Transmission Of A Tv Signal English Language Essay

Transmission Of A Tv Signal English Language Essay In electronics, many different types of carrier signals exists and due to the fact that this signals simply carry data intended for a different audience, which most of the times, are farther than the area of production of such signals. This gave rise to various modulation techniques to ensure effective transfer of these signals bearing information without loss of quality or degradation. This paper deals on how to modulate a Television (TV) signal using 16-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) Keywords include: 16-QAM, TV Signals, Amplitude Modulation, Data, and Attenuation, baseband. 1.0 Introduction Everyday different types of signals transverse the air around us, most of which we cant feel or see, but we see their impact or influence everyday through different electronic gadgets we have or own personally. Most of these electronic gadgets are able to work as a result of them being able to receive a signal and they able to correctly interpret that signal and we in turn appreciate the devices. For the devices to correctly interpret these signals a kind of technique was used and this is known as Demodulation, this being that the devices are designed to receive this type of signals. The processes that led to being able to demodulate is what my focus is on; the process is known as modulation. Why modulation? This is due to the fact that not all intended users of a particular device or service reside close to the production station and also production signals called baseband signals cant travel much and would need a lot of power to transmit them over the air medium and this adds to the operating cost of the station and this is not acceptable. 2.0 Transmission medium for TV signal As with any kind of signal, the most important of that signal is to be received and decoded correctly, so that information encoded can be seen or viewed. The medium of passage of such signals is of consequence, because these helps to know the appropriate modulation to use and what, this information is tied to the channel coding, the advantages of the channel and the noise rate of that channel in consideration. For example, the transmission medium for sound received by the ears is usually air, sound can also travel through solids, liquids and plasma Electromagnetic waves have no need of any material substance for it to propagate but can be affected by the transmission media they pass through at the boundary between the media by absorption, reflection or refraction. Therefore, TV signals are like communicating data sent from one location to another which requires a pathway or medium. These pathways, called communication channels; two types of preferred media are: (a) Cable (twisted-pair wire, cable, and fibre-optic cable) and (b) broadcast (microwave, satellite, radio, and infrared). {Note:- Cable media use physical wires of cables to transmit data and information, while Twisted-pair wire and coaxial cables are made of copper, and fibre-optic cable is made of glass.} 2.1 BASEBAND SIGNAL The definition of a baseband signal is a signal that contains information, which may vary from audio signals, video signals, speech signal, image signal and many different other types depending on application and use. These signals cant move more than a few metres after production; for example, a speech signal; two persons can hear themselves clearly in close proximity to each other, as the distance between them increase, they start hearing faint messages or signals from each other and at a point, they cant hear each other again. Therefore for them to be heard no matter the distance between them there is need to modulate the speech signal generated by each person, so that each person can hear what the other person has said or is saying. A signal can be said to be an analogue data stream with which it varies with respect to space and time; with this property, each signal can be sampled, quantized, and transformed into digital data streams or packets. These processes it goes from being analogue to digital data streams or packet is called modulation. There are different modulation techniques used to carry different signals depending on the transmission medium and the condition inherent in that medium. 2.2 Modulation What is modulation? According to Margaret Rouse, modulation is the combination of signal to an electronic signal carrier, modulation is useful in direct current by turning it on and off to alternating current. Literally, modulation can be said to be a way of quicken the transfer of data or information through a medium. Transmission of sound through air has restricted degree of power generated by the lungs, to give the extent at which the voice can reach there is need to transmit it through a medium such as phone line, radio etc. therefore, the successful conversion of information in this case voice, to pass through a medium such as wire or radio waves is known as Modulation (www.complextoreal.com ). 2.3 TYPES OF MODULATION Modulation helps in many ways and it can be referred to as the process of transposing a signal wave onto a carrier wave in order to carry information. There are 3 three key properties of this carrier wave, which is a sinusoid wave with an amplitude, a phase and a frequency, these properties can be exploited to generate another kind of waveform to carry the intended information which is known referred to as a modulated signal. (www.encyclopediapro.com/mw/modulation) In most part of the world, frequency spectrum is expensive to waste and often its a national property, which means, to use it, the intending user has to be licensed and must follow a protocol process to have that frequency band assigned to him solely and given the channels parameters he can use. This is because, there are many different users competing for the same frequency band, due to the fact that the lower the frequency given, the lower the operating cost of using that frequency band. There are 2 broad class of modulation; they are the analogue modulation and the digital modulation. In analogue modulation, there is a continuous change in response to the signal to be modulated; this can be seen in Phase Modulation, Frequency Modulation, Amplitude Modulation, Single-Sideband Modulation, and Vestigial-sideband Modulation. In digital Modulation, there are changes in the signal position with respect to a starting position, while each position corresponds to a piece of information or symbol and can be represented on a constellation diagram. Examples include: Phase-Shift Key (PSK), Frequency-shift Key (FSK), Amplitude-shift Key (ASK), Minimum-shift Key (MSK), Gaussian minimum-shift Key (GMSK), Very minimum-shift Key (VMSK), Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), this a combination of PSK and ASK. Continuous phase modulation  (CPM) and Trellis coded modulation  (TCM). (www.encyclopediapro.com/mw/modulation) For each of these types of modulation techniques, their phases, frequencies and amplitude are assigned a unique sequence of bits which corresponds to an equal number of bits and make up a symbol that represent that particular phase or code. 3.0 QAM The modulation of interest for the purpose of his paper is the QAM, or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, from research; it was noticed that QAM has both an analogue and digital modulation properties depending on how its to be applied. QAM is made up of two modulation scheme, namely the Amplitude-shift Keying which is achieved by modulating or changing the state of the amplitude of two carrier waves to carry two analogue message signal or two digital data streams. The other is the Phase-shift Keying, in which