aura 2004

Transparent conductors

2008-02-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

Many new solar cells use transparent thin films that are also conductors of electrical charge. The dominant conductive thin films used in research now are transparent conductive oxides (abbreviated "TCO"), and include fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2:F, or "FTO"), doped zinc oxide (e.g.: ZnO:Al), and indium tin oxide (abbreviated "ITO"). These conductive films are also used in the LCD industry for flat panel displays. The dual function of a TCO allows light to pass through a substrate window to the active light absorbing material beneath, and also serves as an ohmic contact to transport photogenerated charge carriers away from that light absorbing material.

European Union Satellite Centre

2008-02-21T23:06:00.000-08:00

The European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC) is an Agency of the Council of the European Union which gathers information through satellite images to help the EU prevent conflicts and provide humanitarian aid. EUSC was set up in 2002 to replace the Western Union Satellite Centre and thus represents a part of the transfer of functions from the Western European Union (WEU) to the European Union (EU), and more specifically to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The centre is in Torrejón de Ardoz in Spain. Other countries who have an association agreement with the EUSC can also use its resources.

Control system

2008-02-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

A control system is a device or set of devices to manage, command, direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or systems.

There are two common classes of control systems, with many variations and combinations: logic or sequential controls, and feedback or linear controls. There is also fuzzy logic, which attempts to combine some of the design simplicity of logic with the utility of linear control. Some devices or systems are inherently not controllable.
The term "control system" may be applied to the essentially manual controls that allow an operator to, for example, close and open a hydraulic press, where the logic requires that it cannot be moved unless safety guards are in place.

Cybernetics

2008-02-07T19:09:00.001-08:00

Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of complex systems, especially communication processes, control mechanisms and feedback principles. Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory.
Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic modeling, evolutionary biology and neuroscience in the 1940s. Other fields of study which have influenced or been influenced by cybernetics include game theory, system theory (a mathematical counterpart to cybernetics), psychology (especially neuropsychology, behavioral psychology, and cognitive psychology), and also philosophy, and even architecture

Archaeology

2008-01-24T01:21:00.000-08:00

Archaeology studies the contemporary distribution and form of artifacts (materials modified by past human activities), with the intent of understanding distribution and movement of ancient populations, development of human social organization, and relationships among contemporary populations; it also contributes significantly to the work of population geneticists, historical linguists, and many historians. Archaeology involves a wide variety of field techniques (remote sensing, survey, geophysical studies, coring, excavation) and laboratory procedures (compositional analyses, dating studies (radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence dating), measures of formal variability, examination of wear patterns, residue analyses, etc.). Archaeologists predominantly study materials produced by prehistoric groups but also includes modern, historical and ethnographic populations.

Chromosomes

2008-01-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

The cell nucleus contains the majority of the cell's genetic material, in the form of multiple linear DNA molecules organized into structures called chromosomes. During most of the cell cycle these are organized in a DNA-protein complex known as chromatin, and during cell division the chromatin can be seen to form the well defined chromosomes familiar from a karyotype. A small fraction of the cell's genes are located instead in the mitochondria.

There are two types of chromatin. Euchromatin is the less compact DNA form, and contains genes that are frequently expressed by the cell. The other type, heterochromatin, is the more compact form, and contains DNA that are infrequently transcribed.

Mutation

2008-01-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Genetic variation comes from random mutations that occur in the genomes of organisms. Mutations are changes in the DNA sequence of a cell's genome and are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic chemicals, as well as errors that occur during meiosis or DNA replication. These mutagens produce several different types of change in DNA sequences; these can either have no effect, alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning. Studies in the fly Drosophila melanogaster suggest that about 70 percent of mutations are deleterious, and the remainder are either neutral or have a weak beneficial effect. Due to the damaging effects that mutations can have on cells, organisms have evolved mechanisms such as DNA repair to remove mutations. Therefore, the optimal mutation rate for a species is a trade-off between short-term costs, such as the risk of cancer, and the long-term benefits of advantageous mutations.

