Friday, December 28, 2007

Robotics

Robotics is the science and technology of robots, their design, manufacture, and application. Robotics requires a working knowledge of electronics, mechanics, and software. A person working in the field is a roboticist. The word robotics was first used in print by Isaac Asimov, in his science fiction short story "Runaround" (1941).

A robot is an electro-mechanical or bio-mechanical device that can perform autonomous or preprogrammed tasks. Robots may be used to perform tasks that are too dangerous or difficult for humans, such as radioactive waste clean-up, or may be used to automate mindless repetitive tasks that should be performed with more precision by a robot than by a human, such as automobile production.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Networking and the Internet

Computers have been used to coordinate information in multiple locations since the 1950s, with the U.S. military's SAGE system the first large-scale example of such a system, which led to a number of special-purpose commercial systems like Sabre.

In the 1970s, computer engineers at research institutions throughout the United States began to link their computers together using telecommunications technology. This effort was funded by ARPA (now DARPA), and the computer network that it produced was called the ARPANET. The technologies that made the Arpanet possible spread and evolved. In time, the network spread beyond academic and military institutions and became known as the Internet. The emergence of networking involved a redefinition of the nature and boundaries of the computer. Computer operating systems and applications were modified to include the ability to define and access the resources of other computers on the network, such as peripheral devices, stored information, and the like, as extensions of the resources of an individual computer.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range. It is a highly multidisciplinary field, drawing from fields such as applied physics, materials science, interface and colloid science, device physics, supramolecular chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Much speculation exists as to what may result from these lines of research. Nanotechnology can be seen as an extension of existing sciences into the nanoscale, or as a recasting of existing sciences using a newer, more modern term.

Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. In the "bottom-up" approach, materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically by principles of molecular recognition. In the "top-down" approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without atomic-level control. The impetus for nanotechnology comes from a renewed interest in Interface and Colloid Science, coupled with a new generation of analytical tools such as the atomic force microscope (AFM), and the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Combined with refined processes such as electron beam lithography and molecular beam epitaxy, these instruments allow the deliberate manipulation of nanostructures, and led to the observation of novel phenomena.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Cellular network

A cellular network is a radio network made up of a number of radio cells (or just cells) each served by a fixed transmitter, known as a cell site or base station. These cells are used to cover different areas in order to provide radio coverage over a wider area than the area of one cell. Cellular networks are inherently asymmetric with a set of fixed main transceivers each serving a cell and a set of distributed (generally, but not always, mobile) transceivers which provide services to the network's users.

Cellular networks offer a number of advantages over alternative solutions:

* increased capacity
* reduced power usage
* better coverage

A good (and simple) example of a cellular system is an old taxi driver's radio system where the taxi company will have several transmitters based around a city each operated by an individual operator.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

What is Java Virtual Machine?

The heart of the Java Platform is the concept of a "virtual machine" that carries out Java bytecode programs. This bytecode is the same despite what hardware or operating system the program is running under. There is a JIT (just-in-time compilation) compiler inside the Java Virtual Machine, or JVM. The JIT compiler converts the Java bytecode into native processor instructions at run-time and caches the native code in memory during the tome of the execution.

The use of bytecode as an intermediary language that allows Java programs to run on any platform that has a virtual machine accessible. The use of a JIT compiler means that the applications in Java, after a small delay throughout loading and once they have "warmed up" by being all or mostly JIT-compiled, tend to run about as speed as native programs. Because JRE version 1.2, Sun's JVM execution has included a just-in-time compiler as an alternative of an interpreter.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Difference between C and C++ programming language

This C language was the C++ predecessor. Even though not actually being more powerful than C, C++ lets the programmers to more easily deal with and operate with Objects, using an OOP (Object Oriented Programming) concept.

The C++ allows the programmer to create classes, which are a bit alike to C structures. Although it is possible to apply anything which C++ could implement in C, C++ aids to standardize a means in which objects are created and managed, whereas the C programmer who implements the same system has alot of liberty on how to really implement the internals, and the style among programmers will differ alot on the design choices made in a program.

In C, some will choose the handler-type, where a main function initializes a handler, and that handler can be provided to other functions of the library as an object to manage on/through. Others will even want to have that handler link all the associated function pointers within it which then must be called using a convention closer to C++.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A short note on the history of Honda

The Honda VTR1000F is a motorcycle invented by Honda. In 1997 Honda started producing a street-oriented GT motorcycle using a traditionally important name: Superhawk. The earlier (60's) Superhawk was a parallel twin motorcycle that Robert M. Pirsig rode in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". The original Superhawk was a profitable success, that's why the name is being recycled. The latest Superhawk was introduced after the Ducati 916 made V-twin sport bikes well-liked again. The new Superhawk uses an all new 90 degree V-twin. The bike introduced numerous new design concepts for example the "pivotless frame", side radiators, single casting engine case, involving rods with cap screws rather than nuts, and the biggest carburetors Honda ever put on a motorcycle. "Pivotless frame" intended that engine was a stressed member with the swing arm bolted straightforwardly to the engine. The bike was come into public in 1997 as an early release 1998 model year. One motorcycle magazine recommended (circa 2000) that this bike was the fastest 0-60 mph production bike at that time. A racing version of the bike was anticipated from Honda. The Honda produced in 2000 the RVT1000R (RC51) recognized outside the United States as the VTR1000SP, though the bike had only four engine parts in general with the modern Superhawk. The RC51 was completely new V-twin racing platform that won the World Superbike championship its first year racing with the Colin Edwards and Castrol team.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Long jump athletic game

The long jump (previously called as broad jump) is an athletic (track and field) event or game in which athletes attempt to land as far from their take-off points as possible.

