FitNesse

FitNesse is a web server, a wiki and an automated testing tool for software. It is based on Ward Cunningham's Framework for Integrated Test and is designed to support acceptance testing rather than unit testing in that it facilitates detailed readable description of system function.
FitNesse allows users of a developed system to enter specially formatted input (its format is accessible to non-programmers). This input is interpreted and tests are created automatically. These tests are then executed by the system and output is returned to the user. The advantage of this approach is very fast feedback from users. The developer of the system to be tested needs to provide some support (classes named "fixtures", conforming to certain conventions).
FitNesse is written in Java (by Micah Martin with help from Robert C. Martin and others). The program first supported only Java, but versions for several other languages have been added over time (C++, Python, Ruby, Delphi, C#, etc.).
Principles of FitNesse.
FitNesse as a testing method.
FitNesse was originally designed as a highly usable interface around the Fit framework. As such its intention is to support an agile style of black-box testing acceptance and regression testing. In this style of testing the functional testers in a software development project collaborate with the software developers to develop a testing suite.
FitNesse testing is based around the notation of black-box testing, in which a system under test is considered to be a black box and is tested in terms of the outputs generated in response to predetermined inputs. A functional tester is responsible for designing the tests in a functional sense and expressing them within the FitNesse tool, whereas the software developer is responsible for connecting the FitNesse tool to the system under test so that FitNesse can execute the test and compare the actual output to the expected output.
The idea behind this testing method, as described in "Fit for Developing Software", is that the forced collaboration of testers and developers will improve mutual understanding of the system and requirements by forcing the two groups to develop a common language as they learn to communicate together.
FitNesse as a testing tool.
Tests are described in Fitnesse as couplings of inputs and expected outputs. These couplings are expressed variations of a decision table. The FitNesse tool supports several of these variations, ranging from literal decision tables to tables that execute queries to tables that express testing scripts (i.e. a literal ordering of steps that must be followed to reach a result). The most generic form is a fully free-form table that can be interpreted in any way the test designers like. All tests are expressed in the shape of some sort of table, however.
FitNesse is focused entirely on easily creating tests, allowing testers and developers to focus on creating high-quality tests rather than getting lost in the mechanics of executing a test. Given the way FitNesse works, creating tests easily involves three factors:
In order to meet these requirements, FitNesse leverages the wiki mechanism. Wikis classically allow for the easy and rapid creation of HTML pages and particularly simplify the expression of tables. These qualities make the basic WikiWiki language an ideal choice for a "user interface" for FitNesse: on the one hand it allows for the simple expression of very free-form tables, on the other hand it limits the contents of those tables to rather simple text. This means that the WikiWiki language can handle whatever shape of table is required for a particular test and at the same time limits the contents of those tables to alphanumeric text that can easily be mapped into a call to a piece of software. Finally, since each test in FitNesse is a wiki page it is possible to embed each testing table within wiki text; this allows a functional tester to include descriptive text with a reasonable layout quickly.
FitNesse as a software tool.
FitNesse is a tool developed in Java and shipped as a single, executable jar file. The executable includes a wiki engine, an embedded web server, a testing engine and all the resources (images, stylesheets and so on) required to create a web site in FitNesse's own style.
FitNesse is focused very much on ease of use as a testing tool. As such it ships with all required components on board: upon execution the tool launches an embedded web server which allows test pages to be exposed locally or across the Internet with equal ease. The embedded server is quite lightweight and can be run from a laptop as well as full server machine.
Upon launch the tool deploys its own Wiki engine into its embedded server. This Wiki engine is similarly focused on simplicity, meaning that it does not require a backing database to run — it simply creates a file-based collection of Wiki pages which are interpreted by the Wiki engine and served by the embedded web server. The default wiki created by the tool includes the FitNesse user guide and some examples. The default document repository is created complete with everything needed to publish a default wiki in the FitNesse style (that is, all the images, stylesheets, JavaScript files and so on are created together with the basic wiki page repository).
The wiki engine is quite basic, but does offer all the basic facilities common among wiki engines: a search engine, revision history per page and a file overview. It also offers some refactoring operations that allow for deleting, moving and renaming files. In addition the wiki engine offers some test-specific facilities, such as standard buttons to run tests, ways of defining individual test pages and suites of tests and a historic overview of test results for trend analysis. Finally the engine offers some minor security facilities for locking pages and securing access to the wiki.
Test execution.
Testing within the FitNesse system involves four components per test:
Of these components the software development team produces two: the wiki page and the fixture (of course it also produces the system under test, but from the point of view of the black-box test only two). The wiki page includes some form of decision table which expresses a test. For example, it might express tests for a component that performs division (the example is based on the one given in the FitNesse Two Minute Example):
The link between the generic testing engine and the system under test is made by a piece of Java code called a fixture. In the case of the table above this code might look like this:
public class DivisionComponentTest extends ColumnFixture {
 private double num;
 private double denom;
 public void setNumeratorValue (double numerator) {
 num = numerator;
 public void setDenominatorValue (double denominator) {
 denom = denominator;
 public double result() {
 return SystemUnderTest.divide (num, denom);
The mapping between the wiki page and the fixture is a straightforward convert-to-camel case mapping. This mapping applies to all table headings and is used to identify the name of the fixture class as well as the methods of the fixture. A heading ending in a question mark is interpreted as a value to be read from the fixture, other headers are considered inputs to the fixture. Methods of the fixture are called in column order of the decision table, from left to right.
Testing engines.
The actual mapping as described above (as well as the invocation of fixture methods) is done by a testing engine. FitNesse supports two of these engines: the Fit engine and the SLIM engine.
Fit.
More than an engine, Fit is a testing framework unto itself. It combines functionality to invoke tests, interpret wiki pages and generate output pages. FitNesse was originally built around Fit as a user interface, which inspired the name of the tool.
Fit is a framework that combines many responsibilities in testing rather than separating responsibilities neatly. The software developer pays a price for this fact in that fixtures for the Fit engine must inherit from Fit framework base classes. This can be inconvenient in Java, as it means that the framework claims a developer's one chance at class inheritance. It also means that a fixture, by its nature, is a heavyweight construct. These considerations have prompted the FitNesse team in recent years to move to the SLIM testing engine.
SLIM.
SLIM (Simple List Invocation Method) is an alternative to Fit.
The SLIM engine is an implementation of the Slim Protocol. Rather than combining all the elements of wiki-based testing, the SLIM engine concentrates only on invoking the fixture; it runs as a separate server which is invoked remotely by the FitNesse wiki engine. The interpretation of the wiki page and the generation of the result page is now part of the wiki engine.
The SLIM engine allows for far more light-weight fixtures which are simple POJOs. These fixtures are not required to extend or use any framework classes, which simplifies their design and allows the fixture designer to concentrate on calling the system under test properly and in the simplest way possible. It also keeps the inheritance route open, allowing fixture developers to create fixture hierarchies if necessary.


2762 Fowler


358 Apollonia

Apolonia (minor planet designation: 358 Apolonia) is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 8 March 1893 in Nice.


Dial (measurement)

A dial is generally a flat surface, circular or rectangular, with numbers or similar markings on it, used for displaying the setting or output of a timepiece, radio, clock, watch, or measuring instrument. There are many instruments used in scientific and industrial applications that use dials with pointers as indicators of a specific physical property. Typical examples include pressure and vacuum gauges, fluid-level gauges (for fuel, engine oil, and so on), voltmeters and ammeters, thermometers and hygrometers, speedometers and tachometers, and indicators (distance amplifying instruments).
Traditionally these have been mechanical devices, but with the advent of electronic displays, analog dials are often simulated from digital measurements.
The term may also refer to a movable control knob used to change the settings of the controlled instrument, for example, to change the frequency of the radio, or the desired temperature on a thermostat.
Styles of dials:
Examples of dial usage:
"Mirror dials" are designed to reduce or eliminate the effect of parallax. They usually consist of a small mirrored strip running parallel to the graduations of the scale under the pointer. When the observer moves his position so that the pointer obscures the pointer's reflection in the mirror, an accurate reading may be taken.


(357439) 2004 BL86

 is a bright sub-kilometer asteroid and binary system, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 30 January 2004 by astronomers of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. Its moon was discovered during the asteroid's close approach to the Earth in January 2015.
2015 Earth approach.
On 26 January 2015 at 16:20 UTC, passed , or 3.1 lunar distances, from Earth. The asteroid briefly peaked around apparent magnitude 9 and was near the celestial equator. The asteroid was visible in telescopes with objectives of or larger; high-end binoculars under a dark sky may also have worked. Near closest approach the asteroid was moving about 2.5 degrees per hour (2.5 arcseconds per second). The asteroid came to opposition (furthest elongation in the sky from the Sun) on 27 January 2015 at 04:37 UTC. Around 5:00 UTC, the asteroid was near M44 (the Beehive Cluster).
The 26 January 2015 approach of 3.1 lunar distances was the closest approach of for at least the next 200 years. For comparison, , about twice the size of , passed , or 1.3 lunar distances, from Earth on 31 October 2015.
Satellite.
A minor-planet moon, provisionally designated , was first detected by ground-based telescopes by Joe Pollock and Petr Pravec. Observations by the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex and Green Bank Telescope confirmed that it is a binary asteroid with a secondary roughly across. The secondary is estimated to orbit at least from the primary. About 16% of asteroids over in diameter are thought to be binaries.
Numbering and naming.
This minor planet was numbered on 27 March 2013 (). As of 2020, it has not been named.


