Where is Cole Group vulnerable? What should it watch out for?

Question 2: Where is Cole Group vulnerable? What should it watch out for? As a company with millions of customer throughout 2, 900 stores, The Coles Group certainly be one of the top companies in Australia and New Zealand. However, it has lost its market share to the more enhanced and focused Woolworths company. The loyalty program battleground between two companies seemed more advantages over the Woolworths side since it gained 40% of market share with less on 50% advertising spending. There are some possible problems the Coles Group has to consider while managing its broad relationship marketing programs.First, their customer may find it very difficult to understand and remember all the complexity of saving points promotion. Second, it may cost even more in advertising and marketing to inform the customer all the benefits they can get from the diverse collection of Coles Group promotions. People are confused to count all the points, discount, actual value they can get from the FlyB uys card. On the other hand, The Woolworths offered the simple, logical program of discounts points via WoolworthsCredit Card, so the Woolworths can deliver these loyalty programs to the customer better. Moreover, with millions of members through FlyBuys and Coles Group Source MasterCard, the system may misreport the reward points for the customer and cause some serious customer complaints.References:Bianca Hartge-Hazelman. (2012, 11 July). The loyalty program battle ground .The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 11 July 2012 from http://www.afr.com/p/personal_finance/portfolio/the_loyalty_program_battle_ground_4hwbD00hKdMWP6verYnLpN Madeleine Ross(2012, 7 Dec). Coles vs Woolworths: Who's winning?. Bandt.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2012 from http://www.bandt.com.au/features/coles-vs-woolworths-the-battle-of-the-mega-marts http://wps.pearsoned.com.au/au_be_kotler_mktgmgt_1/85/21977/5626312.cw/-/5626314/index.html References cá » §a Case Coles Group. (2007). Welcome to Coles Group Limited. 1 November 2007, from http://www.colesgroup.com.au/Home/ Fenner, R. (2006, 31 July). Coles plans comeback to recoup market share [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 3 November 2007 from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/31/bloomberg/sxcoles.php. Fenner, R., & Choudhury, A. (2006, 13 March). Coles Myer to offload its department stores [Electronic Version]. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/13/bloomberg/sxcoles.php. FlyBuys. (2007). Frequent Questions [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from https://www.flybuys.com.au/flybuys/content/information/faq.html. Howarth, B. (2007, 3 October). Beer and nappies and so much more [Electronic Version]. The Age. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.smh.com.au/news/businessinnovations/beer-and-nappies-and-so-much-more/2007/10/22/1192941044453.html. smh.com.au. (2004, 19 July). Woolworths reports $27.9b annual sales [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/19/1090089068573.html?from=storylhs. Woolworths. (2007). The fresh food people. Retrieved 3 November, 2007, from http://www.woolworths.com.au/

Important Events in Contemporary History

INT1010 Contemporary World One Event #1: The Korean War 1950 On June 25th 1950, communist North Korea proceeded to invade western- supported South Korea to unite Korea by force. Significance to contemporary history: Event #2: Malayan Independence 1957 What happened? Significance to contemporary history: Malayan Independence reinforced the ending of colonialism in South East Asia. Also, it signified the ability and right to self-rule for previously colonized states. Following independence, Malaya’s tin and rubber export also gave a significant boost to the US dollar. Event #3: The formation of the Berlin Wall 1961 What happened? In August 1961, a physical partition of between East and West Germany was put in place in Berlin under the command of President Khrushchev. Significance on contemporary history: The Berlin Wall symbolized the acceptance of the status quo in Europe by both sides. The most significant aspect of the Berlin Wall is arguably the fact that it clarified worldwide the difference between the two superpowers and their varying political system. The Berlin Wall went on to become the symbol of the ultimate measure of inadequacy of communism. Event #4: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 Significance to contemporary history: The Cuban Missile Crisis marks the first and only time the world has come close to a nuclear war. As a result, both The Soviet Union and The United States worked towards improving their communication and easing tensions, which led to the creation of a ‘hot-line’ between American and Soviet capitals. However, both parties also continued the development of their nuclear weapons, which resulted in a world of mutually assured destruction (MAD). Event #5: Islamic Revolution In Iran (also known as the Iranian Revolution) 1979 What happened? Significance in contemporary history: The revolution brought much attention to Islam and interest in the concept â€Å"neither East nor West† that is, not American or Soviet policies. The newly Islamic republic also called for the overthrow of or other monarchies and the replacement of them with Islamic leaders. Internally, the revolution gave rise to the improvement of healthcare and education while also, eliminating secularism and the American influence in the government. Bibliography Timon Singh, ‘The Construction of The Berlin Wall’, 2009, http://www. euinfrastructure. com/news/construction-of-the-berlin-wall/, accessed 23 March 2010 Anthony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Oxon 2004, p240-242, 250-253, 463-466.

