The effects of mobile devices on cybersecurity Essay

The effects of mobile devices on cybersecurity - Essay Example The development of the mobile technology has significantly changed the way people live. It played a notable role in making modern life convenient and flexible. The mobile technology grew rapidly that it took hardly ten years to enter the mainstream use, and, when compared to the growth of telephones this growth was unusually fast. According to Cisco’s 2013 global mobile data forecast (2014), today the number of mobile devices equals the number of humans on the planet. The mobile technology fact sheet published by the Pew Research Center (2014) indicates that 90% of American adults own a cell phone, 58% of them own a smartphone, 32% own an e-reader, and 42% own a tablet computer. It is interesting to note that 67% of cell phone users check their phones frequently for calls, messages, or other alerts when while their phones do not ring or vibrate. There are another 44% of cell users sleeping with their phones next to the bed so as to make sure that they do not miss any call, mes sage, or update. The fact sheet also reflects that 29% of cell users consider their cell phone as â€Å"something they cannot imagine living without† (The mobile technology fact sheet, Pew Research Center, 2014). The term cybersecurity refers to the process of providing security to devices such as computers, cell phones, smartphones, and tablets, as well as the whole internet. In the current world, promoting cybersecurity is of great importance because modern people increasingly depend on computer networks to store and transfer their confidential data/information. Magid (2014) says that since such sensitive personal data is exposed to computer networks, hackers or other cyber criminals may intrude into the privacy of network users and empty their bank account if proper cybersecurity measures are not in place. Business enterprises are no exception to such cyber challenges. Hence,

The personalities of the contenders Essay Example for Free

The personalities of the contenders Essay How significant were the personalities of the contenders to succeed Lenin in accounting for Stalin’s defeat of his opponents in the years 1924-29? Lenins death on the 21st January 1924 caused huge sadness across the country. After Lenins death, everyone was eagerly waiting to know who would be the next leader of Russia. In the years after Lenins death, there was no clear successor to his leadership. However, when Lenin was leader, Trotsky was always there for him, and he played a huge role in the Civil War, therefore everyone thought he would become Lenins successor. However, as well as Trotsky there were other significant contenders, such as Stalin, Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev which created a huge power struggle. I believe that the personalities of the contenders were significant in this struggle. However, other factors such as ideological battles, removal of opponents by Stalin and the consolidated powerbases also had an effect. The personalities of all were all extremely different by a great margin. The most likely to win, Trotsky was intellectually gifted which greatly benefitted him. He was also a great military leader and had good organisational skills. Trotsky has a few strong disadvantages to his personality though. His late arrival to the Bolshevik party could be interpret Trotsky as an unloyal character while his arrogance due to his intelligence made him quite a few different enemies in the Bolshevik party. Trotsky’s arrogance led to his defeat as he vastly underestimated Stalin and the threat he posed, while also decreasing his inner party support. At the time Trotsky would be clear favourite to win but his poor characteristics let him down. The next contender and winner of the battle for power was Joseph Stalin. An underdog and one of the least likely looking people to win, Stalin played his cards well and to his advantage. Being a Bolshevik from the beginning supported the fact that Stalin was a loyal Bolshevik which was a strength of his personality. Stalin being a cunning character was another strength of his and was a contributing factor to the defeat of his enemies as he was easily able to manipulate and outplay them. His ruthlessness and his ability to easily gain support due to his position and authority to promote them also benefitted greatly to the defeat of his enemies. He had a major weakness and thorn in his side though and that was Lenin’s opinion of him. The ability to easily manipulate Stalin was also a major disadvantage for him. While Stalin didn’t look it, he had just as big  of a chance as Trotsky due to his nature. Another contender in the race for leadership was the â€Å"Golden boy† known as Bukharin. Bukharin was possessed one of the best personalities of the party and his traits and strengths such as his incorruptibility and honest and well natured manner were good aspects about him. His â€Å"Golden boy† title was also helpful as it represented how liked he was by Lenin before his death. His intellectuality also benefitted him greatly and he was often referred to as the brains of the Bolsheviks. Bukharin’s main weakness though was that he ha d no ambition and he was too young. These factors led to a small support for Bukharin while his right-wing views also cut out some votes for him. Another contender, Zinoviev possessed good strengths such as being a good speaker and being good friends with Lenin. These would essentially give Zinoviev a right to the leadership of the party. He was involved little in the civil war though and his dislikeable and vain nature did little to help