RealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music, it can be used as a streaming audio format, played at the same time as it is downloaded. In the past, many internet radio stations used RealAudio to stream their programming over the internet in real time. In recent years, the format has become less common and has given way to more popular audio formats. RealAudio was used by the BBC websites until 2009, though it was discontinued due to its declining use. BBC World Service, the last of the BBC websites to use RealAudio, discontinued its use in March 2011. RealAudio files were identified by a filename extension of.ra. In 1997, RealNetworks began offering a video format called RealVideo; the combination of the audio and video formats was used the file extension.rm. However, the latest version of RealProducer, Real's flagship encoder, reverted to using.ra for audio-only files, began using.rv for video files, and.rmvb for VBR video files.

The.ram and.smil file formats are sometimes encountered as links from web pages. The official player for RealMedia content is RealNetworks' RealPlayer SP at version 16, is available for various platforms in binary form. Several features of this program have proven controversial, many alternative players have been developed. RealNetworks tried to discourage development of alternative players by keeping their audio format secret. However, in recent years, RealNetworks has made efforts to be somewhat more open, has founded the Helix Community, a collaborative open source project, to extend their media framework; when RealAudio was introduced, RealNetworks disclosed no technical details about the audio format or how it was encoded, but it was soon noticed that some of the audio codecs used in RealAudio were identical to those used in cellular telephones and digital television. As these formats had been described in detail in various technical papers and standards documents, it was possible to write software capable of playing RealAudio based on this information.

A variety of unofficial players now exist, including MPlayer, Real Alternative. However, Real Alternative does not decode the audio data by itself, but relies on the dynamically linked libraries from the official RealPlayer, thus Real Alternative requires RealPlayer to be installed in order to function. Most other players are based on FFmpeg; the audio codecs in ffmpeg were written based on the publicly available information about the formats, do not use the RealPlayer or Helix software. It is possible to obtain codecs which allow Windows Media Player to play some versions of RealAudio. Although RealNetworks has made the Helix player available as an open source project, they have kept some of the audio codecs proprietary, the Helix player can not play all RealAudio files. RealAudio was developed as a streaming media format, meaning that it can be played while it is downloaded, it is possible to stream RealAudio using HTTP. In this case, the RealAudio file is retrieved to a normal web page, but playback begins as soon as the first part is received and continues while the rest of the file is downloaded.

Using HTTP streaming works best with pre-recorded files so some alternative protocols have been developed which work better for live broadcasts. The first version of RealAudio used a proprietary protocol called PNA or PNM to send streaming audio data. RealNetworks switched to the IETF standardized Real Time Streaming Protocol but they use RTSP only to manage the connection; the actual audio data is sent with their own proprietary RDT protocol, which they kept secret. Some specifications for the RDT protocol have been made public through the Helix Community project. By around 2004 the open-source MPlayer project developed a means of playing the RDT streams. In many cases, web pages do not link directly to a RealAudio file. Instead, they link to SMIL file; this is a small text file containing a link to the audio stream. When a user clicks on such a link, the user's web browser downloads the.ram or.smil file and launches the user's media player. The media player reads the PNM or RTSP URL from the file and plays the stream.

With RealPlayer SP, it is now possible to save an audio stream to a file. Other programs, including MPlayer, RM Downloader, VLC media player, StreamBox VCR, HiDownload and Real7ime Converter can save streams to a file. RealAudio files are compressed using several audio codecs; each codec is identified by a four character code. Below is a list of the codecs and the version in which each was introduced: lpcJ, 14_4: IS-54 VSELP 28_8: G.728 LD-CELP dnet: Dolby AC3 sipr: Sipro Lab Telecom ACELP-NET cook: G2/Cook Codec atrc: Sony ATRAC3 raac: MPEG-4 LC-AAC racp: MPEG-4 HE-AAC ralf: RealAudio Lossless Format While the newest version of RealPlayer should be able to play any RealAudio file, other programs may not support all codecs. Comparison of audio coding formats Icecast – a free and open source streaming server for internet radio stations, supports formats AAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, NSV SHOUTcast – a freeware server for internet radio stations, supports AAC, MP3, N

The natural approach is a method of language teaching developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It aims to foster naturalistic language acquisition in a classroom setting, to this end it emphasises communication, places decreased importance on conscious grammar study and explicit correction of student errors. Efforts are made to make the learning environment as stress-free as possible. In the natural approach, language output is not forced, but allowed to emerge spontaneously after students have attended to large amounts of comprehensible language input; the natural approach has become associated with Krashen's monitor model, it is seen as an application of the theory to language teaching. Despite this perception, there are some differences Terrell's view that some degree of conscious grammar study can be beneficial; the syllabus focuses on activities which Terrell sees as promoting subconscious language acquisition. He divides these activities into four main areas: content activities, such as learning a new subject in the target language.

