Summary

HandWiki is the world's largest wiki-style encyclopedia dedicated to science, technology and computing. It allows you to create and edit articles as long as you have external citations and login account. In addition, this is a content management environment that can be used for collaborative editing of original scholarly content, such as books, manuals, monographs and tutorials.

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Business Software
Business software or a business application is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, to measure productivity and to perform other business functions accurately. By and large, business software is likely to be developed to meet the needs of a specific business, and therefore is not easily transferable to a different business environment, unless its nature and operation is identical. Due to the unique requirements of each business, off-the-shelf software is unlikely to completely address a company's needs. However, where an on-the-shelf solution is necessary, due to time or monetary considerations, some level of customization is likely to be required. Exceptions do exist, depending on the business in question, and thorough research is always required before committing to bespoke or off-the-shelf solutions. Some business applications are interactive, i.e., they have a graphical user interface or user interface and users can query/modify/input data and view results instantaneously. They can also run reports instantaneously. Some business applications run in batch mode: they are set up to run based on a predetermined event/time and a business user does not need to initiate them or monitor them. Some business applications are built in-house and some are bought from vendors (off the shelf software products). These business applications are installed on either desktops or big servers. Prior to the introduction of COBOL (a universal compiler) in 1965, businesses developed their own unique machine language. RCA's language consisted of a 12-position instruction. For example, to read a record into memory, the first two digits would be the instruction (action) code. The next four positions of the instruction (an 'A' address) would be the exact leftmost memory location where you want the readable character to be placed. Four positions (a 'B' address) of the instruction would note the very rightmost memory location where you want the last character of the record to be located. A two digit 'B' address also allows a modification of any instruction. Instruction codes and memory designations excluded the use of 8's or 9's. The first RCA business application was implemented in 1962 on a 4k RCA 301. The RCA 301, mid frame 501, and large frame 601 began their marketing in early 1960. Many kinds of users are found within the business environment, and can be categorized by using a small, medium and large matrix: Technologies that previously only existed in peer-to-peer software applications, like Kazaa and Napster, are starting to appear within business applications.
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Loathly Lady
The loathly lady (Motif D732 in Stith Thompson's motif index), is a tale type commonly used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale. The motif is that of a woman who appears unattractive (ugly, loathly) but undergoes a transformation upon being approached by a man in spite of her unattractiveness, becoming extremely desirable. It is then revealed that her ugliness was the result of a curse which was broken by the hero's action.
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Probation Officer
Probation and Parole Officers are officials appointed to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation and/or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probation and parole officers are employed by the government of the jurisdiction in which they operate, although some are employed by private companies that provide contracted services to the government.
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Spectrum Reallocation
Middle 20th century frequency allocation assigned much of the radio spectrum to broadcasting. Late in the century, other uses arose and in United States, spectrum reallocation mostly refers to reassigning frequency bands to uses such as wireless broadband, trunking, or point-to-point microwave services. Spectrum reallocation is being done partly through auctions authorized by Title VI (The Spectrum Act) of the payroll tax cut extension passed by Congress on February 17, 2012. Many broadcasters oppose this plan, even though they have been assured that stations will not be forced off the air.
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Terminus (Video Game)
Terminus is a space-flight role-playing action video game by Vicarious Visions. It was released in 2000 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Apple Macintosh. Terminus won awards in the 1999 Independent Games Festival for "Technical Excellence" and "Innovation in Audio".
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Dead Space (Video Game)
Dead Space is a 2008 survival horror video game developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. Released in October 2008, the title was the first in the Dead Space franchise and drew inspiration from other works of horror, notably Resident Evil 4 and the Silent Hill series. Set on a mining spaceship overrun by monsters called Necromorphs, the player controls engineer Isaac Clarke from the third-person perspective as he navigates the spaceship, fights Necromorphs, and struggles with increasing psychosis. The player explores areas on the station through the narrative, solving environmental puzzles while finding ammunition and equipment to survive. Isaac wields engineering equipment as weapons. Dead Space was pitched in early 2006 and fit Electronic Arts' priority of creating new intellectual properties. A prototype of the game was developed for the original Xbox console and lasted 18 months. The team aimed for realism and innovation in design. In the pursuit of these goals, the team removed set spawn points for enemies and omitted the heads-up display in favor of presenting information in the world. Immersive and frightening sound design was a large priority during production, and the score by Jason Graves was noted by critics cause of evoke tension and unease. Dead Space debuted weak in sales but eventually sold over a million copies worldwide. The game was met with universal acclaim: reviewers praised its atmosphere, gameplay and sound design. It won and was nominated for multiple industry awards and has been ranked by journalists as one of the greatest video games ever made. To following of the game success, spawned an adaptation for mobile phones, two numbered sequels (released in 2011 and 2013), several spin-off titles, and other related media, including a comic book prequel and an animated film. A remake of Dead Space is currently in development by EA's Motive Studios that set for release in early 2023.
