Vir

Vir (pronounced [v̞îːr]; Italian: Puntadura, Dalmatian: Punta de Ura), an island on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea with an area of 22 km², lies north of the city of Zadar. It is connected to the mainland via a road bridge. The main village on the island, the eponymous village of Vir, had a population of 1,608 As of 2001. There are two more villages, Lozice and Torovi. The highest peak on the island is Bandira (112 m).

History

The first known mention of Vir was in Mare Nostrum Dalmaticum (1069), a charter by king Peter Krešimir IV, where the island is referred to as Ueru (Veru), a word believed to have an ancient Mediterranean origin, meaning "pasture".

Overpopulation

Vir is notorious/famous for its overpopulation during the summer holiday season. The cause of this is the fact that there are hundreds of smaller and larger privately owned resort-houses on it. These houses arose in the 1980s after the then Yugoslav government at one point considered building a nuclear power plant on Vir because it was so barren. Because of that, the real-estate prices dropped so low that, atypically, many people could buy a parcel of land there.

Vír (Žďár nad Sázavou District)

Vír is a village and municipality (obec) in Žďár nad Sázavou District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic.

The municipality covers an area of 5.31 square kilometres (2.05 sq mi), and has a population of 731 (as at 28 August 2006).

Vír lies approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi) east of Žďár nad Sázavou, 56 km (35 mi) east of Jihlava, and 149 km (93 mi) south-east of Prague.

References

Epsilon Virginis

Epsilon Virginis (ε Vir, ε Virginis) is the Bayer designation for a star in the zodiac constellation of Virgo. It has the traditional name Vindemiatrix, which comes from Greek through Latin and means Grape Gatherer. The apparent visual magnitude of this star is +2.8, making it the third brightest member of Virgo. Based upon parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, Vindemiatrix lies at a distance of about 109.6 light-years (33.6 parsecs) from Earth, give or take a half light year.

Vindemiatrix is a giant star with a stellar classification of G8 III. With 2.6 times the mass of the Sun, it has reached a stage in its evolution where the hydrogen fuel in its core is exhausted. As a result, it has expanded to over ten times the Sun's girth and is now radiating around 77 times as much luminosity as the Sun. This energy is being emitted from its outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of 5,086 K, which gives it the yellow-hued glow of a G-type star. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified.

S660A

In its United Kingdom Tax Bulletin 64 (April 2003), the Inland Revenue (now HM Revenue and Customs) announced new guidance on the "settlements legislation". This is a body of law which seeks to prevent someone (known as the "settlor") from avoiding tax by reclassifying income as belonging to someone else (known as the beneficiary). The income is then taxed at the beneficiary’s lower rate although the settlor continues to benefit from it. The legislation targets spouses and also parents seeking to divert income via their minor children.

The section of the legislation is 660A of the UK Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. Using the revised (April 2003) interpretation of s.660A, UK HMRC have been targeting businesses set up by spouses where they are aware that income is split between the spouses, and only one of them directly generates that income. In theory s.660A can apply to partnerships as well as limited companies, this has yet to be tested in the UK courts. In 2007 the interpretation was finally rejected by the Law Lords, resulting in the government proposing new leglisation to tackle the perceived abuse.

S-45A

S-45A was an American satellite, which was lost in a launch failure in 1961. The satellite was intended to operate in a highly elliptical orbit, from which it was to have provided data on the shape of the ionosphere, and on the Earth's magnetic field. It was part of the Explorer programme, and would have been designated Explorer 12 had it reached orbit. It was the second of two identical satellites to be launched; the first, S-45, had also been lost in a launch failure, earlier in the year.

S-45A was launched aboard a Juno II rocket, serial number AM-19G. It was the final flight of the Juno II. The launch took place from Launch Complex 26B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 19:48:05 UTC on 24 May 1961. The system which was intended to ignite the second stage malfunctioned, and as a result that stage failed to ignite. The rocket failed to achieve orbit.

References

1N400x general-purpose diodes

The 1N4001 series (or 1N4000 series) is a family of popular 1.0 A (ampere) general-purpose silicon rectifier diodes commonly used in AC adapters for common household appliances. Blocking voltage varies from 50 to 1000 volts. This diode is made in an axial-lead DO-41 plastic package.

The 1N5400 series is a similarly popular series for higher current applications, up to 3 A. These diodes are typically available in the larger DO-201AD axial package to dissipate heat better.

Overview

These are fairly low-speed rectifier diodes, being inefficient for square waves of more than 15 kHz. The series was second sourced by many manufacturers. The 1N4000 series were in the Motorola Silicon Rectifier Handbook in 1966, as replacements for 1N2609 through 1N2617. The 1N5400 series were announced in Electrical Design News in 1968, along with the now lesser known 1.5 A 1N5391 series.

These devices are widely used and recommended.

The table below shows the maximum repetitive reverse blocking voltages of each of the members of the 1N4000 and 1N5400 series.