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Decision list

Decision lists are a representation for Boolean functions which can be easily learned from examples. Single term decision lists are more expressive than disjunctions and conjunctions; however, 1-term decision lists are less expressive than the general disjunctive normal form and the conjunctive normal form. The language specified by a k-length decision list includes as a subset the language specified by a k-depth decision tree. Learning decision lists can be used for attribute efficient learning, a type of machine learning. == Definition == A decision list (DL) of length r is of the form: if f1 then output b1 else if f2 then output b2 ... else if fr then output br where fi is the ith formula and bi is the ith boolean for i ∈ { 1... r } {\displaystyle i\in \{1...r\}} . The last if-then-else is the default case, which means formula fr is always equal to true. A k-DL is a decision list where all of formulas have at most k terms. Sometimes "decision list" is used to refer to a 1-DL, where all of the formulas are either a variable or its negation.
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Mass media use by the Islamic State

The Islamic State (IS) is known for its extensive and effective use of propaganda. It uses a version of the Muslim Black Standard flag and developed an emblem which has clear symbolic meaning in the Muslim world. The Islamic State targets younger audiences, such as teenagers and young adults, since they are more vulnerable to propaganda. It is known to exploit the internet to spread its propaganda by establishing websites, such as the Al Fustat domain. Videos by the Islamic State are commonly accompanied by nasheeds (chants), notable examples being the chant Dawlat al-Islam Qamat, which came to be viewed as an unofficial anthem of the Islamic State, and Salil al-Sawarim. Academic research has emphasized the scale and volume of Islamic State media production beyond its flagship magazines. A quantitative study cited in R. Malash’s academic work documented 1,373 distinct Islamic State media products released over a six-month period between 1 August 2017 and 28 February 2018, including magazines, newsletters, reports, photographic releases, audio recordings, and other media formats. Scholars have used such datasets to illustrate the breadth and intensity of the group’s media output, particularly during periods of territorial decline, when propaganda activity remained high despite military pressure. == Traditional media == === Al-Furqan Foundation for Media Production === In January 2006, shortly after the group's rebranding as the "Islamic State of Iraq", it established the Al-Furqan Foundation for Media Production (Arabic: مؤسسة الفرقان للإنتاج الإعلامي, romanized: Muasasat al-Furqān lil'īntāj al'ilāmī), which produces CDs, DVDs, posters, pamphlets, and web-related propaganda products and official statements. It is the primary media production house of the Islamic State and responsible for production of major media releases, including the statements of the spokesmen and leaders of the group. On January 10, 2006, Al-Furqan released its very first video, titled (Arabic: زحف الأنوار, romanized: Zahf al-Anwār) It was founded by the Iraqi man Dr Wa'il al-Fayad, known as Abu Muhammad al-Furqan. He got his name "Al-Furqan" from his role in founding this media house, which was named after the 25th surah of the Quran Al-Furqan. It is the oldest media production house for the Islamic State, being founded in November 2006 to release media for the Islamic State of Iraq. The earliest release indexed by the SITE Intelligence Group is on 21 November 2006, documenting the storming of a police station in the Iraqi town of Miqdadiyah. Al-Furqan is considered to be a considerable innovation in jihadist media, with Kavkaz Center describing it as "a milestone on the path of jihad, a distinguished media that takes the great care in the management of the conflict with the crusaders and their tails and to expose the lies in the crusader's media." In October 2007, the Long War Journal reported on United States Army raids targeting Al-Furqan media cell members across Iraq, including in Mosul and Samarra. Between August 2013 and March 2014 they released the 22 part series Messages from the Land of Epic Battles. On 2 September 2014 SITE Intelligence Group discovered the beheading video called A Second Message to America, about the death of Steven Sotloff. Since then, Al-Furqan has released videos of their operations across Iraq and Syria, as well as execution videos directed to governments around the world. In April 2019, Al-Furqan released a video Interviewing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al-Furqan also produces media in the form of audio, which consists mostly of recordings of IS leaders and spokesmen giving speeches, as well as producing a single nasheed under their name called "Ya Allah Al-Jannah" (O Allah, (we ask you for) Paradise), sung by now-dead member of IS, Uqab Al-Marzuqi. === Al-I'tisam Foundation for Media Production === The Islamic State of Iraq founded a second media foundation - Al-I'tisam Media Foundation - around 2011, marked by their first video release, titled "The Conqueror of the Murtaddin: Abu Ahmad Al-Ansari". The foundation has since released a few series of videos, 50 parts of "Windows on the Land of Battles", 9 parts of "Pictures from the Land of Battles", a 9-part series quoting leaders about the establishment of the Islamic State, and other series before their last release, "Deterring the Safavids in Salah ad-Din" in 2015. Since then, there were no further releases from their behalf. === Al-Hayat Media Center === In mid-2014, IS established the Al-Hayat Media Center, which targets Western audiences and produces material in English, German, Russian, Urdu, Indonesian, Turkish, Bengali, Chinese, Bosnian, Kurdish, Uyghur, and French. When IS announced its expansion to other countries in November 2014 it established media departments for the new branches, and its media apparatus ensured that the new branches follow the same models it uses in Iraq and Syria. Then FBI Director James Comey said that IS's "propaganda is unusually slick," noting that, "They are broadcasting... in something like 23 languages". In July 2014, Al-Hayat began publishing a digital magazine called Dabiq, in a number of different languages including English. According to the magazine, its name is taken from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria, which is mentioned in a hadith about Armageddon. Al-Hayat also began publishing other digital magazines, including the Turkish language Konstantiniyye, the Ottoman word for Istanbul, the French language Dar al-Islam, and the Russian language Istok (Russian: Исток). By late 2016, these magazines had apparently all been discontinued, with Al-Hayat's material being consolidated into a new magazine called Rumiyah (Arabic for Rome). === Al-Naba === While the group's glossy, foreign-language magazines like Dabiq and Rumiyah ceased publication as the group lost territory, the weekly Arabic newsletter Al-Naba (The News) has continued to publish regularly, becoming the central pillar of the group's "media jihad" in the post-territorial phase. Recent scholarship, including studies published in 2025, suggests that Al-Naba serves a dual purpose: maintaining internal cohesion among dispersed fighters and projecting a narrative of endurance to enemies. Unlike the earlier magazines which were designed for recruitment, Al-Naba focuses on bureaucratic reporting, military statistics, and religious instruction. These are then translated and disseminated by decentralized supporter networks ("media mujahideen") to reach non-Arabic speakers. === Furat Media Center === The Al-Furat Media Center is another media center established in around 2015 to cater towards non-Arab speaking audiences. However, unlike the other organizations, the production wasn't as professional as ones made by the other media centers. Instead, they partially relied on local media departments and foreign communities of the Mujahideen to produce short-form videos. However, some professional long-form videos were also made under their behalf. As of now, the media center is the only known active branch of all the media centers of the Islamic State, after heavy losses from past campaigns against them. Their last release was "The Resolve of Muwahhidin in Russia", where videos from the Surovikino penal colony hostage crisis were edited and released. === Ajnad Foundation for Media Production === Ajnad Foundation is one of the official media wings of Islamic State which produces nasheeds and Quran recitations. It was established in January 2014 and has released more than 150 nasheeds. === Asdaa Foundation === Like the Ajnad Foundation, the Asdaa Foundation (Arabic: مؤسسة أصداء) or Asedaa Foundation produces Anasheed (Islamic chants). The foundation is the closest counterpart to Ajnad in producing Islamic State nasheeds, only difference being Ajnad is directly linked to the Islamic State while Asdaa is only classified as a "supporter organization" (munaser/munasera). The foundation had humble beginnings possibly in Yemen, where low-quality nasheeds were produced at first by 2 munshids, Abu Layth Al-Iraqi and Abu Ya'qub Al-Yamani. After that, the quality had improved a bit (possibly with new equipment and increased recognition) and eventually had its nasheeds included in the Islamic State's official media releases. One of its munshids, Abu Hafs is a renowned munshid who sings around 70 nasheeds, who as well works with Ajnad Foundation in some instances. He is currently alive, and working under Ansar Production Center (مركز إنتاج الأنصار), another Munasir foundation and Asedaa. Another Yemeni munshid, Abu Musab al-Adani, worked temporarily with Asdaa Foundation before defecting back to AQAP, from which he previously defected from. Some of their anasheed is used in IS's execution videos, a popular one is their human slaughterhouse execution video released during the time of Eid Al-Adha in 2016. The background nasheed they used was "We Came To Fill The Horizons With Terror", produced by the Asd
