AI Art Detection

AI Art Detection — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

  • NASA AI Assisted-Air Quality Monitoring Project

    NASA AI Assisted-Air Quality Monitoring Project

    The NASA Expert-System Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (ES-ITMS) Project was a public-private partnership to develop an artificial intelligence assisted, air quality monitoring system and was qualified for use on the Space Shuttle. The partnership was also the first cost and intellectual property shared public-partnership implemented by NASA, which used the commercial Research and Development Limited Partnership (RDLP) model that had been adopted by the Reagan Administration for Department of Defense semiconductor development, and recommended for use by NASA for space commercialization. The project partners included NASA, the University of Florida and Finnigan MAT Corporation, was organized and administered by the NASA Joint Enterprise Institute (subsequently NASA Joint Sponsored Program) and ran from 1988 through 1990. The partnership concluded final testing in 1991, generating four patents, expert system software and application protocol reports. The system was space qualified for use on the Shuttle and elements of the ES-ITMS system were integrated into the product Improvements for Finnigan MAT corporation. The success of the partnership lead NASA to create a pilot program to develop partnership business models as an ongoing management practice. == Purpose and objectives == The need to monitor air quality in confined spaces represented an increasing challenge for NASA's planned space missions and private sector facility managers facing the increased scrutiny of possible air contaminants. Up to the early 1980's, air quality monitors generally required large spaces and human technicians to interpret readings. This created a need for miniaturized air quality monitors that could generate reliable and accurate analytic results without on-site technician presence. NASA initiated projects to develop..."mobile and/or portable mass spectrometers" that evaluated the "tradeoff between instrumentation capabilities and space, weight and power considerations." NASA selected a "commercial ITMS instrument capable of generating electron ionization, chemical ionization and mass spectrometry data", to develop a linked expert system to accomplish analysis without human intervention. The commercial instrumentation was from Finnigan MAT corporation while the scientific expertise to support expert system development was available at the University of Florida. The project managers at NASA Ames created a single, integrated project using the RDLP model with objectives to: Develop AI/expert system software for instrument control (NASA's role) Expand sensitivity, selectivity and speed of the spectrometer (Univ Florida role) Expand the spectrometer analytic capability and automate the screening (Finnigan role) == Membership == The partnership included seven specialists from five member organizations: Federal Government National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Commercial Finnigan MAT Corporation (Thermo-Fisher Scientific) TGS Technology, Inc. Research Management University of Florida == Organization, management and administration == The technical project was organized into two development teams, one located in at the NASA Ames Research Center covering expert systems and analytic capabilities and one in Florida covering improved sensitivity and testing. The partnership management and administration was provided by a non-profit, partnership support organization: the Joint Enterprise Institute operating through San Francisco State University Foundation (SFSUF) with a NASA employee liaison, Syed Shariq. == Public-private partnership == The partnership structure was as a prototype test of a pilot NASA program to develop public-private partnership business models. The pilot program was known as the NASA Joint Sponsored Research Program (JSRP), which operated as the NASA Joint Enterprise Institute between 1988 and 1991. The partnership was the first public-private, research and development partnership implemented by NASA in response to national policy shifts to increase technology transfer and space commercialization. The partnership structure included a two year technology development and testing plan that cost $610,000, of which NASA funded $310,000, Finnigan $175,000 and the University of Florida $95,000. == Results and commercialization == The project generated patents (4), software (2) and application protocol reports (8). NASA gained use of the patents and jointly development software while Finnigan received commercial utilization rights. The results were commercialized within eighteen months of project completion. == Recognition == NASA recognized the project as a space qualified instrument. Its achievements were reported to the NASA Administrator, directly leading to establishment of the agency-wide Joint Sponsored Research Program.

