title: Jerrika Hinton

text: Hinton began her career appearing in stage productions. She has made her film debut in the 2006 independent drama "Rain". The following years, Hinton guest-starred in several television series such as "Gilmore Girls", "Everybody Hates Chris", "Zoey 101", "Ghost Whisperer," "Gossip Girl", "Lie to Me", "Bones", and "Scandal". In 2008 she did a Hanes commercial with Sarah Chalke. Other film credits include "Broken Angel" (2008) and "The Roommate" (2011), and well as Ion Television movie "A Christmas Kiss" (2011).


title: Jerrika Hinton

text: In September 2012, it was announced that Hinton had been cast as new intern Stephanie Edwards for ninth season of Shonda Rhimes medical drama series "Grey's Anatomy".


title: Jerrika Hinton

text: In January 2013, it was announced that Hinton along with other newcomers to the show were given the option to become series regulars if "Grey's Anatomy" were to be renewed. After three seasons as regular cast member on show, Shonda Rhimes cast Hinton as the lead character of her first comedy pilot "Toast" in March 2016. She would still be on "Grey's Anatomy" if her pilot had gone to series. The pilot was not ordered to series. In January 2017, it was announced that Hinton will co-star opposite Holly Hunter in "Here and Now", a HBO drama series created by Alan Ball. She portrayed Ashley Collins, one of the adopted children of Hunter's character. She next played Natalie Gorman in "Servant" (2019–2020) and began portraying Millie Morris in the Amazon Prime series "Hunters" in 2020.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Sergio Gabriel Martínez (born 21 February 1975) is an Argentine professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010; and the unified WBC, WBO, "Ring" magazine and lineal middleweight titles between 2010 and 2014. With six successful defenses of the "Ring" and lineal middleweight titles, Martínez's 50-month reign as champion ranks as one of the longest in the history of that weight class.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: In 2010 he was granted the Konex Award Merit Diploma as one of the five best boxers of the last decade in Argentina. In 2011, Martínez reached a career high ranking as the world's third best active boxer, pound for pound, behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, as voted by most sporting news and boxing publications, including "Sports Illustrated", ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, and "The Ring". In 2010 he received Fighter of the Year awards by both "The Ring" and the Boxing Writers Association of America, as well as "The Ring"'s Knockout of the Year for his rematch victory against Paul Williams. The WBC named him their Boxer of the Year in 2010 and 2012. A southpaw, Martínez was known as a fast and athletic fighter and his style has been described as "crowd-pleasing", partly because of his tendency to fight with his hands down when out of his opponents' range.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Outside the ring, Martínez has been an active spokesperson in the fight against bullying and domestic violence against women. He is the author of a book, "Corazón de Rey" ("Heart of a King"), and is said to be working on a second book.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Sergio Martínez was born on 21 February 1975 in Avellaneda to parents Hugo Alberto Martínez and Susana Griselda. Shortly afterwards the family relocated to the nearby city of Quilmes, which is also in the Buenos Aires Province. His father worked as a construction worker and metal worker, a trade which Sergio Martínez joined along with his two brothers, Sebastian and Hugo Jr. Martínez was bullied as a child in his "dirt-poor rural village." Before boxing, Martínez was a keen cyclist and football player and it was not until 1995 that he decided he would become a boxer. After being trained by his uncle, Ruben Paniagua, Martínez began boxing as an amateur and compiled a record of 39–2 (39 wins to 2 losses), the losses came by way of majority decision and knockout. His boxing career suffered a major setback in August 1996 when he broke his left hand, forcing him out of the sport for a year. Although he considered competing for Argentina at the 2000 Olympics, he decided that he was too old to wait the two and a half years and chose to turn professional in December 1997.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martínez at the age of 22, had his first professional fight on 27 December 1997 in Ituzaingo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The opponent for his professional debut, Cristian Marcelo Vivas, was disqualified in the second round, giving Martínez his first win. Martínez fought the first 17 fights of his career in his native Argentina, compiling a record of 16–0–1. The only blemish on his record at this point occurred in his third fight, a draw against Mario Javier Nieva over four rounds. Martínez rematched Nieva four months later and won a six-round unanimous decision.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: After facing a relatively low level of opposition for his first 17 fights in Argentina, Martínez fought abroad for the first time, travelling to the United States to face Antonio Margarito on the undercard to the first Érik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera bout. The fight took place on 19 February 2000 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The contest started badly for Martínez as Margarito scored a knockdown in the first round. Although Martínez recovered and had some success in the early rounds, he was hurt by a number of punches in round seven leading to a stoppage by the referee, thus handing Martínez his first loss. Following the Margarito fight, Martínez returned to Argentina and fought eight times, all victories, from April 2000 – February 2002. During this run of fights he won the Argentina welterweight title after outpointing Javier Alejandro Blanco. He successfully defended the title once, knocking out Sergio Ernesto Acuna in the seventh round, before being stripped of the title.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: After his final fight in Argentina, a February 2002 win over Francisco Mora, Martínez decided to relocate to Spain. It was there that he began his partnership with his current trainer Gabriel Sarmiento, who worked out of a gym in Azuqueca de Henares. During his time in Spain, Martínez also worked jobs such as; nightclub bouncer, dishwasher, construction worker and did modelling jobs for Adidas and Nike. From April 2002 – May 2003 he fought four times in Spain, all eight-round fights that he won against weak opposition, two of his opponents had lost their last six fights. This was to change in his next fight however, as he took on Richard Williams in England for the lightly regarded IBO light middleweight title. Martínez, who entered the ring as an underdog, having had only eight days preparation, won a unanimous decision. Although Williams scored knockdowns in the second and eleventh rounds, he was close to being stopped in the final round and the scorecards were heavily in Martínez's favour. He defended the IBO title twice in the United Kingdom; a twelfth round knock-out victory of Adrian Stone in Bristol was followed by a rematch against Williams in Belfast, on this occasion Williams was stopped in the ninth round. Over the next two and a half years, Martínez won seven fights in a row back in Spain, six of which were against boxers who had losing records. Soon thereafter, Martínez began to gain recognition and pursue fights in the United States, under the guidance of adviser Sampson Lewkowicz.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martínez claimed the Interim WBC light middleweight championship on 4 October 2008, beating Alex Bunema via an eighth round retirement. On 14 February 2009 Martínez fought to a majority draw against Puerto Rican Kermit Cintron. The fight was controversial for a number of reasons; during the seventh round Martínez knocked Cintron down with a clean left hand shot and the referee reached the count of ten and waved the fight off. However, this was disputed by Cintron, who claimed that the knockdown was a result of a headbutt but actually the headbutt which Cintron claimed to have happened was actually an extremely powerful and accurate cross from Sergio Martínez. Cintron's protestations led to the referee overturning his decision and the fight continued. The fight went the twelve round distance and the scorecards revealed a draw, many ringside observers felt that the decision was a robbery and that Martínez easily outboxed Cintron and should have gained the victory.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: On 21 May 2009, WBC light middleweight champion Vernon Forrest was stripped of his title due to a rib injury that would leave him out of action indefinitely. Because of the injury and his inability to fight Sergio Martínez, Martínez's interim title was upgraded to full WBC title status. Although the organization also mandated that Martínez face Forrest, that bout would never happen. Less than a month later, Forrest was tragically murdered in Atlanta, GA.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: On 5 December 2009 Martínez fought Paul Williams in a non-title middleweight bout at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in a fight that was later described as a fight of the year candidate. In the first round Williams and Martínez would both knock each other down once. Martínez would then seem to control the next two rounds with effective power punching. Then Williams seemed to narrowly take control of the fight when he seemingly won rounds 4, 5, 6 and 7 by landing hard left hands to the side of Martínez's head. Rounds 8–10 then signified that the fight would be close on the score-cards when Martínez won those rounds by repeating what he did in rounds 2 and 3. Then in the final 2 rounds (11–12), both fighters began to fade although the exchanges remained very closely contested, although Williams was far more active and therefore would seemingly win those final 2 rounds based on the fact that he was far more active in the last 2 rounds of the fight. That would turn out to be the case as Williams would escape with a majority decision victory with scores of 114–114, 119–110 (for Williams) and 115–113 (for Williams).


