AI Art That Looks Real

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

List of assembly software and tools

This is a list of assembly software and tools, including software used for assembly language programming, machine code generation, disassembly, debugging, binary analysis, reverse engineering, and instruction-set simulation. == Assemblers and machine-code generators == == Disassemblers and binary-analysis tools == == Debuggers with assembly-level features == == Educational IDEs, simulators and emulators == == Portable and intermediate assembly-like languages == == Assembly language families == Assembly language is not a single programming language, but a family of low-level languages associated with particular instruction set architectures and processor families. Examples include:
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Mixvoip

Mixvoip S.A. is a Luxembourg-based telecommunications service provider founded in 2008. The company offers IP telephony, high-speed Internet connectivity, and IT solutions to businesses and individuals. == Company history == In November 2017, Mixvoip expanded its operations to Belgium and Germany. At the beginning of 2019, the company acquired the telecommunications provider Voipgate. In December 2019, Mixvoip was named Telecom Company of the Year at the Luxembourg ICT Awards 2019 organized by Farvest and IT One. A 2024 article in Duke described the company's transition during the 2010s from traditional telephony services to cloud-based communication platforms. In the end of 2024, the ILR published the statistics about electronic communications in Luxembourg, including Mixvoip in the fix telephony section. In July 2025, Mixvoip acquired Crossing Telecom. In 2026, Mixvoip acquired Nomado's portfolio.
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InteLex Past Masters

InteLex Past Masters is a collection of full-text web-based scholarly editions of classic works in the humanities. InteLex Corporation was founded in 1989 by its current chief executive officer, Mark Rooks, to produce electronic versions of the works of the great philosophers, based on existing scholarly editions. The company is located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Its databases are marketed to academic institutions, with pricing based on the individual collections purchased. Content is provided in XML and searchable image format and is accessed through the InteLex Corporation website. In addition to philosophy, subject coverage includes religious studies, English literature, women's writing, social science, and history of science. InteLex databases are found in institutions in over 65 countries around the world.
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SD-WAN

A Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a wide area network that uses software-defined networking technology, such as communicating over the Internet using overlay tunnels which are encrypted when destined for internal organization locations. If standard tunnel setup and configuration messages are supported by all of the network hardware vendors, SD-WAN simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. This concept is similar to how software-defined networking implements virtualization technology to improve data center management and operation. In practice, proprietary protocols are used to set up and manage an SD-WAN, meaning there is no decoupling of the hardware and its control mechanism. A key application of SD-WAN is to allow companies to build higher-performance WANs using lower-cost and commercially available Internet access, enabling businesses to partially or wholly replace more expensive private WANs connection technologies such as MPLS. When SD-WAN traffic is carried over the Internet, there are no end-to-end performance guarantees. Carrier MPLS VPN WAN services are not carried as Internet traffic, but rather over carefully controlled carrier capacity, and do come with an end-to-end performance guarantee. == History == WANs were very important for the development of networking in general and for a long time one of the most important applications of networks both for military and enterprise applications. The ability to communicate data over long distances was one of the main driving factors for the development of data communications, as it made it possible to overcome the distance limitations, as well as shortening the time necessary to exchange messages with other parties. Legacy WANs allowed communication over circuits connecting two or more endpoints. Earlier networking supported point-to-point communication over a slow speed circuit, usually between two fixed locations. As networking progressed, WAN circuits became faster and more flexible. Innovations like circuit and packet switching (in the form of X.25, ATM and later Internet Protocol or Multiprotocol Label Switching) allowed communication to become more dynamic, supporting ever-growing networks. The need for strict control, security and quality of service (QOS) meant that multinational corporations were very conservative in leasing and operating their WANs. National regulations restricted the companies that could provide local service in each country, and complex arrangements were necessary to establish truly global networks. All that changed with the growth of the Internet, which permitted entities around the world to connect to each other. However, over the first years, the uncontrolled nature of the Internet was not considered adequate or safe for private corporate use. Independent of safety concerns, connectivity to the Internet became a necessity to the point where every branch required Internet access. At first, due to safety concerns, private communications were still done via WAN, and communication with other entities (including customers and partners) moved to the Internet. As the Internet grew in reach and maturity, companies started to evaluate how to leverage it for private corporate communications. During the early 2000s, application delivery over the WAN became an important topic of research and commercial innovation. Over the next decade, increasing computing power made it possible to create software-based appliances that were able to analyze traffic and make informed decisions without delays, making it possible to create large-scale overlay networks over the public Internet that could replicate all the functionality of legacy WANs, at a fraction of the cost. SD-WAN combines several networking aspects to create full-fledged private networks, with the ability to dynamically share network bandwidth across the connection points. Additional enhancements include central controllers, zero-touch provisioning, integrated analytics and on-demand circuit provisioning, with some network intelligence based in the cloud, allowing centralized policy management and security. Networking publications started using the term SD-WAN to describe this new networking trend as early as 2014. With the rapid shift to remote work as a result of lockdowns and stay at home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, SD-WAN grew in popularity as a way of connecting remote workers. == Overview == WANs allow companies to extend their computer networks over large distances, connecting remote branch offices to data centers and to each other, and delivering applications and services required to perform business functions. Due to the physical constraints imposed by the propagation time over large distances, and the need to integrate multiple service providers to cover global geographies (often crossing nation boundaries), WANs face important operational challenges, including network congestion, packet delay variation, packet loss, and even service outages. Modern applications such as VoIP calling, videoconferencing, streaming media, and virtualized applications and desktops require low latency. Bandwidth requirements are also increasing, especially for applications featuring high-definition video. It can be expensive and difficult to expand WAN capability, with corresponding difficulties related to network management and troubleshooting. SD-WAN products are designed to address these network problems. By enhancing or even replacing traditional branch routers with virtualization appliances that can control application-level policies and offer a network overlay, less expensive consumer-grade Internet links can act more like a dedicated circuit. This simplifies the setup process for branch personnel. SD-WAN products can be physical appliances or software based only. === Components === The MEF Forum has defined an SD-WAN architecture consisting of an SD-WAN edge, SD-WAN gateway, SD-WAN controller and SD-WAN orchestrator. ==== SD-WAN edge ==== The SD-WAN edge is a physical or virtual network function that is placed at an organization's branch/regional/central office site, data center, and in public or private cloud platforms. MEF Forum has published the first SD-WAN service standard, MEF 70 which defines the fundamental characteristics of an SD-WAN service plus service requirements and attributes. ==== SD-WAN gateway ==== SD-WAN gateways provide access to the SD-WAN service in order to shorten the distance to cloud-based services or the user, and reduce service interruptions. A distributed network of gateways may be included in an SD-WAN service by the vendor or setup and maintained by the organization using the service. By sitting outside the headquarters in the cloud, the gateway also reduces headquarters traffic. ==== SD-WAN orchestrator ==== The SD-WAN orchestrator is a cloud hosted or on-premises web management tool that allows configuration, provisioning and other functions when operating an SD-WAN. It simplifies application traffic management by allowing central implementation of an organization's business policies. ==== SD-WAN controller ==== The SD-WAN controller functionality, which can be placed in the orchestrator or in an SD-WAN gateway, is used to make forwarding decisions for application flows. Application flows are IP packets that have been classified to determine their user application or grouping of applications to which they are associated. The grouping of application flows based on a common type, e.g., conferencing applications, is referred to as an Application Flow Group in MEF 70. Per MEF 70, the SD-WAN Edge classifies incoming IP packets at the SD-WAN UNI (SD-WAN user network interface), determines, via OSI Layer 2 through Layer 7 classification, which application flow the IP packets belong to, and then applies the policies to block the application flow or allow the application flows to be forwarded based on the availability of a route to the destination SD-WAN UNI on a remote SD-WAN Edge. This helps ensure that application performance meets service level agreements (SLAs). == Required characteristics == The Gartner research firm has defined an SD-WAN as having four required characteristics: The ability to support multiple connection types, such as MPLS, last mile fiber optic network or through high speed cellular networks e.g. 4G LTE and 5G wireless technologies The ability to do dynamic path selection, for load sharing and resiliency purposes A simple interface that is easy to configure and manage The ability to support VPNs, and third party services such as WAN optimization controllers, firewalls and web gateways == Features == Features of SD-WANs include resilience, quality of service (QoS), security, and performance, with flexible deployment options; simplified administration and troubleshooting; and online traffic engineering. === Resilience === A resilient SD-WAN reduces network downtime. To
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INDECT

