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  • Elastix (image registration)

    Elastix (image registration)

    Elastix is an image registration toolbox built upon the Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK). It is entirely open-source and provides a wide range of algorithms employed in image registration problems. Its components are designed to be modular to ease a fast and reliable creation of various registration pipelines tailored for case-specific applications. It was first developed by Stefan Klein and Marius Staring under the supervision of Josien P.W. Pluim at Image Sciences Institute (ISI). Its first version was command-line based, allowing the final user to employ scripts to automatically process big data-sets and deploy multiple registration pipelines with few lines of code. Nowadays, to further widen its audience, a version called SimpleElastix is also available, developed by Kasper Marstal, which allows the integration of elastix with high level languages, such as Python, Java, and R. == Image registration fundamentals == Image registration is a well-known technique in digital image processing that searches for the geometric transformation that, applied to a moving image, obtains a one-to-one map with a target image. Generally, the images acquired from different sensors (multimodal), time instants (multitemporal), and points of view (multiview) should be correctly aligned to proceed with further processing and feature extraction. Even though there are a plethora of different approaches to image registration, the majority is composed of the same macro building blocks, namely the transformation, the interpolator, the metric, and the optimizer. Registering two or more images can be framed as an optimization problem that requires multiple iterations to converge to the best solution. Starting from an initial transformation computed from the image moments the optimization process searches for the best transformation parameters based on the value of the selected similarity metric. The figure on the right shows the high-level representation of the registration of two images, where the reference remains constant during the entire process, while the moving one will be transformed according to the transformation parameters. In other words, the registration ends when the similarity metric, which is a mathematical function with a certain number of parameters to be optimized, reaches the optimal value which is highly dependent on the specific application. == Main building blocks == Following the structure of the image registration workflow, the elastix toolbox proposes a modular solution that implements for each of the building blocks different algorithms, highly employed in medical image registration, and helps the final users to build their specific pipeline by selecting the most suitable algorithm for each of the main building blocks. Each block is easily configurable both by selecting pre-defined initialization values or by trying multiple sets of parameters and then choosing the most performing one. The registration is performed on images, and the elastix toolbox supports all the data formats supported by ITK, ranging from JPEG and PNG to medical standard formats such as DICOM and NIFTI. It also stores physical pixel spacing, the origin and the relative position to an external world reference system, when provided in the metadata, to facilitate the registration process, especially in medical field applications. === Transformation === The transformation is an essential building block, since it defines the allowable transformations. In image registration, the main distinction can be done between parallel-to-parallel and parallel-to-non parallel (deformable) line mapping transformations. In the elastix toolbox, the final users can select one transformation or compose more transformations either through addition or via composition. Below are reported the different transformation models in order of increasing flexibility, along with the corresponding elastix class names between brackets. Translation (TranslationTransform) allows only translations Rigid (EulerTransform) expands the translation adding rotations and the object is seen as a rigid body Similarity (SimilarityTransform) expands the rigid transformation by introducing isotropic scaling Affine (AffineTransform) expands the rigid transformation allowing both scaling and shear B-splines (BSplineTransform) is a deformable transformation usually preceded by a rigid or affine one Thin-plate splines (SplineKernelTransform) is a deformable transformation belonging to the class of kernel-based transformations that is a composition of and affine and a non-rigid part === Metric === The similarity metric is the mathematical function whose parameters should be optimized to reach the desired registration, and, during the process, it is computed multiple times. Below are reported the available metrics computed employing the reference and the transformed images and the corresponding elastix class names between brackets. Mean squared difference (AdvancedMeanSquares) to be used for mono-modal applications Normalized correlation coefficient (AdvancedNormalizedCorrelation) to be used for images that have an intensity linear relationship Mutual information (AdvancedMattesMutualInformation) to be used for both mono- and multi-modal applications and optimized to reach better performance compared to the normalized version Normalized mutual information (NormalizedMutualInformation) for both mono- and multi-modal applications Kappa statistic (AdvancedKappaStatistic) to be used only for binary images === Sampler === For the computation of the similarity metrics, it is not always necessary to consider all the voxels and, sometimes, it can be useful to use only a fraction of the voxels of the images, i.e. to reduce the execution time for big input images. Below are reported the available criteria for selecting a fraction of the voxels for the similarity metric computation and the corresponding elastix class names between brackets. Full (Full) to employ all the voxels Grid (Grid) to employ a regular grid defined by the user to downsample the image Random (Random) to randomly select a percentage of voxels defined by the users (all voxels have equal probability to be selected) Random coordinate (RandomCoordinate) like the random criterion, but in this case also off-grid positions can be selected to simplify the optimization process === Interpolator === After the application of the transformation, it may occur that the voxels used for the similarity metric computation are at non-voxel positions, so intensity interpolation should be performed to ensure the correctness of the computed values. Below are reported the implemented interpolators and the corresponding elastix class names between brackets. Nearest neighbor (NearestNeighborInterpolator) exploits little resources, but gives low quality results Linear (LinearInterpolator) is sufficient in general applications N-th order B-spline (BSplineInterpolator) can be used to increase the order N, increasing quality and computation time. N=0 and N=1 indicate the nearest neighbor and linear cases respectively. === Optimizer === The optimizer defines the strategy employed for searching the best transformation parameter to reach the correct registration, and it is commonly an iterative strategy. Below are reported some of the implemented optimization strategies. Gradient descent Robbins-Monro, similar to the gradient descent, but employing an approximation of the cost function derivatives A wider range of optimizers is also available, such as Quasi-Newton or evolutionary strategies. === Other features === The elastix software also offers other features that can be employed to speed up the registration procedure and to provide more advanced algorithms to the end-users. Some examples are the introduction of blur and Gaussian pyramid to reduce data complexity, and multi-image and multi-metric framework to deal with more complex applications. == Applications == Elastix has applications mainly in the medical field, where image registration is fundamental to get comprehensive information regarding the analysed anatomical region. It is widely employed in image-guided surgery, tumour monitoring, and treatment assessment. For example, in radiotherapy planning, image registration allows to correctly deliver the treatment and evaluate the obtained results. Thanks to the wide range of implemented algorithms, the use of the elastix software allows physicians and researchers to test different registration pipelines from the simplest to more complex ones, and to save the best one as a configuration file. This file and the fact that the software is completely open-source makes it easy to reproduce the work, that can help supporting the open science paradigm, and allows fast reuse on different patients data. In image-guided surgery, registration time and accuracy are critical points, considering that, during the registration, the patient is on the operating table, and the imag

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  • International Teletraffic Congress