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: After an impressive performance against Paul Williams, Sergio Martínez stayed at middleweight and challenged WBC, WBO, "The Ring" and lineal middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The fight took place in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on 17 April 2010. Martínez defeated Pavlik via unanimous decision in a bout which saw Martínez overcome a knockdown in the seventh round and go on to dominate a majority of the remaining rounds in the fight. Pavlik had cuts above both eyes for several rounds, which did not stop bleeding. He said they affected his vision and performance. Although there was a rematch clause in the contract, Pavlik chose not to enforce it, stating his desire to move up in weight. The victory over Pavlik earned Martínez the WBC, WBO, "Ring" and lineal middleweight championships.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: With Martínez winning the middleweight championship, he was required to make some decisions regarding his conflicting WBC light middleweight title. The sanctioning organizations for boxing recognize that boxers may choose to move up or down in the weight categories, yet they also wish to make all championship belts available to challenge. As such, their rules prohibit a fighter from simultaneously holding belts in multiple divisions. This prohibition includes holding a title with one sanctioning organization while also holding a title in a different weight class with a different organization. Eight weeks after the Pavlik fight, when Martínez failed to announce a preference to be a light middleweight or a middleweight champion (the WBO rules allow ten days to decide), the WBO stripped him of their middleweight title. A week later, Martínez did inform the WBC that he was willing to vacate their Light Middleweight title and maintain his WBC Middleweight belt.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: On 20 November 2010, Sergio got a chance to avenge his loss to Williams. Both fighters were ranked among the top six pound-for-pound fighters, and Williams came into the fight as the "Ring" No. 2 ranked Middleweight. Many speculated that this would be a fight of the year candidate. Approximately one minute into the second round, Martínez knocked Williams out with an over-the-top left hand to retain his title. The knockout was called by many as the knockout of the year.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Sergio Martínez's next fight was against undefeated Sergiy Dzindziruk on 12 March 2011 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, winning by TKO in 8 rounds. Dzindziruk, the WBO light middlweight champion, was knocked down five times in the fight.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martínez then fought undefeated EBU middleweight champion Darren Barker on 1 October at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. He knocked Barker out with an extremely powerful right hook and put Barker to his knees in the 11th round.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Many boxing analysts and experts said that Darren Barker has the skills and ring generalship to one day become a champion, but that his skills were not perfected enough to do anything against Martínez. The first few rounds showed that Barker was actually able to make Martínez uncomfortable in the ring and give him more trouble than expected. Throughout the fight, Barker consistently gave Martínez problems, while never hurting him or really ever winning any of the rounds, he gave Martínez a challenge by coming in but not giving much offence to let Martínez counter or land anything clean. He also managed to get Martínez's nose to bleed early in the rounds by an upper-cut. Martínez, however, fought through the difficulty and eventually found openings which led to a knock-out of Barker, in the 11th with a right hook.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Sergio successfully defended his "The Ring" title against the No. 3 Ring Middleweight Matthew Macklin of Ireland on 17 March 2012 at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Macklin was coming off a very impressive performance against middleweight champion Felix Sturm prior his fight with Martínez, a fight that many felt Macklin won, but he lost a controversial decision to Sturm in Germany. Macklin unexpectedly threw vigorous hooks and jabs that left Martínez behind on the scorecards and left Martínez in a sense of urgency. The Madison Square Garden crowd was largely pro-Macklin. The fight was featured on BBC's boxing schedule for 2011:


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: "18: Madison Square Garden, New York City, Sergio Martinez beat Matthew Macklin by 11th-round KO (The Ring middleweight). ".


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martínez struggled in the first half of the fight, with Macklin able to time Martínez very well, which neutralized much of Sergio's offensive attack (and would even score a knock-down on Martínez in the seventh round). Martínez was able to turn the tide in the later rounds, finding his range with his left hand. After scoring two knockdowns in the 11th, Macklin's corner stopped the fight shortly before the 12th round.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: This fight was notable in that the WBC did not initially want Chávez Jr. to fight Martinez. Chávez Jr.'s godfather was the head of WBC and refused to allow the fight, even after a unanimous vote to allow the unbeaten champion to fight the current title holder.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martinez prepped for this fight against Chavez Jr. in Oxnard, California training under his career long coach, Gabriel Sarmiento. Martínez fought Julio César Chávez Jr. on 15 September 2012, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada for Chávez Jr.'s WBC Middleweight title. Martínez won by unanimous decision after surviving a 12th round knock down following a dominant performance over the first 11 rounds. ESPN, and The Los Angeles Times all gave round-by-round reports on the fight.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martínez out worked and out landed Chávez throughout the first 11 rounds of the fight, in dominating fashion. Though Chávez had his moments trapping Martínez in the corner on the ropes, Martínez fought Chávez and used his fast lateral movement to avoid and neutralize Chávez' offensive attack. Chávez hurt Martinez in the 12th round, sending him to the canvas halfway through the round. Martínez got up with a little over one minute left in the fight, and rather than clinch or hold on to Chávez, Martínez continued to throw and trade blows with the Mexican. Despite being fatigued and clearly hurt, Sergio Martínez managed to survive the thrilling 12th round without holding. Martínez won the fight by unanimous decision, by the scores of 117–110, 118–109, and 118–109. After the fight, it was revealed that Martínez had broken his left hand (as early as the 4th round) and torn his right meniscus, the latter of which would require surgery.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: After the fight, Chávez tested positive for cannabis. As a result, he received a fine of $20,000 and was indefinitely suspended by the World Boxing Council.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: After his surgery, Martínez confirmed his next title defense would take place in his native Argentina, in what would be his first fight in his home country since leaving for Spain in 2002. News agency Reuters reported that Martínez could make his first title defense against British fighter Martin Murray on 27 April 2013 in Argentina. Martínez defeated "Ring" Top 10 Middleweight Martin Murray by a controversial unanimous decision. Many observers stated that there had been a clear deterioration in Martínez since the Chávez Jr. bout.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: After a series of setbacks including further surgeries on his knees, Martínez fought again over a year after the Murray fight, losing his WBC, "The Ring" and lineal middleweight titles to three-division former world champion Miguel Cotto on 7 June 2014, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was evident straight away that Martinez's legs were not there, even with knee braces on and clearly visible, Cotto knocked Martínez down three times in the first round. After the first round however, he began to make the fight competitive with Cotto. He continued to fight back until round nine when Martínez went down once again. Following the ninth round, trainer Pablo Sarmiento decided to call off the fight prior to the tenth round while still in the corner, against the urging of Martínez. According to reports, Sarmiento told Martínez "Champion, your knees are not responding. Sergio, look at me ... I'm gonna stop this one. Sergio, you are the best for me. You'll always be the best champion, Sergio."


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Following the bout, Martínez stated that he wanted to continue his boxing career, and expressed his desire to fight against Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, on 13 June 2015, Martínez announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 40, stating that both aging and knee injuries were the causes for his decision.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martinez still resides in Madrid, Spain. He is divorced and once dated sports commentator Silvana Carsetti.


title: Sergio Martínez (boxer)

text: Martinez has been presented with an award for helping bullied children. He has also championed the cause of domestic violence against women. He attended a news conference to support legislation involving the Violence Against Women Act. Martinez was quoted as saying: "With domestic violence, no one wanted to touch the subject with a 10-foot pole. I was interested in the issue that a boxer, who dishes out violence, could also be thoughtful and do something and people would listen to someone like me. I thought I could have the most impact by speaking out on the issue."


title: Brimstone

text: Brimstone is an archaic name for sulfur, today most commonly associated with fire and brimstone, a biblical expression for God's wrath. It may also refer to:


title: Scattering parameters

text: Scattering parameters or S-parameters (the elements of a scattering matrix or S-matrix) describe the electrical behavior of linear electrical networks when undergoing various steady state stimuli by electrical signals.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The parameters are useful for several branches of electrical engineering, including electronics, communication systems design, and especially for microwave engineering.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The S-parameters are members of a family of similar parameters, other examples being: Y-parameters, Z-parameters, H-parameters, T-parameters or ABCD-parameters. They differ from these, in the sense that "S-parameters" do not use open or short circuit conditions to characterize a linear electrical network; instead, matched loads are used. These terminations are much easier to use at high signal frequencies than open-circuit and short-circuit terminations. Contrary to popular belief, the quantities are not measured in terms of power (except in now-obsolete six-port network analyzers). Modern vector network analyzers measure amplitude and phase of voltage traveling wave phasors using essentially the same circuit as that used for the demodulation of digitally modulated wireless signals.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Many electrical properties of networks of components (inductors, capacitors, resistors) may be expressed using S-parameters, such as gain, return loss, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), reflection coefficient and amplifier stability. The term 'scattering' is more common to optical engineering than RF engineering, referring to the effect observed when a plane electromagnetic wave is incident on an obstruction or passes across dissimilar dielectric media. In the context of S-parameters, scattering refers to the way in which the traveling currents and voltages in a transmission line are affected when they meet a discontinuity caused by the insertion of a network into the transmission line. This is equivalent to the wave meeting an impedance differing from the line's characteristic impedance.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Although applicable at any frequency, S-parameters are mostly used for networks operating at radio frequency (RF) and microwave frequencies where signal power and energy considerations are more easily quantified than currents and voltages. S-parameters change with the measurement frequency, so frequency must be specified for any S-parameter measurements stated, in addition to the characteristic impedance or system impedance.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The first published description of S-parameters was in the thesis of Vitold Belevitch in 1945. The name used by Belevitch was "repartition matrix" and limited consideration to lumped-element networks. The term "scattering matrix" was used by physicist and engineer Robert Henry Dicke in 1947 who independently developed the idea during wartime work on radar. In these S-parameters and scattering matrices, the scattered waves are the so-called traveling waves. A different kind of S-parameters was introduced in the 1960s. The latter was popularized by Kaneyuki Kurokawa, who referred to the new scattered waves as 'power waves.' The two types of S-parameters have very different properties and must not be mixed up. In his seminal paper, Kurokawa clearly distinguishes the power-wave S-parameters and the conventional, traveling-wave S-parameters. A variant of the latter is the pseudo-traveling-wave S-parameters.


title: Scattering parameters

text: In the S-parameter approach, an electrical network is regarded as a 'black box' containing various interconnected basic electrical circuit components or lumped elements such as resistors, capacitors, inductors and transistors, which interacts with other circuits through "ports". The network is characterized by a square matrix of complex numbers called its S-parameter matrix, which can be used to calculate its response to signals applied to the ports.


title: Scattering parameters

text: For the S-parameter definition, it is understood that a network may contain any components provided that the entire network behaves linearly with incident small signals. It may also include many typical communication system components or 'blocks' such as amplifiers, attenuators, filters, couplers and equalizers provided they are also operating under linear and defined conditions.


