Is Google Making Us Stupid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Is Google Making Us Stupid - Essay Example The article of Nicholas Carr, â€Å"Is Google making us stupid? What the internet is doing to our brains,† argues that the Internet and other technologies have changed the modern generation. It has made many people lazy and changed the way people perform their daily life activities. Carr is right when he argues that the Internet and social networking sites have changed the way people think. This is because having access to information faster through the use of the Internet has contributed to significant changes. For instance, many students nowadays use Internet for carrying out research studies. They no longer use their brain to find solutions to the issues, but rather use Google to find information faster; thus Google is making students lazy and stupid (Carr 341). Technology is making the society move towards a positive, direction, but too much dependent on technology is creating more harm than good. Carr views many changes the Internet is causing as a loss rather than a bene fit; thus he raises awareness on the impact that the Internet is creating in the contemporary society. He attempts to reveal the way Internet is changing the ways students are writing and learning in the current generation. Carr reveals the way skills of many people have been eroded thus he says, â€Å"am not thinking the way I used to think† (Carr 340). Therefore, these changes have contributed to poor concentration in reading books; thus spending much time on the Internet. Although the Internet has contributed to positive changes, over reliance on the Internet has changed the way the brains of students function; thus affecting cognitive memory of the Internet users. The Internet has changed the way students perform their work in school; hence, many of them have become lazy because they cannot read books for a long time. The age of globalization, which is contributed by the increased technology development, has created more harm than good. Many students no longer perform eff ectively in school because many of them spend much time in social networking sites. Students also do not read hard because of much time spent on the Internet (Carr 340). Carr further argues that the Internet has changed the brain of many individuals; thus contributing to varied changes. For instance, Carr notices that many students cannot read books for more than one hour, and this has led to poor performances in many schools. This means that the minds of students have nowadays changed in that one cannot read a book for more than three pages before turning into the Internet. This has become just like an addict because many students cannot spend their entire day without using technology for varied activities. For instance, the increased social disorders that have risen are contributed due to more time spend on social networking sites and the Internet. Additionally, Carr notices that many students have become lazy because over dependent on the Internet for varied activities. Many stud ents do not work hard by reading their books, but rather spend time in the Internet or social networking sites. Google is making many of them lazy and stupid because they depend on the Internet for carrying out their research or assignments. Students do not spend their time in the libraries reading printed books because they believe that, with Google, everything is possible. They use Google for carrying out research work because it is easier and saves time than searching books from the library categories. Although, this is crucial because Google directs them to the required material, but it is making many students become lazy. Wellmon (78) argues that Google search engine is making us stupid or smart; thus giving way to complex and productive questions. Thus, the time students spend in social networking sites than books have impacted performance of many students in their various learning institutions. Internet has contributed to the new form of writing and reading styles. Many stude nts spend much of their time interacting with

German history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

German history - Essay Example Scholars have argued that if the rivalry would have continued then the idea of the unification of Germany would have been impossible to achieve. If Austria continued to be in the union it would have been impossible for the unification of German to be a reality and therefore the only way to achieve unification was simply the elimination of Austria from the union through compulsion (Merkl 33). When Otto Von Bismarck came into power he believed in the inevitable unification of German with Prussia as its leader. Therefore he went ahead with his plan and drove out Austria from interfering with the affairs of German. The reason behind his advocating for the unification of German was because through it Prussia would have a greater influence and power. Therefore Bismarck essentially used political strategies that were backed up by s strong military support that enabled the unification of German (Leonhard and Funk 47). In the Italian case, things were different. By the late 1700’s the Italian peninsula had been conquered severally by the French and Austria and hence had no sovereign government. It was ruled by Austria something that Italians did not like and began rebellions culminating in the 1848 revolution where the pope was forced out. Later he asked for help from the catholic powers in Europe who came to his rescue driving Garibaldi out of Rome. A series of wars ensured, realignments occurred and revolts were a norm leading to the unification of Italy in 1871. Basically the unification of Italy was based on popular rebellions against foreign rule (Collier 40-55). QUESTION TWO The concept of imperialism arose from Britain’s abuse of power in territories outside Europe as the country believed in consolidation and expansion of its empire. During the 19th century scholars began to view imperialism as the use of state power on foreign countries for the economic benefit of the home country. It should be noted that the idea behind expansion of empires is nat ionalistic. Imperialism can be seen to be highly related to economic growth as during this time most European powers had colonies in Africa that they used to enrich themselves and therefore this can be seen as an aspect of nationalism because the expansion into foreign territories was for the sole gain of the nation (Hobson 10). Good examples can be traced in the 19th century with German among the leading countries in terms of economic development after charismatic leadership in Berlin who instilled into citizens a sense of national pride. Also the French are seen as one of the most patriotic nations at any one period because of imperialism save for Napoleons rule (Sherman and Salisbury 453). Imperialism as an act was began by the Portuguese people during the early 16th century. They began the concept in South America before expanding to Africa. The Portuguese were followed immediately by the Spanish who are seen to have made a real attempt in North America and gradually expanded to South America. During the 18th century the Portuguese stopped its continued financial support of colonies in Africa leaving France, Belgium, England and the Dutch to continue with concept (Krieger and Crahan 194). QUESTION THREE The World War II would not have happened had the remnants of the World War 1 been addressed. Just before the World War II many issues had not been resolved and therefore they built up and contributed to World War II. A good example is the Amritsar Massacre of 1919. This

