The Inability To Provide For His Family, And Why It Drove Mr. Shimerda

The Inability to Provide for His Family, and Why it Drove Mr. Shimerda to Suicide My Antonia, by Willa Cather, is a novel about Jim Burden and his relationship and experiences growing up with Antonia Shimerda in Nebraska. Throughout the book Jim reflects on his memories of Nebraska and the Shimerda family, often times in a sad and depressing tone. One of the main ways Cather is able to provoke these sad emotions within the reader is through the suicide of Antonia's father, Mr. Shimerda. His death was unexpected by everyone and it is thought that homesickness is what drove him to take his own life. Homesickness was surely felt by Mr. Shimerda, as it was by many, but it was the failure to adequately find a way to provide for his family that sent Mr. Shimerda into a depressing downward spiral that left him no foreseeable alternative but to take his own life. The first descriptions of Mr. Shimerda are that of a successful businessman that had always provided well for his family. I noticed how white and well-shaped his own hands were. They looked calm, somehow, and skilled. His eyes were melancholy, and were set back deep under his brow. His face was ruggedly formed, but it looked like ashes - like something from which all the warmth and light had dried out. Everything about this old man was in keeping with his dignified manner (24) Mr. Shimerda was indeed a prosperous man in Bohemia, but had made his living in the business world, not by running a farm to provide for his family's needs. His hands show that he rarely performed hard manual labor, but that he did work hard with his hands to weave. His face however shows signs that he was already having doubts about the welfare of his family and their survival. The apparent glow that he must have once had was now replaced by the look of heavy thoughts. This came from the burden of providing for his family by way of very unfamiliar and difficult means. He had already lost a great deal of money in the family's traveling expenses and overpaid for their property. They paid way too much for the land and for the oxen, horses and cookstove (22). Mr. Shimerda must not have thought that he would have to support his family by means of plowing fields for food and actually building a home from materials gathered from the earth. He was a businessman and made a life for his famil y in Bohemia by working. He was a weaver by trade; had been a skilled work man on tapestries and upholstery materials (22). There was no work for him in this new country and he did not have the money to relocate his family. Certainly before he left Bohemia he believed that they had more than enough money to get by. The reality of his family's circumstances was just beginning to show their impact. Antonia points out to Jim that Mr. Shimerda looks ill My papa sick all the time Tony panted as we flew. He not look good, Jim (36). It is obvious that Mr. Shimerda was terribly stressed and was staring to show it physically. Most likely he looked ill due to not sleeping and eating. Nevertheless, Mr. Shimerda wanted desperately do the best that he could for his family. He moved his family with the hopes of finding good husbands for his daughters and wealth and land for his son. He calls onto Jim to teach Antonia to read. He does so in a very pleading, helpless way which leaves an unforgettab le memory in Jim's mind. Jim takes on the task, but unfortunately Mr. Shimerda gets little help from anyone else in the town for anything. Mr. Shimerda never really understands why he receives virtually little help from neighbors getting the farm going. He knows nothing about running the farm, and didn't even have the appropriate tools necessary. He and his family on the other hand are very trusting and would give the shirts off their backs to anyone who needed anything from them. There never were such a people as the Shimerdas for wanting to give away everything they had

Free Essays on History is power

National Pride When trying to analyze another’s being one must first consider the past experiences and influences that have help to shape them. Another important idea about History, is how it can serve a dual role: The one of destroyer or the other of savior. The message a people's history transmits from the past can either kill a people's spirit or empower and magnify. If a people's history has been a past laced with hardship, meekness, subjugation, and servility, no empowerment can be derived from it. This history of hardship had been the version being transmitted to the Korean people by the Japanese: a nation of meek farmers, always stuck in a peninsula, with no strength to become anything. However, instead of causing the Korean’s to be come weak, this only built up in their psyche, having been invaded a total of 966 times from outsiders the Koreans have survived and have never been seen as power hungry people. The most visible cause of this historical view lies in the Japanese colonial era. Every colonial power does its best to instill a sense of inferiority, defeat, and hopelessness into the psyche of the subjugated. The Japanese did everything their power allowed to do to achieve this end; that included a massive sixteen-year compiling of their version of Korean history, The Chosen-sai. Chosen-sai essentially has never been discarded Yi Byong-do, who was an active participant in the compiling of the Chosen-sai. But Yi not withstanding, the Japanese didn't get their idea just out of the blue, but rather exploited centuries of sadaejui practiced by the Yi Dynasty. Since sadaejui itself was a self-derogatory ideology that whole-heartedly embraced Sino centrism and the "dominant sinic culture", the foundation for the distortion of Korean history had already been laid, the Japanese just simply built on their version of Korean inferiority on top of another that was already there. But there is another historical view of Korean h... Free Essays on History is power Free Essays on History is power National Pride When trying to analyze another’s being one must first consider the past experiences and influences that have help to shape them. Another important idea about History, is how it can serve a dual role: The one of destroyer or the other of savior. The message a people's history transmits from the past can either kill a people's spirit or empower and magnify. If a people's history has been a past laced with hardship, meekness, subjugation, and servility, no empowerment can be derived from it. This history of hardship had been the version being transmitted to the Korean people by the Japanese: a nation of meek farmers, always stuck in a peninsula, with no strength to become anything. However, instead of causing the Korean’s to be come weak, this only built up in their psyche, having been invaded a total of 966 times from outsiders the Koreans have survived and have never been seen as power hungry people. The most visible cause of this historical view lies in the Japanese colonial era. Every colonial power does its best to instill a sense of inferiority, defeat, and hopelessness into the psyche of the subjugated. The Japanese did everything their power allowed to do to achieve this end; that included a massive sixteen-year compiling of their version of Korean history, The Chosen-sai. Chosen-sai essentially has never been discarded Yi Byong-do, who was an active participant in the compiling of the Chosen-sai. But Yi not withstanding, the Japanese didn't get their idea just out of the blue, but rather exploited centuries of sadaejui practiced by the Yi Dynasty. Since sadaejui itself was a self-derogatory ideology that whole-heartedly embraced Sino centrism and the "dominant sinic culture", the foundation for the distortion of Korean history had already been laid, the Japanese just simply built on their version of Korean inferiority on top of another that was already there. But there is another historical view of Korean h...

