Shell may refer to:
A shell corporation is a company which serves as a vehicle for business transactions without itself having any significant assets or operations. Some shell companies may have had operations, but those may have shrunk due to unfavorable market conditions or company mismanagement. A shell corporation may also arise when a company's operations have been wound up, for example following a takeover, but the “shell” of the original company continues to exist.
Shell corporations are not in themselves illegal, and they do have legitimate business purposes. However, they are a main component of the underground economy, especially those based in tax havens. They may also be known as international business companies, personal investment companies, front companies, or "mailbox" companies.
Shell companies can also be used for tax avoidance. A classic tax avoidance operation is based on the buying and selling through tax haven shell companies to disguise true profits. The firm does its international operations through this shell corporation, thus not having to report to its country the sums involved, avoiding any taxes.
In computing, a shell is a user interface for access to an operating system's services. In general, operating system shells use either a command-line interface (CLI) or graphical user interface (GUI), depending on a computer's role and particular operation.
The design of a shell is guided by cognitive ergonomics and the goal is to achieve the best workflow possible for the intended tasks; the design can be constricted by the available computing power (for example, of the GPU) or the available amount of graphics memory. The design of a shell is also dictated by the employed computer periphery, such as computer keyboard, pointing device (a mouse with one button, or one with five buttons, or a 3D mouse) or touchscreen, which is the direct human–machine interface.
CLI shells allow some operations to be performed faster in some situations, especially when a proper GUI has not been or cannot be created. However, they require the user to memorize commands and their calling syntax, and also to learn the shell-specific scripting language, for example bash script. CLIs are also easier to be operated via refreshable braille display and provide certain advantages to screen readers.
Stein may refer to:
In Austria:
In Canada:
Stein Castle (German: Burg Stein or Burg und Schloss Stein) is a Saxon castle located southeast of Zwickau in the village of Stein in the municipality of Hartenstein on the rocky banks of the Zwickauer Mulde in the east German state of Saxony.
Just above the castle is a weir on the River Mulde. The impounded river drove a mill with four large water wheels. In 1788 its milling rights (Mahlzwang) were transferred from an older mill to this one. As a result of its exclusive milling rights, several mill tracks led to Stein. In 1912 the construction of a stately home, Wolfsbrunn House (Schloss Wolfsbrunn), began on the opposite bank of the river. The ruins of Isenburg castle are located only two kilometres upstream. Towards Langenbach were once the villages of Ober- and Niederopritz, which used to belong to Stein Castle, but were probably destroyed during the Hussite Wars.
The settlement of the Ore Mountains began in the 12th/13th centuries, especially along the rivers. River crossings and religious orders (Niederlassungen) were protected by fortified sites. Along the Zwickauer Mulde river, numerous castles were built.
Stein is a Norwegian scientific journal on "popular geology." The name "Stein" comes from the Norwegian word for "stone". It has been published four times a year since its founding in 1973.