Spatial Data Acquisition Essay Example For Students

Spatial Data Acquisition Essay Spatial data acquisition and system modeling: notes from the field and the lab. Name of Lecturer: Philip Graniero Department of Lecture: Earth Sciences Date andTime of Lecture: January 13th, 2000 at 4:30pm Purpose of Research Project: Theprimary purpose of the project is to use model simulations to forecast spatialpatterns among various species in the environment. By comparing currentsituations with test results, Graniero hopes to have the ability to predictspatial patterns for species in the environment. This will giveenvironmentalists and scientists alike the ability to prevent specie disasterand to study such areas as future habitat. Description of Research/Technologyused: Granieros first step involved measuring the earths topography, underthe bedrock of the surface. This experiment took place in Newfoundland, Canada. We will write a custom essay on Spatial Data Acquisition specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now To do this he took a random sampling scheme. These schemes were tested at adensity of 40 points per hectare. In order to bring the most precise andcomprehensive data to the table, such technologies as mobile computers and GPSsystems were used. The field in which was being tested proved to be verydifficult to measure due to the changing system and the high demand of physicalresource. His objective still remained the same though, to take this data andrun a model that would enable him forecast spatial data on various species. Themodel he used was known as Cellular Automation (CA). The models properties wereas follows: a finite set of discrete states and a state transition rule wherethe next state is determined by; current cell state, states of the nearestneighbours, and the state of other layers. The model worked in specific steps. First, a spatial structure was built. Second, data was collected from it. Third,the simulation of different collection agencies were put forth. Fourth, themodel information was compared to the behaviour of actual systems. Fifth, themodel was repeated with random initial conditions. Thousands of trials were doneat this point. This model is often referred to as a virtual lab. When theinformation was taken at the conclusion of each test, it was sent to processingunits where it was studied in the form of a grid. These grids were then used tostudy the spatial patterns of various species. Such future models will be morecomplex and more specific, thus showing species habitats and migratory trends. Adjusting the variables in the model can allow scientists to measure suchactivities as the population density of a species. Through the experiment therewere three experiment sets. These included populations, disturbances, andresource mapping. The resource spatial structure also varied from uniform,smooth, and patchy environments (soil and forest types). Conclusion: Thisinformation is very valuable to environmentalists and society in general due tothe fact that it looks-out for species that may be in danger and monitorsthe move from one territory to another over a given time frame. Allowingscientists to predict the habitat and density of species in given areas withsuch models keeps humans aware of the impact they may have. This helps protectthe future of species and insures that humans dont interfere with its habitatas well. In conclusion, the model is very useful and as it grows and becomesmore sophisticated it should prove to be a valuable resource to environmentalscientists.

Heroin essays

Heroin essays The sale and distribution of heroin in the United States has been growing tremendously in the past decade. I always knew that colombia was known for its fierce cocaine and heroin reputation and that the United States main provider of these drugs was colombia. After reading this article i found out that 48% of other heroin comes from Southeast asia, southwest asia and mexico. The most pure and genuine heroin comes from Colombia. This is a very scary issue in the United States these druglords and drug traffickers are rotting our streets and our youths lives. I think that the Unites States government should uphold a more precise way of capturing these druglords and traffickers. Crossing borders should become a more inconvient process, checking in at customs at internatinal airports should strengthen their security checks. Every single airport should know where an airplane is coming from, whther its a private jet or commercial, the majority of heroin and cocaine are transported through air. I think that possesion of either drug shold have a more severe punishment. By strengething our security and making our drug laws and punishments more severe I think that in about 10 years drug sales and trafficking will reduce to about 50%. Another issue that people talk about and government is even considering is to make these drugs legal. By doing this it puts the druglords out of business and less people would go to jail. There are pros and cons for either situation. American society should know what their doing. By making their lives more miserable they are making these druglords even richer. This is their view on American society, a weak country whos streets are rottening and economy going out of wack trying to figure out whos doing this to their people. ...

Information security policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Information security policy - Essay Example The researcher states that as this is an information age, information is now in the form of digits that flows on an electronic computerized network. Organizations are dependent on these digital communication channels for transferring and exchanging classified information such as confidential information, mission critical information and information that is published for the people. As information is a blood life of any organization, it is vital to protect information by implementing physical, logical and environmental controls. In the context of protecting information security, three fundamental factors must be considered to make use of digitized information in an effective manner i.e. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. As there is a requirement of protecting this digital information internally and externally, policy is a control that provides necessary steps, procedures and processes to protect information. These are also considered as high level statements derived from th e board of the organization. â€Å"Information security policy is therefore considered an essential tool for information security management†. Different factor that may influence to tailor the policy includes organization size, dependence on information systems, regulatory compliance and information classification scheme. For addressing all issues related to information security via a single policy is not possible, however, to cover all aspects related to information security, a set of information security policy document focusing on different group of employees within the organization is more suitable. This paper will discuss different factors that must be taken in to account when constructing and maintaining an information security policy. However, there are many methods available for constructing an information security policy, the initial step before adopting any one of the methods is to identify the current maturity level of the policy construction process within the org anization. The outputs will be either no information security policy development process in place or there is an extensive policy development process exists. Information Security Mission Statement Nexor Solutions and Nexor Solutions employees are intrinsic and responsible for protecting the physical information assets, confidential data and intellectual property of the organization. Likewise, these physical and intangible assets must be protected from potential threats to Nexor Solutions and Nexor Solutions employees. Consequently, the information security policy for Nexor Solutions is a critical business function that must be integrated within the business operations covering all aspects of Nexor Solutions business procedures, processes and tasks. However, to achieve these objectives, policies and procedures are already in place i.e. Acceptable Use Policy of Nexor Solutions. Information security is the basis for the business that must be integrated into each function of the organiz ation i.e. administrative service, planning and development, sales and marketing and operations, as these functions require precise controls for mitigating the risk from normal business operations. State and federal laws associated with information security and privacy are applicable to Nexor Solutions, as non-compliance will impose fines, stakeholder confidence, audits and direct revenue loss for Nexor Solutions. Overview As information security (Detmar Straub, Goodman et al. 2008) has now become everyone’s business, every employee of Nexor Solutions is accountable making themselves aware with the compliance with Nexor Solutions policies, procedures and standards associated with information security. Likewise, a policy is considered as a tactical control followed by budgets and organizations (Osborne, Summitt, n.d). Information Security is defined as: â€Å"The protection of information systems against unauthorized access to or modification of information, whether in