The natural approach was created in 1977 by Terrell, a Spanish teacher in California, who wished to develop a style of teaching based on the findings of naturalistic studies of second-language acquisition. After the original formulation, Terrell worked with Krashen to further develop the theoretical aspects of the method. Terrell and Krashen published the results of their collaboration in the 1983 book The Natural Approach; the natural approach was strikingly different from the mainstream approach in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s, the audio-lingual method. While the audio-lingual method prized drilling and error correction, these things disappeared entirely from the natural approach. Terrell and Krashen themselves characterized the natural approach as a "traditional" method and contrasted it with grammar-based approaches, which they characterized as new inventions that had "misled" teachers; the natural approach shares many features with the direct method, formulated around 1900 and was a reaction to grammar-translation.

Both the natural approach and the direct method are based on the idea of enabling naturalistic language acquisition in the language classroom. The aim of the natural approach is to develop communicative skills, it is intended to be used with beginning learners, it is presented as a set of principles that can apply to a wide range of learners and teaching situations, concrete objectives depend on the specific context in which it is used. Terrell outlines three basic principles of the approach: "Focus of instruction is on communication rather than its form." "Speech production comes and is never forced." "Early speech goes through natural stages"These principles result in classrooms where the teacher emphasizes interesting, comprehensible input and low-anxiety situations. Lessons in the natural approach focus on understanding messages in the foreign language, place little or no importance on error correction, drilling or on conscious learning of grammar rules, they emphasize learning of a wide vocabulary base over learning new grammatical structures.

In addition, teachers using the natural approach aim to create situations in the classroom that are intrinsically motivating for students. Terrell sees learners going through three stages in their acquisition of speech: comprehension, early speech, speech emergence. In the comprehension stage Terrell focuses on students' vocabulary knowledge, his aim is to make the vocabulary stick in students' long term memory, a process which he calls binding. Terrell sees some techniques as more binding than others. According to Terrell, students' speech will only emerge after enough language has been bound through communicative input; when this occurs, the learners enter the early speech stage. In this stage, students answer simple questions, use single words and set phrases, fill in simple charts in the foreign language. In the speech emergence stage, students take part in activities requiring more advanced language, such as role-plays and problem-solving activities. Although Terrell created the natural approach without relying on a particular theoretical model, his subsequent collaboration with Krashen has meant that the method is seen as an application to language teaching of Krashen's monitor model.

Krashen outlined five hypotheses in his model: The acquisition-learning hypothesis. This states that there is a strict separation between conscious learning of language and subconscious acquisition of language, that only acquisition can lead to fluent language use; the monitor hypothesis. This states that language knowledge, consciously learned can only be used to monitor output, not to generate new language. Monitoring output requires learners to have time to apply it; the input hypothesis. This states that language is acquired by exposure to comprehensible input at a level a little higher than that the learner can understand. Krashen names this kind of input "i+1"; the natural order hypothesis. This states that learners acquire the grammatical features of a language in a fixed order, that this is not affected by instruct

Ari Trausti Guðmundsson is an Icelandic geologist, documentarian, journalist, lecturer and explorer. He worked as teacher and lecturer on: earth science and tourism issues, he served as a mountain guide, TV- weather reporter, media presenter and producer and has planned nature and science exhibitions in Iceland and London and authored non-fiction books and poetry. He was a presidential candidate in 2012 and presently he is a member of Icelandic Parliament. Ari Trausti graduated from grammar school in 1968 and finished a course in philosophy and psychology from the University of Iceland in 1972, he attended the University of Oslo from 1968 onwards, completed a Cand.mag. Degree in geophysics and geology in 1973 and as well as advanced studies in geology at the University of Iceland 1983–1984, his various tasks since have been focused on research, teaching and tourism until 1987. After that he has been working as a freelancer, predominantly occupied with being a consultant and lecturer plus promoting science, nature conservation and innovation in the media, including radio and television.

He has written dozens of books and produced, chiefly in cooperation with the film company Lífsmynd, a long array of television programs and documentaries. Ari Trausti has written numerous books on Icelandic nature, volcanology, environmental protection, travel and mountaineering. All in all, a total of over 50 titles have been published in Icelandic, German and French by various publishers, he has written the storyboards and scripts for the many TV-programs and documentaries, produced by five different companies, most in cooperation with cinematographer Valdimar Leifsson. Besides non-fiction, Ari Trausti has published short stories, collections of poetry and novels, a total of 12 works of fiction, he published his first collection of short stories in 2002, named Vegalínur, for which he received the Halldór Laxness Literary Prize in 2002. He has received several other awards, including The Honorary Literary Prize for non-fiction from The Library Fund in 1999 and was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize in 2001 for his elaborate book on the volcanic history of Iceland and received The Rannís Prize for Public Dissemination in Science in 2007.

