Rapid Response Team of Acute Conditions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Rapid Response Team of Acute Conditions - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to provide in-depth comparison between the rapid response team of acute pain in Riyadh Military hospital and national health services of United Kingdom. The comparison has been conducted on the basis of policies being implemented in both the countries in terms of health care provision. Furthermore, the paper will also discuss the implication of SBAR model to address the rapid response for acute pain cases. The policies as studied within the context of UK hospitals are in the form of protocol directed by National health services (NHS) UK. The paper has been structured by providing in depth introduction to the rapid response team for acute conditions in national health services (NHS) of Saudi Arabia and United UK. Secondly, financial system section has also been added to understand the amount of revenue that is used to provide rapid response in acute pain situations. It should be noted that it is highly significant to create understanding with the advantage s and disadvantages of programs being implemented in health provision sector. Health Policy for Rapid Response Team in Riyadh Military Hospital in Saudi Arabia: The policies for the rapid response team in Saudi Arabia have recently been addressed by the medical services. It has been suggested in the main protocol of the program that response team will be selected on the basis of certification. This is similar to the criteria of UK rapid response team (RRT). The only difference is that the implication has been noted absent at most cases. Many cases are still being noted in the context of hospitals in Saudi Arabia where patients die because of no address to the emergency calls (Essa 2012). It is expected from rapid response team to provide intervention in the lesser time frame. This is the basic policy that has been set for the rapid response team of Riyadh military hospital. As per the hospital’s policy maker, it is expected that the rapid response team will be able to impleme nt all needed medical models for intervention purpose within five minutes time. Consideration of five minutes treatment means that the model implication for assessment of the patient is done along with the recommendation. If in any case, more time is being consumed then it should not be considered as a failure of RRT (Piza and Adelstien 2011). The criteria for setting five minutes assessment is because the members should be capable of managing more cases of emergency. The difference between any RRT with the traditional treatment team is in terms of minutes of assessment. The purpose of a rapid response team is to extract out the right cause from the situation of acute pain. If in case, more time is being taken by the team then the main motive becomes unaccomplished (Adams and Failano 2011). Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation (SBAR): The rapid response team (RRT) at the Riyadh military hospital level recommends the usage of situation, background, assessment and reco mmendation (SBAR). The policies for the rapid response team (RRT) have made it evident that SBAR should be followed in order to diagnose students in the best possible manner (AMA 2012). The implication of SBAR in Riyadh military hospital is because it has proven a successful manner to communicate the patient’s condition by the rapid response team to primary care provider. SBAR was basically implemented at US navy hospitals as a major method of

High school Essay Example for Free

High school Essay Tamil Nadu is regarded to be one of India’s star performers in the sector of elementary education. The results of the 2001 Census show that Tamil Nadu has attained third position behind Kerala and Maharashtra both in terms of overall and female literacy. It recorded close to 100 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) at primary and upper primary levels based on 2007 estimates. A major legislative effort for the universalisation of education in line with the constitutional mandate has been the introduction of the Tamil Nadu Compulsory Education Act, 1994. Under this Act it is the duty of the government to provide the necessary infrastructure (schools and teachers) for ensuring universalisation of elementary education. Parents are also liable to be fined if they do not send their wards to school, though this rule is not very strictly enforced as most of the children not going to school come from poor backgrounds. Tamil Nadu’s high enrolment statistics are also the result of the number of welfare schemes that the State government has introduced in the elementary education sector. The large number of missionary and private schools are also playing a role in the spread of education. The government provides textbooks, uniforms and noon meals to the pupils making it a State where the per child spending is much higher than in educationally backward States such as Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and others and is higher than the all-India average. The State is making an endeavor to provide primary schools within a one km radius of human habitations with a population of 300 and above to increase their accessibility. It is also a State that has actually spent most of the funds allocated to it by the Centre under the SSA scheme, in contrast to States like UP, Bihar and Assam that have huge unspent amounts. Tamil Nadu students stood first in the country in mathematics, language and reading comprehension skills according to the national mid-term achievement survey of Class III children commissioned by the NCERT in collaboration with the MHRD and the SCERT and SSA wings of the States recently. But it has come to light that local bodies like corporations and municipalities are not fully utilizing money collected as education tax as a percentage of property tax under the Tamil Nadu Elementary Education Act and this is affecting the quality and quantity of formal education provision at the grassroots level. While the general literacy rate in Tamil Nadu as per 2001 data is 73. 5%, wide disparities exist across districts, gender, and area of residence as well as social grouping. The literacy rate of the SC and ST populations are consistently lower in all the districts. The retention rate within and after the primary school level is also not very impressive and there is a high percentage of repeaters. This is particularly so in the case of the STs and SCs. It is to overcome this discrepancy between education offered in different kinds of schools, between rural and urban schools and to overcome other numerous ills that have crept into the education system—such as arbitrary collection of fees, induction of daily waged, inadequately qualified para teachers, rote learning, examination stress, problems related to the medium of instruction and so on—that the State government constituted the Muthukumaran Committee, which submitted its report in 2007. This committee had the mandate to work out a framework of a uniform pattern of education in Tamil Nadu and to make recommendations for improving its quality. The report of the Committee recommends only one autonomous board, The Tamil Nadu State Secondary School Education Board, instead of the existing four State level boards—Matriculation, Anglo-Indian, Oriental and State Board. Schools coming under this integrated Board would follow a common syllabus ensuring an equitable school education in the State not conferring any undue advantages with regard to admission into higher educational institutions for students completing their school education from one particular Board. Equitable standard education is to be provided by a Common School or Neighbourhood School system, which with uniform syllabi would help to ‘decommercialise’ educational institutions and put an end to many a private management that does not feel sufficiently accountable to society in this crucial sector. The spiraling cost of education starting at the nursery level is cementing caste-class and rural-urban divisions. A common school system using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction would make equal education accessible to all without discrimination. A common school system also means a common examination pattern. The report of the Committee advocates a reasonable teacher-student ratio of not more than 1:30 and doing away with faulty textbooks and a system of rote learning. It emphasizes the promotion of analytical and rational skills that would equip the students to learn by themselves; a testing and evaluation pattern that involves the application of concepts learnt rather than mere reproduction of facts. The school syllabus should not overload students with information but instead kindle their interest in the subject and teach them how to search for more information and conceptualize it. Traditional knowledge should be incorporated and made part of school education. Evaluation should be comprehensive and not just of academic achievements, and that too only marks based. Evaluation should include an assessment of student abilities and performance in academics, the arts, sports and games, values, reading habits, character, conduct and other extra-curricular activities. Schools should not only lay emphasis on academic subjects but also on moral education. Here the Committee suggests that it may be better to have a progress book with entries made from time to time and also periodically sent to the parents so that they may be made aware of their child’s progress. Regular consultation with parents about their wards’ progress and achievements and educational goals is a must. A sheet of paper containing marks obtained in public exams is not enough to understand a student’s development and potential. If the marks obtained in only one exam are going to decide the person’s admission into an institute of higher learning then all stress is on preparing for this exam neglecting other exams and activities. The chance or temptation to indulge in malpractices is also high. Marks obtained in a one-time exam also are no accurate reflection of the student’s actual knowledge and achievement level and potential. Treating exams and marks as more important than life itself has meant the death of many a student. Finally, children belonging to linguistic minorities should be allowed to gain instruction in their respective mother tongue, while all students in standards 5 or 8 ought to have a specific level of knowledge in Tamil and English so that these languages can be used for communication. No student should be dropped and he/she should be allowed to grow in the chosen field of interest and in accordance with their individual capability. A simple pass or fail should certainly not be a deciding factor in a person’s life. While the government has accepted the notion of one board for school education other major recommendations of the Muthukumaran Committee on education reforms are being sidelined by the State government. In fact, some government run schools are changing the medium of instruction to English and not all schools teach Tamil, though this is compulsory as per current State education law. Moreover, schools with an eye on the results in board exams and aiming at future lucrative career possibilities for their students are introducing modern European languages like French (German is waiting to be introduced on a larger scale on the school level) that are supposedly high scoring subjects in comparison to Tamil, which is seen to be difficult even by those whose mother tongue it is. There is almost everywhere an exodus from government run schools to aided or private schools because of the perceived better quality and the lure of an English medium education, which is regarded by parents to be necessary in today’s world. It is to remain viable and not lose out in this competition for students that government run schools are increasingly offering English medium instruction also, although the English medium sections are permitted only on a self-financing basis. The non-acceptance of important recommendations by the Muthukumaran committee is thus in line with the general pro-globalisation trend in the Tamil Nadu economy as a whole. Current education system Why is India still a developing country and what is stopping it from being a developed country? India’s education system as a stumbling block towards its objectives of achieving inclusive growth. India is going to experience a paradox of nearly 90 million people joining the workforce but most of them will lack requiste skills and the mindset for productiveemployment according to a report in DNA. India has about 550 million people under the age of 25 years out of which only 11% are enrolled in tertiary institutions compared to the world average of 23%. . I will be focussing on how the education system’s failure is leading to another social issue of income inequality and hence, suggest certain policies to improve India’s education system and reduce inequality. Problems and drawbacks The really critical aspect of Indian public education system is its low quality. The actual quantity of schooling that children experience and the quality of teaching they receive are extremely insufficient ingovernment schools. A common feature in all government schools is the poor quality of education, with weak infrastructure and inadequate pedagogic attention. What the government is not realising right now is that education which is a source of human capital can create wide income inequalities. It will be surprising to see how income inequalities are created within the same group of educated peopleSo if the government does not improve education system particularly in rural areas the rich will become richer and the poor will get poorer. Hence, it is imperative for the government to correct the blemishes in India’s education system which will also be a step towards reducing income inequality. Another reason for poor quality of education is the poor quality of teachers in government schools . Government schools are unable to attract good quality teachers due to inadequate teaching facilities and low salaries. The government currently spends only 3% of its GDP on education which is inadequate and insufficient. To improve the quality of education , the government needs to spend more money from its coffers on education. Most economists feel that the only panacea to the ills of the public schooling system is the voucher scheme. Under the voucher system, parents are allowed to choose a school for their children and they get full or partial reimbursement for the expenses from the government. But however, the voucher system will further aggravate the problem of poor quality of education in government schools. Such a system will shift resources from government schools to private schools. This will worsen the situation of government schools which are already under-funded. Moreover, if the same amount given as vouchers can be used to build infrastructure in schools then the government can realize economies of scale. For example- The centre for civil society is providing vouchers worth Rs 4000 per annum to 308 girls. This means that the total amount of money given as vouchers is Rs 1232000. If the same amount can be used to construct a school and employ high quality teachers who are paid well then a larger section of the society will enjoy the benefit of education. A school can definitely accommodate a minimum of 1000 students. I hope government takes certain appropriate policy measures to improve the education system otherwise inequalities are going to be widespread and India’s basic capabilities will remain stunted. Let us strengthen the case for a stronger education system. Conclusion Certain policy measures need to be taken by the government. The basic thrust of government education spending today must surely be to ensure that all children have access to government schools and to raise the quality of education in those schools. One of the ways in which the problem of poor quality of education can be tackled is through common schooling. This essentially means sharing of resources between private and public schools. Shift system is one of the ways through which common schooling can be achieved. The private school can use the resources during the first half of the day and the government school can use it during the second half. It is important to remember that the quality of education is directly linked to the resources available and it is important for the government to improve resource allocation to bring about qualitative changes in the field of education. Common schooling is one of the ways in which government can use limited resources in an efficient way and thus improve resource allocation.

