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Materials Science and Engineering/Cancer Treatment and Materials Science

What is Cancer?
Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion or by implantation into distant sites by  metastasis. Metastasis is defined as the stage in which cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system. Cancer may affect people at all ages, but risk tends to increase with age, due to the fact that DNA damage becomes more apparent in aging DNA. It is one of the principal causes of death in developed countries.

There are many types of cancer. Severity of symptoms depends on the site and character of the malignancy and whether there is metastasis. A definitive diagnosis usually requires the histologic examination of tissue by a pathologist. This tissue is obtained by biopsy or surgery. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for the type of cancer pathology. Drugs that target specific cancers already exist for several cancers. If untreated, cancers may eventually cause illness and death, though this is not always the case.

The unregulated growth that characterizes cancer is caused by damage to DNA, resulting in mutations to genes that encode for proteins controlling cell division. Many mutation events may be required to transform a normal cell into a malignant cell. These mutations can be caused by chemicals or physical agents called carcinogens, by close exposure to radioactive materials, or by certain viruses that can insert their DNA into the human genome. Mutations occur spontaneously, and may be passed down from one generation to the next as a result of mutations within germ lines. However, some carcinogens also appear to work through non-mutagenic pathways that affect the level of transcription of certain genes without causing genetic mutation.

Many forms of cancer are associated with exposure to environmental factors such as tobacco smoke, radiation, alcohol, and certain viruses. While some of these risk factors can be avoided or reduced, there is no known way to entirely avoid the disease.

From Cancer

What is Cancer Nanotechnology?
Nanotechnological devices are typically defined as being essentially man-made and in the 1-1000 nm range in at least one dimension.

Below is a list of examples of cancer-related nanotechnologies.

 * Liposomes
 * Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents
 * Nanoparticle-based methods that provide high-specificity detection of DNA and protein

Two main subfields of nanotechnology are nanovectors and patterning of substrates. Devices based on nanotechnology are able to detect many molecular signals and biomarkers in real time. This may yield advances in early detection, diagnostics, prognostics, and selection of therapeutic strategies. Multifunctionality provides ability to specifically deliver therapeutics and imaging agents to cancer sites.

Nanoparticles
A nanoparticle is a microscopic particle whose size is measured in nanometers (nm). It is defined as a particle with at least one dimension <100nm.

Properties
Nanoparticles are of great scientific interest as they are effectively a bridge between bulk materials and atomic or molecular structures. A bulk material should have constant physical properties regardless of its size, but at the nano-scale this is often not the case. Size-dependent properties are observed such as quantum confinement in semiconductor particles, surface plasmon resonance in some metal particles and superparamagnetism in magnetic materials.

The properties of materials change as their size approaches the nanoscale and as the percentage of atoms at the surface of a material becomes significant. For bulk materials larger than one micrometre the percentage of atoms at the surface is minuscule relative to the total number of atoms of the material. The interesting and sometimes unexpected properties of nanoparticles are partly due to the aspects of the surface of the material dominating the properties in lieu of the bulk properties.

Nanoparticles exhibit a number of special properties relative to bulk maerial. For example, the bending of bulk copper (wire, ribbon, etc.) occurs with movement of copper atoms/clusters at about the 50 nm scale. Copper nanoparticles smaller than 50 nm are considered super hard materials that do not exhibit the same malleability and ductility as bulk copper. Suspensions of nanoparticles are possible because the interaction of the particle surface with the solvent is strong enough to overcome differences in density, which usually result in a material either sinking or floating in a liquid. Nanoparticles often have unexpected visible properties because they are small enough to scatter visible light rather than absorb it. For example gold nanoparticles appear deep red to black in solution.

Classification
At the small end of the size range, nanoparticles are often referred to as clusters. Nanospheres, nanorods, and nanocups are just a few of the shapes that have been grown.

Metal, dielectric, and semiconductor nanoparticles have been formed, as well as hybrid structures (e.g., core-shell nanoparticles). Nanoparticles made of semiconducting material may also be labeled quantum dots if they are small enough (typically sub 10nm) that quantization of electronic energy levels occurs. Such nanoscale particles are used in biomedical applications as drug carriers or imaging agents.

Semi-solid and soft nanoparticles have been manufactured. A prototype nanoparticle of semi-solid nature is the liposome. Various types of liposome nanoparticles are currently used clinically as delivery systems for anticancer drugs and vaccines.

Characterization
Nanoparticle characterization is necessary to establish understanding and control of nanoparticle synthesis and applications. Characterization is done by using a variety of different techniques, mainly drawn from materials science. Common techniques are electron microscopy [TEM,SEM], atomic force microscopy [AFM], dynamic light scattering [DLS], x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy [XPS], powder x-ray diffractometry [XRD], and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy [FTIR].

Introduction
It is possible to create high peak temperatures and microscopic mechanical disruption localized at the cellular level when energy is selectively deposited into particles.

Mie Theory
Mie theory, also called Lorenz-Mie theory, is a complete analytical solution of Maxwell's equations for the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by spherical particles (also called Mie scattering). Mie solution is named after its developer German physicist Gustav Mie. However, Danish physicist Ludwig Valentine Lorenz and others independently developed the theory of electromagnetic plane wave scattering by a dielectric sphere.

From Mie Theory

Literature
Light-Absorbing Microparticles and Nanoparticles - 2003

The Use of Gold Nanoparticles to Enhance Radiotherapy in Mice - June 2004

Nanocages
Nanocages are hollow porous gold nanoparticles ranging in size from 10 to over 150 nm. They are created by reacting silver nanoparticles with chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) in boiling water. While gold nanoparticles absorb light in the visible spectrum of light (at about 550 nm), gold nanocages absorb light in the near-infrared, where biological tissues absorb the least light. Because they are also biocompatable, gold nanocages are promising as a contrast agent for optical coherence tomography, which uses light scattering in a way analogous to ultrasound to produce in-vivo images of tissue with resolution approaching a few micrometres. A contrast agent is required if this technique will be able to image cancers at an early, more treatable stage. Gold nanocages also absorb light and heat up, killing surrounding cancer cells. The Xia group at the University of Washington, the original inventors of the nanocages, has functionalized nanocages with cancer-specific antibodies so they specifically attach to cancer cells.

From Nanocages

Nanoscale cages consisting of gold can be engineered to interact with light. They can be used to image molecular events in live cells and tissues using optical coherence tomography (OCT). The optical properties of nanocages are due to plasmons. When light strikes a plasmon oscillating at a compatible frequency, energy from light is harvested by the plasmon. It is scattered and converted to photons or absorbed and converted to phonons.

From Gold Nanocages as Optical Imaging Contrast Agents

Replacement Reaction between Silver Nanostructures and Chloroauric Acid - March 2004

Gold Nanocages: Bioconjugation and Their Potential Use as Optical Imaging Contrast Agents - January 2005

Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Silver and Gold Nanostructures - May 2005

Gold Nanocages: Engineering Their Structure for Biomedical Applications - July 2005

Gold Nanostructures: Engineering Their Plasmonic Properties for Biomedical Applications - September 2006

Introduction
A gold layer covered with silica is a metal-based nanovector that is an example of a nanoshell. Thickness of a gold layer is adjusted such that the nanoshell can be selectively activated through tissue irradiation with near-IR light. Localized therapeutic thermal ablation can be performed. This is an example of a nanovector that is highly selective and externally activated.

Optical properties
Development of chemical synthesis, planar nanostructure fabrication, and accurate numberical methods have provided building blocks for guiding, controlling, and manipulating light at the nanometer scale. Optical properties are controlled by plasmon resonance of the metallic nanosctructures. Resonance of a nanoshell is very sensitive to inner and outer dimensions of the metallic shell layer. Plasmon-resonant particles follow an analogue of molecular orbital theory. There is hybridization in the same manner as individual wave functions of simple molecules. There is a "design rule" of metallic nanostructures that allows prediction of optical resonant properties. The infrared spectrum is associated with light with frequency between $$4000$$ and $$400 cm^{-1}$$ ($$2500 - 25000 nm$$). The plasmon resonance of nanoshells in the the near-infrared region of the spectrum has enabled various biomedical applications. The internal geometry of a dielectric core-metal shell nanoparticle controls the far-field electromagnetic response. The local electromagnetic field at the nanoshell surface is controlled by its geometry.

Size and Shape
By precisely controlling dimensions of metallic nanostructures of certain shapes, the wavelengths at which they absorb or scatter light can be controlled. Plasmon resonance frequency in metals is a function of the type and shape of metal. The optical resonance of solid metallic nanospheres is a fixed frequency resonance. The plasmon resonance of solid metallic nanoparticles varies only weakly with particle size; longer wavelengths are absorbed as particle size is increased. The aspect ratio of a metallic nanorod defines distinct plasmon resonance frequencies associated with longitudinal and transverse dimensions of the nanostructure. Spectrally distinct multiple resonance appear in the nanoshell spectrum by keeping the core-shell ratio constant by increasing the total nanoparticle size. There is a unique light-scattering signature associated with each resonance and can be easily measured. Particles become better scatterers than absorbers of light with increasing particle size. An overall redshift in hybridized plasmon modes can be seen with increasing nanoparticle size.

