Thursday, October 31, 2019

Art as a way to creatively call attention to social issues Essay

Art as a way to creatively call attention to social issues - Essay Example Evolution of technology has had positive impact on artistic values in society and in aesthetics. In his essay â€Å"The Art of Collecting Light bulbs,† Kimmelman (2005) exposes characteristics and qualities contained in art making such as being ubiquitous and converting uselessness into an asset. However, as Restak (2004) explains in his essay â€Å"Attention Deficit: Brain Syndrome of our Era,† technology serves not only as an ally but also as a distraction to our daily activities. For instance in the summer of 2003, e-mails from themobproject@yahoo.com began to circulate inviting people to convene in a public place so as to take part in a random act with the sole purpose of confusing others (Bill 2003). The first successful mob took place in New York Macy where hundreds of people entered the store in search of a â€Å"love rug.† After that about two hundred people flooded the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel in synchronized applause for about fifteen seconds, and the next shoe boutique in SoHo was invaded by participants pretending to be tourists on a bus trip (Bill 2003). These activities provide the viewers with a sense of wonderment which heightens people’s curiosity and help them become aware of their surroundings. Moreover Restak states that ADD and ADHD is not actually a state of mental condition but merely a new state of cognition. Boredom arises when the brain attempts to account for incredible amounts of information available to us through technology and is simply overwhelmed. This causes the brain to develop differently in order to successfully understand everything that modern human expose themselves to, hence a way of thinking that certainly is an unprecedented change in cognition. This partially stems from multitasking which is a mechanism that humans have developed in response to suddenly having a much higher amount of distractions in comparison to just a few decades ago. Technology and modern art have

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Three Most Important Parts of .NET Platform Essay Example for Free

The Three Most Important Parts of .NET Platform Essay â€Å"The . NET Framework is an integral Windows component that supports building and running the next generation of applications and XML Web services. † (MSDN) The objectives of the . NET framework include providing a consistent environment for local and remote execution, minimizing deployment and versioning conflicts, ensuring consistent performance across Windows and Web based applications, and promoting industry standard code that easily integrates with any other code. The three key parts in the . NET framework that make these possible are: ? Common Language Runtime ? Base Class Library ? Assemblies Parts of the . NET Framework Common Language Runtime The Common Language Runtime (CLR) manages systems services such as memory management, code execution, compilation, and code safety verification. The CLR is at the heart of interoperability by providing a common environment for different codes to run. â€Å"The incorporation of ‘language’ features into a common language runtime, rather than a particular language, allows languages to freely interoperate within the overall . NET platform. † (Sessions) The CLR provides a secure and robust environment for execution, multi-language support, simplified development and deployment. To provide the required functionality, the CLR provides cross-language integration, cross-language exception handling, support for different versions, deployment support, and debugging and profiling services. (MSDN) One of the major strides that has been made with the introduction of the . NET platform is the feature of language independence. This means that any . NET-enabled language can be used to create code, and can be integrated with other parts of the program. This functionality is achieved by . NET through the use of an Intermediate Language into which all source codes are converted to provide a common basis for execution. The CLR employs a Just-In-Time compilation (JIT) process that includes only those parts of the code that are required at runtime to be compiled. The JIT includes a feature of caching that allows it to re-use code that is used more than once within a program, making the process faster and more efficient. (Evjen et al. 8) The CLR uses metadata that keeps track of the types, members and references within the code. All common runtime executable versions contain the metadata, which tells the program where to look for classes and helps if to manage memory, enforce security and generate native code. The CLR makes it possible to share classes and methods across languages, using a common type system that is defined during runtime. (Evjen et al. 9) The metadata enables the code to run as â€Å"managed code†, which runs under the CLR following the rules set by it. This ensures that the services mentioned earlier such as code-access security, lifetime control of objects and memory management, and cross-language integration of code can be provided by the CLR. From the above it can be seen that the Common Language Runtime is basic to some of the major breakthroughs in the . NET environment, and is therefore, a very important part of it. Base Class Library The second major part of the . NET framework is the Base Class Library. The Base Class Library contains classes and types that expedite the development process, as well as allow the sharing of these, to provide easy and common means for accessing system functionality, and execute common tasks. The . NET types conform to Common Language Specifications that apply to all . NET enabled languages. This makes it possible to write code in any of these languages using these types. This represents one of the major contributions to interoperability between languages, which is at the heart of the . NET approach. Thus Base Class Library forms the second most important part of the . NET framework. The . NET framework provides a number of abstract and concrete classes that make it possible to write powerful programs in any one or a combination of the supported languages. The framework also provides a rich repertoire of interfaces. The rich functionality provided by the interfaces can be used by either using an existing class that implements these interfaces and by deriving a user defined class from them, or can be implemented by creating a class that implements these interfaces. The . NET applications, controls and components depend on the type definition, which is one of the constituents of the Base Class Libraries. This enables the framework to handle various functions such as encapsulating data structures, perform I/O and invoke security checks. (MSDN) From the above it can be seen that much of the functionality of the . NET framework is derived from, and is dependent on, the Base Class Libraries. Assemblies As we have seen, the Common Language Runtime and the Base Class Libraries represent the bases on which the crucial and differentiating features of the . NET framework are built. These provide a common framework for developing the application. The next most important aspect of an application is to run it. This is facilitated by Assemblies. â€Å"Assemblies are the building blocks of . NET Framework applications; they form the fundamental unit of deployment, version control, reuse, activation scoping, and security permissions. † (MSDN). The Assemblies contain resources and types that are required at runtime. The Common Language runtime is possible because of Assemblies, because they provide vital information that makes the runtime application aware of the types and other resources used. This makes it possible to run an integrated application that contains diverse codes written in a variety of CLR-enabled languages. The Assembly contains code that the common language runtime executes. The Intermediate Language code depends on associated assemblies to be executed. Thus the Assemblies are fundamental to the . NET framework, and allow the parts to function at runtime. For this reason, they represent the third most critical part of the . NET framework. Conclusion The . NET framework is distinguished by its ability to integrate and run code written in a variety of languages, and to operate the system securely and consistently under different environments such as remote and local execution. These features have become possible because of the three essential parts of the framework, namely the Common Language Runtime, Base Class Libraries, and Assemblies. Works Cited 1. Evjen, Bill, et al. Visual Basic . NET Programming Bible. New Delhi: Wiley Dreamtech India (P) Ltd. , 2004. 2. MSDN. 2007. Overview of the . NET Framework. Microsoft Corporation. 22 March 2007. http://msdn2. microsoft. com/en-us/library/a4t23ktk. aspx 3. Sessions, Roger. 28 March 2001. J2EE versus the . NET Platform: Two Visions for E-Business. ObjectWatch, Inc. 22 March 2007. http://www. objectwatch. com/FinalJ2EEandDotNet. doc

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Study On Adaptive Delta Modulation And Demodulation Computer Science Essay

