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Talk:Ecology

Do you think that this book should remain broad and conceptual, or that it should have say, stream ecology, ecology in the context of urban sprawl etcetera? Specifics like that are more conservation biology than ecology. But maybe there could be the odd box example of conservation biology and the ecology of specific biomes in specific places? I think I might have seen ecology text books have some of those examples in them without any comprehensive discussion of those topics, in boxes separated from the rest of the text. So anyway, what do you think? I'm starting to think that stuff like SLOSS or fragmentation would need its' own "Conservation Biology" wikibook, but do you think that this conservation stuff should be mentioned here? Thanks Lotusduck 15:49, 12 December 2005 (UTC)lotusduck

 * You are right to raise this question.  Conservation management is crucial to the future of plane Earth, and although the empirical approach can be used with a fair degree of success, it increasingly relies on experimental evidence.  Therefore, although conservation has been on the periphery of ecology as a subject, it should now be integrated into ecological thinking.  To this end I have started a section on applied ecology, with conservation management as the first subsection.  The aim is to elicit examples of conservation management systems that exemplify the application of six pillars of ecology. --Denis Bellamy 15:27, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Thats where that came from. I think "Applied Ecology" is a good idea. Should it be a separate section or a new book? We can decide of course after you get it underway. The premise of this book in the beginning was just to get the basics out of the way, and the chapters reflect this; but clearly there is lots more that can be said and done in the field and I did earlier set up the idea of separate sections which you are now pushing forward. Great!   - marsh 17:26, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
 * My first idea was that it should be a separate book. As you say, as it grows it may well be more useful to detach it.  As I see it the objective of Applied Ecology is to use ecological theory and principles to solve problems associated with intensive human use of the environment.  The following topics are distinct problem areas that are tackled by applying ecological principles on large scales; restorative and and mitigative habitat creation; conservation management; landscape architecture; water-treatment engineering based on wetland ecosystems; disease transmission through ecosystems; rehabilitation of rare species.  They broadly define the scope and of applied ecology as a subject and each one could be developed as the chapter of a book.  I will leave you to decide whether you would like applied ecology with this scope to be initiated in your book.--Denis Bellamy 11:12, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Having looked more closely at Help:How to start a book and Wickibooks: Naming policy, I have decided that the content would, in the long run, best be handled editorially by starting a new book entitled Applied Ecology.--Denis Bellamy 09:02, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Ecology/Energy in ecosystems 49.204.181.35 (discuss) 15:18, 12 June 2021 (UTC)

Page Renaming
I'm writing this book and will decide how and what pages are to be named. I'm not opposed to reviewing "your" convention and maybe applying it, but do not put stupid banners on the book modules - marsh 17:22, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

 * I am happy to fit in with your convention--Denis Bellamy 11:12, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

 * You are writing this book at Wikibooks and Wikibooks policies apply to your book. Naming of this book is completely unconsistent and misleading. --Derbeth talk 11:33, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Guess what? I checked and there is no "Naming Policy"; only suggestions. Anyway, it is a firmly held rule at Wikipedia (and I assume here also), that suggestions to changes on pages be placed on the discussion page of the article. Banners on article pages are only those intended to convey information to users/readers (whether contributing or not), such as warnings about lack of factual support, controversy, revelation of surprise endings, and the like. Your very obnoxious banners have only the effect of driving users away from reading the article/module material. - marsh 19:23, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Please do not assume that Wikipedia policies apply here. Wikibooks has its own WB:PAG page, though much of it is intentionally similar to Wikipedia. WB:NP has never become enforced, but I suggest the renaming of Basic Ecology Contents, Practical Ecology, and Invasive Species Glossary to use "Ecology:" or "Basic Ecology:" like the other modules currently do.

 * No problem. I've always changed my pages in response to whatever style is currently in vogue. My objection is entirely with the tactics being used, especially by self-appointed enforcement police like McDerbeth.

 * Is the "obnoxious banner" a reference to Cleanup-NC? I always put it on the module, not the talk page, because similar templates like and  almost always appear at the module, not the talk page. So I presently believe that Cleanup-NC also belongs on that page. --Kernigh 04:25, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Sorry, although you are right, the practice is inconsistent, instructions or requests to editors/writers to do certain things with their text should be on the discussion page, just as any suggestions, requests, ideas, etc. would be. Banners on the module pages that are not intended for the user of the text (for example a student) tend to put the users off ("There must be something wrong with this textbook, I'll go elsewhere for my learning experience"); only makes sense. Also, while all are welcome to contribute, the fact is that only one or a very few people tend to excercise control over a particular texbook as necessary to actually get a book out the subject matter. As Basic Ecology is a book I am working on, I will not accept banners that are requesting something from me on the module page. I do not mind them on the discussion page; but they are not part of the lesson that the module represents and I excercise my editorial right to move them. And while I do not seem to be having a problem with you and this issue, I do not appreciate a non-contributor like Derbeth suddenly taking over a textbook because he does not like how the modules are named and then attacking me, which is how this "policy" is being implemented. I think that approach is way out of line with Wikipedia (and certainly Wikibooks) philosophy.  - marsh 01:13, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

More about renaming
I would have to agree that the banners across the top of various pages can be very obnoxious and are jarring in term of people who are simply trying to read the content and don't care how the content is stored internally on the webserver.

From the perspective of administrating content on Wikibooks, it helps if there is some sort of consistant naming for a wikibook, although I'm opposed to the current policy that only permits one single possible naming method. This helps mainly because tools like Special:prefixindex are available to help find content that has been "lost" due to links that have gone missing, or to help locate the "parent" module if you find a page in the orphan bin. Far too much content has been lost and forgotten on Wikibooks simply because there are no links available to help find it in the first place.

As you have said marsh, this is something that should be done politely on the talk page first, where contributors are able to make their suggestionss first and give credit to those who are developing the content... not run rough over contributors because you may have a few stripes on your arm as an administrator. --Rob Horning 12:11, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Anyone here?
Does anyone visit these pages anymore? I (and my class) plan on making some significant contribution over the next semester and would like to discuss layout, conception, etc with anyone still actively involved with the book. Thanks. --PaulWLepp 15:23, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Dr. Lepp's Ecology Class Assignment
Just writing a short message to see if this works and to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.--Turk 20:55, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Dr Lepp's Ecology class assignment== ==

Taking Ecology to be a better Biology teacher Murphyangus

Dr. Lepp's Ecology Class Assignment
Hi just a quick note I'm glad I figured this out. --Natator 88 15:26, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Dr. Lepp's Ecology Class Assignment
Hello just getting used to this and getting the assignment done. --Walleyesnwhitetails

Ecology/Habitat Fragmentation
...a lost page? Webaware talk 07:37, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ecology


text:
User talk:217.159.227.192

Please stop adding nonsense to Wikibooks. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. -- LV (Dark Mark) 17:32, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:217.159.227.192


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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Kreacher

Overview
Kreacher is the house elf for the Black family.

Order of the Phoenix
Kreacher is first encountered when Harry Potter is brought into the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters, at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He resents the new inhabitants of the house that has been a pure-blood stronghold for a long time, and wages his own little psychological warfare on them. Sirius Black says that he has been shut up in the house for ten years, taking orders only from the mad portrait of Sirius' mother, and going rather mad himself. It is noted that as Sirius and the others are collecting Black family artifacts to throw out, Kreacher is stealing some of them and hiding them away.

When Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George are transported by Portkey to Grimmauld Place after their father is injured, Kreacher makes a very insulting comment. "Is it true their father is dying?" Sirius, outraged, shouts "Out!" at him, whereupon he vanishes and is not seen again for some days. Hermione wants to give him a Christmas present, a quilt, but cannot find him; Sirius says that he has a sort of nest under the boiler, and Hermione leaves the quilt there. Harry notes that many of the pictures that he had helped Sirius discard, including a disturbing one of Bellatrix Lestrange, are arranged around Kreacher's sleeping space. Eventually, Kreacher reappears; apparently he has been in the attic all this time.

Later on, when Harry tries to find out if his vision of Sirius Black being attacked at the Department of Mysteries is true, Kreacher says that his master is not home, and that Sirius will never return from the Department of Mysteries, making Harry believe that he must get to London immediately and try to save Sirius.

When Albus Dumbledore arrives at Grimmauld Place, Kreacher laughs at him, telling him that Sirius is gone and won't be back. Dumbledore has to use rather forceful persuasion on Kreacher, but by doing so he learns that Sirius and the other Order members there present (Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Alastor Moody), have gone off to the Ministry to rescue Harry. He also learns that the Death Eaters have learned about Harry's vulnerability to worry about Sirius because, when Sirius had dismissed Kreacher at Christmas, Kreacher had interpreted that as permission to leave the house, and he had gone to the only Black relative that he still respected: Narcissa Malfoy. Though unable to reveal any of the secrets of the Order, or anything he was specifically forbidden to talk about by Sirius, he still was able to reveal that Harry cared extremely deeply about Sirius. Additionally, by injuring Buckbeak, Kreacher was able to keep Sirius out of the way when Harry tried to reach him via the Floo network. So when Harry spoke to Kreacher, Kreacher was able to lie to him without fear of being contradicted by Sirius.