Is Cloning Really Worth It? :: essays research papers

Cloning: Is it Really Worth It?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is much controversy over the issue of cloning. Is it really worth it? Scientists say yes, but I think not. There are a lot of questions to be answered before we continue the process of cloning such as the animals’ safety, humans feelings, and the costs, both financially and emotionally.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, we must think of the poor, defenseless animals scientists are experimenting with. It is one thing to kill them for survival, but it is totally wrong for them to die just to â€Å"experiment†. That is just as wrong as murdering an animal to make a few coats. Out of the many animals that the scientists have tried to clone, very few have survived and the ones that have are dependent on the scientists for everything down to oxygen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Let’s think about humans for a second. Say your son, daughter, relative, or friend has passed away. Would you want his or her body cloned? A lot of people might say yes but I give that a huge no. Even though the body of the loved one you lost is there, there is no way to really have them back. A clone is just another person that looks like them. A person’s character is built by experiences he went through and people he has met. I think many people would be disappointed at the fact that it’s just not the same person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another thing to think about is money. The taxpayers are paying out millions of dollars on this idea that has no guarantee. What about the taxpayers who oppose cloning? I know I do not want my hard earned money invested against my will into something that I feel is wrong and unjust.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that people should be informed on all of the negatives as well as the Is Cloning Really Worth It? :: essays research papers Cloning: Is it Really Worth It?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is much controversy over the issue of cloning. Is it really worth it? Scientists say yes, but I think not. There are a lot of questions to be answered before we continue the process of cloning such as the animals’ safety, humans feelings, and the costs, both financially and emotionally.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, we must think of the poor, defenseless animals scientists are experimenting with. It is one thing to kill them for survival, but it is totally wrong for them to die just to â€Å"experiment†. That is just as wrong as murdering an animal to make a few coats. Out of the many animals that the scientists have tried to clone, very few have survived and the ones that have are dependent on the scientists for everything down to oxygen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Let’s think about humans for a second. Say your son, daughter, relative, or friend has passed away. Would you want his or her body cloned? A lot of people might say yes but I give that a huge no. Even though the body of the loved one you lost is there, there is no way to really have them back. A clone is just another person that looks like them. A person’s character is built by experiences he went through and people he has met. I think many people would be disappointed at the fact that it’s just not the same person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another thing to think about is money. The taxpayers are paying out millions of dollars on this idea that has no guarantee. What about the taxpayers who oppose cloning? I know I do not want my hard earned money invested against my will into something that I feel is wrong and unjust.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that people should be informed on all of the negatives as well as the

Comparing Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now :: Movie Film comparison compare contrast

Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, and Apocalypse Now, a movie by Francis Ford Coppola can be compared and contrasted in many ways. By focusing on their endings and on the character of Kurtz, contrasting the meanings of the horror in each media emerges. In the novel the horror reflects Kurtz tragedy of transforming into a ruthless animal whereas in the film the horror has more of a definite meaning, reflecting the war and all the barbaric fighting that is going on. Conrad's Heart of Darkness, deals with the account of Marlow, a narrator of a journey up the Congo River into the heart of Africa, into the jungle, his ultimate destination. Marlow is commissioned as an ivory agent and is sent to ivory stations along the river. Marlow is told that when he arrives at the inner station he is to bring back information about Kurtz, the basis of this comparison and contrast in this paper, who is the great ivory agent, and who is said to be sick. As Marlow proceeds away to the inner station "to the heart of the mighty big river.... resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (Dorall 303), he hears rumors of Kurtz's unusual behavior of killing the Africans. The behavior fascinates him, especially when he sees it first hand: "and there it was black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids- a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth, was smiling too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal slumber"(Conrad 57). These heads that Marlow sees are first hand evidence of Kurtz's unusual behavior. The novel ends with Kurtz "gradually engulfing the atrocities of the other agents in his own immense horror"(Dorall 303). At his dying moment, Kurtz utters "The Horror! The Horror!', which for the novel are words reflecting the tragedy of Kurtz, and his transformation into an animal. Apocalypse Now is a movie that is similarly structured to the book but has many different meanings.

