One social media account recommended by Elon Musk for coverage of the Israeli war with Hamas appears to be run by a London teenager, another by a U.S. soldier.

Accounts Musk recommended on X are connected to a teen and a U.S. soldier

According to a recent New York Times report based on official Ukrainian and Russian customs data from a third-party provider, between January and June, Kyiv is estimated to have received “millions” of Chinese-made drones and spare parts, primarily coming from European intermediaries.

Ukraine continues to snap up Chinese DJI drones for its defense

Ukrainian intel has revealed that amid the recent growth of private military companies, even the Russian Orthodox Church is getting in on the act, recruiting believers to fight against Ukraine.

Russian Orthodox Church Funding Private Military Company

Here are some of the highlights produced in English by RFE/RL's vast team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.

The Week's Best: 10 Stories And Videos You Shouldn't Miss

Chinese-made drones, particularly from DJI, continue to be used by Russian training centers linked to the war in Ukraine, despite the drone maker's announced halt on sales to both nations.

Moscow's Battlefront Drones Linked To Chinese Manufacturer

The findings -- compiled by Molfar, a Ukrainian business intelligence consultancy and corroborated by RFE/RL -- show that DJI's small, low-cost drones are being sold to Russian entities that are part of its sprawling military-industrial complex or to ...

Chinese Drones Flow To Training Centers Linked To Russian War In Ukraine

Pavel Prigozhin, 25, fought in Syria with Wagner and controls one of his father’s most successful businesses (Photo: Molfar)Days after Vladimir Putin appeared to appoint a commander to head the group in Ukraine, news emerged on a well-known, Wagner ...

The Wagner heir, 25, who won the group's 'black cross' and controls his father's biggest firms

The son of former Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is assuming control of the mercenary group to take on “one of the most difficult sections” of the combat zone in Ukraine, according to insiders.

Prigozhin’s son, Pavel, ‘plotting to take over Wagner in one of Ukraine’s toughest combat zones’

Molfar

molfar

In Tolkien's legendarium, the kings communicated and acquired information about the past and the present with palantirs, a local variety of crystal ball. Palantirs were placed in the world's 7 largest fortresses, and only the rulers had access to them. The artifacts only showed things that existed but could lead the viewer to misinterpret what they saw. To minimize bad judgment, the kings appointed wardens to protect the stones and constantly look into them, gathering news and intelligence. Now, Google and Facebook have become present-day palantirs, and competitive intelligence companies turned into wardens. The kings can thus avoid misinterpreting what they see and get answers to their questions. The range of applications is limited only to the client's imagination: from background checks on one's partners to reuniting with long-lost relatives. Molfar agency gathers and cross-references information from publicly available sources (OSINT, open-source intelligence) that will help the client company make a decision regarding deals, hires, and partnerships, prepare for court proceedings, and much more. We're going to show you how it works, and although we take fictional characters as examples, the search techniques in the story are genuine. The client, an owner of the Middle-earth zoo chain, makes a request to do a thorough background check on his former fellow student, Saruman. Sadly, he forgot the last name. The only thing he does recollect is that the man owned a mine flooded in 2002, and there was something about iron and mountains in its name. So, we have four entry points to analyze: The first name The fact that the client and the person of interest studied together The date of the mine's flooding The mine's name Getting a confirmation on at least 3 of the 4 would let us advance in our search. Knowing that the client graduated from the Isengard National University in 1985 majoring in ornithology, we start looking for his fellow students on Facebook. We find three, but no Saruman among them. Looking at Twitter and Instagram yield the same results. Then we turn to ornithology forums and Craigslist postings. There, we find two ornithologists by the name of Saruman. Those don't match the university, though. Now we switch to the next entry point - the name of the mine. There are lots of mines in the Isengard region. We narrow down our search to 5–6 similar names, albeit to no avail. Then we decide to look up similar names among companies. Now we go to the public register and search by ‘mountain’ and ‘iron’. There it is: . Seemingly, it's what we need. However, the company director is Alex Treebeard, which doesn't add up. a record for Iron Mountain Mining LLC We open the company profile and see that it was registered in 1995. And its director indeed had been Saruman White up until 2004, when Alex Treebeard took over. Now we have another part of the mosaic - Saruman's last name. Now let's continue our background check. On to 2002, the date of flooding. Suppose the mine was flooded between the foundation of the company and Saruman White's exit. We launch Google Earth and zoom in to the level of detail between 15 m and 15 cm. Apart from higher fidelity, it will show us the digital terrain model, too. Now we go to the mine location and start browsing historical satellite images. Judging by the image on the top that dates back to 2000, the water started accumulating in the coal pit already at that time. Sadly, the next image is as recent as 2014, and there are no interim ones. We see that the mine was indeed flooded as of 2014. Thus, we narrow down the time frame from 1995–2004 to 2000–2004. Now let's look at the company register's license module. There, we see that the license for Iron Mountain Mining LLC was revoked in 2003. In the Unified State Register of Judicial Decisions, we sift through the endless tide of cases on illegal logging in the Isengard region. An idea strikes us. Who is in charge of the country's mines? The State Geology and Mineral Resources Service of Middle-earth. Going through administrative orders, we find out that the mine was renamed Anthracite in 2002, and its ownership was transferred to an eponymous legal entity registered by Alex Treebeard. At this point, we also note that one order mentions not only coal but also the accumulation of drainage water within the mine. So, with the revoked license and the new owner, we bring the upper end of the time frame down to 2002. It's enough to verify what the client said about the flooding date. Verifying 3 out of 4 facts would be enough. However, our inner perfectionists won't rest until we are 100% sure. Let's return to verifying the ornithology major. We go to the diploma database, but Saruman White's full name is not enough, we need a diploma number, too. We go to Google Scholar, a scholarly literature search engine, hoping to find Saruman's articles, but all we discover is ‘why owls go “woo” in the night’. Knowing the full name, we can surmise that our person of interest has children, who we can google by ‘last name + * + patronymic’, where * is a wildcard character. The query yields a Craigslist posting of Saruman White Jr. wanting to sell a cape complete with his telephone number. We input the number into Nuga.app, and it returns his Instagram handle: @saruman_the_white. We scroll through a year worth of posts and find the confirmation of Saruman’s Sr. alma mater. The photo shows a page from the Birds of America book and a text about the father's education. As a result, we know the name of our target and the names of several persons related to him, and now we have an opportunity to dig further. My lord, in the murky glare of the palantir we found the person you want, what more do you want to know about him? This article is written by Artem Starosiek, the CEO of the Molfar, an OSINT research and consulting company.

OSINT: What You Can Find About a Person from Public Sources

Intelligence is a political, management, jurisprudence and due-diligence tool. There are fewer investors than startups, so an investor often finds itself choosing between multiple applications and putting their money into one or two companies. Venture capital investments are risky, taking into account how disingenuous startup founders can be. Steve Tan raised $1.5 million on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform, promising voice- and gesture-controlled smartwatch to his contributors. Then he was of buying a Ferrari and shopping in luxury boutiques for that money, with Facebook photos presented as evidence. According to Steve, it was his friend's Ferrari, and the picture was taken 4 years ago in Italy. However, he made no comments regarding the boutique photos. The smartwatch was launched, albeit in an unfinished state, and the company eventually closed. accused Josh Tetrick, the founder of vegan mayonnaise producer Hampton Creek, made his employees buy their own product in 2014 to inflate demand and attract investments. By the end of that year, the startup a $90 million deal. closed The founders of Ukrainian startup Easy Ads, stopped communicating with the investor just three months after receiving $25,000 in investments and ultimately . disappeared The story of Elizabeth Holmes and her startup Theranos began with a $700 million investment and a peak valuation of $10 billion in 2014 and ended with a titled Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup and people as Elizabeth on Halloween. book dressing In 2019, competitive intelligence company Molfar performed 237 background checks on partners, startup founders asking investors for money, and candidates for top positions. Let's consider one notable case. Mr. Frankel, a famous businessman, had a lot of friends among prosecutors, senators, industrialists, and bandits. One day, one of them tipped him off on a certain Baker Estate property. Mr. Frankel wanted to evaluate the risks of the new investment project to see if it wasn't a complete flop. Therefore, Molfar was tasked with checking if the owner - a certain Mr. Carter - was a reliable person. A certain Mr. Parker G. Carter. A search through various business registers yielded 30 something legal entities belonging to Mr Carter and connected to IT in one way or another. Among them were a marketplace, an outsourcing company, an advertising platform, and an AI start-up. Green Acres, a company based in a rural region, which developed an inventory management solution for farmers, caught our attention. The thing is, it had two owners in its history: George C. Parker and Parker G. Carter. Weird, we thought, it looks much like the other name was just the first one shuffled around, but we lacked evidence or understanding of Mr. Carter's motivations. First, we decided to find out, which companies George C. Parker also held a stake in. And it wasn't long until we stumbled upon Brooklyn Bridge Inc. The company developed a VR solution for bungee-jumping aficionados who wanted to try their favourite thing in historical locations. Having checked the company's court history, we found three records related to its failure to repay loans worth $8 million in total. In 2016, our person of interest took the money of unsuspecting investors and disappeared with it. To cover up his involvement in the fraud, Mr. Carter just shuffled up the initials, turning into an inconspicuous Parker G. Carter. The picture was complete, but we still lacked evidence. And we didn't have to dig deep to find it. Parker G. Carter's phone number on the register of individual entrepreneurs was the same as indicated on the VR development company's website. We also dived into Mr. Carter's Instagram for additional proof, looking through all 300 pictures he had there. And there it was, a photo of him in the Green Acres' office. Ultimately, by enlisting Molfar's services for a fraction of the money, the client managed to avoid blowing $50,000 by buying the Baker Estate. Written by Artem Starosiek, CEO of Molfar

