Effects of Obesity in the United States Navy

When Americans hear the words United States Sailor what image comes to their minds? Do they see the all American boy standing tall, wearing his dress blues uniform with his white hat tilted to the side? Does he look like the sailor on the Cracker Jack box? That used to be the image of the U. S. Sailor back when the Greatest Generation was fighting during World War II. Now, all a person has to do is go online and search U. S. Navy Sailor in the search engine and they will find unlimited pictures and videos of sailors doing every day things as well as supporting our interests around the world. With the invention of the World Wide Web, sailors are not only asked to do their jobs at sea but also be impeccable ambassadors of the American people on shore. Because of this important part of being a service member, it is imperative that today’s sailor resemble that all American boy or girl. While sailors are adults and must take responsibility for their own actions, lack of training and attention to dietary health has contributed to many sailors discharge from service due to being out of Navy regulated physical standards. The U. S. Navy celebrated its 235th birthday on October 13th 2010, but the way sailors are being officially evaluated physically is only about 35 years old. Operational Navy Instruction, (OPNAVINST) 6110. 1 was implemented on June 16, 1976 from a directive given by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). The stated purpose of this instruction was â€Å"To implement a physical fitness program for Navy personnel, regular and reserve, that will meet the need for physical stamina and strength necessary for combat effectiveness and mobilization as directed by Secretary Of The Navy Instruction (SECNAVINST) 6100. † (Hodgdon, 1999). In the 6110. 1, the term obesity was defined as â€Å"excessive accumulation of fat in the body manifested by poor muscle tone, flabbiness and folds, bulk out of proportion to body build, dyspnea (difficult or labored breathing), and fatigue upon mild exertion, all of which detracts from military appearance† (Hodgdon, 1999). The fitness program that was establis hed from this instruction was nothing more than a modified version of an aerobics program developed by a Dr. Ken Cooper. This aerobics program was a set of warm up exercises and basic calisthenics that were used based on a points system. This first physical fitness instruction did not include a physical fitness test. On July 17, 1980, the Navy issued an updated instruction for physical fitness. This instruction was OPNAVINST 6110. 1A which was virtually identical to the original 6110. 1 with the exception of adding a fitness test. This test was implemented to set certain standards that all sailors would have to adhere to as a way for the Navy to track the physical readiness of its sailors. For example, a male age 17-25 had to perform a minimum of 30 sit-ups in two minutes; 20 push-ups; four pull-ups (optional); complete a 1. 5 mile run/walk in 16:30 (OPNAVINST 6110. 1A, 1980). On June 29, 1981 Department of Defense (DoD) Directive 1308. 1 was implemented. The biggest difference of this directive was that the Navy implemented a weight control program to add to its physical fitness program. As the Navy started to fine tune its physical testing of its sailors, the chain of command added and subtracted those elements that they believed define a model sailor. On August 7, 1986 OPNAVISNT 6110. 1C was issued navy wide (Hodgdon, 1999). There were several major changes to the 6110. 1. One of the more severe changes was that all Navy personnel were required to take the Physical Readiness Test (PRT) twice a year. Another change was a health risk screening that needed to be done before a sailor was allowed to participate in the PRT. Yet another change was that the body fat assessment was to be separated from the PRT and was to be conducted as an individual assessment. Under this instruction a new technique and new standards for measuring body fat was established. One of the most important changes that came from this instruction was that new consequences for failing the body fat were established. Under the new standard body fat assessment, if a sailor was diagnosed as obese they were not allowed to participate in the PRT until cleared by the medical staff. If the sailor was diagnosed as obese consecutively in a 16 month period they were to be screened for separation from active duty. It is because of these changes in how the Navy Chain of Command viewed its sailors, that the sailor themselves had to re-evaluate how they handled their careers. Before the implementation of the 6110. series instructions, all a sailor had to do to be viewed as outstanding was make sure that they were the subject matter experts in their field. This meant reporting for duty early, studying all of the rate training manuals, and following the orders of their superiors. The only physical standard that a sailor had to maintain was be able to complete their duties in an exemplary manner and be able to get through a hatch on a ship to fight a fire if need be. They were not considered a bad sailor, or not good at their job, simply because they filled out their uniform a little bit more than the guy standing next to them. When it was time to take their rate advancement exam they did not evaluate what that sailor looked like in their uniform, the chain of command just wanted to make sure that the sailor was knowledgeable about his/her job. These days, to be eligible for advancement you not only need to know your job better than the other sailor, you also need to look better than him too. Before the implementation of these new guidelines, a sailor’s evaluation marks were issued based on job performance. With the changes in the physical fitness instruction come changes in the evaluation process as well. Now if you fail a Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA), it has to be marked and documented on your annual evaluation. Because of the ever changing rules and regulations of the physical fitness standards of the Navy, the Department of the Navy (DON) is now implementing more formal training geared toward nutrition and weight control. With this training, sailors are being taught that there are several benefits to a balanced diet. They are being trained that a healthy diet does not just improve their physical health but it also contributes to their mental health. Sailors now have the tools they need to start and maintain these healthy eating habits. The Navy Nutrition and Weight Control Self-Study Guide is the Navy’s principal tool that enables service members to improve their health and fitness (Cox, 1996). This guide is being issued to all personnel who are enrolled in the Fitness Enhancement Program (FEP). This program is a mandatory program for those sailors who fail any portion of a PFA. This program is also open to any sailor who wants to learn how to take care of their bodies in a healthy way. With this new mindset of training sailors to take care of their bodies for health reasons and not just to look like the sailor on the Cracker Jacks box, more sailors are taking this knowledge with them after they transition from military life to civilian life. There is a new standard now for being a sailor. In the past it was all about going out to the bars with your shipmates and having a good time. With the current tempo of operations, a sailor must be ready physically, as well as mentally, to answer America’s call wherever they are needed. The Navy is no longer turning a blind eye to sailors being out of physical standards. If sailors cannot balance a healthy lifestyle as well as train for their jobs, they may be the ones standing on the pier waving good bye to their ex-shipmates. References Chief of Naval Operations (OP-09) (1908). Physical Fitness. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction 6110. 1A. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. 17 July. Cox, L. (1996). NAVY Nutrition and Weight Control Self-Study Guide. Washington, DC: United States Navy. Hodgdon, Ph. D. , J. A. (1999, August 18). A History of the U. S. Navy Physical Readiness Program from 1976 to 1999. Human Performance Department Naval Health Research Center.

Discussing Hamlet Essay

At various times, Shakespeare has been seen by critics as presenting Hamlet as a sensitive poet, unable to endure the cruel pressures of the world, a man driven by sexual desire for his mother, and a representative to a corrupt political regime. Which would be your interpretation and why? The character of Hamlet can simply be described as he who â€Å"embodies all that man represents in earth†- as ‘Toril Moi’ so eloquently points out. My interpretation, like Toril’s, is that simplicity is an element that lacks in tremendous proportions in Hamlet; he is a complex and three-dimensional character to an infinite extent. So much so, his complexity allows him to assume an ‘antic-disposition’ and also appear truly insane at the same time. It is evident that Shakespeare adopted the ‘Senecan’ classical revenge tragedy style of plot, which clearly sets out the characteristics of Hamlet: As the son of the dead king/father, it was obligatory to avenge his father’s death, however hindering this act is the hero’s hesitation, which one could describe as Hamlet’s cowardice. Eventually, Hamlet killing Claudius fulfils the revenge tragedy. Hamlet is therefore a revenge tragedy in plot, but not in central character. In my opinion, it is more intriguing to use the vengeance theme as a carrier to express the unimaginable depth of emotion contained in Hamlet. This emotion is caused by human experience of dealing with death, pursuing revenge, inaction, action, failure in love, and finally the oppressive affect on man (Hamlet) by a nation of corrupt power. Hamlet is a dexterous courtier and scholar, yet in times of extreme pressure he averts from his calm-courtier ways and behaves erratically, leading to fatal ends, such as the unnecessary killing of Polonius. The genuine despair of Hamlet limits his capacity for action and increases his self-abasement and self-disgust, constantly questioning the value and purpose of his life- hence being unable to endure the cruel pressures of the world. Hamlet thinks too precisely under the weight of thought, which as he says himself â€Å"makes cowards of us all†- This hesitation eventually leads to the downfall of Hamlet! I would define the ‘sensitivity’ in Hamlet as a deep philosophical nature wherein is contained a boundless range of emotion, which is depicted more so in the seven soliloquies in the play. We see Hamlet’s first soliloquy in act 1, scene 2, and expect to see a true sensitivity of Hamlet, as Shakespeare intended soliloquies to reveal a character’s true feelings, void of lies and deception. The opening lines of the soliloquy immediately introduce poetic antithesis: ‘O, that this too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew†. It is evident here that Hamlet is plagued with melancholy, wanting his ‘solid’ pain to dissolve, in other words he is suicidal. This suicidal behaviour implies that he is unable to endure the cruel pressures of the world, as he welcomes death to terminate all his problems. The reason he gives for not committing suicide is religious, that God condemned it in his sixth commandment, however he wishes that the â€Å"Everlasting had not fix’d His Canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! â€Å". Some critics say that he used religion here to serve as an excuse for avoiding the action of â€Å"self-slaughter†, however I believe in Hamlet’s belief and faith in religion, as he swears upon the language of the church, â€Å"Hic et Ubique† when promising his purpose to his father’s ghost, which I believe Hamlet would have taken very seriously. The bleak, grim words of the soliloquy, such as â€Å"stale†¦ Unprofitable† express of his depression and distaste of life. Hamlet in my opinion is also very unhappy with the state of Denmark, metaphorically representing it as an â€Å"unweeded garden†, that is a diseased and corrupted pit: â€Å"rank and gross†. After the internal insight of depression and woe in Hamlet, we see the reason behind his piteous state- that cannot be due to Claudius killing his father because he doesn’t yet know that! It is in equal measure the death of his beloved father, and the revulsion of Claudius’ and Gertrude’s hasty marriage into â€Å"incestuous sheets†. Hamlet absolutely abhors Claudius, describing him as a â€Å"bloat-king† and a â€Å"Satyr†- simply a beast in modern terms, which is in contrast to the vast admiration for his deceased father, the â€Å"Hyperion†- the beautiful sun God. The fact that Hamlet’s true father was a â€Å"hyperion†, that he was â€Å"so loving to my mother† and that â€Å"she would hang onto him† with great happiness, implies that Hamlet idealised his parents’ marriage. However, the betrayal of his mother to the ideal of marriage at an insincere instant, â€Å"unrighteous tears† at an â€Å"O most wicked speed†, badly bruised Hamlet’s opinion of women, degrading their honour and purity. The poet Hamlet uses personification to express his disgust to womankind in general: â€Å"Frailty thy name is woman! â€Å". This disgust in women is what I believe caused Hamlet’s bitter rejection for Ophelia, not because Hamlet is insensitive, but because his fragile sensitivity was taken advantage of and bruised. Hamlet later continues to express his disgust in women by using similes referring to women in a negative way to describe a bad situation: â€Å"Like a Whore unpacked†¦ â€Å"