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Flapit

Flapit is a split-flap display that reveals real-time social media statistics such as Twitter followers or Yelp ratings. The product is designed to show off a bricks-and-mortar company's online community and increase its online presence by letting offline customers interact with the connected counter. The idea came from a product launched by the retailer C&A called the Fashion Like. The device can be customised via a web app and API to display any promotional messages, internal stats or discounts. It has 7 digits including numbers, letters and currency symbols Special messages such as Thank You or Like Us can be displayed on the first flap and are translated into Italian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and English. The Flapit counter was officially presented to the press at the CES Las Vegas 2015 and received favorable reviews from major specialised press
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Groundswell (book)

Groundswell is a book by Forrester Research executives Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff that focuses on how companies can take advantage of emerging social technologies. It was published in 2008 by Harvard Business Press. A revised edition was published in 2011. The book attempts to explain a shift in the relationship between customers and companies, in which companies are no longer able to control customers' attitudes through market research, customer service, and advertising. Instead, customers are controlling the conversation by using new media to communicate about products and companies. == Synopsis == The groundswell is characterized by several tactics that guide companies into using social technologies strategically and effectively. Listening: Businesses should listen to their customers to understand what the market is looking for in their products. In order to do this, a company needs to find out if their customers are using social technologies and how they are using them. Talking: Instead of advertising to customers, marketing departments should find creative ways to connect with users about their experience with a product and their feelings about the brand. One common method is participation in social networks. Energizing: Enthusiastic customers are part of the groundswell, and companies can recognize and appreciate these customers by creating online communities and social platforms where they can connect with the brand and provide reviews. Supporting: Businesses can harness the support of their own employees by creating internal social applications for them to connect with the brand, also known as enterprise social software. == Groundswell in action == === Examples === Some companies distinguish their product through the use of social technologies. Tom Dickson successfully marketed his Blendtec line of blenders through the viral marketing campaign Will It Blend? The groundswell spread marketing messages through Digg and YouTube with a small budget and little marketing experience. Other companies have been able to listen to and talk with the groundswell by building their own online communities. Procter & Gamble created beinggirl.com Archived 2016-04-10 at the Wayback Machine to introduce girls to P&G feminine care products. The community approach worked because the company could reach girls with information that might seem embarrassing or sensitive in a traditional marketing campaign. === Risks === Features of particular industries or companies can make direct customer engagement more difficult. For instance, some companies must work within industry regulations, national or multinational corporations must balance corporate and local engagement, and other companies must find ways to engage with customers on time-sensitive issues. == Reception == Kevin Allison of the Financial Times praised the book for its focus on Web analytics: "[Groundswell] is not so much a manifesto or a dissection of online culture as it is a how-to manual for executives and mid-level managers trying to navigate this fast-changing and often confusing environment." The book won the American Marketing Association Foundation’s Berry-AMA Book Prize for best marketing book of 2009. It was also listed by: Amazon, as one of the Top 10 Business & Investing Books of 2008 CIO Insight, as one of the Top 10 Business-Tech Books of 2008 and one of 10 Insightful Web 2.0 Books Fortune as Magazine as one of the 3 best Web books of 2008 Advertising Age as number 3 of 10 Books You Should Have Read BusinessWeek as one of the Best Innovation & Design Books of 2008 "strategy+business" as one of the Best Business Books 2008 and “Top Shelf” in Marketing
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Apache Drill

Apache Drill is an open-source software framework that supports data-intensive distributed applications for interactive analysis of large-scale datasets. Built chiefly by contributions from developers from MapR, Drill is inspired by Google's Dremel system. Drill is an Apache top-level project. Drill supports a variety of NoSQL databases and file systems, including Alluxio, HBase, MongoDB, MapR-DB, HDFS, MapR-FS, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, Swift, NAS and local files. A single query can join data from multiple datastores. Drill's datastore-aware optimizer automatically restructures a query plan to leverage the datastore's internal processing capabilities. In addition, Drill supports data locality, if Drill and the datastore are on the same nodes. Tom Shiran is the founder of the Apache Drill Project. It was designated an Apache Software Foundation top-level project in December 2016. == Features == One explicitly stated design goal is that Drill is able to scale to 10,000 servers or more and to be able to process petabytes of data and trillions of records in seconds. Schema-free JSON document model similar to MongoDB and Elasticsearch, without requiring a formal schema to be declared Industry-standard APIs: ANSI SQL, ODBC/JDBC, RESTful APIs Extremely user and developer friendly Pluggable architecture enables connectivity to multiple datastores Version 1.9 added dynamic user-defined functions Version 1.11 added cryptographic-related functions and PCAP file format support == Back-end support == Drill is primarily focused on non-relational datastores, including Apache Hadoop text files, NoSQL, and cloud storage. A notable feature also includes in situ querying of local JSON and Apache Parquet files. Some additional datastores that it supports include: All Hadoop distributions (HDFS API 2.3+), including Apache Hadoop, MapR, CDH and Amazon EMR NoSQL: MongoDB, Apache HBase, Apache Cassandra Online Analytical Processing: Apache Kudu, Apache Druid, OpenTSDB Cloud storage: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, Swift, IBM Cloud Object Storage Diverse data formats, including Apache Avro, Apache Parquet and JSON RDBMs storage plugins (Using JDBC to connect to MySQL, PostgreSQL, and others) A new datastore can be added by developing a storage plugin. Drill's "schema-free" JSON data model enables it to query non-relational datastores in-situ . == Front-end support == Drill itself can be queried via JDBC, ODBC, or REST through a variety of methods and languages including Python and Java. The default install includes a web interface allowing end-users to execute ANSI SQL directly and export data tables as CSV files without any programming. The dashboard library, Apache Superset, is particularly well suited for visualization of data queried with Drill.
