Pop culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pop culture - Essay Example Video games has opened a new culture in the world of entertainment leading to the emergence of a new form of popular culture. It is recorded that the initial games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. Some of the earliest examples of video games the Cathode ray tube Amusement Device that was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947 by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. The two designers were deeply inspired by radar display tech that was made up of an analog device that allowed a user to control a vector-drawn dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which were drawings fixed to the screen. While there has been a great element of changes leading to ink split on video game culture, the actual definition of the term is often treated as common sense to many people. The unraveling of the discourses surrounding video game culture offers room for people to envisioned in the power dynamics involved in attributing certain characteristics to it, as well as naming it. This approach has implications for how video games are studied as well as how they are interlinked with how culture is studied more broadly. By critically examining how video game culture has been defined in both press and academic articles, this paper seeks to elaborate how this cultural aspect has emerged to be considered on the most advanced forms of the popular culture. According to Tom Bissell in Extra Lives: Why video games matter, the rise of video in the current generation has resulted to the emergence of a new form of popular culture. He admits his great love and passion for the games. It is recorded that millions of adults all over the world, spend several hours every week playing video games leading to the growth of the industry. It is estimated that the industry is likely to outdo the film industry in Hollywood. However, the

Enlightenment philosopher Essay Example for Free

Enlightenment philosopher Essay John Locke (1632-1704) was an Enlightenment philosopher. Some authors define him as â€Å"the philosopher of freedom† and â€Å"the father of English empiricism and liberalism†. His ideas and concepts about social structure, social consent and human natural rights determined development of political philosophy and republican democracy. John Locke was an Oxford scholar. His teachers were famous British scientists including chemist Robert Boyle who probably taught him about atomism. John Locke was medical researcher and physician, philosopher and pedagogue, economist and ideologue for a revolutionary movement. His career was associated with name of the First Earl of Shaftesbury who was a Lord-Chancellor of England. When Locke emigrated to the continental Europe he studied Cartesian philosophy in France and become acquainted with William of Orange who later became English King. Locke came back to England only in 1689 and took up many official posts but devote much more time to his scientific studies. Contemporaries knew Locke as an economic writer and opposition political activist. Locke was an ideologue of constitutional monarchy and division of powers. He was an opponent of theories of divine origin of the royal power. He was a friend of Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle and an early member of the Royal Society. The principles of Locke’s philosophy were the ideological basement for Great French and American Revolution. John Locke together with Francis Bacons was a founder of empiricism theory. He assumed that human mind at the birth is like â€Å"blanc paper† and only experiences through trials and errors form ideas and knowledge. This theory was described in Lockes â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding† and had impact on the development of behaviorism. Lock started to write his main work â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding† in 1671, but published it only in 1690. Why he wrote it? Essay present the fundamental principles of his philosophy, it’s the culmination of his reflection on the origins of human knowledge. Essay contains of four books: â€Å"Of innate notions†, â€Å"Of ideas†, â€Å"Of words† and â€Å"Of knowledge and probability†. This philosophic treatise is written in archaic style but it still easy to read because of the use of dialogue form and clear argumentation. Locke devoted much of the Essay to an extended argument that human ideas and understanding are ultimately derived from experience. Before scientists suggested that some ideas could be innate. Actually, Locke proposed new theory of knowledge. Essay is an answer to the question: â€Å"Where do we get ideas which are the content of our knowledge? † The first chapter of the first book is named as â€Å"No innate speculative Principles†. It consists of twenty eights paragraphs. The name of chapter reflects its content. The chapter is opened with discussion â€Å"how men, barely by the use of their natural facilities, may attain to all the knowledge they have without the help of any innate impressions†. Locke wrote about the importance of speculative and practical principles and gave examples of them to show that â€Å"universal content proves nothing innate†. He used humor to show that nothing on the mind is naturally imprinted when speak about children understanding. To show impossibility of innate concepts and sensations he used dialectic that helped reader to understand that only experience could generate ideas. Just some examples of his logic. In the paragraphs 6-12 he explained that if all people have innate ideas but later they will come to know things upon the use of own reason then innateness is loosing its sense. He wrote about peculiarities of child’s mind: â€Å"after they come to the use of reason, those general abstract ideas are not framed in the mind, about which those general maxims are, which are mistaken for innate principles, but are indeed discoveries made, and verities introduced, and brought into the mind by the same way, and discovered by the same steps, as several other propositions, which nobody has ever so extravagant as to suppose innate † In 15th section of the chapter author outlines his theory of knowledge origin. He showed the sketch of new theory and how it could be applied to the particular and general ideas, to the memory, names, abstraction and language. He noted that universal concepts came from self-evidence, not innateness (Ch. 1, 18) and that less general ideas (he called them â€Å"propositions†) are known â€Å"before. universal maxims. He insists that theory of innate ideas is fruitless because innateness cannot be applied to mathematics and other complicated fields of human knowledge. In 24-27th sections he wrote