Tektronix offers SFP+ automated test and debug via DP0/DSA/MSO70000 Series oscilloscopes/Omnitron offers 10G media converter for repeater, wavelength transponder applicationsOmnitron offers 10G media converter for repeater, wavelength transponder applicationsOmnitron offers 10G media converter for repeater, wavelength transponder applications

Tektronix Inc. has introduced what it asserts is the first comprehensive automated test and debug offering for SFF-8431, SFP+ PHY, and SFP+ Direct Attach Cable Specifications "10GSFP+CU" Measurements. The new TEKEXP SFP-TX option for Tektronix’s DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series oscilloscopes are designed to help users easily select measurements for SFF-8431 SFP+ testing and perform all measurements with a single button click. All masks, limits, and measurement parameters are automatically configured, says Tektronix. Users also can change selected measurements and measurement configurations using a new standard-specific user interface. The automated measurements are designed to help engineers efficiently meet SFP+ compliance requirements and generate detailed reports. Users also can change test limits for advanced margin and performance testing, according to Tektronix. Tektronix also has added six new measurements: VMA Rise Time Tx-Qsq DDPWS Fall Time Uncorrelated Jitter (UJ). Setup files are provided based on different signal types such as 8180, PRBS9, and PRBS 31. Signal-specific setup files enable users to perform measurements on different signal types or go into analysis and debug mode, Tektronix says. "The dramatic growth in bandwidth requirements and the increasing worldwide use of high-performance servers is leading to an expanding need for 10-Gigabit Ethernet and in turn new connectivity options based on SFP+," said Roy Siegel, general manager, oscilloscopes, Tektronix. "By offering the industry's first automated and debug solution for validating SFF-8431 SFP+ devices, Tektronix helps make it easier for companies to bring new and innovative SFP+ offerings to market with assurance their products will conform to specifications and deliver optimum performance and reliability." SFP-TX is available for download now from www.tektronix.com and is designed to run on Tektronix DPO/DSA/MSO oscilloscopes with 16-GHz bandwidth and above. Omnitron Systems Technology has unveiled the new iConverter XG+ 10-Gbps media converter, a protocol-transparent unit with two pluggable transceiver ports that support Power Level 4 XFP optical transceiver modules. The iConverter XG+ therefore can function as a long-range fiber repeater or a wavelength transponder, Omnitron says. In addition to supporting Power Level 4 optical modules, which the company says is a media converter first, the iConverter XG+ also supports wavelength-tunable XFP transceivers for DWDM wavelengths. Network operators can set and save the wavelength of these tunable XFPs via the iConverter management system, which eliminates the need for external programming equipment, Omnitron adds. Omnitron has partnered with Menara Networks to add Optical Transport Network (OTN) capabilities to the iConverter 10G+ as well. Menara Networks offers XFPs with OTN capabilities embedded within the optical module (see “Menara Networks announces full C-band tunable XFP, XENPAK modules”). The capabilities include integrated ITU-T G.709 OTU-2 framing, forward error correction (FEC), automatic receiver threshold adaptation, and SBS suppression for ultra long reach applications. It also can be tuned in 50-GHz increments. Using the Menara Network XFPs, the iConverter XG+ can operate as a fiber repeater and wavelength transponder to extend OTN transmission distances over DWDM networks. The XG+ supports 100% traffic throughput and has no packet size restrictions, Omnitron asserts. It offers protocol transparency within the range of 9.95 to 11.32 Gbps, which supports such common protocols as 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10-Gbps SONET/SDH, 10G Fibre Channel, and G.709 OTN OTU-2. iConverter XG modules are available as standalone units or chassis plug-in modules. Three interface configurations are available that support XFP to XFP, XFP to SFP+, and SFP+ to SFP+, respectively. Pluggable XFP and SFP+ transceivers are supported for multimode and singlemode applications. Copper to fiber conversion is achieved with CX4 interface XFP transceivers.

