AI Generator Quizlet

AI Generator Quizlet — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

CapCut

CapCut, known domestically as JianYing (Chinese: 剪映; pinyin: Jiǎnyìng) and formerly internationally as ViaMaker, is a video editor developed by ByteDance, available as a mobile app, desktop app, and web app. == History == The app was first released in China in 2019 and was initially available for iPhone and Android. In 2020, it was rebranded in English from ViaMaker to CapCut and became available globally. It later expanded to include web and desktop versions for Mac and Windows. In 2022, CapCut reached 200 million active users. According to The Wall Street Journal, in March 2023, it was the second-most downloaded app in the U.S., behind that of Chinese discount retailer Temu. In January 2025, CapCut had over 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store. On February 1, 2021, CapCut Pro for Windows was launched. On November 27, the Pro version for Mac was launched. In July 2025, CapCut Pro for HarmonyOS was available on HarmonyOS NEXT tablets. In July 2024, CapCut was reported by the South China Morning Post to be a generative AI (GenAI) application that led global AI app downloads, with approximately 38.42 million downloads and 323 million monthly active users. == Features == CapCut supports basic video editing functions, including editing, trimming, and adding or splitting clips. Editing projects is limited to single-layer editing, but the app supports overlay options that enable additional effects, including multi-layer editing. The app includes a library of pre-made templates and a tool that generates editable video captions. It also provides photo editing tools, including retouch and product photo features integrated within the editing interface. CapCut's video editor includes AI-based features such as video and script generation. Users can export or save completed projects directly to different social media platforms. CapCut includes a free version and a paid Pro version with cloud storage and advanced features. == Controversies == === Illegal data collection === In July 2023, many users of CapCut accused it of illegally profiting off their personal data. A class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on July 28, 2023, alleged that CapCut illegally harvests and profits from user data including biometric information and geolocation without consent. In September 2025, a federal court excluded most of the lawsuit, which alleged that TikTok’s parent company improperly scraped private data from CapCut's video editing software, as lacking grounds, with some of the class action continuing to move forward. == Bans and restrictions == === Ban in India === As a response to border clashes with China in May 2020, the Indian government banned around 56 Chinese applications including CapCut and TikTok, which is owned by CapCut's parent company ByteDance. Indian users were unable to use and download the application. As of February 2022, around 273 Chinese applications have been banned by the Indian government under the concern of national security and Indian user privacy. === Ban in the United States === On January 18, 2025, at 10 PM EST, CapCut was banned in the United States along with TikTok and all other ByteDance apps due to the implementation of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Hours after the suspension of services took effect, President Donald Trump indicated on Truth Social that he would issue an executive order on the day of his inauguration "to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect". On January 21, CapCut began restoring service. On February 13, Google and Apple restored CapCut on the App Store and Google Play Store.
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Fan loyalty

Fan loyalty is the loyalty felt and expressed by a fan towards the object of their fanaticism. Fan loyalty is often used in the context of sports and the support of a specific team or institution. Fan loyalties can range from a passive support to radical allegiance and expressions of loyalty can take shape in many forms and be displayed across varying platforms. Fan loyalty can be threatened by team actions. The loyalties of sports fans in particular have been studied by psychologists, who have determined several factors that help to create such loyalties. == Underpinning psychology == Given the extensive costs involved in managing and operating a professional team sport, it is beneficial for sports marketers to be conscious of the elements that establish a strong brand and the effect they have on fan loyalty, so they can best cater to their current fans while acquiring new ones. This is because fans and spectators are considered key stakeholders of professional sports organisations. Fans directly and indirectly influence the production of operating revenue through purchasing merchandise, buying game tickets and improving the value that can be obtained from television broadcasting deals and sponsorship. Therefore, fans are a key factor to consider in determining the economic success of a sports club. Deep psychological connections with new teams can be built with individuals before a team has even played a match revealing insights can develop quickly in the mind of consumers without direct encounters or experiences e.g. watching a team compete. Brand management approaches are helping sport organisations to expand the sport experience, appeal to new fans and enable long term business to consumer relationships through multi faceted connection such as social media. To affect consumers’ loyalty with a team, they must develop a compelling, positive and distinctive brand in order to stand out amongst competitor and vie for fan support. Loyalty programmes positively shape fan attachment and behaviour as it connects teams and their fans, aside from a club's season ticketholder database. It not only provides marketers with essential information about consumers and their thinking, but also acts as a channel to promote attendance and an opportunity to add value to their game day experience. Bauer et al. concludes that non product related attributes such as contextual factors (other fans, the club history and tradition, logo, club colours and the stadium atmosphere) hold a higher place in fan experience than product related attributes such as the team's winning record. Therefore, to increase fan loyalty (customer retention) Bauer et al. suggests sports marketers focus on targeting non product related benefits and brand attributes. As a result of fostering this loyalty, sports organisations can afford to charge prices at premium. Fan loyalty also leads to dependable ratings in broadcast media which means broadcasters can also charge premiums for advertising time in team broadcasts with loyal followings. A flow on effect from fan loyalty is the ability to create additional revenue streams outside of the core product such as merchandise shops and food venues that are close to the location of the game if the team chooses to own and operate ventures or share licensing agreements. Fan loyalty, particularly with respect to team sports, is different from brand loyalty, in as much as if a consumer bought a product that was of lower quality than expected, he or she will usually abandon allegiance to the brand. However, fan loyalty continues even if the team that the fan supports continues to perform poorly year after year. Author Mark Conrad uses the Chicago Cubs as an example of a team with a loyal fan following, where fans spend their money in support of a poorly performing team that (until 2016) had not won a pennant since 1945 or a World Series since 1908. They attribute it to the following factors: Entertainment Value The entertainment value that a fan derives from spectating motivates him/her to remain a loyal fan. Entertainment value of team sports is also valuable to communities in general. Authenticity This is described by Passikoff as "the acceptance of the game as real and meaningful". Fan Bonding Fan bonding is where a fan bonds with the players, identifying with them as individuals, and bonds with the team. Team History and Tradition Shank gives the Cincinnati Reds, all-professional baseball's oldest team, as an example of a team where a long team history and tradition is a motivator for fans in the Cincinnati area. Group Affiliation Fans receive personal validation of their support for a team from being surrounded by a group of fans who also support the same team. Fair Weather Fans Fans that engage when a team is good, and lose interest when a team is bad. Bandwagon Fans Fans who support the winning team, instead of supporting the same team year after year. Diehard Fans Fans who follow their team no matter if they are winning or losing. == Factors influencing fan loyalty == === Community === Fan loyalty attachment is strengthened through communal ties that connect fans around a team, forming a community that results in regular fan interaction. This interaction is particularly important as fans may not develop solely an intra-psychic team identity but predominantly display behavioural loyalty through the group consumption of indirect sport experiences instead, such as wearing the team colours, singing, cheering, flags and interaction between the sport's team's fans (e.g. laughing, talking) Through indirect sport experiences, the stadium atmosphere can be heightened and as a result, the frequency of fan attendance can increase. Furthermore, by wearing team apparel, fans can visually identify with one another resulting an increased likelihood of opportunities to engage with others socially through this point of connection. For example, a study on NASCAR fans found that their personal identity was connected to the brand itself as they felt connected to the larger community of NASCAR revealing an emotional connection to the brand. This indicates that their fan loyalty will result in the notion that fans are naturally more resistant to the promotional efforts of competing brands (e.g. lower-price offers) as their emotional commitment to NASCAR is greatly embedded in their sense of identity. When they associate themselves with the sponsors because of the sponsor's relation to the brand, they are solidifying their relationship with NASCAR and are therefore reinforcing their identity. Consequently, their fan loyalty translates into brand loyalty so long as the sponsor remains attached to the subject of their fanaticism, NASCAR, meaning they are less price sensitive and more willing to pay premium prices for sponsor's products or services. Another aspect of consumer behaviour regarding fan loyalty is the existence of consumption communities where members feel a sense of unity when they participate in the group consumption of brand sponsors’ goods and services further strengthening their ties to a brand and its sponsors. However, a strategy sports marketers use to appeal to a wider range of fan identities is to sponsor more than one club in sports such as soccer. This is so they are careful not to come across as a singularly affiliated club brand, where the opinion or perceptions of opposing teams’ fans would be one of disfavour towards them. === Brand association === Any benefit or characteristic connected to a brand as perceived by a consumer is called a brand association. These hold significance over the thoughts and opinions a consumer holds about a brand and can therefore influence one's loyalty. These associations provide a reference point to gauge the salience of a brand which is the perceived favourability associated with it. Brand salience is vital because it ultimately effects the likelihood of brand selection and loyalty leading to steadier spectator numbers, and an increase in attention from the media such as advertisers and sponsors. However, loyalty is a developmental process. According to Bee & Havitz (2010), spectators who are highly involved in the participation of a sport and exhibit psychological commitment, possess the capability to display high levels of behavioural loyalty as they develop into committed fans. On the other hand, neutral or negative feelings towards a team are found to foster indifference or cause an individual to disidentify with a team altogether. A model of ‘escalating commitment’, put forward by Funk and James (2001), demonstrates an individual's movement from ‘awareness’ of team to a subsequent ‘allegiance’ but came to the conclusion that more research was required to find out the key influences that lead one to the highest state of commitment. However, brand association development is fostered under brand management within a sports organisation. It is important for sports management research to identify t
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Digital signal