him gain the support he needed which was why he teamed up with the last contender Kamenev. Kamenev was also a friend of Lenin but compared to Zinoviev was from a working class background which would have benefitted him greatly due to the say and respect he would have. Kamenev had little influence though and was too uninspirational greatly denting his chances Therefore, what we can infer from the personalities and strengths of each other contenders was that Stalin cleverly manipulated and took advantage of each contenders weaknesses which led to him becoming leader. Stalin would also use the past to his advantage e.g. Zinoviev’s poor revolutionary record or Trotsky’s past allegia nces. Stalin would also use the personalities of other contenders to his advantage e.g. Trotsky’s arrogance or the fact that Bukharin has no ambition. There were also many other factors that led to Stalin’s victory though. Another way in which Stalin won was the removal of opponents by Stalin. Stalin slowly but surely took out each of his opponents carefully and concisely. Stalin removed Trotsky by creating the Triumvirate with Kamenev and Zinoviev. Stalin carefully destroyed Trotsky’s reputation with Zinoviev and Kamenev with things such as questioning his loyalty to Lenin, destroying his influence by questioning his ‘Bonapartism’ ideology and question his activities leading up to the revolution. Stalin also made Trotsky miss the funeral of Lenin, shocking the party and destroying Trotsky’s influence by a huge chunk. When Stalin had taken care of Trotsky,  he then took care of Zinoviev and Kamenev by splitting the Triumvirate and creating the Duumvirate with Bukharin. With Zinoviev and Kamenev in decline due to the influence they had in the defeat of Trotsky, Stalin easily defeated them. When that had happened Stalin quickly turned against Bukharin and with his growing inf luence Stalin removed him from the race for leadership. At the end of everything, Stalin had removed all opponents and this was a big factor in determining Stalin’s victory due to the fact that it had removed all of the people in the way of Stalin becoming leader of the Bolsheviks. Another way Stalin took power was by increasing his influence by never actually taking a side. While everyone was on either a left-wing or right-wing stance, Stalin remained neutral as to not damage his influence with members of either side. This way Stalin would face less opposition due to him not going against a large opposition of the party. His stance on things such as the NEP also came to his advantage and he both agreed and disagreed with it at different times. Stalin also took a neutral view on how fast Russia should industrialise, he personally however took a left wing view towards this.

Athletics and the Effect on Academics Essay Example for Free

Athletics and the Effect on Academics Essay The purpose of this research proposal is to determine if extracurricular activities such as sports has a positive or negative affect on junior high student’s academic achievement. I will discuss past research that has been conducted and their results as well articles written on the topic. I will also discuss my research method and how it will be implemented in order to see how previous research compares to my school. This research will be conducted with students in the 6th through the 8th grade. As a teacher and a coach I have wondered if there is any correlation between students academic success while they were part of a sports program. I know that as a former student-athlete in junior high and high school I was motivated to maintain a certain grade level in order to participate in any type of sport. I recently attended my son’s parent meeting for his freshman basketball team and learned that according to IHSA rules a student can fail two classes and still participate in their sport. That is a topic of discussion for another time but it did spark my curiosity to see if my students at the junior high level worked harder to stay eligible during their sport season and not so hard during their off –season. It should be stated that at my school a student has to maintain a 70% to participate and this is checked on a weekly basis. It would seem that ever since sports has become part of our schools environment there has been a debate about the effects of athletic participation on academic achievement. I believe now more than ever it has become a more relevant issue because of the budget restraints in our country’s schools. The school boards often find it easy to cut athletic programs because they do not see the value it has in the academic arena. It is important for our administrators to know these effects of athletics on academics before they would decide to cut or retain these athletic programs. This particular research proposal would focus on junior high students that are both male and female at J. W. Eater in Rantoul Illinois. Our demographics are about evenly split between both Caucasian and African American students, the African American student being slight higher, with a smaller percent of Hispanics. It should also be noted that there are a high number, close to 80%, of these students whose families fall below the poverty line; therefore there is a high number of kids that are on the free or reduced lunch plan. In addition to the research that will be conducted at Eater Junior High there will also be some information from other articles and studies that have been done in research journals. I feel these articles and studies will provide a clearer picture as to the positive effect of athletic participation and academic achievement. I found an article that supports the theory that