Project Management 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Project Management 4 - Essay Example The seventh element involves determining those people who will be used to deliver the message to the intended audience. The eighth element focuses at computation of funds that might be needed to ensure that there is proper implementation of the project plan. The final element involves evaluation of the communication plan to see if the goals and objectives have been realized (United Nations, 2007). The major audience to be involved in the communication plan includes evaluators who may help to assess the effectiveness of communication plan. Some of the information shared with this audience are message to be channeled, communication channels to be used and as amount of financial required to channel the message. The mechanism to be used in pussing urgent information includes online channels. For example emails’ and phone calls while less urgent and useful information may be passed via letters (Mobley, 2005). In addition, the information between employees and organization will be shared on daily basis to ensure smooth learning of the organization. In case the communication turns not to be ineffective the message may be adjusted. In addition, a different channel may be utilized. Some of the technologies that may be used include utilization of organization website, smart phones to mention just but a few. Finally, communication becomes an ethical/legal issue at a point where s ecurity and privacy of the information passed must be observed (Taylor & Dow,

Afghanistan in the Cold War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Afghanistan in the Cold War - Research Paper Example After the withdrawal of the soviet in the year 1989, a fierce civil war broke out among the local rival factions which ultimately lead to the emergence of the Taliban who seemingly ruled until the year2001 only to be stopped by the United States led invasion of Afghanistan. The Afghanistan war veterans have been reported to have played a big role in restructuring the soviet society. This they did through political activism though not directly related to party politics. However, it should be noted that not all Afghans contributed to this occurrence. However it was the potency of the actions of those who participated that registered their contribution. In the veterans mindset there was a great short of ideas on exactly what political and societal transformations needed to be implemented. This in return led to a wide spread societal activism that is said the Afghans contributed to. The Soviet Union began getting involved in Afghanistan in the month of December in ninenetten seventy nine . They regarded it a small scale invasion that would take only a couple of months to be accomplish. Contrary to this, the war lasted for quite a long span that saw the killing of several thousands and wounding of the soviet soldiers. As the year 1980 began, the government media of the Soviet Union issued a statement that that it was the Afghanistan government who had requested the soviet army to assist them in combat unrelated activities and humanitarian aid. Soon to follow the press statement were more soviet soldiers that were maimed as war casualties. Most theorists front the idea the main cause of cold war in the Afghanistan was as a result of ideological differences between factions. Both the United States and the Soviet Union have been said to have actively participated in this war in order to advance their supremacy and influence. The soviet having realized that they were no longer able to control the entire of Europe embarked on exerting its influence on other regions. How t he United States got into the war was rather complex after being a neutral state in world affairs for so many years. The Soviet Union on the other hand was exploiting the decolonization process to its advantage aiming to exert more influence to the newly liberated countries. The United States had as soft spot for the developing countries that were just struggling to attain self rule from colonialists. Some scholars suggest that Afghans were rebellious to the United States for what they say was their increasingly dominate nature which made every state uncomfortable. In addition, leaders of several revolutions that had been weary of oppressive nature of capitalist during colonization found themselves naturally aligned to the communist ideas. This to a great deal have put the United States in a compromising situation since it was regarded with a lot of suspicion among several states. However, self interest’s theorists have countered this assertion. They have argued that the Unit ed States was not driven by any ideology and that is why they did not support any revolution that took place earlier in Afghanistan. That if the United States was genuine enough as it claims in its role in Afghanistan, it would have supported earlier forms of revolutions and not only in later years to counter the Soviet Union. They assert that the United States failure to support these revolutions and take a back bench when they were needed most drives home the fact that they wanted to either maintain or gain economic and political allies. This school of thought has also questioned some of the strategies used by the United States

Non-profit Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Non-profit Organization - Essay Example 2). As a collaborating health agency, the CDC was noted to be working with other partners through health care agencies and institutions with the objective of monitoring the health status of the general public; detecting and inspecting eminent health problems; conducting the needed research to promote prevention of illnesses; designing and developing policies pursuant to health care and prevention of diseases; promulgating health behaviors; enhancing public awareness regarding the promotion of a healthy and safe environment; and providing the crucial training for leadership development within the healthcare setting. The origin of the CDC could be traced on the 1st of July, 1946 when it started as the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), also located in Atlanta, Georgia through humble beginnings. The initial thrust was the prevention and control of malaria, and interesting facts from its official website indicated that during the early years, â€Å"the CDC†²s early challenges included obtaining enough trucks, sprayers, and shovels necessary to wage the war on mosquitoes† (CDC: Our History par. 5). In contemporary times, CDC has been world renowed as a governmental health agency tasked with various crucial programs and projects that safeguard the health of the American population and focusing on the following key areas: supporting state and local health departments, improving global health, implementing measures to decrease leading causes of death, strengthening surveillance and epidemiology, and reforming health policies (CDC par. 12). Due to the extensive scope of CDC’s functions and tasks of safeguarding the health of the entire American population, there were ten great public health achievements that were revealed so far within the 21st century, as follows: (1) provision of immunizations; (2) ensuring motor-vehicle safety; (3) monitoring workplace safety; (4) controlling the spreading of infectious diseases; (5) instituting effective measures to reduce

Variance Analysis Case Study Speech or Presentation

Variance Analysis Case Study - Speech or Presentation Example Educate the financial analysts and managers about the relationship between revenue, activities and expense in product line such as OTHER to avoid over budgeting the funds which can lead to poor financial health. The people to be held accountable to provide ideas based on their performance are practitioners who should avoid billing services not performed, falsifying a diagnosis, billing duplicate for a one service performed and misrepresentation procedures. Reinsurance: the main goal here is to offload risk and reward to the re-insurer for stable operating results. This is because the providers who cannot afford reinsurance that might lead to deplete in inadequate capitation payment s must be paid by other providers. Incentives: physicians to be given incentive for the consideration of cost of treatment because under pure capitation, fee per patient is predetermined regardless of the degree of infirmity. This gives physicians an incentive to avoid costly

Examining Barriers to effective physical health care management of Literature review

Examining Barriers to effective physical health care management of people with schizophrenia - Literature review Example same to different factors such as the association between mental and physical illnesses and the complications resulting from the mental illness itself following persistent use of medication. Schizophrenia patients and other mentally ill patients often suffer many physical health-related problems. Various studies on the interaction between physical health and mental health indicate psychiatric patients often endure physical health complications. In their article, Heggelund et al (2011) posited that most of the patients with Schizophrenia and major depression often suffer from cardiovascular and respiratory disease. The authours attribute the occurrence of these diseases in these patients to higher rates of smoking. In addition, Harrison and Gill (2010) suggest that the people with Schizophrenia experience poor dietary habits, poor living conditions and cognitive impairment among others. Heggelund et al. (2011) observed that patients suffering from Schizophrenia tended to gain weight and become obese. A research conducted by Brown and Mitchel (2012) showed that the incidence of obesity was high in Schizophrenia patients, accounting for up to 42% compared with 27% of the general population. The high percentage of Schizophrenia patients developing obese has thus been a key physical concern largely because it leads to the development of diabetes among other diseases. The tendency by the Schizophrenia patients to become obese has been attributed to different factors. In their article, Connolly and Kelly (2005) suggested that one of such factors is because the patients, in many cases, consume poor diets that are rich in fat and low fibre content without any consideration of the health implication. The authors also argue that these patients tend to lead a sedentary life, and this often reflects symptoms such as apathy and somnolence. The accumulation of calories in their bodies coupled with poor diet and lack of regular exercise serve as the predisposing factors for

