Knots in My Yo-yo String Essay Example for Free

Knots in My Yo-yo String Essay Knots in my Yo-yo string is an autobiography written by Jerry Spinelli. Jerry Spinelli describes his childhood in first person which allows the reader to feel like he or she is there. To describe the book, the author has written this book to be about his childhood. The community in which the author lived in had impacted his life from being an ordinary Pennsylvania boy to a Newbery Medalist Author. Even the people in his life have helped him reach his career as a writer. I think that the community that the author lived in had some changes on his life. Some of the people that helped affect some changes in the authors life was the authors friends. The authors friends helped him a lot by hoping for him to win the election for president in his school. I also think that his parents had a lot to do with affecting some of the things in the authors life. For example, the author probably would not have his bike that he got for Christmas if his parents did not sacrifice going to the movies or going bowling, so that they could make sure their kids had most of the things they wanted. This is how the authors community had an affect on the authors life. The fact that he was naturally talented gave him an advantage when becoming a writer. Some other reasons why he is such a good writer was because he was not the average kid, he was the kind of kid that paid attention in class, when all the other kids were fooling around. He was very dedicated to his school work. Further more he had a great imagination, and an even better writing ability to have the reader in suspense. Some similarities when writing a book and playing sports is that you always have to be focused.

Development of Peer-to-Peer Network System

Development of Peer-to-Peer Network System Procedures which we are followed to success this project. Task 01 Familiarizing with the equipments preparing an action plan. Task 02 Prepare the work area. Task 03 Fixed the hardware equipments and assemble three PCs. Task 04 Install NICs for each and every PC. Task 05 Cabling three computers and configure the peer to peer network with using hub or switch. Task 06 Install Windows operating system to each and every PC. Task 07 Install and configure the printer on one of the PCs. Task 08 Share printer with other PCs in the LAN. Task 09 Establish one shared folder Task 10 Create a test document on one of the PCs and copy the files to each of the other PCs in network. Task 11 Test the printer by getting the test document from each of the networked PCs. Time allocation for the tasks. Task No. Time allocation Task 01 1 hour Task 02 30 minutes Task 03 1  ½ hour Task 04 1  ½ hour Task 05 1  ½ hour Task 06 3 hour Task 07 15 minutes Task 08 15 minutes Task 09 15 minutes Task 10 10 minutes Task 11 05 minutes Total time allocation 10 hours Physical structure of proposed Peer to Peer network system. In peer to peer network there are no dedicated servers or hierarchy among the computers. The user must take the decisions about who access this network. Processors In 1945, the idea of the first computer with a processing unit capable of performing different tasks was published by John von Neumann. The computer was called the EDVAC and was finished in 1949. These first primitive computer processors, such as the EDVAC and the Harvard Mark I, were incredibly bulky and large. Hundreds of CPUs were built into the machine to perform the computers tasks. Starting in the 1950s, the transistor was introduced for the CPU. This was a vital improvement because they helped remove much of the bulky material and wiring and allowed for more intricate and reliable CPUs. The 1960s and 1970s brought about the advent of microprocessors. These were very small, as the length would usually be recorded in nanometers, and were much more powerful. Microprocessors helped this technology become much more available to the public due to their size and affordability. Eventually, companies like Intel and IBM helped alter microprocessor technology into what we see today. The computer processor has evolved from a big bulky contraption to a minuscule chip. Computer processors are responsible for four basic operations. Their first job is to fetch the information from a memory source. Subsequently, the CPU is to decode the information to make it usable for the device in question. The third step is the execution of the information, which is when the CPU acts upon the information it has received. The fourth and final step is the write back. In this step, the CPU makes a report of the activity and stores it in a log. Two companies are responsible for a vast majority of CPUs sold all around the world. Intel Corporation is the largest CPU manufacturer in the world and is the maker of a majority of the CPUs found in personal computers. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., known as AMD, has in recent years been the main competitor for Intel in the CPU industry. The CPU has greatly helped the world progress into the digital age. It has allowed a number of computers and other machines to be produced that are very important and essential to our global society. For example, many of the medical advances made today are a direct result of the ability of computer processors. As CPUs improve, the devices they are used in will also improve and their significance will become even greater. VGA The term Video Graphics Array (VGA) refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987,[1] but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analogue computer display standard, the 15-pin D-sub miniature VGA connector or the 640Ãâ€"480 resolution itself. While this resolution has been superseded in the personal computer market, it is becoming a popular resolution on mobile devices. Video Graphics Array (VGA) was the last graphical standard introduced by IBM that the majority of PC clone manufacturers conformed to, making it today (as of 2009) the lowest common denominator that all PC graphics hardware supports, before a device-specific driver is loaded into the computer. For example, the MS-Windows splash screen appears while the machine is still operating in VGA mode, which is the reason that this screen always appears in reduced resolution and colour depth. VGA was officially superseded by IBMs XGA standard, but in reality it was superseded by numerous slightly different extensions to VGA made by clone manufacturers that came to be known collectively as Super VGA. VGA is referred to as an array instead of an adapter because it was implemented from the start as a single chip (an ASIC), replacing the Motorola 6845 and dozens of discrete logic chips that covered the full-length ISA boards of the MDA, CGA, and EGA. Its single-chip implementation also allowed the VGA to be placed directly on a PCs motherboard with a minimum of difficulty (it only required video memory, timing crystals and an external RAMDAC), and the first IBM PS/2 models were equipped with VGA on the motherboard. RAM Random-access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order (i.e., at random). The word random thus refers to the fact that any piece of data can be returned in a constant time, regardless of its physical location and whether or not it is related to the previous piece of data. By contrast, storage devices such as tapes, magnetic discs and optical discs rely on the physical movement of the recording medium or a reading head. In these devices, the movement takes longer than data transfer, and the retrieval time varies based on the physical location of the next item. The word RAM is often associated with volatile types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where the information is lost after the power is switched off. Many other types of memory are RAM, too, including most types of ROM and flash memory