that ideas cannot be innate because they are not â€Å"universally assented to†. In the last paragraph of the chapter Locke wrote: â€Å"Upon the whole matter, I cannot see any ground to think †¦ speculative Maxims innate: since they are not universally assented to; and the assent they so generally find is no other than what several propositions, not allowed to be innate, equally partake in with them: and since the assent that is given them is produced another way, and comes not from natural inscription, as I doubt not but to make appear in the following Discourse. And if these first principles of knowledge and science are found not to be innate, no other speculative maxims can (I suppose), with better right pretend to be so. † Locke is a propagator of ideas that abstract speculative principle cannot be innate. He attacked the theory that human mind is born knowing certain things. It was revolutionary for the late XVII century and John Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding have had great impact on the history of philosophy and society. His studies of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity and his polemics with adherents of stagnant views on the nature of knowledge stimulated development not only of epistemology but all fields of science. Lockes ideas played at least some part in the formation of revolutionary thought in France and American colonies. Of course, not only â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding† influenced on social history of those and many other countries but this trait liberated mind of other researchers. References 1. Essay Concerning Human Understanding http://oregonstate. edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke1/Book1a. html#Chapter%20I 2. Johne Lock Wikipedia on-line http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/John_Locke 3. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/locke

SWOT Analysis of Toyota

SWOT Analysis of Toyota 1.4 S.W.O.T ANALYSIS Strengths New venture by Toyota in industrial facilities in the US and China saw 2005 benefits climb, against the overall engine industry pattern. In 2003 Toyota knocked its adversaries Ford into third spot, to turn into the Worlds second biggest carmaker with 6.78 million units. The general public is still behind adversaries General Motors with 8.59 million units in the same point. Its solid industry position is built upon various elements including a broadened item run, exceedingly focused on promoting and a pledge to incline assembling and quality. The troupe creates a vast extent of vehicles for both individual customers and business associations, from the little Yaris to huge trucks. The organization uses promoting strategies to distinguish and meet client requests. Its exchange name is a family figure. The organization likewise augments benefit through productive assembling methodologies (e.g. Complete Quality Management) Weaknesses Being huge has its own inconveniences. The World business for autos is in a state of over supply thus auto producers require to get beyond any doubt that it is their models that customers wish. Toyota advertises a large portion of its stock in the US and in Japan. Henceforth it is presented to fluctuating financial and political conditions those businesses. Possibly that is the reason the organization is beginning to move its thoughtfulness regarding the developing Chinese commercial center. Developments in return rates could see the officially tight edges in the auto business sector being decreased. The partnership needs to keep creating autos in the public eye to keep its practical productivity. Auto plants speak to an unlimited interest in extravagant settled expenses, as extensively as the high expenses of reproducing and holding work. At that point if the auto market experiences a downturn, the organization could see over limit. On the off chance that then again the auto market experiences an upturn, then the organization may drop out on potential deals because of under limit i.e. it obliges time to adjust. This is an unique issue with high volume auto producing. Opportunities Lexus and Toyota now have a notoriety for building naturally benevolent vehicles. Lexus has RX 400h half breed, and Toyota has it a Prius. Both are based upon development innovations created by the overseeing body. Soaring oil costs have seen offers of the new crossover vehicles increment. Toyota has additionally sold on its engineering to other engine producers, for instance Ford has bought into the innovation for its new Explorer SUV Hybrid. Such developments can just solidify Toyotas advantage and interest in crossover Rd. Toyota is to focus on the urban youth market. The organization has created its new Aygo, which is gone for the streetwise youth market and catches (or tries to) the way of move and DJ society in an extremely aggressive section. The vehicle itself is an interesting convertible, with models, reaching out at their seat! The limited portion is infamous for its thin edges and troubles for marking. Threats Item returns are dependably an issue for vehicle makers. In 2005 the organization needed to review 880,00 games utility vehicles and pickup trucks because of flawed front suspension frameworks. Toyota did not present subtle elements of how much the review would cost. The legitimate period of influenced vehicles was sold in the US, while the rest were sold in Japan, Europe and Australia. Likewise with any automobile creator, Toyota confronts a huge focused contention in the auto commercial center. Rivalry is expanding just about every day, with new contestants coming into the business sector from China, South Korea and new plants in Eastern Europe. The general public is likewise shown to any development in the expense of crude materials, for example, elastic, steel and fuel. CHAPTER 2 OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY 2.1 SIGNIFICANCE Toyotas puts stock in putting the client first and plans to give the best levels of consumer loyalty as its fundamental promoting methodology. Their merchants have additionally endeavored to offer their high degrees of client backing. In the most recent one year, Toyota has taken numerous activities, which has made Innova the best item. Innova has effectively turned into a classification maker. We will keep on meetting the perpetually difficult client desires and will turn out with creative advertising methods. With an assortment of watchman at Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd., the partnership has created a novel method to catch 15 every penny piece of the overall industry in the Indian auto section. Compelling from January 1, Atsushi Toyoshima has been named Managing Director of the organization, supplanting Sachio Yamazaki. Rivalry