    International Teletraffic Congress

    The International Teletraffic Congress (ITC) is the first international conference in networking science and practice. It was created in 1955 by Arne Jensen to initially cater to the emerging need to understand and model traffic in telephone networks using stochastic methodologies, and to bring together researchers with these considerations as a common theme. Up through World War II, teletraffic research was done mainly by engineers and mathematicians working in telephone companies. Most of their work was published in local or company journals. In 1955, however, the field acquired a formal, international, institutional structure, with the organization of the first International Teletraffic Congress (ITC). Over the years, it has broaden its scope to address a wide spectrum ranging from the mathematical theory of traffic processes, stochastic system modelling and analysis, traffic and performance measurements, network management, traffic engineering to network capacity planning and cost optimization, including network economics and reliability for various types of networks. ITC served as a forum for all theoretical fundamentals and engineering practices for large-scale deployment and operation of telecommunications networks. Since its inception, ITC witnessed the evolution of communications and networking: the influence of computer science on telecommunication, the advent of the Internet and the massive deployment of mobile communications and optics, the appearance of peer-to-peer networking and social networks, the ever increasing speed and flexibility of new communication technologies, networks, user devices, and applications, and the ever changing operation challenges arising from this development. ITC documented this evolution with contemporary measurement studies, performance analyses of new technologies, recommendations for provisioning and configuration, and greatly contributed to the methodological toolbox of network scientists. Today, with its conferences, specialist seminars, regional seminars, training courses and publications, the ITC aims at a worldwide forum for all questions related to network and service performance, management, and assessment, both present and futuristic. The notion of traffic is broadly used to encompass data traffic from the MAC layer all the way to application traffic in the application layer. The scope of ITC is thus ranging all issues embedding operations, design, planning, economics and performance analysis of current and emerging communication networks and services, to be addressed by applying a variety of tools from different fields, such as Stochastic Processes, Information theory, Control theory, Signal and Processing, Game theory and optimization techniques, Statistical methodologies and Artificial Intelligence techniques. The target audience of such issues is experts from research organizations, universities, equipment vendors and suppliers, network operators, service providers, system integrators and international technical organizations, guaranteeing a well-balanced contribution from theory, application, and practice. The general goal remains to bring researchers and practitioners together toward operational understanding of all types of current and future networks. The ITC is ruled by the International Advisory Council (IAC) which gathers a number of technical experts, from universities and the research arms of key corporations in the industry, from countries having a strong tradition in teletraffic development. The IAC responsibilities are to disseminate information on teletraffic which is of interest for the whole community and: to select the locations of Plenary Congresses and to ensure their high-level technical programme to support Specialist Seminars on specific topics of current interest to promote Regional Seminars for the dissemination of teletraffic concepts in developing countries to facilitate the liaison activity with the ITU through participation in the standardization process and in the Development Programme The technical program and the organization of each ITC event remains within the responsibilities of the hosting country, but with significant IAC support to guarantee that the event is consistent with the quality standards established during the previous congresses. The ITC Plenary Congresses were scheduled tri-annually from 1955 until 1995 when the interval became bi-annual to account for the ever-accelerating development of network technologies, products and services and the associated dramatic increases in network demands. Similarly, to better cover the impact of dramatic changes undergoing in the field of computer and communication systems, networks and usage, it has been decided to hold the Plenary Congress on an annual basis from 2009. == Content == Teletraffic science is the traditional term for all theoretical fundamentals and engineering practices to describe data flows in telecommunication networks, the performance of the usage of network resources, procedures for sizing of resources and engineering the networks for given traffic load and quality of service requirements. For more than 50 years of the 20th century, traffic or teletraffic has been identified primarily with telephone networks. With the huge development of computers, stored program control of network nodes and computer communication, the traditional teletraffic science field naturally extended to computer networks, mobile and wireless/optical networks, and for a wide spectrum of new applications. The convergence between the voice network, the Internet, the television and mobility raised new questions that request new models and tools to be developed. In addition, the development of community networks, home networking, multiple access networking technologies, and the advent of pervasive and ambient communications dictates new challenges to be addressed. Today, ITC addresses the emerging paradigms such as an increasing diversity of distributed applications and services over various media like mobile/optical networks, enabling new markets and economy. ITC has steered the evolutions in communications since its creation in 1955 and remains at the forefront of innovation regarding modeling and performance. The scientific roots of communications traffic are based on the theory of probability and stochastic processes, modelling and performance evaluation. Modelling is the key for the mathematical description and quantitative performance analysis. Traffic flows are described by stochastic processes with complex dependencies which have to be validated by traffic measurements. Modelling also includes operational properties of resource control reflected by service strategies such as queueing disciplines, admission control, and routing. The results of such performance analyses are used for resource dimensioning (sizing), resource management, and network optimization while providing targeted Quality of Service. Teletraffic science is closely related to methods of operation research (queueing theory, optimization, forecasting) and computational sciences (simulation technology distributed systems). In this context, ITC represents a wide community of researchers and practitioners and is regularly organizing events like Congresses, Specialist Seminars and Workshops in order to discuss the latest changes in the modelling, design and performance of communication systems, networks and services. === The evolution of technologies of the 20th century === ITC has been witnessing the change of communication and networking technologies which are reflected in the proceedings and programs of the congresses. The specialist seminars and the motto of the congresses thereby reflect the hot topics of that time and the evolution. Selected topics of the 70's, 80's and 90's were 1998: Traffic Issues related to Multimedia and Nomadic Communications 1995: Traffic Modeling and Measurement in Broadband and Mobile Communications 1990: Broadband Technologies: Architectures, Applications, Control and Performance 1986: ISDN Traffic Issues 1984: Fundamentals of Teletraffic Theory 1977: Modeling of SPC Exchanges and Data Networks === Recent topics in the 21st century === With the rise of the Internet, new networking paradigms and technologies but also new challenges emerged: 2020: Teletraffic in the era of beyond-5G and AI 2019: Networked Systems and Services 2018: Teletraffic in the Smart World 2017: Ubiquitous, software-based, and sustainable networks and services 2016: Digital Connected World 2015: Traffic, Performance and Big Data 2014: Towards a Sustainable World 2013: Energy Efficient and Green Networking 2010: Multimedia Applications - Traffic, Performance and QoE 2009: Network Virtualization - Concepts and Performance 2008: Future Internet Design and Experimental Facilities 2008: Quality of Experience 2002: Internet Traffic Engineering and Traffic Management == Arne Jensen Lifetime Achievement Awards == The Arne Jensen Lifetime A