He has written many articles for newspapers and magazines on the environment, culture and mountaineering. Ari Trausti was involved in left wing politics as chairman of the Maoist league Communist Unity 1973-79 and the merger of the two Icelandic Maoist organizations 1979-83, he was a candidate for the 2012 presidential elections. Late 2016, he became a member of the Icelandic parliament, for the Left-Green Movement in the constituency of Southern Iceland. Ari Trausti is an international member of the US-based international multidisciplinary professional society The Explorers Club, he has traveled for decades and summited many mountains domestically and abroad. He participated in or led expeditions to various remote destinations in the Arctic, Europe and South-America as well as domestically. In 2014 he toured the Antarctic Peninsula, he was nominated for the Nordic Environmental Price in 1998, received The Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association Prize for communication in science in 2010 and The Soil Conservation Prize in 2015.

He has lectured in Greenland, Germany, Gr. Britain, United States, he is a member of the committee for the Leif Erikson Award. He participated in radio and TV-programs on nature and science in Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, China, US, Russia and Britain and was one of the experts lecturing in Europe on the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010. Ari Trausti lectures on the volcanic activity in Iceland or is interviewed by the media on various volcanoes and volcanic eruptions as well as Icelandic glaciers, he work on the high-tech LAVA exhibition in the town of Hvolsvöllur in South-Iceland. Ari Trausti comes from a family of artists: his brother Erró is a postmodern painter and pop artist in Paris. Ari Trausti speaks fluent English, Danish and Swedish. In 1985 he held a minor role as a Soviet soldier in the blockbuster movie A View to a Kill. List of Icelandic writers Katrín Jakobsdóttir Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson Left-Green Movement Left-Green Movement Guðmundur frá Miðdal

The Texas Department of Public Safety is a department of the government of the state of Texas. DPS is responsible for statewide law vehicle regulation; the Public Safety Commission oversees DPS. However, under state law, the Governor of Texas may assume command of the department during a public disaster, insurrection, formation of a dangerous resistance to enforcement of law, or to perform his constitutional duty to enforce law; the commission's five members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate, to serve without pay for staggered, six-year terms. The commission formulates plans and policies for enforcing criminal and safety laws and detecting crime, apprehending law violators and educating citizens about laws and public safety; the agency is headquartered at 5805 North Lamar Boulevard in Austin. Due to increased traffic and the incremental damages caused by large trucks on the narrow state roads, the License and Weight Division was formed in March 1927; these new inspectors, the State Police, working from motorcycles would enforce motor vehicle laws and regulations.

The Texas Rangers would continue to conduct the State's law enforcement investigations. As a result of higher crime rates, the Texas Legislature in 1931 enrolled Griffenhagen and Associates to conduct a study on the effectiveness of their law enforcement program; the firm concluded the great expanse of Texas was too much for the Rangers or the License and Weight Division to handle appropriately. The fact that the State Highway Patrol did not enforce felony charges gave too much responsibility to the Rangers, who were overworked; the report was negative toward Texas utilizing the National Guard for law enforcement along the border. Recommendations were made to accumulate the necessary finances to create a state law enforcement agency. Four bureaus, State Police and Fire Prevention were suggested to be created with the implementation of the new force. Not satisfied with the report, the Texas Senate created a committee to conduct its own survey of the State's law enforcement; as a result of the committee findings, on January 24, 1935 Senate Bill 146 was introduced.

The bill created a Department of Public Safety housing the Rangers and the State Highway Patrol under one umbrella organization. The bill received final approval on February 18, 1935 and was sent to the House before ending up in a joint committee for final revisions. On May 3, 1935 the final bill was passed, but without two-thirds approval. On August 10, 1935 the formation of the Department of Public Safety along with 103 other bills were created by the Texas Legislature; the newly formed department was the new home for the Texas Rangers, The Highway Patrol, crime laboratory. While Governor James V. Allred signed Senate Bill 146 which created the DPS, it was the Legislature's responsibility of selecting three civilians as the Public Safety Commission. Selected were George W. Cottingham, Ernest R. Goens, Albert Sidney Johnson, they in turn appointed Captain L. G. Phares as acting director and Homer Garrison Jr. as assistant director of the new agency. Phares was replaced by Colonel Horace H. Carmichael, who served until his death on September 24, 1938.