is exceptional in the Indian market for household and remote organizations. The Indian commercial center is critical for Toyota with the possibility to aid its improvement technique, Yoshio Ishizaka, Executive Vice-President, Toyota Motor Corporation, said. As per investigators, the Indian business would touch yearly offers of 1.2 million units by 2005. Last year, Toyota sold 3.8 million units abroad, making up six million vehicles at 56 plants in 25 states. In India, the Toyota Quails indented offers of 25,000 units since its dispatch a year ago, he expressed. Toyotas method to corner a critical lump of the Indian business sector includes predominant item offering and devoted innovation. In this setting, the change of authority in Toyotas Indian division is vital, showing a more huge part for the organizations assembling base in Bangalore. Bangalore is a perfect position to see the majority of Toyotas necessities, including auto parts, Mr. Toyoshima said Conceding to the overseeing chief of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Atsushi Toyoshima, the conclusion to present Innova here (India) was established on three components. First and foremost, in the course of the most recent five years, the C- section (between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh) of the car market has climbed by 20 every penny consistently. The multi utility vehicle section has likewise climbed at twofold digit levels. Second, with an enhancing way of life and better streets, the Indian customer need to strike his vehicle for long rides with companions and family. Third, in that appreciation is a dormant longing of clients, including those owning Mpvs, to look for traits like more noteworthy inside space and over-burdening capacity, while traveler auto purchasers search for better styling and enhanced riding solace. Innova unites the space and fuel financial arrangement of a MPV with the style, softness and force of a cantina. Toyota Kirloskar Motor has portrayed it as the initial three- line seating traveler auto in the Indian market 2.2 MANAGERIAL USEFULLNESS The advertising division can use this field to upgrade their offering techniques for better deals. This report serves the showcasing division in taking choices to what a change in dissemination channels and what ought to be carried out so that advertising issue could be dealt with and how to offer their scope of stock in the aggressive commercial center. The extremely focal point of each assignment identified with promoting, is giving a perspective to administration to look at the association, so they can maintain a suitable fit between the authoritative targets, aptitudes and assets and its changing business sector opportunities. Likewise pay a fitting shape to organizations target benefit and advancement. It gives input to the overseeing body about their terrible income, deals plans and what stun does it gets on the merchants and customers. Each statistical surveying gives valuable proposals to the overseeing body. Promoting exploration helps the firm in every segment of the aggregate advertising undertaking. It serves the firm gain a more full trepidation of the purchaser, the challenger and the showcasing environment. It likewise helps the detailing of the advertising blend. Item. Appropriation and evaluating requests. It additionally helps in getting the data of contenders methodologies and their effect on the purchaser. The ove rview reveals the way that may have come up amid the venture and these realities can either be utilized an opportunity as a part of investigating and extending the business and in addition can be utilized as shield against dangers by contenders to prepare an effective offering plan. Each statistical surveying demonstrates helpful to the framework. Advertising exploration helps the firm in every segment of the aggregate promoting assignment. 2.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY These are some of the scope of the study: The present study can be drawn out to access the present marketing condition of the Indian auto sector. The field can be used to plan a proper product, cost, place and promotional strategy for the grocery store. For the present study, we can know the market percentage of different products and accordingly formulated strategy to heighten it. The effect of marketing success can be interpreted to assess the rate of employee satisfaction in several sections. This work can be applied to find out an effective distribution channel to enhance the sale of several products of Toyota motors.

The History Use Of Prosthetics Health And Social Care Essay

The History Use Of Prosthetics Health And Social Care Essay The term Prosthesis can be defined as an artificial replica that replaces human damaged or lost body part. In the field of arthroplasty or joint replacement surgery, prosthesis is defined as an artificial joint that replaces the arthritis affected or damaged human articulation (i.e., bone joint). The primary objective of the arthroplasty is to relief patients from arthritis pain in addition with restoring joint functions. Though in most of the cases the reason behind the arthroplasty is the arthritis pain, its not only the reason. Human articulations can be damaged by severe impacts or unusual stresses. Prostheses are usually made for human main joints such as hip, knee, elbow, shoulder, wrist etc. Long term results of the arthroplasty depend to a great extent on the quality of prosthesis implantation. The application of the robotics technology in the field of arthroplasty reduces the inaccuracy that occurred in conventional joint replacement surgery such as misalignment, rotation er ror, resection etc. On the other hand, in the field of biomechatronics (i.e., the science of fusing artificially intelligent devices with the human body), prosthesis is defined as an artificial substitute for a missing body part. Human limb amputation can causes due to trauma, tumor, congenital, disease, etc. According to biomechatronics, prostheses are considered as those which replace human lost arms and legs. The development of the biomechatronics provides useful technology for the robotic prosthesis. Robotic prosthesis act as an extended body part of the amputees by using which amputees can be able to perform his/her daily life activities and take care of them by using their own body functions. As a result, robotic prostheses provide an independent life and more productive role of these people in the society. In addition with the prostheses mentioned above, artificial eyes, teeth, artery, and heart valves are also correctly termed as prostheses. TRANSHUMERAL PROSTHESIS FOR ABOVE-ELBOW AMPUTEES Transhumeral Prosthesis can be defined as a prosthesis that is designed for