Vogelsang Military Training Area

Vogelsang Military Training Area () lay in the German North Eifel hills between the villages of Simmerath, Heimbach and Schleiden in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was established in 1946 and handed back at the end of 2005, and consisted of the grounds of the former Nazi leadership training centre in the fort of Vogelsang ("Ordensburg Vogelsang") on the Erpenscheid hill plus additional terrain including the so-called Dreiborn Plateau. In the north and east it was bounded by the Urft Reservoir. The training area had an area of around 45 km2 and since 1 January 2006 has been fully incorporated into the Eifel National Park.
Until 1950 the training area was run by the British armed forces and thereafter until 31 December 2005 by the Belgian military.
History.
Origins.
The basis of the subsequent military training area was the Nazi Ordensburg Vogelsang. This training centre is the second largest relic of Nazi infrastructure in Germany by area after their party congress site in Nuremberg and covered an area of some 100 hectares. The buildings under heritage conservation alone cover a gross floor area of more than 50,000 square metres.
British use from 1946.
After the end of the Second World War, in early 1946, the British Military Government considered for a while tearing down this prominent symbol of Nazism. In September 1946 the British commandeered 42 square kilometres of land around the fort as a military training area, ejecting the population of the nearby village of Wollseifen in doing so. In 1950 the British handed over the Vogelsang Training Area to the Belgian Armed Forces.
Belgian use from 1950.
From 1950 the Belgian forces used the terrain as a military training area, establishing, extending and equipping the original Nazi fort to create the Van Dooren Barracks. In 1989 the site came under heritage conservation protection.
The Belgian military left Vogelsang Camp in late 2005.
Use since 2006.
At the beginning of 2006, ownership of the land was transferred from the Federal Republic of Germany to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The federation swapped, as part of a land consolidation process, the mainly forested land of the Vogelsang Military Training Area, which covered roughly 3,300 hectares, for an equivalent area of forest in the Eifel. However the risk of contamination left by the training area usage remains with the Federation, as in comparable cases, as part of the change-of-use agreement.
Since 1 January 2006, the area and its solid stone buildings have been open to the public and may be visited during the day. Part of the land is crossed by hiking trails, but walkers must not leave the paths (mainly due to uncleared munitions and for nature conservation reasons).
Nature conservation.
For decades large areas of Vogelsang Training Area were only used by the military, but were otherwise largely untouched, and have therefore become natural wilderness. Today they are elementary components of the Eifel National Park and its conservation concept. As a result of very low human intervention since the 1950s, especially the lack of agriculture and forestry, a valuable range of flora and fauna has developed. For example, the wildcat occurs in the woods on the training area and, around the outer edges, the strictly protected red-backed shrike.
In addition to the open land and woods of the Dreiborn Plateau, small stream valleys with tall, herbaceous vegetation, accompanying alder woods and underwater vegetation are of ecological interest. The slopes are covered in places by species-rich spignum meadows and there are also unspoilt spring bogs with willow moss. The red deer is especially important in keeping the meadows clear of bushes.
Pollution is however still a problem, not only due to the use of the area after the war as a firing range and its more general use as a military camp, but also to a great extent due to spent ammunition, blinds and shrapnel left behind by firing carried out during the Second World War. Uncleared areas remain out of bounds to the public.
Tourism.
As well as the Nazi fort of Vogelsang, that is now the main attraction after being out of bounds to the general public for decades, the National Park and nature tourism also play a role in drawing visitors to the former training area terrain. One special place of interest is the abandoned village of Wollseifen, once a small hamlet on the Dreiborn Plateau that had to be evacuated when the training area was established in 1946.
Other places of interest are viewing points with wide views of the Urft Reservoir and valley, various military installations scattered over the out of bounds area and several ruined settlements like the former village of "Vogelsang" and other small hamlets. For example, at "Jägersweiler" there are several old farms and cottages ("Kotten"); the family of European champion aerobatic flyer, Liesel Bach, lived in one of the empty houses before it was cleared.


Walking Piano

The Walking Piano, also called the Big Piano by its creator, Remo Saraceni, is an oversized synthesizer. Merging dance, music, and play, it is played by the user's feet tapping the keys to make music. Versions of the piano have been installed in museums, children's hospitals, and other public places around the world.
History.
Remo Saraceni created a musical daisy for the Bicentennial Celebration in Philadelphia (Design for Fun). From there the concept grew. It took shape with an intermediate stop at an interactive futon, and the first "Big Piano" was built in 1982.” The piano was on display at the F.A.O. Schwartz toy store in New York City when famed movie producer/director Steven Spielberg’s sister saw it and told her brother all about it.
Versions.
An early, one-octave version of the Walking Piano was installed at FAO Schwarz in New York City in 1982. A new three-octave version was specifically created for the 1988 Tom Hanks movie "Big" at the request of director Penny Marshall. That piano was housed in the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until about 2013.
Reception.
The BIG Piano has had continued to enjoy media success, appearing in movies such as "The Night Before" starring Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It has also featured in TV Series such as "Dancing With The Stars", "Puttin' On the Ritz ", and "The Voice Season Premier Feat John Legend". It was also named as one of the most iconic movie props ever.


7336 Saunders

7336 Saunders, provisional designation , is a stony asteroid and near-Earth object of the Amor group, approximately 0.5 kilometers in diameter.
The asteroid was discovered on 6 September 1989, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. It was named for JPL-project scientist R. Stephen Saunders.
Orbit and classification.
"Saunders" orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.2–3.4 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,278 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.48 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic.
A first precovery was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1982, extending the body's observation arc by 7 years prior to its official discovery at Palomar. It has a minimum orbital intersection distance with Earth of , which corresponds to 74.3 lunar distances.
Physical characteristics.
In the SMASS classification, "Saunders" is a Sq-type, which transitions from the common S-type to the Q-type asteroids. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 467 meters, based on an absolute magnitude of 19.02.
Lightcurve.
In October 1989, the first photometric observations of "Saunders" were made with the ESO 1-metre telescope at La Silla in Chile. It gave a rotation period of 6 hours with a brightness variation of 0.3 magnitude (). Another rotational lightcurve was obtained by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at Ondřejov Observatory in August 2003, giving a period of and an amplitude of 0.2 magnitude ().
Naming.
This minor planet was named in honor of JPL-project scientist R. Stephen Saunders (born 1940), director of the RPIF and head scientist of the "Solar System Exploration Office". He worked on the Mars Surveyor 2001/03 program and on the Magellan spacecraft, that visited and mapped Venus in 1990. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 26 July 2000 ().
External links.


New Haven Underground Film Festival

The New Haven Underground Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Connecticut, United States. Despite its name, the event itself has never been held in New Haven; instead, it has been held in other Connecticut cities while carrying the slogan "So underground that it's not even in New Haven."
This festival has hosted premieres and screenings of independent, underground and experimental productions from around the world, including a mix of narrative and non-fiction features and shorts. Among the more notable films presented at the festival were "My Big Fat Independent Movie", "Flatland" and "Plan 9 from Syracuse".