Analysis Of Todays Consumerism Anthropology Essay

It is where people encounter strong force to see and purchase merchandises. A perfect illustration to demo grounds exists in manner universe. There is strong indicant of tense competition happens between dressing industry to win the market. In relation to that, the shop has become one cardinal facet or instead a strong statement to make trade name consciousness among public. The inquiry arise is how, in a comparatively over-saturated market, a shop can be perchance designed to convey strong message to pull the ‘crowd of consumerism ‘ into the infinite. 1.1. Consumerism Today The thought of consuming has changed over the past decennaries. Back to the early human civilisation period, most of the activities were needs-driven actions. Earlier, as huntsman gatherer, human hunted animate beings to be able to eat. Followed by agricultural period, agriculture and works cultivation were done to bring forth their nutrient. Consuming was a mere activity that must be done in order to last. In Industrial and technological age, the manner people consume things has changed. As more diverse merchandise being produced and diverse ways of distribution being invented, there are pleasure factors of devouring in signifier of picks. Peoples find excitement in taking what they want to devour. This leads to modern consumerism where the construct of consuming goes beyond the demands of endurance. 1.2.Shopping as Modern Consumerism Shopping is the twenty-first century ‘s representation of human consumerism. Peoples find delectations surrounded by scope of different stores and trade names. To be able to take and compares is the high spot of modern life consumerism. In signifiers of choosing, purchasing, and utilizing, shopping has catered these demands. Shopping can be seen as in a positive manner of carry throughing people ‘s demands and wants. But seemingly, it has developed so fast, in footings of activity, infinite, and merchandises. And over the past decennaries, it becomes major facet in human life. Museums, libraries, airdromes, infirmaries, and schools are going progressively identical from shopping. Their acceptance of retail for endurance has unleashed an tremendous moving ridge of commercial entrapment that has transformed museumgoers, research workers, travellers, patients, and pupils into clients ( Koolhaas cited in Luna, 2005, p.26 ) Shopping is arguably the most cosmopolitan activity today. The manner interior decorator design infinite has to follow this thought every bit good. Space has to be designed in such a manner to suit this, to enable people to shop anyplace, anytime. 1.3.The Being of Fashion Retail Fashion retail possibly is the best illustration to portray the modern consumerism. It shows how people thirstily choose what they wear under the limelight of diverse manner trade names. If the instance is taken to a higher degree, it demonstrates evidently how people determinations are led by pick alternatively of demands. High category manner trade names such as LMVH, Gucci, and Prada exist to function beyond people ‘s demand of vesture. They meet people ‘s desire for picks for scope of luxury merchandises. 1.4.Fashion of Singapore Singapore cityscape pictures clearly the being of international manner trade names. They, so, has become one strong attractive force point of Singapore for both local costumiers and tourers. Singapore is one of the chief competition spheres for these elephantine manner trade names in Asia. To be able to run into clients ‘ demand, every trade name has to come up with high-end design for its retail. Design and engineerings are optimized in its usage to hike the shopping experience that lead to trade name consciousness. All these things have to be done so that people will take certain trade name and non others. Orchard Road is a good illustration picturing the competition among these trade names. Interior design, facade intervention, show engineerings are being optimized to pull walkers along the route. 2.Retail Metempsychosis Peoples find pleasances in taking what they want. Retail has two different attacks in response to the demand. First, they must be able to supply a scope of merchandises for clients to take. Second, the retail itself capable to competition. That means it is besides considered one of so many picks in the market. In this affair, the retail has to turn out to the market that it is deserving chosen. The trade name, the merchandises, and the shop has to work together to stand out and creates strong consciousness in the market place. Retail has to rebirth, go forthing old conservative manner of advancing trade names, and making fresh interaction between merchandises and clients. 2.1.Brand Manifestation With a strong competition in the manner market, a strong typical image of a trade name is required to make public consciousness. The instance is non lone competition among merchandises but besides continues to the environment where the merchandises being promoted. At this phase, a shop has become cardinal tool for the trade name to make its images. A flagship shop is designed to represents the individuality of the trade name so. For new clients, the shop become the first things that attracts them before they go farther down to the merchandises being offered or even before they see the window shows. 2.1.1.Design for the Trade names Architecture and interior design are responsible to make environment to present merchandises to clients. Fashion retail, irrespective of manner, tendencies, or trade name individuality, should be able to make client consciousness and excite them to come and take it alternatively of other stores. This is the cardinal map of retail design before it goes down into a deeper and more specific case-based map. On higher degree, the designer or interior interior decorator must understand the nature of cloth and how single manner interior decorator, that is being represented, has their personal technique to handle it. This alone quality is the 1 that gives character to a trade name. The character, so, must be translated into the infinite in order to make strong statement of the trade name. 2.1.2.Emphasizing Fictional character In order to be typical in an over-crowded market, a strong character of the trade name is required. This character is projected from the manner the trade name transport itself to the market. It consists of scope of merchandises and service being offered, and the environment of where the commercial activities take topographic point. Retail design has to be able to make the ambiance that span clients and merchandises. The shop acts as a bundle and shelter, literally and metaphorically, to the trade name. The character will merely be emphasized if there is integrity between the trade name, the merchandise, and the shop. 2.1.3.Characterizing Structure A shop as a physical shelter might be more than plenty to envelope the commercial activity go oning under it. But in manner universe, it goes farther than functionality. More than merely a topographic point to expose the merchandise and supplying circulation for people to walk and shop the merchandise, the retail has to associate itself to the merchandise and the company doctrine. In other words, the shop has to set up relation, in signifier and intent, with the apparels. The physical construction, that provide commercial environment, has to intermix in with the apparels and make overall integrity. Merely by this manner, the client will see the bigger image of the trade name, and non loose pieces of the trade names. One ideal illustration of harmoniousness between trade name and shop is shown in Calvin Klein shop located in Avenue Montaigne, Paris. Its shop, designed by John Pawson in 2002, made a good illustration of how the character of the apparels -especially the early Calvin Klein ‘s work- has been translated into the retail infinite. ( Klein ) has said â€Å" It ‘s of import non to confound simpleness with uninteresting, † and executes his simplified, refined, sportswear-based forms in epicurean natural fibres, †¦( Stegemeyer, 2004, p.130 ) It is the thought of simpleness that is systematically conveyed through the trade name, merchandises, and shop. Straight lines and clear infinite sequences brings out the lucidity of the apparels, making a clean and elusive atmosphere of the shop. The coveted simpleness atmosphere is reinforced through impersonal coloring material that is achieved by stuffs and illuming installing. 2.2.Design Differentiation A character manifestation to a infinite is inevitability necessities to make strong trade name consciousness. However, irrespective of the trade name that is being represented, manner shop can be typical by itself. It is a 2nd measure after set uping strong representation of the trade name. This is about different attack from the experience side, researching the interaction between merchandises and clients in a conducive controlled environment. In other word, it redefines the manner people shop inside a shop, making a fresh shopping experience. 2.2.1.New Fashion Stores Fundamental With Singapore landscape that has been over-crowded with shopping promenades and retail shops, the creative activity of retail shop should be more carefully considered. When the market is driven by consumerism, the rate of retail formation will go on to lift up. However, any retail creative activity should see avoiding similar add-on to the bing scene that might make impregnation to market. It is a scheme to hedge the similarity and, at the same clip, open up a opportunity to stand out in the market place. To turn to the issues, the shop must provide certain factors in its design attack in malice of the trade name it conveys. 2.2.2.Flexible Frequent Space Retails should be able to update themselves often. It has to be able to accommodate to new merchandises, seasonality, and client tendencies. There is a high degree of experimentation in retail design. It relates to manner, and manner alterations invariably, is surprising and wants to make experiences ( de Wild, 2009, p.14 ) In progress degree, apart from the impermanent things, it has to alter in order to make different interaction between clients and merchandise in each brush. In other word it needs to switch, non merely in footings of layout, but in a bigger shop strategy. By using this construct, it is non merely the window shows that change every clip new merchandises are launched, but the whole shop represent the show that able to alter wholly. The thought can be achieved by using modular system for the furniture, puting digital multimedia interface, utilizing less heavy fixed show furniture, and put ining replaceable illuming systems. 2.2.3.Centre of Social Activities The new construct of retail shop is non simply about providing commercial activities -selling, advertisement, and purchasing. It is to integrate retail infinite and communal infinite to be a societal meeting point. With the planetary tendency of denationalization, I think we are most interested in the thought of shopping as a new sort of public infinite. How can we enrich these experiences? Can we convey new content, information, thoughts and ocular experiences to shopping in a thoughtful and dynamic manner? ( Seller, 2009, p. 23 ) The thought is to ease people do many other animating activities in their shopping clip. This thought can be done by open-space construct shop, creative activity of different communal infinites inside the shop, and even distribution between merchandise show and cosmetic points -plants, resting furniture, etc. The ideal integrating of societal infinite and commercial infinite is when people are able to rest and relief without any force per unit area to purchase while they are unconsciously take pleasance in the merchandises and tempted to purchase. 2.2.4.Cultural Relevance Local relevance is of import to do a shop appears hospitable. Establishing relation with the local civilization is important to associate the planetary trade name to smaller local market. Selling merchandises is non about pelting possible clients with the planetary merchandises. Alternatively, it has to be relevant to the context and understand local clients. This can be manifested through adaptative re-use of local landmark as retail infinite, redevelopment of historical aged edifice, and design merger between trade name character and local civilization. The new construct shop is about being able to unite the attraction of the trade name with local gustatory sensation to make strong invitation and besides sense of belonging to clients. The design attack mentioned above can be applied into a shop regardless of trade names and merchandises. The intent is to make new manner of shopping. Back to the statement before where people find satisfaction to be able to take, it is how the choosing activity can be more valuable and rich in experience. When this attack merged with the trade name character, it becomes a holistic bundle that convey strongly to the market place. The mission is accomplished when people find delight in choosing and be able to trustingly take the trade name. 3. Decision The consumerism-driven market will do people enthusiastically choose the merchandises they want. With an over-saturated market in Singapore, an unconventional design is required to for a manner retail to be typical and therefore, win the market. First, the shop has to attest the trade name that it represents. The shop design must convey the trade name and merchandises philosophy to make holistic image and strong trade name consciousness. Second, in footings experience, it must make refreshing and enriching manner of shopping. In effort to accomplish the experience, shop demands to be designed with consideration of three attacks ( flexible frequent infinite, centre of societal activities, and cultural relevancy ) . The new retail shop requires changeless altering in order to supply up to day of the month shopping experience for clients. A shop has to be a societal assembly more than a commercial topographic point, supplying a placid customer-oriented ambiance. Additionally, it is nece ssary for a shop to hold a connexion with local context and make a sense of belonging in clients mind. Bibliography Antonini, Alessandra. 2008.Design Boutiques. Barcelona: Linkss Design Council, 2009.Retail Design. [ Online ] ( Updated 26 Oct 2008 ) Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.designcouncil.org.uk/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Retail-Design/ [ Accessed 17 January 2010 ] de Wild, Femke. 2009. Retail Future.FRAME. Issue 69, Jul/Aug, p.14. EnterpriseOne, 2009.Recent Retail Trends A ; Future Developments. [ Online ] ( Updated 01 Jan 2010 ) Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.business.gov.sg/EN/Industries/Retail/StatisticsNTrends/FactsFiguresNTrends/retail_overview_trends.htm [ Accessed 12 January 2010 ] Harvard Design School. 2001.The Harvard Design School Guide to Shoping. Cambridge: Taschen Pawson, John.Calvin Klein Store Paris[ Photographs ] [ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.johnpawson.com/architecture/stores/calvinklein/paris [ Accessed 5 April 2010 ] Luna, Ian. 2005.Retail. Architecture + Shoping. New York: Rizzoli Manuelli, Sara. 2006.Design for Shoping. London: Laurence King Mostaedi, Arian. 2004.Cool Shops. Singapore: Page One Pawley, Martin. 2000. Fashion + Architecture. London: Wiley-Academy Riewoldt, Otto. 2000.Retail Design.London: Page One 2002. Brandscaping. Berlin: Birkhauser Sellers, Susan. 2009. 2Ãâ€"4, Inc on interview with Idn.Idn vol 15 figure 6,pp.22-23. Singapore Department of Statistic. 2009. Yearbook of Statistics Singapore.Statisticss Singapore[ Internet ] ( Updated 13 Aug 2009 ) Available at:www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/reference/yos09/yos2009.pdf [ Accessed 10 January 2010 ] . Stegemeyer, Anne. 2004.Who ‘s Who in Fashion. New York: Fairchild Publication.

