Symbolized and What it Meant to America Essay Example for Free

Symbolized and What it Meant to America Essay Though the negative preconception of the general American public was the widely carried message of newspapers before and during the early days of the said event, this is not what was covered by Colliers article since it was released during the last day of the event already. Therefore, what the article presented as the sentiment of America for the event, in the context of what happened during the supposedly last day of the event, was that of respect and commendation over the behavior of the hundred thousands youths who attended the event. This is exemplified by the same paragraphs in the previous page that Collier used to convey a positive image for the event. If we are to extract the American sentiment over the event from those few that were interviewed for the article, it could be viewed that America was surprised by and approved of the behavior of the participants, which was characterized by astonishing courtesy, order, and harmony. Coming from an explicit expectation of negative behavior from the youth who were going to attend the event, it could have really been such a pleasant surprise to America that the youth was able to rise above all their preconceived notions. However, it would be also reasonable to imagine that along with the positive perception of the American public over the relative success of the event was the concern over what was revealed the prevailing culture of drugs among the youth. With the reports of the event showcasing how drugs adversely affects the health of the youth and even lead to death and how the youth blatantly welcome such practices and even treats it as a culture, there is little argument that the rest of America who are not part of the said generation and culture is worried over the possible results of such a phenomenon in the long run. Thus, basing from Collier’s article, it could be said that America’s perception of the event could have been a mixture of both positive and negative things. Positive in terms of respect over the triumph of the American youth in staging such a peaceful display of unity, and negative in terms of their concern over the impending effect of the youth’s blatant drug practices. However, the respect for the youth and their generation’s culture that has been planted by the event in the hearts and minds of the American people is something that could not be erased for generations to come. A. What the Event Symbolized and What it Meant to America In Collier’s article, what was portrayed as the symbolism of Woodstock for those who participated in it was â€Å"an incredible unification† of people. Woodstock, for the youth who attended it, was the fulfillment of their thrilling expectation of being able to meet strangers who shared their practices, beliefs, and culture. The event was also a fulfillment of the youth’s eagerness to experiment with drugs along with all the other people of their generation. This is based form a paragraph in Colliers article . As for the rest of America who were not there at Woodstock and who were not part of the culture that Woodstock fostered, the event could still have symbolized a positive thing. For them, Woodstock could have been a symbol that though the youth of America have been practicing a culture entirely different from that of the previous generations, that does not mean that the generation was of no good. Woodstock could have well been a symbol that the youth of that day deserved to be respected for being the beautiful people that they are and for the beautiful things that they are able to do, beyond the prejudice that they have been faced with. For America, Woodstock could have meant that where their youth puts their heart into, there would also be peace, harmony, and beauty.

Comparison Between BCS And ACM

Comparison Between BCS And ACM This report intends to summarize British computer society Code of Conduct and comparing it with different codes of conduct that has a significant in fact in IT profession. However Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is important in IT profession because it dedicates in advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity (ieee.org, 2010). And Association for computing machinery (ACM) is also important because it is able to advance computing as a science and a profession (acm.org, 2010). Moreover, all the codes of conduct mentioned are found relevant to the case study which will be discussed in detail in the report. The report is going to describe how the professional codes of conduct comply and how it does not comply with the case study below. Furthermore, the report breaks down the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis which talks about the strength and weakness of the case study in detail. The report covers all the important of code of conduct in the case study and the factors that influence the strategic as well as the day-to-day operation of the case study. Finally the reports reflective analysis explored how all the aspects of the research are conducted. Code of conduct The code of conduct simply defines as a set of regulatory rules of professional conduct which has been adopted by the Board (Merritt, R. 2008). Impact of code of conducts Codes of Conduct have a significant impact within the IT profession. They maintain the level of professionalism and ensure that IT professionals, their employers and the public at large have a clear idea of the expected standards of the profession. For example, it is unlikely that an employer could sack an IT Professional for failing to carry out work which the employee could demonstrate was unethical in terms of a code of conduct. If an employee was sacked under these circumstances, he/she would be able to demonstrate to an Industrial Tribunal that they had adhered to the Code of Conduct while the employer had failed to do so. (sqa.org, 2010). British computer society(BCS):- Describes the professional standards of practice relating to the contemporary multifaceted demands found in information technology (IT).It applies to members of all grades, including students and affiliates, and also non-members who offer their expertise as part of the BCS Professional Advice Register.(bcs.org,2010). The Codes governs the personal conduct of individual members of the BCS, who are requested to notify the Society of any significant violation by another member. Any breach of the Code brought to the attention of the Society is considered under the BCS Disciplinary procedures.(bcs.org,2010) The following are main areas that BCS covered Duty to the Profession:- All Members of the BCS code of conduct should be able to have a wider responsibility to promote public understanding of IT its benefits and drawbacks, encourage and support fellow members in their professional development and, where possible, provide opportunities for the professional development of new members, particularly student members and uphold the reputation and good standing of the BCS in particular.(bcs.org,2010) Duty to Relevant Authority:- As a Member of the BCS code of conduct you should be able to avoid any situation that may give rise to a conflict of interest between you and your relevant authority.(bcs.org,2010) Professional Competence and Integrity:- As a Member of the BCS code of conduct you shall seek to upgrade your professional knowledge and skill, and shall also maintain awareness of technological developments, procedures and standards which are relevant to your field and encourage your subordinates to do the same.(bcs.org,2010) The Public Interest:- In your professional role you shall have regard for the public health, safety and environment, you shall have regard to the legitimate rights of third parties and conduct your professional activities without discrimination against clients or colleagues.