United States vs. Antoine Jones Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

United States vs. Antoine Jones - Article Example As the discussion highlights United States vs. Antoine Jones is a case that looks at the government’s ability to conduct warrantless GPS tracking, in the case of a suspected criminal vehicle. The case looks into partial elements of the fourth amendment, and the case would have an impact on cases that related to the use of technological advances in investigations and the techniques used by the police in assessing potential criminals.This paper discussses that the Supreme Court has reviewed the D.C. circuit’s perception on privacy, which was interesting. D.C. Circuit stated that the case did not challenge the nature of warrantless GPS tracking, stating that it did not intrude on any case of privacy. They considered it a broader measure of law enforcement techniques. D.C. circuit stated that it was a discrete method of collecting discrete public information for a given period. Â  The case may be evidential as to how the law enforcement agencies over-step their boundary, c oncerning ethical and law adhering elements of operation. There was a clear violation of the laws, and they were done in a way that suggests that the agents were acting in accordance to personal judgment, rather than following the parameters that have been established by the law. It serves to prove that the law enforcement agencies operate above the rather than follow the established components that rules and regulations of the United States.

Nervous System and Drug Use Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nervous System and Drug Use - Essay Example Many drugs are at the exposure of many students, with universities and colleges registering the highest number of users around the globe. Drugs are prohibited for a reason, mainly because of their negative effect to the health and performances of people. Majoring on the three commonly abused drugs in the world; methamphetamine, cocaine and alcohol. It remains a fact that the abuse of the three is far much below anywhere near an end to abuse. From my point of view, the question at stake remains on the remedy to these drugs in terms. Years of research and campaigns have done little in stopping the rampant use of these drugs. As a student, I am at the exposure of the same drugs with the highest risk possible since most drug addicts do refer to their college times as the commencement of their addiction. Parties are always the order of events with almost any function being characterized with the latter. Though alcohol is at the forefront in terms of use, methamphetamine and cocaine are in creasingly catching up at an alarming rate. Obviously, with a mention of increased use, college or campus life is the most affected. This calls for an inner depth study of the three drugs. Alcohol destroys the liver and affects the brain in irreversible conditions. Cocaine causes problems to hefty smokers especially in the respiratory system while methamphetamine is a popular party drug with over seventy thousand users. . Meth, crystal, ice, crank†¦ is the one drug that stops at nothing. It is capable of keeping one high for a constant twelve hours or more; methamphetamine is a super speed drug, three or even four times stronger than cocaine. It is very popular, especially among young college adults in the United States. Costing as cheap as twenty-five dollars for a quarter gram, the drug is swallowed, snorted, smoked and shot straight in the veins by use of needles. The drug originated from the western parts of the United States of America knowing no borders or social class; s preading through Nebraska to the eastern cities. As by 2008, there existed a whole bunch of 25 million users of the drug. For instance, in London, Meth is a popular party drug with over seventy thousand users. That demonstrates how much this drug is nothing near a passing phenomenon. It has and shows no signs of stopping its teeth from sinking into our society. According to police in various states, crime committers are the very victims of the drug. They steal property, assault, murder and always possess needles and fake ids. A quick glance at Portland jail reveals that for every four inmates, one is a meth addict. The victims appear ashamed and always hallucinating. Crosschecking at the digital records office, the pictures immediately reveal that the victims appear older; more like the living dead. Even individuals with strong and tough looks are not to spare, the scenario is a devastating one. They suffer many problems. Meth teeth for instance, set in when the acids and bacteria r esulting from meth corrode the gum and the teeth. Imagine ripe fruits falling on a tree; that is the fate of a crack addict’s teeth. This is because the victims rarely brush their teeth nor seek dental attention. The reason is obvious; they only have money to purchase the crystal. The brain on the other hand reacts immediately to meth. It results to euphoria, confidence and an energetic feeling; this is key attraction to the drug. The drug was originally engineered to trick the brain.

Motivated You To Study Social Work Education Essay

Motivated You To Study Social Work Education Essay My motivation to study social work comes from my passion about helping people who are less advantaged. Having spent the last five years working in a social care environment helped me to realise that my passion lies in helping the most vulnerable members of our society. I found working as a Care Assistant extremely challenging but also rewarding.   Attending a multi-disciplinary care reviews gave me a great insight  Ã‚   into a social worker role. I found out that social work can help service users maintain their dignity and independence, give wider choices of support, protect from abuse as well as reduce admissions to hospital. I hope that studying social work will give me a valuable skills and knowledge needed for effective professional practice as a social worker. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚   What type of learner are you? Last year on the Access course through the exercise on the class I have identified my learning style [Appendix 1].   Knowing and understanding my learning style helped me to learn more effectively and identify opportunities to improve my learning. According to Honey and Mumford (1982) Learning Style Model I perform strongly as a Reflector.   As a Reflector I learn by observing and thinking about what happened. I like to stand back and observe experiences from many different perspectives. I like to collect information (the more that better), and prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusions. I prefer to take a back seat in meetings and discussions. I always listen to others before making my own point. I learn less well when being thrown in at the deep end with no time to prepare and when acting as leader or role-playing in front of others. Having identified my learning style, I now understand that as a reflector I am a slow learner and require more time to study, that is why it is important to plan my study effectively. I also need to try to get involved more in meeting and discussions instead of sitting back and listen. My preferred style of learning was also determined by completing the Learning Styles Questionnaire on C_Space [Appendix 2]. According to the questionnaire I learn best by visual way. Information presented in pictures, diagrams or charts is easily remembered.   I like to watch the lecturer closely and be able to see the teacher body language to fully understand the content of a lesson. I also like to use colours in my studies such as coloured markers to highlight information.   As a visual learner it is important to make sure that I sit always in a position in the classroom where I can see things clearly. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do others perceive your values and abilities? Recently I asked my best friend how they perceive my values and abilities. The feedback I have been given was as follow: You are sensible, cautious, careful practical. I see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone whos extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expects the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over if that trust is ever broken. My fellow students see me as confident, open minded and positive person. So far, the feedback form my tutors was always positive, however I am prepared to can take negative feedback. Receiving feedback is great opportunity to gain useful information and insight into what we need to develop or improve in order to grow professionally. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you approach learning? How have you improved your skills for study (including IT)? Having developed a number of strategies and techniques on last year course enabled me to make the most efficient use of my time, resources, and potential. I approach my studies strategically and systematically by working out where to invest my time and energies. Choosing the right place to study is important as I work most effectively in a well organised study area. I like to work in a comfortable and free from distractions place with a good lighting and a room to spread my book and papers. Time management is a vehicle that can carry you from wherever you are to wherever you want to be (Tracy 2007:2) Time management in the key skill to handle my coursework and to get it done on time. Good time management skills enable me to utilise my time in a more effective way and allow me to accomplish more tasks in a shortest possible way. A study time table is an essential ingredient in effective time management. I have created a weekly time table [Appendix 3 ]   to help me organise my day-today tasks, which keeps me positive and focused on my studying, and helps me achieve my targets. I have also learned to prioritise my work by doing the small and easy tasks first and taking them out of the way, before trying to tackle larger pieces of work. I have created things to do list [Appendix 4]. I use it to set daily priorities and to reduce decision making and worry. The ability to make clear and concise notes is another important skill that I have developed through my study. Taking notes helps me to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and capture the essential points of the topic. It also helps to make sense of what is to be learned and to remember it later. Having identified my preferred learning style I know now that I work well with patterned notes, such as nuclear, spider grams, diagrammatic and mind maps. This method was described by Buzan (1992) in his book Use your head. He calls the technique Mind Mapping. Mind maps allow for greater activity when recording ideas and information, as well as allowing the note-taker to associate words with visual representations (Buzan, 1992). Patterned notes involve writing the main topic in the centre of the page, and then write related ideas around it and link them up to show their relationship to the main idea. Pattern notes are more visual, and are very active form of learning. For example of m y note taking please see [Appendix 5]. I have also learned how to read effectively by being selective, scanning, skimming and questioning as I read. Computer helps me to study in many different ways. It helps me to research online for information, make structured notes, creating charts, graphs and tables and to organise and keep track of my studies. Although I have used computer in the past there was areas that I still had to improve. Last year on the access course I have learned how to work with spread sheets, databases, and create a power point presentation, which helped me to improve my IT skills. [Appendix 6] 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚   What factors affect your learning? Having many responsibilities as an adult learner I must balance against the demands of learning. Personally, the factor affecting my learning is English as a second language I do find it hard at the times to express myself in the way that I wish to. It also lower my confidence and self esteem. Being subject to jokes about my funny accent in the past made me feel nervous when speaking in front of others. However, my confidence in that area improved dramatically since starting the course. Distractions while studying could be another area that affects my learning. I need a quiet and organised place to study without any interruption. I have learned to minimise distractions while I work by encouraging others to respect my rights to work without interruption. I keep my phone off when I am studying to avoid phone calls that could disturb my learning. Self esteem and lack of confidence.   Before I took an Access Course my self esteem as well as confidence were very low. I did not believe in my abilities and felt very anxious about going back to education after a long break. Having a positive feedback from the tutors as well as fellow students helped me to build up my self- esteem and become a confident student. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you become an effective problem solver in your life? Problem solving is one of the key skills in social work practice. Social workers use a problem solving approach in working with individuals, families, groups and communities. As a social work student, it is very important to me to become an effective problem solver. In my personal life I have learned confronting rather than avoiding problems. I tend to solve my problems using a simple technique. The first stage is to define the problem. To understand why the problem exist and looking at the root cause of the problem. Secondly I explore the problem by looking at how does the problem affect me or others? The next step is looking for possible solutions and selecting a realistic solution that is most relevant to me. Finally I put my solution into action. It is however important to evaluate the effectiveness of my solution. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you become more effective, independent and confident self- directed learner? Self-directed learning is a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes(Knowles, 1975:14). According to Malcolm Knowles (1984) adults learn differently than young people. In his theory of adult learning Knowles pointed that adults are self- directed in their learning.   As a person matures his self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being   (Knowles, 1984:12). As an adult student I take responsibility for my learning processes, such as goal-setting, instructional design and evaluation of my learning process. Being organised helps me to manage my studies effectively. In order to become more independent learner I need to be motivated to learn, able to manage my time effectively, and reflect upon my learning. Effectiveness of learning depend on having your state of mind, space, time, and materials organised in the ways that best suit your learning (Cottrell, 2008:67). 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How did you work cooperatively with others I am a part of a Care team working in a care home for people with dementia. Being a part of the team I have learned how to work co- operatively with my work colleagues. As a team member I have learn contribute to achieving the goal of meeting the needs of clients. Apart from work I also work co operatively with others in group work tasks on classes. We were put to groups to complete specific task. I worked cooperatively by sharing my ideas, being and active listener, respect other people views, work together with the members of group to complete the task successfully. Working in groups gave me a great opportunity to gain confidence and develop interpersonal skills, such as active listening and questioning and communication skills. 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you relate your learning to the contemporary context of social work practice? Working in a Social Care as a Carer my role involves providing practical support, and enabling service users to maintain their independence to lead fuller and secure life. I also build partnerships with people I work with, trying to win them trust and encouraging them to cope and get most out of life. I relate my learning to the contemporary context of social work by implementing my current skills and knowledge to my work settings. Skills such as interpersonal skills help me to understand the importance of actively listening and empathising with service users in order to enter the world from their point of view.   I am also more aware about the group dynamics in my work place and importance of effective team working in order to achieve the desire outcomes.   Since doing the degree I also developed an anti discriminatory practice. I started to relate the theories to practice to understand the causes of discrimination and ways to challenge it effectively.