title: Scattering parameters

text: An electrical network to be described by S-parameters may have any number of ports. Ports are the points at which electrical signals either enter or exit the network. Ports are usually pairs of terminals with the requirement that the current into one terminal is equal to the current leaving the other. S-parameters are used at frequencies where the ports are often coaxial or waveguide connections.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The S-parameter matrix describing an "N"-port network will be square of dimension "N" and will therefore contain formula_1 elements. At the test frequency each element or S-parameter is represented by a unitless complex number that represents magnitude and angle, i.e. amplitude and phase. The complex number may either be expressed in rectangular form or, more commonly, in polar form. The S-parameter magnitude may be expressed in linear form or logarithmic form. When expressed in logarithmic form, magnitude has the "dimensionless unit" of decibels. The S-parameter angle is most frequently expressed in degrees but occasionally in radians. Any S-parameter may be displayed graphically on a polar diagram by a dot for one frequency or a locus for a range of frequencies. If it applies to one port only (being of the form formula_2), it may be displayed on an impedance or admittance Smith Chart normalised to the system impedance. The Smith Chart allows simple conversion between the formula_2 parameter, equivalent to the voltage reflection coefficient and the associated (normalised) impedance (or admittance) 'seen' at that port.


title: Scattering parameters

text: For a generic multi-port network, the ports are numbered from 1 to "N", where "N" is the total number of ports. For port "i", the associated S-parameter definition is in terms of incident and reflected 'power waves', formula_4 and formula_5 respectively.


title: Scattering parameters

text: where formula_8 is the impedance for port "i", formula_9 is the complex conjugate of formula_8, formula_11 and formula_12 are respectively the complex amplitudes of the voltage and current at port "i", and


title: Scattering parameters

text: Sometimes it is useful to assume that the reference impedance is the same for all ports in which case the definitions of the incident and reflected waves may be simplified to


title: Scattering parameters

text: Note that as was pointed out by Kurokawa himself, the above definitions of formula_16 and formula_17 are not unique. The relation between the vectors a and b, whose "i"-th components are the power waves formula_16 and formula_17 respectively, can be expressed using the S-parameter matrix S:


title: Scattering parameters

text: A network will be reciprocal if it is passive and it contains only reciprocal materials that influence the transmitted signal. For example, attenuators, cables, splitters and combiners are all reciprocal networks and formula_22 in each case, or the S-parameter matrix will be equal to its transpose. Networks which include non-reciprocal materials in the transmission medium such as those containing magnetically biased ferrite components will be non-reciprocal. An amplifier is another example of a non-reciprocal network.


title: Scattering parameters

text: A property of 3-port networks, however, is that they cannot be simultaneously reciprocal, loss-free, and perfectly matched.


title: Scattering parameters

text: A lossless network is one which does not dissipate any power, or: formula_23. The sum of the incident powers at all ports is equal to the sum of the reflected powers at all ports. This implies that the S-parameter matrix is unitary, that is formula_24, where formula_25 is the conjugate transpose of formula_26 and formula_27 is the identity matrix.


title: Scattering parameters

text: A lossy passive network is one in which the sum of the incident powers at all ports is greater than the sum of the reflected powers at all ports. It therefore dissipates power: formula_28. Thus formula_29, and formula_30 is positive definite.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The S-parameter matrix for the 2-port network is probably the most commonly used and serves as the basic building block for generating the higher order matrices for larger networks. In this case the relationship between the reflected, incident power waves and the S-parameter matrix is given by:


title: Scattering parameters

text: Each equation gives the relationship between the reflected and incident power waves at each of the network ports, 1 and 2, in terms of the network's individual S-parameters, formula_34, formula_35, formula_36 and formula_37. If one considers an incident power wave at port 1 (formula_38) there may result from it waves exiting from either port 1 itself (formula_39) or port 2 (formula_40). However, if, according to the definition of S-parameters, port 2 is terminated in a load identical to the system impedance (formula_41) then, by the maximum power transfer theorem, formula_40 will be totally absorbed making formula_43 equal to zero. Therefore, defining the incident voltage waves as formula_44 and formula_45 with the reflected waves being formula_46 and formula_47,


title: Scattering parameters

text: If, instead of defining the voltage wave direction relative to each port, they are defined by their absolute direction as forward formula_57 and reverse formula_58 waves then formula_59 and formula_44. The S-parameters then take on a more intuitive meaning such as the forward voltage gain being defined by the ratio of the forward voltages formula_61.


title: Scattering parameters

text: An amplifier operating under linear (small signal) conditions is a good example of a non-reciprocal network and a matched attenuator is an example of a reciprocal network. In the following cases we will assume that the input and output connections are to ports 1 and 2 respectively which is the most common convention. The nominal system impedance, frequency and any other factors which may influence the device, such as temperature, must also be specified.


title: Scattering parameters

text: That is the linear ratio of the output reflected power wave divided by the input incident power wave, all values expressed as complex quantities. For lossy networks it is sub-unitary, for active networks formula_65 .


title: Scattering parameters

text: This represents the gain magnitude (absolute value), the ratio of the output power-wave to the input power-wave, and it equals the square-root of the power gain.


title: Scattering parameters

text: This is more commonly used than scalar linear gain and a positive quantity is normally understood as simply a "gain", while a negative quantity is a "negative gain" (a "loss"), equivalent to its magnitude in dB. For example, at 100 MHz, a 10 m length of cable may have a gain of −1 dB, equal to a loss of 1 dB.


title: Scattering parameters

text: In case the two measurement ports use the same reference impedance, the insertion loss () is the reciprocal of the magnitude of the transmission coefficient expressed in decibels. It is thus given by:


title: Scattering parameters

text: It is the extra loss produced by the introduction of the device under test (DUT) between the 2 reference planes of the measurement. The extra loss may be due to intrinsic loss in the DUT and/or mismatch. In case of extra loss the insertion loss is defined to be positive. The negative of insertion loss expressed in decibels is defined as insertion gain and is equal to the scalar logarithmic gain (see: definition above).


title: Scattering parameters

text: Input return loss () can be thought of as a measure of how close the actual input impedance of the network is to the nominal system impedance value. Input return loss expressed in decibels is given by


title: Scattering parameters

text: Note that for passive two-port networks in which , it follows that return loss is a non-negative quantity: . Also note that somewhat confusingly, return loss is sometimes used as the negative of the quantity defined above, but this usage is, strictly speaking, incorrect based on the definition of loss.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The output return loss () has a similar definition to the input return loss but applies to the output port (port 2) instead of the input port. It is given by


title: Scattering parameters

text: Often this will be expressed as reverse isolation (formula_73) in which case it becomes a positive quantity equal to the magnitude of formula_71 and the expression becomes:


title: Scattering parameters

text: The reflection coefficient at the input port (formula_76) or at the output port (formula_77) are equivalent to formula_34 and formula_37 respectively, so


title: Scattering parameters

text: The reflection coefficients are complex quantities and may be graphically represented on polar diagrams or Smith Charts


title: Scattering parameters

text: The voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) at a port, represented by the lower case 's', is a similar measure of port match to return loss but is a scalar linear quantity, the ratio of the standing wave maximum voltage to the standing wave minimum voltage. It therefore relates to the magnitude of the voltage reflection coefficient and hence to the magnitude of either formula_34 for the input port or formula_37 for the output port.


title: Scattering parameters

text: This is correct for reflection coefficients with a magnitude no greater than unity, which is usually the case. A reflection coefficient with a magnitude greater than unity, such as in a tunnel diode amplifier, will result in a negative value for this expression. VSWR, however, from its definition, is always positive. A more correct expression for port "k" of a multiport is;


title: Scattering parameters

text: 4 Port S Parameters are used to characterize 4 port networks. They include information regarding the reflected and incident power waves between the 4 ports of the network.


title: Scattering parameters

text: They are commonly used to analyze a pair of coupled transmission lines to determine the amount of cross-talk between them, if they are driven by two separate single ended signals, or the reflected and incident power of a differential signal driven across them. Many specifications of high speed differential signals define a communication channel in terms of the 4-Port S-Parameters, for example the 10-Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI), SATA, PCI-X, and InfiniBand systems.


title: Scattering parameters

text: 4-port mixed-mode S-parameters characterize a 4-port network in terms of the response of the network to common mode and differential stimulus signals. The following table displays the 4-port mixed-mode S-parameters.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Note the format of the parameter notation SXYab, where "S" stands for scattering parameter or S-parameter, "X" is the response mode (differential or common), "Y" is the stimulus mode (differential or common), "a" is the response (output) port and b is the stimulus (input) port. This is the typical nomenclature for scattering parameters.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The first quadrant is defined as the upper left 4 parameters describing the differential stimulus and differential response characteristics of the device under test. This is the actual mode of operation for most high-speed differential interconnects and is the quadrant that receives the most attention. It includes input differential return loss (SDD11), input differential insertion loss (SDD21), output differential return loss (SDD22) and output differential insertion loss (SDD12). Some benefits of differential signal processing are;


title: Scattering parameters

text: The second and third quadrants are the upper right and lower left 4 parameters respectively. These are also referred to as the cross-mode quadrants. This is because they fully characterize any mode conversion occurring in the device under test, whether it is common-to-differential SDCab conversion (EMI susceptibility for an intended differential signal SDD transmission application) or differential-to-common SCDab conversion (EMI radiation for a differential application). Understanding mode conversion is very helpful when trying to optimize the design of interconnects for gigabit data throughput.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The fourth quadrant is the lower right 4 parameters and describes the performance characteristics of the common-mode signal SCCab propagating through the device under test. For a properly designed SDDab differential device there should be minimal common-mode output SCCab. However, the fourth quadrant common-mode response data is a measure of common-mode transmission response and used in a ratio with the differential transmission response to determine the network common-mode rejection. This common mode rejection is an important benefit of differential signal processing and can be reduced to one in some differential circuit implementations.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The reverse isolation parameter formula_35 determines the level of feedback from the output of an amplifier to the input and therefore influences its stability (its tendency to refrain from oscillation) together with the forward gain formula_36. An amplifier with input and output ports perfectly isolated from each other would have infinite scalar log magnitude isolation or the linear magnitude of formula_35 would be zero. Such an amplifier is said to be unilateral. Most practical amplifiers though will have some finite isolation allowing the reflection coefficient 'seen' at the input to be influenced to some extent by the load connected on the output. An amplifier which is deliberately designed to have the smallest possible value of formula_97 is often called a buffer amplifier.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Suppose the output port of a real (non-unilateral or bilateral) amplifier is connected to an arbitrary load with a reflection coefficient of formula_98. The actual reflection coefficient 'seen' at the input port formula_99 will be given by


title: Scattering parameters

text: If the amplifier is unilateral then formula_101 and formula_102 or, to put it another way, the output loading has no effect on the input.