Metaphysical naturalism

2008-01-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

Metaphysical naturalism is any worldview in which the world is amenable to a unified study that includes the natural sciences and in this sense the world is a unity. According to such a view, nature is all there is, and all things supernatural (which stipulatively includes spirits and souls, non-natural values, and universals as they are commonly conceived) do not exist. It is often simply referred to as naturalism, and occasionally as philosophical naturalism or ontological naturalism, though all those terms have other meanings as well, with naturalism often referring to methodological naturalism. This article presents only a basic outline of the definition and history of metaphysical naturalism and the major arguments for and against it.

Computer hardware

2007-12-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

Computer hardwareis the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the hardware. The hardware of a computer is infrequently changed, in comparison with software and data, which are "soft" in the sense that they are readily created, modified or erased on the computer. Firmware is a special type of software that rarely, if ever, needs to be changed and so is stored on hardware devices such as read-only memory (ROM) where it is not readily changed (and is, therefore, "firm" rather than just "soft").

Most computer hardware is not seen by normal users. It is in embedded systems in automobiles, microwave ovens, electrocardiograph machines, compact disc players, and other devices. Personal computers, the computer hardware familiar to most people, form only a small minority of computers (about 0.2% of all new computers produced in 2003). See Market statistics.

Western blotting

2007-12-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

Antibodies to most proteins can be created by injecting small amounts of the protein into an animal such as a mouse, rabbit, sheep, or donkey (polyclonal antibodies)or produced in cell culture (monoclonal antibodies). These antibodies can be used for a variety of analytical and preparative techniques.

In western blotting, proteins are first separated by size, in a thin gel sandwiched between two glass plates in a technique known as SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis). The proteins in the gel are then transferred to a PVDF, nitrocellulose, nylon or other support membrane. This membrane can then be probed with solutions of antibodies. Antibodies that specifically bind to the protein of interest can then be visualized by a variety of techniques, including coloured products, chemiluminescence, or autoradiography.

Analogous methods to western blotting can also be used to directly stain specific proteins in cells and tissue sections. However, these immunostaining methods are typically more associated with cell biology than molecular biology.

The terms "western" and "northern" are jokes: The first blots were with DNA, and since they were done by Ed Southern, they came to be known as Southerns. Patricia Thomas, inventor of the RNA blot, which became known as a "northern", actually didn't use the term.

Mobile media

2007-12-11T22:45:00.000-08:00

Whilst we commonly think of mobile media as being essentially a new, 21st century phenomenon, it is important to note that it is not an entirely new concept. Indeed the mobility and portability of media or as Paul Levinson calls it in his book entitled Cellphone “the media-in-motion business” has been a process in the works ever since the “first time someone thought to write on a tablet that could be lifted and hauled – rather than on a cave wall, a cliff face, a monument that usually was stuck in place, more or less forever”. Levinson’s statement here brings into focus contemporary mobile media devices such as mobile phones and PDA’s which are commonly represented and thought of as not only entirely new and original products of mobility but also the only source of portable media from which we can obtain information and communicate with one another.

While mobile phone and PDA’s independent technologies and functions may be new and innovative (in relation to changes and improvements in media capabilities in respect to their function what they can do when and where and what they look like, in regard to their size and shape) the need and desire to access and use media devices regardless of where we are in the world has been around for centuries. Indeed Paul Levinson remarks in regard to telephonic communication that it was “intelligence and inventiveness applied to our need to communicate regardless of where we may be, led logically and eventually to telephones that we carry in our pockets”. Levinson in his book goes on to state that the book, transistor radio, Kodak camera are also bearers of portable information.

Weapons delivery

2007-12-06T00:39:00.000-08:00

Nuclear weapons delivery—the technology and systems used to bring a nuclear weapon to its target—is an important aspect of nuclear weapons relating both to nuclear weapon design and nuclear strategy. Additionally, developing and maintaining delivery options is among the most resource-intensive aspects of nuclear weapons: according to one estimate, deployment of nuclear weapons accounted for 57% of the total financial resources spent by the United States in relation to nuclear weapons since 1940.

Historically the first method of delivery, and the method used in the two nuclear weapons actually used in warfare, is as a gravity bomb, dropped from bomber aircraft. This method is usually the first developed by countries as it does not place many restrictions on the size of the weapon, and weapon miniaturization is something which requires considerable weapons design knowledge. It does, however, limit the range of attack, the response time to an impending attack, and the number of weapons which can be fielded at any given time. Additionally, specialized delivery systems are usually not necessary; especially with the advent of miniaturization, nuclear bombs can be delivered by both strategic bombers and tactical fighter-bombers, allowing an air force to use its current fleet with little or no modification.

