-point conversion catch. Green Bay Blizzard Following the 2019 season, the Nebraska Danger were put up for sale by their owners, Bosselman Enterprises. Unable to find a buyer in time to qualify for the 2020 IFL season, players became free agents and needed to find new teams. In November 2019, Thomas signed with the Green Bay Blizzard. Hoping to build on a winning 2019 season and their first playoff berth since 2012, Thomas and the Blizzard were denied a chance to play due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the 2020 IFL season being cancelled. Thomas did play for the team in 2021, scoring a combined 11 touchdowns thrugh 6 games. However, following a cancelled game with the Louisville Xtreme, who were subsequently voted out of the league for failing to pay players, Thomas was not brought back to the 4-4 team following the impromptu bye week, during which additional players from Louisville were added to the roster. While Thomas remained a free agent for the rest of the season, the Blizzard finished the year by winning only one game out of six, with an overall record of 5-9. It was the first year where a team Thomas played for missed the IFL playoffs. Iowa Barnstormers During IFL free agency, Thomas signed with the Iowa Barnstormers for the 2022 season. Ironically, Iowa was the last team Thomas played against as a member of the Blizzard. Professional statistics IFL regular season IFL playoffs References 1991 births Living people American football return specialists American football wide receivers Cedar Rapids River Kings players Nebraska Danger players Troy Trojans football players Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana

6870228

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal%20RAM

Internal RAM

Internal RAM, or IRAM or on-chip RAM (OCRAM), is the address range of RAM that is internal to the CPU. Some object files contain an .iram section. Internal RAM (Random-Access Memory) History of Random-Access Memory (RAM) Earlier forms of what we have today as DRAM started as drum memory which was an early form of memory for computers. The drum would have to be pre-loaded with data and small heads in the drum would read and write the pre-loaded information. After drum memory came Magnetic-core memory which would store information using the polarity of ferrite donuts' magnetic fields. Through these early trial and errors of computing memory, the final result was Dynamic Random Access Memory which we use today in our devices. Dynamic Random Access Memory or (RAM) was first invented in 1968 by Robert Dennard. He was born in Texas and is an engineer who created one of the first models of (RAM) which was first called Dynamic Random Access Memory. His invention led to computers being able to reach a new era of technological advancement. General Information about RAM Random Access Memory is memory storage that if found in electronic devices such as computers. It hold data while the computer is on so that it can be quickly accessed by the CPU or (Central Processing Unit). Ram is different from regular storage units such as Hard Disks, Solid State Drives, and Solid State Hybrid Drives. While these types of drives hold much permanent information, RAM holds temporary, yet important, information for the computer to receive. While using very minimal programs such as a browser or having a couple of programs open, a RAM is working so that it can load up small tasks like these. However when opening up bigger programs and more tabs for a computer to work harder the information is shifted from the RAM to other drives such as the hard disk. Technical Properties of RAM Generally, IRAM is composed of very high speed SRAM located alongside of the CPU. It acts similar to a CPU cache, but is software addressable. This saves transistors and power, and is potentially much faster, but forces programmers to specifically allocate it in order to benefit. In contrast, cache is invisible to the programmer. Associated with speed, the more RAM there is in the system, the faster the computer can run, because it allows the RAM to run more information through to the computer's (CPU). Not only does adding more RAM to a computer help it run faster, it helps boots up a computer immensely faster compared to booting up a system with less RAM. Another important factor of speed has to do with how fast transfer rate speeds are. For example a stick of RAM that has only 512 megabytes of transfer speed is too slow compared to a stick of RAM that has 16 gigabytes of transfer speeds. Not only does the transfer speeds depend of how fast a RAM can process information, the type of stick of RAM depends as well. For example, there are sticks that can be DDR3 and DDR4. Between these two models the DDR3 is a lot older and has slower speed compared to DDR4 which most computer run nowadays. Just recently, there was an announcement that a DDR5 stick of ram would be released sometime in 2020. The DDR5 ram would use less power and would have double the bandwidth compared to the DDR4 RAM. References Computer memory

40679472

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event%20tree%20analysis

Event tree analysis

Event tree analysis (ETA) is a forward, top-down, logical modeling technique for both success and failure that explores responses through a single initiating event and lays a path for assessing probabilities of the outcomes and overall system analysis. This analysis technique is used to analyze the effects of functioning or failed systems given that an event has occurred. ETA is a powerful tool that will identify all consequences of a system that have a probability of occurring after an initiating event that can be applied to a wide range of systems including: nuclear power plants, spacecraft, and chemical plants. This technique may be applied to a system early in the design process to identify potential issues that may arise, rather than correcting the issues after they occur. With this forward logic process, use of ETA as a tool in risk assessment can help to prevent negative outcomes from occurring, by providing a risk assessor with the probability of occurrence. ETA uses a type of modeling technique called event tree, which branches events from one single event using Boolean logic. History The name Event Tree was first introduced during the WASH-1400 nuclear power plant safety study (circa 1974), where the WASH-1400 team needed an alternate method to fault tree analysis due to the fault trees being too large. Though not using the name event tree, the UKAEA first introduced ETA in its design offices in 1968, initially to try to use whole plant risk assessment to optimize the design of a 500MW Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor. This study showed ETA condensed the analysis into a manageable form. ETA was not initially developed during WASH-1400, this was one of the first cases in which it was thoroughly used. The UKAEA study used the assumption that protective systems either worked or failed, with the probability of failure per demand being calculated using fault trees or similar analysis methods. ETA identifies all sequences which follow an initiating event. Many of these sequences can be eliminated from the analysis because their frequency or effect are too small to affect the overall result. A paper presented at a CREST symposium in Munich, Germany, in 1971 shows how this was done. The conclusions of the US EPA study of the Draft WASH-1400 acknowledges the role of Ref 1 and its criticism of the Maximum Credible Accident approach used by AEC. MCA sets the reliability target for the containment but those for all other safety systems are set by smaller but more frequent accidents and would be missed by MCA. In 2009 a risk analysis was conducted on underwater tunnel excavation under the Han River in Korea using an earth pressure balance type tunnel boring machine. ETA was used to quantify risk, by providing the probability of occurrence of an event, in the preliminary design stages of the tunnel construction to prevent any injuries or fatalities because tunnel construction in Korea has the highest injury and fatality rates within the construction category. Theory Performing a probabilistic risk assessment starts with a set of initiating events that change the state or configuration of the system. An initiating event is an event that starts a reaction, such as the way a spark (initiating event) can start a fire that could lead to other events (intermediate events) such as a tree burning down, and then finally an outcome, for example, the burnt tree no longer provides apples for food. Each initiating event leads to another event and continuing through this path, where each intermediate event's probability of occurrence may be calculated by using fault tree analysis, until an end state is reached (the outcome of a tree no longer providing apples for food). Intermediate events are commonly split into a binary (success/failure or yes/no) but may be split into more than two as long as the events are mutually exclusive, meaning that they can not occur at the same time. If a spark is the initiating event there is a probability that the spark will start a fire or will not start a fire (binary yes or no) as well as the probability that the fire spreads to a tree or does not spread to a tree. End states are classified into groups that can be successes or severity of consequences. An example of a success would be that no fire started and the tree still provided apples for food while the severity of consequence would be that a fire did start and we lose apples as a source of food. Loss end states can be any state at the end of the pathway that is a negative outcome of the initiating event. The loss end state is highly dependent upon the system, for example if you were measuring a quality process in a factory a loss or end state would be that the product has to be reworked or thrown in the trash. Some common loss end states: Loss of Life or Injury/ Illness to personnel Damage to or loss of equipment or property (including software) Unexpected or collateral damage as a result of tests Failure of mission Loss of system availability Damage to the environment Methodology The overall goal of event tree analysis is to determine the probability of possible negative outcomes that can cause harm and result from the chosen initiating event. It is necessary to use detailed information about a system to understand intermediate events, accident scenarios, and initiating events to construct the event tree diagram. The event tree begins with the initiating event where consequences of this event follow in a binary (success/failure) manner. Each event creates a path in which a series of successes or failures will occur where the overall probability of occurrence for that path can be calculated. The probabilities of failures for intermediate events can be calculated using fault tree analysis and the probability of success can be calculated from 1 = probability of success (ps) + probability of failure (pf). For example, in the equation 1 = (ps) + (pf) if we know that pf=.1 from fault tree analysis then through simple algebra we can solve for ps where ps = (1) - (pf) then we would have ps = (1) - (.1) and ps=.9. The event tree diagram models all possible pathways from the initiating event. The initiating event starts at the left side as a horizontal line that branches vertically. the vertical branch is representative of the success/failure of the initiating event. At the end of the vertical branch a horizontal line is drawn on each the top and the bottom representing the success or failure of the first event where a description (usually success or failure) is written with a tag that represents the path such as 1s where s is a success and 1 is the event number similarly with 1f where 1 is the event number and f denotes a failure (see attached diagram). This process continues until the end state is reached. When the event tree diagram has reached the end state for all pathways the outcome probability equation is written. Steps to perform an event tree analysis: Define the system: Define what needs to be involved or where to draw the boundaries. Identify the accident scenarios: Perform a system assessment to find hazards or accident scenarios within the system design. Identify the initiating events: Use a hazard analysis to define initiating events. Identify intermediate events: Identify countermeasures associated with the specific scenario. Build the event tree diagram Obtain event failure probabilities: If the failure probability can not be obtained use fault tree analysis to calculate it. Identify the outcome risk: Calculate the overall probability of the event paths and determine the risk. Evaluate the outcome risk: Evaluate the risk of each path and determine its acceptability. Recommend corrective action: If the outcome risk of a path is not acceptable develop design changes that change the risk. Document the ETA: Document the entire process on the event tree diagrams and update for new information as needed. Mathematical concepts 1 = (probability of success) + (probability of failure) The probability of success can be derived from the probability of failure. Overall path probability = (probability of event 1) × (probability of event 2) × ... × (probability of event n) In risk analysis The event tree analysis can be used in risk assessments by determining the probability that is used to determine risk when multiply by the hazard of events. Event Tree Analysis makes it easy to see what pathway creating the biggest probability of failure for a specific system. It is common to find single-point failures that do not have any intervening events between the initiating event and a failure. With Event Tree Analysis single-point failure can be targeted to include an intervening step that will reduce the overall probability of failure and thus reducing the risk of the system. The idea of adding an intervening event can happen anywhere in the system for any pathway that generates too great of a risk, the added intermediate event can reduce the probability and thus reduce the risk. Advantages Enables the assessment of multiple, co-existing faults and failures Functions simultaneously in cases of failure and success No need to anticipate end events Areas of single point failure, system vulnerability, and low payoff countermeasures may be identified and assessed to deploy resources properly paths in a system that lead to a failure can be identified and traced to display ineffective countermeasures. Work can be computerized Can be performed on various levels of details Visual cause and effect relationship Relatively easy to learn and execute Models complex systems into an understandable manner Follows fault paths across system boundaries Combines hardware, software, environment, and human interaction Permits probability assessment Commercial software is available Limitations Addresses only one initiating event at a time. The initiating challenge must be identified by the analyst Pathways must be identified by the analyst Level of loss for each pathway may not be distinguishable without further analysis Success or failure probabilities are difficult to find. Can overlook subtle system differences Partial successes/failures are not distinguishable Requires an analyst with practical training and experience Software Though ETA can be relatively simple, software can be used for more complex systems to build the diagram and perform calculations more quickly with reduction of human errors in the process. There are many types of software available to assist in conducting an ETA. In nuclear industry, RiskSpectrum PSA software is widely used which has both event tree analysis and fault tree analysis. Professional-grade free software solutions are also widely available. SCRAM is an example open-source tool that implements the Open-PSA Model Exchange Format open standard for probabilistic safety assessment applications. See also Fault tree analysis Failure modes and effect analysis References Data modeling Risk analysis methodologies Systems engineering

28988499

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankang%20Software%20Park

Nankang Software Park

The Nankang Software Park (NKSP; ) is located in the 87-hectare Nangang Trade and Economic Park, Taipei, Taiwan. Location The Nankang Software Park is located on east side of Taipei City. The park is accessible by three highways, one expressway, two MRT lines, the train, five commuter buses, and more than 30 public bus lines. There are several restaurants and public art works located in the park. The park is open to the public, but access badges are required for the office floors. Overview NKSP was designed by the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), a division of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Century Development Corporation. The Software Park was developed three phases. Phase I of the Software Park was completed in October 1999. Phase I consists of five connected buildings with 187,334 m2 of floor space on 3.97 hectares of land. IBM, TECO, Tradevan, NXP, and YAO5DX are a few of the 107 companies located in Phase I. Phase II was completed in September 2003 with 252,525 m2 of floor space on 4.18 hectares of land. Siemens Medical, HSBC, Sony, AMD, and two Biotech Incubator Facilities are located in Phase II. Phase III was completed in August 2008, and has 171,500 m2 of floor space on 1.52 hectares of land. This Phase is home to one of the Asian Headquarters for Hewlett-Packard, the Greater China Headquarters of Yahoo, the Microsoft Innovation Center, Asia Pacific Telecom, Alcor Semiconductor, TDK-Epcos, Freescale Semiconductor, IBM, Intel, ASE (USI), A10 Networks, and several other technology firms. Distinctions Wired Magazine profiled the Nankang Software Park in 2000, when it named Taipei City the Number 1 Digital City in Asia (No. 8 in the World). In the article, it sited NKSP as one of the primary reasons for Taipei City's strong rating. The Software Park has also been profiled in Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, and Business Today (Taiwan). In 2005, the Nankang Software Park was named one of the three Intelligent Buildings of the Year by the Intelligence Community Forum (New York, NY, USA). In 2008, the Economist Intelligent Unit ranked the Nankang Software Park as the top rated software park across four categories among a select group of Asian Software Parks. NKSP is highly regarded for the annual production it adds to the economy each year, the strength of the companies in its incubator centers, and the mixture of local and international clients. In 2007, the park contributed around US$6 billion in production annually and employed approximately 14,000 people. It is estimated that with the inclusion of Phase III the Park's production will increase to approximately US$28 billion and employ over 28,000 technology workers. The Nankang Software Park, Neihu Technology Park, and the Hsinchu Science Park are often credited for being the catalyst in the development of Taiwan's high tech industries and the dramatic increase in Taiwan's share of intellectual property. The Nankang Software Park, Neihu Technology Park, and greater Xizhi Economic and Trade Park also create the Taipei tech triangle as they house many of Taiwan's top tech corporate headquarters. Difficulties and challenges The Nari Typhoon brought flooding to large portions of Taipei City including the Nankang Software Park in 2001. During that flood, some of the electrical systems in the basement of the Software Park were damaged. The Taipei City Government has built a large pumping station along the Jilong River to reduce the risk of flooding. Phase I was retrofitted with flood gates to help reduce the risk of future flooding. In addition, new sections of the park have been designed with protection above the 200-year flood line. How to Get There To arrive at the Nankang Software Park take Bannan Line to Nangang Exhibition Center Station and transfer to Wenhu Line, the second stop will be Nangang Software Park Station. See also Economy of Taiwan References External links Nankang Software Park Buildings and structures in Taipei Economy of Taipei Industrial parks in Taiwan

4196416

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison%20of%20MIDI%20editors%20and%20sequencers

Comparison of MIDI editors and sequencers

Notable software MIDI editors and sequencers are listed in the following table. See also List of scorewriters Comparison of free software for audio MIDI Show Control MIDI Show Control software List of music software :Category:MIDI standards References Software synthesizers Multimedia software comparisons

56360541

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis%20Xavier%20Engineering%20College

Francis Xavier Engineering College

Francis Xavier Engineering College, Tirunelveli, is an Autonomous institution located in the town of Tirunelveli in the state of Tamil Nadu. Tirunelveli is often referred as the 'Oxford of south India' due to the larger number of educational institutions present. The Francis Xavier Engineering College popularly known as FX Engineering College, was established in the year 2000. Curriculum The institute offers eight undergraduate and ten postgraduate programs. Undergraduate B.E Civil Engineering B.E Computer Science and Engineering B.E Electronics and Communication Engineering B.E Electrical and Electronics Engineering B.Tech Information Technology B.E Mechanical Engineering B.Tech Artificial Intelligence and Data Science B.Tech Computer Science and Business Systems Postgraduate M.E Communication Systems M.E Computer Science and Engineering M.E CSE with specialization in Networks M.E Power Electronics and Drives M.E Power Systems M.E VLSI Design M.E Industrial Safety Engineering M.Tech Information Technology MCA - Master of Computer Applications MBA - Master of Business Administration Departments Department of Civil Engineering Department of Computer Science and Engineering Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of Information Technology Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Management Studies Department of Computer Application Department of Science and Humanities Hostels The College has a separate hostel for boys and one for girls. See also List of Engineering Colleges in Tamil Nadu National Board of Accreditation Anna University Affiliated Colleges References Engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu Colleges affiliated to Anna University Education in Tirunelveli Educational institutions established in 1981 1981 establishments in Tamil Nadu

1914049

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSA%20Global%20Technologies

SSA Global Technologies

SSA Global Technologies (previous NASDAQ symbol: SSAG) was a company developing Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. On May 15, 2006, SSA Global announced that it would be acquired by Infor Global Solutions. The acquisition was completed on July 28, 2006. Acquisitions Max International in April, 2001 interBiz Product Group, previously a division of Computer Associates International Inc. in April, 2002 Infinium Software in December, 2002 Ironside Technologies, in June, 2003 Elevon Inc, in July, 2003 Baan, in July, 2003 EXE Technologies, in December, 2003 Arzoon, Inc., in June, 2004 Marcam, in July, 2004 Boniva, in August, 2005 Epiphany, in September, 2005 Provia Software, in March, 2006 Products Baan BPCS ERP LN ERP LX Corporate performance management Customer Relationship Management Financial Management Human Capital Management Product Lifecycle Management Supply Chain Management Supplier Relationship Management Warehouse Management System References External links Company homepage 2006 mergers and acquisitions Defunct software companies of the United States CRM software companies ERP software companies Companies based in Chicago Software companies established in 1981 Software companies disestablished in 2006

641655

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%20interface%20device

Human interface device

A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device usually used by humans that takes input from humans and gives output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Flandern of Microsoft when he proposed that the USB committee create a Human Input Device class working group. The working group was renamed as the Human Interface Device class at the suggestion of Tom Schmidt of DEC because the proposed standard supported bi-directional communication. HID standard The HID standard was adopted primarily to enable innovation in PC input devices and to simplify the process of installing such devices. Prior to the introduction of the HID concept, devices usually conformed to strictly defined protocols for mouse, keyboards and joysticks; for example, the standard mouse protocol at the time supported relative X- and Y-axis data and binary input for up to two buttons, with no legacy support. All hardware innovations necessitated either overloading the use of data in an existing protocol or the creation of custom device drivers and the evangelization of a new protocol to developers. By contrast, all HID-defined devices deliver self-describing packages that may contain any number of data types and formats. A single HID driver on a computer parses data and enables dynamic association of data I/O with application functionality, which has enabled rapid innovation and development, and prolific diversification of new human-interface devices. A working committee with representatives from several prominent companies developed the HID standard. The list of participants appears in the "Device Class Definition for Human Interface Devices (HID)" document. The concept of a self-describing extensible protocol initially came from Mike Van Flandern and Manolito Adan while working on a project named "Raptor" at Microsoft, and independently from Steve McGowan, who worked on a device protocol for Access Bus while at Forte. After comparing notes at a Consumer Game Developer Conference, Steve and Mike agreed to collaborate on a new standard for the emerging Universal Serial Bus (USB). The HID protocol has its limitations, but all modern mainstream operating systems will recognize standard USB HID devices, such as keyboards and mice, without needing a specialized driver. When installed, a message saying that "A 'HID-compliant device' has been recognized" generally appears on screen. In comparison, this message does not usually appear for devices connected via the PS/2 6-pin DIN connectors which preceded USB. PS/2 does not typically support plug-and-play, which means that connecting a PS/2 keyboard or mouse with the computer powered on does not always work and may pose a hazard to the computer's motherboard. Likewise, the PS/2 standard does not support the HID protocol. The USB human interface device class describes a USB HID. Components of the HID protocol In the HID protocol, there are 2 entities: the "host" and the "device". The device is the entity that directly interacts with a human, such as a keyboard or mouse. The host communicates with the device and receives input data from the device on actions performed by the human. Output data flows from the host to the device and then to the human. The most common example of a host is a PC but some cell phones and PDAs also can be hosts. The HID protocol makes implementation of devices very simple. Devices define their data packets and then present a "HID descriptor" to the host. The HID descriptor is a hard coded array of bytes that describes the device's data packets. This includes: how many packets the device supports, the size of the packets, and the purpose of each byte and bit in the packet. For example, a keyboard with a calculator program button can tell the host that the button's pressed/released state is stored as the 2nd bit in the 6th byte in data packet number 4 (note: these locations are only illustrative and are device-specific). The device typically stores the HID descriptor in ROM and does not need to intrinsically understand or parse the HID descriptor. Some mouse and keyboard hardware in the market today is implemented using only an 8-bit CPU. The host is expected to be a more complex entity than the device. The host needs to retrieve the HID descriptor from the device and parse it before it can fully communicate with the device. Parsing the HID descriptor can be complicated. Multiple operating systems are known to have shipped bugs in the device drivers responsible for parsing the HID descriptors years after the device drivers were originally released to the public. However, this complexity is the reason why rapid innovation with HID devices is possible. The above mechanism describes what is known as HID "report protocol". Because it was understood that not all hosts would be capable of parsing HID descriptors, HID also defines "boot protocol". In boot protocol, only specific devices are supported with only specific features because fixed data packet formats are used. The HID descriptor is not used in this mode so innovation is limited. However, the benefit is that minimal functionality is still possible on hosts that otherwise would be unable to support HID. The only devices supported in boot protocol are Keyboard – Any of the first 256 key codes ("Usages") defined in the HID Usage Tables, Usage Page 7 can be reported by a keyboard using the boot protocol, but most systems only handle a subset of these keys. Most systems support all 104 keys on the IBM AT-101 layout, plus the three extra keys designed for Microsoft Windows 95 (the left and right Windows key, and the Menu key). Many systems also support additional keys on basic western European 105-, Korean 106-, Brazilian ABNT 107- and Japanese DOS/V 109-key layouts. Buttons, knobs and keys that are not reported on Usage Page 7 are not available. For example, a particular US keyboard's QWERTY keys will function but the Calculator and Logoff keys will not because they are defined on Usage Page 12 and cannot be reported in boot protocol. Mouse – Only the X-axis, Y-axis, and the first 3 buttons will be available. Any additional features on the mouse will not function. One common usage of boot mode is during the first moments of a computer's boot up sequence. Directly configuring a computer's BIOS is often done using only boot mode. Sometimes a message will appear informing the user that the device has installed the correct driver and is now usable. HID definition of a device According to the HID specification, a device is described, during the report mode, as a set of controls or group of controls. Controls are matched by a field containing the data, and another containing a usage tag. Each usage tag is described in the spec as the constructor suggested use of the data described in the report mode. Other protocols using HID Since HID's original definition over USB, HID is now also used in other computer communication buses. This enables HID devices that traditionally were only found on USB to also be used on alternative buses. This is done since existing support for USB HID devices can typically be adapted much faster than having to invent an entirely new protocol to support mouse, touchpad, keyboards, and the like. Known buses that use HID are: Bluetooth HID – Used for mouse and keyboards that are connected via Bluetooth Serial HID – Used in Microsoft's Windows Media Center PC remote control receivers. ZigBee input device – ZigBee (RF4CE) supports HID devices through the ZigBee input device profile. HID over I²C – Used for embedded devices in Microsoft Windows 8 HOGP (HID over GATT) – Used for HID devices connected using Bluetooth low energy technology See also Human interface guidelines Human–computer interaction USB human interface device class Graphical user interface builder Linux on the desktop Peripheral Tangible user interface References External links HID developers forum, USB.org HID Device Class Definition 1.11 Specification, USB.org HID Usage Tables 1.12 Specification, USB.org Human–computer interaction

63712210

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%20Palghar%20mob%20lynching

2020 Palghar mob lynching

On 16 April 2020, a vigilante group lynched two Hindu Sadhus and their driver in Gadchinchale Village, Palghar District, Maharashtra, India. The incident was fuelled by WhatsApp rumours of thieves operating in the area during the countrywide coronavirus lockdown. The vigilante group of villagers had mistaken the three passengers as thieves and killed them. Policemen who intervened were also attacked; four policemen and a senior police officer were injured. As of 4 May, 115 villagers have been arrested by the Maharashtra police on charges of murder and an investigation is ongoing. After the incident, rumours were spread to stoke religious tension. On 22 April, Maharashtra Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh posted a complete list of people arrested, stating that none of the arrested were Muslims. The government said that both the attackers and the victims were of same religion. Background In the past, attacks and lynchings fueled by rumours on WhatsApp have occurred in India, where the fast propagation of fake news has led to violent outcomes. Often the fake news involves rumours of child kidnapping or roaming bandits. After rumours spread in the village about the possible activity of organ harvesting gangs and kidnappers in the area at night, the villagers formed a vigilante group. According to the Gadchinchale Sarpanch (village head) a rumour had been floating in the village from the messaging app WhatsApp, claiming a gang of child thieves harvesting organs was active in the area during the lock-down. India was under a countrywide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic at the time of the incident. The arrival of the vehicle at night caused the villagers to suspect that the passengers were members of the gang of child thieves. Incident Two Juna Akhara Sadhus Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70 years old) and Sushilgiri Maharaj (35 years old) along with their 30-year-old driver Nilesh Telgade were travelling to attend the funeral of their Guru Shri Mahant Ramgiri in Surat. Around 10 pm, as they were passing through Gadchinchale, 140 km north of Mumbai, a forest department sentry stopped their car at local checkpoint. While they were talking to the sentry the vigilante group accosted and attacked them with sticks and axes. The Indian Express reported that the victims were mistaken for being child thieves and organ harvesters. According to reports published on 17 April, the police had tried to control the mob, but they were beaten when they tried to intervene. Four policemen and a senior police officer received injuries in the incident. On 19 April, several bystander videos went viral. In one of the videos, a police officer is seen leading Kalpavrukshagiri out of a building. The mob begins attacking Kalpavrukshagiri who is seen begging for his life, while policemen try to control the situation. The attackers then take him away and kill him. In another video, the mob is seen breaking the windows of a police patrol vehicle. The vehicle is seen rolled over with shattered glass in yet another video. Arrests According to the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, 101 persons were arrested by the police within 8 hours of the offence. Nine juveniles were also among those and two police officers were suspended for alleged negligence on duty, until an inquiry is conducted in the case. The police said that all the accused were from the Vikramgad Taluka and Gadchnchale village in the Dahanu Taluka, of the Palghar district. On 22 April, Home Minister Deshmukh posted a complete list of people arrested, and said that none of the people arrested were Muslims and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led opposition in Maharashtra was trying to make the lynching a religious Hindu-Muslim issue. He stated the case was being investigated by the Maharashtra CID (Criminal Investigation Department). The government said that the attackers and the victims were of the same religion. On the evening of 19 April, Chief Minister of the state Uddhav Thackeray issued the statement that culprits involved in this lynching will be brought to justice. He said that strict action should be taken against the accused, and transferred the case to the Criminal Investigation Department of Maharashtra State and Additional Director General Atulchandra Kulkarni. State home minister Anil Deshmukh announced a high-level inquiry to probe the lynching incident. Thackeray said that the authorities would proceed to a speedy trial and take tough action on the accused and were also investigating the people who had spread the rumours and hate messages online. Reactions This incidence attracted nationwide outrage on 19 April, after the videos went viral on social media, and the Maharashtra Government received criticism. Opposition leaders including former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, demanded a high level inquiry into the incident. On 20 April, Mahant Hari Giri, the Mahamandaleshwar of Juna Akhara demanded swift action against culprits and police responsible for the lynching. Uddhav Thackeray urged Home Minister Amit Shah to take action against those who were stoking religious tension. Maharashtra State Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "communal politics" over the lynching. "The village Divashi Gadchinchale is known as BJP bastion for the last ten years including the post of the village head. The current head is also from BJP. Most of the people arrested in the lynching incident are from BJP." The BJP denied the charges. National Human Rights Commission of India sent a request to the Maharashtra police chief asking for a report with details of action taken against the accused and any relief provided to relatives of the victims, to be sent within four weeks. References External links Lynching deaths in India Palghar district April 2020 events in India 2020 murders in Asia 2020s murders in India Anti-Hindu violence Violence against Hindus in India Riots and civil disorder in India Vigilantism 2020s in Maharashtra Filmed deaths in Asia

1682954

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferranti%20Mercury

Ferranti Mercury

The Mercury was an early commercial computer from the mid-1950s built by Ferranti. It was the successor to the Ferranti Mark 1, adding a floating point unit for improved performance, and increased reliability by replacing the Williams tube memory with core memory and using more solid-state components. The computer had roughly 2000 vacuum tubes (mostly type CV2179/A2134 pentodes, EL81 pentodes and CV2493/ECC88 double triodes) and 2000 germanium diodes. Nineteen Mercuries were sold before Ferranti moved on to newer designs. Predecessor: Mark I When the Mark I started running in 1951, reliability was poor. The primary concern was the drum memory system, which broke down all the time. Additionally, the machine used 4,200 thermionic valves, mostly EF50 pentodes and diodes that had to be replaced constantly. The Williams tubes, used as random-access memory and registers, were reliable but required constant maintenance. As soon as the system went into operation, teams started looking at solutions to these problems. One team decided to produce a much smaller and more cost-effective system built entirely with transistors. It first ran in November 1953 and is believed to be the first entirely transistor-based computer. Metropolitan-Vickers later built this commercially as the Metrovick 950, delivering seven. At the time, transistors were very expensive, compared to tubes. Prototype: Meg Another team, including the main designers of the Mark I, started with a design very similar to the Mark I but replacing valves used as diodes with solid-state diodes. These were much less expensive than transistors, yet enough of them were used in the design that replacing just the diodes would still result in a significant simplification and improvement in reliability. At that time computers were used almost always in the sciences, and they decided to add a floating-point unit to greatly improve performance in this role. Additionally the machine was to run at 1 MHz, eight times faster than the Mark I's 125 kHz, leading to the use of the name megacycle machine, and eventually Meg. Meg first ran in May 1954. The use of solid-state diodes reduced valve count by well over half, reducing the power requirement from the Mark I's 25 kW to the Meg's 12 kW. Like the Mark I, Meg was based on a 10-bit "short word", combining two to form a 20-bit address and four to make a 40-bit integer. This was a result of the physical properties of the Williams tubes, which were used to make eight B-lines, or in modern terminology, accumulator/index registers. Meg could multiply two integers in about 60 microseconds. The floating-point unit used three words for a 30-bit mantissa, and another as a 10-bit exponent. It could add two floating-point numbers in about 180 microseconds, and multiply them in about 360 microseconds. Commercial version: Mercury Ferranti, which had built the Mark I for the university, continued development of the prototype Meg to produce the Mercury. The main change was to replace the Williams tubes with core memory. Although slower to access, at about 10 μs for a 10-bit short word, the system required virtually no maintenance, considerably more important for commercial users. 1024×40-bits of core were provided, backed by four drums each holding 4096×40-bits. The first of an eventual 19 Mercury computers was delivered in August 1957. Manchester University received one in February 1958, leasing half the time to commercial users via Ferranti's business unit. Both CERN at Geneva and the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell also installed theirs in 1958. A Mercury bought in 1959 was the UK Met Office's first computer. The University of Buenos Aires in Argentina received another one in 1960. The machine could run Mercury Autocode, a simplified coding system of the type later described as a high-level programming language. Detailed information both about the Mercury hardware and the Autocode coding system is included in a downloadable Spanish-language Autocode manual. Mercury weighed . See also Manchester computers List of vacuum tube computers References Further reading (NB. Has info on the character set.) External links MEG/Mercury Installation of the Ferranti Mercury computer at CERN Early British computers Mercury Vacuum tube computers

5491838

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational%20visualistics

Computational visualistics

The term Computational visualistics is used for addressing the whole range of investigating pictures scientifically "in" the computer. Overview Images take a rather prominent place in contemporary life in the western societies. Together with language, they have been connected to human culture from the very beginning. For about one century – after several millennia of written word's dominance – their part is increasing again remarkably. Steps toward a general science of images, which we may call 'general visualistics' in analogy to general linguistics, have only been taken recently. So far, a unique scientific basis for circumscribing and describing the heterogeneous phenomenon "image" in an interpersonally verifiable manner hasstill been missing while distinct aspects falling in the domain of visualistics have predominantly been dealt with in several other disciplines, among them in particular philosophy, psychology, and art history. Last (though not least), important contributions to certain aspects of a new science of images have come from computer science. In computer science, too, considering pictures evolved originally along several more or less independent questions, which lead to proper sub-disciplines: computer graphics is certainly the most "visible" among them. Only just recently, the effort has been increased to finally form a unique and partially autonomous branch of computer science dedicated to images in general. In analogy to computational linguistics, the artificial expression computational visualistics is used for addressing the whole range of investigating scientifically pictures "in" the computer. Areas covered For a science of images within computer science, the abstract data type »image« (or perhaps several such types) stands in the center of interest together with the potential implementations (cf. Schirra 2005). There are three main groups of algorithms for that data type to be considered in computational visualistics: Algorithms from »image« to »image« In the field called image processing, the focus of attention is formed by the operations that take (at least) one picture (and potentially several secondary parameters that are not images) and relate it to another picture. With these operations, we can define algorithms for improving the quality of images (e.g., contrast reinforcement), and procedures for extracting certain parts of an image (e.g., edge finding) or for stamping out pictorial patterns following a particular Gestalt criterion (e.g., blue screen technique). Compression algorithms for the efficient storing or transmitting of pictorial data also belong into this field. Algorithms from »image« to "not-image" Two disciplines share the operations transforming images into non-pictorial data items. The field of pattern recognition is actually not restricted to pictures. But it has performed important precursory work for computational visualistics since the early 1950s in those areas that essentially classify information in given images: the identification of simple geometric Gestalts (e.g., "circular region"), the classification of letters (recognition of handwriting), the "seeing" of spatial objects in the images or even the association of stylistic attributes of the representation. That is, the images are to be associated with instances of a non-pictorial data type forming a description of some of their aspects. The neighboring field of computer vision is the part of AI (artificial intelligence) in which computer scientists try to teach – loosely speaking – computers the ability of visual perception. Therefore, a problem rather belongs to computer vision to the degree to which its goal is "semantic", i.e., the result approximates the human seeing of objects in a picture. Algorithms from "not-image" to »image« The investigation of possibilities gained by the operations that result in instances of the data type »image« but take as a starting point instances of non-pictorial data types is performed in particular in computer graphics and information visualization. The former deals with images in the closer sense, i.e., those pictures showing spatial configurations of objects (in the colloquial meaning of 'object') in a more or less naturalistic representation like, e.g., in virtual architecture. The starting point of the picture-generating algorithms in computer graphics is usually a data type that allows us to describe the geometry in three dimensions and the lighting of the scene to be depicted together with the important optical properties of the surfaces considered. Scientists in information visualization are interested in presenting pictorially any other data type, in particular those that consist of non-visual components in a "space" of states: in order to do so, a convention of visual presentation has firstly to be determined – e.g., a code of colors or certain icons. The well-known fractal images (e.g., of the Mandelbrot set) form a borderline case of information visualization since an abstract mathematical property has been visualized. Computational Visualistics Degree Programmes The subject of computational visualistics was introduced at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, in the fall of 1996. It was initiated by Thomas Strothotte, Prof. for computer graphics in Magdeburg and largely supported by Jörg Schirra together with a whole team of interdisciplinary researchers from the social and technical sciences as well as from medicine. This five-year diploma programme has computer science courses as its core: students learn about digital methods and electronic tools for solving picture-related problems. The technological areas of endeavour are complemented by courses on pictures in the humanities. In addition to learning about the traditional (i.e. not computerized) contexts of using pictures, students intensively practice their communicative skills. As the third component of the program, an application subject such as biology and medicine gives students an early opportunity to apply their knowledge in that they learn the skills needed for co-operating with clients and experts in other fields where digital image data are essential, e.g. microscopy and radiologic image data in biology and medicine. Bachelor and Master's programmes have been introduced in 2006. The expression 'computational visualistics' is also used for a similar degree programme of the University at Koblenz-Landau. References Further reading Jochen Schneider, Thomas Strothotte & Winfried Marotzki (2003). Computational Visualistics, Media Informatics, and Virtual Communities. Deutscher Universitätsverlag. Jörg R.J. Schirra (1999). "Computational Visualistics: Bridging the Two Cultures in a Multimedia Degree Programme". In: Forum Proceedings, ed.: Z. J. Pudlowski, p. 47–51, Jörg R. J. Schirra (2000). "A New Theme for Educating New Engineers: Computational visualistics". In: Global Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, 73–82. (June 2000) Jörg R. J. Schirra (2005). "Foundation of Computational Visualistics". Deutscher Universitätsverlag Jörg R. J. Schirra (2005). "Computational Visualistics: Dealing with Pictures in Computer Science". In: K. Sachs-Hombach (Ed.): Bildwissenschaft zwischen Reflexion und Anwendung. Köln: Herbert von Halem Verlag, 2005, 494–509. Jörg R. J. Schirra (2005) "Ein Disziplinen-Mandala für die Bildwissenschaft - Kleine Provokation zu einem Neuen Fach"". In: Vol. I: Bildwissenschaft als interdisziplinäres Unternehmen. Eine Standortbestimmung. 2005, Köln: Herbert-von-Halem-Verlag Bernhard Preim, Dirk Bartz (2007). Visualization in Medicine. Morgan Kaufmann, 2007. Bernhard Preim, Charl Botha (2013). Visual Computing for Medicine. Morgan Kaufmann, 2013. External links Computational visualistics (degree programme at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany) Computervisualistik (degree programme at the University Koblenz-Landau, Germany) Project Computational visualistics visualistics