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Ajax (programming)

The Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, usually referred to as Ajax (or AJAX, ) is a set of web development techniques that uses various web technologies on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications. With Ajax, web applications can send and retrieve data from a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with the display and behaviour of the existing page. By decoupling the data interchange layer from the presentation layer, Ajax allows web pages and, by extension, web applications, to change content dynamically without the need to reload the entire page. In practice, modern implementations commonly utilize JSON instead of XML. Ajax is not a technology, but rather a programming pattern. HTML and CSS can be used in combination to mark up and style information. The webpage can be modified by JavaScript to dynamically display (and allow the user to interact with) the new information. The built-in XMLHttpRequest object is used to execute Ajax on webpages, allowing websites to load content onto the screen without refreshing the page. == History == In the early-to-mid 1990s, most Websites were based on complete HTML pages. Each user action required a complete new page to be loaded from the server. This process was inefficient, as reflected by the user experience: all page content disappeared, then the new page appeared. Each time the browser reloaded a page because of a partial change, all the content had to be re-sent, even though only some of the information had changed. This placed additional load on the server and made bandwidth a limiting factor in performance. The foundations of AJAX originate back in 1996 with the introduction of JavaScript 1. Developers quickly discovered that any HTML element which accepted a "src" attribute could be used to fetch remote data. By changing the src of a hidden frame, a developer could fetch remote data, process or display it without a page refresh. The remote data could be a string, JavaScript code, XML or a partial HTML page generated on the server. The same could be done with and tags, but many developers were alarmed at the concept of an executable GIF and preferred to use the hidden . This technique was used for both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, the two main browsers at the time, until developers discovered the XMLHTTP server object (MSXML 1.0) was included in Internet Explorer 4. Browser detection was then used to either implement the hidden <iframe> in Netscape or use the XMLHTTP (MSXML 1.0) object in IE 4. In 1996, the iframe tag was introduced by Internet Explorer; like the object element, it can load a part of the web page asynchronously. In 1998, the Microsoft Outlook Web Access team developed the concept behind the XMLHttpRequest scripting object. It appeared as XMLHTTP in the second version of the MSXML library, which shipped with Internet Explorer 5.0 in March 1999. The functionality of the Windows XMLHTTP ActiveX control in IE 5 was later implemented by Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome, and other browsers as the XMLHttpRequest JavaScript object. Microsoft adopted the native XMLHttpRequest model as of Internet Explorer 7. Support for the ActiveX version remained in Internet Explorer and on "Internet Explorer mode" in Microsoft Edge. The utility of these background HTTP requests and asynchronous Web technologies remained fairly obscure until it started appearing in large scale online applications such as Outlook Web Access (2000) and Oddpost (2002). Google made a wide deployment of standards-compliant, cross browser Ajax with Gmail (2004) and Google Maps (2005). In October 2004 Kayak.com's public beta release was among the first large-scale e-commerce uses of what their developers at that time called "the xml http thing". This increased interest in Ajax among web program developers. The term AJAX was publicly used on 18 February 2005 by Jesse James Garrett in an article titled Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications, based on techniques used on Google pages. On 5 April 2006, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released the first draft specification for the XMLHttpRequest object in an attempt to create an official Web standard. The latest draft of the XMLHttpRequest object was published on 6 October 2016, and the XMLHttpRequest specification is now a living standard. == Technologies == The term Ajax has come to represent a broad group of Web technologies that can be used to implement a Web application that communicates with a server in the background, without interfering with the current state of the page. In the article that coined the term Ajax, Jesse James Garrett explained that the following technologies are incorporated: HTML (or XHTML) and CSS for presentation The Document Object Model (DOM) for dynamic display of and interaction with data JSON or XML for the interchange of data, and XSLT for XML manipulation The XMLHttpRequest object for asynchronous communication JavaScript to bring these technologies together Since then, however, there have been a number of developments in the technologies used in an Ajax application, and in the definition of the term Ajax itself. XML is no longer required for data interchange and, therefore, XSLT is no longer required for the manipulation of data. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is often used as an alternative format for data interchange, although other formats such as preformatted HTML or plain text can also be used. A variety of popular JavaScript libraries, including jQuery, include abstractions to assist in executing Ajax requests. == Examples == === JavaScript example === An example of a simple Ajax request using the GET method, written in JavaScript. get-ajax-data.js: send-ajax-data.php: === Fetch example === Fetch is a native JavaScript API. According to Google Developers Documentation, "Fetch makes it easier to make web requests and handle responses than with the older XMLHttpRequest." ==== ES7 async/await example ==== Fetch relies on JavaScript promises. The fetch specification differs from Ajax in the following significant ways: The Promise returned from fetch() won't reject on HTTP error status even if the response is an HTTP 404 or 500. Instead, as soon as the server responds with headers, the Promise will resolve normally (with the ok property of the response set to false if the response isn't in the range 200–299), and it will only reject on network failure or if anything prevented the request from completing. fetch() won't send cross-origin cookies unless you set the credentials init option. (Since April 2018. The spec changed the default credentials policy to same-origin. Firefox changed since 61.0b13.) == Benefits == Ajax offers several benefits that can significantly enhance web application performance and user experience. By reducing server traffic and improving speed, Ajax plays a crucial role in modern web development. One key advantage of Ajax is its capacity to render web applications without requiring data retrieval, resulting in reduced server traffic. This optimization minimizes response times on both the server and client sides, eliminating the need for users to endure loading screens. Furthermore, Ajax facilitates asynchronous processing by simplifying the utilization of XmlHttpRequest, which enables efficient handling of requests for asynchronous data retrieval. Additionally, the dynamic loading of content enhances the application's performance significantly. Besides, Ajax enjoys broad support across all major web browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 and above, Mozilla Firefox versions 1.0 and beyond, Opera versions 7.6 and above, and Apple Safari versions 1.2 and higher.</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/323e999667.html" class="read-more" title="Ajax (programming)">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/300f999690.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Hydration (web development)"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Hydration (web development)" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/300f999690.html" title="Hydration (web development)">Hydration (web development)</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">In web development, hydration or rehydration is a technique in which client-side JavaScript converts a web page that is static from the perspective of the web browser, delivered either through static rendering or server-side rendering, into a dynamic web page by attaching event handlers to the HTML elements in the DOM. Because the HTML is pre-rendered on a server, this allows for a fast "first contentful paint" (when useful data is first displayed to the user), but there is a period of time afterward where the page appears to be fully loaded and interactive, but is not until the client-side JavaScript is executed and event handlers have been attached. Frameworks that use hydration include Next.js and Nuxt. React v16.0 introduced a "hydrate" function, which hydrates an element, in its API. == Variations == === Streaming server-side rendering === Streaming server-side rendering allows one to send HTML in chunks that the browser can progressively render as it is received. This can provide a fast first paint and first contentful paint as HTML markup arrives to users faster. === Progressive rehydration === In progressive rehydration, individual pieces of a server-rendered application are “booted up” over time, rather than the current common approach of initializing the entire application at once. This can help reduce the amount of JavaScript required to make pages interactive, since client-side upgrading of low priority parts of the page can be deferred to prevent blocking the main thread. It can also help avoid one of the most common server-side rendering rehydration pitfalls, where a server-rendered DOM tree gets destroyed and then immediately rebuilt – most often because the initial synchronous client-side render required data that wasn't quite ready, perhaps awaiting Promise resolution. === Partial rehydration === Partial rehydration has proven difficult to implement. This approach is an extension of the idea of progressive rehydration, where the individual pieces (components/views/trees) to be progressively rehydrated are analyzed and those with little interactivity or no reactivity are identified. For each of these mostly-static parts, the corresponding JavaScript code is then transformed into inert references and decorative functionality, reducing their client-side footprint to near-zero. The partial hydration approach comes with its own issues and compromises. It poses some interesting challenges for caching, and client-side navigation means it cannot be assumed that server-rendered HTML for inert parts of the application will be available without a full page load. One framework that supports partial rehydration is Elder.js, which is based on Svelte. === Trisomorphic rendering === Trisomorphic rendering is a technique which uses streaming server-side rendering for initial/non-JavaScript navigations, and then uses service workers to take on rendering of HTML for navigations after it has been installed. This can keep cached components and templates up to date and enables SPA-style navigations for rendering new views in the same session. This approach works best when one can share the same templating and routing code between the server, client page, and service worker.