title: Scattering parameters

text: A similar property exists in the opposite direction, in this case if formula_103 is the reflection coefficient seen at the output port and formula_104 is the reflection coefficient of the source connected to the input port.


title: Scattering parameters

text: An amplifier is unconditionally stable if a load or source of "any" reflection coefficient can be connected without causing instability. This condition occurs if the magnitudes of the reflection coefficients at the source, load and the amplifier's input and output ports are simultaneously less than unity. An important requirement that is often overlooked is that the amplifier be a linear network with no poles in the right half plane. Instability can cause severe distortion of the amplifier's gain frequency response or, in the extreme, oscillation. To be unconditionally stable at the frequency of interest, an amplifier must satisfy the following 4 equations simultaneously:


title: Scattering parameters

text: The boundary condition for when each of these values is equal to unity may be represented by a circle drawn on the polar diagram representing the (complex) reflection coefficient, one for the input port and the other for the output port. Often these will be scaled as Smith Charts. In each case coordinates of the circle centre and the associated radius are given by the following equations:


title: Scattering parameters

text: The Scattering transfer parameters or T-parameters of a 2-port network are expressed by the T-parameter matrix and are closely related to the corresponding S-parameter matrix. However, unlike S parameters, there is no simple physical means to measure the T parameters in a system, sometimes referred to as Youla waves. The T-parameter matrix is related to the incident and reflected normalised waves at each of the ports as follows:


title: Scattering parameters

text: The RF Toolbox add-on to MATLAB and several books (for example "Network scattering parameters") use this last definition, so caution is necessary. The "From S to T" and "From T to S" paragraphs in this article are based on the first definition. Adaptation to the second definition is trivial (interchanging T for T, and T for T).


title: Scattering parameters

text: The advantage of T-parameters compared to S-parameters is that providing reference impedances are purely, real or complex conjugate, they may be used to readily determine the effect of cascading 2 or more 2-port networks by simply multiplying the associated individual T-parameter matrices. If the T-parameters of say three different 2-port networks 1, 2 and 3 are formula_121, formula_122 and formula_123 respectively then the T-parameter matrix for the cascade of all three networks (formula_124) in serial order is given by:


title: Scattering parameters

text: Note that matrix multiplication is not commutative, so the order is important. As with S-parameters, T-parameters are complex values and there is a direct conversion between the two types. Although the cascaded T-parameters is a simple matrix multiplication of the individual T-parameters, the conversion for each network's S-parameters to the corresponding T-parameters and the conversion of the cascaded T-parameters back to the equivalent cascaded S-parameters, which are usually required, is not trivial. However once the operation is completed, the complex full wave interactions between all ports in both directions will be taken into account. The following equations will provide conversion between S and T parameters for 2-port networks.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The S-parameter for a 1-port network is given by a simple 1 × 1 matrix of the form formula_140 where n is the allocated port number. To comply with the S-parameter definition of linearity, this would normally be a passive load of some type. An antenna is a common one-port network for which small values of formula_141 indicate that the antenna will either radiate or dissipate/store power.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Higher order S-parameters for pairs of dissimilar ports (formula_142), where formula_143 may be deduced similarly to those for 2-port networks by considering pairs of ports in turn, in each case ensuring that all of the remaining (unused) ports are loaded with an impedance identical to the system impedance. In this way the incident power wave for each of the unused ports becomes zero yielding similar expressions to those obtained for the 2-port case. S-parameters relating to single ports only (formula_144) require all of the remaining ports to be loaded with an impedance identical to the system impedance therefore making all of the incident power waves zero except that for the port under consideration. In general therefore we have:


title: Scattering parameters

text: For example, a 3-port network such as a 2-way splitter would have the following S-parameter definitions


title: Scattering parameters

text: The S-parameter test data may be provided in many alternative formats, for example: list, graphical (Smith chart or polar diagram).


title: Scattering parameters

text: In list format the measured and corrected S-parameters are tabulated against frequency. The most common list format is known as Touchstone or SNP, where N is the number of ports. Commonly text files containing this information would have the filename extension '.s2p'. An example of a Touchstone file listing for the full 2-port S-parameter data obtained for a device is shown below:


title: Scattering parameters

text: Rows beginning with an exclamation mark contains only comments. The row beginning with the hash symbol indicates that in this case frequencies are in megahertz (MHZ), S-parameters are listed (S), magnitudes are in dB log magnitude (DB) and the system impedance is 50 Ohm (R 50). There are 9 columns of data. Column 1 is the test frequency in megahertz in this case. Columns 2, 4, 6 and 8 are the magnitudes of formula_34, formula_36, formula_35 and formula_37 respectively in dB. Columns 3, 5, 7 and 9 are the angles of formula_34, formula_36, formula_35 and formula_37 respectively in degrees.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Any 2-port S-parameter may be displayed on a Smith chart using polar co-ordinates, but the most meaningful would be formula_34 and formula_37 since either of these may be converted directly into an equivalent normalized impedance (or admittance) using the characteristic Smith Chart impedance (or admittance) scaling appropriate to the system impedance.


title: Scattering parameters

text: In either graphical format each S-parameter at a particular test frequency is displayed as a dot. If the measurement is a sweep across several frequencies a dot will appear for each.


title: Scattering parameters

text: The S-parameter matrix for a network with just one port will have just one element represented in the form formula_2, where n is the number allocated to the port. Most VNAs provide a simple one-port calibration capability for one port measurement to save time if that is all that is required.


title: Scattering parameters

text: VNAs designed for the simultaneous measurement of the S-parameters of networks with more than two ports are feasible but quickly become prohibitively complex and expensive. Usually their purchase is not justified since the required measurements can be obtained using a standard 2-port calibrated VNA with extra measurements followed by the correct interpretation of the results obtained. The required S-parameter matrix can be assembled from successive two port measurements in stages, two ports at a time, on each occasion with the unused ports being terminated in high quality loads equal to the system impedance. One risk of this approach is that the return loss or VSWR of the loads themselves must be suitably specified to be as close as possible to a perfect 50 Ohms, or whatever the nominal system impedance is. For a network with many ports there may be a temptation, on grounds of cost, to inadequately specify the VSWRs of the loads. Some analysis will be necessary to determine what the worst acceptable VSWR of the loads will be.


title: Scattering parameters

text: Assuming that the extra loads are specified adequately, if necessary, two or more of the S-parameter subscripts are modified from those relating to the VNA (1 and 2 in the case considered above) to those relating to the network under test (1 to N, if N is the total number of DUT ports). For example, if the DUT has 5 ports and a two port VNA is connected with VNA port 1 to DUT port 3 and VNA port 2 to DUT port 5, the measured VNA results (formula_34, formula_35, formula_36 and formula_37) would be equivalent to formula_166, formula_167, formula_168 and formula_169 respectively, assuming that DUT ports 1, 2 and 4 were terminated in adequate 50 Ohm loads . This would provide 4 of the necessary 25 S-parameters.


title: NCIS (season 12)

text: The twelfth season of the police procedural drama "NCIS" premiered on September 23, 2014, in the same time slot as in the previous seasons, Tuesdays at 8 pm. This is the first season in which "" did not air after "NCIS". This season, "" aired after "NCIS". The entire season eleven cast renewed their contracts and returned for the new season. The premiere episode aired on September 23, 2014 and was seen by 18.23 million people.


title: NCIS (season 12)

text: The main antagonist of the season is Sergei Mishnev, played by Alex Veadov. This character first appears in the premiere episode "Twenty Klicks". In episode four, "Choke Hold", one of Sergei's associates is sent to the United States to kill a Russian scientist who refused to work with him. Anton Pavlenko (previously seen in "Twenty Klicks"), portrayed by Lev Gorn, a Russian counselor, reappears in this episode. Veadov returns as Sergei in "Check" where he "gets personal" with Gibbs by killing Gibbs' ex-wife Diane in the same way that Caitlin Todd was killed, stalking Rebecca, another of Gibbs' ex-wives, and staging murders mimicking the deaths of Mike Franks and Jenny Shepard. Sergei returns again in "Cabin Fever", where he is killed by Tobias Fornell, who was also married to Diane at one point and who was dealing with intense grief and depression following Diane's murder. It is revealed that Sergei and Ari Haswari are half brothers from Ari's mother, whereas Ari and Ziva David were half brother and sister from their father, Eli David.


