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[Virtual Physics]

number 01.             April 23, 1996

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a forum for virtual meetings of scientists and students involved in a research activity on:
THE SOLID STATE PHYSICS AND SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Editor: Dr. Zbigniew J. Koziol, webex@ra.isisnet.com, WebExperts Inc.
Virtual Physics URL address: http://www.isisnet.com/MAX/vp.html
Copyright(C) 1996 by Zbigniew Koziol.
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IN THIS ISSUE:

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
WORLD WIDE WEB PUBLISHING
as seeing by the Editor of Electronic Publishing News, American Institute of Physics
SCIENCE and THE PUBLIC
"YES" to POETRY ON THE INTERNET
from "Discussion of Polish Culture" list Poland-L@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
AN ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD FOR VIRTUAL MEETINGS
a new service available at Virtual Physics
MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR LOW COST CRYOCOOLERS
by Eric Samuelson, EIA Cryoelectronics Division
TWO POSITIONS OPENINGS IN AUSTRALIA
Professor S.X. Dou, University of Wollongong, N.S.W., Australia.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Readers of Virtual Physics,
This is the time when the shape if this, one of still very few electronic journals addressed to research students and scientists, is being formed. Most of you have received my first, introductory edition of Virtual Physics. For others, this is the first time that you can evaluate my work. I wish to thank for expressing interest in reading next issues of Virtual Physics, for comments which are very helpful and for contributions. I am happy that the interest in this kind of publication is indeed very large. At this moment, the distribution list contains more than 400 addresses. Between the subscribers, names of prominent scientists can be found. This is what encourages me to continue this work, and at the same time, imposes even larger requirements on its quality.

Please let me know as much as possible about your receiving Virtual Physics, about your expectations, and what should be changed there. Please send me materials which are related to the common problems of the community and the physics of superconductivity. I will continue to present views and information of general interest which has been published already on the Internet. However, I would prefer to see this journal, first of all, as a way for a quick communication of new research results, exchange of ideas and for open discussion of currently interesting research problems and social issues specific to the community.

In this edition, you may find an interesting article about www publishing at American Institute of Physics. My intention is to continue the subject and provide information about the development of www publishing at other large institutions world-wide that shape the science policy and public perception of science. The purpose of these articles is to present the current technological changes on the market and their impact on the science development to all of you who were either not interested till now in the subject or were unable to follow these trends of great importance due to technical difficulties. Please consider, for instance, that while in North America the using www and the internet become already an everyday custom common not only in academic circles, the internet communication in Europe is still far behind that found here, not mentioning less developed countries.

Perhaps you would like to read the article about relations between the science policy and public reception of science in the United States, published already at several places. The Editor of Virtual Physics is quite critical about the widely spread approach to this issue, presented there. This time, however, he will not comment the problem. Instead, receiving your opinions for presentation in this journal would be appreciated very much. Anyway, I think that this article gives a good feeling about the current trends in the American society.

Once, I found an interesting discussion about the place for poetry on the Internet. It is not an accident that I decide to present large portions of this discussion for your evaluation. The problem treated there concerns, in fact, the issue of the relation between humans and computers, the changes in reception of written text after it is received via terminal window, not on a piece of paper. Very exciting!

And, at the end ... some material more closely related to the physics of superconductivity. I do hope that with your cooperation this part of each issue of Virtual Physics will grow up considerably in size. I do encourage you to visit the web pages of Virtual Physics. Most of the materials available will be published by using both methods, e-mail and www. However, the web pages will be updated more frequently, and you will have a chance to find around other information related to superconductivity, as well.

Sincerely yours,
Zbigniew Koziol
The Editor of Virtual Physics

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WORLD WIDE WEB PUBLISHING
as seeing by Peggy Judd,
the Editor of Electronic Publishing News, American Institute of Physics

from Electronic Publishing News - December 1995
The importance of the World Wide Web continued to increase throughout 1995 and most of the emphasis was on the Web as the emerging international marketplace. Articles about the Internet and Web appear everywhere, including main stream publications that are delivered to households worldwide. So far, most of the articles talk about commercial uses for the Web: shopping, publishing, advertising, and entertainment. But recently, I have started to see different topics being discussed.