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After 25 years of peace, a second war, World War II, became another prominent issue for the United States. Like the first war, The United States was again provoked into war. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing over two thousand civilians. Unlike the first war, the United States decided to quickly join its allies after the bombing rather than waiting to be attacked multiple times. The country again plunged into war, but this time, it was in the war for a much larger period of time compared to the first war. As World War II was a bigger war compared to its predecessor, more soldiers were needed to fight. With more soldiers needed to fight in the war, many people had to leave work to defend their country. This meant that jobs would have many open positions, and this wasn’t good for the economy. In order to fill the spots, the United States invited Mexican Americans to fill in the jobs that had been neglected due to war. The program that was then started was the Bracero Program, which was a program started in 1942 to hire temporary workers from Mexico until the war ended and the people returned home. Soon, over one hundred-thousand contracts were signed to get more Mexican American workers to work in the United States. After the war ended, many of the Mexican Americans were deported back to Mexico. However, because they had a taste of having a real job with real benefits, many wanted to return the United States. Therefore, after World War II had ended, many Mexican Americans began to immigrate to the United States, thereby raising the Mexican American population. With a slowly increasing Mexican American population, there will be more political influence in that group. Specifically, as time progresses, the Mexican American population will accelerate in growth, exponentially raising their political influence. This research paper aims to determine how the political influence of the Mexican American group has changed from 1960, when the population was not growing so quickly, to 2012, when the population growth is more prominent. Because Mexican Americans were given a taste of America, many of them wanted to come to the United States even after being deported. Because the Mexican American voting percentage was low in the 1960 presidential election, one could assume that the Mexican American vote wouldn’t affect the election, but with Kennedy winning by such a narrow margin and with a large percentage of Mexican Americans that voted for Kennedy, he won by the narrow margin because of the Mexican American vote. The election was extremely close with â€Å"Kennedy winning by a plurality of only 144,673 votes† (Schmal). Kennedy got just enough votes to surpass his incumbent. Due to the increasing amount of Mexicans coming into the country and being able to vote, more Mexicans were able to vote for Kennedy although it was just enough for Kennedy to win. Also, â€Å"Kennedy, who received about 85% of the national Hispanic vote,† was able to barely squeeze a victory by having Mexican American supporters (Schmal). With such the limited number of Mexican American voters, Kennedy having the majority barely helped put him ahead of Nixon to win the election. So in the end, without the Mexican American vote, Kennedy could have lost that presidential election; he could have lost thousands of potential votes due to the 85% of the Hispanic population that voted for him. One can see that the presence of Mexican American voters helped Kennedy win his election, but Kennedy didn’t exactly try to gain the Mexican American vote through his policies. What this means is Kennedy didn’t single out a specific group of people to help in the United States. All of Kennedy’s policies were intended to help everyone no matter what race, gender, or religion you were. The Mexican Americans that voted for Kennedy, therefore, simply liked his campaign for the nation. In more recent decades, the Mexican American population has transgressed. According to the Pew Research Center, â€Å"in the decade from 2000 to 2010, the Mexican-American population grew by 7. 2 million as a result of births and 4. 2 million as a result of new immigrant arrivals,† so we know that more Mexican Americans are populating the country from births (The Mexican-American Boom). This also means that throughout the 1940s to now, more Mexican Americans have been populating the United States in order to have more births take place in the United States. Also, this 11. 6 million total increase of Mexican Americans is only comprised of newcomers. Compared to 1960, there was quite a large number of Mexican Americans in the United States during the 2012 presidential election. Also, according to the United States Census, the total population of citizens is 262,856,643. Knowing that the population that is able to vote and the Mexican-American population, one can assume that the vote of the Hispanic population is crucial for the victory of a candidate. With a large Mexican American population, there is, of course, more political influence from the group. However, Obama and Romney had different strategies when it came to appealing to the Mexican Americans. One major thing Romney said was that â€Å"had [my father] been born of Mexican parents, Id have a better shot of winning this† in a secretly recorded video in the home of a private donor for a fundraiser (Llenas). He clearly believes if he were Latino, winning would be easier for him. This obviously offended many Latinos, and anyone who is offended by someone would think twice about voting for a man who has a demeanor that basically offends oneself. Romney saying this considerably hurt his campaign with regard to the Latino vote and, subsequently, the Mexican American vote. These types of comments are very sensitive because many are proud of their heritage and background. Even if not many Mexican Americans were offended, other citizens might have felt bad because Romney did not want to be part of his own race. Although it might have been a joke, a candidate must watch his or her public image at all times. However, Obama took a different approach with the Latino population. Obama knew the Latino vote was crucial, and he even stated: â€Å"I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community† (Abdullah). Obama is showing that he knows how big of an influence the Mexican American voters will have. Obama also knows Romney made a mistake when he did nothing to appeal to the group. What’s more, Obama also issued an act: the DREAM Act. This Act allowed illegal individuals to reside in the United States so long as the individuals are working or going to school. Because Obama was more sensitive to the Mexican American population, Obama easily got the majority vote for the Mexican American population, leaving Romney in the dust, and the results of the whole presidential election show this: Obama won the election. Millions of Mexican Americans voted â€Å"with resounding 71 percent support for Obama† because Obama has shown patronage to Spanish people (Siegel). By empathizing with the Mexican Americans, Obama clearly showed he cared more about them than Romney. With the presence of Mexican American voters, Obama easily won the 2012 presidential election. One could see that during this presidential election, the Mexican American voting percentage for the nation was less than three percent. However, if one was to look at the Mexican American voting percentage during the 2012 presidential election in the United States between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, it would be around twelve percent. Thus, the percentage of Mexican American voters has been increasing throughout the years; therefore, Mexican Americans have more influence power because more are coming with more political power for the group. Comparing the 1960 presidential election to the 2012 presidential election, one can see big differences. First, the percentage of Mexican American voters in 1960 was a mere 3 percent compared to the rather large 12 percent in only 2010 while the population was still growing due to more births (Schmal). From this, one can conclude that the Mexican American vote in 2012 had more influence on the presidential election than the 1960 presidential election. What’s more is that Kennedy, the winner of the prior election, had not done much in order to get any Mexican American votes while Obama clearly had policies, like the DREAM Act, passed to help with the percent of Mexican American votes he had. Therefore, by comparing these two presidential election results and statistics, one can see that with more Mexican Americans voting, it’s imperative for the presidential candidate to sway the Mexican American voters in order to have a better chance of winning the election.

