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Transwiki:Maude system

The Maude system is an implementation of rewriting logic developed at SRI International. It is similar in its general approach to Joseph Goguen's OBJ3 implementation of equational logic, but based on rewriting logic rather than order-sorted equational logic, and with a heavy emphasis on powerful metaprogramming based on reflection.

Maude - the basics
Maude modules (rewrite theories) consists of a term-language plus sets of equations and rewrite-rules. Terms in a rewrite theory are constructed using operators (functions taking 0 or more arguments of some sort, which return a term of a specific sort). Operators taking 0 arguments are considered constants, and we construct our term-language by these simple constructs.

NOTE: If you want to test these examples on your own, you should start Maude with the option -no-prelude which lets Maude know that none of its basic modules are included (like Maude's own NAT module which will cause a conflict).

Example 1
mod NAT is  sort Nat.

op 0 : -> Nat [ctor]. op s : Nat -> Nat [ctor]. endm

This rewrite theory specifies all the natural numbers. First we introduce the sort, saying that there exists a sort called Nat (short for natural numbers), and below is the specification of how these terms are constructed. The operator s in Example 1 is the successor function representing the next natural number in the sequence of natural numbers i.e. s(N) := N + 1. s(0) is meant to represent the natural number 1 and so on. 0 is a constant, it takes no input parameter(s) but returns a Nat.

Example 2
mod NAT is sort Nat.

op 0 : -> Nat [ctor]. op s : Nat -> Nat [ctor]. op _+_ : Nat Nat -> Nat.

vars N M : Nat.

eq 0 + s(N) = s(N). eq s(N) + M = s (N + M).

endm

In Example 2 we introduce the + sign meant to represent addition of natural numbers. It's definition is almost identical to the previous one, with input and output sorts but there is a difference, its operator has underscores on each side. Maude lets the user specify whether or not operators are infix, postfix or prefix (default), this is done using underscores as place fillers for the input terms. So the + operator takes its input on each side making it an infix operator. Unlike our previous operator s which takes its input terms after the operator (prefix).

op + : Nat Nat -> Nat.
 * is the same as

op +__ : Nat Nat -> Nat. *** two underscores

The three stars are Maude's rest-of-line-comments and lets the parser know that it can ignore the rest of the line (not part of the program), with parenthesis we get section comments:

section is ignored by Maude )
 * rest of line is ignored by Maude

The extended Nat module also holds two variables and two sets of equations.

vars N M : Nat.

eq 0 + s(N) = s(N). eq s(N) + M = s (N + M).

When Maude "executes", it rewrites terms according to our specifications. And this is done with the statement reduce in :.

or the shorter form

red.

For this last statement to be used it is important that nothing is ambiguous. A small example from our rewrite theory representing the natural numbers:

reduce in NAT : s(0) + s(0). rewrites: 2 in 0ms cpu (0ms real) (~ rewrites/second) result Nat: s(s(0))

Using the two equations in the rewrite theory NAT Maude was able to reduce our term into the desired term, the representation of the number two i.e. the second successor of 0. At that point no other application of the two equations were possible, so Maude halts. Maude rewrites terms according to the equations whenever there is a match between the closed terms that we try to rewrite (or reduce) and the left hand side of an equation in our equation-set. A match in this context is a substitution of the variables in the left hand side of an equation which leaves it identical to the term we try to rewrite/reduce.

To illustrate it further we can look at the left hand side of the equations as Maude executes, reducing/rewriting the term.

eq s(N) + M = s (N + M).

can be applied to the term:

s(0) + s(0)

since the substitution:

N => 0 M => s(0)

s(N) + M N => 0, M => s(0) == s(0) + s(0)

makes them identical, and therefore it can be reduced/rewritten using this equation. After this equation has been applied to the term, we are left with the term:

s (0 + s(0))

If we take a close look at that term we will see that it has a fitting substitution with matches the first equation, at least parts of the term matches the first equation:

eq 0 + s(N) = s(N).

substitution:

N => 0

s (0 + s(N)) N => 0 == s (0 + s(0))

0 + s(0) - matches first equation and is rewritten

As we can see the second substitution and rewrite step rewrites the an inner-term (the whole term does not match any of the equations but the inner term does). Then we end up with our resulting term s(s(0)), and it can seem like a lot of hassle to add 1 + 1, but hopefully you will soon see the strength of this approach.

Another thing worth mentioning is that reduction/rewriting up to this point has taken something very important for granted, which is:
 * Reduction/Rewriting terminates
 * Reduction/Rewriting is confluent (applying the equations in any order will eventually lead to the same resulting term)

This cannot be taken for granted, and for a rewrite theory to be sane, we have to ensure that equational application is confluent and terminating. To prove that term-rewriting terminates is not possible in any instance, as we know from the halting problem. To be able to prove that term-rewriting (with regards to the equations) terminates, one can usually create some mapping between terms and the natural numbers, and show that application of the equations reduces the associated value of the term. Induction then proves that it is a halting process since the event of finding smaller natural numbers is a halting process. Naturally equation sets that can cause a term-rewrite to contain cycles will not be terminating. To prove confluence is another important aspect since a rewrite theory lacking this ability will be rather flawed. To prove that the equation set is confluent one has to prove that any application of the equations to any belonging term will lead to the same resulting term (termination is a prerequisite). Details for how to prove termination or confluence will not be given here, it just had to be mentioned, since this is where equations and rewrite-rules differ, which is the next topic of this short overview.

Rewrite Rules
Up to this point we have been talking about rewriting and reduction as more or less the same thing, our first rewrite theory had no rewrite rules, still we rewrote terms, so it is time to illustrate what rewrite rules are, and how they differ from the equations we have seen so far (they do not differ much from equations naturally since we talk about the two concepts almost interchangeably).

The module presented so far NAT which represented the natural numbers and addition on its elements, is considered a functional module/rewrite theory, since it contains no rewrite rules. Such modules are often encapsuled with a fmod and endfm (instead of mod endm) to illustrate this fact. A functional module and its set of equations must be confluent and terminating since they build up the part of a rewrite theory that always should compute the same result, this will be clear once the rewrite rules come into play.

Example 3
mod PERSON is

including NAT. *** our previous module

sort Person. sort State.

op married : -> State [ctor]. op divorced : -> State [ctor]. op single : -> State [ctor]. op engaged : -> State [ctor]. op dead : -> State [ctor].

op person : State Nat -> Person [ctor].

var N : Nat. var S : State.

rl [birthday] :

person (S, N) => person (S, N + s(0)).

rl [get-engaged] :

person (single, N) => person (engaged, N).

rl [get-married] :

person (engaged, N) => person (married, N).

rl [get-divorced] :

person (married, N) => person (divorced, N).

rl [las-vegas] :

person (S, N) => person (married, N).

rl [die] :

person (S, N) => person (dead, N).

endm

This module introduces two new sorts, and a set of rewrite rules. We also include our previous module, to illustrate how equations and rewrite rules differ. The rewrite rules is thought of as a set of legal state changes, so while equations hold the same meaning on both sides of the equality sign, rewrite rules does not (rewrite rules use a => token instead of an equality sign). You are still the same person after your married (this is open for debate), but something has changed, your marital status at least. So this is illustrated by a rewrite rule, not an equation. Rewrite rules does not have to be confluent and terminating so it does matter a great deal what rules are chosen to rewrite the term. The rules are applied at "random" by the Maude system, meaning that you can not be sure that one rule is applied before another rule and so on. If an equation can be applied to the term, it will always be applied before any rewrite rule.

A small example is in order:

Example 4
rewrite 3 in PERSON : person (single, 0).

rewrites: 4 in 0ms cpu (0ms real) (~ rewrites/second)

result Person: person (married, s(0))

Here we tell the Maude system to rewrite our input term according to the rewrite theory, and we tell it to stop after 3 rewrite steps (remember that rewrite rules do not have to be terminating or confluent so an upper bound is not a bad idea), we just want see what sort of state we end up in after randomly choosing 3 matching rules. And as you can see the state this person ends up in might look a bit strange. (When you're married at the age of one you kind of stick out a bit in kindergarten I guess). It also says 4 rewrite steps, although we specifically stated an upper limit of 3 rewrite steps, this is because rewrite steps that are the result of applying equations does not count (they do not change the term, at least if the equations are sane). In this example one of the equations of the NAT module has been used to reduce the term 0 + s(0) to s(0), which accounts for the 4'th rewrite step.