Oplink unveils suite of rugged SFP+ transceivers

Components and subsystems vendor Oplink Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPLK) has announced the availability of a full suite of SFP+ transceiver products, including low-power 80-km reach, CWDM, and DWDM versions. Oplink says these products have been designed for lower power consumption and wider operational temperature ranges to enable 10-Gbps deployment in high-density systems and in the challenging environments found in data centers, access aggregation, and mobile backhaul applications. The main features of Oplink's new portfolio of SFP+ transceivers are: Maximum of 1.5-W power consumption supporting 10-Gbps applications reaching up to 80 km DWDM with 46 wavelength channels supporting up to 80-km uncompensated links, or longer distances assisted with dispersion compensation and optical amplification Operational temperature range from -40 to 85 degrees C for all SFP+ products in the portfolio "The release of our suite of SFP+ transceivers dovetails with the optical networking trend of deploying higher bandwidth closer to end users, where high-density solutions and operations with greater temperature ranges are required," said Dr Rang-Chen Yu, vice president of business development at Oplink. "Our rugged and power-saving SFP+ products have been deployed in a wide range of applications, such as data center switch connectivity, service router WAN interface, access aggregation, and wireless backhaul networks. With today's announcement, we are pleased to now offer customers our next-generation, rugged SFP+ transceiver designs." The SFP+ transceiver products are available to order now, says Oplink. The C-temperature (-5 to 70 degrees C) versions of these products are currently in full production, and all of the industrial-temp (-40 to 85 degrees C) versions are expected to complete qualification and begin production shipment by April. Oplink will showcase its complete line of SFP+ transceiver products at OFC/NFOEC on March 6—8, 2012, in Los Angeles, CA, booth #1717.

Novels

Main articles: Mary: A Fiction and Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman Both of Wollstonecraft's novels criticize what she viewed as the patriarchal institution of marriage and its deleterious effects on women. In her first novel, Mary: A Fiction (1788), the eponymous heroine is forced into a loveless marriage for economic reasons; she fulfils her desire for love and affection outside of marriage with two passionate romantic friendships, one with a woman and one with a man. Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798), an unfinished novel published posthumously and often considered Wollstonecraft's most radical feminist work,[94] revolves around the story of a woman imprisoned in an insane asylum by her husband; like Mary, Maria also finds fulfilment outside of marriage, in an affair with a fellow inmate and a friendship with one of her keepers. Neither of Wollstonecraft's novels depict successful marriages, although she posits such relationships in the Rights of Woman. At the end of Mary, the heroine believes she is going "to that world where there is neither marrying, nor giving in marriage,"[95] presumably a positive state of affairs.[96] Both of Wollstonecraft's novels also critique the discourse of sensibility, a moral philosophy and aesthetic that had become popular at the end of the eighteenth century. Mary is itself a novel of sensibility and Wollstonecraft attempts to use the tropes of that genre to undermine sentimentalism itself, a philosophy she believed was damaging to women because it encouraged them to rely overmuch on their emotions. In The Wrongs of Woman the heroine's indulgence on romantic fantasies fostered by novels themselves is depicted as particularly detrimental.[97] Female friendships are central to both of Wollstonecraft's novels, but it is the friendship between Maria and Jemima, the servant charged with watching over her in the insane asylum, that is the most historically significant. This friendship, based on a sympathetic bond of motherhood, between an upper-class woman and a lower-class woman is one of the first moments in the history of feminist literature that hints at a cross-class argument, that is, that women of different economic positions have the same interests because they are women.[98]

First term

During President Mutharika's first term in office (2004-2008), the country achieved a high rate of agricultural production and food security. The President's initiatives, centred on a programme of agricultural subsidy, benefited approximately 1,700,000 resource poor smallholder farmers. In the 2005/2006 crop season, Malawi achieved a food surplus of more than 500,000 metric tons. During the 2008/2009 planting season, food surpluses topped 1.3 million metric tons. This agricultural policy was widely regarded as successful but expensive, and was curtailed in 2011.[10]

