An Introduction to Sociology

A life sketch of Plato and his works Essays - 891 Words

If Thales was the first of all the great Greek philosophers, Plato must remain the best known of all the Greeks. The original name of this Athenian aristocrat was Aristiclis, but in his school days he received the nickname quot;Platonquot; (meaning quot;broadquot;) because of his broad shoulders. Plato was born in Athens, Greece to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the city. He lived with his mother, Perictione, and his father, Ariston (Until Ariston died.) Born in an aristocratic and rich family, Plato’s childhood was indulged within luxury. But his life changed when he came across Socrates. Socrates, a Greek philosopher who lived from 470-399 BC. He devoted all his time with young citizens discussing†¦show more content†¦They were probably written during the years of his travels between 399 and 387 BC. One of the texts in this group called the Apology seems to have been written shortly after Socrates death. Other texts relegated to this group include the Crito, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Euthyphro, and Hippias Minor and Major. Plato returned to Athens in 387 BC and on land that had once belonged to Academos, he founded a school of learning which he called the Academy. Platos school is often described at the first European university. Its curriculum offered subjects including astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. Plato hoped the Academy would provide a place where thinkers could work toward better government in the Grecian cities. The period from 387 to 361 BC is often called Platos quot;middlequot; or transitional period. It is thought that he may have written the Meno, Euthydemus, Menexenus, Cratylus, Repuglic, Phaedrus, Syposium and Phaedo during this time. The major difference between these texts and his earlier works is that he tends toward grander metaphysical themes and begins to establish his own voice in philosophy. Socrates still has a presence, however, sometimes as a fictional character. In the Meno for example, Plato writes of the Socratic idea that no one knowingly does wrong, and adds the new doctrine of recollectionShow MoreRelatedA Life Sketch of Plato and His Works905 Words   |  4 Pagesgreat Greek philosophers, Plato must remain the best known of all the Greeks. The original name of this Athenian aristocrat was Aristiclis, but in his school days he received the nickname Platon (meaning broad) because of his broad shoulders. Plato was born in Athens, Greece to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the city. He lived with his mother, Perictione, and his father, Ariston (Until Ariston died.) Born in an aristocratic and rich family, Plato s childhood was indulgedRead MoreThe Utility Of Myth : Plato s Metaphysics1624 Words   |  7 PagesMetaphysics ï » ¿Plato speaking from the mouth of Socrates in Phaedo, tells us, â€Å"people are likely not to be aware that those who pursue philosophy aright study nothing but dying and being dead.† (61a) As a philosopher Plato sought to offer not only descriptions of the world him around, but prescriptions as well. The above quote when understood metaphorically, for him, shows the aim of philosophy, and goal of the philosopher is and should be to scratch at the surface of our faculties. To do this, Plato believesRead MoreEssay on Platos Republic981 Words   |  4 PagesPlatos Republic Plato, one of the most ingenious and powerful thinkers in Western philosophy, born around 425 B.C. Plato investigated a wide range of topics. Dominant among his ideas is an immense discourse called The Republic. The main focus of Plato is a perfect society. He outlines a utopian society, out of his disapproval for the tension of political life. Plato lived through the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), in which much of Greece was devastated. This created poverty and political confusionRead MoreCritical Analysis of Plato and Aristotle1634 Words   |  7 PagesON POL 311 (HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT) TOPIC A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT WRITTEN BY OKWOR, STEPHEN USHIE 09/ED/EF/814 DEPT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS (POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIT) FACULTY OF EDUCATION SUBMITTED TO DR. EJERE DEPT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO AKWA IBOM STATE MAY, 2012 A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT In order to compare these great philosophersRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray Analysis1892 Words   |  8 Pages Oscar Wilde introduces his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a reflection on Art, the Artist, and the utility of both. After watchful investigation, he finishes up: All art is quite useless. In other words, genuine Art takes no part in embellishing the social or moral constructs of the society, nor should it. Art ought to be lovely and give pleasure to its spectator. The masterpiece of an artist is very absurd and abstract no matter how clear it appears to the eyes. In the novel, The PictureRead MoreRaphael1126 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Italian Renaissance. Raphael painted and designed many brilliant pieces of work and the stanzas inside the Vatican. He was a master at such necessities of modern art such as depth and perspective and the use of light and shadow, and was the turning point styles of paintings like the use of Madonnas in paintings. Through his short life, Raphael would make some of the most awe-inspiring, beautiful, and influential works of art during the Italian R enaissance. Raphael whose full name was RaphaelRead MoreRaphael Sanzio1575 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Italian Renaissance. Raphael painted and designed many brilliant pieces of work and the stanzas inside the Vatican. He was a master at such necessities of modern art such as depth and perspective and the use of light and shadow, and was the turning point styles of paintings like the use of Madonnas in paintings. Through his short life, Raphael would make some of the most awe-inspiring, beautiful, and influential works of art during the Italian Renaissance. Raphael whose full name was Raphael SanzioRead MorePhotography Has An Alternate Point Of View On Photography1355 Words   |  6 PagesBrandt s photographs illustrate how human civilization have taken control and it serves to demonstrate the difference between the past and the present. The hidden truth in which his photos convey is that mankind wiped the animals out many centuries ago and people in today’s world do not even think twice about it. â€Å"In Plato s Cave,† one out of six of Susan Sontag s most acclaimed essays about photography, provides insights about our relationships between photography and our understanding of the worldRead MoreRaphael Sanzio Essay1527 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Italian Renaissance. Raphael painted and designed many brilliant pieces of work and the stanzas inside the Vatican. He was a master at such necessities of modern art such as depth and perspective and the use of light and shadow, and was the turning point styles of paintings lik e the use of Madonnas in paintings. Through his short life, Raphael would make some of the most awe-inspiring, beautiful, and influential works of art during the Italian Renaissance. Raphael whose full name was RaphaelRead MoreWas Psychology Really Founded in 1879 or Was It in Existence Before Then?1387 Words   |  6 PagesWundt (1832-1920) officially opened an institution and laboratory for Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany. Many students were also taught here on experimental psychology. Wundt was touted as a great lecturer, and some of those taught, emulated Wundts work and made a significant contribution to psychology; for example Edward Titchner (1867-1927), who introduced structuralism to the United States of America. This facility was renowned through out the world as the premise on which psychology became

None Provided76 Essay Example For Students

None Provided76 Essay THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS The novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is said to fall under the genre of psychological horror. The stories that fall under the genre of horror include a few essential elements: a villain or one seen as evil to create an initial story line. The foil is the next element; a foil is a person who tries to stop the villain from going through with the evil plan or plot. These two elements naturally lead to conflict between the two persons or groups and then from this conflict – suspense, the last element is added. Suspense is important to keep the reader interested and to keep the story line going. When psychology is added to a story, the definition of horror is changed completely. There are still those few essential elements above but there is also a few more added. The story now has something to do with the mind and how it works, and there is really no definition for that. The mind and it’s workings are a mystery to us and that mystery of the mind adds to the suspense and therefore the idea of psychology and horror are able to go together and become one. This essay will prove that The Silence of the Lambs is indeed a psychological horror according to the five criteria above along with other sources. The first element to a psychological horror is a villain, and the villain is The Silence of the Lambs is Mr. Jame Gumb. He is a white male in his mid thirties, â€Å"most serial killers are white male, unemployed, intelligent and experience financial difficulty.†(Bonata, 3) Gumb is all of these things, he is unemployed but a very skilled seamstress, and using these skills is making himself a second skin out of women who he is able to take control of and render them powerless. He is also very intelligent but is anable to interact with other people and therefore remains unemployed. He experienced financial difficulties until he was the recipient of a large sum of money from an inheritance. â€Å"The unconscious fear of women goads some men with a compulsive urge to conquer, humiliate, hurt, or render powerless some available sample of womanhood.† (Menninger, 183) Gumb was deeply disturbed and unable to overcome the death of his mother and he wanted to be like her and resented any woman because he feels that he should have been born a woman instead of the man that he is. He is sewing a skin of women to try to become more like his mother and less of the man that he is. This is how he received his nickname â€Å"Buffalo Bill† because the way he murders and then skins his victims. Jame Gumb is a very disturbed individual and his â€Å"violence and crimes are often attempts to escape from insanity.† (Menninger, 181) Jame Gumb is in a word where he believes that he can become a woman and live somehow be with his mother again or even attempt to become her. â€Å"Men who are violently afraid of their repressed but nearly emergent homosexual desired often try to overcome these fears with violent demonstrations. † (Menninger, 183) Jame Gumb did not know what he was in terms of sexuality and decided that he would rather be a woman than a man. This desire drove him to commit such horrible crimes and try to become a woman using their skins. The foils to Jame Gumb are a much stronger force that he is or could ever be, they are the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the FBI. They want to stop the murders as soon as possible so that no other lives are lost and the country can get back to normal without living with the fear of a serial killer on the loose. .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d , .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .postImageUrl , .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d , .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:hover , .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:visited , .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:active { border:0!important; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:active , .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u3f9681a53dabad45cb0b480f37edc75d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Pedro Pà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ramo and The House of the Spirits Essay Along with the FBI, an X-psychiatrist named Dr. Hannibal Lecter and, Clarice Starling they try to stop the murders and regain order to society, this is not an easy task and there are many obstacles along the way. The first obstacle is that the whereabouts of Gumb are unknown and his identity has alluded the FBI since the murders first begun. The only link that they have to the murder is Jame Gumb’s X- psychiatrist named Dr Hannibal Lecter. Lecter gives Clarice Starling a few hints with every visit she makes she makes to him about the murder. While revealing hints about the murders is, at the same time revealing something about Clarice’s childhood. This causes Starling to search inside of herself for the answers to the questions she has been looking for about her life and childhood while at the same time trying to solve the case of Buffalo Bill. Lecter proves to be a trustworthy aid and does help the case and Jame Gumb is eventually found. The next element in not just a psychological horror but in any novel is the idea of conflict. There is a great deal of conflict between not only the FBI and Jame Gumb but also between a few other parties. The reasons for the conflict between the FBI and Jame Gumb are evident- the FBI would like him to be captured and Gumb will do anything to stop them. He keeps quiet and avoids contact with other people, he hides the bodies of the murdered women and drops them away from his home to avoid being caught. He wants to achieve his dream of being a woman and he will let nothing stop him. The next conflict in the novel is between the FBI and Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The FBI sees Lecter as a threat to the case and does not advocate his involvement with the case of Buffalo Bill. The FBI knows how brilliant Dr. Lecter is and they are not sure if he can be trusted to tell the truth about what he knows about Buffalo Bill. The last conflict involves Clarice Starling and the struggle that she is facing within herself. She is searching inside herself for answers to the questions that she forgot she knew about, things about her past, childhood and about her entire life. Dr. Lecter brings up things in Starling’s life that she needed in order for her life to be complete. She is able to straighten things out in her life that have stopped her from achieving her full potential in the past. With doing this the case of Buffalo Bill is solved. The closing of the case did not come without suspense however. Through the entire book there was some sort of suspense weather it concerned Buffalo Bill, the actions of Hannibal Lecter, or the situation that Clarice Starling was in. The last seven chapters are the most suspenseful chapters of the story. They deal with the capture and killing of Jame Gumb, the rescuing of the prisoner that he held hostage and finally the freeing of Clarice Starling from the â€Å"screaming of the lambs†. Clarice starling murders Jame Gumb and his prisoner is set free with a few minor injuries. Clarice Starling finally finds peace within her and is able to enjoy life to the fullest and she owes it all the Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The location of Lecter is left unknown which leave the reader without a final closing further adding to the suspense of the novel. Novels in the genre of psychological horror are said to have the elements listed above. This essay has proven that the elements are indeed in the novel The Silence of the Lambs and therefore the novel is a psychological horror. The elements listed above are found through out the novel and are just a few of the many instances in which they occur. Bibliography:

Business Measurement Model Strategy and Innovation

Question: Discuss about the Business Measurement Model Strategy and Innovation. Answer: Introduction: According to Moynihan Pandley (2010), performance management is the process of aligning systems, employees and organizational resources to the organizations strategic goals. It includes activities ensuring consistent achievement of targets in an efficient and effective manner. Operations management, on the other hand, involves controlling the whole production process so as to control efficiency in the organization regarding the provision of goods and services, (Subramanian Ramanathan, 2012). Performance management in the context of operations management, therefore, focuses on the performance of employees, departments, entire organization and process of creating goods and services within the firm. It is used to refer to tools, activities, processes and programs that are applied by the company in the management of teams and departmental or individual performance. Cost leadership: A company may have a target to reduce the costs of its product so as to make them more affordable to the customers, (Teece, 2010). This is cost leadership. It is a strategic objective that can be achieved through offering price cuts and customized products to enable low and middle-income families to afford them. Differentiation objective: This is an objective that can be used by firms to make their goods and services unique, (Rathaermel, 2015). A company may make exclusive brands which are different from those of its rivals. This may make the firm more competitive as compared to other enterprises as it will be able to develop a market niche Focus: A company with this objective can concentrate on customer satisfaction through provision of high-quality products at high prices, or cost reduction by adopting cost leadership, (Teece, 2010). A firm which utilizes cost leadership may have an objective of focusing on low and middle-income families, so as to gain a competitive edge. Operational excellence goal: A company may develop an objective of automating the production process so as to improve efficiency in its activities. This may enable it to develop cost leadership, (Guest, 2011). When the organization can provide goods at affordable prices, then it may achieve customer loyalty for its products. Product leadership: This is an objective that enables a firm to provide superior products to the market. It can be accomplished through automation of the production process and utilizing the services of experienced personnel, (Gurman, 2011). This objective can also be used to achieve product differentiation. Importance of performance management to ABC garments Ltd concerning; Regular feedback enhances efficient communication in the organization. Performance management assists in determining the weaknesses and strengths of the enterprise, (Guest, 2011). This could be monitored regarding the machines available and the type of workforce in the firm. It also allows for a forum to exchange expertise and views in the business, (Guest, 2011). Primarily, it gives the management of ABC a better understanding of the firm- whether the machines should be serviced, whether to employ more skilled staff or to adopt a particular technology so as to improve the operating system. A Clear understanding of the job expectations. When the subordinates and the managers have an explicit knowledge of the particular operations they should carry out, any complexities in the workplace can quickly be eliminated. Performance management may, therefore, enable ABC to hold each employee accountable for their actions. This will empower and clarify the responsibilities of each worker in the operating system, (Kamruzzaman, 2011). Also, performance management plans involve clear, precise, understandable and practical improvement in productivity and operations. Through conducting this activity, the management of ABC Ltd can identify key areas of weaknesses so as to adjust in them. Some operations may be cash traps to the firm, (Pertusa-Ortega, Molina-Azorin Claver-Cortes, 2010). Such transactions should be retrenched so as to reduce unprofitable expenditures. The company is also able to evaluate the key capabilities and weaknesses through evaluating its employees performance and the available machines, (Ullah, 2015). Cost reduction can also be achieved through risk management. The manager can identify possible risks that the business is exposed to and adjust to them in time before incurring losses. Performance management will enable the management of ABC to identify the potential of every employee. This makes the management to stage the employee in appropriate positions that they can work inappropriately. It will encourage efficiency in the organization by reducing wastages in terms of time and resources, (Titacchi, Tonelli Cagnazzo, 2010). Minimization of costs of operation will also be achieved, making the firm to be more profitable. As explained by Gurman (2011), conducting performance appraisal enables a company to utilize the physical resources available in the environment optimally. These may include raw materials, technology, and gaps in the market. Through conducting performance management, ABC Ltd can identify the training needs of its employees and train them appropriately so that they can obtain the relevant skills to use the recent technology in the market to promote its products. These may include social media marketing and e-commerce. Through performance measurement, the management is in a position to identify the effectiveness of devices and determine maintenance and replacement times. The management of ABC is also able to monitor the skills of its employees so as to ensure that the machines are being handled efficiently. Performance management is also an essential basis for determining training needs in the enterprise, (Guest, 2011).Whenever the ABC detects mishandling of machines, then it may be able to train the employees on the proper ways of handling the tools so as to increase productivity. References Gruman, J. A., Saks, A. M. (2011). Performance Management and Employee Engagement. Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), 123-136. Guest, D. E. (2011). Human Resource Management and Performance: Still Searching for Some Answers. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(1), 3-13. Kamruzzaman, M. (2011). ABC Knit Dyeing Finishing Mills Ltd (Falcon Group) (Doctoral Dissertation, Daffodil International University). Moynihan, D. P., Pandey, S. K. (2010). The Big Question for Performance Management: Why Do Managers Use Performance Information? Journal of Public Administration Research Theory, 20(4), 849-866. Pertusa-Ortega, E. M., Molina-Azorn, J. F., Claver-Corts, E. (2010). Competitive Strategy, Structure and Firm Performance: A Comparison of the Resource-Based View and the Contingency Approach. Management Decision, 48(8), 1282-1303. Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic Management. New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill. Subramanian, N., Ramanathan, R. (2012). A Review of Applications of Analytic HierarchyProcess in Operations Management. International Journal of Production Economics, 138(2), 215-241. Taticchi, P., Tonelli, F., Cagnazzo, L. (2010). Performance Measurement and Management: A Literature Review and a Research Agenda. Measuring Business Excellence, 14(1), 4-18. Teece, D. J. (2010). Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2), 172-194. Ullah, A. (2015).Garment Industry in Bangladesh: An Era of Globalization and Neo- Liberalization. Middle-East Journal of Business.

Punk Era Essays - Punk Rock Genres, Punk Rock, Proto-punk

Punk Era "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll" was the rallying cry for a movement that changed American culture forever. Rock and roll first startled the American scene in the mid-1950's, but no one then could have predicted the remarkable vitality and staying power of this new music. The early tradition of rock has gone through many transitions. Provocative and outlandish stage attire and behavior have been an important resource since the birth of rock and roll. Decades following the birth of rock and roll, many have witnessed a steady ever changing parade of hair styles, costumes, gestures and props. As the level of tolerance and acceptance grew, rock stars adopted more bizarre and shocking images. It is in this context that "punk" rock, seen by some as a startling new direction in the late 1970's must be considered. Rock music achieved a new respectability and power at the same time (Ward, Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages, 547). Punk was rock's most notable attempt in the late 1970's to inject angry, rebellious, risk taking notations into the music. The musical style called punk rock developed in the United States out of raw and energetic music played by the garage bands of the mid-sixties. These bands were mainly teenagers playing basic guitar chords, and failing away at drums and cymbals in their own garages. This resulted in sounds that were rough, raw, and musically undisciplined, which expressed their interests and brought music to their level (Charlton, Rock Music, 204). Given that the greatest garage bands could barley play, we may assume not only that virtuosity has nothing to do the form, but also that the Utopian dream of every man and artist can come true right here, in our suburban land of opportunity-- the ultimate proof that rock and roll is the most democratic and all-American of art forms (Miller, History of Rock & Roll, 261). While teenage garage bands were becoming a hit and making it onto the pop charts, slightly older, artistically trained but jagged musicians were writing poetry and singing about urban decay. This artistic expression was not the first, this sort of idea far artistic expression had been at the root of several literary, artistic, and musical styles in the twentieth century, including the dadaist movement and the Beat movement (Charlton, Rock Music, 204). The dadaists, a group of artists from Switzerland, expressed their views of madness and chaos exemplified by World War I. The dadaists saw this kind of devastation and destruction of human life that took place during the Was, and expressed their views by fashioning artwork out of trash or other material put together in a chaotic form. The same fear of the potential human animal had for violence, along with the awesome power of modern-day weapons, influenced many later artists to share the concerns and emulate the work of the dadaists (Charlton, Rock Music, 204). The Beat poets and writers of the fifties, directed their feelings of anger towards society in their poetry and writings. The manner in which the Beats openly confronted the problems that most people ignored, as well as the dada, influenced desire to produce an anti-art to express the belief that society had lost all sense of value was at the philosophical root of the punk movement, which eventually spawned a style of music (Charlton, Rock music, 204). The grandest example of a risky, aggressive, cynical yet ambitious sensibility worming it way into the rock world was the man many called a godfather of punk: Lou Reed (Ward, Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages, 547). Lou Reed stands as crucial figure in 1970s rock. Reed wrote poetry about street life, prostitution, and drugs in New York. He was Classically trained to play the piano, but felt he could not express what he had to say about society playing Mozart (Charlton, Rock Music, 204). Reed combined controversial common places with a profound cynicism to yield music. Reed maintained a highly adversarial relationship with his audience. He would insult them one minute and challenge them the next. Reed's influence on others, good or bad, can be heard in the work of other rockers, such as David Bowie and The New York Dolls. Before there was Lou Reed as a solo artist, there was the Velvet Underground, a band that in the midst of the utopian, freedom-loving, feel-good 1960's, proffered apocalypse, addiction, and feel bad. The Velvet Underground left traditional rock and roll styles aside to experiment with new forms of expression. The Velvet Underground consisted of Lou Reed, Sterling Morrision, John Cale,