People are beginning to recognize that a technology this important and this pervasive will have a definite impact on social issues. Hence, seminars are being scheduled to discuss how the Internet will change the way we live and communicate and how we will react to these changes.

[ ... ] Some of our more significant electronic publishing initiatives and related accomplishments for the year appear below in summary form. Some of these efforts were discussed in detail in previous issues of this Newsletter.

    [ ... ]

  • Electronic Publishing Platform. AIP continued to move forward with efforts to offer online publications independent of an outside vendor. Netscape Communications software was installed to provide the capability of securely conducting commerce via the Internet/ Web, including the eventual exchange of credit card information. (Plans are underway to implement the Netscape Publishing System software early in 1996 to further enhance the capabilities of our planned publishing platform.)

  • Applied Physics Letters Online was successfully launched on 1 January 1995. This comprehensive, full-text, hyperlinked version of our prestigious print journal became the largest journal on the Web (end of December 1995) in terms of the number of articles available, or "pages" published online. At last count, over 2950 articles were available, dating back to October 1994 (and approximately 50 articles are loaded online each week). Usage appears to be growing steadily and comments that we have received about the online service have been positive.

  • CD-ROM Production was expanded to cover several new titles including The Journal of Chemical Physics. Plans for 1996 include at least two more journal CDs (one for a member society), several Conference Proceedings CD products, and a multimedia book project (Handbook of Acoustics). Based on the experience gained from working closely with CD-ROM vendors, a decision was reached to bring CD-ROM production in house. Our goal is to have a working production unit in place by early 1996 and to have all AIP journals available in CD-ROM format by 1997.

    [ ... ]

  • An SGML Database for SPIN (Searchable Physics Information Notices) was created, containing bibliographic records and abstracts covering the period from 1985 to the current date. Efforts are underway to convert earlier records which go back to 1972.
    These data will serve as an access point for future document delivery services with hyperlinks to the full digital page database resident in the publications archive. SPIN customers will begin receiving SGML data beginning January 1996.

  • Circulation and Fulfillment staff completed upgrades to both the fulfillment operations, enabling the incorporation of electronic publishing products (online journal, CDs), and the customer service function, by providing direct e-mail access for subscribers who need to talk to customer service.

  • Internet Publishing activities included implementing many new information services available on the Web (AIP Journal Catalog, Author Information Services, AIP Press Online Bookstore, Physics Careers Bulletin Board, and Exhibits Services). PINET (AIP's subscription-based information service) is scheduled to be available on the Web in January 1996. Development of this ``new'' service occurred in 1995 and included ensuring that all searchable databases were converted to work correctly with the various Web browsers.

[ ... ]

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SCIENCE and THE PUBLIC

republished after The Young Scientists' Network Digest, 29 March 1996 Number 1967
original article has been published in Washington Times 27, March 1996, A2
( The title is given by Editor of VP )

American science, threatened with a seven-year cut in federal funding, is wondering how to polish its image. Americans love the fruits of technology and place science next to medicine at the top of public trust surveys. But their eyes glaze over when technology policy debate begins. And scientists point to a growing anti-science movement that the legions in lab coats are ill prepared to combat in the arena of public opinion.

"In this environment, leadership from ... the science community requires a much more public and civic persona," says Neal Lane, National Science Foundation director, "Perhaps the public's lack of understanding says more about us than about them."

This was the counsel Mr. Lane gave in a keynote speech to the February gathering of the American Association of Science (AAAS).

"The public likes science, but do scientists like the public?" asked Mr. Lane, whose federal foundation disburses $3 billion annually for basic science. Its budget is 3 percent of all federal spending on research and development.

When science faces budget cuts or criticism, it only has a limited "attentive" public" to call on for support, says Jon D. Miller, a Chicago of Academy of Sciences officer who directs the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy.

