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Minimalist Program
In linguistics, the minimalist program (MP) is a major line of inquiry that has been developing inside generative grammar since the early 1990s, starting with a 1993 paper by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky presents MP as a program, not as a theory, following Imre Lakatos's distinction. The MP seeks to be a mode of inquiry characterized by the flexibility of the multiple directions that its minimalism enables. Ultimately, the MP provides a conceptual framework used to guide the development of linguistic theory. In minimalism, Chomsky attempts to approach universal grammar from below—that is, proposing the question "what would be the optimal answer to what the theory of i-Language should be?" For Chomsky, there are minimalist questions, but the answers can be framed in any theory. Of all these questions, the two that play the most crucial role are:
  • 7.3K
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
High-Level Shading Language
The High-Level Shader Language or High-Level Shading Language (HLSL) is a proprietary shading language developed by Microsoft for the Direct3D 9 API to augment the shader assembly language, and went on to become the required shading language for the unified shader model of Direct3D 10 and higher. HLSL is analogous to the GLSL shading language used with the OpenGL standard. It is very similar to the Nvidia Cg shading language, as it was developed alongside it. Early versions of the two languages were considered identical, only marketed differently. HLSL shaders can enable profound speed and detail increases as well as many special effects in both 2D and 3D computer graphics. HLSL programs come in six forms: pixel shaders (fragment in GLSL), vertex shaders, geometry shaders, compute shaders, tessellation shaders (Hull and Domain shaders), and ray tracing shaders (Ray Generation Shaders, Intersection Shaders, Any Hit/Closest Hit/Miss Shaders). A vertex shader is executed for each vertex that is submitted by the application, and is primarily responsible for transforming the vertex from object space to view space, generating texture coordinates, and calculating lighting coefficients such as the vertex's normal, tangent, and bitangent vectors. When a group of vertices (normally 3, to form a triangle) come through the vertex shader, their output position is interpolated to form pixels within its area; this process is known as rasterization. Optionally, an application using a Direct3D 10/11/12 interface and Direct3D 10/11/12 hardware may also specify a geometry shader. This shader takes as its input some vertices of a primitive (triangle/line/point) and uses this data to generate/degenerate (or tessellate) additional primitives or to change the type of primitives, which are each then sent to the rasterizer. D3D11.3 and D3D12 introduced Shader Model 5.1 and later 6.0.
  • 1.1K
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France , Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Getlink. The London terminus is London St Pancras International; the other British calling points are Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. Intermediate calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe. Trains to Paris terminate at Gare du Nord. Trains to Belgium and the Netherlands serve Brussels-South and Rotterdam Centraal, before terminating at Amsterdam Centraal. Additionally, in France there are direct services from London to Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy (Disneyland Paris) and seasonal direct services to southern France (Lyon, Avignon and Marseille) in summer, and to the French Alps in winter. The service is operated by 11 Class 373/1 trainsets, each with 18 coaches, and 17 Class 374 trainsets, each with 16 coaches. The trains run at up to 320 kilometers per hour (200 mph) on high-speed lines. The LGV Nord high-speed line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, and newer lines enabling faster journeys were added later: HSL 1 in Belgium and High Speed 1 in south-east England. The French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and TGV trains. Eurostar is operated by Eurostar International Limited (EIL), jointly owned by SNCF, the national railway of France (55%), investment firms (40%), and the National Railway Company of Belgium (5%).
  • 6.5K
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
OPALS
Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) is a spacecraft communication instrument developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that was tested on the International Space Station (ISS) from 18 April 2014 to 17 July 2014 to demonstrate the technology for laser communications systems between spacecraft and ground stations. The purpose of OPALS is to do research into replacing traditional radio-frequency (RF) communications which are currently used on spacecraft. This will allow spacecraft to increase the rate at which data is downlinked by 10 to 100 times. It also will have less error than RF communication. It launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to the ISS on 18 April 2014 on a Falcon 9 SpaceX CRS-3 Dragon capsule resupply.
  • 1.1K
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Fractional Poisson Process
In probability theory, a fractional Poisson process is a stochastic process to model the long-memory dynamics of a stream of counts. The time interval between each pair of consecutive counts follows the non-exponential power-law distribution with parameter [math]\displaystyle{ \nu }[/math], which has physical dimension [math]\displaystyle{ [\nu ]=\sec ^{-\mu } }[/math], where [math]\displaystyle{ 0\lt \mu \leq 1 }[/math]. In other words, fractional Poisson process is non-Markov counting stochastic process that exhibits non-exponential distribution of interarrival times. The fractional Poisson process is a continuous-time process that can be thought of as natural generalization of the well-known Poisson process. Fractional Poisson probability distribution is a new member of discrete probability distributions. The fractional Poisson process, Fractional compound Poisson process and fractional Poisson probability distribution function have been invented, developed and encouraged for applications by Nick Laskin (2003) who coined the terms fractional Poisson process, Fractional compound Poisson process and fractional Poisson probability distribution function.