The Melting Pot essays

The Melting Pot essays In the 1800s and the early 1900s, some people gave the America the name, the melting pot. People imagined this because thousands and thousands of immigrants coming from around the world were coming into the United States in hope of a better life. So most people imagined that all these different cultures were being poured into a giant pot called America, heated to a low boil and molded into one kind of person. If one steps back and thinks about this theory, it isnt entirely true. In fact, its not really true at all. If one takes a closer look at America today, one sees millions of people labeled Americans but not by how they act, what religions they practice and what kind of foods they eat but where they are born. total opposites. Now all Americans must be able to speak English, or at least bad English, and they must also follow the laws set fourth by out four fathers, but no two Americans are alike. Take San Francisco for example. Twenty years ago, it was the center for the hippie movement, but just down the street from Haight and Ashbury there is a place called China Town. A place placed filled with Chinese Americans, shops and temples that could be easily mistaken for buildings only found in China . In Ohio, one could meet a Caucasian farmer, a African American businessman, an Amish family or even a reporter who has a strong German background all in the same day. So many different people living together in one piece of land. Now, after taking a closer look, no one really melted together to make just one kind of person. But what did they do? One could say that the English man could be symbolized as lettuce, Africans as black olives, Germans as radishes, Italians as tomatoes and so on and so forth making a giant salad. All different kinds of fruits and vegetables tossed together in a bowl to create one dish. Everything in close quarters of each other, but still separate and individual. This is how Ame ...

International Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

International Law - Essay Example To this end, some commentators have challenged the efficacy of international law as a result of competing political interests at international level, arguing that customary law has effectively been replaced by national concerns in inter-state relations3. Directly correlated to this is the concept of â€Å"state† and â€Å"inter-state relations†, which in terms of individual human rights protections at international level has become a central issue particularly in context of rapid globalisation4. On this basis, Benevenisti and Hirsch comment that the â€Å"result is that, nowadays, people in different states are more significantly affected by activities that take place in other states†5. Moreover, the globalisation of world politics not only blurs the concept of state and the individual, it is evident that the end of the Cold War and the events of 9/11 have provided a catalyst for unprecedented challenges to the international order and national security policy. In turn this has fuelled debate as to whether the attitudes and interests of the world’s different geo-political groupings of states are too diverse to allow the proper functioning of international law. The focus of this paper is to critically evaluate this debate and in analysing the issue, this paper will highlight that the dichotomy between enforcement of international law and the primacy of national interests and contextually consider the recent failure of the conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen 2009. If we firstly consider the Copenhagen summit, the summit was held as being fundamental to securing a legally binding agreement between nations to reduce carbon emissions with a view to limiting global warming6. However, ultimately the United Nations Conference on Climate Change was a resounding failure as no concrete agreements were made and no commitments were provided that could be

Youth and Anti-Social Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Youth and Anti-Social Behaviour - Essay Example Alcoholism, drug abuse or substance abuse, sexual abuse, violence, cybercrimes etc are growing among the youths which are a matter of concern for the sociologists and the government. Morality and ethics are rapidly diminishing subjects in our society at present which encourage the youths to engage in all sorts of antisocial activities without a second thought. The life philosophies of the youths in the 1980’s or 70’s and that of the youths of the 2010 are entirely different. Because of the changing perceptions about life, youths create lot of social problems in different forms which is discussed briefly in this paper. What is social problem? â€Å"A social problem is a condition that at least some people in a community view as being undesirable† (What is a social problem?, n. d). It is difficult to define social problem accurately or comprehensively because of the various dimensions associated with it. Murder, violence, theft etc are accepted by everybody as soci al problems. However, teenagers who play loud music in a public places may not view it as a problem, even if it causes disturbances to the public. Smoking is also a personal matter; but if it performed in a public place, it can cause immense damages to the health of the people around the smoker. Same way, drug and alcohol abuses are personal matters; but these things can lead the abuser towards antisocial activities. ... Anti-social behaviour doesn't just make life unpleasant. It holds back the regeneration of disadvantaged areas and creates an environment where more serious crime can take hold (What is ASB? n. d.) Man is a social animal and hence it is difficult for him to lead an isolated life. Since we are living in a society, it is necessary for us to satisfy the needs of the society along with satisfying our own needs. At the same time, individual needs should never cause any problems to others in the society. In other words, an individual need become a socially accepted need only if it does not cause any physical or psychological problems to others. For example, sex is a biological or psychological need for all the living things. Sexual engagements are socially accepted, only when both the parties did perform it based on mutual consent. However, rape cannot be justified under any circumstances because of the absence of mutual consent in such cases. Moreover, sexual activities of minors are unac ceptable to the society even if it performed with mutual consent. In short, same activity can become a socially accepted or rejected one based on the circumstances or the nature of the activity. Alcoholism and drug abuse are some other major antisocial activity undertaken by youths. These things are considered as personal matters by many of the youths. However they are forgetting the fact that alcoholism or drug addiction may result in severe mental, physical and social problems which may affect others as well. Alcoholism and drug abuse can create lot of social problems such as Divorce, loss of employment; domestic violence, drunk driving etc. All these problems will affect a society one

Business Paper- Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Paper- Ethics - Essay Example The executives got greedy and started an unethical and illegal accounting scam that cook up the numbers of overstating assets by capitalizing expenses while at the same time recognizing revenue that did not exist. The unethical behavior of this firm caught up to it and by 2002 the company filed bankruptcy and liquidated the little assets that were left leaving thousands of people out of work and out of a pension plan (Time). This paper discusses ethical behavior in the business world by providing related principles, theories and by providing real life examples of ethical behavior in the business environment. The ethical actions of a company and its collective efforts involved all the company’s stakeholders including customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, governmental agencies, shareholders, lenders among other stakeholders. A company must establish a formal code of ethics to ensure consistency and to establish a clear set of guidelines concerning acceptable and unacceptable behavior. An example of an organization that established a code of ethics for its enrolled membership is the Society of Professional Journalist. This organization set standards in its code of ethics regarding the work task and behavior of its members such as: A corporate strategy that has gained a lot of popularity which is related to correct ethical behavior is social responsibility. Social responsibility is a business’s obligation to maximize its positive impact and minimize its negative impact on society (Ferrell, et. al. 39). Firms with corporate responsibility philosophies care about the environment, its customers, the community around the company and the economic well being of its employees and shareholders. A company that has very respectful and effective social responsibility strategy is the world largest retail coffee chain retail store, Starbucks. Starbucks believes that strengthening its relationship with external stakeholders by utilizing communication and

