Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio information with minimal loss in perceptible quality. Improvements to the codec in the form of ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, ATRAC Advanced Lossless followed in 1999, 2002, 2006 respectively. Other MiniDisc manufacturers such as Sharp and Panasonic implemented their own versions of the ATRAC codec. Sony has all but dropped the ATRAC related codecs in the USA and Europe and in their SonicStage powered'Connect' Music Service on 31 March 2008. However, it is being continued in various other countries. US and foreign patents licensed from Dolby Laboratories. ATRAC's original 292 kbit/s bitrate, as used on the original MiniDiscs, was designed to be close to CD quality acoustically. Years ATRAC was improved and is considered better than earlier versions at similar bitrates.

For purposes of comparison, CDs are encoded at 1411.2 kbit/s, lossless encoders can encode most CDs below 1000 kbit/s, with significant bitrate reduction for easier-to-encode content such as voice. According to ATRAC engineers, ATRAC algorithms were developed in close cooperation with LSI integrated circuit development engineers within Sony in order to deliver on a tangible product that could encode at high speeds and with minimal power consumption; this is in contrast to other codecs developed on computers with no regard for the constraints of portable hardware. This is reflected in the design of the ATRAC codecs, which tend to emphasize processing smaller numbers of samples at a time to save memory at the cost of compression efficiency and additional multiplies; these trade-offs are logical on DSP systems, where memory is at a premium compared to multiplier performance. Sony Walkmans offer better battery life. However, as Sony only pushed ATRAC compatibility in Sony Ericsson Walkman series phones in the Japanese market, it is not supported in GSM/UMTS market phones.

Sony's Xplod series of car audio CD players support ATRAC CDs. Minidiscs with ATRAC format songs have, in the past, been supported on Eclipse brand car stereos. ATRAC1 was first used in Sony's own theater format SDDS system in the 1990s, in this context is a direct competitor to Dolby Digital and DTS. SDDS uses ATRAC1 with 8 channel encoding, with a total encoding rate over all the channels of 1168 kbit/s. Two stacked quadrature mirror filters split the signal into 3 parts: 0 to 5.5125 kHz 5.5125 to 11.025 kHz 11.025 to 22.05 kHzFull stereo encoding with a data rate of 292 kbit/s. High-frequency lowpass depends on the complexity of the material. ATRAC1 can be used in mono mode, doubling recording time. FFmpeg has an implementation of an ATRAC1 decoder. Like ATRAC1 and MP3, ATRAC3 is a hybrid subband-MDCT encoder, but with several differences. In ATRAC3, Three stacked QMF split the signal into 4 parts: 0 to 2.75625 kHz 2.75625 to 5.5125 kHz 5.5125 to 11.025 kHz 11.025 to 22.05 kHz The four subbands are MDCT encoded using a fixed-length transform.

Unlike nearly all modern formats, the transform length cannot be varied to optimize coding transients. Instead, a simpler transient encoding technique called gain control is used, in which the gain of different subbands is varied during a transient prior to MDCT and restored during decoding after the inverse MDCT to try to smooth over transients. Additionally, prior to quantization, tonal components are subtracted from the signal and independently quantized. During decoding, they are separately reconstructed and added back to reform the original MDCT coefficients. Sony claims the major advantage of ATRAC3 is its coding efficiency, tuned for portable DSP which provides less computing power and battery life. However, as ATRAC is a hybrid subband-MDCT codec, algorithmically similar to MP3, any advantage is exaggerated. Furthermore, compared to newer formats such as Windows Media Audio which use a simple MDCT rather than a hybrid, ATRAC3 must perform an additional and computationally expensive inverse-QMF, although the hybrid system does reduce memory usage, a factor given the limited memory available when ATRAC was developed.

LP2 ModeThis uses a 132 kbit/s data rate, the quality of, advertised to be similar to that of MP3 encoded at a similar bit rate. However, in an independent double-blind test without format encoding parameters reference against Ogg Vorbis, AAC, LAME VBR MP3, ATRAC3 came last. Due to lack of transparency in ATRAC encoder versioning, it is not known if the ATRAC3 encoder tested was optimal, subsequent investigation was inconclusive, it is possible. LP4 ModeThis reduces the data rate to 66 kbit/s by using joint stereo coding and a lowpass filter around 13.5 kHz. It allows 324 minutes to be recorded on an 80-minute MiniDisc, with the same padding required as LP2. NotesFFmpeg has an implementation of an ATRAC3 decoder, converted to fixed precision and implemented in the Rockbox series of firmware for ARM, Coldfire and MIPS processors. RealAudio8 is a high-bitrate implementation of ATRAC3; the PlayStation 3 video game Race Driver: Grid uses 224 simultaneous streams of ATRAC3 compressed audio, with between one and eight channels per stream at sample rates between 24 and 48 kHz, each f

Gangrene is a 1968 novel written by Flemish writer and former Assistant Direct Commissioner in the Belgian Congo Jef Geeraerts. Referred to as Black Venus, this is the first of four books belonging to Geeraerts’ Gangrene cycle; the narrator bears the author’s name, the book is considered to be a fictionalized yet autobiographical account of Geeraerts’ experiences in the Belgian Congo towards the end of the Belgian colonial era, leading towards the Congo’s independence in 1960. Although Gangrene takes the form of a novel, the style is deliberately journalistic in nature: “They call me an author,” Geeraerts once said, “but I am a journalist. My books deal with situations I know through and through, about regions where I lived long enough to get a good sense of them, about things I experienced personally”, his writings have been described as being “therapeutic”. Working as a commissioner in the Belgian Congo, narrator Jef Geeraerts depicts his day-to-day interactions with Congolese people and fellow colonists, his various journeys beyond his colonial station, the disintegration of the colony itself at the advent of Congolese independence.