67599012

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute%20Proof

Absolute Proof

Absolute Proof is a 2021 political documentary film directed by and starring Mike Lindell. It was distributed by One America News Network and promotes the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election instead of Joe Biden. The documentary was removed by video hosting sites YouTube and Vimeo for violating their community standards. Absolute Proof has won two awards: the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor (Lindell). Lindell has since released three sequels: Scientific Proof, Absolute Interference, and Absolutely 9-0. Premise In the documentary, Lindell hosts numerous cybersecurity experts and anonymous persons whose testimony, he claims, supports his claim that Chinese and Iranian hackers hacked into voting machines and switched votes from Trump to Biden on Election Day. Participants Mike Lindell Brannon Howse Mary Fanning Phil Waldron Matthew DePerno Background On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election by most major news organizations. Alleging that voter fraud switched several million votes for Joe Biden, Trump's campaign and Republican allies challenged the election results. At least 63 lawsuits were filed, although none were successful. Trump and his allies unsuccessfully urged officials in states that Biden won to disqualify some ballots and to challenge vote certification processes. Even after Biden was inaugurated the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021, Trump and others, including Lindell, continued to maintain that Trump had actually won the election. Release On February 5, 2021, One America News Network live streamed the film on its website. Introduced with a disclaimer, the film shortly afterward went viral. Several hours after the live stream, YouTube and Vimeo removed all recordings of the film from their sites, citing violations of their community standards, but not before it had tens of thousands of views. Reception The film was widely criticized by fact-checkers as being full of "debunked, unsubstantial claims." Mainstream news outlets such as The New York Times disputed its claims as well. Lindell's staff confirmed in August 2021 that the data shown in the film was given to Lindell by Dennis L. Montgomery, a software designer with a documented history of fraud. Awards In April 2021, Absolute Proof received two Golden Raspberry Awards, which parody traditional awards by honoring a year's worst films. Sequels Over the next several months, Lindell released Scientific Proof, an hour-long interview with Douglas G. Frank, Absolute Interference, a two-hour-long documentary starring Michael Flynn, which The Dispatch fact check says "recycles many familiar voter fraud claims that lack evidence", and Absolutely 9-0, a 26-minute-long interview with an anonymous "white hat hacker" who purported to show packet captures from voting machines used in the 2020 election. In reality, the data presented was a hex-encoded version of publicly available voter registration data from Pennsylvania. "Cyber Symposium" On August 10, 11, and 12, 2021, Lindell hosted a "cyber symposium" in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which he promised would produce "irrefutable evidence" for his claims that the election had been stolen by foreign hackers. However, the cyber expert he had hired to analyze his evidence said he could not confirm that claim. Lindell promised to make the purported packet captures available to attendees and offered a $5 million "bounty" to any attendee who could prove that they did not originate from the 2020 election. Just as the symposium was about to start on August 10, Lindell's website, LindellTV, was inoperative for about an hour – a problem Lindell says, without providing proof, was the result of a hack. Lindell had predicted that because of the irrefutable evidence his symposium would reveal, Trump would be recognized as the true winner of the 2020 election and reinstated as president on August 13, the day after his symposium ended. When that did not occur, he moved the predicted date of Trump's reinstatement to September 13, which also did not eventuate in Trump being reinstated. The packet captures were never presented at the symposium and one attendee described Lindell's supposed evidence as "random garbage that wastes our time". Renowned election cybersecurity expert Harri Hursti, who attended the symposium, characterized the data presented as "a big fat nothing and a distraction". References External links Absolute Proof on MUBI 2021 films 2020 United States presidential election in popular culture Conspiracy theories in the United States Documentary films about conspiracy theories Golden Raspberry Award winning films Conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump 2021 documentary films American documentary films

2182070

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%20T.%20Schwartz

Jacob T. Schwartz

Jacob Theodore "Jack" Schwartz (January 9, 1930 – March 2, 2009) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, and professor of computer science at the New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He was the designer of the SETL programming language and started the NYU Ultracomputer project. He founded the New York University Department of Computer Science, chairing it from 1964 to 1980. Early life Schwartz was born in The Bronx, New York on January 9, 1930 to Ignatz and Hedwig Schwartz. He attended Stuyvesant High School and went on to City College of New York. Education Schwartz received his B.S. (1949) from the City College of New York and his M.A. (1949) and Ph.D. in mathematics (1952) from Yale University. His doctoral thesis was entitled Linear Elliptic Differential Operators and his thesis advisor was Nelson Dunford. Career Schwartz's research interests included the theory of linear operators, von Neumann algebras, quantum field theory, time-sharing, parallel computing, programming language design and implementation, robotics, set-theoretic approaches in computational logic, proof and program verification systems; multimedia authoring tools; experimental studies of visual perception; multimedia and other high-level software techniques for analysis and visualization of bioinformatic data. Schwartz authored 18 books and more than 100 papers and technical reports. He was also the inventor of the Artspeak programming language, which historically ran on mainframes and produced graphical output using a single-color graphical plotter. Schwartz served as chairman of the Computer Science Department (which he founded) at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, from 1969 to 1977. He also served as chairman of the Computer Science Board of the National Research Council and was the former chairman of the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Information, Robotics and Intelligent Systems. From 1986 to 1989, he was the director of DARPA's Information Science and Technology Office (DARPA/ISTO) in Arlington, Virginia. Personal life Schwartz was previously married to computer scientist Frances E. Allen from 1972 to 1982. Publications Nelson Dunford, Jacob T. Schwartz Linear Operators, Part I General Theory , Part II Spectral Theory, Self Adjoint Operators in Hilbert Space , Part III Spectral Operators Jacob T. Schwartz, Introduction to Matrices and Vectors, McGraw-Hill (1961) Jacob T. Schwartz, Lectures on the Mathematical Method in Analytical Economics, Gordon and Breach (1961) Jacob T. Schwartz, Relativity In Illustrations, New York University Press (1962) Jacob T. Schwartz, Theory of money (Mathematics and its applications), Gordon and Breach (1965) Jacob T. Schwartz, W-* algebras (Notes on mathematics and its applications), Gordon and Breach (1967), Jacob T. Schwartz (ed.), Mathematical Aspects of Computer Science, American Mathematical Society (1967) Jacob T. Schwartz, Nonlinear Functional Analysis, Gordon and Breach (1968) Jacob T. Schwartz, Differential Geometry and Topology, Gordon and Breach (1969) Schwartz, J.T.; Cocke, John, PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND THEIR COMPILERS : Preliminary Notes, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, Second Revised Version, April 1970 Jacob T. Schwartz, Robert B. K. Dewar, Programming With Sets: An Introduction to Setl, Springer (November 1986), Jacob T. Schwartz, The Limits of Artificial Intelligence, found in the Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence, 2 vols., John Wiley and Songs, 1987 Jacob T. Schwartz, Mark Kac, and Gian-Carlo Rota, Discrete Thoughts: Essays on Mathematics, Science, and Philosophy, Birkhäuser Boston; 2nd edition (January 11, 2008), Awards and honors Recipient Wilbur Cross Medal, Yale University Townsend Harris Medal, City University of New York Mayor's Medal for Contributions to Science and Technology, New York City, 1986 Leroy P. Steele Prize, American Mathematical Society, August 1981 (shared with N. Dunford) Sloan Fellow, 1961–1962 Distinguished Lecturer at the following Universities: University of California, Santa Barbara; Harvard University; MIT; Cornell University; University of Washington; University of Southern California; Trinity College, Dublin Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1976, and to the National Academy of Engineering in 2000. References External links A Symposium to Honor the Scientific Career of Jacob T. Schwartz (2004). Parallel Computing Pioneers. Jacob Schwartz NAE page Jacob T. Schwartz's personal web site 1930 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Programming language designers City College of New York alumni Yale University alumni Yale University faculty Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences faculty Donegall Lecturers of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin Harvard University staff Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from liver cancer Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Operator theorists Mathematicians from New York (state) Scientists from the Bronx

19751325

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QEMSCAN

QEMSCAN

QEMSCAN is the name for an integrated automated mineralogy and petrography solution providing quantitative analysis of minerals, rocks and man-made materials. QEMSCAN is an abbreviation standing for quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy, and a registered trademark owned by FEI Company since 2009. Prior to 2009, QEMSCAN was sold by LEO, a company jointly owned by Leica and ZEISS. The integrated system comprises a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a large specimen chamber, up to four light-element energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) detectors, and proprietary software controlling automated data acquisition. The offline software package iDiscover provides data processing and reporting functionality. Mineral identification and quantification QEMSCAN creates phase assemblage maps of a specimen surface scanned by a high-energy accelerated electron beam along a predefined raster scan pattern. Low-count energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDX) are generated and provide information on the elemental composition at each measurement point. The elemental composition in combination with back-scattered electron (BSE) brightness and x-ray count rate information is converted into mineral phases. QEMSCAN data includes bulk mineralogy and calculated chemical assays. By mapping the sample surface, textural properties and contextual information such as particle and mineral grain size and shape, mineral associations, mineral liberation, elemental deportment, porosity, and matrix density can be calculated, visualized, and reported numerically. Data processing capabilities include combining multiple phases into mineral groups, resolving mixed spectra (boundary phase processing), image-based filtering, and particle-based classification. Quantitative reports can be generated for any selected number of samples, individual particles, and for particle classes sharing similar compositional and/or textural attributes, such as size fractions or rock types. Sample types and preparation QEMSCAN is routinely employed in the analysis of rock- and ore-forming minerals. Sample preparation requirements include a level, dry specimen surface, coated with a thin electrically conductive layer (e.g. carbon). The sample must be stable under high vacuum conditions and the electron beam, typically 15 to 25 kV. Common sample types include 30 mm resin-impregnated blocks of drill cuttings and ore, thin sections of drill core and rocks, as well as soil samples. Very small particles such as atmospheric dust have been measured on carbon tape or filter paper. Coal samples are generally mounted in carnauba wax, providing sufficient contrast to allow for separation of the sample from the mounting medium, and subsequent measurement of coal and macerals. Software suite QEMSCAN consists of proprietary software package iDiscover which consists of four software modules: Datastore Explorer - data management module iMeasure - measurement module, SEM and EDS control iExplorer - data processing and classification tools, mineral database management, reports SIP editor - phase identification protocol Measurement modes QEMSCAN consists of five customisable measurement modes: BMA bulk mineralogical analysis PMA particle mineralogical analysis SMS specific mineral search TMS trace mineral search Field Image surface imaging mode Applications QEMSCAN measurements can be applied in quantitative mineral characterisation of rocks, weathering products such as regolith and soils, and most man-made materials. As a result, it has commercial and scientific applications in mining and mineral processing; O&G; coal; environmental sciences;, forensic geosciences; archaeology; agribusiness; built environment and planetary geology. History 1970s CSIRO Australia devised a way to automatically use Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy technology and a scanning electron microscope to accurately image and identify minerals in ore samples. This technology became patented and known as QEM*SEM (quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy) 1980s New digital hardware and software developments by CSIRO allowed for automated analysis of multiple samples, creation of particle images form which mineralogy, texture and metallurgical parameters can be extracted and quantified. 1990s Light element X-ray detectors are introduced improving the mineral identification. The Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre at the University of Queensland develops the Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA) expert software. 2001 CSIRO announces intention to commercialise QEMSCAN. 2003 Intellection Pty Ltd. is founded to develop, market and sell QEMSCAN technology solutions based on the ZEISS EVO scanning electron microscope. 2009 FEI Company announces the acquisition of selected assets from Intellection Pty Ltd., including the QEMSCAN technology. 2010, June. Ammtec completes the first "on site" analysis, utilising an "R" series QEMSCAN, at an oil well drilling site in Sumatra, RI. Sep.1, 2010 press release on version 5.0 iDiscover software including a new spectral analysis system capable of identifying 72 elements for improved complex mineral composition discrimination. Nov.15, 2010 press release on new website launch for QEMSCAN and MLA Automated Mineralogy solutions for Natural Resources Oct. 19, 2011 press release on introduction of QEMSCAN WellSite analysis solution, field-tested on onshore and offshore oil platforms in collaboration with mudlogging service providers and oil & gas companies, including Halliburton, Oil Search Limited and Maersk. 2015 Development of QEMSCAN ceases. References External links Automated Mineralogy Resources - Online repository for journal papers, conference abstracts, published reports and theses on SEM-EDS based automated mineralogy and petrography applications Scientific techniques Measuring instruments Mining engineering Natural resources X-rays 2001 introductions

14091947

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%20Charmers

Lloyd Charmers

Lloyd Charmers (born Lloyd Tyrell, 1938 – 27 December 2012, also known as Lloyd Chalmers, Lloyd Terell, or Lloyd Terrell) was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, keyboard player and record producer. Career Lloyd Charmers was born in Kingston, Jamaica. His professional career began in 1962, when he performed as the Charmers with Roy Willis on Vere Johns' Talent Hour, starting a recording career soon afterward. When the Charmers split, he joined Slim Smith and Martin Jimmy Riley in the Uniques. Charmers subsequently moved on to a solo career, releasing two albums in 1970, and also recording X-rated tracks such as "Birth Control" and the album Censored, these more risqué outings appearing under his real name or as 'Lloydie & The Lowbites'. He was also briefly a member of the Messengers, a short-lived supergroup that featured Ken Boothe, B. B. Seaton and Busty Brown. He set up his own record label Splash in the early 1970s, and moved into production. Productions by him were notable for their sophisticated arrangements. With his session band the Now Generation he produced artists such as Ken Boothe (including some of Boothe's most successful solo releases of the period, such as his cover of David Gates' "Everything I Own"), B. B. Seaton, the Gaylads, and Lloyd Parks. Charmers later relocated to the UK where he continued to record and produce in a variety of styles, from lovers rock to disco. In 1980, UK ska band the Specials had a hit with "Too Much Too Young", an adaptation of Charmers' 1969 song "Birth Control". Death Charmers died on 27 December 2012 from a myocardial infarction (heart attack) in London while driving. Discography Albums Reggae Charm (1970, Trojan Records) (with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires) Reggae Is Tight (1970, Trojan) Censored (1972, Lowbite) (as Lloydie and The Lowbites) Charmers in Session (1973, Trojan) Wildflower Original Reggae Hits (1974, Trojan) Too Hot To Handle (1975, Wildflower) Golden Days (1980, Sarge) Sweet Memories (1982, Echo) References External links Lloyd Charmers at Roots Archives 1938 births 2012 deaths Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican male singers Jamaican record producers Jamaican ska musicians Jamaican reggae singers Trojan Records artists Jamaican expatriates in England The Uniques (Jamaican group) members

1807266

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin%20Fargas

Justin Fargas

Justin Alejandro Fargas (born January 25, 1980) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Michigan and Southern California and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. College career Fargas attended the University of Michigan, as a highly regarded football prospect, for three years (1998–2000). He was named one of the Top 10 Freshmen in the country by Sports Illustrated. During his freshman year, he ran for 277 yards with 1 TD on 77 carries (3.6 avg.) in 10 games. He started there as a running back before switching to safety in the middle of the 2000 season. Yet his college career at Michigan was cut short during his freshman season when he broke his leg. He was redshirted in 1999 while he rehabilitated his broken right leg. After looking at both California and USC, Fargas chose to transfer to USC in 2001. Due to NCAA transfer rules he sat out the 2001 season. In 2002, his final season in college, Fargas rushed for 715 yards on 161 carries (4.4 yards per rush) with the Trojans. Track and field Fargas was also a track star at the University of Michigan. He recorded personal best of 10.37 seconds in the 100 meters while in high school at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California while qualifying for the 1998 CIF California State Meet and 50.13 seconds in the 400 meters in 2007 during the off season while playing for the Oakland Raiders. Fargas won the state championship in 1997. Personal bests Professional career 2003 NFL Combine Oakland Raiders Fargas played for seven seasons for the Oakland Raiders after being drafted in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. Fargas did not have many rushing attempts in his first several years. In 2006 he started six games and rushed 178 times for 659 yards and one touchdown. In 2007 he took over after LaMont Jordan became injured and had a 1,000-yard season, rushing for 1,009 yards on 222 carries and four touchdowns. He was the starting running back for the Raiders for most of the 2008 season and had 218 carries for 853 yards and one touchdown. He split time in 2009 with Darren McFadden and Michael Bush, and he was second on the team in rushing with 129 carries for 491 yards and three touchdowns. On March 6, 2010, he was released by the Raiders after reportedly failing his physical. Fargas disputed the claim. Denver Broncos Fargas signed with the Denver Broncos on August 11, 2010. They needed a running back after Knowshon Moreno, Correll Buckhalter, and LenDale White were all injured in training camp. It was his first action with a team since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in March. He was released by the Broncos on August 30, 2010. NFL statistics Rushing Stats Personal life Fargas is the son of Starsky and Hutch actor Antonio Fargas, who played Huggy Bear. His mother is Taylor Hastie, Director of Design and Trend for Expo Design Center and the Home Depot at their Atlanta headquarters. His half-brother is a film producer named Matthew Chausse. Justin was indirectly referenced in an early episode of The Simpsons, when a show titled "Old Starsky and Hutches" wins an Ace Award at a ceremony hosted by Homer as a Krusty the Klown impersonator. The award is accepted by "the son of the guy who played Huggy Bear". Fargas is married to former LSU women's basketball head coach Nikki Caldwell, who left to join the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces as team president in 2021 after Raiders owner Mark Davis acquired the Aces. The couple had their first child in March 2012. References External links Oakland Raiders bio CNN/SI player page CBS Sportsline USC Trojans football bio 1980 births Living people People from Encino, Los Angeles Players of American football from California American football running backs American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent American sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent Michigan Wolverines football players USC Trojans football players Oakland Raiders players Denver Broncos players Track and field athletes from California

62038314

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris%20Krebs

Chris Krebs

Christopher Cox Krebs (born 1977) is an American attorney who served as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security from November 2018 to November 2020. In November 2020, President Donald Trump fired Krebs for refuting Trump's claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Early life and education Krebs was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1977. He received a Bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia in 1999 and a Juris Doctor from the George Mason University School of Law in 2007. Career Krebs's professional work has focused on cybersecurity and risk management issues. He served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection, and later worked in the private sector as Director for Cybersecurity Policy for Microsoft. In March 2017, he became Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. In August 2017, he was appointed Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, and performed the duties of the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs until he was confirmed to that position on a permanent basis on June 15, 2018. In November 2018, the National Protection and Programs Directorate was replaced by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Krebs remained as director of the agency. It was reported that Krebs was being considered to serve as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security after the departure of Kevin McAleenan, although he was reported to be uninterested in the position. 2020 dismissal On November 12, 2020, it was reported that Krebs expected to be fired from his position; in part, this expectation was due to Krebs's role in creating a CISA website to debunk election-related disinformation, much of which was being promoted by President Donald Trump and his allies. As CISA's director, Krebs was the "administration's most senior cybersecurity official responsible for securing the presidential election". Sidney Powell, an attorney for Trump and Michael Flynn, asserted on the Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo Fox News programs that a secret government supercomputer program had switched votes from Trump to Biden in the election, a claim Krebs dismissed as "nonsense" and a "hoax." On November 17, 2020, Krebs said in a tweet that "59 election security experts all agree, 'in every case of which we are aware, these claims (of fraud) either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.'" Trump fired Krebs via Twitter the same day, because the "recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud". Trump provided no evidence of this fraud. Later that month, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, Joseph diGenova, called for Krebs to be "drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot". DiGenova's specific criticism was that Krebs "thinks the election went well". Krebs responded to diGenova's tweet in an op-ed in The Washington Post, saying "I am not going to be intimidated by these threats from telling the truth to the American people." On December 8, 2020, Krebs filed a civil lawsuit against diGenova, the Trump campaign, and Newsmax TV, accusing them of "defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, aiding and abetting, and civil conspiracy". He said that he has received "a barrage of threats and harassment" as a result of diGenova's comments and "faces a genuine risk of imminent harm". On January 10, 2021, Krebs suggested that Trump should resign the presidency following the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. Private-sector career After leaving office, Krebs joined former Facebook CISO Alex Stamos at the beginning of 2021 to form Krebs Stamos Group, a cybersecurity consultancy, which quickly landed its first customer, the recently-beleaguered SolarWinds. References External links Krebs Stamos Group official web site 1977 births Antonin Scalia Law School alumni Living people Microsoft employees Trump administration personnel United States Department of Homeland Security officials University of Virginia alumni People from Atlanta

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent%20Smith

Agent Smith

Agent Smith (later simply Smith) is a fictional character and the main antagonist of The Matrix franchise. He was primarily portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the first trilogy of films and voiced by Christopher Corey Smith in The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005), with Ian Bliss and Gideon Emery playing his human form, Bane, in the films and Path of Neo respectively. He also makes a cameo in the anime film The Animatrix (2003), voiced by Matt McKenzie. Jonathan Groff and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portray Smith in The Matrix Resurrections (2021), the latter playing Morpheus in a dual role. In 2008, Agent Smith was selected by Empire Magazine as the 84th Greatest Movie Character of All Time. In 2013, Weaving reprised the role for a General Electric advertisement. He is considered to be the archenemy of Neo who is the main protagonist of the story. Overview Smith began as an Agent, an AI program in the Matrix programmed to keep order within the system by terminating human simulacra which would bring instability to the simulated reality, as well as any rogue programs that no longer serve a purpose to the Machine collective. To this end, Smith and his fellow Agents possess a number of superhuman attributes from their ability to bend the rules of the Matrix. Smith manifests his physical form by inhabiting and overwriting the simulated body of a human wired into the Matrix; by moving from body to body, he can reform himself if he is "killed" (which only kills the host body) and appear virtually anywhere. He can overcome the limitations of gravity and the human body, giving him speed and strength sufficient to dodge bullets flawlessly, punch through concrete with his bare hands, and jump impossible distances. He and other Agents wear dark green business suits with matching neckties, white dress shirts, and sunglasses with rectangular lenses. They use earpiece radios that allow them to communicate with each other instantaneously and perceive the actions of other humans wired into the Matrix via a type of shared consciousness. When Smith removes his earpiece during the first film, he is left unaware of the attack on the building in which he is holding Morpheus. Smith is armed in the first film with the Desert Eagle, chambered for high-caliber .50 AE ammunition, as is standard with all Agents within the Matrix. At the end of the first film, Smith appears to have been deleted by Neo. However, in the sequels, Smith is revealed to have been linked to Neo, which enabled him to resist being sent to the Source – the Machines' mainframe, where obsolete or malfunctioning programs are deleted. No longer an Agent, Smith is liberated from the Machines' control and exists as a renegade program that manifests himself akin to a self-replicating computer virus compared to his original Agent-based ability to inhabit a single body wired into the Matrix. Smith gains the power to copy his physical form onto any entity in the Matrix by phasing his hand into their body and spreading a black liquid that transforms them into a copy of himself, resulting in an ever-growing army of Smiths connected by a single consciousness. By copying himself onto a human redpill in the process of disconnecting from the Matrix, Smith overwrites their consciousness and takes control of their body in the real world. This is seen when Smith takes over Bane's body in The Matrix Reloaded; however, he is repelled when he attempts to do the same to Morpheus and Neo. Smith's real power comes from his ability to absorb memories and powers from his victims, human and program alike, culminating in him taking over the Oracle and fighting Neo in the final battle of the Matrix series. Neo allows himself to be overwritten during the battle, thus giving the Machines an opportunity to delete Smith and return the Matrix and its inhabitants to normal. Character history The Matrix In the first film, Smith is one of the three Agents sent to deal with Morpheus. After Neo is successfully removed from the Matrix, Smith arranges Morpheus' capture by bribing Cypher, a disillusioned member of Morpheus' crew, with reintegration into The Matrix. Upon his capture of Morpheus, he then attempts, to no avail, to get Morpheus to supply the codes to Zion's mainframe, eventually being forced to admit to Morpheus his personal motives of wishing to get away from the Matrix regarding his accessing its mainframe. Ironically, this has him missing key intel about Neo and Trinity's entry into Morpheus's holding area due to removing his earpiece briefly. When Neo manages to free Morpheus, Smith, after ordering the dispatch of Sentinels to the Nebuchadezzer, then interferes with Neo's escape, with Neo managing to put up a fight against Smith while the latter dominated the fight overall, and narrowly win by breaking free of Smith when the latter tried to force him to be run over by a train. However, he survived and proceeded alongside his fellow Agents engage in a lengthy cross-town chase. Shortly after Neo escapes the fight, Smith guns him down, having anticipated his destination. Neo revives, realizes his power as the One, and enters Smith, to destroy him from within. The Matrix Reloaded As a result of his contact with Neo from the first film, Smith is "unplugged" in the second film, no longer an Agent of the system but a "free man". This is signified by the lack of an earpiece, which he sends to Neo in an envelope as a message early in the film. His appearance has changed in the second film as well; his sunglasses now have an angular shape different from the Agents' oblong lenses, approximating the shape of the ones Neo wears. His suit and tie are now jet black, as opposed to the dark green tint from the first film. He still possesses the abilities of an Agent, but instead of being able to jump from one human to another, he is able to copy himself over any human or program in the Matrix through direct contact; this includes humans wired into the Matrix, non-Agent programs with human forms, redpills, and other Agents. Smith retains the memories and abilities, if any, of the one over which he copies himself. This ability is much like how a virus replicates, creating an ironic contrast with the first film, where Smith likens humanity to a virus. He also implies after Neo defeated his replacement agents Thompson, Jackson, and Johnson that Smith had existed during and was familiar with at least the fifth iteration of the Matrix and the events therein. He makes the claim that Neo has set him free. However, he believes there is an unseen purpose that still binds him to Neo. He tries to copy his programming onto Neo, but when this fails, he and dozens of his clones attack him, forcing Neo to flee. Later, he and his clones try to stop Neo from reaching the machine mainframe, without success, although he nonetheless was successful in mortally wounding the Keymaker. Smith copies himself onto Bane (Ian Bliss), a crew member of the Zion hovercraft Caduceus. While waiting to leave the Matrix with a message from The Oracle, Bane is attacked and overwritten by Smith, who then takes control of his body in the real world. Smith tests his control over the body by making Bane cut his own arm, in preparation for an assassination attempt on Neo that he quickly abandons. He later sabotages the Zion fleet's defense of the city by triggering one ship's electromagnetic pulse weapon too early, knocking out the other ships and allowing the Sentinels to overrun them. The Matrix Revolutions By the start of the third film, Smith has managed to copy himself over nearly every humanoid in the Matrix, giving him complete control over the "Core Network" (the underlying foundation of the inner workings of the Matrix), thus rendering him unstoppable even for the Machines themselves. The Oracle explains to Neo that he and Smith have become equal in power and that Smith is Neo's negative, a result of the Matrix's equation trying to balance itself. She tells Neo that Smith will destroy both the Matrix and the real world unless he is stopped. Smith soon assimilates the Oracle, gaining her power of foresight, and later manifests reality-bending powers equivalent to Neo's, such as the ability to fly. Meanwhile, in the real world, Bane (now under Smith's control) stows away on a ship being used by Neo and Trinity and tries to kill them both. Neo is blinded in the fight, but discovers that his new awareness of Machine technology allows him to perceive Smith's essence despite his destroyed eyes, allowing him to take Smith by surprise and kill him. Near the climax of the film, Neo offers a deal with the Machines to get rid of Smith in exchange for Zion's safety, warning them that Smith is beyond their control and will eventually spread to the machine city, which will result in destruction of both mankind and machines. Knowing that Neo is right, the Machines agree to his terms and command all Sentinels attacking Zion to stand down and wait for orders. They later give Neo a connection to enter the Matrix to stop Smith on their behalf. Although the Matrix is now populated exclusively by Smith and his clones, the Smith that has obtained the Oracle's powers battles Neo alone; as he explains, he has foreseen his victory, and has no need for the help of his copies. The two are almost evenly matched as the fight begins, though Neo's combat abilities seem arguably superior to that of Smith, the latter attacking more out of brute force, rather than the technical skill he displayed in the first film. This lasts, until Neo is able to punch Smith strongly enough to slam him into the street at least 20ft away. As the fight continues, however, it becomes clear that Neo cannot win with his finite stamina against the tireless Smith, who begins to dominate Neo in the fight; by the end of the fight, he is able to brutally beat Neo into near defeat. In the midst of this battle, Smith explains to Neo his final nihilistic revelation: "It was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end." When Neo is near defeat, Smith demands to know why he continues to fight despite knowing he cannot win. Neo calmly responds, "Because I choose to" and is savagely pummeled by the enraged Smith as a result. Suddenly recognizing the scene from his prophecy, Smith is compelled to deliver the line he said in it: "I say.... Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo." His own words confuse and frighten him and Neo realizes that he cannot overpower Smith and allows himself to be assimilated. Because Agent Smith has assimilated the anomaly (Neo), he is now directly connected to the Source through Neo and the machines are able to destroy all copies of his programming and reboot the Matrix without errors. The process apparently kills Neo, but it also purges the Matrix of Smith's infection, restoring all who had been infected to their original forms. Neo's body is carried away by the machines, and an uncertain peace is established between Zion and the machine world. The Matrix Resurrections Smith returns in The Matrix Resurrections, portrayed by Jonathan Groff. Despite his defeat at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, Smith survived destruction because Neo survived, though he lost the ability to copy himself over others, instead retaining only the abilities he possessed when he was an Agent. When the Analyst created the new version of the Matrix in order to keep Neo subdued so that the Machines' energy crisis could be solved, Smith took on a new shell in order to remain hidden. The Analyst, the creator of the new Matrix, found that Neo and Smith were bonded, and he chose to turn that bond into a 'chain': as Neo was suppressed, Smith was similarly suppressed, taking the role of Thomas Anderson's business partner, with an eye for the bottom line. Neo, in his original persona of Thomas Anderson, created a video game series based on his suppressed memories. After Neo reawakens to the Matrix, Smith regained his memories and attacked Neo, stating that he had come to like the freedom that he had been granted, and that Neo's potential return to unawareness threatened that freedom. Smith then appears at Simulatte, during Neo and Trinity's confrontation with the Analyst, saving and aides them in fighting the Analyst's forces. Smith shoots the Analyst, causing him to vanish. Addressing Neo as Tom, Smith declares their unexpected alliance to be over, and stats that the difference between the two of them is that "anyone could've been you whereas I've always been anyone." Smith then departs from his host body, leaving the man confused by the experience. Neo also subconsciously created a version of Agent Smith in a modal influenced by his suppressed memories. This version of Agent Smith (portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) was based upon Neo's memories of Morpheus amalgamated with his memories of the original Agent Smith, and was set free by Bugs, and became the new Morpheus. In other media The Animatrix While it is unknown if it is actually him or merely just another Agent, an Agent with a heavy resemblance to Smith appears in The Animatrix film "Beyond", ordering a group of exterminators to capture Yoko and a group of kids and destroy a programming glitch in the form of an abandoned building that was causing whoever entered there to achieve complex athletic stunts without danger of serious injury or death. Earlier, he and the Agents perceived the abandoned building as an instability to the Matrix programming, and were already planning to eliminate it. Another Agent appears in "World Record," again resembling Smith, but wearing a trench coat over his usual suit and tie, where he and his fellow Agents attempt to stop a marathon runner named Dan from breaking a world record and disrupting his "signal," or connection to the Matrix, which means being able to escape from the Matrix. The Agents possess Dan's competitors and try to stop him from reaching the finish line and break his record. He appears in the end, reporting that Dan is a wheelchair user and thus unable to run or walk again, until he notices him trying to get up and whisper "free," enraging him. However, when Dan instead falls on the floor and is helped up, the Agent is nowhere to be seen. The Matrix Online Despite his destruction at the end of the film series, Agent Smith (or at least the remnants of his programming) managed to return and made several appearances inside the movie's official continuation, the MMORPG The Matrix Online. The first infection was noted in Machine mission controller Agent Gray, whose background information confirms that he was overwritten by Smith at some point during the timeline of the second and third films. This infection had somehow survived the reboot at the end of the third film and rose to the surface once again during chapter 1.2, The Hunt For Morpheus. The Agent, in both a storyline related mission and live event, showed signs of uncharacteristic speech and emotion and eventually led an assault against Zionist redpills declaring 'their stench unbearable any longer'. As a result of his actions the agent was apprehended by his fellow system representatives and scheduled for a 'thorough code cleansing'. He has shown no signs of direct infection since. Machine liaison officer DifferenceEngine, following a similar scenario to that of the previous Agent Gray infection, also took on the dialect and emotional characteristics of the famous exile agent. Instead of attacking redpills, this instance insisted on finding 'Mr. Anderson'. In the end, the human/machine head relations liaison, Agent Pace, was made aware of the program's infection and subsequent crusade; she proceeded to lock down his RSI and return his program to the Source for analysis. His subsequent fate is unknown. The third victim of infection was the notorious bluepill Shane Black. This man was an unfortunate victim of the Smith Virus who, once infected, gained the ability to spread the code to others. This quickly led to a small scale outbreak, with several more bluepills becoming infected and joining forces in their hunt for power. He and the other infected were eventually cleansed and returned to their bluepill lives. Shane Black's troubles continued, as he was one of the bluepills recorded to have first witnessed Unlimited redpills practicing their newfound powers at the Uriah wharf. This triggered a resurgence of the memories formed during his Smith infection and he soon became volatile and insane. He is reported to have been mercifully killed shortly afterwards. The most recent appearance of the Smith virus was during the third anniversary events. The virus manifested itself in the form of black-suited men (although they lacked the distinct likeness of Smith). As redpills began to fight back using specialist code from the Oracle, the virus vanished suddenly, stating that he had obtained a new and more dangerous form. The nature of this form was never revealed. The Matrix: Path of Neo The Matrix: Path of Neo, a video game covering the events of the entire film trilogy, features a different ending than that shown in The Matrix Revolutions, with a new final boss: the MegaSmith. The MegaSmith was used for gameplay reasons, because though the Wachowskis thought the martyr approach suitable for film, they also believed that in an interactive medium such as a video game (based upon the successful completion of goals), this would not work. So, this character was created to be the more appropriate "final boss" of Path of Neo, with the final battle described by the siblings as "A little Hulk versus Galactus action". The MegaSmith is composed of destroyed buildings, cars, and parts of the road, with the "spectator Smiths" standing around the crater and in the streets acting as the MegaSmith's muscles, resulting in Smith not only becoming the city's people, but the city itself. After Neo knocks Smith into the crater in the level "Aerial Battle", Smith is sent flying through the ground and up through the street. As Neo relaxes, the surrounding Smiths walk away from the crater and begin assembling a gigantic, thirty-storey tall version of Smith from debris and vehicles. Neo flies up to face MegaSmith. After the fight, in which Neo significantly damages MegaSmith, Neo flies straight into MegaSmith's mouth, causing the Smiths throughout the Matrix to overload and explode. The player is then shown a short scene from The Matrix: Revolutions of the streets shining with light emanating from the destroyed Smiths. The Lego Batman Movie (2017) Agent Smith briefly appears in The Lego Batman Movie. He appears as one of the inmates of the Phantom Zone. Agent Smith and his clones appear surveilling Joker's vandalized Wayne Island, and later appear as one of the multiple enemies attacking the heroes. Smith's clones also appear as enemies in the Lego Batman Movie story pack for Lego Dimensions, adapting their role in the film. His voice actor was uncredited. Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) Agent Smith also appeared in the live-action/animated film Space Jam: A New Legacy, which was also distributed by Warner Bros. He is among the Warner Bros. Serververse inhabitants that watch the basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad. Personality From the start it is evident that Agent Smith is significantly stronger, smarter, and more individualistic than the other Agents. While the other agents rarely act without consulting each other via their earpieces, to the point where they often finish each other's sentences, Smith is usually the one giving orders or using his earpiece to gather information for his own ends. Smith also appears to be the leader of other Agents in the first film, as he has the authority to launch Sentinel attacks in the real world. As with other Agents, Smith generally approaches problems through a pragmatic point of view but, if necessary, will also act with brute force and apparent rage, especially when provoked by Neo. The earpieces represent some form of control mechanism by the machines. It is notable that when he is interrogating Morpheus, he sends the other agents from the room, then removes his earpiece, releasing himself from the link to the machines before expressing his opinion of humanity. Early in the second film, Smith's earpiece is sent to Neo in an envelope as a message from Smith, representing Smith's newfound freedom. Agent Smith complains to Morpheus that the Matrix and its inhabitants smell disgusting, "if there is such a thing [as smell]". Smith has an open hatred of humans and their weakness of the flesh. He compares humanity to a virus; a disease organism that uncontrollably replicates and would inevitably destroy their environment were it not for the machine intelligences keeping them in check. Ironically, Smith eventually becomes a computer virus, multiplying until he has overrun the entire Matrix. At the same time, Smith develops an animosity towards the Matrix itself, feeling that he is as much a prisoner of it as the humans he is tasked with controlling. He later develops an immense and increasingly open desire for the destruction of both mankind and machines. He was also shown to be a nihilist, which eventually culminates in his statement that the purpose of life is to end, and crediting Neo's life for his determining this. During his final showdown with Neo, Smith angrily dismisses causes such as freedom, truth, peace, and love as simply human attempts to justify a meaningless and purposeless existence, and is completely unable to comprehend why Neo continues to fight him despite the knowledge that he cannot win. The Wachowskis have commented that Smith's gradual humanization throughout The Matrix is a process intended to mirror and balance Neo's own increasing power and understanding of the machine world. A writer at The Guardian commented that Smith seems to enjoy his job too much. Portrayal French actor Jean Reno was originally offered the role of Agent Smith in The Matrix, but he declined as he was at one point of his career in which he did not want to leave his native France, unwilling to move to Australia for a four-and-a-half months shooting. Hugo Weaving was ultimately cast as Smith. According to Weaving, he enjoyed playing the character because it amused him. He went to develop a neutral accent but with more specific character for the role. He wanted Smith to sound neither human nor robotic. He also said that the Wachowskis' voices influenced his voice in the film. When filming for The Matrix began, Weaving mentioned that he was excited to be a part of something that would extend him. Following the announcement that Warner Bros. was planning a relaunch of The Matrix franchise, Hugo Weaving stated that he was open to reprising the role but only if the Wachowskis were involved. In 2019, The Matrix Resurrections was confirmed for a 2021 release, but Weaving would not be returning. Originally, Weaving was approached to reprise the role by Lana Wachowski, but he had scheduling conflicts with his involvement in Tony Kushner's theatrical adaptation of The Visit, leading Wachowski to conclude that the dates would not work and write him out from the film. Jonathan Groff was cast to replace Weaving in the role, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portraying a version of Smith inside a modal created by Neo. Design All Agents (other than Agents Perry and Pace from The Matrix Online game, and the modal version of Agent Smith that becomes Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections) are white males, as opposed to the population of Zion, which contains people of many ethnic groups. Agents wear rectangular sunglasses, dark green business suits and neckties, and earpiece radios; after Smith loses his status as an Agent, his suit and tie turn black, his sunglasses take on an angled contour that approximates the rounded shape of the ones Neo wears, and he removes his earpiece and sends it to Neo. In contrast to the other Agents who show apathy toward the human race, Smith harbors an acute disgust with humanity. In the first film, he expresses a desire to leave the Matrix to escape its repulsive taint, and reasons that with Zion destroyed, his services will no longer be required, allowing him in some sense to 'leave' the Matrix. This at least partially explains his extreme antagonism towards Neo, who fights relentlessly to save Zion. Other Agents have common English names like Brown, Jones, and Thompson. It was mentioned in the Philosopher Commentary on the DVD collection that the names of Smith, Brown, and Jones may be endemic to the system itself, demonstrating a very "robotic" mindset on the part of the Machines. Neo's solitary role as the One is contrasted by Smith, who, by replicating himself, becomes "the many". When Neo asks the Oracle about Smith, the Oracle explains that Smith is Neo's opposite and his negative, the result of the Matrix's governing equations trying to balance themselves. Unlike the other characters in The Matrix, Smith almost always refers to Neo as "Mr. Anderson". He calls him "Neo" only once in each part of the trilogy: the first time when he is interviewing Neo about his double life, the second when he is dropping off his earpiece for Neo, and the third when he is repeating a line of his vision to Neo. Weaving said of the film series in 2003 that it was always going to be a trilogy, and that as Neo's nemesis, Smith was always going to be there, describing Smith as "more of a free agent" later on in the series. Reception Christopher Borrelli praised the writing of Smith, noting that the character "had all the good lines", and praising Weaving's portrayal of the character as showing "refreshingly nihilistic wit". The character has been described as a 1950s "organization man", like Sergeant Joe Friday from Dragnet. Hugo Weaving reprised the role of Smith in a parody used for a 2013 GE General Electric advertisement, in which multiple copies of him appear throughout a hospital and the advertisement concludes with Smith offering a choice of a red or blue lollipop to a boy. See also Men in black Simulated reality References External links Fictional artificial intelligences Fictional assassins Film characters introduced in 1999 Fictional characters who can duplicate themselves Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds Fictional characters with superhuman strength Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities Fictional computer viruses Fictional government agents Fictional mass murderers Fictional nihilists Fictional superorganisms Fictional super soldiers Martial artist characters in films Science fiction film characters The Matrix (franchise) characters Advertising characters Male film villains Male supervillains Film supervillains Video game bosses Action film villains Male characters in advertising