"Nobody has ever been elected to congress on a scientific issue, or primarily for that," says Mr. Miller who polls public attitudes. Of course, he adds, science decisions are made by policy leaders - a group of about 5,000 that includes CEOs, university researchers, and up to 400 industry and science lobbies.

Only when this policy circle becomes internally divided, he says, do its players seek political support from the public. Such canvassing took place during the nuclear power debate and some science leaders suggest that a similar grass-roots, pro-science push is required now to back federal subsidies.

The budget this year keeps science funding roughly at past levels, but that will be cut by a third over seven years, the AAAS had estimated. Mr. Miller said only 15 percent of the public--27 million Americans--watch science and technology issues closely.

Scientists would like that attentive group to grow to a quarter or a third of the public. "You can be sure there's be a lot more policy debate," Mr. Miller said. "More democracy at work for science."

Mr. Lane believes more scientists should write in popular magazines or speak on radio and television. They should highlight science fairs, talk at Kiwanis Clubs--be a "civic scientist."

There's only one problem. "From their mother's knee, scientists have been taught to not be political," said Raymond Eve, a University of Texas sociologist who studies anti-science movements. "A few are, most aren't." That makes scientific literacy among Americana key to making them care, science leaders have said. But they see public attitudes eroding under some anti-science trends.

"American thought from the beginning has looked upon science as an activity connected benignly to progress and betterment of human life," says Gerald Holton, a physicist and science historian at Harvard University.
"Now, in recent years, there's been a challenge to that," he says. "It is a process of delegitimization and putting in its place a number of alternatives. This challenge to science is a loose confederation of different views."

Chief among them is the political side of the creationist movement. With a large voter base, it long has challenged the teaching of evolution in public school. Science groups argue that this intimidates and teaches creationism without critical thinking in students.
Furthermore, Mr. Holton says, the news media has played up exaggerated cases of science fraud that have tainted the entire field.
One poll by Mr. Miller found that while 80 percent of American believe scientists want to improve life for others, more than half the public also believe "many scientists make up or falsify research results to advance their careers or make money."
And in academic circles, new "postmodern" theories are predicting science's demise or condemning it as a political tool of powerful interest groups.
"Within academia, you'll have conferences organized not by scientists but by sociologists on topic like, 'Are we at the end of progress?'" Mr. Holton says.
Assaults from science have come from feminists, who see it as a patriarchal, rationalistic method used by men to keep power. Multiculturalists have called science racist or replaced its anthropological model models with new ones that highlight the superiority of non-white races.
The side effect is that the average citizen doesn't know what is real and what is unreal," Mr. Eve [sic] says.


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"YES" to POETRY ON THE INTERNET

from "Discussion of Polish Culture" list
Poland-L@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu, starting 12 Apr. 1996

Nobel Laureates Say "No" to Poetry on the Internet

MIAMI, April 10 (Reuter) - While many Americans are turning to the Internet for entertainment, business and communication, a group of Nobel Prize-winning poets said on Wednesday serious verse belongs in books, not cyberspace. [...]
Milosz said he used a computer to write some of his poems but did not believe poetry-lovers would search Web sites for poems rather than read them in books.

Darek Czarkowski, darek@fpa.ee.ufl.edu:

The big guys of poetry seem to be, putting it mildly, out of touch with reality. I still remember how refreshing it was during a whole day of dealing with symbols and numbers to take a peek at Usenet's rec.arts.poems. I don't have time to elaborate on this so let examples speak for themselves. From ancient era of the Internet, even before now almost extinct gophers populated the net and nobody imagined the present multimediality of the WWW, here is a piece by Marek Lugowski who, among other his poetic activities, translated and posted several tens of Halina Poswiatowska's poems.

[...]

P.S. I've just checked r.a.p. The group is still going great. Very low noise ratio.

Ted Morawski, pp000531@interramp.com:

I too was surprised by Milosz's statement. Especially since his own poetry is now more widely available thanks to the net; I heard audio renditions of his voice reading his own poetry from the Poniecki Berkeley server more than a year ago.