called NOR-Flash. An early type of widespread writable random-access memory was the magnetic core memory, developed from 1949 to 1952, and subsequently used in most computers up until the development of the static and dynamic integrated RAM circuits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Before this, computers used relays, delay line memory, or various kinds of vacuum tube arrangements to implement main memory functions (i.e., hundreds or thousands of bits); some of which were random access, some not. Latches built out of vacuum tube triodes, and later, out of discrete transistors, were used for smaller and faster memories such as registers and random-access register banks. Modern types of writable RAM generally store a bit of data in either the state of a flip-flop, as in SRAM (static RAM), or as a charge in a capacitor (or transistor gate), as in DRAM (dynamic RAM), EPROM, EEPROM and Flash. Some types have circuitry to detect and/or correct random faults called memory errors in the stored data, using pa rity bits or error correction codes. RAM of the read-only type, ROM, instead uses a metal mask to permanently enable/disable selected transistors, instead of storing a charge in them. As both SRAM and DRAM are volatile, other forms of computer storage, such as disks and magnetic tapes, have been used as persistent storage in traditional computers. Many newer products instead rely on flash memory to maintain data when not in use, such as PDAs or small music players. Certain personal computers, such as many rugged computers and net books, have also replaced magnetic disks with flash drives. With flash memory, only the NOR type is capable of true random access, allowing direct code execution, and is therefore often used instead of ROM; the lower cost NAND type is commonly used for bulk storage in memory cards and solid-state drives. Similar to a microprocessor, a memory chip is an integrated circuit (IC) made of millions of transistors and capacitors. In the most common form of computer memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a transistor and a capacitor are paired to create a memory cell, which represents a single bit of data. The transistor acts as a switch that lets the control circuitry on the memory chip read the capacitor or change its state. Types of RAM Top L-R, DDR2 with heat-spreader, DDR2 without heat-spreader, Laptop DDR2, DDR, Laptop DDR 1 Megabit chip one of the last models developed by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in 1989 Many computer systems have a memory hierarchy consisting of CPU registers, on-die SRAM caches, external caches, DRAM, paging systems, and virtual memory or swap space on a hard drive. This entire pool of memory may be referred to as RAM by many developers, even though the various subsystems can have very different access times, violating the original concept behind the random access term in RAM. Even within a hierarchy level such as DRAM, the specific row, column, bank, rank, channel, or interleave organization of the components make the access time variable, although not to the extent that rotating storage media or a tape is variable. The overall goal of using a memory hierarchy is to obtain the higher possible average access performance while minimizing the total cost of entire memory system. (Generally, the memory hierarchy follows the access time with the fast CPU registers at the top and the slow hard drive at the bottom.) In many modern personal computers, the RAM comes in an easily upgraded form of modules called memory modules or DRAM modules about the size of a few sticks of chewing gum. These can quickly be replaced should they become damaged or too small for current purposes. As suggested above, smaller amounts of RAM (mostly SRAM) are also integrated in the CPU and other ICs on the motherboard, as well as in hard-drives, CD-ROMs, and several other parts of the computer system. Hard Disk A hard disk drive (often shortened as hard disk, hard drive, or HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, drive refers to the motorized mechanical aspect that is distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. Early HDDs had removable media; however, an HDD today is typically a sealed unit (except for a filtered vent hole to equalize air pressure) with fixed media. HDDs (introduced in 1956 as data storage for an IBM accounting computer) were originally developed for use with general purpose computers. During the 1990s, the need for large-scale, reliable storage, independent of a particular device, led to the introduction of embedded systems such as RAIDs, network attached storage (NAS) systems, and storage area network (SAN) systems that provide efficient and reliable access to large volumes of data. In the 21st century, HDD usage expanded into consumer applications such as camcorders, cell phones (e.g. the Nokia N91), digital audio players, digital video players, digital video recorders, personal digital assistants and video game consoles. HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to represent either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. They read the data back by detecting the magnetization of the material. A typical HDD design consists of a spindle that holds one or more flat circular disks called platters, onto which the data are recorded. The platters are made from a non-magnetic material, usually aluminium alloy or glass, and are coated with a thin layer of magnetic material, typically 10-20 nm in thickness with an outer layer of carbon for protection. Older disks used iron (III) oxide as the magnetic material, but current disks use a cobalt-based alloy. The platters are spun at very high speeds. Information is written to a platter as it rotates past devices called read-and-write heads that operate very close (tens of nanometres in new drives) over the magnetic surface. The read-and-write head is used to detect and modify the magnetization of the material immediately under it. There is one head for each magnetic platter surface on the spindle, mounted on a common arm. An actuator arm (or access arm) moves the heads on an arc (roughly radially) across the platters as they spin, allowing each head to access almost the entire surface of the platter as it spins. The arm is moved using a voice coil actuator or in some older designs a stepper motor. The magnetic surface of each platter is conceptually divided into many small sub-micrometre-sized magnetic regions, each of which is used to encode a single binary unit of information. Initially the regions were oriented horizontally, but beginning about 2005, the orientation was changed to perpendicular. Due to the polycrystalline nature of the magnetic material each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains. Magnetic grains are typically 10 nm in size and each form a single magnetic domain. Each magnetic region in total forms a magnetic dipole which generates a highly localized magnetic field nearby. A write head magnetizes a region by generating a strong local magnetic field. Early HDDs used an electromagnet both to magnetize the region and to then read its magnetic field by using electromagnetic induction. Later versions of inductive heads included metal in Gap (MIG) heads and thin film heads. As data density increased, read heads using magnetoresista nce (MR) came into use; the electrical resistance of the head changed according to the strength of the magnetism from the platter. Later development made use of spintronics; in these heads, the magnetoresistive effect was much greater than in earlier types, and was dubbed giant magnetoresistance (GMR). In todays heads, the read and write elements are separate, but in close proximity, on the head portion of an actuator arm. The read element is typically magneto-resistive while the write element is typically thin-film inductive.