Article Review of Organizational Culture Essay Example for Free

Article Review of Organizational Culture Essay It was not expected that the hierarchical model would be dominant given the previous attempt to change the culture. The altruistic values of those surveyed indicated they are committed to social development and public interests and are most comfortable with a hierarchical dominate culture. The sample size of 530 participants obtained from the Public Sector Directory was an adequate size. All of the executives in the directory were included in the survey, which suggests a less than random selection process for the final candidates. However, the six varied departments selected represented central coordination, infrastructure provision and social services. Although an almost two to one ratio of male to female employee responses were utilized, none of the demographic variables collected in section C of the three part survey affected the perceptions of the current culture. Sections A and B of the survey gathered information on character, managers, cohesion, emphases and rewards. Results indicated that Departments A – D preferred the internal process or group culture. Department E preferred the internal process model, but it was equally comfortable with rational goal model indicating goal fulfillment was a requirement. Department F results indicated a comfort level with the rational goal model most likely due to their interactive responsibilities with other departments. Forcing change from a formalized, rules and rewards based culture to a more flexible, decentralized culture could create individual-organization value conflict resulting in stress. Of the population surveyed only 191, 36%, was usable and the male respondents outnumbered the female respondents nearly 3 to 1. The survey, divided into three sections dealing with perceptions of the current culture, respondent ideal culture, and demographic information. The survey reviled 4 out of 6 public sector departments in the study held to the traditional model. The findings also suggest organizational culture is driven at the non-managerial employee level and the deeply embedded cultural values can’t be forced any form of management. The article mentions the constant state of transition is the Queensland government over a twenty year period; employees may value the stability and predictability of the traditional bureaucratic model. Base on the research and finding in the article, culture change must target the organization at the non-managerial level in order for the culture change to be effective. In order for Queensland traditionally bureaucratic organizations to embrace high performing teams, the change must address the needs of the driving force of the traditional model culture; the non-managerial employees. In forming high performing teams for the Queensland public sector, it is important to investigate the factors/components of those teams. Also, because most teams are unique in their goals and focus, there is no off the shelf solution for all teams (Davenport, 2001) and that there is no singular, uniform measure of performance effectiveness for groups (Guzzo and Dickson, 1996. p. 309). By creating a customized plan for transitioning, Queensland public sector can move from a control hierarchical organizational culture to a culture of change, flexibility, and productivity. The Queensland public sector was managed for so many decades using the top down management that the culture of the organizations productivity depended on it. The results of the study can be supported by the need for stability which can only be changed by small adjustment to small changes (Bhide 2010). The culture of the organization is controlled by political authority, so it was not surprising that a hierarchical process model was so deeply rooted in to the essence of the government employees who understood the leadership values (Goodwin and Neck, 1998). Organizations lack of understanding of their members caused employees to be less adaptable to change, and with that less productive. Employees will move to do only their specific functions and only respond to the tasks directed by their manager, which is contradicting to the desired results of flexibility, and supports the article results (Miller S 2009). â€Å"Beyond top-down and bottom-up work redesign†, explains â€Å"Authority is traditionally conceptualized as hierarchical†, but the informal authority operates day to day work of organizations. This proved to be true for the Queensland public sector with few exceptions such as a high commitment to the rules and the attention to details. These changes have also been achieved on a federal level with similar setbacks who still managed to overcome the existing dominant culture (189). Just because the organization is not dominated by the â€Å"new managerialist thinking† as stated in â€Å"Organisational culture in the public sector† article, Sting and Loch explain that this does not mean that there is not a need for a â€Å"bottom-up participation† which was part of the work environment before the values of the employees were, in a way, forced to be changed for unexplained reasons to them. As a result of such, this did cause setbacks in the cultural change that was attempted. Changing the value of a large group of people within the company is next to impossible when it’s so closely tied to their private beliefs such as the members of the Queensland public sector. In order to move from a hierarchical process model of an organization to a more flexible and change oriented one, organizations must first understand their employees preferred organizational structure, and then create a corporate culture which employees can slowly get accustom to. In the case of six organizations in the Queensland public sector, the transformation required a culture change from the â€Å"Mechanistic† to ‘Organic† organizational structure and this should have been done very slowly only after understanding the values of those involved. One easy way to get this information is to have employees perform a self-assessment. Because â€Å"a corporate culture is influenced by the industry in which the organization operates†, outside factors such as political control have to be considered in a path taken to change employees assumptions, values, and artifacts (McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002-2009). Before an organization can move from a hierarchical process to a more flexible one employees must understand the benefits of shifting their culture from â€Å"control† to â€Å"performance†, where their input is valued. Through our research and critical analysis of the six organizations in the Queensland public sector, it is evident to us that the paradigm public organizations are functioning in will not change easily. Though the employees have to be able to accept change and shift, employers must understand that the need to create an environment that fosters a corporate cultural environment is vital. Change is inevitable but a positive response to the change is not. Without the strategic planning of organizational leaders, we will continue to see results like we saw with the six organizations in Queensland; the entire organization has to be a part of the implementation, intimately, in order for it to be effective. Unfortunately, when employees of any organization settle for the â€Å"norm,† they will not only resist change but they will fear it.