Renewable Energy in Bangladesh

Renewable Energy in Bangladesh Inleiding Being aware of the finite stock of fossil fuels and their negative impact on the environment, most countries over the world want to make use of renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, bio-energy, hydropower, geothermal and ocean energy because they want to ensure energy security. The use of renewable energy has risen considerably in recent times, both in developed and in developing countries as well Bangladesh too. Bangladesh is a developing country with 154 million inhabitants. This equates to 1048 people per km ². It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with a population growth rate of 1,2% per year (Islam et al., 2014). In 2012, the growth rate of GDP was 6,2% (Ahmed et al., 2014). The economy of this country is dependent on agriculture and forestry. More than 80% of the population lives in rural areas (Islam et al., 2014). The rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization creates an increasing energy consumption (Islam et al., 2014). In 2000, the energy consumption amounted to 12,7 Mtoe (million tonnes oil equivalent) and in 2011 24,2 Mtoe (figure 1). It is expected that the energy in 2020 will rise to 185%. The electricity consumption per capita is 212 kWh. Consumption is lower than in other developing countries such as India (480,5 kWh) and Pakistan (456,2 kWh). There is a link between the energy consumption per capita and the growth of GDP (Islam et al., 2014). Around 76% of the population has no access to electricity, especially in remote areas in Bangladesh (Ahmed et al., 2014). Figure 1: Final energy consumption in Bangladesh (by fuel type) (Islam et al, 2014) According to Mondal et al. (2014) the biggest contributor of electricity is natural gas (82,81%) . The contribution of other fuels, such as oil, coal, diesel and hydro energy amounts respectively 5,6%, 2,4%, 6,9% and 2,8%. But there is a great shortage of energy. Energy demand is 8350 MW, while the supply is only 6000 MW. In the future, the difference will continue to increase (Ahmed et al., 2014). In 2021, the demand for energy is going to be about 18 838 MW and 33 708 MW by 2030 (Islam et al., 2014). 98,5% of all energy comes from fossil fuels, while only 0,3% of renewable energy. However, the fossil fuel is limited. This is going to be run out in the future. There are 23 fields of natural gas and the reserve contains approximately 566336,9 million km ³. Within the next 15 years this reserve will decrease. Recently it was discovered there 2,9 billion coal, but the extraction of coal is very expensive and the production of electricity from coal in a densely populated country caused a lot of pollution. Coal gives high CO2 emissions and thus harms the environment. Exploration and exploitation of renewable energy sources can reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and mitigate negative impacts on the environment (Ahmed et al., 2014). Renewable energy technologies (RET) Renewable energy is the ideal solution for people that live in remote areas, but also for urban residents due to the acute energy crisis (Ahmed et al., 2014). There are infinite sources of renewable energy such as biomass, wind, solar energy, hydropower. Different types of renewable energy are discussed in this paragraph. Solar energy Solar energy is widely believed to be one of most viable and efficient renewable energy resources mainly for its abundant availability. Bangladesh is an ideal place for solar energy utilization. Annual solar radiation available is more than 1900 kWh/m ². It is found that 94% of the land area in Bangladesh has such radiation which is sufficient for appropriate utilization based on available technology. Maximum radiation begins from March to April, and minimum radiation begins from December to January (Islam et al., 2014). Nearby 32,5% of the entire population has intermittent electricity access. However, a huge number of population is completely out of electricity supply, especially in the rural areas. From a sustainable view point, this scenario retards economic growth and social development of Bangladesh which is, otherwise, a densely populated developing country. Appropriate application of solar energy, as one of the renewable sources, could provide a stimulus to overcome such social and economic problems (Ahmed et al., 2014). Solar home system (SHS) achieved remarkable popularity as off-grid power generation essentially in rural areas where on-grid electricity remains unavailable and the necessary infrastructure is still in its nascent stage. SHS can be viable as a way to energy solution as well as small rural businesses development in rural areas and is contributing to social and economic benefits. Solar home system (SHS) is a decentralized photovoltaic array module connected with a rechargeable battery that can produce 20-100 Wp. Generally, SHS is applicable to low power consuming devices like television, radio, light bulbs, and others. The efficiency of SHS depends on its dimension of array and the sunlight availability. For isolated remote areas in Bangladesh, solar photovoltaic array is the most effective and efficient way for rural electrification. However, installation of such a system is not cost effective for rural mass population where majority of the population in the remote and rural areas do not have adequate access to financial support. Grameen Shakti (GS), a sister concern of Grammen Bank is now providing soft loan to the rural people. GSs effort to solar home system also contributed to socioeconomic development. It is considered as an important stimulus for sustainable development (Ahmed et al., 2014). In 2012 there are already 1,320,965 SHS. By 2015 the government wants to install 4 million SHS (Islam et al., 2014). Wind energy Wind energy potential is not encouraging, except in some coastal areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a coastal belt of around 724 km. The total capacity of wind energy in Bangladesh is 235 MW. Geographically, strong south-southeast monsoon wind comes from Indian Ocean and enters the coastal areas of Bangladesh. The wind blows continuously with an average speed from 3 m/s to 6 m/s over Bangladesh from March to September. This continuous wind can be captured and converted to kinetic energy with an integrated system comprising of both mechanical and electrical components. This energy can be connected to central grid or can be used to support local electricity supply (Ahmed et al., 2014). However, taking into account wind as a potential renewable energy resource in Bangladesh, disruption occurs due to lack of suitable wind map and the relevant data required to estimate the potential of electricity generation. Global wind data and research shows that wind speed not more than 7 m/s is not viable for large scale grid connected electricity production. But in some places, measured values of wind speed aren’t present in Bangladesh (Islam et al., 2014). Biomass energy In Bangladesh, traditional biomass such agricultural residues, wood wastes and animal dung, represents respectively 46%, 34% and 20% of the energy supply. From environmental and economic sustainability viewpoint, biomass energy is an effective energy source for rural population of the country. Bangladesh is endowed with rich biomass energy with a potential electricity generation capacity of 160,93 TWh from agricultural crop residues, followed by 121,768 TWh from recoverable waste, and 29,91 TWh from fuel wood, saw dust and tree residues. There are two kind of types of biomass energy namely biogas and biofuel. Biogas is a residue from animal and municipal wastes. Technology dissemination is very poor. IDCOL (Infrastrcuture Development Company Limited) installed 22549 biogas plants. 32% of the total biogas plants are not working due to lack of appropriate maintenance and technical knowledge. By the another type of the biomass is biofuel. Bangladesh is in early stage developing biofuel. Biofuel is produced from transesterification of oil, which is derived from energy crops. It’s no energy crop being produced for biofuels at commercial scale. The biofuel will be used as gasohol in the vehicle and the price will be reduced by 20-30% compared to other transport fuel. Bangladesh imports large amount of petroleum products with high price from international market and could save millions of foreign exchange as it is used a biofuel. Environmental pollution from transportation sector would also be reduced utilizing biofuel (Islam et al., 2014). Hydropower energy Due to geographical flatness, Bangladesh has limited hydropower potential. It’s 2 hydropower plants (Kaptai and Barak River) and it generates 220 MW and 1500 MW respectively (Ahmed et al., 2014). But small-scale hydropower is popular because of the low cost, reliability and environmental benefits. It has the potential to generate 5MW electricity. Most of the small-scale hydropower potential sites were discovered in rural, remote and hill track areas which can contribute to overall socio-economic development of Bangladesh ensuring power supply for the rural population (Islam et al., 2014). Policy changes Today only 44% of the population in Bangladesh is foreseen with electricity, and on top of that Bangladesh has very limited non-renewable energy resources of its own. An energy crisis and desertification problem in rural areas are not excluded. The government aims since 2005 to provide electricity