title: Barney Rubble

text: While the subject of Barney's occupation (or even if he had one) was never given during the original series, the majority of subsequent spinoffs suggest at some point after the original series, Barney went to work at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company quarry alongside Fred as a fellow dino-crane operator. An early episode of the original series does have a brief scene of Barney working at the Granite Building for a Mr. H. Granite. When speaking to an upper-crust snob in another episode, Betty declares Barney is in "top-secret" work, but that might have been a cover for a low-level job or unemployment, or perhaps an in-joke meaning that Barney's job was unknown even to the show's writers. It could also be possible that both Fred and Barney work at the quarry, but may work in different sections of it, under different bosses. In one episode, Barney's boss tells him to "put down his broom", which implies some sort of janitorial work is involved. Nevertheless, since Barney's occupation was never made explicitly clear, inebriated fans of the show would call Hanna-Barbera Studios afterhours to ask about Barney's occupation. In later series like "The New Fred and Barney Show", the franchise has Barney working as a co-worker in the same quarry as Fred.


title: Barney Rubble

text: While the voices of the other characters were based on their "The Honeymooners" counterparts, Mel Blanc was asked to model Barney's voice after the voice of Ed Norton, but he reportedly refused, thinking that it was stealing a voice from another actor, and, for the first 15 episodes of season 1, gave Barney a much higher-pitched New Jersey accent to the point of portraying him as a smart-aleck, though towards the later part of the season he eventually relented and Barney's smart-alecky personality was slowly toned down. At the end of season 1, Blanc was involved in a near-fatal car crash, which sent him into a two-week long coma. Daws Butler briefly assumed the role for the first, second, fifth, sixth and ninth episodes of season 2 while Blanc recovered from the accident, continuing to deliver a Norton-inspired performance. Incidentally, Butler was also the original voice of Yogi Bear, who was also inspired by the character of Ed Norton. When Blanc woke from his coma, he was able to return to the show much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. Blanc's voice for Barney had changed considerably after the accident, going from the New Jersey smart-aleck voice to a deeper, more chuckle-like voice, quite similar to that of Hugo the Abominable Snowman from "Looney Tunes", and he was shown as somewhat dopier than before.


title: Barney Rubble

text: During the fourth season of the original series, Betty and Barney found an abandoned infant on their doorstep, by the name of "Bamm-Bamm". A court battle ensued between the couple and a wealthy man who also had wanted to adopt Bamm-Bamm. Barney and Betty were successful in their efforts to adopt Bamm-Bamm because the wealthy man gave up (after winning the case) upon learning his wife became pregnant, after which he became a staple character on the series. For the next nine episodes (though Bamm-Bamm aired on "Kleptomaniac Pebbles" in the opening scene teaser but not in the body of the episode but would return two episodes later) after Bamm-Bamm's debut, no sign of him is seen on the show. This was because, while "Little Bamm-Bamm" was made after these episodes, it aired before. Once more episodes were made Bamm-Bamm aired regularly. In the fifth season, the family buys a pet hopparoo (a combination of a kangaroo and dinosaur) named Hoppy.


title: Barney Rubble

text: When Bamm-Bamm grew into a teenager, Barney joined the Bedrock police force with Fred for a period of time as part-time officers. Both characters were paired with the Shmoo from "Li'l Abner". He later became grandfather to Pebbles's and Bamm-Bamm's children, Chip and Roxy.


title: Barney Rubble

text: Although Fred and Barney are best friends, Barney loses his patience with Fred occasionally. The best example comes in "I Yabba-Dabba Do!": after losing his patience with Fred for ruining Pebbles's and Bamm-Bamm's wedding, Barney decides to leave Bedrock. He changes his mind after Fred apologizes. Fred is often annoyed by Barney's inveterate cheerfulness, but he does truly care for him.


title: Barney Rubble

text: In the series' original episodes until the end of season 5, Barney's eyes are drawn as ovals or (occasionally) dark circular outlines (similar to Little Orphan Annie in her comics). In other episodes, and on all the season 6 ones, they are solid black, similar to Wilma's eyes.


title: Barney Rubble

text: Mel Blanc was the principal voice of Barney Rubble, although Daws Butler (who previously voiced Ned Morton, a mouse version of Ed Norton — the inspiration for Barney Rubble — in the "Looney Tunes" short "The Honey-Mousers") briefly assumed the role while Blanc recovered from a car wreck. Butler also occasionally voiced Barney on records throughout the 1960s and 1970s. John Stephenson also voiced Barney on two occasions. Since Blanc's death, Frank Welker, Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey, Keith Scott, Stephen Stanton, Kevin Michael Richardson, Scott Innes, Dave Coulier, Marc Silk, Brad Abrell, and Wally Wingert have all performed the role. Hamilton Camp voiced Barney in "The Flintstone Kids".


title: Barney Rubble

text: In the 1994 live-action "Flintstones" movie, Barney was portrayed by Rick Moranis, who also provided his voice for the film's pinball adaptation. In the 2000 prequel, "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas", he was portrayed by Stephen Baldwin. In a Toshiba commercial, he was voiced by Scott Innes.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: Mr. X is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language science fiction action film written and directed by Vikram Bhatt, who co-wrote the film's script with Shagufta Rafique. The film is produced by Mukesh Bhatt and Tanmay Bhat. The film stars Emraan Hashmi and Amyra Dastur. It revolves around a policeman who gains the power of invisibility, and becomes a vigilante to take revenge on those who have wronged him. The film released in both 2D and 3D on 17 April 2015. The title of the film was taken from the 1964 science fiction thriller "Mr. X in Bombay".


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: "Mr. X" mostly received negative reviews upon release and ended up as a commercial disaster, criticized for script, overuse of clichés, pace and length. However, the film's cast performance (especially Hashmi's performance), visual effects, production values and music received praise. Seven years into its release, it became the first Fox Star Studios film, in a rare deal, to be acquired by Zee Entertainment Enterprises.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: The film begins with the Anti Terrorist Department in the middle of an assignment. A terrorist takes a bus full of people on hostage. Raghuram "Raghu" Rathod, supported by the brave officer Siya Verma accomplishes the operation. This could have almost killed Raghu, who is engaged to Siya. After the operation, Siya heaves a euphoric sigh of relief in the shower & later tells Raghu that she cannot handle life's unpredictability and the thought of being away from him. He asks her hand in marriage, and the two are betrothed. On the day before their marriage, the two are summoned by ACP Aditya Bhardwaaj. There is a plot to kill the chief minister of the state, and both are put to duty. Bhardwaaj hatches a plot such that Raghu is compelled to murder the CM Dwarkanath Dutta. If he doesn't kill the CM, then a sniper will murder Siya, who is on duty at another location. Left with no choice, Raghu murders the CM upon a confrontation from the latter's son Aditya Dutta. He tries to flee but gets cornered by Bhardwaaj and his man Tiwari. The three take Raghu to a run down factory and almost kill him there.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: However, as luck would have it, Raghu doesn't die but is charred completely. He reaches out to Popo, his friend from the office whose sister works at a lab. When there, his sisters explain to them that there is a severe case of radiation and there is no cure for it. There is an untested potion which he swallows, but this causes a complete cell regeneration from the scratch, which causes him to become invisible in all lights except blue light and direct sun light.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: Meanwhile, Siya begins believing that Raghu killed the CM and started hating him. She plunges into more and more work to avoid feeling the pain of heartbreak. When Raghu regains his composure, he wants to kill those who landed him into a situation like that. The first on his target is Tiwari. After a drunken night when Tiwari is driving home, Raghu finds him and says that he will kill him in 24 hours. A very panicky Tiwari narrates this to his colleagues who don't take him seriously. Siya tries to protect him but fails when the invisible Raghu kills him. But Siya discovers Raghu. She tries to tap him via Popo but cannot as Raghu escapes from Siya's arrest.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: Meanwhile, Raghu's next target is Aditya Dutt, whose security is entrusted on Siya. Raghu, after a long battle with Siya, manages to kill him as well. But Siya is not willing to back down. When senior authorities give the responsibility of shooting down Mr. X in an encounter, she backs out from it. Raghu gets drawn towards her love, and the two spend a few special days with each other. The duo goes for lunch to a quiet place, and Raghu notices that the place is empty. Before he knows it, the place is attacked by the police and Raghu is arrested.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: Raghu is taken to a dilapidated place by Bhardwaj, who wants to make sure Raghu is dead this time. Meanwhile, Popo, who attempts a suicide after being attacked by Bhardwaj, who wanted to get more information on Raghu, tells Siya that Bhardwaj had hatched a plan to kill Raghu. Siya goes to the place where Raghu and Bhardwaj engage in a duel. Siya urges Raghu to let Bhardwaj free. She later tricks Bhardwaj into a nerving confession recorded on camera by her father Devraj and exposes him at a press conference. When Bhardwaj tries to kill Siya, Raghu kills him.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: The movie concludes with Siya (presumably, having accepted Raghu with his condition) kissing him under a shower.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: In October 2013, it was announced that Emraan Hashmi and Amyra Dastur would star in the upcoming 3D thriller directed by Vikram Bhatt, slated for a 17 April 2015 release. The trailer was released on 5 March 2015. Music by Ankit Tiwari and Jeet Ganguly.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: As part of film promotion, Emraan Hashmi appeared in a special episode of CID on Sony Entertainment Television. Emraan and Amyra were seen on popular youth show Kaisi Yeh Yaariyan as part of their promotion.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: Bollywood Hungama gave it 2.5 stars. Rajeev Masand gave 1 star calling it "It is a singularly humourless film". Hindustan Times gave one star stating "It's a bizarre tale of an invisible kisser ". Firstpost gave negative reviews stating "Emraan Hashmi, intelligence and talent, everything is invisible in the film". The Times of India critic gave the movie 3 stars. Ritika Handoo of Zee News praised the performance of Emraan Hashmi. NDTV gave the movie only one star. Tushar Joshi of Daily News and Analysis criticised the movie as "There's nothing to see, not even Emraan Hashmi". The Indian Express gave only half star. Vinayak Chakravorty of India Today gave the movie 2 stars.