Business intelligence as a tool for risk mitigation

Thermodynamic Limits Around M-dwarf Stars: Acknowledgements

Assessing the Interpretability of ML Models from a Human Perspective

Authors: (1) Renato P. dos Santos, CIAGE – Centre for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Cognition and Education. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Materials And Methods Results and Analyses Prompts and generated texts Conceptualizing chemical reactions Deepening on understanding of chemical reactions Question about combustion Question about a graph of gases turning into water over time Question about a graph of gases turning into water over time Question about changing of state Question about an animated representation of water molecules undergoing phase changes Question about plasma, a state of matter Question about chemical bondings Question about illustration of chemical bonds Question about the essence of the type of chemical bonding Further analysis Conclusions Limitations of the study and possible future studies Author Contributions, Conflicts of interest, Acknowledgements, and References Question about the difference between atoms, molecules, and moles : P1 ah. this thing also confuses me. what is the difference between atom, molecule and mole? ChatGPT: Certainly, it's a common area of confusion for many students. Let's break it down one by one, using simple analogies: 1. Atom: • Imagine an atom as a single LEGO brick. It's the tiniest piece of an element that still retains the properties of that element. Just like a single red LEGO brick represents the color red, a single hydrogen atom represents the element hydrogen. 2. Molecule: • When you connect several LEGO bricks together, you form a structure. In chemistry, when you connect several atoms together, you form a molecule. For instance, two hydrogen atoms (H) can connect to form a hydrogen molecule (H2). Similarly, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom can connect to form a water molecule (H2O). ***3. Mole: *** • This one's a bit more abstract. Let's say you have a big box filled with identical LEGO structures (say, LEGO houses). If you count them and find there are exactly 6.022 x 1023 LEGO houses in that box, you have a "mole" of LEGO houses. • In chemistry, a mole is a specific number of things (atoms, molecules, electrons, etc.). Specifically, one mole of any substance contains exactly 6.022 x 10[23] of those entities. This number is called Avogadro's number. • The concept of a mole is a standardized way to talk about quantities in chemistry, much like a "dozen" is a standardized way to talk about 12 of something. So, to recap: • : Smallest unit of an element. Atom • : Made up of multiple atoms bonded together. Molecule • : A specific quantity (6.022 x 10[23]) of atoms, molecules, or other entities. Mole Do these analogies help clarify the differences for you? BingChat: I see that you are confused about the difference between atom, molecule and mole. These are three important terms in chemistry that describe different aspects of matter. Let me try to explain them to you in a simple way. An atom is the smallest unit of an element that retains its chemical identity. An element is a pure substance that consists of only one type of atom. For example, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and gold are elements. Each element has a unique symbol and atomic number that indicates how many protons it has in its nucleus. For example, hydrogen has the symbol H and atomic number 1, meaning it has one proton in its nucleus. Atoms are composed of subatomic particles such as protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons are found in the nucleus, and electrons orbit around the nucleus in shells or orbitals. The number of electrons in an atom determines its chemical behavior and reactivity [ ] 12 A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by chemical bonds. A chemical bond is a force of attraction between atoms that share or transfer electrons. There are different types of chemical bonds, such as covalent, ionic, metallic, and hydrogen bonds. A molecule can be composed of atoms of the same element or different elements. For example, oxygen gas (O2) is a molecule composed of two oxygen atoms bonded by a covalent bond. Water (H2O) is a molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bonded by covalent bonds. A molecule has a specific shape and structure that determines its physical and chemical properties[ ]. 32 A mole is a unit of measurement that is used to count the number of atoms or molecules in a given amount of substance. A mole is defined as the amount of substance that contains as many particles (atoms or molecules) as there are atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12. This number is called Avogadro’s number and it is approximately 6.022 x 10[23]. That means one mole of any substance contains 6.022 x 10[23] particles (atoms or molecules). For example, one mole of oxygen gas contains 6.022 x 10[23] molecules of O2, and one mole of water contains 6.022 x 1023 molecules of H2O. The mass of one mole of a substance is called its molar mass and it is equal to its molecular weight in grams. For example, the molecular weight of oxygen gas is 32 g/mol and the molecular weight of water is 18 g/mol[ ]. 42 So, to summarize, an atom is the smallest unit of an element, a molecule is a group of atoms bonded together, and a mole is a unit of measurement that counts the number of particles in a substance. I hope this helps you understand the difference between atom, molecule and mole. :) *: An atom is the smallest unit of matter that still has all of the properties of its element. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means.* Bard A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds. A chemical bond is a force that holds atoms together. A mole is a unit of measurement that is used to count atoms and molecules. One mole of any substance contains 6.02214076×10^23 particles of that substance. This number is known as Avogadro's constant. Here is a table that summarizes the key differences between atoms, molecules, and moles: Here are some examples of atoms, molecules, and moles: • Atoms: Hydrogen (H), helium (He), oxygen (O), carbon (C) • Molecules: Water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) • Moles: One mole of hydrogen atoms, one mole of water molecules, one mole of carbon dioxide molecules I hope this helps to explain the difference between atoms, molecules, and moles. Please let me know if you have any other questions. *: Excellent question! Those three terms can definitely be confusing. Let's go through them one-by-one:* Claude Atom - The basic building block of matter. Atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. An atom is the smallest unit of an element that maintains the properties of that element. For example, a hydrogen atom has 1 proton; a carbon atom has 6 protons. Molecule - A group of two or more atoms bonded together. A molecule is the smallest unit of a chemical compound that maintains the properties of that compound. For example, a water molecule contains 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom bonded together (H2O). Mole - This is a number representing 6.02 x 10^23 things. It's usually used to represent a certain quantity of atoms or molecules. For example, 1 mole of carbon contains 6.02 x 10^23 carbon atoms. So in summary: • Atoms are the basic units of elements • Molecules are groups of bonded atoms that make up compounds • Moles are a way to represent 6.02 x 10^23 of something (useful for relating atomic/molecular masses to macroscopic masses) Let me know if this helps explain the distinction between these three important chemistry concepts! I'm happy to provide more examples as well. , by saying “Certainly, it's a common area of confusion for many students”, recognises a element by acknowledging the difficulty many students face. By saying, "Let's break it down one by one," it demonstrates Instructional strategy. The phrase “using simple analogies" clearly indicates the use of , while the question "Do these analogies help clarify?" shows an component by asking for feedback. saying "I see that you are confused" provides , while the phrase "Let me try to explain" indicates an Instructional Strategy and "in a simple way" attempts at by simplifying the information. Finally, "I hope this helps" and the inclusion of the smiley emoticon ":)" are gestures for Personalization & Pe , by explaining "An atom is..." and, later, offering "Here is a table," appeals to an , demonstrated by definition-based learning and visual data organisation, concluding with "I hope this helps" and “Please let me know if you have any other questions” demonstrates and . , by starting with “Excellent question" and acknowledging that the subject “can definitely be confusing,” recognises gives Reinforcement & feedback. It then invites, "Let's go through them one-by-one," pointing to an Instructional Strategy through systematic explanation. It also uses by providing two examples. It concludes with "Let me know if this helps," an element, and encouraging feedback. ChatGPT Reinforcement & Feedback Analogy & Comparative Illustrations Engagement & interactivity BingChat Reinforcement & Feedback Detail Depth & Content Recommendation rsonable Touch. Bard Instructional Strategy Engagement & Interactivity Reinforcement & Feedback Claude Analogy & Comparative Illustrations Engagement & Interactivity This paper is under CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

How GenAIbots Explain the Difference Between Atoms, Molecules, and Moles

কিভাবে GenAIbots পরমাণু, অণু এবং মোলের মধ্যে পার্থক্য ব্যাখ্যা করে

Wie GenAIbots den Unterschied zwischen Atomen, Molekülen und Molen erklären

Cómo los GenAIbots explican la diferencia entre átomos, moléculas y moles

Comment les GenAIbots expliquent la différence entre les atomes, les molécules et les taupes

GenAIbots परमाणुओं, अणुओं और मोल्स के बीच अंतर कैसे समझाते हैं

GenAIbots が原子、分子、モルの違いを説明する方法

GenAIbot이 원자, 분자, 두더지의 차이점을 설명하는 방법

Como GenAIbots explicam a diferença entre átomos, moléculas e toupeiras

Как GenAIbots объясняют разницу между атомами, молекулами и кротами

GenAIbotlar Atomlar, Moleküller ve Benler Arasındaki Farkı Nasıl Açıklıyor?

