HTTP/2 Server Push

HTTP/2 Server Push allows an HTTP/2-compliant server to send resources to a HTTP/2-compliant client before the client requests them. It is, for the most part, a performance technique that can be helpful in loading resources preemptively.
HTTP/2 Server Push is not a notification mechanism from server to client. Instead, pushed resources are used by the client when it may have otherwise produced a request to get the resource anyway; this can result in wasted bandwidth if said pushed resources go unused by the client, however.
Basic concept.
Consider a website with three resources: index.html, styles.css and script.js. When a user, through their browser, connects to the home page of this website they automatically retrieve index.html. As the browser parses the HTML text in index.html, it finds instructions that will require styles.css and script.js. At that point, the browser will issue requests to get these other two files. To assemble the complete webpage, the browser will stack such requests as it gradually discovers the site's composition.
With HTTP/2 Push, the server can take the initiative by having rules that trigger content to be sent even before it is requested. In this example scenario, the server knows that anyone requesting index.html will need styles.css and script.js, so it can push them to the client immediately without waiting for the client to request them. If done correctly, by the time the browser finishes parsing index.html, the transfer of styles.css and script.js would have already started, or even completed, removing the latency of having to request these and wait for them to arrive.
How HTTP/2 PUSH works at a protocol level.
Push works over HTTP/2, which at its core is a frames protocol, meaning that information is exchanged in groups of bytes called frames. Additionally, frames are part of streams, and streams are identified by a number. The stream number is present in each frame as a binary field. Streams allow matching requests to responses, e.g. the response to request GET /index.html at stream 3 must also be at stream 3.
There are different types of frames, and each has a different function. HTTP/2 has only a few of these types, and we don't need all of them to explain the basics. Here are the ones interesting for this description:
When the server wants to push a resource, it prepares a PUSH_PROMISE frame, architecting it in the best way possible to seduce the browser into using the pushed contents. Then the server annexes the PUSH_PROMISE frame to the response part of a normal, browser-initiated stream. However, the actual data for the pushed resource is sent in a fresh stream started by the server and thus with an even number.
The browser holds the pushed data in a temporary "quarantine" zone until it decides to use it. Later, every time the browser is going to make an actual request, it examines the contents of any received push promises to see if it is similar enough to the request it wants to make. However, the server need not wait until that moment to start sending data for the promised resource. After the PUSH_PROMISE frame has been sent on the browser-initiated stream, the server can send what would be response headers using a HEADERS frame in the new server-initiated stream, and later it can send the data of the resource using DATA frames. And at any point in time, the browser can interrupt any transfer by using RST_STREAM.
Here is how this would work in the previous example. If the server is HTTP/2 PUSH ready, when it receives a request to index.html it can forecast that requests to styles.css and script.js are following close in tail. So it issues push promises to get a bit ahead of events. Here is how things could look, in order of occurrence and making up the stream numbers:
Push promises are sent as early as possible so that the browser will have them well ahead of any discoveries. Notice that HTTP headers (specifically Link with the 'preload' keyword) can reveal URLs that the browser needs to fetch, and an eager browser would start asking for the resources upon seeing those headers. Therefore, push promises are best sent before even the response headers of the stream where they are attached.
Implementations.
HTTP/2 Server push is being progressively implemented, for example Nginx web server implemented it in version 1.13.9 in February 2018.
According to the Google Chrome team, Server Push in HTTP/2 and gQUIC is rarely used, and the pushed resources are more often unused than used. They have proposed to remove the feature from Chrome and Chromium.


2582 Harimaya-Bashi


Daylight saving time in Asia

As of 2017, daylight saving time is used in the following Asian countries:
By country and regions.
People's Republic of China.
The People's Republic of China experimented with DST from 1986, but abandoned DST from 1992 onwards. The PRC now uses one time zone () for the whole country.
Egypt.
The British first instituted summer time in Egypt in 1940, during the Second World War. The practice was stopped after 1945, but resumed 12 years later, in 1957.
Before the revolution in January 2011, the government was planning to take a decision to abolish summer time in 2011 before President Hosni Mubarak's term expires in September 2011. The transitional government did so on 20 April 2011.
Under the pretext that daylight saving time would save energy, the Egyptian government decided on 7 May 2014 to reinstate summer time with an exception for the holy month of Ramadan. In April the next year, a poll was held on whether to apply summer time or not. Following the results, the government decided on 20 April to temporarily cancel summer time, to make the necessary amendment to the laws and asked the ministers to work on a study to determine the probability of applying DST in coming years or not. The ministry of electricity assured that the achieved electricity savings from applying summer time is not of any tangible effect. Summer time was expected to return in 2016, starting on July 8 (after Ramadan), but on July 5, it was decided to again cancel it.
Hong Kong.
Hong Kong used DST beginning in 1941, but abandoned it from 1980 onwards.
India.
British India used Daylight Saving Time (DST) briefly during wartime in 1942–1945 while under British rule. Currently, India does not observe DST.
Indonesia.
Currently, Indonesia does not observe DST. However, various DST offsets were observed from 1 January 1924 to 1 January 1964.
Iran.
Iran observed DST in 1977–1980, 1991–2005 and since 2008 from March 21–22 (1/1 Iranian calendars) to September 21–22 (6/30 Iranian calendars).
Israel.
Israel observed DST in 1940–1946, 1948–1957, 1974–1975 and since 1985. Currently, DST is observed from the Friday before the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October.
Jordan.
Jordan observed daylight saving time from the last Friday of March to the last Friday of October.
On October 24, 2012, Jordan decided to continue observing daylight saving time for an entire year, ending in December 2013.
Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan made a decision to stop observing summer time in 2005, citing health complications as well as lowered productivity and a lack of economic benefits.
Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan voted to stop observing DST in 2005 and make as Standard Time (which used to be Kyrgyzstan Summer Time), thus having permanent DST due to the time zone shift.
Malaysia.
Malaysia used DST from January 1, 1933, but discontinued on December 31, 1981 to replace DST with Malaysian Standard Time. Other sources claim that Malaysia ceased DST on January 1, 1936, along with Singapore.
Philippines.
, the Philippines does not observe daylight saving time, although it was enforced for short periods during the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon in 1936-1937, Ramon Magsaysay in 1954, Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, and Corazon Aquino in 1990.
DST was primarily intended to alleviate the energy crisis by minimizing the number of hours in which electric lighting was needed, reducing the strain on the national power grid. As power generation and transmission capacities improved, the practice was abandoned.
In April 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry again proposed that DST be re-implemented to help deal with rising oil prices.
In August 2014, President Benigno Aquino III was urged by LPGMA Partylist Representative Arnel Ty to observe DST from November 2014 to January 2015 and March to June 2015 to prepare for the power crisis in the country but the President did not implement the DST.
Russia.
A decree of the Russian Provisional Government introduced summer time () in Russia on 1 July 1917, and clocks moved one hour forward. A decree of the Soviet government led to the abandonment of this system five months later: clocks moved one hour back again on 28 December.
From 1930, Decree time had the effect of imposing year-round time-zone advances in the Soviet Union.
A decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR reintroduced summer time in the USSR (Moscow Summer Time, for example) on 1 April 1981, and its practice continued into post-Soviet times until 2011. The changeover dates in Russia were the same as for other European countries, but clocks were moved forward or back at 02:00 local time in all zones. Thus in Moscow (local time = in winter, in summer), summer time commenced at 02:00 UTC on the day before the last Sunday in March, and ended at 03:00 UTC on the day before the last Sunday in October. (Note that "day before the last Sunday" is not the same as "the last Saturday" in a month where the last day is a Saturday.)
On 8 February 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced cancellation of biannual clock changes in Russia in favor of a permanent switch to summer time. An hour was added in March 2011 for the last time, and clocks did not move back again. At the same time some of Russia's time zones were consolidated. After this reform many Russian cities had a "standard time" two hours more than would be suggested by their "astronomical time" (because the original standard time was already ahead of astronomical time in many areas).
During his 2012 election campaign, Vladimir Putin proposed re-introducing summer time, as some workers had complained about not seeing any daylight during the winter, since the sun had not risen when they went to work. According to a report in the "International Herald Tribune", Russian citizens remembered the winter of 2011-12 as the "darkest winter on record" as a result of the time change. However, Putin later said it would be up to then Prime Minister Medvedev's cabinet to decide how to proceed with a seasonal time shift, and it decided to stay with the 2011 policy.
South Korea.
South Korea observed DST from 1948–51, from 1955–60, and from 1987–88. South Korea does not currently observe DST.
Syria.
Syria observed DST at , in 2006 from 30 March until 21 September (a change from 30 September).
Now, DST is observed from the last Friday of March to the last Friday of October.
Taiwan.
Taiwan implemented DST from 1945–61, revoked DST from 1962–73, reinstated DST from 1974–75, revoked DST from 1976–79 and reinstated it in 1980. Taiwan abandoned DST from 1981 onwards.
Turkey.
Turkey is currently observing year-round daylight saving from September 2016. DST was used from 1985–2016.
In 2008, the Turkish Ministry of Energy proposed that Turkey should abolish summer time while at the same time switching to , originally from 2009 onwards, but when this appeared infeasible, to start in 2011, the plan has not been heard of since.
For the year 2011, Turkey switched to European Summer Time at 3:00 am (03:00) on Monday 28 March, one day later than the rest of Europe, to avoid disrupting the national university entrance examinations held on 27 March.
Once again, for the year 2014, Turkey switched to European Summer Time at 3:00 am (03:00) on Monday 31 March, one day later than the rest of Europe, to avoid disrupting the local elections held on 30 March.
In 2015, Turkey delayed the switch from European Summer Time by 2 weeks, to 4:00 am (04:00) on Sunday 8 November, two weeks later than the rest of Europe, due to the calling of a snap general election on Sunday, 1 November.
In 2016, Turkey scrapped winter time, by switching to New Turkey Time. This means permanent , which was used during summer time in Turkey. The switch was on 12:00 am (00:00) on Thursday 8 September, in reality stopping switches between summer and winter time.
Asian countries not using DST.
These countries or regions do not use daylight saving time, although some have in the past:


