Reduce utility bills

Usually, a researcher or scientific researcher is someone who is professionally engaged in scientific research, technological research or engineering research.

There are academic, industrial and government or private institution researchers. For example, at some academic institutions, professors may be differentiated as either “teaching professors” or “research professors”.

In general, every country has its own large national research centers with different research and development (R&D) profiles. They employ numerous researchers.

On the other hand, in many industrial and private laboratories, scientific and technological/engineering research are essential for they business competition on the marked.

Researchers work not for students but for well defined short-term, middle-term and long-term R&D or RTD (Research and Technology Development) projects defined in the frame of the strategy of their organizations.

There are numerous necessary specializations of researchers, but in large research business institutions, interdisciplinary profiles of researchers are always more frequently requested. They have to adapt to new objectives and to cope with before unknown for them, systems, equipments and problems. Therefore, one of their important tasks is to cooperate with academic researchers and professors.

For the above reasons, the positions and the research work conditions of researchers in research or technological laboratories are different than in academic institutions.

Main positions

The positions of researchers in large research centers/institutes have many specific names, but usually they are divided on three basic levels equivalent to: junior researcher, researcher, senior researcher.

Research work conditions

The research activity is organized according to the specific company structure.
Usually every researcher works in so called matrix structure, he/she is a member of a
laboratory or other specialized unit, and in parallel temporally participates in one of more projects.

Many important scientific results of the industrial and military researchers’ work are not published because they have either confidential or secret character. At a consequence, many valid scientists became slowly a “property” of companies.

…

Some References

• NASA Ames Research Center
• US National Center for Atmospheric Research
• US National Institute of Mental Health
• Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russia
• Joint Research Centres of European Commission

Research

Amylophagia is a condition involving the compulsive consumption of excessive amounts of purified starch. It is a form of pica and is often observed in pregnant women. Amylophagia is distinct from a traditional diet containing a great deal of starchy staples such as potatoes, rice etc. In this condition, patients feel a compulsion to consume refined starch such as cornstarch.

Amylophagia’s origins are complex, arising from a combination of biochemical, hematological, psychological, and cultural factors. In women, it can be an often-overlooked etiologic factor in gestational diabetes.

References

Denny-Blaine Park is a 2 acre (8,000 m²) park in the Denny-Blaine neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is located on Lake Washington along and at the end of E. Denny-Blaine Place.

Those who frequent Denny-Blaine in the evenings will notice an interesting mix of people. Traditionally, high schoolers from the surrounding area (most notably Bush School) use Denny-Blaine Park as a spot to consume alcohol and smoke cigarettes and marijuana. These typically affluent white males are not alone, however–there is a surprisingly large contingent of crack heads. In addition to these two staples, there seem to be a large number of non-descript 25-35 year-olds who use the park in much the same manner.

After a large renovation project completed in 2004, the beach has seen much more traffic.

External links

• Denny-Blaine Park

The principle of uniformity or the “The Principle of Uniformity of Nature” postulates that the laws of nature discovered on Earth apply throughout the universe.

There are several variations and corollaries. A stronger uniformity principle is that the laws of event causation have remained constant throughout time (uniformitarianism) as well as applying everywhere in the ‘modern’ universe. A corollary in Physics is the postulate that there has been no change in the fine-structure constant since the Big Bang.

Another corollary of the Principle of Uniformity states that nothing that is now impossible in principle was ever the case in the past.

See also

• anthropic principle
• intelligent design
• Mediocrity principle
• origin of life
• philosophy of science

Mark Lindquist is an American novelist and lawyer.

Books background

His books are known for mixing literature with pop culture. (Details magazine) His first two novels, Sad Movies and Carnival Desires, were insider depictions of Los Angeles and the movie business, while his third novel, Never Mind Nirvana, did the same for the Seattle music scene. His fourth novel, The King of Methlehem, is set in Tacoma, Washington, in the world of methamphetamine. In the 2005 September/October issue of Pages magazine, which featured a cover story on the literary Brat Pack, he discusses how novels can capture the Zeitgeist.

Author background

After graduating from the University of Southern California, he worked as a copy writer for a movie studio. His first novel, Sad Movies, was based on this. He went on to write screenplays for several studios and book reviews for The Los Angeles Book Review, The New York Times Book Review, and The Seattle Times, as well as articles for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Movieline, and other publications. He left Hollywood in the 1990s and enrolled in Seattle University School of Law. After graduating, he became a prosecuting attorney and moved to Tacoma. His third novel, Never Mind Nirvana, followed after this hiatus. According to the author’s website, his fourth novel, The King of Methlehem, will be published by Simon and Schuster in May 2007.

Bibliography

• The King of Methlehem, 2007
• Never Mind Nirvana, 2000
• Carnival Desires, 1990
• Sad Movies, 1987

Trivia

People Magazine, when naming him as one of the “100 Most Eligible Bachelors” in 2000, listed Molly Ringwald, the brat pack actress, as one of his ex-girlfriends.

Filmmaker Sandra Nettelbeck wrote the foreword to the German edition of Never Mind Nirvana.

External links

• Author’s official website
• Simon and Schuster

In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the “good” is a “bad”). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax.

The output of goods and services is used in calculating measures of national income and output, such as gross domestic product.

The service-goods continuum

The dichotomy between physical goods and intangible services should not be given too much credence. These are not discrete categories. Most business theorists see a continuum with pure service on one terminal point and pure commodity good on the other terminal point. Most products fall between these two extremes. For example, a restaurant provides a physical good (prepared food), but also provides services in the form of ambience, the setting and clearing of the table, etc. And although some utilities actually deliver physical goods — like water utilities which actually deliver water — utilities are usually treated as services.

In business, people sometimes talk about the marketing of products and services. This is clearly tautology - services are products. Marketers must draw on the same set of principles and skills to market all products, whether they be apples, oranges or haircuts. Like economists, marketers too view goods and services as two ends of a continuum.

See also

• Service
• List of countries by GDP sector composition

Accounting

Comprehensive income is defined by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB,^[1] as “the change in equity [net assets] of a business enterprise during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from nonowner sources. It includes all changes in equity during a period except those resulting from investments by owners and distributions to owners.”

Comprehensive income is the sum of net income and other items that must bypass the income statement because they have not been realized, including items like an unrealized holding gain or loss from available for sale securities and foreign currency translation gains or losses. These items are not part of net income, yet are important enough to be included in comprehensive income, giving the user a bigger, more comprehensive picture of the organization as a whole.

Items included in comprehensive income, but not net income are reported under the accumulated other comprehensive income section of shareholder’s equity.

Economic

Comprehensive income (or earnings) ^[2] attempts to measure the sum total of all operating and financial events that have changed the value of an owner’s interest in a business. It is measured on a per-share basis to capture the effects of dilution and options. It cancels out the effects of Equity transactions for which the owner would be indifferent; issues of dividends; share buy-backs; share issues at market value.