athletic participation can help at-risk students and other students who have academic problems. Since we have several at-risk students because of our demographics in Rantoul this article seem to relate. In this article it states that educators believe that athletic participation reduces the chance of school dropout by approximately forty percent. It argues that extracurricular participation decreases this chance because it gives those at-risk students a chance to create positive connections to the school system. Involvement in these activities was perceived by educators to support these at-risk students by maintaining, enhancing and strengthening the student to school connection (Holloway, J. H. 2000). Although we don’t have the dropout problem as say our high school, athletics is a connection to the next level of education and can provide motivation to stay in school. A research article I found that involves using a questionnaire, as I intend to use with my research proposal, measures academic achievement between athletes and non-athletes on the 8th grade level (Stegman, M. Stephens, L. 2000). Both the athletes and the non-athletes were invited to participate and each was provided with a questionnaire. Both groups also gave the researchers permission to view their academic scores. They found that the results showed the students who participated in sports had the higher academic scores versus those who chose not to participate in sports. Although the sample size wasn’t that large the results tend to lean in favor of athletics enforcing academics. Another case I found was interesting in that it examined over 25,000 students along with their teachers and parents (Jordan, W. 1999). The research’s author, Will Jordan, shows how the results point out that African American students have a higher rate of academic achievement as a whole when they are in involved in extracurricular activities such as sports. The only draw back to this research is that it only involves African Americans, however Mr.  Jordon does note that previous research did show similar results for other races that were researched. The majority of its data is received from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, and this is used to measure the data against a system that is already in place to decide how effective extracurricular activities are to a student’s academic success. Another case that was conducted by Thomas Herbert centers on the study of 8 different student athletes that had been identified as gifted in junior high for 120 days (Herbert, T. 1995). As my own son was in the gifted program this was also an interesting study. By observing and using questionnaires, and looking at their academic scores, the conclusion Mr. Herbert came to was that they all had a strong academic record along with positive self-esteem. Mr. Herbert’s rationale is that they gained these positive attributes through their involvement in playing competitive sports. Just like in Mr. Jordon’s research, Mr. Herbert’s research also had limitations. In this case these students were from the inner city, therefore it would not be an accurate example of society as a whole or in comparison to J.  W. Eater. These are three research cases that weigh in favor of athletics helping promote academics. However in order to be able to conduct a research proposal that is fair you have to look at both sides and there are some articles that shows some negative correlations between academics and sports. One such article was written by Mr. Glenn Cook that is based on his prior experiences working with student athletes. Mr. Cook suggests that today’s society has placed more emphasis on athletics than they do academics (Cook, G. 2003). He feels because of this shift, students are not having the academic success they would otherwise had if athletics wasn’t involved. He feel that the students are not being pushed to achieve the most from their academics because they are being given a â€Å"pass† so to speak because of the time involved with their particular sport. A Mr. William Bainbridge writes a similar article taking the stance that athletics is hindering the academic part of school (Bainbridge, W. 2004). His point of view is that the culture is so enamored with the likes of athletes such as Kobe Bryant or Dwight Howard who skip college and go straight to the NBA. He feels this is a deterrent for the kid who wants to go to college and graduate. Although I see the points in both Mr. Cook and Mr. Bainbridge opinions, they are just that, an opinion. An actual research article that helps support their opinion was conducted by Ms. Leah Bucknavage and a Mr. Frank Worrell where their research shows a negative correlation between athletics and academics (Bucknavage, L. Worrell, F. 2005). The research indicated that some students who participated in an intramural sport actually showed a decline in academic achievement. It should be noted that a limitation to this research is that it is based on an intramural sport as opposed to a regular sports team that requires tryouts in order to make the team and participate which requires more time and commitment. Within the majority of research I found supporting the positive effects between athletics and academics, it could easily be argued that athletics helps promote academic achievement in students. Through my research proposal I would hope to find that my results held with the status quo. In my research proposal I will be using student questionnaires as this seems to a popular method used by other researcher into this topic. I would also be looking at the student’s grades in all subject areas pre and post their participation in their