the sinusoidal waves are usually out of phase to each other and apart by 90o. When these two waveforms are combined, it results to Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (two different amplitudes two out of phase signals). QAM, this modulation technique is used to encode and transmit digital cable channels, while the simplest of the QAM techniques is the 16-QAM i.e. 24 phase points, this is able to carry 6MHz bandwidth regulated by the authoritys policy. The type of signal interested in is the signal generated from a video source, this type of signal consumes more than the set frequency of 6MHz, a typical video source signal is huge, so using 16- QAM techniques, it is possible to encode the signal onto the QAM carrier wave to carry it and pass through the 6MHz bandwidth limit and still be able to carry additional signals such as the voice signal component of the video signal. However there are different video formats such as the NTSC, PAL, MPEG; this video formats also help in reducing the size of video signal, hereby assisting the 16-QAM to effectively encode the signal without loss of quality and making it noise proof. Other variants of QAM includes 64, 256 phase variants, but as this phases size inc rease, so do they incorporate noise and mismatching often affect the performance of the receiver to be correctly tuned in to receive the sequence of bits sent over the medium. One of the uses of QAM is in the modulation of digital television systems, due to its high spectral efficiencies and the requirement of a cleaner path, and such hybrid fibre coaxial cables are used to deliver digital television signals to homes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner, 2012) In the United Kingdom, 2 variants of the QAM are being used, this are the 16 and 64 variants and they are used for digital terrestrial TV like Freeview by British Telecoms Top-Up TV, while for the 256-QAM, is being considered for the HD version of freeview which is delivered over high speed fibre optics links to homes across the country. Therefore, the makeup of QAM is shown via the figure below and the different modulation techniques it uses to modulate and encode its own signal and how it lead to the development of QAM. 3.0.1 Amplitude Shift Keying (Ask) According to N.Vlajic (2010), Ask is the modulation of digital data with changes in the amplitude of a carrier while both frequencies an d phase remain constant; carrier signal is varied by representing the binary with 0 and 1. Also in ASK, the mode of operation is to vary the amplitude of the carrier wave to carry a baseband signal, while the frequency and phase remain constant. Ask has two levels called binary bits of implementing its modulation process and it is often referred to as Binary Amplitude shift keying or on-off keying (B-ASK or OOK). Each binary bit corresponds to a symbol that represents an amplitude level. According to (Glover and Grant, 2004, chapter 11, page 391), they said that in B-ASK, the two digital levels can be one and zero, to represent the pulse of a sinusoidal carrier wave, although any one of the changing amplitude can be inferred to be one and the other zero and from this result, it describes why it also referred to as on-off keying sequence. This method of digital sequence of one and zero can be referred to a switch and was used to transmit Morse codes (Wikipedia) in the early 20th century. In recent times, additional amplitude levels has been developed for enhanced encoding schemes such as a 4 four level encoding scheme to take on two bits or 22with corresponding shift in amplitude, also there is an eight level scheme to represent 3 three bits or 23, and so on. This gives a reduced power required to transmit and hence advantageous to use. (Wikipedia-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude-shift_keying) A binary amplitude-shift keying (BASK) signal can be defined by S (t) = A m (t) cos 2pfct. For: (0 Implementation of ASK is relatively cheap and simple but its amplitude is usually affected by noise, distortion s and the propagation conditions on different route which makes the process more difficult. In ASK digital data is transmitted over an optical fiber. Figure 1. ASK signal representation. 3.0.2 Phase shift keying (PSK) Phase-shift keying (PSK) refers to a modulation scheme that is used to carry information by changing, or modulating, the phase of the carrier wave. PSK can still be defined as the modulation of digital data with amplitude at peak, frequency remain constant and phase with carrier signal varied to depict binary 0 or 1, with binary 0 = 180 degree phase and binary 1 = 0 degree.PSK is not sensitive to error and productively make use of bandwidth, so high data rate is possible but has more complex signal detection (N. Vlajic, 2010). This modulation scheme like the Amplitude shift Keying (or ASK) also uses a finite number of distinct signals to represent digital data. Each of the finite phases, is assigned a unique pattern of binary digits that forms a symbol. Phase shift keying comes in two forms, which are binary PSK (this uses two phases which are 180o apart) and Quadrature PSK (this uses four phases and the phases are 45o, -45o 135o and -135o). (Forouzan, 2013 pg 144) 3.0.2.1 Binary PSK In Binary PSK, it has only two signal element said suggested by Forouzan, 2013, pg 142; with each phase set at 0o and the other at 180o. The general form for BPSK follows this equation Sn (t). (wikipedia- H. Stern S. Mahmoud, Communications Systems, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004, p283) s_n(t) = sqrt{frac{2E_b}{T_b}} cos(2 pi f_c t + pi(1-n )), n = 0,1. This yields two phases, 0 and à Ã¢â€š ¬. In the specific form, binary data is often conveyed with the following signals: s_0(t) = sqrt{frac{2E_b}{T_b}} cos(2 pi f_c t + pi ) = sqrt{frac{2E_b}{T_b}} cos(2 pi f_c t)For binary 0 s_1(t) = sqrt{frac{2E_b}{T_b}} cos(2 pi f_c t) For binary 1 [where fc is frequency of the carrier-wave.] Also, the BER of a two signal BPSK in AWGN can be calculated as follows P_b = Qleft(sqrt{frac{2E_b}{N_0}}right) P_b = frac{1}{2} operatorname{erfc} left( sqrt{frac{E_b}{N_0}}right) 3.0.2.2 Quadrature PSK This sub part of psk is such that it uses two separate BPSK modulations to generate a QPSK modulation scheme; this is able to work due to each BPSK band as an in-phase carrier and the other out of phase carrier. The phases are different and the first point is located at 45o, then 135o, then -135o and lastly -45o, the amplitude stays constant at 2 ½. The bit stream is then split into two bit streams I (in-phase) and Q (Quadrature) .The bit stream in-phase (I) is called the even stream and quadrature(Q) is called Odd stream. (http://turboblogsite.com/quadrature-phase-shift-keying-qpsk-modulation.html) QPSK is used mostly to transfer digital data by varying the phases of the carrier signal, the 4 phase points tally with 4 points on a circle and can be so represented. The figure below shows the mapping of the 4 phase points. QPSK diagram showing how four different binary codes can be transmitted Fig: QPSK diagram showing how four different binary codes can be transmitted The list below gives some of the other commonly used forms of phase shift keying, PSK, they are O-QPSK Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, 8 PSK 8 Point Phase Shift Keying, 16 PSK 16 Point Phase Shift Keying, QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, 16 QAM 16 Point Quadrature Amplitude Modulation and 64 QAM 64 Point Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/what-is-psk-phase-shift-keying-tutorial.php) Figure 2. PSK signal diagram representation 3.1 QAM bits per symbol The advantage of using QAM is that it is a higher order form of modulation and as a result