Example of Critical Thinking

I dropped out of college 3 times since I graduated from high school. The challenging part about it is that I know I need an education to be successful in life and to support my family but I often get bored with school very fast. If its not interesting or doesn’t grab my attention, I’m not interested. I barely made it out of high school. So this time I felt I had to do something with my life besides living. I decided to go back to school and what was challenging was the decision to even go back to school.Two questions I had about that problem of dropping out were, do I really want to go back to school? What could I do differently that I didn’t do at my last 3 schools I went to? After thinking about the career path that I wanted to work towards, I did my research on different schools with my chosen degree program. The school choices were Phoenix University, Ashford University, and Devry University. My oldest sister attended Phoenix University to become a schoolteac her. She told me stories about her classes, instructors, and difficulty dealing with peers in class.She also had problems dealing with finances for school and they were giving her a hard time. So taking her experience with that school and doing research on my own, I decided that that school would not be a good fit for me, (facts & opinions) My past experiences with online schools and my decision on choosing Ashford for my choice of school to work towards my degree came from wanting a school that will work with my busy schedule and me. I needed Instructors that are willing to help you instead of telling what to do and expecting you to figure out what it is that you’re trying to learning.I needed a school that would be fair and helpful when needed. These things I’ve listed were things I weren’t getting from my past schools I’ve attended. I also had take blame for my action as well. Turning in late work or not at all. Procrastinating to get things done and t urned in on time. I have to focus on my goal and that is to graduate with a degree and become the successful person my grandmother would want me to be. In conclusion, I believe if I work hard, stay focused and do my work I will be successful this go round with school here at Ashford University.

College Is It Worth It Essay

Right now in our society university education is no longer an option or privilege, but rather a necessity. We are practically raised and conditioned to believe that one needs higher education in order to succeed in life. There is a saying that says â€Å"if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. † But as technology is constantly advancing and computers are running almost anything, is a college education really necessary? There are people who have never set foot in a college and are doing better than people who have their master’s degree. There are views from both sides that contain a valid argument. The main reason why people go to college is not because they want to but because they have to. Most 11th and 12th graders are pressured by their parents to go to college because it is â€Å"the right thing to do. â€Å"† In the essay that Caroline Bird wrote â€Å"College is a Waste of Time and Money†, she states that students go to college because † . . . Mother wanted them to go, or some other reason entirely irrelevant to the course of studies for which college is supposedly organized. † The student may have different ideas about what he or she wants to do in life, but because they think that their parents know what is best for them, they probably end up doing something they do not want to do, resulting in being miserable and resentful. Let’s face it, going to college is socially prestigious. Most people go to college only for the title of being called a college student. For some young people, it is a graceful way to get away from home and become independent without losing the financial support of their parents. They do not want to be looked down upon so they do what would look â€Å"best in the eyes of society†. It is practically beat into our heads that in order to be a respectable citizen of society, you should have some sort of university education. Being a college student is perhaps a more respectable role than being, for example, a clerk or a garbage man because of the negative connotations such jobs receive. Going to college and getting a degree does not necessarily guarantee that an individual is going to get a job right after graduation. It is hard out there for recent graduates to find a good job since there is so much competition due to the insanely increasing numbers of our population and a wildrace for the lions share in every field. Even if they do get a job, it is usually not in what they got their degree for. Many college students would feel that college is a waste of money because they do not learn what they want to. Instead they have to take classes that have close to nothing to do with their major but are only taking these classes in order to fulfill a general educational requirement. Upon graduation, some feel that they are at a disadvantage because more time could have been spent on learning more within their field of study and less on irrelevant materials. Now for the pros of having a professional college education. The major reason of going to college is, of course, to get a good job. College prepares us with academic knowledge in order to succeed in the future. According to Ernest Boyner higher education is essential for preparation for one’s future. He states that: In spatial terms, teaching and learning may begin in a classroom, but course work also spills over into the life of the campus and the community. Students engage in experimential learning and co-curricular activities that take abstract ideas and anchor them in real-life problems. As the competition to get a decent job is increasing, it is close to impossible to obtain a high paying job without at least a bachelor’s degree. Many jobs that only used to want their workers to have a high school diploma now require some college education due to their extremely complicated nature. Another way college is worth the money, however, is because it is one of the few institutions that often contains people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. Such a situation allows one to develop their social and communicative skills because they are exposed to unfamiliar cultures. This is necessary for the fact that a person does not want to come across as ignorant towards a certain culture. This only, however, comes in handy when you are being educated abroad. College is like a stepping stone to becoming a responsible adult because for the first time most people are practically on their own (that would definitely include me). It is completely different from high school in that not only that school has to be dealt with, but you have to juggle your personal time and financial state as well. They go away to college and face circumstances that they would most likely come across when they finally do go on their own. Bills have to be paid, time has to be managed efficiently, and deadlines have to be met, just like in the â€Å"real world. † College is not only about getting a good job ‘but about acquiring knowledge and broadening one’s horizon. A lot of courses that are at school are not needed for a certain major but are just there for interested people who want to learn more about a certain subject. Bowen explains this by breaking it down into three aspects: †¦ the specific goals for the education function are derived. This function†¦ is intended to help students develop as persons in three respects: cognitive learning, by expanding their knowledge and intellectual powers; affective development, by enhancing their moral, religious, and emotional interests and sensibilities; and practical competence, by improving their performance in citizenship, work, family life, consumer choice, health, and other practical affairs. It is sometimes just as good to be an intelligent person and know about a lot of things instead of being someone who makes a lot of money. My admission into an arts college after a lifetime of struggle of being an a-grade science student, had led me to seriously consider the complexity of this topic and what i have learned is that college definitely has its pros and cons. But I think that college is what you make of it. It can be the best time of your life, but only if you want it to. You can take the pessimistic view about it and think that college is a waste of money, or it can be looked at as a challenging and exciting new frontier that basically will set the precedent for the rest of your life. No matter what i learn in this environment that has been setup on an organised platform to produce strong and self assured individuls that will help make this deteriorating world a better place to live in ,even if we do’nt do it conciously, what I know for sure is that the education I recieve in this college will always be of invaluable worth once i step out in the ruthless fish-eat-fish world.

Changes in the Protagonists Behavior

Changes in the Protagonist's Behavior There are hundreds of differences between the 1878 edition of Daisy Miller and its 1909 / New York edition. While many of the changes are slight modifications to the placement of words or changes of some terms to an American English spelling, some of the changes vastly alter the connotations of certain scenes and, in fact, the story itself. While the 1879 version and the 1909 version of Daisy Miller are the same book, they are quite different in some key aspects. In the second version, James actually seems to make the book more critical of American tourists by degrading their quality of speech and having the Europeanized Americans more harshly criticize their visiting countrymen. James also builds Winterbourne up in comparison to the other characters by slightly modifying the narrators descriptions of Winterbourne. The overall effect of the changes works to undermine the innocence of Daisy and build a stronger case for the Europeanized Americans condemnation of the Millers. James also adjusts the way in which the narrator refers to Daisy in the 1909 edition. He replaces the often-used term young girl (1878) with charming creature (1909). The description of Daisy as a young girl is dropped from many other places in the text over 80 times in all; the odd reference to Daisy as a young girl continues, but much more infrequently. She is usually referred to as either Miss Miller, a girl or a strange little creature (1909). These changes make Daisy less pitiable in our eyes as she is no longer a young girl whose improprieties can be excused due to her age. This works with James other edits to make Daisy less of a naà ¯ve girl unaware of the consequences of her actions and undeserving of her death, and less worthy of our sympathy. The changes also work to sexualize Daisy by referring to her as a Creature or an object of lust. Daisys actions are also referred to differently; in the 1878 edition, Mrs. Walker begs Daisy not to walk off to Pincio at this hour to meet a beautiful Italian. In the same scene in the 1909 edition Mrs. Walker accuses Diasy of prowl[ing] off. This subtle change of verbs elicits a very different reaction to Daisys actions, comparing her to an animal that prowls off in search for a mate. In the 1909 edition Daisys eyes play over Winterbourne where they once glance[d] at him (1878). When Daisy takes a trip outside she is made to be exhibit[ing] herself (1909). Many adjectives are added to describe Daisys eyes in the 1909 edition where there was no mention of them in the 1878 edition: her quickened glance is replaced by her shining eyes; and metonymy is used to replace Daisy herself: She is substituted for Her eyes. This focus in the 1909 edition on Daisys eyes, a vital player in the game of seduction, serves to bring out more of her sexuality and passion for the reader. James also degrades the quality of English that the Americans speak in contrast to the proper English spoken by the Europeanized Americans. Mrs. Miller no longer just says things as she did in the 1878 edition, she now incoherently mention[s] them (1909). Randolph, notably, has his quality of speech severely affected by the new edition. In the 1878 edition Randolph says I am going to take it to Italy; by the 1909 edition he says Im going to take it tItaly. The importance of the word aint in the American diction is realized in the 1909 edition, whose task is to show the ruggedness of Americanspeech. While the word makes four appearances in the 1878 edition, there are thirty-two instances of it by 1909. By degrading the Americans quality of English James is able to make the Europeanized Americans look better in contrast and to further separate the two groups in their polarized camps: rough and uncivilized America in one, and old and distinguished Europe in the other. One major change in the book is the depiction of Giovanelli. In the original text Giovanelli was a bit of a sneaky character; he is made out to be an absolute scoundrel by the 1909 edition. James completely dehumanizes Giovanelli through the words he uses to describe him: man is replaced with figure; his is replaced with its; he with it; and man for thing. Giovanelli is no longer worth recognition as a man in the 1909 edition and is referred to by the narrator as a thing. James adds the word coxcombical in the 1909 edition to describe Giovanelli, implying that he is a fool. Even Giovanellis actions, which were once called very agreeabl[e] and ingenious (1878) become irresponsible and bland (1909). Any indication of Giovanellis intentions to be a mere friend to Daisy is thrown out in the 1909 edition, where the narrator refers to him as the girls attendant admirer. By making Giovanelli so despicable the narrator is able to give us even more reason to dislike Daisy for being entranced with the conniving wiles of such a character. Giovanelli and the Millers are not the only subjects of Jamess changes. Winterbourne receives a slightly harsher condemnation from the narrator in the 1909 edition. Whereas in the 1878 edition Daisy accuses Winterbourne of cut[ting] her at the Coliseum, by 1909 he cuts [her] dead. The use of the word dead where before there was nothing is a notable change because it strengthens the narrators condemnation of Winterbournes cruel response to Daisy. This is the point in the story where Winterbourne finally believes he has understood the true Daisy, where he decides that she was a young lady about the SHADES of whose perversity a foolish puzzled gentleman need no longer trouble his head or his heart (1909). The narrator condemns Winterbourne when Winterbourne condemns Daisy, and this is made even more obvious in the 1909 edition. An interesting addition to the later edition occurs when Winterbourne is criticizing Giovanelli for taking Daisy out to the Coliseum at nighttime: suddenly Winterbourne switches from English to French when he tells Giovanelli that he does not care if Giovanelli were to catch the fever, only if Daisy does. This introduction of French into the play works well to develop Winterbournes educated character and impress us with his intelligence. The hundreds of minor changes in the 1909 edition of Daisy Miller work towards further polarizing the Europeanized Americans and the Americans tourists, such as the Miller family. James does this by degrading the Millers quality of speech while preserving the proper speech of the Europeanized Americans, by adjusting the descriptions of Daisy from being a Young girl (1878) to being a charming creature (1909), by sexualizing Daisy and giving us a reason to distrust her because of her alluded promiscuity, and by condemning Daisy for being so easily taken by such an obvious fraud as Giovanelli. A few of these issues existed in the 1878 edition, such as the allusions to Daisys promiscuity and Giovanellis undesirability, but James works hard to bring them into the foreground in the 1909 edition. The result is a more controversial book that pits black against white, polarizes the Americans and leaves less room for Daisy to be pitied.

