Saturday, August 31, 2019

A Paper on Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is phenomenal societal problems that are plaguing human society at the present times which victims are mostly women and children.   They are usually victims of physical or sexual assault.Because women are prone to be victims of domestic violence, Feminist expressed concern about the widespread problem plaguing the present generation and struggle towards getting protection for women from the court.Although, most of the offenses were hidden under family affairs, Carol Bolimer, Jennyfer Brandth, Denise Bronson, and Helen Hartnett, in their article, Domestic Violence Law Reforms: Reaction from the Trenches, say that, Feminists are gaining success in their efforts, as criminal justice personnel are now getting   more objective investigative in handling domestic violence cases.But despite of this hundreds of thousands of American women and children suffer domestic violence each year, studies have shown that sixty percent up to seventy-five percent of families fall vic tims to domestic violence every year; and this problem has already taken thousands of women’s lives.What is domestic violence? How can one determine that he or she is standing on that very dangerous ground?   And what are the solutions to the problem, are some of the contents that this paper attempts to present.Definitions of Domestic ViolenceDomestic violence is defined as a continuum of behavior ranging from verbal abuse, physical and sexual assault, to rape and even homicide.   Most of the cases of domestic violence are perpetuated by â€Å"men against women and their children† In C.J. Newton’s article, domestic violence â€Å"an overview,† he presented a United States Department of Justice report published in May 2000 through the National Crime Victimization Survey and the FBI data, defining domestic violence as â€Å"violent crimes by current or former spouses, boyfriend and girlfriend.   In their definition of violent, it includes lethal (hom icide) and non lethal which they enumerated as rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.   The report mentions more than one million crimes committed against persons by the current or former spouses.Deborah Lockton, LLB, MPhil and Professor Richard Ward LLB, identified domestic violence as an act of physical and mental cruelty progressing from a slap or shore, to punch or kick, and to the more extreme manifestation of violence, in suffocation, strangulation, attempted murder and murder.†Causes of Domestic ViolenceDifferent group of people explained the causes of domestic violence, however, as one analyze the causes of the problem, they are similar in terms of gender roles which is fact has something to do with the cultural and historical origin of family.   It is also noted that, changes in terms of roles contributed a lot in the existence of this particular problem.According to feminism, one of the causes of domestic violence is the legal syst em which in their view is patriarchal on several levels. They argue that the law is â€Å"sexist in that it generally treats men better than women.†Ã‚   They emphasized that the criminal justice personnel prior to their effort to gain equal rights with men, treats domestic violence as a family matter and out of the reach of the legal system.They also reveal that police would simply â€Å"take perpetrator for a walk to discuss keeping the little woman in line† and then return her home without further action.†Ã‚   Kristin L. Anderson says Feminist emphasized that domestic violence is â€Å"rooted in gender and power and represents men’s active attempts to maintain dominance and control† (Anderson, 1997).   Feminist sociologist maintains that the main cause of domestic violence is the issue of gender and power.Anderson pointed out that Feminist contend that this is a system of which men â€Å"maintain societal dominance over women.†Ã‚   Lockto n and Ward say, domestic violence continues for years, before the victims take action which sometimes results to the death of either the victim or the perpetrator.But sociologist finds other causes of domestic violence.   They suggested that cohabiting status, unemployment and socio-economic status rank as one of the causes of domestic violence (UNICEF).They agreed that main causes of domestic violence pertain to unequal power relations.   Family institution, where traditional control lies with husband as the head of the family, is seen as breeding ground for domestic violence too.   Beliefs in male traditional superiority and other sanctions that do not recognize women’s and children’s legal rights in the society are also seen as causes of domestic violence plaguing human society worldwide.Nowadays, domestic violence includes physical aggression in which the perpetrator controls the victim by using fear and force.   It occurs usually in traditional marriages o r same-sex relationship especially when relationship is in the verge of collapse.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Eating Meat Essay

Premise 1: Meat eating in humans is a natural phenomenon that has been practiced since prehistoric times, as evidenced by human dental structure and some scientific studies. Premise 2: Not eating meat can lead to various health problems unless there is a thorough understanding of the nutritional needs of the human body and the person ensures measures are taken to maintain good health. This is not feasible in undeveloped countries, tribal cultures or other societies that do not yet have the advantage of advanced science and technology that aids in understanding the various needs of the human body. Conclusion: Yes, it is ethical to eat meat. ___ The question of whether eating meat is ethical or not implies an assumption of a universal standard of ethics, so whether eating meat is ethical or not needs to be addressed from different viewpoints. The ethics of meat eating is highly subjective—it depends on many factors, such as culture and religion. From a (general) religious standpoint, meat eating is not unethical. Most religions do not absolutely forbid eating meat. Also, there has been evidence for the â€Å"naturalness† of meat eating. As evidenced by some scientific studies (such as a quick internet search (http://tinyurl.com/a6mdk) will bring up), meat eating has been practiced by humans since prehistory. In fact, the assimilation of animal protein is the easiest way of preventing some health problems (this is not to say that meat should be a major part of human diet). The concept of a vegan diet is relatively modern and is usually only feasible in a setting where the people have, through the advantage of modern science, gained sufficient knowledge about human nutrition. So, the question should not actually be one of ethics, but of health, in which case, the answer is yes—meat is okay (as long as it is only a part of a balanced diet).

Reproductive Health Bill/RH Bill Essay

I am in favor of the Reproductive Health Bill/RH Bill, not because I don’t believe in God or I disobey His rules but let’s open our eyes on our countries status. As of now our country is growing and continues to grow. We are in number 65 out of 144 economies in the world. But, as you can see, we are still behind when regards to economic growth. I don’t believe those who say that over population is not a problem. Because, I do believe that overpopulation is a big, big problem. The Philippines is having a large population. And this large population is admittedly one of the main causes of our poverty since the government had difficulty in addressing the needs of its people. The population of the Philippines makes it â€Å"the 12th most populous nation in the world today†. RH Bill assures the availability and access to a full range of methods, techniques, supplies and services that contribute to reproductive and sexual health and well-being. With these, our nu mber will become manageable and eventually, our country will be in progress. RH bill doesn’t promote abortion but it rather prevents abortion. The RH bill protects the life of the both the mother and the baby in her womb. Supporting the bill is more PRO-LIFE. Life begins at fertilization. Therefore, if there’s no fertilization, there’s no life. The use of artificial contraception is not taking away life because life has not yet started. I am PRO RH Bill simply because it disturbs me to see people in my age carrying babies. And what’s more disturbing is their situation. They don’t have the capacity to support these babies. I am also PRO RH Bill because it could prevent maternal deaths. RH Bill also provides quality life for a family. And there would also be a population management. The RH Bill promotes awareness and education, which are the initial steps in creating a well-founded society. One of the key components of this bill is the advocacy of fa mily-planning for couples. This way, they can decide on the proper timing, spacing and number of their children, according to what their family can support. Managing population growth is not the sole solution to poverty but is a part of solution. I’m PRO RH BILL because it is PRO-LIFE, it is PRO-DEVELOPMENT, and it is PRO-POOR.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Laplace Transforms Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Laplace Transforms - Coursework Example Many Engineering applications which are not solvable using ordinary differential equations can be solved by Laplace transforms provided the Laplace transforms exist. The Laplace transforms seek the exponential order to exist. Many real life Engineering applications can be brought into the purview of exponential order and also it insists the derivative to exist and piecewise continuity must be present. The foremost advantage of Laplace transforms is it converts difficult differential and integral equations to simple algebraic equations which is easily solvable rather than the original differential/integral equations. It can be used in electrical circuit theory to know the original current passing through a circuit for a given electromotive force, inductance, resistance and capacitance. It is used in vibration theory because it resolves function into moments. It is used to find the bending moment of any RC column in Civil Engineering applications. In circuit theory it is more used. In harmonic oscillators, optical devices also Laplace transforms are used. In spring vibrations relating to Mechanical Engineering problems it is much used. In chemical reactions involving differential equations, Laplace transforms are used. Because of the nature of converting from time domain to frequency domain it is used in Biological (genetical) and stochastic applications. It is widely used in Engineering since many Engineering problems involve the complex differential and the integral equations.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Argumentative Synthesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Argumentative Synthesis - Essay Example The income inequality has widened tremendously, dependency ratio has increased, and access to basic needs are becoming an issue for quite a number of people from the lower class. On the other hand, America stills remains the world’s superpower boasting of the largest economy, unparalleled democracy and prosperity of its citizens. Considering America is experiencing an equal share of troubles on one hand and prosperity on the other hand, is America actually living the American dream? The idea of the living the American dream is a fallacy considering the ever-widening income gap between the rich and the poor, the burgeoning budget deficit, and the increasingly over-dependent youthful population. Unfortunately, the present situation in America have left so many questioning if at all these dream is still valid. Cal Thomas, a panellist at Fox News Watch, argues that unless radical changes are made, the American Dream is long over. Thomas supports Bob Herbert, a columnist at New York Times, who writes that the sad state of the economy, jobs, budget deficits, and constant war fares are all a pointer of the fact that there is nothing much left of the American Dream. The fundamental argument expressed by Thomas is that the American government has become so dysfunctional creating an over-dependency and cant-do attitude among its citizens. This behaviour does not reflect the American Dream at all. The same sentiments are echoed by Robert Frank, an economic columnist of the New York Times, who feels that it is impossible to live this dream with such a widening income inequality. Brandon King holds however holds a contrary view. He claims that the ideal and values of the American Drea m are still alive based on America’s ability to come out of hardships such as the Great Depression. Certainly, there exists a very thin line between defining success and failure in American dream. As Thomas sees it there are far more problem in

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Canonical Antonyms Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Canonical Antonyms - Research Paper Example Canonical antonyms are investigated through opinion tests, word connection tests, and extraction tests (Grassmayr 36). Within the context of good grammatical language, the canonical antonyms occur together with one another by means of credible constructions better than other word pairs with possible semantics. The diagnostics of canonical antonyms are found out through grammatical word structures and the strengths of language semantics. Words that have opposing meanings may have contrasting viewpoints but that does not necessarily mean that they are canonical antonyms. The paradigm of the application of English language semantics that provides the meaning of words, opposites, and adjectives rely on canonical antonyms. This is evident through dictionaries and thesaurus that provide the basic values and meanings of words and their antonyms, which should have a canonic point of view (Vas 79).  Antonym word duos refer to any two words that contrast semantically to each other by virtue of having dissimilar meanings, for example, warm and chilly. A canonic antonym refers to two words that are affiliated because of being together with semantic correlation, for instance, public and private. Therefore, canonic antonyms are twosome words that have lexicon frameworks in the language whose combinations make sense by default without necessarily having to adhere to semantic tenets (Storjohann 89). The conventional way to which canonical antonyms pair with each other occur in a broad array of word contexts in that they do not contrast just because of being in a single phrase. Therefore, poor and rich are more probable to contain a canonic perspective as opposed to rags and riches. To reciprocate the relatedness of the words is also considered to have a canonic affiliation. For instance, searches may show that the best antonym of both rapid and fast is slow.  

