Saturday, December 28, 2019

4 Options for Converting Slides to Digital Format

Got stacks of slide carousels loaded up with old family photos? Unfortunately, the pictures on those slides are probably fading as you read this. Now is the time to save those memories for future generations by converting them to digital format.   There are  four  major options for digitizing 35mm  slides. Flatbed Scanner Many traditional flatbed scanners do a good job at slide scanning as well. Look for a scanner that is designed to scan negatives and slides in addition to traditional paper photos and documents. The optical (not digital) resolution should be at least 2400 dpi or greater. Many flatbed scanners require an extra transparency adapter attachment for scanning slides—sometimes it comes with the scanner, and sometimes you have to buy it separately. Good bundled scanning software is also a must, to give you control over the final results, although Hamricks VueScan offers an excellent alternative and works with most flatbed scanners. Read user and editorial reviews to find a flatbed scanner that handles slides well before you buy. Dedicated Film Scanner From an image quality standpoint, the best method for digitizing your slides is to use a high resolution dedicated film/slide scanner. They can be fairly expensive, so probably not the best option unless you literally have thousands of slides to scan. Dedicated film scanners do, however, offer excellent resolution, and the control they offer over the final images is something you generally dont have when you opt for a professional scanning service. Slide Duplicator If you own a good digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera, a slide duplicator, or  duper, offers a good, inexpensive option for digitizing your slides. A slide duplicator attaches to your DSLR cameras in place of the lens, using a T-mount adapter ring. The other end of the duper is a sliding gate that holds two slides. The duper also has an internal lens, with a fixed aperture and focusing distance, that focuses the slides image onto your DSLRs imaging plane so that you can then take a picture of the slide. While slide duplicators are  inexpensive and easy to use (they require no electricity or a computer since you can take the pictures directly onto your cameras flash card), dupers do not offer the digital quality you can get from a flatbed or film scanner. In most cases, youll find that some image cropping is unavoidable. Most digital cameras also dont offer the dynamic range (the amount of gradation between light and dark in the photo) of a scanner, which can affect the photos shadow detail. Scanners generally offer a better resolution (a 3200 optical dpi scanner is about equivalent to a 12-megapixel digital camera) as well, so if you want to print larger photos from your slides, this may be a deal breaker. Professional Photo Shop If you dont have too many slides, or if youre not very comfortable with computers and software, then your best bet is probably to opt for a professional service to scan your slides for you. Many such services can be found on the Internet, but you may find more peace of mind by checking with local photo labs. Definitely shop around because pricing and quality control vary widely. Do be sure to ask whether the photoshop cleans and scans each slide individually. If they batch scan, you probably wont be happy with the quality. Tips for Scanning Slides The trick to getting good digital scans of your slides is to start with clean slides. Dust both sides of each slide off with a quick hit of compressed air and be careful not to touch the emulsion. Make sure your computer is fairly new with a fast processor and plenty of memory and hard drive space to store all of the digital images. A plug-in external hard drive is a good option when scanning slides or photos. We highly recommend that you scan directly into a good photo organization/editing program such as Photoshop Elements, which can drastically cut down on the time spent scanning as you can save naming the files, cropping, rotating, etc for later once, the images are all on your computer in the organizer. After scanning, back up your new digital files onto DVDs - and make extra copies to share with your family members!