Click vs. Clip

Click vs. Clip Click vs. Clip Click vs. Clip By Maeve Maddox The following comment appeared in my Facebook news feed: You have to clip on the picture to see [the complete image]. The context surely called for click, not clip. Curious, I cruised the Web to see if I might find other instances of clip used in a context calling for click. I was surprised by how common the error seems to be. Here are just a few examples that I found: To see a full side-by-side visual comparison of my standard vs responsive design home page as seen on my Android smartphone, clip on the image below. If you would like to utilize the pictures I used in this activity, clip on the image below. Please clip on the image  above to download a  freebie  sample game. Clip on the image or name of the image below to download a high resolution PNG file of that picture. Clip on the image  below for a look A Google search brought up about 400,000 hits for the phrase, â€Å"clip on the image,† compared to 58,800,000 for the correct idiom, â€Å"click on the image.† In the context of computing, click is used as both noun and verb. As a noun, click refers to the act of pressing a button on a computer mouse: How Many Calories are Burned with the Click of a Mouse? What if a click of the mouse could save the environment? Search for over 20,000 parts and place an order with the click of a mouse. As a verb, click means, â€Å"to press a button on the mouse†: New users: Click â€Å"Register.† Right-click an empty spot on your desktop or in a folder of your choice. Double-click the file to launch it. The common meaning of clip, on the other hand, is, â€Å"to cut with scissors or shears.† Hair, wool, grass, and various other things are clipped. In the context of media, the words clip and clipping have acquired specialized meanings. In the old days, when printed publications dominated the media, people cut articles from newspapers and magazines and placed them in files or in scrapbooks. Artists and politicians were especially interested in tracking their publicity. The first agency for the purpose of collecting and organizing printed articles for clients was established in London in 1852. In American usage, articles clipped from publications are called clippings; in British usage, they’re called cuttings. Like click, clip has also become a computer term: Sight is an iPhone-optimized app that  lets you clip articles from any iOS app in  one  snap. Quickly and easily clip articles, text, and images right into Evernote. Web clipping is extracting static information from a Web site in order to display the data on a Web-enabled PDA. In the context of computer use, click applies to the operation of a mouse. Clip refers to some form of cutting. One might clip an image to use it elsewhere, but one clicks on an image to enlarge it or download it. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Dialogue Dos and Don'tsStory Writing 101While vs. Whilst

A Human Character to the Corporation From a Moral Perspective Research Paper

A Human Character to the Corporation From a Moral Perspective - Research Paper Example Corporations law and partnership law are currently separate. However, current amendments to the Partnership Act of 1892 (NSW) have made provision for LLP and ILPs, with the facility of limited liability being extended in these cases to promote innovation and risk-taking. While this could address the limited use of partnerships due to their inability to restrict liability5, it also allows for benefits to be gleaned by foreign investors and large entrepreneurs, promoting a capitalistic structure that may not necessarily be beneficial to Australian interests. If the limited liability benefits of a corporation are to be extended to small partnership like arrangements of a few Directors who also share profits among themselves as in the Ebrahimi case, then the taxation laws must be amended 6 and the Partnership Act of New South Wales must be amended to permit such business to take advantage of tax reforms. This will enable issues of fairness and equity of a partnership where partners/inves tors owe each other a duty of good faith to co-exist successfully with the limited liability of corporations. The purpose of including disclosure through prospectuses for securities was mainly (a) to protect investors from underlying risks (b) enhance the efficiency of the securities market and (c) prevent fraud. Ruth Hines discovered that although the financial statements that are a part of such reports are considered vital, only those experienced in accounting were able to understand them sufficiently to make their decisions on the basis of those reports.

