Obesity as a Social and Medical Problem Essay Example for Free

Obesity as a Social and Medical Problem Essay Obesity has become an epidemic in our over indulgent North American society. In addition to body image issues, obesity causes significant health issues. Society often views the word obesity to be a disease when it is actually a sign of a disorder; genetic or environmental. The percentage of our population that is growing overweight is increasing every year, and can become a very serious issue if it is not dealt with more urgently. Problems relating to self-confidence, self-consciousness, and isolation can occur as a result. An enduring problem in today’s society, especially with children, has to deal with sociality. Public appearance is very important to us and when we don’t look good, or have a low self-esteem, it can lead to further issues; possibly fatal. Those with the â€Å"obese† label have to deal with social problems every single day. The fact they don’t look â€Å"normal† causes them to not fit in with the â€Å"regular crowd† and can lead to isolation issues. Being isolated from the majority of the population can lead to problems such as depression and later on, suicide. Another big influence on social problems relating to obesity is the media. Every day at some time, somewhere, we are watching TV, reading the newspaper, or searching the web. The media tends to give labels and meaning to words in which we get influenced on. The view that the media portrays to us is that if you are a certain weight, you are obese; and vice-versa. Another problem with the media is the amount of time our society spends on it. Time consumed on useless media takes away from time spent doing productive activities such as exercising. However, the corruption in social patterns relating to obesity isn’t the only problem. Another big factor stands on the medical side. Obesity is a risk in a number of prolonged diseases. Maintaining a healthy weight is critical in order to reduce the risk of those diseases and additionally, improve your overall health. Many children and youth have fewer opportunities to be physically active at school as physical education classes and time spent being physically active at school have been reduced. Being overweight or obese has many risks involved. Serious conditions such as a stroke, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes, can occur as a result; just to name a few. Linked with health problems is a poor diet. Variations in our food environment have made it challenging to maintain a healthy weight. Society tends to want to eat more fast-food rather than cooking at home because it is cheaper and less time-consuming. We have become lazy when it comes to our diets. We don’t take into consideration the Food Guide and basically eat what we want, when we want. Obesity is also a major drain on the economy. The amount of money being spent on health care because of obesity-related diseases is astronomical. The Globe and Mail had an article headlined, â€Å"Obesity costs economy up to $7-billion a year†. By eating right and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, our society can cut down economic costs drastically. All we need to have is some discipline, the proper diet, and exercise. Numerous children today are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console. Even worse, some schools have banned the use of balls used at recess. An article in the Toronto Star explained why such a peculiar ban took place at Earl Beatty Public School, â€Å"The letter stated that there have been a â€Å"few serious incidents† in which staff and students have been hit, or come close to being struck, by flying balls. Not only are we lacking in exercise, the catalyst for running around at recess has now been taken away for some. This issue is going to further decrease the amount of physical activity kids partake in, and increase the possibilities of obesity. Commuting to and from work also contributes to obesity when you consider that in order to get by, mo st families need to have at least two incomes. People often have to commute long distances to jobs, and with the minimal time for meal preparation, fast foods become a number one option. Furthermore, having supermarkets, as well as other grocery stores open all night, more money is being spent on expensive, half-prepared meals. Children need to have a healthy example with their parents being physically active and eating healthy. Preventing children from becoming overweight means adapting to the way your family eats and exercises. Many believe that it is the parents fault when it comes to child obesity, and they’re correct. Children don’t have the discipline to eat â€Å"healthy† foods and aren’t capable of preparing home-made meals. It is the parent’s job to influence and lead the way for our youth. If parents set a better example health-wise for their children, it is highly doubtful that the percentage of obesity would be even remotely close to where it is now. Managing and preventing obesity can lead to many societal benefits. Having healthy, positive-minded people in our cities is always encouraging. Managing obesity can lessen the stress that occurs at work, as well as create a friendlier environment. Having a good work environment has shown to raise productivity, therefore creating better capital. Another optimistic result from obesity management in society is the discipline factor. If those that are overweight can overcome a huge default in their life, by working hard and staying focused, it will then translate into other aspects of their day-to-day lives. Our society will become that of a disciplined one, therefore work will become more productive because there is better focus on the tasks at hand; furthermore, children in school will become more confident because of how hard they worked as well as their new self-image. Overall, if our world can manage and prevent obesity, living can ultimately consist more of positive vibes and less of anxiety. In conclusion, it is clear we have a serious issue with obesity that impacts many aspects of people’s lives. It is an austere condition that doesn’t get monitored with enough concern. Possibilities such as Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are the two leading causes from being overweight. Medical, as well as social research can help people further comprehend that weight and obesity issues are vastly social, not individual. We have to start working together on fighting obesity. We are a lazy society and we tend to make things harder than they really are. If society works together to help those in need by giving them the courage and confidence needed to make a personal change, this unnecessary burden called obesity can be upheld. It all starts with the right diet as well as exercise and a strong commitment. As little as ten minutes a day on the bike can improve one’s health. The ball is in our court, and stronger action needs to be taken. We need to start now because the benefits to individuals as well as society are well worth the effort.

Pluto and its Satellites from the New Horizons Spacecraft

Pluto and its Satellites from the New Horizons Spacecraft CAROLINE MOORE AbstractThe New Horizons spacecraft has provided the first close-up study of Pluto and its satellites. Much more analysis is required of the data but the early findings have revolutionised our understanding of the Pluto system. Discoveries such as the complexity of Plutos surface, the current geological activity, the atmospheric hazes, lower-than-predicted escape rate and the largest known glacier in the solar system were completely unexpected. Plutos moon Charon has surprised with its dark red polar cap and tectonic belt and data from the smaller moons supports the hypothesis that they were formed out of the remnants from the collision that formed the Pluto-Charon binary. Introduction Since its discovery in 1930, with a semi-major axis of 39.5AU, Pluto has been considered an icy oddity. Beyond the realm of the gas giants, Pluto did not fit into any known solar system architecture until 1992 when the existence of the Kuiper Belt (30-50AU from the Sun) was confirmed by the discovery of the first Kuiper Belt object (KBO). Now more than 1,000 KBOs have been identified, including five dwarf planets, and it is estimated that more than 100,000 objects larger than 100km orbit the sun within the belt. Its believed that the Kuiper Belt contains leftover remnants from the beginning of the solar system and that sending the New Horizons mission to explore Pluto, its moons and other KBOs would provide valuable insights into the formation of the solar system. The fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons started its mission on 19 January 2006 and flew past Jupiter in February 2007 for a gravity boost which reduced journey time to Pluto by four years. It conducted a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in summer 2015, culminating with the closest approach to Pluto on 14 July 2015. As well as the first mission to an ice dwarf planet, New Horizons is also the first mission since Voyager in the 1970s to an unexplored planet. The official NASA science goals for the Pluto-system exploration element of the New Horizons mission were prioritised into three categories: required, important and desired. A key goal was mapping the surfaces of Pluto and Charon with an average resolution of one kilometre (the best the Hubble Space Telescope can do is a 500km resolution) and mapping the surface composition of the various geological regions of the two bodies. Another key goal was determining the composition, structure and escape rate of Plutos atmosphere. The lower priority goals include measurement of surface temperature and a search for additional satellites or rings around Pluto. The full list of science goals appears in Appendix 1. The seven instruments on New Horizons were selected to meet these science goals. They are the most capable suite of instruments ever launched on a first reconnaissance mission to an unexplored planet (now