Cách GenAIbots giải thích sự khác biệt giữa nguyên tử, phân tử và nốt ruồi

GenAIbots 如何解释原子、分子和摩尔之间的区别

Authors:
(1) Vinod S. Khandkar and Manjesh K. Hanawal, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India and {vinod.khandkar, mhanawal}@iitb.ac.in. Table of Links Abstract & Introduction Related Work and Background Challenges in TD Detection Measurement Setup Development Case Study : Wehe - TD Detection Tool for Mobile Environment Shortcoming of Wehe on HTTPS Traffic TD Detection of HTTPS Traffic Conclusion & References VII. CONCLUSION Net neutrality violation detection is a need of an hour. As many of the ISPs are also content providers these days, they compete with each other, which can lead to one deliberately discriminating the services of the other to gain market share. However, users should have the freedom to choose services as per their wishes. Our work considered various challenges in the detection of traffic discrimination in HTTPS traffic. As a case study, we validated Wehe, one of the latest tools available to detect traffic differentiation. The described challenges helped us divide the entire tool into multiple interdependent components and validate them independently. Our validation using commercial traffic shaper revealed that traffic in Wehe setup may not mimic the characteristics of HTTPS traffic accessed from the original servers. Hence, middle-boxes may not subject them to intended discrimination. Thus, Wehe may not detect discrimination of HTTPS traffic. Our new method that uses the appropriate SNI parameter value in the initial TLS handshake message overcomes this shortcoming. Hence our work provided a mechanism to detect a wide range of possible discriminations on the Internet. REFERENCES [1] T. Garrett, L. E. Setenareski, L. M. Peres, L. C. E. Bona, and E. P. Duarte, “Monitoring network neutrality: A survey on traffic differentiation detection,” IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 2486–2517, 2018. [2] V. Nguyen, D. Mohammed, M. Omar, and P. Dean, “Net neutrality around the globe: A survey,” in 2020 3rd International Conference on Information and Computer Technologies (ICICT), 2020, pp. 480–488. [3] Ramneek, P. Hosein, W. Choi, and W. Seok, “Detecting network neutrality violations through packet loss statistics,” in 2015 17th AsiaPacific Network Operations and Management Symposium (APNOMS), 2015, pp. 404–407. [4] D. Li, F. Tian, M. Zhu, L. Wang, and L. Sun, “A novel framework for analysis of global network neutrality based on packet loss rate,” in 2015 International Conference on Cloud Computing and Big Data (CCBD), 2015, pp. 297–304. [5] M. Dischinger, A. Mislove, A. Haeberlen, and K. P. Gummadi, “Detecting bittorrent blocking,” in Proceedings of the 8th ACM SIGCOMM Conference on Internet Measurement, Oct. 2008, pp. 3–8. [6] M. B. Tariq, M. Motiwala, N. Feamster, and M. Ammar, “Detecting network neutrality violations with causal inference,” in Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies, ser. CoNEXT ’09. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2009, p. 289–300. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/1658939.1658972 [7] R. Ravaioli, G. Urvoy-Keller, and C. Barakat, “Towards a general solution for detecting traffic differentiation at the internet access,” in 2015 27th International Teletraffic Congress, Sep. 2015, pp. 1–9. [8] Y. Zhang, Z. M. Mao, and M. Zhang, “Detecting traffic differentiation in backbone isps with netpolice,” in Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGCOMM Conference on Internet Measurement, ser. IMC ’09. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2009, pp. 103–115. [Online]. 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Katz, “Protocol-independent adaptive replay of application dialog,” in 13th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), Feb. 2006, pp. 27–27. [24] R. T. El-Maghraby, N. M. Abd Elazim, and A. M. Bahaa-Eldin, “A survey on deep packet inspection,” in 2017 12th International Conference on Computer Engineering and Systems (ICCES), 2017, pp. 188–197. [25] M. AlSabah, K. Bauer, and I. Goldberg, “Enhancing tor’s performance using real-time traffic classification,” in Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ser. CCS ’12. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2012, p. 73–84. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/2382196.2382208 [26] Z. Hu, L. Zhu, J. Heidemann, A. Mankin, D. Wessels, and P. Hoffman, “The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.3,” Internet Requests for Comments, IETF, RFC 7858, August 2018. [Online]. Available: https://tools.ietf.org/pdf/rfc8446.pdf [27] C. Zhou, C. Lin, and Z. Guo, “mdash: A markov decision-based rate adaptation approach for dynamic http streaming,” IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 738–751, Apr. 2016. [28] T. Joe, L. Eliot, M. Allison, K. Markku, O. Kumiko, S. Martin, E. Lars, M. Alexey, E. Wes, Z. Alexander, T. Brian, I. Jana, M. Allison, T. Michael, K. Eddie, and N. Yoshifumi. (2020, Sept) Service name and transport protocol port number registry. [Online]. Available: https://www.iana.org/assignments/ service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml [29] G. Keinan. (2018, January) Optimizing enterprise networks through sd-avc (software define application visibility and control). [Online]. Available: https://www.ciscolive.com/c/dam/r/ciscolive/emea/docs/2018/ pdf/BRKCRS-2502.pdf [30] A. Rao, J. Sherry, A. Legout, A. Krishnamurthy, W. Dabbous, and D. Choffnes, “Meddle: middleboxes for increased transparency and control of mobile traffic,” in CoNEXT Student Workshop, ACM, 12 2012, pp. 65–66. [31] R. Liu and X. Yu, “A survey on encrypted traffic identification,” in Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Cyberspace Innovation of Advanced Technologies, ser. CIAT 2020. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2020, p. 159–163. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/3444370.3444564 [32] F. Li, A. A. Niaki, D. Choffnes, P. Gill, and A. Mislove, “A large-scale analysis of deployed traffic differentiation practices,” in Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication, ser. SIGCOMM ’19. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2019, p. 130–144. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/3341302.3342092 [33] P. Srisuresh and K. Egevang, “Traditional IP Network Address Translator (Traditional NAT),” Internet Requests for Comments, IETF, RFC 3022, Jan 2001. [Online]. Available: https://tools.ietf.org/pdf/rfc3022.pdf This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors: (1) Vinod S. Khandkar and Manjesh K. Hanawal, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India and {vinod.khandkar, mhanawal}@iitb.ac.in. Authors: Authors: (1) Vinod S. Khandkar and Manjesh K. Hanawal, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India and {vinod.khandkar, mhanawal}@iitb.ac.in. Table of Links Abstract & Introduction Abstract & Introduction Related Work and Background Related Work and Background Challenges in TD Detection Measurement Setup Development Challenges in TD Detection Measurement Setup Development Case Study : Wehe - TD Detection Tool for Mobile Environment Case Study : Wehe - TD Detection Tool for Mobile Environment Shortcoming of Wehe on HTTPS Traffic Shortcoming of Wehe on HTTPS Traffic TD Detection of HTTPS Traffic TD Detection of HTTPS Traffic Conclusion & References Conclusion & References VII. CONCLUSION Net neutrality violation detection is a need of an hour. As many of the ISPs are also content providers these days, they compete with each other, which can lead to one deliberately discriminating the services of the other to gain market share. However, users should have the freedom to choose services as per their wishes. Our work considered various challenges in the detection of traffic discrimination in HTTPS traffic. As a case study, we validated Wehe, one of the latest tools available to detect traffic differentiation. The described challenges helped us divide the entire tool into multiple interdependent components and validate them independently. Our validation using commercial traffic shaper revealed that traffic in Wehe setup may not mimic the characteristics of HTTPS traffic accessed from the original servers. Hence, middle-boxes may not subject them to intended discrimination. Thus, Wehe may not detect discrimination of HTTPS traffic. Our new method that uses the appropriate SNI parameter value in the initial TLS handshake message overcomes this shortcoming. Hence our work provided a mechanism to detect a wide range of possible discriminations on the Internet. REFERENCES [1] T. Garrett, L. E. Setenareski, L. M. Peres, L. C. E. Bona, and E. P. Duarte, “Monitoring network neutrality: A survey on traffic differentiation detection,” IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 2486–2517, 2018. [2] V. Nguyen, D. Mohammed, M. Omar, and P. Dean, “Net neutrality around the globe: A survey,” in 2020 3rd International Conference on Information and Computer Technologies (ICICT), 2020, pp. 480–488. [3] Ramneek, P. Hosein, W. Choi, and W. Seok, “Detecting network neutrality violations through packet loss statistics,” in 2015 17th AsiaPacific Network Operations and Management Symposium (APNOMS), 2015, pp. 404–407. [4] D. Li, F. Tian, M. Zhu, L. Wang, and L. 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[Online]. Available: https://www.ciscolive.com/c/dam/r/ciscolive/emea/docs/2018/ pdf/BRKCRS-2502.pdf [30] A. Rao, J. Sherry, A. Legout, A. Krishnamurthy, W. Dabbous, and D. Choffnes, “Meddle: middleboxes for increased transparency and control of mobile traffic,” in CoNEXT Student Workshop, ACM, 12 2012, pp. 65–66. [31] R. Liu and X. Yu, “A survey on encrypted traffic identification,” in Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Cyberspace Innovation of Advanced Technologies, ser. CIAT 2020. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2020, p. 159–163. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/3444370.3444564 [32] F. Li, A. A. Niaki, D. Choffnes, P. Gill, and A. Mislove, “A large-scale analysis of deployed traffic differentiation practices,” in Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication, ser. SIGCOMM ’19. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2019, p. 130–144. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/3341302.3342092 [33] P. Srisuresh and K. Egevang, “Traditional IP Network Address Translator (Traditional NAT),” Internet Requests for Comments, IETF, RFC 3022, Jan 2001. [Online]. Available: https://tools.ietf.org/pdf/rfc3022.pdf This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. available on arxiv

Ensuring Fair Internet Access: Challenges and Solutions in Traffic Discrimination Detection

Imagine we're stepping into a sci-fi movie, but it's real life. That's the vibe at SXSW sessions, where tomorrow's ideas feel like they're unfolding today. In one of the first talks I caught at SXSW this year, , the big boss at MIT Technology Review, laid out a list of ten tech breakthroughs. She's betting these will seriously shake up our daily lives and how we work. Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau Here's the scoop on what made her list: It's like AI's about to be in everything we touch. AI for Everything: Think sun power on steroids. Super Efficient Solar Panels: This one got everyone buzzing. ( or advertising..) Apple Vision Pro: No gym? No problem, maybe. Weight Loss Medicines: It's about getting cozy with Earth's heat. Advanced Geothermal Systems: But not the snack kind. Chips: Sounds like sci-fi, but it's real. First Gene Editing Therapy: Big word, even bigger deal. Exascale Computers: They're hot, literally. Heat Pumps: After Elon Musk stirred the pot with X, new social networks are popping up trying to take the throne. Twitter Killers: What Are Exascale Computers? These beasts can do a quintillion operations per second. Yes, that's a lot of zeros. Elizabeth thinks these computers will change the game for everyone, not just the science folks. Imagine cracking problems or discovering stuff that seemed out of reach before. She believes we'll see how these computers can be more accessible to regular folks soon. The Brave New Future of the Recent Past from the kicked off a and a chat about how our stories, especially . It's all about the power of storytelling and finding new ways to talk about artificial intelligence that matters to us as people. Brent Reidy New York Public Library session with a throwback to Plato around AI, need a fresh, human-centered twist The next day, I caught a keynote with , aka and These guys are the brains behind which won seven Oscars. They discussed why they make films and how storytelling is core to being human. The Daniels Daniel Scheinert Daniel Kwan. "Everything Everywhere All at Once," Kwan shared his unease about AI in filmmaking, hinting at excitement and worry about what's to come. The Brave New Future of the Recent Past 's dive into Plato's cave allegory at SXSW wasn't just a trip back to Philosophy 101. It turned out to be a sneak peek into a theme I'd bump into repeatedly at the event: the sheer power of storytelling. Especially the kind we need right now about AI—stories about us, the humans, at the heart of it all. Brent Reidy This moment was like a heads-up that at SXSW, amidst all the tech talk, there's this big conversation about how we tell stories in the age of artificial intelligence. And it's not just any stories, but those that zoom in on the human experience, making sure we're not just talking tech for tech's sake but connecting it to what it means for us, living in this world, right here, right now. The Rise of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) Even though the idea of a wearable device that processes the electrical signals in your brain and spits out real-time data might still feel like a page ripped from a sci-fi novel, we're seeing this tech grow leaps and bounds every single day. And now, it's inching closer to becoming something we might see in the market, not just in movies. During a session at SXSW, Adam Molnar from Neurable shared how they're crafting headsets equipped with BCI tech. These aren't your average headsets, though. They're designed to track how focused you are on a task. The cool part? They might even help you improve at focusing, theoretically teaching us how to tune into what we're doing with laser precision. "Your Brain in Artificial Intelligence: Neurotech's New Horizons" Adam dished out details about these demo headsets that haven't hit the shelves yet, expressing his strong belief that BCI gadgets will be part of our everyday lives pretty soon. This is a hint that the future of how we interact with our devices, and maybe even how we understand our own brains, is about to shift in a big way. AI Isn't a Usurper of Human Creativity; it's a Compliment That Enriches it. In an invigorating exploration of the intersection between artificial intelligence and marketing, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel titled in Austin. The session was with marketers Justin Day and Anne Ahola Ward. "Marketing to Humans in an AI World" at SXSW 2024 Our discussion explored AI's transformative impact on marketing, unwrapping layers of how this technology reshapes strategies, content creation, customer engagement, and more. The panelists shared insights, shedding light on how AI tools, like the , demonstrated, are revolutionizing the way marketing agencies craft presentations, proposals, websites, or visuals. Companies, in turn, are encouraged to foster an environment of learning and experimentation, allowing their teams to engage with these 'new tools’ and unlock their full potential. Gamma app SXSW’24 Startup Pitching Competition Watching the SXSW Pitch 2024, presented by KPMG, was a real treat. The place was packed. This year, the big themes among the showcased innovations were artificial intelligence integration, industry-specific solutions, and projects focused on sustainability and environmental impact. The competition was international, with startups from Belgium, Britain, Estonia, France, Israel, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Category Winners: AI, Robotics, and Voice: Gan.ai (San Francisco, CA)
Enterprise and Smart Data: Swif.ai (Santa Clara, CA)
Entertainment, Media, and Content: OpusClip (Redwood City, CA)
Extended Reality and Web3: Applix (Austin, TX)
Food, Nutrition, and Health: STMPatch (Storrs, CT)
Future of Work: Folio.works (Oakland, CA)
Innovative World Technologies: Cephable (Boston, MA)
Smart Cities, Transportation, and Logistics: Lotus (San Jose, CA)
Student Startup: Paradigm Robotics (Austin, TX) "Best in Show" at the SXSW Pitch 2024, went to OpusClip. Winners bagged a cash prize and earned two badges for next year's SXSW conference. However, perhaps the biggest win was the chance to present to a massive audience of SXSW attendees and potential investors. From 2009 to 2023, over 93% of the 647 companies participating in the SXSW Pitch have secured around $23.2 billion (excluding undisclosed grants, angel, and seed funding). SXSW 2024 once again proved it's more than just a tech and innovation event; it's a preview of tomorrow that already has us all buzzing about next year. And for those already looking forward to the next chapter, mark your calendars: SXSW 2025 is set for March 7-15, 2025. It's never too early to start planning for another round of inspiring discussions and groundbreaking ideas! Also published here