Wireless Sensor Networks

1. Introduction The increasing interest in wireless sensor networks can be promptly understood simply by thinking about what they essentially are: a large number of small sensing self-powered nodes which gather information or detect special events and communicate in a wireless fashion, with the end goal of handing their processed data to a base station. Sensing, processing and communication are three key elements whose combination in one tiny device gives rise to a vast number of applications [A1], [A2]. Sensor networks provide endless opportunities, but at the same time pose formidable challenges, uch as the fact that energy is a scarce and usually non-renewable resource. However, recent advances in low power VLSI, embedded computing, communication hardware, and in general, the convergence of computing and communications, are making this emerging technology a reality [A3]. Likewise, advances in nanotechnology and Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are pushing toward networks of tiny distributed sensors and actuators. 2. Applications of Sensor Networks Possible applications of sensor networks are of interest to the most diverse fields. Environmental monitoring, warfare, child education, surveillance, micro-surgery, and griculture are only a few examples [A4]. Through joint efforts of the University of California at Berkeley and the College of the Atlantic, environmental monitoring is carried out off the coast of Maine on Great Duck Island by means of a network of Berkeley motes equipped with various sensors [B6]. The nodes send their data to a base station which makes them available on the Internet. Since habitat monitoring is rather sensitive to human presence, the deployment of a sensor network provides a noninvasive approach and a remarkable degree of granularity in data acquisition [B7]. The same idea lies behind thePods project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa [B8], where environmental data (air temperature, light, wind, relative humidity and rain fall) are gathered by a network of weather sensors embedded in the communication units deployed in the South-West Rift Zone in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii. A major concern of the researchers was in this case camouflaging the sensors to make them invisible to curious tourists. In Princeton’s Zebranet Project [B9], a dynamic sensor network has been created by attaching special collars equipped with a low-power GPS system to the necks of zebras to onitor their moves and their behavior. Since the network is designed to operate in an infrastructure-free environment, peer-to-peer swaps of information are used to produce redundant databases so that researchers only have to encounter a few zebras in order to collect the data. Sensor networks can also be used to monitor and study natural phenomena which intrinsically discourage human presence, such as hurricanes and forest fires. Joint efforts between Harvard University, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of North Carolina have recently led to the deployment of a wireless sensor etwork to monitor eruptions at Volcan Tungurahua, an active volcano in central Ecuador. A network of Berkeley motes monitored infrasonic signals during eruptions, and data were transmitted over a 9 km wireless link to a base station at the volcano observatory [B10]. Intel’s Wireless Vineyard [B11] is an example of using ubiquitous computing for agricultural monitoring. In this application, the network is expected not only to collect and interpret data, but also to use such data to make decisions aimed at detecting the presence of parasites and enabling the use of the appropriate kind of insecticide.Data collection relies on data mules, small devices carried by people (or dogs) that communicate with the nodes and collect data. In this project, the attention is shifted from reliable information collection to active decisionmaking based on acquired data. Just as they can be used to monitor nat ure, sensor networks can likewise be used to monitor human behavior. In the Smart Kindergarten project at UCLA [B12], wirelessly-networked, sensor-enhanced toys and other classroom objects supervise the learning process of children and allow unobtrusive monitoring by the teacher. Medical research and healthcare can greatly benefit rom sensor networks: vital sign monitoring and accident recognition are the most natural applications. An important issue is the care of the elderly, especially if they are affected by cognitive decline: a network of sensors and actuators could monitor them and even assist them in their daily routine. Smart appliances could help them organize their lives by reminding them of their meals and medications. Sensors can be used to capture vital signs from patients in real-time and relay the data to handheld computers carried by medical personnel, and wearable sensor nodes can store patient data such as identification, history, and treatments.With these ideas in mind, Harvard University is cooperating with the School of Medicine at Boston University to develop CodeBlue, an infrastructure designed to support wireless medical sensors, PDAs, PCs, and other devices that may be used to monitor and treat patients in various medical scenarios [B13]. On the hardware side, the research team has Martin Haenggi is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556; Fax +1 574 631 4393; [email  protected]@nd. edu. Daniele Puccinelli is also with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556. reated Vital Dust, a set of devices based on the MICA21 sensor node platform (one of the most popular members of the Berkeley motes family), which collect heart rate, oxygen saturation, and EKG data and relay them over a medium-range (100 m) wireless network to a PDA [B14]. Interactions between sensor networks and humans are already judged controversial. The US has recently app roved the use of a radio-frequency implantable device (VeriChip) on humans, whose intended application is accessing the medical records of a patient in an emergency. Potential future repercussions of this decision have been discussed in the media.An interesting application to civil engineering is the idea of Smart Buildings: wireless sensor and actuator networks integrated within buildings could allow distributed monitoring and control, improving living conditions and reducing the energy consumption, for instance by controlling temperature and air flow. Military applications are plentiful. An intriguing example is DARPA’s self-healing minefield [B15], a selforganizing sensor network where peer-to-peer communication between anti-tank mines is used to respond to attacks and redistribute the mines in order to heal breaches, complicating the progress of enemy troops.Urban warfare is another application that distributed sensing lends itself to. An ensemble of nodes could be deploy ed in a urban landscape to detect chemical attacks, or track enemy movements. PinPtr is an ad hoc acoustic sensor network for sniper localization developed at Vanderbilt University [B16]. The network detects the muzzle blast and the acoustic shock wave that originate from the sound of gunfire. The arrival times of the acoustic events at different sensor nodes are used to estimate the position of the sniper and send it to the base station with a special data aggregation and routing service.Going back to peaceful applications, efforts are underway at Carnegie Mellon University and Intel for the design of IrisNet (Internet-scale Resource-Intensive Sensor Network Services) [B17], an architecture for a worldwide sensor web based on common computing hardware such as Internet-connected PCs and low-cost sensing hardware such as webcams. The network interface of a PC indeed senses the virtual environment of a LAN or the Internet rather than a physical environment; with an architecture based on the concept of a distributed database [B18], this hardware can be orchestrated into a global sensor system hat responds to queries from users. 3. Characteristic Features of Sensor Networks In ad hoc networks, wireless nodes self-organize into an infrastructureless network with a dynamic topology. Sensor networks (such as the one in Figure 1) share these traits, but also have several distinguishing features. The number of nodes in a typical sensor network is much higher than in a typical ad hoc network, and dense deployments are often desired to ensure coverage and connectivity; for these reasons, sensor network hardware must be cheap. Nodes typically have stringent energy limitations, which make them more failure-prone. They are enerally assumed to be stationary, but their relatively frequent breakdowns and the volatile nature of the wireless channel nonetheless result in a variable network topology. Ideally, sensor network hardware should be power-efficient, small, inexpensive, and reliable in order to maximize network lifetime, add flexibility, facilitate data collection and minimize the need for maintenance. Lifetime Lifetime is extremely critical for most applications, and its primary limiting factor is the energy consumption of the nodes, which need to be self-powering. Although it is often assumed that the transmit power associated with acket transmission accounts for the lion’s share of power consumption, sensing, signal processing and even hardware operation in standby mode consume a consistent amount of power as well [C19], [C20]. In some applications, extra power is needed for macro-scale actuation. Many researchers suggest that energy consumption could be reduced by considering the existing interdependencies between individual layers in the network protocol stack. Routing and channel access protocols, for instance, could greatly benefit from an information exchange with the physical layer. At the physical layer, benefits can be obtained wi th ower radio duty cycles and dynamic modulation scaling (varying the constellation size to minimize energy expenditure THIRD QUARTER 2005 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 21 External Infrastructure Gateway Base Station Sensing Nodes Figure 1. A generic sensor network with a two-tiered archi1 tecture. See Section 5 for a hardware overview. [D35]). Using low-power modi for the processor or disabling the radio is generally advantageous, even though periodically turning a subsystem on and off may be more costly than always keeping it on. Techniques aimed at reducing the idle mode leakage current in CMOS-based rocessors are also noteworthy [D36]. Medium Access Control (MAC) solutions have a direct impact on energy consumption, as some of the primary causes of energy waste are found at the MAC layer: collisions, control packet overhead and idle listening. Powersaving forward error control techniques are not easy to implement due to the high amount of computing power that they require a nd the fact that long packets are normally not practical. Energy-efficient routing should avoid the loss of a node due to battery depletion. Many proposed protocols tend to minimize energy consumption on forwarding aths, but if some nodes happen to be located on most forwarding paths (e. g. , close to the base station), their lifetime will be reduced. Flexibility Sensor networks should be scalable, and they should be able to dynamically adapt to changes in node density and topology, like in the case of the self-healing minefields. In surveillance applications, most nodes may remain quiescent as long as nothing interesting happens. However, they must be able to respond to special events that the network intends to study with some degree of granularity. In a self-healing minefield, a number of sensing mines ay sleep as long as none of their peers explodes, but need to quickly become operational in the case of an enemy attack. Response time is also very critical in control applications (sensor/actuator networks) in which the network is to provide a delay-guaranteed service. Untethered systems need to self-configure and adapt