Cellular Phone Buying Guide Essays - Technology, Mobile Phones, ATT

Cellular Phone Buying Guide Cellular phones are now owned by one out of three people living in the United States. It is believed that this number will approach, and probably reach, one out of two within the short future. With so many companies producing and marketing the use of cellular phones, rates for their use have dramatically reduced within the last four to five years. The size of the phones has decreased, while their number of features and ease of use has increased. Analog connections are now becoming obsolete, in favor of the clearer and battery-saving digital connection. Many units on the market now are tri-mode, meaning that in addition to analog they use the digital signals of TDMA and CDMA. Strides like these have made mobile communication increasingly popular as well as reliable. With this popularity, companies have been able to reduce their monthly rates while offering many features free of charge, features that the user is accustomed to paying for on their house phone line. This competition has l ed many to use their cellular phone as their main phone, or even their only phone. Some of the features that have made cellular communications so popular are the following: free nights and/or weekends, caller identification, call forwarding, three-way calling, voice mail, text messaging and Internet access. Many of these features are either free or of very low cost. When combined with the intelligent use of peak minutes and free nights and weekends (usually between 8 am and 8 pm), a consumer can quickly find that a cellular phone plan is cheaper than their home phone plan. The problem is finding out which provider, which plan, and which phone make the most sense for each individual. Within this report is a comprehensive guide to the plans now offered by the three major providers of cellular service in our area. These providers are Sprint, Verizon, and Cingular Wireless (formerly Cellular One). Although their many plans are similar, they can become extremely confusing. A calling plan should be chosen based on the following: 1) When the phone will be used. 2) For how long each day it will be used. 3) Where the phone calls will be made from. 4) Whom the user will be calling. These factors can quickly get confusing when you take into consideration the different home/roaming areas of each provider. Both Verizon and Cingular now offer three plans for coverage. One a local coverage area, which generally covers from Buffalo to Albany from east to west, with a limited coverage north and south of the I-90. The second plan offered by both covers a good portion of the east coast, down through Maryland for Verizon, and through Virginia for Cingular. Both Verizon and Cingular have recently added national plans to their available coverage options, and although these plans are more expensive than the local and regional, they can make sense for many. Although some areas are not covered within these National Plans, they generally cover the entire continental United States. A good portion of the Midwest for Cingular is not covered while Verizon does cover most of this area. However Verizon does not cover much of the breadbasket of the US, namely Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, all of which have no coverage. Sprints plans are all national, but only for 300 major metropolitan areas which excludes millions of Americans, this leads to exorbitant roaming charges which can be accumulated out of necessity in ones home town. This is true especially for the Midwest and the west coast. Contained on this page are the national coverage areas of the three providers. The complicated coverage of these maps is often forgotten while one is on vacation or making long-distance calls, that is why choosing a local or regional plan can often times make more sense. Sprints Free and Clear plan, as you can see by the map, is neither free nor clear in all areas. Although their coverage is expanding, they are truthful when they claim that their system was built from the ground up. Only their phones use their Personal Communication System (PCS) towers, and many of their phones do not operate on an analog signal at all, and those that

Free Essays on A Child Called “It”