the people who have lost their arm just above the elbow joint (i.e., above-elbow amputees). Human arm amputation can caused due to congenital (birth defect), tumor, trauma, disease, etc. circulatory disease, cancer and infections are considered as the major categories of disease which may require surgical removal of human arm. Moreover, the civil wars and more specifically wars in Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan producing an unprecedented number of amputees. Although nothing can ever become a perfect substitute for a missing arm, the intension of the transhumeral prosthesis is to compensate for the lost functions of the above-elbow (AE) amputees absent arm, so that they can lead an independent life and play more productive role in the society. HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE PROSTHETIC ARM Prostheses have been found around for thousands of years, however real advancement and fabrication of the prostheses have started about 500 years ago [01]. According to the medical museum exhibited at the University of Iowa titled History of Prostheses, earliest prostheses were used by soldiers dating back to 484 B.C. Hegesistratus; a Persian soldier around 490 B.C. cut off part of his own feet in order to escape from the prison and later replaced it with a wooden foot [02]. In 61 A.D., Pliny the Elder wrote about the Roman General Marcus Sergius who had lost his right arm during the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.). Later he had replaced that by an iron arm to support his shield and he returned to battle [03]. During the middle ages, 15th and 16th centuries cosmetic prostheses were usually made from iron. At that period, blacksmiths and armor makers designed the prostheses for the soldiers after modeling their suits of armor. In the 16th century, the great French arm surgeon Ambrose Pare, designed several limb prostheses in addition with practicing surgical amputation. In 1818, Peter Baliff appears to have been the first person to introduce the use of the trunk and shoulder girdle muscles as sources of power to move the prosthetic arm. In 1844, the first transhumeral amputation replacement used Baliffs principle to apply flexion for the elbow joint [03]. The prosthetic arm using this concept is termed as Mechanical or Body Powered prosthetic arm and still extremely famous among the amputees society. By 1860, the Crimean and Italian campaigns of the French Empire left many soldiers in need of prostheses, and their call was answered by the Comte de Beaufort [01] [03]. The Comte de Beaufort designed several limb prostheses using the articles of clothing, pulleys and levers. After the World War I and II, a tremendous loss of manpower in USA and Europe served as a catalyst for the rapid development of the prosthetic arm. In 1948, N. Wiener proposed the concept of Cy bernetics i.e., the study of control and communication between the human and the machine [04], which plays an important role later for the development of the prosthetic arm. In 1949, Samuel Anderson created the first electrically powered prosthetic arm using the external power with support from the US Govt. and IBM. The first myoelectric arm was developed by Russians in 1958 and later on Otto Bock Company revealed the commercially available prosthetic arm for general application which was the first made versions of the Russian design [03]. CLASSIFICATION OF THE PROSTHETIC ARM Prosthetic arms can be grouped into three general categories: 1) Non-functional or Cosmetic Prosthetic Arm As the name implies functioning of these prostheses has less priority than the appearance, weight, wearing comfort and easy handling. These are the oldest and available for 2000 years. Though cosmetic prostheses offer a more natural look and feel, they sacrifice functionality and versatility while also being relatively expensive [05]. 2) Mechanical or Body Powered Prosthetic Arm The power to operate these prostheses comes from the users own body. In this system, the user wears a harness that translates the shoulder motion into elbow flexion motion and action of gravity force generates the elbow extension motion. The earliest model of this prosthetic arm was the Ballif arm [06]. These prosthetic arms are light weight and less expensive than the others however it requires large amount of forces to actually move the elbow [07]. 3) Externally Powered Prosthetic Arm Most advanced commercially available prosthetic arm in which power to operate the prosthetic arm comes from the external sources such as electric motor and battery pack. Most of these prostheses are operated by using users stump arm muscles EMG signals. This type of prostheses provides greater proximal functions, increased cosmetic appeal but also tend to be much heavier and expensive than any of the other categories [07]. Present State and Proposed Transhumeral Prosthesis Recent progress in biomechatronics technology brings a lot of benefit to increase the mobility of above-elbow (AE) amputees in their daily life activities. A transhumeral or AE prosthetic arm is used to compensate for the lost functions of the AE amputees absent arm. A number of commercial prosthetic arms have been developed since last few decades. However, many amputees have not used them due to the discrepancy between their expectations and the reality. The main factors causing a loss of interest in presently available prosthetic arms include low functionality and poor controllability [08]. Since the concept of Cybernetics proposed by N. Wiener [04], a number of research works have already been carried out and are ongoing for the development of prosthetic arm. At present, Utah arm, Boston Elbow, and Otto Bock are considered as the pioneers in this field which are shown in Fig. 1 [09]-[12]. However, currently, commercial prosthesis available on the market for the AE amputees provides a limited DOF. Most of these prostheses provide elbow flexion-extension motion with a terminal device attached at the end. In addition to the elbow motion, some prostheses provide forearm supination-pronation motion and a single DOF at the terminal device for grasping object. Some passive DOF, which are useful to generate an optimal pre-determined configuration during performing certain tasks [13], are sometimes included in the prostheses. Commercially available expensive cosmetic prostheses offer a more natural appearance and simple control. However, their dexterity is relatively very poor compared to the human arm. Human arm generates precise and complex motions during daily life activities which are almost impossible to be generated by using a limited DOF prosthetic arm. As a result, the presently available commercial prostheses have failed to gain wide acceptance among AE amputees. Figure 