to different conditions. Sensor networks should also be robust to changes in their topology, for instance due to the failure of individual nodes. In particular, connectivity and coverage should always be guaranteed. Connectivity is achieved if the base station can be reached from any node.Coverage can be seen as a measure of quality of service in a sensor network [C23], as it defines how well a particular area can be observed by a network and characterizes the probability of detection of geographically constrained phenomena or events. Complete coverage is particularly important for surveillance applications. Maintenance The only desired form of maintenance in a sensor network is the complete or partial update of the program code in the sensor nodes over the wireless channel. All sensor nodes should be updated, and the restrictions on the size of the new code should be the same as in the case of wired programming.Packet loss must be accounted for and should not impede correct reprogramming. The portion of code always running in the node to guarantee reprogramming support should have a small footprint, and updating procedures should only cause a brief interruption of the normal operation of the node [C24]. The functioning of the network as a whole should not be endangered by unavoidable failures of single nodes, which may occur for a number of reasons, from battery depletion to unpredictable external events, and may either be independent or spatially correlated [C25]. Faulttolerance is particularly crucial as ongoing maintenance s rarely an option in sensor network applications. Self-configuring nodes are necessary to allow the deployment process to run smoothly without human interaction, which should in principle be limited to placing nodes into a given geographical area. It is not desirable to have humans configure node s for habitat monitoring and destructively interfere with wildlife in the process, or configure nodes for urban warfare monitoring in a hostile environment. The nodes should be able to assess the quality of the network deployment and indicate any problems that may arise, as well as adjust to hanging environmental conditions by automatic reconfiguration. Location awareness is important for selfconfiguration and has definite advantages in terms of routing [C26] and security. Time synchronization [C27] is advantageous in promoting cooperation among nodes, such as data fusion, channel access, coordination of sleep modi, or security-related interaction. Data Collection Data collection is related to network connectivity and coverage. An interesting solution is the use of ubiquitous mobile agents that randomly move around to gather data bridging sensor nodes and access points, whimsically named dataMULEs (Mobile Ubiquitous LAN Extensions) in [C28]. The predictable mobility of the data sink can be used to save power [C29], as nodes can learn its schedule. A similar concept has been implemented in Intel’s Wireless Vineyard. It is often the case that all data are relayed to a base station, but this form of centralized data collection may shorten network lifetime. Relaying data to a data sink causes non-uniform power consumption patterns that may overburden forwarding nodes [C21]. This is particularly harsh on nodes providing end links to base stations, which may end up relaying traffic coming from all ther nodes, thus forming a critical bottleneck for network throughput [A4], [C22], as shown in Figure 2. An interesting technique is clustering [C30]: nodes team up to form clusters and transmit their information to their cluster heads, which fuse the data and forward it to a 22 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE THIRD QUARTER 2005 sink. Fewer packets are transmitted, and a uniform energy consumption pattern may be achieved by periodic re-clustering. Data redundancy is minimized, as the aggregation process fuses strongly correlated measurements. Many applications require that queries be sent to sensing nodes.This is true, for example, whenever the goal is gathering data regarding a particular area where various sensors have been deployed. This is the rationale behind looking at a sensor network as a database [C31]. A sensor network should be able to protect itself and its data from external attacks, but the severe limitations of lower-end sensor node hardware make security a true challenge. Typical encryption schemes, for instance, require large amounts of memory that are unavailable in sensor nodes. Data confidentiality should be preserved by encrypting data with a secret key shared with the intended receiver. Data integrity should be ensured to revent unauthorized data alteration. An authenticated broadcast must allow the verification of the legitimacy of data and their sender. In a number of commercial applications, a serious disservice to the user of a sensor network is compromising data availability (denial of service), which can be achieved by sleep-deprivation torture [C33]: batteries may be drained by continuous service requests or demands for legitimate but intensive tasks [C34], preventing the node from entering sleep modi. 4. Hardware Design Issues In a generic sensor node (Figure 3), we can identify a power module, a communication block, a processing unit ith internal and/or external memory, and a module for sensing and actuation. Power Using stored energy or harvesting energy from the outside world are the two options for the power module. Energy storage may be achieved with the use of batteries or alternative devices such as fuel cells or miniaturized heat engines, whereas energy-scavenging opportunities [D37] are provided by solar power, vibrations, acoustic noise, and piezoelectric effects [D38]. The vast majority of the existing commercial and research platforms relies on batteries, which dominate the no de size. Primary (nonrechargeable) batteries are often chosen, predominantlyAA, AAA and coin-type. Alkaline batteries offer a high energy density at a cheap price, offset by a non-flat discharge, a large physical size with respect to a typical sensor node, and a shelf life of only 5 years. Voltage regulation could in principle be employed, but its high inefficiency and large quiescent current consumption call for the use of components that can deal with large variations in the supply voltage [A5]. Lithium cells are very compact and boast a flat discharge curve. Secondary (rechargeable) batteries are typically not desirable, as they offer a lower energy density and a higher cost, not to mention the fact that in most pplications recharging is simply not practical. Fuel cells [D39] are rechargeable electrochemical energy- conversion devices where electricity and heat are produced as long as hydrogen is supplied to react with oxygen. Pollution is minimal, as water is the main byproduct of the reaction. The potential of fuel cells for energy storage and power delivery is much higher than the one of traditional battery technologies, but the fact that they require hydrogen complicates their application. Using renewable energy and scavenging techniques is an interesting alternative. Communication Most sensor networks use radio communication, even if lternative solutions are offered by laser and infrared. Nearly all radio-based platforms use COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) components. Popular choices include the TR1000 from RFM (used in the MICA motes) and the CC1000 from Chipcon (chosen for the MICA2 platform). More recent solutions use industry standards like IEEE 802. 15. 4 (MICAz and Telos motes with CC2420 from Chipcon) or pseudo-standards like Bluetooth. Typically, the transmit power ranges between ? 25 dBm and 10 dBm, while the receiver sensitivity can be as good as ? 110 dBm. THIRD QUARTER 2005 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 23 Base Station Critical Nodes F igure 2.A uniform energy consumption pattern should avoid the depletion of the resources of nodes located in the vicinities of the base station. Communication Hardware Power Sensors (? Actuators) ADC Memory Processor Figure 3. Anatomy of a generic sensor node. Spread spectrum techniques increase the channel reliability and the noise tolerance by spreading the signal over a wide range of frequencies. Frequency hopping (FH) is a spread spectrum technique used by Bluetooth: the carrier frequency changes 1600 times per second on the basis of a pseudo-random algorithm. However, channel synchronization, hopping sequence search, and the high data rate ncrease power consumption; this is one of the strongest caveats when using Bluetooth in sensor network nodes. In Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), communication is carried out on a single carrier frequency. The signal is multiplied by a higher rate pseudo-random sequence and thus spread over a wide frequency range (typical DSSS radios h ave spreading factors between 15 and 100). Ultra Wide Band (UWB) is of great interest for sensor networks since it meets some of their main requirements. UWB is a particular carrier-free spread spectrum technique where the RF signal is spread over a spectrum as large as several GHz.This implies that UWB signals look like noise to conventional radios. Such signals are produced using baseband pulses (for instance, Gaussian monopulses) whose length ranges from 100 ps to 1 ns, and baseband transmission is generally carried out by means of pulse position modulation (PPM). Modulation and demodulation are indeed extremely cheap. UWB provides built-in ranging capabilities (a wideband signal allows a good time resolution and therefore a good location accuracy) [D40], allows a very low power consumption, and performs well in the presence of multipath fading. Radios with relatively low bit-rates (up to 100 kbps) re advantageous in terms of power consumption. In most sensor networks, high data rates are not needed, even though they allow shorter transmission times thus permitting lower duty cycles and alleviating channel access contention. It is also desirable for a radio to quickly switch from a sleep mode to an operational mode. Optical transceivers such as lasers offer a strong power advantage, mainly due to their high directionality and the fact that only baseband processing is required. Also, security is intrinsically guaranteed (intercepted signals are altered). However, the need for a line of sight and recise localization makes this option impractical for most applications. Processing and Computing Although low-power FPGAs might become a viable option in the near future [D41], microcontrollers (MCUs) are now the primary choice for processing in sensor nodes. The key metric in the selection of an MCU is power consumption. Sleep modi deserve special attention, as in many applications low duty cycles are essential for lifetime extension. Just as in the case of the rad io module, a fast wake-up time is important. Most CPUs used in lower-end sensor nodes have clock speeds of a few MHz. The memory requirements depend on the pplication and the network topology: data storage is not critical if data are often relayed to a base station. Berkeley motes, UCLA’s Medusa MK-2 and ETHZ’s BTnodes use low-cost Atmel AVR 8-bit RISC microcontrollers which consume about 1500 pJ/instruction. More sophisticated platforms, such as the Intel iMote and Rockwell WINS nodes, use Intel StrongArm/XScale 32-bit processors. Sensing The high sampling rates of modern digital sensors are usually not needed in sensor networks. The power efficiency of sensors and their turn-on and turn-off time are much more important. Additional issues are the physical ize of the sensing hardware, fabrication, and assembly compatibility with other components of the system. Packaging requirements come into play, for instance, with chemical sensors which require contact with the envi ronment [D42]. Using a microcontroller with an onchip analog comparator is another energy-saving technique which allows the node to avoid sampling values falling outside a certain range [D43]. The ADC which complements analog sensors is particularly critical, as its resolution has a direct impact on energy consumption. Fortunately, typical sensor network applications do not have stringent resolution requirements.Micromachining techniques have allowed the miniaturization of many types of sensors. Performance does decrease with sensor size, but for many sensor network applications size matters much more than accuracy. Standard integrated circuits may also be used as temperature sensors (e. g. , using the temperaturedependence of subthreshold MOSFETs and pn junctions) or light intensity transducers (e. g. , using photodiodes or phototransistors) [D44]. Nanosensors can offer promising solutions for biological and chemical sensors while concurrently meeting the most ambitious miniaturiza tion needs. 