Monday, August 26, 2019

Genetically Modified Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Genetically Modified Foods - Essay Example   Currently, a broad-based scientific consensus exists over foods in the market, which have been derived from genetic modifications that they have no threats and health concerns on the life of humans and other beings that consume them. However, some opponents to the idea of genetic modification have refuted these concepts, basing their arguments on various safety issues, economic and environmental concerns. They have emphasized that the economic concerned raised about these foods emanate from the fact that the genetically modified seeds are foods sources, which are subject to the intellectual property rights as owned by the respective corporations that make them (Rotman, 2014).Plants that have been genetically engineered are often generated from the laboratory through alteration made in their genetic compositions and tested effectively if they contain the desired qualities. In most cases, this happens through the addition of one or many genes in their particular genomes by use of g enetic engineering methodologies. Some of the plants that are genetically modified are done in certain controlled ways through the addition of more genes in a process called cloning or some genes are subtracted from them.Nowadays, genetic modification is often carried out in order to make plants resistant to insects, viri, fungi and herbicides. Additionally, these modifications are also aimed at changing the nutritional content of these plants, improving their taste and duration for storage after harvest.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Why banning the use of cell phones while driving should be mandatory Essay - 1

Why banning the use of cell phones while driving should be mandatory nationwide - Essay Example Lawmakers should ban cell phone use while driving because a human life is more important than a simple phone call. Even if a driver is using a phone for something important, such as work, they are still putting others at risk. Another persons life is more important than a phone call and there really can be no comparison between the two. Second, driving and talking on the phone should be outlawed because most phone calls are not emergencies. A person would not talk on the phone while in a business meeting, so why should they when they are driving? Discounting work or emergency calls, most calls are either personal or social. If a call is not the matter of a life or death situation then it can wait until the driver can safely stop their vehicle. Finally, drivers need their full attention on the road, so by law they should not be able to use a cell phone while driving. Drivers are required to sit license tests before being able to drive, so this proves that driver have to be skilful. Talking on the phone takes away from these skills. Also, it is just common sense not to talk on the phone while driving, the same way that people would think it is silly to drive and read a book at the same time. To sum up, drivers should not be allowed to use cell phones for all of the reasons listed previously. Not only is a human life more important than a phone call, but also the majority of phone calls are not emergencies and drivers need to be fully focused on the road ahead of

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Those the year 1968 has benefits us Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Those the year 1968 has benefits us - Essay Example Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy had their lives extinguished through the barrel of a gun. For many Americans then, the year 1968 came to signify the end of innocence and the dawn of a new era of dashed hopes and unfulfilled promises (Sibley 2009; Hobsbawm 244-270). Events on the international stage further added to this perspective as the Cold War started to heat up and the ramifications of the capitalist-communist split were coming to the fore. It is important to remember that this was the height of the Cold War and as Czechoslovakia sought increased liberalization as a member of the Soviet block, the USSR and Warsaw Pact’s military might crushed any appearances of dissent emanating from Prague and its environs. On August 20, 1968, Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia culminating in the largest internal Eastern offensive since the dawn of the Iron Curtain leading to the forced occupation of this fraternal communist country. Troops from Bulgaria, East Germany, Poland, Hungary and the USSR were coordinated in the effort to crush the spring liberation emanating from Czechoslovakia. Accordingly, more than 500,000 troops effectively occupied this country in what became known as a devastating moment in world history. For Americans and o ther Westerners, the occupation of Czechoslovakia during the height of the Cold War confirmed fears of the authoritarian nature of communism and brought home the importance of maintain a staunch anti-communist foreign policy during this period. The war in Vietnam was another reminder of the precarious situation which existed between the capitalist and communist world and the Vietcong launched the Tet Offensive during this period. With the successful Vietcong attack on the US Embassy in Vietnam, the Tet Offensive effectively ratcheted up the battle for supremacy in Vietnam between North and South Vietnamese forces as well

Friday, August 23, 2019

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Economics - Essay Example The first situation is the traditional ‘capitalist’ approach where the government adopts a totally ‘hands off’ policy allowing the resources to be used by privately owned enterprise, reducing protection to local industry and agriculture by lowering import tariffs and allowing free competition. The second approach (communist) is heavy governmental involvement in the economy where all resources are publicly owned and the government decides their allocation and use. However, it is usual to find a middle path adopted by most countries including the US. Governments cannot distinguish companies that will perform well and their reasons for entering a particular area of the economy frequently targets serving of social causes and political ends rather that those of economics. Examples are, the distribution of wealth, regulation of competition, supplying infrastructure etc. This leads to a diversion of resources to non-productive enterprises and away from private hands that could have utilized the resources more efficiently and effectively stops investment/ competition from abroad. Freeing of trade can result in competition for goods and services leading to efficient utilization of resources, improved standards of living, and economic growth. Despite this, it is necessary for governments to address certain areas that private enterprise would otherwise neglect or the benefits of economic growth would not percolate down to the economically backward sections of society. For example, the defense of the country is not an issue that private e nterprise can attend; another example is the provision of health care, if completely privatized good health-care would become out of reach for large sections of the economically weak. Either the ‘neo-classical’ rationale of market failure in the provision of public goods and need to lessen the effect of externalities etc. or the evolutionary

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Problems Surrounding Corporate Governance Are Rooted In the Essay

The Problems Surrounding Corporate Governance Are Rooted In the Peculiar Nature of Corporate Shareholding - Essay Example This essau declares that the recent economic crises and scandals have forced much expert attention on the system of corporate governance, its regulations, leading to the public disclosure of many of the financial figures associated with the processes. Here, attention has been specifically focussed on the shortcomings, related to the primacy of shareholder values that dominate the entire system. This paper makes a conclusion that the shareholders in most of the cases did not have a major role in creating the major financial crises of the 2000-2001 that had resulted in the economic breakdown of many of the large financial corporations. Despite some line of thinking that did not put the shareholders entirely above the line of guilt, it is more or less certain, that in majority of the cases the shareholders are mere bystanders, and do not have the power or the status to handle or interfere in the corporate governance, though it is certain that their investments are considered as playing a dominant role. Thus, it is evident that in this peculiar nature of the corporate shareholding system, where the shareholders have no rights on the nature of the investments made, yet their financial capital interests are given primary importance, do not have much of role in the problems faced in the line of the modern corporate governance. The problems within the corporate governance emerge mo re from the lack of effective regulatory and monitoring systems, that should focus more on the activities of the assets managers and investors, and the nature of the investments that are being made.

