Jainism, Sikhism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jainism, Sikhism - Essay Example Sikhism is considered to be a new religion in India when compared to that of other religions such as Jainism or Hinduism. The religion has been founded by Guru Nanak. Some of the unique characteristics of the religion are that they do not belief in pilgrimage, superstitions, fasting as well as other such kinds of rites. It tries to provide services to the community and thus tries to extend its help to the ones who need them. The Sikhs are supposed to dress as per the Guru Gobind Singh’s order. According to the religious doctrines, the Sikhs should also wear turbans. Regular pray and meditation is done by means of repeating the name of the God. The Khalsas’ in the Sikh religion are expected to monitor five K’s such as Kaccha, Kara, Kirpan, Khanga and Kes. This religion does not follow any symbolism or ritualism. There are not any altars or idols in the Gurudwara. The fact that every Gurudwara keeps the holy Sikh Scripture, which is also known as Guru Granth Sahib or Satguru, is a unique characteristic (Pecorino, â€Å"Philosophy of Religion†). It can be mentioned that both the religions namely the Sikhism and the Jainism are of the belief that they are inhabitants to the Indian subcontinent. It was found that like Sikhism, Jainism also refused the power of the Vedas and thus developed independent textual norms and traditions that were based upon the words as well as the illustration of their early teachers. It finally evolved complete new ways of communicating their thoughts with the common people (Apex Learning, â€Å"3e Jainism and Sikhism†). The main similarities of both the religions are that both of them commemorate Diwali, a festival of lights. Jains are strictly vegetarians but the Sikhs are non-vegetarians. However, it can be observed that in Gurdwaras, the food that is served is completely vegetarian so that it is capable of obliging all the segments of the

Herbal Remedies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Herbal Remedies - Assignment Example Some of the factors that influence herbal use in America include ethnicity, history of family, immigrant, and herbal use among members of the family. There is a reported high use of herbal medicine among Italian Americans from recent studies on ethnicity and racial lines. There are many illnesses treated using herbal medicine. These vary from patient to patient due to varying responses to the medicine. Some of the illnesses that are treated using herbal medicine among the African Americans and Italian Americans include: varicose veins, indigestion, obesity and weight loss among other medical conditions. The African Americans and Italian Americans use varying herbs to treat these illnesses. However, there are commonly used herbs among the two cultural groups such as bitter orange for treating indigestion, chaparral for treating hypertension, and ginger and germander for obesity and other liver related illnesses. The medical herbs are purchased from herbs clinics and traditional doctors that treat chronic conditions among the communities. The side effects associated with the use of herbal medicine are as mentioned: heart attack and fainting resulting from use of bitter orange; chaparral which may lead to damage of the liver, hypertension suffered by patients with cancer as well as problems with kidney; ginger may lead to an alteration in bleeding time among females while germander may damage the liver of the patients. When a patient uses herbal medicine after using allopathic medicines, there could be adverse effects on the condition, however, there are no particular complications identified by name, however, the patient medical condition may worsen resulting from a mix of reaction between the two

Study of various RISC and CISC processor

Study of various RISC and CISC processor INTRODUCTION: The processor (CPU, for Central Processing Unit) is the computers brain. It allows the processing of numeric data, meaning information entered in binary form, and the execution of instructions stored in memory. The first microprocessor (Intel 4004) was invented in 1971. It was a 4-bit calculation device with a speed of 108 kHz. Since then, microprocessor power has grown exponentially. Operation The processor (called CPU, for Central Processing Unit) is an electronic circuit that operates at the speed of an internal clock thanks to a quartz crystal that, when subjected to an electrical currant, send pulses, called peaks. The clock speed (also called cycle), corresponds to the number of pulses per second, written in Hertz (Hz). Thus, a 200 MHz computer has a clock that sends 200,000,000 pulses per second. With each clock peak, the processor performs an action that corresponds to an instruction or a part there of. A measure called CPI (Cycles Per Instruction) gives a representation of the average number of clock cycles required for a microprocessor to execute an instruction. A microprocessor power can thus be characterized by the number of instructions per second that it is capable of processing. MIPS (millions of instructions per second) is the unit used and