INDECT is a research project in the area of intelligent security systems performed by several European universities since 2009 and funded by the European Union. The purpose of the project is to involve European scientists and researchers in the development of solutions to and tools for automatic threat detection through e.g. processing of CCTV camera data streams, standardization of video sequence quality for user applications, threat detection in computer networks as well as data and privacy protection. The area of research, applied methods, and techniques are described in the public deliverables which are available to the public on the project's website. Practically, all information related to the research is public. Only documents that comprise information related to financial data or information that could negatively influence the competitiveness and law enforcement capabilities of parties involved in the project are not published. This follows regulations and practices applied in EU research projects. == Application and target users == The main end-user of INDECT solutions are police forces and security services. The principle of operation of the project is detecting threats and identifying sources of threats, without monitoring and searching for particular citizens or groups of citizens. Then, the system operator (i.e. police officer) decides whether an intervention of services responsible for public security are required or not. Further investigation eventually leading to persons related to threats is performed, preserving the presumption of innocence, based on existing procedures already used by police services and prosecutors. As it can be found in the project deliverables, INDECT does not involve storage of personal data (such as names, addresses, identity document numbers, etc.). A similar, behavior-based surveillance program was SAMURAI (Suspicious and Abnormal behavior Monitoring Using a netwoRk of cAmeras & sensors for sItuation awareness enhancement). == Expected results == The main expected results of the INDECT project are: Trial of intelligent analysis of video and audio data for threat detection in urban environments Creation of tools and technology for privacy and data protection during storage and transmission of information using quantum cryptography and new methods of digital watermarking Performing computer-aided detection of threats and targeted crimes in Internet resources with privacy-protecting solutions Construction of a search engine for rapid semantic search based on watermarking of content related to child pornography and human organ trafficking Implementation of a distributed computer system that is capable of effective intelligent processing == Controversy == Some media and other sources accuse INDECT of privacy abuse, collecting personal data, and keeping information from the public. Consequently, these issues have been commented and discussed by some Members of the European Parliament. As seen in the project's documentation, INDECT does not involve mobile phone tracking or call interception. The rumors about testing INDECT during 2012 UEFA European Football Championship also turned out to be false. The mid-term review of the Seventh Framework Programme to the European Parliament strongly urges the European Commission to immediately make all documents available and to define a clear and strict mandate for the research goal, the application, and the end users of INDECT, and stresses a thorough investigation of the possible impact on fundamental rights. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Paweł Kowal, MEP, the project had the ethical review on 15 March 2011 in Brussels with the participation of ethics experts from Austria, France, Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain.
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SD-WAN

A Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a wide area network that uses software-defined networking technology, such as communicating over the Internet using overlay tunnels which are encrypted when destined for internal organization locations. If standard tunnel setup and configuration messages are supported by all of the network hardware vendors, SD-WAN simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. This concept is similar to how software-defined networking implements virtualization technology to improve data center management and operation. In practice, proprietary protocols are used to set up and manage an SD-WAN, meaning there is no decoupling of the hardware and its control mechanism. A key application of SD-WAN is to allow companies to build higher-performance WANs using lower-cost and commercially available Internet access, enabling businesses to partially or wholly replace more expensive private WANs connection technologies such as MPLS. When SD-WAN traffic is carried over the Internet, there are no end-to-end performance guarantees. Carrier MPLS VPN WAN services are not carried as Internet traffic, but rather over carefully controlled carrier capacity, and do come with an end-to-end performance guarantee. == History == WANs were very important for the development of networking in general and for a long time one of the most important applications of networks both for military and enterprise applications. The ability to communicate data over long distances was one of the main driving factors for the development of data communications, as it made it possible to overcome the distance limitations, as well as shortening the time necessary to exchange messages with other parties. Legacy WANs allowed communication over circuits connecting two or more endpoints. Earlier networking supported point-to-point communication over a slow speed circuit, usually between two fixed locations. As networking progressed, WAN circuits became faster and more flexible. Innovations like circuit and packet switching (in the form of X.25, ATM and later Internet Protocol or Multiprotocol Label Switching) allowed communication to become more dynamic, supporting ever-growing networks. The need for strict control, security and quality of service (QOS) meant that multinational corporations were very conservative in leasing and operating their WANs. National regulations restricted the companies that could provide local service in each country, and complex arrangements were necessary to establish truly global networks. All that changed with the growth of the Internet, which permitted entities around the world to connect to each other. However, over the first years, the uncontrolled nature of the Internet was not considered adequate or safe for private corporate use. Independent of safety concerns, connectivity to the Internet became a necessity to the point where every branch required Internet access. At first, due to safety concerns, private communications were still done via WAN, and communication with other entities (including customers and partners) moved to the Internet. As the Internet grew in reach and maturity, companies started to evaluate how to leverage it for private corporate communications. During the early 2000s, application delivery over the WAN became an important topic of research and commercial innovation. Over the next decade, increasing computing power made it possible to create software-based appliances that were able to analyze traffic and make informed decisions without delays, making it possible to create large-scale overlay networks over the public Internet that could replicate all the functionality of legacy WANs, at a fraction of the cost. SD-WAN combines several networking aspects to create full-fledged private networks, with the ability to dynamically share network bandwidth across the connection points. Additional enhancements include central controllers, zero-touch provisioning, integrated analytics and on-demand circuit provisioning, with some network intelligence based in the cloud, allowing centralized policy management and security. Networking publications started using the term SD-WAN to describe this new networking trend as early as 2014. With the rapid shift to remote work as a result of lockdowns and stay at home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, SD-WAN grew in popularity as a way of connecting remote workers. == Overview == WANs allow companies to extend their computer networks over large distances, connecting remote branch offices to data centers and to each other, and delivering applications and services required to perform business functions. Due to the physical constraints imposed by the propagation time over large distances, and the need to integrate multiple service providers to cover global geographies (often crossing nation boundaries), WANs face important operational challenges, including network congestion, packet delay variation, packet loss, and even service outages. Modern applications such as VoIP calling, videoconferencing, streaming media, and virtualized applications and desktops require low latency. Bandwidth requirements are also increasing, especially for applications featuring high-definition video. It can be expensive and difficult to expand WAN capability, with corresponding difficulties related to network management and troubleshooting. SD-WAN products are designed to address these network problems. By enhancing or even replacing traditional branch routers with virtualization appliances that can control application-level policies and offer a network overlay, less expensive consumer-grade Internet links can act more like a dedicated circuit. This simplifies the setup process for branch personnel. SD-WAN products can be physical appliances or software based only. === Components === The MEF Forum has defined an SD-WAN architecture consisting of an SD-WAN edge, SD-WAN gateway, SD-WAN controller and SD-WAN orchestrator. ==== SD-WAN edge ==== The SD-WAN edge is a physical or virtual network function that is placed at an organization's branch/regional/central office site, data center, and in public or private cloud platforms. MEF Forum has published the first SD-WAN service standard, MEF 70 which defines the fundamental characteristics of an SD-WAN service plus service requirements and attributes. ==== SD-WAN gateway ==== SD-WAN gateways provide access to the SD-WAN service in order to shorten the distance to cloud-based services or the user, and reduce service interruptions. A distributed network of gateways may be included in an SD-WAN service by the vendor or setup and maintained by the organization using the service. By sitting outside the headquarters in the cloud, the gateway also reduces headquarters traffic. ==== SD-WAN orchestrator ==== The SD-WAN orchestrator is a cloud hosted or on-premises web management tool that allows configuration, provisioning and other functions when operating an SD-WAN. It simplifies application traffic management by allowing central implementation of an organization's business policies. ==== SD-WAN controller ==== The SD-WAN controller functionality, which can be placed in the orchestrator or in an SD-WAN gateway, is used to make forwarding decisions for application flows. Application flows are IP packets that have been classified to determine their user application or grouping of applications to which they are associated. The grouping of application flows based on a common type, e.g., conferencing applications, is referred to as an Application Flow Group in MEF 70. Per MEF 70, the SD-WAN Edge classifies incoming IP packets at the SD-WAN UNI (SD-WAN user network interface), determines, via OSI Layer 2 through Layer 7 classification, which application flow the IP packets belong to, and then applies the policies to block the application flow or allow the application flows to be forwarded based on the availability of a route to the destination SD-WAN UNI on a remote SD-WAN Edge. This helps ensure that application performance meets service level agreements (SLAs). == Required characteristics == The Gartner research firm has defined an SD-WAN as having four required characteristics: The ability to support multiple connection types, such as MPLS, last mile fiber optic network or through high speed cellular networks e.g. 4G LTE and 5G wireless technologies The ability to do dynamic path selection, for load sharing and resiliency purposes A simple interface that is easy to configure and manage The ability to support VPNs, and third party services such as WAN optimization controllers, firewalls and web gateways == Features == Features of SD-WANs include resilience, quality of service (QoS), security, and performance, with flexible deployment options; simplified administration and troubleshooting; and online traffic engineering. === Resilience === A resilient SD-WAN reduces network downtime. To
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Static web page