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer%20overflow%20protection

Buffer overflow protection

Buffer overflow protection is any of various techniques used during software development to enhance the security of executable programs by detecting buffer overflows on stack-allocated variables, and preventing them from causing program misbehavior or from becoming serious security vulnerabilities. A stack buffer overflow occurs when a program writes to a memory address on the program's call stack outside of the intended data structure, which is usually a fixed-length buffer. Stack buffer overflow bugs are caused when a program writes more data to a buffer located on the stack than what is actually allocated for that buffer. This almost always results in corruption of adjacent data on the stack, which could lead to program crashes, incorrect operation, or security issues. Typically, buffer overflow protection modifies the organization of stack-allocated data so it includes a canary value that, when destroyed by a stack buffer overflow, shows that a buffer preceding it in memory has been overflowed. By verifying the canary value, execution of the affected program can be terminated, preventing it from misbehaving or from allowing an attacker to take control over it. Other buffer overflow protection techniques include bounds checking, which checks accesses to each allocated block of memory so they cannot go beyond the actually allocated space, and tagging, which ensures that memory allocated for storing data cannot contain executable code. Overfilling a buffer allocated on the stack is more likely to influence program execution than overfilling a buffer on the heap because the stack contains the return addresses for all active function calls. However, similar implementation-specific protections also exist against heap-based overflows. There are several implementations of buffer overflow protection, including those for the GNU Compiler Collection, LLVM, Microsoft Visual Studio, and other compilers. Overview A stack buffer overflow occurs when a program writes to a memory address on the program's call stack outside of the intended data structure, which is usually a fixed-length buffer. Stack buffer overflow bugs are caused when a program writes more data to a buffer located on the stack than what is actually allocated for that buffer. This almost always results in corruption of adjacent data on the stack, and in cases where the overflow was triggered by mistake, will often cause the program to crash or operate incorrectly. Stack buffer overflow is a type of the more general programming malfunction known as buffer overflow (or buffer overrun). Overfilling a buffer on the stack is more likely to derail program execution than overfilling a buffer on the heap because the stack contains the return addresses for all active function calls. Stack buffer overflow can be caused deliberately as part of an attack known as stack smashing. If the affected program is running with special privileges, or if it accepts data from untrusted network hosts (for example, a public webserver), then the bug is a potential security vulnerability that allows an attacker to inject executable code into the running program and take control of the process. This is one of the oldest and more reliable methods for attackers to gain unauthorized access to a computer. Typically, buffer overflow protection modifies the organization of data in the stack frame of a function call to include a "canary" value that, when destroyed, shows that a buffer preceding it in memory has been overflowed. This provides the benefit of preventing an entire class of attacks. According to some researchers, the performance impact of these techniques is negligible. Stack-smashing protection is unable to protect against certain forms of attack. For example, it cannot protect against buffer overflows in the heap. There is no sane way to alter the layout of data within a structure; structures are expected to be the same between modules, especially with shared libraries. Any data in a structure after a buffer is impossible to protect with canaries; thus, programmers must be very careful about how they organize their variables and use their structures. Canaries Canaries or canary words are known values that are placed between a buffer and control data on the stack to monitor buffer overflows. When the buffer overflows, the first data to be corrupted will usually be the canary, and a failed verification of the canary data will therefore alert of an overflow, which can then be handled, for example, by invalidating the corrupted data. A canary value should not be confused with a sentinel value. The terminology is a reference to the historic practice of using canaries in coal mines, since they would be affected by toxic gases earlier than the miners, thus providing a biological warning system. Canaries are alternately known as cookies, which is meant to evoke the image of a "broken cookie" when the value is corrupted. There are three types of canaries in use: terminator, random, and random XOR. Current versions of StackGuard support all three, while ProPolice supports terminator and random canaries. Terminator canaries Terminator canaries use the observation that most buffer overflow attacks are based on certain string operations which end at string terminators. The reaction to this observation is that the canaries are built of null terminators, CR, LF, and FF. As a result, the attacker must write a null character before writing the return address to avoid altering the canary. This prevents attacks using strcpy() and other methods that return upon copying a null character, while the undesirable result is that the canary is known. Even with the protection, an attacker could potentially overwrite the canary with its known value and control information with mismatched values, thus passing the canary check code, which is executed soon before the specific processor's return-from-call instruction. Random canaries Random canaries are randomly generated, usually from an entropy-gathering daemon, in order to prevent an attacker from knowing their value. Usually, it is not logically possible or plausible to read the canary for exploiting; the canary is a secure value known only by those who need to know it—the buffer overflow protection code in this case. Normally, a random canary is generated at program initialization, and stored in a global variable. This variable is usually padded by unmapped pages, so that attempting to read it using any kinds of tricks that exploit bugs to read off RAM cause a segmentation fault, terminating the program. It may still be possible to read the canary, if the attacker knows where it is, or can get the program to read from the stack. Random XOR canaries Random XOR canaries are random canaries that are XOR-scrambled using all or part of the control data. In this way, once the canary or the control data is clobbered, the canary value is wrong. Random XOR canaries have the same vulnerabilities as random canaries, except that the "read from stack" method of getting the canary is a bit more complicated. The attacker must get the canary, the algorithm, and the control data in order to re-generate the original canary needed to spoof the protection. In addition, random XOR canaries can protect against a certain type of attack involving overflowing a buffer in a structure into a pointer to change the pointer to point at a piece of control data. Because of the XOR encoding, the canary will be wrong if the control data or return value is changed. Because of the pointer, the control data or return value can be changed without overflowing over the canary. Although these canaries protect the control data from being altered by clobbered pointers, they do not protect any other data or the pointers themselves. Function pointers especially are a problem here, as they can be overflowed into and can execute shellcode when called. Bounds checking Bounds checking is a compiler-based technique that adds run-time bounds information for each allocated block of memory, and checks all pointers against those at run-time. For C and C++, bounds checking can be performed at pointer calculation time or at dereference time. Implementations of this approach use either a central repository, which describes each allocated block of memory, or fat pointers, which contain both the pointer and additional data, describing the region that they point to. Tagging Tagging is a compiler-based or hardware-based (requiring a tagged architecture) technique for tagging the type of a piece of data in memory, used mainly for type checking. By marking certain areas of memory as non-executable, it effectively prevents memory allocated to store data from containing executable code. Also, certain areas of memory can be marked as non-allocated, preventing buffer overflows. Historically, tagging has been used for implementing high-level programming languages; with appropriate support from the operating system, tagging can also be used to detect buffer overflows. An example is the NX bit hardware feature, supported by Intel, AMD and ARM processors. Implementations GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) Stack-smashing protection was first implemented by StackGuard in 1997, and published at the 1998 USENIX Security Symposium. StackGuard was introduced as a set of patches to the Intel x86 backend of GCC 2.7. StackGuard was maintained for the Immunix Linux distribution from 1998 to 2003, and was extended with implementations for terminator, random and random XOR canaries. StackGuard was suggested for inclusion in GCC 3.x at the GCC 2003 Summit Proceedings, but this was never achieved. From 2001 to 2005, IBM developed GCC patches for stack-smashing protection, known as ProPolice. It improved on the idea of StackGuard by placing buffers after local pointers and function arguments in the stack frame. This helped avoid the corruption of pointers, preventing access to arbitrary memory locations. Red Hat engineers identified problems with ProPolice though, and in 2005 re-implemented stack-smashing protection for inclusion in GCC 4.1. This work introduced the -fstack-protector flag, which protects only some vulnerable functions, and the -fstack-protector-all flag, which protects all functions whether they need it or not. In 2012, Google engineers implemented the -fstack-protector-strong flag to strike a better balance between security and performance. This flag protects more kinds of vulnerable functions than -fstack-protector does, but not every function, providing better performance than -fstack-protector-all. It is available in GCC since its version 4.9. All Fedora packages are compiled with -fstack-protector since Fedora Core 5, and -fstack-protector-strong since Fedora 20. Most packages in Ubuntu are compiled with -fstack-protector since 6.10. Every Arch Linux package is compiled with -fstack-protector since 2011. All Arch Linux packages built since 4 May 2014 use -fstack-protector-strong. Stack protection is only used for some packages in Debian, and only for the FreeBSD base system since 8.0. Stack protection is standard in certain operating systems, including OpenBSD, Hardened Gentoo and DragonFly BSD . StackGuard and ProPolice cannot protect against overflows in automatically allocated structures that overflow into function pointers. ProPolice at least will rearrange the allocation order to get such structures allocated before function pointers. A separate mechanism for pointer protection was proposed in PointGuard and is available on Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Visual Studio The compiler suite from Microsoft implements buffer overflow protection since version 2003 through the command-line switch, which is enabled by default since version 2005. Using disables the protection. IBM Compiler Stack-smashing protection can be turned on by the compiler flag -qstackprotect. Clang/LLVM Clang supports three buffer overflow detectors, namely AddressSanitizer (-fsanitize=address), -fsanitize=bounds, and SafeCode. These systems have different tradeoffs in terms of performance penalty, memory overhead, and classes of detected bugs. Stack protection is standard in certain operating systems, including OpenBSD. Intel Compiler Intel's C and C++ compiler supports stack-smashing protection with options similar to those provided by GCC and Microsoft Visual Studio. Fail-Safe C Fail-Safe C is an open-source memory-safe ANSI C compiler that performs bounds checking based on fat pointers and object-oriented memory access. StackGhost (hardware-based) Invented by Mike Frantzen, StackGhost is a simple tweak to the register window spill/fill routines which makes buffer overflows much more difficult to exploit. It uses a unique hardware feature of the Sun Microsystems SPARC architecture (that being: deferred on-stack in-frame register window spill/fill) to detect modifications of return pointers (a common way for an exploit to hijack execution paths) transparently, automatically protecting all applications without requiring binary or source modifications. The performance impact is negligible, less than one percent. The resulting gdb issues were resolved by Mark Kettenis two years later, allowing enabling of the feature. Following this event, the StackGhost code was integrated (and optimized) into OpenBSD/SPARC. A canary example Normal buffer allocation for x86 architectures and other similar architectures is shown in the buffer overflow entry. Here, we will show the modified process as it pertains to StackGuard. When a function is called, a stack frame is created. A stack frame is built from the end of memory to the beginning; and each stack frame is placed on the top of the stack, closest to the beginning of memory. Thus, running off the end of a piece of data in a stack frame alters data previously entered into the stack frame; and running off the end of a stack frame places data into the previous stack frame. A typical stack frame may look as below, having a return address (RETA) placed first, followed by other control information (CTLI). (CTLI)(RETA) In C, a function may contain many different per-call data structures. Each piece of data created on call is placed in the stack frame in order, and is thus ordered from the end to the beginning of memory. Below is a hypothetical function and its stack frame. int foo() { int a; /* integer */ int *b; /* pointer to integer */ char c[10]; /* character arrays */ char d[3]; b = &a; /* initialize b to point to location of a */ strcpy(c,get_c()); /* get c from somewhere, write it to c */ *b = 5; /* the data at the point in memory b indicates is set to 5 */ strcpy(d,get_d()); return *b; /* read from b and pass it to the caller */ } (d..)(c.........)(b...)(a...)(CTLI)(RETA) In this hypothetical situation, if more than ten bytes are written to the array , or more than 13 to the character array , the excess will overflow into integer pointer , then into integer , then into the control information, and finally the return address. By overwriting , the pointer is made to reference any position in memory, causing a read from an arbitrary address. By overwriting RETA, the function can be made to execute other code (when it attempts to return), either existing functions (ret2libc) or code written into the stack during the overflow. In a nutshell, poor handling of and , such as the unbounded strcpy() calls above, may allow an attacker to control a program by influencing the values assigned to and directly. The goal of buffer overflow protection is to detect this issue in the least intrusive way possible. This is done by removing what can be out of harms way and placing a sort of tripwire, or canary, after the buffer. Buffer overflow protection is implemented as a change to the compiler. As such, it is possible for the protection to alter the structure of the data on the stack frame. This is exactly the case in systems such as ProPolice. The above function's automatic variables are rearranged more safely: arrays and are allocated first in the stack frame, which places integer and integer pointer before them in memory. So the stack frame becomes (b...)(a...)(d..)(c.........)(CTLI)(RETA) As it is impossible to move CTLI or RETA without breaking the produced code, another tactic is employed. An extra piece of information, called a "canary" (CNRY), is placed after the buffers in the stack frame. When the buffers overflow, the canary value is changed. Thus, to effectively attack the program, an attacker must leave definite indication of his attack. The stack frame is (b...)(a...)(d..)(c.........)(CNRY)(CTLI)(RETA) At the end of every function there is an instruction which continues execution from the memory address indicated by RETA. Before this instruction is executed, a check of CNRY ensures it has not been altered. If the value of CNRY fails the test, program execution is ended immediately. In essence, both deliberate attacks and inadvertent programming bugs result in a program abort. The canary technique adds a few instructions of overhead for every function call with an automatic array, immediately before all dynamic buffer allocation and after dynamic buffer deallocation. The overhead generated in this technique is not significant. It does work, though, unless the canary remains unchanged. If the attacker knows that it's there, and can determine the value of the canary, they may simply copy over it with itself. This is usually difficult to arrange intentionally, and highly improbable in unintentional situations. The position of the canary is implementation specific, but it is always between the buffers and the protected data. Varied positions and lengths have varied benefits. See also Sentinel value (which is not to be confused with a canary value) Control-flow integrity Address space layout randomization Executable space protection Memory debugger Static code analysis References External links The GCC 2003 Summit Proceedings (PDF) Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit by Aleph One ProPolice official home Immunix StackGuard Homepage Original StackGuard paper in USENIX Security 1998 StackGhost: Hardware Facilitated Stack Protection FreeBSD 5.4 and 6.2 propolice implementation Four different tricks to bypass StackShield and StackGuard protection Stack Smashing Protector Software bugs Computer security exploits

8794419

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20open-access%20projects

List of open-access projects

Some of the most important open-access (OA) publishing projects or lists of such projects are listed below. OA software OA journal software Free, open source software for open access journal publishing is available for those wishing to start up new journals, for example, the Open Journal Systems (OJS) developed by the Public Knowledge Project and HyperJournal developed by volunteers, but now partially funded by the political science faculty of Pisa University. While OJS and HyperJournal are designed for academic publishing, they can be used by anyone. OA repository software Free, open source software for creating open access Institutional Repositories is available for institutions who do not yet have a repository, for example: DSpace EPrints Fedora Institutional and central repositories A repository is different from a journal. It includes peer-reviewed journal articles from many journals self-archived by their authors, as well as other kinds of material. Most repositories are distributed, institutional and cross-disciplinary, and some are central, cross-institutional and discipline-based. Here are some examples of central, discipline-based repositories (For Institutional Repositories, see Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR). arXiv: Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics, Quantitative Biology, Quant. Finance OA Archive (central) bioRxiv: preprint repository for the biological sciences (central) ViXra: similar in spirit to arXiv, but specializing in unorthodox and fringe science. CogPrints: Cognitive Sciences OA Archive (central) Citebase: Citation-linked browser (harvested from distributed websites) Citeseer: Computer Science (harvested from distributed websites) OpenMED@NIC: An open access archive for Medical and Allied Sciences PubMed Central: the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature Research Papers in Economics: a collaborative effort of over 100 volunteers in 45 countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, journal articles and software components. All RePEc material is freely available. NNMATH a project in progress to create an open access database of reviews of mathematical articles. Neliti - Central open access repository for Indonesian research managed by the National Library of Indonesia. CSIR-Central - Central platform of CSIR India OAI-PMH Digital Repositories and Harvester service Science-Central - Central platform of DST and DBT India OAI-PMH Digital Repositories and Harvester service socArXiv - Open archive of the social sciences Social Science Research Network - The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is a website devoted to the rapid dissemination of scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities Think Asia - open access repository for research by Asian think tanks Harvesters and registries of repositories The CORE system aggregates millions of metadata records and full-text scholarly papers from hundreds of Open Access repositories. University of Illinois OAI-PMH Data Provider Registry Directory of Open Access Repositories OAIster list ROAR Registry of Open Access Repositories RockYourPaper European Guide to OAI-PMH Digital Repositories in the World CSIR-Central - Harvester service for Institutional Repositories of CSIR(India) Institutes Science-Central - Harvester service for Institutional Repositories of DBT and DST(India) Institutes Open Access Library - Open access database of scientific research papers Open access publishers Some notable open access publishers are: BioMed Central Frontiers Hindawi Publishing Corporation MDPI PLOS: Public Library of Science SciELO Poltekkes Kemenkes Kendari (academic publisher) Open Access at the University of Pittsburgh Publishers of hybrid open access journals Springer (Offers open access as an option in all its 1200+ journals) Elsevier (Offers open access as an option in many of its 2000+ journals) Lists of open access journals (all fields, not institution-specific) Directory of Open Access Journals Journals4Free JournalSeek LivRe Open J-Gate University of Nevada Collection of Free Electronic Journals Open access publishing Scientific Journals published by CSIC, covering subjects in Science, Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences. Perspectivia.net Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek Jan Szczepanski's lists of OA-journals Lists of open access journals limited to certain fields Geoscience e-Journals Other OA content Open access encyclopedias Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: an academic encyclopedia, produced by philosophy scholars Our World in Data: an academic encyclopedia on global change, written by researchers at the University of Oxford Wikipedia: not necessarily written by academic authors Interdisciplinary Documentation on Religion and Science: "a natural expansion of the work carried out preparing the Dizionario Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede, published in Italian in 2002 (Rome: Urbaniana University Press - Citta Nuova, 2002), partly translated into English and offered here on-line." Open access image databases CAPL: Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon Multilingual, visual lexicon from Washington & Jefferson College Digital Public Library of America New York Public Library Digital Gallery German National Image Database for Art and Architecture Policies and timelines Peter Suber's list of the better lists Registry of Open Access Repository Material Archiving Policies (ROARMAP) ROMEO/Eprints Registry of Journal Self-Archiving Policies SHERPA/RoMEO Registry of Publisher Self-Archiving Policies Peter Suber's lists related to the OA movement Peter Suber's list of OA-related conferences and workshops Peter Suber's timeline of the OA movement Peter Suber's list of what you can do to promote open access An Open Letter to the U.S. Congress Signed by 25 Nobel Prize Winners (August 26, 2004) in support of a bill requiring all research funded by the National Institutes of Health to be published in an open access form Other open access resources Scilit: Rankings, Publishers, Journals, Proceedings Open Access to Scientific Literature - OASE PLEIADI: Portal for the Italian Electronic Literature in Open and Institutional Archives Beyond Open Access: Open Discourse, the next great equalizer, Retrovirology 2006, 3:55 OA Volunteer Support Group Australian Open Access Support Group Malaysian Open Access Support Group Open Access India Open Access Bangladesh Open Access Nepal Open Access Africa Open Access Tunisie Open Access in Arab Countries Open Access Pakistan Open Access to Italian Research Acceso Abierto (Open Access) y Métricas Alternativas (Altmetrics) Open Access Week- Philippines Open access research tools FreeFullPDF Search engine for multidisciplinary free scientific papers Jurn a search-engine for 3,800 open ejournals in the arts and humanities Open Medical Abstracts an abstracting service covering hundreds of open ejournals in medical sciences and clinical practice. Open Journal Matcher a tool that matches draft abstracts with journals from the Directory of Open Access Journals Tracking open access developments SPARC Open Access Newsletter, news and analysis by Peter Suber American Scientist Open Access Forum, covering open access developments since its founding by Stevan Harnad in 1998 Open Access Archivangelism, a weblog by Stevan Harnad Open Access Movement in India See also List of open access journals Jointly Administered Knowledge Environment (JAKE) (now defunct) References

69746024

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber%20security%20in%20Saudi%20Arabia

Cyber security in Saudi Arabia

Cyber security in Saudi Arabia (Arabic:الأمن السيبراني في السعودية) is the protection of networks, information technology systems, operational technology systems, their hardware and software components, the services they provide, and the data they contain; From any hacking, disruption, modification, illegal entry, use or exploitation. The concept of cyber security includes: information security, electronic security, digital security, and so on. History In June 2021, it was announced that Saudi Arabia ranked second in the world among 193 countries, and first in the Arab world, the Middle East and Asia in the Global Cybersecurity Index, issued by the United Nations specialized agency in information and communications technology, the International Telecommunication Union, achieving a leap By 11 places from 2018, and by more than 40 places since the launch of Saudi Vision 2030, where it was ranked 46 globally in the 2017 edition of the index. See also National Cybersecurity Authority (Saudi Arabia) Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones References Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Law enforcement in Saudi Arabia

1874011

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofa%20Tatupu

Lofa Tatupu

Mosiula Mea'alofa "Lofa" Tatupu (born November 15, 1982) is a former American football linebacker who played six seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was an assistant linebackers coach with the Seattle Seahawks. He played college football for the University of Southern California (USC). Tatupu was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Early years Tatupu was born in San Diego, California and graduated in 2001 from King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts, where he played quarterback and linebacker in his junior and senior year. His high school coach was his father Mosi Tatupu, a fullback and special teamer who played for the New England Patriots. As a quarterback, Lofa Tatupu threw for 800 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 450 yards and five touchdowns. As a linebacker, Tatupu made 100 tackles. The Sun Chronicle named Tatupu a local high school All-Star in 1999 and 2000. College career Tatupu spent his freshman year of college at the University of Maine before transferring to the University of Southern California, where he majored in sociology and played for the USC Trojans football team. He wore the number 58, which was later worn by another USC linebacker of Samoan heritage, Rey Maualuga. Tatupu played within the player development program managed by head coach Pete Carroll and assistant head coach for defense and linebacker coach Ken Norton Jr. The USC linebacker system ("USC Linebacker U") has developed many NFL stars, often touted as the most talented linebacker corps in college football. Tatupu started 25 games during his two years for the Trojans. He finished his USC career with 202 tackles, nine sacks, seven interceptions, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, 18 pass deflections, and one touchdown. He received first-team All-American honors from Sports Illustrated following the 2004 season. Professional career 2005 NFL Draft Tatupu was selected 45th overall in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. Some teams had him rated lower than the second round. Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell, who used two fourth-round picks to move up nine spots in the draft to get him, took some criticism for trading up for Tatupu, who was considered slightly undersized and a little slow. Upon joining the Seahawks, Tatupu became a teammate of Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck's father Don had been a teammate of Lofa's father Mosi during Mosi's career with the New England Patriots. Pre-draft measurables Seattle Seahawks Tatupu quickly established himself as one of the top defensive players in the league as a rookie in 2005, in which he was named to the Pro Bowl, while leading the NFC Champion Seahawks in tackles, with 104, en route to their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. He also had four sacks and three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown in Seattle's 42-0 Monday Night Football victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. On December 2, 2007, he continued his success against the Philadelphia Eagles, intercepting three passes and returning them for a total of 100 yards off of Eagles' quarterback A. J. Feeley. In Tatupu's first three seasons, he led the Seahawks in tackles. He was voted to the Pro Bowl for the first three years of his NFL career: 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2007, Tatupu was voted to the All-Pro team by the AP. In 2008, Tatupu was hampered by nagging injuries which resulted in him playing at a lower level than he has in the past, and as a result cost him a chance to play in four consecutive Pro Bowls. Tatupu emerged as the Seahawks' young and fiery leader on defense, making his teammates more attentive to preparation by watching more game tape and calling defensive signals on the field. On March 21, 2008, the Seahawks signed Tatupu to a six-year contract extension through the year 2015. The deal was worth $42 million, with $18 million guaranteed alone in the years 2008 to 2010. The contract made Tatupu one of the six highest-paid linebackers in the league. Tatupu responded by stating, "I'm going to end my career with the Seahawks." On October 19, 2009, during a game versus the Arizona Cardinals, Tatupu tore his left pectoral muscle after a collision with teammate Deon Grant and was ruled out for the rest of the season, a huge loss to the already ailing Seahawks. This was the first major injury of Tatupu's professional career after missing only one game in his first four seasons in the NFL. After suffering through his worst season in 2009, Tatupu was able to play in every game for the Seahawks in 2010, including their two playoff games. Tatupu was released by Seattle on July 31, 2011, after he and the Seattle Seahawks could not come to an agreement on a re-structured contract. Atlanta Falcons On March 10, 2012, Tatupu signed a two-year, $5.75 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons. On July 24, 2012, Tatupu suffered a torn pectoral and would miss the entire 2012 NFL season. The Falcons released him the next day. NFL statistics Coaching career The Seahawks announced on February 9, 2015, that Tatupu would be joining Pete Carroll and new defensive coordinator Kris Richard's staff as assistant linebacker coach. He resigned from his position two years later. Personal life Tatupu is of Samoan descent; he is the son of the late former USC Trojan and New England Patriots fullback Mosi Tatupu, and first cousin of Joe Tuipala former NFL linebacker. In 2019 he founded his own CBD company called ZoneIn CBD. References External links Seattle Seahawks – bio – Lofa Tatupu 1982 births American football middle linebackers Living people Maine Black Bears football players National Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from San Diego American sportspeople of Samoan descent Seattle Seahawks players Atlanta Falcons players USC Trojans football players People from Plainville, Massachusetts Players of American football from San Diego Players of American football from Massachusetts Seattle Seahawks coaches King Philip Regional High School alumni

16242529

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany%2C%20Inc.

Epiphany, Inc.

Epiphany, Inc. (previous NASDAQ symbol: EPNY), previously known as E.piphany and Epiphany Marketing Software, was a company that developed customer relationship management (CRM) software. On September 29, 2005, Epiphany was acquired by SSA Global Technologies. Epiphany CRM software is now produced by Infor, which acquired SSA Global in 2006. Employees included: founders Steve Blank, Ben Wegbreit, Greg Walsh, and John P. McCaskey; chairman Roger Siboni; CEO Karen Richardson. Craig Weissman, who led the database schema team at Epiphany, went on to become chief architect and CTO at Salesforce. Scott Hansma, who led development for EpiCenter Manager and related pluralization technologies, went on to several high-level engineering roles at Salesforce, including Chief Architect Sridhar Ramaswamy, in charge of customer data and relationships, eventually became VP of Ads at Google. Ben Treynor and Boris Debic, who managed operations at Epiphany, continued to do so at Google in the roles of SRE Tzar and chief history officer respectively. Mehran Sahami, one of the authors of the machine learning stack at Epiphany was also one of the creators of the ML technology which was in the foundation of the ads business at Google. Jon Miller, Phil Fernandez, and David Morandi founded Marketo. Jon Miller and Brian Babcock founded Engagio. Andrew Bunner, lead defendant in DVD Copy Control Ass'n, Inc. v. Bunner. George John, founder and CEO of Rocket Fuel Inc. Sahami (Stanford) and Boris Debic (ZSEM and Luxembourg School of Business) went on to teach artificial intelligence. Steve Blank teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford and Columbia. References Software companies based in California CRM software companies Companies based in Palo Alto, California Software companies of the United States simple:Epiphany (software)

619801

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DES-X

DES-X

In cryptography, DES-X (or DESX) is a variant on the DES (Data Encryption Standard) symmetric-key block cipher intended to increase the complexity of a brute-force attack using a technique called key whitening. The original DES algorithm was specified in 1976 with a 56-bit key size: 256 possibilities for the key. There was criticism that an exhaustive search might be within the capabilities of large governments, particularly the United States' National Security Agency (NSA). One scheme to increase the key size of DES without substantially altering the algorithm was DES-X, proposed by Ron Rivest in May 1984. The algorithm has been included in RSA Security's BSAFE cryptographic library since the late 1980s. DES-X augments DES by XORing an extra 64 bits of key (K1) to the plaintext before applying DES, and then XORing another 64 bits of key (K2) after the encryption: The key size is thereby increased to 56 + (2 × 64) = 184 bits. However, the effective key size (security) is only increased to 56+64−1−lb(M) = 119 − lb(M) = ~119 bits, where M is the number of chosen plaintext/ciphertext pairs the adversary can obtain, and lb denotes the binary logarithm. Moreover, key size drops to 88 bits given 232.5 known plaintext and using advanced slide attack. DES-X also increases the strength of DES against differential cryptanalysis and linear cryptanalysis, although the improvement is much smaller than in the case of brute force attacks. It is estimated that differential cryptanalysis would require 261 chosen plaintexts (vs. 247 for DES), while linear cryptanalysis would require 260 known plaintexts (vs. 243 for DES or 261 for DES with independent subkeys.) Note that with 264 plaintexts (known or chosen being the same in this case), DES (or indeed any other block cipher with a 64 bit block size) is totally broken as the whole cipher's codebook becomes available. Although the differential and linear attacks, currently best attack on DES-X is a known-plaintext slide attack discovered by Biryukov-Wagner which has complexity of 232.5 known plaintexts and 287.5 time of analysis. Moreover the attack is easily converted into a ciphertext-only attack with the same data complexity and 295 offline time complexity. See also G-DES Meet-in-the-middle attack Triple DES Xor–encrypt–xor References Joe Kilian and Phillip Rogaway, How to protect DES against exhaustive key search(PDF), Advances in Cryptology - Crypto '96, Springer-Verlag (1996), pp. 252–267. P. Rogaway, The security of DESX (PostScript), CryptoBytes 2(2) (Summer 1996). External links RSA FAQ Entry Broken block ciphers Data Encryption Standard

2779187

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer%20network%20diagram

Computer network diagram

A computer network diagram is a schematic depicting the nodes and connections amongst nodes in a computer network or, more generally, any telecommunications network. Computer network diagrams form an important part of network documentation. Symbolization Readily identifiable icons are used to depict common network appliances, e.g. routers, and the style of lines between them indicates the type of connection. Clouds are used to represent networks external to the one pictured for the purposes of depicting connections between internal and external devices, without indicating the specifics of the outside network. For example, in the hypothetical local area network pictured to the right, three personal computers and a server are connected to a switch; the server is further connected to a printer and a gateway router, which is connected via a WAN link to the Internet. Depending on whether the diagram is intended for formal or informal use, certain details may be lacking and must be determined from context. For example, the sample diagram does not indicate the physical type of connection between the PCs and the switch, but since a modern LAN is depicted, Ethernet may be assumed. If the same style of line was used in a WAN (wide area network) diagram, however, it may indicate a different type of connection. At different scales diagrams may represent various levels of network granularity. At the LAN level, individual nodes may represent individual physical devices, such as hubs or file servers, while at the WAN level, individual nodes may represent entire cities. In addition, when the scope of a diagram crosses the common LAN/MAN/WAN boundaries, representative hypothetical devices may be depicted instead of showing all actually existing nodes. For example, if a network appliance is intended to be connected through the Internet to many end-user mobile devices, only a single such device may be depicted for the purposes of showing the general relationship between the appliance and any such device. Cisco symbolization Cisco uses its own brand of networking symbols. Since Cisco has a large Internet presence and designs a broad variety of network devices, its list of symbols ("Network Topology Icons") is exhaustive. Topology The physical network topology can be directly represented in a network diagram, as it is simply the physical graph represented by the diagrams, with network nodes as vertices and connections as undirected or direct edges (depending on the type of connection). The logical network topology can be inferred from the network diagram if details of the network protocols in use are also given. Gallery See also Comparison of network diagram software Computer network Diagram Network diagram Network topology References Computer networking Diagrams

