Paris Agreement Essay - 854 Words

In 2016 the Paris agreement was signed by multiple member nations around the world with the aim of holding the global mean temperature increase at well below 2 °C, with additional efforts to limit warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. This agreement was the largest multinational environmental accord in modern history that sought to instil adequate methods to appropriately combat the spread of climate change. The differences between 2 °C and 1.5 °C are notable, importantly, not all countries will be disadvantaged from climate change. This essay will explore the research that has gone into creating this agreement, the temperature limits, and the potential effects it would have on the world. The targets underpinning the Paris Agreement†¦show more content†¦Extreme participation events are projected to increase globally by about 45% (Schleussner et al., 2016), this may benefit some countries in South Asia and other high latitude regions (Sedlà ¡Ã„ ek and Knutti, 2017) where an increase in total water availability is projected while a contrasting decrease is expected for subtropical reasons. These precipitation related changes would drastically effect over half of the worlds population (Asseng et al., 2014). Increases in temperature would also effect crop yields. This change would not only produce negative effects, some high latitude countries with colder climates that are unsuitable as farming land may see an increase in farmable land and ensuing increases in crop yields. Despite limited benefit to a few select nations it is estimated that global wheat production will decrease by about 6% per  °C of warming (Schleussner et al., 2016) with more drastic reductions of multiple crop yields at 2 °C (Gattuso et al., 2015). Oceans play an important part in global food security and were instrumental in determining the 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C limits (Meissner, Lippmann and Sen Gupta, 2012. The major effects of an increase in temperature on oceans relates to coral reef ecosystems, ocean acidification and artic ecosystems (Frieler et al., 2012). At 1.5 °C acidification and increases in temperature will put heavy stress on global water ecosystems. AtShow MoreRelatedPulling Out From The Paris Agreement Essay834 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom the Paris Agreement Sea level are rising, Glacier are melting, forest are dying, and wildlife is struggling and it is called global warming. 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It focusesRead MoreThe Impact Of Globalization On The Environment1555 Words   |  7 Pagesrapidly increased the negative changes in the Earth s environment.1 In the modern era, the processes and effects of the forces of globalisation can be seen to be exacerbating the problem of environmental decline exponentially. For the purposes of this essay, globalisation can be defined as â€Å"the increased interconnectedness and interdependance of peoples and countries†, involving â€Å"...the opening of borders to increasingly fas t flows of goods, services, finance, people and ideas across international borders;Read MoreEssay On Mitigation1367 Words   |  6 Pagesincluded an Emissions Reduction Fund. These strategies are aimed at reducing emissions in keeping with the Paris agreement through incentivising firms with large carbon outputs. 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With an increasingly dangerous and destabilized global system, in which terrorist attacks such as the recent incidents in Paris and Brussels are becoming commonplace, there is hesitancy amongst many western nations to harbor these at-risk populations. Regardless of the risks that states incur when hosting refugees, many nations do have a moral obligation to provide for theRead MoreBenjamin Franklin : An American Dream1433 Words   |  6 Pageshe loved writing and reading. On April 2, 1722, he secretly submitted an essay, he wrote, to his brother’s print shop, in hopes of joining the printing community that he always dreamt about. He masked his identity in the essay by writing as a fictional woman, named Silence Dogood. Excitingly, his essay was a success and was immediately pu blished on the front page of the New England Courant. Although he wrote 14 more essays he made big plagiarizing mistakes throughout most of them, resulting in theRead MoreThe Tradition Of Dogma And Despotism938 Words   |  4 Pagesthinkers inspired revolutions in England, America and France, which marked the end of area that untimely gave way to Romanticism. Due to the vast assortment of philosophical ideas, this essay aims to portray the developments in political thought as a set of general strands of thought, as appose to precise theories. This essay can be seen as a discussion of the origins, nature and contested status of the most important strands of political thought spawned of this era with a consideration of the affects suchRead MoreIntellectual Property Rights And Competition Law1304 Words   |  6 Pagescountries provide more leverage to intellectual property rights whereas others provide leverage to competition law. However, right balance of both is what necessary for the progress of the state. We will now in this essay analyse and understand as to how that can be achieved. This essay firstly for a better understanding deal with what is intellectual property and what constitutes intellectual property rights and then briefly deals with the competition policy and European Union competition law and

Islam Traditions Free Essays

Islam is a tradition of love and submission to God that ultimately strives for peace. The ancient religion emerged in the seventh century and was able to appeal to the public through its deeply entrenched attitudes to peace. Islam’s constant endeavour for peace can be presented through its ancient traditions and sacred texts, history and historical events and current practices and contemporary events of the religion. We will write a custom essay sample on Islam Traditions or any similar topic only for you Order Now The sacred texts of Islam are the Quran, which contains the revelations from Allah and the Hadith, which outlines the way of the prophet Muhammad. These sacred texts are fundamental to Islam and it is through these texts that Muslims formulate an understanding of peace. This is reflected through the Quranic statement: â€Å"O ye who believe! Come, all of you, into complete peace and follow not the footsteps of evil. Surely he is your open enemy. † (2:208) Despite the world of violence and belligerence that Muhammad was born into, his approach to the ethics of war and peace differed from the prevailing tribal culture of the time. Muhammad’s attitude with regards to the concept of peace was one of active non-violent resistance and open defiance of persecution by non-believers. The essence of this is represented in the Quranic verse: â€Å"The recompense of evil is punishment like it, but whoever forgives and amends, he shall have his reward from Allah; surely he does not love the unjust. † (Sural al-Shura 42:40-43 ‘The counsel’) The history of the religion emerged in Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad, and later in Medina. Medina was situated on one of the Middle East’s principal trade routes and is home to a large religious shrine and sacred site known as the Kaaba. It was here that that the news of the new prophet was carried from distant lands. One of the most historical events within the history of Islam was the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE. After Muhammad’s death, Abu Baker; Muhammad’s successor and father in law, along with three other ‘rightly guided’ caliphs led the early Muslim community to further success and rapid growth. There is some dispute, however, between the Shi’i and the Sunni branches of Islam as to who is the rightful successor of Muhammad. Shi’is believe that Ali, Muhammad’s closest relative and fourth caliph is indeed the true leader or imam of the Muslim community. The Muslim objective of worshipful submission to God is practiced through the five pillars of Islam. These five duties are a unifying force for Muslims all over the world. The ‘pillars of faith’ are described as the declaration of faith, daily prayer, obligatory almsgiving, fasting in Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca. These everyday practices demonstrate how the individual, through their current, personal devotion, strives for peace. Within Islam, the concept of peace is twofold. Firstly one must achieve peace with God and therefore with oneself; in order to secondly, be at peace with the rest of the world. Islam teaches the importance of strengthening one’s individual relationship with god. Sufism, an ancient mystical movement that marks the spiritual dimension of Islam stresses the importance of the Muslim transcending their base desires and worldly attachments in order to fully allow God’s light to enter their heart. This further reinforces that there can be no universal peace until inner peace and submission to the will of God is achieved. Islam notes that those who strive for peace will experience positive consequences from god. These positive actions can only be experienced by people if there is peace in the world, as written in the Quran. â€Å"Enter it [al-janna] in peace and justice. † (15:46) the place referred to in this verse is the Islamic concept of the ultimate paradise, or essentially heaven. This shows that the qualities for al-janna or the ultimate paradise for which all Muslims aspire are peace and justice. Muslims acknowledge that humans can have a tendency towards aggression, violence and greed. Jihad is the internal struggle against evil temptations in order to fulfil Allah’s desire for peace throughout humankind. It is the Muslim’s duty in the world to do good and prevent harm and evil in every way, therefore jihad essentially runs through all aspects of a muslim’s life. Contemporary Islam unfortunately faces a great amount of criticism and suspicion from the western world. This is due to misunderstandings of the religion, as well as extremist groups that believe that they must fight and act in violence in order to achieve peace for Islam. This contradicts the majority of Muslims, who constantly try to portray peace and kindness to the world, as the Quran informs them to do. And those who believe and do good are made to enter gardens, beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them by their lord’s permission; their greeting therein is, peace! † This reflects the positive consequences that are promised to Muslims who act peacefully throughout their life. It also further reinforces that acting in a way of peace, justice and goodwill will eventually have positive advantage s for all Muslims. Because of such contradictions, Australian Muslims in particular join in initiatives established to increase non-Muslim Australian’s knowledge of the religion. Through these initiatives and through increasing the dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews; contemporary Islam attempts to inform the world of their peaceful intentions. It is in the interest of many Muslims to conduct peaceful campaigns such as marches and protests that publically condemn war as well as showing that they do not condone the behaviour of confused, violent and extreme Islamic behaviour. There are a myriad of Muslim organisations for peace activism that contribute to educating people-as well as getting people together to speak up for peace and non-violence. Some of these organisations are: The Coalition of Women for Peace, Muslim Peace Fellowship, Muslim World Initiative, and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. These organisations clearly show that the majority of the contemporary Muslim community are striving for both peace in Australia, and peace in the world. It can therefore be said that Islam, rich in its ancient history and contemporary practices, is a religion that constantly strives for peace in the world and peace in the minds of all followers. How to cite Islam Traditions, Papers

