The Creation Of The Compact Disc Essay -- Technology Descriptive Essay

The Creation Of The Compact Disc The creation of the compact disc, better known as the CD, can be traced back to the late 1960s. A Dutch scientist named Klass Compaan of Philips Research conceived the idea for the CD. He teamed with another scientist, Piet Kramer, who together introduced the first color videodisc prototype in 1972. Sony teamed up with Philips on the creation of the compact disc, and together they were able to develop a standard, universal compact disc to hold audio information. The two companies officially announced the Digital-Audio disc in 1980. In 1982, the compact disc was introduced to the public in Europe and Japan. Later, in 1983, it was introduced in the United States (Future). Compact Discs are flat and circular, with a diameter of 120 millimeters. The actual disc itself is made of hard plastic covered with aluminum or some other reflective metal. Information is stored on the compact disc in numeric form, also called digital form. The primary use for the compact disc is to store and play back music. However, they can also be used to store pictures, files of text, sounds, programs, video games, high quality images, or motion pictures. Many features of the compact disc are standardized, such as its size, minutes of sound, and data format. This allows a compact disc to be played on any compact disc player (Pohlmann, 901). The audio compact disc replaced earlier sound recording technology, such as the phonograph record and cassette tape, for a variety of reasons. First of all, they are longer lasting. Compact discs are read by a laser, or in other words, they are optically read (Feldman, 160). Therefore, there is no friction needed to play back the information on a CD, as opposed to th... ... . Chris’ Audio Debate Page. 27 March 2002 . Feldman, Leonard. â€Å"Compact Disc.† American Academic Encyclopedia. Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated, 1998. Fink, John. â€Å"Recording Sound and Sight.† New Book of Popular Science. Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated, 2002. â€Å"Future of Compact Discs Safe.† BBC News 31 January 2002. 27 March 2002 . Harris, Tom. â€Å"How CD Burners Work.† Howstuffworks. 1 April 2002 . Pohlmann, Ken C. â€Å"Compact Disc.† World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago, Illinois: Scott Fetzer Company, 2001. â€Å"Sound Recording.† Illustrated Science Encyclopedia. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 1997.

Exploring To Kill a Mocking Bird :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

Exploring the American Novel To Kill a Mocking Bird Good Morning I have been given the task of speaking to you about American literature and the impact that specific books may have on Australian readers. In particular my main focus today will concentrate on the issue of racial prejudice. One of my favourite books comes to mind when discussing this topic because it effectively argues for multi-ethnicity from different vantage points. â€Å"To Kill a Mocking Bird† is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee, based on the defence of an obviously innocent African-American man, charged with raping a young white girl. One of the books important themes involves the threat that hatred, prejudice and ignorance poses to the innocent. Though society has changed greatly since the release of this book, the strength of the issues relayed in classics such as this one will never lose their appeal. While reading the American novel â€Å"To Kill a Mocking Bird†, it was obvious to me that this book was an example of one instance when right does not triumph. As uncertain as the political climate may be in parts of the world today, it was extremely more volatile in the 30’s, which was when To Kill a Mocking Bird was set. The book takes place in a small Alabama town, where racial equality was non-existent. The novel begins with Scout Finch, who is now an adult remembering the summer when her brother, Jem broke his arm and recalling the incidents that led to this event. She introduces her hometown Maycomb Alabama, her father Atticus Finch, attorney, Calpurnia their â€Å"Negro† cook and housekeeper, Dill and various neighbours. Despite the fact that Calpurnia was a Negro she was very influential in the character building of the two children. She was like a mother figure to them and taught them tolerance that took them beyond the prejudices of Maycomb society. She treated the children as her equal, rather than a black or white person. Calpurnia wanted the children to experience a different attitude towards race and prejudice. Therefore she took them to her church where and they sang and prayed. They felt welcomed by the black community and knew that this acceptance was probably due to the fact the their father, Atticus had supported Tom and believed in his innocence. While there are plenty of civil rights injustices to be found in the news headlines today, our attitude towards race relations has changed dramatically. The book however, reveals that to live in the 1930’s and be black meant living a life as an inferior being. The attitude of the townsfolk in this book was to let things stay as they had

