Hydrus (software)

Hydrus is a suite of Windows-based modeling software that can be used for analysis of water flow, heat and solute transport in variably saturated porous media (e.g., soils). HYDRUS suite of software is supported by an interactive graphics-based interface for data-preprocessing, discretization of the soil profile, and graphic presentation of the results. While HYDRUS-1D simulates water flow, solute and heat transport in one-dimension, and is a public domain software, HYDRUS 2D/3D extends the simulation capabilities to the second and third dimensions, and is distributed commercially.

History

HYDRUS 1D

HYDRUS-1D traces its roots to the early work of van Genuchten and his SUMATRA and WORM models, as well as later work by Vogel (1987) and Kool and van Genuchten (1989) and their SWMI and HYDRUS models, respectively. While Hermitian cubic finite element numerical schemes were used in SUMATRA and linear finite elements in WORM and the older HYDRUS code for solution of both the water flow and solute transport equations, SWMI used finite differences to solve the flow equation.

Hydrus

Hydrus /ˈhaɪdrəs/ is a small constellation in the deep southern sky. It was first depicted on a celestial atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 Uranometria. The French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted the brighter stars and gave their Bayer designations in 1756. Its name means "male water snake", as opposed to Hydra, a much larger constellation that represents a female water snake. It remains below the horizon for most Northern Hemisphere observers.

The brightest star is the 2.8-magnitude Beta Hydri, also the closest reasonably bright star to the south celestial pole. Pulsating between magnitude 3.26 and 3.33, Gamma Hydri is a variable red giant some 60 times the diameter of our Sun. Lying near it is VW Hydri, one of the brightest dwarf novae in the heavens. Four star systems have been found to have exoplanets to date, most notably HD 10180, which could bear up to nine planetary companions.

History

Hydrus (legendary creature)

The Hydrus (also known as Enhydros, Enidros, Hildris, Hydra, Idra, Idres, Ydre, Ydris, and Ydrus) is a creature from Medieval bestiaries. They were said to be found in the Nile River. While in the Nile, a crocodile would roll the hydrus in the mud before eating the smaller creature. However, once inside the crocodile's stomach, the hydrus would burst free from the stomach lining. In medieval Christian tradition, this bursting free from the crocodile became an emblem of the resurrection of Christ bursting free from Hell.

There is considerable confusion in applying the name hydrus and its variations to beasts. The root of the word itself refers to water, and this led to several beasts, mostly serpents, being so labeled. Isidore of Seville lists the hydros, a water snake that causes those bitten to swell up, the cure for which is the dung of an ox. The hydrus was also confused with the Hydra of the Hercules legend, some texts saying that it was a many-headed water dragon, living in the swamp of Lerna, that could grow new heads.

Hydrus (disambiguation)

Hydrus is a small constellation in the southern sky.

Hydrus may also refer to:

Software

Computer software also called a program or simply software is any set of instructions that directs a computer to perform specific tasks or operations. Computer software consists of computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data (such as online documentation or digital media). Computer software is non-tangible, contrasted with computer hardware, which is the physical component of computers. Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can be realistically used without the other.

At the lowest level, executable code consists of machine language instructions specific to an individual processor—typically a central processing unit (CPU). A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also (indirectly) cause something to appear on a display of the computer system—a state change which should be visible to the user. The processor carries out the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed to "jump" to a different instruction, or interrupted.

Software (novel)

Software is a 1982 cyberpunk science fiction novel written by Rudy Rucker. It won the first Philip K. Dick Award in 1983. The novel is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, and was followed by a sequel, Wetware, in 1988.

Plot summary

Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer — a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers — living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one.

As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st — born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. — a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "immortality" given to Anderson turns out to be having his mind transferred into software via the same brain-destroying technique used by the Little Kidders.

Software (development cooperation)

See also

Further reading