Portfolio Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Portfolio - Coursework Example I went to two wards. The first ward was the Medicin Ward, meant for elderly patients, and the second one was the surgery ward. I got to see a few patients and my particular interest was to know the kind of attention they were given by the clinical pharmacist. For instance, there was a 72-year old patient who was suffering from diabetes mellitus type one, hypercholesteremia and hypertension. In my presence, he narrated to the pharmacist what he felt. He only talked of shortness of breath. The lesson I learnt in most of the cases is that as a clinical pharmacist, one needs to know what a patient feels by asking them. He/she shouldn’t stop at that, but go ahead to carry out examinations to discover other things that the patient may be unknowingly suffering from. On the basis of both what the patient says and the results of the medical examination, a pharmacist establishes if there is any need to change medication or not to. My visit to the hospital pharmacy taught me yet another lesson; that there are certain kinds of patients, like alcoholics, that require counseling more than other forms of medical attention such as drug prescription. This is a way of helping them to get around the drinking habit. In the case of an alcoholic, it may also be necessary for a pharmacist to change drugs because the patient’s problem may have got more complicated than what it was before. Any such change of medicinal prescription must be based on laboratory examination results in all cases. This means that a clinical pharmacist must work very closely with a laboratory technician, because he depends on his results to be able to prescribe drugs for the patients. Constantly checking with results helps to track the patient’s medical history, and on the basis of whether they are doing any better or not, medicine can be changed or retained. It ensures that patients receive the best medical attention and eliminating chances of prescription

Opening a big day care center Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Opening a big day care center - Research Paper Example We help them get ready for assimilation in big schools. At ABC, we are dedicated to provide a warm and family environment for children. Even if we are moving to larger scale of setting, we are committed to give the quality individualized care that we have been known for. At ABC, we create a family atmosphere where children are allowed to interact with each other. We follow up progress and development of each child and report it to parents regularly as part of our service to parents. ABC Day Care tries to employ best qualified people who are able to keep up with the needs of the day care center and the children under its care. Hiring is based on competence as shown in academic achievements, prior wok experience, and attitudes. We are an equal-opportunity employer. Our activities ensure that work behaviors are done in an equal manner based on individual merit and fitness of the employee regardless of color, race, sex, religion, age, nationality, or sexual orientation, or disability. We are committed to prevent sexual harassment and to confront it when it occurs. We will respond to concerns, questions and allegations of sexual harassment brought by any member of the Center. This policy is in accordance with Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986. As required by the California State for Licensing, teacher must have at least 18 with 12 postsecondary units in early childhood education and have 6 months experience, or hold a valid CDA and have a 6 months on-the-job training or work experience, or hold a Children’s Center Permit issued by the CA commission for teacher Preparation and Licensing. Once a position is offered to an applicant at the center, he/she must be able to submit several documentations such health screening and safety screening, and a free from criminal investigation record. A certificate of good physical health , a TB TEST and drug test are needed. A new employee will be

Development of Peer-to-Peer Network System

Development of Peer-to-Peer Network System Procedures which we are followed to success this project. Task 01 Familiarizing with the equipments preparing an action plan. Task 02 Prepare the work area. Task 03 Fixed the hardware equipments and assemble three PCs. Task 04 Install NICs for each and every PC. Task 05 Cabling three computers and configure the peer to peer network with using hub or switch. Task 06 Install Windows operating system to each and every PC. Task 07 Install and configure the printer on one of the PCs. Task 08 Share printer with other PCs in the LAN. Task 09 Establish one shared folder Task 10 Create a test document on one of the PCs and copy the files to each of the other PCs in network. Task 11 Test the printer by getting the test document from each of the networked PCs. Time allocation for the tasks. Task No. Time allocation Task 01 1 hour Task 02 30 minutes Task 03 1  ½ hour Task 04 1  ½ hour Task 05 1  ½ hour Task 06 3 hour Task 07 15 minutes Task 08 15 minutes Task 09 15 minutes Task 10 10 minutes Task 11 05 minutes Total time allocation 10 hours Physical structure of proposed Peer to Peer network system. In peer to peer network there are no dedicated servers or hierarchy among the computers. The user must take the decisions about who access this network. Processors In 1945, the idea of the first computer with a processing unit capable of performing different tasks was published by John von Neumann. The computer was called the EDVAC and was finished in 1949. These first primitive computer processors, such as the EDVAC and the Harvard Mark I, were incredibly bulky and large. Hundreds of CPUs were built into the machine to perform the computers tasks. Starting in the 1950s, the transistor was introduced for the CPU. This was a vital improvement because they helped remove much of the bulky material and wiring and allowed for more intricate and reliable CPUs. The 1960s and 1970s brought about the advent of microprocessors. These were very small, as the length would usually be recorded in nanometers, and were much more powerful. Microprocessors helped this technology become much more available to the public due to their size and affordability. Eventually, companies like Intel and IBM helped alter microprocessor technology into what we see today. The computer processor has evolved from a big bulky contraption to a minuscule chip. Computer processors are responsible for four basic operations. Their first job is to fetch the information from a memory source. Subsequently, the CPU is to decode the information to make it usable for the device in question. The third step is the execution of the information, which is when the CPU acts upon the information it has received. The fourth and final step is the write back. In this step, the CPU makes a report of the activity and stores it in a log. Two companies are responsible for a vast majority of CPUs sold all around the world. Intel Corporation is the largest CPU manufacturer in the world and is the maker of a majority of the CPUs found in personal computers. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., known as AMD, has in recent years been the main competitor for Intel in the CPU industry. The CPU has greatly helped the world progress into the digital age. It has allowed a number of computers and other machines to be produced that are very important and essential to our global society. For example, many of the medical advances made today are a direct result of the ability of computer processors. As CPUs improve, the devices they are used in will also improve and their significance will become even greater. VGA The term Video Graphics Array (VGA) refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987,[1] but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analogue computer display standard, the 15-pin D-sub miniature VGA connector or the 640Ãâ€"480 resolution itself. While this resolution has been superseded in the personal computer market, it is becoming a popular resolution on mobile devices. Video Graphics Array (VGA) was the last graphical standard introduced by IBM that the majority of PC clone manufacturers conformed to, making it today (as of 2009) the lowest common denominator that all PC graphics hardware supports, before a device-specific driver is loaded into the computer. For example, the MS-Windows splash screen appears while the machine is still operating in VGA mode, which is the reason that this screen always appears in reduced resolution and colour depth. VGA was officially superseded by IBMs XGA standard, but in reality it was superseded by numerous slightly different extensions to VGA made by clone manufacturers that came to be known collectively as Super VGA. VGA is referred to as an array instead of an adapter because it was implemented from the start as a single chip (an ASIC), replacing the Motorola 6845 and dozens of discrete logic chips that covered the full-length ISA boards of the MDA, CGA, and EGA. Its single-chip implementation also allowed the VGA to be placed directly on a PCs motherboard with a minimum of difficulty (it only required video memory, timing crystals and an external RAMDAC), and the first IBM PS/2 models were equipped with VGA on the motherboard. RAM Random-access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order (i.e., at random). The word random thus refers to the fact that any piece of data can be returned in a constant time, regardless of its physical location and whether or not it is related to the previous piece of data. By contrast, storage devices such as tapes, magnetic discs and optical discs rely on the physical movement of the recording medium or a reading head. In these devices, the movement takes longer than data transfer, and the retrieval time varies based on the physical location of the next item. The word RAM is often associated with volatile types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where the information is lost after the power is switched off. Many other types of memory are RAM, too, including most types of ROM and flash memory called NOR-Flash. An early type of widespread writable random-access memory was the magnetic core memory, developed from 1949 to 1952, and subsequently used in most computers up until the development of the static and dynamic integrated RAM circuits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Before this, computers used relays, delay line memory, or various kinds of vacuum tube arrangements to implement main memory functions (i.e., hundreds or thousands of bits); some of which were random access, some not. Latches built out of vacuum tube triodes, and later, out of discrete transistors, were used for smaller and faster memories such as registers and random-access register banks. Modern types of writable RAM generally store a bit of data in either the state of a flip-flop, as in SRAM (static RAM), or as a charge in a capacitor (or transistor gate), as in DRAM (dynamic RAM), EPROM, EEPROM and Flash. Some types have circuitry to detect and/or correct random faults called memory errors in the stored data, using pa rity bits or error correction codes. RAM of the read-only type, ROM, instead uses a metal mask to permanently enable/disable selected transistors, instead of storing a charge in them. As both SRAM and DRAM are volatile, other forms of computer storage, such as disks and magnetic tapes, have been used as persistent storage in traditional computers. Many newer products instead rely on flash memory to maintain data when not in use, such as PDAs or small music players. Certain personal computers, such as many rugged computers and net books, have also replaced magnetic disks with flash drives. With flash memory, only the NOR type is capable of true random access, allowing direct code execution, and is therefore often used instead of ROM; the lower cost NAND type is commonly used for bulk storage in memory cards and solid-state drives. Similar to a microprocessor, a memory chip is an integrated circuit (IC) made of millions of transistors and capacitors. In the most common form of computer memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a transistor and a capacitor are paired to create a memory cell, which represents a single bit of data. The transistor acts as a switch that lets the control circuitry on the memory chip read the capacitor or change its state. Types of RAM Top L-R, DDR2 with heat-spreader, DDR2 without heat-spreader, Laptop DDR2, DDR, Laptop DDR 1 Megabit chip one of the last models developed by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in 1989 Many computer systems have a memory hierarchy consisting of CPU registers, on-die SRAM caches, external caches, DRAM, paging systems, and virtual memory or swap space on a hard drive. This entire pool of memory may be referred to as RAM by many developers, even though the various subsystems can have very different access times, violating the original concept behind the random access term in RAM. Even within a hierarchy level such as DRAM, the specific row, column, bank, rank, channel, or interleave organization of the components make the access time variable, although not to the extent that rotating storage media or a tape is variable. The overall goal of using a memory hierarchy is to obtain the higher possible average access performance while minimizing the total cost of entire memory system. (Generally, the memory hierarchy follows the access time with the fast CPU registers at the top and the slow hard drive at the bottom.) In many modern personal computers, the RAM comes in an easily upgraded form of modules called memory modules or DRAM modules about the size of a few sticks of chewing gum. These can quickly be replaced should they become damaged or too small