dwarf-planet). They include an imaging spectrometer to probe atmospheric composition and planet structure; a visible and infrared camera to obtain high-resolution colour maps and surface composition maps; a long-range telescopic camera for high-resolution surface images; particle spectrometers to measure charged particles in and around Plutos atmosphere; a detector to measure masses of space-dust particles; and two copies of a radio science experiment to examine atmospheric structure, surface thermal properties and planet mass. The seven instruments are listed in Appendix 2. Although considerably more work needs to be done to analyse the data received from New Horizons it is now clear that all NASAs science objectives have been met. On 14 July 2016, the anniversary of the fly-by in 2015, NASA published Principal Investigator, Alan Sterns, top ten discoveries so far from the Pluto element of the mission. They range from the unexpected complexity of Pluto and its moons to the lower than predicted escape velocity, and the ten have been used as a focus for this dissertation. The geology of Pluto Prior to New Horizons, the best images of Plutos surface were obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope. A colour map released in 2010 isnt sharp enough to show any features, such as craters or mountains, but does show a degree of complexity and variegation with white, dark-orange and charcoal-black terrain. However, the evidence revealed by New Horizons of current geological activity was completely unexpected and the variety of landscapes on Pluto is also much greater than expected. Hummocky cratered uplands, washboard terrain (expanses of parallel ridges and troughs), chaotic blocky mountains, cellular and non-cellular nitrogen ice plains, pitted hummocky nitrogen ice plains and rugged dark highlands all feature. A prominent feature of the encounter hemisphere (EH) is Sputnik Planum (SP), an 870,000km ² oval-shaped plain on the left side of the heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio. SP is most likely composed of volatile ices Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡, CO and CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ and is the largest known glacier in the solar system. Computer simulations have been produced to show that the surface of SP is covered with icy, churning, convective cells which recycle their surfaces every 500,000 years. The modest internal heat of Pluto causes great blobs of solid nitrogen to rise up, then cool and sink back down. This helps explain why no impact craters have been observed on SP which has a crater retention age of no greater than 10 million years. Pluto and its largest satellite Charon are both tidally locked which means that one hemisphere of Pluto is locked facing one hemisphere of Charon. They both spin and orbit in 6.4 days. Data from New Horizons shows that SP is almost exactly opposite Charon: the chance of this happening randomly is 5%. It is proposed that a subsurface ocean exists under SP and that over millions of years the planet has spun around, aligning the subsurface ocean and SP above it, almost exactly opposite the line connecting Pluto and Charon. Along the west margin of SP there extends for hundreds of kilometres a discontinuous chain of mountains consisting of discrete angular blocks with apparently random orientations and sizes up to 40km across and 5km high (calculated by shadow length). Prior to New Horizons it was known that Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡, CO and CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ ices existed on the surface of Pluto, but once the images of these mountains were viewed it became clear that these ices could not support such high elevations and therefore water ices must be present. This has now been confirmed spectroscopically by New Horizons. Because water ice is buoyant with respect to N2 and CO ice, some small blocks can be carried along by convective or advective motions and larger blocks can be undermined, shifted and rotated. Because of this its possible, if the solid Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡/CO ice is sufficiently deep, that some of the smaller mountains observed may be floating within the plains, although the elevation of the l argest mountains on the western margin of SP suggests that they are most likely grounded on the basement. It is not known why there are no mountainous terrains at the eastern edge of SP. At a few locations at the eastern boundary of SP and the pitted uplands, smooth materials connect with SP along the floors of troughs 1.5 to 6km wide. High-phase imaging of the southernmost of these systems has shown clearly visible medial flow lines within the troughs, with the ice in the troughs sloping at an angle of 2-3 degrees over 50km. This implies glacial-like flow of the plains material into SP. At present it is unknown if the flowing ice carved the troughs. Cthulhu Regio (CR) is a large dark area ranging from ~ 15 °N to 20 ° S and bordering TR at 160 °E and stretching almost halfway around the planet to 20 °E . The region, comprised of a variety of geographical terrains, is covered by a thin dark mantle likely to be deposits of atmospheric Tholin. Tholin is a hydrocarbon formed by the action of sunlight on the methane in Plutos atmosphere. The methane molecules link together in progressively longer chains and as they get heavier they form a haze which eventually settles to the surface. Two broad quasicircular mounds, south of SP, might have an origin involving cryovolcanism. The smaller, Wright Mons, is 3-4km high and ~150km across, with a central depression at its summit at least 5km deep with a rim showing concentric fabric. The larger, Piccard Mons, is similar but reaches ~6 km high and 225km across. If their origin is cryovolcanic it would entail materials much stronger than Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ ice. There are features on the EH which suggest prolonged tectonic activity. Numerous belts of aligned troughs and scarps, that can reach several hundred kilometres in length and several kilometres high, are often observed to cut across pre-existing landforms as well as branch into each other and these have been interpreted as extensional fractures in varying stages of degradation. The differing fault trends and states of degradation suggest several deformation episodes and prolonged tectonic activity. The great length of individual faults on Pluto, their scarp steepness and spectral evidence strongly suggest a thick water-ice lithosphere rather than a thin one or one made of any of Plutos volatile ices. Pluto displays a wide variety of crater morphologies and sizes vary from ~ 0.5 to 250km, not including any possible ancient basin underlying SP. Crater densities vary widely, from heavily cratered portions of CR to the apparently un-cratered SP. From the total cumulative crater size-frequency distribution its been concluded that Plutos surface, as a whole, dates back nearly to the time of the end of Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB)- perhaps 4 billion years ago. On the EH only the eastern portion of CR appears to approach the saturation crater densities expected of a terrain that has survived from the LHB itself. In contrast the water-ice mountains and the mounds mentioned previously are very young and no craters, down to a diameter of 2km, have been detected on SP. This implies a model crater retention age of no greater than 10 million years for SP and possibly much less. The atmosphere of Pluto A major goal of the new Horizons mission was to explore and characterise the structure and composition of Plutos atmosphere. Much more work is required to fully analyse the data obtained, but already understanding of Plutos atmosphere has been revolutionised. Ground based stellar occultation had shown an atmosphere around Pluto composed primarily of Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ with trace amounts of CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾, CO and HCN, with complex surface interaction and an uncertain surface pressure of ~3-60 ÃŽÂ ¼bar and a warm stratosphere at ~100K above a much colder surface (38-55K). The New Horizons trajectory allowed near simultaneous radio (using REX) and solar (using ALICE) occultations. The spacecraft passed almost diametrically behind Pluto, as viewed from Earth, with ingress near the centre of the anti-Charon hemisphere and egress near the centre of the Charon facing hemisphere. The atmospheric structure at altitudes 0 to 50km was retrieved from REX. A strong temperature inversion at both ingress and egress was found for altitudes below ~20km, consistent with measurements taken from Earth. However new evidence of horizontal variations in temperature was discovered from two notable differences between the REX profiles at entry and exit. First, the temperature inversion at entry is greater than that at exit; the derived mean vertical gradient in the lowest 10km of the inversion is 6.4  ± 0.9 Kkmà ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ »Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¹ at entry but only 3.4  ± 0.9 Kkmà ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ »Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¹ at exit. Second, the temperature inversion at entry ends abruptly at an alti tude of ~4km, marking the top of a distinctive boundary layer. The temperature inversion at exit, however, appears to extend all the way to the surface, with no evidence for a boundary layer at this location. These differences in temperature structure cannot be accounted for by night-time radiative cooling or daytime solar heating within the atmosphere because the radiative constant of Plutos atmosphere is approximately 700 Pluto days. From REX data, surface pressure has been estimated at 11  ±1 ÃŽÂ ¼bar at entry and 10  ± 1 ÃŽÂ ¼bar at exit. Analysis of stellar occultation data from 2012 and 2013 yielded essentially the same result indicating that the mass of Plutos atmosphere has not changed significantly in