corresponds to the processor frequency divided by the CPI. One of the primary goals of computer architects is to design computers that are more cost effective than their predecessors. Cost-effectiveness includes the cost of hardware to manufacture the machine, the cost of programming, and costs incurred related to the architecture in debugging.Both the initial hardware and subsequent programs. If we review the history of computer families we find that the most common architectural change is the trend toward ever more complex machines. Presumably this additional complexity has a positive trade off with regard to the cost effectiveness of newer models. The Microprocessor Revolution:- The engine of the computer revolution is the microprocessor. It has led to new inventions, such as FAX machines and personal computers, as well as adding intelligence to existing devices, such as wristwatches and automobiles. Moreover, its performance has improved by a factor of roughly 10,000 in the 25 years since its birth in 1971. This increase coincided with the introduction of Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC). The instruction set is the hardware language in which the software tells the processor what to do. Surprisingly, reducing the size of the instruction set eliminating certain instructions based upon a careful quantitative analysis, and requiring these seldom-used instructions to be emulated in software can lead to higher performance, for several reasons:- REASONS FOR INCREASED COMPLEXITY Speed of Memory vs. Speed of CPU:- .from the 701 to the 709 [Cocke80]. The 701 CPU was about ten times as fast as the core main memory this made any primitives that were implemented as subroutines much slower than primitives that were instructions. 709 more cost-effective than the 701. Since then, many higher-level instructions have been added to machines in an attempt to improve performance. Microcode and LSI Technology:- Microprogrammed control allows the implementation of complex architectures more cost-effectively than hardwired control.Advances in integrated circuit memories made in the late 60s and early 70s have caused microprogrammed control to be the more cost-effective approach in almost every case. Once the decision is made to use microprogrammed control, the cost to expand an instruction set is very small; only a few more words of control store. Examples of such instructions are string editing, integer-to-floating conversion, and mathematical operations such as polynomial evaluation. Code Density:- With early computers, memory was very expensive. It was therefore cost effective to have very compact programs. Attempting to obtain code density by increasing the complexity of the instruction set is often a double-edged the cost of 10% more memory is often far cheaper than the cost of squeezing 10% out of the CPU by architectural innovations. Marketing Strategy:- Unfortunately, the primary goal of a computer company is not to design the most cost-effective computer; the primary goal of a computer company is to make the most money by selling computers. In order to sell computers manufacturers must convince customers that their design is superior to their competitors.In order to keep their jobs, architects must keep selling new and better designs to their internal management. Upward Compatibility:- Coincident with marketing strategy is the perceived need for upward compatibility. Upward compatibility means that the primary way to improve a design is to add new, and usually more complex, features. Seldom are instructions or addressing modes removed from an architecture, resulting in a gradual increase in both the number and complexity of instructions over a series of computers. Support for High Level Languages:- As the use of high level languages becomes increasingly popular, manufacturers have become eager to provide more powerful instructions to support them. Unfortunately there is little evidence to suggest that any of the more complicated instruction sets have actually provided such support.The effort to support high-level languages is laudable, but we feel that often the focus has been on the wrong issues. Use of Multiprogramming:- The rise of timesharing required that computers be able to respond to interrupts with the ability to halt an executing process and restart it at a later time. Memory management and paging additionally required that instructions could be halted before completion and later restarted. RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computing) The acronym RISC (pronounced risk), for reduced instruction set computing, represents a CPU design strategy emphasizing the insight that simplified instructions that do less may still provide for higher performance if this simplicity can be utilized to make instructions execute very quickly. Many proposals for a precise definition have been attempted, and the term is being slowly replaced by the more descriptive load-store architecture. Being an old idea, some aspects attributed to the first RISC-labeled designs (around 1975) include the observations that the memory restricted compilers of the time were often unable to take advantage of