The longitudinal plasmon is shifted to longer wavelengths as length is increased. The dielectric environment is also important.

Comparing single nanoshells to single quantum dots, the absorption of nanoshells is typically $$10^6$$ larger absorption cross section, which is nominally five time the physical cross section of the nanoparticle.

Plasmon hybridization
Plasmon response of metal-based nanostructures is understood as the interaction of "hybridization" of plasmons supported by metallic nanostructures. This picture can be used to describe the structural tunability of nanoshells; there is an interactino between two fixed-frequency plasmons supported by a nanoscale sphere and nanoscale cavity. Nanoshell plasmons correspond to a "bonding" plasmon and a higher-energy "anti-bonding" plasmon. Only the lower energy plasmon interacts strongly with an incident optical field.

The nanoshell plasmon shifts to lower energies as shell thickness is decreased. This is due to an increased interaction between the sphere and cavity plasmons, resulting in an increased splitting between two hybrid plasmons of the nanoshell. Plasmon hybridization provides a simple, powerful and general principle used to guide the design of metallic nanostructures and predict plasmon response qualitatively and quantitatively.

The variation of the core diameter and shell layer thickness of a nanoshell can be used to "tune" the local electromagnetic field at the nanoparticle surface in a manner that directly controls the SERS response of molecules absorbed on the surface.

Characterization
Raman spectroscopy at near infrared wavelengths is highly desirable in probing chemically complex environments because unwanted background fluorescence from molecules is drastically reduced. Raman scattering is a much weaker effect at infrared wavelengths than when pumped with visible light.

The size of the core and the shell of a nanoshell can be varied independently. Plot the nanoshell Raman response in "core-shell" space to determine the optimum dimensions of a nanoshell with maximum SERS enhancement.

Nanoshells can be dispersed and bound to a glass substrate, which facilitates exposure to multiple solvents and rinsing procedures.

Surrounding Medium
Two effects are associated with an increase of the index of refraction in a surrounding medium.

 * Shifting of nanoshell dipolar plasmon to longer wavelengths
 * Increase in the quadraupole plasmon resonance relative to dipole plasmon resonance in the nanoshell spectrum

Strengthening of the quadrupole plasmon resonance is due to phase retardation effects. Nanoparticle appears larger relative to reduced spatial wavelength of incident light when the dielectric constant of the embedding medium is increased.

The magnitude of the SPR shift upon increase in the refractive index of the embedding medium increases with the overall size of the nanoparticle. The shift is also dependent upon the core-shell ratio, and is most sensitive in the thin-shell limit of the nanostructure's internal geometry.

Biomedical Applications of Nanoshells
There are high biocompatibility characteristics of gold, and the near-infrared region of the spectrum is the region of highest physiological transmissivity. Blood and tissue are most transparent, and light can penetrate tissue at a distance of 10 cm or more. A photothermal response can be exploited as a potential strategy for cancer therapy.

Localized, irreversible photothermal ablation of tumor tissue was successfully achieved both in vitro and in vivo. Combining nanoshells with infrared light exposure results in localized cell death in the region of laser irradiation. An experiment can be monitored with MRI-based temperature mapping technique. Infrared laser fluences that would normally induce temperature increases of less than $$10^{\circ}$$ without nano-shells present produced temperature increases of more than $$37^{\circ}$$ with the same exposure time. Tumor pathology suggests that irreversible tissue damage coincides with measurable photothermal temperature increase. There is significant promise of a simple, noninvasive treatment as a technique of selective photothermal tumor ablation.

Nanoshell-mediated near-infrared thermal therapy of tumors - November 2003

Photo-thermal tumor ablation mice using near infrared-absorbing nanoparticles - February 2004

Nanoshell-Enabled Photonics-Based Imaging and Therapy of Cancer - February 2004

Immunotargeted Nanoshells for Integrated Cancer Imaging and Therapy - March 2005

Tuning the Optical Resonant Properties of Metallic Nanoshells - May 2005

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) using gold nanoparticles

Iron Oxide
Iron oxide may be used as a tool in thermal therapy of tumors. A first paper was published in 1957 regarding the use of iron oxide particles and heating in medical applications.

Selective Inductive Heating of Lymph Nodes - October 1957

A Mathematical Model of High Frequency Heating - February 2001

Intracellular and Extracellular Hyperthermia - May 2002

Heating the patient: a promising approach? - May 2002

Heating potential of iron oxides - February 2002

Hyperthermia in combined treatment of cancer - July 2002

Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles in Biomedicine - June 2003

Magnetic Nanoparticle Heating - February 2005

Folate-Conjugated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles - July 2005

Iron oxide is also used as a contrast agent.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide contrast agents - November 2001


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Jamming Online

The idea of Jamming Online has been around for a while. Todd Rundgren envisioned the online jam session as far back as the late seventies, when the Internet was just a set of ragged protocols. For those who remember, Resrocket (a.k.a Rocket Network) was a bold attempt to create an ad hoc network of musicians working with simple Digital Audio Workstations in a planet-wide virtual studio environment. It was a start...

Free Music
Though Rocket Networks fell into proprietary hands, it established an important precedent for overcoming geospatial limitations on musicians, allowing the creation of such organizations as the MIDI Jazz Network, Kolabora and many other projects. One focus of this Wikiversity learning project is to extend the online jamming paradigm to the open source/content world of Software freedom using things like LADSPA, JACK, open source VST, Audacity, and an array of other free audio tools.

The Workstation
NOTE: Money talks ...NOT!

Each participant in an online jam session needs some sort of Digital Audio Workstation. These can vary in complexity from the sublime to the ridiculous and can be built on anywhere from a shoestring budget to a King's Ransom. But before you jump into the bottomless pit of high finance, you might consider carefully those with whom you will cast your lot. If you wish to help produce audio resources of the .ogg (versus MP3) variety, you should probably consider the most primitive need – a connection to other musicians. The audio workstations used in this course will be built on that shoestring budget mentioned above. We might have to move forward as a group quite slowly at first, according to the emerging Wikiversity tradition of consensus desision-making as it relates to developing network standards for this harbinger of innovation.

Group Dynamics
CAUTION: Not for the faint of heart

The Blues and Rock Garage is a "place" at Wikiversity where jammers can meet to get started in a simple and basic hands-on experiential genre. Even if you are interested in pursuing higher musical goals like Jazz, you'll appreciate the hard hat area mentality we hope to work from to create the pioneering Sonic user interface – a Wikiversity exclusive.

To "get on the same page", you might get a handle on Getting started with sound recording, MIDI basics, Audio Engineering, Internet Audio and Video while keeping an eye on Wikiversity the Movie/music. It's not about you any more. Get over it. Need more Suggestions?

Session Logic
WARNING: hard hat area

The biggest problem to overcome in online jamming is latency produced within your local machine and across the planet-wide network. The open source JACK system (JACK Audio Connection Kit) fills the bill for a low-cost, low-latency, real-time audio hardware abstraction layer for your workstation. This component allows your local session a means by which to synchronize with the networked session. The goal is to bring the group of collaborators into a closer-to-realtime environment. But that's a long-term strategy for building our own open source approach to the session. Let's slow down a minute...

Tab Sheets
Getting on the same page

Tab sheets can be developed far in advance of a scheduled session. Like a musical score for an orchestra, a tab sheet provides that means of "getting on the same page" that we mentioned earlier. Collaboration at this level must be formed through standards and protocols, just like the Internet itself. We start with Basic Blues & Rock using the ubiquitous 12-bar blues in the key of E simply for good measure. ''I don't think we'll even need a tab sheet for this. Just make sure you agree that we shouldn't be doing anything too fancy while getting this bird off the ground.'' CQ

Collaborative Musicianship
Let's get personal

Jamming Online is an ambition. If you are not prepared emotionally to work with others, you may meet with the same hardships, heartbreaks and perceived failures experienced in the enigmatic music business out in the so-called "real world". This learning project is as simple and basic as it gets, but presents enormous potential.

We start by sweeping out the garage, getting on the same page and moving forward together. Doing this as a band should be fun, challenging and exciting – but not quick and easy in terms of the typical wiki-based workgroup. This project purports to be much more, involving emotional sensitivities, channeling creative urges, accommodating massive egos, meeting technical challenges, overcoming socio-economic obstacles, developing complex social relationships, competing with proprietary paradigms... all the while building a culture of musical awareness.