it is able to carry more bits of information per symbol. By selecting a higher order format of QAM, the data rate of a link can be increased. (http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/8qam-16qam-32qam-64qam-128qam-256qam.php) The table below gives a summary of the bit rates of different forms of QAM and PSK. Modulation Bits per symbol Symbol Rate BPSK 1 1 x bit rate QPSK 2 1/2 bit rate 8PSK 3 1/3 bit rate 16QAM 4 1/4 bit rate 32QAM 5 1/5 bit rate 64QAM 6 1/6 bit rate 3.1.1 Quantized QAM using constellation diagram In QAM, the constellation diagram plots are usually arranged in square formation with different spacing and this spacing point represent binary bits per symbol, this spacing point is in the power of 2s. The more the bits per symbol, the more it is to transfer more information over a given channel or medium. But as the bits increase, the points move closer and make the system susceptible to noise corruption, and this gives rise to a high BER ratio, making useless the information sent due to its high noise component. There are different bit positions for the constellation diagram, this diagrams show the different position of each symbol and the states of QAM, and the constellation diagrams for BSPK, 16 QAM. 32 QAM, 64 QAM. Therefore, the figures below show various constellation diagrams: http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/modulation-constellation-bpsk.gif http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/modulation-constellation-16qam.gif http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/modulation-constellation-32qam.gif http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/modulation-constellation-64qam.gif 3.1.2 QAM applications QAM is in many radio communications and data delivery applications. However some specific variants of QAM are used in some specific applications and standards. For domestic broadcast applications for example, 64 QAM and 256 QAM are often used in digital cable television and cable modem applications. In the UK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM are currently used for digital terrestrial television using DVB Digital Video Broadcasting. In the US, 64 QAM and 256 QAM are the mandated modulation schemes for digital cable as standardised by the SCTE in the standard ANSI/SCTE 07 2000. In addition to this, variants of QAM are also used for many wireless and cellular technology applications. 4.0 Conclusion In this review, it is clearly shown that Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) and Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulation techniques that form Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) ensures effective transfer of TV signals In QAM different combination of amplitude and phase are used to achieve higher digital data rate, the number of bit transmitted per time T (sec) interval can be further increased by increasing the number of levels used References Behrouz A. Forouzan , Data communications and Networking H. Stern S. Mahmoud, Communications Systems, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004, p283) http://engineering.mq.edu.au/~cl/files_pdf/elec321/lect_mask.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude-shift_keying (Accessed 06 December 2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner, 2012 (Accessed: 28 November 2012) http://turboblogsite.com/quadrature-phase-shift-keying-qpsk-modulation.html http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/8qam-16qam-32qam-64qam-128qam-256qam.php (Accessed 06 December 2012) http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/what-is-psk-phase-shift-keying-tutorial.php (Accessed 06 December 2012) Ian A. Glover and Peter M. Grant, Digital communications, second edition Intuitive Guide to Principle of Communication, www.complextoreal.com Margaret Rouse, July 2005 Merriam Webster N.Vlajic, Instructor, CSC 3213, fall 2010. Analog transmission of digital data (ASK, FSK, PSK, QAM) Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia (Accessed: 28 December 2012) www.encyclopediapro.com/mw/modulation (Accessed: 28 November 2012)

Marlow Vs. Willard Essay -- essays research papers

Marlow vs. Willard Charles Marlow and Captain Willard have many characteristics that would make them alike and different. Marlow, from the novel Heart of Darkness, was a man who was on a mission through Cambodia to find Kurtz. Captain Willard, from the movie â€Å"Apocalypse Now†, was a man on a mission to exterminate a fellow member of the United States Armed Forces, Kurtz. â€Å"Apocalypse Now† is a Vietnam parallel of the novel Heart of Darkness. While both these men were on a search for a man, they both went through many difficult hardships on the way. Both of the men had different backgrounds before they began their journey. Marlow was an experienced sailor, while Willard was an experienced warrior. Willard was a man who went to hell and back in Vietnam. His soul was already corrupted and only got worse while his journey to Kurtz continued. Marlow was a man who just wanted a job. His experience in sailing was the reason he got into his mission. Marlow takes the place of a captain who was killed by natives while on a similar journey. Willard was a man who was picked by the secret service. He was looked at because of his strong history in the military. The history of both men was important for each of them to go their perspective missions. The surroundings for each man were unique. While both Marlow and Willard had to put up with natives, they had crews that were different. While Marlow had a crew with mostly natives, Willard had a crew of American soldiers who were serving their country. Willard’s crew was comprised of mostly young men who had no idea what they were doing. â€Å"Come on all of you big strong me,† writes Joseph McDonald, â€Å"Uncle Sam needs your help again†(Class handouts, McDonald). This would describe the men that were with Willard. None of them knew where they were headed or why they were leaving, all they knew was they were serving their country. Marlow’s crew knew that they were trying to figure out what happened to the ivory supply. Marlow had a crew full of mostly natives. Their respective ships were different too. While Marlow cruised on a French steamer, Willard was on a boat provided by the military. Both men had a unique surrounding that helped each respective tale. Both Marlow and Willard became obsessed with a man by the name of Kurtz. Marlow wanted to meet Kurtz very bad. He was so fascinated with his accomplishments that he... ...urtz. Marlow could tell that Kurtz was dying while Willard knew what he had to do and that was kill Kurtz. Willard had doubts about killing Kurtz but after seeing Kurtz’s camp he knew what had to be done. Marlow knew that Kurtz had a good reason to do what he did but the ways he did them was not moral. The plundering of ivory was not good. Marlow and Willard both went through a substantial change after meeting Kurtz. The mystery that both Marlow and Willard had about Kurtz was all over. They met this man that was on their minds since leaving for their missions. One cannot tell, if Marlow and Willard were disappointed, of the states they found Kurtz. Willard at one point was even considering joining Kurtz. Willard finally realized the power of the jungle and how it took in Kurtz. Willard and Marlow are both very similar but have differences as well. Throughout â€Å"Apocalypse Now† and Heart of Darkness, each character went through many conflicts. While the sailor and the soldier went on their search to find Kurtz, they encountered many different obstacles. I believe that Willard went through a rougher time then Marlow, but one can only imagine the struggles that encountered Marlow.

