Absorption band

According to quantum mechanics, atoms and molecules can only hold certain defined quantities of energy, or exist in specific states. When such quanta of electromagnetic radiation are emitted or absorbed by an atom or molecule, energy of the radiation changes the state of the atom or molecule from an initial state to a final state. An absorption band is a range of wavelengths, frequencies or energies in the electromagnetic spectrum which are characteristic of a particular transition from initial to final state in a substance.
Overview.
According to quantum mechanics, atoms and molecules can only hold certain defined quantities of energy, or exist in specific states. When electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by an atom or molecule, the energy of the radiation changes the state of the atom or molecule from an initial state to a final state. The number of states in a specific energy range is discrete for gaseous or diluted systems, with discrete energy levels. Condensed systems, like liquids or solids, have a continuous density of states distribution and often possess continuous energy bands. In order for a substance to change its energy it must do so in a series of "steps" by the absorption of a photon. This absorption process can move a particle, like an electron, from an occupied state to an empty or unoccupied state. It can also move a whole vibrating or rotating system, like a molecule, from one vibrational or rotational state to another or it can create a quasiparticle like a phonon or a plasmon in a solid.
Electromagnetic transitions.
When a photon is absorbed, the electromagnetic field of the photon disappears as it initiates a change in the state of the system that absorbs the photon. Energy, momentum, angular momentum, magnetic dipole moment and electric dipole moment are transported from the photon to the system. Because there are conservation laws, that have to be satisfied, the transition has to meet a series of constraints. This results in a series of selection rules. It is not possible to make any transition that lies within the energy or frequency range that is observed.
The strength of an electromagnetic absorption process is mainly determined by two factors. First it is important to realize that transitions that only change the magnetic dipole moment of the system are much weaker than transitions that change the electric dipole moment and that transitions to higher order moments like quadrupole transitions are weaker than dipole transitions. Second, not all transitions have the same transition matrix element, absorption coefficient or oscillator strength.
For some types of bands or spectroscopic disciplines temperature and statistical mechanics plays an important role. For (far) infrared, microwave and radio frequency ranges the temperature dependent occupation numbers of states and the difference between Bose-Einstein statistics and Fermi-Dirac statistics determines the intensity of observed absorptions. For other energy ranges thermal motion effects, like Doppler broadening may determine the linewidth.
Band and line shape.
A wide variety of absorption band and line shapes exist, and the analysis of the band or line shape can be used to determine information about the system that causes it. In many cases it is convenient to assume that a narrow spectral line is a Lorentzian or Gaussian, depending respectively on the decay mechanism or temperature effects like Doppler broadening. Analysis of the spectral density and the intensities, width and shape of spectral lines sometimes can yield a lot of information about the observed system like it is done with Mössbauer spectra.
In systems with a very large number of states like macromolecules and large conjugated systems the separate energy levels can't always be distinguished in an absorption spectrum. If the line broadening mechanism is known and the shape of then spectral density is clearly visible in the spectrum, it is possible to get the desired data. Sometimes it is enough to know the lower or upper limits of the band or its position for an analysis.
For condensed matter and solids the shape of absorption bands are often determined by transitions between states in their continuous density of states distributions. For crystals the electronic band structure determines the density of states. In fluids, glasses and amorphous solids there is no long range correlation and the dispersion relations are isotropic. This makes density of states calculations of absorption band shapes easier. For charge-transfer complexes and conjugated systems the band width is determined by a variety of factors.
Types.
Electronic transitions.
Electromagnetic transitions in atoms, molecules and condensed matter mainly take place at energies corresponding to the UV and visible part of the spectrum. Core electrons in atoms, and a lot of other phenomena, are observed with different brands of XAS in the X-ray energy range. Electromagnetic transitions in atomic nuclei, as observed in Mössbauer spectroscopy, take place in the gamma ray part of the spectrum. The main factors that cause broadening of the spectral line into an absorption band of a molecular solid are the distributions of vibrational and rotational energies of the molecules in the sample (and also those of their excited states). In solid crystals the shape of absorption bands are determined by the density of states of initial and final states of electronic states or lattice vibrations, called phonons, in the crystal structure. In gas phase spectroscopy, the fine structure afforded by these factors can be discerned, but in solution-state spectroscopy, the differences in molecular micro environments further broaden the structure to give smooth bands. Electronic transition bands of molecules may be from tens to several hundred nanometers in breadth.
Vibrational transitions.
Vibrational transitions and optical phonon transitions take place in the infrared part of the spectrum, at wavelengths of around 1-30 micrometres.
Rotational transitions.
Rotational transitions take place in the far infrared and microwave regions.
Other transitions.
Absorption bands in the radio frequency range are found in NMR spectroscopy. The frequency ranges and intensities are determined by the magnetic moment of the nuclei that are observed, the applied magnetic field and temperature occupation number differences of the magnetic states.
Applications.
Materials with broad absorption bands are being applied in pigments, dyes and optical filters. Titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and chromophores are applied as UV absorbers and reflectors in sunscreen.
Absorption bands of interest to the atmospheric physicist.
In oxygen:
In ozone:
In nitrogen:


327 Columbia

Columbia (minor planet designation: 327 Columbia) is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 26 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 March 1892, by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at Nice Observatory in southeast France. It is named after Christopher Columbus (1451–1506).
Description.
"Columbia" orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–2.9 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,691 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins the night after its official discovery at Nice.
Physical characteristics.
In the SMASS taxonomy, "Columbia" has been characterized as a Sl-type, an intermediary between the common S-type and rather rare L-type asteroids.
Rotation period and spin axis.
In May 2003, a rotational lightcurve of "Columbia" was obtained by French amateur astronomer René Roy. It gave a rotation period of 5.93 hours with a brightness variation of 0.16 magnitude (). In February 2007, photometric observations by his college Pierre Antonini gave a well defined period of 5.9320 hours and an amplitude of 0.42 ().
In 2016, a modeled lightcurve was derived from various photometric database sources, giving a concurring period of 5.93183 hours and a spin axis of (52.0°, 43.0°) in ecliptic coordinates.
Diameter and albedo.
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Columbia" measures between 26.13 and 30.29 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.214 and 0.250. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" derives an albedo of 0.2565 and a diameter of 26.24 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 10.0.
Naming.
This minor planet was named in honor of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), who reached the New World during his first voyage in 1492, instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended. The asteroid was named in 1892, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of this historic discovery. Naming citation was first mentioned in "The Names of the Minor Planets" by Paul Herget in 1955 ().


The Computer Language Benchmarks Game

The Computer Language Benchmarks Game (formerly called The Great Computer Language Shootout) is a free software project for comparing how a given subset of simple algorithms can be implemented in various popular programming languages.
The project consists of:
Supported languages.
Due to resource constraints, only a small subset of common programming languages are supported, up to the discretion of the game's operator.
Metrics.
The following aspects of each given implementation are measured:
It is common to see multiple solutions in the same programming language for the same problem. This highlights that within the constraints of a given language, a solution can be given which is either of high abstraction, is memory efficient, is fast, or can be parallelized better.
Benchmark programs.
It was a design choice from the start to only include very simple toy problems, each providing a different kind of programming challenge.
This provides users of the Benchmark Game the opportunity to scrutinize the various implementations.
History.
The project was known as "The Great Computer Language Shootout" until 2007.
A port for Windows was maintained separately between 2002 and 2003.
The sources have been archived on GitLab.
There are also older forks on GitHub.
The project is continuously evolving. The list of supported programming languages is updated approximately once per annum, following market trends. Users can also submit improved solutions to any of the problems or suggest testing methodology refinement.
Caveats.
The developers themselves highlight the fact that those doing research should exercise caution when using such microbenchmarks:
Impact.
The benchmark results have uncovered various compiler issues. Sometimes a given compiler failed to process unusual, but otherwise grammatically valid constructs. At other times, runtime performance was shown to be below expectations, which prompted compiler developers to revise their optimization capabilities.
Various research articles have been based on the benchmarks, its results and its methodology.


