The influence of Italian Art upon the work of Peter Ruben essays

The influence of Italian Art upon the work of Peter Ruben essays Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish Baroque painter of the sixteenth and seventeenth Century focused his work namely upon the nude, a typical fixation, especially with Italian based artists during the Renaissance and Mannerism periods. Italy - particularly Florence and Rome was at the heart of the Renaissance A period of New Learning and the rebirth of Classical Art and Literature and therefore produced many prominent artists who inevitably influenced the work of many aspiring young followers of the Renaissance era. However, as the Catholic Church became increasingly unsatisfied with the mannerists work as it no longer honoured the spirituality the Church required. Therefore a new form of art was created Baroque A style of which Ruben was renowned for due to fact that he fundamentally revitalized and redirected Northern European painting as Renaissance art gradually began to lose popularity with secular authorities, yet kept its freedom and classical themes. The Renaissance was a period of great creative inspiration, from which many artists used as a motive to move away from the restrictive methods of Byzantine - a style that framed itself primarily upon the glorification of God. Throughout the 15th century artists studied the natural world, perfecting their understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective. The High Renaissance was of the great explosions of creative genius in history, and produced many masterpieces still thought of as irreplaceable to date. Despite this, Rubens was one of the earlier Baroque artists who realised the intricate and over-complicated style of mannerism and late Renaissance work would not achieve any strong emotive outcome. Rubens, raised initially as a Calvinist, taught by humanist scholars and finally re-baptised into Roman Catholicism was inevitably to become an artists who devoted much of his talent into the glorification of religion, which was ...

The Difference between Originality and Plagiarism Essay

The Difference between Originality and Plagiarism - Essay Example Literature review is a must before we can put relevant description on the topic and research question. Our literature review should follow the concept of unity and coherence so that our discussion remains focused throughout. The description that we make out should be well structured and organized. These details are necessary for our analysis part. Analysis is a process systematically employed to arrive at certain deductions logically and scientifically. Description is like a foundation of the building on which whole construction of analysis rests. For a good and meaningful analysis, detailed but pertinent review and description is necessary. Data selection Data selection is an important part of correct analysis. Many scientific researches are not possible without a proper set of data available to researcher. Thus, data collection becomes an important part to steer meaningful research. Data collection becomes more important particularly when research has some quantitative measures to investigate. Depending upon the research question, data could be of either operational in nature such as inventory, cost, payroll, accounting or nonoperational types related to macroeconomic issues. Data also give us the information about past trend. The study of the past trend based on the available data can be extrapolated to give future indications and outcomes. Since the outcomes and results are derived from the collected data, it becomes even more important for us to remain double sure about the authenticity of data. Many marketing issues and strategies are based on several set of data that are collected across wide section of community, their buying behaviors, the demographics and many such factors. The data mining thus becomes important. Authentic data... In order to arrive at the conclusion whether US housing price has any correlation with unemployment rate, we need to have data revealing unemployment rate in last 10 years.Above data when studied in detail reveals a lot regarding some correlation between unemployment rate and housing prices. The U.S. housing price has been on rise since the year 2000 until 2007. The average price rise is found to be about 5% percent or more. The unemployment rate between 2000 and 2007 was hovering between 4 to 6 percent. This unemployment rate had no effect on the uptrend of housing price.  It is a well known fact that market moves up and down as per the demand and supply parameters. It is a fact that during the period a cheap credit was available to borrowers and that fueled the demand. Speculators did enter the market taking advantage of the easy availability of finance. Demand of the housing during the period was made of genuine consumers and speculators; however, as usual speculator’s so le objective is profiting from the deal and they are never long term holders of the commodity and they dump the good as soon as they see the first sign of weakness in the market. Once they became sellers supply increased manifold with demand reducing drastically. That is what happened in the housing market during 2008 and onwards when subprime mortgage crisis surfaced and everybody got in panicky.The whole event culminated into a crisis when economy took downturn and people started losing their jobs.