Chemistry free essay sample

# 8211 ; Bonding Essay, Research Paper Electron Pair Repulsion Theory: The negatron brace repulsive force theory provinces that the negatron brace in the valency energy degree of an atom repel each other, and hence are arranged as far apart as possible. For illustration, H2O: Due to this theory, different molecules with different sums of braces of negatrons have different forms. Shapes of Molecules: Some common forms of molecules include additive, rhombohedral planar, tetrahedral, rhombohedral pyramidal and v-shaped ( set ) molecules. Examples are drawn below- a ) linear ( CO2 ) B ) tetrahedral ( CH4 ) degree Celsiuss ) v-shaped/bent ( H2O ) vitamin D ) rhombohedral planar ( BF3 ) vitamin E ) trigonal pyramidal ( NH3 ) The negatron point diagrams must be drawn foremost in order to work out the form of the molecule. Molecular Mutual opposition: The mutual opposition can be determined from the form of the molecule. In kernel, a molecule is polar if there is an overall electronegativity difference in the molecule. | Across a Period| Down a Group| Ionization energy| Increases| Decreases| Atomic radius| Decreases| Increases| Melting point/boiling point| Increase in metals, and then decrease in gases| Increase| Valency| Increases| Stays the same according to group number| Electronegativity| Increases| Decreases| Reactivity | Decreases| Increases| Extraction of Metals * The ease of extraction depends on the reactivity of the element. The less reactive, the easier. * A mineral is any pure crystalline compound that occurs in the Earth’s crust, and is considered an ore if it is economically viable to extract a substance from the mineral. * The cost of metals is also important when choosing appropriate metals. * Less abundant ores are generally more expensive Some metals are expensive to extract from their ores (aluminium requires electrolysis, and is therefore more expensive then iron or copper) * Cost of transportation – ores found in remote areas require extensive, and sometimes specialized transport * The yield is the amount of a product as a percentage of what is scientifically expected, and is important because it is critical when determining whether a mining or industrial venture is economically viable. * Eg. With a reaction of copper (I) sulfide with oxygen, the expected amount of copper is 2. 33 tonnes, but it is only 1. 97 tonnes. Therefore the yield is: 1. 972. 3 x 100 = 85% * The extraction of copper from sulfide ores (chalcopyrite CuFeS2): * Concentration through froth flotation, where air is blown through tiny jets into a detergent solution, forming froth. The detergent means the sulfide particles are un-wettable and therefore will not be drawn into the bubbles. (2-25% Cu) * Heat the ore with sand, leaving Cu2S, producing the immiscible liquids of copper (I) sulfide, and the unwanted iron. This is known as smelting, where the substances are heated to high temperatures to form a molten material to extract a metal. 2CuFS2(s) + 5O2(g) 2Cu(l) + 2FeO(s) + 4SO2(g)

New Year Celebration in Vietnam free essay sample

They are manifested clearly in anniversaries, ceremonies and especially on New Years Days. In Vietnam every year towards the 15th day of the 12th lunar months, everybody begins to strip the apricot trees off their leaves and water melons are seen to be sold everywhere then one is realdy to welcome New Year with all his merriment and joy. They all have their houses whitewashed and decorated, buy new clothes for their children and get everything ready for Tet. On the 23rd of the 12th lunar month those who worship Buddha offer ceremony to the Kitchen God to send him off to Heaven. The nearer New Year comes the more excited and enthusiastic people are. This is the unique occasion for everybody in the family to gather together to welcome New Year after a hard and long year s work. At 12 oclock sharp on the 30th of the 12th lunar month the New Year actually replaces the Old One. We will write a custom essay sample on New Year Celebration in Vietnam or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page All houses are well-lighted. At that very moment, everybody , well-dressed, rushes out into the streers to visit temples, pagodas or to go to churches. They all pray for a Prosperous and Happy New Year. This is also an opportunity for children to put on their new clothes and wish longevity to their parents and grandparents. All of them are expecting to receive money put in small red envelopes. On New Years Days people avoid talking nonsense and try to keep a good humour towards their neighbours. They often visit one another, wish each other Happy New Year, drink tea together, eat square, cylindric glutinous rice cakes or crack water melon seeds. The Vietnamese believe that the first day of the New Year is the luckiest day in the year and if on this day they enjoy full happiness, they will be prosperous and happy all year round. The Vietnamese New Year lasts about a fortnight. It gives sufficient hopes and recreations to our countrymen. After that, they are ready to resume their normal work.

