PhysX is an open-source realtime physics engine middleware SDK developed by Nvidia as a part of Nvidia GameWorks software suite. Video games supporting PhysX were meant to be accelerated by PhysX PPU. However, after Ageia's acquisition by Nvidia, dedicated PhysX cards have been discontinued in favor of the API being run on CUDA-enabled GeForce GPUs. In both cases, hardware acceleration allowed for the offloading of physics calculations from the CPU, allowing it to perform other tasks instead. PhysX and other middleware physics engines are used in a large majority of today's video games because they free game developers from having to write their own code that implements classical mechanics to do, for example, soft body dynamics. What is known today as PhysX originated as a physics simulation engine called NovodeX; the engine was developed by an ETH Zurich spin-off. In 2004, Ageia acquired NovodeX AG and began developing a hardware technology that could accelerate physics calculations, aiding the CPU.

Ageia called the technology PhysX, the SDK was renamed from NovodeX to PhysX, the accelerator cards were dubbed PPUs. The first game to use PhysX was Bet On Soldier: Blood Sport. In 2008, Ageia was itself acquired by graphics technology manufacturer Nvidia. Nvidia started enabling PhysX hardware acceleration on its line of GeForce graphics cards and dropped support for Ageia PPUs. PhysX SDK 3.0 was released in May 2011 and represented a significant rewrite of the SDK, bringing improvements such as more efficient multithreading and a unified code base for all supported platforms. At GDC 2015, Nvidia made the source code for PhysX available on GitHub, but required registration at developer.nvidia.com. The proprietary SDK was provided to developers for free for both commercial and non-commercial use on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android platforms. On December 3, 2018, PhysX was made open source under a 3-clause BSD license, but this change applied only to computer and mobile platforms; the PhysX engine and SDK are available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, iOS and Android.

PhysX is a multi-threaded physics simulation SDK. It supports rigid body dynamics, soft body dynamics and character controllers, vehicle dynamics and volumetric fluid simulation. A physics processing unit is a processor specially designed to alleviate the calculation burden on the CPU calculations involving physics. PhysX PPUs were offered to consumers in the forms of PCI or PCIe cards by ASUS, BFG Technologies, Dell and ELSA Technology. Beginning with version 2.8.3 of the PhysX SDK, support for PPU cards was dropped, PPU cards are no longer manufactured. The last incarnation of PhysX PPU standalone card designed by Ageia had the same PhysX performance as a dedicated 9800GTX. After Nvidia's acquisition of Ageia, PhysX development turned away from PPU extension cards and focused instead on the GPGPU capabilities of modern GPUs. Modern GPUs are efficient at manipulating and displaying computer graphics, their parallel structure makes them more effective than general-purpose CPUs for accelerating physical simulations using PhysX.

Any CUDA-ready GeForce graphics card can take advantage of PhysX without the need to install a dedicated PhysX card. Nvidia APEX technology is a multi-platform scalable dynamics framework build around the PhysX SDK, it was first introduced in Mafia II in August 2010. Nvidia's APEX comprises the following modules: APEX Destruction, APEX Clothing, APEX Particles, APEX Turbulence, APEX ForceField and APEX Vegetation, suspended in 2011. From version 1.4.1 APEX SDK is deprecated. FleX is a particle based simulation technique for real-time visual effects. Traditionally, visual effects are made using a combination of elements created using specialized solvers for rigid bodies, clothing, etc; because FleX uses a unified particle representation for all object types, it enables new effects where different simulated substances can interact with each other seamlessly. Such unified physics solvers are a staple of the offline computer graphics world, where tools such as Autodesk Maya's nCloth, Softimage's Lagoa are used.

The goal for FleX is to use the power of GPUs to bring the capabilities of these offline applications to real-time computer graphics. On July 5, 2010, Real World Technologies published an analysis of the PhysX architecture. According to this analysis, most of the code used in PhysX applications at the time was based on x87 instructions without any multi-threading optimization; this could cause significant performance drops when running PhysX code on the CPU. The article suggested that a PhysX rewrite using SSE instructions may lessen the performance discrepancy between CPU PhysX and GPU PhysX. In response to the Real World Technologies analysis, Mike Skolones, product manager of PhysX, said that SSE support had been left behind because most games are developed for consoles first and ported to the PC; as a result, modern computers run these games faster and better than the consoles with little or no optimization. Senior PR manager of Nvidia, Bryan Del Rizzo, explained that multi-threading had been available with CPU PhysX 2.x and that it had been up to the developer to make use of it.