Diffraction efficiency

Diffraction efficiency is the performance of diffractive optical elements – especially diffraction gratings – in terms of power throughput. It's a measure of how much optical power is diffracted into a designated direction compared to the power incident onto the diffractive element.
If the diffracted power is designated with formula_1 and the incident power with formula_2 the efficiency formula_3 reads
Grating efficiency.
In the most common case – the diffraction efficiency of optical gratings (therefore also called "grating efficiency") – there are two possibilities to specify efficiency:


William Swan (physicist)

Prof William Swan FRSE PRSSA LLD (13 March 1818 in Edinburgh – 1 March 1894 in Shandon, Argyll) was a Scottish mathematician and physicist best known for his 1856 discovery of the Swan band.
Life.
He was born in Edinburgh the only child of David Swan, engineer, and his wife, Janet Smith. Janet was the daughter of Thomas Smith, lighthouse engineer. Her sister was married to the famous lighthouse engineer, Robert Stevenson. He was privately educated at home, 7 Union Street, and appears to have been both lonely and unhappy. His father died in 1821 when he was only three. His mother took in lodgers to make ends meet, including at one point Thomas Carlyle. William's only childhood friend is said to have been his cousin, Thomas Stevenson (father of Robert Louis Stevenson).
At 17 he was sent to Edinburgh University to study divinity. He "came out" during the Disruption of 1843 and became an active member of the Free Church, teaching mathematics and physics at the Free Church Normal School. From there he move to teach the same subjects at the Scottish Naval and Military Academy in Edinburgh.
In 1848 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Philip Kelland. He served as Secretary to the society 1858-59. In the 1850s "William Swan, teacher of mathematics" was living at 4 Duke Street in the New Town, renamed Dublin Street in the 1920s.
In 1856, Swan applied to join the faculty at Marischal College, but was passed over in favor of James Clerk Maxwell. Swan subsequently joined the Scottish Naval and Military Academy, where in 1857 he demonstrated that Fraunhofer's D-line in the spectrum of the Sun was caused by the presence of sodium; in this respect, he is sometimes credited as having inspired Gustav Kirchhoff's research into the same issue.
In 1859, he joined the faculty of Saint Andrews University, where he was a professor of natural philosophy until 1880.
He was awarded two honorary doctorates (LLD): firstly from Edinburgh University in 1869, secondly from St Andrews University in 1886.
He died of heart disease at his wife's country house of Ardchapel in Shandon in western Scotland.
He is buried with his wife Georgina (who pre-deceased him) in Warriston Cemetery in northern Edinburgh. The grave lies in the narrow walled area between the main cemetery and the Water of Leith Walkway (in the south-east corner of the main cemetery.
Recognition.
In 1843, the Royal Scottish Society of the Arts awarded Swan a gold medal for his scientific achievements. He served as their President 1882–1885.
Family.
In 1859 he married Georgina Frances Downie (née Cullen) (1809–1882). They had no children.


Optically stimulated luminescence thermochronometry

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) thermochronometry is a dating method used to determine the time since quartz and/or feldspar began to store charge as it cools through the effective closure temperature. The closure temperature for quartz and Na-rich K-feldspar is 30-35 °C and 25 °C respectively. When quartz and feldspar are beneath the earth, they are hot. They cool when any geological process e.g. focused erosion causes their exhumation to the earth surface. As they cool, they trap electron charges originating from within the crystal lattice. These charges are accommodated within crystallographic defects or vacancies in their crystal lattices as the mineral cools below the closure temperature.
During detrapping of these electrons, luminescence is produced. The luminescence or light emission from the mineral is assumed to be proportional to the trapped electron charge population. The age recorded in standard OSL method is determined by counting the number of these trapped charges in an OSL detection system. The OSL age is the cooling age of the quartz and/or feldspar. This cooling history is a record of the mineral's thermal history, which is used to reconstruct the geological event.
The sub-Quaternary period (104 to 105 years) is the geological age where OSL is a favourable dating technique because of low closure temperature of quartz and feldspar used in this technique. The Quaternary period is marked by intense crustal erosion particularly within active mountain ranges, leading to high exhumation rate of crustal rocks and formation of sub-Quaternary sediments. Previous techniques (e.g. Apatite Fission Track, Zircon Fission Track, and (Uranium-Thorium)/ Helium dating) could not adequately track the geological age records particularly in the last ~300 thousand years. OSL dating is currently the only dating method that has been successfully applied to understand the cooling ages of the geological events.
Theoretical concepts of electron trapping and detrapping for OSL measurement.
In natural environment, crystal lattices of quartz and/or feldspar are bombarded with radiation released from radiogenic source such as "in -situ" radioactive decay. As the crystals are irradiated, charges are stored up in their crystallographic defects. The charge trapping process involves atomic-scale ionic substitution of both electron and hole within the crystal lattices of quartz and feldspar. The electron diffusion happens in response to ionizing radiation as the minerals cools below their closure temperature.
If quartz or feldspar gains are exposed to natural light source such as the sun, the trapped charges will be evicted in form of luminescence. This natural process is called bleaching. Any other process that could heat up the sample will also cause the trapped electrons to escape from the crystal lattice known as thermal bleaching. Optical bleaching of the mineral leads to eviction of trapped charges in the minerals, hence, careful sampling and handling must be followed to avoid using bleached sample for OSL thermochronometry. To artificially produce luminescence in the laboratory for luminescence study of the mineral, these two processes are adopted.
Kinetic or rate equations for trapping and detrapping processes.
A wide range of kinetic models have been developed to explain trapping and detrapping processes in quartz and feldspar crystals. Two of these models are particularly useful in determining the cooling histories of quartz or feldspar These models are known as the general order kinetic model and band tail model. The two models consider three major processes to characterize the mineral luminescence, which are: trapping process, thermal detrapping process and athermal detrapping process. Each of the processes are guided by different equations discussed below. These models are useful for the determining of cooling history of the mineral, which involves subtracting the differential sum of thermal detrapping and athermal detrapping from the trapping process (i.e. Trapping – (Thermal detrapping + Athermal detrapping).
Determination of cooling history from the kinetic equations.
By combining the four equations above, a single differential equation is developed to convert the luminescence into cooling rate. We have:
formula_1 for the general order kinetic model; and
formula_2for the band tail model.
Any of the models can be used because the same series of laboratory experiments are followed for the estimation of all the parameters involved in the equations. The inversion of measured formula_3for a range of temperature -time history or T-t path can be used to determine the cooling rate. Sufficient number of T-t paths conducted in the laboratory is used to build a probability density function, which will help to determine the most likely cooling histories undergone by the mineral.
Sample preparation.
Bedrock samples from earth surface or boreholes are required earth materials for OSL dating. Minerals (quartz and/or feldspar) are usually separated from the rock or sediment samples under regulated laboratory lighting system similar to procedures used in archaeological OSL dating. The light source is usually a controlled red light condition to avoid luminescence signal resetting.[7] Crushing of sample are gently carried out to avoid generating heat that is strong enough to reset OSL signal in the minerals. Crushed samples are separated by means of a sieve to get fine-grained. A range of values varying from 90 – 125 microns, 100 – 200 microns and 180 – 212 microns can be used for OSL measurement. The selected grains are chemically treated with HCl to digest carbonates and with H2O2 to remove organic materials that can contaminate the sensitivity of OSL signal during measurement. Feldspar and quartz with densities of < 2.62 g cm−3 and < 2.68 g cm−3 respectively are separated from other heavier minerals by density separation. Inclusions of zircon, apatite and feldspar in quartz as well as alpha-particles irradiated grain edges that can contaminate OSL signal are removed by etching in hydrofluoric acid (HF).
OSL signal detection system.
OSL ages are commonly measured using an automated RisThermal Luminescence Reader (e.g. TL-DA-20). It contains an internal beta-source (e.g. 90Sr/90Y) with optical stimulation emitted through laser diodes (LEDs). The reader also has a detection filter for transmission of stimulated luminescence signals. During this measurement, the mineral grain (quartz or feldspar) is glued on a heater strip (stainless-steel discs) using adhesive (commonly silicone spray). The mineral grain is stimulated with the light source. This light is the series of light emitting diode. This bombardment stimulates the electrons, which are trapped and begin to recombine in the crystal. During this process, they give the OSL signal, which is collected or recorded in the ray sensitive photomultiplier tube. The photomultiplier tube converts all the incident photons (i.e. light) to electronic charge. This is the basic principle of how the luminescence (light) emission from the minerals under investigation is measured.
OSL age determination.
To determine the OSL age of the sample, the dose rate, (formula_4) and the equivalent dose (formula_5). A dose is the quantity of natural radiation or energy absorbed by a mineral. The dose rate is the effective radiation absorbed from naturally occurring ionizing source per unit time.
The age is calculated by determining the ratio of equivalent dose (formula_5) and the dose rate (formula_4) using the equation below.
formula_8
where formula_9 is the age (yr), formula_5is measured in Gray (Gy). Note that 1 Gy is equivalent to 1 J.kg−1 (Joule per kilogram) and formula_4is Gy year−1
Dose rate determination.
For a single grain of mineral, the dose rate (formula_4) can be determined by measuring the concentrations of uranium, potassium and thorium by direct mass spectrometric analysis of quartz or feldspar grains. Ge-Gamma, INAA, X-ray flourescnce and ICP-MS or ICP-OES are spectrometers that can could be used. Other methods for the determination the dose rate include: (1) overburden cosmic dose rate estimation, (2) water content attenuation method, and (3) disequilibrium dose rate correction method. An average dose rate is usually calculated as representative of the dose rate.
Equivalent dose determination.
The equivalent dose (formula_5) is also known as the dose response is determined from the dose response curve (see Plot B). The single-aliquot regenerative (SAR) protocol is a commonly used method for the determination of the equivalent dose. The protocol involves series of laboratory measurement of OSL signal (see Plot A), which is emitted by the aliquot after it has been optically stimulated at a known beta dose within a given time in seconds. The beta-source may be 90Sr/90Y in an automated RisThermal Luminescence Reader . During SAR protocol, the difference in the measurement for quartz and feldspar is mainly on the degree of heat required per time and the source of stimulation.
The first stage involves determination of the natural dose (see Plot B) preheating the aliquot to about 160 -130 °C (for feldspar) for 10 s or 160-300 °C (for quartz) when the natural luminescence signal (i.e. natural dose) is still intact. This is done to remove unstable signals in the mineral. After preheating, the aliquot is optically stimulated by Infrared light emitting diode (for feldspar) or Blue light emitting diode (for quartz) depending on which mineral (see OSL detection system) for 40 s at 125 °C (for feldspar) or 100 s at 125 °C (for quartz) and the natural OSL signal (NL) is measured and recorded in the photomultiplier tube. For the second stage, the aliquot is irradiated with a fixed known test dose (beta dose). The aliquot is preheated at temperature less than 160 °C. The IRSL signal measurement is taken as a test dose IRSL response (NT) after it has been optically stimulated for 40 s at 125 °C (for feldspar) or 100 s at 125 °C (for quartz). At this stage the aliquot is completely bleached. A regenerative test dose is then started after bleaching.
The same procedure as described above is followed but a range of regenerative dose is given at different temperature for sensitivity correction of OSL signal (See Plot B). For the regenerative dose measurement, the aliquot is irradiated with a known dose before preheating at 160-130 °C for 10 s or 160-300 °C for feldspar or quartz respectively while the signal response (Ri) is measured. A fixed test dose is by irradiating the aliquot and a preheating of the aliquot is carried out at a temperature less than 160 °C. The aliquot is optically stimulated at the same rate and the IRSL signal (RT) is measured. The steps are repeated for range of different regenerative dose including zero test dose. During each of the tests, all OSL signals are recorded in the photomultiplier tube and the OSL counts are plotted against the OSL exposure time in seconds as shown in the OSL signal curve (first graph).
For sensitivity correction, NL is plotted against NT representing the natural OSL signal while the plot of Ri against RT representing regenerative dose test (see Plot B). The natural dose is along the vertical axis because no laboratory dose is given at the stage. The regenerative dose measurement will vary with respect to the given dose at each stage. The equivalent dose (formula_5) is determined by drawing a line (red discontinuous line in Plot B) from the natural dose to intercept with the regenerative dose curve. The point of interception with the curve represent the equivalent dose by reading its value on the horizontal axis (See Plot B). The corresponding dose value at the horizontal axis is recorded for the equivalent dose (formula_5).
Applications..
General applications.
OSL finds application in all low-temperature (<50 °C) tectonic and sedimentary processes. These studies are mainly captured within the sub-Quaternary period including, but not limited to focused fluvial and/or glacial erosion, rock exhumation and evolution of topography in active tectonic regions. Other applications include glaciation deposits, lagoon deposits, storm surge and tsunami deposits, lake deposits including shoreline migration history, fluvial erosion deposits, loess deposit records. For example, the rate of slip on a normal faults plane can also be modelled, the rate of glacial or fluvial erosion of the earth surface can also be modelled as well as when sedimentary deposits are found within the sub-Quaternary period.
In active tectonics regions, the application of OSL dating is very useful in tracking the thermal history and rate of rock exhumation towards the Earth's surface. The closer the cooling ages, the higher the rate of erosion and/or exhumation of the rock unit under investigation. When the OSL age of quartz or feldspar is known, the obtained ages are coupled with the existing thermal-mechanical equations e.g. Pecube to reconstruct the thermal-mechanical history.
The OSL ages (see diagram), cooling ages, elevation data are plotted against the horizontal distance where samples and elevation data were collected to interpret the exhumation rate of rock or the evolution of the relief system through time. For example, OSL dating has been applied in determined the cooling histories of some rapidly eroding active regions at sub-Quaternary time-scale (i.e. 104 to 105 years). These examples are Whataroa-Perth catchment area in the Southern Alps of New Zealand and Namche Barwa-Gyala Peri dome in eastern Himalaya. In the Namche Barwa-Gyala Peri dome, river erosion was prevalent while glacial erosion was the main active process in the Whataroa-Perth catchment area. In both studies, the rate of exhumation and evolution of the relief systems were estimated by inversion of OSL thermochronological ages.