title: Mr. X (2015 film)

text: The soundtrack of the album is composed by Jeet Gannguli and Ankit Tiwari, with lyrics penned by Rashmi Singh, Monish Raza, Abhendra Kumar and Manoj Muntashir. Singers Arijit Singh and Ankit Tiwari have lent their voice and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt makes his debut as a playback singer in the film. The first single "Tu Jo Hain" was released on 16 March 2015.


title: Bebe Rexha discography

text: American singer Bebe Rexha has released two studio albums, three extended plays, 29 singles (including nine as featured artist), five promotional singles, and twenty-two music videos. Rexha released "I Can't Stop Drinking About You" as her debut single in 2014, followed by "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy", which was certified Platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF). Both releases were included on "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" (2015), the singer's first extended play. In 2015, Rexha collaborated with G-Eazy for her breakthrough single "Me, Myself & I", which experienced widespread success worldwide and was awarded multi-Platinum certifications in several countries.


title: Bebe Rexha discography

text: Similar success was achieved with the subsequent singles, "In the Name of Love" (2016) with Martin Garrix and "I Got You" (2016). From February to August 2017, the singer released another two extended plays, "" and "". The latter spawned the single "Meant to Be" featuring country duo Florida Georgia Line and became the singer's highest-peaking single in several countries. The song is also included on her debut studio album, "Expectations", which was released on June 22, 2018. She had also been featured on multiple successful singles, including "Take Me Home" (2013) by Cash Cash, "Hey Mama" (2015) by David Guetta, "Back to You" (2017) by Louis Tomlinson and "Call You Mine" (2019) by the Chainsmokers while having writing credits on various songs.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Samarth Ramdas (c. 1608 - c. 1681), also known as Sant Ramdas or Ramdas Swami, was an Indian Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, writer and spiritual master. He was a devotee of the Hindu deities Rama and Hanuman.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas or previously Narayan was born at Jamb, a village in present-day Jalna district, Maharashtra on the occasion of Rama Navami, probably in 1608. He was born into a Marathi Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin family to Suryajipanta and Ranubai Thosar. His father was a devotee of Surya, the Vedic solar deity. Ramdas had an elder brother named Gangadhar. His father died when Narayan was around seven years of age. Narayan turned into an introvert after the demise of his father and was often noticed to be engrossed in thoughts about the divine.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: According to legend, Narayan fled his wedding ceremony upon hearing a pundit chant the word 'Saavdhan' (Beware!) during a customary Hindu wedding ritual. Then at the age of twelve, he is believed to have walked to Panchavati, a Hindu pilgrimage town near Nashik. He later moved to Taakli near Nashik. At Taakli, he spent the next twelve years as an ascetic in complete devotion to Rama. During this period, he adhered to a rigorous daily routine and devoted most of his time to meditation, worship and exercise. He is thought to have attained enlightenment at the age of 24. He adopted the name Ramdas around this period. He later had an idol of Hanuman installed at Taakli.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: After departing Taakli, Ramdas embarked on a pilgrimage across the Indian subcontinent. He traveled for twelve years making observations on contemporary social life. He had these observations recorded in two of his literary works "Asmani Sultania" and "Parachakraniroopan." These works provide a rare insight into the then prevalent social conditions in the Indian subcontinent. He also traveled to the Himalayas during this period. Around this time, he met the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind at Srinagar.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: After concluding his pilgrimage, he returned to Mahabaleshwar, a hill-town near Satara. Later while at Masur, he arranged for Rama Navami celebrations that were reportedly attended by thousands. He is also claimed to have discovered a few idols of Rama in the Krishna river around this time.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: As part of his mission to redeem spirituality among the masses and unite the Hindu populations, Ramdas initiated the Samarth sect. He established several "matha" (monasteries) across the Indian subcontinent. He is claimed to have established somewhere between 700 and 1100 "matha" during his travels, although Narahar Phatak in his biography of Ramdas claimed that the actual number of "matha" established by him may have been lesser. Around 1648, he had an idol of Rama installed at a newly built temple in Chaphal, a village near Satara. He initially had eleven Hanuman temples constructed in various regions of southern Maharashtra. These are now together referred to as the 11-Maruti (see list below). He also had Hanuman temples built in other parts of Maharashtra and across the Indian subcontinent. Temples established by him have been found across India in regions including Jaipur, Varanasi (also Kashi), Thanjavur and Ujjain. He also had a temple dedicated to the Hindu female deity Durga constructed at Pratapgad, a fort near Satara.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas had extensive literature written during his lifetime. His literary works include "Dasbodh", "Karunashtakas", "Sunderkand, Yuddhakand," "Poorvarambh, Antarbhav, Aatmaaram, Chaturthman, Panchman, Manpanchak, Janaswabhawgosavi, Panchsamasi, Saptsamasi, Sagundhyan, Nirgundhyan, Junatpurush, Shadripunirupan, Panchikaranyog, Manache Shlok" "and" "Shreemad" "Dasbodh." Unlike saints subscribing to the Warkari tradition, Ramdas is not considered to embrace pacifism and his writings include strong expressions encouraging militant means to counter the aggressive Islamic invaders.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: His compositions also include numerous "aarti" (worship rituals). One of his most popular "aarti" commemorates the Hindu deity Ganesha, and is popularly known as "Sukhakarta Dukhaharta". Many believe that the "bhajan" ""Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram"" is based on a "mantra" by Ramdas.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: His other works include an "aarti" commemorating Hanuman, S"atrane Uddane Hunkaar Vadani" and an "aarti" dedicated to the Hindu deity Vitthala, "Panchanan haivahan surabhushan lila." He also composed "aarti" in dedication to other Hindu deities. His well-known work "Dasbodh" has been translated to several other Indian languages. The original copy of "Dasbodh" is currently placed at a "matha" in Domgaon, a village in present-day Osmanabad district, Maharashtra.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: According to Vinayak Bokil and Balacharya Khuperkar Shastri, Ramdas was a proponent of Dvaita, a philosophy first proposed by Madhvacharya.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas was an exponent of Bhakti Yoga or the path of devotion. According to him, total devotion to Rama brings about spiritual evolution. He emphasized upon the importance of physical strength and knowledge towards individual development. He expressed his admiration for warriors and highlighted their role in safeguarding the society. He was of the opinion that saints must not withdraw from society but instead actively engage towards social and moral transformation. He aimed to resuscitate the Hindu culture after its disintegration over several centuries owing to consistent foreign occupation. He also called for unity among the Marathas to preserve and promote the local culture.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas frequently expressed his abhorrence for distinctions based on caste and creed. He advocated for the abolition of social classes. He encouraged the participation of women in religious work and offered them positions of authority. He had 18 female disciples, among who Vennabai headed the "matha" at Miraj near Sangli while Akkabai managed "matha" at Chaphal and Sajjangad near Satara. He is said to have once reprimanded an aged man who voiced his opinion against female participation in religious affairs. Ramdas reportedly responded by saying "Everyone came from a woman's womb and those who did not understand the importance of this were unworthy of being called men". According to him, an equal social status between men and women is a prerequisite for social development. In "Dasbodh", Ramdas eulogizes the virtues of aesthetic handwriting (Chapter 19.10, Stanza 1-3).


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas initiated the Samarth sect to revive spirituality in the society. He established several "matha during his lifetime".


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: According to a manuscript in the Sikh tradition known as "Panjāh Sakhīān", Ramdas met Guru Hargobind (1595 - 1644) at Srinagar near the Garhwal hills. This meeting also finds a mention in an 18th-century Marathi literary work known as "Ramdas Swamichi Bakhar" composed by Hanumant Swami"." The meeting probably took place in the early 1630s during Ramdas' pilgrimage to northern India and Guru Hargobind's journey to Nanakmatta, a town in present-day Uttarakhand. When they met, Guru Hargobind had probably just returned from a hunting excursion.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: During their conversation, Ramdas reportedly asked "I had heard that you occupy the Gaddi (seat) of Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak was a "tyāgī sādhu", a saint who had renounced the world. You possess arms and keep an army and horses. You allow yourself to be addressed as Sacha Patshah, the true king. What sort of a "sādhu" are you?" Hargobind replied, "Internally a hermit and externally a prince. Arms mean protection to the poor and destruction of the tyrant. Baba Guru Nanak had not renounced the world but had renounced "māyā" - the self and ego." Ramdas is reported to have said, ""Yeh hamare man bhavti hai"" (This appeals to my mind).


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas moved all across the Indian subcontinent and usually resided in caves ("ghal" in Marathi). Some of these located in present-day Maharashtra are listed below.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas died at Sajjangad in 1681. For five days prior, he had ceased consuming food and water. This practice of fasting unto death is known as "Prayopaveshana". He continuously recalled the "taraka mantra" "Shriram hanuman Ram Jai Jai Ram" while resting besides an idol of Rama brought from Tanjore. His disciples, Uddhav Swami and Akka Swami remained in his service during this period. Uddhav Swami had the final rites performed.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas served an inspiration for many 19th and 20th-century thinkers, historians and social reformers such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Keshav Hedgewar, Vishwanath Rajwade and Ramchandra Ranade. Tilak in particular, derived inspiration from Ramdas when devising aggressive strategies to counter the British colonial rule. Nana Dharmadhikari, a spiritual teacher promoted views of Ramdas' views through his spiritual discourses. Gondavalekar Maharaj, a 19th-century spiritual master promoted Ramdas' spiritual methods through his teachings. Bhausaheb Maharaj, founder of the Inchegeri Sampradaya used "Dasbodh" as a means of instruction to his disciples. "Dasbodh" has been translated and published by the American followers of Ranjit Maharaj, a spiritual teacher of the Inchegeri Sampradaya.