RecRec Music

RecRec Music was a Swiss independent record label created in 1983 by Daniel Waldner. The label was modeled on, and affiliated to, the British independent record label Recommended Records, but remained financially independent. The label went bankrupt in 1997 after the death of Waldner in 1995.
History.
In 1979 Veit Stauffer and Daniel Waldner founded RecRec Zürich in Switzerland, after suggestions from Chris Cutler that they establish a record distribution company similar to the British independent record label Recommended Records that Cutler had created the previous year. RecRec Music, RecRec's record label, was created by Waldner in 1983, and built up a roster of over 30 bands and musicians.
On 3 September 1995, Waldner and his son, Valentin died in an accident in the Swiss Alps. RecRec Music continued to operate, but began making losses and was declared bankrupt in May 1997. The label was split into two companies, RecRec-Shop, the record shop, and RecRec Medien AG, the distributor, with two new labels, Make-Up and Make-Up Your World. The companies continue to operate today, although with a different musical emphasis to that of RecRec Music.
RecRec Music roster.
RecRec Music released music by over 30 bands and groups, including:


253 Mathilde

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Mathilde (minor planet designation: 253 Mathilde) is an asteroid in the intermediate asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter, that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at Vienna Observatory on 12 November 1885. It has a relatively elliptical orbit that requires more than four years to circle the Sun. This tumbling asteroid has an unusually slow rate of rotation, requiring 17.4 days to complete a 360° revolution about its axis. It is a primitive C-type asteroid, which means the surface has a high proportion of carbon; giving it a dark surface that reflects only 4% of the light that falls on it.
Mathilde was visited by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft during June 1997, on its way to asteroid 433 Eros. During the flyby, the spacecraft imaged a hemisphere of the asteroid, revealing many large craters that had gouged out depressions in the surface. It was the first carbonaceous asteroid to be explored and, until 21 Lutetia was visited in 2010, was the largest asteroid to be visited by a spacecraft.
Observation history.
In 1880, Johann Palisa, the director of the Austrian Naval Observatory , was offered a position as an assistant at the newly completed Vienna Observatory. Although the job represented a demotion for Johann, it gave him access to the new refractor, the largest telescope in the world at that time. By this point Johann had already discovered 27 asteroids, and he would employ the Vienna and instruments to find an additional 94 asteroids before he retired.
Among his discoveries was the asteroid 253 Mathilde, found on November 12, 1885. The initial orbital elements of the asteroid were then computed by V. A. Lebeuf, another Austrian astronomer working at the Paris Observatory. The name of the asteroid was suggested by Lebeuf, after Mathilde, the wife of Moritz Loewy—who was the vice director of the observatory in Paris.
In 1995, ground-based observations determined that Mathilde is a C-type asteroid. It was also found to have an unusually long period of rotation of 418 hours.
On June 27, 1997, the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft passed within 1,212 km of Mathilde while moving at a velocity of 9.93 km/s. This close approach allowed the spacecraft to capture over 500 images of the surface, and provided data for more accurate determinations of the asteroid's dimensions and mass (based on gravitational perturbation of the spacecraft). However, only one hemisphere of Mathilde was imaged during the fly-by. This was only the third asteroid to be imaged from a nearby distance, following 951 Gaspra and 243 Ida.
Characteristics.
Mathilde is very dark, with an albedo comparable to fresh asphalt, and is thought to share the same composition as CI1 or CM2 carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, with a surface dominated by phyllosilicate minerals. The asteroid has a number of extremely large craters, with the individual craters being named for coal fields and basins around the world. The two largest craters, Ishikari (29.3 km) and Karoo (33.4 km), are as wide as the asteroid's average radius. The impacts appear to have spalled large volumes off the asteroid, as suggested by the angular edges of the craters. No differences in brightness or colour were visible in the craters and there was no appearance of layering, so the asteroid's interior must be very homogeneous. There are indications of material movement along the downslope direction.
The density measured by NEAR Shoemaker, 1,300 kg/m3, is less than half that of a typical carbonaceous chondrite; this may indicate that the asteroid is very loosely packed rubble pile. The same is true of several C-type asteroids studied by ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics systems (45 Eugenia, 90 Antiope, 87 Sylvia and 121 Hermione). Up to 50% of the interior volume of Mathilde consists of open space. However, the existence of a 20-km-long scarp may indicate that the asteroid does have some structural strength, so it could contain some large internal components. The low interior density is an inefficient transmitter of impact shock through the asteroid, which also helps to preserve the surface features to a high degree.
Mathilde's orbit is eccentric, taking it to the outer reaches of the main belt. Nonetheless, the orbit lies entirely between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; it does not cross the planetary orbits. It also has one of the slowest rotation periods of the known asteroids—most asteroids have a rotation period in the range of 2–24 hours. Because of the slow rotation rate, NEAR Shoemaker was only able to photograph 60% of the asteroid's surface. The slow rate of rotation may be accounted for by a satellite orbiting the asteroid, but a search of the NEAR images revealed none larger than 10 km in diameter out to 20 times the radius of Mathilde.


Resolution (music)

Resolution in western tonal music theory is the move of a note or chord from dissonance (an unstable sound) to a consonance (a more final or stable sounding one).
Dissonance, resolution, and suspense can be used to create musical interest. Where a melody or chordal pattern is expected to resolve to a certain note or chord, a different but similarly suitable note can be resolved to instead, creating an interesting and unexpected sound. For example, the deceptive cadence.
Basis.
Resolution has a strong basis in tonal music, since atonal music generally contains a more constant level of dissonance and lacks a tonal center to which to resolve.
The concept of "resolution", and the degree to which resolution is "expected", is contextual as to culture and historical period. In a classical piece of the Baroque period, for example, an added sixth chord (made up of the notes C, E, G and A, for example) has a very strong need to resolve, while in a more modern work, that need is less strong - in the context of a pop or jazz piece, such a chord could comfortably end a piece and have no particular need to resolve.
Example.
An example of a single dissonant note which requires resolution would be, for instance, an F during a C major chord, C–E–G, which creates a dissonance with both E and G and may resolve to either, though more usually to E (the closer pitch). This is an example of a suspended chord. In reference to chords and progressions for example, a phrase ending with the following cadence IV–V, a half cadence, does not have a high degree of resolution. However, if this cadence were changed to (IV–)V–I, an authentic cadence, it would resolve much more strongly by ending on the tonic I chord.