Half-Blood Prince
By the terms of Sirius' will, Harry has inherited Grimmauld Place and all its contents, including Kreacher. Professor Dumbledore summons Kreacher to the Dursleys' house to determine whether the inheritance is valid; if there is a charm preventing Harry from inheriting, Kreacher will not accept his orders. Harry's desperate order to Kreacher to shut up is effective, despite Kreacher's quite evident reluctance to accept orders from "the Potter brat," proving that he, rather than Narcissa (Black) Malfoy or Bellatrix (Black) Lestrange, has actually inherited. Harry then, at a loss for anything else for Kreacher to do, accepts Dumbledore's suggestion and sends him to Hogwarts to work in the kitchens.

Later, as Harry is the only person who believes Draco Malfoy is up to something, he sends Kreacher and Dobby to follow Malfoy and find out what he is doing. Kreacher's report is largely full of insults for Harry and compliments for Malfoy, but Dobby reports that Malfoy has been going to the Room of Requirement.

Deathly Hallows
Harry discovers that the mysterious R.A.B. is Regulus Arcturus Black when he sees the sign on his bedroom door at Grimmauld Place. After a fruitless search of Regulus' room, Hermione recalls that there was a locket, but that they had thrown it out; Harry recalls that Kreacher was perpetually stealing stuff back, and they go to search Kreacher's sleeping area to see if he has in fact kept it. Kreacher's den is empty of valuables, but it occurs to Harry that Kreacher himself may know what happened to it. Harry summons Kreacher, who reports that he had stolen the locket back, but that Mundungus Fletcher had then stolen it from him, along with almost everything else of value in the house. Harry demands the full story; Kreacher tells how Voldemort had asked Regulus for a house-elf. Regulus had volunteered Kreacher, telling him that he was to come back as soon as the Dark Lord was done with his services. Kreacher had accompanied Voldemort to the island in the lake that Harry had visited with Dumbledore, where Voldemort had forced Kreacher to drink a potion that left him remembering horrible things. Voldemort had placed a locket in the basin, had refilled it with potion, and then had vanished, leaving Kreacher alone; Kreacher had gone to the lake for a drink of water, and had been pulled under by the Inferi in the lake, and then had returned to his master, Regulus, as ordered.

Later, Regulus had taken him back to that same island, and had ordered Kreacher to force him to drink the potion, and then replace the locket with the one that Harry had found in the basin, and take the locket back to Grimmauld Place and destroy it. Regulus had drained the basin with Kreacher's assistance, and then struggled to the lake for water, and had been dragged under by the Inferi; and Kreacher had returned with the locket to Grimmauld Place, but had failed his master: he had been unable to destroy the locket, no matter how hard he tried.

Harry tells him that they, too, have the mission of destroying the locket, and as a token of their shared mission, he gives Kreacher the locket that Regulus had had him place in the basin, and that Harry had later recovered. Kreacher is overjoyed at this sign of consideration from Harry. Harry asks him to find Mundungus and bring him back, and Kreacher sets off immediately.

It is some days later that Kreacher returns with Mundungus, saying that he had been hard to trace. A number of times while Harry is interrogating Mundungus, Kreacher threatens him with a frying pan, because he is evidently being disrespectful to Harry.

Over the next month or so, Kreacher's work improves significantly, to the point that Harry is starting to enjoy returning to Grimmauld Place. After the invasion of the Ministry, however, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are forced to leave Grimmauld Place. With Harry gone, Kreacher apparently decides to return to Hogwarts, possibly in the hopes that his master (Harry) will be going there.

Kreacher leads the house-elves at Hogwarts into the second part of the battle at Hogwarts, cutting at the legs of Death Eaters with kitchen implements. After the final battle at Hogwarts, Harry hopes to himself that his four-poster bed in the dormitories at Hogwarts is still there waiting for him, and that Kreacher would be able to bring him a sandwich there...

Strengths
As a house-elf, Kreacher has significant magic ability in his own person, ability that is distinct from human magic. He also has the house-elf trait of extreme loyalty to his Masters, if he accepts them as worthy.

Weaknesses
Kreacher shares the weaknesses of all House-elves: being tied to one family and one location and not being able to disobey their orders, and the relatively low verbal intelligence of the race. He is also, we are told, quite old, and when we first meet him has had no human contact except for Walburga Black's mad portrait for ten years. As such, he is presumed to be somewhat maddened himself. He does seem to recover when separated from Walburga's portrait.

Relationships with Other Characters
It is a unclear whether Walburga treated Kreacher well or not. It might seem so, as Kreacher seems to follow the instructions issued by Walburga's painting, while resisting those of Sirius, a live Master. However, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore discusses how house elves become loyal and what it means. And in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry showed that he was on the same side as Regulus and treated Kreacher with respect, and as a result, Kreacher accepted Harry full-heartedly as his Master.

At that point, Kreacher, to a great extent, accepted Harry's ideals as his own. We see this particularly in the Battle of Hogwarts, where Kreacher is seen leading the school's house elves to fight against Lord Voldemort, and thus against the values of his earlier Masters. From this, it appears that house elves, despite the strong link of obedience to the family and heritage, have a great loyalty of mind to those "Masters" who treat them well.

Analysis
The author's choice of name for this character is interesting. We have seen that characters names are quite often related to their characteristics; for example, Rubeus Hagrid, a character hag-ridden by his heritage; Remus Lupin, whose name almost shouts his "furry little problem"; Albus Dumbledore, white of beard and hair, and eccentrically bumbling about like the bumblebee which is his last name, but with equally hidden purpose. In a world where house-elves are given cutesy, childish names like Dobby, Winky, and Hokey, Kreacher, which seems to be a portmanteau of "creature" and "treachery", is very out of place. The first time we see him, his name alone causes us to distrust him and his motives, and his perpetual string of muttered insults does nothing to change our feelings about him. One feels that the name was selected deliberately to foster that distrust; a name more in line with other house-elf names would have caused a certain cognitive dissonance that would have jarred throughout Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as it would result in an elf with a cute name who was saying really horrible things about Harry, Hermione, and Ron. That dissonance would likely have distracted readers from the story.

Kreacher's character is written to be quite childish, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and child-like in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This seems to be consistent with all we know of house elves and their intellectual development. There is more on house-elf intellect in that topic.

Questions

 * 1) Why did Kreacher lie to Harry about Sirius?
 * 2) What causes Kreacher's change of heart towards Harry and his friends?

Greater Picture
The author apparently insisted that Kreacher be part of the film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix because he would play an important part in the final chapter. As we can see in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, this is the case.

At least one source had suggested that Kreacher's role would have something to do with the mysterious RAB identified with the locket Horcrux. Having assumed that RAB was, in fact, Regulus Black, sources reasoned that it could be Kreacher who accompanied Regulus to the island of the locket; and Kreacher who was required to drink the potion that covered the locket. It is a bit of a surprise to find that it was Regulus who drank the potion, because given that Regulus was a good and loyal Black son, one would expect him to share the Black family disrespect for their servants.

One finds it hard to imagine that Lord Voldemort would not have protected his Horcrux against other magical creatures; however, we have already seen with Dobby that house-elf magic is very hard to counter even for very powerful wizards. Additionally, Voldemort has been shown to have no respect for magic he cannot do himself; this tendency to discount non-human magic, and to discount the strength of non-Pureblood wizards, is a large part of what eventually brought him down.


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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Moaning Myrtle

Overview
Moaning Myrtle, born as Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, was a former Ravenclaw student (now a ghost) who haunts the girl's bathroom on the first floor (called the second floor in the US editions of the book) of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Chamber of Secrets
We meet Myrtle at Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party. She seems a bit depressed, as many ghosts do; but Peeves takes the opportunity to mock her to the point that she runs off, crying. Apparently as she returns to her bathroom, she turns on all the taps.

Later, passing the spot where Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, was Petrified, Harry, Ron, and Hermione realize that they are passing Myrtle's bathroom. They stop in to talk to her, but she is not terribly communicative. They are caught exiting from the bathroom by Percy, who threatens them with a House points penalty.

Because Myrtle's bathroom is such an unwelcoming place, Hermione suggests it would be perfect for their use as they brew up a batch of Polyjuice Potion. They do this starting at about the middle of November. Myrtle doesn't seem to mind this activity much, usually hiding underwater somewhere and gurgling at them. When the time comes for them to use the potion, Hermione finds that she has made a mistake and used a cat hair; Myrtle seems very amused that Hermione has turned partway into a cat and is now stuck there. She finds Hermione's tail especially amusing.

