Multilayered extended semantic networks (MultiNets) are both a knowledge representation paradigm and a language for meaning representation of natural language expressions that has been developed by Prof. Dr. Hermann Helbig on the basis of earlier Semantic Networks. It is used in a question-answering application for German called InSicht. It is also used to create a tutoring application developed by the university of University of Hagen to teach MultiNet to knowledge engineers. MultiNet is claimed to be one of the most comprehensive and thoroughly described knowledge representation systems. It specifies conceptual structures by means of about 140 predefined relations and functions, which are systematically characterized and underpinned by a formal axiomatic apparatus. Apart from their relational connections, the concepts are embedded in a multidimensional space of layered attributes and their values. Another characteristic of MultiNet distinguishing it from simple semantic networks is the possibility to encapsulate whole partial networks and represent the resulting conceptual capsule as a node of higher order, which itself can be an argument of relations and functions. MultiNet has been used in practical NLP applications such as natural language interfaces to the Internet or question answering systems over large semantically annotated corpora with millions of sentences. MultiNet is also a cornerstone of the commercially available search engine SEMPRIA-Search, where it is used for the description of the computational lexicon and the background knowledge, for the syntactic-semantic analysis, for logical answer finding, as well as for the generation of natural language answers. MultiNet is supported by a set of software tools and has been used to build large semantically based computational lexicons. The tools include a semantic interpreter WOCADI, which translates natural language expressions (phrases, sentences, texts) into formal MultiNet expressions, a workbench MWR+ for the knowledge engineer (comprising modules for automatic knowledge acquisition and reasoning), and a workbench LIA+ for the computer lexicographer supporting the creation of large semantically based computational lexica.
YrWall
YrWall is a Digital Graffiti Wall developed by event company Luma, where designs are created on a large wall using a modified spray paint can. The can contains no paint, instead it has an IR light which is tracked by a computer vision system and the image immediately back-projected onto the wall. The inbuilt YrWall software has much of the functionality of a typical computer paint program, with a pop-out interface which enables users to change colour, spray width, opacity, work with stencils and use animated items such as swirls, stars, drips and splats. Recent additions to YrWall include options to email a JPEG of the completed design and create personalised stickers and T-shirts. == Dragons' Den == The inventor of YrWall, Tom Hogan, and his business partner, Tim Williams, appeared on Episode 4 of Series 8 of the BBC show Dragons' Den. Seeking investment in YrWall, the entrepreneurs were successful in gaining £50,000 for 40% of the YrWall parent company Lumacoustics from Dragons Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones. == World's Largest Interactive Graffiti Wall == In September 2009 YrWall was used to create the 'World's Largest Interactive Graffiti Wall' at the Bristol Festival, UK. Artists used the standard 3.5 m2 YrWall to produce artwork which was in turn projected live onto a 26m x 10m space on the side of the iconic Lloyds amphitheatre building.
Blocknots
Blocknots were random sequences of numbers contained in a book and organized by numbered rows and columns and were used as additives in the reciphering of Soviet Union codes, during World War II. The Blocknot consisted of a booklet of fifty sheets of 5-figure random additive, 100 additive groups to a sheet. No sheet was used more than once, thus the blocknots were in effect a form of one-time pad. The Soviet Unions highest grade ciphers that were used in the East, were the 5-figure codebook enciphered with the Blocknot book, and were generally considered unbreakable. == Technical Description == Blocknots were distributed centrally from an office in Moscow. Every Blocknot contained 5-figure groups in a number of sheets, for the enciphering of 5-figure messages. The encipherment was effected by applying additives taken from the pad, of which 50-100 5-figure groups appeared. Each pad had a 5-figure number and each sheet had a 2-figure number running consecutively. There were 5 different types of Blocknots, in two different categories The Individual in which each table of random numbers was used only once. The General in which each page of the Blocknot was valid for one day. The security of the additive sequence rested on the choice of different starting points for each message. In 5-figure messages, the blocknot was one of the first 10 Groups in the message. Its position changed at long intervals, but was always easy to re-identify. The Russians differentiated between three types of blocks: The 3-block, DRIERBLOCK. I-block for Individual Block: 50 pages, additive read off in one direction only. The messages could be used and read only between 2 wireless telegraphy