Index
An index is an indirect shortcut derived from and pointing into a greater volume of values, data, information or knowledge. Index may refer to:
Business
Publishing
Database index
A database index is a data structure that improves the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table at the cost of additional writes and storage space to maintain the index data structure. Indexes are used to quickly locate data without having to search every row in a database table every time a database table is accessed. Indexes can be created using one or more columns of a database table, providing the basis for both rapid random lookups and efficient access of ordered records.
An index is a copy of select columns of data from a table that can be searched very efficiently that also includes a low-level disk block address or direct link to the complete row of data it was copied from. Some databases extend the power of indexing by letting developers create indices on functions or expressions. For example, an index could be created on upper(last_name), which would only store the upper case versions of the last_name field in the index. Another option sometimes supported is the use of partial indices, where index entries are created only for those records that satisfy some conditional expression. A further aspect of flexibility is to permit indexing on user-defined functions, as well as expressions formed from an assortment of built-in functions.
Index (statistics)
In statistics and research design, an index is a composite statistic – a measure of changes in a representative group of individual data points, or in other words, a compound measure that aggregates multiple indicators. Indexes summarize and rank specific observations.
Much data in the field of social sciences is represented in various indices such as Gender Gap Index, Human Development Index or the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Item in indexes are usually weighted equally, unless there are some reasons against it (for example, if two items reflect essentially the same aspect of a variable, they could have a weight of 0.5 each).
Constructing the items involves four steps. First, items should be selected based on their face validity, unidimensionality, the degree of specificity in which a dimension is to be measured, and their amount of variance. Items should be empirically related to one another, which leads to the second step of examining their multivariate relationships. Third, indexes scores are designed, which involves determining their score ranges and weights for the items. Finally, indexes should be validateds, which involves testing whether they can predict indicators related to the measured variable not used in their construction.
Mon people
The Mon (Mon: မောန် or မည်; Burmese: မွန်လူမျိုး, pronounced: [mʊ̀ɴ lù mjó]; Khmer: មន, Thai: มอญ, pronounced [mɔ̄ːn]) are an ethnic group from Burma (Myanmar) living mostly in Mon State, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta and along the southern border of Thailand and Burma. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in Indochina. The Mon were a major source of influence on the culture of Burma. They speak the Mon language, an Austroasiatic language, and share a common origin with the Nyah Kur people of Thailand from the Mon mandala (polity) of Dvaravati.
The eastern Mon assimilated to Thai culture long ago. The western Mon of Burma were largely absorbed by Bamar society but continue fighting to preserve their language and culture and to regain a greater degree of political autonomy. The Mon of Burma are divided into three sub-groups based on their ancestral region in Lower Burma: the Man Nya (မန်ည) from Pathein (the Irrawaddy Delta) in the west, the Man Duin (မန်ဒိုၚ်) in Bago in the central region, and the Man Da (မန်ဒ) at Mottama in the southeast.
Mon, Switzerland
Mon is a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava merged to form the new municipality of Albula/Alvra.
History
Mon is first mentioned around 1001-1200 as de Maune. In 1281 it was mentioned as Mans. Until 1943 Mon was known as Mons.
Geography
Before the merger, Mon had a total area of 8.5 km2 (3.3 sq mi). Of this area, 36.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 58.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
The municipality is located in the Alvaschein sub-district of the Albula district. It is southwest of Tiefencastel on the left hand slope of the Oberhalbstein Range.
Demographics
Mon had a population (as of 2013) of 90.As of 2008, 5.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.1%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks Rhaeto-Romance (52.3%), with German being second most common (45.3%) and Italian being third ( 1.2%).
Beta Monocerotis
Beta Monocerotis (Beta Mon, β Monocerotis, β Mon) is a triple star system in the constellation of Monoceros. To the naked eye, it appears as a single star with an apparent visual magnitude of approximately 3.74, making it the brightest visible star in the constellation. A telescope shows a curved line of three pale blue stars (or pale yellow stars, depending on your scope's focus). William Herschel who discovered it in 1781 commented that it is "one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens". The star system consists of three Be stars, β Monocerotis A, β Monocerotis B, and β Monocerotis C. There is also an additional visual companion star that is probably not physically close to the other three stars.
Beta Monocerotis A
Beta Monocerotis A (Beta Mon A, β Monocerotis A, β Mon A) is a Be star with a mass of approximately 7 solar masses and a luminosity of 3,200 times the Sun's.
Beta Monocerotis B
Beta Monocerotis B (Beta Mon B / β Monocerotis B / β Mon B) is a Be star with a mass of approximately 6.2 solar masses and a luminosity of 1,600 times the Sun's.
MGM-140 ATACMS
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATacMS) is a surface-to-surface missile (SSM) manufactured by Lockheed Martin. It has a range of over 160 kilometres (100 mi), with solid propellant, and is 4.0 metres (13 ft) high and 610 millimetres (24 in) in diameter.
The ATACMS can be fired from multiple rocket launchers, including the M270 MLRS, and HIMARS. An ATACMS launch container has a lid patterned with six circles like a standard MLRS rocket lid.
The first use of the ATACMS in a combat capability was during Operation Desert Storm, where a total of 32 were fired from the M270 MLRS. During the Operation Iraqi Freedom more than 450 missiles were fired. As of early 2015, over 560 ATACMS missiles had been fired in combat.
In 2007, the Army terminated the ATACMS program due to cost, ending the ability to replenish stocks. To sustain the remaining inventory, the ATACMS Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) was launched, which refurbishes or replaces propulsion and navigation systems, replaces cluster munition warheads with the unitary blast fragmentation warhead, and adds a proximity fuze option to obtain area effects; deliveries are projected to start in 2018. The ATACMS SLEP is a bridging initiative to provide time to complete analysis and development of a successor capability to the aging ATACMS stockpile, which could be ready around 2022.
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