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  • Webedia

    Webedia

    Webedia S.A. is a company specializing in online media, a subsidiary of the Fimalac group based in Levallois-Perret, France. Webedia is active in more than twenty countries including France (AlloCiné, Jeuxvideo.com, MGG, Puremédias, Ode, Pureshopping, Volum, Terrafemina, 750g, easyVoyage, l’Automobile Magazine, Le 10 Sport), Brazil (AdoroCinema, Tudo Gostoso, Minhavida), Germany (Filmstarts, Moviepilot, GameStar), Spain and Latin America (Xataka, SensaCine, Raiser Games), Poland (Gry-Online and GetHero) and the United States (Boxoffice Pro). == History == === Early years (2007-2013) === Webedia was created in France in 2007, following the successive launches of the websites Purepeople, Puretrend and Purefans. Webedia bought the comparison shopping website Shopoon in 2008 and renamed it Pureshopping, and the website Ozap (media news) from M6 group in 2011 and renamed it Puremédias. Webedia was acquired by Fimalac in May 2013 and became its Internet media subsidiary. === Growth (2013-2016) === In 2013, Fimalac acquired AlloCiné, the websites Newsring and Youmag, the cooking website 750g and the cultural platform Exponaute. In 2014, Webedia acquired OverBlog, Jeuxvideo.com (through L'Odyssée Interactive and moved to Paris in 2015), Moviepilot (Germany), and Gameo Consulting (owner of Millenium, electronic sports), In December 2014, Webedia announced a license agreement with Ziff Davis to launch sites under the IGN franchise in Brazil and France at the beginning of 2015. The French version of IGN was launched on 2, it targets the general public and casual gamers. In 2015, Webedia acquired Côté Ciné Group (technological solutions for movie theaters and specialized press magazines: BoxOffice Pro in the United States and Côté Ciné in France), 57% of Easyvoyage group (online travel comparators Easyvol and Alibabuy, Mixicom (website JeuxActu and multi-channel network), 50% of the Brazilian network Paramaker, and West World Media (digital marketing company for the film industry). In 2016, Webedia bought Scimob (mobile video game studio), Surprizemi (home-delivered surprise boxes), Eklablog (blogging platform) Oxent (eSports World Convention), and Bang Bang Management (sports PR agency). In addition, an agreement is made with Paris Saint-Germain for Webedia to recruit and manage e-sports players on behalf of Paris Saint-Germain eSports. On November 15, 2016, the LFP announced that it had reached an agreement with beIN Sports and Webedia for the broadcasting of the first edition of the e-League 1. The competition is renewed for two additional seasons on July 26, 2017, the broadcasting agreements are renewed. On December 8, 2016, Webedia joined forces with Chronopost to launch Pourdebon, a home delivery service that connects Internet users and labeled producers (AOC, organic AB, etc.). Webedia has a slight majority (53%) in this new platform. === 2017 === On January 19, 2017, Webedia announced the acquisition of the English company Peach Digital, specializing in web development and digital marketing for movie theaters. In February 2017, Le Figaro announced that Webedia had invested 10 million euros in Illico Fresco, a home delivery service for baskets of recipes. The same month, FDJ and Webedia announced a partnership for the creation of eSports competitions: a professional one (FDJ Masters League) and another one for amateur gamers (FDJ Open Series) starting in March 2017. They are broadcast on Webedia's Web TV. At the end of February 2017, the media group finalized the acquisition of MyPoseo, a SaaS publisher specialized on SEO analytics. On March 8, 2017, Webedia launched LeStream, a Twitch Web TV dedicated to video games, the result of two years of development, in the company of several YouTubers including Cyprien and Squeezie,. On March 29, 2017, Webedia bought the Brazilian web publisher Minha Vida, a website devoted to health, nutrition, beauty and fitness, which attracts 14.3 million unique monthly visitors. Webedia reaches 44 million unique visitors in Brazil, and thus becomes the leading publisher on entertainment themes. In June 2017, the company made its largest international acquisition, with the American agency 3BlackDot, a media and marketing agency focused on videogamers. The agency, based in Los Angeles, manages 36 YouTubers followed by millions of subscribers on their channels which total 700 million videos viewed per month. In July 2017, Webedia bought IDZ, an audiovisual production company, and thus strengthened its production activities and its leadership on the YouTube channel networks in France. That year, Webedia was the first French media group to use the measurement of their global audiences by Comscore. It represents deduplicated coverage on desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets, and includes audiences for websites, mobile applications and videos. This new measure allows Webedia to establish a deduplicated global audience of 177 million unique visitors in April 2017. In October 2017, Webedia announced its intention to launch a TV channel dedicated to electronic sports, called ES1. The channel was officially launched on January 10, 2018, on Orange TV and on February 6, 2018, on Free and Bouygues Telecom. In November 2017, Webedia, with the support of CDC International Capital, entered into exclusive negotiations with the Saudi company Uturn Entertainment, specializing in online entertainment, particularly on YouTube, and the production of digital content for the region's youth, with a view to merging it with Diwanee, a Webedia subsidiary in the Middle East, for an amount close to $100 million. In December 2017, Webedia acquired a majority stake in the United States–based company called Creators Media, which brings together social and video production platforms specializing in popular culture and entertainment. That same month, Webedia joined forces with Elephant, Emmanuel Chain's audiovisual production company, to create a new content production label aimed at Millennials. === 2018-2019 === In January 2018, Webedia launched a sports marketing agency: Only Sports & Passions. That same month, Illico Fresco, specialist in the delivery of kit meals belonging to Webedia, joined forces with Weight Watchers, the world leader in slimming products. In April 2018, Webedia published new audience figures in partnership with Comscore, 188 million unique monthly visitors in December 2017, an increase of 6.2% compared to the previous measure dating from April 2017. The same month, Webedia unveils its ambitions concerning content production, as a partnership with the video game studio Focus Home Interactive is signed with a title "Fear the Wolves" already planned for 2018, co-production projects of films, cartoons or series are announced. In July 2018, Webedia bought the American authors company Full Fathom Five, a company that helps authors produce books, TV series, films and video games. In October 2018, Webedia announced that it was focusing on both esports clubs PSG Esports and LeStream Esport. The first one being geared towards international competitions and the second devoted mainly to the French esports scene. The "Millenium" brand is thus refocusing around its media activities and esports merchandising products, and the "Millenium esport club" being gradually closed. The same month, the company announced the acquisition of Weblogs, a Spanish-speaking website publisher, thereby strengthening its activity in Spain and Latin America. On October 22, 2018, Webedia announced the merger of BoxOffice magazine with Film Journal International. On November 13, 2018, Groupe SEB announced the acquisition from Webedia of 750g International, the international branch of the French recipe site 750g (the original French website 750g.com being retained by Webedia). The group is thus separating from Gourmandize (United States and United Kingdom), HeimGourmet (Germany), Rebañando (Spain), Receitas Sem Fronteiras (Brazil / Portugal) and Tribù Golosa (Italy). The same month, Webedia joined forces with Riot Games to launch the French League of League of Legends (LFL), the first French professional league on the League of Legends game, which will bring together the 8 best teams on the French scene. In March 2019, Webedia bought 51% of the audiovisual production company Elephant. The new set will weigh 500 million euros, a quarter of which will be made outside France. The same month, Webedia purchased a majority stake in the company Partoo, which publishes a SaaS platform specializing in local marketing for brands and merchants. On March 14, 2019, a new measurement of the international audience of Webedia sites was produced by Comscore, posting 250 million unique visitors in December 2018, up 9.2% compared to December 2017. In June 2019, the group joined forces with Michel Cymes, a famous doctor and French TV host by taking a majority stake in his company Club Santé Débat, in order to develop a health platform around the Dr. Good! Brand. In Sep

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  • General time- and transfer constant analysis

    General time- and transfer constant analysis

    The general time- and transfer-constants (TTC) analysis is the generalized version of the Cochran-Grabel (CG) method, which itself is the generalized version of zero-value time-constants (ZVT), which in turn is the generalization of the open-circuit time constant method (OCT). While the other methods mentioned provide varying terms of only the denominator of an arbitrary transfer function, TTC can be used to determine every term both in the numerator and the denominator. Its denominator terms are the same as that of Cochran-Grabel method, when stated in terms of time constants (when expressed in Rosenstark notation). however, the numerator terms are determined using a combination of transfer constants and time constants, where the time constants are the same as those in CG method. Transfer constants are low-frequency ratios of the output variable to input variable under different open- and short-circuited active elements. In general, a transfer function (which can characterize gain, admittance, impedance, trans-impedance, etc., based on the choice of the input and output variables) can be written as: H ( s ) = a 0 + a 1 s + a 2 s 2 + … + a m s m 1 + b 1 s + b 2 s 2 + … + b n s n {\displaystyle H(s)={\frac {a_{0}+a_{1}s+a_{2}s^{2}+\ldots +a_{m}s^{m}}{1+b_{1}s+b_{2}s^{2}+\ldots +b_{n}s^{n}}}} == The denominator terms == The first denominator term b 1 {\textstyle b_{1}} can be expressed as the sum of zero value time constants (ZVTs): b 1 = ∑ i = 1 N τ i 0 {\displaystyle b_{1}=\sum _{i=1}^{N}\tau _{i}^{0}} where τ i 0 {\textstyle \tau _{i}^{0}} is the time constant associated with the reactive element i {\textstyle i} when all the other sources are zero-valued (hence the superscript '0'). Setting a capacitor value to zero corresponds to an open circuit, while a zero-valued inductor is a short circuit. So for calculation of the τ i 0 {\textstyle \tau _{i}^{0}} , all other capacitors are open-circuited and all other inductors are short-circuited. This is the essence of the ZVT method, which reduces to OCT when only capacitors are involved. All independent sources are also zero-valued during the time constant calculations (voltage sources short-circuited and current source open-circuited). In this case, if the element in question (element i {\textstyle i} ) is a capacitor, the time constant is given by τ i 0 = R i 0 C i {\displaystyle \tau _{i}^{0}=R_{i}^{0}C_{i}} and when element i {\textstyle i} is an inductor is it given by: τ i 0 = L i / R i 0 {\displaystyle \tau _{i}^{0}=L_{i}/R_{i}^{0}} . where in both cases, the resistance R i 0 {\textstyle R_{i}^{0}} , is the resistance seen by elements i {\textstyle i} (denoted by subscript), when all the other elements are zero-valued (denoted by the zero superscript). The second-order denominator term is equal to: b 2 = ∑ i = 1 N − 1 ∑ j = i + 1 N τ i 0 τ j i = ∑ i 1 ⩽ i ∑ j < j ⩽ N τ i 0 τ j i {\displaystyle b_{2}=\sum _{i=1}^{N-1}\sum _{j=i+1}^{N}\tau _{i}^{0}\tau _{j}^{i}=\sum _{i}^{1\leqslant i}\sum _{j}^{ Read more →