The Capitalist System and Human Greed in Wall Street (1987) Essay

The Capitalist System and Human Greed in Wall Street (1987) - Essay Example Bud becomes an insider trader and involves himself in illegal activities, so that he could give vital information to Gekko. This essay analyzes the elements that Stone used to depict the film's theme. Stone used plot, character development, and editing style to depict the theme that the capitalist system has its excesses, but individual greed is still to be predominantly blamed for the system's immoralities. The capitalist system has a propensity for greed, because of its focus on material wealth as an end itself. The capitalist focuses on material wealth as an end itself, thereby treating other human beings as means to an end. Stone's plot started with the capitalist system's external features, such as buildings and workers. He used establishing shots too in Gekko's office to demonstrate his power and wealth. His office is filled with computers and expensive furniture and painting to underline his amassed wealth as a Wall Street player. Later on, the plot builds to the climax throug h depicting the showdown between Gekko and Bud. Bud ensures that Gekko loses Bluestar to his rival Sir Lawrence Wildman (Terence Stamp). Gekko takes revenge and whistles to the police about Bud's insider trading activities. The resolution of the story says that it does not help to treat people as means to an end only. To highlight the composition and implications of the capitalist system, Stone employed both standard and non-standard editing styles. He used standard editing to show the continuity of human greed. Stone employed dissolves to establish the setting of the film, where workers are shown first and then the skyscrapers. The dissolve transitions illustrate the illusion of material wealth and how it affects workers, the main developer of capital growth. Stone also employed a long shot to establish the setting of stockbrokers in Jackson Steinem & Co., a local Wall Street stock and trading firm. Young and old stockbrokers are talking about companies and hinting on their long-st anding careers that may or may lead to financial success or not. In addition, the capitalist system teaches people to pursue materialistic goals, but they still have a choice, if they want to change the system from within. Stone uses cut-in and cut-away to demonstrate that despite people who are jam-packed in the elevator, as they are also packed into the capitalist system, they remain isolated from each other. They are isolated because of their individual goals. In addition, Stone also used deviations in editing to emphasize the theme of human greed. For instance, he used a montage to depict the differences in how Gekko treats Bud. In his office, cut-in, cut-away editing emphasized their differences in personality and social status. After investing in Bluestar and profiting for it, they meet in the restaurant and Stone uses the shot to both show them together. This time, they are â€Å"equals,† because of their parallels in human greed. The film also showed that the individu al can reinforce the excesses of the capitalist systems, in terms of pursuing relentless profit growth. The individual becomes a product and creator of the capitalist system. People like Bud become products of greed. Bud idolizes Gekko, because the latter makes tens of millions in his deals. He tells his father that there is no â€Å"

History of modern latin america Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of modern latin america - Essay Example Sandra Phillips (2009) stated that sports provide a unique opportunity for children to acquire physical, social, and personal benefits that can help them throughout their lives. According to her, the benefits of youth sports are extensive. She gave some of the ways how sports can positively influence a child’s development and serve as an avenue for teaching children valuable life lessons (Phillips, 2009). According to Phillips (2009), sports can build self-esteem, self-respect and dignity. It provides social interaction with peers and adults and an opportunity to develop talents (Phillips, 2009). Sandra Phillips (2009) also added that sports teaches sportsmanship, teamwork, control, and how to deal with adversity by showing them that it is alright to make a mistake and giving them the opportunity to learn from mistakes as well as moving on once a mistake has been made. It instils self-discipline and awareness of the value of preparation (Phillips, 2009). A sport teaches kids h ow to deal productively with criticisms, provides leadership opportunities, and fosters a sense of community by providing a sense of belonging or opportunity to be part of a group (Phillips, 2009). In addition, Phillips (2009) presented that sports develops skills for handling success and failure and provides stress relief from academic and social pressures. SPORTS AND THE HIGH RISKS COUNTRIES Brazil is a passionate country besotted with sports (Tyler, n.d.) According to Vera Tyler, a volunteer coach, there are many areas of the city where children are exposed to dangers of poverty and they can be easily led into a life of crimes and drugs. The sports programme that they offered provided a positive channel for energy of the children and a distraction from a ghastly lifestyle. Tyler added that they focused on encouraging children to see the ‘good side’ of the world by taking them away from the violence and poverty that they live in and encouraging them to see things in a different way. The sporting activities provide positive role to help keep the children away from the dangers of the streets (Tyler, n.d.). According to Tyler, the activities helped motivate and encourage poor children in Brazil. In Rio, charitable organizations, NGO’s and social projects are working hard to provide recreational activities to street children or those from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In Haiti, they organize sport events to help integrate the people, boost self-esteem and encourage change after the city was shaken and desolated by earthquake (Pires de Mello, 2011). They highlighted the sports for social inclusion, social re-insertion and its desired effect in contributing to create an environment conducive to peace and less violence in the area (Pires de Mello, 2011). Kay Nou, a non-profit organization in Haiti, is devoted to caring for abandoned and disenfranchised youth in Haiti (www.kaynouinc.org, Kay Nou). They aim to deal with physical, emotional and aca demic needs of the Haitian youth. Kay Nou took part in sports activities such as soccer, judo, volleyball, capoeira, athletics, gymnastics and other activities (Pires de Mello, 2011). In a vast squatter settlement outside Lima, Peru, schools are overburdened and most families don’t have the means to pay for a child’s education outside the slum (www.globalfundforchildren.org, Escuelas Deporte y Vida). There is violence in the streets and at home. Sara Diestro, as social worker who

Internet Marketing Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Internet Marketing - Article Example While buying it online, it immediately disappears. But it can't be a disadvantage. Online you can read about all the specification and compare and try to find something which perfectly fits into your budget without the input of salesman assumption. But not every salesman can tell you all about all the specifications of every mobile. Second Price; it is always hard to do whether the product is selling online or in stores. Mobile phones have same selling prices but the company which is offering connection with it has to find out how much a customer is willing to pay and it is more important to set your price after taking into consideration of competitor's price. No doubt internet has made pricing a lot competitive and increased pressure on the traditional retailers. Loyal customers are more likely to get a reward on internet with automatically getting the repeated customer tracked. Payment is also easy, but there are many stories of fraud involved. Third Place; E-marketing has brought a drastic change in the online purchasing. As customers can buy products directly from the manufacturer's cutting out retailers totally, with a challenge of delivering the product within the timeframe. Mobile phones can be bought directly, from the websites like Nokia, Samsung etc.