[8] HD heads are kept from contacting the platter surface by the air that is extremely close to the platter; that air moves at, or close to, the platter speed. The record and playback head are mounted on a block called a slider, and the surface next to the platter is shaped to keep it just barely out of contact. Its a type of air bearing. In modern drives, the small size of the magnetic regions creates the danger that their magnetic state might be lost because of thermal effects. To counter this, the platters are coated with two parallel magnetic layers, separated by a 3-atom-thick layer of the non-magnetic element ruthenium, and the two layers are magnetized in opposite orientation, thus reinforcing each other.[9] Another technology used to overcome thermal effects to allow greater recording densities is perpendicular recording, first shipped in 2005,[10] as of 2007 the technology was used in many HDDs. The grain boundaries turn out to be very important in HDD design. The reason is that, the grains are very small and close to each other, so the coupling between adjacent grains is very strong. When one grain is magnetized, the adjacent grains tend to be aligned parallel to it or demagnetized. Then both the stability of the data and signal-to-noise ratio will be sabotaged. A clear grain perpendicular boundary can weaken the coupling of the grains and subsequently increase the signal-to-noise ratio. In longitudinal recording, the single-domain grains have uniaxial anisotropy with easy axes lying in the film plane. The consequence of this arrangement is that adjacent magnets repel each other. Therefore the magnetostatic energy is so large that it is difficult to increase areal density. Perpendicular recording media, on the other hand, has the easy axis of the grains oriented to the disk plane. Adjacent magnets attract to each other and magnetostatic energy are much lower. So, much highe r areal density can be achieved in perpendicular recording. Another unique feature in perpendicular recording is that a soft magnetic underlayer are incorporated into the recording disk.This underlayer is used to conduct writing magnetic flux so that the writing is more efficient. This will be discussed in writing process. Therefore, a higher anisotropy medium film, such as L10-FePt and rare-earth magnets, can be used. Opened hard drive with top magnet removed, showing copper head actuator coil (top right). A hard disk drive with the platters and motor hub removed showing the copper colored stator coils surrounding a bearing at the center of the spindle motor. The orange stripe along the side of the arm is a thin printed-circuit cable. The spindle bearing is in the center. A typical hard drive has two electric motors, one to spin the disks and one to position the read/write head assembly. The disk motor has an external rotor attached to the platters; the stator windings are fixed in place. The actuator has a read-write head under the tip of its very end (near center); a thin printed-circuit cable connects the read-write head to the hub of the actuator. A flexible, somewhat U-shaped, ribbon cable, seen edge-on below and to the left of the actuator arm in the first image and more clearly in the second, continues the connection from the head to the controller board on the opposite side. The head support arm is very light, but also rigid; in modern drives, acceleration at the head reaches 250 Gs. The silver-colored structure at the upper left of the first image is the top plate of the permanent-magnet and moving coil motor that swings the heads to the desired position (it is shown removed in the second image). The plate supports a thin neodymium-iron-boron (NIB) high-flux magnet. Beneath this plate is the moving coil, often referred to as the voice coil by analogy to the coil in loudspeakers, which is attached to the actuator hub, and beneath that is a second NIB magnet, mounted on the bottom plate of the motor (some drives only have one magnet). The voice coil, itself, is shaped rather like an arrowhead, and made of doubly-coated copper magnet wire. The inner layer is insulation, and the outer is thermoplastic, which bonds the coil together after its wound on a form, making it self-supporting. The portions of the coil along the two sides of the arrowhead (which point to the actuator bearing center) interact with the magnetic field, developing a tangential force that rotates the actuator. Current flowing racially outward along one side of the arrowhead and racially inward on the other produces the tangential force. (See magnetic field Force on a charged particle.) If the magnetic field were uniform, each side would generate opposing forces that would cancel each other out. Therefore the surface of the magnet is half N pole, half S pole, with the radial dividing line in the middle, causing the two sides of the coil to see opposite magnetic fields and produce forces that add instead of canceling. Currents along the top and bott om of the coil produce radial forces that do not rotate the head. Floppy disk A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD, the initials of which should not be confused with fixed disk drive, which is another term for a (non removable) type of hard disk drive. Invented by IBM, floppy disks in 8-inch (200mm), 5 ¼-inch (133.35mm), and 3 ½-inch (90mm) formats enjoyed many years as a popular and ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange, from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment,[2] they have now been largely superseded by USB flash drives, external hard drives, CDs, DVDs, and memory cards (such as Secure Digital). 5 ¼-inch disk had a large circular hole in the center for the spindle of the drive and a small oval aperture in both sides of the plastic to allow the heads of the drive to read and write the data. The magnetic medium could be spun by rotating it from the middle hole. A small notch on the right hand side of the disk would identify whether the disk was read-only or writable, detected by a mechanical switch or photo transistor above it. Another LED/phototransistor pair located near the center of the disk could detect a small hole once per rotation, called the index hole, in the magnetic disk. It was used to detect the start of each track, and whether or not the disk rotated at the correct speed; some operating systems, such as Apple DOS, did not use index sync, and often the drives designed for such systems lacked the index hole sensor. Disks of this type were said to be soft sector disks. Very early 8-inch and 5 ¼-inch disks also had physical holes for each sector, and were termed hard sector disks. Inside the disk were two layers of fabric designed to reduce friction between the medium and the outer casing, with the medium sandwiched in the middle. The outer casing was usually a one-part sheet, folded double with flaps glued or spot-welded together. A catch was lowered into position in front of the drive to prevent the disk from emerging, as well as to raise or lower the spindle (and, in two-sided drives, the upper read/write head). The 8-inch disk was very similar in structure to the 5 ¼-inch disk, with the exception that the read-only logic was in reverse: the slot on the side had to be taped over to allow writing. The 3 ½-inch disk is made of two pieces of rigid plastic, with the fabric-medium-fabric sandwich in the middle to remove dust and dirt. The front has only a label and a small aperture for reading and writing data, protected by a spring-loaded metal or plastic cover, which is pushed back on entry into the drive. Newer 5 ¼-inch drives and all 3 ½-inch drives automatically engages when the user inserts a disk, and disengages and ejects with the press of the eject button. On Apple Macintosh computers with built-in floppy drives, the disk is ejected by a motor (similar to a VCR) instead of