5. Existing Hardware PlatformsBerkeley motes, made commercially available by Crossbow, are by all means the best known sensor node hardware implementation, used by more than 100 research organizations. They consist of an embedded microcontroller, low-power radio, and a small memory, and they are powered by two AA batteries. MICA and MICA2 are the most successful families of Berkeley motes. The MICA2 platform, whose layout is shown in Figure 4, is equipped with an Atmel ATmega128L and has a CC1000 transceiver. A 51-pin expansion connector is available to interface sensors (commercial sensor boards designed for this specific platform are available).Since the MCU is to handle 24 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE THIRD QUARTER 2005 medium access and baseband processing, a fine-grained event-driven real-time operating system (TinyOS) has been implemented to specifically address the concurrency and resource management needs of sensor nodes. For applications that require a bet ter form factor, the circular MICA2Dot can be used: it has most of the resources of MICA2, but is only 2. 5 cm in diameter. Berkeley motes up to the MICA2 generation cannot interface with other wireless- enabled devices [E47]. However, the newer generations MICAz and Telos support IEEE 802. 15. , which is part of the 802. 15 Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) standard being developed by IEEE. At this point, these devices represent a very good solution for generic sensing nodes, even though their unit cost is still relatively high (about $100–$200). The proliferation of different lowerend hardware platforms within the Berkeley mote family has recently led to the development of a new version of TinyOS which introduces a flexible hardware abstraction architecture to simplify multi-platform support [E48]. Tables 1 and 2 show an overview of the radio transceivers and the microcontrollers most commonly used in xisting hardware platforms; an overview of the key features of the pl atforms is provided in Table 3. Intel has designed its own iMote [E49] to implement various improvements over available mote designs, such as increased CPU processing power, increased main memory size for on-board computing and improved radio reliability. In the iMote, a powerful ARM7TDMI core is complemented by a large main memory and non-volatile storage area; on the radio side, Bluetooth has been chosen. Various platforms have been developed for the use of Berkeley motes in mobile sensor networks to enable investigations into controlled mobility, which facilitates eployment and network repair and provides possibilities for the implementation of energy-harvesting. UCLA’s RoboMote [E50], Notre Dame’s MicaBot [E51] and UC Berkeley’s CotsBots [E52] are examples of efforts in this direction. UCLA’s Medusa MK-2 sensor nodes [E53], developed for the Smart Kindergarten project, expand Berkeley motes with a second microcontroller. An on-board power management a nd tracking unit monitors power consumption within the different subsystems and selectively powers down unused parts of the node. UCLA has also developed iBadge [E54], a wearable sensor node with sufficient computational power to process the sensed data.Built around an ATMega128L and a DSP, it features a Localization Unit designed to estimate the position of iBadge in a room based on the presence of special nodes of known location attached to the ceilings. In the context of the EYES project (a joint effort among several European institutions) custom nodes [E55], [C24] have been developed to test and demonstrate energy-efficient networking algorithms. On the software side, a proprietary operating system, PEEROS (Preemptive EYES Real Time Operating System), has been implemented. The Smart-Its project has investigated the possibility of embedding computational power into objects, leading o the creation of three hardware platforms: DIY Smartits, Particle Computers and BTnodes. The DIY S mart-its [E56] have been developed in the UK at Lancaster University; their modular design is based on a core board that provides processing and communication and can be extended with add-on boards. A typical setup of Smart-its consists of one or more sensing nodes that broadcast their data to a base station which consists of a standard core board connected to the serial port of a PC. Simplicity and extensibility are the key features of this platform, which has been developed for the creation of Smart Objects.An interesting application is the Weight Table: four load cells placed underneath a coffee table form a Wheatstone bridge and are connected to a DIY node that observes load changes, determines event types like placement and removal of objects or a person moving a finger across the surface, and also retrieves the position of an object by correlating the values of the individual load cells after the event type (removed or placed) has been recognized [E57]. Particle Computers have been developed at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Similarly to the DIY platform, the Particle Smart-its are based on a core board quipped with a Microchip PIC; they are optimized for energy efficiency, scalable communication and small scale (17 mm ? 30 mm). Particles communicate in an ad hoc fashion: as two Particles come close to one another, THIRD QUARTER 2005 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 25 Oscillator 7. 3728-MHz DS2401P Silicon Serial No. Antenna Connector Connector LEDs Battery Connection 32. 768-kHz Oscillator 14. 7456-MHz Oscillator ATMEL ATMega 128L CPU CC1000 Transceiver ATMEL AT45DB041 Data Flash Figure 4. Layout of the MICA2 platform. they are able to talk. Additionally, if Particles come near a gateway device, they can be connected to Internet-enabled evices and access services and information on the Internet as well as provide information [E58]. The BTnode hardware from ETHZ [E47] is based on an Atmel ATmega128L microcontroller and a Bluetooth module. Altho ugh advertised as a low-power technology, Bluetooth has a relatively high power consumption, as discussed before. It also has long connection setup times and a lower degree of freedom with respect to possible network topologies. On the other hand, it ensures interoperability between different devices, enables application development through a standardized interface, and offers a significantly higher bandwidth (about 1 Mbps) ompared to many low-power radios (about 50 Kbps). Moreover, Bluetooth support means that COTS hardware can be used to create a gateway between a sensor network and an external network (e. g. , the Internet), as opposed to more costly proprietary solutions [E59]. MIT is working on the ? AMPS (? -Adaptive Multidomain Power-aware Sensors) project, which explores energy-efficiency constraints and key issues such as selfconfiguration, reconfigurability, and flexibility. A first prototype has been designed with COTS components: three stackable boards (processing, radio and power) and an ptional extension module. The energy dissipation of this microsensor node is reduced through a variety of poweraware design techniques [D45] including fine-grain shutdown of inactive components, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling of the processor core, and adjustable radio transmission power based on the required range. Dynamic voltage scaling is a technique used for active power management where the supply voltage and clock frequency of the processor are regulated depending on the computational load, which can vary significantly based on the operational mode [D36], [C20]. The main oal of second generation ? AMPS is clearly stated in [D46] as breaking the 100 ? W average power barrier. Another interesting MIT project is the Pushpin computing system [E60], whose goal is the modelling, testing, and deployment of distributed peer-to-peer sensor networks consisting of many identical nodes. The pushpins are 18 mm ? 18 mm modular devices with a power substrate, an in frared communication module, a processing module (Cygnal C8051F016) and an expansion module (e. g. , for sensors); they are powered by direct contact between the power substrate and layered conductive sheets. 26 MCU Max.Freq. [MHz] Memory Data Size [bits] ADC [bits] Architecture AT90LS8535 (Atmel) 4 8 kB Flash, 512B EEPROM, 512B SRAM 8 10 AVR ATMega128L (Atmel) 8 128 kB Flash, 4 kB EEPROM, 4 kB SRAM 8 10 AVR AT91FR4081 (Atmel) 33 136 kB On-Chip SRAM, 8 Mb Flash 32 — Based on ARM core (ARM7TDMI) MSP430F149 (TI) 8 60 kB + 256B Flash, 2 kB RAM 16 12 Von Neumann C8051F016 (Cygnal) 25 2304B RAM, 32 kB Flash 8 10 Harvard 8051 PIC18F6720 (Microchip) 25 128 kB Flash, 3840B SRAM, 1 kB EEPROM 8 10 Harvard PIC18F252 (Microchip) 40 32 K Flash, 1536B RAM, 256B EEPROM 8 10 Harvard StrongARM SA-1110 (Intel) 133 — 32 — ARM v. 4PXA255 (Intel) 400 32 kB Instruction Cache, 32 kB Data 32 — ARM v. 5TE Cache, 2 kB Mini Data Cache Table 2. Microcontrollers used in sensor node p latforms. Radio (Manufacturer) Band [MHz] Max. Data Rate [kbps] Sensit. [dBm] Notes TR1000 (RFM) 916. 5 115. 2 ? 106 OOK/ASK TR1001 (RFM) 868. 35 115. 2 ? 106 OOK/ASK CC1000 (Chipcon) 300–1,000 76. 8 ? 110 FSK, ? 20 to 10 dBm CC2420 (Chipcon) 2,400 250 ? 94 OQPSK, ? 24 to 0 dBm, IEEE 802. 15. 4, DSSS BiM2 (Radiometrix) 433. 92 64 ? 93 9XStream (MaxStream) 902–928 20 ? 114 FHSS Table 1. Radios used in sensor node platforms. IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE THIRD QUARTER 2005MIT has also built Tribble (Tactile reactive interface built by linked elements), a spherical robot wrapped by a wired skinlike sensor network designed to emulate the functionalities of biological skin [E61]. Tribble’s surface is divided into 32 patches with a Pushpin processing module and an array of sensors and actuators. At Lancaster University, surfaces provide power and network connectivity in the Pin&Play project. Network nodes come in different form factors, but all share the Pin&Play connector, a custom component that allows physical connection and networking through conductive sheets which re embedded in surfaces such as a wall or a bulletin board [E62]. Pin&Play falls in between wired and wireless technologies as it provides network access and power across 2D surfaces. Wall-mounted objects are especially suited to be augmented to become Pin&Play objects. In a demonstration, a wall switch was augmented and freely placed anywhere on a wall with a Pin&Play surface as wallpaper. For applications which do not call for the minimization of power consumption, high-end nodes are available. Rockwellis WINS nodes and Sensoria’s WINS 3. 