A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values; at any given time it can only take on, at most, one of a finite number of values. This contrasts with an analog signal, which represents continuous values; at any given time it represents a real number within an infinite set of values. Simple digital signals represent information in discrete bands of levels. All levels within a band of values represent the same information state. In most digital circuits, the signal can have two possible valid values; this is called a binary signal or logic signal. They are represented by two voltage bands: one near a reference value (typically termed as ground or zero volts), and the other a value near the supply voltage. These correspond to the two values zero and one (or false and true) of the Boolean domain, so at any given time a binary signal represents one binary digit (bit). Because of this discretization, relatively small changes to the signal levels do not leave the discrete envelope, and as a result are ignored by signal state sensing circuitry. As a result, digital signals have noise immunity; electronic noise, provided it is not too great, will not affect digital circuits, whereas noise always degrades the operation of analog signals to some degree. Digital signals having more than two states are occasionally used; circuitry using such signals is called multivalued logic. For example, signals that can assume three possible states are called three-valued logic. In a digital signal, the physical quantity representing the information may be a variable electric current or voltage, the intensity, phase or polarization of an optical or other electromagnetic field, acoustic pressure, the magnetization of a magnetic storage media, etcetera. Digital signals are used in all digital electronics, notably computing equipment and data transmission. == Definitions == The term digital signal has related definitions in different contexts. === In digital electronics === In digital electronics, a digital signal is a pulse amplitude modulated signal, i.e., a sequence of fixed-width electrical pulses or light pulses, each occupying one of a discrete number of levels of amplitude. A special case is a logic signal or a binary signal, which varies between a low and a high signal level. The pulse trains in digital circuits are typically generated by metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices, due to their rapid on–off electronic switching speed and large-scale integration (LSI) capability. In contrast, bipolar junction transistors more slowly generate signals resembling sine waves. === In signal processing === In digital signal processing, a digital signal is a representation of a physical signal that is sampled and quantized. A digital signal is an abstraction that is discrete in time and amplitude. The signal's value only exists at regular time intervals, since only the values of the corresponding physical signal at those sampled moments are significant for further digital processing. The digital signal is a sequence of codes drawn from a finite set of values. The digital signal may be stored, processed or transmitted physically as a pulse-code modulation (PCM) signal. === In communications === In digital communications, a digital signal is a continuous-time physical signal, alternating between a discrete number of waveforms, representing a bitstream. The shape of the waveform depends on the transmission scheme, which may be either a line coding scheme allowing baseband transmission; or a digital modulation scheme, allowing passband transmission over long wires or over a limited radio frequency band. Such a carrier-modulated sine wave is considered a digital signal in literature on digital communications and data transmission, but considered as a bit stream converted to an analog signal in specific cases where the signal will be carried over a system meant for analog communication, such as an analog telephone line. In communications, sources of interference are usually present, and noise is frequently a significant problem. The effects of interference are typically minimized by filtering off interfering signals as much as possible and by using data redundancy. The main advantages of digital signals for communications are often considered to be noise immunity, and the ability, in many cases such as with audio and video data, to use data compression to greatly decrease the bandwidth that is required on the communication media. == Logic voltage levels == A waveform that switches representing the two states of a Boolean value (0 and 1, or low and high, or false and true) is referred to as a digital signal or logic signal or binary signal when it is interpreted in terms of only two possible digits. The two states are usually represented by some measurement of an electrical property: Voltage is the most common, but current is used in some logic families. Two ranges of voltages are typically defined for each logic family, which are frequently not directly adjacent. The signal is low when in the low range and high when in the high range, and in between the two ranges the behavior can vary between different types of gates. The clock signal is a special digital signal that is used to synchronize many digital circuits. The image shown can be considered the waveform of a clock signal. Logic changes are triggered either by the rising edge or the falling edge. The rising edge is the transition from a low voltage (level 1 in the diagram) to a high voltage (level 2). The falling edge is the transition from a high voltage to a low one. Although in a highly simplified and idealized model of a digital circuit, we may wish for these transitions to occur instantaneously, no real-world circuit is purely resistive, and therefore no circuit can instantly change voltage levels. This means that during a short, finite transition time, the output may not properly reflect the input, and will not correspond to either a logically high or low voltage. == Modulation == To create a digital signal, a signal must be modulated with a control signal to produce it. The simplest modulation, a type of unipolar encoding, is simply to switch on and off a DC signal so that high voltages represent a '1' and low voltages are '0'. In digital radio schemes, one or more carrier waves are amplitude, frequency or phase modulated by the control signal to produce a digital signal suitable for transmission. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) over telephone wires, does not primarily use binary logic; the digital signals for individual carriers are modulated with different-valued logics, depending on the Shannon capacity of the individual channel. == Clocking == Digital signals may be sampled by a clock signal at regular intervals by passing the signal through a flip-flop. When this is done, the input is measured at the clock edge and the signal from that time. The signal is then held steady until the next clock. This process is the basis of synchronous logic. Asynchronous logic also exists, which uses no single clock, and generally operates more quickly, and may use less power, but is significantly harder to design.
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Electronic game