A Child Called â€Å"It† is a story based on a real life boy’s tribulations with his mothers shocking abuse. When he was younger Dave and his families were considered the â€Å"perfect† family. Then, all of a sudden his mother and father started drinking and had problems in their relationship. Dave started getting the worst treatment imaginable. His mother all of a sudden treated him as a nobody or an â€Å"It†. His father wouldn’t do anything about it and it made Dave hate him. She did many horrible things to him that he will never forget. He had two other brothers but they didn’t get any of their mother’s harsh beatings or tortures. David’s mother would starve him weeks at a time without giving him even a morsel of food. He had to steal food from stores and the school to survive. One day he stole hot dogs from the school cafeteria and someone caught him. When he got home his mother made him puke it up and then eat it again. She almost went to the extent of making David eat his baby brother’s feces. Another incident was when David was cleaning the kitchen floor for his mother. She all of a sudden stormed into the kitchen and started yelling at him. â€Å"You’ve made my life a living hell!† she sneered. â€Å"Now it’s time I show you what hell is like!† Right after she said that she took him by the arm, turned on the gas stove, and burned the flesh on his arm. She then proceeded to make him take off his clothes and lay on top of the flames. David’s mother tortured him for no reason except for her own sick pleasure. She would also make him drink ammonia, wear tattered clothes, sleep in the garage, and she even went to the extent of stabbing him and not taking him to the hospital. This story ended with David saying the Lord’s Prayer and praying for God to save him from his living hell. This is one of the best, yet saddest books that I have ever read. There is so much reality in this book, but I never knew that reality w... Free Essays on A Child Called â€Å"It† Free Essays on A Child Called â€Å"It† A Child Called â€Å"It† By: David Pelzer I chose the book, The Child Called â€Å"It† because one of my friends told me about the book. The whole story line caught my attention. I was amazed at what was going on in this boy’s life. This book, a true story, is very emotional. The title relates to the book because his mother calls the boy, David Pelzer, â€Å"It†. She does not call him by his real name. His mother treats him like he is nothing but an object. Also, I think the title fits well because it catches people’s attention and gives a clue what the book is about. The author is attempting to teach the readers that no one should treat people this badly. David is an innocent child and does not deserve his bad childhood. David does not even do anything wrong, and his mother continued to treat him like an object. Pelzer succeeded in telling how cruel the mother is. He also teaches that people can be cruel to each other, and that it is important to teach people that kindness can go a long way. The whole book discusses his childhood. Pelzer wrote some sequels to tell the rest of his child life for the interested readers. The story begins when he was first treated badly, in the 1960’s. His mother was a good mother until David’s father and mother started drinking. Its mother changed drastically from the alcohol drinking. The story begins in the kitchen of his house when he is doing his chores. His mother has a time limit on how fast he should do the dishes. If he does not accomplish the dishes in that amount of time, he does not get supper. In addition to the hunger, he receives a beating. The setting is very effective because the reader gets into the story. The setting also prepares you for what the mother does in the future. The main characters are David, his mother, and father. David, the abused child, cannot escape his mother’s punishments. David’s mother is a drunken, abusive mother that refers to h... Free Essays on A Child Called â€Å"It† A Child Called â€Å"It† is a story based on a real life boy’s tribulations with his mothers shocking abuse. When he was younger Dave and his families were considered the â€Å"perfect† family. Then, all of a sudden his mother and father started drinking and had problems in their relationship. Dave started getting the worst treatment imaginable. His mother all of a sudden treated him as a nobody or an â€Å"It†. His father wouldn’t do anything about it and it made Dave hate him. She did many horrible things to him that he will never forget. He had two other brothers but they didn’t get any of their mother’s harsh beatings or tortures. David’s mother would starve him weeks at a time without giving him even a morsel of food. He had to steal food from stores and the school to survive. One day he stole hot dogs from the school cafeteria and someone caught him. When he got home his mother made him puke it up and then eat it again. She almost went to the extent of making David eat his baby brother’s feces. Another incident was when David was cleaning the kitchen floor for his mother. She all of a sudden stormed into the kitchen and started yelling at him. â€Å"You’ve made my life a living hell!† she sneered. â€Å"Now it’s time I show you what hell is like!† Right after she said that she took him by the arm, turned on the gas stove, and burned the flesh on his arm. She then proceeded to make him take off his clothes and lay on top of the flames. David’s mother tortured him for no reason except for her own sick pleasure. She would also make him drink ammonia, wear tattered clothes, sleep in the garage, and she even went to the extent of stabbing him and not taking him to the hospital. This story ended with David saying the Lord’s Prayer and praying for God to save him from his living hell. This is one of the best, yet saddest books that I have ever read. There is so much reality in this book, but I never knew that reality w...

