Sea silk

Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric that is made from the long silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells (in particular Pinna nobilis). The byssus is used by the clam to attach itself to the sea bed.

Sea silk was produced in the Mediterranean region from the large marine bivalve mollusc Pinna nobilis until early in the 20th century. The shell, which is sometimes almost a metre long, adheres itself to rocks with a tuft of very strong thin fibres, pointed end down, in the intertidal zone. These byssus or filaments (which can be up to 6 cm long) are spun and, when treated with lemon juice, turn a golden colour, which never fades.

The cloth produced from these filaments can be woven even finer than silk, and is extremely light and warm; however, it attracts clothes moths, the larvae of which will eat it. It was said that a pair of women's gloves made from the fabric could fit into half a walnut shell and a pair of stockings in a snuffbox. In addition, Pinna nobilis is also sometimes gathered for its flesh (as food) and occasionally has pearls of fair quality.

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.

Silk is produced by several insects, but generally only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacturing. There has been some research into other types of silk, which differ at the molecular level. Silk is mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, but some adult insects such as webspinners also produce silk, and some insects such as raspy crickets produce silk throughout their lives. Silk production also occurs in Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), silverfish, mayflies, thrips, leafhoppers, beetles, lacewings, fleas, flies, and midges. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders (see spider silk).

SILK

SILK is an audio compression format and audio codec developed by Skype Limited. It was developed for use in Skype, as a replacement for the SVOPC codec. Since licensing out, it has also been used by others. It has been extended to the Internet standard Opus codec.

Details

Skype Limited announced that SILK can use a sampling frequency of 8, 12, 16 or 24 kHz and a bit rate from 6 to 40 kbit/s. It can also use a low algorithmic delay of 25 ms (20 ms frame size + 5 ms look-ahead). The reference implementation is written in the C programming language. The codec technology is based on linear predictive coding (LPC). The SILK binary SDK is available.

License

The SILK codec is patented and licensed separately from the SILK SDK. The codec is open-source, freeware, available royalty free with restrictions on use and distribution. The SDK was initially available only by application by giving details of name, address, phone, and description of how SILK will be used.As of 2012 (version 1.0.9) the SDK can by downloaded without application, but the licence restricts the use to internal evaluation and testing purposes only, excluding software distribution or use in any commercial product or service.

Silk (album)

Silk is the self-titled second studio album from American R&B group Silk, released November 28, 1995 on Elektra Records.

The album peaked at number forty-six on the Billboard 200 chart.

Release and reception

The album peaked at forty-six on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine at Allmusic called the groups vocals on the album "impressive." Erlewine also gave note to the production, which he referred to as "seamless without being overly slick." The ballad "How Could You Say You Love Me," and third single "Don't Rush" were praised by Upscale magazine.

Track listing

Chart history

Album

Singles

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Personnel

Information taken from Allmusic.

SEA

SEA or Sea may refer to:

Organizations

Science and technology

Hobart-class destroyer

The Hobart class is a ship class of three air warfare destroyers (AWDs) being built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Planning for ships to replace the Adelaide-class frigates and restore the capability last exhibited by the Perth-class destroyers began by 2000, initially under acquisition project SEA 1400, which was redesignated SEA 4000. Although the designation "Air Warfare Destroyer" is used to describe ships dedicated to the defence of a naval force (plus assets ashore) from aircraft and missile attack, the planned Australian destroyers are expected to also operate in anti-surface, anti-submarine, and naval gunfire support roles.

Planning for the Australian Air Warfare Destroyer (as the class was known until 2006) continued through the mid-2000s, with the selection of the Aegis combat system as the intended combat system and ASC as the primary shipbuilder in 2005. In late 2005, the AWD Alliance was formed as a consortium of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), ASC, and Raytheon. Between 2005 and 2007, Gibbs & Cox's Evolved Arleigh Burke-class destroyer concept and Navantia's Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate competed for selection as the AWD design. Although the Arleigh Burke design was larger and more capable, the Álvaro de Bazán design was selected in June 2007 as it was an existing design, and would be cheaper, quicker, and less risky to build.

Collins-class submarine replacement project

Identified as the most expensive defence procurement project to date in Australian history, the Collins-class replacement will provide Australia with a submarine capability deep into the twenty-first century. With the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) Collins-class submarines scheduled to begin leaving service from 2025 onwards, plans to replace them began in 2007 with the commencement of the defence acquisition project SEA 1000, also referred to as the Future Submarine Programme. Australia's unique operating environment (including significant variations in ocean climate and conditions) and rejection of nuclear propulsion had previously driven it to operate in the Collins-class the world's largest diesel-electric submarines, capable of transiting the long distances from HMAS Stirling to their deployment areas.

In the early phases of the replacement project, four design options were identified: purchase a Military-Off-The-Shelf (MOTS) design, modify a MOTS design for Australian conditions, design an evolution of the Collins-class, or create a new design. Nuclear propulsion has been ruled out due to the lack of an indigenous nuclear industry in Australia and public opposition to nuclear technology.