Portal:Electronics/Selected article

Selected article 1

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/1

Ohm's law states that, in an electrical circuit, the current passing through a conductor, from one terminal point to another, is directly proportional to the potential difference (i.e. voltage drop or voltage) across the two terminal points and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor between the two terminal points. The SI unit of current is the ampere; that of potential difference is the volt; and that of resistance is the ohm, equal to one volt per ampere.

In mathematical terms, this is written as:

$I={\frac {V}{R}}$,

where I is the current, V is the potential difference, and R is a constant called the resistance.

Selected article 2

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/2 Joule's laws are a set of two laws concerning the heat produced by a current and the energy dependence of an ideal gas to that of pressure, volume, and temperature, respecetively. Joule's first law, also known as the Joule effect, is a physical law expressing the relationship between the heat generated by the current flowing through a conductor. The heating effect of conductors carrying currents is known as Joule heating, named for James Prescott Joule. It is expressed as:

$Q=I^{2}\cdot R\cdot t$

Where Q is the heat generated by a constant current I flowing through a conductor of electrical resistance R, for a time t.

Joule's second law states that the internal energy of an ideal gas is independent of its volume and pressure, depending only its temperature.

Selected article 3

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/3

Electrical resistance is a measure of the degree to which an object opposes the passage of an electric current. The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm. Its reciprocal quantity is electrical conductance measured in siemens. The quantity of resistance in an electric circuit determines the amount of current flowing in the circuit for any given voltage applied to the circuit.

$R={\frac {V}{I}}$

where;R is the resistance of the object, usually measured in ohms, equivalent to J·s/C², V is the potential difference across the object, usually measured in volts, I is the current passing through the object, usually measured in amperes. For a wide variety of materials and conditions, the electrical resistance does not depend on the amount of current flowing or the amount of applied voltage. V can either be measured directly across the object or calculated from a subtraction of voltages relative to a reference point.

Selected article 4

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/4

Mainframes are computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as census, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and financial transaction processing.

The term originated during the early years of computing and referred to the large mechanical assembly that held the central processor and input/output complex. Later the term was used to distinguish high-end commercial machines from less powerful units which were often contained in smaller packages. Today, this term refers primarily to IBM System z9 mainframes, the lineal descendants of the System/360, but it is also used for the lineal descendents of the Burroughs large systems and the UNIVAC 1100/2200 series mainframes.

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	PNP
	NPN

A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor. It is a three-terminal device constructed of doped semiconductor material and may be used in amplifying or switching applications. Bipolar transistors are so named because their operation involves both electrons and holes. Although a small part of the base–emitter current is carried by the majority carriers, the main current is carried by minority carriers in the base, and so BJTs are classified as 'minority-carrier' devices.

The bipolar (point-contact) transistor was invented in December 1947 at the Bell Telephone Laboratories by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain under the direction of William Shockley. The junction version was invented by Shockley in 1951.

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/6 Semiconductor devices are electronic components that exploit the electronic properties of semiconductor materials, principally silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide. Semiconductor devices have replaced thermionic devices (vacuum tubes) in most applications. They use electronic conduction in the solid state as opposed to the gaseous state or thermionic emission in a high vacuum. The main reason semiconductor materials are so useful is that the behaviour of a semiconductor can be easily manipulated by the addition of impurities, known as doping. Semiconductor conductivity can be controlled by introduction of an electric field, by exposure to light, and even pressure and heat; thus, semiconductors can make excellent sensors.

Semiconductor devices are manufactured both as single discrete devices and as integrated circuits (ICs), which consist of a number—from a few to millions—of devices manufactured and interconnected on a single semiconductor substrate.

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/7

Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field; a field encompassing all of space which exerts a force on particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of those particles. The magnetic field is produced by the motion of electric charges, i.e. electric current. The magnetic field causes the magnetic force associated with magnets.

The term "electromagnetism" comes from the fact that electrical and magnetic forces are involved simultaneously. A changing magnetic field produces an electric current (this is the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, which provides for the operation of electrical generators, induction motors, and transformers). Similarly, a changing electric field generates a magnetic field. Because of this interdependence of the electric and magnetic fields, it makes sense to consider them as a single coherent entity — the electromagnetic field.

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/8 Capacitance is a measure of the amount of electric charge stored (or separated) for a given electric potential. The capacitance of the majority of capacitors used in electronic circuits is several orders of magnitude smaller than the farad. The energy (measured in joules) stored in a capacitor is equal to the work done to charge it.