recent years. REX data shows that at occultation exit, temperature adjacent to the surface is 45  ± 3K: this may be indicative of a surface material less volatile that Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ ice because a surface covered in Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ ice would have a temperature of 37.0K to remain in vapour pressure equilibrium with the measured surface pressure of Pluto. At occultation entry, close to the region SP, the mean temperature in the lowest 4km above the surface is 37  ± 3K close to the saturation temperature of Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡. It is suggested that this layer of cold air could arise directly from sublimation of the Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ ices in SP. Calculations have shown that it would take approximately two years for downward heat conduction in the overlying temperature inversion to establish and an inversion that extends to the ground. So the observed boundary layer would have vanished on this timescale without the resupply of cold Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡: further confirmation of SP as a sublimation source. Models indicate that photochemistry in Plutos upper atmosphere is similar to that of Titan and Triton. Methane is processed into heavier hydrocarbons by far-ultraviolet sunlight and also solar Lyman ÃŽÂ ± photons. The solar occultation results show that the upper atmosphere is much colder than previously thought. The observed Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ opacity at high altitudes was lower than expected. The absorption of sunlight in the 57-64nm wavelength range by Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ at high altitudes (850 to 1400km) constrains the temperature of the upper atmosphere to be approximately 70K. The mechanisms by which Plutos upper atmosphere is being cooled are not yet understood. The existence and complexity of Plutos hazes, as detected by LORRI and MVIC, was unexpected. Extensive, optically thin hazes extend to altitudes of >200km. Distinct layers are present which vary with altitude but are contiguous for over 1000km. In the highest resolution images from MVIC about 20 haze layers are resolved. The haze is unexpectedly blue, suggesting a composition of very small particles thought to be tholin-like in composition from the scattering properties observed. The layers in the haze are possibly the result of internal gravity waves driven by sublimation forcing orographic forcing. Pluto has a much lower than predicted escape rate. Prior to New Horizons the escape rate to space of Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ was calculated to be in the region of 2.8 x 10 ²Ãƒ ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ · molecules sà ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ »Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¹ based on estimates of Plutos surface pressure and radius, as well as CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ and CO mixing ratios. However these calculations did not take into account the cooling of the upper atmosphere. Its now calculated that the escape rate for Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ is 1 x 10 ²Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ³ molecules sà ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ »Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¹. The escape rate calculated for CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ is 5 x 10 ²Ãƒ ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ µ molecules sà ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ »Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¹ which is much closer to estimates prior to New Horizons and also 500 times faster than that of Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡. If these rates for Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ and CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ are stable over a single Pluto orbit and over the age of the solar system, the equivalent thickness of Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ and CHà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ surf ace ice lost to space would be approx. 6cm and 28m respectively. This relatively small amount of Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ loss is consistent with an undetected Charon atmosphere but appears to be inconsistent with the erosional features seen on Plutos surface. This suggests that Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ escapes in the past may have been occasionally higher. The loss of methane is a suggested origin for Charons north polar red colour, involving varnishing of the winter poles over millions of years through cold-trapping and polymerisation of escaping hydrocarbons from Pluto. Charon The EH of Charon has two prominent features: a tectonic belt of ridges and canyons in the equatorial region and a dark reddish cap to the North pole. The tectonic belt is more than 200km wide in places and consists of scarps, ridges and troughs which are almost parallel. There are two long, narrow, steep-sided depressions (chasmata). Serenity Chasma is >50km wide and ~5km deep and Mandjet Chasma reaches ~7km deep. Both chasmata are similar to extensional rifts visible on several mid-sized icy satellites such as Saturns Tethys. Its assumed that the tectonic belt is the result of substantial, aligned tectonic extension of Charons icy crust. The fact that several large craters are visible on the chasmata implies that the extension is geologically old. North of the tectonic belt there is rugged, cratered terrain. Mountains of 20km can be seen in the limb profiles. The crater density at large sizes on the northern terrain implies a surface age older than ~4 billion years. The Northern hemisphere is capped by dark reddish region named Mordor Macula (MM), the extent of which does not correlate with any specific terrain boundary or geological feature. Layer This is an unusual feature because polar caps on other bodies tend to be bright, not dark, due to some kind of reflective ice or frost. Because the red-stained areas of Pluto look similar to MM it was originally thought that they might have similar origin. Its now known that Plutos red-staining is due to atmospheric tholins and since Charon has no atmosphere the origin could not be the same. Its now proposed that the tholins on Charon are made from methane escaping from near-by Pluto. The methane sticks to the winter pole where the temperature is lowest and the ultraviolet light rec eived at night is sufficient to start to link the methane molecules together. As daytime comes, the molecules are heavy enough to remain on the surface and sunlight completes the process of polymerisation to form tholins. South of the tectonic belt the surface is smoother, comprised of seemingly continuous plains named Vulcan Planum. Tectonic resurfacing is one possible origin of these plains. Areas of relatively low crater density and at least one pancake-shaped unit might imply cryovolcanic resurfacing. The spatial distribution of tectonic features across Charon is not consistent with the types of patterns predicted from tidal or de-spinning stresses. This may point to Charon having had an ancient subsurface ocean that subsequently froze producing the extensional features and possibly allowing the eruption of cryovolcanic magmas. The small moons of Pluto When the New Horizons mission was green-lighted only the dwarf planets Pluto and Charon were known. Then in 2005 the two small moons Nix and Hydra were discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope, followed by the even smaller moons, Kerberos and Styx, in 2011 and 2012 respectively. It had been expected that New Horizons would detect additional satellites but no other moons larger than approx. 1.7km in diameter are present at orbital radii between 5,000 and 80,000km. The general hypothesis is that Pluto and its satellites were produced by the collision of Pluto with a similar Kuiper Belt object and it was hoped that New Horizons would provide information on whether this was the case. Several findings have helped to reinforce this hypothesis. First, the small moons are highly elongated, suggesting they formed and grew by the agglomeration of small objects, but, due to their size, their gravity was not sufficient to pull the material into a spherical shape. Indeed, from New Horizons images Kerberos appears to have a double-lobed shape suggesting the merger of two bodies. The shapes are consistent with the hypothesis that they all formed in the remnant disk produced by the collision that formed the Pluto-Charon binary. Second, it has been found that all four satellites have high geometric albedos, ranging from 0.56  ± 0.05 to 0.83  ± 0.08. In contrast, the majority of small KBOs have geometric albedo of ~ 0.1. This is further evidence that the moons were formed from the remnant disk rather than being captured gravitationally from the general Kuiper Belt population. Third, 11 craterlike features have been identified on Nix, and 3 craterlike features on Hydra. Crater densities have been calculated which exceed the values found on the older regions of Pluto and Charon and suggest that the surfaces of Nix and Hydra date back to at least 4 billion years ago. This fact again supports the formation hypothesis. From the high surface albedo of the moons, its strongly suggested that, like Charon, they are covered with water ice. Unlike Pluto and Charon, which rotate synchronously, the small moons are not synchronous and rotate much faster than expected with rotation periods ranging from 0.43 days to 5.31  ± 0.10. In addition, the rotational poles of the small moons are almost at right angles to the common rotational poles of Pluto and Charon. These rotation speeds and axes have not been observed in other regular satellite systems and imply that tidal spinning has not played a major role in the moons rotational histories. A future study will determine whether chaos has played a part.