4F (music)


Chronograph

A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive pressure on the stem. More complex chronographs use additional complications and can have multiple sub-dials to measure seconds, minutes, hours and even tenths of a second. In addition, many modern chronographs use moveable bezels as tachymeters for rapid calculations of speed or distance. Louis Moinet invented the chronograph in 1816 for use in tracking astronomical objects. Chronographs were also used heavily in artillery fire in the mid to late 1800s. More modern uses of chronographs involve aircraft piloting, auto racing, diving and submarine maneuvering.
Since the 1980s, the term "chronograph" has also been applied to all digital watches that incorporates a stopwatch function.
History.
The term "chronograph" comes from the Greek ( 'time recording'), from ( 'time') and ( 'to write'). Early versions of the chronograph are the only ones that actually used any "writing": marking the dial with a small pen attached to the index so that the length of the pen mark would indicate how much time had elapsed.
The first modern chronograph was invented by Louis Moinet in 1816, solely for working with astronomical equipment. It was Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec who developed the first marketed chronograph at the behest of King Louis XVIII in 1821. The King greatly enjoyed watching horse races, but wanted to know exactly how long each race lasted, so Rieussec was commissioned to invent a contraption that would do the job: as a result he developed the first ever commercialized chronograph. Rieussec was considered the inventor of the chronograph until the Louis Moinet pocket chronograph discovery in 2013 when history was rewritten. In addition to inventing the chronograph, Louis Moinet is also the father of High Frequency. In 1816, his Compteur de Tierces timepiece beat at a rhythm of 216,000 vibrations per hour (30 Hz). This frequency record stood for exactly one century, before eventually being broken in 1916 – after which standard chronometer frequencies returned to present-day levels (generally 4-5 Hz). Still in perfect working order, the Compteur de Tierces is preserved at Ateliers Louis Moinet.
In 1915, Gaston Breitling produced the first chronograph with a central seconds hand and a 30-minute counter. Later, in 1923, Gaston Breitling introduced the first chronograph with a separate pusher at 2 o'clock. In 1934 Willy Breitling further developed the concept of the chronograph with the addition of the second pusher at 4 o'clock. Since then the 3-pusher chronograph design has been adopted by the entire industry.
In 1844 Adolphe Nicole's updated version of the chronograph was the first to include a re-setting feature which now allowed successive measurements, unlike the constantly moving needle in the original chronograph.
In the early part of the 20th century, many chronographs were sold with fixed bezels marked in order to function as a tachymeter. In 1958 the watch company Heuer introduced a model with a rotating bezel tachymeter for more complex calculations.
Chronographs were very popular with aviators as they allowed them to make rapid calculations and conduct precise timing. The demand for chronographs grew along with the aviation industry in the early part of the 20th century. As the US exploration of outer space initially involved only test pilots, by order of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, chronographs were on the wrists of many early astronauts. Chronograph usage followed a similar trajectory for many fields that involve very precise and/or repeated timing around increasingly more complicated high performance machinery, automobile racing and naval submarine navigation being two examples. As different uses for the chronograph were discovered, the industry responded with different models introducing such features as the flyback (where the second hand could be rapidly reset to zero), minute and hour timers, Rattrapante (or multiple second hands one of which can be stopped and started independently) and waterproof models for divers and swimmers.
Although self winding watches and clockwork have been around since the late 1700s, the automatic (self winding) chronograph was not invented until the late 1960s. In 1969, the watch companies Heuer, Breitling, Hamilton, and movement specialist Dubois Dépraz, developed the first automatic chronograph in partnership. They developed this technology secretly in an effort to prevent other watchmaking houses from releasing an automatic chronograph first, namely their competition Zenith and Seiko. It was in Geneva and in New York that this partnership shared the first automatic chronograph with the world on March 3, 1969. These first automatic chronographs were labelled "Chrono-matic".
Many companies sell their own styles of chronographs. While today most chronographs are in the form of wristwatches, in the early 20th century pocket chronographs were very popular.
Uses.
The term chronograph is often confused with the term chronometer. Where "Chronograph" refers to the function of a watch, chronometer is a measure of how well a given mechanical timepiece performs: in order to be labeled a chronometer the timepiece must be certified by the COSC, the official Swiss Chronometer testing institute, after undergoing a series of rigorous tests for robustness, accuracy and precision under adverse conditions (though these requirements fall far short of the accuracy achieved by even the cheapest modern quartz watch). A simple mechanical watch, without the stopwatch functionality, can be certified a chronometer, as can a clock, for example a ship's clock be used for navigation. The terms are not mutually exclusive either, for instance the Omega Seamaster 300M Chronograph GMT Co-Axial is also a COSC certified chronometer
Originally the term chronograph was mainly used in connection with artillery and the velocity of missiles. The Chronograph's main function is to allow a comparison of observation between a time base and, before the electronic stopwatch was invented, a permanent recording of the observer's findings. For example, one of the first applications of the chronograph was to record the time elapsed during horse races.
Some more important uses of the chronograph include the Langley Chronograph, which is used by the US Navy to record, calculate, and analyse data given off by aeroplane launching catapults. Another famous usage of the chronograph was during all of NASA's Apollo missions to the moon, each astronaut was equipped with a fully functioning chronograph, the Omega Speedmaster. Chronographs are routinely used to record heart beats within hospitals, calculate speed and/or distance on athletic fields, or even as simple timers in kitchen.
Function.
Chronographs can be extremely complicated devices, but they all have the basic function of telling time, as they are watches, and of displaying elapsed time. Rieussec's chronograph was fairly simple. It was composed of two faces, a top and bottom face. The bottom face held a pool of ink, while the upper had a pen-like needle attached to it. When activated, the upper face pushed down on the lower face, while revolving around a central axis, which pulled the needle. This dragged the ink, in a circular fashion, recording the time elapsed by the line of ink that the motion created. There was room left for improvement, because Rieussec's chronograph was not easily ready for multiple uses.
This paved the way for the hundreds of patents that have been handed out to people for updating and upgrading this device. Automatic, non-digital chronographs do not require a battery, because the arm or wrist of the wearer creates kinetic energy, which results in the total energy source needed for this device to work. Throughout the day, while the wearer of the watch is walking, the swinging motion of his arm forces a semicircular rotor to turn on a pivot within the watch. The rotor is attached to a ratchet that winds the mainspring in the watch, so that it is ready for use at all times.
The modern day chronograph works by pushing a start button, normally located at the two o'clock position, to begin recording time, and by pushing the same button to stop the recording. When the button is pushed to start the recording, a series of three (in more complicated and more precise chronographs there are more wheels) train wheels start turning. The smallest has a revolution time of one second, the next sixty seconds, and the final one has a revolution time of sixty minutes. The three train wheels interact with one another and record how long it has been since the start button has been activated.
In addition to the start button, it also features a reset button normally located at the four o'clock position. When the reset button is pushed the chronograph hand will reset back to zero.
Tachymeter bezels are a complication that allows rapid calculations of speed or distance. Rotating bezels allow for more complex calculations or repeated calculations without requiring a reset of the timer.
Types.
The original chronographs that Rieussec invented were called tape chronographs. They consisted of a tape that was constantly being dragged along at a controlled speed. When activated, a pen would be pushed onto the tape and begin recording until deactivated.
Specialized chronographs are used by deep sea and scuba divers. While basic functionality is the same as other chronographs, diving models have longer and more practical straps to wear over equipment, are made to be waterproof to deeper depths, have more rounded corners to prevent catching and luminous dials for reading in the murky depths. Also divers chronographs are fitted with large bezels that have at least one luminous marking: at the start of a dive the bezel is rotated to place the marking at the extent of time allowed by the air supply giving the ability to very quickly determine how much time remains for safe diving. Surface supplied divers can use the same to make quick calculations of distance traveled over time.
Metered bezels: Many chronographs have a bezel, that is either fixed or can rotate, around the outside of the dial that is marked to specific scales to allow rapid calculations. While any wristwatch can have a bezel, the chronograph stop start feature, as well as the rotation of the bezel, allows more complex calculations or repeated measurements for a series of calculations. The most popular meter is for Tachymeter readings: a simple scale that allows rapid calculations of speed. Other bezels feature Telemeter scale, for distance. The watchmaking company Breitling offers a model with a rotating bezel, in conjunction with another, fixed, meter on the dial, scaled for use as a slide rule for more complex calculations.
Flyback chronographs have a timing hand that can be rapidly reset, or "flyback", to zero. Ordinarily the sweep second hand is stopped to record the time and started again at that spot on the dial, or reset by spinning the second hand all the way to zero again, clockwise. The flyback allows a reading and a quick reset—a counterclockwise flyback—for the next measurement to start at zero.
A "rattrapante", sometimes called a "double chronograph", has multiple second hands, at least one of which can be stopped and started independently. When not activated, the second hands travel together, one under the other, to appear as just one second hand.
A "tourbillon", although not strictly limited to chronographs, is an escapement set in a cage and placed in a rotating balance in order to minimize the effects of gravity on the escapement and increase precision. Because chronograph escapements are generally larger and connect with more complications, a tourbillion in a chronograph will differ from a tourbillion in a more simple timepiece.
Other types of modern-day chronographs are the "automatic chronograph" and the "digital chronograph". The automatic chronograph depends solely on kinetic energy as its power source, while the digital chronograph is much like the common stopwatch and uses a battery to gain power, as well as quartz for timing.
Other, more specific, types of chronographs include split second chronographs, tide chronographs, and asthometer chronographs. Each of these chronographs has an added feature that sets them apart.
Telemeter.
The "telemeter chronograph" allows the user to approximately measure the distance to an event that can be both seen and heard (e.g. a lightning bolt or a torpedo strike) using the speed of sound. The user starts the chronograph (stopwatch) at the instant the event is seen, and stops timing at the instant the event is heard. The seconds hand will point to the distance measured on a scale, usually around the edge of the face. The scale can be defined in any unit of distance, but miles or kilometers are most practical and commonplace.