title: NCIS (season 12)

text: On March 13, 2014, CBS renewed "NCIS" for this season. On June 11, 2014, at the Cannes Film Festival, NCIS was cited as being the most-watched drama in the world, with 57.6 million viewers worldwide. Gary Glasberg, the executive producer of the show, said, "As NCIS enters its 12th season, we couldn't be happier to learn we're now the #1 drama in the world. It's no secret that determination and teamwork have allowed our cast and crew to continue to deliver a show we're truly proud of. We also know we wouldn’t be here without the support and loyalty of the best fans in television. Thanks to our worldwide audience for helping us start the new season off right." In the first half of July 2014, the cast was given the script for the premiere episode, "Twenty Klicks". Filming began on this episode in the last week of July.


title: NCIS (season 12)

text: The season airs simultaneously on Global in Canada. It began airing on September 30, 2014 on Network Ten in Australia. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it premiered on January 9, 2015 on Fox.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University (Japanese: 上智大学, "Jōchi Daigaku"; Latin: "Universitas Sedis Sapientiae") is a private research university in Japan. Sophia is one of the three "Sōkeijōchi" (早慶上智) private universities, a group of the top three private universities in Japan with the other two being Keio University and Waseda University, according to the Times Higher Education. It is also ranked number 18 in the 2021 Times Japan University Rankings. Founded by the Roman Catholic religious order of the Society of Jesus in 1913, the university has grown from its three original academic departments of Philosophy, German Literature, and Commerce to 9 undergraduate Faculties and 10 Graduate Schools, with over 13,900 students in total at the moment.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia has international students from 77 countries and it has forged agreements with 395 overseas universities in 81 countries to encourage students joining the exchange programs with several other top universities throughout the world.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia is a leading institution in globalisation, foreign languages, and literature in Japan. As a prominent institution for research and higher learning in the fields of the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences, the university has been selected by the Japanese Ministry of Education to be one of 37 universities to receive funding for its internationalisation efforts through the "Top Global University Project". The university has been ranked as the top third Catholic university in Asia


title: Sophia University

text: Before 1957, the university only admitted male students to degree programmes, but the numbers of male and female students are now more or less equal. Sophia's alumni are referred to as "Sophians", among whom include the 79th Prime Minister of Japan, Morihiro Hosokawa, several politicians represented in the Japanese National Diet, professors at various higher education institutions, and even actors and musicians in the Japanese film and music industries.


title: Sophia University

text: The name of the university is traced to letters of correspondence between two of the three founders of what would become Sophia University, Fr. James Rockliff, SJ and Fr. Hermann Hoffmann, SJ. The Japanese term 上智 ("higher wisdom" or "supreme wisdom", "Jōchi") was the equivalent of the Latin word "sapientia," which means wisdom. According to Catholic Church tradition, the term "sapientia" refers to the one of the Church's devotional titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Seat of Wisdom.


title: Sophia University

text: When Joseph Eylenbosch, SJ began teaching Greek at the university in April 1924, he thought that the Japanese term "jōchi" was the equivalent of the Greek term σοφία ("sofia"). Afterwards, the students had proposed that the school be known as Sophia University.


title: Sophia University

text: Fr. Hoffmann, SJ, who was serving as University President at that time, initially opposed the proposal. However, he soon accepted the idea and submitted the proposal to Rome for the approval.


title: Sophia University

text: The English language-based, peer-reviewed academic journal "Monumenta Nipponica", which was first inaugurated in 1938, identified itself as being published by Sophia University. The use of Sophia as the university name then became firmly established in Japan and overseas.


title: Sophia University

text: The origins of Sophia University could be traced to 1549 when Saint Francis Xavier, a prominent member and co-founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Japan to spread Christianity. In his letters to his fellow Jesuits, he had expressed hopes of establishing a university in Japan.


title: Sophia University

text: During the so-called Kirishitan period of Japanese history, the Catholic Church had been responsible for establishing and administering educational institutions in Japan called "Collegios" and "Seminarios", serving as bridges between the East and West.


title: Sophia University

text: The establishment of the university only began to take place more than 400 years from St. Francis Xavier's arrival in Japan. In 1903, three Jesuit priests from Europe came to Japan to continue the missionary work of the Church and to help establish Sophia University. One of the founders, Fr. Joseph Dahlmann, SJ from Germany, who had come to Japan via India, had listened to the requests of Catholics in the country, who expressed their desires to construct a Catholic university to serve as the cultural and spiritual base of the Church's missionary operations in Japan.


title: Sophia University

text: Dahlmann heeded the requests and sent a proposal to the then-Bishop of Rome, Pope Pius X, at the Holy See in Rome. In 1905, Dahlmann was granted a private audience with the Pope, who promised to assign the Society of Jesus to create and administer a Catholic university in Japan. In Dahlmann's Latin memoirs regarding the encounter with Pius, he recounted that he spoke as follows: ""Habebitis collegium in Japonica, magnam universitatem" (in English: "You (plural) will have in Japan a college that is a great university".).


title: Sophia University

text: On that same year, the then-Bishop of Portland, Maine in the United States, William H. O'Connell, was appointed by the Pope to serve as a special ambassador of the Vatican to Emperor Meiji in Japan. O'Connell was also tasked to survey the situation in Japan. When he was granted an audience with Emperor Meiji, he had ascertained the education policy directions of the Japanese Ministry of Education, and reported to officials at the Holy See regarding the possible establishment of a Catholic university in Japan.


title: Sophia University

text: At the 25th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in held in Rome in September 1906, Pius X issued a formal written statement to the Jesuits to establish a Catholic university in Japan. Thus, the delegates at the Congregation voted unanimously in favour of the Pope's commands, and the first concrete steps were taken to prepare a university institution in the East.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University was founded by Jesuits in 1913. It opened with departments of German Literature, Philosophy and Commerce, headed by its founder Fr. Hermann Hoffmann, SJ (1864–1937) as its first official president.


title: Sophia University

text: In 1932, a small group of Sophia University students refused to salute the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine in the presence of a Japanese military attache, saying it violated their religious beliefs. The military attache was withdrawn from Sophia as a result of this incident, damaging the university's reputation in the eyes of the government of the Japanese Empire. The Archbishop of Tokyo intervened in the standoff by permitting Catholic students to salute the war dead, after which many Sophia students, as well as Hermann Hoffmann himself, participated in rites at Yasukuni. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples later issued the "Pluries Instanterque" in 1936, which encouraged Catholics to attend Shinto shrines as a patriotic gesture; the Vatican re-issued this document after the war in 1951.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University continued to grow as it increased the number of academic departments, faculty members and students, in addition to advancing its international focus by establishing an exchange program. Many of its students studied at Georgetown University in the United States as early as 1935. Sophia's junior college was established in 1973, followed by the opening of Sophia Community College in 1976. With the founding of the Faculty of Liberal Arts in 2006, Sophia University presently holds 27 departments in its eight faculties. Its current president is Yoshiaki Terumichi. Toshiaki Koso serves as head of its board of directors. Since 2008, the Global Leadership Program was started for students from four Jesuit universities in East Asia: Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, Sogang University in South Korea, and Sophia University in Japan. In 2016 the university reached out to the four Jesuit junior-senior high schools in Japan, joining them in the Sophia College Corporation to help them pass on the Jesuit charism to their lay faculty through workshops and other assistance. These schools are Sophia-Fukuoka, Eiko Gakuen, Hiroshima Gakuin, and Rokko School.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia's main campus at Yotsuya is urban, consisting of roughly 25 large, modern buildings in the center of Tokyo. The majority of Sophia's 10,000 undergraduate students spend nearly all their time here. The faculties of Humanities, Law, Foreign Studies, Economics, Liberal Arts, and Science and Technology have their home here, as do the main library, cafeteria, gymnasium, chapel, bookstore, and offices. In April 2006, the Faculty of Comparative Culture, which had been located at the smaller Ichigaya campus, moved to the main Yotsuya campus and changed its name to the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Nearly all of Sophia's foreign exchange and international students study at the FLA.


title: Sophia University

text: The Tokyo office of the Council on International Educational Exchange, the student exchange organisation, which oversees roughly half of the international students, is also based on the main Yotsuya Campus. The Shakujii (Tokyo) campus houses the Faculty of Theology. The Hadano campus in Kanagawa Prefecture is home to the Sophia Junior College, as well as a number of seminar halls and athletics complexes.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University has international partnership agreements with 396 institutions in 81 countries. Some of Sophia's partner universities include Georgetown University, Yale University, University of Hong Kong, and LMU Munich. It also maintains nine overseas bases serving as liaisons between the Sophia School Corporation and overseas localities.


title: Sophia University

text: Established in 1911, the Sophia School Corporation (学校法人上智学院, "Gakko Hojin Jochi Gakuin") is a public interest corporation established under the Private School Act (Act no. 270 of 1945) for the purpose of establishing a private school. The Sophia School Corporation serves as the operator of Sophia University and other Jesuit-affiliated schools in Japan, managing a total of seven schools. It was established in 1951.


title: Sophia University

text: The university has nine undergraduate faculties with 29 departments as well as 10 graduate schools with 25 programmes. With over 14,021 students as of 2017, the university provides academic opportunities for students from Japan and overseas to study in Japan. Sophia also possesses a wide-variety of English-taught academic programmes such as those provided by the Faculty of Liberal Arts (FLA). English programmes are also provided by the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) through two programmes and the Green Science Program, provided by the Department of Materials and Life Sciences, and the Green Engineering Program, provided by the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences.


title: Sophia University

text: In addition to most courses of study taught almost entirely in Japanese, Sophia has a variety of academic programmes and courses taught in English. The Faculty of Liberal Arts (FLA), the Green Science and Engineering courses in the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), and the Sophia Program for Sustainable Futures (SPSF).