Analysis of the Internet of Things

Analysis of the Internet of Things The Internet of things is a term coined by Massachutes Institute of technology (MIT).The term describes a vision of the internet in the future where all things or objects are on one network. These things will contain: A Unique identifier Its own individual digital presence- it will know who and where it is. The ability to process or exchange information Can store data about itself Is capable of participating in or making decisions relevant to its own destiny on a continuous basis? The term Internet of things covers the whole infrastructure such as the hardware, software and services supporting the networking of physical objects. (European Commission, 2008) A Brief History of the Internet The first development to the present World Wide Web was Enquire. This contained a project management tool that allowed pages of notes to be linked together and edited. (Anderson, 2007). Eventually, after the evolution of various technological and software developments was the World Wide Web created. With a browser/client that could view and edit pages of marked-up information (HTML). The edit function only really materialised in later browsers: Viola WWW and Mosaic (the current Netscape browser.). Web 1.0 Introduced in 1994, web 1.0 consisted of an individual source (e.g. Website or a file) publishing information which could be viewed or downloaded by a client. This was a straight client-server network, so those individual clients were not able to fully interact with the source. The main purpose of web 1.0 was to push information to a relatively passive audience. (Castelluccio, Michael, 2008). This passive audience would consist of users who would create their own websites. So, the majority of web 1.0 websites contained HTML tags scattered all across the web but without the ability for users to add to the website unless they understood HTML. This left internet interaction exclusive to people who were HTML literate. Web 2.0 In 2008 web 2.0 became the associated term for the uprising of new products and services on the internet. The term was created four years previous by Dale Dougherty, vice president of OReilly Media Inc.2 Evolving from web 1.0, 2.0 represented a more peer to peer environment. This concept emphasized more the individual user having the ability to upload content (pictures, music, and videos) to a website. These websites took the form of blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds and social networking sites. This user interaction coupled with improvements in networking technology, has made the internet more personal and accessible. According to (Anupriya Ankolekar et al, 2007), Web 2.0 is distinguished mainly from Web 1.0 by the following characteristics: Community: Web 2.0 offers multiple users to work together and to share information. So the website is more effective than that of just having one contributor to the site. Each contributor gains more from the system than she puts into it. Such community website examples would be the music file sharing service Napster and an event calendar Upcoming. Mashups: Services from different sites can be brought together, in the creation of a new website such as using Google maps in your website. Ajax: The base for the previous two characteristics, Ajax creates responsive user interfaces. Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, AJAX for short is a number of technologies ranging from CSS and XHTML for standards based presentation to XML for data retrieval and data interchange to JavaScript for binding everything together (Garrett, 2005). The traditional Web application model was based on the users actions on a web interface triggering a HTTP request to a web server. And in turn the server sending a HTML page back to the client. This lead to stop/starting of information as it goes and comes back to the user. Ajax prevents this by having an ajax engine being placed between the client and server. Instead of a webpage the browser loads an ajax engine made of javaScript code. This engine creates a asynchronous connection with the user independent of the server. Every action which would normally result in an HTTP request generation now turns into a JavaScript call to the AJAX engine. Web 3.0- The Semantic web Web 3.0 or a semantic web is being proposed as the natural progression for the development of the Web. A definition from Paul Anderson in an article in the American scientific explains that the semantic web is about the shift from documents to data- the transformation of a space consisting largely of human-readable, text oriented documents, to an information space in which machine readable data, imbued with some sense of meaning is being exchanged and acted upon. This machine readable data would consist of metadata. Defined by (NISO 2004) Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Metadata is often called data about data or information about information. RDF There are current technologies which are being developed by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) which aims to bring development towards a Semantic Web. These technologies such as RDF (Resource Description Frame work) can be used to give meaning to the metadata on the World Wide Web. RDF according to (Berners-lee et al, 2001), encodes a triple (object, subject, verb) using XML tags. These tags are hidden labels that annotate web pages but these tags have no meaning to the document. With RDF, the document makes decisions that things (people, webpages) have properties (is an author of) with certain values (another webpage). He goes on to develop that these objects can be identified by an URI (Universal Resource Identifier), the best known being a URL (Universal Resource Locator). The triples produced by RDF form webs of info about related things. And with URI encoding the document, the URI makes sure that this information is not just words but is tied to a unique definition that everyon e can find on the web? Ontologies But how can a machine differentiate between these terms/objects? OWL or Web Ontology Language is a formal language which represents ontologies (intelligent agents) in the semantic web. These intelligient agents will help relate various types of metadata from the RDF. According to (Berners-lee et al, 2001) ontologies have taxonomy and a set of interference rules. Taxonomy: Defines classes of objects and relations among them. And can express a large number of relations among objects by assigning properties to classes and allowing subclasses to inherit such properties. Interference Rules help distinguish similar terms, for example that an address from Sligo it, being in Sligo, must be in Co. Sligo, which is in Ireland. (Berners-lee et al, 2001) explains the computer doesnt truly understand any of this information, but it can now manipulate the terms much more effectively in ways that are useful and meaningful to the human user ?. With the ability to perform this function more accurate web searches can be produced, as the searches are based on a precise concept instead of using vague keywords. Turn to the Internet of Things The possibilities of the semantic web can give a base for the IOT to be developed, due to the quick, intelligent and personal nature of semantic technologies and to the fact that URIs can point to anything. This includes physical objects, which through RDF can promote their functionality (What they do and how they are controlled) (Berners-lee et al, 2001). (Artem Katasonov et al, 2008) suggests that for the IOT to happen the semantic base or (middleware) must be decentralised. This is suggested due to the high volume of devices connected to the internet, administrators will have it difficult in managing such a wide variety of unscalable information and media. There will be a need for self-manageable complex systems. They also go on to argue that semantic technologies firstly, will function as the basis of heterogeneous components and the integration of data across many domains and secondly, will be used for the coordination of the intelligent agents representing those resources. As previously mentioned in the last section, intelligient agents can roam as a middleware between the heterogeneous component and an autonomous software agent. (Artem Katasonov et al, 2008) defines the role of the agent as having the ability to monitor the state of the component, make decisions on behalf of the component and to discover, request and utilize external help if needed. The agents offer a more flexible system, one in which networks will be monitored easily as information will be already processed. What are Things? The IOT will be based on these intelligent objects which will all communicate with the each other and the end user. These things as previously stated will be individual entities which can interpret and communicate with the internet. They will have an active part within the internet and have the ability to share information about themselves and their environment. (European Commission, 2008) gives a few examples of objects which do menial tasks but use very smart systems and advanced network connections: Retail Example Mobile Phones will have the ability to be used as credit cards, travel passes and to gain information from the internet. With the use of NFC (Near Field Communications) technology could this be possible. They estimate that there will be 1billion by 2015. Another example given is a fully automated warehouse, where items are checked in and out. Orders can be passed directly to suppliers automatically. All the cause of RFID (Radio Frequency Identifiers) attached to goods and products. Manufactures can view the market needs in real time, this saves time and energy leading to the whole process being more environmentally friendly. E-health Example RFID and sensor technologies will help in early diagnostics of patients help doctors make more informed decisions and it will produce alerts if a patients health deteriorates. All information will be gathered through lightweight, intelligent sensors on the patient or by possible smart dust (microscopic computers) within the patient. Energy Example Through a network of sensors can temperature and lighting be dynamically controlled. This helps intelligent houses to reduce energy consumption without the loss of an individuals comfort. Environment Example The IOT will have an effect on how certain conditions (traffic, weather, air particles, water pollution, and the environment are monitored and examined. RFID Radio frequency Identification tags typically are small devices that can be embedded in or attached to objects for the purpose of identifying the object over a radio channel (Karjoth et al, 2005). RFID consists of a reader and a tag. Uses of RFID technology RFID has been in use now for many years. It started being used in World War II, by British planes to help them discover their own aircrafts using the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system. In the 1960s it was used by Los Alamos National Laboratory to gain access control to there company. People in the company wore RFID badges so they could be identified. This helped limit access to important areas in the company and also made it harder for badges to be forged. Since then RFID has being used to identify animals, track airline luggage, locate lost items, prevent theft and make toys more interactive. Recently, a few multi-national companies have shown an interest in this technology such as Wal-mart, Tesco, and the US Military. The main aims according to Roy Want is to make the cost of tags decrease, streamlining the tracking of stock, sales and orders (Want, 2006). With the ability to store information and to connect with tags over a digital communication network, RFID can track the journey an object makes between the factories, warehouses, vehicles, and stores (Want, 2006). RFID Tags The tag, when attached to an object can be identified by the reader over a radio channel. Tags can be read easier and faster than that of normal barcodes, usually within the range of a few meters. An RFID tag contains two main components: An antenna which is a flat, metallic conductive coil which has the potential to be less than half a millimetre in size, is used to send and receive radio waves. An antenna can be printed, etched or stamped on a plastic foil or silicon chip which (Karjoth et al, 2005) defines as a substrate. The second component the silicon chip is a microchip or Integrated Circuit (IC). According to (Plaggenborg, 2006), the smallest IC is 0.15 mm x 0.15 mm and is 7.5 m thick. Both the antenna and IC are attached to a plastic tag. The main types of RFID tags are active, passive and semi-passive. Active tags contain their own internal power source. The word active is due to the fact that it uses an active radio frequency transmitter to communicate in a session with the reader. This gives active tags a better read range than passive tags, covering hundreads of meters. It can communicate through difficult environments such as water or heavy metal, which Plaggenborg states is impossible for passive tags. He goes on to say that active tags have a greater amount of memory and are more secure because of their more advanced IC processing capabilities. Passive tags use electromagnetic waves from the reader to attract a connection to the tags antenna. Power is transferred from the reader to the tag through the electromagnetic waves. Because it does not need its own battery passive tags can have an unlimited lifespan (in theory). But a passive tags response is limited by the readers signal strength. The tags response or backscatter is limited by its range which is around four to five metres. Because of there simple design and low cost (five cent a tag), passive tags are mainly used in the retail industry. Semi-passive tags contain both a small battery and require waves from the reader to send a response. The small battery within the tag is used for the ICs logic and to give a response to the reader through the antenna. Due to the small battery these tags have a short lifespan, they are more delicate and are very expensive. Classes of Tags Tags are separated into different classes depending on there functionality. This framework which was developed by the Auto ID centre and later by EPC (Electronic product Code), 1separates tags into five different classes. From class one to the greater functionality of class five. Tag Memory A tags chip is either read-only memory (ROM) or read-write. Data which is embedded onto the chip at its manufacturing stage that can only be read was called class 0 tags. Tags can be used with static random access memory (SRAM) to produce what is called a Write Once Read Many (WORM) tag. The unique id in this tag type is permanently stored on the chip.12 Read-only chips are mainly used for tracking. Read-write allows the ability to change the chips ID and also to add some data to the tags memory. Information can be programmed onto read-write chips but these are very expensive. EEPROM (a technique for erasing memory and overwriting it) can also be used for this process. Also chips can be manufactured in such a way that the ID is cannot be altered but that information can still be written to memory. Passive tags can store from 32 bits to 128 kilobytes of data. Since active tags have their own battery they can afford to store more, some tags having the ability to store up to one megabyt e of memory.13 Frequencies (Plaggenborg, 2006) states that there are four frequency bands, each with their own characteristic in regards to communication. For example low frequencies can penetrate such conditions