Essay --

Introduction An anonymous narrator request the narrator of this poem to write of a lover that he had in the past to remember her youth and how he loved here. In the poem â€Å"When You Are Old† by William Butler Yeats, the author reveals that the central idea is the love for a woman a man had but the woman never loved him back. The author expresses the theme of this poem through tone, diction and poetic devices. The tone helps the reader understand the poem’s theme and emotions. He helps communicate the tone of the poem through his choice of words. In the first stanza, the tone seems to be calm and cozy because when the author quotes; â€Å"And nodding by the fire, take down this book†. Following, the second stanza states a more romantic tone. The author is trying to say that he out of all of the men loved her truly for how she was. He expresses this by the use of words. Finally, the third stanza communicates a more sad tone. The author is trying to express how â€Å"love fled† and how he is at his last moments and because she didn’t love him back in his youth she will feel remorse. The au... Essay -- Introduction An anonymous narrator request the narrator of this poem to write of a lover that he had in the past to remember her youth and how he loved here. In the poem â€Å"When You Are Old† by William Butler Yeats, the author reveals that the central idea is the love for a woman a man had but the woman never loved him back. The author expresses the theme of this poem through tone, diction and poetic devices. The tone helps the reader understand the poem’s theme and emotions. He helps communicate the tone of the poem through his choice of words. In the first stanza, the tone seems to be calm and cozy because when the author quotes; â€Å"And nodding by the fire, take down this book†. Following, the second stanza states a more romantic tone. The author is trying to say that he out of all of the men loved her truly for how she was. He expresses this by the use of words. Finally, the third stanza communicates a more sad tone. The author is trying to express how â€Å"love fled† and how he is at his last moments and because she didn’t love him back in his youth she will feel remorse. The au...

Investigating Number of Stomata on a Leaf

Lab Design â€Å"Investigate the effect of a factor on the number of stomata of a leaf. † Research Question: How do differing leaf heights affect the number/density of stomata of a leaf? Hypothesis Stomata are pores, typically found under the leaf (lower epidermis), that control the gas exchange of transpiration, where water vapor leaves the plants, and carbon dioxide enters. I predict that the stomatal density on high leafs is higher than on low leafs. During photosynthesis the chloroplasts in the leaf cells synthesize ATP from ADP as a result of exposure to light, while oxygen is produced as a by-product of the photosynthetic reaction.Carbon dioxide, which enters the plant through diffusion via the stomata, is needed for this process (photosynthesis) to occur. When the chloroplasts in the leafs cell is exposed to higher light intensities, more ATP is synthesized from ADP, while production of the by-product oxygen also increases. This increase in the rate of photosynthesis ca lls for more â€Å"fuel†, i. e. Carbon dioxide. So for a higher concentration of carbon dioxide to diffuse into the plant, the plant must grow a greater stomatal density (higher number of stomata).This will create a larger surface area for carbon dioxide diffusion, the excretion of water vapor (transpiration) and the large amounts of oxygen being produced. As the higher leafs are exposed to higher light intensities I predict the stomatal density to be high. Lower leafs are exposed to lower light intensities due to, for example, shading by top leafs, and will so have a lower stomatal density than high leafs. Variables Controlled: Type of plant- The type of plant that is going to be used will stay the same, i. e. controlled.The type of plant that is used for this experiment is called Quercus Ilex. Amount of leafs (10 ‘high' leafs, 10 ‘low' leafs)- the ensure fair testing the number of leaves tested from each variable will be the same. Apparatus used- Same set up eac h time. Microscope magnification (400x)- Magnification at which the number of stomata will be counted at is at a magnification of 400x. Independent Variable: Leaf Source- The leaf source regarding to the ‘high' and ‘low' leafs is the variable which will be changed to test the difference in number of stomata of the two variables.Distance between high/low leafs- The distance between the height at which ‘low' and at which ‘high' leaves were picked each time had to be of a minimum of 20cm to ensure plausible results. Lower epidermis of leaf used to count stomatal density- Because Quercus Ilex is a dicotyledonous plant, the number of stomata on the lower epidermis will be higher than on the upper epidermis. This is because dicotyledonous plants hold up their leaves horizontally, which directly illuminates the lower epidermis. So, to prevent water loss, fewer stomata will then be located on the upper epidermis. Dependent Variable:Stomatal Density of high leafs Stom atal Density of low leafs Apparatus/Material 10 high leafs 10 low leafs Clear nail polish Slides Pincette Microscope Clear Tape Calculator Method Find a leaf source that has a significant height from which you will be collecting your leafs from throughout the entire experiment. Determine a low area, of little height from the ground, on the source from which you will pick 10 ‘low' leafs. Repeat step 2, except that the area must be at an increased height distance of at least 20cm, to ensure a fair test and collection of ‘high' leafs from a higher area than that of the ‘low' leafs.Choose a leaf of which the stomatal density is to be examined but don't pick it off the plant. This is so that the plants photosynthetic process will not be disturbed which could lead to change in the leafs natural state and affect your results. Paint a layer of clear nail polish on the lower epidermis of the leaf and wait until it has dried. Use your tweezers to gently peel off the dried la yer of nail polish. Gently peel the area of dried nail polish from the leaf completely. You should see a cloudy impression of leaf surface on the piece of tape. This is the leaf impression. Place the leaf impression to a clean slide.Label the slide for identification if necessary. Focus the leaf impression under a microscope magnification of 40x until it is focused and observe the leaf impression. Find an area that is clean of thumbprints, away from the edge of impression, has no damaged areas or big leaf vein impressions in view. When focused, observe the impression under an increased microscope magnification of 100x and make sure it is focused. When focused, observe the impression under an increased microscope magnification of 400x, the magnification at which you will count the number of stomata, and focus.Count the number of stomata you see in the field of view and record the number in a table under the relevant variable (‘high' or ‘low' leaf). To ensure a fair test, repeat steps 9-13 two times by choosing a new spot on the same leaf to focus on. Use the higher number of the 2 repeats to find the average later on. Repeat steps 1-14 ten times for the 10 high leafs and 10 low leafs. Raw Data: How differing leaf heights affect the number/density of stomata of a leaf One manipulation that was done to the raw data to help make it more useful for interpretation was the rounding off of ? Average # of stomata of ?Final?.. etc? , because firstly a stomata cannot be present in the quantity of a decimal and secondly, so that when drawing the graph all numbers have the same number of significant figures which will produce a neater and more accurate graph. Processed Data: How differing leaf heights affect the number/density of stomata of a leaf Magnification: 400x Field of View (FOV) diameter: 0. 45 mm Radius (r ): 0. 225 mm Surface Area (SA)/mm? N (? r? ) : 3. 14 x (0. 225)? = 0. 159 mm? |Leaf |# of stomata of ‘High' Leafs per 0. 159 mm? 2 Stomata) | | |1 |2 |Final | |1 |39 |35 |39 | |2 |52 |56 |56 | |3 |32 |38 |38 | |4 |50 |40 |50 | |5 |37 |34 |37 | |6 |53 |47 |53 | |7 |45 |42 |45 | |8 |43 |50 |50 | |9 |53 |49 |53 | |10 |42 |39 |42 | |Average # of stomata of ‘Final' per 0. 159 mm?  ± 2 Stomata) | | | |46 | Graphs Graph including processed data trial 1 & 2 for High and Low leafs: Blue: # of stomata on High leafs per 0. 159 mm? , trial 1 Red: # of stomata on High leafs per 0. 159 mm? , trial 2 Yellow: # of stomata on Low leafs per 0. 159 mm? , trial 1 Green: # of stomata on Low leafs per 0. 159 mm? , trial 2 Graph including processed data ‘Final's results for High and Low leafs: High Leafs: Mean value line with value 46. 3, standard deviation: 6. 993 Low Leafs: Mean value line with value 26. 2, standard deviation: 2. 3 Calculations Difference in mean > 46. – 26. 2 = 20. 1 Difference in S. D. > 6. 993 – 2. 3 = 4. 693 Because the standard deviations are much less than the difference in the mean numbe r of stomata, it is very likely that the difference in the mean number of stomata between High Leafs and Low Leafs is significant. T-TEST Null hypothesis: The number of stomata on high leafs and low leafs are not different. The differences in the data sets are the result of chance variation only and they are not really different. Mean of # of stomata on High Leafs: 46. 3 Mean of # of stomata on Low Leafs: 26. 2 t=8. 63 Degrees of freedom= (10+10)–2= 18 Critical value for t=2. 101 (P= 0. 05) Conclusion