$C={\frac {Q}{V}}$

In a capacitor, there are two conducting electrodes which are insulated from one another. The charge on the electrodes is +Q and -Q, and V represents the potential difference between the electrodes. The SI unit of capacitance is the farad; 1 farad = 1 coulomb per volt.

$C=\epsilon {\frac {A}{d}}$

The capacitance can be calculated if the geometry of the conductors and the dielectric properties of the insulator between the conductors are known, such as above, where; C is the capacitance in farads, ε is the permittivity of the insulator used (or ε₀ for a vacuum), A is the area of each plane electrode in square metres, d is the separation between the electrodes in metres. The equation is a good approximation if d is small compared to the other dimensions of the electrodes.

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/9 Inductance is a measure of the amount of magnetic flux produced for a given electric current. The term was coined by Oliver Heaviside in February 1886. The SI unit of inductance is the henry (symbol: H), in honour of Joseph Henry. The symbol L is used for inductance, possibly in honour of the physicist Heinrich Lenz.

The inductance has the following relationship:

$L={\frac {\Phi }{i}}$

where; L is the inductance in henrys, i is the current in amperes, Φ is the magnetic flux in webers. Strictly speaking, the quantity just defined is called self-inductance, because the magnetic field is created solely by the conductor that carries the current.

When a conductor is coiled upon itself N number of times around the same axis (forming a solenoid), the current required to produce a given amount of flux is reduced by a factor of N compared to a single turn of wire. Thus, the inductance of a coil of wire of N turns is given by:

$L={\frac {\lambda }{i}}=N{\frac {\Phi }{i}}$

where, $\lambda$ is the total 'flux linkage'.

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In electromagnetics and communications engineering, the term waveguide may refer to any linear structure that guides electromagnetic waves. However, the original and most common meaning is a hollow metal pipe used for this purpose.

A dielectric waveguide employs a solid dielectric rod rather than a hollow pipe. An optical fibre is a dielectric guide designed to work at optical frequencies. Transmission lines such as microstrip, coplanar waveguide, stripline or coax may also be considered to be waveguides.

The electromagnetic waves in (metal-pipe) waveguide may be imagined as travelling down the guide in a zig-zag path, being repeatedly reflected between opposite walls of the guide. For the particular case of rectangular waveguide, it is possible to base an exact analysis on this view. Propagation in dielectric waveguide may be viewed in the same way, with the waves confined to the dielectric by total internal reflection at its surface.

Selected article 11

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/11

Diode

Triode

In electronics, a vacuum tube or thermionic valve, is a device generally used to amplify, switch or otherwise modify, a signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space.

For most purposes, the vacuum tube has been replaced by the much smaller, less power-hungry, and less expensive transistor, either as a discrete device or in an integrated circuit. However, tubes are still used in specialized applications, such as in high-end audio systems and high power RF transmitters. Cathode ray tubes are still used as a display device in television sets and computer monitors (although they face serious competition from LCD and plasma displays), and magnetrons are the source of microwaves in microwave ovens.

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In science and technology, a battery is a device that stores chemical energy and makes it available in an electrical form. Batteries consist of electrochemical devices such as two or more galvanic cells, fuel cells or flow cells. The modern development of batteries started with the Voltaic pile, announced by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800.

Formally, an electrical "battery" is an interconnected array of similar voltaic cells ("cells"). However, in many contexts (other than the expression dry cell) it is common to call a single cell used on its own a battery. A battery is a device in which chemical energy is directly converted to electrical energy. It consists of one or more voltaic cells, each of which is composed of two half cells connected in series by the conductive electrolyte.

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/13 In physics, Coulomb's law is an inverse-square law indicating the magnitude and direction of electrostatic force that one stationary, electrically charged object of small dimensions exerts on another. It is named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb who used a torsion balance to establish it.

The magnitude of the electrostatic force between two point charges is directly proportional to the magnitudes of each charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the charges.

For calculating the direction and magnitude of the force simultaneously, one will wish to consult the full vector version of the Law

${\vec {F}}={\frac {1}{4\pi \epsilon _{0}}}{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{|{\vec {r}}|^{3}}}{\vec {r}}={\frac {1}{4\pi \epsilon _{0}}}{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{|{\vec {r}}|^{2}}}{\hat {r}}$

where ${\vec {F}}$ is the electrostatic force vector, $q_{1}$ is the charge on which the force acts, $q_{2}$ is the acting charge, ${\vec {r}}={\vec {r_{1}}}-{\vec {r_{2}}}$ is the distance vector between the two charges, ${\vec {r_{1}}}\$ is position vector of $q_{1}$, ${\vec {r_{2}}}\$ is position vector of $q_{2}$, ${\hat {r}}$ is a unit vector pointing in the direction of ${\vec {r}}$, and $\epsilon _{0}$ is a constant called the permittivity of free space.