as water and metal but are much slower than that of high frequencies. High frequencies are faster but with the defect that they cannot penetrate the conditions mentioned. RFID operates on an unlicensed spectrum space called ISM (industrial, scientific and medical). The ISM frequencies vary on which country you are in. There are two distinct systems in regards to its physical properties to which RFID communicates from the tag to the reader. Low frequencies and high frequencies use near field communication through the process of inductive coupling from a magnetic field. The reader creates a magnetic field between itself and the reader. The reader induces an electric current in the tags antenna. From this, the reader gains the tags ID and also gives power to the tags IC. The reader learns the tags ID, by varying the load on the antennas coil which changes the current on the readers communication coil.12 Ultra High frequency and Microwave frequency use far-field communication. It uses the physical property of backscattering, which is the process of the reader sending a continuous signal frequency that is reflected back by the tags antenna. The tag encodes the reflected signal with information using modulation (i.e. changing the amplitude of the waves returned).12 RFID uses a frequency spectrum similar to that of wireless and Bluetooth networks and hybrid tags are currently being developed for them to communicate.12 Standards As with any established product and technology, RFID has many proposed standards. Standards provide many benefits such as universal procedures for all and interoperability between technologies. There are a number of bodies in the development of RFID Technology ISO EPC global ETSI FCC 12 (Plaggenborg, 2006) states the point that the main areas to which standards have being proposed are Air interface protocols These are ISO standards ranging from ISO 18000-1 to 7 and are concerned with how tags and readers communicate. EPC has its own set of standards similar to ISOs 18000-6 (860-960 MHZ range). These EPC tags are not interoperable with each other and are not interoperable with the ISO standard. So EPC are working on a new set of protocols (GEN 2) that can work with the class 0 and class 1 passive tags and should be closely aligned with the ISO standard.12 Data content and Encoding This is concerned with data formatting or organisation, numbering schemes (Plaggenborg, 2006). Conformance- This is the testing of products to see if they meet the standards. Applications- How standards are used on certain labels13 Electronic Product Code Is a unque code which is contained within an RFID tags memory. It is much the same as the barcode scheme UPC for identifying physical objects. EPC is differs from UPC as it has the capability to identify every single product item individually. For example when a shopkeeper scans a barcode the code relates to the type of product he is scanning (this packet is a packet of Jacob biscuits).If he scanned another packet of Jacob biscuits he would get the same result. In contrast, if he scanned an EPC tag he would be able to identify not just the make of the product but the individual product he is scanning. So this time when he scans another packet of Jacob biscuits, (that is not the original packet) it will come up with a different result. EPC uses a 96 bit number to identify a product. This gives it a huge scope of numbers for product identification as opposed to UPC. As shown in figure 3 The EPC code consists of many components. The header identifies what coding scheme is in use. There are many different schemes to which Matt Ward gives three examples Global Trade Identification Number GLTN, Serial Shipping Container Code SSCC and Global Location Number GLN.15 The Manger number defines the company that produced the product (Manufacturer). The object class identifies the actual product. The Serial number refers to the individual item/product. EPCs 96 bit code according to Matt Ward can identify 268 million companies, each manufacturer can have 16 million object classes and 68 billion serial numbers for every individual object. Matt Ward in his paper (Ward et al, 2006), also discuss about the EPC Network Architecture. He explains, clearly how RFID tags do not work in isolation but are part of an overall system be it a supply chain or any kind of logistical recording. He notes how the RFID tag can work as the primary key in representing a product within the database. A vision of this technology is being developed which is called the EPC Network Architecture. The architecture consists of many tags being connected through their readers to an organisations database or back-office enterprise system. In the previous chapter we observed the possible middleware for the Semantic web. Well here are the key technologies which (Ward et al, 2006) suggests are appropriate for supporting the massive increase of information that will result from in an RFID system. Savant is as he puts it is the middleware software system that links reader devices and processes the information streams from tags. It acts as the gateway to the enterprise systems and database applications, providing filtering, aggregation and counting of tag-based data. (Ward et al, 2006) ONS Object Naming Service much like the Domain Name Service (DNS) on the World Wide Web helps translate the EPC code into a Uniform Reference Locator. This is where it looks up the location of where the tags associated database is. Physical Mark up Language (PML) is an XML-based language which uses a standard vocabulary for describing physical objects, observations made by the RFID readers of these objects and observations made about the readers themselves and there exchanging of data throughout the EPC network (Ward et al, 2006). It uses two main vocabularies: one for communication between Savant and the enterprise applications and a second (Core PML) for communication throughout the EPC network. (Seong Leong,2004) (Ward et al, 2006) notes indirectly about the IOT when he mentions of the possibilities of IPV6 as an alternative to EPC coding. IPV6 is a communication network standard which delegates the addressing and routing of data packets through a network. It is an improved addressing protocol from that of IPV4 which has the capacity up to 4 billion addresses. IPV6 can give 430 quintillion addresses for every inch of the worlds surface.15 But Ward explains that for a tag to have an IPV6 address, it would no longer be used as an assigned permanent identifier on objects. Saying this he highlights the fact that the U.S. military are investigating and planning to use IPV6 tags in the near future. RFID Readers Readers can be handheld or a fixed device. Examples of handheld readers are similar to that of barcode readers, but readers can be placed in PDAs or mobile phones. Class 5 tags are actually designed to be readers; they can read and exchange information with other tags.15 Fixed readers are used for electronic tolls or can be placed within walls or ceilings. Readers communicate with a tag to gain its id number. When the reader is held close to a passive tag, the tags antenna consumes the energy from the reader which in turn powers the IC. The IC responds information back. This depends on the type of tag. There are two main types of readers: ones in which the reader can only read information from the tag. These usually operate with an EPC class 1 tag. The other type is readers which can write information onto the tag. This depends on if the memory on the tag is read/write. According to (Ward et al, 2006), Readers are becoming more sophisticated and are beginning to act as an entry to th e internet through supporting TCP/IP technologies and other such protocols as DHCP, UDP/IP and wireless 802.11. RFIDs Relevance to the Future of the Internet From the research into this area we have seen that RFID has the components to develop a network of communicating things. Because RFID can both send and receive data about an object within various conditions e.g. underwater, through walls etc. We can communicate with solitary objects and their position, condition and other relevant information for whatever purpose they were placed on an object. Through examining various papers on this topic, most come to the conclusion that RFID as a technology is not attractive enough of a proposition for companies to develop at present. RFID is too expensive to be added too or implemented in a manufacturers product. Currently, you can get the cheapest RFIDs at 5 cent each.13 Matt Ward sees RFID tags as a stepping stone to ubiquitous computing. There will not be a fully fledged IOT but one in which will be developed systematically. He proposes that the internet will be extended to a level below computational devices, which consists of simpler devices/items. As the RFID technologies become more accepted in the market place, there will be more of a demand for tags that can achieve greater amounts of tasks. Similar to the pre requites we defined in section two, Matt notes the technological developments needed for their relevance in the internet of things. Firstly, each of these items must be able to identify itself to other items and to the network in general. This is provided for by the introduction and development of RFID technology. Secondly, these items should include some element of embedded computational power in order to act with some level of intelligence. Thirdly, they will need to have some sense of their physical environment and geographical location. Continuing developments in computational science and electronics, particularly work on miniaturisation, tiny operating systems and wireless communication will make this vision increasingly realistic (Ward et al, 2006) Near field communication This is a new development in RFID, one of which uses near field coupling signalling between devices in the 13.56 MHZ band.11 This standard has the ability to read existing passive tags and aims to develop them to communicate with peer devices at a 20cm locality. It was set up by the Near-field communication forum. The NFC standard aims to streamline the discovery process by passing wireless Media Access Control addresses and channel-encryption keys between radios through a near-field coupling side channel, which, when limited to 20 cm, lets users enforce their own physical security for encryption key exchange (Want,2006). He also mentions how through this two way authentication process can a more reliable connection be made then that of Wireless and Bluetooth. Reliable in the sense that it would not form any associations with devices that arent local. Sensory RFID Many commentators believe the next development of RFID will be an enabled sensory function. This will give tags the ability to make measurements about its surrounding environment based on such gauges as pressure, temperature, flow-rate and speed vibrations.15 These devices will be connected to the internet by radio frequencies or through wireless communication systems. Due to the batteries capacity, active tags would seem to be more qualified for development.13 Plaggenborg describes in his developmental paper of RFID about Mitsubishis research team who developed location aware objects with light sensitive RFID tags. This consisted of an RFID reader with a projector to give precise feedback of a products location. The device is aimed at the products in question. It projects a pattern over the product and each pixel shows a different code. This code with its identity is then communicated back to the handheld device. It then uses an (x, y) coordinate to visually give the user feedback. As we can see, its not impossible for this technology if creatively used to be developed further. Distributed Memory The amount of memory a tag can store could be limitless if the tag can store and recover its information from a local database. But the tag could not be able to implicitly recover the information all the time. For tags to work more effective, it will need to utilise its self storing capability. Currently a tag can store from 200 to 8,000 bits.12 believes that tags in the future will have the ability to store more information. Leaving to more distributed information being placed in our surroundings. Standardisations for the IOT If the IOT is going to happen then interoperability is a must. There are currently a number of groups who are working on low power wireless communication standards between objects. ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth Low Energy are the main standards for this type of communication. But the base of communication for the Physical layers for Zigbee and 6LoWPAN is IEEEs 802.15.4. IEEEs 802.15.4 Developed and maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group, 802.15.4 is a low power wireless personal area network (LoWPAN) standard. Released in 2003, it was the first low power-radio standard.18 It is used as a specification for the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers. To gain a complete protocol stack other standards are needed to define the higher layers. According to (Orrevad, 2009), the physical of the protocol uses three different frequency bands: 868-868.8 MHz within Europe which allows one communication channel, 902-928 MHz within North America that allows ten to thirty channels and 2400-2483.5 MHz range for the rest of the world and uses up to sixteen channels. This standard aims to work with multiple low cost nodes of a long lifespan. To achieve an IOT such attributes would have to be viable. But this low cost/ low power solution, limits the capability of both the microcontroller and the LoWPANs links. The throughput is suggested to reach the 250Kbps limit . And the frame length is only 128 bytes. It uses short 16-bit link addresses, as well as IEEE EUI-64 addresses, to reduce header overhead and memory requirements. LoWPANs make contact over multiple hops. Microcontrollers which work with this standard usually have about 8 Kbytes of data RAM and 64 Kbytes of program ROM. The main features of IEEE 802.15.4 highlighted within (Orrevad, 2009)s informative paper are the fact of its use of carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) which avoids collisions, sharing a single channel with multiple users by using direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), with the ability to sleep it gives appropriate energy efficiency and through its use of guaranteed time slots (GTS) it can guarantee sensors transmission if they are critical in nature. Frames Frames contain a certain patterns in which other devices can understand. Differerent frames have different uses. There are four types of frames defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard : Beacon, used by a coordinator to transmit beacons A data frame, for different data transfers An acknowledgement(ACK) frame, used for a confirmation of successful frame transfer A MAC command frame, used for handling all MAC transfers between entities The beacon, ACK, and MAC frames are mainly used for lower layer signalling. Headers Headers in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard consist of the physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer headers which contain different features that can be set when sending a packet. Maximum physical layer packet size including overhead is 102 octets.19 He adds, if you add link-layer security you add an extra 21 octets for an AES-CCM-128 encryption. This leaves 81 octets available for the higher levels of the protocol stack. IPV6 integration IPV6 is the newest version of the Internet protocol, which was created in the late 1990s as a solution to the limited numbe