Homer Garrison Jr. became the third director on September 27, 1938 and continued on as director for nearly 30 years until his death on May 7, 1968. Garrison made numerous improvements to the department during his storied career along with enhancing the training curriculum, recognized by J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. DPS is divided into thirteen divisions: Administration Criminal Investigations Driver License Education, Training & Research Emergency Management Finance General Counsel Texas Highway Patrol Information Technology Intelligence and Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Support Regulatory Services Division Texas Ranger Division The Administrative Services Division serves as the indirect staff to the director and provides information technology, law enforcement support, finance and regulatory licensing for the entire department; the Administration Section maintains DPS property, provides training to other divisions, operates the Crime Records Service.

The Crime Records Service maintains criminal justice information and issues concealed handgun licenses. In 2009, the Department of Public Safety created the Criminal Investigations Division as part of a major restructuring of the department; the CID consists of 700 members, including 573 commissioned officers and 129 civilian support personnel. The CID Assistant Director's Office consists of the assistant director, deputy assistant director, an administrative major, four civilian support personnel; the CID is divided into four different sections, which are specialized by function: Gang Section Drug Section Special Investigative Section Investigative Support SectionThe CID sections work together to prevent and solve crime in cooperation with city, county and federal law enforcement agencies. Multi-jurisdictional violations investigated by CID include terrorism, gang-related organized crime, illegal drug trafficking, motor vehicle theft, public corruption, fraud and counterfeit documents; the Driver License Division is responsible for the issuing and revocation of Texas driver licenses and identification cards.

The Emergency Management Division is responsible for coordinating statewide emergency planning and response. Typical emergencies are weather-related; the DEM is responsible for administering Texas' AMBER Alert network. During the 2019 Legislative Session, the Texas Legislature transferred the operations of the Texas Division of Emergency Mana

Founded in Vancouver, BC in 1997, Swivel New Media is a Canadian company serving a diverse customer base across North America, from small home businesses to multi-billion dollar producers and exporters. The firm's creative services include brand management and print design. Technical services including web hosting, VOIP and varied digital data delivery systems are its primary revenue generators. Between the years 1997 and 2000 Swivel developed strategies to combine design services with complete web hosting solutions; the company focused on outsourcing services but began to move to an in-house business model which contributed to gross revenue increases as well as overhead fixed cost increases. The burden to bring services in-house hampered growth, although in future years it has contributed to higher quality assurance and increased earnings. In 2001 Swivel launched its Swivel TV service, enabling customers to add high quality video to their websites using a proprietary interface. Using the web-based control panel, customers could upload videos over 100 Megabytes in size, without any special setting modifications to their browser.

From 2002 to 2006 Swivel diversified further, adding hardware and software sales to its product line-up. In 2004 Swivel TV was seen by IATSE cinematographers and over a hundred channels were added for the use of Hollywood Directors of Photography for their demo reels. With the success of the service the company released a HD iteration in 2005 enabling a new generation of users to showcase full high-definition video from their websites. Swivel announced new voip and pbx services geared to mid-sized businesses based on the open source "Asterisk" platform. Open source initiatives play a key role in the company's technology choices for business services; the Swivel logo in its current form was created in 2002 and is based on classic styling attributes common to long-standing brands in corporate North America. Swivel headquarters are located in British Columbia, Canada. Website Hosting

Mark Albiston is a New Zealand film and advertising director. He graduated from University of Canterbury in Christchurch in 1992 with a degree in Fine Arts. In 2000, Albiston started the production company Sticky Pictures; the company produced award-winning content across a wide range of genres including documentary, short films, music videos, commercials. These projects offered Albiston the opportunity to refine his directing talent from a variety of angles writing and shooting on various projects. Albiston won a number of Documentary and factual TV awards including best arts documentary for The Magical World of Misery and best factual entertainment TV show for The Living Room. In 2007, Albiston received recognition in the Short Film Section at the Cannes Film Festival for his short film Run. Created in collaboration with writer/actor Louis Sutherland, the film won prizes at a number of other festivals. Albiston follow-up short film The Six Dollar Fifty Man. won the same Jury award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Albiston was the first director to win twice in that category at Cannes. The film was a break-out hit on the festival circuit; the Six Dollar Fifty Man made the 10-strong long-list for the Academy Awards missing out on the final five. At the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Albiston premiered Shopping, his feature film co-directorial debut. Created with Louis Sutherland, the film earned several awards including a Grand Prix at the Berlin International Film Festival, seven New Zealand Film Awards. Including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Director. Albiston is developing his first solo-directed feature film together with New Zealand writer Paul Stanley Ward called Cat Burglar. Albiston has continued to work independently as a commercials director, winning awards at every major advertising awards show around the globe. Albiston has gained an international following by crafting a body of work that focuses on character and emotion, stripping away pretense to create authentic and raw emotional performances.

Mark Albiston on IMDb Sticky Pictures The Sweet Shop New Zealand Film Commission