0 Wireless Sensing Platform are equipped with more powerful rocessors and radio systems. The embedded PC modules based on widely supported standards PC/104 and PC/104-plus feature Pentium processors; moreover, PC/104 peripherals include digital I/O devices, sensors and actuators, and PC-104 products support almost all PC software. PFU Systems’ Plug-N-Run products, which feature Pentium processors, also belong to this category. They offer the capabilities of PCs and the size of a sensor node, but lack built-in communication hardware. COTS components or lower-end nodes may be used in this sense [C32]. Research is underway toward the creation of sensor nodes that are more capable than the motes, yet maller and more power-efficient than higher-end nodes. Simple yet effective gateway devices are the MIB programming boards from Crossbow, which bridge networks of Berkeley motes with a PC (to which they interface using the serial port or Ethernet). In the case of Telos motes, any generic node (i. e. , any Telos mote) can act as a gateway, as it may be connected to the USB port of a PC and bridge it to the network. Of course, more powerful gateway devices are also available. Crossbow’s Stargate is a powerful embedded computing platform (running Linux) with enhanced communication and sensor signal process ing capabilities based n Intel PXA255, the same X-Scale processor that forms the core of Sensoria WINS 3. 0 nodes. Stargate has a connector for Berkeley motes, may be bridged to a PC via Ethernet or 802. 11, and includes built-in Bluetooth support. 6. Closing Remarks Sensor networks offer countless challenges, but their versatility and their broad range of applications are eliciting more and more interest from the research community as well as from industry. Sensor networks have the potential of triggering the next revolution in information technology. The challenges in terms of circuits and systems re numerous: the development of low-power communication hardware, low-power microcontrollers, MEMSbased sensors and actuators, efficient AD conversion, and energy-scavenging devices is necessary to enhance the potential and the performance of sensor networks. System integration is another major challenge that sensor networks offer to the circuits and systems research community. We believ e that CAS can and should have a significant impact in this emerging, exciting area. 27 Platform CPU Comm. External Memory Power Supply WesC (UCB) AT90LS8535 TR1000 32 kB Flash Lithium Battery MICA (UCB, Xbow) ATMega128L TR1000 512 kB Flash AAMICA2 (UCB, Xbow) ATMega128L CC1000 512 kB Flash AA MICA2Dot (UCB, Xbow) ATMega128L CC1000 512 kB Flash Lithium Battery MICAz (UCB, Xbow) ATMega128L CC2420 512 kB Flash AA Telos (Moteiv) MSP430F149 CC2420 512 kB Flash AA iMote (Intel) ARM7TDMI Core Bluetooth 64 kB SRAM, 512 kB Flash AA Medusa MK-2 (UCLA) ATMega103L TR1000 4 Mb Flash Rechargeable Lithium Ion AT91FR4081 iBadge (UCLA) ATMega128L Bluetooth, TR1000 4 Mb Flash Rechargeable Lithium Ion DIY (Lancaster University) PIC18F252 BiM2 64 Kb FRAM AAA, Lithium, Rechargeable Particle (TH) PIC18F6720 RFM TR1001 32 kB EEPROM AAA or Lithium Coin Battery or RechargeableBT Nodes (ETHZ) ATMega128L Bluetooth, CC1000 244 kB SRAM AA ZebraNet (Princeton) MSP430F149 9XStream 4 Mb Flash Lithium Ion Pushpin (MIT) C8051F016 Infrared — Power Substrate WINS 3. 0 (Sensoria) PXA255 802. 11b 64 MB SDRAM, 32 MB + 1 GB Flash Batteries Table 3. Hardware features of various platforms. THIRD QUARTER 2005 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE Acknowledgments The support of NSF (grants ECS 03-29766 and CAREER CNS 04-47869) is gratefully acknowledged. References General References [A1] I. F. Akyildiz, W. Su, Y. Sankarasubramaniam, and E. Cayirci, â€Å"A survey on sensor networks,† in IEEE Communications Magazine, pp. 02–114, Aug. 2002. [A2] L. B. Ruiz, L. H. A. Correia, L. F. M. Vieira, D. F. Macedo, E. F. Nakamura, C. M. S. Figueiredo, M. A. M. Vieira, E. H. B. Maia, D. Camara, A. A. F. Loureiro, J. M. S. Nogueira, D. C. da Silva Jr. , and A. O. Fernandes, â€Å"Architectures for wireless sensor networks (In Portuguese),† in Proceedings of the 22nd Brazilian Symposium on Computer Networks (SBRC’04), Gramado, Brazil, pp. 167–218, May 2004. Tutorial. ISBN: 85-8 8442-82-5. [A3] C. Y. Chong and S. P. Kumar, â€Å"Sensor networks: Evolution, opportunities, and challenges,† in IEEE Proceedings, pp. 1247–1254, Aug. 003. [A4] M. 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Krishnaswami, â€Å"Denial-of-service attacks on battery-powered mobile computers,† in Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE Pervasive Computing Conference, Orlando, FL, pp. 09–318, Mar. 2004. Hardware [D35] C. Schurgers, O. Aberthorne, and M. Srivastava, â€Å"Modulation scaling for energy aware communication systems,† in Proceedings of the 2001 International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design, 28 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE THIRD QUARTER 2005 Huntington Beach, CA, pp. 96–99, Aug. 2001. [D36] A. P. Chandrakasan, R. Min, M. Bhardwaj, S. Cho, and A. Wang, â€Å"Power aware wireless microsensor systems,† in 28th European Solid- State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC’02), Florence, Italy, 2002. [D37] S. Roundy, P. Wright, and J. Rabaey, â€Å"A study of low level vibrations as a power source for ireless sensor nodes,† Computer Communications, vol. 26, pp. 1131–1144, July 2003. [D38] J. Kymissis, C. Kendall, J. Paradiso, and N. Gershenfeld, â€Å"Parasitic power harvesting in shoes,† in Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC’04), Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 1998. [D39] A. J. Appleby, Fuel Cell Handbook, New York, NY: Van Reinhold Co. , 1989. [D40] W. C. Chung and D. S. Ha, â€Å"An Accurate Ultra WideBand (UWB) Ranging for precision asset location,† in International Conference on UWB Systems and Technologies, Reston, VA, Nov. 2002. [D41] M. Vieira, D. da Silva Jr. C. C. Jr. , and J. da Mata, â€Å"Survey on wireless sensor network devices,† in Proceedings of the 9th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Techno logies and Factory Automation (ETFA’03), Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 2003. [D42] B. A. Warneke and K. S. J. Pister, â€Å"MEMS for distributed wireless sensor networks,† in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS’02), vol. 1, Dubrovnik, Croatia, pp. 291–294, 2002. [D43] Z. Karakehayov, â€Å"Low-Power Design for Smart Dust Networks,† in Handbook of Sensor Networks: Compact Wireless and Wired Sensing Systems, M.Ilyas and I. Mahgoub, eds. , Boca Raton, FL, pp. 37. 1–37. 12, CRC Press, 2004. [D44] B. Warneke, â€Å"Miniaturizing Sensor Networks with MEMS,† in Handbook of Sensor Networks: Compact Wireless and Wired Sensing Systems, M. Ilyas and I. Mahgoub, eds. , Boca Raton, FL, pp. 5. 1–5. 19, CRC Press, 2004. [D45] R. Min, M. Bhardwaj, S. Cho, A. Sinha, E. Shih, A. Wang, and A. P. Chandrakasan, â€Å"An Architecture for a Power-Aware Distributed Microsensor Node,† in IEEE Wor kshop on Signal Processing Systems (SiPS’00), Lafayette, LA, Oct. 2000. [D46] D. D. Wentzloff, B. H.Calhoun, R. Min, A. Wang, N. Ickes, and A. P. Chandrakasan, â€Å"Design considerations for next generation wireless power-aware microsensor nodes,† in Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on VLSI Design, Mumbai, India, pp. 361–367, 2004. Existing Platforms [E47] J. Beutel, O. Kasten, M. Ringwald, F. Siegemund, and L. Thiele, â€Å"Poster abstract: Btnodes—a distributed platform for sensor nodes,† in Proceedings of the First International Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys-03), Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 2003. [E48] V. Handziski, J. Polastre, J. H. Hauer, C. Sharp, A. Wolisz, and D. Culler, â€Å"Flexible hardware abstraction for wireless sensor networks,† in Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSN 2005), Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 2005. [E49] R. M. Kling, â€Å"Intel Mote: An En hanced Sensor Network Node,† in International Workshop on Advanced Sensors, Structural Health Monitoring and Smart Structures at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 2003. [E50] K. Dantu, M. Rahimi, H. Shah, S. Babel, A. Dhariwal, and G. Sukhatme, â€Å"Robomote: Enabling Mobility In Sensor Networks,† Tech. Rep.CRES-04-006, University of Southern California. [E51] M. B. McMickell, B. Goodwine, and L. A. Montestruque, â€Å"MICAbot: A robotic platform for large-scale distributed robotics,† in Proceedings of International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (ICRA’03), vol. 2, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 1600–1605, 2003. [E52] S. Bergbreiter and K. S. J. Pister, â€Å"CotsBots: An Off-the-Shelf Platform for Distributed Robotics,† in Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (ICRA’03), Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 2003. [E53] A. Savvides and M. B.Srivastava, â€Å"A distributed computation platform for wireless embedded sensing,† in 20th International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD’02), Freiburg, Germany, Sept. 2002. [E54] S. Park, I. Locher, and M. Srivastava, â€Å"Design of a wearable sensor badge for smart kindergarten,† in 6th International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC2002), Seattle, WA, pp. 13. 1–13. 22, Oct. 2002. [E55] L. F. W. van Hoesel, S. O. Dulman, P. J. M. Havinga, and H. J. Kip, â€Å"Design of a low-power testbed for Wireless Sensor Networks and verification,† Tech. Rep. R-CTIT-03-45, University of Twente, Sept. 2003. [E56] M.Strohbach, â€Å"The smart-its platform for embedded contextaware systems,† in Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks, London, UK, Apr. 2004. [E57] A. Schmidt, M. Strohbach, K. V. Laerhoven, and H. -W. Gellersen, â€Å"Ubiquitous interaction—Using surfaces in everyday environments as pointing devices,† in 7th ERCIM Wo rkshop â€Å"User Interfaces For All,† Chantilly, France, 2002. [E58] M. Beigl, A. Krohn, T. Zimmer, C. Decker, and P. Robinson, â€Å"Aware- Con: Situation aware context communication,† in The Fifth International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp’03), Seattle, WA, Oct. 003. [E59] J. Beutel, O. Kasten, F. Mattern, K. Roemer, F. Siegemund, and L. Thiele, â€Å"Prototyping sensor network applications with BTnodes,† in IEEE European Workshop on Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSN’04), Berlin, Germany, Jan. 2004. [E60] J. Lifton, D. Seetharam, M. Broxton, and J. Paradiso, â€Å"Pushpin computing system overview: A platform for distributed, embedded, ubiquitous sensor networks,† in Proceedings of the Pervasive Computing Conference, Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 2002. [E61] J. A. Paradiso, J. Lifton, and M. Broxton, â€Å"Sensate media—multimodal electronic skins as dense sensor networks,† BT Technology Journal, vol. 2, pp. 32â€⠀œ44, Oct. 2004. [E62] K. V. Laerhoven, N. Villar, and H. -W. Gellersen, â€Å"Pin&Mix: When Pins Become Interaction Components. . . ,† in Physical Interaction (PI03)— Workshop on Real World User Interfaces†Ã¢â‚¬â€Mobile HCI Conference, Udine, Italy, Sept. 2003. Daniele Puccinelli received a Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2001. After spending two years in industry, he joined the graduate program in Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and received an M. S. Degree in 2005. He is currently working toward his Ph. D. degree.His research has focused on cross-layer approaches to wireless sensor network protocol design, with an emphasis on the interaction between the physical and the network layer. Martin Haenggi received the Dipl. Ing. (M. Sc. ) degree in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) in 1995. In 1995, he joined the Signal and Information Process ing Laboratory at ETHZ as a Teaching and Research Assistant. In 1996 he earned the Dipl. NDS ETH (post-diploma) degree in information technology, and in 1999, he completed his Ph. D. thesis on the analysis, design, and optimization of ellular neural networks. After a postdoctoral year at the Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of California in Berkeley, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame as an assistant professor in January 2001. For both his M. Sc. and his Ph. D. theses, he was awarded the ETH medal, and he received an NSF CAREER award in 2005. For 2005/06, he is a CAS Distinguished Lecturer. His scientific interests include networking and wireless communications, with an emphasis on ad hoc and sensor networks. THIRD QUARTER 2005 IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 29