The Validity of the Developmental Theories Essay Example for Free

The Validity of the Developmental Theories Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Human nature and its varying and complex behaviors fascinate almost everyone. Although not all are inclined to be able to understand and explicate the details of individual personalities those who do find themselves in confusion many times why some people do things that are at times difficult to comprehend. However, the science of human behavior has indeed helped facilitate thus far, an understanding of human conduct and its nature at various lengths through the theories of human development by prominent theorists (Plotnik, 1996). This paper attempts validate their works by citing the researcher’s own personal timeline and/or development. For a proper and organized treatment of this paper, it will answer the following problem statements: What are the descriptions of Freud (psychosexual), Erikson (psychosocial), and Piaget’s (Cognitive) stages for childhood and adolescent years of development? Are developmental theories applicable to real-life and if so, based on your personal timeline, how (and if not, how not)? Discussion What are the descriptions of Freud (psychosexual), Erikson (psychosocial), and Piaget’s (Cognitive) stages for childhood and adolescent years of development?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Development does not end once a person reaches maturity, but continues throughout life. Developmental psychologists seek to describe ad analyze the regularities of human development across the entire life span. It focuses primarily on these aspects of development that make us similar to one another (Atkinson et al., 1993).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sigmund Freud hypothesized that each of us goes through five psychosexual stages. These are five different developmental periods – oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages – during which the individual seeks pleasure from different areas of the body associated with sexual feelings. Freud emphasized that the child’s first five years are the most important to social and personality development (Atkinson et al, 1993). The stages of oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages are controversial and highly debatable concepts which Freud originated. Freud pointed out that satisfying one of the child’s needs becomes a source of potential conflict between the child, who wants immediate gratification, and the parent, who places restrictions on when, where, and how the child’s needs should be satisfied. Freud believed that interactions between parent and child in satisfying these psychosexual needs for example, during breastfeeding or toilet training – greatly influence the child’s social development and future social interactions. Freud’s psychosexual stages are part of his larger psychoanalytic theory of personality (Hilgard et al., 1983, Atkinson, 1993).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Secondly, the psychosocial stage of development is best explained through the theory developed by Erik Erikson. According to Erik Erikson, a child will encounter different kinds of problems in infancy and childhood, which will shape one’s social and personality development. Erikson gave eight psychosocial stages. A child according to Erikson will encounter a particular psychosocial problem at each stage. If he successfully resolves the problem, he will develop a good social trait that will help him/her solve the next problem. If he/she is unsuccessful, he/she will develop a bad social trait that will hinder his or her solving a new problem at the next stage (Atkinson, 1993). His stages include Trust versus mistrust, Autonomy versus Shame doubt, Initiative versus guilt, Industry versus Inferiority, Identity versus Confusion, Intimacy versus Isolation, Generativity versus Stagnation, Integrity versus Despair, comprise each of the description of the periods and the potential problems that may arise during each of the particular period (Halonen Santrock, 1996).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Piaget’s theory of cognitive development refers to how a person perceives, thinks, and gains an understanding of his or her world through the interaction and influence of genetic and learning factors. He has identified the cognitive stages and refers to four different stages – sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages – each of which is more advanced than the preceding stage because it involves new reasoning and thinking abilities (Piaget, 1963; Hurlock, 1964). Piaget’s work led to the current view that children are actively involved in their own cognitive development. By active involvement, Piaget meant that children are constantly striving to understand what they encounter, and in such encounters, they form their own guesses or hypotheses about how the world works (Hurlock, 1964). Are developmental theories applicable to real-life and if so, based on your personal timeline, how (and if not, how not)?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This paper just briefly introduced three differing explanations of certain aspects of human development and these were the currently accepted theoretical perspectives of human-behavior development. Relating these with the author’s personal development, yes, I could say that the developmental theories are in most cases applicable. Looking at my personal timeline, the observations and generalizations made by Freud, where the struggles in later years such as getting married at an earlier age, joining the army etc., were concerned, many of his concepts had pointedly identified those that are linked with during the early years of my development as compared to Freud’s five psychosexual stages. Terms like fixation and those that may have something to do with his conceptualization of instincts helped me understand many of my personal confusions regarding certain inner/internal struggles in my life (Halonen Santrock, 1996). In addition, Erikson’s description of the psychosocial stages where these are best illustrated during the adolescent years such as identity versus confusion, remembering those carefree years and the subsequent important transition and decision making abilities that need be developed helped me relate a lot to many of my adventures and misadventures as a youth, His apt and keen analysis of these stages helped me then and makes me feel at ease concerning   the anticipated times or periods of years ahead (Atkinson et al., 1993; Hurlock, 1964). In addition, Piaget’s poignant attention to children’s cognitive development helped me realize why I was so interested in peewee wrestling at such a tender young age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is always worthwhile to spend ample time thinking and studying the many-faceted dimensions of human persona, from physical to cognitive and psychological areas among others. It has contributed a lot to my personal understanding of self-awareness and the development of the consciousness and sensitivity of what other humans like me are going through. It caters to a deeper understanding as well as acceptance of people’s frailties, and also their strengths. Freud, Piaget and Erikson’s theories indeed were validated basing on my personal timeline/story; no wonder that these three theories are almost forever cemented as classics in the understanding and predicting of human behavior.       Reference: Atkinson, R.L., R.C. Atkinson, E.E. Smith, D.J. Bem, and S. Nolen-Hoeksema. 1993. Introduction to psychology. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace and Company. Halonen, J.S. and J.W. Santrock (1996). Psychology: Contexts of behavior, Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark, p.810. Hilgard, E.R., R.R. Atkinson, and R.C. Atkinson, (1979)1983. Introduction to psychology.7th Ed. New York: Harcourt brace Jovanich, Inc. Hurlock, E.B. 1964. Child Development. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Book Company. Piaget, J. 1963. The conception of reality in the child. New York: Ballantine Books. Plotnik, R. 1996. Introduction to psychology. 4th ed. Pacific Grove, California 93950: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Appendix MAJOR POINTS ON MY PERSONAL TIMELINE: -Birth date is April 28, 1983 -start walking at 14 months; -Travel to Costa Rica with Grandparents at age 40; -start peewee wrestling at age 8 -graduate from junior high at age14/ enter high school; -Got license and buy own car at age 16 -graduated high school at age 18/start college; -Joined the army National Guard at age 19 -got married/have first child at age 21; -Deployed to Iraq at age 23- have twins at age 23 POSSIBLE FUTURE OUTCOMES (age represented is my possible age) Graduate and become nurse by age 27 -move to new city by age 30; -daughter start high school at age 35 -twins start high school at age 38 -daughter graduates high school/starts college at age 39; -Twins graduate high school/start college at age 42 -daughter gets married at age 45 -first grandchild at age 48

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Airports Are Perfect For Green Roofs Environmental Sciences Essay

Airports Are Perfect For Green Roofs Environmental Sciences Essay Because they occupy large amounts of space with huge expanses of pavement for parking, runways, and storage, and because they have many flat-roofed buildings, airports are natural choice for green roofs. Many major European airports have a tapestry of green roofs over terminals, concourses, parking buildings, maintenance buildings, and others structures. (Cantor, 2008). These green roofs provide benefits and respond to all of the environmental problems without jeopardizing airport security and passenger safety. Despite the network of green space that comes with these installations, there has been no increase in problematic bird populations or other animals that might interfere with aircraft operations or personnel. This achievement is due to careful initial selection of the plant materials, monitoring of the results, and adequate maintenance. Airport feature unique site design challenges that affect animal populations. Typically, airport surroundings include large areas of undeveloped lands. These areas, if not carefully managed, can come semi-natural and attract large birds, which can be sucked into jet engines with potentially disastrous results. Land use policies over many years have been developed to discourage animal populations from settling in these buffer areas. For examples, plants are selected that do not produce flowers, berries, fruits, or seeds that attract animals. Grass height is carefully regulated, as tall grass attracts rodents, which, in turn, attract birds of prey. Grass cut too low attracts birds such a geese. Furthermore, animal populations are dynamic, no static, and in the last several decades species such sea gulls and pigeons have increase dramatically, so that measures must be taken to discourage them. The design of green roofs at the airports must respond to all these concerns. Opinions in Europe regarding the implementation of green roofs at airport are not unanimous. Some experts are cautions, worrying , for examples, about the impact of large populations of sea gulls, as has occurred in urban areas of London. Some are concerned that plants species over a certain height are too welcoming to birds. A greenroofed building recently opened at the Copenhagen airport. Roofs spread with gravel seen to be more attractive to birds, particularly large species as gulls, than green roofs with low to medium-height vegetation. In the United States, more than 75% of recorded bird strikes causing damage to civil aircraft are waterfowl (32 percent), gulls (28 percent) and raptors (28 percents). One area of current research in London is focused on determining the minimum gravel size that can be used as substrate, but is too heavy for gulls to pick up. Carefully designed green roofs at airports present opportunities for mitigating many environmental problems without increasing the risk of bird collision. The Schiphol International Airport from Amsterdam have three buildings with extensive green roofs and two buildings with intensive green roofs. This network of green roofs has responded to the environmental challenges in differences ways, even with specially trained teams of dogs, which are used to chase away the birds (Cantor, 2008). Accidents: Birds are often sucked into jet aircraft engines, something that causes aircraft accidents resulting [in waste of economic resources and, sometimes,] in deaths (Hawthorne, 1980; Shaw, 1985). Similar to any airport landscaping, green roofs on buildings in the airport environment might attract wildlife hazardous to aviation and could increase the risk of birds-aircraft collisions. The OHare International Airport consisted of Sedum spp. for vegetation and birds were observed using the green roof itself. However, bird use of the green roof was minimal and appeared to be similar to use of adjacent buildings with traditional roofs. Although green roofs with vegetation types that offer forage and/or cover to birds might be attractive, the Sedum spp.-vegetated green roof in this study did not attract wildlife hazardous to aviation or increase the risk of bird strikes (Swearingin et al., 2008).[5] Large-scale green roofs are currently being planned and implemented at OHare International Airport (Chicago). [5] One of the largest green roofs in Spain, 54.000 m2, covers the parking area at Barajas Airport in Madrid. http://www.triton-chemicals.co.uk/prode1.php At the airport in Frankfurt (Germany), a 10-cm-deep green roof reduced noise levels by 5 dB (Dunnet and Kingsbury, 2004). (Velazquez, 2005): Airports occupy and consume huge areas of land mass, destroying ecosystems and creating massive urban heat islands of impermeable, hot surfaces. The resulting loss of natural greenspace greatly impacts stormwater management, loss of habitat and biodiversity, creates noise, air and water pollution, and on a large scale, contributes to global warming. Numerous ecological advantages of extensive greenroofs could help to mitigate each and every one of these environmental problems. [security and safe concerns]. The recreated and natural areas of runways and surrounding fields are designed to avoid attraction of birds, which many times get drawn into jet engines creating a potentially hazardous and life threatening situation. To date, airport authorities outside of Europe have been hesitant to consider vegetated roofs mainly for fear of attracting birds. However, many airports in Europe have successfully constructed greenrooffs atop parking garages, hangers, and even ter minal building, without increasing their yearly number of bird strikes. This paper attempts to address some of the potential barriers to greenroofs, in particular the real dangers of attracting birds. International airports having greenroofs: Schipho (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany), and Kloten (ZÃ ¼rich, Switherland). *** Most public-use airports have large tracts of open, unimproved land that are desirable for added margins of safety ad noise mitigation. Birds use airfields as a biotope for habitat, nesting and finding food and different species will dictate different habitat preferences. Bird strikes on airfields may only be minimized by identifying the ecological conditions that attract birds to an airfield and then using habitat deterrence methods to make the airfield less attractive for species relevant to flight safety. Even given greenroofs ability to reduce stormwater infrastructure and other concerns, to date airport authorities outside of Europe have been hesitant to consider vegetated roofs mainly for fear of attracting birds. However, many airports in Europe have successfully constructed green roofs atop parking garages, hangers, and even terminal buildings, without increasing their yearly number of bird strikes. In Germany there are thousand of square meter of green roofs on airport buildings. Within Germany are various airport greenroofs at Stutgart the new airport of MÃ ¼nich, Bremen, and DÃ ¼sseldorf. France has greenroofs at Charles De Gaulle in Paris, Paris Orly International Airport and Bordeaux. I have also seen and airport terminal greenroof in Milan, Italy and more exist. [more] After security issues, noise abatement, air quality, and preservation of greenspace are the top environmental concerns of area residents and airports management. Schiphol IA, Amsterdam: Total airport area greenroofed at AMS and Schipholrijk neighbourhodd: 93,730 m2. Number/area of extensive greenroofs: 3/13,330 m2. Because airports occupy large quantity of space with huge expanse of pavement for parking, runways, and storage, and because they have many flat-roofed buildings, this installations are natural choice for green roofs (Cantor, 2008). Many major European airports have a tapestry of green roofs over terminals, concourses, parking buildings, maintenance buildings, and others structures. (Cantor, 2008).