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Personal statement - Essay Example I am deeply aware that any interest in life can best translate into a real-time success only through impeccable academic credentials. My father himself built his military career on the foundation of his study at Sandhurst Academy in the UK. In line with this belief, I chose to pursue my Bachelor of Science in International Business Management at Lynn University. As a senior, I can confidently say that this is indeed what I want to do with my life. I have enjoyed all my undergraduate courses, particularly Operations, Management, Marketing and Finance. I perceive that Masters in Information Technology from a reputed university like Pace is the logical next step to open the doors to my entry into the tech industry. Right from High School, I have grabbed every opportunity to gain computer related knowledge. My internship with the Gardeniya Ladies Centre at Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia, gave me valuable exposure to customer relations. I learned that interpersonal communication is the bedrock of any commercial venture. I went on to another internship at the Click Travel Agency in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where I scheduled flight arrivals and departures, and honed my organizational prowess. I am confident that my internships have given me valuable skills in time management, dispute resolution and innovative packages design. At Lynn, I am a faithful and interested participant in the numerous CEO presentations on campus, absorbing the invaluable, first-hand inputs of professional businessmen and entrepreneurs. I also made use of the opportunity to be a part of the preparation for the 2012 Presidential Debate hosted at Lynn. What a learning experience that was! I believe that volunteer work is the ideal way to self-fulfillment. One of the most enriching periods of my life is the time I spent as a student volunteer at the Senior Nursing Home/ Orphanage Facility for Children at Dammam, Saudi Arabia. I was part of a social media campaign to

Child Abuse Prevention and Control Essay Example for Free

Child Abuse Prevention and Control Essay Child abuse is a serious and widespread problem throughout the world. It can take the form of sexual abuse, physical or psychological mistreatment , or child neglect. Can child abuse be prevented? Can the child abuser be rehabilitated? What can be done within your own home or community to prevent or control child abuse? Once discovered, child abuse can be addressed, but how does one report child abuse, and what are the legal requirements for reporting the abuse? Are you aware of the effect that the abuse has on other family members, or what the long term effects of child abuse can be? Learn how you can be part of the solution to the tragic problem of child abuse. Child abuse, regardless of what form it takes, is extremely damaging to the child, the family, and society. Approximately eighty percent of twenty-one year olds that have survived childhood abuse have at least one psychological disorder, and about thirty percent of abused or exploited children become abusers themselves as adults. Statistics tell us that five or more abused children die every day in America alone, not including the many abuse-related deaths that go unrecorded. Child abuse is a worldwide occurrence which crosses all boundaries. No financial, racial, religious, cultural or other situation has been found to preclude child abuse. Reporting child abuse United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico are among several areas of the world that have mandatory reporting laws. In these areas, any person who suspects or observes child abuse of any type must report the situation to the legal authorities. There are several professions in which the mandate to report is even more thoroughly enforced. Traditional authority positions such as school teacher, law enforcement, and physician are a few examples. The importance of reporting the abuse cannot be stressed enough. The younger the child is when the abuse is stopped, the better the chances of healing the psychological and/or physical damage inflicted. The longer the abuse is allowed to continue, the more damage is done, and healing becomes progressively more difficult. Studies show that children who simply witness abuse within the family are just as negatively affected as the subject of the abuse, further demonstrating the scope and gravity of this type of situation, and the importance of early intervention. Preventing child abuse The following are some ways that we can attempt to prevent the abuse before it even starts. If you are a parent, be sure you are able to de-stress in a healthy way instead of directing your frustrations toward your child. Physical activity, meditation, or involvement in a support group outside the home and away from the children are all excellent ways of positively redirecting anger or frustration. If you believe that you, or someone in your family is at risk of losing control or becoming abusive, do not ignore the issue or delay taking action. The person on the verge of losing control must get help before the abuse ever occurs. If you notice a parent clearly struggling under a lot of stress, try sympathizing, and perhaps offer to babysit, or even trade babysitting services to give the adults some down time. Donate, volunteer, or become otherwise actively involved in raising awareness about, or assisting, families and children in crisis. Controlling child abuse already occuring in the home It is no simple task to rehabilitate a child abuser. Generally, it is a long term process, involving not just the abuser, but the entire family unit. Each family member must be willing to cooperate in the rehabilitation program. Mental or psychological instability or illness, and/or substance abuse often contribute to the abusive behavior, complicating matters even more, and and making rehabilitation much more difficult. If the abuse violation is considered low level, the abuser may possibly be permitted to remain within the home while treatment takes place, as long as steady improvement is observed and no further abuse occurs. This is normally decided on a case by case basis. The definition of low level varies according to local laws, but one example would be mild incidences of neglect, as opposed to actual physical or sexual abuse or exploitation, or more severe cases of neglect. Instances in which the abuse has become more serious usually require removal and temporary relocation of the child, or removal of the abuser, until such time as the offender is determined to be rehabilitated. Requirements vary depending on locale, but in all instances, there are specific conditions that must be satisfied before the family is reunited.