  • 2.3K
  • 08 Jun 2025
Topic Review
Festive Ecology
Festive ecology explores the relationships between the symbolism and the ecology of the plants, fungi and animals associated with cultural events such as festivals, processions, and special occasions. Examples of topics are given below.
  • 588
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Climate Change Adaptation in Greenland
Climate change adaptation is a pressing issue in Greenland. The term climate change describes long-term changes to the climate system. Since the 1950s a stark rise in global temperatures has been observed. As climate change, whether natural or anthropogenic, impacts the livelihoods of people across the globe, responses i.e. ways to prepare and adjust under changing vulnerabilities become important. Such responses are commonly discussed under the term adaptation, "the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects", as defined by the IPCC. Geographically Greenland is situated between the Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean, with one third of the island being north of the Arctic Circle. Since the middle of the 20th century, the Arctic has been warming at about twice the global rate. Rising temperatures put increasing pressure on certain plant and tree species and contribute to Greenland's melting ice sheet. This affects and changes the livelihood of the Greenlandic population, particularly the Inuit people, which make up to 80 percent of the total population. Besides the decline of fish stocks, the country's landscape is changing: the melting ice reveals minerals, oil and gas. This has attracted interest from local and foreign investors for potential resource extraction. As new industries are accompanied by new job opportunities and potential wealth, lifestyles are changing. Greenland is in transition, in terms of biophysical as well as cultural and social conditions.
  • 4.2K
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Holy Confucian Church
The Holy Confucian Church or Holy Church of Confucius (孔圣会 Kǒngshènghuì) or Holy Confucian Church of China (中华孔圣会 Zhōnghuá Kǒngshènghuì) is a body formed of many local Confucian churches or halls (孔圣堂 Kǒngshèngtáng) in China . The grassroots movement was initiated by Zhou Beichen, a disciple of the Confucian philosopher Jiang Qing, who founded the first holy church in Shenzhen in 2009. The aim of the movement was to develop a network of local Confucian churches throughout the country, eventually unifying into a national body and becoming the state religion of China. The Holy Confucian Church has received support from the Confucian Academy of Hong Kong, although it has developed independently from the latter. In 2010 the first holy church in Shenzhen was officially registered as a non-governmental non-profit (fēi qǐyè 非企业) organisation of public interest (gōngyì 公益) affiliated with the Federation of Confucian Culture of Qufu City. The Holy Church maintains close relations with local government officials and high-ranking dignitaries of the State Administration for Religious Affairs attend its ceremonies. The national and international body, the Holy Confucian Church of China, was finally established in late 2015.
  • 2.4K
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Inoviridae
Inoviridae is a family of viruses that infect bacteria. Members of the family are commonly called filamentous bacteriophages due to their filamentous shape that resembles a worm-like chain (long, thin and flexible, reminiscent of a length of cooked spaghetti) about 6 nm in diameter and about 1000-2000 nm long. Filamentous bacteriophages are among the simplest living organisms known, with far fewer genes than the classical bacteriophages studied by the phage group. Its simplicity makes it an attractive model system to study fundamental aspects of molecular biology, and it has also proven useful as a tool in immunology and nanotechnology. The family contains 29 defined species, divided between 23 genera. However, mining of genomic and metagenomic datasets using machine learning approach led to the discovery of 10,295 inovirus-like sequences in nearly all bacterial phyla across virtually every ecosystem, indicating that this group of viruses is much more diverse and widespread than originally appreciated.
  • 898
  • 20 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Yan Tan Tethera
Yan Tan Tethera is a sheep-counting rhyme/system traditionally used by shepherds in Northern England and earlier in some other parts of Britain. Until the Industrial Revolution, the use of traditional number systems was common among shepherds, especially in the fells of the Lake District. The Yan Tan Tethera system was also used for counting stitches in knitting. The words derive from a Brythonic Celtic language. Though most of these number systems fell out of use by 1910, some are still in use. The word yan or yen for "one" in some northern English dialects generally represents a regular development in Northern English in which the Old English long vowel /ɑː/ was broken into /ie/, /ia/ and so on. This explains the shift to yan and ane from the Old English ān, which is itself derived from the Proto-Germanic *ainaz. Another example of this development is the Northern English word for "home", hame, which has forms such as hyem, yem and yam all deriving from the Old English hām.
  • 8.4K
  • 20 Nov 2022
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