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Elite (video game)

Elite is a space trading video game. It was written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell and originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. Elite's open-ended game model, and revolutionary 3D graphics led to it being ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of "Elite".

Elite was one of the first home computer games to use wire-frame 3D graphics with hidden-line removal. It added graphics and twitch gameplay aspects to the genre established by the 1974 game Star Trader. Another novelty was the inclusion of The Dark Wheel, a novella by Robert Holdstock which gave players insight into the moral and legal codes to which they might aspire.

The Elite series is among the longest-running video game franchises. The first game was followed by the sequels Frontier: Elite II in 1993, and Frontier: First Encounters in 1995, which introduced Newtonian physics, realistic star systems and seamless freeform planetary landings. A third sequel, Elite Dangerous, began crowdfunding in 2012 and was launched on 16 December 2014, following a period of semi-open testing; it received a paid-for expansion season, Horizons, on 15 December 2015.

Elite proved hugely influential, serving as a model for other games including Wing Commander: Privateer, Grand Theft Auto, EVE Online,  Freelancer, the X series   and No Man's Sky.

Non-Acorn versions were each first published by Firebird and Imagineer. Subsequently, Frontier Developments has claimed the game to be a "Game by Frontier" to be part of its own back catalogue and all the rights to the game have been owned by David Braben.

Gameplay

The player initially controls the character "Commander Jameson", though the name can be changed each time the game is saved. The player starts at Lave Station with 100 credits and a lightly armed trading ship, a Cobra Mark III. Most of the ships that the player encounters are similarly named after snakes or other reptiles. Credits can be accumulated through a number of means. These include piracy, trade, military missions, bounty hunting and asteroid mining. The money generated by these enterprises allows the player to upgrade their ship with enhancements such as better weapons, increased cargo capacity, an automated docking system, an extra energy bank and more.

In the game universe, stars have single planets, each with a space station in its orbit. Stars are always separated by interstellar distances which cannot be crossed using the ship's sublight engines. Travel between stars is accomplished by hyperspace jumps, and is constrained to those within range of the limited fuel capacity (a maximum of 7 light years) of the ship's hyperdrive. Sublight travel uses no fuel.

Fuel can be replenished after docking with a space station, which requires matching the ship's rotation to that of the station before entering the docking bay —a task that can be avoided by purchasing a docking computer. Equipment upgrades include a fuel scoop, which allows "sun skimming"—collecting energy from the stars' corona —described by the manual as "a dangerous and difficult activity", but in practice a fairly simple process far easier than manually docking at a space station—and collecting free-floating cargo canisters and escape capsules liberated after the destruction of other ships.

While making a hyperspace jump between star systems, the antagonistic Thargoid race may intercept the player half way, forcing the player's ship to remain in "witch-space" and do battle with their smaller invasion ships. As the interrupted jump uses the full journey's fuel, the player may have insufficient fuel to subsequently jump to a nearby planet, trapping them in witch-space and they must use an escape capsule if owned, or abort the game and reload.

An extremely expensive one-shot galactic hyperspace upgrade permits travel between the eight galaxies of the game universe. There is little practical difference between the different galaxies. However, in some versions it is necessary to travel to at least the second galaxy to access the game's missions. The planetary layout of the galaxies is different, and many players discovered trade runs between closely positioned planets with fortuitous economic combinations.

Most versions of Elite included several optional missions for the Galactic Navy. One requires tracking down and destroying a stolen experimental ship; another involves transporting classified information on the Thargoids' home planet, with Thargoid invasion ships doing their best to see that the player does not succeed throughout the duration of the mission involving multiple interplanetary jumps. Rewards differed depending on the mission - from cash, gems to esoteric hardware such as a cloaking device.

Development
According to Braben and Bell, Elite was inspired by a range of sources. The developers refer to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the original Battlestar Galactica as influences. Braben also cites the works of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert L. Forward, Isaac Asimov and Orson Scott Card. While Bell has confirmed that some of the game's content was derived from the Traveller tabletop role-playing game, including the default commander name Jameson, Braben has denied this several times.

When the developers met at Jesus College, Cambridge, Bell was already working on a game for Acornsoft called Freefall. Braben had started writing a game called Fighter, but he had not yet completed it. The two projects were sufficiently similar that Braben and Bell compared notes, and after seeing Star Raiders on the Atari 800 they decided to collaborate to produce what eventually became Elite. They first approached Thorn EMI; the company's rejection letter stated that the game was too complicated and needed to be finishable in 10 minutes with three lives. Braben and Bell then met with Acornsoft; their demo of the Elite's combat and docking sequences impressed managing director David Johnson-Davies and other Acornsoft executives. The company agreed to publish the finished game, although the company feared that it was too ambitious for Braben and Bell, and was uncertain about the merits of two developers instead of one on a single game. The programmers were given a £1,000 advance from the company and a royalty rate of 7.5% was agreed.

The game took two years to write and started out as a 3D arcade game without the trading element. It was written in machine code using assembly language, giving much care to maximum compactness of code. The last part added was the 3D radar display fitted into the last few unused bytes in their computer.

The original BBC version used a novel split screen approach to show four colours (five, including the black background) onscreen simultaneously; the upper two thirds of the screen were displayed in Mode 4 while the lower part was in Mode 5. The subsequent Electron version ran entirely in Mode 4, because the video chips were not 100% compatible and therefore was in black and white only.

The Elite universe contains eight galaxies, each with 256 planets to explore. Due to the limited capabilities of 8-bit computers, these worlds are procedurally generated. A single seed number is run through a fixed algorithm the appropriate number of times and creates a sequence of numbers determining each planet's complete composition (position in the galaxy, prices of commodities, and name and local details; text strings are chosen numerically from a lookup table and assembled to produce unique descriptions, such as a planet with "carnivorous arts graduates"). This means that no extra memory is needed to store the characteristics of each planet, yet each is unique and has fixed properties. Each galaxy is also procedurally generated from the first. Braben and Bell at first intended to have 248 galaxies, but Acornsoft insisted on a smaller universe to hide the galaxies' mathematical origins.

However, the use of procedural generation created a few problems. There are a number of poorly located systems that can be reached only by galactic hyperspace— these are more than 7 light years from their nearest neighbour and being low-tech are unable to replace the galactic Hyperdrive, thus trapping the traveller. Braben and Bell also checked that none of the system names were profane - removing an entire galaxy after finding a planet named "Arse".

The developers did not spend much time playing their creation and the quality testing was mostly performed by Acornsoft's managing director, David Johnson-Davies, who also planned the packaging and marketing campaign at the time.

The original BBC Micro disk version uses a non-standard disk-format for copy protection. This relied on specific OSWORD &7F DFS opcodes in the Intel 8271 floppy-disk controller to directly access the disk, and produce a non-standard sector/track-layout. This causes issues for legitimate customers that use the Western Digital 1770 disk-controller (DFS) ROMs from third-party manufacturers such as Watford Electronics. Acorn subsequently released alternative versions of the BBC disks that are compatible with the WD1770. In addition to this, self-modifying code was used as part of the protection system, created by Rob Northen. This BBC disk-copy-protection was also used by Superior Software in its Exile game.

Marketing and release
Acornsoft set in motion a large-scale publicity campaign and commissioned a presentational package for the game that was far more elaborate than normal. Acornsoft packaged Elite in a box larger than its usual releases, complete with a novella by Robert Holdstock called The Dark Wheel, a 64-page Space Trader's Flight Training Manual, reference card and a ship identification poster. The flight training manual was written in a style that took the rookie trader through the controls and various aspects of play.

The original Acornsoft version of The Dark Wheel promised on its back cover that "[a] sequel to the novella is planned for publication in 1985", but no direct sequel was ever written. A second novella, Imprint by Andy Redman, was included with the IBM PC release of Elite Plus, but apart from being set in the same universe it is in no way connected to the original story.

Marketing activities included a £50,000 promotional budget from Acornsoft, including television advertising and a launch party at the Thorpe Park theme park (holding such an event for a video game was almost unheard of at the time) and a competition to be among the first to achieve the status of "Elite".

The Dark Wheel
The story tells of a young starship pilot named Alex Ryder, whose father Jason is killed when their merchant ship is attacked by a notorious pirate. In trying to understand and avenge his father's death and achieve an "iron ass" (a space-trader's term for a well-armed- and armoured spaceship), Alex encounters the basics of the Elite universe—including combat, hyperdrive and hyperspace and the deadly aliens called Thargoids. Finally Alex discovers the truth about his father and his combat rank. He also acts as an acceptable face of trading as his female co-pilot, Elyssia Fields, is an alien and wanted in several systems. Alex wants to avenge his father's death, but must exercise caution in tracking down the assassin. By trading commodities, he slowly improves the arms and armour of his ship. When he is competent at using the spaceship for combat, but before he feels ready, he makes a trade that is sure to bring his father's killer to him.

Alex also learns what the "Dark Wheel" is and what it takes to join its ranks.

Versions

The first version of the game was released for the BBC Micro, model B on tape and disk and "about a month or two later" the Acorn Electron tape version was released. The Electron's limitations meant several game features were cut including Thargoids and suns. Neither the BBC nor the Electron tape versions featured missions. Additionally, the original tape version for the Electron contained a bug that stopped Galactic Hyperspace from working. Acorn provided a mail-in tape-replacement service to upgrade to v1.1 (marked as such on the tape label) that fixed this bug.

A version for the BBC Micro with the 6502 Second Processor was announced by Acornsoft on 25 July 1985, this new version added several extras over the standard BBC version, including 18 ships in the player environment (up from 10), no loading from disc when leaving/arriving at a space station, the ability to save screenshots and print screens to an Epson compatible printer. It also boasted over double the frame rate and a MODE1/MODE2 split screen vs. MODE4/MODE5 giving a full colour game for the first time. https://elite.bbcelite.com/6502sp/

The great commercial success of the BBC Micro version prompted a bidding war for the rights to publish Elite in other formats, which British Telecom's software arm, Telecomsoft, eventually won.