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
List of Islands of Australia
This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by State or Territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
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  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Climate Change and Infectious Diseases
Global climate change has resulted a wide range of impacts on the spread of infectious diseases is a prominent instance due to ‘climate-sensitive’ characterization.[clarification needed] Like other climate change impacts on human health, climate change both exacerbates existing inequalities and challenges in managing infectious disease while increasing the likilihood of certain kinds of new infectious disease challenges. Documented infectious disease impacts of climate change, include increased malaria and dengue, which are expected to worsen as the global climate changes directly result in extreme weather conditions and higher temperatures. Not only will it propagate their spread, but climate change will probably bring forth new infectious diseases, and change the epidemiology of many existing diseases. Despite humanity's recent success at managing diseases such as SARS, coronavirus, and Ebola – historical data is by no means a guarantee of the future success of confrontation given that each new disease brings its own set of challenges as seen in with the ongoing pandemic regarding COVID-19. There is no direct evidence that COVID-19 is worsened or is caused by climate change.
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Topic Review
Syndemic
A syndemic or synergistic epidemic is the aggregation of two or more concurrent or sequential epidemics or disease clusters in a population with biological interactions, which exacerbate the prognosis and burden of disease. The term was developed by Merrill Singer in the mid-1990s. Syndemics develop under health disparity, caused by poverty, stress, or structural violence and are studied by epidemiologists and medical anthropologists concerned with public health, community health and the effects of social conditions on health. The syndemic approach departs from the biomedical approach to diseases to diagnostically isolate, study, and treat diseases as distinct entities separate from other diseases and independent of social contexts.
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Topic Review
New Literacies
New literacies generally are new forms of literacy made possible by digital technology developments, although new literacies do not necessarily have to involve use of digital technologies to be recognized as such. The term "new literacies" itself is relatively new within the field of literacy studies (the first documented mention of it in an academic article title dates to 1993 in a text by David Buckingham). Its definition remains open, with new literacies being conceptualized in different ways by different groups of scholars. For example, one group of scholars argues that literacy is now deictic, and see it as continually and rapidly changing as new technologies appear and new social practices for literacy emerge. (Leu, 2000). This group aims at developing a single, overarching theory to help explain new literacies (see, for example, Leu, O'Byrne, Zawilinski, McVerry, & Everett-Cacopardo, 2009; see also, below). This orientation towards new literacies is largely psycholinguistic in nature. Other groups of scholars follow a more sociocultural orientation that focuses on literacy as a social practice, which emphasizes the role of literacy with a range of socially patterned and goal-directed ways of getting things done in the world (see, for example, Gee & Hayes, 2012; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; Kalantzis and Cope 2011). Accompanying the varying conceptualizations of new literacies, there are a range of terms used by different researchers when referring to new literacies, including 21st century literacies, internet literacies, digital literacies, new media literacies, multiliteracies, information literacy, ICT literacies, and computer literacy. In the Handbook of New Literacies Research, Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, and Leu (2008) note that all these terms "are used to refer to phenomena we would see as falling broadly under a new literacies umbrella" (pg. 10). Commonly recognized examples of new literacies include such practices as instant messaging, blogging, maintaining a website, participating in online social networking spaces, creating and sharing music videos, podcasting and videocasting, photoshopping images and photo sharing, emailing, shopping online, digital storytelling, participating in online discussion lists, emailing and using online chat, conducting and collating online searches, reading, writing and commenting on fan fiction, collaborating on and writing encyclopedic wikis, processing and evaluating online information, creating and sharing digital mashups, etc. (see: Black, 2008; Coiro, 2003; Gee, 2007; Hunter, 2014; Jenkins, 2006; Kist, 2007; Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Lessig, 2005; Leu, et al. 2004; Prensky, 2006).
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