(bcs.org,2010) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) code of conduct:-IEEE is one of the worlds largest professional associations dedicated to advance technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through IEEEs highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. (IEEE.org, 2010). The following are examples of the IEEE code of conduct. (IEEE.org, 2010). To accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment. (IEEE.org,2010). To maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological tasks for others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations. (IEEE.org,2010). To treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or national origin; To assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following this code of ethics. To reject bribery in all its forms; Association for computing machinery ( ACM) is also one of the worlds largest educational and scientific computing society, delivers resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing fields premier Digital Library and serves its members and the computing profession with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources. (ACM.org, 2010) The following are examples of what the ACM code of conduct covers.(ACM.org,2010) Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work. Excellence is perhaps the most important obligation of a professional. The computing professional must strive to achieve quality and to be conscious of the serious negative consequences that may result from poor quality in a system.(ACM.org,2010) Acquire and maintain professional competence. Excellence depends on individuals who take responsibility for acquiring and maintaining professional competence. A professional must participate in setting standards for appropriate levels of competence, and strive to achieve those standards.(ACM.org,2010) Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work. ACM members must obey existing local, state, province, national, and international laws unless there is a compelling ethical basis not to do so. Policies and procedures of the organizations in which one participates must also be obeyed. .(ACM.org,2010) Accept and provide appropriate professional review, quality professional work, especially in the computing profession, depends on professional reviewing and critiquing. Whenever appropriate, individual members should seek and utilize peer review as well as provide critical review of the work of others. .(ACM.org,2010) Comparison between BCS and ACM. Both the BCS and ACM are design to guide ethical decision making (7th pacific Asia Conference, 2003) They provide little assistance in the identification and resolution of ethical dilemma as they both tends to be national in scope by increasing the complexity of international decision making for IS practitioners. They both have to take responsibility for maintaining professional competence. They both maintain the level of professionalism and ensure that IT professionals, their employers and the public at large have a clear idea of the expected standards of the profession. Both the BCS and ACM are responsible for the ethical regulation of computer professionals. Comparison between BCS and IEEE They both improve the understanding of technology. They both maintain and improve their technological competence. They both assist their colleagues and co-workers in their professional. They are both committed to improving the competitiveness between companies Case study Wirral is one of the Britains leading component manufacturers. It has over 500 branches around the world with more than 1500 staff and many business activities. All the business activities are well supported by IT systems. More over the company was earlier a family business in Ellesmere Port Cheshire in 1960s.It started as a radio and television repair business. And eventually, the company was able to set up its own manufacturing operations and began to expand into other areas that include supplying of components and assemblies for mainframe and mini computers. The company is able to submit a successful bid for government contracts for the supply of radar equipment and weapons guidance systems in 1980s. And recently submitted a bid to supply hardware component for the proposed national identity card system. Meanwhile the company now grew to accommodate its growing market with euro trailers and European motor ways. The following are companys business activities. -Manufacture and assembly of components -Engineering drawing production maintenance -Sales Order Processing (SOP) incorporating barcode product identification -Purchase Order Processing (POP) -Warehousing Goods inward/outward -Accounts/invoicing -Marketing -Quality control -Personnel payroll Applications of code of conducts The company most keep their customers data safe by referring to BCS code of conduct that states that company should have regards to the public health, safely and environment All members of the company should seek to upgrade their skill, and shall maintain awareness of technological developments, procedures and standards. According to BCS. All members of the company should assist their colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following IEEE codes of ethics. Referring to IEEE, all the members should treat fairly all people regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or national origin. The company individuals should take responsibilities for acquiring and maintaining professional competence. According to ACM. As the companys business activities are supported with IT system, Fell et al. (2007, p.62) Computer Misuse act 1990 should be use in order to protect unauthorized access and data modification. Data Protection is also applicable to the case study because it will enhance privacy protection of the data that is outsourced to third party.(Hepple et al.2000, p.1011). Compliance and Noncompliance. Compliance If the company compliance with the above code of conducts, It will be able to maintain its level of professionalism and ensure IT standard in the company. If the company compliance with the above code of conducts, It will help the top level management in making good decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the staff of the company. If the company compliance with the above code of conducts, the company will be able to maintain and improve their technical competence. If the company compliance with the above code of conducts, It will be able to reject bribery in all its forms. If the company compliance with the above code of conducts, All the members of the company will be able to obey the existing and and new laws of the company if there is any. Noncompliance If the company did not comply with the above code of conducts it can cause bribery within the company or might let someone out of the company to access their customer information which can lead the company to lose their customers due to lack of good principles and rules to follow. It can also cause the company to lose their customers when the customers realise there is no good code of conduct that will protect their interest. Members of the company may lack professional development if the company did not comply with the code of conduct because the code of conduct will assist all the members of the company. The members of the company can disorganise by not complying with the above code of conduct that states, to treat fairly all members regardless of race, religion, gender, disability, age or national origin. Exploration of the legal, ethical and social factors of Wirral Company. Below is a table that shows an SWOT analysis of WCM, PRIMO-F SWOT analysis is basically a tool that is used to measure the street and weakness of an organisation. The following is (PRIMO-F) analysis and Strengths and weakness that will help the Wirral Company to achieve its objectives. Strengths Weaknesses People The company has a good number of staffs as it has more than 1500 staffs. People The staffs have limited skills as they cant provide enough information about the company. Resources The company has resources as it can have more than 500 branches. Resources Often all the resources they have third party operating on their department. Innovation Ideas The company grew to accommodate its growing market. Innovation Ideas The company has low creativity and Initiatives Marketing WCM has very good relations with its external agents who work on commission. Marketing The company need to enhance its marketing strategy. Operations WCM company is using an in house software in its day-to-day activities to achieve its objectives. Operations WCM need to review its objectives Finance WCM has Personnel/Payroll and Accounting/Invoicing. Finance WCM need to be monitoring account department as its operated by third party. Opportunities Threats Technology development and Innovation? Global influences? New markets, vertical, horizontal? Niche target markets? Geographical, export, import? New USPs? Tactics: eg, surprise, major Contracts? Business and product development? Political effects? Legislative effects? Environmental effects? IT developments? Competitor intentions various? Market demand? New technologies, services, ideas? Vital contracts and partners? Sustaining internal capabilities? 