It is calculated by reconciling the the book-value-per-share from the start of the period to the end of the period. This is conceptually the same as measuring a child’s growth by finding the difference between his height on each birthday. All other line items are calculated, and the equation solved for Comprehensive Earnings.

      Shareholders' Equity, beg. of period
    - Dividends
    + Premium to book value received from new shares
           (and vice versa)
    + Comprehensive Earnings (and vice versa)
    ------------------------------------------
    = Shareholders' Equity, end of period

References

• ^[1]FASB Statement 130: Reporting Comprehensive Income (June 1997)
• ^[2][Details for Calculation]

In artificial intelligence and cognitive science, the term situated refers to an agent which is embedded in an environment. The term situated is commonly used to refer to robots, but some researchers argue that software agents can also be situated if:

• they exist in a dynamic (rapidly changing) environment, which
• they can manipulate or change through their actions, and which
• they can sense or perceive.

Examples might include web-based agents, which can alter data or trigger processes (such as purchases) over the internet, or virtual-reality bots which inhabit and change virtual worlds, such as Second Life.

Being situated is generally considered to be part of being embodied, but it is useful to consider each perspective individually. The situated perspective emphasizes that intelligent behaviour derives from the environment and the agent’s interactions with it. The nature of these interactions are defined by an agent’s embodiment.

See also

• Situated robotics
• Agent environment - discussion of environment types
• Cognitive agents
• Web services

References

• Hendriks-Jansen, Horst (1996) Catching Ourselves in the Act: Situated Activity, Interactive Emergence, Evolution, and Human Thought. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

A comedic device is used in comedy to write humor in a common structure. They can become so common that they are difficult for writers to use without being perceived as cheesy.

List of comedic devices

Double entendre

A double entendre is a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. The first, literal meaning is an innocent one, while the second meaning is often ironic or risqué and requires the hearer to have some additional knowledge.

Hyperbole

A hyperbole is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated or extravagant. It may be used due to strong feelings or is used to create a strong impression and is not meant to be taken literally.

Mistaken identity

The mistaken identity of twins is a centuries old comedic device used by Shakespeare in several of his works. The mistake can be either an intended act of deception or an accident. Modern examples include The Parent Trap, The Trouble with Cats and Dogs, Sister, Sister and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Monocle

It is a popular perception that the monocle can easily fall off with the wrong facial expression. As a comedic device, an upper-class gentleman drops his monocle when he makes a shocked expression. The monocle falls into the gentleman’s drink, smashes into pieces on the floor, etc.

Prank call

A prank call is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. Prank calls range from annoying hang-ups to false calls to emergency services or bomb threats.

Pun

A pun consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for humorous effect, whether humorous or serious. A pun can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are often considered to be cheesy.

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence. Slapstick was heavily used by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Keystone Kops, the Three Stooges. Slapstick is also common in animated cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes.

See also

• Joke
• Practical joke device

External links

• Classroom connections – describes mistaken twins as a comedic device
• Comic Devices and Conventions – analysis of comedic devices used in The Swaggering Soldier

A Code of Silence is when a person opts to withhold what is believed to be vital or important information voluntarily or involuntarily.

The code of silence is usually either kept because of threat of force, or danger to oneself, or being branded as a traitor or an outcast within the unit or organization as the experiences of the police whistleblower, Frank Serpico illustrates. The Code of Silence was famously practiced in Massachusetts cities such as Charlestown, South Boston, and Somerville.

A more famous example of the code of silence is omerta (Italian: omertà, from the Latin: humilitas=humility or modesty), the Mafia code of silence.

Sometimes, this phrase is mistaken with a cone of silence.

In mathematics, a discrete valuation on an integral domain <math>A</math> is a function

<math>\nu:A\to\mathbb Z\cup\{\infty\}</math>

satisfying the conditions

<math>\nu(x\cdot y)=\nu(x)+\nu(y)</math>

<math>\nu(x+y)\geq\mathrm{min}\big\{\nu(x),\nu(y)\big\}</math>

<math>\nu(x)=\infty\iff x=0</math>.

Properties

Every discrete valuation ring gives rise to a discrete valuation, but not conversely. For example, if <math>K</math> is a field, then the ring <math>KX,Y</math> of power series over <math>K</math> in two unknowns has a discrete valuation induced by the prime ideal <math>(X,Y)</math>, and is even local, but is not a discrete valuation ring because it’s not a principal ideal domain.

Consider a discrete valuation <math>\nu</math> on <math>A</math>. If <math>B</math> is the subset of all elements in <math>A</math> with nonnegative valuation, then <math>B</math> is also a subring of <math>A</math>, and the set of all elements in <math>A</math> with strictly positive valuation is a prime ideal of <math>B</math>’.

Examples

• If <math>A</math> is the ring <math>Z</math> of integers, then <math>\nu^n</math>, defined as the largest value of <math>k</math> such that <math>2^k</math> divides <math>n</math>, is a discrete valuation.
• If <math>P</math> is a prime ideal of <math>A</math> satisfying the condition

<math>\bigcap_{n=1}^{\infty}P^{n} = 0 \in A </math>

then the function defined as

<math>\nu(x) = \min\{n: x \in P^{n}\}\quad x\in\mathbb{Z}</math>

is always finite for nonzero <math>x</math>, an it can be proven to be a discrete valuation on <math>A</math>. If <math>A</math> is Noetherian, then every prime ideal of <math>A</math> satisfies the above condition, so that every prime ideal induces a discrete valuation on <math>A</math>.

See also

• discrete valuation ring
• Valuation (mathematics)
• Valuation ring

Intercalation, in the context of University administration is defined as a period when a student is officially suspended from studying for an academic degree. The grounds for intercalation to be granted are varied, though most commonly they are on compassionate or medical grounds. Often, intercalation has been granted to allow students time away from the University to gain industrial or job experience within their degree studies. Medical students in the UK often have an intercalated year in order to pursue another degree (usually medically related) for a year.

Pre-colonial period

5 BC

• Silver punch-marked coins were minted by the Mahajanapadas

1

• India’s economy had a 32.9% share of world income, the largest in the world.

1000

• India’s economy had a 28.9% share of world income, the largest in the world.

1500

• India’s economy had a 24.5% share of world income, the second largest in the world after China, which had a 25% share.

1600

• India had an income of £17.5 million, under Akbar’s Mughal Empire, in contrast to the entire treasury of Great Britain in 1800, which totalled £16 million.

1700

• India’s economy had a 24.4% share of world income, the largest in the world, under Aurangzeb’s Mughal Empire.

Colonial period

East India Company

1793

• 1793 Cornwallis’ Permanent Settlement Instituted in Bengal

1820

• India’s economy had a 16% share of world income, the second largest in the world after Japan

British Raj

1868

• First estimation of India’s national income by Dadabhai Naoroji

1870

• India’s economy had a 12.2% share of world income under the British Empire.