Game Boy

The is an 8-bit handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. The first handheld in the Game Boy family, it was first released in Japan in April 1989, then North America, three months later, and lastly in Europe, more than one year later. It was designed by the same team that developed the Game & Watch series of handheld electronic games and several Nintendo Entertainment System games: Satoru Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, and Nintendo Research & Development 1.
Nintendo's second handheld game console, the Game Boy, combines features from both the NES home system and Game & Watch hardware. The console features a dull green dot-matrix screen with adjustable contrast dial, five control buttons (a directional pad, two game buttons, and "START" and "SELECT"), a single speaker with adjustable volume dial, and, like its rivals, uses cartridges as physical media for games. The color scheme is made from two tones of grey with accents of black, blue, and dark magenta. All the corners of the portrait-oriented rectangular unit are softly rounded, save for the bottom right, which is curved. At launch, it was sold either as a standalone unit, or bundled with one of several games, among them "Super Mario Land" and "Tetris". Several accessories were also developed, including a carrying pouch, Game Genie, and printer.
Despite being technologically inferior to its fourth-generation competitors (Sega's Game Gear, Atari's Lynx, and NEC's TurboExpress), the Game Boy received praise for its battery life and durability in its construction. It quickly outsold the competition, selling one million units in the United States within a few weeks. An estimated 118 million units of the Game Boy and its successor, the Game Boy Color, have been sold worldwide, making it the third best-selling video game console of all time. It is one of the most recognizable devices from the 1990s, becoming a cultural icon in the years following its release. Several redesigns were released during the console's lifetime, including the Game Boy Pocket in 1996 and the Game Boy Light in 1998 (Japan only). Production of the Game Boy continued into the early 2000s, even after the release of its second successor, the Game Boy Advance, in 2001. Production ceased in 2003.
History.
Development.
The Game Boy was designed by Nintendo's chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi and its Nintendo R&D1 team. Following the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System, he held a meeting with Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, saying that he could do a handheld system with interchangeable games. When he told Yamauchi that, he told him that games were fun to play and let him begin working on it. The original internal code name for the Game Boy is "Dot Matrix Game", referring to its dot-matrix display in contrast to the preceding Game %26 Watch series (which Yokoi had created in 1980) that has segmented LCDs pre-printed with an overlay, limiting each model to only play one game. The initials DMG came to be featured on the final product's model number: "DMG-01". Satoru Okada and Yokoi led the development of the console, which led to disagreements. Yokoi felt that the console could be small, light, durable and successful and have a recognizable library of games. Shigesato Itoi visited Nintendo and conceived the name “Game Boy” for the console Yokoi was designing. The internal reaction to the Game Boy at Nintendo was initially very poor, earning it the derogatory nickname ""Dame"Game" from Nintendo employees, in which "dame" (だめ) means "hopeless" or "useless" (dame originating as a term used in the game Go, meaning "meaningless territory"). Henk Rogers brought the game Tetris to Nintendo of America and convinced its president Minoru Arakawa to port it for the new system so it can reach a wider audience. Arakawa agreed and as a result, the game was ultimately bundled with the Game Boy and the system was released in Japan in April, North America in July, and September the following year in Europe.
Hardware.
The Game Boy has four operation buttons labeled "A", "B", "SELECT", and "START", and a directional pad (d-pad). There is a volume control dial on the right side of the device and a similar dial on the left side to adjust the contrast. At the top of the Game Boy, a sliding on-off switch and the slot for the Game Boy cartridges are located. The on-off switch includes a physical lockout to prevent users from either inserting or removing a cartridge while the unit is switched on. Nintendo recommends users leave a cartridge in the slot to prevent dust and dirt from entering the system.
The Game Boy contains optional input or output connectors. On the left side of the system is an external 3.5 mm × 1.35 mm DC power supply jack that allows users to use an external rechargeable battery pack or AC adapter (sold separately) instead of four AA batteries. The Game Boy requires 6 V DC of at least 150 mA. A 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack is located on the bottom side of the unit which allows users to listen to the audio with the bundled headphones or external speakers.
The right-side of the device offers a port which allows a user to connect to another Game Boy system via a link cable, provided both users are playing games that support connecting to each other (most often, only copies of the same game, although for example the Pokémon games can connect between different generations). The port can also be used to connect a Game Boy Printer. The link cable was originally designed for players to play head-to-head two-player games such as in "Tetris". However, game developer Satoshi Tajiri later used the link cable technology as a method of communication and networking in the popular "Pokémon" video game series.
Revisions.
Play It Loud!
On March 20, 1995, Nintendo released several Game Boy models with colored cases, advertising them in the "Play It Loud!" campaign, known in Japan as Specifications for this unit remain exactly the same as the original Game Boy, including the monochromatic screen. This new line of colored Game Boys set a precedent for later Nintendo handhelds; every one of them since has been available in more than one color. Play It Loud! units were manufactured in red, green, black, yellow, white, blue, and clear (transparent) or sometimes called X-Ray in the UK. Most common are the yellow, red, clear and black. Green is fairly scarce but blue and white are the rarest. Blue was a Europe and Japan only release, white was a Japanese majority release with UK Toys R Us stores also getting it as an exclusive edition to them. The white remains the rarest of all the Play it Loud colors. A rare, limited edition Manchester United Game Boy is red, with the logos of the team emblazoned on it. It was released simultaneously with the Play it Loud! handhelds in the United Kingdom. The Play It Loud's screens also have a darker border than the normal Game Boy.
Game Boy Pocket.
On July 21, 1996, Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket for US$69.99: a smaller, lighter unit that required fewer batteries. It has space for two AAA batteries, which provide approximately 10 hours of gameplay. The unit is also fitted with a 3 volt, 2.35 mm x 0.75 mm DC jack which can be used to power the system. The Pocket has a smaller link port, which requires an adapter to link with the older Game Boy. The port design is used on all subsequent Game Boy models, excluding the Game Boy Micro. The screen was changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the "pea soup" monochromatic display of the original Game Boy. Also, the Game Boy Pocket (GBP) has a larger screen than the Game Boy Color (GBC) that later superseded it. The GBP's screen has a diagonal, width, and height, compared to a diagonal for the GBC. Although like its predecessor, the Game Boy Pocket has no backlight to allow play in a darkened area, it did notably improve visibility and pixel response-time (mostly eliminating ghosting). The first version did not have a power LED. This was soon added due to public demand, along with new Game Boy Pocket units of different colors (released on April 28, 1997), some of them new to the Game Boy line. There were several limited-edition Game Boy Pockets, including a gold-metal model exclusive to Japan. The Game Boy Pocket was not a new software platform and played the same software as the original Game Boy model.
A clear 'skeleton' "Famitsu" edition appeared in 1997, which had only 5,000 units released, and a clear yellow edition.
Game Boy Light.
The Game Boy Light was released on April 14, 1998, and only available in Japan. Like the Game Boy Pocket, the system was also priced at ¥6,800. The Game Boy Light is only slightly bigger than the Game Boy Pocket and features an electroluminescent backlight for low-light conditions. It uses two AA batteries, which gave it approximately 20 hours with the light off and 12 with it on. It was available in two standard colors: gold and silver. It also received numerous special editions, including an Astro Boy edition with a clear case and a picture of Astro Boy on it, an Osamu Tezuka World edition with a clear red case and a picture of his characters, and a solid yellow Pokémon Center Tokyo version.
Games.
Launch titles.
The Game Boy was released alongside six launch titles, which are listed in the table below:
Reception.
Though it was less technically advanced than the Lynx and other competitors, notably by not supporting color, the Game Boy's lower price along with longer battery life made it much more successful. In its first two weeks in Japan, from its release on April 21, 1989, the entire stock of 300,000 units was sold; a few months later on July 31, 1989, 40,000 units were sold on its first release day. More than 118.69 million units of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have been sold worldwide, with 32.47 million units in Japan, 44.06 million in the Americas, and 42.16 million in other regions. By Japanese fiscal year 1997, before Game Boy Color's release in late 1998, 64.42 million units of the Game Boy had been sold worldwide. At a March 14, 1994, press conference in San Francisco, Nintendo vice president of marketing Peter Main answered queries about when Nintendo was coming out with a color handheld system by stating that sales of the Game Boy were strong enough that it had decided to hold off on developing a successor handheld for the near future.
In 1995, Nintendo of America announced that 46% of Game Boy players were female, which was higher than the percentage of female players for both the Nintendo Entertainment System (29%) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (14%). In 2009, the Game Boy was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, 20 years after its introduction. As of June 6, 2011, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games are available on the Virtual Console service on the Nintendo 3DS's Nintendo eShop.
In a 1997 year-end review, a team of four "Electronic Gaming Monthly" editors gave the Game Boy scores of 7.5, 7.0, 8.0, and 2.0. Sushi-X (who contributed the 2.0) panned the system due to its black-and-white display and motion blur, while his three co-reviewers praised its long battery life and strong games library, as well as the sleek, conveniently pocket-sized design of the new Game Boy Pocket model.


Klaxophone

The klaxophone is a musical instrument created by the American composer Henry Fillmore. Made of twelve car horns, it was created for use in his march "The Klaxon: March of the Automobiles", which was composed in 1929 for the 1930 Cincinnati Automobile Show. This piece featured the instrument mounted onto a table and powered by a car battery.


Waterphone

A waterphone (also ocean harp or AquaSonic waterphone) is a type of inharmonic acoustic tuned idiophone consisting of a stainless steel resonator "bowl" or "pan" with a cylindrical "neck" and bronze rods of different lengths and diameters around the rim of the bowl. The resonator may contain a small amount of water giving the waterphone a vibrant ethereal sound that has appeared in movie soundtracks, record albums, and live performances. The instrument was invented, developed and manufactured by American Richard Waters (1935-2013).
The waterphone was available in four sizes: the Standard (7" diameter), the Whaler (12" diameter), the Bass (14" diameter) and the MegaBass (16" diameter). It is generally played in a seated position by a soloist and either bowed or drummed, played as a friction or struck idiophone, with movements to affect the water inside. This combines the resonant characteristics of the bowl and rods in combination with the movement of the water. The sound of the waterphone is often used to evoke mystery and suspense. A superball mallet has become the prime way of drumming the waterphone.
The waterphone is a modern invention influenced by a Tibetan drum—encountered by the inventor in the early sixties—containing a small amount of water affecting its timbre. It is also related to the nail violin, which also used a resonator and rods (nails), and is struck or bowed.
Use.
The waterphone has been exhibited in museums and galleries and is the subject of several short documentaries including "Art Notes," aired on public television in San Francisco, and "Celestial Wave," a movie short. Over recent decades the waterphone has become popular with symphonies, touring bands, and recording studios. Contemporary classical composers who have written parts for waterphone in compositions include Sofia Gubaidulina,Jerry Goldsmith, John Mackey, Christopher Rouse, Colin Matthews, John Woolrich, Carson Cooman, Andi Spicer, Ludovico Einaudi, Andrew Carter, Bernie Krause of Beaver & Krause,and Todd Barton.
The instrument has also been used prominently by rock musicians. Tom Waits is a waterphone collector and player as is Mickey Hart. Other users include Richard Barone (both solo and with The Bongos) and Alex Wong (when playing with Vienna Teng), and it can be heard in music by The Harmonica Pocket. Classical/rock crossover percussionist Tristan Fry of the fusion band Sky used a waterphone on the band's composition 'Meeheeco' (the original version is on 1981's "Sky 3", although the instrument can be heard much more prominently on the live version from "Sky Five Live").
Canadian musician and composer, Robert Minden, has been composing for his collection of five vintage waterphones on many recordings since the mid-1980s. His ensemble, The Robert Minden Ensemble, formed with daughters Andrea and Dewi Minden and colleagues Carla Hallett and Nancy Walker in 1986, features the waterphone as a central instrument within their 'found object' orchestra.
The waterphone is used to great effect in Howard Goodall's "The Dreaming", a musical commissioned by The National Youth Music Theatre of Great Britain, based on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Goodall uses its ethereal sounds to evoke the mystery of the woods. In Derek Bourgeois' Symphony No 59 - Percussion symphony, which requires 16 percussion players there is a very prominent part for Waterphone.
The waterphone has been featured in the soundtracks to many movies, including "Poltergeist", "Let the Right One In" (2008), "The Matrix", "," "Dark Water", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "ALIENS", "The Spirit", "Female Perversion", as well as TV production "24". Tan Dun's opera "The First Emperor" (2006) & "Water Music" feature the waterphone. A sound sample can be found at The FreeSound Project. There is a yearly "Waterphone Music Competition" sponsored by Richard Waters.
As the waterphone may be taken into the water, on several occasions the waterphone has been used successfully to call whales and other cetaceans, especially by Jim Nollman of Interspecies Communication. The true story of such interspecies communication was the basis of the stage show and album "The Boy Who Wanted To Talk To Whales" by The Robert Minden Ensemble in 1989.