for everybody before 2020 by the plan to generate more power from coal and furnace-oil-based peaking power plants (Mondal et al., 2014; PSMP, 2005). Increasing the fossil fuels to meet the growing electricity-demand counteracts the world’s attempts to stop (or reduce) climate change. In addition to the influence on a world-scale, the increased use of fossil-fuels has an influence on local scale as well. It’s proved that the power sector in Bangladesh counts for 40% of the total CO2 emissions and as a consequence there’s an increasing need to develop and promote alternative energy sources to reduce the negative impacts on global and local scale (Mondal et al., 2014). Mor eover, too much dependency on natural gas is obviously fraught with risks for power production and for other commercial activities (Sarkar M.A.R. et al., 2003). These issues could be eliminated if renewable energy is used as a primary source of energy in rural areas.Further is rational policy dissemination important because efficient utilization of renewable energy resources is yet to assume commercial dimensions. In this section, a picture will be drawn of the already taken steps in governance on the one hand and opportunities and bottlenecks for the implementation of renewable energy technologies (RET’s) on the other hand. Bangladesh’ government released in 2002 a draft renewable policy which provided modalities, procedures, tariff regulations, fiscal and other incentives,†¦ for the implementation of so-called RET’s (REP, 2002; Mondal et al., 2010). They did foresee also guidelines for the development of an independent authority for renewable energy, namely the Renewable Energy Development Authority (REDA). With this policy, the ambition is to have around 10% renewable energy of the total demand by 2020 (Mondal et al., 2010). This year has to be taken relatively because other sources mention that this share of renewable energy would contribute to national demand in 2030 (Ahmed S. et al., 2014). In 2008, the policy was reformulated and as part of that policy it has engaged with the development partners and private sector to boost generation (Ahmed S. et al., 2014). According to REP (2008), the objectives of the Renewable Energy Policy of Bangladesh include: to harness the potential of renewable energy resources and dissemination of renewable energy technologies in rural, peri-urban and urban areas to enable, encourage and facilitate both public and private sector investment in renewable energy projects to develop sustainable energy supplies to substitute indigenous non-renewable energy supplies. Although REDA was the sole authority administering all kinds of activities that could be related to energy – both rural and renewable – government decided to establish a new unit for fostering the use of renewable energy for power generation (Mondal et al., 2014). This authority consists of representatives of a large variety of stakeholders, including business community, academics and/or representatives from Bangladesh solar energy society, NGOs, financial institutions as well as implementing agencies (Mondal et al., 2014) and had to take following initiatives to implement the objectives in the policies. It had to take its responsibility concerning coordination, planning, promoting awareness, supporting the establishment of small and medium renewable energy enterprises and service providers, providing financial support in research and soliciting of grid connected renewable energy projects. The authority had to determine the priorities for the renewable technology development. SEDA will support capacity building, human resource and market development. Investments has to be expanded. Microcredit support is established to promote the purchase of renewable energy equipment and private sector participation and joint venture programs will be encouraged. In a way for example, for solar house systems – the most important source of renewable energy for the moment – three different financial systems are available today. On the one hand one can opt for the fee-for-service option. The installation is still owned by Rural Electrification Board (REB) and the users pay a monthly fee for the services. The second option consists the credit program of Grameen Shakti – a not-for-profit company founded to promote and supply renewable energy technology at an affordable rate to rural households of Bangladesh (Right Livelihood Award Foundation Archive, 2007). – where customers pay 50% down payment and the other 50% has to be paid over a long period (varying from 6 months to several years). Regulatory policies to distribute renewable energy has to be implemented Further, Bangladesh became a member of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) – the only inter-governmental agency working exclusively on renewable energy – to reinforce international cooperation. As mentioned before, Bangladesh is working to provide more energy to its people, in order to accelerate economic growth, poverty reduction, and social development. German companies are supporting these efforts through KfW Entwicklungsbank and the Gesellschaft fà ¼r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Embassy Dhaka, 2015). Renewable energy and energy efficiency is a priority area of Bangladeshi-German development cooperation. Finally, it’s important to recognize the importance of awareness and dissemination programs. When people lack information and awareness, government can do as much work as now, they can establish thousands of institutions to stimulate the use of renewable energy, but people won’t (or cannot) make use of it. There is one example where government wanted to implement bio gas plant into rural houses, but they didn’t involve the households in the project and as a consequence, more than 50% of the installations were not working because people were not able to maintain and/or repair the bio gas plants. Considering this fact, a lot of organizations such as Grameen Shakti, REB,†¦ implement this in there guidelines as well (Mondal et al., 2014). Conclusion Energy demand will continue to increase exponentially because of population growth. Since history, economic growth can be coupled closely with energy consumption and production. According to Hassan A. et al. (2012) energy can be seen as a sensible approximation to assume that energy use/capita will increase with GDP/capita. The relationship between energy access and social, economic, environmental,†¦ issues is relevant. Being aware of the finite stock of fossil fuels and their negative impact on the environment on both a global and a local scale and health of the citizens, most countries, as well Bangladesh want to stimulate the use of renewable energy sources. Therefore, the importance of government as well as private organizations in the process has to be recognized. Subsidizing and supporting private-public Research Development partnerships can make renewable energy projects a successful story. Those endeavors manifest Bangladeshs commitment towards development of renewable energy although Bangladesh cannot make use of all renewable sources such as solar energy, wind energy, bio-energy, hydropower, geothermal and ocean energy equally, because of morphological and other natural characteristics. New solutions to solve the renewable energy crisis in Bangladesh so by governance help it’s possible to promote renewable energy which is more advisable than diverting internal capital to import refined oil from foreign countries (Ahmed S. et al., 2014). Nevertheless, the promotion of renewable energy in Bangladesh is still in an early stage and new projects have to take not only policies into account, but also the people in Bangladesh itself. They need to make use of it, they need to have the knowledge to make use of new installations and they have to repair it. The local demand and income generation opportunities should be the starting point of the implementation of RETs and then, after all, renewable energy in Bangladesh can be a successful story of whi ch a lot of other countries can learn a lot. References Ahmed, S., Islam, M. T., Karim, M. A., Karim, N. M. (2014). Exploitation of renewable energy for sustainable development and overcoming power crisis in Bangladesh.Renewable Energy,72, 223-235. The Press Section (2015). Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Accessed on 5th of May 2015 on http://www.dhaka.diplo.de/Vertretung/dhaka/en/07/Priority/Energie__Seite.html Islam, M. T., Shahir, S. A., Uddin, T. I., Saifullah, A. Z. A. (2014). Current energy scenario and future prospect of renewable energy in Bangladesh.Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,39, 1074-1088. Mondal, M. A. H., Denich, M., Mezher, T. (2014). Deployment of renewable energy technologies in Bangladesh: Long-term policy implications in power sector.Energy Strategy Reviews,2(3), 307-312. REP (2002). Renewable Energy Policy(Draft). Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Right Livelihood Award Foundation Archive (2007). Grameen Shakti (Bangladesh). Accessed on 4th of May 2015 on http://www.rightlivelihood.org/grameen_shakti.html Sarkar, M. A. R., Ehsan, M., Islam, M. A. (2003). Issues relating to energy conservation and renewable energy in Bangladesh.Energy for Sustainable Development,7(2), 77-87. PSMP, 2005. Power sector master plan update, Power Cell, Power Division. Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Field Programmable Gate Array based Digital Module