Why You Should Adopt dogs and not buy them Assignment

Why You Should Adopt dogs and not buy them - Assignment Example ally many benefits that can be enjoyed by both the person in question and the dog that will be adopted if the individual chooses to acquire a pet from a shelter. For example, adopting a pet is more cost effective than buying one. Many rescue groups and city shelters tend to spend a great deal of money on aspects such as regular visits to the veterinarian, boarding costs, and grooming. Many people also do not realize that adopting a pet leaves them with many options in regards generating support groups that help them to live in harmony with their new pet. If an individual buys a dog from a store, he or she assumes all responsibilities for that pet, even with the absence of any past records on the animal. The process of adopting a pet enables the new owner to be furnished with critical information with regard to the animal’s history. Adoption centers such as rescue groups are also more likely to help the new owner with responsibilities through the familiarization period as they are as interested as the owner in ensuring that the dog finds a good home. Service enterprises, such as the Beagle Freedom Project, that deal in the sheltering of dogs are worth researching to discover the different aspects involved in adopting or purchasing dogs. Such organizations tend to keep records on each of their pets, their acclimatization to their new surroundings when they are adopted, and the extent to which they are successfully integrated into their new families. Sarah Kalnajs - Certified Dog Behavior Consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, who also works with shelters provided by associations such as the Beagle Freedom

Regulation of cancer cell proliferation using siRNA tchnology Research Paper - 2

Regulation of cancer cell proliferation using siRNA tchnology - Research Paper Example The cancer stem cells are connected to maintain the unlimited and self-renewal growth capabilities of cancer while only consist of a small potion of the tumor. Consequently, cancer stem cells could be responsible for tumor progression, metastasis, and drug/treatment resistance development. Other studies have proved that small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) play a big on what genes are expressed or not expressed through gene silencing capabilities. Excitingly, siRNAs might provide some new perception into the complexities of cancer. These siRNA molecules could hold a huge potential therapeutically in the fight against cancer. This paper, discuses the functions of siRNAs and cancer stem cells and explain the link between these 2 topics. The paper also present methods to employ in current and forthcoming research to study the topics and expound upon different molecular therapy options that may have implications in altering cancer stem cells dysregulation and fighting

Crane migrations Essay Example for Free

Crane migrations Essay As mentioned, the theme of both texts is crane migrations. However, the content of the works greatly differs. The article talks about a new crane reserve, where cranes, which are an endangered species, are grown in what looks them like a completely natural environment, but actually, they are still protected by humans, according to the article, in crane costumes. The article says that â€Å"these cranes have been raised in captivity, but never heard a human voice nor seen a human form, except in crane costume† (Lines 9,10). The poem is much more personal and talks about a particular crane’s flight, struggle to escape the hunter and its demise. As we see, both texts are about cranes, but their audience and purpose is different. To a Waterfowl is a poem and it is meant to express the author’s feelings to the reader through the flight of a crane. The poem is meant for a more mature audience, because it is complex, written in old English, which children can’t easily understand, and has a serious theme. On the other hand, the article doesn’t choose its audience judging by their name and age, it is simply people who are interested in crane migrations, especially in the USA. Its purpose is to inform the reader about the new crane migration project in central Wisconsin. Wisconsin is known to be a calm region, and so is the tone of this article. The narration and description are similar to a nature documentary film, we see that in line 7, where the author says â€Å" big sky, undulations of tall marsh grasses, wild whopping cranes†. After the higly descriptive introduction, the narrator goes on to talk about their project. From that point, the article’s scientific mood comes into play. The poem starts off with an easy-going flow, which dramatizes as the hunter appears and gets more and more dramatic until the crane’s death, ultimately leading to a fade-out effect in the outro. The stylistic devices in both texts rely heavily on description, especially in the poem, where we see a lot of sensory details, such as weedy lake, rocking billows, crimson sky†¦ This lets us completely imagine the landscape the flight is taking place in. To get the reader more into the poem, the author adreses the reader as he is the crane, like in line 2, where he says â€Å"Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue thy solitary way?