The bluetooth technology

The bluetooth technology Abstract: Bluetooth Technology has been widely spreading every single day due to its availability in most of the electronic devices that are dominant nowadays. As any other technology, when widespread, will have a huge impact on the users and societies. In our study, we will search the impact of Bluetooth technology on the society. To get a realistic knowledge, a survey contains 10 questions on our topic was conducted. 100 people from Multimedia University and Limkokwing University were randomly chosen to participate in our survey. In addition, we relied on other sources such as the internet to collect information regarding our topic. From our study we have found that, the spreading of the Bluetooth technology has made life easier. As any other technology Bluetooth is, sometimes, used in a negative way and consequently has a negative influence. Acknowledgement: We would, firstly, like to thank our God who gave us the ability to accomplish this research. Secondly, many thanks to our EHM 3066, Engineers and society, subject lecturers who have been giving us a very good example of diligence and hard work. We send our gratitude to the participants who have participated in our questionnaire and given us from their precious time. Thanks to our families, friends and all our beloved people who has always given us the inspiration to be successful. We would finally thank our institution, the Faculty of Engineering (FOE), Multimedia University. 1.0 Introduction: Technology is considered to be the mount to climb up and attain the desired degree of development of a society. Man has been trying to facilitate his life through inventions and innovation. He first invented the â€Å"wheel† and hasnt stopped so far. He lately invaded other planets. Telecommunication means, when computerized, played a very important role in spreading data which enabled scientists utilize the outcome of other scientistsresearches and that lead to more and more advancement in various fields of science and thus more technical devices. These devices didnt have the present shape. A lot of effort was exerted in the process of betterment with regard to performance, size and ease of use. This trial is to have a clear idea of how Bluetooth technology is affecting the society and our lives. 1.1 Overview of Bluetooth: In the striving for reduction of cables between computers and their connected units, Ericson Mobile Communication, in 1994, started the project named and named it Bluetooth. What is Bluetooth? Bluetooth is the name of a new technology that is now becoming widespread on a commercial basis. It promises to change significantly the way we use machines. Instead of using cables to transmit data between components of a PC,for example, the printer, the mouse and so on, a small and cheap radio chip to be plugged into these components will do the job. In short it is a Cable-replacement technology. The name was first used as a code name, but it stuck as time passed. It is named after the 10th Danish King, Herald Bluetooth, who had united Scandinavian Europe at a time it was severely divided. The founders of the Bluetooth technology found the name fitting as the Bluetooth technology is able to unite various industries like cellphone, computing and automotive markets. By Bluetooth technology one is able to simplify and combine several forms of wireless communication into a single, safe, power-saver, inexpensive, globally available radio frequency. 2.0 Bluetooth Mechanism: By embedding short-range transceivers that are inexpensive and tiny, into new electronic devices that are available nowadays, Bluetooth achieves its goal. In addition to three voice channels, Bluetooth can transfer data at data transferring speed up to 721 Kbps. As Bluetooth operates on radio band, at frequency of 2.45 GHz, that is unlicensed and globally available, people or â€Å"international travelers† have no obstructions to use Bluetooth-enabled equipment. Moreover, Bluetooth units might be either externally adapted or built into electronics devices. E.g. in a personal computer, Bluetooth devices can be built into the motherboard as a PC card or on the other hand it can be used as an external Bluetooth adaptor through connecting it to a USB port. From the IEEE 802 standard, each Bluetooth device has its own 48-bit address. One feature is that connections are not only point to point, but they can also be multipoint connections. Usually, Bluetooth devices have a maximum ra nge of connection up to 10 meters. However, by increasing the power, the range of connection might be extended to 100 meters. Bluetooth devices have a technique called frequency hopping. The main purpose of this technique is to protect the devices from radio interference. The mechanism of the technique is that Bluetooth devices change arbitrarily their frequency maximally 1600 times/s. when an error occurs, it will be immediately corrected by the three complimentary error correction schemes that any Bluetooth device has. Bluetooth devices are also provided with built in verification and encryption. When Bluetooth devices are in a â€Å"hold† mode they consume approximately 30 micro Amperes from the battery of the electronic devices, such as cell phones and laptops, while they consume a range of 8 to 30 milliamps, less than one tenth of a watt, when they are in the active transmission mode. Moreover, only 0.3 mA are consumed by the radio chip, when in a standby mode, which means that its less than 3 % of the power that is used by a mobile phone. Also, the radio chip has an excellent power-saving feature that is as soon as the traffic volume lessens, the chip shifts automatically to a low-power mode. The above indicates that Bluetooth devices do not drain precious battery life. But beyond un-tethering devices by replacing the cables, Bluetooth devices can form a small and private ad hoc grouping of devices that are away from fixed network infrastructures by providing universal bridges. These bridges are to connect between a device, data networks and a peripheral interface. Furthermore, noisy radio frequency environment does not affect Bluetooth devices since they are designed to use a scheme called frequency hopping scheme and as well as a fast acknowledgment in order to make the link active and strong. After sending or receiving a packet, Bluetooth radio modules keep away from interference from other radio signals by jumping â€Å"hopping† to a new frequency. The Bluetooth radio uses shorter packets and jumps â€Å"hops† faster than other systems that are operating in the identical frequency band the thing that makes the Bluetooth radio more active and stronger than other systems. In addition, these fast hopping from a frequency to another an d the short packages decrease the impact of domestic microwave ovens. Random noise may affect long-distance links. However, Forward Error Correction (FEC) is used to eliminate this impact. The encoding is, then ideal for an uncoordinated environment. At the bit level, Bluetooth security is guaranteed. Users can control the authentication by using a 128 bit key where radio signals are coded with 8 to 128 bits. The Bluetooth radio transmissions match the safety standards that are required by the countries where the technology is used with respect to the effects of radio transmissions on the human body. Bluetooth enabled devices emissions are less than those from industry-standard cordless phones. Also, Bluetooth module do not interfere, cause harm or even affect public or private telecommunications network. 2.1 Bluetooth Operation Modes: A feature of Bluetooth technology is that, once the Bluetooth devices come in range of each other, they will instantly form networks between each other.Another feature is that a number of devices can be connected together via Bluetooth in an ad hoc form. This feature is technically known as â€Å"Piconet†. In a piconet two or more devices can be connected together. A scatter net can be formed by multiple independent and non-synchronized piconets. Moreover, any device that is in a piconet can be a member of another piconet through a technique called time multiplexing. This techniques mechanism is to share the time suitably, thus a device can be a member of two or more piconets. As Bluetooth system supports multi-point connections as well as point to point connections, Bluetooth devices can be connected to a maximum of another 7 points, a point to multipoint connection. Every piconet has different frequency hopping sequence and hence a number of piconets may be created and linked together. All users that are sharing onepiconet are synchronized piconets hopping sequence. A Bluetooth device uses different hopping sequence when the device is connected to two or more piconets where a piconet starts with 2 connected devices, e.g a laptop and a mobile phone, and may grow to 8 connected devices . All Bluetooth devices have the same implementations. However, there are two types of unites in a piconet which are master units and slave units.A master unit is the unit which synchronizes the other devices by its clock and hopping sequence, where the other devices in the piconet are called slave units. In order to differentiate between units participating in the piconet, a 3-bit MAC address is used. When a unit does not have a MAC address, it is called a park unit. Park units are usually synchronized. Anyway, since parked units have an 8 bit address, a maximum of 256 parked units may be existed. 