Field Programmable Gate Array based Digital Module Field Programmable Gate Array based Digital Module for Laser Frequency Stabilization A.Rastogi1, N. Batra, S.De2, S.Panja and A. Sen Gupta Introduction Frequency stabilized lasers are a crucial part in variety of atom-photon experiments such as atomic spectroscopy [1], laser cooling [2], probing the excited states of atoms [3] etc. Depending on the application, a stability in bandwidth from few MHz to sub Hz maybe required. It is therefore, essential to stabilize the frequency of a laser source to an absolute reference. Atoms or ultra stable fabry- perot cavities are used for this purpose [4]. Such stabilization schemes require electronic feedback / servo loops that allow for a correction in laser frequency deviation. At CSIR-NPL, we are developing the first optical frequency standard in India with a single trapped Ytterbium ion (171Yb+). The project aims at trapping a single Yb ion in a Paul trap, laser cooling the ion to about mK temperatures for a precise frequency measurement of the ultranarrow octupole transition at a wavelength of 467 nm. The 171Yb+ frequency standard will require a simultaneous operation of five lasers for photoionization (399 nm), cooling (369 nm), repumping (935 nm and 760 nm) and probing the clock transition (467 nm) [5]. All the laser lights for our experiment would be produced from extended cavity diode lasers (ECDL) which drift in their frequencies due to environmental factors as temperature fluctuations and mechanical vibrations. Such drifting renders them unstable and hence, incorporating frequency stabilization systems becomes an essential requirement for precise frequency standards. In general a frequency stabilization of a laser, as for example using saturated ab sorption spectroscopy [6], requires the use of a frequency synthesizer for scanning and modulation of the laser frequency , lock-in amplifier for phase sensitive detection, low / high pass filters, and servo electronics for feeding control signals to the piezo / current terminals of the laser. Instead of procuring these analog modules for each of the lasers used in our experiment, we have taken an effort of developing them indigenously with an all digital control using field programmable gate array technology(FPGA). Hence, the functionality of all the hardware components can be embedded inside a single chip. In this paper, we present an FPGA based laser frequency stabilization design and show some preliminary results of the performance of the FPGA design modules. An active laser feedback control loop mainly consists of a lock-in amplifier (providing phase sensitive detection) and a PID controller. As mentioned earlier, the controller generates correction signals that drive either a piezo attached to the laser cavity (as in case of ECDL lasers) or a current so as to adjust the laser frequency. Using FPGAs the entire functionality of a laser frequency locking system can be implemented in a single chip with an area of few mm2 . Moreover, the truly concurrent nature of FPGA processing algorithms results in the FPGA design modules behaving like dedicated hardware circuits. Minimal use of hardware leads to lesser probability of picking up noise from the surroundings and also reduces cost. The FPGAs could always be reprogrammed to incorporate extra adders, multipliers, filters i.e. they provide re-configurability. FPGAs are programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such as Verilog-HDL or VHDL. We have implemented the laser frequency locking modules using VHDL. A schematic of various VHDL design modules implementing a laser frequency locking setup is shown in Fig.1. In our module, the FPGA chip (Xilinx Spartan 6 XCSLX16) receives an input signal either from an atomic spectroscopy or from a fabry-perot cavity[4] [6] .As shown in Fig.1, the acousto-optic modulator (AOM) does amplitude modulations of the laser signal resulting in variations in the intensity of light at the photodetector output. This modulated signal at the photodiode output is the derivative of the laser absorption signal i.e. proportional to the slope of a resonant feature. At a resonant frequency, the derivative signal is zero and on both sides of resonance, the derivative signal is 180 degrees in phase. This signal is the input to the FPGA systemwhich is then digitised using a 12-bit A/D converter (AD7476) and then passed through a high pass filter component. High pass filtering extracts the high frequency modulated features from the input signal. The filtered signal then goes to the input of the lock-in amplifier component (that implements phase sensitive detection). The reference signal for the lock-in amplifier comes from a VHDL component that implements a square DDS generator. A phase shifted version of this reference signal can be used by the AOM to amplitude modulate the laser signal. The lock-in amplifier component demodulates the modulated photodiode signal by multiplying it with the reference signal followed by low pass filtering thereby generating what is called an error signal. The error signal contains information as to which side of resonance, the laser frequency is. This signal is then processed by a PID controller component. The control signals generated by the PID component adjust the laser piezo and current signals in such a way so as to ensure that the error signal is always zero (which corresponds to a resonant frequency).Many a times, it is needed to just scan over the complete laser spectrum or to zoom in on a particular spectral feature. In this case, the PID action is disabled and a slow triangular scan signal (generated by a scan generator component) is fed to the laser piezo.All signals coming out of the FPGA are converted into the analog form via 12-bit DAC (DAC121S101). Moreover, to aid in the flexible tuning of locking parameters such as the lock-in gain, PID parameters, modulation frequency and phase, scan amplitude and frequency ; we are working on developing a graphical user interface (GUI) that would allow easy access to and modification of the parameters values inside the FPGA registers. Figure 1: A schematic of an FPGA based closed loop laser frequency locking system. The experiment (atomic spectroscopy setup) and the electronic feedback servo (implemented using FPGA) are shown separately. On the right is shown the image of our FPGA development board with the Xilinx based FPGA chip at the centre. All the feedback components have been implemented as programmable VHDL modules . Results of Some of the VHDL design modules Operation of the individual VHDL modules as well as of the entire system as shown in Fig.1.have been verified, as for example, by observing the physical signals generated from the software implementation of lock-in amplifier, high pass filter , square DDS , scan generator etc. Here we are showing some of these results from our prototype setup. Function Generation:We have implemented the functional behaviour of a square DDS generator and a triangular generatorby developing VHDL components for them. The output of the square DDS module is used as a reference signal for the lock-in detection stage and a phase shifted version of the reference signal is used in the amplitude modulation of the laser frequency by the AOM. The output of the triangular generator is used as a scan signal that drives the laser piezo for observing the laser absorption spectra over a wide range of frequencies. The signals generated from these VHDL components are shown in Fig.2 (a-b). Figure 2 : (a) Shows a square wave of 20 KHz. This would be used as a reference signal for lock-in detection and for modulation by the AOM. (b) Shows a triangular scan of 10 Hz. This would be given to the laser piezo for scanning over a huge range of laser spectrum. (c) A sine wave of 100 Hz (red) was distorted by a high frequency pseudo random sequence resulting in a distorted signal (blue). The high pass filter module filters out the low frequencies and only high frequencies remain (green). For the response shown, the cut-off frequency was kept at 1 KHz. High Pass Filter:Our high pass filter implements a first order IIR digital filter. As shown in Fig.1.the high pass filtering is needed to extract the high frequency amplitude modulations of the photodiode signal superimposed over the slowly scanned doppler absorption profile. As a way of verifying the functionality of this component, a low frequency sine way (100 Hz) was added to a pseudo-random number sequence (10-bit maximal sequence) which was generated at 1 MHz. The result is a highly distorted sine wave comprising high frequency fluctuations superimposed over a slowly varying sine wave. When such a signal is passed through the high pass filter component, the slow sinusoid is removed and only the fast fluctuations appear at the filter output. The cut-off frequency determines the signal at the output. The high pass filtering is shown in Fig.2 (c). Lock -In Amplifier(Phase Sensitive Detector):Software implementation of a lock-in amplifier constitutes developing a binary multiplier in conjunction with a low pass filter. The binary multiplier multiplies an input signal with a reference signal The product is then passed to the low pass filter of a suitable cut-off frequency such that only the portion of the input signal that occurs at the reference frequency remain while the rest are filtered out. Moreover, the output of the lock-in amplifier (i.e. the low pass filtered signal) is directly proportional to the amplitude of the input signal and inversely proportional to the relative phase difference between the input and reference signals. Hence, for a given phase relationship, theoutput increases with increase in input signal amplitude. Similarly, for a fixed amplitude of input signal, the output is maximum when the reference and input signals are in phase (0 degrees) ; minimum when the two are out of phase (180 degrees) and averag es to zero when they are 90 degrees phase separated. In Fig. 3, we demonstrate the amplitude and phase dependence of a lock-in amplifier circuit whose behaviour we have implemented in VHDL. The input signal to this component was an internally generated sine wave (5 KHz) and the reference signal was a square wave (5 KHz). From Fig.3 (a) , it is clear that as the amplitude of input signal (red) increases, the output signal (blue) shifts in the upward direction. For very small input signals (near to zero) , the output is also close to zero. From Fig.3(b), it is clear that the outputs of the lock-in amplifier are equal and opposite for phase separation of 0 (blue) and 180 degrees (red) between the input and reference signals. Moreover, the output signal averages to zero (green) when the corresponding phase difference is 90 degrees. Figure 3 : (a),(b) and (c)show the dependence of the lock-in amplifier output (blue) upon the input signal (red). As the input signal amplitude increases from (a) to (c), the output level also shifts up(d) The mean of the lock-in amplifier is minimum when the phase difference between the reference signal and input is 180 degrees (red), maximum when the two are in phase (blue) and lies in the middle of the two extremes when the phase difference is 90 degrees (green). Implementation of Frequency Locking Using Simulated Atomic Spectroscopy Reference frequency from the laser driven atomic spectroscopy is currently not available due to in- availability of the laser.Therefore, to overcome this practical situation and test the FPGA based frequency locking modules,we describe an elegent simulation scheme for testing the closed loop FPGA based frequency control by simulating the atomic spectroscopy experiment described in [6] inside the FPGA chip itself. Essentially, inside the FPGA chip , there would be two main modules : (1) An experiment module that simulates a saturated absorption spectroscopy setup and (2) A feedback module that implements lock-in detection and a PID control action. The experiment module would include three components : A laser piezo scan / control block that receives a voltage at its input and generates a frequency as a predetermined function of that voltage ; an atomic spectroscopy block which generates a derivative intensity profile as a function of the frequency from the piezo block . This in effect results in a derivative feature as a function of the input voltage to the piezo block. In addition , there is a modulation block that mimics an AOM driver. The block modulates the derivative signal in a certain algorithm such that the positive and negative cycles of the derivative signal are 180 degrees out of phase. The modulated signal then goes to the feedback block. The functions for voltage to frequency conversion and for frequency to derivative intensity conversion can be carefully chosen such that over one complete scan cycle , the derivative is zero at a particular voltage. The frequency corresponding to this voltage is the desired freque ncy and the feedback loop should effectively generate a voltage corresponding to this frequency by making the error signal zero. In this sense, the feedback module includes the basic components as high pass filter (for removing the slow doppler profile features from the modulated derivative signal) , lock-in amplifier (for phase sensitive demodulation of the derivative signal thereby giving an error signal) , a PID controller loop that fixes the error signal to zero and a scan generator that is used for observing the derivative over a complete scan range. Also, the reference signal for lock-in detection and the modulation signal from the AOM block are generated from a square DDS (implemented inside the feedback module). The output of the feedback module is either a scan voltage or a PID control voltage. In either case, the voltage signal goes to the piezo component of the experiment module. In this way, a closed feedback scheme is achieved as shown in Fig.4 At the time of writing th is paper, the experimental module has been successfully implemented and we are able to simulate both the scan and lock conditions. In the scan mode, PID loop is disabled and the error signal is observed over a defined sweep span. Under the locking condition, the PID loop is enabled which pins the error signal down to the zero value. In this way, the system gets locked to the frequency corresponding to zero error voltage. After the first order confirmation of frequency locking , we next plan to charcterise the lock quality , add facilities of scan offset and error signal offset to the existing simulation scheme as well as introduce noise into the system . Figure 4 :(Left) A closed loop scheme simulating an atomic spectroscopy experimental setup and a feedback system both implemented inside the FPGA chip. (Right) A falling edge of scan signal (blue) with an error signal (red) simulating a spectroscopic feature is shown. A mirror image of the feature is observed on the rising scan edge . When in lock mode, the error signal falls flat to zero voltage (green) demonstrating that the system gets locked to a particular frequency. Conclusion We have developed an all digital laser frequency stabilization module using field programmable gate array technology as against traditional bulky and expensive analog controllers. The VHDL design modules developed, imitate the functionality of typical hardware electronics used in a laser frequency locking system. The design modules were tested both individually as well as end to end through different testing methodologies. Some of the results were presented in this paper.Also, before incorporating the design modules into locking an actual laser, we have developed a scheme that simulates an entire atomic spectroscopy experiment with an electronic feedback system, both implemented inside the FPGA chip. We have successfully shown the frequency locking action of our feedback modules through this scheme and plan to test them more rigorously by making enhancements in the existing simulation scheme. Acknowledgement S. De acknowledges support from Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) for funding this project under the project code :34/14/19/2014-BRNS/0309. References [1] K.B. Mac Adam, A Steinbach and C. Wiemann, Am. J. Phys. 60 , 1098 (1992). [2] D. J. Wineland and H. Dehmelt,Bull. Am. Phys. Soc.20, 637 (1975). [3] Chien-Nan Liu, Toru Morishita and Shinichi Watanabe, 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 194 032014. [4] W. Z. Zhao, J. E. Simsarian, L. A. Orozco, and G. D. Sprouse, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 69, 3737(1998). [5] S. De, N. Batra, S. Chakraborty, S. Panja, A. Sen Gupta, .Current Science 106, 1348 (2014). [6] Hall,J.L.;Hollberg,L.;Baer,T.;Robinson,H.G., ApPhL,39,680 (1981).