Study On Adaptive Delta Modulation And Demodulation Computer Science Essay A modem to improve communication system performance that uses multiple modulation scheme comprising modulation technique and encoder combinations. As communication system performance and objective change, different modulation schemes may be selected. Modulation schemes may also be selected upon the communication channel scattering function estimate and the modem estimates the channel scattering function from measurements of the channels frequency (Doppler) and time (multipath) spreading characteristics. An Adaptive sigma delta modulation and demodulation technique, wherein a quantizer step size is adapted based on estimates of an input signal to the quantizer, rather than on estimates of an input signal to the modulator. A technique for digital conferencing of voice signals in systems using adaptive delta modulation (ADM) with an idle pattern of alternating 1s and 0s has been described. Based on majority logic, it permits distortion-free reception of voice of a single active subscriber by all the other subscribers in the conference. Distortion exists when more than one subscriber is active and the extent of this distortion depends upon the type of ADM algorithm that has been used. An LSI oriented system based on time sharing of a common circuit by a number of channels has been implemented and tested. This technique, with only minor changes in circuitry, handles ADM channels that have idle patterns different from alternating single 1s and 0s. This method used for noise reduction. The modulator factor does not require a large amount of data to be represented. Representation is based upon a frequency domain function having particular characteristics. A preferred embodiment of the invention incorporates transform or sub band filtered signals which are transmitted as a modulated analog representation of a local region of a video signal. The modulation factor reflects the particular characteristic. Side information specifies the modulation factor 1.2. Aim: Digital techniques to wirelessly communicate voice information. Wireless environments are inherently noisy, so the voice coding scheme chosen for such an application must be robust in the presence of bit errors. Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM) and its derivatives are commonly used in wireless consumer products for their compromise between voice quality and implementation cost. Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) is another voice coding scheme, a mature technique that should be considered for these applications because of its bit error robustness and its low implementation cost. 1.3. Objective: To show the Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) voice coding scheme which is the best coding scheme procedure when compare to all other techniques. The main part of the procedure is illustrated. 1.4. Methodology: Getting knowledge over different modulation and demodulation techniques Understanding Delta modulation and Adaptive delta modulation. Studying Matlab-Simulink which is used for designing of circuit. Implementing the circuit in the lab. Tuning and fixing and calculating its efficiency CHAPTER I Delta Modulation: Delta modulation is also abbreviated as DM or Ά-modulation. It is a technique of conversion from an analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog signal. If we want to transmit the voice we use this technique. In this technique we do not give that much of importance to the quality of the voice. DM is nothing but the simplest form of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM). But there is some difference between these two techniques. In DPCM technique the successive samples are encoded into streams of n-bit data. But in delta modulation, the transmitted data is reduced to a 1-bit data stream. Main features: * The analog signal is similar as a series of segments. * To find the increase or decrease in relative amplitude, we should compare each and every segment of the approximated signal with the original analog wave. * By this comparison of original and approximated analog waves we can determine the successive bits for establishing. * only the change of information is sent, that is, only an increase or decrease of the signal amplitude from the previous sample is sent whereas a no-change condition causes the modulated signal to remain at the same 0 or 1 state of the previous sample. By using oversampling techniques in delta modulation we can get large high signal-to-noise ratio. That means the analog signal is sampled at multiple higher than the Nyquist rate. Principle In delta modulation, it quantizes the difference between the current and the previous step rather than the absolute value quantization of the input analog waveform, which is shown in fig 1. Fig. 1 Block diagram of a Ά-modulator/demodulator The quantizer of the delta modulator converts the difference between the input signal and the average of the previous steps. The quantizer is measured by a comparator with reference to 0 (in 2- level quantizer), and its output is either 1 or 0. 1 means input signal is positive and 0 means negative. It is also called as a bit-quantizer because it quantizes only one bit at a time. The output of the demodulator rises or falls because it is nothing but an Integrator circuit. If 1 received means the output raises and if 0 received means output falls. The integrator internally has a low-pass filter it self. Transfer Characteristics A signum function is followed by the delta modulator for the transfer characteristics. It quantizes only levels of two number and also for at a time only one-bit. Output signal power In delta modulation amplitude it is does not matter that there is no objection on the amplitude of the signal waveform, due to there is any fixed number of levels. In addition to, there is no limitation on the slope of the signal waveform in delta modulation. We can observe whether a slope is overload if so it can be avoided. However, in transmitted signal there is no limit to change. The signal waveform changes gradually. Bit-rate The interference is due to possibility of in either DM or PCM is due to limited bandwidth in communication channel. Because of the above reason DM and PCM operates at same bit-rate. Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) Another type of DM is Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM). In which the step-size isnt fixed. The step-size becomes progressively larger when slope overload occurs. When quantization error is increasing with expensive the slope error is also reduced by ADM. By using a low pass filter this should be reduced. The basic delta modulator was studied in the experiment entitled Delta modulation. It is implemented by the arrangement shown in block diagram form in Figure Figure: Basic Delta Modulation A large step size was required when sampling those parts of the input waveform of steep slope. But a large step size worsened the granularity of the sampled signal when the waveform being sampled was changing slowly. A small step size is preferred in regions where the message has a small slope. This suggests the need for a controllable step size the control being sensitive to the slope of the sampled signal. This can be implemented by an arrangement such as is illustrated in Figure Fig: An Adaptive Delta Modulator The gain of the amplifier is adjusted in response to a control voltage from the SAMPLER, which signals the onset of slope overload. The step size is proportional to the amplifier gain. This was observed in an earlier experiment. Slope overload is indicated by a succession of output pulses of the same sign. The TIMS SAMPLER monitors the delta modulated signal, and signals when there is no change of polarity over 3 or more successive samples. The actual ADAPTIVE CONTROL signal is +2 volt under normal conditions, and rises to +4 volt when slope overload is detected. The gain of the amplifier, and hence the step size, is made proportional to this Control voltage. Provided the slope overload was only moderate the approximation will catch up with the wave being sampled. The gain will then return to normal until the sampler again falls behind. Comparison of PCM and DM When coming to comparison of Signal-to-noise ratio DM has larger value than signal-to-noise ratio of PCM. Also for an ADM signal-to-noise ratio when compared to Signal-to-noise ratio of companded PCM. Complex coders and decoders are required for powerful PCM. If to increase the resolution we require a large number of bits per sample. There are no memories in Standard PCM systems each sample value is separately encoded into a series of binary digits. An alternative, which overcomes some limitations of PCM, is to use past information in the encoding process. Delta modulation is the one way of doing to perform source coding. The signal is first quantized into discrete levels. For quantization process the step size between adjacent samples should be kept constant. From one level to an adjacent one the signal makes a transition of transmission. After the quantization operation is done, sending a zero for a negative transition and a one for a positive transition the signal transmission is achieved. We can observe from this point that the quantized signal must change at each sampling point. The transmitted bit train would be 111100010111110 for the above case. The demodulator for a delta-modulated signal is nothing but a staircase generator. To increments the staircase in positively a one should be received. For negative increments a zero should be receive. This is done by a low pass filter in general. The main thing for the delta modulation is to make the right choice of step size and sampling period. A term overloading is occurred when a signal changes randomly fast for the steps to follow. The step size and the sampling period are the important parameters. In modern consumer electronics short-range digital voice transmission is used. There are many products which uses digital techniques. Such as cordless telephones, wireless headsets (for mobile and landline telephones), baby monitors are few of the items. This digital techniques used Wirelessly communicate voice information. Due to inherent noise in wireless environments the Voice coding scheme chosen. For such an application the presence of robust bit errors must be. In the presence of bit errors Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM) and its derivatives are commonly used in wireless consumer products. This is due to their compromise between voice quality and implementation cost, but these are not robust schemes. Another important voice coding scheme is Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM). It is a mature technique for consideration for these types of applications due to its robustness in bit error and its low implementation cost. To quantize the difference between the current sample and the predicted value of the next Sample ADM is used. It uses a variable called step height which is used to adjustment of the prediction value of the next sample. For the reproduction of both slowly and rapidly changing input signals faithfully. In ADM, the representation of each sample is one bit (i.e. 1 or 0). It does not require any data framing for one-bit-per-sample stream to minimizing the workload on the host microcontroller. In any digital wireless application there should be Bit errors. In ideal environment most of the voice coding techniques are provided which are good in quality of audio signals. The main thing is to provide good audio signals in everyday environment, there may be a presence of bit errors. For different voice coding methods and input signals the traditional performance metrics (e.g. SNR) does not measure accurately in audio quality. . Mean Opinion Score (MOS) testing is the main important parameter which overcomes the limitations of other metrics by successfully in audio quality. For audio quality the MOS testing is used. It is a scale of 1 to 5 which tells the audio quality status. In there 1 represents very less (bad) speech quality and 5 represents excellent speech quality. A toll quality speech has a MOS score of 4 or higher than it. The audio quality of a traditional telephone call has same MOS value as above. The below graphs shows the relationship between MOS scores and bit errors for three of the most common voice coding schemes. Those are CVSD, ÃŽÂ ¼-law PCM, and ADPCM. A continuously Variable Slope Delta (CVSD) coding is a member of the ADM family in voice coding schemes. The below graph shows the resulted audio quality (i.e. MOS score). All three schemes explain the number of bit errors. As the no of bit errors increases the graph indicates that ADM (CVSD) sounds better than the other schemes which are also increase. In an ADM design error detection and correction typically are not used because ADM provides poor performance in the presence of bit errors. This leads to reduction in host processor workload (allowing a low-cost processor to be used). The superior noise immunity significantly reduced for wireless applications in voice coding method. The ADM is supported strongly by workload for the host processor. The following example shows the benefits of ADM for wireless applications and is demonstrated. For a complete wireless voice product this low-power design is used which includes all of the building blocks, small form-factor, including the necessary items. ADM voice codec Microcontroller RF transceiver Power supply including rechargeable battery Microphone, speaker, amplifiers, etc. Schematics, board layout files, and microcontroller code written in C. Delta modulation (DM) may be viewed as a simplified form of DPCM in which a two level (1-bit) quantizer is used in conjunction with a fixed first-order predictor. The block diagram of a DM encoder-decoder is shown below.   The dm_demo shows the use of Delta Modulation to approximate an input sine wave signal and a speech signal that were sampled at 2 KHz and 44 KHz, respectively. The source code file of the MATLAB code and the out put can be viewed using MATLAB. Notice that the approximated value follows the input value much closer when the sampling rate is higher. You may test this by changing sampling frequency, fs, value for sine wave in dm_demo file. Since DM (Delta Modulator) approximate a waveform Sa (t) by a linear staircase function, the waveform Sa (t) must change slowly relative to the sampling rate. This requirement implies that waveform Sa (t) must be oversampled, i.e., at least five times the Nyquist rate. Oversampling means that the signal is sampled faster than is necessary. In the case of Delta Modulation this means that the sampling rate will be much higher than the minimum rate of twice the bandwidth. Delta Modulation requires oversampling in order to obtain an accurate prediction of the next input. Since each encoded sample contains a relatively small amount of information Delta Modulation systems require higher sampling rates than PCM systems. At any given sampling rate, two types of distortion, as shown below limit the performance of the DM encoder.   Slope overload distortion: This type of distortion is due to the use of a step size delta that is too small to follow portions of the waveform that have a steep slope. It can be reduced by increasing the step size. Granular noise: This results from using a step size that is too large too large in parts of the waveform having a small slope. Granular noise can be reduced by decreasing the step size. Even for an optimized step size, the performance of the DM encoder may still be less satisfactory. An alternative solution is to employ a variable step size that adapts itself to the short-term characteristics of the source signal. That is the step size is increased when the waveform has a step slope and decreased when the waveform has a relatively small slope. This strategy is called adaptive DM (ADM). Block Diagram Adaptive Delta Modulation for Audio Signals: While transmitting speech for e.g. telephony the transfer rate should be kept as small as possible to save bandwidth because of economic reason. For this purpose Delta Modulation, adaptive Delta modulation, Differential Pulse-Code modulation is used to compress the data. In this different kind of Delta modulations and Differential Pulse Code modulations (DPCM) were realized to compress audio data. At first the principal of compressing audio data are explained, which the modulations based on. Mathematical equations (e.g. Auto Correlation) and algorithm (LD recursion) are used to develop solutions. Based on the mathematics and principals Simulink models were implemented for the Delta modulation, Adaptive Delta modulation as well as for the adaptive Differential Pulse Code modulation. The theories were verified by applying measured signals on these models. CHAPTER II Pulse-code modulation: Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals, which was invented by Alec Reeves in 1937. It is the standard form for digital audio in computers and various Compact Disc and DVD formats, as well as other uses such as digital telephone systems. A PCM stream is a digital representation of an analog signal, in which the magnitude of the analogue signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, with each sample being quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps. PCM streams have two basic properties that determine their fidelity to the original analog signal: the sampling rate, which is the number of times per second that samples are taken; and the bit-depth, which determines the number of possible digital values that each sample can take. Digitization as part of the PCM process In conventional PCM, the analog signal may be processed (e.g. by amplitude compression) before being digitized. Once the signal is digitized, the PCM signal is usually subjected to further processing (e.g. digital data compression). PCM with linear quantization is known as Linear PCM (LPCM). Some forms of PCM combine signal processing with coding. Older versions of these systems applied the processing in the analog domain as part of the A/D process; newer implementations do so in the digital domain. These simple techniques have been largely rendered obsolete by modern transform-based audio compression techniques. * DPCM encodes the PCM values as differences between the current and the predicted value. An algorithm predicts the next sample based on the previous samples, and the encoder stores only the difference between this prediction and the actual value. If the prediction is reasonable, fewer bits can be used to represent the same information. For audio, this type of encoding reduces the number of bits required per sample by about 25% compared to PCM. * Adaptive DPCM (ADPCM) is a variant of DPCM that varies the size of the quantization step, to allow further reduction of the required bandwidth for a given signal-to-noise ratio. * Delta modulation is a form of DPCM which uses one bit per sample. In telephony, a standard audio signal for a single phone call is encoded as 8000 analog samples per second, of 8 bits each, giving a 64 Kbit/s digital signal known as DS0. The default signal compression encoding on a DS0 is either ÃŽÂ ¼-law (mu-law) PCM (North America and Japan) or A-law PCM (Europe and most of the rest of the world). These are logarithmic compression systems where a 12 or 13-bit linear PCM sample number is mapped into an 8-bit value. This system is described by international standard G.711. An alternative proposal for a floating point representation, with 5-bit mantissa and 3-bit radix, was abandoned. Where circuit costs are high and loss of voice quality is acceptable, it sometimes makes sense to compress the voice signal even further. An ADPCM algorithm is used to map a series of 8-bit  µ-law or A-law PCM samples into a series of 4-bit ADPCM samples. In this way, the capacity of the line is doubled. The technique is detailed in the G.726 standard. Later it was found that even further compression was possible and additional standards were published. Pulse code modulation (PCM) data are transmitted as a serial bit stream of binary-coded time-division multiplexed words. When PCM is transmitted, premodulation filtering shall be used to confine the radiated RF spectrum. These standards define pulse train structure and system design characteristics for the implementation of PCM telemetry formats. Class Distinctions and Bit-Oriented Characteristics The PCM formats are divided into two classes for reference. Serial bit stream characteristics are described below prior to frame and word oriented definitions. Two classes of PCM formats are covered in this chapter: the basic, simpler types are class I, and the more complex applications are class II. The use of any class II technique requires concurrence of the range involved. All formats with characteristics described in these standards are class I except those identified as class II. The following are examples of class II characteristics: a. Bit rates greater than 10 megabits per second b. Word length in excess of 32 bits. c. fragmented words d. more than 8192 bits or 1024 words per minor frame. e. uneven spacing, not within the definition of sub commutation or super commutation f. Format changes. g. asynchronous embedded formats h. tagged data formats. i. packet telemetry j. formats with data content other than unsigned straight binary, discrete, or complement arithmetic representation for negative numbers such as floating point variables, binary-coded decimal, and gain-and-value k. asynchronous data transmission l. merger of multiple format types Demodulation: Demodulation is the act of extracting the original information-bearing signal from a modulated carrier wave. A demodulator is an electronic circuit used to recover the information content from the modulated carrier wave. These terms are traditionally used in connection with radio receivers, but many other systems use many kinds of demodulators. Another common one is in a modem, which is a contraction of the terms modulator/demodulator. Techniques: There are several ways of demodulation depending on how parameters of the base-band signal are transmitted in the carrier signal, such as amplitude, frequency or phase. For example, for a signal modulated with a linear modulation, like AM (Amplitude Modulated), we can use a synchronous detector. On the other hand, for a signal modulated with an angular modulation, we must use an FM (Frequency Modulation) demodulator or a PM (Phase Modulation) demodulator. Different kinds of circuits perform these functions. Many techniques-such as carrier recovery, clock recovery, bit slip, frame synchronization, rake receiver, pulse compression, Received Signal Strength Indication, error detection and correction, etc. are only performed by demodulators, although any specific demodulator may perform only some or none of these techniques. Some Attributes of Demodulated data One important attribute of demodulation (or demod) data is that it focuses on high frequency vibration. Using a high pass filter, low frequency data is filtered out and a data collector is able to zoom in on low level high frequency vibration. This means that some peaks that would otherwise be lost in the noise floor of a normal narrow band spectrum (much lower than the normal vibration a machine emits) can be detected using demodulation techniques. Another feature of demod, or of high frequency vibration in general, is that it is easily attenuated and does not travel well through a machines structure (termed the disco effect). As one moves away from a loud music source, one tends to hear only the bass, or low frequency sound, since the treble or high frequency sounds dissipate rather quickly. This implies that vibration detected with demod is usually produced locally. In the case of a motor driving a pump through a coupling, demod data collected on the pump end will usually reflect the vibration emitted by the pump end. Lower frequency vibration may be transmitted through the coupling and may even be amplified on the other end of the machine depending upon its mobility. CHAPTER III Results: Critical Analysis: CHAPTER IV Conclusion: Short-range wireless digital voice transmission is used extensively in contemporary consumer electronics. Products such as cordless telephones, wireless headsets (for mobile and landline telephones) and baby monitors are just a few of the items that use digital techniques to wirelessly communicate voice information. Wireless environments are inherently noisy, so the voice coding scheme chosen for such an application must be robust in the presence of bit errors. Pulse coded modulation (PCM) and its derivatives are commonly used in wireless consumer products for their compromise between voice quality and implementation cost, but these schemes are not particularly robust in the presence of bit errors. Adaptive delta modulation (ADM) is a mature technique that should be considered for these applications because of its bit error robustness and its low implementation cost. ADM is a voice coding technique that quantizes the difference between the current sample and the predicted value of the next sample. It uses a variable step height to adjust the predicted value of the next sample so that both slowly and rapidly changing input signals can be faithfully reproduced. One bit is used to represent each sample in ADM. The one-bit-per-sample ADM data stream requires no data framing, thereby minimizing the workload on the host microcontroller. CHAPTER V