What Is a Socket in Java?

2007-11-27T22:40:00.001-08:00

A socket is one end-point of a two-way communication link between the two programs running on the network respectively. Socket classes are used to correspond to the connection between a client program and a server program in java. The java.net package has two classes--Socket and ServerSocket--that implement the client side of the communication link or connection and the server side of the connection, correspondingly.

Physical actions in water cycle

2007-11-20T22:58:00.000-08:00

The Physical actions in water cycle is of fives main types. They are evaporation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow.

The Evaporation is the transfer of water from the bodies of surface water into the atmosphere. This transfer requires a change in the physical nature of water from liquid to gaseous phases. Along with the evaporation, it can be counted transpiration from plants. Therefore, this transfer is sometimes referred to as evapotranspiration. 90% of atmospheric water comes from evaporation, while the left over 10% is from transpiration.

Precipitation is the atmospheric moisture that has formerly condensed to form clouds (changed from the gas phases to a liquid or solid phase), falling to the surface of the earth. This generally occurs as rainfall, but snow, hail, fog drip, and other forms participate too.

Infiltration into the ground is the transition from the surface water to the groundwater. The infiltration rate will depend upon soil or rock permeability with the other factors. Infiltrated water possibly will reach another compartment called as groundwater (i.e., an aquifer). The Ground waters tend to move slowly, so the water may perhaps return as surface water after storage within an aquifer for a period of time that can amount to thousands of years in few cases. The Water returns to the land surface at lower rise than where it infiltrated, under force of the gravity or the gravity induced pressures.

Runoff includes the variety of ways by which land surface water moves downward slope to the oceans. The Water flowing in streams and rivers can be delayed for a time in lakes. Not all precipitated water goes back to the sea as runoff; much of it evaporates before reaching the ocean or reaching an aquifer.

The Subsurface flow includes movement of water within the earth, either within the vadose zone or aquifers. After infiltrating, subsurface water can return to the surface or finally seep into the ocean.

The real approach of the Traffic psychology

2007-11-13T22:10:00.001-08:00

From its very start, in research and in practice, the traffic psychology has followed an interdisciplinary approach and has shared general topics with additional fields, in exacting medicine (e.g. connected to driving aptitude), engineering (ergonomics of cars with the human factors in traffic planning), and economics (e.g. travel demand management). People as road users are seen as the core of an interactive traffic system as well comprising transportation means, routes, the traffic environment and the regulation. Therefore, mobility, together with its positive and detrimental impacts, originates in people’s desires, decisions and behavior – and these might be influenced. The most important accident causes are human errors and maladaptive behavior, accounting alone or in communication with roadway or vehicle-related causes for above 90% of all traffic accidents. Recognizing the possible impact of psychology in studying and solving transport problems, the traffic and the transportation psychology have emerged speedily since the 1980s.

A short note on Willamette Valley

2007-11-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

The Willamette Valley is the region in northwest Oregon in the United States that contains the Willamette River as it proceeds northward from its emergence from mountains next to Eugene to its meeting with the Columbia River. One of the majority productive agricultural areas of the world, the valley was the destination of option for the emigrants on the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. It has formed the cultural and the political heart of Oregon since the days of the Oregon Territory, and is home to almost 70% of Oregon's population.

The valley may perhaps be defined as the watershed of the Willamette, bounded on the west by the Coast Ranges, and on the east by the Cascade Range. It is bounded on the south by the Calapooya Mountains, which break up the headwaters of the Willamette from the Umpqua River valley. As of the differing cultural and political interests, the Portland metropolitan area, with the Tualatin River valley, is often disinclined in the local use of the term. The Cities always considered part of the Willamette Valley are Eugene, Corvallis, Albany, and the Salem.

The agricultural richness of the valley is considered to be in no small measure an end result of the Missoula Floods, which inundated the valley about forty times between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. The floods were caused by the periodic rupturing of the ice dam of Glacial Lake Missoula, the waters of which swept down the Columbia and are flooded the Willamette Valley as far south as Eugene. The floodwaters passed rich volcanic and glacial soil from Eastern Washington, which was deposited across the valley floor when the waters subsided.