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  • Web series

    Web series

    A web series, also known as a short-form series or web show, is a collection of short scripted or unscripted online videos released on the Internet (i.e., World Wide Web), generally in episodic form. A single installment of a web series can be called a webisode or an episode. The scale of a web series is small, and a typical episode can be anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes long (though some may run up to 20 minutes). Web series first emerged in the mid-1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. Web series are distributed online on video-sharing websites and apps, such as YouTube, Vimeo, and TikTok, and can be watched on devices such as smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops, and Smart TVs (or television sets connected to the Internet with a media streaming device). They can also be released on social media platforms. Because of the nature of the Internet, a web series may be interactive and immersive. Web series are classified as new media. Web series are different from streaming television series, as the latter are designed to be watched on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hotstar, with the streaming services offering original productions made for and by them, as well as acquiring the rights to distribute licensed content. The length of a streaming television series episode is 30 to 60 minutes (runtimes can also be longer). Although the design of a web series can be similar to that of a television series, its development and production do not entail the same financial investment required for a television series. The popularity of some web series, however, has led to them being optioned for television. Web series differ from short-form content in that the latter are vertical videos specifically designed for smartphone viewing and intended for fast-paced consumption, with runtimes typically ranging from less than one minute to three minutes. There are film festivals for web series, like Webfest Berlin, NYC Web Fest, LA Web Fest, and Vancouver Web Fest. Awards organizations have also been established to celebrate excellence in web series, such as the Streamys, Webbys, IAWTV Awards, and Indie Series Awards. Most major award ceremonies have also created web series and digital media award categories, including the Emmy Awards and the Canadian Screen Awards. == History == === 1990s === In April 1995, "Global Village Idiots", an episode of the reality-based program Rox on public access cable television in Bloomington, Indiana, was uploaded to the Internet, making Rox the first show distributed via the web. The same year, Scott Zakarin created The Spot, an episodic online story that integrated photos, videos, and blogs into the storyline. Likened to Melrose Place-on-the-Web, The Spot featured a rotating cast of characters playing trendy twenty-somethings who rented rooms in a fabled Santa Monica, California beach house called "The Spot". The Spot earned Infoseek's "Cool Site of the Year," an award which later became the Webby. In January 1999, Showtime licensed the animated sci-fi web series WhirlGirl, making it the first independently produced web series licensed by a national television network. In February 1999, the show premiered simultaneously on Showtime and online. The character occasionally appeared on Showtime, for example, hosting a "Lethal Ladies" programming block, but spent most of her time online, appearing in 100 webisodes. === 2000s === As broadband bandwidth increased in speed and availability, delivering high-quality video over the Internet became a reality. In the early 2000s, the Japanese anime industry began broadcasting original net animation (ONA), a type of original video animation (OVA) series, on the Internet. Early examples of the ONA series include Infinite Ryvius: Illusion (2000), Ajimu (2001), and Mahou Yuugi (2001). In 2000, The Brothers Chaps launched the Adobe Flash-created web series Homestar Runner. After being put on hiatus in 2010, it returned in 2014. In 2002, Matt Jolly (better known as "Krinkels") released the first episode of Madness Combat to Newgrounds. The show is still ongoing, with the latest episode "Madness Combat 12: Contravention" released on Twitch in September 2024. In 2003, Microsoft launched MSN Video, offering NBC-related content. Its web series, Weird TV 2000, a spin-off of the syndicated television series Weird TV, featured dozens of shorts, comedy sketches, and mini-documentaries produced exclusively for MSN Video. The video-sharing site YouTube was launched in early 2005, allowing users to share television programs. YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim said the inspiration for YouTube first came from Janet Jackson's role in the 2004 Super Bowl incident, when her breast was exposed during her performance, and later from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, which led to the idea of a video-sharing site. From 2003 to 2006, many independent web series gained significant popularity, most notably the science fiction series Red vs. Blue by Rooster Teeth. The series was distributed independently via online portals YouTube and Revver, as well as the Rooster Teeth website, acquiring over 100 million social media views during its run. (Rooster Teeth would eventually create the computer-animated web series RWBY in 2013.) In 2004, the adult-animated series Salad Fingers was created, which amassed a cult following. The comedy show The Burg, hailed as the internet's first sitcom and starring Kelli Giddish and Lindsey Broad, rapidly gained an audience and press attention before its creators signed a creation deal with Michael Eisner. The drama Sam Has 7 Friends, which ran in the summer and fall of 2006, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award and was temporarily removed from the Internet when it was also acquired by Eisner. In 2004–2005, Spanish producer Pedro Alonso Pablos recorded a series of video interviews featuring actors and directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Santiago Segura, Álex de la Iglesia, and Keanu Reeves, which were distributed through his own website. lonelygirl15, California Heaven, "The Burg", and SamHas7Friends also gained popularity during this time, acquiring audiences in the millions. (Science fiction thriller lonelygirl15 was so successful that it secured a sponsorship deal with Neutrogena in 2007.) In 2004, Stewart St. John, executive producer and head writer of 1990s webisodies The Spot, revived the brand for online audiences as The Spot (2.0), with a new cast, and as a separate soap opera on Sprint PCS Vision-enabled cell phones, creating the first American mobile phone series. St. John and partner Todd Fisher produced over 2,500 daily videos of the mobile soap, driving story lines across platforms to its web counterpart. In 2007, the creators of lonelygirl15 followed up on the show's success with KateModern, a comedy-drama series that debuted on social network Bebo, and took place in the same fictional universe as their previous show. Big Fantastic created and produced the soap opera Prom Queen, financed and distributed by Michael Eisner's production firm Vuguru, and debuted the series on MySpace. Vuguru partnered with Mark Cuban's channel HDNet to release All-for-nots, a mockumentary series by The Burg creators Kathleen Grace and Thom Woodley, which debuted at the SXSW Festival in 2008. These web series highlighted interactivity with the audience in addition to the narrative on relatively low budgets. In contrast, the eight-episode show Sanctuary, starring actor/producer Amanda Tapping, cost $4.3 million to produce. Both Sanctuary and Prom Queen were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Award-winning producer/director Marshall Herskovitz created the drama Quarterlife, which debuted on MySpace and was later distributed on NBC. In 2008, major television studios began releasing web series, such as the ABC comedy show Squeegies, the NBC sci-fi show Gemini Division, and the Bravo reality series The Malan Show. Warner Bros. relaunched The WB as an online network beginning with original mystery web series, Sorority Forever, created and produced by Big Fantastic and executive produced by McG. Meanwhile, MTV announced a new original web series created by Craig Brewer, $5 Cover, that brought together the indie music world and new media expansion. Joss Whedon created, produced, and self-financed musical comedy-drama Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day. Big Fantastic wrote and produced Foreign Body, a mystery web series that served as a prequel to Robin Cook's novel of the same name. Beckett and Goodfried founded a new Internet studio, EQAL, and produced a spin-off of lonelygirl15 titled LG15: The Resistance. The mainstream press began to provide coverage. In the United Kingdom, KateModern ended its run on Bebo. Bebo also hosted a six-month-long reality travel show, The Gap Year, produced by Endemol UK, and produced an interactive sci-fi drama Kirill for