  • Lexical Markup Framework

    Lexical Markup Framework

    Language resource management – Lexical markup framework (LMF; ISO 24613), produced by ISO/TC 37, is the ISO standard for natural language processing (NLP) and machine-readable dictionary (MRD) lexicons. The scope is standardization of principles and methods relating to language resources in the contexts of multilingual communication. == Objectives == The goals of LMF are to provide a common model for the creation and use of lexical resources, to manage the exchange of data between and among these resources, and to enable the merging of large number of individual electronic resources to form extensive global electronic resources. Types of individual instantiations of LMF can include monolingual, bilingual or multilingual lexical resources. The same specifications are to be used for both small and large lexicons, for both simple and complex lexicons, for both written and spoken lexical representations. The descriptions range from morphology, syntax, computational semantics to computer-assisted translation. The covered languages are not restricted to European languages but cover all natural languages. The range of targeted NLP applications is not restricted. LMF is able to represent most lexicons, including WordNet, EDR and PAROLE lexicons. == History == In the past, lexicon standardization has been studied and developed by a series of projects like GENELEX, EDR, EAGLES, MULTEXT, PAROLE, SIMPLE and ISLE. Then, the ISO/TC 37 National delegations decided to address standards dedicated to NLP and lexicon representation. The work on LMF started in Summer 2003 by a new work item proposal issued by the US delegation. In Fall 2003, the French delegation issued a technical proposition for a data model dedicated to NLP lexicons. In early 2004, the ISO/TC 37 committee decided to form a common ISO project with Nicoletta Calzolari (CNR-ILC Italy) as convenor and Gil Francopoulo (Tagmatica France) and Monte George (ANSI, United States) as editors. The first step in developing LMF was to design an overall framework based on the general features of existing lexicons and to develop a consistent terminology to describe the components of those lexicons. The next step was the actual design of a comprehensive model that best represented all of the lexicons in detail. A large panel of 60 experts contributed a wide range of requirements for LMF that covered many types of NLP lexicons. The editors of LMF worked closely with the panel of experts to identify the best solutions and reach a consensus on the design of LMF. Special attention was paid to the morphology in order to provide powerful mechanisms for handling problems in several languages that were known as difficult to handle. 13 versions have been written, dispatched (to the National nominated experts), commented and discussed during various ISO technical meetings. After five years of work, including numerous face-to-face meetings and e-mail exchanges, the editors arrived at a coherent UML model. In conclusion, LMF should be considered a synthesis of the state of the art in NLP lexicon field. == Current stage == The ISO number is 24613. The LMF specification has been published officially as an International Standard on 17 November 2008. == As one of the members of the ISO/TC 37 family of standards == The ISO/TC 37 standards are currently elaborated as high level specifications and deal with word segmentation (ISO 24614), annotations (ISO 24611 a.k.a. MAF, ISO 24612 a.k.a. LAF, ISO 24615 a.k.a. SynAF, and ISO 24617-1 a.k.a. SemAF/Time), feature structures (ISO 24610), multimedia containers (ISO 24616 a.k.a. MLIF), and lexicons (ISO 24613). These standards are based on low level specifications dedicated to constants, namely data categories (revision of ISO 12620), language codes (ISO 639), scripts codes (ISO 15924), country codes (ISO 3166) and Unicode (ISO 10646). The two level organization forms a coherent family of standards with the following common and simple rules: the high level specification provides structural elements that are adorned by the standardized constants; the low level specifications provide standardized constants as metadata. == Key standards == The linguistics constants like /feminine/ or /transitive/ are not defined within LMF but are recorded in the Data Category Registry (DCR) that is maintained as a global resource by ISO/TC 37 in compliance with ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003. And these constants are used to adorn the high level structural elements. The LMF specification complies with the modeling principles of Unified Modeling Language (UML) as defined by Object Management Group (OMG). The structure is specified by means of UML class diagrams. The examples are presented by means of UML instance (or object) diagrams. An XML DTD is given in an annex of the LMF document. == Model structure == LMF is composed of the following components: The core package that is the structural skeleton which describes the basic hierarchy of information in a lexical entry. Extensions of the core package which are expressed in a framework that describes the reuse of the core components in conjunction with the additional components required for a specific lexical resource. The extensions are specifically dedicated to morphology, MRD, NLP syntax, NLP semantics, NLP multilingual notations, NLP morphological patterns, multiword expression patterns, and constraint expression patterns. == Example == In the following example, the lexical entry is associated with a lemma clergyman and two inflected forms clergyman and clergymen. The language coding is set for the whole lexical resource. The language value is set for the whole lexicon as shown in the following UML instance diagram. The elements Lexical Resource, Global Information, Lexicon, Lexical Entry, Lemma, and Word Form define the structure of the lexicon. They are specified within the LMF document. On the contrary, languageCoding, language, partOfSpeech, commonNoun, writtenForm, grammaticalNumber, singular, plural are data categories that are taken from the Data Category Registry. These marks adorn the structure. The values ISO 639-3, clergyman, clergymen are plain character strings. The value eng is taken from the list of languages as defined by ISO 639-3. With some additional information like dtdVersion and feat, the same data can be expressed by the following XML fragment: This example is rather simple, while LMF can represent much more complex linguistic descriptions the XML tagging is correspondingly complex. == Selected publications about LMF == The first publication about the LMF specification as it has been ratified by ISO (this paper became (in 2015) the 9th most cited paper within the Language Resources and Evaluation conferences from LREC papers): Language Resources and Evaluation LREC-2006/Genoa: Gil Francopoulo, Monte George, Nicoletta Calzolari, Monica Monachini, Nuria Bel, Mandy Pet, Claudia Soria: Lexical Markup Framework (LMF) About semantic representation: Gesellschaft für linguistische Datenverarbeitung GLDV-2007/Tübingen: Gil Francopoulo, Nuria Bel, Monte George Nicoletta Calzolari, Monica Monachini, Mandy Pet, Claudia Soria: Lexical Markup Framework ISO standard for semantic information in NLP lexicons About African languages: Traitement Automatique des langues naturelles, Marseille, 2014: Mouhamadou Khoule, Mouhamad Ndiankho Thiam, El Hadj Mamadou Nguer: Toward the establishment of a LMF-based Wolof language lexicon (Vers la mise en place d'un lexique basé sur LMF pour la langue wolof) [in French] About Asian languages: Lexicography, Journal of ASIALEX, Springer 2014: Lexical Markup Framework: Gil Francopoulo, Chu-Ren Huang: An ISO Standard for Electronic Lexicons and its Implications for Asian Languages DOI 10.1007/s40607-014-0006-z About European languages: COLING 2010: Verena Henrich, Erhard Hinrichs: Standardizing Wordnets in the ISO Standard LMF: Wordnet-LMF for GermaNet EACL 2012: Judith Eckle-Kohler, Iryna Gurevych: Subcat-LMF: Fleshing out a standardized format for subcategorization frame interoperability EACL 2012: Iryna Gurevych, Judith Eckle-Kohler, Silvana Hartmann, Michael Matuschek, Christian M Meyer, Christian Wirth: UBY - A Large-Scale Unified Lexical-Semantic Resource Based on LMF. About Semitic languages: Journal of Natural Language Engineering, Cambridge University Press (to appear in Spring 2015): Aida Khemakhem, Bilel Gargouri, Abdelmajid Ben Hamadou, Gil Francopoulo: ISO Standard Modeling of a large Arabic Dictionary. Proceedings of the seventh Global Wordnet Conference 2014: Nadia B M Karmani, Hsan Soussou, Adel M Alimi: Building a standardized Wordnet in the ISO LMF for aeb language. Proceedings of the workshop: HLT & NLP within Arabic world, LREC 2008: Noureddine Loukil, Kais Haddar, Abdelmajid Ben Hamadou: Towards a syntactic lexicon of Arabic Verbs. Traitement Automatique des Langues Naturelles, Toulouse (in French) 2007: Khemakhem A, Gargouri B, Abdelwahed A, Francopoulo G: Modélisation des paradigmes de fl