Contemporary versions for home computers based on the 6502 microprocessor were ported by either Bell or Bell and Braben. The Commodore 64 conversion introduced Trumbles (creatures based on the tribbles in Star Trek: The Original Series). When the docking computer is activated in the Commodore 64 version and some other versions, a musical rendition of "The Blue Danube" Waltz is played, as a nod to a space docking sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The ZX Spectrum version, programmed by "Torus" included a supernova mission not found in the original.

The Amstrad CPC conversion has fewer ships than other platforms, lacking the Anaconda and Transport, along with some minor differences in missions and titles. Ricardo Pinto, the programmer for the Amstrad version, explained that his team was given a 6502 hex dump by Braben and Bell, which did not help development: "In the end we wrote our version by playing Elite on a [BBC Micro] and making ours look the same." This version included the "supernova rescue" and "cloaking device" missions, and refinements to the launch tube and jump drive animations.

According to the lead programmer of the 16 bit Amiga/Atari ST and the MSX conversions Rob Nicholson, he did not have access to the source code because of contractual issues and had to write them "blind". All he had were the ship shapes and the procedural generation code for the galaxies.

Elite Plus was released for DOS in 1991. Whereas the original Elite (1987) for the PC used CGA graphics, Elite Plus was upgraded to take advantage of EGA, VGA and MCGA. It was coded entirely in assembly language by Chris Sawyer, who later wrote RollerCoaster Tycoon.

The Acorn Archimedes version, ArcElite (1991), written by Warren Burch & Clive Gringras and regarded by Stuff magazine as the best conversion of the original game, added intelligent opponents who engage in their own private battles and police who take an active interest in protecting the law. As well as such gameplay enhancements, the version also exploited the more modern hardware by using polygon mesh graphics in place of the wire-frames. The game world no longer seems to be centred around the player; freighter fleets with escorts go about their own business, pirate formations patrol lawless systems looking for cargo to loot and mining ships can often be found breaking up asteroids for their mineral content. Unlike the mythical Generation Ships of the original, rare occurrences of other non-pirate entities mentioned in the manual really can be found in the Archimedes version: geometric formations of space beacons; hermits living among the asteroids; abandoned ships towed by police (although Dredgers and Generation Ships are confirmed not to exist in Archimedes Elite). The Archimedes version of Elite was originally written to be a space trading game called Trojan - however the obvious similarities eventually meant that to avoid a potential lawsuit Trojan had to become an official Elite conversion. ArcElite was one of a number of games released for free by The Icon Bar website in 2006.

Some versions feature a new title, "Archangel", for the player to earn that substitutes the rank of Commander. Archangel is reached by undertaking a special mission to destroy a space station in a system invaded by the Thargoids. The player's reward for completing the mission is to receive the title Archangel and obtain a device that is capable of emulating anti-ECM broadcast.

Versions for 32X and Sega Mega Drive were in development but cancelled due to Sony backing out of the project and lack of publisher. However, a ROM image of the Mega Drive demo was released online by co-designer Ian Bell.

Reception
Elite received very positive reviews on its launch and the BBC Micro version eventually sold 107,898 copies. The game's popularity became a national phenomenon in the UK, with reports airing on Channel 4 and elsewhere. Elite was Firebird's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. Bell estimates that approximately 600,000 copies were eventually sold for all platforms combined, while Frontier Developments' Elite page states that the numbers are around a million units.

Elite's technical breakthroughs reportedly amazed the BBC Micro's developers, with Sophie Wilson calling it "the game that couldn't have been written". However, many players found gameplay difficult and unfamiliar; the game was so controversial that The Micro User devoted its April 1985 letter column to readers debating it.

In his review of the game for Beebug Magazine in 1984, David Fell called Elite "the best game ever" for the BBC Micro. In Personal Computer Games Shingo Sugiura said "Elite is vast, complex and very, very absorbing. I've got bulging, red eyeballs from staying up into the early hours but I don't care. I'm going to continue playing until I am ranked Elite ... or at least Competent ... or even Average ... Buy it!". John Cook wrote in the December 1984 issue of Micro Adventurer "A masterpiece such as this is difficult to describe within existing parameters" and "By any standards, Elite is an excellent game, certainly in the Top Three this year. By BBC standards, it is simply the best game that has ever been written for the machine". Crash magazine said about the Spectrum version "Elite is one of the most imaginative ever to be designed to run on a home computer" and gave it a score of 92%, while at the same time it was a best-seller in the Gallup charts. The game was number 16 in the Your Sinclair "Top 100 Speccy Games" in 1992, was voted number 7 in the Your Sinclair "Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time" in 1993 and was voted the 9th best game of all time by the readers of Retro Gamer Magazine for an article that was scheduled to be in a special Your Sinclair tribute issue. Similarly Zzap!64 gave the Commodore 64 version 97%, stating that it was "a brilliant game of blasting and trading and is certainly the best game I've seen this year" in 1985 and the Amiga version 98% in 1989.

In 1984, Elite received the Golden Joystick Award for "Best Original Game". In 1985 the game was awarded the "Best Game Overall" for that year by readers of Crash magazine, and "Game of the Year" by Computer Gamer. In a 1992 survey of science fiction games, Computer Gaming World gave the title two of five stars, stating that its "popularity was largely a result of being one of the first space games with a 'large' universe to explore". The magazine gave Elite Plus two-plus stars, describing it as "More detailed and complex, it is also more tedious than the original". A 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave Elite and Elite Plus three stars and two-plus stars, respectively.

In 1993, Commodore Force ranked the game at number four on its list of the top 100 Commodore 64 games. It was ranked #14 top game of all time by Next Generation in 1996, #12 on IGN's 2000 "Top 25 PC Games of All Time" list, the #3 most influential video game ever by the Times Online in 2007, #6 "Greatest Game" by Stuff magazine in 2008, #1 "Top Retro Game" by Retro Gamer in 2004, and #1 "best game of the 1980s" by Next Generation in 2008. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked Elite 11th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." The game was retrospectively awarded 10/10 by the multi-format magazine Edge—together with only 2 other games— and is being exhibited at such places as the London Science Museum in the "Game On" exhibition organised and toured by the Barbican Art Gallery. Elite is also featured in ''Game On! From Pong to Oblivion: The 50 Greatest Video Games of All Time'' by authors Simon Byron, Ste Curran and David McCarthy.

In 1991, PC Format placed Elite Plus on its list of the 50 best computer games of all time. The editors called it "a classic game that mixes solid 3D space combat with trading to create a universe in which you can spend many a happy half-hour bushwhacking the dastardly Thargoids."

Impact
Elite has often been regarded as defining the genre for space trading games. Since its release Elite has been credited as being the title that defined the modern space flight simulation genre, a significant source of inspiration for later games in the genre   as well as being influential upon gaming as a whole. In interviews, senior producers of CCP Games have cited Elite as one of the inspirations for their acclaimed MMORPG, EVE Online. The developers of Jumpgate Evolution, Battlecruiser 3000AD, Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Space Rangers, Hard Truck: Apocalyptic Wars and Flatspace have likewise all credited Elite as a source of inspiration. Similar praise has been bestowed elsewhere in the media over the years.

It has been named as one of the most influential games in history, and has been credited as being the first truly open-ended open world game and opening the door for future online persistent worlds such as Second Life, World of Warcraft and EVE Online. Elite is one of the most popularly requested games to be remade, with some arguing that it is still the best example of the genre to date, with more recent titles—including its immediate sequel—not rising up to the same level.

Legacy
In November 1999, on the game's 15th birthday, Ian Bell released many binaries and source code of several versions of the original game on his website. A dispute arose between Bell and David Braben regarding Bell's decision to make available all versions of the original Elite. The dispute has since ended and the various versions became available again on Bell's site.

In the late 1980s a variant of the commercial BBC Micro Elite release was created by Angus Duggan by disassembling and modifying the 6502 code from the existing with many extra features, originally titled Elite III but now known as Elite A to minimise confusion. It includes many more ship types, more ship types flyable by the player (who begins in the less capable Adder), cargo delivery missions, some extra equipment items and numerous gameplay improvements. Elite A was released publicly in 1997. Like the original game, it can be downloaded free from Ian Bell's web site and played under emulation.

Many attempts to develop clones of Elite have been made, but most have been abandoned before completion or have otherwise failed to come to fruition. The open source Oolite is a notable exception. Another successful adaptation is 1337 (meaning "Elite" in Leetspeak) developed by Jose Maria Enguita for the Oric machines, that won the 2010 Oldschool Gaming Game Of The Year Award. Contrasting with these conversions, around 1999 Christian Pinder developed Elite: The New Kind as a modern PC port of the original BBC Micro version. He achieved a faithful port by reverse-engineering the original assembly written BBC Micro version and recreating a platform neutral C code variant from it, but at David Braben's request this version was withdrawn from distribution in 2003. In September 2014, on Elite's 30th birthday, Ian Bell blessed Elite: The New Kind and re-released it for free on his website. Since then, Elite: The New Kind is also distributed again in version 1.1 by Christian Pinder; a source code mirror is hosted on GitHub.

In 2020, Christian Pinder also released an upscaled Windows port of the Acorn Archimedes' Elite.

On 20 October 2013, the Internet Archive started to offer Elite in the ZX Spectrum version for online playing in the browser via MESS emulation.