1913

• India’s economy had a 7.6% share of world income under the British Empire.

1943

• Famine of Bengal

Post-Independence period

Nehruvian era

1952

• India’s economy had a 3.8% share of world income

1973

• India’s economy was $494.8 billion, which accounted for a 3.1% share of world income

1980 - 1991

Virtually Closed.

1991-present

1991

• Economic liberalisation was initiated by Indian prime minister P. V. Narasimha Rao and his finance minister Manmohan Singh in response to a macroeconomic crisis.

1998

• India’s economy was $1,702.7 trillion, which accounted for a 5% share of world income

2005

• India’s economy is $3,815.6 trillion (purchasing power parity) which accounts for a 6.3% share of world income, the fourth largest in the world in terms of real GDP.

References

• Maddison, Angus (2004). The World Economy: Historical Statistics. OECD. ISBN 92-64-10412-7. (See Sample Table.)
• World Bank, July 1, 2006. PPP GDP 2005.

The Wilton culture is the name given by archaeologists to an archaeological culture which was common to parts of south and east Africa around six thousand years ago.

Occupation sites include that at Kalambo Falls.

Wilton culture is broadly analogous to the European mesolithic and microliths are a common artefact type. Later examples of the culture however indicate usage of iron.

See also

• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures

Kurt Dopfer is the Professor at the Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and also the co-director of the Institute for National Economics.

Dopfer is best known for several contributions in evolutionary economics, such as the axiomatization of evolutionary economic approach (Dopfer, 2001). In his recent publication, Dopfer (2004) argues that a concept of homo oeconomicus has to be replaced by the concept of rule-based agent, homo sapiens oeconomicus.

Dopfer with co-authors (Dopfer, Foster, Potts, 2004) has also espoused the introduction of intermediate level of analysis in economics, apart from micro- (individual) and macro- (aggregate) level. The meso-level is where collective behaviour patterns are established, and where institutions operate. This level works as an intermediary linking micro-level interactions and macro-level dynamics. Thus, importance of institutions in economic analysis is emphasized.

See also

• mesoeconomics

Publications

• Kurt Dopfer ‘Evolutionary Economics: Framework for analysis’, in: K. Dopfer, ed. (2001), Evolutionary Economics: Program and Scope, Recent Economic Thought Series, Boston/Dordrecht/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 1-44.
• Kurt Dopfer, John Foster, & Jason Potts, 2004. ‘Micro-meso-macro,’ Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 14(3), pp. 263-279. (abstract)
• Kurt Dopfer, 2004. ‘The economic agent as rule maker and rule user: Homo Sapiens Oeconomicus,’ Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pp. 177-195.

External links

• Kurt Dopfer’s homepage

A section of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System.

C Cardiovascular system

C01 Cardiac therapy

C02 Antihypertensives

C03 Diuretics

C04 Peripheral vasodilators

C05 Vasoprotectives

C07 Beta blocking agents

C08 Calcium channel blockers

C09 Agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system

C10 Lipid modifying agents

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is the consumer protection agency in the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with the regulation of public utilities such as electric and telephone service. Its commissioners are appointed by the governor.

External links

• Minnesota PUC

Slush can mean any of the following:

• Slush (person) a pejorative and slang combination of the likewise derogatory terms slut and lush. A promiscuous alcoholic person.
• Slush (snow) - a slurry mixture of liquid and solid forms of water.
• Slush (beverage) - a blended ice drink, with sugar, fruit, and/or other flavorings.
• “Slush” can also refer to the fat or grease that is obtained by boiling salted meat.
• Slush fund originated.
  
• The terms “slush” and “slush pile” are used in the publishing industry to refer to unsolicited manuscripts.
• Slush (album), the experimental 1997 album by the band OP8.

Totalitarian Agriculture is a Term coined by author Daniel Quinn for a form of agriculture predicated on the notion that all food on this planet belongs to humans exclusively; thus:

• food dedicated to human use may be denied to all other species
• any species that would compete for human food may be destroyed at will
• food needed by other species may be destroyed at will to make room for the production of human food

Quinn attributes this particular style of agriculture to a single culture, which he has dubbed the “Takers” and describes totalitarian agriculture as originating in Near East with an agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago.

The key difference, according to Quinn, between Totalitarian Agriculture and other forms is that it is not sustainable.

Limited Competition and Agriculture

According to Quinn, since the dawn of life 3.5 billion years ago, all successful species have followed the Law of Limited Competition. Those who did not became extinct due to the mechanisms of evolution, which systems analysts would refer to as negative feedback loops.
To say that agriculture itself was invented 10,000 years ago during what is known as the Neolithic Revolution is a mistake, according to Quinn. Many different methods of agriculture were in use, independently, all over the world (specifically in early China, India, Indonesia, and among the native peoples of the Americas) when the particular method of agriculture he denotes as “totalitarian” emerged. Abandoning the Law of Limited Competition, the adopters of totalitarian agriculture eliminated competing species. For example, the people wanted meat, so they had cows graze on grass. Other grazing animals competing with the cows for nutritious grasses were hunted or chased away - eliminating the cows’ competition. Some species of grass are favored by the cows; therefore the people eliminated the grasses that the cows don’t like so that the favored grass species have less competition. They also remove any other vegetation that competes for water and soil nutrients. Any disease or insect that might use the favored grass is also eliminated - they eliminate the grass’ and the cow’s predators and diseases. All that remains is their food and their food’s food - all others are eliminated.

Spread of Totalitarian Agriculture

Fueled by the enormous food surpluses generated uniquely by this style of agriculture, rapid population growth occurred among its practitioners, followed by an equally rapid geographical expansion that obliterated all other lifestyles in its path (including those based on other styles of agriculture). This expansion and obliteration of lifestyles continued without pause in the millennia that followed, eventually reaching the New World in the fifteenth century and continuing to the present moment in remote areas of Africa, Australia, New Guinea, and South America.

Sustainability of Totalitarian Agriculture and the Future

One of the major problems of totalitarian agriculture is the decreased biodiversity it, by definition, relies upon. With extinction and/or endangerment of the various species competing for land, food and water sources, crops and the humans and livestock which rely upon such resources are at greater risk for famine and drought. Species specific pathogens (as in potato famines) and invasive species (such as locusts) stand poised to wreak havoc on individuals and civilizations based on the cultivation of afflicted species.
Current measures in totalitarian agriculture include genetic modification of crops and livestock, further isolating crop and livestock species from biologically diverse systems, increasing risk by species specific antagonistic competition. Pesticide resistant insect species are beginning to decrease crop yields worldwide. Despite these dangers, totalitarian agriculture is spreading into previously unfarmed regions, such as the Amazon, Indonesian and equatorial African rainforests. Increased farming and crop yields lead to increased populations, demanding further increases in farming. Systems analysts would refer to this as a positive feedback loop. Ultimately, the long-term sustainability of totalitarian agriculture in the context of global society is called into question.