The Competitors sprint down a runway (at elite level, generally coated with the same rubberized surface as running tracks), jump to the extent that they can off a somewhat raised wooden board into a pit filled with fine gravel or sand. The minimum distance from the board to the indentation made by the participant in the gravel is measured. If the participant starts his leap with any part of his foot facing the board the jump is affirmed illegal and no distance is recorded.

The correct format of the competition differs, but normally each competitor will get a number of attempts to make his or her longest jump, and simply the longest legal jump counts towards the results. The participant with the longest legal jump at the end of competition is confirmed or declared as the winner. The Speed in the run-up and a high leap off the board are the fundamentals of achievement at the discipline, and it is unsurprising that many sprinters, especially including Carl Lewis, as well compete successfully in the long jump.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

An overview on Traffic calming

The Traffic calming is a set of strategies used by inner-city planners and traffic engineers which intends to slow down traffic and get better safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, even though some of these features can also be unsafe to cyclists. It is currently comparatively common in Europe, particularly Northern Europe; less so in North America.

The Traffic calming has customarily been justified on the grounds of pedestrian security and lessening of noise and local air pollution which are side effects of the traffic. On the other hand, it has become ever more apparent that streets have many social and recreational functions which are strictly impaired by fast car traffic. For instance, residents of streets with light traffic had, on normal, three more friends and twice as numerous acquaintances as the people on streets with heavy traffic which was or else similar in dimensions, income, etc. For much of the twentieth century, streets were intended by engineers who were charged simply with ensuring traffic flow and not with fostering the other functions of streets. The underlying principle for traffic calming is currently broadening to contain designing for these functions.

One most important side effect of traffic calming is the impedance to urgent situation services. A police car can effortlessly navigate most traffic calming measures. The same cannot be believed for fire trucks and ambulances, yet. They time and again have to slow down to securely cross speed bumps or chicanes. In several locales, the law prohibits traffic calming measures by the side of the routes used by the emergency services.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Definition of Glass

The materials meaning of a glass is a uniform amorphous solid material, generally produced when a rightfully viscous molten material cools very quickly to below its glass transition temperature, thus not giving enough time for a regular crystal lattice to form. A simple instance is when table sugar is melted and cooled quickly by dumping the liquid sugar onto a cold surface. The resulting solid is amorphous, not crystalline similar to the sugar was originally, which can be seen in its concordat fracture.

The word of glass comes from Latin glacies (ice) and corresponds to German Glass, M.E. glas, A.S. gales. Germanic tribes used the word gales to say amber, recorded by Roman historians as glaesum. Anglo-Saxons used the word glaer for amber.
The residue of this article will be concerned with a definite type of glass—the silica-based glasses in common make use of as a building, container or pretty material.

In its pure form, glass is a clear, relatively strong, hard-wearing, basically inert and biologically inactive material which can be shaped with very smooth and impervious surfaces. These pleasing properties lead to a great many uses of glass. Glass is, on the other hand, brittle and will break into sharp shards. These properties can be modified, or even changed completely, with the addition of other compounds or heat treatment.
Common glass is generally amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is the same chemical compound establish in quartz, or in its polycrystalline shape, sand.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The facts about Mercury

Mercury is the nearby planet to the Sun and the eighth biggest. Mercury is somewhat smaller in diameter than the moons Ganymede and Titan but more than twice as enormous.

Mercury's orbit is extremely eccentric; at perihelion it is just 46 million km from the Sun but at aphelion it is 70 million. The position of the perihelion processes about the Sun at a very slow rate. 19th century astronomers made extremely careful observations of Mercury's orbital parameters but could not sufficiently explain those using Newtonian mechanics. The tiny differences between the observed and predicted values were a slight but nagging problem for many decades. It was thought that one more planet (sometimes called Vulcan) slightly nearer to the Sun than Mercury might account for the discrepancy. But in spite of much effort, no such planet was found. The real reply turned out to be much more dramatic: Einstein's General Theory of Relativity! Its right prediction of the motions of Mercury was a main factor in the early acceptance of the theory.

Mercury is greatly denser than the Moon (5.43 gm/cm3 vs. 3.34). Mercury is the second densest most important body in the solar system, after Earth. Actually Earth's density is due in part to gravitational density; if not for this, Mercury would be denser than Earth. This signifies that Mercury's dense iron core is comparatively larger than Earth, probably comprises the greater part of the planet. Mercury therefore has only a comparatively thin silicate mantle and crust.

Mercury's inner is dominated by a big iron core whose radius is 1800 to 1900 km. The silicate outer shell (analogous to Earth's mantle and crust) is just 500 to 600 km thick. At least some of the core is perhaps molten. Mercury truly has an extremely thin atmosphere consisting of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Because Mercury is so hot, these atoms quickly flee into space. Thus on the contrary, to the Earth and Venus whose atmospheres are stable, Mercury's atmosphere is always being replenished.

