The 8-track tape is a magnetic tape sound-recording technology, popular in the United States from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the Compact Cassette format took over. The format is regarded as an obsolete technology, was unknown outside the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, West Germany and Japan; the Stereo 8 Cartridge was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation, along with Ampex, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, RCA Victor Records. It was a further development of the similar Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge introduced by Earl "Madman" Muntz, adapted by Muntz from the Fidelipac cartridge developed by George Eash. A quadraphonic cartridge version of the format was announced by RCA in April 1970 and first known as Quad-8 later changed to just Q8; the original format for magnetic tape sound reproduction was the reel-to-reel tape recorder, first available in the United States in the late 1940s, but too expensive and bulky to be practical for amateur home use until well into the 1950s.

Loading a reel of tape onto the machine and threading it through the various guides and rollers proved daunting to some casual users—certainly, it was more difficult than putting a vinyl record on a record player and flicking a switch. Because in early years each tape had to be dubbed from the master tape in real-time to maintain good sound quality, prerecorded tapes were more expensive to manufacture, costlier to buy, than vinyl records which could be stamped much more than their own playing time. To eliminate the nuisance of tape-threading, various manufacturers introduced cartridges that held the tape inside a metal or plastic housing to eliminate handling. Most were intended only for low-fidelity voice recording in dictation machines; the first tape cartridge designed for general consumer use, including music reproduction, was the Sound Tape or Magazine Loading Tape Cartridge, introduced in 1958 by RCA. Prerecorded stereophonic music cartridges were available, blank cartridges could be used to make recordings at home, but the format failed to gain popularity.

The endless loop tape cartridge was first designed in 1952 by Bernard Cousino around a single reel carrying a continuous loop of standard 1/4-inch, oxide-coated recording tape running at 3.75 in per second. Program starts and stops were signaled by a one-inch-long metal foil that activates the track-change sensor. Inventor George Eash invented a cartridge design in 1953, called the Fidelipac cartridge; the Eash cartridge was licensed by manufacturers, notably the Collins Radio Company, which first introduced a cartridge system for broadcasting at the National Association of Broadcasters 1959 annual show. Fidelipac cartridges were used by many radio stations for commercials and other short items. Eash formed Fidelipac Corporation to manufacture and market tapes and recorders, as did several others, including Audio-Pak. There were several attempts to sell music systems for cars, beginning with the Chrysler Highway Hi-Fi of the late 1950s. Entrepreneur and television set dealer Earl "Madman" Muntz of Los Angeles, however, saw a potential in these "broadcast carts" for an automobile music system.

In 1962, he introduced his Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge stereo system and tapes in California and Florida. The four tracks were divided into two "programs" corresponding to the two sides of an LP record, with each program comprising two tracks read for stereo sound playback, he licensed popular music albums from the major record companies and duplicated them on these four-track cartridges, or "CARtridges", as they were first advertised. The Lear Jet Stereo 8 track cartridge was designed by Richard Kraus while working under Bill Lear and for his Lear Jet Corporation in 1963; the major change was to incorporate a neoprene rubber and nylon pinch roller into the cartridge itself, rather than to make the pinch roller a part of the tape player, reducing mechanical complexity. Lear eliminated some of the internal parts of the Eash cartridge, such as the tape-tensioning mechanism and an interlock that prevented tape slippage. By doubling the number of tracks from 4 to 8, the recording length doubled to 80 minutes.

In 1964, Lear's aircraft company constructed 100 demonstration Stereo 8 players for distribution to executives at RCA and the auto companies. The popularity of both four-track and eight-track cartridges grew from the booming automobile industry. In September 1965, the Ford Motor Company introduced factory-installed and dealer-installed eight-track tape players as an option on three of its 1966 models, RCA Victor introduced 175 Stereo-8 Cartridges from its RCA Victor and RCA Camden labels of recording artists catalogs. By the 1967 model year, all of Ford's vehicles offered this tape player upgrade option. Most of the initial factory installations were separate players from the radio, but dashboard mounted 8-track units were offered in combination with an AM radio, as well as with AM/FM receivers. Muntz, a few other manufacturers offered 4/8 or "12-track" pl