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas had a profound influence on Keshav Hedgewar, the founder of Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Hedgewar quoted Ramdas on numerous occasions and would often note the latter's views in his personal diary. According to one entry in his diary dated March 4, 1929, Hedgewar writes "Shri Samarth did not want anything for himself. He mindfully guarded against self-pride which could result from success and greatness. Ingraining this discipline, he devoted himself to the welfare of his people and a higher self-realisation."


title: Samarth Ramdas

text: Ramdas is a revered figure in Maharashtra, and relevant to contemporary culture of Maharashtra through his literary contributions. His aarti to Ganesh is recited first in many Hindu rituals.His Maruti Stotra, a hymn in praise of Maruti is recited by school children and athletes at traditional gyms, or Akhada in Maharashtra. Generations of Marathi children recited his manache shlok at home, or at school Savarkar, the proponent of Hindutva took inspiration from Dasbodh regarding protection for the dharma and the country. Ramdas' Maruti worship has been appropriated by Hindu Nationalist groups such as Shivsena in Maharashtra.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: The Sheldon Coin Grading Scale is a 70-point coin grading scale used in the numismatic assessment of a coin's quality. The American Numismatic Association based its "Official ANA Grading Standards" in large part on the Sheldon scale. The scale was created by William Herbert Sheldon.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: In 1949, the original scale was first presented in "Dr. William H. Sheldon's Early American Cents" titled "A Quantitative Scale for condition" as a way to grade Large cents. The scale is known today as the Sheldon scale.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: By 1953 the original Sheldon scale had become outdated. It was not until the 1970s, however, that the ANA chose to adapt the scale for use on all US coins. The scale used today is a modification of the original Sheldon scale, with added adjustments, additions, deletions, and modifications to it.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: "Note": Some early American coin varieties are almost always found to be weakly struck in places. This does not bring the grade of these coins down as in some cases no flawless coin exists for the variety. Early coins in general usually have planchet quality issues which depending on severity and market conditions can bring the grade down for other coins.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: "Mint State" refers to a coin minted for regular distribution that was never actually put into circulation, i.e., it was never used for daily commerce; it is "uncirculated". Since individuals never used these coins to purchase goods or services, the coins were not handed from one person to another; they were not jumbled up with other coins in pockets or purses; and they were not repeatedly counted—and touched—by retailers and bank personnel. Consequently, uncirculated coins should not show signs of wear.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: In modern-day United States numismatics, collectors, coin dealers, and third-party grading services grade mint state coins using a number from 60 to 70 inclusive, with 70 representing a perfect coin with no visible blemishes. Coins in the lower grade range (60-63), are usually unworn, and may suffer from weak striking, bag marks and other defects that make them less attractive to the collector. Some Mint State early coins appear to be circulated due to weak strikes, die cracks, planchet problems, or metal quality. There are a few United States coins for which no mint state specimens exist, such as the 1792 silver dime, and the 1802 Draped Bust (Heraldic Eagle reverse) silver half dime.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: Coin dealers and individual coin collectors often use adjectives—with or without an accompanying Sheldon numerical grade—to describe an uncirculated coin's grade. The term "Brilliant Uncirculated" (often abbreviated as "BU") is probably the most common—and the most ambiguous—of such adjectives. While "Brilliant Uncirculated" "(BU") ought to refer to an uncirculated coin that retains its original mint luster, some equate "BU" with "Uncirculated", i.e., they might refer to an MS-60 coin with little or no effulgence (brightness) as "Brilliant Uncirculated". Along these lines, some numismatists argue that an unscrupulous subset of coin dealers mislead customers by using adjectival grades without defining their terms. At the same time, there appears to be at least some consensus in the numismatic community for the following definitions.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: However, bear in mind that if a coin dealer advertises a coin as "Gem Uncirculated", it does not necessarily mean that a third-party coin grading company would assign an MS-65 or MS-66 grade to the coin.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: Like circulated grades, proof coins are graded on the Sheldon scale from 1 to 70, and are preceded by the abbreviation ‘PF’ or ‘PR’ to distinguish them from circulation strikes. Proof coins graded 60 to 70 are mirrored to those of Uncirculated grades with the difference that the coin was not made for circulation. Proof coins with the grade of PR-63 are sometimes called "Choice Proofs". Proof coins that are below the grade of 60 and show signs of circulation or mishandling have been classified as Impaired Proofs, these are not included alongside circulated coins as they were never issued or intended for circulation in the first place.


title: Sheldon coin grading scale

text: The following table shows coins that have detracting features. Coin dealers will normally grade these coins at or below the ones shown for that respective type, the grades here depend on how bad the issue or issues are. Grading services typically label these coins as "authentic" with x grade "details" (ex: "EF details"). Coins that are uncirculated as mentioned above can not go below an MS-60 grade.


title: Order statistic

text: In statistics, the "k"th order statistic of a statistical sample is equal to its "k"th-smallest value. Together with rank statistics, order statistics are among the most fundamental tools in non-parametric statistics and inference.


title: Order statistic

text: Important special cases of the order statistics are the minimum and maximum value of a sample, and (with some qualifications discussed below) the sample median and other sample quantiles.


title: Order statistic

text: When using probability theory to analyze order statistics of random samples from a continuous distribution, the cumulative distribution function is used to reduce the analysis to the case of order statistics of the uniform distribution.


title: Order statistic

text: For example, suppose that four numbers are observed or recorded, resulting in a sample of size 4. If the sample values are


title: Order statistic

text: The first order statistic (or smallest order statistic) is always the minimum of the sample, that is,


title: Order statistic

text: where, following a common convention, we use upper-case letters to refer to random variables, and lower-case letters (as above) to refer to their actual observed values.


title: Order statistic

text: Similarly, for a sample of size , the th order statistic (or largest order statistic) is the maximum, that is,


title: Order statistic

text: The sample range is the difference between the maximum and minimum. It is a function of the order statistics:


title: Order statistic

text: A similar important statistic in exploratory data analysis that is simply related to the order statistics is the sample interquartile range.


title: Order statistic

text: The sample median may or may not be an order statistic, since there is a single middle value only when the number of observations is odd. More precisely, if for some integer , then the sample median is formula_5 and so is an order statistic. On the other hand, when is even, and there are two middle values, formula_6 and formula_5, and the sample median is some function of the two (usually the average) and hence not an order statistic. Similar remarks apply to all sample quantiles.


title: Order statistic

text: Given any random variables "X", "X"..., "X", the order statistics X, X, ..., X are also random variables, defined by sorting the values (realizations) of "X", ..., "X" in increasing order.


title: Order statistic

text: When the random variables "X", "X"..., "X" form a sample they are independent and identically distributed. This is the case treated below. In general, the random variables "X", ..., "X" can arise by sampling from more than one population. Then they are independent, but not necessarily identically distributed, and their joint probability distribution is given by the Bapat–Beg theorem.


title: Order statistic

text: From now on, we will assume that the random variables under consideration are continuous and, where convenient, we will also assume that they have a probability density function (PDF), that is, they are absolutely continuous. The peculiarities of the analysis of distributions assigning mass to points (in particular, discrete distributions) are discussed at the end.


title: Order statistic

text: For a random sample as above, with cumulative distribution formula_8, the order statistics for that sample have cumulative distributions as follows


title: Order statistic

text: In this section we show that the order statistics of the uniform distribution on the unit interval have marginal distributions belonging to the beta distribution family. We also give a simple method to derive the joint distribution of any number of order statistics, and finally translate these results to arbitrary continuous distributions using the cdf.


title: Order statistic

text: We assume throughout this section that formula_13 is a random sample drawn from a continuous distribution with cdf formula_14. Denoting formula_15 we obtain the corresponding random sample formula_16 from the standard uniform distribution. Note that the order statistics also satisfy formula_17.


title: Order statistic

text: that is, the "k"th order statistic of the uniform distribution is a beta-distributed random variable.


title: Order statistic

text: The proof of these statements is as follows. For formula_18 to be between "u" and "u" + "du", it is necessary that exactly "k" − 1 elements of the sample are smaller than "u", and that at least one is between "u" and "u" + d"u". The probability that more than one is in this latter interval is already formula_22, so we have to calculate the probability that exactly "k" − 1, 1 and "n" − "k" observations fall in the intervals formula_23, formula_24 and formula_25 respectively. This equals (refer to multinomial distribution for details)


title: Order statistic

text: Similarly, for "i" < "j", the joint probability density function of the two order statistics "U" < "U" can be shown to be


title: Order statistic

text: which is (up to terms of higher order than formula_28) the probability that "i" − 1, 1, "j" − 1 − "i", 1 and "n" − "j" sample elements fall in the intervals formula_23, formula_24, formula_31, formula_32, formula_33 respectively.


title: Order statistic

text: One reasons in an entirely analogous way to derive the higher-order joint distributions. Perhaps surprisingly, the joint density of the "n" order statistics turns out to be "constant":


title: Order statistic

text: One way to understand this is that the unordered sample does have constant density equal to 1, and that there are "n"! different permutations of the sample corresponding to the same sequence of order statistics. This is related to the fact that 1/"n"! is the volume of the region formula_35. It is also related with another particularity of order statistics of uniform random variables: It follows from the BRS-inequality that the maximum expected number of uniform U(0,1] random variables one can choose from a sample of size n with a sum up not exceeding formula_36, which is thus invariant on the set of all formula_37


title: Order statistic

text: Using the above formulas, one can derive the distribution of the range of the order statistics, that is the distribution of formula_39, i.e. maximum minus the minimum. More generally, for formula_40, formula_41 also has a beta distribution: formula_42From these formulas we can derive the covariance between two order statistics:formula_43The formula follows from noting that formula_44and comparing that with formula_45where formula_46, which is the actual distribution of the difference.


