title: Plot (narrative)

text: Plot is similar in meaning to the term "storyline". In the narrative sense, the term highlights important points which have consequences within the story, according to American science fiction writer Ansen Dibell. The term "plot" can also serve as a verb, referring to either the writer's crafting of a plot (devising and ordering story events), or else to a character's planning of future actions in the story.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The term "plot", however, in common usage (for example, a "movie plot") can mean a narrative summary or story synopsis, rather than a specific cause-and-effect sequence.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Early 20th-century English novelist E. M. Forster described plot as the cause-and-effect relationship between events in a story. According to Forster, ""The king died, and then the queen died," is a story, while "The king died, and then the queen died of grief," is a plot."


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Teri Shaffer Yamada, Ph.D., of CSULB agrees that a plot does not include memorable scenes within a story that do not relate directly to other events but only "major events that move the action in a narrative." For example, in the 1997 film "Titanic", when Rose climbs on the railing at the front of the ship and spreads her hands as if she's flying, this scene is memorable but does not directly influence other events, so it may not be considered as part of the plot. Another example of a memorable scene that is not part of the plot occurs in the 1980 film "The Empire Strikes Back", when Han Solo is frozen in carbonite.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The literary theory of Russian Formalism in the early 20th century divided a narrative into two elements: the "fabula" (фа́була) and the "syuzhet" (сюже́т), or the "raw material" and the "way it is organized". A fabula is the events in the fictional world, whereas a syuzhet is a perspective of those events. Formalist followers eventually translated the fabula/syuzhet to the concept of story/plot. This definition is usually used in narratology, in parallel with Forster's definition. The "fabula" (story) is what happened in chronological order. In contrast, the "syuzhet" (plot) means a unique sequence of discourse that was sorted out by the (implied) author. That is, the syuzhet can consist of picking up the fabula events in non-chronological order; for example, fabula is , syuzhet is .


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The Russian formalist, Viktor Shklovsky, viewed the syuzhet as the fabula defamiliarized. Defamiliarization or "making strange," a term Shklovsky coined and popularized, upends familiar ways of presenting a story, slows down the reader's perception, and makes the story appear unfamiliar. Shklovsky cites Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy as an example of a fabula that has been defamiliarized. Sterne uses temporal displacements, digressions, and causal disruptions (for example, placing the effects before their causes) to slow down the reader's ability to reassemble the (familiar) story. As a result, the syuzhet "makes strange" the fabula.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The first event is causally related to the third event, while the second event, though descriptive, does not directly impact the outcome. As a result, according to Ansen Dibell, the plot can be described as the first event "and so" the last event, while the story can be described by all three events in order.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Steve Alcorn, a fiction-writing coach, says that the main plot elements of the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" are easy to find, and include:


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Dramatic structure is the philosophy by which the story is split and how the story is thought of. This can vary by ethnicity, region and time period. This can be applied to books, plays, and films. Some philosophers/critics have included Aristotle, Horace, Aelius Donatus, Gustav Freytag, Kenneth Thorpe Rowe, Lajos Egri, Syd Field, and others. Some story structures are so old that the originator cannot be found, such as Ta'zieh.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Often in order to sell a script, the "plot structure" is made into what is called a "treatment". This can vary based on locality, but for Europe and European Diaspora, the "three-act structure" is often used. The components of this structure are the "set-up", the "confrontation" and the "resolution". Acts are connected by two plot points or turning points, with the first turning point connecting Act I to Act II, and the second connecting Act II to Act III. The conception of the three-act structure has been attributed to American screenwriter Syd Field who described plot structure in this tripartite way for film analysis.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Furthermore, in order to sell a book within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, often the plot structure is split into a synopsis. Again the plot structure may vary by genre or drama structure used.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Many scholars have analyzed dramatic structure, beginning with Aristotle in his "Poetics" (c. 335 BC).


title: Plot (narrative)

text: In his "Poetics", a theory about tragedies, the Greek philosopher Aristotle put forth the idea the play should imitate a single whole action. "A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end" (1450b27). He split the play into two acts: complication and denouement. He mainly used Sophicles to make his argument about the proper dramatic structure of a play.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Two types of scenes are of special interest: the reversal, which throws the action in a new direction, and the recognition, meaning the protagonist has an important revelation. Reversals should happen as a necessary and probable cause of what happened before, which implies that turning points need to be properly set up. He ranked the order of importance of the play to be: Chorus, Events, Diction, Character, Spectacle. And that all plays should be able to be performed from memory, long and easy to understand. He was against character-centric plots stating “The Unity of a Plot does not consist, as some suppose, in its having one man as its subject.” He was against episodic plots. He held that discovery should be the high point of the play and that the action should teach a moral that is reenforced by pity, fear and suffering. The spectacle, not the characters themselves would give rise to the emotions. The stage should also be split into “Prologue, Episode, Exode, and a choral portion, distinguished into Parode and Stasimon...“


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Unlike later, he held that the morality was the center of the play and what made it great. Unlike popular belief, he did not come up with the three act structure popularly known.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The German playwright and novelist Gustav Freytag wrote "Die Technik des Dramas", a definitive study of the five-act dramatic structure, in which he laid out what has come to be known as Freytag's pyramid. Under Freytag's pyramid, the plot of a story consists of five parts:


title: Plot (narrative)

text: A drama is then divided into five parts, or acts, which some refer to as a : exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and catastrophe. Freytag extends the five parts with three moments or crises: the exciting force, the tragic force, and the force of the final suspense. The exciting force leads to the rising action, the tragic force leads to the falling action, and the force of the final suspense leads to the catastrophe. Freytag considers the exciting force to be necessary but the tragic force and the force of the final suspense are optional. Together, they make the eight component parts of the drama.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: In making his argument, he attempts to retcon much of the Greeks and Shakespeare by making opinions of what they meant, but didn't actually say.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: He argued for tension created through contrasting emotions, but didn't actively argue for conflict. He was argued that character comes first in plays. He also sets up the groundwork for what would later in history be called the inciting incident.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Overall, Freytag argued the center of a play is emotionality and the best way to get that emotionality is to put contrasting emotions back to back. He laid some of the foundations for centering the hero, unlike Aristotle. He is popularly attributed to have stated conflict at the center of his plays, but he argues actively against continuing conflict.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The setting is fixed in a particular place and time, the mood is set, and characters are introduced. A backstory may be alluded to. Exposition can be conveyed through dialogues, flashbacks, characters' asides, background details, in-universe media, or the narrator telling a back-story.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: An exciting force begins immediately after the exposition (introduction), building the rising action in one or several stages toward the point of greatest interest. These events are generally the most important parts of the story since the entire plot depends on them to set up the climax and ultimately the satisfactory resolution of the story itself.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The climax is the turning point, which changes the protagonist's fate. If things were going well for the protagonist, the plot will turn against them, often revealing the protagonist's hidden weaknesses. If the story is a comedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from bad to good for the protagonist, often requiring the protagonist to draw on hidden inner strengths.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: During the Return, the hostility of the counter-party beats upon the soul of the hero. Freytag lays out two rules for this stage: the number of characters be limited as much as possible, and the number of scenes through which the hero falls should be fewer than in the rising movement. The falling action may contain a moment of final suspense: Although the catastrophe must be foreshadowed so as not to appear as a non sequitur, there could be for the doomed hero a prospect of relief, where the final outcome is in doubt.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: The catastrophe ("Katastrophe" in the original) is where the hero meets his logical destruction. Freytag warns the writer not to spare the life of the hero. More generally, the final result of a work's main plot has been known in English since 1705 as the denouement (, ;). It comprises events from the end of the falling action to the actual ending scene of the drama or narrative. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or release of tension and anxiety, for the reader. Etymologically, the French word () is derived from the word , "to untie", from , Latin for "knot." It is the unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: A "plot device" is a means of advancing the plot in a story. It is often used to motivate characters, create urgency, or resolve a difficulty. This can be contrasted with moving a story forward with dramatic technique; that is, by making things happen because characters take action for well-developed reasons. An example of a plot device would be when the cavalry shows up at the last moment and saves the day in a battle. In contrast, an adversarial character who has been struggling with himself and saves the day due to a change of heart would be considered dramatic technique.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: Familiar types of plot devices include the "deus ex machina", the MacGuffin, the red herring, and Chekhov's gun.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: A "plot outline" is a prose telling of a story which can be turned into a screenplay. Sometimes it is called a "one page" because of its length. In comics, the roughs refer to a stage in the development where the story has been broken down very loosely in a style similar to storyboarding in film development. This stage is also referred to as storyboarding or layouts. In Japanese manga, this stage is called the "nemu" (pronounced like the English word "name"). The roughs are quick sketches arranged within a suggested page layout. The main goals of roughs are to:


title: Plot (narrative)

text: In fiction writing, a plot outline gives a list of scenes. Scenes include events, character(s) and setting. Plot, therefore, shows the cause and effect of these things put together. The plot outline is a rough sketch of this cause and effect made by the scenes to lay out a "solid backbone and structure" to show why and how things happened as they did.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: A "plot summary" is a brief description of a piece of literature that explains what happens. In a plot summary, the author and title of the book should be referred to and it is usually no more than a paragraph long while summarizing the main points of the story.


title: Plot (narrative)

text: An "A-Plot" is a cinema and television term referring to the plotline that drives the story. This does not necessarily mean it is the most important, but rather the one that forces most of the action.