Calls per second


Vernier spectroscopy

Vernier spectroscopy is a type of cavity enhanced laser absorption spectroscopy that is especially sensitive to trace gases. The method uses a frequency comb laser combined with a high finesse optical cavity to produce an absorption spectrum in a highly parallel manner. The method is also capable of detecting trace gases in very low concentration due to the enhancement effect of the optical resonator on the effective optical path length.
Overview of method.
Understanding of the principle of operation of Vernier spectroscopy requires an understanding of frequency comb lasers. The oscillating electric field of a laser (or any time dependent signal) can be represented by a sum of sinusoidal signals in the frequency domain using the Fourier series. The oscillating electric field of a coherent, continuous-wave (cw) laser is represented as a single narrow peak in the frequency domain representation. If the laser is amplitude-modulated to produce a stable train of very short pulses (usually through mode-locking), the equivalent frequency domain representation is a series of narrow frequency peaks centered around the laser's original cw frequency. These frequency peaks are separated by the frequency of the time domain pulses. This is called the repetition rate of the frequency comb.
Since the sensitivity of absorption spectroscopy depends on the path length of the light in the test sample, cavity enhanced spectroscopy attains high sensitivity by creating multiple passes through the sample, effectively multiplying the path length. Vernier spectroscopy uses a high finesse cavity to produce a large enhancement. A high finesse optical cavity will also produce a sharp resonance condition, where only light that is coupled into it with frequencies coinciding with a harmonic of the free spectral range of the cavity will produce constructive interference and an appreciable output of the cavity.
There will only be appreciable output from the optical resonator when a frequency peak from the frequency-comb laser coincides with a harmonic of the free spectral range of the cavity. In Vernier spectroscopy, the ratio of the repetition rate of the frequency comb to the free spectral range of the cavity is N/(N-1), where N is an integer, so that only every N peak of the frequency comb will satisfy the resonance condition of the optical cavity and propagate through it and the sample. This is chosen so that the two sets of resonances form a Vernier scale, giving the name to the technique. This is essential because a typical frequency comb repetition rate is on the order of radio frequencies, making the task of resolving and detecting individual frequency components difficult. If N is made to be large, then the frequency separation of the resonator output peaks will be large enough to be resolved by a simple grating spectrometer. If the length of the cavity is changed slightly, usually by a piezoelectric actuator, then the free spectral range of the cavity will also change. This changing FSR develops a new set of resonances with the frequency comb as the scan proceeds, effectively scanning through the sets of 'filtered out' peaks of the frequency comb.
The individual frequency components of the transmitted light are spatially separated using a simple spectrometer, usually a diffraction grating. In order to achieve a highly parallel measurement of the individual frequency components transmitted through the sample and out of the cavity, a CCD camera capable of operating in the spectral range of the laser light is used. In the case of the diffraction grating, the frequency components are separated in one spatial direction and focused into the CCD camera. In order to take advantage of the other spatial direction of the CCD, the light is scanned across the perpendicular direction of the CCD at the same time that the cavity length is scanned using an actuator. This produces a grid of peaks on the CCD image corresponding to a mode matching condition between the frequency comb and optical cavity.
Example apparatus.
A simple realization of the Vernier spectroscopy setup has five basic components: a frequency comb, a scannable high finesse optical cavity, a diffraction grating, rotating mirror, and a CCD camera. The trace gas to be measured is put between the mirrors of the optical cavity to allow for optical path enhancement. The frequency comb is coupled into the resonator and made to form a Vernier ratio with the response function. The output of the cavity is reflected off a diffraction grating, providing angular separation of the frequency components of the beam. The diffracted beam is then reflected off the rotatable mirror and then focused onto the CCD camera. Three things must then happen in synchronization. The optical cavity scans through a free spectral range of the cavity while the rotating mirror simultaneously scans the direction perpendicular to the diffraction grating's diffraction plane. These two actions can be synchronized by means of a periodic ramp voltage which controls both the cavity scan (accomplished by a piezoelectric actuator) and mirror rotation (controlled by a stepper motor). If the CCD camera's exposure time is also set equal to the ramp voltage period, the resulting CCD image is a two dimensional matrix of approximately Gaussian peaks. In this manner, an entire spectrum is produced in the period of the ramp voltage. The time it takes to obtain a spectrum is limited by the cavity scan time, rotating mirror response, and minimum camera exposure time. This particular Vernier spectroscopy scheme is capable of producing an absorption spectrum of a trace gas (<1 ppmV) with tens of thousands of data points in less than a second.
Vernier spectroscopy produces a kind of 2-dimensional spectral pattern on the CCD image, a matrix of approximately Gaussian peaks. The integrated intensity of each Gaussian peak gives the transmitted intensity through the test gas, while the position of the peak also gives information about the relative frequency of the peak. Additional information about the phase shift of the light transmitted by the test gas can be extracted from the shape of the individual peaks present on the image. Although all of the spectral information is contained in the images produced by the CCD, some amount of image processing is required to convert the CCD image into a traditional one-dimensional spectrum


Nancy Geller

Marilyn Nancy Lorch Geller (born 1944) is an American biostatistician, the director of biostatistics research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and a former president of the American Statistical Association.
Education.
Geller studied mathematics at the City College of New York, graduating in 1965. She then went to Case Western Reserve University for graduate study in mathematics, earning a master's degree in 1967 and completing her doctorate in 1972. Although she had enjoyed probability theory as an undergraduate, and entered graduate school intending to study the same subject, she ended up doing her graduate work in statistics.
Her dissertation, supervised by Lajos Takács, was "On distribution of Some Kolmogrov-Smirnov Type Statistics".
Career.
Geller took faculty positions in statistics at the University of Rochester from 1970 to 1972 and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1978. Uninterested in economics, she moved again to do biostatistics at the Medical College of Pennsylvania from 1978 to 1979 and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 1979 to 1990, when she took her position at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
She served as president of the American Statistical Association for 2011.
Awards and honors.
Geller became a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1993.
She is the 2009 winner of the Janet L. Norwood Award For Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Statistical Sciences.


2996 Bowman


4824 Stradonice


Responsions

Responsions was the first of the three examinations formerly required for acceptance for an academic degree at the University of Oxford. It was nicknamed Little Go and was normally taken by students prior to or shortly after matriculation, on the basis that without standardised qualifications from school examinations, the University had to verify for itself the quality of the students that colleges were accepting. The examination consisted of comparatively simple questions on Latin, Ancient Greek, and mathematics. It was abolished in 1960. John Henry Newman wrote to his father on 29 May 1818: "I go up for my Little tomorrow", and records in his journal for the following day that he had 'passed Responsions'.
"Responsions" derives from Anglo-French "responsion" from Latin "responsio" "a reply or an answer", from the Latin verb "respondeo", to answer, or give a response.
Similar examinations.
University of Cambridge.
The equivalent at Cambridge to Responsions at Oxford was the Previous Examination, so called because it was taken a year previous to graduation; it was often called the 'Little Go'. Says one writer of the Cambridge 'Little Go':
Brewer (1894) defines Little Go as:
"The examination held in the Cambridge University in the second year of residence. Called also "the previous examination", because it precedes by a year the examination for a degree. In Oxford the corresponding examination is called The Smalls."
However the 1996 edition of Brewer gives:
"A nickname for the former Previous (Entrance) Examination for undergraduates at Cambridge, unless excused on account of successes at other examinations. It ceased to operate after 1961, owing to new regulations."
Other sources also suggest that at some point the Little-Go came to refer to the entrance examination.
Karl Pearson's obituary of Raphael Weldon (p. 8) refers to Weldon "preparing (c. 1877) for Little-Go and the London Preliminary Scientific. For the classical part of the former he seems to have worked by himself." Pearson also refers to 'Little-Go' in Cambridge in 1842 in his biography of Francis Galton. Taking the examination was called 'having a little go' and the counterpart of taking Part II examinations (final year) was 'having a great go'. Both are not now used.
University of Dublin.
The Final Freshman examination at the University of Dublin was also termed 'Little-go', which all students whether Honours or Pass had to pass till 1959 if they were to rise to Sophister standing. The ordinary undergraduate course in Arts itself (along with the Little Go examination) was abolished in 1979.
In Literature.
H.G. Wells references the 'Little-go' in his novella The Time Machine:


Saxophonics

Saxophonics is the creation of sounds (both musical and non-musical) through the use of a saxophone and one or more electronic effects units, often altering the acoustic sound of the horn beyond recognition. Additionally, saxophonics often entails the use of altissimo, overtones, growling, and other extended techniques. The electronic effects may include distortion, doublers, loops, wah-wah, and tone generators.
Saxophonics is a recent term for techniques developed by saxophonists such as Eddie Harris and Sonny Stitt, who both began using the Varitone system to electrically amplify their saxophones during the late 1960s. In addition to playing the Varitone, Eddie Harris had experimented with looping techniques on his 1968 album "Silver Cycles". David Sanborn and Traffic member Chris Wood employed effects such as wah-wah and delay on various recordings during the 1970s.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk often played several saxophones at once (though this technique has earlier roots in Wilbur Sweatman's vaudeville performances.), Kirk was also a notable practitioner of circular breathing, allowing him to play lengthy passages without pause.
Recent practitioners of saxophonics include Dana Colley (of Morphine) who, like Kirk, plays multiple saxophones simultaneously (tenor and baritone saxophone in Colley's case) and Skerik (Critters Buggin', "et al.") who employs numerous effects with tenor and baritone saxophone; Ben Ellman, who plays tenor and baritone saxophone in Galactic; and Cochemea Gastelum, who plays alto saxophone with Robert Walter's 20th Congress.
Saxophonics is also the name of at least one saxophone ensemble, such as one based in Wiltshire, and another in Newcastle upon Tyne.


SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2

In the U.S., the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 (formerly known as Math II or Math IIC, the "C" representing the sanctioned use of a calculator) was a one-hour multiple choice test. The questions covered a broad range of topics. Approximately 10-14% of questions focused on numbers and operations, 48-52% focused on algebra and functions, 28-32% focused on geometry (coordinate, three-dimensional, and trigonometric geometry were covered; plane geometry was not directly tested), and 8-12% focused on data analysis, statistics and probability. Compared to Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 was more advanced. Whereas the Mathematics 1 test covered Algebra II and basic trigonometry, a pre-calculus class was good preparation for Mathematics 2. On January 19 2021, the College Board discontinued all SAT Subject tests, including the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2. This was effective immediately in the United States, and the tests were to be phased out by the following summer for international students. This was done as a response to changes in college admissions due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education.
Format.
The test had 50 multiple choice questions that were to be answered in one hour. All questions had five answer choices. Students received 1 point for every correct answer, lost ¼ of a point for each incorrect answer, and received 0 points for questions left blank.
Calculator use.
The College Board stated that a calculator "may be useful or necessary" for about 55-60% of the questions on the test. The College Board also encouraged the use of a graphing calculator over a scientific calculator, saying that the test was "developed with the expectation that most students are using graphing calculators."
For the Mathematics Level Two test, students were not permitted to use calculators that have a QWERTY format keyboard, require an electrical outlet, make noise, use paper tape, have non-traditional methods of input (such as a stylus), or are part of a communication device (such as PDAs, laptops, or cell phones).
Preparation.
The College Board suggested as preparation for the test four years of mathematics, including two years of algebra, one year of geometry, and one year of either precalculus or trigonometry.
While the precalculus or trigonometry course may have been good preparation for this test, students could have needed to buy extra resource materials if they want to score beyond a 700. The exam covered several years of mathematics, and students were expected to work quickly and efficiently.
Scoring.
For each of the 50 multiple choice questions, students received 1 point for every correct answer, lost ¼ of a point for each incorrect answer, and received 0 points for questions left blank. This created a "raw score", which was then converted into a "scaled score". The conversion between these numbers varied depending on the difficulty of a particular test administration. The "scaled score" was the only score reported to either students or colleges, and ranged from 200 to 800, with 800 being the best possible score. The standard deviation of the test scores in 2006 was 105.
15 percent of the 2012 college-bound seniors taking the test received a perfect score of 800.


Christiane Bonnelle

Christiane Bonnelle (, died 21 August 2016) was a French physicist and pioneering spectroscopist, who served as professor emeritus at Pierre and Marie Curie University.
Career and Education.
Bonnelle studied at the Sorbonne, from which she received Bachelor of science and Doctor of science degrees. After completing her degree, Bonnelle worked at CNRS in 1955 where she worked as an intern and then researcher. In 1960 she started working as an assistant professor at the Sorbonne, becoming a professor in 1967. She moved to Pierre and Marie Curie University in 1974, where she became director of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry in 1979. Bonnelle worked in this role until 1990.
Research.
Bonnelle's research on solid-solid interfaces produced developments in the measurement of the nanometre, which facilitated developments in electron probes produced by CAMECA.
Awards.
In 1967 she received a CNRS bronze medal. She is also a chevalier of the "Ordre des Palmes Académiques".


Kate Calder

Catherine A. "Kate" Calder is an American statistician who works as chair of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She was previously a professor of statistics at Ohio State University. Calder earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Northwestern University in 1999, and completed her Ph.D. in statistics from Duke University in 2003 under the joint supervision of David Higdon and Michael L. Lavine. She joined the Ohio State faculty in 2003, and was promoted to full professor in 2015.
In 2013 she won the Young Investigator Award of the American Statistical Association (ASA), and in 2014 she was elected as a Fellow of the ASA "for outstanding contributions to the development of Bayesian statistical methodology for spatial and spatiotemporal data; for significant multidisciplinary collaborations; for excellence in teaching and mentoring graduate students both in statistics and in other disciplines; and for service to the profession."


Fahrenheit hydrometer

The Fahrenheit hydrometer is a device used to measure the density of a liquid. It was invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), better known for his work in thermometry.
Operation.
The Fahrenheit hydrometer is a constant-volume device that will float in water. In the figure shown here, the hydrometer is floating vertically in a cylinder containing a liquid. At the bottom of the hydrometer is a weighted bulb and at the top is a pan for small weights. To use the hydrometer, one first accurately determines its weight (W) while it is dry. Next, the device is placed in water, and a weight (w) sufficient to sink a marked point on the rod to the water-line is placed on the pan. At that point, the weight of water displaced by the instrument equals W + w. The hydrometer is then removed, wiped dry, and placed in the liquid whose density is to be determined. A weight (x) sufficient to sink the hydrometer to the same marked point is placed in the pan. The density (D) of the second liquid is then given by D = (W + x) / (W + w).
The Fahrenheit hydrometer can be made of either glass or metal.
The Nicholson hydrometer is similar in design, but instead of a weighted bulb at the bottom there is a small container ("basket") into which a sample can be placed.


Stadiometer

A stadiometer is a piece of medical equipment used for measuring human height. It is usually constructed out of a ruler and a sliding horizontal headpiece which is adjusted to rest on the top of the head. Stadiometers are used in routine medical examinations and also clinical tests and experiments.
Devices with similar concept, although with higher resolutions, are used in industrial metrology applications, where they are called height gauges.


Jie Chen (statistician)

Jie Chen is a statistician who works as a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the Medical College of Georgia. As well as biostatistics, her research interests include change detection.
Chen earned a bachelor's degree in statistics from Chongqing University in China in 1985, and became a lecturer at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics from 1985 to 1988. She returned to graduate school for a master's degree from the University of Akron in 1990, and a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University in 1995, under the supervision of Arjun Kumar Gupta.
She joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1995, and was department chair from 2008 until 2014, when she moved to Georgia.
In 2014 she was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association "for significant contributions to change point problems and their applications to genomics data; for high-impact collaborative research in biological research; for excellence in teaching and mentoring students; and for dedicated service to the profession."


Geocentric orbit

A geocentric orbit or Earth orbit involves any object orbiting the Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997 NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting the Earth and 6,216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center. Over 16,291 previously launched objects have decayed into the Earth's atmosphere.
A spacecraft enters orbit when its centripetal acceleration due to gravity is less than or equal to the centrifugal acceleration due to the horizontal component of its velocity. For a low Earth orbit, this velocity is about ; by contrast, the fastest manned airplane speed ever achieved (excluding speeds achieved by deorbiting spacecraft) was in 1967 by the North American X-15. The energy required to reach Earth orbital velocity at an altitude of is about 36 MJ/kg, which is six times the energy needed merely to climb to the corresponding altitude.
Spacecraft with a perigee below about are subject to drag from the Earth's atmosphere, which decreases the orbital altitude. The rate of orbital decay depends on the satellite's cross-sectional area and mass, as well as variations in the air density of the upper atmosphere. Below about , decay becomes more rapid with lifetimes measured in days. Once a satellite descends to , it has only hours before it vaporizes in the atmosphere. The escape velocity required to pull free of Earth's gravitational field altogether and move into interplanetary space is about .
Geocentric orbit types.
The following is a list of different geocentric orbit classifications.


LExan Bubble Chamber

The construction of the LExan Bubble Chamber, LEBC, was approved by the CERN Research Board on 16 November 1978.
Bubble chambers are similar to cloud chambers, both in application and in basic principle. A chamber is normally made by filling a large cylinder with a liquid heated to just below its boiling point. As particles enter the chamber, a piston suddenly decreases its pressure, and the liquid enters into a superheated, metastable phase. Charged particles create an ionization track, around which the liquid vaporizes, forming microscopic bubbles. Bubble density around a track is proportional to a particle's energy loss. Bubbles grow in size as the chamber expands, until they are large enough to be seen or photographed. Several cameras are mounted around it, allowing a three-dimensional image of an event to be captured.
LEBC was 20 centimetres in diameter and contained one litre of liquid hydrogen. It was designed to look for charmed particles, a type of particles that are so unstable that they usually decay too quickly to be detected in big bubble chambers. The bubbles in a small chamber like LEBC were about ten times smaller compared to the bubbles in the large chambers. Hence, LEBC had a higher probability of detecting short tracks.<ref name="No. 10/80"></ref>
LEBC was used for several CERN experiments in Geneva, among others NA13, NA16 and NA27, before it was transported to Fermilab outside Chicago where it was used for experiment E743.
The NA13 experiment was performed by exposing LEBC without any down-stream particle spectrometer. While for the NA16 experiment, LEBC was placed at the vertex position of the European Hybrid Spectrometer (EHS) that provided momentum analysis, particle identification and gamma detection for secondaries emerging from the hydrogen interactions.


