The Advanced Encryption Standard, the symmetric block cipher ratified as a standard by National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States, was chosen using a process lasting from 1997 to 2000, markedly more open and transparent than its predecessor, the Data Encryption Standard. This process won praise from the open cryptographic community, helped to increase confidence in the security of the winning algorithm from those who were suspicious of backdoors in the predecessor, DES. A new standard was needed because DES has a small 56-bit key, becoming vulnerable to brute-force attacks. In addition, the DES was designed for hardware and is slow when implemented in software. While Triple-DES avoids the problem of a small key size, it is slow in hardware, it is unsuitable for limited-resource platforms, it may be affected by potential security issues connected with the block size of 64 bits. On January 2, 1997, NIST announced that they wished to choose a successor to DES to be known as AES.

Like DES, this was to be "an unclassified, publicly disclosed encryption algorithm capable of protecting sensitive government information well into the next century." However, rather than publishing a successor, NIST asked for input from interested parties on how the successor should be chosen. Interest from the open cryptographic community was intense, NIST received a great many submissions during the three-month comment period; the result of this feedback was a call for new algorithms on September 12, 1997. The algorithms were all to be block ciphers, supporting a block size of 128 bits and key sizes of 128, 192, 256 bits; such ciphers were rare at the time of the announcement. In the nine months that followed, fifteen different designs were created and submitted from several different countries, they were, in alphabetical order: CAST-256, CRYPTON, DEAL, DFC, E2, FROG, HPC, LOKI97, MAGENTA, MARS, RC6, Rijndael, SAFER+, Twofish. In the ensuing debate, many advantages and disadvantages of the different candidates were investigated by cryptographers.

Some designs fell due to cryptanalysis that ranged from minor flaws to significant attacks, while others lost favour due to poor performance in various environments or through having little to offer over other candidates. NIST held two conferences to discuss the submissions, in August 1999 they announced that they were narrowing the field from fifteen to five: MARS, RC6, Rijndael and Twofish. All five algorithms referred to as "AES finalists", were designed by cryptographers considered well-known and respected in the community; the AES2 conference votes were as follows: Rijndael: 86 positive, 10 negative Serpent: 59 positive, 7 negative Twofish: 31 positive, 21 negative RC6: 23 positive, 37 negative MARS: 13 positive, 84 negativeA further round of intense analysis and cryptanalysis followed, culminating in the AES3 conference in April 2000, at which a representative of each of the final five teams made a presentation arguing why their design should be chosen as the AES. On October 2, 2000, NIST announced that Rijndael had been selected as the proposed AES and started the process of making it the official standard by publishing an announcement in the Federal Register on February 28, 2001 for the draft FIPS to solicit comments.

On November 26, 2001, NIST announced that AES was approved as FIPS PUB 197. NIST won praises from the cryptographic community for the openness and care with which they ran the standards process. Bruce Schneier, one of the authors of the losing Twofish algorithm, wrote after the competition was over that "I have nothing but good things to say about NIST and the AES process." NIST hash function competition Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization A historical overview of the process can be found on NIST's website. On the sci.crypt newsgroup, there are extensive discussions about the AES process

The Mortier de 220 mm Tir Rapide modèle 1915/1916 Schneider or 220 mm TR mle 1915/1916 for short was a French Howitzer designed and produced during the First World War. A number were still on hand during the Second World War and served in Belgian and German service. Before the First World War, the doctrine of the French Army was geared towards a war of rapid maneuver. Attention was focused on light mobile field guns such as the Canon de 75 modèle 1897 with little consideration given to heavy artillery; as the First World War settled into Trench Warfare on the Western Front the light field guns that the combatants went to war with were beginning to show their limitations when facing an enemy, now dug into prepared positions. Indirect fire and counter-battery fire emphasized the importance of long-range heavy artillery; the 43 kg projectiles from the heaviest howitzer available the 155 mm CTR Mle 1904, were found to be ineffective against dug in German positions. The heaviest pieces available were the de Bange 220 mm mle 1880/1891 mortars.