Research Paper on Durkheim

Research Paper on Durkheim Emile Durkheim was to become one of the most influential writers in regard to the subject of suicide and its link to the state of our modern society. For centuries before his writing, suicide was regarded as a moral and psychological problem that was caused by differences inherent to the individual. Durkheim’s work was the first to imply that the study of suicide could not be based on individuals and it was crucial to create a sociological approach regarding the external causes of society itself. His work, although receiving a great deal of criticism, has provoked a change in such studies ever since, with many sociologists using an interpretation of Durkheim’s theories as the basis of their own studies. In order to display that the crisis in our society was caused by factors external to the individuals, Durkheim systematically analysed each alternative possibility, all of which he eventually ruled out as a possible cause. He defined these alternatives as â€Å"organic-psychic dispositions and the nature of the physical environment† (Durkheim,E 1989). In studying the former of these, Durkheim wished to determine whether there existed an inclination among certain individuals towards suicide and he began by analysing the components of insanity. It was assumed by a number of theorists known as alienists that every suicide was committed by a person inflicted by insanity and that, according to Bourdin, suicide is simply a disease and special form of insanity. (Durkheim,E 1989) Durkheim continues this line of thought in order to discover what exactly is meant by such an insanity of suicide. He proposes that if suicide were to be a type of insanity then it would therefore be known as a ‘monomania’; a delirium of localised nature. It was believed that this monomania would be provoked by a violent emotional disturbance, which appears to link with the idea that suicides are usually â€Å"influenced by some abnormal passion† (Durkheim, E 1989). However, Durkheim finds fault with this theory, as he is unsatisfied of proof of existence of monomanias. He claims that although it cannot be proved that they do not exist, any type of observations that they do exist has never conclusively shown it. Furthermore, it has long since been believed that the idea of completely separate mental functions is false and that they are so completely interdependent that insanity, upon attacking one area, would without doubt affect every aspect of mental behaviour. It therefore appears that no suicidal monomania can exist and suicide cannot be â€Å"a distinct form of insanity†. Durkheim then continues to inspect the possibility that, although suicide is not a specific form of insanity, it may be a recurring event connected with all insanities. In order to do this four categories of suicide were created including maniacal, melancholy, obsessive and impulsive suicide. The first of these describes suicide linked to sudden hallucinations, demonstrated by suicide attempts which cannot be recalled by the person in the case of a survival and when the person no longer wishes to cause harm to themselves immediately after the attempt. The second form is associated with a severely depressive state resulting in despair of life, while the third varies in that it is entirely unmotivated but just as dominant as a suicide of melancholy reasons. Finally, impulsive suicide is equally as unmotivated; however, it does not consume the person’s mind. Instead it is characterised by a sudden and forceful urge. These definitions of suicide show that a number of different typ es exist, some of which result from hallucinations, and others, which are the product of real perceptions. This further shows that not all types of suicide can be linked to insanity that can therefore not be identified as a cause of suicide. Durkheim also shows that if mental disorders were the sole cause of suicide, then social conditions should have no effect on statistics. He displays that between 1858 and 1891 there were, without exception, more women than men in insane asylums. Therefore, if insanity was the cause of suicide, more women should commit suicide than men. This is clearly shown to be far from fact as â€Å"suicide is a largely male phenomenon†. (Durkheim, E 1989) Durkheim continues this point to show that, in fact, the correlation between insanity and suicide in different social conditions such as religions and age is actually non-existent and locations with the highest rates of insanity often have the lowest rates of suicide. Durkheim then examines alcoholism as a possible cause as it is a condition linked to many other social and moral problems. However, this seems unlikely, as alcoholism is most common among the lower classes where suicide is connected to the opposite. Also, using the example of France, it appears that not only alcoholism but also all diseases and crimes connected to it are of completely different locations on the country’s map to those of suicides. This therefore concludes, for Durkheim, â€Å"no psychopathic state bears an indisputable relation to suicide†. (Durkheim, E 1989) The next stage in Durkheim’s analysis regards those psychological states considered to be normal rather than those previously discussed. He begins with the concept of race for which he reluctantly uses the definition of Morselli in order to allow analysis of the concept, despite his warning of the difficulty of sociologically defining race. The four groups defined by Morselli were placed in descending order according to the number of suicides per group. Therefore the Germanic people were discovered to have the highest suicide rate, and then the Celto-Romans and the Slavs were identified to have the lowest rate (The fourth group were regarded as too small to assess). (Durkheim, E 1989) Despite this, it was noted that great differences actually existed within these categories and all people among them were not of uniform tendency towards suicide. It was then thought that perhaps the idea of nationality would be a more suitable category than that of race. However, in order to acc urately study this it is crucial to study an environment of mixed ethnic origins so that the cause may not simply be a distinct nature of a specific civilisation. This displayed that in many countries, the suicide rate was greater when there was a lower German influence, despite the fact that they were the nationality thought most likely to commit suicide. It therefore appears that a certain nationality such as the Germans does not commit suicide due to something inherent in their ‘race’ but rather as a result of the environment in which they live. It must also be considered that suicide could be inherited among families. Records show that suicides tend to recur in generations of the one family in alarming numbers. However, Durkheim points out that investigations of such situations have usually involved families touched by insanity as so it may therefore be due to the transmission of insanity, of which suicide is a â€Å"frequent but accidental symptom† rather than suicide itself. (Durkheim, E 1989). Also, suicides among families are often the result of the inclination towards reproducing the act of a loved one, demonstrated by the identical method frequently applied among families and groups. Finally, Durkheim states that if suicide were hereditary, this would not account for the difference in suicide rates between opposite sexes. Another factor which is often claimed to provoke suicide is what Durkheim called the â€Å"cosmos factors† which are alterations in climate and season. The suggestion of climate can immediately be ruled out as it can be clearly shown from the distribution of suicides across the globe, that high suicide rates can occur in all climates and countries such as Italy, who’s climate has not altered, though they have witnessed great changes in their suicide rates. Durkheim does, however, seems to accept that attributing suicide rates to changes in season should be given some credit. Despite common assumptions, suicides are found by statistics to be more common among the warmer months of March to August, without exception in any country. (Durkheim, E 1989) Morselli’s studies showed that, even more specifically, more suicides where found to occur in the summer. However, the conclusions drawn from this data varied among theorists. Morselli concluded that temperature was therefore positively correlated to suicide and this was due to greater levels of energy. Durkheim disputes this, reasoning that the different examples of suicide show that it can result from situations opposite to those of increased energy. He alternatively believed that the correlation is due to increase in daylight in the summer. More suicides are actually known to be committed in the daylight which, according to Durkheim, is because â€Å"this is the time of most active existence,†¦, when social life is most intense† (Durkheim, E 1989). Also, the variation in suicide rates throughout the year are more pronounced in rural areas than urban which Durkheim attributes to the higher alternations in levels of production, and therefore human relations, in rural areas, which are obviously much higher in summer months. Therefore, although Durkheim is accepting a cosmic factor as a possible cause for suicide, it is because he links this cause to societal changes and collective life. The final factor left for Durkheim to assess is that of imitation. Imitation, by definition, is the transfer of an act from one person to another without the requirement for any form of bond between the persons involved. It can therefore only be an individual act which would, if connected to the suicide rate, imply a pathological cause of suicide rather than societal. Durkheim rejects this idea, however, claiming that if imitation or contagion were to be the cause of suicide, there would be central geographical points, which had the highest suicide rates, and suicides would gradually diminish in a concentric pattern around them. However, in studying the statistics, this can clearly be shown to be incorrect, as many areas of low suicide rates can exist next to areas of the highest rates. Durkheim was therefore able to conclude that the cause of suicide was not inherent to the individual and must therefore be caused by the external, in other words, the society. Durkheim believed that society affected the individual in two ways; firstly by integration and creating â€Å"purposes and ideals† and secondly by â€Å"moderating their desires and aspirations† which had the potential to be infinite. Drawing from this, he divided suicide into a number of social categories. Firstly, Egoistic suicide was the result of insufficient integration into society and therefore the pursuit of individualism. Durkheim regarded religion as a major factor in this situation. Catholicism provides its society with a strict and invariable set of traditions that are set in place by a â€Å"hierarchical system of authority†. Durkheim associates this strict religion with the low suicide rate that exists among Catholics. He contrasts this with the protestant religion that is open to far greater interpretation and promotes a greater individual freedom. This highlights the basis of egoism, as the individual is without satisfactory inclusion into collective life. The suicide rate of Protestants is much higher which Durkheim believes is the result of this. The exception to this is in England; however, the protestant church here is the only to have a hierarchy and is therefore most similar to Catholicism. Furthermore, the Jewish society are subject to even stricter traditi onal beliefs which is reflected in their even lower suicide rates. The taste of individualism and â€Å"free enquiry† created by Protestantism is necessarily linked with the desire for learning and knowledge as â€Å"knowledge is free thoughts only means of achieving its purposes†. (Durkheim, E 1989). Durkheim believes that Protestants should therefore have a higher desire to learn and that this desire should correlate with the suicide rate. Protestants in general are better educated than Catholics. To further emphasise this, Protestant countries can be compared with each other which shows that the higher the quality of education (based on low illiteracy rates), the higher the suicide rate. This also correlates with the fact of men committing more suicides than women, as, worldwide; women are generally less educated than men. Durkheim also believes that the moderating effects upon suicide of consistency and collective practices can also be related to the family. It was believed by many that marriage and family actually increase the inclination to suicide. However, this opinion is found to be based on poor information. If the statistics only include those of marrying age and categorise these people into specific age group, it can then be seen that marriage actually decreases suicide attempts. This can be due to a number of factors. Firstly, the domestic environment and the collectivity of family life may reduce the tendency to suicide. Also, those who do not get married may be more likely to commit suicide due to their position in society through lack of marriage. It cannot, however, be described as something which is inherent in the type of people to marry as the act of marriage is clearly open to everyone and although the insane are perhaps excluded, they do not account for a big enough proportion to alt er the statistics. Finally, with regard to egoistic suicide, Durkheim links suicide rates to political struggle and upheaval. Despite political upheaval often being regarded as a cause of rising suicide rates, Durkheim notes that it may, in fact have the opposite effect and that the statistics will show this. To rule out the possibility that this may be caused simply to poor administration of deaths during wartime, Durkheim claims that this would only apply to men who die while partaking in the army. However, this does not account for the reduction in suicides of women that can be noted in many incidents. The conclusion therefore drawn from this is therefore that the suicide rate reduces in times of social or political upheaval as action is concentrated â€Å"towards a single end† creating a â€Å"stronger of integration of society† (Taylor, S 1989) Durkheim therefore provided a strong argument of how â€Å"suicide varies inversely with the degree of social integration of the social grou ps of which the individual forms part† (Taylor, S 1989. Durkheim then progresses to his second category, known as altruistic suicide, which he claims is the result of excessive social integration†. If a man is to become extremely involved with the ‘collective society’, he is likely to forget the importance of the self and will value his life very little in comparison to the common good of society. Durkheim uses many examples to show the existence of this in ancient societies, such as wives and servants feeling compelled to commit suicide on the death of their husbands and masters. Furthermore, in ancient Greece, men would rather end their own lives that live in illness or old age and this act of suicide would actually be rewarded by their society by a funeral of great honour. (Durkheim, E, 1989) This therefore symbolises the effects of society and its values on the suicides of its people. The extent of this is demonstrated by the fact that none of these suicides are obligatory but any alternative option would rarely be chosen, showing the sheer subordination of the individual to society. These traditional cultures can, however, be rarely displayed in our contemporary society. Durkheim believes that they now take a different form that is encapsulated in our armies. There can be a number of reasons attributed to the high suicide rates among the army. It would be often said that it relates back to marriage and the high rates of unmarried men in the army account or this. However, if the suicide rates of unmarried men are compared with those of the army, it can be seen that the rates of the army are still much higher and further explanation is therefore required. Durkheim carefully studied all available statistics to show that the men most likely to commit suicide in the army were those best suited to its lifestyle and requirements and those who are most keen to partake. Durkheim therefore concludes that the cause can relate only to the lack of value that a trained soldier is required to place on his own life, therefore leading him to obey any command without self-conside ration. Theorists such as Esquirol, however, rejected this claim, maintaining that deaths of such honour and nobility should not be considered as suicide. Durkheim responds that this is a problematic view, which undermines the similarity between many forms of suicide, and he concludes, â€Å"Every sort of suicide is merely the exaggerated or deflected form of a value†. (Lukes, S, 1967) Finally, anomic suicide is, for Durkheim, the form most associated with modern society. Rather than involving a lack of integration into society, it refers to a lack of constraint to an individual’s activity. Durkheim claims that, in times of economic crisis, both of depression and prosperity and depression, the suicide rate will generally rise. His conclusion from this is that, as the cause cannot be either poverty or wealth as both have the similar effect, it must be the actual fluctuation of situation. The result of this is that â€Å"norms that had previously regulated their (people of the society) conduct are no longer appropriate to their changed conditions of life†. (Taylor, S 1989) This condition can either be ‘acute’, and cause only small fluctuations, or it can be ‘chronic’, which, in Durkheim’s opinion, is the state of our modern society. This contemporary position results in a severe lack of regulation and individuals begin t o compete against each other, as the collective life is lost. A development of hostility occurs, especially between â€Å"labour and capital† and the increasingly specialised division of labour results in a further decrease of social solidarity. (Durkheim, 1984) Thus, these individuals, in this individualist struggle, are in constant need to gain more from life and they develop insatiable desires. The constant state of dissatisfaction, which is the consequence of this, would be the obvious creator of tendencies towards suicide. It is therefore clear that Durkheim provided a careful and systematic account of what he believed to be a social crisis rather than a psychological one. His study has provided future sociologists with a new perspective on such issues that has shaped their own investigation. However, despite his importance, Durkheim and his study of suicide and society has not been without criticism. Firstly, Durkheim’s study is based largely on facts represented by the actual Suicide Rates. However, the validity of these rates is highly questionable. As the suicide rates are themselves produced by individuals, they rely heavily on personal judgement rather than fact. Much of this judgement is also based on the opinions of people connected to the event such as family who may wish to alter facts in order to retain dignity of their loved one or themselves. Also, in economic terms, families may wish to avoid suicide verdicts for insurance reasons. Furthermore, Durkheim placed great emphasis on the importance of religious groups in the variations in the suicide rate. However, his reasoning may not be entirely accurate as Catholics, for example, may wish to disguise suicides in order to retain the respect of their religion. Durkheim’s theory was also greatly based on the influence of social goals. He did not however, consider that different types of goals may exist and that many of these may be â€Å"non-integrative† (Lukes, S, 1967). Therefore, he failed to realise that the absence of social goals that he described, such as anomie, may in itself be a form of goal of norm. Also, Durkheim fails to account for intentionality or why certain people commit suicide. His devotion to considering official suicide rates meant that the intentionality could not be considered as no direct evidence could be available to determine this after the event. Durkheim claimed that suicides were completely random and that the social reasons affected everyone with the same force and those who ended their lives were simply hit at their weak points. (Taylor, S 1989) However, this very claim suggests that some level of psychological difference must exist between individuals for this to have such an effect. It can therefore be determined that, despite the importance of Durkheim’s work, it has a great number of faults and criticisms. He carefully rules out what seems to be any possibility of suicide being the product of anything non-social, but the conclusions which he reaches appear to be incomplete and somewhat contradictory. Therefore, although he has clearly demonstrated that suicide is significantly affected by society, and its norms and values, there must be a pathological element that determines the precise individuals that are the victims of such effects. It is consequently obvious why many who have studied similar issues since, accept many of Durkheim’s theories but generally reject his dismissal of individual differences and his emphasis of social currents.