Romania - Ecotourism in Romania Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fascinating Romania   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the eastern edge of Europe, Romania is perhaps best known for its Black Sea resorts, such as Mamaia and the Greco-Byzantine port of Constanta, and the Danube delta, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its rich wetlands and abundant bird-life. The Transylvanian Alps occupy much of the northern half of the country, the waters of their many spa resorts having been appreciated for their healing properties since Roman times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Romania offers a rich tapestry tourist attractions and vacation experiences unique in Central-Eastern Europe: medieval towns in Transylvania, the world-famous Painted Monasteries in Bucovina, traditional villages in Maramures, the magnificent architecture of Bucharest, the romantic Danube Delta, fairy-tale castles, the Black Sea resorts, the majestic Carpathian Mountains, spas and much more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Transylvania is also the legendary home of Bram Stoker's Dracula, based on an infamous medieval king 'Vlad the Impaler' whose spooky abode at Bran Castle may be visited. The northern half of the country is bisected by the great Carpathian Mountains, most of which are covered by pristine mountain forests which shelter one of Europe's last strongholds for large carnivore populations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Romania is a country with rich biodiversity (ecosystems, species and genetic diversity) and a high percentage of natural ecosystems 47% of the land area of the country is covered with natural and semi-natural ecosystems. The natural integrity of forest ecosystems is indicated by the presence of the full range of European forest fauna, including 60% and 40% of all European brown bears and wolves, respectively. Europe’s largest wetland, the Danube Delta, also lies predominantly in Romania. Major grasslands, caves, and an extensive network of rivers, add to the ecosystem richness. Important for Romania as well as for all Europe, is that the territory of Romania is a confluence point between biogeographic regions between arctic, alpine, west and central European, pannonic, balkanic, sub Mediterranean and even eastern colchic. The high level of geographic diversity in Romania and the consequence of its location as a biological confluence place have produced a fl oral diversity that includes over 3,70... ...rs and of local infrastructure. It also promotes the technological progress, environmental protection activities, and the financial sector reorganization. The development and restructuring of these fields are prerequisites for the increased traffic of local and international tourists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Well known for a long time on international scale, the Romanian hospitality proved to be, over the years and quite often, not only a characteristic of the Romanian people but, using the touristic language, a promoting instrument of the national offer on the international market, too. The idea of developing the tourism in Romania is based on this characteristic of the Romanians, and on the beauty of the Romanian village and landscape.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Biography http://www.carpathians.org/l_rom.htm http://www.ce-review.org/99/2/lovatt2.html http://home.online.no/~romemb/tourism.htm http://www.grida.no/enrin/biodiv/biodiv/national/romania/robiodiv.htm http://www.responsibletravel.com/TripSearch/Europe/Country100204.htm http://aboutromania.com/photos.html http://www.factbook.ro/countryreports/ro/Ro_Tourism.htm http://www.factbook.net/index.html

Urbanization as a Social Problem

How is urbanization negatively effecting our society The answer to this question is not a simple one. This essay will not only break down the problems of urbanization in the United States, but it will also tell you some of the attempts made to fix the problem and give some solutions as to how it could possibly be solved in the future. Also when answering this question one must understand that urbanization, can not be stopped, but only contained in a manner that will help the United States to function better as a country. The more densely populated and more heterogeneous a community is, the more accentuated characteristics can be associated with urbanism. Urbanism causes decrease in per capita, and promotes urban violence, political instability, crime and aggressive behavior. Rapid population growth in urban areas also perpetuates poverty. Another major issue being created by this social problem is the breaking of the traditional family structure. Our cities are not working well! Sanitation, safety, transportation, housing, education and even electricity are failing. These are all responsibilities of the government or it is at least their job to regulate these services deemed to be monopolies. And it is a known fact that monopolies deem toward inefficiency. Functionalist look at our cities as a means to profit. Cities are a place where everybody visits, and therefor vendors can raise their prices and profit more on their products. For example, from my own personal experience, I bought a pack of cigarettes for $3. 00 at my local gas station, and when I visited inner city Orlando, I bought the same brand of cigarettes for $4.0 . This is just a minor example, and most of the residents in an urban area are in poverty and have trouble affording the $3. 00 pack if they smoke much less adding a dollar to the already ridiculous cost. In the United States, the breaking of the traditional family structure is an issue that has become increasingly noticeable in recent years, particularly in urbanized areas. The traditional, mom and dad, and children are rarely seen in the inner cities any more. There is a weakened bond of kinship, and declining social family significance as America has transferred industrial, educational and recreational activities to specialized institutions outside of the home. It is depriving families of their most characteristic, historical functions. While individuals pursue their own diverging interests in their educational, vocational, religious and recreational life. With divorce rates rising, delinquency is also becoming more of a problem than before. With single parent families, children lack in the authority department due to the lack of the amount of time their parents have free to raise them. These specialized institutions often help, but can not replace the role of a child s guardian. As long as the divorce rate continues to increase, delinquency will continue to increase in these areas as well. The density of people reinforces effect of numbers in diversifying people and their activities and increasing the complexity of the social structure. The variations of people give rise to segregation of people by race, religious practices, ethnic heritage, as well as economic and social status. Segregation often creates much tension and prejudice between social groups. This can cause physical or mental damage to individuals or society, which means that sometimes people may permanently suffer before any action is taken to solve the problem because the delay in action is most often the result of people underestimating the problems. As for racism and segregation, there is not much that can be done to fix these problems. Individuals will always have their own opinions no matter how ignorant, and the only thing we can do is to hope that these problems die out as we desegregate our communities. People will choose their destination or place of residence according to many different ideals and needs, for example what fits their budget. Political pathology and population growth is closely related because of the population change and this change carries with it a high likelihood of social disruption. Government assumes major responsibility for development attempting to meet rapidly increasing demands for education, housing, agriculture and industrial development, transportation and employment. The government s budget is not distributed equally mainly due to differentiation in areas. Areas with higher income will have higher income and therefor will obviously have a higher budget to work with. Urban areas are usually lacking in the financial department. Therefor they are not able to repair all the problems in which need to be fixed in these areas, such as sanitation, education and many other categories. America has hired approximately fifty percent more teachers in the last few years than have been hired in the past, but the increase in population keeps the classrooms just as large. The effort does not meet the need; thus the problem remains as strong as ever. Due to the overpopulation in urban areas and the lack of employment opportunity, the crime rate is also a huge problem in which they are faced with. Also the lack of the traditional family structure and weakened bonds of kinship weaken the moral of the children growing up in the urban areas. These children grow up in poverty and usually look at crime as a quick and easy way out. The problems in urban areas are far more, than can be handled in any short term efforts. We can only hope to contain them, and attempt to make sure that no more problems arise from the already existing ones.