Friday, December 20, 2019

The Prospect Of Human Genetic Engineering - 3067 Words

Rafi Ebne Rafi Dr. McKinnis ENG 201 April 8th, 2015 On the Prospect of Human Genetic Engineering In the year of 2013 roughly 7.6 million people died of cancer, 1.5 million people died of AIDS, and another 70,000 of Cystic Fibrosis (â€Å"World Cancer Day†; â€Å"CF Foundation†). What do all these diseases have in common? Modern medicine has no guaranteed way of curing them. The fact of the matter is that we as a society don t know much about these, and some other life threatening diseases. As a result, more years of research need to be undergone in order develop unique drugs that may cure these, and other complex diseases . How long do you suppose it will take for a drug to come forth? Five, ten, thirty years? What if it doesn t even exist? How many people do you suppose will die in the meantime? Now my point is not to make one think that there is no method to curing diseases similar to those previously mentioned. As a matter of fact, my point is to shine light upon a promising method that has been showing results: genetic engineering. With the advancements of sci ence, genetic engineering is becoming a more and more developed procedure that has already saved the lives of those terminally ill. But where one problem is solved, another arises. With the ever growing social prominence of genetic engineering, ethical concerns are reaching a frenzied state. Many are weary of playing God, and the idea of changing one’s genetic makeup seems morally unjust. They see geneticShow MoreRelatedGenetically Modified Babies Essay887 Words   |  4 Pagesthat it could lead to. One pathway which proves very controversial, is the concept of human genetic engineering; involving the alteration of an individual’s genes with the aim of selecting and refining physical and mental characteristics. This is an appealing prospect for many people, as it holds the potential to cure genetic diseases and increase people’s immunity to viruses. However, it also carries the prospect of being harnessed to alter physical appearances and even improve mental fa culties likeRead MoreGenetic Engineering And The Human Existence1193 Words   |  5 Pages Why is genetic engineering crucial to the human existence? Initially, genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the process of manually adding new unique DNA into an organism. The objective is to add one or numerous new traits that are not already constructed in that particular organism. New DNA inserts in the host genome and immediately isolates and replicates the gene of interest by using molecular cloning methods to synthesize a DNA sequence; then inserting this construct intoRead MoreEthics And The New Genetics1048 Words   |  5 PagesResponse Paper Dear Mr. Dalai Lama, In your excerpt, â€Å"Ethics and the New Genetics,† you presented the discovery of the advancement in genetic technology. You mentioned how scientist are able to change the genetic makeup of living things. Another key point presented in your article is the idea of cloning, where one is therapeutic while the other is reproductive. The article discussed that the advancement in technology and genetics should only be used to benefit people. However, you believed that usingRead MoreEssay about Genetic Engineering1028 Words   |  5 PagesGenetic Engineering When we envision our future, we usually imagine a future free of disease and physical sickness, but have you ever wondered how a disease-free society will be accomplished? In the twenty-first century our world will be a very different place because of genetic manipulation and engineering. There are many pros and cons to this debate, but it is undeniable that the effects from the new revelations in the field of genetics are far-reaching and deep impacting. Genetic engineeringRead MoreWhat Is Human Genetic Engineering?1193 Words   |  5 PagesHuman genetic engineering is currently a hot topic of discussion in the scientific world. What is human genetic engineering? According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, â€Å"Genetic engineering is the process of using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology to alter the genetic makeup of an organism. Traditionally, humans have manipulated genomes indirectly by controlling breeding and selecting offspring with desired traits. Geneti c engineering involves the direct manipulation of one or moreRead MoreA Research On Genetic Modification1260 Words   |  6 Pagespermanently disabled, and thirty-seven to die. This tragic event is one of many issues that sparks the continuous debate on genetic modification, which concerns the purposes, benefits, and dangers of modifying an organism’s DNA . While advocates for the increased production of disease-resistant crops and advocates for immunizations by engineered genes consider genetic engineering as advantageous, many individuals believe that such technology poses a lot more physiological harm than it does benefitsRead MoreThe Case Against Perfection By Michael J. Sandel1358 Words   |  6 Pagesthat leads to the most controversial idea; genetic engineering of humans. When science technology grows exponentially faster than moral understanding, therein lies the argument between these two aspects. One can argue that genetic engineering is some sort of vast achievem ent in technology especially in this