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  • GlTF

    GlTF

    glTF (Graphics Library Transmission Format or GL Transmission Format and formerly known as WebGL Transmissions Format or WebGL TF) is a standard file format for three-dimensional scenes and models. A glTF file uses one of two possible file extensions: .gltf (JSON/ASCII) or .glb (binary). Both .gltf and .glb files may reference external binary and texture resources. Alternatively, both formats may be self-contained by directly embedding binary data buffers (as base64-encoded strings in .gltf files or as raw byte arrays in .glb files). An open standard developed and maintained by the Khronos Group, it supports 3D model geometry, appearance, scene graph hierarchy, and animation. It is intended to be a streamlined, interoperable format for the delivery of 3D assets, while minimizing file size and runtime processing by apps. As such, its creators have described it as the "JPEG of 3D". == Overview == The glTF format stores data primarily in JSON. The JSON may also contain blobs of binary data known as buffers, and refer to external files, for storing mesh data, images, etc. The binary .glb format also contains JSON text, but serialized with binary chunk headers to allow blobs to be directly appended to the file. The fundamental building blocks of a glTF scene are nodes. Nodes are organized into a hierarchy, such that a node may have other nodes defined as children. Nodes may have transforms relative to their parent. Nodes may refer to resources, such as meshes, skins, and cameras. Meshes may refer to materials, which refer to textures, which refer to images. Scenes are defined using an array of root nodes. Most of the top-level glTF properties use a flat hierarchy for storage. Nodes are saved in an array and are referred to by index, including by other nodes. A glTF scene refers to its root nodes by index. Furthermore, nodes refer to meshes by index, which refer to materials by index, which refer to textures by index, which refer to images by index. All glTF data structures support being extended using a JSON property, allowing arbitrary JSON data to be added. == Releases == === glTF 1.0 === Members of the COLLADA working group conceived the file format in 2012. At SIGGRAPH 2012, Khronos presented a demo of glTF, which was then called WebGL Transmissions Format (WebGL TF). On October 19, 2015, Khronos released the glTF 1.0 specification. ==== Adoption of glTF 1.0 ==== At SIGGRAPH 2016, Oculus announced their adoption of glTF citing the similarities to their ovrscene format. In October 2016, Microsoft joined the 3D Formats working group at Khronos to collaborate on glTF. === glTF 2.0 === The second version, glTF 2.0, was released in June 2017, and is a complete overhaul of the file format from version 1.0, with most tools adopting the 2.0 version. Based on a proposal by Fraunhofer originally presented at SIGGRAPH 2016, physically based rendering (PBR) was added, replacing WebGL shaders used in glTF 1.0. glTF 2.0 added the GLB binary format into the base specification. Other upgrades include sparse accessors and morph targets for techniques such as facial animation, and schema tweaks and breaking changes for corner cases or performance such as replacing top-level glTF object properties with arrays for faster index-based access. There is ongoing work towards import and export in Unity and an integrated multi-engine viewer and validator. ==== Adoption of glTF 2.0 ==== On March 3, 2017, Microsoft announced that they would be using glTF 2.0 as the 3D asset format across their product line, including Paint 3D, 3D Viewer, Remix 3D, Babylon.js, and Microsoft Office. Sketchfab also announced support for glTF 2.0. The glTF and GLB formats are used on and supported by companies including DGG, UX3D, Sketchfab, Facebook, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Adobe, Box, TurboSquid, Unreal Engine, Unity, and Qt Quick 3D. The format has been noted as an important standard for augmented reality, integrating with modeling software such as Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Poly. In February 2020, the Smithsonian Institution launched their Open Access Initiative, releasing approximately 2.8 million 2D images and 3D models into the public domain, using glTF for the 3D models. In July 2022, glTF 2.0 was released as the ISO/IEC 12113:2022 International Standard. Khronos stated they would make regular submissions to bring updates and new widely adopted glTF functionality into refreshed versions of ISO/IEC 12113 to ensure that there is no long-term divergence between the ISO/IEC and Khronos specifications. The open-source game engine Godot supports importing glTF 2.0 files since version 3.0 and export since version 4.0. === Extensions === The glTF format can be extended with arbitrary JSON to add new data and functionality. Extensions can be placed on any part of a glTF, including nodes, animations, materials, textures, and on the entire document. Khronos keeps a non-comprehensive registry of glTF extensions on GitHub, including all official Khronos extensions and a few third-party extensions. PBR extensions model the physical appearance of real-world objects, allowing developers to create realistic 3D assets that have the correct appearance. As new PBR extensions are released, they continue to expand PBR capabilities within the glTF framework, allowing a wider range of scenes and objects to be realistically rendered as 3D assets. The KTX 2.0 extension for universal texture compression enables 3D models in the glTF format to be highly compressed and to use natively supported texture formats, reducing file size and boosting rendering speed. Draco is a glTF extension for mesh compression, to compress and decompress 3D meshes, to help reduce the size of 3D files. It compresses vertex attributes, normals, colors, and texture coordinates. Various glTF extensions for game engine interoperability have been developed by OMI group. This includes extensions for physics shapes, physics bodies, physics joints, audio playback, seats, spawn points, and more. The VRM consortium has developed glTF extensions for advanced humanoid 3D avatars including dynamic spring bones and toon materials. == Derivative formats == 3D Tiles, an OGC Community Standard, builds on glTF to add a spatial data structure, metadata, and declarative styling for streaming massive heterogeneous 3D geospatial datasets. VRM, a model format for VR, is built on the .glb format. It is a 3D humanoid avatar specification and file format. == Software ecosystem == Khronos maintains the glTF Sample Viewer for viewing glTF assets. Khronos also maintains the glTF Validator for validating if 3D models conform to the glTF specification. Khronos maintains a glTF Compressor tool to interactively optimize and fine-tune compression settings for glTF assets using KTX 2.0 textures. glTF loaders are in open-source WebGL engines including PlayCanvas, Three.js, Babylon.js, Cesium, PEX, xeogl, and A-Frame. The Godot game engine supports and recommends the glTF format, with both import and export support. Open-source glTF converters are available from COLLADA, FBX, and OBJ. Assimp can import and export glTF. glTF files can also be directly exported from a variety of 3D editors, such as Blender, Unity (using the glTFast importer/exporter), Freecad, Vectary, Autodesk 3ds Max (natively or using Verge3D exporter), Autodesk Maya (using babylon.js exporter), Autodesk Inventor, Modo, Houdini, Paint 3D, Godot, and Substance Painter. Open-source glTF utility libraries are available for programming languages including JavaScript, Node.js, C++, C#, Python, Haskell, Java, Go, Rust, Haxe, Ada, and TypeScript. Khronos keeps a list of these libraries and other related applications on their ecosystem site. The Khronos 3D Commerce Working Group released Asset Creation Guidelines in 2020 outlining best practices for use of the glTF file format in 3D Commerce. In 2025, the Working Group launched Asset Creation Guidelines 2.0, a continuously updated resource with additional guidance for geometry, mesh optimization, UV maps, textures, materials/PBR performance, and web optimization. The Khronos PBR Neutral Tone Mappers specification is a tone mapper designed to faithfully reproduce an object's base color, hue, and saturation when using PBR rendering under grayscale lighting, supporting brand- and product-accurate color representation. Khronos maintains the glTF Asset Auditor to allow retailers and advertising technology platforms to validate 3D assets against either a default Audit Profile modelled on the 2020 3D Commerce Asset Creation Guidelines or a custom profile defined by the target application.

