Secret Santa

Secret Santa is a Western Christmas tradition in which members of a group or community are randomly assigned a person to whom they anonymously give a gift.

Deriving from the Christian tradition, the ritual is known as Secret Santa in the United States and the United Kingdom; as Kris Kringel or Kris Kindle (Christkindl) in Ireland; as Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, Chris Kindle (Christkindl) or Engerl-Bengerl in parts of Austria; as Secret Santa or Kris Kringle in Canada and Australia; as Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, or Monito-monita in the Philippines; as Angelito in the Dominican Republic; and as "Wichteln" in Germany. "Wichteln" is what a "Wichtel", a wight, does, a good deed. In Poland, the tradition is celebrated on the day of 6 December (Mikołajki). All of these names derive from traditional Christmas gift-bringers: the American custom is named after Santa Claus, or St Nicholas (Poland), while Chris Kindle and Kris Kringle are both corruptions of the original name of the Austrian gift-bringer Christkindl, which means the "Christ Child". Exceptions are the UK (where the traditional gift-bringer is Father Christmas) and the Philippines (which has the Three Kings). Spain and in most places in Latin America use amigo secreto (secret friend) or amigo invisible (invisible friend). In Israel, this game is called גמד וענק (A Dwarf and a Giant) and is mostly played during Purim.

Laboratory information management system

A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), sometimes referred to as a Laboratory Information System (LIS) or Laboratory Management System (LMS), is a software-based laboratory and information management system with features that support a modern laboratory's operations. Key features include — but are not limited to — workflow and data tracking support, flexible architecture, and data exchange interfaces, which fully "support its use in regulated environments." The features and uses of a LIMS have evolved over the years from simple sample tracking to an enterprise resource planning tool that manages multiple aspects of laboratory informatics.

The definition of a LIMS is somewhat controversial: LIMSs are dynamic because the laboratory's requirements are rapidly evolving and different labs often have different needs. Therefore, a working definition of a LIMS ultimately depends on the interpretation by the individuals or groups involved. Dr. Alan McLelland of the Institute of Biochemistry, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow highlighted this problem in the late 1990s by explaining how a LIMS is perceived by an analyst, a laboratory manager, an information systems manager, and an accountant, "all of them correct, but each of them limited by the users' own perceptions."

MEP

MEP may refer to:

Organisations and politics

Anime

Anime (Japanese: アニメ, [anime]) is Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation. The word is the abbreviated pronunciation of "animation" in Japanese, where this term references all animation without regards to the nation of origin. Outside Japan however, anime is used to refer specifically to animation from Japan or as a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical themes. Arguably, the stylization approach to the meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. For simplicity, many Westerners strictly view anime as an animation product from Japan. Some scholars suggest defining anime as specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of orientalism.

The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917, and production of anime works in Japan has since continued to increase steadily. The characteristic anime art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of Osamu Tezuka and spread internationally in the late twentieth century, developing a large domestic and international audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, by television broadcasts, directly to home media, and over the Internet. It is classified into numerous genres targeting diverse broad and niche audiences.

Sony Vegas Pro

Sony Vegas Pro is a video editing software package for non-linear editing (NLE) originally published by Sonic Foundry, now owned and run by Sony Creative Software.

Originally developed as an audio editor, it eventually developed into an NLE for video and audio from version 2.0. Vegas features real-time multitrack video and audio editing on unlimited tracks, resolution-independent video sequencing, complex effects and compositing tools, 24-bit/192 kHz audio support, VST and DirectX plug-in effect support, and Dolby Digital surround sound mixing. Up to version 10, Vegas Pro runs on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10. Version 11 dropped support for Windows XP, and version 12 is 64-bit only. Version 13 dropped Windows Vista support.

Features

Vegas does not require any specialized hardware to run properly, allowing it to operate on almost any standard Windows computer across a broad range of hardware.

In areas of compositing and motion graphics Vegas provides a broad tool set including 3D track motion compositing with control over z-depth, and spatial arrangement of visual planes including plane intersection.