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Effect of Music on the Level of Happiness

Effect of Music on the Level of Happiness ABSTRACT The present study was designed to investigate the role of music in increasing the level of happiness of college students. The convenient sample comprised of 120 (sixty men and 60 women) undergraduate students from G.C University, Lahore. Their age range was 17 23 years (M = 20.38, SE =0.11). This study used a 2(Gender) X 3(Music) X 2(Phase X S) mixed factorial design, with gender and type of music as between-subject factors and phase as repeated measures factor. Type of music had three levels, viz., classical, popular and mystical and phase was divided into pre- and posttest measures. After taking informed consent, participants were randomly assigned to the three conditions. Each participant was assigned a computer and was provided with a set of headphones through which they heard the specific kind of music. The Depression Happiness Scale (Joseph and Louis, 1993) scale was administered once before and then after the participants listened to the music. The results of (2 X 3 X 2) mixe d factorial Analysis of Variance and post-hoc Tukey tests revealed that popular music had significantly increased the level of happiness of college students, unlike classical and mystical music. No gender differences were found. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis examines the enhancing effects of music on happiness. Music is the purest form of art. It can be said that it has an impact on almost everyone. Certain pieces of music have a relaxing effect, while others stimulate us to act, and some cause change in or emphasize our mood. This work specifically investigates if listening to different kinds of music can increase the level of happiness or not. 1.1 Defining Music The word music basically comes from the Greek word mousike meaning art of the muses. Technically, all sounds are the result of atmospheric vibrations; however, unlike mere sounds and noises, music consists of a set of sounds with particular frequencies, amplitudes, and timbres which are organized into highly predictable patterns. The Social and Cultural meanings by people turn these sounds into music (Smith, 1989). Culture and social context is very important while defining some construct (Matsumoto Juang, 2008). Thus, the definition of music varies according to culture and social context. The artists may view music as a performing art, a fine art, and an auditory art. According to J. P. F. Richter, Music is the poetry of the air.William Shakespeare called music the food of love, (Galwitz, 2001). Humanistic psychologists view music as a means of self fulfillment, integration and self actualization. For existentialists it is another department of choice and freedom. Music in any form has a universal appeal, like an international language, it is understood and spoken everywhere, and its charm and penetrating power cannot be denied (Malik, 1983). Components of Music Music consists of particular frequencies, amplitudes, and timbres etc which are organized into patterns. (North, Hargreaves Hargreaves, 2004).The components of music are, Musical note is a single sound of definite pitch and duration which can be identified in writing. Rhythm, is the arrangement of sounds in time, this arrangement is a complex arrangement of notes into a mixture of short and long durations within a single bar or a series of bars. Regular pulse groupings are called bars or measures. Rhythm is one of the most central features of many styles of music, especially jazz and hip-hop (Lerdahl Jackendoff, 1983). A Scale is a progression of notes in an ascending or descending order. Melody or tune assembles a series of notes into recognizable musical shapes. The notes of a melody are created with respect to pitch systems such as scales. A melody usually though not necessarily possesses rhythm. The rhythm of a melody is often based on the tones of language, the physical rhythms of dance or just periodic beatings (Narveson, 1984). The beat of a piece of music is its regular pulse, determined by the bar lines by which music are metrically determined. Pitch, is the height or depth of a note in relation to other notes or in relation to an absolute pitch. The absolute pitch has internationally been set at A=400 Hz that is, the A above the middle c has a frequency of 440 cycles or vibrations per second. Pitch is determined by the sounds frequency of vibration. The process of assigning note names to pitches is called tuning. The difference in frequency between two pitches is called an interval. The interval indicates either the doubling or halving of the base frequency (Machlis Kristine, 2007). Harmony is the study of vertical sonorities in music. A vertical sonority refers to considering the relationship between pitches that are together. Harmony can also be implied by melodies that outline a harmonic structure. Larger structures involving multiple pitches are called a chord (Darmschroder Williams, 1990). Harmony in music can be analyzed through Roman numeral system. A system of chord symbols is used in popular and jazz music (Friberg, 1991). Musical texture is the overall sound of a piece of music .It is described as the number of parts or lines and their relationship. The perceived texture of a musical piece can be affected by the interval between each musical line, the timbre of instruments or the number of instruments used. Monophony, homophony and polyphone include musical textures. Monophony is the texture of a melody. The texture of homophony is achieved when a melody is accompanied by chords. The melody in homophony is usually voiced in high notes. Polyphony consists of several simultaneous melodies of equal importance (Temperly, 2001). Form, is a feature of musical theory that explores the concept of musical syntax, on a local and global level. The syntax is often explained in terms of phrases and periods or sections or genre respectively (Juslin Laukka, 2004). 1.1.2 Types of Music Different types of music help in soothing ones disturbed soul and cheer us up. There are various types of music i.e., classical music, rock, hip-hop, folk, opera, mystical etc. Classical music is a complex form of music as it requires high musical skills like learning the ragas and ability to coordinate with other musicians .The one who wants to learn, he/she has to go through proper training in this field of music (Bhattacharyya, 2008). Classical music is different from other types due to its instruments and form. Classical music can be described as of having two kinds, western classical music and eastern classical music. The central norms of western classical music were codified from 1750 to 1820, which is known as the classical period. The major instruments used in western classical music include, the piano, harpsichord, the organ and bagpipes. Western Classical music is also capable of taking on different forms such as, concerto, symphony, sonata, opera, dance music, suite, etude, symphonic poem etc. The composing of classical music aims to instill the music with a complex relationship between the emotional and the intellectual aspects. Classical musicians get extensive training and schooling to attain technical mastery before performing classical music. They understand the principles, and gain the knowledge that is essential for the performance of classical music (Grout et al, 1996). The origin of eastern classical Music was from, the Hindu traditions. The oldest of the scriptures and the Vedas describe music at length. The major instruments used include, the tabla, sitar, sarood, pakhawaj, tanpura, tambura, swarmandal, bansuri and sarangi. The eastern classical music is basically monophonic, and is arranged around a single melody line. The composition based on a particular raga, begins with the performers coming out in a ritualized order, first the drone instruments, then the soloist, then accompanists and percussionists. The musicians first tune their instrument. The tambura is played at a steady tone throughout the raga, by a student of the soloist. The raga begins with the melody being developed gradually. The beginning of the raga is called an alap. Once the raga is established, the ornamentation begins to become rhythmical, which gradually speeds up. This section is the jor. After the jor reaches its climax, everything stops and then finally the percussioni st begins to play while interacting with the soloist. Beginning from India, the classical music tradition has extended towards Pakistan and also Afghanistan. The major vocal forms of eastern classical music include, Dhurpad, which is a style of singing, is accompanied by tempura and pakhawaj. The lyrics are heroic in theme, or otherwise in a praising tone. The, Ghazal originally being Persian in form, exists in multiple variations. The Khayal is an informal form of vocal music. It is partially Improvised and emotional in nature. The Tarana, are songs that are used to convey a mood of elation. They have a few lyrics and are mostly composed of rhythmic sounds. Thumri is an accessible and informal vocal form. The lyrics are typically in a language called braj bhasha, and are usually romantic. The system of notation called sargam holds a very important place in classical music of the east. For eastern classical music, the expertise of voice, rather than the instruments is emphasized (Patnaik, 2006). Popular Music is music belonging to any number of musical styles that are widely popular. It covers mainstream music that does not falls into any specialized style such as jazz or hip hop. Popular music essentially includes the use of instruments such as guitar, violin, fiddle, piano, bass and drums. In these types of music, the bass guitar is an important instrument. This can be used in different intensities to emote feelings of anger, pride and others. As compared to classical music, popular music does not require expertise. Many people play popular music together with their friends, on a casual amateur basis. The roots of the music are found in African American and West African music (Moore, 2004). Mystical music is an outburst of the soul. It comprises of spacious, contemplative, heartfelt, trance inducing and psychedelic sounds. It is a mix of entrancing drones, structures, and rhythms. Mystic music is different from classical music in terms of its lyrical content. The sole theme of Mystical music is of building a connection with God. The singer addresses God as his beloved and tries to gain his acceptance Mystical music makes one explore a kind of rich sound experience that lifts and awakens one above normal consciousness. It is relaxing. Mystic music fulfills the purpose of music which is to help us contact the spiritual dimensions of life and reveal the secret to us and to, keep the spirit alive (Nasr, 1997). An important feature of Pakistani mystical music is the interchanging of gender of the singer. 1.1.3 Effects of Music Music holds a very significant position in our lives since the beginning. From the early beginning to the present day, interest in music with reference to healing and therapeutic experience has sustained (Bartlett, 1996). Researchers have found that about two-thirds of the inner ears cilia resonate only at the higher frequencies that are commonly found in music (3,000 20,000 Hz). This seems to indicate that primitive humans communicated primarily through song or tone. There are references to the divine alliance of music and medicine in classical antiquity and the healing function among primitive people (Schullian Schoen, 1948). Recent work on music has confirmed the effectiveness of music too. Music has been found to be capable of triggering Endorphins in the human body, which help the mind in creating sound images, thus making it possible for people to escape into painless worlds sheltered by their imaginations. Music can regularize or disturb the heart beat or relax or tense the nerves; it is also able to affect digestion, respiration and blood pressure (Tame, 1984). Ansdell (1995) suggested that music could act as a powerful tool with neuro-disability. In many instances it has been found that people with brain related problems were able to function in better ways while being exposed to music (Bunt Hoskyns, 2002). Mc Carty (1999) described how music could reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions in healthy as well as clinically ill Music can decrease pain and depression while increasing mood and self esteem. A study indicated that tempo affected arousal, while mode of the music affected the mood (Husain, Thompson Schelenburg, 2002). Wellness is a product of healthy body, mind, spirit interactions, and, as a result music can be an important asset in creating the appropriate environment for persons healing (Stewart, 1990). Musics appeal to us is primarily emotional and psychological. Music has been noted for its ability to enhance peoples moods, move them to tears, make them want to rejoice or just move them emotionally in both negative and positive ways (Goldstein, 1980). Radocy and Boyle (1979) suggested eight kinds of affective responses to music. Some are related to an innate sensory perception of the sound whereas; others are related to images, experiences and emotional context of the experiences. These responses may include simple, negative and positive feelings, and moral or religious temperaments. Thus, music is often capable of helping people in dealing with the issues which they have not dealt with earlier in their lives. (Bright, 1993; Levine, 1999; Ortiz, 1997). According to Stewart (1990) music can act as an affective therapeutic agent under the right circumstances. Music can be helpful to us in initiating psychological movement by altering our mental states and leading us towards more positive affirmations (Blaking, 1990). Menuhin (1972) revealed further that music can bring order out of chaos, because rhythm makes the divergent unanimous, melody turns the disjointed into continuous, and harmony is capable of imposing compatibility among the incongruous. Sloboda (1989), states that, most of us take part in musical activities because it can arouse deep and significant emotions in us. The music itself cannot have extra musical meaning unless the experience to which it refers already exists in the mind of the listener. When music is similar to the connections with human life, then people experience intense emotions. Particular kinds of music are capable of moving painful memories or the unresolved problem in life. Storr (1990) believes that apart from the relations between seeing an emotional arousal, the relation between hearing and emotional arousal is stronger. Campbell Angus (1976), in a study observed that when people communicate with the emotional centers of our being through the use of music; we become better able to reduce stress and achieve a sense of well-being. Diamond (1979) suggests that music can be used as an important part of primary preventative health care at a psychosocial level. It has been reported that music is an activity which the healthy, impaired, talented and interested enjoy, because it provides them with a relief from their stress, anxiety (Blacking, 1995). Music if combined with personal attention and, can provide satisfaction and restore a sense of value to people who may be feeling depressed or low in self-esteem (Crystal, Grober Masur, 1989). In view of Hallan Price (1998), calming music led to better participant performance on arithmetic and memory tasks. Music can line up patterns of emotions, structures of consciousness and / or psychic energy (Stewart, 1990). Thus, music has great influences