Pythagorean comma

In musical tuning, the Pythagorean comma (or ditonic comma), named after the ancient mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, is the small interval (or comma) existing in Pythagorean tuning between two enharmonically equivalent notes such as C and B (), or D and C. It is equal to the frequency ratio = ≈ 1.01364, or about 23.46 cents, roughly a quarter of a semitone (in between 75:74 and 74:73). The comma that musical temperaments often refer to tempering is the Pythagorean comma.
The Pythagorean comma can be also defined as the difference between a Pythagorean apotome and a Pythagorean limma (i.e., between a chromatic and a diatonic semitone, as determined in Pythagorean tuning), or the difference between twelve just perfect fifths and seven octaves, or the difference between three Pythagorean ditones and one octave (this is the reason why the Pythagorean comma is also called a "ditonic comma").
The diminished second, in Pythagorean tuning, is defined as the difference between limma and apotome. It coincides, therefore, with the opposite of a Pythagorean comma, and can be viewed as a "descending" Pythagorean comma (e.g. from C to D), equal to about −23.46 cents.
Derivation.
As described in the introduction, the Pythagorean comma may be derived in multiple ways:
A just perfect fifth has a frequency ratio of 3:2. It is used in Pythagorean tuning, together with the octave, as a yardstick to define, with respect to a given initial note, the frequency ratio of any other note.
Apotome and limma are the two kinds of semitones defined in Pythagorean tuning. Namely, the apotome (about 113.69 cents, e.g. from C to C) is the chromatic semitone, or augmented unison (A1), while the limma (about 90.23 cents, e.g. from C to D) is the diatonic semitone, or minor second (m2).
A ditone (or major third) is an interval formed by two major tones. In Pythagorean tuning, a major tone has a size of about 203.9 cents (frequency ratio 9:8), thus a Pythagorean ditone is about 407.8 cents.
Size.
The size of a Pythagorean comma, measured in cents, is
or more exactly, in terms of frequency ratios:
Circle of fifths and enharmonic change.
The Pythagorean comma can also be thought of as the discrepancy between twelve justly tuned perfect fifths (ratio 3:2) () and seven octaves (ratio 2:1):
In the following table of musical scales in the circle of fifths, the Pythagorean comma is visible as the small interval between e.g. F and G.
The 6 and the 6 scales* are not identical - even though they are on the piano keyboard - but the scales are one Pythagorean comma lower. Disregarding this difference leads to enharmonic change.
This interval has serious implications for the various tuning schemes of the chromatic scale, because in Western music, 12 perfect fifths and seven octaves are treated as the same interval. Equal temperament, today the most common tuning system used in the West, reconciled this by flattening each fifth by a twelfth of a Pythagorean comma (approximately 2 cents), thus producing perfect octaves.
Another way to express this is that the just fifth has a frequency ratio (compared to the tonic) of 3:2 or 1.5 to 1, whereas the seventh semitone (based on 12 equal logarithmic divisions of an octave) is the seventh power of the twelfth root of two or 1.4983... to 1, which is not quite the same (out by about 0.1%). Take the just fifth to the twelfth power, then subtract seven octaves, and you get the Pythagorean comma (about 1.4% difference).
History.
The first to mention the comma's proportion of 531441:524288 was Euclid, who takes as a basis the whole tone of Pythagorean tuning with the ratio of 9:8, the octave with the ratio of 2:1, and a number A = 262144. He concludes that raising this number by six whole tones yields a value G which is larger than that yielded by raising it by an octave (two times A). He gives G to be 531441. The necessary calculations read:
Calculation of G:
Calculation of the double of A:
Chinese mathematicians had been aware of the Pythagorean comma as early as 122 BC (its calculation is detailed in the "Huainanzi"), and circa 50 BC, Ching Fang discovered that if the cycle of perfect fifths were continued beyond 12 all the way to 53, the difference between this 53rd pitch and the starting pitch would be much smaller than the Pythagorean comma. This much smaller interval was later named Mercator's comma ("see: history of 53 equal temperament").
In George Russell's "Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization" (1953) the half step between the Lydian Tonic and 2 in his Altered Major and Minor Auxiliary Diminished Blues scales is theoretically based on the interval of a Pythagorean comma.


List of largest cruise ships

Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, they typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "shore excursions". They can carry thousands of passengers in a single trip, and are some of the largest ships in the world by gross tonnage(GT), bigger than many cargo ships. Cruise ships started to exceed ocean liners in size and capacity in the mid-1990s; before then, few were more than 50,000GT. In the decades since, the size of the largest vessels has more than doubled. There have been nine or more new cruise ships added every year since 2001, most of which are 100,000GT or greater. In the two decades between 1988 and 2009, the largest cruise ships grew a third longer (268 m to 360 m), almost doubled their widths (32.2 m to 60.5 m), doubled the total passengers (2,744 to 5,400), and tripled in volume (73,000 GT to 225,000 GT). , the largest cruise ship, "Symphony of the Seas", has a gross tonnage of 228,081, is long, wide, and holds up to 6,680 passengers.
Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete hospitality staff in addition to the usual ship's crew. Modern cruise ships, while sacrificing some qualities of seaworthiness, have added amenities to cater to nautical tourists, with recent vessels being described as "balcony-laden floating condominiums". The "megaships" went from a single deck with verandas to all decks with verandas, and feature ameneties such as theaters, fine-dining and chain restaurants, spas, fitness centers, casinos, sports facilities, and even amusement park attractions.
Cruise ships require electricity for powering both hotel services and for propulsion. Cruise ships are designed with all the heavy machinery at the bottom of the ship and lightweight materials at the top, making them inherently stable even as ship designs are getting taller and taller, and most passenger ships utilize stabilizer fins to further reduce rolling of tall ships in heavy weather. While some cruise ships use traditional fixed propellers and rudders to steer, most larger ships use propellers that can swivel left and right to steer the ship, known as azimuth thrusters, which allow even the largest ship designs to have adequate maneuverability.
Cruise ships are operated by cruise lines, which are companies that market cruises to the public. In the 1990s, many cruise lines were bought by much larger holding companies and continue to operate as brands or subsidiaries of the holding company. For instance, Carnival Corporation & plc owns both the mass-market Carnival Cruise Line, focused on larger party ships for younger travelers, and Holland America Line, whose smaller ships cultivate an image of classic elegance. The common practice in the cruise industry in ship sales and orders is to list the smaller operating company, not the larger holding corporation, as the recipient cruise line of the ship.
In service.
, there are 49 passenger ships over 135,000GT in service. The first ships over that size were the "Voyager"-class ships from Royal Caribbean Group's Royal Caribbean International (RCI). These ships, which debuted in 1998 at over 137,000GT, were almost 30,000GT larger than the next-largest cruise ships, and were some of the first ships designed to appeal to "non-cruisers", with features like a 4-deck-high, atrium down the center of the ship, an ice rink, and a climbing wall. In 2005, the five "Voyager"-class ships were overtaken by the 149,215GT "Queen Mary 2", the first non-RCI passenger ship over 135,000GT and the only passenger ship currently in service that classifies itself as an ocean liner. The "QM2" was surpassed by RCI's 155,889-GT "Freedom"-class vessels in 2006, which were in turn overtaken by RCI's first of six planned "Oasis"-class vessels in 2009. The "Oasis"-class ships, at over 225,000GT, are at least wide, high, and accommodate over 5,400 passengers.
Since 2008, other cruise lines have been ordering 135,000+GT ships. MSC Cruises introduced the first of four 137,936–139,072-GT "Fantasia"-class cruise ships in 2008, followed in 2017 by both the 153,516-GT "Seaside" class and the 171,598–181,541-GT "Meraviglia" class. Norwegian Cruise Line debuted the 155,873-GT "Norwegian Epic" in 2010, the first ship outside of the "Oasis" class with a double-occupancy capacity of over 4,000, and introduced the 145,655-GT "Breakaway" class in 2013 and the 165,157–169,116-GT "Breakaway"-plus class in 2015. Cruise lines belonging to Carnival Corporation & plc, Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, debuted the first of seven 142,714-GT+ "Royal"-class ships in 2013, and the corporation's Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, and AIDA Cruises debuted the first of seven planned 133,596–135,225-GT "Vista"-class ships in 2016. "AIDAnova", the first of Carnival Corporation's nine planned "Excellence"-class ships, debuted in 2018 at 183,858GT, with future ships in the class planned for Costa, P&O, Carnival, and AIDA. In 2016 and 2017, Genting Hong Kong's Dream Cruises introduced the 150,695-GT "Genting Dream" and "World Dream", the first large ships from an Asian-owned cruise line.
On order.
, there are 36 passenger ships on order or under construction with a publicly announced size of over 135,000GT. The largest are two "Oasis"-class ships being built for Royal Caribbean International (RCI) for 2022 and 2023, and while their exact sizes are unknown, RCI CEO Michael Bayley has said that each new "Oasis"-class ship will be a little larger than the last. RCI also has three 200,000-GT Icon-class cruise ships on order, with expected delivery between 2022 and 2025, and a fifth "Quantum"-class ship on order for 2021. Celebrity Cruises, which is owned by RCI's parent company Royal Caribbean Group, will introduce three larger 140,600-GT "Edge"-class ships in 2021, 2022, and 2024, and TUI Cruises, a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Group and TUI Group, are introducing a new class of 161,000-GT cruise ships in 2024 and 2026.
Dream Cruises is planning to take delivery of two 208,000-GT "Global"-class ships in 2021 and 2022, which will be the first ships over 200,000GT not built for RCI and will have the largest maximum passenger capacity, 9,000, of any ship.
MSC Cruises has four World-class ships planned for 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2027, and at 205,700GT and a capacity of 6,850 passengers, they will have the highest passengers capacities of any ship and be the largest ships operated by a European cruise line. They also have two ships from each of the "Meraviglia" Plus class and the "Seaside" Evo class on order for delivery from 2020 to 2023.
Carnival Corporation has seven more 183,200–183,900-GT "Excellence"-class ships planned to debut between 2020 and 2023 for Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, and AIDA Cruises. Costa will also take delivery of the fifth 135,000-GT "Vista"-class ship in 2020, and two more "Vista"-class ships are planned in 2023 and 2024 for a joint venture between Carnival Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). Carnival's Princess Cruises will take delivery of the last two "Royal"-class ships in 2020 and 2021, planned at 144,650GT each.
Each year from 2022 to 2027, Norwegian Cruise Line will debut a ship from Project Leonardo. The six ships are expected to be 140,000GT and carry 3,300 passengers.
Disney Cruise Line will launch three 144,000-GT Triton-class ships in 2021, 2022, and 2023. These ships will have 1,250 staterooms, like the line's previous two ships, but will be 14,000GT larger than those ships and powered by liquified natural gas fuel.