</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/300f999690.html" class="read-more" title="Hydration (web development)">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/429c999561.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Digital image correlation for electronics"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Digital image correlation for electronics" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/429c999561.html" title="Digital image correlation for electronics">Digital image correlation for electronics</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">Digital image correlation analyses have applications in material property characterization, displacement measurement, and strain mapping. As such, DIC is becoming an increasingly popular tool when evaluating the thermo-mechanical behavior of electronic components and systems. == CTE measurements and glass transition temperature identification == The most common application of DIC in the electronics industry is the measurement of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). Because it is a non-contact, full-field surface technique, DIC is ideal for measuring the effective CTE of printed circuit boards (PCB) and individual surfaces of electronic components. It is especially useful for characterizing the properties of complex integrated circuits, as the combined thermal expansion effects of the substrate, molding compound, and die make effective CTE difficult to estimate at the substrate surface with other experimental methods. DIC techniques can be used to calculate average in-plane strain as a function of temperature over an area of interest during a thermal profile. Linear curve-fitting and slope calculation can then be used to estimate an effective CTE for the observed area. Because the driving factor in solder fatigue is most often the CTE mismatch between a component and the PCB it is soldered to, accurate CTE measurements are vital for calculating printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) reliability metrics. DIC is also useful for characterizing the thermal properties of polymers. Polymers are often used in electronic assemblies as potting compounds, conformal coatings, adhesives, molding compounds, dielectrics, and underfills. Because the stiffness of such materials can vary widely, accurately determining their thermal characteristics with contact techniques that transfer load to the specimen, such as dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA), is difficult to do with consistency. Accurate CTE measurements are important for these materials because, depending on the specific use case, expansion and contraction of these materials can drastically affect solder joint reliability. For example, if a stiff conformal coating or other polymeric encapsulation is allowed to flow under a QFN, its expansion and contraction during thermal cycling can add tensile stress to the solder joints and expedite fatigue failure. DIC techniques will also allow the detection of glass transition temperature (Tg). At a glass transition temperature, the strain vs. temperature plot will exhibit a change in slope. Determining the Tg is very important for polymeric materials that could have glass transition temperatures within the operating temperature range of the electronics assemblies and components on which they are used. For example, some potting materials can see the Elastic Modulus of the material change by a factor of 100 or more over the glass transition region. Such changes can have drastic effects on an electronic assembly's reliability if they are not planned for in the design process. == Out-of-plane component warpage == When 3D DIC techniques are employed, out-of-plane motion can be tracked in addition to in-plane motion. Out-of-plane warpage is especially of interest at the component level of electronics packaging for solder joint reliability quantification. Excessive warpage during reflow can contribute to defective solder joints by lifting the edges of the component away from the board and creating head-in-pillow defects in ball grid arrays (BGA). Warpage can also shorten the fatigue life of adequate joints by adding tensile stresses to edge joints during thermal cycling. == Thermo-mechanical strain mapping == When a PCBA is over-constrained, thermo-mechanical stress brought about during thermal expansion can cause board strains that could negatively affect individual component and overall assembly reliability. The full-field monitoring capabilities of an image correlation technique allow for the measurement of strain magnitude and location on the surface of a specimen during a displacement-causing event, such as PCBA during a thermal profile. These "strain maps" allow for the comparison of strain levels over full areas of interest. Many traditional discrete methods, like extensometers and strain gauges, only allow for localized measurements of strain, inhibiting their ability to efficiently measure strain across larger areas of interest. DIC techniques have also been used to generate strain maps from purely mechanical events, such as drop impact tests, on electronic assemblies.</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/429c999561.html" class="read-more" title="Digital image correlation for electronics">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/396c399600.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Stochastic parrot"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Stochastic parrot" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/396c399600.html" title="Stochastic parrot">Stochastic parrot</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">In machine learning, the term stochastic parrot is a metaphor that frames large language models as systems that statistically mimic text without real understanding. The word "stochastic" – from the ancient Greek "στοχαστικός" (stokhastikos, 'based on guesswork') – is a term from probability theory meaning "randomly determined". The word "parrot" refers to parrots' ability to mimic human speech. The term was introduced in a 2021 paper on AI ethics titled "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜" and authored by Timnit Gebru, Emily M. Bender, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Margaret Mitchell. The paper outlined possible risks associated with large language models (LLMs). In December 2020, it was the subject of a workplace dispute between Gebru (then co-leader of Google's Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team) and Google, which had requested the retraction of the paper. The incident culminated in Gebru's controversial departure from the company. The paper was later presented at the 2021 ACM Conference, and the term "stochastic parrot" has seen widespread use in academic research concerning generative AI and LLMs. The term has been interpreted negatively as an insult towards AI. == Background == Timnit Gebru is an AI ethics researcher, Emily M. Bender is a linguist specializing in computational linguistics, and Margaret Mitchell is a computer scientist specializing in algorithmic bias. Gebru had joined Google in 2018, where she co-led a team on the ethics of artificial intelligence with Mitchell. In late 2020, the paper "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜" was co-written by Gebru and five other researchers, four of whom were Google employees. The paper argues that large language models (LLMs) present significant risks such as environmental and financial costs, inscrutability leading to unknown dangerous biases, and potential for deception as LLMs do not understand the concepts underlying what they learn. The paper states that LLMs are "stitching together sequences of linguistic forms ... observed in its vast training data, according to probabilistic information about how they combine, but without any reference to meaning." Therefore, they are labeled "stochastic parrots". === Dismissal of Gebru by Google === After the paper was submitted for consideration to the 2021 ACM Conference, Google requested that Gebru either retract the paper from the conference or remove the names of Google employees from it. Gebru refused to do so without further discussion, and emailed Google Research vice president Megan Kacholia that if the company could not explain the request for retraction and address other concerns regarding similar projects, she would plan to resign after a transition period, stating that they could "work on a last date". The following day, on December 2, 2020, Gebru received an email saying that Google was "accepting her resignation". Her abrupt firing sparked protests by Google employees and negative publicity for the company. == Usage == The phrase has been used by AI skeptics to signify that LLMs lack understanding of the meaning of their outputs. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, used the term shortly after the release of ChatGPT in December 2022, tweeting "i am a stochastic parrot, and so r u". The term was nominated as the 2023 AI-related Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society. == Debate == Some LLMs, such as ChatGPT, have become capable of interacting with users in convincingly human-like conversations. The development of these new systems has deepened the discussion of the extent to which LLMs understand or are simply "parroting". According to machine learning researchers Lindholm, Wahlström, Lindsten, and Schön, the term "stochastic parrot" highlights two vital limitations of LLMs: LLMs are limited by the data they are trained on and are simply stochastically repeating contents of datasets. Because they are just making up outputs based on training data, LLMs do not understand if they are saying something incorrect or inappropriate. Lindholm et al. noted that, with poor quality datasets and other limitations, a learning machine might produce results that are "dangerously wrong". === Subjective experience === In the mind of a human being, words and language correspond to things one has experienced. For LLMs, according to proponents of the theory, words correspond only to other words and patterns of usage fed into their training data. Proponents of the idea of stochastic parrots thus conclude that statements about LLMs are due to "the human tendency to attribute meaning to text", and claim this occurs despite the LLMs not actually understanding language. === Fine-tuning === Kelsey Piper argued that the claim that LLMs are stochastic parrots or mere "next-token predictors" focuses on pre-training, ignoring that modern LLMs