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  • Mean opinion score

    Mean opinion score

    Mean opinion score (MOS) is a measure used in the domain of Quality of Experience and telecommunications engineering, representing overall quality of a stimulus or system. It is the arithmetic mean over all individual "values on a predefined scale that a subject assigns to his opinion of the performance of a system quality". Such ratings are usually gathered in a subjective quality evaluation test, but they can also be algorithmically estimated. MOS is a commonly used measure for video, audio, and audiovisual quality evaluation, but not restricted to those modalities. ITU-T has defined several ways of referring to a MOS in Recommendation ITU-T P.800.1, depending on whether the score was obtained from audiovisual, conversational, listening, talking, or video quality tests. == Rating scales and mathematical definition == The MOS is expressed as a single rational number, typically in the range 1–5, where 1 is lowest perceived quality, and 5 is the highest perceived quality. Other MOS ranges are also possible, depending on the rating scale that has been used in the underlying test. The Absolute Category Rating scale is very commonly used, which maps ratings between Bad and Excellent to numbers between 1 and 5, as seen in below table. Other standardized quality rating scales exist in ITU-T Recommendations (such as ITU-T P.800 or ITU-T P.910). For example, one could use a continuous scale ranging between 1–100. Which scale is used depends on the purpose of the test. In certain contexts there are no statistically significant differences between ratings for the same stimuli when they are obtained using different scales. The MOS is calculated as the arithmetic mean over single ratings performed by human subjects for a given stimulus in a subjective quality evaluation test. Thus: M O S = ∑ n = 1 N R n N {\displaystyle MOS={\frac {\sum _{n=1}^{N}{R_{n}}}{N}}} Where R {\displaystyle R} are the individual ratings for a given stimulus by N {\displaystyle N} subjects. == Properties of the MOS == The MOS is subject to certain mathematical properties and biases. In general, there is an ongoing debate on the usefulness of the MOS to quantify Quality of Experience in a single scalar value. When the MOS is acquired using a categorical rating scales, it is based on – similar to Likert scales – an ordinal scale. In this case, the ranking of the scale items is known, but their interval is not. Therefore, it is mathematically incorrect to calculate a mean over individual ratings in order to obtain the central tendency; the median should be used instead. However, in practice and in the definition of MOS, it is considered acceptable to calculate the arithmetic mean. It has been shown that for categorical rating scales (such as ACR), the individual items are not perceived equidistant by subjects. For example, there may be a larger "gap" between Good and Fair than there is between Good and Excellent. The perceived distance may also depend on the language into which the scale is translated. However, there exist studies that could not prove a significant impact of scale translation on the obtained results. Several other biases are present in the way MOS ratings are typically acquired. In addition to the above-mentioned issues with scales that are perceived non-linearly, there is a so-called "range-equalization bias": subjects, over the course of a subjective experiment, tend to give scores that span the entire rating scale. This makes it impossible to compare two different subjective tests if the range of presented quality differs. In other words, the MOS is never an absolute measure of quality, but only relative to the test in which it has been acquired. For the above reasons – and due to several other contextual factors influencing the perceived quality in a subjective test – a MOS value should only be reported if the context in which the values have been collected in is known and reported as well. MOS values gathered from different contexts and test designs therefore should not be directly compared. Recommendation ITU-T P.800.2 prescribes how MOS values should be reported. Specifically, P.800.2 says:it is not meaningful to directly compare MOS values produced from separate experiments, unless those experiments were explicitly designed to be compared, and even then the data should be statistically analysed to ensure that such a comparison is valid. == MOS for speech and audio quality estimation == MOS historically originates from subjective measurements where listeners would sit in a "quiet room" and score a telephone call quality as they perceived it. This kind of test methodology had been in use in the telephony industry for decades and was standardized in Recommendation ITU-T P.800. It specifies that "the talker should be seated in a quiet room with volume between 30 and 120 m³ and a reverberation time less than 500 ms (preferably in the range 200–300 ms). The room noise level must be below 30 dBA with no dominant peaks in the spectrum." Requirements for other modalities were similarly specified in later ITU-T Recommendations. == MOS estimation using quality models == Obtaining MOS ratings may be time-consuming and expensive as it requires the recruitment of human assessors. For various use cases such as codec development or service quality monitoring purposes – where quality should be estimated repeatedly and automatically – MOS scores can also be predicted by objective quality models, which typically have been developed and trained using human MOS ratings. A question that arises from using such models is whether the MOS differences produced are noticeable to the users. For example, when rating images on a five point MOS scale, an image with a MOS equal to 5 is expected to be noticeably better in quality than one with a MOS equal to 1. Contrary to that, it is not evident whether an image with a MOS equal to 3.8 is noticeably better in quality than one with a MOS equal to 3.6. Research conducted on determining the smallest MOS difference that is perceptible to users for digital photographs showed that a MOS difference of approximately 0.46 is required in order for 75% of the users to be able to detect the higher quality image. Nevertheless, image quality expectation, and hence MOS, changes over time with the change of user expectations. As a result, minimum noticeable MOS differences determined using analytical methods such as in may change over time.