modern era whereby people live in full of access. However, if we look closely at the impact of this technology towards human beings, genetic engineering has many flaws and ramifications that canRead MoreThe Ethics Of Human Genetic Engineering1454 Words   |  6 PagesNovember 2015 The Ethics of Human Genetic Engineering DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. Deoxyribonucleic corrosive is an atom that conveys a large portion of the hereditary guidelines utilized as a part of the improvement, working and propagation of all known living creatures and numerous infections. The National Institutes of Health and Welcome Trust from the London UK and Craig Vendor of Celera Genomics from Maryland USA at the same time exhibited the grouping of human DNA in June of 2000, finishingRead MoreThe Genetic Engineering Debate Essay1411 Words   |  6 Pagesdiscussions of genetic engineering, a controversial issue has been whether genetic engineering is ethical or not. In â€Å"The Person, the Soul, and Genetic Engineering,† JC Polkinghorne discusses about the moral status of the very early embryo and therapeutic cloning. J. H. Brooke’s article â€Å"Commentary on: The Person, the Soul, and Genetic Engineering† comments and state opinions that counter Polkinghorne’s article. On the other han d John Harris’s â€Å"â€Å"Goodbye Dolly?† The Ethics of Human Cloning† examinesRead MoreRecent Developments In Gene Editing, Concerning The Modification1447 Words   |  6 Pagesconcerning the modification of embryonic cells and its’ usefulness since the discovery of iPS cells Abstract This essay addresses the question â€Å"In light of the recent developments with iPS cells, is the genetic modification of human embryos justified?†. New gene editing software CRISPR has created cheaper and more accurate modification, making the editing of an embryo a possibility. There are concerns about this advancement as it is the changing of our DNA, with this

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Creatine In Sport Essay Example For Students

Creatine In Sport Essay In todays society, a lot of emphasis is placed on how you look. Almosteverybody wants that perfect body. But with all the things peoplehave to do, not many are willing to put in the time to get it. So there must bean easy way to get it. Right? Not too long ago people were experimenting withanabolic steroids. They injected horse testosterone into their veins to increasethe amount of muscle mass produced from lifting. But after a while, someprofessional athletes and high profile people started showing the side effectsthat are associated with them. For example, Lyle Alzado, a popular star in theNFL, developed a brain tumor and died. This scared a lot of people and therecreational uses of steroids decreased. With the dangers of steroids well knownpeople started looking for other substances to give them an edge. Bee pollen,carnitine and chromium picolinate, were among the things people tried. Of coursenone of these worked. But now there is a product on the market that has beenproven to si gnificantly enhance athletic performance in the areas of power,strength, and muscle mass. This substance is Creatine Phosphate. ABOUT CREATINEWhen you exercise you obviously burn energy. There are many things involved inthis process. The energy that you burn is called Adenosine Triphosphate, ATP. This molecule has very high energy bonds between the phosphates and the rest ofthe molecule. Your body breaks these bonds releasing the energy for use andchanging the molecule to ADP (di-phosphate). Since the body has a relatively lowsupply of ATP, it needs to convert the ADP back into ATP. Creatine helps tospeed this process along. Creatine is an amino acid made in your liver andstored in your muscles. In the diet it is found in milk, steak, and some fish. Although scientists have known about it for about 160 years, studies on it havehave just started to be done. CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION *Picture* After thepublication of test results in 1990, the area of creatine supplementation hasexploded. Now almost everyone knows what it is and someone who is using it. Aswas stated earlier, creatine helps speed up the process of converting ADP backinto ATP. So it is logical that if you increase the amount of creatine youshould increase the conversion rate. The daily requirement of creatine is abouttwo grams. Most of the creatine supplement products recommend taking ten timesthat amount for the first week or so to saturate your muscles, and five grams aday to maintain it. In most published studies the logic is correct; if youincrease dietary creatine you increase stored creatine. DOES IT WORK? With theincrease of stored creatine there should be an increase in conversion time. Inmost of the studies that I have seen this is true. There is also a relat ionshipbetween the amount of hydration in a muscle cell and the amount of work it cando. Creatine makes the cell retain water and therefore should increase theamount of work individual cells can do. But this is not all that it does. Inmany studies, along with increased recovery time, creatine showed to increasemuscle mass, explosive power and strength. In one study groups of athletes puton five to seven pounds of lean muscle mass in a month. These results were farbetter than athletes receiving a placebo in the same study. Some critics