on a listener. It can take the mind and body to do spontaneous things. Depending on the type of music and the inner message it has, music can influence a person and his/her actions (Cassidy Byo, 2008). Happiness In this older sense, Happiness was used to translate the Greek Eudemonia. There has been a surge of interest in Positive Psychology during the last quarter of this century. There has been a huge amount of interest and research on happiness, well-being and satisfaction among all positive fields (Diener Diener, 1995). The term happiness is synonymous to subjective well- being (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Happiness can be defined as a feeling about yourself and the outside world. It is born from the internal workings of our own minds (Diener et all, 1997). Yew-Kwan Ng and Siang Ng (2000), define happiness as a complete state of mental health. They have defined emotional happiness as the presence of positive affect and life satisfaction with the absence of negative affect. It is a positive emotional state that is defined by every person on a subjective level. Diener, Scolon Lueas (2003) define Happiness as an overall appraisal of life, where the good and the bad are balanced. According to one of the founders of positive psychology, Seligman (2002), happiness consists of positive emotions and positive activities, emotions can be categorized as they are related to the past, present and future. Positive emotions concerning the past include satisfaction, contentment, pride and serenity whereas, positive emotions that are associated with the future include optimism, hope and trust. Veenhoven (1997) has defined happiness or subjective well-being as the degree to which one judges the quality of his life favorably. According to Schwartz Strack (1999), even very minor incidents in life can affect the level of happiness; however, Kahneman Schkade (1998), state that external circumstances are have little effect on happiness or subjective well- being. Theories of happiness The basic theories of happiness have been divided into two types, Top down theory Bottom up theory Bottom-Up Theory: Happiness and satisfaction depend on the sum of many smaller pleasures and happy moments (Diener Scwartz, 1984). In the perspective, of the bottom-up theory, well- being or happiness is a summing up of the positive experiences in a persons life. The assessment of satisfaction is considered in a small number of lifes domains. According to this theory, people self-rate their subjective well being with the help of a variety of external circumstances. The frequency of the pleasant moments makes a person happier. These circumstances may include the level of ones marriage, income work and family etc (Linley, Joseph Seligman, 2004). In this view, the objective life experiences, postulate the overall happiness. Top-Down Theory: The other perspective assumes that happiness is more related to general tendency to assess and infer to experiences in a positive way. From this point of view, a person brings tendencies of positivity towards the situations that he encounters. This view to subjective well being is known as top-down theory. This approach is mostly considered by observing personality traits or attitudes (Linley, Joseph Seligman, 2004). This theory states that people, who are over all satisfied with life, are satisfied with everything. People possess a disposition to judge lifes experiences in negative of positive ways. There are also other models of happiness which include, Need/goal satisfaction model, Process/activity model, Genetic/personality predisposition models. Psychoanalytic and humanistic theorists believe that reduction in tension and satisfaction of needs lead to the achievement of happiness. It was theorized that people were happy as they had achieved their goals (Compton, 2005). Emmons Diener (1986) has also emphasized how pursuing goals generates happiness. According to the process/activity theorists, participating in activities generates happiness. Csikszentmihalyi (1990) proposed that people who indulge in interesting and challenging activities, and experience the feelings of flow, as a result, are happier. The genetic/personality theorists view happiness as a stable construct. A Research by Costa and McCrae (1986) suggested that happiness is based on personality and genetics. Similarly, Lucas (1996) also found in a research that personality traits were closely related to happiness. Most of recent researches agree with idea of happiness being a combination of psychological, emotional, and physical well-being. Correlates of Happiness Individual differences in the levels of happiness have their significance, but studies have shown that predictors of happiness can be indicated and generalized. Evidence has been found that environmental factors and happiness can be correlated. However, it was also found that demographic variables, together account for less than 20% variance in happiness or subjective well- being (Campbell et al., 1976). A study by (Suhail Chaudary, 2003) found that work satisfaction, social support, religious affiliation, social class, income level, and marital status and marital satisfaction can be the predictors of happiness. Marital status and satisfaction: It has been found that marriage and happiness correlate significantly. Diener, Suh, Lucas, Smith (1999), found that unmarried people who cohabit with their partners are significantly happier in a few cultures. Research has shown that married people are happier as compared to unmarried, divorced, separated or widowed people. Shields Wooden (2003) found that married women and men were consistently happier than unmarried men and women. Finances: Financial status is related to happiness; however with an increase the effect diminishes (Diener, Diener Carol, 1995). Veenhoven (1994), stated that People of third world countries relate their happiness more to wealth. Evidence shows that relationship between happiness and wealth depends on the value that one associates with money (Burroughs, James Rindflisch, 2002). 3) Health: Physical health is strongly related to levels of happiness. If one is physically healthy he/she would have higher levels of happiness as compared to a person who is sick. Ryan Deci (2001) found that perceptions of health have more effect on happiness than objective health. If one is healthy (physically), then one experiences a feeling of well- being (Feist, Bodner, Jacobs, Miles Tan, 1995). According to physicians, Brief, Butcher, George Link (1993) a strong correlation exists between happiness and health. 4) Gender: women have been generally found to report higher levels of subjective well- being or happiness. Fujita, Diener Sandvick (1991) reported that women showed greater capacity for joy. Similarly, in a study by Wood, Rhodes Whelan (1989), it was found that women report slightly higher levels of happiness. However, Shayam and Yadev (2006) found that elderly men scored higher on well-being as compared to elderly women. In a study by Pennebaker, Rime Blankenship (1996), women expressed more intense emotions then men. Women also rated themselves as more verbally expressive than men. 5) Education: education does affect the happiness of people positively. Layard (2005), found that education is capable of increasing happiness indirectly, as it effects the ability to earn. Education has greater affect on the happiness levels of people with lower incomes (Campbell et al, 1976).Education appears to have only small direct influence on happiness. Life Events: Peak experiences have been found to be due to religion music or other intense activities. Diener Lucas (1999), state that subjective well-being correlates with friendship activities, having frequency of occurrence. The number of positive events correlates with positive affect (Schimmack, Diener Oishi 2002). Heady Wearing (1989) found that areas of friendship and work, increase happiness. 7) Culture: Diener Suh (1999) found that some nations appear to be more emotional than other nations. It was also found that happiness varies with interpersonal trust of people (Diener Suh, 2000). It was found that people in individualistic cultures had higher subjective well-being as compared to collectivistic cultures (Ball, 2001). 8) Religion: Many researches support that people who are religious tend to be happier. Studies have found that engagement in religious activities is significantly related to higher well-being (Donahue Benson, 1995). Peacock and Poloma (1999) found that ones perceived closeness to God was a very strong predictor of happiness. 1.3 Literature Review Immense research has been done to investigate the effects of music on physical as well as mental health. Researches have found that music has made positive influences on the physiological, psychological and the social domains. In a study, Fratianne, Prensner, Huston, Super, Yowler Standley (2001), conducted a study on patients at a burn care centre and found that the group which received the music therapy intervention, reported significant reduction in pain, compared to the groups having no music therapy. This conformed that music therapy is a valuable non-invasive intervention for the treatment of pain after burn injury. Nering (2002), in an experimental study investigated the effect of piano and music instruction on intelligence of monozygotic twins. Post-tests on the Wechsler standardized intelligence tests indicated that, that music instruction through individual piano lessons increased intelligence. Weinberger Norman (1998) conducted research to investigate if music is capable of improving brain development. They found that music not only improves our brain development, it even enhances skills like reading and mathematics. Music promotes social development, self -worth, personality adjustment, and also enhances creativity. It was also found that music making provides the most all-embracing exercise for brain cells and the synaptic interconnections. A study on the effect of music therapy in treatment of social isolation in visually impaired children was conducted. It discussed how that music therapy can be helpful in making the child explore his environment, and modify stereotypic, autistic-like behaviours, and encourage social awareness and interaction with other children. The results indicated that Music evokes profound responses without the help of words and therefore, can reach children with the severest disabilities (Gourgey, 1998). In another experimental study on the effect of music, Hallman, Price, and Katsarou (2002), found that calming music led to better participant performance on an arithmetic task and a memory task than no music. It was also found that background music on cognitive test performance led to improved performance when compared with a control condition (Cockerton, Tracey, Moore, Simon, Norman Dale, 1997). A study by Rideout Taylor (1997), involved 16 female and 16 male undergraduates, who completed two equivalent spatial tests, Results indicated that exposure to classical music, given to undergraduate students caused a small but significant improvement in spatial tests. In a study entitled, Music therapy for adolescents, Tervo (2001), suggested that music makes adolescents become expressive, be in contact with and share among themselves feelings of anger, rage, grief, longing and psychological disintegration. It provides opportunities to feel closeness or isolation and to explore sexual fantasies and feelings. Standley Hughes (1997) evaluated the effects of music sessions which were designed to enhance pre-reading and writing skills of 24 children (aged 4-5 yrs). The children were enrolled in Early Intervention and Exceptional Student Education (ESE) programs. The music treatment was provided along with the regular prekindergarten course. Pre and post-tests revealed that music significantly improved print concepts and prewriting skills of the children. A study by Chalmers, Olson Zurkowski (1999) examined the effect of music on lunchroom noise level and on the behaviours of children requiring intervention. The playing of classical music indicated that the noise level dropped to an average of six decibels, whereas, upon playing popular music the noise level decreased by ten decibels. In both conditions, music was capable of decreasing behavioral interventions. Covington (2001) stated that, many patients with psychiatric disorders struggle with poor skills in coping, socialization, communication, and self-expression which leads to dysfunctional cognitive, behavioral, and emotional responses. It was found that therapeutic music offers a noninvasive approach which helps in strengthening the skills and effect behavior change. Ming (2002) explored the Anxiety, Depression and self- esteem of undergraduates. The study examined the effects of music therapy on anxiety, depression and self-esteem of undergraduates. Twenty-four undergraduates showing greater anxiety and depression with lower self-esteem were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was provided twenty hours of music therapy, unlike the control group which did not receive any treatment. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that the experimental group showed a reduction in anxiety immediately after the music therapy, the group expressed that they experienced more positive changes, including more pleasure, relaxation, and confidence, and less negative emotions. Chlan Linda (1998) investigated the effectiveness of a music therapy intervention on relaxation and anxiety for patients receiving ventilatory assistance. They used mystical music as music therapy. Mystical music therapy was found to be effective in decreasing anxiety and promoting relaxation. Decrease in heart and respiratory rate was also found. In another research, Smith and Noon (1998) investigated mood change induced by contemporary music. When analysis was done, it was found that all the pieces of music produced an overall change in mood. Popular/independent music produced highly significant changes. Ostertag (2002), in his article on music therapy with abused children stated that music therapy can play a very important part in the change process of abused children, specially while addressing emotional and relationship issues which are difficult to address using the cognitive or behavioural treatment models. Hendricks (2001), in his study on the use of music therapy techniques in a group for the treatment of adolescent depression, stated that one in five adolescents is effected by depression, which results in substance abuse, anorexia nervosa, poor academic performance and adolescent pregnancy. He investigated the use of music in a school setting for the treatment of adolescent depression. The pre and post test scores showed that the use of music therapy techniques positively correlated with reduced depression increased self-concept in the participants. In a study, Labbà ©, Schmidt, Babin Pharr (2007), conducted a study using a sample of 15 males and 41 female college students. They were exposed to classical and relaxing music after experiencing a stressful test. It was found that listening to classical and relaxing music after exposure to a stressor resulted in significant reductions in anxiety, anger, and sympathetic nervous system arousal, and increase in relaxation when compared to listening to heavy metal music or sitting in silence. In a study titled, An experience sampling study of emotional reactions to music: Listener, music, and situation, Juslin, Liljestrà ¶m, Và ¤stfjà ¤ll, Barradas, Silva (2008), investigated the prevalence of different musical emotions and how such emotions are related to various factors in th