Critically discuss how that person's leadership style has made them an Essay

Critically discuss how that person's leadership style has made them an effective or ineffective leader - Essay Example In Morgan Stanley, since she became CEO, she has achieved tremendous success such as growing the bank by over three hundred percent in just a few years. She also saw a very big deal between the Morgan Stanley banks to sell a stake to a Chinese government owned financial services firm. Unlike most other hugely successful women of her age and calibre, Wei Sun Christianson is a family woman and is married with two children (sons) and is able to juggle between family and work. This is the height of success especially for a woman and especially in a male dominated industry such as the financial and investment industry. In this regard, the big question is how has she managed to be this successful? Her leadership style seems to be a big factor which makes it possible for her to be so successful in what she does. Her leadership style involves the following; Keep people close Any good leader understands the importance of keeping people close and utilising the people resources available to the m (Darling and Leffel, 2010). Good leaders understand that people are everything and that success can only be found in keeping these people close in a team. But, Wei Sun Christianson seems to understand this better than everybody else. One striking thing about Wei is that she never loses contact with people she has met in life. Her contacts to date include people she met while she was still in college thirty years ago when she landed in the United States for college. For instance, according to Leow and Carew (2007), Wei has worked with Gao Xiqing, a colleague she met thirty years ago when she was in college. These contacts have been very useful in her success because some of the most successful deals she has achieved in her career were aided by these people she met so many years ago (Leow & Carew, 2007). Wei seems to clearly understand that people are a great resource, whether they are colleagues or employees working under her. In this regard, Wei does not just manage her relationsh ips with colleagues, but also with those working under her. She makes sure that she is able to tap the best out of everyone under her at work and uses this as her strength as well as the strength of the organisation. This deep understanding of how to utilise people resources in order to advance the firm is what separates Wei from other people. She seems to understand this in a very deep and powerful way and uses it as her stronghold. For instance, Wei understands that everybody needs to be respected and their time respected too (Hung, 2010). In this regard, those who know Wei say that despite her busy schedule, she is the best when it comes to managing her time and never cancels appointments. This ability to treat everyone with the respect they deserve regardless of their station in life is a great asset owned by Wei and has led to her being able to look forward and become what she is today. According to Darling and Leffel (2010), leadership styles are essential in team building wit hin the organisation and it is this team building which is most important for an organisation to succeed. This is one area which has therefore led to Wei being so good in what she does and giving her success. As Darling and Beebe (2007) postulate, communication is also another important aspect of leadership and as teams are build in the organisation, communication about the basic goals of the organisation is critical. Wei has built her success on this as she makes it possible and easy

Main idea and themes of Raphael's 'Madonna of the Meadow' Essay

Main idea and themes of Raphael's 'Madonna of the Meadow' - Essay Example Actually, the triangle represents the unity and responsibilities of the trinity, which is symbolized by the three edges of the triangular shape. In the short film, the painter has passed his message of religious belief to other for centuries since his demise. Apparently, the painter has proved an important point: that painting is one of the ways to pass a message. Moreover, a message passed through painting can indeed last long. Even though there has been an evolution in terms of painting with the modern technology threatening to push others into oblivion, Raphael’s work is still significant. Additionally, Raphael seeks to show the God’s commitment to assisting humankind. The red color is used to signify the inevitable shedding of Christ’s blood while the cross is interpreted as the subsequent death. Finally, the painting of the woman represents Mary, the mother Christ whose are eyes are fixed Christ, the expected savior (Weyant, p.4). In short, Raphael seeks to express his religious affiliation through

Inter-Organizational Relationships Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Inter-Organizational Relationships - Assignment Example This proposed dissertation explores the feasible ways by which organizations with the interlocking relationships of the global economy can best respond to the challenges posed by increased business competition and complexity. It will focus on human resource management, which has assumed a new dimension because of the presence of a third party organization that can exercise control over employees of another firm. The paper will propose that in the multi-employer environment of business globalization, the best-fit or best practice objectives of HRM can be achieved by incorporating the inherent advantages of franchising in a company's HR strategies, especially in the matter of pay and reward. The present-day challenge of human resource development is to design HR practices that fit with the new business requirements or, in the words of Mohmann & Lawler (1999), to formulate practices that fit into a "dynamic, unpredictable corporation with a myriad of approaches to getting the work done." In this concern, the franchising sector provides a microcosm of the difficulties being encountered by the human resource department in working out innovative assessment systems that will demonstrate their influence over the company's bottom lines, which are profitability and shareholder value (Becker, et al., 2001). The reason is that franchise holders, especially those engaged in the sale and servicing of cars, have as many third-party partners as the existing number of automotive manufacturers who all demand a voice in deciding the franchisee's HRM practices (Swart, et al., 2002). Franchising in effect typifies the inter-organizational dependency involving human resource management and the attendant dilemma on how the HR department of a franchisee firm can implement a strategic pay-and-reward system that promotes its long-term interest without alienating its network partners. Curran & Stanworth (1983) define franchising as "a business form essentially consisting of an organization with a market-tested product or service maintaining a contractual relationship with another organization to sell the brand." In general, franchisees are self-financed and independently owned and managed small firms operating under the franchiser's brand name to produce or market goods or services according to a format specified by the franchiser. Because of the subsequent growth of this sector, the franchising outlet was later redefined as "a legally separate business entity with its own capital base, set of employees, organizational structure and specific customer relations (Stanworth & Curran, 2003)," which indicate that franchisees have become analytically independent of their franchisers. On franchising as growth sector, Floyd & Fenwick (2003) note that this business sector now accounts for over one-third of retail sales in the US and 29 percent of those in UK, thus claiming a huge proportion of the workforce of either country. The

The three models of memory Essay Example for Free

The three models of memory Essay The cognitive approach in psychology deals with human thought and mental processes such as memory, remembering and problem solving. The cognitive approach is interested in how people take in information, how they mentally represent it and how they store it. It also looks at how the information is perceived and processed and how integrated patterns of behaviour occur. Memory is fundamental to our lives, we have to recall who we are, recognise the faces of everyone we meet and remember how to move and communicate. Several models of the way in which memory is structured and how it functions have been advanced and although there are many differences between the models, they all view memory as a means of processing information. We do not simply record information, we carry out some sort of processing as we eliminate, store, organise and reconstruct the information we receive. This information processing occurs in three stages: encoding, storage and retrieval. Encoding involves converting the information we receive from our senses into something that we represent mentally Storage involves holding information over a period of time in preparation for when it is needed, and retrieval involves recovering stored information. There are three models of memory; one of these is the multi store model. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed an influential multi- store model, which suggested that there are three types of information store. The three types of memory stores are the sensory store, the short term store and the long term store. When a stimulus invades on our senses then the information passed from the sensory store, onto the short term store and then into long term store. Short Term Memory (STM) has an extremely limited capacity between five and nine. Miller (1956) suggested that the capacity of STM is The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two. Information can be lost very easily if the information is not rehearsed it remains in short term memory for about 20-30 seconds. Long Term Memory (LTM) has an unlimited amount of information which can be store which can last a long time; some psychologists believe that memories  are never truly forgotten from LTM they simply cannot be easily retrieved at will. Also the mode of storage in the LTM is meaning fullness if you understand information you are more likely to remember it. This is in contrast to STM where, if you recall, sound is important, and remembering is much more dependent on precise recall. Atkinson and Shiffrin regarded the stores as the structural components of the model, but also proposed a number of control processes, such as attention, coding and rehearsal, which operate in conjunction with the stores. Not all psychologists consider it useful to distinguish between short term and long term memory. Levels of Processing is one of such model: it sees memory as a single dimension rather than a series of separate stores. The main principle of this model is that we process information in different ways and the more deeply we process it, the more likely it is to be stored in memory and able to be recalled. According to the levels of processing framework, stimulus information is processed at multiple levels simultaneously depending upon its characteristics. Furthermore, the deeper the processing, the more that will be remembered. For example, information that involves strong visual images or many associations with existing knowledge will be processed at a deeper level. Similarly, information that is being attended to receives more processing than other stimuli/events. The theory also supports the finding that we remember things that are meaningful to us because this requires more processing than meaningless stimuli. Information is more easily readily transferred to LTM if it is considered, understood and related to past memories to gain meaning than if it is merely repeated. This degree of consideration was termed the depth of processing the deeper information was processed, the longer the memory trace would last. Craik and Lockhart gave three examples of levels at which verbal information could be processed: Structural level- e.g. merely paying attention to what the words look like  (shallow processing) Phonetic level- processing the sound of the words Semantic level- considering the meaning of words (deep processing). Finally the last model of memory is reconstructive memory, in contrast to much cognitive research on memory, which focuses on quantitative tests of how many randomly selected digits, words or nonsense syllables can be remembered under strictly controlled conditions, the reconstructive memory approach has tended to concentrate more on qualitative changes in what is remembered, often of more everyday material such as stories, pictures or witnessed events under more natural conditions. In comparison with the level of processing theory, which emphasizes what happens when memories are encoded and stored, the reconstructive memory approach is more concerned with what happens when information is stored and retrieved from memory. Bartlett (1932) the pioneer of reconstructive memory argued that people do not passively record memories as exact copies of new information they receive, but actively try and make sense of it in terms of what they already know- a process called effort after meaning. Bartlett proposed that new information may be remembered in a distorted way since memories are imaginative reconstructions of the original information in the light of each individual past experiences and expectations rather than remembering what actually happened we may remember what we think should or could have occurred. The three models have both similarities and differences between them; both the multi store model, levels of processing theory have many similarities among them. Firstly they both offer explanations for different types of memory/levels; Short term memory in the multi store model is the equivalent to shallow processing in the levels of processing theory and long term memory is equivalent to deeper processing. There is a huge amount of  research evidence for both, Craik and Tulving (1975) did an experiment to show Levels of Processing they proposed that as well as depth of processing determining the extent of long- term memory retention, they amount the processing was also important. Murdoch (1962) and Glanzer and Cunitz did an experiment to show the serial position effect in the multi store model, this serial position effect has been used as evidence that two separate stores are in operation and the words are being retrieved from these two stores. However a difference is that more evidence has been found for the multi store model than levels of processing theory, Miller (1956) suggested that the capacity of Short term memory TM is The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two. Reconstructive memory also explains different types/levels of memory similar levels of processing theory and the multi store model. However reconstructive memory only explains long term memory and not short term memory, deeper processing is linked to schemata which are mental representations of existing knowledge to make sense of what goes on in the world.