Brent Kinsman (born November 13, 1997) is an American child actor who typically plays a rambunctious twin alongside his identical twin brother Shane. He played Nigel Baker in the 2003 film Cheaper by the Dozen and its 2005 sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2. He has a featured role as Preston Scavo on the popular ABC television series Desperate Housewives.

Filmography

• 2005 - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1 episode)
• 2005 - Cheaper by the Dozen 2 - Nigel Baker
• 2004 - The Wayne Brady Show (1 episode)
• 2004-present - Desperate Housewives - Preston Scavo
• 2003 - Cheaper by the Dozen - Nigel Baker
  

External links

• Get Desperate! - Brent Kinsman People Guide entry & news listings

The vector resolute (also known as the vector projection) of two vectors, <math>\mathbf{b}</math> in the direction of <math>\mathbf{a}</math> (also “<math>\mathbf{b}</math> on <math>\mathbf{a}</math>”), is given by:

<math>(\mathbf{b}\cdot\mathbf{\hat a})\mathbf{\hat a}</math> or <math>(|\mathbf{b}|\cos\theta)\mathbf{\hat a}</math>

where <math>\theta</math> is the angle between the vectors <math>\mathbf{a}</math> and <math>\mathbf{b}</math> and <math>\hat{\mathbf{a}}</math> is the unit vector in the direction of <math>\mathbf{a}</math>.

The vector resolute is a vector, and is the orthogonal projection of the vector <math>\mathbf{b}</math> onto the vector <math>\mathbf{a}</math>. The vector resolute is also said to be a component of vector <math>\mathbf{b}</math> in the direction of vector <math>\mathbf{a}</math>.

The other component of <math>\mathbf{b}</math> (perpendicular to <math>\mathbf{a}</math>) is given by:

<math>\mathbf{b}\ -\ (\mathbf{b}\cdot\mathbf{\hat a})\mathbf{\hat a}</math>

The vector resolute is also the scalar resolute multiplied by <math>\mathbf{\hat a}</math> (in order to convert it into a vector, or give it direction).

Vector resolute overview

If <math>A</math> and <math>B</math> are two vectors, the projection of <math>A</math> on <math>B</math>(denoted <math>C</math>) is the vector that has the same slope as <math>B</math> with the length:

<math>|C| = |A| \cdot \cos \theta</math>

To calculate <math>C</math> use the definition of the dotproduct:
<math> A \cdot B = |A| \, |B| \cos \theta \,</math>

Using the above equation:

<math>|C| = |A| \cdot \cos \theta</math>

Multiply and divide by <math>|B|</math> at the same time:

<math>|C| = \frac {|A| \cdot |B| \cdot \cos \theta} {|B| }</math>

In the resulting fraction, the top term is the same as the dotproduct, hence:

<math>|C| = \frac {A \cdot B} {|B| }</math>

To find the length of <math>|C|</math> with an unknown <math>\theta</math>,
and unknown direction, multiply it with the normalized vector <math>B</math>:

<math>C = \frac {A \cdot B} {|B| } \cdot \frac {B} {|B|} = \frac {A \cdot B} {|B|^2} \cdot B</math>

Giving the final formula:
<math>C = \frac {A \cdot B} {|B|^2} \cdot B</math>

Uses

The vector projection is an important operation in the Graham-Schmidt orthonormalization of vector space bases.

See also

• Scalar resolute

In computer science, an optimization problem is the problem of finding the best solution from all feasible solutions. More formally, an optimization problem <math>A</math> is a quadruple <math>(I, f, m, g)</math>, where

• <math>I</math> is a set of instances;
• given an instance <math>x \in I</math>, <math>f(x)</math> is the set of feasible solutions;
• given an instance <math>x</math> and a feasible solution <math>y</math> of <math>x</math>, <math>m(x, y)</math> denotes the measure of <math>y</math>, which is usually a positive real.
• <math>g</math> is the goal function, and is either <math>\min</math> or <math>\max</math>.

The goal is then to find for some instance <math>x</math> an optimal solution, that is, a feasible solution <math>y</math> with
<math>
m(x, y) = g \{ m(x, y’) \mid y’ \in f(x) \} .
</math>

For each optimization problem, there is a corresponding decision problem that asks whether there is a feasible solution for some particular measure <math>m_0</math>. For example, if there is a graph <math>G</math> which contains vertices <math>u</math> and <math>v</math>, an optimization problem might be “find a path from <math>u</math> to <math>v</math> that uses the fewest edges”. This problem might have an answer of, say, 4. A corresponding decision problem would be “is there a path from <math>u</math> to <math>v</math> that uses 10 or fewer edges?” This problem can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

An NP optimization problem has the following further restrictions:

• <math>I</math> can be recognized in polynomial time, and
• the size of a feasible solution is polynomially bounded by the instance size.

This implies that the corresponding decision problem is in NP. Since interesting optimization problems usually fulfill these criteria, “optimization problem” is often used synonymously with “NP optimization problem”.

See also

• Optimization (mathematics)

The Navy Broadway Complex is a bayside military facility located in downtown San Diego, California. It houses the primary offices of the Navy Region Southwest, and is closely tied to regional United States Coast Guard operations.

In the early 1900s, Pacific Fleet ships frequently docked in the San Diego harbor at what is now the intersection of Broadway and Harbor Dr. With all the necessary maritime facilities in place, the site became a supply depot. After the city of San Diego was formally chartered in 1922, a small pier was constructed and the first materials were moved into the Depot’s warehouse in February 1923. Subsequent modifications have been made to the depot sporadically through the late 20th century.

Today, the Global Advanced Traceability and Control (ATAC) and function is housed in the Navy Broadway Complex. Being on extremely valuable property, the government has attempted to finance a portion of operations with revenue from real estate developers seeking to originate housing and industrial units.

As of July 18th, 2005, the site faces an uncertain future. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has proposed adding the complex to the list of military bases facing closure or shrinkage. The move was formally approved by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. In so doing, however, committee chairman Anthony Principi added that this “does not necessarily mean that the base will be realigned or closed” but will subject the complex to further evaluation of its necessity.

In financial markets, Implementation Shortfall is the difference between the decision price and the final execution price (including commissions, taxes, etc.) for a trade. This is also known as the “slippage”. Agency trading is largely concerned with minimizing implementation shortfall and finding liquidity.

Decision Price

The decision price is the price of the stock that prompted the decision to buy or sell. The most common decision prices are the close price or the arrival price. If we split the decision to buy a stock from the actual trading of the stock, as is often the case with fund managers (decision makers) and brokers (trade executors), you can see why both are used.

From the fund manager’s point of view, their decision to trade is often based on the closing price of the day’s trading (along with the entire history of the stock and other signals/indicators). When they decide to buy a particular stock the next day, it is because they believe that the price will go up from that closing price. Thus their decision price is the close price.