title: Order statistic

text: For formula_47 a random sample of size "n" from an exponential distribution with parameter "λ", the order statistics "X" for "i" = 1,2,3, ..., "n" each have distribution


title: Order statistic

text: where the "Z" are iid standard exponential random variables (i.e. with rate parameter 1). This result was first published by Alfréd Rényi.


title: Order statistic

text: The Laplace transform of order statistics may be sampled from an Erlang distribution via a path counting method .


title: Order statistic

text: If "F" is absolutely continuous, it has a density such that formula_49, and we can use the substitutions


title: Order statistic

text: to derive the following probability density functions for the order statistics of a sample of size "n" drawn from the distribution of "X":


title: Order statistic

text: An interesting question is how well the order statistics perform as estimators of the quantiles of the underlying distribution.


title: Order statistic

text: As an example, consider a random sample of size 6. In that case, the sample median is usually defined as the midpoint of the interval delimited by the 3rd and 4th order statistics. However, we know from the preceding discussion that the probability that this interval actually contains the population median is


title: Order statistic

text: Although the sample median is probably among the best distribution-independent point estimates of the population median, what this example illustrates is that it is not a particularly good one in absolute terms. In this particular case, a better confidence interval for the median is the one delimited by the 2nd and 5th order statistics, which contains the population median with probability


title: Order statistic

text: With such a small sample size, if one wants at least 95% confidence, one is reduced to saying that the median is between the minimum and the maximum of the 6 observations with probability 31/32 or approximately 97%. Size 6 is, in fact, the smallest sample size such that the interval determined by the minimum and the maximum is at least a 95% confidence interval for the population median.


title: Order statistic

text: For the uniform distribution, as "n" tends to infinity, the "p" sample quantile is asymptotically normally distributed, since it is approximated by


title: Order statistic

text: For a general distribution "F" with a continuous non-zero density at "F"("p"), a similar asymptotic normality applies:


title: Order statistic

text: where "f" is the density function, and "F" is the quantile function associated with "F". One of the first people to mention and prove this result was Frederick Mosteller in his seminal paper in 1946. Further research led in the 1960s to the Bahadur representation which provides information about the errorbounds.


title: Order statistic

text: An interesting observation can be made in the case where the distribution is symmetric, and the population median equals the population mean. In this case, the sample mean, by the central limit theorem, is also asymptotically normally distributed, but with variance σ"/n" instead. This asymptotic analysis suggests that the mean outperforms the median in cases of low kurtosis, and vice versa. For example, the median achieves better confidence intervals for the Laplace distribution, while the mean performs better for "X" that are normally distributed.


title: Order statistic

text: with "Z" being independent identically distributed exponential random variables with rate 1. Since "X"/"n" and "Y"/"n" are asymptotically normally distributed by the CLT, our results follow by application of the delta method.


title: Order statistic

text: Moments of the distribution for the first order statistic can be used to develop a non-parametric density estimator. Suppose, we want to estimate the density formula_63 at the point formula_64. Consider the random variables formula_65, which are i.i.d with distribution function formula_66. In particular, formula_67.


title: Order statistic

text: The expected value of the first order statistic formula_68 given a sample of formula_69 total observations yields,


title: Order statistic

text: where formula_71 is the quantile function associated with the distribution formula_72, and formula_73. This equation in combination with a jackknifing technique becomes the basis for the following density estimation algorithm,


title: Order statistic

text: In contrast to the bandwidth/length based tuning parameters for histogram and kernel based approaches, the tuning parameter for the order statistic based density estimator is the size of sample subsets. Such an estimator is more robust than histogram and kernel based approaches, for example densities like the Cauchy distribution (which lack finite moments) can be inferred without the need for specialized modifications such as IQR based bandwidths. This is because the first moment of the order statistic always exists if the expected value of the underlying distribution does, but the converse is not necessarily true.


title: Order statistic

text: Suppose formula_93 are i.i.d. random variables from a discrete distribution with cumulative distribution function formula_94 and probability mass function formula_95. To find the probabilities of the formula_96 order statistics, three values are first needed, namely


title: Order statistic

text: The cumulative distribution function of the formula_96 order statistic can be computed by noting that


title: Order statistic

text: Note that the probability mass function of formula_102 is just the difference of these values, that is to say


title: Order statistic

text: The problem of computing the "k"th smallest (or largest) element of a list is called the selection problem and is solved by a selection algorithm. Although this problem is difficult for very large lists, sophisticated selection algorithms have been created that can solve this problem in time proportional to the number of elements in the list, even if the list is totally unordered. If the data is stored in certain specialized data structures, this time can be brought down to O(log "n"). In many applications all order statistics are required, in which case a sorting algorithm can be used and the time taken is O("n" log "n").


title: Joe Pass

text: Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, and is often heralded as one of the most unique and notable jazz guitarists of the 20th century.


title: Joe Pass

text: Pass was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on January 13, 1929. His father, Mariano Passalaqua, was a steel mill worker who was born in Sicily. The family later moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Pass became interested in the guitar after he saw Gene Autry on television. He got his first guitar when he was nine. He took guitar lessons every Sunday with a local teacher for 6-8 months and also practiced for many hours each day.


title: Joe Pass

text: Pass found work as a performer as early as age 14. He played with bands led by Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet, honing his guitar skills while learning the ropes in the music industry. He began traveling with small jazz groups and moved from Pennsylvania to New York City. Within a few years, Pass developed an addiction to heroin. He moved to New Orleans for a year and played bebop at strip clubs. Pass revealed to Robert Palmer of "Rolling Stone" that he had suffered a "nervous breakdown" in New Orleans "because [he] had access to every kind of drug there and was up for days [...] [he] would come to New York a lot, then get strung out and leave."


title: Joe Pass

text: Pass spent much of the 1950s in and out of prison for drug-related convictions. In the same "Rolling Stone interview", Pass said, "staying high was my first priority; playing was second; girls were third. But the first thing really took all my energy." He recovered after a two-and-a-half-year stay in the Synanon rehabilitation program. Pass largely put music on hiatus during his prison sentence.


title: Joe Pass

text: Pass recorded a series of albums during the 1960s for Pacific Jazz Records, including "Catch Me," "12-String Guitar," "For Django," and "Simplicity." In 1963, he received "DownBeat" magazine's New Star Award.


title: Joe Pass

text: He also played on Pacific Jazz recordings by Gerald Wilson, Bud Shank, and Les McCann. He toured with George Shearing in 1965. During the 1960s, he did mostly TV and recording session work in Los Angeles. Norman Granz, the producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic and the founder of Verve Records, signed Pass to Pablo Records in December 1973. In 1974, Pass released his solo album "Virtuoso" on Pablo. Also in 1974, Pablo released the album "The Trio" with Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He performed with them on many occasions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. At the Grammy Awards of 1975, "The Trio" won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. As part of the Pablo roster, Pass recorded with Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.


title: Joe Pass

text: Pass and Ella Fitzgerald recorded six albums together on Pablo toward the end of Fitzgerald's career: "Take Love Easy" (1973), "Fitzgerald and Pass... Again" (1976), "Hamburg Duets - 1976" (1976), "Sophisticated Lady" (1975, 1983), "Speak Love" (1983), and "Easy Living" (1986).


title: Joe Pass

text: Pass was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1992. Although he was initially responsive to treatment and continued to play into 1993, his health eventually declined, forcing him to cancel his tour with Pepe Romero, Paco Peña, and Leo Kottke. Pass performed for the final time on May 7, 1994, with fellow guitarist John Pisano at a nightclub in Los Angeles. Pisano told "Guitar Player" that after the performance Pass said "I can't play anymore", an exchange that Pisano described as "like a knife in my heart."


title: Joe Pass

text: In 1994, Joe Pass died from liver cancer in Los Angeles, California at the age of 65. Prior to his death, he recorded an album of Hank Williams songs with country guitarist Roy Clark.


title: Joe Pass

text: The follow up to 1993's "Joe Pass & Co. Live at Yoshi's," this release was colored by sad circumstances: both bassist Monty Budwig and Pass were stricken with fatal illnesses. Nevertheless, all concerned, including drummer Colin Bailey and second guitarist John Pisano, play up to their usual high levels...Issued posthumously, this material is hardly sub-standard. Bristling with energy throughout, it helps document the final stages in the career of a player who, arguably, was the greatest mainstream guitarist since Wes Montgomery.


title: Joe Pass

text: "New York" magazine wrote about Pass, "Joe Pass looks like somebody's uncle and plays guitar like nobody's business. He's called 'the world's greatest' and often compared to Paganini for his virtuosity. There is a certain purity to his sound that makes him stand out easily from other first-rate jazz guitarists."