History Of Exhaust Fan And Ventilation Information Technology Essay

History Of Exhaust Fan And Ventilation Information Technology Essay Abstract An automatic ventilation system with an exhaust fan included with a supply fan is presented in this report. With this smart system being proposed, detailed annual energy-efficient operation strategies and methods of control for the air-handling unit are presented. Compare to the traditional type of exhaust fan, the proposed smart system shows that not only does it maintain the indoor air quality but also improve the energy efficiency. Due to the increased outdoor air, the proposed smart system can improve indoor air quality further. An external DC motor will be driven the fan. The reason why an external DC motor is used is because it is able to make the exhaust fan to have the ability of air exhausting and illumination. It also helps to reduce the noise and power consumption of the exhaust fan efficiently. So the proposed smart system is not only energy saving but also environmentally friendly. Acknowledgement This final year report is the end of my long journey in obtaining my Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at University of Sunderland. I have not travelled alone in this journey. There are people who made this journey easier by offering different places to look to expand my theories and ideas. I should specially thanks to my supervisor, Mr Bob Young, for his great interest and assistance of helping me for preparation of this report. Besides, encouragements, supports and advices are continually given by him from the start. It helps me to develop an understanding of the subject thoroughly. Besides, I would also like to thanks to the staffs in the lab, Chris and George for their availability of resources, readiness and skills. Their help in finding the materials that are needed is invaluable. My project will not be in shape without their helps. Last but not least, my deepest thanks to my family, friends and others encouragement and constructive advices that have make the full support of my report completion. Chapter 1: Introduction Overview The purpose of this chapter is to give a rough idea of Intelligent Cooker Hood Exhaust Fan (ICHEF) and how it integrates into and changes the lifestyle of human beings and most importantly, being green. The usual perception of an exhaust fan by the public is simply act as a ventilation system which ventilates the air in an area. But often there are things which are important and being neglected by the public, health. Cooking does not only produce aroma, it often produces more than that, particles of smoke, grease and combusted gasses which are not healthy to breathe in and is environmental pollutants. Food like pepper and onions also produce irritants which can be unpleasant to be continuously exposed to. Exhaust fan are used to remove these pollutants from the air in a specific area. Health, has been an important concern to all of us these days. Because of that, having lots of biological pollutants and dust mite in the living place may cause a serious threat to our health. Thus, the improvement of the indoor air quality is an increasing concern to many people. Molds and dust mites will grow at a high relative humidity and there is one area in the home where moisture is generated, kitchen. Thus, adequate control of moisture in the kitchen is necessary and important. It is generally known that global warming is a severe issue that is happening in the world right now which eventually will bring unwanted natural disasters due to the overheating in the atmosphere and dilapidates the ability of earth to deal with these situations accordingly. To save the world, a few methods are being suggested by ecologists. Energy saving, one of the most effective and most commonly applied by the industries, are used throughout the world in order to avoid the earth from overheating. As a result, the concept of energy saving is being applied in the project to reduce the use of power thus saving money as well. To achieve the goals mentioned above, integrated circuits and sensors are needed to provide aids to control the exhaust fan to either on or off and the speed of the fan according to the data received from the sensors. It is also a low-cost solution and differs from the already-in-market exhaust fan which will cost a fortune. Aims The primary aim for this project is to develop an intelligent cooker hood exhaust fan to make ones life easier with the help of electronic knowledge and most importantly environmental friendly due to energy saving. Objectives The objective of this project is to design a system or programme to determine whether to on or off the exhaust from the readings of the sensors by using MicroCode Studio Plus. An effective and low-cost hardware is designed with sensors attached onto it to obtain data. It will increase or decrease the speed of the exhaust fan according to the level of the heat and smoke detected. Chapter 2: Project Background 2.1 Overview This section presents the general information and history of exhaust fan. It also provides short statement and the application and the hardware which are constructed on Intelligent Cooker Hood Exhaust Fan (ICHEF). Other than hardware, a brief of the software will be provided in this chapter as well. 2.2 History of Exhaust Fan and Ventilation As all of us understand that the purpose of ventilation is to reduce or dilute the indoor contaminants, the experienced engineers should determine how much air is necessary to dilute and reduce the contaminants to a desired level. The existence of ventilation and indoor air quality can be traced back to 17th century. However, concerns about the bad air go back much farther than that. One of the earliest reasons to implement the idea of ventilation is to ventilate the indoor air to a desired level and environment and it is probably still the same problem we have today as why we implement ventilation system in the house is to reduce and remove the products of combustion used for heat, light or cooking. People dated back to 17th undoubtedly learned very quickly that if one brought fire inside the house for cooking, one needed to take the smoke out. The design for ventilation has changed quickly over the time, but it has usually been associated with the indoor contaminants or biological pollutants that can cause health or comfort problems. Looking back into the archeological records, several examples can be found on how houses are built to accommodate ventilation and improve the indoor air quality. There are a few different approaches to deal with the use of fires in the roof. Back in 4000-5000BC, the Banpo villagers in China had implemented chimneys into their houses. The Romans put a hole in the middle of their houses roofs to suck the smoke out of the living place. The basket weavers pit houses found in Mesa Verde National Park, circa 750 AD, use the same approach. The Romans then invented and created a heating system called hypocaust heating system and it is usually for the big buildings. The hypocaust was then preceded and integrated into British parliament buildings in the late 1800s due to its superior heating design in that time. It works by getting the outdoor air into the hypocaust and gains heat from the fire and channeled all the way through the under floor channels and then go up through channels in the walls and vented to the outdoor which acts like a heating system. A system is also built in the late 1880s that uses a similar approach and directs the outside air to the building. The air from the outside is directed over the steam pipes in a heating chamber and conveys into the building. Exhaust openings in the upper reaches of the building provides a stack effect to pull the air through the building. But in year 1631, after one finds that bad indoor air quality can cause health problems, King Charles I ordered that the ceilings in the houses must be at least 10 feet high and that the windows should be higher than the width to allow rooms for ventilation. These improvements were slowly implemented into the buildings in the UK. After the great London fire of 1666, implementations of good ventilations were being speed up because a lot of houses were destroyed. Thus, it makes way for construction of bigger and better ventilated houses with chimneys and large windows which leads to have better indoor air quality when the air ventilates in the house. 