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  • Vegas Pro

    Vegas Pro

    Vegas Pro (formerly known as Sony Vegas) is a professional video editing software package for non-linear editing (NLE), designed to run on the Microsoft Windows operating system. The first release of Vegas Beta was on June 11, 1999. Vegas was originally developed as a non-linear audio editing application. Version 2.0 would split the program into audio and video editing variants, with the former being dropped by version 4.0, making the video offering the only variant available to consumers. Vegas Pro features real-time multi-track video and audio editing on unlimited tracks, resolution-independent video sequencing, complex effects, compositing tools, 24-bit/192 kHz audio support, VST and DirectX plug-in effect support, and Dolby Digital surround sound mixing. The software was originally published by Sonic Foundry until May 2003, when Sony purchased Sonic Foundry and formed Sony Creative Software. On May 24, 2016, Sony announced that Vegas was sold to MAGIX, which formed VEGAS Creative Software, to continue support and development of the software. As of the end of March 2026, it was publicly announced that Boris FX had taken ownership of Vegas Pro. Each release of Vegas is sold standalone; however, upgrade discounts are sometimes provided. == Features == Vegas does not require any specialized hardware to run properly, allowing it to operate on any Windows computer that meets the system requirements. == History == Vegas 1.0 was released after a brief public beta by Sonic Foundry on July 23, 1999 at the NAMM Show in Nashville, Tennessee as an audio-only tool with a particular focus on re-scaling and resampling audio. It supported formats like DivX and Real Networks RealSystem G2 file formats. Martin Walker from Sound on Sound described working in Vegas 1.0 as a "very pleasurable experience, especially since so many functions are highly intuitive" though also criticizing some features as hard to figure out due to the lack of a central help file. Later, on June 12, 2000, Vegas Video and Audio 2.0 (also referred to as just Vegas 2.0) was released, with its beta releasing earlier that year on April 10. This was the first version of Vegas to include video-editing tools and was also the first to have a low-cost "LE" version alongside the regular release. The LE releases would continue through version 3.0 of Vegas but would be discontinued by the release of Vegas 4.0. Vegas 3.0 was released the next year on December 3, and added new video effects, features for ease-of-use with DV, and support for editing Windows Media files. Vegas 4.0 was released on 6 February 2003 and added application scripting, advanced color correction, 5.1 surround sound mixing, and Steinberg ASIO support. This was the last release under the Sonic Foundry name after it sold much of its software suite, including Sound Forge and Acid Pro, to Sony Pictures Digital for $18 million later in 2003. Under Sony's ownership, Vegas 5.0 was released on April 19, 2004, bringing 3D track motion, compositing, reversing, envelope automation, etc. 7.0 also added an improved video preview, enhanced layout management, improved snapping, and more customization. With the release of 8.0, Sony opted to go back to the original "Vegas Pro" branding that the first version released with. It added the ability to burn Blu-ray and DVD optical media, support for 32-bit floating point audio, support for tempo-based audio effects, and more. It also moved the timeline to the bottom of the window by default with the option of moving it back to the top if the user wished to. Sony was also experimenting with 64-bit at this time and ported Vegas Pro 8.0 to 64-bit systems under the name "Vegas Pro 8.1". Vegas Pro 9.0 added support for 4K resolution and pro camcorder formats like Red and XDCAM EX. In 2009, Sony Creative Software purchased the Velvetmatter Radiance suite of video FX plug-ins which were included in Sony Vegas Pro 9.0. As a result, they were no longer available as a separate product from Velvetmatter. Vegas Pro 10 was released in 2010 with stereoscopic 3D editing, image stabilization, OpenFX plugin support, real-time audio event effects, and a few UI changes. This was the last release to include support for Windows XP. Vegas Pro 11 was released the next year on 17 October, with GPGPU video acceleration, enhanced text tools, enhanced stereoscopic/3D features, RAW photo support, and new event synchronization mechanisms. In addition, Vegas Pro 11 comes pre-loaded with "NewBlue" Titler Pro, a 2D and 3D titling plug-in. Vegas Pro 12 would add two new configurations: Vegas Pro 12 Edit, for "Professional Video and Audio Production"; and Vegas Pro 12 Suite, for "Professional Editing, Disc Authoring, and Visual Effects Design". Vegas Pro 13 would be the last version released with Sony branding after the acquisition of much of Sony Creative Software's library by Magix. After they acquired Vegas, Magix released version 14 on September 20, 2016. It featured advanced 4K upscaling as well as many bug fixes, a higher video velocity limit, RED camera support, and a variety of other features. This was also the last version to have the light theme enabled by default. Released on August 28, 2017, Vegas Pro 15 features major UI changes that claim to bring usability improvements and customization. It was the first version of VEGAS Pro to have a dark theme; it also allows more efficient editing speeds, including adding new shortcuts to speed the video editing process. Vegas Pro 15 includes support for Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV) and other technologies, as well as various other features. It introduced a new VEGAS Pro icon as a V. Vegas Pro 16 has some new features including file backup, motion tracking, improved video stabilization, 360° editing and HDR support. Magix has continued to improve Vegas through version 21 with support for reading Matroska files, a more detailed render dialogue, live streaming, VST3 support, a VST 32-bit bridge, and a selective Paste Event Attributes menu. Magix would later release a subscription model for using Vegas named "Vegas Pro 365" on January 17, 2018, although the perpetual licence is still an option for customers. This version includes cloud-based speech synthesis among other features not included in the mainline Vegas release. == Version history == Each release of Vegas is sold standalone, however upgrade discounts are sometimes provided. === Vegas Beta === Sonic Foundry introduced a sneak preview version of Vegas Pro on June 11, 1999. It is called a "Multitrack Media Editing System". === Vegas 1.0 === Released on July 23, 1999 at the NAMM Show in Nashville, Tennessee, Vegas was an audio-only tool with a particular focus on rescaling and resampling audio. It supported formats like DivX and Real Networks RealSystem G2 file formats. Version 1.0 is the final Vegas release to include Windows 95 support. === Vegas Video beta (Vegas 2.0 beta) === Released on April 10, 2000, this was the first version of Vegas to include video-editing tools. === Vegas Video (Vegas 2.0) === Released on June 12, 2000. Version 2.0 is the final Vegas Video release to include Windows NT 4.0 support. === Vegas Video 3.0 === Released on December 3, 2001. This release added: New Video Effects – Lens Flare, Light Rays, Film FX, Color Curves, Mirror, Remap, Deform, Convolution, Linear Blur, Black Restore, Levels, Unsharp Mask, Color Grading, and Timecode Burn filter. Batch Capture with Automatic Scene Detection – Captures DV with automatic scene detection, batch capture, tape logging, still image capture and thumbnail previews. Red Book Audio CD Mastering with CD Architect (TM) Technology – Used for burning Red Book audio CD masters directly from the Vegas timeline with ISRC, UPC, and PQ list support. New Sonic Foundry DV Codec – Introduces a DV codec developed by Sonic Foundry that offers artifact-free compositing and DV chromakeying. DV Print-to-Tape from the Timeline – Prints projects to DV cameras and decks from the Vegas timeline. Windows Media (TM) File Editing – Creates and edits Windows Media (TM) files. New MPEG Encoding Tools – Used for producing MPEG-2 files for DVD productions. Dynamic RAM Previewing – Temporary RAM/render-free previews for analysis and tweaking of complex video FX without rendering. VideoCD and Data CD Burning – Burning projects directly to VideoCD for playback on most DVD players or data CDs for playback computers' CD-ROMs. === Vegas 4.0 === Released on February 6, 2003. This release added: Advanced Color Correction Tools Searchable Media Pool Bins Vectorscope, Histogram, Parade and Waveform Monitoring Application Scripting Improved Ripple Editing Motion Blur and Super-Sampling Envelopes 5.1 Surround Mixing Dolby® Digital AC-3 Encoding certified and tested by Dolby Laboratories DirectX® Audio Plug-In Effects Automation ASIO Driver Support Windows Media™ 9 Support, including Surround Encoding DVD Authoring with AC-3 File Import Capabilities Integration with DVD Architect via Chap