The Working Poor in America Essay example -- Exploratory Essays Resear

The Working Poor in America The concept of the "working poor" has gained prominence in the post-welfare reform era. As welfare rolls shrunk, the focus shifted from the dependent poor to the working poor. It was obvious that without substantial outside support, even families with full-time low-wage workers were still earning less than the official poverty line. And while American society purports that anyone can prosper if they work hard enough, it became apparent that with inadequate opportunity or bad luck, a growing number of families could not attain the American dream, or even break the cycle of poverty. The new challenge for American social policy is to help the working poor lift themselves out of poverty. That's why progressives who supported ending welfare as we know it have set a new goal -- the government should "make work pay" so that no one who works full time is poor. After substantial decreases in the 1990s, poverty rates stopped their decline in 2000 and have actually started to again creep upward. The great conundrum of how one simultaneously alleviates the multiple causes of poverty has become a central obstacle to poverty reduction. Into this debate comes author David Shipler, a former New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner, with an aptly titled look at the state of poverty in America today, The Working Poor. Shipler's book is more anecdotal and descriptive than analytical and prescriptive. Yet it is a valuable portrait of poverty in America, just as Michael Harrington's landmark book, The Other America, was in 1962. While he does not offer many concrete solutions, Shipler provides readers with an intimate glimpse of the plight of the working poor, whose lives are in sharp contrast to the images of excess w... ... funding and direction, including those of local government and philanthropy, are critical to tailoring programs to the specific needs of local communities, and should be leveraged through federal funding. The final ingredient is responsibility, both personal and collective. Individuals must be empowered to improve their own lives, and the community must support the effort rather than look the other way, or looking past the working poor, who can so easily blend into the background. Shipler concludes the book with these thoughts: "Workers at the edge of poverty are essential to America's prosperity, but their well-being is not treated as an integral part of the whole. Instead, the forgotten wage a daily struggle to keep themselves from falling over the cliff. It is time to be ashamed." No, it is time to move past the ideology and make work pay for all Americans.

Flight 93 and Utilitarianism in Times of Crisis

On September 11, 2001 United Airlines flights 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It has been theorized that the crash was a result of the passengers trying to regain control after it had been hijacked by four members of the Al Qaeda terrorist group in their attempt fly the aircraft into either the White House or the U.S. Capitol building.With that being said, let’s change the scenario a little bit. Suppose that none of the passengers attempted to interfere with the terrorists plot to crash the plane into Washington D.C. Would it be acceptable for the government to launch military aircraft to intercept and possibly shoot down the airliner knowing that all 44 people on board would be killed? From a utilitarian mindset my answer would have to be yes.The whole point behind utilitarianism is to find the one action which maximizes utility, meaning, producing the greatest net benefit. When all things have been considered there is only one right action. It looks at what is good for the greatest number which means that it is possible to do something that has a positive net benefit for the majority but may be very harmful to another segment of the population.In the case of flight 93, shooting down the airliner and sacrificing 44 lives would have, in turn, save the lives of hundreds of people on the ground. Preventing the terrorists from reaching their destination would have averted the likelihood that a large number of our elected officials would have been severely injured or killed. Also, it would have prevented the potential shutdown of the U.S. Government, a shutdown that would have had negative effects felt around the world.This brings to light an interesting question. Are we more likely to accept the idea of utilitarianism in times of crisis? Again, I would have to answer yes. People tend to gravitate toward and readily accept structure and guidance, especially in times of crisis. By applying a utilitarian style of thinking, everything is b roken down into costs and benefits and can be quantified and rationalized.There are times that we may find utilitarian style of thinking to be to our advantage. For example, in times of crisis, however, I don’t feel that this makes the utilitarian theory universally acceptable because utilitarianism has the potential to be very unjust or unfair. It is human nature to apply a mix of all these different theories to our every day decision-making process. We can't just apply one style of thinking to the situation. I guess this is why some decisions seem nearly impossible to make.