In current decades, the valley has also become a most important wine producer, with multiple American Viticulture Areas (AVAs) of its own. Additionally, with a cooler climate than California, the softly rolling hills surrounding the Willamette are home to some of the great pinot noir in the New World, with a high-quality pinot Gris.

What do you mean by Water collection pumps?

2007-10-31T03:34:00.001-07:00

At times water from the reservoir, separated from the oil, and it is used for the Water Injection. It depends on the oil-water ratio. Sometimes there isn’t sufficient water in the oil so additional water is used. When it is sea water, it is pumped through large pipes which make longer far out into the ocean. It is together in large basins at the Seawater Intake Pumping Station. The seawater is pressurized and it is passed through filters to the de-oxygenation tower.

Short information about Contact lens

2007-10-24T01:01:00.001-07:00

A contact lens (as well known as a "contact") is a corrective, cosmetic, or at times protective lens placed on the cornea of the eye.

The Contact lenses are obtainable in a number of varieties, together with hard and soft. Hard contacts are characteristically not disposable, while soft contacts often are. Few soft contacts are as well known as extended wear lenses. The most normally used contact lenses nowadays are of the soft variety, made-up in 1961 by the Czech chemist Otto Wichterle (1913–1998).

The Contact lenses (both soft and hard) are made of a range of types of polymers, the most recent containing some variant of silicone hydrogel. Formerly, hard contact lenses were made of a polymer recognized as PMMA. They have since been replaced by rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lenses. Numerous contact lenses are made of hydrophilic (water-absorbing) materials, in that way allowing oxygen to reach the cornea, and make the lens easier to wear. Heavily tinted contacts are tinted to adjust or to alter the color of the iris, and are used for cosmetic reasons. Some ordinary contact lenses are somewhat tinted to make them more noticeable for handling purposes.

A general view on Mainframe computer

2007-10-17T00:20:00.000-07:00

Mainframes (often colloquially known to as big iron) are large and "expensive" computers used largely by government institutions and large companies for mission important applications, typically mass data processing such as censuses, ERP, industry/consumer statistics, and financial transaction processing.

The word originated during the near the beginning 1970s with the introduction of smaller, less difficult computers for example the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11 series, which became recognized as minicomputers or just minis. The industry/users then coined the word "mainframe" to describe bigger, earlier types (before known simply as "computers").

Mainframes often maintain thousands of simultaneous users who gain right of entry through "dumb" terminals or terminal emulation. Early mainframes either supported this timesharing mode or operated in batch mode where users had no straight access to the computing service, it exclusively providing back office functions. At this time mainframes were so called for the reason that of their very substantial size and requirements for specialized HVAC and electrical power. Nowadays mainframes support right of entry via any user interface, including the Web. Blade servers rather than mainframes are currently increasingly requiring "exotic" cooling technologies.

The Etymology and usage of God

2007-10-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

The initial written form of the Germanic word "god" appears from the 6th century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself descends from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđan. The most linguists concur that the modernized Proto-Indo-European appearance *ǵhu-tó-m was based on the root *ǵhau(ə)-, which destined either "To call" or to "call upon or invoke".

The capitalized form "God" was first used in Ulfilas' Gothic conversion of the New Testament, to signify the Greek Theos.

In the English language the capitalization continues to symbolize a distinction between monotheistic "God" and the "gods" of polytheism. The given name "God" now characteristically refers to the Abrahamic God of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith. Though there are considerable cultural divergences that are implied by these different names, "God" remains the common English change for all.

The name may mean any associated or similar monotheistic deities, for example the early monotheism of Akhenaten and Zoroastrianism.

In the context of relative religion, "God" is also often related to concepts of universal holy being in Dharmic religions, despite the historical distinctions which divide monotheism from polytheism — a difference which some, such as Max Müller and Joseph Campbell, have characterised as a bias inside Western culture and theology.

American Beauty

2007-10-05T22:14:00.000-07:00

American Beauty is a picture that exposes predetermined ideas about living in suburban America. This movie also becomes an explanation on the human condition while revealing the raw truth of a dysfunctional family. The Burnhams Lester, Carolyn, and Jane establish as the usual middle-class American family. Lester works for a magazine and is not satisfied with his job. He later ends up quit the job and blackmailing his boss for sixty thousand dollars. Carolyn is an actual estate agent, who is eager for success. Their daughter, Jane, is a typical young person, who is unhappy with her life and her parents. The whole termination of their family begins upon the arrival of more than a few new elements that shake up the whole family. This element being their neighbors.
Their next-door neighbors are a gay pair and the Fitts'. Frank Fitts is an aquatic Corps Colonel who suppresses his homosexuality and his relations. He thought of love for Angela because he thinks she is the whole thing that is missing in his life.

