Sports injury. Lumbosacral disorder acquired during military training Essay

Sports injury. Lumbosacral disorder acquired during military training in 1998 and now preventing participation in sports - Essay Example One common type is stress fracture. This may occur in as much a twenty percent of military trainees (Jansson, et.al., 2004) This type of fracture may leave a scar which can still be evident in the future. The next paragraphs will be a narration of the author’s personal experience regarding a lumbosaccral injury incurred nine years ago during military training. This is a hindrance to the author’s willingness to participate in sports at present. The pain is worse when I tried to lean back while standing and gets a little better when stooping or during recumbency. At first. I did not mind the pain. I thought that I just got tired like the previous days of training. During the night, however, I did not feel comfortable. The pain was bothering me and I could not last fifteen minutes in one position. It was as if something heavy was on my back. Initially, I would grade the pain as 3/10 in the pain scale. However, during the night, the pain progressed to 6/10. I then took Mefenamic Acid, 500 mg capsule to relieve the pain. The medicine was able to relieve the pain for a while. However, the relief only lasted for an hour. It came back after an hour. When the pain came back, it ws 8/10 on the pain scale. Although I just took the Mefenamic Acid an hour before, I decided to take another capsule of Mefenamic Acid, 500 mg. The pain was again relieved. At that time, the pain became 5/10 on the pain scale. I then decided to seek consult from the physician in our infirmary. Note: To aid in the quantifications of my pain, the Visual Analogue Scale or the Pain Scale was used. This is based on a visual chart developed by Wewers (1990). Below is a copy of the Visual Analogue Scale. A V.A.S. card was printed by on a piece of cardboard in the infirmary. I have included the VAS score of the pain I felt during that time. I did not feel tingling