features intended to facilitate coding, and that complex addressing inherently takes many cycles to perform. It was argued that such functions would better be performed by sequences of simpler instructions, if this could yield implementations simple enough to cope with really high frequencies, and small enough to leave room for many registers, factoring out slow memory accesses. Uniform, fixed length an instruction with arithmetics restricted to registers was chosen to ease instruction pipelining in these simple designs, with special load-store instructions accessing memory. The RISC Design Strategies:- The basic RISC principle: A simpler CPU is a faster CPU. The focus of the RISC design is reduction of the number and complexity of instructions in the ISA. A number of the more common strategies include: 1) Fixed instruction length, generally one word. This simplifies instruction fetch. 2) Simplified addressing modes. 3) Fewer and simpler instructions in the instruction set. 4) Only load and store instructions access memory; no add memory to register, add memory to memory, etc. 5) Let the compiler do it. Use a good compiler to break complex high-level language statements into a number of simple assembly language statements. Typical characteristics of RISC:- For any given level of general performance, a RISC chip will typically have far fewer transistors dedicated to the core logic which originally allowed designers to increase the size of the register set and increase internal parallelism. Other features, which are typically found in RISC architectures, are: Uniform instruction format, using a single word with the opcode in the same bit positions in every instruction, demanding less decoding; Identical general purpose registers, allowing any register to be used in any context, simplifying compiler design (although normally there are separate floating point registers); Simple addressing modes. Complex addressing performed via sequences of arithmetic and/or load-store operations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Fixed length instructions which (a) are easier to decode than variable length instructions, and (b) use fast, inexpensive memory to execute a larger piece of code. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Hardwired controller instructions (as opposed to microcoded instructions). This is where RISC really shines as hardware implementation of instructions is much faster and uses less silicon real estate than a microstore area. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Fused or compound instructions which are heavily optimized for the most commonly used functions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Pipelined implementations with goal of executing one instruction (or more) per machine cycle. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Large uniform register set à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ minimal number of addressing modes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ no/minimal support for misaligned accesses. RISC Examples:- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Apple iPods (custom ARM7TDMI SoC) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Apple iPhone (Samsung ARM1176JZF) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Palm and PocketPC PDAs and smartphones (Intel XScale family, Samsung SC32442 ARM9) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Nintendo Game Boy Advance (ARM7) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Nintendo DS (ARM7, ARM9) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Sony Network Walkman (Sony in-house ARM based chip) Advantages of RISC * Speed * Simpler hardware * Shorter design cycle * User (programmers benifits) Disadvantages Of RISC q A more sophisticated compiler is required q A sequence of RISC instructions is needed to implement complex instructions. q Require very fast memory systems to feed them instructions. q Performance of a RISC application depend critically on the quality of the code generated by the compiler. CISC(complex instruction set computer) A complex instruction set computer (CISC, pronounced like sisk) is a computer instruction set architecture (ISA) in which each instruction can execute several low-level operations, such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store, all in a single instruction. Performance:- Some instructions were added that were never intended to be used in assembly language but fit well with compiled high level languages. Compilers were updated to take advantage of these instructions. The benefits of semantically rich instructions with compact encodings can be seen in modern processors as well, particularly in the high performance segment where caches are a central component (as opposed to most embedded systems). This is because these fast, but complex and expensive, memories are inherently limited in size, making compact code beneficial. Of course, the fundamental reason they are needed is that main memories (i.e. dynamic RAM today) remain slow compared to a (high performance) CPU-core. ADVANTAGES OF CISC * A new processor design could incorporate the instruction set of its predecessor