Impact of Computers in Todays Society

Computer, as the term is most commonly used, refers to the digital computer, an electronic device that makes lengthy or complicated calculations at high speeds and (except for certain small models) is also able to make decisions based on logic. A less common type of computer is the analog computer. A digital computer forms the core of a data processing system. Data processing is, basically, the organization of information into a useful form by such processes as comparing, selecting, and arranging. A very simple example of data processing is alphabetizing a list of names. Electronic data processing, or EDP, is data processing performed by a computer. Computers vary greatly in the speed at which they can perform calculations and in their ability to handle complicated tasks. Computers also vary greatly in size—from arrays of equipment occupying a large room to a slice of silicon smaller than a postage stamp. In general, small computers are referred to as microcomputers; large computers, as mainframes; and computers of intermediate size, as minicomputers. General-purpose microcomputers are commonly called personal computers. The computer ranks as one of the major technological developments of the 20th century. Beginning about 1950, it took the computer less than two decades to revolutionize the methods of business, industry, and government; to greatly advance work in the sciences; and to find wide application in such diverse fields as accounting, education, medicine, and publishing. Today, the computer industry—which includes the manufacturing of computers, the designing and marketing of computer programs, and the providing of computer-related services—is among the most important in the world. History Early forerunners of the computer were the abacus, developed in the ancient times in the Far East, and an adding machine invented in 1641 by Blaise Pascal of France. The principle of the punched card was developed about 1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard, also of France. His cards were used to control the pattern produced in textiles by a loom. All of the basic principles of the modern digital computer—input and output devices, storage and arithmetic units, and the sequencing of instructions—were conceived in the 1820’s and 1830’s by Charles Babbage, an English mathematician. He completed a small computer, called a difference engine, in 1822. It consisted primarily of gears and levers and was similar to a modern mechanical desk calculator. Impact and use of computers A computer is a high-speed mathematician, file clerk, and a typist. It can perform many thousands of times more rapidly than human without error. Its many uses grow out of these characteristics. Computers are used in business to do many routine and time-consuming jobs, such as handling billing, payrolls, and inventory. Computers can be used in making forecasts of future sales figures or economic conditions. In many organizations, computers are used as word processors, simplifying the production of reports, letters, and other documents. Some organizations routinely transmit memos and other messages by means of computer linkups, a form of communication known as electronic mail. Reporters, salespeople, and other workers can produce their written work on portable computers and then transmit the work to an office via telephone lines. In the school, computers are used in many classrooms to assist teachers in instructing students. Computers are used in a variety of ways, from supplying simple drills to providing complex simulations of such processes as conducting a scientific experiments or managing a large company. In such sciences as physics, chemistry, and psychology, computers are used to monitor experiments and organize the results so that they can be interpreted more easily. In astronomy, computers perform the complicated alculations necessary for determining the orbits and relative positions of various heavenly bodies. In engineering, computers are used to help produce and evaluate the design of new products. Another use of computers is to control industrial processes. This form of control, a type of automation, has been applied to such processes as machining, oil refining, and the manufacture of chemicals. Another industrial use is to control robots used in assembly operations. Computers are essential for a variety of functions performed by government agencies. For example, computers are used by the National Weather Services for analyzing large amounts of weather data to make weather forecasts; by the Federal Aviation Administration for operating the complex equipment needed to direct air traffic; by the Internal Revenue Service for handling tax records; by the Census Bureau for compiling statistical data on the country’s population; and by the military for communication, defense, and weapons systems. In the home, computers are used for a number of purposes. A popular used of home computers is for playing video games. They are also used to gain access by telephone hook-up to networks providing a variety of information and communication services. In some homes, computers are used for word processing and for maintaining household records. It is also known to surf the web and collect various information off of the internet. Many people work off of a computer for a living. A computer can perform a virtually unlimited number of calculations, one after another, without further action on the part of the person using it. It is this ability that sets a computer apart from an ordinary calculating machine, which requires control by a human operator for each calculation. Although the computer itself deals only with numbers, it can work with information that was not originally in numerical form if that information lends itself to mathematical and logical analysis. It does so by first converting the information into numbers; it then performs calculations with the numbers and converts the result into a usable form. Although computer does not think, it does make decisions. Each decision is based on a logical pattern previously stored—by a human being—in the computer. It makes a decision by following instructions such as â€Å"If the number you are reading is 10 or less, proceed to the next step. If it is greater than 10, skip the next step. † In making decisions, the computer uses the same processes as those described in the article LOGIC.