1: Commercially Available Externally Powered AE Prosthetic Arm [14]. In order to improve the quality of life of AE amputees and to increase their mobility in daily life activities (like, eating, drinking, dressing, brushing etc.), a 5 DOF externally powered transhumeral prosthesis is proposed in this thesis. The prosthesis is designed to generate elbow flexion-extension, forearm supination-pronation, wrist flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation, and hand grasp-release motion. Currently, no commercial transhumeral prosthesis provides a combination of wrist flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation motion, which have uttermost importance to perform daily life activities. In recent years, a number of prostheses capable of generating multi-DOF motion have been proposed for upper limb amputees [13], [15]-[19]. However, none of these provide a combination of forearm and 2 DOF wrist motion with the exception of an arm designed for above-wrist amputees to provide wrist flexion-extension and forearm motion [18]. Bio-Mechanics of Human Upper Limb Before develop a robotic arm system to mimic to the human arm, the physics of the human upper limb should be thoroughly studied. Accordingly the upper limb mainly consists of three major components, the shoulder complex, elbow complex and wrist joint. Mainly the shoulder complex is built with three bones, clavicle, scapula and humerus and four articulations: the glenohumeral, acromioclavicular, sternoclavicular and scapulothoracic, with the thorax as a stable base. The only point of skeletal attachment of the upper extremity to the trunk occurs at the sternoclavicular (SC) joint. At this joint the clavicle joints to the sternum, the middle bones of the rib cages. The clavicle is connected to the scapula at its distal end via the acromioclavicular (AC) joint. At this joint, most of the movements of the scapula on the clavicle occur, and the joint handles large contact stresses as a result of high axial loads that are transmitted through the joint. The scapula interfaces with the thorax via the scapulothoracic (ST) joint. This is not a typical articulation, connecting bone to bone. Rather, it is a physiological joint containing neurovascular, muscular, and bursal structures that allow for a smooth motion of the scapula on the thorax. The final articulation in the shoulder complex is the shoulder complex is the shoulder joint, or the glenohumeral (GH) joint. Motions of the shoulder joint are represented by the movements of the arm. This is a synovial ball-and-socket joint that offers the greatest range of motion and movement potential of any joint in the body. The shoulder complex can be mimic to a ball-and-socket joint and can be modeled accordingly. The proximal part of the humerus, humeral head and the female part of the scapula, glenoid cavity respectively act as the ball and the socket of the joint. The main motion of the shoulder joints are shoulder flexion/extension, shoulder abduction/adduction and internal/external rotation. During this each motion, the position of the centre of rotation of the shoulder joint changes. The distal part of the humerus is connected to the elbow joint or the radioulnar joint. The elbow is considered a stable joint, with structural integrity, good ligamentous support, and good muscular support. It consists of three bones of the arm and the forearm, humerus, radius and ulna. Movements between the forearm and the arm takes place at the ulnohumeral and radio-humeral articulations, and movements between the radius and the ulna take place at the radioulnar articulations. The ulnohumeral joint is the articulation between the ulna and the humerus and is the major contributing joint to flexion and extension of the forearm. The joint is the union between the spool-like trochlea on the distal end of the humerus and the trochlear notch on the ulna. The second joint participating in flexion and extension motion of the forearm is the radiohumeral joint. At the distal end of the humerus is the articulating surface for this joint, the capitulum, which is supheroidal and covered with cartilages on the anterior and inferior surface. The top of the round radial head butts up against the capitulum, allowing radial movement around the humerus during flexion and extension. The capitulum acts as a buttress for lateral compression and the other rotational forces absorbed during throwing and other rapid forearm movements. The third articulation, the radioulnar joint, establishes movement between the radius and the ulna in pronation and supination. There are actually tw o radioulnar articulations, the superior in the elbow joint region and the inferior near the wrist. Also, midway between the elbow and the wrist is another fibrous connection between the radius and the ulnar, recognized by some as a third radioulnar articulation. The hand is primarily used for manipulation activities requiring very fine movements incorporating a wide variety of hand and finger postures. Consequently, there is much interplay between the wrist joint positions and efficiency of finger actions. The hand region has many stable yet very mobile segments, with complex muscle and joint actions. The wrist consists of 10 small carpal bones but can be functionally divided into the radiocarpal and the midcarpal joints. The radiocarpal joint is the articulation where movement of the whole hand occurs. The radiocarpal joint involves the broad distal end of the radius and two carpals, the scaphoid and the lunate. There is also minimal contact and involvement with the trinquetrum. This ellipsoid joint allows movement in two planes: flexion-extension and radial-ulnar flexion. It should be noted that wrist extension and radial and ulnar flexion primarily occur at the radiocarpal joint but a good portion of the wrist flexion is developed at the midcarpal joints Wrist motions are generated around an instantaneous center. The path of the centrode is small, however, customarily, the displacement of the instantaneous center of rotation is ignored and the rotation axes for the flexion/extension and ulna/radial deviation are considered to be fixed. The axes pass through the capitate, a carpal bone articulating with the third metacarpal. Although it is considered that wrist joint motions are generated with respect to the two axes, some research [11] has proved that the motions are generated with respect to four axes. The wrist flexion axis and the extension axis are different. Similarly the radial deviation axis and the ulnar deviation axis are also different. Therefore, the 2DOF of the wrist are through four axes. Although flexion and extension motions have different axes they are intersected in a point in capitates. Similarly, radial and ulnar deviations axes are also intersected. When we consider that flexion and extension motions have one axis and similarly ulnar and radial deviations have one axis, the slight offset of the rotational axes of the flexion/extension and the radial/ulnar deviation is approximately 5 mm [8], [12]. In addition the motion ranges of the upper limb are as follows.