Reflective writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Reflective writing - Essay Example It is therefore SOSE is becoming an essential part of almost all educational institutions to rear the new generation within a culturally diverse society. The primary purpose of the Studies of Society and Environment learning area is to help young people develop the ability to make reasoned and informed decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. (discover.tased.edu.au/sose/whatintr.htm, Sep 8, 2004) Tasmania is an important Australian state containing amalgamation of many ethnic groups and cultures. It is estimated that Tasmania was joined to the main land nearly 10,000 years ago. (Wikipedia Encyclopaedia) The arrival of European nations in the state, in 17th Century, introduced acculturation between the Europeans and the local Aborigines leading towards changes in traditions, language, living style, cults and political and economic conditions turning Tasmania into a diversified region. Moreover, clemency in immigration policies and comfortable sources of travelling in modern times of globalization has brought remote areas and cultures nearer to one another. Though, all the ethnic groups, including Aborigines and others, abide by law while interacting with other individuals, yet differences in cultural values existing in environment creates difficulties. Keeping in mind the socio-cultural situation, educationalists laid stress in providing children with such learning during the ir initial school years that may help them in making adjustments according to their diversified cultural and social set up. Many educators have favoured models such as SOSE because they do not believe that all the students are suited to, or interested in secondary studies. (The Australian, 2007:11) Thus, it was decided that a well-planned, comprehensive and rigorous education must have been provided

Human character Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human character - Essay Example Others are Confidence, empathy, persistence, compassion, generosity and tolerance. I apply these in my day-to-day life to become a better student. For example, I am ambitious as I have a desire to excel in my academics, I am courageous as I am not afraid to take on new challenges. I am also, tolerant as I persevere until I achieve my targets, I am compassionate to others in the community, and I am also committed to accomplishing my goals. A vice is an immoral behavior and unlike virtues, vices destroy one’s character. Examples of vices include pride that makes one think he or she is better than others. Also, anger which makes one to act irrationally and jealousy which makes one to resent others because they possess something that you do not have. These traits render one self-destructive and make it very difficult for one to maintain close relationships with others. However, since we all possess both virtues and vices, it is important to practice self-love as one cannot

