Phase

Phase or phases may refer to:

In science

In physics

Planetary phase

Refers to the periods of time during which a planet's surface reflects different amounts of sunlight, revealing different portions of the planet's surface from the perspective of a given point in space.

Inferior planets

The two inferior planets, Mercury and Venus, which have orbits that are smaller than the Earth's, exhibit the full range of phases as does the Moon, when seen through a telescope. Their phases are "full" when they are at superior conjunction, on the far side of the Sun as seen from the Earth. (It is possible to see them at these times, since their orbits are not exactly in the plane of Earth's orbit, so they usually appear to pass slightly above or below the Sun in the sky. Seeing them from the Earth's surface is difficult, because of sunlight scattered in Earth's atmosphere, but observers in space can see them easily if direct sunlight is blocked from reaching the observer's eyes.) The planets' phases are "new" when they are at inferior conjunction, passing more or less between the Sun and the Earth. (Sometimes they appear to cross the solar disk, which is called a transit of the planet.) At intermediate points on their orbits, these planets exhibit the full range of crescent and gibbous phases.

Minimalist program

In linguistics, the minimalist program (MP) is a major line of inquiry that has been developing inside generative grammar since the early 1990s, starting with a 1993 paper by Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky presents MP as a program, not as a theory, following Imre Lakatos's distinction. The MP seeks to be a mode of inquiry characterized by the flexibility of the multiple directions that its minimalism enables. Ultimately, the MP provides a conceptual framework used to guide the development of grammatical theory. For Chomsky, there are minimalist questions, but the answers can be framed in any theory. Of all these questions, the one that plays the most crucial role is this: why language has the properties it has. The MP lays out a very specific view of the basis of syntactic grammar that, when compared to other formalisms, is often taken to look very much like a theory.

Theoretical goals

Perfection

The MP appeals to the idea that the language ability in humans shows signs of being incorporated under an optimal design with exquisite organization, which seems to suggest that the inner workings conform to a very simple computational law or a particular mental organ. In other words, the MP works on the assumption that universal grammar constitutes a perfect design in the sense that it contains only what is necessary to meet our conceptual and physical (phonological) needs.

Beam

Beam may refer to:

BEAM

Beam (music)

In musical notation, a beam is a horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes (and occasionally rests) in order to indicate rhythmic grouping. Only eighth notes (quavers) or shorter can be beamed. The number of beams is equal to the number of flags that would be present on an un-beamed note.

Grouping

The span of beams indicates the rhythmic grouping, usually determined by the time signature. Therefore, beams do not usually cross bar lines, or major sub-divisions of bars. If notes extend across these divisions, this is indicated with a tie.

In modern practice beams may span across rests in order to make rhythmic groups clearer.

In vocal music, beams were traditionally used only to connect notes sung to the same syllable. In modern practice it is more common to use standard beaming rules, while indicating multi-note syllables with slurs.

Positioning

Notes joined by a beam usually have all the stems pointing in the same direction (up or down). The average pitch of the notes is used to determine the direction – if the average pitch is below the middle staff-line, the stems and beams usually go above the note head, otherwise they go below.

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point as measured at the ship's nominal waterline. The beam is a bearing projected at right-angles from the fore and aft line, outwards from the widest part of ship. Beam may also be used to define the maximum width of a ship's hull, or maximum width plus superstructure overhangs.

Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship (or boat), the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position.

Typical values

Typical length-to-beam ratios for small sailboats are from 2:1 (dinghies to trailerable sailboats around 20 ft or 6 m) to 5:1 (racing sailboats over 30 ft or 10 m).

Large ships have widely varying beam ratios, some as large as 20:1.

Rowing shells designed for flatwater racing may have length to beam ratios as high as 30:1, while a coracle has a ratio of almost 1:1 – it is nearly circular.

Formula

The beam of many monohull vessels can be calculated using the following formula: