Using Ruby Environmental Variables

Using Ruby Environmental Variables Environment variables are variables passed to programs by the command line or the graphical shell. When an environment variable is referred to, its value (whatever the variable is defined as) is then referenced. Though there are a number of environment variables that only affect the command line or graphical shell itself (such as PATH or HOME), there are also several that directly affect how Ruby scripts execute. Tip:  Ruby environment variables are similar to ones found in the Windows OS. For example, Windows users may be familiar with a TMP  user variable to define the location of the temporary folder the for the currently logged in user. Accessing Environment Variables from Ruby Ruby has direct access to environment variables via the ENV hash. Environment variables can be directly read or written to by using the index operator with a string argument. Note that writing to environment variables will only have an effect on child processes of the Ruby script. Other invocations of the script will not see the changes in environment variables. #!/usr/bin/env ruby# Print some variablesputs ENV[PATH]puts ENV[EDITOR]# Change a variable then launch a new programENV[EDITOR] geditcheat environment_variables add Passing Environment Variables to Ruby To pass environment variables to Ruby, simply set that environment variable in the shell. This varies slightly between operating systems, but the concepts remain the same. To set an environment variable on the Windows command prompt, use the set command. set TESTvalue To set an environment variable on Linux  or OS X, use the export command. Though  environment variables are a normal part of the Bash shell, only variables that have been exported will be available in programs launched by the Bash shell. $ export TESTvalue Alternatively, if the environment variable will only be used by the program about to be run, you can define any environment variables before the name of the command. The environment variable will be passed onto the program as its run, but not saved. Any further invocations of the program will not have this environment variable set. $ EDITORgedit cheat environment_variables add Environment Variables Used by Ruby There are a number of environment variables that affect how the Ruby interpreter acts. RUBYOPT - Any command-line switches here will be added to any switches specified on the command line.RUBYPATH - When used with the -S switch on the command line, the paths listed in RUBYPATH will be added to the paths searched when looking for Ruby scripts. The paths in RUBYPATH precede the paths listed in PATH.RUBYLIB - The list of paths here will be added to the list of paths Ruby uses to search for libraries included in the program with the require method. The paths in RUBYLIB will be searched before other directories.