†. This type of narration gives us the crane’s point of view, but much more importantly, a personal emotional connection with the crane. The stylistic devices in the article are not that broadly used, except for the beginning. This is quite common in scientific articles. In conclusion, we see how two completely different texts by structure use completely different methods of narration, description, but share a common goal to portray their common theme of crane migrations, be it in a scientific way or an emotional descriptive poem. Paper 1 HL Sample 1.2 (birds) People have always been fascinated by birds. Text 1, an article from National Geographic from 2004, and Text 2, a poem by William Cullen Bryant from 1815, show how people and birds learn from each other. While these texts explore experiences that people have with birds, they target different audiences and use different techniques. These differences are largely accounted for by the different contexts in which they were written.Text 1 is very characteristic of a journalistic article for National Geographic, which targets nature-minded readers. Text 2, on the other hand is characteristic of Romantic poetry from the 19th century, read by literary enthusiasts. We see the journalistic nature of the National Geographic article in its reporting of newsworthy content. There is something extraordinary about people wearing ‘crane costumes’ (line 11) who teach young cranes how to fly and migrate from an ‘ultralight plane’ (line 16). What’s more, the journalist explains that this practice is happening in Siberia as well. Whereas birds learn from people in remarkable ways in Text 1, the poet, William Cullen Bryant learns a life ‘lesson’ (line 26) from one bird in Text 2. The po et has written an ode to this waterfowl, who has taught him about the importance of solitude and steadfastness. We know that it is an ode through the use of poetic language, the title ‘To a Waterfowl’, the use of rhyming quatrains and apostrophe, (when a poet asks an object a question). These qualities require readers to hear the spoken word, and therefore the audience is most likely interested in its literary qualities. Both texts are very different in their purpose, as they come from different centuries and target different audiences.Although the purposes and contexts of these texts are different, they comment on a similar theme: the importance of nature. Text 1 is built on the assumption that nature and the whooping crane must be preserved. Lines 24-27 describe a plan to â€Å"restore the birds’ knowledge of the ancient flyway.† The extreme measures that are taken to help these birds migrate, including the costumes, the reserves and the gliders, are nev er questioned in this article. The message of Text 2 is also built on the premise that nature is important. The poet asks the crane why it pursues its solitary ways (line 4). Eventually he claims that the bird’s purpose is to guide him on his lonely path in life, as stated in the final stanza: â€Å"He who, from zone to zone, / Guides through the boundless sky they certain flight, / In the long way that I must tread alone, / Will lead my steps aright.† Its message is very characteristic of Romantic poetry: We can learn how to live through observing nature. As in Text 1, the premise that we must preserve nature and look to it for inspiration is never questioned but affirmed. As the texts have a common theme, there are also similarities in their use of tone and mood. As Text 1 aims to engage readers with the fate of the whooping cranes in North America, it uses diction that is descriptive. The narrator seems to be hiding in the reeds or ‘emerald green grasses’ (line 3). This colorful choice of words indicates that she is enthralled by the natural elements around her. Words like ‘snow-white plumage’ and ‘elegant black wingtips that spread like fingertips’ are rather poetic and sketch an image in the reader’s mind that is quite romantic, rural and rustic. The effect of this descriptive language on the reader is both intriguing and sympathetic. As the interviewee whispers to the reporter, the reader becomes drawn in and concerned about the fate of the whooping crane. Similarly, Bryant makes use of descriptive language that engages the reader. Phrases like the ‘crimson sky’, the ‘abyss of heavenâ⠂¬â„¢ and the ‘chafed ocean side’ all paint an image in the reader’s mind and make the text come to life. Besides the choice of words and the use of imagery, both authors use structural devices to convince the reader of their cause. For example, Text 1 plays a clever trick on the reader. After a colorful attention grabber, in which the journalist describes the whooping crane in its habitat, the second paragraph explains that this ‘would be’ a primordial scene. She explains that the cranes are in fact in pens, which surprises the reader. Like the use of imagery, this structural device also has the effect of intriguing the reader. The reader wants to learn more about why the chicks have never heard a human voice (line10), why the humans wear crane costumes (line 11) and there is a runway for an ultralight plane (line 17). The facts follow, including the number of miles they fly, the number of birds that participate and the similar project in Siberia. This kind of structure is characteristic of a feature article. The structure of the poem is very different, but equally effective in its aim of creating sympathy for nature and birds. As mentioned the poem is an ode, where the poet praises the qualities of an object and finds inspiration in it. Furthermore there is a rhyming scheme and rhythm that are aesthetically appealing to the reader. The rhyming scheme in each quatrain is ABAB. For example the final word of line 1, ‘dew’, rhymes with the final word of line 3, ‘pursue’. Line 2, ‘day’, rhymes with line 4 ‘way’. This creates a sense of harmony and perfection that relates to the poet’s understanding of the waterfowl. Each line contains loose iambic feet, meaning there are unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables. There are three iambic feet in the first and last lines of each quatrain and five feet in the second and third lines of each quatrain, creating