Control Of A Switched Reluctance Motor Engineering Essay

Control Of A Switched Reluctance Motor Engineering Essay The main objective of this chapter is to spot the light on the practical performance of some form of control on an actual switched reluctance motor in preference to merely theoretical method including simulation and modelling. Moreover, the design of the controller involves reducing the noise. The crucial motivation for this is to enhance new expertise, sensibly regarding circuit design and construction the use of a Programmable interface controller (PIC). A switched reluctance motor (SRM) has been appeared since the nineteenth century, but the renewal of this motor has been to discover a high-power switched device [13]. The earlier motor was facing a controversial issue in their control where the power electronic switching was very expensive and has many drawbacks. The Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is an electromagnetic, rotary machine in which torque is produced by the tendency of its movable part to move to a position where the inductance of the excited winding is maximized [12]. Furthermore, (SRM) has been proposed for variable speed applications [13]. In general a salient-pole synchronous machine without field excitation or permanent magnet is called a reluctance machine. From the general definition (SRM) is classified as a synchronous machine, but has different construction. These differences are both stator and rotor have salient poles. However, the stator has wound field coils but the rotor has no coils or permanent magnet. Moreover, the stator has higher number of poles or (tooth) than the rotor. While each pole in the rotor is excited by the opposite pole in the stator due to a sequence of current pulses which produce magnetic field on each stator poles. The Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) can be more capable for variable speed than AC and DC motor. Since it is simple, robust, has a high efficiency and high power density [3, 10, 12]. Figure 1.1: two- two poles SRM [12] Over the past 30 years the power electronics growth has made the exploit of the characteristics of reluctance machines sufficiently well. Consequently, several successful products are now manufactured. The rotation of the motor depends on the angle between the rotor poles and the stator poles where the current is switched on or off to each poles in the stator where the position of the rotor is very significant. For the motoring principle example, two- two poles (SRM) where stator has two poles with two wound field coils connected in series and two poles in the rotor without magnets or windings and free to rotate as it shown in figure 1.1. If the rotor poles edge is started to be aligned, the current is switched on. Consequently, the inductance is increased and the torque in the rotor is occurred to pull the rotor in clockwise direction. The direction of the rotation is addressed by the current. The current is switched off; when the rotor poles are fully aligned with the stator poles that make the rotor free to move. However, if the current is not switched off the torque at the fully aligned is become negative that produces an attraction between the poles where the negative torque and positive torque cancel each other [12]. The ideal current waveform is therefore a series of pulses synchronized with the rising inductance intervals. The cycle of torque production associated with one current pulse is called a stroke.[12] As a result, to increase the resolution more teeth can be add to the stator and the rotor. From the instantaneous electromagnet torque equation which was derived by T.J.E.Miller(2001) [12] Te = i2/2 dL/dÃŽÂ ¸ that shows the torque is proportional to the square of the current. Therefore, the current is always unipolar. However, at the end of each stoke the voltage must be reversed to return the flux linkage to zero. The power switching IGBT, GTO and MOSFET or any other switching devices can be used in the power electronic topologies [3]. These switches are used to open and close the exiting power in the stator winding. 1.5. Applications of SRM Since the SRM has a significant characteristic operation and design which shows many advantages and makes them suitable for various applications. R.Krishnan (2001) [10] shows the wide range of applications. For example, plotter drive, air-handler motor drive, hand fork lift/ pallet truck motor drive, door actuator and washers and dryers machine, those applications are low power applications where the drives are less than 3hp. Moreover, the medium power applications range is less than 300kw such as industrial general purpose drive, train air conditioning drive and mining drive. However, the SRM did not find much attention by the manufacturers in this range of power. The high power drives are still under study for drives up to 1000hp for fan and pump applications where the converter is very competitive. The high speed applications such as screw rotary compressor drives, centrifuge for medical applications, and aerospace applications the SRM is a perfect option for them due to the small size of the rotor and high power density. Some efforts of study are in Mild Hybrid Vehicles that is reported by (Watterson, P.A. ; et al) [17] in 2008. 1.6 Research area Since the SRM has appeared and has disadvantages such as reduction of acoustic noise and torque ripple. According to the noise and vibration sources can be classified into four main categories: magnetic, mechanical, aerodynamic, and electronic. The classification was done by R.Krishnan (2001) [10] as it shows in figure 1.2. Most researches are based on the design of the motor or in the controller to improve the motor performers and reduce the noise. Iqbal Husain (1994) [8] discusses the effect of the high ripple toque which causes vibration and acoustic noise. The case was in driving SRM for low speed and high performance applications by a new PWM strategy current control. The method was based on optimum profiling of the phase current during an extended overlapping conduction period of two phases. The result shows a smooth operation with minimum torque pulsations by controlling the current profiling. Moreover, other studies were in magnetic radial force as M. N. Anwar (2000) [1] show s the lower noise is occurred when the dominant mode frequencies is high. As a result the research has experimented a proposed design considerations to a 4-phase, 8/6 (1-repetition) and a 3-phase, 12/8 (2-repetition) 1.0 kW SRM with low acoustic noise requirement. The results of the proposal design shows that the noise level has been reduced; however, a 3-phase SRM is noisier than a 4-phase SRM. There are other research was on reducing the noise by Adding extra winding to the phase winding to reduce magnetic stress during commutations with Two stage power converter. Adding extra winding to the phase winding in 6/4 SRM with Two stage power converter shows a significant improvement in the efficiency and reduce in the vibration and noise [16]. The electronic sources of noise occur by reason of the harmonics of voltage and current. The significant research is reported by (Lecointe J.P; et al) in (2004) [11]. The research was in adding an auxiliary winding to the model of a BDFRM (brus hless doubly-fed reluctance machine) to shows that the additional winding has a benefit in reducing the noise in SRMs where a specially derived current is injected to create a suppression force. The BDFRM is used to analyse the equivalent circuit where the equivalent circuit of the model is similar to SRM. However, the process still needs to be complete using two current sources. Figure 1.2: sources of noise in electrical machines [10] Advantages and disadvantages of 3 basic power electronic circuits There are many power electronic topologies that is used for SRM depends on the machine phase configurations. R. Krishnan (2001) [10], figure 1.3, has classified the power converters for switched reluctance machines. The simple three topologies are: Figure 1.3: Classification of power converters for SRM [10] 1.7.1. Single-Switch-per-Phase Circuits (Split dc supply converter) The basic operation of this topology, figure 1.4, is to split the reverse dc power supply into two capacitors. The phase voltage is half the dc voltage when the switch is on and negative half voltage when the switch is off. Consequently, this configuration is a disadvantage. Moreover, the maximum speed and the output power are half the rated while the current and the voltage are half. This topology is only used for low-cost application due to the high power losses. However, the advantages of this topology are: simple and less cost. [3, 10] Figure 1.4: Single-Switch-per-Phase Circuits (Split dc supply converter) [10] 1.7.2. Single-Switch-per-Phase Circuits (Bifilar type) The basic operation of this topology uses a bifilar winding, figure 1.5, with the motor winding to regenerate the stored energy to the supply that the phase winding is connected in series with the switch, and the diode is connected in series with the bifilar winding. The reflected energy is an advantage for this topology in some applications, where the transistor voltage is much higher than the supply voltage. However, the cost increases as the extra winding is added to the motor and the complex design of the power electronic. Moreover, the power density of the motor reduces because of the bifilar winding. [3,10] Figure 1.5: Single-Switch-per-Phase Circuits (Bifilar type) [10] 1.7.3. Two-switch/phase Asymmetric Bridge Converter From the half bridge topology that is illustrated in figure 1.6. if both Q1 and Q2 are turned on the apply voltage at the winding is equal to the supply voltage. However, if both Q1 and Q2 are turned off the apply voltage at the winding is equal to a negative supply voltage where D1 and D2 to avoid the freewheel currents. The advantages of this topology that it can give a negative voltage to reduce the torque ripple refer to noise for a high performance SRM drive system and it can be used for generator or motor operations. The disadvantages more control is needed, more fault in the switching [3, 10, 12]. Figure 1.6: Two Switched / Phase Asymmetric Bridge Converter [12] 1.8 Speed and Position Controller The switched-reluctance motor is basic control system form of a torque-controlled drive as compared in performance to a D.C motor (separately-excited). Commonly, controlled speed or even position is the most requirements. The SR motors speed increases if torque is still produced. As the D.C. drive the torque of SR motor controller is included within a speed regulating loop. The rotor position sensor, which is the encoder, is used as a feedback to derive the speed of the motor readily as it shown in figure 1.7. From the figure it can be seen that an additional feedback is introduced to achieve the position control of the SRM [3]. Figure 1. 7: basic speed and position controller for SRM [3] Aims and Objectives The aims of the project are to design, build and test a power electronic circuit for Switched Reluctance motor (SRM) using Bifilar type. The objectives are as following: Understand the operation of two- two poles SRM to realise the behavior of the motor and their characteristic. We can know from their characteristic how to make the motor spin and the control techniques that is used for them. Select and Design Power Electronic Circuit can help to active a high efficiency, low noise and low cost. Test Power Electronic Circuit with Resistive Load: to find the advantages and disadvantages of the circuit when the resistive load is applied to the motor. Design, Build and Test current limiting circuit where the current limitation can achieve low torque rebel. From the low torque rebel the noise can be decrease. Rotate motor using direct feedback where the position of the rotor is important to detect the moment of switching on and off. Study and understand PIC 18F 46K20. Program PIC to control SR Motor by designing a simulation using the MATLAB or other programmes. Chapter 2 Choosing power electronic component 2. Overview Over the time motor control has a significant growth in the industrial control where digital signal processors together with external hardware and appropriate software are used widely. In order to control the motor the switching device should switch on and off according to the position of the motor rotor and the apply current to the stator winding. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the details of the components that were used in the controller design. 