King Arthur Essay example -- History Kings Arthurian Legends Essays

King Arthur The Arthurian legends are well known in today's society. However, very few people know of the "real" Arthur -- who he was and what his accomplishments were. This paper will establish a difference between legend and truth, show evidence to support and explain who the real Arthur was, and shed some light on the sometimes confusing Arthurian legends. To establish any sort of idea that there was, in fact, a "real" Arthur, it is imperative to look over the legendary Arthur and his impact on different cultures. Arthur's beginnings are shrouded in mystery, though it is generally accepted that he is the bastard child of Uther Pendragon and Ygerna. Ygerna was not married to Uther, but to Gorlois at the time of Arthur's conception. His childhood is generally considered a happy one, and it is even suggested that Uther thought too highly of Arthur and therefore the boy did not have to work. However, Jean d'Outremeuse stated that Arthur "was a promising trainee knight," which suggests that Arthur worked hard in his childhood to prove that he was capable of achieving knighthood. Since it was difficult to be a knight, he would have had to work very hard, especially if he was Uther's son. An older knight who took him under his wing wouldn't let him get away with being lazy simply because of his lineage. (Morris, p. 34) The earliest mentions of Arthur occur in Welsh poetry, previous to any stories the French poets wrote of him. There are no mentions of his name in chronicle literature of the pre-Norman period, though there are brief references to campaigns that he supposedly fought in. As far as his being mentioned in Welsh poetry, this is more evidence of the "real" Arthur and will therefore be discussed late... ...ian legends are true, they must be taken lightly for it should be assumed that everything in print may be amplified to ten times what the real Arthur may have accomplished during his lifetime. The main purpose of this essay has been to discuss the facts that prove there was a "real" Arthur, as well as to discuss the legendary Arthur, to try to find an explanation why his deeds were portrayed in a way that made them larger than life. The legendary Arthur and the real Arthur have been presented, and the two have been compared for the purpose of drawing conclusions as to why, perhaps, this mortal man was personified as a legendary warrior and king of his people. Now, with both the legendary Arthur and the "real" Arthur discussed, perhaps a new outlook on the Arthurian legends can be taken when a person hears about Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.

A Cultural Perspective

The Philippines is part of South East Asia but it many ways it is different from the rest of the region.   For one, almost every Filipino (that is how they are called) can speak English aside from their indigenous dialects (Erickson, 1982, p. 19).While Filipinos possess distinct Malay features such as black hair, eyes and brown skin, there are also a multitude of which has brown hair and eyes, alabaster skin and carry Spanish names. This is due to the long Spanish colonization the country underwent, starting in the 16th century and lasting for more than 300 years (Borlaza and Wurfel, 2002, p. 545).   The Spanish influence is also responsible for the dominance of the Roman Catholic religion in the country.However, it is the countryside of the Philippines, with its rice fields, tropical setting and beautiful beaches that seems to connect the country with the rest of its neighbors.   The country is a magnet for tourist during summer vacation with its endless beaches and temperate weather.   Furthermore, the Spanish heritage, along with the brief American and Japanese colonization has contributed to the shaping of the Filipino culture- different languages and dialects, food, dance and music, and societal order.The country’s contact with China cannot also be discounted.   Starting in the 10th century, the Philippines had engaged contact with the Chinese, resulting in people with Filipino-Chinese descent (p.540). Filipinos are said to have an â€Å"uncommon warmth and courtesy† (p.19).The country has also weathered some of the most colorful incidents in politics- from the Martial Law era during the 70s to the EDSA revolution and People Power in the 80s , impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada and the   impeachment attempts against its current president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo( Steinberg, 2009). Truly, the island world of the Philippines offers a unique cultural perspective.The Republic of the Philippines, as it is properly know , is an archipelago made up of 7,100 islands lying some 500 miles off Asia’ south-eastern coast ( Borlaza and Wurfel, 2002, p. 537). The country has three main islands- Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (p. 537).According to archaeologists, there have been prehistoric tribes existing in the Philippines when the country was still attached to the Asian mainland (Erickson, 1982, p.20).   Furthermore, the first people were said to be primitive Negritos or small Negroes who resided in the forest of the islands (p. 200. These people, described as pygmy like were themselves descendants from the great migration in Asia during the Stone Age (p. 20).Indonesians, Malaysians and Chinese also settled in the Philippines. In 1521, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan landed in Leyte Gulf and claimed the island for Spain (p. 20) .Thus began the 333 years of Spanish colonization of the country (p.20).   In 1896, the Philippines started its efforts to relinquish Spanish control on them, organ izing movements and revolts (p. 20). During this time, Spain was also in the midst of battle with America.The Spanish-American War broke out and continued in the Philippines, another Spanish territory (Davidson, Lytle, Heyrman, Gienapp and Stoff, 1998, pp.750). The Treat of Paris granted America control of the Philippines (p.20).   This was greeted with mixed reactions from Filipinos. Some Filipinos viewed the United States as liberators while others labelled them as â€Å"new colonizers† (p. 751).   Under the leadership of William Howard Taft, the Philippines was transformed- building American schools, roads, factories and even introducing new farming methods to guide the country as it becomes independence (p. 753).During the American regime, the Philippines benefited socially, politically and economically. In 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was formed with Manuel L. Quezon as its first president (p. 20). The celebration was cut short due to the explosion of th e Second World War. When war broke out, the Philippine was occupied by the Japanese.

Marbury vs Madison essays

Marbury vs Madison essays As the government was newly establishing its stronghold on the nation, forging its way to a powerful republic and instituting precedents for the future, a struggle to preserve the foundations of American Society instituted by Washington and John Adams existed as Thomas Jefferson took office. In an attempt to maintain the edifice of the National Government believing Jefferson would topple the prestigious nation with his atheist views, Adams appointed various Federalists to the judiciary. Thus, attributing to the single most significant case of the Supreme Court, Marbury Vs. Madison, a struggle between Republicans and Federalists that would end in a future altered by fate. This controversial landmark case established the constitution as Supreme law of the United States and developed the power of the Supreme Court, enhancing its independence and proving it a nonpartisan instrument. It established the precedent for the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of laws, through the principle of judicial review. The development of this power to interpret the constitution instituted the flexibility of the constitution and the ability to forge a road of precedent unfamiliar to the new government, as well as firmly grounding the role of the Judicial Branch. To up hold the precedent already established in the united states by Federalists such as Washington and in fear of the Democratic republican ideas of Jefferson, Adams was determined to keep the federalists in office. Jefferson would have power over congress, but in a midnight appointment, Adams last day in office he created a judiciary with a stronghold of Federalism. A few technicalities derived into a failure to deliver the commissions and therefore once discover by Jefferson who saw them as a judiciary of ardent political leaders, they were kept from delivery. Jefferson, wanting control appointed some ...

Procure the Perfect Length for Your CV

Procure the Perfect Length for Your CV Procure the Perfect Length for Your CV Achieving the perfect length for your curriculum vitae (CV) can be highly confusing. A quick Internet search reveals that the perfect length should be anywhere between two to 20 pages (not a lot of help). While around five pages is a generally accepted length, ultimately your CV is relative to your experience and the job to which you’re applying. Here are some tips: Know Yourself Take time to evaluate your experience. If youve just been graduated, you’ll have less background and work history and your CV will be shorter. That’s to be expected. Also consider how much experience you have that’s related to the particular job for which you’re applying. If youve done a lot of volunteer work that relates to the position, your CV will be longer. Consider the experience your recruiter wants to see. Know Your Audience Determine what your recruiter/potential employer desires from a candidate. This will give you a better idea for the CV length. A position in academia will call for an extensive CV (often including all relevant research and publications). An entry-level position at a manufacturing company will not require as much information as one in academia. The key here is to balance what the recruiter wants to see with what you have to show. Give enough information for the employer to request an in-person interview. Don’t overwhelm him or her with information worthy of a novel. Consult The Experts If you’re still confused about the length of your CV, consider getting help from professionals who offer CV writing services. They’ll know the ideal length for someone in your field. can help you with length or write your CV for you.

Criminal Law and Historical Focus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Criminal Law and Historical Focus - Essay Example (Landau, 2002) In presenting England's criminal law, Blackstone a common lawyer of earlier generation, chose not to highlight settled procedural distinctions and arcane terms, but instead he invoked a distinctive kind of legal wrong he identified as "public" in nature. The terms crime and criminal law, while enjoying wide linguistic currency, were not always the part of technical vocabulary of the law. In the medieval period, English law was explicitly differentiating between civil and criminal materials. And as is immediately disclosed by the titles of such works as Lord Kames "History of the criminal law" (1758) and William Eden's "Principles of penal law" (1771), eighteenth-century jurists certainly supposed there existed a general category of law that might serve as the object of their scholarly attention. English law, according to a familiar complaint, simply lacked much by way of system or coherent organization, particularly as compared with Roman law, which hitherto dominated university law studies and which set the relevant standard for juristic elegance. "It was thought impracticable to bring the Laws of England into a Method", explained by one of Blackstone's eighteenth-century precursors, "and therefore a Prejudice was taken up against the study of our Laws, even by Men of Parts and Learning". On this basis, English law along with the Canadian law was unable to become an object of rational learning, and instead had to be mastered through the practical, craft-like techniques of legal apprenticeship. Blackstone, as a lawyer was confident of the English law's credentials as a rational system, but the efforts of other lawyers were not considered "failure" to bring changes in the system after negotiations. Law Reform Law reform was supposed to be the one and only asset, exclusively the preserve of lawyers, and Bentham's combination of the wisdom of the reformer and the craft of the lawyer recognized its potential to divide the legal profession. The common lawyer's innate respect for existing institutions and his appreciation of the subtleties of the status quo not only made novelty in the early years of entering into the criminology, but also it particularize the concept of jurisdiction in the early years of reform, as an object of suspicion. The means and scope of amendment were a further cause for division, even after its need was established. There was a disturbing element of self-examination in law reform to which some lawyers found it difficult to respond with enthusiasm. The status quo would always find friends in influential positions, particularly in respect of criminal law reform amongst the judiciary. Law - A Profession towards Criminal Trial Process As the pace and scale of law reform increased it became an intense preoccupation of the legal profession and for the eighteenth century lawyers, acted as a charm to enter into such a jurisdiciary profession. It was the dominant theme of professional literature of that period that lasted the debate over the role of counsel and advocacy in the criminal trial, for a longer period of time and consideration in this work, could be traced in parliamentary debates, select committee minutes, the evidence and reports of the Criminal Law Commissioners, periodical and professional journals, biographies and other professional lite