A static web page, sometimes called a flat page or a stationary page, is a web page that is delivered to a web browser exactly as stored, in contrast to dynamic web pages which are generated by a web application. Consequently, a static web page displays the same information for all users, from all contexts, subject to modern capabilities of a web server to negotiate content-type or language of the document where such versions are available and the server is configured to do so. However, a webpage's JavaScript can introduce dynamic functionality which may make the static web page dynamic. == Overview == Static web pages are often HTML documents, stored as files in the file system and made available by the web server over HTTP (nevertheless URLs ending with ".html" are not always static). However, loose interpretations of the term could include web pages stored in a database, and could even include pages formatted using a template and served through an application server, as long as the page served is unchanging and presented essentially as stored. The content of static web pages remains stationary irrespective of the number of times it is viewed. Such web pages are suitable for the contents that rarely need to be updated, though modern web template systems are changing this. Maintaining large numbers of static pages as files can be impractical without automated tools, such as static site generators. Any personalization or interactivity has to run client-side, which is restricting. Cloud-based website builders, including Wix, Weebly, and Duda, offer no-code platforms for creating static and dynamic web pages through graphical interfaces, without requiring programming expertise. === Advantages === Provide improved security over dynamic websites (dynamic websites are at risk to web shell attacks if a vulnerability is present) Improved performance for end users compared to dynamic websites Fewer or no dependencies on systems such as databases or other application servers Cost savings from utilizing cloud storage, as opposed to a hosted environment Security configurations are easy to set up, which makes it more secure Static files can be cached by content delivery networks (CDNs) and other intermediate caches, which both reduces page load times at the user and also reduces load on the origin server. Static websites can have improved uptime, since they are still available through any available CDN exit node even when other CDN nodes or the origin webserver are temporarily offline. === Disadvantages === Dynamic functionality must be performed on the client side. After each update of a static website, some or all users may see old, stale, outdated previous versions instead of the latest version until the old version is flushed from CDNs and other caches. == Static site generators == Static site generators are applications that compile static websites - typically populating HTML templates in a predefined folder and file structure, with content supplied in a format such as Markdown or AsciiDoc. === Implementations === Jekyll (powers GitHub Pages) Middleman Hugo Next.js Astro.build Pelican Franklin
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Link-richness

Link-richness is the quality, possessed by some websites, of having many hyperlinks. Classified advertising sites like Craigslist tend to be very link-rich, sometimes with hundreds of links on their main page. They help users find the links they are looking for by grouping links into clusters. Inadequate link richness has been described as frustrating to readers, as it reduces transparency of site content from the main page. Students new to wiki collaboration were found to need guidance in how to take full advantage of the medium's potential for creating link-rich content. Link-richness in some contexts can be distracting, as when an article is surrounded by extraneous links. Indeed, it is becoming accepted as a best practice for universities to have link-rich home pages that do not rely on user categorisation and exploration of long sequences of links and are not constrained by traditional boundaries between departments. Tools are sometimes needed to make the publishing of link-rich web sites tractable, and many people may lack the technical skills, time, or inclination to engage in hand- crafting new digital document forms. A link-rich site that is low on content is sometimes referred to as a "gateway site." Link-rich portals were popular on the Web in 2000. Yahoo! and other sites featuring categories with many links were heavily used and often required fewer than three clicks to reach the content. Web designers were creating flat sites with content positioned close to the top of pages.
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Labeled data