Mass interconnect

Mass interconnect systems act as the connector interface between test instruments (PXI, VXI, LXI, GPIB, SCXI, & PCI) and devices/units under test (D/UUT) and are most often used in defense, aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, and other applications. By mating a receiver on the tester side with an interchangeable test adapter (ITA) on the UUT, a mass interconnect enables the entire system to mate together at one time. Mass interconnect systems are available in multiple sizes and configurations to accommodate virtually any testing requirement.
Companies that manufacture mass interconnects include VPC and MAC Panel Company.


AI Phoenicis

AI Phoenicis is a variable star in the constellation of Phoenix. An Algol-type eclipsing binary, its apparent magnitude is constant at 8.58 for most of the time, sharply dropping to 9.35 during primary eclipse and to 8.89 during secondary eclipse. The system's variability was discovered by W. Strohmeier in 1972. From parallax measurements by the Gaia spacecraft, the system is located at a distance of from Earth, in agreement with earlier estimates based on its luminosity (173 ± 11 parsecs).
The primary star is a K-type subgiant with a spectral type of K0IV and an effective temperature of 5,000 K, while the secondary is an F-type main sequence star with a spectral type of F7V and a temperature of 6,300 K. The primary component, while visually fainter, is slightly more luminous than the secondary due to its higher infrared output. The primary is at the end of its main sequence life and is likely in the short contraction phase known as a hook, where core hydrogen fusion has ceased but shell burning has not yet started, before ascending towards the red giant branch. Photometric and spectroscopic observations have allowed the direct determination of the parameters of the stars with extreme precision, and this system is frequently used to test stellar evolution models. The masses of the stars, 1.247 for the primary and 1.197 for the secondary, are known to a precision of just 0.3%, while the radii of 2.91 and 1.84 have uncertainties of 0.8% and 0.5% respectively. Stellar evolution models show the stars have a common age of about 4.4 billion years.
The orbit of AI Phoenicis has a period of 24.59248 days and a moderate eccentricity of 0.1821 ± 0.0051. The observation of eclipses is allowed by its 88.5° inclination to the plane of the sky. Times of minimum light show the orbital period of the system is not constant, which can be caused by a third star in the system. An analysis of the alignment of the system by the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect suggests that the secondary star rotation axis is not aligned with the orbital axis, with an angle of 87 ± 17° between them, which also indicates interactions with a third star.
Investigations continue with the TESS observatory in 2020. See Arxiv astro-ph.SR/
2003.09295


RF resistance architecture

RF resistance architecture is a feature found on microphones designed to protect the sensitive circuitry from outside radio frequency interference. The name is a trade mark from Astatic Corporation in Solon, Ohio. Certifications from the European Union have been established to certify products with this feature.


List of tests

The following is an alphabetized and categorized list of notable tests.


4256 Kagamigawa


RCA Type 77-DX microphone

The RCA Type 77-DX microphone is a poly-directional ribbon microphone, or pressure-gradient microphone, introduced by the RCA Corporation in 1954. It was preceded by the Type 77-D introduced in 1948. Its popularity and classic design has resulted in the 77-DX becoming an iconic microphone, used by broadcasters and media personalities such as Edward R. Murrow, David Letterman and Larry King.
Controls.
The directionality of the 77-DX is variable. A rotating backshutter on the acoustic labyrinth, controlled by a screwdriver-operated slot at the rear of the microphone, allows the user to vary the microphone's pattern from omnidirectional in the fully closed position, to cardioid, to figure-8 (bidirectional) in the fully open position. A 3-position switch at the bottom end of the microphone allows the user to control the desired amount of low-frequency rolloff.
Response and output characteristics.
At 1 kHz, the 77-DX has an output of -50 to -56dbm, depending on the pattern selection. The output impedance is user-selectable; factory preset at 250 ohms, and changeable to 30 or 150 ohms. The microphone has a fairly flat response. In the cardioid (unidirectional) pattern, it is level from approximately 150 Hz to 2 kHz, with a slight rise peaking at just under 5 kHz, then dropping approximately 3dB/octave to 20 kHz.
User techniques.
The 77-DX has been used on countless vocal recordings by Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Al Green, and many others. It is still sought after today for use in recording brass instruments.
The foil ribbon element in a 77-DX will respond to gravitational force as the microphone is positioned or tilted. Audio engineers experienced with the 77-DX typically suspend, hang or position the microphone at various angles to achieve a variety of desired frequency response characteristics. For example, with the microphone suspended, a slight tilt on the horizontal axis will cause the ribbon to 'sag' slightly, resulting in a noticeable boost in the lower-midrange frequencies.
The ribbon is positioned inside the housing in such a way that fricatives may cause popping sounds, due to the explosion of air directly into the ribbon. A common solution to this problem has been to attach a pencil vertically across the front of the microphone. The pencil deflects a vocalist's breath as it reaches the microphone, and prevents it from hitting the ribbon directly.


Hidden Shoal Recordings

Hidden Shoal is an independent record label and music publisher based in Perth, Western Australia.
Launched in 2006 by Cameron Merton, Stuart Medley and Malcolm Riddoch, Hidden Shoal is home to more than 40 international artists and an eclectic catalogue of music from across indie, experimental, post-rock, electronic and ambient music. Hidden Shoal's publishing arm licenses music for use in film, TV, games, web, compilations and other media.


Trinity College London ESOL

Trinity College London ESOL is an international English Language examinations board delivering assessments in English language learning and teaching and has been offering English language examinations since 1938. Trinity College London's exams are taken by over 850,000 candidates in over 60 countries each year.
Language certificates offered include English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) for non-native speakers of English (learning), and Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) for teachers of non-native speakers of English (teaching). Trinity College London provides the following examinations:
Secure English Language Test (SELT).
Secure English Language Tests (SELTs) are provided at ten Trinity SELT centres in the UK only. The tests are approved for applications to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) for visas, British Citizenship and Leave to Remain (LTR). The approved SELTs are Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) at CEFR A1, A2 and B1 levels; Integrated Skills in English (ISE) at B1, B2 and C1 levels.
Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE).
The Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) test candidates' ability in listening and speaking.
There are four Stages with three Grades at each Stage:
Integrated Skills in English (ISE).
Integrated Skills in English examinations (ISE) assess all four language skills - Speaking, Writing, Listening and Reading – interacting with each other as they do in the real world making them suitable assessments for many business and academic organisations. There are five ISE levels – ISE 0, ISE I, ISE II, ISE III, ISE IV.
ISE is accepted by academic institutions in the UK as evidence of English language proficiency for International students.
Learners can choose to take ISE exams on their own or combine them with the spoken grades (GESE) as they progress in their English language abilities.
UK ESOL Examinations.
These certificates are for ESOL learners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, designed in accordance with the UK Adult ESOL Core Curriculum.
ESOL Skills for Life certificates<br>
These assessments are offered in Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing and are available from Entry 1 to Level 2 in the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF). Trinity is the only examinations board to also offer pre-RQF assessments (non-accredited) in Speaking and Listening – ESOL Step 1 and Step 2.
ESOL Skills for Life is externally assessed by a Trinity examiner.
Teaching Qualifications (TESOL/TEFL).
Trinity College London also offers TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) qualifications - this is also known sometimes as TEFL or TESL qualifications. Trinity's TESOL qualifications are widely recognised by employers and authorities around the world.
Qualifications range from those starting out in a teaching career to senior teaching and management posts.
Trinity also offers Further Education (FE) qualifications, accredited by Standards Verification UK (formerly FENTO):
Inquirers should check that course providers listed as validated as of July 2006 are still validated by Trinity College London.
Academic Recognition.
Trinity ESOL qualifications are accredited by the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority QCA, and its respective partners in Wales and Northern Ireland. They are listed in the UK's UCAS (University and Colleges Admissions Services) guide to qualifications acceptable as evidence of English language competency.
UCAS considers an English language competency equivalent to NQF Levels 1 or 2 as appropriate for entry to UK Higher Education. The UCAS guides list the following Trinity ESOL qualifications acceptable as evidence of proficiency in English.
Comparison table for Trinity ESOL, Cambridge English Language Assessment and IELTS examinations
Worldwide accreditation varies from country to country.
Link to Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).
The Trinity suite of exams are linked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages(CEFR). This framework sets standards in foreign language learning/teaching across Europe, by categorising learners into six levels of ability. The
Trinity ESOL exams fit into this framework as shown in the table