title: New Gods

text: The New Gods are a fictional extraterrestrial race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics, as well as selected other DC titles. Created and designed by Jack Kirby, they first appeared in February 1971 in "New Gods" #1.


title: New Gods

text: The New Gods are natives of the twin planets of New Genesis and Apokolips. New Genesis is an idyllic planet filled with unspoiled forests, mountains, and rivers that is ruled by the benevolent Highfather, while Apokolips is a nightmarish, polluted, and ruined dystopia filled with machinery and fire pits that is ruled by the tyrannical Darkseid. The two planets were once part of the same world, a planet called "Urgrund" (German for "primeval ground"), but it was split apart millennia ago after the death of the Old Gods during Ragnarök.


title: New Gods

text: The characters associated with the New Gods are often collectively referred to as "Jack Kirby's Fourth World". Unhappy with Marvel Comics at the time, as he had created or co-created a plethora of characters without having copyright or creative custody of them, he turned to rival publisher DC Comics, with his sketches and designs for a new group of heroes and villains. As author Marc Flores, who writes under the pen name Ronin Ro, described:


title: New Gods

text: Kirby began the "Fourth World" in "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" #133 (October 1970). The New Gods first appeared in "New Gods" #1 (February-March 1971) and "Forever People" #1 (February-March 1971). Another "Fourth World" title "Mister Miracle" was launched in April 1971. Various New Gods, notably Darkseid, went on to interact with other denizens of the DC Universe.


title: New Gods

text: "New Gods" #1 marks the first appearance of Orion, Highfather, and Metron, among others. The opening sequence alludes to the presence of the "Old Gods" and the "New Gods" (e.g., ""There came a time when the Old Gods died...""). Simultaneously published during this time were the "Forever People" and "Mister Miracle" series, also written and drawn by Kirby.


title: New Gods

text: Kirby fans consider the three-issue arc in "New Gods" #6-8 to be the peak of Kirby's artistic work. Jason Sacks and Keith Dallas say that issue #6, "The Glory Boat", "juxtaposes several of [Kirby's] favorite themes: the conflict between generations, the ways that pacifism is forced to confront violence, and, of course, the continuing battle between Apokolips and New Genesis, all drawn in some of the most spectacular art of his career." Charles Hatfield says that the story's conclusion: "...is a pure example of Kirby's technological sublime, at once redemptive and seductive, healing and cataclysmic... This rhapsodic episode suggests a glorying in, but also a fearful ambivalence about, the blurring of the living and the technological."


title: New Gods

text: Issue #7, "The Pact", sought to explain the backstory of the New Gods. Sacks and Keith said: "While the story can also be read as a commentary and critique of the Vietnam War (as it's all about the ambiguity and moral costs of war), 'The Pact' is a creation myth in comics form, providing readers deeper context about both the struggle between Apokolips and New Genesis and the great sacrifices that have to be made to create peace in the face of overwhelming destruction."


title: New Gods

text: Despite the creative strength of Kirby's material, the book's sales slipped steadily after a strong start. "New Gods" was cancelled with issue #11 (Oct-Nov 1972), and the last issue of "Forever People" was also #11 (August-September 1972). The Apokolips/New Genesis war was left unresolved.


title: New Gods

text: Despite the sales failure of the book, Kirby's work has remained an inspiration for future comics creators. Comics historian Les Daniels observed in 1995: "Kirby's mix of slang and myth, science fiction and the Bible, made for a heady brew, but the scope of his vision has endured."


title: New Gods

text: In 2007, comics writer Grant Morrison commented: "Kirby's dramas were staged across Jungian vistas of raw symbol and storm ... The Fourth World saga crackles with the voltage of Jack Kirby's boundless imagination let loose onto paper."


title: New Gods

text: In 1976, the New Gods were featured in the last issue of "1st Issue Special", written by Gerry Conway and Dennis O'Neil and pencilled by Mike Vosburg. The issue featured a new, more mainstream superhero costume for Orion, which he would wear for the next few years, but failed to lead to a relaunch. That same year, Jenette Kahn became DC's new publisher and decided to revive the "Fourth World" lineup in 1977. "The New Gods" series relaunched in July 1977, and with "1st Issue Special" still a relatively recent publication, it picked up where the storyline of that issue left off. Although the title remained "The New Gods" in the indicia and retained its original numbering, launching with #12, the covers used the title "The Return of the New Gods". Conway wrote the series and Don Newton provided the pencils.


title: New Gods

text: The series introduced the character Jezebelle. It was cancelled with issue #19 (July–August 1978) prior to the "DC Implosion", where a variety of market-related factors caused DC to cancel almost all of the titles launched the previous year. The final chapters of the series were published as backup features in the "Adventure Comics" #459–460 (1978) featured a climactic battle between Darkseid's forces and the New Gods, culminating in Darkseid's defeat and apparent "death." Conway later said that he felt the finale he provided for the New Gods saga was inadequate, though he greatly enjoyed working with Newton on the series.


title: New Gods

text: Darkseid's "death" would quickly be overturned in the New Gods' next appearance in "Justice League of America" #183–185. The three-part storyline would tell of Darkseid's return to Apokolips and his scheme to destroy Earth-Two and teleport Apokolips into its place, so that he could conquer a new universe devoid of the New Gods. The plan would be foiled by the combined power of the New Gods, the Justice League, and the Justice Society.


title: New Gods

text: Essentially a reprint series, this volume packaged two issues apiece per single issue of the original 1971 series. The mini-series' final issue was originally intended to include a reprint of "New Gods" #11 and a new 24-page story which would conclude the series and end with both Darkseid and Orion dead. DC editors prevented Kirby from using his original intended ending. Kirby instead turned in a one-off story called "On the Road to Armagetto" which was also rejected, due to the fact that it did not contain a definitive ending to the series. A 48-page new story called "Even Gods Must Die" was published in the sixth issue of the reprint series instead, which in turn served as a prologue for the upcoming "The Hunger Dogs" graphic novel, which DC editors greenlighted in order to conclude the series.


title: New Gods

text: Published as "DC Graphic Novel" #4, "The Hunger Dogs" was intended by Kirby and DC to serve as the end to the entire Fourth World saga. The project was mired in controversy over Kirby's insistence that the series should end with the deaths of the New Gods, which clashed with DC's demands that the New Gods could not be killed off.


title: New Gods

text: As a result, production of the graphic novel suffered many delays and revisions. Pages and storyline elements from the never published "On the Road to Armagetto" were revised and incorporated into the graphic novel, while DC ordered the entire plot restructured, resulting in many pages of the story being rearranged out of Kirby's intended reading order.


title: New Gods

text: In the end, "The Hunger Dogs" saw the tormented, slave population of Apokolips rise up against Darkseid in a massive slave revolt, forcing Darkseid to flee his homeworld. This ending would not last, as Darkseid would reclaim Apokolips off-panel prior to the events of the 1986 "Legends" crossover.


title: New Gods

text: Following the "Cosmic Odyssey" limited series by Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola, a new "New Gods" series was launched. Written by longtime Kirby assistant Mark Evanier, with co-author and penciler Paris Cullins, this would be the most lengthy "New Gods" run yet. Coming in at 28 issues, this volume was published from February 1989 to August 1991. This series is sometimes considered volume 2, as the aforementioned volume 2 was essentially a reprinting of volume 1.


title: New Gods

text: Originally written by Tom Peyer and Rachel Pollack, and pencilled by Luke Ross, volume 4 of "New Gods" ran from October 1995 until February 1997. It was taken over by John Byrne for issues #12–15 at the end of the series; this title would be renamed as "Jack Kirby's Fourth World", also by Byrne, with numbering reset to issue #1, and covers provided by Walt Simonson. Walt Simonson's "Orion" series, which continued to host the backup feature "Tales of the New Gods", began in Byrne's "Jack Kirby's Fourth World" and served as an extension of it. Simonson wished to simply title his series "New Gods", but DC felt the name had been used too much recently.


title: New Gods

text: Taking place in both the yearlong series "Countdown to Final Crisis" (2007–2008) and its spin-off, "Death of the New Gods", written by Jim Starlin, was a story-arc involving the mysterious deaths of the New Gods across the universe in preparation for the coming storylines in Grant Morrison's "Final Crisis", published later in 2008. As elaborated in "Death of the New Gods", the mysterious Godkiller turned out to be an agent of the sentient Source itself, which sought to destroy the imperfect Fourth World—compromised by the disruption in its creation by the Old Gods—in favor of a more perfect "Fifth World" by reuniting the Source with the Anti-Life Equation. The Source's initial attempts to recreate the Fifth World had been hampered by the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" which unified the Multiverse and forged an impenetrable Source Wall around the Anti-Life Equation. By subtly manipulating characters such as Alexander Luthor, Jr., and Booster Gold to recreate the Multiverse made the Source Wall less impenetrable. The Source's agent is revealed to be the New God Infinity-Man. Darkseid acquires the powers of the Anti-Life Equation and capitalizes on the deaths of the New Gods by using the human Jimmy Olsen as a "soul-catcher" for the Gods, from which he can claim all their powers and recreate the universe in his own image, but he is killed when the Source is able to send Darkseid's resurrected son, Orion, to rip out his heart. Orion leaves the scene of the fray to die of his own wounds; and, seemingly with success, the Source entity manages to reunite with the Anti-Life entity and merge Apokolips with New Genesis to create the Fifth World, with the New Gods of the Fourth World all deceased.