This vector equation indicates that opposite charges attract, and like charges repel. When $q_{1}q_{2}\$ is negative, the force is attractive. When positive, the force is repulsive.

Selected article 14

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/14

An antenna or aerial is an arrangement of aerial electrical conductors designed to transmit or receive radio waves which is a class of electromagnetic waves. In other words, antennas basically convert radio frequency electrical currents into electromagnetic waves and vice versa. Antennas are used in systems such as radio and television broadcasting, point-to-point radio communication, radar, and space exploration. Antennas usually work in air or outer space, but can also be operated under water or even through soil and rock at certain frequencies for short distances.

Physically, an antenna is an arrangement of conductors that generate a radiating electromagnetic field in response to an applied alternating voltage and the associated alternating electric current, or can be placed in an electromagnetic field so that the field will induce an alternating current in the antenna and a voltage between its terminals. Some antenna devices (parabola, horn antenna) just adapt the free space to another type of antenna.

Selected article 15

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/15

A LASER (acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is an optical source that emits photons in a coherent beam. The term has since entered the English language as a standard word, laser, losing the capitalization in the process. The back-formed verb lase means "to produce laser light" or "to apply laser light to".

Laser light is typically near-monochromatic, i.e., consisting of a single wavelength or color, and emitted in a narrow beam. This contrasts with common light sources, such as the incandescent light bulb, which emit incoherent photons in almost all directions, usually over a wide spectrum of wavelengths. Laser action is explained by the theories of quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. Many materials have been found to have the required characteristics to form the laser gain medium needed to power a laser, and these have led to the invention of many types of lasers with different characteristics suitable for different applications.

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An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power of a signal. An idealized amplifier can be said to be "a piece of wire with gain", as the output is an exact replica of the input, but larger. It does this by taking power from a power supply and controlling the output to match the input signal shape but with a larger amplitude, in this sense an amplifier may be considered as modulating the output of the power supply.

Real world amplifiers are not ideal and this control is thus imperfect. One consequence is that the power supply itself may influence the output, and must itself be considered when designing the amplifier. The amplifier circuit has an "open loop" performance, that can be described by various parameters. The majority of modern amplifiers apply some negative feedback to form a control loop surrounding the gain stage itself.

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/17

A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household appliance up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city.

Magnetic circuit breakers are implemented using a solenoid (electromagnet) whose pulling force increases with the current. The circuit breaker's contacts are held closed by a latch and, as the current in the solenoid increases beyond the rating of the circuit breaker, the solenoid's pull releases the latch which then allows the contacts to open by spring action.

Selected article 18

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/18

Electrical engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century with the commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical power supply. The field now covers a range of sub-disciplines including those that deal with power, optoelectronics, digital electronics, analog electronics, computer science, artificial intelligence, control systems, electronics, signal processing and telecommunications.

The term electrical engineering may or may not encompass electronic engineering. Where a distinction is made, electrical engineering is considered to deal with the problems associated with large-scale electrical systems such as power transmission and motor control, whereas electronic engineering deals with the study of small-scale electronic systems including computers and integrated circuits.

Selected article 19

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/19

The μA741, a popular early integrated op amp

An operational amplifier (often op amp or opamp) is a DC-coupled electronic voltage amplifier with a differential input, a (usually) single-ended output, and an extremely high gain. Its name comes from its original use of performing mathematical operations in analog computers.

By using negative feedback, an op amp circuit's characteristics (e.g. its gain, input and output impedance, bandwidth, and functionality) can be determined by external components and have little dependence on temperature coefficients or engineering tolerance in the op amp itself. This flexibility has made the op amp a popular building block in analog circuits. (Full article...)

Selected article 20

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/20

Many e-readers, devices meant to replace traditional books, utilize electronic paper for their displays in order to further resemble paper books; one such example is the Kindle series by Amazon.

Electronic paper or intelligent paper, is a display device that reflects ambient light, mimicking the appearance of ordinary ink on paper – unlike conventional flat-panel displays which need additional energy to emit their own light. This may make them more comfortable to read, and provide a wider viewing angle than most light-emitting displays. The contrast ratio in electronic displays available as of 2008 approaches newspaper, and newly developed displays are slightly better. An ideal e-paper display can be read in direct sunlight without the image appearing to fade.