Monday, September 10, 2007

A Snapshot of Macro-Economics

Economics is the learning of making choices. High school and college students all over required to take economic courses in order to achieve a diploma. Why is economics so important because it provides a guide for students for real-world situations Economics is divided into two types microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of economics at a slim level. For example absorbed on how a detailed business functions is microeconomics.

Studying the world economy is classified as Macroeconomics; its center on a much broader level. All students must understand the concept of insufficiency. Scarcity is a condition that occurs because society has unlimited wants and needs however the amount of property is limited. Unlimited wants and needs are what encourage us to create goods and services. We are never satisfied therefore we always have a want or need. On the other hand our income is limited.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Jakarta Slide

Slide is an open-source content management system from the Jakarta project. It is written in Java and implements the WebDAV protocol. Slide is a set of APIs to implement the Web DAV client. Due to this Slide can also be seen as a Content Management Framework. The use of Web DAV, which is a superset of HTTP, makes Slide an ideal candidate for web-based content management. Among the applications of Slide are their uses as a file server, in intra net applications, and as an excellent repository for XML both as properties and versioned files for persistence of JavaBeans. It also has an extensible storage device that can be used for incorporation and adaptation.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Entertainment

Entertainment is an occasion, piece, or movement designed to give enjoyment or leisure to an audience. The audience may join in the entertainment passively as in actively as in computer games. The playing of sports and reading of journalism are usually included in entertainment, but these are regularly called activity more specifically, because they involve some energetic participation past mere leisure.

While people have laughing themselves since the beginning of time, the entertainment industry first became a leading force in culture in the 20th century with the development of latest electronic technologies of recording and spreading. Western peoples, tired of serious purposes and gathering massacre, turned to popular culture following the two world wars. The financial basis of this new culture was advertising of free or inexpensive entertainment program. In their peak, television networks were great selling machines which, besides entertaining people, prohibited both commercial and political markets by providing direct access to the group of customers. This "territory" is now in danger by the explosion and segmentation of media and especially by the growing importance of communication by computer which allows the consumer to look for out the informational message as an alternative of having it broadcast to him or her. A new system of world history sees Americans in changeover between a fourth, entertainment-based "society" and a future fifth evolution based on computer communication.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Carriage clock

Carriage clock is a minute, spring-driven clock, designed for traveling, developed in the early 19th century in France. The case, usually plain or gilt-brass, is rectangular with a carrying handle and often set with glass or more rarely enamel or porcelain panels. A feature of carriage clocks is the platform escapement, sometimes visible through a glazed aperture on the top of the case.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Flak jacket

A flak jacket or flak vest is a type of protective clothing. Today it frequently refers to bulletproof vests, particularly Type III and on top of which have added steel, titanium, ceramic or polyethylene plates which can resist high-powered rounds such as from rifles.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Planetary ring

A planetary ring is a ring of dirt and other small particles orbiting around a planet in a flat disc-shaped region. The most spectacular and famous planetary rings are those around Saturn, but the other three gas giants of the solar system possess ring systems of their own.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

subwoofer

A subwoofer refers to either a driver, or a complete amplifier dedicated to the reproduction of bass audio frequencies, typically from 150 Hz down to 20 Hz. In the case of a rotary woofer, it is possible to reproduce frequencies down to 1 Hz. Bass frequencies below about 80Hz become increasingly difficult for typical floor standing or bookshelf loudspeakers to reproduce at high playback levels because they do not have large enough drivers to generate the required amount of air displacement. Therefore, subwoofers are useful for augmenting main loudspeakers by providing playback of low bass frequencies at high levels.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Extranet

An extranet is a personal network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's Intranet that is extended to users outside the company. It has also been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is professed as a way to do business with other companies as well as to sell products to customers.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Neem cake

Neem cake natural manure is the by-product obtained in the process of cold pressing of Neem fruits and kernels, and the solvent removal process for neem oil cake. It is a potential source of organic manure under the Bureau of India Standards, Neem has established considerable potential as a fertilizer. For this purpose, neem cake and neem leaves are particularly promising. Puri , in his book on neem has given details about neem seed cake as manure and nitrification inhibitor. The author has described that after processing neem cake can be used for partial replacement of poultry and cattle feed.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Web portal

A Web portal is a site that functions as a point of admittance to information on the World Wide Web. Portals present information from diverse sources in a united way. Popular portals are MSN, Yahoo, and AOL. Aside from the search engine standard, web portals offer other services such as news, stock prices, infotainment and various other features. Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a steady look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications, which otherwise would have been different entities altogether.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Malai

Malai is a South Asian term for clotted cream or Devonshire cream. It is made by heating non-homogenized whole milk to about 80ºC (180ºF) for about one hour and then allowing to cool. A thick yellowish layer of fat and coagulated proteins forms on the surface, which is skimmed off. The process is typically repeated to remove most of the fat. Malai has about 55% butterfat. Buffalo milk is thought to produce better malai because of its high fat content.Malai is used in such recipes as Malai Kofta dumplings and the sweet Malai Kulfi.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

History of Motorola

Motorola started as Galvin developed Corporation in 1928. The name Motorola was adopted in 1947, but the word had been used as a trademark since the 1930s. Founders Paul Galvin and Joe Galvin came up with the name Motorola when his company started manufacturing car radios. A number of early companies making phonographs, radios, and other audio tackle in the early 20th century used the suffix "-ola," the most famous being Victrola; RCA made a "radiola"; there was also a company that made jukeboxes called Rock-Ola, and a film editing device called a Moviola. The Motorola prefix "motor-" was chosen because the company's first focus was in automotive electronics.