Oda, Toyotomi and Tokugawa

Oda Nobunaga was the well-known lord of the Nagoya area (once called Owari Province) and an exceptional example of a samurai of the Sengoku Period. He came within a few years of, and laid down the path for his successors to follow, the reunification of Japan under a new Bakufu (Shogunate). Oda Nobunaga made innovations in the fields of organization and war tactics, heavily used arquebuses, developed commerce and industry and treasured innovation. Consecutive victories enabled him to realize the termination of the Ashikaga Bakufu and the disarmament of the military powers of the Buddhist monks, which had inflamed futile struggles among the populace for centuries. Attacking from the "sanctuary" of Buddhist temples, they were constant headaches to any warlord and even the emperor who tried to control their actions. He died in 1582 when one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, turned upon him with his army. Importantly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (see below) and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, were loyal followers of Nobunaga. Hideyoshi began as a nameless peasant and became one of Nobunaga's top generals, and Ieyasu had shared his childhood with Nobunaga. Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide within a month, and was regarded as the rightful successor of Nobunaga by avenging the treachery of Mitsuhide. These two were gifted with Nobunaga's previous achievements on which build a unified Japan and there was a saying: "The reunification is a rice cake; Oda made it. Hashiba shaped it. At last, only Ieyasu tastes it."[citation needed] (Hashiba is the family name that Toyotomi Hideyoshi used while he was a follower of Nobunaga.) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became a grand minister in 1586, himself the son of a poor peasant family, created a law that the samurai caste became codified as permanent and hereditary, and that non-samurai were forbidden to carry weapons, thereby ending the social mobility of Japan up until that point, which lasted until the dissolution of the Edo Shogunate by the Meiji revolutionaries. It is important to note that the distinction between samurai and non-samurai was so obscure that during the 16th century, most male adults in any social class (even small farmers) belonged to at least one military organization of their own and served in wars before and during Hideyoshi's rule. It can be said that an "all against all" situation continued for a century. The authorized samurai families after the 17th century were those that chose to follow Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. Large battles occurred during the change between regimes, and a number of defeated samurai were destroyed, went ronin or were absorbed into the general populace.