An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common forms of electronic games, including handheld electronic games, standalone arcade game systems (e.g. pinball, slot machines), and exclusively non-visual products (e.g. audio games). == Arcade games == === Arcade video games === Electronic video arcade games make extensive use of solid state electronics and integrated circuits. In the past coin-operated arcade video games generally used custom per-game hardware often with multiple CPUs, highly specialized sound and graphics chips and/or boards, and the latest in computer graphics display technology. Recent arcade game hardware is often based on modified video game console hardware or high end pc components. Arcade games may feature specialized ambiance or control accessories, including fully enclosed dynamic cabinets with force feedback controls, dedicated lightguns, rear-projection displays, reproductions of car or plane cockpits and even motorcycle or horse-shaped controllers, or even highly dedicated controllers such as dancing mats and fishing rods. These accessories are usually what set modern arcade games apart from PC or console games, and they provide an experience that some gamers consider more immersive and realistic. Examples of arcade video games include: Galaxy Game (1971) Pong (1972) Space Invaders (1978) Galaxian (1979) Pac-Man (1980) Battlezone (1980) Donkey Kong (1981) Street Fighter II (1991) Mortal Kombat (1992) Fatal Fury (1992) Killer Instinct (1994) King of Fighters (1994–2005) Time Crisis (1995) Dance Dance Revolution (1998) DrumMania (1999) House of the Dead (1998) === Pinball and pachinko machines === Since the introduction of electromechanics to the pinball machine in 1933's Contact, pinball has become increasingly dependent on electronics as a means to keep score on the backglass and to provide quick impulses on the playfield (as with bumpers and flippers) for exciting gameplay. Unlike games with electronic visual displays, pinball has retained a physical display that is viewed on a table through glass. Similar games such as pachinko have also become increasingly dependent on electronics in modern times. Examples of pinball games include: The Addams Family (1991) Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (1993) Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993) List of pinball machines === Redemption games and merchandisers === Redemption games such as Skee-Ball have been around since the days of the carnival game - well earlier than the development of the electronic game, however with modern advances many of these games have been re-worked to employ electronic scoring and other game mechanics. The use of electronic scoring mechanisms has allowed carnival or arcade attendants to take a more passive role, simply exchanging prizes for electronically dispensed coupons and occasionally emptying out the coin boxes or banknote acceptors of the more popular games. Merchandisers such as the Claw Crane are more recent electronic games in which the player must accomplish a seemingly simple task (e.g. remotely controlling a mechanical arm) with sufficient ability to earn a reward. Examples of redemption games include: Whac-A-Mole (1976) Skee-Ball - modern electric versions Examples of merchandisers include: Claw crane (1980) === Slot machines === The slot machine is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed. Though slot machines were originally operated mechanically by a lever on the side of the machine (the one arm) instead of an electronic button on the front panel as used on today's models, many modern machines still have a "legacy lever" in addition to the button on the front. Slot machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or money inserted to play. The machine pays off based on patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern computer technology has resulted in many variations on the slot machine concept. == Audio games == An audio game is a game played on an electronic device such as—but not limited to—a personal computer. It is similar to a video game save that the only feedback device is audible rather than visual. Audio games originally started out as 'blind accessible'-games, but recent interest in audio games has come from sound artists, game accessibility researchers, mobile game developers, and mainstream video gamers. Most audio games run on a computer platform, although there are a few audio games for handhelds and video game consoles. Audio games feature the same variety of genres as video games, such as adventure games, racing games, etc. Examples of audio games include: Real Sound: Kaze no Regret (1997) Chillingham (2004) BBBeat (2005) === Tabletop games === A tabletop audio game is an audio game that is designed to be played on a table rather than a handheld game. Examples of tabletop audio games include: Brain Shift (1998) Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (2000) Electronic Battleship (1977) (Milton Bradley) Electronic battleship is a portable game with the objective of marking all enemy ships. When an enemy ship is marked, an electronic battleship makes an explosion sound. Milton Bradley created the Electronic battleship game in 1977 and was later acquired by Hasbro in 1984. Modern day electronic battleship features an interactive missile launching platform and advanced mode that features custom special attack pegs. Tabletop non-audio games include: Electronic Chess Boards (DGT) DGT is a line of electronic chess boards that are commonly used in FIDE chess tournaments and national tournaments such as USCF. Electronic Chess boards can be used to broadcast games live. == Electronic handhelds == The earliest form of dedicated console, handheld electronic games are characterized by their size and portability. Used to play interactive games, handheld electronic games are often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit, and rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they usually have custom displays designed to play one game. This simplicity means they can be made as small as a digital watch, which they sometimes are. The visual output of these games can range from a few small light bulbs or LED lights to calculator-like alphanumerical screens; later these were mostly displaced by liquid crystal and Vacuum fluorescent display screens with detailed images and in the case of VFD games, color. Handhelds were at their most popular from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. They are both the predecessors to and inexpensive alternatives to the handheld game console. Examples of handheld electronic games include: Mattel Auto Race (1976) Simon (1978) Merlin (1978) Game & Watch (1980) MB Omni (1980) Bandai LCD Solarpower (1982) Entex Adventure Vision (1982) Lights Out (1995) == Home video games == A video game is a game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device. However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. Term "digital game" has been offered by some in academia as an alternative term. === Computer games === A personal computer video game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a video game played on a personal computer. This is opposed to video game consoles or arcade machines, which are not considered personal computers. Computer games became a form of video games, and since the earliest days of the medium, visual displays such as the cathode-ray tube have been used to relay game information. === Console games === A console game is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment. The game consists of manipulable images (and usually sounds) generated by a video game console, and displayed on a television or similar audio-video system. The game itself is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld device connected to the console called a controller. The controller generally contains a number of buttons and directional controls (such as analog joysticks) each of which has been assigned a purpose for interacting with and controlling the images on the screen. The display, speakers, console, and controls of a console can also be incorporated into one small object known as a handheld game console. Console games are most frequently differentiated between by their compatibility with consoles belonging in the following categories: Traditional console, also called "home console" - A multi-game system that uses the screen of a television to produce graphics. Handheld game console - A multi-game system the screen and controls of which are compacted into a singl
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Emergent algorithm