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Pseudoarchaeology—also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, cult archaeology, and spooky archaeology—is the interpretation of the past from outside the archaeological science community, which rejects the accepted data gathering and analytical methods of the discipline. These pseudoscientific interpretations involve the use of artifacts, sites or materials to construct scientifically insubstantial theories to supplement the pseudoarchaeologists' claims. Methods include exaggeration of evidence, dramatic or romanticized conclusions, use of fallacy, and fabrication of evidence.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: There is no unified pseudoarchaeological theory or approach, but rather many different interpretations of the past that are jointly at odds with those developed by the scientific community. These include religious approaches such as creationism or "creation science" that applies to the archaeology of historic periods such as those that would have included the Tower of Babel, Noah's Ark and the Genesis flood narrative, and the supposed worldwide flood myth. Some pseudoarchaeological theories revolve around the idea that prehistoric and ancient human societies were aided in their development by intelligent extraterrestrial life, an idea propagated by those such as Italian author Peter Kolosimo, French authors Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier in "The Morning of the Magicians" (1963), and Swiss author Erich von Däniken in "Chariots of the Gods?" (1968). Others instead hold that there were human societies in the ancient period that were significantly technologically advanced, such as Atlantis, and this idea has been propagated by figures like Graham Hancock in his "Fingerprints of the Gods" (1995). Pseudoarchaeology has also been manifest in Mayanism and the 2012 phenomenon.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Many alternative archaeologies have been adopted by religious groups. Fringe archaeological ideas such as archaeocryptography and pyramidology have been embraced by religions ranging from the British Israelites to the theosophists. Other alternative archaeologies include those that have been adopted by members of New Age and contemporary pagan belief systems.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Academic archaeologists have heavily criticised pseudoarchaeology, with one of the most vocal critics, John R. Cole, characterising it as relying on "sensationalism, misuse of logic and evidence, misunderstanding of scientific method, and internal contradictions in their arguments". The relationship between alternative and academic archaeologies has been compared to the relationship between intelligent design theories and evolutionary biology by some archaeologists.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Various terms have been employed to refer to these non-academic interpretations of archaeology. During the 1980s, the term "cult archaeology" was used by figures like John R. Cole (1980) and William H. Stiebing Jr. (1987). "Fantastic archaeology" was used in the 1980s as the name of an undergraduate course at Harvard University taught by Stephen Williams, who published a book with the same title. In the 2000s, the term "alternative archaeology" began to be instead applied by academics like Tim Sebastion (2001), Robert J. Wallis (2003), Cornelius Holtorf (2006), and Gabriel Moshenka (2008). Garrett F. Fagan and Kenneth Feder (2006) however claimed this term was only chosen because it "imparts a warmer, fuzzier feel" that "appeals to our higher ideals and progressive inclinations". They argued that the term "pseudoarchaeology" was far more appropriate, a term also used by other prominent academic and professional archaeologists such as Colin Renfrew (2006).


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Other academic archaeologists have chosen to use other terms to refer to these interpretations. Glyn Daniel, the editor of "Antiquity", used the derogative "bullshit archaeology", and similarly the academic William H. Stiebing Jr. noted that there were certain terms used for pseudoarchaeology that were heard "in the privacy of professional archaeologists' homes and offices but which cannot be mentioned in polite society".


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: William H. Stiebing Jr. argued that despite their many differences, there were a set of core characteristics that almost all pseudoarchaeological interpretations shared. He believed that because of this, pseudoarchaeology could be categorised as a "single phenomenon". He went on to identify three core commonalities of pseudeoarchaeological theories: the unscientific nature of its method and evidence, its history of providing "simple, compact answers to complex, difficult issues", and its tendency to present itself as being persecuted by the archaeological establishment, accompanied by an ambivalent attitude towards the scientific ethos of the Enlightenment. This idea that there are core characteristics of pseudoarchaeologies is shared by other academics.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Academic critics have pointed out that pseudoarchaeologists typically neglect to use the scientific method. Instead of testing the evidence to see what hypotheses it fits, pseudoarchaeologists "press-gang" the archaeological data to fit a "favored conclusion" that is often arrived at through hunches, intuition, or religious or nationalist dogma. Different pseudoarchaeological groups hold a variety of basic assumptions which are typically unscientific: the Nazi pseudoarchaeologists for instance took the cultural superiority of the ancient Aryan race as a basic assumption, whilst Christian fundamentalist pseudoarchaeologists conceive of the Earth as being less than 10,000 years old and Hindu fundamentalist pseudoarchaeologists believe that the "Homo sapiens" species is much older than the 200,000 years old it has been shown to be by archaeologists. Despite this, many of pseudoarchaeology's proponents claim that they reached their conclusions using scientific techniques and methods, even when it is demonstrable that they have not.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Academic archaeologist John R. Cole believed that most pseudoarchaeologists do not understand how scientific investigation works, and that they instead believe it to be a "simple, catastrophic right versus wrong battle" between contesting theories. It was because of this failure to understand the scientific method, he argued, that the entire pseudoarchaeological approach to their arguments was faulty. He went on to argue that most pseudoarchaeologists do not consider alternative explanations to that which they want to propagate, and that their "theories" were typically just "notions", not having sufficient supporting evidence to allow them to be considered "theories" in the scientific, academic meaning of the word.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Commonly lacking scientific evidence, pseudoarchaeologists typically use other forms of evidence to support their arguments. For instance, they often make use of "generalized cultural comparisons", taking various artefacts and monuments from one society, and highlighting similarities with those of another to support a conclusion that both had a common source—typically an ancient lost civilisation like Atlantis, Mu, or an extraterrestrial influence. This takes the different artefacts or monuments entirely out of their original contexts, something which is anathema to academic archaeologists, for whom context is of the utmost importance.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Another form of evidence used by a number of pseudoarchaeologists is the interpretation of various myths as reflecting historical events, but in doing so these myths are often taken out of their cultural contexts. For instance, pseudoarchaeologist Immanuel Velikovsky claimed that the myths of migrations and war gods in the Central American Aztec civilisation represented a cosmic catastrophe that occurred in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE. This was criticised by academic archaeologist William H. Stiebing Jr., who noted that such myths only developed in the 12th to the 14th centuries CE, two millennia after Velikovsky claimed that the events had occurred, and that the Aztec society itself had not even developed by the 7th century BCE.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Pseudoarchaeologists typically present themselves as being underdogs facing the much larger archaeological establishment. They often use language which disparages academics and dismisses them as being unadventurous, spending all their time in dusty libraries and refusing to challenge the orthodoxies of the establishment lest they lose their jobs. In some more extreme examples, pseudoarchaeologists have accused academic archaeologists of being members of a widespread conspiracy to hide the truth about history from the public. When academics challenge pseudoarchaeologists and criticise their theories, many pseudoarchaeologists see it as further evidence that their own ideas are right, and that they are simply being suppressed by members of this academic conspiracy.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: The prominent English archaeologist Colin Renfrew admitted that the archaeological establishment was often "set in its ways and resistant to radical new ideas" but that this was not the reason why pseudoarchaeological theories were outright rejected by academics. Garrett G. Fagan expanded on this, noting how in the academic archaeological community, "New evidence or arguments have to be thoroughly scrutinised to secure their validity ... and longstanding, well-entrenched positions will take considerable effort and particularly compelling data to overturn." Fagan noted that pseudoarchaeological theories simply do not have sufficient evidence to back them up and allow them to be accepted by professional archaeologists.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Conversely, many pseudoarchaeologists, whilst criticising the academic archaeological establishment, also attempt to get support from people with academic credentials and affiliations. At times, they quote historical, and in most cases dead academics to back up their arguments; for instance prominent pseudoarchaeologist Graham Hancock, in his seminal "Fingerprints of the Gods" (1995), repeatedly notes that the eminent physicist Albert Einstein once commented positively on the pole shift hypothesis, a theory that has been abandoned by the academic community but which Hancock supports. As Fagan noted however, the fact that Einstein was a physicist and not a geologist is not even mentioned by Hancock, nor is the fact that the understanding of plate tectonics (which came to disprove earth crustal displacement) only came to light following Einstein's death.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Pseudoarchaeology can be motivated by nationalism ("cf." Nazi archaeology, using cultural superiority of the ancient Aryan race as a basic assumption to establish the Germanic people as the descendants of the original Aryan 'master race') or a desire to prove a particular religious ("cf." intelligent design), pseudohistorical, political, or anthropological theory. In many cases, an "a priori" conclusion is established, and fieldwork is undertaken explicitly to corroborate the theory in detail. According to archaeologist John Hoopes, writing in the magazine of the Society for American Archaeology, "Pseudoarchaeology actively promotes myths that are routinely used in the service of white supremacy, racialized nationalism, colonialism, and the dispossession and oppression of indigenous peoples."


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Archaeologists distinguish their research from pseudoarchaeology by pointing to differences in research methodology, including recursive methods, falsifiable theories, peer review, and a generally systematic approach to collecting data. Though there is overwhelming evidence of cultural connections informing folk traditions about the past, objective analysis of folk archaeology—in anthropological terms of their cultural contexts and the cultural needs they respond to—have been comparatively few. However, in this vein, Robert Silverberg located the Mormon's use of Mound Builder culture within a larger cultural nexus and the voyage of Madoc and "Welsh Indians" was set in its changing and evolving sociohistorical contexts by Gwyn Williams.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Religiously motivated pseudoarchaeological theories include the young earth theory of some Judeo-Christian fundamentalists. They argue that the Earth is 4,000–10,000 years old, with figures varying, depending on the source. Some Hindu pseudoarchaeologists believe that the "Homo sapiens" species is much older than the 200,000 years it is generally believed to have existed. Archaeologist John R. Cole refers to such beliefs as "cult archaeology" and believes them to be pseudoarchaeological. He went on to say that this "pseudoarchaeology" had "many of the attributes, causes, and effects of religion".