To make this rewrite theory a bit less morbid, we can alter some of our rewrite rules a bit, and make them conditional rewrite rules, which basically means they have to fulfill some criteria to be applied to the term (other than just matching the left hand side of the rewrite rule).

crl [las-vegas] :

person (S, N) => person (married, N) if (S =/= married) /\ (S =/= dead).

crl [die] :

person (S, N) => person (dead, N) if (S =/= dead).

It seems reasonable that you cannot die once you're dead, and you cannot marry as long as you are married. The leaning toothpicks (/\) are supposed to resemble a logical AND which means that both criteria have to be fulfilled to be able to apply the rule (apart from term matching). Equations can also be made conditional in a similar manner.

Why Rewriting Logic? Why Maude?
As you probably can tell Maude sets out to solve a different set of problems than ordinary imperative languages like C, Java or Perl. It is a formal reasoning tool, which can help us verify that things are "as they should", and show us why they are not if this is the case. In other words Maude lets us define formally what we mean by some concept in a very abstract manner (not concerning ourselves with how the structure is internally represented and so on), but we can describe what is thought to be the equal concerning our theory (equations) and what state changes it can go through (rewrite rules). This is extremely useful to validate security protocols and critical code. The Maude system has proved flaws in cryptography protocols by just specifying what the system can do (in a manner similar to the PERSON rewrite theory), and by looking for unwanted situations (states or terms that should not be possible to reach) the protocol can be showed to contain bugs, not programming bugs but situations happen that are hard to predict just by walking down the "happy path" as most developers do.

We can use Maude's built-in search to look for unwanted states, or it can be used to show that no such states can be reached.

A small example from our PERSON module once again.

search [1] in PERSON : person (single, 1) =>1 person (married, 2).

No solution.

Here the Natural numbers have a more familiar look (the basic Maude modules prelude.maude has been loaded, that can be done with the command "in prelude", or 1 can be replaced by s(0) and 2 by s(s(0)) if you don't want to load the default Maude-modules), naturally Maude has built-in support for ordinary structures like integers and floats and so on. The natural numbers are still members of the built-in sort Nat. We state that we want to search for a transition using one rewrite rule (=>1), which rewrites the first term into the other. The result of the investigation is not shocking but still, sometimes proving the obvious is all we can do. If we let Maude use more than one step we should see a different result:

search [1] in PERSON : person (single, 1) =>+ person (married, 2).

Solution 1 (state 7) states: 8 rewrites: 14 in 0ms cpu (0ms real) (~ rewrites/second)

To see what led us in that direction we can use the buit in command show path which lets us know what rule applications led us to the resulting term. The token (=>+) means one or more rule application.

show path 7. state 0, Person: person (single, 1) ===rl person(S, N) => person(S, N + 1) [label 'birthday .] ===> state 1, Person: person (single, 2) ===crl person(S, N) => person(married, N) if S =/= married = true /\ S =/= dead = true [label las-vegas .] ===> state 7, Person: person (married, 2)

As we can see the rule application "birthday" followed by "las-vegas" got us where we wanted. Since all rewrite theories or modules with many possible rule applications will generate a huge tree of possible states to search for the search command, this approach is not always the solution. We also have the ability to control what rule applications that should be attempted at each step of the way using meta-programming, due to the reflective property or rewriting logic. This subject of meta-programming and reflection requires a great deal of explanation for it to be simple, so that will be left for another section.

Maude is free software with great performance, and well written tutorials are available online (don't let this short howto scare you away).

title: Transwiki:Maude system


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User talk:Talkstosocks

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.– Mike.lifeguard  | talk 04:50, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Talkstosocks


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Visual Basic .NET/Inheritance

Inheritance
Inheritance is mainly used to reduce duplication of code. By using the  keyword, you can extend and modify an existing class to have additional properties and methods.

For example, imagine we have an existing class called "Person":

Now imagine we wanted to create a special class called "Customer", which had all the properties of "Person", but also additional properties called "CustomerID" and "CustomerType". We could just make a different class with similar properties as follows:

An alternative approach, however is to use the  keyword as follows:

"Inherits Person" automatically gives the new "Customer" class all the properties and methods of the "Person" class, as well as the two new properties. This approach also has several advantages:
 * We don't have to re-type the FirstName, LastName, DateOfBirth etc properties
 * When properties and methods of the "Person" class are updated, the "Customer" class need not be rewritten as well.
 * The .FullName property needs to be debugged in only one place
 * Any code that uses a "Person" object can also use a "Customer" object.

Visual Basic .NET/Héritage

title: Visual Basic .NET/Inheritance


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Talk:Emulation/On Macs

You may be interested in this transwiki. If you have another book in mind where such content may be useful, please leave a note on the relevant talk page. Thanks! – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 04:58, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Emulation/On Macs


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Talk:Emulation/On PC - Linux

You may be interested in this transwiki. If you have another book in mind where such content may be useful, please leave a note on the relevant talk page. Thanks! – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 04:58, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Emulation/On PC - Linux


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Talk:Applied Science BTEC Nationals/Forensic Science Informatics

You may be interested in this transwiki. If there is another book where such content may be useful, please leave a note at the relevant talk page. Thanks! – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks Mike. The 'Forensic Science Informatics' unit is about using ICT to aid forensic science, not about forensic examination of ICT evidence. However, we're looking into what we can offer students on the topic about Forensic computing so I'm very grateful to you for spotting the resource.

 * Ewen 08:39, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


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Talk:Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Vocational/Shoe Repair

This transwiki may yield some good content for this module: Transwiki:Weatherization – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:04, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


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Talk:Circuit Theory/Laplace Transform

This transwiki may be useful: Transwiki:Laplace transform – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:06, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Circuit Theory/Laplace Transform


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Talk:Control Systems/Transforms

This transwiki may be useful: Transwiki:Laplace transform – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:07, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Control Systems/Transforms


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Talk:Signals and Systems/Table of Laplace Transforms

This transwiki may be useful: Transwiki:Laplace transform – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:07, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


text:
Talk:Ordinary Differential Equations/Non Homogenous 1

This transwiki may be useful: Transwiki:Laplace transform – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:07, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


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User:Kyaky

I am Frank Yan LI from Beijing,China. I am doing Computer Science in university of Wollongong, Australia. MSN: kyaky@hotmail.com QQ: 2230781

title: User:Kyaky


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User talk:Ikiroid

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.– Mike.lifeguard  | talk 05:23, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ikiroid


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XQuery/Tree View

Motivation
You want a general purpose function that creates a tabular view of hierarchical data.

Method
We will write a recursive function to display each node and then to display each child in an HTML table.

Some systems call this a "Grid View" of XML data.

element-to-nested-table function
The following function generates an HTML table with nested subtables for the child nodes.

else $element/text };

Note that the rows displaying different kinds of items (text, attribute,element) are classed so that they may be styled.

Document display
This function can be used in a script to provide a viewer for any XML document.

declare namespace hc ="http://exist-db.org/xquery/httpclient"; declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml media-type=text/html indent=yes";

(: function declaration :)

let $uri := request:get-parameter("uri",) let $element:= httpclient:get(xs:anyURI($uri),true,)/hc:body/html return Tree view  th      tr       tr .attribute td    Tree view of {$uri} {local:element-to-nested-table($element)}

e.g.
 * 1) UWE's news feed
 * 2) Whisky data
 * 3) Employee data
 * 4) Met Office shipping Forecast mal-formed XML

title: XQuery/Tree View


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User talk:71.102.84.35

-- Herby talk thyme 08:08, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:71.102.84.35


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Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Platformer: Creation and Controls

This tutorial will teach you the basics of the Blender Game Engine, and how to create a platform game, which is a game where you overcome in-game obstacles by controlling the character's motions. (e.g. Super Mario)

Set Up
To start, switch to the frontal view NUM1 and move the starting cube to -3.0 along the Z azis, or three spaces down. If your default settings do not have you starting with a cube, create one now. (Don't forget to switch to the Blender Game engine. You can do this by going to the button on the top center of the screen that says Blender Render and switch it to Blender Game.) Next, hit SPACE → Add → Mesh → Monkey  to create Suzanne the Monkey. Any mesh will do, but it's the easiest of the basic meshes to intuitively determine local direction from. Next, go to the logic window (with Suzanne still selected) and toggle on "Actor" and then "Dynamic". Hit PKEY to test. Suzanne should fall, then stop upon hitting the cube. Press ESC to exit.