Russian guitar

The Russian guitar (sometimes referred to as a "Gypsy guitar") is an acoustic seven-string guitar that was developed in Russia toward the end of the 18th century: it shares most of its organological features with the Spanish guitar, although some historians insist on English guitar ascendancy. It is known in Russian as the "semistrunnaya gitara" (семиструнная гитара), or affectionately as the "semistrunka" (семиструнка), which translates to "seven-stringer". These guitars are most commonly tuned to an open G chord as follows: . In classical literature, the lowest string (D) occasionally is tuned down to the C.
History.
Although in a number of sources the invention of the Russian guitar is attributed to Andrei Sychra (1773–1850), there are strong reasons to believe that the instrument was already in use when Sychra began his career. It is true that Sychra was very influential in creating the school of Russian guitar playing. He left over a thousand compositions, seventy-five of which were republished in the 1840s by Stellovsky, and then again in the 1880s by Gutheil. Some of these were published yet again in the Soviet Union in 1926.
The first known written instruction for 7-string guitar was published in St. Petersburg, Russia in the year 1798, December, 15th. (15.12.1798), written by Ignaz Held (1766, Bohemia – 1816, Russia).
The Russian version of the seven-string guitar has been used by professionals because of its great flexibility, but has also been popular with amateurs for accompaniment (especially Russian bards) due to the relative simplicity of some basic chords and the ease of playing alternating bass lines.
Construction.
Construction of the Russian is very similar to that of the western 6-string guitar except for the additional string. The same basic components are present: headstock; nut; tuners; neck; fingerboard; frets; inlays; truss rod (in modern instruments); heel; body; bridge & bridge saddle; soundboard (top); sound hole and rosette; back; sides; strings. Woods used and internal bracing layouts are also similar.
Types.
There are two basic types of Russian guitar: the "classical" model and the "gypsy" model. The classical model closely resembles the western 6-string classical guitar, and has nylon or gut strings. The gypsy model is steel strung, and resembles the western 6-string steel-string acoustic guitar, although more size and shape variations are found among gypsy guitars.
A two-necked version of the Russian guitar was also once popular; these guitars usually had 11 or 12 strings—one neck with seven fretted strings, and another with four or five unfretted strings. There are also some rare specimens that were built with an oval body.
Head.
The head or "headstock" is located at the end of the guitar neck farthest from the body. Modern instruments are fitted with machine head tuners, though older instruments (particularly from the 19th century) have friction pegs. The tuner layout is usually in one of two forms: "4+3", with four tuners on the bass-string side of the head and three on the treble string side; or "3+1+3", with three tuners on each side of the headstock and one in the middle. The nut is a small strip traditionally of bone, but plastic, brass, and other materials are also sometimes seen.
Neck.
Headstock, fingerboard (fretboard), and truss rod (if present), all attached to a long wooden extension which collectively constitutes the neck. The wood used to make the fretboard usually differs from the wood in the rest of the neck. The neck joint or heel is the point at which the neck is attached to the body of the guitar.
Fingerboard.
The fingerboard is made of hardwood (ebony or rosewood are common), fitted with metal frets of brass or steel. Fret spacing almost always follows the western twelve tone equal temperament (12-tet) system. The surface of the fingerboard may be flat or curved slightly ("radiused"), although the radius of a curve on the Russian guitar is usually somewhat less than that of an equivalent western 6-string guitar. Inlayed position markers are common, and appear in the same locations as 6-string guitars (e.g., typically the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets, among others).
Body.
The sound board is usually made of spruce or cedar, and sized and shaped much like that of the 6-string guitar. Overall proportions of classical seven string instruments nylon string) are similar to those of 6-string guitars. "Gypsy" instruments (steel string) may be proportioned similarly, but also may often feature a narrower upper bout, and an enlarged sound hole. Both traditionally shaped instruments and instruments with cut-away bodies are available.
The bridge is made of a hardwood similar to that used for the fingerboard, and the bridge saddle is usually bone or sometimes plastic; on old instruments, ivory was sometimes used.
A pickguard, or "scratchplate"—usually a piece of laminated plastic—is frequently found on steel-string "gypsy" instruments; on nylon-string classical instruments it is usually lacking.
Strings.
As noted above, Russian guitars may have either nylon (or equivalent non-metal) strings, or steel (or equivalent metal) strings, depending on whether the instrument is a classical or gypsy guitar. On classical instruments the four lower pitched strings are generally wound, and the three higher strings are of plain material. On gypsy instruments five strings are wound, and the top two are plain.
Measurements.
Proportions of Russian guitars typically do not differ greatly from those of western 6-string instruments. Since the range of both types of instrument are comparable, this makes acoustical sense. One notable physical difference, however, concerns string spacing: since Russian guitars have essentially the same neck width as 6-string guitars, the 7 strings on the Russian instruments are necessarily closer together.
Handedness.
Left-handed Russian guitars exist, but are extremely rare.
Tuning.
Traditionally, Russian and Spanish guitars are tuned differently. On the Spanish guitar the open-string chord is an Em11, while on the Russian guitar it is a G-major. While the Spanish guitar is tuned in fourths with one (major) third (G3–B3), the Russian guitar is tuned in thirds (G2–B2, B2–D3, G3–B3, and B3–D3) with two fourths (D2–G2, and D3–G3):
Derivation.
This tuning is thought to have been derived from the baroque cittern of the English guitar type. According to the historical article by Valerian Rusanov, "there was a cittern player in Leipzig, named Scheidler, who enhanced the tuning by addition a bass string". These musical instruments, made by Gerard J. Deleplanque, G. Le Blond, Johann Georg Ochstermann and Johann Wilhelm Bindernagel, were delivered via Elbe river, and still awaits a recognition from lovers of Russian romance in Glinka Museum in Moscow, as well as in the Musical Museum in Leipzig. Known as "Deutsche Guitarre", two hundred years ago they already had some of the hallmarks of a modern seven-string guitar, including "Viennese" bracing and a radial fretboard. One of the first performers on seven-string citterns in Germany were Johann David Scheidler and Johann Clauduis Hanff, the second later worked in St.-Petersburg in Russia.
Years before Johann David Scheidler, there was another guitar player, who also played in "Open G" tuning on Harp Guitar in Mainz, but there is no evidence that they were relatives.
Reverberation and Echoing.
Some guitar historians insist that the Russian 7-string tuning was invented in 1793 by Andrey Sychra, acknowledged harpist of the 18th century, in order to adapt a harp tuning for guitar, and facilitate the playing of harp-like arpeggios:
This sound, resembling a runaway stream of pure fifths, was discovered by Sychra.
Performance practice.
The Russian guitar is traditionally played without a pick, using fingers for either strumming or picking.
The open G tuning allows major chords to be played with only one finger of the fretting hand (the left hand for right-handed guitars), as barre chords. The A-major chord can be played most easily as a barré on the second fret, the B major as a barré on the fourth, C major on the fifth, D major on the seventh, and so on (although other, more involved major shapes are employed as well for a variation in voicing). A fair amount of open-G chord shapes use six or five strings, and so these shapes require the player to mute or not play particular strings.
Perhaps the most audible difference between the Spanish and Russian tunings is in the ability to play chords with a tighter, more piano-like voicing on the latter. For example, an E-minor chord on a Spanish guitar (as 022000) is usually played in the order, from low to high, of "E (root), B (fifth), E (root), G (minor third), B (fifth)" and again "E (root)". On a Russian guitar it is possible to play the E minor (2002002) as "E (root), G (minor third), B (fifth), E (root), G (minor third), B (fifth)," and "E (root)" — or to play it with the same voicing as the six string E minor (using 99X9989).
This tighter voicing is particularly audible with seventh chords, including the rootless seventh chord (seventh chords without a root note, actually a diminished chord).
It is fairly common for Russian guitar players (particularly those accompanying themselves singing, such as bards) to bring the tuning up or down several steps as desired, either to accommodate the voice or for varying string tension. Vladimir Vysotsky often tuned down a whole step, sometimes even a step and a half to an open E. Also, variations in the open G tuning were fairly common, e.g., Bulat Okudzhava would use the tuning of to play songs written in C, while bard Sergey Nikitin tuned his guitar to an open G minor: .
There are more than 1,000 different chords possible for the standard open G tuning and plenty of different schools for left hand (vibrato) and right hand (fingerstyle playing) and enormous classical music musical transposition archives and music composed for Russian 7-string guitar for 200 years in Russia. Because much of this music was published during the years of the Soviet Union, little of it left Russia, and printed scores of music for Russian guitar are difficult to come by in Europe or North America.
Six string adaptations.
A common practice for six string guitar players of Russian romances and bard music is to retune their guitars using variations of the seven string tuning, such as:
and so on.
Popularity.
For many years, the seven-string guitar was far more popular in Russia than the regular six-string Spanish guitar; the latter was a rarity in Russia before the revolution of 1917. The Russian guitar gained significant popularity in the latter half of the 19th century with the increasing popularity of guitar oriented "city romance" songs.
The six-string first came to serious prominence in the Russian classical guitar world when Andrés Segovia toured Soviet Russia in 1926. Possibly looking for something new and exciting to give life to their repressed craft, many Russian classical guitarists began making a switch to the six-string and the EADGBE tuning. Classical guitarist Piotr Agafoshin made the switch, and wrote a Russian book on six string technique that remains a standard to this day.
The Russian guitar remained the standard for popular musicians until the 1960s, when a strong interest in underground music such as jazz and Western rock acts such as the Beatles and Elvis Presley developed.
However, the parallel emergence of Russian bard music, which relied heavily on popular Russian guitar technique used in "urban romances," kept the seven-string guitar relevant. Actor Vladimir Vysotsky, arguably Russia's most prominent bard, retained his monogamous relationship with the seven string up to his death in 1980. Pioneering bard Bulat Okudjava switched to the six string in the early 1990s, but continued tuning it in open G (skipping the middle D).
Thanks to the "bard boom" and cheap factory production, a Russian guitar could be bought new for as little as 12 rubles in the 1970s. Soviet factories continued to manufacture the seven string exclusively for quite a long time before making a gradual switchover to accommodate the demand for six string guitars in the mid to late 1970s. Prior to that, western pop and rock oriented guitarists had a tradition of modifying cheap factory made Soviet seven string guitars to six strings (or sometimes to bass guitars) and retuning them to the EADGBE tuning.
Conversely, Russian émigré guitarists living in western countries, where only six string guitars were available, have been known to modify six string (and sometimes twelve string) acoustic guitars to seven string instruments, in order to better play their favorite Russian songs.
Recently, the repertoire for the Russian guitar has been the subject of a new scholarly examination and has seen increased performance due to the work of Oleg Timofeyev, who has unearthed and recorded works by the composer Matvei Pavlov-Azancheev (1888−1963).