Most of Motorola's crop has been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for radios, through the first walkie-talkie in the world, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. The company was also strong in semiconductor technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. Motorola has been the key supplier for the microprocessors used in Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh and Power Macintosh personal computers. The chip used in the latter computers, the PowerPC family, was developed with IBM and in a partnership with Apple. Motorola also has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite systems, digital cable boxes and modems.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Fish food

Fish food is plant or animal material intended for consumption by pet fish kept in aquariums or ponds. Fish foods usually contain macro nutrients, trace elements and vitamins necessary to keep captive fish in good health. Approximately 80% of fishkeeping hobbyists feed their fish exclusively prepared foods that most commonly are produced in flake, pellet or tablet form.Pelleted forms, some of which sink rapidly, are often used for larger fish or bottom feeding species such as loaches or catfish. Some fish foods also contain additives, such as beta carotene or sex hormones, to artifically enhance the color of ornamental fish.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Camera

A camera is a device used to capture images, as still photographs or as sequences of moving images movies or videos. The term as well as the modern-day camera evolved from the camera obscura, Latin for "dark chamber", an early mechanism for projecting images, in which an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system. The camera obscura was first invented by the Muslim scientiest Alhazen Cameras may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A camera normally consists of some kind of enclosed hollow, with an opening or aperture at one end for light to enter, and a recording or viewing surface for capturing the light at the other end. Most cameras have a lens positioned in front of the camera's opening to gather the incoming light and to focus the image, or part of the image, on the recording surface. The diameter of the aperture is often controlled by a diaphragm mechanism, but some cameras have a fixed-size aperture.

Monday, June 11, 2007

compiler

A compiler is a computer program or set of programs that converts text written in a computer language (the source language) into another computer language (the target language). The original sequence is frequently called the source code and the output called object code. Commonly the output has a form appropriate for processing by other programs (e.g., a linker), but it may be a human-readable text file.

The most common reason for wanting to translate source code is to make an executable program. The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that convert source code from a high level language to a lower level language (e.g., assembly language or machine language). A program that translates from a low level language to a higher level one is a decompiler. A program that translates between high-level languages is generally called a language translator, source to source translator, or language converter. A language rewriter is generally a program that translates the form of expressions without a modify language.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

VESA Local Bus

The VESA Local Bus was mostly used in personal computers. VESA Local Bus worked alongside the ISA bus; it acted as a high-speed conduit for memory-mapped I/O and DMA, while the ISA bus handled interrupts and port-mapped I/O.

A VLB slot itself was an extension of an existing ISA slot. Indeed, both VLB and ISA cards could be plugged into a VLB slot .The extended portion was usually colored a distinctive brown. This made VLB cards quite long, reminiscent of the expansion cards from the old XT days. The addition resembled a PCI slot.

The VESA Local Bus was designed as a stopgap solution to the problem of the ISA bus's limited bandwidth.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Introduction of Integrated circuit

Integrated circuits were made possible by investigational discoveries which showed that semiconductor devices could carry out the functions of vacuum tubes, and by mid-20th-century technology advancements in semiconductor device manufacture. The integration of large numbers of tiny transistors into a small chip was an enormous development over the manual assembly of circuits using discrete electronic components. The integrated circuit's mass production capability, reliability, and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discrete transistors. There are two main advantages of Integrated Circuits over discrete circuits: cost and performance. Cost is low because the chips, with all their mechanism, are printed as a unit by photolithography and not constructed a transistor at a time. Performance is high since the components switch quickly and consume little power, because the components are small and close together.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Digital circuits

Most integrated circuits of sufficient complexity utilize a clock signal in order to synchronize different parts of the circuit and to account for propagation delays. As ICs become more complex, the problem of supplying accurate and synchronized clocks to all the circuits becomes increasingly difficult. The preeminent example of such complex chips is the microprocessor, the central component of modern computers, which relies on a clock from a crystal oscillator.

A clock signal might also be gated, that is, joint with a controlling signal that enables or disables the clock signals for a certain part of a circuit. This technique is often used to save power by efficiently shutting down portions of a digital circuit when they are not in use.

In some near the beginning microprocessors such as the National Semiconductor IMP-16 family, a multi-phase clock was used. In the case of the IMP-16, the clock had four phases, each 90 degrees apart, in order to synchronize the operations of the processor core and its peripherals. Most modern microprocessors and microcontrollers use a single-phase clock, however.

Many modern microcomputers utilize a "clock multiplier" which multiplies a lower frequency external clock to the suitable clock rate of the microprocessor. This allows the CPU to operate at a much higher frequency than the rest of the computer, which affords performance gains in situations where the CPU does not need to wait on an external factor.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Web Design

Web design is the deceitful and graphical production of content shown on the Internet in the form of Web sites and other Web applications using many dissimilar forms of media. A Web site is a group of information regarding a particular topic or subject. Designing a website is defined as the arrangement and construction of Web pages that in turn make up a website.