Controls
Now we will add the controls. First, forward:

In Blender 2.59 these controls are available in the 'Logic Editor' window.

 * 1) Create a Keyboard Sensor, AND Controller, and Motion Actuator. Connect them by dragging lines between the dots next to their names. (In 2.59 the controller is created automatically, if the other two are connected)
 * 2) Select the empty box next to the word "Key" on the Keyboard Sensor and hit the up arrow key on your keyboard.
 * 3) Set the dLoc on the Motion Actuator to 0.10 Z and toggle Local Transformation (may appear as simply an L next to the dLoc row).

Next, backward. Repeat the process used for forward, but set the dLoc to -0.10 Z and the key to the down arrow. You can repeat this for left and right if you so choose to have a linear control scheme. We will not be using such a scheme for this tutorial, but you should still be able to follow along just fine. Instead, the character will rotate left and right and move in the new forward and backward.

(Note: Using an X or Y value for Dloc may be more effective as using Z value seems to just make her jump not move in any sort of direction which defeats the purpose of the final step of the tutorial)

To rotate right:

 * 1) As before, create a Keyboard Sensor, AND Controller, and Motion Actuator, then connect them.
 * 2) Set the key to the right arrow and set the dRot to -0.10 Y.

Repeat for left, with the left arrow and 0.10 Y.

Finally, the ubiquitous, and some say defining, Platformer move: the jump. Repeat the previous processes, with the space key as the trigger and the linV of the motion effect as 7.50 Z (not local). This doesn't actually move the character in a certain direction, but sets its velocity. If you've done programming for games before, this will probably be familiar to you. Each frame, the engine adds the velocity of the object to its current position. The gravity portion of the engine subtracts from the upward velocity each time. When it reaches a negative, it's adding a negative number to its altitude, ergo subtracting from it, ergo causing it to fall. This is why using linV to move the character does not cause it to immediately relocate to the target position.


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User talk:Kyaky

qwer

title: User talk:Kyaky


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User:LokiClock

Hello. My name is LokiClock. I am a 2D and 3D animator, though I have my hands in many other arts.

title: User:LokiClock


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User talk:58.104.26.220

-- Herby talk thyme 09:32, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:58.104.26.220


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Eclipse/FAQ/Plugin Dependency Visualization

Installation

 * 1) Currently available in CVS only
 * 2) org.eclipse.pde.visualization.dependency (right click) > PDE Tools > Open Manifest > Export Wizard
 * 3) Copy org.eclipse.pde.visualization.dependency_(ver).jar into (home)/plugins/
 * 4) Reload Eclipse

Using

 * 1) Ctrl-3,  Graph Plug-in Dependencies
 * 2) Ctrl-M, Canvas right click, Focus On ...


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A-level Computing 2009/Exam Tips

This page contains a number of tips or hints that will be useful for the examinations:

 * Do not use brand names when answering exam questions. These will gain no credit, so give a generic answer (For example, use word processor rather than Microsoft Word)
 * Always give binary to the required number of bits, even if this means adding leading zeros
 * Ensure you consider the number of marks that can be awarded for the question. Each mark will normally be for different aspects i.e. a 2 mark question may be of the form - define XYZ (1st mark) and compare XYZ to ABC (2nd mark)
 * Structure your answer from general concept to any specific point. For instance, if asked how the computers in an office can share files, the answer would be "A network is required for computers to communicate with each other. An intranet should be set-up in star topology with a switch and a Network Interface Card (NIC) for each computer, to ensure optimum speed and reliability."
 * Attempt as many previous papers as possible and pay attention to the technical terms used in the mark scheme.
 * If the question asks for a specific number of points, do not attempt to answer more points. If the question asks for two points and the candidates answers four points, the first two would be taken as answers and graded accordingly.

title: A-level Computing 2009/Exam Tips


title: User:Whiteknight/Hits2


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Organic Chemistry/Ethers

=Ethers=

Ethers can be derived from alcohols. The functional group of ethers is R-O-R (instead of R-O-H in an alcohol). Ethers can be viewed as a water molecule in which both H atoms are replaced with alkyl groups. Ethers may exist in straight chain carbons (acyclic) or as part of a carbon ring (cyclic).

=Preparation of ethers=

Synthesis of acyclic ethers
Most acyclic ethers can be prepared using Williamson's synthesis. This involves reacting an alkoxide with a haloalkane. As stated previously, alkoxides are created by reacting an alcohol with metallic sodium or potassium, or a metal hydride, such as sodium hydride (NaH). To minimize steric hindrance and achieve a good yield, the haloalkane must be a primary haloalkane. This is because the mechanism is SN2, where the oxygen atom does a backside attack on the carbon atom with the halogen atom, causing the halogen atom to leave with its electrons.

Synthesis of cyclic ethers
You can also use the Williamson synthesis to produce cyclic ethers. You need a molecule that has a hydroxyl group on one carbon and a halogen atom attached to another carbon. This molecule will then undergo an SN2 reaction with itself, creating a cyclic ether and a halogen anion.

=Properties of ethers=

Naming acyclic ethers
Name the two sides of the ether as substituents, then add the word "ether" at the end. For example, CH3-O-CH3 is dimethyl ether. CH3-O-C(CH3)3 can be called methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) or tert-butyl methyl ether (TBME).

Cleavage of acyclic ethers
Acyclic ethers can be cleaved by a strong acid, typically HI or HBr, but not HCl. The acid breaks the ether apart into an alcohol and an alkyl halide (a haloalkane.) Cleavage of ethers by an acid was first seen by Alexander Butlerov in 1861, when he discovered that hydroiodic acid causes 2-ethoxypropanoic acid to break apart into iodoethane (ethyl iodide) and lactic acid (2-hydroxypropanoic acid.)  The mechanism used in acidic cleavage of ethers depends on whether they have primary, secondary, or tertiary groups attached to oxygen. If one of the carbons attached to the central oxygen atom is tertiary, benzylic (contains benzene ring), or allylic (contains carbon-carbon double bond), then the cleavage will occur via an SN1 or an E1 mechanism. The E1 mechanism leads to an alcohol and an alkene instead of an alkyl halide. These reactions often take place around 0 degrees C. On the other hand, if both groups attached to the central oxygen atom are primary or secondary, the reaction takes place via an SN2 mechanism. These reactions are often conducted at 100 degrees C.

Cyclic ethers
Two common cyclic ethers are epoxide, which has two carbons each bonded to the oxygen atom; and tetrahydrofuran, known by its abbreviation THF, which has four carbons and an oxygen atom.

title: Organic Chemistry/Ethers


text: User:MiszaBot

title: User:MiszaBot


text: Template:Bot

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Ecology/Species Richness and Diversity

<< Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 >>

Chapter 7. Species Richness and Diversity

Species Diversity Introduction
Species Richness (s) is a relative term that refers to the number of species in a community, and is directly associated with measuring the diversity of species in a given area. A related term, evenness (E), is another dimension of diversity that defines the number of individuals from each species in the same area. Together, these terms have been used to describe species diversity patterns on Earth.

There are several hypotheses that have been proposed to explain species diversity patterns. Many of these hypotheses are based upon the idea that species are more diverse near the equator than near the poles. In other words, there is a recognized latitudinal gradient of species diversity on Earth. The hypotheses that support this latitudinal gradient can be divided into two groups: abiotic and biotic. The biotic hypotheses are those that explain species diversity patterns with relation to living organisms. The abiotic hypotheses, on the other hand, explain species diversity patterns with relation to non-living chemical and physical environmental factors.

Abiotic Species Diversity Hypotheses
Four commonly recognized abiotic hypotheses include:(1) The Time/Stability Hypothesis, (2) The Area Hypothesis, (3) The Productivity Hypothesis, and (4) The Metabolic Hypothesis.

The Time/Stability Hypothesis suggests that diversity is directly related to the length of time that an area of land has been around. Specifically, land that has been around for a long time, undisturbed, tends to have more diversity, and is therefore more stable when compared to land that has been around for a short period of time. For example, the land underneath a glacier that has just receded will be less diverse than land that never had a glacier.