sport, along with their ISAT scores from when the started participating as early as the 6th grade through their 8th grade career. I would want to see, at the minimum, that their grades were passing and consistent over this period of time. I plan on looking at J. W. Eater junior high on a grade-by-grade level. The esearch will be done in the form of questionnaires for each grade that the students will have to fill out themselves. The survey instrument used in this research will be designed to determine whether or not the activities that junior high students choose have an effect on their academic achievement and will be based on a four point Likert-scale, with 1 meaning â€Å"I agree;† 2 meaning â€Å"I somewhat agree;† 3 meaning â€Å"I somewhat disagree;† and 4 meaning, â€Å"I disagree;†. A personal data sheet that also request demographic data will be included along with the survey. These demographic answers will be reported in percentages and charts. The questions in the non-demographic part of the survey will generally be about their attitudes towards school and learning in general. They will also be asked if they currently play, have played or plan on playing a sport in junior high. The questionnaire will see if there is a correlation between participating in athletics and their expectation of themselves. Because the questionnaire will have both convergent and divergent questions I will be able to get a better result as to the correlation of athletic participation and the self-expectations. Their current grades and ISAT scores will also be recorded. The goal is to compare the scores, both pre and post, and questionnaire results with those of the non-extracurricular participant and see if the data supports the hypothesis that athletics promotes academics. As a potential future administrator this is information that I would like to have access to in my potential school in order to determine the value of sports or extracurricular activities. Although I feel there is a positive correlation between sports and academics, I have to put the educational part of school first and foremost. If I were to see that the academic part of my students schooling is being affected by extracurricular activities then I would have to make adjustment to those activities. This could be done in cutting an activity altogether or creating other opportunities to help the student-athlete be successful. I think this project has reinforced my belief that if set up properly within the school environment, then there is a positive correlation between extracurricular activities and academics. I think its up to each administrator to do what is in the best interest for his or her school and students.

Virtual Reality And Its Impact On Society Information Technology Essay

Virtual Reality And Its Impact On Society Information Technology Essay Technology has transformed peoples perception of the world by either creating new environments for them to traverse, or by providing them passage to corners of the earth they will never otherwise visit in their entire lifetimes. Virtual reality, briefly defined as an environment that is computer-simulated, has transcended social and geographical barriers ever since its applications have been increasingly used by everyday people. Whereas before it was limited only to labyrinth and high-cost applications availed of by expert users, virtual reality has now broadened its breadth to encompass the general public which optimizes the Internet to configure, share and create virtual communities benefitting society in the areas of education, law enforcement, medicine and industries. Defining Virtual Reality Virtual reality is an environment which is computer-simulated, and the simulation could be that of an imaginary world, or a real one (Gajera, n.d.). Virtual reality environments are mainly three-dimensional visual experiences that are displayed either on a screener through special or stereoscopic displays, and enhanced by sensory information such as sounds that emanate from headphones or speakers (Gajera, n.d., p. 3). There are modern applications that provide force feedback or tactile information, which are generally used for gaming and medical applications. To experience this, multi-modal devices such as the omni directional treadmill, the Polhemus boom arm, or a wired glove is used, as in Figure 1 at Appendix Page (Gajera, n.d.). Michael R. Heim, in his book entitled, The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, has named seven applications of virtual reality: network communication, full-body immersion, telepresence, immersion, artificiality, interaction and simulation (Gajera, n.d.). In light of these, a virtual environment may be defined as a digital space in which a users activities are monitored, and his or her surroundings rendered, or digitally composed and displayed to the senses, in accordance with those activities (Fox, Arena and Bailenson, 2009, p. 95). According to Jesse Fox, Dylan Arena, and Jeremy N. Bailenson, the critical element of the most fascinating virtual reality experiences is the hindering real, sensory impressions; a users senses are engaged in the virtual world, with the body consigned to a reality engine, as in Figure 1 at Appendix Page (Fox, Arena and Bailenson, 2009, p. 95). Technically, the virtual reality system uses both software and hardware which allow developers to produce virtual reality systems (Riva, 2009). The hardware elements receive inputs coming from devices that are manipulated by the user, and sends multi-sensory output to generate an imagery of a virtual world (Riva, 2009, p. 337). Meanwhile, the software element of a virtual reality system does not really