2.1 Technical operation of Simple SRM The simple SRM has 2 poles in the stator and 2 poles in the rotor, figure 1 which the stator iron core has square shape with two winding in the upper side opposite the poles. Both stator and rotor are salient poles where the free spinning rotor is placed between the stator poles. In order to spin the rotor, stator poles are energised by the winding when the rotor poles are unaligned with stator poles. The inductance increased and the torque is produced as the rotor approaches the aligned. At this point the stator winding is demagnetised allows the rotor free to spin. The time of the energised and de-energised of the motor windings depend on the rotor speed. Figure 2.1: (a) Simple SRM 2/2 poles with bifilar winding[12] 2.3 Winding connections The motor has a bifilar winding to build up the current in the stator quickly, figure 1, which facilitates the higher torque and magnetic flux densities occurring. As a result the stored energy regenerated to the supply that the phase winding is connected in series with the switch device. This leaded to three achievable connections, figure 2, for bifilar winding. Figure 2.2: Possible winding connections The first connection shows the parallel connection that has a resistance connected in parallel to the motor windings to reduce the power losses when the switch is off. This connection has the main disadvantage due to the high loss. The second connection shows series connection that two switching devises are used which increase the cost of the design. However, this topology is the most common one for SRM according to reduce the switching heat losses, protections and their control flexibility that is handling the phase current and the machines acoustic noise. The third connection is the most cost effective and easier to control for the simple SRM figure 2. Moreover, it is offering the zero voltage supply as a reference for all power switching that make it suitable for low- voltage systems. Simply this configuration operates as it shows in figure 2.3, When the current of phase-A is turned off by removing the base drive signal to T1, the induced EMF in the winding is of such polarity that D1 is forward biased. This leads to the circulation of current through D1, the bifilar secondary winding, and the source, thus transferring energy from the machine winding to the source. The various timing waveforms of the circuit are shown in Figure 2.3. During current turn-off, the applied voltage across the bifilar secondary winding is equal to the dc link voltage. The voltage reflected into the main winding is dependent upon the turns ratio of the windings. Considering the turns ratio between the main winding in series with the power switch and the aux iliary winding in series with the diode as a, the voltage across the power switch is VT 1 = Vdc + aVdc =(1 + a)Vdc This shows that the voltage across T1 can be very much greater than the source voltage. One switch per phase comes with a voltage penalty on the switch. The volt ampere (VA) capability of the switch will not be very different for one switch compared to two switches per phase circuit. [10] Figure 2.3: (a) Converter for an SRM with bifilar windings; (b) operational waveforms of bifilar converter. [10] Thus, Figure 4 shows the primary plan for designing the current limiting circuit for the third connection of SRM and each block are explained next. Figure 2.4 basic configurations for current limiting 2.4. Power switching component Nowadays semiconductor and electronic switching devices offer a significant performance to control the electrical motors. Moreover, their size and cost make them more convenient to use in the motor control. The electronic devices has a significant role to control SRM where the switching on and off for the voltage is the major role to control the SRM with high performance. As a result, the main electronic devices that can be used are field effect transistors. There are two types of the field-effect transistor J-FET and MOSFET (see the appendix figure 3) [4]. The MOSFET has taken a widely role as a best choice to the simple SRM for many reasons that is discussed later in this chapter. 2.4.1 N-channel power MOSFET (STP36NF06) Simply the MOSFET is a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor where the MSFET has a significant characteristic [2]. The characteristic of N-channel MOSFET shows a significant use in switching. The structures of the MOSFET are shown in figure 5 where the MOSFET consist of Si P material substrate, two N material substrate that one is the source and the other is drain, and between them there is an insulator Sio2 and at the top metal conductor which is known as a gate. The length (L) below the gate and between the source and the drain is known as a channel. Fundamentally, the MOSFET output current is proportional to the charge in the semiconductor material by the control electrode[15]. Figure 5 MSFET structures [6] The MOSFET is used as a switching device to provide a high speed switching. The significant advantages of the field-effect transistor are: Higher operation temperature. Lower switching leakage. High input impedance. Low noise. Lower power dissipation during switching. In addition, The N-channel MOSFET has advantages such as ease to use for high frequency switching and simpler to control where the MOSFET gate drive do not require a continuous current to switch ON. When the MOSFET is needed to switch ON positive threshold voltage is needed to apply to the gate drive and Zero current to completely switch off. Moreover, the N-channel MOSFET has higher density integration and possible in rapid reduction in capacitances. [2]. MOSFET (STP36NF06) gate requires drive properly the later components are used to limit the current and the gate signal for the MOSFET. The gate drive is a power amplifier that accepts a low power input from a controller devices and generate the appropriate high current gate drive for a power MOSFET[4]. 2.5. Bipolar junction Transistor Transistors are considered one of the main elements of semiconductors that have been discovered in modern times. Transistors are used in the amplifiers of electrical signals and electronic switching, which have helped a number of factors such as small size, ease in manufacturing, cost effective and consume less power to extend significantly. Figure 2.6 (a) transistor structures (b) npn and pnp structures 2.5.1. ZTX 653 NPN transistor The NPN transistor is a type of bipolar transistors known as a medium power transistor. The NPN ZTX 653 transistor has interesting features that make it suitable for the push pull topology and amplifier topology (pre totem pole connections). The features of NPN ZTX 653 transistor are [6] * 100 Volt VCEO * 2 Amp continuous current * Low saturation voltage * Ptot=1 Watt 5.5.2. ZTX 753 PNP transistor The PNP transistor is another type of bipolar transistors that is used in the push pull topology. The PNP ZTX 753 transistor is suitable to employ in the push pull topology (Totem Pole) according to their features. Their features are [6] * 100 Volt VCEO * 2 Amp continuous current * Low saturation voltage * Ptot=1 Watt Figure 2.7: npn and pnp characters 2.5.3 Gate drivers (Totem Pole) This type of connection is known as a discrete drivers or push pull drives which is in common use today. Figure 2.8 shows the complimentary arrangement pair bipolar NPN and PNP emitter configuration. Moreover, the N-channel and P-channel MOSFT can be employing for totem pole connection. However, the N-channel and P-channel MOSFT driver suffers from shoot through current, caused by the threshold voltage overlap during ON and OFF transitions, resulting in increased drive power requirements [9]. Figure 2.8: push pull configuration The bipolar Totem Pole, figure 2.8, is non-inverting and offers no voltage gain to improve the pre-driver rise or fall times. It does provide current gain to reduce the driver impedance to speed the charge and discharge of the device capacitances. Once the input capacitances are charged and the power device has been switched, the driver does not require holding current. It has medium speed and does not perform well at higher conversion frequencies [9]. This circuit uses a complementary pair of transistors similar betas and power rating one is an npn power Darlington, and the other is a pnp power Darlington. When a high voltage (e.g., +15 V) is applied to the input, the upper transistor (npn) conducts, allowing current to pass from the positive supply through the motor and into ground. If a low voltage (0 V) is applied to the input, the lower transistor (pnp) conducts, allowing current to pass through the MOSFET gate from ground into the negative supply terminal.[14] 2.5.4. Common emitter amplifier (inverter) This configuration is a simple electronic circuit that is used to boost and invert the low signal. Figure 2.9 shows the circuit that contain a high resistance value with NPN transistor. The low signal is switch on and off the transistor where the resistance is limiting the current that apply to the transistor. This topology is used to boost and invert the output of signal processing unit to appropriate the signal that can switch the MOSFET as it will be discussed in the following point. Figure 2.9 common emitter configuration 2.6. Current control and limiting The winding current is controlled inorder to be not more than 8A. When the MOSFET is switched ON without any current limiting circuit, the current shoots up without any control. As a result, the technique for current limiting is arranged as follows When the winding current is less than 8A the MOSFET switches ON. When the winding current is exceeds 8A the MOSFET switches OFF. Therefore for appropriate current control, square wave signal is applied to the gate of the MOSFET. The frequency of input signal at the gate of the MOSFET is take into account to make the MOSFET switch properly with regard to the above current control arrangement. In order to do that feedback from the source of the MOSFET is carried to non-inverting terminal of the comparator. Figure 10 shows the operational waveform of the MOSFET. It can be seen that, the MOSFET needs to switch off when the voltage at inverting input of the comparator reaches 0.8V and switch on when the voltage is zero. Moreover, the reference voltage is 0.8 volt from the voltage divider law when a 0.1ÃŽÂ © resistance is connected to the source of the MOSFET. The 555 timer can offer the control of MOSFETs switching frequency. Figure 2.10: the expected waveforms from the design. 2.6.1 Timer NE555P The 555 timer IC is an incredibly useful precision timer that can act as either a timer or an oscillator. In timer mode is known as monostable mode the 555 simply acts as a one-shot timer; when a trigger voltage is applied to its trigger lead, the chips output goes from low to high for a duration set by an external RC circuit. In oscillator mode is known as astable mode the 555 acts as a rectangular-wave generator whose output waveform (low duration, high duration, frequency, etc.) can be adjusted by means of two external RC charge/discharge circuits.[14] In this project the monstable circuit is highlighted due to it has one stable state. Figure 2.11 (a) monostable configuration of timer 555 (b) monostable operations[14] In the monostable configuration, figure 2.11(before a trigger pulse is applied) the 555s output is low, while the discharge transistor in on, shorting pin 7 to ground and keeping C discharged. Also, pin 2 is normally held high by the 10-k pull-up resistor. Now, when a negative-going trigger pulse (less than 1à ¢Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾3VCC) is applied to pin 2, comparator 2 is forced high, which sets the flip-flops Q_ to low, making the output high (due to the inverting buffer), while turning off the discharge transistor. This allows C to charge up via R1 from 0 V toward VCC. However, when the voltage across the capacitor reaches 2à ¢Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾3VCC, comparator 1s output goes high, resetting the flip-flop and making the output low, while turning on the discharge transistor, allowing the capacitor to quickly discharge toward 0 V. The output will be held in this stable state (low) until another trigger is applied [14]. According to the operation of the monstable the pulse width can be modified by changing the value of R1 and C. T= 1.11 R1C Thus, to obtain capable functioning of the circuit the variable resistance R1 with a maximum value 100KÃŽÂ © and the threshold capacitance C value is 100nf are chosen. The timer input is the output of the comparator where the two values of the voltage are compared to make the output of the timer based on these two values. The two voltages are one is 5V and the other is the feedback from the MOSFETs source. 2.6.2. (LM393) Comparator The comparator is used to compare the voltage between the source voltage and the feedback from the MOSFET. This is important to control the current by triggering the timer to limit the current as it is mentioned before. LM393 has several advantages for timer input which are Higher accuracy in comparators. High voltage range (2.0V to 36V) Biasing with lower input current. Lower input offset current  ±5 nA Figure 2.12 LM393 connections to the circuit In order to establish the reference voltage variable resistance is required in the voltage dividers law. The operation of the comparator is simply as follows If IN+ > IN- the comparator output = V8. If IN+ From the previous operation it can be seen that the comparator send the signal to trigger the input of the timer and the timer acts upon the applied signal therefore the MOSFET switches on and off with regard to the timer output. However, the output of the timer switches on the MOSFET when the current is high which will be disastrous to the motor. To avoid this not to happen, a design of logic gates are incorporated in the current limiting topology of the SRM. 2.6. 3. Logic gate design (SN74LS00N) Logic gate is designed according to the output of the timer which gives the positive pulses when the current exceeds to 8A and no pulse when the current is less than 8A. With the purpose of switch (totem pole) the gate of the MOSFET turns on and off at required instants of time using an external Drive Signal. Figure 2.13 shows the technique of the combination between the Drive Signal and the timer output to control the MOSFET. SN74LS00N has four NAND gates that can be used to reduce the number of ICs in PCB connection. The logic gate is connected to the timer output which will be inverted with a common emitter configuration to switch on the MOSFET when the timer output is low (Itimer Figure 2.13: (a) SN74LS00N chip (b) logic circuit connection (c) NAND gate logic signal. The MOSFET behaviour that is need according to the timer output is shown in table 1. To do that the NOT gate, OR gate and AND gate are needed before the pre totem pole connections (common ammeter topology). Current condition Timer(A) Drive Signal(B) Output of the logic gate (C) MOSFET gate signal (Output after totem pole) I > 8A MOSFET must be off 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 I MOSFET can be on 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 Table 2.1 digital signal behaviour Boolean algebra From the logic gate output we can get the function: (1) This function can be simplified (2) Figure 2.14 (a) logic gate from equation 2 (b) table shows the equavelant NAND gates [7](c) the final simblified gates using the table (b) 2.7 Curant limiting circuit simulation Curent limiting circuit ,figure 2.15 , is the simulation circuit and the combination of each part that discussed previously. Figure 2.15: current limiting circuit