The Area Hypothesis explains species diversity relative to land area. According to this hypothesis, the larger an area is, the more organisms it can support, which results in larger populations. Larger populations are characterized by fewer extinctions and more prevalent mutation events and are, consequently, more diverse.

The Productivity Hypothesis says that the more energy there is in a system, the more biomass there will be in that system. More biomass supports greater species diversity.

 The Metabolic Hypothesis states that temperature has an impact on the metabolic rates of organisms. This expands on the idea that every population has a net energy flow that acts upon it. The main idea behind this hypothesis is that larger animals have relatively slower metabolic rates when compared to smaller animals. For example, a mouse must eat half of its body weight to keep from starving, while a human only needs to eat two percent of its body mass to live.

This phenomenon is explained by several ideas. One idea is that larger animals have proportionately less surface area and lose heat more slowly. So, pound for pound, they need less food. The other idea is that larger animals and plants must transport nutrients further and, as a result, use them up more slowly than their smaller counterparts.

The Metabolic Hypothesis, however, suggests that Temperature may also have an impact on an animal’s metabolic rate. Research shows that a 5˚C rise in body temperature is roughly equal to a 150% increase in metabolic rate. This is true for a large range of organisms, including aerobic microbes, plants, multicellular invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Gillooly (2001) claims that the metabolic rates of these organisms are all derived from a general function using body size and temperature.

According to The Metabolic Hypothesis, organisms with faster metabolic rates have faster mutation rates. This is because they will change quicker and get through more generations more rapidly. Therefore, you would expect to see new species created in small organisms and warm environments.It has also been suggested that body size and temperature predict the density and growth rates of a population. This means that individuals in warmer environments consume resources more quickly, which results in fewer available resources and lower population densities.

The Metabolic Hypothesis has broad implications. According to Brown (2004), the hypothesis is said to be able to predict anything from life history attributes, development rates, mortality rates, and life spans, to rates of competition and predation, population interactions, and patterns of species diversity. In addition, this hypothesis offers an explanation for the peak of biodiversity near the equator.[]

Biotic Species Diversity Hypotheses
There are three commonly recognized biotic species diversity hypotheses. They include: (1) The Heterogeneity Hypothesis, (2) The Competition Hypothesis, and (3)  The Predation Hypothesis.

The Heterogeneity Hypothesis suggests that the more spatially diverse the community is, the greater the species richness.

 The Competition Hypothesis introduces the concept of r and k selection. r-selected organisms are described as rapid growing organisms that have broad resource requirements and k-selected organisms are described as slow growing organisms that have narrow resource requirements.

The Predation Hypothesis says that predation opens up niches and reduces prey. Fewer prey lead to liberated resources which, if used by other species, leads to an increase in species richness. The concept of a keystone species is important to this theory. The keystone species is the species that a community is dependent upon and is often a predator. The keystone species maintains stability of the community which will increase species richness.

In evolutionary ecology there are many questions regarding variation in species diversity among different areas. In addition to the preeceding abiotic a biotic hypotheses, Emerson (2005) predicts that species diversity can drive speciation and the prediction is supported strongly by the biogeographic theory. By controlling several physical features of the Canary and Hawaiian Islands, Emerson showed that the probability of extinction and speciation for each species on an island increased as the number of species increased. Based on this analysis, species number was positively related to diversification and species richness.

Hutchinson (1959) reports that there are so many animals on the planet because of three reasons: (1)The greater the length of food chain (greater species diversity), the more stable the environment is, (2) Smaller organisms undergo more evolutionary change due to large populations in which more mutations occur, (3) The greater number of niches available, the more species that can occupy them without competition. Communities of greater organism diversity and species richness will persist longer and outlast many communities that are less diverse, and have a shorter food chain.

Rapoport's Rule
Rapoport's Rule, named after Eduardo H. Rapoport, was proposed by George C. Stevens in 1989 as an additional explanation for the already widely accepted notion that species richness has an inverse relationship with latitude. Rapoport's rule introduced the idea that the length of the geographical range of a species, relative to the north and south axis of the earth, plays an important role in the already acknowledged latitudinal gradient of species richness. Specifically, species at higher latitudes have a wider geographical range than species at lower latitudes.

The geographical range of a species refers to the range in latitudes, from north to south, in which a species can be found. This range is largely dependent upon climatic stresses in a given region. Accordingly, species in high latitudes have evolved to tolerate extreme and highly variable climatic conditions (i.e. temperature and precipitation) and therefore have a wider geographical range. Species in low-latitudes do not gain a competitive advantage by having such broad climatic tolerances and therefore occupy narrower geographical ranges. This distinction forms the premise behind Rapoport's rule.

Assuming equal dispersal abilities of high and low latitude species, more low latitude species are randomly placed outside of their narrow geographic range than high latitude species. As a result, more low latitude species are placed in environments that they are not well suited for. These species, termed "accidentals", "artificially inflate species numbers and inhibit competitive exclusion." In other words, "accidentals" would normally be competitively excluded by the better adapted individuals in the same area, but due to the unique nature of narrow tropical geographic ranges, the success of the "accidentals" is only dependent upon their proximity to the areas in which they do well. Therefore, in lower latitudes, more species exist in habitats that they would normally not survive in. In accordance with Rapoport's rule,this phenomenon, called the "rescue effect", accounts for the higher species diversity in the lower latitudes as compared to the higher latitudes.

Rapoport's rule, although widely acknowledged, faces criticism from related studies. There is considerable doubt that Rapoport's rule is actually a causatory agent of the latitudinal species richness gradient but is, rather, an artifact of the phenomenon. The methods and logic used by Stevens are especially scrutinized, every possible error drawn out. For example, it has been suggested that Stevens over-emphasized species richness patterns in higher-latitudes in comparison to lower latitudes, resulting in conclusions that are only applicable to local, rather than regional, patterns. Such gaps in Stevens' methodology and evidence leave Rapoport's rule open to inquiry. Also, many exceptions to the rule have been demonstrated. However, whether or not Stevens' conclusions are completely accurate, Rapoport's rule plays a significant role in the study of species richness patterns and raises questions that promote further studies.

Diversity Measurements
Diversity is measured for three main reasons: (1) to measure stability to determine if an environment is degrading, (2) to compare two or more environments, and (3) to eliminate the need for extensive lists. Diversity indices provide important information about the composition of a community. These indices not only measure species richness, but also take into account the relative abundance of species, or evenness. When measuring species diversity, species richness and evenness must always both be considered. In addition, indices provide important information about species rarity and commonness in a population. These are important and common tools used by biologists in order to understand community structure.

There are many indicies that can be used to calculate diversity. Some of the more valuable indicies that calculate diversity include the following: (1) Berger Index, (2) Simpson's Index, []which calculates the probability that two organisms sampled from a community of will belong to different species, (3) Shannon-Wiener Index, []which accounts for both abundance and evenness of the species present, and (4) Species Evenness Index. Each of the indicies uses different mathematical approaches/calculations to test/calculate diversity between two or more communities. These tools for measuring diversity are often used when determining community similarity, ethnic diversity, and biological diversity.

To learn more about the diversity indices, read Diversity index.

In addition to the previous indices, ecologists employ rank abundance curves, which are graphs ranking the most abundant species to the least abundant. They can be shown as a plot of number of species vs. number of individuals on a logarithmic scale that usually yields a normal distribution. This is because environments are usually undersampled, resulting in many singlets,especially in high diversity systems. Singlets make up the middle peak of the distribution, and the more sampling that is performed, the more the curve will shift to the right. The number of unsampled species in cases of undersampling can be roughly estimated using the Chao estimator, in which Sestimate = Sobserved + F12 / 2F2 where F1 is the number of singletons sampled, and F2 is the number of doublets. There is also a method of estimating what percent of the total species is represented in a sample, called Good's coverage estimator, in which Coverage = 1 - (number of individuals in species / total number of individuals). These estimator equations allow researchers to have a good idea of how their limited sampling relates to the entire sampled population.