as a subset of an ever-growing languageno need to reinvent the wheel, code-wise, with each design cycle. * Fewer instructions were needed to implement a particular computing task, which led to lower memory use for program storage and fewer time-consuming instruction fetches from memory. * Simpler compilers sufficed, as complex CISC instructions could be written that closely resembled the instructions of high-level languages. In effect, CISC made a computers assembly language more like a high-level language to begin with, leaving the compiler less to do. DISADVANTAGES OF CISC * The first advantage listed above could be viewed as a disadvantage. That is, the incorporation of older instruction sets into new generations of processors tended to force growing complexity. * Many specialized CISC instructions were not used frequently enough to justify their existence. The existence of each instruction needed to be justified because each one requires the storage of more microcode at in the central processing unit (the final and lowest layer of code translation), which must be built in at some cost. * Because each CISC command must be translated by the processor into tens or even hundreds of lines of microcode, it tends to run slower than an equivalent series of simpler commands that do not require so much translation. All translation requires time. * Because a CISC machine builds complexity into the processor, where all its various commands must be translated into microcode for actual execution, the design of CISC hardware is more difficult and the CISC design cycle correspondingly long; this means delay in getting to market with a new chip. Comparison of RISC and CISC This table is taken from an IEEE tutorial on RISC architecture. CISC Type Computers RISC Type IBM 370/168 VAX-11/780 Intel 8086 RISC I IBM 801 Developed 1973 1978 1978 1981 1980 Instructions 208 303 133 31 120 Instruction size (bits) 16 48 16 456 8 32 32 32 Addressing Modes 4 22 6 3 3 General Registers 16 16 4 138 32 Control Memory Size 420 Kb 480 Kb Not given 0 0 Cache Size 64 Kb 64 Kb Not given 0 Not given However, nowadays, the difference between RISC and CISC chips is getting smaller and smaller. RISC and CISC architectures are becoming more and more alike. Many of todays RISC chips support just as many instructions as yesterdays CISC chips. The PowerPC 601, for example, supports more instructions than the Pentium. Yet the 601 is considered a RISC chip, while the Pentium is definitely CISC. RISCs are leading in:- * New machine designs * Research funding * Publications * Reported performance * CISCs are leading in: * REVENUE Performance * The CISC approach attempts to minimize the number of instructions per program, sacrificing the number of cycles per instruction. * RISC does the opposite, reducing the cycles per instruction at the cost of the number of instructions per program. * Hybrid solutions: * RISC core CISC interface * Still has specific performance tuning Future Aspects Todays microprocessors are roughly 10,000 times faster than their ancestors. And microprocessor-based computer systems now cost only 1/40th as much as their ancestors, when inflation is considered. The result: an overall cost-performance improvement of roughly 1,000,000, in only 25 years! This extraordinary advance is why computing plays such a large role in todays world. Had the research at universities and industrial laboratories not occurred had the complex interplay between government, industry, and academia not been so successful a comparable advance would still be years away. Microprocessor performance can continue to double every 18 months beyond the turn of the century. This rate can be sustained by continued research innovation. Significant new ideas will be needed in the next decade to continue the pace; such ideas are being developed by research groups today. Conclusion The research that led to the development of RISC architectures represented an important shift in computer science, with emphasis moving from hardware to software. The eventual dominance of RISC technology in high-performance workstations from the mid to late 1980s was a deserved success. In recent years CISC processors have been designed that successfully overcome the limitations of their instruction set architecture that is more elegant and power-efficient, but compilers need to be improved and clock speeds need to increase to match the aggressive design of the latest Intel processors. REFERENCES: Books: 1. Computer system Architecture by M. Morris Mano 2. Processor Archicture by jurij silc, Borut Robic 3. George Radin, The 801 Minicomputer, IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol.27 No.3, 1983 4. John Cocke and V. Markstein, The evolution of RISC technology at IBM, IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol.34 No.1, 1990 5. Dileep Bhandarkar, RISC versus CISC: A Tale of Two Chips, Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, California Encyclopedia: 1. Encarta 2. Britanica

On Ibsens A Dolls House :: A Dolls House