However the broker, unless they are explicitly told what levels to buy at or what prompted the desire to buy, does not know when or why the decision was made. Their best guess is that the current price at the time the order is received is what prompted the decision and thus their decision price is the arrival price. There is no common definition of this price, but the broker normally uses the last traded price or the “mid price” - equal to the average of the current bid and ask prices being quoted at the time the order was received.

See also

• Algorithmic Trading
• Algorithmic Trading Platforms
• Market Impact

External links

• RiskGlossary on Transaction Costs

REDUCE is a general-purpose computer algebra system geared towards
applications in physics.

The development of the REDUCE computer algebra system was started in the 1960s by Anthony C. Hearn. Since then, many scientists from all over the world have contributed to its development under his direction.

REDUCE is written entirely in its own LISP dialect called Standard LISP,
expressed in an Algol-like syntax called RLISP. The latter is used as a
basis for REDUCE’s user-level language.

Implementations of REDUCE have existed on a staggering variety of computers, operating systems, and LISP bases over the decades. Currently, it is available on most flavors of Unix, Linux, Microsoft Windows, or Apple Macintosh systems by using an underlying Portable Standard LISP or Codemist Standard LISP implementation.

REDUCE is distributed for a cost-recovery fee that for a long time has usually included the full source code for the system, making it a popular research tool in the field of computer algebra.

See also

• MACSYMA

External links

• REDUCE web page

A computer security utility going by the name GetAdmin was released in early July, 1997. The utility exploited a flaw in the Microsoft Windows NT 4 operating system in order to escalate privileges of an arbitrary specified account. GetAdmin will no longer work on newer versions of Windows operation systems and patches have been made available for NT4.

External links

• GetAdmin Utility Grants Users Administrative Rights (Microsoft)
• The ever popular getadmin exploit (Insecure.org)

The Concept X is a concept car and sport utility vehicle from Suzuki. It features touch-sensitive buttons that control all the vehicle’s interior functions. It débuted at the 2005 North American International Auto Show. The future production version in 2006 could be Suzuki’s largest sport utility vehicle to date. It will feature a V6 engine and all-wheel-drive. It would be one of nine new vehicles Suzuki might release during a period of five years.

FileMan is a set of utilities written by George Timson in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using MUMPS, which provide a meta-data function for MUMPS applications. The FileMan utilities allow the definition of data structures, menus and security, reports, and forms, allowing someone to set up applications without tremendous experience in the MUMPS programming language.

Its first use was in the development of medical applications for the Veterans Administration, now called the Department of Veterans Affairs, a branch of the United States Government.
Since it was a work created by the US federal government, a copyright cannot be placed on the source code, making the source code in the public domain. Because of this, it has been used for rapid development of applications across a number of organizations, including commercial products.

FileMan may be used standalone, or may be used with the VA Kernel, which provides an operating system neutral environment for applications.

Polyconomics was a private company founded in 1978 by Jude Wanniski. Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA, Polyconomics offered financial advice based on the principles of supply-side economics. The company ceased operations on June 30, 2006.

External link

• Polyconomics website

The Texas Air Museum currently has two locations, and one planned future location:

• San Antonio, Texas
• Slaton, Texas
• Snyder, Texas - future location
• Rio Hondo, Texas - closed on February 28, 2005 with exhibits being dispersed to the other locations

External links

• Texas Air Museum official site

Section Eight of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides everyone in Canada with protection against unreasonable search and seizure. This Charter right provides Canadians with their primary source of constitutionally enforced privacy rights against unreasonable intrusion from the state. Typically, this protects personal information that can be obtained through searching someone in pat-down, entering someone’s property or surveillance.

Under the heading of legal rights, section 8 states:

Any property found or seized by means of a violation of section 8 can be excluded as evidence in a trial under section 24(2).

Reasonable expectation of privacy

Generally speaking, the reasonable expectation of privacy does not protect against normal searches or seizures. Rather, the right focuses on the action being unreasonable on the basis that it violates an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy.

Search

Not every form of examination constitutes search. A search within the meaning of section eight is determined by whether the investigatory technique used by the state diminishes a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. The focus of analysis is upon the purpose of the examination. A police officer who compells someone to produce their licence would not be invasive enough to constitute a search (R. v. Ladouceur, [1990]R. v. Ladouceur, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 1257.). Equally, an inspection of the inside of a car is not a search, but questions about the contents of a bag would be. (R. v. Mellenthin [1992]R. v. Mellenthin, [1992] 3 S.C.R. 615.)

Seizure

The meaning of seizure is fairly straight forward. In R. v. Dyment (1988),R. v. Dyment, [1988] 2 S.C.R. 417. the Court defined it simply as the “taking of a thing from a person by a public authority without that person’s consent.” This meaning has been narrowed to cover property taken in furtherance of administration or criminal investigation (Quebec (Attorney General) v. Laroche, [2002]Quebec (Attorney General) v. Laroche, [2002] 3 S.C.R. 708).

See also

• Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution : equivalent US constitutional right

References

External links

• Canlii section 8 digest
• Search and Seizure Overview
• Fundamental Freedoms: The Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Charter of Rights website with video, audio and the Charter in over 20 languages

For the song by 311, see Grassroots.

Applied science is the application of knowledge from one or more natural scientific fields to solving practical problems. Fields of engineering are applied sciences. Applied science is important for technology development. Its use in industrial settings is usually referred to as research and development (R&D).

Kratosija (Macedonian: Кратошија) (also Kratoshija or Kratoshiya) is a red wine grape variety grown in the Tikveš wine-growing region of The Republic of Macedonia. In Macedonia, this variety is commonly mistaken with Vranac, a similar black grape variety from the coastal region of Crmnica, Montenegro.

A gàiwǎn (trad: 蓋碗, simp:盖碗, lit: “covered bowl”) also known as 蓋杯 (pinyin: gàibēi; literally, “lidded bowl“) or 焗盅 (pinyin: júzhōng), is a Chinese covered bowl used for the infusion and consumption of tea.

History

Prior to Ming Dynasty China, tea was normally consumed from the vessel in which it was prepared. As described by the tea master Lu Yu, this special bowl had to be large enough to accommodate the implements and actions of tea brewing, though compact enough to be held comfortably in the hands for consumption. The term for this versatile piece of equipment was simply chawan (茶碗lit. “tea bowl”). It was during the Ming dynasty that the innovations in both tea ritual and tea preparation gave rise to a smaller, yet equally functional vessel called a gaiwan.