for current purposes. As suggested above, smaller amounts of RAM (mostly SRAM) are also integrated in the CPU and other ICs on the motherboard, as well as in hard-drives, CD-ROMs, and several other parts of the computer system. Hard Disk A hard disk drive (often shortened as hard disk, hard drive, or HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, drive refers to the motorized mechanical aspect that is distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. Early HDDs had removable media; however, an HDD today is typically a sealed unit (except for a filtered vent hole to equalize air pressure) with fixed media. HDDs (introduced in 1956 as data storage for an IBM accounting computer) were originally developed for use with general purpose computers. During the 1990s, the need for large-scale, reliable storage, independent of a particular device, led to the introduction of embedded systems such as RAIDs, network attached storage (NAS) systems, and storage area network (SAN) systems that provide efficient and reliable access to large volumes of data. In the 21st century, HDD usage expanded into consumer applications such as camcorders, cell phones (e.g. the Nokia N91), digital audio players, digital video players, digital video recorders, personal digital assistants and video game consoles. HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to represent either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. They read the data back by detecting the magnetization of the material. A typical HDD design consists of a spindle that holds one or more flat circular disks called platters, onto which the data are recorded. The platters are made from a non-magnetic material, usually aluminium alloy or glass, and are coated with a thin layer of magnetic material, typically 10-20 nm in thickness with an outer layer of carbon for protection. Older disks used iron (III) oxide as the magnetic material, but current disks use a cobalt-based alloy. The platters are spun at very high speeds. Information is written to a platter as it rotates past devices called read-and-write heads that operate very close (tens of nanometres in new drives) over the magnetic surface. The read-and-write head is used to detect and modify the magnetization of the material immediately under it. There is one head for each magnetic platter surface on the spindle, mounted on a common arm. An actuator arm (or access arm) moves the heads on an arc (roughly radially) across the platters as they spin, allowing each head to access almost the entire surface of the platter as it spins. The arm is moved using a voice coil actuator or in some older designs a stepper motor. The magnetic surface of each platter is conceptually divided into many small sub-micrometre-sized magnetic regions, each of which is used to encode a single binary unit of information. Initially the regions were oriented horizontally, but beginning about 2005, the orientation was changed to perpendicular. Due to the polycrystalline nature of the magnetic material each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains. Magnetic grains are typically 10 nm in size and each form a single magnetic domain. Each magnetic region in total forms a magnetic dipole which generates a highly localized magnetic field nearby. A write head magnetizes a region by generating a strong local magnetic field. Early HDDs used an electromagnet both to magnetize the region and to then read its magnetic field by using electromagnetic induction. Later versions of inductive heads included metal in Gap (MIG) heads and thin film heads. As data density increased, read heads using magnetoresista nce (MR) came into use; the electrical resistance of the head changed according to the strength of the magnetism from the platter. Later development made use of spintronics; in these heads, the magnetoresistive effect was much greater than in earlier types, and was dubbed giant magnetoresistance (GMR). In todays heads, the read and write elements are separate, but in close proximity, on the head portion of an actuator arm. The read element is typically magneto-resistive while the write element is typically thin-film inductive.[8] HD heads are kept from contacting the platter surface by the air that is extremely close to the platter; that air moves at, or close to, the platter speed. The record and playback head are mounted on a block called a slider, and the surface next to the platter is shaped to keep it just barely out of contact. Its a type of air bearing. In modern drives, the small size of the magnetic regions creates the danger that their magnetic state might be lost because of thermal effects. To counter this, the platters are coated with two parallel magnetic layers, separated by a 3-atom-thick layer of the non-magnetic element ruthenium, and the two layers are magnetized in opposite orientation, thus reinforcing each other.[9] Another technology used to overcome thermal effects to allow greater recording densities is perpendicular recording, first shipped in 2005,[10] as of 2007 the technology was used in many HDDs. The grain boundaries turn out to be very important in HDD design. The reason is that, the grains are very small and close to each other, so the coupling between adjacent grains is very strong. When one grain is magnetized, the adjacent grains tend to be aligned parallel to it or demagnetized. Then both the stability of the data and signal-to-noise ratio will be sabotaged. A clear grain perpendicular boundary can weaken the coupling of the grains and subsequently increase the signal-to-noise ratio. In longitudinal recording, the single-domain grains have uniaxial anisotropy with easy axes lying in the film plane. The consequence of this arrangement is that adjacent magnets repel each other. Therefore the magnetostatic energy is so large that it is difficult to increase areal density. Perpendicular recording media, on the other hand, has the easy axis of the grains oriented to the disk plane. Adjacent magnets attract to each other and magnetostatic energy are much lower. So, much highe r areal density can be achieved in perpendicular recording. Another unique feature in perpendicular recording is that a soft magnetic underlayer are incorporated into the recording disk.This underlayer is used to conduct writing magnetic flux so that the writing is more efficient. This will be discussed in writing process. Therefore, a higher anisotropy medium film, such as L10-FePt and rare-earth magnets, can be used. Opened hard drive with top magnet removed, showing copper head actuator coil (top right). A hard disk drive with the platters and motor hub removed showing the copper colored stator coils surrounding a bearing at the center of the spindle motor. The orange stripe along the side of the arm is a thin printed-circuit cable. The spindle bearing is in the center. A typical hard drive has two electric motors, one to spin the disks and one to position