3443 Leetsungdao


CELPE-Bras

CELPE-Bras (, "Certificate of Proficiency in Portuguese for Foreigners") is the only certificate of proficiency in Brazilian Portuguese as a second language officially recognized and developed by the Brazilian Ministry of Education. The Celpe-Bras exam is offered in Brazil and many other countries, such as the United States, Germany, Chile, Colombia and Japan, with the support of the Brazilian Ministry of International Relations.
The exam is taken by learners of Portuguese who wish to gauge their progress or who wish to provide proof of their level of proficiency, such as students planning to study at a higher-education institution in Brazil, and professionals who wish to have an academic certificate from their own country validated in Brazil or who need to register with professional bodies such as the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine. The exam's certificate is also one of the documents that immigrants may use to attest their Portuguese language ability when applying for naturalization in Brazil.
Levels.
All candidates take the same exam, and are subsequently classified as having attained one of four levels of proficiency: intermediate, upper intermediate, advanced, or highly advanced.
Format.
Writing.
3 hours
Task 1 and 2 – Tasks integrate oral comprehension (video and audio) and written production.
Tasks 3 and 4 – Tasks integrate reading and writing.
The different parts of the writing component take place consecutively in one sitting, with no breaks.
Oral.
20 minutes
The oral component takes the form of a face-to-face conversation with an examiner, which is audio recorded.
Part 1 (5 minutes). The examiner asks the candidate questions about a range of familiar topics – their home, family, work, studies, interests, etc. The questions will be based on the questionnaire the candidate completed when registering for the exam.
Part 2 (15 minutes). Candidates are given a short text. They have one minute to read it before engaging in a conversation about it with the examiner, answering various questions. This is repeated with two further texts, making three in total.
The speaking component will take place up to two days after the writing component. The test centre will advise.
Assessment.
Written component: The candidates' comprehension of the audio/video recordings and text will be assessed through their written answers.
The examiners assess:
1. Discourse adequacy: is the text in the appropriate genre? Is its purpose clear? Is the information appropriate?
2. Textual adequacy: is the text clear? Is it coherent? Is the register appropriate?
Oral component
The candidates’ spoken Portuguese – and their understanding of spoken questions – will be tested. Particular attention will be paid to their interactional competence, fluency, lexical and grammar adequacy and pronunciation.
Timing.
The exam is held twice a year, usually in April and October. The registration periods are usually in February–March and August–September.
Registration.
Registration for the test is conducted online, for a fee, at the website of local Celpe-bras test centers. The writing component takes place on a Tuesday morning. The speaking component takes place on the Tuesday afternoon or on the Wednesday or Thursday.
Identification is required, and the results will be available online, within three months of the exam.


4838 Billmclaughlin


643 Scheherezade

643 Scheherezade is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was named after the fictional storyteller Sheherazad.


2604 Marshak


Terminus post quem

Terminus post quem ("limit after which", often abbreviated to "TPQ") and terminus ante quem ("limit before which", abbreviated to "TAQ") specify the known limits of dating for events. A "terminus post quem" is the earliest time the event may have happened, and a "terminus ante quem" is the latest. An event may well have both a "terminus post quem" and a "terminus ante quem", in which case the limits of the possible range of dates are known at both ends, but many events have just one or the other. Similarly, terminus ad quem ("limit to which") is the latest possible date of a non-punctual event (period, era, etc.), while terminus a quo ("limit from which") is the earliest. The concepts are similar to those of upper and lower bounds in mathematics.
Example.
For example, consider an archaeological find of a burial that contains coins dating to 1588, 1595, and others less securely dated to 1590–1625. The "terminus post quem" for the burial would be the latest date established with certainty: in this case, 1595. A secure dating of an older coin to an earlier date would not shift the "terminus post quem".
An archaeological example of a "terminus ante quem" would be deposits formed before a historically dateable event, such as building foundations that were partly demolished to make way for the construction of a city wall. If it is known that the wall was finished in 650, then the foundations must have been demolished in 650 or earlier; all that can be said from the evidence is that it happened before the known event.
Other examples of things that may establish a "terminus" are known dates of death or travel by persons involved, a particular form of heraldry that can be dated (see pastiglia for example), references to reigning monarchs or office-holders, or a placing relative to any other events whose date is securely known. In a modern context, dated images, such as those available in Google Earth, may establish termini.
Related terms.
A "terminus ante quem non" differs from a "terminus post quem" by not implying the event necessarily took place. 'Event E happened after time T' implies E occurred, whereas 'event E did not happen before time T' leaves open the possibility that E never occurred at all.


RV Thomas G. Thompson (T-AGOR-23)

R/V "Thomas G. Thompson" (AGOR-23) is a Global-class research vessel owned by the United States Office of Naval Research and operated under a bareboat charterparty agreement by the University of Washington as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet.
Construction and characteristics.
The Navy issued bid solicitations to the shipbuilding industry for a new oceanographic ship on May 27, 1987. Halter Marine, Inc. won the contract for the construction of "Thomas G. Thompson" in June 1988. Her original contract price was $20.9 million. She was built in Moss Point, Mississippi. Her keel was laid down on March 29, 1989, and she was launched on July 27, 1990. "Thomas G. Thompson" was christened by Dr. Dora Henry, Oceanography Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington. The ship was completed and delivered to the Office of Naval Research on July 8, 1991. "Thomas G. Thompson" is the lead ship in her class which also includes NOAAS "Ronald H. Brown" (operated by NOAA), R/V "Roger Revelle" (operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography), and R/V "Atlantis" (operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution).
"Thomas G. Thompson" is long, with a beam of and a full-load draft of . The hull is of welded steel plate construction. She displaces 3,051 long tons at full load. Her gross tonnage is calculated at 3,095 and her net tonnage is 928. She is classed by the American Bureau of Shipping.
She has a cruising speed of 12 knots and a maximum speed of 15 knots. She has six diesel generators, three 1,500 kW and three 750 kW, which provide electrical and propulsion power to the ship. The generators, in turn, power two 3,000 hp DC electric motors which provide the ship's main propulsion. The DC motors power two 360-degree azimuth z-drives with four-bladed fixed-pitch propellers. The ship also has a 360-degree azimuth Tees White Gill water jet bow thruster driven by a separate 1,100 hp DC motor. Controls are installed to integrate the z-drives and bow thruster into a dynamic positioning system. Engineers can select fuel-efficient combinations of generators to power the ship whether she is towing an instrument at 1 knot, transiting at 15 knots, or anywhere in between. Her fuel tanks can hold up to giving her an unrefueled range of 12,000 miles at 15 knots.
"Thomas G. Thompson" normally sails with 21 civilian officers and crew, 2 marine technicians, and up to 36 scientists. The crew is unionized, represented by the Inland Boatmen's Union of the Pacific.
To support her research activities she has 4,000 square feet of wet and dry laboratory space, multi-beam mapping sonar and other sensors, and a number of cranes and winches to lower and tow various instruments. The A-frame on her stern, the largest crane aboard, is rated for a 15-ton static load.
The University of Washington won the right to operate "Thomas G. Thompson" through a competitive bidding process. Invitations to bid were issued on June 5, 1987. Among the qualifications for bidders specified by the Office of Naval Research was the return of an earlier generation AGOR-3 class oceanographic vessel that the Navy could retire when the new ship was delivered. As a practical matter, this limited bidding to the University of Washington, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University. The Office of Naval Research announced in November 1987 that it had selected the University of Washington to operate the then unnamed AGOR-23. Contacts were signed with the Navy in June 1988.
The ship is named for Thomas Gordon Thompson, who founded the University of Washington's Oceanographic Laboratories in 1930. The ship is designated by the Navy as an AGOR or "Auxiliary General-purpose Oceanographic Research" ship. She is the second research vessel named after Dr. Thompson. The first, USNS "Thomas G. Thompson" (T-AGOR-9), also operated by the University of Washington, was launched in 1963.
Operating history.
"Thomas G. Thompson" is designed for long-endurance research missions in deep ocean waters and typically spends 260 to 300 days a year at sea. While she has sailed around the Earth on almost every sea and ocean, she has spent the bulk of her career in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The hull is not ice-strengthened,
While the civilian crew is assigned to the ship permanently, the scientists rotate aboard in support of specific research programs. These have been quite varied, and include global warming, hydrothermal vents, neutrino detection, mapping ocean currents and seamounts, abyssal phytoplankton, unnderwater volcanic eruptions, algal blooms, and monsoons in the Indian Ocean, among many others.
The vessel also serves as an educational platform for science students of all types from elementary to graduate levels. The University of Washington funds 45 days of ship time for its own students each year. In 2004 this cost just over $1 million .
"Thomas G. Thompson's" expected service life was 30 years, which would have seen the ship retired in 2021. Instead, on October 16, 2014, the University of Washington issued a request for proposals for a mid-life refit. The contract was awarded to the Vigor Industrial shipyard in Seattle. Her renovation began in June 2016. The project ultimately cost $52 million, jointly funded by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the University of Washington. The work is expected to extend the vessel's life by 10 to 15 years. During the refit the propulsion system was largely replaced with new diesel generators, overhauled propulsion motors, and new switchboards, control systems, and alarms, electrical cable and pipework was replaced as well as the air-conditioning, refrigeration, sewage, and freshwater systems. New research and navigation instruments were also added. The project was completed in December 2017.