History of the First Clocks

History of the First Clocks It wasn’t until somewhat recently- at least in terms of human history- that people felt the need to know the time of day. Great civilizations in the Middle East and North Africa first initiated clock making some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.  With their attendant bureaucracies and formal religions, these cultures found a need to organize their time more efficiently. The Elements of a Clock   All clocks must have two basic components:  They must have a regular, constant or repetitive process or action by which  to mark off equal increments of time. Early examples of such processes include the movement of the sun across the sky, candles marked in increments, oil lamps with marked reservoirs, sandglasses or hourglasses,† and, in the Orient, small stone or metal mazes filled with incense that would burn at a certain pace. Clocks must also have a means of keeping track of the increments of time and be able to  display the result. The history of timekeeping is the story of the search for ever more consistent actions or processes to regulate the rate of a clock. Obelisks   The  Egyptians were among the first  to formally divide their days into parts resembling hours. Obelisks- slender, tapering, four-sided monuments- were built as early as 3500 BCE. Their moving shadows formed a kind of sundial, enabling citizens to partition the day into two parts by indicating noon. They also showed the years longest and shortest days when the shadow at noon was the shortest or longest of the year. Later, markers were added around the base of the monument to indicate further time subdivisions. Other Sun Clocks   Another Egyptian shadow clock or sundial came into use around 1500 BCE to measure the passage of hours. This device divided a sunlit day into 10 parts, plus two twilight hours in the morning and evening. When the long stem with five variably spaced marks was oriented east and west in the morning, an elevated crossbar on the east end cast a moving shadow over the marks. At noon, the device was turned in the opposite direction to measure the afternoon hours. The merkhet, the oldest known astronomical tool, was an Egyptian development around 600 BCE. Two merkhets were used to establish a north-south line by lining them up with the Pole Star. They could then be used to mark off nighttime hours by determining when certain other stars crossed the meridian. In the quest for more year-round accuracy, sundials evolved from flat horizontal or vertical plates to forms that were more elaborate. One version was the hemispherical dial, a bowl-shaped depression cut into a block of stone that  carried a central vertical gnomon or pointer and was scribed with sets of hour lines. The hemicycle, said to have been invented around 300 BCE, removed the useless half of the hemisphere to give an appearance of a half-bowl cut into the edge of a square block. By 30 BCE, Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius could describe 13 different sundial styles in use in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy. Water Clocks   Water clocks were among the earliest timekeepers that did not depend on the observation of celestial bodies. One of the oldest was found in the tomb of Amenhotep I who was buried around 1500 BCE. Later named clepsydras or water thieves† by the Greeks who began using them around 325 BCE, these were stone vessels with sloping sides that allowed water to drip at a nearly constant rate from a small hole near the bottom.   Other clepsydras were cylindrical or bowl-shaped containers designed to slowly fill with water coming in at a constant rate. Markings on the inside surfaces measured the passage of hours as the water level reached them. These clocks were used to determine hours at night, but they may have been used in daylight as well. Another version consisted of a metal bowl with a hole in the bottom. The bowl would fill and sink in a certain time when placed in a container of water. These are still in use in North Africa in the 21st century.   More elaborate and impressive mechanized water clocks were developed between 100 BCE and 500 CE by Greek and Roman horologists and astronomers. The added complexity was aimed at making the flow more constant by regulating the pressure of the water and at providing fancier displays of the passage of time. Some water clocks rang bells and gongs. Others opened doors and windows to show little figures of people or moved pointers, dials, and astrological models of the universe. The rate of flow of water is very difficult to control accurately, so a clock based on that flow could never achieve excellent accuracy. People were naturally led to other approaches. Mechanized Clocks   A Greek astronomer, Andronikos, supervised the construction of the Tower of the Winds in Athens in the first century BCE. This octagonal structure showed both sundials and mechanical hour indicators. It featured a 24-hour mechanized clepsydra and indicators for the eight winds from which the tower got its name. It displayed the seasons of the year and astrological dates and periods. The Romans also developed mechanized clepsydras, but their complexity accomplished little improvement over simpler methods for determining the passage of time. In the Far East, mechanized astronomical/astrological clock making developed from 200 to 1300 CE. Third-century Chinese clepsydras drove various mechanisms that illustrated astronomical phenomena. One of the most elaborate clock towers was built by Su Sung and his associates in 1088 CE. Su Sungs mechanism incorporated a water-driven escapement invented around 725 CE. The Su Sung clock tower, over 30 feet tall, possessed a bronze power-driven armillary sphere  for observations, an automatically rotating celestial globe, and five front panels with doors that permitted the viewing of changing manikins which rang bells or gongs. It held tablets indicating the hour or other special times of the day.

The Day Education Came to Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Day Education Came to Life - Essay Example The experience which impacted my education was the graduation ceremony of my older sister from Texas A & M University. I got an opportunity to spend week on the university campus along with my sister, prior to the graduation ceremony. I was studying in a high school during that period and was not much interested in education. Like many of my friends, I took education lightly and gave more importance to other curriculum activities like playing, singing, dancing etc during that period. I spent lengthy hours in front of the computers, chatting with my friends with the help of social networks such as Facebook at that time. Majority of the home assignments provided by the teachers rested in my study table as unattended. The deadlines of many of those assignments were passed and I showed fewer interests in completing those things because of my lack of interests in education. I did consider education as a burden during my school studies. I thought that the society and family are trying to i mpose an unnecessary burden upon the children in the form of education. Since, I never felt any financial problems in my home, I failed to realise the importance of education in shaping the career of a person, at that time. A & M is the oldest institution in Texas for higher education. More than 50000 students from different parts of the world are studying at present in this university campus. The university campus spreads across 5200 acres of land at present even though it was started in humble manner in 1871. In 1960’s it underwent huge expansion programs and the present infrastructure of this university is developed as a result of that expansion programs. â€Å"The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened in 1997 on West Campus, making Texas A&M one of only a few universities to host a presidential library on their campus† (Texas A&M). In short, Texas A & M has huge tradition, better infrastructure and a beautiful landscape which attracted me very much. It should be noted that I never came across with a college campus until that time and this experience made huge changes in my way of thinking about education. The preparations and the enthusiasms displayed by the campus authorities and the college students for the graduation ceremony attracted me very much during my stay at Texas A & M. The University campus was decorated beautifully for the ceremony. One could clearly realize the importance given to the graduation ceremony by the authorities from these decorations and the special clothing provided to the students who successfully completed their graduation. I have witnessed many of the successful graduates including my sister receiving their graduation certificate from a dignitary. Before the presenting the certificates, some of the dignitaries present on the occasion, delivered some concise lectures to make the students aware of the importance of education and graduation certificates. One of the dignitaries has told the audience tha t the most precious thing in this universe is education rather than anything else. He has pointed out that the basic necessities of human include education also along with food, air, shelter and clothing. He has pointed out that education helps people to attain majority of the basic necessities of human life. He has also mentioned that education leads a person from the darker sides of the world to the brighter sides of the wo

Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Report - Coursework Example The objective of this investigation is to solve and look at some of the mathematical questions asked in the report. The main research topic of this mathematical investigation is maximization and minimization of variables (Berry & Ken 1995 pp24). The report aims to use differentiation in determining the maximum as well as the minimum variables in the question asked. In this section of the report, the report focuses on finding solutions to numerous questions asked in the report. The questions have different approaches but under the same topic. All the questions are based on maximum and minimum variables. The solutions to the mathematical issues are given below as; In conclusion, the research purpose was to compare between the giant and feel the fear. The aim was to determine which is bigger, the first question and the second question are the determinants for the research question. In order to determine the maximum and the minimum variables in each question, calculations were used following the processes that are used to approach mathematical issues such as the modelling of mathematics. Mathematical modelling is essential and relevant in solving certain mathematical problems. Each question asked in the report is answered accordingly through the use mathematical modelling and other important tips involved in approaching such mathematical

Personal statement Essay Example for Free

Personal statement Essay My names David, and just like my entire society of Jews, I have been neglected from the German nation. I have found no reasoning, no explanation, for why we been blamed for our countries extreme downfall. For the last two years our family has been in hiding and three months ago we were located and persecuted by the Nazis. The neighbors gather information and noticed we were Jewish, they quickly called the police. Weve received letters from our relatives stating their safe in a labor camp but I know they are probably not even alive anymore. Ive kept updated with the militaries action and they invaded Poland 39 as well. I feel an entire war begging and the help for our race is no where near. This Genocide is no where near over. We were stuffed into train crafts, over crowed without any space to sit. We had a bucket as a toilet for about 35 people. I felt the presence of evil from the begging, and even though I know were heading to Auschwitz I dont have any predictions for my future. As soon as we stepped off the train we were separated into two groups. To me the groups were workers and the other were the useless. I havent seen my mother or baby sister nor my grandmother. Me and my father escaped and are once again in hiding. We tried locating our family but we cant find anyone from the other group, but have seen bodies being disposed and the crematoria. I havent slept but Ive cried, consistently. As well as my father were torn down we understand what is going and are hopeless. I know the year, 1943. But not the day nor month. Help? I don’t expect it, not after 4 years not anytime soon especially not America who didn’t even allow the St. Louis ship to stop in the beginning. The only reason I believe this is because they have no idea what is going on. If they did they would evidently stop this epidemic and come rescue us. Me and my father have been living hopeless and have not expected anything to change but were safely hiding. Today we saw American soldiers invaded the labor camp and I have no idea what my future holds. Hopefully we can relocate to Israel which is under British control or united states. I just want for everything to go back to normal but the will never happen, especially since my family has been destroyed. The Allies soldiers are helping as much as possible and feel more sorrow then any other person, They will never fully understand what we went through. The world has come to a complete change, they understand that the isolation only brought destruction to entire world and the only way to keep peace is too come to a united world. I don’t feel the same, never will. My mentality has developed, I avoid eye contact with everyone, I hate speaking of the experiences but I most in order to let society know what has really happened.