Foreign Workers

A very good afternoon I bid to the House Speaker, Honourable Adjudicators, worthy opponents, precise timekeeper and members of the parliament. Now the time has come for me as the first speaker from the opposition team to stand here to speak on the motion â€Å"FOREIGN WORKERS HARM THE COUNTRY†. But before I proceed with the first argument on the motion. I would like to give the opposition definition of the keywords in the motion. ‘Foreign workers’ is defined as a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen.According to Oxford Dictionary, ‘harm’ is defined as physically injure, which in this case, foreign workers causes harm to malaysians citizens. Therefore, we,the opposition define today’s motion as â€Å"FOREIGN WORKERS HARM THE COUNTRY†. Ladies and Gentlemen, Before I proceed with my first argument, allow me to state our stand regarding the motion today. We, the opposition, strongly say that FOREIG N WORKERS HARM THE COUNTRY. As the first speaker, I will speak on ‘citizens’ and ‘unemployment’ factors. My second speaker will touch on ‘†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. and ‘†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. ’ factors. Whereas my third speaker will do the rebuttals. Members of the House, As the first speaker, allow me to convince you that ‘FOREIGN WORKERS HARM THE COUNTRY PHYSICALLY AND FINANCIALLY’. According to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, foreign workers in Malaysia numbered 3. 5 million as of mid-2011, comprising 1. 5 million legal foreign workers 2. 0 illegals. He also mentioned that Malaysians relies heavily on foreign workers to help out in the construction and plantation sectors.Most of the workers are sourced from Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, ladies and gentlemen, what happens if these foreign workers become unemployed? Won’t they resort to crime? Even ou r police force will be and are still unable to cope with the situation. We are in dire straits as too many unemployed foreigners are a social menace and yet the government intends to take in more foreign workers. S. Vidyanathan, an assemblyman from Barisan Nasional actually mentioned that foreign workers behave inappropriately and made residents around them felt uncomfortable.He also mentioned that â€Å"They often stay in big groups and have been seen taking baths using water pipes in front of their houses and wearing only towels or underwear. They loiter around playgrounds and other public places where they hug and kiss in public . † As you all know, ladies and gentlemen, this type of behaviour is not acceptable in Malaysia because of our culture and religion. This proved that foreign workers promote bad cultures specially to the youngsters. Ladies and Gentlemen, A lot of studies had been conducted on foreign worker issues in Malaysia and they had been discussed in various dimensions.Yet, negative impacts which come along such as social problems were commited by foreign workers. For instance, spread of diseases, theft, cheating, roberry and even killing. Ladies and Gentlemen, The unemployment rate can be defined as the number of people actively looking for a job divided by the labour force. Changes in unemployment depend mostly on inflows made up of non-employed people starting to look for jobs, of employed people who lose their jobs and look for new ones and of people who stop looking for employment. According to Labour Force Indicator Malaysia, it shows that the unemployment ate in Malaysia increases from 2012 to 2013 with the percentage from 2. 8% to 3. 2%. Foreign labour is the main factor that causes over population. And as you all know, ladies and gentlemen, overpopulation cause many unemployed. Now, foreigners enter our country easily by sea and land, of course to avoid immigration and customs authorities and to take our jobs. Members of the Ho use, For your information, the unemployment rate in Malaysia is considered low compared to the early years such as 1986 where the unemployment rate reached as high as 7. 6%.Foreign workers from Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines and many other countries enter Malaysia and fill in the vacant jobs in Malaysia causing job sectors to decrease in the number of jobs available for our own labor force causing labor force in Malaysia to increase in the unemployment rate. Please consider about this Mister Prime Minister, why would you do this to our own country? So there you are, ladies and gentlemen, I have given you strong argument why we, the government say FOREIGN WORKERS HARM THE COUNTRY. With that, I rest my case.