Software

2007-09-24T04:42:00.001-07:00

Software basically is the distinct image or representation of physical or material position that constitute configuration to or functional identity of a machine, usually a computer. As a substance of memory, software in principle can be changed without the alteration to the static paradigm of the hardware thus without the remanufacturing thereof. generally software is of an algorithmic form which translates into being to a progression of machine instructions. Some software, however, is of a relational form which translate into being the map of a recognition network.

Software is a program that enables a computer to achieve a specific task, as contrasting to the physical components of the system . This include application software such as a word processor, which enables a user to achieve a task, and system software such as an operating system, which enables other software to run suitably, by interfacing with hardware and with other software.

The term "software" was first used in this intellect by John W. Tukey in 1957. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all computer program. The perception of reading different sequences of instructions into the memory of a apparatus to control computations was invented by Charles Babbage as part of his difference engine. The theory that is the source for most modern software was first projected by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungs problem.

Software Types:

Practical computer systems partition software into three major classes: system software, programming software and application software, although the division is subjective, and often blurred.

* System software is one of the major class helps run the computer hardware and computer system. It includes working systems, device drivers, analytical tools, servers, windowing systems, utilities and more. The intention of systems software is to protect the applications programmer as much as possible from the details of theexacting computer complex being use, especially memory and other hardware features, and such accessory procedure as communications, printers, readers, displays, keyboards, etc.

* Programming software usually provide tools to support a programmer in writing computer programs and software with different programming languages in a more suitable way.The tools comprise text editors, compilers, interpreters, linkers, debuggers, and so on, An incorporated development environment merge those tools into a software bundle, and a programmer may not need to type various command for compiling, interpreter, debugging, tracing, and etc., because the IDE typically has an sophisticated graphical user interface, or GUI.

* Application software allows humans to complete one or more explicit tasks. typical applications include manufacturingautomation, business software, educational software, medical software, databases and computer games. Businesses are possibly the biggest users of application software, but approximately every field of human action now uses some form of application software. It is used tocomputerizeall sorts of functions.

Plants

2007-09-10T03:45:00.000-07:00

The genus Nelumbo, with two members Indian, Red or Sacred Lotus, a sacred plant of Hinduism and Buddhism and of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, also used in Asian cuisine American Lotus The genus Lotus, in the subfamily Faboideae in the family Fabaceae, common name "Trefoil" The genus Nymphaea, usually called water-lilies, but including many members also referred to as lotus, for example the White European Lotus, White Egyptian Lotus, and Blue Egyptian Lotus.

The lotus eaten by the Lotophagi of the Odyssey is thought to have been Ziziphus lotus, a species of jujube. This could be the Lotus Tree that the mythical Lois was transformed into "Lotus" also occurs in the common, or cultivar, names of numerous unrelated plants, for example the Snow Lotus in the family Asteraceae.

CPU Socket

2007-09-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

The term CPU socket is commonly used to describe the connector linking the motherboard to the CPU in certain types of desktop and server computers, particularly those compatible with the Intel x86 architecture.

Most CPU sockets and processors in use today are built around the pin grid array architecture, in which the pins on the base of the processor are inserted into the socket. To aid installation, zero insertion force sockets are usually used, allowing the processor to be inserted without any confrontation, while gripping the pins firmly once the processor is in place to ensure a reliable contact. In contrast to CPU sockets, slot-based processors and CPUs use a single-edged connection rather than a socket, and slot into the motherboard on their side. Slot architectures are not often used today.

Microscope slide

2007-08-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

A microscope slide was initially a 'slider' made of ivory or bone, containing specimens held between disks of apparent mica. These were popular in Victorian England until the Royal Microscopically Society introduced the uniform microscope slide in the form of a thin sheet of glass used to hold objects for examination under a microscope. A standard microscope slide is 75 x 25 mm and about 1.0 mm thick. A range of other sizes is obtainable for various special purposes.