Literature

 * Masters of their universe - an excerpt on Guardian.co.uk from Backroom Boys: The Secret Return Of The British Boffin, by Francis Spufford, ISBN 9780571214969 (18 October 2003).
 * Gamasutra's The History of Elite: Space, The Endless Frontier by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton (7 April 2009).
 * GDC 2011 presentation Postmortem of Elite by David Braben (2011)

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

title: Elite (video game)


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Touchpad

A touchpad or trackpad is a type of pointing device. Its largest component is a tactile sensor: an electronic device with a flat surface, that detects the motion and position of a user's fingers, and translates them to 2D motion, to control a pointer in a graphical user interface on a computer screen. Touchpads are common on laptop computers, contrasted with desktop computers, where mice are more prevalent. Trackpads are sometimes used on desktops, where desk space is scarce. Because trackpads can be made small, they can be found on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and some portable media players. Wireless touchpads are also available, as detached accessories.

Operation and function
Touchpads operate in several ways, including capacitive sensing or resistive touchscreen. The most common technology used in the 2010s senses the change of capacitance where a finger touches the pad. Capacitance-based touchpads will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar ungrounded or non-conducting implements. Fingers insulated by a glove may also be problematic, and capacitive touchpads are rarely used as pointing devices for medical hardware.

Like touchscreens, touchpads sense absolute position but their resolution is limited by their size. For common use as a pointer device, the dragging motion of a finger is translated into a finer, relative motion of the cursor on the output to the display on the operating system, analogous to the handling of a mouse that is lifted and put back on a surface. Hardware buttons equivalent to a standard mouse's left and right buttons are sometimes positioned adjacent to the touchpad.

Some touchpads and associated device driver software may interpret tapping the pad as a mouse click, and a tap followed by a continuous pointing motion (a "click-and-a-half") can indicate dragging. Tactile touchpads allow for clicking and dragging by incorporating button functionality into the surface of the touchpad itself. To select, one presses down on the touchpad instead of a physical button. To drag, instead of performing the "click-and-a-half" technique, the user presses down while on the object, drags without releasing pressure, and lets go when done. Touchpad drivers can also allow the use of multiple fingers to emulate the other mouse buttons (commonly two-finger tapping for right click).

Touchpads are called clickpads if they rely on software buttons rather than physical buttons. Physically the whole clickpad formed a button, logically the driver interprets a click as a left or right button click depending on the placement of fingers.

Some touchpads have "hotspots", locations on the touchpad used for functionality beyond a mouse. For example, on certain touchpads, moving the finger along an edge of the touch pad will act as a scroll wheel, controlling the scrollbar and scrolling the window that has the focus, vertically or horizontally. Many touchpads use two-finger dragging for scrolling. Also, some touchpad drivers support tap zones, regions where a tap will execute a function, for example, pausing a media player or launching an application. All of these functions are implemented in the touchpad device driver software, and can be disabled.

History
By 1982, Apollo desktop computers were equipped with a touchpad on the right side of the keyboard. Introduced a year later, in 1983, the first battery-powered clamshell laptop, the Gavilan SC included a touchpad, which was mounted above its keyboard, rather than below, which became the norm.

Psion's MC 200/400/600/WORD Series, introduced in 1989, came with a new mouse-replacing input device similar to a touchpad, although more closely resembling a graphics tablet, as the cursor was positioned by clicking on a specific point on the pad, instead of moving it in the direction of a stroke.

Laptops with touchpads were launched by Olivetti and Triumph-Adler in 1992. Cirque introduced the first widely available touchpad, branded as GlidePoint, in 1994. Apple introduced touchpads with modern placing in the PowerBook 500 series in 1994, using Cirque's GlidePoint technology, which Apple refers to as a "trackpad"; it replaced the trackball of previous PowerBook models. Since 2008, Apple's revisions of the MacBook and MacBook Pro incorporated a "Tactile Touchpad" design with a button integrated into the tracking surface (the lower part of the touchpad surface acts as a clickable button).

Another early adopter of the GlidePoint pointing device was Sharp. Later, Synaptics introduced their touchpad into the marketplace, branded the TouchPad, and Epson was an early adopter of this product with their ActionNote. As touchpads began to be introduced in laptops in the 1990s, there was often confusion as to what the product should be called. No consistent term was used, and references varied, such as: glidepoint, touch sensitive input device, touchpad, trackpad, and pointing device.

Users were often presented with the option to purchase a pointing stick, touchpad, or trackball. Combinations of the devices were common, though touchpads and trackballs were rarely included together. Since the early 2000s, touchpads have become the dominant laptop pointing device as most consumer laptops produced during this period and beyond includes only touchpads, displacing the pointing stick.

Use in devices
Touchpads are primarily used in self-contained portable laptop computers and do not require a flat surface near the machine. The touchpad is close to the keyboard, and relatively short finger movements are required to move the cursor across the display screen; while advantageous, this also makes it possible for a user's palm or wrist to move the mouse cursor accidentally while typing. Laptops today feature multitouch touchpads that can sense in some cases up to five fingers simultaneously, providing more options for input, such as the ability to bring up the context menu by tapping two fingers, dragging two fingers for scrolling, or gestures for zoom in/out or rotate. The touchpads with physical buttons now are only hi-end business/professional laptops option.

One-dimensional touchpads are the primary control interface for menu navigation on iPod Classic portable music players and additional input method on some Wacom digitizer tablets, where they are referred to as "click wheels", since they only sense motion along one axis, which is wrapped around like a wheel. Creative Labs also uses a touchpad for their Zen line of MP3 players, beginning with the Zen Touch. The second-generation Microsoft Zune product line (the Zune 80/120 and Zune 4/8) uses touch for the Zune Pad.

Touchpads also exist for desktop computers as an external peripheral, albeit rarely seen. But touchpad layer can be integrated with graphics tablet as additional input option.

External computer keyboards can be equipped with integrated touchpads (particularly keyboards oriented for HTPC use), and some keyboards can have only touch input surface instead of hardware buttons (a typical solution for clean rooms).

Optical trackpads primary can be used as part of ultraportable electronics; some handheld laptops and early smartphones can be equipped with optical trackpads.

Theory of operation
There are two principal means by which touchpads work: the matrix approach and the capacitive shunt method. In the matrix approach, a series of conductors are arranged in an array of parallel lines in two layers, separated by an insulator and crossing each other at right angles to form a grid. A high frequency signal is applied sequentially between pairs in this two-dimensional grid array. The current that passes between the nodes is proportional to the capacitance. When a virtual ground, such as a finger, is placed over one of the intersections between the conductive layer some of the electrical field is shunted to this ground point, resulting in a change in the apparent capacitance at that location. This method received awarded to George Gerpheide in April 1994.

The capacitive shunt method, described in an application note by manufacturer Analog Devices, senses the change in capacitance between a transmitter and receiver that are on opposite sides of the sensor. The transmitter creates an electric field which oscillates at 200–300 kHz. If a ground point, such as the finger, is placed between the transmitter and receiver, some of the field lines are shunted away, decreasing the apparent capacitance.

Trackpads such as those found in some Blackberry smartphones work optically, like an optical computer mouse.

Manufacturing
Major manufacturers include:
 * Alps Electric
 * Elan Microelectronics
 * Cirque Corporation
 * Synaptics

title: Touchpad


text:
Abdas of Susa

Abdas, (also Abda, Abdias, and Audas) was bishop of Susa in Iran. Socrates of Constantinople calls him "bishop of Persia". He was executed under the orders of shah Yazdegerd I after refusing to rebuild a Zoroastrian fire temple that he had destroyed.

Life
Abdas was born in fourth-century Chaldor to a Zoroastrian mother, who educated him in matters of virtue. After Abdas reached adulthood, he was ordained a Christian priest, and built up in his hometown a monastery and a school, which grew to have around 60 teachers. Abdas baptized many converts in Chaldor, which caused the magi to arrest him. In prison, Abdas was subjected to humiliations, hunger and pain, but remained a Christian until his release. Abdas became a bishop in Susa.

Abdas was an associate of Maruthas of Martyropolis. Abdas is supposed to have helped Maruthas in driving out a demon from King Yezdegerd's son. However, his impetuosity, put an end to the good relations between the Persian king and the Christian community. In c. 419-420, Abdas, in cooperation with a band of Christian priests and laymen, levelled a Zoroastrian fire temple, for which they were summoned to court to answer for their actions. Yazdegerd I reputedly asked Abdas; "Since you are the chief and leader of these men, why do you allow them to despise our kingdom, to transgress against our command, and to act in accordance with their own will? Do you demolish and destroy our houses of worship and the foundations of our fire temples, which we have received from the fathers of our fathers to honor?" While Abdas hesitated to answer, a priest in his entourage replied back, saying "I demolished the foundation and extinguished the fire because it is not a house of God, nor is the fire the daughter of God." Demolishing a fire temple was reportedly a way of broadcasting the "victory of Christianity." Abdas ultimately refused to have the fire temple rebuilt, and was as a result, he was subsequently executed.

Abdas' companions included the priests Hashu and Isaac, the secretary Ephrem, the hypodeacon Papa, the laymen Daduk and Durdan, and Papa, a brother of Abdas himself were also killed. His feast day is 16 May.

title: Abdas of Susa


text:
USS Indianapolis (SSN-697)

The third USS Indianapolis (SSN-697), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Indianapolis, Indiana. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 24 January 1972 and her keel was laid down on 19 October 1974. She was launched on 30 July 1977 sponsored by Esther Debra Bray (née Taylor), wife of former Congressman William G. Bray, and commissioned on 5 January 1980.

When Indianapolis was commissioned, many survivors of the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) were present for the official ceremony. The submarine's home port was shifted to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1980, operating out of Pearl Harbor for the remainder of her active service. After the boat's final deployment from April to October 1997, she was awarded the Battle Efficiency E and a Navy Unit Commendation. Both were the first time the submarine had received such awards in her 18-year history.

As a result of the ending of the Cold War and the so-called "Peace Dividend", the boat was inactivated in 1998, only 18 years into her 30-year life.