create the virtual world. Rather, there is a separate software which projects the virtual world through the use of the virtual reality software system (Riva, 2009, p. 337). Hence, a virtual reality system is made up of a graphic rendering system, a database construction and virtual object modeling software (337), and the input and output tools (Riva, 2009). The Impact of Virtual Reality on Society Virtual Reality has taken the world by storm, and is now tagged as the next dominant technological development. In the same way as the Internet, virtual reality was created for a specific purpose but modern technology has made it more versatile. At first, virtual reality was conceptualized as a new medium of entertainment; but as time passed, it has found more useful uses from providing online education, to applications in the medical field and giving hope to people with terminal diseases. Currently, virtual reality is used in (i) businesses, specifically in the presentation of graphs and charts, (ii) industries like the automotive industrys manufacturing arm, (iii) military for simulations and training, (iv) medical field for treatments of various ailments and disorders, and (v) education, specifically in laboratories, online education and virtual museums (Fortune City, 2010). It is foreseen that in the future, virtual reality will further enhance training at medical schools, comme rcial airlines, the Air Force, and will even be utilized by clothing manufacturers in the form of virtual reality shopping (Fortune City, 2010). Education Educators and scientists have joined forces all throughout the U.S. to establish virtual reality education to students and teachers alike, through the use of head-mounted displays (HMD), Immersawalls, ImmersaDesks and Cave Automated Virtual Environments (CAVEs), see Figure 3 at Appendix Page (Rusch, Sherman and Thakkar, 2002, p. 205). CAVE has a standard size of 10 x 10 x 10 space and has a floor, ceiling and three walls. Students utilizing this system don stereographic glasses which intensify images, and use a CAVE wand to assist that user as, i.e., molecule, or pedestrian, or fish, in navigating the virtual environment (Rusch, Sherman and Thakkar, 2002, p. 205). This is just a birds eye view of the role that virtual reality will play in education. Despite the fact that there are a good number of educational applications of virtual reality being availed of in the U.S. these days, the development of virtual reality has not yet achieved its maximum potential in the classroom (Rusch, Sherman and Thakkar, 2002, p. 205). The field of Career Technical Education has begun to benefit from virtual reality. Students can explore operating rooms, submarines, a prototype car, airplane cockpits, biotech laboratories, crime scenes and agricultural farms without having to travel, through the use of virtual reality (Ausburn and Ausburn, 2008). Again, through the use of CAVEs and HMDs, students are provided with three-dimensional simulations to give them a sense of being there' (Ausburn and Ausburn, 2008, p. 43). A good number of careers necessitate learning that will allow individuals to safely carry out their tasks amid dangerous circumstances. Because virtual reality is supremely realistic, it enables the student to benefit from active involvement with accurate and intricate visual scenes (Ausburn and Ausburn, 2008). Hence, training programs utilize virtual reality for railway and mining operations, dangerous driving scenarios, handling of hazardous materials, nuclear energy, marine exploration, space and aviation exploration, emergency medical operations, firefighting, military and law enforcement (Ausburn and Ausburn, 2008). The aim of these training programs is to teach students how to efficiently and effectively respond under high-cost, high-risk and complex circumstances, without damaging equipment and endangering personnel while still at training. Educational programs for courses like spray painting, bio-technology, aircraft maintenance, crime scene investigation and forensics, (44) engineering, dentistry, surgical technology and welding also benefit from virtual technology. Because the technology is still fairly new, CAVEs are expensive to avail of. Moreover, it is also expensive to implement and sustain, because of the specialized skills that are needed to set it up and maintain it. Nevertheless, as technology continues to evolve, there is much promise for virtual reality systems that may be used through laptops or desktops, utilizing special software that are based on JAVA, Flash and QuickTime technologies (Ausburn and Ausburn, 2008). Figure 4 illustrates how virtual reality may be accessed from a web system (Ottoson and Holmdahl, 2007). Because of the benefits offered by virtual reality technologies, there is a high degree of enthusiasm surrounding it in the world of the academe. Figure 5 summarizes the benefits of virtual reality in education. Law Enforcement Taking its cue from the September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. has been innovating on taking protective measures preserve the security of its citizenry. One effective way of doing this is through the use virtual reality for training and intelligence gathering purposes. The U.S. intelligence community has been using virtual reality to simulate actual battlefields in the future, utilizing cyber weapons for initiating attacks against terrorists and other potential adversaries (Wilson, 2008, p. 4). Military use of virtual technology is efficient and effective in training personnel manage better under potentially risky scenarios. Participants utilize avatars in virtual environments that simulate, i.e., a