Wireless sensor network and its Applications The WritePass Journal

Wireless sensor network and its Applications Introduction Wireless sensor network and its Applications IntroductionA mote is consisted of four major components:Applications:Military ApplicationsTraffic surveillanceMedical Applications:WSN vs. Mobile Adhoc NetoworksOverview of 802.15.4Physical LayerMac LayerNetwork TopologiesEnergy Conservation and measurement:Related Introduction Wireless sensor networks use sensing techniques to gather information about a phenomenon and react to the events in a specified environment by the means of Sensors. These small, inexpensive, smart devices, which are connected through wireless links, provide unique opportunities for controlling and monitoring environments. Technically, a sensor translates the information from the physical world into signals and prepares them for analysis and processing. The terms, Wireless Nodes, Sensor nodes and motes can be used interchangeably in different contexts. Here we refer to them as motes. Motes are typically produced in large quantities and are usually densely distributed in the network. Their size(or their components size) varies from macroscopic- scale to microscopic or even sometimes nanoscopic-scale. â€Å"Micro-sensors with on-board processing and wireless interfaces can be utilized to study and monitor a variety of phenomena and environments at close proximity.† A mote is consisted of four major components: Processing Unit: For data processing and â€Å"managing the procedures that make the motes collaborate with other nodes to carry out the assigned sensing tasks.† Sensing Unit: To sense the physical world and convert the data into digital signal ready for processing. Transceiver Unit: To provide the connection of nodes in the network. Power Unit:   To supply energy for the device components.   Based on the application, motes may have some additional components such as location finding system, mobilizer and power generator. These components should be put together in a way to fit in a small size module, be adaptive to different environments and consume as little power as possible. The components of a mote Figure is a representation of data acquisition about a phenomena (Process) in the real world which can be sensed by a sensor. The sensed signal needs often needs some changing in order to be processed (Signal Conditioning). For example in order to make the signal range appropriate for conversion some changes on signal magnitude is needed through signal amplification.   Unwanted noise can also be removed through this stage. The analog signal is then transformed to digital signal by using ADC and is ready for further processing or storage. Data acquisition and actuation Applications: Wireless sensor networks can be used in places where wired systems cannot be deployed (e.g., a remote or dangerous area). It can also be used in commercial products to improve the performance or quality of them or provide convenience for their users. Sensor can sense many different variables such as: temperature, humidity, pressure and movement. They can sense an environment continuously or they can be event driven and sense an event when it occurs. Wireless sensor networks can support a wide range of applications. Battlefield surveillance, Bridge and highway monitoring, Earthquake detection, Habitat Monitoring, Health care, Industrial monitoring and control, Tracking wildfires, Traffic flow and surveillance, Video surveillance and Weather monitoring are few examples of its applications. Military Applications One of the first applications of sensor network was military sensing. WSN could be used for monitoring the critical equipment, vehicle or weapons to make sure they are in a proper condition. Terrains, paths and roads could be monitored to sense the presence of opposing forces. They also can be used to enhance the targeting system of ammunitions.   Human teams can be replaced by sensor networks in places affected by biological and chemical warfare or incidents in order to perform nuclear reconnaissance and prevent humans to be exposed to radiations. Traffic surveillance Traffic surveillance is another example of WSN applications. Sensors are placed in predefined places to gather data and send it via wireless links to data centres for further processing. This data can be beneficial for statistical purposes such as vehicle count per day, the number of cars per lane and the average speed of vehicles. It can also be useful for real time applications such as traffic flow monitoring, incident reporting and managing the traffic lights in order to prevent heavy traffics. Real-time traffic flow control Medical Applications: Wireless sensor network benefits are being explored by many hospitals and medical centres around the world. As it can be seen in Figure ? sensors can be implanted in patient body or connected to him in order to collect information about his vital signs such as heart beat, blood pressure and oxygen level in blood. This information can be transferred patient’s medical record for future examinations and long-term inspections. It also can be displayed in real-time or alert physicians based on the sensor program in case of any sudden change in under-care patient condition. infotech.oulu.fi/Annual/2007/opme.html Realization of these various applications requires wireless ad hoc networking techniques. However they are not suitably designed for special features and applications of sensor networks. WSN vs. Mobile Adhoc Netoworks [12] Although there are lots of similarities between Mobile ad networks (MANET) and WSN for instance their lack of network infrastructure, use of multi-hop routing and wireless channel, there are some major differences to point out. Nodes in MANET are designed for human interaction such as laptop and PDAs, whereas in WSN motes are usually left unattended in remote or dangerous locations with the least possible interactions. In WSN â€Å"the topology of the network may change dynamically† due to node failure. It can happen because sometimes motes in some specific areas may be damaged and fail. In some network topologies motes have a sleep/awake cycle in order to save energy, so the topology needs to change when a mote is not available at a specific time. In WSN unlike MANETs the source of energy is limited and the nodes are sometimes left unattended in places where there is no access to them to change or recharge their batteries. â€Å"The range of communications is typically within a few meters and at low rates (some kilobits per second); there are typically a few kilobytes of memory and the processor may operate at speeds of only some megahertz.† Mote design and communication aspect of WSN is totally application dependent and changes based on different application requirements. Motes in some wireless sensor applications remain sleep for the most of their lifetime and transfer their information in a timely basis in order to save energy. So the traffic flow in the network is almost infrequent and delay time is usually higher than MANET networks. Overview of 802.15.4 1-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ieee802.org/15/pub/TG4.html   - IEEE 802.15 WPANâ„ ¢Ã‚  Task Group 4 (TG4) 2-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   zigbee.org/Specifications.aspx   ZigBee Alliance the Official Website 3-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=173600329 - EE Times:  The global electronics engineering community The IEEE 802.15.4 and the Zigbee alliance have been working together in order to improve WSN efficiency, safety, security, reliability and convenience of this technology.   