The sail and other parts of Indianapolis (SSN 697) were dedicated as a memorial at the Indiana Military Museum in Vincennes, Indiana, on June 8, 2019. Attendees at the commemoration ceremony included former crewmen and officers of the boat.

title: USS Indianapolis (SSN-697)


text:
Mack Trucks

Mack Trucks, Inc. is an American truck manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. Founded in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company, it manufactured its first truck in 1905 and adopted its present name in 1922. Since 2000, Mack Trucks has been a subsidiary of Volvo, which purchased Mack and its former parent company Renault Véhicules Industriels.

Founded originally in Brooklyn in 1900, the company moved its headquarters to Allentown, Pennsylvania five years later, in 1905. The company remained in Allentown for over a century, from 1905 until 2009. In 2009, the company relocated its headquarters to Greensboro, North Carolina.

Mack products are produced in Lower Macungie, Pennsylvania and Salem, Virginia. Its powertrain products are produced in its Hagerstown, Maryland plant. Mack also maintains additional assembly plants in facilities in Pennsylvania, Australia, and Venezuela. The company also once maintained plants in Winnsboro, South Carolina, Hayward, California and Oakville, Ontario, which are now closed.

Operations
The company's manufacturing facilities are located at their Lehigh Valley Operations facility and division, formally known as the Macungie Assembly Operations Plant, in Macungie, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. Mack Trucks is the fourth-largest employer in the Lehigh Valley region as of 2024.

Mack Trucks is one of the top producers in the vocational and on-road vehicle market, class 8 through class 13. Mack trucks have been sold in 45 countries. Located near its former Allentown corporate headquarters in Macungie, Pennsylvania, the company's manufacturing plant produces all Mack products, including Mack MP-series engines.

Mack transmissions, TC-15 transfer cases, and rear engine power take-offs are designed and manufactured in Hagerstown, Maryland, which was the original factory location.

Parts for Mack's right-hand-drive vehicles are produced in Brisbane, Australia for worldwide distribution. Assembly for South America is performed in Macungie alongside the North American trucks. Mack no longer operates Mack de Venezuela C.A., in Caracas, Venezuela. The former Venezuela operation is a complete knock down (CKD) facility. Components were shipped from the United States to Caracas for final assembly.

In addition to its Macungie manufacturing facility, Mack also has a remanufacturing center in Middletown, Pennsylvania.

2008 restructuring plan
On August 14, 2008, Mack Trucks announced a major restructuring plan that included:
 * Relocation of Mack's head office, product development, most support functions, and purchasing functions to Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2009. Mack's parent, Volvo Trucks, already has its North American base in Greensboro.
 * Assembly of all produced Mack highway vehicles in Macungie, Pennsylvania, starting 2008
 * Mack's testing facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania being converted into a "customer demonstration and reception center" in 2010
 * Restructuring the parts distribution network by 2010 (later delayed to first quarter 2011)

Corporation timeline
This is a timeline of Mack Trucks history.

 * 1890: John M. ("Jack") Mack gets a job at Fallesen & Berry, a carriage and wagon company in Brooklyn
 * 1893: John Mack and his brother Augustus F. ("Gus") Mack buy Fallesen & Berry
 * 1894: A third Mack brother, William C. Mack joins his brothers in the company's operations. The Macks explore working with steam powered and electric motor cars
 * 1900: The Macks open their first bus manufacturing plant. Ordered by a sightseeing company, the first "Mack bus" is delivered
 * 1902: The Mack Brothers Company is established in Brooklyn
 * 1904: Mack Brothers introduces the brand name "Manhattan" on its products
 * 1905: Allentown is selected as the home of main manufacturing operations. A fourth Mack brother, Joseph Mack, becomes a stockholder. Mack also begins making rail cars and locomotives.
 * 1910: The "Manhattan" brand trucks are rebranded as Mack trucks, and a fifth Mack brother Charles Mack joins the company.
 * 1911: Headed by C.P. Coleman, The Saurer Motor Truck Company acquires rights to manufacture and sell heavy trucks under the Saurer brand name at its plant in Plainfield, New Jersey. On September 23, 1911, the Saurer Motor Truck Company merges with the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company of Allentown headed by J. M. Mack, forming the International Motor Truck Company (IMTC). IMTC continues to make and sell trucks using the Saurer name until 1918. In 1911, IMTC is capitalized at $2.6 million total ($1.6m or 61.5% for Saurer and $1.0m for Mack Brothers).
 * 1912: Brothers John and Joseph Mack leave the company. Mack Truck acquires Hewitt Truck retaining Edward Ringwood Hewitt as consultant.
 * 1916: Mack builds an armored truck (Mack AB Armored Truck) for the 1st Armored Motor Truck Battery of the New York State National Guard
 * 1919: The United States Army conducts a transcontinental project using Mack Trucks to study the need for and feasibility of a new interstate highway system.
 * 1922: The company name is changed to Mack Trucks, Inc. The bulldog is established as the company's corporate symbol.
 * 1924: John Mack dies in a car crash in Weatherly, Pennsylvania.
 * 1932: While recuperating from an operation, Mack's chief engineer Alfred Fellows Masury carves Mack's first bulldog hood ornament. Masury applies for and receives a U.S. patent for his design; the bulldog hood ornament adorns Mack trucks ever since.
 * 1933: Mack Trucks (as the company is more widely becoming known) are used in building of many ambitious construction projects for the Work Projects Administration including the Hoover Dam.
 * 1941: Fire Apparatus manufacturing is moved from Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Long Island City, in Queens, New York.
 * 1951: Fire Apparatus manufacturing is moved from Long Island City back to Allentown
 * 1956: Mack Trucks, Inc. buys Brockway Motor Company. (Brockway later ceases operations in 1977).
 * 1966: Mack begins production at its new assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The facility is later closed in 1993.
 * 1967: Mack Trucks becomes a part of the Signal Oil and Gas Company in a one-for-one exchange for cumulative convertible preferred stock. Later that year Signal changes its name to Signal Companies.
 * 1970: Mack moves into its new Allentown world headquarters.
 * 1979: Renault buys a 10% shareholding
 * 1982: Renault increases its shareholding to 20%, Signal reduces its stake to 10%.
 * 1983: Mack Trucks conducts an IPO, issuing 15.7 million shares of common stock. Renault increases its holdings to 40% and Signal reduces its stake to 10.3% ownership.
 * 1987: Renault reorganizes; Renault's Mack shares are transferred to Renault Véhicules Industriels.
 * 1987: Mack Trucks moves class 8 operations to Winnsboro, South Carolina
 * 1990: Mack Trucks becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Véhicules Industriels when the remaining publicly traded shares are acquired at $6.25 per share.
 * 2001: Together with Renault Véhicules Industriels, Mack becomes part of Volvo Trucks; the parent company Renault receives a 20% stake in the combined company. (In 2002 Renault Véhicules Industriels changes its name to Renault Trucks).
 * 2002: The plant in Winnsboro, South Carolina closes
 * 2006: Mack has a record-sales year.
 * 2008: Mack announces relocation of corporate headquarters to Greensboro, North Carolina.
 * 2018: Mack has released the new Mack Anthem.
 * 2021: US President Joe Biden visited the Mack Trucks plant in Pennsylvania in July 2021, where he was shown Mack's fully electric Class 8 truck, the Mack LR Electric. Mack had recently completed an upgrade of the facility with $84 million in funding.
 * 2021: In July, Mack Trucks said it would hire 400 more employees at its facility in Lower Macungie, adding to a 2,500 overall workforce.
 * 2021: In August 2021, it was reported that Mack had to suspend "production periodically" in July 2021 due to chip shortages.