Nursing Theory as Framework for Research Coursework

Nursing Theory as Framework for Research - Coursework Example An example of such studies that lack a theoretical framework is that of Bond et al. (2010) that involves a descriptive analysis of articles published a decade ago. Though the study itself seeks to identify the use of theoretical frameworks among articles published in the past five years from 2010, it lacks a theoretical framework to guide its research. A theoretical framework impacts numerous aspects of the study. Simply because a theoretical framework guides a research by offering a reference basis for the observations, definition of ideas, research design, interpretations, a lack of it implies that the study lacks organization. Therefore, this study lacks organization. According to McEwen and Wills (2014), a theoretical framework guides the researcher in interpreting the study results. In this case, Bond et al. (2010) are not guided by any theory in their collection and interpretation of the data results. Additionally, this also implies that the researchers lack a connection with the existing knowledge. This study also lacks an explanation of existing theoretical assumptions as it does not respond to questions on â€Å"how† and â€Å"why† (McEwen & Wills, 2014).

Code of Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Code of Ethics - Essay Example My core values are respect, integrity, responsibility, and fairness. Respect is important to me because I honor all individuals as human beings with dignity. Respect is essential in having a good life because, if I see every one as equal, I will not mistreat or abuse anyone. Furthermore, respect means being open to and tolerant of differences. If I respect people, I do not need to force my beliefs and values on them. I will not also unfairly judge them, which avoids prejudice and discrimination. Integrity is my second core value because it means being honest in what I say and do. Integrity is important to living a good life because I can earn and protect the trust of people. I will also feel better about myself because my values do not conflict with my actions. Responsibility is the third core value that I find important because I want to be accountable for my decisions and actions. Responsibility is significant to a good life because I am proactive in setting goals and handling prob lems. Fairness is also an important core value because I want to be impartial by listening to others and having an open mind. It is valuable to a good life because it results to just processes and outcomes. My core values will help me live a good life because they will enable me to become conscious of my ethical needs as a human being and to respect other people as beings with equal moral worth. I believe that I have good moral character because I live with integrity. Integrity is all about interconnecting my values, beliefs, attitudes, and actions. To be a person of integrity is to act according to my cherished values and virtues. The virtues that I aspire to cultivate and practice are connected to my code of ethics. I want to embody the virtues of hope, justice, and temperance. By having hope, I see positive things in people and the future. I also contribute to a hopeful future through my actions,

Childhood Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Childhood Obesity - Essay Example The American Academy of Pediatrics terms childhood obesity as an ‘unprecedented burden’ on the children’s health. The unnecessary weight gain, primarily due to poor diet and lack of exercise, accounts for as many as 300,000 deaths each year.   It is estimated Obesity costs the society, on an annual basis, nearly $ 90 billion (Stewart 2009). Methodology for Determining Childhood Obesity To determine whether a child is overweight or obese, the body mass index (BMI), a measure that uses a child's weight and height, is calculated. Body mass index (BMI) is expressed as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m2). The BMI is a realistic estimation of body fatness for most children and teens even though it does not measure body fat directly. Unlike the BMI categories used for adults, a child's weight status is determined with the help of an age and sex specific percentile for BMI. This methodology is adopted because the children's body composition v aries as they age and differs for boys and girls. In normal parlance, the terms ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ are used interchangeably. However there is a technical difference. Overweight is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex while obesity refers to the BMI at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex (Milne 2007). Risks Associated with Childhood Obesity Obesity is associated with numerous risks for children not only when they are young but also during their later life. Obese children are susceptible to having high blood pressure and high cholesterol as well as heightened risk of impaired glucose tolerance. Close to 70 percent of obese children have at least one additional risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (Frieden 2010). Such children are more prone to contracting Type II diabetes, breathing problems and asthma. Obese children are also known to ha ve medical conditions like joint problems, musculoskeletal discomfort, fatty liver disease, gallstones, and gastro-esophageal reflux. The adverse effects of obese continue even as these children grow. As adolescents, obese children have a greater chance of encountering social and psychological problems resulting in poor self-esteem. It is a myth that plump babies naturally outgrow their baby fat. The reality is that excess weight tends to persist in later life as well. There is empirical evidence that establishes the fact that obese children are more likely to become obese adults and this obesity in adulthood is prone to be more severe. Children who are obese at age six have a 50 percent higher chance of being obese as adults, irrespective of the parental obesity status. Four-fifth of obese children at ages 10-15 also tend to be obese at age 25 (Frieden 2010). The obesity in adulthood leads to a serious health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and is even responsible for some cancers (Berger 2006). Causes of Childhood Obesity In simple parlance, childhood obesity is the consequence of consuming more calories than an individual can burn. Many factors, biological, economic, and social, converge and are responsible for childhood obesity. Each of these factors has a significant influence on the type of food ingestion, method of food preparation as well as on food consumption (Procter 2008). Various experts have put forth numerous causes of childhood obesity

Annual reporting documents in two countries Essay

Annual reporting documents in two countries - Essay Example Both companies are in the same industry called Super-market distribution. The companies are almost of same size but represent contrasting regulatory and cultural conditions. Categories of reporting and providing information in the annual reports of companies in each of the countries are both conventional as well those making compliances of legal and regulatory requirements. Annual report of Tesco plc, a UK company, provides information under the categories of Chief Executive’s Statement, Report of the directors that contains business review, general information, and report on corporate governance, Directors’ Remuneration Report, and Financial Statements that include a statement of directors’ responsibility, independent auditor’s report, group financial statements including notes thereto, parent company’s financial statements and independent auditor’s report on that. Annual Report is required to be filed along with accounts with Registrar of companies, and also published, circulated, and made available on websites of the company in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2006. On the other hand the information in the annual report of Wal- Mart Stores Inc., a US company, is provided under the categories of Statement of Chief Executive or President of the company, Report of Chairman of board of directors that includes financial review and summary, management discussion and analysis (MDA) of financial conditions and results of operations, Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto that include report of independent registered public accounting firm, report of independent registered public accounting firm on Internal Control over financial reporting, and Management Report to shareholders. ‘As the name implies a company’s annual report summarizes activities during the past year. While certain information is required by the U.S.

The institution and I Essay Example for Free

The institution and I Essay This is similar to Brett; the protagonist in Scott Monks unconventionally written novel Raw. We first meet Brett at his umpteenth time of committing a crime. On his journey to his latest institution; The Farm, we learn of his negative attitude and surprise of being sent to a federation-styled homestead instead of a concentration camp patrolled by Dobermans and gun-toting guards. His negative attitude to authority is exemplified by constantly referring to the police as pigs and similies like Cops and food go together like pigs and slop. Sam is the symbolic role model who initiates Bretts reform, he offers his hand for a handshake, but Brett declines the offer. This symbolises his reluctance to change from his former self and habits. Scott Monk has deliberately put this theme of binary opposites in  the novel, to show how different the experiences are on individuals on different sides of the rules. When Brett first meets the other criminals occupying The Farm he is shown two different paths he can follow while there; he can follow the rules and rely on the institution for support and be like Josh. The other option is to have a blatant disregard and disrespect for the rules; and turn to violence as the answer to everything and be like Tyson. Brett is always at crossroads and does not show any change until the end of the novel, where he is put in a position where he must choose what path he wants to lead in life. The Farm does not use solitary confinement or violence as a form of punishment towards the boys, instead they are enforced upon the individual i.e. When Brett drink drives and crashes the Ute, he is punished by doing chores such as †¦pulling out weeds†¦ and †¦scrubbing the rust off oil drums†¦. Brett does not prefer to do such chores because he knows he is already being sent back to Sydney for breaking the law. Another way is by punishing the whole group for an individuals action, this leads to the individual harassment and negative victimisation towards this individual i.e. Brett tries to escape and is victimised by Tyson and his group who shave the hair off his head for the fear of losing privileges. The symbolic affects of before and after The Farm is represented by Rebecca and Caitlyn. The significance of Rebecca proves that Brett is only semi-rehabilitated; Rebecca symbolises Bretts continuing path to crime. Caitlyns personalities of being conservative and conformist replicate the path that Bretts life will lead to if he abides to the rules while staying at The Farm. It is because of Rebecca that he is sent away and Sam tells him only you can change ur life. This is the main theme to the whole novel, and has been put in deliberately by Scott Monk. He does this because he knows that his book is aimed at young teenagers and he knows that it will attract the attention of a lot of young teenagers because of its contents; rebelling amongst the  whole world because †¦it hates you†¦, fights, sex and run-ins with the law. Dissimilar to Raw, Shawshank Redemption a film directed by Frank Darabont, is set on themes focusing on the negative effects on the individual while in prison. Shawshank focuses mainly on physical abuse and punishment, this is seen in the fourth scene when Warden Norton is laying out the rules; †¦no blasphemy but verbal and physical abuse is condoned. Shawshank is different to Raw because it can be seen that, the guards physically abuse the inmates. Also; the plot of Raw is that the change is within the individual, but in Shawshank, the plot is to keep the criminals inside the dull grey walls away from the emerging and colourful society; There is only 3 ways to spend money on prisons: more walls, more bars, more guards. This piece of dialogue is ironic because the warden himself is in charge of a money laundering scheme throughout the prison, this is only possible with the help of the smart Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins). This operation leads Andy to find sarcasm in saying that On the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow, I had to come to prison to be a crook. This is an individual effect that Andy has had because of the institution; he has become a criminal. There is a belief that if an inmate has been in a prison for too long they rely upon the institution and become institutionalised i.e. Brooks; he served his 50 year sentence and throughout that time he is the prison librarian; †¦outside he is nothing. Upon leaving the prison he is given a place to stay and a job at Food Way. He doesnt like how the world has changed so fast and all he wants to really do is †¦get a gun and rob the Food Way so they would send me home. _Home_, he refers to the prison as home, by being away from a growing society, the institution has left him with a negative effect of being confused and not knowing anything about the outside world, but relying on the support of the institution. Brooks was rendered so incapable of independent thought and human operation in the world that he committed suicide. This portrays how Shawshank has become the opposite of rehabilitation and shuns out the beliefs of hope and ever getting out of the high; stone walls. Just like it did to Red, when Andy tries to explain how he can never become institutionalised, Red replies  with: Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane. This explains how in Shawshank, redemption is a hard thing to find. Redemption is the improving of something, but if inmates are _hoping_ to _improve_, will they find redemption? Richard Nevilles article Come on, kids dare to resist published by The Sydney Morning Herald on the 3rd of May 2004. Outlines how the selfish gen Xers are more afraid of losing their credit cards than losing the planet. A gen Xer is a person born on Earth anytime between 1965 and 1980. Richard Neville is a man who doesnt want technology to rule our worlds, he is a hero to some and an enemy to others, his views are more futuristic, he is very concerned to where the future is headed and how we will get there. He himself is portrayed as the institution here, it is his views that make a lasting impact on people, the reason he is well known for his publicity. When commenting on a recent protest about young university students wanting lower fees he says this; The students have a point about the fees, but why cant they get upset about other peoples problems? He is referring to the war in Iraq. He wants the young students to look to the positive side and see that they have the education that they are taking for granted; the education a person their age in Iraq is deprived of even if they can afford it. These youngsters in Australia do not understand how lucky they are to be friends with America and not enemies like Iraq. His political based comments do not stop there; As for the future leaders of Australia, the strapping young professionals, the entrepreneurs, the trainee philosophers, where are they? Locked up with mortgage brokers, every one. See how he predicts a positive effect and job prospects towards _all_ future leaders of Australia and by saying that they are Locked up with mortgage brokers, every one. He is emphasising that they are experiencing a negative effect from their institutions and are becoming institutionalised by not being able to reach for that final goal; they can see it, but they cant have it. This is just like Brett in Raw he wanted to be like Josh, but couldnt because he could never leave his old habits behind him. This can also be related to Andy in Shawshank Redemption, he could see himself  outside the prison in New Mexico, but he was restricted by the greed and abuse of human rights. So he chose to break out and reach his goal, even if it was giving the institution a r eason to finally keep him there. Now readers the task is upon you to judge from what you have read here, go read Raw and go watch Shawshank Redemption, I have only expressed to you my opinion of these two excellent texts and their analysation of different institutions and their effects. It is now your turn to experience the self-discovery of how you lead your life and how the institutions around you lead their occupants lives. It is also an incredulous opportunity that todays HSC students are able to study this subject more thoroughly. It is because of this elective in year 12 English classes that the young adults of tomorrow can see where their futures may be heading and know now that there is always time for reform and change in their habits. Studying such socially active topics at school will prove useful in their future lives, as it will help them understand how they should deal with problems they face from institutions that they may come across in their life. Might I also add to keep a watch on Richard Neville, he has some intriguing predictions about the future on his website: http://www.richardneville.com.au

