Integrated circuit

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon. This can be made much smaller than a discrete circuit made from independent electronic components. ICs can be made very compact, having up to several billion transistors and other electronic components in an area the size of a fingernail. The width of each conducting line in a circuit can be made smaller and smaller as the technology advances; in 2008 it dropped below 100 nanometers, and has now been reduced to tens of nanometers.

ICs were made possible by experimental discoveries showing that semiconductor devices could perform the functions of vacuum tubes and by mid-20th-century technology advancements in semiconductor device fabrication. The integration of large numbers of tiny transistors into a small chip was an enormous improvement over the manual assembly of circuits using discrete electronic components. The integrated circuit's mass production capability, reliability and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized integrated circuits in place of designs using discrete transistors.

Microchip (comics)

David Linus "Microchip" Lieberman (often known as Micro) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson, he first appeared in The Punisher #4 (Nov. 1987) as an ally of The Punisher for many years. He assisted the Punisher by building weapons, supplying technology and providing friendship, though in more recent publications, Microchip gradually evolved from the Punisher's friend to a bitter villain.

Fictional character biography

David Linus "Microchip" Lieberman was a legendary computer hacker in the early days of the hacking business, performing numerous scams and hacks still held in awe today, until one scam brought him too close to real-world criminals forcing him to go into "retirement" as a quiet unassuming businessman. This ended when his nephew, attempting to follow in his favorite uncle's footsteps, was caught and killed after accidentally hacking into the private computers of Wilson Fisk (a.k.a., The Kingpin). While personally investigating his nephew's murder, Lieberman met and started collaborating with The Punisher. Microchip's help proved invaluable to Castle; he served not just as a hacker and cyber-investigator. Micro also helped Castle: manage and launder his finances (i.e., the money Castle takes from the criminals he kills); set-up and equip Castle's safehouses; train Castle in more "specialized" skills for his war on crime; and, obtain hard-to-get ammunition and equipment. Less obsessed with Castle's personal war, Microchip acts as a de facto counseler to Castle (e.g., encouraging Castle to take occasional vacations and breaks, to avoid burn-out or losing his mind).

Delta Cafés

Delta Cafés (Portuguese pronunciation: [dɛɫtɐ kɐfɛʃ]) is a Portuguese coffee roasting and coffee packaging company headquartered in Campo Maior, Alentejo. The company was founded in 1961 and is among the top market leaders in the Iberian Peninsula. The company belongs to Nabeiro Group, the personal conglomerate of its founder Rui Nabeiro, which include interests on agribusiness, agriculture, real estate, hotels, and other services.

History

Delta Cafés was founded by Rui Nabeiro in 1961 in the town of Campo Maior, Alentejo in a small 50-m² warehouse, which could only handle two 30 kg roasters. In 1998, the Nabeiro/Delta Cafés Group was restructured and gave rise to 22 companies organized into strategic areas, with turnover of approximately €160 million. In the 2000s, it become the market leader for coffee in Portugal, with a market share of 38%. It has 47,000 direct retail clients (among the largest of which is Sonae, a leading Portuguese retailer) and 3,000 employees. Also in the 2007, Delta Cafés launched its own espresso products, Delta Q, based on a proprietary system of single-serving "capsules" containing ground coffee and rooibos, and specialized machines to brew espresso from the contents of the capsules in a similar way to that of Nestlé's Nespresso brand portfolio.

Delta (video game)

Delta is a horizontally scrolling shooter computer game originally released for the Commodore 64 by Thalamus Ltd in 1987. It was programmed by Stavros Fasoulas and the music was written by Rob Hubbard. The menu-music is based on the theme of Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass and the in-game-music is based on Pink Floyd's On the Run. The game was also released for the ZX Spectrum in 1990 as Delta Charge.

The game was released as Delta Patrol in the United States by Electronic Arts for its Amazing Software line of action-oriented software programs, in 1987 on the Commodore 64.

The player controls a spaceship and gains power-up points by destroying formations of enemies. Some enemy formations instead subtract power-up points for the player, so the player must take note of which formations to destroy. Periodically blocks containing the power-ups (higher speed, faster rate of fire) appear and the player can pick one of them up: The more points the player has collected, the more powerful are the power-ups that can be chosen. Unavailable power-ups are gray and kill the player if he flies into them, making them part of the obstacles in the game. The effects of the power-ups are lost over time and must therefore be regained. The player gets a choice between in-game music or in-game sound effects. There is also a high score table but no way to save it when the game is turned off.

Delta (Delta Goodrem album)

Delta is the third studio album by Australian singer Delta Goodrem. It was released in Australia on 20 October 2007 through Sony BMG. Goodrem began work on the album in 2006 and collaborated with several writers including Vince Pizzinga, Tommy Lee James, Jörgen Elofsson, Richard Marx, Stuart Crichton and major contributions by Brian McFadden. The album debuted at No. 1 in Australia, making it her third consecutive chart-topping album there. The album was also released in the United States, by Mercury Records, making it Goodrem's first album to be released there.

Background and development

After the release of her second album Mistaken Identity in 2004, Delta reflected that the album was rushed - written and recorded while she was still recovering from chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Goodrem remarked that she felt overexposed and claimed, "I'd burnt myself out. By the end of 'Mistaken Identity' I thought, 'This is nothing of what I am. I know I can do all of this a lot better'." After a period of being angry, Delta felt she was healed and embraced herself and being in the public eye. Therefore, she started developing a new album, stating, "For a while I was writing songs for this album I didn't want to talk about things, so I didn't want to write about them either. "I had to get over a couple of things. My parents divorced, there was a lot going on. But now I truly am inspired again. I feel regenerated. I feel I've got my energy back."