Music and Magic in the World of Arda

MUSIC AND MAGIC IN THE WORLD OF ARDA In Tolkien’s legendarium, magic as it appears in contemporary sword-and-sorcery stories does not exist. Tolkien makes it clear in essays and debates that his magic is far more complex than the waving of a wand, and does not follow strict, clear-cut rules. Instead, power over the laws of nature and reality lies to a great extent in song and music.The first act of creation in the â€Å"Ainulindale†, by which the foundations for Arda’s creation were laid, was the singing of the Music of the Ainur by Iluvatar and the divine beings beneath him. When the beings of Arda create song, the result is often ‘magical’, whether in an emotional sense or if it has a tangible effect upon the world around it. In both the â€Å"Ainulindale† and â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien† this is quite evident.Singing in Tolkien’s legendarium is in some ways a magical act, in that any of the Children of Iluvatar engaged in it ar e reflecting the original creative acts of the Ainur, sub-creating and greatly affecting the world around them, and that the only limits on a being’s ability to create music are its purpose – whether to dominate or to create – and the sheer force of will it places behind its magical, musical intent. Singing has a variety of effects within Tolkien’s works, but the most dramatic ones by far are those visible in the â€Å"Ainulindale†.Here, singing is synonymous with creation itself. The notes of the many Ainur, including Melkor, as well as those of Iluvatar, all coalesce in order to form the basis for Arda and its history. The act of song-making as creation is not metaphorical: the Ainur originally conceive of the world through music, and the voices of the Ainur are even described as â€Å"like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs with words† (Tolkien 4).Even the conflict between Il uvatar, who seeks to create a world of beauty and freedom for its future inhabitants, and Melkor, who seeks to dominate all that is, is done through their respective melodies. No music existed before that of the Ainur in their acts of creation, and although a great deal of music existed afterward, none was ever as powerful or influential in shaping the world, as the passage reads â€Å"Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music† (Tolkien 4) This original music created the first true polarization between good and vil – through the conflict between Iluvatar and Melkor – and initiated the creation of the world. The fact that the Music of the Ainur created the world itself is no less visible than when Iluvatar declared â€Å"behold your music! † and the Ainur first saw the world (Tolkien 6). In fact, all later music stemmed from this music, in that the Music of the Ainur set the stage for the genesis of all Children of Iluvatar and the music they would go on to produce. The effects of song are equally as visible, if not quite so dramatic, in the tale of Beren & Luthien, particularly through Luthien herself.Throughout the story, many of Luthien’s actions revolve around music and song. When Beren first sees her, he is spellbound by her appearance, and it is not until she sings out loud and â€Å"flowers [spring] from the cold earth where her feet had passed† that he is released from his shock enough to call out to her (Tolkien 194). Her music is also powerful enough to put the great wolf Carcharoth, as well as Morgoth himself in Angband, to sleep. In addition, it aids her and Huan in combating Sauron at Tol-in-Gaurhoth.Finally, her heartfelt song of sorrow at Beren’s death at the end of the tale proves moving enough to warrant restoring Beren to life, and allowing Beren and Luthien to spend their final, mortal years together in peace. Indeed, it is stated that â€Å"The song of Luthien before Mandos was the song most fair that ever in words was woven, and the song most sorrowful that the world shall hear† (Tolkien 221). She is not the only character who uses song to great effect, however. When King Felagund and Sauron battle in the dark lands of Morgoth, they duel with words and songs of power rather than physical weapons.Felagund fights with inspirational songs, harkening up images of â€Å"trust unbroken† and â€Å"resisting†, while Sauron utilizes songs of â€Å"treachery† and â€Å"betrayal† (Tolkien 201). Sauron proved more powerful however, and once he defeats Felagund, the others are entirely helpless against him. In these particular stories, the greatest singers are either connected to the Ainur, or are Ainur themselves. This point is fairly obvious in the case of the â€Å"Ainulindale†, in which all participants of the Music were Iluvatar’s â€Å"Holy Ones† , but is also quite evident in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthie n† (Tolkien ). There, Luthien is half-Maia as the daughter of Melian, and her power is extraordinary for a Child of Iluvatar. She proves capable of contending with a fallen Valar, a powerful Maia, and a vicious beast-servant of Morgoth through her skills with song. Sauron himself is also quite skilled in the art of song as a Maia, and in a duel with a mortal he â€Å"had the mastery† (Tolkien 201). The reason for the magical superiority of the Ainur is quite simple: they were involved in the original music of the world.They were originally formed by Iluvatar for the express purpose of creating â€Å"in harmony together a Great Music† and through it the world, and so it is far more natural to them (Tolkien 3). Although Luthien herself has no experience with true creation, as Sauron and her mother do, she nonetheless has the blood of a being that was essentially created for song, as Melian also sprang from the mind of Iluvatar for the purpose of creating the world. By no means are all great singers in Tolkien’s world Maiar however, or even those related to them, as the example of Felagund illustrates.While Felagund may not be able to best a Maia such as Sauron, he is still able to compete with a Maia for what appears to be the majority of their conflict, and it is outright stated that â€Å"the power of the King was very great† in the conflict (Tolkien 201). He lacks the experience and inborn purpose for song that any Maia would possess as a being originally born to create Arda, but he remains a force to be reckoned with, and he is unquestionably more powerful through his skill with song than most other characters in the tale.It is clear, then, that force of will and drive can – to an extent – mitigate the difference in natural ability between a Child of Iluvatar and an Ainu. Luthien’s exemplary skill with song in the latter half of the tale may have thus been influenced by her drive to help Beren and the â €Å"weight of horror† that her love caused her to feel at the possibility of his death (Tolkien 202). The act of song-making in the â€Å"Ainulindale† is, at its core, an act of creation.What is present throughout â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien† however – and, for that matter, all other stories set in Middle-Earth during the First through Fourth Ages – is sub-creation. Just as Iluvatar created the Ainur originally for the purpose of creation, the Children of Arda and those that Iluvatar would – humans, elves, hobbits, and dwarves – were made to sub-create. In other words, they were meant to create even further, through art, literature, and above all, song. By attempting to emulate the song of creation, the Children would make the world even more vibrant, rich, and pleasant than the Valar had originally managed.Tolkien states in his letter to Milton Waldman prefacing â€Å"The Silmarillion† that for the Elves, magic is â€Å"Art, d elivered from many of its human limitations†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"Art not power, sub-creation not domination and tyrannous re-forming of creation† (Tolkien xvi-xvii). The effect of song in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien† was somewhat different. If songs made by the Valar were what originally brought about and shaped the world, then songs made by the Children could do the same, beyond merely in terms of producing music for pleasure’s sake.As exemplified by Felagund, a sufficiently strong, refined will could sub-create in a way that mirrored creation itself, and shape the world despite lacking the natural affinity for song that an Ainu possesses. What this evidence points to is a notion that at first may seem ridiculous: that the magical song-making of the Ainur and the Children are fundamentally exactly the same. The ability of several of the Children in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien† to contend with Ainur in contests of power through song already lends credenc e to this idea, suggesting that the music created by the Ainur is the same, only greater.It would appear that the difference between the use of songs by the Ainur and the Children merely results from the inherently greater willpower of the Ainur. As beings that are not only older but are also â€Å"the offspring of [Iluvatar’s] thought†, their wills are considerably more refined and honed than those of the Children (Tolkien 3). Theoretically however, any elf, man, hobbit, or dwarf with sufficient mental discipline and/or training could make music as great as that of an Ainu.Thus, the closeness to the natural world and ‘magic’ of the elves is simply a consequence of their having spent more time amongst the Valar and within the world than the other Children, gaining more competence with song and closeness to the musical skill of the Ainur as a result. In addition, the ability of Melkor to overpower the songs of the other Ainur in the â€Å"Ainulindale† resulted from him having â€Å"been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge† and resulting musical affinity, and that greater force of will alone was that set him apart (Tolkien 4).The two sections being discussed point to one other significant notion: that there is an inherent difference between the music produced by the Children and good Ainur, and the music produced by the Dark Powers of Morgoth. The â€Å"Ainulindale† indicates that the Music of the Ainur was initially harmonious, with â€Å"endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony† (Tolkien 4). It was only once Melkor, desiring to overpower and control the course of the Music, decided to interfere, that the Music became disjointed and violent.Eventually, Iluvatar himself steps in, at which point it is clear that the melodies of Iluvatar and Melkor are diametrically opposed, and that only Melkor’s music â€Å"hath not its uttermost source in [Iluvatar]† (Tolkien 6). The music o f the other Ainur, which was harmonious with that of Iluvatar, was gentle, melodious, and pleasant. Melkor’s music was violent and aggressive. To an extent, the musical conflict between Felagund and Sauron in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien† mirrors this, though in that case Sauron’s aggressive, spiteful song proves victorious due to his superior will.While the songs produced by the forces of good and evil are somewhat similar, their basic nature and purpose – to create, and to dominate, respectively – are polar opposites, and the dominative nature of evil is the source of the violence and cacophonous nature of the songs. Indeed, Tolkien’s statement of the Elves’s magic as â€Å"Art not Power, sub-creation not domination†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in contrast with that of Melkor and Sauron, supports the notion that the nature of their magic – and this applies to all other forces of good as well – is irreconcilable with that of Melkor and his minions (Tolkien xvi-xvii).In the â€Å"Ainulindale†, as well as â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien†, Tolkien reveals the true nature of magic and song: in his world, they are synonymous. While there may be major differences in the fundamental nature of the songs used by good and evil, only force of will and purpose make the song of an Ainu such as Morgoth any greater than that of a half-Maia such as Luthien, or a mere elf-king such as Felagund. Keeping these conclusions in mind, one may reach a single, overarching definition of magic in Tolkien’s works: an act of musical creation or sub-creation with enough force of will behind it to tangibly affect the world.There is no need to understand the mechanics of music in the legendarium, only that any being is capable of it and that it is the source of all magical acts. Truly, the significance of song in Tolkien’s work, especially for the purpose of understanding the magic of the world and the nature of the confl ict that spans the entire legendarium, cannot be overstated. WORKS CITED Tolkien, J. R. R. , and Christopher Tolkien. The Silmarillion. 2nd Ed. Del Rey Books, 2001. Print.