Measurements of species diversity are constantly being improved and/or critiqued by ecologists. Hurlbert (1971) argued that species diversity itself is a "nonconcept" and that theoretic results are not dependable. His view is that ecologists should abandon the "poorly defined" idea of diversity completely, as well as diversity indices, and rely more on direct observation. He came up with alternate equations called "species composition parameters" that are more direct than diversity indices. Although he thought these equations are more reliable than diversity indices, he still stated that they shouldn't be strongly depended upon in research. Soetaert and Heip (1990) also argued that species indices are not always accurate, but worked on finding a way to improve results. They approached the issue of sample-size dependence of diversity indices. They found that this dependence is highest for more diverse communities and those with more rare species. This is something that can be taken into account during sampling and utilization of the indices. Such endeavors to improve measurements of diversity have and will continue to improve ecological research methods as a whole.

title: Ecology/Species Richness and Diversity


text:
User:Whiteknight/Graph

Graph Gadget (version 1.1)

About This Gadget
This gadget uses javascript to automatically create and display simple line graphs. It currently only works in firefox, and there is no easy method for me to expand compatibility to IE. This is because IE does not contain functions for graphing or drawing like FireFox does.

To Do

 * try to fix IE support.

Version History

 * 1.1 Partial IE support. It isn't pretty, and it's very fragile, but it basically works for some display settings.
 * 1.0 First stable version

title: User:Whiteknight/Graph


text:
User:Whiteknight/graph.js

//This function produces simple graphs from a series of data points. //Used currently for the hit counter. See User:Whiteknight/Graph. //current limit of one graph per page. Will correct that eventually.

function WKGraphCanvas { var tab = document.getElementById("WKGraphTable"); if(tab == null) return; tab.style.display = "block"; var div = document.getElementById("WKCanvasGraph"); var mtr = document.getElementById("WKGraphMax"); if(div == null) return; var pts = div.innerHTML; if(pts == "") pts = "0"; div.innerHTML = ""; pts = pts.split(","); var max = 1; for(var i = 0; i < pts.length; i++) { pts[i] = parseInt(pts[i]); if(pts[i] > max) max = pts[i]; } mtr.innerHTML = max; for(i = 0; i < pts.length; i++) { pts[i] = Math.floor((pts[i] / max) * 100); } if(pts.length == 1) { var step = 1; } else { var step = Math.floor(500 / (pts.length - 1)); }

/*@cc_on @if(@_jscript)

for(var i = 0; i < pts.length; i++) { _make_IE_point(div, i * step + 5, pts[i] - 100 + i * 12); }

@else*/ var can = document.createElement("canvas"); can.setAttribute("width", "510"); can.setAttribute("height", "115"); var ctx = can.getContext("2d");

ctx.beginPath; ctx.moveTo(5, 110 - pts[0]); for(var i = 1; i < pts.length; i++) { ctx.lineTo(i * step + 5, 110 - pts[i]); } ctx.strokeStyle = "#FF0000"; ctx.stroke; ctx.strokeStyle = "#0000FF"; for(i = 0; i < pts.length; i++) { ctx.strokeRect(i * step, 110 - pts[i] - 5, 10, 10); }

div.appendChild(can);

/*@end @*/

}

function _make_IE_point(parent, x, y) { var div = document.createElement("div"); parent.appendChild(div); div.style.width = "10px"; div.style.height = "10px"; div.style.border = "1px solid #0000FF"; div.style.position = "relative"; div.style.left = x + "px"; div.style.bottom = y + "px"; div.style.float = "left"; return div; }

$(WKGraphCanvas);

title: User:Whiteknight/graph.js


text:
Italian/Vocabulary/School

school - la scuola

pupils - gli allievi

teacher - il professore/ la professoressa

subject - la materie

english - inglese

italian - italiano

uniform - la divisa

timetable - l'orario

exam - l'esame

theme/essay - il tema

cafeteria - la mensa

gym - la palestra

homework - i compiti

to work - lavorare

to try - provare

Italià/Vocabulari/Escola Italiano/Vocabulario/En la escuela

title: Italian/Vocabulary/School


text:
CAT-Tools/Tools to be used together with CAT-Tools/Macromedia Dreamweaver

SDL Trados strangelys lack a global find and replace function. With recent versions, the unsupported Glue program can be used to merge and then unmerge files for a similar effect, though this may not be the best environment for some situations. If there are only a few files, this is not a problem, but when there are hundreds of files, such as for a large Website, a replace function is essential. This describes using Macromedia Dreamweaver 2004 MX for Tag Editor files.

Rainbow offers a find and replace function, but it is not very user friendly and does not show you each instance of the item being replaced. It's often the case that you need to look at each instance of a word before replacing it.

Because ttx (SDL Trados) is based on XML, Macromedia Dreamweaver works to search and replace. Like MS Word, it unfortunately does not allow you to look at what happens when you do a replacement, but it has a powerful "Find all" function that will generate a hyperlinked list of all instances of the expression being searched for.

Dreamweaver also includes match case (i.e., capitalization vs. small letters), match whole word, ignore white space, and regular expression (wildcard) options. Dreamweaver is Unicode compatible. This article was based on files translated from Japanese to English.

Dreamweaver currently sells for US $399, which is obviously quite expensive for merely a search and replace tool. It is an excellent tool for creating and editing Websites. This page was written based on version MX 2004. The latest version is CS4.

Using Dreamweaver
Change extensions

Before Dreamweaver can be used on ttx files, the extension must be changed to xml. If there are many files, a program like Extension Renamer (SoftPlatz download page) can be used to rename all the files in a directory. When doing this, back up the files first because Extension Renamer does not have an undo function.

Tip: Extension Renamer can be confusing to use. To change htm.ttx files to htm.ttx.xml, type *.htm.ttx in the "From" field and htm.ttx.xml in the "To" field. To reverse this process, type *.htm.ttx.xml in the "From" field and htm.ttx in the "To" field.

Create local site

In Dreamweaver, create a new site. Use the advanced tab to identify the location of the files (select the folder, not the files) and give a name. That's all that is needed.

'''Warning: Tagged files are complex documents, filled with a lot of formatting information and a small amount of actual text. If you have never used Microsoft Notepad or a similar basic text editor to edit html files, it is recommended you take an online course in html to become familiar with how tags work. Even after doing so, it is recommended you edit one or two files in Dreamweaver and check your work to ensure you do not corrupt a file. Always create backup files before editing.'''

Search and replace

The search and replace has to be done both in the source code and the text. It is unusual to have relevant hits in the text, but they do occur on occasion. Also, note that the find and replace box has an irritating habit of changing from "Text" back to "Source code". This can become confusing, so it may be more efficient to do all replacements in the source code and then do them in the text.

When double-clicking on a link in the Find window after a Find All command, sometimes the selection does not appear. Double-click on the link again and it will appear, highlighted.

Tag Editor has a bug (or perhaps a feature) that sometimes changes the font in the middle of a target segment. This may happen between words or in the middle of a word. This font change is included in the xml file, so in many cases you will be unable to find target words for search and replace. This error does not appear to occur in source segments, so it is recommended that search and replace be performed using the source.

Doing search and replace can be very dangerous because you are working with the source code, and if you change part of the ttx code, you can damage the file. It is a good idea to view the source of your files and compare them to the text in Dreamweaver a few times so you become familiar with the tags used.

Headings

Searching for headings: Headings are written in html as <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc. In the files used to write this article, it was found that these are displayed as DisplayText="h1", DisplayText="h2", DisplayText="h3", etc. Searching for DisplayText="h1" will result in two hits, one for the open and one for the close of each pair of h1 tags. Note that the "match case" option should not be used for heading and other tags because html ignores case in headings, so some might be "H1" and others "h1".