Suicide and the images of death in Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Suicide and the images of death in Hamlet - Essay Example This suspicion is confirmed when he makes his famous speech wishing that his flesh would â€Å"melt,/ Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.† (Act I, Scene 2, lines 129-130). He says that the reason he does not kill himself is because God has made laws against â€Å"self-slaughter† (Act 1, Scene 2, line 131) but in fact the real reason is probably that he is over-dramatizing his mother’s relationship with his uncle, and he does not have the courage to do this to himself. The character of Hamlet appears to be very prone to dwelling on sad events, and he also feels weighed down by the pressures of belonging to this royal family. The two young men Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are presented as a sharp contrast to the miserable Hamlet, and while they make jokes about Fortune being a woman, Hamlet just maintains â€Å"Then is doomsday near...Denmark’s a prison...† (Act II, Scene 2, lines 236 and 241) He seems to have given up on life because he says â€Å" I have of late-but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises.† (Act II, Scene 2, lines 293-295) He contemplates suicide in another famous speech where he asks himself whether it is better â€Å"To be, or not to be...† (Act III, Scene 1, line 56). The image that he has of suicide and death is that of sleeping, and while this tempts him, because he is so tired of all the troubles that weigh him down, he is also afraid: â€Å"To die, to sleep-/To sleep, perchance to dream.

Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Proposal - Essay Example However, due to the high stress level in the hospital environment where pain and agony abound from the patients, workers are usually left with no choice but to concentrate on their own discipline in providing therapy, care or help for their patients. Add to that, the obligatory meetings set up by management to ensure that things are flowing smoothly, create resistance among the staff, as they are anxious to be questioned about their cases in detail. Such a scenario prevents effective communication to flow within the workers, staff and management of the hospital. This is a cause for concern, as the situation may bring about more problems that can affect the quality of treatment afforded to the patients that has gained recognition for Pinewood Hospital. The clinical director, Dr. Baxter has hired an internal consultant to help improve communication within the hospital. The following are proposed steps the consultant may make to gain a better understanding of the problem and to find appropriate solutions for it. The consultant needs to be immersed in the hospital to get a better perspective of the culture of the organization and the flow of movement and communication. He needs to attend all meetings himself to keep track of the agenda and see if there is overlapping information and investigate how these may be minimized to save time and effort. As a consultant, he is available to anyone who would be in need of his advice regarding concerns about communication, be they rank and file or in the administrative staff. Being so, he would have access to information that may able to help the organization. Another way to gather information is to conduct a survey on communication among all the hospital workers from the management to the professionals to the staff. â€Å"Staff surveys that provide a thorough understanding of staff attitudes and perceptions

Contemporary Issue in the Chinese Economy Essay

Contemporary Issue in the Chinese Economy - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that based on the results of the 6th national census carried out in 2010, the Chinese population’s average growth rate between 2000 and 2010 was 0.57%. In the same year, the population of people aged 60 and above reached hit the 178 million mark, representing 13.26% of the whole population and up to 5.64% starting 1982. The population in the 0-14 age group, however, represented 16.6%, a 16.99% decline compared with 1982. Reports forecast that the population of people aged 65 and above will represent between 15 and 20% in 2027 and 2035 accordingly. With a growth in the number of the aging people and decline in that of the working-age population, China’s dependency ratio of population will keep increasing and reach the 0.5 mark or above in 2033. This is a worrying statistic considering that it was 0.38 just 4 years ago. Based on forecasts by the United Nations, the dependency ratio of China’s population will reach an extr emely high level of 0.8 by 2070, meaning that 4 working-age people will be compelled to support at least two aged adults and one child by that time. This change in the population structure makes the challenge of an aging population a significant one for the country to confront so that it can guarantee social and economic development in the future. The past experiences of Japan show that even in a nation with a high-income level, advanced technology, highly-skilled workforce and developed infrastructure, an aging population is still likely to cause an economic downturn and even stagnation. In 2011, Chinese aged 65 and above represented 9.1% of the total population, a scenario very identical to what Japan faced in 1990. However, China is to some degree confronted with a more serious problem than Japan because it is currently still far from qualifying as a developed country. The negative effect on economic growth caused by the aging population can be summarized this way: First, the cou ntry will lose the benefits of backwardness prematurely in its pursuit of developed countries. Secondly, the country will lose its edge when competing with developing nations that still have a demographic share. Finally, China is yet to enjoy the innovative rewards of a developed country. Consequently, its original competitive benefits are dwindling, which in turn will surely magnify the need for a reform of China’s economic growth system.