Later, Harry and Ron find Myrtle's bathroom flooded; apparently she has become upset because someone threw a book at her while she was resting in the U-bend, thinking about death. In her anger she has turned on all the water in the bathroom. Harry recovers the book, it turns out to be a diary, originally owned by one T. M. Riddle fifty years ago.

A clue in that diary leads Harry and Ron to Hagrid, who in turn sends them to Aragog. Aragog, in turn, mentions that the last time the Chamber was opened, a girl died in a bathroom. It suddenly occurs to Harry that this might be Moaning Myrtle.

On their way to visit Myrtle for confirmation, Harry and Ron are caught in the halls by Professor McGonagall. Thinking up a reason for their being in the halls, Harry hits upon the idea of saying that they are trying to visit Hermione in the Hospital wing, as she has been Petrified. While visiting Hermione, they find a scrap of paper that she has torn out of a book which describes Basilisks; this tells them what the monster is.

Finally, with Professor Lockhart in tow, they return to Myrtle's bathroom. Myrtle confirms that it was she who had died the last time the Chamber was opened, and what she remembers matches the effects of a Basilisk; Harry figures out how to open the Chamber, and with Ron and Lockhart, he descends. When he returns, Myrtle suggests that if he had died down there, he would have been welcome to share her bathroom; Ron teases that Harry's got a girlfriend.

Goblet of Fire
Harry is given a hint to the Golden Egg clue by Cedric Diggory, and as a result ends up taking the egg to the Prefects' washroom. Moaning Myrtle joins him there, appearing out of one of the faucets, to his dismay – Harry tries to hide his nakedness under the bubbles; Myrtle after all is a girl. Myrtle guides Harry towards what Cedric did to his Golden Egg: opening it underwater and listening to it there. While Harry is thinking about the meaning of this clue, Myrtle is telling how she became a ghost; Harry largely ignores her. When Harry muses how he is going to breathe underwater, Myrtle becomes affronted at being reminded that she doesn't breathe any more.

During the Second Task, Harry, swimming deep in the lake, is again accosted by Moaning Myrtle. Harry is surprised that she is able to get to the lake; she says that sometimes she is sent to the lake by surprise when someone flushes her toilet unexpectedly. She points Harry in the direction of the Merpeople's settlement under the lake.

Half-Blood Prince
At one point, Harry and Ron step into a bathroom to allow Ron to escape the clutches of Lavender Brown. Myrtle appears and is disappointed, saying that Harry had promised to visit her and never did, and that she was hoping that it was the other, sad boy who was coming in. She says that he is worried because he has a task and he has been working at it for a long time, and is not succeeding. Ron manages to insult her by mentioning that she is dead, and she leaves through the plumbing, crying.

Harry, looking at the Marauder's Map, sees Draco Malfoy in a nearby bathroom with Myrtle. Looking in at them, he sees that Draco is crying. Draco catches sight of him in the mirror, and immediately starts flinging curses at him. Harry retaliates. Draco starts to invoke the Cruciatus curse, but Harry stops him with the Sectumsempra curse, one which he has read but never tried to use. This curse makes Harry's wand act like a very long knife, making great cuts appear in Draco's face and torso. Myrtle starts screaming, saying there was "murder in the bathroom"; Severus Snape appears and manages to heal Draco.

Weaknesses
Myrtle is offended very easily, at least initially. Any reminder that she is dead will send her off in gouts of tears. When Tom Riddle's diary was thrown into the commode where she happened to be invisibly resting, and it happened to fall through her, this enraged her to the point that she caused all the toilets and taps to effectively erupt, sending water all through her bathroom and out into the hall. It is in part this hypersensitivity that has left her with the name Moaning Myrtle, because in fact that does seem to be what she does most of the time.

Relationships with Other Characters
When Harry returns from the Chamber of Secrets, she suggests that if he had died down there, Harry would have been welcome to share her bathroom. Additionally, she helps him a couple of times before and during the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. This would seem to indicate that she has a little bit of a crush on Harry. However, when Ron and Harry use a bathroom to hide from Lavender Brown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Myrtle seems disappointed to see them, which would indicate that any romantic interest she has in Harry has been replaced by an interest in another boy, who turns out to be Draco Malfoy.

Analysis
Most unusually for a ghost, it seems Myrtle does have some control over physical matter; apparently her haunting of the bathroom has rendered it unusable, mainly because she keeps flooding the place when she gets depressed. This is useful to the story in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in two respects: Mrs. Norris is Petrified (in the chapter The Deathday Party), rather than being killed, because she sees the reflection of the Basilisk rather than seeing the Basilisk directly. The image is reflected in the water that Myrtle has caused to flood out of the bathroom because she was so upset at the insults lobbed at her by Peeves at Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party. Additionally, it is Myrtle's unwelcoming presence in the washroom that allows Hermione the time and space to make Polyjuice Potion; nobody willingly goes in there more than once, after being subjected to Myrtle's aggressive depression.

Myrtle's affinity for water also allows her to help Harry with the Second Task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; as the second task involves the Merpeople under the lake, Myrtle is instrumental in allowing Harry to solve the riddle surrounding the task, and also points him in the right direction when he is looking for the Merpeople during the task proper. Myrtle says that she sometimes ends up in the lake when someone flushes a toilet in her bathroom and she's not expecting it, which may lead us to wonder about Wizarding sanitation practices.

As mentioned, Myrtle is always sad and is apparently still hypersensitive about death. It is true that she had died only fifty years before our story opens, and so could have expected, in the normal run of affairs, to still be alive; it is possible that a ghost will be especially sensitive to thoughts of death until they reach an age at which they would have died normally. As far as her perpetual sadness goes, we must remember that at the time she died, she had been driven to tears by the cruelty of another girl and was hiding in the washroom. From what Nearly Headless Nick tells us in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix regarding ghostly existence, it is entirely possible that Myrtle is sad as a ghost purely because she was so sad when she died.


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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Lily Potter

Overview
Lily Potter (née Evans) was a Muggle-born witch and Harry's mother. She was born 30 January 1960 and died on 31 October 1981 at age 21. She was quite young, 19 years old, when she became pregnant with Harry, giving birth to him at 20.

Philosopher's Stone
At the start of the book, Albus Dumbledore confirms to Minerva McGonagall that both Harry's parents have been killed.

Harry has been told that his parents had been killed in a car crash, which is why he was living with his aunt and uncle.

In the hut on the rock, when Rubeus Hagrid arrives, there is a fair amount of discussion about Lily. Petunia Dursley, her sister, bitterly recounts how proud everyone else was that they had a witch in the family, and of the way she would come home with pockets full of frog spawn and do magic in the house, but she (Petunia) saw Lily for what she was: a freak. Hagrid is shocked that anyone could have believed that James and Lily could have died in a car crash, tells Harry that they were murdered by the evil wizard Voldemort, and mentions that James and Lily were head boy and head girl.

Lily's image (along with her husband James's) appears in the Mirror of Erised when Harry finds it the first time at Christmas.

A large number of pictures of Lily and James are in the photo album given to Harry by Hagrid just before Harry leaves the school for the summer.

Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry, in talking with Professor Lupin about Dementors, mentions that when they approach him, he can hear Voldemort murdering his mother. Lupin is apparently moved by this revelation. This causes some conflict in Harry; he misses his mother greatly, and would do almost anything to hear her voice and see her face, as we have already seen. But if the only way that can happen is for him to suffer attacks from Dementors? And is he going to be able to fight Dementors, if something he wants so dearly would be removed by that fight?

Lupin later comments that Harry looks extraordinarily like his father, except for his eyes. He has his mother's eyes.

In the Shrieking Shack, we hear Sirius Black's side of what happened when he was confronted by Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew had yelled that Sirius had betrayed James and Lily, then blew up the street, changed into his rat shape, and escaped, leaving behind his own cut-off finger and robes. Sirius had then been taken to Azkaban, where he had served time for the murder of Pettigrew. It turns out that it was Pettigrew who had betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort.

Goblet of Fire
In the battle in the graveyard, while Harry is battling Lord Voldemort, shadows of the people Voldemort has killed begin appearing. Harry's father and mother both appear and speak with him.

Order of the Phoenix
At Grimmauld Place, during the party that Mrs. Weasley throws to celebrate Ron being made Prefect, Moody shows Harry an old picture of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry's father and mother are present in the picture. While Moody clearly intends this as something of a treat, Harry feels that he has been rather taken by surprise, and is evidently dismayed at having this picture presented to him.

In Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve, Harry sees Professor Snape's memory of an episode where his father and the other Marauders are bullying a teenage Snape. Harry also sees his then-teenage mother, who yells at Harry's father to leave Snape alone. She even goes to the length of aiming her own wand at James.

Half-Blood Prince
When Harry first meets Horace Slughorn, Slughorn appears to be biased towards pure-bloods, which is no surprise given that he was head of Slytherin house. However, that doesn't mean that he refuses to see qualities in the Muggle-born; Harry's own mother, for instance, was quite a powerful witch, though of Muggle parentage, and was one of Slughorn's favorites.