Friday, October 25, 2019

Free Essays -Themes of Native Son :: Native Son Essays

Themes of Native Son Frustration and hopelessness develop as major themes of the story.   When Bigger and his friend Gus watch a sky writing plane, Bigger expresses frustration in his statement   "I could fly one of them things if I had a chance."   Discussing the impossibility of accomplishment in the white-controlled world, Bigger expresses hopelessness, saying, "They don't let us do nothing."   When Gus reminds Bigger that they have always known this, Bigger agrees, but insists that he cannot accustom himself to it. "Every time I think about it," he says, "I feel like somebody's poking a red-hot iron down my throat."   Today a good example of the same type of frustration can be seen on the various music videos done by black artists.   These video portray, poor education and a lack of opportunities afforded to blacks. Oppression, hate, and the separatism between whites and blacks also arises as a main theme.   Bigger represents the oppressed but rebellious black, in contrast the Dalton's represent naive whites, and Jan and Max represent the oppressed communists.   These various characters hate each other without comprehend the underlying social cause.   Only the oppressed groups come to help and forgive each other by the end of the novel, while the oppressors still asking for bitter vengeance.   The separatism become obvious while Bigger when sits in the car with Mary and Jan.   He feels afraid and uncomfortable being treated like an equal and being allowed to sit near them.   This separatism also made his oppressors blindly ignorant of the realities of social oppression.   Separatism affects both sides of the color line.   The characters consider each other as separate entities, never interacting on an equal basis.   Social ignorance allows the scapegoating of Bigger, to vent   the anger and rage built up from by many years of tension between the races.   A good example of separatism and oppression in our area shows up in the conflicts between Whites and Hispanics. Arguments about English as the official language as the official language of the US represent the manifestations of this conflict. A notable theme that the author portrays through Bigger's actions come from the true meaning of freedom to the oppressed.   Bigger's discovered "freedom" came to him in two instances, in both cases while committing murder.   With the death of Mary Dalton, Bigger starts to realize that for the first time he has gone against the law. Free Essays -Themes of Native Son :: Native Son Essays Themes of Native Son Frustration and hopelessness develop as major themes of the story.   When Bigger and his friend Gus watch a sky writing plane, Bigger expresses frustration in his statement   "I could fly one of them things if I had a chance."   Discussing the impossibility of accomplishment in the white-controlled world, Bigger expresses hopelessness, saying, "They don't let us do nothing."   When Gus reminds Bigger that they have always known this, Bigger agrees, but insists that he cannot accustom himself to it. "Every time I think about it," he says, "I feel like somebody's poking a red-hot iron down my throat."   Today a good example of the same type of frustration can be seen on the various music videos done by black artists.   These video portray, poor education and a lack of opportunities afforded to blacks. Oppression, hate, and the separatism between whites and blacks also arises as a main theme.   Bigger represents the oppressed but rebellious black, in contrast the Dalton's represent naive whites, and Jan and Max represent the oppressed communists.   These various characters hate each other without comprehend the underlying social cause.   Only the oppressed groups come to help and forgive each other by the end of the novel, while the oppressors still asking for bitter vengeance.   The separatism become obvious while Bigger when sits in the car with Mary and Jan.   He feels afraid and uncomfortable being treated like an equal and being allowed to sit near them.   This separatism also made his oppressors blindly ignorant of the realities of social oppression.   Separatism affects both sides of the color line.   The characters consider each other as separate entities, never interacting on an equal basis.   Social ignorance allows the scapegoating of Bigger, to vent   the anger and rage built up from by many years of tension between the races.   A good example of separatism and oppression in our area shows up in the conflicts between Whites and Hispanics. Arguments about English as the official language as the official language of the US represent the manifestations of this conflict. A notable theme that the author portrays through Bigger's actions come from the true meaning of freedom to the oppressed.   Bigger's discovered "freedom" came to him in two instances, in both cases while committing murder.   With the death of Mary Dalton, Bigger starts to realize that for the first time he has gone against the law.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Brand Management