short-long-long-short pattern to each stanza. The effect of this pattern is that the reader feels a rocking sensation, which may relate to the steady flap of the bird’s wings or the poet’s pondering mood. This too ads to the aesthetic harmony and sense of perfection that the poet wants us to associate with nature. To conclude, both Text 1 and Text 2 enlighten their readers on the behavior and beauty of waterfowl. While Text 1 shows us how people can help birds find their migration patterns, Text 2 shows us how birds can help people find inspiration. Their focus on these birds helps the reader understand and appreciate the importance of nature. About these ads Share this: Twitter Facebook Like this: About tonyapaul ESW and IB Lang and Lit teacher View all posts by tonyapaul → This entry was posted in IB Lang and Lit, Lang and Lit Articles, Lang and Lit Assignments, Lang and Lit Notes. Bookmark the permalink. ↠ Paper 1 Sample TextsExaminers comments for Sample Paper 1 Essays → Leave a reply and please make sure you proofread your work. Recent Posts Summer Assignment Lang/Lit Final speech! Using Evernote Annotated bibliography requirements For interest only: Gender and advertising Archives June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 Categories ESW ESW Articles ESW Assignments ESW Journal Assignments ESW Links ESW Notes ESW Rubrics ESW Syllabus Home Homepage IB Lang and Lit Lang and Lit Articles Lang and Lit Assignments Lang and Lit Links Lang and Lit Notes Lang and Lit Participation Assignments Lang and Lit Rubrics Lang and Lit Syllabus Student Work Vocabulary Admin Register Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.com Countdown Last day of school June 18th, 2013 Whoo hoo! ESW Calendar Lang and Lit Calendar Ms. Tonyas One Stop Shopping The Twenty Ten Theme. Blog at WordPress.com. Follow Follow â€Å"Ms. Tonyas One Stop Shopping† Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. Join 28 other followers Powered by WordPress.com

Is the Watch Industry dominated by an Oligopoly*, which is beneficial E

Is the Watch Industry dominated by an Oligopoly*, which is beneficial to both firms and consumers? *= See glossary for meanings. Hypothesis ========== I believe that the watch industry is dominated by an oligopoly, which is beneficial to both firms and consumers. The watch firms are both price makers*, which is good for the watch firms, and price takers*, which is good for consumers. Aim In this investigation I shall be examining the watch industry. I will use a Mintel report of the watch industry produced in 1995 and information worksheets to test my hypothesis. Findings and Application of Theories Five companies, or the 'C5 ratio', dominate the watch industry. They have 40% of the market share* (see fig.1.). Zeon Ltd. is the market leader*. There have been no recent take-overs or mergers in the watch industry, so the market leadership is slight. The growth of the industry has been organic*. GRAPH This representation makes the watch industry an oligopoly, as opposed to being perfect competition*, imperfect competition, or a monopoly*. There are a number of reasons why the watch industry is an oligopoly. Firstly are there barriers to entry* as opposed to free entry*. One barrier to entry for other prospective watch manufacturers is economies of scale*. The larger, more established firms have a number of cost advantages, such as being able to buy raw materials in bulk or borrow large sums of money. Their production costs are therefore cheaper and therefore they will probably be able to sell their watches at a lower price than smaller, newer firms. Another barrier to entry is branding. All of the firms in the oligopoly have very established names in the... ...a novelty/ luxury item. The success of this strategy depends on maintaining low costs at low volume on a high quality image with few or no competitors. - Price Makers: In a monopoly situation where there is only one, or very few suppliers. The industry can set its prices at whatever level they want without the chance of being undercut by competition (because there is none). - Price Takers: In an industry where there is a lot of competition (ideally perfect competition), the sellers must have the prices of their product low in order to sell them. If they did not have low enough prices, customers would go elsewhere as there will be many substitutes that are cheaper. Bibliography 1) The Watch Industry Mintel Report- 1995 (obtained from Sheffield Hallam University's 'Adsett's Centre') 2) Business and Economics class worksheets Is the Watch Industry dominated by an Oligopoly*, which is beneficial E Is the Watch Industry dominated by an Oligopoly*, which is beneficial to both firms and consumers? *= See glossary for meanings. Hypothesis ========== I believe that the watch industry is dominated by an oligopoly, which is beneficial to both firms and consumers. The watch firms are both price makers*, which is good for the watch firms, and price takers*, which is good for consumers. Aim In this investigation I shall be examining the watch industry. I will use a Mintel report of the watch industry produced in 1995 and information worksheets to test my hypothesis. Findings and Application of Theories Five companies, or the 'C5 ratio', dominate the watch industry. They have 40% of the market share* (see fig.1.). Zeon Ltd. is the market leader*. There have been no recent take-overs or mergers in the watch industry, so the market leadership is slight. The growth of the industry has been organic*. GRAPH This representation makes the watch industry an oligopoly, as opposed to being perfect competition*, imperfect competition, or a monopoly*. There are a number of reasons why the watch industry is an oligopoly. Firstly are there barriers to entry* as