Chances are, you found this page by looking around at Wikiversity with certain personal goals in mind. You probably also have a set of life experiences that have introduced you to the prospects and problems of musical collaboration. As for me, I've had it with naysayers and unbelievers and frankly, I'm sick of my own lack of knowledge, drive and discipline – the true essentials. I do OK "down here" in the real world, but...

Resources

 * EQ Magazine Columns authored by Roger Nichols
 * w:Category:Free audio software (Wikipedia)
 * Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA)
 * WhatTheHell - a group with mchua that is planning on Jamming Online
 * Jon Michael Swift on YouTube by Jon_michael_swift
 * ...this list goes on and on...

Free tools

 * sofasession
 * Ninjam
 * cocompose.com
 * IndabaMusic.com - Indaba Music
 * - dlive-entertainment

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

title: Jamming Online


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User:Rockandroar

I am here to learn Spanish. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but am moving to Washington, DC in 2 months. I just turned 30 years old.

title: User:Rockandroar


text:
User:Sterling

=Why Modelling is crucial to Computer Science=

The Problem

 * 1) Although software development in the end delivers programs it is not mainly about programming.
 * 2) The critical jobs in software development lie in analysis (i.e. understanding of the customer) and design (i.e. deciding on the software architecture).
 * 3) Analysts and Designers (Architects) mainly work and think in models, e.g. of Use Cases, Component Structures etc.
 * 4) Thus modelling is central to software development (i.e. neither programming nor technical writing is).
 * 5) Modelling is about reducing complexity by focussing on certain aspects of a program, like its components and their interfaces in one view and the states of this system in another diagram.
 * 6) Modelling is done employing modelling languages, like Entity Relationship Diagrams or UML.
 * 7) The single parts of modelling languages are less expressive than a programming language, a component model is mainly a simple relation among its elements far from the expressive power of a type 3-2-1-0 (i.e. programming-)language.
 * 8) This simplification of language is restrictive but useful to decompose the program to it's really important aspects (like the user-view or the overall structure) leaving the details to the implementation.
 * 9) Thus the quality of the model (e.g. the way the program is structured) is central for the further work.
 * 10) So it is important for people in software development (especially for analysts and designers) to learn the trade of modelling, like programmers learn the trade of programming.
 * 11) As well as learning to program is not about learning instructions by heart, learning to model is not about learning all the elements of UML (or any other language).
 * 12) Instead, learning to model is about learning to differenciate good models from bad ones, to build good models efficiently, to form an opinion about a modelling language and to fit or even create a modelling language wrt certain purposes.
 * 13) This requires a good understanding about the concepts behind modelling languages.
 * 14) A well-structured course on modelling should teach the concepts behind modelling languages, starting from their basics in mathematics up to their application in real world languages like UML, SysML etc.
 * 15) Unfortunately there is no homogenous collection of such concepts today and also the coupling from basics to real world is very loose.
 * 16) So the concepts behind modelling still must be developed - not from scratch, since there is a lot that has been done already in different disciplines, but by bringing existing things together and showing their relevance to modelling.

The Approach

 * This course aims on a deep understanding of modelling. If some shallow knowledge is enough for your purposes you'll be happier with some good introduction to UML or similar.
 * Goals:
 * Sort out relevant theory, mainly in mathematics and theoretical computer science (also stating the prerequisites)
 * Systematically(!) link theory to practical issues (i.e. some punctual examples of application are not enough!)
 * By employing mathematical concepts for modelling purposes pure maths becomes applied maths
 * Since Modelling is about very elementary languages the theoretical background can be found mainly among the more simple formal languages, like e.g. relational first order languages or regular languages.

The Syllabus

 * Prerequisites:
 * Propositional Logic
 * Basic Predicate Logic
 * Baseline
 * Philosophy of modelling
 * Definition?
 * The Role of Sets
 * Typical scenario
 * Basic Set Theory
 * Basic operations
 * Modelling with sets
 * Algebraic Descriptions
 * Classification and Formal Concept Analysis
 * Equivalence classes
 * Concept
 * Relationships and Basic Finite Model Theory
 * Relational first order models
 * Characterisation of finite models
 * Describing properties of finite models
 * The useful parts of Graph Theory
 * Important properties of finite relational models
 * Relational patterns
 * tbc ...
 * What this subject is not about (differences and similarities)
 * Theories of Programming (Programming vs. Modelling)
 * ... although the basic idea is very similar
 * but as a software designer your job is modelling not programming
 * but as a software designer your job is modelling not programming

Bits and Bobs
Uniqueness of specification

Language Hierarchy

What Modelling is (about)

title: User:Sterling


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Wikiversity:Sonic user interface

Imagine strapping on a set of phones, clicking a listen link in the toolbox and hearing a sonic version of Wikiversity that automatically tracks your preferences and learning needs as you traverse the growing body of content here at the World's first community-built online learning environment. Imagine activating a hands-free microphone and chatting in real time on context-sensitive channel with other Wikiversitans who happen to be tuned to the same pages that you are.

Impossible?

Music
Imagine tuning in to live realtime sessions of musicians who are Jamming Online as you browse casually through Portals, speaking into your mic to request a tune, genre or style that you can sing along with. Imagine Wikiversity's own selection of classical ensembles, garage bands, chamber groups, choral groups and maybe someday even the Wikiversity Choir and Philharmonic. Will Wikiversity attract this kind of talent and energy?

Who knows?

We do. You are here. We are here. Others are scouting us out or joining as we think. Exponential growth or biological growth curves start small and grow slowly until overnight ... we are gigantic and polished and still growing and ever improving.

Engineering Challenges
The Wikiversity Way allows enormous potential for social interaction on many levels. Adding a sonic user interface that is transparent, easy-to-use, context-sensitive and uniquely innovative to Wikiversity is not going to be an easy task. However, even the most brief look at Wikibooks, Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Commons and other MediaWiki Engine users shows that the collective knowlege-base of this metacommunity is well on its way to meeting the challenge, especially considering outstanding credibility in the general area of Computer Science, Engineering and Technology. There is little doubt in the minds of Internet prospectors that the Multi-media demands are there. Wouldn't it be great if Schools could collaborate on pulling such a resource together?

Ideas?

News and Information
The new School of Journalism and Speech Departments can go farther, faster with a streamlined multi-media platform from which to operate. The broader Wikimedia Community could benifit from an expansive Internet Audio and Video application layer super-imposed upon the existing MediaWiki application. This technology can place Wikiversity in a leadership role and increase Wikimedia's visibility as an online metacommunity. New divisions and departments could spring up with unprecedented levels of practical focus in specialized areas such as Public Speaking, Background Music, Podcasting, Media Project Management, Current events and many other fields producing free multi-media content for a Global Free Internet public.

It's closer than you may think

Get Involved
Be bold Let's talk!

title: Wikiversity:Sonic user interface


text:
Talk:Wikiversity Reports

Augmenting this project
I proposed Sonic user interface in the project namespace because I think it's an integrated tool we have the resources to develop. The way I see it, Wikiversity Reports is a "tip of the iceberg" project with enormous potential, which I've also linked from other pages, notably Jamming Online. To augment the "vision", I'm forseeing a need for a Speech Department (which most colleges and universities have) and a Public Speaking learning resource for announsers and reporters. I've tied the proposal here to Wikiversity Reports suggesting that it's all "closer than you may think" but I forgot to even mention Wikiversity the Movie. It's a great starting point for something that could grow quickly into something fun and exiting.

Incidentally, I would also like to Report that we may need a Help:Toolbox page and should probably take a look at context sensitive help through the MediaWiki Project. I intuit that context sensitivity is also a possibility via the toolbox for this imagined listen feature. I think I've brought that up elsewhere and I'm still waiting for those MediaWiki devs to show up and help us understand how all that works. (Example:How does the MediaWiki Engine know to display "email this user"). Could this be applied to a listen button that knows I'm, for example at the Topic:Basic Blues & Rock page or at the Spanish Department's page? These departments may eventually prepare audio files that play automatically when the listen object is called.

I'm bringing these questions up here because I hope that this call could go out through our RSS feed, the mailing list and the existing news and reporting system which, in my opinion needs to be unified and mapped out a bit better. Maybe this can be coordinated through a Learning to learn a wiki way intervention of some sort. I'll bring it up there too, or you can. See Talk:Learning to learn a wiki way for another level of this line of reasoning.