335201

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20company%20name%20etymologies

List of company name etymologies

This is a list of company names with their name origins explained. Some of the origins are disputed. 0–9 19 Entertainment – talent company founded by Simon Fuller and "named after Paul Hardcastle's single 19, the first No. 1 Fuller had a hand in", according to TV Guide After selling 19 Entertainment to CKX, Inc, Fuller founded XIX Entertainment, which is 19 in Roman numerals. 20th Century Fox – film studio; formed in 1935 through the merger of William Fox's Fox Film, and Twentieth Century Pictures. 21st Century Fox – media company formed by spinning off News Corporation's TV and movie properties in 2013. It owned 20th Century Fox, the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox News, Star TV and others until it was bought by Disney in 2019. 23andMe – using the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up each person's genome, the company helps individuals make sense of their own genome. 343 Industries – Halo game developer founded by Microsoft after the departing of Bungie, named after the character, 343 Guilty Spark. 37signals – web development company; named for the 37 radiotelescope signals identified by astronomer Paul Horowitz as potential messages from extraterrestrial intelligence. In 2014, the company renamed itself Basecamp, after its main product. 3Com – network technology producer; the three coms are computer, communication, and compatibility. 3dfx Interactive – 3d and fx, standing for "three-dimensional effects". 3M – from the company's original name, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. 7-Eleven – convenience stores; renamed from "Tote'm" in 1946 to reflect their newly extended hours, 7:00 am until 11:00 pm. A A&M Records – named after founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss A&P – from Atlantic & Pacific in The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, a U.S.-based supermarket chain A&W Root Beer – named after founders Roy Allen and Frank Wright A. Le Coq – named after the founder Albert von Le Coq. Abba Seafood – from Aktiebolaget Bröderna Ameln, meaning "Ameln brothers limited company". ABC – American Broadcasting Company Abloy – derived from Aktiebolag Låsfabriken/Lukkotehdas Osakeyhtiö, which means "lock factory limited company" in both Swedish and Finnish ABN AMRO – in the 1960s, the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (Dutch Trading Society; 1824) and De Twentsche Bank merged to form the Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN; General Bank of the Netherlands); in 1966, the Amsterdamsche Bank and the Rotterdamsche Bank merged to form the Amro Bank; in 1991, ABN and Amro Bank merged to form ABN AMRO. Accenture – from "Accent on the future". The name Accenture was proposed by a company employee in Norway as part of an internal name finding process (BrandStorming). Before 1 January 2001, the company was called Andersen Consulting. Acer – born as Multitech International in 1976, the company changed its name to Acer in 1987; the Latin word for "sharp, acute, able and facile" Acorn Computers – The name "Acorn" was chosen because the company's first microcomputer system Acorn System 75 was to be expandable and growth-oriented. It also had the attraction of appearing before "Apple Computer" in a telephone directory. Adecco – named from the merger of Swiss staffing company Adia with French staffing company Ecco Adidas – from the name of the founder Adolf "Adi" Dassler. Adolf and his brother Rudolf Dassler split the original company, Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory), with Rudolf founding Puma. Adobe Systems – from the Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of co-founder John Warnock Adyen – from the Sranan Tongo word adyen meaning 'start again', this is a reference to this being the second project of the founders, after Bibit Aflac – initialism for the company's previous name of American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (which remains the legal name of Aflac's underwriting subsidiary). Ahlstrom – named after founder Antti Ahlström Ahold – holding company of Albert Heijn and other supermarkets. For its 100th anniversary in 1987, Ahold was granted the title of Koninklijke ("Royal" in Dutch) by the Monarchy of the Netherlands, changing its name to Koninklijke Ahold (Royal Ahold). Akai – named for its founder, Masukichi Akai Akamai – from the Hawaiian word akamai meaning smart or clever; the company defines it as "intelligent, clever and cool" AKG Acoustics – from the company's original name, Akustische und Kino-Geräte (Acoustic and Cinema Equipment) AKZO – named from the 1969 merger of Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU) and Koninklijke Zout Organon (KZO) Alcatel-Lucent – Alcatel was named from Alsacienne de Constructions Atomiques, de Télécommunications et d'Électronique. It took over Lucent Technologies (below) in 2006. Alcoa – Aluminum Company of America Aldi – portmanteau of Albrecht (name of the founders) and discount Alepa – from Alennushalli Pajunen (Pajunen's Discount Hall), named after the founder. The Pajunen family sold the chain to HOK-Elanto in 1987. Alfa Romeo – company was originally known as ALFA, an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili ("Anonymous Lombard Automobile Factory"). When Nicola Romeo bought ALFA in 1915, his surname was appended. Alibaba Group – from the character Ali Baba from the Middle Eastern folk-tale collection One Thousand and One Nights because of its universal appeal. Alltel – from original company name Allied Telephone Company Alps Electric/Alpine Electronics – Katsutaro Kataoka founded Kataoka Electronics in a suburb of Tokyo in 1947. A subsidiary was established in the province of Tohoku, also known as the Tohoku Alps, as Tohoku Alps Co. Ltd. When Kataoka was seeking investment during the 1960s, he found that foreigners had difficulty pronouncing "Kataoka," and renamed his firm Alps Electric. Alpine Electronics was originally named Alps-Motorola as a joint venture in the Japanese car audio market and the Alpine name was adopted after Motorola divested its stake in 1978. Alstom – set up as Alsthom in 1928 by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques and Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston, it changed the spelling to Alstom in 1997. AltaVista – Spanish for "high view" Altec Lansing – audio equipment company formed when Altec Service Company, whose name was an abbreviation of "all technical" (and which had promised to never make or sell audio equipment), acquired Lansing Manufacturing Company, named after James Bullough Lansing (also later the namesake of JBL (below), which he founded to compete with Altec Lansing as soon as his contract expired) Alza – from the name of the founder Alex Zaffaroni Amazon.com – founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company "Amazon" (from the earlier name of Cadabra.com) after the world's most voluminous river, the Amazon. He saw the potential for a larger volume of sales in an online (as opposed to a bricks and mortar) bookstore. (Alternative: Amazon was chosen to cash in on the popularity of Yahoo, which listed entries alphabetically.) AmBev – American Beverage Company, the largest Brazilian beverage company and fourth in the world. In 2004 it merged with Interbrew to create InBev, which in turn purchased Anheuser-Busch in 2008 to form Anheuser-Busch InBev. AMC Theatres – American Multi-Cinema: the company pioneered multi-screen cinemas AMD – Advanced Micro Devices Amdahl Corporation – American mainframe computer company named after its founder, Dr. Gene Amdahl, formerly of IBM. It was taken over by Fujitsu in 1997. Amiga Corporation – original developers of the 16-bit Amiga computer chose the name, which means a 'female friend' in Spanish and Portuguese, because it sounded friendly, and because it came before rivals (Apple Inc. and Atari) alphabetically. AMKOR – American KoreaAmoco – American Oil Company, now part of BP Amstrad – Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc was founded by Lord Alan Michael Sugar in the UK. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. Anheuser-Busch InBev – formed by the 2008 purchase of Anheuser-Busch by InBev. Anheuser-Busch was named for the company's original founder, Eberhard Anheuser, and his later partner and son-in-law Adolphus Busch. AOL – from America Online. The company was founded in 1983 as Quantum Computer Services. Apache – Co-founder Brian Behlendorf first came up with the name “Apache” for the server. The name “Apache” was chosen out of reverence and appreciation for the people and tribes who refer to themselves as “Apache”. Apple – for the favorite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard, and to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by other computer companies at the time – which had names such as IBM, DEC, and Cincom Apricot Computers – early UK-based microcomputer company founded by ACT (Applied Computer Techniques), a business software and services supplier. The company wanted a "fruity" name (Apple and Acorn were popular brands) that included the letters A, C and T. Apricot fit the bill. Arby's – enunciation of the initials of its founders, the Raffel Brothers. The partners wanted to use the name Big Tex, but were unsuccessful in negotiating with the Akron businessman who was already using the name. So, Forrest said, "We came up with Arby's, which stands for R.B., the initials of Raffel Brothers, although I guess customers might think the initials stand for roast beef." Arcelor – created in 2001 by a merger of ARBED (Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange, "United Steelworks of Burbach-Eich-Dudelange") of Luxembourg, Aceralia of Spain, and Usinor (Union Sidérurgique du Nord, "Northern Steel Union") of France with the ambition of becoming a major player in the steel industry. Arcor – Arroyito, Córdoba, the city where it was founded. Areva – named from the region of Ávila in northern Spain, location of the Arevalo abbey. Arevalo was shorted to AREVA. Aricent – communications software company name created in 2006 by combining two words "arise" and "ascent". Arm & Hammer – based on the arm and hammer of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking. It was previously the logo of the Vulcan Spice Mills in Brooklyn. When James Church, the son of Church & Dwight founder Austin Church, came to Church and Dwight from Vulcan Spice Mills, he brought the logo with him. ARM Limited – named after the microprocessor developed by small UK company Acorn as a successor to the 6502 used in its BBC Microcomputer. ARM originally stood for Acorn Risc Machine. When the company was spun off with backing from Apple and VTI, this was changed to Advanced Risc Machines. ARP – company that made analog synthesizers in the 1970s, named after founder Alan Robert Pearlman Artis – zoo in Amsterdam; named from the Latin phrase Natura Artis Magistra, or "Nature is Art's Teacher" Asda – Asda Stores Limited was founded as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd in 1949. However, the formation of the Asda name occurred in 1965 with the merger of the Asquith chain of three supermarkets and Associated Dairies; it is an abbreviation of Asquith and Dairies. ASICS – acronym for Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, which, translated from Latin, means "Healthy soul in a healthy body". Originally the citation is mens sana in corpore sano, but MSICS does not sound as good. Ask.com – search engine formerly named after Jeeves, the gentleman's gentleman (valet, not butler) in P. G. Wodehouse's series of books. Ask Jeeves was shortened to Ask in 2006. Aston Martin – In 1913, Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford co-founded a company to sell Singer cars in London, and Martin developed their first car to take part in races at Aston Hill, near Aston Clinton. Bamford & Martin Ltd ran into financial difficulties, and in 1925, Martin was forced to sell the company (Bamford had already left). The new owners renamed it Aston Martin Motors and started the production of an entirely new range of cars from a new factory in Feltham in London. Asus – named after Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology. The first three letters of the word were dropped to get a high position in alphabetical listings. An Asus company named Pegatron, using the spare letters, was spun off in 2008. AT&T – American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s. Atari – named from the board game Go. "Atari" is a Japanese word to describe a position where an opponent's stones are in danger of being captured. It is similar, though not identical, to "check" in chess. The original games company was American but wanted a Japanese-sounding name. ATI Technologies – founded in Canada as Array Technology Inc. and taken over by AMD in 2006. Atresmedia – Spanish media company which owns the TV network Antena 3; A Tres Media is Spanish for "A3 Media", A3 being Antena 3. ATS – Auto Technik Spezialerzeugnisse, a German company producing light alloy wheels and motor parts, which ran its own Formula 1 racing team in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Audi – Latin translation of the German name "Horch". The founder August Horch left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars. Since the original "Horch" company was still there, he called his new company Audi, the Latin form of his last name. In English it is "hark". B B&H Photo Video – named after Blimie Schreiber and her husband, company founder Herman Schreiber B&Q – from the initials of its founders, Richard Block and David Quayle Babolat – racquet sports (tennis, badminton, squash) equipment company named after its founder, Pierre Babolat Bahco – from the name B.A. Hjort & Company. Founder Berndt August Hjort signed a deal to distribute the tools of inventor Johan Petter Johansson. Bakkavör – from the street in a Reykjavík suburb where the founders grew up Bally – originally Lion Manufacturing, the company changed its name to Bally after the success of its first popular pinball machine, Ballyhoo. Banesto – from Banco Español de Crédito (Spanish Credit Bank) Bang & Olufsen – from the names of its founders, Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, who met at a school of engineering in Denmark. BAPE – A Bathing Ape is a cult clothing company founded by Tomoaki "Nigo" Nagao in 1993. The name is derived from a Japanese saying, "A Bathing Ape in Lukewarm Water", which Nigo says is "a reference to the young generation being spoiled, pampered and too complacent." BASF – from Badische Anilin und Soda Fabriken ("Baden Aniline and Soda Factory"), after its first two products Bauhaus – European chain of DIY stores founded by Heinz-Georg Baus and named from the German words bauen (to build) and Haus (house). The reference to the classic Bauhaus art school is only an allusion. Bauknecht – founded as an electrotechnical workshop in 1919 by Gottlob Bauknecht, and now a Whirlpool brand Bayer – named after Friedrich Bayer, who founded the company in 1863 BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation, originally British Broadcasting Company BBVA – Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, a Spanish banking group formed in 1999 from the merger of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria BEA Systems – from the first initial of each of the company's three founders: Bill Coleman, Ed Scott and Alfred Chuang Beko – Turkish consumer electronics company named after its founders, Bejerano and Koç Ben & Jerry's – named after Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who founded an ice cream parlor in 1978 after completing a correspondence course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University. The company, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc. was later taken over by Unilever. BenQ – Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life Berkshire Hathaway – originally a textile company formed by the merger of Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates and the Hathaway Manufacturing Company. In 1964, the declining company was taken over by one of its investors, Warren Buffett, who converted it into a conglomerate holding company. BHP – Broken Hill Proprietary, named after the town of Broken Hill, where BHP was founded BIC Corporation – pen company was named after one of its founders, Marcel Bich. He dropped the final h to avoid a potentially inappropriate English pronunciation of the name. Black & Decker – named after founders S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker. BlackBerry – first device produced by the company originally known as Research In Motion (below) was a two-way pager; the BlackBerry name was chosen because of the resemblance between the keyboard buttons and the drupelets that form the blackberry fruit. The company rebranded itself as BlackBerry in 2013. Blaupunkt – Blaupunkt ("Blue dot") was founded in 1923 under the name "Ideal". Its core business was the manufacturing of headphones. If the headphones came through quality tests, the company would give the headphones a blue dot. The headphones quickly became known as the blue dots or blaue Punkte. The quality symbol would become a trademark and the trademark would become the company name in 1938. Blizzard Entertainment – videogame company founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, it briefly changed its name to Chaos Studios (1993–94), before discovering there was already a company using the Chaos name. It picked Blizzard from the dictionary. BMW – Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works). Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project – Geoff Bodine and Chassis Dynamics, the bobsled maker that the NASCAR driver teamed with. The company name is pronounced the same as that of Bodine himself: . Boeing – named after founder William E. Boeing. It was originally called Pacific Aero Products Co. Bosch – named after founder Robert Bosch. Robert Bosch GmbH (full company name) is a German diversified technology-based corporation. Bose Corporation – named after founder Amar Bose BP – formerly British Petroleum, now BP (The slogan "Beyond Petroleum" has incorrectly been taken to refer to the company's new name following its rebranding effort in 2000.) BRAC – Bangladesh Rural & Advancement Committee, world's largest NGO (non-governmental organization) Bridgestone – named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi (石橋) means "stone bridge", or "bridge of stone". Brine, Corp. – sporting goods company named after founder, W.H. Brine. It was taken over by New Balance in 2006. Brooks Sports – anglicized version of Bruchs, the maiden name of the wife of founder Morris Goldenberg. Brunswick Corporation – founded in 1845 as "J.M. Brunswick Manufacturing Company" in Cincinnati, Ohio by John Moses Brunswick, an immigrant from Bremgarten, Switzerland BSA – Birmingham Small Arms Company, which started out making guns but later became best known for its motorcycles. BT – formerly British Telecom (from BT Group, formerly British Telecommunications plc.) Buick – named for its founder, David Dunbar Buick. The company was the original focal point for General Motors, established in 1908 as a holding company for Buick plus other companies acquired by William C. Durant. Buick survives to this day as a GM brand. Bull – Compagnie des machines Bull was founded in Paris to exploit the patents for punched card machines taken out by Norwegian engineer Fredrik Rosing Bull. Bullfrog Productions – Named after an ornament of a bullfrog located in the office: when asked by Joystick why the name "Bullfrog" was chosen, founder Peter Molyneux stated that they wanted "an idiotic name" without having to find one, and there happened to be a sculpture of a colourful frog on a pedestal labelled "Bull Frog by Leonardo" on the table. Burroughs Corporation – founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company and later renamed after the adding machine invented by William Seward Burroughs. The company took over Sperry Corporation and became Unisys. Bultaco – Spanish company of motorcycles, which disappeared in the 1980s. Its name is based on the name of its founder, Paco ó. ByWater Solutions – library software company named after a village in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings C C&A – named after the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, who founded a textile company called C&A in the Netherlands in 1841 CA – Computer Associates was founded in 1976 as Computer Associates International, Inc. by Charles Wang and Russell Artzt. Cadillac – the car company, founded in 1902, was named after the 18th-century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France. The company was taken over by General Motors in 1909 and survives as a GM brand. CAE – originally Canadian Aviation Electronics Campagnolo – from the name of its founder, Tullio Campagnolo Canon – originally (1933) "Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory", the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company's first camera, the Kwanon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy. Capcom – Capsule Computers, the former name of the company and how they described the arcade machines they manufactured at the time Caprabo – Catalan supermarkets, founded by Pere Carbó, Jaume Prats and Josep Bonet Carrefour – chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets which started with a store near a crossroads (carrefour in French) in Annecy Casio – from the name of its founder, Kashio Tadao, who had set up the company Kashio Seisakujo as a subcontractor factory Caterpillar – originally Holt Tractor Co, merged with Best Tractor Co. in 1925. A company photographer exclaimed aloud of a Holt tractor that the tracks' movement resembled a caterpillar moving along the ground. The name stuck. Cathay Pacific Airways Limited – airline was founded on 24 September 1946 by American Roy C. Farrell and Australian Sydney H. de Kantzow, with each man putting up HK$1 to register the airline. They named it Cathay Pacific because Cathay was the ancient name given to China; and Pacific because Farrell speculated that they would one day fly across the Pacific. CBS – Columbia Broadcasting System Celera – inspired by 'celerity' or swiftness (in decoding the human genome), with "era of the cell" a secondary meaning Cemex – portmanteau of the company's former name of Cementos Mexicanos (Spanish for "Mexican Cement") Cerner – from the Latin "cerner" meaning "to discern" CGI Group – from the first letters of Information Management Consultant in French (Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique) Chello – Dutch internet service provider, its name was originally pronounced 'say hello' (in Dutch the letter C at the beginning of a word is pronounced 'say'). This did not catch on and now it is pronounced "cello" (as in the stringed instrument). Chevrolet – named after company co-founder Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss-born auto racer. The company was merged into General Motors in 1917 and survives only as a brand name. Chick-fil-A – American restaurant brand which focuses on chicken sandwiches; pun on the term "chick filet", with the "A" supposedly representing the "Grade-A" quality of the chicken. Chrysler – named after the company founder, Walter P. Chrysler. The company merged with Fiat in 2014 to create Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which then merged with PSA Group to form Stellantis. The Chrysler corporate entity has now become Stellantis North America, and the "Chrysler" name survives as a brand of Stellantis. Ciba Geigy – CIBA, named from Chemical Industry Basel (after Basel in Switzerland), merged with a company named after its founder Johann Rudolf Geigy-Merian. It became Novartis (below) after a merger with Sandoz. CiCi's Pizza – from the first letters of the last names of the founders of the franchise (Joe Croce and Mike Cole) Cigna – CIGNA was formed in 1982 through the combination of Insurance Company of North America (INA) and Connecticut General (CG). The name is a combination of the letters of the predecessor companies, CG and INA. Cincom – originally called United Computer Systems, which was similar to several other software and services companies of the day. Two of the three founders visited Philco (Philadelphia Company), and this inspired them to create a new company name derived from Cincinnati (where it was based) and Computer (its business). Cisco – short for San Francisco. Citroën – named after André Citroën (1878–1935), a French entrepreneur of Dutch descent. He was the fifth and last child of the Dutch Jewish diamond merchant Levie Citroen and Mazra Kleinmann (of Warsaw, Poland). The Citroen family moved to Paris from Amsterdam in 1873 where the name changed to Citroën. CKX, Inc. – named from "Content is King", with the X from founder Robert F.X. Sillerman. Other Sillerman companies include SFX Entertainment and FXM Asset Management. Clarion – named after the "bugle-like wind instrument used in ancient Greece", says the company, which wanted a name English speakers would find easy to remember. It was founded in Japan in 1940 as Hakusan Wireless Electric Company, making radios, and became Teikoku Dempa after merging with Takizawa Wireless Electric Industries in 1943. CNN – Cable News Network Coca-Cola – derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' to make the name look better. Coleco – began as the Connecticut Leather Company Colgate-Palmolive – formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York City in 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture. COLT – from City Of London Telecom Comcast – from communications and broadcast Commodore International – supposedly named after the Opel Commodore, after the company's founder Jack Tramiel had unsuccessfully tried to name his company first "General" and then "Admiral". However, the Opel Commodore only debuted in 1967, years after the company's founding. Compaq – from computer and a sensational spelling of the word "pack" to denote a small integral object; Compatibility And Quality; or from the company's first product, the very compact Compaq Portable COMSAT – contraction of communications satellites. This American digital telecommunications and satellite company was founded during the era of U.S. President John F. Kennedy era to develop the technology. Comverse – from combining the words "communication" and "versatility" ConocoPhillips – formed from the merger of Conoco (from Continental Oil Company) and the Phillips Petroleum Company, named after the brothers who founded it: Lee Eldas "L.E." and Frank Phillips. Copersucar – Brazilian production cooperative in sugar and alcohol; its name is a contraction of Cooperativa de Açucar e Álcool Corel – Canadian software company; from Cowpland Research Laboratory, after the name of the company's founder, Michael Cowpland Cosworth – automotive engineering company named after company founders Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth. CPFL – Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz (São Paulo Company of Light and Power), one of the largest in Brazil, based in Campinas Crabtree & Evelyn – toiletry company named after gardener John Evelyn, and the tree that bears crabapples Cray – supercomputer company named after its founder, Seymour Cray CRC Press – originally Chemical Rubber Company Cromemco – early microcomputer company in Silicon Valley (circa 1975–198?) founded by two PhD students who once lived at Stanford University's Crothers Memorial Hall (a dormitory) Cutco – Cooking Utensils Company CVS – originally Consumer Value Stores. CEO Tom Ryan has said he now considers "CVS" to stand for "Customer, Value, and Service". D Daewoo – company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great House" or "Great Universe" in Korean DAF Trucks – from 1932 the company's name was Van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek (Van Doorne's Trailer Factory). In 1949 the company started making trucks, trailers and buses and changed the name into Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek (Van Doorne's Automobile Factory). Daihatsu – first kanji from "Osaka" (大坂, the kanji is here pronounced dai) and "engine" (発動機, the first kanji is hatsu). Engine manufacturers were listed on the Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges, and their names shortened to the first kanji. (The company listed on the Tokyo exchange is Tohatsu.) Danone (Dannon in the U.S.) – Isaac Carasso in Barcelona made his first yogurts with the nickname of his first son Daniel (DAN-ONE) Dassault Aviation – origins of the company go back to 1929 with SAAMB (Société des Avions Marcel Bloch), named after its founder Marcel Bloch (1892–1986). Bloch changed his name to Marcel Dassault in 1949. Dassault was derived from char d'assaut (French for "assault wagon" or battle tank), the codename that his brother had used in the French resistance. Datsun – first called DAT, from the initials of its financiers Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. Soon changed to DATSON to imply a smaller version of their original car, then (as SON can mean "loss" in Japanese) again to DATSUN when they were acquired by Nissan. DEC – Digital Equipment Corporation, a pioneering American minicomputer manufacturer founded by Ken Olsen and taken over by Compaq, before Compaq was merged into Hewlett-Packard (HP). It was generally called DEC ("deck"), but later tried to rebrand itself as Digital. DEKA – named after its founder Dean Kamen, developer of the Segway, iBOT, HomeChoice Dialysis and other products. Delhaize – named after its founders, Jules Delhaize and his brothers, who originated from Charleroi (Belgium). They opened the first European self-service "supermarket" in Ixelles/Elsene, a Brussels borough. Dell – named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003. Delta Air Lines - named after the Mississippi Delta region. Denning & Fourcade, Inc. – interior designer company named after its founders Robert Denning and Vincent Fourcade in 1960. DFI – Diamond Flower Inc., an industrial computer company. DHL – named after its founders, Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn. DHL was taken over by the German post office and both now operate under the group name Deutsche Post DHL. Diageo – name created by branding consultancy Wolff Olins in 1997. It is based on the Latin word diēs, meaning "day", and the Greek root geo-, meaning "world". This refers to the company slogan, "Celebrating Life, Every Day, Everywhere". Dick's Sporting Goods – named after its founder, Dick Stack, who opened a bait and tackle shop in 1948 with a $300 gift from his grandmother Digg, Inc. – Kevin Rose's friend David Prager (The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech) originally wanted to call the site "Diggnation", but Kevin wanted a simpler name. He chose the name "Digg", because users are able to "dig" stories, out of those submitted, up to the front page. The site was called "Digg" instead of "Dig" because the domain name "dig.com" was previously registered, by Walt Disney Internet Group. "Diggnation" would eventually be used as the title of Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht's weekly podcast discussing popular stories from Digg. Digi-Key – electronic component distributor whose name is derived from founder Dr. Ronald Stordahl's amateur radio telegraphic keyer, the "IC Keyer Kit", which utilized digital integrated circuits Dillard's – named for William T. Dillard who founded the Arkansas-based department store in 1938 Dixons – commonly used abbreviation for DSG International plc (Dixons Stores Group), a UK-based retailer. The company was founded in 1937 by Charles Kalms and Michael Mindel. When opening their first photographic shop in Southend, they only had room for six letters on the fascia, and chose the name Dixons from the phone book. DKNY – Donna Karan New York Domark – from the first names of the founders: Dominic Marius Dennis Anthony Wheatley and Mark Douglas Ashley Strachan. Domino's Pizza – A variation of "DomiNick's", named after the company founder Dominick DiVarti, when DiVarti forbade the company's new owner Tom Monaghan from using the original name. Double Fine Productions – named after a sign upon the Golden Gate Bridge that warned patrons that it was "Double Fine Zone" referring to the fact that speeders would be charged twice. Dow – named after its founder, Herbert Henry Dow DSM – established in 1902 to exploit the Dutch coal mines, the name meaning Dutch State Mines. The last mine closed in 1973, and the company switched to chemicals. Duane Reade – named after Duane and Reade Streets in lower Manhattan, where the chain's first warehouse was located. The chain was purchased by Walgreens in 2010, but still operates separately. DuPont – short name for E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. This American chemical company was founded in 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who left France to escape the French Revolution. Dynegy – Natural Gas Clearinghouse changed its name in 1998 to reflect its self-described traits as a dynamic energy company. "Dynergy" had already been taken by a German health foods company. E E. J. Korvette – named for the founder Eugene Ferkauf and his associate Joe Swillenberg; an intentional misspelling of "Corvette". A common urban legend misstates the origin as "Eight Jewish Korean War Veterans". EA – Electronic Arts. The company was founded in May 1982 as Amazin' Software and rebranded as Electronic Arts in October the same year. eBay – Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. "Echo Bay" did not refer to the town in Nevada, "It just sounded cool", Omidyar reportedly said. Echo Bay Mines Limited, a gold mining company, had already taken EchoBay.com, so Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com. EDS – Electronic Data Systems, founded in 1962 by former IBM salesman Ross Perot. According to the company history: "He chose Electronic Data Systems from potential names he scribbled on a pledge envelope during a service at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas." El Al – Hebrew: אל על, "To the Skies" or "Skywards", Arabic: إل-عال Eidos – named from a Greek word meaning "species". Eletropaulo – one of the largest Brazilian companies in electricity generation and distribution, its name derives from Companhia de Electricidade de São Paulo. Elron – from Estonian "elektrirong ("electrical train"). Embraer – Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, its name is an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica (Brazilian Aeronautics Company). EMBRAPA – Brazilian state agricultural research and development company, its name is an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Brazilian Agriculture Research Company). EMBRATEL – abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicações (Brazilian Telecommunications Company). Brazil's largest telecommunications company, it was a state monopoly until 1992 when it was privatized and sold to MCI, then later resold to Telmex. EMC Corporation – named from the initials of the founders, Richard Egan and Roger Marino. There has long been a rumor that another partner provided the third letter (C). Other reports indicate the C stands for Company. EMC adopted the EMC² notation to refer to Einstein's famous equation, E = mc². EMI – formerly Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. Emporis – Empor comes from the German and means "aloft, rising"; one of the world's largest providers of data concerning buildings Epson – Epson Seiko Corporation, the Japanese printer and peripheral manufacturer, was named from "Son of Electronic Printer" after a highly successful model, the EP-101. Equifax – from equitable and factual Equinix – The company's focus is on EQUality, Neutrality and Internet eXchange. Ericsson – Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson is named after its founder Lars Magnus Ericsson, who opened a telegraph equipment repair shop in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1876 Ernst & Young – named for the company's founders, A.C. Ernst and Arthur YoungESPN – Entertainment and Sports Programming Network ESRI – Environmental Systems Research Institute, the first geographic information system (GIS) software company founded by Jack and Laura Dangermond in Redlands, California, in 1969 Esso – enunciation of the initials S.O. in Standard Oil of New Jersey Etsy – founder Rob Kalin said that he named the site Etsy because he "wanted a nonsense word because I wanted to build the brand from scratch. I was watching Fellini's 8 ½ and writing down what I was hearing. In Italian, you say 'etsi' a lot. It means 'oh, yes' (actually it's "eh, si"). And in Latin and French, it means 'what if.'" Euronext – abbreviation of European New Exchange Technology Evernote – combination of the words forever and note to indicate the core service that the app provides Exidy – derived from "excellence in dynamics" Exxon – name contrived by Esso (Standard Oil of New Jersey) in the early 1970s to create a neutral but distinctive label for the company. Within days, Exxon was being called the "double cross company" but this eventually subsided. (Esso is a trademark of ExxonMobil.) Esso could not use its name in parts of the U.S. because of restrictions dating to the 1911 Standard Oil antitrust decision. F F5 Networks – originally F5 Labs – taken from the Fujita scale of ratings for tornado intensity, where F5 is the most intense to be used in normal practice even though the scale can physically describe up to F12 which corresponds to wind velocities of Mach 1.0. Facebook – name stems from the colloquial name of books given to newly enrolled students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better. Fair Isaac Corporation – named after founders Bill Fair and Earl IsaacFanta – from the German word Fantasie, meaning "imagination". FAS – abbreviation for Foras Áiseanna Saothair (Labour Facilities Foundation). Fás means grow in Irish. Fazer – Finnish food company named after its founder, Karl Fazer FCUK – French Connection United Kingdom FedEx – abbreviation of Federal Express Corporation, the company's original name FEGIME – abbreviation for "Fédération Européenne des Grossistes Indépendants en Matériel Électrique" (European Federation of Independent Electrical Wholesalers) Ferodo – anagram of the name of its founder, Herbert Froode Ferrari – from the name of its founder, Enzo Ferrari Fever-Tree – the name was chosen as it is the colloquial name for the cinchona tree, the bark of which produces quinine. Fiat – acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin) Finnair – from "Finland" and "air". Originally called "Aero Osakeyhtiö", which led to its international flight code, "AY". Firestone – named after its founder, Harvey Firestone Fisher-Price – toy company named after two of its three founders: Herman Fisher, Irving Price, and Helen Schelle. It became a Mattel subsidiary in 1993. Fiskars – from the town of Fiskars, where the company was founded. Five Guys – American restaurant chain founded by "five guys" – Jerry Murrell and his four sons. The "five guys" would later become the Murrell sons, after Jerry and his wife Janie had a fifth son two years after opening their first restaurant. Fluke – named after its founder, John Fluke, Sr. Fonterra – glosses its own name as "spring from the land". That would match a faux-Latin combination of fons (stem font-) conveying the idea of a fountain or spring, and terra, meaning earth, land, or ground. Ford Motor Company – named after its founder, Henry Ford, who introduced automobile mass production in 1914. Forrester Research – from the family name of the mother of the founder George Forrester Colony. FranklinCovey – named after Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Covey. The company was formed from the 1997 merger of FranklinQuest and the Covey Leadership Center. Fuji – named after Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan Fujitsu – originally the data division of Fuji Electric, which was a joint venture between Furukawa Electric and Siemens. The tsu comes from tsūshinki, meaning data equipment. G Gallup – polling company named after its founder, George Gallup. After his death in 1984, the company was sold to Selection Research, Incorporated (SRI). Garmin – named after its founders, Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao Gartner – named after its founder, Gideon Gartner, who left the firm in 1992 to start Giga (named from Gideon Gartner) Garuda Indonesia - named after the Garuda bird like creature of Hindu folklore and after the country, Indonesia, the airline company flies from. Gatti's Pizza – Gatti was the maiden name of Pat Eure, wife of company founder Jim Eure. GCap Media – named after the merger of the GWR Group and Capital Radio Group in May 2005. GWR was launched in 1985 after the merger of Radio West and Wiltshire Radio. GEICO – from Government Employees Insurance Company Genentech – from Genetic Engineering Technology Gerdau – largest producer of long steel in the Americas, named from the surname of the founder, Johannes Heinrich Kaspar Gerdau Gilead Sciences – pharmaceutical company named after Gilead, a biblical place name Glaxo – dried-milk company set up in Bunnythorpe, New Zealand, by Joseph Edward Nathan. The company wanted to use the name "Lacto" but it was similar to some already in use. The company says: "By adding and changing letters, the name Glaxo evolved and was registered in October 1906." GlaxoSmithKline was a 2000 merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. Glock Ges.m.b.H. – named after its founder, Gaston Glock Goodyear – named after the founder of vulcanization, Charles Goodyear, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber company was founded by Frank Seiberling in 1898 Google – originally an accidental misspelling of the word "googol", settled upon because google.com was unregistered. Googol was proposed to reflect the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available online. Grey Global Group – advertising and marketing agency supposed to have derived its name from the colour of the walls of its first office Groupon – chief executive Andrew Mason used the derivation as his five-word acceptance speech at the 2011 Webby Awards ceremony: "It's short for group coupon." Grundig – named after its founder, radio dealer-turned-manufacturer Max Grundig, in 1945 Gucci – named after its founder, Guccio Gucci, who became familiar with high class luggage while working as a lift boy at the Savoy Hotel in London. He returned to Florence and started making travel bags and accessories, founding the House of Gucci in 1921. Gulfstream Aerospace – named after the Gulf Stream current that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and crosses the Atlantic. The company traces its origins to the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which was sold and renamed in 1985. Guylian – a portmanteau from the first names of company founder Guy Foubert and his wife Liliane Foubert. H H&M – named from Hennes & Mauritz. In 1947, Swedish businessman Erling Persson established Hennes, a ladies' clothing store, in Västerås, Sweden. "Hennes" is Swedish for "hers". In 1968, Persson bought the Stockholm premises and inventory of a hunting equipment store called Mauritz Widforss. The inventory included a collection of men's clothing, which prompted Persson to expand into menswear. H&R Block – after the founders, brothers Henry W. and Richard Bloch (with "Bloch" changed to "Block" to avoid mispronunciation) Häagen-Dazs – name was invented in 1961 by ice-cream makers Reuben and Rose Mattus of the Bronx "to convey an aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship" The name has no meaning. Haier – Chinese 海 "sea" and 尔 (a transliteration character; also means "you" in Literary Chinese). Portion of transliteration of German Liebherr 利勃海尔. HAL Laboratory - video game developer; the name "HAL" was chosen because each letter "put [them] one step ahead of IBM". Hanko Sushi – from "hanko", meaning both the Japanese hanko stamp and the city of Hanko where the restaurant chain was founded, and "sushi". Harris Corporation – defense contractor and technology company that was founded as Harris Automatic Press Company in 1895, by Alfred S. Harris. Stayed in the printing industry until 1957, and then diversified into various defense-related industries including radio communications, avionics, and semiconductors. Happy Madison Productions – film and TV production company founded by Adam Sandler, its name is taken from the films Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, two of his box office successes. Haribo – from the name of the founder and the German home town of the company: Hans Riegel, Bonn Harman Kardon – named after its founders Dr. Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon Harpo Productions – production company founded by Oprah Winfrey; "Oprah" spelled backwards. Hartwall – named after the company's founder Victor Hartwall. Harvey Norman – named after its founders Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman Hasbro – founded by Herman, Hillel, and Henry Hassenfeld, the Hassenfeld Brothers HBOS – UK-based banking company formed by the merger of the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland HDFC – Housing Development Finance Corporation, Indian mortgage company. Hesburger – from Hese, the nickname of the company's founder Heikki Salmela, and hamburger Hess Corporation – named after its founder Leon Hess Hispano-Suiza – former Spanish luxury automotive and engineering firm; its name – literally meaning "Spanish-Swiss" – refers to Spanish origin of the company and Swiss origin of its head engineer Marc Birkigt Hitachi – old place name, literally "sunrise" HMV – from "His Master's Voice", which appeared in 1899 as the title of a painting of Nipper, a Jack Russell terrier, listening to a gramophone Hoechst – from the name of a district in Frankfurt Honda – from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda Honeywell – from the name of Mark Honeywell, founder of Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. It later merged with Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and was finally called Honeywell Inc. in 1963. Hospira – name, selected by the company's employees, is derived from the words hospital, spirit, inspire and the Latin word spero, which means hope. It expresses the hope and optimism that are critical in the healthcare industry. Hotmail – founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for Hotmail as it included the letters "HTML" – the markup language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. (At one time, if you clicked on Hotmail's 'mail' tab, you would have seen "HoTMaiL" in the URL.) Hotmail addresses now use Microsoft's Outlook.com service. HP – co-founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether their company would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. (Some sources say Hewlett won the toss, while others say Packard won and let Hewlett's name be first.) In November 2015, Hewlett-Packard split into two listed companies: HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. HSBC – Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. HTC – contraction of its original corporate name, High Tech Computer Corporation. Huawei – Chinese 华 (hua) means "splendid" (literally "flowery beauty") or "China", and 为 (wei) means "action" or "achievement". Huawei as a whole may be translated as "splendid act" or "China is able". Hudson's Bay Company – in 1670, a Royal Charter granted the lands of the Hudson Bay watershed to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay." The company ceded the territory to Canada in 1870. Hyundai – connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean I Iberia Airlines - named after the Iberian Peninsula. IBM – named by Tom (Thomas John) Watson Sr, an ex-employee of National Cash Register (NCR Corporation). To one-up them in all respects, he called his company International Business Machines. ICL – abbreviation for International Computers Limited, once the UK's largest computer company but now a service arm of Fujitsu, of Japan. IG Farben – Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG was so named because the constituent German companies produced dyestuffs among many other chemical compounds. The consortium is most known today for its central participation in the World War II Holocaust, as it made the Zyklon B gas used in the gas chambers. IGN Entertainment – IGN Entertainment is an online entertainment media outlet. Its name comes from its origin as a spin-off of Imagine Media and used to stand for Imagine Games Network. Iiyama – manufacturer of monitors and TVs, named after the Japanese city, Iiyama IKEA – composite of the first letters in the Swedish founder Ingvar Kamprad's name in addition to the first letters of the names of the property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. IMI – Imperial Metal Industries, split off from Imperial Chemical Industries InBev – name was created after the merger of the Belgian company Interbrew with Brazilian Ambev Inditex – Spanish group named from Industria de Diseño Textil (Textile Design Industry). Infineon Technologies – derived from Infinity and Aeon. The name was given to Siemens's Semiconductor branch (called Siemens HL or Siemens SC/SSC) when it was spun off. Ingenico – electronic payment device manufacturer based in Paris and named from the French Ingenieux Compagnie (Ingenious Company) Inktomi – internet search engine, acquired by Yahoo! in 2002; named after Iktomi, a spider-trickster spirit from Lakota Indian legends Intel – Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore initially incorporated their company as N M Electronics. Someone suggested Moore Noyce Electronics but it sounded too close to "more noise". Later, Integrated Electronics was proposed but it had already been taken, so they used the initial syllables (INTegrated ELectronics). To avoid potential conflicts with other companies with similar names, Intel purchased the name rights for $15,000 from a company called Intelco. (Source: Intel 15 Years Corporate Anniversary Brochure) ITC – established in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company. J J. C. Penney – from James Cash Penney, founder of the department store chain. J2TV – television and film production company formed by Malcolm in the Middle actor Justin Berfield and producer Jason Felts JAL – from Japan Airlines Jat Airways – founded in 1927 as "Aeroput" (Airway in Serbian). From 1947, it was known as JAT (Jugoslovenski Aero Transport). After the break-up of the former Yugoslavia (and after Federal Republic of Yugoslavia changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro), the company kept the name, Jat, but not as an abbreviation. Renamed to "Air Serbia". Jawa Motors – from Janeček (the owner) and Wanderer (the motorcycle product) JBL – from James Bullough Lansing, an electronics designer. He left Altec Lansing (above), which was also in part named after him, and founded Lansing Sound to compete with his former employer. Altec Lansing complained about the similarity of the name, so he changed it to James B. Lansing Sound, and later to JBL. Johnson & Johnson – originally a partnership between brothers James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson in 1885, the addition of brother Robert Wood Johnson I led to formal incorporation as Johnson & Johnson in 1887. Jordache – from the first names of the Nakash brothers who founded the company: Joe, Ralph, David (Ralph's first son), Avi, plus che, after the second syllable of "Nakash" JVC – Japan Victor Company (Victor Company of Japan, Ltd) was founded in 1927 as a US subsidiary, The Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan, Limited. JVC developed the VHS video cassette format. K Kalev – after Kalev, the character from Estonian mythology and father of the protagonist in the national epic Kalevipoeg ("Son of Kalev"). Kamaz – after Kama River; long form Kamskiy avtomobilny zavod (Kama Automobile Plant) Kawasaki – from the name of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki KFC – short for Kentucky Fried Chicken Kenvelo – clothing retailer founded in the Czech Republic by Israel-born owner Dany Himi. Various names were proposed to managers, but some said "yes" and some "no". David Dahan came up with yesandno or Ken (yes), ve (and) lo (no) in Hebrew (כן ולא). Kenwood Electronics – Bill Kasuga was a partner in a firm that imported Japanese-made audio products from Trio Corporation to the United States. Kasuga wanted to create a trustworthy and Western-sounding name for products sold by his importing company as he was confident of the quality of Trio's products in a period when Japanese-made goods were considered inferior. He came up with Kenwood by combining "Ken" – a name common to Japan and North America that had proven acceptable to American consumers in the name of Kenmore Appliances – and "wood", referring to the durable substance as well as suggesting a relation to Hollywood. Trio Corporation renamed itself Kenwood in 1986. Kenwood Limited – named after Kenneth (Ken) Wood, who founded this kitchenware company in the UK in 1947 with wartime colleague Roger Laurence as Woodlau Industries It is not related to Kenwood Electronics, which started as Kasuga Radio Co in Japan in 1946 and became Trio Corporation in 1960. Kenworth Truck Company – named after the two principal stockholders Harry Kent and Edgar Worthington Kesko – Chosen primarily because the name did not mean anything generally known. Keurig – from the Dutch word keurig. Company co-founder John Sylvan said that once his coffee pod system worked, "he looked up the word excellence in Dutch – because 'everyone likes the Dutch'." Kia Motors – "Kia" (起亞) roughly translates as "Rising from Asia" in Hanja Kinko's – from the college nickname of founder, Paul Orfalea. He was called Kinko because he had curly red hair. The company was bought by FedEx for $2.4 billion in 2004. Kmart – named for Sebastian S. Kresge, who opened the first Kmart in 1962 as a division of his S. S. Kresge Company. The company became Kmart Corporation in 1977. After purchasing Sears, Roebuck & Company in 2005, the merged company became Sears Holdings Corporation, with Kmart continuing as a discount store chain within the new structure. Kodak – both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman. The letter "K" was a favorite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with "K". He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera. Koei - Japanese for honor (光栄, Kōei) Komatsu – Japanese construction vehicle manufacturer named from the city of Komatsu, Ishikawa, where it was founded in 1917 Kone – Means "machine" or "device" in Finnish. Konica – earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten, which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s. Korg – named from the surnames of the founders, Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, combined with the letters "rg" from the word "organ" KPMG – from the last names of the founders of the firms which combined to form the cooperative: Piet Klijnveld, William Barclay Peat, James Marwick, and Reinhard Goerdeler Kroger – American supermarket chain named after its founder, Barney Kroger KUKA – founded in 1898 in Augsburg, Germany as Keller Und Knappich Augsburg, it shortened its name to KUKA. Today, it is a manufacturer of industrial robots and automation systems. Kyocera – from Kyoto Ceramics, after Kyoto in Japan L L3 Technologies – founded as L-3 Communications, derived from the initials of founders Frank Lanza and Robert LaPenta and partner Lehman Brothers. Loral (below) sold its system integration and defense electronics businesses to Lockheed Martin (below), which spun them off the next year to become L-3 Communications, but Loral and Lockheed are not among the "L"s. L3Harris Technologies – from the merger of L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation (both above) LaCie – from the French phrase la cie, meaning "the company" Lada – from the name of a Slavic goddess, and used as a trading name by Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ (АВТОВАЗ in Russian). VAZ is derived from Volzhsky Automobilny Zavod. Lancôme – began in 1935, when its founder, Armand Petitjean, was exploring the ruins of a castle, Le Chateau de Lancôme (Loir-et-Cher) while vacationing in the French countryside. Petitjean's inspiration for the company's symbol, a rose, was the many wild roses growing around the castle. LCL – from Le Crédit LyonnaisLego – combination of the Danish "leg godt", which means to "play well". Lego also means "I put together" in Latin, but Lego Group claims this is only a coincidence and the etymology of the word is entirely Danish. Years before the little plastic brick was invented, Lego manufactured wooden toys. Lenovo Group – portmanteau of "Le-" (from former name Legend) and "novo", pseudo-Latin for "new". This Chinese company took over IBM's PC division. Lesney Products – named from the founders Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith, who were school friends but not related. This British company made the Matchbox series of die-cast toys, similar to Dinky toys. Level 3 Communications – "Level 3" is a reference to the network layer of the OSI