Labeled data is a group of samples that have been tagged with one or more labels. Labeling typically takes a set of unlabeled data and augments each piece of it with informative tags called judgments. For example, a data label might indicate whether a photo contains a horse or a cow, which words were uttered in an audio recording, what type of action is being performed in a video, what the topic of a news article is, what the overall sentiment of a tweet is, or whether a dot in an X-ray is a tumor. Labels can be obtained by having humans make judgments about a given piece of unlabeled data. Labeled data is significantly more expensive to obtain than the raw unlabeled data. The quality of labeled data directly influences the performance of supervised machine learning models in operation, as these models learn from the provided labels. == Crowdsourced labeled data == In 2006, Fei-Fei Li, the co-director of the Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute, initiated research to improve the artificial intelligence models and algorithms for image recognition by significantly enlarging the training data. The researchers downloaded millions of images from the World Wide Web and a team of undergraduates started to apply labels for objects to each image. In 2007, Li outsourced the data labeling work on Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online marketplace for digital piece work. The 3.2 million images that were labeled by more than 49,000 workers formed the basis for ImageNet, one of the largest hand-labeled database for outline of object recognition. == Automated data labelling == After obtaining a labeled dataset, machine learning models can be applied to the data so that new unlabeled data can be presented to the model and a likely label can be guessed or predicted for that piece of unlabeled data. == Challenges == === Data-driven bias === Algorithmic decision-making is subject to programmer-driven bias as well as data-driven bias. Training data that relies on bias labeled data will result in prejudices and omissions in a predictive model, despite the machine learning algorithm being legitimate. The labeled data used to train a specific machine learning algorithm needs to be a statistically representative sample to not bias the results. For example, in facial recognition systems underrepresented groups are subsequently often misclassified if the labeled data available to train has not been representative of the population,. In 2018, a study by Joy Buolamwini and Timnit Gebru demonstrated that two facial analysis datasets that have been used to train facial recognition algorithms, IJB-A and Adience, are composed of 79.6% and 86.2% lighter skinned humans respectively. === Human error and inconsistency === Human annotators are prone to errors and biases when labeling data. This can lead to inconsistent labels and affect the quality of the data set. The inconsistency can affect the machine learning model's ability to generalize well. === Domain expertise === Certain fields, such as legal document analysis or medical imaging, require annotators with specialized domain knowledge. Without the expertise, the annotations or labeled data may be inaccurate, negatively impacting the machine learning model's performance in a real-world scenario.
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Digital intermediate