The Effect Of Pokemon On Childrens Culture

The Effect Of Pokemon On Childrens Culture The impact on childrens culture of anime, manga, video games and trading cards of Pokà ©mon Japans popular culture industry is very vigorous in recent years. The popular culture consists of anime, manga, video games and trading cards. These media have a great impact on childrens culture in Japan and also other countries. Pokà ©mon is a very successful case. Pokà ©mon first appeared in the game of the Nintendos Game Boy, and then quickly diversified into manga, anime, movies, trading cards and toys in those years, and Pokà ©mon phenomenon is appeared in Japan in 1996. These products revolved mainly around children and youths and had impacts on them. This essay will examine the impact of Japanese popular media culture on childrens culture using Pokà ©mon as an example. The impacts which will discuss in this essay are effects on childrens literacy, the social effects, effects of addiction and violence. I will use two case studies to argue some effects on childrens literacy. Data have been collected from two articles. The author of the articles was a primary school teacher and she collected data from the classes she was teaching. Besides childrens literacy, there are many impacts in other aspects. Furthermore, negative impacts are much more than positive impacts. This will be discussed at the end of the essay, also the future of childrens culture under the influence of Japanese popular culture. The anime Pokà ©mon is diversified from its video game. This anime talks about Satoshi, a 10 years old boy, and his friends travels the world catching Pokà ©mon and battling Pokà ©mon trainers. This is the primary source of the essay. Allison, A. 2004. Cuteness as Japans Millennial Product. In: Tobin, J. Pikachus Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokà ©mon. Durham: Duke University Press: 34-52 Anne Allison is a Professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in the United States, specializing in contemporary Japanese society. Her current research is on the recent popularization of Japanese childrens goods on the global marketplace and how its trends in cuteness, character merchandise, and high-tech play pals are remaking Japans place in todays world of millennial capitalism. In Cuteness as Japans Millennial Product, she finds that Pokà ©mon is a successful case of childrens entertainment product with media mixes. Its success follows the previous waves of successful Japanese products which started in the late 1980s, and have impacted childhood consumption around the world. These products impacted childrens lifestyle in new interactive ways. Pokà ©mon is game-based makes it more interactive than a mere anime or movie. This article provides information that supports my arguments, children buy lots of Pokà ©mon-related products other than video games or comics, and Po kà ©mon create or facilitate a common culture among children. Arthur, L. 2001. Popular Culture and Early Literacy Learning, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2(3): 295-308 Dr Leonie Arthur is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Western Sydney. She has taught in long day care, preschool and school and is an active member of a number of peak early childhood organizations, including Early Childhood Australia. She currently works with undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Western Sydney in areas of early childhood curriculum and literacy. This article reports on research findings which indicate that while childrens home and community literacy experiences and texts are increasingly digital and connected to popular media culture experiences and texts in educational settings are predominantly book-based and generally exclude popular media culture. In practice, childrens literacy is affect by television, videos, computers, comics, trading cards and magazines rather than childrens books. It also examines the role of popular media culture in childrens lives. This article provides support for my arguments whi ch related to childrens literacy and violence: media restricts childrens creativity and promotes violence. Buckingham, D. and Green, J.S. 2003. Structure, Agency, and Pedagogy in Childrens Media Culture. Culture and Society 25(3): 379-399 David Buckingham is the Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, London University. His research is on childrens and young peoples interactions with television and electronic media. Julian Sefton-Green is the Head of Media Arts at WAC Performing Arts and Media College, an informal learning centre in North London, England. He has researched and written widely on many aspects of media education and new technologies. The authors point out that Pokà ©mon as a phenomenon is a controlled and calculated commercial strategy aimed manipulatively at the childrens market. They examine some positive and negative effects of the Pokà ©mon phenomenon on children. Pokà ©mon engages children visually through television, video games and as consumers through the range of products available. This article provides information that support my argument, Pokà ©mon create common culture among children, makes children spend lots of money to collect valuable trading cards and children bully others to grab their cards. Ito, M. 2006. Japanese Media Mixes and Amateur Cultural Exchange. In: Buckingham, D. and Willett, R. Digital Generation: Children, Young People, and New Media. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 49-66 Mizuko Ito is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Her main professional interest is the use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. She sees the move toward new media as an interaction between long-standing and emergent media forms, rather than a shift from old analog to new digital media; while most of the essay explores the low-tech media of trading cards and comic books, The article is about young peoples relationship to media. Ito argues that these analog media forms are being newly infected through digitally enabled sociality. She also examines the trading cards activities. This article supports my argument that children play trading cards class whenever they have time and a people as their competitor. Marsh. J. 2009. Writing and Popular Culture. In: Beard, R. and Myhill, D. and Riley, J. and Nystrand, M. The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development. London: SAGE Publication Ltd: 313-324 Jackie Marsh is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the role and nature of popular culture in young childrens literacy development. She has conducted research projects that have explored children ´s access to new technologies and their emergent digital literacy skills, knowledge and understanding. This chapter examines the potential role that popular culture can play in writing curriculum in schools. She examines how popular culture affects children and young peoples written texts in classrooms. She considers the adaptation of out-of-school popular cultural writing practices for educational purposes, and explores the way in which these practices are challenging the boundaries of writing as it is instantiated in the curriculum. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restricts childrens creativity/ McDonnell, K. 2000. Kid Culture: children and adults and popular culture. Annandale: Pluto Press. Kathleen McDonnell makes her living writing in a variety of genres, from playwriting to junior fiction to social criticism. Besides her many books, she writes articles and opinion pieces for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Chatelaine, Macleans, and Utne Reader, and also contributes to CBC Radio and Canada AM. Her plays have been produced throughout Canada. She explained that the reason she writes about children: I find that childrens stories are usually the best medium to express what I want to say; and about because I have a burning interest in kids and their culture, how they think and feel about the world theyre growing up in. The book explores children and popular culture and help adults better understand the role of popular cultures plays in childrens lives. Kathleen McDonnell offers a balanced and engaging perspective on the power and influence of childrens culture. This book supports my argument that trading cards encourage gambling addiction. McGray, D. 2002. Japans Gross National Cool. Foreign Policy. June/July 2002: 44-54 Douglas McGray writes about social and political issues, science, and culture for the New Yorker, This American Life, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Los Angeles Times, Wired, and Time. He is a contributing writer of Foreign Policy magazine. He spent the spring of 2001 in Japan as a media fellow of the Japan Society. In Japans Gross National Cool, McGray argues Japans street culture, from fashion to art to music, has become ever more vibrant and is having an unprecedented influence on the rest of the world. He analyzes what made Japan a superpower more than just a wealthy country. He examines the globalization of Japanese culture. This article provides information of how Japanese popular culture affects other countries. Squire, K. 2003. Video games in education. International Journal of Intelligent Simulations and Gaming (2) 1. Dr. Kurt D. Squire is an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Games, Learning Society Initiative, and best known for his research into game design for education. The article examines the history of games in educational research, and argues that the cognitive potential of games have been largely ignored by educators. Contemporary developments in gaming, particularly interactive stories, digital authoring tools, and collaborative worlds, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media. Squire analyzes educational games refers to some checklists ad frameworks. He promotes case studies and design experiments as a research method that doesnt study isolated variables. He states that there are four concerns of video games, which are encouraging violent or aggressive behavior, employing destructive gender stereotyping, promoting unhealthy attitudes and stifling creative play. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restrict childrens creativity and children imitate violence in media. Willett, R. 2004. The Multiple Identities of Pokà ©mon Fans. In: Tobin, J. Pikachus Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokà ©mon. Durham: Duke University Press: 226-240. Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on childrens media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. Willett discusses the multiple identities of Pokà ©mon fans. She uses a cultural studies model to make sense of the identity work children do in their story writing. She finds that Pokà ©mon thrives in childrens culture by providing a variety of subject positions for children to adopt as they perform and shift their identities in a variety of context in their daily lives. This article supports my argument, children use too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description when writing story because of popular culture, and children isolate others who do not familiar with Pokà ©mon. Willett, R. 2005. Baddies in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing. Literacy 39, 3: 142-148. Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on childrens media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. This article relates findings from a classroom study focusing on childrens media-based story writing. The study examines how children write their own stories under the effects of media, that is, how they consume media and how they produce new media texts. Willett finds that childrens media-based stories make explicit some of implicit knowledge of new media forms. Baddies in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing provides information that support my argument, children write too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description, story with unpronounceable names and incomprehensible plots, also unnecessary violence.