Women in Latin America during the Colonization Essay -- essays researc

Women in Latin America during the Colonization The perception of inequality was evident in the colonial Spanish America, man belief that women were lacked in capacity to reason as soundly as men. A normal day for European women in the new world was generally characterized by male domination, for example marriage was arranged by the fathers, women never go out except to go church, women didn’t have the right to express their opinions about politic or society issues. Subsequent to all these bad treats European women try to find different ways to escape from man domination and demonstrate their intellectual capacities, for example women used become part of a convent, write in secret their desires and disappointments, and even dress as man to discover what was the real world. On the other hand native women were not treating the same way, because their enjoyed economic importances that place them far from being man victims. However, Europeans women were very discriminated and dominated during the colonial times; but little by l ittle women fight for their rights and become free of man domination.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the year 1520 European women begin arriving to the New World; all these women were treat as minors and became adult at the age of 25 years old. At this time or before women were destined to get marriage. Marriages were controlled by fathers, fathers would make sure that the husband choose to their daughters were equal or better in economic matters. The issue of â€Å"inequality† of course, rarely arose on the top elite level, but to middle or low level classes it was a major issue. According to one of the stories of Tales of Potosi called The Strange Case of Fulgencio Orozco people from low classes pass throughout many difficulties to arrange a marriage for their daughters; in this story a Spanish man who lacked in economic matters experience many complications trying to organized a marriage for his daughter, he never obtain a good marriage for his daughter and finally became crazy, lost his faith in God and died. Cases like this one occur around all Spa nish America in low classes; marriage was an economic contract that almost always benefits top elite level class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a normal day a European women were required to stay home all day except to go to church. The church became a place of reunions to women of the top... ...European women could have all these freedoms was after the death of their husbands, the heritance from their husbands give to each women an economic base to managed business and be independent into society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, Europeans women were very segregated and under man control during the colonial times; but little by little women fight for their rights and become free of man domination. Today the status of women’s civil rights varies dramatically in different countries and, in some cases, among groups within the same country, such as ethnic groups or economic classes. In recent decades women around the world have made strides in political participation, as for example women acquired the right to vote, the right to become part of political issues, the right to marriage who they want, and the right to be free as an individual. Resources: Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes. A History of Latin America Seventh Edition. Houghton Mifflin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Company. Boston New York, 2004. Bartolome Arzans de Orsua y Vela. Tales of Potosi. Providence Brown University, 1975. Emma Sordo. Latin American Civilization Class Notes. 5/25/05.

On the Obligation to Keep One’s Promises Essay -- Essays Papers

On the Obligation to Keep One’s Promises Moral philosophy is generally in pursuit of the â€Å"ought.† More specifically, a common goal is to create some sort of rubric for evaluating specific situations, and in the face of a decision, revealing what â€Å"ought to be done.† A very important and consequently complicated â€Å"ought† is that which dictates if one should keep a promise. This topic is so vast that is seems it would take a great deal of effort to make progress towards an answer, and in fact, there have been volumes of philosophy written about this very subject matter. Two 18th-century moral philosophers who tackled this mammoth rather successfully are Immanuel Kant and David Hume. The backbone of Kant’s moral philosophy is what he calls the â€Å"categorical imperative.† In the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant uses the preface and the first section to introduce and develop the idea, and then in the second section finally states it for the first time: â€Å"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.† (Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, pg30)1. The â€Å"maxim† Kant speaks of is simply the motive behind the act, and a â€Å"universal law† is one that is a priori, namely, â€Å"a [law] of thought in general without regard to difference of its objects.† (Grounding, pg1). The categorical imperative states that an act should only be preformed if the motive driving the action could become a universal law, and therefore could be applied always regardless of the specifics of a situation. It should seem obvious now that th e categorical imperative is directly related to the question of whether one should or should not keep a promise. In... ...ames. W. Ellington translation. The page citations follow the pages in that edition (see Sources). 2 This quote, and all other quotes from David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature comes from the second edition of the Oxford text. The page citations follow the pages in that edition (see Sources). Sources Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. London: Penguin Books, 1995. Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. Kant, Immanuel. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten). Translated by James W. Ellington. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993. Kant, Immanuel. â€Å"On the Supposed Right to Lie because of Philanthropic Concerns† (â€Å"Uber ein vermeintes Recht aus Menschenliebe zu lugen†). Translated by James W. Ellington. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.

Dubliners and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock :: essays papers

Dubliners and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Several of Joyce's stories in Dubliners can read as lamentations. They are showing the frustrated inability of man to represent meaning by external means, including written word. When characters in ^Araby^, and ^A Painful Case^ attempt to represent or signify themselves, other characters or abstract spiritual entities with or through words, they not only fail, but end up emotionally ruined. In T.S. Eliots^ poem, ^ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,^ the feeling relates to one overall issue of emotional investment in representation. The poem laments, and with this theme and the symbols used, it is signified enough to be related to Joyce^s short stories in Dubliners. The name of the story itself and the bazaar-within-the-story, ^Araby^ is the most crucial object of misdirected concentration and sought signification. The boy explains, ^The symbols of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast on eastern enchantment over me.^ Joyce emphasizes the formal properties- ^syllables of the word^- thus granting ^Araby^ a kind of physical, phonetic importance beyond its external meaning. The narrator goes on to describe ^Araby^ as ^the magical name.^ Throughout the piece, the title-word ^Araby^ displays itself as a guiding metaphor. The name of the poem by T.S. Eliot, ^The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock^ is a misdirected concentration that is significant. The title is very ironic. The irony is present with the reader expecting the theme of love, but clashing that idea with the boring and dry name of J. Alfred Prufrock. The poem goes on to describe the journey as one, not of romantic, heartfelt,! or brotherly love, but of one story of frustration. ^A Painful Case,^ demonstrates a more complicated signifying condition. Early in the story, Joyce describes a piece of literature by emphasizing its formal properties, not its ^content.^ ^In the desk lay a manuscript translation of Hauptmann^s Michael Kramer, the stage directions of which were written in a purple, and a little sheaf of papers held together by a brass pin.^ The conspicuous ^purple ink^ and ^brass pin^ highlight the graphic qualities of Duffy^s volume. Joyce goes on to describe Duffy^s odd treatment of the manuscript, again emphasizing actions. ^In these sheets a sentence was inscribes from time to time and, in an ironical moment, the headline of an advertisement for Bile Beans had been pasted on the first sheet. The infrequency of Duffy^s inscription and his ^ironic^ outlook toward the physical text are made clear.