Black Jack is a manga written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka in the 1970s, dealing with the medical adventures of the title character, doctor Black Jack. Black Jack consists of hundreds of short, self-contained stories that are about 20 pages long. Black Jack has been animated into an OVA, two television series and two films. Black Jack is Tezuka's third most famous manga, after Astro Boy. In 1977, it won the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen. About.com's Deb Aoki lists Black Jack as the best "re-issue of released material" of 2008. Osamu Dezaki's anime film adaptation, Black Jack The Movie, won Best Animation Film at the 1996 Mainichi Film Awards. Most of the stories involve Black Jack doing some good deed, for which he gets recognition—often curing the poor and destitute for free, or teaching the arrogant a lesson in humility, they sometimes end with a good, humane person enduring hardship unavoidable death, to save others. Black Jack aka Kurō Hazama First Appearance: Volume 1 Chapter 1: "Is there a Doctor?"Pinoko Voiced by: Yūko Mizutani First Appearance: Volume 1 Chapter 3: "Teratogenous Cystoma" Pinoko is Black Jack's loyal assistant/adopted daughter, a Teratogenous Cystoma.

As seen in Volume 1 Chapter 3: "Teratogenous Cystoma", she was a rare type of parasitic twin, living as part of a patients' body for eighteen years. When the presence of the twin was evidenced from a grotesque distortion in the host's body, Black Jack was contracted to extract and dispose of the growth. In the end, he found the cystoma, although a collection of uncontained organs and muscles, was complete in design if not form. Using life support to maintain them, Black Jack encased the assembly in an artificially constructed exoskeleton sized and shaped in the form of a female human child, her body is capable of walking, running and consuming and digesting food. Only her limbs and internal organs are real. Developing into a sentient though permanently child-sized life form, she was adopted by Black Jack as his informal ward, she always helps the doctor by doing household chores and by being his assistant in some of his operations. She acts as comic relief in Black Jack, claiming to be a girl of eighteen years of age and married to Black Jack, despite her childlike appearance and personality.

Her main value is source of affection for the ordinarily cold-natured doctor. When she started living with Black Jack, she couldn't clean, or take care of the house, she learned them and could take care of the house when he is out. But sometimes she is able to mix ingredients around in her cooking, like using salt instead of sugar. Black Jack thinks of her as his daughter. Black Jack modeled her face after a cute girl he had seen in a medical journal who suffers from a lung ailment of unknown origin. Pinoko's life was put in danger a few times. Pinoko says she is 18 years old because, how long she was in her sister's body, but Black Jack says she is 0-years-old when he built her; because of that, she sometimes acts like an adult while other times as a 7-year-old. She cries when she throws things when she is mad, she is sometimes seen playing games, or reading children's stories. Throughout the whole manga series, she is never seen going to kindergarten, although she nearly did take the high school entrance exam.

Black Jack never tries to give Pinoko an 18-year-old body though she wants to be bigger. She received one when she nearly died in Volume 9 Chapter 2: "Pinoko Lives". If she was an adult, she may have looked like the Pinoko in Black Jack's dream in Volume 11 Chapter 14: "The SL Called Life", she sometimes talks in third-person, using "Pinoko" instead of "I", "me", or "my". Some of the stories take place when she is 18, other times 19, other times 20, sometimes 21. Pinoko got drunk from alcohol a few times, she was temporarily adopted by a couple in Volume 17 Chapter 1: "Pinoko is Adopted". Before Black Jack extracted her from her twin, she telepathically talked to him; that is why, in Volume 13 Chapter 4: "Teratoid Cystoma, Part 2", she was able to talk to a teratoid cystoma in a patient in her sleep. Pinoko's main form of comic relief is yelling アッチョンブリケ—a phrase that has no real meaning but taken as a rough equivalent to "Oh my goodness!" or "I don't believe it!", in English—while pressing her cheeks together with her hands when something surprising happens.

In the 2004 English dub of the anime, she shouts "Allamoby!" She says Aramanchu!, which has no real meaning, but can be translated as "okey dokey!". Her name is derived from Pinocchio. Pinoko's Twin SisterFirst Appearance: Volume 1 Chapter 3: "Teratoid Cystoma" Pinoko's twin sister's name is never revealed in the manga, she doesn't like the fact that her teratoid cystoma is her twin sister. She