3.0 Bluetooths positive impact: 3.1 Huge Impact: What could the practical use of Bluetooth be on Society? Well, it is unlimited and depends on the way it is used. From a practical viewpoint, we can adapt all computerized Have a look at the list below! Printers Desktop and laptop computers Modems LAN access units http://www.sysopt.com/img/icons/war_ex.jpghttp://www.sysopt.com/img/icons/log_v450.jpgFax devices Phones and pagers Headsets Keyboards joysticks Notebook computers Practically, most of the digital devices can be a part of the system of Bluetooth. The dynamic of Bluetooths connectivity nature has the ability to replace USB (Universal Serial Bus). A Bluetooth-mouse can be in existence by using the improved plug-and-play-systems. The installation can take effect after the operating system is rebooted. 3.2 Bluetooths Applications 3.2.1Bluetooth and the Internet One of the most important advantages of Bluetooth is that it enables you to connect a device provided with internet connectivity to another device that is not. E.g. you might connect your hand phone that has a built-in Bluetooth to your laptop that has a Wi-Fi via Bluetooth connection. Then, via you laptops Wi-Fi, if exists, to a Wi-Fi router. Once your laptop is connected to the internet you can enable your hand phone to be connected to the internet as well. Moreover, this example goes correctly to most of the devices that have Bluetooth technology not only hand phones.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Buying a device that has a Wi-Fi or buying another that has a Bluetooth technology is sometimes a confusing choice. One may think that by choosing Bluetooth he/she will not be able to connect to the internet and in this case choosing a Wi-Fi would be better.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, this is not such a really correct choice. Since, from the above example, you can modify your device to get connected to the internet via the Bluetooth technology purchasing a device that has a Bluetooth technology is a better choice as you can get two technologies in one ; internet connectivity (the function of Wi-Fi is achieved) and Bluetooth technology. 3.2.2 Some Other Applications: A Bluetooth-mouse could be used at a further distance from a monitor, and while moving about in the room. A Bluetooth-keyboard could be used further away from the monitor. This would reduce eye-strain for persons who are long-sighted. Increasing the distance would also reduce exposure to electromagnetic radiation from the monitor. A Bluetooth-keyboard could also be used to address more than one computer, in a dynamic, switchless manner. You can use your e-mail while your laptop lies in a briefcase; when your laptop receives an E-mail your mobile phone will immediately alert you and then, you can read the received e-mails in your mobile phones display. A businessman may enable his laptop to find a suitable printer once he enters a company.As soon as a suitable printer is found, data will be sent from the laptop to that printer via Bluetooth connection to print it out. Make a connection to printers and faxes without messy cables. Wireless connection to video projectors and digital cameras. An easy and elegance connection from cell phone to handsfree headset. A useful connection between Bluetooth interface to office private branch exchange (PBX). Smooth creating of dial up networks and automatic e-mail. Use mobile phones as office wireless phones. Use of personal computers or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) as hands-free phone. Automatic transferring and swapping of files, software, electronic business cards, calendars etc. Dancing couples at a dance hall could receive the music through their headsets and pick the dance of their choice Not to mention many more to come. 3.3The influence of the Bluetooth technology on Society: Thanks to the Bluetooth technology, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) can be implemented without wires. This means that all the functions of a conventional fixed LAN are available in a WLAN including file sharing, peripheral sharing, Internet access and many more. 3.3.1 Mobility and low cost: Mobility and cost-saving installation are the main advantages of wireless networks in society. Most of the application scenarios of wireless are related to these two features. Mobility enables users to roam on while being connected to backbone networks. Many jobs require wandering workers. Portable computers are indispensable for people like inventory clerks, healthcare workers, police officers, and emergency-care specialists. Wireless networking provides important cost savings in the areas where cables cannot be easily installed, such as historical buildings and residential houses. In distant sites, branch offices and other situations where on-site networking expertise might not be available or fast networking is needed, computers equipped with wireless LANs can be pre-configured and shipped ready to use. 3.3.2 Circulation of Information: The wireless local area network business has been focused on offices since the industry began. But recently, home networking is seen to be a fast growing market. The personal computer has become a powerful platform for education, entertainment, information access and personal finance applications. At home, with the wide use of PCs and the Internet becoming the main way to access information, the role of the PCs has expanded and will continue to expand especially in the area of education. On the social side, this means that wireless networks is the easy way to access internet, find information and at the same time the users gain more knowledge through browsing the internet. 3.3.3Avoiding wire tangle Bluetooth is also one of the examples of using wireless range other than PDA and etc. The objective of Bluetooth technology is to replace cables and infrared links used to connect unrelated electronic devices with one universal short-range radio link. 3.4 Industrial boom Bluetooth applications reflect the mobile phone industry background of the inventors of some famous phone models for example Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and many more. There are many useful things that Bluetooth had given to our society. 3.5 Information Interchange In meetings and conferences, users can share information instantly with all participants without any wired connections. 3.6 Convenience: A user can also cordlessly run and control, for instance, a projector, or can connect his headset to his laptop or any wired connection to keep hands free for more important tasks while in the office, home or in the car. When laptop receives an email, the user will get an alert on mobile phone. Users can also browse all incoming emails and read those selected on the mobile phones display. Public Bluetooth wireless access points could enable free or charged access to information and services through laptop computers and PDAs. For example, imagine being able to browse the catalog of a public library on your handheld PC as soon as you enter the building. Or, imagine how helpful it would be to have instant PDA access to a building map and to customized real-time flight arrival and departure data as you make your way through a busy airport. Consider the convenience of having automatic, wireless access to a shared hotel printer as you make last-minute changes to a presentation in your hote l room. 3.7 Productive and Time saver: In a Bluetooth-enabled business world, the cellular phone could provide a link to everything beyond the 10-meter range limitation. Without even removing their Bluetooth-enabled cell phone from their briefcase or luggage, mobile professionals would be able to check voice mail, send a fax, receive email, verify inventory levels, and surf the Internet through their laptop computers. This would extend the concept of anytime, anywhere data access well beyond the current standard of cell phones and beepers. 3.8More Freedom: In considering the above scenarios, some may argue that the access of Wireless LAN would increase our freedoms and improve our professional lives because it allowing us to decide when and where we do our work. Wireless certainly has the potential to improve society, and our personal and professional lives in various ways. It gave us many advantages. 4.0 Negative Impact: The convenience of Bluetooth technology cannot be denied, but neither can the way they have negatively impacted daily living. Some of the effects can be dispensed with if boundaries are set. Here we will discuss some negative impact of Bluetooth. 4.1 Violation of Privacy: Mobile phones and PCs usually contain private stuff such as family pictures, bank account numbers, passwords and so on. Unfortunately, these devices are able to be hacked by Bluetooth. The hacker sends a user a file (lets say an image), when received, it will be opened as a usual image where actually it has a built in hacking software. Once the user opens the image, the hacker will be able to control the users device. 4.2 Sabotage: In the same way as downloading from the internet, transferring data via Bluetooth may harm your device if the data contain viruses. The strength of the viruses varies from one to another; some viruses are easy to be removed while some viruses totally damage the device once they reach the device. 4.3 Health Damage: While the topic remains controversial, there are people who believe the microwave radiation the phones emit can cause such problems as cancer and Alzheimers disease from prolonged use. 4.4 Use in inappropriate places: Using Bluetooth to transfer data in inappropriate places is considered to be harmful and such behavior expresses a negative attitude. E.g. Students in a classroom may get busy transferring data via Bluetooth using their hand phones while their lecturer is giving a lecture. 