Wide Area Information Servers

Wide Area Information Servers or WAIS is a client-server text searching system that uses the ANSI Standard Z39.50 Information Retrieval Service Definition and Protocol Specifications for Library Application (Z39.50:1988) to search index databases on remote computers. It was developed in the late 1980s as a project of Thinking Machines, Apple Computer, Dow Jones, and KPMG Peat Marwick.

WAIS did not adhere to either the standard or its OSI framework (adopting instead TCP/IP) but created a unique protocol inspired by Z39.50:1988.

The WAIS protocol and servers were primarily promoted by Thinking Machines Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thinking Machines produced WAIS servers which ran on their massively parallel CM-2 (connection machine) and SPARC-based CM-5 MP supercomputers. WAIS clients were developed for various operating systems including Windows, Macintosh, NeXT and UNIX. TMC, however, released a free open source version of WAIS to run on Unix in 1991.

Inspired by the WAIS project on full text databases and emerging SGML projects Z39.50 version 2 or Z39.50:1992 was released. Unlike its 1988 predecessor it was a compatible superset of the ISO 10162/10163 work that had been done internationally.

With the advent of Z39.50:1992, the termination of support for the free WAIS from Thinking Machines and the establishment of WAIS Inc as a commercial venture (their WAIS was written to use the Fulcrum fulltext engine), the U.S. National Science Foundation funded CNIDR to create a clearinghouse of information related to Internet search and discovery systems and to promote open source and standards. CNIDR created a new freely available open-source WAIS. This created first the freeWAIS package based on the wais-8-b5 codebase implemented by Thinking Machines Corp and then a wholly new software suite Isite based upon Z39.50:1992 with Isearch as its full text search engine.

Ulrich Pfeifer and Norbert Gövert of the computer science department of the University of Dortmund took the CNIDR freeWAIS code and extended it to become freeWAIS-sf: sf means structured fields and indicated its main improvement. Ulrich Pfeifer rewrote freeWAIS-sf in Perl where it became WAIT.

Server Message Block

In computer networking, Server Message Block (SMB) operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an authenticated Inter-process communication mechanism. Most usage of SMB involves computers running Microsoft Windows, where it is often known as "Microsoft Windows Network".

When discussing SMB, one should distinguish:

* the SMB protocol
* the SMB services that run on the protocol
* NetBIOS
* the DCE/RPC services that use SMB as an authenticated Inter-process communication channel (over named pipes)
* the "Network Neighborhood" protocols which primarily (but not exclusively) run as datagram services directly on the NetBIOS transport

Smokeless Tobacco

Many people who chew tobacco or dip snuff think it's safer than smoking. But you don't have to smoke tobacco for it to be dangerous. Chewing or dipping carries risks like

* Cancer of the mouth
* Decay of exposed tooth roots
* Pulling away of the gums from the teeth
* White patches or red sores in the mouth that can turn to cancer

Recent research shows the dangers of smokeless tobacco may go beyond the mouth. It might also play a role in other cancers, heart disease and stroke.

Smokeless tobacco contains more nicotine than cigarettes. Nicotine is a highly additive drug that makes it hard to stop using tobacco once you start. Having a quit date and a quitting plan can help you stop successfully.

Contact Lens-improve defective vision

Contact Lenses are simple to wear and care for, and are almost undetectable. They are thin discs of plastic, curved on the inside to fit properly onto the surface of the eye, and shaped on the outside to correct and improve defective vision, for bandaging the eye after surgery, and cosmetic benefits e.g. to cover white scarring of the eye or to change the colour of the eye for fashion. With advancing technology Contact Lenses can correct all forms of visual defects including Astigmatism safely and comfortably. There are basically two types of contact lenses : Rigid and Soft. Both types come in varying materials with different levels of oxygen permeabilities. The higher the oxygen permeability the better it is for the eye.

Rubella-lu-like symptoms

Rubella is an illness with flu-like symptoms followed by a rash. Common symptoms include

* Low-grade fever
* Headache
* Runny nose
* Red eyes
* Muscle or joint pain

Rubella is usually mild. You may get it and not even know it. However, adults who get rubella often feel sicker than children do. The biggest danger of rubella is if a woman gets it during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. She may lose the baby, or the virus could cause problems to her unborn baby. Those problems could include cataracts, deafness or damage to the heart or brain.

A virus causes rubella. It can spread from one person to another through the air or through close contact with someone who has it. There is no treatment for rubella, but the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine can prevent it.

Campus area network (CAN)

A campus area network (CAN) is a computer network made up of an interconnection of local area networks (LANs) within a limited geographical area. It can be considered one form of a metropolitan area network, specific to an academic setting.

In the case of a university campus-based campus area network, the network is likely to link a variety of campus buildings including; academic departments, the university library and student residence halls. A campus area network is larger than a local area network but smaller than a wide area network (WAN).

The main aim of a campus area network is to facilitate students accessing internet and university resources. This is a network that connects two or more LANs but that is limited to a specific and contiguous geographical area such as a college campus, industrial complex, office building, or a military base.

Computer network nodes

In data communication, a node may either be a data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE) such as a modem, hub, bridge or switch; or a data terminal equipment (DTE) such as a digital telephone handset, a printer or a host computer, for example a router, a workstation or a server.

If the network in question is the Internet, many network nodes are host computers, identified by an IP address, and all hosts are nodes. However, datalink layer devices such as switches, bridges and WLAN access points do not have an IP host address (except sometimes for administrative purposes), and are not considered as Internet nodes, but as network nodes.

If the network in question is a peer-to-peer or overlay network, nodes that actively route data for the other networked devices as well as themselves are called supernodes. Nodes that route between supernodes are commonly referred to as "super-duper" nodes.