The Basics of Aramid Fiber, Polymer Reinforcing Fiber

The Basics of Aramid Fiber, Polymer Reinforcing Fiber Aramid fiber is the generic name of a group of synthetic fibers. The fibers offer a set of properties which make them particularly useful in armor, clothing and a wide range of other applications. The most commonly known commercial brand is Kevlarâ„ ¢, but there others such as Twaronâ„ ¢ and Nomexâ„ ¢ in the same broad family. History Aramids have evolved out of research which stretches back to nylon and polyester. The family is known as aromatic polyamides. Nomex was developed in the early 1960’s and its properties led to wide use in protective clothing, insulation and as a replacement for asbestos. Further research with this meta-aramid led to the fiber we now know as Kevlar. Kevlar and Twaron are para-aramids. Kevlar was developed and trademarked by DuPont and became commercially available in 1973. 2011 worldwide production of Aramids was well over 60,000 tons, and demand is growing steadily as production scales up, costs fall and applications broaden. Properties The chemical structure of the chain molecules is such that the bonds are aligned (for the most part) along the fiber axis, giving them outstanding strength, flexibility and abrasion tolerance. With outstanding resistance to heat and low flammability, they are unusual in that they do not melt – they merely start to degrade (at about 500 degrees Centigrade). They also have very low electrical conductivity making them ideal electrical insulators. With high resistance to organic solvents, the all-around ‘inert’ aspects of these materials offer outstanding versatility for a huge range of applications. The only blot on their horizons is that they are sensitive to UV, acids, and salts. They build static electricity too unless they are specially treated. The outstanding properties which these fibers enjoy provide advantages which make them ideal for a wide range of applications. However, with any composite material, it is important to take care in  handling  and processing. Using gloves, masks, etc. is advisable. Applications Kevlar’s original use was for car tire reinforcement, where the technology still dominates, but in transport, the fibers are used as a replacement for asbestos – for example in brake linings. Probably the most widely known application is in body armor, but other protective uses include fireproof suits for firefighters, helmets, and gloves. Their high strength/weight ratio makes them attractive for use as reinforcing (for example in composite materials particularly where flexing tolerance is important, such as aircraft wings). In construction, we have fiber-reinforced concrete and thermoplastic pipes. Corrosion is a major problem for expensive undersea pipelines in the oil industry, and thermoplastic pipe technology was developed to prolong pipeline life and reduce maintenance costs. Their low stretch properties (typically 3.5% at break), high strength and abrasion resistance make aramid fibers ideal for ropes and cables, and they are even used for mooring ships. In the sporting arena, bowstrings, tennis racquet strings, hockey sticks, skis and running shoes are some of the application areas for these outstanding fibers, with sailors enjoying the benefits of aramid-reinforced hulls, aramid lines and Kevlar wear-patches on their elbows, knees, and rears! Even in the music world aramid fibers are making themselves heard as instrument reeds and drumheads, with the sound being relayed through aramid-fiber loudspeaker cones. The Future New applications are being announced regularly, for example, a high-performance protective coating for harsh environments which embeds Kevlar fibers in an ester. This is ideal for coating new steel pipelines – for example in utilities where water pipes may bury underground and budgets do not permit the more expensive thermoplastic alternatives. With improved epoxies and other resins being introduced on a regular basis and given the continuous scaling up in worldwide production of aramids in many forms (fiber, pulp, powder, chopped fiber and woven mat) the increased use of the material is guaranteed both in its raw form and in composites.

Ebay Case Analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ebay Analysis - Case Study Example eBay offers a broad range of products, globally expanding and generating a community for all clients to join eBay. The potential rationale for eBay international expansion hinges on the desire to increase its: number of registered users, user activity, PayPal transactions, user gross merchandise volume, and number of listings. eBay’s global presence seeks to take advantage of the growing online shopping usage. Like the general industry, eBay’s business model is increasingly dependent on technology and expansion into international markets (Hitt, Ireland, and Robert 235). # 2. International arenas for eBay: France and Japan The CAGE Distance framework highlights cultural, administrative, Geographic, and economic differentials or distances between countries that ought to be addresses when coming up with international strategies. CAGE framework can also be employed to dissect patterns of trade, information, capital, and people flows. In terms of cultural distance, there is â€Å"wide† cultural distance owing to different languages, diverse ethnicities (absence of connective ethnic and social networks), diverse values, norms, and dispositions. Nevertheless, the problem of absence of trust is not prominent to the extent of holding eBay’s (Hitt, Ireland, and Robert 236). ... The factor on economic distance centers on aspects such as income/wealth disparities and differences on aspects such as cost/quality of financial resources, infrastructure, human resources, knowledge, or information. The internet has become an integral component in commerce allowing cross-border data flows, which also underpin global economic integration and international trade. Hence, Japan and France can still remain desirable markets for eBay. Moreover, Japan and France do not manifest any significant restriction on the internet by respective governments in a manner that minimizes the capability of businesses in employing internet as a place for international commerce. # 3. Alternative vehicles that eBay has used to pursue international expansion There are several components that can be cited as contributing to eBay’s strategic plan for growth. In its expansion efforts, eBay employs investment and acquisition strategy. In the international arena, companies usually encounter s strategic dilemma in choosing between global integration and national responsiveness. eBay is a very diverse entity and services that the company avail is appealing to individual customers, as well as large corporate customers. It is evident that eBay holds significant power within the online auction industry (Hitt, Ireland, and Robert 235). eBay’s corporate strategy centers on diversifying business to products offered, as well as customer base and global reach. eBay keeps on changing, adapting, and highlighting fresh ways to master its environment. eBay should rethink its strategy to ensure that it is capital efficient. #4. Whether eBay should acquire rival iBazar in France The acquisition of iBazar and entry into