There are several aspects in this process, and due to the rapid development of the Internet, new aspects may come out. For distinctive commercial Web sites, the basic aspects are:

* The site design is defined by the subject and content.
* The site should be user-friendly, with the interface and navigation simple and reliable. If the site is large enough and contains enough information, a site browser may be needed so that information can be found quickly, without using the navigation tools.
* The appearance should consist of a single style that flows throughout, to show consistency. The style should be professional, look good and most of all is appropriate to the users and site content.
* The visibility of the site's text and information should be dominant as that is what the users are visiting for.
* The site must also be easy to find on the internet and if possible should be scheduled on most, if not all, major search engines.

A Web site typically consists of text and images. The first page of a website is Home page or Index. Some websites use what is commonly called a Splash Page. Splash pages might include a welcome message, language/region selection, or disclaimer. Each web page contained by a Web site is an HTML file which has its own URL. After each Web page is created, they are typically associated together using a navigation menu composed of hyperlinks. Faster browsing speeds have led to shorter awareness spans and more demanding online visitors and this has resulted in less use of Splash Pages, particularly where commercial websites are concerned.

Once a Web site is completed, it must be published or uploaded in order to be viewable to the public over the internet. This is done using an FTP client. Once published, the Web master may use a variety of techniques to increase the traffic, or hits, that the website receives. This may include submitting the Web site to a search engine such as Google or Yahoo, exchanging links with other Web sites, creating affiliations with similar Web sites, etc.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Basket

A basket is a container which is usually constructed from stiff fibers, often made of willow. The top is either left open or the basket may be fitted with a lid.
Contents
1 chronological usage
2 contemporary usages
3 metaphorical and legendary usages
4 verandas of baskets
5 observe also
Historical usage
Wood, bamboo, wheat, other grasses, osiers or wicker are often used to make baskets, but they are also made today from plastic. The first baskets were natural fiber by gatherers to collect fruits, grains, nuts and other edible plant materials, as well as for holding fish by early fishing peoples. A creel is a basket made particularly to hold fish. The plant life available in a region affects the choice of material, which in turn influences the weaving technique. Rattan and other members of the Arecaceae or palm tree family, the thin grasses of temperate regions and broad-leaved tropical bromeliads each require a different method of twisting and braiding to be made into an effective basket. Although baskets were usually created to serve men in bed rather than an artistic purpose, the practice of basket making has evolved into an art.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

History of glass

Naturally occurring glass, such as obsidian, has been used since the stone age. The first recognized instructions for glass making are in Egypt around 1500 BC, when glass was used as a varnish for ceramic and other items. In the first century BC the method of blowing glass was urbanized and what had once been an enormously rare and valuable item became much more common. During the Roman Empire many forms of glass were created, mostly for use in vases and bottles. Glass was made from sand, plant ash and lime. The initial use of glass was as a colored, opaque, or transparent glaze applied to ceramics before they were fired. Small pieces of colored glass were considered valuable and often rivaled valuable gems as jewelry items. As time passed, it was discovered that if glass is heated until it becomes semi-liquid, it can be shaped and left to cool in a new, solid, independently standing shape. In the first century BC, somewhere at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, a new invention caused a true revolution in the glass industry. This was the detection of glassblowing, both free-blowing and mold-blowing. The color of "natural glass" is green to bluish green. This color is caused by the unstable amounts of naturally occurring iron impurities in the sand. Common glass today usually has a slight green or blue tint, arising from these same impurities. Glassmakers educated to make colored glass by adding metallic compounds and mineral oxides to produce brilliant hues of red, green, and blue - the colors of gemstones. When gem cutters educated to cut glass, they found that clear glass was an excellent refractor of light, the fame of cut clear glass soared, that of colored glass diminished.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Planet

A planet, is a extraterrestrial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive adequate to be rounded by its own gravity, not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion in its core, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals

After stars and stellar remnants, planets are a few of the most massive objects known to man. They play an important part in the structure of planetary systems, and are also considered, along with large moons, the most feasible environment for life. Thus planetary science is crucial not only to comprehend the structure of the universe, but also to better understand the development of life, and to aid the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Additionally, the planets visible from Earth have played a vital role in the shaping of human culture, religion and philosophy in abundant civilisations. Even today, many people continue to believe true the movement of the planets affects their lives, all though such a causation is discarded by the scientific community.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Atomic clock

100 An atomic clock is a type of clock that uses an atomic resonance frequency standard as its counter. Early atomic clocks were masers with attached equipment. Today's best atomic frequency standards (or clocks) are based on more advanced physics involving cold atoms and atomic fountains. National standards agencies maintain an accuracy of 10-9 seconds per day, and a precision equal to the frequency of the radio transmitter pumping the maser. The clocks maintain a continuous and stable time scale, International Atomic Time (TAI). For civil time, another time scale is disseminated,Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is derived from TAI, but synchronized with the passing of day and night based on astronomical observations.

The first atomic clock was built in 1949 at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. The first accurate atomic clock, based on the transition of the caesium-133 atom, was built by Louis Essen in 1955 at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. This led to the internationally agreed definition of the second being based on atomic time.

In August 2004, NIST scientists demonstrated a chip-scaled atomic clock. According to the researchers, the clock was believed to be one hundredth the size of any other. It was also claimed that it requires just 75 mW, making it suitable for battery-driven applications.