title: New Gods

text: In "DC Universe" #0, a bridge between the "Countdown" and "Final Crisis" limited series, Darkseid is resurrected on Earth. In "Final Crisis", Darkseid and his minions now exist on Earth in the guises of organized criminals, with Darkseid taking the name "Boss Dark Side". Other New Gods, such as Metron and the Black Racer also appear reborn in newer, more elaborate Fifth World incarnations. Orion is discovered dead by detective Dan Turpin, prompting the Guardians of the Universe to launch an investigation. Batman surmises that Orion was in fact killed not of injuries from battling Darkseid, but by a sort of bullet sent backwards in time. Darkseid spreads the Anti-Life Equation among the human population, creating monstrous slaves out of its victims as he ushers in the "Final Crisis of Mankind". Shilo Norman begins recruiting an army, warning of a war in heaven having occurred where evil won. Darkseid similarly claims to have ultimately come out of this war in heaven the victor. The villain Libra reappears on Earth after a long absence, making promises to the villains of Earth in the name of the deity he worships.


title: New Gods

text: Grant Morrison addressed what he described as "the disconnects that online commentators, sadly, seem to find more fascinating than the stories themselves", by explaining that he provided a rough draft of the first issue, and an outline of the plot, before the writing began on "Countdown" and "Death of the New Gods". He outlined his thinking on the issues of continuity between the stories by stating that he "started writing "Final Crisis" #1 in early 2006, around the same time as the "52" series was starting to come out, so "Final Crisis" was more a continuation of plot threads from "Seven Soldiers" and "52" than anything else."


title: New Gods

text: As the events of "Final Crisis" unfold, it is revealed that the evil gods of Apokolips have been hiding in human bodies, and some have their bodies "rebuilt" for them in the Evil Factory, formerly the Command-D bunkers in Blüdhaven. Darkseid inhabits the body of Dan Turpin, after Turpin finally succumbs to the evil god. Kalibak inhabits a new body, that of a humanoid tiger, leading a team of similar creatures in battle. Mokkari and Simyan appear, looking more or less identical to their previous forms, with no explanation given to where their bodies came from. Granny Goodness takes up residence in the Alpha Lantern Kraken, using her to attack the Guardians of the Universe, while Desaad inhabits the body of Mary Marvel. The Female Furies themselves are not shown to still exist, but they are recreated using Anti-Life controlled heroes and villains in the forms of Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Catwoman, and Giganta.


title: New Gods

text: At the conclusion of the series, the essence of Darkseid is destroyed; the New Gods, are resurrected and reborn; and Nix Uotan implies that they will guide the recently destroyed Earth-51, restoring it to prosperity and peace. Nix also indicates that the Super Young Team are the new Forever People of the Fifth World.


title: New Gods

text: In an interview with Newsarama, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio spoke of the future of the New Gods in the DC Universe, saying, "The other thing we’ll give a rest to as well is the concept of the New Gods and the ideas surrounding them. There's a very clear conclusion to the New Gods’ storyline in "Final Crisis" #7. The good part about it is that readers will see that ending, and we won’t have to return to it right away. Like the Multiverse, the New Gods will be out there and available to us, and we can use them when we see fit, and feel the time is right. Just because we introduced concepts doesn’t mean that we have to constantly use them."


title: New Gods

text: In September 2011, "The New 52" rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Darkseid first appears in "Justice League" #4. DeSaad and Steppenwolf also briefly appear in this story arc, experimenting on Superman and referring to "the search for Darkseid's daughter", explaining Darkseid's actions throughout infinite and his assault and assimilation of various worlds throughout the multiverse. In subsequent issues it is revealed that Cyborg's teleportation powers are linked to the Boom Tubes, thanks to upgrades performed by his father utilizing the Mother Box found by the team in their initial adventure, and that every 1,000 times he uses this technology, a glitch in it transports him and his Justice League comrades to Apokolips.


title: New Gods

text: In the pages of "Earth 2" #1, it is revealed that Darkseid's search has also resulted in his traversing the array of worlds invading this parallel Earth. Unlike his encounters in "Justice League", this one is far more successful, resulting in the death of that Earth's Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman; in the midst of this war, Power Girl and Huntress somehow traverse into the realm of Prime-Earth.


title: New Gods

text: It is teased that the fall of the Olympian Gods will lead to the creation of New Gods, but not stated if they mean the race of New Gods populating the Fourth World or simply newer younger gods. A figure, with Orion's helmet, appears in shadow then disappears into a Boom Tube. Orion fights against, then assists Wonder Woman in her struggle with the gods of Olympus and the monstrous First Born of Zeus, eventually leading her and the Last Born of Olympus to New Genesis and its leader: Highfather. While Highfather appears much younger than his pre-"Flashpoint" incarnation, New Genesis appears much the same, consisting of a futuristic floating city above a mostly rural world covered in forests.


title: New Gods

text: In the "Darkseid" special issue, it is revealed that he and Highfather are some of the only survivors of a previous larger world, where they were brothers and peasants. Their world was also inhabited by colossal beings known as Old Gods, who spent much of their time brawling with each other, feeding off the worship of the 'mudgrubbers', whose lives were often lost in the battles. One day the man formerly known as Uxas, having tired of his idol's destructiveness, decided to spark a war between them which would in turn devastate their world fatally wounding his sister, Izaya's first wife, after which he opted to kill all the wounded Old Gods, steal their powers and bring about a new order. One by one, the Old Gods were destroyed by Darkseid, who became more horrific in turn as he leeched their essence from them. As Darkseid's schemes started to tear the planet apart, Highfather ran with his wounded Avia in hand towards one of the last and greatest of the Old Gods, acknowledging his time had come and passed he chose to pass on the last of his power to reward Izaya's beloved's devotion to them. Empowered in a blinding flare of light, Highfather arose as a New God to battle Darkseid. The brothers, now equal, tore the world apart during their battle, leaving them to rebuild on the remains, which became Apokolips and New Genesis.


title: New Gods

text: It was his search for what was believed to be his daughter Kaiyo that Darkseid came to traverse and enslave various worlds and universes throughout the 52 realities spanning existence, leading up to his first invasion of Earth 2 as well as the incursion of countless other Earths along the DCnU, up until the core world of Prime Earth where he battled and lost against the Justice League when they first formed to battle his invasion.


title: New Gods

text: After countless eons of infighting proceeding after the fall of the Old World, Darkseid and Highfather would eventually be forced into conflict against their demented father and King of the Old Gods, Yuga Khan. Livid at the fact his sons ended up killing and usurping the powers of all the Old Gods of Urgrund save himself, he utilized the power of the Anti-Life Equation to reanimate his fallen subjects, while using his own powers to suppress his sons' New God Abilities, all in order to prevent the rise of the New Gods standing before him. When Zonuz was prepping to deliver the killing blow, Uxas crept up from behind and ended him, reducing his resurrected army back to the dust they were recreated from and sending the Old God back to the Source.


title: New Gods

text: For a time, both brothers would raise their dead world back from the devastation wreaked by their previous conflicts, dubbing it Genesis with Izaya eventually remarrying, up until for undisclosed reasons Darkseid killed Highfather's new wife away from prying eyes, save those of his sibling's. Another war would commence pitting the former's faction against the self-titled God of Evil, which devastated the world they made together. With the losses tallied on both sides, a ceasefire was eventually called with Darkseid eventually slinking back into the darkness, while Highfather wept over the loss of their new home. Over time, a peace treaty would be forged in which Izaya would lose the compassionate part of himself to the Source in order to make him go through with it. Exchanging their sons like in the previous continuity would not stop Darkseid from waging wars of conquest across reality however, so Highfather brokered another treaty where Darkseid would only attack the Earth 2 dimension while leaving the other infinite Earths untouched.


title: New Gods

text: Over time, the core universe where Apokolips first suffered defeat from would have more interactions with the New Gods of both New Genesis; created by the now-militant Highfather, as well as those of Apokolips; domain of the malevolent Darkseid and his elite followers.


title: New Gods

text: The beings of New Genesis and Apokolips call themselves gods, living outside of normal time and space in a realm known as the Fourth World. Due to their proximity to the Source, a primeval energy believed to be one of the ultimate foundations of the Universal Expression of Energy, these New Gods have evolved into genetically stable higher beings of evolutionary perfection.


title: New Gods

text: All of the New Gods possess superhuman abilities of various kinds and differing degrees, including superhuman strength, stamina, reflexes, invulnerability and speed. The denizens of New Genesis and Apokolips are also immortal and endowed with a greater intelligence than "Homo sapiens", despite their resemblance. Both worlds have the finest technology that the universe can offer.


title: New Gods

text: Despite their immortality, the New Gods are vulnerable to a substance called Radion. Its source is unknown and its effects are toxic only in sustained amounts or after explosive exposure. The average New God can be slain by an application of Radion from a Radion blaster or bomb.


title: New Gods

text: Writer Rachel Pollack introduced the idea in "Sacrifice of the Gods" in 1996 that the New Gods were giants and that the Boom Tube would shrink them as they traveled to normal time and space or enlarge beings who traveled to the Fourth World realm. For example, if Superman were to travel to Apokolips under his own power, he would be miniature in comparison to the New Gods – Orion remarked that "Earth is but a speck in an air pocket" and that the universe of New Genesis is the "real world". Proportionally, entire planets were shown to seem no larger than golf balls.