stations on one net. The 6-block, SECHSERBLOCK. Z-block for Circular Block: 30 pages, additive read off in either direction. The messages could be used and read, between all W/T stations in a net. The 2-block, ZWEIERBLOCK. OS-block. Used only in traffic from lower to higher formations. Two other types were used, in lower echelons. Notblock: Used in an emergency. Blocknot used for passing on traffic. The distribution of Blocknots was carried out centrally from Moscow to Army Groups then to Armies. The Army was responsible for their distribution throughout the lower levels of the army down to company level. Independent units took their cipher material with them. Occasionally the same blocknot was distributed to two units on different parts of the front, which enabled Depth to be established. Records of all Blocknots used were kept in Berlin and when a repeat was noticed a BLOCKNOT ANGEBOT message was sent out to all German Signals units, to indicate that it may have been possible to break the code using it. There was no certainty in this. A cryptanalyst with the General der Nachrichtenaufklärung stated while being interrogated by TICOM: It seems that depths of up to 8 were established at the beginning of the Russian Campaign but that no 5-figure code was broken after May 1943 German cryptanalysts who were prisoners of war stated under interrogation, that each of the figures 0 to 9 were placed en clair usually within the first ten groups of the text or sometimes at the end. One indicator was the Blocknot number and the consisted of two random figures, the figure representing the type, and the remaining two, the page of the Blocknot being used. In long messages, 000000 was placed in the message when the end of a page had been reached. == Chi number == The Chi-number was the serial numbering of all 5-figure messages passing through the hands of the Cipher Officer, starting on the first of January and ending on thirty-first December of the current year. It always appeared as the last group in an intercepted message, e.g. 00001 on the 1st January, or when the unit was newly set up. The progression of Chi-numbers was carefully observed and recorded in the form of a graph. A Russian corps had about 10 5-figure messages per day, and Army about 20-30 and a Front about 60–100. After only a relatively short time, the individual curves separated sharply and the type of formation could be recognized by the height of the Chi-number alone. == Monitoring == Blocknots were tracked in a card index, that was maintained by the Signal Intelligence Evaluation Centre (NAAS). The NAAS functionality included evaluation and traffic analysis, cryptanalysis, collation and dissemination of intelligence. The card index, which was one amongst several Card Indexes. A careful recording and study of blocks provided the positive clues in the identification and tracking of formations using 5-figure ciphers. The index was subdivided into two files: Search card index, contained all blocknots and chi-numbers whether or not they were known. Unit card index, contained only known Block and Chi-numbers. Inspector Berger, who was the chief cryptanalyst of NAAS 1 stated that the two files formed: The most important and surest instruments for identifying Russian radio nets, known to him. The Blocknots were also used in the Stationary Intercept Company (Feste), the military unit that were designed to work at a lower level to the NAAS, at the Army level and were semi-motorized, and closer to the front. The Feste used the Blocknot value along with several other parameters to build a network diagram. The network diagram was studied extensively, as part of a 6-stage process, that involved several departments within the Feste. The outcome was a metric which determined the most interesting circuit for traffic monitoring, and least interesting, where monitoring of traffic should cease. == Analysis == Johannes Marquart was a mathematician and cryptanalyst who initially worked for Inspectorate 7/VI and later led Referat Ia of Group IV of the General der Nachrichtenaufklärung. Marquart was assigned the study of the Soviet Union Blocknot traffic. Marquart and his unit conducted extensive research in an attempt to discover the method by which they were produced. All the counts which they made, however, failed to reveal any non-random characteristics in the design of the tables, and while they thought the Blocknots must have been generated by machine, they were never able to draw any concrete deductions as a result of their research. == Example == The Soviet 3rd Guard Tank Army transmits a 5-figure message with the Blocknot of 37581 (one of the first 10 groups in the message). On the same day the Block 37582 was used by the same formation. The next day 37583 appeared. Thereafter, for a period, the Army was not heard by German Wireless telegraphy intercept operators, as it was maintaining wireless silence. After a few days, an unidentified net with the Blocknot 37588 is picked up. This message net is claimed, because of the proximity of the blocks (88/83) to be the 3rd Guard Tank Army. The missing Blocknots 84-87 were presumably used in telegraphic, telephonic or courier communications. The Chi number provides confirmation of the first assumption, based on proximity of blocknots in most cases.