Modern radio clocks are referenced to atomic clocks, and provide a way of getting high-quality atomic-derived time over a wide area using inexpensive equipment; however, radio clocks are not appropriate for high-precision, scientific work.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Cellular Phones

It wasn't until 1947 that scientists began to study the idea of cellular phones. Cellular phones are telephones that use radio wave transmissions rather than wires to make the connection between telephones. Crude mobile phones existed but were not very correct or efficient. Scientists found that if you had small communication cells it would give a much better connection.
The name cellular comes from the radio transmitters called cells. Cells are really small radio towers that are closer together than large towers. These cell towers are less expensive and have a better connection. They send and receive signals to and from the phones. So, cellular phones are actually two-way radios!
In the United States, the FCC (Federal Communications Commision) limited the cellular phone frequencies in 1947, so only 23 conversations could occur at the same time in the same service area. So the scientists did not do very much research until later.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Snake River

100 The Snake River is a river in the western part of the United States. The Snake River is 1,038 miles in length, and is the Columbia River's main branch. The Lewis and Clark expedition was the first major U.S. investigation of the river, and the Snake was once known as the Lewis River.

The Snake originates near the Continental Divide in Yellowstone National Park in NW Wyoming and flows south to Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park and long-ago the town of Jackson. The river flows down Snake River Canyon, then enters Idaho at the Palisades Reservoir and joins with the Henrys Fork River near Rigby. Note: inhabitants of eastern Idaho generally call the Snake prior to this joining the "South Fork of the Snake", individual it from the Henrys Fork.
Tributaries of the Snake contain the Henrys Fork River, the Boise River, the Salmon River, and the Clearwater River.
The Snake River's lots of hydroelectric power plants are a major source of electricity in the region. Its watershed provides irrigation for various projects, including the Minidoka, Boise, Palisades, and Owyhee projects by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, as well as a diversity of private projects such as at Twin Falls. However, these dams have also had an adverse environmental effect on wildlife, most notably on wild salmon migrations.
The Snake runs through a number of gorges, including one of the deepest in the world, Hells Canyon, with a greatest depth of 7,900 feet.
The name "Snake" possibly derived from an S-shaped sign which the Shoshone Indians made with their hands to mimic swimming salmon variation names of the river have included:

Monday, April 02, 2007

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher, also known as the Common Paradise Flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It was before classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but the paradise flycatchers, monarch flycatchers and Australasian fantails are now usually grouped with the drongos in the family Dicruridae, which has most of its members in Australasia and steamy southern Asia.

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher breeds from Turkistan to Manchuria. It is migratory, wintering in steamy Asia. There are occupant populations further south, for example in southern India and Sri Lanka, so both visiting migrants and the locally breeding subspecies occur in these areas in winter.

This species is usually found in thick forests and other well-wooded habitats. Three or four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a tree.

The adult male Asian Paradise Flycatcher is about 20 cm long, but the long tail bunting double this. It has a black crested head, chestnut upperparts and pale grey underpants.

By their second year, the males of the migratory Indian race T. p. paradise begin to obtain white feathers. By the third year, the male plumage is completely white, other than the black head. Males of the sedentary Sri Lankan race T. p. Ceylonese’s are always chestnut.

The female of all races resembles the old joke male, but has a grey throat, smaller crest and lacks the tail streamers.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

European Space Agency

100 The European Space Agency, recognized in 1975, is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to exploration of space with currently 16 member states. Its headquarters are in Paris, France. ESA has a staff of about 1,900 with a budget of 3 billion euros in 2005.

ESA's spaceport is the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, a site chosen because it is close up to the equator from which commercially essential orbits are easier to access. During the era of Ariane 4 ESA gained the location of market leader in important space launches and in current years ESA has established itself as the main competitor of NASA in space exploration.

ESA's mission
Since the Cold War ended with the fall of the Soviet Union's "iron curtain," space agencies around the world had to redeploy and amend their visions and goals. In an conference with JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, Jean-Jacques Dordain ESA's Director General outlined briefly the European Space agency's mission:

Today space activities are pursued for the advantage of citizens, and citizens are asking for a well again quality of life on earth. They want greater security and economic wealth, but they also want to pursue their dreams, to increase their knowledge, and they want younger people to be fascinated to the pursuit of science and technology.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Radio clock

A radio clock is a clock that is synchronized by a time code bit stream transmitted by a radio transmitter associated to a time standard such as an atomic clock. The picture shows a type of radio controlled digital clock. With special mechanism, radio controlled analog clocks are also available.
A radio controlled clock consists of an antenna for intercepting the RF time code signal, a receiving circuit to exchange the time code RF signal into digital time code, and a controller circuit to decode the time code bit streams and to drive an output circuit which can be LCD in case of digital clocks or stepping motors in case of analog clocks.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Orange

Orange refers to a citrus tree and the fruits of this tree. It is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine. It is a small tree, growing to about 10 m tall, with thorny shoots and evergreen leaves 4-10 cm long. The fruit originated in southeast Asia, in either India, Vietnam or southern China. The fruit from the species Citrus aurantium are also called oranges, varieties of C. aurantium are more bitter than C. sinensis.
Cultivation and uses
'Ambersweet' orangesOrange cultivation is a major business and an significant part of the economies of the US, Florida and California, many Mediterranean countries, Romania, South Africa, China, and the Riverina district around the Murray River in Australia.
Oranges are generally grown in warm climates worldwide, and the flavors of orange vary from sweet to sour. The fruit is generally peeled and eaten fresh, or squeezed for its juice. It has a thick bitter rind that is usually discarded, but can be processed into animal feed by removing water using pressure and heat. It is also used in certain recipes as flavoring or a garnish. The outer-most layer of the rind is grated or thinly veneered with a tool called a zester, to produce orange zest which is popular in cooking because it has a similar flavor to the fleshy inner part of the orange. The white part of the rind, called the pith, is almost always discarded. Oranges also can be used to create citrus oil, which is used in aromatherapy to uplift and relieve stress.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Cold River (Maine)

The Cold River is a 16.4 mile long (26.5 km) river placed in western Maine in the United States. It very briefly enters New Hampshire as well. It is part of the Saco River drainage basin.