2.3 Modern Background of Exhaust Fan and Ventilation With all the history in the previous section, we do of course have some modern background about the exhaust fan and ventilation. Nonetheless in the modern times which due to large demand in the world now, end-product of exhaust fans are being produced in a way of mass production. An american company specialized in kitchen exhaust fan, American Hood, has came out with some different products, ie, fire suppression system. It consists of smoke detector and fire alarm system and use a special wet chemical agent that provides quicker flame knockdown and superior fire prevention if extremely high level of smoke and temperature is detected. 2.4 Introduction to Microcontroller Figure 2.1 Microcontroller What is microcontroller? Microcontroller is sometimes called as a microcomputer or commonly called as MCU, is a kind of small or mini computer that you can find in almost all electronic devices and products. Some examples of common products that we have microcontroller built-in are microwave oven, handphone and etc. If there are buttons and a digital display in a product, chances are it also has a programmable microcontroller brain. Often, microcontrollers are called as an embedded microcontroller, it is mainly because they are often part of an embedded system and usually integrated into a larger device or system. Microcontroller is designed specifically for a particular tasks or jobs such as controlling a particular system which is different with the general purpose microprocessor, the one that is generally used in a PC. A typical microcontroller consists of an integrated CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM for data storage and ROM for programme storage. Other than that, it also provides input and output interfaces on the same chip. It has its advantage because a general purpose microprocessor may require another addition chip to support similar function. 2.5 Introduction to PIC16F876A PIC, initials refer to Peripheral Interface Controller, is a type of microcontroller made by a company called Microchip. They are 8 bit microprocessors with small RAM, ROM and simple peripherals bundled on a same chip. The figure below shows the number of pins and functions of each pin. C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktoppic16f876a.png Figure 2.2 Integrated Circuit PIC16F876A The PIC16F876A was chosen for this project because it has the function of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) in the integrated circuit itself, which is located at pin 12 and 13. The PWM function can be set through the configuration during the progamme codes writing in the software. PWM will be explained more in details in the next few chapters. By using this integrated circuit, it helps to save the trouble and works to construct an external circuit to perform a similar function. 2.6 Introduction to L293D C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktopl293d.gif Figure 2.3 Integrated Circuit L293D The L293D is a quadruple high-current half-H driver. It is designed to provide a bidirectional drive currents of up to 600mA at voltages ranging from 4.5V to 36V. Not only that, it drives the inductive loads such as relays, DC motors, solenoids as well as other high current or voltage loads in positive supply applications. In this project of Intelligent Cooker Hood Exhaust Fan (ICHEF), L293D was chosen to drive one DC motor to show the speed of the motor driven by the frequency (PWM) from the microcontroller. 2.7 Introduction to MAX232 Figure 2.4 Integrated Circuit MAX232 MAX232 is a communication tool used mainly for serial commands to and from a flash rom. Besides, it is also an integrated circuit that changes the signals from RS232 serial port to signals that is compatible to use in TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic). The MAX232 is a duo driver and receiver and typically converts the RX (Receive), TX (Transmit), CTS and RTS signals. Figure 2.4 shows MAX232s structure and pin in/out of MAX232 chip. MAX232 chip was chosen for converting signals because it has long been used for microcontroller boards. It provides 2-channel RS232 port and requires external 10uF capacitors. 2.8 Introduction to Temperature Sensor (LM35) C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktopLM35.jpg Figure 2.5 LM35 The LM35 is an integrated circuit sensor that is used to measure the temperature with an electrical output which is about the same compare to the temperature in degree celsius. LM35 acts as temperature sensor in this project. It was being chosen because it does not require any extra calibration or trimming to keep its accuracy to measure the temperature. There is another main characteristic of the LM35 which act as a temperature sensor is that it takes 60mA from its supply only. Since the main objective of this project is being green and save energy, LM35 was chosen instead of other type of thermistor. 2.9 Introduction to Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktopvdiv1.gif Figure 2.6 Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) A light dependent resistor (LDR) is a small semiconductor. LDR is used to recharge the light during different changes in light or made to turn a light on during certain changes in lights. One of the most commonly used areas that LDR implemented is in fire alarm system. It relies upon on the smoke which is produced in the event of a fire. When this smoke passes and covered the LDR and the amount of light falling on the LDR decreases, it will then send a signal to the microcontroller. Microcontroller will act accordingly from the pre-set programmes, in this case of the project, the microcontroller will drive the motor according to the data received. The aim of a LDR is to vary the brightness of a light in the different conditions. This can be described easily by the concept of a digital watch. Some watches get to glow in the dark so that it is possible to tell the time without pressing any buttons. It is the LDR that let the watch to know when it is dark and changes the emission level of the light accordingly. There are of course many good benefits and advantages to the LDR. A smaller amount of power will be consumed with the aid of LDR in many different kind of lights. It also helps lights to last much longer which is good for environment in a way. 2.10 Computer Interfacing Module Even though its easy especially when there is plug-and-play internal hardware solution for the computer, connecting some of the external tools or devices may still require a certain amount of technical knowledge and experience. There are generally two types of ways for data transmission, parallel and serial. Serial transmission has been chosen for this project. C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktopDB9.jpeg Figure 2.7 Layout of DB-9 Female In the past, old type of computer used 25 pins connectors while in fact that only 9 pins were actually used. Thus nowadays most of the connectors are manufactured in 9 pins instead. Each of the 9 pins usually connects to a wire. Besides the two wires which are used for transmitting (TD) and receiving (RD) data shown in Figure 2.7, the other pin is for signal ground. The voltage on any other wire is measured with respect to the ground. So, the minimum number of wires of a connector to use for 2 way transmission of data is 3. Although it has been known that it works without the signal ground wire, it will degrade the performances and often with errors. There are more wires which are for controlling purposes and not for sending bytes. Even though all of the signal can share on one wire, but there is still a separate wire dedicated to every type of signal instead. C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktopmax232.gif Figure 2.8 Connection of MAX232 and Microcontroller While communicating with different type of microcontrollers, one needs to convert the RS232 levels down to lower levels, usually 3.3V or 5V. Serial RS232 communication works with voltages -15V to 15V for high and low. On the other hand, TTL logic operates between 0V and 5V. Modern low power consumption logic operates in the range of 0V and 3.3V or even lower. The MAX232 chip from Maxim was the first integrated circuit in the market contains the necessary drivers  and receivers  to adapt the RS232 signal voltage levels to TTL logic. The reason why it became popular was because it needs only one voltage (3.3V or 5V) to generates the necessary RS232 voltage levels. . 