[23] G. Thompson and D. Lubic, The Bionic Arm: New Prosthetic Devices Fuse Man and Machine, Seventh Annual Freshman Conf., pp. 1-8., April 5, 2007. History of Prostheses, 2008, UIhealthcare.com. Available at: http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/medmuseum/wallexhibits/body/histofpros/histofpros.html R. H. Meier, D. J. Atkins, Functional Restoration of Adults and Children with Upper Extremity Amputation, Demos Medical Publishing Inc. New York, 2004. N. Wiener, CYBERNETICS or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, MIT Press, 1948. S. Nasser, D. Rincon, and M. Rodriuez, Design of an Anthropomorphic Underactuated Hand Prosthesis with Passive-Adaptive Grasping Capabilities, in Proc. of Florida Conf. on Recent Advances in of Robotics, Florida, May 25-26, 2006. W. J. Gaine, C. Smart, and M. B. Zachary, Upper Limb Traumatic Amputees Review of Prosthetic Use, Journal of Hand Surgery, vol. 22B, no. 1, pp.73-76, 1997. J. A. Doeringer and N. Hogan, Performance of Above Elbow Body-Powered Prostheses in Visually Guided Unconstrained Motion Tasks, IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 42, no. 6, pp.621-633, 1995. M. C. Carrozza, P. Dario, F. Vecchi, S. Roccella, M. Zecca, and F. Sebastiani, The Cyberhand: On the Design of a Cybernetic Prosthetic Hand Intended to be Interfaced to the Peripheral Nervous System, in Proc. of 2003 IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, vol. 3, pp.2642-2647, 27-31 Oct., 2003. S. Lee and G. N. Saridis, The Control of a Prosthetic Arm by EMG Pattern Recognition, IEEE Trans. Auto. Contr., vol. 29, pp. 290-302, 1984. S. C. Jacobson, D. F. Knutti, R. T. Johnson, and H. H. Sears, Development of the Utah Artificial Arm, IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 249-269, April, 1982. R. N. Scott and P. A. Parker, Myoelectric Prostheses State of the Art, Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 143-151, 1988. Otto Bock Arm Prostheses, Available at: http://www.ottobock.com. M. Troncossi, V. P. Castelli, and A. Davalli, Design of Upper Limb Prostheses: A New Subject-Oriented Approach, Journal of Mechanics in Medicine Biology, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 387-390, 2005. D. H. Plettenburg, Upper Extremity Prosthesis Current Status and Evaluation, VSSD Publications, 2006. A. Z. Escudero, J. Alvarez, and L. Leiza, Development of a Parallel Myoelectric Prosthesis for Above Elbow Replacement, in Proc. of Second Joint EMBS/BMES Conf., pp. 2404-2405, Houston, TX, USA, Oct. 23-26, 2002, T. Tsuji, O. Fukuda, H. Shigeyoshi, and M. Kaneko Bio-Mimetic Impedance Control of an EMG-Controlled Prosthetic Hand, in Proc. of the IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 377-382, 2000. O. Fukuda, T. Tsuji, M. Kaneko, and A. Otsuka, A Human-Assisting Manipulator Teleoperated by EMG Signals and Arm Motions, IEEE Trans. on Robotics and Automation, vol. 19, no. 2, pp.210-222, 2003. K. Ito, T. Tsuji, A. Kato, and M. Ito, An EMG Controlled Prosthetic Forearm in Three Degree of Freedom Using Ultrasonic Motors, in Proc. of IEEE Int. Conf. on Engineering and Biology Society, vol. 4, pp.1487-1488, 1992. Y. Saito, A. Ogawa, H. Negoto, and K. Ohnishi, Development of Intelligent Prosthetic Hand Adapted to Age and Body Shape, in Proc. of IEEE Int. Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics, pp.384-389, Chicago, USA, 2005. C. P. Neu, J. J. Crisco and S. W. Wolfe, In Vivo Kinematic Behavior of the Radio-Capitate Joint during Wrist Flexion-Extension and Radio-Ulnar Deviation, J. Biomech., vol. 34, pp. 1429-1438, 2001. F. H. Martini, M. J. Timmons, and R. B. Tallitsch, Human Anatomy, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Inc, 2003, ch. 8. Y. Youm, Design of a Total Wrist Prosthesis, Ann. Biomed. Eng., vol. 12, pp. 247-262, 1984. D.C Boone and S.P Azen, Normal Range of Motion of Joints in Male Subjects, in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, vol. 61, pp.756-759, 1979. www.jbjs.org

Birds Die Too :: essays research papers

Birds Die Too   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Kate Chopins â€Å"Story of the Hour†, several elements contribute to the overall meaning of the story itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Her death is foreshadowed in the beginning when it mentions that she was â€Å"afflicted with heart trouble†. Because of this, when her sister told her that her husband had died, it was done so delicately. After Mrs. Mallard is told, is where the story really begins to set a tone of elegiac settings, and how she is expressing herself is in direct contrast to weather, i.e. ‘the storm of grief†. When Mrs. Mallard goes to her room and sits down to rest, she begins to notice how lovely the weather is outside, and here the tone takes a sudden change from elegiac to soothing and peaceful. She notices the trees that are â€Å"aquiver with new spring life† and the â€Å"delicious breath of rain†. Not only are these segments directly related to her change of emotion, but they are also foreshadowing the Birjoy she will feel momentarily. She begins to realize she is â€Å"free† from whatever responsibilities she held to her husband, an d is consumed with â€Å"monstrous joy† that she will be living â€Å"for herself†. Other symbols besides the weather, is also the bird she first notices when she first retires to her room to be alone with her grief. The birds are happy, singing, and carefree of any limitations. Also the door when her sister, Louise, begs her to open the door. She is also symbolically opening the door to her new life, the one she will live in total liberation with the restraints of her husband. She begins to also look at life with new eyes, seeing it in a different light, no longer seeing as a life of repression. She loved him, but not as much as she suddenly loves herself. This is a reaction that should be expected from her, however, it is not widely popular (due to when this story was written). She had been married expecting to live her life playing the perfect little wife, and had actually almost managed to convince herself that she enjoyed it. However, when she realizes her freedom, she is ecstatic, as any sane person would be. And even though her husband was obviously a good, kind man whom she â€Å"never looked upon with anything but love† she was still not living for herself, and no one can be truly happy if they aren’t happy with themselves first.