Monday, August 19, 2019

East vs. West in The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

F. Scott Fitzgerald tends to write with a very poetic style in his otherwise prose novels. The Great Gatsby is no exception. In the novel, Fitzgerald takes an obscure and rather insightful look on basic issues of the 1920’s. One of those issues is that of east vs. west. The 1920’s were a time of booming youthful energy in the east and of age-old tradition in the west. Fitzgerald uses a somewhat naturalistic approach when he suggests that people belong to one or the other and cannot function in the wrong one. The character of Daisy Buchanan in the novel The Great Gatsby illustrates the defining differences between the east and the west and the people who belong in each place. All the main characters of this novel originated in the west and Daisy was no exception. She grew up in the west and spent her entire single life there living in the mansion of her wealthy parents. The west represented everything that was formal and proper. Daisy went to fancy balls in wealthy country clubs and was courted by gentlemen. Everyone in the west got married happily, or at least pretended to, and never had affairs. The west was morality and formality, but more than that, it was perfection. â€Å"For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes.† (p. 158) Daisy grew up in a life of too perfect happiness and comfort. Romance also prevailed in the sweetly proper courtship of the west. â€Å"There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year’s shining motor cars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered.† (p. 155-156) Daisy represented mysterious love and passion in all her western ideals to all men who happened upon her innocent trap of obsession. Daisy gave up on her true love for Gatsby in exchange for the new, rich, and exciting Tom Buchanan, who swept down from Chicago to steal Daisy away. They ran off to the east together in search of excitement. East vs. West in The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers F. Scott Fitzgerald tends to write with a very poetic style in his otherwise prose novels. The Great Gatsby is no exception. In the novel, Fitzgerald takes an obscure and rather insightful look on basic issues of the 1920’s. One of those issues is that of east vs. west. The 1920’s were a time of booming youthful energy in the east and of age-old tradition in the west. Fitzgerald uses a somewhat naturalistic approach when he suggests that people belong to one or the other and cannot function in the wrong one. The character of Daisy Buchanan in the novel The Great Gatsby illustrates the defining differences between the east and the west and the people who belong in each place. All the main characters of this novel originated in the west and Daisy was no exception. She grew up in the west and spent her entire single life there living in the mansion of her wealthy parents. The west represented everything that was formal and proper. Daisy went to fancy balls in wealthy country clubs and was courted by gentlemen. Everyone in the west got married happily, or at least pretended to, and never had affairs. The west was morality and formality, but more than that, it was perfection. â€Å"For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes.† (p. 158) Daisy grew up in a life of too perfect happiness and comfort. Romance also prevailed in the sweetly proper courtship of the west. â€Å"There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year’s shining motor cars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered.† (p. 155-156) Daisy represented mysterious love and passion in all her western ideals to all men who happened upon her innocent trap of obsession. Daisy gave up on her true love for Gatsby in exchange for the new, rich, and exciting Tom Buchanan, who swept down from Chicago to steal Daisy away. They ran off to the east together in search of excitement.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Teenage Prostitution as a Response to Gender Roles in Japanese Society :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Teenage Prostitution as a Response to Gender Roles in Japanese Society Buuuzzzzzzz. â€Å"Oh, a page,† says Michiko to her friend, â€Å"give me a minute to check it.† She pulls out her mobile phone and dials the number to check her messages. This message is from one of her regular customers, Mr. Tanaka. He would like to meet this afternoon at the little restaurant next to the same â€Å"love hotel† they used last week (a place that rents theme rooms by the hour). Michiko giggles to her friend, â€Å"Poor Tanaka-san, he is such a lonely guy, but he’s very generous.† Michiko meets up with Tanaka-san, a businessman in his mid-forties, later that afternoon. They grab an early dinner, then head directly to the love hotel. After about an hour, their transaction is complete and Tanaka-san â€Å"offers† Michiko about  ¥10,000. Suddenly, Michiko notices the time. It’s nearly eight, and she has about an hour commute, by train, to her house in the suburbs. â€Å"My parents will be angry that I’m so late again, especially since I have an important algebra exam in the morning!† Michiko quickly kisses Tanaka-san on the cheek and rushes around collecting her things. â€Å"Call me soon. Okay?† says the seventeen-year-old as she slips out the door. Michiko and Tanaka-san are imaginary, yet they illustrate a very real phenomenon in Japanese society — teenage prostitution. Young girls selling themselves to older men is not a new phenomenon. Underage women around the globe resort to prostitution as a means of survival. There are few industries women can enter where capital costs are low, barriers to entry are few, and educational requirements are nil. Yet what is puzzling in the Japanese case is that most young women like Michiko do not depend on the money they receive from prostitution for survival — yet it does help to buy Burberry scarves, Chanel hand bags and other â€Å"must-haves† (Moffett 50). While it is tempting to say that teenage prostitution is a means for young women to obtain the material items they feel they cannot live without, there is more to this phenomenon than meets the eye. If it were merely a matter of wanting extra money, young girls would most likely seek legitimate employment — translation, the increasing popularity of prostitution among teenage girls in Japan is a response to the strict gender stratification of Japanese society.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Poetry Analysis Essay