On Ibsen's A Doll's House [This is the text of a lecture delivered, in part, in Liberal Studies 310 at Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, Canada. References to Ibsen's text are to the translation by James McFarlane and Jens Arup (Oxford: OUP, 1981). This text is in the public domain, released July 2000] For comments or questions, please contact Ian Johnston Those of you who have just read A Doll's House for the first time will, I suspect, have little trouble forming an initial sense of what it is about, and, if past experience is any guide, many of you will quickly reach a consensus that the major thrust of this play has something to do with gender relations in modern society and offers us, in the actions of the heroine, a vision of the need for a new-found freedom for women (or a woman) amid a suffocating society governed wholly by unsympathetic and insensitive men. I say this because there is no doubt that A Doll's House has long been seen as a landmark in our century's most important social struggle, the fight against the dehumanizing oppression of women, particularly in the middle-class family. Nora's final exit away from all her traditional social obligations is the most famous dramatic statement in fictional depictions of this struggle, and it helped to turn Ibsen (with or without his consent) into an applauded or vilified champion of women's rights and this play into a vital statement which feminists have repeatedly invoked to further their cause. So in reading responses to and interpretations of this play, one frequently comes across statements like the following: Patriarchy's socialization of women into servicing creatures is the major accusation in Nora's painful account to Torvald of how first her father, and then he, used her for their amusement. . . how she had no right to think for herself, only the duty to accept their opinions. Excluded from meaning anything, Nora has never been subject, only object. (Templeton 142). Furthermore, if we go to see a production of this play (at least among English-speaking theatre companies), the chances are we will see something based more or less on this interpretative line: heroic Nora fighting for her freedom against oppressive males and winning out in the end by her courageous final departure. The sympathies will almost certainly be distributed so that our hearts are with Nora, however much we might carry some reservations about her leaving her children.

Government Role Essay

The main role of the executive is to preform leadership like duties such as carrying out leadership roles, ceremonial roles, and preforming symbolic. The leadership role demand formulating, articulating, and implementing goals of the political system. The effective chief executive becomes the spokesperson for the people, attempts to invigorate the people’s support for these goals, and then develops strategies that ease their accomplishment. For the most part the chief executive takes the initiative in a policy form. The executive policy leadership is very crucial during times of crisis, because the executive structure has the potential for a level of coherence and consent of action, which is almost always lacking in legislature. In most political systems the chief executive officer has the power to veto the legislation that the legislature initiates, which may be directly or indirectly. The actors in the executive role usually function as the unifying symbol of the entire soci ety, becoming the lead figurehead for the people. The executive presence becomes a central to many of society’s ceremonies and rituals. In the majority of all political systems the executive has the primary responsibility for implementing the laws and policies of political order. Most systems have an executive cabinet in where each member is directly and personally responsible for some of the major areas of administration. However they are supposed to set a broad set of guidelines for policy and implementation and responsibility for any major mishaps that occur. In parliament for examples, the minster of a department will usually resign if there is a serious shortcoming in his or her area of responsibility. The chief executive must set policy and supervise the organization and utilization of the state’s military capabilities, which is a task that can have the most serious consequences for the security, and well being of the society. Along with this comes the supervision of foreign affairs that involves a complicated pattern of meeting officials from other states and deal with national dealings with other nations usually showing some form of cooperation. The British government and the United States government are different in many aspects but yet share many similarities. A prime minister who handles the majority of the executive responsibilities mainly holds Britain’s executive, and of curse the king or queen handles ceremonial responsibilities like a figurehead would. However the United States has a fused executive system in where the president handles both the  head of state and the head of government roles. 