Technologies include Gyricon, electrophoretics, electrowetting, interferometry, and plasmonics. Many electronic paper technologies hold static text and images indefinitely without electricity. Flexible electronic paper uses plastic substrates and plastic electronics for the display backplane. Applications of e-paper include electronic shelf labels and digital signage, bus station time tables, electronic billboards, smartphone displays, and e-readers able to display digital versions of books and magazines. (Full article...)

Selected article 21

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/21

A low-noise block converter with distributed elements. The circuitry on the right is lumped elements. The distributed-element circuitry is centre and left of centre, and is constructed in microstrip.

Distributed-element circuits are electrical circuits composed of lengths of transmission lines or other distributed components. These circuits perform the same functions as conventional circuits composed of passive components, such as capacitors, inductors, and transformers. They are used mostly at microwave frequencies, where conventional components are difficult (or impossible) to implement.

Conventional circuits consist of individual components manufactured separately then connected together with a conducting medium. Distributed-element circuits are built by forming the medium itself into specific patterns. A major advantage of distributed-element circuits is that they can be produced cheaply as a printed circuit board for consumer products, such as satellite television. They are also made in coaxial and waveguide formats for applications such as radar, satellite communication, and microwave links. (Full article...)

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Portal:Electronics/Selected article/22 A distributed-element filter is an electronic filter in which capacitance, inductance, and resistance (the elements of the circuit) are not localised in discrete capacitors, inductors, and resistors as they are in conventional filters. Its purpose is to allow a range of signal frequencies to pass, but to block others. Conventional filters are constructed from inductors and capacitors, and the circuits so built are described by the lumped element model, which considers each element to be "lumped together" at one place. That model is conceptually simple, but it becomes increasingly unreliable as the frequency of the signal increases, or equivalently as the wavelength decreases. The distributed-element model applies at all frequencies, and is used in transmission-line theory; many distributed-element components are made of short lengths of transmission line. In the distributed view of circuits, the elements are distributed along the length of conductors and are inextricably mixed together. The filter design is usually concerned only with inductance and capacitance, but because of this mixing of elements they cannot be treated as separate "lumped" capacitors and inductors. There is no precise frequency above which distributed element filters must be used but they are especially associated with the microwave band (wavelength less than one metre).

Distributed-element filters are used in many of the same applications as lumped element filters, such as selectivity of radio channel, bandlimiting of noise and multiplexing of many signals into one channel. Distributed-element filters may be constructed to have any of the bandforms possible with lumped elements (low-pass, band-pass, etc.) with the exception of high-pass, which is usually only approximated. All filter classes used in lumped element designs (Butterworth, Chebyshev, etc.) can be implemented using a distributed-element approach. (Full article...)

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Figure 1. A mechanical filter made by the Kokusai Electric Company intended for selecting the narrow 2 kHz bandwidth signals in SSB radio receivers. It operates at 455 kHz, a common IF for these receivers, and is dimensioned 45 mm × 15 mm × 15 mm (1.77 in × 0.59 in × 0.59 in).

A mechanical filter is a signal processing filter usually used in place of an electronic filter at radio frequencies. Its purpose is the same as that of a normal electronic filter: to pass a range of signal frequencies, but to block others. The filter acts on mechanical vibrations which are the analogue of the electrical signal. At the input and output of the filter, transducers convert the electrical signal into, and then back from, these mechanical vibrations.

The components of a mechanical filter are all directly analogous to the various elements found in electrical circuits. The mechanical elements obey mathematical functions which are identical to their corresponding electrical elements. This makes it possible to apply electrical network analysis and filter design methods to mechanical filters. Electrical theory has developed a large library of mathematical forms that produce useful filter frequency responses and the mechanical filter designer is able to make direct use of these. It is only necessary to set the mechanical components to appropriate values to produce a filter with an identical response to the electrical counterpart. (Full article...)

Selected article 24

Portal:Electronics/Selected article/24

Printed circuit planar transmission lines used to create filters in a 20 GHz spectrum analyser. The structure on the left is called a hairpin filter and is an example of a band-pass filter. The structure on the right is a stub filter and is a low-pass filter. The perforated regions above and below are not transmission lines, but electromagnetic shielding for the circuit.