Privacy Issues with the Internet Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research

Privacy Issues with the Internet Privacy has long been as elusive as the mythical Fountain of Youth. The very idea of "protecting" information about family stirs up ominous images of powerful agencies stealing our individuality and even our identity. The fears about privacy have grown exponentially with the Web. But who are we protecting ourselves from? The government? Not likely, at least in the Orwellian sense that most of us imagine it. While Congress passes the laws and regulatory bodies enforce them, media focus of late has been on the private sector, particularly commercial Websites. Civil libertarians' protests against information-collecting Websites are enigmatic given that most of this information has already been available for years in libraries, in town halls, in departments of motor vehicles and from countless other places. Thus it should be understood that "privacy" is largely an illusion. While the Lewinsky tapes raised eyebrows, the media fanfare over the issue shows that someone, somewhere, when you least expect it, will place a higher priority on something that compromises your privacy. Nevertheless, the increasing commodification of personal information is worrisome to this author, particularly when the "collectors" get their information wrong or draw incorrect conclusions from the data they acquire. Already, some national pharmacies have tried to sell information about their customers to marketers. (In at least one case the pharmacy backed off after critics severely chastised them for the plan). No doubt other organizations will move to sell medical records to the highest bidder. What does this mean to the public? ... ...we promise your privacy, we have someone who makes sure we keep that promise. However, many other TRUSTe licensees provide more extensive privacy statements for visitors to scrutinize. Nevertheless, trust and privacy guarantees don't come cheap. Costs for TRUSTe licenses range from $299 to almost $5,000, depending on the licensee's corporate revenue. While $5,000 may not be a lot for a Microsoft, $299 is quite a bit for a start-up firm with no annual revenue. This license allows TRUSTe clients to showcase a mark of trust that could easily (but not legally) be copied and used by any Website developer who wants to capitalize on trust. With all the trust-brokers on the Web, the question remains whether "buying trust" is any less elusive than the Fountain of Youth. Moreover, one should ask, who is worthy of trust management? Privacy Issues with the Internet Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Privacy Issues with the Internet Privacy has long been as elusive as the mythical Fountain of Youth. The very idea of "protecting" information about family stirs up ominous images of powerful agencies stealing our individuality and even our identity. The fears about privacy have grown exponentially with the Web. But who are we protecting ourselves from? The government? Not likely, at least in the Orwellian sense that most of us imagine it. While Congress passes the laws and regulatory bodies enforce them, media focus of late has been on the private sector, particularly commercial Websites. Civil libertarians' protests against information-collecting Websites are enigmatic given that most of this information has already been available for years in libraries, in town halls, in departments of motor vehicles and from countless other places. Thus it should be understood that "privacy" is largely an illusion. While the Lewinsky tapes raised eyebrows, the media fanfare over the issue shows that someone, somewhere, when you least expect it, will place a higher priority on something that compromises your privacy. Nevertheless, the increasing commodification of personal information is worrisome to this author, particularly when the "collectors" get their information wrong or draw incorrect conclusions from the data they acquire. Already, some national pharmacies have tried to sell information about their customers to marketers. (In at least one case the pharmacy backed off after critics severely chastised them for the plan). No doubt other organizations will move to sell medical records to the highest bidder. What does this mean to the public? ... ...we promise your privacy, we have someone who makes sure we keep that promise. However, many other TRUSTe licensees provide more extensive privacy statements for visitors to scrutinize. Nevertheless, trust and privacy guarantees don't come cheap. Costs for TRUSTe licenses range from $299 to almost $5,000, depending on the licensee's corporate revenue. While $5,000 may not be a lot for a Microsoft, $299 is quite a bit for a start-up firm with no annual revenue. This license allows TRUSTe clients to showcase a mark of trust that could easily (but not legally) be copied and used by any Website developer who wants to capitalize on trust. With all the trust-brokers on the Web, the question remains whether "buying trust" is any less elusive than the Fountain of Youth. Moreover, one should ask, who is worthy of trust management?

Osmosis: Potato and Blackcurrant Squash

In biology, osmosis Is defined as the diffusion of solvent molecules (usually water molecules) across a semi-permeable membrane from a region of lower solute concentration to a region of higher solute concentration. Osmosis Is of great importance In biological processes where the solvent Is water. The transport of water and other molecules across biological membranes is ssential to many processes In living organisms.The pressure exerted by the molecules of the solvent on the membrane they pass through is called osmotic pressure. Osmotic pressure is the energy driving osmosis and is important for living organisms because It allows water and nutrients dissolved in water to pass through cell membranes. There are three types of condition that Involves osmosis which Is hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic. In a hypotonic solution, the water will move into the cell due to the outside of the cell having a lower solute concentration than the inside of the ell.When an animal cell Is placed In a hypotonic surrounding (lower solute concentration), the water molecules will move into the cell causing the cell to burst and haemolysed. When plant cell Is placed In a hypotonic solution, water molecules diffuse into the cell and the plant cells remain turgid because the cell wall prevents bursting. In a hypertonic solution, water will move outside of the cell due to the outside of the cell is having a higher solute concentration than the Inside of the cell.When an animal cell, a red blood cells is exposed to a hypertonic surrounding (higher olute concentration) the water will leave the cell causing the cell to shrink and it Is said to undergoes crenation. If a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic surrounding, the cell wall cannot prevent the cell from losing water as the water moves out from the cells. It results in cell shrinking, plasmolysis occurs (cell becoming flaccid), In an isotonic solution, there is no net movement of water as the interior and exterior environment of the cell Is having the same solute concentration.RESEARCH QUESTION: How does the dfferent concentration of blackcurrant squash solution affects the ercentage change in mass of chipped potatoes after being immersed in solution for 15 minutes? HYPOTHESIS: The higher the concentration of blackcurrant squash solution, the lower the concentration of the solution getting bigger, water inside of the cells will move outside the cell and this is called hypertonic. The movement of water diffuse out of the cell causes the size of the potato to decrease and shrinking in size to crenate.VARIABLES: TYPE OF VARIABLES VARIABLES UNIT WAYS TO CONTROL INDEPENDENT Concentration of blackcurrant squash solution Use different concentration of blackcurrant squash solution which is 0%, 20%, 40%, 0%, and 100%. DEPENDENT Percentage change in mass of chipped potatoes Weigh the potato using a weighing balance to get the initial mass. Then, immersed the potatoes in the different concentration of the solution for 15 minutes. Find the final mass to get the average mass. Calculate the percentage using the formula: XIOO% CONTROLLED 1 . Volume of solution cm3 Use 30 cm3 of solution for each boiling tube measured by measuring cylinder. . Type of potato Use the same type of potato 3. Time taken to immersed the potato in the solution min Fixed the time taken for the potato to be immersed in the solution as 15 minutes by sing a stopwatch. 