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON MARKETING BRAND MANAGEMENT This proposal is about one particular aspect of marketing, â€Å"Brand Management†. Marketing is a vast discipline so as a part of writing this proposal; I chose one particular aspect of it, which will provide information about several aspects of brands in global scenario. The main objectives of writing this proposal are: 1. Understanding the concept of brand and brand management 2. How brand names get evolved 3. Relationship of brand management and marketing 4. Different issues regarding brands in global scenario 5.Branding challenges This is the age of marketing. Today the success of any organization depends on the level of its marketing ability. Marketing has gained a great deal of importance in modern organizations to achieve its goals. However the concept of marketing continue to change along with the changes in nature of competition and consumer demands. According to Kotler and Armstrong –â€Å" Marketing is a pro cess by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by creating and exchanging products and value with each other†. Marketing is like giving medicine to a patient. You can read also Portfolio Management QuizzesPatient identifies a problem within them and then the health personnel delivers specific medicine to cure the problem. Marketing is also the same. Customer has certain problems or feels some deficiency and marketing delivers them with the right product to deal with. Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers. Marketing might sometimes be interpreted, as the art of selling products, but sales is only one part of marketing. Actually â€Å"selling† is traditional of marketing and â€Å"marketing† is a modern form of selling.As the term â€Å"Marketing† may replace â€Å"Advertising† it is the overall strategy and function of promoting a product or service to the customer. The concept of marketing has changed over time. Previously, people preferred only production and selling as a part of marketing. But as the competition rose, they started valuing product quality, cust omer relationship, societal responsibilities as well as other supply chain participants. From a societal point of view, marketing is the link between a society’s material requirements and its economic patterns of response.Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building long-term relationships. . Marketing can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, delivering and communicating value to customers, and managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its shareholders Major concepts related with marketing can be outlined as: a. Studying consumer behavior b. Brand management c. Selling and sales management d. Managing market intermediaries e. Service marketing f.Identifying customer needs, wants, market segment and product positioning g. Distribution logistics and supply chain relationships h. Responsibilities towards society and customer In this proposal, we focus on one of the maj or aspect of marketing, Brand management. Branding has been around for centuries. The word â€Å"brand† is derived from the Old Norse brandr meaning â€Å"to burn. † Initially, branding was adopted to differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hot iron stamp, and was subsequently used in business, marketing and advertising.A brand is the most valuable fixed asset of a Corporation. For any organization to make its identity in the market requires a specific domain name. It helps to get recognized in the market. Brand name gives identity and helps it get recognized differently in the market. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola, which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company. Similarly, Harley Davidson, Apple, Samsung, Adidas, Nike, Britannia etc. are other examples of brand. According to American Marketing Association (AMA) –â€Å" A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a ombina tion of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. † BusinessDictionary. com describes brand management as the process of maintaining, improving, and upholding a brand so that the name is associated with positive results. Brand Management is actually the process of maintaining the value of brand and revising any associated entities as per the need of situation. It plays a crucial role in the success and failure of the organization. Why is brand an important aspect of modern marketing?The reasons are: 1. Means of identification as a unique name in the market 2. Means of legally protecting the unique features 3. Signal of quality level to customers 4. Base for competitive advantage 5. Increases level of awareness of the brand 6. Customers feel safe to negotiate with registered brands 7. Gives idea about product association 8. Brand is a promise made by the company to customer 9. It serv es as a means of advertising 10. It explains what the product is associated with Several companies put their brand names based on different variables.Some name their product on the basis of their owners. Honda motors were named after Soichiro Honda, Harley Davidson motors was found by combined efforts of William S. Harley, Arthur Davidson and Walter Davidson. TATA motors was named after Jamsedji Tata(JRD Tata), Adidas sports wear was named after Adi Dasler and Bajaj auto was named after Jamnalal Bajaj. Some have named the products after the name of places like Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, British Airways, Sanmiguel beer, hamburger named after â€Å"hamburg†, a place in Germany, Hindustan petroleums named after â€Å"Hindustan† meaning India and others.Brand names named after names of animals and birds are Dove soap, Mustang automobiles, Greuhound buses, Panther condoms and others. Brand names has always been an important aspect of marketing strategy. Organizations spend millio ns searching for a valid name for the organization. They make sure that the names suit to the product or service the company is offering. They too ensure that those names do not collide with brand of other organization. Eg: World Wide Fund (WWF) filed World Wrestling Federation (WWF) a legal suit for keeping a similar name. Due to this world wrestling federation had to change its name.Therefore choosing brand name is a very sensitive decision. For choosing a brand name, an organization has to follow given procedures: 1. Define objectives 2. Generate possible names 3. Screen initial candidates 4. Study the candidate names 5. Properly research final candidate 6. Select the final name Therefore to establish a strong brand, it has to take in consideration the following blocks of brand building: Resonance Resonance Imagery Imagery Feelings Feelings Salience Salience Performance Performance Judgements Judgements Fig: Brand Building Blocks Fig: Brand Building BlocksSalience is the level of awareness regarding the brand to the customers. It checks the ability of a customer to recall and recognize a particular brand or its logo, symbol, name. After the customer’s awareness is identified, it checks the performance of the brand regarding how reliable and durable the brand is. It also checks the serviceability i. e. ease of repairing the product if needed. After the performance is identified, it views the imagery aspect i. e. who uses the brand, conditions of use of the product, brand personality, values etc. It is the way the people think about a brand and is more concerned with intangible aspect.Brand judgments are customer’s personal opinions about the evaluations about the brand that consumers form by combining brand performance and imagery blocks. Customers judge the brand on the basis of quality, credibility and superiority. Another building block is feelings with the brand. They are customer’s emotional responses and reactions towards the brand . It checks what type of feeling they get by the use of the brand like feeling of warmth, fun, security, self respect, excitement status etc. Final brand building is resonance. It is the ultimate relationship with the brand.Resonance is measured in terms of intensity of psychological bond with the brand and the degree of loyalty towards the brand. Positioning aspect of brand In marketing, positioning is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Brand positioning is at the heart of marketing strategy. It is the act of designing the company’s offers and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the minds of target customers. As the name implies, positioning means finding proper location in the minds of customer.Any company cannot formulate its marketing strategy without positioning its brand in certain aspects. Positioning explains what the brand intends to provid e to the customer. It reveals what the product is related to. Brand positioning describes how a brand is different from its competitors and where, or how, it sits in a particular market. The company has to keep in mind that positioning should be clear, distinct and relevant. For example, Apple and Windows both are well known brand. Consumers are aware that they both are computer brands dealing in entertainment, but Apple stands for style, cool quotient, iPod etc. here as Windows stands for world class operating system, quality etc. Consumer can easily identify point of similarities and points of difference between the two brands. This process of creating point of similarities and points of difference in consumer’s mind is called Brand Positioning. Companies position their brands in different ways so as to create a distinct image in the market. They may position it on different bases like low price, high price, size, package, quality, gender, endurance, substitution and many o thers. Positioning of different brands: 1. Low price brand: Wal-Mart retail store . High price brand: Rolex, Mercedes Benz 3. Quality brand: IBM, Toyota, Motorola 4. Endurance: CEAT tyres, Land rover, Honda 5. Size: Nano car, Slim Motorola mobile 6. Gender: Gillette Razor, Axe perfumes, Fair ; Handsome for men Femine magazine, Avon cosmetics, Fair ; Lovely for women 7. Substitution: Sugar free Natura has placed itself as substitution for sugar and Eveready milk powder for liquid milk Similarly Coca-Cola has positioned as a cold drink useful in summer and there are many feelings associated with it and not only as a mere drink.On the other hand Pepsi has positioned as a cold drink for the young generations and Mountain Dew has presented its image as a drink for adventure loving customers. Sometimes, same positioning does not work out for the company in long run. It has to reposition and revitalize its brand over times either to revive or strengthen its brand. Different marketing strat egies, several research plans has to be worked out and sometimes-even management structure has to be changed in order to revalue the brand. There are several Brand reinforcement strategies that the organization can adopt overtime to cope with the changing situations.Some of them are: 1. Maintaining brand consistency: Brands should be able to provide a consistent image to occupy a shelf in the mind of customers. If not, it may fail in the market situation. For example Gateway computers applied various strategies and themes to extend the brand with mergers and portfolios. Due to this, customers confused with its positioning and its stock price reduced from USD100 to USD 3 in 2005. 2. Protecting sources of brand equity: Any organization should know its strength factor. It should identify its major source of brand equity to sustain in the market.At certain times, brand have to revitalize itself since there many forces acting in the market to rule out other brands. Companies might have t o adapt to following Brand Revitalization strategies to resurrect itself: 1. Expanding brand awareness: Brand awareness can be expanded through: a) Identify new usage opportunities Charles Revlon introduced nail polish not only as a matter of covering nails but as a match for dress, style sense and beauty. b) Identify completely new ways to use the brand Wrigley’s chewing gum introduced itself as not only a gum but as an alternative for smoking. 2. Improving brand image:Different ways of improving brand images are: a) Repositioning the brand Harley Davidson’s motorbikes were previously believed to be used by rowdies. The riders who rode Harley had some rough like character like long hairs, big muscular arms, and tattoos painted on their bodies and moustache and beards. Those made people perceive that only rowdies rode those motors. Later Harley Davidson relaunched itself as a bike for gentlemen leaving apart its previous image. Similarly Harley encouraged lady riders t o take the riders edge by introducing a poster of a lady rider with a tagline –â€Å"I am not a back rest†. b) Changing brand elementsKentucky Fried Chicken changed its name (brand element) to KFC (although, it is only short version of the full name) to perceive a healthier image. Also, Federal Express (a courier company) changed its name to FedEx to sound more professional. c) Entering new markets Brunswick Billiards introduced new strategy to pool market to enforce its sales targeting female customers. Initially wives would not approve the purchase of billiard board in their home as it was called a male type of game. Later it introduced elegant designs targeting design conscious women who would now purchase a pool table on aesthetics ground and a showpiece to room.Lets take an example of a company who adopted Brand revitalization strategy to resurrect its brand position after being at height at its low: Lacoste sportswear, founded in France, 1933 became a style icon by selling polo shirt featuring a crocodile logo in it. In 1980, when it was owned by General Mills (cereal makers), it failed to keep up with fashion trends and sales began to drop. Company cut prices and started to sell it to discounter’s like Kmart and Wal-Mart that further damaged brands image. Then in 2002, Robert Siegel, former Levi’s executive was appointed to oversee the brand in United States.He withdrew Lacoste products from all non-luxury stores and discounters. It regenerated its fashion trends by introducing tight fitting shirts for women that raised revenues of women wear from 7% to 33%. It opened own brand boutiques in fashionable shopping areas. Due to this, Lacoste’s US revenues rose more than 280% between 2003 and 2005. There are several challenges to products today sometimes because of the competition and sometimes due to the implementation of wrong product strategy. An organization has to keep in mind the nature of product and suitable market ing strategy.Marketing campaigns has to be launched depending upon what class of customer it is intending to serve, gender of customer, objectives of campaign whether it is market penetration or improving market share or survival mode. Appropriate strategy at the right time invites fortunes and mistimed marketing strategy might backfire the organization. Therefore right plan for the right brand is always critical. Marketing strategies for effective brand building 1. Selecting brand elements like name, logo, symbols, slogans, and packaging. 2.Adopting proper product strategy like achieving a satisfactory level of customers perception towards the quality of the product and relationship marketing 3. Adopting pricing strategy like improving consumers price perception towards the brand and relevant price setting 4. Promotion through marketing communication options and integrating marketing communication programs like advertising, direct selling, public relation, and trade promotion etc. 5. Leveraging secondary associations: brands may be linked to other entities that have their own knowledge structures in the mind of customers.When brands are linked to these entities customers assume that those characteristics that they hold about those entities also may be true with the brand. For example when Adidas brand was endorsed by tennis star Roger Federer (then No. 1 rank), then people who knew Federer as best tennis player also developed similar attitude towards the features of Adidas brand. There are certain strategies for building a strong brand. Some of them are: Licensing: Licensing creates contractual arrangements whereby firms can use names, logos, and characters of other brands to market their brands for some fixed fee.People pay fees to use popular names such as Harry potter, Spider-Man, SpongeBob, Angry Birds or any famous celebrity in their products so that they too gain popularity easily. For example, when you buy a copy of Microsoft Office you are not actuall y purchasing Office–you are entering into a license agreement that allows you to use the product under the specified terms and conditions they have outlined in the license agreement. Similarly designer such as Calvin Klein command large royalties for the right to use his name in variety of merchandise. Franchising:A franchise is a license issued to someone to operate a business using a common brand name, a common operating support system and involving the payment of initial and/or ongoing fees. A franchise also offers the franchisee with the ability to capitalize on the know-how and systems that have been proven to be successful. . Small-business owners pay companies for the rights to use their trademarks, services and products in return for support and company guidelines on how to run their particular businesses. Many industries have companies using the franchise model, including food, lodging and business services.For example McDonalds has over 75 percent of its worldwide r estaurants independently owned. Business owners can purchase a new or existing restaurant. An initial down payment is required, and the rest of the cost can be financed for up to seven years. During the terms of the franchise agreement, ongoing fees include rent and service fees. It is one of the world’s famous franchises. Some challenges in Brand Management: 1. Brand switching customers 2. Media fragmentation i. e. introduction of several medias for promotion that may lead to increase cost and cluttering of information 3. Increased competition 4. Growing need for customer concern . Sometimes socio-cultural issues also leads to create problems in brand management. For example nudity in advertising are strictly banned in South Asia. Due to this, advertisements of brands of apparels, innerwear, and lingerie may not produce the desired response. 6. Sometimes the brand name themselves may imply different meanings in several countries. Some of the global branding Mishaps are prese nted below: a. When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, â€Å"Fly Leather†, it came out in Spanish as â€Å"Fly Naked†. b. Coors put its slogan, â€Å"Turn it Loose†, into Spanish, where it was read as â€Å"Suffer from Diarrhea†. c.Chicken magnate Frank Perdue’s line, â€Å"It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken†, sounds much more interesting in Spanish: â€Å"It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate†. d. Why Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish-speaking countries: No Va means â€Å"It doesn’t go† in Spanish. e. When Pepsi started marketing its product in China, they translated their slogan, â€Å"Pepsi brings you back to life†, pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese meant â€Å"Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Grave†. f. When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like, â€Å"Coca-Cola†.The only problem was that the characters used meant, â€Å"Bite the wax tadpole†. They later changed to set of characters that mean â€Å"Happiness in the mouth†. g. A hair products company, Clairol introduced the â€Å"Mist Stick†, a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that Mist is slang for manure in German. h. When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the United States, with the cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside because most people cant read. i.Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors had to rename its Pajero in Spanish-speaking countries because the term related to masturbation. j. Toyota Motor’s MR2 model dropped the number in France because the combination sounded like a French swearword. Here is a list of Top ten Brands in year 2012 1. Coca-Cola : It’s brand value raised by 9% than last year. Last year too it was Ranked as number one. 2. Apple : Despite Steve Jobs passed by, its brand value rose by 129% from last year. Last year it was at number eight. 3. IBM : It’s brand value rose by 8%. Last year it was at number two. 4.Google : It’s brand value rose by 26%. 5. Microsoft : It’s market value went down by 2%. Last year it was No. 3. 6. GE : General Electric’s brand value rose by 2%. last year, it was No. 5. 7. McDonald : It’s brand value rose by 13% than last year. 8. Intel : It’s brand value increased by 12%. 9. Samsung : It’s brand value rose to 40% from last year. 10. Toyota : It’s brand value rose to 9% from last year. Source: International Business Times. Conclusion In the above-mentioned information, we have seen that brand management is really an essential element in marketing.No company can thrive towards success if it is not able to choose the right branding strategy according to the market situation. Global compet ition has made it even more complex. Brand name is the one that identifies the company in the market and if not careful, brand name may be solely responsible for causing downfall of the company. I chose this topic, â€Å"Brand Management†, because in my Bachelors Degree, I studied Marketing as my course of specialization in last two semesters. I am very interested in studying marketing because it a dynamic subject and I like studying more about Companies, their Branding Strategies and the easons why they succeded or failed. I am very much interested to do the marketing course in my Masters Degree. This will give me more exposure to the complex business structure and as well as help me guide my career in this field. References Websites www. wikipedia. com www. google. com www. BusinessDictionary. com www. managementstudyguide. com www. whatis. com www. slideshare. com www. entreprenuer. com www. bigkerbang. com www. internationalbusinesstimes. com Books Strategic Brand Managem ent, Keller, Kevin Lane Fundamentals of Marketing, Agrawal, Dr. Govind Ram