4.5 Sleazy Contents: A child or a teen-ager may innocently receive a file that contains sexual or immoral contents which are not suitable for their age. 5.0 Conclusion and Recommendation: This project was done to assess the impact of Bluetooth technology on the society in the near future. We have investigated in how and why Bluetooth technology has widely spread and what impact that Bluetooth technology has been giving. In addition, we have explained in details the reasons of this impact. Mainly, the bases we had for this report are from a survey that we have done on 100 students and lecturers from the whole population of Multimedia University and Limkokwing University, Cyberjaya campuses. We used the collected data from this survey to explore the impact of Bluetooth technology on the society as we used MMU and Limkokwing Universities as small societies. We have heavily used the internet to collect information about Bluetooth technology and also to find out its impact on other societies. Why our survey was on only 100 people is that, making a survey on a bigger number of people would be expensive and time consuming. This report might be useful to social specialists to find out why some technologies have more interest on people, Bluetooth developers as they can decrease the negative impact of this technology, and to other people who are interested in the relationship between the technology and the society. Future researchers who are going to do a research on the same topic should keep this in mind, this research has been done based on a questionnaire that was made on people who have almost the same range of age as most of them are university students. Future researchers who have a wider research ranges can make their research on different age ranges. The results of the survey showed that 90 % of the people, who have answered the survey, have Bluetooth-enabled devices. The reason of this huge number of Bluetooth users is that, most of the new electronic devices that are available nowadays have Bluetooth technology. Moreover, about 25 % of the participants, who have Bluetooth-enabled devices, have faced negative impact of Bluetooth technology such as getting hacked or received viruses during data transfer. The reason is that most of them didnt know that Bluetooth may carry viruses or hacking software when data is transferred. Even though Bluetooth technology is widely spread so far, we think it will make life easier and more effective if it is spread on a wider range. For example, providing Bluetooth connection in universities laboratories would make data transferring between researchers, students or lecturers easier. However, care must be taken when using data transfers via Bluetooth since data may have viruses or hacking software. A good solution is to use anti-virus and anti-hacker software. Moreover, children and teenagers have to be watched when using Bluetooth-enabled devices. References: Book: Christian Gehrmann(2004), Bluetooth Security, Artech House Publishers Robert Morrow(2002), Bluetooth : Operation and Use, McGraw-Hill Professional (Telecommunications) Tom Siep (2000), An IEEE Guide: How to Find What You Need in the Bluetooth Spec, Institute of Electrical Online article: Pyramid Media Group, Inc Constantly Connected: Beyond WiFi and Bluetooth, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QXQ/is_2005_June_30/ai_n15341855 http://www.swedetrack.com/images/bluet00.htm Articles from magazines: Clive Akass (28 Jan, 2006), Bluetooth to hit 100Mbits/sec, Pc Magazine pp. 41-42 Michael Kwan (Thursday April 6, 2006), Jabra shows off Bluetooth goods at CTIA, Mobile Magazine pp. 23 Appendices: Appendix A: Survey on Bluetooth and its Impact on Society in the near future: Topic: Bluetooth and its impact on the society in the near future We are from EHM 3066 (Engineers and society) class. We are conducting a mini survey regarding the Bluetooth and its impact on society in the near future. Kindly spend a few minutes to answer this questionnaire. Your answers will be kept confidential. We would like to express our advanced gratitude for your co-operation. Instruction: Please TICK (v) in the appropriate boxes or write your responses in the given space: Survey on Bluetooth and its Impact on Society in the near future: We a group of students We would like to kindly invite you to participate in this survey to help us gain valuable information of the Blueooth and its impact on society in the near future. Please tick or write your responses in the given space. A- GENDER omale ofemale B- AGE o18-24 o25-30 o30-35 Other : ____ C- Occupation Do you have any Bluetooth-enabled device? oYes oNo If your answer is yes, what kind of device that you have is equipped with Bluetooth? oHand phone or Personal digital assistance (PDA) oLaptop oPersonal Computer o I dont have oOther : _________ how often do you use bluetooth? onever osometimes ooften oalways What kind of data/file that you use Bluetooth to transfer? oImage oMusic oDocument oSyncronisation Give your opinion on what impact of the Bluetooth on the societ is? Do you support the idea of installing Bluetooth devices in all computers in your company/university Computer Lab in order to increase the usage of Bluetooth? ?Yes ?No Have you known that Bluetooth-enabled devices are able to receive viruses and to get hacked? ?Yes ?No Have you ever got your Bluetooth-enabled device hacked by Bluetooth? ?Yes ?No Have you ever received unwanted data by unknown people ? ?Yes ?No How often do you get busy using Bluetooth to transfer data with another person in places such as classrooms or while you are driving? onever osometimes ooften oalways

Arabian Nights :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Arden production of The Arabian Nights should have included a story or two about a Demon like those included in the novel by Husain Haddawy. By including these types of stories they could incorporate magic and demons into the play. There are many interesting ways that they adapter could portray magic and the appearance of demons. The Story of the Merchant and the Demon from the novel tells of this wealthy merchant who travels from town to town selling goods. On one trip he rode for many days and then stopped to rest under a walnut tree. He got something to eat out of his bag and began to throw the pits of the dates left and right. Then this old demon arrived and pulled out his sword to kill the merchant. Asking the demon why he wanted to kill him, the demon replied that the merchant had killed his son when he threw the date pit and it hit him in the head. The merchant began to weep and mourn his family and his wife and children. (Haddawy p.18) He then began to recite verses and after he was finished and stopped crying, the demon said again that he must kill the merchant as the merchant had killed his son. The merchant then begged the demon for time to say his good byes to his family and his wife and his kids. The demon agreed to give the man one year to return only after the merchant swore as God as a witness . When the merchant returned home and told of his troubles to his wife and children they all mourned. He than wrote his will, divided his property, discharged his obligations to people, left bequests and gifts, distributed alms, and engaged reciters to read portions of the Quran in his house. Then he summoned legal witnesses and in their presence freed his slaves and slave-girls, divided among his elder children their shares of the property, appointed guardians for his little ones, and gave his wife her share according to her marriage contract. (Haddawy p. 19) As the year came to an end, the merchant tearfully said his good byes and traveled to the orchard exactly one year later. As he was waiting under the tree for the demon, an old man walked by with a deer and asked why he was sitting in the orchard which is filled with demons and devils.

career goal :: essays research papers

It has been my craving in every aspect of life to do things differently, chart my own path and tread in to uncharted territory. Nine years back, this what made me join a course in bachelor of marine engineering at MERI, the only institute in India exclusively offering such a course. Idea of venturing in to high sees, braving the storms with only handful of resources and almost completely cut off from out side world made adrenaline pumping in to my veins. All this along with opportunity to get exposure to highly sophisticated systems on board ships, which was fodder for my technical bent of mind seemed perfect for my adventure seeking personality. Through out my career progression I have made such decisions like joining LNG shipping pool of my company and seeking extra professional qualification of eligibility to sail on diesel engine driven as well as turbine driven ships Looking back after nine years, I could not feel more assured that at that time, I made the right choice. My unusual combination of experiences sets me worlds apart from not only a normal engineer but also from a marine engineer at similar position. Working for a big shipping company, exclusively on international assignments in high tech, capital intensive and rising LNG industry is the kind of job I had envisioned at the time of finishing my graduation. I could not have come here without that choice I made back then. As suited to my challenge seeking nature I foresee my own career moving in the direction of handling higher responsibilities in the core business, initially from an advisory perspective (i.e. consulting) and ultimately from a leadership role within a manufacturing entity, preferably a start-up venture. With Asia, especially India rising on global corporate battlefield I want to be where global language and intercultural/personal skills make the difference, where technological know-how supports innovative ideas. This is where I can make my best contribution. In short, I want to be where the action and the challenges are. Thus the reasons why I want to go back to university and do a MBA to get myself a thorough business background to understand not only my career experiences but other students as well and put them in to business context and have a holistic view of the organization. The knowledge I will gain should help facilitate a career change. After extensive work in high tech LNG shipping industry, I want to transfer to shore based industry.