Function

The gaiwan is considered by many tea connoisseurs to be the preferred method for brewing teas with delicate flavors and aromas, such as green tea and white tea. The versatility of the gaiwan is also noted in the preparation of oolong infusions because of this particular tea’s ability to be infused multiple times, but the gaiwan is suitable for any type of tea. The gaiwan is important in tea tasting due to its open and glazed surfaces, the former allowing the tea to be viewed while brewing, and the latter not altering the taste and flavours of the tea.
The gaiwan consists of a saucer, bowl, and lid. The lid allows the tea to be infused right in the bowl and either be drunk right from the bowl (traditionally using the lid to block the leaves for ease of consumption), or decanted into another container. The gaiwan itself can be made from a myriad of materials, from porcelain to glass. Gaiwans made from Yixing clay or jade are particularly prized by collectors of tea paraphernalia.

See also

• Chinese tea
• Tea

External links

• How to Brew Gaiwan Tea

The carucate was a unit of assessment for tax found in most of the Danelaw counties of England. The word derives from caruca, Latin for a plough. It is analogous to the hide, the measurement of land for tax assessment used outside the Danelaw counties.

In the Domesday Book the carucate was nominaly 120 acres (490,000 m²), based on the area a plough team of eight oxen could till in a year. A carucate was sub-divided into bovates and these were based on the area a single oxen could till in a year, they were therefore one eighth of a carucate.

The tax levied on each “carucate” of land came to be known as “carucage”.

See also

• Feudal measurement

Year 1733 (MDCCXXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of

January - June

• February 12 - British colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia.
• April - Royal Colony of North Carolina Commissioners John Watson, Joshua Grainger, Michael Higgins and James Wimble plan the town of New Carthage (which would eventually become Wilmington, North Carolina on the east side of the Cape Fear River).
• May 29 - Right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves upheld at Quebec.

July - December

• July 30 - First Freemasons lodge opened in what will become the United States of America.

Births

• March 13 - Joseph Priestley, English scientist and minister (died 1804)
• May 4 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (died 1799)
• July 27 - Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (died 1779)
• September 18 - George Read, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (died 1798)
• October 14 - François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (died 1798)
• November 16 - Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent ruler of Bengal of undivided India (died 1757)

See also .

Deaths

• January 25 - Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London (born 1652)
• February 1 - King August II of Poland (born 1670)
• March 4 - Claude de Forbin, French naval commander (born 1656)
• April 19 - Elizabeth Villiers, mistress of William III of England (born 1657)
• May 10 - Barton Booth, English actor (born 1681)
• May 18 - Georg Böhm, German organist (born 1661)
• August 16 - Matthew Tindal, English deist (born 1657)
• June 23 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (born 1672)
• September 12 - François Couperin, French composer (born 1668)
• October 25 - Giovanni Gerolamo Saccheri, Italian mathematician (born 1667)
• October 31 - Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg, (born 1676)

See also .

Year 1681 (MDCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1681

January - June

• March 14 - Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.

July - December

• October 28 - A London woman is publicly flogged for the crime of “involving herself in politics.”
• August 31 - Titus Oates is told to leave his state apartments in the Whitehall - his fame begins to wane and he is soon arrested and imprisoned for sedition.
• August 12 - The Ahom King Gadadhar Singha or Gadapani, who took the Tai name Supaatphaa, ascends the throne.

Undated

• France annexes the city of Strasbourg.
• The last dodo bird is killed.
• Collections are made in England for needy French refugees.

Births

• March 14 - Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (died 1767)
• June 26 - Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (died 1708)
• September 11 - Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German jurist (died 1741)
• September 28 - Johann Mattheson, German composer (died 1764)
• November 17 - Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (died 1776)
• November 28 - Jean Cavalier, French Protestant rebel leader (died 1740)

See also .

Deaths

• January 28 - Richard Allestree, English royalist churchman (born 1619)
• March 12 - Frans van Mieris, Sr., Dutch painter (born 1635)
• May 25 - Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish dramatist and poet (born 1600)
• July 1 - Oliver Plunkett, Irish saint (born 1629)
• July 25 - Urian Oakes, English-born President of Harvard University (born 1631)
• August 22 - Philippe Delano, Dutch Plymouth Colony settler (born 1602)
• December 22 - Richard Alleine, English Puritan clergyman (born 1611)
• date unknown - Gerard ter Borch, Dutch painter (born 1617)

See also .

Factor prices are the prices that the factors of production of a finished item attract.

There has been some economic debate as to what determines these prices. Classical and Marxist economists argued that the factor prices decided the value of a product and so value was intrinsic within the product. For this reason, the term ‘natural price’ is often instead used.

Marginalist economists argue that the price of factors is a function of the demand of the final product, and so they are imputed from the finished product. The theory of imputation was first expounded by the Austrian economist Friedrich von Wieser.

In computer programming languages, a recursive type is a data type for values that may contain other values of the same type.

An example is the list type, in Haskell:

data List a = Nil | Cons a (List a)

This indicates that a list of a’s is either an empty list or a cons cell containing an ‘a’ (the “head” of the list) and another list (the “tail”).

Recursion is not allowed in Miranda or Haskell synonym types, so the following Haskell types are illegal:

type Bad = (Int, Bad)
type Evil = Bool -> Evil

Inversely, the seemingly equivalent algebraic data types are acceptable:

data Good = Pair Int Good
data Fine = Fun (Bool->Fine)

Theory

In type theory, a recursive type has the general form μα.T where
the type variable α may appear in the type T and stands for the
entire type itself.

For example, the natural number (see Peano arithmetic) may
be defined by the Haskell datatype:

  data Nat = Zero | Succ Nat

In type theory, we would say: <math>nat = \mu \alpha. 1 + \alpha</math> where the two arms of the sum type represent
the Zero and Succ data constructors. Zero takes no arguments
(thus represented by the unit type) and Succ takes another
Nat (thus another element of <math>\mu \alpha. 1 + \alpha</math>).

There are two forms of recursive types: the so-called isorecursive
types, and equirecursive types. The two forms differ in how
terms of a recursive type are introduced and eliminated.

Isorecursive types

With isorecursive types, the recursive type <math>\mu \alpha . T</math> and its expansion (or unrolling) <math>T[\mu \alpha.T / \alpha]</math> are distinct (and disjoint) types with special term constructs, usually called roll and unroll, that form an isomorphism between them. To be precise: <math>roll : T[\mu\alpha.T/\alpha] \to \mu\alpha.T</math> and <math>unroll : \mu\alpha.T \to T[\mu\alpha.T/\alpha]</math>, and these two are inverse functions.

Equirecursive types

Under equirecursive rules, a recursive type <math>\mu \alpha . T</math> and its unrolling <math>T[\mu\alpha.T/\alpha]</math> are equal — that is, those two type expressions are understood to denote the same type. In fact, most theories of equirecursive types go further and essentially stipulate that any two type expressions with the same “infinite expansion” are equivalent. As a result of these rules, equirecursive types contribute significantly more complexity to a type system than isorecursive types do. Algorithmic problems such as type checking and type inference are more difficult for equirecursive types as well.