2258 Viipuri


Hexachord

In music, a hexachord (also hexachordon) is a six-note series, as exhibited in a scale (hexatonic or hexad) or tone row. The term was adopted in this sense during the Middle Ages and adapted in the 20th century in Milton Babbitt's serial theory. The word is taken from the , compounded from ἕξ ("hex", six) and χορδή ("chordē", string [of the lyre], whence "note"), and was also the term used in music theory up to the 18th century for the interval of a sixth ("hexachord major" being the major sixth and "hexachord minor" the minor sixth).
Middle Ages.
The hexachord as a mnemonic device was first described by Guido of Arezzo, in his "Epistola de ignoto cantu". In each hexachord, all adjacent pitches are a whole tone apart, except for the middle two, which are separated by a semitone. These six pitches are named "ut", "re", "mi", "fa", "sol", and "la", with the semitone between "mi" and "fa". These six names are derived from the first syllable of each half-verse of the first stanza of the 8th-century Vesper hymn "Ut" queant laxis "re"sonare fibris / "Mi"ra gestorum "fa"muli tuorum, etc. Melodies with a range wider than a major sixth required the device of mutation to a new hexachord. For example, the hexachord beginning on C and rising to A, named "hexachordum naturale", has its only semitone between the notes E and F, and stops short of the note B or B. A melody moving a semitone higher than "la" (namely, from A to the B above) required changing the "la" to "mi", so that the required B becomes "fa". Because B was named by the "soft" or rounded letter B, the hexachord with this note in it was called the "hexachordum molle" (soft hexachord). Similarly, the hexachord with "mi" and "fa" expressed by the notes B and C was called the "hexachordum durum" (hard hexachord), because the B was represented by a squared-off, or "hard" B. Starting in the 14th century, these three hexachords were extended in order to accommodate the increasing use of signed accidentals on other notes.
The introduction of these new notes was principally a product of polyphony, which required the placing of a perfect fifth not only above the old note B, but also below its newly created variant, this entailing, as a result of the "original sin" committed by the well-meant innovation B, the introduction of the still newer respective notes F and E, with as consequences of these last C and A, and so on. The new notes, being outside the gamut of those ordinarily available, had to be "imagined", or "feigned" (it was long forbidden to write them), and for this reason music containing them was called "musica ficta" or "musica falsa".
20th century.
Allen Forte in "The Structure of Atonal Music" redefines the term "hexachord" to mean what other theorists (notably Howard Hanson in his "Harmonic Materials of Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale") mean by the term "hexad", a six-note pitch collection which is not necessarily a contiguous segment of a scale or a tone row. David Lewin used the term in this sense as early as 1959. Carlton Gamer uses both terms interchangeably.


List of the largest counties in the United States by area

This is a list of the 100 largest counties in the United States by area. The list is based upon the total area of a county, both land and water surface, reported by the United States Census Bureau during the 2000 Census. Alaska is not divided into counties.
A different ranking becomes apparent when comparing county areas by "land area" alone as opposed to "total area". Some counties, such as Keweenaw and Alger Counties in Michigan, include significant amounts of water in their total area and would not appear on a list that considered land area alone. This list also includes the four counties that would be included when water area is not included.
Alaskan boroughs and census areas.
Unlike most states, Alaska is divided into boroughs and census areas that serve as county-equivalents for the Census Bureau. If included with the remainder of the counties and county-equivalent areas in the United States, Alaska's boroughs and census areas would occupy the largest 11. Below is a list of these boroughs and census areas that would rank in the top 100 if included in the above list.
The Unorganized Borough, in which all of the census areas are located, is not considered a county-equivalent area and is not included in this list. With an area of , it would easily top the list, outranking every state in the country (except Alaska).
The rankings in the below list reflect the rank each borough or census area would have if included with all counties and county-equivalent areas in the United States (up to #11).


Neutron interferometer

In physics, a neutron interferometer is an interferometer capable of diffracting neutrons, allowing the wave-like nature of neutrons, and other related phenomena, to be explored.
Interferometry.
Interferometry inherently depends on the wave nature of the object. As pointed out by de Broglie in his PhD thesis, particles, including neutrons, can behave like waves (the so-called wave–particle duality, now explained in the general framework of quantum mechanics). The wave functions of the individual interferometer paths are created and recombined coherently which needs the application of dynamical theory of diffraction. Neutron interferometers are the counterpart of X-ray interferometers and are used to study quantities or benefits related to thermal neutron radiation.
Applications.
Neutron interferometers are used to determine minute quantum-mechanical effects on the neutron wavefunction, such as studies of the Aharonov–Bohm effect, gravity acting on an elementary particle, the neutron, rotation of the earth acting on a quantum system and they can be applied for neutron phase imaging, and tests of the dynamical theory of diffraction.
Construction.
Like X-ray interferometers, neutron interferometers are typically made from a single large crystal of silicon, often 10 to 30 or more centimeters in diameter and 20 to 60 cm or more in length. Modern semiconductor technology allows large single-crystal silicon boules to be easily grown. Since the boule is a single crystal, the atoms in the boule are precisely aligned, to within small fractions of a nanometer or an angstrom, over the entire boule. The interferometer is created by removing all but three slices of silicon, held in perfect alignment by a base. (image) Neutrons impinge on the first slice, where, by diffraction from the crystalline lattice, they separate into two beams. At the second slice, they are diffracted again, with two beams continuing on to the third slice. At the third slice, the beams recombine, interfering constructively or destructively, completing the interferometer. Without the precise, angstrom-level alignment of the three slices, the interference results would not be meaningful.
Cold neutrons.
The first neutron interferometer experiments were performed in the 1980s. Experiments with cold neutrons are more recent.
Only recently, a neutron interferometer for cold and ultracold neutrons was designed and successfully run. Neutron-optical components in this case comprise three gratings. They are artificially holographically produced, i.e., by means of a light-optic two-wave interference setup illuminating a photo-neutron-refractive polymer.


Per annum


292 Ludovica

Ludovica (minor planet designation: 292 Ludovica) is a Main belt asteroid.
It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 25 April 1890 in Vienna.


New Music America

New Music America was a nomadic American festival (held in Montreal during its last year) showcasing at its origins New York City's Downtown Music, but growing into one of the largest new music festivals ever held in North America, all in an attempt to try to bring out of the popular shadows the breadth and history of 20th Century composition and creation, as well as current trends. From 1979 to 1990, each New Music America (officially bilingualized into Montréal Musiques Actuelles in 1990) had a wealth of local, regional, national and world premieres, adding to its scope some music from around the world by the time of the Miami festival.
History.
The original conference, named New Music New York, with concordant (and demonstrative) concerts was held at The Kitchen in New York City in 1979. One of the themes there was to break down barriers created by the segregation of genres, and breaking music journalist/critic-driven pigeonholing.
The 12 years of the festival's existence was marked by over 750 performances, exhibits, workshops, installations, and artistic inventions, each festival supplanting the previous in size, expanding its diversity and many bringing "new" music to everywhere conceivable in the United States.
Impressed by the breadth (and probably fun) of the NMNY, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis wanted to replicate the experience and held a similar festival a year later, this time named New Music America. Most likely it was at this time that a loose coalition of national administrators and musicians became the New Music Alliance with the task of recreating New Music America in a different city every year, allowing for composers and performers to be seen in their own region while giving a greater exposure to music creators ignored both nationally and historically, such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Rhys Chatham, and Earle Brown, but not Milton Babbitt, the composer whose 1958 essay "Who Cares if you Listen?" created a cold war between the public's desire for new sounds and the modernist composer's desire to sound new.
San Francisco followed in 1981, Chicago in 1982, Washington, D.C. in 1983, Hartford, Connecticut in 1984, Los Angeles in 1985, Houston in 1986, Philadelphia in 1987, Miami in 1988, returning to New York in 1989 and ending in Montreal in 1990.
The festival always had workshop components and provided many points of contact between often a curious public and new musical creation. But as a self-propelled machine, it kept growing to try to "represent" the vastly growing varieties of expression taking birth with new technologies and reassessments of the general music culture, and to do so it had to grow financially as well.
Perhaps its greatest accomplishment was connecting large audiences (sometimes in the thousands) with works which critics, music industry reps and radio people all considered too serious, complex, weird or difficult. In addition, audience members were placed in a unique position of being among the musician's peers as the week-long length permitted performers to attend each other's concerts or events.
Though it was always a 10-day festival more or less, the price for full admittance at Hartford was $20 and housing was provided on campus. By New York 1989, prices had grown to around $350 for full pass and at this point, only hotel accommodations were available. This wasn't always a bad thing as it coaxed many musicians to bunk with others who had similar tastes for new creation.
Money was the prime driver for its dissolution, as the Hartford festival was within a $300,000 - $400,000 range while the Montreal festival had projected over a million (Canadian) in costs. All festivals were considered great successes but took so much effort of coordination (and in some cases treaty-building between opposing music factions) that it acquired the Olympics paradox of being unable to reduce itself in size.
In 1992, the attempts to revive NMA resulted in New Music Across America, sort of an Avant-Garde World Music Day, hosting simultaneous music event days under a single banner.