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  • MicroTCA

    MicroTCA

    MicroTCA (short for Micro Telecommunications Computing Architecture, also: μTCA) is a modular, open standard, created and maintained by the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG). It provides the electrical, mechanical, thermal and management specifications to create a switched fabric computer system, using Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMC), connected directly to a backplane. MicroTCA is a descendant of the AdvancedTCA standard. == History == The rapid expansion of mobile telecommunications and their associated services (such as text messages) at the beginning of the millennium increased the demand of processing power in telecommunication systems. The existing "carrier grade" (see RAS) computing architectures were not fit to house the high performance processors of the time. In order to answer those demands, about 100 companies worked together in PICMG, resulting in the Advanced Telecommunications Architecture (AdvancedTCA, ATCA), published in 2002. After the introduction of AdvancedTCA, a standard was developed, to cater towards smaller telecommunications systems at the edge of the network. This standard was geared towards a more compact, less expensive systems, without cutting back on reliability or data throughput. This standard, called MicroTCA, was ratified 2006. MicroTCA systems migrated after its release into non-telecommunication sectors, like defence, avionics and science. This resulted in extensions to the base-standard, called modules. == Modules == === MicroTCA.0 === The base-specification for properties common to all other modules, ratified July 6, 2006. This includes: Mechanical specifications, like possible dimensions of card cages, backplanes and supported AMC-modules Electrical specifications, like power distribution and interface layout Thermal specifications, like possible cooling layouts or available cooling power Management specifications A second revision of the base-specifications was ratified January 16, 2020, containing some corrections, as well as alterations, necessary to implement higher speed Ethernet fabrics, like 10GBASE-KR and 40GBASE-KR4. === MicroTCA.1 === This module adds specifications for ruggedized systems, using forced air for cooling. Possible scenarios for MicroTCA.1-based systems include outside plant telecom, industrial and aerospace environments === MicroTCA.2 === This module adds specifications for more stringent requirements with regards to temperature, shock, vibration and other environmental conditions. These specifications are geared towards use in outside plant telecom, machine and transport industry, as well as military airborne, shipboard and ground mobile equipment. MicroTCA.2 allows the use of air- and conduction-cooled AMC-modules. === MicroTCA.3 === This module adds specifications for even more stringent requirements with regards to temperature, shock, vibration and other environmental conditions. These specifications are geared towards use in outside plant telecom, machine and transport industry, as well as military airborne, shipboard and ground mobile equipment. MicroTCA.3 requires the use of conduction-cooled AMC-modules. === MicroTCA.4 === This module extends the AMC with a Rear Transition Module (RTM), increasing PCB-space and modularity. AMC and RTM are connected with a connector, located in zone 3, defined in MicroTCA.0. These specifications are geared towards use in large-scale scientific devices, like particle accelerators or telescopes. == Components of MicroTCA == === Card Cage === The card cage (also: shelf, crate) houses all the other components and as such has two primary functions: Provide mechanical stability to the other components Ensure sufficient cooling There exist a wide array of card cages. They usually differ in: the type of modules they support (MTCA.0, MTCA.1, ...) the number of slots they provide (typically between 2 and 12) the architecture of the installed backplane (see below) the cooling scheme they use (i.e. airflow front-to-back, bottom-to-top, side-to-side, conductive,...) === Backplane === The backplane is a printed circuit board, mounted directly into the card cage. It connects all other components of a MicroTCA system to each other and provides power, data access and management access to them. Two types of power are distributed over the backplane, Management Power (+3.3 V) and Payload Power (+12 V). Unlike typical backplanes, where power is distributed to all components via a common "powerplane" in the PCB, on a MicroTCA backplane, Management and Payload Power are distributed to each component individually. While Management Power is provided to each module connected to a powered backplane, Payload Power has to be granted by the MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MCH), after ensuring that the module is MicroTCA-compatible. The standard defines various communication buses, which the backplane can/should provide: Gigabit Ethernet IPMI SATA Fat pipe (can be used for PCIe, SRIO or 10G/40G Ethernet) Point to Point Links Clocks JTAG === Cooling Unit === The Cooling Unit (CU) provides controlled air flow in air-flow-cooled card cages. It usually consists of an array of fans and a controller, which is connected to the backplane. The MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MCH) can read-out temperature sensors (if present) and fan speed, as well as change fan speed via IPMI. The Cooling Unit is usually fitted to a specific card cage. Some CUs are easily detachable (i.e. for cleaning or replacement), while other card cages come with integrated, non-detachable CUs. === Power Module === The Power Module (PM, also: Power Supply) converts the AC power from the power line to the +3.3 V Management Power (MP) and +12 V Payload Power (PP), both of which are DC. There exist a variety of power modules, which differ in: form factor (i.e. double width, single width) input voltage (110 V, 220 V, both) output power (i.e. 600 W, 1000 W) The power module senses the presence of a module in a slot via a specified pin in the module connector, and immediately provides that module with management power. Payload power is managed by the MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MCH), which communicates with the power module via IPMI. The power module uses its own type of connector, and can thus only be installed into designated slots, which in turn can't carry any other type of module. Some card cages provide an additional power module slot for redundancy. In such a case, one slot is the primary, which will provide power by default, and the other one is secondary, providing power only, if the primary does not. === MicroTCA Carrier Hub === The MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MCH) is the central managing device of a MicroTCA card cage. It manages power distribution and cooling. It usually also provides Gigabit Ethernet and/or PCIe/Serial RapidIO switching. Some MCHs additionally provide clocking. As the name indicates, they are the hub of various star topologies (i.e. for Ethernet, PCIe) on the backplane and thus require dedicated slot(s). Some backplanes support two MCHs for redundancy. In this case there are two MCH slots, with one being designated primary, and one secondary. === Advanced Mezzanine Card === Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) is a standard for hot-pluggable PCBs. It was originally developed to be used in AdvancedTCA systems. The standard specifies: the dimensions of the PCB with two width variants (single, double) and three height variants (Compact, Mid-size, Full) type, location and orientation of connectors (i.e. Zone 1, 2, 3) There is a huge variation of functionalities, an AMC can fulfill: Computing (i.e. a module with CPU, RAM, SSD and on-board graphics) Storage (i.e. SSD carrier) Graphics card FPGA card (i.e. for signal processing) FMC carrier Digitizer card (Analog-Digital and Digital-Analog Conversion) Clocking and Triggering and others === Rear Transition Module (MTCA.4 only) === The Rear Transition Module (RTM) was added in the MicroTCA.4 standard. It is connected directly to an AMC via a connector, located in zone 3, requiring a double width AMC and RTM. An RTM has about the same dimensions, as an AMC, basically doubling the available PCB-space per slot in an MTCA.4 card cage. Its power is provided by the AMC. Thus an RTM can not operate on its own, but requires a paired AMC. The zone 3 connector is electrically free configurable, making it possible, that a mechanically fitting AMC-RTM pair is electrically incompatible. To avoid damage due to that incompatibility, a mechanical code-pin was added to MTCA.4-compatible AMCs and RTMs, mechanically preventing the installation of an electrically incompatible RTM to an AMC. The functionality of RTMs includes, but is not limited to: RF-signal pre-/post-processing (i.e. filtering, Up-/Down-conversion, Vector De-/Modulation) Digital signal pre-/post-processing Clock-generation/-distribution Device interfaces Date storage CPU (only MCH-RTM)

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  • 1tik

    1tik

    1tik, pronounced Antik (Arabic: أنتيك; lit. "Everything is going well") is a fully Algerian instant messaging, social media and mobile payment app. designed, developed and built locally by the Algerian start-up, INTAJ Digital, with backing from the state-owned company ATM Mobilis (who's the company's main sponsor). It is described as Algeria's first super-app that is entirely designed and built by local developers. == Etymology == The name "1tik" (Arabic: أنتيك) is drawn from the popular Algerian vernacular (Antik), the neologism, which appeared several years ago, means "everything is going well" or "it's all good". == History == 1tik was officially launched and announced the 20th December 2025 by INTAJ Digital's founder Youcef Toulaib and a team of 50 employees, making it the first ever Algerian instant messaging, social media and mobile payment app, rivaling with the growing influence of Yassir in Algeria. it grew in popularity after the presidency of Algeria and several other state-owned companies, medias, and ministries opened official accounts on the app.

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  • False answer supervision

    False answer supervision

    False answer supervision (FAS) refers to VoIP fraud where the billed duration for the caller is more than the duration of the actual connection duration. The FAS is usually performed by VoIP wholesalers in their softswitches for randomly selected calls. Adding a small amount of extra billed seconds for many calls results in significant revenue for the VoIP wholesaler. == Implementation of FAS == The FAS fraud can be implemented in a softswitch in many different ways. These include: False billing of party A without calling a party B. Usually a fake ringback tone, loopback audio or voicemail message is played Start of billing before actual answer of party B Extra billing after disconnection of party B == Detection of FAS == The FAS can be detected and blocked in a softswitch. Common methods are: Manual verification of call detail records: listening to voice recordings Identification of FAS types and using algorithms to automatically detect the FAS RTP audio signal processing: detection of voice RTP audio signal processing: detection of silence RTP audio signal processing: detection of ringback tone

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  • Dataset shift

    Dataset shift

    Dataset shift is a phenomenon in machine learning and statistics in which the joint distribution of input variables and target labels is different in the training phase and the deployment or test phase (i.e., P t r a i n ( X , Y ) ≠ P t e s t ( X , Y ) {\displaystyle P_{train}(X,Y)\neq P_{test}(X,Y)} ). This happens when the statistical properties of data used to train a model are no longer representative of the data encountered in real-world use, often resulting in degraded predictive performance and diminished generalization ability. Dataset shift is a generic term for a number of particular types of distributional change. Covariate shift is when the distribution of the input features changes, but the conditional relationship between inputs and outputs remains constant . Prior probability shift (or label shift) happens when the distribution of target labels changes, but the conditional distribution of inputs given labels stays the same. Concept shift (also known as concept drift) is the change of the conditional relationship between inputs and outputs that renders previously learned patterns invalid over time. A key challenge for deploying machine learning systems is dataset shift, in particular in dynamic environments where the data distributions change over time. Detecting and mitigating such shifts is an active area of research, e.g., drift detection, domain adaptation, continual learning.