â€Å"Echoes of Goodbye† by Patricia A. Queen is a skilfully crafted poem that describes the hardships of someone who lost their father at a young age and is recollecting memories of their haunting past. The prevalent themes discussed in the poem, concerning death, loss and suffering, are enhanced by the many poetic devices employed by the poet. The first stanza adopts a foreboding tone and utilises vivid, striking imagery to enhance its meaning. Emotion and passion is what really sets this poem alight and brings it to life. In the first two lines, powerful, descriptive phrases such as â€Å"endless footsteps† and â€Å"grieving people† enrich the ideas and themes of loss, and create a reminiscent air typical of the gothic genre. The poet uses personification to evoke a melancholy yet cryptic aura: â€Å"The black clouds hide the crying sky† (3). The first stanza concludes by establishing an image of sadness in the reader’s mind – â€Å"Amid those timeworn, lonely echoes of goodbye†. This quote further implies a haunting, echoing tone which is maintained throughout the poem. The rhyming pattern used in the first four lines is AABB, and this particular pattern emphasises the rhythm of the poem. Furthermore, the imagery in first stanza implies the setting is a gravegrard, with the â€Å"endless footsteps† and â€Å"timeworn echoes of goodbye† suggesting the speaker is in a place of sadness and death. These incredibly meaningful first four lines set the scene for the rest of the poem. The second verse of this poem introduces a different type of narration by recalling memories in the form of an anecdote. This is seen in the first line, â€Å"A young man lived here with a wife, a child, a song†. The cumulative listing of his most dear assets reiterates all the earthly possessions he has left behind. The main ideas discussed in this stanza are isolation and abandonment. This is especially seen in the last line, â€Å"Left them in a dark, black and shadowed shroud†. The deliberate alliteration of the ‘sh’ sound heightens the tension and displays use of another poetic technique. This line also makes reference to the undercurrent of sadness and sorrow that lie beneath the surface of the poem. The third stanza explores how pain and guilt can be a central experience of the theme of loss and death, and this is specifically expressed through the symbolic association of the child in the poem, to ideas of innocence and ignorance. This is blatantly seen through the clever positioning of a rhetorical question in the last line: â€Å"Why hadn’t he told he told me goodbye? † This one line alone directly questions the reader and plants seeds of doubt, especially when viewed from a naive child’s perspective. This poem is also an allegory for the persona’s struggle, longing and loss. This effect is achieved by incorporating a personal touch seen in line 9 & 10: â€Å"They buried my daddy†¦I cried as I held Momma’s hand. † The painful imagery such as in the line, â€Å"Those tears on her face revealed all the pain† allows the emotion to seep through the language used, to strike chords of sorrow in our hearts. The reference to the funeral in line 13 forces the reader to associate it with death and also rouses sad connotations, which is the intended purpose of the poem. In this stanza the poet also breaks the original four-lined stanza form and alters the rhyming pattern to ABAB/CDCD. This technique exemplifies the variety of the poem and introduces a new pulse. By arranging the ideas in the third stanza as a series of nostalgic yet aching memories, the poet reveals all the raw emotion and grief experienced by the persona which adds authenticity and a realistic edge to the poem. The fourth stanza is identical to the first, and this has deliberately been done to create a suspenseful and ominous ending. The circular structure of the poem brings us back to where the poem began, to end it on a sinister and unpromising note. In this stanza he technique employed by the poet is foreshadowing, since it leaves us unsure of events to come and places a cloud of uncertainty in our minds. Lastly the poem draws to a close, â€Å"Amid those timeworn, lonely echoes of goodbye. † The repeated sensory imagery provides a fitting conclusion to an exceptional poem.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Is Science Curse

Today, the mankind is living under the shadow of sudden death. It appears that we have come to the end of our journey. Now we stand on the brink of complete and final destruction. The earth has become a dangerous place. It may explode to pieces at any moment. Man has been living on this earth for thousands of years. It has been giving him everything he needed. Then, why it has become so dangerous. The only thing responsible for this is science and its inventions. Science has brought more fear and danger than hope and comfort.In the beginning, it appeared to be the greatest friend and helper of man. It promised to overcome disease and death. The atom bomb wiped out Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It has broken up the established institutins. What has to accomplished? It has not ended poverty. He loved his neighbours and respected his elders. It promised to make this earth a paradise, and man an immortal god. Science has developed such terrible weapons of war that in the next world war not a s ingle man will escape death. It has made this earth a hell and man an insance devel. Of curse, there were wars and famines sometimes.Science has, no doubt, made it possible to produce things in great quantities. The last two World Wars killed millions of people and destroyed many cities. The disadvantages: 1. Can be easily manipulated by irresponsible persons. 2. We'll be too dependant on it. When technology fails, we r helpless (in one way or another). 3. Sometimes, it affects our health and lifestyles(we'll be complacent and lazy. The chemicals r hazardous). 4. It destroys our simple and healthy life(I miss the traditional style of living). 5. Invasion of our privacy. 6. Science can pollute waters.Scientists die in labs because of accidents. * Too many species to keep track of. * Animals disturbed from habitats. * Plant species taken from environment. * Rare species threatened. due to nuclear development there is a danger of occurence of secon world war 2. due to nuclear radiation there are many diseases throught the world 3. it leads to globular warming On the minus side there is weaponry which is the inseparable issue of the new technologies. Hence the main problem is the proper use of this knowledge. Nevertheless, weapon engineering propels and provides a huge advance.Also, the industry despite highly developed machinery pollutes the globe. On the other hand while many people live in horrible conditions and famine governments spend a lot of money on developing weapon industry. Is it the right way? Maybe the modern technology should either stop or prevent social disproportions. Lastly, do new technologies make us happier? It is not an easy question and each person should consider it. If at one hand, science and technology has brought a lot of wonders for us then on the other hand, there are disadvantages of science and technology as well.Firstly, it has increased the anxiety in our lives. Secondly, when technology goes in the wrong hands then it can negati vely impact the society such as the increasing rate of cyber crime, hacking, stealing of personal information and pornography websites. Thirdly, technology has also increased the alternatives and opportunities for the terrorists. Moreover, technology has suppressed our physical efforts and we are getting more luxurious and comfort living. The economies which lag behind in incorporating new technologies are considered poor economies and their progress in the world is hindered.