the read/write head assembly. The disk motor has an external rotor attached to the platters; the stator windings are fixed in place. The actuator has a read-write head under the tip of its very end (near center); a thin printed-circuit cable connects the read-write head to the hub of the actuator. A flexible, somewhat U-shaped, ribbon cable, seen edge-on below and to the left of the actuator arm in the first image and more clearly in the second, continues the connection from the head to the controller board on the opposite side. The head support arm is very light, but also rigid; in modern drives, acceleration at the head reaches 250 Gs. The silver-colored structure at the upper left of the first image is the top plate of the permanent-magnet and moving coil motor that swings the heads to the desired position (it is shown removed in the second image). The plate supports a thin neodymium-iron-boron (NIB) high-flux magnet. Beneath this plate is the moving coil, often referred to as the voice coil by analogy to the coil in loudspeakers, which is attached to the actuator hub, and beneath that is a second NIB magnet, mounted on the bottom plate of the motor (some drives only have one magnet). The voice coil, itself, is shaped rather like an arrowhead, and made of doubly-coated copper magnet wire. The inner layer is insulation, and the outer is thermoplastic, which bonds the coil together after its wound on a form, making it self-supporting. The portions of the coil along the two sides of the arrowhead (which point to the actuator bearing center) interact with the magnetic field, developing a tangential force that rotates the actuator. Current flowing racially outward along one side of the arrowhead and racially inward on the other produces the tangential force. (See magnetic field Force on a charged particle.) If the magnetic field were uniform, each side would generate opposing forces that would cancel each other out. Therefore the surface of the magnet is half N pole, half S pole, with the radial dividing line in the middle, causing the two sides of the coil to see opposite magnetic fields and produce forces that add instead of canceling. Currents along the top and bott om of the coil produce radial forces that do not rotate the head. Floppy disk A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD, the initials of which should not be confused with fixed disk drive, which is another term for a (non removable) type of hard disk drive. Invented by IBM, floppy disks in 8-inch (200mm), 5 ¼-inch (133.35mm), and 3 ½-inch (90mm) formats enjoyed many years as a popular and ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange, from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment,[2] they have now been largely superseded by USB flash drives, external hard drives, CDs, DVDs, and memory cards (such as Secure Digital). 5 ¼-inch disk had a large circular hole in the center for the spindle of the drive and a small oval aperture in both sides of the plastic to allow the heads of the drive to read and write the data. The magnetic medium could be spun by rotating it from the middle hole. A small notch on the right hand side of the disk would identify whether the disk was read-only or writable, detected by a mechanical switch or photo transistor above it. Another LED/phototransistor pair located near the center of the disk could detect a small hole once per rotation, called the index hole, in the magnetic disk. It was used to detect the start of each track, and whether or not the disk rotated at the correct speed; some operating systems, such as Apple DOS, did not use index sync, and often the drives designed for such systems lacked the index hole sensor. Disks of this type were said to be soft sector disks. Very early 8-inch and 5 ¼-inch disks also had physical holes for each sector, and were termed hard sector disks. Inside the disk were two layers of fabric designed to reduce friction between the medium and the outer casing, with the medium sandwiched in the middle. The outer casing was usually a one-part sheet, folded double with flaps glued or spot-welded together. A catch was lowered into position in front of the drive to prevent the disk from emerging, as well as to raise or lower the spindle (and, in two-sided drives, the upper read/write head). The 8-inch disk was very similar in structure to the 5 ¼-inch disk, with the exception that the read-only logic was in reverse: the slot on the side had to be taped over to allow writing. The 3 ½-inch disk is made of two pieces of rigid plastic, with the fabric-medium-fabric sandwich in the middle to remove dust and dirt. The front has only a label and a small aperture for reading and writing data, protected by a spring-loaded metal or plastic cover, which is pushed back on entry into the drive. Newer 5 ¼-inch drives and all 3 ½-inch drives automatically engages when the user inserts a disk, and disengages and ejects with the press of the eject button. On Apple Macintosh computers with built-in floppy drives, the disk is ejected by a motor (similar to a VCR) instead of manually; there is no eject button. The disks desktop icon is dragged onto the Trash icon to eject a disk. The reverse has a similar covered aperture, as well as a hole to allow the spindle to connect into a metal plate glued to the medium. Two holes bottom left and right, indicate the write-protect status and high-density disk correspondingly, a hole meaning protected or high density, and a covered gap meaning write-enabled or low density. A notch top right ensures that the disk is inserted correctly, and an arrow top left indicates the direction of insertion. The drive usually has a button that, when pressed, will spring the disk out at varying degrees of force. Some would barely make it out of the disk drive; others would shoot out at a fairly high speed. In a majority of drives, the ejection force is provided by the spring that holds the cover shut, and therefore the ejection speed is dependent on this spring. In PC-type machines, a floppy disk can be inserted or ejected manually at any time (evoking an error message or even lost data in some cases), as the drive is not continuously m onitored for status and so programs can make assumptions that do not match actual status. With Apple Macintosh computers, disk drives are continuously monitored by the OS; a disk inserted is automatically searched for content, and one is ejected only when the software agrees the disk should be ejected. This kind of disk drive (starting with the slim Twiggy drives of the late Apple Lisa) does not have an eject button, but uses a motorized mechanism to eject disks; this action is triggered by the OS software (e.g., the user dragged the drive icon to the trash can icon). Should this not work (as in the case of a power failure or drive malfunction), one can insert a straightened paper clip into a small hole at the drives front, there by forcing the disk to eject (similar to that found on CD/DVD drives). Some other computer designs (such as the Commodore Amiga) monitor for a new disk continuously but still have push-button eject mechanisms. The 3-inch disk, widely used on Amstrad CPC machines, bears much similarity to the 3 ½-inch type, with some unique and somewhat curious features. One example is the rectangular-shaped plastic casing, almost taller than a 3 ½-inch disk, but narrower, and more than twice as thick, almost the size of a standard compact audio cassette. This made the disk look more like a greatly oversized present day memory card or a standard PC card notebook expansion card rather than a floppy disk. Despite the size, the actual 3-inch magnetic-coated disk occupied less than 50% of the space inside the casing, the rest being used by the complex protection and sealing mechanisms implemented on the disks. Such mechanisms were largely responsible for the thickness, length and high costs of the 3-inch disks. On the Amstrad machines the disks were typically flipped over to use both sides, as opposed to being truly double-sided. Double-sided mechanisms were available but rare. USB Ports Universal Serial Bus connectors on the back. These USB connectors let you attach everything from mice to printers to your computer quickly and easily. The operating system supports USB as well, so the installation of the device drivers is quick and easy, too. Compared to other ways of connecting devices to your computer, USB devices are incredibly simple we will look at USB ports from both a user and a technical standpoint. You will learn why the USB system is so flexible and how it is able to support so many devices so easily Anyone who has been around computers for more than two or three years know the problem that the Universal Serial Bus is trying to solve in the past, connecting devices to computers has been a real headache! Printers connected to parallel printer ports, and most computers only came with one. Things like Zip drives, which need a high-speed connection into the computer, would use the parallel port as well, often with limited success and not much speed. Modems used the serial port, but so did some printers and a variety of odd things like Palm Pilots and digital cameras. Most computers have at most two serial ports, and they are very slow in most cases. Devices that needed faster connections came with their own cards, which had to fit in a card slot inside the computers case. Unfortunately, the number of card slots is limited and you needed a Ph.D. to install the software for some of the cards. The goal of USB is to end all of these headaches. The Universal Serial Bus gives you a single, standardized, easy-to-use way to connect up to 127 devices to a computer. Just about every peripheral made now comes in a USB version. A sample list of USB devices that you can buy today includes: Printers Scanners Mice Joysticks Flight yokes Digital cameras Webcams Scientific data acquisition devices Modems Speakers Telephones Video phones Storage devices such as Zip drives Network connections In the next section, well look at the USB cables and connectors that allow your computer to communicate with these devices. Parallel port A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting various peripherals. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port. The IEEE 1284 standard defines the bi-directional version of the port. Before the advent of USB, the parallel interface was adapted to access a number of peripheral devices other than printers. Probably one of the earliest devices to use parallel were dongles used as a hardware key form of software copy protection. Zip drives and scanners were early implementations followed by external modems, sound cards, webcams, gamepads, joysticks and external hard disk drives and CD-ROM drives. Adapters were available to run SCSI devices via parallel. Other devices such as EPROM programmers and hardware controllers could be connected parallel. At the consumer level, the USB interface—and in some cases Ethernet—has effectively replaced the parallel printer port. Many manufacturers of personal computers and laptops consider parallel to be a legacy port and no longer include the parallel interface. USB to parallel adapters are available to use parallel-only printers with USB-only systems. However, due to the simplicity of its implementation, it is often used for interfacing with custom-made peripherals. In versions of Windows that did not use the Windows NT kernel (as well as DOS and some other operating systems) Keyboard Keyboard, in computer science, a keypad device with buttons or keys that a user presses to enter data characters and commands into a computer. They are one of the fundamental pieces of personal computer (PC) hardware, along with the central processing unit (CPU), the monitor or screen, and the mouse or other cursor device. The most common English-language key pattern for typewriters and keyboards is called QWERTY, after the layout of the first six letters in the top row of its keys (from left to right). In the late 1860s, American inventor and printer Christopher Shoals invented the modern form of the typewriter. Shoals created the QWERTY keyboard layout by separating commonly used letters so that typists would type slower and not jam their mechanical typewriters. Subsequent generations of typists have learned to type using QWERTY keyboards, prompting manufacturers to maintain this key orientation on typewriters. Computer keyboards copied the QWERTY key layout and have followed the precedent set by typewriter manufacturers of keeping this convention. Modern keyboards connect with the computer CPU by cable or by infrared transmitter. When a key on the keyboard is pressed, a numeric code is sent to the keyboards driver software and to the computers operating system software. The driver translates this data into a specialized command that the computers CPU and application programs understand. In this way, users may enter text, commands, numbers, or other data. The term character is generally reserved for letters, numbers, and punctuation, but may also include control codes, graphical symbols, mathematical symbols, and graphic images. Almost all standard English-language keyboards have keys for each character of the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character set, as well as various function keys. Most computers and applications today use seven or eight data bits for each character. For example, ASCII code 65 is equal to the letter A. The function keys generate short, fixed sequences of character codes that instruct application programs running on the computer to perform certain actions. Often, keyboards also have directional buttons for moving the screen cursor, separate numeric pads for entering numeric and arithmetic data, and a switch for turning the computer on and off. Some keyboards, including most for laptop computers, also incorporate a trackball, mouse pad, or other cursor-directing device. No standard exists for positioning the function, numeric, and other buttons on a keyboard relative to the QWERTY and other typewriting keys. Thus layouts vary on keyboards. In the 1930s, American educators August Dvorak and William Dearly designed this key set so that the letters th