2. Democracy has a wide range of meanings, but true direct democracy is a government of and by the people. An alternative concept in which it is pretty clear is representative democracy. This is a system in which the citizens elect people to represent them in the political aspect of things and to express the values on their behalf of society. Another general term to describe this democracy is a republic even though not all republics are democratic and not all democrats are republicans. Electoral democracy is defined as a political system in where all citizens periodically vote in order to elect political leaders in their society. It also seems important to establish that the people have the power to retain or reject those serving as their political leaders. This additional condition, called the limited mandate, means that the electorate grants the authority to rule for only a short fixed period of time, and then the electorate has the opportunity to elect their representatives again. Meaning that if the political leaders do not gain sufficient votes the political leaders will voluntarily resign office. We can also classify a political system called liberal democracy when citizens enjoy not only electoral democracy but also substantial political rights and civil liberties regarding participation, personal freedoms, and oppositions. The United States is considered to have some like similarities in this regard for the notion that its citizens enjoy the freedoms and rights that come along with voting and individual values. A non-democracy is a concept by with all major decisions especially with those that deal with the state is handled by the person or political group in charge of the state in that time. One conventional concept used to define non democracies is a dictatorship. A definition of a dictator might be a ruler with absolute power and authority. Dictatorship may be further defined as the absence of a limited mandate- a critical factor in the definition of democracy. That is, the citizens of that state have no power to remove the person in office or political leadership period. This government type is often time seen as harsh to its citizens and harsh. Totalitarianism, which is a political system that the allocation of values and its control penetrate into almost every aspect of its citizen’s every day lives. The totalitarian political system demands complete obedience to its extensive  rules in culture, economics, religion, and most of all morality. All organizations are subordinated to the totalitarian state. Every activity is under scrutiny by the state in the name of the public interest. The state might define what is ok to watch or be produce in a movie, what acceptable to say in the media, and It even has acceptable behaviors and thoughts for its people. Another concept that falls under the category of non-democratic is Authoritarian regimes. Many authoritarian regimes such as dictatorships lack empowerment. What really distinguish authoritarianism are the political actions and decisions of the ruler, while the political rights and freedoms of the people are significantly limited. In other words under authoritarianism the population has very minimal political rights. An authoritarian regime places many severe restrictions on the activities of individuals and groups who advocate the people on the actions of the political system. The great majority of the populations are not allowed to participate in any political activities except in ways that expressly encouraged by the regime such as mass rallies and speeches. Citizens of such places are not allowed to question th e political intuitions, procedures, or public policies of an authoritarian regime. 3. There are a few different types of states, first there is the unitary state and then there is central government, which holds all legislative power. While the central government has indivisible sovereignty, it can delegate power or functional responsibilities to territorial units, which have names such as department or regions. These peripheral governments serve only at the convenience of the central government, which can revoke their power or functions at any given time. The majority of all citizens tend to identify with the country as a whole, rather than with regional authorities as they should. A federation is divided constitutionally and functions between a central government and the set of regional governments. On the other hand to a unitary state, there is an explicit sharing of power among the levels of government in a federation, and no level has legal power to dominate any other level in all policy domains. There are five major rationales that make up a federation: large size, prior existence of strong states, desire to create unity or accommodate diversity, the desire to concentrate power and resources, and the desire to disperse political power. A federation can be established to prevent the over centration of power in the central government. A confederation is an association in which states delegate some power to a supranational central government but retain primary power. Confederations emphasize on economic cooperation and or military cooperation’s. It is a loose grouping of states in which each state’s involvement membership, and compliance with the central government are conditional depending on the state’s perception of its own national interest.