An emergent algorithm is an algorithm that exhibits emergent behavior. In essence an emergent algorithm implements a set of simple building block behaviors that when combined exhibit more complex behaviors. One example of this is the implementation of fuzzy motion controllers used to adapt robot movement in response to environmental obstacles. An emergent algorithm has the following characteristics: it achieves predictable global effects it does not require global visibility it does not assume any kind of centralized control it is self-stabilizing Other examples of emergent algorithms and models include cellular automata, artificial neural networks and swarm intelligence systems (ant colony optimization, bees algorithm, etc.).
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Futel

Futel is a public arts organization in Portland, Oregon dedicated to preserving and maintaining public telephone hardware and offering free phone and basic information services. Futel was founded by Karl Anderson, a former software engineer, and Elijah St. Clair. == Technology == Karl Anderson stated that one motivation for the project was to explore the idea of urban furniture. Other reasons were to preserve an important part of hacker history, and to salvage and re-use manufactured items at the end of their lifecycle. The original Futel phones were set up in Portland, Oregon. The organization cleans and repurposes old public payphones which are often salvaged from Craigslist or scrappers. Using interface boxes, they are converted into VoIP phones which are made available publicly, with no cost for phone calls. Anderson has said the service runs on "Asterisk and OpenVPN and a lot of scripts." The payphones operate using publicly-available internet connections. The phones have automated phone trees and users can make a call to local social services, to a weather forecast line, or access local transit information. Volunteers act as telephone operators, offering information about the Futel service, or are available for conversation. Users using Futel's phones may also access voicemail boxes. The system has a "wildcard line" where people can listen to samples of audio left on the main voicemail line along with commentary from Anderson and others. == Network == In February 2021, there were 10 Futel phones in Portland and 3 in other cities. Phones were set up in Detroit and Ypsilanti, Michigan, and Long Beach, Washington. The organization has provided free phone service for a Portland-area homeless encampment after receiving funding from the Awesome Foundation. In 2019 the organization reported their phones being used to make 12,000 phone calls. Futel also said their usage went up and not down during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic when they outfitted their phone kiosks with handwashing stations and used volunteers to keep the phones clean. The project is funded is primarily through grants and is staffed with volunteers. The project has inspired others such as the PhilTel project in Philadelphia and the RandTel project in Randolph, Vermont. Futel publishes a zine called Party Line.
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Digital citizen

The term digital citizen is used with different meanings. According to the definition provided by Karen Mossberger, one of the authors of Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, digital citizens are "those who use the internet regularly and effectively". In this sense, a digital citizen is a person who uses information technology (IT) to engage in society, politics, and government. More recent elaborations of the concept define digital citizenship as the self-enactment of people’s role in society through the use of digital technologies, stressing the empowering and democratizing characteristics of the citizenship idea. These theories aim at taking into account the ever-increasing datafication of contemporary societies (symbolically linked to the Snowden leaks), which has called into question the meaning of “being (digital) citizens in a datafied society”. This condition is also referred to as the “algorithmic society”, characterised by the increasing datafication of social life and the pervasive presence of surveillance practices – see surveillance and surveillance capitalism, the use of artificial intelligence, and Big Data. Datafication presents crucial challenges for the very notion of citizenship, so that data collection can no longer be seen as an issue of privacy alone so that:We cannot simply assume that being a citizen online already means something (whether it is the ability to participate or the ability to stay safe) and then look for those whose conduct conforms to this meaning Instead, the idea of digital citizenship shall reflect the idea that we are no longer mere “users” of technologies since they shape our agency both as individuals and as citizens. Digital citizenship refers to the responsible and respectful use of technology to engage online, evaluate information, and protect human rights. It encompasses skills for communication, collaboration, empathy, privacy protection, and security to prevent data breaches and identity theft. == Digital citizenship in the "algorithmic society" == In the context of the algorithmic society, the question of digital citizenship "becomes one of the extents to which subjects are able to challenge, avoid or mediate their data double in this datafied society”. These reflections put the emphasis on the idea of the digital space (or cyberspace) as a political space where the respect of fundamental rights of the individual shall be granted (with reference both to the traditional ones as well as to new specific rights of the internet [see “digital constitutionalism”]) and where the agency and the identity of the individuals as citizens is at stake. This idea of digital citizenship is thought to be not only active but also performative, in the sense that “in societies that are increasingly mediated through digital technologies, digital acts become important means through which citizens create, enact and perform their role in society.” In particular, for Isin and Ruppert this points towards an active meaning of (digital) citizenship based on the idea that we constitute ourselves as digital citizen by claiming rights on the internet, either by saying or by doing something. == Types of digital participation == People who characterize themselves as digital citizens often use IT extensively—creating blogs, using social networks, and participating in online journalism. Although digital citizenship begins when any child, teen, or adult signs up for an email address, posts pictures online, uses e-commerce to buy merchandise online, and/or participates in any electronic function that is B2B or B2C, the process of becoming a digital citizen goes beyond simple internet activity. According to Thomas Humphrey Marshall, a British sociologist known for his work on social citizenship, a primary framework of citizenship comprises three different traditions: liberalism, republicanism, and ascriptive hierarchy. Within this framework, the digital citizen needs to exist in order to promote equal economic opportunities and increase political participation. In this way, digital technology helps to lower the barriers to entry for participation as a citizen within a society. They also have a comprehensive understanding of digital citizenship, which is the appropriate and responsible behavior when using technology. Since digital citizenship evaluates the quality of an individual's response to membership in a digital community, it often requires the participation of all community members, both visible and those who are less visible. A large part in being a responsible digital citizen encompasses digital literacy, etiquette, online safety, and an acknowledgement of private versus public information. The development of digital citizen participation can be divided into two main stages. The first stage is through information dissemination, which includes subcategories of its own: static information dissemination, characterized largely by citizens who use read-only websites where they take control of data from credible sources in order to formulate judgments or facts. Many of these websites where credible information may be found are provided by the government. dynamic information dissemination, which is more interactive and involves citizens as well as public servants. Both questions and answers can be communicated, and citizens have the opportunity to engage in question-and-answer dialogues through two-way communication platforms The second stage of digital citizen participation is citizen deliberation, which evaluates what type of participation and role that they play when attempting to ignite some sort of policy change. static citizen participants can play a role by engaging in online polls as well as through complaints and recommendations sent up, mainly toward the government who can create changes in policy decisions. dynamic citizen participants can deliberate amongst others on their thoughts and recommendations in town hall meetings or various media sites. One potential advantage of online participation through digital citizenship is increased social inclusion. In a report on civic engagement, citizen-powered democracy can be initiated either through information shared through the web, direct communication signals made by the state toward the public, and social media tactics from both private and public companies. In fact, it was found that the community-based nature of social media platforms allow individuals to feel more socially included and informed about political issues that peers have also been found to engage with, otherwise known as a "second-order effect." Understanding strategic marketing on social media would further explain social media customers’ participation. Two types of opportunities rise as a result, the first being the ability to lower barriers that can make exchanges much easier. In addition, they have the chance to participate in transformative disruption, giving people who have a historically lower political engagement to mobilize in a much easier and convenient fashion. Nonetheless, there are several challenges that face the presence of digital technologies in political participation. Both current as well as potential challenges can create significant risks for democratic processes. Not only is digital technology still seen as relatively ambiguous, it was also seen to have "less inclusivity in democratic life." Demographic groups differ considerably in the use of technology, and thus, one group could potentially be more represented than another as a result of digital participation. Another primary challenge consists in the ideology of a "filter bubble" effect. Alongside a tremendous spread of false information, internet users could reinforce existing prejudices and assist in polarizing disagreements in the public sphere. This can lead to misinformed voting and decisions based on exposure rather than on pure knowledge. A communication technology director, Van Dijk, stated, "Computerized information campaigns and mass public information systems have to be designed and supported in such a way that they help to narrow the gap between the 'information rich' and 'information poor' otherwise the spontaneous development of ICT will widen it." Access and equivalent amounts of knowledge behind digital technology must be equivalent in order for a fair system to put into place. Alongside a lack of evidenced support for technology that can be proven to be safe for citizens, the OECD has identified five struggles for the online engagement of citizens: Scale: To what extent can a society allow every individual's voice to be heard, but also not be lost in the mass debate? This can be extremely challenging for the government, which may not effectively know how to listen and respond to each individual contribution. Capacity: How can digital technology offer citizens more information on public policy-making? The opportunity for citizens to debate with one another is lacking for acti
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Comparison of JavaScript-based web frameworks