 * I hope Wikiversity can help in the push to integrate multimedia content into Wikimedia Foundation wiki-based projects. We should take a close look at Multimedia and try to encourage Wikiversity participants in School:Computer Science to integrate their efforts via local Wikiversity learning projects like MediaWiki Project with the general effort to advance MediaWiki technology. --JWSchmidt 00:31, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wikiversity Reports


text:
User talk:Dgray

Elasticity and Materials Science
Dgray, thank you for responding. Thank you also for the excellent materials. Now may not be the best time if you are preparing for advanced exams. I contacted you initially to see if we could discuss alternate ways of organizing the materials. The slash that you have been using in the titles looks like subpages, which is a method of organization I like, but does not provide the built in interlinking back and forth between main topic or organizing pages and the sub pages. After you are done with exams or putting in the bulk of the material perhaps we can discuss further. I am willing and available to help reorganize the materials if we decide that is appropriate. We may also wish to consider starting an entire text book at www.wikibooks.org for students to use. Good luck with your exams! Mirwin 19:45, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

image upload
I noticed that you uploaded Image:Attenuation versus wavelength of silica fiber.png from MIT OCW. The license that you selected does not match the original license on the MIT site which is for non-commercial use only. I changed the image summary. Sorry, but the image will need to be deleted due to the CC non-commercial license being incompatible with Wikiversity. For more information see Copyrights and Uploading files. There is more info at w:Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. --mikeu 02:10, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problems

 * This is the image in question; please provide a source and a license template for it. Thanks. – Mike.lifeguard | @en.wb 22:21, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Dgray


text:
User talk:Royalguard11

 Please go here to leave me an urgent message on the English Wikipedia.  Please click [ here] to leave me a non-urgent message.

title: User talk:Royalguard11


text:
User:Royalguard11

I am w:User:Royalguard11. -Royalguard11 (Talk·@en) 00:37, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User:Royalguard11


text:
Learning the Basics of French/Lesson:Introducing Yourself/3

{| cellpadding="10" cellspacing="5" style="width: 99%; background-color: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto"
 * style="background-color: Cornsilk; border: 1px solid #777777; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 8px; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 8px; -moz-border-radius-topright: 8px; -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 8px;" colspan="2" |

Dialogue
Here is a sample conversation:

Marc and Jeanette have just met.

Marc: [[Media:Fr-bonjour-2.ogg|Bonjour]]. [[Media:Fr-Je m' appelle.oga|Je m'appelle]] Marc. Et toi?

Jeanette: [[Media:Fr-bonjour-2.ogg|Bonjour]], Marc! Moi, [[Media:Fr-Je m' appelle.oga|je m'appelle]] Jeanette. Quel âge as-tu?

Marc: J'ai seize ans, et toi?

Jeanette: J'ai dix-sept ans.

Marc: Oh lala, J'ai un rendez-vous, à demain!

Jeanette: À demain.

Translation:

Marc: Bonjour. Je m'appelle Marc. Et toi? Hello. My name is Marc. And You? Jeanette: Bonjour, Marc! Moi, je m'appelle Jeanette. Quel âge as-tu? Hello, Marc! My name is Jeanette. How old are you? Marc: J'ai seize ans, et toi? I am sixteen years old, and you? Jeanette: J'ai dix-sept ans. I am seventeen years old. Marc: Oh lala, J'ai un rendez-vous, à demain! Oh, I have an appointment, bye! Jeanette: À demain. Bye!

G: The verb avoir
"Avoir" can be translated as "to have".

Expressing Age
Avoir is used to express age.
 * Tu as quel âge? - How old are you? [lit: You have what age?]
 * J'ai trente ans. - I'm thirty (years old). [lit: I have thirty years]

Expressing Age
Avoir is used to express age.
 * Tu as quel âge? - How old are you? [lit: You have what age?]
 * J'ai trente ans. - I'm thirty (years old). [lit: I have thirty years]

 * }


text:
UML/MediaWiki

MediaWiki as an application can be mapped into a metamodel using two – no, three metaclasses:
 * Actors USER, GROUP
 * Objects TOPIC, CONTENT, PAGE, RESOURCE
 * Containers DOMAIN, NAMESPACE, SECTION, SCREEN

Depending on what we want to map and how it will be presented and used, we can build our metmodel according to one of the nine to thirteen diagram types (depending on how much resolution we need). It is nearly always best to build from the top down or from the general to the specific, as it were. You actually can't do this unless you are also involved in a build that is concurrently happening somewhere else, whether you are acutly aware of it or not.

In the MediaWiki use case this build happens first on a server down in Florida or someplace as the application is installed. "We", up here in the application and presentation world don't pay much attention to it, except for times like now, just to get it out of our stream of conciousness so we can move on to bigger and more urgent things. We want to join and continue the design process "upward and inward" thus getting over our feeling of being "down and out". Yes, I also study community psychology if that's a surprise

The OSI model is a good place to start visualizing our model. It lends itself well to the MediaWiki Engine and Wikimedia use case and because MediaWiki is an Internet application, we are pulled into the master CONTEXT of Internet protocols and standards inherent in an industry-standard basic reference model which we can use as a prototype. This is, of course subjective based on my viewpoint (all diagrams need a perspective), but watch what it can do if you flip it over. (You always have to be prepared to perform "mental gymnastics" when dealing with complex systems much in the same way that aviators must learn about inverted flight.)

See Internet for some local coverage of the OSI model

Physical layer
I type this stuff into this page using a keyboard – a physical object. It is my first interface to this PAGE which exists in the next layer up – the Data Link Layer. From my own personal Terminal object facility, the interface is an Editor that automagically appears when I click on a red link object, usually on another PAGE. The primary actor is me at least from my viewpoint, my SCREEN as I see it through my monitor – another physical object.

Data-link layer
The basic unit (unified model) that I work on is the PAGE object to which I have an interface aggregation I call a terminal down there in the physical layer. Up here in the Data Link Layer, I'm not so much worried about keystrokes and screen feedback as I am about spelling, grammer, syntax, semantics and other data streams that I'm building. My hope is to enter something that is mutually meaningful to other USER and GROUP entities like you and your pals whom I am connected to through the Network Layer

Network Layer
...variable length data sequences from a source to a destination... Please put on your hard hat

title: UML/MediaWiki


text:
Talk:UML/MediaWiki

Is there anybody out there?

 * Nope :) Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 01:31, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:UML/MediaWiki


text:
User:Pedromax~enwikiversity

I'm from Portugal. I'm thirty and I love film. I'm an amateur photographer (I'm working on my site) and a professional computer tech.

My passion for the visual arts derive from my lack of ability to hand draw. Fortunately there are this things called machines to help us :D. I think cinema is the natural extension from photography and that's why I'm here.

Right now I'm working on the storyboard thumbnails.

title: User:Pedromax~enwikiversity


text:
File:SeducedByTheDarkSidePedromax.pdf

Used with the WikiU Film School Lesson on how to format a movie script

title: File:SeducedByTheDarkSidePedromax.pdf


text:
Draft:Original research/Journalism

Journalism is a method of inquiry and literary style that aims to provide a service to the public by the dissemination and analysis of news and other information.

Theory of journalism
Def. the "aggregating, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles for widespread distribution, typically in periodical print publications and broadcast news media, for the purpose of informing the audience" or the "style of writing characteristic of material in periodical print publications and broadcast news media, consisting of direct presentation of facts or events with an attempt to minimize analysis or interpretation"

is called journalism.

Ethics and standards
Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by journalists is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism".

While various existing codes have some differences, most share common elements including the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public.

Like many broader ethical systems, journalism ethics include the principle of "limitation of harm" which often involves the withholding of certain details from reports such as the names of minor children, crime victims' names or information not materially related to particular news reports release of which might, for example, harm someone's reputation. Some journalistic codes of ethics, notably the European ones, also include a concern with discriminatory references in news based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved (in 1993) Resolution 1003 on the Ethics of Journalism, which recommends that journalists respect the presumption of innocence, in particular in cases that are still sub judice.

Entities
"Hegemonic leadership could also be provided by subordinated groups or classes in order to resist the ideas and actions of the dominant group."

Newsworthiness
"What is "newsworthy"? Newsworthy items pass three tests: They are specific, relevant, and fresh."

Specifics
"Each news article documents some specific event — the focus — which the headline and lede must identify. An ongoing process is unlikely to pass muster; look for some specific development in an ongoing process, to serve as the focus."

Relevants
"How many people does the story impact? [...] If the answer is a few hundred or less, the story would probably not be significant enough".

Def. the "condition of being of current interest; contemporary" is called topicality.

Freshness
Unpublished news is typically considered fresh when it's less than two or three days old.

Interviews
Def. a "conversation in person (or, by extension, over the telephone, Internet etc.) between a journalist and someone whose opinion or statements he or she wishes to record for publication, broadcast etc" is called an interview.

Arts journalism
On the right a journalist highlights the idea of bringing arts journalism into the mainstream media and its importance in current times.

Broadcast journalism
On the right, Police Commissioner Suleiman Kova answers and addresses the media at ground zero near the 2013 Dar es Salaam building collapse.

Business journalism
A television reporter interviews a corporate chief executive officer (CEO) in the image on the right.

Entertainment journalism
In the image on the right an entertainment journalist on the right interviews a couple of entertainers before cameras.