Nursing Home Aims and Objectives

It is the objective of the Nursing Home to provide care to all service users to a standard of excellence which embraces fundamental principles of good care practice, and that this may be witnessed and evaluated through practice, conduct and control of quality care in the home. It is a fundamental ethos that those service users who live in the home should be able to do so in accordance with the homes Statement of Values. It is the objective of the home that all service users shall live in a clean and safe environment and be treated with respect and sensitivity to their individual needs and abilities.Staff will be responsive to the individual needs of service users and will provide the appropriate degree of care to assure the highest possible quality of life within the home. To meet the client's needs the care service within the home is designed to achieve the following objectives: To deliver a service of the highest quality that will improve and sustain the service users overall quali ty of life. In this respect the care service is designed to meet the requirements of a recognised accredited quality standard, but in a people oriented fashion.To ensure that the care service is delivered is flexibility, attentively, and in a non discriminatory fashion while respecting each service user's right to independence, privacy, dignity, fulfilment, and the rights to make informed choices and to take risks. To ensure that each service user's needs and values are respected in matters of religion, culture, race or ethnic origin, sexuality and sexual orientation, political affiliation, marital status, parenthood and disabilities or impairments.To ensure that the care service in the whole is delivered in accordance with agreed contracts of care. To manage and implement a formal programme of staff planning, selection, recruitment, training and personal development to enable service user care needs to be met. To manage the care service efficiently and effectively to make the best use of resources and to maximise value for money for the service user. To ensure all service users receive written information on the home's procedure for handling complaints, comments and compliments and how to use it.

Mission San Diego de Alcalá

The Mission San Diego de Alcalà ¡ is the first of the many missions for which California is famous and is known today as the birthplace of California Christianity.   The first church in California, the mission began with a group of Spanish missionaries in 1769. Founded by Blessed Father Junipero Serra the mission proposed to serve Native Americans of the area. The Native Americans, which the mission proposed to serve, were wary initially at the newcomers. The initial mission structure was built close to the water. Later, the mission would construct a more permanent structure inland, about 5 miles away. The new structured was demolished in an attack by native Americas and the mission was moved back inland some years later. Mission San Diego de Alcalà ¡ and church of today were completed by the early 1800’s. The Mission San Diego de Alcalà ¡ is the first of more than twenty such mission build by the Spanish to serve the Native Americans. The Native Americans have been called by different names throughout history. Originally known as Kumeyaay and Yuma, they were later called Mission Indians or Diegueno. The Kumeyaay were a nomadic group who had never seen cloth until the missionaries arrived. In 1976, Pope Paul VI designates the Mission San Diego de Alcalà ¡Ã‚  Ã‚   as a Minor Basilica. The mission today is an active Diocese of San Diego parish. The mission housed many of the Native Americans, who lived and worked at the mission and grew crops including; corn, barley and grapes. Cattle and sheep in addition to horses were also raised on the mission compound. In the late 1700’s, the mission began to construct a system of aqueducts to bring water to the area and assure successful farming. This was the first irrigation project in this region of California. When California became part of the Untied States, the mission was used for military purposes and then in 1863, President Lincoln gave all of the mission properties to the Roman Catholic Church. At that time The Mission San Diego de Alcalà ¡ was in ruins. Restoration of the mission began in the late 1800’s. In 1900, the land Marks Club of California provided funding, along with other organizations to restore the mission. They worked with local architects to begin stabilizing the mission buildings. Originally build with adobe, the mission buildings were reinforced with concrete during this time in an attempt to add stability and strength.   One of the most famous elements of the mission in the Bell Tower. Today’s Bell Tower has one of the original bells form the early mission. When the Bell Tower was originally constructed it had a central function to the operation of the mission, as clocks were not yet part of everyday life.   Bells were used to signal time for gather for meals, church work and other functions. These restoration efforts were followed by work from other civic groups and school who viewed the mission as historical landmarks and were committed to painstaking and accurate preservation.   The restoration was wrought with financial problems and was not completed until the 1940’s at which time the church became an active parish. Today the mission serves also as a place of historical display and entertains frequent visitors. The site provides the history of both the Native American in the region and the European influence. References The California Mission Site. Ed. The Civic Group. 24 Sept. 1998. Bevil, Alexander D. The Sacred and the profane: The Restoration of Mission San Diego de Alcala. The Journal of San Diego History, Summer 1992, Volume 38, Number 3. History of San Diego de Alcalà ¡ Mission http://www.acces