model. Lexmark – in the 1980s, IBM wanted to spin off its printer and typewriter businesses. The main production facility for this business segment was in Lexington, Kentucky, and the code name for the spinoff was Lexington Marketing. LG – from the combination of two popular Korean brands, Lucky and GoldStar. (In Mexico, publicists explained the name change as an abbreviation to Linea GoldStar, Spanish for GoldStar Line) Lidl – Named after painter and retired schoolteacher Ludwig Lidl, from whom Dieter Schwarz, the son of company founder Josef Schwarz bought the rights to the name for 1,000 German marks. Schwarz originally wanted to use the name of his father's former business partner A. Lidl, but legal reasons prevented it. Schwarz did not want to name the company after himself as Schwarzmarkt means "black market" in German. Lionbridge – "localisation", which is the service this company offers, is often shortened to L10N. That is the first letter of the word and the last letter of the word, with 10 letters missing in between, hence L 10 N, which looks like lion. Bridge is the second part of the word as translation 'bridges' gap between people and markets that do not have a common language. Lionhead Studios – games studio named after Mark Webley's pet hamster, which died a week before the company was founded Webley worked for Bullfrog, and co-founded Lionhead with Peter Molyneux, Tim Rance and Steve Jackson in July 1997. Microsoft bought the company in April 2006. Loblaws – Canadian supermarket chain named for founder Theodore Loblaw Lockheed Martin – aerospace and defense company, a combination of Lockheed Corporation named after its co-founder Allan Lockheed, and Martin Marietta, which was formed through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation, named for Marietta, Ohio. LoJack – "LoJack" (the stolen-vehicle recovery system) is a pun on the word "hijack" (to steal a vehicle). Longines – in 1862 the new company "Ancienne Maison Auguste Agassiz, Ernest Francillon, Successeur" was born. At that time watchmaking in the area used the skills of people working outside the "comptoir d'établissage", often at home. In 1866 Ernest Francillon bought two plots of land on the right bank of the river Suze at the place called "Les Longines" and brought all of the watchmaking skills under one roof. This was the first "Longines factory". Lonsdale – boxing equipment manufacturer named after the Lonsdale Belt, a boxing trophy donated by the English Lord Lonsdale. Loral – from the beginnings of the surnames of the cofounders, William Lorenz and Leon Alpert L'Oréal – in 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed an innovative hair-color formula. He called his improved hair dye Auréole. LOT – LOT Polish Airlines. "Lot" in Polish means "flight". Lotus Software – Mitch Kapor named his company after the Lotus Position or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. LTV – initialism for Ling-Temco-Vought. James Ling founded Ling Electric Company in 1947. It merged with Temco Aircraft in 1960 and acquired Chance Vought in 1961 to become Ling-Temco-Vought. This then became a holding company with the subsidiaries LTV Aerospace, LTV Ling Altec (aka Altec Lansing, above), and LTV Electrosystems. In 1971, as part of an antitrust settlement, the name of the holding company was changed to LTV Corporation. By 1984, the company was primarily involved in steel production, and changed its name to LTV Steel, under which name it continued until it went out of business in 2000. LTX – semiconductor test equipment company formed by people who left Teradyne, and said to stand for "Leave Teradyne by Xmas" or possibly "Left Teradyne at Xmas" (Christmas). LTX merged with Credence Systems Corporation and is now part of Xcerra Corporation. Lucent Technologies – spin-off from AT&T, it was named Lucent (meaning "luminous" or "glowing with light") because "light as a metaphor for visionary thinking reflected the company's operating and guiding business philosophy", according to the Landor Associates staff who chose the name. It was taken over by Alcatel to form Alcatel-Lucent in 2006. Ludicorp – named from the Latin lūdere (to play) because the intention was to develop an online game, though co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake developed a successful photo-sharing website. They wanted to call it Flicker, but Fake dropped the "e" when the owner of Flicker.com wouldn't sell them the domain name. Ludicorp sold Flickr to Yahoo in 2005. The Oath division of Verizon sold Flickr to SmugMug in 2018. Lufthansa – founded as Deutsche Luft Hansa in 1926, where "Deutsche Luft" means "German Air" and Hansa refers to the Hanseatic League of medieval guilds. It was renamed Lufthansa in 1933. Lukoil – from the first letters of the three companies that merged to form the Russian oil giant: Langepasneftegaz, Uraineftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, plus the English word "oil" LVMH – from the initials of the 1987 merger of Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy. The former was named after Louis Vuitton while the latter was created in the 1971 merger of two earlier companies, Moët & Chandon (champagne) and Hennessy (cognac). Lycos – web search engine company founded in 1994 and named from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders M Maggi – food company named after its founder, Julius Maggi. It was taken over by Nestlé in 1947 and survives as a brand name. Mailchimp – the email marketing company was originally going to be called Chimpmail but the domain was taken, so co-founder Ben Chestnut switched it around. He told Inc magazine that his parents had had "a pet monkey in Thailand. And they always warned me never to have a pet monkey. So I had this mischievous monkey in my brain." Malév – Hungary's national airline carrier. Its name comes from Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat – meaning Hungarian Air-traffic Company. MAN – abbreviation for Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Company). The MAN company is a German engineering works and truck manufacturer. Mandriva – new company formed from the merger of Mandrake Linux and Connectiva Linux Manulife Financial – founded in 1887 as Manufacturing Life Insurance Company Marimekko – from the co-founder's middle name Maria and mekko, the Finnish word for dress Mars – named after Frank C. Mars and his wife, Ethel, who started making candy in 1911. Their son, Forrest E. Mars, joined with Bruce Murrie, the son of a Hershey executive, to form M&M Ltd (from Mars & Murrie). Forrest took over the family business after his father's death and merged the two companies in 1964. After retiring from Mars, Inc. in 1993, Forrest founded Ethel M. Chocolates, named after his mother. Masco Corporation – from the names of the founder Alex Manoogian, Screw and Company. Masco Screw Products Co. was founded in 1929. Mast-Jägermeister AG – named for founder Wilhelm Mast and its main product, Jägermeister (German for "hunt master") liqueur Matra – French acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction ("aviation traction mechanics") Mattel – portmanteau of the founders names Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH – German for "Maybach Engine Construction Company" – was named after Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, who founded it in 1909. The Maybach name continued as a brand of Daimler AG until the end of 2012. Mazda Motor Corporation – company was founded as Toyo Kogyo, started manufacturing Mazda brand cars in 1931, and changed its name to Mazda in 1984. The cars were supposedly named after Ahura Mazda, the chief deity of the Zoroastrians, though many think this explanation was created after the fact, to cover up what is simply a poor anglicized version of the founders name, Jujiro Matsuda. MBNA – originally a subsidiary of Maryland National Corporation, MBNA once stood for Maryland Bank, NA (NA itself standing for National Association, a federal designation representing the bank's charter). McDonald's – from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonald, who founded the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940. MCI Communications – Microwave Communications, Inc. The company later merged with Worldcom to create MCI Worldcom. The MCI was dropped in 2000 and the acquiring company changed its name to MCI when it emerged from bankruptcy in 2003. McSweeney's – Dave Eggers' publishing ventures started with Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. This was named after mysterious letters that he collected as a child, "written by a man named Timothy McSweeney, who thought he was related to my mother". (McSweeney was his mother's maiden name.) MEA - Middle East Airlines, an airline operating out of Beirut, Lebanon. Mercedes-Benz – formed from the first name of Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900, and the last name of Karl Benz, one of the owners of the Daimler-Benz company that the Daimler company merged into in 1926. Merillat Industries – named after Orville D. Merillat, who founded the company in 1946. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) – film studio formed from the merger of three other companies: Metro Picture Corporation, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Goldwyn Picture Corporation in turn was named after the last names of Samuel Goldfish, and Edgar and Archibald Selwyn. Metromedia – spun off by DuMont Laboratories as DuMont Broadcasting Corporation, it changed its name to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation to distance itself from DuMont. This was later changed to Metromedia. MFI – from Mullard Furniture Industries. The original company was named after the founder's wife, whose maiden name was Mullard. MG Cars – from Morris Garages after co-founder William Morris. Under Chinese ownership, the company says: "We want Chinese consumers to know this brand as 'Modern Gentleman'." Microlins – from Microcomputers and Lins, a Brazilian city where the company was founded by José Carlos Semenzato Micron Technology – computer memory producer named after the microscopic parts of its products. It is now better known by its consumer brand name: Crucial. Microsoft – coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to microcomputer software. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' disappeared on 3 February 1987 with the introduction of a new corporate identity and logo. The "slash between the 'o' and 's' [in the Microsoft logo] emphasizes the "soft" part of the name and conveys motion and speed." Midway Games – derived from the name of an airport on the southwestern part of Chicago. Miele – German based manufacturer of high-end domestic appliances, founded in 1899 by Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann. Mikkeller – From the names of the founders, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup Keller. Mincom Limited – company initially created software to specifically assist mining companies and the name Mining computing. Minolta – founded in Osaka, Japan in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten (日独写真機商店; literally: Japan-Germany camera shop). It was not until 1934 that the name Minolta first appeared on a camera, the Minolta Vest. The name was given by founder Kazuo Tajima due to its similarity to the Japanese term "minoru ta" {稔る田} meaning "growing rice fields", which came from an ancient Japanese proverb that was a favorite of Tajima's mother meaning "the ripest ears of rice bow their heads lowest", and a desire from Tajima to run an innovative, yet humble business. MIPRO – stands for MIcrophone PROfessionals. MIPRO is a manufacturer of wireless microphones. MIPS – originally stood for Microprocessor without Interlocking Pipeline Stages. When interlocks where added to a later implementation, the name was redefined to not be an acronym but just a name. (The name also connotes computer speed, by association with the acronym for millions of instructions per second.) MITIE – acronym for Management Incentive Through Investment Equity Mitel – from Mike and Terry's Lawnmowers, after the founders Michael Cowpland (see also: Corel) and Terry Matthews, and the company's original business plan MITRE – Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Establishment (however, the MITRE Corporation asserts that its name is not an acronym) Mitsubishi – name Mitsubishi (三菱) has two parts: mitsu means three and hishi (changing to bishi in the middle of the word) means diamond (the shape). Hence, the three diamond logo. (Note that "diamond" in this context refers only to the rhombus shape, not to the precious gem.) Mondelez International – American multinational snacks company spun off from Kraft Foods Inc. Kraft Foods said: "'Monde' derives from the Latin word for 'world,' and 'delez' is a fanciful expression of 'delicious'. In addition, 'International' captures the global nature of the business." Moneris Solutions – Latin for "you (singular) are being protected" Morningstar, Inc. – name is taken from the last sentence in Walden, a book by Henry David Thoreau; "the sun is but a morning star" Motorola – founded in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Company by two brothers, Paul V. and Joseph E. Galvin. It was renamed after its Motorola car radios became widely known. The "ola" ending was already in use, most famously for the "Victrola" phonograph made by the Victor Talking Machine Company. Mozilla Foundation – from the name of the web browser that preceded Netscape Navigator. When Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace the Mosaic browser, it was internally named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla) by Jamie Zawinski. Mozy – from the words "More Zetabytes for Your Mom". It was initially named "Breakaway Data Services for Your Mom," or "Bdsym". MRF – from Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946. He started with a toy-balloon manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur, Chennai (then called Madras). In 1952 he began manufacturing tread-rubber and, in 1961, tyres. MSI – Micro-Star International, commonly referred to as MSI MTM Enterprises – from the initials of the co-founder, actress Mary Tyler Moore Musco Lighting – from the company's original location of Muscatine County, Iowa, where it still operates a large manufacturing facility Mustek – Taiwanese electronics manufacturer with name derived from Most Unique Scanner Technology MVC – from Music and Video Club, the name of a UK-based entertainment chain N Nabisco – The National Biscuit Company changed its name to Nabisco in 1971. NAD Electronics – audio equipment manufacturer named for New Acoustic Dimension Napster – original music-sharing service was named after co-founder Shawn Fanning's hairstyle-based nickname NCC – from Nordic Construction Company NCR Corporation – from National Cash Register NEC – from Nippon Electric Company Nero – Nero Burning ROM named after Nero burning Rome ("Rom" is the German spelling of "Rome"). Nestlé – named after its founder, Henri Nestlé, who was born in Germany under the name "Nestle", which is German (actually, Swabian diminutive) for "bird's nest". The company logo is a bird's nest with a mother bird and two chicks. Netscape – originally the product name of the company's web browser ("Mosaic Communications Netscape Web Navigator"). The company adopted the product name after the University of Illinois threatened to sue for trademark infringement over the use of the Mosaic name. Netscape is the combination of network and landscape. Nike – named for the Greek goddess of victory Nikon – original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning "Japanese Optical" Nintendo – Nintendo is the transliteration of the company's Japanese name, nintendou (任天堂). The first (nin) can be translated as to "entrusted"; ten-dou means "heaven". Nissan – earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo, which means "Japan Industries" Nokia – started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish town of Nokia. The company later adopted the town's name. Nortel Networks – named from Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bay Networks. The company was originally spun off from the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd in 1895 as Northern Electric and Manufacturing, and traded as Northern Electric from 1914 to 1976. Northrop Grumman – from the merger of Northrop Corporation, the third company named after Jack Northrop, and Grumman Aerospace Corporation, named after Leroy Grumman. Novartis – after the Latin expression "novae artes" which means something like "new skills" Novell – Novell, Inc. was earlier Novell Data Systems co-founded by George Canova. The name was suggested by George's wife who mistakenly thought that "Novell" meant new in French. (Nouvelle is the feminine form of the French adjective 'Nouveau'. Nouvelle as a noun in French is 'news'.) Nucor - a portmanteau of its prior name, Nuclear Corporation of America, Inc. Nvidia (stylized as NVIDIA) – comes from "invidia" in Roman mythology; the Latin word for "envy". O OCZ – play on the word Overclockers Olympus – Japanese company founded as Takachiho Seisakusho in 1919, where Takachiho referred to Takama-ga-hara, the home of the gods in Japanese mythology. It was renamed Olympus Optical Co., Ltd in 1949, after Mount Olympus, the home of the gods in Greek mythology, and then Olympus Corporation in 2003. The company had been using Olympus as a brand name for optical products such as microscopes since 1921. Onkyo – translates as "sound harmony". The Japanese audio company was founded as Osaka Denki Onkyo K.K in 1946. Ooyala – word Ooyala (ఉయ్యల) means 'cradle' in Telugu, as in a "cradle of innovation". Oracle – Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner worked on a consulting project, code-named Oracle, for the CIA. The project was designed to use the new SQL database language from IBM. When the project was terminated, they decided to finish what they started and market it. Later they changed the name of their company, Relational Software Inc., to the name of the product. Ornge – new name (2006) for Ontario Air Ambulance, chosen to reflect the orange color of its aircraft. It was intended to provide a unique branding but the ornge.com misspelling was already used by an advertising portal. Osram – from osmium and wolfram Össur – from the name of the founder, Icelandic entrepreneur Össur Kristinsson P Paccar – from Pacific Car and Rail PCCW – originally Pacific Century Development, the company's English name was changed from Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited to PCCW Limited on 9 August 2002. It owns Hong Kong Telecom. Pamida – U.S. retailer co-founded by Jim Witherspoon and named after his three sons: Patrick, Michael and David. Following a merger in 2012, Pamida's 175 stores were rebranded as Shopko Hometown stores or closed. Panasonic – the giant Japanese electronics manufacturer was originally called Matsushita, after its founder, Kōnosuke Matsushita. In 2008, it was renamed Panasonic Corporation after the brand names it used for TV sales in the United States. National, its original global brand name, was not available in the United States and was abandoned. Panda – from the "Panda Pop" chocolate bar introduced in the 1950s, featuring a stylised picture of a panda on the cover. Peek Freans – from the surnames of cofounders James Peek and George Frean Pemex – abbreviation of the full name of the state-owned Mexican oil/gasoline company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Spanish for Mexican Petroleum) Pennzoil – formed by a merger of South Penn Oil (Penn), a former Standard Oil subsidiary, and Zapata Oil (zoil) Penske Corporation – transportation company founded in 1969 by US racing driver Roger Penske. Pepsi – named from the digestive enzyme pepsin Pernod Ricard – French drinks company formed in 1975 with the merger of eponymous rivals founded by Henri-Louis Pernod and Paul Ricard Petrobras – abbreviation of the Brazilian oil company's full name, Petróleo Brasileiro (Portuguese for Brazilian Petroleum) Peugeot – in 1810, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frédéric Peugeot diversified their family-run grain mill into a steel foundry. In 1896, after a family squabble, Armand Peugeot founded the Société des Automobiles Peugeot to focus on cars. Pez – from the first, middle and last letters of the German language word "Pfefferminz", meaning "peppermint" Philco – from the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company. The pioneering U.S. radio and television manufacturer was taken over by Ford and later by Philips. Philips – Royal Philips Electronics was founded in 1891 by brothers Gerard (the engineer) and Anton (the entrepreneur) Philips Piaggio – Italian manufacturer of Vespa scooters and cars was named after its founder, Rinaldo Piaggio. Pioneer Corporation – In 1938, Nozomu Matsumoto, the son of a Christian missionary, founded Fukuin Shokai Denki Seisakusho ("Gospel Electric Works") to manufacture the A-8 loudspeaker, which he called "Pioneer". The company name was changed to the religiously neutral Pioneer Electronic Corporation in 1961, when it went public. In 1999, the company simplified its name by removing "Electronic". Pixar – from pixel and the co-founder's name, Alvy Ray Smith. According to the biography "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs" by Alan Deutschman, the 'el' in pixel was changed to 'ar' because 'ar' is frequently used in Spanish verbs, implying the name means "To Pix". Alternatively, "pixarr" is a common abbreviation for "pixel array," an often used term in computer graphics programming. PMC-Sierra – PMC from Pacific Microelectronics Centre, a research arm of BC Tel, and Sierra from the company that acquired it, Sierra Semiconductor, presumably so named because of the allure of the Sierra Nevada mountains to members of a California-based company. Porsche – car company named after founder Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian automotive engineer. The family name may have originated in the Czech name "Boreš" (boresh). POW! Entertainment – American media production company co-founded by former Marvel Comics editor and publisher Stan Lee in 2001. POW! is commonly used in comic book fights, but it is used as an acronym (or backronym) in the name POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment, Inc. Prada – an Italian high fashion house named after the founder Mario Prada, who founded Prada in Milan 1914 PricewaterhouseCoopers – global professional services firm named as a result of the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998. It started trading as PwC in 2010 without changing its legal name. Procter & Gamble – named after the founders, William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, who pooled their resources after marrying two sisters. The company was founded in Cincinnati in 1837. ProfSat – Brazilian satellite-based education company, meaning Professional Sateliite Proton – the Malaysian car manufacturer's name is derived from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional, which means National Automobile Enterprise in the Malay language. PRS Guitars – named after its founder, Paul Reed Smith. PS Audio – from the first initial of the company's two founders, Paul McGowan and Stan Warren Psion – UK computer company named by its founder, South Africa-born Dr David Potter, from Potter Scientific Instruments Or Nothing Q Q8 – as the abbreviation for Kuwait Petroleum International Limited, it is intended to be pronounced similarly to Kuwait Qantas – from its original name, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Qimonda – invented name, where the company says: "In Chinese, 'Qi', pronounced as 'ch-ee', stands for breathing and flowing energy, while 'monda' denotes 'world' in Latin-based languages. 'Qi', when pronounced as a hard 'k', suggests 'key to the world', a positive connotation." It filed for insolvency on 23 January 2009. Quad – acronym for Quality Unit Amplified Domestic. Quad Electroacoustics was founded in 1936 by Peter Walker, and was formerly called the Acoustical Manufacturing Company. Quark – named after the subatomic particle. The word quark originates from Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. Qualcomm – Quality Communication Quora – faux plural of quorum, evocative of questions and answers QVC – Quality, Value and Convenience R Rabobank – Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank (Dutch for "Farmers Loan Bank"), a combination of the two cooperatives that merged to form the company RAI – Italian public broadcaster; Radio Audizioni Italiane Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers – from "Raising Cane", a Labrador Retriever owned by chain founder Todd Graves when he opened his first restaurant in 1996 RAND – Research ANd Development. Raytheon – "light of the gods"; maker of missiles such as Patriot, Maverick, Sidewinder and Tomahawk, among other military technology RCA – Radio Corporation of America Reckitt & Colman – named from the merger of Reckitt & Sons with J&J Colman in 1938. Colman's, best known for its mustard, was founded by Jeremiah Colman in 1814. Isaac Reckitt founded Reckitt & Sons in 1840. Reckitt Benckiser – consumer goods giant named from the merger of Britain's Reckitt & Colman and the Dutch company Benckiser NV in December 1999. The latter was named after its founder, Johann Benckiser. Red Hat – while at college, company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) by his grandfather. People would turn to him to solve their problems and he was referred to as "that guy in the red hat". By the time he wrote the manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux he had lost the cap, so the manual included an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found. Reebok – alternate spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope Renault – French car manufacturer founded in 1899 as Société Renault Frères (French for Renault Brothers) by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand. REO Motor Car Company – car manufacturer founded in 1904 by Ransom E. Olds, and named from its founder's initials. Later, the rock band REO Speedwagon took its name from one of its trucks, the REO Speed Wagon. Repsol – name derived from Refinería de Petróleo de eScombreras Oil (Escombreras is an oil refinery in Cartagena, Spain) and chosen for its euphony when the, then, state-owned oil company was incorporated in 1986. Previously Repsol was a lubricating-oil trademark. Research in Motion – from the phrase "poetry in motion", which company founder Mike Lazaridis had seen used to describe a football player. The company changed its name to BlackBerry in 2013, after its most famous product. Rickenbacker – named after co-founder Adolph Rickenbacher, with the spelling anglicised. The company started as the Electro String Instrument Corporation in 1931. Ricola – from "Richterich & Compagnie Laufen" after the company founder Emil Richterich and the town of Laufen, Switzerland, where the company was founded. Rio Tinto – the Anglo-Australian multinational mining company's name comes from the Rio Tinto (Red River) in southwestern Spain, which has flowed red since mining began there about 5000 years ago, due to acid mine drainage. Robeez – baby-shoe company named after the founder's son Robbie (Robert) Robeez was taken over by Stride Rite in 2006. Roche – healthcare company named after its founder, Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche. The compound surname was the result of Fritz Hoffmann marrying Adèle La Roche in 1895: it was a common practice in Switzerland at that time. Roku – from the Japanese word meaning "six", because it was the sixth company started by Anthony Wood. Rolls-Royce – name used by Rolls-Royce plc and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, among others. In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business, making his first car, a Royce, in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls on 4 May that year. The pair entered into a partnership in which Royce would manufacture cars to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and the cars would be called Rolls-Royce. ROLM – named after the founders, Gene Richeson, Ken Oshman, Walter Loewenstern, and Robert Maxfield RSA Security – formed from the first letters of the family names of its founders Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adleman S Saab – founded in 1937 in Sweden as Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Company); the last word is typically abbreviated as AB, hence Saab and Saab Automobile AB SABC – South African Broadcasting Corporation Sabre – Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment SAIC – Science Applications International Corporation SAIC Motor – Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation Saku Brewery – after the Saku small borough, Estonia, where the company was founded Samsonite – named from the Biblical character Samson, renowned for his strength Sams Publishing – named after Howard W. Sams, who founded the company in 1946. It is now an imprint of Pearson plc. Samsung – meaning "three stars" in Korean Santander – Banco Santander was founded in Spain in 1857 and named after the port of Santander in the north of Spain. Sanyo – meaning "three oceans" in Japanese. The company was taken over by Panasonic in 2009 and the Sanyo brand name is no longer used. SAP – SystemAnalyse und Programmentwicklung (German for "System analysis and program development"), a company formed by five ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM. Later, SAP was redefined to stand for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing). SAS – Scandinavian Airlines System, the flag airline carrier of Sweden, Norway and Denmark SAS Institute – originally an abbreviation for Statistical Analysis System Sasol – Suid-Afrikaanse Steenkool en Ol. (Afrikaans for South African Coal and Oil) Saudi Aramco – Aramco name was derived in 1944 when California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) changed its name to Arabian American Oil Company. The Saudi government purchased the company in 1980, and changed its name to Saudi Arabian Oil Company or Saudi Aramco in 1988. Selver – from Estonian "selvehall" ("self-service market"), an earlier Estonian word for a "supermarket", and the noun suffix -r. SCB – from Standard Chartered Bank. The name Standard Chartered comes from the two original banks from which it was founded – the Chartered Bank of Sri Lanka, Australia and China, and the Standard Bank of British South Africa. Schick – manufacturer of shaving razors and blades, named after the inventor Jacob Schick SCO – from Santa Cruz Operation. The company's office was in Santa Cruz, California. It eventually formed Tarantella, Inc. and sold off its operating system division to Caldera Systems, which is based in Utah. Caldera Systems changed its name to Caldera International and then to the SCO Group (at which point SCO no longer stood for anything). SEAT – an acronym from Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Corporation of Touring Cars) Sealed Air – from the "sealed air" found in its most notable product, Bubble Wrap Sears, Roebuck – named after its founders Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1886, and taken over by Kmart in 2005. Sears Holdings now owns both Sears and Kmart. Sega – Service Games of Japan was founded by Marty Bromley (an American) to import pinball games to Japan for use on American military bases. Seiko – Seiko, now referred to in katakana as セイコー("seiko"), was originally named in kanji as 精工(also "seiko"). The two characters were taken from the phrase 「精巧で精密な時計の生産に成功する工場」, the company's vision which roughly translates to "a factory（工場:kojyo）that successfully（成功:seiko）produces（生産:seisan）exquisit（精巧:seiko）and precise（精密:seimitsu）watches". – According to Seiko's official company history, titled A Journey in Time: The Remarkable Story of Seiko (2003), Seiko is a Japanese word for "exquisite" or "minute" (both spelled 精巧), as well as a word for "success" (spelled 成功). Sennheiser – named after one of its founders, Fritz Sennheiser. SFM Entertainment – initials of the cofounders, Walter Staab, Robert Frank, and Stanley Moger SGI – Silicon Graphics Inc. Sharp – Japanese consumer electronics company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil Shell – Royal Dutch/Shell was established in 1907, when the Royal Dutch Petrol Society Plc. and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd. merged their operations. The Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd had been established at the end of the 19th century by commercial firm Samuel & Co (founded in 1830). Samuel & Co was already importing Japanese shells when it set up an oil company, so the oil company was named after the shells. Siemens – founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. The company was originally called Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske. Sierra Entertainment – after the Sierra Nevada mountain range near the company's premises in Oakhurst, California. Silja Line – from the main character of the 1956 Finnish film Silja – nuorena nukkunut, which the company thought sounded nice. Six Apart – company co-founders Ben and Mena Trott were born six days apart in September 1977. In 2011, the company was taken over by Infocom, a Japanese IT company. Skanska – Swedish construction company named from Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scania Cement Casting Ltd) SKF – from Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB (Swedish ball bearing factory) founded in 1907; see also Volvo Skoda Auto – car company was founded in 1895 and originally named Laurin & Klement after its founders, Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement. It was taken over by Škoda Works, an industrial conglomerate, in 1924, and adopted the Škoda name from Emil Škoda. Škoda Auto was split off after World War II and is now part of Volkswagen. Skype – original concept for the name was Sky-Peer-to-Peer, which morphed into Skyper, then Skype. The company was taken over by Microsoft in May 2011. Smart – Swatch + Mercedes + Art Smeg, Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla (metal enamelling of Guastalla, Emilia) Smilebit – former Sega development studio named from what they hope to make you do (smile), and the smallest unit of computer information (bit). The company developed Jet Set Radio. SNK – Shin Nihon Kikaku, Japanese for "Plans for a New Japan" Sokos – from SOK, an abbreviation for "Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta" (Central association for Finnish co-operatives) but with "-os" added to the end to make it a palindrome and thus sound nicer. Sony – from the Latin word "sonus" meaning sound, and "sonny", a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster, "since we were sonny boys working in sound and vision", said Akio Morita. The company was founded as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo KK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946, and changed its name to Sony in 1958. Sony was chosen as it could be pronounced easily in many languages. Sorcim – "Micros" backwards. Sorcim was the original publisher of the SuperCalc spreadsheet in 1980. It was taken over by Computer Associates. SPAR – originally DE SPAR, from Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (Dutch, meaning "All will benefit from united co-operation"). "De spar" in Dutch translates as "the fir tree", hence the fir tree logo. As the company expanded across Europe, the name was shortened by dropping the article, "DE". SpaceX – short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Sperry – company founded by Elmer Ambrose Sperry (1860–1930), originally as Sperry Gyroscope Company. Sperry took over Univac, and eventually was itself taken over by Burroughs. The merged companies became Unisys, from United Information Systems. Spiratone – from the last name of founders Fred and Hans Spira. The company was founded as Spiratone Fine Grain Laboratories. The "tone" suffix was common in the photographic industry (an example cited by Fred is Royaltone) at the time of the company's founding in the 1940s. Sprint – from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Communications. At the time, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned. SRAM Corporation – bicycle component manufacturer named from its founders Scott King, Stanley Ray Day, and Sam Patterson SRI International – from Stanford Research Institute, established by the trustees of Stanford University, California SSH Communications Security – from the company's principal product, SSH (Secure Shell). SSL – former initialism for Space Systems/Loral, the result of Loral (above) acquiring Ford Aerospace's Space Systems Division Stanley Works – name created to reflect the merger of Stanley's Bolt Manufactory of New Britain, Connecticut (founded by Frederick Trent Stanley) and the Stanley Rule and Level Company (founded by his cousin Henry Stanley) Starbucks – named after Starbuck, a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, also a variation of Starbo; at the time, a local mining camp north of Seattle. Stellantis – automotive manufacturer domiciled in the Netherlands; derived from the Latin verb stello meaning "to brighten with stars". Stellent – coined from a combination of the words stellar and excellent. Stora Enso – from the merger of Swedish Stora AB and Finnish Enso Oyj, ultimately deriving from "Stora Kopparberg" (Swedish for "great copper mountain", referring to the Falun Mine) and Enso, the Finnish name for the city of Svetogorsk in Russia. Sturm, Ruger – from its founders, Alexander McCormick Sturm and William B. Ruger. STX – pronounced as the word "sticks" because, when first founded, STX manufactured only lacrosse sticks Subaru – from the Japanese name for the constellation known to Westerners as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, was formed from a merger of six companies, and the constellation is featured on the company's logo. Sumazi – social data intelligence company named after its Bangladeshi-American founder Sumaya Kazi. Sun Microsystems – its founders designed their first workstation in their dorm at Stanford University, and chose the name Stanford University Network for their product, hoping to sell it to the college. They did not. The company was taken over by Oracle Corporation in 2010. SuSE – from Software und System-Entwicklung (software and system development). The company was bought by Novell for its Linux distribution. Suzuki – automotive giant named after its founder, Michio Suzuki. The company started as Suzuki Loom Works in Japan in 1909, and entered the motorcycle market in the early 1950s. It changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd in 1954. T Taco Bell – named after founder Glen Bell TAG Group (Holdings) S.A. – Luxembourg-based holding company named from Techniques d'Avant Garde TAG Heuer – watch-maker named after Edouard Heuer, who founded Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG in Switzerland in 1860 It was taken over by TAG Group (Holdings) S.A. in 1985 and branded TAG Heuer in 1999. It is now owned by the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) conglomerate. Talgo – from "Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea-Oriol" (Spanish for "Goicoechea-Oriol Light Articulated Train"), Goicoechea and Oriol being the founders of the company. Tallink – from the Estonian capital Tallinn and the word "link" as the company links Tallinn with other cities by the sea. Tama Drums – Tama was the name of the owner's wife, and means "jewel" in Japanese. TAM Airlines – named from Transportes Aéreos Marília (Marilia's Air Transport). Marília is a city in São Paulo state, Brazil TAP Portugal – from "Transportes Aéreos Portugueses" (Portuguese Air Transport). Targray – a portmanteau of founder Thomas Andrew Richardson's initials and his mother's maiden name. (Gray) Taser International – named after a fictional weapon, Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, after the novel Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle by Victor Appleton. The company was incorporated in Arizona in 1993 by brothers Rick and Tom Smith as Air Taser, Inc. Taxan – made-up name chosen partly because Takusan is a Japanese word for many or much and was considered propitious, but mainly because the head of the company, in the U.S. at the time, Tak Shimizu was known by everyone as Tak-san. TCBY – originally, the company's name was "This Can't Be Yogurt", but a lawsuit from a competitor named "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!" forced TCBY to create a new backronym for its initials: "The Country's Best Yogurt". TCL – from Today China Lion. Derived from literal translation of "今日中国雄狮" from Chinese to English. TDK Corporation – from Tokyo Denki Kagaku (Tokyo Electronics and Chemicals) Temco Aircraft – Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company Textron – this U.S. defense conglomerate was founded as the Special Yarns Corporation in 1923 and later traded as Atlantic Rayon Corporation, when its main business was parachutes. After World War II, it moved into lingerie and other consumer goods, and needed a new name. The company history says: "Atlantic Rayon's advertising agency suggested Señorita Creations, but it was rejected in favor of Textron. The 'Tex' was derived from textiles and the 'tron' came from synthetics such as Lustron." Textron bought Bell Aerospace and the Cessna Aircraft Company, among many others. TEPCO – Tokyo Electric Power Company Tesco – founder Jack Cohen, who sold groceries in the markets of the London East End from 1919, acquired a large shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell. He made new labels by using the first three letters of the supplier's name and the first two letters of his surname. Tesla – Named after Serbian electrical engineer and physicist, Nikola Tesla. The Tesla Roadster uses an AC motor descended directly from Nikola Tesla's original 1882 design. Teva Naot – outdoors shoe company is named after the modern Hebrew word for 'nature' (pronounced "tehvah") Texaco – from The Texas Company U.S.A. THX – from Tomlinson Holman Crossover, the name of the technology's inventor and the audio technology of a "crossover" amplifier. It may be a backronym, as the technology was created by George Lucas's then-company, Lucasfilm, and he directed THX 1138. THY – Turkish Airlines. THY is the abbreviation of Türk Hava Yolları, which means Turkish Air Ways in Turkish. TIBCO Software – The Information Bus Company. The company was founded by Vivek Ranadive as Teknekron Software Systems in 1985. Tim Hortons – Canadian fast food doughnut, sandwich and coffee shop named after founder and hockey player Tim Horton. In Canada Tim Hortons is nicknamed "Tim's" and "Timmy's"; in America, the chain is nicknamed "Timmy Ho's". The name was changed from Tim Horton's, dropping the apostrophe, to preclude legal action in Quebec where businesses are obliged to use French language names. Thomas Nationwide Transport and TNT Express – Thomas Nationwide Transport, an Australian company which was acquired by the Dutch postal company in 1996. The postal company renamed itself TNT N.V. in 2005. In 2011, TNT N.V. demerged; the express delivery company took the name TNT Express while the postal company renamed itself PostNL. Toshiba – named from the merger of consumer goods company Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co) and electrical firm Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Toyota – from the name of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan. Trader Joe's – named after the grocery store's founder, Joe Coulombe Trillium – the result of mishearing the suggestion of the name "Trillian" (from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) as "trillium", the name of a flower, and deciding they liked the sound and symbolism of that Troller – Brazilian adaptation of the English word Troll, which refers to a character of the Scandinavian legends that dwells forests and caves of Norway. Tronc – In 2016, US-based media corporation Tribune Publishing changed its name to Tronc – short for Tribune online content. In 2018, the company changed it back. Triang – operating name for Lines Bros Ltd, which was founded by William, Walter and Arthur Edwin Lines. Three Lines make a triangle TSMC – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, an independent chip foundry founded in Taiwan in 1987. Tucows – acronym for The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software. Tungsram – derived from Tungsten + Wolfram, two variations of the name of the main raw material of the lamp production. TVR – derived from the first name of the company founder TreVoR Wilkinson TWA – derived from Trans World Airlines. Before the airline opened up its first international route from New York to Paris in the 1950s, it was a domestic operation that focused on serving Los Angeles and San Francisco from New York, operating under the name Transcontinental and Western Air. Keeping the initials and rebranding as a global airline was a stroke of marketing continuity genius. Twinings – named after founder Thomas Twining, who set up a tea-shop on the Strand in London in 1706. Twitter – having rejected the name Twitch for their social networking service, co-founder Jack Dorsey says: "we looked in the dictionary for words around it and we came across the word 'twitter' and it was just perfect. The definition was 'a short burst of inconsequential information', and 'chirps from birds'. And that's exactly what the product was." U UBS – named from the initials of the Union Bank of Switzerland, which merged with the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) in 1998. The initials no longer stand for anything, says the company, possibly because "United Bank of Switzerland" might be confused with the United Bank's subsidiary, United Bank Switzerland. Umbro – Umbro was founded in 1924 by the Humphrey (Umphrey) Brothers, Harold C. and Wallace. Unilever – name created to reflect the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers, agreed in 1929. Lever Brothers was named after its founders, William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James. UNIMED – Brazilian cooperative of physicians, meaning União de Medicos (Physicians' Union) Unisys – from United Information Systems, the new name for the company that resulted from the merging of two old mainframe computer companies, Burroughs and Sperry [Sperry Univac/Sperry Rand]. It united two incompatible ranges. The newborn Unisys was briefly the world's second-largest computer company, after IBM. Unocal Corporation – the Union Oil Company of California, founded in 1890 UPS – United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UUNET – one of the industry's oldest and largest Internet Service Providers, named from UNIX-to-UNIX Network V Vaisala – Finnish company named after its founder, Professor Vilho Väisälä Vale - formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (the Sweet River Valley Company, referring to the Doce River), is the largest producer of iron ore and nickel in the world. Valero Energy Corporation – from Misión San Antonio de Valero, the Spanish-language name of the mission in the company's home city better known as The Alamo Valio – Finnish for "elite". The company was originally named "Voinvienti-osuusliike Valio" ("Butter export limited company Valio"). The name was chosen to evoke a connotation to the high quality of exported butter. Only dairies producing first-quality butter were chosen. Valtra – from Valmet Tractors, where Valmet is the name of a Finnish state-owned company (originally "Valtion Metallitehtaat" – English: "State Metalworks") Valve – game development company who uses a valve as symbolism, as in a lever which makes the flow of ideas readily accessible Varig – Brazilian airline, its name is an abbreviation of Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense, because it was founded in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Verizon – portmanteau of veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon. Verkkokauppa.com – directly from the company's official URL. "Verkkokauppa" translates to "Internet store" in Finnish. Victorinox – derived from the name of the founder's mother, Victoria, and a French abbreviation for stainless steel, inox. Known for their Swiss army knife. Viking Line – from the prefix "Viking" appearing in the names of all the ships of Rederi Ab Sally, Viking Line's predecessor company. Virb – play on "verb", representing an action word in order to describe the product's users as "people who create" Virgin – founder Richard Branson started a magazine called Student while still at school. In his autobiography, Losing My Virginity, Branson says that when they were starting a business to sell records by mail order, "one of the girls suggested: 'What about Virgin? We're complete virgins at business.'" VMware – Virtual Machine [soft]ware Vodafone – from Voice, Data, Telefone. Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call at a few minutes past midnight on 1 January 1985. Volkswagen – from the German for "people's car". Ferdinand Porsche wanted to produce a car that was affordable for the masses – the Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen (or "Strength-Through-Joy car", from a Nazi social organization) later became known, in English, as the Beetle. Volvo – from the Latin word "volvo", which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB or, in English, Swedish ball bearing factory). Vought – American series of aircraft companies. Chance M. Vought and Birdseye Lewis founded the Lewis and Vought Corporation in 1917. Lewis retired, and the original company was succeeded by the Chance Vought Corporation in 1922. That was acquired by James Ling in 1962 to add to his conglomerate, forming Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV, above); Vought's businesses were continued under the subsidiary LTV Aerospace, split into Vought Missiles and Space and Vought Aeronautics. In 1972, the two divisions were merged to create Vought Systems. LTV Aerospace was then renamed back to Vought Corporation in 1976, and then restructured back to LTV Aerospace and Defense in 1983—again split into aircraft vs. missiles. In 1992, Loral bought the missile division, while Northrop and The Carlyle Group bought the aerospace division. Northrop's successor Northrop Grumman bought out Carlyle's interest in 1994, and Carlyle bought it all back in 2000 to create Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., which they sold in 2010 to the Triumph Group to create Triumph Aerostructures – Vought Aircraft Division. W Wachovia – from the Latin version of the German wachau, the name given to a region in North Carolina by Moravian settlers because it reminded them of the Austrian valley of Wachau, through which the Danube River flows. Wachovia Bank was founded in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which is located in the region. Waitrose – upmarket UK supermarket chain originally named after the founders, Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The "Taylor" was later dropped. Walgreens – named after founder Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. Walmart – named after founder Sam Walton Walt Disney Company – named for its co-founder Walt Disney Wang Laboratories – from the name of the founder, An Wang, the inventor of core memory. Wells Fargo – from the founders of the original Wells Fargo company, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo. When Norwest Corporation purchased Wells Fargo in 1998, it chose to retain the Wells Fargo name. Wendy's – Wendy was the nickname of founder Dave Thomas' daughter Melinda. Weta Digital – special effects company co-founded by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. Wētā are a group of about 70 species of insect found in New Zealand, where Weta Digital is based. WHSmith – founded by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in London, England, in 1792. They named their small newsagent's shop after their son William Henry Smith, who was born the same year. Williams Sonoma – founded by Chuck Williams in Sonoma, California. Wolfram Research – named after computer scientist Stephen Wolfram, who founded the company in 1987 before launching Mathematica software in 1988 Wonderware – from Wonderful Software – Wonderware was the project code name for the company prior to its launch. Upon making the company a legal entity, the code name was retained as the company name. Worlds of Wonder – founder Don Kingsborough wanted an eyecatching stock symbol, and Worlds of Wonder provided WOW. The company went bankrupt in 1988. WPP – global advertising and marketing company founded by Martin Sorrell in 1985. He bought an existing listed company, Wire & Plastic Products PLC, to use as a shell. WWE – from the company's legal name of World Wrestling Entertainment, adopted in 2002; it began using the initialism as its trading name in 2011. The previous name of World Wrestling Federation (WWF), used since 1979, was changed after a court case brought by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is now called the World Wide Fund for Nature. X Xerox – named from xerography, a word derived from the Greek xeros (dry) and graphos (writing). The company was founded as The Haloid Company in 1906, launched its first XeroX copier in 1949, and changed its name to Haloid Xerox in 1958. Xiaomi – Xiaomi is the Chinese word for "millet". XIX Entertainment – XIX is 19 in Roman numerals, so the company is named indirectly after Paul Hardcastle's single 19, and directly derived from 19 Entertainment – see above. Xobni – "inbox", spelled backwards Xstrata – name for a Swiss global mining and extraction company, formerly known as Sudelektra. The name is derived from the terms "extraction" and "strata" (sedimentary levels). The name was created in 1999 by John Lloyd of the design consultancy, Lloyd Northover. XTO Energy – founded in 1986 as Cross Timbers Oil Company, it went public under the stock ticker XTO, and changed its name to XTO Energy Inc in 2001. It is now owned by ExxonMobil. Xura – adapted from the word "aura" Y Yahoo! – word Yahoo was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and barely human. Yahoo! founders David Filo and Jerry Yang jokingly considered themselves yahoos. It's also an interjection sometimes associated with United States Southerners' and Westerners' expression of joy, as alluded to in Yahoo.com commercials that end with someone singing the word "yahoo". It is also sometime jokingly referred to by its backronym, Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. YKK – zipper manufacturer named from Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha (Yoshida Company Limited) after the founder, Tadao Yoshida. The letters YKK were stamped onto the zippers' pull tabs. Yakult – official claims state that the name is derived from jahurto, an older form of jogurto, the Esperanto word for "yogurt". However, it has also been claimed that the name is derived from the fact that the product was developed from ancient Mongolian practices of culturing yak's milk in a sack made from a yak's stomach – the combination of Yak and Culture in English giving the product name as "Yakult". Yamaha – after Torakusu Yamaha, who founded the company as Nippon Gakki Seizō Kabushiki Gaisha (Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Corporation) in 1897 after repairing a reed organ. The name was changed to Yamaha Corporation on 1 October 1987. Yoplait – from the merger of Yola and Coplait in 1965 Z Zamzar – based on the main character Gregor Samsa (Gregor Samsa) from Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis''. Kafka describes a young man who is transformed whilst sleeping into a monstrous verminous bug. A version of the man's name was used as the basis for the company name because of its powerful association with change and transformation. Zend Technologies – contraction derived from the names of Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans, the two founders Zero Corporation – Founded by Herman Zierold as Zierold Metal Corporation, it is the parent company of Zero Halliburton. In 1952, when then owner Jack Gilbert noticed that many of the company's customers mispronounced and misspelled "Zierold" as "Zero", he changed the name of the company to Zero Manufacturing. Zetor – from "zet", the Czech spelling of the letter Z, the first letter of the name of the arms factory Zbrojovka, and "tractor". ZF Group – car parts manufacturer named from Zahnradfabrik, the German for Gear Factory. Zimmer – named after Justin O. Zimmer, who co-founded the medical equipment company in Warsaw, Indiana, in 1927. Zippo – Founder George G. Blaisdell liked the sound of the word "zipper", and "zippo" sounded more modern. Zuse – pioneering German computer company named after its founder, Konrad Zuse (1910–1995). He built his first computer in his parents' living room at the end of the 1930s. Zuse was taken over by Siemens AG. The name is now supposedly echoed by SuSE (Software und System-E'''ntwicklung: "Software and system development"). Zynga – named after founder Mark Pincus's American bulldog, Zinga See also List of companies named after people List of oldest companies Lists of etymologies Orphan initialism Rebranding References Etymologies Company name etymologies Companies

