Reporting and Analyzing Cash Flows Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reporting and Analyzing Cash Flows - Assignment Example However, the costs of the inventory has increased, which will cause growth of the amortization depreciations (Murphy, 2000). On the other hand, if the equipment is used more effectively, the overall production and operation costs will lower. This non-cash investment is intended to improve the overall performance of the Popowich Inc. Issuing additional shares is the double-end stick. On the one hand, it depreciates the already existing stocks, while on the other hand this will help to improve the company’s positions on the market by attracting investments. Financial activities of the company are mainly associated with the time and money restrictions. Nevertheless, the cash and non-cash investments of the Popowich Inc prevent the company from stagnation. Regardless of the fact that the further financial plans are unknown, if the existing tendency is preserved, the company will shorten the long- and short-term notes that will help to decrease the liabilities. Additionally, the proper capital budgeting will help to control expenditures. As Murphy (2000) emphasizes, the remaining capital expenses are generally graded in accordance with the profitability reported. Hence, the financing activity of the Popowich Inc is based on the capital budgeting model. The long-term liabilities of the company represent the positive tendency, as the company is aimed at shortening these points of the budget. The stockholders’ equities are involved into the strategy of attracting investors. In the light of this fact, it should be stated that the company’s financing activities form the positive

Image Based Steganographyusing LSB Insertion Technique

Image Based Steganographyusing LSB Insertion Technique ABSTRACT Steganography is a technique used to hide the message in vessel data by embedding it. The Vessel Data which is visible is known as external information and the data which is embedded is called as internal information.The extrenal information is not much useful to the data owner. The techniques used in Steganography makes hard to detect hidden message within an image file. By this technique we are not only sending a message but also we are hiding the message. Steganography system is designed to encode and decode a secret file embedded in image file with a random Least Significant Bit(LSB) insertion technique. By using this technique the secret data are spread out among the image data in a random manner with the help of a secret key. The key generates pseudorandom numbers and identifies where and in which order hidden message is laid out. The advantage of using this method is that it includes cryptography. In cryptography, diffusion is applied to secret message. INTRODUCTION: The information communicated comes in number of forms and is used in various number of applications. In large number of these applications, it is desired that the communication has to be done in secrete. Such secret communication ranges from the obvious cases of bank transfers, corporate communications, and credit card purchases,and large percentage of everyday e-mail. Steganography is an ancient art of embedding a message in such a way that no one,except the sender and the recipient,suspects the existence of the message. Most of the newer applications use Steganography as a watermark, to protect a copy right on information. The forms of Steganography vary, but unsurprisingly, innocuous spam messages are turning up more often containing embedded text. A new transform domain technique for embedding the secret information in the integer wavelet which is transformed on a cover image is implemented here. A technique which is used to scramble a secrete or a confidential message in order to make it unreadable for a third party is known as the Cryptography.Now-a-days its commonly used in the internet communications.cryptography can hide the content of the message but it cant hide the location of the secrete message.This is how the attackers can target even an encrypted message.Water marking is the another information of hiding the digital data or a picture or musical sound.The main purpose of this watermarking information is to protect the copyright or the ownership of the data.In this technique the robustness of the embedded evidence,that can be very small, is the most important.The external information which is visible is the valuable information in the watermarking technique. steganography is a technique which is used to make the confidential information imperceptible to the human eyes by embedding the message in some dummy data such as the digital image or a speech sound.There is a research topic about the steganography known as the steganalysis.The main objective of this steganalysis is to find out the stego file among the given files.It is a technique which is used to detect the suspicious image or sound file which is embedded with the crime related information.So,we need to make a sniffer-dog-program to break the steganography.However,it is too difficult to make a program that really works. All the traditional steganography techniques have very limited information-hiding capacity.They can hide only 10% (or less) of the data amounts of the vessel.This is because the principle of those techniques which were either to replace a special part of the frequency components of the vessel image, or to replace all the least significant bits which are present in a multivalued image with the secrete information.In the new steganography which we are using uses an image as the vesel data, and we need to embed the secrete information in to the bit planes of the vessel.The percentage of information hiding capacity of a true color image is around 50.All the noise-like regions in the bit planes of the vessel image can be replaced with the secret data without deteriorating the quality of the image,which is known as BPCS-Steganography, which stands for Bit-Plane Complexity Segmentation Steganography. BACKGROUND HISTORY: The word Steganography is of Greek origin and means â€Å"covered, or hidden writing†. Its ancient origins can be traced back to 440BC. THEORY: Steganography is a technique which is used now a days to make confidential information imperceptible to the human eyes by embedding it in to some innocent looking vessel data or a dummy data such as a digital image or a speech sound.In a multi bit data structure a typical vessel is defined as a color image having Red,Green and blue components in it.By using a special extracting program and a key the embedded information can be extracted,the technique of steganography is totally different from file deception or file camouflage techniques. A technique to hide the secrete data in a computer file which almost looks like a steganography is known as a file deception or file camouflage.But actually, it is defined as a trick which is used to disguise a secret-data-added file as a normal file.This can be done as most of the computer file formats have some dont-care portion in one file.For instance if we take some file formats as jpeg,mpeg3 or some word file these looks like the original image,sound or document respectively on the computer.Some of them could have misunderstood that such a trick is a type of Steganography.However,such files can have an extra lengthy file sizes, and they can be easily detected by most of the computer engineers.So, by this we can understand that the file deception is totally different from that of the steganographic techinque which we are discussing here. Many of the Steganography software which is in the market today is based on the file decepetion.If we find a steganography program that increases the output file size just by the amount we have embedded, then the program is obviously a file deception.If there is some secrete data then we should encrypt in such a way that it is not readable for the third party.A solution to Keep secrete information very safe is known as Data Encryption.It is totally based on scrambling the data by using some type of the secrete key. However,encrypting the data will draw more attention of the people who have not encrypted the data.So, it is very to the owner to know whether the data is encrypted or not.By, this we can know that the encrypting is not enough. There is another solution which is known steganography. There are two types of data in steganography, one is the secret data that is very valuable and the other is a type of media data vessel or carrier or dummy data.Vessel data is essential, but it is not so valuable.It is defined as the data in which the valuable data is embedded. The data which is already embedded in the vessel data is called stego data.By using the stego data we can extract the secret or the valuable data. For embedding and extracting the data we need a special program and a key. A typical vessel is an image data with Red, Green, and Blue color components present in it in a 24 bits pixel structure. The illustration below shows a general scheme of Steganography. Steganography is a technique which is used to hide secret data by embedding it in some innocent looking media data like Mona lisa in the above picture.The data which is embedded is very safe because Steganography hides both the content and the location of the secret information.In the media data there are many different methods to embed the data.It is highly impossible to detect which method is used for embedding the data.Steganography can co-operate with cryptography in the sense that it can embed the encrypted secret data and make it much safer. The most important point in the steganography technique is that the stego data does not have any evidence that some extra data is embedded there.In other way, the vessel data and the stego data must be very similar.The user of the steganography should discard the original vessel data after embedding,so that no one can compare the stego and the original data. It is also important that the capacity for embedding the data is large.As it is larger it is better.Of all the currently available steganography methods the BPCS method is the best. LEAST SIGNIFICANT BIT INSERTION One of the most common techniques used in Steganographytoday is called least significant bit (LSB) insertion. This method is exactly what it sounds like; the least significant bits of the cover-image are altered so that they form the embeddedinformation. The following example shows how the letter A can be hidden in the first eight bytes of three pixels in a 24-bit image. Pixels: (00100111 11101001 11001000) (00100111 11001000 11101001) (11001000 00100111 11101001) A: 01000001 Result: (00100110 11101001 11001000) (00100110 11001000 11101000) (11001000 00100111 11101001) The three underlined bits are the only three bits that were actually altered. LSB insertion requires on average that only half the bits in an image be changed. Since the 8-bit letter A only requires eight bytes to hide it in, the ninth byte of the three pixels can be used to begin hiding the next character of the hidden message. A slight variation of this technique allows for embedding the message in two or more of the least significant bits per byte. This increases the hidden information capacity of the cover-object, but the cover-object is degraded more, and therefore it is more detectable. Other variations on this technique include ensuring that statistical changes in the image do not occur. Some intelligent software also checks for areas that are made up of one solid color. Changes in these pixels are then avoided because slight changes would cause noticeable variations in the area .While LSB insertion is easy to implement, it is also easily attacked. Slight modifications in the color palette and simple image manipulations will destroy the entire hidden message. Some examples of these simple image manipulations include image resizing and cropping. Applications of Steganography : Steganography is applicable to, but not limited to, the following areas. Confidential communication and secret data storing. Protection of data alteration Access control system for digital content distribution. Media Database systems. The area differs in what feature of the Steganography is utilized in each system. 