Confucius Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Confucius - Essay Example Born in Qufu, an important city of Lu state of China, by 551 B.C. in a respectable family with military background, Confucius led a very humble, modest and pious life. (Yao, 2000) He always laid stress upon virtue, chastity, humility, benevolence and generosity, the admirable rules aptly attributed to the teachings of the Abrahamic faiths too. Confucianism vehemently maintains unflinching belief in the afterlife and the concepts of reward and punishment entirely based upon man’s activities and behavior during his life on the earth. It is therefore the religion strongly preaches the observing of the good social and moral behavior while interacting with the other members of society. Golden rule enjoys the status of pivotal point of Confucianism, as all the concepts and teachings of the faith revolve around the same. The rule emphasizes upon treating the other members of society in the same manner as one wishes to be treated by others. Moreover, one should not inflict the pain and agony to others, which he does not like for himself or cannot forbear and endure the same. The same is also applied in the exchange of presents, where an inferior or sub-standard article should not be given to the other by preserving a superior one for oneself. Similarly, Confucianism prohibits man from inflicting any type of unpleasantness upon others by applying ill intentions, as the universal laws of retaliation may reciprocate the same to the wrong-doer. Consequently, the rule lays stress upon observing of virtue, kindness, honesty and integrity towards the fellow beings, and strictly forbids adopting of the social evils like wickedness, fraud, cheating, lying, fornication, adulte ry and deceit etc at any cost, as such immoral and cruel actions not only invite difficulties and adversity in human life, but also man will have to be responsible for such misdeeds in the life Hereinafter. Confucianism concentrates upon the best and intimate relationships between the family

Global warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Global warming - Essay Example Heating up and increasing the levels of our oceans has many ill consequences the most obvious of it are storms, hurricanes, droughts, chilly winter and extended rainy season that we experience. In addition to extreme weather patterns, global warming also harms our food source as it also kills many organism in our oceans which disrupts our ecosystem3. This harms our food source because it would mean lesser catch of fishes in the ocean. This is bothersome because our food source is diminishing while our population continue to increase creating a vicious cycle of increased number of people polluting the environment that causes global warming while food supply continues to diminish as our population grows4. The alarming effects of global warming made many writers to take up the cause to sound the alarm bell before it is too late. Their approach in educating and warning the public takes in several forms. There is Michael Pollan who wrote several books, articles and novels such as The Omnivores Dilemma that warns us about the global warming and its effects. Another author who writes in scientific journals is Antipas Massawe who confronted the issue by informing us how global warming is caused and that it requires collective effort to address it. Then there is the former Vice-President of the United States who was among the pioneers in raising public consciousness about global warming with his documentary The Inconvenient Truth. WWF on the other hand is a Non-government organization that reminded us that global warming also affects our food source. At the rate that we are still spewing carbon gases into the atmosphere, it will not be long that our planet will no longer be habitable because of the apocalyptic consequence of global warming. All the signs of an impending apocalypse are already present with our storms getting stronger, hurricanes getting fierce, with floods that already kills and

Gap, Inc. Retailing Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gap, Inc. Retailing Analysis - Essay Example Gap’s trouble in 2001 At the time of Millard Drexter, there were 200 underperforming stores of Gap Incorporated that continuously operate. This specifically decreases the level of profit generation considering that the entire operation of the company continues in a regular manner while generation of revenue came into a downward spiral. Unfortunately, financially speaking Gap Incorporated could not eventually continue to operate in this condition. This is an issue of lack of management perspective and outlook. The company lacks appropriate evaluation system in order to identify its weakest and strongest areas. Unfortunately, this continues to operate and in 2001, the financial performance of Gap Incorporated received substantially small net margin for income. Compared this with the performance of other retailing companies, Gap is far behind and the whole opportunity is lost for the good of its competitors. There is another important view that Gap Incorporated under the manageme nt of Drexter was overlooked. There was lack of market research that could determine customers’ preferences and needs. This eventually is the reason why Gap Incorporated misjudged fashion trends in 2000. It tried to create trendy apparel for young adults but it was not creating greater impact in the market. Customers were ending up choosing other fashion options due to some important reasons including their own style. For instance, it is important to know that American consumers spend less on clothing due to the fact that fashion does nowadays does not only include clothes but other accessories and technological gadgets. For instance, iPods and iPhones are considered part of the fashion trends among American consumers. Normally, niche markets for growth opportunities are the most significant view in apparel retailing industry. However, the market is continuously expanding and there are added segments that need to be clearly understood further. In the United States, size fitti ngs among Americans change over 60 years. In line with this, more data are necessary to be gathered in order to find out the best fittings for Americans. Apparel industry is also competing with vacation, housing and automobile industries. These industries at some point minimize the level of revenue intended for Apparel industry. Thus, with the consumer and market research, Gap Incorporated for instance will be able to identify the right move in order to stimulate needs for its product offerings at the right timing. There is also another important marketing trend that needs to be understood by Gap Incorporated. This is in line with the declining significance of department stores in the US apparel industry. This is how important marketing research is. It tries to help retailers understand consumer behavior and the entire market in general. Understanding consumer behavior means knowing exactly what they prefer over the other offerings available for them. Gap’s spectacular turnar ound in 2003 Gap was able to remarkably have itself applauded for its honesty with respect to improving the working conditions for the manufacturer of its garments in factories. This created a certain level of trust that promotes more than just a promising output. This remarkably opened up the possibility of increasing customer relationship and to ensure trust and loyalty in the end. Not only that, Paul S.