title: New Gods

text: Outside of the original three Kirby titles, and those strictly labeled "New Gods", other characters from Kirby's Fourth World have had their own titles. Mister Miracle has had numerous other iterations of his own comic, and Orion was given his own title in 2000 that ended in 2002. The aforementioned "Jack Kirby's Fourth World" is another example, as is Takion, a New God not created by Kirby, but one that had his own series for seven issues in 1996. The New Gods and their concepts have at times played a central role in the DC Universe, in series such as Jim Starlin's "Cosmic Odyssey". Particularly, the character Darkseid has been a major force in the DC Universe, and is one of the main villains in the various "Superman" titles.


title: New Gods

text: "Tales of the New Gods" was a backup feature that began in John Byrne's "Jack Kirby's Fourth World", and continued in Walt Simonson's "Orion" series. In the features for "Jack Kirby's Fourth World", Byrne almost exclusively provided the pencils and text for the stories. In the features for the "Orion" title, Simonson often wrote the story, and fellow artists would, appropriately, provide the artwork; although on rare occasions, other writers would provide the script/story. Two backup stories, though not under the "Tales of the New Gods" banner, were printed when Byrne filled in as penciller on "Orion" for the main stories in issues #13 and #14, with Simonson providing writing and pencilling, and Bob Wiacek inking.


title: New Gods

text: The various New Gods stories have been collected into various volumes. All 11 issues of the original series have been collected into "Jack Kirby's New Gods" (). DC Comics published a "Tales of the New Gods" trade paperback () in January 2008, which collects all of the back-up stories listed above, a Mark Evanier/Steve Rude "Mister Miracle" one-shot comic from 1987, and a previously unpublished story by Mark Millar and Steve Ditko originally meant to be printed in the pages of "Orion". In 2008, DC released a one-shot titled "Countdown Special: New Gods" #1, which reprinted "Forever People" #1, "Mister Miracle" #1, and "New Gods" #7. "Death of the New Gods" has been collected into a hardcover edition (). and later reprinted in trade paperback.


title: New Gods

text: The entirety of Kirby's work on the "Fourth World" was collected in four "Omnibus" editions published in 2007 and 2008:


title: New Gods

text: This series, along with "Forever People", "Mister Miracle", and "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" won Jack Kirby a Shazam Award for "Special Achievement by an Individual" in 1971.


title: New Gods

text: In 1998, "Jack Kirby's New Gods" by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan, won both the Harvey Award for "Best Domestic Reprint Project" and the Eisner Award for "Best Archival Collection/Project".


title: Slay the Spire

text: Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building video game developed by American studio MegaCrit and published by Humble Bundle. The game was first released in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019. It was released for PlayStation 4 in May 2019, for Nintendo Switch in June 2019 and for Xbox One in August 2019. An iOS version was released in June 2020, with an Android version released in February 2021.


title: Slay the Spire

text: In "Slay the Spire", the player, through one of four characters, attempts to ascend a spire of multiple floors, created through procedural generation, battling through enemies and bosses. Combat takes place through a collectible card game-based system, with the player gaining new cards as rewards from combat and other means, requiring the player to use strategies of deck-building games to construct an effective deck to complete the climb.


title: Slay the Spire

text: "Slay the Spire" has been well received. It was nominated for several accolades in 2019, and is considered the game that launched a number of roguelike deck-building games.


title: Slay the Spire

text: "Slay the Spire" is a combination of roguelike-inspired progression and the gameplay of a deck-building card game. At the start of a playthrough the player selects one of four predetermined characters, which sets a starting amount of health, gold, a starting relic that provides a unique ability for that character, and an initial deck of cards with basic attack and defense cards as well what potential color-coded cards tailored to that character they will see through the run. The goal is to work through several levels of a spire, each level having a number of potential encounters distributed in a branching structure with a boss character at the end of the level. Encounters include monsters which vary in strength; elite enemies which offer enhanced rewards; campfires to heal or upgrade cards to more powerful versions; shopkeepers to buy cards, relics and potions from, as well as to remove cards from the deck; chests with random loot; and random choice-based encounters.


title: Slay the Spire

text: Combat is played in turns. Each turn the player receives a fresh hand of cards and three energy points. The player can play any combination of cards as long as they have the energy to pay for the energy cost of each card, and at the end of the turn, all cards not played are sent to a discard pile. Players' cards vary by the character but generally consist of attack cards to damage opponents, skill cards that buff themselves, debuff opponents, or add to their blocking power for the turn, and power cards where the effect remains in play until the end of combat. Each opponent on the field will telegraph what move they will make: if they will attack and with how much damage, if they will block, cast a spell to buff themselves or debuff the player. In some cases, the opponents' attack or the player cards may add unplayable cards representing battle conditions like Wounds and Curses to the player's deck that can dilute a player's hand and may add negative effects while in the player's hand. The player can determine the best strategy to avoid taking any damage after they complete their turn. If the player's health drops to zero, the game is over and they must restart from the bottom of the spire. Otherwise, if the player defeats all the monsters in an encounter, they typically receive gold and a choice of one of three randomly-selected cards to add to their deck, if desired. Other loot that can be obtained from monsters or other encounters include relics that provide a permanent character buff for the duration of the game, such as increased maximum health, additional energy points, lower casting costs, and automatic blocking, and single-use potions that can be used during any turn for no cost to restore health, buff the player, and debuff or damage the enemy.


title: Slay the Spire

text: The deck-building game requires players to develop a strategy for their deck on the fly based on the cards they can obtain from loot and in synergy with the relics they obtain. Like other deck-building, too many weak cards or the unplayable cards dilute the player's deck, and the player must strategically decide which cards are the best fit to make the deck effective, when to turn down additions of cards, or when to spend money to remove cards as to maximize the deck's strength.


title: Slay the Spire

text: "Slay the Spire" features metagaming aspects. Completed or failed runs contribute points towards unlocking new characters or new relics and cards that will be made available for the specific character. Up to 20 Ascension difficulty levels unlock with each successfully completed run, each adding a cumulative negative effect such as lower health or stronger enemy attacks. Achievements provide several challenges to the player such as to climb the tower with a character using only their starting relic or with only common cards in their decks. A daily challenge gives players a single chance to get as high in the spire as they can under pre-set conditions and a fixed random seed, so that each player is starting from the same point and sees the same encounters.


title: Slay the Spire

text: "Slay the Spire" is developed by Seattle-based studio MegaCrit, with Anthony Giovannetti and Casey Yano as lead developers. Their initial goal was to fuse the concept of a roguelike game with deck-building games like "Dominion". The game was also inspired partially by the "Netrunner" collectible card game, which Giovannetti was a fan of and for which he maintains a community website. The game was built on the libGDX framework.


title: Slay the Spire

text: To help test and get feedback on the game, Giovannetti turned to expert players in the "Netrunner" community. This was also necessary to determine appropriate balance for the cards they added, as balancing the difficulty of the game against the randomness of the roguelike encounters and the card-based play was difficult. By using a large number of playtesters, along with gameplay metric reporting from the game client, they were able to determine what cards had positive designs and which cards to remove. For example, they became aware of cards with too low of a value for the game when they were not picked when offered by players, and found cards that were overpowered if they occurred too frequently within game-winning decks. They had no issue when players discovered card synergies that created powerful combinations, a factor of concern in typical collectible card games, as it was a single-player game and there would be no opponent that would feel overwhelmed by these combos.


title: Slay the Spire

text: Originally, enemies did not show their next intended action as is common to most turn-based role-playing video games, but this design did not mesh well with the roguelike nature of permadeath. During playtests, they found that players were confused about the number of card abilities without any clear situation to apply them. They first created a "Next Turn" system where the player could select individual targets to see what their chosen action would be in part of the game's user interface. The "Next Turn" system brought something unique to the game, according to Giovannetti, and enabled them to create new buffs and debuffs that were easy to describe to players through the interface. However, from a user-interface perspective, there were still issues particularly when multiple enemies were present. They then transitioned from the "Next Turn" to the new "Intents" system, which used icons to represent the enemy's next move, though originally this lacked exact numbers for attack values, instead representing certain ranges of attacks by different weapons. Giovannetti felt they didn't want to present too many numbers to players to overwhelm them and make the game off-putting, but they discovered through playtesters that having the numbers available was more engaging, did not require the player to have to memorize what each symbol meant, and enabled players to create new strategies. The approach for players to progress through the spires with branching pathways and random events was inspired by "".


title: Slay the Spire

text: Upon its early access initial release in November 2017, the game featured two playable characters with plans for at least a third to be added during the early access period. Giovannetti said that while they could add more cards for a character's card pool, they found having about 75 different cards available was the right balance to give some potential strategy to the player; having too many card types would make deck construction during runs much more haphazard, an issue that "Netrunner" had faced. Charlie Hall of "Polygon" found that, in contrast to most other early access titles, the game's mechanics and core gameplay was already well-developed at the start and found that the sustained weekly updates made the game more attractive to potential buyers. Giovannetti credits indirect feedback from watching online streamers play the game during early access to help improve its balance, as he said "A streamer isn’t going to be afraid to speak their minds or insult you – they probably don’t even know you’re there most of the time."


title: Slay the Spire

text: Other changes over the course of early access development included adding more potions with novel effects, and adding more events to the game. On Windows, the game also supports user-created modifications through the Steam Workshop, allowing users to create new playable characters, cards, monsters, and other items. The early access period ended on January 23, 2019, with the full release of the game. An official fourth playable character was added to the game as part of a free content update, first released to Windows versions on January 14, 2020.


title: Slay the Spire

text: Humble Bundle helped to provide publication support for MegaCrit for the console releases: "Slay the Spire" was released for the PlayStation 4 on May 21, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch on June 6, 2019, and for the Xbox One on August 14, 2019.