In Potions class, Professor Slughorn mentions that Lily had been truly excellent at potions, and attributes Harry's skill to his being Lily's son.

Deathly Hallows
While viewing Snape's memories in the Pensieve, Harry sees Lily as a child at her original Muggle home. Severus Snape, also then a child, informs Lily that she is a witch and that he had been spying on her and seeing her do incredible things. Snape explains the magical world to Lily and they soon develop the bond of friendship, despite the interference of Lily's sister Petunia. Later in the memories, when Lily is at Hogwarts, she explains to Snape that they can't continue their friendship because she has issues with the type of person Snape is becoming and who he associates with. Even though Lily marries James, she is Snape's unrequited love.

As he goes to meet Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, Harry finds that he has the Resurrection Stone, and uses it to summon the shades of his godfather Sirius Black, Lupin, his father James, and his mother Lily. Lily tells him that he has been so brave, and the four of them accompany Harry to the clearing where Voldemort and his Death Eaters wait. Harry then drops the Stone, and the four shades vanish.

Strengths
In book six, it is repeatedly mentioned that Lily has extraordinary potions skills. Professor Slughorn, as mentioned, says she was one of his brightest and most charming students.

She was a beautiful soul, forgiving, kind, compassionate, but did not entertain evil. She was not a typically judgmental person. And everyone loved her; she was good with everyone.

Weaknesses
Lily loves too much to save herself. She gave her life to protect her one year old son, Harry. From a pragmatic view, that could be considered a weakness —it seems likely Voldemort would think so— though the philosophy of the books portrays it as a strength.

Relationships with Other Characters
Lily's parents are proud to have such a talented daughter, but her sister Petunia despises Lily for her magical abilities, seeing her as a freak. In the start of the first book, we learn that Vernon and Petunia have largely cut the Potters out of their family tree.

We learn that she met James Potter in Hogwarts, and although she leaves the impression that she dislikes him because he behaves like an arrogant bully, they eventually fall in love with each other, marry, and have a son, Harry.

As a member of the Order of the Phoenix that opposes Voldemort, we are told that she, with her husband, confronts him three times, and manages to escape. However, when The Dark Lord learns from Severus Snape about the prophecy, he starts looking for the Potter family. Pettigrew's betrayal leads Voldemort to Godric's Hollow, where he kills Lily and James.

She seems to have cherished her son, Harry, as she sacrificed her own life to protect him from Voldemort, refusing to stand aside. On those occasions when her shade was brought back, she said that she was proud of him and loved him.

Analysis
Lily Evans Potter is seen as kind and caring person who stands up to bullies, including Lord Voldemort. Her friendship with Severus Snape was a close one, though Lily never loved Severus; this friendship ended when Severus called her a "mudblood", the most discriminatory name in the Wizarding world. Even though Lily ended the friendship at that point, Severus still promised Albus Dumbledore "anything" in return for protecting her when Voldemort targeted her small son.

Knowing about the restrictions on magic done by students out of school, readers may be surprised by Petunia's assertion in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that Lily was always bringing home frog spawn and doing magic at home. We must bear Petunia's anti-magic bias in mind here, of course. If Lily was born in January, she will have turned 17 and thus come of age in January of her sixth year at Hogwarts. She will have then been able to legally perform magic at home starting with the Easter Break that year, and all later vacations, including the summer between her sixth and seventh years. To our less biased eyes, one summer and three school breaks does not constitute "always", but one must remember that Petunia, already smarting from being shut out of the Wizarding world, as we discover in the final book, and seeing this as one more thing that she can't ever do, would have dwelled on these few periods obsessively, and they probably now appear in her memory to occupy far more time than they ever actually spanned.

Our only view of Lily's school days, seen as it is through the eyes of Snape, ends in her fifth year when she broke off her friendship with him. At that time, Lily hated James Potter because of his arrogance. We must assume that between then and her seventh year, James grew up, as she apparently fell in love with the man James became. They married shortly after they graduated Hogwarts, and they joined the Order of the Phoenix to fight Lord Voldemort and Death Eaters. When her son was born, she cared and loved him more than anything in the world, even to the point where she sacrificed her own life to save him.

Throughout Harry's life, he lacked the connection between mother and child which is so psychologically necessary to a child. It is possibly because of this lack that he reacts strongly to being surprised by the image of his parents presented by Alastor Moody in Grimmauld Place, during Harry's fifth year. Harry's loss has made his interactions with memories of his mother and father a very private business, and presentation of the picture in such public surroundings leaves him feeling that he must conceal his feelings on having these memories reactivated.

It is, perhaps, surprising that Harry turned out so well despite being reared by Lily's abusive sister. A number of times in the series, we hear that Harry inherited his mother's eyes, and it seems her personality, and good heart and soul. It may have been this gentle strength in himself that sustained him through the difficult times in the Dursley family home. Harry, perhaps, does not recognize this in himself.

Greater Picture
At least twice, it is noted that Harry has Lily's eyes. (Although the films are, as mentioned, not canon, it is worth noting that this characteristic is also mentioned in the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.) Clearly this is important, but we don't find out why, specifically, until the final book of the series. Snape, as he dies, asks to look into Harry's eyes. We shortly learn that Lily is the love of Snape's life, that his sacrifices over the years were for Lily's love, and looking into Harry's eyes he was able to see Lily looking at him in his final seconds. We can only assume that much of Snape's antipathy towards Harry was the result of this constant reminder of what he had lost and what he had surrendered for her.

We never discover the shape of Lily's Patronus, but we see that Snape's is a doe. As Dumbledore recognizes immediately that this means Snape's unrequited love for Lily has remained in force, we must assume that there is some relationship there. It is unknown whether Lily's Patronus would also be a doe, or whether Snape simply sees her in that light due to her being "mated" to James, whose Patronus is a stag. While the author has since stated that Lily's Patronus is, in fact, a doe, we should point out that the author, in interviews, often tailors her responses to the audience, and so we must lend less weight to this response than to the published work, in which the shape of Lily's Patronus is not mentioned.

When Harry brought Lily's shade back with the Resurrection Stone, she seemed to look at him hungrily and as if she was not able to look at him enough. She also told her son that she was proud of him, and that she will love him forever and be with him until the end of his life.


text:
Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Crookshanks

Overview
Crookshanks is a cat owned by Hermione Granger. He is quite large, for a cat, orange ("ginger") colored with brown stripes, and has an "ugly", almost flat face and a bottle-brush tail. Although his significance to the Harry Potter series is limited, readers have picked up traces of skepticism over his bearing. He is half-Kneazle, half-cat.

Prisoner of Azkaban
Crookshanks enters the story by jumping from the top of stacked cages in the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley, on to Ron's head, in an almost-successful bid to catch Scabbers. Hermione, who intended to purchase an owl, instead buys Crookshanks, over Ron's protests that Scabbers will never get any rest with "that cat" around, and takes him to Hogwarts. During the trip to Hogwarts, and several times over the school year, Crookshanks attempts to catch Scabbers, often damaging Ron in the process. At least once, Crookshanks seems to be deliberately eating a spider in front of Ron, which Ron sees as direct aggravation. Eventually, we are led to believe that Crookshanks fatally attacks Scabbers in the boy's dormitory.

Harry later sees Crookshanks in company with the large black dog that has evidently been following Harry around. This reassures Harry, who had believed the dog was a Grim; if Crookshanks can see him, the dog must be real rather than spectral.

As Ron, Harry, and Hermione are headed back to the castle after leaving Hagrid's hut, Crookshanks again attacks Scabbers, who was found alive. When Ron and Scabbers are dragged into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow by the mysterious black dog, Crookshanks shows how to still the Willow so Harry and Hermione can follow.

In the Shrieking Shack, it is revealed that Crookshanks befriended Sirius Black, an Animagus wizard who can communicate with Crookshanks while in his dog form. It was Crookshanks who stole the password list from Neville Longbottom, allowing Sirius access into the Gryffindor Common Room the night Ron was supposedly attacked, though Scabbers was the actual target. Several times during the ensuing scuffle in the Shack, Crookshanks defends Sirius against Harry: attacking Harry when he tries to recover his wand, and sitting on Sirius' chest exactly where Harry needs to fire a killing spell at Sirius.

As they exit the shack and Lupin turns into a werewolf, Peter Pettigrew seizes Ron's wand and uses it to stun Ron and Crookshanks before making his escape.

Finally, when Sirius gives Ron a new owl, Ron holds it under Crookshanks' nose for approval before accepting it. Ginny names the owl Pigwidgeon.

Goblet of Fire
Crookshanks is at the Burrow with Hermione. We see him chasing gnomes in the garden before dinner. When Fred Weasley drops some fireworks as the family prepares to depart for London and the Hogwarts Express, Crookshanks is frightened and mauls a Muggle taxi-driver. He rides in the same taxi as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and all three get rather badly scratched.