The Body Farm

The Body Farm The University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility, otherwise known as the Body Farm, was created to analyze the decomposition process and see what takes place after death. The facility aids in teaching and exploring areas of death that were once unknown to forensic science. Without the body farm, many questions would still remain unanswered in the world of forensics.Dr. William Bass founded the establishment in 1971 after realizing that there were not any other institutions investigating the science of body decomposition. This began almost eleven years before he founded the institute. Bass worked in Kansas primarily dealing with skeletal remains. Skeletal remains were found more often in Kansas because of the low population level; or in other words, it took longer for people to find deceased bodies. It wasn't until he relocated to Tennessee, a more densely populated area, that he began dealing with bodies that were less exposed to the elements.English: Roma Khan doing prelim inary work on decom...Once given the chance to deal with more evidential remains, he saw the need for investigating the process of decomposition. He propositioned the dean of the University of Tennessee to the idea, and was initially granted an acre of land, that was formerly used as a pig farm, about 45 minutes outside the university. The institute has since grown to three acres of land and is now surrounded by razor-wire.The body farm is home to about forty dead bodies all subjected to different theoretical physical environments that decomposition can take place. The cadavers arrive from two sources; unclaimed bodies left at the medical examiner's office and people who have chosen to donate themselves. Surprisingly, over 300 people have willed their bodies to the farm- in personal efforts to help further scientific advancements. The number of bodies donated increases every year, with surges of popularity created...

New SAT Practice Tests 8 Tips for Finding and Using Them

New SAT Practice Tests 8 Tips for Finding and Using Them SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The new SAT is officially here, which means that a lot of the old SAT practice material out there isn’t very helpful anymore. In order to study effectively, it’s important to use practice tests that test the same strategy and content as the SAT. With the recent SAToverhaul, this means turning to new practice material. Official College Board tests are the gold standard when it comes to test prep materials. Here, you’ll find free links to all the official New SAT practice tests, essays, answer keys, and scoring instructions, along with tips and strategies on how to use them. You might notice, however, that there’s a limit to how much free official prep is available. If you’re looking for more legitimate practice problems to work with, you’ll find helpful alternatives to the official practice tests towards the end. Free Official New SAT Practice Tests These following tests are the only free official practice tests for the redesigned SAT. If you need preparatory material, these practice tests are the best things you can use. In order to prepare effectively for the SAT, you want to use practice problems that test the same content, in the same ways, with the same timing restrictions as the actual test. If you use sub-par practice materials, you may be doing yourself more harm than good by preparing for things that won't actually help you on the SAT- this just wastes your time and leaves you underprepared, even if you study hard. Actual practice tests from the College Board meet all of the criteria I listed above because they're written by the makers of the SAT. Practice Test 1: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations | Essay Practice Test 2: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations | Essay Practice Test 3: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations | Essay Practice Test 4: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations | Essay Practice Test 5: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations |Essay Practice Test 6: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations |Essay Practice Test 7: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations |Essay Practice Test 8: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations | Essay Practice Test 9: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations Practice Test 10: Questions | Answers | Answer Explanations How to Use Official New SAT Practice Tests Most Effectively With a limited number of officialSAT practice tests available, you'll want to make sure you use each and every practice problem as effectively and as efficiently as possible. Follow these steps to get the most out of the official tests: Mimic Official Testing Conditions You need to use official practice tests because they're as close to the real SAT as you can get. In order to get the most out of them, you should also recreate real SAT testing conditions as best you can. To do this, you should: Take each test straight through, in a single sitting if possible. The SAT requires an extended period of intense focus- the more you practice these marathon testing sessions, the better off you'll be on test day. Time each section carefully. Many students have issues with timing on the SAT- if you give yourself extra time (even a couple minutes) on a practice section, you might think you're performing better than you actually would on test day. Even if you can't take a whole test straight through, make sure you time each section appropriately Do a Post-Mortem After Every Test The whole point of investing time and energy in SAT practice is so that you can learn from your mistakes and improve your score. If you do a ton of practice but never figure out where you're messing up, you scores won't go up- it's as simple as that. If you want to know exactly how to analyze your practice materials, check out our guide on the best way to review your mistakes on the SAT. Don't Use Them All at Once With only 10 official practice tests, you're limited when it comes to optimal practice materials. As such, it's important to pace yourself and use the official tests wisely. This means only moving on to the next practice test after thoroughly reviewing your mistakes from the previous one. You may even want to re-do tough questions (after a waiting period) to see if you can figure them out after reviewing the material. What Are Your Other Options for SAT Practice Materials? Thesetests are a good place to start, but you could run out of practice material quickly if you have an intensive study plan. Here are some other things you can do to get your hands on quality study material: Use PSAT Practice Tests The PSAT is made by the College Board (the maker of the SAT) and closely resembles the new SAT. It's not a perfect match, but it will be very similar to what you see on the actual test. You can find a complete list in our guide to PSAT practice tests. Get an SAT Prep Book You should have the same concerns with SAT prep books that you do with free online prep materials: you want to make sure they’re as close to the real thing as possible so that you can study effectively. If you choose to get an SAT prep book, make sure you purchasea highly rated, legitimate resource. You can start by checking out our guide to the best SAT books- it's updated regularly so you know you're getting the most up-to-date recommendations. Use Other College Board Resources The College Board has other practice material available besides their complete, official practice tests. You can check out individual practice questions on their website for the math, reading, writing language, and essay sections- they're all official. You can also check out College Board-approved practice problems through Khan Academy. Although this is a great resource, keep in mind that there are problems with just relying on this service to prepare for the SAT. Use Unofficial Free Tests (With Caution) Unofficial free tests can be good resources for students who will be doing a lot of prep and require supplementary materials. There are afew things to be wary of when you look for unofficial tests: Free test prep materials, by virtue of being free, are often lower quality than paid prep materials They may not test the same content in the same way that you'll see on the real SAT These tests may be particularly helpful if you're already a high scorer and want to do a deep dive on what makes official materials different from non-official ones.Ultimately, unofficial tests are best for untimed content review- don't worry if you come across weird question types or content. You can start your search for unofficial tests with Ivy Global, MajorTests.com, Varsity Tutors, and Veritas Prep. Check out our massive guide to free prep material for more tips and tricks to using these unofficial tests. Be careful to think critically about how unofficial materials differ from the real SAT Use PrepScholar to Stay Linked In PrepScholar will always be a great free and reliable resource for students trying to prep for the SAT. Our blog content is constantly updated to keep up with changing SAT content and strategy. Some of our updated posts on the new SAT include: The Complete Guide to the New SAT in 2016 How to Study for the New SAT in 2016 New 2016 SAT: What's a Good Score? The New SAT vs. the ACT: Full Breakdown Best SAT Prep Books 2016 (Updated for the New SAT) What's Next? Still not enough? You can also check out our complete collection of free SAT prep materialsand our guide to usingold SAT practice tests to study for the redesigned test. You'll also need to make sure you understand what's on each section: Math, Reading, Writing, and the Essay. Finally, learn the best tips and tricks for acing the test. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Cellphones and Digital Networks