Brillouin spectroscopy

Brillouin spectroscopy is an empirical spectroscopy technique which allows the determination of elastic moduli of materials. The technique uses inelastic scattering of light when it encounters acoustic phonons in a crystal, a process known as Brillouin scattering, to determine phonon energies and therefore interatomic potentials of a material. The scattering occurs when an electromagnetic wave interacts with a density wave, photon-phonon scattering.
This technique is commonly used to determine the elastic properties of materials in mineral physics and material science. Brillouin spectroscopy can be used to determine the complete elastic tensor of a given material which is required in order to understand the bulk elastic properties.
Comparison with Raman spectroscopy.
Brillouin spectroscopy is similar to Raman spectroscopy in many ways; in fact the physical scattering processes involved are identical. However, the type of information gained is significantly different. The process observed in Raman spectroscopy, Raman scattering, primarily involves high frequency molecular vibrational modes. Information relating to modes of vibration, such as the six normal modes of vibration of the carbonate ion, (CO3)2−, can be obtained through a Raman spectroscopy study shedding light on structure and chemical composition, whereas Brillouin scattering involves the scattering of photons by low frequency phonons providing information regarding elastic properties. Optical phonons and molecular vibrations measured in Raman spectroscopy typically have wavenumbers between 10 and 4000 cm−1, while phonons involved in Brillouin scattering are on the order of 0.1–6 cm−1. This roughly two order of magnitude difference becomes obvious when attempting to perform Raman spectroscopy vs. Brillouin spectroscopy experiments.
In Brillouin scattering, and similarly Raman scattering, both energy and momentum are conserved in the relations:
Where and are the angular frequency and wavevector of the photon, respectively. While the phonon angular frequency and wavevector are and . The subscripts and denote the incident and scattered waves. The first equation is the result of the application of the conservation of energy to the system of the incident photon, the scattered photon, and the interacting phonon. Applying conservation of energy also sheds light upon the frequency regime in which Brillouin scattering occurs. The energy imparted on an incident photon from a phonon is relatively small, generally around 5-10% that of the photon's energy. Given an approximate frequency of visible light, ~1014 GHz, it is easy to see that Brillouin scattering generally lies in the GHz regime.
The second equation describes the application of conservation of momentum to the system. The phonon, which is either generated or annihilated, has a wavevector which is a linear combination of the incident and scattered wavevectors. This orientation will become more apparent and important when the orientation of the experimental setup is discussed.
The equations describe both the constructive (Stokes) and destructive (anti-Stokes) interactions between a photon and phonon. Stokes scattering describes the interaction scenario in which the material absorbs the photon, creating a phonon, inelastically emitting a photon with a lower energy than that of the absorbed photon. Anti-Stokes scattering describes the interaction scenario in which the incoming photon absorbs a phonon, phonon annihilation, and a photon with a higher energy than that of absorbed photon is emitted. The figure illustrates the differences between Raman scattering and Brillouin scattering along with Stokes and anti-Stokes interactions as is seen in experimental data.
The figure depicts three important details. The first is the Rayleigh line, the peak which has been suppressed at 0 cm−1. This peak is a result of Rayleigh scattering, a form of elastic scattering from the incident photons and the sample. Rayleigh scattering occurs when the induced polarization of the atoms, resulting from the incident photons, does not couple with possible vibrational modes of the atoms. The resulting emitted radiation has the same energy as the incident radiation, meaning no frequency shift is observed. This peak is generally quite intense and is not of direct interest for Brillouin spectroscopy. In an experiment, the incident light is most often a high power laser. This results in a very intense Rayleigh peak which has the ability to wash out the Brillouin peaks of interest. In order to adjust for this, most spectrum are plotted with the Rayleigh peak either filtered out or suppressed.
The second noteworthy aspect of the figure is the distinction between Brillouin and Raman peaks. As previously mentioned, Brillouin peaks range from 0.1 cm−1 to approximately 6 cm−1 while Raman scattering wavenumbers ranges from 10–10000 cm−1. As Brillouin and Raman spectroscopy probe two fundamentally different interaction regimes this is not too large of an inconvenience. The fact that Brillouin interactions are such low frequency however creates technical challenges when performing experiments for which a Fabry-Perot interferometer are usually used in order to overcome. A Raman spectroscopy system is generally less technically complicated and can be performed with a diffraction grating–based spectrometer. In some cases a single grating–based spectrometer has been used to collect both Brillouin and Raman spectra from a sample.
The figure also highlights the difference between Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering. Stokes scattering, positive photon creation, is displayed as a positive shift in wavenumber. Anti-Stokes scattering, negative photon annihilation, is displayed as a negative shift in wavenumber. The locations of peaks are symmetric about the Rayleigh line because they correspond to the same energy level transition but of a different sign.
In practice, six Brillouin lines of interest are generally seen in a Brillouin spectrum. Acoustic waves have three polarization directions one longitudinal and two transverse directions each being orthogonal to the others. Solids can be considered nearly incompressible, within an appropriate pressure regime, as a result, longitudinal waves, which are transmitted via compression parallel to the propagation direction, can transmit their energy through the material easily and thus travel quickly. The motion of transverse waves, on the other hand, is perpendicular to the propagation direction and is thus less easily propagated through the medium. As a result, longitudinal waves travel more quickly through solids than transverse waves. An example of this can be seen in quartz with an approximate acoustic longitudinal wave velocity of 5965 m/s and transverse wave velocity of 3750 m/s. Fluids cannot support transverse waves. As a result, transverse wave signals are not found in Brillouin spectra of fluids. The equation shows the relationship between acoustic wave velocity, , angular frequency , and phonon wavenumber, .
According to the equation, acoustic waves with varying speeds will appear on the Brillouin spectra with varying wavenumbers: faster waves with higher magnitude wavenumbers and slower waves with smaller wavenumbers. Therefore, three distinct Brillouin lines will be observable. In isotropic solids, the two transverse waves will be degenerate, as they will be traveling along elastically identical crystallographic planes. In non-isotropic solids the two transverse waves will be distinguishable from one another, but not distinguishable as being horizontally or vertically polarized without a deeper understanding of the material being studied. They are then generically labeled transverse 1 and transverse 2.
Applications.
Brillouin spectroscopy is a valuable tool for determining the complete elastic tensor, formula_4, of solids. The elastic tensor is an 81 component 3x3x3x3 matrix which, through Hooke's Law, relates stress and strain within a given material. The number of independent elastic constants found within the elastic tensor can be reduced through symmetry operations and depends on the symmetry of a given material ranging from 2 for non-crystalline substances or 3 for cubic crystals to 21 for systems with triclinic symmetry. The tensor is unique to given materials and thus must be independently determined for each material in order to understand their elastic properties. The elastic tensor is especially important to mineral physicist and seismologists looking to understand the bulk, polycrystalline, properties of deep Earth minerals. It is possible to determine elastic properties of materials such as the adiabatic bulk modulus, formula_5, without first finding the complete elastic tensor through techniques such as the determination of an equation of state through a compression study. Elastic properties found in this way, however, do not scale well to bulk systems such as those found within rock assemblages in the Earth's mantle. In order to calculate the elastic properties of bulk material with randomly oriented crystals the elastic tensor is needed.
Using Equation 3, it is possible to determine the sound velocity through a material. In order to obtain the elastic tensor the Christoffel Equation needs to be applied:
formula_6
The Christoffel Equation is essentially an eigenvalue problem which relates the elastic tensor, formula_4, to the crystal orientation and the orientation of the incident light, formula_8, to a matrix, formula_9, whose eigenvalues are equal to ρV2, where ρ is density and V is acoustic velocity. The polarization matrix, formula_10, contains the corresponding polarizations of the propagating waves.
Using the equation, where formula_8 and formula_12 are known from the experimental setup and is determined from the Brillouin spectra, it is possible to determine formula_4, given the density of the material.
For specific symmetries the relationship between a specific combination of elastic constants, , and acoustic wave velocities, ρV2, have been determined and tabulated. For example, in a cubic system formula_4 reduces to 3 independent components. Equation 5 shows the complete elastic tensor for a cubic material. The relations between the elastic constants and can be found in Table 1.
In a cubic material it is possible to determine the complete elastic tensor from pure longitudinal and pure transverse phonon velocities.
In order make the above calculations the phonon wavevector, , must be pre-determined from the geometry of the experiment. There are three main Brillouin spectroscopy geometries: 90 degree scattering, backscattering, and platelet geometry.
Frequency shift.
The frequency shift of the incident laser light due to Brillouin scattering is given by
where formula_16 is the angular frequency of the light, formula_17 is the velocity of acoustic waves (speed of sound in the medium), formula_18 is the index of refraction, formula_19 is the vacuum speed of light, and formula_20 is the angle of incidence of the light.