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  • Digital anthropology

    Digital anthropology

    Digital anthropology is the anthropological study of the relationship between humans and digital-era technology. The field is new, and thus has a variety of names with a variety of emphases. These include techno-anthropology, digital ethnography, cyberanthropology, and virtual anthropology. == Definition and scope == Most anthropologists who use the phrase "digital anthropology" are specifically referring to online and Internet technology. The study of humans' relationship to a broader range of technology may fall under other subfields of anthropological study, such as cyborg anthropology. The Digital Anthropology Group (DANG) is classified as an interest group in the American Anthropological Association. DANG's mission includes promoting the use of digital technology as a tool of anthropological research, encouraging anthropologists to share research using digital platforms, and outlining ways for anthropologists to study digital communities. Cyberspace or the "virtual world" itself can serve as a "field" site for anthropologists, allowing the observation, analysis, and interpretation of the sociocultural phenomena springing up and taking place in any interactive space. National and transnational communities, enabled by digital technology, establish a set of social norms, practices, traditions, storied history and associated collective memory, migration periods, internal and external conflicts, potentially subconscious language features and memetic dialects comparable to those of traditional, geographically confined communities. This includes the various communities built around free and open-source software, online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, 4chan and Reddit and their respective sub-sites, and politically motivated groups like Anonymous, WikiLeaks, or the Occupy movement. A number of academic anthropologists have conducted traditional ethnographies of virtual worlds, such as Bonnie Nardi's study of World of Warcraft or Tom Boellstorff's study of Second Life. Academic Gabriella Coleman has done ethnographic work on the Debian software community and the Anonymous hacktivist network. Theorist Nancy Mauro-Flude conducts ethnographic field work on computing arts and computer subcultures such as systerserver.net a part of the communities of feminist web servers and the Feminist Internet network. Eitan Y. Wilf examines the intersection of artists' creativity and digital technology and artificial intelligence. Yongming Zhou studied how in China the internet is used to participate in politics. Eve M. Zucker and colleagues study the shift to digital memorialization of mass atrocities and the emergent role of artificial intelligence in these processes. Victoria Bernal conducted ethnographic research on the themes of nationalism and citizenship among Eritreans participating in online political engagement with their homeland. Anthropological research can help designers adapt and improve technology. Australian anthropologist Genevieve Bell did extensive user experience research at Intel that informed the company's approach to its technology, users, and market. == Methodology == === Digital fieldwork === Many digital anthropologists who study online communities use traditional methods of anthropological research. They participate in online communities in order to learn about their customs and worldviews, and back their observations with private interviews, historical research, and quantitative data. Their product is an ethnography, a qualitative description of their experience and analyses. Other anthropologists and social scientists have conducted research that emphasizes data gathered by websites and servers. However, academics often have trouble accessing user data on the same scale as social media corporations like Facebook and data mining companies like Acxiom. In terms of method, there is a disagreement in whether it is possible to conduct research exclusively online or if research will only be complete when the subjects are studied holistically, both online and offline. Tom Boellstorff, who conducted a three-year research as an avatar in the virtual world Second Life, defends the first approach, stating that it is not just possible, but necessary to engage with subjects “in their own terms”. Others, such as Daniel Miller, have argued that an ethnographic research should not exclude learning about the subject's life outside the internet. === Digital technology as a tool of anthropology === The American Anthropological Association offers an online guide for students using digital technology to store and share data. Data can be uploaded to digital databases to be stored, shared, and interpreted. Text and numerical analysis software can help produce metadata, while a codebook may help organize data. == Ethics == Online fieldwork offers new ethical challenges. According to the American Anthropological Association's ethics guidelines, anthropologists researching a community must make sure that all members of that community know they are being studied and have access to data the anthropologist produces. However, many online communities' interactions are publicly available for anyone to read, and may be preserved online for years. Digital anthropologists debate the extent to which lurking in online communities and sifting through public archives is ethical. The Association also asserts that anthropologists' ability to collect and store data at all is "a privilege", and researchers have an ethical duty to store digital data responsibly. This means protecting the identity of participants, sharing data with other anthropologists, and making backup copies of all data. == Prominent figures == Genevieve Bell is an Australian cultural anthropologist credited for pioneering the User Experience field. During her time working for Intel Corporation, Bell studied how various cultures from around the world interacted with and experienced technology. Researching and improving user experience allows companies and designers to gather data regarding how users utilize their digital products and what requires improvement or expansion. Tom Boellstorff is an anthropologist known for Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human where he conducted research on how engaging in virtual worlds affects the player’s sense of self. Gabriella Coleman is an American anthropologist concerned with the politics, ethics, and culture of hacking and online activism. Coleman’s most notable ethnography features the hacktivist collective Anonymous, where she argues that various genres of hacking exist according to the social conditions at play. Coleman is dedicated to making her ethnography accessible to a diverse audience, including academics and non-academics. Diana E. Forsythe was an American anthropologist of science and technology and the author of the essays featured in Studying Those Who Study Us: An Anthropologist in the World of Artificial Intelligence. She asked relevant questions such as how should humans interact with computers and how gender roles are maintained in technology-oriented occupations. Heather Horst is a sociocultural anthropologist interested in the relationship between digital social relations and material culture. Nancy Mauro-Flude is a design anthropologist whose work explores the tacit relations between embodied cognition, computational materiality, maker culture, self-hosted webserver cooperatives, creative practice, and artistic research in digital infrastructure and Internet publishing. Mizuko Ito is a Japanese cultural anthropologist specializing in technology use and the intersection between computers and the social sciences. Her primary interest is in how young people utilize media technology and how it can be used to engage students in education. Daniel Miller is an anthropologist with a concentration in digital anthropology. His research includes the smartphone and perpetual opportunism, the intent and consequences of posting on social media in various geographical locations, and how hospice patients use media to socialize in the last stage of their lives. Mike Wesch is a cultural anthropologist interested in how people share their lives, cultures, and beliefs through digital media.

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  • Outline of telecommunication

    Outline of telecommunication

    The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to telecommunication: Telecommunication – the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. In modern times, this process almost always involves the use of electromagnetic waves by transmitters and receivers, but in earlier years it also involved the use of drums and visual signals such as smoke, fire, beacons, semaphore lines and other optical communications. == Modes of telecommunication == E-mail Fax Instant messaging Radio Satellite SMS Telegraphy Telephony Television Television broadcasting mobile telephony Videoconferencing VoIP Voicemail == Types of telecommunication networks == Telecommunications network Computer networks ARPANET Ethernet Internet Wireless networks Public switched telephone networks (PSTN) Packet switched networks Radio network Broadband Wireless Broadband == Aspects of telecommunication transmission == Telecommunication Analog Digital Functional profile Optics === Telecommunication technology === Modulation Amplitude modulation Frequency modulation Quadrature amplitude modulation Nyquist rate Nyquist ISI criterion Pulse shaping Intersymbol interference === Communications media types === Physical media for Telecommunication Twisted pair Coaxial cable Optical fiber Telecommunication through Free Space Broadcast radio frequency including television and radio Line-of-sight Communications satellite Terrestrial Microwave Wireless LAN === Relationship between media and transmitters === Physical access to media Simplex Duplex (telecommunications) Logical relationships Return channel Two-way alternating Two-way simultaneous === Multiple access to media === Multiplexing Analog Frequency division multiplexing Space division multiplexing Digital Time-division multiplexing Statistical multiplexing and Packet switching Media Access Control Contention Token-based Centralized token control Distributed token control == History of telecommunication == History of telecommunication History of telegraphy History of the telephone Invention of the telephone Timeline of the telephone History of radio History of television History of videophones History of mobile phones History of computing hardware History of the Internet == Major telecommunications equipment manufacturers == Alcatel-Lucent – French global telecommunications equipment company Aricent – Former company AT&T – American telecommunications company Avaya – American technology company Ciena – American telecommunications company Cisco Systems – American multinational technology companyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Ericsson – Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company Fujitsu – Japanese multinational technology company HCL Technologies – Indian multinational technology companyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Huawei – Chinese multinational technology company NEC – Japanese technology corporation Nokia – Multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company ShoreTel – US telecommunications company Verizon – American telecommunications company ZTE – Chinese telecommunications company == Major telecommunications service providers == List of mobile network operators List of telephone operating companies == Telecommunication organizations == Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions Telecommunications Industry Association == Telecommunication publications == Magazines Billing and OSS World Cabling Installation & Maintenance Call Center Communications News Communications System Design Lightwave Mobile Radio Technology (MRT) New Telephony Phone+ RCR Wireless News Telecom Asia Telecommunications Magazine Telephony WhatSatphone Magazine Wireless Systems Design Wireless Week Xchange == Persons influential in telecommunication == Edwin Howard Armstrong – American radio-frequency engineer and inventor (1890–1954) John Logie Baird – Scottish inventor (1888–1946) Paul Baran – American-Jewish engineer (1926–2011) Alexander Graham Bell – Inventor of the telephone (1847–1922) Tim Berners-Lee – English computer scientist (born 1955) Jagadish Chandra Bose – Physicist, biologist and botanist (1857–1937) Vint Cerf – American computer scientist and Internet pioneer (born 1943) Claude Chappe – Late 18th-century French inventor Donald Davies – British computer scientist (1924–2000) Louis Pouzin – French computer scientist and Internet pioneer (born 1931) Lee de Forest – American inventor (1873–1961) Philo Farnsworth – American inventor (1906–1971) Reginald Fessenden – Canadian-American electrical engineer and inventor (1866–1932) Elisha Gray – American electrical engineer (1835–1901) Innocenzo Manzetti – Italian inventor (1826–1877) Guglielmo Marconi – Italian radio-frequency engineer and inventor (1874–1937) Antonio Meucci – Italian inventor (1808–1889) Alexander Stepanovich Popov – Russian physicist (1859–1906)Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Johann Philipp Reis – German scientist and inventor Almon Brown Strowger – American inventor of the telephone exchange (1839–1902) Nikola Tesla – Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943) Camille Tissot – French physicist (1868–1917) Alfred Vail – 19th-century American machinist and inventor Charles Wheatstone – English physicist and inventor (1802–1875) Vladimir K. Zworykin – Russian-American engineer (1888–1982)