A siloxane is a functional group in organosilicon chemistry with the Si–O–Si linkage. The parent siloxanes include the polymeric hydrides with the formulae HnOH and n. Siloxanes include branched compounds, the defining feature of, that each pair of silicon centres is separated by one oxygen atom; the siloxane functional group forms the backbone of silicones, the premier example of, polydimethylsiloxane. The functional group R3SiO- is called siloxy. Siloxanes are manmade and have many commercial and industrial applications because of the compounds’ hydrophobicity, low thermal conductivity, high flexibility. Siloxanes adopt structures expected for linked tetrahedral centers; the Si–O bond is 1.64 Å and the Si–O–Si angle is rather open at 142.5°. By way of contrast, the C–O distance in a typical dialkyl ether is much shorter at 1.414 Å with a more acute C–O–C angle of 111°. It can be appreciated that the siloxanes would have low barriers for rotation about the Si–O bonds as a consequence of low steric hindrance.

This geometric consideration is the basis of the useful properties of some siloxane-containing materials, such as their low glass transition temperatures. The main route to siloxane functional group is by hydrolysis of silicon chlorides: 2 R3Si–Cl + H2O → R3Si–O–SiR3 + 2 HClThe reaction proceeds via the initial formation of silanols: R3Si–Cl + H2O → R3Si–OH + HClThe siloxane bond can form via a silanol + silanol pathway or a silanol + chlorosilane pathway: 2 R3Si–OH → R3Si–O–SiR3 + H2O R3Si–OH + R3Si–Cl → R3Si–O–SiR3 + HClHydrolysis of a silyldichloride can afford linear or cyclic products. Linear products are terminated with silanol groups: n R2Si2 → HnOH + H2OCyclic products have no silanol termini: n R2Si2 → n + n H2OThe linear products, polydimethylsiloxane, are of great commercial value, their production requires the production of dimethylsilicon dichloride. Starting from trisilanols, cages are possible, such as the species with the formula nO3n/2 with cubic and hexagonal prismatic. 8O12 structures.

The cubic cages are cubane-type clusters, with silicon centers at the corners of a cube oxygen centres spanning each of the twelve edges. Oxidation of organosilicon compounds, including siloxanes, gives silicon dioxide; this conversion is illustrated by the combustion of hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane: 3 + 12 O2 → 3 SiO2 + 6 CO2 + 9 H2OStrong base degrades siloxane group affording siloxide salts: 2O + 2 NaOH → 2 3SiONa + H2OThis reaction proceeds by production of silanols. Similar reactions are used industrially to convert cyclic siloxanes to linear polymers. Polysiloxanes, upon combustion in an inert atmosphere undergo pyrolysis to form silicon oxycarbide or silicon carbide. By exploiting this reaction, polysiloxanes have been used as preceramic polymers in various processes including additive manufacturing; the use of a poly-siloxane precursor in polymer derived ceramics allows the formation of ceramic bodies with complex shapes, although the significant shrinkage in pyrolysis needs to be taken into account.

Cyclomethicones are a group of methyl siloxanes, a class of liquid silicones that possess the characteristics of low viscosity and high volatility as well as being skin emollients and in certain circumstances useful cleaning solvents. Unlike dimethicones, which are linear siloxanes that do not evaporate, cyclomethicones are cyclic: both groups consist of a polymer featuring a monomer backbone of one silicon and two oxygen atoms bonded together, but instead of having a long "linear" backbone surrounded by a series of methyl groups, cyclomethicones have short backbones that make closed or nearly-closed rings or "cycles" with their methyl groups, giving them many of the same properties of dimethicones but making them much more volatile, they are used in many cosmetic products where eventual complete evaporation of the siloxane carrier fluid is desired. In this way they are useful for products like deodorants and antiperspirants which need to coat the skin but not remain tacky afterward. Most cyclomethicone is manufactured by Dow Corning.

Cyclomethicones have been shown to involve the occurrence of silanols during biodegration in mammals. The resulting silanols are capable of inhibiting hydrolytic enzymes such as thermolysin, acetylcholinesterase, however the doses required for inhibition are by orders of magnitude higher than the ones resulting from the accumulated exposure to consumer products containing cyclomethicones; the word siloxane is derived from the words silicon and alkane. In some cases, siloxane materials are composed of several different types of siloxane groups. M-units: 3SiO0.5, D-units: 2SiO, T-units: SiO1.5 Because silicones are used in biomedical and cosmetic applications, their toxicology has been intensively examined. "The inertness of silicones toward warmblooded animals has been demonstrated in a number of tests." With an LD50 in rats of >50 g/kg, they are nontoxic. Questions remain however about chronic toxicity or the consequences of bioaccumulation since siloxanes can be long-lived. Findings about bioaccumulation have been based on laboratory studies.