checkpoint in Iraq, or a New York subway tunnel subjected to terroristic chemical attacks (Wilson, 2008). The downside is that a study conducted in 2007 showed that American firms are not ready to take the lead in embracing Web 2.0 technology which is the foundation of virtual technology in the years to come. The leaders in this area are (i) India, with plans of escalating their virtual reality investments by 80%, (ii) Asia-Pacific companies, by 69%, (iii) European companies, by 65%, (iv) Chinese companies, by 64%, (v) North American companies, by 64%, and (v) Latin American companies, by 62% (Wilson, 2008, p. 4). Number one in the list, India, has been showing a strong economic presence in the global markets. Figure 6 indicates its industry production forecast until 2012 (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010). The implication here is whether the U.S. can protect its citizens if its virtual reality servers and communication systems were operated by another country very much possible, by an enemy nation. Under wraps in the virtual reality program of the military is Sentient Worldwide Simulation, which will depict mass casualty events, that not only need military action but medical interventions as well. Hence, this program includes virtual reality hospital rooms that emulate military and civilian facilities, populated by avatars representing victims, casualties, nurses, the National Coast Guard and other first responders. Other training simulation modules are Urban Resolve, for urban war fighting in Baghdad in the year 2015, with over two million simulated objects (Wilson, 2008, p. 5). In addition to this, Noble Resolve is being developed, which is a training exercise covering homeland security scenarios in the event of a terroristic attack (Wilson, 2008, p. 5). Meanwhile, police unites utilize virtual reality programs such as the Meggitt Training System which teaches basic firearms skills and responses in both shoot/dont shoot decision making (Griffith, 2009). The Los Angeles Police Department uses the IES Milo System; the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police Department uses the Advanced Interactive Systems; and, the Phelps County Sheriffs Department uses the IVR-300. Most of these systems permit multiple students in the virtual environment (Griffith, 2009). Medicine Techniques in virtual reality are increasingly being utilized in medical education, treatment and diagnosis (Yellowlees, 2009). Early adoptions of virtual reality in the field of medicine pertained to representation of intricate data emanating from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) (Yellowlees, 2009). Recently, virtual reality has been applied to virtual colonoscopy in which information from contrast enhanced abdominal CT scan is utilized to present a fly-through of the colon which is then used for screening for colon cancer (Yellowlees, 2009). Phobias and post-traumatic stress disorders are also being treated now using virtual reality, Figures 7 and 8 illustrate virtual environments for the treatment of agoraphobia (Cà ¡rdenas, Munoz, Gonzà ¡lez, and Uribarren, 2006). In particular, training for medical students are enhanced by the use of a virtual psychosis environment, wherein they have the opportunity to experience visual and auditory hallucinations of schizophrenic patients (Yellowlees, 2009). As mentioned earlier, indispensable training may be provided by virtual reality for mass casualty, as well as for disaster response and medical emergencies. Although it has been found out that the use of standardized patients for training such as these were more effective because of the realism element, virtual reality simulations were more cost-effective, it was also advantageous in the sense that the simulations may be repeated unlimitedly, so that skills may be practiced and mastered (Yellowlees, 2009). Virtual reality has been used in other areas of medicine like in chemotherapy distraction intervention, providing leisure time opportunities for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, brain damage rehabilitation for stroke victims, smoking cessation, physical therapy, autism, mental retardation and other relevant areas. Business Marketing efforts for businesses have been greatly enhanced by virtual reality. Business owners can now advertise their products over various multi-media, and depict a 360-degree image of products that they are manufacturing, marketing and selling. Websites have been high-tech critical missions for Top 500 companies, triggering a competition on virtual reality advertising (Kassaye, 2006). Figure 9 depicts a chart tracing these new breed of competitors and how they fare through their communication objectives (Kassaye, 2006). Meanwhile, virtual reality is also useful for the manufacturing process, because layout planning for assembly systems and machines require more data than the basis geometry (Okulicz, 2004). Moreover, 3D CAD Systems are not effective for plotting out production processes, and virtual reality has no restrictions as the two aforementioned processes (Okulicz,2004). In addition to this, virtual reality provides semi-immersive and/or interactive immersive visualization that is essential for the visual estimation of each manufacturing process (Okulicz, 2004). With some slight overlap with the aforementioned field of Education, virtual reality platforms are valuable in training and education for businesses. For instance, developing, testing and operating sophisticated machinery and fixing it under tight tire pressure when it malfunctions are some skills that employees in the industries have to master (Blumel, Termath and Haase, 