12. EPISTLE ANALYSIS (rapidbi.com, 2010) Economic Taxes specific to product and services Production level Interest rates Currency values Energy costs Political Government policies Politic culture Legislation Global political events Alliances Information Empowering people by technology Transference of technology Business Information secrecy. Social Demographics Major events and influences Life style changes Social attitudes Corporate social image Purchasing habits Technological Computing technology. development. New technologies. Access to technology. Develop new product Facilities competitive advantage Legal Competitive regulations. Consumer protection. Laws apply to the computing profession. Environment Environmental regulations. Global factors. Global warming Natural disaster. People Skills, motivations, ideas and communication REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS In conducting my research work I have done a lot of research in finding resources that are relevant to the case study although the case study does not have enough information, the wide research I had made has helped me to understand the basic and important of code of conduct not only to the case study but to business in general. I use several examples of case studies that are related to the case study and so many resources. The resources I used are internet, e-books, library books and lectures slides that are up to date, reliable, supportive, creative and accurate (CARS). Although is not all the resources that I read that I find useful to the case study but I still use them in my bibliography list. I conducted lots of research before I found resources that are relevant to my EPISTLE analysis. Therefore I made full use of resources available to me whilst writing my report which will be found in my references list. If I were to improve my report, I will do more practical research by arranging a work experience placement in such a way that it will benefit me with good working experience. Moreover, so far with this research work I believe I will be able to suggest a good SWOT and EPISTLE analysis to a company. Finally I will strongly recommend the Wirral Wirral Component Manufacturers Ltd (WCM) should comply with code of conducts because it will maintain its level of professionalism and ensure IT standard in the company, It will help the top level management in making good decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the staff of the company and also let the members of the company to respect the companys rules and regulations. REFERENCES ACM [on line access 22nd Aug 2010] Available at http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics/#sect4 Bain, D.(2004) Introduction to computer law.5th ed.United kingdom. BCS [on line access 30th Aug 2010] Available at http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/conduct.pdf Fell, J et al.(2007) IT Law: An ISEB foundation.United Kingdom Hepple, A et al.(2000) Tort: Case and Materials.5th ed.London England. Impact of code of conducts [on line access 7th Sept 2010] Available at http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/ProfIssues03CD/page_02.htm IEEE [on line access 2nd Sep 2010] Available at http://www.ieee.org/index.html Merritt, R.(2008) Code of Conduct. New york. Swot-analysis [on line access 12nd sept 2010] Available at http://www.businessballs.com/free_SWOT_analysis_template.pdf Swot-analysis [on line access 7nd sept 2010] Available at http://rapidbi.com/created/SWOTanalysis.html

Impact of VoIP on the Future of Telephony

Impact of VoIP on the Future of Telephony With the dawning of a new age of pervasive computing, there is a greater requirement for the exchange of data to be made possible between computing assets that are connected to a network. Interactions require an exchange of various multimedia formats as well as the provision of enhanced services including instant messaging and presence management. There is, therefore, a need for a converged network that is capable of carrying both voice and multimedia in digitised form. Single network that is capable of carrying both voice and multimedia is preferable to having more than one networks because such a network is vastly more economical. Packet networks that use the internet protocol have emerged as a solution for this requirement. These networks are capable of carrying all forms of data as well as voice over the internet protocol in real time. The networks use the internet protocol to provide a universal connectivity that was not previously possible. Despite the earlier problems involving latency, quality of service and reliability in the establishment of connections, VoIP or Voiceover the Internet Protocol has come to be accepted as a matured technology. The proliferation of this technology is steadily increasing because of the economic considerations associated with its use as well as the futuristic services that are capable of being provided on I networks. It has been estimated that by the year 2015, VoIP will have captured about 50% of the global market share for telephony. VoIP has, therefore, proven to be a killer application for switched telephone networks and its advent has unleashed an unprecedented level of competition at all levels in the telecommunications industry. This dissertation takes a look at the impact of the VoIP technology on the future of telephony. 1.1 Introduction Switched telephony networks have been responsible for carrying most of the world’s voice communications over the past decades, but with the advent of the relatively new communication technologies, there is likely to be a change towards a greater use of the telecommunications networks that carry voice as well as other information. The switched telephone networks and equipment were designed as fixed communications channels for bi-directional speech. In the old public switched network, a call that is initiated by a user establishes a connection between two users and once the connection has been established, no one else could use the connection. Terminating the call frees the line for other users who can then initiate another call. With the evolution of computers, modems were used to modulate data streams over the voice telephony channels and over time, better modulation schemes were developed that resulted in higher data transmission rates. Developments in computing and multimedia have created a demand for new kinds of services and the telecommunications infrastructure that is in use is expected to satisfy this demand. The development of internet and computer data networks along with the evolution of the Internet Protocol or the IP meant that it is now possible to send packets of data over the network. Voice can now be digitized after the speech signal is acquired from a microphone, encapsulated into packets and sent over the networks using the internet protocol. On the receiving side, these packets are de-encapsulated, processed and played over the speaker to present the information to the listener. This method of transporting voice over the internet protocols called the voice over internet protocol or VoIP. It is also possible to send video and data from other shared applications to destinations using the internet protocol. A codec is used to encode and decode speech, audio and video over the IP network and there is no need to reserve a connection between parties to the call. Signalling is, however, required to create and manage calls. Personal mobility, desire to communicate and availability can make the task of the required network signalling a complex one. There are several standards which have been developed for signalling over the new IP networks. The Session Initiation Protocol or the SIP which was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force or the IETF manages the creation of a call as distinct from the ringers and switches in a switched network. For a more generalised exchange of data including video conferencing over the