manually; there is no eject button. The disks desktop icon is dragged onto the Trash icon to eject a disk. The reverse has a similar covered aperture, as well as a hole to allow the spindle to connect into a metal plate glued to the medium. Two holes bottom left and right, indicate the write-protect status and high-density disk correspondingly, a hole meaning protected or high density, and a covered gap meaning write-enabled or low density. A notch top right ensures that the disk is inserted correctly, and an arrow top left indicates the direction of insertion. The drive usually has a button that, when pressed, will spring the disk out at varying degrees of force. Some would barely make it out of the disk drive; others would shoot out at a fairly high speed. In a majority of drives, the ejection force is provided by the spring that holds the cover shut, and therefore the ejection speed is dependent on this spring. In PC-type machines, a floppy disk can be inserted or ejected manually at any time (evoking an error message or even lost data in some cases), as the drive is not continuously m onitored for status and so programs can make assumptions that do not match actual status. With Apple Macintosh computers, disk drives are continuously monitored by the OS; a disk inserted is automatically searched for content, and one is ejected only when the software agrees the disk should be ejected. This kind of disk drive (starting with the slim Twiggy drives of the late Apple Lisa) does not have an eject button, but uses a motorized mechanism to eject disks; this action is triggered by the OS software (e.g., the user dragged the drive icon to the trash can icon). Should this not work (as in the case of a power failure or drive malfunction), one can insert a straightened paper clip into a small hole at the drives front, there by forcing the disk to eject (similar to that found on CD/DVD drives). Some other computer designs (such as the Commodore Amiga) monitor for a new disk continuously but still have push-button eject mechanisms. The 3-inch disk, widely used on Amstrad CPC machines, bears much similarity to the 3 ½-inch type, with some unique and somewhat curious features. One example is the rectangular-shaped plastic casing, almost taller than a 3 ½-inch disk, but narrower, and more than twice as thick, almost the size of a standard compact audio cassette. This made the disk look more like a greatly oversized present day memory card or a standard PC card notebook expansion card rather than a floppy disk. Despite the size, the actual 3-inch magnetic-coated disk occupied less than 50% of the space inside the casing, the rest being used by the complex protection and sealing mechanisms implemented on the disks. Such mechanisms were largely responsible for the thickness, length and high costs of the 3-inch disks. On the Amstrad machines the disks were typically flipped over to use both sides, as opposed to being truly double-sided. Double-sided mechanisms were available but rare. USB Ports Universal Serial Bus connectors on the back. These USB connectors let you attach everything from mice to printers to your computer quickly and easily. The operating system supports USB as well, so the installation of the device drivers is quick and easy, too. Compared to other ways of connecting devices to your computer, USB devices are incredibly simple we will look at USB ports from both a user and a technical standpoint. You will learn why the USB system is so flexible and how it is able to support so many devices so easily Anyone who has been around computers for more than two or three years know the problem that the Universal Serial Bus is trying to solve in the past, connecting devices to computers has been a real headache! Printers connected to parallel printer ports, and most computers only came with one. Things like Zip drives, which need a high-speed connection into the computer, would use the parallel port as well, often with limited success and not much speed. Modems used the serial port, but so did some printers and a variety of odd things like Palm Pilots and digital cameras. Most computers have at most two serial ports, and they are very slow in most cases. Devices that needed faster connections came with their own cards, which had to fit in a card slot inside the computers case. Unfortunately, the number of card slots is limited and you needed a Ph.D. to install the software for some of the cards. The goal of USB is to end all of these headaches. The Universal Serial Bus gives you a single, standardized, easy-to-use way to connect up to 127 devices to a computer. Just about every peripheral made now comes in a USB version. A sample list of USB devices that you can buy today includes: Printers Scanners Mice Joysticks Flight yokes Digital cameras Webcams Scientific data acquisition devices Modems Speakers Telephones Video phones Storage devices such as Zip drives Network connections In the next section, well look at the USB cables and connectors that allow your computer to communicate with these devices. Parallel port A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting various peripherals. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port. The IEEE 1284 standard defines the bi-directional version of the port. Before the advent of USB, the parallel interface was adapted to access a number of peripheral devices other than printers. Probably one of the earliest devices to use parallel were dongles used as a hardware key form of software copy protection. Zip drives and scanners were early implementations followed by external modems, sound cards, webcams, gamepads, joysticks and external hard disk drives and CD-ROM drives. Adapters were available to run SCSI devices via parallel. Other devices such as EPROM programmers and hardware controllers could be connected parallel. At the consumer level, the USB interface—and in some cases Ethernet—has effectively replaced the parallel printer port. Many manufacturers of personal computers and laptops consider parallel to be a legacy port and no longer include the parallel interface. USB to parallel adapters are available to use parallel-only printers with USB-only systems. However, due to the simplicity of its implementation, it is often used for interfacing with custom-made peripherals. In versions of Windows that did not use the Windows NT kernel (as well as DOS and some other operating systems) Keyboard Keyboard, in computer science, a keypad device with buttons or keys that a user presses to enter data characters and commands into a computer. They are one of the fundamental pieces of personal computer (PC) hardware, along with the central processing unit (CPU), the monitor or screen, and the mouse or other cursor device. The most common English-language key pattern for typewriters and keyboards is called QWERTY, after the layout of the first six letters in the top row of its keys (from left to right). In the late 1860s, American inventor and printer Christopher Shoals invented the modern form of the typewriter. Shoals created the QWERTY keyboard layout by separating commonly used letters so that typists would type slower and not jam their mechanical typewriters. Subsequent generations of typists have learned to type using QWERTY keyboards, prompting manufacturers to maintain this key orientation on typewriters. Computer keyboards copied the QWERTY key layout and have followed the precedent set by typewriter manufacturers of keeping this convention. Modern keyboards connect with the computer CPU by cable or by infrared transmitter. When a key on the keyboard is pressed, a numeric code is sent to the keyboards driver software and to the computers operating system software. The driver translates this data into a specialized command that the computers CPU and application programs understand. In this way, users may enter