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Jobs on Human Resource and Criminal Justice Essay

There are a lot of jobs in Human Resource field. A job website shows fifty human resource jobs in New York, forty one in Atlanta, thirty nine in Houston, thirty five in Dallas, thirty one in Chicago, twenty two in Los Angeles, twenty in San Jose, twenty in Austin, and other around one hundred and twenty nine in other areas. There are different positions which are in demand and few of these are HR Administrative and HR Administrative Assistant in Le Parker Meridien, Human Resource Administrator in Bloomingdale’s, Human Resource Generalist in Advertising in Towne Search, Corporate Employee Benefits Specialist in Riddick Group-Executive, Business Office Manager, Human Resource Generalist in Impact Personnel,Inc, Payroll Administrator and HR Associate, HR Business partner, Human Resource Development, Time Attendance Administrator, Compensation and HRIS, Director Human Resource, Talent Representative, Attorney Recruiting Project Assistant, Global HR and Tech, International Compensation Manager, Employment Standards Relationship Manager, Benefits Coordinator, HR Operations Manager, Senior Implementation Manager, HRIS Analyst, Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, Director of Fun, HR is one of the most important functions in an organization and it needs to perform very carefully so that every decision taken is fair and transparent. The responsibility of HR is to make the employees comfortable and the work place an ideal one for them. The greater the efficiency of the human resources department, the better the workplace environment and the employee motivation to work in the organization (Robbins & Judge, 2004). Criminal Justice Job vacancies are also in the market but relatively less in number than HR jobs. There are approximately fifty one jobs available in UK, five in Wales, one in Scotland, forty two in England, four in Yorkshire and Humberside, two in East Midlands, twenty five in Greater London, two in East of England and five in South East. There is City Attorney position in, Madison Alabama, victim or witness coordinator in Hudson Wisconsin, Assistant County Attorney in Los Alamos New Mexico, and Police Officer in Madison Wisconsin. Other vacant position include Communications Officer paid approximately ? 15 to 16 per hour, Social Worker for a youth offending team paid ? 19 to 23 per hour, Probation Officer paid approximately ? 25 per hour, Secretary General in International Commission of Jurists, Counter Fraud Specialist, Probation Prosecutor, Domestic Violence trainer, Senior Consultants and many more. But the popular one and one with most number of vacancies is Youth Offending Team. Apart from YOT a lot of Social Workers are required in the market to intervene and prevent crime.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Strike up the band essays