IP, the H.323 standard has been developed by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU for the management of network connections and the associated tasks of bandwidth allocation etc. There has been growing acceptance of VoIP all over the world and a growing number of users including businesses, especially call centres, as well as network service providers have started to use this technology. A lower cost forth user is associated with the use of VoIP and this is the major factor in presenting a business case for the use of VoIP, along with the ability to send multimedia over a telecommunications link. IP makes more efficient use of the bandwidth that is available and inflated cross border tariffs are avoided. Tariffs and regulations associated with VoIP telephony are, however, in a flux and it is difficult to predict how VoIP will be affected as a result of a possible implementation of new internet access charges. Adding a new media type on IP requires no change to the network infrastructure and the initiation of multiparty calls is only slightly different from a two-party call. IP also makes it possible to develop novel telecommunication devices and it is now possible for the world to progress beyond the simple voice telephone to the IP’s more exciting applications. It is possible to use the public telephone network PSTN /IP Gateway Interoperability standard to feed IP encoded voice messages over the telephone network. This protocol coupled with the Resource Reservation Protocol, RSVP, makes it possible for an application to have a certain amount of bandwidth allocated with a maximum delay which assists in the implementation of a VoIP connection. Developments in new multimedia technologies has meant that there are two types of telecommunications networks which are in existence today, the old switched PSTN network with its reliability and quality along with the new packet based networks with cost efficiencies and an ability to provide the new types of services. Although VoIP technology is developing and gaining a much wider acceptance, it is has not been without its problems. Because it is not possible to guarantee the arrival time of the data packets which have been sent over a packet network, there were problems with the voice quality when using VoIP. These problems could, however, be solved by using private networks and more internet bandwidth. Although VoIP does not use a large chunk of the internet bandwidth that is available, other applications that are running may result in a deterioration of the voice quality. Hence, it was important to carefully consider how the internet connection was to be utilized and what bandwidth was required to be purchased. The security of VoIP communications was also considered to be a problem and it was thought that there was a need to compress voice and enhance security by using commercially available encryption products. The added latency or delay in voice communications was, however, considered to be unacceptable. The best and the latest encryption devices are restricted items and their export is prohibited under United States Export regulations. There were, therefore, problems associated with implementing VoIP using either hardware or software and better quality of service or Qi’s was only possible with dedicated hardware. Although VoIP can hide costs associated with communications from the consumers, these costs could be returned in the form of service fees. There was a need for call service capability to be brought to packet switching and the Qi’s had to be controlled to fall within acceptable limits. One of the important challenges of VoIP waste construct a converged VoIP and PSTN network that will permit VoIP and PSTN connectivity, with calls originating from one network and terminating into the other network. The SIP protocol which establishes the call in VoIP uses multiple messages with multiple parameters to initiate a call session and this protocol could fail because messages were not transmitted in the proper order with proper parameters and configuration. A miss-configured user proxy address for the user can result in host unreachable messages being presented to the client. The Internet Control Message Protocol and the INVITE messages which are a part of the SIP protocol could be dropped when attempting to conduct a session using VoIP due to traffic, resulting in there being no connection to the remote system. SIP did not work well when tried from behind firewalls. Hence, with VoIP, call traffic becomes data traffic and this traffic is exposed to threats related to confidentiality, availability and integrity. Hence, care needed to be taken when implementing VoIP in organisations, to provide for good design to prevent cost overruns, misalignment with strategic objectives and inadequate benefit realisation. IP networks must be able to meet strict performance criteria and perform for real time traffic. Packets travelling on a network will pass through a heterogeneous network with varying quality of service and bandwidth, but a reasonably good end-to-end quality of service is expected for voice communications. Signalling or the passing of messages for correct call setup, progress and termination is also important on the network. Hence, the implementation of VoIP was associated with the solution of important technical problems. Despite the above problems that have been improved upon, VoIP today can match the features that were available in the legacy PBX systems and infect provide an enhanced set of features. The Internet today is an essential business tool and Internet connections are considered to be essential fixtures for any business premises. VoIP telephony systems have been designed to utilise the advantages of IP telephony in order to present a flexible communications infrastructure which businesses can use in order to simplify the business process and enhance productivity. Many manufacturers of legacy telephony products have also accepted that IP telephony is the future and that the technology provides better communications equipment with enhanced features. VoIP has been showing a far greater level of proliferation in business organisations than ever before. Market reports have indicated that there is an increasing trend towards the full deployment of VoIP rather than its mere implementation. Because there is an increased level of satisfaction and familiarity with VoIP technology, converged networks that blend VoIP and other technologies are considered to be more strategic in nature rather than the traditional voice and data networks. Security at the network infrastructure level is considered tube more important than voice security, with the level of satisfaction associated with the technology remaining about the same. The new networks, which have new equipment that is in demand in the market includes IP PBXs or IP enabled traditional PBXs, Voice Enabled Routers,IP Phones, IP Centrex’s and Soft Phones etc. The new technology has changed the network components and the nature of the equipment that has been associated with telephony. IP PBXs indicated a 15% growth rate while IP Centrex indicated a 54% growth rate in usage from previous years according to market reports. A Centrex is essentially a scaled down PBX with features that are supported by the service provider. Adoption of IP telephony presents advantages related to an enhanced and converged business process as well as advantages related to costs of adoption or changes. It is easier to deploy new integrated applications which may benefit the enterprise. Costs of calls within an organisation, between different sites are substantially reduced and enhanced features become available. Other advantages that result from the adoption of IP telephony include reduced staff costs, lowered costs associated with wiring, lower international call charges as well as reduced costs associated with the upgrading and maintenance of telephony equipment, including the PBX. Because VoIP is a more complex and sophisticated technology as compared to the legacy telephony networks, instrumentation systems that are required for troubleshooting and managing VoIP have been cited as a barrier to its implementation. It has also been claimed that there is a shortage of trained people forth design and maintenance of VoIP networks. Because VoIP networks are so very different from the