are also fine-tuned to follow instructions and to prefer accurate answers. === Hallucinations and mistakes === The tendency of LLMs to pass off false information as fact is held as support. Called hallucinations or confabulations, LLMs will occasionally synthesize information that matches some pattern. LLMs may fail to distinguish fact and fiction, which leads to the claim that they can't connect words to a comprehension of the world, as humans do. Furthermore, LLMs may fail to decipher complex or ambiguous grammar cases that rely on understanding the meaning of language. For example: The wet newspaper that fell down off the table is my favorite newspaper. But now that my favorite newspaper fired the editor I might not like reading it anymore. Can I replace 'my favorite newspaper' by 'the wet newspaper that fell down off the table' in the second sentence? GPT-4, an LLM released in March 2023, responded yes, not understanding that the meaning of "newspaper" is different in these two contexts; it is first an object and second an institution. === Benchmarks and experiments === One argument against the hypothesis that LLMs are stochastic parrot is their results on benchmarks for reasoning, common sense and language understanding. In 2023, some LLMs have shown good results on many language understanding tests, such as the Super General Language Understanding Evaluation (SuperGLUE). GPT-4 scored in the >90th-percentile on the Uniform Bar Examination and achieved 93% accuracy on the MATH benchmark of high-school Olympiad problems, results that exceed rote pattern-matching expectations. Such tests, and the smoothness of many LLM responses, help as many as 51% of AI professionals believe they can truly understand language with enough data, according to a 2022 survey. === Expert rebuttals === Some AI researchers dispute the notion that LLMs merely "parrot" their training data. Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneering figure in neural networks, counters that the metaphor misunderstands the prerequisite for accurate language prediction. He argues that "to predict the next word accurately, you have to understand the sentence", a view he presented on 60 Minutes in 2023. From this perspective, understanding is not an alternative to statistical prediction, but rather an emergent property required to perform it effectively at scale. Hinton also uses logical puzzles to demonstrate that LLMs actually understand language. A 2024 Scientific American investigation described a closed Berkeley workshop where state-of-the-art models solved novel tier-4 mathematics problems and produced coherent proofs, indicating reasoning abilities beyond memorization. The GPT-4 Technical Report showed human-level results on professional and academic exams (e.g., the Uniform Bar Exam and USMLE), challenging the "parrot" characterization. Anthropic conducted mechanistic interpretability research on Claude, using attribution graphs to identify circuits. The research showed how the LLM processes information via chains of fuzzy logical inference, and indicated an ability to plan ahead. They found that Claude 3.5 Haiku "employs remarkably general abstractions", forms "internally generated plans for its future outputs" and "works backwards from its longer-term goals". They noted that "The mechanisms of the model can apparently only be faithfully described using an overwhelmingly large causal graph." They also found that the model includes "mechanisms that could underlie a simple form of metacognition", in that it "thinks about" the level of its own knowledge before reaching its answer. === Interpretability === Another line of evidence against the 'stochastic parrot' claim comes from mechanistic interpretability, a research field dedicated to reverse-engineering LLMs to understand their internal workings. Rather than only observing the model's input-output behavior, these techniques probe the model's internal activations, which can be used to determine if they contain structured representations of the world. The goal is to investigate whether LLMs are merely manipulating surface statistics or if t</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/396c399600.html" class="read-more" title="Stochastic parrot">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/256f999734.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Social media age verification laws in the United States"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Social media age verification laws in the United States" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/256f999734.html" title="Social media age verification laws in the United States">Social media age verification laws in the United States</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">In the United States, age verification laws for social media are ostensibly designed to limit young people's access to content deemed problematic such as pornography and to reduce the negative impact of social media on the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. The purpose and effects of such laws are highly contested. Critics say that these laws suppress free speech by removing online anonymity. They have also stated the laws undermine safety, even for children, by increasing the exposure of user data to breaches, many sites require government IDs and biometric data (such as photographs), often transmitted or secured insecurely and without encryption. They also note that the measures are easily circumvented with VPNs, prompting some states such as Michigan and Wisconsin to propose legislation banning VPNs. == Laws == Many state legislatures have considered or enacted legislation pertaining to young people and social media. In 2022, California passed the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (AB 2273) requiring websites that are likely to be used by minors to estimate visitors' ages. On March 23, 2023, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed SB 152 and HB 311, collectively known as the Utah Social Media Regulation Act, which requires age verification; if a user is under 18, they have to get parental consent before making an account on any social media platform. Few laws have gone into effect partially due to court challenges. === Arkansas === On April 11, 2023, Arkansas enacted SB 396, the Social Media Safety Act. The law requires certain social media companies that make over $100 million per year to verify the age of new users using a third party, and to obtain parental consent for users under 18. It excludes social media companies that allow a user to generate short video clips as well as games. The law was set to go in effect in September 2023. On June 29, 2023, NetChoice sued the Attorney General of Arkansas Tim Griffin in The Western District Court of Arkansas to block enforcement of the law, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). On July 7, 2023, NetChoice filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the law. On July 27, Griffin and Tony Allen filed briefs in opposition to the preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction was granted by Judge Timothy L. Brooks on August 31, reasoning that the law was too vague, that NetChoice's members will suffer irreparable harm if the act goes into effect, and that age restrictions were ineffective. === California === ==== Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) ==== On October 13, 2025, Gavin Newsom signed the Digital Age Assurance Act into law, which requires operating system providers to estimate the age of a user and into 4 age categories: Under 13 13 - 15 16 - 17 18 and over It comes into force on January 1, 2027. ==== California Age-Appropriate Design Code (AB 2273) ==== On September 15, 2022, California enacted AB 2273, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act. Its most controversial provisions required online services that are likely to be used by those under 18 to estimate the age of child users with a "reasonable level of certainty". It also required these services to file Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) certifying whether an online product, service, or feature could harm children, including by exposing them to (potentially) harmful content. The law does not define harmful content. Before the law took effect, EFF sent a veto request to Newsom. On December 14, 2022, NetChoice sued. On September 18, 2023, Federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted a preliminary injunction. The 9th Circuit on August 16, 2024, affirmed the injunction against the DPIA section of the law and sent the rest back, because the argument in the 9th circuit was mainly focused on the DPIA. ==== Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976) ==== On September 20, 2024, California enacted SB 976, Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction. The law requires online platforms to exclude those under 18 from "addictive" feeds unless parental consent is given. It requires online platforms to not send notifications to someone under 18 between 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM without parental consent or between 8:00 am – 3:00 pm without parental consent from September through May (the law does not define what a "notification" is). The law took effect on January 1, 2025, with age verification required as of December 31, 2026. On November 12, NetChoice sued in the Northern District and before Judge Edward John Davila. On December 31, the judge blocked the sections of SB 976 that required time-of-day restrictions. He also enjoined requirements to report on the number of minor users as well as the number of parental assents to access an addictive feed. He did not block the age assurance requirement or blocking minors from seeing addictive feeds without parental consent. His reasoning was that age assurance that runs in the background does not restrict adult access to speech and that regulating feeds does not violate the first amendment because it was content neutral and did not remove any content. On January 1, 2025, NetChoice filed a motion to fully block the law as part of its appeal to the Ninth Circuit. NetChoice claimed that the court erred in its reading of Supreme Court case Moody v. NetChoice by mainly focusing on the concurring opinions and not the deciding opinion. The same day Davila decreed that California's response to NetChoice was due by 11:59 pm. California responded the same day to NetChoice's motion, claiming that the court should not block the full law, claiming that NetChoice had misread Moody v. NetChoice and that NetChoice's members would not likely face any harm from the act because members such as X (formerly Twitter) already offer their members feeds that were not personalized. On January 2, Davila granted NetChoice's motion to block the full law during the appeals process by delaying the effective date of the law from January 1, 2025, to February 1, 2025. That day NetChoice appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. === Florida === On January 5, 2024, Tyler Sirois introduced HB 1, which would ban anyone under 16 from using any social media platform and would require platforms to verify the age of users. After the bill passed, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a blog post opposing the bill for violating the rights of minors and adults. The bill was vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis on March 1, 2024, claiming that the State Legislature was going to enact a better alternative. HB 3 then decreased the minimum age from 16 to 14, allowing minors aged 14 and 15 to make social media accounts with parental consent. Florida enacted it on March 25, 2024, and took effect on January 1, 2025. A surge of 1,150% in VPN demand in Florida was detected after the law took effect. VPN services provide the ability to circumvent the law. On October 28, 2024, NetChoice and Computer and Communications Industry Association sued. The Judge is Chief Judge Mark E. Walker. On February 28, 2025, arguments were heard on the motion for a preliminary injunction. Walker seemed skeptical of Florida's argument that the law did not violate the first amendment and said the State would have a hard time to justify a complete ban of youth under 14 from social media. On March 13, Walker denied the motion for a preliminary injunction because the plaintiffs had not proven that at least one of their members had at least 10 percent of their users under 16 use their platform for at least 2 hours per day. Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction which was granted on June 3, for failing First Amendment Intermediate scrutiny. The injunction left in force the provision that allowed parents to request termination of their child's social media account. === Georgia === On April 23, 2024, Georgia enacted SB 351, which became Act 463. Act 463 requires platforms to verify the age of users of social media platforms and require users under 16 years of age to have parental consent before creating an account. It also requires schools to ban all social media platforms, including YouTube. Before the law was signed NetChoice sent a veto request to Kemp claiming the law was unconstitutional and was bad policy. After the bill was enacted, ACLU and NetChoice criticized the bill. NetChoice sued two months before the law's effective date. The Judge is Amy Totenberg. the suit claims that the law violates the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendments. === Louisiana === ==== Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act (SB 162) ==== On June 28, 2023, Louisiana enacted SB 162, the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act. It requires social media platforms to verify user age and get parental consent for users under 16, prohibits account holders under 1</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/256f999734.html" class="read-more" title="Social media age verification laws in the United States">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/27b999963.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Digital Cinema Package"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Digital Cinema Package" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/27b999963.html" title="Digital Cinema Package">Digital Cinema Package</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">A Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams. The term was popularized by Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC in its original recommendation for packaging DC contents. However, the industry tends to apply the term to the structure more formally known as the composition. A DCP is a container format for compositions, a hierarchical file structure that represents a title version. The DCP may carry a partial composition (e.g. not a complete set of files), a single complete composition, or multiple and complete compositions. The composition consists of a Composition Playlist (in XML format) that defines the playback sequence of a set of Track Files. Track Files carry the essence (audio, image, subtitles), which is wrapped using Material eXchange Format (MXF). Track Files must contain only one essence type. Two track files at a minimum must be present in every composition (see SMPTE ST429-2 D-Cinema Packaging – DCP Constraints, or Cinepedia): a track file carrying picture essence, and a track file carrying audio essence. The composition, consisting of a Composition Playlist (CPL) and associated track files, are distributed as a Digital Cinema Package (DCP). A composition is a complete representation of a title version, while the DCP need not carry a full composition. However, as already noted, it is commonplace in the industry to discuss the title in terms of a DCP, as that is the deliverable to the cinema. The Picture Track File essence is compressed using JPEG 2000 and the Audio Track File carries a 24-bit linear PCM uncompressed multichannel WAV file. Encryption may optionally be applied to the essence of a track file to protect it from unauthorized use. The encryption used is AES 128-bit in CBC mode. In practice, there are two versions of composition in use. The original version is called Interop DCP. In 2009, a specification was published by SMPTE (SMPTE ST 429-2 Digital Cinema Packaging – DCP Constraints) for what is commonly referred to as SMPTE DCP. SMPTE DCP is similar but not backwards compatible with Interop DCP, resulting in an uphill effort to transition the industry from Interop DCP to SMPTE DCP. SMPTE DCP requires significant constraints to ensure success in the field, as shown by ISDCF. While legacy support for Interop DCP is necessary for commercial products, new productions are encouraged to be distributed in SMPTE DCP. == Technical specifications == The DCP root folder (in the storage medium) contains a number of files, some used to store the image and audio contents, and some other used to organize and manage the whole playlist. === Picture MXF files === Picture contents may be stored in one or more reels corresponding to one or more MXF files. Each reel contains pictures as MPEG-2 or JPEG 2000 essence, depending on the adopted codec. MPEG-2 is no longer compliant with the DCI specification. JPEG 2000 is the only accepted compression format. Supported frame rates are: SMPTE (JPEG 2000) 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, and 60 fps @ 2K 24, 25, and 30 fps @ 4K 24 and 48 fps @ 2K stereoscopic MXF Interop (JPEG 2000) – Deprecated 24 and 48 fps @ 2K (MXF Interop can be encoded at 25 frame/s but support is not guaranteed) 24 fps @ 4K 24 fps @ 2K stereoscopic MXF Interop (MPEG-2) – Deprecated 23.976 and 24 fps @ 1920 × 1080 Maximum frame sizes are 2048 × 1080 for 2K DC, and 4096 × 2160 for 4K DC. Common formats are: SMPTE (JPEG 2000) Flat (1998 × 1080 or 3996 × 2160), = 1.85:1 aspect ratio Scope (2048 × 858 or 4096 × 1716), ~2.39:1 aspect ratio HDTV (1920 × 1080 or 3840 × 2160), 16:9 aspect ratio (~1.78:1) (although not specifically defined in the DCI specification, this resolution is DCI compliant per section 8.4.3.2). Full (2048 × 1080 or 4096 × 2160) (~1.9:1 aspect ratio, official name by DCI is Full Container. Not widely accepted in cinemas.) MXF Interop (MPEG-2) – Deprecated Full Frame (1920 × 1080) 12 bits per component precision (36 bits total per pixel) XYZ' colorspace; the prime mark indicates gamma encoding (gamma=2.6) Maximum bit rate is 250 Mbit/s (1.3 MBytes per frame at 24 frame per second) === Sound MXF files === Sound contents are also stored in reels corresponding to picture reels in number and duration. In case of multilingual features, separate reels are required to convey different languages. Each file contains linear PCM essence. Sampling rate is 48,000 or 96,000 samples per second Sample precision of 24 bits Linear mapping (no companding) Up to 16 independent channels === Asset map file === List of all files included in the DCP, in XML format. === Composition playlist file === Defines the playback order during presentation. The order is saved in XML format in this file; each picture and sound reel is identified by its UUID. In the following example, a reel is composed by picture and sound: === Packing list file or package key list (PKL) === All files in the composition are hashed and their hash is stored here, in XML format. This file is generally used during ingestion in a digital cinema server to verify if data have been corrupted or tampered with in some way. For example, an MXF picture reel is identified by the following <asset> element: The hash value is the Base64 encoding of the SHA-1 checksum. It can be calculated with the command: openssl sha1 -binary "FILE_NAME" | openssl base64 === Volume index file === A single DCP may be stored in more than one medium (e.g., multiple hard disks). The XML file VOLINDEX is used to identify the volume order in the series. == 3D DCP == The DCP format is also used to store stereoscopic (3D) contents for 3D films. In this case, 48 frames exist for every second – 24 frames for the left eye, 24 frames for the right. Depending on the projection system used, the left eye and right eye pictures are either shown alternately (double or triple flash systems) at 48 fps or, on 4k systems, both left and right eye pictures are shown simultaneously, one above the other, at 24 fps. In triple flash systems, active shutter glasses are required whereas optical filtering such as circular polarisation is used in conjunction with passive glasses on polarized systems. Since the maximum bit rate is always 250 Mbit/s, this results in a net 125 Mbit/s for single frame, but the visual quality decrease is generally unnoticeable. == D-Box == D-Box codes for motion controlled seating (labelled as "Motion Data" in the DCP specification), if present, are stored as a monoaural WAV file on Sound Track channel 13. Motion Data tracks are unencrypted and not watermarked. == Creation == Most film producers and distributors rely on digital cinema encoding facilities to produce and quality control check a digital cinema package before release. Facilities follow strict guidelines set out in the DCI recommendations to ensure compatibility with all digital cinema equipment. For bigger studio release films, the facility will usually create a Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM). A DCDM is the post-production step prior to a DCP. The frames are in XYZ TIFF format and both sound and picture are not yet wrapped into MXF files. A DCP can be encoded directly from a DCDM. A DCDM is useful for archiving purposes and also facilities can share them for international re-versioning purposes. They can easily be turned into alternative version DCPs for foreign territories. For smaller release films, the facility will usually skip the creation of a DCDM and instead encode directly from the Digital Source Master (DSM) the original film supplied to the encoding facility. A DSM can be supplied in a multitude of formats and color spaces. For this reason, the encoding facility needs to have extensive knowledge in color space handling including, on occasion, the use of 3D LUTs to carefully match the look of the finished DCP to a celluloid film print. This can be a highly involved process in which the DCP and the film print are "butterflied" (shown side by side) in a highly calibrated cinema. Less demanding DCPs are encoded from tape formats such as HDCAM SR. Quality control checks are always performed in calibrated cinemas and carefully checked for errors. QC checks are often attended by colorists, directors, sound mixers and other personnel to check for correct picture and sound reproduction in the finished DCP. == Accessibility == === Hearing impaired audio === A Hearing Impaired (HI) audio track is designed for people who are hearing-impaired to better hear dialog. Moviegoers can wear headphones which play this audio track synchronized with the film. Hearing Impaired audio is stored in the DCP on Sound Track channel 7. === Audio description === Audio description is narration for people who are blind or visually impaired. Audio description is stored in the DCP as "Visually Impaired-Native" (VI-N) audio on Sound Track channel 8. === Sign Language Video === A Sign Language Video track can be included in a DCP to allow for display of sign la</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/27b999963.html" class="read-more" title="Digital Cinema Package">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/443e999547.