opposed to free entry*. One barrier to entry for other prospective watch manufacturers is economies of scale*. The larger, more established firms have a number of cost advantages, such as being able to buy raw materials in bulk or borrow large sums of money. Their production costs are therefore cheaper and therefore they will probably be able to sell their watches at a lower price than smaller, newer firms. Another barrier to entry is branding. All of the firms in the oligopoly have very established names in the... ...a novelty/ luxury item. The success of this strategy depends on maintaining low costs at low volume on a high quality image with few or no competitors. - Price Makers: In a monopoly situation where there is only one, or very few suppliers. The industry can set its prices at whatever level they want without the chance of being undercut by competition (because there is none). - Price Takers: In an industry where there is a lot of competition (ideally perfect competition), the sellers must have the prices of their product low in order to sell them. If they did not have low enough prices, customers would go elsewhere as there will be many substitutes that are cheaper. Bibliography 1) The Watch Industry Mintel Report- 1995 (obtained from Sheffield Hallam University's 'Adsett's Centre') 2) Business and Economics class worksheets

ICT Meeting Special Needs

The person that I am going to be studying is Mr. C Aziz a man who lost his eyes when he was at the age of 32, due to an accident with a group of hooligans assaulting Mr Aziz on his way home one evening. Now Mohammed is currently 32 years of age and he and his wife live with their two sons. Mohammed Aziz is a musician, who aspires to one day be able to play as well as his idol Stevie Wonder. The topic blindness is often stereotyped to the thought of sight being gone forever, however in some cases of Blindness there is a chance of seeing again, however sadly in Mr Aziz's case, this is not a possibility. Blindness is the inability to see anything. Some people are called blind, even though they can see a vaguely. This is because they cannot see clearly, but can only see fuzzy shapes or colours. In modern countries, few young people are blind. Blindness is mostly caused by diseases of old people, like cataracts and trachoma. Sometimes, though, people are born blind. Some people are colour blind, which means they can see, however cannot tell certain colours apart. When people are blind they use such things as the alphabet in Braille and guard dogs to do every day things. Although again in Mohammed's case sadly he is not colour blind but fully blind. Technology 1 Braille Watch Braille watches have raised dots that allow a blind person to tell the time. Simply flip up the cover and feel the dots on the dial. There are different types of Braille Watches like the voice one that tells you the time when you need it and it is in digital and normally time. In Braille watches you can save appointments and notes and you can save birthdays and you can record voice and in also can tell you the temperature. Advantages o It's is small and the right size to fit a hand and says it in voice the time and date o Help people with appointments and helps them to not forget time and date and if they got anything information o Tell you everything in English, 99 different languages o It is like a person that is standing next to the blind person and helping Disadvantages o Not waterproof o Easily breaks o Something's very disturbing o Gets lost o One of the bad thing about Braille Watches is that it only reminds you once and that's bad because maybe the person is fast a sleep and can't hear it so they will mess the alarm How the technology meets their personal needs The Braille watch is particularly important in the life of Mr Aziz as it fits directly into his daily schedule. Mohammed, a devout Muslim, needs to wake up at 6am on a daily basis so he may do his daily prayers. The Braille watch is good for this as it allows him for one to be able to actually know the time, to know the right time in which he must pray, it also helps him as some Braille watches also have alarm clocks on them, this however may not be an option for Mr Aziz as, he has a very low budget, as a musician living off benefits from the government and disability benefits he does not have much money to be spending on luxury items, nevertheless Mohammed believes that religion is a very vital aspect of his life, and must uphold all traditions so an alarm is a must (Mohammed believes that if he devotes his life to his religion then one day his eyes may be healed by a miracle. The Braille watch also helps Mr Aziz as it allows him to keep track of when to take his eye medication. Even though Mr Aziz's eyes are now permanently obsolete, he must still use his droplets to prevent any infections in his eyes that may cause him discomfort, and with the help of the Braille watch he is able to know the time at all times and keep track with his medical schedule. Finally although Mr Aziz is sadly blind, he is still a very joyful individual person overall and likes to enjoy himself, with the help of the Braille watch, Mr Aziz he is able to watch all his favourite TV programmes on time without missing a single moment of the show. I believe that the Braille watch is an excellent technology in helping the blind or visually impaired to keep good track of the time. With the compact designs that house the Braille watch, and the voice helper, with over 99 languages built in, as well as a tonne of other gadgets, including I believe that the Braille watch is the ultimate timepiece of the 21st century when thinking of how to help the visually impaired with timekeeping. However with the Braille watch, the problem may arise