Fashion journalism
In the image on the right, a fashion journalist interviews a fashion model on camera.

Investigative journalism
Def. a "form of journalism in which the reporter deeply investigates a single topic of interest, often involving crime or corruption" is called investigative journalism.

"Reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers, or listeners [is investigative journalism]."

"An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors, and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and closely connected to publicity."

Local journalism
"For more than a century, local journalism has been taken almost for granted. But the twenty-first century has brought major challenges. The newspaper industry that has historically provided most local coverage is in decline and it is not yet clear whether digital media will sustain new forms of local journalism."

Local "news and journalism [has significance] for local communities and their economic, political, social and cultural life [...].”

“Journalism is changing, nowhere more rapidly than in locally produced news."

“We will never be able to compete with the national news outlets on scale. So instead, we will acknowledge our strengths: Proximity. Intimacy. Fidelity.”

"For years, local and regional news outlets have been assaulted from all sides. Our costly investigations and shoe-leather reporting are summarized into clicky headlines and shared wildly by profitable aggregators. Advertisers are leaving in droves for Google and Facebook. And every year, it seems we have fewer journalists left to do this crucial work."

"We will accept that digital display advertising on our sites alone won’t drive enough revenue to support our newsrooms, that the daily rise and fall of unique visitors has little to no actual correlation to the bottom line. With that understanding, we’ll pivot from our ruthless worship of Omniture to content and business strategies based upon a half-dozen or more revenue streams."

"We will quickly capitalize on opportunities to welcome ourselves into our neighbors’ homes using consumer toys like Amazon Echo and Playstation VR. The Flash Briefing is the logical evolution of the push alert strategy. Chat bots and text subscriptions will allow for personal-feeling interaction with local journalists, and also allow us to talk to you even when you turned off your news alerts."

"Local television stations will begin to look more like legacy news organizations; devoting more resources to social media strategy and mobile news presentation. Legacy news organizations will leverage new broadcasting power with streaming options like Facebook Live and will look more like local television stations. Both will place less weight on driving readers to our own .coms and seek instead to engage with them wherever we can find them. And we’ll make a little bit of cash by selling ad adjacencies, at an premium, on those platforms."

"If local news organizations want to jump on this train, they will need to sharpen their focus to producing meaningful experiences and irreplicable content only — useful breaking news, purposeful beat coverage, jaw-dropping investigations, and moving storytelling centered around regional identity."

Medical journalism
On the right is a photo of Danielle Krol, MD, calling a researcher that conducted the study she will report on.

Political journalism
President Richard M. Nixon, USA, poses with members of the press during his trip to Shanghai, China on 28 February 1972.

Sports journalism
Sports reporters converge on Marcos René Maidana at right after his victory in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 23, 2011.

Technology journalism
On the right, tech journalism reporter Joshua Topolsky interviews Julie Uhrman about OUYA! at SZSW.

Video-game journalism
In the image at right Shaun Clark is interviewed by a British Broadcasting Company reporter regarding Team Dignitas.

Video journalism
"Video Journalism will assist you to develop a video news story that may have the density for further development, to become a current affairs piece and ultimately a documentary film. This study schedule, therefore, is a production process that an independent video journalist can follow with the view to broadcasting their work through reputable news outlets, or disseminating it through online open source news media channels like Wikinews."

War journalism
In the image on the right, Marion von Haaren, a correspondent for the German public television station ARD interviews German Army General Karl-Heinz Lather, chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Allied Command Operations, NATO, after a mission briefing Oct. 7, 2009, at Forward Operating Base Ghazni, Afghanistan.

Compositions
A newspaper, or online, feature article is composed of the following:
 * 1) a lede,
 * 2) topic sentence,
 * 3) a body, and an
 * 4) ending.

The ratio of each of these may depend on the audience. In an inverted pyramid style the ratios are about 5:3:2 for lede (including topic sentence), body, and ending.

There is also what's called a "news-peg" or "hook", a focus, something that will interest a reader, usually the first sentence or the title.

The following elements should be present: What, When, Where, Why, Who, and How. Nearly all of these elements must appear somewhere in the story.

Def. "the state or condition of being" with "all parts included; with nothing missing; full" is called completeness.

Hypotheses

 * 1) The dominant group in journalism determines the course and focus of journalists.

title: Draft:Original research/Journalism


text:
Wikiversity:Open Proxies/b

p t q b s n c

title: Wikiversity:Open Proxies/b


text:
Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is the study of heat. Thermodynamics produces a wide range of applications such as steam engines and heat pumps. "Thermodynamics" comes from the Greek words "therme" which means heat and "dynamikos" which means force, or power. So, "Thermodynamics" is essentially the study of forces due to heat or heat due to forces. It deals with the conversion of energies through various forms and to various systems, as well as energies' relationships with the properties of a system.

Within the engineering sciences, Thermal Engineering deals with the applications of thermodynamics to work producing and work absorbing devices, often to understand and improve their performance.

Terminology
An understanding of the common terminology would be very useful before going further.

System: The region of interest for the purpose study. It is assumed that this region can be considered separated or weakly-interacting with the rest of the Universe.

Boundary: An imaginary line that encompasses the region of interest. It should be noted that boundary effects are neglected in Thermodynamics. This can be justified by comparing the number of molecules in a volume of condensed matter to the number of molecules near the surface.

Equilibrium: The state where heat flow into and out of the system are equal. In the case of static equilibrium, no change in temperature occurs. During dynamic equilibrium, more heat flows into the system at certain times, and out at others, so that the temperature does change, but, on average, still stays the same.

Microscopic and Macroscopic Descriptions: The state of a system can be specified in two key ways. The first is with a microscopic description, where the position and momentum of every particle is specified. The other is a macroscopic description, where a relatively few thermodynamic variables (i.e. temperature, pressure, volume) are specified.

Heat: Energy transfer due to temperature difference.

Work: Energy transfer due to movement.

Temperature: Temperature is a property which measures the degree of hotness or coldness of body. This is due to molecular vibration.

Principal laws of Thermodynamics

 * Zeroeth law of thermodynamics states that if two objects are each in thermal equilibrium with a third, then they are also in thermal equilibrium with each other.
 * The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed.
 * The second law of thermodynamics states that dQ=TdS. Here dQ is the change of heat,T is the temperature in Kelvin and dS is the entropic change.
 * The third law of thermodynamics states that at absolute zero (the lowest possible temperature), there is no molecular movement.

Introduction to Thermodynamics
Now let's see the chapters we will cover in what can be called an "Introduction to Thermodynamics" as a University course. Here we are:

 * /Thermal Properties Of Matter/
 * /Temperature And Heat/
 * /The First Law Of Thermodynamics/
 * /The Second Law of Thermodynamics/

title: Thermodynamics


text:
What do the unions do?

The project aims to assess which are the labour unions' goals. What do they maximize? Only the wage rate as the Nickell's Right-to-Manage model states, both the wage rate and the level of empoloyment as in the McDonald and Solow's Efficient Bargaining, or both the wage rate and the hours of work as in Pencavel's? The literature on labour unions still have not found an answer and the empirical evidence does not seem to confirm the first two. Anyone who has opinions, empirical evidence or theoretical works can is welcomed to contribute to the project. In particular the literature of labour unions should still find evidence about the relation between hours of work and level of employment. Any contribution on the field is welcomed!

Discussion questions and essay ideas

 * How have labor unions helped workers throughout history?
 * How have labor unions benefited and harmed companies throughout history?

Wikipedia

 * Trade union
 * Union prevalence worldwide
 * International Labour Organization
 * Labor unions in the United States
 * Labor history of the United States

title: What do the unions do?


text: Project management/Preparation 2

title: Project management/Preparation 2


text: Project management/Status Report

title: Project management/Status Report


text:
School:Geophysics

Welcome to the Wikiversity School of Geophysics.

Geophysics, the study of planets (primarily Earth) by quantitative methods specific to Physics. It especially relates to a planets Physics phenomena, including studies on seismic forces, electromagnetic fields, and radioactivity. The included subjects interrelate with other sciences, including The School of Earth Sciences.