text, commands, numbers, or other data. The term character is generally reserved for letters, numbers, and punctuation, but may also include control codes, graphical symbols, mathematical symbols, and graphic images. Almost all standard English-language keyboards have keys for each character of the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character set, as well as various function keys. Most computers and applications today use seven or eight data bits for each character. For example, ASCII code 65 is equal to the letter A. The function keys generate short, fixed sequences of character codes that instruct application programs running on the computer to perform certain actions. Often, keyboards also have directional buttons for moving the screen cursor, separate numeric pads for entering numeric and arithmetic data, and a switch for turning the computer on and off. Some keyboards, including most for laptop computers, also incorporate a trackball, mouse pad, or other cursor-directing device. No standard exists for positioning the function, numeric, and other buttons on a keyboard relative to the QWERTY and other typewriting keys. Thus layouts vary on keyboards. In the 1930s, American educators August Dvorak and William Dearly designed this key set so that the letters th

America the Philosophical :: Philosophy Science Papers

America the Philosophical Although convention dictates that America is an unphilosophical sort of country, fonder of Super Bowls than supervenience, the development of philosophy away from Socratic strategies that presume eternal right answers to the classical philosophical problems suggests a second look is in order. This is particularly true if one accepts many of the notions currently in the air about "post-modern" or "post-analytic" philosophy — that its roots lie in classical rhetoric and pragmatism, or that its notion of truth holds the latter to be what issues from the most wide-open sort of informed deliberation possible. In that case, it begins to seem as if America is to philosophy as Italy is to art, or Norway to skiing: a perfectly designed environment for the practice. This, at least, is the provocation intended by this paper. America the Philosophical? It sounds like Canada the Exhibitionist or France the Unassuming: a mental miscue, a delusional academic tic, a Dead-On-Arrival body emitting gases of pure intellectual wish-fulfillment. Everyone knows that Americans don't take philosophy seriously, don't know much about it, don't pay any attention to it, and couldn't name a contemporary academic philosopher if their passports depended on it. As historian Richard Hofstadter drily observed in his Pulitzer-Prize-winning Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1962), "In the United States the play of the mind is perhaps the only form of play not looked upon with the most tender indulgence." But if the title phenomenon of Hofstadter's classic indeed boasts "a long, historical background," the peculiar attitude directed at philosophy softens that hostility by increasing the dosage of unfamiliarity or contempt. Philosophy often seems sufficiently unthreatening to the practical on-the-go American that Arthur Schlesinger's stinging old charge — that on these shores, "Anti-intellectualism has long been the anti-Semitism of the businessman" — feels overwrought. The American middle manager confronted with a devoted philosophy type is most likely to recycle the old cliche, "What are you going to do, open a philosophy store?", and leave it at that. If, of course, the information has been accurately downloaded. Tell your middlebrow seatmate on an commuter flight that you're "in philosophy" and the reply is likely to be, "Oh, that's great. My niece is in psychology too." The infrequent philosophy blips on America's media screens suggest that philosophy doesn't quite register on the American psyche with the gravitas professionals in the field might like. According to the Macy's window of American gossip, the New York Post’s "Page Six," model emeritus Lauren Hutton regards Camille Paglia, the media's 15-minute joy-toy of the `80s, as "the greatest living American philosopher.

Essay --

How to change the oil and filter on a 1993 VW Corrao VR6 The following instructions are recommended for changing the motor oil on a 1993 Corrado with a 6-cylinder VR6 motor type. Oil changes are necessary to ensure proper lubrication for the engine during use, usually ranging from every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. Over time, the oil breaks down and may cause excess wear on internal parts. The oil filter should also be changed at this time, due to any particles the filter may have caught from the old oil. Depending on your level of mechanical ability and weather conditions, this process should take about an hour or less. Please read all instructions thoroughly before attempting any maintenance. New parts: 6 quarts of oil 1 filter Tools: Floor jack Container for old oil A 6mm Allen wrench for oil filter plug 36mm socket for oil filter housing 19mm socket for drain plug on pan Socket wrench (3/8† or 1/2† is fine) Torque wrench Steps: 1. Warm up the engine by driving around for a few minutes. This will warm up the oil and will decrease the amount of time the oil needs to drain. 2. Park the ...

Essay --

Ocean Acidification Water is the dominating force of life; it has etched, carved and determined the fate of humanity itself since the beginning of time. All living organisms are reliant on water; forced to migrate or adapt at a turn of events as simple as a drought. Despite pipes, wells and most other man made engineering, even humans still spend their days chasing clouds. So for once on this planet there are no arguments, no debates, as to the fact that we need water to survive. We even depend on the undrinkable oceans coating the earth; that act as a shelter for tens of thousands of ecosystems, food chains, and organisms. Some of which have achieved such a precarious balance, that the loss of any creature in a food web may lead to the downfall of the planet itself. â€Å"We are already well into a new geological era†¦ where human interference is the dominant factor in nearly every planetary ecosystem, to the detriment of perhaps all of them† (Lynas, 49). So why exactly are humans shifting such an important balance for the sake of excess? We’re tipping the scale; and might not be able to tell when the water starts to burn. Ocean acidification is a process that disrupts some of the most important biological functions and processes that all living organisms are dependent on. What is Ocean Acidification? Ocean Acidification is the act of CO2 dissolving into seawater, decreasing its alkalinity and increasing it's hydrogen ion concentration; making organisms sensitive to shifts in the water. Anything from temperature change to toxic waste inflicts some sort of change upon the ocean and the creatures it engulfs. As most people are aware, humans are altering the earth’s climate through producing greenhouse gas that is blanketing our atmosph... ...of coral. Zooxanthellae provides corals with their pigmentation as well as glucose and amino acids. Loss of zooxanthellae leads to "bleaching", a loss of coloration and stamina within the coral that lends the organism prone to disease. Conclusion Somehow our oceans maintain the balance between being some of the most powerful forces on the earth, and the most easily disturbed masses on the planet. There are so many things that could go wrong within the countless cycles, and the delicate processes that stabalize nature and sustain the biosphere; and people are continually interfering with these cycles. Ocean acidification is one of the most obvious results of human interference upon nature. â€Å"Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value.† ("R. Buckminster Fuller, in Memoriam").

