Superscalar

A superscalar CPU architecture implements a form of parallelism called Instruction-level parallelism within a solitary processor. It thereby allows faster CPU throughput than would otherwise be possible at the same clock rate. A superscalar architecture executes more than one instruction during a single pipeline stage by pre-fetching several instructions and at the same time dispatching them to redundant functional units on the processor.

History

Seymour Cray's CDC 6600 from 1965 is often mentioned as the first superscalar plan. The Intel i960CA and the AMD 29000-series 29050 microprocessors were the first commercial single-chip superscalar microprocessors. RISC CPUs like these brought the superscalar idea to micro computers because the RISC design results in a simple core, allowing straightforward instruction send off and the inclusion of multiple functional units on a single CPU in the inhibited design rules of the time. This was the reason that RISC designs were faster than CISC designs through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

Swan

Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the intimately related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.

Swans typically mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur, mainly following nesting failure. The number of eggs in each clutch is between 3–8.
The word is derived from Old English swan, akin to German Schwan, in turn derived from Indo-European root *swen (to sound, to sing), whence Latin derives sonus (sound). Young swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for swan, cygnus. An adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe; an adult female is a pen .

Lopping

Lopping, also known as tree lopping and topping, is the practice of cutting trunks and branches of a tree in an effort to contain the tree's size or shape. Lopping is differentiated from other styles of pruning by where the cuts are made. When a tree is lopped, the cuts are made internodally, or not at branch unions and collars at the correct angles, leaving a piece of protruding timber that is called a stub.
Lopping in many cases is careful an inappropriate pruning method for amenity trees. The lopped stubs may regrow adventitious epicormic shoots which are bonded only to the bark. These epicormic shoots can grow dynamically and, unless regularly pruned off, may outgrow the original height and spread of the tree. Further, the ends of the lopped stubs are exposed to pathogens which may enter and infect the tree.
In orchards, fruit trees are often lopped to encourage regrowth and to keep a smaller tree for ease of picking fruit. The pruning regime in orchards is more intended and the productivity of each tree is an important factor. In an orchard, though, the natural longevity of a tree is often compromised in favor of its output in fruiting. Orchard trees are also carefully monitored and treated with fungicides and insecticides to minimise losses.

Genetics

Genetics is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms.Knowledge that desired characteristics were present at birth has been implicitly used since prehistoric times for improving crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the mechanisms of inheritance, only began with the work of Gregor Mendel in the mid-1800s.
Mendel observed that inheritance is basically a discrete process with specific traits that are inherited in an independant manner. These basic units of inheritance is now known as "genes". In the cells of organisms, genes exist actually in the structure of the molecule DNA and the information genes contain is used to create and control the components of cells. Although genetics plays a large role in determining the appearance and behavior of organisms, it is the interaction of genetics with the environment an organism experiences that determines the ultimate outcome. For example, while genes play a role in determining a person's height, the nutrition and health that person experiences in childhood also have a large effect.

Pocket timepieces

The earliest need for portability in punctuality was navigation and mapping in the 15th century. The latitude could be measured by looking at the stars, but the only way a ship could measure its longitude was by comparing the midday time of the local longitude to that of a European meridian—a time kept on a shipboard clock. However, the process was disreputably unreliable until the introduction of John Harrison's marine chronometer. For that reason, most maps from the 15th century through the 19th century have precise latitudes but distorted longitudes.

The first reasonably accurate mechanical clocks measured time with simple weighted pendulums, which are unworkable when unequal movement of the fulcrum occur whether at sea or in watches. The invention of a spring mechanism was critical for portable clocks. In Tudor England, the development of "pocket-clockes" was enabled by the development of reliable springs and escapement mechanisms, which allowed clockmakers to compress a timekeeping device into a small, portable compartment.

Accelerated Graphics Port

The Accelerated Graphics Port (also called Advanced Graphics Port, often shortened to AGP) is a rapid point-to-point channel for attaching a graphics card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. Some motherboards have been built with multiple self-governing AGP slots. AGP is currently being phased out in favor of PCI Express.