Adaadat

Adaadat is a British Independent record label based in London releasing an eclectic mixture of Experimental Music, Chiptune, Noise Music, Art Rock, IDM and Breakcore. It was founded in 2002 by Angus Keith and Bjorn Hatleskog.
The record label was initially set-up to release music by hard to find Japanese artists in the UK.
Adaadat went on to develop a reputation for "anarchic spliced noise and frenetic live shows".
In 2005 the Adaadat label was showcased on BBC One World programme broadcast on BBC Radio 1.
From 2005 to 2006 Adaadat ran a monthly club night at the ICA called "Trash Trash Noise Next Door".
The label currently has (as of December 2013) over 30 releases.


Certificate Examinations in Polish as a Foreign Language

The Certificate Examinations in Polish as a Foreign Language (Polish: "Egzaminy Certyfikatowe z Języka Polskiego jako Obcego"), also referred as State Certificate Examinations in Polish as a Foreign Language (Polish: "Państwowe Egzaminy Certyfikatowe z Języka Polskiego jako Obcego"), are standardized tests of Polish language proficiency for non-native Polish speakers. The examinations are held by the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language (Polish: "Państwowa Komisja Poświadczania Znajomości Języka Polskiego jako Obcego") starting from 2004 in Poland as well as in foreign countries. Candidates passing the examinations would obtain a certificate indicating the level of their proficiency in Polish. There are currently three levels of examinations set according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, namely, B1, B2 and C2. The State Certification Commission is at the meantime working on the introduction of examinations for the remaining levels (A1, A2 and C1).
This is the only state document that could confirm one's proficiency in Polish language.
History.
On 3 July 2003, pursuant to the Language Act, the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language was established by the Minister of Education, with the aim to setting up a certificate examination for Polish as a foreign language.
The examination was first organized in 2004 in both Poland and abroad.
The standards of examination and rules of procedure are based on the guidelines of the Council of Europe, with the aim of standardizing foreign language proficiency tests across Europe. In 2008, Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) audited the examinations and confirm that they are run according to the guidelines.
Aim.
The chief aim of the examinations is to determine candidates’ level of proficiency in Polish regardless of the institution and location the candidates learn Polish and the adopted curriculum, educational materials and methods of the candidates.
Organization.
The examinations are organized by State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language, which is composed of representatives from major teaching centers teaching Polish as a foreign language. The commission is responsible for setting dates of examinations, appointing examination boards members, developing examinations materials, monitoring examination and issuing certificates to those who have passed the tests.
Examinations are staged at least three times a year in spring, summer and autumn. Currently, only three levels of examination are available. Candidates can sit for the basic (B1), general intermediate (B2) or advanced (C2) examination, the level of which are set according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The state certificate commission is working on the introduction of the remaining levels of examinations.
Requirements of sitting for the exams.
All foreigners and Polish citizens permanently residing abroad may sit for the examination, except that candidates taking the B1 and B2 examinations must be at least 16 years old and those who sit for the C2 examination must age 18 or above.
Candidates having special needs can also apply for the examinations, and special adjustments of form of the examination, like extending the time of examinations or using specialized equipment and technical devices, could be arranged.
Application.
Registration forms could be sent on-line, by fax or mail. A letter of confirmation would be sent to the candidate after the application form has been received. The examination would be staged if there are at least twenty candidates applying to sit the examination at a particular examination center. Examination fees should be paid on or before the deadline shown on the letter of confirmation by bank transfer.
Information about the date and time of the examination would be sent to candidates by e-mail as well as mail.
The examination fees are €60 (B1), €80 (B2) and €100 (C2) respectively. Successful candidates need to pay an additional €20 for their certificate.
Examination.
The examination consists of five sub-tests, divided into two parts, i.e. a written part and an oral part. At all levels, the structure of the written part is the same, varying only in terms of difficulty. The written part comprises Listening Comprehension (Part A), Accuracy/Grammar in Use (Part B), Reading Comprehension (Part C) and Writing (Part D), whereas the oral examination tests only Oral Communication (Part E).
The oral part of the examinations is carried out on the same day or on the next day of the written examinations. Candidates need to make oral statements based on different written and graphic materials. Candidates have to draw one out of three sets of materials in order to determine which set of task they are required to complete. The tasks and duration of the oral part are different for different levels.
Assessment.
Examinations are assessed by examination commissions appointed by the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language.
Each examination consists of five sub-tests of equal value, with each of the sub-test bearing a maximum of 40 points. The maximum points of the examination is thus 200. In order to pass the examination, a candidate has to score at least 60% of points, i.e. 24 points, in each of five sub-tests.
Every sub-test is assessed by two markers, who check against:
Each marker can give a maximum 20 points, and hence the maximum points for the examinations are 200.
While the marking criteria in Part A, B and C are relatively objective, the marking for writing and oral expression is more subjective. Unavoidable though it is, subjectivity in these sub-tests is limited by the standardization of assessment criteria, double rating and training of examiners.
Examination marks are awarded according to the following scale:
Failed candidates may re-take the examination at the same level after one year. Or, if they find it appropriate, they may launch an appeal to the Commission. Upon the candidate’s request the President of the Commission may allow him to review, in his presence, relevant sub-tests assessed by the examination board.
Certificate.
After six weeks of the examination, the candidates would receive notification about their results. For those who have passed, they would need to pay an extra €20 for the certificate, and the Commission would issue the certificate upon receiving the payment. Candidates would receive their certificate by registered mail.
The certificate is with supplement in English with a detailed description of the results.
Benefits of obtaining the certificate.
According to the provisions of the Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 12 October 2006 on taking up and carrying out studies by foreigners, foreign students should have passed the B2 Certificate Examinations in Polish as a Foreign Language in order to be able to study in a Polish school or university, where teaching activities are conducted in Polish. The requirement is looser for artistic and sports-related disciplines (e.g. music, arts, physical education studies) and a B1 basic proficiency in Polish is enough for these subjects.
Besides education, the certificates may also be useful in certain job areas. For instance, the Ministry for Infrastructure, before granting a license for conducting real estate business, requires the submission of a certificate in Polish as a foreign language at C2 level. Employees in health sector would also need to prove their language proficiency — the Chambers of Nurses in Poland require foreigners employed by Polish hospitals and medical centres to have a certificate in Polish as a foreign language at B1 level. According to the Regulation on Civil Service, foreigners applying for jobs in civil service are also required to provide a certificate in Polish as a foreign language at B2 level.
The certificate is gaining popularity among the upper-secondary students in several countries, notably in Germany and the United States. In some countries, the certificate can serve as a document certifying the command of an additional foreign language, which entitles students to obtain additional points during a matriculation examination.


Statistical database

A statistical database is a database used for statistical analysis purposes. It is an OLAP (online analytical processing), instead of OLTP (online transaction processing) system. Modern decision, and classical statistical databases are often closer to the relational model than the multidimensional model commonly used in OLAP systems today.
Statistical databases typically contain parameter data and the measured data for these parameters. For example, parameter data consists of the different values for varying conditions in an experiment (e.g., temperature, time). The measured data (or variables) are the measurements taken in the experiment under these varying conditions.
Many statistical databases are sparse with many null or zero values. It is not uncommon for a statistical database to be 40% to 50% sparse. There are two options for dealing with the sparseness: (1) leave the null values in there and use compression techniques to squeeze them out or (2) remove the entries that only have null values.
Statistical databases often incorporate support for advanced statistical analysis techniques, such as correlations, which go beyond SQL. They also pose unique security concerns, which were the focus of much research, particularly in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s.
Security in statistical databases.
In a statistical database, it is often desired to allow query access only to aggregate data, not individual records. Securing such a database is a difficult problem, since intelligent users can use a combination of aggregate queries to derive information about a single individual.
Some common approaches are:
For many years, research in this area was stalled, and it was thought in 1980 that, to quote:
But in 2006, Cynthia Dwork defined the field of differential privacy, using work that started appearing in 2003. While showing that some semantic security goals, related to work of Tore Dalenius, were impossible, it identified new techniques for limiting the increased privacy risk resulting from inclusion of private data in a statistical database. This makes it possible in many cases to provide very accurate statistics from the database while still ensuring high levels of privacy.
Some further reading.
Statistical and Scientific Database Management (SSDBM) An important series of conferences in this field
Some key papers in this field:


Mulatta Records

Mulatta Records, which in 2020 has changed its name to RNA Records, is a record label established in 2000 by the Nigerian record producer and DJ Ayo Osinibi and the American composer/performer Dave Soldier
It specializes in music created by unusual means, including the Thai Elephant Orchestra, and various projects by children, including 6 to 9 year olds who improvise avant-garde jazz in The Tangerine Awkestra, a traditional flute orchestra of school children in Conakry, Guinea in west Africa, compositions by Mayan Indian children in the highlands of San Mateo Ixtatan, Guatemala, and 5 to 10 year-olds in East Harlem who compose and play rap music in Da Hiphop Raskalz.
Other recordings include work by the Russian conceptual artists Komar and Melamid, music written according to poll of American music taste, resulting in the statistically Most Wanted and Unwanted Songs, two CDs of operas by writer Kurt Vonnegut with music Dave Soldier, and Mandeng Eletrik, a collaboration between Wofa, tribal musicians from a village in Guinea that lacks electricity and running water, with American R&B musicians including Bernie Worrell and Will Calhoun, albums of toy piano music by the cartoon rabbit Twink, an improvising string orchestra by Jason Hwang and contemporary flamenco by Pedro Cortes, the Delta punk band The Kropotkins, country / jazz by the Texas songwriter Vince Bell, and contemporary classical and jazz music by Robert Dick, John Clark (musician), and David First.