However, these lacked mobility, had short range 7 km, a slow rate of fire and required large crews to dig positions and erect wooden firing platforms before use. In 1909 Schneider had produced a 228 mm howitzer for the Imperial Russian Army and it was decided to develop a 220 mm version in order to use existing stocks of de Bange ammunition; these projectiles weighed about 100 kg. The solution was a set folding rails. Between shots, the barrel was lowered and the projectile was slid on a stretcher up the rails to the breech for ramming home; the first order for 40 howitzers was issued in October 1915, with the first deliveries beginning in 1916. The new howitzer designated the Mortier de 220 mm Tir Rapide Modèle 1915 surpassed the de Bange mortars performance with twice the rate of fire and a range of 10.8 km. The howitzer's weight 7,455 kg was beyond the horse teams' towing capability, so it was designed to be broken down and transported in two loads. However, the axle of the new carriage had to be towed at low speeds.

Battlefield experience suggested several enhancements to improve mobility: the installation of a sprung suspension, replacement of the curved axle with a straight axle, use of 14 spoke instead of 12 spoke wheels and solid rubber tires. The majority of these changes were incorporated in the new mle 1916, with the exception of a straight axle; the problem of low towing speed, which did not exceed a walking pace, remained unresolved throughout the life of the gun and represented its greatest shortcoming. The increasing availability of artillery tractors in the war meant that the gun was transported in one load, with the barrel withdrawn from battery and fastened to the Box trail, a wheeled limber was placed beneath the Box trail; the mle 1915/1916 was considered a successful design until the stages of the First World War when battlefield mobility was restored and its slow towing speed limited its usefulness. With the armistice, the French army had 272 mle 1915/1916s in its inventory. During the inter-war years the mle 1915/1916 was placed in reserve and Belgium bought eight.

At the beginning of Second World War, the French army deployed 376 mle 1915/16s of the 462 still available. When the French surrender in 1940, the Germans used surviving pieces under the designation 22 cm Mörser 530 and 22 cm Mörser 531

Bright Target Explorer or BRITE known as Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment 3 is a constellation of six nanosatellites operated by a consortium of universities from Canada and Poland. The BRITE satellites were designed by the Institute for Aerospace Studies at the University of Toronto under the Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment Program; the satellites is built around the Generic Nanosatellite Bus, a cube-shaped spacecraft with sides of 20 centimetres, first used in current BRITE version for the satellite CanX-3. One satellite is called BRITE-Toronto. BRITE Constellation was included in the #7 entry in the Top Ten Science Stories of 2013, as chosen by Bob McDonald, host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio show Quirks & Quarks, the main science journalist for CBC radio and television; the satellite is intended for astro-photometry of the brightest stars in single wavelength band. UniBRITE-1, BRITE-Toronto and Heweliusz BRITE-PL photometers are sensitive to the red light, while BRITE-Montreal, Lem BRITE-PL and BRITE-AUSTRIA are sensitive to the blue light.

Canadian Space Agency BRITE constellation

Marco Perella is an American character actor and author, who has played a variety of small roles in motion pictures shot in Texas. He is best known for his role in Boyhood, playing an abusive alcoholic second husband, Professor Bill Welbrock, for his bestselling book, Adventures of A No Name Actor, a humorous autobiography recounting his struggles in the acting world. Perella was born in Houston, the son of Anthony Paul Perella and Edna Lee Drake, he left after his junior year. He worked as a construction worker and musician, before auditioning for a role in West Side Story. In 1984, he and actress Diane Perella were married in Texas, they have two children. In the mid 1980s, Perella began to work in television, his debut was in Fandango starring Kevin Costner, but his scenes were cut before the theatrical release. He took the role as a cab driver in D. O. A. starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. Other roles include a police sergeant in the made-for-TV movie Knight Rider 2000 starring David Hasselhoff, as the Mercer interrogator in Oliver Stone's JFK starring Kevin Costner, as a road block officer in A Perfect World starring Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, as an Anglo father in Lone Star starring Matthew McConaughey and Kris Kristofferson.