On the Express, and throughout the book, Crookshanks is an occasional presence, curled up on a chair, jumping into either Harry's or Hermione's lap, and generally behaving as a cat should. Crookshanks seems to be quite willing to soak up almost any amount of affection from either Harry or Hermione, and sometimes Ginny, but does not seem to entirely trust Ron.

Order of the Phoenix
At Number 12, Grimmauld Place, we see Crookshanks in the kitchen, playing with Butterbeer corks, and generally acting like a cat. Throughout the book, Crookshanks is an occasional presence, curled up on a chair, jumping into either Harry's or Hermione's lap, and generally behaving as a cat should.

Half-Blood Prince
It is mentioned that Crookshanks accompanies Hermione to the Hogwarts Express when they leave The Burrow. Once again, Crookshanks seems to be acting like a cat, and having only a passing role in the story.

Deathly Hallows
We see Crookshanks at Hermione's feet when she, Ron, and Harry manage to sneak some time together in amidst the wedding preparations at The Burrow. Crookshanks, here, is behaving very much like a cat, simply lying, curled up, at Hermione's feet while she sorts books. When Mrs. Weasley bursts in on them, Crookshanks, bristling, dashes under the bed to hide.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione need to enter the tunnel at the base of the Whomping Willow, Ron wishes that they had Crookshanks with them to push the knot that will still the tree. In words strongly reminiscent of something Ron had said in the first book, Hermione says, "Are you a wizard, or what?" Ron, recollecting himself, uses the first charm he ever learned (Wingardium Leviosa) to push a stick against the knot that stills the Willow.

Strengths
Events in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban show that Crookshanks is far more intelligent than the average cat. We don't initially notice this, as all wizard's companion animals, including Hedwig, Trevor, Scabbers, and (later) Pigwidgeon, seem much more intelligent than their Muggle equivalents. While Scabbers' intelligence is explained when his true nature is revealed, Crookshanks' intelligence can only be inferred to be the product of his being a cross-breed with a Kneazle.

Being half-cat, Crookshanks is always armed, and is clearly not afraid to use his claws and teeth when he feels the need.

Weaknesses
Crookshanks' ability to communicate, naturally, is limited by his being a cat.

Relationships with Other Characters
Crookshanks is Hermione's cat; they are quite fond of each other. When Hermione first bought Crookshanks, the witch at the Magical Menagerie told her that he had been there for quite a while; the implication being that very few other witches or wizards were interested in him, or perhaps he in them. The author, describing the genesis of the character, says that he is based on a Muggle cat who would prowl around the sunbathers in a particular square, looking disdainful and refusing to be stroked. While she says that she only borrowed his appearance for Crookshanks, perhaps that character trait also crept in, at least in the beginning.

Crookshanks is perpetually trying to attack Scabbers, who is Ron's pet rat. Initially he seems to be doing this because he simply doesn't trust Scabbers (he may be able to detect that Scabbers is not what he seems to be). Later, it seems he is trying to fetch Scabbers at the bidding of Sirius Black, who has recognized Scabbers as Peter Pettigrew and wants to get him away from the protection afforded him by Hogwarts. Ron, of course, is trying to defend Scabbers from Crookshanks, and gets into the middle of the battles quite often; as such, at least in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the two of them are quite often fighting each other, and this almost rabid dislike has left enough bad memories that, while Ron can respect Crookshanks and his abilities, they are never quite comfortable with each other.

With other people, Crookshanks is more neutral, accepting affection and being willing to play. He is quite classically cat-like both with Harry and with Ginny Weasley, climbing into laps for a quick nap and playing with Butterbeer corks.

Analysis
Crookshanks' apparent extreme intelligence, as displayed in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, coupled with his flattened face, has led more than one reader to believe that he might be an Animagus, possibly even Regulus Black. There is precedent in the series for an unregistered Animagus, believed dead, to have stayed in his animal guise for several years. However, the author has denied this; in fact, she has stated, while discussing his origins, that Crookshanks is half Kneazle.


text:
Gmail/Fuse

Although this is in murky waters with the GMail terms of use, it is possible to use GMail as a filesystem (the filesystem sends mail containing the file in question to GMail to store), and GMailFs is one such implementation of this. Also there is an extension for Firefox called "GSpace" that does the same thing.

http://fuse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/FileSystems

Gmailfs http://richard.jones.name/google-hacks/gmail-filesystem/gmail-filesystem.html

GSpace https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1593

Mount a Gmail Account as a FUSE Filesystem http://wiki.vpslink.com/index.php?title=Mount_a_Gmail_Account_as_a_FUSE_Filesystem

title: Gmail/Fuse


text:
User talk:81.99.94.96

This message is regarding your edits to Wikijunior Big Cats/Leopard. Please stop adding nonsense to Wikibooks. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. — Laura Scudder | Talk 19:22, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:81.99.94.96


text:
User talk:Klingoncowboy4/archives

Wikiversity
Is that your vote on then Wikiversity voting? If so I fear I had to strike it out - The vote does not fullfill voting rule #2. Sorry about that.

--Krischik T 07:31, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

If you cast a wikiversity vote, please make a link at your Wikimedia meta-wiki user page linking back to your wikibooks user page. If you do not do so, your vote will not count. --JWSurf 03:02, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

Copyright problem with Image:Hen roost.jpg
--Derbeth talk 15:00, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

UK Constitution
Have you considered voting for UK Constitution and Government again this month, as it has been renominated. It really is a very good book.Dolive35 16:03, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Klingoncowboy4/archives


text:
GIMP/Create a Balloon

Step I

First, create a square image, and fill it with the colour of the balloon. Next, use the text tool to add any writing. This should be centred, and take up no more than about one-third of the space in each dimension. Merge the text layer with the colour layer.

Step II

Use "Map to Object" (  Filters > Map > Map Object) to create a sphere. Ensure a transparent background is selected. By default, the sphere won't take up the whole of the image, so tweak this with the Orientation controls.

Step III

To get the shape of a balloon, use Curve Bend (  Filters > Distorts > Curve Bend). Select to work on the lower curve, as a smooth. Add one control point in the lower half of the grid, centred horizontally.

Step IV

The resulting image won't fit the current size, so select   Image > Fit Canvas to Layers.

title: GIMP/Create a Balloon


text:
Programmable Logic

This book will cover the design and implementation of programmable logic devices (PLDs) using the Verilog, VHDL, and System C Hardware description languages. It is not meant to be a comprehensive reference to these languages, but more of a quick guide that covers the parts essential to developing effective digital designs. This book will also cover programming a variety of specific programmable devices, such as FPGA and CPLD devices. Contents intended to be covered are: Programming HDL, Concurrent programming and synthesis. A Previous knowledge of programming a high-level language is assumed. Knowledge of Semiconductors is helpful but not necessary. Previous experience or knowledge of Digital Circuits is must.

Table of Contents

 * /Terminology/

Hardware Description Languages (HDL)

 * /HDL Basics/ - HDL history and comparison
 * /VHDL/ - An Ada/Pascal influenced HDL
 * /Verilog/ - A C influenced HDL
 * /SystemC/ - A class library to C++
 * /Mixed-Language Programming/

Programmable Logic Devices

 * /Programmable Hardware/
 * /Devices/
 * /Device Programming/

Programmable Logic Design

 * /Design Basics/
 * /Program Descriptions/
 * /Implementation Flow/
 * /Cores and IP/
 * /Debugging Designs/
 * /Timing and Synchronization/

Appendices

 * /Tools/
 * /Further Reading/

title: Programmable Logic


text:
A-level Computing 2009/AQA

This is a book about A-Level Computing. It aims to fit with the AQA GCE A-Level Computing syllabus but is not endorsed by AQA. It should be useful as a revision guide or to find alternative explanations to the ones in your textbook. If you haven't heard of an A-Level then this book probably won't be of much interest to you but you can find out about them at Wikipedia.

If any part of this book is unclear or even wrong then please post a comment on the discussion page or simply fix it yourself! In particular, please say if the book assumes any knowledge or skills which not all A-Level Computing students have.

AS modules

 * COMP1 - Problem Solving, Programming, Data Representation and Practical Exercise
 * COMP2 - Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet

A2 modules

 * COMP3 - Problem Solving, Programming, Operating Systems, Databases and Networking
 * COMP4 - The Computing Project

Programming
Accepted languages (please note that support for PHP, C and C# at AS Level was withdrawn in 2011. C# has been reintroduced in 2015) A2 Projects can be written in any language.
 * /Java/
 * /Pascal/
 * /Python/
 * /VB/
 * C#

How to read the book
You will meet several coloured boxes, here are their meanings:

What the specification says you must learn for each chapter

Example questions and how to solve them

Topics that aren't examined but you might be interested in

There will be a lot of concepts that you need to be familiar with, definitions are highlighted like so:

{{hide in print|1=

Course Structure
The book is split into the four units. Each unit is split into chapters with each chapter covering the topics for that module.
 * To be awarded an AS (Advanced Subsidiary) Level qualification in Computing, a student must take the 2 AS modules.
 * To be awarded an A (Advanced) Level qualification in Computing, a student must take all 4 modules.