Market, model and products timeline
This is a timeline of Mack Trucks history. Most of the information is taken from the Mack History page at MackTrucks.com, unless otherwise noted. Photos of most models 1906–1978 available at.
 * 1909: A junior model $1 1/2$-ton truck is introduced.
 * 1910: Mack delivers the first motorized hook and ladder firetruck used by the city of Morristown, New Jersey.
 * 1914: The Mack ABs are introduced
 * 1916: The Mack ACs are introduced. Ultimately, over 40,000 of these models are sold.
 * World War I: Mack delivers over 6,000 trucks, both to the United States and Britain's military. A legend surfaces that British soldiers would call for Mack Bulldogs to be sent when facing adversity.
 * 1918: Mack becomes the first manufacturer to apply air cleaners and oil filters to their trucks.
 * 1920: Mack Trucks are the first with power brakes on their trucks.
 * 1922: Mack introduces first truck with drive shaft instead of chain 1922 Model AB
 * 1922: International Motors Company develops gasoline-driven passenger railcar for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. A standard passenger railcar on top of a standard motor truck chassis, seating between 36 and 50 passengers, at a cost of $16,500. The car operates in a ten-mile (16 km) stretch between New Haven, and Derby, Connecticut.
 * 1927: Mack's BJ and BB models built.
 * 1932: The Bulldog starts to travel on the hoods of Mack trucks.
 * 1934: Production of electric "trolley coaches" began, continuing only until 1943. A total of 290 trolley buses were built, with Portland, Oregon being by far the biggest customer (with 141 total).
 * 1936: The Mack E series introduced. Mack Jr trucks introduced.
 * 1938: Mack trucks is the first company to produce its own heavy-duty diesel engines.
 * World War II: Mack trucks were used by the military in various capacities, and the company built many heavy-duty trucks to help the allied forces win the day. From 1941 to 1945, the combined armed forces of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Canada took delivery of 35,096 total vehicles. The combat "N Series" (NB, NJU, NM, NO, NR, etc.) accounted for 26,965 of the total. Commercial type vehicles including: trucks, off-highway, fire-trucks, trailers, and buses, accounted for the rest. A total of 2,053 NO models alone were produced from 1940 to 1945. The $7 1/2$-ton 6x6 NO was the most important specifically military model, and could be used as a transport or tractor for the 155 mm Long Tom field gun. Mack also built over 2600 power trains for tanks. The Allentown bus plant (5C) built Vultee PBY Catalina flying boats as well as components for the BT-13 Valiant Trainer and B-24 Liberator Bombers. More than 700 NJU (5-to-6 ton 4x4) models were in the hands of the U.S. Army by 1942. In 1939 & 1940 the French and British received several hundred NR4 and EXBU models. Mack Trucks ranked 63rd among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.
 * 1940: L Model series introduced, continuing until 1952.
 * 1950: The Mack A Model series of trucks is introduced, produced until 1953.
 * 1953: The Mack B Model series of trucks is introduced. 127,786 produced until 1966.
 * 1955: The D Model low cab forward city delivery truck entered the market. Access to the engine compartment was possible by the Verti-lift cab. The cab lifted straight up hydraulically, guided by a forklift style mast behind the cab. Two styles of D Models were produced, the first styling had a square grille and no dress up trim. It was produced in 1955 and early 1956. The second styling included a styled grille, cab rear corner windows and stylish emblems and trim. The second styling was built from mid 1956 until the end of the D Model in 1958. A total of 832 D Model Mack Trucks were produced from 1955 until 1958.
 * 1955: The military M123 10 ton 6X6 semi tractor went into production. Developed from the NO, it would be the US Army's standard until replaced by the M911 starting in 1976.
 * 1956: Mack buys the tooling of the Ahrens-Fox Fire Engine Co. and introduced the Mack C Model cab forward fire engine which was an Ahrens-Fox design and the first of the "Cincinnati Cabs" ( later built by the Truck Cab Manufacturing Co. an OEM vendor builder of Cincinnati, Ohio), that have been the staple of the American fire service to this day.
 * 1959: The first aluminum rivetted construction COE (cab-over-engine) family of trucks is introduced: The G Model which had a short production due to a striking resemblance to the Kenworth COE and Mack having the F Model ready for production. A total of 2181 G Model
 * 1960: City of Hamilton, Bermuda buys first Mack built diesel-power fire truck in a B Model Chassis.
 * 1962: The Second of the COE (cab-over-engine) family of trucks is introduced: The F Model all steel sleeper (FL) or non sleeper (F) is the first of this family of models for Mack.
 * 1965: Mack releases the Super Pumper System, to be used by the New York City fire department. It would help put out 2,200 fires.
 * 1965: The R Model Series introduced, to replace the B Model Series. Some R series models continue in production until 2005.
 * 1966: The RL (for R-Western) model built at Hayward, California until 1981.
 * 1967: The CF model Fire Engine introduced, replacing the C model. The CF was a cab forward adaptation of the cab over style commercial "F" Model cab.
 * 1969: Mack patents the cab air suspension.
 * Drivers Side.jpg: Macungie plant opens, build the Cruise-Liner series until 1983.
 * 1977: Super-Liner introduced, production runs for 15-years until 1993.
 * 1978: Introduction of the low-cab-forward urban MC/MR series.
 * 1979: Medium-duty model Mid-Liner introduced, built by Renault Véhicules Industriels in France. This lighter truck filled a gap at the lower end of Mack's spectrum, as they were almost unrepresented in the Class 6 segment. Before the introduction of the Mid-Liner, the smallest engine made by Mack had been the 210 hp diesel inline-six ETZ 477.
 * 1982: Production of the MH Ultra-Liner model begins.
 * 1988: Mack introduces the CH series for highway applications.
 * 1989: E7 engine replaces E6 engine
 * 1990: Fire Apparatus production ends.
 * 1994: Mack introduces the LE (low entry) refuse vehicle.
 * 1998: Electronic Unit Pump (EUP) replaces electronic fuel injection pump
 * 1999: A new premium highway tractor is introduced: the "Vision by Mack".
 * 2000: Mack builds 100 limited edition Visions with black paint and custom gold stripes and stainless badges for the 100th anniversary
 * 2001: Medium-duty Freedom series introduced (built by Renault Trucks in France like its predecessor, the Mid-Liner series).
 * 2001: Mack redesigns R Series dash with new gauges and buttons and door padding.
 * 2001: Granite series for construction applications introduced.
 * 2003: Mack pulls out of the medium-duty market and discontinues the Freedom series.
 * 2006: Introduction of Pinnacle highway vehicle it is which was the replacement for the Vision highway product.
 * 2007: A new product line is introduced to include Models LEU and MRU amongst others.
 * 2007: Introduction of US07 compliant engines in all of its trucks.
 * 2008: In March, Mack introduces the Titan, a heavy duty model with a 16-liter big-block MP10, the largest ever 6-cylinder engine from Mack, with 515, 565, and 605 hp models.
 * 2010: In October Mack announced that a version of its Terrapro Cabover would run on natural gas using a Cummins Westport engine.
 * 2017 Mack discontinues Titan with last one rolling off line mid summer.
 * 2017 Mack introduces Anthem. New on-highway tractor replacing the Pinnacle Axle back model.

North America

 * List of current models produced for the North American market:

 * Construction Series:
 * Granite
 * Granite Axle Back
 * TerraPro Cabover
 * Highway Series:
 * Anthem
 * Pinnacle:
 * Pinnacle Axle Forward
 * Pinnacle DayCab
 * Pinnacle Sleeper
 * Pinnacle Rawhide Edition
 * Granite
 * Refuse Series:
 * LR
 * TerraPro Cabover
 * TerraPro Low Entry
 * Granite Axle Back
 * Granite
 * Military:
 * Granite Armored Line Haul
 * Kerax 8 x 8

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

 * List of current models produced for the Australian, New Zealand, and South African market at the Wacol, Queensland factory.

 * Granite (Discontinued)
 * Metro-Liner
 * Anthem (Launched 2021)
 * Super-Liner
 * Titan
 * Trident
 * Trident Axle Forward
 * Trident Axle Back
 * TerraPro (Overseas order through Mack Trucks Australia)
 * TerraPro Cabover
 * TerraPro Low Entry

Fire apparatus products
Mack Trucks built complete fire apparatus in Allentown from 1911 until 1984. In addition to building pumpers, Mack also offered aerial trucks using ladder assemblies supplied by other manufacturers, notably American LaFrance and Canadian builder Pierre Thibault. Many still serve with fire departments around the world.

In the 1970s, Mack started selling their chassis to other fire apparatus manufacturers. Production of Mack-chassised fire trucks continues for use in fire departments throughout North America and around the world.

AC
The heavy-duty AC, with its well-known tapered hood, was the truck which started the bulldog theme. A 377 CID 4 cylinder gasoline engine 4X2 with chain drive, it was strong, reliable, and worked well in rough terrain. Introduced in 1916, there was a great demand because of World War I, over 6000 $5 1/2$-, $3 1/2$-, and $5 1/2$-ton trucks were built for the UK and US military. There were also commercial sales from 1916; the AC was well suited for logging and construction work. A larger version, the AP, built between 1926 and 1938, was an off-road haul truck used on Boulder Dam and other large projects. 40,299 ACs had been built when production ended in 1939.

N Series
The N Series was Mack's first military design, large 6 and $7 1/2$-ton 6X6 artillery prime movers. Between its development in the late 1930s and the beginning of production in 1940 US military requirements changed and the truck was not needed. All NMs and most of the larger NOs were exported as foreign aid. After World War II the NO was developed into the successful M 123 semi-tractor.

B series
The Mack B series models were Mack's primary vehicle from its introduction in 1953 until it was replaced by the R Series in 1966. They ranged in size from the medium duty B20P gas powered 4X2 to the oversized B873SX turbo-diesel 6X6. B Models were commonly used as semi tractors and in the construction industry. They were also used as fire engines and trucks, sometimes with the roof of the cab removed. 127,786 B Models were built.

R/RB/RD/RL/RM/RW, U, DM/DMM series
Mack started to produce the Mack R series (R, RW, and U models) in 1966 for highway use, and the RD, DM, and all wheel drive RM and DMM models for construction use. The lightweight RL model followed in 1967, the RW Superliner with a large, rectangular hood and grill in 1977, and the setback front axle RB in the 1990s. All these models featured the same cab; the U, DM, and DMM had the cab offset to the left.

In the 1990s, the R, RW, and U series models were discontinued and the RB was introduced, mostly for severe-duty applications. The hood was modified slightly for the model RB. 2004 was the last year for the RD, and 2006 for the RB and DM. The DM was the last model to use this cab style, and was the last model of this family to be produced.

As a replacement for the construction models, Mack started to offer the Granite, Granite Bridge-Formula and Granite Axle-back.

Also this model is serving in the Mexican Army as a Troop and Utility Truck in configuration 6X6 OR 6X4

Engines
By 1916 Mack was producing 4- and 6-cylinder gasoline engines, and through 2014 continued to offer their own, in the form of three diesel I6s. Engines by other manufacturers were often optional, supplied over the years by Caterpillar, Cummins, Chrysler, Detroit Diesel, Hercules, Scania, and Waukesha.

Mack started making diesels in 1938, in 1957 the END and turbocharged ENDT 673 diesel were introduced. This 672 CID I6 engine family was successful, and remained in production for over 30 years.

In the early 1960s, Walter May, executive vice president of product and engineering at Mack Trucks HQ in Allentown, PA., prioritized research and development of a high-torque rise engine. Winton Pelizzoni, chief engineer at the Mack Trucks powertrain facility in Hagerstown, MD., designed an innovative engine based on this concept and then led development of the prototype that went into production. The engine was introduced as an inline six in 1966, as a V8 in 1970, and as the intercooled inline six 300 series in 1973. This was an industry-changing event. The Maxidyne, with an operating range of 1200–2100 R.P.M, and later 1050–1700 R.P.M., allowed a heavy Class 8 truck to be operated with a 5 speed (Maxitorque) transmission. Previously, heavy trucks typically operated between 1800–2100R.P.M. and were equipped with 10 or more gears.