Perella had a recurring role, as Cobalt, in TV's Walker, Texas Ranger starring Chuck Norris, he appeared in another episode of Walker, Texas Ranger entitled'No Way Out' as Zeke, a Mercenary working for Caleb Hooks Michael Parks. He worked with director Richard Linklater several times, playing the roles as Tom Watson in Fast Food Nation starring Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis, Catalina Sandino Moreno, as Donald in A Scanner Darkly starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr. and as Professor Bill Welbrock, the abusive alcoholic second husband, in Boyhood starring Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke. His autobiography, Adventures of A No Name Actor, in which Perella humorously recounts his struggles in the acting world, was published in 2001 and became a bestseller. Marco Perella lives in Onion Creek, with his wife, Diane. Besides acting themselves, they offer on-camera acting classes and audition workshops in Austin. D. O. A. as Cab Driver It Takes Two as Dave Cohen and Tate as FBI George Pancho Barnes as Maj. Cooper Night Game as Color Man Challenger as Dick Methia Black Snow as Charlie A Killing in a Small Town as Rick Slocum Knight Rider 2000 as Police Sergeant A Seduction in Travis County as Poge JFK as Mercer Interrogator Murder in the Heartland as Bob Von Busch My Boyfriend's Back as Townsperson Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald as 2nd Young Guy A Perfect World as Road Block Officer The Chase as Cop #2 Shadows of Desire as Man #1 Tall and Deadly as Waiter The Tuskegee Airmen as Col. Sirca The Man with the Perfect Swing as Chuck Carter Lone Star as Anglo Father Two Mothers for Zachary as Reporter #2 The People Next Door as Simms, Manager Deep in the Heart as Mickey / Coach Keys to Tulsa as Bedford Shaw To Live Again as News Anchor Home Fries as Good Ol' Boy in Pickup Varsity Blues as Dr. Benton Brothers.

Dogs. And God as Buddy Hell Swarm as Brad Dempsey Picnic as Police Chief Miss Congeniality as Starbucks Guy Beyond the Prairie, Part 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder as Grady The Life of David Gale as TV Host No Pain, No Gain as Preppy Customer Friday Night Lights as Booster The Wendell Baker Story as Investigator Sin City as Skinny Dude The King as Chairman Fast Food Nation as Tom Watson A Scanner Darkly as Donald Infamous as Clifford Hope Elvis and Anabelle as Doctor Love and Mary as Vince Broke Sky as Paul Spirit Camp as Nikki's Dad Deep in the Heart as Fred This Is Where We Live as Doctor Benson Boyhood as Professor Bill Welbrock The Teller and the Truth as FBI Agent Carl Winstead My All American as Dr. Martin The Devil's Candy as Sgt. Davis A Room Full of Nothing as Steve Dangerous Curves as Bruder Larry Walker, Texas Ranger as Cobalt / Zeke Wishbone as Seymour LaVista Friday Night Lights as Big Shot Dallas as Mark-Oil Executive In an Instant as Koski's neighbor The Leftovers as Charlie Simpson American Crime as Senator Robert Butler Personal site Marco Perella on IMDb

Rashad Steward Baker is a former American football safety. He was signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2004, he played college football at Tennessee. Baker was a member of the Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders. Born in Camden, New Jersey, Baker attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden. Baker attended the University of Tennessee. Although Tennessee recruited Baker as a wide receiver, Baker switched to free safety in the fourth game his freshman year. Baker started four seasons for the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 2000 to 2003 and ran 110-meter hurdles on the Tennessee track team. With Tennessee, Baker started 41 of 45 games played and had 233 tackles, 11 interceptions, 24 passes deflected. Baker made second-team All-SEC honors in 2001 as a sophomore and first-team All-SEC honors as a junior in 2002. A projected sixth-round pick for the 2004 NFL Draft, Baker was signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2004 and played for the team through the 2006 season.

Baker started 3 games of 14 played in his rookie season 2004 and never started any of 14 games played in 2005. As a rookie, Baker had 22 tackles, 1 pass deflected, 1 interception with a 26-yard return, 1 forced fumble in 2004. In 2005, Baker had 18 tackles, 1 pass deflected, 1 interception returned for 18 yards. On September 2, 2006, the Bills waived Baker; the Minnesota Vikings signed Baker the next day. Baker played one game as a reserve for the Vikings on October 1 and was released on November 4. Baker was claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots on November 7, 2006, he played 5 games with the Patriots in 2006 with 5 tackles. In 2007, Baker had 12 tackles, he was released on December 19, 2007. Baker was picked up by the Oakland Raiders off waivers on the same day. In the 2008 offseason, Baker's jersey number was changed from 28 to 22 to accommodate free agent acquisition Gibril Wilson, he changed his number to 27. In 2008, Baker played 10 games with 1 start for the Raiders and made 24 tackles, 4 passes deflected, 3 interceptions.