Terry Hill

Terry Hill, a professor at Oxford University argues that the criteria required in the marketplace (and identified by marketing) can be divided into two groups: âž ¢ An order qualifier is a characteristic of a product or service that is required in order for the product/service to even be considered by a customer. âž ¢ An order winner is a characteristic that will win the bid or customer's purchase. Order winners and qualifiers are both market-specific and time-specific. They work in different combinations in different ways on different markets and with different customers. While, some general trends exist across markets, these may not be stable over time. Order Qualifier: Incase of telephone company the main objective is to ensure proper communication. In this sector some of the order qualifiers are Grameenphone, Robi, Citycell, Banglalink, Teletalk, Warid. Order Winner: An Order winner criterion depends on the cost of the product, product quality and reliability, or any of the other dimensions developed earlier. In our country Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is the first mobile communications company (since 1989) of Bangladesh. For this reason it got some priorities in that time. But when GP (Grameephone) came into market in 1997 it became the order winner because of its strong and reliabile network. Grameenphone was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh. It also established the first 24-hour Call Center to support its subscribers. It has now more than 28 million subscribers (as of October 2010). As of July, 2008 Citycell has 1.67 million subscribers. It is Important to remember that the order winning and order qualifying criteria may change over time. Professor Hill states that a firm must re-qualify the order qualifiers every day it is in business.

Piaget Theory Of Cognitive Developement essays

Piaget Theory Of Cognitive Developement essays There are two classical theories of cognitive development. The one that I will focus on is Piagets theory of cognitive development. Jean Piaget, a Swiss, educated, mollusk biologist lived from 1896 to 1980. He hypothesized that learning is a physical, biological function of dealing with successfully with the environment. (Phillips, 1998) This is the basis for his theory. Looking at Piagets theory of cognitive development in more detail we find that he based it on two biological tendencies. The two tendencies are organization, and adaption. Organization as Piaget saw it said that humans are designed to organize their observations and experiences into coherent sets of meanings. ( Eggen, 1999) This organization of observation makes the thinking process more efficient. If a person can put the things they observe in some sort of order the easier it is to remember and apply their observations. If we did not organize our observations and experiences we would have little bits of information floating around in our brains with no connection between them. Adaption is according to Piagets theory is the tendency to adjust to the environment. Adaption is a process by which we create matches between our original observations and new ones that might not exactly fit together. Our original observations and conceptions are called our schemas. To adapt to new observations and experiences into our schemas we use one of two techniques. We can assimilate that information by putting it together with old schemas or conceptions. If the observations dont fit nicely into our existing schemas we use the second of the adaption techniques. We accommodate or change our schema to fit our observation. Piaget never said that our schemas had to be right or wrong. Our schemas are based on our own observations and experiences. ( Eggen, 1999) We adapt to things because we are driven by the urge to have things fit together or to be in what...

