Atlas

An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a map of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets (and their satellites) in the Solar System. Furthermore, atlases of anatomy exist, mapping out the human body or other organisms. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic features and political boundaries, many atlases often feature geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics. They also have information about the map and places in it.

Etymology

The word atlas dates from 1636, first in reference to the English translation of Atlas, sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi (1585) by Flemish geographer Gerhardus Mercator, who might have been the first to use this word in this way. A picture of the Titan Atlas holding up the world appeared on the frontispiece of this and other early map collections.

History

The first work that contained systematically arranged woodcut maps of uniform size, intended to be published in a book, thus representing the first modern atlas, was De Summa totius Orbis (1524–26) by the 16th-century Italian cartographer Pietro Coppo. Nonetheless, this distinction is conventionally awarded to the Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius who in 1570 published the collection of maps Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Atlas (computer)

The Atlas Computer was a joint development between the University of Manchester, Ferranti, and Plessey. The first Atlas, installed at Manchester University and officially commissioned in 1962, was one of the world's first supercomputers, considered to be the most powerful computer in the world at that time. It was said that whenever Atlas went offline half of the United Kingdom's computer capacity was lost. It was a second-generation machine, using discrete germanium transistors. Two other Atlas machines were built: one for British Petroleum and the University of London, and one for the Atlas Computer Laboratory at Chilton near Oxford.

A derivative system was built by Ferranti for Cambridge University. Called the Titan, or Atlas 2, it had a different memory organisation and ran a time-sharing operating system developed by Cambridge University Computer Laboratory. Two further Atlas 2s were delivered: one to the CAD Centre in Cambridge (later called CADCentre, then AVEVA), and the other to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), Aldermaston.

Atlas (topology)

In mathematics, particularly topology, one describes a manifold using an atlas. An atlas consists of individual charts that, roughly speaking, describe individual regions of the manifold. If the manifold is the surface of the Earth, then an atlas has its more common meaning. In general, the notion of atlas underlies the formal definition of a manifold and related structures such as vector bundles and other fibre bundles.

Charts

The definition of an atlas depends on the notion of a chart. A chart for a topological space M (also called a coordinate chart, coordinate patch, coordinate map, or local frame) is a homeomorphism from an open subset U of M to an open subset of Euclidean space. The chart is traditionally recorded as the ordered pair .

Formal definition of atlas

An atlas for a topological space M is a collection of charts on M such that . If the codomain of each chart is the n-dimensional Euclidean space and the atlas is connected, then M is said to be an n-dimensional manifold.

Haunted (Cabot novel)

Haunted is a young adult novel written by author Meg Cabot and was published by Avon Books in 2004. It is the fifth part of The Mediator series.

Summary

In this book we return to Susannah (Suze) Simon's life. Suze is going back to high school and on the first day, she meets Paul Slater from book 4, The Darkest Hour, whom she met during the summer. At home, Suze meets Neil Jankow, a friend of Jake's, and also meets Neil's brother's ghost, Craig Jankow. Suze learns that Craig died from a catamaran accident and that Craig strongly believes that Neil should have been the one who died, as he was a superb swimmer, but Neil wasn't. Afterwards, Paul tells Suze to come to his house by telling her about that they were more than just a mediator. At his house, Suze learns that they are "shifters" but soon afterwards, Paul abruptly kisses her. Suze runs away mad and finds Neil. Neil drives her home but during the trip, Craig takes over the wheel nearly killing Neil and Suze. Back at school, Suze learns from Father Dominic that Jesse, Suze's crush, will be leaving her and will be going to the rectory. After Suze learns this, she becomes extremely mad at Jesse and believes that he never loved her. Later during the week, Suze's stepbrother, Brad, hosts a hot-tub party at the house. During the party, Jesse learns that Paul had kissed Suze and tries to kill him.

List of Tru Calling episodes

Tru Calling is a supernatural drama that aired on the Fox Network. The series premiered on October 30, 2003, and ran for two seasons before it was cancelled during its second season. The twenty-fifth episode, "Enough", on April 21, 2005 was the final episode to be shown by Fox. Season two premiered in New Zealand on the TV3 network on February 4, 2005 and ended on March 11, 2005. Season two premiered in the United States on March 31, 2005 and five episodes were shown. The final episode was never aired on Fox due to its Christmas theme and tentative April airdate, though it was shown on the Sci Fi Channel during a marathon on January 21, 2008. The series ran for a total of 26 episodes.

The series starred Eliza Dushku as Tru Davies, a medical school student who takes a job at the city morgue when her internship falls through. When the corpse of a murdered woman seems to awaken and asks for her help, Tru discovers that she has the incredible power to relive the day before a wrongful death occurs in order to try to prevent that death. Over the course of the series, Tru struggles to keep her secret, juggle her responsibilities with her complicated personal life, and learn to control her power.

Spirit possession

Spirit possession is a term for the belief that animas, demons, extraterrestrials, gods, or spirits can take control of a human body. The concept of spirit possession exists in many religions, including Christianity,Buddhism, Haitian Vodou, Wicca, Hinduism, Islam and Southeast Asian and African traditions. Depending on the cultural context in which it is found, possession may be considered voluntary or involuntary and may be considered to have beneficial or detrimental effects to host. Within possession cults, the belief that one is possessed by spirits is more common among women than men.

African traditions

Zār cult

In Sudan and certain East African cultures the Zār cult conducts ethnomedical healing ceremonies involving possession, typically of Muslim women by a Zār spirit. This is also found in North Africa as well.

Central Africa

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Horn of Africa

Ethiopia

Gurage people

Among the Gurage people of Ethiopia, spirit possession is a common belief. Wiliam A. Shack postulated that it is caused by Gurange cultural attitudes about food and hunger, while they have a plentiful food supply, cultural pressures that force the Gurange to either share it to meet social obligations, or hoard it and eat it secretly cause feelings of anxiety. Distinctions are drawn between spirits that strictly possess men, spirits that possess women, and spirits that possess victims of either sex. A ritual illness that only affects men is believed to be caused by a spirit called awre. This affliction presents itself by loss of appetite, nausea, and attacks from severe stomach pains. If it persists the victim may enter a trancelike stupor, in which he sometimes regains consciousness long enough to take food and water. Breathing is often labored. Seizures and trembling overcome the patient, and in extreme cases, partial paralysis of the extremities.