1. Confidential communication and secret data storing: The â€Å"secrecy† of the embedded data is essential in this area. Historically, Steganography have been approached in this area.Steganography provides us with: (A).Potential capacity to hide the existence of confidential data. (B).Hardness of detecting the hidden (i.e., embedded ) data. (C).Strengthening of the secrecy of the encrypted data. In practice , when you use some Steganography, you must first select a vessel data according to the size of the embedding data.The vessel should be innocuous.Then,you embed the confidential data by using an embedding program (which is one component of the Steganography software ) together with some key .When extracting , you (or your party ) use an extracting program (another component) to recover the embedded data by the same key (â€Å"common key â€Å" in terms of cryptography ).In this case you need a â€Å"key negotiation â€Å" before you start communication. 2. Protection of data alteration: We take advantage of the fragility of the embedded data in this application area. The embedded data can rather be fragile than be very robust. Actually, embedded data are fragile in most steganography programs. However, this fragility opens a new direction toward an information-alteration protective system such as a Digital Certificate Document System. The most novel point among others is that no authentication bureau is needed. If it is implemented, people can send their digital certificate data to any place in the world through Internet. No one can forge, alter, nor tamper such certificate data. If forged, altered, or tampered, it is easily detected by the extraction program. 3. Access control system for digital content distribution: In this area embedded data is hidden, but is explained to publicize the content. Today, digital contents are getting more and more commonly distributed by Internet than ever before. For example, music companies release new albums on their Webpage in a free or charged manner. However, in this case, all the contents are equally distributed to the people who accessed the page. So, an ordinary Web distribution scheme is not suited for a case-by-case and selective distribution. Of course it is always possible to attach digital content to e-mail messages and send to the customers. But it will takes a lot of cost in time and labor. If you have some valuable content, which you think it is okay to provide others if they really need it, and if it is possible to upload such content on the Web in some covert manner. And if you can issue a special access key to extract the content selectively, you will be very happy about it. A steganographic scheme can help realize a this type of system. We have developed a prototype of an Access Control System for digital content distribution through Internet. The following steps explain the scheme. (1) A content owner classify his/her digital contents in a folder-by-folder manner, and embed the whole folders in some large vessel according to a steganographic method using folder access keys, and upload the embedded vessel (stego data) on his/her own Webpage. (2) On that Webpage the owner explains the contents in depth and publicize worldwide. The contact information to the owner (post mail address, e-mail address, phone number, etc.) will be posted there. (3) The owner may receive an access-request from a customer who watched that Webpage. In that case, the owner may (or may not) creates an access key and provide it to the customer (free or charged). In this mechanism the most important point is, a selective extraction is possible or not. 4. Media Database systems: In this application area of steganography secrecy is not important, but unifying two types of data into one is the most important. Media data (photo picture, movie, music, etc.) have some association with other information. A photo picture, for instance, may have the following. The title of the picture and some physical object information. The date and the time when the picture was taken. The camera and the photographers information. DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING BACKGROUND: Digital image processing is an area that is characterized by the need for extensive experimental work to establish the viability of the proposed solutions to a given problem. An important characteristic which is underlying in the design of image processing systems is the significant level of testing the experimentation that normally required before arriving at an acceptable solution. This characteristic implies that the ability to formulate approaches quickly prototype candidate solutions generally plays a major role in reducing the cost time required to arrive at a viable system implementation. What is DIP? An image is defined as a two-dimensional function f(x, y), where x y are the spatial coordinates, the amplitude of function â€Å"f† at any pair of coordinates (x, y) is called the intensity or gray level of the image at that particular point. When both the coordinates x and y the amplitude values of function â€Å"f† all have finite discrete quantities, then we call that image as a digital image. The field DIP refers to processing a digital image by the means of a digital computer. A image which is composed of finite number of elements,each element has particular location and value is named as a digital image.These elements are called as pixels. As we know that vision is the most advanced of our sensor,so image play the single most important role in human perception.However, humans are limited to the visual band of the EM spectrum but the imaging machines cover almost the entire EM specturm,ranging from the gamma waves to radio waves.These can operate also on the images generated by the sources that humans are not accustomed to associating with the image. There is no agreement among the authors regarding where the image processing stops and other related areas such as the image analysis and computer vision start.Sometimes a difference is made by defining image processing as a discipline in which both the input output at a process are the images. This is limiting somewhat artificial boundary.The area which is present in between the image processing and computer vision is image analysis(Understanding image). There are no clear-cut boundaries in the continuum from the image processing at one end to complete vision at the other end . However, one useful paradigm is to consider the three types of computerized processes in this continuum: low-level, mid-level, the high-level processes.The Low-level process involves the primitive operations such as image processing which is used to reduce noise, contrast enhancement image sharpening. A low- level process is characterized by the fact that both the inputs outputs are images. Tasks such as segmentation, description of an object to reduce them to a form suitable for computer processing classification of individual objects is the Mid level process on images. A mid-level process is characterized by the fact that the inputs given to the image are generally images but the outputs are attributes extracted from those images. Finally the higher- level processing involves â€Å"Making sense† of an ensemble of recognized objects, as in image an alysis at the far end of the continuum performing the cognitive functions normally associated with human vision. As already defined Digital image processing, is used successfully in broad range of areas of exceptional social economic value. What is an image? An image is defined as a two-dimensional function f(x, y), where x y are the spatial coordinates, the amplitude of function â€Å"f† at any pair of coordinates (x, y) is called the intensity or gray level of the image at that particular point. Gray scale image: A grayscale image can be defined as a function I (xylem) of the two spatial coordinates of the image plane. Assume I(x, y)as the intensity of the image at the point (x, y) on the image plane. I (xylem) takes all non-negative values assume that the image is bounded by a rectangle [0, a]  ´[0, b]I: [0, a]  ´ [0, b]  ® [0, info) Color image: It can be represented by the three functions, as R (xylem) for red, G (xylem) for green andB (xylem) for blue. An image may be continuous with respect to x and y coordinates of the plane and also in the amplitude.Converting such an image into a digital form requires the coordinates and the amplitude to be digitized.Digitizing the values of the coordinates is called sampling. Digitizing the values of the amplitude is called quantization. Coordinate convention: The result which is generated by using sampling and quantization is a matrix of real numbers.There are two principal ways to represent the digital images.Assume that an image with function f(x,y) is sampled in such a way that the resulting image has M rows and N columns.then the size of the image is MXN.The values of coordinates (xylem) are the discrete quantites.For the notational clarity and convenience, we can use the integer values for these discrete coordinates. In many of the image processing books, the image origin is defined at (xylem)=(0,0).The values of the next coordinate along with the first row of the image are (xylem)=(0,1).It is very important to keep in our mind that the notation (0,1) is used to signify the second sample along with the first row. It does not mean that these are the actual values of the physical coordinates,when the image was sampled.The figure below shows the coordinates convention. Note that the x ranges from 0 to M-1 and y ranges from 0 to N-1 in i nteger increments. The coordinate convention which is used in the toolbox to denote arrays is different from that of the preceding paragraph in two minor ways. Firstly, instead of