IEEE 802.15.4 focuses on physical layer and MAC layer  at the 868MHz (Europe), 915MHz (US) and 2.4GHz (worldwide) ISM bands whereas Zigbee alliances work on higher level protocols. â€Å"The IEEE 802.15 was chartered to investigate a low data rate solution with multi-month to multi-year battery life and very low complexity. It is operating in an unlicensed, international frequency band.† â€Å"Some of the characteristics of IEEE 802.15.4 include: Data rates of 250 kbps, 40 kbps, and 20 kbps CSMA-CA(Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance) channel access Fully handshaked protocol for transfer reliability Power management to ensure low power consumption 16 channels in the 2.4GHz ISM band, 10 channels in the 915MHz I and one channel in the 868MHz band.† â€Å"The ZigBee specification enhances the IEEE 802.15.4 standard by adding network and security layers and an application framework. From this foundation, Alliance developed standards, technically referred to as public application profiles, can be used to create a multi-vendor interoperable solutions. For custom application where interoperability is not required, manufacturers can create their own manufacturer specific profiles.† [2]Some of the characteristics of ZigBee include: Global operation in the 2.4GHz frequency band according to IEEE 802.15.4 Regional operation in the 915Mhz (Americas) and 868Mhz (Europe). Frequency agile solution operating over 16 channels in the 2.4GHz frequency Incorporates power saving mechanisms for all device classes [802]IEEE 802.15.4 standard defines PHY (physical layer) and MAC (medium access control) layer for the purpose of low data rate wireless communications which consume very low power. Physical Layer Some of the main characteristics of the PHY are the processes of sensing the environment, turning on/off the transceiver, estimating the receiver power/link quality indication and transmitting/receiving the information between two nodes. It finally sends the result of channel assessment to the MAC layer. The PHY is responsible for providing two services: PHY Data Service:   â€Å"Enables the transmission and reception of PHY protocol data units (PPDUs) across the physical radio channel. PHY management service There are different frequency bands and data rates which a device should be able to operate with which are summarized in Table ?.   Table ? – Frequency bands and data rates Mac Layer MAC layer provides access to the physical radio channel to transmit MAC frames. Some of the main characteristics of MAC sublayer are network beaconing, frame validation, Guarantees time slots (GTS) and handles node associations. The MAC layer is responsible for providing two services: MAC Data Service: â€Å"Enables the transmission and reception of MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) across the PHY data service.† MAC Management Service IEEE 802.15.4 MAC can work with both beacon enabled and non-beacon models. When it is on non-beacon model it is a simple CSMA/CA protocol but in beacon enable mode it works with super frame structure, shown in Fig? . The frame starts with a Beacon which is sent by coordinator periodically. The frame also contains inactive period and active period. During the inactive period the device switches to low power mode and communicate with others during active period. The Beacon Interval is calculated based different attributes. In Active period the portion is divided into 16 slots which consist of three parts: Connection Access Period (CAP), Collision Free Period (CFP) (the GTS sections within it is for specific nodes) and the beacon. Fig ? Superframe structure Network Topologies ZigBee supports 3 types of topologies: Star, Mesh(peer-to-peer) and Cluster tree as shown in Fig ? .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Star topology: In this topology the communication is only between the single central controller called Personal Area Network (PAN) coordinator and other devices in the network which is mostly suitable for small networks such as single hop networks. A PAN coordinator usually has a unique identifier which is only used by this specific coordinator and allows different star networks to operate separately in the same area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mesh topology: This topology also has a PAN coordinator like Star topology but with the difference of having communication not only between coordinator and devices but between devices as well when they are in the range of one another. Although it makes the network structure more complex, but as a result of allowing multi-hop routing it is suitable for large networks. It also can be an adhoc network with self-healing and self-organizing characteristics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cluster tree topology: Cluster tree network is a form of peer-to-peer network. One coordinator operates as a PAN coordinator which has the responsibility of defining Cluster Heads (CH). The CH is a kind of Full Function Device (FFD) which can act as a coordinator. Each Reduced Function Device (RFD) then can selects its CH and joins that cluster. This kind of structure has a great impact on energy saving in the network which will be discussed later.   Fig ? Topology Model Energy Conservation and measurement: [24]A wireless sensor network is created with hundreds or thousands of sensor motes, distributed independently in a remote area with the responsibility of sensing the environment, processing information and communicating with other motes in the network for years with a limited source of energy provided by a small battery which is almost impossible to be changed or recharged during motes life time. Therefore the concept of energy consumption management in the network has become one of the most important aspects of wireless sensor network design and implementation. The power saving approach has affected the mote design, power management strategies, communication and routing protocols of the WSN. Generally energy saving methods are divided in two major categories: Energy saving at Mote level; aims to selects the most energy efficient components of the device and trade off unnecessary operations in order to save energy based on the application requirements. Energy saving at Communication level; selecting the most efficient communication methods and protocols to conserve energy at this level. Power saving at mote level: The first step in saving energy at mote level is to find out where the energy is consumed in the mote. As it was mentioned before, a mote consists of 4 components: Processing Unit, Sensor, Transceiver and a Power supply to provide energy for the mentioned parts. Based on the experimental measurements in [40] data transmission is more energy consuming that data processing. Passive sensors such as temperature sensors on the other hand consume a small amount of power compared to other components which is almost usually negligible. Table ? shows a power model of a Mica2 mote in different states.