title: Slay the Spire

text: Mobile versions of the game for iOS and Android were planned for release in 2019, but in December 2019, MegaCrit pushed their release into early 2020. The iOS version was released in June 2020, and had feature-parity with the computer and console releases. The Android version was released on February 3, 2021.


title: Slay the Spire

text: According to MegaCrit, the game's first early access release in November 2017 was very slow, with about 2000 copies selling across the first weeks, the period in which most games sell the most copies. While they had seeded redemption keys with streamers and influencers, these had not converted into sales. It was not until a Chinese streamer featured the game on their channel that had over a million views, did MegaCrit start to see the large rise in sales. During the week ending January 21, 2018, "Slay the Spire" was the second highest-sold game on Steam. By February 2018, the game had more than 500,000 players, according to SteamSpy estimates. MegaCrit announced that by the end of June, sales of "Slay the Spire" had exceeded 1 million, and reached 1.5 million by March 2019.


title: Slay the Spire

text: "IGN" named "Slay the Spire" as the Best Strategy Game of 2019, while "PC Gamer" gave it the Best Design for 2019. IGN later ranked it as one of the best 25 PC Games from the past decade, and one of the top 10 roguelike games.


title: Slay the Spire

text: Mega Crit announced in January 2021 that they were creating a cooperative board game adaptation of "Slay the Spire" with Contention Games. The game features more than 730 cards total, with four possible player characters to choose from. A notable difference from the video game is that the game can be played co-operatively with four players. A crowdfunding campaign for the board game was launched on November 2, 2022, and reached its funding goal after just 6 minutes. The campaign reached million in its first day, and finished after raising nearly million total.


title: Mutya Buena

text: Rosa Isabel Mutya Buena (born 21 May 1985) is an English singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a member of girl group the Sugababes. With the Sugababes, Buena had four UK number one singles, an additional six top-ten hits and three multi-platinum albums. After leaving the group in December 2005, she released her debut solo album, "Real Girl" in June 2007. In October 2010, Buena released a compilation album dedicated to British singers, titled "Sound of Camden: Mutya Buena".


title: Mutya Buena

text: In 2012, Buena and her former Sugababes bandmates Siobhán Donaghy and Keisha Buchanan confirmed their reunion. The original trio originally opted to release music under the name MKS (Mutya Keisha Siobhan), releasing one single, "Flatline", in 2013. In September 2019, the group officially confirmed their return as the Sugababes. In May 2021, Mutya released a UK garage-inspired track entitled "The One" with electronic music producer duo Ryuken on New State Music.


title: Mutya Buena

text: Buena was born in Kingsbury, London and attended Kingsbury High School. Her father is Filipino with partial Spanish descent and her mother is of English and Irish descent.


title: Mutya Buena

text: The Sugababes were formed in 1998 by Siobhán Donaghy, Keisha Buchanan and Buena. Their debut album, "One Touch", was released in November 2000 and peaked at number twenty-six on the UK Albums Chart, eventually earning a gold certification. "One Touch" spawned four singles, three of which reached the top twenty, while the album's lead single "Overload" was nominated for a BRIT Award for "Best British Single". The album's sales did not meet the expectations of London Records and the group was subsequently dropped. The group's second album "Angels with Dirty Faces" was released in August 2002 through Island Records. Influenced by the new wave, dance, and pop music of the 1980s, the record enjoyed success in the UK, where it reached number two and went triple platinum. It produced two number one singles and was nominated for "Best British Album" at the 2003 BRIT Awards.


title: Mutya Buena

text: "Three", Sugababes' third album, was released in October 2003. It reached number three in the UK and produced four singles, all of which reached the top ten. The group's fourth album, "Taller in More Ways", was released in October 2005. The album reached number one and went double platinum in the UK. On 21 December 2005, it was announced Buena left the Sugababes. According to an announcement on their official website, "[Buena]'s decision was based purely on personal reasons and she will continue to remain the best of friends with both [Buchanan] and [Range]". Buena later stated in an interview that she was suffering from postnatal depression after the birth of her daughter combined with the group's increasingly hectic schedules, and chose to leave to spend more time with her daughter. The last remaining original member, Buchanan, said upon Buena's departure, "...we will all miss Mutya, but we also knew there was still a place for bringing in somebody new who could help us carry on taking the Sugababes brand of music forward". Amelle Berrabah joined the group 48 hours after Buena's departure.


title: Mutya Buena

text: Following her departure from the Sugababes, Buena began working on her debut album in early 2006 after signing with her previous label, Universal Island Records. She also contributed vocals to the album Soundboy Rock by Groove Armada. The first single to be released in the UK featuring Buena was a ballad duet with George Michael, titled "This Is Not Real Love". It was released in November 2006 and reached number 15 in the UK. Preceding the album, the title track, "Real Girl", was released in early 2007. It reached number 2 in the UK and received a BRIT Award nomination for "Best Single". The song samples Lenny Kravitz's hit "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over", and was produced by London-based production company Full Phat. "Real Girl" was also featured on the "Sex and the City, Vol 2: More Music Soundtrack". Buena's debut album, "Real Girl", peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart. "Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)", her collaboration with dance duo Groove Armada, was released in the UK in July 2007 peaked at number 8. The fourth release from the album was "Just a Little Bit", which reached number 65. Buena also collaborated with Amy Winehouse, on a re-working of the track "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes titled "B Boy Baby", which reached number 73 in the UK top 75. On 1 October 2007, Buena was nominated for the 2007 British "Music of Black Origin" (MOBO) awards at the O2 Arena in London.


title: Mutya Buena

text: On 12 February 2008, Buena was dropped by her record label due to poor sales and charting positions from "Real Girl" and her last two singles, "Just a Little Bit" and "B Boy Baby".


title: Mutya Buena

text: In October 2008, Buena appeared on "Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong". In January 2009, Buena featured on Asher D's second single "With You", from his album "Ashley Walters", as well as the Don-E track "The Time Is Now". She also promoted the collaborations "Fallin'" with Agent X and "Give Back" with Tah Mac. Buena also joined an array of UK, US and Jamaican artists to feature on the debut single of the London-based urban/funky house production duo, NightShift. The song is titled "Can You Persuade Me" and it also features MegaMan (So Solid Crew), DJ Ironik, Sisqó, Tanto Metro & Devonte, TQ, Steelo, Juxci D, J2K, Wretch 32, Sam Obernik and Mr. Vegas. After rejection from Buena, the song was then recorded by Pitbull as "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)".


title: Mutya Buena

text: On 2 January 2009, Buena entered "Celebrity Big Brother 6" as a housemate. On 16 January 2009, day 15 of the series, she walked out of the Big Brother house after surviving eviction the same night. She was the last celebrity housemate to walk from the show until Claire King left the Summer 2014 series of "Celebrity Big Brother" on 31 August 2014.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In September 2010, Buena contributed to six tracks on the album "The Sound of Camden", which was recorded in Israel with music producer Roy Sela. The album deals with Camden Town market in London, and has been available for purchase at the market itself and online. She recorded a series of covers of rock songs from rock bands such as U2, The Pixies and Iron Maiden, in a chilled-out-lounge style. In October 2010, Buena expressed uncertainty about continuing in the music industry and said she was currently training to become a psychologist for children. Despite the announcement, Buena teamed up with City Boy Soul, a band consisting of ex-Damage singer Coree Richards and British rapper Gak Jonze, and digitally released "Be Ok" in January 2011. Buena also recorded lead vocals for "Give Me Love", penned by UK DJ/Producer Paul Morrell. Mutya was set to release "My Love" featuring Thor Alaye in early 2012 and "Bedroom" featuring Shide Boss during the same year. Buena performed at Birmingham Gay Pride on 28 May 2011. In 2011, Buena released a demo on SoundCloud called "All B4".


title: Mutya Buena

text: In October 2011, several news outlets reported that the original line-up of the Sugababes would reform. In January 2012, further circulations that the group would reunite were sparked, after both Buena and Buchanan tweeted that they were in the studio with "two other females" and British rapper Professor Green. However, Buena later denied this on Twitter, saying: "No track [with] keisha or professor G he was around tha studio. im jus workin on my stuff @ tha moment. (sic)" Despite this, Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé confirmed to MTV UK that she had written new songs for Buena, Buchanan and Donaghy, saying: "Yes, that is true. I've written for the original line-up of the Sugababes, which I'm very happy about because I just loved them when they first came out. I loved their sound, it was so cool. It was very different, so I'm happy to kind of be involved in what started the whole Sugababes journey. It sounds amazing." In April 2012, it was reported that the line-up had signed a £1 million record deal with Polydor Records. In June 2012, Donaghy confirmed on Twitter that new music would be released, saying: "the soonest it'll be is in 2 weeks. The latest is 10 weeks."


title: Mutya Buena

text: In July 2012, it was officially confirmed that the group had reformed under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan and were writing songs for a new album under Polydor.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In 2018, Buena was featured on the track called "Game Over" with Rockwell, JSTN and Rico Flames. She was also featured in the music video. Buena has also began undertaking various television projects. She appeared in an episode of MTV's "Just Tattoo of Us", and appeared in series 5 of "Celebs Go Dating" on E4.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In 2019, she appeared on the fourth series of "Celebrity Coach Trip" alongside Lisa Maffia. The couple won the series.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In September 2019 Buena regained rights to the Sugababes name and rejoined the band alongside original members Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy. They featured on a track on a DJ Spoony album and confirmed that they had plans to release new material and tour in 2020. The plans were later put on hold, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, she was ranked as #2 among the best girl band members of all time in a "Guardian" article, second only to American singer Beyoncé.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In February 2020, she released the single "Black Valentine", on which she has writing credit, in collaboration with London-based pop duo Electric Pineapple. Later that year, she expressed an interest in releasing an R&B album.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In February 2022, Buena released the single "Feels Good" alongside Ryuken. On 20 May 2022, Buena released the single "Takin' It Easy| alongside Morfius.