History of Social Psychology

History of Social Psychology Social psychology as a discipline began towards the end of the 1900s when scientists began to carry out experiments to measure human behaviours. According to Kassin et al (2013: 6), â€Å"social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context†. This definition brings an important aspect of social psychology, which is different from the other artistic and humanistic attempts that try to understand human behaviour, in that the discipline itself is a science. It systematically observe, describe and measure the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of human beings as pointed out by Kruglanski and Stroebe, (2011). Another definition that was given by Gordon Allport (1954) cited in Hewstone et al (2012: 5) defined social psychology as â€Å"the attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings†. Although the d efinition can be argued based on the two perspectives of critical and experimental social psychology, Allport (1954) tried to bring out the notion that much of behaviour is influenced by social roles and cultural norms. However it still remains that the two perspectives of critical and experimental social psychology have divided opinions, ‘are antagonistic and cannot be integrated’ as pointed out by Rogers (2011). Social Psychology began in the 19th Century in America with an early experiment on behavior by Triplett (1898). In this experiment that took place in the early years, Triplett studied individual’s behavior when placed in competition with others and he used cyclist to study the behaviors. It was from the results of this study that, carefully controlled experiments began as pointed out by Kassin et al (2013). The next decades which were dubbed the Coming of Age, saw the continued refinement of the discipline with Lewin (1936) developing strategies and studies that focused more on the dynamic interactions that existed between people. In one of his studies, Lewin (1946) looked at the influence that situational variables have on person variables. The relationship between the two led him to conclude that behavior of a person at any given time is influenced by both his/her characteristics and the social situation they find themselves in. Other studies that took place around this time focused on the issues of conformity (Sherif 1936). However it was during the period of rapid expansion between the period of 1949-1969 that saw experiments obedience (Milgram 1974) and the prison experiments (Zimbardo et al, 1973) that really demonstrated the power of the social setting. Also as this field was an evolving field, it was not long before it was embroiled by crises and reassessment based on the different approaches to understanding human behavior by the different Social Psychologists. One of the most fundamental contestation in the field was the demand for the field to become more relevant to target societies of study. Such lack of relevance is what made Fishbein (1997: 77-91) to comment that â€Å"accusations of engaging in experiments that are trivial and lacking originality have been often labelled against the field of Social Psychology†. It was more like researchers were developing studies to pursue their own gains at the expense of finding solutions to real life problems affecting people something that led to the â€Å"emergence of crisis of confidence† in experimental social psychology as pointed out by Elms (1975). It was therefore the development of such and other crises that brought about the two perspectives of critical and experi mental Social Psychology, with different scholars and researchers aligning themselves to the perspective they believed to be the perspective that best study and explain human behaviour. Most of the researchers that carried out experiments believed in the experimental field of Social Psychology that had led the way in the development of the field before the emergency of the critical social psychology side of the field. There was a strong belief in them that the only way to gain valid knowledge about social phenomena, processes and events is by using scientific methods something the critical followers disagreed with. The critical followers believed that science is not the only way to get knowledge especially when it comes to Social Psychology. The experimental followers further believed that the knowledge gained was ideologically neutral. This position stood in sharp contrast with the critical followers who believed that all knowledge, whether experimental or critical, was inherently positioned ideologically as pointed by Rodgers (2003: 11). The last of the elements that stood in between the two perspectives was to do with the experimental side believing in the social world being separate from the individual acting within it. This was at odds with the critical followers who believed that the social world is shaped by the people through their interactions with each other. Therefore it is the difference in