using (xylem) in the toolbox it uses the notation (race) to indicate the rows and the columns. Note:However,the order of coordinates are the same as in the previous paragraph, in the sense the first element of the coordinate topples, (alb), refers to a row and the second one to a column. The other difference is that the origin of the coordinate system is at (r, c) = (1, 1); r ranges from 1 to M and c from 1 to N in the integer increments.The documentation of the IPT refers to the coordinates. Less frequently toolbox also employs another coordinate convention called spatial coordinates, which uses x to refer to column and y to refer to row. This is the quite opposite of our use of variables x and y. Image as Matrices: The discussion which we have done leads to the following representation for a digitized image function: f (0,0) f(0,1) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. f(0,N-1) f(1,0) f(1,1) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ f(1,N-1) f(xylem)= . . . . . . f(M-1,0) f(M-1,1) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ f(M-1,N-1) The right side of this equation represents a digital image by the definition. Each element which is in this array is called an image element, picture element, pixel or a pel. The terms image or pixel are used throughout the our discussions from now to denote a digital image and its elements. A digital image can be represented by a MATLAB matrix naturally as : f(1,1) f(1,2) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. f(1,N) f(2,1) f(2,2) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. f(2,N) . . . f = . . . f(M,1) f(M,2) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.f(M,N) Where f(1,1) = f(0,0) (note use of a monoscope font to denote the MATLAB quantities). We can see clearly that the two representations are identical, except for the shift in the origin. The notation f(p ,q) denotes that the element is located in row p and the column q. For example f(6,2) denotes that the element is in the sixth row and second column of the matrix f. Typically here we use the letters M and N to denote the number of rows and columns respectively in a matrix. A 1xN matrix is known as a row vector whereas an Mx1 matrix is known as a column vector. A 11 matrix is a scalar matrix. Matrices in the MATLAB are stored in variables with different names such as A, a, RGB, real array etc All variables in Matlab must begin with a letter and can contain only letters, numerals and underscores. As noted previously,all the MATLAB quantities are written using the mono-scope characters. We use the conventional Roman or italic notation such as f(x ,y), for the mathematical expressions Reading Images: Using the function imread the images are read into the MATLAB environment. The syntax for this is: imread(‘filename) Format name Description recognized extension TIFF Tagged Image File Format .tif, .tiff JPEG Joint Photograph Experts Group .jpg, .jpeg GIF Graphics Interchange Format .gif BMP Windows Bitmap .bmp PNG Portable Network Graphics .png XWD X Window Dump .xwd Here filename is a string containing the complete image file(including applicable extensions if any).For example the command line >> f = imread (‘8. jpg); reads the JPEG (in the above table) image chestxray into image array f. Note that the use of the single quotes (‘) is to delimit the string filename. The semicolon at the end of a command line is used for suppressing output in the MATLAB. If the semicolon is not includedthen the MATLAB displays the results of the operation(s) specified only in that line. The prompt symbol(>>) says that it is the beginning of the command line, as it appears in the MATLAB command window. When in the preceding command line there is no path included in the filename, imread reads the file from current directory and if that fails then it tries to find the file in MATLAB search path. An easy way to read an image from a specified directory is to include a full or relative path to that directory in filename. For example, >> f = imread ( ‘E:myimageschestxray.jpg); This reads an image from a folder called myimages on the E: drive, whereas >> f = imread(‘ . myimageschestxray .jpg); It reads an image from myimages subdirectory of the current of the current working directory. Current directory window on the MATLAB desktop toolbar displays the MATLABs current working directory and provides a simple and a manual way to change it. The table above lists some of the most popular image/graphics formats supported by imread and imwrite. Function size gives the row and the column dimensions of an image: >> size (f) ans = 1024 * 1024 The above function is particularly useful in programming when used in the following form to automatically determine the size of an image: >>[M,N]=size(f); The syntax above returns the number of rows(M) and columns(N) present in the image. On whole the function displays the additional information about an array. For instance ,the statement >> whos f gives Name size Bytes Class F 1024*1024 1048576 unit8 array Grand total is 1048576 elements using 1048576 bytes The unit8 entry shown refers to one of the several MATLAB data classes. A semicolon at the end of a line has no effect ,so normally one is not used. Displaying Images: To diplay images on the MATLAB desktop we can use a function called imshow, which has the basic syntax: imshow(f,g) Where f is referred as an image array, and g as the number of intensity levels which are used to display it. If g is omitted here ,then by default it takes 256 levels .using the syntax imshow(f,{low high}) By using the above syntax it displays an image as black all values less than or equal to low and as white all values greater than or equal to high. The values which are in between are displayed as intermediate intensity values using the default number of levels .The final syntax is Imshow(f,[ ]) Sets the variable low to the minimum value of array f and high to its maximum value. This form of imshow is useful in displaying the images that have a low dynamic range or that have positive and negative values. Function named â€Å"pixval† is used frequently in order to display the intensity values of the individual pixels interactively. This function displays a cursor which is overlaid on an image. As and when the cursor is moved over the particular image with the mouse the coordinates of the cursor position and the corresponding intensity values are shown on the display that appears below the figure window .When working with the color images, the coordinates as well as the red, green and blue components are also displayed. If the left button of the mouse is clicked and then held pressed, pixval displays the Euclidean distance between the initial and the current cursor locations. The syntax form of interest here is Pixval which shows a cursor on the last image displayed. Clicking the button X on the cursor window turns it off. The following statements read from a disk an image called rose_512.tif extract basic information about that image and display it using imshow : >>f=imread(‘rose_512.tif); >>whos f Name Size Bytes Class F 512*512 262144 unit8 array Grand total is 262144 elements using 262144 bytes >>imshow(f) A semicolon at the end of an imshow line has no effect, so normally it is not used. If another image named g, is displayed using imshow, MATLAB replaces the image which is in the screen with the new image. To keep the first image and output the second image, we use a function figure as follows: >>figure ,imshow(g) Using the statement >>imshow(f),figure ,imshow(g) displays both the images. Keep in mind that more than one command can be written on a line ,as long as different commands are properly delimited by commas or semicolons. As mentioned, a semicolon is normally used whenever it is desired to suppress screen outputs from a command line. Suppose that we have just read an image h and find that using imshow produces an image. It is clearly understood that this image has a low dynamic range, which can be remedied for display purposes by using the statement. >>imshow(h,[ ]) WRITING IMAGES: By using the function imwrite images are written to disk ,which has the following basic syntax: Imwrite (f,filename) With the above syntax, the string which is contained in the filename must include a recognized file format extension.Alternatively, a desired format can be specified explicitly with a third input argument. >>imwrite(f,patient10_run1,tif) Or >>imwrite(f,patient10_run1.tif) In the above example the command writes f to a TIFF file named patient10_run1: If filename contains no information on the path of the file, then imwrite saves the file in the current working directory. The imwrite function can have some other parameters depending up on the e file format selected. Most of the work in the following chapter deals either with JPEG or TIFF images ,so we focus attention here on these formats. More general imwrite syntax which is applicable only to JPEG images is imwrite(f,filename.jpg,,quality,q) where q is an integer which is in between 0 and 100(the lower the number higher the degradation due to JPEG compression). For example, for q=25 the applicable syntax is >> imwrite(f,bubbles25.jpg,quality,25) The image for q=15 has false contouring which is barely visible, but this effect becomes quite applicable for q=5 and q=0.Thus, an expectable solution with some margin for error is to compress all the images with q=25.In order to get an idea of compression achieved and to obtain other image file details, we can use the function imfinfo which has syntax. Imfinfo filename Here filename implies the complete file name of the image stored in the disk. For example, >> imfinfo bubbles25.jpg outputs the following information(note that some fields contain no information in this case): Filename: ‘bubbles25.jpg FileModDate: 04-jan-2003 12:31:26 FileSize: 13849 Format: ‘jpg Format Version: ‘ ‘ Width: 714 Height: 682 Bit Depth: 8 Color Depth: ‘grayscale Format Signature: ‘ ‘ Comment: { } Where size of the file is in bytes. The number of bytes in the original image is simply corrupted by multiplying width by height by bit depth and then dividing the result by 8. The result is 486948.Dividing file size gives the compression ratio:(486948/13849)=35.16.This compression ratio was achieved. While maintaining the image quality consistent with the requirements of the appearance. In addition to obvious advantages in storage space, this reduction allows the transmission of approximately 35 times the amount of uncompressed data per unit time. The information fields which are displayed by imfinfo can be captured to a so called structure variable that can be for the subsequent computations. Using the receding example and assigning the n Image Based Steganographyusing LSB Insertion Technique Image Based Steganographyusing LSB Insertion Technique ABSTRACT Steganography is a technique used to hide the message in vessel data by embedding it. The Vessel Data which is visible is known as external information and the data