2009). Companies benefit from investing in learning platforms like the Fraunhoffer IFF Learning Platform which utilizes virtual reality in customizing training modules to suit its end users levels of knowledge through configuration (Blumel, Termath and Haase, 2009). Virtual Reality in the field of business encompasses a much broader scope, and development in this area is anticipated to be quick and impressive. Conclusion People have benefited from virtual reality in more ways than one, attesting to the fact that the it has positively impacted society in general. Education has been enhanced by virtual reality, and students have been provided a new dimension of learning that prepares them for their chosen careers more efficiently. Meanwhile, security measures being adopted by the government have been highlighted with modern technology, especially virtual reality. Police and military forces can now be trained for highly-dangerous scenarios, without actually exposing them to great risks. On the other hand, the medical field has furthered its growth due to the advent of virtual reality. Of the advantages of virtual reality, this is one of the most significant because of its potential in asisting scientists discover life-saving technologies and techniques. Lastly, business enterprises also benefit from virtual technology, to enable organizations to compete more in international markets. Virtual reality has a long way to go, and more benefits are anticipated for humankind. IRTUAL REALITY 8 Appendix Page Figure 1 Virtual Reality (Images from Google) VIRTUAL REALITY 9 Figure 2 Virtual Environment (Gajera, n.d.) VIRTUAL REALITY 10 Figure 3 Virtual Reality in Education (Rusch, Sherman Thakkar, 2002) Figure 4 Virtual Reality and the Web System (Ottoson and Holmdahl, 2007) VIRTUAL REALITY 11 Figure 5 Benefits of Virtual Reality in Education (Blumel and Hasse, 2009) VIRTUAL REALITY 12 Figure 6 Industry Performance History and Forecast, India (Economic Intelligence Unit, 2010) Forecast summary (% unless otherwise indicated) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Real GDP growth 8.8 8.6 8.8 8.7 8.6 8.6 Industrial production growth 10.9 8.4 9 8 7.9 7.9 Unemployment rate (av) 10.8 10.6 10.6 10.4 10.1 9.7 Consumer price inflation (av) 11.7 6.5 5.2 5.2 5.9 5.6 Consumer price inflation (end-period) 7.4 5.8 5.2 5.5 5.7 5.5 Short-term interbank rate 12.4 13.4 13.5 13.2 13.2 13.2 Govt balance (% of GDP) -5.5 -5.3 -5 -4.3 -4.1 -3.5 Exports of goods fob (US$ bn) 208.3 231.6 257.9 291.4 328.9 371.3 Imports of goods fob (US$ bn) -334.9 -373.7 -429.2 -498.6 -578.9 -677.4 Current-account balance (US$ bn) -32.5 -36.8 -42.7 -50.5 -51.1 -55.2 Current-account balance (% of GDP) -2.1 -2.1 -2.1 -2.1 -1.8 -1.7 Total foreign debt (year-end; US$ bn) 237.9 256.9 280.4 308.5 337.9 367.4 Exchange rate Rs:US$ (av) 46.14 46.53 45.43 44.1 43.1 42 Exchange rate Rs:US$ (end-period) 46.34 45.98 44.77 43.6 42.55 41.45 Exchange rate Rs: ¥100 (av) 49.24 52.73 51.77 50.84 50.12 48.84 Exchange rate Rs:à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ (av) 64.28 60.12 54.06 50.72 49.13 47.88 (c) Economist Intelligence Unit 2010 VIRTUAL REALITY 13 Figure 7 Virtual Environment No. 1 for Agoraphobia (Cà ¡rdenas, et al., 2006) Figure 8 virtual environment number 2 for agoraphobia VIRTUAL REALITY 14 Figure 9 New Breed of Competitors Using Virtual Reality (Kassaye, 2006). VIRTUAL REALITY 15

influence :: essays papers

influence Small-minded administrators and authority figures like to speak in clichà ©s. All my life I heard the same trite line: â€Å" You can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep.† The black sheep of the honors program, I hung out with the so-called â€Å" losers.† During my freshman year, not a day went by when a teacher or family member did not deride my closest friends and warn me that by hanging out with â€Å" bad seeds† I would fall into a downward spiral, never graduate college, and have a miserable life. They thought that they had me figured out. One day, while my ninth grade math teacher, Mr. Pedersen, was reviewing some math concepts with me, my friend Mariam ran by the classroom, stuck her head in the doorway, called out: â€Å" Hi Yassee, † and then ran away. Mr. Pedersen looked at me coldly and said with a scowl: â€Å" How can you call yourself an Honors student? A real honors student doesn’t associate with people like that!† I wanted to ask him how he could call himself a teacher; after all, a real teacher is supposed to want to help everyone. Instead, I sat silent, stunned by his ignorance and cruelty. He wanted me to drop my childhood friends simply because they didn’t place the same importance on schoolwork that I do. If he had thought before speaking, he would have realized that people like him, rather than people like my friends, are better able to turn good students into poor ones by discouraging them with ridiculous comments. I would never slight Mariam. One of my closest friends in freshman year, she was also a below average, non-college bound student. Many of the adults in my life, especially my parents and teachers, would look at those closest to me: Mariam, Alisa, Zena, Lianne, and Marvin, and ask how I could call these â€Å" low-life losers† my friends. But such questions show a lack of understanding of the nature of friendship. Friendship is unconditional and uncritical, based only on mutual respect and the ability to enjoy each other’ s company. These authority figures never saw the way one of us could do something outrageous, and the rest of us would joke about it for days. We could have fun doing absolutely nothing at all - because the company we provided each other with was enough.