these elements that has led to the two camps to be at parallel with each other when it come to Social Psychology and its study on human behaviour. Early experimentalist believed in the objectivity and neutrality that quantitative research methods in Social Psychology brought to their research methods. This believe came about because of the traits associated with quantitative research that there is always a quest for objectivity and distance between the research and his test subjects something that led to the avoidance of bias (Bryman, 2001). However the main problem that arose from the use of such quantitative methods was on the generalizability of the results to all similar situations and settings something that was refuted by critical thinkers. Mkhize (2004: 25) commented that, â€Å"in the quest to emulate the natural sciences that psychologists construed their discipline as an objective, value-free and universal science and in so doing considered issues to do with culture as an impediment†. There was also a belief with the critical scholars that the experimental approach under modernism that assumed science is capabl e of discovering the real things and real happenings out there in the world was flawed. Critical scholars believe that knowledge is constructed and not simply discovered through science and the knowledge discovered through science was biased and based on what the scientists choose to observe, interpret and tell as observed and found. Therefore it was the denying of the modernism approach under the experimental perspective that led to the postmodernism approach and the emergence of the critical thinkers. The critical thinkers had their commitment in social justice ideology that sought to gain knowledge from all social groups regardless of background and social standing. Their approach used qualitative methods that sought to better understand human behaviour without being objective. The approaches were mainly more on the inter-relationship of the individual and their particular social context they live in whilst recognising the boarder social structures in order to understand meanings of certain situations as pointed out by Gough and McFadden (2001). This was a clear move away from the quantitative experimental approach that relied on white middle class American students for their experiments which they later generalised to cover all in the social setting. Although they did not wholly disagreed with all the knowled ge discovered through scientific means, they pointed to instances where scientific knowledge was not useful. For example, critical thinkers pointed to â€Å"many diseases of modern life such as chronic fatigue syndrome that could not be diagnosed through scientific tests because they are socially and culturally constructed, defined and experienced† as pointed out by Rogers (2003). Reference List Kassin, S., Fein, S. and Markus, H. (2013). Social Psychology, 9th edition. Published by Cengage Learning. Bryman, A. 2001). Social Research Methods. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Kruglanski, A., Stroebe, W. (2011). Handbook of the history of social psychology. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press. Triplett, N. (1898). The Dynamogenic factors in Pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9(4), 507–533. Sherif, M. (1936). The psychology of social norms. New York, NY: Harper Row. Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York, NY: Harper Row. Haney, C., Banks, C., Zimbardo, P. (1973). Interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison. International Journal of Criminology and Penology, 1, 69–87. Fishbein, M. (1997). Predicting, understanding and changing socially relevant behaviours: Lessons learned. In McGarty, C. and Haslam, S.A. (eds). The message of Social Psychology. (pp 77-91) Oxford: Blackwell. Hewstone, M., Stroebe, W and Jonas, K. (2012). An Introduction to Social Psychology: An Introduction to Social Psychology, Wolfgang Stroebe Volume 17 of BPS Textbooks in Psychology. Published by John Wiley and Sons. Rogers, S. W. (2011). Social Psychology. Published by McGraw-Hill International. Rogers, S. W. (2003). Social Psychology: Experimental and Critical Approaches. Open University Press Maidenhead Philadelphia Elms, A. C. (1975). Cited in Faye, C. American social psychology: Examining the contours of the 1970s crisis. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (2011), doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.11.010 accessed via http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Mail/xmcamail.2012_04.dir/pdfQIRyaPOkWx.pdf on 19/11/2014 Lewin, K. (2008) [1946]. Resolving social conflicts Field theory in social science. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Mkhize, N., 2004, ‘Psychology: An African Perspective’, in D. Hook, ed., Critical Psychology, Landsdowne: University of Cape Town Press. Gough, B., and McFadden, M. (2001). Critical social psychology: An introduction. London: Palgrave.