which is embedded is called as internal information.The extrenal information is not much useful to the data owner. The techniques used in Steganography makes hard to detect hidden message within an image file. By this technique we are not only sending a message but also we are hiding the message. Steganography system is designed to encode and decode a secret file embedded in image file with a random Least Significant Bit(LSB) insertion technique. By using this technique the secret data are spread out among the image data in a random manner with the help of a secret key. The key generates pseudorandom numbers and identifies where and in which order hidden message is laid out. The advantage of using this method is that it includes cryptography. In cryptography, diffusion is applied to secret message. INTRODUCTION: The information communicated comes in number of forms and is used in various number of applications. In large number of these applications, it is desired that the communication has to be done in secrete. Such secret communication ranges from the obvious cases of bank transfers, corporate communications, and credit card purchases,and large percentage of everyday e-mail. Steganography is an ancient art of embedding a message in such a way that no one,except the sender and the recipient,suspects the existence of the message. Most of the newer applications use Steganography as a watermark, to protect a copy right on information. The forms of Steganography vary, but unsurprisingly, innocuous spam messages are turning up more often containing embedded text. A new transform domain technique for embedding the secret information in the integer wavelet which is transformed on a cover image is implemented here. A technique which is used to scramble a secrete or a confidential message in order to make it unreadable for a third party is known as the Cryptography.Now-a-days its commonly used in the internet communications.cryptography can hide the content of the message but it cant hide the location of the secrete message.This is how the attackers can target even an encrypted message.Water marking is the another information of hiding the digital data or a picture or musical sound.The main purpose of this watermarking information is to protect the copyright or the ownership of the data.In this technique the robustness of the embedded evidence,that can be very small, is the most important.The external information which is visible is the valuable information in the watermarking technique. steganography is a technique which is used to make the confidential information imperceptible to the human eyes by embedding the message in some dummy data such as the digital image or a speech sound.There is a research topic about the steganography known as the steganalysis.The main objective of this steganalysis is to find out the stego file among the given files.It is a technique which is used to detect the suspicious image or sound file which is embedded with the crime related information.So,we need to make a sniffer-dog-program to break the steganography.However,it is too difficult to make a program that really works. All the traditional steganography techniques have very limited information-hiding capacity.They can hide only 10% (or less) of the data amounts of the vessel.This is because the principle of those techniques which were either to replace a special part of the frequency components of the vessel image, or to replace all the least significant bits which are present in a multivalued image with the secrete information.In the new steganography which we are using uses an image as the vesel data, and we need to embed the secrete information in to the bit planes of the vessel.The percentage of information hiding capacity of a true color image is around 50.All the noise-like regions in the bit planes of the vessel image can be replaced with the secret data without deteriorating the quality of the image,which is known as BPCS-Steganography, which stands for Bit-Plane Complexity Segmentation Steganography. BACKGROUND HISTORY: The word Steganography is of Greek origin and means â€Å"covered, or hidden writing†. Its ancient origins can be traced back to 440BC. THEORY: Steganography is a technique which is used now a days to make confidential information imperceptible to the human eyes by embedding it in to some innocent looking vessel data or a dummy data such as a digital image or a speech sound.In a multi bit data structure a typical vessel is defined as a color image having Red,Green and blue components in it.By using a special extracting program and a key the embedded information can be extracted,the technique of steganography is totally different from file deception or file camouflage techniques. A technique to hide the secrete data in a computer file which almost looks like a steganography is known as a file deception or file camouflage.But actually, it is defined as a trick which is used to disguise a secret-data-added file as a normal file.This can be done as most of the computer file formats have some dont-care portion in one file.For instance if we take some file formats as jpeg,mpeg3 or some word file these looks like the original image,sound or document respectively on the computer.Some of them could have misunderstood that such a trick is a type of Steganography.However,such files can have an extra lengthy file sizes, and they can be easily detected by most of the computer engineers.So, by this we can understand that the file deception is totally different from that of the steganographic techinque which we are discussing here. Many of the Steganography software which is in the market today is based on the file decepetion.If we find a steganography program that increases the output file size just by the amount we have embedded, then the program is obviously a file deception.If there is some secrete data then we should encrypt in such a way that it is not readable for the third party.A solution to Keep secrete information very safe is known as Data Encryption.It is totally based on scrambling the data by using some type of the secrete key. However,encrypting the data will draw more attention of the people who have not encrypted the data.So, it is very to the owner to know whether the data is encrypted or not.By, this we can know that the encrypting is not enough. There is another solution which is known steganography. There are two types of data in steganography, one is the secret data that is very valuable and the other is a type of media data vessel or carrier or dummy data.Vessel data is essential, but it is not so valuable.It is defined as the data in which the valuable data is embedded. The data which is already embedded in the vessel data is called stego data.By using the stego data we can extract the secret or the valuable data. For embedding and extracting the data we need a special program and a key. A typical vessel is an image data with Red, Green, and Blue color components present in it in a 24 bits pixel structure. The illustration below shows a general scheme of Steganography. Steganography is a technique which is used to hide secret data by embedding it in some innocent looking media data like Mona lisa in the above picture.The data which is embedded is very safe because Steganography hides both the content and the location of the secret information.In the media data there are many different methods to embed the data.It is highly impossible to detect which method is used for embedding the data.Steganography can co-operate with cryptography in the sense that it can embed the encrypted secret data and make it much safer. The most important point in the steganography technique is that the stego data does not have any evidence that some extra data is embedded there.In other way, the vessel data and the stego data must be very similar.The user of the steganography should discard the original vessel data after embedding,so that no one can compare the stego and the original data. It is also important that the capacity for embedding the data is large.As it is larger it is better.Of all the currently available steganography methods the BPCS method is the best. LEAST SIGNIFICANT BIT INSERTION One of the most common techniques used in Steganographytoday is called least significant bit (LSB) insertion. This method is exactly what it sounds like; the least significant bits of the cover-image are altered so that they form the embeddedinformation. The following example shows how the letter A can be hidden in the first eight bytes of three pixels in a 24-bit image. Pixels: (00100111 11101001 11001000) (00100111 11001000 11101001) (11001000 00100111 11101001) A: 01000001 Result: (00100110 11101001 11001000) (00100110 11001000 11101000) (11001000 00100111 11101001) The three underlined bits are the only three bits that were actually altered. LSB insertion requires on average that only half the bits in an image be changed. Since the 8-bit letter A only requires eight bytes to hide it in, the ninth byte of the three pixels can be used to begin hiding the next character of the hidden message. A slight variation of this technique allows for embedding the message in two or more of the least significant bits per byte. This increases the hidden information capacity of the cover-object, but the cover-object is degraded more, and therefore it is more detectable. Other variations on this technique include ensuring that statistical changes in the image do not occur. Some intelligent software also checks for areas that are made up of one solid color. Changes in these pixels are then avoided because slight changes would cause noticeable variations in the area .While LSB insertion is easy to implement, it is also easily attacked. Slight modifications in the color palette and simple image manipulations will destroy the entire hidden message. Some examples of these simple image manipulations include image resizing and cropping. Applications of Steganography : Steganography is applicable to, but not limited to, the following areas. Confidential communication and secret data storing. Protection of data alteration Access control system for digital content distribution. Media Database systems. The area differs in what feature of the Steganography is utilized in each system. 1. Confidential communication and secret data storing: The â€Å"secrecy† of the embedded data is essential in this area. Historically, Steganography have been approached in this area.Steganography provides us with: (A).Potential capacity to hide the existence of confidential data. (B).Hardness of detecting the hidden (i.e., embedded ) data. (C).Strengthening of the secrecy of the encrypted data. In practice , when you use some Steganography, you must first select a vessel data according to the size of the embedding data.The vessel should be innocuous.Then,you embed the confidential data by using an embedding program (which is one component of the Steganography software ) together with some key .When extracting , you (or your party ) use an extracting program (another component) to recover the embedded data by the same key (â€Å"common key â€Å" in terms of cryptography ).In this case you need a â€Å"key negotiation â€Å" before you start communication. 