2.11 MicroCode Studio C:Documents and SettingsUserDesktopscreen1.gif Figure 2.9 Layout of MicroCode Studio MicroCode Studio is integrated development software which has the capability to debug and was developed and used for microEngineering labs PICBASIC and PICBASIC PRO compiler. Microcode Studio is packed with a code explorer that helps to jump automatically to files, constants, variables, symbols, defines and labels, which are consisted in respected source code. Besides, there are too other features available in this software such as cut, copy and paste, undo and replace options. Not only that, it has the ability to correct and identify the assembler errors. It features views for serial output from the external of the microcontroller. The software helps the user to set up assembler and compiler options. Other than that, it has auto-search feature included in the software which helps the user to do all the work which is involved. It too has the error result window which helps to identify errors and correct them easily. The good thing about this compiler is that when the user clicks on the errors in the compiler, MicroCode Studio will automatically jump into the line location and it efficiently helps the users to know where and how to debug the serial output from the microcontrollers. Chapter 3: System Description 3.1 Overview This chapter focuses on the system design, description and illustration of block diagram of the Intelligent Cooker Hood Exhaust Fan. Several descriptions of the systems will be explained in this chapter as well. 3.2 Introduction The system consists of mainly 4 parts, namely:- Temperature sensor (LM35) / LDR (act as a smoke sensor) and its readings The temperature sensor and LDR will sense the heat or smoke level. If the level exceeds the pre-set level, the fans will be activated automatically via the control of microcontroller. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) A LCD will be installed in the system to display the temperature reading and LDR values according to the data received. It is to give the user an insight or idea of what is the current values of temperature or light density at that particular time. Speed of exhaust fan by Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) The speed of exhaust fan will be adjusted according to the heat level detected and generate the pulses accordingly. The speed may go higher only when the heat level is higher thus saving the wasted energy which is required to run the fans to full speed at all time. This type of exhaust fan differs from the traditional type of exhaust fan. The fans will then still be activated for a short period of time after the reading drops back to the pre-set heat level in order to remove all the excessive smoke or odour away. Driver Circuit A circuit by L293D to control DC motors with external power supply. 3.3 System Design Microcontroller (PIC16F876A) Temperature Sensor (LM35) Light Dependent Resistor Fans High Speed Low Speed LCD Display Determine speed according to heat smoke level Fans still on for a pre-set time Controller Circuit Figure 3.1 Overall Block Diagram of Intelligent Cooker Hood Exhaust Fan The concept of Intelligent Cooker Hood Exhaust Fan is smart. It helps to reduce the workload of human beings and also it will save energy as well. The microcontroller which uses PIC16F876A serves as a main brain of the whole system. It uses 2 types of sensors which are the temperature sensor (LM35) and light dependent resistor (LDR). With the help of both sensors, data are easily received and displayed on the LCD Display with some aids of the programming. After the data are received and displayed on LCD Display, pulses will be generated by the function of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) in PIC16F876A and it sends the signal to the controller circuit, DC motor in this case, and drive the motor accordingly to what the readings are being obtained. The fans should still be on for a period of time to ensure the remaining smell and odour are sucked away. 3.4 Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a useful technique that controls the analog circuits with the aids of the processors digital outputs. It is employed in different types of areas. It is widely used from power control and communications to measurement and conversion. To control the analog circuit in digital way, it helps to reduce the cost of the system and most importantly, it reduces the level of usage of power consumption as well. 3.4.1 Duty Cycle PWM Signals Figure 3.2 PWM Signals of Varying Duty Cycles Figure 3.2 shows three different PWM signals. The upper figure shows a PWM output with a 10% duty cycle. It just means that the signal is on for 10% of the period and off the other 90% of the period, so the average is low. Likewise, the middle figure shows the analog signal value at 50% and lower figure shows 90%, so its average is half and high accordingly. If it is fully on, it requires 100% of the period while when it is 0%, it is off. 3.4.2 PWM Frequency The PWM signal frequency is important depending on the hardware that one is using. If the main purpose is to create a DC signal then the high frequency will be required (kHz) so that the low pass filter can eliminate the frequency component. To determine how high the frequency, it is to depend on how much frequency components are allowed at the output and how it is used. 3.4.3 Communication and Control One of the reasons why PWM is so popular is because that the signal remains digital at all times, from the microcontroller to the driver circuit. There is no Digital-To-Analog Conversion (DAC) is required. The noises in the signal will be reduced to minimum level because the signals are in digital form. Noises can affects digital forms signal only if it is great enough to change from Logic 1 to Logic 0 and likewise. PWM is often used for communication is mainly because PWM has the ability to increase the noise immunity over analog control. By converting the analog signal to PWM, it increases the length of a communication channel. An appropriate RC (Resistor-Capacitor) or LC (Inductor-Capacitor) network can remove the modulated high frequency wave form and return the PWM signal back to analog form at the recipient side. 3.5 DC Motor C:Documents and SettingsKLTDesktopelectric-motor.jpg Figure 3.3 DC Motor Almost all mechanical movement that surrounded us is caused by either an AC or DC electric motor. It converts the electrical energy into the mechanical movement. One needs to have a little background knowledge about electromagnet and electricity in general to understand how a motor works. 3.5.1 How It Works? In any kind of electric motor, in this case, a DC motor, the operation is mainly based on a simple electromagnetism. A magnetic field is then generated by a current carrying conductor. By doing so, it will experience a force proportional to the current in the conductor when it is placed in the external magnetic field. Everyone is well aware of playing the magnets when young. The opposite polarities attract, in this case, north and south pole. Vice versa, the same polarities repel, north-north and south-south. The operation of a DC motor has similar concept. The internal arrangement of a DC motor is outlined to compose the magnetic interaction between an external magnetic field and a current carrying conductor to generate rotational movement. Image Figure 3.4 Layout of DC Motor Almost all the basic DC motor has these six common parts in them, namely axle, commutator, rotor, stator, brushes and field magnets. In most DC motor, the external magnetic field is produced by high level strength of permanent magnets. The rotor rotates according to the stator which is stationary as well as two or more permanent magnet pole pieces. The windings of the rotor are being connected electrically towards the commutator. The above figure shows a common motor layout with the rotor inside the stator magnets. 