title: Mutya Buena

text: On 23 March 2005, Buena gave birth to her daughter Tahlia. Buena dedicated a song to her late sister Maya on the Sugababes album, "Three".


title: Mutya Buena

text: In March 2010, Buena filed a claim for ownership of the Sugababes name with the European Trademark Authority. Though Buchanan and Donaghy's names appear on the trademark submission, it was confirmed that Buena was the sole applicant for submission and Donaghy and Buchanan were not involved. The fourth line-up launched an opposition to the claim on the basis that goodwill and reputation in the mark and trading name "Sugababes" belongs to the partnership – not an individual.


title: Mutya Buena

text: Buena has buttock implants and previously had breast enlargements. In November 2013, Buena had the implants removed.


title: Mutya Buena

text: In September 2014, Buena was declared to be bankrupt by a High Court judge. In 2020, she criticised the media for not covering the fact that she instantly paid off her £100,000 tax debts when she was made aware of the administrative error made by her accountants.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The Book of Jonah is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, but tries to escape this divine mission.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The story has a long interpretive history and has become well known through popular children's stories. In Judaism, it is the Haftarah portion read during the afternoon of Yom Kippur to instill reflection on God's willingness to forgive those who repent, and it remains a popular story among Christians. The story is also retold in the Quran.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The prophet Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, which places Jonah's life during the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC), but the book of Jonah itself does not mention a king or any other details that would give the text a firm date. The majority of scholars date the book much later, to the post-exilic period sometime between the late 5th to early 4th century BC; perhaps (along with Book of Ruth) as a counter to the emphasis on racial purity in the time of Ezra. An even later date is sometimes proposed, with Katherine Dell arguing for the Hellenistic period (332–167 BC).


title: Book of Jonah

text: Unlike the other Minor Prophets, the book of Jonah is almost entirely narrative (with the exception of the poem in the 2nd chapter). The actual prophetic word against Nineveh is given only in passing through the narrative. The story of Jonah has a setting, characters, a plot, and themes; it also relies heavily on such literary devices as irony.


title: Book of Jonah

text: Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which Yahweh commands him to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it for their great wickedness against him. However, Jonah instead attempts to run from Yahweh by going to Jaffa and sailing to Tarshish. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard. As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to Yahweh. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed. God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.


title: Book of Jonah

text: God then once again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he reluctantly goes into the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown." After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast. The king of Nineveh then puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance. God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time. The entire city is humbled and broken with the people (and even the animals) in sackcloth and ashes.


title: Book of Jonah

text: Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities. He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed. God causes a plant (in Hebrew a ) to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, God causes a worm to bite the plant's root and it withers. Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and pleads for God to kill him.


title: Book of Jonah

text: Fragments of the book were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, most of which follows the Masoretic Text closely and with Mur XII reproducing a large portion of the text. As for the non-canonical writings, the majority of references to biblical texts were made as appeals to authority. The Book of Jonah appears to have served less purpose in the Qumran community than other texts, as the writings make no references to it.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The 18th century Lithuanian master scholar and kabbalist, Elijah of Vilna, known as the Vilna Gaon, authored a commentary on the biblical Book of Jonah as an allegory of reincarnation.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The earliest Christian interpretations of Jonah are found in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. Both Matthew and Luke record a tradition of Jesus' interpretation of the Book of Jonah (notably, Matthew includes two very similar traditions in chapters 12 and 16).


title: Book of Jonah

text: As with most Old Testament interpretations found in the New Testament, Jesus' interpretation is primarily typological. Jonah becomes a "type" for Jesus. Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish; Jesus will spend three days in the grave. Here, Jesus plays on the imagery of Sheol found in Jonah's prayer. While Jonah metaphorically declared, "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried," Jesus will literally be in the belly of Sheol. Finally, Jesus compares his generation to the people of Nineveh. Jesus fulfills his role as a type of Jonah, however his generation fails to fulfill its role as a type of Nineveh. Nineveh repented, but Jesus' generation, which has seen and heard one even greater than Jonah, fails to repent. Through his typological interpretation of the Book of Jonah, Jesus has weighed his generation and found it wanting.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The debate over the credibility of the miracle of Jonah is not simply a modern one. The credibility of a human being surviving in the belly of a great fish has long been questioned. In , Augustine of Hippo wrote to Deogratias concerning the challenge of some to the miracle recorded in the Book of Jonah. He writes:


title: Book of Jonah

text: Augustine responds that if one is to question one miracle, then one should question all miracles as well (section 31). Nevertheless, despite his apologetic, Augustine views the story of Jonah as a figure for Christ. For example, he writes: "As, therefore, Jonah passed from the ship to the belly of the whale, so Christ passed from the cross to the sepulchre, or into the abyss of death. And as Jonah suffered this for the sake of those who were endangered by the storm, so Christ suffered for the sake of those who are tossed on the waves of this world." Augustine credits his allegorical interpretation to the interpretation of Christ himself (Matthew 12:39–40), and he allows for other interpretations as long as they are in line with Christ's.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The "Ordinary Gloss", or , was the most important Christian commentary on the Bible in the later Middle Ages. Ryan McDermott comments that "The Gloss on Jonah relies almost exclusively on Jerome's commentary on Jonah (), so its Latin often has a tone of urbane classicism. But the Gloss also chops up, compresses, and rearranges Jerome with a carnivalesque glee and scholastic directness that renders the Latin authentically medieval." "The Ordinary Gloss on Jonah" has been translated into English and printed in a format that emulates the first printing of the Gloss.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The relationship between Jonah and his fellow Jews is ambivalent, and complicated by the Gloss's tendency to read Jonah as an allegorical prefiguration of Jesus Christ. While some glosses in isolation seem crudely supersessionist ("The foreskin believes while the circumcision remains unfaithful"), the prevailing allegorical tendency is to attribute Jonah's recalcitrance to his abiding love for his own people and his insistence that God's promises to Israel not be overridden by a lenient policy toward the Ninevites. For the glossator, Jonah's pro-Israel motivations correspond to Christ's demurral in the Garden of Gethsemane ("My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me") and the Gospel of Matthew's and Paul's insistence that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). While in the Gloss the plot of Jonah prefigures how God will extend salvation to the nations, it also makes abundantly clear—as some medieval commentaries on the Gospel of John do not—that Jonah and Jesus are Jews, and that they make decisions of salvation-historical consequence as Jews.


title: Book of Jonah

text: In Jungian analysis, the belly of the whale can be seen as a symbolic death and rebirth, which is also an important stage in comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey".


title: Book of Jonah

text: NCSY Director of Education David Bashevkin sees Jonah as a thoughtful prophet who comes to religion out of a search for theological truth and is constantly disappointed by those who come to religion to provide mere comfort in the face of adversity inherent to the human condition. "If religion is only a blanket to provide warmth from the cold, harsh realities of life," Bashevkin imagines Jonah asking, "did concerns of theological truth and creed even matter?" The lesson taught by the episode of the tree at the end of the book is that comfort is a deep human need that religion provides, but that this need not obscure the role of God.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The Hebrew text of Jonah reads (, ), literally meaning "great fish". The Septuagint translated this into Greek as (), "huge whale/sea monster"; and in Greek mythology the term was closely associated with sea monsters. Saint Jerome later translated the Greek phrase as in his Latin Vulgate, and as in Matthew. At some point, became synonymous with whale (cf. cetyl alcohol, which is alcohol derived from whales). In his 1534 translation, William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe", and he translated the word (Greek) or (Latin) in Matthew as "whale". Tyndale's translation was later followed by the translators of the King James Version of 1611 and has enjoyed general acceptance in English translations.


title: Book of Jonah

text: In the book of Jonah chapter 1 verse 17, the hebrew bible refers to the fish as , "great fish", in the masculine. However, in chapter 2 verse 1, the word which refers to fish is written as , meaning female fish. The verses therefore read: "And the lord provided a great fish (, , masculine) for Jonah, and it swallowed him, and Jonah sat in the belly of the fish (still male) for three days and nights; then, from the belly of the (, , female) fish, Jonah began to pray."


title: Book of Jonah

text: The peculiarity of this change of gender led later rabbis to conclude that Jonah was comfortable enough in the roomy male fish to not pray, and because of this God transferred him to a smaller, female fish, in which Jonah was uncomfortable, to which he prayed.


title: Book of Jonah

text: The Book of Jonah closes abruptly with an epistolary warning based on the emblematic trope of a fast-growing vine present in Persian narratives, and popularized in fables such as "The Gourd and the Palm-tree" during the Renaissance, for example by Andrea Alciato.


title: Book of Jonah

text: St. Jerome differed with St. Augustine in his Latin translation of the plant known in Hebrew as (), using (from the Greek, meaning "ivy") over the more common Latin , "gourd," from which the English word "gourd" (Old French , ) is derived. The Renaissance humanist artist Albrecht Dürer memorialized Jerome's decision to use an analogical type of Christ's "I am the Vine, you are the branches" in his woodcut "Saint Jerome in His Study".