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  • Hardware compatibility list

    Hardware compatibility list

    A hardware compatibility list (HCL) is a list of computer hardware (typically including many types of peripheral devices) that is compatible with a particular operating system or device management software. The list contains both whole computer systems and specific hardware elements including motherboards, sound cards, and video cards. In today's world, there is a vast amount of computer hardware in circulation, and many operating systems too. A hardware compatibility list is a database of hardware models and their compatibility with a certain operating system. HCLs can be centrally controlled (one person or team keeps the list of hardware maintained) or user-driven (users submit reviews on hardware they have used). There are many HCLs. Usually, each operating system will have an official HCL on its website.

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  • Logic form

    Logic form

    Logic forms are simple, first-order logic knowledge representations of natural language sentences formed by the conjunction of concept predicates related through shared arguments. Each noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjunction generates a predicate. Logic forms can be decorated with word senses to disambiguate the semantics of the word. There are two types of predicates: events are marked with e, and entities are marked with x. The shared arguments connect the subjects and objects of verbs and prepositions together. Example input/output might look like this: Input: The Earth provides the food we eat every day. Output: Earth:n_#1(x1) provide:v_#2(e1, x1, x2) food:n_#1(x2) we(x3) eat:v_#1(e2, x3, x2; x4) day:n_#1(x4) Logic forms are used in some natural language processing techniques, such as question answering, as well as in inference both for database systems and QA systems.

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  • Creative work

    Creative work

    A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort in the world through a creative process involving one or more individuals. The term includes fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, and musical composition. The term is frequently used in the context of copyright. It is an important concept in both philosophy and law. Creative works require a creative mindset and are not typically rendered in an arbitrary fashion, although works may demonstrate (i.e., have in common) a degree of arbitrariness, such that it is improbable that two people would independently create the same work. At its base, creative work involves two main steps – having an idea, and then turning that idea into a substantive form or process. Typically, the creative process results in work that has some aesthetic value, identified as a creative expression. Naturally, this expression generally invokes external stimuli (e.g., influences and experiences) which a person draws on because they view the source as creative or inspirational; the degree to which this is reflected may be used in determinations of the derivativeness of the created work. Alternatively, the creator may draw on imagination, and their references may be clouded even to them, for the nature of imagination is as yet not fully understood philosophically, and the level of necessary self-examination of an artist's internal processing is a challenge for even those most self-aware of their minds and mental processes. == Legal definition == === United Kingdom === For the purpose of section 221(2)(c) of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, the expression "creative works" means: (a) literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, or (b) designs,created by the taxpayer personally or, if the qualifying trade, profession or vocation is carried on in partnership, by one or more of the partners personally.

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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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  • Video game

    Video game

    A video game, computer game, or simply game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, most commonly shown in a video format on a television set, computer monitor, flat-panel display or touchscreen on handheld devices, or a virtual reality headset. Most modern video games are audiovisual, with audio complement delivered through speakers or headphones, and sometimes also with other types of sensory feedback (e.g., haptic technology that provides tactile sensations). Some video games also allow microphone and webcam inputs for in-game chatting and livestreaming. Video games are typically categorized according to their hardware platform, which traditionally includes arcade video games, console games, and computer games (which includes LAN games, online games, and browser games). More recently, the video game industry has expanded onto mobile gaming through mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet computers), virtual and augmented reality systems, and remote cloud gaming. Video games are also classified into a wide range of genres based on their style of gameplay and target audience. The first video game prototypes in the 1950s and 1960s were simple extensions of electronic games using video-like output from large, room-sized mainframe computers. The first consumer video game was the arcade video game Computer Space in 1971, which took inspiration from the earlier 1962 computer game Spacewar!. In 1972 came the now-iconic video game Pong and the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. The industry grew quickly during the "golden age" of arcade video games from the late 1970s to early 1980s but suffered from the crash of the North American video game market in 1983 due to loss of publishing control and saturation of the market. Following the crash, the industry matured, was dominated by Japanese companies such as Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, and established practices and methods around the development and distribution of video games to prevent a similar crash in the future, many of which continue to be followed. In the 2000s, the core industry centered on "AAA" games, leaving little room for riskier experimental games. Coupled with the availability of the Internet and digital distribution, this gave room for independent video game development (or "indie games") to gain prominence into the 2010s. Since then, the commercial importance of the video game industry has been increasing. The emerging Asian markets and proliferation of smartphone games in particular are altering player demographics towards casual and cozy gaming, and increasing monetization by incorporating games as a service. Today, video game development requires numerous skills, vision, teamwork, and liaisons between different parties, including developers, publishers, distributors, retailers, hardware manufacturers, and other marketers, to successfully bring a game to its consumers. As of 2020, the global video game market had estimated annual revenues of US$159 billion across hardware, software, and services, which is three times the size of the global music industry and four times that of the film industry in 2019, making it a formidable heavyweight across the modern entertainment industry. The video game market is also a major influence behind the electronics industry, where personal computer component, console, and peripheral sales, as well as consumer demands for better game performance, have been powerful driving factors for hardware design and innovation. == Origins == Early video games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example dates to 1947—a "cathode-ray tube amusement device" was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U.S. Patent 2455992. Inspired by radar display technology, it consisted of an analog device allowing a user to control the parabolic arc of a dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which were paper drawings fixed to the screen. Other early examples include the Nimrod computer at the 1951 Festival of Britain; Christopher Strachey's Checkers, possibly the first game to display visuals on an electronic screen in 1952; OXO, a tic-tac-toe computer game by Alexander S. Douglas for the EDSAC in 1952; Tennis for Two, an electronic interactive game engineered by William Higinbotham in 1958; and Spacewar!, written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen's on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1962. Each game had different means of display: NIMROD had a panel of lights to play the game of Nim, OXO had a graphical display to play tic-tac-toe, Tennis for Two had an oscilloscope to display a side view of a tennis court, and Spacewar! had the DEC PDP-1's vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. These inventions laid the foundation for modern video games. In 1966, while working at Sanders Associates, Ralph H. Baer devised a system to play a basic table tennis game on a television screen. With the company's approval, Baer created the prototype known as the "Brown Box". Sanders patented Baer's innovations and licensed them to Magnavox, which commercialized the technology as the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1972. Separately, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, inspired by seeing Spacewar! running at Stanford University, devised a similar version running in a smaller coin-operated arcade cabinet using a less expensive computer. This was released as Computer Space, the first arcade video game, in 1971. Bushnell and Dabney went on to form Atari, Inc., and with Allan Alcorn, created their second arcade game in 1972, the hit ping pong-style Pong, which was directly inspired by the table tennis game on the Odyssey. Atari made a home version of Pong, which was released by Christmas 1975. The success of the Odyssey and Pong, both as an arcade game and home machine, launched the video game industry. Both Baer and Bushnell have been titled "Father of Video Games" for their contributions. == Terminology == The term "video game" was developed to describe electronic games played on a video display rather than on a teletype printer, audio speaker, or similar device. This also distinguished from handheld electronic games such as Merlin, which commonly used LED lights for indicators not in combination for imaging purposes. "Computer game" may also be used as a descriptor, as all these types of games essentially require the use of a computer processor; in some cases, it is used interchangeably with "video game". Particularly in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, this is common due to the historic relevance of domestically produced microcomputers. Other terms used include digital game, for example, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The term "computer game" can also refer to PC games, which are played primarily on personal computers or other flexible hardware systems, to distinguish them from console games, arcade games, or mobile games. Other terms, such as "television game", "telegame", or "TV game", had been used in the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly for home gaming consoles that rely on connection to a television set. However, these terms were also used interchangeably with "video game" in the 1970s, primarily due to "video" and "television" being synonymous. In Japan, where consoles like the Odyssey were first imported and then made within the country by the large television manufacturers such as Toshiba and Sharp Corporation, such games are known as "TV games", "TV geemu", or "terebi geemu". The term "TV game" is still commonly used into the 21st century. "Electronic game" may also be used to refer to video games, but this also incorporates devices like early handheld electronic games that lack any video output. The first appearance of the term "video game" emerged around 1973. The Oxford English Dictionary cited a 10 November 1973 BusinessWeek article as the first printed use of the term. Though Bushnell believed the term came from a vending magazine review of Computer Space in 1971, a review of the major vending magazines Vending Times and Cashbox showed that the term may have come even earlier, appearing first in a letter dated July 10, 1972. In the letter, Bushnell uses the term "video game" twice. Per video game historian Keith Smith, the sudden appearance suggested that the term had been proposed and readily adopted by those in the field. Around March 1973, Ed Adlum, who ran Cashbox's coin-operated section until 1972 and then later founded RePlay Magazine, covering the coin-op amusement field, in 1975, used the term in an article in March 1973. In a September 1982 issue of RePlay, Adlum is credited with first naming these games as "video games": "RePlay