Baker signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles on March 11, 2009. He was released on August 18. Baker re-signed with the Raiders on August 19, 2009, his number 27 was taken by Jason Horton, so Baker chose number 32. He was released from the Raiders on September 5, 2009. New England Patriots bio Oakland Raiders bio Philadelphia Eagles bio

The Goleta Slough is an area of estuary, tidal creeks, tidal marsh, wetlands near Goleta, United States. It consists of the filled and unfilled remnants of the historic inner Goleta Bay about 8 miles west of Santa Barbara; the slough empties into the Pacific Ocean through an intermittently closed mouth at Goleta Beach County Park just east of the UCSB campus and Isla Vista. The slough drains the Goleta Valley and watershed, receives the water of all of the major creeks in the Goleta area including the southern face of the Santa Ynez Mountains; the Santa Barbara Airport has the largest border on the slough and contains the largest part of the slough. UCSB, Isla Vista, the City of Goleta and other unincorporated areas of the county, including the landward bluffs of More Mesa and encompass the rest of the slough; the Goleta Slough as it exists today is the result of two major historical events of the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The first was the heavy grazing by cattle on the surrounding foothills and mountainsides followed by wide-ranging grassfires, heavy rains in 1861/62, flooding which caused so much erosion and deposition of sediment in the mouths of the creeks emptying into Goleta Bay that most of the bay became silt-filled salt marsh in just a couple of years.

The second event was the filling and conversion of the marsh and remaining bay into a military airbase during World War II. This filling was completed by the reduction of the rest of Mescalitan Island, used for fill for the airport and the surrounding area; the former location of Mescalitan Island now contains a sewage treatment plant. While no longer having a navigable mouth, nor depths in most places suitable for anything except canoes and small boats, the slough remains a important area of vital wetlands, salt marsh, estuarian creeks. "The Goleta Slough wetlands... are fragmented along the coast from More Mesa to UCSB Storke Campus". The Goleta Slough Ecological Reserve is administered by the Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game. The Slough contains 430 acres of wetland habitat; the approximate historic area was 1,150 acres."The primary function of the Ecological Reserve is to provide habitat for wildlife and a setting for educational and research activities. Public utility and transportation corridors traverse the wetlands, airport runways, a sanitary treatment plant, a power generation station, light industrial facilities are constructed on filled portions of the marsh."

"It is estimated. Early European explorers used the embayment as an anchorage for large ships until the 1860s; the severe winter storms of 1861/62 filled the embayment with sediment. Agricultural development in the slough began in the 1870s and the following decades saw the construction of berms and roads to further facilitate agricultural development. In 1928 a landing strip was established in the northeastern portion of the slough, expanded in 1942-43 for construction of the Marine Corps Air Station, now the Municipal Airport."The Marine station was known as Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara and became inactive in 1946. Goleta Slough is entirely surrounded by urban development, some of which extends into the wetlands; this includes the municipal airport to the north, the sewage treatment plant and the Southern California Gas Company's La Goleta Gas Field to the east, a public beach between the ocean and the slough, the campus of UC Santa Barbara to the south and west, residential and light industrial operations to the north and west.

Cattle ranching began in 1846 followed by agricultural development on the uplands around the slough. A whaling station was established in about 1870, asphaltum mining commenced in the 1890s, development of small farms expanded to cover the entire mesa in the 1920s, rapid urbanization began in the 1940s. Extensive areas of the historic marsh below the high tide line are isolated from tidal influence by berms and dikes. Tidal flooding is limited to the south-central portion of the slough, extending into several of the major tributaries. Tidal amplitude in the upper reaches of the slough is diminished. During the summer months the tidal amplitude may become attenuated and eliminated by progressive berming of the mouth; the beach berm is mechanically breached to maintain water quality in the slough. The Slough is fed by a watershed area of 45 square miles; the major tributaries of the Slough are Tecolotito Creek, Carneros Creek, Atascadero Creek. Tecolotito Creek's highest flows are during winter storms.

Carneros Creek's major flows are of the flash flood type, with intermittent flows in the summer months. Atascadero Creek is a stream that has perennial freshwater flow, augmented by seepage and landscape watering. Highest flows are during winter storms. Other flow sources are More Mesa. Habitat area has been surveyed for the City of Santa Barbara property, the largest portion of the wetlands, it is: 101 acres of coastal salt marsh 15 acres of mudflats 4 acres of saltflats 28 acres of creek and channels 8+ acres of riverine 198 acres of Palustrine 4.5 acres of scrub/shrub and forested wetlands. Vegetation includes pickleweed, alkali-heath, salt grass, salt bush, ditch-grass, pondweed and cattails; the shrubs include willows and coyote brush. The trees are southern coastal oak