Ford Proving Grounds

Ford Motor Company operates several proving grounds worldwide, for development and validation testing of new vehicles.
North America.
Arizona Proving Ground (APG) - Wittmann, Arizona.
The Arizona Proving Ground opened in 1985. The Proving Ground consists of 1,498 acres (6.06 km²) located less than one hour northwest of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at an elevation of 1,650 feet (500 m). The facility was originally a Volvo facility (VAPG) but was transitioned to the Ford branding in the summer of 2009 and renamed the Arizona Proving Ground (APG). Volvo still is a large user of it.
It features a 2-mile oval track with banked curves, a 2-mile completely straight road, a brake test area and some more tracks.
The Arizona Proving Ground is operated year round. The climate is of a desert type with low annual rainfall and low relative humidity. Daytime temperatures are high throughout the summer months. The winters are mild. Nighttime temperatures frequently drop below freezing during the three coldest months, but the afternoons are usually sunny and warm. The summer heat (over ) is the most used time of the year, since worst case should be tested in order to cover many test cases.
The facility is located on the outskirts of Phoenix.
Michigan Proving Ground (MPG) - Romeo, Michigan.
The Ford Michigan Proving Ground (MPG) of Romeo, Michigan sits on 3,880 acres (15.7 km²), and contains a total of over of roads. These grounds hold events like the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula car competition (FSAE). This involves teams from colleges and universities around the world to compete in a competition involving both design and performance. The facility is also home to Twombly Mountain, the highest point in Macomb County.
Dearborn Development Center (formerly Dearborn Proving Ground (DPG)).
The Dearborn Development Center was built on the site of Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan. The facility, formerly known as Dearborn Proving Ground (DPG), completed major reconstruction and renovations in 2006.
Extreme Cold Weather Test Facility (ECWTF) - Thompson, Manitoba.
The facility is located at the nearby Thompson Airport in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. The Extreme Cold Weather Test Facility offers vehicle testing in extremely cold weather conditions during the winter months from around November 1 to March 30.
Europe.
Dunton Technical Centre (DTC) - Basildon, Essex, England.
Proving ground for Ford UK.
Lommel Proving Grounds (LPG) - Lommel, Belgium.
The Lommel Proving Grounds, also known as Ford LPG, were constructed on land rented from the city of Lommel from 1960.
Former Ford Proving Grounds.
Arizona Proving Ground (APG) - Yucca, Arizona.
Arizona Proving Ground (APG) was sold to Chrysler in 2007. This is no longer a Ford facility.
Cold Climate Test Facility - Raco, Michigan.
Facility now owned by Smithers Scientific Services
Florida Evaluation Center (FEC) - Naples, Florida.
This facility is no longer leased by Ford. Ford sold the facility in 2002 to Harley Davidson. It has been taken over by Chrysler in early 2013 with Harley-Davidson leasing parts of the facility.


Emission spectroscopy


Robin M. Hochstrasser

Robin M. Hochstrasser (1931 – 27 February 2013) was a Scottish-born American chemist.
Biography.
Hochstrasser was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1952 he received his B.S. from Heriot-Watt University and 3 years later got his Ph.D. from University of Edinburgh. In 1957 he joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia. From 1962 to 1967 he was Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellow and in 1963 he taught chemistry at University of Pennsylvania. During his 50 years of teaching, he trained 75 Ph.D. students and more than 90 postdoctoral fellows. Between 1955 and 1957 he served in the Royal Air Force. He also published numerous of scientific papers and two books; "Behaviour of Electrons in Atoms" and "Molecular Aspects of Symmetry".
From 1975 to 2012 he was an editor of the scientific journal called Chemical physics. In 1972 he became visiting professor and fellow at Clare College, Cambridge University, England and next year became visiting professor at Australian National University, Canberra. In 1978 he became a Senior Fellow at Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute and the same year became a fellow at American Physical Society. Next year, he became the Director of the University's Regional Laser and Biotechnology Laboratories and in 1980 became visiting professor at University of Munich.
1980s.
In 1981 he received Bourke Medal from Faraday Society and a year later became Christianson Fellow at St. Catherine's College, a division of Oxford University. The same year he became a fellow at American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Another two years went by and in 1984 he was awarded an Honorary degree from Scottish Heriot-Watt University. From 1985 to his death he was a chair of the John Scott Advisory Panel for the City of Philadelphia. In 1986 he got Special President's Award from SPIE. Next year, he became associate professor at University of Paris and two years later became Grenoble Professor at the University of Grenoble. The same year he became a fellow at Optical Society of America.
1990s.
In 1990 he received Philadelphia Section Award and the same year got National Institutes of Health Merit Award. Six years have passed and he received another award, this time it was LICOR Award from University of Nebraska. The next year brought him Ellis Lippincott Award from the Optical Society of America. 1998 brought him two chair positions, one was at the Chemical Physics division of the American Physical Society, the other one was at the Biophysical Chemistry division of American Chemical Society. He was also awarded the E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy. From 2000 till his death he was an Honorary Professor of Physics at University of Strathclyde.
2000s.
In 2000, he got Centenary Silver Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry and three years later received Benjamin Franklin Medal. In 2005, he received F. Albert Cotton Medal from Texas A&M University and in 2007 was awarded A. H. Zewail Award for Ultrafast Science and Technology. Next year, he became an honorary fellow at the Royal Society of Edinburgh and two years later received the Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award. In 2012, he got even more awards including Linus Pauling Award. He died on 27 February 2013 at the age of 82. After his death, in June 2013 he was posthumously awarded a Doctorate of Science from the University of Edinburgh.