Information Networking Institute
Information Networking Institute (INI) is an academic department within the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. The institute was established in 1989 as the nation's first research and education center devoted to information networking. The INI also partners with research and outreach entities to extend educational and training programs to a broad audience of people using information networking as part of their daily lives. The INI is the educational partner of Carnegie Mellon CyLab, a university-wide, multidisciplinary research center involving more than 50 faculty and 100 graduate students. == Center of Academic Excellence Designations == Through the work of the INI and CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University has been designated by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense Education (CAE-IA/CD) and a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense Research (CAE-R). It has also been designated by the NSA and the U.S. Cyber Command as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations (CAE-Cyber Ops). Through these designations, the INI and CyLab participate in the: Federal CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) Program - Students pursuing graduate degrees in information security (MSIS or MSISPM) are eligible for scholarships under the SFS program. Information Assurance Scholarship Program (IASP) - Students pursuing graduate degrees in information security and seeking careers with the Department of Defense may be eligible for scholarships under the IASP. Capacity Building Program for Faculty from Historically Black and Hispanic Serving Institutions - The INI and CyLab developed a month-long, in-residence summer program to help build information assurance education and research capacity at colleges and universities designated as Minority Serving Institutions – specifically, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). This program is supported through a grant from the National Science Foundation. == Faculty and researchers == Faculty involved in teaching and advising in the INI programs are conducting research in all aspects of information networking and information security. Affiliated research centers are: Carnegie Mellon CyLab SEI's CERT Division == Alumni == The INI has graduated over 1,400 alumni who currently occupy positions in a variety of sectors across industry, government and academia.
VK (service)
VK (short for its original name VKontakte; Russian: ВКонтакте, lit. 'InContact') is a Russian online social media and social networking service based in Saint Petersburg. VK is available in multiple languages but it is predominantly used by Russian speakers. VK users can message each other publicly or privately, edit messages, create groups, public pages, and events; share and tag images, audio, and video; and play browser-based games. As of August 2018, VK had at least 500 million accounts. As of November 2022, it was the sixth most popular website in Russia. The network was also popular in Ukraine until it was banned by the Verkhovna Rada in 2017. According to Semrush, in 2024, VK was the 30th most visited website in the world; as YouTube is subject to blocking in Russia, VK Video overtook Google's top position in monthly web traffic for the first time in December 2024, as part of the major substitution to domestic business. == History == VKontakte was conceived in 2006 when Pavel Durov, creator of the popular student forum spbgu.ru, met his former classmate Vyacheslav Mirilashvili in St. Petersburg after graduating from the Faculty of Philology at St Petersburg State University. Vyacheslav showed Durov the increasingly popular Facebook, after which the friends decided to create a new Russian social network. Lev Leviev, an Israeli classmate of Vyacheslav Mirilashivili, became the third co-founder. Vyacheslav Mirilashvili borrowed the money from his billionaire father and became the largest shareholder. Lev Leviev took over operational management, and Durov became CEO. Pavel Durov convinced his older brother Nikolai, a multiple winner of international math and programming competitions, to develop the site. Durov launched VKontakte for beta testing in September 2006. The following month, the domain name Vkontakte.ru was registered. The new project was incorporated on 19 January 2007 as a Russian private limited company. In February 2007 the site reached a user base of over 100,000 and was recognized as the second largest company in Russia's nascent social network market. In the same month, the site was subjected to a severe DDoS attack, which briefly put it offline. The user base reached 1 million in July 2007, and 10 million in April 2008. In December 2008 VK overtook rival Odnoklassniki as Russia's most popular social networking service. == Website == Similar to many social networks, the platform's fundamental features revolve around private messaging, sharing photos, posting status updates, and exchanging links with friends. VK also provides tools for administering online communities and managing celebrity pages. The site allows its users to upload, search and stream media content, such as videos and music. VK features an advanced search engine, that allows complex queries for finding friends, as well as a real-time news search. VK updated its features and design in April 2016. === Features === Messaging. VK Private Messages can be exchanged between groups of 2 to 500 people. An email address can also be specified as the recipient. Each message may contain up to 10 attachments: Photos, Videos, Audio Files, Maps (an embedded map with a manually placed marker), and Documents. News. VK users can post on their profile walls, each post may contain up to 10 attachments – media files, maps, and documents (see above). User mentions and hashtags are supported. In the case of multiple photo attachments, the previews are automatically scaled and arranged in a magazine-style layout. The news feed can be switched between all news (default) and most interesting modes. The site features a news-recommendation engine, global real-time search, and individual search for posts and comments on specific users' walls. Communities. VK features three types of communities. Groups are better suited for decentralized communities (discussion boards, wiki-style articles, editable by all members, etc.). Public pages is a news feed-orientated broadcasting tool for celebrities and businesses. The two types are largely interchangeable, the main difference being in the default settings. The third type of community is called Events, which are used for appropriately organizing concerts and events in an appropriate way. Like buttons. VK like buttons for posts, comments, media, and external sites operate differently from Facebook. Liked content doesn't get automatically pushed to the user's wall, but is saved in the private Favorites section instead. The user has to press a second 'share with friends' button to share an item on their wall or send it via private message to a friend. Privacy. Users can control the availability of their content within the network and on the Internet. Blanket and granular privacy settings are available for pages and individual content. Synchronization with other social networks. Any news published on the VK wall will appear on Facebook or Twitter. Certain news may not be published by clicking on the logo next to the "Send" button. Editing a post in VK does not change the post in Facebook or Twitter and vice versa. However, removing the news in VK will remove it from other social networks. SMS service. Russian users can receive and reply to a private message or leave a comment for community news using SMS. Music. Users have access to the audio files uploaded by other users. In addition, users can upload the audio files themselves, create playlists and share audios with others by attaching to messages and wall posts. The uploaded audio files cannot violate copyright laws. === Popularity === As of May 2017, according to Alexa Internet ranking, VK is one of the most visited websites in some Eurasian countries. It is: 4th most visited in Russia; 3rd most visited in Belarus; 6th most visited in Kazakhstan; 8th most visited in Kyrgyzstan and Moldova; 12th most visited in Latvia. It was the fourth most viewed site in Ukraine until, in May 2017, the Ukrainian government banned the use of VK in Ukraine. According to a study for May 2018 conducted by Factum Group Ukraine VK remained the fourth most viewed site in Ukraine, but Facebook was twice as much visited. For 2019, VK appeared as the most visited social network in Ukraine according to Alexa. According to the Internet Association of Ukraine the share of Ukrainian Internet users who visit VK daily had fallen from 54% to 10% from September 2016 to September 2019. They also claimed in November 2019 that Facebook was the most popular social network. VK was expected to gain most of the users lost by Facebook and Instagram after they were blocked in Russia in 2022, according to a Calltouch poll. == Ownership == Initially, founder and CEO Pavel Durov owned 20% of shares (although he had majority voting power through proxy votes), and a trio of Russian-Israeli investors Yitzchak Mirilashvili, his father Mikhael Mirilashvili, and Lev Leviev owned 60%, 10%, and 10% respectively. In 2007, Digital Sky Technologies, an investment company managed by Yuri Milner, acquired a total of 24.99% of the shares from shareholders, investing $16.3 million. In preparation for the IPO in September 2010, DST separated international and Russian assets: the former formed the DST Global fund, while the latter, including VKontakte and rival social network Odnoklassniki, were merged into Mail.ru Group. Mail.ru Group used part of the money to acquire 7.5% of the social network for $112.5 million at a valuation of the entire project of 1.5 billion dollars. After exercising a 7.5% option in July 2011 for $111.7 million, Mail.ru Group accumulated a 39.99% stake in VKontakte. The head of Mail.ru Group, Dmitry Grishin, voiced the company's intention to gain 100% control over VKontakte. MRG was discussing with shareholders to buy out shares from the valuation of the entire company in $2-3 billion. In the summer of 2011, Mirilashvili and Leviev were ready to accept in payment owned by Mail.ru Group shares of Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga, but the deal failed due to Durov's unwillingness to sell a stake on MRG terms. Later, the co-founders considered VKontakte's IPO as an alternative. In March 2012, Durov "accidentally" became plugged into the negotiations where Mirilashvili and Leviev discussed selling their stakes directly to Mail.ru Group's main investor, Alisher Usmanov. On the same day, Durov deleted the pages of the first co-investors, stopped contacting them, and soon announced that VKontakte would postpone its IPO indefinitely. On 29 May 2012, Mail.ru Group announced its decision to yield control of the company to Durov by offering him the voting rights on its shares. Combined with Durov's personal 12% stake, this gave him 52% of the votes. In April 2013, the Mirilashvili family sold its 40% share in VK to United Capital Partners for $1.12 billion, while Lev Leviev sold his 8% share in the same deal, giving United Capital Partners 48% ownership. In January 2014, VK's founder Pavel Durov sold his 12% stake in the company to I