Understanding The Y2k Bug

As the Millennial sun rose over human civilization, in the independent republic of Kiribati, a group of some thirty low lying coral islands in the Pacific Ocean that straddle the equator and the International Date Line, the reality of the Y2K bug became apparent. This long awaited sunrise marks the dawn of the year 2000. Kiribati's 81,000 Micronesians observed nothing different about this dawn, they only received TV in 1989. (y2ksupply.com) However, those who live in a world that relies on satellites, air, rail and ground transportation, manufacturing plants, electricity, heat, telephones, or TV, experienced a true millennial shift, or not. We finally saw the extent of the networked and interdependent processes we had created. At the stroke of midnight, the new millenium closed the greatest challenge to modern society we have responded to yet. We didn†t experience this event, as chaos or social transformation. I am describing the year 2000 problem, known as Y2K (K signifying 1000). Nicknamed at first â€Å"The Millennial Bug,† increasing sensitivity even escalated the nickname to â€Å"The Millennial Bomb.† The problem begins as a simple technical error. Large mainframe computers more than ten years old were not programmed to handle a four digit year. Sitting here now, safely in the year 2000, it seems incomprehensible that computer programmers and microchip designers didn't plan for it. Programmers did whatever was required to get a product up and working; no one even thought about standards. This computer bug has been predicted to impact the world anywhere from a minor problem to the end of a civilization. Whichever view you took on the subject it is clear that this bug had a definite impact on the economy. Whichever view anyone took on this issue, didn†t really matter because the point is that everyone thought about it and dealt with the issue in his or her own way. In order to understand the Y2K bug we must first understand what it is. For many years electronic storage was very expensive. In the early days of computing a Megabyte or a million bytes of information could have cost up to $100,000 to store electronically. This same amount of information storage can now cost around ten cents. (Barr) Many programs that are date sensitive will react to this bug in a negative way. A good example of a problem that could occur due to the bug would be that of banking software. In that case one of the software†s functions would be to bill all of its customers with outstanding loans. This program works by sending the bill progressively every month until the loan is paid off. If the computer were to think that it was the year 1900 then none of these loans would have even been made yet and the computer would become unstable or cease to function. Much of this software can be repaired or replaced with new versions, however, some of it is not as easily replaced. A great deal of the code that is causing worry at the moment is actually imbedded in automated machinery. This code can†t be repaired, except by replacing the machinery itself. This code is in many of the machines that run companies, public utilities, and are even in our homes in such appliances as VCRs. This calculation problem explains why the computer system at Marks & Spencer department store in London destroyed tons of food during the process of doing a long-term forecast. The computer read 2002 as 1902. Instead of four more years of shelf life, the computer calculated that this food was ninety-six years old. It ordered it thrown out. A similar problem happened recently in the U.S. at the warehouse of a freeze-dried food manufacturer. In September 1998, Datamation magazine estimated that, on average, about 7% of all electronics are date sensitive and In November 1998, PCWeek, another leading trade journal, put the number at 5%. (Gibbons) The main emphasis seems to systems with many chips all working on real time clocks such as manufacturing plants. These systems were estimated at up to 30% not compliant with the Y2K problem. Companies with these systems have had trouble being ready for Y2K because in order to prepare for the problem the affected chips have to be isolated and repaired. In a system with thousands of these chips and little documentation on each one, this is an almost impossible chore. Replacing entire systems can cost millions of dollars and many companies can†t afford the cost of the repair. Billions of dollars were spent preparing for this event and much more will be spent in recovery. Most companies have been addressing the problem for the past few years. Very rarely do we get the chance to watch the entire industry lifecycle, from introduction in the early 90†³s and the decline and death of the industry in the early months of 2000. The entire industry has opened up just to deal with this problem. In the US most mission critical equipment was tested before 1999 and was either compliant or repaired. The systems that caused most concern were things like power grids, telephone networks, and air and land traffic controllers. These systems were of such great concern because some of these computers systems and networks have existed since the late 1950†³s. The fact was that no one could afford to entirely replace these systems, they had to be upgraded to be compliant. What was the impact on Government, Industry, and Small Business? There are several impacts to Government, Industry, and Small Business. Dates that can impact the leap year algorithms, boolean dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. There are separate ramifications to the new dates. For the Government, the dates have a major impact across the board. Every Government agency, from Federal to City, will be impacted. The Federal Government uses computers on a daily basis and without them, the Federal Government is not able to operate. Some specific examples are in the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice. The Department of Commerce utilizes computers to run the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) systems that are used to chase Hurricanes. The problem is that several of the computers are used to log different data and use date/time stamping with that data. This data is later analyzed to try and map hurricanes for the future. If the Y2K issues are not resolved, important data will be lost. The Department of Defense also uses computers to a very large extent. This is especially true for the DOD large complex machinery used to defend the country. There are very few parts of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines that do not use computers. Computers are the backbone to DOD and without them, there is a real fear that our armed forces would not be able to defend this country. (Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense) The Department of Justice has an even worse problem. They are charged with keeping track of criminals and federal indictments across the country. Because of the complexity of the laws, if the computers used to keep track of indictments and criminal records are not Y2K compliant, then the Justice system could have criminals cleared of any wrong doing because of a simple date issue. It is well known that if the date or address were wrong on an indictment or a search warrant, anything found because of the indictment or warrant could not be used in court. (Cohen) The Government agency that has had the most influence on the whole Y2K issue was the Internal Revenue Service. Basically the IRS