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University is a comprehensive research university with 9 undergraduate faculties with 10 graduate schools located on a single campus in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Leading higher education institutions in Japan toward globalisation and academic research, the university provides a strong international network of scholarship, attracting researchers and students from overseas to study in Japan.


title: Sophia University

text: As a research institution, the university established the Sophia Research Organisation (SRO) in April 2005 in order to promote and facilitate interdisciplinary and organisational research activities. The SRO possesses two research divisions: the Research Institutes Division and the Project Research Division. The university also has affiliated Research Organisations.


title: Sophia University

text: Simultaneously, Sophia's Centre for Research Promotion and Support provides additional support to general research activities and strengthens the a three-way collaboration initiative among industries, government, and academia. The Intellectual Property Rights Committee, established in 2005, ensures smooth collaborative support among the three individual groups and examines the inventions and intellectual properties of the researchers affiliated with Sophia University.


title: Sophia University

text: To assist with academic research and learning, Sophia currently has a total of 3 libraries and an affiliated library, possessing in total more than 11.5 million books and 12,570 journal titles.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University has student housing options and dormitories scattered throughout Tokyo. These university dormitories provide facilities and spaces for students to undertake study and research activities. Events and various programmes are also organised by students and housing staff for the benefit of the housing community all year round.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University has a group of designated and recommended dormitories, which are owned and operated by various private housing companies.


title: Sophia University

text: According to the Times Higher Education 2021 Japan University Rankings, Sophia University is ranked 18th in the nation. Sophia is the fourth largest liberal arts university in the country.


title: Sophia University

text: According to the 2021 QS World University Rankings, Sophia University is ranked 801–1000. In the 2021 QS rankings, Sophia was 181st in Asia and the 28th in Japan. Its 2021 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, which assesses universities against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), is 601–800.


title: Sophia University

text: Alumni of Sophia have good employment prospects in Japanese industries. According to the 's 2010 rankings and the 's article on 2006/10/16, graduates from Sophia have the eighth best employment rate in 400 major companies, and the average graduate salary is the sixth best in Japan.


title: Sophia University

text: Admission to Sophia is highly selective and competitive. As such it is considered one of the top private universities along with Keio University and Waseda University. Typical acceptance rate is 5%. Its entrance difficulty is considered one of the toughest along with Waseda and Keio among 730 private universities.


title: Sophia University

text: Sophia University has student and academic exchange agreements with 387 overseas partner universities in 81 countries and regions as of June 2021.


title: Oksana Lada

text: Oksana Lada (; born March 3, 1976) is a Ukrainian actress, best known for the role as Irina Peltsin, the mistress of Tony Soprano, on the HBO TV series "The Sopranos".


title: Oksana Lada

text: Lada was born in Ivano-Frankivsk, the Western region of Ukraine. At the age of 20, she studied economics and engineering in the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas and worked as a model before emigrating to the United States.


title: Oksana Lada

text: Lada appeared as Ulia in the Netflix Original Series "Orange Is the New Black". Lada gained recognition as the lead in an Off-Broadway revival of "Pentecost", which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in 2005. She also had a role as a wedding dress saleswoman in "30 Rock" in the first episode of the show's second season, "SeinfeldVision".


title: Oksana Lada

text: After the Inauguration of Donald Trump, Lada was a guest at the newly elected president's Inauguration Ball, one of two representatives from Hollywood along with Caitlyn Jenner.


title: Marmaduke

text: Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from June 1954 to 2015.


title: Marmaduke

text: The strip was created by Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille Co. (later known as the National Newspaper Syndicate) in 1954. Anderson said he drew on Laurel and Hardy routines for his ideas. Anderson illustrated the strip, writing it with help from Phil Leeming (1955–1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963–1969), and, after August 2, 2004, Anderson's son Paul.


title: Marmaduke

text: The strip on Sundays also has a side feature called "Dog Gone Funny", in which one or more panels are devoted to dog anecdotes submitted by the fans.


title: Marmaduke

text: Brad Anderson died on August 30, 2015, at the age of 91, leaving the long-term fate of the strip unknown; strips co-drawn with the help of his son, Paul Anderson, continue to be syndicated.


title: Marmaduke

text: Brad Anderson won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Newspaper Panel Cartoon in 1978, and the George Arents Pioneer Medal for Syracuse University alumni in 1999.


title: Marmaduke

text: As of 2015, "Marmaduke" continues to be widely syndicated, and is popular with readers. Attempts to cancel "Marmaduke" have drawn protest, such as those by readers of "The Toronto Star" in 1999, of the "Sarasota Herald Tribune" in 2007, and of the "Chicago Sun-Times" in 1986.


title: Marmaduke

text: The strip's longevity and perceived monotony have been noted by satirical publications such as "The Onion" and have made it the butt of jokes. It has become "a hot source of retro-ironic-subversive humor." For example, a blog called "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke" deconstructs the strip to offer an alternative explanation for what is happening in the drawing. Another blog called "Marmaduke Can Vote" gives each panel a political slant, while another called "Poignant Marmaduke" changes all the captions to make the comics sad. Additionally, "The Marmaduke Project" re-imagines Marmaduke in other forms.


title: Marmaduke

text: In his satirical analysis at "The Comic Strip Doctor", David Malki of "Wondermark" ranked "Marmaduke" among "the worst newspaper comic strips," alongside "Heathcliff", "Family Circus", and "Dennis the Menace".


title: Marmaduke

text: Ruby-Spears produced "Marmaduke" segments for the 1980 animated series "Heathcliff", whose title character was also based on a comic strip character. In this animated version, the male characters were voiced by Paul Winchell and the females were voiced by Russi Taylor.


title: Marmaduke

text: A live-action "Marmaduke" movie, in which the Winslows and their dog move from Kansas to California, was released on June 4, 2010 and received generally negative reviews from critics. The film featured Owen Wilson as the voice of Marmaduke, Lee Pace as Phil Winslow, Judy Greer as Debbie Winslow, Caroline Sunshine as Barbara Winslow, and Finley Jacobsen as Brian Winslow.


title: Marmaduke

text: It was announced on the Andrews McMeel website that an animated film adaptation of "Marmaduke" was planned to be released sometime in 2022. The film featured Pete Davidson as Marmaduke, J.K. Simmons as Zeus, Brian Hull as Guy Hilton, Shelby Young as Shantrelle, and David Koechner as Phil Winslow. It was released on Netflix on May 6, 2022 and like the live-action film was panned by critics.


title: Mark Geragos

text: Mark John Geragos (born October 5, 1957) is an American criminal defense lawyer and the managing partner of Geragos & Geragos, in Los Angeles.


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos was born in Los Angeles, California, where he attended Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, graduating with honors. He earned his bachelor's degree from Haverford College, in 1979, double-majoring in anthropology and sociology, then his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Loyola Law School at the Loyola Marymount University in 1982. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1983.


title: Mark Geragos

text: An Armenian-American, Geragos maintains a close relationship with the Armenian community. He has earned praise from the Armenian National Committee of America, and serves on the Advisory Committee of Birthright Armenia, as the chairman of Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, and also is involved with the Armenian religious community. He has been a member of the Armenia Fund International Board of Trustees since 2006.


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos is the managing partner for the law firm of Geragos & Geragos, where he oversees criminal defense and civil litigation. He was one of the lead lawyers in two groundbreaking federal class action lawsuits against New York Life Insurance and AXA, for insurance policies issued in the early 20th century during the time of the Armenian genocide of more than 1.5 million Armenians. The two cases settled for over $37.5 million, in 2004 and 2005.


title: Mark Geragos

text: The firm's office is located on Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles in a former Los Angeles Fire Department fire station, Engine Company No. 28, alongside Kabateck LLP. The 1912 building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Los Angeles and is jointly owned by Geragos and his investment partner, attorney Brian S. Kabateck, since 2007, among other joint acquisitions; the partners have litigated together and also, in recent years, against one another over their mutual investments.


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos first garnered national attention after representing convicted Whitewater figure Susan McDougal, the former business partner of former President Bill Clinton. Geragos requested a presidential pardon for McDougal on January 20, 2001, though the decision was entirely up to former President Clinton, pursuant to Article II of the United States’ Constitution. Geragos also represented McDougal in a 12-count embezzlement trial in Los Angeles in which the jury returned a not-guilty verdict.


title: Mark Geragos

text: He has since represented many notable clients, including Gary Condit; suspended NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield; Scott Peterson; Scott Barney; Roger Clinton Jr.; Lee Tamahori; Kesha, briefly, in her lawsuit against Dr. Luke, until May 2016; and Clare Bronfman. Other notable clients include:


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos was alleged to have participated in a scheme with attorney Michael Avenatti to extort Nike, but was not charged. At the sentencing hearing, lawyers for Avenatti questioned why Geragos had not been charged. The judge's rationale for reducing Avenatti's sentence was that Geragos was “a central figure in the criminal conduct,” but "suffered no consequences as a result", and "was not even charged.” In November 2019, according to a new indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, conspiracy charges against Michael Avenatti were dropped. The new indictment filed also appears to clear Mark Geragos.