that if the watch is broken, or needs repairing in any manner then getting the watch repaired is a very tricky matter, firstly it may be very costly as there are not many shops that repair Braille watches, and secondly as I just said there are not many stores that sell Braille watches so finding a shop which would repair the watch would be a strenuous task in itself. How the technology meets their social needs The Braille watch is pretty hand when it comes to Mr Aziz's social needs. As the Aziz family is quite lazy, Mr Aziz relies on his watch to wake up in the morning and to wake up his fellow family members for both work and school. As was said before Mr Aziz is over a very cheery man, he does not allow his sight to bring him down in life, this is why he has many friends in his local area, the element of kindness and happiness is very strong in the heart of Mr Aziz, so attracts the friendship of many of his peers. The Braille watch allows him to keep up to track with his friends on a daily basis. Another branch of Mohammed's daily routine consists of him going to one of his neighbours house daily to discuss topics such as football and their married lives, however Mohammed must wait until 10:15 every day to attend his friends home as he must wait for the children to be sent to school and the missus to go to work, this is where the Braille watch comes in, it allows Mohammed to keep track of the right time him to make his daily visit to his acquaintances' home. Everyday Mohammed rings his home town of Afghanistan to check on his brothers, sisters and parents and see how their lives are going. The time zones however are very different in these two regions of the world, so Mohammed has to use his watch to know the right time, so he does not call at an inconvenient time when his parents are sleeping. His wife is not able to help him with this as well as she works a very tight shift to try support her family (however she does not do it very well, working as a shop assistant on minimum wage makes it very difficult) so she does not have the time to call Mohammed and tell him the time in Kabul, this is why the Braille watch is very vital in his social life. Moreover, everyday at lunchtime Mr Aziz goes to his local school, Wembley Manor Primary School and recites compositions on his piano for children during their lunch break, as part of a good citizenship programme he set up a year ago. The Braille watch is very important as he only plays the piano during the children's lunch time which only lasts 1 hour, so Mr Aziz cannot be late, obviously there will be no penalty for coming late to this job, as it is all voluntary work, however the children enjoy his piano playing very much and would be terribly disappointed if he did not make a session, this is why Mr Aziz needs to hold on to his Braille watch and know the right time to get to the school. As was said before, if the watch does in fact get ruined or needs repairing, then on top of trying to find a store that restores Braille watches, he would need to get one of his friends or wife to escort him to the store, as he cannot see himself, this may bother his friends if they are busy and do not have time to take him. How the technology meets their needs in employment Mohammed Aziz is a composer and composes melodies for himself and for retail; she can make a living, although at the time being he has not been selling much. Mohammed needs to be able to have certain times of the day where he dedicates it to his music, so as not neglect his music, this is where the Braille watch fits in, Mr Aziz sets it on reminder everyday at 9pm so it rings and reminds him that he needs to finish his composing, this may be done without the use of his watch, by his wife reminding him if he forgets, however his wife is not at home at all times, she sometimes goes over to her neighbours house for their book club, and Mr Aziz forgets also at times so using the Braille watch is the most efficient way to remind him of the tasks he needs to do. I think that even though the Braille watch does an adequate job in helping Mohammed keep up with his work schedule by reminding him of the time he needs write his compositions, there may be a better technology such as a handheld PC with Braille keys that could assist him around the day. This however is very pricey and probably not in Mr Aziz's price range, so must be reconsidered, also if it is bought, the issue of thieves must also be thought, a Handheld PC specially made for blind people is very pricey and if a thief is to take advantage of Mr Aziz's disability and rob him of his Handheld PC, then the financial implications should be thought about, does Mr Aziz have enough money to replace something so expensive, will it impact his family financially leaving them in debt? These are just some questions that would be thought of when buying something so expensive for Mr Aziz. If the watch breaks down before Mohammed is due to go to work (his voluntary work) then he may not be aware of the time and miss his normal music session at Wembley Manor, upsetting the children because they did not see their favourite musician playing during their lunch hour. Technology 2 Braille Notetaker The Iris kb line offers portable and compact personal data assistants equipped with Braille keyboards and refreshable Braille displays of 20 or 40 cells. This line is part of a range of new generation Braille devices by Euro Braille. These devices incorporate a broad range of applications and are available with either a 128 MB internal storage capacity 256 MB capacity. The series of four keys on both sides of the keyboard, used for navigation, have been placed as closely as possible to the keyboard to minimise hand movements. This helps achieve a more ergonomic