Rapid Regeneration of Chelated Iron Desulfurization Solution

Effect of rotation speed of electrode on the regeneration rate Figure 3 illustrates the effect of rotation speed of 138 Figure 2 Experimental process flow diagram I?power supply; 2?motor; 3?quid distributor; 4?cathode; 5?ceramic membrane; 6?gas distributor; 7?anode; 8?air steel container; 9?regenerated solution tank; 10?original decentralization solution tank; 11?pump is too high, the contact time between the collated iron elution and electrode is shortened, and the electrochemical oxidation reactions will be not complete, so the regeneration rate decreases slightly.Moreover, it is well known that higher rotating speed will cause in industrial applications. In this experiment, the regeneration rate can reach a maximum value of 84. 9% when rotation speed of electrode is equal to 180 rain-l, which is about 1. 6 times that achieves in the static electrode environment. The experiments demonstrate that the rotating electrode has significant advantages in improving the regeneration rate. F igure 3Effect of rotation speed of electrode on the regeneration rate electrode on the regeneration rate at a voltage of 4 V, an inlet air flow rate of 2 MPH-1 and an inlet liquid flow rate of 80 Lo-l . A higher rotating speed of electrode is favorable to increase the regeneration rate, resulting in higher regeneration efficiency. At lower rotating speed, the air bubbles in solution and the bubbles created during electrochemical reactions can adhere easily to the electrode surface and reduce the electrode activity area, which will decrease the electrochemical oxidation efficiency.With an increasing rotating speed, the bubbles can be timely detached from the electrode surface, and the thickness of diffusion layer decreases and the concentration difference can be eliminated rapidly. The increase of current density enhances the electrochemical regeneration effect. At the same time, the gas-liquid mixing degree and turbulence intensity will be enhanced to favor the mass transfer at a hi gher rotating speed, which can lead to the quick supplement of the dissolved oxygen consumed in the regeneration process.Thus, the regeneration rate increases with increasing rotating speed. However, when the rotating speed of electrode 3. 2 Effect of voltage on the regeneration rate Figure 4 shows the influence of voltage on the regeneration rate at a rotation speed of electrode of 180 rain-l, an inlet air flow rate of 2 MPH-1 and an inlet liquid flow rate of 80 Lo-l . The regeneration rate increases as voltage increases due to that the current density increases rapidly at the initial stage with the increase of voltage, resulting in an increased electrochemical reaction driving force.The increase of voltage is favorable to the regeneration rate in both of he rotating electrode and the static electrode environments. But the regeneration rate in the rotating electrode environment is higher than that in the static electrode environment at the same voltage due to that the rotating elec trode can provide a great and rapid renewed surface of the electrode to strengthen the electrochemical oxidation process. When the voltage regeneration rate increases slowly probably due to that the current density and the electrochemical reaction driving force increases slowly.Moreover, too high voltage easily leads to higher energy consumption and more side reactions. Thus, an appropriate voltage of 4 V is selected and the regeneration rate is 84. 8%. The new electrochemical reactor can be considered as the 139 strengthens the micro-mixing efficiency of the air and solution, resulting in excellent mixing and higher mass transfer rate. When inlet air flow rate increases to higher than 2 MPH-1, the regeneration rate increases slowly.The reason may be that the residence time of air becomes shorter in solution and the gas-liquid mass transfer efficiency decreases with a too large inlet air flow rate. Therefore, an inlet air flow rate of 2 MPH-1 s appropriate and the regeneration rate is 84. 8%. The experiments indicate that the rotating electrode has significant influence on improving the regeneration efficiency of air oxidation. Figure 4 Effect of voltage on the regeneration rate rotating electrode; A static electrode traditional tank-type reactor on condition that the voltage is O V in the static electrode environment.Under the optimum conditions, the regeneration rate of the new electrochemical reactor is increased from 45. 3% to 84. 8% compared with the traditional tank-type reactor. The experiments indicate that the rotating electrode can dramatically improve the efficiency of electrochemical oxidation. 3. 3 Effect of inlet air flow rate on the regeneration rate Figure 5 shows the effect of inlet air flow rate on the regeneration rate at a rotation speed of electrode of 180 rain-l, a voltage of 4 V and an inlet liquid flow rate of 80 Lo-l .With increasing inlet air flow rate, the regeneration rate first increases rapidly and then changes slightly both in th e rotating electrode and static electrode environments due to that the dissolved the rotating electrode environment, the regeneration rate is always higher than that achieved in the static electrode environment because the rotating electrode Figure 5 Effect of inlet air flow rate on the regeneration rate rotating electrode; A static electrode 3. Effect of inlet liquid flow rate on the regeneration rate Figure 6 illustrates the effect of inlet liquid flow rate on the regeneration rate at a rotation speed of electrode of 180 rain-l, a voltage of 4 V and an inlet air flow rate of 2 MPH-1. The regeneration rate first decreases slowly and then decreases rapidly with the increase of the inlet liquid flow rate in the rotating electrode environment, which shows the same trend as he case of the static electrode environment.The smaller the inlet liquid flow rate is, the longer the residence time of liquid in the electrochemical reactor will be. Long residence time can benefit the regeneration of the collated iron decentralization solution because the gas-liquid contract time and the electrolysis time are one of the most important influence factors of the regeneration process. When inlet liquid flow rate is less than 80 Oh-I, the regeneration rate remains at over 84. 6%.When inlet liquid flow rate continues to increase to higher than 80 Lo-l , the residence time of quid in the electrochemical reactor becomes shorter gradually, resulting in rapid decrease in the regeneration rate. Under the condition that the treatment capacity is bigger and the regeneration rate is higher, an optimum inlet liquid flow rate of 80 Lo-l is selected and the regeneration rate reaches 84. 6%, which is about 1. 6 times that in the static electrode environment.The Figure 6 Effect of inlet liquid flow rate on the regeneration rate rotating electrode; A static electrode 140 experiments demonstrate that the rotating electrode has significant advantages in increasing the treatment opacity of regener ation process. A new type of electrochemical reactor with rotating cylindrical electrodes exhibits better regeneration performance for the collated iron decentralization solution than the traditional tank-type reactor due to its good electrochemical oxidation property and gas-liquid mass transfer performance.The novel electrochemical reactor can not only provide a great and rapid renewed surface to accelerate the regeneration process of electrochemical oxidation, but also provide an excellent gas-liquid mixing environment to strengthen the regeneration recess of air oxidation, overcoming the poor mass transfer effect and the low oxidation regeneration efficiency in the traditional tank-type reactor. Under the optimum conditions, the regeneration rate of collated iron decentralization solution is increased from 45. 3% to 84. 8%.