Strike up the band essays A live show is the best thing to see for the fan and to experience for the band. But there is a lot of work that goes into the live show that should not go unnoticed by the band. The band needs to arrive on time. The process of mic-ing the equipment correctly and the artists should never underestimate the value of a good sound check on stage. After that the actual sound check in the venue will occur. If all goes well, it will be an experience to remember for both the supporters and the artists. For the show to begin on time, the band should arrive on time. It is a matter of careful planning. Set an exact time window for the band to arrive. Make sure the band has a correct and clear route description. Inform the band of possible traffic delays and the time they will be traveling. They should be pretty relaxed when they know that when they arrive everything will be ready. When the equipment is set up, the venues sound technician will begin placing the microphones. The kind of microphone depends on the sound the artists prefers, that is why the technician always cross-references with the artists themselves to get the desired monitor and venue sound. In lesser funded and utilized venues the technician will probably use the standard microphones. The inexperienced artists usually underestimate the importance of their amplifier settings. Because every stage has their own accoustics, settings should be changed accordingly. Make sure the amplifier produces the prefered sound. The volume should be adequate to be amplified further by the installation of the house. If the settings of all the amplifiers is good, the sound on the stage and venue will be good as well. As previously stated, the sound on stage and in the venue depends largely on the sound of the equipment on stage. Make sure that the sound of the equipment on stage is well balanced. All amplified instruments, so no drumkit or horns and such, should ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The selfish gene theory Essay Example

The selfish gene theory Essay Example The selfish gene theory Paper The selfish gene theory Paper Therefore, if people acted purely in their self-interest as relayed in the often misunderstood purest form of the selfish gene theory, this person would not contribute to the common account in the first place and would reap the rewards of everyone else’s contribution. Contributions to the common fund started at approximately 50% of the total points of each player but this decreased over the course of the game as some people put less in the common account. Justifications for the decline in cooperation were that the only way to punish people who were not contributing to the common account was to decline to contribute to that account also. It begs the question as to how sustainable cooperative and social behaviours are without a significant deterrent to behaving selfishly. When this game was conducted with opportunity to heavily punish non contributors by using their own points to deduct from those of the non-contributing players this was consistently selected. This pattern of behaviour meant that cooperation no longer decreased over the rounds so cooperative behaviour was maintained by reward and punishment as it often is in society. More recent neurobiological evidence supports the notion that even this seemingly altruistic behaviour by the actor is selfish at a genetic level, De Quervain et al (2004) found that when a person punishes another for non-cooperative behaviour the dorsal striatum is stimulated and as this is the circuitry involved in reward-related activity there is a direct fitness benefit being bestowed by this behaviour to the actor. Additionally, there are indirect benefits for the group to which the actor belongs as this behaviour increases their survival chances and productivity. Therefore the overall fitness benefits to the person’s genes through the ultimate maintenance of the group and societal norms which help to preserve that group outweighs the personal sacrifices made to maintain this system of cooperative and social fairness which has fitness benefits for those who engage in it (Hamilton, 1964, 1975). If selfish behaviour increases a persons’ overall fitness then it would seem obvious that genes which promote selfishness should increase their presence in the gene pool and that altruistic genes would therefore be outbred. This would mean that Dawkins (1976) explanation for cooperative and social behaviour would be fundamentally flawed. However, game theory has shown how important the combination of those who behave selfishly and those who behave in a seemingly altruistic way is to the evolution of the genes that promote these behaviours. A game called ‘prisoners dilemma’ demonstrates that when two people behave altruistically they increase the overall fitness of both parties and hence the gene that promotes this behaviour is likely to survive and be replicated. When both parties behave selfishly both decrease their overall fitness which makes the gene responsible less likely to survive and be replicated and when one partner behaves selfishly it is their own fitness that will increase but if there is discrimination from those who have the altruistic genes in their willingness to interact with those carrying the selfish gene then this explains why the population is not overcome by those carrying the selfish gene. Dawkins purports that consciousness has evolved to be able to override the influence of the genes and that the more executive decisions are made at the helm of this consciousness. It is the relationship between the genes and consciousness that determine how a person will behave and the influence of the environment and its culture shapes consciousness more than genes do. Dawkins acknowledged a meme as a unit of culture that can be passed from person to person at a much faster rate than genes would be and therefore memes create rules for cooperative and social behaviour and these rules help to maintain systems of cooperation by punishing those who do not engage fairly in social interactions. Therefore where behaviours cannot be explained by genes they are explained by memes and Cartesian-dualism. Because ultimately genes are primarily concerned with their own replication, they influence people to behave in ways that are most likely to meet this need; altruistic and cooperative behaviour has evolved as a consequence of its success at replicating itself and therefore cooperative and social behaviour is explained by the SGT as having evolved at the level of the genes through selfish means. Cooperative and social behaviour at the level of the organism is therefore only a mechanism to ensure that the needs of the genes are being met. The survival of the fittest is therefore not a competition for resources and advantageous selfish behaviour but it is an enhanced chance of survival and reproduction bestowed on those who behave in efficient ways such as through cooperative and social behaviours (Margulis Lovelock, 1974) Conclusively, Dawkins SGT appears to be able to offer adequate explanations for cooperative and social behaviours that enhance the fitness of the actor and those who share the same genes. If the fitness is not directly or indirectly enhanced with an immediate effect then this can be explained as having a lifetime fitness benefit by this same theory but it is worth noting that measuring lifetime fitness benefits is difficult to do which limits this explanation. The weaker the genetic connection between the actor and the recipient the weaker the theory becomes when offering explanations for cooperative and social behaviours, especially as the behaviour of the actor becomes increasingly altruistic. Therefore from the perspective of the SGT even apparently cooperative and social behaviour at the level of the organism is always one of selfish motivation at the level of the genes; put succinctly, ‘scratch an altruist and watch a hypocrite bleed’ (Ghiselin, 1974). References Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York: Oxford University Press. Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I II. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 7, pp. 1-52. Hamilton, W. D. (1975). Innate social aptitudes of man: An approach from evolutionary genetics. In R. Fox (Ed. ), Biosocial anthropology (pp. 133-155). New York: Wiley. Sachs, J. L. , Mueller, U. G. , Wilcox, T. P. , Bull, J. J. (2004). The evolution of cooperation. Quarterly Review of Biology, 79, pp. 135-160. Trivers, R. L. (1971) Evolution of reciprocal altruism. Q. Rev. Biol. 46, pp. 35-7. Gardner, A. , and West, S. A. 2004. Spite and the scale of competition. J. Evol. Biol. 17, pp. 1195–1203. Gardner, A. and West, S. A. 2006. Demography, altruism, and the benefits of budding. Journal of Evolutional Biology. 19, pp. 1707–1716. West, S. A. , Gardner, A. , Barton, N. H. (2007). The relation between multilocus population genetics and social evolution theory. 169, pp. 207–226. Maynard Smith, J. (1964). Group selection and kin selection. Nature, 20, pp. 1145-1147. Johannsen, W. (1911). The genotype conception of heredity, Amer. Natur. , 1911. 95. 1911-10005-00110. 1086/279202. Krebs, J. R. , Davies, N. B. (1993). An introduction to behavioral ecology. (3rd ed. ). Oxford, england: blackwell. de Quervain, D. J. , Fischbacher, U. , Treyer, V. , Schellhammer, M. , Schnyder, U. , Buck, A. , Fehr, E. (2004, August 27). The neural basis of altruistic punishment. Science, 305, 1254-1258. West, S. A. , A. S. Griffin, and A. Gardner. 2007. Social semantics: altruism, cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selection. J. Evol. Biol. 20, pp. 415–432. West, S. A. , A. S. Griffin, A. Gardner, and S. P. Diggle. 2006. Social evolution theory for microorganisms. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 4, pp. 597–607. Griffin, A. S. , and S. A. West. 2002. Kin selection: fact and fiction. Trends Ecol. Evol. 17, pp. 15–21. Frank, S. A. (2003). Perspective: repression of competition and the evolution of cooperation. Evolution 57. pp. 693–705. Lehmann, L. , and L. Keller. 2006. The evolution of cooperation and altruism- a general framework and a classification of models. J. Evol. Biol. 19 pp. 1365–1376. Kummerli, R. , Gardner, R. , West, S. A. , Griffin, A. S. (2008) Limited dispersal, budding dispersal and cooperation: an experimental study. Ghiselin, M. (1974). A radical solution to the species problem. Systematic Zoology, 23, 536-554. Van Baalen M. and Jansen V. A. A. (2006) Kinds of kindness: classifying the causes of altruism and cooperation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19: 1377-1379 Heylighen F. (1992) Selfish Memes and the Evolution of Cooperation, Journal of Ideas , 2. pp 77-84.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Bilingualism is a natural phenomenon worldwide