Probation and Life in Prison Essay

Probation In the early days of our country, severe punishments were often meted out with little regard to the seriousness of the offense. There was no such thing as being sentenced to probation in the 18th century. The concept of probation, or giving a convicted criminal a chance to redeem himself without serving time in prison, was first introduced in 1841 by John Augustus. In August of that year, Augustus decided to try a radical approach with a man convicted of being drunk and disorderly. The man swore to Augustus that he would change his ways if only he did not have to serve time in the House of Correction. Augustus believed the man and he posted bail. Augustus went on to help others in the same fashion and eventually became regarded â€Å"a private angel and guardian of men convicted of crime† (Friedman, 1993, 162). Massachusetts was the first state to formally recognize this option in criminal sentencing in 1878 with the remaining states following suit throughout the rest of the century and onto into the early part of the 1900’s. It would take some fine-tuning to bring probation up to its current standards. Early probation officers enjoyed no formal training and many states were without prerequisites for passing this form of sentencing. In the early years, probation was often given in exchange for a guilty plea most often to married men, those who held jobs and exhibited no apparent vices. Judges used the sentence of probation prodigiously for several decades. It was only in the 1980’s, when the public clamored for stiffer penalties, that probation lost favor. In 1986, only 28% of male felony defendants were awarded probation as compared to nearly half of those convicted in 1970 (Friedman, 1993, 409). Probation initially became popular as the thrust of the legal system shifted from focusing on the â€Å"what† (the crime) to the â€Å"who† (the criminal) and how to best reform the offender (Friedman, 1993, 168). More recently, the focus has become a bit more equally fixed on both preventing the crime and rehabilitation of the criminal. Today, offenders on probation are closely monitored by correctional officers through surveillance in the community. Often, some sort of restitution is also involved with the goal of making the offender accountable and responsible in order to rejoin the community without potential further risk (Jones, 2). This option allows the offender to serve a sentence under â€Å"house arrest† and maintain a job rather than be integrated into the prison system, which is already strained to its limit. The level of supervision varies based on the crime committed. For those convicted of drug charges, a more constant monitoring system is used, often electronic. Another alternative is to use a â€Å"combination of prison time and work release/community service† (Jones, 3). Probation is often used as a condition of plea bargaining for a lesser sentence in exchange for information or a guilty plea. Plea bargaining came about as a quick, and cheap way, to move defendants through the legal system and probation helps to keep minor criminals out of jail. The concept of probation has evolved in many ways since its inception in the 1800’s but it still incorporates the integral idea of giving a convicted criminal a degree of trust. Prison Life: Comparison and Contrast with Life in General Society According to the dictionary, the definition of a prison is â€Å"A place for the confinement of persons in lawful detention, especially persons convicted of crimes; a place or condition of confinement or forcible restraint or a state of imprisonment or captivity.† Prisons first came about as a means of correctional punishment. In colonial times, punishment was often a way to shame the criminal in public; putting someone in prison did not have the same effect as putting him or her out in public view to submit to shame and scorn. When prison was used for sentencing, jail terms were generally short and in most cases less than 30 days. It was not until the 1800’s that prisons were built in more abundance and courts used them for sentencing on a regular basis. Today prison systems vary widely according to level of security and the state in which they are located. The aim of each and every one is still the same, however, and that is to deprive a convicted criminal of freedom. For a prisoner there is no freedom of choice. He is told when to wake up in the morning, when it is meal time, when to work, when to exercise, when to go to bed. There are no food choices or menus and the prisoner must either eat what is given him or go hungry. No comforts of home await him in his cell; the prisoner is lucky to be able to have a selection of books and perhaps a photo or two to keep him company. At night, lights are turned off at a particular time. Cell checks can be performed at any time of night or day. There is no privacy for bathing or bodily functions. The prisoner is unable to have any items that are not approved by the system. He also has no choice regarding a cell mate unless undue violence forces a cell change. Most prisons do not allow televisions or even radios as forms of entertainment; even when they are allowed there is no satellite or cable attached and no choice of programming. The work program is enforced in many prisons with prisoners being allocated to do jobs that benefit the community or provide food or clothing for the system. Any â€Å"luxury† items must be earned and paid for with pitifully low wages. In comparison, life in general society is full of choices. As a free citizen, people in this country are allowed to choose where they live, where they work, what they eat and what they do. There are no proscribed times in which they are forced to do anything and if they are unhappy at their job, they are allowed to quit and find work elsewhere. The times in which free citizens awaken in the morning and go to bed at night are at their