Alicia My Story, Book Summary Essay Example for Free

Alicia My Story, Book Summary Essay The main character in this story is a Jewish girl named Alicia. When the book starts she is ten years old, she lives in the Polish town of Buczacz with her four brothers, Moshe, Zachary, Bunio, and Herzl, and her mother and father . The holocaust experience began subtly at first when the Russians began to occupy Buczacz. When her brother Moshe was killed at a Boys School in Russia and her father was gathered up by German authorities, the reality of the whole situation quickly became very real. Her father was taken away shortly after the Russians had moved out and the Germans began to occupy Buczacz. Once the Germans occupied, they moved the Jewish population of Buczacz into mass ghettos. Alicia and the rest of her family had to share a house with several other families which had also been driven out of there homes. The only source of income in this situation was to sell things at the marketplace, and even there, Jews were forbidden. Alicia went anyway and sold what she could for food and money. One day her brother Bunio disappeared from the ghetto. Alicia and her family found out later that he had been taken to a work camp, but that they could send food packages to him. Shortly after this, Alicia was taken into custody by German officials and put on a train to another work camp. Alicia managed to escape from this train by jumping through a small window. She found her way to a river which led her back to the ghetto. By this time several people in the ghetto had been feeling the effects of the impoverished conditions. Starvation, Typhoid, and other diseases, were beginning to take its toll on the people who lived in the ghetto. Then one day, Alicia found out that her brother Bunio had been killed in the work camp. A boy had escaped so they lined up all the boys and shot every fourth one. As time progressed, Alicia began assuming more responsibility for the daily tasks of the family such as going out and trading for more food in places other than the marketplace. While this was going on, Zachary and a few other boys from the ghetto had been forming a sort of resistance. One day Alicia was informed that her brother had been hanged. After Zacharys death, Alicia was befriended by a woman named Bella. She met many good friends in the ghetto including a future friend as well as savior, Milek . Months later, Alicia and several other people were rounded up and sent to a prison in Chortkov. Here the conditions were very poor. Every day more and more people were taken out and shot. On the inside of the cells it was a cesspool of germs and diseases. Every morning the jailkeepers would go around the cell and kick people to see if they were still alive. One of these times Alicia was taken for dead and put onto a wagon with other bodies. The driver of the wagon found her, nursed her back to better health and then brought her back to the ghetto. During this time, before, and after she returned to the ghetto attempts to rid the ghettos of Jews were called actions. To escape being caught by the German police who took part in the actions, they built large bunkers to hide from their captors. After several of these actions, the Buczacz ghetto had been emptied by more than half. At this point the time came to move to a new ghetto. Alicia had been in this new ghetto only a short time when another action occurred. This time Alicia was captured and brought to a mass grave with a multitude of other Jews. Just when Alicia was about to be shot Milek took a gun from one of the shooters and began shooting other officers. Alicia took advantage of this opportunity, as she had many others, and ran for her life. She ran fast and far until she found herself coming into a town which was surrounded with tilled fields. She discovered she could work in exchange for a small amount of food. She worked hard in these fields and was able to let her mother in Buczacz know that she was safe. Alicia was reunited with her mother and they returned to this community where they lived for about a year. She also found out that her youngest brother Herzl had been taken away and killed Alicia would work at these fields and get food, she would bring some back to her mother who, because of poor health, was resting in seclusion most of the day.. One day they met a nice old man that was sort of an outcast from the rest of the community. He let them stay with him and another Jewish family that he was taking care of in his shack. They stayed here during the winter while Alicia still searched for food, in the process, making many friends. News came one day that the Germans were beginning to fall back from the Russian fronts and Germanys grip on the Jews in Poland was weakening. This news made Alicia and her mother move away from the old man who helped them. Alicia and her mother had formed a very close friendship with the kindly man. When Alicia and her mother arrived in Buczacz they moved into a regular apartment and began to live a semi-normal life. It was not long after Alicia had moved back into Buczacz that the Germans took over the town again. In this raid on the Jews, Alicias mother was killed by the Germans. Alicia was taken to another prison where she would later be transported to another mass grave. While she was waiting, she devised a plan to escape the mass grave by running down a hillside and into a river. When they were lined up to be shot she ran to the river. She hid there all night and once again she had escaped the Germans. As she made her way back, she became friends with a group Russian Jews who were fighting with the Russians. She even earned a medal from them because she had helped a number of them escape from a prison cell. Her bravery was not overlooked. Returning to Buczacz she found that there wasnt much left for her there, so she moved away with a person to a nearby town. She was in this town less than a few hours when her and her friend were taken into custody by the Russian police. What had happened was that her friend was suspected of selling things in the black market ( which she was ) and the police wanted to find out who was buying things from her. Over a span of 8 months they were kept but finally they were released. They received a lot of money from people that had been saved by their withholding of evidence. Alicia and her friend took this money and bought a train ticket to Lodz. They were stopped in Lvov because they went to get some tea while stopped at a station, but the train took off without them and they left all of their belongings on the train. Next they boarded a train to Krakow, and parted ways there. In Krakow, Alicia was staying at a rather large house with another family. She built a sort of orphanage by gathering up homeless children from the neighborhood. She lived with this family for a long time, and during this time she learned about a way that she could go to Eretz Island, Israel where she could be safe. She left her orphanage and went on a long journey where she met many people that were like her, in that she didnt like to see people suffer. Alicia made it to Israel but was taken by British border patrol officers to a jail on Cypress for coming into the country illegally. She was then released from Cyprus.