Bilingualism is a natural phenomenon worldwide Bilingualism is a natural phenomenon worldwide. Unwittingly, however, monolingualism has been used as a standard to characterize and define bilingualism and multilingualism in linguistic research. Such a conception led to a â€Å"fractional† â€Å"irregular† and â€Å"distorted† view of bilingualism, which is becoming rapidly outmoded in the light of multipronged, rapidly growing interdisciplinary research. Other central concepts such as individuals† bilingual language attitudes, language choices, and consequences are addressed, which set bilinguals apart from monolinguals. Language acquisition is as much an innate, biological, as social phenomenon. Political bilingualism refers to the language policies of a country. Unlike individual bilingualism, categories such as monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual nations do not reflect the actual linguistic situation in a particular country (Edwards, 2004/2006; Romaine, 1989/1995). Hong Kong, for instance, is officially recognized as a bilingual country. This means that Hong Kong promotes bilingualism as a language policy of the country as well as in its society as a whole. English and Chinese are official languages. By no means does it imply that most speakers in Hong Kong are bilinguals. In fact, monolingual countries may reflect a high degree of bilingualism. Multilingual countries such as South Africa, Switzerland, Finland and Canada often use one of the two approaches—â€Å"Personality† and â€Å"Territorial†Ã¢â‚¬â€to ensure bilingualism. The Personality principle aims to preserve individual rights (Extra Gorter, 2008) while the Territorial principle ensure s bilingualism or multilingual within a particular area to a variable degree, as in the case of Belgium. In India, where 23 languages are officially recognized, the government’s language policies are very receptive to multilingualism. The â€Å"three-language formula† is the official language policy of the country (Annamalai, 2001). In addition to learning Hindi and English, the co-national languages, school children can learn a third language spoken within or outside their state. To my personal opinion, bilinguals can move between one or more language models as required for the production, comprehension, and processing of verbal messages in a most cost-effective and efficient way. Bilingualism is a natural phenomenon worldwide. Unwittingly, however, monolingualism has been used as a standard to characterize and define bilingualism and multilingualism in linguistic research. Such a conception led to a â€Å"fractional† â€Å"irregular† and â€Å"distorted† view of bilingualism, which is becoming rapidly outmoded in the light of multipronged, rapidly growing interdisciplinary research. Other central concepts such as individuals† bilingual language attitudes, language choices, and consequences are addressed, which set bilinguals apart from monolinguals. Language acquisition is as much an innate, biological, as social phenomenon.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Analysis essay about parental expectations Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis about parental expectations - Essay Example wise, as parental expectations play an essentially vital role in the performance of a child, ridiculously high expectations can result in their failure while low expectations can lead to under confidence. Maintaining too high expectations can also result in social anxiety, stress, depression and many other forms of mental illnesses. Every child has a different learning pace; it could be fast for some while it comes slower to others. Some children may be self sufficient while others could need help guidance and tutoring. It is an accepted fact that every child has a unique learning pace which can be molded and improved with encouragement. This suggests that the same amount expectations cannot be held with every child. That said, parental involvement does make for overall better performance in children than in the case of those whose parents are less involved. Although there are many sides to parenting, studies show that the greatest influence is cast by a single aspect, parental expectations, according to the Harvard Family Research Project (Harvard 2014). In order to provide a child with a healthy home environment, it is essential to love him unconditionally, irrespective of whether or not he is the brightest of the lot. Now the thing that gets in the way of this unconditional love is our sky high expectations (Hudson 2014). An explanation for why parental expectations are so affective on children is that they see themselves, for most of their childhood and even beyond, through their parents’ eyes. Consequently, if a parent believes his child can be a top-dog, that’s what his child will perceive himself to be. On the other hand, if a child has been exposed to derogatory aura at home, he is most likely to accept failure without really trying at all. Similarly, having far greater expectations from your child than his obvious abilities is like expecting a chicken to swim or a cat to fly. The key here is for parents to analyze the situation their child is in

Financial structure and macroeconomic stability Research Paper

Financial structure and macroeconomic stability - Research Paper Example However the ability of the policy makers and financial regulators to implement different rules depends upon the control they have upon reducing inflation and output volatility. The transmission of interest rate fluctuations to output levels and prices depends upon a country’s policies regarding banking and management of financial markets. For most policy makers, in majority of the nations, controlling the interest rates in the short run is considered to be most important. Policy development and interest rate changes are however effective only when they lead to an increase the level finance available to firms and individuals who are willing to invest in projects or shift consumption. In many nations it is observed that the banking system is guarded from the impact caused by monetary policies through barriers which are created by the government (Iakova & Wagner, 2001). Monetary policy which gets transmitted to the real economy and thereby impacts the lending policies of the bank requires to be altered as they hinder growth. When the government sheds the assets of the bank, they indirectly create scope for the central banks to bring about stability in output and inflation rates. Therefore establishing a control over the assets possessed by the bank is a suitable way by which it is possible to manage the macro-economic environment. The deposit insurance system is also identified as a crucial factor in the financial regulatory system which affects the economy. The absence or the presence of a deposit regulatory system affects the readiness of bank managers to undertake risks. Subsequently the access available to firms to raise finance through equity and bonds may also get affected. Financial regulators are frequently seen to use bank loans as a tool to implement monetary policies. Therefore if firms are more dependent upon banks, then the efficient implementation of

Management Control and Audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Control and Audit - Essay Example Management accounting at present mainly includes managerial control techniques and auditing. In statistical concept and probability theory, the term ‘Variance’ is of great significance. Standard costing is used as a control technique. It refers to the preparation of standard costs and application of these in order to measure the variations from standard costs and analyze the causes of variations to maintain maximum efficiency in production. Such data is presented to management by means of variance analysis. Variances among price and efficiency are important in standard costing. Material price variance means, the part of material cost variance which is due to the difference between standard price and the actual price paid. Price variances will occur due to- Price variance is mainly related with the material concepts, where as efficiency variance is mostly related with labor concepts. Efficiency variance in relation to labor means, that portion of labor cost variance which arises due to the difference between standard hours specified for the actual output and the actual hours spent. Price variance is for the material purchased, and the efficiency variance is on for the direct labor. â€Å"Price variance is the difference between actual unit price and standard unit price, multiplied by actual quantity of input used. It reflects a change between the expected price and actual price of input. Price Variance = (Actual Price - Standard Price) x Actual Quantity where a positive result indicates an increase in costs (i.e., an unfavorable variance), while a negative result means a reduction in costs (i.e., a favorable variance).† (Business Definition For: Price variance. 2007). In case of an organization, there are mainly two types of control: budgetary control and financial control. Budget and budgetary control are related concepts in the theoretical aspects of Cost and

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Assignment gender and fairytales Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gender and fairytales - Assignment Example The Greek castle itself had a hall or room (mans quarters) specially left for entertainment from women. This is where parties, dances and sex took place .However, there was another class of women who were supposed to attend parties with the king .They were considered to be more educated. The servants of the Aphrodite were a class of women in Greece who had a high level of sexual freedom. The island of Lesbos was associated by poet Salford. His work of poetry has drawn a lot of scholarly attention. He was not homosexual but wrote long poems about his longing desire for young girls. Greece poetry played a major role in religion and the world of sexuality. The secret band of thieves was a group of died avoiding disgrace from their lovers or homosexual lovers. Their death marked an end of classical Greece era and ushered a new era of Hellenism. This was subsequently followed by changes in sexual life in Greece. There were now stronger bonds between a man and a woman, and the elites in Greece started appreciating women in general. The male nakedness as the symbol of beauty was replaced by a female nakedness. During this time, man to man relationships were replaced by man-woman sexual relationship and the society started to accept the humanity of

Issues Experienced While Administering Care to Patients Article

Issues Experienced While Administering Care to Patients - Article Example This essay stresses that  they specifically interviewed nurses with not only more than 3 years working experience, but also with experience in dementia patient care. They used questionnaires in addition to focus group interviews in collecting data. Additionally, the authors of the article used analytical methods in extracting issues in nursing care from the data collected from the participants regarding their facilities. The result of their interview showed that difficult ethical situations, disorderly conduct among patients as well as problems associated with organization of acute care as the main obstacle to good nursing care for dementia patients. Other issues nurses that face in connection to dementia care included responsibility for patients in addition to not only frustrations with regard to time, but also with regard to lack of organization.From this paper it is clear that  in relation to the nursing care provided for dementia patients, the article had diverse strengths. F irst, it openly elaborates on how dementia affects many people. This is evidenced by its reference of dementia as a major public problem. It then expounds on how many acute care hospitals are involved in the treatment of comorbidities. In addition to this, the article expounds on the methods that were employed in the collection of data that enhanced the success of the research. The expression of the results that was got from the data that was collected is also one of the key strengths of this article.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Management Control and Audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Control and Audit - Essay Example Management accounting at present mainly includes managerial control techniques and auditing. In statistical concept and probability theory, the term ‘Variance’ is of great significance. Standard costing is used as a control technique. It refers to the preparation of standard costs and application of these in order to measure the variations from standard costs and analyze the causes of variations to maintain maximum efficiency in production. Such data is presented to management by means of variance analysis. Variances among price and efficiency are important in standard costing. Material price variance means, the part of material cost variance which is due to the difference between standard price and the actual price paid. Price variances will occur due to- Price variance is mainly related with the material concepts, where as efficiency variance is mostly related with labor concepts. Efficiency variance in relation to labor means, that portion of labor cost variance which arises due to the difference between standard hours specified for the actual output and the actual hours spent. Price variance is for the material purchased, and the efficiency variance is on for the direct labor. â€Å"Price variance is the difference between actual unit price and standard unit price, multiplied by actual quantity of input used. It reflects a change between the expected price and actual price of input. Price Variance = (Actual Price - Standard Price) x Actual Quantity where a positive result indicates an increase in costs (i.e., an unfavorable variance), while a negative result means a reduction in costs (i.e., a favorable variance).† (Business Definition For: Price variance. 2007). In case of an organization, there are mainly two types of control: budgetary control and financial control. Budget and budgetary control are related concepts in the theoretical aspects of Cost and

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Issues Experienced While Administering Care to Patients Article

Issues Experienced While Administering Care to Patients - Article Example This essay stresses that  they specifically interviewed nurses with not only more than 3 years working experience, but also with experience in dementia patient care. They used questionnaires in addition to focus group interviews in collecting data. Additionally, the authors of the article used analytical methods in extracting issues in nursing care from the data collected from the participants regarding their facilities. The result of their interview showed that difficult ethical situations, disorderly conduct among patients as well as problems associated with organization of acute care as the main obstacle to good nursing care for dementia patients. Other issues nurses that face in connection to dementia care included responsibility for patients in addition to not only frustrations with regard to time, but also with regard to lack of organization.From this paper it is clear that  in relation to the nursing care provided for dementia patients, the article had diverse strengths. F irst, it openly elaborates on how dementia affects many people. This is evidenced by its reference of dementia as a major public problem. It then expounds on how many acute care hospitals are involved in the treatment of comorbidities. In addition to this, the article expounds on the methods that were employed in the collection of data that enhanced the success of the research. The expression of the results that was got from the data that was collected is also one of the key strengths of this article.