Causes of the French Revolution Essay -- essays research papers

The Causes Of The French Revolution In the 17th and 18th centuries, France was ruled by an absolute government. The king had all the political power. And the kings who came after him were despots. For example, anyone who criticized the government could be arrested and put in prison without trial. Louis XIV at l east ruled this country efficiently. Last French kings were not good rulers. Louis XIV (1774- 1793) was king at the time of the French Revolution. He was more interested in hunting than governing France. He and his Austrians queen, Marie Antoinette, lived an extravagant life at the Palace of Versailles. They did not really care about the state of their country. The government was inefficient, unjust and corrupt. There were too many government departments, different laws in different parts of the country and officials. Many people became angry about the way France was governed. They could do nothing to change it. The French Parliament was called the Estates- General. It was made up of the First Estate- churchmen or clergy, the Second Estate- nobility, the Third Estate- commoners. The Estate- General had not met since 1614. It could not meet without consent of he king. It had no political power. During the 18th century, the French government spent more money than it collected in taxes. By 1788, the country was bankrupt. Because the government spent a lot of money, taxes were high. The tax system was unjust. The nobles and the clergy paid hardly any taxes. The Church owned one-tenth of the land in France. It did not pay taxes. The peasants paid most of the taxes. Yet, they were the people least able to afford them. In the 18th century, France was a feudal country with class division. People were divided into three estates or classes. The First Estate consisted of the clergy. The Second consisted of the nobility, and the Third included the bourgeoisie, the city workers and the peasants. The estate to which he belonged decided a person’’power and rights. The peasants suffered most. Over 80 per cent of the population were made up of peasants. They had to pay heavy taxes. How The Revolution Changed Between 1789 and 1799 In 1789 the king called the estates to a meeting to form a National Assembly where all estates woul... ...;reign of terror." The Jacobins also followed democratic principles and believed in the benefits of the middle class, peasants, and farmers and got to participate for the first time in a political event. The Convention abolished slavery. Many of these reforms were never carried out because of changes made later in the government. Many people of France wanted the "reign of terror", the Jacobin's dictatorship, and the democratic revolution to end. The Convention finally attacked Robesspiere in 1794, and he was executed the following day. The "reign of terror",had finally ended. The Conservatives drove the Jacobins out of power. They replaced the Democratic constitution with the Directory. They started to meet in 1795, but they were troubled by war and economic problems. Bonarpartec a French general, later seized control of France in November 9, 1799, which ended the revolution. The French Revolution brought much discussion into which kind of government was best for their country. Despite all the conflicts, the revolution did create a unified state and a strong central government.

Philosophy Of Descartes :: essays research papers

In the New Merriam Webster Dictionary, sophism is defined as a plausible but fallacious argument. In Rene Descartes Meditation V, he distinguishes the existence of God, believing he must prove that god exists before he can examine any corporeal objects outside of himself. By proving that the existence of God is not a sophism, he also argues that God is therefore the Supreme Being and the omnipotent one. His conclusion that God does exist enables him to prove the existence of material things, and the difference between the soul and the body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ideas, innovations, and inventions are all created from brilliant minds. Than how did these ideas come to be? Descartes believes that God is the cause of new innovations adding, therefore God instilled in us the idea of his existence. Explaining, in order for us to draw an idea from a presumption or thought, than an object must have been derived not by us but rather God. An example of his presumption of the existence of God would be the fact that if one cannot imagine a bookshelf without books. Whether one exists or not, it is true than that they cannot be separated from each other. Descartes follows by stating that â€Å"he cannot conceive God without existence, existence is inseparable from him.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After settling that God exists in his first few passages, Descartes adds that God is the perfect being. Due to the fact that he understands what a perfect being is, than God must be a sovereign being. Similar to his triangle theory that it is not a necessity to imagine a triangle. It is not a necessity to imagine a perfect being rather a thought that has run through our mind. The triangle as imagined and conceived has three sides and a hundred and eighty degree angles as always. It is imperative that these characteristics are always attributed to the triangle, likewise the attributes of a perfect being are placed on God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to prove an argument or premise Descartes states, â€Å"we must be able to conceive clearly and distinctly of the cause in order to truly believe the argument.† Descartes clearly and distinctly believes the existence of God stating that, â€Å"all things are dependent on God’s existence, and God is not a deceiver.† Due to this premise we must than conclude that without a Supreme Being to incite knowledge than it is not possible to ever know anything perfectly.

Laughter Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Laughter "Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." --E. B. White Why do people laugh? Laughter is contagious and therapeutic. It helps us cope with stress, and relax with friends. It is an indication of happiness, the sole reason we go on living. But what causes people to laugh? People laugh at jokes, semantic humor, which relies on cognitive ability to process the "humor" therein, or sometimes at slapstick type behavior requiring no intellectual understanding. People laugh at different things and for different reasons, and for the few that are interested at the expense of the frog, it can be interesting to investigate. Every individual varies in their neurological pathways through their "boxes" in their brain to reach the output of laughter from a number of different inputs. Laughter is caused by certain visual or audio stimuli, often by perception of the unexpected or the incongruous. A surprise in expected input can result in an emotional change, however major or minor. As H. Spencer says in his Physiology of Laughter, "the nervous system in general discharges itself on the muscular system in general: either with or without the guidance of the will" (1). Incongruous input causes an emotional change, and in the case of humorous response, resulting in the contraction of facial muscles and certain muscles in the abdomen. The epiglottis half closes the larynx, resulting in giggling, guffawing, or gasping, and tear ducts are activated. These outputs of the nervous system we refer to as laughter can be arrived at through a number of pathways through the boxes of the brain, fabricated in each individual throughout their life to that point. Although different parts o... ...2Bbut%2Bits%2Bbenefits%2Bare%2Bmany,%2Band%2Bunmistakably%2Bclear.%2B%2522%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG 6) encontrar el hueso divertido del cerebro , http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/mdrejka.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522The%2Borigins%2Bof%2Blaughter%2Bare%2Bprimitive%2Band%2Bstill%2Blargely%2Bnot%2Bunderstood,%2Bbut%2Bits%2Bbenefits%2Bare%2Bmany,%2Band%2Bunmistakably%2Bclear.%2B%2522%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG 7) gerencia de la tensià ³n y causas de la tensià ³n , http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/mdrejka.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522The%2Borigins%2Bof%2Blaughter%2Bare%2Bprimitive%2Band%2Bstill%2Blargely%2Bnot%2Bunderstood,%2Bbut%2Bits%2Bbenefits%2Bare%2Bmany,%2Band%2Bunmistakably%2Bclear.%2B%2522%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Obama State of the Union Essay

A Man Stands Alone: â€Å"We are not quitters. † That is what young Ty’Sheonna Bethea from Dillon, South Carolina had to say about attending a schoolhouse which is literally falling apart. She and the were asking for nothing more than what every school age student across the country has every right to receive. This was just one of the many examples that President Barrack Obama had addressed during his State of the Union Address that was read on February 24, 2009 to the Nation. This speech was to inform the us that the problems of America have been heard, not ignored President Obama was given this position at one of America’s lowest points in history. He had inherited close to a trillion dollar deficit, a financial collapse and a skyrocketing as our Commander in Chief, he spoke candidly of the goals we have to meet as â€Å"a people†. Works Cited Barack Obama: Address Before a joint Session of the Congress President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1933-1945 Rollins, Lisa L. â€Å"Comparing Barack Obama to Franklin D. Roosevelt† One of the greatest President’s in the history of the United States if America was four term elected, 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal, and he served as the principal architect of President Roosevelt had succeeded former President Hoover, who had led the country into the worse financial instability ever in our young country’s history. Both men, in order to create something out of nothing, have or had plans to build economic stimulating programs. But one man’s ideas are tried and proven while the others has yet to be given the opportunity to flourish. In that respect only time can really tell how these two great leaders share strengths through trying times.