This is a comparison of web frameworks for front-end web development that are reliant on JavaScript code for their behavior. == General information == == High-level framework comparison == JavaScript-based web application frameworks, such as React and Vue, provide extensive capabilities but come with associated trade-offs. These frameworks often extend or enhance features available through native web technologies, such as routing, component-based development, and state management. While native web standards, including Web Components, modern JavaScript APIs like Fetch and ES Modules, and browser capabilities like Shadow DOM, have advanced significantly, frameworks remain widely used for their ability to enhance developer productivity, offer structured patterns for large-scale applications, simplify handling edge cases, and provide tools for performance optimization. Frameworks can introduce abstraction layers that may contribute to performance overhead, larger bundle sizes, and increased complexity. Modern frameworks, such as React 18 and Vue 3, address these challenges with features like concurrent rendering, tree-shaking, and selective hydration. While these advancements improve rendering efficiency and resource management, their benefits depend on the specific application and implementation context. Lightweight frameworks, such as Svelte and Preact, take different architectural approaches, with Svelte eliminating the virtual DOM entirely in favor of compiling components to efficient JavaScript code, and Preact offering a minimal, compatible alternative to React. Framework choice depends on an application’s requirements, including the team’s expertise, performance goals, and development priorities. A newer category of web frameworks, including enhance.dev, Astro, and Fresh, leverages native web standards while minimizing abstractions and development tooling. These solutions emphasize progressive enhancement, server-side rendering, and optimizing performance. Astro renders static HTML by default while hydrating only interactive parts. Fresh focuses on server-side rendering with zero runtime overhead. Enhance.dev prioritizes progressive enhancement patterns using Web Components. While these tools reduce reliance on client-side JavaScript by shifting logic to build-time or server-side execution, they still use JavaScript where necessary for interactivity. This approach makes them particularly suitable for performance-critical and content-focused applications. == Features == == Browser support ==
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Condensation algorithm

The condensation algorithm (Conditional Density Propagation) is a computer vision algorithm. The principal application is to detect and track the contour of objects moving in a cluttered environment. Object tracking is one of the more basic and difficult aspects of computer vision and is generally a prerequisite to object recognition. Being able to identify which pixels in an image make up the contour of an object is a non-trivial problem. Condensation is a probabilistic algorithm that attempts to solve this problem. The algorithm itself is described in detail by Isard and Blake in a publication in the International Journal of Computer Vision in 1998. One of the most interesting facets of the algorithm is that it does not compute on every pixel of the image. Rather, pixels to process are chosen at random, and only a subset of the pixels end up being processed. Multiple hypotheses about what is moving are supported naturally by the probabilistic nature of the approach. The evaluation functions come largely from previous work in the area and include many standard statistical approaches. The original part of this work is the application of particle filter estimation techniques. The algorithm's creation was inspired by the inability of Kalman filtering to perform object tracking well in the presence of significant background clutter. The presence of clutter tends to produce probability distributions for the object state which are multi-modal and therefore poorly modeled by the Kalman filter. The condensation algorithm in its most general form requires no assumptions about the probability distributions of the object or measurements. == Algorithm overview == The condensation algorithm seeks to solve the problem of estimating the conformation of an object described by a vector x t {\displaystyle \mathbf {x_{t}} } at time t {\displaystyle t} , given observations z 1 , . . . , z t {\displaystyle \mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} } of the detected features in the images up to and including the current time. The algorithm outputs an estimate to the state conditional probability density p ( x t | z 1 , . . . , z t ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} )} by applying a nonlinear filter based on factored sampling and can be thought of as a development of a Monte-Carlo method. p ( x t | z 1 , . . . , z t ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} )} is a representation of the probability of possible conformations for the objects based on previous conformations and measurements. The condensation algorithm is a generative model since it models the joint distribution of the object and the observer. The conditional density of the object at the current time p ( x t | z 1 , . . . , z t ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} )} is estimated as a weighted, time-indexed sample set { s t ( n ) , n = 1 , . . . , N } {\displaystyle \{s_{t}^{(n)},n=1,...,N\}} with weights π t ( n ) {\displaystyle \pi _{t}^{(n)}} . N is a parameter determining the number of sample sets chosen. A realization of p ( x t | z 1 , . . . , z t ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} )} is obtained by sampling with replacement from the set s t {\displaystyle s_{t}} with probability equal to the corresponding element of π t {\displaystyle \pi _{t}} . The assumptions that object dynamics form a temporal Markov chain and that observations are independent of each other and the dynamics facilitate the implementation of the condensation algorithm. The first assumption allows the dynamics of the object to be entirely determined by the conditional density p ( x t | x t − 1 ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {x_{t-1}} )} . The model of the system dynamics determined by p ( x t | x t − 1 ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {x_{t-1}} )} must also be selected for the algorithm, and generally includes both deterministic and stochastic dynamics. The algorithm can be summarized by initialization at time t = 0 {\displaystyle t=0} and three steps at each time t: === Initialization === Form the initial sample set and weights by sampling according to the prior distribution. For example, specify as Gaussian and set the weights equal to each other. === Iterative procedure === Sample with replacement N {\displaystyle N} times from the set { s 0 ( n ) , n = 1 , . . . , N } {\displaystyle \{s_{0}^{(n)},n=1,...,N\}} with probability { π 0 ( n ) , n = 1 , . . . , N } {\displaystyle \{\pi _{0}^{(n)},n=1,...,N\}} to generate a realization of p ( x t | z 1 , . . . , z t ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} )} . Apply the learned dynamics p ( x t | x t − 1 ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {x_{t-1}} )} to each element of this new set, to generate a new set { s t ( n ) } {\displaystyle \{s_{t}^{(n)}\}} . To take into account the current observation z t {\displaystyle \mathbf {z_{t}} } , set π t ( n ) = p ( z t | s ( n ) ) ∑ j = 1 N p ( z t | s ( j ) ) {\displaystyle \pi _{t}^{(n)}={\frac {p(\mathbf {z_{t}} |s^{(n)})}{\sum _{j=1}^{N}p(\mathbf {z_{t}} |s^{(j)})}}} for each element { s t ( n ) } {\displaystyle \{s_{t}^{(n)}\}} . This algorithm outputs the probability distribution p ( x t | z 1 , . . . , z t ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {z_{1},...,z_{t}} )} which can be directly used to calculate the mean position of the tracked object, as well as the other moments of the tracked object. Cumulative weights can instead be used to achieve a more efficient sampling. == Implementation considerations == Since object-tracking can be a real-time objective, consideration of algorithm efficiency becomes important. The condensation algorithm is relatively simple when compared to the computational intensity of the Ricatti equation required for Kalman filtering. The parameter N {\displaystyle N} , which determines the number of samples in the sample set, will clearly hold a trade-off in efficiency versus performance. One way to increase efficiency of the algorithm is by selecting a low degree of freedom model for representing the shape of the object. The model used by Isard 1998 is a linear parameterization of B-splines in which the splines are limited to certain configurations. Suitable configurations were found by analytically determining combinations of contours from multiple views, of the object in different poses, and through principal component analysis (PCA) on the deforming object. Isard and Blake model the object dynamics p ( x t | x t − 1 ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {x_{t-1}} )} as a second order difference equation with deterministic and stochastic components: p ( x t | x t − 1 ) ∝ e − 1 2 | | B − 1 ( ( x t − x ¯ ) − A ( x t − 1 − x ¯ ) ) | | 2 ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {x_{t}} |\mathbf {x_{t-1}} )\propto e^{-{\frac {1}{2}}||B^{-1}((\mathbf {x_{t}} -\mathbf {\bar {x}} )-A(\mathbf {x_{t-1}} -\mathbf {\bar {x}} ))||^{2})}} where x ¯ {\displaystyle \mathbf {\bar {x}} } is the mean value of the state, and A {\displaystyle A} , B {\displaystyle B} are matrices representing the deterministic and stochastic components of the dynamical model respectively. A {\displaystyle A} , B {\displaystyle B} , and x ¯ {\displaystyle \mathbf {\bar {x}} } are estimated via Maximum Likelihood Estimation while the object performs typical movements. The observation model p ( z | x ) {\displaystyle p(\mathbf {z} |\mathbf {x} )} cannot be directly estimated from the data, requiring assumptions to be made in order to estimate it. Isard 1998 assumes that the clutter which may make the object not visible is a Poisson random process with spatial density λ {\displaystyle \lambda } and that any true target measurement is unbiased and normally distributed with standard deviation σ {\displaystyle \sigma } . The basic condensation algorithm is used to track a single object in time. It is possible to extend the condensation algorithm using a single probability distribution to describe the likely states of multiple objects to track multiple objects in a scene at the same time. Since clutter can cause the object probability distribution to split into multiple peaks, each peak represents a hypothesis about the object configuration. Smoothing is a statistical technique of conditioning the distribution based on both past and future measurements once the tracking is complete in order to reduce the effects of multiple peaks. Smoothing cannot be directly done in real-time since it requires information of future measurements. == Applications == The algorithm can be used for vision-based robot localization of mobile robots. Instead of tracking the position of an object in the scene, however, the position of the camera platform is tracked. This allows the camera platform to be globally localized given a visual map of the environment. Extensions of the condensation algorithm have also been used to recognize human gestures in image sequences. This application of the condensation algorithm impacts the ran
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Web engineering