Modern Auditing Essay Example for Free

Modern Auditing Essay (Components of internal control) The chapter identified five components of internal control. Listed below are specific control policies and procedures prescribed by Suntron Company. 1. Management gives careful consideration to the requisite knowledge and skills personnel need at all levels of the organization. Control environment. Planning, executing, controlling, and monitoring and entity’s activity is what is used to develop an overall framework for an entity to meet its objectives. 2. General controls and application controls are established in the electronic data processing department. Control activities, IT should be independent and should not correct data submitted by user departments. 3. Management acts to reduce or eliminate incentives and temptations that might lead individuals to engage in dishonest or illegal acts. Control environment. Management leads by example, by demonstrating integrity and ethical behavior. 4. Management is alert to complaints received from customers about billing errors. Monitoring. Management may receive separate evaluations, such as from bank examiners. 5. Management gives special consideration to the risks that can arise from the use of information technology in the accounting system. Risk assessment. Management should consider the risk of fraud and the financial consequences that fraud presents. 6. Employees’ responsibilities are assigned so as to avoid any individual’s being in a position to both commit an error or irregularity and then conceal it. Control activiites. Inventory records should periodically be compared with inventory on hand. 7. IT management has designed controls to prevent unauthorized use of IT equipment, data files, and computer programs. Control activities. Controls that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that the recording, processing, and reporting of data by IT are properly performed for specific applications. 8. The processing of payroll includes a check on the total number of hours submitted. If more than 65 hours are reported in a weekly pay period, the transaction is printed on an exception report and put in a suspense file for additional review or additional authorization. Control activities. Computer routines that is in place to detect incomplete, incorrect, or unreasonable data. 9. Suntron’s internal audit staff periodically assesses the effectiveness of various ICS components. Monitoring. Reporting deficiencies to audit committee or full board of directors. 10. Policy manuals, accounting and financial reporting manuals, and a chart of accounts. Information and communication. Providing an understanding of individual roles and responsibilities in regards to internal control over financial reporting. have been developed and implemented. Required a. Identify the components of internal control to which each policy or procedure relates. b. For each item, identify one other policy or procedure for that internal control component that is not on the preceding list.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Wings Of Fire Book Review and Summary

Wings Of Fire Book Review and Summary Written by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, honorable President of India. Wings of Fire is an autobiography capable of inspiring even a common man into becoming a technologist. A well composed novel which revolves around the life of Mr. Kalam a renowned scientist as he shares his experiences and the minutest of details of his life. I like the way the book has been put together along with the delicate facts of his personal life. His family background, the pain and suffering he went through and recollected himself is commendable. The day I finished reading this book, such an influential personality impacted me very deeply and it gave me a glimpse of how the power of positive thinking can help achieve all odds. This autobiography comprises of a balance of details of the technological and political challenges faced to prosper in its aeronautical and space program. It is also a success story of Dr.Kalams participative management practices. Also, it gives an insight into the lives of Hindus and Muslims of India and their relationships among each other and among multi religious communities in India. Wings of Fire is an account of a young boy who tries to achieve his dreams beating all odds. The story emphasizes the importance of family, relatives and friends in helping achieve each others goals and turning dreams to reality. It teaches us to become a patriotic citizen of our country shown in the book as a determinant India and countless effort of its scientists in achieving superiority in aeronautical, space and rocket technology. This book offers an important lesson of finding success from failures of Indian space and rocket infrastructural programs. A good presentation of the role of other renowned scientists moulding our countrys future. This book is full of information and is a recommended choice for every student, because this book has the influence and power to motivate a person to stand out in life. Wings of Fire is a unique model of accomplishing ones goals, while fulfilling the promise to its country. As I read through this book I felt the same humility that Mr.Kalam felt when he was engaged into the program. A friend recommended me this book and I am glad that he did. This book is an biography of Indias president Abdul Kalam which has been co-authored with famous Arun Tiwari, who once had worked with Kalam in the field of military defense research. As from the book itself, this is the story of Kalam who flourished from darkness into the bright sunlight, his personal and professional effort. . . . . . . This is also the narrative of independent Indias struggle for technological self adequacy sovereignty in defense systems a story as much regarding politics, as it is regarding science. The story tells us about Kalams rise from a humble lower-middle class family his narrative of Indias efforts in rocketry space technology. Segregated into four sections, the book gradually reaches for the stars Orientation, Creation, Propitiation Contemplation. As a tribute to his mother and father, the book is dedicated to his parents. The first segment relates to the early life of Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Kalam. His recollections of the early days are very suggestive of good old Magudi set up. He remembers his parents, relatives and teachers his most influential characters in the book. Adding color to the section are pictures of that time. This segment covers all his early learning and travels. The next segment is related to Kalams further education and work experience and his involvement with projects of military defense and space, primarily the SLV3. This part has many scientific details and is an introduction to defense and space research organizations. Kalam is an aam aadmi at heart, this is shown in the book in many of his narratives through his interaction with even the insignificant people in the hierarchy like Dr Brahm prakash, Prof Satish Dhawan and Prof Vikram Sarabhai. The third segment covers the years from 80-91 when Kalam is posted from ISRO to military defense labs. Filled with many pictures, this section too keeps us entertained. And to imagine he worked mostly in government institutions where bureaucracy and red tapes are the order of the day. We have all heard of SLV3, PSLV, Akaash, Naga, Agni, Trishul in the news and these technological achievements marks the success of what is now, one of the strongest and determined aeronautical and space organization of India. The last segment is connected with the later years where Kalam is bestowed upon with series of awards, his thought and his visions for a proud India. It is almost impossible not to be inspired by the life of Mr.Kalam. This segment along with the conclusion also mentions of Kalams dream for the year 2020. The book itself is written in simple English and it seems as if the author is speaking out to the reader directly. One must read this for the following reasons Indias greatest scientist Abdul Kalams story, military and defense research, missile technology, Indias vital space programs and general knowledge. Throughout the book there are morals that are for the grooming purposes for everyone, even for the administrators. Abdul Kalam tells us how the finest of people can be brought out. Abdul Kalam is referred to as spiritual scientist, his visions and contributions to his country. As a young man, Abdul Kalam was inquisitive and keen to learn more and more about science. Kalams mentors persuaded him to ponder onto the great opportunity into space science and by achieving this India will become self-sufficient in aeronautical and rocket science. He was the first one with a vision that India has great potential in its space and satellite development of launch vehicles. SLVs provide as the foundation for a range of state-of-the-art missile technology in Indias military. From an American viewpoint, when everyone is shouting bloody murder and weapon proliferation, Abdul Kalams memories of Frances taking away of support and fake accusations of German help serve as a alarming reminder that embargoing a country simply cannot work if the countrys public is strong enough to control their own destiny. Its worrying that there is little debate on the ethics of an impoverished country developing nuclear weapons and deploying delivery systems. . . .But thats almost totally lost in the argument of self-reliance, a determination to never again surrender to foreign rule. Abdul Kalam, an optimist, made helped India become self sufficient in its space and rocket technology. The book also inspires the youth of India living nationally and internationally that they appreciate the one marvel achieved by their nations hero, Abdul Kalam and strive themselves to become strong in every area of their profession and make India prosper for eternity. Abdul Kalam, the man with many names. He is most trusted man in India according to survey, He is also known as the missile man of India. Abdul Kalam will be cherished long after he is gone, the man whom India loves. The book is a journey into Abdul Kalams life; the book however does not cover his presidency days that were published before he became the president of India. Abdul Kalam stayed in Ramesh Varam which is famous for its Shiv temple. The famous temple was few kilometers journey from Abdul Kalams home, a Muslim dominated area. Abdul Kalam use to sell newspapers to help his brother, was good friend of the priest of the temple and his father was respectable man whom people used to turn for advice. Abdul Kalam writes about his school days, his brother in laws influence on him and his teachers in the initial chapters. He also writes about his financial challenges he faced during the time he was into education. The later chapters are some of Vikram Sarabhais immense contribution in establishment of space research center and opening up new feets for coming scientists. Abdul kalams efforts in association with other scientist would make ordinary Indian understand the zeal , the effort of human soul in making India , a well respected country in space science. As a mentor of Abdul Kalam, Vikram Sarabhai had expert management skills and team building skills with which he groomed Abdul Kalam into becoming a scientist to remember for years to come. In one of his meeting with Vikram Sarabhai at 3 a.m, Abdul Kalam worked hours at stretch with his colleague for presentation to defense minister and he forgets an important personal event to attend to, this shows Kalams determination for his work and his country to succeed. ISRO, prithvi, agni, nag, trishul are some of the achievements which every Indian is proud of. It was a moment to cherish when India made its first journey to the moon and along with this journey to success was Abdul Kalams belief that nothing can stop India from reaching the stars and he certainly proved himself as one of the stars. Considering that this book comes from a scientist, this book does have little scientific narration. SLV, Geo satellite, composite material, mechanical engineering and such things. The journey itself always has technical errors especially when its scientific in nature. Abdul Kalam, like the man himself forced his will to victory over failures, fears and disappointments. At the core, the book is about the great Indian dream. A wish that all the founding fathers of a country have, a wish fulfilled by Abdul Kalam. A country which is divided by religion and caste. A country which has a corrupt political system and where money rules, Abdul Kalam still made millions of citizens of India a proud nation. Aftermath