2-pole motor in action Figure 3.5 Operation of DC Motor The relationships between the commutator contacts, the brushes and the rotor windings are that when the power is being supplied to the motor, the stator magnets will be incorrectly aligned, the rotor will rotates till it is aligned with the stators field magnet and polarities of the energized winding. The brushes will move to the next commutator contacts and next winding will be energized only when the rotor are in alignment. It can be given by the simple example of 2-pole motor. The rotation reverses the direction of current flow through the rotor winding, causing to the flip of the rotors magnetic field, making it to continue rotating. Image Figure 3.6 Inner view of DC Motor Iron core armature is commonly used in a DC motor as it has a few advantages. The iron core provides a strong and firm support to the windings, it is specifically important considering for the high torque motors. The core, in a way, also dissipate the heat away from the rotor windings very well that it allows the DC motor to rotate even harder. And most importantly, to construct an iron core is comparably cheaper than other type of construction. Unarguably, there are always pros and cons about almost everything. There are a few disadvantages about the construction of iron core. The high level of inertia in iron armature reduces the motor acceleration dramatically. This type of construction also causes the high winding inductances which reduce the life of the brush and commutator. Chapter 4: Circuitry Explanation 4.1 Overview This chapter is about the circuits that are used in this project. Circuit operation and the performance of the entire circuit are roughly explained in this chapter. All datasheets of the Integrated Circuits used in this project are attached in the appendixes section. Circuit diagrams for every part of the overall circuit in this project are provided so that the operation of the circuit can be understood easily by non-engineer readers. 4.2 Microcontroller Unit (PIC16F876A) Figure 4.2 Microcontroller Unit The PIC16F876A CMOS FLASH-based 8-Bit microcontroller consists of a 200 nanoseconds instruction execution, self programming, an ICD (In-Circuit Debugger), 2 comparators, 256 bytes of EEPROM data memory, 2 PWM functions and a UART. The main brain of this control unit replies upon on the PIC16F876A with a 4MHz resonator that produces the clock pulses which is required buy the targeted microcontroller. 4.3 Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) Figure 4.3 Circuit of Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) with MAX232 An UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) is a type of computer hardware that converts the data between the serial and parallel forms. UART is often used with other types of communication means such as, RS232. It is usually a single IC (Integrated Circuit) that used for serial communication or through peripheral device serial port. UART is usually used for embedded system such as microcontroller with RS232. Different interface equipment is usually used to change the logic level of the UART to and from the external signaling levels. It doesnt usually receiver nor generate the external signals which are used between the different types of equipment. 4.4 Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) Figure 4.4 Circuit of Light Dependent Resistor The circuit shown above is about the sensor of the circuit. LDR in this project is to activate the microcontroller. It acts as an input and will send the analogue data into microcontroller and microcontroller will determine the data received and perform a task accordingly. These values will be sent into microcontroller on PortA.0. 4.5 Temperature Sensor (LM35) C:Documents and SettingsKLTDesktopuntitled.bmp Figure 4.5 Circuit of Temperature Sensor (LM35) The power supply (Vcc) can be ranging from 4V to 20V depending on the project requirement, but 5V will be used in this project. To use the LM35 sensor, one can just connect the Vcc to 5V, Ground to Ground and the Out to the Analog-Digital Converter channel. The output varies with temperature obtained. The values will be sent to microcontroller via PortA.1. 4.6 Motor Controller (L293D) C:Documents and SettingsKLTDesktopuntitled.JPG Figure 4.6 Circuit Connection of L293D to Microcontroller The DC motor can be driven in clockwise or anti-clockwise direction depending to the requirements. To do so one first needs to connect the motor and find out the commands that are needed to give to the microcontroller to perform the specific rotation. Pin 1 and pin 8 will need to connect to 5V. Pin 3 and 6 are connected to the output which is DC Motor. Pin 4 and 5 are for grounding. Pin 2 and 7 act as an input which connect to PortC.7 and PortC.6 respectively. Pin 1 of the L293D will also connect to Pin 12 or 13 for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) function in microcontroller. 4.7 Overall Circuit C:Documents and SettingsKLTDesktopoverall.JPG Figure 4.7 Overall Circuit Chapter 5: Materials 5.1 Overview The main purpose of this chapter is about the materials and tools that are used in this project whereby components, software and tools used will be listed for reference purposes. Budget and stores for all components are also listed at the end of this chapter as well. 5.2 Preface of Materials Used All materials used in finishing this project can be further categorized into 3 main groups of computer software, apparatus and electronic components. These 3 major groups of materials will be further discussed in following subchapters. 5.2.1 Computer Software Computer software used in this project is shown below. No. Computer Software Function 1. Live Wire Do the simulation of the circuit 2. Micro Code Programming for the Microcontroller 3. Microsoft Word Report typing Table 5.1 List and function of the software used to complete this project 5.2.2 Apparatus The table below shows the apparatus that required for c

Academia Barilla Essay -- Marketing, Food Industry

Born of the idea to preserve authentic Italian cuisine, Academia Barilla has faced strategic issues to increase profitability and growth. Offering not only high quality food products, but an education on Italian gastronomy, Academia relies on a differentiated marketing message of authenticity, with the quality to prove it. While striving to teach buyers of the difference between imitation and true Italian cuisine, Academia must continue to seek new strategies to reach a broader customer base. By studying the firm’s core competencies, and performing analysis on the industry, Academia has the tools necessary to meet their objectives. Academia Barilla’s consumers are still a specialized target, despite recent efforts for expansion and growth. For its gourmet foods product line, demographics of consumers in major markets tend to be upper middle to high class citizens of middle to older age. Italy represents the major market for Academia Barilla, with Europe and North America showing promising growth. However, recent severe economic troubles in Italy, Europe, and the United States are a major cause of concern and must be monitored. Regulatory bodies in the countries which market Academia Barilla do not tend to interfere with production. Current consumer trends for healthier, more organic products should be monitored. Whole-wheat and low-carbohydrate products have increased in demand during the past half-decade. Recent developments in the IT field have helped bring e-commerce to new heights. Finally, emerging economies in countries such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia may be targets for possible future hig h growth opportunities. Academia Barilla’s industry comprises of not only fine Italian cuisine artisans, but culinary academi... ...umers, thus gaining new consumer, and building value. Educating the consumers to appreciate what Academia products offer will lead to future profits and long-term gains. A strategy of stressing Italian fundamentals will help differentiate Academia from its competitors, and at the same time increasing their target market. Italian food is continually becoming more popular around the world, and Academia’s potential to expand will increase by protecting their brand loyalty. Academia should continue to participate in culinary events such as the annual Aspen Food and Wine Festival to promote publicity. Academia should also look to advertise in broader food magazines, such as Zagat. Cookbooks would be another way to reach more consumers. With high quality products, these strategy maneuvers will help management reinforce core competencies and stay ahead of competition.