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos occasionally appears as both guest and family members legal commentator on TV. He has appeared on the "Today" show, "Good Morning America", "60 Minutes", "Anderson Cooper 360°", "On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren", and has appeared a number of times on "Larry King Live", including its 20th-anniversary show. Geragos was employed by CNN in a contributor role until March 25, 2019, when he was reportedly implicated in an alleged scheme with attorney Michael Avenatti to extort more than $20 million from Nike, Inc.


title: Mark Geragos

text: In addition to his former role as contributor on CNN, Mark Geragos and Sunny Hostin hosted a 2014 legal program entitled "Making the Case".


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos has made multiple appearances on the "Adam Carolla Show" since 2013, usually giving commentary on whatever is the top legal issue in pop culture. He guest-hosted for Carolla in April 2014 while Carolla was shooting his independent feature film "Road Hard". Geragos filled in for Dr. Drew Pinsky and co-hosted with Carolla in March 2015 on "The Adam and Dr. Drew Show", another podcast that airs on Carolla's Carolla Digital Network.


title: Mark Geragos

text: In June 2015, it was announced that Geragos would co-host a podcast with Carolla that would be a part of Carolla Digital. The show is called "Reasonable Doubt" and features Carolla and Geragos discussing issues in society including the law, from Geragos's viewpoint as a civil and criminal defense attorney. The show debuted on July 25, 2015, and new episodes debut every Saturday.


title: Mark Geragos

text: Geragos was an executive producer for the 2016 ABC network television series "Notorious", which was inspired by the working relationship between Geragos and "Larry King Live" producer Wendy Walker. The show was cancelled after one season.


title: Kodaline

text: Kodaline () are an Irish rock band. Originally known as 21 Demands, the band adopted their current name in 2012 to coincide with the changing of their music. The group comprises Steve Garrigan, Mark Prendergast, Vincent May and Jason Boland.


title: Kodaline

text: Garrigan and Prendergast grew up in Swords, Dublin, and have known each other since childhood. May and Garrigan attended Colaiste Choilm CBS, Swords, where they participated in battles of the bands. Boland joined the group in 2012. They have released four albums: "In a Perfect World" (2013), "Coming Up for Air" (2015), and "Politics of Living" (2018). Their fourth studio album, "One Day at a Time", was released on 12 June 2020.


title: Kodaline

text: As 21 Demands, the band first came to attention in November 2006, when they participated in the fifth series of RTÉ talent show "You're a Star"; finishing as the series' runners-up. On 3 March 2007, 21 Demands released their own single called "Give Me a Minute" through Pieta House downloads on the RTÉ website. They made history when their single topped the Irish Singles Chart, becoming the first independently released track to achieve this milestone.


title: Kodaline

text: 21 Demands also wrote the single "One of Those Days" which they played on the Irish SuperValu channel BalconyTV.


title: Kodaline

text: The quartet released their debut extended play—"The Kodaline EP"—on Friday 7 September 2012, produced by Stephen Harris. "All I Want" was selected as BBC Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton's "Record of the Week", featured in the season 9 episode of "Grey's Anatomy", "Remember the Time", and was used in the background music for Google's "2012: Year in Review" video. On 9 December 2012, the BBC announced that Kodaline had been nominated for the Sound of 2013 poll. On 17 June 2013, Kodaline released their first studio album, "In a Perfect World". "In a Perfect World" includes the singles "High Hopes", "All I Want", "Love Like This", and "Pray", as well as seven new songs. The iTunes deluxe edition of the album contains "The Answer", "Perfect World", "Lose Your Mind", and "Latch", with music videos for "All I Want" and "High Hopes". The CD deluxe edition, instead, contains a CD of live performances of "All I Want", "High Hopes", "Love Like This", "Pray", "All Comes Down", and "The Answer" at The Button Factory in Dublin. Their song "All I Want" was featured on the MTV show "". "All I Want" was also in Season 5, episode 10 of "The Vampire Diaries". The songs "Perfect World" and "Brand New Day" from this album, are currently used in the soundtrack for the hit Channel 4 show "Gogglebox", the former is the show's main theme tune. In April 2014, Kodaline released a cover version of Paul McCartney's 1980 single "Coming Up" in celebration of Record Store Day. In April 2014, the song "All I Want" was released as part of the soundtrack for "The Fault in Our Stars", as well as used in the film. In July 2014, the songs "Pray" and "High Hopes" were featured in trailers for the films "Horns" and "Love, Rosie", respectively. The song "All I Want" was used in "TCM Remembers", Turner Classic Movies' annual remembrance of film industry contributors who died in 2014.


title: Kodaline

text: In December 2014, the band announced their second LP "Coming Up for Air", and released a song called "Honest" on YouTube. A few days later they also published the song "Unclear". Following its release on 9 February 2015, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 4. "The One" and "Honest" both reached Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. Lead singer Steve Garrigan appeared on episode 18 of "The Midnight Hour".


title: Kodaline

text: The lead single "Brother" was released on 23 June 2017. Garrigan once again appeared on The Midnight Hour alongside Eldeniro90 where he premiered new music. The group also released a single, 'Follow Your Fire', on 23 March 2018 which was a massive hit in Romania reaching number 7 on the charts. "Shed a Tear" was released as the third single from the album on 15 June 2018. "Worth It" was released as the fourth single from the album on 20 July 2018. "Head Held High" was released as the fifth single from the album on 24 August 2018. The song peaked at number sixty-eight on the Irish Singles Chart. The album titled "Politics of Living" was released on 28 September 2018.


title: Kodaline

text: On 10 January 2020, the band released "Wherever You Are" as the lead single from their fourth studio album. The song peaked at number sixty-six on the Irish Singles Chart. "Sometimes" was released as the bands second single from their fourth studio album on 6 March 2020. The song peaked at number ninety-four on the Irish Singles Chart. The album titled "One Day at a Time" was released on 12 June 2020. The album peaked at number two on the Irish Albums Chart. In November 2020, the band released the single "This Must Be Christmas".


title: Kodaline

text: Kodaline released their first live album, "Our Roots Run Deep", on 14 October 2022. It was recorded at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin.


title: Kodaline

text: Kodaline have been featured in different movies and shows. Below is a list of some of the films that their music has been played in:


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: is a borough in southern Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. Punxsutawney is known for its Groundhog Day celebration each February 2, during which thousands of attendees and international media outlets visit the town for an annual weather prediction by the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, though the actual prediction location, Gobbler's Knob, is actually in adjacent Young Township.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The borough, located northeast of Pittsburgh and northwest of Altoona, was incorporated in 1850. With a population of 5,962 as of the 2010 census, Punxsutawney is the largest incorporated municipality in Jefferson County.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Shawnee wigwam villages once occupied this site on the Mahoning Creek. The first settlement that included non-indigenous people was in 1772, when Reverend John Ettwein, a Moravian Church missionary, arrived with a band of 241 Christianized Delaware Indians. Swarms of gnats plagued early settlers and their livestock for years, and are blamed for Ettwein's failure to establish a permanent settlement there. The clouds of biting gnats eventually drove the Indians away. The Indians called the insects (living dust and ashes), and called their village "Ponkis Utenink" (land of the ), from which the present name Punxsutawney evolved. One legend about the origin of the term concerned an old Indian sorcerer-hermit who was said to have long terrorized Indians in the region. Eventually he was killed, his body burned, and his ashes were cast to the wind. According to the story, the ashes were transformed into minute living things that infested the swamp land. Another story about the source of the term asserted that the Indians compared the insect bites to burns caused by sparks or hot ashes.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The area was originally settled by the Lenape (Delaware Native Americans), and a more definitive source says the name "Punxsutawney" derives from a Native name in Unami (a Lenape language): ', which translates to "town of the sandflies" or "town of the mosquitoes" ('- ‘mosquito’ + -" ‘town’).


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Alternatively, the name is said to come from another Unami term, ", which means "poison vine." The Shawnee and Delaware left Pennsylvania and had settled in Ohio by the end of the American Revolution.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Keystone Marker lists that Punxsutawney was founded in 1818. By 1840 it was reported that Punxsutawney was a village of about 15 or 20 dwellings. Settlers drawn by lumbering and coal mining eventually drained the swamps and exterminated the insects. The Borough of Punxsutawney was incorporated in 1850, and had a reported population of 256 at that time. In 1907, Punxsutawney and Claysville boroughs were consolidated and incorporated as Greater Punxsutawney, resulting in a combined population of 9,058 by 1910. A high-grade bituminous soft coal was mined in the surrounding region. Shortly after 1850, mining was being supplanted by factories which included brickworks, glassworks, tanneries, foundries, ironworks, machine shops, and wood planing, flour, feed, and silk mills. By the 1930s these were mostly gone, and townspeople were dependent largely on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad repair shops north of town, and a meat packing plant, in addition to the remaining coal mining and batteries of beehive coke ovens. In 1900, 6,746 people lived in Punxsutawney before the consolidation with Claysville. After consolidation, the population in 1910 was 9,058; in 1920, 10,311; in 1930, 9,266; prewar in 1940, 9,482; and postwar in 1950, 8,969 people lived there. The population was 5,962 at the 2010 census.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: A groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil is kept in nearby Young Township, and is said to predict the weather annually on Groundhog Day (February 2). The event provided the premise for the 1993 film "Groundhog Day", although nearly all of the film was shot in Woodstock, Illinois.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The T. M. Kurtz House, Jefferson Theater, Christian Miller House, and United States Post Office-Punxsutawney are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Punxsutawney is located at (40.945454, -78.975175), roughly 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh and 150 miles southeast of Erie.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of . One small river, Mahoning Creek, winds through the town. It is bordered on the north, west, and south by Young Township, and on the east by Bell Township.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 5,962 people, 2,573 households and 1,602 families in the borough. The population density was 1,836.2 people per square mile (708.0/km). There were 3,042 housing units at an average density of 890.7 per square mile (343.4/km). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.8% White, 0.2% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian, <0.1% from other races, and 0.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.8% of the population.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: There were 2,749 households, out of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.0% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.7% were non-families. 37.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.89.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: In the borough the population was spread out, with 21.3% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 22.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 80.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.2 males.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The median income for a household in the borough was $26,250, and the median income for a family was $33,054. Men had a median income of $28,958 versus $19,076 for women. The per capita income for the borough was $14,802. About 13.3% of families and 16.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.6% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Borough of Punxsutawney is governed by seven Council members, each elected to a four-year term. The members are: Michele Lorenzo - President, Justin Cameron - Vice-president, James Bianco, William Williams, Dan Gordon, Lawrence Chenoga, and Cynthia Rebuck.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Mayor, Richard Alexander, is also elected to a four-year term, and in addition to other duties, has oversight of the Borough Police Department.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Other elected offices include: one Tax Collector (four-year term) and six constables (four-year terms).