System PIR Detector

System PIR Detector In my design i would be designing an alarm system which would have three possible forms of sensing in order to prevent crime and for protection, having a combination of a systems that can be used to prevent a home and the industrial areas as well ,which would be able to detect, motion, smoke and heat along to protect the home and making use of arduino in order to implement the working of the systems. 2.1 Proximity Sensor These are sensor that can on there own detect objects or obstructions on their path or way without physical contact, they often emit electron beam and detects or notice changes in the field or environment, proximity sensor targets or demand different sensors, a capacitive or a photoelectric sensor or an inductive proximity sensor can also be used which might require a metal target ,looking at capacitive proximity sensor the object in question changes the dielectric constant between the two plates within a range in some cases which is relatively close to water, because sudden changes in capacitance of objects sometimes takes relatively long time to switch range within the 50Hertz,a normal capacitive proximity sensor do have about 10-12mm sensing range and about 30 mm in diameter, in most cases setting the output of a proximity sensor is quite difficult, hence proximity sensor designers always add hysteresis, excitation voltage etc.most capacitance proximity sensor can make measurement s in 100u sec with resolution of 10⠁ ¶,probes put into use in capacitive proximity sensor have either flat disc or rectangular sensing element, the main advantage of capacitive proximity sensor is that they are mostly unaffected by containers, allowing them to be replaced by optical devices. 2.2 Passive infrared sensor (PIR). In most security systems ,motion is required to be detected in a monitored environment, in most cases the passive infrared motion sensor is preferred to detect changes and upon detection motion sensors generally transmit a notification or indication to the systems host then an intrusion or activation of an alarm system to perform various operations ,in order to monitor a large space with only one or two detector ,most PIR sensor is designed with numerous optical components (mirror or lenses) then each component of such compound optics focuses the infrared radiation from objects within a respective sub-volume of the monitored space into an image appearing over the detector then monitored sub-volume can be interleaved with non-monitored sub-volumes and then radiation producing target (human) passing from the sub-volume to sub-volume causes a target radiation or background radiation /target radiation pattern in detector for humans the pattern leads to a change in the IR radiation in det ector . For PIR sensor there is the need to reduce false alarms and then minimizing processing requirement ,the PIR sensor using a minimal number of detector could generate false alarm from time to time ,definitely a radiation of wavelength outside the required micron band as a result false alarm would triggered in order to reduce false alarms from triggering ,optical filters could be added as detector windows to screen out white light and IR light then coating for mirrors and additives for lenses would be added to prevent focusing of white and near infrared light on detectors hence reducing the chances of motion ,PIR sensor producing false alarms when detectors include pairs of equally sized elements of opposing polarities, Non focused out of band radiation is equally incident on both elements ,then causing signals from equal and opposite elements to roughly cancel one another ,equal elements of opposite polarity reduce false alarms from shock and temperature change, there are chances that PIR sensors can be improved upon to reject interferences and determination of motion direction and detecting a moving object in a monitored space from a non-moving object characterized by non-constant radiation includes receiving a first frequency from the first passive PIR detector then receiving the second frequency from a second passive IR detector, hence the first and second frequencies not being equal ,this method involves outputting a signal are received simultaneously then signal indicate the presence of object is not output. The PIR (passive infrared Red) is a low cost PIR detector used for motion or human detection which can be a simple pyroelectric detector because the detector can be a significant part of the cost (5-10%) of a typical PIR motion sensor, most PIR motion sensor would only employ just one or two of such detectors ,normally the human body radiates infrared waves ranging between 8 to 12 micrometers, as a result should anyone move in any direction ,there will be a change in the quantity of infrared energy providing a low frequency and small amplitude signal, there are possibilities that the same signal can be amplified and decoded using microcontroller, ideally PIR sensor can detect changes in the quantity of infrared energy in small ranges of distance approximately 10-13 inches, in order to detect motions at larger distance, infrared radiation will have to be focused, the focusing is done with the use of a Fresnel lens in most cases usually divide the whole area into different zones hence any movement within the zones already divided into will certainly lead to a change in the infrared energy received by the sensor, Fresnel lenses depends on the range (distance) and basically coverage angle looking at volumetric lenses and certain then the PIR sensor unit will then decide whether the infrared light is from a warm moving body or not ,it is always a lot better when PIR sensor could have one or more inner sensing elements so that with relevant electronics and Fresnel lens, it could sense direction from up to down and right to left and show required output signal. 2.2.1 Uses of PIR Sensor They are basically used for automatic security lightning say when human moves across its path or view or sensor for instance a floodlight is switched on automatically and left on for a fixed period of time say 90 seconds and can provide light when you arrive at home. 2.2.2 Advantages of PIR PIR sensor does not require any form of maintenance, however should in case of any form of fault, it can be easily replaced so for optimum performance, it is advisable to remove any accumulated dust with low power cleaners. 2.2.3 Weakness of PIR sensor. PIR sensor do have its own limitation and these limitations in a way does let it work properly.PIR sensor would not detect stationery or slowly moving body or object in most cases the environment change in terms of cooling off of a nearby wall could actually activate the sensitivity of a sensor and when someone walk straight pass or towards a PIR it would not detect them until close by, they are actually temperature sensitive and work optimally at ambient air temperature of around 16-21 degrees celcius,in most cases when the temperature raises is about 32 degrees ,the field of view narrows and the sensor becomes less sensitive and vice-versa should the temperature drop below 12 degrees, the field view widens up and smaller or more at a distance object might activate the sensor . 2.3 MULTIPLE PIR SENSOR CIRCUIT Situations or scenarios will arise that you would require to use one or more PIR sensor within a system, where one could be at the front and the other at the end or the rear, it is virtually not possible to join them together the output from more than one PIR sensor, in a case like this an AND gate logic is deployed, in logic high voltage is shown by 1 and low voltage by 0 hence the output from a PIR sensor upon detecting motion shows 0 and is 1,the rest of the time, we want an output of 0 when either of the PIR sensor is output is 0,that can be shown in the truth table below . PIR # 1 PIR # 2 PIR # 1 PIR # 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 These truth table is exactly the same as that for an AND gate, basically a logic device that gives an output of 1 only when its two output are both 1, the basic symbol for an AND gate is below. In order to make use of the output signal from a PIR sensor we would need to invert it turn a 12v output to 0 v and a 0 v output into 12v,when motion is detected by a PIR sensor, the 0 v sensor signal is inverted to 12v signal . 2.3.1 NAND GATE Looking at putting two or more PIR sensor together in a circuit, it is not required to put PIR sensor signals through an AND gate ,then through a NOT gate rather i would use a NAND gate, the truth table for it could be seen below . PIR # 1 PIR # 2 PIR # 1 PIR # 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 Setting the signal of the sensor from two or more PIR sensor through a NAND gate will result to a 12v output unless both PIR sensor signal is 12v in a case where neither is detected in terms of motion then the output is 0v that is what we need. The basic diagram of an NAND gate can be seen below How NAND gate is physically connected to a PIR sensor in a circuit, AND gates could be gotten from integrated circuits with the 4000 series applicable to the 12 volt DC system as shown below, the schematic diagram of a Quad 2 input NAND gate with chip 4 NAND gates, each collecting two inputs, that can be seen in the diagram below. The maximum output current from the 4000 series is about 4 to 10 mA, slightly enough to light an LED, hence we might require it to amplified through a transistor so that it can power light couple of hundred mA or perhaps energise a coil of a relay, below a schematic diagram showing how the PIR sensor output could be put through a NAND gate and the result amplified through a transistor (NPN). In conclusion as regards to motion detection,PIR sensor is the most sensitive and advanced option that i am aware of and their light options makes it ideal for security systems . 2.4 Arduino The arduino platform is based on making things work using simple electronics, it is all about tinkering and creating something with the board with its functions defined below. Just above is the diagram of the arduino board and what each element of the board does will be defined below as well. 14 Digital IO (pins 0-13,) can be inputs or outputs as set in software 6 Analogue out (pins 0-5) are dedicated analogue input pins, these take analogue values (voltage readings) and convert it to numbers between 0 and 1023. 3 Analogue out (pins 9, 10, 11) this is just 3 of the digital pins and can be reassigned to do analogue output. The board could be powered through the USB port or from any power socket around, this arrangement could be changed with a jumper marked SV1 in the diagram, if the jumper is closest to the USB plug then the board is powered from there but if the jumper is on 2 pins closest to the DC connector then it is powered from there. 