title: B (programming language)

text: B was derived from BCPL, and its name may possibly be a contraction of BCPL. Thompson's coworker Dennis Ritchie speculated that the name might be based on Bon, an earlier, but unrelated, programming language that Thompson designed for use on Multics.


title: B (programming language)

text: B was designed for recursive, non-numeric, machine-independent applications, such as system and language software. It was a typeless language, with the only data type being the underlying machine's natural memory word format, whatever that might be. Depending on the context, the word was treated either as an integer or a memory address.


title: B (programming language)

text: As machines with ASCII processing became common, notably the DEC PDP-11 that arrived at Bell, support for character data stuffed in memory words became important. The typeless nature of the language was seen as a disadvantage, which led Thompson and Ritchie to develop an expanded version of the language supporting new internal and user-defined types, which became the C programming language.


title: B (programming language)

text: Circa 1969, Ken Thompson and later Dennis Ritchie developed B basing it mainly on the BCPL language Thompson used in the Multics project. B was essentially the BCPL system stripped of any component Thompson felt he could do without in order to make it fit within the memory capacity of the minicomputers of the time. The BCPL to B transition also included changes made to suit Thompson's preferences (mostly along the lines of reducing the number of non-whitespace characters in a typical program). Much of the typical ALGOL-like syntax of BCPL was rather heavily changed in this process. The assignment operator codice_1 reverted to the codice_2 of Rutishauser's Superplan, and the equality operator codice_2 was replaced by codice_4.


title: B (programming language)

text: Thompson added "two-address assignment operators" using codice_5 syntax to add y to x (in C the operator is written codice_6). This syntax came from Douglas McIlroy's implementation of TMG, in which B's compiler was first implemented (and it came to TMG from ALGOL 68's codice_7 syntax). Thompson went further by inventing the increment and decrement operators (codice_8 and codice_9). Their prefix or postfix position determines whether the value is taken before or after alteration of the operand. This innovation was not in the earliest versions of B. According to Dennis Ritchie, people often assumed that they were created for the auto-increment and auto-decrement address modes of the DEC PDP-11, but this is historically impossible as the machine didn't exist when B was first developed.


title: B (programming language)

text: B is typeless, or more precisely has one data type: the computer word. Most operators (e.g. codice_10, codice_11, codice_12, codice_13) treated this as an integer, but others treated it as a memory address to be dereferenced. In many other ways it looked a lot like an early version of C. There are a few library functions, including some that vaguely resemble functions from the standard I/O library in C.


title: B (programming language)

text: In Thompson's words: "B and the old old C were very very similar languages except for all the types [in C]".


title: B (programming language)

text: Early implementations were for the DEC PDP-7 and PDP-11 minicomputers using early Unix, and Honeywell 36-bit mainframes running the operating system GCOS. The earliest PDP-7 implementations compiled to threaded code, and Ritchie wrote a compiler using TMG which produced machine code. In 1970 a PDP-11 was acquired and threaded code was used for the port; an assembler, , and the B language itself were written in B to bootstrap the computer. An early version of yacc was produced with this PDP-11 configuration. Ritchie took over maintenance during this period.


title: B (programming language)

text: The typeless nature of B made sense on the Honeywell, PDP-7 and many older computers, but was a problem on the PDP-11 because it was difficult to elegantly access the character data type that the PDP-11 and most modern computers fully support. Starting in 1971 Ritchie made changes to the language while converting its compiler to produce machine code, most notably adding data typing for variables. During 1971 and 1972 B evolved into "New B" (NB) and then C.


title: B (programming language)

text: B is almost extinct, having been superseded by the C language. However, it continues to see use on GCOS mainframes ()


title: B (programming language)

text: and on certain embedded systems () for a variety of reasons: limited hardware in small systems, extensive libraries, tooling, licensing cost issues, and simply being good enough for the job. The highly influential AberMUD was originally written in B.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave or a triangle wave. Oscillators convert direct current (DC) from a power supply to an alternating current (AC) signal. They are widely used in many electronic devices ranging from simplest clock generators to digital instruments (like calculators) and complex computers and peripherals etc. Common examples of signals generated by oscillators include signals broadcast by radio and television transmitters, clock signals that regulate computers and quartz clocks, and the sounds produced by electronic beepers and video games.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: In AC power supplies, an oscillator that produces AC power from a DC supply is usually called an inverter. Before the advent of diode-based rectifiers, an electromechanical device that similarly converted AC power to DC was called a converter, though the term is now used more commonly to refer to DC-DC buck converters.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: There are two main types of electronic oscillator – the linear or harmonic oscillator and the nonlinear or relaxation oscillator.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Crystal oscillators are ubiquitous in modern electronics and produce frequencies from 32 kHz to over 150 MHz, with 32 kHz crystals commonplace in time keeping and the higher frequencies commonplace in clock generation and RF applications.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The most common form of linear oscillator is an electronic amplifier such as a transistor or operational amplifier connected in a feedback loop with its output fed back into its input through a frequency selective electronic filter to provide positive feedback. When the power supply to the amplifier is switched on initially, electronic noise in the circuit provides a non-zero signal to get oscillations started. The noise travels around the loop and is amplified and filtered until very quickly it converges on a sine wave at a single frequency.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Feedback oscillator circuits can be classified according to the type of frequency selective filter they use in the feedback loop:


title: Electronic oscillator

text: In addition to the feedback oscillators described above, which use two-port amplifying active elements such as transistors and operational amplifiers, linear oscillators can also be built using one-port (two terminal) devices with negative resistance, such as magnetron tubes, tunnel diodes, IMPATT diodes and Gunn diodes. Negative-resistance oscillators are usually used at high frequencies in the microwave range and above, since at these frequencies feedback oscillators perform poorly due to excessive phase shift in the feedback path.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: In negative-resistance oscillators, a resonant circuit, such as an LC circuit, crystal, or cavity resonator, is connected across a device with negative differential resistance, and a DC bias voltage is applied to supply energy. A resonant circuit by itself is "almost" an oscillator; it can store energy in the form of electronic oscillations if excited, but because it has electrical resistance and other losses the oscillations are damped and decay to zero. The negative resistance of the active device cancels the (positive) internal loss resistance in the resonator, in effect creating a resonator with no damping, which generates spontaneous continuous oscillations at its resonant frequency.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The negative-resistance oscillator model is not limited to one-port devices like diodes; feedback oscillator circuits with two-port amplifying devices such as transistors and tubes also have negative resistance. At high frequencies, three terminal devices such as transistors and FETs are also used in negative resistance oscillators. At high frequencies these devices do not need a feedback loop, but with certain loads applied to one port can become unstable at the other port and show negative resistance due to internal feedback. The negative resistance port is connected to a tuned circuit or resonant cavity, causing them to oscillate. High-frequency oscillators in general are designed using negative-resistance techniques.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: A nonlinear or relaxation oscillator produces a non-sinusoidal output, such as a square, sawtooth or triangle wave. It consists of an energy-storing element (a capacitor or, more rarely, an inductor) and a nonlinear switching device (a latch, Schmitt trigger, or negative-resistance element) connected in a feedback loop. The switching device periodically charges and discharges the energy stored in the storage element thus causing abrupt changes in the output waveform.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Square-wave relaxation oscillators are used to provide the clock signal for sequential logic circuits such as timers and counters, although crystal oscillators are often preferred for their greater stability. Triangle-wave or sawtooth oscillators are used in the timebase circuits that generate the horizontal deflection signals for cathode ray tubes in analogue oscilloscopes and television sets. They are also used in voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), inverters and switching power supplies, dual-slope analog to digital converters (ADCs), and in function generators to generate square and triangle waves for testing equipment. In general, relaxation oscillators are used at lower frequencies and have poorer frequency stability than linear oscillators.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Ring oscillators are built of a ring of active delay stages. Generally the ring has an odd number of inverting stages, so that there is no single stable state for the internal ring voltages. Instead, a single transition propagates endlessly around the ring.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: An oscillator can be designed so that the oscillation frequency can be varied over some range by an input voltage or current. These voltage controlled oscillators are widely used in phase-locked loops, in which the oscillator's frequency can be locked to the frequency of another oscillator. These are ubiquitous in modern communications circuits, used in filters, modulators, demodulators, and forming the basis of frequency synthesizer circuits which are used to tune radios and televisions.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Radio frequency VCOs are usually made by adding a varactor diode to the tuned circuit or resonator in an oscillator circuit. Changing the DC voltage across the varactor changes its capacitance, which changes the resonant frequency of the tuned circuit. Voltage controlled relaxation oscillators can be constructed by charging and discharging the energy storage capacitor with a voltage controlled current source. Increasing the input voltage increases the rate of charging the capacitor, decreasing the time between switching events.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: A feedback oscillator circuit consists of two parts connected in a feedback loop; an amplifier formula_1 and an electronic filter formula_2. The filter's purpose is to limit the frequencies that can pass through the loop so the circuit only oscillates at the desired frequency. Since the filter and wires in the circuit have resistance they consume energy and the amplitude of the signal drops as it passes through the filter. The amplifier is needed to increase the amplitude of the signal to compensate for the energy lost in the other parts of the circuit, so the loop will oscillate, as well as supply energy to the load attached to the output.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: To determine the frequency(s) formula_3 at which a feedback oscillator circuit will oscillate, the feedback loop is thought of as broken at some point (see diagrams) to give an input and output port. A sine wave is applied to the input formula_4 and the amplitude and phase of the sine wave after going through the loop formula_5 is calculated