Restore files

After all your edits are complete, use the extension renaming utility to eliminate the "xml" extension. Then view the files in Tag Editor to ensure all the files have been edited correctly. Clean up as normal.


text:
Automobile Repair/Nissan/Maxima (4th Generation)/Changing your automatic shifter

Tools/Parts needed

 * Flat headed screw driver
 * A small towel
 * A Phillips-head screw driver
 * New automatic shifter
 * Knife
 * Electrical tape

Procedure

 * 1) Remove the cover plate that goes around the shifter with the screw driver and using the small towel to prevent damage to the cover.
 * 2) Use the Phillips head to remove the screw holding the ashtray to the dash and unplug its light.
 * 3) Remove the four Phillips head screws holding the center console and leaf it up and out.  There are two screws on the back sides, you will need to put the seats all the way forward.  The other two are in the front were the dashboard meets the center console.
 * 4) Now remove the four Phillips head screws holding the shifter information panel in place (but don't try to remove it).
 * 5) Now while the car engine is off and e-brake engaged, put the shifter into Drive. Now remove the two Phillips head screws on the back side of it.
 * 6) Now look that the base were the shifter goes into the shifter rod, there are two wires there.  Cut them wile leaving some slack to twist the new shifter wires.
 * 7) Pull the shifter out, the button should pop out so be ready to catch it.
 * 8) Drop the new shifter onto the shifter rod
 * 9) Now lift the shifter up off of the rod about and inch and push the shifter button with the spring into its hole and put the shifter all the way down the road.
 * 10) Now put the two screw back in the back of the shifter.


text:
User talk:Misza13

Template:Bot
I noticed this template you created today. Actually we already got eg: --dark lama  19:07, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Kinda ugly, if you ask me... :-/ I'll think of a way to merge them... —Миша 13 19:34, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * It's an old template, please upgrade it if you think it needs to be upgraded. If you can't tell, we don't have too many bots around here (yet). --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 23:13, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Bot Active?
Is your bot active now? I want to start setting up some of the templates and get some archiving going on. --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 23:13, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Not yet - I didn't have computer access for the last 6 or so days and am now catching up - should however set it up within a day. You can start setting up the configuration templates in advance, however. Миша 13 20:06, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmm... I see you have st up a few already. Are you sure you want all the various Reading room subpages archived into one common archive? Just checking up if it's really what you want, plus I'll have to generate the secret keys mentioned in the instructions. Миша 13 20:10, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * That's the way we've always done it. The "Reading Room" used to be a single page instead of multiple discussion pages, so when we made sub-pages, we kept all the archives together. I think that the important thing is that links to the various archives are kept at Reading room/Archives for reference, but those links can be easily updated no matter where the actual pages are located. If it's easier to use sub-page archiving, we can probably do it that way instead. --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 20:58, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The bot just had a test run. However, I noticed that archives created were both date-based as well as counter-based. Special:Contributions/MiszaBot - was this intended? Миша 13 20:29, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * We're still working out the details, so everything is fine on your end. We will figure out how we want the archives to be done. Everything looks good, as far as I can tell. Thanks! --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 21:42, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

bot template
There's no reason we can't have 2. I like the old one better, so I spruced it up a bit with the fancy linkage, and restored User:Mike's bot account to use. Thanks for your effort though. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 21:10, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Regarding "Wikibooks:Reading room/Administrative Assistance" bot activities
In regard to the recent history of "Wikibooks:Reading room/Administrative Assistance", I have noticed that the bot removed threads but never archived them and is removing pending actions (actions expecting closure from administrators) if the bot can't comply with this distinction (it will be hard to make a exclusion for the rules), the best approach will be restraining it from acting on pages were closing issues must require human intervention (like it is done on the VfD page), I haven't checked any other edits the bot has made on this page but it is possible that the archive is corrupted (missing some posts). --Panic (talk) 20:03, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

 * Ok problem partially solved (found the archives and added them to the archives menu), what is the pont of archiving if the pages aren't made known to Wikibookians ? Anyway is there an option to prevent a thread from being archived ? Txs --Panic (talk) 20:16, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Moved some non archived threads to November 2007 archive page also... --Panic (talk) 22:43, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Key needed
Please provide us with a key for Reading room/Proposals, as it appears that someone copied it from the general reading room. It should be archiving to the same location as the other reading rooms, so we won't be archiving to a subpage and therefore need a key. Thanks. – Adrignola talk 20:04, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Misza13


text:
Wikijunior:Visual Math/choose how many up to 5

-


text: User:MiszaBot/config

title: User:MiszaBot/config


text:
User talk:66.159.153.85

Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  20:41, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:66.159.153.85


text:
User talk:68.0.250.14

Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  20:42, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:68.0.250.14


text:
User talk:72.72.236.47

Thanks for experimenting with Wikibooks. Your test worked, and has now been removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do, since testing material in modules will normally be removed quickly. Please see the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our project. Thanks. -- Urbane   (Talk)   (Contributions)  21:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:72.72.236.47


text:
User talk:68.146.127.232

Xania talk 22:23, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:68.146.127.232


text:
User:Sammysam~enwikibooks

hey everyone i am new if you can try to make me fell like i fit i.. i started the playing last year and i love love, sammysam

title: User:Sammysam~enwikibooks


text:
Writing Adolescent Fiction/Describing physical characteristics

If you have read classics or other older stories aimed at an adult audience, you have probably seen physical descriptions like this:

"Jack was a lanky, spindly old fellow, with arms like twigs. His feet resembled shovels. He had buck teeth that stuck out and smiled contently at you like a grinning bunny, and a tongue like a Popsicle stick. Jack had crows'-feet above his cabbage green currant-like eyes that peered out at you from above his pipe. His snipe nose seemed to sneer at you. There was a rick in Jack's spine as he walked. A white beard of fog billowed around his mouth, right below his double chin."

There is something Dickensian about this kind of description. The writer has almost succeeded at making Jack look like a cartoon character. This style of writing gives the entire story, in fact, a timelessly rustic feel. It does not go well with the contemporary, cosmopolitan, unexaggerated feel of the world of adolescent fiction. Not every character will be beautiful of course, but to fit the timbre of the genre the characters should have about the same number of quirks as ordinary real people have.

When you are writing your stories, you will come to develop your own style, whether your descriptions read something like this:

"Stacy's tresses of silky blonde hair were fit neatly into a stunning chignon. Her deep-set chocolate brown eyes looked at you like a puppy dog. The girl had a pixie-like nose that dropped daintily down from its peak. Her Cupid's-bow red lips surrounded her small mouth with perfect alabaster teeth. Dimples were pressed under Stacy's high cheekbones. Her soft hands with long fingers terminated in painted, polished mauve nails. She stood at 5'5' and had a voluptuous figure that poured into a nice hourglass."

or like this:

"Jim had messy brown hair, blue eyes, freckles and braces. He was 5'8' tall and weighed 160 pounds."

The two styles have different flavors to them. The first description has a more soap-opera-y feel and sounds written by a feminine writer. The second description gives the picture of a more masculine writer.

Putting physical traits into action
If you first meet a character in Chapter 3, describing her physical traits presents no problem, as you can just tell the reader as soon as she appears that she has curly black hair, brown eyes, a big nose, braces, a triangular chin and a stocky figure.

But what about the central character or a second character who is introduced right at the beginning of the story? If you began your story with the paragraph "Janet Myers had red hair in a ponytail and hazel eyes . . .", you would sort of be giving the impression that this was the most important thing about the character or a central theme in the story. And it would sound odd if five chapters into your story, you suddenly started going into a complete lowdown on the central character's facial features, coloring, height and weight.

You can still find a way to get the physical traits of a person covered one at a time. Just describe the person's body parts when a mention of the body part comes up. If your character has to rub dirt off her nose, you could write:

"Rashida vigorously rubbed all the dirt off of her broken nose."

If your character is freeing his leg that got jambed in a closed door, you could write:

"Mike pulled his big hands out of his sleeves to free his stocky leg from the door."

Some writers do find a time and place to describe their character in the middle of their short story, novella or novel, however. In The Escape by Logan Feys, for instance, Feys writes, 1,000 words into the story:

"At first glance, Mitch would seem to the casual observer to be a rather normal fifteen-year-old. Nothing in particular about his physical appearance was striking. His facial features were smooth, rounded, and unassuming. In subtle ways, however, he looked a bit unusual. He was a little shorter than average. His hair was dark and soft. He didn't cut it as short as most boys did. Instead, he allowed it to grow thick enough to develop natural waves and curls. He wore plain, solid-colored shirts and pants — nothing “loud,” nothing “hip,” nothing bearing popular sports team logos or name-brand insignias."

Avoiding the easel gesture
The easel gesture is a gesture or tic that the character does to give the writer a convenient excuse to add some physical description. Suppose you began a novel and it started out with this sentence:

"Beth looked again into the mirror, scrunched up her bob nose, and walked away towards the shower."

Why did the writer have Beth scrunch up her nose? Is it to tell the reader that she has a bob nose? Eager writers often fall into this trap, eager young writers among them. One particular easel gesture that is common in teen-written fiction is having a character run her fingers through her hair just so you can tell the reader what color her hair is.