They offer a great amount of convenience, and can be very economically for the busy businessman on the go. Advancements in cell phones are always being made, giving a clearer sound and lighter feel, as well as a longer life. The cell phone industry has been one of the fastest growing in the world. The electronics are fairly simple, but they are so small that they are truly and engineering marvel. This paper will discuss in depth the many different components of the average cell phone, and talk about how it converts your voice into something that can be sent through a digital network. The paper will also look at how the inner workings allow for a phone to act as a microcomputer, with Internet access, address books, and even games. Finally, it will review the many exciting ideas for this growing market and look to the future of the industry, and how the industry plans on overcoming various limiting factors. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, 18 years later Guglielmo Marconi created the first radio. It was only natural that these two great technologies would eventually be combined to create the cellular craze. In the 80’s few people used radiophones, these phones were the precursor to cellular, but they had several limiting factors preventing them from every becoming a major part of everyday society. In the radio telephone system, there was one central antenna tower per major city, and no more than 25 channels available on that tower. Each phone needed a powerful transmitter, big enough to transmit 40 or 50 miles. It also meant that not many people could use radiotelephones due to the lack of channels. With the current cellular system any none adjacent cell can use the same frequency, so the amount of phones that can be used are nearly limitless. These cells also mean that each phone does not need a strong transmitter, so the phone can be a lot smaller. With the innovation of digital phones, many great features are now available, such as caller id, Internet access, and several other new features. It also meant that the phone would need a microprocessor to convert from analog to digital, this complicated the circuitry, but left it with new technology available the industry was able to make the phone as small as possible. The only restriction in size became the user-input devices, and the screen size. Usefulness of the Digital Cell Phone The digital cellular phone offers many advantages to today†s society. The conveniences that it offers over simply not having one are obvious and they vary from person to person. But there are many advantages over other types of phones as well. The cellular phone not only allows people to communicate with others while they are on the go, but it also offers many other features to help people. With the services that digital provides, people can access email and find information almost anywhere in the world for a reasonable fee. In the future, as the integration of phones and computers grow, people will be able to access tutorials in the field, and use them to communicate with specialists saving a great amount of time for many researchers. Today digital cell phones, such as the one shown in Appendix C figure 1, can process millions of calculations per second in order to compress and decompress the voice stream. In order to do this each phone is equipped with a circuit board that contains many different chips. The circuit board of a common phone is shown in Appendix C figure 2. Two chips described earlier are the Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog conversion chips that translate the outgoing audio signal from analog to digital and the incoming signal from digital back to analog. There is also a Digital Signal Processor that is highly customized processor designed to perform signal manipulation calculations at high speed. The microprocessor controls the keyboard and display and deals with command and control signaling with the base station, it also coordinates the rest of the functions on the board. This microprocessor is as powerful as the super computer of the 70’s that took up whole rooms, but is now the size of a finger. By using its arithmetic/logic unit or ALU it can perform all mathematical operation that run many of today features in phones. It is also responsible for the transfer of data throughout the phone. It will also make decisions and then run a new set of instructions. In Appendix C figure 3 a very simple microprocessor is shown. Cell phones use microprocessors that are much more complex, but the use the same idea. The ROM and flash memory chips provide storage for the phone’s operating system and customizable features, such as the directory and various simple games. (Appendix C figure 4) The RF and power section handles power management and recharging, and also deals with the hundreds of FM channels. Finally, the Radio Frequency amplifiers handle signals in and out of the antenna. The Radio Frequency amplifier is the same device as you would find in your car’s radio. The display has grown considerably in size as the number of features offered by cell phones has increased. Most phones currently available offer built-in phone directories, calculators and even games. It some new products that will be discussed later, cell phone counter as PDA’s offering very large screen and offer all of the benefit you would find in today’s hand held computers. The display is a liquid crystal display (LCD). It is made of thousands of tiny crystals with two possible colors. They have recently announced that they will be offering color screens on some new phones that work like the display of a laptop computer. Very small speakers and microphones, about the size of a dime, amplify the analog waves. These devices are just like that of a portable radio and the microphones used on television talk shows. They are both wired to the microprocessor. In order for digital cell phones to take advantage of the added capacity and clearer quality, they must convert your voice into binary information. This means that it must break it down to 1’s and 0’s. The reason that this is so advantageous is that unlike analog, digital is either on or off, 1 or 0, instead of oscillating between the two. For the conversion, the device must first record an analog wave, such as the one in Appendix B figure 1. To create the highest fidelity possible, it records number to represent the wave, instead of the wave itself as represented in Appendix B figure 2. The cell phones analog-to-digital converter, a device that is also found in a CD player, does this process. On the other end a separate digital-to-analog converter is used for playback. The quality of transfer depends on the sampling rate, that controls how many samples are taken per second, and the sampling precision. The precision controls how many different levels are possible in the sample. The better these two are the clearer the sound, but it takes a higher speed processor and requires a greater amount of data transfer. In Appendix B the benefits are shown in figure 3. Most common digital cellular systems use Frequency Shift Keying to send data back and forth. This system uses one frequency for 1’s and another for 0’s and rapidly switching between the two. This requires optimal modulation and encoding schemes for recording, compressing, sending, and then decoding without loss of quality. Because of this digital phones contain an amazing amount of processing power. The cellular network is web of towers covering areas, generally thought of as hexagonal cells as shown in APPENDIX A Figure 1. The genius of the cellular system is because cell phones and base stations use low-power transmitters, so the same frequencies can be reused in non-adjacent cells. Each cell is about 10 square miles and has a base station that consists of a tower and a small building containing the radio equipment. As more people join the cellular world, companies are quickly adding more towers to accommodate them. Every digital carrier is assigned different frequencies, an average carrier may get about 2400 frequencies per city, and this number is about three times the amount as analog. The reason that more channels are available is because digital data can be compressed and manipulated much easier than analog. Each tower uses one seventh of the available frequencies, so none of the surrounding 6 towers interfere. The cell phone uses two frequencies per call, called a duplex channel. The duplex channel allows one channel to be used for listening and the other for talking, so unlike a CB or walkie-talkie, both people can talk at the same time. This system currently allows for about 168 people to talk in each cell, for each system. The cellular approach requires a large number of base stations in a city of any size, but because so many people are using cell phones, costs remain low per user. Every cell phone has a special code associated with it, called an electronic serial number (ESN). It is a unique 32-bit number programmed into the phone when it is manufactured. When the phone is activated another five digit code called a system identification code (SID), a unique 5 digit number that is assigned to each carrier by the FCC, is imprinted in the phones memory. When you first power up a cell phone, it checks a control channel to find the SID. If the phone cannot find any control channels to listen to, it knows it is out of range, and displays a no service message. After finding the SID, the phones check to see if it matches the SID programmed in the phone, and if it does not match it knows that the phone is roaming. The central location that the cell phone is registered to keeps track of the cell that your phone is in, so that it can find you when someone calls the phone. When the phone is turned on it sends its ESN to the control channel. If the phone goes out of range, it will take a short while to locate your phone when it enters back into service. This can cause loss of calls, even though the phone is in service, but this problem is very temporary. When someone does call your phone it is sent to the central tower called the Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). This office is continually communicating with the cell phone. It sends and receives the calls, as well as telling it what frequencies to use. This is all done through the control channel, so it does not impair any calls. As you move toward the edge of your cell, the cell’s tower will see that your signal strength is diminishing. At the same time, the base station in the cell you are moving toward, which is listening and measuring signal strength on all frequencies, will be able to see your phone’s signal strength increasing. The two base stations coordinate themselves through the MTSO, and at some point, your phone gets a signal on a control channel telling it to change frequencies. There are three common technologies used by cell phone providers. These are Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In FDMA every call is done on a separate frequency. FDMA separates the spectrum into distinct voice channels by splitting it into uniform chunks of bandwidth. This is very similar to the way that radio stations operate. Each station is assigned a signal at a different frequency within the available band. FDMA is used mainly for analog transmission, so it is slowly being phased out. It is capable of carrying digital information, but it is not considered an efficient method for digital transmission. Time Division Multiple Access gives each call a certain amount of time on a frequency. The Electronics Industry Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association use TDMA. In TDMA, a narrow bandwidth that is 30 kHz wide and 6. 7 milliseconds long is split time-wise into three time slots. (Appendix D, figure 1) Each conversation gets the radio frequency for one-third of the time. This is possible because voice data that has been converted to digital information is compressed so that it takes up significantly less transmission space. Therefore, TDMA has three times the capacity of an analog system using the same number of channels. TDMA systems operate in either the 800 MHz or 1900 MHz frequency bands. Some phones have the ability to switch between bands. This function is called simply Dual-Band, and is important when traveling between different band frequencies. TDMA is also the access technology for Global System for Mobile communications. The Global system uses different frequencies in different areas of the world and is not compatible with other TDMA systems. GSM operates in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in Europe and Asia and in the 1900 MHz band in the United States. GSM systems use encryption to make phone calls more secure. GSM is the international standard in Europe, Australia and much of Asia and Africa. In covered areas, cell-phone-users can buy one phone that will work anywhere else the standard is supported. To connect to the specific service providers in these different countries, GSM-users simply switch SIM cards. SIM cards are small removable disks that slip in and out of GSM cell phones. They store all the connection data and identification numbers you need to access a particular wireless service provider. Unfortunately, the 1900 MHz GSM phones used in the United States are not compatible with the international system. Cellphones and Digital Networks They offer a great amount of convenience, and can be very economically for the busy businessman on the go. Advancements in cell phones are always being made, giving a clearer sound and lighter feel, as well as a longer life. The cell phone industry has been one of the fastest growing in the world. The electronics are fairly simple, but they are so small that they are truly and engineering marvel. This paper will discuss in depth the many different components of the average cell phone, and talk about how it converts your voice into something that can be sent through a digital network. The paper will also look at how the inner workings allow for a phone to act as a microcomputer, with Internet access, address books, and even games. Finally, it will review the many exciting ideas for this growing market and look to the future of the industry, and how the industry plans on overcoming various limiting factors. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, 18 years later Guglielmo Marconi created the first radio. It was only natural that these two great technologies would eventually be combined to create the cellular craze. In the 80’s few people used radiophones, these phones were the precursor to cellular, but they had several limiting factors preventing them from every becoming a major part of everyday society. In the radio telephone system, there was one central antenna tower per major city, and no more than 25 channels available on that tower. Each phone needed a powerful transmitter, big enough to transmit 40 or 50 miles. It also meant that not many people could use radiotelephones due to the lack of channels. With the current cellular system any none adjacent cell can use the same frequency, so the amount of phones that can be used are nearly limitless. These cells also mean that each phone does not need a strong transmitter, so the phone can be a lot smaller. With the innovation of digital phones, many great features are now available, such as caller id, Internet access, and several other new features. It also meant that the phone would need a microprocessor to convert from analog to digital, this complicated the circuitry, but left it with new technology available the industry was able to make the phone as small as possible. The only restriction in size became the user-input devices, and the screen size. Usefulness of the Digital Cell Phone The digital cellular phone offers many advantages to today†s society. The conveniences that it offers over simply not having one are obvious and they vary from person to person. But there are many advantages over other types of phones as well. The cellular phone not only allows people to communicate with others while they are on the go, but it also offers many other features to help people. With the services that digital provides, people can access email and find information almost anywhere in the world for a reasonable fee. In the future, as the integration of phones and computers grow, people will be able to access tutorials in the field, and use them to communicate with specialists saving a great amount of time for many researchers. Today digital cell phones, such as the one shown in Appendix C figure 1, can process millions of calculations per second in order to compress and decompress the voice stream. In order to do this each phone is equipped with a circuit board that contains many different chips. The circuit board of a common phone is shown in Appendix C figure 2. Two chips described earlier are the Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog conversion chips that translate the outgoing audio signal from analog to digital and the incoming signal from digital back to analog. There is also a Digital Signal Processor that is highly customized processor designed to perform signal manipulation calculations at high speed. The microprocessor controls the keyboard and display and deals with command and control signaling with the base station, it also coordinates the rest of the functions on the board. This microprocessor is as powerful as the super computer of the 70’s that took up whole rooms, but is now the size of a finger. By using its arithmetic/logic unit or ALU it can perform all mathematical operation that run many of today features in phones. It is also responsible for the transfer of data throughout the phone. It will also make decisions and then run a new set of instructions. In Appendix C figure 3 a very simple microprocessor is shown. Cell phones use microprocessors that are much more complex, but the use the same idea. The ROM and flash memory chips provide storage for the phone’s operating system and customizable features, such as the directory and various simple games. (Appendix C figure 4) The RF and power section handles power management and recharging, and also deals with the hundreds of FM channels. Finally, the Radio Frequency amplifiers handle signals in and out of the antenna. The Radio Frequency amplifier is the same device as you would find in your car’s radio. The display has grown considerably in size as the number of features offered by cell phones has increased. Most phones currently available offer built-in phone directories, calculators and even games. It some new products that will be discussed later, cell phone counter as PDA’s offering very large screen and offer all of the benefit you would find in today’s hand held computers. The display is a liquid crystal display (LCD). It is made of thousands of tiny crystals with two possible colors. They have recently announced that they will be offering color screens on some new phones that work like the display of a laptop computer. Very small speakers and microphones, about the size of a dime, amplify the analog waves. These devices are just like that of a portable radio and the microphones used on television talk shows. They are both wired to the microprocessor. In order for digital cell phones to take advantage of the added capacity and clearer quality, they must convert your voice into binary information. This means that it must break it down to 1’s and 0’s. The reason that this is so advantageous is that unlike analog, digital is either on or off, 1 or 0, instead of oscillating between the two. For the conversion, the device must first record an analog wave, such as the one in Appendix B figure 1. To create the highest fidelity possible, it records number to represent the wave, instead of the wave itself as represented in Appendix B figure 2. The cell phones analog-to-digital converter, a device that is also found in a CD player, does this process. On the other end a separate digital-to-analog converter is used for playback. The quality of transfer depends on the sampling rate, that controls how many samples are taken per second, and the sampling precision. The precision controls how many different levels are possible in the sample. The better these two are the clearer the sound, but it takes a higher speed processor and requires a greater amount of data transfer. In Appendix B the benefits are shown in figure 3. Most common digital cellular systems use Frequency Shift Keying to send data back and forth. This system uses one frequency for 1’s and another for 0’s and rapidly switching between the two. This requires optimal modulation and encoding schemes for recording, compressing, sending, and then decoding without loss of quality. Because of this digital phones contain an amazing amount of processing power. The cellular network is web of towers covering areas, generally thought of as hexagonal cells as shown in APPENDIX A Figure 1. The genius of the cellular system is because cell phones and base stations use low-power transmitters, so the same frequencies can be reused in non-adjacent cells. Each cell is about 10 square miles and has a base station that consists of a tower and a small building containing the radio equipment. As more people join the cellular world, companies are quickly adding more towers to accommodate them. Every digital carrier is assigned different frequencies, an average carrier may get about 2400 frequencies per city, and this number is about three times the amount as analog. The reason that more channels are available is because digital data can be compressed and manipulated much easier than analog. Each tower uses one seventh of the available frequencies, so none of the surrounding 6 towers interfere. The cell phone uses two frequencies per call, called a duplex channel. The duplex channel allows one channel to be used for listening and the other for talking, so unlike a CB or walkie-talkie, both people can talk at the same time. This system currently allows for about 168 people to talk in each cell, for each system. The cellular approach requires a large number of base stations in a city of any size, but because so many people are using cell phones, costs remain low per user. Every cell phone has a special code associated with it, called an electronic serial number (ESN). It is a unique 32-bit number programmed into the phone when it is manufactured. When the phone is activated another five digit code called a system identification code (SID), a unique 5 digit number that is assigned to each carrier by the FCC, is imprinted in the phones memory. When you first power up a cell phone, it checks a control channel to find the SID. If the phone cannot find any control channels to listen to, it knows it is out of range, and displays a no service message. After finding the SID, the phones check to see if it matches the SID programmed in the phone, and if it does not match it knows that the phone is roaming. The central location that the cell phone is registered to keeps track of the cell that your phone is in, so that it can find you when someone calls the phone. When the phone is turned on it sends its ESN to the control channel. If the phone goes out of range, it will take a short while to locate your phone when it enters back into service. This can cause loss of calls, even though the phone is in service, but this problem is very temporary. When someone does call your phone it is sent to the central tower called the Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). This office is continually communicating with the cell phone. It sends and receives the calls, as well as telling it what frequencies to use. This is all done through the control channel, so it does not impair any calls. As you move toward the edge of your cell, the cell’s tower will see that your signal strength is diminishing. At the same time, the base station in the cell you are moving toward, which is listening and measuring signal strength on all frequencies, will be able to see your phone’s signal strength increasing. The two base stations coordinate themselves through the MTSO, and at some point, your phone gets a signal on a control channel telling it to change frequencies. There are three common technologies used by cell phone providers. These are Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In FDMA every call is done on a separate frequency. FDMA separates the spectrum into distinct voice channels by splitting it into uniform chunks of bandwidth. This is very similar to the way that radio stations operate. Each station is assigned a signal at a different frequency within the available band. FDMA is used mainly for analog transmission, so it is slowly being phased out. It is capable of carrying digital information, but it is not considered an efficient method for digital transmission. Time Division Multiple Access gives each call a certain amount of time on a frequency. The Electronics Industry Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association use TDMA. In TDMA, a narrow bandwidth that is 30 kHz wide and 6. 7 milliseconds long is split time-wise into three time slots. (Appendix D, figure 1) Each conversation gets the radio frequency for one-third of the time. This is possible because voice data that has been converted to digital information is compressed so that it takes up significantly less transmission space. Therefore, TDMA has three times the capacity of an analog system using the same number of channels. TDMA systems operate in either the 800 MHz or 1900 MHz frequency bands. Some phones have the ability to switch between bands. This function is called simply Dual-Band, and is important when traveling between different band frequencies. TDMA is also the access technology for Global System for Mobile communications. The Global system uses different frequencies in different areas of the world and is not compatible with other TDMA systems. GSM operates in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in Europe and Asia and in the 1900 MHz band in the United States. GSM systems use encryption to make phone calls more secure. GSM is the international standard in Europe, Australia and much of Asia and Africa. In covered areas, cell-phone-users can buy one phone that will work anywhere else the standard is supported. To connect to the specific service providers in these different countries, GSM-users simply switch SIM cards. SIM cards are small removable disks that slip in and out of GSM cell phones. They store all the connection data and identification numbers you need to access a particular wireless service provider. Unfortunately, the 1900 MHz GSM phones used in the United States are not compatible with the international system.