Heaven Benchmark

Heaven Benchmark is a benchmarking software based on the Unigine Engine. It was developed and published by UNIGINE Corp with the purpose to perform PC GPU benchmarking and stability diagnostics (testing). Heaven Benchmark is used by overclockers for online and offline competitions in GPU overclocking. Heaven Benchmark was shipped with Zotac GPUs. Included in Phoronix Test Suite.
Technological features and system requirements.
The software works with DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL 4.0. Hardware tessellation (Direct3D 11 only) and SSAO are supported. Nvidia SLI, AMD Crossfire, and AMD Eyefinity support claimed.
Heaven Benchmark natively supports stereo 3D rendering.
Release.
Heaven Benchmark is claimed to be the first DirectX 11 benchmark. It was officially introduced at Windows 7 presentation on October 22, 2009.
Heaven Benchmark versions.
Heaven Benchmark was originally released in October 2009. Then a number of updates followed:
The latest version is Heaven 4.0 was released on January 11, 2013.
Heaven Benchmark editions.
There are three editions of Heaven benchmark: Basic, Advanced, and Professional.


Lady Elizabeth Blount

Elizabeth Anne Mould de Sodington Blount, Lady de Sodington Blount born Elizabeth Anne Mould Williams lastly Elizabeth Anne Mould Morgan (7 May 1850 – 2 January 1935) was an English pamphlet writer and social activist. She led a society who believed in a flat earth. She conducted convincing, but flawed, experiments to prove this.
Life.
Blount was born in Lambeth in 1850. Her parents were Elizabeth Ann (born Mould) and James Zacharias Williams, who was a keen supporter of London clubs. She was tutored at home. She developed wide interests in art, science, social responsibility, and London's society and intelligentsia.
She married Sir Walter de Sodington Blount, 9th Baronet, and they raised a family at the family seat of Mawley Hall. She would spend time there and at their house in London where she was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Antiquaries.
After Samuel Rowbotham's death in 1884, Blount became the President of the Universal Zetetic Society, whose objective was "the propagation of knowledge related to Natural Cosmogony in confirmation of the Holy Scriptures, based on practical scientific investigation". Blount's title and money was said to have attracted an archbishop, several colonels, a Major-General to the membership. The society published a magazine, "The Earth Not a Globe Review", and remained active well into the early 20th century. A flat Earth journal, "Earth: a Monthly Magazine of Sense and Science", was published between 1901 and 1904, edited by Lady Blount.
In 1898 she published a novel titled "Adrian Galilio, or a Song Writer's Story". The Flat Earth Society says that it concerns "an aristocrat who escapes her unhappy marriage and reinvents herself as a world-famous Flat Earth proponent who 'tours Europe giving elaborate lectures on cosmology, the creation, true love and hell'".
Blount and her husband wanted to provide evidence of the earth's flat surface and they created experiments on the Old Bedford Level Canal over several weeks.
On 11 May 1904, Lady Elizabeth Anne Blount hired a photographer to use a telephoto-lens camera to take a picture from Welney of a large white sheet of which she had placed the bottom edge near the surface of the river at Rowbotham's original position away. The photographer, Edgar Clifton from Dallmeyer's studio, mounted his camera above the water at Welney and was surprised to be able to obtain a picture of the target, which he believed should have been invisible to him, given the low mounting point of the camera. Lady Blount published the pictures far and wide. Blount's letter did not discuss the effects of atmospheric refraction but the photographer noted a mirage which he described as "an aqueous shimmering vapour [appearing] to float unevenly on the surface of the canal".
These controversies became a regular feature in the "English Mechanic" magazine in 1904–05, which published Blount's photo and reported two experiments in 1905 that showed the opposite results. One of these, by Clement Stratton on the Ashby Canal, showed a dip on a sight-line only above the surface.
When she was 73, on 28 August 1923, she married again to a builder and evangelist named Stephen Morgan who was forty years younger than her. She was a member of the "Society for the Protection of the Dark Races" and she gave that her active support.
Blount died in Hayling Island.


DragonFly Network Time Daemon


Article element

HTML5 Article is a HTML5 semantic element, similar to and . It is most commonly used to contain information that may be distributed independently from the rest of the site or application it appears in.
Features and usage.
The HTML5 element represents a complete composition in a web page or web application that is independently distributable or reusable, e.g. in syndication. This could be a forum post, a magazine or newspaper article, a blog entry, a user-submitted comment, an interactive widget or gadget, or any other independent item of content.
Examples.
At its most basic, can be used to encapsulate a body of text and a corresponding title like so:

Insert Title Here

Insert a paragraph of text here

Forum entries and comments are typically implemented by nesting tags:

Entry Title

Header Info

Content of entry...

Author: John Smith

Comment Info

Comment text...

Author: Jane Johnson

2nd Comment's Info

Comment text...

Attributes.
The element only includes the global HTML attributes such as "contenteditable", "id", and "title." However, "pubdate", an optional boolean attribute of the element, is often used in conjunction with . If present, it indicates that the element is the date the was published. Note that "pubdate" applies only to the parent element, or to the document as a whole.
Comparison with "
".
HTML5 introduced both and ; both are semantic tags, defining sections in a document, such as chapters, headers, footers. The element is effectively a specialized kind of and it has a more specific meaning, referring to an independent, self-contained block of related content.
Nesting examples.
To better organize independent content tags can be nested inside tags:

Names of Shapes

There are several different types of shapes...

Triangles

Here is some info about triangles

Circles

These Pi-shaped wonders are mesmerizing and...

Conversely, it may sometime be appropriate to nest an element inside a element. For example, in a web page containing several articles on varying subjects:

Articles about Paris Tourism

The Eiffel Tower

Standing at over 12 inches high...

The Louvre

A must-see in Paris tourism...

Browser support.
The following browsers have support for this element:


High Earth orbit

A high Earth orbit is a geocentric orbit with an altitude entirely above that of a geosynchronous orbit (). The orbital periods of such orbits are greater than 24 hours, therefore satellites in such orbits have an apparent retrograde motion – that is, even if they are in a prograde orbit (90° > inclination ≥ 0°), their orbital velocity is lower than Earth's rotational speed, causing their ground track to move westward on Earth's surface.


All fifths tuning

Among guitar tunings, all-fifths tuning refers to the set of tunings in which each interval between consecutive open strings is a perfect fifth. All-fifths tuning is also called fifths, perfect fifths, or mandoguitar. The conventional "standard tuning" consists of perfect fourths and a single major third between the "g" and "b" strings:
All-fifths tuning has the set of open strings
which have intervals of 3 octaves minus a half-step between the lowest and highest string. The conventional tuning has an interval of 2 octaves between lowest and highest string.
All-fifths tuning is a tuning in intervals of perfect fifths like that of a mandolin or a violin. It has a wide range. It was used by jazz guitarist Carl Kress in the form
An approximation: New standard tuning.
All-fifths tuning has been approximated with tunings that avoid the high b' replacing it with a g' in the New Standard Tuning of King Crimson's Robert Fripp, which has been taught in Guitar Craft courses. Guitar Craft, which has been succeeded by Guitar Circle, has taught Fripp's tuning to 3,000 students.
Relation with all-fourths tuning.
All-fifths tuning is closely related to all-fourths tuning. All-fifths tuning is based on the perfect fifth (the interval with seven semitones), and all-fourths tuning is based on the perfect fourth (five semitones). The perfect-fifth and perfect-fourth intervals are inversions of one another, and the chords of all-fourth and all-fifths are paired as inverted chords. Consequently, chord charts for all-fourths tunings may be used for left-handed all-fifths tuning.


Arcsecond


Ion drift meter

An ion drift meter is a device used to measure the velocity of individual ions in the area of a spacecraft. This information can then be used to calculate the ion drift in the space surrounding the instrument as well as the strength of an electric field present, provided that the magnetic field strength has been determined using a magnetometer.
The device itself works by allowing ions to pass through an opening at the front of the instrument and measuring the currents produced by the impacts of ions in different locations on a grid at the back. The trajectories of the ions can then be determined.
Ion drift meters have been used on several spacecraft including the Dynamics Explorer, CHAMP and Ionospheric Connection Explorer.