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  • 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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  • Digital divide

    Digital divide

    Digital divide is inequitable access to and use of digital technology, encompassing four interrelated dimensions: motivational, material, skills, and usage access. The digital divide worsens inequality in access to information and resources. According to 2026 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, a significant 'digital divide' persists, with over 15.7 million Americans lacking access to high-speed broadband. Students from low-income households often face limited access to reliable internet and digital devices, which negatively affects their educational opportunities. In the Information Age, people without access to the Internet and other technology are at a disadvantage, for they are less able to connect with others, find and apply for jobs, shop, and learn. People living in poverty, in insecure housing or who are homeless, elderly people, and those living in rural communities may have limited access to the Internet; in contrast, urban middle class people have easy access to the Internet. Another divide is between producers and consumers of Internet content, which could be a result of educational disparities. While social media use varies across age groups, a US 2010 study reported no racial divide. == History == The historical roots of the digital divide in the United States refer to the increasing gap that occurred during the early modern period between those who could and could not access the real time forms of calculation, decision-making, and visualization offered via written and printed media. "Over time, focus has shifted from binary access to differentiated use, where quality and purpose of engagement vary across socio-economic groups." Within this context, ethical discussions regarding the relationship between education and the free distribution of information were raised by thinkers such as Immanuel Kant, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Mary Wollstonecraft (1712–1778). The latter advocated that governments should intervene to ensure that any society's economic benefits should be fairly and meaningfully distributed. Amid the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, Rousseau's idea helped to justify poor laws that created a safety net for those who were harmed by new forms of production. Later, when telegraph and postal systems evolved, many used Rousseau's ideas to argue for full access to those services, even if it meant subsidizing hard-to-serve citizens. Thus, "universal services" referred to innovations in regulation and taxation that would allow phone services such as AT&T in the United States to serve hard-to-serve rural users. In 1996, as telecommunications companies merged with Internet companies, the Federal Communications Commission adopted Telecommunications Act of 1996 to consider regulatory strategies and taxation policies to close the digital divide. Though the term "digital divide" was coined among consumer groups that sought to tax and regulate information and communications technology (ICeT) companies to close the digital divide, the topic soon moved onto a global stage. The focus was the World Trade Organization which passed the Telecommunications Services Act, which resisted regulation of ICT companies so that they would be required to serve hard-to-serve individuals and communities. In 1999, to assuage anti-globalization forces, the WTO hosted the "Financial Solutions to Digital Divide" in Seattle, US, co-organized by Craig Warren Smith of Digital Divide Institute and Bill Gates Sr. the chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It catalyzed a full-scale global movement to close the digital divide, which quickly spread to all sectors of the global economy. In 2000, US president Bill Clinton mentioned the term in the State of the Union Address. Since the early 2000s, the international community has transitioned from a focus on domestic infrastructure to a global, multi-dimensional framework for digital equity. This shift was formalized through the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005), where the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established a roadmap for bridging the Global North-South disparity as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Academic and policy discourse has since evolved to distinguish between the first-level divide (physical access), the second-level divide (digital literacy), and the third-level divide (the ability to translate technology use into socio-economic capital). By the 2020s, critical reflections on national development emphasized that the divide is fundamentally a socio-institutional gap. Research by Tiwari, Kostenko, and Yekhanurov (2025) identifies four pillars for achieving national digital maturity which are digital governance capacity, institutional design to prevent adverse digital incorporation, infrastructure resilience, and citizen capability. This modern era is characterized by the pursuit of meaningful connectivity, a standard that requires internet access to be not only available but affordable, high-speed, and supportive of active content creation. === During the COVID-19 pandemic === At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide issued stay-at-home orders that imposed lockdowns, quarantines, restrictions, and closures. The resulting interruptions to schooling, public services, and business operations drove nearly half of the world's population into seeking alternative methods to live while in isolation. These methods included telemedicine, virtual classrooms, online shopping, technology-based social interactions and working remotely, all of which require access to high-speed or broadband internet access and digital technologies. A Pew Research Centre study reports that 90% of Americans describe the use of the Internet as "essential" during the pandemic. The accelerated use of digital technologies created a landscape where the ability, or lack thereof, to access digital spaces became a crucial factor in everyday life. According to the Pew Research Center, 59% of children from lower-income families were likely to face digital obstacles in completing school assignments. These obstacles included the use of a cellphone to complete homework, having to use public Wi-Fi because of unreliable internet service in the home and lack of access to a computer in the home. This difficulty, titled the homework gap, affects more than 30% of K-12 students living below the poverty threshold, and disproportionally affects American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic students. These types of interruptions or privilege gaps in education exemplify problems in the systemic marginalization of historically oppressed individuals in primary education. The pandemic exposed inequity causing discrepancies in learning. "Large-scale events such as COVID-19 intensify both access and skills gaps, underlining the need for resilient digital inclusion policies. Studies during COVID-19 reveal first-level (access) and second-level (skills) divides, with underserved students struggling with reliable internet, devices, and platform navigation ” A lack of "tech readiness", that is, confident and independent use of devices, was reported among the US elderly population; with more than 50% reporting an inadequate knowledge of devices and more than one-third reporting a lack of confidence. "Older adults often face skills and confidence barriers, illustrating later-stage divides in van Dijk’s model." Moreover, according to a UN research paper, similar results can be found across various Asian countries, with those aged over 74, reporting less confident or inconsistent use of digital devices. This aspect of the digital divide and the elderly occurred during the pandemic as healthcare providers increasingly relied upon telemedicine to manage chronic and acute health conditions. == Aspects == There are various definitions of the digital divide, all with slightly different emphasis, which is evidenced by related concepts like digital inclusion, digital participation, digital skills, media literacy, and digital accessibility.“Van Dijk’s model identifies sequential barriers—motivational, material, skills, and usage—that must be addressed to bridge the divide.” === Infrastructure === The infrastructure by which individuals, households, businesses, and communities connect to the Internet addresses the physical mediums that people use to connect to the Internet such as desktop computers, laptops, basic mobile phones or smartphones, MP3 players, gaming consoles, electronic book readers, and tablets. Traditionally, the nature of the divide has been measured in terms of the existing numbers of subscriptions and digital devices. Given the increasing number of such devices, some have concluded that the digital divide among individuals has increasingly been closing as the result of a natural and almost automatic process. Others point to persistent lower levels of connectivity among women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes, rura