A Short History of Microsoft

A Short History of Microsoft Microsoft Corp. is an American technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that supports the invention, manufacturing, and licensing of goods and services related to computing. It was registered in New Mexico in 1976 after being formed the year before by two childhood friends. Two Computer Geeks Before Paul Allen and Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft, they were avid computer geeks in an age when access to computers was hard to come by. Allen and Gates skipped high school classes to live and breathe in their schools computer room. Eventually, they hacked the schools computer and were caught, but instead of being expelled, they was offered unlimited computer time in exchange for helping to improve the school computers performance. Gates and Allen ran their own small company, called Traf-O-Data, while in high school and sold a computer to the city of Seattle for counting city traffic. Chesnot / Getty Images Bill Gates, Harvard Dropout In 1973, Gates left Seattle to attend Harvard University as a pre-law student. However, Gates first love never left him  as he spent most of his time in Harvards computer center, where he kept improving his programming skills. Soon Allen moved to Boston as well, working as a programmer and pressuring Gates to quit Harvard so they could work full time together on their projects. Gates was uncertain of what to do, but fate stepped in. The Birth of Microsoft In January 1975, Allen read an article in Popular Electronics magazine about the Altair 8800 microcomputer and showed it to Gates. Gates called MITS, makers of the Altair, and offered his and Allens services to write a version of the new BASIC programming language for the Altair. After eight weeks, Allen and Gates demonstrated their program to MITS, which agreed to distribute and market the product under the name of Altair BASIC. The Altair deal inspired Gates and Allen to form their own software company. Microsoft was started on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the home of MITS, with Gates as the first CEO. Where the Name Microsoft Came From On July 29, 1975, Gates used the name Micro-Soft, which had been suggested by Allen, in a letter to Allen referring to their partnership. The name, a portmanteau of microcomputer and software, was registered with the New Mexico secretary of state on Nov. 26, 1976. In August 1977, the company opened its first international office in Japan, called ASCII Microsoft. In 1979, the company moved to Bellevue, Washington, and two years later incorporated there under the name Microsoft Inc. Gates was president of the company and chairman of the board and Allen was executive vice president. History of Microsoft Products MicrosoftOperating Systems An operating system is a fundamental software that allows a computer to operate. As a newly formed company, Microsofts first operating system product to be publicly released was a version of Unix called Xenix, released in 1980. Xenix was later used as the basis for Microsofts first word processor, called Multi-Tool Word, a predecessor to Microsoft Word. Microsofts first wildly successful operating system was MS-DOS or Microsoft Disk Operating System, which Microsoft wrote for IBM in 1981 based on computer programmer Tim Patersons QDOS. In the deal of the century, Gates licensed MS-DOS to IBM but retained rights to the software. Gates made a fortune for Microsoft, which had become a major soft vendor. Microsoft Mouse Microsofts mouse was released on May 2, 1983. Windows Also in 1983, Microsofts crowning achievement was released. The  Microsoft Windows operating system had a novel graphical user interface and a multitasking environment for IBM computers. In 1986, the company went public, and Gates became a billionaire at 31. Microsoft Office 1989 marked the release of Microsoft Office, a software package that, as the name describes, is a collection of programs for use in an office. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, mail program, business presentation software, and more. Internet Explorer In August 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, which included technologies for connecting to the Internet, such as built-in support for dial-up networking, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), and the web browser Internet Explorer 1.0. Xbox In 2001, Microsoft introduced its first gaming unit, the Xbox system. Xbox faced stiff competition from Sonys PlayStation, and eventually Microsoft discontinued the original Xbox in favor of later versions. In 2005, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 gaming console, which was a success. Microsoft Surface In 2012, Microsoft made its first foray into the computing hardware market with the announcement of Surface tablets that ran Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro. Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/microsoft-founded https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-history-of-the-xbox/ https://www.geekwire.com/2017/bill-gates-paul-allen-business-microsoft-engineer-partner/

Discuss the impact on businesses throughout the world if the European Essay

Discuss the impact on businesses throughout the world if the European Union were to partially disintegrate - Essay Example Thus, the main themes of the study will primarily focus upon this broad factor. Additionally, the main parameter that will be addressed in this particular essay will broadly reflect upon the possible amount of impacts that can prove to provide certain advantages or disadvantages in the near future to global business. A Report on the European Union For centuries, Britain has been able to develop itself in an economic manner by way of being an outward looking and an open country. In today’s scenario, the economy holds a high level of worldwide integration. Great Britain is considered to collect annual revenue of US$386,463 million which puts the country in a very dominant position (Cable News Network, 2013). The UK is considered to be the world's fifth major exporter of services and goods and the country is able to attract considerable amount of foreign direct investment as compared to any other European nation. Besides, it has been studied that the European Union (EU) is one of the largest exporters, investor and importers in the world. It has also been realized that there are lots of broad prospects of exports in the years to come. The member states of the EU strongly believe in the concept of absorption of capital and its proper utilization in order to maximize return on investment (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2013). This aspect can only be made possible when a nation becomes fully engaged in different types of business activities. The EU member states are very well versed with the business concepts and are able to perform the broad functions of the business at large. The EU member states are also very much divergent in performing the broad business activities with other foreign countries. The countries in this broad region seem to inculcate its broad business activities in the most operational sectors such as agriculture, media and audio-visual, automotive industry, business related services, biotechnology, communication and chemicals to name a fe w. In addition, the EU comprises of various other broad businesses that result in increased amount of business activities (European Small Business Portal, n.d.). The EU has been able to achieve all round sustainability in the overall context of business along with development to a very large extent. For the purpose of fulfilment of the business objectives, it has also been able to provide various business opportunities to numerous countries. Greece, Spain and the UK are some of the few countries which have been benefitted by integrating their economy with other EU member states. These countries have been benefitted as they were provided with ample amount of opportunities to expand as an ideal nation in terms of business. Large volume of exports along with imports has been able to provide classified measures in order to develop itself as a strong business destination. In addition, the