2760 Kacha


Kaleidica

The Kaleidica Light Instrument, is software developed by Chuck Henderson and published by Fishrock Studios for creating symmetrical and abstract pattern art, animations and real-time user-generated light-shows much like a mechanical kaleidoscope. Kaleidica creates imagery and script-generated animations based on a number of geometric algorithms that arrange arrays of images or animation clips in various user-determined patterns. Composed of multiple internal "studios," Kaleidica can produce patterns reminiscent of kaleidoscope art, Arabic tapestries, psychedelic "op-art," mandala and yantra meditative patterns, and abstract forms akin to Kandinsky or Renoir. Kaleidica uses images as brushes that are selected from a collection of image libraries. Images libraries can be changed and new libraries can be created by users. Animated brush effects are created by cycling through a series of images creating three dimensional and abstract effects.
In light-show mode users of the Kaleidica are able to move the mouse in-sync with music and simultaneously manipulate a variety of functions using the keyboard. Subtle and vigorous effects can be achieved by manipulating blend, rotation, image-brush size, skew, etc.
The sequel to Yantram: Sacred Art Toolbox (Published in 2000 also by fishrock studios), Kaleidica enables users to record and play-back the process of creating symmetrical art, effectively creating full-screen animations. Using simultaneous input from both keyboard and mouse, users manipulate the position, size, rotation, blend, skew and other variables in real-time. Computers with modest video card and processor speeds can display evolving artwork in sync with live or recorded music suitable for interactive light-shows. Kaleidica uses single images and loops of sequential images as animated brushes. These image-brushes are written to the screen buffer much like paint applied to a canvas. In the case of Kaleidica multiple brush strokes are applies simultaneously to create the kaleidoscopic variations.
Description.
Kaleidica is based on a system of studios, each of which can produce a distinct effect. In each studio, the user controls the movement of the brushes with the mouse, while manipulating the characteristics of the brush (like size or rotation) with the keyboard.
The studios inside Kaleidica include the maze studio, the mirror studio, the star studio, the array studio, and the kaleido studio, among others.
In most Kaleidica Studios the same brush appears multiple times on the screen, each brush exactly mimicking the others. The brush appears as many times as the user specifies, each radiating from the central point called a "centroid" which can be placed anywhere inside or outside the screen.
Users may retrieve content from the program by capturing the screen. As well, users can record their actions on the screen in real time to be later replayed.
Custom Content.
Users can upload their own content into Kaleidica, using their own images as brushes. The Kaleidica website sometimes has updated brushes and studios, such as the recent Louvre studio.


Fluid tuning

Fluid tuning is a tuning system for the piano. It was developed by Geoff Smith, a composer and musician from Brighton, England.
Fluid tuning is accomplished by the addition of the microtonal tuning mechanism to the instrument. This mechanism enables the musician to alter each note individually and separately by precise microtonal intervals. With this design modification, the musician can choose either to leave the piano in 'fixed tuning', or to use the mechanism to retune any number of notes microtonally to any desired combination. The modification, therefore, allows a number of tuning layouts to be created and explored per composition, in contrast to the instrument being creatively limited to fixed tuning which is typically the culturally predominant Western chromatic octave.
The microtonal tuning mechanism consists of a sliding bridge, a groove and buffers fitted to each note of the instrument. The bridge is in constant contact with the strings. If the musician slides the bridge along the groove to any point between the buffers, a precise microtonal interval change results.


Betty Allan

Frances Elizabeth Allan (1905–1952) was an Australian statistician. She was known as the first statistician at CSIRO, as "the effective founder of the CSIRO Division of Mathematics and Statistics", and for her advocacy of biometrics.
Allan was born on 11 July 1905 in St Kilda, Victoria; her parents were both journalists with "The Argus", and she was one of four sisters. As a schoolgirl, she attended the Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School. She studied mathematics at the University of Melbourne, earning a bachelor's degree in 1926 and a master's in 1928 for her work with John Henry Michell on solitary waves on liquid-liquid interfaces.
She traveled on a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge, where she worked with Ronald Fisher and John Wishart on agricultural statistics.
Returning to Australia in 1930, she became a biometrician in the Division of Plant Industry of CSIRO. While at CSIRO, she also taught at Canberra University College and the Australian Forestry School. In 1935, she helped found the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science. In 1940 she married CSIRO botanist Patrick Joseph Calvert, and was forced to retire by the laws of the time, which banned married women from public service. She died on 6 August 1952 in Canberra.
The Betty Allan Data Centre of CSIRO's Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies is named after her. In 2019 the Statistical Society of Australia and Data61 created a joint travel award named in her honour.


Inch per second

The inch per second is a unit of speed or velocity. It expresses the distance in inches ("in") traveled or displaced, divided by time in seconds ("s", or "sec"). The equivalent SI unit is the metre per second.
Abbreviations include in/s, in/sec, ips, and less frequently in s−1.
Conversions.
1 inch per second is equivalent to:
1 metre per second ≈ 39.370079 inches per second (approximately)

1 foot per second = 12 inches per second (exactly)

1 mile per hour = 17.6 inches per second (exactly)

1 kilometre per hour ≈ 10.936133 inches per second (approximately)
Uses.
In magnetic tape sound recording, magnetic tape speed is often quoted in inches per second (abbreviated "ips").
Also computer mice sensitivity is also often referred to in inches per second (abbreviated as "ips") along with g force.
In rotorcraft health monitoring, rotor and shaft induced vibration levels are often quoted in inches per second.


Random element

In probability theory, random element is a generalization of the concept of random variable to more complicated spaces than the simple real line. The concept was introduced by who commented that the “development of probability theory and expansion of area of its applications have led to necessity to pass from schemes where (random) outcomes of experiments can be described by number or a finite set of numbers, to schemes where outcomes of experiments represent, for example, vectors, functions, processes, fields, series, transformations, and also sets or collections of sets.”
The modern-day usage of “random element” frequently assumes the space of values is a topological vector space, often a Banach or Hilbert space with a specified natural sigma algebra of subsets.
Definition.
Let formula_1 be a probability space, and formula_2 a measurable space. A random element with values in "E" is a function which is formula_3-measurable. That is, a function X such that for any formula_4, the preimage of B lies in formula_5.
Sometimes random elements with values in formula_6 are called formula_6-valued random variables.
Note if formula_8, where formula_9 are the real numbers, and formula_10 is its Borel σ-algebra, then the definition of random element is the classical definition of random variable.
The definition of a random element formula_11 with values in a Banach space formula_12 is typically understood to utilize the smallest formula_13-algebra on "B" for which every bounded linear functional is measurable. An equivalent definition, in this case, to the above, is that a map formula_14, from a probability space, is a random element if formula_15 is a random variable for every bounded linear functional "f", or, equivalently, that formula_11 is weakly measurable.
Examples of random elements.
Random variable.
A "random variable" is the simplest type of random element. It is a map formula_17 is a measurable function from the set of possible outcomes formula_18 to formula_9.
As a real-valued function, formula_11 often describes some numerical quantity of a given event. E.g. the number of heads after a certain number of coin flips; the heights of different people.
When the image (or range) of formula_11 is finite or countably infinite, the random variable is called a discrete random variable and its distribution can be described by a probability mass function which assigns a probability to each value in the image of formula_11. If the image is uncountably infinite then formula_11 is called a continuous random variable. In the special case that it is absolutely continuous, its distribution can be described by a probability density function, which assigns probabilities to intervals; in particular, each individual point must necessarily have probability zero for an absolutely continuous random variable. Not all continuous random variables are absolutely continuous, for example a mixture distribution. Such random variables cannot be described by a probability density or a probability mass function.
Random vector.
A random vector is a column vector formula_24 (or its transpose, which is a row vector) whose components are scalar-valued random variables on the same probability space formula_1, where formula_26 is the sample space, formula_5 is the sigma-algebra (the collection of all events), and formula_28 is the probability measure (a function returning each event's probability).
Random vectors are often used as the underlying implementation of various types of aggregate random variables, e.g. a random matrix, random tree, random sequence, random process, etc.
Random matrix.
A random matrix is a matrix-valued random element. Many important properties of physical systems can be represented mathematically as matrix problems. For example, the thermal conductivity of a lattice can be computed from the dynamical matrix of the particle-particle interactions within the lattice.
Random function.
A random function is a type of random element in which a single outcome is selected from some family of functions, where the family consists some class of all maps from the domain to the codomain. For example, the class may be restricted to all continuous functions or to all step functions. The values determined by a random function evaluated at different points from the same realization would not generally be statistically independent but, depending on the model, values determined at the same or different points from different realisations might well be treated as independent.
Random process.
A Random process is a collection of random variables, representing the evolution of some system of random values over time. This is the probabilistic counterpart to a deterministic process (or deterministic system). Instead of describing a process which can only evolve in one way (as in the case, for example, of solutions of an ordinary differential equation), in a stochastic or random process there is some indeterminacy: even if the initial condition (or starting point) is known, there are several (often infinitely many) directions in which the process may evolve.
In the simple case of discrete time, as opposed to continuous time, a stochastic process involves a sequence of random variables and the time series associated with these random variables (for example, see Markov chain, also known as discrete-time Markov chain).
Random field.
Given a probability space formula_1 and a measurable space X,
an "X"-valued random field is a collection of "X"-valued
random variables indexed by elements in a topological space "T". That is, a random field "F" is a collection
where each formula_31 is an "X"-valued random variable.
Several kinds of random fields exist, among them the Markov random field (MRF), Gibbs random field (GRF), conditional random field (CRF), and Gaussian random field. An MRF exhibits the Markovian property
where formula_33 is a set of neighbours of the random variable "X""i". In other words, the probability that a random variable assumes a value depends on the other random variables only through the ones that are its immediate neighbours. The probability of a random variable in an MRF is given by
where Ω' is the same realization of Ω, except for random variable "X""i". It is difficult to calculate with this equation, without recourse to the relation between MRFs and GRFs proposed by Julian Besag in 1974.
Random measure.
A random measure is a measure-valued random element. Let X be a complete separable metric space and formula_35 the σ-algebra of its Borel sets. A Borel measure μ on X is boundedly finite if μ(A) < ∞ for every bounded Borel set A. Let formula_36 be the space of all boundedly finite measures on formula_35. Let be a probability space, then a random measure maps from this probability space to the measurable space . A measure generally might be decomposed as:
Here formula_39 is a diffuse measure without atoms, while formula_40 is a purely atomic measure.
Random set.
A random set is a set-valued random element.
One specific example is a random compact set. Let formula_41 be a complete separable metric space. Let formula_42 denote the set of all compact subsets of formula_43. The Hausdorff metric formula_44 on formula_42 is defined by
formula_47 is also а complete separable metric space. The corresponding open subsets generate a σ-algebra on formula_42, the Borel sigma algebra formula_49 of formula_42.
A random compact set is а measurable function formula_51 from а probability space formula_52 into formula_53.
Put another way, a random compact set is a measurable function formula_54 such that formula_55 is almost surely compact and
is a measurable function for every formula_57.
Random geometric objects.
These include random points, random figures, and random shapes.