Vujak
VuJak is an early video sampler, a VJ remix and mashup tool created in 1992 by Brian Kane, Lisa Eisenpresser, and Jay Haynes. The original name of the project was Mideo, but it was later changed to VuJak. VuJak was based on MIDI control of video in real-time. It was created with MAX from Opcode Systems, and utilized the newly released QuickTime 1.0 movie object. The first working version of the program was built on a Mac IIfx with 8 megs of ram, and could jump in real-time across a 160 x 120 pixel QuickTime movie via a midi keyboard. Later versions could manipulate full screen video, included the first real-time video scratch feature, had looping, vari-speed, and random play features, and allowed for recording and editing of video sequences within the application. VuJak also had networking capabilities which allowed artists to "jam" in real time across standard phone lines. The first public exhibition of VuJak was at the Digital Hollywood conference in Beverly Hills in 1993, where it was promoted by Timothy Leary. VuJak was featured in Mondo 2000, CBS Evening News, Wired Magazine, Electronic Musician, Billboard Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and it was used to create promotional videos for MTV. In 1994, VuJak was a featured interactive exhibition at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Development of VuJak ceased in 1995.
Data proliferation
Data proliferation refers to the prodigious amount of data, structured and unstructured, that businesses and governments continue to generate at an unprecedented rate and the usability problems that result from attempting to store and manage that data. While originally pertaining to problems associated with paper documentation, data proliferation has become a major problem in primary and secondary data storage on computers. While digital storage has become cheaper, the associated costs, from raw power to maintenance and from metadata to search engines, have not kept up with the proliferation of data. Although the power required to maintain a unit of data has fallen, the cost of facilities which house the digital storage has tended to rise. Data proliferation has been documented as a problem for the U.S. military since August 1971, in particular regarding the excessive documentation submitted during the acquisition of major weapon systems. Efforts to mitigate data proliferation and the problems associated with it are ongoing. == Problems caused == The problem of data proliferation is affecting all areas of commerce as a result of the availability of relatively inexpensive data storage devices. This has made it very easy to dump data into secondary storage immediately after its window of usability has passed. This masks problem that could gravely affect the profitability of businesses and the efficient functioning of health services, police and security forces, local and national governments, and many other types of organizations. Data proliferation is problematic for several reasons: Difficulty when trying to find and retrieve information. At Xerox, on average it takes employees more than one hour per week to find hard-copy documents, costing $2,152 a year to manage and store them. For businesses with more than 10 employees, this increases to almost two hours per week at $5,760 per year. In large networks of primary and secondary data storage, problems finding electronic data are analogous to problems finding hard copy data. Data loss and legal liability when data is disorganized, not properly replicated, or cannot be found promptly. In April 2005, the Ameritrade Holding Corporation told 200,000 current and past customers that a tape containing confidential information had been lost or destroyed in transit. In May of the same year, Time Warner Incorporated reported that 40 tapes containing personal data on 600,000 current and former employees had been lost en route to a storage facility. In March 2005, a Florida judge hearing a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Morgan Stanley issued an "adverse inference order" against the company for "willful and gross abuse of its discovery obligations." The judge cited Morgan Stanley for repeatedly finding misplaced tapes of e-mail messages long after the company had claimed that it had turned over all such tapes to the court. Increased manpower requirements to manage increasingly chaotic data storage resources. Slower networks and application performance due to excess traffic as users search and search again for the material they need. High cost in terms of the energy resources required to operate storage hardware. A 100 terabyte system will cost up to $35,040 a year to run—not counting cooling costs. == Proposed solutions == Applications that better utilize modern technology Reductions in duplicate data (especially as caused by data movement) Improvement of metadata structures Improvement of file and storage transfer structures User education and discipline The implementation of Information Lifecycle Management solutions to eliminate low-value information as early as possible before putting the rest into actively managed long-term storage in which it can be quickly and cheaply accessed.