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Rider Spoke"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Rider Spoke" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/443e999547.html" title="Rider Spoke">Rider Spoke</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">Rider Spoke developed by Blast Theory in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab was first staged at the Barbican, London in October 2007. Created for cyclists, it combines elements of theatre, performance, game play and state of the art technology. Rider Spoke was built in the IPerG project on the EQUIP architecture. Rider Spoke has since been presented in Athens (2008), Brighton (2008), Budapest (2008), Sydney (2009, Adelaide (2009) and Liverpool (2010).</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/443e999547.html" class="read-more" title="Rider Spoke">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/165c299832.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Curve (tonality)"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Curve (tonality)" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/165c299832.html" title="Curve (tonality)">Curve (tonality)</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">In image editing, a curve is a remapping of image tonality, specified as a function from input level to output level, used as a way to emphasize colours or other elements in a picture. Curves can usually be applied to all channels together in an image, or to each channel individually. Applying a curve to all channels typically changes the brightness in part of the spectrum. Light parts of a picture can be easily made lighter and dark parts darker to increase contrast. Applying a curve to individual channels can be used to stress a colour. This is particularly efficient in the Lab colour space due to the separation of luminance and chromaticity, but it can also be used in RGB, CMYK or whatever other colour models the software supports.</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/165c299832.html" class="read-more" title="Curve (tonality)">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/311d999679.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="CSS HTML Validator"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="CSS HTML Validator" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/311d999679.html" title="CSS HTML Validator">CSS HTML Validator</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">CSS HTML Validator (previously named CSE HTML Validator) is an HTML editor and CSS editor for Microsoft Windows (and Linux and other Unix-like operating systems when used with Wine) that helps web developers create syntactically correct and accessible HTML/HTML5, XHTML, and CSS documents by locating errors, potential problems like browser compatibility issues, and common mistakes. It is also able to check links, check spelling, suggest improvements, alert developers to deprecated, obsolete, or proprietary tags, attributes, and CSS properties, and find issues that can affect search engine optimization. CSS HTML Validator is developed, marketed, and sold by AI Internet Solutions LLC located in the United States. The first version of CSS HTML Validator was released in 1997 for Windows 95. The current version is 2026/v26.02 (as of January 9, 2026) and is for Windows 10 and above, including Windows 11. A native macOS and Linux command-line console tool (called htmlval) became available with version 23. There are currently three main editions of CSS HTML Validator — Pro/Professional, Home/Standard, and Lite. The Enterprise edition was discontinued in 2025/v25. While the application is generally a commercial product (except for the Lite edition), a free version of the Home edition is available for personal/educational, non-commercial use. A free limited version of the htmlval command-line console tool for macOS and Linux is also available. == Features == CSS HTML Validator includes an HTML editor, validator for HTML, XHTML, htmx, polyglot markup, CSS, PHP and JavaScript (using JSLint or JSHint), link checker (to find dead and broken links), spell checker, accessibility checker, and search engine optimization (SEO) checker. An integrated web browser allows developers to browse the web while the pages are automatically validated. Because documents are checked locally and not uploaded over the Internet to a server in order to be checked, validations are performed relatively quickly, and security and privacy are increased. A custom scripting language called TNPL, included in the Pro and Enterprise editions, can be used to customize validations by adding, eliminating, or changing validator messages. TNPL can also be used to integrate customized validation checks to meet the unique requirements of an individual or entity. A Batch Wizard tool, included in the Pro and Enterprise editions, can check entire Web sites, parts of Web sites, or a list of local web documents. The Batch Wizard generates reports in standard HTML or XML format. The reports can be viewed using a normal web browser. The accessibility checker includes support for Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (both WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0/2.1/2.2). Using a version of HTML Tidy with HTML5 support and the Pretty Print & Fix Tool, CSS HTML Validator can automatically fix some common problems with HTML and XHTML documents. However, some problems cannot be fixed (or fixed correctly) with automated tools and require manual review and repair. == Version history == Validation of polyglot markup was added in version 12, and mobile development support (for HTML and CSS) was added in version 14 and improved in version 15. Version 15 added built-in syntax checking for JSON and HTML5 cache manifest files. Version 16 added JavaScript linting using JSHint, a static code analysis tool for checking JavaScript, but also continues to support JSLint. Version 17 added support for the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, which is a type of HTML optimized for mobile web browsing, and support for live DOM validation using Google Chrome CSS HTML Validator 2018/v18 renames the software from CSE HTML Validator to CSS HTML Validator and includes updated HTML5 and CSS support. Version 18 also added a new "By Message" report in the Batch Wizard and dropped support for Windows Vista and below. CSS HTML Validator 2019/v19 includes updated HTML and CSS support, adds WCAG 2.1 support, improves support when running under Wine (software), and is a native 64-bit application (previously releases were 32-bit). CSS HTML Validator 2020/v20, first released in January 2020, includes HTML, CSS, accessibility, and other updates, including improved support for the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. Also, beginning with version 20, the Standard edition was renamed to the Home edition. CSS HTML Validator 2021/v21, first released in January 2021, includes further HTML, CSS, accessibility, and other updates. CSS HTML Validator 2022/v22, released in January 2022, includes improvements and updates to keep the program up-to-date, a new Microsoft Edge WebView2 rendering engine for the integrated web browser, and three new dark themes. Later updates to version 22 added support for checking JSON Lines and NDJSON documents. CSS HTML Validator 2023/v23, released in January 2023, includes more improvements and updates to keep the program up-to-date. The new release also introduced new command-line macOS and Linux ports of the core validation engine, called htmlval for Mac and Linux. Official support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 was dropped in the 2023/v23 version. CSS HTML Validator 2024/v24, released in January 2024, includes updates and improvements. It also adds support for htmx. CSS HTML Validator 2025/v25, released in December 2024, includes further updates and improvements for 2025. Version 25 discontinues the Enterprise edition, moving Enterprise functionality to the Pro edition. CSS HTML Validator 2026/v26, released in January 2026, includes updated support for HTML and CSS. An online edition based on CSS HTML Validator Pro that can check documents via file upload, URL, or snippets (direct text input) was discontinued May 2017 in favor of the desktop version for Microsoft Windows. == Purpose of validation == The purpose of validation and computerized checking of HTML, XHTML, and CSS documents is to help make sure that the documents are syntactically correct and problem-free. Checked HTML, XHTML, and CSS documents are more likely to: be more accessible for people with disabilities (such as blindness), as well as all users in general render faster (user agents don't have to "figure out" and decipher bad syntax) render as intended and with fewer problems on a variety of user agents, including mobile devices cause browsers and user agents to build a more consistent Document Object Model, which is important for CSS and JavaScript be forward-compatible with future versions of user agents and browsers ("future-proof") be compatible with current and future HTML, XHTML, and CSS specifications cause fewer problems for visitors and web indexing not contain dead, broken, or rotting links While automated checking tools are helpful for website development and continued maintenance, they cannot guarantee that a document will display (render) and behave as intended in all browsers. Developers should always test documents in a variety of browsers (including mobile browsers) to locate problems that cannot be detected with a computerized checking tool. == Differences from other HTML validators == CSS HTML Validator is an offline desktop app for Microsoft Windows and a native macOS and Linux command-line