Step Towards Sci-Fi: AI and BCI Insights From SXSW

This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. . Authors: Gemini Team, Google Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Model Architecture Training Infrastructure Training Dataset Evaluation Responsible Deployment Discussion and Conclusion, References Contributions and Acknowledgments Appendix 8. Contributions and Acknowledgments Leads Rohan Anil, Co-Lead, Text Sebastian Borgeaud, Co-Lead, Text Yonghui Wu, Co-Lead, Text Jean-Baptiste Alayrac, Co-Lead, MM Vision Jiahui Yu, Co-Lead, MM Vision Radu Soricut*, Co-Lead, MM Vision* Johan Schalkwyk, Lead, MM Audio Andrew M. Dai, Co-Lead, Data Anja Hauth*, Co-Lead, Data* Katie Millican, Co-Lead, Data David Silver, Co-Lead, Fine-Tuning Slav Petrov, Co-Lead, Fine-Tuning Melvin Johnson, Lead, Instruction Tuning Ioannis Antonoglou*, Co-Lead, RL Techniques* Julian Schrittwieser, Co-Lead, RL Techniques Amelia Glaese, Lead, Human Data Jilin Chen, Lead, Safety Emily Pitler, Co-Lead, Tool Use Timothy Lillicrap, Co-Lead, Tool Use Angeliki Lazaridou, Co-Lead, Eval Orhan Firat, Co-Lead, Eval James Molloy, Co-Lead, Infra Michael Isard, Co-Lead, Infra Paul R. Barham, Co-Lead, Infra Tom Hennigan, Co-Lead, Infra Benjamin Lee, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Fabio Viola, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Malcolm Reynolds, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Yuanzhong Xu, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Ryan Doherty, Lead, Ecosystem Eli Collins, Lead, Product Clemens Meyer, Co-Lead, Operations Eliza Rutherford, Co-Lead, Operations Erica Moreira, Co-Lead, Operations Kareem Ayoub, Co-Lead, Operations Megha Goel, Co-Lead, Operations Core Contributors George Tucker Enrique Piqueras Maxim Krikun Iain Barr Nikolay Savinov Ivo Danihelka Becca Roelofs Core Contributors Anaïs White Anders Andreassen Tamara von Glehn Lakshman Yagati Mehran Kazemi Lucas Gonzalez Misha Khalman Jakub Sygnowski Alexandre Frechette Charlotte Smith Laura Culp Lev Proleev Yi Luan Xi Chen James Lottes Nathan Schucher Federico Lebron Alban Rrustemi Natalie Clay Phil Crone Tomas Kocisky Jeffrey Zhao Bartek Perz Dian Yu Heidi Howard Adam Bloniarz Jack W. Rae Han Lu Laurent Sifre Marcello Maggioni Fred Alcober Dan Garrette Megan Barnes Shantanu Thakoor Jacob Austin Gabriel Barth-Maron William Wong Rishabh Joshi Rahma Chaabouni Deeni Fatiha Arun Ahuja Ruibo Liu Yunxuan Li Sarah Cogan Jeremy Chen Core Contributors Chao Jia Chenjie Gu Qiao Zhang Jordan Grimstad Ale Jakse Hartman Martin Chadwick Gaurav Singh Tomar Xavier Garcia Evan Senter Emanuel Taropa Thanumalayan Sankaranarayana Pillai Jacob Devlin Michael Laskin Diego de Las Casas Dasha Valter Connie Tao Lorenzo Blanco Adrià Puigdomènech Badia David Reitter Mianna Chen Jenny Brennan Clara Rivera Sergey Brin Shariq Iqbal Gabriela Surita Jane Labanowski Abhi Rao Stephanie Winkler Emilio Parisotto Yiming Gu Kate Olszewska Yujing Zhang Ravi Addanki Antoine Miech Annie Louis Laurent El Shafey Denis Teplyashin Geoff Brown Elliot Catt Nithya Attaluri Jan Balaguer Jackie Xiang Pidong Wang Zoe Ashwood Anton Briukhov Albert Webson Sanjay Ganapathy Smit Sanghavi Core Contributors Ajay Kannan Ming-Wei Chang Axel Stjerngren Josip Djolonga Yuting Sun Ankur Bapna Matthew Aitchison Pedram Pejman Henryk Michalewski Tianhe Yu Cindy Wang Juliette Love Junwhan Ahn Dawn Bloxwich Kehang Han Peter Humphreys Thibault Sellam James Bradbury Varun Godbole Sina Samangooei Bogdan Damoc Alex Kaskasoli Sébastien M. R. Arnold Vijay Vasudevan Shubham Agrawal Jason Riesa Dmitry Lepikhin Richard Tanburn Srivatsan Srinivasan Hyeontaek Lim Sarah Hodkinson Pranav Shyam Johan Ferret Steven Hand Ankush Garg Tom Le Paine Jian Li Yujia Li Minh Giang Alexander Neitz Zaheer Abbas Sarah York Machel Reid Elizabeth Cole Aakanksha Chowdhery Dipanjan Das Dominika Rogozińska Vitaly Nikolaev Core Contributors Pablo Sprechmann Zachary Nado Lukas Zilka Flavien Prost Luheng He Marianne Monteiro Gaurav Mishra Chris Welty Josh Newlan Dawei Jia Miltiadis Allamanis Clara Huiyi Hu Raoul de Liedekerke Justin Gilmer Carl Saroufim Shruti Rijhwani Shaobo Hou Disha Shrivastava Anirudh Baddepudi Alex Goldin Adnan Ozturel Albin Cassirer Yunhan Xu Daniel Sohn Devendra Sachan Reinald Kim Amplayo Craig Swanson Dessie Petrova Shashi Narayan Arthur Guez Siddhartha Brahma Jessica Landon Miteyan Patel Ruizhe Zhao Kevin Villela Luyu Wang Wenhao Jia Matthew Rahtz Mai Giménez Legg Yeung Hanzhao Lin James Keeling Petko Georgiev Diana Mincu Boxi Wu Salem Haykal Rachel Saputro Kiran Vodrahalli Core Contributors James Qin Zeynep Cankara Abhanshu Sharma Nick Fernando Will Hawkins Behnam Neyshabur Solomon Kim Adrian Hutter Priyanka Agrawal Alex Castro-Ros George van den Driessche Tao Wang Fan Yang Shuo-yiin Chang Paul Komarek Ross McIlroy Mario Lučić Guodong Zhang Wael Farhan Michael Sharman Paul Natsev Paul Michel Yong Cheng Yamini Bansal Siyuan Qiao Kris Cao Siamak Shakeri Christina Butterfield Justin Chung Paul Kishan Rubenstein Shivani Agrawal Arthur Mensch Kedar Soparkar Karel Lenc Timothy Chung Aedan Pope Loren Maggiore Jackie Kay Priya Jhakra Shibo Wang Joshua Maynez Mary Phuong Taylor Tobin Andrea Tacchetti Maja Trebacz Kevin Robinson Yash Katariya Sebastian Riedel Core Contributors Paige Bailey Kefan Xiao Nimesh Ghelani Lora Aroyo Ambrose Slone Neil Houlsby Xuehan Xiong Zhen Yang Elena Gribovskaya Jonas Adler Mateo Wirth Lisa Lee Music Li Thais Kagohara Jay Pavagadhi Sophie Bridgers Anna Bortsova Sanjay Ghemawat Zafarali Ahmed Tianqi Liu Richard Powell Vijay Bolina Mariko Iinuma Polina Zablotskaia James Besley Da-Woon Chung Timothy Dozat Ramona Comanescu Xiance Si Jeremy Greer Guolong Su Martin Polacek Raphaël Lopez Kaufman Simon Tokumine Hexiang Hu Elena Buchatskaya Yingjie Miao Mohamed Elhawaty Aditya Siddhant Nenad Tomasev Jinwei Xing Christina Greer Helen Miller Shereen Ashraf Aurko Roy Zizhao Zhang Ada Ma Angelos Filos Core Contributors Milos Besta Rory Blevins Ted Klimenko Chih-Kuan Yeh Soravit Changpinyo Jiaqi Mu Oscar Chang Mantas Pajarskas Carrie Muir Vered Cohen Charline Le Lan Krishna Haridasan Amit Marathe Steven Hansen Sholto Douglas Rajkumar Samuel Mingqiu Wang Sophia Austin Chang Lan Jiepu Jiang Justin Chiu Jaime Alonso Lorenzo Lars Lowe Sjösund Sébastien Cevey Zach Gleicher Thi Avrahami Anudhyan Boral Hansa Srinivasan Vittorio Selo Rhys May Konstantinos Aisopos Léonard