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  • Single address space operating system

    Single address space operating system

    In computer science, a single address space operating system (or SASOS) is an operating system that provides only one globally shared address space for all processes. In a single address space operating system, numerically identical (virtual memory) logical addresses in different processes all refer to exactly the same byte of data. In a traditional OS with private per-process address space, memory protection is based on address space boundaries ("address space isolation"). Single address-space operating systems make translation and protection orthogonal, which in no way weakens protection. The core advantage is that pointers (i.e. memory references) have global validity, meaning their meaning is independent of the process using it. This allows sharing pointer-connected data structures across processes, and making them persistent, i.e. storing them on backup store. Some processor architectures have direct support for protection independent of translation. On such architectures, a SASOS may be able to perform context switches faster than a traditional OS. Such architectures include Itanium, and Version 5 of the Arm architecture, as well as capability architectures such as CHERI. A SASOS should not be confused with a flat memory model, which provides no address translation and generally no memory protection. In contrast, a SASOS makes protection orthogonal to translation: it may be possible to name a data item (i.e. know its virtual address) while not being able to access it. SASOS projects using hardware-based protection include the following: Angel IBM i (formerly called OS/400) Iguana at NICTA, Australia Mungi at NICTA, Australia Nemesis Opal Scout Sombrero Related are OSes that provide protection through language-level type safety: Br1X Genera JX a research Java OS Phantom OS Singularity Theseus OS Torsion

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  • FactorDaily

    FactorDaily

    FactorDaily is an Indian digital media publication founded in 2016 by Pankaj Mishra and Jayadevan PK. Mishra was formerly an Editor at TechCrunch and the Economic Times. The digital publication was launched with an intent to produce stories on the impact of technology on life in India. == History == FactorDaily began publishing in May 2016, with daily reported stories on technology, culture and life in India. Prior to its launch, the company had raised $1 million in seed funding from Accel India, Blume Ventures, Girish Mathrubootham of Freshdesk, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of PayTm, and Jay Vijayan of Tekion. Josey Puliyenthuruthel John, formerly Managing Editor at Business Today and National Corporate Editor at Mint, later joined the company as a Consulting Editor. In January 2017, FactorDaily launched its first Podcast called The Outliers. The inaugural episode featured a conversation with Manish Sharma of Printo on his journey starting up. == Awards == The FactorDaily team won the Bengaluru Editors Lab 2017, a journalism hackathon organised by the Global Editors Network (GEN). The story titled "India has 3,800 psychiatrists for 1.2bn people. Can tech step in to manage mental health?" won the first prize in the online category of the fifth Schizophrenia Research Foundation’s (SCARF) ‘Media for Mental Health’ awards. The story titled 'The dark hand of tech that stokes sex trafficking in India', won the Stop Slavery media Awards by the Thomson Reuters Foundation for the year 2020.

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  • List of search appliance vendors

    List of search appliance vendors

    A search appliance is a type of computer which is attached to a corporate network for the purpose of indexing the content shared across that network in a way that is similar to a web search engine. It may be made accessible through a public web interface or restricted to users of that network. A search appliance is usually made up of: a gathering component, a standardizing component, a data storage area, a search component, a user interface component, and a management interface component. == Vendors of search appliances == Fabasoft Google InfoLibrarian Search Appliance™ Maxxcat Searchdaimon Thunderstone == Former/defunct vendors of search appliances == Black Tulip Systems Google Search Appliance Index Engines Munax Perfect Search Appliance

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  • Service-oriented software engineering

    Service-oriented software engineering

    Service-oriented software engineering (SOSE), also referred to as service engineering, is a software engineering methodology focused on the development of software systems by composition of reusable services (service-orientation) often provided by other service providers. Since it involves composition, it shares many characteristics of component-based software engineering, the composition of software systems from reusable components, but it adds the ability to dynamically locate necessary services at run-time. These services may be provided by others as web services, but the essential element is the dynamic nature of the connection between the service users and the service providers. == Service-oriented interaction pattern == There are three types of actors in a service-oriented interaction: service providers, service users and service registries. They participate in a dynamic collaboration which can vary from time to time. Service providers are software services that publish their capabilities and availability with service registries. Service users are software systems (which may be services themselves) that accomplish some task through the use of services provided by service providers. Service users use service registries to discover and locate the service providers they can use. This discovery and location occurs dynamically when the service user requests them from a service registry.