There are ways you can write a character's gestures and make sure that his gestures are genuine. Facial expressions are with us every moment of our lives. Even when we feel no emotion at all or are sleeping, we wear the neutral expression on our faces. When your character makes a facial expression that represents the appropriate emotion, you may describe the parts of the face that are moving. If your character has bushy eyebrows, you could write:

"Brian listened to Whitney repeat what she had said, and his face looked truly puzzled. His bushy eyebrows arched high up above his eyes. Could she have possibly meant what he heard her say?"

Many gestures are used to communicate, in place of words. We nod our heads when we want to answer a question yes. When we circle our hands around one side of our heads, we are saying someone is crazy. We put our faces in our hands when we feel like breaking down. If you have a character use body language in a natural way, you get an opportunity for physical description:

"Laura Ann pointed with the stubby index finger of her right hand to the sushi bar. The stranger thanked her for giving him directions."

Everyone has bad habits of some sort, be it pulling at hangnails, interrupting people or reading in the bathroom for hours on end. If you give your character a bad habit that involves some part of his body, you can describe the body part when you have your character do it:

"Obviously nervous, Greg began twirling his shoulder-length brown hair around again."

Describing by associations
Physical traits can also be mentioned when a character (either the character whose physical traits are being described or another character) reflects on the traits and their aesthetic and social significance. Consider the following paragraph:

"Mercedes shook her head as Aleeciah and Ashley walked off with their faux leopard purses. While they were tall at 5'6' and 5'8' respectively, she stood at only 5'1'. While they had bouncy, blonde hair and blue eyes, her hair was greasy and dark brown and her eyes hazel. Those two girls wore ribbed baby tees in pink and white, while Mercedes was decked out in a choker necklace, black leggings and a black peasant dress that left everything to the imagination. She thought about the way they could find an endless well of idle chat for any situation, while she always felt as if the cat had her tongue when she needed something to talk about. They drove a Jeep Wrangler and a Jeep Cherokee, while her parents never even bought her her own car on her sixteenth birthday."

You've managed to work in Mercedes' height, her eye color and a description of her hair, all in one paragraph in the middle of the story. Pretty good!

Similar is when you reflect on the ramifications of a character's height and/or weight:

"Miranda stood with her mouth wide open and her face frozen as she watched Jeff do his phys ed assignment. She didn't understand how a boy who weighed 95 pounds could be lifting the 30-pound weights."

Having another character describe
In real life, we sometimes tell another person what someone looks like. If your character goes missing and someone files a missing person report, or if one of his friends needs to point him out to one of her friends in a crowd, or if a girl is describing that hot new guy she met to her female friends, you can get a chance to have a character describe even your central characters and let the reader know how they look:

"'Sandy, Ashley, I've got to introduce you to Joey while we're here,' Loelia said as her two friends' eyes glossed over the mass of partygoers standing around. 'He's the boy with the blonde ducktail, blue eyes and goatee wearing the blue ski jacket, torn jeans, flip-flops and green visor'."

Disagreements among characters can also give you a picture of what the character may look like:

"'Lindsay's the thin girl with a blonde ponytail, green eyes and big hands wearing the black tank top, shorts and moccasins with yin-yang earrings,' Karen explained to Dave..'"

"'Lindsay's hair isn't blonde,' said Laqueisha with a this-is-absurd tone in her voice, 'It's brown.'"

Style
You may or may not want to include things like the size of your character's hands or the shape of her ears. But you should definitely make a mention of such things as facial hair, jewelry, piercings, tattoos, nail paint, face paint or bindis if your character has them. Things like the firmness of a character's chin or how close together his eyes are don't tell you anything about your character's personality, except through stereotypes that may not have any basis in reality. But a person consciously chooses to grow a goatee, or to wear an ankh necklace, or to get a tattoo (and chooses what the tattoo should be of). If nothing else, points of style will always tell you about a character's taste.

If you have a character who is not the central character, you should definitely describe these things when a character comes up (unless he has tattoos or a navel ring or nipple ring that are hidden from view, in which case you can have the other character find out about them later).

If this is the character who appears at the beginning of the story, there are other ways to tell the reader about it. You can have your character cleaning out her navel ring (and her navel after she's taken it out of it). When your character with a beard gets up in the morning, have him trim his red beard. When she gets dressed, have her put on her puka necklace.

Accessories (as well as clothes) can also come up with discrimination. If a restaurateur refuses to let Stephanie in because of her septum ring, that gives you an opportunity to let the reader know she is pierced. Max could brush up against the high school principal if the latter tells him that the school dress code forbids him to wear that gothic face paint.

Sartorial description
With sartorial description, you have a lot of leeway in how much and how often to describe. You can describe what a character is wearing in every scene, in full detail. Or you can just describe your character's clothes in the first scene in which she or he appears, and imply that that is typical.

Consider describing the color of each garment: a black T-shirt, a white T-shirt and a yellow T-shirt have three distinct feelings to them. Your readers might even be curious to know whether Mark is wearing a green-and-blue-striped polo shirt or a green-and-white-striped polo shirt. Colors all have different associations, pink being bubbly and girly, beige being suave, orange being earthy with a 70's vibe to it, teal being grungy, but older writers be informed: black clothes are no longer the exclusive domain of morbid or "loner" type youth. Go to any high school that doesn't have uniforms today and black is as basic as blue or white. That brings up another point: less common colors, such as yellow or purple, will be connected with the kids who really stand out.

Perhaps a character has a favorite army jacket or baseball cap that she or he wears in every scene. That can be her or his trademark. If so, you can mention it the first few times the character pops up, then stop mentioning it. Some people wear the same thing every day -- if so, you can just mention in the first scene that that Justin always wears khakis and a black turtleneck, or that Liisa appears in her usual leather jacket, jeans with the knees torn and Birkenstocks. Other people dress differently on different days -- if so, you can describe what Tiffany is wearing each day to exposit her full variety of moods. Or maybe you have a character who appears in a dress shirt to school, but wears tie-dye T-shirts on the week-ends. Contrasting the two scenes can tell you something about his chameleonic attitude.

Maybe your character always wears preppy clothes, or consistently dresses like a punk, or is perpetually decked out in hip-hop garb. You might simply say that the character is "wearing preppy clothes" (or whatever), rather than listing the specific items of clothing.

If it's been a while since you attended high school, drive up to your local high school around lunchtime when the students are out and around, and check out the clothes. Find out what articles of clothing are the most common, what percentage of the teens are wearing different colors, and what brand names show up (for you Gen Xers out there, Nike has taken a hit in popularity since you went to school). Then if you want to write a story set in the present day, the assortment and distribution of different clothing styles will sound authentic. (Of course, if you're zeroing in on a select group of gothic students or your story revolves around the "mean girls", you'll want to overrepresent one particular style, but if you want your characters to represent a cross-section, you better be prepared to observe how the whole student body looks.)


text:
User:Orlandocampos

I am interested in learning Hebrew (coloquial, not religious) and also German. Right now I have some knowledge on both languages. I just need to practice reading, writting and conversation on these two languages!

title: User:Orlandocampos


text:
Talk:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6

Wording
I was going to revert the verbiage -- but I actually like it! "Unless they are undead beginners,..." I love it. Adds character. Much better than Nunn's. ThreeE 02:33, 9 October 2007 (UTC)


text:
User talk:Ojan

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Good luck! --Panic 02:51, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ojan


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User talk:Ksklu001

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User talk:Dawit~enwikibooks

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User talk:Herrej01

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text:
ICT for Disaster Management

Table of Contents

 * /Foreword/
 * /Introduction/
 * /Disaster Management/
 * /ICT for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness/
 * /ICT for Disaster Response/
 * /ICT for Disaster Recovery/
 * /Conclusion/
 * /References/
 * /Notes/
 * /Annex:Global and Regional Organizations Working in Disaster Management/
 * /Acknowledgements/
 * /List of Tables/
 * /List of Figures/
 * /List of Boxes/
 * /About the Author/

Information
This book is donated by UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) to the community. The original publication by:

Author: Chanuka Wattegama (Foreword by Prof. Krasae Chanawongse)

© UNDP-APDIP, APCICT, 45 pages

ISBN 978-974-8283-94-4

is located at http://www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/eprimer-dm.pdf