Delta Modulation And Demodulation Computer Science Essay

Delta Modulation And Demodulation Computer Science Essay A modem to improve communication system performance that uses multiple modulation scheme comprising modulation technique and encoder combinations. As communication system performance and objective change, different modulation schemes may be selected. Modulation schemes may also be selected upon the communication channel scattering function estimate and the modem estimates the channel scattering function from measurements of the channels frequency (Doppler) and time (multipath) spreading characteristics. An Adaptive sigma delta modulation and demodulation technique, wherein a quantizer step size is adapted based on estimates of an input signal to the quantizer, rather than on estimates of an input signal to the modulator. A technique for digital conferencing of voice signals in systems using adaptive delta modulation (ADM) with an idle pattern of alternating 1s and 0s has been described. Based on majority logic, it permits distortion-free reception of voice of a single active subscriber by all the other subscribers in the conference. Distortion exists when more than one subscriber is active and the extent of this distortion depends upon the type of ADM algorithm that has been used. An LSI oriented system based on time sharing of a common circuit by a number of channels has been implemented and tested. This technique, with only minor changes in circuitry, handles ADM channels that have idle patterns different from alternating single 1s and 0s. This method used for noise reduction. The modulator factor does not require a large amount of data to be represented. Representation is based upon a frequency domain function having particular characteristics. A preferred embodiment of the invention incorporates transform or sub band filtered signals which are transmitted as a modulated analog representation of a local region of a video signal. The modulation factor reflects the particular characteristic. Side information specifies the modulation factor 1.2. Aim: Digital techniques to wirelessly communicate voice information. Wireless environments are inherently noisy, so the voice coding scheme chosen for such an application must be robust in the presence of bit errors. Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM) and its derivatives are commonly used in wireless consumer products for their compromise between voice quality and implementation cost. Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) is another voice coding scheme, a mature technique that should be considered for these applications because of its bit error robustness and its low implementation cost. Bandpass modulation techniques encode information as the amplitude, fre ­quency, phase, or phase and amplitude of a sinusoidal carrier. These band ­pass modulation schemes are known by their acronyms ASK (amplitude shift keying), FSK (frequency shift keying), PSK (phase shift keying), and QAM (qua ­ternary amplitude modulation), where keying or modulation is used to indicate that a carrier signal is modified in some manner. The carrier is a sinusoidal signal that is initially devoid of any information. The purpose of the carrier is to translate essentially a baseband information signal to a frequency and wavelength that can be sent with a guided or propagating electro ­magnetic (EM) wave. Bandpass ASK is similar to baseband pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) in Chapter 2, Baseband Modulation and Demodulation, but FSK, PSK, and DM are new non-linear modulation techniques. ASK, FSK, and PSK can be readily extended to multiple level (M-ary) signaling and demodulated coherently or non-coherently. The optimum receiver for bandpass symmetrical or asymmetrical sig ­nals is the correlation receiver, which is developed for baseband signals in Chapter 2. Coherent demodulation uses a reference signal with the same frequency and phase as the received signal. No coherent demodulation of bandpass signaling may use differential encoding of the information to derive the reference signal in the correlation receiver. The observed bit error rate (BER) for a single, in a MATLAB simulation for several bandpass digital communication systems with coherent and non coherent correlation receivers is compared to the theoretical probability of bit error (Pb). Digital communication systems are subject to performance degrada ­tions with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). MATLAB simulations of bandpass communication systems are used to investigate the effect upon BER of the performance of the correlation receiver, the reduction in BER with Gray-coding of M-ary data, and binary and quaternary differential signaling. MATLAB simulations of such bandpass digital communication systems and investigations of their characteristics and performance are provided here. These simulations confirm the theoretical expectation for Pb and are the starting point for the what-ifs of bandpass digital communication system design. Finally, the constellation plot depicts the demodulated in-phase and quadra ­ture signals of complex modulation schemes in the presence of AWGN. The opti ­mum decision regions are shown, and the observed BER performance of the bandpass digital communication system can be qualitatively assessed. Delta Modulation: Delta modulation is also abbreviated as DM or Ά-modulation. It is a technique of conversion from an analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog signal. If we want to transmit the voice we use this technique. In this technique we do not give that much of importance to the quality of the voice. DM is nothing but the simplest form of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM). But there is some difference between these two techniques. In DPCM technique the successive samples are encoded into streams of n-bit data. But in delta modulation, the transmitted data is reduced to a 1-bit data stream. Main features: * The analog signal is similar as a series of segments. * To find the increase or decrease in relative amplitude, we should compare each and every segment of the approximated signal with the original analog wave. * By this comparison of original and approximated analog waves we can determine the successive bits for establishing. * only the change of information is sent, that is, only an increase or decrease of the signal amplitude from the previous sample is sent whereas a no-change condition causes the modulated signal to remain at the same 0 or 1 state of the previous sample. By using oversampling techniques in delta modulation we can get large high signal-to-noise ratio. That means the analog signal is sampled at multiple higher than the Nyquist rate. Principle In delta modulation, it quantizes the difference between the current and the previous step rather than the absolute value quantization of the input analog waveform, which is shown in fig 1. Fig. 1 Block diagram of a Ά-modulator/demodulator The quantizer of the delta modulator converts the difference between the input signal and the average of the previous steps. The quantizer is measured by a comparator with reference to 0 (in 2- level quantizer), and its output is either 1 or 0. 1 means input signal is positive and 0 means negative. It is also called as a bit-quantizer because it quantizes only one bit at a time. The output of the demodulator rises or falls because it is nothing but an Integrator circuit. If 1 received means the output raises and if 0 received means output falls. The integrator internally has a low-pass filter it self. Transfer Characteristics A signum function is followed by the delta modulator for the transfer characteristics. It quantizes only levels of two number and also for at a time only one-bit. Output signal power In delta modulation amplitude it is does not matter that there is no objection on the amplitude of the signal waveform, due to there is any fixed number of levels. In addition to, there is no limitation on the slope of the signal waveform in delta modulation. We can observe whether a slope is overload if so it can be avoided. However, in transmitted signal there is no limit to change. The signal waveform changes gradually. Bit-rate The interference is due to possibility of in either DM or PCM is due to limited bandwidth in communication channel. Because of the above reason DM and PCM operates at same bit-rate. Noise in Communication Systems Noise is probably the only topic in electronics and telecommunications with which every-one must be familiar, no matter what his or her specialization. Electrical disturbances interfere with signals, producing noise. It is ever present and limits the performance of most systems. Measuring it is very contentious almost everybody has a different method of quantifying noise and its effects. Noise may be defined, in electrical terms, as any unwanted introduction of energy tending to interfere with the proper reception and reproduction of transmitted signals. Many disturbances of an electrical nature produce noise in receivers, modifying the signal in an unwanted manner. In radio receivers, noise may produce hiss in the loudspeaker output. In television receivers snow, or confetti (colored snow) becomes superimposed on the picture. In pulse communications systems, noise may produce unwanted pulses or perhaps cancel out the wanted ones. It may cause serious mathematical errors. Noise can l imit the range of systems, for a given transmitted power. It affects the sensitivity of receivers, by placing a limit on the weakest signals that can be amplified. It may sometimes even force a reduction in the bandwidth of a system. Noise is unwanted electrical or electromagnetic energy that degrades the quality of signals and data. Noise occurs in digital and analog systems, and can affect files and communications of all types, including text, programs, images, audio, and telemetry. In a hard-wired circuit such as a telephone-line-based Internet hookup, external noise is picked up from appliances in the vicinity, from electrical transformers, from the atmosphere, and even from outer space. Normally this noise is of little or no consequence. However, during severe thunderstorms, or in locations were many electrical appliances are in use, external noise can affect communications. In an Internet hookup it slows down the data transfer rate, because the system must adjust its speed to match conditions on the line. In a voice telephone conversation, noise rarely sounds like anything other than a faint hissing or rushing. Noise is a more significant problem in wireless systems than in hard-wired systems. In general, noise originating from outside the system is inversely proportional to the frequency, and directly proportional to the wavelength. At a low frequency such as 300 kHz, atmospheric and electrical noise are much more severe than at a high frequency like 300 MHz. Noise generated inside wireless receivers, known as internal noise, is less dependent on frequency. Engineers are more concerned about internal noise at high frequencies than at low frequencies, because the less external noise there is, the more significant the internal noise becomes. Communications engineers are constantly striving to develop better ways to deal with noise. The traditional method has been to minimize the signal bandwidth to the greatest possible extent. The less spectrum space a signal occupies, the less noise is passed through the receiving circuitry. However, reducing the bandwidth limits the maximum speed of the data that can be delivered. Another, more recently developed scheme for minimizing the effects of noise is called digital signal processing (DSP). Using fiber optics, a technology far less susceptible to noise, is another approach. Sources of Noise As with all geophysical methods, a variety of noises can contaminate our seismic observations. Because we control the source of the seismic energy, we can control some types of noise. For example, if the noise is random in occurrence, such as some of the types of noise described below, we may be able to minimize its affect on our seismic observations by recording repeated sources all at the same location and averaging the result. Weve already seen the power of averaging in reducing noise in the other geophysical techniques we have looked at. Beware, however, that averaging only works if the noise is random. If it is systematic in some fashion, no amount of averaging will remove it. The noises that plague seismic observations can be lumped into three categories depending on their source.  · Uncontrolled Ground Motion This is the most obvious type of noise. Anything that causes the ground to move, other than your source, will generate noise. As you would expect, there could be a wid e variety of sources for this type of noise. These would include traffic traveling down a road, running engines and equipment, and people walking. Other sources that you might not consider include wind, aircraft, and thunder. Wind produces noise in a couple of ways but of concern here is its affect on vegetation. If you are surveying near trees, wind causes the branches of the trees to move, and this movement is transmitted through the trees and into the ground via the trees roots. Aircraft and thunder produce noise by the coupling of ground motion to the sound that we hear produced by each. Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) Another type of DM is Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM). In which the step-size isnt fixed. The step-size becomes progressively larger when slope overload occurs. When quantization error is increasing with expensive the slope error is also reduced by ADM. By using a low pass filter this should be reduced. The basic delta modulator was studied in the experiment entitled Delta modulation. It is implemented by the arrangement shown in block diagram form in Figure Figure: Basic Delta Modulation A large step size was required when sampling those parts of the input waveform of steep slope. But a large step size worsened the granularity of the sampled signal when the waveform being sampled was changing slowly. A small step size is preferred in regions where the message has a small slope. This suggests the need for a controllable step size the control being sensitive to the slope of the sampled signal. This can be implemented by an arrangement such as is illustrated in Figure Fig: An Adaptive Delta Modulator The gain of the amplifier is adjusted in response to a control voltage from the SAMPLER, which signals the onset of slope overload. The step size is proportional to the amplifier gain. This was observed in an earlier experiment. Slope overload is indicated by a succession of output pulses of the same sign. The TIMS SAMPLER monitors the delta modulated signal, and signals when there is no change of polarity over 3 or more successive samples. The actual ADAPTIVE CONTROL signal is +2 volt under normal conditions, and rises to +4 volt when slope overload is detected. The gain of the amplifier, and hence the step size, is made proportional to this Control voltage. Provided the slope overload was only moderate the approximation will catch up with the wave being sampled. The gain will then return to normal until the sampler again falls behind. Comparison of PCM and DM When coming to comparison of Signal-to-noise ratio DM has larger value than signal-to-noise ratio of PCM. Also for an ADM signal-to-noise ratio when compared to Signal-to-noise ratio of companded PCM. Complex coders and decoders are required for powerful PCM. If to increase the resolution we require a large number of bits per sample. There are no memories in Standard PCM systems each sample value is separately encoded into a series of binary digits. An alternative, which overcomes some limitations of PCM, is to use past information in the encoding process. Delta modulation is the one way of doing to perform source coding. The signal is first quantized into discrete levels. For quantization process the step size between adjacent samples should be kept constant. From one level to an adjacent one the signal makes a transition of transmission. After the quantization operation is done, sending a zero for a negative transition and a one for a positive transition the signal transmission is achieved. We can observe from this point that the quantized signal must change at each sampling point. The transmitted bit train would be 111100010111110 for the above case. The demodulator for a delta-modulated signal is nothing but a staircase generator. To increments the staircase in positively a one should be received. For negative increments a zero should be receive. This is done by a low pass filter in general. The main thing for the delta modulation is to make the right choice of step size and sampling period. A term overloading is occurred when a signal changes randomly fast for the steps to follow. The step size and the sampling period are the important parameters. In modern consumer electronics short-range digital voice transmission is used. There are many products which uses digital techniques. Such as cordless telephones, wireless headsets (for mobile and landline telephones), baby monitors are few of the items. This digital techniques used Wirelessly communicate voice information. Due to inherent noise in wireless environments the Voice coding scheme chosen. For such an application the presence of robust bit errors must be. In the presence of bit errors Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM) and its derivatives are commonly used in wireless consumer products. This is due to their compromise between voice quality and implementation cost, but these are not robust schemes. Another important voice coding scheme is Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM). It is a mature technique for consideration for these types of applications due to its robustness in bit error and its low implementation cost. To quantize the difference between the current sample and the predicted value of the next Sample ADM is used. It uses a variable called step height which is used to adjustment of the prediction value of the next sample. For the reproduction of both slowly and rapidly changing input signals faithfully. In ADM, the representation of each sample is one bit (i.e. 1 or 0). It does not require any data framing for one-bit-per-sample stream to minimizing the workload on the host microcontroller. In any digital wireless application there should be Bit errors. In ideal environment most of the voice coding techniques are provided which are good in quality of audio signals. The main thing is to provide good audio signals in everyday environment, there may be a presence of bit errors. For different voice coding methods and input signals the traditional performance metrics (e.g. SNR) does not measure accurately in audio quality. . Mean Opinion Score (MOS) testing is the main important parameter which overcomes the limitations of other metrics by successfully in audio quality. For audio quality the MOS testing is used. It is a scale of 1 to 5 which tells the audio quality status. In there 1 represents very less (bad) speech quality and 5 represents excellent speech quality. A toll quality speech has a MOS score of 4 or higher than it. The audio quality of a traditional telephone call has same MOS value as above. The below graphs shows the relationship between MOS scores and bit errors for three of the most common voice coding schemes. Those are CVSD, ÃŽÂ ¼-law PCM, and ADPCM. A continuously Variable Slope Delta (CVSD) coding is a member of the ADM family in voice coding schemes. The below graph shows the resulted audio quality (i.e. MOS score). All three schemes explain the number of bit errors. As the no of bit errors increases the graph indicates that ADM (CVSD) sounds better than the other schemes which are also increase. In an ADM design error detection and correction typically are not used because ADM provides poor performance in the presence of bit errors. This leads to reduction in host processor workload (allowing a low-cost processor to be used). The superior noise immunity significantly reduced for wireless applications in voice coding method. The ADM is supported strongly by workload for the host processor. The following example shows the benefits of ADM for wireless applications and is demonstrated. For a complete wireless voice product this low-power design is used which includes all of the building blocks, small form-factor, including the necessary items. ADM voice codec Microcontroller RF transceiver Power supply including rechargeable battery Microphone, speaker, amplifiers, etc. Schematics, board layout files, and microcontroller code written in C. Delta modulation (DM) may be viewed as a simplified form of DPCM in which a two level (1-bit) quantizer is used in conjunction with a fixed first-order predictor. The block diagram of a DM encoder-decoder is shown below.   The dm_demo shows the use of Delta Modulation to approximate input sine wave signal and a speech signal that were sampled at 2 KHz and 44 KHz, respectively. The source code file of the MATLAB code and the out put can be viewed using MATLAB. Notice that the approximated value follows the input value much closer when the sampling rate is higher. You may test this by changing sampling frequency, fs, value for sine wave in dm_demo file. Since DM (Delta Modulator) approximate a waveform Sa(t) by a linear staircase function, the waveform Sa(t) must change slowly relative to the sampling rate. This requirement implies that waveform Sa(t) must be oversampled, i.e., at least five times the Nyquist rate. Oversampling means that the signal is sampled faster than is necessary. In the case of Delta Modulation this means that the sampling rate will be much higher than the minimum rate of twice the bandwidth. Delta Modulation requires oversampling in order to obtain an accurate prediction of the next input. Since each encoded sample contains a relatively small amount of information Delta Modulation systems require higher sampling rates than PCM systems. At any given sampling rate, two types of distortion, as shown below limit the performance of the DM encoder.   Slope overload distortion: This type of distortion is due to the use of a step size delta that is too small to follow portions of the waveform that have a steep slope. It can be reduced by increasing the step size. Granular noise: This results from using a step size that is too large too large in parts of the waveform having a small slope. Granular noise can be reduced by decreasing the step size. Even for an optimized step size, the performance of the DM encoder may still be less satisfactory. An alternative solution is to employ a variable step size that adapts itself to the short-term characteristics of the source signal. That is the step size is increased when the waveform has a step slope and decreased when the waveform has a relatively small slope. This strategy is called adaptive DM (ADM). Block Diagram Adaptive Delta Modulation for Audio Signals: While transmitting speech for e.g. telephony the transfer rate should be kept as small as possible to save bandwidth because of economic reason. For this purpose Delta Modulation, adaptive Delta modulation, Differential Pulse-Code modulation is used to compress the data. In this different kind of Delta modulations and Differential Pulse Code modulations (DPCM) were realized to compress audio data. At first the principal of compressing audio data are explained, which the modulations based on. Mathematical equations (e.g. Auto Correlation) and algorithm (LD recursion) are used to develop solutions. Based on the mathematics and principals Simulink models were implemented for the Delta modulation, Adaptive Delta modulation as well as for the adaptive Differential Pulse Code modulation. The theories were verified by applying measured signals on these models. Signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio (often abbreviated SNR or S/N) is an electrical engineering measurement, also used in other fields (such as scientific measurement or biological cell signaling), defined as the ratio of a signal power to the noise power corrupting the signal. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise. In less technical terms, signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of a desired signal (such as music) to the level of background noise. The higher the ratio, the less obtrusive the background noise is. In engineering, signal-to-noise ratio is a term for the power ratio between a signal (meaningful information) and the background noise: where P is average power. Both signal and noise power must be measured at the same and equivalent points in a system, and within the same system bandwidth. If the signal and the noise are measured across the same impedance, then the SNR can be obtained by calculating the square of the amplitude ratio: where A is root mean square (RMS) amplitude (for example, typically, RMS voltage). Because many signals have a very wide dynamic range, SNRs are usually expressed in terms of the logarithmic decibel scale. In decibels, the SNR is, by definition, 10 times the logarithm of the power ratio: Cutoff rate For any given system of coding and decoding, there exists what is known as a cutoff rate R0, typically corresponding to an Eb/N0 about 2 dB above the Shannon capacity limit. The cutoff rate used to be thought of as the limit on practical error correction codes without an unbounded increase in processing complexity, but has been rendered largely obsolete by the more recent discovery of turbo codes. Bit error rate In digital transmission, the bit error rate or bit error ratio (BER) is the number of received binary bits that have been altered due to noise and interference, divided by the total number of transferred bits during a studied time interval. BER is a unit less performance measure, often expressed as a percentage number. As an example, assume this transmitted bit sequence: 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1, And the following received bit sequence: 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1, The BER is in these case 3 incorrect bits (underlined) divided by 10 transferred bits, resulting in a BER of 0.3 or 30%. The bit error probability pe is the expectation value of the BER. The BER can be considered as an approximate estimate of the bit error probability. The approximation is accurate for a long studied time interval and a high number of bit errors. Factors affecting the BER In a communication system, the receiver side BER may be affected by transmission channel noise, interference, distortion, bit synchronization problems, attenuation, wireless multipath fading, etc. The BER may be improved by choosing a strong signal strength (unless this causes cross-talk and more bit errors), by choosing a slow and robust modulation scheme or line coding scheme, and by applying channel coding schemes such as redundant forward error correction codes. The transmission BER is the number of detected bits that are incorrect before error correction, divided by the total number of transferred bits (including redundant error codes). The information BER, approximately equal to the decoding error probability, is the number of decoded bits that remain incorrect after the error correction, divided by the total number of decoded bits (the useful information). Normally the transmission BER is larger than the information BER. The information BER is affected by the strength of the forward error correction code. CHAPTER II Pulse-code modulation: Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals, which was invented by Alec Reeves in 1937. It is the standard form for digital audio in computers and various Compact Disc and DVD formats, as well as other uses such as digital telephone systems. A PCM stream is a digital representation of an analog signal, in which the magnitude of the analogue signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, with each sample being quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps. PCM streams have two basic properties that determine their fidelity to the original analog signal: the sampling rate, which is the number of times per second that samples are taken; and the bit-depth, which determines the number of possible digital values that each sample can take. Digitization as part of the PCM process In conventional PCM, the analog signal may be processed (e.g. by amplitude compression) before being digitized. Once the signal is digitized, the PCM signal is usually subjected to further processing (e.g. digital data compression). PCM with linear quantization is known as Linear PCM (LPCM). Some forms of PCM combine signal processing with coding. Older versions of these systems applied the processing in the analog domain as part of the A/D process; newer implementations do so in the digital domain. These simple techniques have been largely rendered obsolete by modern transform-based audio compression techniques. * DPCM encodes the PCM values as differences between the current and the predicted value. An algorithm predicts the next sample based on the previous samples, and the encoder stores only the difference between this prediction and the actual value. If the prediction is reasonable, fewer bits can be used to represent the same information. For audio, this type of encoding reduces the number of bits required per sample by about 25% compared to PCM. * Adaptive DPCM (ADPCM) is a variant of DPCM that varies the size of the quantization step, to allow further reduction of the required bandwidth for a given signal-to-noise ratio. * Delta modulation is a form of DPCM which uses one bit per sample. In telephony, a standard audio signal for a single phone call is encoded as 8000 analog samples per second, of 8 bits each, giving a 64 kbit/s digital signal known as DS0. The default signal compression encoding on a DS0 is either ÃŽÂ ¼-law (mu-law) PCM (North America and Japan) or A-law PCM (Europe and most of the rest of the world). These are logarithmic compression systems where a 12 or 13-bit linear PCM sample number is mapped into an 8-bit value. This system is described by international standard G.711. An alternative proposal for a floating point representation, with 5-bit mantissa and 3-bit radix, was abandoned. Where circuit costs are high and loss of voice quality is acceptable, it sometimes makes sense to compress the voice signal even further. An ADPCM algorithm is used to map a series of 8-bit  µ-law or A-law PCM samples into a series of 4-bit ADPCM samples. In this way, the capacity of the line is doubled. The technique is detailed in the G.726 standard. Later it was found that even further compression was possible and additional standards were published. Pulse code modulation (PCM) data are transmitted as a serial bit stream of binary-coded time-division multiplexed words. When PCM is transmitted, pre modulation filtering shall be used to confine the radiated RF spectrum. These standards define pulse train structure and system design characteristics for the implementation of PCM telemetry formats. Class Distinctions and Bit-Oriented Characteristics The PCM formats are divided into two classes for reference. Serial bit stream characteristics are described below prior to frame and word orient