Albrecht Ritschl Essay examples -- Christian Theology

Introduction Albrecht Ritschl was one of the most pivotal theologians in the history of Christianity. While many charge him with introducing ideas that led to a more liberal theology, his intentions were nevertheless honorable. Ritschl lived in a time where Christianity was no longer considered relevant or feasible, and his reinterpretations were an attempt to keep Christianity applicable to modern society. His defenses, however, often resulted in a corruption of doctrine and left Christianity open to attack. Thus Ritschl was an extremely influential theologian, though many question how positive that influence may have been. Ritschl’s Theology Ritschl’s theology was greatly affected by the philosophers of his time. Immanuel Kant had declared that the mind was incapable of understanding anything more than what could be experienced sensorially or was beyond ordered reason and logic. Similarly, Ritschl was influenced by the Tà ¼bingen school of theology, which he came to firmly oppose. Tà ¼bingen theology was extremely skeptical about Christianity, yet also promoted mysticism. Further, the school disregarded church history.1 Thus Ritschl’s theology would take a less extreme approach. He would reject mysticism on the grounds that theology must be firmly rooted in reality, particularly moral and ethical realities. On this basis he also rejected natural theology.2 Ritschl’s theology agreed with Kant’s philosophy to some extent. He agreed that the mind was limited to its experiences, but believed it could understand moral issues as they affected the individual.3 Thus everything was reduced to judgements of fact or value. Fact judgements could be proven objectively, but value judgements could not. Thus value judgements were left... ... Bibliography Ahern, Annette. â€Å"Social Justice: Now, Later or Never? The Contribution of Albrecht Ritschl and Johannes Weiss to Social Justice Theology.† Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 32, no. 3 (2003): 281-97. http://sir.sagepub.com/content/32/3/281 (accessed February 18, 2012). Douglas, J. D., Philip Wesley Comfort and Donald Mitchell. Who's Who in Christian History. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1992. Eckman, James P. Exploring Church History. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002. Geisler, Norman L. and William E. Nix. A General Introduction to the Bible. Rev. and expanded. Chicago: Moody Press, 1996. Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: The Reformation to the Present Day. 2nd ed. New York City, NY: HarperOne, 2010. Pierard, R.V. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Academic, 2001.

Public Handwash, Why Should They And Why They Don’t

Public Handwash, Why Should They And Why They Don’tFunny how little attention is paid to the importance of washing hands? After all, who does not know about it? Isnt it something we all learnt at a very tender age? It may appear to be a common sense thing. It is known that the hands are so much active in ones everyday life. It is the hands that touch everything and do all the work whether clean or dirty. Hands are therefore the routes through which germs and bacteria get their way into the body and eventually causing infections. According to Larson, et al, (2003), there is the need to always keep the hands clean and at all times. Keeping the hands clean prevents transmission of germs and prevents sickness and illnesses to oneself as well as to others. Others tend to trivialize the whole idea and overlook it. It is hard to believe the number of people who get their hands contaminated but will not wash them. Is washing of hands for some people?After all, some get dirtier than ot hers, don’t they? What with the gardener, the mechanic and all those known to indulge in jobs known to be dirty? Is it only the young children who need to be reminded to wash their hands because they have been out playing? Is it only the women or those preparing food that should continuously wash their hands? Washing of hands is not for a particular kind of people but for everybody. This is so by the fact that everyone’s hands are contaminated from time to time. It is surprising though to realize that even such people as doctors and nurses go without washing hands, considering that they sing the monotonous song to everybody of washing hands. Are they not the role models? Don’t they understand the reason behind it more than any one else?Some people who are adversely affected by this are school children. They are known to be very playful and they tend to use their hands. This exposes them to the hazard of getting infected because they are likely to forget to wash their hands and come lunchtime, they will use the same hands to eat without even hint of what they might be taking in.The fact that there is public handwash indicates the essence of the washing of hands. It is not necessary that your hands be soiled so that you can be convinced to wash them. You will be surprised to know how much dirty your hands are, much as they may appear clean. Whether in the hospitals, schools or restaurants, washing of hands is mandatory. It is shocking to come to the realization that only few people wash their hands after visiting the toilet.Is it because of the notions that the people have about these public places? Most people are known to view these public toilets and washrooms as dirty places. Does this excuse them from washing their hands? There are numerous reasons that call for one to see to it that their hands are washed regardless of whether they appear dirty or not. Just like I have said above, one has no option but to ensure that his hands are wash ed immediately after visiting the toilet. This is because there are so many germs that are got here and failure to wash hands dictates spread of germs and bacteria known to cause sickness and illnesses.The human body is one source of harmful germs and so one should ensure that he has washed hands after touching bare human body. One should also make it a duty to wash hands after handling animals. This much affects people who have pets like cats and dogs. These animals are known to be the carry a lot of germs and bacteria harmful to ones health as they cause illnesses.Before handling any food, one must wash hands to avoid contaminating it. This prevents harmful germs from being transferred from the  Hands to the food and consequently into the body through the mouth, (Roberts, 2001). Again, it is essential that one wash the hands after coughing, sneezing or even scratching. It is unbelievable the germs that are transmitted through sneezing or coughing. There is the need to wash hands frequently because every one is likely to touch the eyes or nose or any other sensitive body part that is likely to cause transmission of the germs from the hands and causing diseases. Last but not least, one should ensure that hands have been washed after handling soiled equipment. The fact that the equipment is already soiled is a clear indication of the need to wash the hands.This brings us to the key reason of discussing public handwash: its importance! To begin with, handwashing is essential to stop the spread of germs and bacteria that cause infections. Preventing sicknesses and illnesses subsequently prevents you from missing classes, job or social activities. This is so in that you do not go down with any infection that may have been caused by the germs. Washing of hands is particularly mandatory for the hospital workers. As the truth is, they are constantly in contact with sick people who may be secreting body fluids. This increases the chances of the doctor or nurse to ha ve hospital-acquired infections. It is therefore only wise for these health workers to wash their hands after every short while.Washing of hands not only keeps an individual safe from infections but it also keeps everyone else healthy. In The Journal, December 16,2006, it is promised that one cannot transmit germs from themselves to the next person as they have their hands washed and free from any germs. This applies largely in the context that one is preparing food for others. The chance of having germs transmitted from the hands to the food is drastically reduced owing to the fact that hands have been washed. People should always see to it that they have washed their hands before getting into the house. More applicable is the duty to wash hands before handling anything in the house. This ensures that no germs from outside have been brought into the house.I have always wondered why someone would think it ok to use the bathroom and comfortably check out without washing his or her ha nds. Don’t they know the kind of germs they can spread? I can bet women do it so acceptably; walking right out of the stall and out the exit door without so much as a care. Men on the other hand are not any better. In fact they are on the worse side. Now, someone has their hands on the same surfaces that you will be using soon after and still you don’t bother to wash your own hands after you are through? Something is just so wrong, or what shall I say about it?There are still people known not to wash their hands at all. Do these people have a valid reason why they should not? Aren’t they at the same risk with everyone else of contracting infections? One of the biggest reasons why some people don’t wash hands is if one is a man. Fewer men are known to wash their hands after visiting the public restroom than women. The crucial fact is that both men and women are at the same risk of getting infected with diseases if the hands are not washed. It is not so muc h that the men are incapable of contracting diseases but rather it is the issue about gender. The men see it as though it is only the women and childern who should have their hands washed while they overlook it altogether. It is disheartening when such simple task is not carried out as expected. Doesn’t it only require soap and water to have the whole thing done? Its not even like it takes long, yet it is a task not done by many.So much about people not feeling like washing their hands. It is very well known that some public restrooms and washrooms are not anything to write home about. In fact if the truth is to be told, they are so disgusting such that no one would wish to use them. This therefore becomes a reason why one would not use the public handwash facilities.Having talked about washing hands as a way of preventing spread of germs, it does not necessarily follow. By saying this, I want to bring into the limelight the fact that public handwashing may be a source of inf ections and affects the health of the community. Considering that there is universal use of soap and water, chances of spreading germs from one person to another are high. Thus handwashing becomes a problem in itself other than a problem solver. This therefore explains why many people would rather remain with dirty hands than expose them to greater danger. Everyone’s health is at this time put in danger as the rate at which the germs are to spread is quite high and the facilitators as well a in large numbers.It becomes apparent therefore that the best thing that one can do is to avoid it at all costs. There is the cost of medication to be looked into. This is the aftermath of handwashing and being infected with the germs that eventually cause diseases. The thought of visiting the hospital about a case of diarrhea is not at all pleasant. For it being a preventable illness indicates uncleanliness and poor hygiene. It would therefore be acceptable to deduce that while it is very much recommendable for one to wash their hands, there is also the need for great caution. In thinking that one is preventing germs and their spread, he may actually be getting more than he already has in his hands and thus exposing himself to danger of getting sick.Washing hands is therefore a very careful task that should not be overlooked or assumed (Curtis, 2002). Much as one might wash hands, it does not necessarily mean that they are really clean. One should then use the appropriate materials, which are clean water and soap. In doing so, one will be doing himself a lot of good and not just to himself but the other people as well. Just like we have seen, the other people’s health is very much affected by the individual’s hygiene. Public handwash is therefore both good and bad, as we have seen in the discussion above. This however does not mean that the public handwash should be done away with.References:Roberts, C. (2001). The food safety information handbook. Ory x Press.Larson, E., et al (2003). Short-and long-term effects of handwashing with antimicrobial or plain soap in the community. Journal of community health, Vol.28The journal (Newcastle, England,) (2006,December 16). How to avoid flu and colds this Christmas.Curtis, V. (2002,Oct): Health in your hands Lessons from building public-private partnerships for washing hands with soap, Retrieved September 29, 2007 from: http://www.globalhandwashing.org/Publications/Lessons_learntPart1.htm