Shur (mugham)

“Shur”() – is one of the great mughams (a multifrequency vocal-instrumental composition) and one of seven main modes in Azerbaijani music.
This is the second mode and consists of 1-0.5-1 tone, which is created in the result of amalgamation of three tetra-chords with reach method of the first tetra-chord. Shur mode is the most used mode in Ashik art. Shur creates joyful lyrical mood at listener. Subgenres of Shur includes: Bardasht, Maye, Salmak, Shur-Shahnaz, Busalik, Bayaty-Turk, Shikasteyi-Fars, Mubarriga, Ashiran, Semai-Shams, Hijaz, Shakh Khatai, Sarenj, Gemengiz, Nishibi-Feraz, space for Shur. Mugams relating to the Shur are: Shahnaz, Sarenj, Arazbary, Osmani, Rahab, Neva.
In comparison with Shur of the beginning of the 20th century, in the modern Shur many parts are not used. Modern Shur consists of parts (shobe) such as "Maye", "Kur-Shahnaz", "Bayati-Kurd", "Shikesteyi-fars", "Mubarriga", "Semayi-shems", "Hijnaz", "Sarenj" and "Nishibi-feraz". Some performers of Shur use little parts such as "Buselik", "Ashiran" and "Shah Khatai".
Maximally shortened kind of Shur destgah includes 8 main parts: "Berdasht", "Maye", "Shur-Shahnaz", "Bayati-Turk", "Shikesteyi-fars", Semayi-shems", "Hijaz" and "Sarenj". These parts play a function of “bearing components” of the whole construction in the modern level and make a mode “skeleton” of the composition.
There is also maqam Shur in Azerbaijani music. Mughams such as "Shahnaz", "Bayati-Kurd", "Nava", Azerbaijani national songs and dance melodies and also Shur are based in this maqam.
Azerbaijani composer Fikret Amirov composed “Shur” mugham on the basis of this Shur. A documentary of the same name, shot in 1967 by AzTV, is dedicated to “Shur” mugham.


Kelly Latimer

Kelly Latimer is a former combat veteran and retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel. She was the first ever female research pilot to join the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. She works with Virgin Galactic and is due to be the pilot for their first rocket launch in 2020. Latimer flew the T-38, T-34, Lockheed Martin C-141B Starlifter, C-17, 747 Shuttle Carrier aircraft and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 747SP.
Early life and education.
Latimer attended the United States Air Force Academy. In her freshman year she spent her summers learning how to fly gliders, after which she said "I knew I would fly for the rest of my life". After graduating the Air Force Academy, she applied to NASA Armstrong but was not selected. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in astronautical engineering from the Air Force Academy in 1987 and a master's degree in astronautics from George Washington University in 1988.
Career.
Latimer became a pilot with the United States Air Force. She was a lieutenant colonel. After September 11 2001, she knew she wanted to get involved with the fight, returning to the McChord Field, 4th Airlift Squadron for operational and deployed flying. She was part of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and flew more than 90 combat sorties. She was commander of the 418th Flight Test Squadron. She was Senior United States Air Force Advisor to the Iraqi Air Force and the reconnaissance squadron. She retired from the Air Force in 2007.
Latimer was the first woman research test pilot hired by Armstrong Flight Research Center, where she ran experimental test flights for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, T-38, T-34 and C-17. She is type-rated in heavy aircraft and fighters, including the Northrop T-38/Northrop F-5. Collectively, Latimer has more than 6,500 flight hours and 1,000 test flight hours in her work with NASA, Boeing and the Air Force.
Latimer became involved with system development and aircraft design during her time at Boeing. She was Chief Pilot and Deputy Director for Airlift operations for the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. She was responsible for the global operations of the C-17, managing test pilots and training other aircrew. She is a member of the Huntington Beach surfing club Wahine Kai.
In 2015, she joined Virgin Galactic as a spaceship pilot. She was the first woman to join Virgin Galactic pilot corps. She is currently responsible for flying Virgin Galactic's White Knight Two, a dual fuselage high-wing composite aircraft that is set to carry Spaceship 2. She is also set to pilot the Boeing 747 "Cosmic Girl" for Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne. In 2017 she met Mike Pence when he visited the Mojave desert. Virgin Galactic partnered with Yohji Yamamoto to design their flight suits.


Nexeya

Nexeya is a French company specialising in the design and development of electronic equipment for the aeronautics, defence, energy, rail, and aerospace sectors. With more than 800 employees, its primary establishments are located in Toulouse, Massy (Essonne) and La Couronne (Charente). The company became in 2019 a subsidiary of the German company Hensoldt. Space and defense activities have, however, been retained in a new company, called Hemeria, which employs 200 people and has a turnover of € 36 million.
History.
Created in 1997 under the name Eurilogic, Nexeya gradually increased its revenue thanks to both internal growth and external acquisitions. Its activities focus on the aeronautics, defence, aerospace, energy, and transport sectors. The company’s development can be split into 3 phases :
In July 2017, Nexeya management became a majority shareholder of the firm, holding 75% of its capital.
Activities.
Naval defence.
Nexeya provides products and services related to combat and navigation systems. The French Navy has outfitted its surveillance frigates with Lyncea (formerly Sitac), Nexeya's embedded CMS system, which allows for the creation and monitoring of a tactical situation in order to combat piracy, drug trafficking, and illegal immigration.
Aeronautics.
Nexeya designs products for the testing of aircraft avionics and electrical systems (validation, integration, fault detection, etc.) as well as specific equipment for assembly lines. Nexeya designed a WiDD wiring tester that performs an automatic multipoint check of cable harnesses in order to detect and locate permanent or intermittent defects.
Energy.
Nexeya develops and manufactures hydrogen-based energy storage and recovery solutions in order to offset the intermittent availability of renewable energy. Most notably, Nexeya designed a hydrogen energy storage station to both supply and make self-sufficient a tertiary sector building in Grand Angoulême (Charente).
Space.
This activity was partly sold in April 2019 to the new company Hemeria.
Nexeya developed the Hemeria range of nanosatellites. Angels, the first French industrial nanosatellite from this range, developed with the Cnes, will be put into orbit in late 2019. Nexeya will also be supplying Kineis with 20 nanosatellites for the first European nanosatellite satellite constellation dedicated to the Internet of Things. Nexeya has also invested in the Rennes-based start-up Unseenlabs, along with the Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), BPI France, and Breizh Up, for an innovative maritime surveillance project employing nanosatellites.
Revenue.
During the fiscal year ending June 2018, the group, which employs 825 people, generated a turnover of €125,500,000.


Jefferson Proving Ground

The Jefferson Proving Ground (or JPG), located near Madison, Indiana, was principally a munitions testing facility of Test and Evaluation Command of the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command. JPG also serves other Department of Defense organizations as well as private contractors assigned.
History.
On October 8, 1940, the Chief of Ordnance acknowledged a need for the construction of an additional proving ground to carry out simultaneously and without interruption the many activities relative to proof work of the ordnance manufacturing program. In December 1940, the site acquisition committee decided on a tract of land in Ripley, Jefferson, and Jennings counties in southern Indiana. The site was selected for its proximity to a powder manufacturing plant at Charlestown, Indiana, an ordinance plant at LaPorte County, Indiana, and an ammunition storage depot in Martin County, Indiana, as well as military installations at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Fort Hayes in Ohio, and Forts Thomas and Knox in Kentucky. Residents living within the area of planned site were given 30 to 120 days to vacate the land. Construction began immediately, and the first round was fired at U.S. Army JPG on May 10, 1941. In April 1953, JPG reached a pinnacle of employment and activity, with 1,774 employees and a production of 175,000 rounds fired monthly.
Collin's Ford Bridge, Marble Creek Bridge, Oakdale School, also known as Building 401, and Old Timbers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Base closure and further use.
In 1989, JPG was identified for base closure under the base realignment and closure (BRAC) and closed on September 30, 1995. Since that time, the U.S. Army has maintained a small on-site oversight staff and an off-site environmental coordinator. JPG is currently administered by the BRAC Division within the U.S. Army's Installation Management Agency which is responsible for managing JPG’s closure, cleanup, and property transfer.
Approximately of the grounds north of the historic firing line was leased to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2000 to be operated as Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge. In 1998, a parcel of land north of the firing line within the former range is operated as an air-to-surface gunnery/bombing range by the Indiana Air National Guard. As of 2014, Jefferson Range is used for UAV training, including tests of air-to-ground strikes.
Railroad tracks on the site are used for car storage by the Madison Railroad
Environmental concerns.
The base contains a substantial amount of depleted uranium and the NRC has posed questions to the Army regarding environmental concerns as a result.