faith :: essays research papers

My faith is very complicated because I come from a Buddhist background and Learned Buddhism and been a very good follower of it. I was born in Sri Lanka. Growing up in a Buddhist family in Sri Lanka, my faith was initially introduced to me by my parents. My parents claimed to be strong Buddhists and they practiced their faith very often. Because of them I was very involved in practicing and learning more about Buddhism. To me Buddhism is a way of life. Buddhists believe that life is pain and suffering and that the way to end the pain of this life if through â€Å"Nirvana† also known as Enlightenment, a state of mind that is completely and permanently free of suffering. Enlightenment is achieved through the cleansing of sin and desires from ones mind. Buddhists also believe in afterlife and that one is born over and over again until they have achieved the stage of enlightenment. They believe that the after life is affected by the way you life this like and what ever good or bad deeds you do will come back to you accordingly, for am example if you do help some one, something good to you will happen later, but if you commit a sin, then you will be punished later; in the same lifetime or in another. Buddhism was founded by a prince named â€Å"Gouthama Siddhartha† who later became Buddha over 2500 years ago in India. Even though he has all the riches in the world he saw that there was pain and suffering in life no matter what, and one day he left his castle to go to look for an answer to be rid of the pain and the suffering in the world. He went to several different philosophers but he realized what all of them believed in was wrong and something that he cannot agree on. So he moved on and decided to go to the jungle and meditate to find an answer. After all his thinking and meditation he came to relies that the answer to sad ness is giving up desires because it was the root of sadness and to live life as simple as possible. In order to achieve this stage of enlightenment, one needs to calm their mind through meditation and get rid of sinful thoughts and the desires. After achieving â€Å"Nirvana† he introduced his teachings to people that was interested in it and then he recruited some people as monks to help teach others about his teachings. faith :: essays research papers My faith is very complicated because I come from a Buddhist background and Learned Buddhism and been a very good follower of it. I was born in Sri Lanka. Growing up in a Buddhist family in Sri Lanka, my faith was initially introduced to me by my parents. My parents claimed to be strong Buddhists and they practiced their faith very often. Because of them I was very involved in practicing and learning more about Buddhism. To me Buddhism is a way of life. Buddhists believe that life is pain and suffering and that the way to end the pain of this life if through â€Å"Nirvana† also known as Enlightenment, a state of mind that is completely and permanently free of suffering. Enlightenment is achieved through the cleansing of sin and desires from ones mind. Buddhists also believe in afterlife and that one is born over and over again until they have achieved the stage of enlightenment. They believe that the after life is affected by the way you life this like and what ever good or bad deeds you do will come back to you accordingly, for am example if you do help some one, something good to you will happen later, but if you commit a sin, then you will be punished later; in the same lifetime or in another. Buddhism was founded by a prince named â€Å"Gouthama Siddhartha† who later became Buddha over 2500 years ago in India. Even though he has all the riches in the world he saw that there was pain and suffering in life no matter what, and one day he left his castle to go to look for an answer to be rid of the pain and the suffering in the world. He went to several different philosophers but he realized what all of them believed in was wrong and something that he cannot agree on. So he moved on and decided to go to the jungle and meditate to find an answer. After all his thinking and meditation he came to relies that the answer to sad ness is giving up desires because it was the root of sadness and to live life as simple as possible. In order to achieve this stage of enlightenment, one needs to calm their mind through meditation and get rid of sinful thoughts and the desires. After achieving â€Å"Nirvana† he introduced his teachings to people that was interested in it and then he recruited some people as monks to help teach others about his teachings.