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  • Deplatforming

    Deplatforming

    Deplatforming, also known as no-platforming, is a boycott on an individual or group by removing the platforms used to share their information or ideas. The term is commonly associated with social media. == History == === Deplatforming of invited speakers === In the United States, the banning of speakers on university campuses dates back to the 1940s. This was carried out by the policies of the universities themselves. The University of California had a policy known as the Speaker Ban, codified in university regulations under President Robert Gordon Sproul, that mostly, but not exclusively, targeted communists. One rule stated that "the University assumed the right to prevent exploitation of its prestige by unqualified persons or by those who would use it as a platform for propaganda." This rule was used in 1951 to block Max Shachtman, a socialist, from speaking at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1947, former U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace was banned from speaking at UCLA because of his views on U.S. Cold War policy, and in 1961, Malcolm X was prohibited from speaking at Berkeley as a religious leader. Controversial speakers invited to appear on college campuses have faced deplatforming attempts to disinvite them or to otherwise prevent them from speaking. The British National Union of Students established its No Platform policy as early as 1973. In the mid-1980s, visits by South African ambassador Glenn Babb to Canadian college campuses faced opposition from students opposed to apartheid. In the United States, recent examples include the March 2017 disruption by protestors of a public speech at Middlebury College by political scientist Charles Murray. In February 2018, students at the University of Central Oklahoma rescinded a speaking invitation to creationist Ken Ham, after pressure from an LGBT student group. In March 2018, a "small group of protesters" at Lewis & Clark Law School attempted to stop a speech by visiting lecturer Christina Hoff Sommers. In the 2019 film No Safe Spaces, Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager documented their own disinvitation along with others. As of February 2020, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a speech advocacy group, documented 469 disinvitation or disruption attempts at American campuses since 2000, including both "unsuccessful disinvitation attempts" and "successful disinvitations"; the group defines the latter category as including three subcategories: formal disinvitation by the sponsor of the speaking engagement; the speaker's withdrawal "in the face of disinvitation demands"; and "heckler's vetoes" (situations when "students or faculty persistently disrupt or entirely prevent the speakers' ability to speak"). === Deplatforming in social media === Beginning in 2015, Reddit banned several communities on the site ("subreddits") for violating the site's anti-harassment policy. A 2017 study published in the journal Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, examining "the causal effects of the ban on both participating users and affected communities," found that "the ban served a number of useful purposes for Reddit" and that "Users participating in the banned subreddits either left the site or (for those who remained) dramatically reduced their hate speech usage. Communities that inherited the displaced activity of these users did not suffer from an increase in hate speech." In June 2020 and January 2021, Reddit also issued bans to pro-Trump communities over violations of the website's content and harassment policies. On May 2, 2019, Facebook and the Facebook-owned platform Instagram announced a ban of "dangerous individuals and organizations" including Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones and his organization InfoWars, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, and Paul Nehlen. In the wake of the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, Twitter banned then-president Donald Trump, as well as 70,000 other accounts linked to the event and the far-right movement QAnon. Some studies have found that the deplatforming of extremists reduced their audience, although other research has found that some content creators became more toxic following deplatforming and migration to alt-tech platform. ==== Twitter ==== On November 18, 2022, Elon Musk, as newly appointed CEO of Twitter, reopened previously banned Twitter accounts of high-profile users, including Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson, and The Babylon Bee as part of the new Twitter policy. As Musk exclaimed, "New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach". ==== Alex Jones ==== On August 6, 2018, Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify removed all content by Jones and InfoWars for policy violations. YouTube removed channels associated with InfoWars, including The Alex Jones Channel. On Facebook, four pages associated with InfoWars and Alex Jones were removed over repeated policy violations. Apple removed all podcasts associated with Jones from iTunes. On August 13, 2018, Vimeo removed all of Jones's videos because of "prohibitions on discriminatory and hateful content". Facebook cited instances of dehumanizing immigrants, Muslims and transgender people, as well as glorification of violence, as examples of hate speech. After InfoWars was banned from Facebook, Jones used another of his websites, NewsWars, to circumvent the ban. Jones's accounts were also removed from Pinterest, Mailchimp and LinkedIn. As of early August 2018, Jones retained active accounts on Instagram, Google+ and Twitter. In September, Jones was permanently banned from Twitter and Periscope after berating CNN reporter Oliver Darcy. On September 7, 2018, the InfoWars app was removed from the Apple App Store for "objectionable content". He was banned from using PayPal for business transactions, having violated the company's policies by expressing "hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions." After Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter several previously banned accounts were reinstated including Donald Trump, Andrew Tate and Ye resulting in questioning if Alex Jones will be unbanned as well. However Musk denied that Alex Jones will be unbanned criticizing Jones as a person that "would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame". InfoWars remained available on Roku devices in January 2019, a year after the channel's removal from multiple streaming services. Roku indicated that they do not "curate or censor based on viewpoint," and that it had policies against content that is "unlawful, incited illegal activities, or violates third-party rights," but that InfoWars was not in violation of these policies. Following a social media backlash, Roku removed InfoWars and stated "After the InfoWars channel became available, we heard from concerned parties and have determined that the channel should be removed from our platform." In March 2019, YouTube terminated the Resistance News channel due to its reuploading of live streams from InfoWars. On May 1, 2019, Jones was barred from using both Facebook and Instagram. Jones briefly moved to Dlive, but was suspended in April 2019 for violating community guidelines. In March 2020, the InfoWars app was removed from the Google Play store due to claims of Jones disseminating COVID-19 misinformation. A Google spokesperson stated that "combating misinformation on the Play Store is a top priority for the team" and apps that violate Play policy by "distributing misleading or harmful information" are removed from the store. ==== Donald Trump ==== On January 6, 2021, in a joint session of the United States Congress, the counting of the votes of the Electoral College was interrupted by a breach of the United States Capitol chambers. The rioters were supporters of President Donald Trump who hoped to delay and overturn the President's loss in the 2020 election. The event resulted in five deaths and at least 400 people being charged with crimes. The certification of the electoral votes was only completed in the early morning hours of January 7, 2021. In the wake of several Tweets by President Trump on January 7, 2021 Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter all deplatformed Trump to some extent. Twitter deactivated his personal account, which the company said could possibly be used to promote further violence. Trump subsequently tweeted similar messages from the President's official US Government account @POTUS, which resulted in him being permanently banned on January 8. Twitter then announced that Trump's ban from their platform would be permanent. Trump planned to rejoin on social media through the use of a new platform by May or June 2021, according to Jason Miller on a Fox News broadcast. The same week Musk announced Twitter's new freedom of speech policy, he tweeted a poll to ask whether to bring back Trump into the platform. The poll ended with 51.8% in favor of unbanning Trump's account. Twitter has since reinstated Trump's Twitter accou

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  • Digital image correlation for electronics

    Digital image correlation for electronics

    Digital image correlation analyses have applications in material property characterization, displacement measurement, and strain mapping. As such, DIC is becoming an increasingly popular tool when evaluating the thermo-mechanical behavior of electronic components and systems. == CTE measurements and glass transition temperature identification == The most common application of DIC in the electronics industry is the measurement of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). Because it is a non-contact, full-field surface technique, DIC is ideal for measuring the effective CTE of printed circuit boards (PCB) and individual surfaces of electronic components. It is especially useful for characterizing the properties of complex integrated circuits, as the combined thermal expansion effects of the substrate, molding compound, and die make effective CTE difficult to estimate at the substrate surface with other experimental methods. DIC techniques can be used to calculate average in-plane strain as a function of temperature over an area of interest during a thermal profile. Linear curve-fitting and slope calculation can then be used to estimate an effective CTE for the observed area. Because the driving factor in solder fatigue is most often the CTE mismatch between a component and the PCB it is soldered to, accurate CTE measurements are vital for calculating printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) reliability metrics. DIC is also useful for characterizing the thermal properties of polymers. Polymers are often used in electronic assemblies as potting compounds, conformal coatings, adhesives, molding compounds, dielectrics, and underfills. Because the stiffness of such materials can vary widely, accurately determining their thermal characteristics with contact techniques that transfer load to the specimen, such as dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA), is difficult to do with consistency. Accurate CTE measurements are important for these materials because, depending on the specific use case, expansion and contraction of these materials can drastically affect solder joint reliability. For example, if a stiff conformal coating or other polymeric encapsulation is allowed to flow under a QFN, its expansion and contraction during thermal cycling can add tensile stress to the solder joints and expedite fatigue failure. DIC techniques will also allow the detection of glass transition temperature (Tg). At a glass transition temperature, the strain vs. temperature plot will exhibit a change in slope. Determining the Tg is very important for polymeric materials that could have glass transition temperatures within the operating temperature range of the electronics assemblies and components on which they are used. For example, some potting materials can see the Elastic Modulus of the material change by a factor of 100 or more over the glass transition region. Such changes can have drastic effects on an electronic assembly's reliability if they are not planned for in the design process. == Out-of-plane component warpage == When 3D DIC techniques are employed, out-of-plane motion can be tracked in addition to in-plane motion. Out-of-plane warpage is especially of interest at the component level of electronics packaging for solder joint reliability quantification. Excessive warpage during reflow can contribute to defective solder joints by lifting the edges of the component away from the board and creating head-in-pillow defects in ball grid arrays (BGA). Warpage can also shorten the fatigue life of adequate joints by adding tensile stresses to edge joints during thermal cycling. == Thermo-mechanical strain mapping == When a PCBA is over-constrained, thermo-mechanical stress brought about during thermal expansion can cause board strains that could negatively affect individual component and overall assembly reliability. The full-field monitoring capabilities of an image correlation technique allow for the measurement of strain magnitude and location on the surface of a specimen during a displacement-causing event, such as PCBA during a thermal profile. These "strain maps" allow for the comparison of strain levels over full areas of interest. Many traditional discrete methods, like extensometers and strain gauges, only allow for localized measurements of strain, inhibiting their ability to efficiently measure strain across larger areas of interest. DIC techniques have also been used to generate strain maps from purely mechanical events, such as drop impact tests, on electronic assemblies.

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