Field studies of bioaccumulation have not reached consensus. "Even if the concentrations of siloxanes we have found in fish are high compared to concentrations of classical contaminants like PCBs, several other studies in the Oslo Fjord in Norw

Li Yumin is a Chinese translator and professor at the Capital Normal University. He is most notable for being one of the main translators into Chinese of the works of French literature, such as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Les Misérables, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo. In 1963, Li graduated from Peking University. After university, he was sent abroad to study at the University of Rennes 1 on government scholarships. Victor Hugo; the Hunchback of Notre-Dame 巴黎圣母院. Xi'an, Shaanxi: Xi'an Jiaotong University Press. ISBN 9787560575667. Victor Hugo. Les Misérables 悲惨世界. Beijing: Beijing Yanshan Publishing House. ISBN 9787540225377. Victor Hugo; the Man Who Laughs 笑面人. Tianjin: Tianjin People's Publishing House. ISBN 9787201134239. Alexandre Dumas; the Three Musketeers 三个火枪手. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House. ISBN 9787020101979. Alexandre Dumas; the Count of Monte Cristo 基督山伯爵. Xi'an, Shaanxi: Xi'an Jiaotong University Press. Alexandre Dumas fils. La Dame aux Camélias 茶花女. Xi'an, Shaanxi: Xi'an Jiaotong University Press.

ISBN 9787560574936. Alphonse Daudet; the Last Lesson 最后一课. Xi'an, Shaanxi: Xi'an Jiaotong University Press. ISBN 9787560573564. Albert Camus. Outsiders / Plague 局外人·鼠疫. Beijing: Time Literature and Art Publishing House. ISBN 9787538755886. Guy De Maupassant. Selection of Maupassant's Short Stories 莫泊桑短篇小说选. Xi'an, Shaanxi: Xi'an Jiaotong University Press. ISBN 9787560573854. Guy De Maupassant. Bel-Ami 漂亮朋友. Xi'an, Shaanxi: Xi'an Jiaotong University Press. ISBN 9787560576169. Andre Gide. La Symphonie pastorale 田园交响曲. Beijing: China Friendship Publishing Company. ISBN 9787505741799. Prosper Mérimée. Carmen 卡门. Beijing: China Friendship Publishing Company. ISBN 9787505729964

The European Consortium for Political Research is an independent scholarly association that supports and encourages the training and cross-national cooperation of many thousands of academics and graduate students specialising in political science and all its sub-disciplines. ECPR membership is institutional rather than individual and, at its inception in 1970, comprised eight members. Membership has now grown to encompass more than 350 institutions throughout Europe, with associate members spread across the world. ECPR activities includeOrganising workshops, roundtables and summer schools Publishing journals, books and newsletters Providing a comprehensive European information source for political scientists through its website, electronic bulletin and online searchable databases Promoting teaching and training and the discipline in general through the professional journal European Political Science and summer schools; the ECPR has close links with similar organisations, such as the American Political Science Association, European national associations and the International Political Science Association.

Executive Committee Staff General conference Joint Sessions of Workshops Methods School Graduate Student Conference Cora Maas Award Dirk-Berg-Schlosser Award Hans Daalder Prize Jean Blondel PhD Prize Mattei Dogan Foundation Prize Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research Rudolf Wildenmann Prize ECPR Lifetime Achievement Award Joni Lovenduski PhD Prize in Gender and Politics EPS Prize Hedley Bull Prize in International Relations The following academic journals are published by ECPR, in conjunction with other academic publishers: European Journal of Political Research, with Wiley-Blackwell European Political Science Review, with Cambridge University Press European Political Science, with Palgrave Macmillan ECPR Press publishes original research across all fields of political science, international relations and political thought, without restriction in approach or regional focus. It is open to interdisciplinary work with a predominant political dimension; the Press has four main series: Studies in European Political Research, Monographs and Essays.