He stated that automatic multithreading and SSE would be introduced with version 3 of the PhysX SDK. PhysX SDK 3.0 was released in May 2011 and represented a significant rewrite of the SDK, bringing improvem

Pietro Vidoni was an Italian cardinal who served from 1652 to 1660 as the papal legate and nuncio to Poland. Vidoni was born 8 November 1610 in Cremona into Italian noble family, he studied at several Italian universities and received his doctorate, before moving to Rome and pursuing an ecclesiastical career. During the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII, Vidoni was appointed as the governor of Rimini, Sabina and Spoleto In 1652, Vidoni was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, a position he held until his elevation to Cardinal in 1660, he conducted the holy mass in the Latin Cathedral of Lwów, during which Polish King John II Casimir had taken the Lwów Oath. Returning to Italy, he was elevated to cardinal by pope Alexander VII, in the consistory of 5 April 1660. In 1661 he was given the titular church of San Callisto. In 1662 he was a legate in Bologna. In 1667 he participated in the papal conclave which elected Pope Clement IX, he participated in the conclave of 1669-1670 which elected Pope Clement X and the conclave of 1676, which elected Pope Innocent XI.

Between 1675-1676 appointed as the Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals. He died in Rome on 5 January 1681 and was buried in the basilica of Santa Maria della Vittoria

Texas Moratorium Network is a grassroots non-profit organization with the primary goal of mobilizing statewide support for a moratorium on executions in Texas. It has about 20,000 members, about 85 percent of; the Texas Moratorium Network was founded in 2000 by several people, involved in organizing a march held in Austin on October 15, 2000 to protest capital punishment in Texas under then-Governor George W. Bush; the march has since become an annual event attended by anti death penalty activists from across Texas and other states, Europe. The Network is funded by donations from individuals as well as grants from foundations, including multiple grants from both the Tides Foundation and Resist, Inc. In the 2001 session of the Texas Legislature, the Network advocated in favor of legislation that would have enacted a moratorium on executions; the moratorium legislation was favorably reported out of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. Randall Dale Adams and Kerry Max Cook, innocent men, exonerated after spending years on Texas Death Row, both testified in favor of the moratorium legislation.

The committees heard from Jeanette Popp, whose daughter was murdered in Austin, Texas in 1988. She testified that two innocent men, Christopher Ochoa and Richard Danziger, had been wrongfully convicted of her daughter's murder and had spent twelve years in prison before being exonerated and released; the real killer of her daughter, Achim Joseph Marino, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison after Popp asked the district attorney not to seek the death penalty against him. Popp served as chairperson of the Network from 2001 -- 2004. In the 2001 session of the Texas Legislature, a bill reached the floor of the Texas House that, if passed, would have enacted a moratorium on executions; the bill received 53 votes in favor of a moratorium. In 2003, the Network convinced the Travis County Commissioners Court to pass a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions. In the summer of 2004, members of the Network persuaded the Texas Democratic Party to endorse a moratorium in the party platform.

The party again endorsed a moratorium in the 2008 platforms. After Ernest Willis was exonerated and released from Texas Death Row on October 6, 2004, the Network created the Texas Death Penalty Innocence Freedom Fund and donated $1,000 USD to Willis to help him until he received compensation from the State of Texas, which compensated Willis a total of $429,166 USD for the more than seventeen years he spent on death row for a crime he had not committed. After the September 14, 2005 execution of Frances Newton, the Network conducted a fundraising campaign which raised about $1,000 USD to help Newton's family pay the funeral expenses. Newton was the first African-American woman executed in Texas since a slave named Lucy was hanged March 5, 1858 in Galveston County for murder. In 2007, the Network collected signatures from members of the general public on a judicial complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct against Sharon Keller, presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, after she said "We close at 5" and refused to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5pm from Michael Richard's attorneys on the day of his execution.