design aimed at reducing your risk of repetitive motion injuries. Spreadsheet applications allow you to work with data and formulas in cells that are identified by line and column, Calculator applications allow you to make basic calculations, File Explorer application facilitate handling files and folders in a tree structure, Calendar application pages to organise your appointments and tasks, Contacts pages to easily store and retrieve all your contact information when you need it and more. Advantages o Braille Display with 20 or 40 characters o QWERTY Keyboard o 8-Key command keyboard o Lithium-ion battery for fast recharge: 10 hours of autonomy o Serial port for PC connection; Parallel port for Braille and black printing o VGA port to visualise iris documents on a computer monitor o RJ45 port for connection to Ethernet network RJ11 port for connection to a telephone network o 2 USB ports (type A) Loudspeaker + Audio – in (microphone) and Audio-out (headphones) o 12V supply o It is very light 1,7 kg o Dimensions: 24 cm x 20 cm x 3,8 cm o 12-volt main charger o it is like an computer with everything like USB reader/writer that is WinCE compatible (Floppy disk, memory, USB Key, etc) o Disadvantages o Cost's to much = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3,382 o slow writing o The charge run out quickly o It takes lots of time to charge up How the technology meets their personal needs The Braille note taker meets Mohammed's personal needs adequately as it allows him to make notes and write his compositions, this is especially good as Mohammed is not able to write his compositions with a pen and paper as he is blind, so he needs an alternative method which is user friendly to the visually impaired, hence the note taker. The note taker is also very light which allows Mohammed to keep it in his pocket without weighing him down, or sticking out of his pockets bringing any unnecessary attention for muggers or anyone with the intention to steal the note taker. Furthermore the note taker is actually very expensive, with a price ranging over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3000 it is no way in Mohammed's budget, however if he does receive one some way, perhaps from the government free of charge, to help his disability, then the small size will matter as it does not attract unwanted attention. The Note taker also meets Mr Aziz's personal needs as it has a 128mb or 258mb internal hard drive, which will allow him to store his music on. As Mohammed is a musician he has a strong passion for music, so being able to listen to his music frequently will bring great joy to him. The note taker will also allow Mr Aziz to keep a track of all special occasions through the use of the built in calendar that comes with most note taker, now Mr Aziz will never forget any special occasions or important dates. How the technology meets their social needs The Braille note taker is quite good in terms of Mr Aziz's personal needs. The note taker allows Mr Aziz to keep in constant contact with his friends who travel regularly, due to their jobs. The note taker allows him to do this by letting him send and receive emails. The note taker also allows Mohammed to exchange music with his friends via USB, this is a great advantage as he does not have to go out and buy the songs to listen to them, he can just get them off his friends if they have the songs on their PCs. As I said before, Mohammed's friends travel a lot due to demanding jobs, sometimes they are allowed to take a guest with them to the different locations of the world that they must go, so to feel Mohammed feel better about his eyes, they take him with them as their guests. However sometimes during their travels they sometimes get lost as they are in a foreign country and do not know their way around, this is where the note taker comes in, Mohammed can go on a website such as Google maps to then find the route to their destination. If unfortunately Mr Aziz's note taker was to be accidently damaged, lost or stolen, this could bring problems for not only himself but for his friends also. As Mr Aziz does not make a lot of money in his profession, he may need rely on his friends financially to fund for another note taker, or for the repair to his current note taker, this may be awkward for his friends as they must help him as they are his friends, but at the same time need the money so are then in a moral dilemma, to help their blind friend, or to keep the money and use it for themselves. This could also resolve in disputes amongst the friends if some help out Mohammed and others don't, some of the friends get be angered as to why they did not help him out. How the technology meets their needs in employment The Braille note taker helps Mr Aziz in his profession, as it allows him to message his record manager to tell him when his new compositions are ready; it also allows him to receive messages from his record manager to know times of important meetings, and times for his studio recordings. The note take also helps him in his work as it allows him to write his compositions, which needs to sell and make his living, without the compositions there would be no way for his music to succeed. Again the problem arises that if he loses the note taker, or it gets stolen, then he would have a very big problem on his hands, for one it would cost a lot of money to either replace the note taker (money which he does not have) or repair, but the other great problem would be that all of his appointment times and record dates would be gone, not only that but also all of Mr Aziz's compositions are saved on his note taker, so if he loses it then his songs would be lost as well, making him working as a musician obsolete as he does not have the tools for his