Brief report Government and not for Profit Accounting Case Study

Brief report Government and not for Profit Accounting - Case Study Example Some governments set up independent bodies to formulate guidelines that are followed in the process of financial reporting. These bodies come up with rules and regulations that are followed by these entities. These independent bodies also determine which institutions are supposed to submit financial reports. This paper aims at illustrating a good understanding of the need for financial reporting by the government and private entities. This is going to be achieved by discussing the importance of regulation of financial reporting by government and not-for-profit entities. The regulation of financial reporting serves the purpose of acting as a check and balances system. The system is meant to limit the powers of the government on spending public finances, raising taxes to cover government spending. Regulation on financial reporting also helps shed light on government plans of public money expenditure (Ruppel, 2009 p201). This requires the government to state the amount of finances it ho lds and the nature of its intended expenditure. The purpose of government financial reporting is to provide information that facilitates decision making by different institutions. These institutions are citizens of that country, citizen representatives and private business entities. Intergovernmental agencies can also be described as parties that benefit from government financial reporting. ... The purpose of these objectives is to give information that facilitates decision making by various institutions with stakes (Earnst & Young, 2011 p 523). Accountability is the main objective of government financial reporting because it transfers responsibility from citizens to another body. The analysis of accountability is met when financial reporting facilitates the use of financial data in determining the extent of current expenditure supported by current income. There are two basic types of budgets that are used by both governments and corporate entities. These include capital budgets and annual operating budgets. Government annual operating budgets are expenditure appropriations for a specific fiscal year and estimated revenues. Capital budgets constitute the expenses incurred in fixed asset acquisition and government construction projects like laying down of infrastructure. Governments record these budgets as a means of compliance or control (Hussey, 2010 p174). Not-for-profit entities are those organizations or institutions whose activities are focused on other objectives other than making a profit. They include non-governmental organizations involved in charity work and other community based projects that the government cannot fulfill adequately. Not-for-profit entities face a challenge when it comes to financial reporting as laid down by ASSB. This is because they lack the same financial structure and background like the government. Not-for-profit entities do not have revenue-generating sources like the government, which means they cannot adopt the same budgetary procedures like the government. Their main source of operating funds comes from grants and donations, from charitable

Project environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Project environment - Essay Example In this scenario, the accomplishment of novel technology based infrastructure is intended to improve the general company as well as its operations management processes. I will present a complete outline of key tasks and areas those are considered to be problematic from the diagnosis point of view. Moreover, I will also propose the possible changes and improvements that we are able to carry out throughout new technology infrastructure. At the current time the businesses are facing a lot of problems regarding effective business projects management and reduced cycle time. In this regard, they are facing considerable delays between the project plan and actual implementation. Therefore, businesses are requiring to frequently adjusting company operations to survive in the everlasting competitive market situations. Additionally, to productively handle and manage new information and maintain it all through the corporation is critical to deal with these challenges. Thus, steady, business-wide knowledge sharing has, as a result, turned out to be essential. In this scenario, businesses apply solutions to collect, manage, and share knowledge. The most common opening application has been in the field of learning and training. Unluckily, usual classroom training plans are very time-consuming and costly to help businesses to tackle out mission-critical information quickly and competently (OneTouch, 2009). According to Efstathiades, Tassou, Antoniou, & Oxinos (1998) companies whose continued existence depends on upholding new, up to date, and well-informed business information need a flexible information sharing platform. Therefore, the business-wide knowledge sharing is one of most important factors. In scenario of latest technology implementation at a company there is need to change or update a lot of factors and business elements. In addition, there are a lot of issues involved in company management and