Members of the Network held a protest on the sidewalk in front of Keller's home and created the website SharonKiller.com. The U. S. Supreme Court had earlier accepted for consideration a case known as Baze v. Rees from Kentucky in which two death row inmates were challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection as a method of execution. On February 19, 2009, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct charged Keller with five counts of misconduct; the commission charged Keller with dereliction of duty, denying Richard his right to access to the courts and incompetence in office. A trial on the charges was held August 17 -- 2009 in a San Antonio courtroom; the Network held a protest outside the courthouse. In 2008, the Network created a political action committee to support candidates who oppose the death penalty or support a moratorium. In 2009, the Network led an advocacy campaign to pass a bill to end the death penalty for people convicted under the law of parties; the bill did not pass the Senate.

The Law of Parties applies when someone takes part in one crime – robbery, for example – and does not kill anyone themselves or intend that anyone be killed but "should have anticipated" a murder by an accomplice. On June 2, 2009, the Network coordinated protests in several Texas cities and Europe of the 200th execution in Texas since Rick Perry became governor of Texas in December 2000. After Anthony Graves was released on October 27, 2010 after 18 years on Texas death for a crime he did not commit, the Network collected $3,000 in donations from its supporters and gave it to Graves on November 20, 2010.. When Alfred Dewayne Brown was released on June 8, 2015 after more than ten years on Texas death row for a crime he did not commit, the Network collected more than $6,000 for Brown in donations using the crowdfunding site Indiegogo Life; the Network held an international, all-media, juried art show on the death penalty in Austin, Texas at Gallery Lombardi May 6–22, 2006 entitled "Justice for All?: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty".

The show was juried by Annette Carlozzi, head curator of the Blanton Museum of Art's Contemporary and American Art collection. More than 300 artists from 19 countries submitted more than 700 pieces of art to the show; the jury selected 55 works for the exhibition at Gallery Lombardi. The art show was funded in part

Vilcha is a Ukrainian abandoned settlement and former town in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, part of Poliske Raion, Kiev Oblast. The town was founded in 1926 on the site of a settlement named Oleksiivka. After the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 45 km far from Vilcha, the town was not included into the "Exclusion Zone" before 1993. During 1993 to 1996, most of the 2,000 residents moved to Kharkiv Oblast, where they founded a New Vilcha, few kilometres south of the town of Vovchansk; the ghost town, today one of the checkpoints to the Exclusion Zone, was resettled by few samosely some years later. Located near the borders with Zhytomyr Oblast and the Belarusian Oblast of Gomel, Vilcha is located in the middle of the natural region of Polesia, close to its radioecological reserve, it is 17 km from Poliske, 40 km from Krasiatychi, 43 km from Pripyat, 44 km from Ovruch and 95 km from Slavutych. The town is crossed in the middle by the regional highway P02 Ovruch-Kiev, is the southern end of the T1035 road from Oleksandrivka, Naroulia District, in Belarus, that continues as P37 highway to Naroulia and Mazyr.

It has a railway station in service but without passenger traffic, on the Chernihiv–Ovruch line. Vilcha, Kharkiv Oblast Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Media related to Vilcha at Wikimedia Commons

The 47th Reserve Infantry Division is a military reserve formation of the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China. The 47th Division was created in February 1949 under the Regulation of the Redesignations of All Organizations and Units of the Army, issued by Central Military Commission on November 1, 1948, basing on the 2nd Brigade, 1st Column of Zhongyuan Field Army, its history can be traced to 2nd Brigade, 1st Column of Jinjiluyu Military Region formed on September 22 1945. Under the command of 16th Corps it took part in many major battles during the Chinese civil war; the division was a part of 16th Corps. The division took part in the Chinese Civil War. In September 1951 Tank Regiment was attached to the division. In December 1952 the division entered Korea as a part of People's Volunteer Army. In 1955 the division was renamed as 47th Infantry Division. On April 18th 1958 the division stationed in Siping, Jilin province. In April 1960 the division was renamed as 47th Army Division.

By the division was composed of: 139th Infantry Regiment. In April 1969 253rd Tank Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment was detached and transferred to 4th Tank Division as 15th Tank Regiment. In 1985 the division was renamed as 47th Infantry Division. Since the division was composed of: 139th Infantry Regiment. From 1985 to 1998 the division maintained as a Northern Infantry Division, Catalogue B. In 1998 the division was transferred to Army Reserve status, becoming the 47th Reserve Infantry Division of the Army Reserve of Jilin Provincial Military District. 中国人民解放军各步兵师沿革，http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a3f74a990101cp1q.html