Uncategorized Pages
}}
 * /Advanced Systems Development/
 * /Computer Systems, Programming and Network Concepts/
 * /Practical Systems Development/
 * /Processing and Programming Techniques/

title: A-level Computing 2009/AQA


text:
A-level Computing 2009/AQA/Computer Systems, Programming and Network Concepts

This is the Computer Systems, Programming and Network Concepts module of the A-level Computing Book. This module consists of four chapters listed below with their short summaries. Please follow the links to learn out more about each section.

Contents

 * 1) /Introduction to Computer Systems/ An introduction to the hardware components of a computer system and the different types of software. Overview of the interaction between software and hardware, binary notation in computers and execution of the processor.
 * 2) /Introduction to Programming/
 * 3) /Introduction to Information and Data Representation/
 * 4) /Introduction to Communication and Networking/


text: User talk:80.44.156.209

title: User talk:80.44.156.209


text:
User talk:68.157.35.136

Please use the Sandbox if you want to learn how to edit pages. Glad to know that You'd like to help out of course, just "test posts" should go there :)

title: User talk:68.157.35.136


text:
Talk:Circuit Theory/Phasor Arithmetic

maybe you can add proof on why you can do these things with phasors?

 * I will see what i can add tonight. -- 02:36, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

What good is the multiplication property?

 * $$(M_1 \angle \phi_1)\cdot (M_2 \angle \phi_2) \ \stackrel{\mathrm{?}}{=}\ (M_1 \cdot M_2) \angle {(\phi_1+\phi_2)} ?\,$$

Doesn't that imply:

 * $$M_1\cdot \cos(\omega t + \phi_1) \cdot M_2\cdot \cos(\omega t + \phi_2) \ \stackrel{\mathrm{?}}{=}\ M_1\cdot M_2\cdot \cos(\omega t + \phi_1+\phi_2) \,$$

which is not true.

--Otto K 23:09, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

RMS vs Peak
I stumbled over this equation:

 * $$\mathbb{C} = M \angle \phi = M \cos (t\omega + \phi)$$

As far as I understand this (I just started going through a power engineering text book), the right-hand side must be multiplied by $$\sqrt 2$$ for the formula to be correct:

 * $$\mathbb{C} = M \angle \phi = \sqrt 2 M \cos (t\omega + \phi)$$

This is because the right-hand side shows the instantaneous equation, where M is the maximal value, and on the left-hand side M is the rms (root mean square) value, which is obtained by dividing the maximal value by $$\sqrt 2$$. Could anyone comment on this?

Danielk (talk) 13:47, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Would suggest adding the phasor definitions in Complex number and complex polar system.

title: Talk:Circuit Theory/Phasor Arithmetic


text:
X86 Assembly/FASM Syntax

FASM, also known as Flat Assembler, is an optimizing assembler for the x86 architecture. FASM is written in assembly, so it can assemble/bootstrap itself. It runs on various operating systems including DOS, Linux, Unix, and Windows. It supports the x86 and x86-64 instruction sets including SIMD extensions MMX, SSE - SSE4, and AVX.

Hexadecimal Numbers
FASM supports all popular syntaxes used to define hexadecimal numbers:

Labels
FASM supports several unique labeling features.

Anonymous Labels
FASM supports labels that use no identifier or label name.

 * @@: represents an anonymous label. Any number of anonymous labels can be defined.
 * @b refers to the closest @@ that can be found when looking backwards in source. @r and @b are equivalent.
 * @f refers to the closest @@ that can be found when looking forward in source.

Local Labels
Local labels, which begin with a . (period). You can reference a local label in the context of its global label parent.

Operators
FASM supports several unique operators to simplify assembly code.

The $ Operator
$ describes the current location in an addressing space. It is used to determine the size of a block of code or data. The MASM equivalent of the $ is the SIZEOF operator.

The # Operator
# is the symbol concatenation operator, used for combining multiple symbols into one. It can only be used inside of the body of a macro like rept or a custom/user-defined macro, because it will replace the name of the macro argument supplied with its value.

The ` Operator
 `  is used to obtain the name of a symbol passed to a macro, converting it to a string.

Built In Macros
FASM has several useful built in macros to simplify writing assembly code.

Repetition
The rept directive is used to compact repetitive assembly instructions into a block. The directive begins with the word rept, then a number or variable specifying the number of times the assembly instructions inside of the curly braces proceeding the instruction should be repeated. The counter variable can be aliased to be used as a symbol, or as part of an instruction within the rept block.

Structures
The struc directive allows assembly of data into a format similar to that of a C structure with members. The definition of a struc makes use of local labels to define member values.

Custom Macros
FASM supports defining custom macros as a way of assembling multiple instructions or conditional assembly as one larger instruction. They require a name and can have an optional list of arguments, separated by commas.

Variable Arguments
Macros can support a variable number of arguments through the square bracket syntax.

Required Operands
The FASM macro syntax can require operands in a macro definition using the * operator after each operand.

Operator Overloading
The FASM macro syntax allows for the overloading of the syntax of an instruction, or creating a new instruction. Below, the mov instruction has been overloaded to support a third operand. In the case that none is supplied, the regular move instruction is assembled. Otherwise, the data in op2 is moved to op1 and op2 is replaced by op3.

Hello World
This is a complete example of a Win32 assembly program that prints 'Hello World!' to the console and then waits for the user to press any key before exiting the application.

This is an example for x86_64 GNU+Linux:

title: X86 Assembly/FASM Syntax


text:
Ecology/Invasive species

<< Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 >>

Chapter 6. Ecology of Invasive Species

Everyone may not accept what a particular ecologist or group of ecologists deem as "the way things work". Ecology is a relatively young and complex science. As a result, some ecological concepts are based largely on conceptualizing rather than experimentation. It is not easy to test many ecological hypotheses, because it is nearly impossible to control all variables in nature and to replicate nature in controlled settings. The subject or science of "invasive species" involves the basics of ecological thought and has considerable import to global species diversity. However, this is a subject entangled with controversy. According to Shea Katriona et al. (2002), the Earth’s ecosystems are being majorly impacted by biological invasions. She suggests that the invasions can be studied by multiple viewpoints including,(1) the characteristics of the invaders,(2) the characteristics of the invaded communities,(3) resources available, and (4) natural enemies. Katriona used the community ecology theory by linking these viewpoints and by applying recent niche concepts with the communities in which they invade, which provides a predictive framework for invasion ecology. The framework presented here, however, shows how core issues of invasion ecology can be introduced into communities and lead to better understanding of the effects of invasion on earth's ecosystems.

Species status and terminology
Even for biologists, establishing the distributional status of a species in a particular location is not always straight-forward. Questions often arise as to what exactly makes a species native as opposed to non-native, because some non-native species have no known negative impacts (Woods and Moriarty, 2001). In fact, sometimes the same species can have both beneficial and detrimental effects. For example, the mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis)has been widely introduced around the world because of its suppression of larval mosquitoes, but also has negative impacts on native species of insects, fishes, and amphibians (Colautti and MacIsaac, 2004). Also, natural biological invasions, generally considered range expansions, and introductions involving human activities are important and could be considered a normal ecological process (Vermeij, 2005).

Non-native and native species may be sometimes considered invasive, with invasions often following human-induced landscape changes. The subsequent "damage" to existing ecosystems is simply a value judgment(Foster and Sandberg 2004). For example, various status classifications exist based solely on the location or the discipline that a biologist is working in (Helmreich, 2005). As a result, many important terms relevant to invasion biology, such as "invasive", "weed", or "transient", include qualities that are "open to subjective interpretation" (Colautti and MacIsaac, 2004). Accordingly, attempts to redefine commonly used terms in invasion ecology have been difficult because many authors and biologists are partial to a favorite definition (Colautti and MacIsaac 2004). Also, the status and identification of any species as an invader, a weed, or an exotic are "conditioned by cultural and political circumstances" (Robbins 2005)

The large number and current complexity of terms used in invasion ecology makes interpretation of the literature challenging and often intimidating. "Exotic", "alien", "transplanted", "introduced", "nonindigenous", and "invasive" are all words that have been used to describe plants and animals that have been moved beyond their native ranges by humans (Williams and Meffe 2005). "Foreign", "injurious", "aquatic nuisance", "pest", and "non-native", are also used as descriptive terms, each with a particular implication. Even the use of what seem to be simple, basic terms to articulate ecological concepts "can confuse ideological debates and undermine management efforts" (Colautti and MacIsaac 2004).