2.5 Interaction Design The essence of interactive design is all about creativity, being able to express your own design in a form of experience to create something between humans and artifacts, making designs through an interactive process based on prototypes of ever increasing fidelity, there are chances that design in future could be extended to include phototypes in technology with reference to electronics, basically interacting with each other as long as humans have been a species, so having interactive design has been applied to development of different solutions, creating or exploring ideals between human and technology, it involves creating products and systems which users can interact with individually, in order to achieve the ideals that you would like to realize within complex technology, systems making use of basic or simple electronics components like software packages and mobile devices, which can be applicable to several other devices and services, since interactive design defines behaviour t hough some principles of cognitive psychology shows how prepared the ground is for interactive design in terms of mental models and mapping etc and there are chances of creating human computer interaction (HCI),which is the methods of describing and testing the usability of communicating with interfaces, in most cases design are emphasized in users goals and experience, one of the essence of interactive design is to improve usability then the experience of the end product by understanding what is required to implement the design in question, after a system on has been designed by getting users involved on frequent basics, only then will designers be able to optimize and properly tailor the usability, it is quite an essence that the users that the designer is designing for is fully aware of the system capabilities from the onset in order to contain expectations from users, interactive design makes use of various photo type techniques to check variety of areas of design, ideas could b e grouped into three, testing the role of the artifact itself ,test of its implementation ,prototype could be physical or digital ,high or low fidelity . 2.6 Physical Computing In previous years making use of basic electronics makes dealing with engineers always kept systems designers from playing directly or indirectly with the medium, almost all tools require good understanding and was meant for engineers, physical computing involves putting together interactive physical components making use of software and hardware components and then having to get a respond the analog settings, could be reffered to as a framework to understand human relationship with the digital world, system using sensor and microcontroller to actualize analog input to a software system and to control several mechanical devices such as motors etc and variety of hardware applications, physical computing is used in various areas and applications making interesting link between the physical world and computer world, understanding the way or pattern in which humans communicate putting their expressions within their design, mini computers like the microcontroller have become cheap and easi er allowing the making of better tools and the arduino making use of the physical computing and system designer getting to know the elementary of electronics and get to know that you can construct phototypes with little investment . 2.7 SERIAL COMMUNICATION. Looking at the arduino diagram below, the USB connection that is used by the IDE to pass across codes into the processor and exciting news is that the connection will be used by programmer to communicate with the arduino to send data back to the computer and receive commands from it. 2.8 Bread board From the diagram below what a bread board looks like can be seen, it is just a plastic board filled up with holes and each contains spring loaded contact and component required leg could be put into the holes, each hole is about 2.53 mm distance from each other and then all components have their own legs, though not all contact on the board are equally created, the top and bottom row are connected horizontally and are used to carry power across the board so when power is required, there is always a hole or gap in the middle as wide as a chip, showing the vertical line of holes so pin will not be short circuited ,the essence of the breadboard is to allow you to alter connections between components in the fastest and most practical and non destructive way possible. 2.9 MICROCONTROLLER The micro controller are constantly used in automatically controlled products and devices, they fit into design well because of one of its advantages which is low power consumption, they consume relatively low power in mill watts and do have the ability to sleep when waiting for an input like pressing a button before it carrys out the operation so while sleeping it might be using just nanowatts,the micro controller allows you to integrate additional elements like read-write memory for data storage ,peripheral devices and input/output interfaces ,they also operate at very low speed compared to todays microprocessors. 2.10 Driving Bigger Loads The pins of an arduino board will only power devices that use up to 20 milliamps, though that is quite small which barely light an LED, trying to drive some else with far much more power will definitely stop the systems from working and definitely burn out the processor, in order to drive larger loads like coils etc, an external component that can switch such things ON and OFF by an arduino pin, a mosfet transistor will be required, which is an electronic switch that can be seen that the motor takes its power system having different power supply from the one used by arduino which is purely an advantage and the mosfet connected to pin 9 . 2.11 Analogue Input circuit could be reffered to as quantized electrical signal with a certain range and can generated by a sensor and received by a controller it changes constantly a definite manner in relation to a property, analogue signals produced by some sensors could be conditioned by converting higher-level standard signal which would be transmitted over wires to the receiving controller. Analogue inputs are converted to digital signals by the analogue to digital converter, in most cases located at the controller, in most cases limited to a small range of DC voltage. The three type of analogue input signals are current, resistance, voltages used in controls are within 1-5 volts and direct convert (VDC), 2-10 VDC as regards to current the 4-20 MA signal has become the industry standard convert signal for use with analogue and digital controllers, resistance are mostly associated with direct inputs from temperature sensing devices. A basic circuit diagram below is a typical example of analogue inp uts configurations. The arduino can sense voltage out across to one or any of its pins and shows it through digital real functions, this is used by the arduino in lots of applications, in most cases we need to know exactly what the amount of voltage we are putting across, hence in order to determine the exact voltage across and we would need a different type of pin. The lower right part of the arduino board has 6 sets of pins marked analogue in. These set of pins would not only tell u the voltage applied to them or not but also its value making use of the analogue read function. Voltage applied to one of the set of pins can be read using the scale, the function returns a number between 0 and 1023 representing voltages between 0 and 5 volts, hence if a voltage of 2.5 volts is applied to pin 0. The analogue read (0) will return 512 etc, hence constructing a circuit using 10k or 4.7k resistor and putting the codes through. You find the lead blinking at the rate that depends on the amount of light that hits it. 2.12 Pulse Width Modulation Pulse width modulation of the power source or signal involves the modulation of its duty cycle to carry messages over a communication link or rather control the amount of power sent to a load,PWM makes use of square wave, whose pulse width is constantly modulated resulting in variation of average value of the waveform, the best method to generate PWM signal is intersective method which requires a saw tooth or a triangle waveform which can be generated PWM signals e.g. micro controller, making use of a counter that increments periodically connected directly or indirectly to the clock of the circuit and sets back after the end of every period of PWM, there are three types of PWM signals -(leading edge modulation) the pulse lead edge can be held at the lead edge of the window and tail edge (trailing edge modulation) the pulse center may be fixed in the center of time window and both edges of the pulse moved to compress or expand the width. -the tail edge can be fixed and lead edge modulated. PWM could be used to reduce the total amount of power delivered to a load without losses due to the fact that the average power delivered is proportional to modulation duty cycle, PWM are used in controlling electrical power supply to other system like speed control in electric motors, PWM is used in efficient voltage regulators by switching voltage to the load with required duty cycle In conclusion the PWM is a way of digitally encoding analog signal level the diagram below shows the three possible PWM signals, the first figure showing the PWM outputs at 10% duty cycle and the other figures showing the PWM outputs at 50% and 90% duty cycle respectively, hence the three PWM outputs encode three different analog signal values at 10%, 50% and 90% of the full strength, the supply is 7v and the duty cycle is 10%, a 0.7 v analog signal result. Below a simple Pulse Width Modulation circuit can be shown. References. http://www.reuk.co.uk/Multiple-PIR-Sensor-Circuits.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_infrared_sensor 3. http://www.sensors-transducers.machinedesign.com/guiedits/content/bdeee4/bdeee4_7.aspx 4. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6163025.html 5. http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Policy 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction_design 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_computing 8. http://www.ddc-online.org/inout/inout_chapt01_analogin.aspx 9. http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/PWM-Pulse-Width-Modulation 10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcontroller 11. Arduino booklet (2002), Massimo banzi, Erica calogero, David Guartielles, Jeff Gray, Tom Igoe, David Mellis 12. Barr .Michael, embedded systems Programming, September 2001, pp. 103-104 13. Making things talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects by Tom Igoe (Paperback -September 28, 2007) 14. Physical Computing: sensing and controlling the physical world with computers by Tom Igoe, Dan O Sullivan. Thomson Course Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2004