Researched Guidelines and Types of Interviews Essay

Interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee. Although interviews are a standard part of journalism and media reporting, the focus of this piece is on how interviews can be used as a tool for psychological research. Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around a topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses. Usually open-ended questions are asked during interviews. Before you start to design your interview questions and process, clearly articulate to yourself what problem or need is to be addressed using the information to be gathered by the interviews. This helps you keep clear focus on the intent of each question. Preparation for Interview 1. Choose a setting with little distraction. Avoid loud lights or noises, ensure the interviewee is comfortable (you might ask them if they are), etc. Often, they may feel more comfortable at their own places of work or homes. 2. Explain the purpose of the interview. 3. Address terms of confidentiality. Note any terms of confidentiality. (Be careful here. Rarely can you absolutely promise anything. Courts may get access to information, in certain circumstances.) Explain who will get access to their answers and how their answers will be analyzed. If their comments are to be used as quotes, get their written permission to do so. 4. Explain the format of the interview. Explain the type of interview you are conducting and its nature. If you want them to ask questions, specify if they’re to do so as they have them or wait until the end of the interview. 5. Indicate how long the interview usually takes. 6. Tell them how to get in touch with you later if they want to. 7. Ask them if they have any questions before you both get started with the interview. 8. Don’t count on your memory to recall their answers. Ask for permission to record the interview or bring along someone to take notes. Sequence of Questions 1. Get the respondents involved in the interview as soon as possible. 2. Before asking about controversial matters (such as feelings and conclusions), first ask about some facts. With this approach, respondents can more easily engage in the interview before warming up to more personal matters. 3. Intersperse fact-based questions throughout the interview to avoid long lists of fact-based questions, which tends to leave respondents disengaged. 4. Ask questions about the present before questions about the past or future. It’s usually easier for them to talk about the present and then work into the past or future. 5. The last questions might be to allow respondents to provide any other information they prefer to add and their impressions of the interview. Wording of Questions 1. Wording should be open-ended. Respondents should be able to choose their own terms when answering questions. 2. Questions should be as neutral as possible. Avoid wording that might influence answers, e.g., evocative, judgmental wording. 3. Questions should be asked one at a time. 4. Questions should be worded clearly. This includes knowing any terms particular to the program or the respondents’ culture. 5. Be careful asking â€Å"why† questions. This type of question infers a cause-effect relationship that may not truly exist. These questions may also cause respondents to feel defensive, e.g., that they have to justify their response, which may inhibit their responses to this and future questions. Conducting Interview 1. Occasionally verify the tape recorder (if used) is working. 2. Ask one question at a time. 3. Attempt to remain as neutral as possible. That is, don’t show strong emotional reactions to their responses. Patton suggests to act as if â€Å"you’ve heard it all before.† 4. Encourage responses with occasional nods of the head, â€Å"uh huh†s, etc. 5. Be careful about the appearance when note taking. That is, if you jump to take a note, it may appear as if you’re surprised or very pleased about an answer, which may influence answers to future questions. 6. Provide transition between major topics, e.g., â€Å"we’ve been talking about (some topic) and now I’d like to move on to (another topic).† 7. Don’t lose control of the interview. This can occur when respondents stray to another topic, take so long to answer a question that times begins to run out, or even begin asking questions to the interviewer. Immediately After Interview 1. Verify if the tape recorder, if used, worked throughout the interview. 2. Make any notes on your written notes, e.g., to clarify any scratchings, ensure pages are numbered, fill out any notes that don’t make senses, etc. 3. Write down any observations made during the interview. For example, where did the interview occur and when, was the respondent particularly nervous at any time? Were there any surprises during the interview? Did the tape recorder break? Types of Interviews 1. Informal, conversational interview – no predetermined questions are asked, in order to remain as open and adaptable as possible to the interviewee’s nature and priorities; during the interview, the interviewer â€Å"goes with the flow†. 2. General interview guide approach – the guide approach is intended to ensure that the same general areas of information are collected from each interviewee; this provides more focus than the conversational approach, but still allows a degree of freedom and adaptability in getting information from the interviewee. 3. Standardized, open-ended interview – here, the same open-ended questions are asked to all interviewees (an open-ended question is where respondents are free to choose how to answer the question, i.e., they don’t select â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† or provide a numeric rating, etc.); this approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analyzed and compared. 4. Closed, fixed-response interview – where all interviewees are asked the same questions and asked to choose answers from among the same set of alternatives. This format is useful for those not practiced in interviewing. Types of Topics in Questions Patton notes six kinds of questions. One can ask questions about: 1. Behaviors – about what a person has done or is doing 2. Opinions/values – about what a person thinks about a topic 3. Feelings – note that respondents sometimes respond with â€Å"I think †¦Ã¢â‚¬  so be careful to note that you’re looking for feelings 4. Knowledge – to get facts about a topic 5. Sensory – about what people have seen, touched, heard, tasted or smelled 6. Background/demographics – standard background questions, such as age, education, etc. Note that the above questions can be asked in terms of past, present or future. Kinds of Interview 1. Informational Interview The objective of this interview is to ask for advice and learn more about a particular career field, employer or particular job. Interviewing experts in their field is one more way to become more occupationally literate. The knowledge that you gain here will make you a sharper and more informed. You will also make a contact and further develop your network. 2. Screening or Telephone Interview A phone interview is a very cost effective way to screen candidates. These can last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. You should prepare for it like an open book exam. It is recommended that you have in front of you your resume, the job description, a list of references, some prepared answers to challenging questions and perhaps something about the company. The vast majority of communication is non-verbal. Because they can’t see your body language, it is critically important to have positive and polished answers with energetic tone and inflection. Be sure to ask what the next step is. 3. Individual Interview This is the most common type and often called a â€Å"personal interview.† It is typically a one-on-one exchange at the organizations offices. In order to best prepare you will want to know the length of the interview which can usually range from 30 to 90 minutes. If the interview is 30 minutes you have to be concise and have a high impact with your answers. If it is 60 or 90 minutes you will want to go into much more depth and use specific examples to support your generalizations. 4. Small Group or Committee Interview This is where you will be meeting with several decision-makers at once. This can be an intimidating experience if you are not prepared. It’s an efficient way to interview candidates and allows for different interpretations or perceptions of the same answer. Be sure to make eye contact with everyone, no matter who asked the question. It’s important to establish rapport with each member of the interview team. Try to find out the names and job titles of the participants. 5. The Second or On-Site Interview After your first interview, you may be asked back again for a â€Å"second date.† They like you enough that you made the first round of cuts, but they would like to know more about you before making their final decision. Second Interviews can last either a half or full-day so it is best to check again and get an agenda. You may be meeting with three to five individuals. This may include a representative from Human Resources, the department head, the office staff and the department head’s supervisor. Be alert and enthusiastic at all times! The more you know about the structure of the process, the less anxious you are going to feel and the better you will perform. This is the last step before an offer is made. 6. Behavioral-Based Interview The theory behind Critical Behavioral Interviewing (CBI) is that past performance in a similar situation is the best predictor of future performance. CBI probes much deeper than traditional interviewing techniques. You should prepare by thinking of specific examples that demonstrate your competence in core behaviors such as teamwork, problem-solving, communication, creativity, flexibility and organizational skills. You will want to tell your story and structure it by stating your answers in terms of the situation, the task, what action you took, and what was the result or outcome. 