Optical Computing Essay

Jainam Shah Kalol Institute Of Technology, Kalol, Gujarat, India. jainam_8888@yahoo.co.in Abstract—Optics has been used in computing for a number of years but the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link portions of computers, for communications, or more intrinsically in devices that have some optical application or component (optical pattern recognition, etc). Optical digital computers are still some years away, however a number of devices that can ultimately lead to real optical computers have already been manufactured, including optical logic gates, optical switches, optical interconnections, and optical memory. The most likely near-term optical computer will really be a hybrid composed of traditional architectural design along with some portions that can perform some functional operations in optical mode. Computing applications as a consequence of faster processing speed, as well as better connectivity and higher bandwidth. II. NEED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING The pressing need for optical technology stems from the fact that today’s computers are limited by the time response of electronic circuits. A solid transmission medium limits both the speed and volume of signals, as well as building up heat that damages components. One of the theoretical limits on how fast a computer can function is given by Einstein’s principle that signal cannot propagate faster than speed of light. So to make computers faster, their components must be smaller and there by decrease the distance between them. This has resulted in the development of very large scale integration (VLSI) technology, with smaller device dimensions and greater complexity. The smallest dimensions of VLSI nowadays are about 0.08mm. Despite the incredible progress in the development and refinement of the basic technologies over the past decade, there is growing concern that these technologies may not be capable of solving the computing problems of even the current millennium. The speed of computers was achieved by miniaturizing electronic components to a very small micron-size scale, but they are limited not only by the speed of electrons in matter but also by the increasing density of interconnections necessary to link the electronic gates on microchips. The optical computer comes as a solution of miniaturization problem. Optical data processing can perform several operations in parallel much faster and easier than electrons. This parallelism helps in staggering computational power. For example a calculation that takes a conventional electronic computer more than 11 years to complete could be performed by an optical computer in a single hour. Any way we can realize that in an optical computer, electrons are rep laced by photons, the subatomic bits of electromagnetic radiation that make up light. I. INTRODUCTION With the growth of computing technology the need of high performance computers (HPC) has significantly increased. Optics has been used in computing for a number of years but the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link portions of computers, for communications, or more intrinsically in devices that have some optical application or component (optical pattern recognition etc.) Optical computing was a hot research area in 1980’s.But the work tapered off due to materials limitations that prevented opt chips from getting small enough and cheap enough beyond laboratory curiosities. Now, optical computers are back with advances in self-assembled conducting organic polymers that promise super-tiny of all optical chips. Optical computing technology is, in general, developing in two directions. One approach is to build computers that have the same architecture as present day computers but using optics that is Electro optical hybrids. Another approach is to generate a completely new kind of computer, which can perform all functional operations in optical mode. In recent years, a number of devices that can ultimately lead us to real optical computers have already been manufactured. These include optical logic gates, optical switches, optical interconnections and optical memory. Current trends in optical computing emphasize communications, for example the use of free space optical interconnects as a potential solution to remove ‘Bottlenecks’ experienced in electronic architectures. Optical technology is one of the most promising, and may eventually lead to new III. SOME KEY OPTICAL COMPONENTS FOR COMPUTING The major breakthroughs on optical computing have been centered on the development of micro-optic devices for data input. A. VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) VCSEL (pronounced ‘vixel’) is a semiconductor vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode that emits light in a cylindrical beam vertically from the surface of a fabricated wafer, and offers significant advantages when compared to the edge-emitting lasers currently used in the majority of fiber optic communications devices. The principle involved in the operation of a VCSEL is very similar to those of regular lasers. Fig. 2. Optical Interconnection Of Circuit Boards Using Vcsel And Photodiode VCSEL convert the electrical signal to optical signal when the light beams are passed through a pair of lenses and micromirrors. Micromirrors are used to direct the light beams and this light rays is passed through a polymer waveguide which serves as the path for transmitting data instead of copper wires in electronic computers. Then these optical beams are again passed through a pair of lenses and sent to a photodiode. This photodiode convert the optical signal back to the electrical signal. B. SLM (Spatial Light Modulators) SLM play an important role in several technical areas where the control of light on a pixel-by-pixel basis is a key element, such as optical processing and displays. 1) SLM For Display Purposes Fig. 1. Two semiconductor materials sandwiching an active layer There are two special semiconductor materials sandwiching an active layer where all the action takes place. But rather than reflective ends, in a VCSEL there are several layers of partially reflective mirrors above and below the active layer. Layers of semiconductors with differing compositions create these mirrors, and each mirror reflects a narrow range of wavelengths back in to the cavity in order to cause light emission at just one wavelength. For display purposes the desire is to have as many pixels as possible in as small and cheap a device as possible. For such purposes designing silicon chips for use as spatial light modulators has been effective. The basic idea is to have a set of memory cells laid out on a regular grid. These cells are electrically connected to metal mirrors, such that the voltage on the mirror depends on the value stored in the memory cell. A layer of optically active liquid crystal is sandwiched between this array of mirrors and a piece of glass with a conductive coating. The voltage between individual mirrors and the front electrode affects the optical activity of liquid crystal in that neighborhood. Hence by being able to individually program the memory locations one can set up a pattern of optical activity in the liquid crystal layer. C. Smart Pixel Technology Smart pixel technology is a relatively new approach to integrating electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices in a common framework. The purpose is to leverage the advantages of each individual technology and provide improved performance for specific applications. Here, the electronic circuitry provides complex functionality and programmability while the optoelectronic devices provide high-speed switching and compatibility with existing optical media. Arrays of these smart pixels leverage the parallelism of optics for interconnections as well as computation. A smart pixel device, a light emitting diode under the control of a field effect transistor can now be made entirely out of organic materials on the same substrate for the first time. In general, the benefit of organic over conventional semiconductor electronics is that they should lead to cheaper, lighter, circuitry that can be printed rather than etched. D. WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) Wavelength division multipl exing is a method of sending many different wavelengths down the same optical fiber. Using this technology, modern networks in which individual lasers can transmit at 10 gigabits per second through the same fiber at the same time. which interact with light and modulate its properties. Several of the optical components require efficient-nonlinear materials for their operations. What in fact restrains the widespread use of all optical devices is the in efficiency of currently available nonlinear materials, which require large amount of energy for responding or switching. Organic materials have many features that make them desirable for use in optical devices such as 1) High nonlinearities 2) Flexibility of molecular design 3) Damage resistance to optical radiations Some organic materials belonging to the classes of phthalocyanines and polydiacetylenes are promising for optical thin films and wave guides. These compounds exhibit strong electronic transitions in the visible region and have high chemical and thermal stability up to 400 degree Celsius. Polydiacetylenes are among the most widely investigated class of polymers for nonlinear optical applications. Their subpicosecond time response to laser signals makes them candidates for high-speed optoelectronics and information processing. To make thin polymer film for electro-optic applications, NASA scientists dissolve a monomer (the building block of a polymer) in an organic solvent. This solution is then put into a growth cell with a quartz window, shining a laser through the quartz can cause the polymer to deposit in specific pattern. V. ADVANCES IN PHOTONIC SWITCHES Logic gates are the building blocks of any digital system. An optical logic gate is a switch that controls one light beam by another; it is ON when the device transmits light and it is OFF when it blocks the light. Fig. 3. a. Wave length division multiplexing b. A WDM System WDM can transmit up to 32 wavelengths through a single fiber, but cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the present day communication systems. So nowadays DWDM (Dense wavelength division multiplexing) is used. This can transmit up to 1000 wavelengths through a single fiber. That is by using this we can improve the bandwidth efficiency. IV. ROLE OF NLO IN OPTICAL COMPUTING The role of nonlinear materials in optical computing has become extremely significant. Non-linear materials are those, Fig. 4. Optical AND-logic gate To demonstrate the AND gate in the phthalocyanine film, two focused collinear laser beams are wave guided through a thin film of phthalocyanine. Nanosecond green pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used together with a red continuous wave (cw) He-Ne beam. At the output a narrow band filter was set to block the green beam and allow only the He-Ne beam. Then the transmitted beam was detected on an oscilloscope. It was found that the transmitted He-Ne cw beam was pulsating with a nanosecond duration and in synchronous with the input Nd:YAG nanosecond pulse. This demonstrated the characteristic table of an AND logic gate. A. Optical and Gate In an optical NAND gate the phthalocyanine film is replaced by a hollow fiber filled with polydiacetylene. Nd:YAG green picoseconds laser pulse was sent collinearly with red cw He-Ne laser onto one end of the fiber. At the other end of the fiber a lens was focusing the output on to the narrow slit of a monochromatic with its grating set for the red He-Ne laser. When both He-Ne laser and Nd:YAG laser are present there will be no output at the oscilloscope. If either one or none of the laser beams are present we get the output at the oscilloscope showing NAND function. faster read-out rates. This research is expected to lead to compact, high capacity, rapid-and random-access, and low power and low cost data storage devices necessary for future intelligent spacecraft. The SLMs are used in optical data storage applications. These devices are used to write data into the optical storage medium at high speed. Fig. 6. Optical Disk More conventional approaches to holographic storage use ion doped lithium niobate crystals to store pages of data. For audio recordings ,a 150MBminidisk with a 2.5- in diameter has been developed that uses special compression to shrink a standard CD’s640-MB storage capacity onto the smaller polymer substrate. It is rewritable and uses magnetic field modulation on optical material. The mini disc uses one of the two methods to write information on to an optical disk. With the mini disk a magnetic field placed behind the optical disk is modulated while the intensity of the writing laser is held constant. By switching the polarity of the magnetic field while the laser creates a state of flux in the optical material digital data can be recorded on a single layer. As with all optical storage media a read laser retrieves the data. A. Working The 780nm light emitted from AlGaAs/GaAs laser diodes is collimated by a lens and focused to a diameter of about 1micrometer on the disk. If the re is no pit where the light is incident, it is reflected at the Al mirror of the disk and returns to the lens, the depth of the pit is set at a value such that the difference between the path of the light reflected at a pit and the Fig. 5. Optical NAND-logic gate VI. OPTICAL MEMORY In optical computing two types of memory are discussed. One consists of arrays of one-bit-store elements and other is mass storage, which is implemented by optical disks or by holographic storage systems. This type of memory promises very high capacity and storage density. The primary benefits offered by holographic optical data storage over current storage technologies include significantly higher storage capacities and path of light reflected at a mirror is an integral multiple of halfwavelength consequently, if there is a pit where light is incident, the amount of reflected light decreases tremendously because the reflected lights are almost cancelled by interference. The incident and reflected beams pass through the quarter wave plate and all reflected light is introduced to the photodiode by the beam splitter because of the polarization rotation due to the quarter wave plate. By the photodiode the reflected light, which as a signal whether, a pit is on the disk or not is changed into an electrical signal. VII. APPLICATIONS 1) High speed communications: The rapid growth of internet, expanding at almost 15% per month, demands faster speeds and larger bandwidth than electronic circuits can provide. Terabits speeds are needed to accommodate the growth rate of internet since in optical computers data is transmitted at the speed of light which is of the order of 3.10*8 m/sec hence terabit speeds are attainable. 2) Optical crossbar interconnects are used in asynchronous transfer modes and Shared memory multiprocessor systems. 3) Process satellite data. VIII. MERITS 1) Optical computing is at least 1000 to 100000 times faster than today’s silicon machines. 2) Optical storage will provide an extremely optimized way to store data, with space requirements far lesser than today’s silicon chips. 3) Super fast searches through databases. 4) No short circuits, light beam can cross each other without interfering with each other’s data 5) Light beams can travel in parallel and no limit to number of packets that can travel in the photonic circuits. 6) Optical computer removes the bottleneck in the present day Communication system IX. DRAWBACKS 1) Today’s materials require much high power to work in consumer products, coming up with the right materials may take five years or more. 2) Optical computing using a coherent source is simple to compute and understand, but it has many drawbacks like any imperfections or dust on the optical components will create unwanted interference pattern due to scattering effects. Incoherent processing on the other hand cannot store phase information. X. SOME CURRENT RESEARCH High performance computing has gained momentum in recent years, with efforts to optimize all the resources of electronic computing and researcher brain power in order to increase computing throughput. Optical computing is a topic of current support in many places, with private companies as well as governments in several countries encouraging such research work. A group of researchers from the University of Southern California, jointly with a team from the University of California, los angles, have developed an organic polymer with a switching frequency of 60 GHz. This is three times faster than the current industry standard, lithium niobate crystal based device. Another group at brown university and the IBM, Alma den research center has used ultrafast laser pulses to build ultra fast data storage devices. This group was able to achieve ultra fast switching down to 100 picoseconds. In Japan , NEC has developed a method for interconnecting circuit boards optically using VCSEL arrays .Another researchers at NTT have designed an optical backplane with free-space optical interconnects using tunable beam deflectors and mirrors. The project achieved 1000 interconnections per printed circuit board; with a throughput ranging from 1 to 10 Tb/s. XI. FUTURE TRENDS The Ministry of Information Technology has initiated a photonic development program. Under this program some funded projects are continuing in fiber optic high-speed network systems. Research is going on for developing Fig.7. Use of optical devices in future New laser diodes, photo detectors, and nonlinear material studies for faster switches. Research efforts on an particle thin film or layer studies for display devices are also in progress. At the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, efforts are in progress to generate a white light source from a diode case based fiber amplifier system in order to provide WDM communication channels. XII. CONCLUSION Research in optical computing has opened up new possibilities in several fields related to high performance computing, high-speed communications. To design algorithms that execute applications faster, the specific properties of optics must be considered, such as their ability to exploit massive parallelism, and global interconnections. As optoelectronic and smart pixel devices mature, software development will have a major impact in the future and the ground rules for the computing may have to be rewritten. XIII. REFERENCES [1] [2] See for example: Chemical and Engineering ews, â€Å"Photonic Crystals. Assembled on Chip†, 79(47), 31 (2001). P. Boffi, D. Piccinin, M.C. Ubaldi, (Eds.), Infrared Holography for Optical Communications— echniques,MaterialsandDevices,SpringerTopics in Applied Physics: Vol 86, July 2002. Alain Goulet, Makoto Naruse, and Masatoshi Ishikawa, â€Å"Simple integration technique to realize parallel optical interconnects: implementation of a pluggable two-dimensional optical data link†, Applied Optics 41, 5538 (2002) Tushar Mahapatra, Sanjay Mishra, Oracle Parallel Processing, O’Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, California, USA, 2000. S. J. van Enk, J. McKeever, H. J. Kimble, and J. Ye, â€Å"Cooling of a single atom in an optical trap inside a resonator,† Phys. Rev. A 64, 013407 (2001). A. Dodabalapur, Z. Bao, A. Makhija, J. G. Laquindanum, V. R. Raju, Y. Feng, H. E. Katz, and J. Rogers, â€Å"Organic smart pixels†, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 , 142 (1998). Henning Sirringhaus, Nir Tessler, and Richard H. Friend, â€Å"Integrated Optoelectronic Devices Based on Conjugated Polymers†, Science 280, 1741 (1988).