The healthcare reform debate

The healthcare reform debate The health care reform debate has continually heated up in the recent years among various interest groups, government officials, the House and the Senate and the media. This debate is of different interests to different interest groups as some look into the long term benefits where as others are profit-driven at the expense of the public.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The healthcare reform debate specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More HR 3962: The Affordable Health Care for Americans This bill was crafted by the House of Representatives in November 2009 but later on December, 2009 the Senate passed a substitute bill, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was later abandoned for the Healthcare Reconciliation Act of 2010. List of recommendations by interest groups A group of health policy experts, health insurance executives, business leaders, economists, hospital administrators among other experts held several workshops to discuss health care reforms in a forum known as the Fresh-thinking Project and came up with the following recommendations; Change the existing fee-for-service payment to a system that promotes and rewards improvement in the well-organized provision of quality care and put in the expansion of outcome, procedures to direct payment. Payments ought to be allied to improving patient products, reducing racial and further inequalities in outcomes, mounting effectiveness, and restraining the growth in the cost of care. Consequently connecting payment to outcomes will necessitate constant investment in the regular growth of outcomes measures (Terry, 1). There is a need to pool a risk and therefore exchanges both regional and state to guarantee the Americans without access employer based insurance or any other type of insurance is enabled to obtain an average benefits package. Employers are also supposed to also be permitted to play a part in these exchanges designed for their e mployees coverage. Typically, underwriting individual and small group insurance firms do not perform well due to risk selection. Therefore in order to reduce poor selection there should be compulsory coverage for standard benefits and risk accustomed payments on the part of the exchanges. These mandates ought to be matched with mechanisms that ensure adequate participation of those qualified to avoid the buildup of just the high-risk people in the exchange. These mechanisms should include considerable subsidies, probably joint with enforceable directives. It is also important to recognize the efforts of the employers in their employees’ coverage. According to the experts revenue source which includes a cap on the tax exemption which touches on employer-based insurance to support health care should be implemented to insure all Americans. There are tens of millions and budding numbers of Americans who are not insured and approximately 70% of these Americans cannot afford to pay for their insurance (Jost, 1). Consequently, more savings should be mobilized to insure all Americans like passing on accessible health income or levying tax on tobacco. President Obamas new health care reform and the recommendations The health care reforms recommended by Obama is meant to radically reform the insurance market by barring pre-existing stipulation, eradicating underwriting which is founded on gender, education, occupation or health status. It will also provide a guideline on the crucial benefits that the insurance plans must cover, to improve transparency and insurance disclosure. Therefore his reforms to some extend will concur with their recommendations because it is going to create a national health insurance exchange where every new non-group policies will be put up for sale and make insurance accessible for employees of small and possibly even the large employers. The exchanges should raise competition and reduce the rising administrative costs so as to reduce overall costs and enhance accountability. As a way of insuring all the Americans the Obama reforms if legislated would oblige employers with payrolls above $500,000 annually to grant health insurance to their insurers or forfeit a penalty (Jost, 1 and alternatively majority will be insured through House leadership. It will as well recognize small businesses who have covered their staff by granting them tax credits. However, this idea has not been welcomed by many business owners. Similarly, many people look at it as a means of making those who are well off to pay taxes for the poor.Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To raise money to cover such people, reforms are proposing taxation of medical device manufactures because this is likely to offer the government about $20 billion. The senate bill intents to reach or raise $40 billion from the device makers. However, this m ay be difficult because national lobbyists for the industry on the other hand are favoring reconciliation to the lower amount and therefore this could increase lobbying. The health care reforms proposed by president Obama’s administration have both losers and gainers and therefore everyone is pulling their side so that they will not be affected negatively (Terry,1). The insurers feel that the reforms do not favour them whereas other stakeholders and interest groups feel that this will affect delivery system as well as ensure almost all Americans have access to healthcare. Children’s hospitals on the other hand feel that they will have more to lose as a result of the reforms than full-service hospitals. I think in the long run all these reforms will work out to the advantage of all Americans if the end result actually moves America closer to sustainable healthcare system. Jost, Timothy. HR 3962: The Affordable Health Care for Americans; health affairs blog Act. 2009 â €“ July, 27, 2011 https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20091030.002649/full/ Terry, Ken. â€Å"Interest Groups Redouble Fight on Healthcare Reform† 2009 July, 27, 2011 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/interest-groups-redouble-fight-on-healthcare-reform/Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The healthcare reform debate specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