Comparing Ibn khaldun ecnomics theory with laffer curve, Taxation Research Paper

Comparing Ibn khaldun ecnomics theory with laffer curve, Taxation - Research Paper Example Ibn Khaldun appears as a forerunner of the prominent American economist Arthur Laffer whose suggestion complements that high rates contract the tax base since decrease the economic activity (Ibn et al. 1969). According to Laffer, the relationship amid tax and revenues is that changes in taxes have effects on profits. Ibn Khaldun’s concepts are comparable to those of supply economics that emphasizes incentives and tax reduction as a way of economic development. Ibn Khalduns’ taxation theory is considered a unique and one of his most significant contributions to the economic policy. His tax theory has cemented a place in the world of economics. The paper attempts to table experimental evidence that can support and fortify his tax theory. It similarly introduces Ibn Khaldun’s exemplary work Muqaddimah as well as economic ideologies seen in his work. On another account, the essay seeks to examine Ibn Khalduns’s theory and the Laffer curve comparatively. The key objective of Ibn Khaldun’s theory of taxation is to reduce to the lowest level possible the levies upon individuals capable of undertaking cultural enterprises. Through this way, the individuals will psychologically dispose of themselves to undertake their activities because there is an assurance that they will make a profit at the end of the day. He, therefore, advocates reducing the burden of taxation upon business entities, as well as producers, in order to entice the enterprise through guaranteeing greater returns to the entrepreneur, as well as revenue to the government. In practice, he realized that the government depends on low taxes. And for that reason, the enterprises increase in the number as well as size therefore permitting the growth of the tax base, revenue, and governmental surplus (Ibn et al. 1969). At the conclusion of a dynasty, taxation produces massive income from small valuation. The reason thereby is that when family trails the means of religion , it executes

Excessive Suspension of Disbelief: Raymond Jeans La Lectrice Essay

Excessive Suspension of Disbelief: Raymond Jean's La Lectrice When I begin a class in fiction or poetry, I always talk for a few minutes about the various purposes of literature: escape, didactic, and interpretive. I tell my students that escape literature is a wonderful way to forget our problems for a while (less dangerous than drugs, alcohol, careless sex, or driving), but that escape literature can be harmful if one expects one's personal life to be as exciting, successful, or romantic as that in escape fiction. As Meg Ryan's friend says to her in Sleepless in Seattle, "You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie." Thus my title, "Excessive Suspension...." In The Literary Work of Art (1931, trans. 1965), Roman Ingarden analyses the layers of meaning he beleves exist within a work of fiction. His theories were popularized by Renà © Wellek in Theory of Literature (Wellek and Warren). Ingarden identifies four strata. The first is the sound stratum, which he defines as "the stratum of word sounds and phonetic formations of various orders: the second is "the stratum of units of meaning of various orders and phonetic formations of various orders"; the third includes objects represented in the "world" of the novelist, which he defines as "the stratum of manifold schematized aspects and aspect continua and series" (Literary Work of Art, 30); and the fourth includes the stratum of represented objectivities and their vicissitudes" or the world as it "is seen from a particular viewpoint." As Ingarden complains in his preface to his second edition, Wellek had erroneously added a fifth layer, that of metaphysical qualities, which include "the tragic, the terrible, [and] the holy." Ingarden argues th... ...s read and view and how those fictions shape us. La Lectrice is a testimony to the power a written text may have-that even a single reading experience may permanently change a reader's life. But, most of all, La Lectrice is great fun. But, as the policeman cautions the lectrice, "Reading is fine, but look where it leads. When you read a book, anything can happen." Works Cited Ingarden, Roman. The Literary Work of Art. Trans. George G. Grabowicz. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1973. From Das literarisch Kunstwerk. Tà ¼bingen: Max Neimeyer Vertag, 1965. -----. The Cognition of Literary Work of Art. Trans. George G. Grabowicz. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 198. From Von Erkennen des literarisch Kunstwerk. Tà ¼bingen: Max Neimeyer Vertag, 1973. Deville, Michel, dir. La Lectrice (film). Elefilm, 1988. Jean [Kermer], Raymond, La Lectrice (novel). Editions J'ai lu, 1986.