legacy telephone networks, substantial investments can be required to implement large projects, even though financial instruments are available to sustain a growth in the adoption of VoIP. Sophisticated upgrade of the legacy networks involving the purchase of new network equipment, servers, IP phones, management software and diagnostic tools may be involved to acquire a network with acceptable levels of latency, jitter and the number of lost packets. VoIP Architecture An obvious question that arises with regard to VoIP telephony is how it’s different from the legacy telephone networks? In the legacy telephony networks, voice communications had been handled by the proprietary PBX platforms providing circuit connection and circuit switched calling features such as call transfer and hold along with voice applications such as call accounting, voice mail and automated call distribution. The PBX ensured that savings were made by avoiding having to provide a line to each telephony user for connection to the organisation’s central office. The PBX acted like a small central office with switching being made possible to users as required over a number of shared external telephone lines. The number of external telephone lines that were needed depended on the number of users that had to be connected to the PBX and the expected telephone traffic into the connection in elands. The PBX which could be considered to have the telephony switching intelligence was connected to the dumb telephone terminals or the telephones which merely passed digital keystrokes to the PBX for switching and voice application related decisions to be made. PBX systems in switched telephony can be networked together, but such efforts are likely to be expensive. It was most likely that key telephone systems could not network with other key telephone systems and peripheral devices such as a Centrex could not interconnect with a PBX or another system. Hence, the legacy telephone systems were plagued with connectivity problems along with being expensive. The IP telephone system changed all this by adopting the router instead of the PBX as the distributor of traffic on the all data packet network. The routers connect not just one network together, but hundreds of thousands of networks, with the essential function of arouser being the diversion of packet data traffic to the appropriate devices on the network, with the correct IP addresses. Hence, while thebe in the legacy system used to divert voice traffic to telephone numbers, the router diverts data packets of various kinds including voice, multimedia or video etc. to the data network equivalent of telephone number or an IP address. Interconnection problems are minimised because there is a standard IP protocol which is used to transport packets over the IP network and all IP protocol compatible devices may be interfaced with each other. The IP protocol is able to connect equipment manufactured by many different vendors over different types of media such as the twisted pair, coaxial or other data links such as the Ethernet or Token Ring and even the wireless connections. The packets are transported in a reliable manner with the IP protocol running on devices ranging from PCs to mainframes. IP is everywhere and it carries packet traffic faithfully from anyone sending this traffic to anyone who is required to receive it. There is, therefore, a global standard that is understood anywhere in the world and unprecedented connectivity is made possible for all kinds of devices. Amongst the other advantages of VoIP include provision of directory services over the telephone by which it is possible for ordinary telephones to be enhanced in order to act as internet access devices, availability offender office trunks for inter office communications, ability to access the office from a remote area such as the home and the ability to interact with the large number of customers who may want to make enquiries after having visited the corporate web site through IP based call centres. Fax over IP is also made available through the VoIP connection and it is possible to send fax data that has been converted into packets over long distances without having to deal with problems related to analogue signal quality and machine compatibility. In the present scheme of things, the Integrated Services Digital Network or the ISDN represents the all-digital network that uses single wire to carry both voice and digital network services. ISDN tools an improvement on the old switched telecommunications network and this network too has been improved upon over the years to include new features. The ISDN uses the existing switched network with digital signalling and media transmission being used, which makes it possible for the subscriber to access a number of services through a single access point. A number of different ISDN connections are available, but the most widely and commonly used connection is the basic rate interface or the BRI which consists of two 64 kbps media channels and single signalling or â€Å"delta† channel. Signalling channels are used to establish calls and perform call related signalling which permits theist network to be connected to networks with standard SS signalling. ISDN is the subject of an International Telecommunications Union or ITU specification, the ITU-T recommendation which results in standardisation. However, this network is not as versatile as the packet switched network that has an all-digital approach with no analogue signalling whatsoever and which also has universal connectivity. Switched – circuit networks rely on a fixed routing over the network to establish a connection. However, VoIP networks do not need to follow a fixed routing path and there is an adaptive routing algorithm that is employed to establish the best possible route under varying conditions of traffic. There is, therefore, a decentralized environment and the network is flexible enough to accept the deployment of new applications. Intelligence is important and this can be stored anywhere on the new IP networks. VoIP does not provide a guaranteed quality of service or Qi’s when compared to the PSTN. However, PSTN uses expensive components and resources, whereas VoIP is able to provide connectivity at a reduced cost. It is the VoIP gateway which is responsible for connecting or interfacing the IP network to the rest of the telephony network. Forth gateway, converting the media signal to the required format is only matter of transforming an input signal to an output signal. However, signalling and control translation requires conversion of semantics as well as syntax and there is a requirement for conveying the meaning of signals and control information from one network to the other. Hence, the evolution of VoIP telephony has made it necessary to provide an interface between various telecommunications networks and newer VoIP networks are connected to the older networks by means of interfacing equipment such as the gateways. It can, therefore, be concluded that the emergence of IP telephony and VoIP have significantly changed telephony and it is very likely that the enhanced pace of VoIP adoption that has been witnessed in the business sector will continue to accelerate because of the convenience and cost savings that are offered by the relatively new technology. It’s, therefore, worth investigating how VoIP technology will evolve and how this technology will change the future of telephony. The growth of VoIP has been phenomenal and Gartner estimates that the sale of consumer products for VoIP will grow by more than 40% in the United States in the year 2007. The advantages, disadvantages and the impact of VoIP on telephony are discussed below. 