Traffic Lights Microprocessor

Traffic Lights Microprocessor Microprocessor: A microprocessor is defined as the digital electronic component embedded with transistors on a single semiconductor integrated circuit. One or more than one microprocessors typically serve as a central processing unit in a computer system. Microprocessor Components: Basic Components: The following are the basic components of the microprocessor: Registers: A register is a storage element which is composed of an array of flip-flops. A 1-bit register can store 1 bit and a 32-bit register can hold 32 bits and so on. A register has two inputs: Data input Clock input. Multiplexers: A multiplexer is used as an input selector. A multiplexer has 1 output, a control input and other data inputs. If the control signal is 0, the 0th input is moved to the output. If the control signal is 7 then the 7th input is moved to the output. A multiplexer with N control signal bits can support 2N inputs. For example, a multiplexer with 3 control signals can support 2pow(3) = 8 inputs. A 4 input Multiplexer with 2 control signal wires An 8 input Multiplexer with 3 control signal wires A 16 input Multiplexer with 4 control wires Program Counter The Program Counter is a register structure which contains the address pointer value of the current instruction. For each cycle the value at the pointer is read into the instruction decoder and the program counter is updated to point to the next instruction. Instruction Decoder: The Instruction Decoder performs the function that it reads the next instruction in from memory and sends the component pieces of that instruction to the necessary destinations. They are of two types: RISC Instruction Decoder The RISC instruction decoder is a simple device because RISC instruction words areof fixed length and the positions of the fields are fixed. We can decode an instruction, therefore, by simply separating the machine word into small parts using wire slices. CISC Instruction Decoder A CISC decoder is set up as a state machine. The machine reads the opcode field to determine the type of instruction and address of the other data values. The instruction word is read in part by part and decisions are made at each stage to determine how the remainder of the instruction word will be read. Register File A register file is a set of registers and a decoder. The register file requires an address and a data input. The other components required are memory unit, ALU, FPU stands for floating point unit and control unit. Microcontroller: A microcontroller (also microcomputer, MCU or  µC) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit consisting internally of a relatively simple CPU, clock, timers, I/O ports and memory. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a typically small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for small or dedicated applications. Differences Between Microprocessor And Microcontroller: Microprocessor = CPU Microcontroller = CPU+ peripherals + memory Peripherals = ports + clock + timers + ADC converters +LCD drivers Memory = SRAM +EEPROM+ EPROM + flash A microcontroller has a combination of all the above explained attributes whereas a microprocessor is only a CPU. Examples of microprocessors are 8085 and 8086. The following is the pin diagram of 8086 microprocessor: Examples of microcontrollers are 8254, 8279, 8255, 8259. Microprocessor Based Control Of Traffic Lights INTRODUCTION Now almost all the traffic light systems operate on a timing mechanism that changes the lights after a given time interval. An automated traffic light system senses the presence or absence of vehicles and reacts accordingly. An automated or intelligent traffic system detects traffic in many different ways. Current traffic systems react to motion to trigger the light changes. When the infrared object detector picks up the presence of a vehicle, a switch causes the lights to change. In order to accomplish this, algorithms are used to govern the actions of the traffic system. The traffic signal system consists of three important parts. The first part is the controller, which represents the brain of the traffic system. It consists of a computer that controls the selection and timing of traffic movements in accordance to the varying demands of traffic signal as registered to the controller unit by sensors. The second part is the signal visualization or in simple words is signal face. Sign al faces are part of a signal head provided for controlling traffic in a single direction and consist of one or more signal sections. These usually comprise of solid red, yellow and green lights. The third part is the detector or sensor. The sensor or detector is a device to indicate the presence of vehicles. One of the technologies, which are used today, consists of wire loops placed in the pavement at intersections. They are activated by the change of electrical inductance caused by a vehicle passing over or standing over the wire loop. Experimental Arrangement: In order to implement the Intelligent Traffic Signal Simulator, one needs to setup and assemble the hardware components and write a program to control the intelligent traffic signal simulator. The layout of the Intelligent Traffic Signal Simulator is displayed in Figure 1. The blocks, which are labeled N1, N2, N3, E1, E2, E3, S1 and W1 are the infrared object detectors. Hardware components: The traffic light system consists of four important components: the controller which is taken as brain to the system, the sensors which detect the presence of vehicles, the light emitting diodes (LED) which act as the actuator and the countdown timers which is displayed in Lab VIEW. BASIC STAMP 2 (BS2) is used as the microcontroller of the traffic signal. The BS2, which needs to be plugged to the Board of Education (BoE), is directly attached to the computer in order to program it. The wiring for the output and input signals is done from this board. Figure 2 shows the Board of Education to which a 9V DC power is supplied. There is also a DB9 connector, that is connected to the COM port of computer using RS-232 serial cable, for BS2 programming and serial communication during run-time. Next to the BS2, there is a breadboard. The breadboard has many strips of copper, which run underneath the board in a horizontal fashion. These strips connect the sockets to each other. As for the infra red object detector, SHARP GP2D15 is used. The sensor task is to detect the presence of vehicles. It is functioning continuously by giving a logic 0 when there are no vehicles and logic 1 when there are vehicles present. Therefore, they can detect the length of the queue depending on where they are placed. Each detector has a JST connector housing slot and three crimped wires to use in the JST connector. The connectors are plugged into the appropriate housing slot and into the detector. The light emitting diodes are used in order to show the traffic light changing according to the program. The LED light will change according to output by the microcontroller. In each lane, there are three LEDs according to traffic lights colors which consist of red, yellow and green. Moreover, two inverters were used in order to connect the output of green and red LEDs together. Therefore, when the green LED is ON then the red LED will be OFF and vice-versa. Figure 3 shows the connection of the input and output ports to sensors and LEDs. The BS2 microcontroller has 16 Input and Output ports. The ports were divided into 8 input and 8 output ports. The output ports, which are from P0 to P7, give either logic 0 or 1 to the LEDs. The input ports, which are from P8 to P15, receive input signal from the sensors. Software simulation: After the hardware had been setup, a program written in the BASIC programming language in the BASIC STAMP editor is downloaded into the microcontroller. The simulation of the algorithm of the traffic signal system was done using MATLAB software. The countdown timer interfacing according to the traffic system using Lab VIEW software is created using the BNC Adapter and the Data Acquisition Card (DAQ) device. The Lab VIEW programming is done in the diagram using graphical source code. In the block diagram the program runs from left to right. If the green light in the traffic model does not illuminate, the system goes into default since there is no input into the system. The signal from the sensor is acquired through the DAQ, which is connected, to the computer. Using 8085 to Design: The hardware of the system consists of two parts. The first part is Microprocessor based system with 8085. Microprocessor as CPU and the peripheral devices like EPROM, RAM, Keyboard Display Controller 8279, Programmable as Peripheral Interface 8255, 26 pin parallel port connector, 21 keys Hexa key pad and six number of seven segment LEDs. The second part is the traffic light controller interface board, which consist of 36 LEDs in which 20 LEDs are used for vehicle traffic and they are connected to 20 port lines of 8255 through Buffer. Remaining LEDs are used for pedestrian traffic. The traffic light interface board is connected to Main board using 26 core flat cables to 26-pin Port connector. The LEDs can be switched ON/OFF in the specified sequence by the Microprocessor. Result and Conclusion: The traffic signal operation will start by the traffic lights illuminating in red for 1 second in all directions. Then the traffic signals will start illuminating in the clockwise direction of the magnet compass. This means that it will start operating in the North lane, then East lane, then South lane, then West lane and goes back to North lane.