In 2014 Mack offers three engine series, the 11 L MP 7, 13 L MP8, and 16 L MP10, with 325 hp to 605 hp and 1200 lbft to 2060 lbft.

Other products
Mack also produced railroad cars and locomotives between 1905 and 1930. The company additionally produced several railbus models.

Trademark
The company's trademark is the bulldog, which can be found on the front of almost all Mack trucks. A gold-plated bulldog indicates the truck came with all Mack drivetrain including the engine, transmission and axles.

Mack trucks earned their nickname during World War I, when the British government purchased the Mack AC for supplying its front lines. Its pugnacious, blunt-nosed hood, tenacious performance, and durability, reminded the soldiers of their country's mascot, the British Bulldog. The logo was first used in 1921 for the AB chain drive models and became the official corporate logo in 1922.

World War II
Mack built over 35,000 heavy duty military trucks during World War II, most for export under Lend-Lease. None were US Army standard types, all were designed and built exclusively by Mack.

The EH series was a commercial design 5 ton (4,500 kg) 4x2 adapted for military service. The EH, EHU (cabover) and semi-tractor models EHT and EHUT were used by the US Army in Europe. Over 2,400 were built in 1942.

The LMSW was a commercial design 10 ton (9,070 kg) 6x4 chassis adapted for military wreckers, most were exported to Great Britain.

The NJU (G-639) series were military design 5 ton (5,450 kg) 4x4 semi-tractors used to tow bridging pontoons and equipment. Several other manufactures built standardized models of similar trucks, so only 700 were produced in 1941–1942.

The NM (G-535) and NO (G-532) series were military design 6 ton (5,443 kg) and $7 1/2$ ton (6,800 kg) 6x6 artillery prime movers. All NMs and most of the larger NOs were exported as foreign aid. Over 8,400 NMs and 2,000 NOs were built between 1940 and 1944.

The NR series were military design 10 ton (5,440 kg) 6x4 cargo trucks. Intended for British use in North Africa, they had Mack ED diesel engines, making them valuable for long-distance trips. Over 15,000 were built between 1940 and 1944.

Post World War II
Since World War II, Mack has had limited military production.

The M39 (G-744) series, which includes the M54 cargo truck, were a standardized military design 5 ton (4,540 kg) 6x6 chassis, with many models. Mack developed a competing design, when the M39 was standardized Mack built a relatively small number of M51 dump trucks. In the early 1960s they took part in a short lived program to retrofit some of the series with Mack END 672 engines.

The M123 and M125 (G-792) were standardized military design 10 ton (9,070 kg) 6x6 semi tractors and artillery prime movers. Designed by Mack, using many components from the NO series. Mack built 392 M123s, used with a lowboy trailer to recover and transport tanks, and all 552 M125s, between 1955 and 1957. Later follow-up orders called for 420 M123s and retrofitted 210 more with Cummins engines.

In popular culture
The 1968 country song "Phantom 309" by Red Sovine is about a ghost trucker who, when asked about the name Phantom 309, replies that "This Ole' Mack will put 'em all to shame. There aint a driver or rig runnin' any line that seen nothin' but taillights from 'Phantom 309.

Five 1970s Mack RS700 series trucks and one Cruise Liner COE were used in the motion picture Convoy starring Kris Kristofferson as Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald and Ali MacGraw as Melissa.

A 1970s Mack R-600 truck with a "coolpower" engine setup is used to haul an oil tanker in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

Mack DM series dump trucks appeared prominently in Die Hard with a Vengeance (the third movie in the series).

A 1980s video for the Bananarama song "Cruel Summer" prominently features a red Mack truck.

Maximum Overdrive (1986) is a horror tale of machinery come to life which includes a truck stop with various vehicles.

During a chase scene from the 1997 film Fire Down Below, Steven Seagal's character is rammed and chased by a Mack truck.

A 2008 Mack Granite Cement Mixer was the vehicle mode for the Decepticon Mixmaster in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

A Mack M915 (LHRT) Line-Haul Replacement Tractor (military version of the Mack Granite GU713 10-wheeler) with a (military version M970 fuel tanker) semi-trailer, was the vehicle mode for Megatron in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

The beginning of Blake Crouch's best selling novel Pines has the main protagonist, Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke, suffering temporary amnesia after the car he is traveling in crashes. He believes he must seek out a person named "Mack" as it the only word he is able to recall. He later realizes the significant of "Mack" is in fact his recollection of his vehicle being intentionally hit by a Mack truck.

A 1984 Mack Superliner, owned by J.R. Collins Pulling Team, is also officially sponsored by Mack. The truck (named "Buckeye Bulldog") runs in the NTPA (National Tractor Pulling Association) in the "Super Semi" class.

Dale Gribble, a character from King of the Hill, is rarely seen without his Mack cap.

In Bad Boys II (2003), a 2000 Mack CX 613 Vision truck is used by the villains.

In the film Cars, Mack is Lightning McQueen's transport, an animated 1985 Mack Super-Liner voiced by John Ratzenberger. Ratzenberger's father drove a Mack truck to deliver oil for three decades. On the "Disney/Pixar Road Trip '06", which promoted the film in a four-month tour of forty-one cities, "Mack" is a 2006 CH Rawhide 460-horsepower Mack truck carrying an Eddie Paul customized Trans Am as "Lightning".

CEO Denny Slagle took part in CBS' Undercover Boss in 2011.

In the 2001 movie Vanilla Sky, a green Mack truck almost crashes into David Aames's Mustang, stopping just in time.

In the 2020 rap hit single, “WAP” Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, the truck company is written into the song, referring to a large sized male penis as a mack truck, with lyrics such as “I want you to park that big Mack Truck, right in this little garage.”

title: Mack Trucks


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Cwm

Cwm or cŵm may refer to:
 * Cwm (landform), a rounded, glaciated valley, also known as a corrie or cirque
 * Cwm, a steep, narrow valley, or a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill, also known as a combe
 * Cwm (software), a general-purpose data processor for the semantic web
 * Cwm railway station, a station in Cwm, Blaenau Gwent, Wales, 1852–1963
 * Cwm Rhondda, a famous Welsh hymn tune

Places

 * Cwm, Blaenau Gwent, a community in Wales
 * Cwm, Llanrothal, a Jesuit gathering place in Herefordshire, England
 * Cwm, Denbighshire, a community in Wales
 * Cwm Cadnant, a community in Anglesey, north Wales
 * Cwm Gwaun, a community in northern Pembrokeshire, Wales
 * Cwm Penmachno, a community in Snowdonia, north Wales
 * Western Cwm, a geographical feature on Mount Everest

Abbreviations
CWM may refer to:
 * cwm (window manager) or Calm Window Manager, a stacking window manager for Unix systems
 * Canadian War Museum, Canada's national museum of military history
 * Christian Witness Ministries, a non-denominational church affiliation
 * Circus World Museum, a large museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin
 * Clark–Wilson model, a model for specifying and analyzing an integrity policy for a computing system
 * ClockworkMod, open source firmware for smartphones
 * Comes With Music, Nokia's digital music service
 * Common Warehouse Metamodel, a data warehousing specification
 * Contemporary worship music, a genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship
 * Contingent Workforce Management, the strategic approach to managing an organization's contingent workforce
 * Council for World Mission, a worldwide community of Christian churches

title: Cwm


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Talk:Complementary and alternative methods

This needs to be a lot longer, and include both criticisms of "alternative medicine" and more on what techniques are involved. I resisted the urge to add pseudoscience, faith healing, and quackery to the see also list.

Other things to consider including: homeopathy, chiropractic. Vicki Rosenzweig

 * I agree. This article also suffers the same deficit of concrete facts as does the recently added "CAM" section in Experimental cancer treatment which mentions "therapies" and "substances" but does not mention a single one to at least orient the reader. -- Lexor 08:41, 3 Aug 2003 (UTC)


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Galilean invariance

Galilean invariance or Galilean relativity states that the laws of motion are the same in all inertial frames of reference. Galileo Galilei first described this principle in 1632 in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems using the example of a ship travelling at constant velocity, without rocking, on a smooth sea; any observer below the deck would not be able to tell whether the ship was moving or stationary.

Formulation
Specifically, the term Galilean invariance today usually refers to this principle as applied to Newtonian mechanics, that is, Newton's laws of motion hold in all frames related to one another by a Galilean transformation. In other words, all frames related to one another by such a transformation are inertial (meaning, Newton's equation of motion is valid in these frames). In this context it is sometimes called Newtonian relativity.

Among the axioms from Newton's theory are:
 * 1) There exists an absolute space, in which Newton's laws are true. An inertial frame is a reference frame in relative uniform motion to absolute space.
 * 2) All inertial frames share a universal time.

Galilean relativity can be shown as follows. Consider two inertial frames S and S' . A physical event in S will have position coordinates r = (x, y, z) and time t in S, and r'  = (x' , y' , z' ) and time t'  in S' . By the second axiom above, one can synchronize the clock in the two frames and assume t = t' . Suppose S'  is in relative uniform motion to S with velocity v. Consider a point object whose position is given by functions r' (t)  in S'  and r(t) in S. We see that
 * $$r'(t) = r(t) - v t.\,$$

The velocity of the particle is given by the time derivative of the position:
 * $$u'(t) = \frac{d}{d t} r'(t) = \frac{d}{d t} r(t) - v = u(t) - v.$$

Another differentiation gives the acceleration in the two frames:
 * $$a'(t) = \frac{d}{d t} u'(t) = \frac{d}{d t} u(t) - 0 = a(t).$$

It is this simple but crucial result that implies Galilean relativity. Assuming that mass is invariant in all inertial frames, the above equation shows Newton's laws of mechanics, if valid in one frame, must hold for all frames. But it is assumed to hold in absolute space, therefore Galilean relativity holds.