Religion Essay

He was the Lord of Hosts and the god of battle. B) He was believed to inspire battle ecstasy in some warriors; called Berserks who would fight welcomed into the Paradise of Valhalla those who died in battle. 9. Odin was often depicted as a Middle aged man with long curly hair and a beard. He was attended by two ravens, Hug in (though) and man in (memory). Which he sent out into the world every day to gather information for him. 10. Odin crucified himself on the world tree in a mysterious ritual of sacrificing himself to himself to advance his quest for sacred knowledge. For nine days and nights he hung, pierced by a spear, until magical ‘runes’ (mystical symbols) appeared before him. 11. Thor the god of thunder, lightning and storms, was Odin’s eldest brother, his mother was the earth. 12. This hammer was made for him by the Dwarves, and would magically he turn to his hand whenever he needed it. 13. Thor the of thunder, lighting and storms was Odin eldest brother and his mother was the earth. Thor was supernaturally strong and renowned for his huge appertite. He drove about the heavens in cart pulled by his two fierce billy gods. Tooth Cnasher and tooth Grinder. 14. Loki helped the giants trick the thunder god. * Loki the trickster god was notorious among the deities. * He was the foster- brother of Odin, and the one who gave the fishing net to the Nordic people. * He was actually a giant who had been adopted into the Aesir because of his lively wit. 15. Capable of both good and evil Loki was an ambiguous figure who later came to be linked with Christian images of the devil. 16. Bader, a son of Odin and Frigg was the god of light. Balder was the most beautiful and gracious of the Aesir in Asgard. His mother extracted oaths from all things in nature not a harm her son. Horde and aimed it for him at balder who was killed by it. The gods grieved inconsolably over his death. 17. Freyr ( twin brother of Freya, and originally once of the vanir) * Njord was the god of the sea and father of the twins Freyr and Freya. * Tyr (aka Tiwaz) was the sword god, the hideous Fenris wolf bit Try’s arm off as Fenris was bound for the third time. * Helmdall, the god of the rising down, stood guard at the Asgard end the Bifrost Bridge and carried Gjallar, the mighty war horn. 18. Female deities featured quite strongly in Nordic religion and were seen to be as sashed and powerful as the male gods. 19. Frijj, Odin’s wife and Queen of the deities, was goddess of lone and death. 20. Freya the most renowned of the god desses ‘was twin sister of Freyr, she lame to be worshipped in a variety of fields, from warfare to lone of fairs, beauty, soothsaying (prophecy or truth telling). Freya lived (ever greedy for knowledge); she taught him the shamanistic (spiritual) magic known as seider. In return, she received half of all the warriors slain in battle and brought to Asgard. 21. The Valkyries, foster- daughters of Odin, were supernatural women who lived in Valhalla where they were cupbearers to the shades (spirits) of dead warriors. Valkyries were copse goddesses, unromantically represented by the raven. Contrary to popular depiction they did not ride winged horses. Often in a troop of nine, they rode fierce wolves into battle and allocated victory and defeat to the combatants. 22. The rode fierce wolves into battle and allocated victory and defeat to the combat ants. Those who died in battle were taken by the Valkyries to Valhalla, the golden feasting hall of the gods in Asgard. 3. The Norns were the three Fates, three terrible sisters named. Urd (Fate), verdanda (Being), and skuld (Necessity) originally from the land of the giants the norns spun the threads of life that allocated each individual’s destiny. 24. They wore the threads that shaped the lives not only of numars but also of the gods themselves. For that reason, the norns were often regarde d as more powerful than the deities, some traditions say that the two eldest Norns (Urd, the Fate of the past, and verdanda, the Fate of the present). 25. The Norns also tended to Yggdrasil, the word tree, and kept it healthy. Every day they drew pure water from the spring of Fate, whitened it with clay and poured the mixture over the tree so that the water fell down to earth as fresh life giving dew. In this way, they preserved the always nibbling at Yggdrasil buds and new leaf shoots, the Norns kept the tree green and growing. 26. Hela was the Queen of the dead. She lived in the underworld of Niflheim, the northern land of ice and darkness, all who died from sickness or old age passed into Hela’s world. The giants were older than the gods, and know so much more about the past that the gods had to go to them for wisdom. The Norns of underlying implication that even the gods themselves would come to an end in time is a continual haunting theme throughout the stories of Nordic mythology. 28. Mimir (memory) a very old and very wise giant who was keeper of the spring of wisdom. * Vafthrudner was called the all wise among the giants in Jotunheim. * Hrimthurs, was the rock giant who but Asgard fortifications sart, was the southern land of prim evil fine which devoured all the world all the world at the end of time. 9. The Nordic mythology is threads that shaped the lives not only of numans but also of the gods themselves. The Norns after regarded as more powerful than the deities. The gods were not permitted to see their life threads, suggested that they were subject to a fate beyond their divine control. The Norn who fixed the length of the thread of life by some accounts, unravelled what he sister had made. The Norns also tended to Yggdrasil, the world tree, and kept it healthy.

Sleep in Macbeth Essays

Sleep in Macbeth Essays Sleep in Macbeth Essay Sleep in Macbeth Essay A Living Nightmare * Humans look forward to it from the moment they are woken up by the buzzing of their alarm clock each morning. Without it, we grow more and more agitated as time slowly passes by. Sleep is that which relieves us of the stress and exhaustion that each day brings about, and prepares us to start a new day. This has been true since the beginning of time, and is made evident in Shakespeare’s, Macbeth. Through out history, sleep has been that which keeps all lives in order. Through the loss of innocent sleep, Macbeth becomes unable to cope with the madness occurring in his life, this nightmare eventually leads to their ultimate demise. * Macbeth’s basic idea of sleep is shown when he first realizes that it is a basic life function that he may never be able to take part in again. He tells his wife, â€Å"The innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labours bath, balm of hurt minds, great natures second course, chief nourisher of life’s feast† (II, i, 59). Macbeth reveals much of what is commonly known to be the benefits of sleep; it heals our minds and nourishes our weakened bodies. Sleep also allows one to regain order in their life. Lady Macbeth is aware of this and tells Macbeth saying, â€Å"You lack the season of all natures, sleep† (III, iv, 167). Through losing his ability to sleep Macbeth creates a great amount of disorder in his life and the lives of his countrymen. * Fearful of the vulnerability it creates, Banquo refuses to allow himself to sleep. Confiding in his young son Banquo shares, â€Å"A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, and yet I would not sleep† (II, i, 7-8). Having been in combat along side Macbeth just a day or two before, it is only natural for Banquo to be exhausted and desiring sleep. However, he recognizes that Duncan was killed so easily, because it was done at a time when he left himself susceptible to all attackers. He fears that Macbeth will inevitably take his life, and reasons that he must remain awake to maintain constant self-defense. * The inner voice of Macbeth’s conscience shows Macbeth’s inability to sleep is simply due to bad karma. â€Å"Still it cried ‘sleep no more! To all the house: ‘ Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more! ’† (II, ii, 53 – 55). Through his act of taking the life of an innocent man, at a time when he stood no chance at defending himself, Macbeth murders innocent sleep. Murdering this innocent sleep leads Macbeth into a cursed life where he is no longer able to enjoy a good night’s sleep. Without proper rest, Macbeth begins to take actions without first thinking them through. In doing this Macbeth makes it clear that he has murdered Duncan. These careless actions will set in motion the downfall of Macbeth. * Having already killed Duncan, Macbeth begins to view sleep as a time when one is made vulnerable to the evilness of bad dreams. As Macbeth finishes a conversation with the fearful Banquo, he tells the audience, â€Å" Now o’er the one half – world nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep† (II, i, 5y – 59). Macbeth tells us that he understands that he has deceived a great deal of people, and that they are metaphorically trapped in a nightmare in which nothing is true. Blinded by this dream, the people of Scotland are unable to discover the terrible actions that Macbeth has committed. Through his triumph over Macbeth, Malcom ultimately serves to wake Scotland of the nightmare they have been tricked into, and brings his people back to a state of reality. * Lack of sleep sends Macbeth down a path full of deranged thoughts and bad choices. Losing his ability sleep, Macbeth becomes unable to regain his sanity, and ultimately dies because of it. This is the result of a principle that always been known to man, sleep is a necessary part of a fully functioning life. *