console tool that does not require an Internet connection. The offline nature of CSS HTML Validator is in contrast to online web-based services. CSS HTML Validator primarily works offline (except for link checking when it must go online), which has speed and privacy benefits compared to web-based solutions and services like the W3C Markup Validation Service. However, the user must keep the software updated unlike web-based solutions which are typically kept updated by the solution provider. CSS HTML Validator checks HTML/XHTML syntax, CSS, links, spelling, accessibility, JavaScript, SEO, and PHP with one pass, while DTD-based validators are more limited and cannot check HTML5. CSS HTML Validator includes a built-in scripting language (called TNPL) which allows for a high degree of customization via scripting and "user functions". This allows developers to add custom (specialized) validation checks and messages. CSS HTML Validator includes a DTD-based validator which can optionally be used for checking DTD-based versions of HTML (versions prior to HTML5), however one of CSS HTML Validator's primary differences is that its custom validation engine can perform more checks on a document than a DTD-based validator can. This is because DTD-based validators are limited to checking only what can be specified in a Document Type Definition. == Integration == CSS HTML Validator integrates with other third-party software like those listed below. This allows validation using CSS HTML Validator from within the third-party program. EmEditor - includes a special Lite edition build of CSS HTML Validator for built-in checking of HTML and CSS Blumentals Software - several Blumentals software products integrate with CSS H</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/311d999679.html" class="read-more" title="CSS HTML Validator">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> <li class="article-item"> <article class="article-card"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/387e999603.html" class="card-thumb-link" title="Style sheet (web development)"><img class="card-thumb" src="https://aizhi.co/uploads/images/x.jpg" alt="Style sheet (web development)" loading="lazy"></a> <div class="card-body"> <h2><a href="https://aizhi.co/html/387e999603.html" title="Style sheet (web development)">Style sheet (web development)</a></h2> <p class="article-excerpt">A web style sheet is a form of separation of content and presentation for web design in which the markup (i.e., HTML or XHTML) of a webpage contains the page's semantic content and structure, but does not define its visual layout (style). Instead, the style is defined in an external style sheet file using a style sheet language such as CSS or XSLT. This design approach is identified as a "separation" because it largely supersedes the antecedent methodology in which a page's markup defined both style and structure. The philosophy underlying this methodology is a specific case of separation of concerns. == Benefits == Separation of style and content has advantages, but has only become practical after improvements in popular web browsers' CSS implementations. === Speed === Overall, users experience of a site utilising style sheets will generally be quicker than sites that do not use the technology. ‘Overall’ as the first page will probably load more slowly – because the style sheet AND the content will need to be transferred. Subsequent pages will load faster because no style information will need to be downloaded – the CSS file will already be in the browser’s cache. === Maintainability === Holding all the presentation styles in one file can reduce the maintenance time and reduces the chance of error, thereby improving presentation consistency. For example, the font color associated with a type of text element may be specified — and therefore easily modified — throughout an entire website simply by changing one short string of characters in a single file. The alternative approach, using styles embedded in each individual page, would require a cumbersome, time consuming, and error-prone edit of every file. === Accessibility === Sites that use CSS with either XHTML or HTML are easier to tweak so that they appear similar in different browsers (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc.). Sites using CSS "degrade gracefully" in browsers unable to display graphical content, such as Lynx, or those so very old that they cannot use CSS. Browsers ignore CSS that they do not understand, such as CSS 3 statements. This enables a wide variety of user agents to be able to access the content of a site even if they cannot render the style sheet or are not designed with graphical capability in mind. For example, a browser using a refreshable braille display for output could disregard layout information entirely, and the user would still have access to all page content. === Customization === If a page's layout information is stored externally, a user can decide to disable the layout information entirely, leaving the site's bare content still in a readable form. Site authors may also offer multiple style sheets, which can be used to completely change the appearance of the site without altering any of its content. Most modern web browsers also allow the user to define their own style sheet, which can include rules that override the author's layout rules. This allows users, for example, to bold every hyperlink on every page they visit. Browser extensions like Stylish and Stylus have been created to facilitate management of such user style sheets. === Consistency === Because the semantic file contains only the meanings an author intends to convey, the styling of the various elements of the document's content is very consistent. For example, headings, emphasized text, lists and mathematical expressions all receive consistently applied style properties from the external style sheet. Authors need not concern themselves with the style properties at the time of composition. These presentational details can be deferred until the moment of presentation. === Portability === The deferment of presentational details until the time of presentation means that a document can be easily re-purposed for an entirely different presentation medium with merely the application of a new style sheet already prepared for the new medium and consistent with elemental or structural vocabulary of the semantic document. A carefully authored document for a web page can easily be printed to a hard-bound volume complete with headers and footers, page numbers and a generated table of contents simply by applying a new style sheet.</p> <a href="https://aizhi.co/html/387e999603.html" class="read-more" title="Style sheet (web development)">Read more →</a> </div> </article> </li> </ul> <nav class="pagination" aria-label="Pagination"> <a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/14/" class="page-num">1</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/15/" class="page-num">2</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/16/" class="page-num">3</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/17/" class="page-num">4</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/18/" class="page-num">5</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/19/" class="page-num">6</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/20/" class="page-num">7</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/21/" class="page-num">8</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/22/" class="page-num">9</a><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiavatartools/23/" class="page-num">10</a> </nav> </main> <aside class="sidebar"> <section class="sidebar-section"> <h2>All Categories</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aicodingtools/">AI Coding Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/ainewsandguides/">AI News and Guides</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aichatbotsandassistants/">AI Chatbots and Assistants</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiforbusiness/">AI for Business</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiwritingtools/">AI Writing Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiimagegenerators/">AI Image Generators</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aivideotools/">AI Video Tools</a></li> </ul> </section> <section class="sidebar-section"> <h2>Trending Guides</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://331235.aizhi.co/html/450d199548.html" title="Apptek">Apptek</a></li><li><a href="https://g47qb.aizhi.co/html/20e999970.html" title="Digital cinema">Digital cinema</a></li><li><a href="https://yd.aizhi.co/html/338d999652.html" title="Vintage computer">Vintage computer</a></li><li><a href="https://47553272.aizhi.co/html/43b999947.html" title="Supercomputer operating system">Supercomputer operating system</a></li><li><a href="https://2.aizhi.co/html/108b299889.html" title="Visual Expert">Visual Expert</a></li><li><a href="https://w.aizhi.co/html/348d999642.html" title="Librem">Librem</a></li><li><a href="https://36.aizhi.co/html/228d999762.html" title="Bluelight (web forum)">Bluelight (web forum)</a></li><li><a href="https://r.aizhi.co/html/299c999691.html" title="G7 Rapid Response Mechanism">G7 Rapid Response Mechanism</a></li><li><a href="https://s.aizhi.co/html/393e199605.html" title="Avid DS">Avid DS</a></li><li><a href="https://6363.aizhi.co/html/24a999966.html" title="Digital artifactual value">Digital artifactual value</a></li> </ul> </section> </aside> </div> </div> </div> <footer class="site-footer"> <div class="container"> <div class="footer-cols"> <div class="footer-col footer-about"> <a class="brand" href="https://aizhi.co/" aria-label="Aizhi"> <span class="brand-mark" aria-hidden="true">✦</span> <span class="brand-text">Aizhi</span> </a> <p class="footer-tagline">Hand-picked AI tools, generators and practical how-to guides — independent reviews, updated for 2026.</p> </div> <nav class="footer-col" aria-label="Categories"> <h2 class="footer-h">Categories</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiwritingtools/">AI Writing Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiforbusiness/">AI for Business</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/ainewsandguides/">AI News and Guides</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aichatbotsandassistants/">AI Chatbots and Assistants</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aivideotools/">AI Video Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aicodingtools/">AI Coding Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://aizhi.co/aiimagegenerators/">AI Image Generators</a></li> </ul> </nav> <nav class="footer-col" aria-label="Site"> <h2 class="footer-h">Site</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://aizhi.co/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/sitemap.xml">XML Sitemap</a></li> </ul> </nav> </div> <div class="partner-links" aria-label="Network"> </div> <p class="footer-copy"> © Aizhi. 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