Hussenot Livio Baldini Soares Kate Baumli Michael B. Chang Adrià Recasens Ben Caine Alexander Pritzel Filip Pavetic Fabio Pardo Anita Gergely Justin Frye Vinay Ramasesh Dan Horgan Kartikeya Badola Nora Kassner Subhrajit Roy Ethan Dyer Core Contributors Víctor Campos Alex Tomala Yunhao Tang Dalia El Badawy Elspeth White Basil Mustafa Oran Lang Abhishek Jindal Sharad Vikram Zhitao Gong Sergi Caelles Ross Hemsley Gregory Thornton Fangxiaoyu Feng Wojciech Stokowiec Ce Zheng Phoebe Thacker Çağlar Ünlü Zhishuai Zhang Mohammad Saleh James Svensson Max Bileschi Piyush Patil Ankesh Anand Roman Ring Katerina Tsihlas Arpi Vezer Marco Selvi Toby Shevlane Mikel Rodriguez Tom Kwiatkowski Samira Daruki Keran Rong Allan Dafoe Nicholas FitzGerald Keren Gu-Lemberg Mina Khan Lisa Anne Hendricks Marie Pellat Vladimir Feinberg James Cobon-Kerr Tara Sainath Maribeth Rauh Sayed Hadi Hashemi Richard Ives Yana Hasson YaGuang Li Eric Noland Core Contributors Yuan Cao Nathan Byrd Le Hou Qingze Wang Thibault Sottiaux Michela Paganini Jean-Baptiste Lespiau Alexandre Moufarek Samer Hassan Kaushik Shivakumar Joost van Amersfoort Amol Mandhane Pratik Joshi Anirudh Goyal Matthew Tung Andrew Brock Hannah Sheahan Vedant Misra Cheng Li Nemanja Rakićević Mostafa Dehghani Fangyu Liu Sid Mittal Junhyuk Oh Seb Noury Eren Sezener Fantine Huot Matthew Lamm Nicola De Cao Charlie Chen Contributors Gamaleldin Elsayed Ed Chi Mahdis Mahdieh Ian Tenney Nan Hua Ivan Petrychenko Patrick Kane Dylan Scandinaro Rishub Jain Jonathan Uesato Romina Datta Adam Sadovsky Oskar Bunyan Dominik Rabiej Shimu Wu John Zhang Contributors Gautam Vasudevan Edouard Leurent Mahmoud Alnahlawi Ionut Georgescu Nan Wei Ivy Zheng Betty Chan Pam G Rabinovitch Piotr Stanczyk Ye Zhang David Steiner Subhajit Naskar Michael Azzam Matthew Johnson Adam Paszke Chung-Cheng Chiu Jaume Sanchez Elias Afroz Mohiuddin Faizan Muhammad Jin Miao Andrew Lee Nino Vieillard Sahitya Potluri Jane Park Elnaz Davoodi Jiageng Zhang Jeff Stanway Drew Garmon Abhijit Karmarkar Zhe Dong Jong Lee Aviral Kumar Luowei Zhou Jonathan Evens William Isaac Zhe Chen Johnson Jia Anselm Levskaya Zhenkai Zhu Chris Gorgolewski Peter Grabowski Yu Mao Alberto Magni Kaisheng Yao Javier Snaider Norman Casagrande Paul Suganthan Evan Palmer Contributors Geoffrey Irving Edward Loper Manaal Faruqui Isha Arkatkar Nanxin Chen Izhak Shafran Michael Fink Alfonso Castaño Irene Giannoumis Wooyeol Kim Mikołaj Rybiński Ashwin Sreevatsa Jennifer Prendki David Soergel Adrian Goedeckemeyer Willi Gierke Mohsen Jafari Meenu Gaba Jeremy Wiesner Diana Gage Wright Yawen Wei Harsha Vashisht Yana Kulizhskaya Jay Hoover Maigo Le Lu Li Chimezie Iwuanyanwu Lu Liu Kevin Ramirez Andrey Khorlin Albert Cui Tian LIN Marin Georgiev Marcus Wu Ricardo Aguilar Keith Pallo Abhishek Chakladar Alena Repina Xihui Wu Tom van der Weide Priya Ponnapalli Caroline Kaplan Jiri Simsa Shuangfeng Li Olivier Dousse Fan Yang Jeff Piper Nathan Ie Contributors Minnie Lui Rama Pasumarthi Nathan Lintz Anitha Vijayakumar Lam Nguyen Thiet Daniel Andor Pedro Valenzuela Cosmin Paduraru Daiyi Peng Katherine Lee Shuyuan Zhang Somer Greene Duc Dung Nguyen Paula Kurylowicz Sarmishta Velury Sebastian Krause Cassidy Hardin Lucas Dixon Lili Janzer Kiam Choo Ziqiang Feng Biao Zhang Achintya Singhal Tejasi Latkar Mingyang Zhang Quoc Le Elena Allica Abellan Dayou Du Dan McKinnon Natasha Antropova Tolga Bolukbasi Orgad Keller David Reid Daniel Finchelstein Maria Abi Raad Remi Crocker Peter Hawkins Robert Dadashi Colin Gaffney Sid Lall Ken Franko Egor Filonov Anna Bulanova Rémi Leblond Vikas Yadav Shirley Chung Harry Askham Luis C. Cobo Contributors Kelvin Xu Felix Fischer Jun Xu Christina Sorokin Chris Alberti Chu-Cheng Lin Colin Evans Hao Zhou Alek Dimitriev Hannah Forbes Dylan Banarse Zora Tung Jeremiah Liu Mark Omernick Colton Bishop Chintu Kumar Rachel Sterneck Ryan Foley Rohan Jain Swaroop Mishra Jiawei Xia Taylor Bos Geoffrey Cideron Ehsan Amid Francesco Piccinno Xingyu Wang Praseem Banzal Petru Gurita Hila Noga Premal Shah Daniel J. Mankowitz Alex Polozov Nate Kushman Victoria Krakovna Sasha Brown MohammadHossein Bateni Dennis Duan Vlad Firoiu Meghana Thotakuri Tom Natan Anhad Mohananey Matthieu Geist Sidharth Mudgal Sertan Girgin Hui Li Jiayu Ye Ofir Roval Reiko Tojo Contributors Michael Kwong James Lee-Thorp Christopher Yew Quan Yuan Sumit Bagri Danila Sinopalnikov Sabela Ramos John Mellor Abhishek Sharma Aliaksei Severyn Jonathan Lai Kathy Wu Heng-Tze Cheng David Miller Nicolas Sonnerat Denis Vnukov Rory Greig Jennifer Beattie Emily Caveness Libin Bai Julian Eisenschlos Alex Korchemniy Tomy Tsai Mimi Jasarevic Weize Kong Phuong Dao Zeyu Zheng Frederick Liu Fan Yang Rui Zhu Mark Geller Tian Huey Teh Jason Sanmiya Evgeny Gladchenko Nejc Trdin Andrei Sozanschi Daniel Toyama Evan Rosen Sasan Tavakkol Linting Xue Chen Elkind Oliver Woodman John Carpenter George Papamakarios Rupert Kemp Sushant Kafle Tanya Grunina Rishika Sinha Contributors Alice Talbert Abhimanyu Goyal Diane Wu Denese Owusu-Afriyie Cosmo Du Chloe Thornton Jordi Pont-Tuset Pradyumna Narayana Jing Li Saaber Fatehi John Wieting Omar Ajmeri Benigno Uria Tao Zhu Yeongil Ko Laura Knight Amélie Héliou Ning Niu Shane Gu Chenxi Pang Dustin Tran Yeqing Li Nir Levine Ariel Stolovich Norbert Kalb Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez Sonam Goenka Wenny Yustalim Robin Strudel Ali Elqursh Balaji Lakshminarayanan Charlie Deck Shyam Upadhyay Hyo Lee Mike Dusenberry Zonglin Li Xuezhi Wang Kyle Levin Raphael Hoffmann Dan Holtmann-Rice Olivier Bachem Summer Yue Sho Arora Eric Malmi Daniil Mirylenka Qijun Tan Christy Koh Soheil Hassas Yeganeh Contributors Siim Põder Steven Zheng Francesco Pongetti Mukarram Tariq Yanhua Sun Lucian Ionita Mojtaba Seyedhosseini Pouya Tafti Ragha Kotikalapudi Zhiyu Liu Anmol Gulati Jasmine Liu Xinyu Ye Bart Chrzaszcz Lily Wang Nikhil Sethi Tianrun Li Ben Brown Shreya Singh Wei Fan Aaron Parisi Joe Stanton Chenkai Kuang Vinod Koverkathu Christopher A. Choquette-Choo Yunjie Li TJ Lu Abe Ittycheriah Prakash Shroff Pei Sun Mani Varadarajan Sanaz Bahargam Rob Willoughby David Gaddy Ishita Dasgupta Guillaume Desjardins Marco Cornero Brona Robenek Bhavishya Mittal Ben Albrecht Ashish Shenoy Fedor Moiseev Henrik Jacobsson Alireza Ghaffarkhah Morgane Rivière Alanna Walton Clément Crepy Alicia Parrish Contributors Yuan Liu Zongwei Zhou Clement Farabet Carey Radebaugh Praveen Srinivasan