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Section 8.3

Colons

Use colons for the following purposes:


To set off and emphasize lists

The market for photovoltaic power systems includes the following items: intrusion alarms, flood monitors, calculators, and telephone call boxes.


or


The market for photovoltaic power systems includes the following items:

Anyone communicating via computer needs a security system that ensures three essential requirements: confidentiality, authentication, and trust.


or


Anyone communicating via computer needs a security system that ensures three essential requirements:

(Begin each element of lists, series, or phrases with lowercase letters.)


To set off and emphasize quotations

The contract reads: "DL-400 coaxial cable shall be used for all platform instrument installations at Site 5, unless a specific exception is justified in the approved work order."

Kulik noted: "Even potatoes are probably much better guarded today than radioactive materials."

--Phil Williams, and Paul N. Woessner, "The Real Threat of Nuclear Smuggling," Scientific American


(Place colons outside quotation marks.)


To set off and emphasize explanations and appositional elements

In designing the tachometer, the team first posed a question: What operations are needed on the input signal in order to generate the desired output?

The projects have, however, been able to measure the effects of caloric restriction on so-called biomarkers of aging: attributes that generally change with age and may help predict the future span of health or life.

--Richard Weindruch, "Caloric Restriction and Aging," Scientific American

This system currently operates in a strictly one-sided fashion: the machine makes sure the person who inserted the card is its legitimate owner by asking for a secret password, but the cardholder must blindly trust that the machine has not been tampered with.

While thinking about this problem, we were reminded of an access-control system with similar demands that is used successfully worldwide on a daily basis: passports.

--Thomas Beth, "Confidential Communication on the Internet," Scientific American

To express ratios

The ratio of drag torque to bearing friction torque cannot exceed 3:1.

The anti-GAP 43, anti-MAP 2, and anti-synaptophysin antibodies were diluted 1:1000, 1:300, and 1:100, respectively, in phosphate-buffered saline containing 10% bovine serum albumin.

--Andreas Schwarz et al., "A Regulatory Role for Sphingolipids in Neuronal Growth," Journal of Chemical Biology

To separate units of time

The main thruster engines ignited at at 7:05 a.m. EDT.

Thu Mar 16 03:21:44 1995

To separate elements in a citation (in certain documentation styles)

E. F. Lyon, "Airport Surface Traffic Automation," Lincoln Laboratory Journal 4:151 (1991).


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