4. Temperature Conduct the experiment in the same room using a thermometer. 5. Initial length of the potato chips cm each. Table 1: Table of variables and method to controls it. MATERIALS AND APPARATUS: MATERIALS APPARATUS 1. Blackcurrant squash at a concentration of 556 g dm-3 , 100 cm3 2. Distilled water, 100 crn3 3. Large baking potatoes 1. Boiling tube, 6 2. White tile, 6 3.Ruler, 1 4. Scalpel, 1 5. Measuring cylinder, 50 cm3 6. Cork borers, 1 7. Weighing balance, 1 Table 2: Table of Materials and Apparatus METHODOLOGY: PROCEDURE: 1. boiling tube is prepared and labelled as A, B, C, D, E and F. 2. 30 cm3 of distilled water is measured using a measuring cylinder and poured into test tube A. For test tube A, volume of blackcurrant squash is O cm3. For the rest of other test tubes, the volume of blackcurrant squash and volume of distilled water is measured as shown in column 4 and 5 in the table respectively using a measuring cylinder. 3.The potato is cut up using a cork borer making it into small pieces to fit in the boiling tube. The potato skin is cut off and trimmed. 4. The potato chips are dried on a towel paper. . The potato chips are weighed using a weighing balance and the mass is recorded in a table as initial mass. 6. The chips are placed in the blackcurrant squash solution and leave it for 15 minutes. 7. Make sure the solution covered the chips completely so that the process of osmosis can occur efficiently. 8. After 15 minutes, the chips are taken out and dried using a paper towel. 9.The potato chips are weighed using a weighing ba lance and the final mass is recorded in a table. 10. The change in mass of potato chips and the percentage change in mass of potato chips are calculated. 11. Steps 2 – 10 are repeated 3 times. 12. The graph of concentration of blackcurrant squash solution against percentage change in mass is plotted.Graph above shows that as the concentration of the solution increases, the percentage change in mass of the potato will decreases. This is because at the highest concentration, less amount of water is present in the solution than the concentration of the sucrose. Based on the raph above, we can see that the graph of concentration of blackcurrant squash solution against percentages changes in mass is inversely proportional to each other. The percentage change in mass is constant throughout the experiment as the slope or the steepness of the graph wasn't extreme and it decreases in a consistent manner. 3.At 0%, the percentage change in mass is in a positive value showing a hypotonic condition but as the concentration increases to 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%, the percentage change in mass has become a negative value. This shows that it is in a hypertonic condition. 4. As we can see on the graph, at 0% the lowest concentration it gives the highest value of percentage change in mass of 7. 60%. In this situation, hypotonic occurs as the concentration of water outside the potato chips is higher than inside the cell. Hypotonic solution is a solution with a lower solute concentration but high water concentration.This causes the movement of water to diffuse into the sap of potato cells following the concentration gradient. The rate of water moves inside the cell is higher than the water moves outside the cell and this result to the increase of size of the potato. The potato cell had become turgid and firm. 5. While, at the highest concentration 100%, the percentage change in mass is -33. 30 is the lowest value. In this situation, the potato cells are in hypertonic sol ution which is a solution with a higher solute concentration but lower concentration of water.Thus, water will move outside of the cell to the solution following the concentration gradient. The rate of water moves outside the cell is higher than the water moves inside the cell. As a result, the cell shrinks in sizes and become plasmolysed due to the water loss inside the cell. 6. At 20%, the graph loping downwards is showing a negative percentage changes in mass due to the difference than the 0%. But at 40%, the difference of percentage change in mass is bigger than the previous one with a value of -23. 20%.This is because as the concentration is getting higher, the water will moves out more than it will moves into the cells. At 60%, the percentage change in mass is -28. 00%. At 80%, the value is -31. 40% and the difference with 100% is quite small. 7. The standard deviation is calculated and it is shown in the graph as error bars. The error bars in the graph is small and cannot be seen clearly. Based on the results, he error bars show that the data that had been collected is reliable as it is very small and it indicates less variable and closer to the mean.The smaller the error bars gives you the more reliable data and accurate results. Limitation and Suggestions LIMITATIONS SUGGESTIONS 1 . When we do the dilution for the solution, the blackcurrant squash and the distilled water might not mix well. The apparatus we used here is measuring cylinder which cannot be turn upside down to get the homogenous mixture. – Volumetric flask can be used to replace measuring cylinder as it is the best apparatus to get the accurate esult. It has the most fixed values and it definitely can be turned upside down in order to mix the solution well. . The initial length of potato chips to be cut before we put it into the solution is measured using a measuring cylinder. This could affect the result because measuring cylinder has a big uncertainty which is 0. 05cm. – Instead, we can use vernier calliper that has a smaller uncertainty which is 0. 01 cm. This could give better and accurate result. 3. The volume of blackcurrant squash solution is measured using a measuring cylinder that has a bigger uncertainty of 1. cm and this could affect the result to be less accurate. To improve the results obtained, burette is used to replaced measuring cylinder as it has much more smaller uncertainty of 0. 05cm 4. The time for the potatoes left to immerse in the solution is too short which is 15 minutes. Such a short time is not sufficient for the osmosis to occur efficiently. – The duration of time should be longer to get the most accurate values. The potatoes should be left in the solution for at least 30 minutes so that the process of osmosis could happen efficiently giving out the best results. 5.When the potato chips is taken out from the solution, it must be dabbed and dried by using a paper towel to remove any liquid from the surface before wei ghing it to get the final mass. But the process might not have done the same way for every potato chip as maybe more liquid is removed from one of the potato chips but not the other. – We should at least try to dry the potato chips using the same paper towel and dried it carefully so all the liquid is removed of the potato chips so as the result will came out better. 6. The excess potatoes skin which wasn't taken out properly could give a slightly less