A Telephone Based Wireless Remote Controller

Data processing stages of the transmitter and receiver modules have been implemented using digital components, thereby avoiding possible use of conventional devices like monostable multivibrators. Due to the fully digital nature, the proposed design is less complex and hence the implementation is cost effective. I. INTRODUCTION With the advancement in science and technology, human beings have developed a tendency to make their everyday life amply luxurious with the aid of technology. This has led to the development of many sophisticated gadgets and equipments that assist them partially/fully in their daily activities. Operating all such electronic/electrical instruments in a modern house might be difficult for the elderly as well as disabled people. Our primary motivation to build a simple and low cost system which remotely operates all the home appliances stems from this point. We integrate our system with a standard telephone set so that the telephone can be used for the dual purpose of telephony and remote controller for various home appliances. The proposed system mainly consists of 3 modules, viz. , telephone interface circuit, transmitter and receiver. The transmitter module is in turn made up of a digital data processing block and a wireless (infrared) transmitter block and the eceiver module is made up of a wireless (infrared) receiver block, digital data processing block and a decoding block. In the scheme, a telephone receiver acts as a remote terminal to provide input Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals to the telephone interface circuit which converts them to corresponding 4 bit Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) codes. The transmitter generates an 8 bit frame using this BCD code to facilitate asynchronous communication . The receiver decodes the received signals after checking for any transmission errors (single bit) in the frame. These decoded bits act as control signals for the operation of home appliances. The system employs an asynchronous type of communication [1] in which the transmitter and receiver clocks are independent. The receiver clock does not have any prior information regarding the phase of the transmitter clock [2]. This leads to the problem of choosing the correct sampling instants at the receiver [3]. Hence the data is transmitted in the form of frames instead of individual bits. Each such frame consists of start bits, information bits, and stop bits [1]. This is explained in detail in the subsequent sections. When the system is idle, the data processing block of he transmitter gives constant logical high output. Since the transmitter consumes more power in transmitting logical high than logical low, the output of data processing block is negated before transmission to save power in the idle state. The receiver module also senses this and remains idle whenever the transmitter is transmitting continuous logical low. The reception of a start bit changes the state of the r eceiver from an idle to an active state. It then has to sample the remaining data bits in the frame at proper sampling instants. Most of the standard hardware schemes involve the use of monostable ultivibrators at the receiver to recover the data bits following the start bit. The monostable multivibrators commonly rely on variable components such as resistance and capacitance values, as well as they often account for a major part of the propagation delays associated with the receiver. We have extended this treatment to a fully digital design that presents more challenging tasks including a digital output feedback. Moreover, use of all digital components in the data processing stages reduces the propagation delay considerably. The complete design outline of all the modules of the roposed system is presented in Section II. Results and discussions are given in Section III. Finally, we present our conclusions in Section IV. II. DESIGN OUTLINE The block diagram of the proposed telephone based wireless remote control system is shown in Fig. 1. In the proposed system, the telephone set performs the dual functions of telephony and remotely controlling various devices. The remote control mode of the telephone can be activated by pressing ‘#’ from the keypad of the telephone. After the desired tasks are accomplished, ‘#’ should be pressed again to deactivate the control system. This is one of the functions of the telephone interface circuit, which is discussed next. A. Telephone Interface Circuit The telephone interface circuit integrates the designed system with the standard telephone system. As shown in Fig. 2, it basically performs the job of receiving the signals from the local loop and converting them to the standard digital signals in the BCD format. When any telephone button is pressed, a unique DTMF signal is produced for a short duration [4] which is converted to corresponding BCD code by a standard DTMF to BCD converter (KT-3170) [5]. The dual tone frequencies and the BCD codes associated with each dialed digit are shown in Table 1. The system remains in the idle state until ‘#’ button is pressed which sets the telephone to remote control mode. This mode remains activated until ‘#’ button is pressed again. This is realized in the hardware by using the BCD code corresponding to ‘#’ as the clock to toggle the J-K flip-flop (74112). The flip-flop output toggles whenever the ‘#’ button is pressed and this is directly used to control the mode of operation of the telephone. The DSO output of KT-3170 [5] is used to generate a start it for the system as it is logical high whenever a received tone pair has been registered and the output latch is updated. As the latched 4-bit BCD code is directly available at the output of KT-3170, it is given as such to the data processing block of the transmitter. These data bits are then processed to facilitate asynchronous communicatio n as explained below. B. Transmitter The 4-bit output of KT-3170 can not be directly transmitted as individual bits as the proposed system employs asynchronous mode of communication. The 4-bit BCD code is thus transmitted as frames for proper reception [1]. We have chosen an eight bit frame for our system which consists of a start bit followed by four data bits, a parity bit and two stop bits. Parity bit enables the system to detect any single bit error during transmission. Stop bits mark the ending of the frame. The frame is then transmitted using infrared (IR) transmitter. As shown in Fig. 2, the transmitter mainly consists of two blocks which are explained below. 1) Fully Digital Data Processing Block: This block performs the function of converting individual bits to 8-bit frames in order to carry asynchronous communication. First bit of the frame is the start bit (taken as 0) which is generated when any of the buttons is pressed. The succeeding 4 bits are the data bits (BCD code) generated by the telephone interface circuit as explained before. Next bit is taken as parity check bit generated by XORing the first 5 bits of the frame. Last 2 bits, termed as stop bits, are taken as 1. Following the generation of the start bit, the data bits are loaded in the parallel to serial converter (74165) using a D-type flip-flop (7474) and the frame is transmitted serially. 2) IR Transmitter Block: This module transmits the frames enerated in the previous section using an IR emitting diode. The data to be transmitted is modulated using Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) with a carrier square wave of 38 kHz. The transmission range of the system is thus highly improved over the case when data is transmitted without modulation. As the data processing stage gives logical high output in the idle state, it is negated before tran smission to save power. Thus, a logical low is actually transmitted whenever the system is in idle state. C. Receiver The receiver also has 2 working states, viz. , idle and active. It remains in the idle state until it detects a start bit. It then receives the frame starting from the start bit and checks for a single bit error. If error is detected, no action is taken and the information has to be transmitted again by the user. The received data bits are then decoded which act as control signals for the operation of various appliances. As is evident from Fig. 3, receiver circuit can be subdivided into 3 blocks which are explained below. 1) IR Receiver Block: This block receives the transmitted frames and converts the signal back to Transistor Transistor Logic (TTL) levels. A standard 38 kHz IR receiver (TSOP 1738) [6] is used for this purpose. 2) Sampling Clock Generator: The main function of this block is to generate a sampling instant at approximately the middle of the transmitted bit interval. The start bit activates this block and loads counter 1 (4-bit up-counter) with value ‘0’. The clock frequency of this counter is 16 times the bit rate. When the output of this counter changes from 7 to 8, the most significant bit changes from ‘0’ to ‘1’ and this rising edge is used as the sampling instant for the data. Start bit also loads the counter 2 (4-bit down-counter) with the frame size i. e. , 8. When this reaches the value ‘0’, the whole block is disabled and is reactivated only when next start bit arrives. 3) Data Sampler and Decoder: The serial input data is sampled according to the sampling instant generated in the previous stage and is converted to parallel form using serial to parallel converter (74164). This data is then checked for any 1-bit errors by XORing the bits. If error is found, no action is taken and the data has to be retransmitted. If no errors are found, the data is decoded using 4-16 decoder (74154) and he signal is given to the appliance for the completion of the corresponding task. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The proposed system has been fully implemented and successfully tested in the standard telephone local loop. The transmitter, kept near the telephone set, taps the DTMF signal from the local loop and transmits the corresponding data frame wirelessly . This signal is received by the receiver installed at the switch board. It decodes the data and takes the corresponding action. At least ten control signals, corresponding to each digit from 0 to 9, can be generated using a standard telephone set. The transmitter was previously implemented without a modulator where the IR LED was kept ON for transmitting logical high and OFF for transmitting logical low. This limited the distance between the transmitter and receiver to a maximum of 30 cms for proper reception. The range of the wireless system has increased to several meters after modulating the data using 38 kHz square wave. This range also depends on the current flowing through the infrared diode which has to be properly tuned to maximize the range. A standard TSOP 1738 receiver is used in the proposed ystem, which requires a minimum burst length of 10 cycles for proper detection. This puts an upper limit on the data rate supported by our system which is practically observed to be 2. 8 kbps [5]. The IR transmitter is highly directional and requires the receiver to be in line of sight of the transmitter. The reception angle of the receiver is observed to decrease with increasing distance between the transmitter and receiver. T his is because of the fact that the power is not uniformly distributed and is concentrated in narrow transmission angle. Moreover, the signal power reduces when the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is increased. So, the receiver has to be highly aligned with transmitter when operating at some substantial distance from it. This problem is of not much concern for our system because the transmitter and receiver, being static in nature, can be properly aligned at the time of installation. The data processing blocks of both the transmitter and the receiver are fully digital in nature. This comprehensively reduces the propagation delays involved and increases the rate at which data can be processed in these blocks. Though, data rate is not very important in the present application but this feature makes the design of our data processing blocks suitable for high data rate applications which are commonly seen in wired communication. IV. CONCLUSIONS A wireless system has been proposed to operate the home appliances remotely using a standard telephone set. This has been successfully tested and is found to be working satisfactorily within a distance of 10 meters. The telephone receiver performs a dual-function of telephony and remotely controlling various devices with the help of its ‘#’ button on the keypad. The telephone interface circuit is easily integrated with the standard local loop thus avoiding any changes in the telephone set. Hence, the proposed system is compatible with any type of telephone working on standard local loop. The system employs asynchronous mode of communication which avoids the need to synchronize the transmitter and receiver clocks, thus making our system less complex and hence cost effective. The proposed fully digital innovative design of the data processing blocks reduces the propagation delay and makes them useful for even high data rate applications. Moreover, the system is capable of detecting the single bit errors occuring during transmission. The proposed system can be used in a wide range of practical applications such as speed control of motors, switching of appliances, control of robots, etc. The above discussed characteristics like simple design, high practical utility and easy installation makes our system highly marketable. REFERENCES [1] Gorry Fairhurst. Asynchronous Communication [Online]. Available: http://www. erg. abdn. ac. uk/users/gorry/course/phy-pages/async. html. [2] D. Comer, Computer Networks and Internets with Internet Applications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2004. [3] A. Subramanian, V. P. S. Makh and A. Mitra, â€Å"A New Digital Transceiver Circuit for Asynchronous Communication†, Enformatika Trans. , vol. 8, pp. 237-241, Oct. 2005. [4] DTMF Background [Online]. Available: http:// www. ece. utexas. edu/mason/codesign/dtmf. html. [5] Samsung Electronics Datasheet. KT3170 Low Power DTMF Receiver [Online]. Available: http://www. ortodoxism. ro/datasheets/SamsungElectronic/mXuusvq. pdf. [6] Vishay Semiconductors Datasheet. Photo Modules for PCM Remote Control Systems [Online]. Available: http://www. vishay. com/docs/82030/82030. pdf