Newton's theory versus special relativity
A comparison can be made between Newtonian relativity and special relativity.

Some of the assumptions and properties of Newton's theory are:
 * 1) The existence of infinitely many inertial frames. Each frame is of infinite size (the entire universe may be covered by many linearly equivalent frames). Any two frames may be in relative uniform motion. (The relativistic nature of mechanics derived above shows that the absolute space assumption is not necessary.)
 * 2) The inertial frames may move in all possible relative forms of uniform motion.
 * 3) There is a universal, or absolute, notion of elapsed time.
 * 4) Two inertial frames are related by a Galilean transformation.
 * 5) In all inertial frames, Newton's laws, and gravity, hold.

In comparison, the corresponding statements from special relativity are as follows:
 * 1) The existence, as well, of infinitely many non-inertial frames, each of which referenced to (and physically determined by) a unique set of spacetime coordinates. Each frame may be of infinite size, but its definition is always determined locally by contextual physical conditions. Any two frames may be in relative non-uniform motion (as long as it is assumed that this condition of relative motion implies a relativistic dynamical effect – and later, mechanical effect in general relativity – between both frames).
 * 2) Rather than freely allowing all conditions of relative uniform motion between frames of reference, the relative velocity between two inertial frames becomes bounded above by the speed of light.
 * 3) Instead of universal elapsed time, each inertial frame possesses its own notion of elapsed time.
 * 4) The Galilean transformations are replaced by Lorentz transformations.
 * 5) In all inertial frames, all laws of physics are the same.

Both theories assume the existence of inertial frames. In practice, the size of the frames in which they remain valid differ greatly, depending on gravitational tidal forces.

In the appropriate context, a local Newtonian inertial frame, where Newton's theory remains a good model, extends to roughly 107 light years.

In special relativity, one considers Einstein's cabins, cabins that fall freely in a gravitational field. According to Einstein's thought experiment, a man in such a cabin experiences (to a good approximation) no gravity and therefore the cabin is an approximate inertial frame. However, one has to assume that the size of the cabin is sufficiently small so that the gravitational field is approximately parallel in its interior. This can greatly reduce the sizes of such approximate frames, in comparison to Newtonian frames. For example, an artificial satellite orbiting the Earth can be viewed as a cabin. However, reasonably sensitive instruments could detect "microgravity" in such a situation because the "lines of force" of the Earth's gravitational field converge.

In general, the convergence of gravitational fields in the universe dictates the scale at which one might consider such (local) inertial frames. For example, a spaceship falling into a black hole or neutron star would (at a certain distance) be subjected to tidal forces strong enough to crush it in width and tear it apart in length. In comparison, however, such forces might only be uncomfortable for the astronauts inside (compressing their joints, making it difficult to extend their limbs in any direction perpendicular to the gravity field of the star). Reducing the scale further, the forces at that distance might have almost no effects at all on a mouse. This illustrates the idea that all freely falling frames are locally inertial (acceleration and gravity-free) if the scale is chosen correctly.

Electromagnetism
There are two consistent Galilean transformations that may be used with electromagnetic fields in certain situations.

A transformation $$ T \{ *, v \}$$ is not consistent if $$ T \{ *, v_1+v_2 \} \ne T \{ *, v_1 \} + T \{ *, v_2 \}$$ where $$ v_1$$ and $$ v_2$$ are velocities. A consistent transformation will produce the same results when transforming to a new velocity in one step or multiple steps. It is not possible to have a consistent Galilean transformation that transforms both the magnetic and electric fields. There are useful consistent Galilean transformations that may be applied whenever either the magnetic field or the electric field is dominant.

Magnetic field system
Magnetic field systems are those systems in which the electric field in the initial frame of reference is insignificant, but the magnetic field is strong. When the magnetic field is dominant and the relative velocity, $$v^\mathbf{r}$$, is low, then the following transformation may be useful:

$$\begin{align} \mathbf{H^'} &= \mathbf{H} \\ \mathbf{J_f^'} &= \mathbf{J_f} \\ \mathbf{B^'} &= \mathbf{B} \\ \mathbf{M^'} &= \mathbf{M} \\ \mathbf{E^'} &= \mathbf{E} + v^\mathbf{r} \times \mathbf{B} \\ \end{align}$$ where $$\mathbf{J_f}$$ is free current density, $$\mathbf{M}$$ is magnetization density. The electric field is transformed under this transformation when changing frames of reference, but the magnetic field and related quantities are unchanged. An example of this situation is a wire is moving in a magnetic field such as would occur in an ordinary generator or motor. The transformed electric field in the moving frame of reference could induce current in the wire.

Electric field system
Electric field systems are those systems in which the magnetic field in the initial frame of reference is insignificant, but the electric field is strong. When the electric field is dominant and the relative velocity, $$v^r$$, is low, then the following transformation may be useful:

$$\begin{align} \mathbf{E^'} &= \mathbf{E} \\ \mathbf{D^'} &= \mathbf{D} \\ \mathbf{\rho_f^'} &= \mathbf{\rho_f} \\

\mathbf{P^'} &= \mathbf{P} \\ \mathbf{H^'} &= \mathbf{H} - v^\mathbf{r} \times \mathbf{D} \\ \mathbf{J_f^'} &= \mathbf{J_f} - \rho_\mathbf{f} v^\mathbf{r} \\

\end{align}$$

where $$\rho_\mathbf{f}$$ is free charge density, $$\mathbf{P}$$ is polarization density. The magnetic field and free current density are transformed under this transformation when changing frames of reference, but the electric field and related quantities are unchanged

Work, kinetic energy, and momentum
Because the distance covered while applying a force to an object depends on the inertial frame of reference, so depends the work done. Due to Newton's law of reciprocal actions there is a reaction force; it does work depending on the inertial frame of reference in an opposite way. The total work done is independent of the inertial frame of reference.

Correspondingly the kinetic energy of an object, and even the change in this energy due to a change in velocity, depends on the inertial frame of reference. The total kinetic energy of an isolated system also depends on the inertial frame of reference: it is the sum of the total kinetic energy in a center-of-momentum frame and the kinetic energy the total mass would have if it were concentrated in the center of mass. Due to the conservation of momentum the latter does not change with time, so changes with time of the total kinetic energy do not depend on the inertial frame of reference.

By contrast, while the momentum of an object also depends on the inertial frame of reference, its change due to a change in velocity does not.

Notes and references
מערכת ייחוס

title: Galilean invariance


text:
The Colophon, A Book Collectors' Quarterly

The Colophon, subtitled A Book Collectors' Quarterly or A quarterly for booklovers, was a limited edition quarterly periodical begun late in 1929 and continuing in various guises until 1950. It was the brainchild of Elmer Adler (1884–1962), founder of Pynson Printers of New York City. His idea was that various printers around the world would be willing to contribute their time and expertise to produce signatures (articles) using their own choice of papers, typography and illustration. These articles would then be bound together in boards by Pynson Printers and marketed to 2,000 subscribers.

Content
Some articles comment on a current or historical issue related to printing, publishing or art. Other articles were themselves intended to be an example of printing or a work of art. As each article or item was normally a short section produced by a different designer and printer, a typical issue included a range of styles, papers, and typography, often using unusual or experimental approaches not widely seen in longer or mainstream printed items.

Each issue would also include an original piece of graphic art, some signed by the artist, many produced by using etching, lithography, or engraving. Some of these are rare and valuable; as a result, some copies of the bound volumes have been vandalized to remove the prints.

Editorial board
Adler gathered around him an editorial board of John T. Winterich, Alfred Stanford and F.B. Adams, Jr. and contributing editors including Rockwell Kent, W. A. Dwiggins, Frederic Goudy, Dard Hunter, Bruce Rogers, A. Edward Newton and many others who were well known in the book world. It was their responsibility to provide not only editorial expertise but articles (and in the case of Rockwell Kent, The Colophon logos and colophons).

Publication history
Beginning in early 1930, this "adventure in enthusiasm", as Adler called it, was greeted with public enthusiasm as well, requiring a waiting list for subscriptions. However, it soon ran into difficulty as the Depression made the then costly subscription price of $15 per year difficult for many. By 1935, only 1,700 subscribers could be found. Nonetheless, the quality of The Colophon remained unsurpassed—through the good will of printers, authors and artists—as well as with the help of a number of anonymous financial gifts. From 1935 to 1938, The Colophon entered a new phase with less lofty production values (at a price of $6<Notice given to subscribers which was included in the last two issues of the original 'The Colophon'. per year), before returning to a higher level of quality in 1939 with the 'New Graphic Series'. Starting again in 1948, the name The New Colophon: A Book Collectors' Quarterly was used by Philip Duschnes and the quarterly was entirely printed by the Anthoensen Press of Portland, Maine, continuing publication until 1950 in a fourth and final format.

Contributors
Many of the writers of the day, such as Sherwood Anderson and Edith Wharton, wrote autobiographical articles about their first books and many artists now famous, such as Paul Landacre, Gustave Baumann, Howard Cook, and Emil Ganso, provided original prints.

Issues
Issues of The Colophon and the principal related publications (48 volumes) were:

 * Original Series (20): Vol. 1, part 1 (Feb. 1930) - v. 5, part 20 (Mar. 1935), quarto. Parts 1-4 issued to 2,000 subscribers; 5–12, to 3,000 subscribers; 13–16, to 2,500 subscribers; pt. 17–20 to 1,700 subscribers.
 * Index, the Colophon, 1930–1935; with a history of the quarterly by John T. Winterich
 * New Series (12): Vol. 1, no. 1 (Summer 1935) - v. 3, no. 4 (Autumn 1938), octavo
 * The Annual of Bookmaking (1): 1938, quarto
 * New Graphic Series (4): Vol. 1, no. 1 (Mar. 1939) - v. 1, no. 4 (Feb. 1940), quarto
 * The New Colophon (9): Vol. 1, pt. 1 (Jan. 1948)- v. 3 (1950); v. 1-2 also pts. 1-8 [New York, N.Y. : Duschnes Crawford], quarto
 * Index 1936 - 1950; An Index to The Colophon, New Series . . . . by Keller, Dean H. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1968. 139 pp. Boards. Covers the three series of The Colophon published after the conclusion of the original series: New Series, New Graphic Series, and the New Colophon.