Benefits of Participating in High School Debate

Benefits of Participating in High School Debate In schools across the world, debate teams are valued for training students in public speaking, grace under pressure, and critical thinking. Student debaters have several advantages, whether they choose to join debate teams on campus or if they debate as members of a political club. Debating provides practice in developing sound and logical arguments.Debate gives students an opportunity to practice speaking in front of an audience and thinking on their feet.Students participating in debate show initiative and leadership.The research debaters perform expands their minds and increases their understanding of multiple sides of important issues.Students hone their research skills in preparing for debates. What Is a Debate? Essentially, a debate is an argument with rules. Debating rules vary from one competition to another, and there are several possible debate formats. Debates can involve single-member teams or teams that include several students. In a standard debate, two teams are presented  with a resolution or topic, and each team has a set period of time to prepare an argument. Students typically dont know their debate subjects ahead of time. However, participants are encouraged to read about current events and controversial issues to prepare for debates. This can give teams special strengths in certain topic areas. The goal is to come up with a good argument in a short amount of time. At a debate, one team argues in favor (pro) and the other argues in opposition (con). In some debate formats, each team member speaks, and in others, the team selects one member to speak for the entire team. A judge or a panel of judges assigns points based on the strength of the arguments and the professionalism of the teams. One team is usually declared the winner, and that team advances to a new round. A school team can compete in local, regional, and national tournaments. A typical debate format includes: Teams are advised of the topic and take positions (pro and con).Teams discuss their topics and come up with statements expressing their position.Teams deliver their statements and offer the main points.Teams discuss the oppositions argument and come up with rebuttals.Teams deliver their rebuttals.Teams make their closing statements. Each of these sessions is timed. For instance, teams may have only three minutes to come up with their rebuttal. Interested students without a team at their school can look into starting a debate team or club. Many colleges also offer summer programs that teach debating skills. Lessons Learned Through Debate Knowing how to synthesize information and deliver it to an audience succinctly- even an audience of one- is a skill that benefits people throughout their lives. Debate skills can come in handy when interviewing for jobs, networking for career advancement, conducting meetings, and giving presentations. These soft skills can help in most careers because debate students learn the art of persuasion. Outside of the working world, having good communication skills is useful in activities as ordinary as meeting new people or as special as making a wedding toast in front of a crowd, as debate helps people learn composure and confidence when speaking with others.

12 Controversial Essay Topics on Abortion Worldwide

12 Controversial Essay Topics on Abortion Worldwide If you are looking for facts on abortion worldwide in order to support your controversial essay, consider the list of items below. These twelve interesting facts cover the entire world and are designed to help you substantiate your claim but not every item is suitable for each essay. Read the list below and see what items you can use: Because it remains a controversial subject across many nations where women do not have equal rights, there is a great push for medical services to allow women the privacy and right to choose even if it is unavailable through their government services. Many websites today provide online consultations to the best of their abilities as well as the medical supplies necessary for medical abortions to women who need it but cannot get it in their country. The sites not only have a large community section for questions and answers, but private chat services for those who want to talk to a doctor, as well as post-abortion counseling services for anyone who is struggling with their decision. There are different types of abortions which are based on how far along the woman is in her pregnancy. The procedure used is the best medical procedure based on how developed the fetus is, and is sanctioned and approved by the World Health Organization. For surgical abortion, a vacuum aspiration is the technique used for any baby with gestation between 12 and 14 weeks. This is strongly recommended and the quality of evidence is moderate with very few chances of failure. For medical abortion, there are two medications issued for any baby within gestation of up to 9 weeks. The first is mifepristone which is taken orally. Then one day after the ingestion of the first medication, misoprostol is taken. For pregnancies which are between 9 and 12 weeks for gestation, it is recommended that mifepristone be administered orally and then misoprostol administered vaginally 36-48 hours later. Before medications or surgical procedures are administered, it is recommended that those who are considering the abortion have a blood test to confirm they are pregnant. In some countries where this is not an option, they might have to rely only on the positive pregnancy test. Half of pregnancies in America are unintended with four out of ten of the unintended pregnancies terminated by way of abortion. 20% of all pregnancies end with abortion. In 2011 alone there were 1.06 million abortions performed in the United States, which is down 13% from 2008. Between 1973 and 2011 there were almost 53 million legal abortions. Every year 1.7% of women between the age of 15 and 44 have an abortion, and half of those have had a previous abortion. Nearly half of women in America will have an unintended pregnancy by the time they reach 45 years of age. One in ten women will have an abortion before they exceed 20 years of age, with one in four having an abortion before they reach 30 years of age, and another three in ten having an abortion before they reach 45 years of age. 18% of women in America who have an abortion are teens. Of that figure, eight percent of them are between 15 and 17, with 11% between 18 and 19, and 0.4% under the age of 15. Women who are in their twenties account for over half of the total abortions, with women between 20 and 24 account for 22% of that figure and women between 25 and 29 accounting for another 24% of that figure. In total, women who have never been married and do not co-habitat with someone account for forty five percent of all abortions in the United States. Thirty seven percent of the women who receive an abortion identify as Protestant with another twenty eight percent identifying as Catholic. Out of the women who have abortions, sixty one percent of them already have at least one child. Out of all the women who have abortions, fifty one percent of them have used contraceptives when they got pregnant, including condoms and hormones. Non-Hispanic white females account for thirty six percent of all abortions in the United States. Non-Hispanic black women account for an additional thirty percent of abortions in the United States. Hispanic woman account for only twenty five percent of all abortions in the United States, with women of other races accounting for the remaining nine percent of all abortions in the United States. When an abortion is taking place, women are given pain management techniques for any form of abortion they have, with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs administered for all women. Additional medication is required for those who undergo surgical abortion, such as antibiotics to reduce the risk of any pelvic infection. Post-abortion women should start back on their contraception if they use it. After uncomplicated surgical abortions women do not have to schedule a follow up. The same is true of medical abortions. If there are complications, then a follow up is necessary. In some cases, the medical abortion is attempted at 13 weeks and is incomplete, in which case an immediate surgical abortion is necessary in order to complete the process. Laws on abortion should protect the health of women and their basic human rights, which includes access to timely and safe abortions. Women who are legally eligible to access safe abortions should be able to as part of the national health policies in each country. By providing for and protecting women, they can meet the abortion needs of all women. Women living with HIV and women who are rape survivors are particularly vulnerable and lack access to the resources they need in many countries around the world whose national health policies forbid abortions of any kind. This increases the health risks and complications for the women and the child, resulting in HIV positive babies, pregnancy complications, and in some cases the death of the child and/or the mother. Statistic facts are very important in this kind of field because they give a better picture of everything. If you are not good at making up titles for your papers, feel free to click on the 20 sample topics on abortion along with the writing guide on controversial essays to make your paper smooth. References: Berlatsky, Noah.  Abortion. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Print. Brodie, Janet Farrell.  Contraception And Abortion In Nineteenth-Century America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994. Print. Colbert, David.  Eyewitness To America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997. Print. Critchlow, Donald T.  Intended Consequences. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print. Reagan, Leslie J.  Dangerous Pregnancies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010. Print. Steele, E. Boyd.  Abortion Laws. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Labor Standards Administration, Womens Bureau, 1970. Print. Williams, Mary E.  Abortion. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Print.