Intern for Contrabandit.com

For the past 10 weeks of the Fall 2004 quarter, I've had the opportunity to work as intern for Contrabandit.com. Contrabandit ran by West Coast political and cultural editor of the Source Ryan Ford aims to provide an uninhabited voice for the hip-hop community as well as inform most of the Minority readers of politics, social and educational news and issues that occur in the world. As a History major, with my interest in Film and Television journalism, Contrabandit has allowed me to study contemporary and cultural history through the medium of Hip-Hop music. I looked at this internship as a starting point to acquiring work experience and possibly advancing into working within the field of entertainment journalism. But as an African-American student at UCLA, Contrabandit has allowed me to chronicle events within hip-hop as they happen and apply the broader historical significance as they occur. Being an African-American student, I view hip-hop as not only just a musical art form, but also as a voice and representation of an entire community. Unlike Jazz and R&B, Hip-Hop was a genre truly formed out of the African-American community after the post-civil rights movement and really feels uncorrupted by mainstream pop culture, where it sets the trend, instead of following the pack. When covering the medium of Hip-Hop music, I discovered how far reaching and expansive it has become and with my education at UCLA I've been able to view hip-hop from scholarly approach. The main theme I've noticed throughout my internship has been Hip-Hop music's growth and the changes that become of it as it has become an acceptable musical genre generating billions of dollars for the recording industry studios. The three biggest new stories that I was able to cover were the Eminem-Michael Jackson confrontation, Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's Presidential voter registration campaign, and the violent incident that occurred at the Vibe Awards. On the surface there just current events that needed to be covered to feel up space on the website, but with little probing they actually had far reaching and historical impact on the website, Hip-Hop music and with me in developing my critical writing skills and applying historical analysis from my UCLA course and history major. Jackson boots Eminem off BET (published October 12, 2004) That article resulted in an immediate phone call from my editor, as well as a lecture from him on the role and responsibility of a journalist. He proclaimed my article was blatantly bias and that I was leading the reader to take one point of view or side on the issue, but my job instead was to report the facts in a news story. Which, as my editor expressed to me, is something that's continues to occur since he beginning of entertainment, and its should not be allowed despite the fact Eminem makes a very good living off of doing â€Å"Black Music† much like Elvis, but again, difference being, Elvis never insulted a African-American musical icon like Michael Jackson, like Eminem has. I'm sure this issue will be glanced over, much like the controversy of the tapes being made public by Hip-Hop magazine â€Å"the Source†, where what occurred was an investigation into why Eminem recorded these racist lyrics, but the Source was attacked for bringing this issue to the public. I must admit, just looking on the surface of the controversy I was quick to pass judgment upon BET for what I saw as its hypocrisy by stating it would not air videos disrespectful of any celebrity. Considering that's how they made their notoriety during the whole east coast-west coast beef that many attribute to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Christopher â€Å"Biggie† Wallace. But my editor expressed to me that I needed take it into context along with Eminem's previously uncovered studio recording where he's referring to African-American men as â€Å"niggers† and African-American women as â€Å"black bitches† in a derogatory manner, is not possible to let this pass as artistic and playful expression. Again he's shown disrespect to a community that he continues to make million of dollars off of through doing their music, and can be argued is allowed to get away with such offensive behavior because he is a white. Not just with the African-American community, he's c ome under fire for his anti-gay remarks from the Gay and Lesbian community, but continues to get way with or at least not suffer any ill effects, whereas if a comparable black celerity had done similar offenses, they would find it difficult to maintain the type of celerity that Eminem enjoys. Working alongside Ryan with Contrabandit, I was able to view the controversy as bigger than Eminem just poking fun and having a laugh at Michael Jackson's expense, but greater historical, racial, and industry-wide ramification that this cause. The images of Eminem done up in â€Å"Black face† and portraying Jackson as buffoon and monster have long term consequences upon not only his image but that of African-Americans as they see one of their longest musical icons ridiculed in a way not only personally but racially offensive. And even more importantly with no consequences or accountability from Eminem. Russell Simmons; HSAN proclaims 21 million registered youth/minority voters for 2004 election(published November 4, 2004) In the aftermath of the national presidential election, it brought into prospective the efforts of voter registration among young, minority voters. The day after the election, a press release went out from Russell Simmons Hip-Hop Summit Action Network proclaiming that 21 million registered voters from 18-35 voted in the 2004 election, up from the 18 million that had voted in the 2000 election. Although that's encouraging it was disappointing to know that the voter registration campaign and awareness of the importance of this Presidential election that still George Bush was re-elected. But looking at the numbers and statistics shows a deeper issue and problem arising in America. Working with Contrabandit got me access to covering Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Co-sponsored by Sony Playstation, the fundraiser was an entertainment industry party to bring awareness as well as funding to the organization for needed increased minority voter registration and education. Despite their efforts, the hip-hop community that was being courted by Simmons' HSAN paled in comparison to those of the voters in the Midwestern states. I always felt it was flawed to try to reach out to the hip-hop community as despite the growing numbers of minorities, who will soon grow to be an almost equal number to the majority of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) constituents, some of those minorities are turning towards the conservative ideology. Also there is no unity among this minority group. With more