____Textpert Alert____, ianf@random.se:

Actually, the way I read Milosz, Walcott and Paz' statement (via Reuter) was not that they were against poems on the Internet as such, as that they reacted against the throwaway nature of screen-delivered text, thus also against such poetry. I believe that what they could have been talking about was the depth, ergo the quality of the _immersion_ when reading, that's clearly much shallower off the screen, than with easy-to-handle handborne paper volume.

There is another aspect of poetry in the digital age, that they didn't mention, but which may have had something to do with their expression of consensus: the changing nature of the metier... the new, hypertextual media impose their own set of requirements and restrictions on all types of creative writing, including the need to migrate from strictly-linear to a-linear, non-linear and multi-linear reasoning.

Tadeusz K. Gierymski, tkgierym@k-vector.chem.washington.edu:

Darek Czarkowski quotes Milosz and comments, with specific counterexamples of Internet places devoted to poetry.
[...]
I am not entirely certain, but I think that it was Milosz who, some years ago, explained at length why computer should not be used to write poetry. Yes, I am almost certain that it was Milosz.
He argued that sometimes he spent an entire day thinking of the right word, that he would let his mind work on it while he went for walks, letting the alternative gestate slowly, organically.
He made a point that the ease of deleting, inserting, shuffling and rearranging text on computer is not what a poet actually does. Or should try to do. I was, therefore, surprised to read that he "used a computer to write some of his poems," but not unpleasantly surprised.

Milosz may not be entirely wrong, though, that poetry lovers like to read poems "in books." I do. I like to have the tactile and olfactory associations of the book, of the printer's ink, of the knowledge that generations before me loved and protected a similar little volume, carried it around with them. I realize that all this is "extra- poetic," but I think Darek Czarkowski knows what I mean.

I wrote about, and quoted extensively from, Henryka Lazowertowna, and Darek probably knows that she too valued the pleasure of the ink's smell, and rejoiced in the pristine, I'm tempted to write, virginal, physicality of the book. She was poor and yet spent the money she could ill afford on books, because she did not like to borrow them from the library. Apart from having to wait for a book she eagerly wanted to read, she did not like to read books on which others have already left their physical imprint.

Milosz may not have thought of anything but of reading the poems. The crucial role computer plays in the critical exchange about one's own and other people's poems in the Internet groups Darek cited, he does not need and does not appreciate.
For people who are widely separated, whose life work and situation is unlike that of Milosz, it's a God-sent opportunity.

Ted Morawski, pp000531@interramp.com, commenting ____Textpert Alert____:

There is much merit to this sentiment. In a parallel post, Mr. Gierymski also considers some relative subjective factors traditionally ascribed to reception of poetry. I consider those in my response to him. In general agreement, I admit that people tend to place greater value on a product if it is physically attractive and costly to acquire. Hence beautifully bound and exquisitely printed books will always be more prized than a shoddy presentation of the same masterpiece. However. (Aye, pardon the eternal but.) The very important and perhaps undervalued (by the poets in question) potential benefit of the net is the increased ease of access to poetry by more people. Hopefully, this may create more poetry lovers, and I certainly wish - more poets.
A vision of my lit teacher's ghost smacking me in the ear with a heavy tome of verse scares me into mentioning his favorite rant. That poetry must always be read out loud and never fed to the brain by eyes only. If he was right, that may persuade the sound blaster people to subsidize young poets. I am of course a sinful pupil of that man's teachings, and I do fear being publicly viewed as a greater nut case than is unavoidably obvious. It is dangerous enough to be seen carrying a book of poetry in some places.

Now, Mr. Morawski writes about non-linear and multi-linear reasoning:

You raise an issue that to me is very interesting. Undoubtedly, the new tools afford new opportunities and challenges. Some will probably dispute my previous sentence, and we can expect that these developments will also produce much controversy. I am excited by all that. I suspect that good poets have always been well practiced in modes of reasoning other than linear. I am afraid that current older masters of poetic expression are distrustful of the new tools and dubious of their influence on technique. They are tried and trusted in the known, and no one knows much about the unknown.
Yet, humanity will continue to birth poets in the future, with the added novelty of perfection of new techniques. Some may already judge that sound and light shows are not poetry, but who knows what will develop when good poets inject their poetry with sound, light, and text dynamics as the directors and actors of their own poetic productions. No cause to fear that wishful dream, it will still be possible to loudly recite any bard's verses in a beautiful midsummer night’s dream.
I kind of suspect that you yourself may be blazing some new trails on that frontier.