2. Protection of data alteration: We take advantage of the fragility of the embedded data in this application area. The embedded data can rather be fragile than be very robust. Actually, embedded data are fragile in most steganography programs. However, this fragility opens a new direction toward an information-alteration protective system such as a Digital Certificate Document System. The most novel point among others is that no authentication bureau is needed. If it is implemented, people can send their digital certificate data to any place in the world through Internet. No one can forge, alter, nor tamper such certificate data. If forged, altered, or tampered, it is easily detected by the extraction program. 3. Access control system for digital content distribution: In this area embedded data is hidden, but is explained to publicize the content. Today, digital contents are getting more and more commonly distributed by Internet than ever before. For example, music companies release new albums on their Webpage in a free or charged manner. However, in this case, all the contents are equally distributed to the people who accessed the page. So, an ordinary Web distribution scheme is not suited for a case-by-case and selective distribution. Of course it is always possible to attach digital content to e-mail messages and send to the customers. But it will takes a lot of cost in time and labor. If you have some valuable content, which you think it is okay to provide others if they really need it, and if it is possible to upload such content on the Web in some covert manner. And if you can issue a special access key to extract the content selectively, you will be very happy about it. A steganographic scheme can help realize a this type of system. We have developed a prototype of an Access Control System for digital content distribution through Internet. The following steps explain the scheme. (1) A content owner classify his/her digital contents in a folder-by-folder manner, and embed the whole folders in some large vessel according to a steganographic method using folder access keys, and upload the embedded vessel (stego data) on his/her own Webpage. (2) On that Webpage the owner explains the contents in depth and publicize worldwide. The contact information to the owner (post mail address, e-mail address, phone number, etc.) will be posted there. (3) The owner may receive an access-request from a customer who watched that Webpage. In that case, the owner may (or may not) creates an access key and provide it to the customer (free or charged). In this mechanism the most important point is, a selective extraction is possible or not. 4. Media Database systems: In this application area of steganography secrecy is not important, but unifying two types of data into one is the most important. Media data (photo picture, movie, music, etc.) have some association with other information. A photo picture, for instance, may have the following. The title of the picture and some physical object information. The date and the time when the picture was taken. The camera and the photographers information. DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING BACKGROUND: Digital image processing is an area that is characterized by the need for extensive experimental work to establish the viability of the proposed solutions to a given problem. An important characteristic which is underlying in the design of image processing systems is the significant level of testing the experimentation that normally required before arriving at an acceptable solution. This characteristic implies that the ability to formulate approaches quickly prototype candidate solutions generally plays a major role in reducing the cost time required to arrive at a viable system implementation. What is DIP? An image is defined as a two-dimensional function f(x, y), where x y are the spatial coordinates, the amplitude of function â€Å"f† at any pair of coordinates (x, y) is called the intensity or gray level of the image at that particular point. When both the coordinates x and y the amplitude values of function â€Å"f† all have finite discrete quantities, then we call that image as a digital image. The field DIP refers to processing a digital image by the means of a digital computer. A image which is composed of finite number of elements,each element has particular location and value is named as a digital image.These elements are called as pixels. As we know that vision is the most advanced of our sensor,so image play the single most important role in human perception.However, humans are limited to the visual band of the EM spectrum but the imaging machines cover almost the entire EM specturm,ranging from the gamma waves to radio waves.These can operate also on the images generated by the sources that humans are not accustomed to associating with the image. There is no agreement among the authors regarding where the image processing stops and other related areas such as the image analysis and computer vision start.Sometimes a difference is made by defining image processing as a discipline in which both the input output at a process are the images. This is limiting somewhat artificial boundary.The area which is present in between the image processing and computer vision is image analysis(Understanding image). There are no clear-cut boundaries in the continuum from the image processing at one end to complete vision at the other end . However, one useful paradigm is to consider the three types of computerized processes in this continuum: low-level, mid-level, the high-level processes.The Low-level process involves the primitive operations such as image processing which is used to reduce noise, contrast enhancement image sharpening. A low- level process is characterized by the fact that both the inputs outputs are images. Tasks such as segmentation, description of an object to reduce them to a form suitable for computer processing classification of individual objects is the Mid level process on images. A mid-level process is characterized by the fact that the inputs given to the image are generally images but the outputs are attributes extracted from those images. Finally the higher- level processing involves â€Å"Making sense† of an ensemble of recognized objects, as in image an alysis at the far end of the continuum performing the cognitive functions normally associated with human vision. As already defined Digital image processing, is used successfully in broad range of areas of exceptional social economic value. What is an image? An image is defined as a two-dimensional function f(x, y), where x y are the spatial coordinates, the amplitude of function â€Å"f† at any pair of coordinates (x, y) is called the intensity or gray level of the image at that particular point. Gray scale image: A grayscale image can be defined as a function I (xylem) of the two spatial coordinates of the image plane. Assume I(x, y)as the intensity of the image at the point (x, y) on the image plane. I (xylem) takes all non-negative values assume that the image is bounded by a rectangle [0, a]  ´[0, b]I: [0, a]  ´ [0, b]  ® [0, info) Color image: It can be represented by the three functions, as R (xylem) for red, G (xylem) for green andB (xylem) for blue. An image may be continuous with respect to x and y coordinates of the plane and also in the amplitude.Converting such an image into a digital form requires the coordinates and the amplitude to be digitized.Digitizing the values of the coordinates is called sampling. Digitizing the values of the amplitude is called quantization. Coordinate convention: The result which is generated by using sampling and quantization is a matrix of real numbers.There are two principal ways to represent the digital images.Assume that an image with function f(x,y) is sampled in such a way that the resulting image has M rows and N columns.then the size of the image is MXN.The values of coordinates (xylem) are the discrete quantites.For the notational clarity and convenience, we can use the integer values for these discrete coordinates. In many of the image processing books, the image origin is defined at (xylem)=(0,0).The values of the next coordinate along with the first row of the image are (xylem)=(0,1).It is very important to keep in our mind that the notation (0,1) is used to signify the second sample along with the first row. It does not mean that these are the actual values of the physical coordinates,when the image was sampled.The figure below shows the coordinates convention. Note that the x ranges from 0 to M-1 and y ranges from 0 to N-1 in i nteger increments. The coordinate convention which is used in the toolbox to denote arrays is different from that of the preceding paragraph in two minor ways. Firstly, instead of using (xylem) in the toolbox it uses the notation (race) to indicate the rows and the columns. Note:However,the order of coordinates are the same as in the previous paragraph, in the sense the first element of the coordinate topples, (alb), refers to a row and the second one to a column. The other difference is that the origin of the coordinate system is at (r, c) = (1, 1); r ranges from 1 to M and c from 1 to N in the integer increments.The documentation of the IPT refers to the coordinates. Less frequently toolbox also employs another coordinate convention called spatial coordinates, which uses x to refer to column and y to refer to row. This is the quite opposite of our use of variables x and y. Image as Matrices: The discussion which we have done leads to the following representation for a digitized image function: f (0,0) f(0,1) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. f(0,N-1) f(1,0) f(1,1) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ f(1,N-1) f(xylem)= . . . . . . f(M-1,0) f(M-1,1) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ f(M-1,N-1) The right side of this equation represents a digital image by the definition. Each element which is in this array is called an image element, picture element, pixel or a pel. The terms image or pixel are used throughout the our discussions from now to denote a digital image and its elements. A digital image can be represented by a MATLAB matrix naturally as : f(1,1) f(1,2) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. f(1,N) f(2,1) f(2,2) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. f(2,N) . . . f = . . . f(M,1) f(M,2) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.f(M,N) Where f(1,1) = f(0,0) (note use of a monoscope font to denote the MATLAB quantities). We can see clearly that the two representations are identical, except for the shift in the origin. The notation f(p ,q) denotes that the element is located in row p and the column q. For example f(6,2) denotes that the element is in the sixth row