Digital intermediate (DI) is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. == Definition and overview == A digital intermediate often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie before distribution in theaters. It is distinguished from the telecine process in which film is scanned and color is manipulated early in the process to facilitate editing. However the lines between telecine and DI are continually blurred and are often executed on the same hardware by colorists of the same background. These two steps are typically part of the overall color management process in a motion picture at different points in time. A digital intermediate is also customarily done at higher resolution and with greater color fidelity than telecine transfers. Although originally used to describe a process that started with film scanning and ended with film recording, digital intermediate is also used to describe color correction and color grading and even final mastering when a digital camera is used as the image source and/or when the final movie is not output to film. This is due to recent advances in digital cinematography and digital projection technologies that strive to match film origination and film projection. In traditional photochemical film finishing, an intermediate is produced by exposing film to the original camera negative. The intermediate is then used to mass-produce the films that get distributed to theaters. Color grading is done by varying the amount of red, green, and blue light used to expose the intermediate. The digital intermediate process uses digital tools to color grade, which allows for much finer control of individual colors and areas of the image, and allows for the adjustment of image structure (grain, sharpness, etc.). The intermediate for film reproduction can then be produced by means of a film recorder. The physical intermediate film that is a result of the recording process is sometimes also called a digital intermediate, and is usually recorded to internegative (IN) stock, which is inherently finer-grain than original camera negative (OCN). One of the key technical achievements that made the transition to DI possible was the use of 3D look-up tables, which could be used to mimic how the digital image would look once it was printed onto release print stock. This removed a large amount of guesswork from the film-making process, and allowed greater freedom in the colour grading process while reducing risk. The digital master is often used as a source for a DCI-compliant distribution of the motion picture for digital projection. For archival purposes, the digital master created during the digital intermediate process can be recorded to very stable high dynamic range yellow-cyan-magenta (YCM) separations on black-and-white film with an expected 100-year or longer life. While still subject to the natural degradation of any analog chemical master, this archival format, long used in the industry prior to the invention of DI, was considered valuable for providing an archival medium that is independent of changes in digital data recording technologies and file formats that might otherwise render digitally archived material unreadable in the long term. A "film intermediate" is an analog variation of a digital intermediate, where a project shot on digital video is printed onto film stock and transferred back to digital video to emulate film. The term was coined after it was used on the Oscar-winning 2012 short film "Curfew". The process was also used on the films Dune (2021) and The Batman (2022). == History == Telecine tools to electronically capture film images are nearly as old as broadcast television, but the resulting images were widely considered unsuitable for exposing back onto film for theatrical distribution. Film scanners and recorders with quality sufficient to produce images that could be inter-cut with regular film began appearing in the 1970s, with significant improvements in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, digitally processing an entire feature-length film was impractical because the scanners and recorders were extremely slow and the image files were too large compared to computing power available. Instead, individual shots or short sequences were processed for visual effects. In 1992, Visual Effects Supervisor/Producer Chris F. Woods broke through several "techno-barriers" in creating a digital studio to produce the visual effects for the 1993 release Super Mario Bros. It was the first feature film project to digitally scan a large number of VFX plates (over 700) at 2K resolution. It was also the first film scanned and recorded at Kodak's just launched Cinesite facility in Hollywood. This project based studio was the first feature film to use Discreet Logic's (now Autodesk) Flame and Inferno systems, which enjoyed early dominance as high resolution / high performance digital compositing systems. Digital film compositing for visual effects was immediately embraced, while optical printer use for VFX declined just as quickly. Chris Watts further revolutionized the process on the 1998 feature film Pleasantville, becoming the first visual effects supervisor for New Line Cinema to scan, process, and record the majority of a feature-length, live-action, Hollywood film digitally. The first Hollywood film to utilize a digital intermediate process from beginning to end was O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000 and in Europe it was Chicken Run released that same year. The process rapidly caught on in the mid-2000s. Around 50% of Hollywood films went through a digital intermediate in 2005, increasing to around 70% by mid-2007. This is due not only to the extra creative options the process affords film makers but also the need for high-quality scanning and color adjustments to produce movies for digital cinema. == Milestones == 1990: The Rescuers Down Under – First feature-length film to be entirely recorded to film from digital files; in this case animation assembled on computers using Walt Disney Feature Animation and Pixar's CAPS system. 1992: Visual effects supervisor and producer Chris F. Woods creates a VFX studio to produce the visual effects for the 1993 film Super Mario Bros. It was the first 35mm feature film to digitally scan a large number of VFX plates (over 700) at 2K resolution, as well as to output the finished VFX to 35mm negative at 2K. 1993: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – First film to be entirely scanned to digital files, manipulated, and recorded back to film at 4K resolution. The restoration project was done entirely at 4K resolution and 10-bit color depth using the Cineon system to digitally remove dirt and scratches and restore faded colors. 1998: Pleasantville – The first time the majority of a new feature film was scanned, processed, and recorded digitally. The black-and-white meets color world portrayed in the movie was filmed entirely in color and selectively desaturated and contrast adjusted digitally. The work was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite utilizing a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution and a MegaDef color correction system from UK Company Pandora International 1998: Zingo - The first feature film to use digital color correction via digital intermediate in its entirety. The work was performed at the Digital Film Lab in Copenhagen, using a Spirit Datacine to transfer the entire film to digital files at 2K resolution. The digital intermediate process was also used to perform a digital blowup of the film's original Super 16 source format to a 35mm output. 1999: Pacific Ocean Post Film, a team led by John McCunn and Greg Kimble used Kodak film scanners & laser film printer, Cineon software as well as proprietary tools to rebuild and repair the first two reels of the 1968 Beatles' film Yellow Submarine for re-release. 1999: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace - Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) scanned the entirety of the visual effects-laden film for the purposes of digital enhancement and the integration of thousands of separately filmed elements with computer generated characters and environments. Outside of the approximately 2000 effects shots that were digitally manipulated, the remaining 170 non-effects shots were also scanned for continuity. However, after the digital shots were manipulated at ILM, they were filmed out individually and sent to Deluxe Labs where they were processed and color timed photochemically. 2000: Sorted - The first feature-length, color 35mm motion picture to fully utilize the digital intermediate process in its entirety from inception to completion. The film was produced at Wave Pictures' digital intermediate film facility in London, England. It was scanned at 2K resolution with 8 bits color depth per color / per pixel using a pin registered, liquid gate Oxberry
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Digital backlot

A digital backlot or virtual backlot is a motion-picture set that is neither a genuine location nor a constructed studio; the shooting takes place entirely on a stage with a blank background (often a greenscreen) that will later on project an artificial environment put in during post-production. Digital backlots are mainly used for genres such as science fiction, where building a real set would be too expensive or outright impossible. == Notable films == Among the first films to introduce the technique was Mini Moni the Movie by Shinji Higuchi in 2002, predated by Rest In Peace by Stolpskott Film (2000). Others include: === Released === Rest in Peace (Sweden, 2000) – Shot entirely with green-screen. Some sections fully CGI. Casshern (Japan, 2004) – Shot on celluloid. A few practical set pieces used. Able Edwards (United States, 2004) – Shot digitally on Canon XL1 cameras. Immortal (France, 2004) – Shot on celluloid. Also showed CGI characters interacting with live actors. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (United States, 2004) – Shot digitally on Sony CineAlta cameras. Sin City (United States, 2005) – Shot digitally on CineAlta cameras. Three practical sets used. MirrorMask (United States/United Kingdom, 2005) – Shot on celluloid. 80% of film uses digital backlot. Some practical set pieces used. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (United States, 2005) – Shot digitally. 300 (United States, 2007) – Shot on celluloid. Two practical sets used. Speed Racer (United States, 2008) – Directed by the Wachowskis. Three practical sets used. The Spirit (United States, 2008) – Director Frank Miller shot the film with the same techniques he and Robert Rodriguez used on Sin City. Avatar (United States, 2009) – Directed by James Cameron. Two practical sets used. Goemon (Japan, 2009) – The second film from Casshern helmer Kazuaki Kiriya. Alice in Wonderland (United States, 2010) – Directed by Tim Burton. Practical sets used. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (United States 2014) – Co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. Sequel to Sin City. === Upcoming === Tribes of October
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Signal-to-crosstalk ratio