A Telephone Based Wireless Remote Controller Data processing stages of the transmitter and receiver modules have been implemented using digital components, thereby avoiding possible use of conventional devices like monostable multivibrators. Due to the fully digital nature, the proposed design is less complex and hence the implementation is cost effective. I. INTRODUCTION With the advancement in science and technology, human beings have developed a tendency to make their everyday life amply luxurious with the aid of technology. This has led to the development of many sophisticated gadgets and equipments that assist them partially/fully in their daily activities. Operating all such electronic/electrical instruments in a modern house might be difficult for the elderly as well as disabled people. Our primary motivation to build a simple and low cost system which remotely operates all the home appliances stems from this point. We integrate our system with a standard telephone set so that the telephone can be used for the dual purpose of telephony and remote controller for various home appliances. The proposed system mainly consists of 3 modules, viz. , telephone interface circuit, transmitter and receiver. The transmitter module is in turn made up of a digital data processing block and a wireless (infrared) transmitter block and the eceiver module is made up of a wireless (infrared) receiver block, digital data processing block and a decoding block. In the scheme, a telephone receiver acts as a remote terminal to provide input Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals to the telephone interface circuit which converts them to corresponding 4 bit Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) codes. The transmitter generates an 8 bit frame using this BCD code to facilitate asynchronous communication . The receiver decodes the received signals after checking for any transmission errors (single bit) in the frame. These decoded bits act as control signals for the operation of home appliances. The system employs an asynchronous type of communication [1] in which the transmitter and receiver clocks are independent. The receiver clock does not have any prior information regarding the phase of the transmitter clock [2]. This leads to the problem of choosing the correct sampling instants at the receiver [3]. Hence the data is transmitted in the form of frames instead of individual bits. Each such frame consists of start bits, information bits, and stop bits [1]. This is explained in detail in the subsequent sections. When the system is idle, the data processing block of he transmitter gives constant logical high output. Since the transmitter consumes more power in transmitting logical high than logical low, the output of data processing block is negated before transmission to save power in the idle state. The receiver module also senses this and remains idle whenever the transmitter is transmitting continuous logical low. The reception of a start bit changes the state of the r eceiver from an idle to an active state. It then has to sample the remaining data bits in the frame at proper sampling instants. Most of the standard hardware schemes involve the use of monostable ultivibrators at the receiver to recover the data bits following the start bit. The monostable multivibrators commonly rely on variable components such as resistance and capacitance values, as well as they often account for a major part of the propagation delays associated with the receiver. We have extended this treatment to a fully digital design that presents more challenging tasks including a digital output feedback. Moreover, use of all digital components in the data processing stages reduces the propagation delay considerably. The complete design outline of all the modules of the roposed system is presented in Section II. Results and discussions are given in Section III. Finally, we present our conclusions in Section IV. II. DESIGN OUTLINE The block diagram of the proposed telephone based wireless remote control system is shown in Fig. 1. In the proposed system, the telephone set performs the dual functions of telephony and remotely controlling various devices. The remote control mode of the telephone can be activated by pressing ‘#’ from the keypad of the telephone. After the desired tasks are accomplished, ‘#’ should be pressed again to deactivate the control system. This is one of the functions of the telephone interface circuit, which is discussed next. A. Telephone Interface Circuit The telephone interface circuit integrates the designed system with the standard telephone system. As shown in Fig. 2, it basically performs the job of receiving the signals from the local loop and converting them to the standard digital signals in the BCD format. When any telephone button is pressed, a unique DTMF signal is produced for a short duration [4] which is converted to corresponding BCD code by a standard DTMF to BCD converter (KT-3170) [5]. The dual tone frequencies and the BCD codes associated with each dialed digit are shown in Table 1. The system remains in the idle state until ‘#’ button is pressed which sets the telephone to remote control mode. This mode remains activated until ‘#’ button is pressed again. This is realized in the hardware by using the BCD code corresponding to ‘#’ as the clock to toggle the J-K flip-flop (74112). The flip-flop output toggles whenever the ‘#’ button is pressed and this is directly used to control the mode of operation of the telephone. The DSO output of KT-3170 [5] is used to generate a start it for the system as it is logical high whenever a received tone pair has been registered and the output latch is updated. As the latched 4-bit BCD code is directly available at the output of KT-3170, it is given as such to the data processing block of the transmitter. These data bits are then processed to facilitate asynchronous communicatio n as explained below. B. Transmitter The 4-bit output of KT-3170 can not be directly transmitted as individual bits as the proposed system employs asynchronous mode of communication. The 4-bit BCD code is thus transmitted as frames for proper reception [1]. We have chosen an eight bit frame for our system which consists of a start bit followed by four data bits, a parity bit and two stop bits. Parity bit enables the system to detect any single bit error during transmission. Stop bits mark the ending of the frame. The frame is then transmitted using infrared (IR) transmitter. As shown in Fig. 2, the transmitter mainly consists of two blocks which are explained below. 1) Fully Digital Data Processing Block: This block performs the function of converting individual bits to 8-bit frames in order to carry asynchronous communication. First bit of the frame is the start bit (taken as 0) which is generated when any of the buttons is pressed. The succeeding 4 bits are the data bits (BCD code) generated by the telephone interface circuit as explained before. Next bit is taken as parity check bit generated by XORing the first 5 bits of the frame. Last 2 bits, termed as stop bits, are taken as 1. Following the generation of the start bit, the data bits are loaded in the parallel to serial converter (74165) using a D-type flip-flop (7474) and the frame is transmitted serially. 2) IR Transmitter Block: This module transmits the frames enerated in the previous section using an IR emitting diode. The data to be transmitted is modulated using Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) with a carrier square wave of 38 kHz. The transmission range of the system is thus highly improved over the case when data is transmitted without modulation. As the data processing stage gives logical high output in the idle state, it is negated before tran smission to save power. Thus, a logical low is actually transmitted whenever the system is in idle state. C. Receiver The receiver also has 2 working states, viz. , idle and active. It remains in the idle state until it detects a start bit. It then receives the frame starting from the start bit and checks for a single bit error. If error is detected, no action is taken and the information has to be transmitted again by the user. The received data bits are then decoded which act as control signals for the operation of various appliances. As is evident from Fig. 3, receiver circuit can be subdivided into 3 blocks which are explained below. 1) IR Receiver Block: This block receives the transmitted frames and converts the signal back to Transistor Transistor Logic (TTL) levels. A standard 38 kHz IR receiver (TSOP 1738) [6] is used for this purpose. 2) Sampling Clock Generator: The main function of this block is to generate a sampling instant at approximately the middle of the transmitted bit interval. The start bit activates this block and loads counter 1 (4-bit up-counter) with value ‘0’. The clock frequency of this counter is 16 times the bit rate. When the output of this counter changes from 7 to 8, the most significant bit changes from ‘0’ to ‘1’ and this rising edge is used as the sampling instant for the data. Start bit also loads the counter 2 (4-bit down-counter) with the frame size i. e. , 8. When this reaches the value ‘0’, the whole block is disabled and is reactivated only when next start bit arrives. 3) Data Sampler and Decoder: The serial input data is sampled according to the sampling instant generated in the previous stage and is converted to parallel form using serial to parallel converter (74164). This data is then checked for any 1-bit errors by XORing the bits. If error is found, no action is taken and the data has to be retransmitted. If no errors are found, the data is decoded using 4-16 decoder (74154) and he signal is given to the appliance for the completion of the corresponding task. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The proposed system has been fully implemented and successfully tested in the standard telephone local loop. The transmitter, kept near the telephone set, taps the DTMF signal from the local loop and transmits the corresponding data frame wirelessly . This signal is received by the receiver installed at the switch board. It decodes the data and takes the corresponding action. At least ten control signals, corresponding to each digit from 0 to 9, can be generated using a standard telephone set. The transmitter was previously implemented without a modulator where the IR LED was kept ON for transmitting logical high and OFF for transmitting logical low. This limited the distance between the transmitter and receiver to a maximum of 30 cms for proper reception. The range of the wireless system has increased to several meters after modulating the data using 38 kHz square wave. This range also depends on the current flowing through the infrared diode which has to be properly tuned to maximize the range. A standard TSOP 1738 receiver is used in the proposed ystem, which requires a minimum burst length of 10 cycles for proper detection. This puts an upper limit on the data rate supported by our system which is practically observed to be 2. 8 kbps [5]. The IR transmitter is highly directional and requires the receiver to be in line of sight of the transmitter. The reception angle of the receiver is observed to decrease with increasing distance between the transmitter and receiver. T his is because of the fact that the power is not uniformly distributed and is concentrated in narrow transmission angle. Moreover, the signal power reduces when the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is increased. So, the receiver has to be highly aligned with transmitter when operating at some substantial distance from it. This problem is of not much concern for our system because the transmitter and receiver, being static in nature, can be properly aligned at the time of installation. The data processing blocks of both the transmitter and the receiver are fully digital in nature. This comprehensively reduces the propagation delays involved and increases the rate at which data can be processed in these blocks. Though, data rate is not very important in the present application but this feature makes the design of our data processing blocks suitable for high data rate applications which are commonly seen in wired communication. IV. CONCLUSIONS A wireless system has been proposed to operate the home appliances remotely using a standard telephone set. This has been successfully tested and is found to be working satisfactorily within a distance of 10 meters. The telephone receiver performs a dual-function of telephony and remotely controlling various devices with the help of its ‘#’ button on the keypad. The telephone interface circuit is easily integrated with the standard local loop thus avoiding any changes in the telephone set. Hence, the proposed system is compatible with any type of telephone working on standard local loop. The system employs asynchronous mode of communication which avoids the need to synchronize the transmitter and receiver clocks, thus making our system less complex and hence cost effective. The proposed fully digital innovative design of the data processing blocks reduces the propagation delay and makes them useful for even high data rate applications. Moreover, the system is capable of detecting the single bit errors occuring during transmission. The proposed system can be used in a wide range of practical applications such as speed control of motors, switching of appliances, control of robots, etc. The above discussed characteristics like simple design, high practical utility and easy installation makes our system highly marketable. REFERENCES [1] Gorry Fairhurst. Asynchronous Communication [Online]. Available: http://www. erg. abdn. ac. uk/users/gorry/course/phy-pages/async. html. [2] D. Comer, Computer Networks and Internets with Internet Applications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2004. [3] A. Subramanian, V. P. S. Makh and A. Mitra, â€Å"A New Digital Transceiver Circuit for Asynchronous Communication†, Enformatika Trans. , vol. 8, pp. 237-241, Oct. 2005. [4] DTMF Background [Online]. Available: http:// www. ece. utexas. edu/mason/codesign/dtmf. html. [5] Samsung Electronics Datasheet. KT3170 Low Power DTMF Receiver [Online]. Available: http://www. ortodoxism. ro/datasheets/SamsungElectronic/mXuusvq. pdf. [6] Vishay Semiconductors Datasheet. Photo Modules for PCM Remote Control Systems [Online]. Available: http://www. vishay. com/docs/82030/82030. pdf