statethat the increase in muscle mass is mostly water, but there are studies that saythere is an increase in the size of Type II muscle fibers. With the increase inmass there should be an increase in power. In the same study the athletes saw athirty percent increase in bench-press. With an increase in strength andrecovery time there is an increase in overall explosive power. IS IT FOR ME?Although creatine supplementation has shown results in particular areas, itdoesnt help everyone. The supplements are pretty expensive and with therecommended dosage, they go pretty fast. If you are not serious about trainingor are a weekend warrior you may see results but you will pay for them. But ifyou are seriously into bodybuilding, creatine will help you see gains. Also,athletes that perform short burst sprints with little recovery time will benefitfrom creatine. Basketball and football players in particular. But if you are anendurance athlete such as a marathoner or a sprinter there are studies that showthat creatine supplementation may slow you down. Some think it is from theweight gained. There are also people who are immune to its effects. They areofficially called nonresponders. These people are studied little andit is not known why they are immune or who these people are. IS IT SAFE? Sincestudies on creatine loading have only been going on for less than a decade, itis still unknown what long term effects the extra creatine will have. S omeresearchers fear that, with the amount of extra creatine contrived through thediet, the body might stop producing it. The only way we will find out thenegative effects of long term use is time. The sales of creatine supplements arevery strong, so a lot of people are using it. After a decade goes by we mightfind out the hard way that it is dangerous.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Plans and Initiatives in Selected Research †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Plans and Initiatives in Selected Research. Answer: Introduction: In our world today, the topic concerning gender has always been on the forefront with a lot of criticism and debate in some of the issues regarding the same including gender equality, transgender issues, masculinity and feminism. Gender equality has always been a major concern since it aims at ensuring fairness and equality to both male and female genders within the society. According to Aagaard (2016), gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy similar rights and opportunities across all sectors of society including economic participation and decision making and when the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of both men and women are valued equally and favored. Different countries across the world are aiming at ensuring that gender equality is achieved completely with various worldwide organizations such as WHO and United Nations hoping in to enhance this. Various public documents have included the issue of gender in the aim of promoting equality and in effort to elim inate sexism and gender bias trends. The aim of this discussion is to discuss issues evolving around gender and analyzing how various relevant public documents apply the concept of gender. Vinogradova, (2016) argues that most organizations and institutions today tend to focus more on women and their rights all in the name of gender equality. So many women empowerment groups have been created within the society and this has led to forgetting about men who also have rights to be taken care of. In the sustainable development goals, a collection of seventeen goals set by the United Nations to transform the world and make it better, gender equality comes fifth in the set goals. In this goal the United Nations focus mainly on empowering women and ensuring that they get equal access to education, health care, decent work and representation in political and economic decision making processes. It is true that women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in most parts of the world (McCammon at al (2018)), but as time goes by, women have realized their rights and are forming empowerment and activist groups to stand and be recognized within the society. The idea that some jobs are meant for men alone is fading as women are also up to the task and this has helped change the notion that women cannot do certain jobs. The attention has shifted therefore towards the girl child in an effort to promote gender equality in the world. Men on the other hand have been left out in such programs since they are viewed as contented within the society and are not vulnerable to assault and violence though this is not always the case. Since 2001, World Health Organization (WHO) has published statistics called the Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) defining the average number of years a person is expected to live in full health. The statistics show that as of the year 2015, the healthy life expectancy at birth was 63.1 years. Statistics have also shown that the average life expectancy of women is higher than that of men. This is of great concern since the health of men is no longer so much looked into as compared to women in the name of gender equality. Mens health is generally overlooked and hidden in plain sight. Across the world mens perception of the male role inhibits important aspects of self-care and health seeking habits (Cornwall et al, (2015)). This has led to deterioration of most mens health contributing to low life expectancy. It is greatly assumed that men can likely take care of their health concerns as compared to women. Men tend also to be more commonly involved in unhealthy social behaviors such as excessive drug consumption especially cigarettes and alcohol intake, exposure to physical and chemical hazards especially in the work place and negligence of health services such as screening (Hbner et al (2017)). In some countries like Russia, the perception of a real man is that he is supposed to consume alcohol frequently. This has led to unnecessary complications arising from excessive alcohol intake hence lowering the life span. Statistics show that currently about 25 percent of Russian men die before the age of 55 years compared to only 7 percent of United Kingdom men the difference mainly arising from alcohol and cigarettes intake. Globally the male life expectancy lies at 68 years which lags five years behind that of females. In fact there is no country worldwide where the female life expectancy exceed the male. Given the sheer scale of men violence against both women and other men, it is difficult to be sympathetic of mens needs by worldwide organizations hence the focus is often shifted to women. In reference to Van der Vleuten et al (2016), paying attention to maternal health also makes sense as a strategy ton increase survival of children. However mens health is equally important and should not be neglected. Several public documents contain matters concerning gender. The council of Europe has compiled a Gender Equality Glossary based on the definitions and terms of council of Europe instruments and standards relating to gender equality. The European gender equality provides interpretation of gender equality based on 6 key policy domains which include work, money, knowledge, time, power and health and two satellite domains- violence and intersecting inequalities. This has been effective in equal distribution of resources among both genders. In the past we have seen that women in some countries did not have any say when it came to politics and power. In his own words Burnet, (2018), this notion is getting trodden behind as seen in the modern world where we have seen female presidents and heads of states like Dilma Vana Rousseff of Brazil. In an effort to bring about gender equality several nations including Nepal, Serbia and Rwanda now have minimum required percentages mandated and set asi de for women in their national parliament or assembly. Another document containing information about gender is the United Nations human development report that contains the inequality index which is based on the premise that often women and girls are discriminated against in health, education and the labor market with negative repercussions for their freedom. This has increased focus on women by nations targeting their expenditure towards women. In an effort to achieve sustainable development goal 5 on gender equality, the Australian Government has developed an approach outlined in the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment Strategy launched in 2016 which establishes three interconnected priorities that guide their specific investment on gender equality. These strategies include enhancing womens voice in decision making, leadership and peace building, promoting womens economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls. A huge percentage of the expenditure was directed towards the strategy. In 2015-16, Australia spent 2.02 billion dollars on investments that targeted gender equality as a significant objective. A lot of budget in not only Australia but other nations is targeting women so as to educate and empower them since the level of economic empowerment is lower in women compared to women in most countries. The United Nations in conjunction with many countries are focusing on economic empowerment more and more. This is being implemented by creating more job opportunities for women. The argument behind this notion is that when more women work, the economy grows. Survey suggests that an increase in female labor force or a reduction in the gap between womens and mens labor force participation results in faster economic growth (Pettersson, et al (2017). Evidence from a range of countries has shown that increasing the share of household income controlled by women, either through own earnings or cash t ransfers changes spending in a way that benefit children. According to Stoet et al (2018), an increase in women and girls education has also proven to contribute to higher economic growth. This has also significantly led to a decrease in child mortality rate. A study using data from 219 countries from 1970 to 2009 found that for every one additional year of education for women of reproductive age, child mortality decreased by 9.5 per cent. Fleming et al (2015) explains that the view of women as economic dependents is also fading since more women are engaging in the corporate world of work. Although statistics still show that there are more men working or employed as compared to women, it is correct to say that the gap is getting closed slowly as gender equality is taking shape worldwide (Flood et al (2017). In 2013, the male employment to population ratio stood at 72.2 percent, while the ratio for