Claudia van der Salm Andreas Fidjeland Salvatore Scellato Eri Latorre-Chimoto Hanna Klimczak-Plucińska David Bridson Dario de Cesare Tom Hudson Piermaria Mendolicchio Lexi Walker Alex Morris Ivo Penchev Matthew Mauger Alexey Guseynov Alison Reid Seth Odoom Lucia Loher Victor Cotruta Madhavi Yenugula Dominik Grewe Anastasia Petrushkina Tom Duerig Antonio Sanchez Steve Yadlowsky Amy Shen Amir Globerson Adam Kurzrok Lynette Webb Sahil Dua Dong Li Preethi Lahoti Surya Bhupatiraju Dan Hurt Haroon Qureshi Ananth Agarwal Tomer Shani Matan Eyal Anuj Khare Shreyas Rammohan Belle Lei Wang Chetan Tekur Mihir Sanjay Kale Jinliang Wei Contributors Ruoxin Sang Brennan Saeta Tyler Liechty Yi Sun Yao Zhao Stephan Lee Pandu Nayak Doug Fritz Manish Reddy Vuyyuru John Aslanides Nidhi Vyas Martin Wicke Xiao Ma Taylan Bilal Evgenii Eltyshev Daniel Balle Nina Martin Hardie Cate James Manyika Keyvan Amiri Yelin Kim Xi Xiong Kai Kang Florian Luisier Nilesh Tripuraneni David Madras Mandy Guo Austin Waters Oliver Wang Joshua Ainslie Jason Baldridge Han Zhang Garima Pruthi Jakob Bauer Feng Yang Riham Mansour Jason Gelman Yang Xu George Polovets Ji Liu Honglong Cai Warren Chen XiangHai Sheng Emily Xue Sherjil Ozair Adams Yu Christof Angermueller Contributors Xiaowei Li Weiren Wang Julia Wiesinger Emmanouil Koukoumidis Yuan Tian Anand Iyer Madhu Gurumurthy Mark Goldenson Parashar Shah MK Blake Hongkun Yu Anthony Urbanowicz Jennimaria Palomaki Chrisantha Fernando Kevin Brooks Ken Durden Harsh Mehta Nikola Momchev Elahe Rahimtoroghi Maria Georgaki Amit Raul Sebastian Ruder Morgan Redshaw Jinhyuk Lee Komal Jalan Dinghua Li Ginger Perng Blake Hechtman Parker Schuh Milad Nasr Mia Chen Kieran Milan Vladimir Mikulik Trevor Strohman Juliana Franco Tim Green Program Leads Demis Hassabis Koray Kavukcuoglu Overall Technical Leads (equal contribution) Jeffrey Dean Oriol Vinyals The roles are defined as below: • : Individual(s) responsible for the sub-team throughout the project. Lead Individual that had significant impact throughout the project. • Core Contributor: : Individual that had contributions to the project and was partially involved with the effort. • Contributor Responsible for the organizational aspects of the Gemini effort • Program Lead: Responsible for the technical direction of the overall Gemini effort • Overall Technical Lead: Within each role, contributions are equal, and are listed in a randomized order. Ordering within each role does not indicate ordering of the contributions. Gemini is a cross-Google effort, with members from Google DeepMind (GDM), Google Research (GR), Knowledge and Information (K&I), Core ML, Cloud, Labs, and more. We thank our reviewers and colleagues for their valuable discussions and feedback on the report— Alexandra Belias, Arielle Bier, Eleanor Tomlinson, Emily Hossellman, Gaby Pearl, Helen King, Hollie Dobson, Jaclyn Konzelmann, Jennifer Beroshi, Joel Moss, Jon Small, Jonathan Fildes, Oli Gaymond, Rebecca Bland, Reena Jana, and Tom Lue. Our work is made possible by the dedication and efforts of numerous teams at Google. We would like to acknowledge the support from Abhi Mohan, Adekunle Bello, Aishwarya Nagarajan, Alaa Saade, Alejandro Lince, Alexander Chen, Alexander Kolbasov, Alexander Schiffhauer, Amar Subramanya, Ameya Shringi, Amin Vahdat, Anda Rabatić, Anthonie Gross, Antoine Yang, Anthony Green, Anton Ruddock, Art Khurshudov, Artemis Chen, Arthur Argenson, Avinatan Hassidim, Beiye Liu, Benjamin Schroeder, Bin Ni, Brett Daw, Bryan Chiang, Burak Gokturk, Carl Crous, Carrie Grimes Bostock, Charbel Kaed, Charlotte Banks, Che Diaz, Chris Larkin, Christy Lian, Claire Cui, Clare Bycroft, Corentin Tallec, Daniel Herndon, Dave Burke, David Battle, David Engel, Dipannita Shaw, Donghyun Koo, Doug Ritchie, Dragos Stefanescu, Elissa Wolf, Emre Sargin, Eran Ofek, Eric Herren, Estella King, Fatema Alkhanaizi, Felix Gimeno, Fernando Pereira, Florent Altché, Gabriel Carvajal, Gaurav Gandhi, George Powell, Goran Pavičić, Harry Richardson, Hassan Wassel, Hongji Li, Idan Szpektor, Igor Ivanisevic, Ivan Jambrešić, Ivan Jurin, Jade Fowler, James Assiene, Jay Yagnik, Jeanbastien Grill, Jeff Seibert, Jenna LaPlante, Jessica Austin, Jianxing Lu, Jim O’Keeffe, Jin Huang, Joe Heyward, Johannes Welbl, John Jumper, Jonathan Caton, Josh Woodward, Joshua Foster, Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool, Katrina Wong, Kavya Kopparapu, Kelvin Nguyen, Kira Yin, Konstantin Sharlaimov, Kun Li, Lee Hong, Lilly Taylor, Longfei Shen, Luc Mercier, Maciej Mikuła, Mania Abdi, Manuel Sanchez, Maria Ines Aranguren, Mario Carlos Cortes III, Matthew Tait, Matthias Lochbrunner, Mehdi Ghissassi, Micah Mosley, Michael Bendersky, Michael Figurnov, Michael Harris, Michael Mathieu, Michael O’Neill, Michael Vorburger, Mihir Paradkar, Nandita Dukkipati, Nathan Carter, Nathan Watson, Neil Rabinowitz, Nikhil Dandekar, Nishant Ranka, Obaid Sarvana, Olcan Sercinoglu, Olivier Lacombe, Ottavia Bertolli, Paul Caron, Pranesh Srinivasan, Praveen Kumar, Rahul Sukthankar, Raia Hadsell, Rajagopal Ananthanarayanan, Roberto Lupi, Rosie Zou, Sachin Menezes, Sadegh Jazayeri, Sam Cheung, Sameer Bidichandani, Sania Alex, Sanjiv Kumar, Sara Wiltberger, Sarah Fitzgerald, Saz Basu, Sebastian Nowozin, Shannon Hepburn, Shayne Cardwell, Sissie Hsiao, Srinivasan Venkatachary, Sugato Basu, Sundar Pichai, Sundeep Tirumalareddy, Susannah Young, Swetha Vijayaraghavan, Tania Bedrax-Weiss, Taylor Applebaum, Teiva Harsanyi, Terry Chen, Tim Blyth, Ting Liu, Tom Cobley, Tomas Izo, Trystan Upstill, Varun Singhai, Vedrana Klarić Trupčević, Victor Cai, Vladimir Pudovkin, Vu Dang, Wenbo Zhao, Wesley Crow, Wesley Szeng, Xiaodan Song, Yazhou Zu, Ye Tian, Yicong Wang, Yixing Wang, Yossi Matias, Yunlong Jiao, Zachary Jessup, Zhenchuan Pang, Žiga Avsec, Zimeng Yang, and Zoubin Ghahramani. We’d also like to recognize the AlphaCode team, the Borg Scheduling team, the Facilities team, the Gemini Demo Team, the Global Server Ops (GSO) team, the JAX team, the the Legal team, ML SRE team, the ML Supercomputer (MLSC) team, the PartIR team, the Platforms Infrastructure Engineering (PIE) team, and the XLA Compiler team. We thank everyone at Google not explicitly mentioned above, who have shared excitement, given feedback on early Gemini models or created interesting demo uses of Gemini, and worked with or supported the core Gemini team on many aspects of this project.