The Future of Books Essay Example for Free

The Future of Books Essay 1. Introduction Books have evolved greatly since the first writings in clay tablets a thousand years B. C. to nowadays with the digital versions of most books that were, not long ago, only available in paper. Even though stories have been carried and passed from generation to generation since the emergence of language, only until around the fifth century has it been heard about books and their use. In the antiquity, primitive materials in which to carve such as stone and wood were replaced by finer and more portable materials like scrolls, papyrus and manuscripts, which allowed the writing of longer texts with less effort, and which lead the reading experience reaching an elite minority until the invention of the print. The history of books in modern times is directly related to the creation of the print, in the mid 15th century, by Gutenberg. This invention allowed texts to be translated and diffused, reaching much wider audiences and narrowing the knowledge gap between different social classes. The first book that Gutenberg printed was the bible, which completely revolutionized the way in which religion was regarded by the then illiterate masses, and which’s impact was then followed by a series of not only religious, but also more general cultural transformations when all types of books were reproduced and made accessible for the people. Printing made it possible for stories and knowledge to be materialized and kept throughout the years. With the advancements of the printing industry, books became easier to publish, cheaper and more attainable to people. The first printing machine had been made of wood and required a lot of hand labor and time to print, so the available copies of a book were still relatively limited. However, as the years passed, innovators sought better alternatives to wood and created metal and later on iron printing machines, which later on became mechanized, speeding up the printing process and not depending on an extensive hand labor to function. In 1867 the typewriter was invented, facilitating the typing process. With this invention, the price of books became more affordable and an increased number of readers appeared. The paper book trend lasted for centuries, gaining more audience and strength with each print innovation that was made. From Gutenberg up to the late 20th century, print books had an enormous success and growing popularity. However, with the raise of computer technologies, in 1971 the first digital library was finally created. 2. From Papers to Screens Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971 by Michael Hart, who created the first electronic book ever, with the principle of making literature accessible to everyone and to decrease the levels of illiteracy in the world. The project gathered the most important books in history in various languages, converted them into an electronic form and made them available to the public for free. This was a turning point in the history of books, since books were no longer read only by those who could afford their price in bookstores, but also by those who did not have the means to buy hardcovers and who now had easy and free access to literature and knowledge. Without knowing, Project Gutenberg started what would become the digital age of books by leading the transition from print books to digital books. When the advantages and the success of digital books were seen, a whole new market of online retailers began to take place. The emergence of e-books attracted other authors as well as electronics businesses that saw an opportunity for innovation and big profits. Electronic readers were created, facilitating the electronic reading experience and allowing people to read mobile e-books instead of being fixed to big heavy screens. However, during the 70’s and the 80’s, e-books were mainly specialized, and they attracted segments of the population who were interested in a few available topics. As the internet progressed in the 70’s and the 80’s and e-book electronic reading devices hit the markets, the 90’s Internet advancements allowed the easy spread of e-books from computer to computer through the web, and also the digitalization of a wide variety of genres. This meant that books were made available for people with all tastes and not only for a specialized audience. Reading was able to become a means of entertainment and not only of education and knowledge for the less favored classes, like it had been up to then. Books went from being expensive and unaffordable by many, to being a commodity of which everybody could enjoy. The higher number of genres and of books in the Internet created an increasing demand for e-books, from which online retailers, such as Amazon, took advantage in the mid 1990’s. Businesses took the opportunity to digitalize books and sell them online for cheaper prices than those of their original paper formats. Another big player in the internet was Google, which decided to pay publishers to digitalize books and make certain parts, if not all of them, available for free. Apart from the digitalization of books, reading devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes Noble’s Nook, and Apple’s Ipad show the huge market that was created due to e-books, and the competition that took and still takes place in the digital world for the monopoly of e-books. 3. Reading experience As mentioned above, thanks to the invention of the print, reading became a common activity and was no longer reserved for a privileged majority. As books spread, illiteracy levels dropped and the audience for books became so diverse that it allowed for the distribution of books of all genres for all cultures and tastes. It was probably thanks to the digitalization of books that sub-genres gained popularity and were not left and forgotten in the shelves of bookstores and libraries. E-books, therefore, revived dead genres and gave an advantage to the ones that already enjoyed from a big demand in paper format. The reading experience has thus changed regarding new audiences reached and more genres available for cheaper prices. Another way in which e-books have benefited the audiences has been through the creation of digital libraries by physical libraries as well as online libraries. Since e-books do not occupy shelf space and they need only to be stored in databases, it is easy for libraries to organize their digitalized books and for customers to find specific topics and authors. In this sense, the process of finding books has been simplified compared to the regular library systems for non-digital versions. The process of digitalization is a long one but once all books become part of the digital library, they are easier to manage and to distribute when people look for them. Electronic libraries allow the storage of large numbers of books in a small memory space, without the need of bookshelves, space and a large staff. Thanks to this storage advantage, libraries can have more books readily available and people have a larger choice and are not limited by the physical space of libraries. At the same time, bookstores with e-book archives can save customers time by giving a faster service and avoiding queues and waiting lists for books that for instance, have no yet arrived to the bookstore or due to distances or to a large demand. Apart from the storage aspects, an important part of the transition from paper to screens has been the unwillingness of certain people to adapt to the electronic forms of books. Hardcover books have been part of cultures for so many centuries that for some people it is not so easy to accommodate to e-readings. The modern world is incredibly digitalized, from music to movies, so the digitalization of books appears to be natural, particularly to the youngest generations. The reading experience between paper books and e-books is clearly different since paper books offer the possibility of reading with more senses alert. For instance, when reading a handcover book, the reader can feel the pages’ texture and the smell of the book, and can see traits that are not present in e-readers, such as worn out and bended pages, which could be seen as a disadvantage, but they can also give a rewarding sensation to the reader who makes his way through the book and can perceive and appreciate how he gets closer to the end. Another element of the charm of paper books is the unhurried reading experience that they offer. This implies the easiness with which books can be transported and the little it matters where the reader is in order to be able to do his reading. Contrary to e-readers, paper books do not require battery charging, careful care from bad weather conditions, uploading or downloading of stories, among other factors. Thus, paper books can be said to be simpler to read and to offer a genuine reading experience that only requires a book and a reader. Despite these reading experience factors, future generations will very probably grow being increasingly familiar with e-books, which will be in favor for the expansion of the e-book market and will result in a further shrinking demand for print books. Children born in the digital age are not be aware of the long way that print books have come from if they are not taught about it, and they probably regard e-books as the initial state of books. Therefore, the reading experience is linked by large to former reading experiences and to the capability to compare e-books to non-digital books from an intellectual and also sentimental or sensorial point of view. 4. Writers and Cost Reductions For writers, the digitalization of books does not necessarily imply negative consequences, since there are several points which are in their favor. These include the possibility of self-publishing, no need for paper, easy editing, and no surpluses. Self-publishing is a great advantage for writers since publishing houses usually get most of the gains, leaving the authors with minimal profits from their own books. By skipping the intermediary, which in this case is the publisher, writers can put their books up in the internet for sale and get all the profits. This approach does have its risks since the advantage of going public through publishers is that they know about the business and they take care of all the steps. There is also the advantage of not needing paper, which again means fewer costs and thus, more gains for the authors. Writers can decide to publish their books directly online without having a print version if they do not wish to. This saves writers from the long lasting period of printing and book assembling before their book is launched. Also, no printing means one intermediary less in the process of book publishing. Working with publishers already costs a lot of money, so cutting any price, in this case paper, printing and assembling prices, is helpful for authors. Related to the paper advantage, is easy editing. Contrary to print books, e-books can be easily edited even if they have been already published; they do not face the inconvenience of having typos that would cost a lot of money to correct. In the case of print books, once the book is printed in big numbers, typos are not possible to correct until the next printings, but by then the public will already have the version with the typos in their hands. Editing also refers to bigger editing other than typos, such as whole passage modifications, which are possible to make in digital versions but not in paper. Writers can also benefit from the lack of book surpluses that result in money put into the rental of warehouses. Surpluses are very common for print books since at the moment of publishing, authors and publishers make an estimate of the books that will be sold, but they might not always be right or even approximate, due to the quality of the writing or of other external factors. In the case of e-books, no printing is necessary and purchases are done digitally so no warehouses are needed. This saves the authors money and allows for investment in other areas such as the advertising of their books. 5. More Readers for Writers. Concerning the readers, they have easy access to books and do not depend merely on the prices offered, since paper books usually cost a lot of money. Even if some digital books can be more expensive than others because of publishers, they are considerably cheaper than paper books. Another advantage for the readers is that they do not need to physically move if they need or want to get an e-book. As mentioned before, they have the advantage of avoiding long library and bookstore queues and waiting lists, and they can have access to the book they want directly from the comfort of their home or computer. These advantages mean that readers look for their books online more readily than they look for physical books, since these require more time, money and efforts. Therefore, writers can benefit for a wider, or at least more active, audience. 6. E-books and Different Genres In the case of the genres affected by the digitalization of books, academic books most probably will not increase their sales and will not be reaching a wider audience, since these books have a specialized audience that does not increase or decrease its demands with the availability of e-books. On the other hand, novels and books of popular genres like science fiction will most probably increase their demand numbers, since they do not require a specialized audience, but can entertain people from all social strata. Science fiction alone accounts for around 20% of all e-book purchases. At the same time, since digital readings offer the possibility of hyperlinks, search engines, and so forth, within or around the text, these distractions affect the reading quality of novels, but not so much the reading quality of dictionaries and cookbooks, for instance. 7. Concerning Publishers. Some of the players who are the most affected by the digitalization of books are publishers, since moving to digital forms has reshaped in the way in which books are marketed and also the costs involved and profits earned. Some of the advantages to publishers are the liberation from the constraints of printing and from surpluses of inventories. Another advantage is that older books that stopped selling on print can be published again in their digital form and reach wider audiences because of the cheaper prices, so profits can be made from book print inactive books. Despite these advantages, the disadvantages are also great. One of the biggest threats of publishing online is piracy, since pirates can easily take the book and distribute it illegally. Another disadvantage is the pricing for e-books in the internet, since different retailers and sellers have at times prices that differ greatly from one another and while big retailers can afford to cut costs and increase sales with some profit losses, small publishers cannot afford such a move. One more important disadvantage for publishers is that there are no more book displays in bookstore shelves that help advertise books. Publishers try, however, to create advertising for their clients through the social web in order to make up for this downfall. A technique used by publishers in order to keep their print sales alive is called â€Å"windowing† and it consists of publishing first the print version of a new book and delaying the e-version to increase the print sales. The idea is not to let people know when the e-version will be available so that they buy the print version and do not wait for the e-book to be published. However, this technique can go wrong and can create losses if the time length between the print and online publishing is not well foreseen. For instance, if the print book is sold out after a week, when the planned time was two months, then people will quickly forget about the book and once it is finally published digitally, it will not have the same effect it had back when there was expectation for the two publishes. A second technique that publishers are using is the publication of segments of a book, which the public can read, and if they like what they see, they are encouraged to make donations so that the author can finish writing the book and that it can be published. This is a very innovative idea, since it allows publishers to avoid surpluses, as well as printing if they decide to do this only with e-books. 8. Libraries Libraries are one of the most important stakeholders of the digitalization of books since they are usually decades all and have invested great sums of money on the local, the books, the maintenance, and so forth. For libraries, the conversion of books into e-books is very expensive because even though it is cheaper than storing physical books, there are far more e-books and therefore, the storage in a digital form is more expensive in the long run. Fortunately for libraries, literature will still be literature and regarded as such, no matter if it’s stored in bookshelves or in databases. This means that library clients would still frequent the library when looking for books, and also because libraries are not just places where books are stored, but also cultural places where people can gather and talk about literature or intellectual topics. At the same time, due to the creation of digital databases, libraries will have to start cutting down personnel and spaces in order to be able to afford the transition to digital forms. 9. Bookstores: Borders In the case of bookstores, they suffer more than libraries from e-books, since bookstores are not a place of consultation but of selling, and when money is involved, customers tend to turn where they can spend the least for the same service. One of the main concerns of bookstores is the low price that is charged for books in e-form, since for the same content there are significant price differences that clearly draw clients away from bookstores to the internet. Another main concern of bookstores is that the space that is used for storing and displaying print books will not be of any use, and even if they create digital databases to sell e-books in their stores, they cannot compete with online venders since they still need to cover local costs such as electricity, personnel, rent, maintenance, etc. Some of the strategies tried out by bookstores in order to survive the digital age is to host book clubs and social gatherings, as well as selling goods other than books. In the case of smaller bookstores, since they cannot compete with the others’ prices, have opted for offering writing classes, for instance, in addition to selling books in their stores. These strategies work in some cases but in others they have not been able to save bookstores from collapsing. On July 2011, the American bookstore giant, Borders, liquidated all of its stores after it went Bankrupt in February 2011. Next with its end went 11,000 lost jobs. In an interview to Border’s President Mike Edwards, he says, Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development. We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the head winds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, [electronic reader] revolution and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now. It is clear that Borders was not prepared for the digital wave that hit the book industry, and when it tried to react it was already too late. Borders had big stores and advanced equipment to locate books clients looked for. However, when the digitalization of books started taking place, Borders did not focus on building its own e-book market, but instead it used one of the above mentioned techniques, which was selling other goods, such as CDs and DVDs. It also invested on the infrastructure of its shops instead of taking action in the digital book market. Its main competitor was Barnes Noble, which has managed to survive and keep up by focusing on the promotion of e-books and on the release of its own e-reader, the Nook, which put it directly into the digital market and which allows it to better promote its own digital books. There is still much to be achieved and much competition to achieve from the part of Barnes Noble, but if it continues to accommodate to the digital flow then it is very likely that it will manage to sustain itself. For Borders, for Barnes Nobel, and for all bookstores nowadays, the big competitors are online retailers, especially Amazon, which is considered to be the biggest e-retailer on the web. 10. Online Retailers: Amazon Amazon was founded in the mid 1990’s and started off as an online book seller. With the years, it started expanding its market to multiple areas such as music, software, videogames and toys. Today, it sells an infinite variety of products and covers an international market as one of the biggest online retailers in the world. With the emergence of e-books and the enormous competition that surrounded Amazon, it decided not only to sell digital versions of its books but also to launch its own e-reader, the now famous Kindle. Its main adversary in terms of e-readers was and still is the iPad. In order to keep up with the competition and be the number one on the e-book market, Amazon lowered the price of the Kindle to a level where it was making no profits and was in the contrary, creating losses. The reasoning behind this strategy was to encourage people to buy the Kindle instead of other e-readers, and by buying the Kindle they would be likely to buy the e-books from Amazon too. Up to now, Amazon has been able to keep on competing with Apple, however, both are directed at different customers, since Apple’s iPad is more about design than about e-books, while Amazon’s Kindle is all about the e-books Amazon offers with it. The online retailer has the advantage on making its profits from a wide variety of products and not having to rely completely on e-books only. However, it is today the biggest e-retailer online and its e-books account for an important part of its success, and thanks to its Kindle and its prices it continues its way to dominating the e-book market. The future of Amazon is tightly related to the future of Bookstores and the future of print books. While Amazon continues to offer low prices for digital books, people will keep on turning to the cheaper digital versions and the demand for print books will keep on decreasing. At the same time, the international scope of Amazon and its prices make it difficult for bookstores to compete with it, since they rely on books mainly, while Amazon relies on many other products that it sells successfully online. 11. Conclusion The future of books seems to be as e-books mainly, even though the print versions will most probably continue to play an important role in society due to the historical and emotional charge that they carry. The generations  that grew up with print books are not likely to turn to digital forms too quickly, but as every year since the late 1990’s a new digital generation is born, print books will not have the same meaning they have today, just as they do not have the same meaning today as they had before the rise of the internet. In order for print books to survive, prices need to be lowered, and the most successful way to do this for authors is by self-publishing and reaching the audiences directly. This entails risks, but if print books continue to cost as much as they do today, the demand for them will decrease further with time. In the case of bookstores, for the moment they have no other alternative than to adapt to the digital market and to try to find other sources of income. Perhaps in the future, once the world is used to e-books, just like it is used to CD’s and not to cassettes today, people will look back and start turning to print versions which will be seen as unique and which might gain back the initial prestigious status that they once had when the print was first created. Works Cited Adam, Nabil R. Digital Libraries: Research and Technology Advances : ADL 95 Forum, McLean, Virginia, USA, May 15-17, 1995 : Selected Papers. Berlin: Springer, 1996. Print. Amazon: The Walmart of the Web. The Economist [San Francisco] 1 Oct. 2011: 57-58. Print. Amazons 15th Anniversary: A History of Online Shopping. Time. 16 July 2010. Web. http://www. time. com/time/business/article/0,8599,2004089,00. html. Archiving the Web: Born Digital. The Economist 23 Oct. 2010: 67. Print. Auletta, Ken. The IPad, the Kindle, and the Future of Books. The New Yorker. 26 Apr. 2010. Web. http://www. newyorker. com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta. 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