has the greatest concern because they are charged with the duty of collecting revenue from the taxpayers in order to run the country. The theory is that the IRS, through Congress, could influence or scare business, banks, and individuals into awareness. (Chandrasekaran) This awareness translated into the hundred billion or so expenditures that banks, businesses, and individuals spent on being Y2K compliant. Industry had the same basic problems that the Government had. They rely on computers in almost every aspect of the business. From robotic assembly lines to employee payroll, all of industry relies on the computer to run its day to day operation. (Gwynne) The problem that both industry and Government have is that there was no contingency to the Y2K issue. Both industry and Government have several backup systems. The problem with small business is that they rely on the computer to do many of the tasks that employees used to do. In small business, people were employed to handle payroll, marketing, office management, files, record keeping, and profit/loss ledgers. These people were replaced with the advent of the computer. Now any small business could operate without minimal employees. The office manager could now handle payroll, marketing, files, records, and ledgers right on the computer. The computer became the key piece of equipment for the small business. Without the computer, small businesses could not stay in operation. Most small businesses have become dependent on the computer to replace employees. Without a computer, small businesses would need to hire additional personnel and return to paper and pencil to operate. An example may be Nations Bank; it may have its primary mainframe computer, for all its checking accounts, in one central place. There is a hot backup (a hot backup is a main frame computer that records the same exact information that the mainframe computer is recording, but it does not handle any transactions, just records the information) that is located in a different part of the country, say Colorado. In this way, if a major disaster were to devastate California, the hot backup would come on line take over the responsibility of the mainframe. (McMahon) In this way, vital information would not be lost. This was all thought out years before Y2K. Y2K would impact both mainframes (the primary and the backup) and all the data would be corrupted. What did Government, Industry, and Small Business do to combat the Y2K Issues? For both Government and Industry, it was not be a problem to combat Y2K. Both areas, through consulting agencies and internal working groups, developed a series of plans to combat the Y2K issue. The standard procedure is to first do an inventory and assessment on the agency. After the assessment is made, a renovation plan is developed to renovate the different systems. After renovation, a validation phase, where the renovation is tested using the different Y2K dates to ensure that no problems were encountered. The implementation phase is to implement the system into action, and begin watching the system during the actual crossover dates. The cost to perform all of the plans and phases are high. On most major DOD systems, the cost ranges from $100,000 to over $5 Million. For industry, their costs are about the same. It does not matter if the agency does it internally or hires consultants to perform the work. The consumer and/or taxpayer absorb the high costs in industry and/or Government caused by the expenditure on solving Y2K issues. Industry passed the costs to the consumer by increasing its price on the product. The Government modified the budget to get the necessary funds to ensure Y2K compliance. The real problem lies with small business. The plans and phases that were developed by industry and Government must also be accomplished by small business. The problem is that small business does not have the money to expend on the Y2K issue. Small businesses do not have the overhead or capital to afford to test its systems and ensure that Y2K problems do not exist in its machine. This is where the actual computer industry comes into the scene. Since most small businesses do not rely on consultants and do not have a computer expert on the payroll, then small businesses must rely on the software companies to ensure that the computer is Y2K compliant. Marketers quickly recognized the fact that many small businesses would be forced to purchase new hardware, software, and peripherals. Marketers were not afraid to sell replacement equipment that was not affected by this bug. Consultants profited on the fact that many individuals and small businesses were very ignorant on the issue at hand and how many individuals had little to no knowledge of what was occurring in the machine that they were using. Many of these machines could have been upgraded with a small BIOS chip that would allow the machine to function with the new date format. Application software that is used with Windows 98 may not be compliant, making the system non-compliant. Microsoft could not be held responsible for other software packages built by other software companies. In addition, most software companies will not support older versions of its software. An example is that Microsoft does not support Windows version 3.1. This is based on the availability of newer versions of Windows being available to the consumer. So where does this leave the small business? There is Federal and Local assistance available to help small business ensure that the Y2K issue is resolved prior to the actual dates. If the small business did not recognize that it has a problem, then it could not work to fix the Y2K issue in time. By combining their resources and working with the local support, a network of consultants could work together to fix the problem before the actual Y2K dates came. Here it is April 3, 2000, and the lights are on, there†s plenty of water, and the stock market is at a record high. There is widespread suspicion that the Y2K computer bug was no more than the media overreacting and getting people excited for nothing, and Y2K was a big dud. There may be some validity to this theory, but I think the fact is that the problem was reduced by our efforts in making all computers Y2K compliant. Some people believe that disruptions may still occur in coming days as government and industry resume full operations following the minor problems that either were overlooked or were unanticipated. I think the investment in Y2K upgrades, which totaled an estimated $100 billion just in the United States, kept the most important computer systems running. The most serious malfunction so far was when the Defense Department computers temporarily failed to communicate with a reconnaissance satellite. Officials did not acknowledge the breakdown to the media until seven hours after it was discovered, in order not to cause people to panic about one relatively minor Y2K related computer failure. Considering the seriousness with which not only the Pentagon but also almost all other companies took to the possibility of a Y2K malfunction, I doubt that it could have amounted from hype alone. Part of the Y2K panic, of course, came from the fear that computers would do bazaar things such as transfer all our money from our accounts into someone else†s account, or traffic lights would make errors and cause terrible accidents. I agree that that is hype that amounted from the media twisting and predicting the results of Y2K without basing their information on facts.