The Lost Boy Essay -- essays research papers

A Child Called "it" In his two novels A Child Called "it", and The Lost Boy, the author, Dave Pelzer explains about his childhood. During that time, author was a young boy from an age 3 to an age 9. David’s mother has started to call him " The Boy" and "it." The author mainly covers the relationship between his family. His main focus point is the bond between his mother and him. He describes his mother as a beautiful woman, who loves and cherished her kids , who changed from this " The Mother," who abused him because she was alcoholic and was sick. The Mother used David to take her anger out. An abusive mother who systematically closed down any escape he may have from her clutches. Shuts out any source for food for the poor starving child. Poor Dave had nothing left as hope, she convinced neighbours, his teachers, social workers, his younger brothers that Dave was a ‘bad boy’ and asked them not to pay attention to his condition. David’s description of his brothers went from, loving brothers to mother’s slaves. He describers how the love went to hate for his brothers had grew more and more toward the book. He tells that his brother’s behavior changes as his mother attitude changes. His brother’s starts to take their mother side and start to treat David as non-member of the family. He looked upon his father as a saviour, but the man had no spine. He always thought this ordeal would end someday but it went on increasing. Nevertheless, he found out ways and means to outsmart her, escape her, avoid her. Such a life may seem a dead-end for anyone, but not for Dave. At the beginning of the book, the story takes place in " The House† around 1970s in Daly City; California. There is only place in the house for David, and that is the basement. In the basement, he would sleep eat and stay there until he is called for his chores. His survior was school, where he knew he could be away from all the hard treatment and listening to his mothers. He hated being at â€Å"The House.† a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother’s games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an â€Å"it.† Dave’s bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allo... ... there is no great effort to employ the literary tools we associate with the classics: foreshadowing, detailed metaphors, analysis of motivation, etc. Pelzer relies on "language that was developed from a child's viewpoint" he tells us in the author's notes, resulting in a straightforward "This happened, then this happened, and this is how I felt" approach. What makes the book so compelling is the tale itself, as Pelzer describes incident after incident of cruel torture at his mother's hands and the ineffective and lame efforts of his father to protect him. Indeed, Dave Pelzer is an admirable man, not only for surviving a horrific childhood and growing up to be a man of many accomplishments, but also for taking us on a journey in A Child Called "It" that forces us to reevaluate our own lives and the world around us. I have yet to read the other two books in Pelzer's trilogy, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave, but I am eager to follow the progression of this man's life. Now a doting father, Dave Pelzer provides affirmation that the cycle of abuse can be broken. It is a message that must never be forgotten in our legislatures, our schools, or our hearts

