The oboe is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are made of wood, but may be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin or hybrid composites; the most common oboe plays in the soprano range. A soprano oboe measures 65 cm long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column; the distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When the word oboe is used alone, it is taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais, or oboe d'amore. A musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist. Today, the oboe is used as orchestral or solo instrument in symphony orchestras, concert bands and chamber ensembles; the oboe is used in classical music, chamber music, film music, some genres of folk music, is heard in jazz, rock and popular music. The oboe is recognized as the instrument that tunes the orchestra with its distinctive'A'.

In comparison to other modern woodwind instruments, the treble oboe is sometimes referred to as having a clear and penetrating voice. The Sprightly Companion, an instruction book published by Henry Playford in 1695, describes the oboe as "Majestical and Stately, not much Inferior to the Trumpet." In the play Angels in America the sound is described as like "that of a duck if the duck were a songbird". The rich timbre is derived from its conical bore; as a result, oboes are easier to hear over other instruments in large ensembles due to its penetrating sound. The highest note is a semitone lower than the nominally highest note of the B♭ clarinet. Since the clarinet has a wider range, the lowest note of the B♭ clarinet is deeper than the lowest note of the oboe. Music for the standard oboe is written in concert pitch, the instrument has a soprano range from B♭3 to G6. Orchestras tune to a concert A played by the first oboe. According to the League of American Orchestras, this is done because the pitch is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning.

The pitch of the oboe is affected by the way. The reed has a significant effect on the sound. Variations in cane and other construction materials, the age of the reed, differences in scrape and length all affect the pitch. German and French reeds, for instance, differ in many ways. Weather conditions such as temperature and humidity affect the pitch. Skilled oboists adjust their embouchure to compensate for these factors. Subtle manipulation of embouchure and air pressure allows the oboist to express timbre and dynamics. Most professional oboists make their reeds to suit their individual needs. By making their reeds, oboists can control factors such as tone color and responsiveness, they can account for individual embouchure, oral cavity, oboe angle, air support. Novice oboists make their own reeds, as the process is difficult and time consuming, purchase reeds from a music store instead. Commercially available cane reeds are available in several degrees of hardness; these reeds, like clarinet and bassoon reeds, are made from Arundo donax.

As oboists gain more experience, they may start making their own reeds after the model of their teacher or buying handmade reeds and using special tools including gougers, pre-gougers, guillotines and other tools to make and adjusts reeds to their liking. According to John Mack, former principal oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra, an oboe student must fill a laundry basket with finished reeds in order to master the art; the reed is considered the part of oboe that makes the instrument so difficult because the individual nature of each reed means that it is hard to achieve a consistent sound. Slight variations in temperature, altitude and climate can have an affect the sound of the reed, as well as minute changes in the physique of the reed. Plastic oboe reeds are used, are less available than plastic reeds for other instruments, such as the clarinet; however they do exist, are produced by brands such as Legere. In English, prior to 1770, the standard instrument was called a "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy".

The spelling of oboe was adopted into English c. 1770 from the Italian oboè, a transliteration of the 17th-century pronunciation of the French name. The regular oboe first appeared in the mid-17th century; this name was used for its predecessor, the shawm, from which the basic form of the hautbois was derived. Major differences between the two instruments include the division of the hautbois into three sections, or joints, the elimination of the pirouette, the wooden ledge below the reed which allowed players to rest their lips; the exact date and place of origin of the hautbois are obscure, as are the individuals who were responsible. Circumstantial evidence, such as the statement by the flautist composer Michel de la Barre in his Memoire, points to members of the Philidor and Hotteterre families; the instrument may in fact have had multiple inventors. The hautbois spread throughout Europe, including Great Britain, where it was called "hautboy", "hoboy", "

In cryptography, LOKI97 is a block cipher, a candidate in the Advanced Encryption Standard competition. It is a member of the LOKI family of ciphers, with earlier instances being LOKI89 and LOKI91. LOKI97 was designed by Lawrie Brown, assisted by Josef Pieprzyk. Like DES, LOKI97 is a 16-round Feistel cipher, like other AES candidates, has a 128-bit block size and a choice of a 128-, 192- or 256-bit key length, it uses 16 rounds of a balanced Feistel network to process the input data blocks. The complex round function; the key schedule is a Feistel structure – an unbalanced one unlike the main network — but using the same F-function. The LOKI97 round function uses two columns each with multiple copies of two basic S-boxes; these S-boxes are designed to be non-linear and have a good XOR profile. The permutations before and between serve to provide auto-keying and to diffuse the S-box outputs as as possible; the authors have stated that, "LOKI97 is a non-proprietary algorithm, available for royalty-free use worldwide as a possible replacement for the DES or other existing block ciphers."

It was intended to be an evolution of LOKI91 block ciphers. It was the first published candidate in the Advanced Encryption Standard competition, was analysed and attacked. An analysis of some problems with the LOKI97 design, which led to its rejection when shortlisting candidates, is given in a paper, it was found to be susceptible to an effective theoretical differential cryptanalysis attack faster than an exhaustive search. LOKI Advanced Encryption Standard competition L. Brown, J. Pieprzyk: Introducing the new LOKI97 Block Cipher L. R. Knudsen and V. Rijmen, "Weaknesses in LOKI97", Proceedings of the 2nd AES Candidate Conference, March 22–23, 1999, pp. 168–174. Wenling Wu, Bao Li, Denguo Feng, Sihan Qing, "Cryptanalysis of some AES candidate algorithms", Information and Communication Security - ICICS'99, LNCS 1726, pp 13–21, V Varadharajan, Springer-Verlag 1999. Wenling Wu, Bao Li, Denguo Feng, Sihan Qing, "Linear cryptanalysis of LOKI97", Journal of Software, vol 11 no 2, pp 202–6, Feb 2000.

The LOKI97 homepage The design of LOKI97 SCAN's entry for LOKI97 John Savard's Description of LOKI97 Online-implementation of LOKI97 at serversniff.net

Willamette Iron Works was a general foundry and machine business established in 1865 in Portland, Oregon specializing in the manufacture of steamboat boilers and engines. In 1904, the company changed its name to Willamette Iron and Steel Works, under which name it operated continually until its close in 1990; the works was busy during both World War I and World War II, building small naval auxiliaries, patrol craft, submarine chasers, non-self-propelled lighters. These were built through WISCO's relationship with Henry Kaiser; the company built more than 70 ships during World War II, but they were smaller than those built by the three nearby Kaiser Shipyards. The ships were built on contract to the British governments. Between the wars, the shipyard concentrated on building small commercial vessels. During the 1920s, the company manufactured a geared steam locomotive known as the "Willamette", a Shay-type locomotive for use in logging operations in Washington and Oregon. Between 1901 and 1931 Willamette built over 2500 steam donkeys for use in the logging industry.

During World War II Willamette assembled over 800 Russian gauge Baldwin steam locomotives and shipped them to Vladivostok. NW Front Ave. in Portland had a short distance of Russian gauge track for the engines to move from the engine house on the west side of Front to the loading dock on the east side of the street. These were shipped across the Pacific on USSR flagged ships, since the USSR and the Empire of Japan were not at war. A Porter 0-6-0 was bought from the US Government in Panama to switch the broad gauge track. In the early 1970s, the company manufactured the first three turbine units for the third powerhouse to be built at Grand Coulee Dam; the company made fire hydrants for the city of Portland in the late 19th century. In 1945, after World War II ended, Willamette Iron and Steel continued as a ship repair facility. Over the years, business dropped as larger shipyards grew, Willamette closed in 1990