The World Wide Web has become a major delivery platform for a variety of complex and sophisticated enterprise applications in several domains. In addition to their inherent multifaceted functionality, these Web applications exhibit complex behaviour and place some unique demands on their usability, performance, security, and ability to grow and evolve. However, a vast majority of these applications continue to be developed in an ad hoc way, contributing to problems of usability, maintainability, quality and reliability. While Web development can benefit from established practices from other related disciplines, it has certain distinguishing characteristics that demand special considerations. In recent years, there have been developments towards addressing these considerations. Web engineering focuses on the methodologies, techniques, and tools that are the foundation of Web application development and which support their design, development, evolution, and evaluation. Web application development has certain characteristics that make it different from traditional software, information systems, or computer application development. Web engineering is multidisciplinary and encompasses contributions from diverse areas: systems analysis and design, software engineering, hypermedia/hypertext engineering, requirements engineering, human-computer interaction, user interface, data engineering, information science, information indexing and retrieval, testing, modelling and simulation, project management, and graphic design and presentation. Web engineering is neither a clone nor a subset of software engineering, although both involve programming and software development. While Web Engineering uses software engineering principles, it encompasses new approaches, methodologies, tools, techniques, and guidelines to meet the unique requirements of Web-based applications. == As a discipline == Proponents of Web engineering supported the establishment of Web engineering as a discipline at an early stage of Web. Major arguments for Web engineering as a new discipline are: Web-based Information Systems (WIS) development process is different and unique. Web engineering is multi-disciplinary; no single discipline (such as software engineering) can provide a complete theory basis, body of knowledge and practices to guide WIS development. Issues of evolution and lifecycle management when compared to more 'traditional' applications. Web-based information systems and applications are pervasive and non-trivial. The prospect of Web as a platform will continue to grow and it is worth being treated specifically. However, it has been controversial, especially for people in other traditional disciplines such as software engineering, to recognize Web engineering as a new field. The issue is how different and independent Web engineering is, compared with other disciplines. Main topics of Web engineering include, but are not limited to, the following areas: === Modeling disciplines === Business Processes for Applications on the Web Process Modelling of Web applications Requirements Engineering for Web applications B2B applications === Design disciplines, tools, and methods === UML and the Web Conceptual Modeling of Web Applications (aka. Web modeling) Prototyping Methods and Tools Web design methods CASE Tools for Web Applications Web Interface Design Data Models for Web Information Systems === Implementation disciplines === Integrated Web Application Development Environments Code Generation for Web Applications Software Factories for/on the Web Web 2.0, AJAX, E4X, ASP.NET, PHP and Other New Developments Web Services Development and Deployment === Testing disciplines === Testing and Evaluation of Web systems and Applications. Testing Automation, Methods, and Tools. === Applications categories disciplines === Semantic Web applications Document centric Web sites Transactional Web applications Interactive Web applications Workflow-based Web applications Collaborative Web applications Portal-oriented Web applications Ubiquitous and Mobile Web Applications Device Independent Web Delivery Localization and Internationalization of Web Applications Personalization of Web Applications == Attributes == === Web quality === Web Metrics, Cost Estimation, and Measurement Personalisation and Adaptation of Web applications Web Quality Usability of Web Applications Web accessibility Performance of Web-based applications === Content-related === Web Content Management Content Management System (CMS) Multimedia Authoring Tools and Software Authoring of adaptive hypermedia == Education == Master of Science: Web Engineering as a branch of study within the MSc program Web Sciences at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria Diploma in Web Engineering: Web Engineering as a study program at the International Webmasters College (iWMC), Germany
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InteLex Past Masters