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 8

â€Å"I think we should fol ow Riley. Find out what he's doing.† I stared. â€Å"But he'l know we tracked him. He'l catch our scents.† â€Å"I know. This is how I figure it. I fol ow his scent. You keep clear by a few hundred yards and fol ow my sound. Then Riley only knows I fol owed him, and I can tel him it's because I had something important to share. That's when I do the big reveal with the disco bal effect. And I'l see what he says.† His eyes narrowed as he examined me. â€Å"But you†¦ you just play it close to the chest for now, okay? I'l tel you if he's cool about it.† â€Å"What if he comes back early from wherever he's going? Don't you want it to be close to dawn so you can glitter?† â€Å"Yes†¦ that's definitely a possible problem. And it might affect the way the conversation goes. But I think we should risk it. He seemed like he was in a hurry tonight, didn't he? Like maybe he needs al night for whatever he's doing?† â€Å"Maybe. Or maybe he was just in a big hurry to see her. You know, we might not want to surprise him if she's nearby.† We both winced. â€Å"True. Stil †¦Ã¢â‚¬  He frowned. â€Å"Doesn't it feel like whatever's coming is getting close? Like we might not have forever to figure this out?† I nodded unhappily. â€Å"Yeah, it does.† â€Å"So let's take our chances. Riley trusts me, and I have a good reason for wanting to talk to him.† I thought about this strategy. Though I'd only known him for a day, real y, I was stil aware that this level of paranoia was out of character for Diego. â€Å"This elaborate plan of yours†¦,† I said. â€Å"What about it?† he asked. â€Å"It sounds kind of like a solo plan. Not so much a club adventure. At least, not when it comes to the dangerous part.† He made a face that told me I'd caught him. â€Å"This is my idea. I'm the one who†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He hesitated, having trouble with the next word. â€Å"†¦ trusts Riley. I'm the only one who's going to risk getting on his bad side if I'm wrong.† Chicken as I was, this didn't fly with me. â€Å"Clubs don't work that way.† He nodded, his expression unclear. â€Å"Okay, we'l think about it as we go.† I didn't think he real y meant it. â€Å"Stay in the trees, track me from above, ‘kay?† he said. â€Å"Okay.† He headed back toward the log cabin, moving fast. I fol owed through the branches, most of them so close-packed that I only rarely had to real y leap from one tree to another. I kept my movements as smal as possible, hoping that the bending of the boughs under my weight would just look like wind. It was a breezy night, which would help. It was cold for summer, not that the temperature bothered me. Diego caught Riley's scent outside the house without trouble and then loped after it quickly while I trailed several yards back and about a hundred yards north, higher on the slope than he was. When the trees were real y thick, he'd rustle a trunk now and again so I wouldn't lose him. We kept on, with him running and me impersonating a flying squirrel, for only fifteen minutes or so before I saw Diego slow down. We must have been getting close. I moved higher in the branches, looking for a tree with a good view. I scaled one that towered over its neighbors, and scanned the scene. Less than half a mile away was a large gap in the trees, an open field that covered several acres. Near the center of the space, closer to the trees on its east side, was what looked like an oversized gingerbread house. Painted bright pink, green, and white, it was elaborate to the point of ridiculousness, with fancy trim and finials on every conceivable edge. It was the kind of thing I would have laughed at in a more relaxed situation. Riley was nowhere in sight, but Diego had come to a complete stop below, so I assumed this was the end point of our pursuit. Maybe this was the replacement house Riley was preparing for when the big log cabin crumbled. Except that it was smal er than any o f the other houses we'd stayed in, and it didn't look like it had a basement. And it was even farther away from Seattle than the last one. Diego looked up at me, and I signaled for him to join me. He nodded and retraced his trail a little ways. Then he made an enormous leap – I wondered if I could have jumped that high, even as young and strong as I was – and caught a branch about halfway up the closest tree. Unless someone was being extraordinarily vigilant, no one ever would have noticed that Diego'd made a side trip off his path. Even stil, he jumped around in the treetops, making sure his trail did not lead directly to mine. When he final y decided it was safe to join me, he took my hand right away. Silently, I nodded toward the gingerbread house. One corner of his mouth twitched. Simultaneously we started edging toward the east side of the house, keeping high up in the trees. We got as close as we dared – leaving a few trees as cover between the house and ourselves – and then sat silently, listening. The breeze turned helpful y gentle, and we could hear something. Strange little brushing, ticking sounds. At first I didn't recognize what I was hearing, but then Diego twitched another little smile, puckered his lips, and silently kissed the air in my direction. Kissing didn't sound the same with vampires as it did with humans. No soft, fleshy, liquid-fil ed cel s to squish against each other. Just stone lips, no give. I had heard one kiss between vampires before – Diego's touch to my lips last night – but I never would have made the connection. It was so far from what I'd expected to find here. This knowledge spun everything around in my head. I had assumed Riley was going to see her, whether to receive instructions or bring her new recruits, I didn't know. But I had never imagined stumbling across some kind of†¦ love nest. How could Riley kiss her? I shuddered and glanced at Diego. He looked faintly horrified, too, but he shrugged. I thought back to that last night of humanity, flinching as I remembered the vivid burning. I tried to recal the moments just before that, through al the fuzziness†¦. First there was the creeping fear that had built as Riley pul ed up to the dark house, the feeling of safety I'd had in the bright burger joint dissolving entirely. I was holding back, edging away, and then he'd grabbed my arm with a steel grip and yanked me out of the car like I was a dol, weightless. Terror and disbelief as he'd leaped the ten yards to the door. Terror and then pain leaving no room for disbelief as he broke my arm dragging me through the door into the b lack house. And then the voice. As I focused on the memory, I could hear it again. High and singsong, like a little girl's, but grouchy. A child throwing a tantrum. I remembered what she'd said. â€Å"Why did you even bring this one? It's too smal .† Something close to that, I thought. The words might not be exactly right, but that was the meaning. I was sure Riley had sounded eager to please when he answered, afraid of disappointing. â€Å"But she's another body. Another distraction, at least.† I think I'd whimpered then, and he'd shaken me painful y, but he hadn't spoken to me again. It was like I was a dog, not a person. â€Å"This whole night has been a waste,† the child's voice had complained. â€Å"I've kil ed them al . Ugh!† I remembered that the house had shuddered then, as if a car had col ided with the frame. I realized now that she'd probably just kicked something in frustration. â€Å"Fine. I guess even a little one is better than nothing, if this is the best you can do. And I'm so ful now I should be able to stop.