Resources

 * Seismology (earthquakes and elastic waves)
 * Gravity and geodesy (the earth's gravitational field and the size and form of the earth)
 * Atmospheric science, which includes:
 * Atmospheric electricity and terrestrial magnetism (including ionosphere, Van Allen belts, telluric currents, Radiant energy, etc.)
 * Meteorology and Climatology, which both involve studies of the weather.
 * Aeronomy, the study of the physical structure and chemistry of the atmosphere.
 * Geothermometry (heating of the earth, heat flow, volcanology, and hot springs)
 * Hydrology (ground and surface water, sometimes including Glaciology)
 * Physical oceanography
 * Tectonophysics (geological processes in the earth)
 * Exploration and engineering geophysics
 * Geophysical Engineering
 * Geodesy
 * Petrophysics
 * Applied geophysics
 * Mineral Physics
 * Engineering geology
 * Planetary Science

=References=

 * Geophysics
 * Planetary Science
 * Space Physics

Active participants
The histories of Wikiversity pages indicate who the active participants are. If you are an active participant in this school, you can list your name here (this can help small schools grow and the participants communicate better; for large schools it is not needed).
 * Since 26 November 2014 with creating the lecture Geoseismology --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 23:42, 15 April 2018 (UTC)

School news

 * 6 January 2007 - School founded!

title: School:Geophysics


text: Project management/Resources

title: Project management/Resources


text: Project management/Audit

title: Project management/Audit


text:
Portal:Geotechnical engineering

Welcome to the department of Geotechnical engineering!

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering includes investigating existing subsurface conditions and materials; assessing risks posed by site conditions; designing earthworks and structure foundations; and monitoring site conditions, earthwork and foundation construction.

A typical geotechnical engineering project begins with a site investigation of soil and bedrock on and below an area of interest to determine their engineering properties including how they will interact with, on or in a proposed construction. Site investigations are needed to gain an understanding of the area in or on which the engineering will take place. Investigations can include the assessment of the risk to humans, property and the environment from natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, sinkholes, soil liquefaction, debris flows and rock falls.

A geotechnical engineer then determines and designs the type of foundations, earthworks, and/or pavement subgrades required for the intended man-made structures to be built. Foundations are designed and constructed for structures of various sizes such as high-rise buildings, bridges, medium to large commercial buildings, and smaller structures where the soil conditions do not allow code-based design.

Foundations built for above-ground structures include shallow and deep foundations. Retaining structures include earth-filled dams and retaining walls. Earthworks include embankments, tunnels, levees, channels, reservoirs, deposition of hazardous waste and sanitary landfills.

Geotechnical engineering is also related to coastal and ocean engineering. Coastal engineering can involve the design and construction of wharves, marinas, and jetties. Ocean engineering can involve foundation and anchor systems for offshore structures such as oil platforms.

Wikimedia

 * Geotechnical engineering

title: Portal:Geotechnical engineering


text:
User:MichaelBillingtonBot~enwikiversity

MichaelBillingtonBot was a bot run by Michael Billington to generate RSS feeds for Wikiversity learning blogs.

An example blog (and RSS feed for it) to demonstrate what it did can be found here. A list of RSS feeds which the bot bot maintained is located at /Feeds

If you see the bot playing up, please block it and inform me of the problem. If all you see is a bug (which isn't anything that you'd block the bot for) then just leave a note and I'll see what I can do to fix it.

How to set up the bot to make an RSS feed of your Wikiversity blog
The bot makes a feed for every page with Rssbot on it. Here is an example use of the template:

Both fields are optional, but it's best you set them. Other fields are  (default is 'en', shouldn't really need to be changed) and   (which takes the newest items from the bottom, for talk pages rather than blogs - set this to 'true' to use this feature)

title: User:MichaelBillingtonBot~enwikiversity


text: User talk:Rtrevoux

title: User talk:Rtrevoux


text:
User talk:Julia B~enwikiversity

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Julia B. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Julia B~enwikiversity that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:40, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:12, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Julia B~enwikiversity


text: Wikiversity:Open Proxies/List7

title: Wikiversity:Open Proxies/List7


text:
Boolean algebra

Introduction
Boolean algebra is a specialized algebraic system that deals with boolean values, i.e. values that are either true or false. It forms part of a system called boolean logicwp, but we will discuss it here as part of a course on digital electronics.

Boolean algebra describes logical and sets operations. A logical operation might be for example: "I have flour and water, I can make dough". In a case where I have flour and water, this statement is true. If one of the elements is not true then it is clearly false. Another might be: "I have eggs or bacon, I have food" In a case where I had eggs but not bacon, or if I had only bacon, or if I had eggs and bacon, the statement I have food would be true. Only if I did not have eggs nor bacon would "I have food" be false.

Boolean Algebra works like this. One creates statements that are true only if all their component statements are true.

Now, taking the first example lets replace flour with a letter representative of it: F, water with W, and dough with D. In order to write it out, we need a symbol for "and". The symbol for "and" in boolean algebra is $$\land$$. Therefore, bringing the above together, "I have flour and water, I can make dough" could be described: $$F \land W = D$$

Symbols
We now have the concept of symbols that can be true and false, and symbols describing logic. Lets have a look at these logic operations:

To add a bit of confusion, engineers often use + for OR and a multiply sign, x or * for AND. Some use a line above a symbol or expression to signify NOT, whereas others use the symbol ! after a term, or the symbol ~ before a term, to signify NOT. Examples:
 * $$\land$$ Signifies a logical AND.
 * $$\lor$$ Signifies a logical OR.
 * $$\lnot$$ Signifies a logical NOT.
 * $$\rightarrow$$ Signifies logical implication.
 * q = a*b means if a AND b is true, q is true
 * q = a+b means if either a OR b is true, q is true
 * q = a! means if a is true, q is false. If a is false, q is true (i.e., q is the opposite of a)

Operations, One by one:
 * $$\land$$ signifies AND. I like to remember this by its similarity to an 'n'.
 * AND describes a situation where the statement is true if and only if the parts on its left and its right are true.

 * $$\lor$$ signifies OR.
 * OR describes a situation where the statement is true if at least one of the parts on its left or its right are true. (Note that if both a and b are true, a+b is still true)

 * $$\lnot$$ signifies NOT.
 * NOT inverts the symbol or bracketed expression following it. So if A is true and I say B = $$\lnot$$A then B is false.

 * $$\rightarrow$$ signifies implication.
 * Implication means that if the part on the left is true, then the part on the right is true. It does not, however, say anything meaningful if the part on the left is false, for example, "If apples and oranges exist, then something exists" is certainly true, as apples and oranges exist, and something exists, but "If apples exist but oranges do not, then something exists" is also true, although oranges do exist, making "apples exist but oranges do not" false.

Truth Tables:
A truth table is a mathematical table which describes the output of a logical function in terms of its inputs for all combinations of different inputs.

Rules and Syntax
We now know the symbols usable in boolean algebra, and what they mean, and have seen a few basic examples. Now let's have a look at rules and syntax:

Combining Operations
So two elements contributing to one result is all very well, but what if I consider bacon and eggs and Cheese food? Elements can simply be chained together by putting in more operations. So the above would be: $$ Bacon \land Eggs \land Cheese $$ But what about if you have both OR and AND operations present? In order to clearly and unambiguously communicate our equation, we have to use parentheses(brackets). Bracketed expressions are solved from the innermost brackets first. For example: If I only consider only Bacon AND Eggs a meal, but cheese is also a meal on its own I would write: $$ \text{I have }((Bacon \land Eggs) \lor Cheese)=\text{I have a meal}$$ If I only consider Bacon AND Eggs, or Bacon AND Cheese a meal but anyone item alone, or egg and cheese not to be a proper meal I would write: $$\text{I have }(Bacon \land (Eggs \lor Cheese))=\text{I have a meal}$$

Just as in ordinary algebra, where multiplication takes priority over addition AND takes priority (or precedence) over OR. In fact, AND can be written as × and OR as +, and the instinctive notion of order of operations applies directly to Boolean Algebra.

title: Boolean algebra


text:
The Question

A common theme of science fiction is speculation about the ultimate effects of technology on human existence. Some authors have imagined that all technological discoveries and changes will be accomplished in the distant future while others have suggested that technological change is a fundamentally exponential process that will culminate in the relatively near future (Technological singularity). Many such speculations involve a role for intelligent devices that might be able to catalyze technological change at a very rapid pace. Douglas Adams turned such speculations on their head and wrote about computing devices of the future that reveal the ultimate truth of the universe to be an absurdity. Why is it natural for people to imagine that there are fundamental questions about the universe that we should be able to answer using technology?

Religion
Douglas Adams had fun with the idea that there is some technological way (such as a powerful thinking machine) to answer an ultimate single Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Within some religions there is an identifiable religious cosmology that provides answers to questions about the origin, structure or fate of the universe. "Cosmology" appears as a "universal element of human culture" in a list of such elements that was created by George Murdock. In some cultures, origin stories might remain part of the domain of informal folklore while in some cultures these issues of ultimate origins, structure and fate are taken up and formalized as elements of important religions.

The scientific and technological revolutions of Western European culture have produced a cultural environment in which it is common practice to explore the idea that technology might be able to answer fundamental cosmological questions. To what extent was the religious cosmology of Western Europe suited to the development of science and technology? How were important naturalists such as Newton and Darwin able to deal with the limits of religious cosmology and move their thinking into new areas that were important for the ultimate advancement of science and technology? How have the contributions of religious philosophers effected this process?