Equirecursive types capture the form of self-referential (or mutually referential) type definitions seen in procedural and object-oriented programming languages, and also arise in type-theoretic semantics of objects and classes.
In
functional programming languages, isorecursive types (in the guise of datatypes) are far more ubiquitous.

See also

• Recursion
• Algebraic data type

This is a list of Canadian public and private electric utilities, by province.

Alberta

• TransAlta Corporation
• Alberta Power limited
• EPCOR
• ENMAX

British Columbia

• BC Hydro
• FortisBC

Manitoba

• Manitoba Hydro

New Brunswick

• NB Power

Newfoundland and Labrador

• Fortis Inc.
• Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro
• Newfoundland Power

Northwest Territories

• Northwest Territories Power Corporation
• Northland Utilities (NWT) Limited
• Northland Utilities (Yellowknife) Limited

Nova Scotia

• Emera
• Nova Scotia Power

Nunavut

• Qulliq Energy Corporation
• Nunavut Power Corporation

Ontario

• Ontario Power Generation
• Hydro One
• Ontario Power Distribution
• Hydro Ottawa
• Thunder Bay Hydro
• Toronto Hydro
• Toronto Electric Light Company

Prince Edward Island

• Maritime Electric

Quebec

• Hydro-Québec

Saskatchewan

• SaskPower
• Saskatoon Light & Power

Yukon

• Yukon Energy Corporation
• Yukon Electrical Company

National

Canadian Hydro Developers

See also

• Lists of public utilities
• List of Canadian mobile phone companies
• List of Canadian telephone companies

vipw is a small computer program which enables a Unix system administrator to comfortably edit the file /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow.

vigr does similar thing for /etc/group respectively /etc/gshadow.

References

• The vipw manpage, 26 September 1997, in the Debian passwd package version 1:4.0.13-6

External link

• vipw man page

The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) was a unilateral and temporary United States program initiated by the 1983 “Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act” (CBERA). The CBI came into effect on January 1 1984 and aimed to provide several tariff and trade benefits to many Central American and Caribbean countries. It arose in the context of a U.S. desire to respond with aid and trade to leftist movements that were active in some countries of the region, such as the guerrillas in El Salvador and the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Provisions in the CBERA prevented the U.S. from extending preferences to CBI countries that it judged to be under the influence of Communists or that had expropriated American property.

The “Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act” of 1990, known as “CBI II”, made the CBI permanent. However, once the U.S. entered into the NAFTA agreement in 1994 with Mexico it became easier for Mexico to export its products to the U.S. CBI countries had lost their advantage relative Mexico, a major competitor in industries such as textiles and apparel, so they sought to increase their own preferences and achieve “NAFTA parity”. Those efforts were not successful until the 2000 Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, which was broadened in 2002. Several exports from the region continue to receive preferential status in the U.S., however those preferences will likely be replaced by bilateral Free Trade Agreements, and possibly by the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Further information

• Caribbean Basin Interim Trade Program: CBI/NAFTA Parity. CRS Issue Brief for Congress. Updated January 12, 2005. [1]
• Office of the United States Trade Representative, CBI page [2]
• U.S. Department of Commerce, CBI page [3]
• U.S. Department of Treasury, CBI page [4]
• U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, CBI page [5]
• The Caribbean Basin Initiative: An Examination of Structural Dependency, Good Neighbor Relations, and American Investment. Michael Cornell Dypski. Journal of Transnational Law and Policy. Volume 12, Issue 1, pages 95-136. [6]
• Overview of CBI from AllRefer.com [7]
• El Salvador Trade & Investment [8]
• Costa Rican Ministry of Commerce [9] (in Spanish)
  

Trifascicular block is a problem with the electrical conduction of the heart. It is diagnosed on an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) and has three features:

• prolongation of the PR interval (first degree AV block)
• right bundle branch block
• either left anterior fascicular block or left posterior fascicular block

Alternatively, trifascicular block is suggested by alternating right bundle branch block and left bundle branch block.

Differential diagnosis

Trifascicular block is important to diagnose because it is difficult to tell based on the surface ECG whether the prolonged PR interval is due to disease in the AV node or due to diffuse distal conduction system disease.

• In the former case, if the block at the AV node level becomes complete, the escape rhythm will originate from the bundle of His, which typically will generate heart rates in the 40s, allowing the individual to survive and complain of symptoms of fatigue or near-syncope to their physician.

• In the later case, however, because the conduction system disease is diffuse in nature, the escape rhythm may be fascicular or ventricular, which may be at rates that are life-threateningly low.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of whether the PR prolongation is due to AV nodal disease or diffuse conduction system disease is typically made by an electrophysiologic study of the conduction system. In an electrophysiologic study, trifascicular block due to AV nodal disease is represented by a prolonged AH interval (denoting prolonged time from impulse generation in the atria and conduction to the bundle of His) with a relatively preserved HV interval (denoting normal conduction from the bundle of His to the ventricles). Trifascicular block due to distal conduction system disease is represented by a normal AH interval and a prolonged HV interval.

Treatment

The treatment for diffuse distal conduction system disease is insertion of a pacemaker. If the PR prolongation is due to AV nodal disease, a case may be made for observation, as it may never progress to complete heart block with life threateningly low heart rates.

Regardless of where in the conduction system the block is, if the block is believed to be the cause of syncope in an individual, a pacemaker is an appropriate treatment.

References

External links

• http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/ecg/mml/ecg_0293_mod.html
• http://www.ecglibrary.com/trifas.html

See also

• Bifascicular block

In economics, a consumer’s preferences are said to be weakly monotone if adding more of a good to the consumer’s consumption bundle does not make her worse off. They are said to be strongly monotone if adding more of a good to the consumer’s consumption bundle makes her strictly better off.

Note that in cases where the good in question is a “bad” (i.e.undersirable) it is a simple matter to redefine the notion of the good as its negative. For example the “bad” “annoying noise” can be redefined as the good “absence of annoying noise”.

An example of preferences which are weakly monotone but not strongly monotone are those represented by a Leontief utility function of the form U=Min(x,y) where x and y are amounts of two different goods.

See also

• Monotonic function#Monotonicity in calculus and analysis
• Strict

World History is a field of historical study that emerged as a distinct academic field in the 1980s. It examines history from a global perspective.

Overview

Unlike most history writing of the 19th and most of the 20th centuries, which focused on narratives of individuals, and on national and ethnic perspectives, World History looks for common patterns that emerge across all cultures. World historians use a thematic approach, with two major focal points: integration (how processes of world history have drawn people of the world together) and difference (how patterns of world history reveal the diversity of the human experience).

The study of world history is in some ways a product of the current period of accelerated globalization. This period is tending both to integrate various cultures and to highlight their differences.

The advent of World History as a distinct field of study was heralded in the 1980s by the creation of the World History Association [1] and of graduate programs at a handful of universities. Over the past 20 years, scholarly publications, professional and academic organizations, and graduate programs in World History have proliferated. It has become an increasingly popular approach to teaching history in United States high schools and colleges. Many new textbooks are being published with a World History approach.