Love Is Not All, or Is It? Essay

Edna St. Vincent Millay, â€Å"Love is Not All† Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; 5Love can not fill thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone It well may be that in a difficult hour, 10 Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, Or nagged by want past resolution’s power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food It well may be I do not think I would. Part I: Paraphrase the Poem. Love isn’t everything, it’s not food, beverages, sleep and it sure won’t act as a roof against the rain. Love cannot offer a sinking man in peril a life-saving â€Å"floating spar†. As he rises, he sinks, only to rise and sink again. Love cannot give the air we need to fill our â€Å"thickened lung†, it can not clean blood or heal broken bones. Yet for all the things love can’t do, a man without love is a man â€Å"making friends with death†. The lack of love alone in a difficult hour will pin you down by pain, whine for release or harass you by the power of past resolution’s. One might be driven to sell love for peace, trade their memories for a meal, but never give up love even if it was to release horrible pains or to get food to live. Part II: Scan the Poem. / = stressed syllable ^ = unstressed syllable = half-stressed syllable || = significant pause ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 1Love is not all: it is not meat nor drinkA ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 2Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;B ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 3Nor yet a floating spar to men that sinkA ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 4And rise and sink and rise and sink again;B ^ / | ^ /| ^ /| ^ / | ^ / | 5Love can not fill thickened lung with breath,C ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 6Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;D ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ ^ / | 7Yet many a man is making friends with deathC ^ / | ^ / | / ^ | / ^ | ^ ^ / | 8Even as I speak, for lack of love aloneD ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / |^ / | || 9It well may be that in a difficult hour,E ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 10Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,F ^ / | ^ / | ^ /| ^ / | ^ /| || 11Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,E ^ / | ^ / | ^ ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 12I might be driven to sell your love for peace,F ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ ^ / | 13Or trade the memory of this night for foodG ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | ^ / | 14It well may be I do not think I would. G * Line 1-6 are composed with Iambic pentameters, which are ten syllables for each line in five Iambic pairs. * Line 7 is mostly Iambic with the last feet being Anapest. * Line 8 is the most complexe, the foot division are: Iamb, Iamb, Trochee, Trochee, Anapest. * Line 9-11 are composed with Iambic pentameters as well, line 9 and 11 both have a significant pause at the end. * Line 12 has 4 feet of Iamb and one feet of Anapest directly in the middle. * Line 13 has 4 feet of Iamb ended with a feet of Anapest. * Line 14 is a Iambic pentamerter. The Rhyme scheme is ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. Part III: Write a Short Essay. Love is Not All, Or is It ? In Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet â€Å"Love is Not All’, the speaker depicts that love isn’t the most important thing in life, but you would do anything for it. In the first half, Millay declares that love is useless and unsubstantial to life’s requirement. The second half of the sonnet successfully outshines the previous half because although she has shown that love isn’t needed to live, Millay makes it clear that life isn’t worth living without it. Furthermore, love is not something that will help you physically; however, it always goes back to the fact that it’s the most influential and overpowering thing over you. Millay elaborates on the aspect of love, love can’t do everything, love can’t save a life, nor be a shelter or a doctor. Each section of the sonnet reflects a human need: food, shelter, health and emotion. Love cannot fill our stomach with â€Å"meat† (1) nor can it hydrate us, as illustrated by â€Å"drink† (1). Also, love will not regenerate a worn out man from â€Å"slumber† (2) and sure won’t offer shelter or a â€Å"roof against the rain†(2). Millay effectively shows that love is worthless on a physical level: as love can’t offer a man in peril a life saving â€Å"floating spar† (3), offer the precious air our lungs need to breathe, heal our body from illness nor â€Å"clean the blood† (6) or fix the broken bones. Millay writes: â€Å"I might be driven to sell your love for peace / Or trade the memory of this night for food† (12-13), to produce a scenario in which she is forced to choose between love and life. The imagery you imagine reading this sonnet is very concrete, even spine-tingling at times; therefore, far from the sweet sentimental ones normally associated with love sonnets. Love, as described by Millay, seems almost as if it’s worth nothing. For all the things that love cannot do, the author insists that we still need love to live. Millay makes it evident when she writes: â€Å"Yet many a man is making friends with death / Even as I speak, for lack of love alone† (7-8), trying to give her readers the point of view that men can die without love. A lovelorn man is closer to death. Line eight really changes the direction of this sonnet because at first, Millay’s definition of love was worthless and now the reader notices that she starts restoring the significant importance of love. The next lines begin with â€Å"It well may be† (9), which introduces the reader to a hypothetical situation being â€Å"Pinned down by pain and moaning for release / Or nagged by want past resolution’s power† (10-11). These two lines influence how the reader portrays love because nothing is more important, then filling that hole in our heart when love is missing. At the end of the sonnet, Millay offers a plausible solution to fill her human needs as she â€Å"might be driven to sell your love for peace† (12) for it would release her from the horrible pains. She might â€Å"trade the memory of this night for food† (13) to feed her starving stomach. For all that love is, Millay reveals everything when she writes: â€Å"It well may be I do not think I would† (14) meaning that love is not all, but she would rather be dead than not have it. What exactly is love? It is the hardest emotion to control, one does not simply choose whom to love, it just happens. Love’s not something you can see or touch, but you are well aware when love touches you. Love is not all, it doesn’t answer to life’s requirements; however, love is indispensable to meet those requirements and live peacefully. While reading Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet â€Å"Love is Not All† the reader realizes that love is so powerful and rewarding. In an attempt to bring agreement between love and life, Millay chooses love because life is nothing without love. Work Cited Edna St. Vincent Millay, â€Å"Love is Not All† (456)