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: A more specific example of religious pseudoarcheology is the claim of Ron Wyatt to have discovered Noah's ark, the graves of Noah and his wife, the location of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Tower of Babel, and numerous other important sites. However, he has not presented evidence sufficient to impress Bible scholars, scientists, and historians. Answers in Genesis propagates many pseudoscientific notions as part of its creationist ministry.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Pseudoarchaeology can be practised intentionally or unintentionally. Archaeological frauds and hoaxes are considered "intentional pseudoarchaeology". Genuine archaeological finds may be unintentionally converted to pseudoarchaeology through unscientific interpretation. ("cf." confirmation bias)


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: An Aryan supremacist view of history has set itself in the pseudoarcheology of the Middle East to building up a pseudo-history of Babylon the great, in contradiction to the Semitic view of Judeo-Christian and Biblical history, resulting in fraudulent cuneiform tablets as clay tablets are difficult to date. "By 1904, during the early period of cuneiform tablet collecting, J. Edgar Banks, a Mesopotamian explorer and tablet dealer, estimated that nearly 80% of tablets offered for sale in Baghdad were fakes. In 2016, Syria's Director General for Antiquities and Museums reported that approximately 70% of seized artifacts in the country are fakes."


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Especially in the past, but also in the present, pseudoarchaeology has been motivated by racism, especially when the basic intent was to discount or deny the abilities of non-white peoples to make significant accomplishments in astronomy, architecture, sophisticated technology, ancient writing, seafaring, and other accomplishments generally identified as evidence of "civilization". Racism can be implied by attempts to attribute ancient sites and artefacts to Lost Tribes, Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, or even extraterrestrial intelligence rather than to the intelligence and ingenuity of indigenous peoples.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Practitioners of pseudoarchaeology often rail against academic archaeologists and established scientific methods, claiming that conventional science has overlooked critical evidence. Conspiracy theories may be invoked, in which "the Establishment" colludes in suppressing evidence.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Countering the misleading "discoveries" of pseudoarchaeology binds academic archaeologists in a quandary, described by Cornelius Holtorf as whether to strive to disprove alternative approaches in a "crusading" approach or to concentrate on better public understanding of the sciences involved; Holtorf suggested a third, relativist and contextualised approach, in identifying the social and cultural needs that both scientific and alternative archaeologies address and in identifying the engagement with the material remains of the past in the present in terms of critical understanding and dialogue with "multiple pasts", such as Barbara Bender explored for Stonehenge. In presenting the quest for truths as process rather than results, Holtorf quoted Gotthold Lessing ("Eine Duplik", 1778):


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: If God were to hold in his right hand all the truth and in his left the unique ever-active spur for truth, although with the corollary to err forever, asking me to choose, I would humbly take his left and say "Father, give; for the pure truth is for you alone!"


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: "Archaeological readings of the landscape enrich the experience of inhabiting or visiting a place," Holtorf asserted. "Those readings may well be based on science but even non-scientific research contributes to enriching our landscapes." The question for opponents of folk archaeology is whether such enrichment is delusional.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: In the mid-2nd century, those exposed by Lucian's sarcastic essay "Alexander the false prophet" prepared an archaeological "find" in Chalcedon to prepare a public for the supposed oracle they planned to establish at Abonoteichus in Paphlagonia (Pearse, 2001):


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: At Glastonbury Abbey in 1291, at a time when King Edward I desired to emphasize his "Englishness", a fortunate discovery was made: the coffin of King Arthur, unmistakably identified with an inscribed plaque. Arthur was reinterred at Glastonbury in a magnificent ceremonial attended by the king and queen.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Many aspects of Maya civilization have inspired pseudoarchaeological speculation. In Mexico, this history can bring more people which in turn brings more money for the area, which the Maya peoples usually do not receive. Many examples of pseudoarcheology pertaining to Maya civilization can be found in literature, art, and film. Many of them have to do with the 2012 phenomenon and the Maya calendar. These are often referred to as Mayanism, a collection of New Age beliefs about Mayas and Maya religion and/or spirituality. That said, Maya culture has long been a subject of scientific archaeology. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that has furthered our knowledge of the past. Some of these include stone carvings in Tikal that show the earliest stories of Sihyaj Chan Kʼawiil II and materials recovered from Chichén Itzá.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Pseudoarchaeology can be found in relation to Egyptology, the study of ancient Egypt. Some of this includes pyramidology, a collection of pseudoscientific beliefs about pyramids around the world that includes the pyramids in Egypt as well as the Great Pyramid of Giza.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: One belief originally published by Charles Piazzi Smyth is that the Great Pyramid was not built by humans for the pharaoh Khufu, but was so beautiful that it could it have been crafted only by the hand of God. Though Smyth contributed to the idea of the Great Pyramid not being originally created by Khufu, this belief has been further propagated by Zecharia Sitchin in books such as "The Stairway to Heaven" (1983). and more recently by Scott Creighton in "The Great Pyramid Hoax" (2017), both of which argue that Howard Vyse (the discoverer of Khufu cartouches within the Great Pyramid, presented the earliest evidence that the Great Pyramid's builder) faked the markings of Khufu's name. However, Sitchin's research has been challenged as being pseudoscience. Arguments against these theories often detail the discovery of external texts on papyri such as the Diary of Merer that detail the construction of the Great Pyramid.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: The theory of the Egyptian pyramids not being built as tombs of ancient pharaohs, but for other purposes, has resulted in a variety of alternative theories about their purpose and origins. One such pseudoarchaeological theory comes from Scott Creighton, who argues that the pyramids were built as recovery vaults to survive a deluge (whether that be associated with flood geology or the Genesis Flood Narrative). Another alternative theory for the purpose of the pyramids comes from known pseudoarchaeologist Graham Hancock, who argues that the pyramids originated from an early civilization that was destroyed by an asteroid that also began the Younger Dryas. A third common pseudoarchaeological theory about the Egyptian pyramids is that they were built by ancient aliens. This belief is sometimes explained for why the pyramids supposedly appear suddenly in history. However, this claim is challenged by Egyptologists who point out an evolution of pyramid designs from mastaba tombs, to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, to the collapsed Meidum Pyramid, to Sneferefu's Bent Pyramid, leading up to Khufu's Great Pyramid. Many alternative beliefs have been criticized as being racist and ignoring the knowledge, architectural and constructive capabilities of ancient Egyptians.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Another pseudoegyptological belief is that of the curse of the pharaohs, which involves a belief of imprecations being placed on those who enter the tombs of mummies, and pharaohs. These curses often include natural disaster to illness or death for those who have entered the tomb. One of the most influential iterations of this theory comes from the discovery of King Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in November 1922. Several deaths of those present at the excavation have been attributed to a curse, including that of Lord Carnarvon who died as the result of an infected mosquito bite, sepsis, and pneumonia just over four months after the excavation. There were also claims that all lights in Cairo went out at the moment of Lord Carnavon's death. However, skeptics believe that reporters overlooked rational explanations and relied on supernatural legends. In 2021, mummies discovered mostly from the New Kingdom period were to be paraded through Cairo during a transference for study. However, several events occurred, including a ship blocking the Suez Canal and accidents involving several members of the crew. Many claimed these were the results of a pharaoh's curse, however, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass dismissed the claims as random tragedies.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Some pseudoarchaeologists speculate that Egypt had contact with the Maya civilization before Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492. Part of these arguments stem from the discovery of nicotine and cocaine traces found in various mummies. The argument is that plants producing these were not known to exist outside the Americas, although Duncan Edlin found that plants containing both nicotine and cocaine existed in Egypt and therefore could have been used by ancient Egyptians. Another argument against possible contact is that there is a massive body of literature in the form of hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt, however ancient Egyptian scholars never noted contacting the Americas in any of the texts that have been found.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Another argument in favor of contact between ancient Egyptians and Mayans comes from claims of similarities in art, architecture and writing. These theories are explained by authors such as Graham Hancock in "Fingerprints of the Gods" (1995) and more recently by Richard Cassaro in "Mayan Masonry". These similarities commonly mention creation of pyramids, use of archways, and similarities in artwork of the divine. Arguments such as these claim a connection between ancient Egypt and Maya through either a transatlantic outing that brought Egypt to the Mayas or through a shared origin in both civilizations (either in Atlantis or Lemuria). "Voyages of the Pyramid Builders" (2003) by geologist Robert Schoch argues that both Egyptian and Maya pyramids stem from a common lost civilization. However, ancient historian Garrett Fagan criticized Schoch's theory on the grounds that it demonstrated ignorance of relevant facts and that it did not explain variations in appearance or how various civilizations’ pyramids were built. Fagan also points to known research by several archaeologists about the development of various civilizations’ pyramids that was not utilized or addressed in Schoch's theory.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: In Egypt-related pseudoarchaeology, there are a variety of flood-related theories, many of which relate to the Biblical Genesis flood narrative or other flood theories. Scott Creighton claims that knowledge of a coming deluge (which he refers to as "Thoth's Flood") generated the idea of building pyramids as recovery vaults from which civilization could rebuild. Another fringe theory relating to this is the Sphinx water erosion hypothesis, which claims that the Great Sphinx of Giza's modern body appearance is caused by erosion due to flooding or rain. This theory, which has been perpetuated by Robert Schoch who claims the Sphinx was built between 5000 and 7000 BC, has been criticized by Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner as ignoring Old Kingdom societal evidence about the Sphinx and being flawed in citing specifics about a possible erosion. Currently Egyptologists tend to date the Sphinx somewhere around 2500 B.C., placing it at approximately the reign of the pharaoh Khafre for whom the Sphinx is commonly attributed.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Pseudoarchaeological theories have come to be heavily criticised by academic and professional archaeologists. One of the first books to address these directly was by archaeologist Robert Wauchope of Tulane University. Prominent academic archaeologist Colin Renfrew stated his opinion that it was appalling that pseudoarchaeologists treated archaeological evidence in such a "frivolous and self-serving way", something he believed trivialised the "serious matter" of the study of human origins. Academics like John R. Cole, Garrett G. Fagan and Kenneth L. Feder have argued that pseudoarchaeological interpretations of the past were based upon sensationalism, self-contradiction, fallacious logic, manufactured or misinterpreted evidence, quotes taken out of context and incorrect information. Fagan and Feder characterised such interpretations of the past as being "anti-reason and anti-science" with some being "hyper-nationalistic, racist and hateful". In turn, many pseudoarchaeologists have dismissed academics as being closed-minded and not willing to consider theories other than their own.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Many academic archaeologists have argued that the spread of alternative archaeological theories is a threat to the general public's understanding of the past. Fagan was particularly scathing of television shows that presented pseudoarchaeological theories to the general public, believing that they did so because of the difficulties in making academic archaeological ideas comprehensible and interesting to the average viewer. Renfrew however believed that those television executives commissioning these documentaries knew that they were erroneous, and that they had allowed them to be made and broadcast simply in the hope of "short-term financial gain".