Renewable Energy Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Renewable Energy Master - Essay Example These are countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom amongst other developed countries. (Ruddiman 2005) The focus mainly has shifted to these countries due to their great contribution to carbon gases originating from their vast industries. Many countries have been responsive whereas others have remained adamant on their earlier stands and carbon pollution has remained as high as was first recorded. The case is however different with the United Kingdom which has established policies to oversee the reduction of carbon emissions from its industries. This campaign has not only been directed at the large scale producers but has also formed a mechanism whereby environmental consciousness is instilled to the very last individual in the consumption line. One way of making this ambitious plan work is tax cuts for those who have enacted measures of cutting down the measures; this is mainly seen in the commercial producers who receive these cuts based on the level of pollution cut. The other is compensation for use of alternative fuel besides fossil; which has been associated with high pollution levels over time. ... This policy was drawn up during the Kyoto agreement where countries were expected to cut the overall carbon emission. This is aggregated and the responsive industries are awarded depending on the level of carbon cut. (Held 2003) Though this has a universal appeal, the UK is a beneficiary and to some extent, it has helped bring the carbon emission level to a reasonably manageable level. The UK government has gone that extra mile towards achieving a healthy environment and one way of doing this is by controlling what is emitted into its environment. Having realised that the link between economic and environment situation is thin and that an effect on one has a considerable effect on the other, the government sought to have a mechanism that tied these two factors together. (Edwards 2001) The most sound was a mechanism where individuals achieve an economic consideration for effort put in taking care of the environment. This said the analysts who composed of various specialists, government representatives and economists embarked on finding that particular bit of environment to be subject to this ambitious plan. It proved a daunting task considering the vast nature and the multiplicity of elements contained in the environment. Especially coming up with one element that greatly affects the environment to an extent that an effect on it would mean an overall effect on the e ntire scope of the general climatic conditions. After careful consideration, the individuals borrowed from the wider Germany consideration of a boost in the renewable energy industry. Renewable energy Solar energy This is natural energy gotten from the sun. To make