InteLex Past Masters is a collection of full-text web-based scholarly editions of classic works in the humanities. InteLex Corporation was founded in 1989 by its current chief executive officer, Mark Rooks, to produce electronic versions of the works of the great philosophers, based on existing scholarly editions. The company is located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Its databases are marketed to academic institutions, with pricing based on the individual collections purchased. Content is provided in XML and searchable image format and is accessed through the InteLex Corporation website. In addition to philosophy, subject coverage includes religious studies, English literature, women's writing, social science, and history of science. InteLex databases are found in institutions in over 65 countries around the world.
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SD-WAN

A Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a wide area network that uses software-defined networking technology, such as communicating over the Internet using overlay tunnels which are encrypted when destined for internal organization locations. If standard tunnel setup and configuration messages are supported by all of the network hardware vendors, SD-WAN simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. This concept is similar to how software-defined networking implements virtualization technology to improve data center management and operation. In practice, proprietary protocols are used to set up and manage an SD-WAN, meaning there is no decoupling of the hardware and its control mechanism. A key application of SD-WAN is to allow companies to build higher-performance WANs using lower-cost and commercially available Internet access, enabling businesses to partially or wholly replace more expensive private WANs connection technologies such as MPLS. When SD-WAN traffic is carried over the Internet, there are no end-to-end performance guarantees. Carrier MPLS VPN WAN services are not carried as Internet traffic, but rather over carefully controlled carrier capacity, and do come with an end-to-end performance guarantee. == History == WANs were very important for the development of networking in general and for a long time one of the most important applications of networks both for military and enterprise applications. The ability to communicate data over long distances was one of the main driving factors for the development of data communications, as it made it possible to overcome the distance limitations, as well as shortening the time necessary to exchange messages with other parties. Legacy WANs allowed communication over circuits connecting two or more endpoints. Earlier networking supported point-to-point communication over a slow speed circuit, usually between two fixed locations. As networking progressed, WAN circuits became faster and more flexible. Innovations like circuit and packet switching (in the form of X.25, ATM and later Internet Protocol or Multiprotocol Label Switching) allowed communication to become more dynamic, supporting ever-growing networks. The need for strict control, security and quality of service (QOS) meant that multinational corporations were very conservative in leasing and operating their WANs. National regulations restricted the companies that could provide local service in each country, and complex arrangements were necessary to establish truly global networks. All that changed with the growth of the Internet, which permitted entities around the world to connect to each other. However, over the first years, the uncontrolled nature of the Internet was not considered adequate or safe for private corporate use. Independent of safety concerns, connectivity to the Internet became a necessity to the point where every branch required Internet access. At first, due to safety concerns, private communications were still done via WAN, and communication with other entities (including customers and partners) moved to the Internet. As the Internet grew in reach and maturity, companies started to evaluate how to leverage it for private corporate communications. During the early 2000s, application delivery over the WAN became an important topic of research and commercial innovation. Over the next decade, increasing computing power made it possible to create software-based appliances that were able to analyze traffic and make informed decisions without delays, making it possible to create large-scale overlay networks over the public Internet that could replicate all the functionality of legacy WANs, at a fraction of the cost. SD-WAN combines several networking aspects to create full-fledged private networks, with the ability to dynamically share network bandwidth across the connection points. Additional enhancements include central controllers, zero-touch provisioning, integrated analytics and on-demand circuit provisioning, with some network intelligence based in the cloud, allowing centralized policy management and security. Networking publications started using the term SD-WAN to describe this new networking trend as early as 2014. With the rapid shift to remote work as a result of lockdowns and stay at home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, SD-WAN grew in popularity as a way of connecting remote workers. == Overview == WANs allow companies to extend their computer networks over large distances, connecting remote branch offices to data centers and to each other, and delivering applications and services required to perform business functions. Due to the physical constraints imposed by the propagation time over large distances, and the need to integrate multiple service providers to cover global geographies (often crossing nation boundaries), WANs face important operational challenges, including network congestion, packet delay variation, packet loss, and even service outages. Modern applications such as VoIP calling, videoconferencing, streaming media, and virtualized applications and desktops require low latency. Bandwidth requirements are also increasing, especially for applications featuring high-definition video. It can be expensive and difficult to expand WAN capability, with corresponding difficulties related to network management and troubleshooting. SD-WAN products are designed to address these network problems. By enhancing or even replacing traditional branch routers with virtualization appliances that can control application-level policies and offer a network overlay, less expensive consumer-grade Internet links can act more like a dedicated circuit. This simplifies the setup process for branch personnel. SD-WAN products can be physical appliances or software based only. === Components === The MEF Forum has defined an SD-WAN architecture consisting of an SD-WAN edge, SD-WAN gateway, SD-WAN controller and SD-WAN orchestrator. ==== SD-WAN edge ==== The SD-WAN edge is a physical or virtual network function that is placed at an organization's branch/regional/central office site, data center, and in public or private cloud platforms. MEF Forum has published the first SD-WAN service standard, MEF 70 which defines the fundamental characteristics of an SD-WAN service plus service requirements and attributes. ==== SD-WAN gateway ==== SD-WAN gateways provide access to the SD-WAN service in order to shorten the distance to cloud-based services or the user, and reduce service interruptions. A distributed network of gateways may be included in an SD-WAN service by the vendor or setup and maintained by the organization using the service. By sitting outside the headquarters in the cloud, the gateway also reduces headquarters traffic. ==== SD-WAN orchestrator ==== The SD-WAN orchestrator is a cloud hosted or on-premises web management tool that allows configuration, provisioning and other functions when operating an SD-WAN. It simplifies application traffic management by allowing central implementation of an organization's business policies. ==== SD-WAN controller ==== The SD-WAN controller functionality, which can be placed in the orchestrator or in an SD-WAN gateway, is used to make forwarding decisions for application flows. Application flows are IP packets that have been classified to determine their user application or grouping of applications to which they are associated. The grouping of application flows based on a common type, e.g., conferencing applications, is referred to as an Application Flow Group in MEF 70. Per MEF 70, the SD-WAN Edge classifies incoming IP packets at the SD-WAN UNI (SD-WAN user network interface), determines, via OSI Layer 2 through Layer 7 classification, which application flow the IP packets belong to, and then applies the policies to block the application flow or allow the application flows to be forwarded based on the availability of a route to the destination SD-WAN UNI on a remote SD-WAN Edge. This helps ensure that application performance meets service level agreements (SLAs). == Required characteristics == The Gartner research firm has defined an SD-WAN as having four required characteristics: The ability to support multiple connection types, such as MPLS, last mile fiber optic network or through high speed cellular networks e.g. 4G LTE and 5G wireless technologies The ability to do dynamic path selection, for load sharing and resiliency purposes A simple interface that is easy to configure and manage The ability to support VPNs, and third party services such as WAN optimization controllers, firewalls and web gateways == Features == Features of SD-WANs include resilience, quality of service (QoS), security, and performance, with flexible deployment options; simplified administration and troubleshooting; and online traffic engineering. === Resilience === A resilient SD-WAN reduces network downtime. To
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Deep Learning Indaba