A Pilot Study Report Education Essay

A Pilot Study Report Education Essay Introduction The aim of the pilot study was to examine data collection instruments that will be used in the main data collection. It is important that any tools of data collection should have a pilot study ‘in order to iron out any problems of overlap of categories’ (Cohen et al, 2005: 130). In other words, Drever (1995: 56) points out that the researcher in the pilot study is trying to do two things: ‘first, to give the interview a trial run under realistic conditions; second, to get as much information as possible from the other person about how they interpret and reacted to the researcher’s questions. Instruments Two instruments of data collection were used in the pilot study: first, in class-essay writing sessions, this was done by asking students to write three essay drafts in three different writing sessions. The time allowed for writing the essay drafts was 90 minutes. The number of errors was used to measure the achievements of the students’ accuracy in a new piece of writing. Second, conducting an interview with students first and then their tutors in order to know their expectations towards tutors’ error feedback. Participants Students from the two colleges were selected and had informed that their writing work would be analysed and used for research and teaching purposes. First year students and second year students from each college were enrolled in three writing class sessions. The total number of students who participated in the study was ninety-seven students. Students assigned to two different groups: first group, students who received ‘coded’ direct written feedback focused on form and the other group who received ‘un-coded’ written feedback focused on form as well. English writing tutors were selected in the study and their number was four. Pilot Study Procedures and methods of collecting data Used Students were required to write three descriptive essays on different topics but on a similar context during six weeks’ time. Tutors were asked to focus on correcting errors based on form, and they were given a list of types of errors that should be addressed on students’ essay drafts. (See table 1) Types of Error Article Errors Plural Nouns Errors Prepositions Wrong Word Punctuations Missing word Spelling Word Order Capitalization Subject-Verb Agreement Personal Pronouns Verb Tense Errors Incomplete Sentence Table: 1 Tutors asked students to write between 250 – 300 words for the first essay draft for both first and second year students. All students were given 90 minutes to write their essays. Tutors asked first year students to write three descriptive essays in six weeks’ time. The first essay topic was to describe your family and whether it is a typical family in Libya. In week two, they were asked to describe their best friends and why they were the best of their friends. In week six, students were asked to describe one of their parents and how they would describe them. Likewise, tutors asked second year students to write three descriptive essays in six weeks’ time. The first topic was to describe any important Muslim event in their country and why it is important to them. In week two, students were asked to describe their national holiday event in their country and why it is important. In week six, students were asked to describe their favourite holiday place in their country and why it is favourite one.

Trend Essay - Retro Fashion Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Trend - Retro Fashion - Essay Example The essay "Trend Essay - Retro Fashion" focuses on the retro fashion. Even famous makers of athletic footwear have begun to produce new lines of ‘retro’ shoes. Anyone who doubts the existing of a retro trend needs to simply visit the internet or pick up a fashion magazine. There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to get the look of a particular decade. The term is used in many articles on how to mix new with old garments from the past. It’s not just the styles that are desirable; but the colors as well. Hot pink has definitely made a comeback. Polka dots from the 60’s have found their way back into fashion today. Not only are they found in garments, but also in home decor, such as on pillows and bedding. Retro is a distinctive style that is sometimes classified along with the ‘vintage’ styles. However, it is unique, in that it does not necessarily imply age or an aged look. Vintage, on the other hand, does imply something that is aged. Most pe ople think of vintage as a look coming from the 1920’s through the depression era. Retro is what comes after that period. Though some people tend to mix the terms, Retro has a distinct place in time that it resembles. It represents an era in fashion that influenced garment design, furniture and an overall style. A retro look is not limited to fashion. Brown, et al talk about the term applied to the marketing of products, suggesting it is a trend that reinvents something from a past decade, with a new twist. They give the example of the Volkswagen Beetle.

Outside speech Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Outside speech - Assignment Example Through the Elder Helpers volunteer organization, volunteers can do what the government cannot do. That is, to show kindness to a society that has done its part in building the nation. The elderly face a series of emotional, physical and societal problems. Physically, aging is the deterioration of the physical and mental mechanisms (Edward 533). Inevitably, the body becomes vulnerable to innumerable diseases and conditions such as Alzheimer’s. This deterioration of health has resulted in the elderly being identified as the handicapped, particularly in capitalist societies (Edward 533). Moreover, the challenges are made difficult by the high cost of medication and therapies resulting in a majority of the aging population living with the lack of proper health care. Currently, the elderly live solitary lives where they can go for days without communicating with other individuals. Some elders have also lost their spouses which results in emotional problems. Inevitably, the isolated life coupled with the physical challenges makes the elderly vulnerable to unhealthy lives that would most likely lead to more complications or even death. At this point, I know there are some who are wondering why we should help the elderly members in our society. Such people need to acknowledge the fact that aging is a definite event that occurs in the life of every individual. Soon, each and every one of us may live long enough to experience the complications that arise through aging. At that point in our lives, I am certain we would all be grateful if the society helped us go through aging stress-free. Furthermore, the elderly in our society are important because, without them, the current generation would not exist. Elderly Helpers is an opportunity to interact with the elderly in the society and assist them in their day to day lives (elderlyhelpers.org). Moreover, the organization is an opportunity for young members in the society to provide