Analogous works

Many works are analogous to World History, in that they discuss “the history of the world” in a unified framework — For example, it was a genre popular in the 19th century with universal history, and with Christian historians going back to at least the 4th century. Other analogous works include:

• Shortly after World War I several popular books were written which dealt with the history of the world, though with a somewhat different approach. These included the children’s book The Story of Mankind (1921) by Hendrik Willem van Loon and the textbook The Outline of History (1918) by H.G. Wells.
• William McNeill’s The Rise of the West (1963).
• Marshall Hodgson’s writings were a precursor to the modern World History approach.
• Arnold J. Toynbee was a precursor of modern World History with his vast project, A Study of History.

See also

• Big History
• Guns, Germs and Steel
• Historic recurrence
• The World’s History
• Universal history
• Natural history

Notes

External links

• World History Network
• Bridging World History
• China and Europe
• Journal of World History
• The Changing Shape of World History, William H. McNeill, Paper originally presented at the History and Theory World History Conference, March 25-26, 1994
• World History Connected
• World History For Us All - World History Model Curriculum
• World History Matters
• WWW-VL World History Index
• World History Blog - World History blog.
• World History Today - World History blog.

Orchidales is a botanical name of an order of flowering plants. In taxonomical systems, this is a relatively recent name, as early systems used descriptive botanical names for the order containing the orchids. The Bentham & Hooker and the Engler systems had the orchids in order Microspermae while the Wettstein system treats them as order Gynandrae. Circumscription of the order will vary with the taxonomic system being used. Although mostly the order will consist of the orchids only (usually in one family only, but sometimes divided into more families, as in the Dahlgren system, see below), sometimes other families are added:

Circumscription in the Takhtajan system

Takhtajan system:

• order Orchidales

  family Orchidaceae

Circumscription in the Cronquist system

Cronquist system (1981):

• order Orchidales

  family Geosiridaceae

  family Burmanniaceae

  family Corsiaceae

  family Orchidaceae

Circumscription in the Dahlgren system

Dahlgren system:

• order Orchidales

  family Neuwiediaceae

  family Apostasiaceae

  family Cypripediaceae

  family Orchidaceae

Circumscription in the Thorne system

Thorne system (1992):

• order Orchidales

  family Orchidaceae

APG system

The order is not recognized in the APG II system, which assigns the orchids to order Asparagales.

See also

• Taxonomy of the orchid family

The Venlo Incident in 1939 was a Gestapo-engineered capture of two British SIS agents in the early months of World War II, on November 9, 1939.

British agents had met supposed German officers who said that they were plotting against Hitler in the town of Venlo, The Netherlands, 8 km from the border of Germany. German agents who adopted the guise of refugees in the Netherlands, but actually worked for Gestapo, arranged the meeting. One of them was named Walter Schellenberg. Their intent was to gather more information about British intelligence methods and pass false information to them.

SIS had assigned two agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard H. Stevens to the case. They met three officers, including “Major Schaemmle” (Walter Schellenberg) in The Netherlands. “Schaemmle” claimed the German high command was concerned about high losses suffered during the campaign in Poland and intended to have Hitler arrested.

Heinrich Himmler, however, ordered the British spies captured. On the night of November 8-9, 1939 German agents including Alfred Naujocks crossed into Netherlands. They were to meet with British agents in a café in Venlo. The British had been promised that they were to meet the general who was the leader of the plotters and Best and Stevens took with them Dutch intelligence officer Dirk Klop.

When Best and the others arrived, the Germans stopped their car with machine-gun fire, killed Klop and forcibly dragged the British along with Klop’s body over the border to Germany.

Stevens had a list of British agents with him when they were captured. The agents were forced to reveal more under interrogation in Düsseldorf. With this information the Gestapo was able to arrest British agents in occupied territories, especially Czechoslovakia. They also obtained information about SIS organization and collected a list of SIS officers to be arrested when Britain was invaded.

This incident also subsequently made the British very suspicious of any approach from any kind of professed German anti-Hitler resistance. Hitler used it as an excuse to claim that The Netherlands was involved with Britain and had violated its own neutrality.

Best and Stevens remained imprisoned until the end of the war.

The article suggest that the Gestapo officers and British and Dutch agents actually travelled
8km across the border into the town Venlo. The incident actually happened right across the border in a rural area in front of a cafe (”Cafe Backus”) located there. This in clear sight of the border. The shooting and subsequent dragging/driving across was a result of surpise and swift action.

The Venlo Incident is used by William Boyd in his 2006 book, “Restless”. Venlo and Klop are renamed, respectively, Prenslo and Lt. Joos. The two SIS officers are not named. Café Backus is named.

References

• Best, S. Payne (1950), The Venlo Incident

The first mention of the name Drury in England comes from the Norman Conquest of 1066 when John de Drury, a knight in William’s army, accompanied him from France to England. John de Drury distinguished himself by his valour and bravery on the battlefield at Hastings, October 14, 1066, and his name appears in the “Roll of Battle Abby,” prepared by William I to preserve the memory of his valiant knights who distinguished themselves during this bloody engagement.

After the battle, John de Drury was granted a domain by the Crown in County Suffolk, England. The estate, named “Thurston,” remained in the family for six hundred years.
The Drurys of Suffolk were a prominent knightly family in medieval days with a total of eighteen Knights, five of whom were Sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk, and four Knights of the Shire. Four Drurys, Sir Robert Drury of Rougham (died 1626), Sir Henry Drury of Hedgerley (died 1617), Sir Anthony Drury of Besthorpre (died 1638) and Sir Dru Drury of Rollesby (died 1626), were knighted in the Royal Garden at Whitehall on July 23, 1603 before the coronation of James I.

Over the next five hundred years, the Drury family greatly increased and multiplied. Some family branches emigrated to Australia and to the United States of America in the early 1800’s. The main bloodline remained in England, where it settled in Kent as the Industrial Revolution came about in Britain.

A Cool Change is a term used in south eastern Australia for the arrival of a Cold Front in the afternoon or evening after a day of high summertime temperatures.

The arrival of the front often produces falls in temperature in the order of 10C to 15C and sometimes thunderstorm activity.

Now, in the west, a black cloud lifts its head,

And, faint at first, a distant muttering breaks.

Chill and spasmodic little winds are sped

Down the still forest that once more awakes,

And all this green world takes

A saffron tinge. And, as the black clouds spread

Up to the zenith, comes a flash of red

A crash - and all earth shakes.”

–C.J. Dennis: The Cool Change, Melbourne Herald (now Herald Sun), 29 January 1936

Cool Change is also the name of a popular Little River Band song, appearing on their 1979 album ‘First Under the Wire’. The song was a Top 10 pop and Adult Contemporary hit in the USA in early November 1979.