Biology Microarray Lab report Essay

The analysis of DNA using the microarray technique has become one of the most significant methods in the area of research genetics. This technique falls under the area of gene expression profiling. Most of the time, this procedure is applied by scientists in the effort to investigate a wide range of conditions. This is because experimental procedures cam be performed on numerous genes at the same time. They include researches on cancer to finding numerous solutions to the problems that are presented by pests. With this advancement an opportunity has been offered for the performance of personal DNA microarray experiments. Among the basis of such experiments is the determination between healthy cells and the cancer cells. Based on the complexity of the microarray experiments, it is vital that all scientists obtain a solid understanding on the DNA basics as well as the way through which genes express themselves. DNA microarrays have been used in the extensive survey of the relative transcription in any gene within a genome. Most of the cancer cells in human beings are found within the developing nerves. Howevber, they do not allow the complete quantification level of gene expression. Moreover, the DNA chips do not make it possible to determine the amount of mRNA produced from a relative sample with that produced from the control population. As such, it can be used to compare the rate of gene expression in a lung cell with cancer and a helthy lung cell. Therefore, the main goal of this practival test is to ptovide a way to understand how microarrays are used tostudy the gene expressions. It allows the investigators to determine the level of gene activity for a complete gene. As such, they make it easier to diagnose various diseases that injmclude cancer. Two main steps will be involved in the performance of the microarray lab experiments. These include the prehybridization and the hybridization steps. These are conducted through a number of 7 mini steps. They will involve the collection of the tissue or sample, the isolation of the RNA, isolation of the mRNA, creation of a labelled DNA copy, application off DNA, scanning of a microarray and the analysis of data (Campbell et al., 333). Different pH indicators that are colorless at neutral and colored at high pH of above 10 will be applied. They will be mixed with molten Agarose; this includes Madison, Promega, WI and V312A. It will later be allowed to cool. They could also be placed in a hot bath of 650 and kept molten. They will be melted if to be used days later. Pipettes will be used to apply the DNA onto the slides. Collection of mRNA The plate will be incubated for 5 minutes to allow for the release of mRNA. It will then pipetted in a Tri reagent for extraction. 80 uL of chloroform will subsequently be added and shaken vigorously then centrifuged to separate the cells into layers. 2 ml isopropanol will be added, the mixture centrifuged and the supernatant poured off. After this, the preparation of the RNA for spec by will be done by adding Agarose gel. The pre-hybridization steps will involve the preparation of stocks and obtaining of the microarray slide and steaming it on a hot plate for between 30 seconds and 1 minute. It will then be cooled at room temperature. It is important to warm the solution in case there are any crystals. The two slides can then be treated back to back and dipped in distilled water severally; it will be dried and spun for 2-3 minutes in a centrifuge. The slide is then hybridized by placing in a clean 50ml tube in a heated incubator. A coverslip is prepared by dipping into 0.2%SDS, then water. Blot, dry and continue to the hybridization step (Campbell et al., 338). Hybridization It includes the hybridization of the DNA chip using 3DNA array 350 protocol. Chips containing 70mer oligos and 2 copies of the known cDNAs in the human genome are used. This should be done at least 24 hours before the experiment. Make the solution only when it is ready for use. It is mainly 0.1M NaOH. The first step includes thawing vial at 7.2X. Make the hybridization solution with 50 ul total to fit across the cover slip. Incubate it at 800 for ten minutes. The entire 58 ul is then transferred on the microarray and the short edge of the cover slip placed on the short edge of the slide, which is then transferred to a 50 ml tube. The arrays after washing 2 must be read immediately since the color of the chips goes bad quickly (Kushner 1-5). References Campbell, A., Malcolm, Zanta, A., Carolyn, Heyer, J. Laurie, Kittinger,Ben, Gabric, M.Kathleen and Adler, Leslie. DNA Microarray Wet Lab Simulation Brings Genomics intothe High School Curriculum. CBE Life Science Education. 2006 Winter; 5(4): 332–339. Kushner, B. David. DNA Microarrays in the Undergraduate Microbiology Lab: Experimentationand Handling Large Datasets in as Few as Six Weeks. Journal of microbiology andbiology education, 2007. Vol. 8 Source document

Drama †Blood Brothers Response Essay

Blood brothers is a story which was written in 1981 as a school play and included a range of themes which help the audience understand and feel for the story rather than just watching it. The themes in this play include poverty, innocence, love, games, belief and superstition. I feel that the key themes that control the play are chance and society of the time and I feel that most of the story circles around these themes and most events are caused by these themes. To emphasize the themes in the play, we created a three minute version of the play which consisted of still images, narration and stylised movement. We decided to split the play into four sections which were: baby years, childhood, 14 – 17 years and 20+ years. We decided that we would show the giving away of the baby as this allows the rest of the story to flow. If it wasn’t for this specific scene, the story wouldn’t have happened as the giving away of one twin is a significant event in the play. This also allowed us to add emotion to our piece as this is one of the several events which separate people into two opinions. For the second section (which was childhood) we included images of them first meeting, playing games, both of the mothers separating Mickey and Eddie and Mrs Johnstone giving the locket to Eddie. My group and I felt that these were also important events in the play; in fact one of the main themes in the play is games which relates to the robbery and overall shooting of both twins later on. For 14 -17 years, we decided to show both children being suspended from school, the meet up between friends with the devil narration on top which we thought allowed our piece to flow making it easier to understand. At the last stage, 20+, we performed four still images which included an unemployment scene, Linda’s pregnancy, Eddie and Linda being together and finally the shooting with the second half of the images having the mad man narration over the top: ‘There’s a mad man running round and round You know the devil’s got your number You know he’s right beside you He’s screamin’ deep inside you And someone said he’s callin’ your number up today Today Today TODAY!’ This piece of narration was used in our three minute version of the play as we thought that it summed up a lot of the happenings in this age group and is a constant theme throughout the play. I found that the best way to tell this story within the three minutes was to use different techniques which allowed expressing and stressing of several moments in a play making it more effective. In our three minute version, this included levels, space and marking the moment. One example of these entire three put together was when both boys got expelled. We had the class sitting down at the back while the teacher was standing up straight looking down on one pupil who was higher than the class but lower than the teacher. This made use of levels, space and also marked the moment by focusing on the locket. We decided to make the giving away of the baby the most significant point in the play. This is because the whole of the story centres on this point, and if it wasn’t for this event, none of the other events would have happened. To mark this moment, we used narration which was originally placed over the point where Mrs Johnstone was only considering giving the baby to Mrs Lyons. ‘How quickly and idea, planted, can Take root and grow into a plan. The thought conceived in this very room Grew as surely as a seed, in a mother’s womb’ This piece of narration allowed us to realise how the event they are seeing came into being. We found that forum theatre was a very useful technique to bring Mickey’s monologue to life. Forum theatre was used to change the way we said lines and how to put expression, feeling and life to the lines which in turn make the monologue a lot more vibrant and interesting. The way we performed forum theatre was to have someone acting out a verse of the poem. We then got the audience to comment and suggest improvements. We then acted the verse out again and repeated the process until we were happy with it. Below is the verse we performed. ‘Y’ know our Sammy, He draws nudey women, Without arms, or legs or even heads In the baths, when he goes swimmin’. But I’m not allowed to go to the baths, Me Mam says I have to wait, ‘Cos I might get drowned, ‘cos I’m only seven, But I’m not, I’m nearly eight.’ We started off with the beginning of the verse being said in a very secretive way although it was put in the category of secret in a child which meant that it had to be told; something I had felt many a time when I was a young child which also meant my body was slightly crouched and slightly tense. I used the same experience to ‘goggle’ at what Sammy was able to do when he went swimming. Then disappointment kicks in when I hit ‘But I’m not allowed†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ as my voice goes slower and my body slumps and when the mother comes on I re-enact a rather rude hand motion usually used when someone is too talkative while the mother reads her quote. The last line is said in a way of self-pity making the character feel sorry for himself which I have felt many times when I was a young child and feeling as if my parents were deriving me of all of the world’s pleasures. In this monologue I learnt that Mickey was a character who always wanted more and wanted something someone else had that he hadn’t which is an apparent characteristic of Mickey throughout the play. It also helped me realise that it was more than just a greedy feeling as the feeling was a lot deeper and it was if the world had forgotten about him but not the others who lived in the world around him. As I said before, forum theatre had helped me find these characteristics as it helped shape what had been written. It was as if there were a lot of muddled thoughts and both me and the audience were helping to piece it together properly so we could both get an idea on how the character was really like and how the character really felt. For individual spontaneous improvisation, I acted as Mrs Johnstone where I was looking at both babies and playing with them as if it were my last time with both of them. Of course, at the time my character would have not known which baby would have been taken and because of this, I acted in a way as if it were the last time for Mrs Johnstone to see both of them. My thought track for this piece was: ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ and it would have been hard to come to terms with something which could potentially change somebody’s life, especially when it is your own son. This decision was both challenged and supported by a technique called a conscience corridor which we used to find the pros and cons of giving the baby away which was then fired to somebody stepping into the shoes of Mrs Johnstone. Feeling the confused and mixed feelings, it gave us a chance to make our own decision as if we were that character. Some pros included having money, less stress, a better life for your son, less work. Some cons included the guilt of your child being bought, splitting up a natural bond given to both children, more stress as you worry and having to cover it up from the outside world. The conscience corridor was put into action by splitting the class in half and putting them up as two sides to create a human ‘corridor’. We then got a member of our class to walk up while each person in the ‘wall’ said the pros and cons. When the person in the middle finishes walking up through the corridor, he/she tells us his/her decision. In this situation, I wrote a diary entry as Mrs Johnstone. I typed my diary entry up below ‘I can’t believe it is happening. So close to the time where one of my beloved babies would be given away to my employer. I am sure that I am doing the right thing – I can’t afford to give them both a good life and Mrs Lyons does want a baby so badly. Even so, I feel I am breaking a natural bond given to them both which makes me unsure on whether I should do it. I am in a situation which I would never wish on any mother.’ Overall, I found that explorative strategies helped us understand Blood Brothers as it allowed us to see what usually are hidden thoughts and feelings of characters. It also allows us to get into character and realise how events and other actions are performed by the character.