Personal Teaching Philosophy Essay -- Education Sociology Children pap

Personal Teaching Philosophy Introduction "Children become, while little, our delights†¦when they grow bigger, they begin to fright’s." This quote is from John Bunyan’s poem "Upon the Disobedient Child," and rings the truth. But, how can we help children develop into normal, healthy adults? That is a question society has been asking since the first days of civilization. There are four areas of development that allow children to grow into strong adults: motor, cognitive, language, and social-emotional. Motor Development Motor development is defined as "the development of skill in the use of the body and its parts" (Charlesworth 12). There are three areas of motor development: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and perceptual motor skills. Gross motor skills require the "use of large muscles†¦as well as general strength and stamina" (Trawick-Smith 201) and they are the first to develop in infants. Two examples of these skills would be creeping or standing with help. For older children, examples of gross motor skills would be jumping rope, martial arts, soccer, or swimming. Fine motor skills require the use of "smaller muscles in the arms, hands, and fingers" (Trawick-Smith 209). In infants, an example of this motor skill would be grasping an object. In older children, examples of fine motor skills would be writing, drawing, tying a shoestring, or building with Lego’s. However with these motor skills, particularly with fine motor skills, one must keep in mind that perception helps to put together these movements. "This ability to integrate movements and perception" (Trawick-Smith 210) is called perceptual-motor skills. Examples of using these skills would be baseball, football, or copying what a teacher drew ... ...n certain subjects. So, I’ll try to have creative lessons in which the children will learn something and have fun while doing the activity. Finally, I hope I can become a good teacher and pass on what I have learned from my teachers in the past. Works Cited Charlesworth, Rosalind. Understanding Child Development. United States: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2000. 12, 16, 107, 271, 374. Mayesky, Mary. Creative Activities: for Young Children. United States: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2002. 309. Muzi, Malinda Jo. Child Development: Through Time and Transition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 187, 213, 264. Smith-Trawick, Jeffery. Early Childhood Development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 135, 174, 201, 209, 210, 293, 295, 298. 300. Wood, Chip. Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14. Massachusetts: Northeast Foundation for Children, 1997. 1.

Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream :: essays research papers

The Board of Directors of the Company has since 1988 formalized its basic business philosophy by adopting a three-part "mission statement" for Ben & Jerry's. The statement includes a "product mission," "to make, distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream"; an "economic mission," "to operate the Company on a sound financial basis...increasing value for our shareholders and creating career opportunities and financial rewards for our employees"; and a "social mission," "to operate the Company in a way that actively recognizes the central role that business plays in the structure of society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life of a broad community: local, national and international." This statement has been further simplified by the Company's statement of "Leading with Progressive Values Across our Business." "Underlying the mission of Ben & Jerry's is the determination to seek new and creative ways of addressing all three parts, while holding a deep respect for individuals inside and outside the Company and for the communities of which they are a part." Since 1988, the Company's Annual Report to Stockholders has contained a "social report" on the Company's performance during the year. The Company's social mission has always been about more than philanthropy, product donations and community relations. Ben & Jerry's has strived to integrate into its day-to-day business decisions a concern for the community and to seek ways to lead with its progressive values. The Company makes cash contributions equal to 7.5% of its pretax profits to philanthropy through The Ben & Jerry's Foundation (the "Foundation"), Community Action Teams, which are employee led groups from each of its five Vermont sites, and through corporate grants. Excluded from the 7.5% are contributions out of a portion of the proceeds of incidental operations, not directly relating to Ben & Jerry's core business of the manufacturing and selling of Ben & Jerry's frozen desserts, such as a portion of the admission fees for plant tours. Also excluded from the 7.5% are corporate sponsorships that have as one of their purposes the furtherance of Ben & Jerry's marketing goals. For 1999, the 7.5% amounted to approximately $1,120,000. The amount of the Company's cash contribution is subject to review by the Board of Directors from time to time in light of the Company's cash needs, its operating results, existing conditions in the industry and other factors deemed relevant by the Board. See "The Ben & Jerry's Foundation." In some instances where the Company pays royalties for the licensed use of a flavor name, the licensor donates all or a portion of these royalties to charitable organizations.

Going Round Our Selves :: Personal Narrative Woolf Essays

Going Round Our Selves To tell the truth about oneself, to discover oneself near at hand, is not easy. -Virginia Woolf, "Montaigne" It was the end of August. I was eight years old and my mom, dad, brother, uncle, and I had gathered on the front porch of our lakeside cottage in Indiana. All day a thunderstorm raged outside. The rain swept across the lake in sheets from the north, flooding the boathouse and drenching the sheets and towels my mother and I had hung on the clothesline the night before. My brother and I had gone through every board game in the house and worn out the deck of cards, so he told me we were going to play catch, snatched up a tennis ball, and headed from the porch into the main part of the house. I, four years his junior, followed. It is here, first, that I feel I must pause; for just now, in this event as I have begun to recount it, there seem to be numerous forces at work. The way in which I remember the beginnings of this incident, the method by which I have started to put it into words, speaks to the rain that drove my family and me into the house and onto the porch, to my brother who effortlessly coaxed me into one game of monopoly after another, to the ease with which I complied with his silent instructions to follow him into the house for a game of catch. My actions seem so driven by things and people external to me that recalling my eight-year-old self has surprised and startled, unsettled me. In allowing this sensation of shock to play through my mind, I am instantly drawn to Virginia Woolf's "A Sketch of the Past," her version of a memoir in which she brings the places she grew up in, the people she knew, and a handful of the experiences that shaped her over the course of her life back into existence for us to read, perhaps eventually to come to know and be shaped by ourselves. Woolf is interested in this shaping and molding, the malleability, the instabilities of human existence that drive our daily lives; and so she sets out to explore and examine the power and influence of the forces in the early, formative years of one's life. She writes that somehow into the space and time of one's childhood must be brought, too, the sense of movement and change.