success, his songs. Technology 3 Talking Typer for Windows Computer keyboarding and typing training software that speaks and displays lessons on screen. Includes drills, practice, and typing games. Adjustable to the student's level of skill and sight impairment. Recommended ages: 6 and older. Built from the ground up with blind and visually impaired students in mind, Talking Typing Teacher features digitized human speech, which is used everywhere in the program. This means that whether you're navigating menus, changing options, managing dozens of student accounts, or visiting the Help Desk, you'll enjoy listening to Eager Eddie read the screen. What makes TTT so special, however, is that each and every typing lesson or practice session is read aloud with clear, concise pre-recorded dialog. Put quite simply, you won't need to worry about trying to understand synthetic speech when you're learning to type with TTT. The only thing Text-To-Speech is really used for is to read your name and play back text you type into Workbook, a fully-functional talking word processor that ships with Talking Typing Teacher. Advantages o Built-in human speech (in the form MarvelTalk) that narrates the entire program o Complete interaction with both sound and full-colour animations o Detailed lesson curriculum designed with three levels of instruction o Full support for multiple student use. This means that you can have more than one student set up with the program, and TTT will pull up each student's record when he or she logs in. o Three levels of instruction that not only change the number of keys that are taught, but also how the instructions are worded and presented o Lessons that teach and reinforce typing, with careful emphasis on posture and correct typing habits o Lessons consisting of spoken and displayed instructions, practice drills, and final reminders o CD-ROM Drive o Intel Pentium @400 MHz Equivalent or Higher o Keyboard o Sound Card o 96MB RAM Disadvantages o Very old How the technology meets their personal needs This meets Mohammed's needs very well, as he is blind and needs to write using the Braille keyboard, it wastes a lot of time, however with the help of the talking typer Mohammed is able to quickly and efficiently type things on applications such as Microsoft word, all he has to do is say the sentence and the talking typer will automatically type the sentence out for him. It also helps Mr Aziz because as he is blind, he cannot navigate the mouse around the PC to find certain applications he is looking for, however with the help of the talking typer he can quickly and easily open applications by saying a couple of simple words, such as â€Å"open Microsoft Word† and then the application will be opened. The technology is very good for Mohammed Aziz as now he may be able to use the PC without the help of others, as he does not now need to rely on others for help, it now makes Mr Aziz feel happy about himself and not so useless and at a disadvantage due to his disability (even though he is, no one wishes to feel like they are worthless). The talking typer however does have a few faults to it, firstly it is a needs the hardware to operate, a microphone. This is a disadvantage as microphones can be easily broken due to their small flimsy fatigues; additionally it is much easier to be broken by a blind man as he cannot not see what he is doing. Furthermore the there are a very vast variety of applications and documents which exist in PCs, it is very hard for Mr Aziz to remember the names of all of these applications so that he can open them through voice commands, this is the extent which the technology meets his needs. How the technology meets their social needs The talking typer is fulfils his social needs to a great extent. As Mr Aziz is quite a popular guy thanks to his cheery attitude, he has plenty of friends, and likes to regularly socialise with them. He does this by meeting up with them, speaking to them on the phone, and emailing them or talking to them through an instant messaging service such as MSN Messenger. The talking typer allows him to make quick responses through the email service by just quickly saying everything that he wishes to be in his email, whereas before he had to wait for his wife to come home and type it all out for him (as he does not like using the Braille keyboard, it inflicts a slight pain in his fingers keeping them in the same positions typing constantly) Mr Aziz also uses the internet to buy clothes and his shopping through websites such as www.Asda.co.uk and www.Littlewoods.co.uk. With the help of the talking typer he can quickly order the goods through voice commands. How the technology meets their needs in employment The Talking typer does not help Mr Aziz is his profession very much. This is because he does not need to use the PC in his profession, and even if he does he may use his note taker instead, it is much more compact and can be used at any time or place, when he is inspired for a song he can quickly note down the ideas he has for his song rather than going home, wasting time and losing his inspiration. The talking typer is however good in some ways, it allows Mr Aziz to quickly memorise his lyrics, by inputting his lyrics through the talking typer he can then make the computer reply the lyrics and listen and memorise the words. Overall I do not think that there could be a better technology than the talking typer, perhaps a technology that connects directly to your mind and allows you to see computer images in your mind, would really benefit blind people, as it gives them the opportunity to actually see and use the computer efficiently, however this sort of technology has not yet been invented, but could be the hope for the future for the visually impaired.