own discretion; if someone wishes to never turn out the light and stay up all night, he may do so. He has the ability to go out and purchase items at will, as needed or desired. The private citizen can choose to live as he wants whether that be in clean or messy surroundings, in a house filled with knick knacks and furniture or a more austere setting. Entertainment options abound. In short, nothing short of illegal activity is prohibited for a free citizen. Whether in prison or out in general society, there are still rules made by our national and state governments to be abided by and morals which govern our actions. In prison it is more closely monitored while in general society citizens do not warrant such close supervision. As well, people in either situation must earn what they have. Loss of freedom is the biggest difference between living in prison or living outside. Contrast and Comparison of Georgia and Florida State Prisons In the Georgia state prison system, the dormitories shown are used for housing groups of prisoners who require minimal security. Rows of bunk beds are stacked two high and furnished with a thin blanket and pillow. A box beneath the bunk is the only place for personal items. The lighting is industrial and the flooring is utilitarian and easy to keep clean. It is surprising that there is a wide expanse of windows. Other than the addition of appliances and counters, the prison kitchen looks much the same as the dormitory. It looks to be well stocked, much as a large commercial kitchen might be furnished. The health intake area is set up like a school room with rows of small wooden desks headed by a larger desk manned by a prison employee. The state of Georgia’s correctional system offers a boot camp, a diversion center, probation detention, and transitional centers in addition to the state prisons. The state runs several farms, which provide all the food for the prisoners incarcerated at the low cost of $1.51 per prisoner per day. The Florida state prisons use a traditional cell configuration built in two stories overlooking a central corridor as well as the dormitory concept. According to the website, most of the Florida correctional facilities use dorm housing. The bunks in these dorms are not stacked but are situated individually in rows. A row of small, high windows lines one wall while fluorescent lighting illuminates the area. Cells house either one or two men and have two cots that pull down from the wall with a thin blanket and pillow on each. There is one small window in the exterior wall and a narrow door. A sink and open toilet are the only other furnishings. Death row cells are even more sparse and small with a total size of 6’ x 9’ x 9.5’. They have no window and a barred entrance. Death row cells are configured for only one person. The majority of inmates in the Florida state correctional system are enrolled in either a substance abuse program, a vocational education or adult education program. They also participate in Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises or Prison Industry Enhancement work programs. Inmates also grow some of their own food and both prison systems seem to be doing a good job of keeping food costs down through farming their own vegetables. The two prison systems are similar in their housing set ups. Cells and dormitories are sparse and barren. Both systems require prisoners to be involved in production of the food used within the facilities and offer work programs. Both Florida and Georgia’s state systems offer probation and transitionary facilities. The Florida state correctional system has more programs available and more options for rehabilitation of prisoners. The Georgia system seems to offer more minimal security facilities although they did not have a virtual tour of anything other than dormitories posted on their website and they most certainly house death row inmates. Georgia’s website is set up more for the convenience of family members of those incarcerated while the Florida website focuses more on the hard facts of prison life as a deterrence measure. While both states offer model facilities for incarceration of criminals, neither system looks particularly inviting or homey. References Friedman, Lawrence M (1993). Crime and Punishment in American History. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Jones, Calvin. â€Å"Alternatives to Standard Methods of Incarceration†. Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Retrieved November 8, 2007 from the FDOLE Web site: â€Å"Virtual Prison Tour. Georgia Department of Corrections. Retrieved November 8, 2007 from the GDOC Web site: http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/AboutGDC/VRTour.html.

Chemical Definition - Chemistry Glossary

Chemical Definition - Chemistry Glossary There are two definitions of the word chemical as the term is used in chemistry and common usage: Chemical Definition (adjective) As an adjective, the term chemical indicates a relationship to chemistry or to the interaction between substances. Used in a sentence: She studied chemical reactions.They determined the chemical composition of the soil. Chemical  Definition (noun) Everything which has mass is a chemical. Anything consisting of matter is a chemical. Any liquid, solid, gas. A chemical includes any pure substance; any mixture. Because this definition of a chemical is so broad, most people consider a pure substance (element or compound) to be a chemical, particularly if it is prepared in a laboratory. Examples of Chemicals Examples of things which are chemicals or consist of them include  water, pencil, air, carpet, light bulb, copper, bubbles, baking soda, and salt. Of these examples, water, copper, baking soda, and salt are pure substances (elements or chemical compounds. A pencil, air, carpet, a light bulb, and bubbles consist of multiple chemicals. Examples of things which are not chemicals include light, heat, and emotions.