A Look At Picasso :: essays research papers

Picasso’s Guernica is unique and unlike any other photograph or painting of a historical war scene. Historical photographs show scenes and capture moments in time, but when viewing them an intangible â€Å"wall† exists between the viewer and the photograph. The difference between photographs and original paintings is that the painting allows the viewer to break through the â€Å"wall† and actually experience the feelings and emotions expressed in the painting. â€Å"We only see what we look at and to look is act of choice.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing† 8) â€Å"The photographer’s way of seeing is reflected in his choice of subject, they are showing you what they want you to see.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing† 10) Photographs are taken for a reason; there are many other angles or other scenes a photographer can choose from and it is up to the photographer to decide which one the viewer sees. In essence, the viewer only sees one aspect of the image captured with the lens of the camera. For example, â€Å"when only the head of a figure is visible in a picture which appeals to visual thinking—as distinguished, for example, from a news photograph which many make use of the sense of sight merely for the purpose of informing us of what went on in a certain place—that figure is always to be seen as being incomplete.† (Arnheim 11) The eye cannot continue beyond the borders of the photograph and the wholene ss of the picture is lost. In a painting, the artist has painted all of the elements to be seen simultaneously. â€Å"The spectator may need time to examine each element of the painting but whenever he reaches a conclusion the simultaneity of the whole painting is here to reverse or quality his conclusion.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing† 26) A painting maintains its own authority, the painting does not capture momentary appearances it creates its’ own. In doing so the viewer becomes a part of the painting, when the viewer steps away from the painting he is no longer an influence or a part of the painting. Paintings can not be seen in two places at the same time, â€Å"when the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of its image.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing†13) The uniqueness is destroyed because the painting now travels to the spectator rather then the spectator to the painting. â€Å"The viewer, views it in his or her surroundings and it is influenced by their surroundings.

Mimosa :: essays research papers

Separation from their original home was one of the many past events that caused tensions and turmoil between a father and his two daughters. While each individuals thoughts about each other fluxuated between both positive and negative, one thing remained constant through out the progression of the poem, the ever enduring presence of religion, faith and its beliefs. Religion has always had a place in the life of Vito and his family, he had his own ways of using his faith to comfort himself as well as his own visions on what a heaven would be to him, while his daughter also held a strong faith in religion. Just as the weak Mimosa plant needs support to grow or face death, each of Vito’s daughters , especially Lucia, has attached themselves to a faith, a religion to support and help themselves through life. Vito like many, have found a place for his faith. He believed that a true heaven would be back in his homeland, back in the garden that he cared for so dearly. This garden in fact acted like his own garden of Eden. For his character was like that of the tender Mimosa plant, which when faced with the slightest touch or trouble from an outside source, would recoil its leaves and take a defense position close to the garden that it grew within. Vito would retreat to this garden to escape the troubles of the outside world when they became unbearable. He describes the garden to us as; “The garden that kept them little children even as adults;'; This could be taken as that it did not actually affect Vito physically young but rather it altered him mentally. He would become like Adam and Eve before evil and like that of a young child, all ignorant of all troubles. Complexity and all other dilemma’s that plagued their lives. So in this garden he would escape his troubles through the means of ignoring them and not acknowledging their existence and thus a bit closer to peace, and less degrees of separation between himself and his God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Though his daughters once also joined him in his “light';, in essence his garden, it is said that his daughter, Lucia (an cleaver metaphor of Lucifer?) Is that of a luckless fallen angle, refusing to join him in his light. Lucifer himself was a fallen angle, and now Lucia clutches to