† Riley's hard fingers had disappeared then and left me alone with the voice. I'd been too panicked at that point to make a sound. I'd just closed my eyes, though I was already total y blind in the darkness. I didn't scream until something cut into my neck, burning like a blade coated in acid. I cringed back from the memory, trying to push the next part from my mind. Instead I concentrated on that short conversation. She hadn't sounded like she was talking to her lover or even her friend. More like she was talking to an employee. One she didn't like much and might fire soon. But the strange vampire kissing sounds continued. Someone sighed in contentment. I frowned at Diego. This exchange didn't tel us much. How long did we need to stay? He just held his head on the side, listening careful y. And after a few more minutes of patience, the low, romantic sounds were suddenly interrupted. â€Å"How many?† The voice was muted by distance, but stil distinct. And recognizable. High, almost a tril . Like a spoiled young girl. â€Å"Twenty-two,† Riley answered, sounding proud. Diego and I exchanged a sharp glance. There were twenty-two of us, at last count, anyway. They must be talking about us. â€Å"I thought I'd lost two more to the sun, but one of my older kids is†¦ obedient,† Riley continued. There was almost an affectionate sound to his voice when he spoke of Diego as one of his kids. â€Å"He has an underground place – he hid himself with the younger one.† â€Å"Are you sure?† There was a long pause, this time with no sounds of romance. Even from this distance, I thought I could feel some tension. â€Å"Yeah. He's a good kid, I'm sure.† Another strained pause. I didn't understand her question. What did she mean, are you sure? Did she think he'd heard the story from someone else rather than seeing Diego for himself? â€Å"Twenty-two is good,† she mused, and the tension seemed to dissolve. â€Å"How is their behavior developing? Some of them are almost a year old. Do they stil fol ow the normal patterns?† â€Å"Yes,† Riley said. â€Å"Everything you told me to do worked flawlessly. They don't think – they just do what they've always done. I can always distract them with thirst. It keeps them under control.† I frowned at Diego. Riley didn't want us to think. Why? â€Å"You've done so wel ,† our creator cooed, and there was another kiss. â€Å"Twenty-two!† â€Å"Is it time?† Riley asked eagerly. Her answer came back fast, like a slap. â€Å"No! I haven't decided when.† â€Å"I don't understand.† â€Å"You don't need to. It's enough for you to know that our enemies have great powers. We cannot be too careful.† Her voice softened, turned sugary again. â€Å"But al twenty-two stil alive. Even with what they are capable of†¦ what good wil it be against twenty-two?† She let out a tinkling little laugh. Diego and I had not looked away from each other throughout al this, and I could see in his eyes now that his thoughts were the same as mine. Yes, we'd been created for a purpose, as we'd guessed. We had an enemy. Or, our creator had an enemy. Did the distinction matter? â€Å"Decisions, decisions,† she muttered. â€Å"Not yet. Maybe one more handful, just to be sure.† â€Å"Adding more might actual y decrease our numbers,† Riley cautioned hesitantly, as if being careful not to upset her. â€Å"It's always unstable when a new group is introduced.† â€Å"True,† she agreed, and I imagined Riley sighing in relief that she was not upset. Abruptly Diego looked away from me, staring out across the meadow. I hadn't heard any movement from the house, but maybe she had come out. My head whipped around at the same time the rest of me turned to a statue, and I saw what had startled Diego. Four figures were crossing the open field to the house. They had entered the clearing from the west, the point farthest from where we hid. They al wore long, dark cloaks with deep hoods, so at first I thought they were people. Weird people, but just humans al the same, because none of the vampires I knew had matching Goth clothes. And none moved in a way that was so smooth and control ed and†¦ elegant. But then I realized that none of the humans I'd ever seen could move that way, either, and what's more, they couldn't do it so quietly. The dark-cloaks skimmed across the long grass in absolute silence. So either these were vampires, or they were something else supernatural. Ghosts, maybe. But if they were vampires, they were vampires I didn't know, and that meant they might very wel be these enemies she was talking about. If so, we should get the hel out of Dodge right now, because we didn't have twenty other vampires on our side at the moment. I almost took off then, but I was too afraid to draw the attention of the cloaked figures. So I watched them move smoothly forward, noticing other things about them. How they stayed in a perfect diamond formation that never was the slightest bit out of line no matter how the terrain changed under their feet. How the one at the point of the diamond was much smal er than the others, and its cloak was darker, too. How they didn't seem to be tracking their way in – not trying to fol ow the path of any scent. They simply knew their way. Maybe they were invited. They moved directly toward the house, and I felt like it might be safe to breathe again when they started silently up the steps toward the front door. They weren't coming straight for Diego and me, at least. When they were out of sight, we could disappear into the sound of the next breeze through the trees, and they would never know we'd been here. I looked at Diego and twitched my head slightly toward the way we'd come. He narrowed his eyes and held up one finger. Oh great, he wanted to stay. I rol ed my eyes at him, though I was so afraid, I was surprised I was capable of sarcasm. We both looked back to the house. The cloaked things had let themselves in silently, but I realized that neither she nor Riley had spoken since we'd caught sight of the visitors. They must have heard something or known in some other way that they were in danger. â€Å"Don't bother,† a very clear, monotone voice commanded lazily. It was not as high-pitched as our creator's, but it stil sounded girlish to me. â€Å"I think you know who we are, so you must know that there is no point in trying to surprise us. Or hide from us. Or fight us. Or run.† A deep, masculine chuckle that did not belong to Riley echoed menacingly through the house. â€Å"Relax,† instructed the first inflectionless voice – the cloaked girl. Her voice had that distinctive ring that made me certain she was a vampire, not a ghost or any other kind of nightmare. â€Å"We're not here to destroy you. Yet.† There was a moment of silence, and then some barely audible movements. A shifting of positions. â€Å"If you are not here to kil us, then†¦ what?† our creator asked, strained and shril . â€Å"We seek to know your intentions here. Specifical y, if they involve†¦ a certain local clan,† the cloaked girl explained. â€Å"We wonder if they have anything to do with the mayhem you've created here. Illegally created.† Diego and I frowned simultaneously. None of this made sense, but the last part was the weirdest. What could be il egal for vampires? What cop, what judge, what prison could have power over us? â€Å"Yes,† our creator hissed. â€Å"My plans are all about them. But we can't move yet. It's tricky.† A petulant note crept into her voice at the end.