Reunions

Simon and Garfunkel's first reunion after their second breakup was in a June 1972 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden for presidential candidate George McGovern. On October 18, 1975, the duo seemed about the second episode of NBC's new show Saturday Night Live. They performed "The Boxer", "Scarborough Fair", and "My Little Town". The very last song was the sole new Simon and Garfunkel recording in five-years, appearing on both men's solo albums released in 1975 (Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel's Breakaway) and reaching #9 within the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Simon, in conjunction with James Taylor, provided harmony vocals on Garfunkel's cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", on Garfunkel's 1977 album Watermark; the only relieve that song reached #1 within the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and #17 on the Hot 100. Simon also contributed backing vocals to "In Cars", a song on Garfunkel's 1981 solo album Scissors Cut. Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for just a free concert in Big apple City's Central Park on September 19, 1981. The concert was attended by over 500,000 people, along with a recording of computer was subsequently released as being a live album, using their cover of "Wake Up Little Susie" released to be a single. A video recording was likewise televised by HBO and issued on home video. The achievements the Central Park concert prompted the duo to take a world tour in 1982–83, including a performance at Shea Stadium in August, 1983. Simon and Garfunkel took to accomplish it in their first new studio album in when compared to a decade, provisionally titled Think An excessive amount with some songs previewed on their recent concert jaunt. However, creative differences, coupled with the record company's negative a reaction to the decidedly un-Simon-and-Garfunkel-like album, led Simon to eliminate Garfunkel's vocal tracks and rework the songs himself. The 1983 Simon solo album Hearts and Bones appeared as the result, as well as a long period of estrangement with the duo followed. Their next joint public appearance was at 1990, in the event the two performed with a ceremony for his or her induction into the Rock music Hall of Fame. Simon and Garfunkel appeared together in 1993 for 21 soldout concerts in New York, with 1 / 2 the show being Paul Simon solo that has a band and the other half Simon and Garfunkel. Later the identical year, they did some charity concerts, like the Bridge School Benefit concerts as well as a benefit for United Way Children's Charities at SkyDome in Toronto. In July 2002, Columbia Legacy issued a previously unreleased live recording of any Simon and Garfunkel concert, Live from New York City, 1967. It features a nearly-complete recording of the performance provided by the duo at Philharmonic Hall, at Lincoln Center in Ny on January 22, 1967. The album has a rendition of "A Church Is Burning", one of the songs that originally appeared on Paul Simon's 1965 solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook. On February 23, 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited to do publicly the very first time in a very decade, singing "The Sound of Silence" because opening act on the Grammy Awards. Prior to show, the duo was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring their musical contributions in the last four and a half decades. These were introduced by Dustin Hoffman, who made his debut in the film The Graduate, which extensively featured their music. The good feelings generated by the look of them on the Grammys triggered another thaw within their relationship. Soon, Simon and Garfunkel launched a couple-month long reunion tour on the United states of america (and Toronto, Canada), which began October 16 and culminated in Tampa on December 21, 2003. Entitled Old Friends, their first tour in over 20 years included forty shows in twenty-eight cities and featured special guests the Everly Brothers. The tour featured to use opening video montage a quick number of clips and photos taken in daytime prior to the concert round the venue. Simon and Garfunkel performed "Hey, Schoolgirl", they will said was the initial song they had written and recorded together. With the tour concert at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, Nj-new jersey, they performed "Leaves Which are Green" in place of "Song for the Asking", that have been for their set list with the other concerts about this tour, following an announcement that they had not played it together since 1967. Additionally they played "Leaves That Are Green" at concerts in Cleveland and Boston determination similar announcement. The achievements of the first Old Friends tour generated an encore in June and July 2004 with over 25 shows, this time also in Europe. In July 2004, they completed the tour using a flourish, that has a finale at the Colosseum in Rome before bavarian motor works logo which, good Mayor of Rome, exceeded 600,000 — even bigger than the target audience on the famous 1981 Central Park concert.[10][11] A live CD and DVD using their Old Friends tour premiered in late 2004. It featured a "new" studio duo song, "Citizen on the Planet", one of the songs through the rejected 1983 reunion album that would not originally feature Garfunkel's vocal participation. In 2007, PBS hosted the 1st Gershwin Awards, at which Paul Simon was honored. Simon introduced Garfunkel (to get a cameo appearance) as "my partner in arguments" as well as the two sang "Tide over Troubled Water" together. Columbia/Legacy announced the September 18, 2007, release of Live 1969, which has been asked feature recently discovered masters recorded on their 1969 tour. Many of the arrangements remain virtually unchanged.[citation needed] That 1969 tour could be their last for spanning a decade, immediately preceding the production from the 1970 album Keep going Troubled Water. The tour was recorded finding your way through a subsequent live album, however the relieve the live album would not happen, until recently, as reported in Billboard.[12] On February 13, 2009, Simon and the band re-opened New York's legendary Beacon Theatre, that have been closed for seven months for just a renovation. As a possible encore, Simon presented "[his] old friend" Art Garfunkel. They sang 3 songs: "Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", and "Old Friends". On April 2, 2009, the duo announced an excursion of Australia, New Zealand and Japan for June/July 2009.[13] On October 29–30, they participated together inside the 25th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden. Other artists within the bill included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; U2; Metallica; Aretha Franklin; Stevie Wonder and Crosby, Stills & Nash.[14] In March 2010, Simon & Garfunkel announced a 13-date spring tour, to do in April on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Most performances were scheduled for Canada, with four shows inside upper Midwest from the U.S. According to a press release, the set list would target their classic catalog, in addition to songs from each of their solo careers.[15] On June 17, 2010, Simon & Garfunkel canceled the tour, earlier rescheduled for July 2010, now postponed indefinitely as Garfunkel continues to cure a vocal band paresis.[16]