and second column of the matrix f. Typically here we use the letters M and N to denote the number of rows and columns respectively in a matrix. A 1xN matrix is known as a row vector whereas an Mx1 matrix is known as a column vector. A 11 matrix is a scalar matrix. Matrices in the MATLAB are stored in variables with different names such as A, a, RGB, real array etc All variables in Matlab must begin with a letter and can contain only letters, numerals and underscores. As noted previously,all the MATLAB quantities are written using the mono-scope characters. We use the conventional Roman or italic notation such as f(x ,y), for the mathematical expressions Reading Images: Using the function imread the images are read into the MATLAB environment. The syntax for this is: imread(‘filename) Format name Description recognized extension TIFF Tagged Image File Format .tif, .tiff JPEG Joint Photograph Experts Group .jpg, .jpeg GIF Graphics Interchange Format .gif BMP Windows Bitmap .bmp PNG Portable Network Graphics .png XWD X Window Dump .xwd Here filename is a string containing the complete image file(including applicable extensions if any).For example the command line >> f = imread (‘8. jpg); reads the JPEG (in the above table) image chestxray into image array f. Note that the use of the single quotes (‘) is to delimit the string filename. The semicolon at the end of a command line is used for suppressing output in the MATLAB. If the semicolon is not includedthen the MATLAB displays the results of the operation(s) specified only in that line. The prompt symbol(>>) says that it is the beginning of the command line, as it appears in the MATLAB command window. When in the preceding command line there is no path included in the filename, imread reads the file from current directory and if that fails then it tries to find the file in MATLAB search path. An easy way to read an image from a specified directory is to include a full or relative path to that directory in filename. For example, >> f = imread ( ‘E:myimageschestxray.jpg); This reads an image from a folder called myimages on the E: drive, whereas >> f = imread(‘ . myimageschestxray .jpg); It reads an image from myimages subdirectory of the current of the current working directory. Current directory window on the MATLAB desktop toolbar displays the MATLABs current working directory and provides a simple and a manual way to change it. The table above lists some of the most popular image/graphics formats supported by imread and imwrite. Function size gives the row and the column dimensions of an image: >> size (f) ans = 1024 * 1024 The above function is particularly useful in programming when used in the following form to automatically determine the size of an image: >>[M,N]=size(f); The syntax above returns the number of rows(M) and columns(N) present in the image. On whole the function displays the additional information about an array. For instance ,the statement >> whos f gives Name size Bytes Class F 1024*1024 1048576 unit8 array Grand total is 1048576 elements using 1048576 bytes The unit8 entry shown refers to one of the several MATLAB data classes. A semicolon at the end of a line has no effect ,so normally one is not used. Displaying Images: To diplay images on the MATLAB desktop we can use a function called imshow, which has the basic syntax: imshow(f,g) Where f is referred as an image array, and g as the number of intensity levels which are used to display it. If g is omitted here ,then by default it takes 256 levels .using the syntax imshow(f,{low high}) By using the above syntax it displays an image as black all values less than or equal to low and as white all values greater than or equal to high. The values which are in between are displayed as intermediate intensity values using the default number of levels .The final syntax is Imshow(f,[ ]) Sets the variable low to the minimum value of array f and high to its maximum value. This form of imshow is useful in displaying the images that have a low dynamic range or that have positive and negative values. Function named â€Å"pixval† is used frequently in order to display the intensity values of the individual pixels interactively. This function displays a cursor which is overlaid on an image. As and when the cursor is moved over the particular image with the mouse the coordinates of the cursor position and the corresponding intensity values are shown on the display that appears below the figure window .When working with the color images, the coordinates as well as the red, green and blue components are also displayed. If the left button of the mouse is clicked and then held pressed, pixval displays the Euclidean distance between the initial and the current cursor locations. The syntax form of interest here is Pixval which shows a cursor on the last image displayed. Clicking the button X on the cursor window turns it off. The following statements read from a disk an image called rose_512.tif extract basic information about that image and display it using imshow : >>f=imread(‘rose_512.tif); >>whos f Name Size Bytes Class F 512*512 262144 unit8 array Grand total is 262144 elements using 262144 bytes >>imshow(f) A semicolon at the end of an imshow line has no effect, so normally it is not used. If another image named g, is displayed using imshow, MATLAB replaces the image which is in the screen with the new image. To keep the first image and output the second image, we use a function figure as follows: >>figure ,imshow(g) Using the statement >>imshow(f),figure ,imshow(g) displays both the images. Keep in mind that more than one command can be written on a line ,as long as different commands are properly delimited by commas or semicolons. As mentioned, a semicolon is normally used whenever it is desired to suppress screen outputs from a command line. Suppose that we have just read an image h and find that using imshow produces an image. It is clearly understood that this image has a low dynamic range, which can be remedied for display purposes by using the statement. >>imshow(h,[ ]) WRITING IMAGES: By using the function imwrite images are written to disk ,which has the following basic syntax: Imwrite (f,filename) With the above syntax, the string which is contained in the filename must include a recognized file format extension.Alternatively, a desired format can be specified explicitly with a third input argument. >>imwrite(f,patient10_run1,tif) Or >>imwrite(f,patient10_run1.tif) In the above example the command writes f to a TIFF file named patient10_run1: If filename contains no information on the path of the file, then imwrite saves the file in the current working directory. The imwrite function can have some other parameters depending up on the e file format selected. Most of the work in the following chapter deals either with JPEG or TIFF images ,so we focus attention here on these formats. More general imwrite syntax which is applicable only to JPEG images is imwrite(f,filename.jpg,,quality,q) where q is an integer which is in between 0 and 100(the lower the number higher the degradation due to JPEG compression). For example, for q=25 the applicable syntax is >> imwrite(f,bubbles25.jpg,quality,25) The image for q=15 has false contouring which is barely visible, but this effect becomes quite applicable for q=5 and q=0.Thus, an expectable solution with some margin for error is to compress all the images with q=25.In order to get an idea of compression achieved and to obtain other image file details, we can use the function imfinfo which has syntax. Imfinfo filename Here filename implies the complete file name of the image stored in the disk. For example, >> imfinfo bubbles25.jpg outputs the following information(note that some fields contain no information in this case): Filename: ‘bubbles25.jpg FileModDate: 04-jan-2003 12:31:26 FileSize: 13849 Format: ‘jpg Format Version: ‘ ‘ Width: 714 Height: 682 Bit Depth: 8 Color Depth: ‘grayscale Format Signature: ‘ ‘ Comment: { } Where size of the file is in bytes. The number of bytes in the original image is simply corrupted by multiplying width by height by bit depth and then dividing the result by 8. The result is 486948.Dividing file size gives the compression ratio:(486948/13849)=35.16.This compression ratio was achieved. While maintaining the image quality consistent with the requirements of the appearance. In addition to obvious advantages in storage space, this reduction allows the transmission of approximately 35 times the amount of uncompressed data per unit time. The information fields which are displayed by imfinfo can be captured to a so called structure variable that can be for the subsequent computations. Using the receding example and assigning the n

Writing and Architecture :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Writing and Architecture A story is not a story until it is told. The way that this is done gives it depth, meaning, and tone. A house is not a house until it is built. The way that this is done gives it character, purpose, and life. Writing and architecture are very similar in that the idea of the piece is expressed through the choices that are made. It is up to the author or designer to determine how the idea will be interpreted and what method will be used to communicate the idea. Choosing the means that will express the idea is a critical decision that will affect the outcome in dramatic ways. When designing a house, an architect will establish an architectural idea that will be an underlying factor in the design. After choosing an idea, a means of articulating the idea is determined that will suit the client and relate to the context of its surroundings, whether it be sympathetic or contrastive. The basic form or shape of the house begins to give it meaning and locates the frame of reference. An important factor in building a house is whether the house is built to replicate past periods, such as Victorian, or has a modern design. The actual design of the house, where the walls, doors, and windows will be placed, brings out the architectural idea. In a book dealing with the architecture of houses the author has this to say: "Windows do more than let in light and air. The way they are placed in a wall affects our understanding of the whole house" (Moore, Allen, Lyndon qtd. in Allen 203). The materials bring another level of understanding to the design. The difference between cedar shingles and modular steel panels is significant when determining the tone of the house. I shall always remember how as a child I played on the wooden floor. The wide boards were warm and friendly, and in their texture I discovered a rich and enchanting world of veins and knots. I also remember the comfort and security experienced when falling asleep next to the round logs of an old timber wall; a wall which was not just a plain surface but had a plastic presence like everything alive. Thus sight, touch, and even smell were satisfied, which is as it should be when a child meets the world. (Norberg-Shultz qtd.