 * Read Introduced species ( You need follow links only as necessary to clarify terms )
 * Read Invasive species ( You need follow links only as necessary to clarify terms )

Table 9-1 illustrates the relationships among the most common terms describing species status. Setting aside the obvious difficulty that it is not always certain whether a species is truly native or not native to a particular location (requiring evidence of its presence prior to arrival of humans at that location), the greatest area of controversy involves the division of introduced species into invasive and non-invasive ("all others" in Table 9-1)because "harm" can be a subjective term based on individual judgement. Although there is a tendency to view "harm" or "pest" largely in economic terms, here we need to focus on the concept in an ecological sense. * Not listed in any "official" source as a pest species

 * Consult the special glossary for this chapter.

Prevalence of Invasive Species
Invasive species are considered a "significant component of global change" as they cause both ecological and genetic changes in the communities that they invade (Sakai et al. 2001). In fact, the number of species that are transferred from one biogeographical area to another each day is thought to be very large. Also, while the geographic trends and prevalence of these invasive species are not easily predicted, islands tend to contain the largest proportion. On average, though, most countries accommodate about 20% of invasive species in their vegetation. On a global scale, it is estimated that invasive species have come to occupy about 3% of the Earth's total ice-free surface over the last 500 years (Mooney and Cleland 2001).

Invasive Theories
The concept and implications of invasive species and invasion are explained by several ideas, including: (1)The Biotic Resistance Hypothesis and (2) The Invasive Meltdown Theory.

Biotic Resistance Hypothesis
The Biotic Resistance Hypothesis states that species-rich communities are more resistant to invasion because these types of communities are able to use the resources/nutrients more effectively/efficiently than communities with low species-richness.

Species diversity, a term related to species richness, is also important to the Biotic Resistance Hypothesis. Species diversity has two components- (1) Species richness represented by s- which is the number of species in a community which is an assemblage of populations, and (2) Species eveness represented by e- which is the number of individuals of each species in a community.

There are several factors as to why invaders succeed: (1) they are highly competitive and which may allow them to reproduce more rapidly (2) proximity to the community is a crucial factor dealing with invasion and is divided into two parts- (a) abundance of the invader and (b) distance from the community that is being invaded upon, (3) dispersal rate of invaders to new habitat (there may be new migration paths that become available), and (4) degree of disturbance.

 * Read Invasive Species

Invasive Meltdown Theory
The Invasive Meltdown Theory states that as species are added to an ecosystem, each one representing a potential disturbance, the native system is perturbed in such a way that the system reaches a threshold, at which point it cannot resist any further and invasions occur exponentially. Every individual invader is a threat, but it is their collective impact that can cause the greatest damage to a habitat. This phenomenon is termed invasional cartels, and creates the conditions for a meltdown.

One illustration of the meltdown hypothesis is the invasion of the great lakes by zebra mussels. The lakes, once incredibly murky, became crystal clear after 15 years of filtering action by the mussels that were brought in on cargo ships from the Black Sea. While the result was desirable, the mussels caused the natural defenses of the lake to be out of flux and the lakes a very easy target for invasion of non-native species. When the amount of species invading the lake are greater than the environment can support, a collapse or meltdown of the entire environment results.

Read more at www.greatlakesinstitute.ca/press/meltdownofthelakes_p.htm The counterargument to the meltdown theory involves naturalized species. A naturalized species is one that has become established without any major impact to the environment. Mitchell argues that many naturalized species get a "bad name" from the invasive species that cause a great deal of trouble, such as the zebra mussels mentioned above. A good example of a naturalized species is the Ring Necked Phesant. Intended to be a colony of game birds, it was brought to the mid-west where it flourished without disturbing the native biota. It co-exists with native game birds like partridge and grouse.

Invasive species do not necessarily always have negative effects. For example, in North Dakota, one invasive species is being used to battle another. Leafy spurge is a weed that grows rampant throughout North Dakota and inhibits all other plant life where it grows. The solution to this has been to bring in another non-native species, the flea beetle which feeds on leafy spurge alone. Notably, it has no recorded negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, although it is technically an invasive species, it is being used to keep the North Dakota prairie ecosystem intact.

Effects of Invasion
Invasive species have the capability of drastically changing ecosystems, and meanwhile can also affect the human economy. Agriculture, forestry, recreation, and disease are just some examples of issues that can be positively or negatively influenced by invasive species. Sometimes the invasive species|invasive species can be beneficial, and sometimes humans face the nuisance of a troublesome invader.

With the expanding global economy, increasing trade volume and international trade agreements influencing trade worldwide, the risks of "alien" invasions are increasing. The high disturbance of industrial areas increases the disturbances of natural habitats and allow for invasive species to establish. In the last three decades in China, the increasing biological invasions run hand in hand with the increase in economic development (Wen Lin et al. 2007). In the last three decades China has had a significantly expanded economically with global trade and has consequently been affected by invasive species.

Economic and human factors have both indirect and direct factors which influence the transportation and redistribution of invasive species|invasive species. The increase in global trade by land air and sea has intensified the redistribution of invasive species from places that would normally be isolated. The study of ecological factors on the influence of invasive species are vary rarely studied, and may lead to improving the understanding, predictions, and management of invasive species.

At times, import of an invasive species|invasive speciesis desired for economical benefit, but that species is potentially harmful to another ecological or economical aspect. Much effort is being put into accurately designing risk assessment technologies to determine the net economic benefit of incorporating a nonnative species to an environment. Keller et al. (2007) analyzed an Australian plant quarantine program (in which plants were used to make ornaments) to develop such a risk assessment program over a wide range of variables. They took into account long-term invasive effects over 10-500 years, and their results indicated that the benefits outweighed the costs in this case. The equation that was developed is: ER=((1-a) 0 A+a 0 (1-A))VT-a 0 (1-A)VI-D, where 0 is the number of new species,VT is the benefit of a single species, a is the rate of invasion, VI is the economic loss caused by an invasive species,A is a proportional accuracy,Dis the cost of administering the risk assessment preparation and execution, and ER is the resulting annual net benefit. This equation seems very straightforward and has accurate and even possibly underestimated results for net benefit. However, the terms can be hard to determine, and in the case studied in this project, the annual cost of risk assessment analysis was estimated to be $300,000. This is accounted for, however, by the term D, and is thus incorporated into the equation. Such risk assessments are important to the balance of economic and ecological success for a case in which incorporation of an invasive species would be necessary.

Invasive pests can kill plants and hamper agriculture, but sometimes can affect the health of animals and even humans. For example, the West Nile virus was never introduced to the Western Hemisphere until 1999, when mosquitoes that carried the disease were somehow transferred across the Atlantic Ocean. Mosquitos are the most prominent insect vectors of disease, and Juliano and Lounibos (2005) used this quality to study the dyanamics of invasive species. The introduction, spread, and impacts of an introduced species can be fairly accurately measured in terms of spread of an associated disease. This particular study focused on the Aedes albopictus mosquito. This species was observed under varying conditions, and the effects of competition and predation were measured to determine whether they could slow or prevent invasion. Studies such as this can determine what types of environments (including both biotic and abiotic factors)are susceptible to invasion. This particular project emphasizes that full understanding of such a process must include introduction, spread, and long-term impact of the invasive species. If a study only monitors the current conditions, important dynamics of the system may be overlooked.

Summarization
Although there exists many terms describing what is usually called species status for a particular location, most terms are not especially controversial and largely reflect that different disciplines (e.g., agriculture, botany, ornithology, entomology) have developed preferred terminologies for describing essentially the same things.

title: Ecology/Invasive species


text:
Introductory PLC Programming

What is a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)?
A Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC, is more or less a small computer with a built-in operating system (OS). This OS is highly specialized and optimized to handle incoming events in real time, i.e., at the time of their occurrence.

The PLC has input lines, to which sensors are connected to notify of events (such as temperature above/below a certain level, liquid level reached, etc.), and output lines, to which actuators are connected to affect or signal reactions to the incoming events (such as start an engine, open/close a valve, and so on).

The system is user programmable. It uses a language called "Relay Ladder" or RLL (Relay Ladder Logic). The name of this language implies that the control logic of the earlier days, which was built from relays, is being simulated.

Some other languages used include:
 * 1) Sequential Function chart
 * 2) Functional block diagram
 * 3) Structured Text
 * 4) Instruction List
 * 5) Continuous function chart

A programmable logic controller, PLC, or programmable controller is a digital computer used for automation of typically industrial electromechanical processes, such as control of machinery on factory assembly lines, amusement rides, or light fixtures. PLCs are used in many machines, in many industries. PLCs are designed for multiple arrangements of digital and analog inputs and outputs, extended temperature ranges, immunity to electrical noise, and resistance to vibration and impact. Programs to control machine operation are typically stored in battery-backed-up or non-volatile memory. A PLC is an example of a "hard" real-time system since output results must be produced in response to input conditions within a limited time, otherwise unintended operation will result.