American Childhood Essay

In the book An American Childhood, Annie Dillard tells many different stories throughout her life to support her main purpose. Dillard’s purpose in this book is to show us how we look at everything thing in an aw when we are young, but once we reach a certain age, life just hits us and we don’t see anything in an aw anymore once we reach adulthood. In part one, Dillard shows us her life through her eyes and how she sees everything in that aw. She tells us how amazing it is to find the dime in the dark alley that she believes is an awesome place. If Dillard was to walk through this same ally in part three of this book, she probably wouldn’t care about the alley because she doesn’t see anything in an aw anymore. As Dillard gets older, different things appeal to her eyes when she is wondering the streets. In part one, she was so interested in the dime from the dark alley, and then in part two, Dillard was curious about the strand man with beer in the back of his truck and the morse code. As the book goes on, Dillard develops a stronger meaning in life and has a wider vocabulary selection. When reading the three different parts in the book, you can see the change in age because her stories seem to not be as happy because she isn’t living in that aw life. Dillard celebrates just living life, the wonders of the world and what amazing things it has to offer. She shows us how we perceive those possibilities as we are young and when we become older, what nature the world can be as we explore it. In Part three Dillard because a whole new person, or so she thinks. She loses all the aw she had as a child and realized how she can make her own decisions in life, she doesn’t have to listen to anyone and she didn’t like that. Dillard states â€Å"I was growing and thinning, as if pulled. I was getting angry, as if pushed. I morally disapproved most things in North America, and blamed my innocent parents for them. My feelings deepened and lingered. The swift moods of early childhood-each formed by and suited to its occasion-vanished. Now feelings lasted so long they left stains† (Dillard 2220). Dillard didn’t feel the support to help her in decision making from her parents anymore and she disliked that. During this â⠂¬Å"chapter†, Dillard really takes the turn for the worst and starts to make some bad decisions. She tells us how â€Å" She couldn’t remember how to forget herself†( Dillard 224). This shows how life hit her like a brick wall and she isn’t seeing life in an aw now and she doesn’t like a single second of it.