females was 47.1 per cent. This has constantly improved over the years due to the various initiatives that have been taken to bring about gender equality. Globally, most women are still paid less than men. Women in most countries earn on average only 60 to 75 per cent of mens wages. Contributing factors include the fact that women are more likely to engage in low productivity activities and to work in the informal sector with less mobility to the formal sector than men (Broman, (2017). In an effort to balance gender issues, some work places have begun to balance the ratio to avoid bias trends. In a situation whereby both a man and a woman are qualified for a particular job, the employer can consider numbers of male and female staff and employ either in an effort to balance the gender. Even though gender inequality issues are still large in some parts of the world a huge effort is being put into place to eliminate such trends. Senior positions no longer belong to men alone at work places since women have an equal chance of delivering (Roberts, A. (2015). The notion of having a weaker sex has been passed by time and sexism is being eradi cated by civilization. Worldwide competitions are also engaging both genders to participate in such competitions with an equal chance. For example, games that had in the past been considered masculine such as football, wrestling and boxing have been creating different categories for both men and women. This has ensured that there has been equality within all fields that men participate in. According to Kabeer, (2016), the issue of transgender has been on the lime light and is facing a lot of criticism since people are opting to change their gender for the other with the notion that one gender has more priorities than the other. However it is true that everyone has freedom to make their own decisions. It is also true that someone does not decide to be born male or female hence it is beyond human reach. In conclusion, both men and women have a right to have equal opportunities no matter the circumstances in place. The society and the world as a whole has still a huge task in ensuring that gender equality is achieved. The efforts by various organizations to achieve this equality is quite commendable. Even though the focus has been shifted towards women to achieve this equality in various countries, we should not as well forget men especially in matters of health so as to ensure the world becomes better for all. References Aagaard, K. (2016). New and persistent gender equality challenges in academia. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 20(1), 87-90. Broman, I. T. (2017). Early childhood education, gender relations and equality among parents and families in Sweden. In Nordic Dialogues on Children and Families (pp. 75-90). Routledge. Burnet, J. E., Kanakuze, J. D. A. (2018). Political Settlements, Women's Representation and Gender Equality: The 2008 Gender-Based Violence Law and Gender Parity in Primary and Secondary Education in Rwanda. Cornwall, A., Rivas, A. M. (2015). From gender equality and womens empowermentto global justice: reclaiming a transformative agenda for gender and development. Third World Quarterly, 36(2), 396-415. Equality, G., Hearne, B. N., McCammon, H. J. (2018). Black Women Cause Lawyers. 100 Years of the Nineteenth Amendment: An Appraisal of Women's Political Activism, 257. Fleming, P. J., McCleary-Sills, J., Morton, M., Levtov, R., Heilman, B., Barker, G. (2015). Risk factors for mens lifetime perpetration of physical violence against intimate partners: results from the international men and gender equality survey (IMAGES) in eight countries. PLoS One, 10(3), e0118639. Flood, M., Russell, G., O'Leary, J. (2017). Men make a difference: engaging men on gender equality. Hbner, N., Wille, E., Cambria, J., Oschatz, K., Nagengast, B., Trautwein, U. (2017). Maximizing gender equality by minimizing course choice options? Effects of obligatory coursework in math on gender differences in STEM. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(7), 993. Kabeer, N. (2016). Gender equality, economic growth, and womens agency: the endless variety and monotonous similarity of patriarchal constraints. Feminist Economics, 22(1), 295-321. Pettersson, K., Ahl, H., Berglund, K., Tillmar, M. (2017). Policy actors seeking to stimulate entrepreneurship sometimes give special attention to women. It is not given, however, that policy initiatives for women entrepreneurs necessarily contribute to gender equality, to social change for womensuch as enhancing entrepreneurship as a means to womens well-being and financial or other independenceor to gendered change of society. We claim that the outcomes... Scandinavian Journal of Management, 33(1), 50-63. Roberts, A. (2015). The Political Economy of Transnational Business Feminism PROBLEMATIZING THE CORPORATE-LED GENDER EQUALITY AGENDA. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 17(2), 209-231. Stoet, G., Geary, D. C. (2018). The gender-equality paradox in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Psychological science, 0956797617741719. Van der Vleuten, A. (2016). The price of gender equality: Member states and governance in the European Union. Routledge. Vinogradova, O. (2016). Plans and initiatives in selected research institutions aiming to stimulate gender equality and enact structural change.