The signal-to-crosstalk ratio at a specified point in a circuit is the ratio of the power of the wanted signal to the power of the unwanted signal from another channel. The signals are adjusted in each channel so that they are of equal power at the zero transmission level point in their respective channels. The signal-to-crosstalk ratio is usually expressed in dB.
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Comparison gallery of image scaling algorithms

This gallery shows the results of numerous image scaling algorithms. == Scaling methods == An image size can be changed in several ways. Consider resizing a 160x160 pixel photo to the following 40x40 pixel thumbnail and then scaling the thumbnail to a 160x160 pixel image. Also consider doubling the size of the following image containing text. == Examples of enlarged images == Below are examples of various images enlarged 4x using each scaling algorithm.
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Directed-energy weapon wildfire conspiracy theories

The directed-energy weapon wildfire conspiracy theories are claims circulating on social media and in fringe commentary that 2020s wildfires in places such as California, Hawaii and Texas were started or steered by directed-energy weapons or other lasers or directed-energy systems rather than by the documented ignition sources identified by investigators. Fact-checking organisations and newsrooms have repeatedly shown that widely shared images and clips said to depict “beams from the sky” are unrelated, miscaptioned or fabricated, and that official inquiries point to causes such as damaged or re-energised power lines, vegetation and extreme wind conditions. Coverage of the January 2025 Los Angeles fires described a resurgence of familiar hoaxes while local and federal agencies coordinated public rebuttals. == Background == Rumours linking directed-energy weapons to wildfire outbreaks appeared during earlier disaster seasons, then re-emerged at scale during the 2018 Camp Fire and again with the 2023 Maui wildfires and the 2025 Los Angeles fires. Journalists documented how large disasters reliably attract miscaptioned imagery and speculative narratives that portray official explanations as cover stories, while researchers and emergency managers noted that such claims tend to flourish during the information vacuum that accompanies fast-moving events. == Narratives and debunks == Recurring claims include assertions that videos show lasers igniting neighbourhoods, that “green” or “blue” items or roofs were spared because lasers cannot burn those colours, that trees remaining upright indicate precision targeting of houses, and that beams recorded over Hawaii or Texas came from secret platforms. Investigations show that a purported laser-strike video was actually an explosion at a Russian gas station recorded years earlier, that a photograph said to capture an “attack” was an Ohio gas flare from 2018, and that a separate video of green lights over Hawaii was captured months before the Maui fires by an astronomical camera and is unrelated. Fact-checks addressing colour myths have further explained that images of intact blue roofs were either misinterpreted or in at least one widely shared instance artificially generated, and that laser interaction with materials is not governed by such simplistic rules. == Investigations and identified causes == Authorities who examined specific incidents have published findings that contradict DEW narratives. A multi-agency investigation into the Maui disaster concluded that downed and later re-energised lines ignited an initial morning fire that re-kindled under extreme winds in the afternoon, with reports detailing the timeline and infrastructure context; summaries by national outlets echoed those conclusions. Investigators of the February 2024 Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle reported that power lines ignited both the state’s largest wildfire and another major blaze, and the regional utility acknowledged its facilities appeared to have been involved; subsequent media coverage outlined the findings and regulatory follow-up. For the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, public reports from Butte County and subsequent proceedings identified PG&E transmission equipment as the source of ignition, with documentation of maintenance issues on the Caribou–Palermo line preceding the event. == Platform and agency responses == As major fires burned in and around Los Angeles in January 2025, officials from city agencies and national partners pursued a coordinated strategy to counter falsehoods by issuing timely updates, flagging fake imagery and directing residents to verified resources. Reporters described how federal emergency managers and local departments used social channels and briefings to rebut specific rumours, including claims about lasers and targeted ignition, and to clarify that early imagery often misleads during fast-moving disasters.
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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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