Cover artists
Here is a list of the cover artists through 1935:

 * Edward A. Wilson Part 1 1930 February
 * Joseph Sinel Part 2 1930 May
 * Gustave Jensen Part 3 1930 September
 * Donald McKay Part 4 1930 December
 * W. A. Dwiggins Part 5 1931 March
 * T.M Cleland Part 6 1931 June
 * Leroy Appleton Part 7 1931 September
 * Frank McIntosh Part 8 1931 December
 * Edward A. Wilson Part 9 1932 February
 * Boris Artzybasheff Part 10 1932 May
 * T.M. Cleland Part 11 1932 September
 * Ervine A. Metzl Part 12 1932 December
 * John Atherton Part 13 1933 February
 * Marie Lawson Part 14 1933 June
 * Jack Tinker part 15 1933 October
 * Louis Bouché Part 16 1934 March
 * Carl Noell part 17 1934 June
 * Farle A. Drewry Part 18 1934 September
 * Kirk C. Wilkinson Part 19 1934 December
 * Frederic W. Goudy Part 20 1935 March


text:
Trauma center

A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergency department (also known as a "casualty department" or "accident and emergency") without the presence of specialized services to care for victims of major trauma.

In the United States, a hospital can receive trauma center status by meeting specific criteria established by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and passing a site review by the Verification Review Committee. Official designation as a trauma center is determined by individual state law provisions. Trauma centers vary in their specific capabilities and are identified by "Level" designation, Level I (Level-1) being the highest and Level III (Level-3) being the lowest (some states have four or five designated levels).

The highest levels of trauma centers have access to specialist medical and nursing care, including emergency medicine, trauma surgery, critical care, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, anesthesiology, and radiology, as well as a wide variety of highly specialized and sophisticated surgical and diagnostic equipment. Lower levels of trauma centers may be able to provide only initial care and stabilization of a traumatic injury and arrange for transfer of the patient to a higher level of trauma care.

The operation of a trauma center is often expensive and some areas may be underserved by trauma centers because of that expense. As there is no way to schedule the need for emergency services, patient traffic at trauma centers can vary widely.

A trauma center may have a helipad for receiving patients that have been airlifted to the hospital. In some cases, persons injured in remote areas and transported to a distant trauma center by helicopter can receive faster and better medical care than if they had been transported by ground ambulance to a closer hospital that does not have a designated trauma center.

United Kingdom
Trauma centres grew into existence out of the realisation that traumatic injury is a disease process unto itself requiring specialised and experienced multidisciplinary treatment and specialised resources. The world's first trauma centre, the first hospital to be established specifically to treat injured rather than ill patients, was the Birmingham Accident Hospital, which opened in Birmingham, England in 1941 after a series of studies found that the treatment of injured persons within England was inadequate. By 1947, the hospital had three trauma teams, each including two surgeons and an anaesthetist, and a burns team with three surgeons. The hospital became part of the National Health Service in its formation in July 1948 and closed in 1993. The NHS now has 27 major trauma centres established across England, four in Scotland, and one planned in Wales.

United States
According to the CDC, injuries are the leading cause of death for American children and young adults ages 1–19. The leading causes of trauma are motor vehicle collisions, falls, and assaults with a deadly weapon.

In the United States, Robert J. Baker and Robert J. Freeark established the first civilian Shock Trauma Unit at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on March 16, 1966. The concept of a shock trauma center was also developed at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, in the 1950s and 1960s by thoracic surgeon and shock researcher R Adams Cowley, who founded what became the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 1, 1966. The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center is one of the first shock trauma centers in the world. Cook County Hospital in Chicago trauma center (opened in 1966). David R. Boyd interned at Cook County Hospital from 1963 to 1964 before being drafted into the Army of the United States of America. Upon his release from the Army, Boyd became the first shock-trauma fellow at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, and then went on to develop the National System for Emergency Medical Services, under President Ford. In 1968 the American Trauma Society was created by various co-founders, including R Adams Cowley and Rene Joyeuse as they saw the importance of increased education and training of emergency providers and for nationwide quality trauma care.

Canada
According to the founder of the Trauma Unit at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Marvin Tile, "the nature of injuries at Sunnybrook has changed over the years. When the trauma centre first opened in 1976, about 98 per cent of patients suffered from blunt-force trauma caused by accidents and falls. Now, as many as 20 per cent of patients arrive with gunshot and knife wounds".

Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia, located at Royal Columbian Hospital and Abbotsford Regional Hospital, services the BC area, "Each year, Fraser Health treats almost 130,000 trauma patients as part of the integrated B.C. trauma system".

Definitions in United States
In the United States, trauma centers are ranked by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) or local state governments, from Level I (comprehensive service) to Level III (limited-care). The different levels refer to the types of resources available in a trauma center and the number of patients admitted yearly. These are categories that define national standards for trauma care in hospitals. Level I and Level II designations are also given adult or pediatric designations. Additionally, some states have their own trauma-center rankings separate from the ACS. These levels may range from Level I to Level IV. Some hospitals are less-formally designated Level V.

The ACS does not officially designate hospitals as trauma centers. Numerous U.S. hospitals that are not verified by ACS claim trauma center designation. Most states have legislation that determines the process for designation of trauma centers within that state. The ACS describes this responsibility as "a geopolitical process by which empowered entities, government or otherwise, are authorized to designate." The ACS's self-appointed mission is limited to confirming and reporting on any given hospital's ability to comply with the ACS standard of care known as Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient.

The Trauma Information Exchange Program (TIEP) is a program of the American Trauma Society in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy and is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. TIEP maintains an inventory of trauma centers in the US, collects data and develops information related to the causes, treatment and outcomes of injury, and facilitates the exchange of information among trauma care institutions, care providers, researchers, payers and policymakers.

A trauma center is a hospital that is designated by a state or local authority or is verified by the American College of Surgeons.

Level I
A Level I trauma center provides the highest level of surgical care to trauma patients. Being treated at a Level I trauma center can reduce mortality by 25% compared to a non-trauma center. It has a full range of specialists and equipment available 24 hours a day and admits a minimum required annual volume of severely injured patients.

A Level I trauma center is required to have a certain number of the following people on duty 24 hours a day at the hospital:
 * surgeons
 * emergency physicians
 * anesthesiologists
 * nurses
 * respiratory therapists
 * an education program
 * preventive and outreach programs.

Key elements include 24‑hour in‑house coverage by general surgeons and prompt availability of care in varying specialties—such as orthopedic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, otolaryngology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and critical care, which are needed to adequately respond and care for various forms of trauma that a patient may suffer, as well as provide rehabilitation services.

Most Level I trauma centers are teaching hospitals/campuses. Additionally, a Level I center has a program of research, is a leader in trauma education and injury prevention, and is a referral resource for communities in nearby regions.

Level II
A Level II trauma center works in collaboration with a Level I center. It provides comprehensive trauma care and supplements the clinical expertise of a Level I institution. It provides 24-hour availability of all essential specialties, personnel, and equipment. Oftentimes, level II centers possess critical care services capable of caring for almost all injury types indefinitely. Minimum volume requirements may depend on local conditions. Such institutions are not required to have an ongoing program of research or a surgical residency program.

Level III
A Level III trauma center does not have the full availability of specialists but has resources for emergency resuscitation, surgery, and intensive care of most trauma patients. A Level III center has transfer agreements with Level I or Level II trauma centers that provide back-up resources for the care of patients with exceptionally severe injuries, such as multiple trauma.

Level IV
A Level IV trauma center exists in some states in which the resources do not exist for a Level III trauma center. It provides initial evaluation, stabilization, diagnostic capabilities, and transfer to a higher level of care. It may also provide surgery and critical-care services, as defined in the scope of services for trauma care. A trauma-trained nurse is immediately available, and physicians are available upon the patient's arrival in the Emergency Department. Transfer agreements exist with other trauma centers of higher levels, for use when conditions warrant a transfer.

Level V
A Level V trauma center provides initial evaluation, stabilization, diagnostic capabilities, and transfer to a higher level of care. They may provide surgical and critical-care services, as defined in the service's scope of trauma care services. A trauma-trained nurse is immediately available, and physicians are available upon patient arrival in the emergency department. If not open 24 hours daily, the facility must have an after-hours trauma response protocol.

Pediatric trauma centers
A facility can be designated an adult trauma center, a pediatric trauma center, or an adult and pediatric trauma center. If a hospital provides trauma care to both adult and pediatric patients, the level designation may not be the same for each group. For example, a Level I adult trauma center may also be a Level II pediatric trauma center because pediatric trauma surgery is a specialty unto itself. Adult trauma surgeons are not generally specialized in providing surgical trauma care to children and vice versa, and the difference in practice is significant. In contrast to adult trauma centers, pediatric trauma centers only have two ratings, either level I or level II.

State trauma system regulation

 * Bureau of Emergency Medical Services & Trauma System, Arizona Department of Health Services
 * Arizona Trauma Center Designation
 * Arizona Trauma System
 * Georgia Trauma Commission
 * PA Trauma Systems Foundation
 * 25 Texas Administrative Code 157.125 (Texas Requirements for Trauma Facility Designation)
 * Maryland Trauma System

title: Trauma center