Gemini -  A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Models: Contributions and Acknowledgments

Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882 by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . OUR ORIGIN AS A SPECIES. here OUR ORIGIN AS A SPECIES. By Richard Owen, C.B., F.R.S. There seems to be a manifest desire in some quarters to anticipate the looked for and, by some, hoped-for proofs of our descent, or rather ascent, from the ape. In the September issue of the a writer cites, in this relation, the "Neanderthal skull, which possesses large bosses on the forehead, strikingly suggestive of those which give the gorilla its peculiarly fierce appearance;" and he proceeds: "No other human skull presents so utterly bestial a type as the Neanderthal fragment. If one cuts a female gorilla-skull in the same fashion, the resemblance is truly astonishing, and we may say that the only human feature in the skull is its size.” Fortnightly Review In testing the question as between Linnæus and Cuvier of the zoological value of the differences between lowest man and highest ape, a naturalist would not limit his comparison of a portion of the human skull with the corresponding one of a female ape, but would extend it to the young or immature gorilla, and also to the adult male; he would then find the generic and specific characters summed up, so far, at least, as a portion or "fragment" of the skull might show them. What is posed as the "Neanderthal skull" is the roof of the brain-case, or "calvarium" of the anatomist, including the pent-house overhanging the eye-holes or "orbits." There is no other part of the fragment which can be supposed to be meant by the "large bosses" of the above quotation. And, on this assumption, I have to state that the super-orbital ridge in the calvarium in question is but little more prominent than in certain human skulls of both higher and lower races, and of both the existing and cave-dwelling periods. It is a variable cranial character, by no means indicative of race, but rather of sex. Limiting the comparison to that on which the writer quoted bases his conclusions—apparently the superficial extent of the roof plate—its greater extent as compared with that of a gorilla equaling, probably, in weight the entire frame of the individual from the Neanderthal cave, is strongly significant of the superiority of size of brain in the cave-dweller. The inner surface moreover indicates the more complex character of the soft organ on which it was moulded; the precious "gray substance" being multiplied by certain convolutions which are absent in the apes. But there is another surface which the unbiased zoologist finds it requisite to compare. In the human "calvarium" in question, the mid-line traced backward from the super-orbital ridge runs along a smooth track. In the gorilla a ridge is raised from along the major part of that tract to increase the surface giving attachment to the biting muscles. Such ridge in this position varies only in height in the female and the male adult ape, as the specimens in the British Museum demonstrate. In the Neanderthal individual, as in the rest of mankind, the corresponding muscles do not extend their origins to the upper surface of the cranium, but stop short at the sides forming the inner wall or boundary of what are called the "temples," defined by Johnson as the "upper part of the sides of the head," whence our "biting muscles" are called "temporal," as the side-bones of the skull to which they are attached are also the "temporal bones." In the superficial comparison to which Mr. Grant Allen has restricted himself in bearing testimony on a question which perhaps affects our fellow-creatures, in the right sense of the term, more warmly than any other in human and comparative anatomy, the obvious difference just pointed out ought not to have been passed over. It was the more incumbent on one pronouncing on the paramount problem, because the "sagittal ridge in the gorilla," as in the orang, relates to and signifies the dental character which differentiates all from all that have ever come under the ken of the biologist. And this ridge much more "strikingly suggests" the fierceness of the powerful brute-ape than the part referred to as "large bosses." Frontal prominences, more truly so termed, are even better developed in peaceful, timid, graminivorous quadrupeds than in the skulls of man or of ape. But before noticing the evidence which the teeth bear on the physical relations of man to brute, I would premise that the comparison must not be limited to a part or "fragment" of the bony frame, but to its totality, as relating to the modes and faculties of locomotion. Quadrumana Bimana Beginning with the skull—and, indeed, for present aim, limiting myself thereto—I have found that a vertical longitudinal section brings to light in greatest number and of truest value the differential characters between lowest and highest . Those truly and indifferently interested in the question may not think it unworthy their time—if it has not already been so bestowed—to give attention to the detailed discussions and illustrations of the characters in question in the second and third volumes of the "Transactions of the Zoological Society." The concluding memoir, relating more especially to points of approximation in cranial and denial structure of the highest to the lowest , has been separately published. Homo Simia Quadrumane Bimane I selected from the large and instructive series of human skulls of various races in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons that which was the lowest, and might be called most bestial, in its cranial and dental characters. It was from an adult of that human family of which the life-characters are chiefly but truly and suggestively defined in the narrative of Cook's first voyage in the Endeavor. Not to trespass further on the patience of my readers, I may refer to the "Memoir on the Gorilla," 4to, 1865. Plate xii. gives a view, natural size, of the vertical and longitudinal section of an Australian skull; plate xi. gives a similar view of the skull of the gorilla. Reduced copies of these views may be found at p. 572, figs. 395, 396, vol. ii, of my "Anatomy of Vertebrates." As far as my experience has reached, there is no skull displaying the characters of a quadrumanous species, as that series descends from the gorilla and chimpanzee to the baboon, which exhibits differences, osteal or dental, on which specific and generic distinctions are founded, so great, so marked, as are to be seen, and have been above illustrated, in the comparison of the highest ape with the lowest man. The modification of man's upper limbs for the endless variety, nicety, and perfection of their application, in fulfillment of the behests of his correspondingly developed brain—actions summed up in the term "manipulation"—testify as strongly to the same conclusion. The corresponding degree of modification of the human lower limbs, to which he owes his upright attitude, relieving the manual instruments from all share in station and terrestrial locomotion—combine and concur in raising the group so characterized above and beyond the apes, to, at least, ordinal distinction. The dental characters of mankind bear like testimony. The lowest (Melanian), like the highest (Caucasian), variety of the bimanal order differs from the quadrumanal one in the order of appearance, and succession to the first set of teeth, of the second or "permanent" set. The foremost incisor and foremost molar are the earliest to appear in that scries; the intermediate teeth are acquired sooner than those behind the foremost molar. In the gorilla and chimpanzee, the rate or course of progress is reversed; the second true molar, or the one behind the first, makes its appearance before the bicuspid molars rise in front of the first; and the third or last of the molars behind the first comes into place before the canine tooth has risen. This tooth, indeed, which occupies part of the interval between the foremost incisor and foremost molar, is the last of the permanent set of teeth to be fully developed in the ; especially in those which, in their order, rank next to the . To this differential character add the breaks in the dental series necessitated for the reception of the crowns of the huge canines when the gorilla or chimpanzee shuts its mouth. Quadrumana Bimana But the superior value of developmental over adult anatomical characters in such questions as the present is too well known in the actual phase of biology to need comment. In the article on "Primeval Man," the author states that the Cave-men "probably had lower foreheads, with high bosses like the Neanderthal skull, and big canine teeth like the Naulette jaw." The human lower jaw so defined, from a Belgian cave, which I have carefully examined, gives no evidence of a canine tooth of a size indicative of one in the upper jaw necessitating such vacancy in the lower series of teeth which the apes present. There is no such vacancy nor any evidence of a "big canine tooth" in that cave specimen. And, with respect to cave specimens in general, the zoological characters of the race of men they represent must be founded on the rule, not on an exception, to their cranial features. Those which I obtained from the cavern at Bruniquel, and which are now exhibited in the Museum of Natural History, were disinterred under circumstances more satisfactorily determining their contemporaneity with the extinct quadrupeds those cave-men killed and devoured than in any other spelæan retreat which I have explored. They show neither "lower foreheads" nor "higher bosses" than do the skulls of existing races of mankind. Present evidence concurs in concluding that the modes of life and grades of thought of the men who have left evidences of their existence at the earliest periods hitherto discovered and determined, were such as are now observable in "savages," or the human races which are commonly so called. The industry and pains now devoted to the determination of the physical characters of such races, to their ways of living, their tools and weapons, and to the relations of their dermal, osteal, and dental modifications to those of the mammals which follow next after in the descensive series of mammalian orders, are exemplary. Bimana The present phase of the quest may be far from the bourn to yield hereafter trustworthy evidence of the origin of man; but, meanwhile, exaggerations and misstatements of acquired grounds ought especially to be avoided. Grant Allen, "On Primitive Man," p. 314. "Oseteological Contributions to the Natural History of the Orangs ( ) and Chimpanzees ( and )." Pithecus Troglodites niger Trog. gorilla Hawkesworth's 4th ed., vol. iii., 1770, pp. 86, 137, 229. The skull in question is No 5,394 of the "Catalogue of the Osteology" in the above Museum, 4to, vol. ii, p. 823, 1853. "Odontography," 4to, 1840-44, p. 454, plates 117, 118, 119. , September, p. 321. Fortnightly Review About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Various (2006). Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18763/pg18763-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