Ayckbourns Short Plays and Themes of Isolation and Loneliness :: Ayckbourn Essays

Ayckbourn's Short Plays and Themes of Isolation and Loneliness Isolation and loneliness are common themes in three of Ayckbourn's short plays. It appears, in varying degrees within MF, DC and TP but always is a problem/theme inside each play. MF starts off with on the first page with a strong image of Lucy being isolated from the world outside., "she lifts the receiver then replaces it immediately" and "the door chimes again. Lucy ignores these". Lucy is isolating herself from people at the door and anybody trying to ring her, we discover in the next play why she ignores the phone but the door must just be a way of keeping all her outside troubles and upsets away. I.e. Harry her husband who has 'abandoned' her and left her on her own with the multiple children. An adult in a home with no other adults to talk to may feel very alone intellectually speaking. With nobody around to discuss 'adult issues' e.g. the reason why she is so isolated and why Harry has left her. This ties in with the loneliness of Harry in DC. Here Harry is isolated from females in general, he is away from his wife, but he is miles apart from the girls he's trying to impress. You can see, especially with the arrival of Paula that neither of the girls find him remotely interesting or amusing, on page37 Bernice says, "Oh my God, I thought we'd never get rid of him" just before the pair quickly exit the restaurant. Also Harry turns to attempting to have an affair, probably affairs observing how he behaves, either from obsession and lust-or he truly feels so distant from Lucy he cannot sort out any marital problems. Harry and Lucy are a married couple with children and commitments to each other, but both are lonely, and feel remote from the other. They deal with it in different ways though-Harry attempts to cure loneliness with brief sexual companions, while Lucy just cuts herself off from everyone or at least tries to. Lucy's display of role reversal with Terry and Rose shows how distant from the adult community she appears to be becoming. She turns the pair into squabbling kids, and sends them on their way. When it was they who came to help her! The waiter in BM shares a similar problem, he must be friendly and warm to everyone while keeping a respectable isolated stance from their affairs. Meaning in his everyday working capacity he is lonely and having to present a distance between himself and his customers. This is impressed every time the waiter wanders

Differences Between Homogeneous Nucleation and Heterogeneous Nucleation

Newey and Weaver described nucleation as a process that must occur in a system, undergoing a phase transition, before the formation of another phase (Royce). This process is called homogeneous nucleation if it occurs away from any boundaries. On the other hand, heterogeneous nucleation takes place on a surface, interface, dislocation or other defect in the material. In addition, the latter type is favored because it requires a lower free energy change to form the initial stable nucleus where others can adhere resulting an increase in size (cited in Royce).During nucleation, the atoms are forming nano-sized solid clusters. In homogeneous nucleation, clustering occurs above the melting of the metal (Tm) turns back into the liquid state due to its stability on that phase while clustering below Tm can lead to crystallization-nuclei formation if its size reaches stability against melting (Iqbal 3). High solid-liquid interface surface energy is a thermodynamic hindrance in nucleation. Due to this energy barrier, foreign materials are added to serve as nucleation sites. These nucleation sites have lower surface energy, thus, increases the nucleation rate.The stable nuclei then grow into an equiaxed and finer grain structure (Iqbal 3). Moreover, nucleation is a kinetic process wherein atoms of the melted metal form into clusters within the liquid medium at solidification temperature (Iqbal 9). These clusters act as crystallization nuclei where other atoms adhere and solidify. The rate of nucleation process is directly affected by the difference between the equilibrium melting temperature (Tm) and the freezing temperature (Tf) or undercooling. As a rule of thumb, a higher undercooling yields higher nucleation rate. Nucleation MechanismBen Best discussed that mixtures of some metals, like copper and nickel, both in liquid and solid states are highly soluble in all given concentration. Since both copper and nickel have similar crystal structures and atomic radii, in the c ooling process the particles formed have properties imparted by both of these metals. This metal mixture type is called isomorphous. In contrast to this, the mixture of lead and tin is eutectic because of partial solubility of these metals in the solid state. Unlike copper and nickel, lead and tin have different crystal structures and atomic radii.This is the reason why the solid lead-tin alloy can only consist of 2. 5% lead and 19. 2% tin their maximum composition by weight. In addition, a eutectic mixture has composition that completely liquefies at eutectic temperature. For lead-tin mixture, the eutectic composition is 61. 9% that has a eutectic temperature of 183 ºC. This property makes lead-tin mixture as a good soldering agent. Metals typically solidify as crystals at a temperature lower than its melting temperature (Best). The difference in melting and solidification temperatures is called as the maximum undercooling.This undercooling is the effect of pure metal crystalliza tion. During the crystallization process, the nucleation of small particles or crystallization nuclei occurs first then the adherence of other particles on these nuclei follows. As such, other surrounding particles tend to dissolve it back into the liquid phase. Successful fusion into the crystal releases heat which causes other adjacent atoms to dissolve. This means that the high fusion of a metal reflects its tendency for a high solidification temperature and maximum undercooling (Best).The energy affects the dissolution process with respect to the surface area of the nucleus while energy variation favoring nucleus growth is a factor of volume proportion (Best). Surface area varies with the square of the radius, whereas volume varies with the cube of the radius. Thus, a large crystal is not susceptible to surface dissolution. In addition, a metal at a specific temperature has a critical radius size. Radius bigger than the critical radius tend to increase in size while smaller radi us is susceptible to dissolution.Nonetheless, lower temperature facilitates the attainment of the critical radius (Best). Further, crystallization may occur in less undercooling if a higher melting point metal with similar crystal structure to and insoluble at the melting