Ted Morawski, pp000531@interramp.com, now, commenting Tadeusz K. Gierymski's posting:

Sitting upright by a computer keyboard with full recall of even the easiest (but not very textually relevant) commands may not be as conducive to composing poetry as a stroll through scenery and ambiance that stimulate both mind and heart. Reflecting then, one can always pull a pencil and jot expressions of impressions. True enough, but neither the pencil nor the computer is a necessary and sufficient condition.
I suppose that once the poem is embryonically or even maturely formed in the mind, the birth process of writing or dictating it may cause the author to cast a worried eye on the child. Is it malformed? Should I slap it in the butt? Do I have a good name for it? Someone surely has to wash this kid before the world sees it. Here it might be useful to use a computer. Need a better synonym, homonym, antonym, or syllabic count? Were all good poets always above using dictionaries, thesauri, handbooks, and other printed guides to language? Is writing poetry similar to the game of scrabble where external reference is cheating? The problem of finding a good rhyme (if so inclined) can be attacked more easily by a computer. Use a good soundex algorithm and seek, seek till ye wouldst find; quicker through the deviltry of yon infernal machine. Who said it's cheating? The computer is still too stupid to decide for you what you in the end pick.
Critics may say that such methods may result in limericks akin to poetry like commercial illustration is akin to artistic painting. Even if good poets use such help? Why?
The problem I myself have with what I wrote is that there were some good poets who wrote beautifully on the spot, first shot, no correction needed, consistently, and on almost any topic randomly requested. I don't see how a computer could help such a person. I can easily "suspicion" how the gadget could harm that kind of talent.

Sentimental associations are personal even though many individuals sometimes share similar connotations through similarity of surroundings. That kind of thing is subject to time and space diversity. How many people today associate the smell of apples stored through winter with literature? Transitory experiences. Today some people may sentimentally bond good readings with the warmth of paper and smell of toner attendant to poems ornately printed on their laser printer after pulldown from the net. OK. It is a little far fetched. I happen to love the musty smell of old books. :)

Piotr Wnukowski, piotr@chemeng.kth.se:

I must admit that I was really perplexed by the statement of Milosz. Who, if not him who carries the torch of his Countryman should remind us of the Master's early dream of the global village:

[ ... ] (I omit the text from Adam Mickiewicz poetry; its in Polish)

In not so distant future, and already for few, the Master's dream is to come true. The spinning wheel is sleeping behind a web on a dusty attic, but a joyful company after a disco-polo show in a fire-squad station, on their return home unbounds a web that is world-wide.

By some few strokes on a keyboard, the world of poetry opens on the screen of an appliance that costs less than a vespa-scooter. They can travel in space and time, listening to the voice of a poet while sitting on a neck of the goose, sailing over distant landscapes in the wonderful virtual world of multimedial INTERNET. Reading books the keeper of the nearest bookstore never heard of, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before...

Isn't a wonderful world we live in? And isn't a wonderful time to live now?

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AN ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD FOR VIRTUAL MEETINGS

a new service available at Virtual Physics WWW site
Virtual Bulletin Board is a WWW page where you may place information which is available for browsing by others interested in physics, and superconductivity in particular. We consider several ways of using it in the future. It is most likely that posting messages there will be available for members of the Virtual Physics club only (subscribers to the mailing list). Other options will be considered as well. In particular, it is possible to create virtual boards with access available for a closed number of users with the purpose of carrying out on-line live conferences. We would not be able to implement the full security but we think that a negligible chance of invigilence justifies the use this method of communication in many cases.