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Fagan and Feder believed that it was not possible for academic archaeologists to successfully engage with pseudoarchaeologists, remarking that "you cannot reason with unreason". Speaking from their own experiences, they thought that attempted dialogues just became "slanging matches in which the expertise and motives of the critic become the main focus of attention." Fagan has maintained this idea elsewhere, remarking that arguing with supporters of pseudoarchaeological theories was "pointless" because they denied logic. He noted that they included those "who openly admitted to not having read a word written by a trained Egyptologist" but who at the same time "were pronouncing how academic Egyptology was all wrong, even sinister."


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: At the 1986 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, its organizers, Kenneth Feder, Luanne Hudson and Francis Harrold decided to hold a symposium to examine pseudoarchaeological beliefs from a variety of academic standpoints, including archaeology, physical anthropology, sociology, history and psychology. From this symposium, an anthology was produced, entitled "Cult Archaeology & Creationism: Understanding Pseudoarchaeological Beliefs about the Past" (1987).


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: At the 2002 annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, a workshop was held on the topic of pseudoarchaeology. It subsequently led to the publication of an academic anthology, "Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misinterprets the Past and Misleads the Public" (2006), which was edited by Garrett G. Fagan.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: On 23 and 24 April 2009, The American Schools of Oriental Research and the Duke University Center for Jewish Studies, along with the Duke Department of Religion, the Duke Graduate Program in Religion, the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences Committee on Faculty Research, and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, sponsored a conference entitled "Archaeology, Politics, and the Media," which addressed the abuse of archaeology in the Holy Land for political, religious, and ideological purposes. Emphasis was placed on the media's reporting of sensational and politically motivated archaeological claims and the academy's responsibility in responding to it.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: Academic archaeologist Cornelius Holtorf believed however that critics of alternative archaeologies like Fagan were "opinionated and patronizing" towards alternative theories, and that purporting their views in such a manner was damaging to the public's perception of archaeologists. Holtorf highlighted that there were similarities between academic and alternative archaeological interpretations, with the former taking some influence from the latter. As evidence, he highlighted archaeoastronomy, which was once seen as a core component of fringe archaeological interpretations before being adopted by mainstream academics. He also noted that certain archaeological scholars, like William Stukeley (1687–1765), Margaret Murray (1863–1963) and Marija Gimbutas (1921–1994) were seen as significant figures to both academic and alternative archaeologists. He came to the conclusion that a constructive dialogue should be opened up between academic and alternative archaeologists. Fagan and Feder have responded to Holtorf's views in detail, asserting that such a dialogue is no more possible than is one between evolutionary biologists and creationists or between astronomers and astrologers: one approach is scientific, the other is anti-scientific.


title: Pseudoarchaeology

text: In the early 1980s, Kenneth Feder conducted a survey of his archaeology students. On the 50-question survey, 10 questions had to do with archaeology and/or pseudoscience. Some of the claims were more rational; the world is 5 billion years old, and human beings came about through evolution. However, questions also included issues such as, King Tut's tomb actually killed people upon discovery, and there is solid evidence for the existence of Atlantis. As it turned out, some of the students Feder was teaching put some stake in the pseudoscience claims. 12% actually believed people on Howard Carter's expedition were killed by an ancient Egyptian curse.


title: South Korean standard language

text: The South Korean standard language or Pyojuneo () is the South Korean standard version of the Korean language. It is based on the Seoul dialect, although various words are borrowed from other regional dialects. It uses the Hangul alphabet, created in December 1443 CE by the Joseon-era king Sejong the Great. Unlike the North Korean standard language (), the South Korean standard language includes many loan-words from Chinese, as well as some from English and other European languages.


title: South Korean standard language

text: When Korea was under Japanese rule, the use of the Korean language was regulated by the Japanese government. To counter the influence of the Japanese authorities, the Korean Language Society () began collecting dialect data from all over Korea and later created their own standard version of Korean, "Pyojuneo", with the release of their book "Unification of Korean Spellings" () in 1933.


title: Power-line communication

text: Power-line communication (also known as power-line carrier or PLC) carries data on a conductor that is also used simultaneously for AC electric power transmission or electric power distribution to consumers.


title: Power-line communication

text: A wide range of power-line communication technologies are needed for different applications, ranging from home automation to Internet access which is often called broadband over power lines (BPL). Most PLC technologies limit themselves to one type of wires (such as premises wiring within a single building), but some can cross between two levels (for example, both the distribution network and premises wiring). Typically transformers prevent propagating the signal, which requires multiple technologies to form very large networks. Various data rates and frequencies are used in different situations.


title: Power-line communication

text: A number of difficult technical problems are common between wireless and power-line communication, notably those of spread spectrum radio signals operating in a crowded environment. Radio interference, for example, has long been a concern of amateur radio groups.


title: Power-line communication

text: Power-line communications systems operate by adding a modulated carrier signal to the wiring system. Different types of power-line communications use different frequency bands. Since the power distribution system was originally intended for transmission of AC power at typical frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz, power wire circuits have only a limited ability to carry higher frequencies. The propagation problem is a limiting factor for each type of power-line communications.


title: Power-line communication

text: The main issue determining the frequencies of power-line communication is laws to limit interference with radio services. Many nations regulate unshielded wired emissions as if they were radio transmitters. These jurisdictions usually require unlicensed uses to be below 500 kHz or in unlicensed radio bands. Some jurisdictions (such as the EU), regulate wire-line transmissions further. The U.S. is a notable exception, permitting limited-power wide-band signals to be injected into unshielded wiring, as long as the wiring is not designed to propagate radio waves in free space.


title: Power-line communication

text: Data rates and distance limits vary widely over many power-line communication standards. Low-frequency (about 100–200 kHz) carriers impressed on high-voltage transmission lines may carry one or two analog voice circuits, or telemetry and control circuits with an equivalent data rate of a few hundred bits per second; however, these circuits may be many miles long. Higher data rates generally imply shorter ranges; a local area network operating at millions of bits per second may only cover one floor of an office building, but eliminates the need for installation of dedicated network cabling.


title: Power-line communication

text: Ripple control adds an audio-frequency tone to an AC line. Typical frequencies are from 100Hz to 2400Hz. Each district usually has its own frequency, so that adjacent areas are unaffected. Codes are sent by slowly turning the tone on and off. Equipment at a customer site receives the codes, and turns customer equipment off and on. Often the decoder is part of a standard electricity meter, and controls relays. There are also utility codes, e.g. to set the clocks of the power meters at midnight.


title: Power-line communication

text: In this way, the utility can avoid up to 20% of capital expenses for generating equipment. This lowers costs for electricity and fuel usage. Brownouts and rolling blackouts are more easily prevented. Grids that use cogeneration can enable auxiliary customer equipment when the generators are being run to generate heat rather than electricity.


title: Power-line communication

text: An annoyance for customers is that sometimes the code to turn equipment on is lost, or load shedding is inconvenient or dangerous. For example, during a party, a dangerous heat wave or when life-preserving medical equipment is on-site. To handle these cases, some equipment includes switches to circumvent load shedding. Some meters switch into a higher billing rate when the "party switch" is flipped.


title: Power-line communication

text: Utility companies use special coupling capacitors to connect radio transmitters and receivers to the AC power carrying conductors. Power meters often use small transformers with linear amplifiers in the range of tens of watts. Most of the expense of any PLC system is the power electronics. By comparison, the electronics to encode and decode is usually small, in a special purpose integrated circuit. Thus even the complicated OFDM standards can still be economical.


title: Power-line communication

text: Frequencies used are in the range of 24 to 500 kHz, with transmitter power levels up to hundreds of watts. These signals may be impressed on one conductor, on two conductors or on all three conductors of a high-voltage AC transmission line. Several PLC channels may be coupled onto one HV line. Filtering devices are applied at substations to prevent the carrier frequency current from being bypassed through the station apparatus and to ensure that distant faults do not affect the isolated segments of the PLC system. These circuits are used for control of switchgear, and for protection of transmission lines. For example, a protective relay can use a PLC channel to trip a line if a fault is detected between its two terminals, but to leave the line in operation if the fault is elsewhere on the system.


title: Power-line communication

text: While utility companies use microwave and now, increasingly, fiber optic cables for their primary system communication needs, the power-line carrier apparatus may still be useful as a backup channel or for very simple low-cost installations that do not warrant installing fiber optic lines, or which are inaccessible to radio or other communication.


title: Power-line communication

text: Power-line carrier communication (PLCC) is mainly used for telecommunication, tele-protection and tele-monitoring between electrical substations through power lines at high voltages, such as 110 kV, 220 kV, 400 kV.


title: Power-line communication

text: The modulation generally used in these system is amplitude modulation. The carrier frequency range is used for audio signals, protection and a pilot frequency. The pilot frequency is a signal in the audio range that is transmitted continuously for failure detection.