Philosophy
Philosophy attempts to answer the Question with logical induction: a combination of intuition and measured objectivity. The philosopher says: this is the answer because the world is like this and that, and I know the allegory to be true, in my heart. To the scientist, the philosopher questions the reliability of sensory perception. To the religionist, the philosopher wonders about the lack of appeal to objectivity.

Science
Science attempts to answer the Question with a measured analysis of the objective world. The scientist says: this is the answer because my experiment repeatedly proves it.

Technology is all we know today. Most, if not all of our advances in humanity as a whole, are very closely related to developing technology. With every new advance, we find new answers to dilemmas that have plagued us. Technology will not be the enemy in the future. Deciding on where to apply it, and knowing when to say stop, is where there will be a problem. Technology is nothing more than a tool humans use to get work done. Technology is an aid, not an oracle. Technology is not science. The striked-out text is nothing but conjecture and opinion, and furthermore is irrelevant to the discussion of science and "The Question".

There is a feedback process that links science and technology. Growth of scientific understanding supports the development of new technologies and technological advances make new scientific studies possible. Human experience with current technologies and awareness of how new advances in science and technology have in the past provided new insights into long-standing mysteries makes it natural for people to wonder if there are limits to what we can learn about the world by making use of science and technology. Are we unavoidably trapped in a universe that cannot be completely understood from "inside" or do science and technology have the power to eventually answer even the "ultimate" questions about everything? Are our intuitions about the power of science and technology hopelessly biased by recent history and is it silly to expect that our current expectations about "ultimate" questions might have any long-lasting importance?

title: The Question


text:
Brass instruments

Presentation
The members of the brass family of instruments produce a tone that can range from the very mellow and sweet to the very harsh and loud. Often used as both section and solo instruments in a wide range of musical styles, brass instruments are used in nearly every stylistic context.

There are several features common among all instruments of the brass family :

 * A mouthpiece, playable on its own, but very rarely played alone ;
 * A length of metal tubing, the shape of which determines the pitch and tone quality of the instrument ;
 * A method by which the length of the tubing is changed (although certain instruments do not contain such a device, such as the bugle).

A tone is produced by "buzzing" on the mouthpiece, creating vibrations through the length of tubing. The lengh of the tube is typically changed in two ways : valves and a slide.

title: Brass instruments


text: User talk:Timthompson

title: User talk:Timthompson


text:
User:Sirgregsalot

Real Name : Greg

Occupation :
 * Student at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.
 * Summer band instructor
 * Trombone instructor

Musical Resumé :
 * Areas of Study :
 * Music Education
 * Composition
 * Awards :
 * John Phillip Sousa Award
 * Awarded a scholarship to Birch Creek Music Camp, at the La Crosse Jazz Festival, La Crosse, WI
 * Current Member :
 * Concordia College Band
 * Concordia College Orchestra
 * Concordia College Jazz Ensemble I
 * Past Member :
 * '04-'05 and '05-'06 Minnesota Allstate Band
 * St. Olaf Honor Band
 * A jazz combo, self-run
 * Guest Member :
 * Hamline University Orchestra and Wind Ensemble
 * Roseville Big Band, as a section player and soloist
 * Fargo-Moorhead Symphony (concert date : Jan. 20/21, 2007)
 * Taken lessons on :
 * Trombone
 * Clarinet
 * Piano
 * Organ
 * Current Projects :
 * Writing a commision for the Illinois Wesleyan horn choir
 * Starting a site for the exchange of sheet music under Creative Commons licences.

title: User:Sirgregsalot


text:
User talk:Sirgregsalot

sheet music
"Starting a site for the exchange of sheet music under Creative Commons licenses" <-- What file format(s) would be used for this? --JWSchmidt 17:00, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Sirgregsalot


text: Category:Aviation

title: Category:Aviation


text:
Talk:Materials Science and Engineering/Cancer Treatment and Materials Science

"This is an example of a nanovector that is highly selective" <-- In what sense is the "vector" selective? --JWSchmidt 20:57, 6 January 2007 (UTC)


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Intelligent Agents

An intelligent agent is a machine (either virtual or physically realized) that is provided input from its environment and generates output based on the input. An agent differs from a mathematical function or computer subroutine in that an agent interacts with its environment for an extended amount of time. Human beings are examples of intelligent agents. Human beings receive stimuli to their nervous systems from the world around them and respond with appropriate actions. A simple example seen in real life, is the robotic vacuum cleaner that changes its movements in response to readings taken from the environment, with the result that the robot appears to navigate intelligently around obstacles.

An agent's inner workings may either keep a record of past input or determine its output only from its current input. If an agent's output only depends on its current input, a simple acyclic arrangement of logic gates may determine the output, and hence the appropriate action, from the the values present at the current time on its input sensors. In this context acyclic implies that the outputs of the logic gates can't feed back into previous inputs. Cyclic logic gate arrangements allow circuits to act as memory (e.g. with flip-flops) and so make decisions based not only on the current state of the world, but also by considering things that have happened in the past. If an agent can store past inputs and its actions depend on past inputs, it can be described formally as a finite state automaton (FSA). A finite state automaton can be in one of a (finite) number of internal states. Each time a FSA receives an input, it may produce an output and may change its internal state. Both the output and the new internal state depend on both the current input and the internal state. Because a FSA has a limited number of internal states, an agent can only store a maximum amount of information about its past experiences. Because an agent cannot keep a memory of every input it has received, an agent must be able to determine what information is worth remembering.

Although any agent can be described in principle with a FSA, in practice the FSA model may not be the easiest way to understand an intelligent agent. It may be easier to understand some agents as consisting of neural networks or other computational components.

title: Intelligent Agents


text: User talk:ChronicElement

title: User talk:ChronicElement


text: User talk:First Harmonic

title: User talk:First Harmonic


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High school trigonometry for physics

Trigonometric Functions

The following trigonometric functions are defined for all right triangles. A right triangle is a triangle in which one of the angles is right, in other words 90 degrees. The sum of the two other angles always adds up to 90 degrees. The longest side in the triangle is called the hypotenuse, and it is always opposite to the right angle. The two remaining sides are called catheti. A cathetus is either one of the two sides which are adjacent to the right angle.

To make use of the trigonometric functions listed below, one has to understand that each and every one of them is always performed on a desired angle. One can imagine "standing" in the desired angle. The adjacent cathetus is the side directly connected with the angle, and the opposite cathetus is the side furthest away (not connected to the specific angle in any way). The dilemma arises when one is standing in the right angle, since then both catheti are adjacent and neither is opposite. To understand, for instance, why the cosine for 90 degrees is defined, it is necessary to understand the basics of the unit circle. For a high-school physicist, however, it is often more important to get the raw data, in this case the length of a side or the size of a specific angle, than understanding the mathematics behind it.

 * $$\sin \theta = { \mathrm{opposite} \over \mathrm{hypoteneuse} }$$

 * $$\cos \theta = { \mathrm{adjacent} \over \mathrm{hypoteneuse} }$$

 * $$\tan \theta = { \mathrm{opposite} \over \mathrm{adjacent} }$$

 * $$\cot \theta = \frac{1}{\tan\theta} = { \mathrm{adjacent} \over \mathrm{ opposite } } $$

A common mnemonic device for remembering these operations is Soh-Cah-Toa. Sin=Opposite/Hypoteneuse, Cos=Adjacent/Hypoteneuse, Toa=Opposite/Adjacent.

 * $$\sec \theta = \frac{1}{\cos\theta}={ \mathrm{hypoteneuse} \over \mathrm{adjacent} }$$

 * $$\csc \theta = \frac{1}{\sin\theta} = { \mathrm{hypoteneuse} \over \mathrm{opposite} }$$

Identities

 * $$\tan \theta = { \sin \theta \over \cos \theta } $$

 * $$\sin^2 \theta + \cos^2 \theta = 1  \, $$

 * $$1 + \tan^2 \theta = { 1 \over \cos^2 \theta} $$

 * $$\tan 2 \theta = { 2\tan\theta \over { 1 - \tan^2 \theta} } $$
 * $$c^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab\cos(C)$$
 * $$c^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab\cos(C)$$

title: High school trigonometry for physics


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Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

Knowledge can be represented within the machine environment using several different approaches. The most common approach is with propositional calculus or with first order predicate calculus. This approach is common to mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, and conventional computer science. Another approach is through Theory-based Semantics, which states that knowledge is dynamically expressed through associative relationships of concepts, ideas and thought patterns that constrain meaning according to the theory that justifies their relationships. Logic-based representations assumes that meaning is represented through language-based propositions that adhere to universal truth-conditions, whereas theory-based semantics take the quantum relativist view, that meaning exists as a condition under which it can be verified and certified as acceptable without regard to universal truth-conditions. In either case, the test of veracity of any knowledge representation is in its capacity to reduce question uncertainty. Those who adhere to the theory-based semantics approach, accept logic-based representations as valid for mechanical, process oriented behaviors, but question the fidelity of this system of thought when reasoning with behaviors common to the human experience such as beliefs, values, and social behavior. From their perspective, axiological, value-based knowledge representations transcend the limitations of logic.