Education Beyond the Classroom

The assignment is going to outline how ‘Eureka! A Museum for Children’ plays a part in learning outside the classroom environment. The museum will be examined to see how it plays a role in life-long learning. We define learning outside the classroom as: â€Å"The use of places other than the classroom for teaching and learning. † Every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances.Learning is a process of active engagement with experience. It is what people do when they want to make sense of the world. It may involve the development or deepening of skills, knowledge, understanding, awareness, values, ideas and feelings, or an increase in the capacity to reflect. Effective learning leads to change, development and the desire to learn more. (DfEE 2000) Learning outside the classroom is about raising achievement through an organised, powerful approa ch to learning in which direct experience is of prime importance.This is not only about what we learn but importantly how and where we learn. (Learning Outside the Classroom (2006)) †¦ museums and galleries †¦, in themselves, understood as educational establishment. They were set up to enable people to educate themselves†¦ Museums were one opportunity among many of acquiring knowledge. (Hooper-Greenhill 1994, p. 1) Museums are still very much thought of as educational establishments but the audience for whom they cater for varies very much from one museum to another.Formal and informal educations are two terms that are used to describe the type of education that a person receives. Formal is the set ‘curriculum’ that is taught in the traditional school setting. Whereas informal education is the curriculum taught in museums or other institutes that are outside of the schools. (Hein 1998, p. 7) Children’s museums are not museums in the traditional sen se. They are different in their missions, in their approach and in their specifically targeted age-group. (Pearce 1998, p. 19) Eureka! s a museum that has been specially designed for a specific age group, and is the UK’s first and foremost museum for children. Historical context of Eureka! Eureka was first opened in July 1992 by HRHThe Prince of Wales, as an educational charity, the idea for Eureka was modelled on the North American concept of a Children’s Museum and remains to be the only museum of its type and scale. The basis of children’s museums is in interactivity, learning by doing, learning through fun, learning through play. (Pearce 1998, p. 6) Since it has opened it has enjoyed unrivalled success, proving popular with children, parents and teachers alike. At Eureka! there are over 400 hands on, must touch exhibits, each teaching children more about themselves and reflecting the world in which they are growing up in, it is achieved by a fun approach to learning and development. Eureka! meets National Curriculum requirements, it has six themed galleries and a full programme of interactive workshops covering an imaginative range of curriculum themes to support Foundation, KS1 and KS2 learning.The education service aims to take the hassle out of school visits by providing fully structured itineraries, picnic and storage facilities, staff support, teaching resources and work sheets. Museums are the world of ‘infotainment’ and ‘edutainment’ where people have fun but also learn something. (Pearce 1998, p. 80) Learning Experiences Teachers are provided with an education resource pack which includes detailed notes on how to get the best from each of the museum’s section and indicates links to the National Curriculum. There are also special workshops which may be booked for school classes. (Pearce 1998, p. 7) The museum also provides special designed packages for the school holidays and Science activities, also sleepovers that have to be pre-booked.‘Me and My Body’ encourages children to find out more about themselves by using the exhibits to discover how the body and the five different senses work, also it enables visitors to use various aids to experience what it is like to have a disability. ‘Living and Working Together’ that recreates an environment where visitors can discover the mysteries of daily life and try out the jobs people do in the many buildings on a high street and in the house.. Our Global Garden’ helps children the familiar ‘backyard' to amazing gardens that exist in the world. It is themed around seven different ‘gardens'; each telling their own unique story, whilst emphasising the inter-relationships between them, finding out what makes them precious and how best to look after them. ‘SoundSpace’ provides children with a unique experience, enabling them to explore and understand sound, music and performance t hrough state-of-the-art technology, by exploring the physics of sound by seeing and feeling vibrations and creating their very own musical sequences.Throughout the experience, Sound Space aims to enhance the understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) by exploring the unique relationships that exist between music and creativity, science, technology and the arts in a fun and accessible way. Over the past three years Eureka! has been the lead partner for Creative Minds, a ? 3. 8 million pound regional initiative to encourage children’s interest and learning in STEM; to help in the creation of a future workforce. The ‘Creative Minds' project is to provide young people with learning opportunities in STEM from 2003 to 2006.Over 15,000 learning opportunities have been delivered to both young people, their teachers and those who work in the sector. (Publication Material, Creative Minds (2005)) ‘SoundGarden and Desert Discovery’, these galler ies aim to extend opportunities in the museum for babies and young children to develop their senses and stretch their imaginations. These galleries support early education principles of learning through play, reflecting the intentions of the Birth to Three Matters framework and the Foundation Stage curriculum.It is expected that the lifespan of exhibits vary from 5-7 years and that the cost of devising, designing, fabricating and installing new exhibits in the future will need to be raised from various sources including charitable foundations and corporate sponsorships. (Pearce 1998, p. 67) The latest two galleries opened in 2004 and respectively in 2005. The museum needs to keep abreast of changes in school education; for example, the National Curriculum, that now emphasises on practical experience. (McLean 2003, p. 113)Meticulous care is taken when devising and developing new exhibits for a children’s museum, to ensure that they will engage the target audience and enable th em to learn as well as have fun. Exhibits are tested and modified in the light of children’s reaction and views. There are opportunities for comments and suggestions. As child-centred organisations the museums concentrate their resources on ensuring that they serve the needs of the children. (Pearce 1998, p. 113) The learning experiences found in Eureka! helps the child to make sense of the world around them by making links between feelings and learning.This is part of life-long learning as these feelings stay with the child into adulthood and affect their behaviour, lifestyle and work. It influences their values and the decisions made. It allows the child to transfer learning experienced outside to the classroom and vice versa. A commitment to life-long learning can demonstrate a positive social role for a museum and can also meet the demands from funding bodies for demonstrating public benefit and greater public accountability. (American Association of Museums 1993 cited in McLean 2003, p. 114) InclusitivityEureka! is a registered Educational Charitable Trust, in 1987 with the support of the museum’s patron, HRH The Prince of Wales, business sponsorship, government grants and the local council, it found its town centre site in Halifax, it later opened in 1992. The museum is situated five minutes from the motorway in Halifax town centre, next to the railway station on a 12. 