LBOZ

LBOZ is a coefficient used in spectrophotometry to estimate selectivity (amount of overlapping of spectra) in a quantitative manner. It is named after its creators: Lorber, Bergmann, von Oepen, and Zinn.
Definition.
Let formula_1 be a matrix of the spectra (absorbances), where the "k" rows correspond to the components in mixture and "n" columns correspond to the sequence of wavelengths. The LBOZ criterion for "k"th component is calculated from the following formula:
where formula_3 means a pseudoinverse of the matrix and formula_4 means an euclidean length of a vector.
Properties.
The image above show synthetic gaussian spectra. The LBOZ criteria are: 0.561 for black compound, 0.402 for red compound, 0.899 for green and 0.549 for blue. LBOZ always lie in range <0,1> and has strong mathematical sense - it presents the amount of spectral signal which is not overlapped by the others. Hence, the uncertainty of a compound quantity increases by formula_5 in presence of the other compounds. In this case, the highest uncertainty is expected during determination of red compound - theoretically 2.38 times greater than during determination of its compound alone.


Newag

Newag S.A. [pronounced: nevag] is a Polish company, based in Nowy Sącz, specialising in the production, maintenance, and modernisation of railway rolling stock. The company's products include the 14WE, 19WE, 35WE types electric multiple units; it has also developed the Nevelo tram.
History.
In 1876 the Royal Railway Workshop opened, serving a newly built Austrian railway line. After the First World War the establishment, renamed "1st Class Main Workshop" served Polish State Railways, employing some 1800 workers in 1922. In post-World War II communist Poland the workshop was nationalised and later became a separate, though still state-owned, enterprise officially called "Nowy Sacz Railway Stock Repairs Depot in Nowy Sacz, State Independent Enterprise" (), with a workforce of about 3,500 in 1952. The last steam locomotive was serviced in 1972. After the fall of communism and the economic changes of 1989, the enterprise was transformed into a State Treasury Joint Stock Company, with the Polish state as the only shareholder. The company went through a period of financial turmoil around 2001 and its shares were acquired by a private domestic investor in 2003. The current name was adopted in 2005.
Current products.
Locomotives are available with both AC electric, DC electric and diesel-electric traction. The Dragon is also available with Last Mile Diesel


Boston Underground Film Festival

The Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is an annual event held in the Boston area that specializes in alternative film and video. BUFF is the largest underground film festival in New England, spotlighting short films and feature-length films that would not otherwise find an audience. It was the only film festival in the world to give an award for "Most Effectively Offensive" films, an accolade it awarded from its inception until 2017; on the festival's twentieth anniversary, the award was retired and replaced with "Best First Feature Film," marking a shifting focus towards celebrating new voices in filmmaking.
Despite the festival's title, BUFF has not taken place in Boston proper since 2003. The 2004 festival was held mainly in Arlington, Massachusetts. In 2005, BUFF was held entirely in Somerville, Massachusetts. From 2006 on, BUFF has taken place entirely in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Although BUFF, as an organization, has hosted year round programming at various Boston venues (such as Space 242 in the South End, The Savant Project (now defunct) in Mission Hill and the Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain), there seem to be no current plans to hold the festival in the City of Boston. Starting in 2016, the festival expanded operations to include a monthly screening series called "Dispatches from the Underground" at the Somerville Theatre Microcinema. The series screens "the ones that got away," highlighting films that weren't selected for the official festival, as well as occasional repertory titles and guest curated programs from other New England festivals, as well as traveling festivals.
BUFF is one of the longest continuously-running underground film festivals in the world, second only to Chicago Underground Film Festival.
Recognition.
BUFF was named one of MovieMaker Magazine's "Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World" in 2019. Following the 2018 festival, BUFF was recognized on Boston Magazine's Best of Boston 2018 list as Best Film Festival and received a special commendation at the Boston Society of Film Critics' 2018 Special Awards.
The festival received DigBoston's DIGTHIS! Award in 2014 and 2015 for Best Film Festival.
History.
Started in 1998, by film professor/curator David Kleiler, BUFF was an extension of an all night film marathon produced by Kleiler and Dima Ballin. The First Annual Boston Underground Film Festival took place in February 1999 at the now defunct Revolving Museum in South Boston. Described by programmer Bernard Broginart as "a wonderful hoax of a film festival," the first BUFF was an extremely informal event. Patrons were encouraged to wander from room to room for a single ticket price in the art gallery converted to a cinema. This format was continued for the 2000 festival.
In the years following, BUFF has adopted a more traditional festival format with set screening start times and using actual cinemas and screening rooms. Between 2001 and 2004, BUFF had expanded and contracted with no central location or venue and no set duration. The festival took place during the month of February from 1999 to 2002. In 2003, it was moved to October; then to May in 2004. During this period, numerous venues housed BUFF screenings, including the Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain, The Allston Cinema Underground (now defunct), The Arlington Regent Theatre, and the Brattle Theatre.
By 2005, BUFF was under new management, with Anna Feder and Kevin Monahan taking over as co-managing directors and bringing on Bryan McKay as graphic designer. David Kleiler retained Executive Director duties this year. One of Feder and Monahan's first actions was to feature the Bacchus bunny front and center by using McKay's striking designs. They also centralized operations during this year, with all screenings taking place at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. In 2006 they made Harvard Square BUFF's new home, using the Brattle Theatre as the primary venue. The Brattle also hosted the festival in 2007 and 2008. Kleiler stepped down as Executive Director after the 2006 festival.
According to BUFF's website, the 2009 festival was held at the Kendall Square Cinema and the Brattle Theatre, both in Cambridge. The 2010 and 2011 festivals were held exclusively at the Kendall Square Cinema.
Anna Feder stepped down as Director after the 2011 festival. As of the 2012 festival, Kevin Monahan and Nicole McControversy stepped up into dual festival director roles as Artistic Director and Director of Programming, respectively, and restructured the festival as an officially registered LLC. The festival's graphic designer, Bryan McKay, was promoted to Media Director in 2012.
BUFF's core staff is currently:
Artistic Director – Kevin Monahan, Director of Programming – Nicole McControversy, Media Director – Bryan McKay. BUFF is organized by an entirely unpaid, volunteer group of dedicated film fans.
In 2012, BUFF moved back to the Brattle Theatre where it has remained the festival's primary screening venue. The festival also used the Harvard Film Archive as a secondary venue from 2016 to present.
BUFF's 22nd annual festival, originally scheduled for March 2020 was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. BUFF was one of the five genre festivals that organized NIGHTSTREAM, an online film festival in October 2020. Four feature films and five short programs originally intended for the 22nd BUFF were featured in NIGHTSTREAM.
The Bacchus Awards.
Rather than giving cash or trade value prizes for awards, BUFF doles out a trophy in the shape of a demonic black bunny with red eyes; various iterations of the award also had a vibrating feature. The Bacchus Award was incorporated into BUFF in its second year and has since become the official mascot of the festival, a focal point in poster/logo design, and the rationale behind the festival's red/black/white color scheme. "And the bunny goes to..." is the much-anticipated phrase at the award ceremony that closes the festival. A new version of Bacchus, clad in white briefs and clutching a liquor bottle was unveiled for the 2008 festival and designed by Casey A. Riley.
Riley designed an updated version of the award in 2009, featuring a slightly svelter Bacchus wearing a pink bunny suit, clutching a liquor bottle and exhibiting a raised middle-finger. This version of the Bacchus Award remained in use through 2017. As of 2018, a new Bacchus was designed in celebration of the festival's twentieth anniversary. Designed by Jason Rosen of Skinwalker Studios, the latest version of Bacchus is entirely ebony and emphasizes more demonic and occult-suggestive traits.
Awards Categories.
Audience Choice Award: Best of Fest Short, Best of Fest Feature
Best First Feature (as of 2018)
Director's Choice (BUFF organizers): Best Short, Best Feature
Retired: Most Effectively Offensive Award
Occasionally awards for Lifetime Achievement and Best New England Film are selected as well.