WASP senior citizens living longer, that aging Considering that ultimately the Presidential election was determined by the Midwest, as the Democratic Party hasn't carried southern states in years, where as California and New York (with a combined 86 electoral votes) are perennial Democratic strongholds. Interestingly, the Midwest won the election for Bush and to me it was a shame that the backlash of gay marriages and abortion (as reported by news affiliates as the determining reason for voting for Bush) were more important than the situation in Iraq, terrorism, and the turbulent economy. I never want to question anyone's beliefs or morals, but gay marriages and abortion should be an individual's choice. Most important to take from this election is hopefully maintaining the interest of registered voters beyond this Presidential election, as there are more issues that will arise within the coming years before the 2008 election. In California on the ballot was the repealing of Proposition 187, the 3 strikes law. I understand the â€Å"spirit† of 3 strikes, incarcerating repeat violent offenders from 25 to life sentence in jails, but continually in the years since passage as laws, many third strike offenders have been non-violent repeat offenders. Some argue the old adage don't commit the crime, won't do the time, but there's a bigger issue of privatized prisons making hundreds of millions of dollars off the incarceration of young prisoners and the prison system being made up of predominately African-American and Latino men. Conservative republican fan base are carrying the votes. Melee breaks out at the Vibe Awards(published November 17,2004) Lastly there was the violent altercation that occurred at the, the Vibe awards On November 16. During the four hour taping inside the hangar at the Santa Monica Airport an incident broke as Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg were presenting an award to Hip-Hop producer Dr. Dre. An unidentified man attacked Dr. Dre, who was later assaulted y several members of his entourage and left him stabbed, later identified as rapper Young Buck by authorities. With the Vibe awards, it is yet another black eye on Hip-Hop as well as on black-themed award shows. The incident alone won't spell the end of Hip-Hop or these musical award shows, but my over all perspective is the necessity of these award shows. Within the entertainment industry its become a joke that there are too many awards shows. Yet when it comes to black themed award shows, they are usually relegated to lesser channels like UPN and BET, and more often than not are taped delayed events. Such events as the NAACP Image Awards, BET Awards, Soul Train Awards and Soul Train Lady of Soul, Vibe Awards, and the Source Awards all fall into this category. And incidents like this further perpetuate the stereotypes of the safety issue that constantly trouble hip-hop events. Amazingly events like the Rock the Bells concerts a week earlier at Anaheim Stadium that I covered for Contrabandit(and the Source)doesn't garner the positive press as when chaos ensues at televised events. At that event, despite some illegal drug use, the show went off without any violent altercation or incident, in front of a mostly diverse White, Latino, and Asian audience. Myself being the only amazed at this diversity and more so shows how far hip-hop music and their artist have developed with such a diverse crowd and the artist being so comfortable in front of them. But dealing with the coverage of black themed awards shows their two sides to the argument. Those that feel that its alright that the awards shows are tape delayed and marginally watched by non-blacks because its for Blacks and its best that we have a awards show tape delayed then none at all. As a matter of fact, the NAACP dubs its annual awards â€Å"Black America's answer to the Oscars, Emmy's, Grammy's, and Pulitzer, as it continues to honor overlook performances by African-American entertainers that the mainstream Hollywood community pass over. But on the other hand there is the argument that by not being a live broadcast somehow relegates it as meaningless shows that don't really count. For starters, with most of the United States having access to the numerous channels available through cable and satellite television, and at least 5-10 music themed channels, viewing music, film and television entertainers is a lot more accessible then in any era prior to the 1990's. Before then, it was rare being able to view entertainers outside of movies, therefore making movie and television award shows the only place to see them. Likewise for most, seeing their favorite musical artist perform â€Å"live† at awards show provided a free experience to catch them performing if they were unable to go to a concert to see them performing and this is remembering that MTV didn't debut till 25 years ago in 1981. But with the emergence of MTV, BET, VH1, and even E!, it has provided a near 24 hour access to view these entertainers and even more so, know them beyond their music or the characters they portray on screen and films. Awards was more than just a night of honoring actors and musician, but that rare opportunity to view them live and has human. Speaking with my editor Ryan, he allowed me to go further with this topic and try to give our readers some prospective and insight behind awards show and why they exist. Working for the Source, he gave me some inside information about the motives behind events such as the Vibe, Source, BET, and Blockbuster Awards shows: MONEY! By organizing one awards event for on night, the sponsorship and advertising for the event generates more money in one night then the magazines do for the entire year. Even the awards presentations are staged, as more then likely the winner is determined by the artist that will appear, more than who deserves to win. When you look at the BET, Source, and Vibe awards, what they provide great revenue and backlash towards to the mainstream (white) award show are not able to properly honor the hip-hop artists that were annually disregarded for their work. Honestly for the most part the Grammy's and American Music Awards do base their nomination, and I'm sure, there awards recipient on mainstream success. But whereas the NAACP Image awards and Soul Train music awards were created to make up for these lack honors to Black performers, these proliferation of the other awards show, seems to be purely done as promotion. The experience that I take from my time working with Contrabandit, has been invaluable in applying the classroom knowledge I acquired from UCLA towards real world situations. Without the historical significance and ramification of events as they occurred and relating them to past events, I would not have been able to elaborate upon them in my writing for the website or convey the importance to my audience at the site.