5 acre site. It is a two storey, visible steel, stone and glass exposed structure. The whole site is accessible to wheelchair users and there is level access with a lift between floors.The convenience of location and ease of access is an important dominant of usage, the access includes physical access for those who are physically disabled. A limited number of wheelchairs are available on loan and also has special parking for them. It has not debarred the disabled and has attempted to provide for their needs. (McLean 2003, p. 134) For anyone with visual or hearing impairments, there is a full range of multi-sensory, highly stimulating exhibits available. Programmes can be adapted for particular needs as long as the museum is informed beforehand for school groups.Museum information is available in large print and houses a ‘Talking map’ that talks in four different languages. It is ideal for partially sighted individuals but it does not include any Braille for the blind people, so in this case it is a disadvantage for this certain group. Throughout the entire museum there is no inclusion for the blind, even though the galleries and the museum are designed so that these consumers are still able to visit, but it can not be done alone, they need someone to accompany them but the essential carers are admitted free.The talking map also caters for people whose first language is not English. The site is well lit, with colourful lighting that attracts and engages the children into wanting to explore. The signage for directions are appropriate for the audience for whom it caters for, the children mostly, they are all big and colourful with pictures as well as writing. The gallery signage and information is at average eyelevel for all aged grouped children and legible. The toilets for both the able and disabled toilets are clearly marked and changing facilities are also available.The museum was established as an educational charity and not for profit organisation, therefore Eureka! receives no government funding and must rely upon admission fees. These admission fees combined with transport costs mean that individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds or in areas of deprivation are missing out on the experiences that are offered. The prices are debarring a group of individuals from using the museums. These independent museums depend on visitors, it is consumer oriented, and has to be user-friendly, so it has an instinct and a need to reach out and serve their public. Sekers cited in McLean 2003, p. 30) The museum has offers for educa tional visits and large groups in order to reduce the cost of the visits to the museum, but on an individual family outing the prices are fixed. (Eureka! Publication Material, Appendix I) Health & Safety The building has its own risk assessment form that must be filled out before a group of children are allowed to visit for educational school visits. The building and exhibits are designed to minimise risk of injury from slips, trips, falls and finger traps.All elements of the museum are constantly monitored and modified to meet current safety standards. All the signage is marked and the dangers indicated. The museum has a lost children procedure is in place with the staff having the appropriate confirmed by national qualifications. The museum has qualified First Aiders on duty every day and the staffs are checked for relevant criminal history. The maintenance activities are carried out in accordance with HSWA 1974 and MHSW Regulations 1999 by trained technicians.Electrical and porta ble appliance testing is carried out annually in accordance with 16th Edition Regulations. Also, the fire evacuations and training are carried out in accordance with Fire Risk Assessment and Fire Certificates. Group leaders are advised to carry out their own risk assessment in accordance with their organisations aims. (Appendix II) The museum provides the teachers with information sheets for each area of the museum. The risk assessments are available for operations and activities as appropriate with again all the signage clearly marked.As the museum is designed for ‘hands-on’ the risk assessment on all the equipment and facilities are checked daily and regularly to ensure they comply with safety regulations. Eureka! is covered by public liability and Employers liability insurances and has written accident and emergency procedures in place. Eureka! is licensed by local authority regulations for all safety, fire, plant and lifting equipment and appropriate certificates ar e held. ConclusionThere can be no absolute blue print for children’s museums beyond the key characteristics mentioned previously. Otherwise each group or organisation will have its own emphasis and idea of what makes their museum special and important to its area. Diversity is one of the strengths of the movement. The emphasis is always on learning, exploring, on discovery. For that reason, in developing a British model it may be appropriate to adapt the term children’s discovery centre or children’s discovery museum for future use.

Markets; Price determination and resource allocation Essay

Markets; Price determination and resource allocation - Essay Example The diagram below presents the picture of a market. Each variable is shown as interrelated to each other. Things to be produced are determined by the decisions of the buyers whether to purchase or not the available products like food, clothing and housing. Adjustments on product creation basically depends on the demand in the goods market. The method of production applied in creating the product are decided based on the level of competition of producers. Efficiency is the fundamental criteria in choosing for the method and it depends on the prices prevailing on factors of production like land, labor and capital and the prices of the output like food, clothing and housing. Producers would want to minimize cost to meet the price competition. Concerns regarding for whom the products are depend on the nature of supply and demand for inputs. Prices of inputs serve as income and ascertain the ability to purchase product. As a whole, a competitive market presents the price system brought ab out by correspondence of supply and demand and resources are allocated efficiently without intervention. Given the mechanisms of a market, the law of supply and demand enters to present information of market equilibrium. The law of supply and demand asserts that the equilibrium market price of a certain commodity is where supply equals demand. Equilibrium, on the other hand, is a state which when attained will be maintained. As shown in the succeeding diagram, the demand curve is negatively sloping because an increase in price reduces the amount of purchases. The demand curve shifts to the right because of several factors: increase in the price of substitutes, decrease in the price of complements, increase in income, change in preference for the product and special influences in favor of the product. The reverse causes the shift of the demand curve to the left. Looking at the diagram, the supply curve is shown to slope positively because a price increase stimulates production.