Before the PLC, control, sequencing, and safety interlock logic for manufacturing automobiles was mainly composed of relays, cam timers, drum sequencers, and dedicated closed-loop controllers. Since these could number in the hundreds or even thousands, the process for updating such facilities for the yearly model change-over was very time consuming and expensive, as electricians needed to individually rewire the relays to change their operational characteristics.

Digital computers, being general-purpose programmable devices, were soon applied to control industrial processes. Early computers required specialist programmers, and stringent operating environmental control for temperature, cleanliness, and power quality. Using a general-purpose computer for process control required protecting the computer from the plant floor conditions. An industrial control computer would have several attributes: it would tolerate the shop-floor environment, it would support discrete (bit-form) input and output in an easily extensible manner, it would not require years of training to use, and it would permit its operation to be monitored. The response time of any computer system must be fast enough to be useful for control; the required speed varying according to the nature of the process.[1] Since many industrial processes have timescales easily addressed by millisecond response times, modern (fast, small, reliable) electronics greatly facilitate building reliable controllers, especially because performance can be traded off for reliability.

In 1968 GM Hydra-Matic (the automatic transmission division of General Motors) issued a request for proposals for an electronic replacement for hard-wired relay systems based on a white paper written by engineer Edward R. Clark. The winning proposal came from Bedford Associates of Bedford, Massachusetts. The first PLC, designated the 084 because it was Bedford Associates' eighty-fourth project, was the result.[2] Bedford Associates started a new company dedicated to developing, manufacturing, selling, and servicing this new product: Modicon, which stood for MOdular DIgital CONtroller. One of the people who worked on that project was Dick Morley, who is considered to be the "father" of the PLC.[3] The Modicon brand was sold in 1977 to Gould Electronics, later acquired by German Company AEG, and then by French Schneider Electric, the current owner.

One of the very first 084 models built is now on display at Modicon's headquarters in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was presented to Modicon by GM, when the unit was retired after nearly twenty years of uninterrupted service. Modicon used the 84 moniker at the end of its product range until the 984 made its appearance.

The automotive industry is still one of the largest users of PLCs.

Early PLCs were designed to replace relay logic systems. These PLCs were programmed in "ladder logic", which strongly resembles a schematic diagram of relay logic. This program notation was chosen to reduce training demands for the existing technicians. Other early PLCs used a form of instruction list programming, based on a stack-based logic solver.

Modern PLCs can be programmed in a variety of ways, from the relay-derived ladder logic to programming languages such as specially adapted dialects of BASIC and C. Another method is state logic, a very high-level programming language designed to program PLCs based on state transition diagrams.

Many early PLCs did not have accompanying programming terminals that were capable of graphical representation of the logic, and so the logic was instead represented as a series of logic expressions in some version of Boolean format, similar to Boolean algebra. As programming terminals evolved, it became more common for ladder logic to be used, for the aforementioned reasons and because it was a familiar format used for electromechanical control panels. Newer formats such as state logic and Function Block (which is similar to the way logic is depicted when using digital integrated logic circuits) exist, but they are still not as popular as ladder logic. A primary reason for this is that PLCs solve the logic in a predictable and repeating sequence, and ladder logic allows the programmer (the person writing the logic) to see any issues with the timing of the logic sequence more easily than would be possible in other formats.

PLC usage scenarios
A PLC is primarily used to control machinery. A program written for a PLC consists basically of instructions to turn on and off outputs based on input conditions and the internal program. In this respect, it is similar to how a standard computer application is used. Once a PLC program is activated, however, it will typically run continuously as a loop for an indefinite period. PLC-based systems are frequently used not only to control simple devices such as a garage door opener, but also for solving complex application scenarios, such as controlling a whole house, including switching lights on or off at certain times, monitoring custom built security system, and so on.

Most commonly, a PLC is found inside of a machine in an industrial environment. A PLC can run an automatic machine for years with little human intervention. They are designed to withstand most harsh environments.

History of PLCs
Evolution of PLC started from the proposal by GM to develop a Standard Machine Controller to alleviate the problems related to the Electro-mechanical circuits.

When the first electronic machine controls were designed, they used relays to control the machine logic (i.e. press "Start" to start the machine and press "Stop" to stop the machine). A basic machine might need a wall covered in relays to control all of its functions. There are a few limitations to this type of control.

 * Relays fail.
 * The delay when the relay turns on/off.
 * There is an entire wall of relays to design/wire/troubleshoot.

A PLC overcomes these limitations, it is a machine controlled operation.

Recent developments
PLCs are becoming more and more intelligent. In recent years PLCs have been integrated into electrical communications such as Computer network(s) i.e., all the PLCs in an industrial environment have been plugged into a network which is usually hierarchically organized. The PLCs could be supervised by a control center or a supervisory system known as SCADA and often are connected to Human Machine Interfaces (HMI). There exist many proprietary types of networks based on serial communication and Ethernet communication.

How the PLC operates
The PLC is a purpose-built machine control computer designed to read digital and analog inputs from various sensors, execute a user defined logic program, and write the resulting digital and analog output values to various output elements like hydraulic and pneumatic actuators, indication lamps, solenoid coils, etc.

Scan cycle
Exact details vary between manufacturers, but most PLCs follow a 'scan-cycle' format. PLC scans programme top to bottom & left to right.

Overhead - Overhead includes testing I/O module integrity, verifying the user program logic hasn't changed, that the computer itself hasn't locked up (via a watchdog timer), and any necessary communications. Communications may include traffic over the PLC programmer port, remote I/O racks, and other external devices such as HMIs (Human Machine Interfaces).

 * Input scan : A 'snapshot' of the digital and analog values present at the input cards is saved to an input memory table.

 * Logic execution : The user program is scanned element by element, then rung by rung until the end of the program, and resulting values written to an output memory table.
 * Diagnosis and communication :is used in many different disciplines with variations in the use of logics, analytics, and experience to determine "cause and effect". In systems engineering and computer science, it is typically used to determine the causes of symptoms, mitigations, and solutions. It communicates with the input module and sends a message to the output module for any incorrect data files variations.

 * Output scan : Values from the resulting output memory table are written to the output modules.

Once the output scan is complete the process repeats itself until the PLC is powered down.

The time it takes to complete a scan cycle is, appropriately enough, the "scan cycle time", and ranges from hundreds of milliseconds (on older PLCs, and/or PLCs with very complex programs) to only a few milliseconds on newer PLCs, and/or PLCs executing short, simple code.

Basic instructions
Be aware that specific nomenclature and operational details vary widely between PLC manufacturers, and often implementation details evolve from generation to generation.

Often the hardest part, especially for an inexperienced PLC programmer, is practicing the mental ju-jitsu necessary to keep the nomenclature straight from manufacturer to manufacturer.

 * Positive Logic (most PLCs follow this convention)
 * True = logic 1 = input energized.
 * False = logic 0 = input NOT energized.

 * Negative Logic
 * True = logic 1 = input NOT energized
 * False = logic 0 = input energized.

 * Normally Open
 * (XIC) - eXamine If Closed.
 * This instruction is true (logic 1) when the hardware input (or internal relay equivalent) is energized.

 * Normally Closed
 * (XIO) - eXamine If Open.
 * This instruction is true (logic 1) when the hardware input (or internal relay equivalent) is NOT energized.

 * Output Enable
 * (OTE) - OuTput Enable.
 * This instruction mimics the action of a conventional relay coil.

 * On Timer
 * (TON) - Timer ON.
 * Generally, ON timers begin timing when the input (enable) line goes true, and reset if the enable line goes false before setpoint has been reached. If enabled until setpoint is reached then the timer output goes true, and stays true until the input (enable) line goes false.

 * Off Timer
 * (TOF) - Timer OFF.
 * Generally, OFF timers begin timing on a true-to-false transition, and continue timing as long as the preceding logic remains false. When the accumulated time equals setpoint the TOF output goes on, and stays on until the rung goes true.

 * Retentive Timer
 * (RTO) - Retentive Timer On.
 * This type of timer does NOT reset the accumulated time when the input condition goes false.

Rather, it keeps the last accumulated time in memory, and (if/when the input goes true again) continues timing from that point. In the Allen-Bradley construction, this instruction goes true once setpoint (preset) time has been reached, and stays true until a RES (RESet) instruction is made true to clear it.

 * Latching Relays
 * (OTL) - OuTput Latch.
 * (OTU) - OuTput Unlatch.

Generally, the unlatch operator takes precedence. That is, if the unlatch instruction is true then the relay output is false even though the latch instruction may also be true. In Allen-Bradley ladder logic, latch and unlatch relays are separate operators.

However, other ladder dialects opt for a single operator modeled after RS (Reset-Set) flip-flop IC chip logic.

 * Jump to Subroutine
 * (JSR) - Jump to SubRoutine
 * For jumping from one rung to another the JSR (Jump to Subroutine) command is used.

 * Programmable Logic

title: Introductory PLC Programming