Time and Cost Estimating Techniques Essays -- Project Management Obser

Time and Cost Estimating Techniques Estimating work times provides several benefits for the project manager. It gives an idea of the level of effort required to complete a project. This information then enables the project manager to produce a realistic plan based upon that effort. Estimating also helps the project manager anticipate the budget for the project. There are many formal techniques available to estimate time and cost for activities. Please refer to the Project Management Reference Section for more details on these techniques. Anyone reviewing these estimates should understand that they are approximations, not accuracies. Although the formal techniques are very specific, most of them have the following tasks in common: * Break activities down into small pieces for easier and more accurate estimation. (WBS) * Review historical information and compare to current activities. * Include a contingency buffer for potential risks. * Solicit advice from others that have previously completed similar activities. * Identify and document the assumptions and parameters used to derive the estimates. Microsoft Project Microsoft Project is project management software. Project management software assists project managers by providing a means for organizing project information. A project manager uses the software to enter and maintain a workplan that organizes activities and details. The software calculates the scheduled dates for tasks based on the time or work requirements of each task using a calendar of working days for the project and its resources. Microsoft Project is a tool to assist project managers in creating a WBS, PERT Charts, Gantt Charts, and resource histograms. Other reports and charts are also readily available for use and customization. AIS project team members and managers should use the latest version. PERT/CPM Network analysis techniques identify early and late start and finish dates for the uncompleted portions of project activities. The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and the Critical Path Method (CPM) are examples of network analysis techniques. The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is an event-oriented technique used to show all the project tasks, dependencies, and earliest and latest start times for each task in graphical form. It is used... ...y are achieving the task goals. This type of observation can also be useful if aspects of team performance are being investigated to understand how the team members are organised and perform their tasks. Communication and conversational analysis Investigation of the patterns in the organisation of people's interaction (it would be possible to use the principle of analysing a conversation between two travellers, or one traveller and one transport enquiry office operator in real situations, in order to identify the needs for the traveller in specific contexts, what are the difficulties encountered, how a system could resolve these difficulties,... ). One of these methods is the language / action approach which considers the language as a means by which people act. Advantage of this method : it provides a complete and logical conceptual frame in order to investigate all kinds of conversation. Disadvantage of this method : many situations are characterised by subtle communication processes not taken into account by the model. There is also a difficulty in labelling an interaction and a message especially if they do not fit into the request or promise categories.

Chemistry Extra Credit

Tim Bruce The subject that I will be focusing on through the course of this extra credit paper, is one about the combination of Aerospace Engineering and Chemistry. Chose this particular topic because of my future life goals. Which include getting a degree in aerospace engineering. Also became interested while researching for this paper in a particular sub topic of the TV which is called aerodynamicist's.Aerodynamicist's is the study of gases which takes into account the effect of motion, heat, and chemical changes. Which is important to the field of aerospace engineering in the fact that aerospace engineers design aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, and missiles. In addition, they test prototypes to make sure that they function according to design. So you can see how the two connect. But exactly what kind of chemistry is involved?Obviously chemistry is deep rooted into Aerospace technology. Aerodynamicist's primarily focuses on molecular interactions at typically high Mach Numbers, su ch as that seen in a combustion chamber of a rocket or that of a reentry vehicle. So although aerospace engineering is typically design and building oriented you would absolutely need a chemists back round when thinking about these types of things. Anything involving materials and processes also involves chemistry.Examples include, failure analysis of microcircuit packaging contaminant analysis, corrosion problems, electroplating and conversion coating problems, paint adhesion problems, thermoses polymer failures, evaluation of urological and thermal properties of prepares, adhesives, laminates and Adair absorbing coatings, soldering problems, firing pin failures, surface cleaning, alloy analysis, and process tank analysis. All of which are inside the aerospace field.But these are only a small amount of connections that Aerospace engineering and chemistry have together. But as stated before in the examples we see that included was a lot of rockets and when you think of rockets many will tend to think about NASA- Now NASA has been synonymous with space travel since its creation. But few tend to recognize he men behind the scene, when they see a space shuttle take off into orbit.The men and women of Aerospace engineering need to take into account not only the rocket but also the astronauts that pilot the space craft. When designing these machines, biological and chemical actions that will take place in the astronauts bodies. For instance what kind of chemical changes might happen to our bodies while piloting this space craft or how to limit the amount of g force put on the pilots as they take off and many many more factors.This diagram, although very simple to what aerospace engineers use, gives you a look into how many factors such as altitude, angle, speed, and maneuver time effects g force. So as you can see chemistry is deeply involved in the field of aerospace engineering. But not only that chemistry is involved in everything we do. It is everything, and ev erywhere.