The Cold River begins at the height of land in Evans Notch, a pass through the eastern White Mountains. Maine Highway 113, a narrow two-lane road, passes through the notch, subsequent the Cold River on the south side and Evans Brook, a tributary of the Androscoggin River, on the north. The Cold River, flowing south, picks up the Mad River, a short stream with waterfalls that flows off the southern faces of East Royce and West Royce mountains, then reaches the southern base of Evans Notch at the junction of Basin Brook, coming out of a large glacial cirque to the west, where the Cold River national forest campground is located.

South of Basin Brook, the Cold River briefly enters New Hampshire near the village of North Chatham, then veers back into Maine, flowing south-southwest in the town of Stow through an ever-widening valley. The Little Cold River enters from the west near the village of Stow. The Cold River ends at Charles Pond in the northern corner of Fryeburg. Water flows from Charles Pond via the short Charles River, entering the Old Course of the Saco River and finally the Saco itself south of Kezar Pond.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Rameswaram

Rameswaram (Chennai to Rameswaram 572 km) is a small island in the Gulf of Mannar, is a major pilgrim centre. It is linked to the mainland by road and railway bridges. Rameswaram is a holy place because Sri Rama, on his return from Sri Lanka, offered his thanks to Lord Shiva and performed pooja to wash away his sin in killing the Demon King, Ravana.
Rameswaram is known for its 22 theerthas or wells in and around the main temple. This place is evenly sacred to both Vaishnavites and Shaivites. According to Hindu Mythology, if one visits Rameswaram and prays to Lord Shiva one will be relieved of one’s sins. It is 197 metres long.
The Ramanathaswamy temple is famous for its magnificent corridors and massive sculptured pillars. The third corridor of Ramanathaswamy temple is the longest one in the world.
Besides pilgrimage, Rameswaram Island has some places, which are ideal picnic spots. There are beautiful beaches at Olaikuda, Dhanushkodi and Pamban. The Olaikuda beach is 1 km from the main temple and s engulfed by coral reefs, which makes bathing in the sea safe and enjoyable. With diving glasses and respiration tubes, scuba diving is safe and possible. Flamingos, sea gulls and a variety of birds travel to the Rameswaram Island during winter.
Rameswaram is a main fishing centre of Tamil Nadu. Variety of fishes with export quality fish like prawns, sea cucumber, and lobster are available here. Rameswaram is also famous for its dry fish.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Kite fishing

Kite fishing is supposed to have been first invented in China. It was, and is, also used by the people of New Guinea and other Pacific Islands - either by cultural distribution from China or independent invention.
Kites can give the boatless fishermen access to waters that would otherwise be available only to boats. Similarly, for boat owners, kites provide a way to fish in areas where it is not safe to find the way such as shallows or coral reefs where fish may be plentiful. Kites can also be used for trolling a lure through the water.
Suitable kites may be of very easy construction. Those of Tobi Island are a large leaf stiffened by the ribs of the fronds of the coconut palm. The fishing line may be made from coconut fibre and the lure made from spiders webs.
Modern kitefishing is popular in New Zealand, where large delta kites of synthetic materials are used to fish from beaches, taking a line and hooks far out past the breakers. Kite fishing is also emerging in Melbourne where sled kites are becoming well-liked, both off beaches and off boats and in freshwater areas. link title The disabled community are ever more using the kites for fishing as they allow mobility impaired people to cast the bait further out than they would otherwise be able to.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food preservative for the purpose of flavoring.
Many of the same substances have other uses in which they are referred to by different terms, e. g. in food preservation, medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery or as vegetables. For example, turmeric is also used as a preservative; licorice as a medicine; garlic as a vegetable and nutmeg as a recreational drug.
Spices are illustrious from herbs, which are leafy, green plant parts used for flavoring purposes. Herbs, such as basil or oregano, may be used fresh, and are normally chopped into smaller pieces; spices, however, are dried and usually ground into a powder.

Friday, February 23, 2007

The Institution of Engineers

The Institution of Engineers (IEI) was established by Sir Thomas Holland and others in Madras in 1920. In 1935, it obtained the Royal Charter from King George V to promote and move ahead the art, science and practice of engineering and technology in India.
The first President of the Institution was Sir Thomas R J Ward. Sir Thomas Guthrie Russell played a key role in the winning petition for a Royal Charter. The current President is Prof S C Naik.
The organization has been prominent amongst the founder members of the Commonwealth Engineers' Council and the Federation of Engineering Institutions of South and Central Asia. The Institution has a conditional membership of the Engineers Mobility Forum since 2003.
Today, the Institution is head-quartered in Kolkata, with 94 state and local centres. With half a million members, it is one of the biggest professional bodies in the English-speaking world. Life corporate members of the Institution are accredited with the Chartered Engineer title.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Education