Thomas Becket

Describe the state of the church in Chaucer's middle ages. The king's immediate successors paid little attention to the issue of division of power between church and state. Richard the Lion-Hearted spent his reign in France and on the Third Crusade to recover Jerusalem, and John was a tyrant who spent much of his time overtaxing and angering his subjects. But from time to time, the issue of who would control the judicial system of England resurfaced and other differences between church and state arose. It was not until the rule of Henry VIII that the struggles between king and pope were resolved.Henry VIII settled the issue by separating England from the Catholic Church altogether. â€Å"Thomas Becket. † IJXL Biographies. Detroit: 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. 16. What is the Magana Carta? What historical impact did it have? The Magna Carta (a Latin phrase meaning â€Å"Great Paper† or â€Å"Great Charter†) was originally an English docum ent issued in 1215. An army led by English barons forced King John (1167-1216) to sign it. The purpose of he document was to clarify the king's power over the barons, the church, clergymen, and the free people of certain towns.

Essay Writing

Essay Writing Essay Writing Essay Writing Essay is one of the composition types in which you should present your ideas on certain topics. In other words, the essay must be well structured, well organized and presented in understandable way. It must have a clear readable interesting style. But, above all, it must consist of your ideas about the given topic, this is the center of any essay.  There are many type of essays: narrative essay, compare and contrast essay, five paragraph essay etc. The first task is to collect information. The material can be taken both form primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are literary texts, the texts you work on. Secondary sources are works of criticism. You can't possibly read too many texts and articles but the more literary texts you read and the more information you have. The key to your essay is the number and quality of your ideas about literary texts. The main aim is to present your point of view. Writing an Essay Your thesis is the main essay point, which consists of one sentence at the end of the introductory paragraph of English essay. This sentence lets the reader know where you are going and why. It's practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear thesis. Before writing an essay make an outline. It helps you to organize all of your ideas. Write at least one sentence to describe paragraph. Now it is time to write essay. A format of academic English essay requires introductory paragraph, body paragraphs and conclusion. Introduction should draw reader's attention, set your main ideas and presentation of your ideas, the main point of the essay.  Body paragraph should have at least three to five paragraphs. The first sentence of each paragraph should somehow be linked to, or contrast with, the last sentence of the previous paragraph. You should present a new idea in each paragraph and provide supporting argumentation. All of the major points in your argument need to be supporte d by specific evidence. Compile a list of brief quotations from other sources along with page references which will be presented as your evidence. Speak to your reader as if he or she are sitting in front of you. In other words, instead of writing an essay, try talking an essay. Conclusion is a brief summary of all points which were presented in the body paragraph. Your are not advised to present new ideas in the conclusion. Conclusion is a last paragraph where you can summarize all your ides. Custom Essay Service Ordering custom essay service at .Com, you receive 100% plagiarism free essay which meets your requirements and exceeds expectations.   All of our writers are experienced and educated, they know how to produce an outstanding paper and are capable of conducting a thorough research.   We guarantee originality of every paper we deliver and provide free plagiarism report.   Being our customer is safe and easy, we put your interests on the first place! Get custom written papers here!