ECPR Standing Groups encourage collaboration between scholars specialising in the same area of research. Their informal structure allows closer exchange of ideas. Standing groups are open to individuals in ECPR member institutions as well as those from non-ECPR institutions. Official website

Alandur is a zone of Chennai corporation, an urban node in Chennai district in Guindy division in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. As of 2011, Alandur had a population of 164,430; the town agglomeration of Alandur will have an estimated population of 300,000 by the year 2030. Alandur neighbours the St. Thomas Mount Cantontment, the Officers Training Academy of the Indian army and the nearby towns of Guindy and Adambakkam. M. G. Ramachandran, a former chief minister of Tamil Nadu started his political career by winning his first legislative election from Alandur in 1967. Alandur holds famous landmarks of Chennai namely Nehru Statue and Kathipara Junction. Alandur is well connected with road network system and round the clock bus facility is available. Kathipara Junction is at Alandur, it has the RTO for Meenambakkam at its former municipal building, which issues registration series TN-22. The nearest railway station is St. Thomas Mount railway station; the St. Thomas Mount Railway station will be providing a facility to accommodate 1200 cars.

This will be the first time that a commercial space of two floors will be attached with the transit station. The work is in-progress. Alandur is located at 13.03°N 80.21°E / 13.03. It has an average elevation of 12 metres. According to 2011 census, Alandur had a population of 164,430 with a sex-ratio of 997 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 16,074 were under the age of six, constituting 7,828 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 11.62% and.25% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 85.23%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of 43411 households. There were a total of 64,698 workers, comprising 290 cultivators, 319 main agricultural labourers, 650 in house hold industries, 56,643 other workers, 6,796 marginal workers, 141 marginal cultivators, 146 marginal agricultural labourers, 199 marginal workers in household industries and 6,310 other marginal workers; as per the religious census of 2011, Alandur had 84.09% Hindus, 7.08% Muslims, 7.94% Christians, 0.06% Sikhs, 0.04% Buddhists, 0.25% Jains, 0.51% following other religions and 0.03% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.

In 2011, Alandur had a growth rate of 12 percent. Schools St. Peters Matriculation Higher Secondary School The PSBB Millennium School Mont fort high School Mahesh Institute Kiruba primary School Modern Senior Secondary school Vyasa Vidyalaya School Prakash Institute for NEET COACHING in Murukappan St, Swami nagar main Rd AIM Nursery & Primary School Prince Matriculation Higher Secondary School Immanuel primary School National Matriculation Highed Secondary School NAJA Educational and Social Charitable Trust Alandur Baithulmaal Trust & Associations Thulukanathamman Temple Padai Veetu Amman Sri Veera Anjaneya Temple Dharmaraja Koil Sri Subramanya Swamy Koil Pazhavanthangal Vembuli Amman Koil Aalachi Amman Koil Eswaran Temple:"Sri Thiripurasundari sametha Sri Vedapuriswara Temple Angala Amman Koil Sri Bala Vinayagar Koil Karpaga Vinayagar Koil Kadumbadi Amman Koil Ponni Amman Koil Vasupujya Jain Shwetamber Temple Alandur Nagara Sri Ayappa Seva Sangam Udumalaipettai Nagaraja Bhagavatar Bhajan Seva Mandali Trust Regd.

Bhaktavatsala Anjenayar temple Dharmalingeshwarar Temple Lakshmi narasimhar Temple Sri Hayavadhana Temple Ardhanareeshwarar Temple Siddhi vinayagar Temple Hindu Colony Vinayagar Temple Shri Vishwaroopa Anjaneya Temple Shri Uttara Guruvayurappan Temple Shri Dhakshina Raghavendra Brindavan Trust Grace A. G Church,Nehru Colony,Palavanthangal St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Butt Road, St. Thomas Church, St. Thomas Mount St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Alandur St. Mark's Catholic Church, Adambakkam St. Jude's Catholic Church, Vanavampet Infant Jesus Catholic Church, Guindy Christ Church Garrison Church St. Thomas Anglican Church, Moovarsampet Living God Church, Alandur Khadeem Walajah Masjid - Nanganallur Masjid-e-Akbari Masjid-a-Ahle-Hadees Masjid-a-Rahmania Masjid-a-Azeemjahi-Golandazi Masjid-a-Poorni Labbai Masjid-a-Khadija Masjid Taqwa Masjid Tayyib Masjid TNTJ ALANDUR Masjid Iqlas MGR Market or Alandur grocery market is about 200 years old, it is located in the middle of MKN Road. Alandur grocery market was donated to local marketeers by Mr. M. G. Ramachandran, a philanthropist and a former chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

Alandur is part of Chennai South