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Borough Manager position, held by Robert Santik, is the Chief Administrative Officer of the Borough, and reports to Borough Council.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Punxsutawney Area School District serves the borough of Punxsutawney and the surrounding area for K-12 education. After consolidating six elementary schools as of the 2018-2019 school year, the district now operates just two schools. The Punxsutawney Area Elementary School is a K-6 building, and the Punxsutawney Area High School serves students in grades 7-12. Students may also attend Jefferson County-DuBois Area Vocational Technical School in nearby Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Punxsutawney Christian School and SS. Cosmas & Damian School (SSCD) are two private schools in Punxsutawney.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) maintains a satellite branch in Punxsutawney, including a respected culinary school.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Borough of Punxsutawney employs a full-time police service made up of 12 police officers. The Chief of Police is Matt Conrad. Dispatchers and wardens are also employed by the borough and work closely with police. The police station is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by both police officers and wardens.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: The Punxsutawney Fire Department is made up of three volunteer stations, The Central Fire Dept. (Jefferson County Station 20), Elk Run Volunteer Fire Company (Jefferson County Station 30), and Lindsey Fire Company (Jefferson County Station 40). The president of the Punxsutawney Fire Department is Tami McFarland. The Fire Department Chief is Brian Smith. In addition to department officers, each station elects its own officers. Scott Depp is the chief of Central Fire Dept., Doug McAfoos the chief of Elk Run VFC, and Joe DeFelice, Jr. the chief of Lindsey Fire Co. The fire department responds to fires, vehicle accidents, hazardous materials incidents, and rescue situations in the borough of Punxsutawney, Bell Township, and Young Township. The Punxsutawney Fire Department also maintains an active water rescue team comprising scuba divers and a boat crew.


title: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

text: Jefferson County EMS operates the ambulance station in Punxsutawney. Station 50 is a full advanced life support service comprising paramedics and emergency medical technicians. Station 50 serves not only the borough of Punxsutawney, but also Southern Jefferson County and parts of Northern Indiana County.


title: Quantum cryptography

text: Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution which offers an information-theoretically secure solution to the key exchange problem. The advantage of quantum cryptography lies in the fact that it allows the completion of various cryptographic tasks that are proven or conjectured to be impossible using only classical (i.e. non-quantum) communication. For example, it is impossible to copy data encoded in a quantum state. If one attempts to read the encoded data, the quantum state will be changed due to wave function collapse (no-cloning theorem). This could be used to detect eavesdropping in quantum key distribution (QKD).


title: Quantum cryptography

text: In the early 1970s, Stephen Wiesner, then at Columbia University in New York, introduced the concept of quantum conjugate coding. His seminal paper titled "Conjugate Coding" was rejected by the IEEE Information Theory Society, but was eventually published in 1983 in "SIGACT News". In this paper he showed how to store or transmit two messages by encoding them in two "conjugate observables", such as linear and circular polarization of photons, so that either, but not both, of which may be received and decoded. It was not until Charles H. Bennett, of the IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center and Gilles Brassard met in 1979 at the 20th IEEE Symposium on the Foundations of Computer Science, held in Puerto Rico, that they discovered how to incorporate the findings of Wiesner. "The main breakthrough came when we realized that photons were never meant to store information, but rather to transmit it" In 1984, building upon this work Bennett and Brassard proposed a method for secure communication, which is now called BB84. Independently, in 1991 Artur Ekert proposed to use Bell's inequalities to achieve secure key distribution. Ekert's protocol for the key distribution, as it was subsequently shown by Dominic Mayers and Andrew Yao, offers device-independent quantum key distribution.


title: Quantum cryptography

text: Companies that manufacture quantum cryptography systems include MagiQ Technologies, Inc. (Boston, Massachusetts, United States), ID Quantique (Geneva, Switzerland), QuintessenceLabs (Canberra, Australia), Toshiba (Tokyo, Japan), QNu Labs and SeQureNet (Paris, France).


title: Quantum cryptography

text: Cryptography is the strongest link in the chain of data security. However, interested parties cannot assume that cryptographic keys will remain secure indefinitely. Quantum cryptography has the potential to encrypt data for longer periods than classical cryptography. Using classical cryptography, scientists cannot guarantee encryption beyond approximately 30 years, but some stakeholders could use longer periods of protection. Take, for example, the healthcare industry. As of 2017, 85.9% of office-based physicians are using electronic medical record systems to store and transmit patient data. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, medical records must be kept secret. Typically, paper medical records are shredded after a period of time, but electronic records leave a digital trace. Quantum key distribution can protect electronic records for periods of up to 100 years. Also, quantum cryptography has useful applications for governments and militaries as, historically, governments have kept military data secret for periods of over 60 years. There also has been proof that quantum key distribution can travel through a noisy channel over a long distance and be secure. It can be reduced from a noisy quantum scheme to a classical noiseless scheme. This can be solved with classical probability theory. This process of having consistent protection over a noisy channel can be possible through the implementation of quantum repeaters. Quantum repeaters have the ability to resolve quantum communication errors in an efficient way. Quantum repeaters, which are quantum computers, can be stationed as segments over the noisy channel to ensure the security of communication. Quantum repeaters do this by purifying the segments of the channel before connecting them creating a secure line of communication. Sub-par quantum repeaters can provide an efficient amount of security through the noisy channel over a long distance.


title: Quantum cryptography

text: Quantum cryptography is a general subject that covers a broad range of cryptographic practices and protocols. Some of the most notable applications and protocols are discussed below.


title: Quantum cryptography

text: The best-known and developed application of quantum cryptography is QKD, which is the process of using quantum communication to establish a shared key between two parties (Alice and Bob, for example) without a third party (Eve) learning anything about that key, even if Eve can eavesdrop on all communication between Alice and Bob. If Eve tries to learn information about the key being established, discrepancies will arise causing Alice and Bob to notice. Once the key is established, it is then typically used for encrypted communication using classical techniques. For instance, the exchanged key could be used for symmetric cryptography (e.g. One-time pad).


title: Quantum cryptography

text: The security of quantum key distribution can be proven mathematically without imposing any restrictions on the abilities of an eavesdropper, something not possible with classical key distribution. This is usually described as "unconditional security", although there are some minimal assumptions required, including that the laws of quantum mechanics apply and that Alice and Bob are able to authenticate each other, i.e. Eve should not be able to impersonate Alice or Bob as otherwise a man-in-the-middle attack would be possible.


title: Quantum cryptography

text: While QKD is secure, its practical application faces some challenges. There are in fact limitations for the key generation rate at increasing transmission distances. Recent studies have allowed important advancements in this regard. In 2018, the protocol of twin-field QKD was proposed as a mechanism to overcome the limits of lossy communication. The rate of the twin field protocol was shown to overcome the secret key-agreement capacity of the lossy communication channel, known as repeater-less PLOB bound, at 340 km of optical fiber; its ideal rate surpasses this bound already at 200 km and follows the rate-loss scaling of the higher repeater-assisted secret key-agreement capacity (see figure 1 of and figure 11 of for more details). The protocol suggests that optimal key rates are achievable on "550 kilometers of standard optical fibre", which is already commonly used in communications today. The theoretical result was confirmed in the first experimental demonstration of QKD beyond the PLOB bound which has been characterized as the first "effective" quantum repeater. Notable developments in terms of achieving high rates at long distances are the sending-not-sending (SNS) version of the TF-QKD protocol. and the no-phase-postselected twin-field scheme.


title: Quantum cryptography

text: In mistrustful cryptography the participating parties do not trust each other. For example, Alice and Bob collaborate to perform some computation where both parties enter some private inputs. But Alice does not trust Bob and Bob does not trust Alice. Thus, a secure implementation of a cryptographic task requires that after completing the computation, Alice can be guaranteed that Bob has not cheated and Bob can be guaranteed that Alice has not cheated either. Examples of tasks in mistrustful cryptography are commitment schemes and secure computations, the latter including the further examples of coin flipping and oblivious transfer. Key distribution does not belong to the area of mistrustful cryptography. Mistrustful quantum cryptography studies the area of mistrustful cryptography using quantum systems.