Free Essays on Oleanna

in an attempt to belittle her. The anger and aggravation created by this also contributes to failure in communication; they both feel they are not given the opportunity to say what they need to. Phone calls also interrupt their discussion. All of these calls relate to John’s future purchase of a new house for his family. These calls intensify the tension between the characters, because they come at important moments in th... Free Essays on Oleanna Free Essays on Oleanna Oleanna In Oleanna, written by David Mamet, the problems that arise between John and Carol are the result of lack of communication. John’s phone calls, as well as the conversation with Carol are a great example of the John and Carol’s inability to carry on discussions. By failing to effectively communicate, the relationship between student and teacher collapses. Constant interruption, either by the characters or by the phone, contributes to communication problems. Carol’s questions are often interrupted by John’s response. These breaks and omissions occur through the repeated disruption of one character’s lines by the other character. For example: Carol: †¦I come from a different social†¦ John: †¦ev†¦ Carol: A different economic†¦ John: †¦Look: Carol: No. I: when I came to this school: John: Yes Quite†¦ (1.1798). The words â€Å"different†, â€Å"social†, and â€Å"economic† suggest that Carol feels she is disadvantaged due to her past circumstances. When Carol asserts that she is the one speaking, John continues to interrupt her with apologies for interrupting. Ironically, he repeatedly says he wishes to level with her. Carol’s lack of understanding also causes interruptions in the flow of conversation. When she does not know what a word means she interrupts John to ask for simpler terminology. When he gives her a synonym for the word in question Carol replies, â€Å"Then why can’t you use that word?† (2.1811). Carol certainly seems to think that he overuses big words in an attempt to belittle her. The anger and aggravation created by this also contributes to failure in communication; they both feel they are not given the opportunity to say what they need to. Phone calls also interrupt their discussion. All of these calls relate to John’s future purchase of a new house for his family. These calls intensify the tension between the characters, because they come at important moments in th...

Criminal Profiling Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Criminal Profiling - Coursework Example Investigators often employ the use of geographical profiling in deducing the most probable location of a given offender through investigation of various connected series of crimes. In accordance to Holmes (2009), geographical analysis can provide useful information plus strategies in the investigation of crime series. Geographical profiling often gets applied in cases like serial rape, arson, murder, bombings and robbery (Holmes, 2009). Through geographical profiling, linkage between a series of crimes could help pin point specific suspects records with similar past offences, identify similar crime scenes plus also provide substantial information regarding geographical and psychological profiling efforts (Rossmo, 1999). There are various elements that often become put in place when conducting geographical profiling. Some of them include crime location type, land use, arterial roads and highways, neighborhood demographics, physical and psychological boundaries plus displacement and ro utine activities of victims (Holmes, 2009). In relation to crime location type, one often considers encounter sites, crime site, attack site, vehicle dump site and victim disposal site (Rossmo, 1999). In regard to arterial roads and highways, most people have preferences on which roads and pathways that they take, hence perpetrators in serial crimes have certain routes which they follow to get in contact with their victims or dispose bodies (Rossmo, 1999). Displacement is also another factor crucial in geographic profiling since a given offender in this case changes his or her crime location due to some external factors like police patrol, etcetera. Some hunting patterns of certain investigators can be limited by certain physical and psychological boundaries. Example of physical boundaries involves rivers, lakes, while examples of psychological boundaries entail a different neighborhood, etcetera (Rossmo, 1999). Land use remains also beneficial in profiling criminals geographically through identifying the zones most affected, for instance, industrial, commercial, residential areas, etcetera (Holmes, 2009). One should always keep in mind the characteristics of the given neighborhood located around the crime site in terms of demographic and census data. The habits, travels and behaviors of the perpetrators also provide a critical element in geographical profiling (Rossmo, 1999). 2. Analyze and discuss the role of victimology in criminal profiling? According to Ann (2011), victimology implies the study of given victims involved in crimes. Victimology will try to identify similarities that exist between the victims involved in the given crimes so as the given profiler can identify a certain pattern used by the criminal in committing the given crimes (Turvey, 2011). In victimology, more emphasis is placed on the victim’s side in order to identify distinctive characteristics that attracted the perpetrator and try to draw a relation with the crimes on other vi ctims. Often, victimology tries to examine age, similarities in hair colour, eye colour, lifestyle, whether the victims ever met or even worked together or if shared common interests. In summing up all these information, victimologists often try to build a clear picture of the given offender (Turvey, 2011). Usually, serial crimes committed by certain given criminals often provide clues in relation to the victims affected regarding the criminals choice of victims. Hence in victimology, criminal profiling can be established via looking at the victims (Turvey, 2011). According to Turvey (2011), victimology often proves useful in criminal profiling through establishing the relationship between the victims and perpetrators. One could ask questions whether the two initially were family

Immigration Reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Immigration Reform - Essay Example I support this debate since it will work to bridge the gap between generations as well as helping the government in its policies and planning in terms of budget and human capital usability. Through the reform, boarder security measures will be enhanced. This reform will create a support system to the immigrants who have been forced to immigrate due to hard economic times, lack of opportunities, and lack of proper social guarantees in their home country (Rosenblum and Brick 1). The future care of the immigrants in the US will be handled by the reform, which will ensure they get included in the health care proposals and taxpayer-funded public benefits. To handle the matter on immigration reform and the ongoing debate, I will do a comparative analysis of the debate through thoughtful discussion on the policy realignment and enlightenment within the US. My major point of focus will be on the achievements and the recommendations on the reforms while seeking solutions on the upcoming differences between the federalists and the anti-federalist. Among many reforms focused on immigration, representative governance is one way to ensure that needs of immigrants are met. A successful integration of immigrants and the locals in terms of governance is related to US realignment of its policies on social contracts. Providing leadership opportunities within them could create opportunities for successful integration (Jimenez 18). However, this has not been the case since federal government’s steps towards creating such opportunities have been so micro. There are youths in the third generation that are still considered unauthorized hence calling for tough enforcements for legalization (Rosenblum 2). Though they have ensured that immigrants are civically engaged, federal leadership policy needs a major realignment if a successful integration will be achieved. As human beings, immigrants have their rights. With the