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The ratio of output to input of the loop, formula_12, is called the loop gain. So the condition for oscillation is that the loop gain must be one


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Since formula_14 is a complex number with two parts, a magnitude and an angle, the above equation actually consists of two conditions:


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Equations (1) and (2) are called the "Barkhausen stability criterion". It is a necessary but not a sufficient criterion for oscillation, so there are some circuits which satisfy these equations that will not oscillate. An equivalent condition often used instead of the Barkhausen condition is that the circuit's closed loop transfer function (the circuit's complex impedance at its output) have a pair of poles on the imaginary axis.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: In general, the phase shift of the feedback network increases with increasing frequency so there are only a few discrete frequencies (often only one) which satisfy the second equation. If the amplifier gain formula_1 is high enough that the loop gain is unity (or greater, see Startup section) at one of these frequencies, the circuit will oscillate at that frequency. Many amplifiers such as common-emitter transistor circuits are "inverting", meaning that their output voltage decreases when their input increases. In these the amplifier provides 180° phase shift, so the circuit will oscillate at the frequency at which the feedback network provides the other 180° phase shift.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: At frequencies well below the poles of the amplifying device, the amplifier will act as a pure gain formula_1, but if the oscillation frequency formula_19 is near the amplifier's cutoff frequency formula_20, within formula_21, the active device can no longer be considered a 'pure gain', and it will contribute some phase shift to the loop.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: An alternate mathematical stability test sometimes used instead of the Barkhausen criterion is the Nyquist stability criterion. This has a wider applicability than the Barkhausen, so it can identify some of the circuits which pass the Barkhausen criterion but do not oscillate.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Temperature changes, aging, and manufacturing tolerances will cause component values to "drift" away from their designed values. Changes in "frequency determining" components such as the tank circuit in LC oscillators will cause the oscillation frequency to change, so for a constant frequency these components must have stable values. How stable the oscillator's frequency is to other changes in the circuit, such as changes in values of other components, gain of the amplifier, the load impedance, or the supply voltage, is mainly dependent on the Q factor ("quality factor") of the feedback filter. Since the "amplitude" of the output is constant due to the nonlinearity of the amplifier (see Startup section below), changes in component values cause changes in the phase shift formula_22 of the feedback loop. Since oscillation can only occur at frequencies where the phase shift is a multiple of 360°, formula_23, shifts in component values cause the oscillation frequency formula_19 to change to bring the loop phase back to 360n°. The amount of frequency change formula_25 caused by a given phase change formula_26 depends on the slope of the loop phase curve at formula_19, which is determined by the formula_28


title: Electronic oscillator

text: RC oscillators have the equivalent of a very low formula_31, so the phase changes very slowly with frequency, therefore a given phase change will cause a large change in the frequency. In contrast, LC oscillators have tank circuits with high formula_31 (~10). This means the phase shift of the feedback network increases rapidly with frequency near the resonant frequency of the tank circuit. So a large change in phase causes only a small change in frequency. Therefore the circuit's oscillation frequency is very close to the natural resonant frequency of the tuned circuit, and doesn't depend much on other components in the circuit. The quartz crystal resonators used in crystal oscillators have even higher formula_31 (10 to 10) and their frequency is very stable and independent of other circuit components.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The frequency of RC and LC oscillators can be tuned over a wide range by using variable components in the filter. A microwave cavity can be tuned mechanically by moving one of the walls. In contrast, a quartz crystal is a mechanical resonator whose resonant frequency is mainly determined by its dimensions, so a crystal oscillator's frequency is only adjustable over a very narrow range, a tiny fraction of one percent.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The Barkhausen criterion above, eqs. (1) and (2), merely gives the frequencies at which steady-state oscillation is possible, but says nothing about the amplitude of the oscillation, whether the amplitude is stable, or whether the circuit will start oscillating when the power is turned on. For a practical oscillator two additional requirements are necessary:


title: Electronic oscillator

text: A typical rule of thumb is to make the small signal loop gain at the oscillation frequency 2 or 3. When the power is turned on, oscillation is started by the power turn-on transient or random electronic noise present in the circuit. Noise guarantees that the circuit will not remain "balanced" precisely at its unstable DC equilibrium point (Q point) indefinitely. Due to the narrow passband of the filter, the response of the circuit to a noise pulse will be sinusoidal, it will excite a small sine wave of voltage in the loop. Since for small signals the loop gain is greater than one, the amplitude of the sine wave increases exponentially.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: During startup, while the amplitude of the oscillation is small, the circuit is approximately linear, so the analysis used in the Barkhausen criterion is applicable. When the amplitude becomes large enough that the amplifier becomes nonlinear, technically the frequency domain analysis used in normal amplifier circuits is no longer applicable, so the "gain" of the circuit is undefined. However the filter attenuates the harmonic components produced by the nonlinearity of the amplifier, so the fundamental frequency component formula_35 mainly determines the loop gain (this is the "harmonic balance" analysis technique for nonlinear circuits).


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The sine wave cannot grow indefinitely; in all real oscillators some nonlinear process in the circuit limits its amplitude, reducing the gain as the amplitude increases, resulting in stable operation at some constant amplitude. In most oscillators this nonlinearity is simply the saturation (limiting) of the amplifying device, the transistor, vacuum tube or op-amp. The maximum voltage swing of the amplifier's output is limited by the DC voltage provided by its power supply. Another possibility is that the output may be limited by the amplifier slew rate.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: As the amplitude of the output nears the power supply voltage rails, the amplifier begins to saturate on the peaks (top and bottom) of the sine wave, flattening or "clipping" the peaks. Since the output of the amplifier can no longer increase with increasing input, further increases in amplitude cause the equivalent gain of the amplifier and thus the loop gain to decrease. The amplitude of the sine wave, and the resulting clipping, continues to grow until the loop gain is reduced to unity, formula_36, satisfying the Barkhausen criterion, at which point the amplitude levels off and steady state operation is achieved, with the output a slightly distorted sine wave with peak amplitude determined by the supply voltage. This is a stable equilibrium; if the amplitude of the sine wave increases for some reason, increased clipping of the output causes the loop gain formula_37 to drop below one temporarily, reducing the sine wave's amplitude back to its unity-gain value. Similarly if the amplitude of the wave decreases, the decreased clipping will cause the loop gain to increase above one, increasing the amplitude.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The amount of harmonic distortion in the output is dependent on how much excess loop gain the circuit has:


title: Electronic oscillator

text: An exception to the above are high Q oscillator circuits such as crystal oscillators; the narrow bandwidth of the crystal removes the harmonics from the output, producing a 'pure' sinusoidal wave with almost no distortion even with large loop gains.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: Since oscillators depend on nonlinearity for their operation, the usual linear frequency domain circuit analysis techniques used for amplifiers based on the Laplace transform, such as root locus and gain and phase plots (Bode plots), cannot capture their full behavior. To determine startup and transient behavior and calculate the detailed shape of the output waveform, electronic circuit simulation computer programs like SPICE are used. A typical design procedure for oscillator circuits is to use linear techniques such as the Barkhausen stability criterion or Nyquist stability criterion to design the circuit, then simulate the circuit on computer to make sure it starts up reliably and to determine the nonlinear aspects of operation such as harmonic distortion. Component values are tweaked until the simulation results are satisfactory. The distorted oscillations of real-world (nonlinear) oscillators are called limit cycles and are studied in nonlinear control theory.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: In applications where a 'pure' very low distortion sine wave is needed, such as precision signal generators, a nonlinear component is often used in the feedback loop that provides a 'slow' gain reduction with amplitude. This stabilizes the loop gain at an amplitude below the saturation level of the amplifier, so it does not saturate and "clip" the sine wave. Resistor-diode networks and FETs are often used for the nonlinear element. An older design uses a thermistor or an ordinary incandescent light bulb; both provide a resistance that increases with temperature as the current through them increases.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: As the amplitude of the signal current through them increases during oscillator startup, the increasing resistance of these devices reduces the loop gain. The essential characteristic of all these circuits is that the nonlinear gain-control circuit must have a long time constant, much longer than a single period of the oscillation. Therefore over a single cycle they act as virtually linear elements, and so introduce very little distortion. The operation of these circuits is somewhat analogous to an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit in a radio receiver. The Wein bridge oscillator is a widely used circuit in which this type of gain stabilization is used.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: At high frequencies it becomes difficult to physically implement feedback oscillators because of shortcomings of the components. Since at high frequencies the tank circuit has very small capacitance and inductance, parasitic capacitance and parasitic inductance of component leads and PCB traces become significant. These may create unwanted feedback paths between the output and input of the active device, creating instability and oscillations at unwanted frequencies (parasitic oscillation). Parasitic feedback paths inside the active device itself, such as the interelectrode capacitance between output and input, make the device unstable. The input impedance of the active device falls with frequency, so it may load the feedback network. As a result, stable feedback oscillators are difficult to build for frequencies above 500 MHz, and negative resistance oscillators are usually used for frequencies above this.


title: Electronic oscillator

text: The first practical oscillators were based on electric arcs, which were used for lighting in the 19th century. The current through an arc light is unstable due to its negative resistance, and often breaks into spontaneous oscillations, causing the arc to make hissing, humming or howling sounds which had been noticed by Humphry Davy in 1821, Benjamin Silliman in 1822, Auguste Arthur de la Rive in 1846, and David Edward Hughes in 1878. Ernst Lecher in 1888 showed that the current through an electric arc could be oscillatory.