Acesite Corporation vs. Nlrc

Acesite Corporation vs. NLRC Facts: * Leo A. Gonzales (Gonzales) was a Chief of Security of Acesite Corporation. * Gonzales took several leaves (sick leave, emergency leave, and vacation leave), thereby using up all leaves that he was entitled for the year. * Before the expiration of his 12-day vacation leave, Gonzales filed an application for emergency leave for 10 days commencing on April 30 up to May 13, 1998. The application was not, however, approved. * He received a telegram informing him of the disapproval and asking him to report back for work on April 30, 1998.However Gonzales did not report for work on the said date. * On May 5, 1998, Acesite sent him a final telegram in his provincial address containing in order for Gonzales to report back to work. * Gonzales, who claims to have received the May 5, 1998 telegram only in the afternoon of May 7, 1998, immediately repaired back to Manila on May 8, 1998 only to be â€Å"humiliatingly and ignominiously barred by the guard (a s ubordinate of [Gonzales]) from entering the premises. * It appears that on May 7, 1998, the issued notice of termination was thru an inter-office memo. * Gonzales thus filed on May 27, 1998 a complaint against Acesite for illegal dismissal with prayer for reinstatement and payment of full backwages, etc. * Acesite claims, Gonzales â€Å"showed no respect for the lawful orders for him to report back to work and repeatedly ignored all telegrams sent to him,† and it merely exercised its legal right to dismiss him under the House Code of Discipline. LA – the complaint for lack of merit, its holding that Gonzales was dismissed for just cause and was not denied of due process. * NLRC – reversed that of the Labor Arbiter. * CA – finding that Gonzales was illegally dismissed, affirmed with modification the NLRC decision. Issue: * WON Gonzales was legally dismissed for just cause. Held: * No. there appears to have been no just cause to dismiss Gonzales from employ ment.As correctly ruled by the Court of Appeals, Gonzales cannot be considered to have willfully disobeyed his employer. Willful disobedience entails the concurrence of at least two (2) requisites: the employee’s assailed conduct has been willful or intentional, the willfulness being characterized by a â€Å"wrongful and perverse attitude;† and the order violated must have been reasonable, lawful, made known to the employee and must pertain to the duties which he had been engaged to discharge. In Gonzales’ case, his assailed conduct has not been shown to have been characterized by a perverse attitude, hence, the first requisite is wanting. His receipt of the telegram disapproving his application for emergency leave starting April 30, 1998 has not been shown. And it cannot be said that he disobeyed the May 5, 1998 telegram since he received it only on May 7, 1998. On the contrary, that he immediately hied back to Manila upon receipt thereof negates a perverse att itude.

A Critical Analysis of the Procurement Policy for a Local Government The WritePass Journal

A Critical Analysis of the Procurement Policy for a Local Government Executive Summary A Critical Analysis of the Procurement Policy for a Local Government ). Early engagement is crucial in maintaining savings and improvements that further reflect in transformational changes in the council’s procurement strategy. The whole lifecycle approach adopted by Leeds City Council regarding its procurement strategy assumes that service delivery should not be compromised. Other significant dimensions of this approach relate to contact management and exit which contribute to achieving extensive value for many. In addition, the recent changes observed in the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council and that of Staffordshire County Council reflect the importance of the skills and capacity of procurement professionals. They are mostly responsible for ensuring the maintenance of a relevant procurement process based on supporting the council’s business continuity needs (Niezen and Weller 2006). The latter is extensively manifested in the procurement strategy of Staffordshire County Council. Procurement professionals structure arrangements with key providers in an attempt to manage the risks pertaining to the process of supplying goods and services. Thus, professionals in the respective field are expected to set high quality processes through cross-functional strategic activities that are evident in both Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council (Loppacher et al. 2006). Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy considers the significance of employing common principles a nd rules which are properly designed to correspond to the needs of all included categories. Emphasis is on reflecting the needs of the specific service areas along with stakeholder needs. This recent change in the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council is in line with ensuring quality outcomes (Leeds City Council Procurement Strategy 2013). Such procurement strategy is comparable to the one of Staffordshire County Council due to the process of aligning delivery of goods and services with the corporate needs identified by Staffordshire County Council (Staffordshire County Council 2014). The respective council utilises the expertise of procurement professionals to ensure social values outcomes as well as sufficient savings achieved through a balanced scorecard used for procurement. The focus on the skills and capacity of procurement professionals is among the improved areas of Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy. Having skilled and experienced staff is important in delivering high quality outcomes to local communities. Moreover, Leeds City Council manifests its responsibility to support the development and training of procurement professionals in order to maintain high standards across the profession (Loppacher et al. 2006). There is a solid sense of accountability evident in the practice of each procurement professional working at Leeds City Council. In comparison, Staffordshire County Council emphasises the capacity of its procurement staff in terms of providing legal training packages. This indicates an ongoing process of developing the knowledge and expertise of all professionals involved in the procurement practice (Arora et al. 2007). In this way, procurement professionals can work together with other experts in the field to implement the spe cific objectives listed in the procurement strategy of both Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council. One of the observable recent changes in the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council is that the central procurement function is projected to serve as a flexible source of excellence and thus is accountable for providing a substantial source of expertise. Procurement professionals working in Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council are extensively trained to demonstrate ownership and accountability to the public in their respective communities (Kennekae 2012). Elements of structured governance and assurance make Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy rather effective. However, the procurement strategy of Staffordshire County Council is oriented towards indicating a ‘customer of choice’ model of delivering services. This implies that procurement professionals working in Staffordshire County Council are responsible for the creation of greater visibility of the council’s requirements for goods, services and provider performance (Staffordshire C ounty Council 2014). Therefore, professionals are determined to ensure proper