Consumer Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Consumer Behaviour - Assignment Example Consumer Behaviour The term consumer behavior is simply the behavior that consumers display in searching, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of services and products that they think will satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer behavior centers at how individuals make decisions to use or spend their available resources, that is, time effort or money on consumption linked items. This simply means what they buy, where they buy it, when they purchase it, how often they utilize or use it, how they analyze it after they buy it and the impact of evaluating it in future and lastly, the way they dispose of it. In other words, consumer behavior can be used to refer to the behavior of individuals in regard to acquisition, utilization, and disposal of products, ideas, services or experiences. Acquisition and use of information are also included in consumer behavior. This means that, communicating with consumers and getting feedbacks from them forms a crucial and important part to marketers. Importance of studying customers’ behavior Studying consumer behavior is very significant in our lives. It plays a very crucial role in our daily activities. Every body spends a lot of time in market places and other places shopping different items. Before doing any transaction, everybody must make a decision. This shows that, consumer behavior cannot be avoided in our lives. It also plays a crucial role in marketing. Understanding consumer behavior is important in successful delivery of firms’ offerings in market places. ... This is analysis and evaluation of trends and conditions in market places to understand consumers’ needs that are not fully met. Here, it is useful in identifying the weaknesses and developing these weaknesses to meet consumers’ satisfaction. Consumer behavior is also used in Target Market Selection. This is identifying different groupings of consumers who have needs and wants that are unique and segment selection that matches the strengths of the firm. It analyses all this and then offer better chances and opportunities. Consumer behavior also involves Marketing Mix Destination. This is development and implementation of strategies for delivering effective combination of different features of satisfying wants to consumers within target market. Marketing mix is made up of four components, namely; place, promotion, price and product. Each and every person has his or her own way of perceiving or understanding things. Cognition and affect are one and same (Chisnall, 1995). Understanding of marketing strategy is also part of consumer behavior. Strategies used in marketing as well as the tactics are based on beliefs about consumer behavior. These beliefs can either be implicit or explicit. Not to forget, regulatory policy needs wide knowledge of consumer behavior. In addition, understanding of consumer behavior will also be incredibly useful in social marketing. Social marketing is use of marketing tactics and strategies to create or alter behaviors that have constructive effects on the target individuals and the society. It is used to increase sound environmental behaviors and to reduce vices like smoking. It is also used to improve support of charities and reduction of behaviors leading to HIV/AIDS. Evaluation of attitude According to Olson and Peter, analyzing

Paper on CATHER, DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHIBISHOP Essay

Paper on CATHER, DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHIBISHOP - Essay Example Throughout the book, the question being addressed is that of different identities and cultures that come across each other and are compelled to live with each other. There is the religious identity of the natives, the Mexicans, and the conventional Christian identity that stand face to face demanding mutual correlation and redefinition. Also, there is the conflict between being a Mexican under the French rule and an being an American. This is reflected in the words of the Mexican youth in the novel (Cather, 19). The boy says, â€Å" they say at Albuquerque that now we are all Americans†¦.I will never be an American. They are infidels.† The author uses the image of goats as a metaphor to show the flexible and humanitarian mindset of bishop Latour (Cather, 26). When the bishop sees a fleet of goats passing by, he thinks, â€Å"the goat had always been the symbol of pagan lewdness†¦(but)†¦their fleece had warmed many a good Christian, and their rich milk nourished sickly children† (Cather, 26). The logical and practical soundness of his mind when it comes to other belief systems is reflected in this statement. In his letter to his brother, bishop expresses his feeling that â€Å"church can do more than the Fort to make these poor Mexicans ‘good Americans’† (Cather, 33). The situation the bishop had to face was not as simple as he had stated in the above sentence. The human resource he had to work with was the cowboys who drank and also got the natives drunk and created an atmosphere of chaos, with lots of rifle shots banging here and there (Cather, 43). It was with these kind of p eople that he had to build his new apostolate. The ideology of ‘manifest destiny’ was in its formative years, and the hero of this novel had a role to play in order to enhance this concept. Cather has given bishop Latour, a character in which he personifies the rich congruence of European culture which was flexible enough to accept new environments. And there was this church

How can cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) be modified to fit the needs Outline

How can cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) be modified to fit the needs of young children - Outline Example This paper will address some of the ways in which cognitive behaviour therapy can be modified to fit the needs of young children. As it is usually the case with almost all paediatric procedures, they are usually tested with adults before they can be brought to children; therefore, cognitive behaviour therapy is no exception. Due to children’s limitations in metacognition and their inability to classify feelings, clinicians need to adjust their pacing of therapy’s content and the speed of therapy (Butler, Chapman, Forman & Beck, 2006, p22). One of the things that psychiatrist need to adjust in cognitive behaviour therapy for children is the time frame with which they carry out the therapy (March et al, 2005, p813). Children do not have fully developed metacognition abilities therefore the speed at which they will respond to therapy will be slower than that of adults. Due to these challenges, therapist need to ensure that the spacing of the whole course of the therapy is in such a way that the child will not be overburdened by the therapy due to congestion of the therapy or it will be too spaced such that the effectiveness of the therapy will be compromised. The inability of children to express their feelings, which may help in easier diagnosis of the disorders, will require the time required for full cycle of therapy to increased (Wood et al, 2006, p315). Due to the stage of development in children cognitive abilities, cognitive behavioural therapies for children will always focus on the behavioural aspect of the therapy since it will be more effective, however, the behavioural aspect too will require the children to be trained in social and problem solving skills (Nauta, Scholing, Emmelkamp & Minderaa, 2003, p1273; Kendall & Hedtke, 2006, p101). These characteristics among children requires that the therapy be combined with other skills or at least provide an opportunity for the child to learn