2.1 Products, Services and Issues Related to VoIP In this section, it will be appropriate to discuss how VoIP technology has changed networks and network components and also how telephony services that are available have evolved as a result of the availability of VoIP technology. Products that use the VoIP technology are also discussed. Network devices have evolved and changed as a result of the development of VoIP technology. The telephony switches, ringers and colour coded cables are likely to be replaced by the data network components. The heart of a VoIP phone system is the call processing server which is also known as the IP PBX into which all VoIP control connections are terminated. Call processing servers do not handle the actual VoIP payload, however, conferencing functionality, routing of voice traffic to another call processing server and music on hold features are provided by the call processing servers. The VoIP payload traffic flows in a peer-to-peer fashion from one VoIP terminal to every VoIP terminal. VoIP control traffic, however, flows in a client –server model with VoIP terminals being the clients that communicate with the call processing servers. Call processing servers are usually software based but they may also be implemented as a dedicated appliance or be a part of a router platform and there may be a single server, a cluster of servers or a server farm. This server caters forth signalling mechanism that is required for a VoIP call establishment. Gateways are devices which act as the link between telephone signals and the IP endpoint. The functions that are performed by gateways include the search function, connection function, digitizing function and the demodulation function. The gateway contains directory of the telephone numbers which have an associated Padres and a search is performed by the gateway to convert a dialled telephone number into an IP address upon a call being received to establish a connection. A connection is established between the calling party and a destination gateway through an exchange of information that is related to call setup, option negotiation, compatibility as well as a security handshake. The gatekeeper also digitizes any analogue signals that are received from the incoming trunk into a form that is useful for the gateway. The incoming analogue signals are usually digitized into a 64 Kbps data stream which is pulse code modulated orca. The gateway is, therefore, required to be able to interface to a number of telephone signalling conventions so that the VoIP network can be interfaced to another network when required. Sophisticated gateways can accept both voice and fax signals and the fax signal is usually demodulated into a 2.4 – 14.4 Kbps digital format that is transmitted in the form of IP packets on the VoIP or IP network. A remote gateway-modulates any fax related data into the fax format and this is relayed to the remote fax machine. Gateways on the IP network are connected to gatekeepers, which are LAN endpoints and these gatekeepers perform a discovery on being switched on to find out what IP addresses are connected to the LAN. This discovery information is then passed onto the gateway and the gatekeeper synchronises with the gateways to exchange data traffic if required. A collection of a gatekeeper and its registered endpoints are called a zone. A gatekeeper performs the function of bandwidth management upon receiving a request for bandwidth allocation, translates alias addresses into transport addresses and performs the admission control function to the LAN, based on admission requests and confirms or rejects messages including ARQ / ARC and Arà ªte. The gatekeeper, therefore, acts as a zone manager by performing variety of functions for its zone and the associated gateways as well as other devices in the zone. IP telephones have replaced the conventional telephony sets and the IP phones provide enhanced services suited to VoIP, while retaining the features that were available with the conventional instruments in order to keep the users who were used to the conventional phones comfortable. Soft phones are software packages that may be installed on a PC and the user may use the Platform with an attached microphone for communications on the VoIP channel. The VoIP network may be classified as a logical switch that Isa packet network and it is different from the circuit– switched infrastructure of the legacy networks. Voice and data traffic have to be treated differently and if both types of traffic is to flow on the same network, then there has to be a capability for prioritisation. VoIP networks, unlike the circuit switched networks, can be considered in terms of statistical availability in which priority is given to packets of a specific application with a certain class of service or Qi’s. VoIP traffic is, therefore, given priority over other traffic flowing on the networks in order to ensure that the real time applications related to speech communications are met. Regardless of what type of equipment is being used to receive VoIP packets, there can be a substantial packet loss over the network and this can degrade the quality of speech that is played out on the speaker. To improve the situation a â€Å"jitter buffer† is employed. This jitter buffer is a stack area in memory in which packets are stored prior to being played on the phone’s speaker. The jitter buffer adds to the overall delay that is involved in the VoIP speech transport but it’s necessary to allow for lost packets and to implement error correction schemes. Forward error correction schemes or FEC schemes are employed to check for corrupted packets. In the intra-packet error correction scheme, additional bits of data are added to the packet in order to make it possible for the receiving end to determine if packet has become corrupted. Uncorrupted packets are played out while corrupted packets are rejected. Another scheme that is utilised to cater for packet loss is the extra packet FEC in which additional information is added to each of the packets which makes it possible forth receiving end to extrapolate voice if a packet is lost or becomes corrupted. Hence, unlike the analogue telephony equipment in which only filtering and amplification of the received analogue signals was performed, there is a substantial amount of digital signal processing using microprocessors that is conducted in the VoIP packet based equipment. The error correction and detecting codes can be quite powerful, depending on the computing power that is available and hence the quality of the received voice can be improved. Delay is, however, introduced due to the digital processing of the packets and this can become an annoyance. For delays in excess of 600 Ms, voice communications is impossible while delays of 250 Ms disturb the communication considerably. Delays of 100 Ms do not show up as delays in the conversation and hence there is an upper limit that has to be observed when processing the packets on the VoIP networks. High voice quality on the VoIP channel is bandwidth intensive and atoll telephone quality voice connection can require 64 Kbps data streamer call. However, it is not possible to conduct a call of this quality on the VoIP networks because of the bandwidth limitations. Speech compression is, therefore, used using different compression ended-compression codec’s in order to bring the required data rates to what can be sustained on the VoIP networks. Using codec techniques such as the G. 729 and silence suppression in which the areas of speech in which nothing is said are not converted into packets reduce the bandwidth substantially to about 5 – 6 Kbps for a voice conversation tube possible on the VoIP channel. This is a remarkable achievement of digital signal processing considering that the overheads that are required by the routers on the network can run into about 7 Kbps. Silence suppression techniques can make the listener uncomfortable and to add to the natural flow of conversation, the ambient noise is periodically sampled and regenerated at the receiving end in between the pauses in the active speech so that the listener can feel more comfortable. All the digital signal processing, handshaking and coordination that is going on behind the scenes is transparent to the user of the VoIP channel and the user should be able to use the VoIP instrument naturally as a phone was used. The management interface forth equipment that is in use is able to deal with telephony protocols, dialling plans, compression algorithms, access controls, PSTN fullback features, port interactions and management of the configuration for the instrument that is being used on the VoIP channel. Telephone numbers and IP address need to be handled transparently to the user and personal computers making voice calls will require telephone numbers to make the calls possible. The packets that are sent over the VoIP network are encoded for the UDP/IP protocol instead of the TCP/I protocol so that retransmission of packets is not