7. Task Oriented or Testing Interview This is a problem-solving interview where you will be given some exercises to demonstrate your creative and analytical abilities. A company may ask you to take a short test to evaluate your technical knowledge and skills. Sometimes a presentation to a group is necessary to determine your communication skills. Try to relax as much as possible. 8. Stress Interview During this rare type, the interviewer tries to bait you, to see how you will respond. The objective is to find your weaknesses and test how you hold up to pressure. Such tactics as weird silences, constant interruptions and challenging interrogation with antagonistic questions are designed to push your boundaries. The question you have to ask yourself is: Do I want to work for a company that treats me this way even before the offer is made? Rethink the corporate culture. Different Types of Interviews One-to-one Interview This is the most common type of Interview. In the One-to-one interview the candidate for employment meets directly with the interviewer. Phone Interview Phone Interviews are becoming increasingly popular among large corporations who are conducting a mass-hiring of employees. These interviews are conducted entirely over the phone and eliminate bias that may arise from a candidate’s appearance, mannerisms, or ethnicity. Often times, phone interview questions are structured and the question are behavioral in nature; to further eliminate bias. When preparing for a phone interview you should follow all of the steps listed above including getting dressed for the interview. Studies have shown that people who dress professionally for a phone interview will perform better than those dressed casually. Group interview In the group interview style you will be interviewing simultaneously with two or three other candidates all vying for the same position. In this interview style one or more applicants may be asked the same question or the pool of applicants can be broken into teams to determine a solution to a problem posed by the interviewer. This style of interviewing is most common in the technology fields or any field where group cohesiveness is of extreme importance. The best way to prepare for a group interview is to follow the steps listed above. Panel Interview A panel interview involves three or more members of the hiring organization meeting simultaneously with the person being considered for the position. This interview style is most common in academia or when hiring a senior level corporate executive. The term â€Å"search committee† is commonly used to describe a Panel Interview. In preparing for a panel interview it is best to understand an organization from every point of view. For example, if you are going to be interviewed by an organization’s Customer Service Manager, Finance Manager, and Human Resources Manager; you should familiarize yourself with current information about the organizations customer service policies, finance policies, and HR policies. Mock Interview The Mock Interview allows prospective job candidates to practice their interviewing skills in a simulated interview environment. Mock interviews provide constructive feedback to the participants to enhance job prospects by improving interview skills. Career fair interview A conversation during a career fair can be considered a screening interview. It is generally, 2-10 minutes in length with a human resources representative or a technical manager in your field. If mutual interest is established, it is likely you will be invited for further interviews. Because your meeting is brief, you will need to make an immediate positive impression. Research the employer and be prepared to match your background and interests to their needs. Site interview The site interview takes place at the employer’s site. It is a selection interview, following a successful screening interview (phone, career fair, on-campus). This is very good news for you since you are now 50% closer to a job offer. There is however, still work to do! Clarify the details of the visit in advance (date, location, length of visit, travel arrangements, suggested attire, expenses.) You may be scheduled for a half or full day of interviews, which may include a meal, a tour of the facility, and an overnight stay. To prepare for a site visit, conduct in-depth research on the employer and their location. Dress professionally and arrive 15-20 minutes early. Bring ten copies of your resume, reference list (graduating students), and unofficial transcript. If you have a portfolio or sample of your work, bring it with you. Behavioral Interview (Behavior based Interviewing or Structured Interviews) A structured interview is a type of interview that is utilized by many larger organizations. This interview is especially popular when there is more than one of the same position available within the organization. In a structured interview every applicant for the position is asked the same questions as every other applicant applying for the position. A structured interview may contain standard interview questions, behavioral interview questions, or a combination of the two.

Trifles: An Investigation of The Murder of John Wright

The short story Trifles written by Susan Glaspell is a story regarding the investigation of the murder of John Wright by his wife, Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale is the wife of Mr. Hale, one of the men investigating the murder, and the neighbor of the Wrights. While the men investigate around the farmhouse looking for clues to prove Mrs. Wright was guilty, Mrs. Hale is downstairs with Mrs. Peters discovering their own evidence in the mishaps of Mrs. Wrights cleaning and sewing. Mrs. Hale begins to reminisce on how cheerful and full of life Mrs.Wright was prior to her marriage. She regrets not visiting with Mrs. Wright throughout the years especially since they were neighbors. Upon finding the unfinished quilt and the empty bird cage, they discover a dead canary with a strangled neck, the same way Mr. Wright’s neck was strangled. She begins to see the reasoning for Mrs. Wright murdering her husband. She concludes that Mrs. Wright was unhappy with her marriage and possibly neglected. Sh e decides to keep this information between her and Mrs. Peters instead of informing the men of their findings. Why would Mrs.Hale’s change in view of Mrs. Wright make her justify the reasoning behind why she murdered her husband? Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is a theory developed by Abraham Maslow to understand human motivation to fulfill our peak potential. It is described as a model which is divided into our basic needs (physiology, safety, love and esteem) and our growth needs (cognitive, aesthetic, and self-actualization. ) (McLeod, 2007) Saul McLeod believes that one must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing to meet higher level growth needs. (McLeod, 2007) Mrs.Hales regresses from the cognitive need down to the love and belonging need as she begins to see Mrs. Wright as the friend whom she used to have and because of this she believes she was in an unhappy and neglected marriage, which has driven her to murder her husband. After entering the Wright house, wh ich is now a crime scene for the murder of Mr. Wright, Mrs. Hale is left alone downstairs with Mrs. Peters while the men go upstairs to find evidence to prove that Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. Upon engaging in conversation Mrs. Hale’s cognitive need becomes apparent when they inspect the knitting on Mrs.Wrights quilt. Mrs. Hales states â€Å"Mrs. Peters, look at this one. Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It’s all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was about. †(Glaspell, 666). Mrs. Hale suspects that something could have caused the negligence of her stitching, She asks Mrs. Peters â€Å"What do you supposed she was so nervous about? † (Glaspell, 666) She seemed intrigued, insinuating there may have been a reason which drove her to murder her husband. Mrs.Hale is staggering on the cognitive level which is preventing her from progre ssing on to the next level of aesthetic because she is not concerned with her own needs to express herself in a pleasing way, But to express Mrs. Wright in a more pleasing way and not as some horrific murderer. Mrs. Hale goes on to explain to Mrs. Peters; â€Å"I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang. † (Glaspell, 670) She wants Mrs. Peters to view Mrs. Wright in the positive way that she was prior to her failed marriage.This actually shows her regression down to the love and belonging level. Towards the end of the play she realizes that she has been so busy in her life that she had neglected her friend in a time of need. She regrets not visiting her, stating that â€Å"I wish I’d come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s going to punish that? † (Glaspell, 670) She feels guilty for not realizing that Mrs. Wright needed help. She tells Mrs. Peters â€Å"I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be-for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs.Peters. We live so close together and we live far apart. † (Glaspell, 670) Mrs. Hale wishes she had been a better friend to Mrs. Wright and by doing that feels that could have helped prevent the murder from even happening. Maslows Law is a good theory to represent the understanding of Mrs. Hale, it signifies the importance of better understanding why she acted as she did. We use Maslows Law of Hierarchy Needs to better understand what motivates us to reach our full potential. According to McLeod, â€Å"progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs. (McLeod, 2007) Because Mrs. Hale had begun to care for her old friend, after trying to figure out what caused her to become a murder, She had regressed back down to the love and belonging level, Thus preventing her from progressing to the aesthetic level. WORKS CITED: McLeod, S. A. (2007). Mas low's Hierarchy of Needs. Glaspell, Susan. â€Å"Trifles. † Backpack Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing Fourth Edition. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. , 2012. 659-671. Print.