This wikibook is available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution License 2.5

title: ICT for Disaster Management


text:
ICT for Disaster Management/Foreword

Foreword
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) has calculated that of the 5,210 disasters recorded in the world between 1991 and 2005, 2,029 (approximately 40 percent) have occurred in the Asia-Pacific region. Several other reports have stated that in the last three years alone, the region has been prone to more natural disasters than in the last three decades. Earthquakes across Indonesia and other countries in the region have now become annual occurrences for the last three years, particularly in areas along the Sumatra fault, the origin of the earthquake that spawned the 2004 tsunami. The year 2006 was also notable in that the Pacific typhoon season ran year-round, causing considerable physical damage and loss of life in many Asian countries, including China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Viet Nam. The consequences of natural and man-made disasters and the vulnerabilities to which populations are exposed can be mitigated if they are targeted proactively. Though one must always remember that it is not always possible to completely eliminate a risk,extensive experience and practice in the past few decades have demonstrated that the damage caused by any disaster can be minimized largely by careful planning, mitigation and prompt action. In this context, information and communications technology (ICT) can potentially play a pivotal role in disaster prevention, mitigation and management. Remote sensing for early warning is made possible by various available technologies, including telecommunication satellites, radar, telemetry and meteorology. ICT encompasses both traditional media (radio, television) as well as new media (cell broadcasting, Internet, satellite radio), all of which can play a major role in educating the public on the risks of a potential or impending disaster. Before disasters strike, ICTs are used as a conduit for disseminating information on an impending danger, thereby making it possible to take the necessary precautions to mitigate the impact of these disasters. In order for this to be possible, it is critical that there be consistency in the application of ICT and the dissemination of warning messages to at-risk areas. Such warning dissemination must be widespread and should educate the public on the potential risks to the local area.No matter how expensive or sophisticated, a warning system can never be totally effective without an education component. Furthermore, ICT plays a critical role in facilitating the reconstruction process and in coordinating the return of those displaced by disasters to their original homes and communities. Disaster management activities, in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, can be made more effective by the use of appropriate ICT tools. These include tools for resource management and tracking, communication under emergency situations (e.g. use of Internet communications), collecting essential items for the victims, and national and international fundraising. Since the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) together with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have taken initiatives to study the current situation of emergency communications in the Asia-Pacific countries and to give recommendation on national emergency telecommunication and national early warning system setups. Assessments were conducted in Bangladesh,Maldives and Sri Lanka on these emergency communication systems. To enhance early warning systems, ADPC, under the Indian Ocean Early-Warning System programme, also introduced the Tsunami Alert Rapid Notification System Programme with emphasis on robust ICT systems to disseminate information and warnings from the national to the community level. In line with this, I am pleased to introduce this e-Primer brought to you by the United Nations Development Programme’s Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) and the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT). I am confident that this e-Primer will play an effective role in enhancing and propagating awareness of various ICT tools and will serve as a guide to policy makers, disaster management practitioners and media personnel on how best to use ICT tools to successfully counter the threat of disaster.

Prof. Krasae Chanawongse Chairman ADPC Board of Trustees

title: ICT for Disaster Management/Foreword


text:
ICT for Disaster Management/Introduction

Introduction
The term ‘disaster’, meaning ‘bad star’ in Latin, is defined as an impact of a natural or man-made hazard that causes human suffering or creates human needs that the victims cannot alleviate without assistance.The word’s root is from astrology and implies that when the stars are in a bad position, a bad event is about to happen. In a recent document published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Americas, a disaster is defined as ’a social crisis situation occurring when a physical phenomenon of natural, socio-natural or anthropogenic origin negatively impacts vulnerable populations ... causing intense, serious and widespread disruption of the normal functioning of the affected social unit.' According to another widespread definition, disasters occur when hazards strike in vulnerable areas.

This image is available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution License 2.5

In development circles today, disaster management is often treated holistically rather than as a single issue. It is an essential component of any development framework. Proper disaster management has been recognized as a key requirement towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the specified target of 2015, as illustrated in Figure 1.Meanwhile, information and communications technology for development (ICT4D). has been recognized as one of the key enablers for achieving the MDGs.

Figure 1: Contribution of Disaster Management Efforts to MDG Achievement

This image is available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution License 2.5

Recent events have shown that there is no country that does not stand the threat of a disaster, though they may be threatened at different levels.Therefore, disaster preparedness is no longer a choice; it is mandatory irrespective of where one lives. As shown in Figure 2, the Asia-Pacific region is one of the most risk-prone areas for disasters, based on disaster occurrences since 1995.

Figure 2: Number of Disasters by Origin: Regional Distribution, 1995–2004

Monsoon Floods in Kathmandu, Nepal

Risk types vary and increase depending on a country’s geographic location. For instance, countries like China, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan are prone to earthquakes. Small island states in the Pacific region and countries like the Maldives are prone to various types of threats from the sea. Bangladesh and parts of China and India experience floods each year. Figure 3 shows how different types of disasters are distributed across regions, while Figure 4 highlights some of the worst disasters mankind has faced over the past 30 years.

Figure 3: Regional Distribution of Disasters: By Triggering Hazards, 1995–2004

Figure 4: Large-Impact Disasters over the Last 30 Years ''Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database – http://www.em-dat.net – Université Catholique de Louvain – Brussels-Belgium, 2004.
 * Includes disasters with at least 2,000 people killed or US$10 billion of economic losses (2002 US$ value).''

Some countries have also encountered man-made hazards recently (e.g. river pollution in China). Environmental pollution taking place today could be the origin of many man-made disasters in the coming years. In addition, with the increased mobility of people, there is always the danger of a serious outbreak of a fatal disease (e.g. avian flu, mad cow disease and SARS). This too may lead to disastrous situations.


text:
ICT for Disaster Management/Disaster Management

Disaster Management
There are no standardized rules defining the different phases of the disaster management cycle. Different agencies use different cycles depending upon their objectives. However, while approaches vary, it is agreed that disaster management activities should be carried out in a cycle. Figure 5 illustrates the phases of the disaster management cycle, which are described as follows:
 * Mitigation: any activity that reduces either the chance of a hazard taking place or a hazard turning into disaster.

 * Risk reduction: anticipatory measures and actions that seek to avoid future risks as a result of a disaster.

 * Prevention: avoiding a disaster even at the eleventh hour.
 * Preparedness: plans or preparations made to save lives or property, and help the response and rescue service operations. This phase covers implementation/operation, early warning systems and capacity building so the population will react appropriately when an early warning is issued.

 * Response: includes actions taken to save lives and prevent property damage, and to preserve the environment during emergencies or disasters. The response phase is the implementation of action plans.

Figure 5: The Disaster Management Cycle
 * Recovery: includes actions that assist a community to return to a sense of normalcy after a disaster.

These six phases usually overlap. ICT is used in all the phases, but the usage is more apparent in some phases than in others.

Why Disaster Management
Disaster mBold textanagement (also called disaster risk management) is the discipline that involves preparing, warning, supporting and rebuilding societies when natural or man-made disasters occur. It is the continuous process by which all individuals, groups and communities manage hazards in an effort to avoid or minimize the impact of disasters resulting from hazards. Effective disaster management relies on thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of government and non-government involvement. Activities at each level (individual, group, community) affect the other levels.

Events over the last two years have shown that there is no country that does not stand the threat of a disaster. Countries like China, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan are prone to earthquakes. Small Islands States in the Pacific region and countries like Maldives are prone to various types of threats from the sea. Bangladesh and parts of China and India experience floods each year. Therefore, disaster preparedness is no longer a choice; it is mandatory irrespective of where one lives.

Disaster Management and the MDGs
It is somewhat surprising that no Millennium Development Goal1 (MDG) directly addresses the issues related to disaster management. Perhaps it is because it is so obvious that building a safer world is a prerequisite for the achievement of all the eight MDGs. Poverty eradication, freedom from hunger, primary education, freedom from disasters, and building a sustainable world etc. are all key aspects of the disaster management process. It has been shown that any nation should have effective disaster reduction and recovery processes in place to achieve the MDGs by the expected deadline of year 2015.

Figure 1: Illustration of how proper Disaster Reduction and Recovery processes can assist in achieving the MDGs by 2015