Comparison of Topload vs Frontload Washing Machines

Front Load: * Because of the faster spin speeds, it will extract more water from the clothes allowing them to go into the dryer with less water. You will dry clothes faster while using less energy * The clothes tumble much like in a dryer, and because of this, the washing machine does not use as much water. You will use up to 40% less water than a comparable top load machine. Over time this will offset the initial difference in price between front load and top load machines * Better Cleaning. Because of the tumble action, water will pass through the clothes considerably more often than top load machines.Clothes will come out cleaner, and will last longer as there is less wear and tear on them * Can be stacked with a dryer on top to conserve space TOP LOADERS * There are a wider variety of models and colors * Costs less initially, but is less energy efficient * Easy to access the washtub * Uses regular detergent Features Capacity: Most manufacturers will define the size of the washtub differently. Common terms are â€Å"extra large† or â€Å"super capacity. † When comparing capacity it is best to use the cubic foot measurement to determine the actual size.Tub material: The three most commonly used tub materials used are porcelain-coated, plastic, and stainless steel. Porcelain can deteriorate if it chips. Many of the higher-end models will use a plastic tub, which generally lasts the life of the machine. The very best models will use a stainless steel tub. Water levels: Washing machines have water level settings. Many of the higher end models will offer many more levels to control the amount of water in a machine. A washer using the ideal level of water will be more efficient. Manufacturers recommend using only enough water to cover the clothes.Cycles: There are many cycles available on a washing machine. Choose a machine that will offer all the cycles you will need. Choose from cycles such as permanent press, sanitize, delicate, and extra rinses. Make sure to get a unit with all the cycles your clothes will need. Different wash/spin speed combinations allow you to wash more types of clothing in ways that are safest for the fabric. Water temperature: Your garments will look better and last longer by using proper water temperature. Detergents, bleaches, and fabric softeners require specific water temperatures to work their best.Many of your choices of washers will include several wash and rinse temperature options. A washing machine with automatic temperature regulators will make sure that the water entering the machine will be the proper temperature. For example, on a frigid day in Chicago, the water entering a standard washer set to â€Å"warm† may not get the temperature desired. Temperature regulators will add more hot water as needed to make sure the desired temperature is met. To kill even the toughest germs, a machine will be required to run at an even higher temperature. Look for a washer that offers a temperatu re boost or sanitize cycle.Noise level: Is your washer going to be in your basement or in the garage? If so, you may not be concerned with noise level. If your washer is near a living area you may want a unit that has more insulation and reinforced frames to reduce operation noise. Safety: While it's possible to stop a front-loading machine and add that missing sock, it does have an automatic lock feature on the unit that will prevent the door from opening while the drum is spinning. Controls: Digital controls and displays will allow you to program different cycle settings. Just program your favorite settings and access them with the push of one button.For an easier wash process, choose a machine with a dial or push buttons. Bleach and fabric softener dispensers: The chemicals (detergent, bleach, fabric softener) you use are a key part of garment care. Dispensers will automatically disperse them at the correct time. Energy Star rating: The Energy Star label – conferred by the U. S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency – indicates that a washing machine uses 35 percent to 50 percent less water and 50 percent less energy than a non-labeled machine. That makes the machine better for the environment and saves you money†¦There are many differences between a front loading and top loading washing machine. Most people still have the traditional top loading machine. They are less expensive than front loading machines, though in the end, top loaders may cost you more money in energy and water costs. There are trade offs with each type of washing machine, and plenty of things to consider if you’re planning on purchasing a new machine. A top loading washing machine is most familiar to people, though they may have seen front loading machines in laundromats or increasingly in appliance stores.These machines use an agitator which spins the soapy clothes to help get out dirt. The washer drains, adds more water to rinse and the n spins the clothes to wring out excess water. Clothes are placed into the spinning basket via the top of the machine, and you can open the machine at any time to add something else. A front loading washing machine uses less energy and does not have an agitator. A front loading machine is a gentler method, because it uses gravity to spin the clothes, which helps save energy and may extend life of clothing.These machines use less water and detergent, which may be a great savings on water costs, and they can usually be filled with more clothes. You cannot open these machines while they are running, so your days of adding a forgotten sock to a batch being washed are over if you choose a front loading washing machine. Front loaders vary in size but many can take up less space than top loaders. It’s often possible to stack a dryer on top of a front loading machine, but you will usually only find this feature in top loaders that are very small and won’t accommodate large bat ches.A front loader may be a better choice if you need to save on space but still want a fairly good sized washing machine There is nevertheless some advantage to the top loading washing machine if you have back, knee or neck problems. It can be awkward to bend down to load and unload clothes, but usually no more so than using front loading dryers. If you have to do lots of laundry, you may prefer a front loader to avoid frequent bending to get clothes in and out of a machine. You do give up greater efficiency, savings in energy and water costs, use of less water, and potentially longer life of clothing when you use a top loading washing machine.However you also may benefit in the short run because they are significantly less expensive. For people who can afford the front loader and who don’t have issues with the way clothes are loaded, this may be your best bet. In some states and countries you may even qualify for an energy rebate if you purchase a front loading machine. Th e main difference between a top loading and front loading washing machine is how the clothes are placed inside. A top loading washing machine has a hinged lid on top, allowing the clothes to be placed inside a horizontally-oriented watertight tub.In the center of this tub is a device called an agitator. The agitator's job is to swirl the clothes through the soapy water. A front loading washing machine has no central agitator, but uses gravity and side-mounted paddles to agitate clothes. Once the front door is closed, it remains locked mechanically until the washing cycle is complete. One advantage of a front loading washing machine is an increased capacity. Since there is no central agitator, the horizontally-oriented drum can hold at least 20 to 30% more clothing per load.For a large family, this could mean running only three loads in a front loading washing machine compared to five in a top loader. Fewer loads often translates to savings in utility bills and water usage. A front l oading washing machine is also gentler on clothes and generally quieter to operate. Instead of a centralized agitator literally grabbing clothes and thrashing them, the blades of a front loading washing machine gently pick up the clothes and allow them to drop into the soapy water. The soil is still removed by an agitating action, but gravity does most of the work.Gentler agitation can extend the lifespan of clothes significantly. As top loading washing machines age, they tend to become noisier and more likely to become unbalanced. A front loading washing machine rarely becomes unbalanced from the weight of heavy items. Another advantage of a front loading washing machine is less water and detergent usage. A top loading washer must use enough water to cover the highest level of the clothes. A front loading washing machine, on the other hand, only uses enough water to cover approximately the lower third of the tub at most. The clothes are drawn through the water, not the water throug h the clothes.Detergents designed for front loading washing machines use a lower sudsing formula, and are meant to release different cleansing agents at different water temperatures. In fact, a front loading washing machine often contains its own heating element to keep the water at an ideal temperature for washing. Many consumers also find that a front loading washing machine removes more water during the final spin cycle. This often translates into shorter drying times, which equals savings on electricity. In addition, a front loading washing machine can work in conjunction with a stackable dryer to save space in the laundry room.A standard top loading washing machine cannot be stacked with a standard electric dryer. Manufacturers' attempts at a stacked top loading combination often limit the washer lid's range of motion. No such design problem exists with a front loading washing machine. Front Loader (Main Advantages) 1. Wash quality   –   you can get a better wash qua lity than any top loaders (however, not as good as  God-made washing machines   – our hands). 2. Water/Detergent consumption   –   you can do a cycle of washing with comparatively less water and detergent compared to top loaders.Though you have invested a lot of money on a front loader, you can afford to save some on water and detergents. 3. Longevity   –   front loaders are expected to last longer than top loaders (up to 15 to 20 years of use). Ideal for consumers who believe â€Å"old is gold† and are not interested in exchange offers and/or keeping themselves updated with latest technology. Front Loader (Main Disadvantages) 1. Price –   front loaders are far expensive than top loaders. The lower-end version/model in a front loader is much more expensive than the higher-end version/model in a top loader. 2.Complex mechanism –   front loaders run without a problem as long as they run, but once they land in some problem, it i s forever. Never you can expect the same performance after repair that you found when you bought it. Also, bending down to load a front loader washing machine is considered inconvenient. 