Culture And Climate Essay

In this paper a relationship between culture and climates is discussed with a focus on the southern California hunter gatherer societies. When there is a climate change the society will have to change their way of life in order to cope or else the change of climate could end up affecting the society adversely and even claiming life. Some of the change that occurs in the society due to climate change is that of food that is being eaten. Change in climate also could mean the people adapt to a new dressing code because of the increase or reduction in the temperatures. The effect of climate change will have a varying effect on the communities depending on whether they are gatherers/hunters or agriculturalist. When there is rain reduction the effect will be felt more by the agriculturalist than the hunters as much as all of them need the rain. When there is lack of rains some communities end up being violent as they fight for the few resources like pasture and water points. A good example of such an experience is the massacre that occurred at the Craw Creek whose evidence was the mass grave that was found with the remains of 486 individuals who had been mutilated. The attackers it is believed that, they made the attack because they were desperate due to lack of food as a result of climate change. When the society has a fear of being attacked they will always prepare for war. The society starts training the young people on how to fight and protect the community wealth. The community which has a tendency of being involved in wars will have its members having the skills of making weapons. They will also be involved in trade with other communities in order to sell or buy weapons. Some of the communities in Southern California like Chumash had other ways that they used as adaptation means to climate change that brought about severe droughts. This community adapted to using of a variety of plants and animal food such that when the climatic conditions were unfavorable they could resort to the use of the less preferred food which could be available at the time and these could help them avoid starvation. The communities learnt skills of storing food to avert effects caused by short term climatic changes. These community stored acorns, had skills of smoking and drying of fish, they dried seeds in addition to having the skills of constructing indoor and outdoor storage facilities. With enough food stored the community was able to support a dense population throughout the year including the years when there was little harvest. Different species of crops and varieties perform differently in same climate change. This also applies to the different tamed animals. There are some crops that will give a very low harvest or none at all when there is a change in climate while others survive in different climatic conditions. When communities are faced with unpredictable climate condition they resort to farming of different crops so as to survive harsh climatic conditions as seen from the case of the Chumash people. Water is a resource that becomes rare whenever there is extended droughts and as a result the communities which live in areas that are prone to droughts always have a culture of storing water. The Chumash people can also serve as an example in this area as research has shown that they had storage facilities to ensure there was supply of water for their use during the drought period. Their most common storage vessel was an asphalt interior lined water bottle. Due to the fact that asphalt preserves well, the evidence of the water bottle use and manufacture by the community is clear. The communities that were neighbors to the Chumash like Cahuilla and were in the desert regions had the skills of digging wells as way of adapting to the desert conditions. Exchange which was practiced among the Chumash is also seen as a way of the community trying to cope with the environment they new to be unpredictable. By the time of arrival of the Spanish the society was involved in exchange of prestige goods which partially had support of marriages that were so extensive that there was linkage of different ecological zones. There was a variety of goods that were being traded among the adjacent regions and these included foods, raw materials, manufactured goods and other goods. With the community involved in trade chiefs and other individuals who were powerful amassing a lot of wealth to themselves which was in form of prestige goods, a lot of food that was in storage facilities, shell beads which was being used as currency and canoes. This also brought about the emerging of network systems that were very powerful which involved ceremonial feasts. The use of prestige goods is believed to have been adopted as a form of social storage over thousands of years as a response to recurring droughts that challenged steady supply of required resources of the Chumash society. Reference Lynn H. (2005). Culture and Climate: Reconsidering the Effect of Palaeoclimatic Variability among Southern California Hunter-Gatherer Societies. World Archaeology, Vol. 37, No. 1, retrieved on 27TH April 2009 from: http://www. jstor. org/stable/40023887