16906611

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exec%20%28Amiga%29

Exec (Amiga)

Exec is the kernel of AmigaOS. It is a 13 KB multitasking microkernel which enabled pre-emptive multitasking in as little as 256 KB of memory (as supplied with the first Amiga 1000s). Exec provided functions for multitasking, memory management, and handling of interrupts and dynamic shared libraries. It acts as a scheduler for tasks running on the system, providing pre-emptive multitasking with prioritized round-robin scheduling. Exec also provides access to other libraries and high-level inter-process communication via message passing. Other comparable microkernels have had performance problems because of the need to copy messages between address spaces. Since the Amiga has only one address space, Exec message passing is quite efficient. The only fixed memory address in the Amiga software (address 4) is a pointer to exec.library, which can then be used to access other libraries. Exec was designed and implemented by Carl Sassenrath. Exec Unlike newer modern operating systems, the exec kernel does not run "privileged". Contemporary operating systems for the Motorola 68000, such as Atari TOS and SunOS used trap instructions to invoke kernel functions. This made the kernel functions run in the 68000's supervisor mode, while user software ran in the unprivileged user mode. By contrast, exec function calls are made with the library jump table, and the kernel code normally executes in user mode. Whenever supervisor mode is needed, either by the kernel or user programs, the library functions Supervisor() or SuperState() are used. One limit of the Exec kernel was that an uncooperative program could disable multitasking for a long time, or indefinitely, by invoking Exec's calls Forbid() or Disable(), with no later invocation of corresponding Permit() or Enable(), causing the environment to run as one task. Multitasking could also be disabled by programs which, by software bug or intent, modify Exec's data structures or the code stored in random-access memory (RAM), possibly due to lack of memory management unit (MMU) support. Even with such limits, Exec satisfies the definition of preemptive scheduling algorithm, using a preemptive scheduling routine and basing its interrupt intervals on a clock. Linux kernel developer Linus Torvalds once described the Amiga design as cooperative, even though it uses a preemptive scheduling policy. The reason for that, he argued, was because the lack of [memory] protection between tasks, meant a task could hinder the system from operating preemptively. As tasks would need to choose not to stop the preemptive mechanism this would reduce to a kind of inverted cooperative system. This kind of conflation between protection and scheduler policy is nonstandard. ExecSG ExecSG (Second Generation) is the kernel used by AmigaOS 4. This kernel was licensed by Hyperion Entertainment from Thomas Frieden and Hans-Jörg Frieden. It exposes the same functions and structures as the Commodore Amiga Exec kernel but runs on PowerPC central processing units (CPUs) only. The ultimate origin of ExecSG is unspecified. References External links Amiga Exec Microkernels Amiga APIs CBM software Operating system kernels

52157228

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow%20of%20the%20Tomb%20Raider

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a 2018 action-adventure video game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. It continues the narrative from the 2015 game Rise of the Tomb Raider and is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tomb Raider series, as well as the final entry of the rebooted trilogy. The game was originally released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Versions for macOS and Linux, and Stadia, were released in November 2019. After release, the game was expanded upon with downloadable content in both a season pass and as standalone releases. Set shortly after the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, its story follows Lara Croft as she ventures through the tropical regions of the Americas to the legendary city Paititi, battling the paramilitary organization Trinity and racing to stop a Mayan apocalypse she has unleashed. Lara must traverse the environment and combat enemies with firearms and stealth as she explores semi-open hubs. In these hubs she can raid challenge tombs to unlock new rewards, complete side missions, and scavenge for resources which can be used to craft useful materials. Development began in 2015 following the completion of Rise of the Tomb Raider, lasting until July 2018. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to conclude Lara's journey begun in the 2013 reboot, with a key theme being descent both through the jungle environment and into her personality. The setting and narrative was based on Mayan and Aztec mythologies, with the team consulting historians to create the architecture and people of Paititi. The gameplay was adjusted based on both fan feedback and the wishes of Eidos Montréal, incorporating swimming and grappling while increasing difficulty tailoring. Camilla Luddington returned to provide voice and motion-capture work for Lara. The game cost an estimated US$110–135 million to develop, making it one of the most expensive games ever made. Released as the final installment in Lara Croft's origin trilogy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to the game's emphasis on challenge tombs and puzzles, although some felt that the series' gameplay had become stale and lacked innovation. While opening to slow sales, the game eventually shipped over 8.9 million copies worldwide. Gameplay Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective; players take on the role of Lara Croft as she explores environments across the continents of Central and South America. In addition to standalone areas, the game has a large hub in the Hidden City of Paititi. A new barter system allows players to trade and sell various resources gathered from the areas surrounding Paititi. There are numerous adjustments made to gameplay, which is otherwise identical to Rise of the Tomb Raider. The controls for swimming have been revised, as Lara is able to hold her breath underwater for a longer period of time due to the introduction of air pockets. She has the ability to rappel down a cliff using her climbing axe and rope. Stealth is important, as Lara can disengage from combat when she escapes from enemies' line of sight by camouflaging herself in mud, hiding in bushes or blending into densely vegetated surfaces. Like its predecessors, the game allows players to hunt wild animals, craft materials using resources collected, solve puzzles and seek out optional tombs and side quests. The game features larger tombs and more complex puzzles compared to previous instalments in the reboot series. Players have the option to tailor their gameplay experience as exploration, puzzles and combat have their own difficulty settings. An Immersion Mode enables players to hear the background conversations of the locals in their native languages; when turned off the conversations are heard in the players' chosen voice over language. Plot In the two months since Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft (Camilla Luddington) and her friend Jonah Maiava (Earl Baylon) have dedicated themselves to stopping the activities of paramilitary organization Trinity. The two track a cell to Cozumel in Mexico, led by Pedro Dominguez (Carlos Leal), the head of Trinity's High Council. At Trinity's excavation site, Lara discovers a temple containing the Dagger of Chak Chel and references to a hidden city. Murals adorning the walls allude to the Silver Box of Ix Chel and warn of "the Cleansing", a Mayan apocalypse culminating in a permanent solar eclipse. Lara ignores the warnings and takes the Dagger to prevent Trinity from acquiring it. Dominguez catches her and reveals that by taking the Dagger, Lara has triggered the Cleansing. He takes the Dagger, intending to unite it with the Box to stop the Cleansing and use the power it grants him to remake the world in his image. Lara and Jonah escape a tsunami that destroys Cozumel and foreshadows the coming apocalypse. Despite growing tensions between them over her actions, Lara and Jonah pursue Dominguez into the Amazon. Their plane crashes in the Peruvian jungle during the second cataclysm—a massive storm—and the two find their way to Paititi, the hidden city shown in the murals. Exploring local tombs reveals that piercing the Box with the Dagger will grant the user the power of the god Kukulkan, which must be used to halt the Cleansing. When Lara saves a boy named Etzli (Kamran Lucas), she and Jonah are brought into Paititi by his mother Unuratu (Patricia Velásquez), queen of the city. Dominguez is revealed to be the leader of a cult dedicated to Kukulkan and Unuratu's brother-in-law Amaru, who was taken by Trinity as a child. Unuratu directs Lara to the Box, but Lara finds it is missing. Believing the cult already has the Box, Lara and Unuratu attempt to steal it, but Unuratu is captured. Lara also encounters strange humanoid monsters identified as the Yaaxil, guardians of the Box, and their leader Crimson Fire. Lara learns that the Box was taken centuries ago by Andres Lopez, a missionary sent by Trinity during the Spanish conquest of South America. She rescues Unuratu and realizes that Amaru does not fully understand the ritual; rather than merely imbuing Kukulkan's power, the ritual sacrifices it to stop the Cleansing. Unuratu is shot by Commander Rourke, Amaru's second in command. Before she dies, Unuratu implores Lara to complete the ritual but warns her not to let the Box influence her. Rourke attacks Lara and Jonah, who are separated as they leave Paititi. The two reunite at an oil refinery and decipher the Box's location, a nearby mission established by Lopez. Lara and Jonah find a secret catacomb beneath the mission leading to Lopez's tomb and the Box. Amaru intercepts them and forces Lara to surrender the Box. He admits that he ordered her father's death to prevent him from finding Paititi and revealing it to the world. Lara tries to persuade Amaru to use the ritual to benefit the world. He refuses, as the Cleansing will only affect Paititi. He leaves Lara and Jonah to escape the third cataclysm, a massive earthquake that causes a landslide. Back in Paititi, Lara and Jonah help the newly-crowned Etzli lead an assault on an underground temple complex. They plan to disrupt Amaru's ceremony while avoiding the fourth cataclysm, a volcanic eruption. Lara is forced to go on alone. She encounters the Yaaxil and Crimson Fire, convincing them to help her stop Amaru. Rourke and the Trinity High Council are slaughtered by the Yaaxil while Lara makes her way to the temple summit. Amaru starts the ritual and absorbs Kukulkan's power as the solar eclipse begins. After a lengthy battle, Lara overpowers Amaru and fatally stabs him. Accepting defeat, Amaru transfers Kukulkan's power to Lara as he dies. True to Unuratu's warning, she is tempted to use the Box to revive her parents, but instead lets Crimson Fire symbolically stab her, sacrificing Kukulkan's spirit and stopping the Cleansing. In the aftermath, Unuratu is laid to rest, and Jonah decides to take a vacation. Lara stays in Paititi to help Etzli restore the city to its former glory. A post-credits scene shows Lara planning her next adventure at Croft Manor, acknowledging that her role is not to solve the world's mysteries, but to protect them. Downloadable content Shadow of the Tomb Raider released several chapters of downloadable content that expanded on the game's narrative. Each of these chapters run parallel to the main storyline and focus on an additional tomb. Lara uncovers the source of Mayan influence in Peru and solves the mystery of a missing oil worker; locates an artefact to bolster Unuratu's rebellion, but finds a secret that could threaten it; confronts her worst fears as she searches for a potent weapon; learns of a tragedy that shaped Amaru's decision to join Trinity; aids a splinter group of rebels taken by the Cult of Kukulkan; investigates a disturbance at a local temple that turns into a trap laid by Trinity; and learns the fate of the Yaaxil that survived the battle with Trinity. Development Development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider began in 2015, shortly after the release of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Unlike the previous entries in the Tomb Raider reboot series which were primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal assumed major development duties for Shadow of the Tomb Raider while Crystal Dynamics provided additional development. While the studio had acted in a support role on the previous entries in the rebooted Tomb Raider series, this time Crystal Dynamics transferred into a support role. Due to this transition, the staff at both Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics needed to adjust, with the Eidos Montréal undergoing "growing pains" while moving from a supporting to a leading development role. Similar to their work on the Deus Ex series and Thief, Eidos-Montréal first gained a deep understanding of the series' basic elements, then set about building the game using both previous entries and their own design philosophies. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was built using the Foundation engine initially built by Crystal Dynamics. This is the same engine used to build Rise of the Tomb Raider, but was enhanced by Eidos Montreal. Eidos-Montréal estimated the game's development costs as between $75 and $100 million, with a separate marketing and promotion budget of $35 million, becoming the studio's largest project at the time. Studio head David Anfossi admitted the scale of the project in the modern gaming market and the need to make a profit. With the costs in mind, Eidos-Montréal sought to incorporate experimental elements within multiplayer options to give the game longevity using the emerging "games as a service" trend so the game could provide post-release income and foster a large community. Development was completed on 24 July 2018, with Eidos-Montréal confirming that the game was declared gold (indicating that it was being prepared for duplication and release). Plot and gameplay Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to evolve the narrative and gameplay elements of Lara Croft; in the 2013 reboot she was portrayed as a hunted survivor, Rise of the Tomb Raider revealed her beginning to pursue her own goals, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to show her mastering the environment. The story closes off the rebooted origin story, with Lara becoming "the tomb raider she was always meant to be." Narrative director Jason Dozois defined this as being Lara's ultimate "tomb raider" persona within the reboot timeline rather than a return to the character of Lara from games prior to 2013: The staff wanted to tackle the "political tension" and social impact of a rich white woman hunting artefacts in foreign lands, with Lara coming to terms with her position in the story's climax. The setting of Latin America was chosen to reflect this theme. Lara's obsession and darker personality traits played into this, with several scenes emphasising the sacrifices she was forced to make during her pursuit of Trinity. The destruction Lara releases when claiming a key artefact before Trinity was designed as an inversion of the traditional Tomb Raider approach, which used a similar style without consequences. Several different post-credit scenes were considered for the game. When first released, one of the scrapped scenes was included by mistake, with a post-release patch replacing it with the intended cutscene. British-American actress Camilla Luddington reprised her role from the previous two games, and was able to help Eidos-Montréal keep Lara's characterization consistent with the previous games. As with Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, Luddington provided Lara's motion capture, calling Shadow of the Tomb Raider one of the most difficult emotional performances from her time playing Lara. The main antagonist was intended as Lara's emotional foe, with the jungle being her physical foe. Lara's relationship with Jonah evolved further; while in Tomb Raider they had been distant, in Rise he protected her out of loyalty to their lost friends, while in Shadow they share a strong bond which prompts Jonah to support her. Due to their previous experience with cinematic storytelling, Eidos Montréal designed the narrative of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to have more cinematic moments. The team needed to consider the overall concept of the reboot trilogy, and narrative threads previously left unresolved in Rise including who killed Lara's father. Before recording began, the cast read through the script so the performances could be more convincing. The game's jungle setting was chosen to "complete" Lara's abilities, carrying over old skills while learning new ones to face new threats. It acted as a visual contrast to the previous games. While the team were restricted in story design by the overall plan, they were able to adjust the gameplay balance to bring a greater focus on puzzles compared to Rise. The aim was to have Lara undergo an evolution when faced with the jungle's harsh reality, with her early confrontation with jaguars being the catalyst which starts her transformation. The stealth elements—including camouflaging and the use of fear tactics—drew inspiration from films such as Rambo and Predator. Swimming was incorporated into the gameplay, though the team gave it a "survival-action" feel. Director Daniel Chayer-Bisson described redesigning the established level design as "a nightmare", because they had to take into account player experimentation and potential sequence breaking when implementing new mechanics such as climbing onto overhangs and using the grappling line. During surveys of the fan base, the team heard wishes both for harder puzzles and the removal of visual climbing aids such as white surfaces. As removing them outright would have made the game intimidating for newcomers, they created the scaling difficulty settings as a compromise. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was made inviting for newcomers as the opening section acted as both a narrative introduction and a tutorial for Lara's abilities. The overall verticality of environments and its impact on mechanics such as swimming and grappling reflected the game's theme of "descent". Art and music design The setting and narrative took inspiration from Mayan, Aztec and Incan mythology, including its recurring focus on sun worship, sacrifice, and the ages of mankind. The Mayan influence was chosen due to that culture's fixation on astronomy and dates. During the initial design pitch, the designers wanted Lara to discover a real lost tomb with people living around it, a concept previously limited by the technology available at the time. During their research, they chose the city of Paititi due to its historic precedent over purely fictional locations such as El Dorado. The culture of Paititi was based on the supposition that elements Aztec and Maya of Mesoamerican cultures could have migrated into Peru. The culture and people of Paititi were based on historic accounts of the Maya, Aztec and Inca peoples. The clothing of the people were based on historic examples and accounts. The team consulted historians to ensure their cultural depictions were accurate and respectful. The music for Shadow of the Tomb Raider was composed by Brian D'Oliveira. While following the musical styles established since the 2013 reboot, the team added new esthetic elements, incorporating the local culture and the darker portrayal of both Lara and her mission. D'Oliveira was brought on due to his ability with South American instruments, and during recording at his Montreal studios worked with native musicians to achieve the right sound for each location. Martin Stig Andersen worked as Ambient Sound Designer, who focused on the sound transition for underwater segments. The team brought back "The Instrument", a specially-designed percussion instrument created for the 2013 reboot's soundtrack by Matt McConnell. "The Instrument" was used to help convey the primal aspects of Lara's character, in addition to referencing her adventure on Yamatai in the 2013 game. Release On 15 March 2018, Square Enix confirmed that a sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider was in development and scheduled to be released on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Windows version was developed by Nixxes Software, who had worked on several earlier Tomb Raider games for the platform. On the same day, a teaser trailer was released showing Lara Croft in a mountainous environment. The game was revealed on 27 April 2018 with a trailer, screenshots, and a one-hour demo to members of the press. The game was ported to macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive on 5 November 2019. It was released for Stadia on 19 November as part of the platform's launch line-up alongside the 2013 reboot and Rise of the Tomb Raider. The PC and Stadia ports were created by Nixxes Software. A season pass was announced, which gives players access to seven "paths" of downloadable content (DLC) which include new narratives, missions, tombs, weapons, outfits and skills. None of these would contain additional story content, which was complete with the base release. A version bundling together the main game and DLC, Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, also released on November 4. The Feral Interactive ports and Stadia version were based on this release. Reception Upon release, Shadow of the Tomb Raider got off to a slow start in sales, attributed by Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda to a lack of originality compared to other titles at the time. By the end of December 2018, the game shipped 4.12 million copies worldwide. While it saw lower sales than many other titles of that year, Eidos-Montréal was very happy with its sales as well as its critical reception, prompting them to produce the DLC episodes. Shadow of the Tomb Raider received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Brett Makedonski of Destructoid compared the game's themes to Uncharted and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, praised the graphics, platforming and challenge tombs, but criticized the lack of combat sections from the previous games and the story narrative. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave a positive review, and said that the game managed to separate itself from other similar titles through the refined state of its mechanics and design. Rachel Weber from GamesRadar also praised the game, calling it "the strongest entry in the rebooted trilogy" and saying that Shadow of the Tomb Raider stayed true to the character's strengths, and praised the implementation of challenge tombs. Lucy O'Brien of IGN said Shadow of the Tomb Raider offered a fitting conclusion to Lara Croft's origin trilogy, stating that "With a story that manages to satisfactorily tread the line between high-concept fun and grounded character exploration, Shadow of the Tomb Raider meaningfully wraps up the journey Lara began in 2013 and convincingly leaves her in a place resembling where she was when we were first introduced to her more than 20 years ago". Michael Leri of Game Revolution praised the game's numerous challenge tombs and puzzles, praising the tombs as fun and challenging, and lauding the puzzles as the game's best feature. Andy Kelly from PC Gamer (US) called it one of the best Tomb Raider games to date, pointing out its improved stealth combat and tomb exploration. Chris Plante of Polygon praised the character and gameplay progression throughout the trilogy, calling Shadow of the Tomb Raider "a refinement rather than revision" of the first two reboot titles, adding that the game was to be praised as it was the best version of the mechanics demonstrated in the previous two entries. Conversely, VideoGamers Josh Wise disliked the main storyline as being filled with padding and undermined by weak writing, though he praised the platforming and world design. Edmond Tran of GameSpot also gave a mixed review, criticizing the game's side quests and Lara's character development while praising the story missions, graphics, environments and explorable tombs. Accolades Animated sequel In a joint co-production between Netflix and Legendary Entertainment, it was announced that an anime-style series adaptation based on the video game reboot franchise was in the works, and that the series will be primarily set after the events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Notes References External links 2018 video games Action-adventure games Apocalyptic video games Crystal Dynamics games Feral Interactive games Linux games MacOS games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games Square Enix games Stadia games Stealth video games Survival video games Tomb Raider games Universal Windows Platform apps Video games based on Native American mythology Video game sequels Video games developed in Canada Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in England Video games set in forests Video games set in Mexico Video games set in Peru Video games with downloadable content Windows games Xbox One games Xbox One X enhanced games