Planar transmission lines are transmission lines with conductors, or in some cases dielectric (insulating) strips, that are flat, ribbon-shaped lines. They are used to interconnect components on printed circuits and integrated circuits working at microwave frequencies because the planar type fits in well with the manufacturing methods for these components. Transmission lines are more than simply interconnections. With simple interconnections, the propagation of the electromagnetic wave along the wire is fast enough to be considered instantaneous, and the voltages at each end of the wire can be considered identical. If the wire is longer than a large fraction of a wavelength (one tenth is often used as a rule of thumb), these assumptions are no longer true and transmission line theory must be used instead. With transmission lines, the geometry of the line is precisely controlled (in most cases, the cross-section is kept constant along the length) so that its electrical behaviour is highly predictable. At lower frequencies, these considerations are only necessary for the cables connecting different pieces of equipment, but at microwave frequencies the distance at which transmission line theory becomes necessary is measured in millimetres. Hence, transmission lines are needed within circuits.

The earliest type of planar transmission line was conceived during World War II by Robert M. Barrett. It is known as stripline, and is one of the four main types in modern use, along with microstrip, suspended stripline, and coplanar waveguide. All four of these types consist of a pair of conductors (although in three of them, one of these conductors is the ground plane). Consequently, they have a dominant mode of transmission (the mode is the field pattern of the electromagnetic wave) that is identical, or near-identical, to the mode found in a pair of wires. Other planar types of transmission line, such as slotline, finline, and imageline, transmit along a strip of dielectric, and substrate-integrated waveguide forms a dielectric waveguide within the substrate with rows of posts. These types cannot support the same mode as a pair of wires, and consequently they have different transmission properties. Many of these types have a narrower bandwidth and in general produce more signal distortion than pairs of conductors. Their advantages depend on the exact types being compared, but can include low loss and a better range of characteristic impedance. (Full article...)

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Figure 1. Waveguide post filter: a band-pass filter consisting of a length of WG15 (a standard waveguide size for X band use) divided into a row of five coupled resonant cavities by fences of three posts each. The ends of the posts can be seen protruding through the wall of the guide.

A waveguide filter is an electronic filter constructed with waveguide technology. Waveguides are hollow metal conduits inside which an electromagnetic wave may be transmitted. Filters are devices used to allow signals at some frequencies to pass (the passband), while others are rejected (the stopband). Filters are a basic component of electronic engineering designs and have numerous applications. These include selection of signals and limitation of noise. Waveguide filters are most useful in the microwave band of frequencies, where they are a convenient size and have low loss. Examples of microwave filter use are found in satellite communications, telephone networks, and television broadcasting.

Waveguide filters were developed during World War II to meet the needs of radar and electronic countermeasures, but afterwards soon found civilian applications such as use in microwave links. Much of post-war development was concerned with reducing the bulk and weight of these filters, first by using new analysis techniques that led to elimination of unnecessary components, then by innovations such as dual-mode cavities and novel materials such as ceramic resonators. (Full article...)

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Group Captain "Paddy" Green achieved most of his 11 confirmed kills in this Mk. IV-equipped Beaufighter.

Radar, Aircraft Interception, Mark IV (AI Mk. IV), also produced in the USA as SCR-540, was the world's first operational air-to-air radar system. Early Mk. III units appeared in July 1940 on converted Bristol Blenheim light bombers, while the definitive Mk. IV reached widespread availability on the Bristol Beaufighter heavy fighter by early 1941. On the Beaufighter, the Mk. IV arguably played a role in ending the Blitz, the Luftwaffe's night bombing campaign of late 1940 and early 1941.

Early development was prompted by a 1936 memo from Henry Tizard on the topic of night fighting. The memo was sent to Robert Watson-Watt, director of the radar research efforts, who agreed to allow physicist Edward George "Taffy" Bowen to form a team to study the problem of air interception. The team had a test bed system in flights later that year, but progress was delayed for four years by emergency relocations, three abandoned production designs and Bowen's increasingly adversarial relationship with Watt's replacement, Albert Rowe. Ultimately, Bowen was forced from the team just as the system was finally maturing. (Full article...)

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Suggestions

Is there an electronics-related article good enough? Please post you suggestions below to let your voice be heard.

Procedure

The nomination process here is relaxed, but articles that meet the featured article or good article requirements are more likely to gain support.

Nominating articles

1. Find an article related to electronics that you think is very good. It need not be a current Featured Article or Good article, but if it is, it could only help the nomination.
   • If the article was previously nominated for featured status, or if it has been on peer review, try to resolve as many of the remaining objections as possible.
2. In the nominations section below, add a third level section header with the linked page title as the section name (===[[Page title]]===). Below this new header, add your reasons for nomination and sign your nomination with ~~~~.

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• If you approve of an article, write "Support" followed by your reasons.
  • A nomination is considered a vote in support, so nominators don't need to add another vote to their nominations.
• If you oppose a nomination, write "Oppose" followed by the reasons for your objection. Where possible, objections should provide a specific rationale that can be addressed.
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