Smartie Lab Research

Smartie Lab Analysis: The total area of my ecosystem was six feet, but the area we sampled was four feet. We had six types of each smartie: 4 green, 5 orange, 10 purple, 7 red, 5 white, and 14 yellow. In our sampled area we had 3 green, 0 orange, 5 purple, 2 red, 0 white, and 7 yellow. We had 4. 25 organisms per total area that was the density. Our relative density was 8. 88% green, 11. 11% orange, 22. 22% purple, 15. 55% red, 11. 11% white, and 3. 45% yellow. The frequency of each organism was 75% green, 0% orange, 50% purple, 25% red, 0% white, and 75% yellow.The relative frequency of each organism was 33% green, 0% orange, 22% purple, 11% red, 0% white, and 33% green. The coverage of each type of organism was 18. 83%. The importance value of each organism was 34. 24 for green, 9. 98 for orange, 30. 35 for purple, 19. 79 for red, 9. 98 for white, and 32. 43 for yellow. The rank of my organism’s importance from highest to lowest is: green, yellow, purple, red, then white and orange. My population estimate for part II is 11. 66 yellow smarties. My % error for population estimate is 16. 71%.We used a line transect for this lab, and I think most of these calculations could be more applied to plants, since they are stationary and do not move, like smarties, which do not move. This is more difficult to compare to animals since animals move, and may react to being captured and recaptured. Conclusion: The results of my simulation show that around 12 yellow smarties belong to my population of smarties. However, we actually had 14. The results were pretty close, and this demonstrates that the capture and recapture system is a pretty decent system in obtaining population estimates.However it is important to keep in mind that smarties are not stationary and cannot react to being captured in ways that animals and some plants can. The importance values between my transect and my actual data are pretty close, however in actuality yellow was the most important, not gr een. A quadrat would be more advantageous over a transect in situations where there are more types of organisms, or the organism can move. I think there can be issues with marking organisms after capture, since the organism may react to being capture and seriously make a difference on the population estimate, leading observers to obtaining incorrect data.Suggestions for further investigations: I would change this lab to including more exact numbers for smarties, so that percentages could come out more clean and would be easier to add and divide and such. I would also use multiple trials, with different bags of smarties, and with different transects to have more broad data. I would use different kinds of transects, as well as a quadrat to see what kinds of results those give me too. Finally, I would compare all the results from each kind of trial and average them out.

Educational Tour Narrative Report Essay

Introduction: Educational Tour gives us ideas likewise opportunities to visit prestigious agencies that may help us visualize what we are learning at school. This activity helps us develop our personality since social graces and etiquette are learned too by experience. Moreover, important to every student since it is a part of our learning process to acquire more knowledge through actual exposure to the different agencies. Educational Tour: A Narrative. A great way to explore and gain experience, the Junior Bankers Association had its educational tour on February 6 to 9, 2012. Day 1: February 6, 2012 The day wherein I have to wake up early because it should be a big No for rush. Yes, we’re pretty much excited to invade Manila, so we departed Vigan City at around 6:30 in the morning. We prayed the rosary, praying for a safe trip. After the rosary, here it goes, we already started talking, laughing, picture taking and of course sleeping since it will consume a lot of time before reaching our destination. After 5 hours of travel, we had a stopover in Pangasinan, we ate our lunch. My friends and I shared on the different meals we brought. When we’re done, we assure that the place where we ate our lunch was clean, and then travel continued. We arrived at Garden Plaza Hotel, Paco Manila around 7:15 in the evening. When our baggages are out of the bus, we immediately headed at the conference room and there they have discussed to us the rules and regulations of their hotel. After telling the do’s and don’ts they have let us signed their visitors list and gave the room key to room leaders. I was given the responsibility to keep our room key, I was chosen by my roommates to be their leader. After a tiring long trip, my friends and I took pictures and watched television, then we take of our uniforms on our bags as well as our clothes we’ll be using the next day and put it on the cabinet. When everything was in order, we went down stairs for dinner, the hotel prepared for our meal. Then immediately we went back to our rooms after eating to take a bath. Before going to bed we’ve entertained our room visitors for the day: Sir Lawrence and Ma’am Angela. After their visit we already go to bed and sleep. Day 2: February 7, 2012 Since we’ve left all the things we used to do at home, one major adjustment I’ve made is to wake up early. This day I look forward to be well groomed because our destination is the Philippine Stock Exchange Tektite Building, Ortigas Center Pasig City. We took a bath, make ourselves presentable as what we always wanted, and went down at 6:00 am for our breakfast. We went back to our room after eating to have a toothbrush, make things up and be ready for our visit to the Philippine Stock Exchange. Around 7:30 when we travelled. At about 8:30 we’re already in front of the building. We waited for their signal to go inside, while waiting, we noticed the fountain in front of the building, it was awesome. When they have given us the signal to go, we entered. The first thing I noticed was the large board with 3 different colors of light on it, and numbers blinking. They lectured while we are sitting on their clean carpet. My curiosity about the large board disappeared when I’ve known that it is the E-Board (Electronic Board) and that their transactions have already started since it’s already 9:30 in the morning. Two young men and one woman shared their time to us to know more about Philippine Stock Exchange. The woman discussed to us the history of Philippine Stock Exchange, while the two young men shared their knowledge about stock market, stock exchange, the different types of stock, when to invest and how to invest. I can say that at about 2 Â ½ hours of listening to them, I’ve already learned. After the lecture, we took a lot of pictures. We even had the opportunity to take picture with the girl speaker. She’s kind and sweet. Then we leave Philippine Stock Exchange. It was already 12:00 noon when we leave Philippine Stock Exchange building, so right after entering the bus, when our lunch has already prepared, we then ate. Honestly, I didn’t enjoy th food, because it was a bit salty. Then after an hour, we departed Philippine Stock Exchange and went to our next destination, Securities and Exchange Commission. At Securities and Exchange Commision, we used the elevator since their lecture room was at the 10th floor of their building. Some of my classmates got dizzy using the elevator. Their lecture room couldn’t accommodate us all, so they have divided us into 2 groups, the FM 3A and 3C were the first to have the lecture. The lecture room was too cold which maybe one of the reason why I couldn’t give my full attention to the first speaker. But still I have learned something, the company registration, the CA 83 which created Securities and Exchange Commission and on November 11, 1936 their operations have already started, their core functions and the law of SEC. During the discussion of Atty. Marlon Facun, the boredom have risen maybe because his voice couldn’t encourage me that much to listen. But still I have learned from him, I’ve known what are the classes of corporation, kinds of partnership, the requirements of Incorporation and of Stock Corporation and the requirements for registration of partnership. After the discussion, they were kind enough and maybe they’ve felt we’ve got hungry after a long discussion they have made. They gave us bun and juice to eat. When we’re done eating, we went down immediately so that the next batch will already have their turn for the lecture. We waited for them as they have waited for us. While waiting, we took the chance to take pictures and have a sleep. Then at around 5:15 we departed Securities and Exchange Commision and go for a side trip at Greenhills. At the shopping center, I bought the long sleeves and necktie needed by my brother for his prom. We even bought our dinner at KFC considering that there is no KFC at Vigan. We arrived at the hotel at around 7:00 pm; we ate first then Jobelle and Erika washed their clothes for they have nothing to use tomorrow if they won’t then we took a bath. At around 9:00 a food raid and an inspection was made by Ma’am Angela, Ma’am Maan, Sir Lawrence and the JBA officers namely Kuya Dean, Kuya Jumar, Kuya Gyner, Ate April. Some of our classmates like Bernadane, Dianne and Cristal came. Friends from other class Jovelyn and Elaine also came for a visit. After their visits, we then go to bed and rest. Day 3: February 8, 2012 The day I’ve been waiting for. BSP here I come! We woke up early and really prepared ourselves for this day. We took a bath, ate our breakfast then make things up. We had a long time before departing the hotel so we used it taking pictures in our room. Around 7:30 in the morning we departed the hotel and say hello to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas at 8:30. We waited for a several minutes before entering to the Bangko Sentral Museum, so we took the chance to take pictures with friends and classmates for souvenir. Then finally when we are about to enter the museum they have instructed us put our cameras and cellphones on our bags because it is restricted to take pictures inside the museum. The place is so secured considering that the memorabilia of the Philippine money on the past were all there. After letting us go and find out what’s inside the museum, they gave a short briefing about the history of Philippine money, evolution of Philippine money, kinds of money in the past and the conquest of other country in the Philippines. They’ve let us watch again the process on how to make bank notes and how to mint coins, again because we already watched it when BSP members came to our school for a lecture. When we already watched it, and they are done on their short briefing, they gave us the chance to go and see what the museum has. I saw the money used on the past and it’s really amazing. This experience is one of the best I ever had; it’s something I could be proud of. After viewing all the money, we played the Bispos machine, which comprises of questions related to money in the past. Then time to go out of the museum. It was 10:45 am and so we are instructed to go to Harrison Plaza for lunch. We ate lunch at Jollibee, I am with Jobelle, Laure Jean, Lea, Erika, Leo, Ailon, Mark Jan, Lexter and Meddy. After eating, we decided to go around the place until such time that we could feel the ache on our feet so we bought slippers. After buying we went back to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and waited for the others to come back. When we’re all at the place we went back to our designated bus for a short rest. Then unfortunately when it’s about time to go to the Department of Finance, my skirt was torn. I was so ashamed; I was only the one who is on my organizational t-shirt. Despite of the thing that have done, I still listened to the lecturer of the Department of Finance.