40933147

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%20Henzinger

Thomas Henzinger

Thomas Henzinger (born 1962) is an Austrian computer scientist, researcher, and president of the Institute of Science and Technology, Austria. Life and career Henzinger was born in Austria. He received his bachelor's degree in computer science from Johannes Kepler University Linz, and his PhD from Stanford University in 1991, advised by Zohar Manna. He is married to Monika Henzinger and has three children. He was successively Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University (1992–95) and Assistant Professor (1996–97), Associate Professor (1997–98), Professor (1998–2004) and Adjunct Professor (till 2011) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He was also director of the Max Planck Institute of Computer Science in Saarbrücken, Germany in 1999 and Professor of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne), Switzerland from 2004 to 2009. He is currently the president of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). His research is concerned with modern systems theory, particularly on the models, algorithms, and tools for the design and verification of reliable software, hardware, and embedded systems. His HyTech tool was the first model checker for mixed discrete-continuous systems. He is a member of Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He was awarded the 2015 Milner Award by the Royal Society. He received a Doctor honoris causa from the Masaryk University as well as the Wittgenstein Prize of the Austrian Science Fund. He is an ACM Fellow and an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in 2001. He is ranked as the number one cited researcher in Austria according to h-index data. References External links Archive of the page at EPFL Home Page at the Berkeley EECS Department Page at ISTA Page at the Austrian Academy of Sciences 1962 births Living people Stanford University alumni Austrian computer scientists Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

3907601

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous%20post

Anonymous post

An anonymous post, is an entry on a textboard, anonymous bulletin board system, or other discussion forums like Internet forum, without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym. Some online forums such as Slashdot and Techdirt do not allow such posts, requiring users to be registered either under their real name or utilizing a pseudonym. Others like JuicyCampus, AutoAdmit, 2channel, and other Futaba-based imageboards (such as 4chan) thrive on anonymity. Users of 4chan, in particular, interact in an anonymous and ephemeral environment that facilitates rapid generation of new trends. History of online anonymity Online anonymity can be traced to Usenet newsgroups in the late 1990s where the notion of using invalid emails for posting to newsgroups was introduced. This was primarily used for discussion on newsgroups pertaining to certain sensitive topics. There was also the introduction of anonymous remailers which were capable of stripping away the sender's address from mail packets before sending them to the receiver. Online services which facilitated anonymous posting sprang up around mid-1992, originating with the cypherpunk group. The precursor to Internet forums like 2channel and 4chan were textboards like Ayashii World and Amezou World that provided the ability for anonymous posts in Japan. These "large-scale anonymous textboards" were inspired by the Usenet culture and were primarily focused on technology, unlike their descendants. Today, image boards receive tremendous Internet traffic from all parts of the world. In 2011, on 4chan's most popular board, /b/, there were roughly 35,000 threads and 400,000 posts created per day. At that time, that level of content was on par with YouTube. Such high traffic suggests a broad demand from Internet users for anonymous content sharing sites. Levels of anonymity Anonymity on the Internet can pertain to both the utilization of pseudonyms or requiring no authentication at all (also called "perfect anonymity") for posting on a website. Online anonymity is also limited by IP addresses. For example, WikiScanner associates anonymous Wikipedia edits with the IP address that made the change and tries to identify the entity that owns the IP address. On other websites, IP addresses may not be publicly available, but they can be obtained from the website administrators only through legal intervention. They might not always be traceable to the poster. Techniques Utilizing pseudonyms allow people to post without revealing their real identity. Pseudonyms, however, are still prone to being tracked to the user's IP address. To avoid being tracked to an IP address, it is possible to post via a public computer where the IP address would usually be under the purview of the public workspace such as a coffee shop, and hence cannot be traced to the individual user. Memes Another way people are posting anonymously online is through the use of memes. One popular meme is the Confession Bear meme. People use Confession Bear to post everything from funny and embarrassing stories to very troubled thoughts. Technology There are services described as anonymizers which aim to provide users the ability to post anonymously by hiding their identifying information. Anonymizers are essentially proxy servers which act as an intermediary between the user who wants to post anonymously and the website which logs user information such as IP addresses. The proxy server is the only computer in this network which is aware of the user's information and provides its own information to anonymize the poster. Examples of such anonymizers include Tor and I2P, which employ techniques such as onion and garlic routing (respectively) to provide enhanced encryption to messages that travel through multiple proxy servers. Applications like PGP utilizing techniques like private-key and public-key encryptions are also utilized by users to post content in Usenet groups and other online forums. Legal standards and regulations China The revised draft of the Chinese government's "Internet Information Services" proposes that "Internet information service providers, including microblogs, forums, and blogs, that allow users to post information on the Internet should ensure users are registered with their real identities". Starting October 1, 2017, it will require Internet users to identify themselves with their real names to use comments sections on news and social media websites. The Philippines The Philippine government passed the Cybercrime Prevention Act on 12 September 2012, which among other things grants the Department of Justice the ability to "block access to 'computer data' that is in violation of the Act; in other words, a website hosting criminally libelous speech could be shut down without a court order". United Kingdom Under the Defamation Act 2013, in an action against a website operator, on a statement posted on the website, it is a defense to show that it was not the operator who posted the statement on the website. The defense is defeated if it was not possible for the claimant to identify the person who posted the statement. United States In the United States, the right to speak anonymously online is protected by the First Amendment and various other laws. These laws restrict the ability of the government and civil litigants to obtain the identity of anonymous speakers. The First Amendment says that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". This protection has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the right to speak anonymously offline. For example, in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, the Supreme Court overturned an Ohio law banning the distribution of anonymous election pamphlets, claiming that an "author's decision to remain anonymous ... is an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment" and that "anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent", as well as a "shield" against the so-called tyranny of the majority. Various courts have interpreted these offline protections to extend to the online world. Identifying the author of an anonymous post may require a Doe subpoena. This involves gaining access to the IP address of the poster via the hosting website. The courts can then order an ISP to identify the subscriber to whom it had assigned said IP address. Requests for such data are almost always fruitful, though providers will often effect a finite term of data retention (in accordance with the privacy policy of each—local law may specify a minimum and/or maximum term). The usage of IP addresses has, in recent times, been challenged as a legitimate way to identify anonymous users. On March 21, 2012, the New York State Senate introduced the bill numbered S.6779 (and A.8668) labeled as the "Internet Protection Act". It proposes the ability of a website administrator of a New York–based website to take down anonymous comments unless the original author of the comment agrees to identify themselves on the post. In online communities Online communities vary with their stances on anonymous postings. Wikipedia allows anonymous editing in most cases, but does not label users, instead identifying them by their IP addresses. Other editors commonly refer to these users with neutral terms such as "anons" or "IPs". Many online bulletin boards require users to be signed in to write—and, in some cases, even to read—posts. 2channel and other Futaba-based image boards take an opposite stance, encouraging the anonymity, and in the case of English-language Futaba-based websites, calling those who use usernames and tripcodes "namefags" and "richeys", respectively. As required by law, even communities such as 4chan do require the logging of IP addresses of such anonymous posters. Such data, however, can only be accessed by the particular site administrator. Slashdot discourages anonymous posting by displaying "Anonymous Coward" as the author of each anonymous post. The mildly derogatory term is meant to chide anonymous contributors into logging in. Ramifications Effects on users The effects of posting online anonymously has been linked to the online disinhibition effect in users whilst been categorized into either benign or toxic disinhibition. Disinhibition can result in misbehavior but can also improve user relationships. It may also result in greater disclosure among Internet users, allowing more emotional closeness and openness in a safe social context. Anonymous computer communication has also been linked to accentuate self-stereotyping. Although it has been linked to notable effects in gender differences, only when the topic bears similarity and fits with the gender stereotype. A 2015 study suggested that anonymous news comment sections are more susceptible to uncivil comments, especially those directed at other users. Anonymous news comment section users are also more likely to be impolite by either being sarcastic and casting aspersions. With regard to a recent hostile subpoena in California, commentators have asked if there will be a "Layfield & Barrett effect" chilling job review posting free speech. On May 2, 2016, through its lawyers, Layfield and Barrett and partner Phil Layfield issued a subpoena on Glassdoor seeking the online identities of former employees who posted extremely critical and negative reviews. Glassdoor executives have stated that they will fight the subpoena as they have fought off other efforts to disclose anonymous identities in the recent past. Other litigants in California have won their right to anonymously post negative job reviews but the law remains hotly contested. Effects on online communities The conditions for deindividuation, such as "anonymity, reduced self-awareness, and reduced self-regulation," fosters creations of online communities much in the same way that they might be employed offline. This is evident in proliferation of communities such as Reddit or 4chan which utilize total anonymity or pseudonymity, or tools such as Informers (which add anonymity to non anonymous social media like Facebook or Twitter), to provide its users the ability to post varied content. The effect of disinhibition has been seen to be beneficial in "advice and discussion threads by providing a cover for more intimate and open conversations". The "ephemerality", or short-lived nature, of posts that exist on some anonymous image boards such as 4chan create a fast-paced environment. As of 2009, threads on 4chan had a median lifespan of 3.9 minutes. There is also research suggesting that content that gets posted in such communities also tends to be more deviant in nature than would be otherwise. The ability to post anonymously has also been linked to the proliferation of pornography in newsgroups and other online forums wherein users utilize sophisticated mechanisms such as mentioned in technology. See also Anonymous social media Anonymous Online Speakers v. United States District Court for the District of Nevada, (In re Anonymous Online Speakers), 611 F.3d 653 (2010) McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995) John Doe References External links "Privacy for People Who Don't Show Their Navels" Anonymity Internet culture

18505898

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green%20Bay%20Southwest%20High%20School

Green Bay Southwest High School

Green Bay Southwest High School is one of four public high schools located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Southwest High School is located at 1331 Packerland Drive. Its school colors are royal blue and silver, and their mascot is the Trojan. Academics Nearly half of Southwest's class of 2011 attended accredited four-year colleges (49%). The school offered 14 Advanced Placement courses in 2007, with 220 AP tests taken in May 2007. Overall, 31% of students participated in AP Exams in 2016. Southwest has partnered with NWTC to provide a number of Technical classes at the High School. Southwest High School was ranked #13 in Wisconsin as the best overall school by Newsweek 2013. The school made the Top 20 four years running. A collaboration with NWTC in 2012 to provide credited courses in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) provides students hands on coursework in blueprint reading; welding, and robotics. The music department is a magnet for students from neighboring schools and school districts. Demographics The school is 66% white, 9% Hispanic, 8% Native American, 6% black, 5% native American, and 5% of students identify as a part of two or more races. Athletics Southwest's athletic teams are known as the Fighting Trojans, and compete in the Fox River Classic Conference. The Trojans have won two Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state championships, one as part of a co-op girls' hockey team in 2014, and the Division 1 girls' tennis championship in 1997. The football stadium and track and field area is named Dahlin Family Stadium. It was renovated in 2014 to add synthetic turf. Carl Sunby Gymnasium, named after a former athletic director, has a capacity of 2000 and is often used as a neutral site for WIAA basketball playoff sectionals. Additionally, Southwest has tennis courts, baseball diamonds, and an indoor swimming pool. Notable alumni John Anderson (1983), ESPN reporter Lou Goss, NASCAR driver. Natisha Hiedeman (2015), WNBA player Andre Jacque (1999), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly Kahlil McKenzie (attended 2011-2013), NFL and XFL defensive lineman Max Scharping (2014), Houston Texans offensive lineman Health care reform meetings Southwest High School was the site of a visit by former U.S. president Barack Obama on June 11, 2009, who led a town hall meeting about health care reform. At the request of members of the physical education and health staff at the school, he signed a wall in a health classroom. References External links Official website Official website of the Troyettes school dance team High schools in Green Bay, Wisconsin Public high schools in Wisconsin

31622364

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg%20Gianforte

Greg Gianforte

Gregory Richard Gianforte (born April 17, 1961) is an American businessman, politician, software engineer, and writer serving as the 25th governor of Montana since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Gianforte served as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-large congressional district from 2017 to 2021. Gianforte and his wife Susan co-founded RightNow Technologies, a customer relationship management software company, in 1997. The company went public in 2004; by that time, it employed over 1,000 workers and executives on several continents. RightNow Technologies was acquired by Oracle Corporation for $1.5 billion in 2011. In 2016, Gianforte ran for governor of Montana as the Republican candidate, losing to incumbent Democratic Governor Steve Bullock. In May 2017, Gianforte defeated Democratic opponent Rob Quist in a special election for Montana's at-large congressional seat to fill a vacancy created by the appointment of Ryan Zinke as United States Secretary of the Interior. Gianforte was convicted of assault in state court in June 2017 stemming from his election-eve body-slamming attack on The Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs in May 2017. He was fined and sentenced to community service and anger management therapy. Gianforte was re-elected in the 2018 where he faced Democratic nominee Kathleen Williams. Gianforte did not seek reelection to the House of Representatives in 2020 and instead was a candidate in the 2020 Montana gubernatorial election. In the November general election, Gianforte defeated incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney. He is the first Republican to serve as governor of Montana since Judy Martz left office in 2005. Early life and education Gregory Richard Gianforte was born on April 17, 1961, in San Diego, California. He is the oldest son of Frank Richard Gianforte (1937–2015; born in Newark, New Jersey), who had a career as an aerospace engineer and, later, as a landlord. His mother, Dale Douglass (1937–2008; born in Pittstown, New Jersey), worked for General Dynamics in San Diego, and later was a school math teacher. Gianforte is of Italian, English, and Scottish ancestry. Gianforte has two younger brothers, Douglass and Michael. After the age of three, Gianforte was raised in the Valley Forge and King of Prussia suburbs northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including Wayne, an affluent unincorporated township community that extends into the Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware counties of Pennsylvania. During his high school years in the 1970s, Gianforte started a software business. He attended Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where he was elected class president during his junior and senior years. Gianforte was also captain of his school football team, where he played left offensive guard. He graduated from high school in 1979. Gianforte graduated in 1983 from his father's alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology, a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey, with a B.E. in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer science. Gianforte directed a computer lab with 12 programmers. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta men's fraternity, and enjoyed playing squash. Career Software entrepreneurship Gianforte began his career in 1983 at Bell Laboratories, working in product acquisition. Frustrated by the bureaucratic corporate hierarchy at Bell Labs, Gianforte departed to co-found Brightwork Development Inc., a developer of server-based LAN management software for the banking industry, which was based in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. He and his partners sold the company to McAfee Associates for $10 million in 1994. Gianforte then began working for McAfee as head of North American sales. In 1995, he moved to Bozeman, Montana. Gianforte and his wife, Susan, a mechanical engineer by trade, co-founded RightNow Technologies in 1997. Part of Gianforte's strategy was to leverage the internet as a means to overcome geographic barriers to building a globalized business. By the time the company went public in 2004, it employed over 1,000 workers and executives both in Bozeman, and globally, with offices in the UK, Asia, and Australia. The company included future Senator Steve Daines among its executives. The company was acquired by Oracle Corporation for $1.5 billion in 2011. At the time, Gianforte's 20 percent stake in the company was worth about $290 million. Right Now Technologies had contracts with federal agencies, including handling all of the online search queries for the Social Security Administration and Medicare websites. In 2012, Gianforte sued the Montana Democratic Party for defamation, alleging the House campaign ads they aired critical of then House candidate Steve Daines were libelous. Gianforte alleged the party aired television ads that claimed that Right Now Technologies capitalized itself with public contracts, and then offshored jobs. In 2005, along with a London-based co-author, Marcus Gibson, Gianforte published a business book: Bootstrapping Your Business, start and grow a successful company with almost no money. He has offered business lectures on entrepreneurship, and on building a global business. Philanthropy and civic life In 2004, Gianforte and his wife founded the Gianforte Family Foundation, which has promoted his creationist beliefs in the public sphere, and has made tens of millions of dollars in charitable contributions. The foundation describes its primary mission as supporting "the work of faith-based organizations engaged in outreach work, strengthening families, and helping the needy; organizations in Montana that work to improve education, support entrepreneurship, and create jobs; and organizations that enhance the local community of Bozeman, Montana." Gianforte, his wife, Susan, and his son, Richard, are the foundation's three trustees. The foundation had assets of $113 million in 2013. The Gianforte Family Foundation has given nearly $900,000 to the Montana Family Foundation, in some years making up half of that organization's total revenue. The Montana Family Foundation has promoted conservative and Christian values in the Montana legislature. Asked why he donated to the group, Gianforte said it was because the organization aligns with his views. Through his nonprofit, the Gianforte Family Charitable Trust, Gianforte has contributed substantial funding to several conservative organizations. Some have led legal efforts to dismantle federal campaign finance regulations. Gianforte has donated to the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, which advocate for a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, as well as the Montana Family Foundation, which is "the state's primary advocate against LGBT policies". Gianforte served on the board of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, an education reform organization founded by economist Milton Friedman which advocates for school vouchers. Gianforte believes in Young Earth creationism. He has donated at least $290,000 to the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, a Montana creationist museum which teaches visitors that the theory of evolution is false, that the Earth is about 6,000–6,400 years old, and that humans and dinosaurs coexisted during the same period of history. The museum claims dinosaurs were aboard Noah's Ark, and that they likely went extinct 4,300 years ago during the great flood described in the Book of Genesis. The Gianforte Family Foundation also donated a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton replica to the museum. Affiliations and investments Gianforte has had a variety of business interests and investments. In November 2013, he was appointed to the board of FICO, which profiles consumer credit risks for lenders. The same month, Gianforte acquired 8,000 shares of FICO, which were then valued at more than $464,000.00. Gianforte is a partner in MGRR No. 1, a limited liability company that has received grain subsidies since 1995. Gianforte was the founding board chair of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. He resigned as board chair in June 2017 when he was sworn into Congress. In financial disclosure forms filed in 2017, Gianforte indicated that he owned $150,000 worth of shares in VanEck Vectors Russia ETF and $92,400 in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF, totalling just under $250,000 in two exchange-traded funds focused on investments in Russia. The investments attracted attention because they included shares in Gazprom and Rosneft, which are subject to U.S. sanctions imposed after the Russian invasion of Crimea; however, because the per-person ownership stake in these companies is so small in such index funds, they are exempt from sanctions. After the issue was raised in Gianforte's 2017 congressional campaign, Gianforte stated that his Russia holdings were a small portion of his overall investments and pledged to place all of his assets in a blind trust if elected. Through a holding corporation, Gianforte owns a 12-seat private jet which he has used as a strategic asset on the campaign trail. He made the aircraft available to others in his congressional caucus to travel back east to Washington for important votes. U.S. House of Representatives (2017–2021) Elections 2017 special election campaign On March 1, 2017, Republican Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana's at-large congressional district resigned his seat following his confirmation by the United States Senate as United States Secretary of the Interior. A special election was scheduled to fill the remainder of Zinke's term. Gianforte had already announced his intention to seek the seat on January 25, prior to Zinke's confirmation and subsequent resignation. At a March 6 convention, the Republican Party selected Gianforte as their nominee. He faced Democratic musician and former Montana Arts Council member Rob Quist, as well as Libertarian nominee Mark Wicks, in the general election. In a departure from previous pledges made during his gubernatorial campaign, Gianforte relaxed his past pledges to refuse all PAC money, and began to turn away only corporate PAC funding. His campaign began accepting contributions from political party and leadership PACs. Gianforte distanced himself from Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary and did not attend Trump's sole rally in Montana, citing a scheduling conflict. However, he endorsed Trump in the 2016 general election and continued to express support for him during his 2017 special election campaign for Congress. Gianforte's campaign was supported by Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr., who both stumped for Gianforte in the state. Gianforte tacked close to Trump's political narratives, promoting his outsider status as a first time political candidate, touting his experience as a technology entrepreneur, and criticizing policies leading to sanctuary cities and "the liberal elite." Gianforte supported repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He declined to say whether he supports the American Health Care Act, the House Republican legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. On Thursday May 4, 2017, Gianforte held a private conference call with Republican-leaning lobbyists in Washington D.C. where he offered a more supportive view of the American Health Care Act. He said that it "sounds like we just passed a health care thing, which I'm thankful for, sounds like we're starting to repeal and replace." Later that May, he said he would not "vote for a repeal and a replace unless I know it protects people with pre-existing conditions, lowers rates and preserves rural access". The incident where Gianforte assaulted a reporter was in response to questions about how the AHCA would make health insurance too expensive for people with pre-existing conditions. Gianforte opposed the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, comparing marijuana to more addictive drugs. He supported allowing the use of medical marijuana for "people in chronic pain, under the care of a doctor." He opposes abortion except in cases where a woman's life is in danger. He favors removing federal funding from Planned Parenthood. He stated that he supports government enforcement of nondiscrimination for workers, but not for customers. He opposed increasing in the minimum wage. Gianforte supported Executive Order 13769, to ban immigration from seven Muslim majority countries. He opposed resettlement of refugees in Montana. He opposed sanctuary cities policies. Gianforte blamed the Obama administration for "the situation with Russia" and favored a multilateral strategy to stand against Russian aggression.<ref name="Jacobs">Ben Jacobs, GOP candidate has financial ties to US-sanctioned Russian companies, The Guardian (April 28, 2017).</ref> He supported President Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey. Gianforte opposed efforts to transfer federal lands to the states. Gianforte called for changes to the Endangered Species Act. He was in favor of amending the federal Equal Access to Justice Act to reduce environmental litigation, saying that the act has been abused by "environmental extremists." He acknowledged human-caused climate change but "did not have specific ideas on how to address climate change." He has said that "the climate is always changing," and believes that closing coal-fired power plants would not help mitigate climate change. He supported President Trump's repeal of the Clean Power Plan introduced by the Obama administration. He has called for investments in clean coal technology. Gianforte has criticized the length of time the Department of Interior spends to evaluate applications to drill and frack for shale gas. Gianforte outlined his position on retirement by using the Biblical example of Noah. He said:There's nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it's been an accepted concept in our culture today. Nowhere does it say, 'Well, he was a good and faithful servant, so he went to the beach ... The example I think of is Noah. How old was Noah when he built the ark? 600. He wasn't like, cashing Social Security checks, he wasn't hanging out, he was working. So, I think we have an obligation to work. The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical. Election-eve assault on journalist On May 24, 2017, the day before the House special election, Ben Jacobs, a political reporter for The Guardian newspaper who was covering the election, reported to the Gallatin County, Montana Sheriff's Office that Gianforte had assaulted him at Gianforte's Bozeman campaign office after Jacobs asked him a question concerning health care policy. Jacobs said that Gianforte "bodyslammed" him to the floor and broke his glasses. Jacobs was hospitalized following the attack. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Gianforte made misleading statements to a Gallatin County Sheriff's Office sergeant who reported to Gianforte's campaign office to investigate Jacobs' assault complaint. Gianforte told the sergeant that "the liberal media is trying to make a story." In the hours after the assault, the Gianforte campaign issued a press release falsely blaming the reporter,Amber Phillips, May 26, 2017, Washington Post, The GOP's newest member of Congress can't make up his mind about whether he assaulted a reporter, or a reporter assaulted him, Retrieved May 27, 2017, "... That was 24 hours before Election Day. Gianforte stuck with his story and laid low, even though he was pretty much the only one who seemed to believe himself — especially after audio of the altercation and eyewitnesses appeared to corroborate Jacobs's account ..." claiming that Jacobs grabbed Gianforte's wrist and caused them both to fall to the ground. However, an audio recording of the incident appeared to support Jacobs's statement, and other reporters who were present at the scene corroborated Jacobs' version of events. An eyewitness to the attack, Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, testified that "Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground," then "began punching the man" and "yelling something to the effect of 'I'm sick and tired of this! Acuna remarked: "at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff's deputies." Another journalist who was an eyewitness to the assault, Alexis Levinson, tweeted that she "heard a giant crash and saw Ben's feet fly in the air as he hit the floor." Gianforte was cited for misdemeanor assault by the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office. On August 25, 2017, Gianforte was briefly booked into jail, fingerprinted, and had his official jail "mugshot" photograph taken, after his legal team lost a bid to avoid that process. On October 10, 2017, Gianforte's jail mugshot was released publicly by a Gallatin County court order. The Helena Independent Record editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Gianforte and noted that prior to the attack, Gianforte had encouraged his supporters to boycott certain newspapers, singled out a reporter in a room to point out that he was outnumbered, and joked about choking a news writer. Two other well-circulated Montana newspapers, the Billings Gazette, and the largest in the state, the Missoulian, also revoked their prior endorsements of Gianforte. Speaker Paul Ryan and other members of Congress urged Gianforte to apologize. In his acceptance speech the night of his May 25 victory, Gianforte apologized to Jacobs and the Fox News crew for his assault. On June 7, Gianforte made a written apology to Jacobs and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which accepted the funds because it was part of the settlement and said it would put them towards the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. In return, Jacobs agreed to not pursue a civil claim against Gianforte. Gianforte subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in Gallatin County District Court, acknowledging that Jacobs "did not initiate any physical contact with me" and writing letter to Jacobs saying that the reporter did not start the physical altercation. Gianforte was originally sentenced to four days in jail, to be completed in part through a work program. However, he was ineligible for the work program due to the assault conviction. The judge then switched the sentence to 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management therapy, 180-day deferred sentence, and a $300 fine along with an $85 court fee. During the court hearing Jacobs said that he hoped to interview Gianforte in the future, as he was trying to do at the time of the assault. Gianforte said in court to Jacobs, "I am sorry, and if and when you are ready, I look forward to sitting down with you in D.C." As of October 2017, Gianforte had not sat down with Jacobs for an interview, and the issue was not pursued further. Since the assault, Jacobs has, through his attorney, accused Gianforte of whitewashing his guilt, twice sending cease and desist letters to Gianforte regarding the latter's accounts of his culpability in the assault. Gianforte met with the Missoulian newspaper editorial board in October 2018, and, when asked about the assault, he maintained that his original false statement to sheriff's deputies in the immediate aftermath of the incident was his best recollection of events; a statement that Gianforte later contradicted under oath in court with an admission of guilt connected to his guilty plea. On October 18, 2018, during a rally in Missoula, Montana, President Donald Trump congratulated Gianforte for his assault on Jacobs. While verbally praising Gianforte's prowess in carrying out a body slam, Trump made gestures with his hands and arms to pantomime a fighting maneuver. According to analysts, this marked the first time a sitting president had "openly and directly praised a violent act against a journalist on American soil". Gianforte's assault on the journalist achieved political notoriety. During an October 2018 campaign event with then Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Republican Representative Jody Hice implored the small crowd that had gathered to oppose the resurgence of Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections. Hice declared, "It's time for this so called blue wave to be body slammed!" 2018 House campaign Gianforte's candidacy was opposed in 2018 by Democratic Party nominee Kathleen Williams, a state legislator and natural resources expert from Bozeman, as well as by Libertarian Party candidate Elinor Swanson, a lawyer from Billings. Gianforte opposed Williams' policy proposal to allow those 55 and older to buy into Medicare, remarking that "medicare for all is medicare for none", and cautioned that Medicare would be at risk of spending cuts if Democrats won a majority in the House. Williams criticized Gianforte for introducing a bill to remove federal protections from several wilderness study areas in Montana without holding any public meetings on the issue. Polling data in the weeks leading up to the election showed Gianforte and Williams in a close contest within the margin of error. Gianforte prevailed in his bid for re-election with a 5% margin of victory. Exit polling data indicated that Gianforte had his strongest support at the polls from men older than 44 and from those with incomes above $50,000 per year. Tenure 115th Congress Gianforte was sworn into the House of Representatives on June 21, 2017. At his inauguration ceremony, Gianforte announced his support for congressional term limits, barring members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, and holding back congressional pay if no budget is passed. It is unusual for members of Congress to announce such support for legislation in their inauguration. Montana Democrats mailed Gianforte an orange prison jumpsuit on the day of his inauguration. The first bill Gianforte introduced, on June 21, 2017, was H.R. 2977, the Balanced Budget Accountability Act, which, as Gianforte summarized it, would withhold pay from members of Congress unless a balanced budget is passed. The bill did not achieve a committee hearing. Gianforte has touted refundable tax credits for low income parents as an achievement of the Republican Caucus in the 115th Congress. In 2018, Gianforte expressed opposition to the aluminum and steel tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, expressing fears about the impact of retaliatory tariffs (the trade war) on Montana agricultural exports.Olga Kreimer, Montana Politicians, Farmers Say Trump Tariffs Are Bad For Ag, Montana Public Radio (March 8, 2018). Gianforte chaired the Interior Subcommittee of the Oversight Committee through the end of the 115th Congress in 2018. Gianforte has introduced legislation to nullify Wilderness Study Area (WSA) designations from more than 800,000 acres of land in Montana under the stewardship of both the federal Bureau of Land Management as well as the U.S. Forest Service. 116th Congress In the 2018 midterm elections, the Republicans lost control of the House to the Democrats, and Gianforte began his second term in January 2019 in the minority caucus. Over his career, Gianforte has voted in line with Trump's position in about 93.3% of key votes. He has voted with Trump's position more often than Montana U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a fellow Republican. In January 2019, during the 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, Gianforte said that he "didn't come here to Washington to shut the government down" but expressed support for Trump and blamed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the shutdown. He opposed the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump over the Trump-Ukraine scandal, calling it a "sham,"Alicia Parlapiano, Jason Kao, Emily Cochrane and Catie Edmondson, Complete List: Who Supports an Impeachment Inquiry Against Trump?, New York Times (October 10, 2019). and voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump (abuse of power and obstruction of Congress). Gianforte voted against a measure to bar Trump from initiating military action against Iran without congressional consent; a spokesman for Gianforte said in 2019 that he would not "discuss the conditions under which he would vote in favor of authorizing military force against Iran because talking about it strengthens the position [of] Iran's regime." Gianforte voted against the 2020 House Democrats police reform bill; voted against restoring part of the Voting Rights Act; voted against universal background checks for gun purchases; and voted against the 2020 D.C. statehood bill. In line with Trump's position, Gianforte voted against legislation to block U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; however, Gianforte opposed Trump's decision in 2019 to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria, where they had been stationed as part of U.S. efforts to block Turkish attacks on Kurdish forces. Gianforte voted against legislation in 2019 to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.Tim Ryan, Without Gianforte, House passes $15 minimum wage, Courthouse News Service/Missoula Current (July 18, 2019). Gianforte voted against legislation to overturn Trump's emergency declaration to divert federal appropriations for construction of a border wall.House passes rebuke of Trump’s emergency; Gianforte defends president, Courthouse News Service/Missoula Current (February 2019). He opposed federal action to combat climate change and supported Trump's withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, voting against legislation to block Trump from withdrawing from the agreement. Gianforte voted against the re-authorization of the Export–Import Bank, and against a bill allowing the government to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. He voted in favor of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement on trade. Gianforte is one of the few tech executives to be elected to political office in the United States. After Representative Darrell Issa left office in 2019, Gianforte became the wealthiest member of Congress, a distinction which he held until the January 2020 appointment of Kelly Loeffler to represent Georgia in the Senate. In December 2020, Gianforte was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania'', a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden prevailed over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." Additionally, Pelosi reprimanded Gianforte and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions." Committee assignments Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Federal Lands Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans Oversight Committee Subcommittee on Information Technology Subcommittee on Interior (Chair, 115th Congress) Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Affairs Caucus memberships Congressional Western Caucus Governor of Montana (2021—) Elections 2016 On January 20, 2016, Gianforte announced his candidacy for the Republican Party's nomination for Governor of Montana in the 2016 election. A citizen of Butte filed a political practices complaint against Gianforte alleging that he began campaigning before registering; the complaint was dismissed. In a campaign speech that year, Gianforte stated that he had been involved in discussions with Facebook about bringing a new call center to Montana, but that Facebook had declined because of that state's business equipment tax. A Facebook spokesman disputed Gianforte's claims, saying that no discussions with Gianforte had taken place and that the tax was not the reason the company decided not to locate a call center in Montana. Gianforte stood by his statement saying that he had spoken with a Facebook executive the previous fall. During his gubernatorial campaign, Gianforte pledged not to accept special interest PAC money and ran television ads criticizing his opponent for doing so. He came under scrutiny when an audio tape surfaced revealing his past advocacy to replace state income tax and state business tax revenue with a state sales tax. Management of public lands was a point of contention in Gianforte's 2016 campaign for governor. In 2009, Gianforte's LLC filed a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks about the boundaries of an easement for public access to the East Gallatin River adjacent to his property. Gianforte's suit against the state became an issue in the 2016 campaign with Gianforte's critics characterizing it as a wealthy out-of-stater's effort to block public access to a popular stream. Gianforte consistently denied the allegations and called the issue a misunderstanding, noting the suit was never served, though the lawsuit was settled outside of court. Gianforte opposes same-sex marriage. He opposes abortion. Steve Bullock, the incumbent Democratic governor, defeated Gianforte in the November general election, 50%–46%. 2020 Gianforte contended with Attorney General Tim Fox and state Sen. Al Olszewski for the nomination of the Montana Republican Party for the 2020 Montana gubernatorial election. Gianforte drew parallels between his experience building a large technology company in Bozeman, and Donald Trump's business background, and shared anecdotes of visits to the White House meant to illustrate their ties. Gianforte won the Republican nomination. In the November general election, Gianforte defeated incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney to become governor-elect. Tenure Gianforte was sworn in as governor on January 4, 2021. On February 12, 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Gianforte lifted Montana's statewide mask mandate. The previous day, he signed a bill giving liability protections to businesses and healthcare providers. In May 2021, Gianforte signed a bill into law that limited the ability of hospitals and other businesses to require that their staff be vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as prohibited businesses from requiring that customers be vaccinated in order to access facilities. Montana became the only state with such a ban on employers. On February 18, 2021, Gianforte signed a constitutional carry bill into law. On March 16, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill changing Montana's system of choosing judges, giving the governor – with the state senate's approval – more control over the process. On April 2, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill banning sanctuary cities in Montana; at the time, there were no sanctuary cities in Montana. Montana became the 13th state to ban sanctuary cities. Later that April, Gianforte signed a bill into law that ended same-day voter registration in Montana, in addition to a separate bill that prevented students from using a student ID as a voter ID to vote. He also signed a bill making it easier for individuals to challenge government regulations for violating their religious beliefs, and he signed three bills restricting abortion. On April 30, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill requiring individuals to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to change their birth certificate. On May 7, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill banning transgender athletes from girls sports in public schools. Personal life While working at Bell Labs in New Jersey in the 1980s, Gianforte met his wife, Susan, who is the first-generation daughter of German immigrants, and was born and raised in Queens, New York City. They married in 1988. Gianforte and his wife have resided in Bozeman, Montana, since moving from New Jersey in 1995. They have four children. Gianforte was raised Presbyterian. He and his wife attend Grace Bible Church, a nondenominational church in Bozeman. Gianforte is an avid hunter. On October 28, 2000, he was fined $70 for violating state Fish and Wildlife Commission rules by killing an elk. In February 2021 while governor, he violated state hunting regulations when he trapped and shot a wolf. As he had not completed a wolf trapping certification course, he was issued a written warning by Fish, Wildlife and Parks. In a 2016 interview, he described entertaining investment bankers from Scotland and New York at his Montana home, in connection with his company's public stock offering, where he served them a dinner of mountain lion teriyaki, antelope chops wrapped in bacon, and elk tenderloin. Gianforte received an honorary doctorate from Stevens Institute of Technology and gave the commencement speech in 2012. In 2007, Gianforte was awarded an honorary doctorate from Montana State University's College of Engineering. In 2007, Gianforte was inducted into the CRM Hall of Fame. Gianforte received the 2003 Stevens Institute of Technology's Stevens Honor Award. Gianforte was named Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2003. In April 2021, Gianforte tested positive for COVID-19. Electoral history Writings References External links |- |- |- |- |- 1961 births 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American engineers 21st-century philanthropists American businesspeople convicted of crimes American business writers American computer businesspeople American Christian Young Earth creationists American Christians American people convicted of assault American people of English descent American politicians of Italian descent American people of Scottish descent American software engineers American technology chief executives American technology company founders American technology writers Businesspeople from Montana Businesspeople from San Diego Candidates in the 2016 United States elections Engineers from California Engineers from Montana Governors of Montana Living people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Montana Montana politicians convicted of crimes Montana Republicans People from Bozeman, Montana Philanthropists from California Philanthropists from Montana Political violence in the United States Politicians from San Diego Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Republican Party state governors of the United States Stevens Institute of Technology alumni Writers from Montana Writers from San Diego