Mario and the Magician - 18314 Words

Thomas Mann MARIO AND THE MAGICIAN The atmosphere of Torre di Venere remains unpleasant in the memory. From the first moment the air of the place made us uneasy, we felt irritable, on edge; then at the end came the shocking business of Cipolla, that dreadful being who seemed to incorporate, in so fateful and so humanly impressive a way, all the peculiar evilness of the situation as a whole. Looking back, we had the feeling that the horrible end of the affair had been preordained and lay in the nature of things; that the children had to be present at it was an added impropriety, due to the false colours in which the weird creature presented himself. Luckily for them, they did not know where the comedy left off and the tragedy†¦show more content†¦The excursion is a favourite one for the restless denizens of that pleasure resort, and a Fiat motor-bus plies to and fro, coating inch-thick with dust the oleander and laurel hedges along the highroad-a notable if repulsive sight. Yes, decidedly one should go to Torre in September, when the great public has left. Or else in May, before the water is warm enough to tempt the Southerner to bathe. Even in the before and after seasons Torre is not empty, but life is less national and more subdued. English, French, and German prevail under the tent-awnings and in the pension dining-rooms; whereas in August-in the Grand Hotel, at least, where, in default of private addresses, we had engaged rooms-the stranger finds the field so occupied by Florentine and Roman society that he feels quite isolated and even temporarily dà ©classà ©. We had, rather to our annoyance, this experience on the evening we arrived, when we went in to dinner and were shown to our table by the waiter in charge. As a table, it had nothing against it, save that we had already fixed our eyes upon those on the veranda beyond, built out over the water, where little red-shaded lamps glowed-and there were still some tables empty, though it was as full as the dining-room within. The children went into raptures at the festive sight, and without more ado we announced our intention to take our meals by preference in the veranda. Our words,Show MoreRelatedEssay about Mario and the Magician1412 Words   |  6 PagesMario and the Magician Ââ€" Illness and Deformity In Thomas Manns Mario and the Magician, Mann uses illness and deformity to symbolize the driving force towards disaster. It is in the illness of the characters that the setting for disaster is made, which then beings on a downward spiral once the character of Cipolla enters the story. Cipolla is not only mentally ill, but he is deformed. Much of his deformity is left a mystery for it is described so vaguely by the narrator. The first episode ofRead More European Fascism Essay3458 Words   |  14 PagesEnlightenment as Mass Deception.† While each of these works approaches the problem of fascism from a different direction, their concerns converge: fascism, they conclude, undermines the integrity of the individual. Thomas Mann describes Mario and the Magician as â€Å"a warning against the rape [caused] by the dictatorial being who in the end was overcome and destroyed† (Leser 193). Mann’s view of the dilemma that fascism poses for the individual, then, can be understood from two directions. First,Read More111135197X 38570 Essay example17696 Words   |  71 PagesHaving good social skills is essential for my job, and I decided (OR have decided) to take a class in personal communication. I 3. Since she was a child, she has liked sports, especially water sports, such as swimming and waterskiing. I 4. Mario graduated as a veterinarian in January of last year. C 5. Correct I 6. First, we went to Italy. Then, we traveled to Austria and Germany. Finally, we visited Spain. I 7. The professor gave an introduction to the course yesterday, the firstRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagescereal. b) You can have eggs, but not juice or cereal. c) You can have (eggs or juice) and cereal. d) You can have either eggs and juice, or else cereal. e) You can have eggs, and you can also have your choice of either juice or cereal.93 ââ€"   4. If Mario says, Some of these grapes have seeds in them, can you be sure he also means that some of them dont, assuming that he intends to make a true statement?94 5. The following statement might appear in a recommendation letter: In my opinion, you will