OUR ORIGIN AS A SPECIES

The Romance of Modern Mechanism by Archibald Williams is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . CHAPTER XXIV here AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY PLOUGHS — DRILLS AND SEEDERS — REAPING MACHINES — THRESHING MACHINES — PETROL-DRIVEN FIELD MACHINERY— ELECTRICAL FARMING MACHINERY Agriculture is at once the oldest and most important of all national industries. Man being a graminivorous animal—witness his molar, or grinding, "double" teeth—has, since the earliest times, been obliged to observe the seasons, planting his crops when the ground is moist, and reaping them when the weather is warm and dry. Apart from the nomad races of the deserts and steppes, who find their chief subsistence in the products of the date-palm and of their flocks and herds, all nations cultivate a large portion of the country which they inhabit. Ancient monuments, the oldest inscriptions and writings, bear witness to the prime importance of the plough and reaping-hook; and it may be reasonably assumed that the progress of civilisation is proved by the increased use of cereal foods, and better methods of garnering and preparing them. For thousands of years the sickle, which Greek and Roman artists placed in the hand of their Goddess of the Harvest, and the rude plough, consisting of, perhaps, only a crooked bough with a pointed end, were practically the only implements known to the husbandman besides his spade and mattock. Where labour is abundant and each householder has time to cultivate the little plot which suffices for the maintenance of his own family, and while there is little inducement to take part in other than agricultural industries—tedious and time-wasting methods have held their own. But in highly civilised communities carrying on manufactures of all sorts it is difficult for the farmer to secure an abundance of human help, and yet it is recognised that a speedy preparation and sowing of the land, and a prompt gathering and threshing of the harvest, is all in favour of producing a successful and well-conditioned crop. In England, eighty years ago, three men lived in the country for every one who lived in the town. Now the proportion has been reversed; and that not in the British Isles alone. The world does not mean to starve; but civilisation demands that as few people as possible should be devoted to procuring the "staff of life" for both man and beast. We should reasonably expect, therefore, that the immense advance made in mechanical science during the last century should have left a deep mark on agricultural appliances. Such an expectation is more than justified; for are there not many among us who have seen the sickle and the flail at work where now the "self-binder" and threshing machine perform the same duties in a fraction of the time formerly required? The ploughman, plodding sturdily down the furrow behind his clever team, is indeed still a common sight; but in the tilling season do we not hear the snort of the steam-engine, as its steel rope tears a six-furrow plough through the mellow earth? When the harvest comes we realise even more clearly how largely machinery has supplanted man; while in the processes of separating the grain from its straw the human element plays an even smaller part. It would not be too much to say that, were we to revert next year to the practices of our grandfathers, we should starve in the year following. This chapter will be confined to a consideration of machinery operated by horse, steam, or other power, which falls under four main headings,—ploughs, drills, reapers, and threshers. PLOUGHS The firm of Messrs. John Fowler and Company, of Leeds, is most intimately connected with the introduction of the steam plough and cultivator. Their first type of outfit included one engine only, the traversing of the plough across the field being effected by means of cables passing round a pulley on a low, four-wheeled truck, moved along the opposite edge of the field by ropes dragging on an anchor. Another method was to have the engine stationary at one corner of the field, and an anchor at each of the three other corners, the two at the ends of the furrow being moved for every journey of the plough. In, or about, the year 1865 this arrangement succumbed to the simple and, as it now seems to us, obvious improvement of introducing a second engine to progress vis-à-vis with the first, and do its share of the pulling. The modern eight-furrow steam plough will turn ten acres a day quite easily, at a much lower cost than that of horse labour. For tearing up land after a crop "cultivators" are sometimes used. They have arrowhead-shaped [321]coulters, which cut very deep and bring large quantities of fresh earth to the surface. The ground is now pulverised by harrows of various shapes, according to the nature of the crop to be sown. English farmers generally employ the spike harrow; but Yankee agriculturists make great use of the spring-tooth form, which may best be described as an arrangement of very strong springs much resembling in outline the springs of house bells. The shorter arm is attached to the frame, while the longer and pointed arm tears the earth. DRILLS AND SEEDERS In highly civilised countries the man carrying a basket from which he flings seeds broadcast is a very rare sight indeed. The primitive method may have been effective—a good sower could cover an acre evenly with half a pint of turnip seed—but very slow. We now use a long bin mounted on wheels, which revolves discs inside the bin, furnished with tiny spoons round the periphery to scoop small quantities of seed into tubes terminating in a coulter. The farmer is thus certain of having evenly planted and parallel rows of grain, which in the early spring, when the sprouting begins, make so pleasant an addition to the landscape. The "corn," or maize, crop of the United States is so important that it demands special sowing machinery, which plants single grains at intervals of about eighteen inches. A somewhat similar device is used for planting potatoes. Passing over the weeding machines, which offer no features of particular interest, we come to the REAPING MACHINES, on which a vast amount of ingenuity has been expended. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Royal Agricultural Society of Great Britain offered a prize for the introduction of a really useful machine which should replace the scythe and sickle. Several machines were brought out, but they did not prove practical enough to attract much attention. Cyrus H. McCormick invented in 1831 the reaper, which, with very many improvements added, is to-day employed in all parts of the world. The most noticeable point of this machine was the bar furnished with a row of triangular blades which passed very rapidly to and fro through slots in an equal number of sharp steel points, against which they cut the grain. The to-and-fro action of the cutter-blade was produced by a connecting-rod working on a crank rotated by the wheels carrying the machine. The first McCormick reaper did wonders on a Virginian farm; other inventors were stimulated; and in 1833 there appeared the Hussey reaper, built on somewhat similar lines. For twelve years or so these two machines competed against one another all over the United States; and then McCormick added a raker attachment, which, when sufficient grain had accumulated on the platform, enabled a second man on the machine to sweep it off to be tied up into a sheaf. At the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851, the judges awarded a special medal to the inventor, reporting that the whole expense of the Exhibition would have been well recouped if only the reaper were introduced into England. From France McCormick received the decoration of the Legion of Honour "for having done more for the cause of agriculture than any man then living." It would be reasonable to expect that, after this public recognition, the mechanical reaper would have been immediately valued at its true worth. "Yet no man had more difficulty in introducing his machines than that pioneer inventor of agricultural implements. Farmers everywhere were slow to accept it, and manufacturers were unwilling to undertake its manufacture. Even after the value of the machine had been demonstrated, everyone seemed to fear that it would break down on rocky and uneven fields; and the inventor had to demonstrate in person to the farmers the practicability of the reapers, and then even guarantee them before the money could be obtained. Through all these trying discouragements the persistent inventor passed before he saw any reward for the work that he had spent half a lifetime in perfecting. The ultimate triumph of the inventor may be sufficient reward for his labours and discouragements, but those who would begrudge him the wealth that he subsequently made from his invention should consider some of the difficulties and obstacles he had to overcome in the beginning." [24] In 1858 an attachment was fitted to replace the second passenger on the machine. Four men followed behind to tie up the grain as it was shot off the machine. Inventors tried to abolish the need for these extra hands by means of a self-binding device. A practical method, employing wire, appeared in 1860; but so great was the trouble caused by stray pieces of the wire getting into threshing and other machinery through which the grain subsequently passed that farmers went back to hand work, until the Appleby patent of 1873 replaced wire by twine. Words alone would convey little idea of how the corn is collected and encircled with twine; how the knot is tied by an ingenious shuttle mechanism; and how it is thrown out into a set of arms which collect sufficient sheaves to form a "stook" before it lets them fall. So we would advise our readers to take the next chance of examining a modern self-binder, and to persuade the man in charge to give as lucid an explanation as he can of the way in which things are done. Popular prejudice having once been conquered, the success of the reapers was assured. The year 1870 saw 60,000 in use; by 1885 the output had increased to 250,000; and to-day the manufacture of agricultural labour-saving machines gives employment to over 200,000 people; an equal number being occupied in their transport and sale in all parts of the globe. In California, perhaps more than in any other country, "power" agricultural machinery is seen at its best. Great traction-engines here take the place of human labour to an extraordinary extent. The largest, of 50 h.p. and upwards, "with driving-wheels 60 inches in diameter and flanges of generous width, travel over the uneven surface of the grain fields, crossing ditches and low places, and ascending the sides of steep hills, with as much apparent ease as a locomotive rolls along its steel rails. Such powerful traction-engines, or 'automobiles' as they are commonly called by the American farmers, are capable of dragging behind them sixteen 10-inch ploughs, four 6-foot harrows, and a drill and seeder. The land is thus ploughed, drilled, and seeded all at one time. From fifty to seventy-five acres of virgin soil can thus be ploughed and planted in a single day. When the harvest comes the engines are again brought into service, and the fields that would ordinarily defy the best efforts of an army of workmen are garnered quickly and easily. The giant harvester is hitched to the traction-engine in place of the ploughs and harrows, and cuts, binds, and stacks the golden wheat from seventy-five acres in a single day. The cutters are 26 feet wide, and they make a clear swathe across the field. Some of them thresh, clean, and sack the wheat as fast as it is cut and bound. Other traction-engines follow to gather up the sacked wheat, and whole train-loads of it thus move across the field to the granaries or railways of the seaboard or interior." For "dead ripe" crops the "header" is often used in California. Instead of being pulled it is by mules, and merely cuts off the heads, leaving the straw to be trampled down by the animals since it has no value. Swathes as wide as 50 feet are thus treated, the grain being threshed out while the machine moves. pushed One of the most beautiful, and at the same time useful, crops in the world is that of maize, which feeds not only vast numbers of human beings, but also countless flocks and herds, the latter eating the green stalks as well as the ripened grain. The United States alone produced no less than 2,523,648,312 bushels of this cereal in 1902, as against 987,000,000 bushels of wheat, and 670,000,000 bushels of barley. Now, maize has a very tough stalk, often 10 feet high and an inch thick, which cannot be cut with the ease of wheat or barley. So a special machine has been devised to handle it. The row of corn is picked up, if fallen, by chains furnished with projecting spikes working at an angle to the perpendicular, so as to lift and simultaneously pull back the stalks, which pass into a horizontal V-shaped frame. This has a broad opening in front, but narrows towards its rear end, where stationary sickles fixed on either side give the stalk a drawing cut before it reaches the single knife moving to right and left in the angle of the V, which severs the stalk completely. The McCormick machine gathers the corn in vertical bundles, and ties them up ready for the "shockers." THRESHING MACHINES In principle these are simple enough. The straw and grain is fed into a slot and pulled down between a toothed rotating drum and a fixed toothed concave. These tear out the grain from the ear. The former falls into the hopper of a winnowing and riddling machine, which clears it from dust and husks, and allows it to pass to a hopper. An endless chain of buckets carries it to the delivery bins, holding just one sackful each, which when full discharge the grain through spouts into the receptacles waiting below their mouths. An automatic counter records the number of sackfuls of corn that have been discharged, so that dishonesty on the part of employés becomes practically an impossibility. While the grain is thus treated, oscillating rakes have arranged the straw and shaken it out behind in a form convenient for binding, and the chaff has passed to its proper heap, to be used as fuel for the engine or as food for cattle. PETROL-DRIVEN FIELD MACHINERY On water, rail, and road the petrol engine has entered into rivalry with steam—very successfully too. And now it bids fair to challenge both steam-engine and horse as the motive power for agricultural operations. Probably the best-known English petrol-driven farmer's help is that made by Mr. Dan Albone, of Biggleswade, who in past times did much to introduce the safety bicycle to the public. The "Ivel" motor is not beautiful to look upon; its sides are slab, its outlines rather suggestive of an inverted punt. But it is a willing and powerful worker; requires no feeding in the early hours of the morning; no careful brush down after the day's work; no halts to ease wearied muscles. In one tank is petrol, in another lubricating oil, in a third water to keep the cylinders cool. A double-cylinder motor of 18 h.p. transmits its energy through a large clutch and train of cogs to the road wheels, made extra wide and well corrugated so that they shall not sink into soft ground or slip on hard. There is a broad pulley-wheel peeping out from one side of the machine, which is ready to drive chaff-cutters or threshers, pump, grind corn, or turn a dynamo at a moment's notice. Hitch the "Ivel" on to a couple of reapers or a three-furrow plough, and it soon shows its superiority to "man's friend." Here are some records:— We may quote a paragraph from the pen of "Home Counties," a well-known and perspicacious writer on agricultural topics. "It is because motor-farming is likely to result in a more thorough cultivation of the land and a more skilful and more enlightened practice of agriculture, and not in a further extension of those deplorable land-scratching and acre-grasping methods of which so many pitiful examples may be seen on our clay soils, that its beginnings are being sympathetically watched by many people who have the best interests of the rural districts and the prosperity of agriculture at heart." [25] Will our farmers give the same welcome to the agricultural motor that was formerly accorded to the mechanical reaper? Prophecy is risky, but if, before a decade has elapsed, the horse has not been largely replaced by petrol on large farms and light land, the writer of these lines will be much surprised. ELECTRICAL FARMING MACHINERY In France, Germany, Austria, and the United States the electric motor has been turned to agricultural uses. Where water-power is available it is peculiarly suitable for stationary work, such as threshing, chaff-cutting, root-slicing, grinding, etc. The current can be easily distributed all over a large farm and harnessed to portable motors. Even ploughing has been done with electricity: the energy being derived either from a steam-engine placed near by, or from an overhead supply passing to the plough through trolley arms similar to those used on electric trams. The great advances made recently in electrical power transmission, and in the efficiency of the electric motor, bring the day in sight when on large properties the fields will be girt about by cables and poles as permanent fixtures. All the usual agricultural operations of ploughing, drilling, and reaping will then be independent of horses, or of steam-engines panting laboriously on the headlands. In fact, the experiment has been tried with success in the United States. Whichever way we look, Giant Steam is bowing before a superior power. FOOTNOTES: 24. Cassier's Magazine. The World's Work, vol. iii. 499. 25. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Archibald Williams (2014). The Romance of Modern Mechanism. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/46094/pg46094-images.html. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

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