Article Review 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Article Review 2 - Essay Example With the end in view of a win-win situation, the then-President Clinton promised that the â€Å"agreement will open China’s market to us.† However, within the span of 6 years, there have been rampant findings that China’s agricultural exports, specially that of veterinary feeds have been adulterated with at least 3 chemicals detrimental and derogatory to the Americans. Chemicals posing health hazards are the likes of melamine, cyanuric acid, diethylene glycol, have been separately found in the Chinese agricultural produce exported to the U.S., whose remedial actions are more costly than the short and long-run cost-benefit analysis. The PNTR with China as part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) cum â€Å"globalization has turned out to be a cheat.† The trade relations with China is too costly for the Americans which poses threat to health, life, and limbs of the â€Å"Beautiful American† ecology. While the â€Å"Americans can’t count the cost merely in dollars and in bushels,† China is not at par with the American â€Å"health, sanitary or safety standards.† The actual U.S. findings on product adulteration by Chinese traders, despite the latter’s haggling and denial, are merely ignored by globalists and free-traders for years—simply because of profit-motive. The reviewer agrees with the Author, whose heart and soul is merely to protect and conserve American legacy against the ill-effects of development and globalization. Profit-motive and human greed is the root-cause of this trade war and disequilibrium. When deceit and fraud are prevalent, the goods and services in the commerce of men are felt immediately in the short and in the long while. Progress and development has its price, but we can procure conservatively by not hurrying too much, and by taking time to study more seriously before opening the â€Å"pandora’s box5† to our detriment. The elders have spoken, why don’t we listen and take pains in

Nursing Informatics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing Informatics - Essay Example The affiliation of the sponsors are outlined in the copyright section where the website delineates affiliation to credible sources such as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database Consumer Version, A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia, Patient Education Institute, Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, ORLive, HealthDay and Reuters, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There isn’t a link identified that will allow the user to contact the author however, Medline Plus has provided a contact form to answer users’ queries and if user’s browser does not work with forms, alternative emails and phone number are provided to communicate queries directly to the customer service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Funding. Most of the content of Medline Plus website is available at no charge. That is because the primary purpose of Medline Plus website is merely educational and not to sell product or service. Commer cial funding is not stated in the website but in the disclaimer section, it has been stated that the U.S. government provides fund for the website. Some advertisements are present in the website but Medline Plus makes sure that advertisers follow the advertising policy of Medline Plus by clearly stating the difference between content and advertising. Advertisers or sponsors must not play a role in selecting or editing information (Medline Plus, 2011). Advertisements and directories of health professionals, services, and facilities might be included in the website but Medline Plus does not recommend or endorse these services. In addition, any potential conflict of interest with the users will exclude linked organizations and Web sources from the... This essay discusses the connections between profesional nursing work and an Internet source named Medline Plus that is a most common and helpful today for health care employees. It is stated that some nurses prefer the Internet in answering clinical questions and searching for updates in the field of health care. In this case, nurses who are often using Internet searches are encouraged to develop a list of trusted health-information websites known for credibility. Several advance skills are necessary to evaluate and appraise a health-related website as well as a criterion guide to ensure the quality of websites being accessed routinely. The researcher develops the website critique which will be evaluated the Medline website in terms of source, funding, and validity. Medline plus caters links to different sources which specified individual authors of various specific articles. Medline Plus is being sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Most of the nurses around the globe vi ewed Medline plus as a credible source of information due to the reason that the information. The researcher also uses The Thede and Sewell criterion in critiquing a Website that is a very important tool not only for the health-allied professionals but also to the general users. The researcher then sums up that this website offers safety and security of information of users, credibility of author, protection of users’ interests, updated information free from biases, and preservation of users’ privacy.

Article Review 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Article Review 2 - Essay Example With the end in view of a win-win situation, the then-President Clinton promised that the â€Å"agreement will open China’s market to us.† However, within the span of 6 years, there have been rampant findings that China’s agricultural exports, specially that of veterinary feeds have been adulterated with at least 3 chemicals detrimental and derogatory to the Americans. Chemicals posing health hazards are the likes of melamine, cyanuric acid, diethylene glycol, have been separately found in the Chinese agricultural produce exported to the U.S., whose remedial actions are more costly than the short and long-run cost-benefit analysis. The PNTR with China as part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) cum â€Å"globalization has turned out to be a cheat.† The trade relations with China is too costly for the Americans which poses threat to health, life, and limbs of the â€Å"Beautiful American† ecology. While the â€Å"Americans can’t count the cost merely in dollars and in bushels,† China is not at par with the American â€Å"health, sanitary or safety standards.† The actual U.S. findings on product adulteration by Chinese traders, despite the latter’s haggling and denial, are merely ignored by globalists and free-traders for years—simply because of profit-motive. The reviewer agrees with the Author, whose heart and soul is merely to protect and conserve American legacy against the ill-effects of development and globalization. Profit-motive and human greed is the root-cause of this trade war and disequilibrium. When deceit and fraud are prevalent, the goods and services in the commerce of men are felt immediately in the short and in the long while. Progress and development has its price, but we can procure conservatively by not hurrying too much, and by taking time to study more seriously before opening the â€Å"pandora’s box5† to our detriment. The elders have spoken, why don’t we listen and take pains in

The Evolution of Voice Recognition Essay Example for Free

The Evolution of Voice Recognition Essay Aw the Dictaphone! What an extraordinary invention. This device has been used to record spoken notes of medical professionals to be transcribed at a later date for over a century. The Dictaphone has truly been an icon in the health care industry and will be missed. Since its invention health care has underwent so many changes and introduced so many technological advances. To follow suit the way in which medical notes are recorded and stored must too undergo change. And so it did. There has been skepticism along the way however, voice or speech recognition is beginning to be more accepted and widely used in the health care field. Voice recognition software was developed to produce text from spoken words. Instead of typing the words a computer user only needed to talk to the computer, and the text is typed by a program which is integrated into the software. Voice recognition was being experimented with by the government agencies for over six decades however, did not become reality in the public until the last two decades of the 20th century. This new technology allowed the user to enter comments or commands without keyboard functions or a mouse. This was truly hands free (Parente, Kock, Sonsini, 2004). The mid 1990s finally brought the induction of voice recognition into the health care industry. Many doctors feared the use of this new technology and others disbelieved the capabilities which prevented them from using the system. The vocabulary of the technology lacked the sophistication which would be required for its purpose. This program required the user to adapt to its capabilities instead of the program adapting to the user; this was backward to how the program would ideally work. Having a cold or an accent made the technology quite difficult to use. Computers were slower at processing information during this time in technological history; this made the problem worse. With the early version of voice recognition it was sometimes hard to tell the difference â€Å"between background noise and the user’s speech† and the technology was much less than cost effective. The system generally started at â€Å"$27,000 per workstation† (Parente et al. , 2004, Historical Development of Speech-Recognition Technology, para 6). The voice recognition system would be improved upon and become an important part of the technology used in hospitals today. A wider understanding of medical vocabulary would be important for doctors to hold any faith in the system. Improvements were indeed made over time. †Accuracy rates rose dramatically, and doctors were no longer struggling for the right words for the system to understand and record. Newer systems even provided each user with an opportunity to teach the computer to understand† the way that he or she speaks (Parente et al. , 2004, Historical Development of Speech-Recognition Technology, para 7). According to Business Source (2006), many hospitals are now using voice recognition technology with ease and finding the system quite dependable. Though expensive, using this â€Å"technology to replace transcription can lead to savings of over $10,000 a year. Thus, adopting voice recognition solutions can eliminate the need for in-house transcription staff, resulting in huge cost reduction† (para 3). The voice recognition technology has many functional uses; they â€Å"include transcription, patient monitoring, interactive response systems, telemedicine as well as electronic health record generation, maintenance and security† (Business Source, 2006 para 2). Though one must always be sure that patient privacy is protected, Wager, Lee, Glaser (2005) describes voice recognition, as a â€Å"method used in health care† which can best be used in â€Å"work environments where using a keyboard, mouse, or touch screen is not practical. † The newer systems are capable of understanding the speech of the user and how he or she applies the voice, through tone, pitch, and pattern; then this â€Å"is converted to computer-readable data† (Wager, et al. , 2005, p. 220). The voice recognition does not come totally without disadvantages. The disadvantage of these systems is the time it takes to train the computer to recognize the speech. This is a particular challenge in an area with many users. Higher-end systems are designed to understand any person’s speech, but most of these systems have fairly limited built-in vocabularies. Most would agree that speech recognition is still under development and its use is most likely in certain segments of health care, such as radiology, pathology, and emergency medicine. However, it does have the potential to be used with many other types of health care applications (Wager, et al. , 2005, p. 220). The use of voice recognition systems also requires the user to be aware of his or her surroundings. One must take precautions to restrict use to areas which are not accessible to the public, as the voice may carry and patient information may be heard by wandering ears. Depending on the information this could be harmful to the patient (information used may lead to identity theft if overheard) and violate confidentiality laws.