Werckmeister temperament

Werckmeister temperaments are the tuning systems described by Andreas Werckmeister in his writings. The tuning systems are numbered in two different ways: the first refers to the order in which they were presented as "good temperaments" in Werckmeister's 1691 treatise, the second to their labelling on his monochord. The monochord labels start from III since just intonation is labelled I and quarter-comma meantone is labelled II.
The tunings I (III), II (IV) and III (V) were presented graphically by a cycle of fifths and a list of major thirds, giving the temperament of each in fractions of a comma. Werckmeister used the organbuilder's notation of ^ for a downwards tempered or narrowed interval and v for an upward tempered or widened one. (This appears counterintuitive - it is based on the use of a conical tuning tool which would reshape the ends of the pipes.) A pure fifth is simply a dash. Werckmeister was not explicit about whether the syntonic comma or Pythagorean comma was meant: the difference between them, the so-called schisma, is almost inaudible and he stated that it could be divided up among the fifths.
The last "Septenarius" tuning was not conceived in terms of fractions of a comma, despite some modern authors' attempts to approximate it by some such method. Instead, Werckmeister gave the string lengths on the monochord directly, and from that calculated how each fifth ought to be tempered.
Werckmeister I (III): "correct temperament" based on 1/4 comma divisions.
This tuning uses mostly pure (perfect) fifths, as in Pythagorean tuning, but each of the fifths C-G, G-D, D-A and B-F is made smaller, i.e. tempered by 1/4 of the comma. No matter if the Pythagorean comma or the syntonic comma is used, the resulting tempered fifths are for all practical purposes the same as meantone temperament fifths. All major thirds are reasonably close to 400 cents and, because not all fifths are tempered, there is no wolf fifth and all 12 notes can be used as the tonic.
Werckmeister designated this tuning as particularly suited for playing chromatic music ("ficte"), which may have led to its popularity as a tuning for J.S. Bach's music in recent years.
Because a quarter of the Pythagorean comma is formula_1, or formula_2, it is possible to calculate exact mathematical values for the frequency relationships and intervals:
Werckmeister II (IV): another temperament included in the Orgelprobe, divided up through 1/3 comma.
In Werckmeister II the fifths C-G, D-A, E-B, F-C, and B-F are tempered narrow by 1/3 comma, and the fifths G-D and E-B are widened by 1/3 comma. The other fifths are pure. Werckmeister designed this tuning for playing mainly diatonic music (i.e. rarely using the "black notes"). Most of its intervals are close to sixth-comma meantone. Werckmeister also gave a table of monochord lengths for this tuning, setting C=120 units, a practical approximation to the exact theoretical values. Following the monochord numbers the G and D are somewhat lower than their theoretical values but other notes are somewhat higher.
Werckmeister III (V): an additional temperament divided up through 1/4 comma.
In Werckmeister III the fifths D-A, A-E, F-C, C-G, and F-C are narrowed by 1/4, and the fifth G-D is widened by 1/4 comma. The other fifths are pure. This temperament is closer to equal temperament than the previous two.
Werckmeister IV (VI): the Septenarius tunings.
This tuning is based on a division of the monochord length into formula_3 parts. The various notes are then defined by which 196-division one should place the bridge on in order to produce their pitches. The resulting scale has rational frequency relationships, so it is mathematically distinct from the irrational tempered values above; however in practice, both involve pure and impure sounding fifths. Werckmeister also gave a version where the total length is divided into 147 parts, which is simply a transposition of the intervals of the 196-tuning. He described the Septenarius as "an additional temperament which has nothing at all to do with the divisions of the comma, nevertheless in practice so correct that one can be really satisfied with it".
One apparent problem with these tunings is the value given to D (or A in the transposed version): Werckmeister writes it as 176. However this produces a musically bad effect because the fifth G-D would then be very flat (more than half a comma); the third B-D would be pure, but D-F would be more than a comma too sharp - all of which contradict the rest of Werckmeister's writings on temperament. In the illustration of the monochord division, the number "176" is written one place too far to the right, where 175 should be. Therefore it is conceivable that the number 176 is a mistake for 175, which gives a musically much more consistent result. Both values are given in the table below.
In the tuning with D=175, the fifths C-G, G-D, D-A, B-F, F-C, and B-F are tempered narrow, while the fifth G-D is tempered wider than pure; the other fifths are pure.


Alfred Msezane

Alfred Z. Msezane is Professor in the Department of Physics at Clark Atlanta University, and Founding Director of the Center for Theoretical Studies of Physical Systems. His research is primarily in Atomic and Molecular Physics Theory and Condensed Matter Theory. He also carries out research in mathematical physics, and image processing.
Education and Career.
Msezane was born in South Africa on December 31, 1938. He obtained his B. Sc and B. Sc (Hons) from the University of South Africa in 1962 and 1964, respectively, studying Physics and Applied Mathematics, and his M. Sc in physics at University of Saskatchewan in 1968. He did research for a year at the Nuclear Physics Research Unit of the Witwatersrand University . He obtained his Ph. D in physics at the University of Western Ontario in 1973.
After spending a year at the University of Western Ontario learning and implementing Modular Teaching to physics students, Msezane moved to Georgia State University in 1974 for his postdoctoral research. He became a college instructor and researcher at the University of New Brunswick in 1976. He served as a visiting professor at Louisiana State University from 1978 to 1980, and joined the faculty of Morehouse College as an assistant professor of physics in 1980.
In 1983 Msezane became professor and served as chair of the physics department from 1986 to 1989 at Atlanta University, which was merged with Clark College in 1988 to become Clark Atlanta University.
Research.
Msezane has published more than 400 physics research papers and given more than 380 presentations at national and international conferences.
He carries out research in theoretical atomic and molecular physics, mathematical physics, condensed matter physics, and image processing.
Msezane developed a fundamental theory to better understand negative ion formation in complex heavy systems and applied it to negative ion catalysis.
He is the founding director of the Center for Theoretical Studies of Physical Systems (CTSPS) at Clark Atlanta University, which was established in 1991 through an approximately 5 million dollar grant by the NSF which was further renewed at the same funding level in 1996.
Awards and honors.
Msezane's awards and honors include:


870 Manto

870 Manto ("prov. designation": "or" ) is a stony background asteroid and slow rotator from the inner region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 12 May 1917, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The likely heavily elongated S-type asteroid has a long rotation period of 122.3 hours and measures approximately in diameter. It was named after Manto, a prophetess in Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification.
"Manto" is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.7–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,293 days; semi-major axis of 2.32 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.27 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first observed as () at Taunton Observatory on 11 October 1907, and again as () at the Simeiz Observatory on 16 October 1914. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Heidelberg Observatory on 12 May 1917.
Naming.
This minor planet was named after Manto from Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Teresias Thebanus and a famous soothsayer, who erected of a temple of Apollo (Apollo Clarius) in Claros. The was also mentioned in "The Names of the Minor Planets" by Paul Herget in 1955 ().
Physical characteristics.
"Manto" is a common stony S-type asteroid in the Bus–Binzel SMASS classification, and in both the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of the Small Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2).
Rotation period.
In September 2013, a rotational lightcurve of "Manto" was obtained from photometric observations by Frederick Pilcher at the Organ Mesa Observatory , New Mexico, in collaboration with Eduardo Manuel Alvarez, Andrea Ferrero, Daniel Klinglesmith and Julian Oey Lightcurve analysis gave an exceptionally long rotation period of hours with a notably high brightness amplitude of magnitude, indicative of an elongated shape (). With a period above 100 hours, the asteroid is a slow rotator. The result supersedes observations by Alain W. Harris from July 1981, and by astronomers at the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in California ().
In 2016, a modeled lightcurve gave a concurring sidereal period of hours using data from a large collaboration of individual observers (such as above). The study also determined two spin axes of (96.0°, 30.0°) and (283.0°, 35.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).
Diameter and albedo.
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), "Manto" measures () and () kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of () and (), respectively. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 13.71 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.68. The WISE team also published an alternative mean-diameter measurement of () with a corresponding albedo of ().


Quint Neck Guitar

The Quint Neck Guitar (also known as a five neck guitar) consists of 5 guitar necks, hardware and pick-ups in one oversized body, used by Rick Nielsen from the rock band Cheap Trick.
History.
The guitar's birth was first conceived on ruled note book paper by musician Rick Nielsen during one of his frequent scribble sessions. He brought the idea to his manufacturer (Hamer Guitars) to build. The original design sought by Rick was a circular guitar allowing him to spin the guitar from neck to neck. This design was scrapped by Hamer due to weight and logistical issues.
Rick Nielsen and Bobby Demonic both have employed several five necks over the years. Nielsen's original "orange Quint neck" with dove tail jointed necks, was retired in the mid-1990s after the top neck snapped off after years of abuse. It was replaced by a black and white with 1/2 inch checkers (Rick's unofficial trademark).
References.
Hamer News


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