Free Essays on Canadian Foreign Policy

Does Canada have an Independent Foreign Policy? Canada, a Nation Ahead of it’s Time? The question regarding â€Å"Does Canada have an independent foreign policy?† must first be deconstructed before it can be answered. Firstly, the nation of ‘Canada’ must be defined. Canada is the north most nation of North America, formerly a colony of both Britain and France contributing to multilingual culture, with a wide array of environmental landscapes, on either side of the nation are the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The country is comprised of 10 provinces and 3 territories and has a population of approximately 31,499,560 (Statistics Canada). Secondly the word ‘Independent’ must be defined, Webster’s 10th Collegiate Dictionary defines it as: Not governed by a foreign power; self-governing. This definition must be expanded to say that independent includes a free will of the government to conduct foreign affairs as they feel is in the best interests of the people who reside in the country. Finally and most importantly ‘Foreign p olicy must be defined. Webster's 10th Collegiate Dictionary defines 'foreign policy' as "the policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states." Sovereign means having absolute power within a limited scope: the borders of a country. Foreign policy can further be expressed as the diplomatic strings which hold this world together. The actions of one state affect the people in other states. The best example of the actions of states being affected by other nation’s policy is with regards to war. When a country is at war, even if it is civil war it affects other states because of things like refugees fleeing a war torn homeland in hope for a peaceful settlement. It also affects countries with operations inside the war torn country. This example illustrates that the actions of one states policy affects others. These explanations of the key terms in the question regarding wh... Free Essays on Canadian Foreign Policy Free Essays on Canadian Foreign Policy Does Canada have an Independent Foreign Policy? Canada, a Nation Ahead of it’s Time? The question regarding â€Å"Does Canada have an independent foreign policy?† must first be deconstructed before it can be answered. Firstly, the nation of ‘Canada’ must be defined. Canada is the north most nation of North America, formerly a colony of both Britain and France contributing to multilingual culture, with a wide array of environmental landscapes, on either side of the nation are the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The country is comprised of 10 provinces and 3 territories and has a population of approximately 31,499,560 (Statistics Canada). Secondly the word ‘Independent’ must be defined, Webster’s 10th Collegiate Dictionary defines it as: Not governed by a foreign power; self-governing. This definition must be expanded to say that independent includes a free will of the government to conduct foreign affairs as they feel is in the best interests of the people who reside in the country. Finally and most importantly ‘Foreign p olicy must be defined. Webster's 10th Collegiate Dictionary defines 'foreign policy' as "the policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states." Sovereign means having absolute power within a limited scope: the borders of a country. Foreign policy can further be expressed as the diplomatic strings which hold this world together. The actions of one state affect the people in other states. The best example of the actions of states being affected by other nation’s policy is with regards to war. When a country is at war, even if it is civil war it affects other states because of things like refugees fleeing a war torn homeland in hope for a peaceful settlement. It also affects countries with operations inside the war torn country. This example illustrates that the actions of one states policy affects others. These explanations of the key terms in the question regarding wh...

Research paper on Mary Shelly's novel Frankenstein Essay

Research paper on Mary Shelly's novel Frankenstein - Essay Example He had created a monster which he considered to be a threat even to himself. The story highlights the happenings in the life of the monster and the difficulties he faces which lead to his complete transformation to an evil character. The story throughout its course highlights the fact that humans have a dual persona...lity of good and evil, and after long- term of aversion, discrimination and persecution by the others, one will become evil and opt for the wrong and the negative path. In this novel, the monster "has human emotions" and he wants to get love from others so badly and the reason that he turns evil is due to the fact that people he is mistreated by the human beings around him to an extent that he is even disowned by his own creator. Frankenstein is a young man who is very ambitious and wishes to complete a task which no one else has been successful at. He starts working towards the creation of a being and his obsession to complete this task makes him forget the fact that t he result of his experiments may turn out to be disastrous. He does not think about the impact that his creation may lay on the life of the creature. He works day and night to complete his goal and he continues with his job without considering the use of appropriate sources for his creation. His desire to create a being makes him go to depths that he even chooses to use inhuman parts for the creation of the monster which can be analyzed from the fact when he says, "The dissecting-room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials." This explains the fact that Frankenstein had gone to all limits to complete his creation. But after he succeeded in his task, he realized the fact that he had committed a mistake and had created a beast and not a being that he actually desired (Kelly 2000; Shelley 1979). The first rejection that the monster faces in his life is from his own creator. Immediately upon his creation, he is dejected and disliked by the person who did his level best to create him. This raises a clear point that a creature that was disliked by his own creator would never be liked by other people and would have to face torment for the rest of his life. This also indicates the fact that Frankenstein had lost his senses while he was engrossed in his work of creating the monster and he realized what he had done only after he had finished his creation. He then analyzed the fact that he actually created a disfigured monster which did not resemble human beings in physical appearance. He described the creature by saying, â€Å"His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips.† This shows the fact that he had failed in creating a perfe ct being. His attempt to play god had failed and his act of crossing all norms to achieve what he wanted had led to a disastrous result. His dislike for the monster can be seen when he says, â€Å"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored

Drug Violence in Mexico Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Drug Violence in Mexico - Research Paper Example Mexican drug trafficking is not a new item in the history of the country; the country has since Prohibition years of 1917-1933 been exporting illegal substances to the United States, and even before that, in Civil War years, was seen as one of the major suppliers of opiates, including morphine and heroin used to treat soldiers (Gonzalez). Though drugs have been commonly used in Mexico during this time, even though they were exported to the United States, they were still only being used for medical purposes, therefore the government saw no need to regulate or otherwise deter their uses. If there were addicts, they were seen as â€Å"ill persons†, not criminals, and the government was more concerned about protecting the public from low-quality drugs in its desire to make laws against drug use than they were in sending people to jail for it (Gonzalez). Another reason that the Mexican drug trafficking grew and prospered, coming under the control of what is known today as the drug cartels, is that for a long time the attentions of anti-drug campaigns were focused elsewhere, specifically Columbia. With all of the United States attention focused on bringing down the Columbian cartels, it is only natural that Mexico would be able to â€Å"fly under the radar† of the anti-drug missions and grow unchecked to the size that it is today. However, once the Columbian cartels had been dealt with by the American government, the Mexican cartels took what they had learned, and made their own drug pipeline (â€Å"Losing Ground Against Drugs: The Erosion of America’s Borders† 1997). Now Mexico is considered a major drug producer, as well as a major supplier, both in United States and the world. It is the main foreign supplier of methamphetamine and to the United States, and although Mexico accounts for only a small share of worldwide heroin production, it supplies a large share of heroin consumed in the United States, with an estimated 90% of cocaine ent ering the United States through Mexico (Cook 1). Violence in the border region has begun to spill over and affect Americans, with more than 60 Americans kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico as of 2008 (Cook 1). Clearly, this is not the relationship that the United States envisioned with Mexico, though Mexico publicly does not support the actions of the drug cartels, as kidnappings and murders are generally seen as bad on both sides of the border. Today in Mexico, seven known drug cartels operate throughout the country: the Arellano Felix Organization, Beltran Leyva Organization, Los Zetas Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, Carillo Fuentes Organization, Gulf Cartel/New Federation, and La Familia Michoacana, each with its own fluid area and territory of influence (Cook 3). However, that does not mean that each cartel is content with what they have accomplished, and since there are no fences marked with â€Å"this cartel’s territory here† or â€Å"keep out†, the borders are ofte n fought over. Infighting is common, and an almost immediate result of the rise in the Mexican drug cartels was a spike in violence, not just across the US-Mexican border where the cartels fought the authorities, but within Mexico itself, where the cartels wage turf wars against one another (Cook 13). Drugs are a very dangerous trade in Mexico. One of the biggest reasons for