possible. TCP/IP is, however, a better choice for fax messages so that if packets are lost while attempting to transmit a page, the fax can be terminated. Retransmission of packets is hidden from the fax machine if TCP/I encoding is used for fax messages. The widespread use of the TCP/IP protocol has resulted in a move towards what are known as converged networks. Convergence may be defined as one structure or one network architecture that will end up supporting all kinds of information media on all available network technologies. This means that it should be somehow possible to bring together all kinds of telecommunications technologies and interface them to each other in order to provide universal connectivity and inability to send and receive just about almost anything which may be required to be sent or received. Such universal connectivity has been made possible as a result of the widespread adoption of the IP protocol and this is the glue which binds all networks and applications. Apart from VoIP, the other building blocks of convergence include unified messaging which attempts to integrate all forms of messages, computer and telephony integration which makes it possible to intelligently identify and route calls as well as automatically present information related to the caller, XML which provides a standardised format for data storage and interchange, Voice XML which makes it possible for an application to hear key tones that are encoded in DTMF. SALT, which stands for Speech Application Language Tags make it possible for existing mark-up languages such as XML to access telephony related applications. SIP or the Session Initiation Protocol makes it possible to provide signalling for voice applications on IP as well as making it possible to initiate a voice call from an instant messaging application. Convergence promises to make it possible to interact with computers and other computing devices with intelligence and individuals can interact with others in ways that were never dreamt of before. Mere telephony will cease to exist in the future and will be replaced with capabilities for multimodal integration involving speech, text, pictures and web interactions that can take place through instruments that will replace the simple telephone of the days gone by. It will be possible for organisations and call centres to interact at a much superior level, with those who interact with them and such interactions can involve quick access to

Anger Management Essay -- essays research papers

Narrative Essay  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Anger Management† I hear some people say that they got so angry they lost control and didn’t know what they were doing. I often wondered what that must be like. I, being a very passive person, have never lost control when I’ve become angered. I’ve always had total awareness of my situation. In the movie â€Å"Anger Management†, Jack Nicholson so nicely stated: â€Å"Your temper is the one thing you can’t get rid of by loosing it† I’ve probably come close at times, but never gone over the edge to uncontrollable rage. I remember there was one time it came close. It happened one late Sunday afternoon. My friend Dan and I were sitting in his car patiently waiting for the next availably gas pump. It was hot, really hot! The temperature was still over the century mark. The way the sun was beating down on us reminded me of when I was a young boy using my magnifying glass on helpless crawling insects. I was dripping wet with sweat and every part of my body ached. I was so exhausted from the work we did this weekend I could hardly move. A gentleman motioned to us that he had finished and was going to leave. Dan got the pump number and went into the store to pay for the gas. As the car pulled away I began to pull Dan's car up to the pump when all of a sudden, this van come screeching around from the opposite direction, trying to get to the pump before me. I stepped on it and the driver of the van slammed on his brakes. I continued until I was j...

Effective Meetings - Essential to Any Organization Essay -- Business M

While effective meetings are essential to any organization and to getting work done, most of the meetings I attend leave me looking for a decision. These meetings also leave me tired and somewhat disillusioned on the vision of the company. I think a good meeting is not dissimilar to a football teams huddle. It should bring people together, facilitate decision making, assist people in taking responsibility, energize the participants, and contribute to building team effort within the organization. From attending and running more than my share of meetings I feel successful meetings are ones where attention is paid to three areas; content, design and process. Selection of content is crucial. At a meeting I recently attended we discussed issue...

Marriages and Families Essay

Course Description Welcome to Marriage and the Family Online (SOCIO 210-IN1/IN2)!! As the course title suggests, we will explore key sociological concepts related to the social institution of marriage and the family. Individual success in this online course will come to those who are self-disciplined and work collaboratively to make the course a success. I look forward to working with all of you as we try to make sense of the world’s social forces and their impact on individual lives within marriages and the family. The College’s formal course description for SOCIO 101 states: â€Å"This course provides an understanding of sociological concepts, theories, and research methods in relation to marriage and family issues. It focuses on the ever-changing dynamics of relationships and the influence of contemporary society on family life. Special emphasis is placed on communication in relationships, dating and mate selection, love, parenting, balancing work and family, violence in relationships, and divorce† (Official Course Description, Prairie State College 2012-2014 Catalog). Course Objectives Students who complete SOCIO 210 will be able to: 1. Apply the major sociological perspectives to marriage and family issues. 2. Discuss the importance of communication, power, and gender in shaping relationships and family dynamics. 3. Explain the diversity of experiences for couples and families, with attention to issues of social class, race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and the life course. 4. Describe the impact of other social institutions—such as the economy, education, religion, and the legal system—on marriages and families. 5. Identify the key issues related to family violence, divorce, and successful marriages. 6. Discuss the trends involving single-parent families, remarriage, and blended families. 7. Demonstrate skills of public deliberation within context of on-line classroom discussions. 8. Demonstrate critical thinking skills through writing. 9. Articulate viewpoints on contemporary sociological issues affecting marriages and families. Classroom Policies Absence Policy: As stated in the Prairie State College Board policies: â€Å"Regular class attendance is an essential component of successful learning. Students are responsible for prompt attendance and participation in all class meetings of every course for which they are registered. Students have the responsibility to contact professors in case of unavoidable absence.