Education is a term often used to refer to prescribed education. The word's broader meaning covers a variety of experiences, from formal learning to the building of understanding and knowledge throughout day to day experiences. Ultimately, it might be and has been said that all that we experience serves as a form of education. It is a generally held belief that education is lifelong. Individuals receive informal education from a mixture of sources. Family members, peers, books and mass media have a strong authority on the informal education of the individual.
Education also refers to a regulation, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to understanding and improving the processes of teaching and learning. It draws on additional disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Gardening

Gardening is the art of growing plants with the aim of crafting a purposeful landscape. Residential gardening most often takes place in or about a residence, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden naturally is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located in a roof, in an entrance, on a balcony, in a windowbox, or on a yard.
Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens), pleasure and theme parks, along transportation corridors, and around tourist attractions and hotels. In these situations, a staff of gardeners or groundskeepers maintains the gardens.
Indoor gardening is concerned with the increasing of houseplants within a residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. Indoor gardens are sometimes included as part of air conditioning or heating systems.
Water gardening is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden. These all require extraordinary conditions and considerations. A simple water garden may consist simply of a tub containing the water and plant(s).
Container gardening is concerned with growing plants in any type of container either indoors or outdoors. Common containers are pots, hanging baskets, and planters. Container gardening is usually used in atriums and on balconies, patios, and roof tops.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Jewellery

Jewellery is factually any piece of fine material used to decorate oneself. Although in earlier times jewellery was created for more convenient uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost completely for beautification. The first pieces of jewellery were made from likely materials, such as bone and animal teeth, shell, wood and engraved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were covered with it.Jewellery is made out of almost every material recognized and has been made to garnish nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality and artistic pieces are made with gemstones and valuable metals, less pricey costume jewellery is made from less-valuable materials and is mass-produced.Form and function Kenyan man exhausting tribal beads.Over time, jewellery has been used for a number of reasons: Currency, wealth display and storage, purposeful Symbolism Protection and Artistic display Most cultures have at some point had a practice of observance large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewelry, or create jewelry as a means to store or display coins. on the other hand, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; a mostly poignant example being the use of slave beads.
In creating jewellery, a variety of gemstones, coins, or other valuable items can be used, often set into precious metals. Common expensive metals used for modern jewellery include gold, platinum or silver, although alloys of nearly every metal known can be encountered in jewellery -- bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Most gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is affirmed in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. For example, ordinary gold jewellery ranges from 10K (41.7% pure gold) to 22K (91.6% pure gold), while 24K (99.9% pure gold) is considered too soft for jewellery use. Platinum alloys variety from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver.Other generally used materials include glass, such as merged glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay, polymer clay, and even plastics.
Jewellery and society
One universal issue is control over who could wear what jewellery, a point which indicate the powerful symbolism the wearing of jewellery evoked. In ancient Rome, for instance, only convinced ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery; again based on rank. Cultural dictate have also played a important role; for example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered "effeminate" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. on the other hand, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a crusade to popularize wedding rings for men — which caught on — as well as appointment rings for men , going so far as to make a false history and claim that the practice had Medieval roots. By the mid 1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. feature a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s.Religion has also played a role: Islam, for instance, consider the wearing of gold by men as a social taboo,and many religions have edicts against extreme display.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Journalism Basics

Journalism is a concrete, professionally oriented major that involves gathering, interpreting, distilling, and other reporting information to the general audiences through a variety of media means. Journalism majors learn about every possible kind of Journalism (including magazine, newspaper, online journalism, photojournalism, broadcast journalism, and public relations).
That's not all, though. In addition to dedicated training in writing, editing, and reporting, Journalism wants a working knowledge of history, culture, and current events. You'll more than likely be required to take up a broad range of courses that runs the range from statistics to the hard sciences to economics to history. There would also be a lot of haughty talk about professional ethics and civic responsibility too - and you'll be tested on it. To top it all off, you'll perhaps work on the university newspaper or radio station, or possibly complete an internship with a magazine or a mass media conglomerate.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Charleston earthquake – Pre-20th Century

The Charleston Earthquake of 1886 was the biggest quake to hit the Southeastern United States. It occurred at 9:50 p.m. on August 31, 1886. The earthquake caused severe damage in Charleston, South Carolina, damaging 2,000 buildings and causing $6 million value in damages, while in the entire city the buildings were only valued at approximately $24 million. Between 60 and 110 lives were lost.
Major damage occurred as far away as Tybee Island, Georgia (over 60 miles away) and structural injure was reported some hundred miles from Charleston (counting central Alabama, central Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southern Virginia, and western West Virginia). It was felt as far away as Boston to the North, Chicago and Milwaukee to the Northwest, as far West as New Orleans, as far South as Cuba, and also as far East as Bermuda.
Good Friday Earthquake – 20th Century
The Good Friday Earthquake (also known as the Great Alaska Earthquake) of Friday, March 27, 1964, was the most dominant earthquake in U.S. and North American history. As of 2006, it remains the third most powerful earthquake deliberate in modern times everywhere in the world. The magnitude 9.2 earthquake that resulted in 131 deaths was centered in Prince William Sound off the coastline of South Central Alaska. The powerful earthquake also caused some parts of Alaska to be liquefied, resulted much damage to property and leading to landslides.