Solving Prison Overcrowding with Drug Courts

Elizabeth Johnson was a model student. She was characterized by her teachers as hardworking, driven, and goal oriented. After being placed on the honor roll and graduating early from Morris High School in Will County, Illinois, she attended Northern Illinois University to become a lawyer. Within her first year at college, her life derailed. She was caught by the police and arrested for possession of marijuana. Johnson was expecting to be placed in prison but she found herself in a drug court, which assigned her mandatory drug rehabilitation. After graduating from the rehabilitation program, she went back to school at John Marshall Law School, and passed the bar exam. Now, after seven years of completing the drug program, she has not relapsed and works as a District Attorney for Will County. However, stories like Johnson’s aren’t common. For every story like hers, there are hundreds of stories where the drug user would be sent to prison, shattering his or her future (Cain). Our prisons, now host thousands of non-violent drug users. These prisons have high upkeep costs, and have led to overcrowding in some states (United States, Department of Justice). The establishment of drug courts, throughout the nation, would result in less economic costs to America, while still rehabilitating drug users successfully. Currently a large part of the Federal budget goes to the criminal justice system and more specifically in stopping drug abuse. In 2005, the government spent 135. 8 billion dollars stopping substance abuse and addiction (Lyons). This money is spent on creating new rehabilitation programs and testing facilities for drug users to attend. However, drug users attend these programs on a voluntary basis. They are able to join and leave the programs at any time (Lyons). The Federal Government is spending billions on increasing rehabilitation facilities available, but is still sending drug users to prison. The courts still assign prison as sentences for drug users, as opposed to rehabilitation (Vrecko). Now, the Department of Justice needs another $6. 172 billion, on top of their current budget, for the rise in costs of federal prisons (United States, Office of Management and Budget). Our current drug policy is failing to match the Federal Government’s initiative for rehabilitation. The current drug policy and harsh punishments has led to prison overcrowding. The New York Times reported that in California, there has been an increase of 45,000 drug users in prison. This increase has fostered the argument of California’s prisons being overcrowded. California’s prison system is overcrowded with 145% capacity. There has now been a surge of cases to the Supreme Court about the constitutionality of the prisons (Liptak). Much of the problem of prison overcrowding has been linked to drug users. In 2009, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that 51. percent of prisoners are in prison for drug related charges. For comparison, in 1995, the number of prisoners for drug related charges was 26. 7 percent. (United States. Department of Justice. ) The number of prisoners has nearly doubled due to harsher drug policies stricter punishments. Like California, many states are dealing with a surge in drug users in prison which has resulted in an increase in upkeep costs. For example, Washington will need to build three new prisons to ensure the constitutionality of their prisons. Peter Aldhous, who earned his PhD from the University of California Berkley, wrote that each prison will cost $250 million to build and an additional $45 million to run each year. Unless Washington changes some of its drug policies, they will likely see a continued rise in the amount of drug users in prison and â€Å"prison upkeep costs†. Moreover, Aldhous expects 4. 1 billion dollars to be spent on new prisons across the nation over the next decade. While this is a long-term cost to states, many states will need new beds and other items for their prisons. In Texas, the prisons will require 17,000 new beds (Lyons). In addition, states will have to hire more prison guards. In the end, the short term cost to the state may be around 1 million dollars (Mergenhagen). As the number of overcrowded prisons rises, drug usage while in prison also increases. Many drug users in prison have the ability to meet their friends and family on visits. During these visits, drugs have been given to the drug user in prison. However, the drugs that are exchanged are drugs that are hard to be traced during urine tests. As a result, inject able drugs, which leave no trace in urine, are the most likely to be exchanged. The drugs are then used in the prison cells where other cellmates may use the drug as well. In a study comprising of 13 prisons, the range of prisoners who used injectable drugs while incarcerated was 16% to 54%. (Lines). When sharing injectable drugs, the prisoners also share the needle. This has disastrous effects on the health of the prisoners. Sharing needles causes an increase likelihood of contracting diseases like HCV, HBV, and HIV (Lines). Another study, which looked at 43 prisons, found that the average HIV/AIDS prevalence is 3%. However, specifically in New York, the prevalence was 12. % (Mergenhagen). Outside of prison, America has a HIV/AIDS prevalence of . 3% (United States. Department of Health and Human Services). Drug users in prison are 10 times more likely to contract HIV/AIDS versus the average population. Finally, the recidivism rate has not fallen with the harsher drug policy. Within two years of being released from prison, 32% of the drug users are incarcerated again for drug charges (Fox). This high recidivism rate furthers the idea that the inmates are not receiving the proper attention in prison to deal with their drug addiction. Drug users are sent to prison typically at a young age similar to Johnson. In prison, they do not receive any â€Å"additional education, job training, or counseling. † They are then released back into society without any new resources to succeed. Instead, they carry a record which impairs them from obtaining jobs, and the psychological problems of being behind bars for an extended period of time (Phlisher). The recidivism rate remaining high, and lack of resources for individuals to succeed points to the need for a new solution rather than prison. â€Å"Drug courts† are the ideal solution. These drug courts are separate from the normal criminal court. Dr. Scott Vrecko, who obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics, claims that drug courts are specifically made for sending drug users to a rehabilitative program. If the judge feels as if the individual would be more successful in a â€Å"rehabilitative program as opposed to prison†, he or she will send the drug user to a program of the judge’s choice. If the drug user fails the program, he or she will be sent to prison. This option gives them the ability to have â€Å"education, job training, and counseling† while in rehab. However, the availability of drug courts is limited to only a few states with Florida being the largest. In these states, they have great success on limiting the toll that prisons bear for drug users. Yet, only 6% of drug users in the nation have access to a drug court (Gorsman). 6% is too small to have any far reaching impact across the nation. Increasing the number of drug courts available to the nation on a federal level would have a strong effect on lowering the cost for prisons and reducing the recidivism rate. The creation of drug courts would have a beneficial economic impact. First, it would lower the percentage of drug users in prison from 51. 4% to around 17% (Berman). This would vastly lower the economic costs of maintaining the prisons. Moreover, it would only cost 1. 2 billion dollars to create drug courts throughout the nation (Gorsman). The proposed 1. 2 billion dollars is a fraction of 135. 8 billion dollars the nation already pays for the creation of rehabilitative programs (Lyons). The rehabilitative programs are already built and running. These drug courts would enforce mandatory attendance to the program. In fact, it would save about 1. million dollars per 200 people per year. (Lyons). The estimated savings would easily cover the costs of creating the drug courts after a few years. Many of the drug users in prison are not there on their first arrest, but their second and third arrest. The largest drawback of the prison system, is its inability to reduce recidivism. However, drug courts have become more effective at reducing recidivism. In one study, the recidivism rate was 4% to 8% after two years of being released from the program (Berman). This number is significantly lower than the 32% recidivism rate for drug users who go to prison (Fox). The most extensive study was done by Brenda Newton-Taylor an M. D. from Stanford. The study involved 432 participants and factored out eight different variables including â€Å"length of drug usage, race, gender, income, and the specific drug used†. They found a recidivism rate at 6% for those who graduated from the rehabilitative program. Furthermore, those that failed the program used drugs less often than before after being released from prison. On average they used drugs about a third as much as they used to. This resulted in the individuals having better jobs and maintaining better lives. The creation of drug courts have been effective in reducing the recidivism rate and lowering the cost on prisons. Many of the present arguments against the establishments of drug courts is related to a theoretical rise in drug users due to a less severe punishment. However, this idea has been empirically disproved. In the certain areas where drug courts are present in America, such as Florida, there has not been a statistically significant increase in the amount of drug usage or drug users (Marlowe). Much of this has been applied to the continued social stigmatization of drugs. Although some states have taken a shift in their drug policy, the stigmatization of drugs still exists. Further, although the mandatory treatment program is not as harsh as prison, it is still not an appealing punishment (Marlowe). The average length to graduate from the program is about 8 months (Newton-Taylor). The time required to graduate still deters individuals from using drugs. If they fail the program, they will be sent to jail which still acts as a deterrent. (Marlowe). The argument of increased drug consumption lacks empirical evidence. The establishment of drug courts throughout the nation would help to solve some of the pressing needs of overcrowding within state prisons and the stagnant recidivism rates. Elizabeth Johnson has been pleading her case to the Illinois state government for the creation of drug courts in every county. Many representatives have joined her support of drug courts, and Illinois has seen large strides in reforming their drug policies. (Cain. ) With many large states such as Florida shifting to drug courts, the push for the federal government to enact the change will undoubtedly follow.