1315248

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-text%20search

Full-text search

In text retrieval, full-text search, sometimes referred to as free-text-search refers to techniques for searching a single computer-stored document or a collection in a full-text database. Full-text search is distinguished from searches based on metadata or on parts of the original texts represented in databases (such as titles, abstracts, selected sections, or bibliographical references). In a full-text search, a search engine examines all of the words in every stored document as it tries to match search criteria (for example, text specified by a user). Full-text-searching techniques became common in online bibliographic databases in the 1990s. Many websites and application programs (such as word processing software) provide full-text-search capabilities. Some web search engines, such as AltaVista, employ full-text-search techniques, while others index only a portion of the web pages examined by their indexing systems. Indexing When dealing with a small number of documents, it is possible for the full-text-search engine to directly scan the contents of the documents with each query, a strategy called "serial scanning". This is what some tools, such as grep, do when searching. However, when the number of documents to search is potentially large, or the quantity of search queries to perform is substantial, the problem of full-text search is often divided into two tasks: indexing and searching. The indexing stage will scan the text of all the documents and build a list of search terms (often called an index, but more correctly named a concordance). In the search stage, when performing a specific query, only the index is referenced, rather than the text of the original documents. The indexer will make an entry in the index for each term or word found in a document, and possibly note its relative position within the document. Usually the indexer will ignore stop words (such as "the" and "and") that are both common and insufficiently meaningful to be useful in searching. Some indexers also employ language-specific stemming on the words being indexed. For example, the words "drives", "drove", and "driven" will be recorded in the index under the single concept word "drive". The precision vs. recall tradeoff Recall measures the quantity of relevant results returned by a search, while precision is the measure of the quality of the results returned. Recall is the ratio of relevant results returned to all relevant results. Precision is the number of relevant results returned to the total number of results returned. The diagram at right represents a low-precision, low-recall search. In the diagram the red and green dots represent the total population of potential search results for a given search. Red dots represent irrelevant results, and green dots represent relevant results. Relevancy is indicated by the proximity of search results to the center of the inner circle. Of all possible results shown, those that were actually returned by the search are shown on a light-blue background. In the example only 1 relevant result of 3 possible relevant results was returned, so the recall is a very low ratio of 1/3, or 33%. The precision for the example is a very low 1/4, or 25%, since only 1 of the 4 results returned was relevant. Due to the ambiguities of natural language, full-text-search systems typically includes options like stop words to increase precision and stemming to increase recall. Controlled-vocabulary searching also helps alleviate low-precision issues by tagging documents in such a way that ambiguities are eliminated. The trade-off between precision and recall is simple: an increase in precision can lower overall recall, while an increase in recall lowers precision. False-positive problem Full-text searching is likely to retrieve many documents that are not relevant to the intended search question. Such documents are called false positives (see Type I error). The retrieval of irrelevant documents is often caused by the inherent ambiguity of natural language. In the sample diagram at right, false positives are represented by the irrelevant results (red dots) that were returned by the search (on a light-blue background). Clustering techniques based on Bayesian algorithms can help reduce false positives. For a search term of "bank", clustering can be used to categorize the document/data universe into "financial institution", "place to sit", "place to store" etc. Depending on the occurrences of words relevant to the categories, search terms or a search result can be placed in one or more of the categories. This technique is being extensively deployed in the e-discovery domain. Performance improvements The deficiencies of free text searching have been addressed in two ways: By providing users with tools that enable them to express their search questions more precisely, and by developing new search algorithms that improve retrieval precision. Improved querying tools Keywords. Document creators (or trained indexers) are asked to supply a list of words that describe the subject of the text, including synonyms of words that describe this subject. Keywords improve recall, particularly if the keyword list includes a search word that is not in the document text. Field-restricted search. Some search engines enable users to limit free text searches to a particular field within a stored data record, such as "Title" or "Author." . Searches that use Boolean operators (for example, ) can dramatically increase the precision of a free text search. The operator says, in effect, "Do not retrieve any document unless it contains both of these terms." The operator says, in effect, "Do not retrieve any document that contains this word." If the retrieval list retrieves too few documents, the operator can be used to increase recall; consider, for example, . This search will retrieve documents about online encyclopedias that use the term "Internet" instead of "online." This increase in precision is very commonly counter-productive since it usually comes with a dramatic loss of recall. Phrase search. A phrase search matches only those documents that contain a specified phrase, such as Concept search. A search that is based on multi-word concepts, for example Compound term processing. This type of search is becoming popular in many e-discovery solutions. Concordance search. A concordance search produces an alphabetical list of all principal words that occur in a text with their immediate context. Proximity search. A phrase search matches only those documents that contain two or more words that are separated by a specified number of words; a search for would retrieve only those documents in which the words occur within two words of each other. Regular expression. A regular expression employs a complex but powerful querying syntax that can be used to specify retrieval conditions with precision. Fuzzy search will search for document that match the given terms and some variation around them (using for instance edit distance to threshold the multiple variation) Wildcard search. A search that substitutes one or more characters in a search query for a wildcard character such as an asterisk. For example, using the asterisk in a search query will find "sin", "son", "sun", etc. in a text. Improved search algorithms The PageRank algorithm developed by Google gives more prominence to documents to which other Web pages have linked. See Search engine for additional examples. Software The following is a partial list of available software products whose predominant purpose is to perform full-text indexing and searching. Some of these are accompanied with detailed descriptions of their theory of operation or internal algorithms, which can provide additional insight into how full-text search may be accomplished. Free and open source software Apache Lucene Apache Solr ArangoSearch BaseX Elasticsearch KinoSearch Lemur/Indri mnoGoSearch OpenSearch PostgreSQL Searchdaimon Sphinx Swish-e Terrier IR Platform Xapian Proprietary software Algolia Autonomy Corporation Azure Search Bar Ilan Responsa Project Basis database Brainware BRS/Search Concept Searching Limited Dieselpoint dtSearch Endeca Exalead Fast Search & Transfer Inktomi Lucid Imagination MarkLogic SAP HANA Swiftype Thunderstone Software LLC. Vivísimo References See also Pattern matching and string matching Compound term processing Enterprise search Information extraction Information retrieval Faceted search List of enterprise search vendors WebCrawler, first FTS engine Search engine indexing - how search engines generate indices to support full-text searching Text editor features Information retrieval genres

46508944

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin%20B.%20Cremers

Armin B. Cremers

Armin Bernd Cremers (born June 7, 1946) is a German mathematician and computer scientist. He is a professor in the computer science institute at the University of Bonn, Germany. He is most notable for his contributions to several fields of discrete mathematics including formal languages and automata theory. In more recent years he has been recognized for his work in artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics as well as in geoinformatics and deductive databases. Life and work Armin B. Cremers studied mathematics and physics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. After his graduate diploma (1971) and PhD (1972), both in mathematics, both summa cum laude, he received his academic lectureship qualification for computer science (1974), all from the University of Karlsruhe. Following an invitation by Seymour Ginsburg, he joined the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, in 1973 where he worked until 1976 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. With Ginsburg he initiated Grammar Forms, a new formalism for grammatical families. In 1976 A. B. Cremers returned to Germany and was appointed to full professor of computer science at the University of Dortmund, where he remained until 1990, holding the chair for information systems. During the same time he continued working as a visiting research professor at USC, where together with Thomas N. Hibbard he developed the concept of Data Spaces, a comprehensive computational model, in theory and applications. At the University of Dortmund A. B. Cremers served as chairman of the computer science department and, since early 1985, as vice president for Research and Junior Scientific Staff. In this position he was liaison for the development of the Technology Center Dortmund. He was the initiator and founding director of the Center for Expert Systems Dortmund (ZEDO) and the NRW State Research Collaborative in Artificial Intelligence (KI-NRW). From 1988 to 1996 he was also a member of the Supervisory Board of the German National Research Center for Mathematics and Data Processing (GMD). Since 1990 A. B. Cremers has been professor and director of computer science and head of the research group in artificial intelligence at the University of Bonn. From Bonn he has contributed fundamentally to artificial intelligence and robotics (with Wolfram Burgard, Dieter Fox, Sebastian Thrun among his students), and to the development of software engineering, particularly in civil engineering, and information systems, particularly in the geosciences. The paper "The Interactive Museum Tour-Guide Robot" won the AAAI Classic Paper award of 2016. Together with Matthias Jarke A. B. Cremers established the Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT) in 2001 and led this as Founding Scientific Director from the University of Bonn side until his retirement from teaching in 2014. From 2004 to 2008 Cremers was Dean of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and from April 2009 to July 2014 University Vice President for Planning and Finance. He is member of advisory boards, e.g., as well as Chairman of the University Council of the University of Koblenz-Landau. References External links Living people 1946 births Artificial intelligence researchers German computer scientists 20th-century German mathematicians Machine learning researchers German roboticists University of Bonn faculty Technical University of Dortmund faculty Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni People from Eisenach 21st-century German mathematicians

47102

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP%20over%20Avian%20Carriers

IP over Avian Carriers

In computer networking, IP over Avian Carriers (IPoAC) is a proposal to carry Internet Protocol (IP) traffic by birds such as homing pigeons. IP over Avian Carriers was initially described in issued by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), written by D. Waitzman, and released on April 1, 1990. It is one of several April Fools' Day Request for Comments. Waitzman described an improvement of his protocol in , IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service (1 April 1999). Later, in —released on 1 April 2011, and 13 years after the introduction of IPv6—Brian Carpenter and Robert Hinden published Adaptation of RFC 1149 for IPv6. IPoAC has been successfully implemented, but for only nine packets of data, with a packet loss ratio of 55% (due to operator error), and a response time ranging from 3,000 seconds (≈50 minutes) to over 6,000 seconds (≈1.77 hours). Thus, this technology suffers from poor latency. Real-life implementation On 28 April 2001, IPoAC was implemented by the Bergen Linux user group, under the name CPIP (for "Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol"). They sent nine packets over a distance of approximately five kilometers (three miles), each carried by an individual pigeon and containing one ping (ICMP Echo Request), and received four responses. Script started on Sat Apr 28 11:24:09 2001 $ /sbin/ifconfig tun0 tun0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol inet addr:10.0.3.2 P-t-P:10.0.3.1 Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:150 Metric:1 RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 RX bytes:88 (88.0 b) TX bytes:168 (168.0 b) $ ping -c 9 -i 900 10.0.3.1 PING 10.0.3.1 (10.0.3.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=6165731.1 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=3211900.8 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5124922.8 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=6388671.9 ms --- 10.0.3.1 ping statistics --- 9 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 55% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 3211900.8/5222806.6/6388671.9 ms Script done on Sat Apr 28 14:14:28 2001 This real life implementation was mentioned by the French MP Martine Billard in the French Assemblée Nationale, during debates about Hadopi. The implementation was noted in the song "Paper Pings" by Steve Savitzky. Risks In December 2005, a Gartner report on bird flu that concluded "A pandemic wouldn't affect IT systems directly" was humorously criticized for neglecting to consider RFC 1149 and RFC 2549 in its analysis. Known risks to the protocol include: Carriers being attacked by birds of prey. RFC2549: "Unintentional encapsulation in hawks has been known to occur, with decapsulation being messy and the packets mangled." Carriers being blown off course. RFC1149: "While broadcasting is not specified, storms can cause data loss." The absence of viable local carriers. RFC6214: "In some locations, such as New Zealand, a significant proportion of carriers are only able to execute short hops, and only at times when the background level of photon emission is extremely low." This describes the flightless and nocturnal nature of kiwis. Loss of availability of species, such as the extinction of the passenger pigeon. Disease affecting the carriers. RFC6214: "There is a known risk of infection by the so-called H5N1 virus." The network topologies supported for multicast communication are limited by the homing abilities of carriers. RFC6214: "... [carriers] prove to have no talent for multihoming, and in fact enter a routing loop whenever multihoming is attempted." Other avian data transfer methods Rafting photographers already use pigeons as a sneakernet to transport digital photos on flash media from the camera to the tour operator. Over a 30-mile distance, a single pigeon may be able to carry tens of gigabytes of data in around an hour, which on an average bandwidth basis compares very favorably to current ADSL standards, even when accounting for lost drives. On March 12 2004, Yossi Vardi, Ami Ben-Bassat, and Guy Vardi sent 3 homing pigeons a distance of , "each carrying 20-22 tiny memory cards containing 1.3 GB, amounting in total of 4 GB of data." An effective throughput of 2.27 Mbps was achieved. The purpose of the test was to measure and confirm an improvement over RFC 2549. Since the developers used flash memory instead of paper notes as specified by RFC 2549, the experiment was widely criticized as an example in which an optimized implementation breaks an official standard. Inspired by RFC 2549, on 9 September 2009, the marketing team of The Unlimited, a regional company in South Africa, decided to host a tongue-in-cheek "Pigeon Race" between their pet pigeon "Winston" and local telecom company Telkom SA. The race was to send 4 gigabytes of data from Howick to Hillcrest, approximately apart. The pigeon carried a microSD card and competed against a Telkom ADSL line. Winston beat the data transfer over Telkom's ADSL line, with a total time of two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds from uploading data on the microSD card to completion of download from card. At the time of Winston's victory, the ADSL transfer was just under 4% complete. In November 2009 the Australian comedy/current-affairs television program Hungry Beast repeated this experiment. The Hungry Beast team took up the challenge after a fiery parliament session wherein the government of the time blasted the opposition for not supporting telecommunications investments, saying that if the opposition had their way, Australians would be doing data transfer over carrier pigeons. The Hungry Beast team had read about the South African experiment and assumed that, as a developed western country, Australia would have higher speeds. The experiment had the team transfer a 700MB file via three delivery methods to determine which was the fastest: A carrier pigeon with a microSD card, a car carrying a USB Stick, and a Telstra (Australia's largest telecom provider) ADSL line. The data was to be transferred from Tarana in rural New South Wales to the western-Sydney suburb of Prospect, New South Wales, a distance of by road. Approximately halfway through the race, the internet connection unexpectedly dropped and the transfer had to be restarted. The pigeon won the race with a time of approximately 1 hour 5 minutes, the car came in second at 2 hours 10 minutes, while the internet transfer did not finish, having dropped out a second time and not coming back. The estimated time to upload completion at one point was as high as 9 hours, and at no point did the estimated upload time fall below 4 hours. A similar "Pigeon Race" was conducted in September 2010 by tech blogger (trefor.net) and ISP Timico CTO Trefor Davies with farmer Michelle Brumfield in rural Yorkshire, England: delivering a five-minute video to a BBC correspondent 75 miles away in Skegness. The pigeon was pitted (carrying a memory card with a 300MB HD video of Davies having a haircut) against an upload to YouTube via British Telecom broadband; the pigeon was released at 11.05 am and arrived in the loft one hour and fifteen minutes later while the upload was still incomplete, having failed once in the interim. See also Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol Pigeon post Semaphore Flag Signaling System Sneakernet References External links "Carrier Pigeons Bringing Contraband into Prisons", Bruce Schneier, www.schneier.com (blog), June 27, 2008 Pigeon-powered Internet takes flight, Stephen Shankland, CNET News, May 4, 2001 "Winston the homing pigeon draws tweets of support", The Mail and Guardian, September 10, 2009 "The Unlimited" Pigeon carries data bundles faster than Telkom, 10 Sep 2009, M&G RFC1149 Game April Fools' Day jokes Computer humor Internet architecture Link protocols Physical layer protocols Wireless networking Domestic pigeons

1047960

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notacon

Notacon

Notacon (pronounced "not-a-con") was an art and technology conference which took place annually in Cleveland, Ohio from 2003 to 2014. Notacon ceased operations in 2014. The name Notacon became a bacronym for Northern Ohio Technological Advancement Conference; however, use of this was mostly dropped after the first year. Notacon preceded the Ingenuity Festival by over a year in its vision for a cohesive blend of art and technology. History The conference was founded in 2003 by "FTS Conventures", a small group of friends who wanted to strengthen and expand their community. The conference was also founded in part to fill the vacuum caused by the sudden ending of the Detroit, Michigan Rubi-Con event, though it has now achieved its own personality and prominence. While many hacker conventions focus on the mechanics or political issues that surround such activities, Notacon's focus was more on the underlying beauty or artistry of the technique of hacking, as well as other ways to apply a "hacker mentality" to the areas of art and music. Hence, in addition to topics of technology and computer security, many aspects of both the art and music world were represented. The concept of "community through technology" was one of the main focuses of Notacon, with the participants being dedicated to the advancement of computer technology. Notacon 3 Notacon 3, took place April 7–9, 2006, with talks such as "Make Your Own Linux", "Blended Threat Management", "How to Survive a Federal Investigation", "The Great Failure of Wikipedia", "Kryptos and the Da Vinci Code", "HajjiNets: Running an ISP in a War Zone" and "Your Moment of Audio Zen: A History of Podcasts". A few of the talks were in direct association with the computer club Infonomicon, as several of their more high profile members spoke at the con, including droops, kn1ghtl0rd, p0trill023, irongeek, and ponyboy. Other notable speakers in 2006 included Jason Scott, Elonka Dunin, Drew Curtis, and Eric Meyer Notacon 4 Notacon 4, April 27–29, 2007, worked as an incubator for Blockparty, the largest running North American demoparty. This collaborative effort allowed the fledgling party to utilize the existing support structure of an established conference. 2007 also featured the first known presentation from a deceased community member, a multimedia update to a talk given at Rubi-con 5 called "Secrets of the Phone Guy". This remixed presentation was titled "Secrets of the Dead Phone Guy" and was presented by "The Friends of DanKaye". Also featured were presentations such as: "DIY Green Energy", "Why Building Hacker Spaces is Necessary and How to Do It", "Online Communities and the Politics of DDoS", "Notageek: Technology and Everyone Else", "8 Dirty Secrets of the Security Industry", and "Open Source Economic Development" Notacon Radio In 2005, 2006, and 2007, Notacon also included the Notacon Radio project, hosted by Jason Scott. Essentially an event-long Icecast (using Oddcast and Icecast2), Scott provided running audio commentary of the event, its attendees, and the world at large. The broadcast was also opened up to other contributors, including local tech-talkers Dial-a-Dork, who did a four-hour live show. References External links Official collection of talks recorded during the event - parent company Geeks as the Media at Notacon on Slashdot Notacon: Because Your Brain Has a Right Side, Too on Slashdot Community converges on Ohio LinuxFest linux.com Notacon hosted a reception at Ohio LinuxFest, October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006 2003 establishments in Ohio Technology conferences 2014 disestablishments in Ohio

27599204

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play%20Framework

Play Framework

Play Framework is an open-source web application framework which follows the model–view–controller (MVC) architectural pattern. It is written in Scala and usable from other programming languages that are compiled to JVM bytecode, e.g. Java. It aims to optimize developer productivity by using convention over configuration, hot code reloading and display of errors in the browser. Support for the Scala programming language has been available since version 1.1 of the framework. In version 2.0, the framework core was rewritten in Scala. Build and deployment was migrated to SBT, and templates use Scala instead of Apache Groovy. History Play was created by software developer Guillaume Bort, while working at Zengularity SA (formerly Zenexity). Although the early releases are no longer available online, there is evidence of Play existing as far back as May 2007. In 2007, pre-release versions of the project were available to download from Zenexity's website. Motivation Play is heavily inspired by ASP.NET MVC, Ruby on Rails and Django and is similar to this family of frameworks. Play web applications can be written in Scala or Java, in an environment that may be less Java Enterprise Edition-centric. Play uses no Java EE constraints. This can make Play simpler to develop compared to other Java-centric platforms. Although Play 1.x could also be packaged as WAR files to be distributed to standard Java EE application servers, Play 2.x applications are now designed to be run using the built-in Akka HTTP or Netty web servers exclusively. Major differences from Java frameworks Stateless: Play 2 is fully RESTful – there is no Java EE session per connection. Integrated unit testing: JUnit and Selenium support is included in the core. API comes with most required elements built-in. Asynchronous I/O: due to using Akka HTTP as its web server, Play can service long requests asynchronously rather than tying up HTTP threads doing business logic like Java EE frameworks that don't use the asynchronous support offered by Servlet 3.0. Modular architecture: like Ruby on Rails and Django, Play comes with the concept of modules. Native Scala support: Play 2 uses Scala internally but also exposes both a Scala API, and a Java API that is deliberately slightly different to fit in with Java conventions, and Play is completely interoperable with Java. Testing framework Play provides integration with test frameworks for unit testing and functional testing for both Scala and Java applications. For Scala, integrations with Scalatest and Specs2 are provided out-of-the-box and, for Java, there is integration with JUnit 4. For both languages, there is also integration with Selenium (software). SBT is used to run the tests and also to generate reports. It is also possible to use code coverage tools by using sbt plugins such as scoverage or jacoco4sbt. Usage In December 2010, the first e-book for the Play framework was released. This was subsequently also published in hard copy. In August 2011, a second book was released, covering more complex and modern features. In August 2011, Heroku announced native support for Play applications on its cloud computing platform. This follows module-based support for Play 1.0 (but not Play 2.x) on Google App Engine, and documented support on Amazon Web Services. In July 2013, Jelastic published a tutorial showing support for Play 2 on its cloud computing platform. In July 2015, Play was the 3rd most popular Scala library in GitHub, based on 64,562 Libraries. 21.3% of the top Scala projects used Play as their framework of choice. , the Play Framework is the most popular Scala project on GitHub. See also Akka (toolkit) Ebean Netty (software) Scala (programming language) Literature References External links Play Framework home page Java platform Web frameworks Free software programmed in Java (programming language) Free software programmed in Scala 2007 software Software using the Apache license

37428589

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion%20Drive

Fusion Drive

Fusion Drive is Apple Inc's implementation of a hybrid drive. Apple's implementation combines a hard disk drive with a NAND flash storage (solid-state drive of 24 GB or more) and presents it as a single Core Storage managed logical volume with the space of both drives combined. The operating system automatically manages the contents of the drive so the most frequently accessed files are stored on the faster flash storage, while infrequently used items move to or stay on the hard drive. For example, if spreadsheet software is used often, the software will be moved to the flash storage for faster user access. In software, this logical volume speeds up performance of the computer by performing both caching for faster writes and auto tiering for faster reads. Availability The Fusion Drive was announced as part of an Apple event held on October 23, 2012, with the first supporting products being two desktops: the iMac and Mac Mini with OS X Mountain Lion released in late 2012. Fusion Drive remains available in subsequent models of these computers, but was not expanded to other Apple devices: the latest MacBook and Mac Pro models use exclusively flash storage, and while this was an optional upgrade for the mid-2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro discontinued by Apple, it will replace the standard hard disk drive instead of complementing it in the fashion of Fusion Drive. As of November 2021, no Mac offers a fusion drive. Design Apple's Fusion Drive design incorporates proprietary features with limited documentation. It has been reported that the design of Fusion Drive has been influenced by a research project called Hystor. According to the paper, this hybrid storage system unifies a high-speed SSD and a large-capacity hard drive with several design considerations of which one has been used in the Fusion Drive. The SSD and the hard drive are logically merged into a single block device managed by the operating system, which is independent of file systems and requires no changes to applications. A portion of SSD space is used as a write-back buffer to absorb incoming write traffic, which hides perceivable latencies and boosts write performance. More frequently accessed data is stored on the SSD and the larger, less frequently accessed data stored on the HDD. Data movement is based on access patterns: if data has been on the HDD and suddenly becomes frequently accessed, it will usually get moved to the SSD by the program controlling the Fusion Drive. During idle periods, data is adaptively migrated to the most suitable device to provide sustained data processing performance for users. Several experimental studies have been conducted to speculate about the internal mechanism of Fusion Drive. A number of speculations are available but not completely confirmed. Fusion Drive is a block-level solution based on Apple's Core Storage, a logical volume manager managing multiple physical devices. The capacity of a Fusion Drive is confirmed to be the sum of two devices. Fusion Drive is file system agnostic and effective for both HFS Plus and ZFS. Part of the SSD space is used as a write buffer for incoming writes. In the stable state, a minimum 4 GB space is reserved for buffering writes. A small spare area is set aside on the SSD for performance consistency. Data is promoted to the SSD based on its access frequency. The frequency is detected at the block level and below file system memory cache. Data migration happens in 128 KB chunks during idle or light I/O periods. Operating system and other critical documents are always cached on the SSD. Applications are likely to be handled similarly. A regular file can reside on both devices. See also bcache, dm-cache, and Flashcache on Linux Smart Response Technology — a similar technology from Intel (for desktops) Intel Turbo Memory ExpressCache — used on a number of Wintel laptops Core Storage ZFS - A file system using similar technology References External links Fusion Drive – Apple's description Fusion Drive – Apple Knowledge Base article Fusion Drive vs SSD - Geek Dashboard Computer-related introductions in 2012 Solid-state caching Hard disk drives Macintosh computers Solid-state computer storage

1507779

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opsware

Opsware

Opsware, Inc. was a software company based in Sunnyvale, California, that offered products for server and network device provisioning, configuration, and management targeted toward enterprise customers. Opsware had offices in New York City, Redmond, Washington, Cary, North Carolina, and an engineering office in Cluj, Romania. In July 2007, HP announced that it had agreed to acquire Opsware for $1.65 billion in cash ($14.25 per share). The acquisition closed on September 21, 2007. HP subsequently split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The latter included Opsware's products and services and, in 2017, the HPE Software business group spin-merged with Micro Focus. History The company that was formerly known as Loudcloud was founded on September 9, 1999 (i.e., 9/9/99) by Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Tim Howes, and In Sik Rhee as a managed services provider. The company was one of the first to offer software as a service computing with an Infrastructure as a Service model. According to Wired, Loudcloud was one of the first vendors to talk about cloud computing and Software as a Service. In June 2000, Loudcloud raised $120 million, in what was at the time the largest second round of funding. This was shortly followed by a $100 million raise by one of its competitors, Totality Corporation (at the time known as MimEcom). After selling the operations side of the business to EDS in the summer of 2002, Loudcloud became Opsware and went to market as a technology company, offering the software that had been developed internally to support customer systems via automated server life-cycle management. In 2004, Opsware acquired asset management systems provider Tangram Enterprise Solutions, and in February 2005 acquired network device configuration management vendor Rendition Networks. In July 2006 Opsware acquired CreekPath for its Data Center Automation (DCA) product offering to add provisioning of storage components. In April 2007 Opsware acquired Seattle-based iConclude and its run-book automation software in order to integrate datacenter management from end-to-end. In July 2007, HP announced that it had agreed to acquire Opsware for $1.65 billion in cash ($14.25 per share), sixteen times revenues. It was HP's third largest acquisition at the time behind Compaq and Mercury Interactive. HP marketed Opsware products and software as a service solutions as part of the HP Software Division. In 2015, HP's Software division was spun off to become part of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. Two years later in 2017, HP Software merged with UK-based Micro Focus in a spin-merge. All former Opsware tools are now grouped under the Micro Focus Hybrid Cloud Management suite. Products Opsware had three main systems that it marketed. The Server Automation System (SAS) was designed to provide provisioning, policy enforcement, compliance reporting, and patching of Windows, Unix and Linux servers across thousands of servers. It is now sold as HP Server Automation software. The Network Automation System (NAS) was designed to provide network device provisioning, policy enforcement, security lock-down, software management, and compliance reporting across thousands of devices from over 500 variants of device vendors, models, and OS versions. This product was also OEM'd by Cisco Systems and was called the Cisco "Network Compliance Manager" (NCM). It is now sold as HP Network Automation software. The third system marketed by Opsware was the Process Automation System (PAS), designed to provide run-book automation from former partner iConclude (who was acquired in March 2007). It is now sold as HP Operations Orchestration software. Customers Opsware customers included its now parent HP, GE, EDS (whose acquisition was completed by HP August 26, 2008, and is now called HP Enterprise Services), the Federal government of the United States and numerous Fortune 500 companies who used the software to automate their IT infrastructure. References Lawton, Christopher and Kingsbury, Kevin. "H-P Makes Move Into Data Centers", The Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2007. Accessed July 23, 2007. External links HP IT Management Web site HP Software as a Service Web site Software companies established in 1999 Companies based in Sunnyvale, California Hewlett-Packard acquisitions 1999 establishments in California

40632538

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle%20%28API%29

Mantle (API)

Mantle was a low-overhead rendering API targeted at 3D video games. AMD originally developed Mantle in cooperation with DICE, starting in 2013. Mantle was designed as an alternative to Direct3D and OpenGL, primarily for use on personal computers, although Mantle supports the GPUs present in the PlayStation 4 and in the Xbox One. In 2015, Mantle's public development was suspended and in 2019 completely discontinued, as DirectX 12 and the Mantle-derived Vulkan rose in popularity. Overview The draw call improvements of Mantle help alleviate cases where the CPU is the bottleneck. The design goals of Mantle are to allow games and applications to utilize the CPUs and GPUs more efficiently, eliminate CPU bottlenecks by reducing API validation overhead and allowing more effective scaling on multiple CPU cores, provide faster draw routines, and allow greater control over the graphics pipeline by eliminating certain aspects of hardware abstraction inherent to both current prevailing graphics APIs OpenGL and Direct3D. CPU-bound scenarios With a basic implementation, Mantle was designed to improve performance in scenarios where the CPU is the limiting factor: Low-overhead validation and processing of API commands Explicit command buffer control Close to linear performance scaling from reordering command buffers onto multiple CPU cores Reduced runtime shader compilation overhead AMD claims that Mantle can generate up to 9 times more draw calls per second than comparable APIs by reducing CPU overhead. Multithreaded parallel CPU rendering support for at least 8 cores. GPU-bound scenarios Mantle was also designed to improve situations where high resolutions and "maximum detail" settings are used, although to a somewhat lesser degree, as these settings tax GPU resources in a way that is more difficult to improve at the API level. While Mantle provides some built-in features to improve GPU-bound performance, gains in these cases are largely dependent on how well Mantle features and optimizations are being utilized by the game engine. Some of those features include: Reduction of command buffers submissions Explicit control of resource compression, expands and synchronizations Asynchronous DMA queue for data uploads independent from the graphics engine Asynchronous compute queue for overlapping of compute and graphics workloads Data formats optimizations via flexible buffer/image access Advanced Anti-Aliasing features for MSAA/EQAA optimizations Native multi-GPU support Benchmarks Performance superior to Direct3D 11 Improved performance in Battlefield 4 and up to 319% faster in the Star Swarm demo in single GPU configuration in extremely CPU-limited situations. Other claims Easier to port from Mantle to Direct3D 12 than from Direct3D 11 to Direct3D 12 At GDC 14 Oxide Games employee Dan Baker stated that Mantle would address fundamental development challenges that could not be addressed by a retrofit of an existing API. It is hard to optimize for the graphics device driver. At the AMD Developer Summit (APU) in November 2013 Johan Andersson, technical director of the Frostbite engine at DICE praised Mantle for making development easier and enabling developers to innovate. Mantle targets 100K Monolithic Pipeline Pipeline saving and loading Hybrid Resource Model Generalized Resources Control over resource preparation Dynamic flow control without CPU intervention Direct GPU control Reduced runtime shader compilation overhead Better control over the hardware. "All hardware capabilities are exposed through the API." Reduction of command buffer submissions Data formats optimizations via flexible buffer/image access Explicit control of resource compression, expansion, and synchronization Asynchronous DMA queue for data uploads independent from the graphics engine Asynchronous compute queue for overlapping of compute and graphics workloads New rendering techniques Support The Mantle API was only available as part of AMD Catalyst prior to 19.5.1, which was available for Microsoft Windows. AMD promised to support their Mantle API only for their graphics cards and APUs which are based on their Graphics Core Next microarchitecture, but not older products based on the TeraScale microarchitecture. the implementation of the Mantle API was available for the following hardware: certain Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs certain Radeon HD 8000 Series GPUs certain AMD Radeon Rx 200 Series GPUs ("R7" and "R9") all Steamroller-based "Kaveri" APUs: AMD A10-7000 Series and AMD A8-7000 Series all Jaguar-based "Kabini" and "Temash" APUs: AMD E1-2000 Series, E2-3000 Series, A4-1200 Series, A4-1350, A4-5000 Series, A6-1450, A6-5200, Sempron 2650, Sempron 3850, Athlon 5150, Athlon 5350, etc. all Puma-based "Beema" and "Mullins" APUs: E1 Micro-6200T, A4 Micro-6400T, A10 Micro-6700T, E1-6010, E2-6110, A4-6210, A6-6310, etc. Mantle was originally planned to be released on other platforms than Windows, including Linux, but it never happened. While the API was officially discontinued, Clément Guérin started a Mantle to Vulkan translation layer called GRVK in mid 2020. This allows the API and ultimately the games to live on even without Mantle supporting graphic drivers. Game engines At GDC 2014, Crytek announced they will support Mantle in their CryEngine. During a GPU 14 Tech Days presentation, an announcement was made that Frostbite 3 would include a Mantle backend. The Nitrous game engine from Oxide Games, alongside DirectX 12. Mantle benchmark is still available in a free Star Swarm stress test. Thief is based on a modified Unreal Engine 3 that supported Mantle. LORE, a Civilization: Beyond Earth engine supported Mantle. Asura, engine used by Sniper Elite III supported Mantle. Video games Battlefield 4 Battlefield Hardline Thief Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Civilization: Beyond Earth Dragon Age: Inquisition Sniper Elite III Originally planned Star Citizen 15 Frostbite games after Battlefield 4 were planned to support Mantle, potentially including Need for Speed Rivals, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, The Sims 4 and Star Wars Battlefront (2015). There have been rumours about other games from that time, including Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Dying Light, Grand Theft Auto V and Rise of the Tomb Raider potentially supporting Mantle, but these reports were not confirmed. Similar technologies A set of recent OpenGL 4.4 features, coupled with bindless texturing as an extension, can also substantially reduce driver overhead. This approach, termed by the Khronos Group as "AZDO" (Approaching Zero Driver Overhead) has been shown to achieve substantial performance improvements, approaching those stated for Mantle. Nvidia has extended OpenGL with a number of features that further reduce driver overhead. After details about DirectX 12 were made public, AMD has stated that they fully intend to support DirectX 12, but at the same time they claimed that Mantle "will [still] do some things faster." They have also claimed that due to similarities in the design philosophy of the two APIs, porting games from Mantle to DirectX 12 will be relatively straightforward, and easier than porting from DirectX 11 to 12. Ultimately, AMD discontinued Mantle as a game API due to the similar aims DirectX 12 and glNext (later renamed Vulkan). AMD donated the Mantle API to the Khronos group, which developed it into the Vulkan API. Comments Recording and FPS overlay software PC gamers and professionals traditionally used programs such as Fraps and Bandicam to record gameplay, measure game FPS and display FPS overlay, but because Mantle is new, most traditional recording software does not work with new titles while using the new API. In partnership with AMD, PC gaming community and game recording software maker Raptr have overhauled their client and have since re-branded it as the AMD Gaming Evolved client in conjunction with AMD's Gaming Evolved initiative in the PC gaming space. Out of the partnership, players who install and use the client while in-game can earn points to spend on digital items like games or computer hardware, chat with friends, keep their game library optimized, check for graphics card driver updates, stream their games to Twitch and record gameplay of their own with a built-in GVR, a feature similar to Nvidia Shadowplay software in its own GeForce Experience software that allows users to define a custom buffer length in their game for retroactive game recording with the push of a button so no moment gets missed and users typically do not need expensive hard drive setups to record to. In late 2014, AMD updated the client to support the recording and streaming of titles using Mantle. As of its initial update into the client, the Gaming Evolved software was the only software to officially support the recording and streaming of Mantle enabled games. Besides Raptr, D3DGear was the only other commercial game recording software that supported Mantle API based games. See also Direct3D 12 – low-level API from Microsoft Vulkan – low-overhead API from Khronos, developed from Mantle Glide – another low-level API, by the now defunct 3dfx GNM – low-level API of the PlayStation 4 GNMX – high-level API of the PlayStation 4 Metal – low-level API for Apple iOS and macOS References External links Mantle Programming Guide and API Reference 3D graphics APIs Advanced Micro Devices software Application programming interfaces