Royal Air Force Membury or more RAF Membury is a former Royal Air Force station built in the civil parish of Lambourn in Berkshire, England. The airfield is located 4.6 miles mi north-northwest of Hungerford, at the Membury services stop of the M4 motorway. The airfield lies next to the Iron Age hill fort of Membury Camp. Opened in 1942, it was used by both United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used by several combat units with varying missions, it was a major supply and maintenance depot. After the war, it was a private airport until the construction of the M4 motorway in the 1960s when it was closed. Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property with the former technical site now being an industrial estate. Membury was known as USAAF Station AAF-466 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, by which it was referred to instead of location, its USAAF Station Code was "ME". Meanwhile, the Eighth Air Force VIII Ground Air Support Command, the forebear of the reborn Ninth Air Force had designated Membury for use by its reconnaissance units.

These were the men of the 3rd Photographic and the 67th Observation Groups, who arrived at Membury on 7 and 8 September 1942. The 3rd consisted of the 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 23d squadrons, however the group's air echelons were still in the United States at Colorado Springs AAF, Colorado. Whilst at RAF Membury, the group was reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force and moved to RAF Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire during October prior to its movement to North Africa; the 67th Observation Group arrived at Membury from Esler AAF Louisiana and consisted of the following operational squadrons: 12th Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron 107th Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron 109th Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron 153rd Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron At the time of the transfer to Ninth Air Force, the group was redesignated the 67th Reconnaissance Group. At the time, the 107th and 109th Squadrons were converting to North American P-51A Mustangs; however before this was completed, the 107th Squadron was moved to nearby RAF Aldermaston.

During the winter of 1942/1943, the Air Depot site was occupied by the 7th and 16th Air Depot Groups, forming the 6th Tactical Air Depot which specialised in the repair and modification of Republic P-47 Thunderbolts.. In January 1944 the 366th Fighter Group arrived at Membury from Bluethenthal AAF North Carolina. Operational squadrons of the group were: 389th Fighter Squadron 390th Fighter Squadron 391st Fighter Squadron The 366th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 71st Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. Before the group could become operational, the unit was moved to RAF Thruxton on 1 March; the 436th Troop Carrier Group with its Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrains arrived on 3 March from RAF Bottesford. Operational squadrons of the group were: 79th Troop Carrier Squadron 80th Troop Carrier Squadron 81st Troop Carrier Squadron 82nd Troop Carrier Squadron The 436th TCW was assigned to the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing; when the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing moved its groups to France in February 1945 the 436th vacated Membury between the 21st and 25th for its new location at Melun.

There was still a US presence at Membury until a few weeks after the end of hostilities as the airfield was being used by the IX Troop Carrier Command as a pick-up point. With the 436th leaving Membury for Melun in France and the Americans departing by the end of June the station was back under RAF control. In October 1946 when the station was closed and Membury was reduced to maintenance status. Much of the 1951 novel Air Bridge by Hammond Innes is set in the closed RAF Membury at the time of the Berlin Airlift, describes how the decaying airfield and its surroundings looked at that time; the airfield was used as the location for a UNIT airfield in the second episode of the 1974 Doctor Who story "Planet of the Spiders. Many small industries took over the old buildings on the former Air Depot technical site which are used for light industrial purposes; the former aircraft hangars are used for grain storage. The former airfield tower stood until 1998. Membury is now jointly owned and operated by Southern Sailplanes / Flight Composites, an aircraft repair and maintenance company, Aviation Enterprises Ltd.

In recent years the remaining runways have had new tarmac strips laid and new aircraft hangars were erected in 2010. And now the home to White Horse Aviation, a microlight school. Innes, Air Bridge, List of former Royal Air Force stations 82nd Airborne Division This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/. Freeman, R. Airfields of the Eighth -- Now. After the Battle. London, UK: Battle of Britain International Ltd. 2001. ISBN 0-9009-13-09-6. Freeman, Roger A. UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle ISBN 0-900913-80-0 Freeman, Roger A; the Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle ISBN 1-85409-272-3 Maurer, M. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. USAF Historical Division. Washington D. C. USA: Zenger Publishing Co. Inc, 1980. ISBN 0-89201-092-4. USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers—1908 to present British Automobile Association, Complete Atlas of Britain, ISBN 0-86145-005-1 http://www.memburyairfield.co.uk Photographs of RAF Membury from the Geograph British Isles project http://www.ramsburyatwar.com/memburyairfield.htm