† Attendance in this online course is linked to your consistent and meaningful participation in online discussions and timely completion of assignments and chapter quizzes. Late or Missed Work/Plagiarism: In order to receive full credit, all assignments must be completed and submitted by the due date. Partial credit may (or may not) be accepted for work submitted after the deadline. Plagiarism, or other forms of cheating, will not be tolerated and students in violation will fail the assignment and face possible failure of the course. Meeting deadlines is an essential element of this online course. Once a deadline passes, there is no longer access to the course assignment. For example, if a student fails to complete an attempt on a 45-point Chapter Quiz, then that student earns zero points for that assignment. Missing 45 points may have significant negative consequences on a final grade. Evaluation of Student Performance Online Chapter Quizzes (630 points) Our text includes 16 chapters. For each chapter, there is a Chapter Quiz. Each Chapter Quiz includes 15 multiple choice or true/false questions and each question is worth 3 points (45 points/quiz). For the first half of the course, which covers Chapters 1-8, I count the best 7 Chapter Quiz scores toward your final grade. The Chapter 8 Quiz is an opportunity to improve on an earlier quiz score on one of the previous seven quizzes. For the second half of the course, which covers Chapters 9-16, I also count the best 7 Chapter Quiz scores toward your final grade. The Chapter 16 Quiz is an opportunity to improve on an earlier quiz score for Ch. 9-15. In total, I count 14 quiz scores, each worth 45 points for a total of 630 points. Please note that there is a time limit of 15 minutes (with a 2-minute grace period) to complete each Chapter Quiz. The purpose of this is so that students do not rely on their textbooks for answering all of the questions. You may use your book, but you must read the chapter prior to taking the quiz so that you can move fairly quickly through the 15 questions and finish within the time limit. In fact, given the high value of these Chapter Quizzes—accounting for over 60% of the total points in the course—I strongly recommend that you read the chapter closely twice prior to taking the quiz. Points will be deducted for going past the 2-minute grace period (one point deduction for each minute over). I do allow two attempts, with the highest score counting toward a student’s final grade. I encourage reading the chapter a third time if you are disappointed with the outcome of your first attempt. Deadlines for Chapter Quizzes are typically on Sundays at 11:59 p.m. Examinations (200 points) There is a Mid-Term Examination covering Chapters 1-8 and there is a Final Examination covering Chapters 9-16. Each exam includes 40 questions, worth 2.5 points apiece. Each exam is valued at 100 points. There is a 45-minute time limit with a 5-minute grace period. For each minute taken beyond grace period, one point will be deducted from score. Online Class-based Discussions (170 points) For this part of the course, students participate in weeklong online conversations about the textbook material or about sociological assignments that are connected to the course material. The intent of these conversations is to encourage a close reading of our Henslin text and to reach a deeper understanding the sociological perspective on human behavior. Past students have really enjoyed hearing the thoughts and perspectives from their fellow classmates. There are several class-based Discussions throughout the course. The first one involves Student Introductions and takes place during Week 1 (worth 20 points). The next five Discussions are spread out over the course of the semester (Weeks 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13). Each of these Discussions is valued at 30 points and takes place across a 7-day period running from Monday-through-Sunday. The Discussion forum is split into two stages, with the first stage ending on Thursday (11:59 p.m.) and the second stage ending on Sunday (11:59 p.m.). First stage posts of 300 or more words are due on Thursday (worth 15 points), and at least three second stage posts of 50-75 words each (5 points each; 15 points total) are due on Sunday. Your first stage posts will respond to the writing prompt I post for each Discussion, typically a question or set of questions. Again, as with the completion of chapter quizzes, the key challenge is meeting the deadlines. I will do my best to post points earned for the Discussions on the Monday morning following the Sunday night deadline for second stage posts. There will be a make-up Discussion offered during Week 15 of the semester. Here is a breakdown of the components of the course and point value: Online Chapter Quizzes (14 at 45 points each)630 points Online Discussions (5 at 30 points plus 20 points for Intros)170 points Mid-term Examination (40 questions at 2.5 points each)100 points Final Examination (40 questions at 2.5 points each)100 points   When assigning Final Grades, I will use the following point ranges: A=900-1000 points B=800-899 points C=700-799 points D=580-699 points F=0-579 points Some Final Thoughts: One of the challenges of online learning involves the issue of communication. In a traditional face-to-face course, everyone meets on a weekly basis and those meetings are reminders of our course commitments. In the online environment, communication is different. I communicate frequently via email, with Email Updates almost every week and sometimes more than once a week. The D2L system links your PSC email accounts to the class so when I send an email to â€Å"all users† the information is sent to the PSC email accounts of the 40+ students enrolled in this course. This information is very important and your accessing it is essential. Please note that it is possible to have your PSC email forwarded to another email address—maybe even to your mobile phone—but I want to make clear that it is your responsibility to access the information I send to you. Whenever you have questions, contact me by email (cmulling@prairiestate.edu[->1]) or by phone (709-3625). Keep in mind that it is essential that you participate on a consistent basis throughout the course in order to be successful. Good luck, hold on to you hats, and enjoy what I hope will be a challenging and meaningful learning experience!

Atomic Research Centre Essay

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) a constituent Unit under the Department of Atomic Energy is a multidisciplinary organisation, pursuing comprehensive research and development programmes for harnessing nuclear energy and also its utilisation for the benefit of the society. These R & D efforts are concentrated in the fields of nuclear sciences, engineering & technology, basic sciences and allied fields and geared for exploitation of atomic energy for power generation and application of radiation technology in the areas of agriculture, health care and industry. The centre is engaged in the research and development of front line technologies. The interaction with academic institutions and international cooperation in related advanced areas of research is being continuously strengthened. BARC continues to give R&D support to all other units of DAE and provide necessary support to ensure national security. The Centre is organised into various Groups and Divisions/Sections and co-ordination of its activities is achieved through the Group Boards, Trombay Scientific Committee and the Trombay Council. Director is the Head of the Unit. He is also declared as Head of the Department and has been delegated financial, administrative and other powers by the Department of Atomic Energy for carrying on with the activities of the Centre. Other functionaries like Group Directors, Associate Directors and Heads of Divisions/Sections have also been delegated powers required for discharging their duties/functions. While the Group Directors, Associate Directors and Heads of Divisions are competent to take decisions in their delegated areas of responsibility, inter-divisional co-ordination is achieved through the Group Boards and Trombay Scientific Committee. The Trombay Council is the policy making body for the Centre. The deliberations of Group Boards, TSC and TC are not open to the public and minutes of such meetings are also not accessible for public. A list of all officers and employees of the Centre with their designations/grades is annexed. Being a Central Govt. organisation, the Centre follows scales of pay notified by the Central government. The scales of pay attached to different posts are also listed. Apart from the basic pay the officers/employees are eligible for Dearness Pay, Dearness Allowance, City Compensatory Allowance, House Rent Allowance etc. as per the orders of the Government of India. The activities of the Centre are financed by the Central Government through the budgetary allocations. The expenditure is broadly categorised into plan, non-plan as also revenue and capital. The details of different budgetary allocation and progress of expenditure are given separately. In compliance with the requirements under Section 5 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 the Centre has appointed Appellate Authority, Central Public Information Officer and 4 Central Assistant Public Information Officers.