communications and organising skills that help them in the establishment and implementation of linkage. Similarly, procurement professionals in Leeds City Council are devoted to research good practice documents and toolkits while trying to reinforce their skills and capacity. Furthermore, the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council is comparable to the one of Staffordshire County Council in the aspect of openness and transparency. Both councils indicate an ambition of being open and transparent which reflects in providing visible contracts as well as constantly updated management information (Kim and Netessine 2012). Leeds City Council places importance on presenting clear and accessible tender processes and documentation. Openness and transparency ensure the formation of a positive relationship between the council and its procurement partners. Likewise, such aspects are closely linked with instilling confidence in the public regarding the adopted procurement approach (McLean 2008). In comparison, the procurement strategy implemented by Staffordshire County Council indicates its staff’s commitment to ensure compliance and probity which may be associated with the principles of openness and transparency manifested by Leeds City Council. Recommendations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The recent changes to the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council indicate that the respective council’s approach is comparable to the strategy of Staffordshire County Council. Yet certain recommendations are listed below to achieve further improvements in Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy: Procurement professionals should work on creating an inclusive procurement strategy in which smaller providers are presented with an opportunity to participate (McLean 2008); The council should constantly research and update its available procurement tools to guarantee competitively established standards in the field; The council should consider the removal of unnecessary restrictions which would allow the institution to evaluate suppliers in an objective manner rather than focus on limiting business criteria such as revenue (Loppacher et al. 2006); Professionals need to demonstrate sensitivity to financing issues to include established payment policies; It is fundamental to indicate potential hidden costs in terms of providing clear information on the actual insurance, liability as well as regulatory requirements; this practice would allow innovative suppliers to compete (Hawkins et al. 2011) Conclusion The paper indicated an analysis of Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy with special focus on its recent changes and how they are comparable to the procurement strategy outlined by Staffordshire County Council (Leeds City Council Procurement Strategy 2013). Thus, significant aspects of both procurement strategies have been discussed in order to identify the focus of procurement professionals working in the two councils. Certain aspects of the two procurement strategies were found similar especially with regards to category management and lifecycle approach. Moreover, the efforts of procurement professionals are equally important to the work of either Leeds City Council or Staffordshire County Council (Staffordshire County Council 2014). In this way, the paper ensured adequate arguments about the effectiveness of the procurement strategies adopted by these institutions. Tender Specification Sheet Leeds City Council is seeking tenders from various private providers for the maintenance and operation of the woodhouse car park in front of the University. The intention is that the car park will operate as a proper public amenity. There are certain standards of services that will be followed. The respective parking services are set at prices identified at proper market levels. Prices are competitive in order to encourage visitor parking regarding close distance to local businesses. Discouraging the practice of day-long parking is essential for the maintenance of the woodhouse car park. The park will be open 24 hours a day, seven days/ week. Personal security will be ensured to customers and visitors. They need to feel secure in the identified car park area. The integration of area security is a priority to the Council. All tenderers are invited to submit their applications by providing the following documentation: -Financial Proposal for a period of 3 years; -Details on the percentage of the turnover expected to be paid annually to the Council; -Evidence indicating previous experience in the area of car park projects; -Providing details of the resources available to complete the project; In order to evaluate the bids from the private players, it is important to provide a set of key performance indicators that will be consistently used (Iyer and Pazgal 2008). The first performance indicator is that the selected tender should provide the best value for money at reasonable cost. This may result from balancing cost and quality. Another key performance indicator that will be used to assess the bids is that of prequalification. Such indicator is implemented to make sure that only those who meet specific criteria will be considered for inclusion to bid (Loppacher et al. 2006). In addition, prequalification is associated with responses to a set of questions provided by the Council. Major questions should include elements of quality, capacity to supply and financial competence. The indicator of open and flexible communication is fundamental as no private player should be given preference. Even though meetings with tenderers who have placed their bids may be necessary at a cer tain point, they should take place solely for clarifying specific aspects regarding the tender (Hawkins et al. 2011). It is important to use recognised channels of communication in order to avoid confusion of private players or any misunderstanding of presented information. References Arora, P., Garg, A. K. and Vaidya, S. C. (2007), ‘Efficacy of Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility and Procurement Strategy’, South Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 14(1) pp105-119 Hawkins, T., Gravier, M. and Powley, E. (2011), ‘Public versus Private Sector Procurement Ethics and Strategy: What Each Sector Can Learn from the Other’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 103(4) pp567-586 Iyer, G. and Pazgal, A. (2008), ‘Procurement Bidding with Restrictions’, Quantitative Marketing Economics, Vol. 6(2) pp177-204 Kennekae, L. (2012), ‘Procurement Strategies to Serve the Public Good,’ International Trade Forum, 2 pp11-111 Kim, S. H. and Netessine, S. (2011), ‘Collaborative Cost Reduction and Component Procurement under Information Asymmetry’, INSEAD Working Papers Collections, 33 pp1-40 Leeds City Council Procurement Strategy (2013), Leeds City Council [Online]. Available at: leeds.gov.uk/docs/Procurement%20Strategy%20V1.0%20PUBLISH%2030.09.2013.pdf [Accessed: 29 April 2014]. Loppacher, J. S., Luchi, R., Cagliano, R. and Spina, G. (2006), ‘Global Sourcing and Procurement Strategy: A Model of Interrelated Decisions’, Supply Chain Forum: International Journal, Vol. 7(1) pp34-46 McLean, S. (2008), ‘Choice in Government Software Procurement: A Winning Strategy’, Journal of Public Procurement, Vol.8(1) pp70-97 Niezen, C. and Weller, W. (2006), ‘Procurement as Strategy’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 84(9) pp22-24 Staffordshire County Council (2014), Staffordshire Procurement [Online]. Available at: https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/business/procurement/homepage.aspx [Accessed: 29 April 2014].