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  • GeForce RTX 50 series

    GeForce RTX 50 series

    The GeForce RTX 50 series of consumer graphics cards is the successor of Nvidia's GeForce 40 series. Announced at CES 2025, it debuted with the release of the RTX 5070, RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 in January 2025. It is based on Nvidia's Blackwell architecture featuring Nvidia RTX's fourth-generation RT cores for hardware-accelerated real-time ray tracing, and fifth-generation deep learning–focused Tensor Cores. The GPUs are manufactured by TSMC on a custom 4N process node. == Background == In March 2024, Nvidia announced the Blackwell architecture for its datacenter products. Like Ampere, the architecture is shared by consumer and datacenter products rather than having distinct architectures released simultaneously like Ada Lovelace for consumers and Hopper for datacenter. At the Game Awards in December 2024, a cinematic trailer for The Witcher IV was shown that had been pre-rendered on an "unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU". This was assumed to be an upcoming GeForce RTX 50 series GPU. Following the RTX 50 series announcement, Nvidia confirmed that the trailer was "pre-rendered in Unreal Engine 5 on a GeForce RTX 5090". Later in the same month, it was reported that Nvidia had begun stockpiling GeForce RTX 50 series units in U.S. warehouses due to a threatened 10% import tariff and 60% tariff on Chinese imports that Donald Trump promised in his re-election campaign. === Announcement === On January 6, 2025, the GeForce RTX 50 series was officially announced for desktop and mobile devices during Nvidia's CES keynote in Las Vegas. The pricing announcement was met with surprise as the RTX 5080 at $999 was the same price that the RTX 4080 Super released at a year earlier despite the anticipated price increases. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang falsely claimed that the RTX 5070 could reach "RTX 4090 performance at $549", a figure that relies on the use of DLSS 4 upscaling and Multi Frame generation, and is not an indication of raw performance. == Features == === Blackwell architecture === The GeForce RTX 50 series is powered by the Blackwell microarchitecture, which continues Ada Lovelace's emphasis on high graphics frequencies and large L2 caches. The Blackwell architecture introduces Nvidia RTX's fourth-generation RT cores for hardware-accelerated real-time ray tracing and fifth-generation Tensor Cores for AI compute and performing floating-point calculations. === GDDR7 === RTX 50 series GPUs are the first consumer GPUs to feature GDDR7 video memory for greater memory bandwidth over the same bus width compared to the GDDR6 and GDDR6X memory used in the GeForce 40 series. RTX 50 series desktop GPUs use GDDR7 modules from Samsung due to them being available for validation earlier than modules from SK Hynix and Micron. === 12V-2×6 connector === The GeForce RTX 50 series uses the 16-pin 12V-2×6 connector, which is a revision of the 12VHPWR connector featured on the GeForce 40 series. There were problems with the 12VHPWR connector melting on some RTX 4090 GPUs due to the connector not being fully seated and connector design flaws that did not implement a high enough safety and error tolerance. The 12V-2×6 connector revision, published by PCI-SIG in July 2023, addressed this by shortening the four sense pins so the connector will not push any power if it has not been fully seated. The 12VHPWR design would still draw up to 150W of power even if the sense pins were not making full contact. 12V-2×6 is backwards compatible with existing 12VHPWR cables and adapters. Nvidia has mandated to its AIB partners that the 16-pin 12V-2×6 connector be used on all RTX 50 series designs. With the GeForce 40 series, the 12VHPWR connector was only mandated on higher power cards such as the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4070 Ti Super, RTX 4080, RTX 4080 Super and RTX 4090 while RTX 4060, RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4070 AIB designs had the option of using 8-pin PCIe connectors. The 600W-capable 12VHPWR connector would not have been necessary on sub-200W cards. === DLSS 4 === The fourth generation of Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) was unveiled alongside the RTX 50 series. DLSS 4 upscaling uses a new vision transformer-based model for enhanced image quality with reduced ghosting and greater image stability in motion compared to the previous convolutional neural network (CNN) model. DLSS 4 also allows a greater number of frames to be generated and interpolated based on a single traditionally rendered frame. This form of frame generation called Multi Frame Generation is exclusive to the RTX 50 series while the GeForce 40 series is limited to one interpolated frame per traditionally rendered frame. Nvidia claims that DLSS 4's frame generation model uses 30% less video memory with the example of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide using 400 MB less memory at 4K resolution with frame generation enabled. Nvidia claims that 75 titles will integrate DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation at launch, including Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Star Wars Outlaws. === Media Engine and I/O === The RTX 50 series includes DisplayPort 2.1b UHBR20 (80Gbps) with higher display output data rates to support high resolution and high refresh rate displays. The GeForce 40 series received criticism for only including DisplayPort 1.4a (32Gbps) while the competing Radeon RX 7000 series included DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR13.5 (54Gbps). At CES 2025, VESA announced a collaboration with Nvidia on the new DP80LL ("low loss") UHBR20 active cable standard. DP80LL allows for 80Gbps DisplayPort 2.1 cables up to 3 meters long as passive DP80 cables are limited in length due to signal integrity concerns. The RTX 50 series introduces the ninth-generation NVENC encoder and sixth-generation NVDEC video decoder. For the first time in a consumer GeForce GPU, encoding and decoding video in the 4:2:2 color format for professional-grade higher color depth is supported. == List of GPUs == === Desktop === GeForce RTX 50 series desktop GPUs are the second consumer GPUs to utilize a PCIe 5.0 interface and the first to feature GDDR7 video memory (except for the entry level RTX 5050 that still uses GDDR6). They are fabricated by TSMC using a custom 5 nm process dubbed 4N. === Mobile === Laptops featuring GeForce RTX 50 series laptop GPUs were shown at CES 2025. Laptops with RTX 50 series GPUs were paired with Intel's Arrow Lake-HX and AMD's Strix Point and Fire Range CPUs. Nvidia claims that Blackwell architecture's new Max-Q features can increase battery life by up to 40% over GeForce 40 series laptops. For example, Advanced Power Gating saves power by turning off areas of the GPU that are unused and the paired GDDR7 memory can run in an "ultra" low-voltage state. Initial RTX 50 series laptops will become available in March 2025 starting at $1,299. == Controversies == === 12V-2x6 power connector issue === The 12V-2x6 connector used by multiple 5090 cards faces criticism due to a design flaw that can potentially cause the connector to melt. The flaw primarily affect Nvidia's own RTX 5090 FE and RTX 5080 FE cards and are similar to the failures seen on the RTX 40 series but models by third party OEMs have been affected as well. === Availability and pricing === The releases of the RTX 5090, 5080 and 5070 Ti were marked by severe availability issues and pricing well above MSRP. Pricing became an issue again at the end of 2025 due to an ongoing memory supply shortage. Nvidia has been rumored to cut production of 16GB VRAM cards, affecting the availability of the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5070 Ti SKUs. === 32-bit support removal for CUDA, OpenCL, and GPU PhysX === Support for 32-bit OpenCL, and CUDA applications (and as a result 32-bit GPU-accelerated PhysX), was dropped for the GeForce RTX 50 series, which resulted in several applications encountering performance issues with GPU PhysX options or not being able to run at all, causing negative reactions from numerous gaming communities. On December 4, 2025, with the release of driver version 591.44, 32-bit GPU-accelerated PhysX support was restored for certain games. Support for more games was promised in the future. === Incomplete dies and missing ROPs === The dies of certain RTX 5090/5090D, 5080, and 5070 Ti cards were missing eight render output units (ROPs), resulting in slower graphics while pure compute and AI workloads are unaffected. Nvidia claimed that less than 0.5% of cards are affected and that the "production anomaly" has been rectified. === Black screen issues === Some RTX 5080 and 5090 users reported an issue where the system would boot into a black screen after installing Nvidia drivers. Nvidia confirmed the issue and said that a new driver update would fix it for people who hadn't received a VBIOS update yet. Released on February 27, 2025 Nvidia drivers version 572.60 claim to have fixed the issue. Nvidia has since released multiple hotfix and Game Ready drivers that contain additional fixes for the issue. === Windows driver branch quality and stabilit

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