As for now, we invite you to submit materials for publishing there. The range of possible topics is broad: announcement about new jobs, conferences, books, commercial information, if related to superconductivity, discussions on various scientific subjects. The Editor of Virtual Physics is ready to help you in placing not only text but graphics as well. That can be done in two ways: either a graphics file is send to Virtual Physics and than placed at the www site (you can send also by mail drawings or printed figures and we are likely to perform scanning - please contact the Editor in such case) or a link is made in html code to a graphics file at your site.

Some of the information from the Virtual Board will be published in an e-mail version of Virtual Physics. Any information submitted to Virtual Board will be subject to the acceptance for publishing by the Editor.

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MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR LOW COST CRYOCOOLERS

Eric Samuelson, EIA Cryoelectronics Division
Received: April 9, 1996

Arlington, VA--The Electronic Industries Association's Industrial Electronics Group (EIA/IEG) has made available the proceedings of a recent industry meeting on Military and Commercial Applications for Low Cost Cryocoolers (M-CALC) in San Diego, CA on January 31 and February 1, 1996.

The M-CALC meeting was attended by over 100 cryocooler vendors, users, and integrators from throughout the world. Speakers included 16 cryocooler manufacturers and 8 cryocooler users. Meeting presentations dealt exclusively with single stage cryocooler technology (60K cooling temperatures and higher to address cooled CMOS and high temperature superconductivity [HTS]).

Several of the meeting highlights were as follows:

  • NCR's projections for cooled computing included a 1% market penetration. To cool high-end processors which cost $1200, cooler cost must be under $400 and allow speed to increase by at least 30%. Another feature for coolers in this market would be the ability to repair or replaced the unit within a 30 minute allowed maintenance time.
  • MMR has demonstrated an 90K, 5 watt cooler using mixed gas and a commercial refrigerator compressor for cooled CMOS. The expected cost is $200-$400.
  • Hughes is developing a modified, lower cost version of their linear tactical cooler with a pulse tube cold end and a design point of 4 watts at 70K.
  • Hymatic has licensed flexure bearing technology from Oxford University (England) and is currently in a 50 unit fabrication run, their expected price will be $6,000 per cooler.
  • Cryogen, a start-up venture capital firm for cryosurgery estimates a 100, 000 unit annual market in cryocatheters for surgical applications in the near future.
Proceedings of the M-CALC meeting can be obtained for $95 by contacting Eric Samuelson at EIA, phone: 703/907-7546 or e-mail: cryo@eia.org

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TWO POSITIONS OPENINGS IN AUSTRALIA

Professor S.X. Dou, University of Wollongong, N.S.W., Australia;
Received: April 14, 1996

I have got an ARC Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (ARC IREF) fund to purchase a Physical Properties Measurement System(PPMS) by Quantum Design. PPMS can do 3 types of measurements operated at 4-300K with field up to 9T. It is a very powerful equipment. Within this fund there is one fellowship to operate and manage the PPMS. If you are familiar with the equipment and helium recovery system which was set up for operation of this equipment and are interested in this position please let me know.
This is a one year offer.

Also Prof. C. Cook and me have got a scholarship of $15,400 per year for next 3 years on the project of application of HTSC tapes in electrical engineering system.

Please contact Professor S.X. Dou for further details:
e-mail: s.dou@uow.edu.au.

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Virtual Physics

a forum for virtual meetings of scientists and students involved in a research activity on:
THE SOLID STATE PHYSICS AND SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

available for a free subscription in an e-mail version. To subscribe: send a request to the Editor.

Editor: Dr Zbigniew J.Koziol, webex@ra.isisnet.com, WebExperts Inc.,
2-6032 Compton Ave., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 1E7 Canada, tel. (902) 423 2149
Virtual Physics URL address: http://www.isisnet.com/MAX/vp.html
To subscribe a F R E E e-mail version or submit materials for publication, write to the Editor.
Copyright(C) 1996 by Zbigniew Koziol.
this copyright notice concerns the whole of the Virtual Physics edition but not specific articles published there which are property of their respective copyrightholders
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any damage to persons or property as a matter of the product liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of methods, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editor and certainly they have nothing to do with WebEperts Inc.
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