Known for its graphic sexual content, Gangrene narrates numerous affairs with local women, ranging from his second wife Mbala, several young sex workers, a pregnant woman, a pair of sisters, a variety of other characters and groups of people. Gangrene depicts numerous instances of violent conflict between the Belgian Congo’s military forces and local armed militias. Towards the end of the novel, Geeraerts’ character abandons his post to flee the country, as the independence movement drove the colony into increasing chaos. Both accolades and controversy followed Gangrene’s publication at both the national and public level: “First the Belgian government awarded the novel the national prose prize that self-same government seized the book in order to investigate its lascivious character,” responding to accusations of racism and pornography. Reviews of the work describe the book as “controversial” and “explicit”; the book is widely viewed as a critique of Belgian colonization. In fact, Gangrene was accused of “giving such a harsh account of the violent 1959 military expedition in the Kasai area that Belgian army authorities publicly refuted its contents”

Russeks was a department store at 390 Fifth Avenue, at the intersection with West 36th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City The company was co-founded by brothers Frank Russek and Isidore H. Russek, became Russeks Fifth Avenue, Inc. Russeks started as a furrier in New York City during the early 1900s, expanded into luxury clothing and accessories. In 1924, they opened a department store on West 36th Street; this was 390 Fifth Avenue, designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, completed in 1904-1905 for the Gorham Manufacturing Company. In the 1940s, they had a department store in Detroit. In February 1959, they announced the closure of their Fifth Avenue store, after five years of losses, but would continue to operate in hotel and suburban locations. In 1960, the new owner, Spear Securities, remodelled the exterior of the lower floors

Walking Brooklyn: 30 Tours Exploring Historical Legacies, Neighborhood Culture, Side Streets, Waterways is a book by Adrienne Onofri. It was published in June 2007 by Wilderness Press as one of the first titles in their urban trekking series. Walking Brooklyn consists of 30 chapters; as described by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Each walk begins with a map of the area with the appropriate route highlighted, a summary of boundaries, approximate distance of the route and the closest subway stop to begin at, followed by a brief historical introduction to the area. The actual street-by-street route guide is provided in bullet form; the walks are each concluded with a summary of the points of interests described as well as a MapQuest-like route summary."The New York Times wrote: "A book about Brooklyn published by the Wilderness Press? Turns out it’s a wonderful idea....a charming and informative guide to seeing the familiar and undiscovered features of the borough on foot." The Daily News said the book "tells you what’s worth seeing or sampling in each neighborhood and how best to navigate it and where to eat while uncovering historical and cultural nuggets many natives never knew."

List of Brooklyn neighborhoods Big Onion Walking Tours

"Lay It All on Me" is a song by British drum and bass band Rudimental. It features the vocals of Ed Sheeran; the song was recorded for Rudimental's second album, We the Generation. On 24 September 2015, the band debuted the song on BBC Radio 1, it became available on downloading services the following day. Prior to "Lay It All on Me", Rudimental had collaborated with Sheeran, co-writing the song "Bloodstream" which appeared on the latter's 2014 album, x; the track was re-worked and released as the fourth single from x as well as the lead single from We the Generation. The idea for "Lay It All on Me" was in concept prior to Rudimental touring with Sheeran, providing opening support for the latter's American leg of his x tour. While on the tour bus, Rudimental played the song for Sheeran. According to Rudimental, Sheeran liked they ended up completing the song while in London; the song is "about sticking together and brotherhood". Writing the song, Rudimental's inspiration was evoked by the fact of being away from home and family.

"Lay It All on Me" is an easy-listening EDM track that features "a pulsating beat". The official remix was released on 14 December 2015 featuring additional verses from Big Sean and Vic Mensa with a different instrumental beat. On the chart dated 17 October 2015, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 96, becoming Rudimental's first charting entry in the US; the song debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 16, giving Rudimental their eighth top 40. The following week, it reached a new peak of number 15. So far it has peaked at number 12; the official music video was uploaded to Rudimental's YouTube channel on 6 November 2015

Kim Jae-woong is a South Korean football midfielder. Kim, having spent his youth career with Kyung Hee University, was selected by Incheon United from the 2011 K-League draft intake, his first game for Incheon was as a starter in the first round match of the 2011 K-League Cup against Daejeon Citizen. His made his K League debut on 20 March 2011. In just his third match in the K League, he scored his first league goal against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, before scoring two more to become joint top scorer for Incheon by the tenth week of the league. Kim went on loan to the K League Challenge side FC Anyang in 2014. Kim Jae-woong at Soccerway Kim Jae-woong – K League stats at kleague.com