Brooks Pate

Brooks H. Pate is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the University of Virginia.
He graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1987, and from Princeton University with a Ph.D. in 1992. He was a NRC Postdoctoral Fellow at NIST (Gaithersburg, MD) from 1992 to 1993. He heads the Pate Research Group.


480 Hansa

Hansa (minor planet designation: 480 Hansa), provisional designation , is a stony asteroid and the namesake of the Hansa family located in the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 21 May 1901, by astronomers Max Wolf and Luigi Carnera at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 16.19 hours and possibly an elongated shape. It was named after the Hanseatic League, a medieval European trade association.
Orbit and classification.
"Hansa" is the namesake and parent body of the stony Hansa family (), a high-inclination family with more than a thousand known members. "Hansa" and the asteroid 925 Alphonsina are the two largest member of this family.
It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.5–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,570 days; semi-major axis of 2.64 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.05 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg, the night after its official discovery observation in May 1901.
Physical characteristics.
In the Tholen classification, "Hansa" is a common, stony S-type asteroid. The near infrared spectra suggests the surface has a primary component of low-Ca pyroxene with lower amounts of olivine.
Rotation period.
Several rotational lightcurves of "Hansa" were obtained from photometric observations since the 1990s (). Analysis of the two best-rated lightcurves gave a rotation period of 16.19 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.58 and 0.44 magnitude, respectively (). A high brightness variation typically indicates an elongated shape.
A modeled lightcurve using photometric data from large collaboration network was published in 2016. It gave a concurring period of 16.1894 hours, as well as two spin axes at (352.0°, −18.0°) and (173.0°, −32.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).
Diameter and albedo.
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, "Hansa" measures between 55.94 and 65.67 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.162 and 0.254.
The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is an albedo of 0.2485 and a diameter of 56.22 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 8.38.
Naming.
This minor planet was named after the Hanseatic League (), a medieval confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northern Europe and the Baltic region. On the height of its expansion during the 14th and 15th century, the league included cities that are now located in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands and Russia. The official naming citation was mentioned in "The Names of the Minor Planets" by Paul Herget in 1955 (). The name was proposed by astronomer Heinrich Kreutz in 1906, who was an editor of the journal "Astronomische Nachrichten" based in the German city of Kiel, which was a member town of the Hanse League.


Nancy Bates

Nancy A. Bates is a statistician who works as a senior researcher at the United States Census Bureau. Bates earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oklahoma in 1985 and 1987, and began working for the census bureau in 1988.
In 2013 the University of Oklahoma named her as a Distinguished Alumna. In 2014 she was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association "for outstanding contributions to the federal statistical system in survey methodology; for improving the measurement of same-sex couples in federal surveys; for leadership in the census to increase response rates in hard-to-count populations; and for outstanding service to the profession." Bates is past president of the Washington Statistical Society and founder of the Delta Mike chapter of the League of Lady Statisticians. In 2019 Bates was awarded the American Association for Public Opinion Research Public Service Award.


Chips per second


Laurence Broze

Laurence Broze (born 1960) is a Belgian applied mathematician specializing in statistics and econometrics and particularly in the theory of rational expectations. She is a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Lille in France. From 2012 to 2018 she was president of l'association femmes et mathématiques, a French association for women in mathematics.
Education and career.
Broze was born in Brussels. She went to high school in Charleroi and earned an agrégation in mathematics in 1982 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She earned her doctorate at the same university in 1986, and completed a habilitation at the University of Lille in 1994. Her doctoral thesis, "Réduction, identification et estimation des modèles à anticipations rationnelles", was supervised by Simone Huyberechts.
She became an assistant at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1985, and moved to Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III in 1989. At Charles de Gaulle University, she also served as vice president of research from 2000 to 2006, and directed the unit for mathematics, computer science, management, and economics (UFR MIME) from 2009 to 2014; since 2015 she has been assistant director of UFR MIME. In 2018, Charles de Gaulle University merged with two others to become the University of Lille. Since 1996 she has also been a part-time visiting professor at Saint-Louis University, Brussels.
Contributions.
With A. Szafarz, Broze is the author of "The Econometric Analysis of Non-Uniqueness in Rational Expectations Models" (Contributions to Economic Analysis, Elsevier, 1991). With Szafarz and C. Gourieroux, she is the author of "Reduced Forms of Rational Expectations Models" (Fundamentals of Pure and Applied Economics 42, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1990).
Recognition.
In 2014, Broze became a knight of the Legion of Honour, and an officer of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.


Software audit review

A software audit review, or software audit, is a type of software review in which one or more auditors who are not members of the software development organization conduct "An independent examination of a software product, software process, or set of software processes to assess compliance with specifications, standards, contractual agreements, or other criteria".
"Software product" mostly, but not exclusively, refers to some kind of technical document. IEEE Std. 1028 offers a list of 32 "examples of software products subject to audit", including documentary products such as various sorts of plan, contracts, specifications, designs, procedures, standards, and reports, but also non-documentary products such as data, test data, and deliverable media.
Software audits are distinct from software peer reviews and software management reviews in that they are conducted by personnel external to, and independent of, the software development organization, and are concerned with compliance of products or processes, rather than with their technical content, technical quality, or managerial implications.
The term "software audit review" is adopted here to designate the form of software audit described in IEEE Std. 1028.
Objectives and participants.
"The purpose of a software audit is to provide an independent evaluation of conformance of software products and processes to applicable regulations, standards, guidelines, plans, and procedures". The following roles are recommended:
Principles of a Software Audit.
The following principles of an audit should find a reflection:
This list of audit principles for crypto applications describes - beyond the methods of technical analysis - particularly core values, that should be taken into account
Tools.
Parts of Software audit could be done using static analysis tools that analyze application code and score its conformance with standards, guidelines, best practices. From the List of tools for static code analysis some are covering a very large spectrum from code to architecture review, and could be use for benchmarking.


English guitar

The English guitar or guittar (also citra), is a stringed instrument – a type of cittern – popular in many places in Europe from around 1750–1850. It is unknown when the identifier "English" became connected to the instrument: at the time of its introduction to Great Britain, and during its period of popularity, it was apparently simply known as "guitar" or "guittar". The instrument was also known in Norway as a "guitarre" and France as "cistre" or "guitarre allemande" (German guitar). There are many examples in Norwegian museums, like the Norsk Folkemuseum and in British ones, including the Victoria and Albert Museum. The English guitar has a pear-shaped body, a flat base, and a short neck. The instrument is also related to the Portuguese guitar and the German waldzither.
Early examples had tuning pegs (similar to a violin or lute), but many museum examples have what are commonly referred to now as Preston tuners, an innovation that appears closely linked with the instrument.
Tuning.
It usually had ten strings in a repetitive open C tuning, of which the highest eight are paired in four courses (doubled strings),
in Helmholtz notation.
The English guitar may have influenced the development and tuning of the Russian guitar, which has seven strings tuned to open G in thirds (G–B, B–D, g–b, and b–d) with two in fourths (D–G, and D–g):


634 Ute

634 Ute is a minor planet orbiting the sun.


Werner Junck

Werner Junck (28 December 1895 – 6 August 1976) was a German general in the Luftwaffe during World War II and the one time commander of Fliegerführer Irak. He claimed 5 aerial victories during World War I.
Career.
Werner Junck was born in Magdeburg, the Province of Saxony, the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, on 28 December 1895. He was interested in aviation before World War I, and learned to fly in 1913. However, he entered military service as an artillery officer as World War I began. In 1916, he was posted to "Flieger-Abteilung" (Flier Detachment) 33 of the "Die Fliegertruppen" (the flying troops).
In October 1916, as "Die Fliegertruppen" morphed into the "Luftstreitkräfte", Junck was transferred to a fighter squadron, "Jagdstaffel 8". He scored his first aerial victory on 24 April 1917, downing a 20 Squadron FE.2d east of Ypres. He rose to command of the "jasta" on 4 April 1918 and stayed with it through war's end. Junck would be wounded three times and shoot down four SPADs in northern France before the Armistice. His five victories made him an ace. His three wounds qualified him for a Silver Wound Badge, though there is no record it was awarded to him.
Werner Junck was one of the instructors at the "Luftwaffe"'s secret Lipetsk fighter-pilot school in the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1928. Junck also participated in the first, third and fourth FAI International Tourist Plane Contest Challenge 1929 (27th place) Challenge 1932 (14th place) and Challenge 1934 (6th place). In 1934, he joined the nascent "Luftwaffe" at the rank of major. By 1938-1939, he was an "Oberstleutnant" commanding "Jagdgruppe 334".
Junck's best known role in World War II is commanding "Fliegerführer Irak", the aerial component of "Sonderstab F", a military mission sent to Iraq in May 1941 to aid Rashid Ali's rebel government after it forced out the pro-British regime the previous month. On 29 May they retreated from the country. Later in the war, he led forces in the fighting against the Allied forces in Normandy. In 1960 he was appointed honorary chairman of the "Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger", the Association of Fighter Pilots.