Logic-based Representations
Propositional calculus deals with the truth or falsehood of logical statements (propositions). Predicate calculus deals with statements involving the properties of objects (these properties and relationships are called predicates like verbs are in grammar).

In propositional calculus variables such as p, q and r, are used to represent truth or falsehood. These variables are modified and joined with operators such as and, or, and not. All of these combine two statements into a single statement except for not, which only modifies one statement. There is a standard way to represent these logical operators in symbolic logic. OR is represented with a sans-serif, capital V (from the Latin vel). AND is represented with the same symbol as OR, but upside-down (resembling the A in and). NOT is represented with a tilde (~), but is also written another way. A statement involving several variables can be called a compound statement. A compound statement's value (true or false) is determined from the values of the variable inside it. A statement that is the negation (the not operation) of another has the opposite truth value. If p is true, ~p is false, and vice versa. A statement formed with the and operation is true only if both of the statements joined are true, it is false otherwise. A statement formed with the or operation is true if at least one the statements joined together are true (one or the other, or both), and false if both statements are false.

Reasoning in propositional calculus consists of determining whether statements are true or false in the presence of incomplete information. This can be done using logical equivalences such as the associativity and commutativity of AND and OR, and the double negative law.

First order predicate calculus allows more expressiveness than propositional calculus. Predicate calculus allows properties of arbitrary objects to be described. Predicate calculus includes two quantifiers. The existential quantifier is used to state that an object with a given property exists and can be read as "there exist". The universal quantifier is used to state that all objects have a property and can be read as "for all". The existential quantifier is written as a backwards capital sans-serif E. The universal quantifier is written as an upside-down sans-serif capital A.  The universal quantifier and the existential quanifier are related to each other; if all objects have a property, then no object exists that doesn't have that property. Peano's axioms define numbers using first order predicate calculus, except for the law of induction which requires second order predicate logic, where properties can have properties (e.g. equality being transitive). Peano's axioms say that 1 is a number, every number has a successor (which is also a number), that no number has 1 as a successor (1 is the first number), that no two numbers have the same successor (the number doesn't have forks), and states the law of induction (if 1 has a property, and any number having that property means the next number has it too, then all numbers have that property). First order predicate calculus is used instead of higher order logics in knowledge representation because it is more difficult to do reasoning in higher order logics, and first order logic usually is expressive enough.

Theory-based Semantics
Theory-based semantics as defined by Dr. Richard L. Ballard, describes knowledge representations that are based on the premise that the binding element of human thought is "theory," and that theory constrains the meaning of concepts, ideas and thought patterns according to their associative relationships. For this reason, knowledge stores of theory-based semantic representations do not just represent meaning, they precisely embody the very knowledge they are intended to represent - they KNOW. Ballard's Knowledge Science says that knowledge (Knowledge = Theory + Information), is any input of theory or facts that reduces question uncertainty. From this perspective, theory represents 85% or more of knowledge with information (data, facts of situations and circumstances), representing 15% or less. The built-in, a`priori intelligence of theory also defines concept values and purpose, which in turn, determines each concepts influence on every other concept, idea or thought pattern with which it is associated. Theory-based semantics holds that this state of intelligence is valid whether a concept is held in the mind, or is represented within the machine environment. Once learned by people or machines, theory endures with great tenacity, changing only when new paradigms of thought subsumes or replaces the well-justified theories that we use to understand our world. The endurance of data and facts, however, are quite different. They are in a constant state of flux as situations and circumstances dynamically change one moment to the next. From the standpoint of theory-based semantics, most appearances of change are not new - they are only new to us. The facts may be different, but most often, the theory that defines situations and circumstances remains the same.

title: Knowledge Representation and Reasoning


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User talk:Jeanpol

We could use your help at the French Department--Elatanatari 23:04, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jeanpol


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Constraint satisfaction

Constraint satisfaction is the group of problems in which finding the solution involves discovering a suitable group of parameters such that the that result falls with some pre-defined boundaries. Many real-world problems can be described as constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). Engineering is a CSP where an object must be specified with a certain cost that performs a given task. Airline routing is a CSP where cost and customer satisfaction are constraints. Coloring a map using a limited number of colors is a CSP. Designing software can even be described as a CSP where program size, memory usage, cost to produce, the average time it takes a user to complete a task etc. are constraints.

Many NP-complete problems are constraint satisfaction problems (e.g. boolean satisfiability where a set of input truth values must be found that causes a statement of propositional logic to be true). Because the consensus is that NP-complete problems are intractable (cannot be solved on a computer in time polynomial to the size of the problem), even with quantum computing, it is likely that in general constraint satisfaction problems cannot be solved perfectly. Because of the importance of CSPs in the real world, and the difficulty in solving them, developing algorithms to efficiently solve CSPs is an important field. Algorithms can be designed that attempt to find a perfect solution in the smallest amount of time, or find the best possible solution given limited time. --ChronicElement 23:30, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

title: Constraint satisfaction


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User talk:Mathew~enwikiversity

Criminal Justice
I just made a new page for Criminal Justice. Wikiversity schools function as collaborative development projects for learning resources in a particular subject area. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. --JWSchmidt 23:55, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Seems like JWSchmidt beat me to it! But welcome to Wikiversity, Mathew - and if you need a hand with anything, no matter how apparently trivial, please don't hesitate to ask. All the best with the new Criminal Justice school - you might want to invite colleagues who you think might be interested, or hang around related pages on Wikiversity to notify people there of its existence. I've added a note on Announcements - you might also want to list it at School:Law, or add a note to its talk page, or the talk pages of the interested people there. Also, if you feel that this new school would be better as a department of the school of law, this can be easily changed - just let me know. Cheers! Cormaggio talk 10:40, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Mathew. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Mathew~enwikiversity that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:42, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:15, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mathew~enwikiversity


text: Category:Criminal Justice

title: Category:Criminal Justice


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Portal:Genetic engineering

Welcome to the Wikiversity Department of Genetic Engineering.

The Department of Genetic Engineering is a Wikiversity content development project where participants create, organize and develop learning resources for genetic engineering.

Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM) and gene splicing are terms for the process of manipulating genes, usually outside the organism's natural reproductive process.

It involves the isolation, manipulation and reintroduction of DNA into cells or model organisms, usually to express a protein. The aim is to introduce new characteristics or attributes physiologically or physically, such as making a crop resistant to a herbicide, introducing a novel trait, or producing a new protein or enzyme, along with altering the organism to produce more of certain traits. Examples can include the production of human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the production of erythropoietin in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the OncoMouse (cancer mouse) for research, through genetic redesign.

Since a protein is specified by a segment of DNA called a gene, future versions of that protein can be modified by changing the gene's underlying DNA. One way to do this is to isolate the piece of DNA containing the gene, precisely cut the gene out, and then reintroduce (splice) the gene into a different DNA segment. Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith received the 1978 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their isolation of restriction endonucleases, which are able to cut DNA at specific sites. Together with ligase, which can join fragments of DNA together, restriction enzymes formed the initial basis of recombinant DNA technology.

The "topic" namespace contains pages that are for management and organization of small academic units at Wikiversity such as departments (see: Topics).

Department news

 * 6 January 2007 - Department founded!

Learning projects
See: Learning Projects and the Learning model.

Learning materials and learning projects are located in the main Wikiversity namespace. Simply make a link to the name of the learning project (learning projects are independent pages in the main namespace) and start writing! We suggest the use of the learning project template (use "subst:Learning project boilerplate" on the new page, inside the double curved brackets – ).

Learning materials and learning projects can be used by multiple departments. Cooperate with other departments that use the same learning resource.

Remember, Wikiversity has adopted the "learning by doing" model for education. Lessons should center on learning activities for Wikiversity participants. We learn by doing.

Select a descriptive name for each learning project.

Related news

 * May 16, 2007 - Hair follicles re-awakened in mice ...

Wikipedia

 * Genetic engineering

title: Portal:Genetic engineering


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User:Roadrunner~enwikiversity/Paper drafts

Here are some paper drafts, that I am working on.

 * Critique of Elenanor Fox's working paper on local protectionism and the anti-monopoly law
 * Toward a theory of corporate governance in China's socialist market economy
 * Global Imbalances: The Best of All Possible Worlds
 * Valuation of options using lottery ticket securities
 * Valuation of Renminbi options using a flucutation-dissipation model
 * Undergraduate education: A systems approach
 * Global imbalances: What is the endgame?
 * Passion and international law: A social constructivist approach