title: Power-line communication

text: The voice signal is compressed and filtered into the 300 Hz to 4000 Hz range, and this audio frequency is mixed with the carrier frequency. The carrier frequency is again filtered, amplified and transmitted. The transmission power of these HF carrier frequencies will be in the range of 0 to +32 dbW. This range is set according to the distance between substations.


title: Power-line communication

text: To sectionalize the transmission network and protect against failures, a "wave trap" is connected in series with the power (transmission) line. They consist of one or more sections of resonant circuits, which block the high frequency carrier waves (24 kHz to 500 kHz) and let power frequency current (50 Hz – 60 Hz) pass through. Wave traps are used in switchyard of most power stations to prevent carrier from entering the station equipment. Each wave trap has a lightning arrester to protect it from surge voltages.


title: Power-line communication

text: A coupling capacitor is used to connect the transmitters and receivers to the high voltage line. This provides low impedance path for carrier energy to HV line but blocks the power frequency circuit by being a high impedance path. The coupling capacitor may be part of a capacitor voltage transformer used for voltage measurement.


title: Power-line communication

text: Power-line carrier systems have long been a favorite at many utilities because it allows them to reliably move data over an infrastructure that they control.


title: Power-line communication

text: A "PLC carrier repeating station" is a facility, at which a power-line communication (PLC) signal on a powerline is refreshed. Therefore


title: Power-line communication

text: the signal is filtered out from the powerline, demodulated and modulated on a new carrier frequency, and then reinjected onto the powerline again. As PLC signals can carry long distances (several hundred kilometres), such facilities only exist on very long power lines using PLC equipment.


title: Power-line communication

text: PLC is one of the technologies used for automatic meter reading. Both one-way and two-way systems have been successfully used for decades. Interest in this application has grown substantially in recent history—not so much because there is an interest in automating a manual process, but because there is an interest in obtaining fresh data from all metered points in order to better control and operate the system. PLC is one of the technologies being used in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems.


title: Power-line communication

text: In a one-way (inbound only) system, readings "bubble up" from end devices (such as meters), through the communication infrastructure, to a "master station" which publishes the readings. A one-way system might be lower-cost than a two-way system, but also is difficult to reconfigure should the operating environment change.


title: Power-line communication

text: In a two-way system (supporting both outbound and inbound), commands can be broadcast out from the master station to end devices (meters) – allowing for reconfiguration of the network, or to obtain readings, or to convey messages, etc. The device at the end of the network may then respond (inbound) with a message that carries the desired value. Outbound messages injected at a utility substation will propagate to all points downstream. This type of broadcast allows the communication system to simultaneously reach many thousands of devices—all of which are known to have power, and have been previously identified as candidates for load shed. PLC also may be a component of a smart grid.


title: Power-line communication

text: These systems are often used in countries in which it is illegal to transmit signals that interfere with normal radio. The frequencies are so low that they are unable to start radio waves when sent over the utility wiring.


title: Power-line communication

text: Power-line communications technology can use the electrical power wiring within a home for home automation: for example, remote control of lighting and appliances without installation of additional control wiring.


title: Power-line communication

text: Typically home-control power-line communication devices operate by modulating in a carrier wave of between 20 and 200 kHz into the household wiring at the transmitter. The carrier is modulated by digital signals. Each receiver in the system has an address and can be individually commanded by the signals transmitted over the household wiring and decoded at the receiver. These devices may be either plugged into regular power outlets, or permanently wired in place. Since the carrier signal may propagate to nearby homes (or apartments) on the same distribution system, these control schemes have a "house address" that designates the owner. A popular technology known as X10 has been used since the 1970s.


title: Power-line communication

text: The "universal powerline bus", introduced in 1999, uses pulse-position modulation (PPM). The physical layer method is a very different scheme than the X10. LonTalk, part of the LonWorks home automation product line, was accepted as part of some automation standards.


title: Power-line communication

text: Narrowband power-line communications began soon after electrical power supply became widespread. Around the year 1922 the first carrier frequency systems began to operate over high-tension lines with frequencies of 15 to 500 kHz for telemetry purposes, and this continues. Consumer products such as baby alarms have been available at least since 1940.


title: Power-line communication

text: In the 1930s, ripple carrier signaling was introduced on the medium (10–20 kV) and low voltage (240/415 V) distribution systems.


title: Power-line communication

text: For many years the search continued for a cheap bi-directional technology suitable for applications such as remote meter reading. French electric power "Électricité de France" (EDF) prototyped and standardized a system called "spread frequency shift keying" or S-FSK. (See IEC 61334) It is now a simple, low cost system with a long history, however it has a very slow transmission rate. In the 1970s, the Tokyo Electric Power Co ran experiments which reported successful bi-directional operation with several hundred units. The system is now (2012) widely used in Italy and some other parts of the EU.


title: Power-line communication

text: S-FSK sends a burst of 2, 4 or 8 tones centered around the time when the AC line passes through zero voltage. In this way, the tones avoid most radio-frequency noise from arcing. (It is common for dirty insulators to arc at the highest point of the voltage, and thus generate a wide-band burst of noise.) To avoid other interference, receivers can improve their signal-to-noise ratio by measuring the power of only the "1" tones, only the "0" tones or the differential power of both. Different districts use different tone pairs to avoid interference. The bit timing is typically recovered from the boundaries between tones, in a way similar to a UART. Timing is roughly centered on the zero crossing with a timer from the previous zero crossing. Typical speeds are 200 to 1200 bits per second, with one bit per tone slot. Speeds also depend on the AC line frequency. The speed is limited by noise, and the jitter of the AC line's zero crossing, which is affected by local loads. These systems are usually bidirectional, with both meters and central stations sending data and commands. Higher levels of the protocols can have stations (usually smart meters) retransmit messages. (See IEC 61334)


title: Power-line communication

text: Since the mid-1980s, there has been a surge of interest in using the potential of digital communications techniques and digital signal processing. The drive is to produce a reliable system which is cheap enough to be widely installed and able to compete cost effectively with wireless solutions. But the narrowband powerline communications channel presents many technical challenges, a mathematical channel model and a survey of work is available.


title: Power-line communication

text: Applications of mains communications vary enormously, as would be expected of such a widely available medium. One natural application of narrow band power-line communication is the control and telemetry of electrical equipment such as meters, switches, heaters and domestic appliances. A number of active developments are considering such applications from a systems point of view, such as demand side management. In this, domestic appliances would intelligently co-ordinate their use of resources, for example limiting peak loads.


title: Power-line communication

text: Control and telemetry applications include both 'utility side' applications, which involves equipment belonging to the utility company up to the domestic meter, and 'consumer-side' applications which involves equipment in the consumer's premises. Possible utility-side applications include automatic meter reading (AMR), dynamic tariff control, load management, load profile recording, credit control, pre-payment, remote connection, fraud detection and network management, and could be extended to include gas and water.


title: Power-line communication

text: Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) is one of the most proven narrowband PLC technologies and protocols for smart metering. There are more than five million smart meters, based on OSGP and using BPSK PLC, installed and operating around the World. The OSGP Alliance, a non-profit association originally established as ESNA in 2006, led an effort to establish a family of specifications published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) used in conjunction with the ISO/IEC 14908 control networking standard for smart grid applications. OSGP is optimized to provide reliable and efficient delivery of command and control information for smart meters, direct load control modules, solar panels, gateways, and other smart grid devices. OSGP follows a modern, structured approach based on the OSI protocol model to meet the evolving challenges of the smart grid.


title: Power-line communication

text: At the physical layer, OSGP currently uses ETSI 103 908 as its technology standard. This uses binary phase shift keying at 3592.98 BAUD, using a carrier tone of 86.232KHz +/- 200ppm. (Note: The bit clock is almost exactly 1/24 of the carrier.) At the OSGP application layer, ETSI TS 104 001 provides a table-oriented data storage based, in part, on the ANSI C12.19 / MC12.19 / 2012 / IEEE Std 1377 standards for Utility Industry End Device Data Tables and ANSI C12.18 / MC12.18 / IEEE Std 1701, for its services and payload encapsulation. This standard and command system provides not only for smart meters and related data but also for general purpose extension to other smart grid devices.


title: Power-line communication

text: A project of EDF, France includes demand management, street lighting control, remote metering and billing, customer specific tariff optimisation, contract management, expense estimation and gas applications safety.


title: Power-line communication

text: There are also many specialised niche applications which use the mains supply within the home as a convenient data link for telemetry. For example, in the UK and Europe a TV audience monitoring system uses powerline communications as a convenient data path between devices that monitor TV viewing activity in different rooms in a home and a data concentrator which is connected to a telephone modem.


title: Power-line communication

text: The Distribution Line Carrier (DLC) System technology used a frequency range of 9 to 500 kHz with data rate up to 576 kbit/s.


title: Power-line communication

text: A project called Real-time Energy Management via Powerlines and Internet (REMPLI) was funded from 2003 to 2006 by the European Commission.


title: Power-line communication

text: More modern systems use OFDM to send data at faster bit rates without causing radio frequency interference. These utilize hundreds of slowly-sending data channels. Usually they can adapt to noise by turning off channels with interference. The extra expense of the encoding devices is minor compared to the cost of the electronics to transmit. The transmission electronics is usually a high power operational amplifier, a coupling transformer and a power supply. Similar transmission electronics is required on older, slower systems, so with improved technology, improved performance can be very affordable.


title: Power-line communication

text: In 2009, a group of vendors formed the PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution (PRIME) alliance. As delivered, the physical layer is OFDM, sampled at 250 kHz, with 512 differential phase shift keying channels from 42–89 kHz. Its fastest transmission rate is 128.6 kilobits/second, while its most robust is 21.4 kbit/s. It uses a convolutional code for error detection and correction. The upper layer is usually IPv4.