temperature of the original metal is added (Best). The crystal growth around these insoluble nuclei is referred to as heterogeneous nucleation. In heterogeneous nucleation, specific sites in a material catalyze the nucleation process through the reduction of the critical free energy of nucleation (?Gc) (Balluffi, Allen, and Carter 477).It is always in kinetic competition with homogeneous nucleation wherein the faster rate mechanism prevails. The lower value of ?Gc supports heterogeneous nucleation while the greater number of potential nucleation sites favors homogeneous nucleation. Moreover, by means of the nucleation rate expressed as J = Z ßc N exp[-?Gc /(kT )], regimes of temperature, supersaturation, relativ e interfacial energies, and microstructure in which one nucleation mechanism occurs can be predicted.When a small particle deposits on the grain boundaries, edges or corners of a polycrystalline microstructures such as grain boundaries, edges or corners, these crystal imperfections will be eliminated with an associated free-energy decrease lowering ?Gc (Balluffi, Allen, and Carter 477). Solidification in Metals The solidification of metals and their alloys starts when a welded small portion of metal melts and resolidifies (â€Å"Phase Transformation†). Homogeneous nucleation occurs when there are no other chemical species involved in a nucleation process.For instance when a pure liquid metal is slowly cooled below its equilibrium m freezing temperature to a sufficient degree numerous homogeneous nuclei are created by slow-moving atoms bonding together in a crystalline form. While the involvement of other chemical species to favor nucleation results to heterogeneous nucleation . Solidification is a crucial stage in metallurgical processes such as in ingot casting, continuous casting, squeeze casting, pressure casting, atomization (Phanikumar and Chattopadhyay 25).This is also an important stage in secondary manufacturing processes such as welding, soldering, brazing, cladding and sintering. For the properties of the product largely depend on the mechanical properties and the microstructure of the different phases. The microstructure of the products on the other hand, is affected by thermal and solutal processing conditions and thermodynamic and kinetics factors of the materials (Phanikumar and Chattopadhyay 25). Solidification involves heat extraction through diffusion and convection processes, and solid-liquid interface movement.In addition, the microstructure solidification is a complex process affected by the rate of solidification (v), temperature gradient (G), composition (C) and kinetics factors such as phase equilibrium reactions, nucleation and gr owth, and crystallographic constraints (Phanikumar and Chattopadhyay 25). Solidification and Mechanical Properties Industrial treatments such as rolling or forging, alloying and thermal treatment are done to metals to strengthen their mechanical properties.For instance, pure aluminum has a tensile strength of around 13,000 pounds per square inch (psi), however, by cold-working its strength is approximately doubled. This can also be done by adding alloying metals such as manganese, silicon, copper, magnesium and zinc. Similarly, heat treatment makes the tensile strength of aluminum over 100, 000 psi (â€Å"Property Modification† n. p. ). Plastic or permanent deformation of crystalline materials is largely affected by the tendency of dislocation within the material. Thus, restraining the dislocation movement improves its strength.This is done by controlling the grain size, strain hardening, and alloying (â€Å"Strengthening/Hardening Mechanisms†). In the material science engineering, a grain is a crystal with unsmooth faces due to the deferred growth in contact with a boundary (â€Å"Solidification†). The grain boundary is the interface between grains. Atoms in this region are disordered, hence, no crystalline structure. The different orientation of adjacent grains within the material, the boundary between grains hinders the dislocation movement and the resulting slip.The solidification rate controls the size and number of grains. Smaller grains denote shorter distances between atoms that can move in a slip plane, thus, improving the strength of the material (â€Å"Strengthening/Hardening Mechanisms†). The improvement of metallic strength is done through strain or work hardening or cold-working. In plastic deformation of metals, the movement of dislocations produces additional dislocations (â€Å"Strengthening/Hardening Mechanisms†). These dislocations interact, pin or tangle resulting to decline in dislocations movement and ca uses material strengthening.This strengthening is called as cold-working for the occurrence of plastic deformation is at low temperature which impedes atom movements. However, cold-working process reduces the ductility of metals. On the other hand, when the process is done at higher temperature, the atoms rearrange to improve material strength (â€Å"Strengthening/Hardening Mechanisms†). Since cold-working process reduces ductility, thermal or heat treatment is used to remove its effect. The strengthening gained through the cold-working will be lost if the strain hardened materials are exposed at higher temperatures.Recovery, re-crystallization, and grain growth may occur during the heat treatment (â€Å"Strengthening/Hardening Mechanisms†). Nucleation and Mechanical Properties The number of nucleation sites for the freezing metal affects the grain structure of the solid metal product. Few number of nucleation sites means smaller number of crystallization nuclei, hence , large-grain or coarse structure results. An increase in nucleation site numbers, on the other hand, yields fine-grain structure because a lot of crystallization nuclei are available for the dissolve phase attach and solidify.Fine grain structure is the most desired product for strength and uniformity in metal production (Poster and Easterling 125). An ideal crystal has a perfect crystalline structure and characterized by a regular repetitive lattice in any space direction. However, crystalline materials have crystallographic defects. Minor crystal defect may impart significant metallic properties. The conductivity of silicon, for instance, is doubled when it is contaminated with 10-8 percent mass of boron (Tisza 107).There are several properties that can be identified based on the ideal lattice structure such as thermal and electrical conductivities, and specific heat. These are called as structure-insensitive properties. However, there are structure-sensitive properties such as m echanical properties that are hardly predicted on the basis of ideal crystal structure. The discrepancy between the ideal and real crystal structures result to the large differences in theoretical and experimental computation of properties (Tisza 107).