The Deep Learning Indaba is an annual conference and educational event that aims to strengthen machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) capacity across Africa. Launched in 2017, it brings together students, researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers from across the African continent. == History == The Deep Learning Indaba began in 2017 at the University of the Witwatersrand with over 300 participants from 23 African countries, offering tutorials in advanced AI topics and featuring notable speakers like Nando de Freitas. In 2018, it expanded to 650 delegates at Stellenbosch University, introducing parallel sessions to encourage collaboration. The 2019 edition in Nairobi, Kenya, reflected further growth, with increasing sponsorship and support from major tech companies like Google and Microsoft. === Deep Learning IndabaX ===
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Microelectronics

Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller. These devices are typically made from semiconductor materials. Many components of a normal electronic design are available in a microelectronic equivalent. These include transistors, capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes and (naturally) insulators and conductors can all be found in microelectronic devices. Unique wiring techniques such as wire bonding are also often used in microelectronics because of the unusually small size of the components, leads and pads. This technique requires specialized equipment and is expensive. Digital integrated circuits (ICs) consist of billions of transistors, resistors, diodes, and capacitors. Analog circuits commonly contain resistors and capacitors as well. Inductors are used in some high frequency analog circuits, but tend to occupy larger chip area due to their lower reactance at low frequencies. Gyrators can replace them in many applications. As techniques have improved, the scale of microelectronic components has continued to decrease. At smaller scales, the relative impact of intrinsic circuit properties, such as unintended interactions between components or their parts, may become more significant. These are called parasitic effects, and the goal of the microelectronics design engineer is to find ways to compensate for or to minimize these effects, while delivering smaller, faster, and cheaper devices. Today, microelectronics design is largely aided by electronic design automation (EDA) software.
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Brand networking

Brand networking is the engagement of a social networking service around a brand by providing consumers with a platform of relevant content, elements of participation, and a currency, score, or ranking. Brand networking creates communities that serve as interactive destinations to encourage brand participation online and off. This evolved level of user participation with the brand facilitates strong relationships with consumers, leverages sales, and generates fan equity. The concept builds on the marketing literature on brand communities, which describes specialized, non-geographically bound groups of consumers organized around shared interest in a brand, and on subsequent research on social-media-based brand communities that examines how such groups operate when embedded in general-purpose networking platforms. == History == The development and growth of social networking in the early 2000s gave birth to brand networking. Brands saw the immediate potential to reach and interact with consumers through online platforms like Facebook and MySpace. At first, the ability to reach consumers through these platforms was inadequate; brands had the option to join as members or simply advertise on these sites. The potential existed to not only display advertisements to consumers, but to encourage them to interact with the brand. This is when brands made the shift to create their own networking platforms. Less evolved attempts to connect brands with consumers via networking are typically built as online platforms meant only to complement a product/service and are limited in functionality. Typically these sites offer consumers the opportunity to interact through discussion boards and group pages. The Guiding Light Community was built to complement the popular CBS television soap opera. The site offers members reward points for contributing content to discussion boards and blogs (which is all geared toward the show). == Structure == Brand networking is more than the utilization of a social networking platform; it is connecting consumers together and constructing relationships directly with the brand. Three key elements, in unity, create effective brand networking: relevant content, elements of participation, and a competitive currency. Websites in conjunction with other media types (television, radio, print) present content around a vertical industry, sector of interest, or cultural and social issues for a brand. This can be in areas such as health, marketing, or business, or any content relevant to the brand message. Such content is not only provided by the brand but also in the form of consumer-generated media. Research on brand-related user-generated content across major platforms suggests that the form and tone of consumer contributions vary by platform, with promotional content more common on some networks and response-oriented content on others. A brand provides participation with consumers online and offline. This is accomplished through the combination of typical social networking features online, such as personalised pages, friend lists, groups, and messaging, alongside elements of involvement offline. This is not simply connecting an online platform with mobile devices, but providing separate mobile features jointly with a secondary media type to drive online usage and build relationships with the brand on the go. By participating in mobile campaigns, users are interacting with the brand outside of traditional brick and mortar or e-commerce destinations. Empirical work on consumer brand engagement in social media frames such participation along cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions. The final element of brand networking involves incentivising participation with the other two elements. The addition of a currency or point system acts as an anchor to the brand and network and creates a competitive dynamic between consumers. These points are distributed for activity carried out outside of the networking site. By incentivising usage offline, the brand image is reinforced for the consumer and strengthens the relationship. Consumers are turned into promoters for both the brand and the users' benefit. The use of points, badges, leaderboards, and similar mechanics is described in the marketing literature as gamification, and has been linked to higher participation rates in mobile and loyalty programmes. == Fan equity == Fan equity is the idea that by locking in consumers to a brand, they are turned into fans of the brand. As fans, they promote, interact, and consume on a daily basis and become assets. Apple Inc. is one example of a company often cited as possessing fan equity. Customers of Apple are extremely brand loyal and are assets to the company. Creating a fan-generated brand is a difficult but effective method of business. Through the use of brand networking, a company is able to build a consumer or fan base that provides a strong relationship between business and consumers. The trust is formed and fans do a lot of work for the brand by word of mouth. Peer-to-peer channels are the strongest means of communication for a brand, but also one in which the brand can only influence and not control. Subsequent research links community engagement with brand trust, identifying community engagement as a mediator between social-media brand community participation and trust. This method of business is argued to be a relationship handled by the brand generally for its own gain. Many fans do not realise the work they are doing for companies by using their product or service. Facebook is a fan-based brand that has become a global phenomenon through customer use, with social media features such as sharing and commenting. With the growth of social media, marketing and advertising through social media has continued to expand. Brands can display and promote their products or services at a fast rate, with consumers sharing and contributing to the brand on a global scale. This can also be seen as online word of mouth exposure that can produce positive or negative feedback for brands. Once consumers become fans they are typically loyal, which can create positive word of mouth for a brand. Fans become a valuable asset, boosting the status and reputation of a brand. Different perceptions of brands can be linked to a person's origin or religion, which creates a difficulty when trying to enter a market or gain market share. Businesses need to be aware of the types of products or services they introduce to a specific market, ensuring they are culturally sensitive. Fan pages are created on social media to maintain the relationship between brands and consumers. By engaging and interacting with consumers, brands obtain fans and produce positive imaging. Some fans become attached to brands and are often encouraged to remain as fans through the use of celebrities endorsing the brand. Research on parasocial interaction in social-media environments suggests that one-sided emotional bonds that consumers form with endorsers and brand personae help convert ordinary followers into engaged fans.
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