3. Repair cost/service   –   the cost involved in repairing front loaders or getting on-time repair service is a real  challenge. You might have to wait as long as 20 days to 3 months to get a fault repaired and then shed a good amount of money for that repair. Top Loader (Main Advantages) 1.User friendly   –   top loaders boast the comfort and convenience of any common user (non-technical housewives)   who can operate the machine without any complications . Another most noted advantage across the world, especially in America and Australia, is the convenience to stand and load the machine without having to bend down as in front loaders. 2. Power consumption   –   power consumed by a top loader is comparatively less than a front loader, basically because of the ti me consumed in washing. A cycle of wash lasts for 30 to 45 minutes in a top loader while the same cycle of wash in a front loader can run up to 1 to 2 hours. . Maintenance   –   top loaders have quite simple mechanism compared to front loaders and involve more electronics than mechanical. So, any repair here might not be as expensive as repairs in front loaders and the service is also quick and affordable. Top Loader (Main Disadvantages) 1. Wash quality   –   sources claim that top loaders’ wash quality is not as good as in front loaders. Since the drum in top loaders is vertical, chances are that clothes at the bottom of the drum and at the top of the drum fail to interchange positions to attain the same wash quality. SOME BRANDS HAVE TACKLED THIS PROBLEM NOW – see below). 2. Water/Detergent consumption   –   top loaders consume more water and detergent compared to front loaders during a wash cycle. This is mainly because the volume of water required in a top loader to wash a certain load is much more compared to a front loader to wash the same load, thereby utilizing more detergent also. 3. Noise/Vibration   –   some top loaders might create vibration and some low-level noise during operation. This is mainly because the body of a top loader is lighter than a front loader and occupies lesser ground space than a front loader.Now, having differntiated between front loaders and top loaders, I hope the above information has helped us to decide between a front loader and a top loader. For all those who have decided to go ahead with a front loader, there is no choice in brand. In India, the obvious front loader market leader is IFB. If at all you have decided to buy a front loader, you can wisely go ahead with an IFB. However, please note that it is advisable to go for higher-end  versions/models than lower-end versions/models since you might not get most of the features in lower-end versions despite payin g such a huge amount. pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic]Top Loading and a front Loading: 1. Water Consumption: Water is comsumed is   very less amount in front loading than the top loading. The top loading takes almost 2 to 3 medium size bucket of watter for each cycle. ie Wash + no. of rinse cycle. The front loader wold use less than half the amount of water used by the top loader with the same wash results. 2. Fabrics last long: Front loaders are gentle to the fabrics than the top loaders. From my personal experiance the fabrics do not loae there texture that early as compared to top loaders.The evidance to support it would be  one do not require to clean the lint filer that often, hence the fabric do not loose their fiber. 3. Quiter Operation: The front loaders are quiter operation than the top loders, hence the noise pollution is less in the house. 4 energy comsumption. Front loaders are more enegery effecient than the top loaders. 5:  Front loaders are long lasting a nd  virtually maintainance free. Average life of front loader is longer than the top loader (So i have read) Dificultises with fronty loaders: 1. With front loaders are you need to bend down to load the cloths.So for those who  have back  problem, using front loaders would be a pain. 2. Front loaders require uninterrupted flow of water to operate. 3. Front loaders are heavy units, and they require to be on a perfectly level base,   They should not be moved arround, hence they do not come with base wheels. So guys, choose the front loader, if you want your fabrics to be damaged less, water to be consumed less, but provided you can over come the above difficultues. Feature difference: Wash care programs in Front loading machines are more. i. e. ne has a greater choice for washing cotton clothes  or synthetic ones in Front loading machines. Heater option for hygenic hotwash is there in Front loading machines though there are some top loading machines which have inbuilt heater . Front loader have high rinsing efficiency thus clothes come out detergent free. Front loader have higher drying efficiency   and some machines equiped with 100% dryer can dry clothes 100%. (But they  are costlier and electricity and time consumption for the process is more. ) Other difference: Top loaders are economical than Front loaders but for good features one has to spend a little more.Also, remember cost determines features and PRODUCT QUALITY. Both the machines are user friendly. And if a person takes a little care none of the machines have to be stopped and opened in the middle of the process. even if one wants to do it he can do it easily cos there is drain option given in front loader, after draining stop the machine totally and after about 1. 5 mins one can open its door. Front loader weighs more than top loaders. Both can be moved around by placing them on trolly which is not recommended 🙂 . Water and detergent consumption in Front loading is less.The trad itional top-loading washer does its job well, compared with the washing drums and rollers previous generations used. The washer's tub sits vertically in the machine and has an agitator in the middle that churns the water and clothes together, forcing water through the items. It drains, refills with clean water, agitates again, drains, rinses and spins. The front-loading machine follows the same basic method, but has many advantages over the standard top-loaders. The front-loading machine's greatest advantage may well be its energy efficiency, no small advantage considering an increasingly environmentally aware marketplace.Nearly every model bears the US Department of Energy's â€Å"Energy Star† label, setting it apart as an appliance that meets or exceeds the stringent efficiency standards set out jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. Here are some of the other differences between top- and front-loading washers: Efficiency: While a top-l oading machine requires enough water to cover all the clothes in its drum, a front-loading washer needs only a third of that amount because its drum is set horizontally in the machine.As the drum turns, it uses gravity to drop the clothes back into the water. And while a top-loading machine will empty the soapy water and refill for a rinse agitation cycle, a front-loading machine just sprays clean water on the load as the drum continues to turn, saving gallons. Since there's no agitator in a front-loading machine, there's a lot more room for dirty clothes – and larger loads means fewer loads. Finally, the front-loading machine's spin mechanism can reach up to 1,000 rpm, as opposed to the standard top-loader's average 650 rpm.That means less water left in the laundry, which in turn gives you a shorter drying time, saving energy there, too. Space: Most front-loading washers can be stacked with a companion dryer, an impossible feat for standard top-loaders, except for a mere few models. If floor space is important to you, a front-loading washer is the better choice. Clothing life: There's no question that agitators are tough on your clothes. Because only gravity is at work in a front-loading machine, you'll save a lot of wear and tear on your laundry, extending the life of your clothes and linens.Cost: In this department, the front-loading washer is at a significant disadvantage. Typically, they cost a minimum of several hundred dollars more than their top-loading counterparts. This initial outlay will be recouped, of course, in energy costs over the long run, but if you can only budget $500 or less for a washer, you'll have to go with the traditional top-loading model. Ergonomics: If bending or kneeling is difficult for you, stay with a top-loading machine. You'll need to kneel or bend to load the clothes as well as remove the wet load from a front-loading washer.When the machines are stacked, the washer goes on the bottom, so there's no relief there, eit her. Last-minute lid-flipping: We've all run back to the washing machine to toss in a just-found pair of socks or T-shirt after the machine has started. But with a front-loading machine, there's no turning back once you push the start button. The door locks until the cycle has ended. There are however, a few models that allow a few seconds to add a garment, but once that light or time has elapsed, your clothing has to wait for the next load. Detergents:Although you can use any kind of laundry detergent in a top-loader, your detergent selection may be a bit limited with a front-loading machine, depending on the manufacturer. Most manufacturers of front-loading washers recommend using an HE low-sudsing detergent; these are becoming more widely available all the time. In the conservation department, the front-loading machine is a clear winner, saving water, energy and, of course, money over the life of the machine. The major detractor for most consumers is the larger initial cash outla y; front-loaders often cost $800 or more compared with around $350 for a good top-loader.

Reading comprehension Essay

|Types of Reading | |Maija MacLeod | |[pic] | |In this Page: | |Overview | |Intensive Reading | |Extensive Reading | |Intensive and Extensive Reading Together | |Scanning | |Skimming | |Scanning and Skimming Together | |References | |[pic] | |Overview: | |Several types of reading may occur in a language classroom. One way in which these may be categorized ,| |as suggested by Brown (1989) can be outlined as follows: | | A. Oral | | B. Silent | | I. Intensive | | a. linguistic | | b. content | | II. Extensive | | a. skimming | | b. scanning | | c. global | |The first distinction that can be made is whether the reading is oral or silent. This web page will not| |deal with oral reading, only silent reading. | |Within the category of silent reading, one encounters intensive and extensive reading. Intensive | |reading is used to teach or practice specific reading strategies or skills. The text is treated as an | |end in itself. Extensive reading on the other hand, involves reading of large quantities of material,| |directly and fluently. It is treated as a means to an end. It may include reading reading simply for | |pleasure or reading technical, scientific or professional material. This later type of text, more | |academic, may involve two specific types of reading, scanning for key details or skimming for the | |essential meaning. A relatively quick and efficient read, either on its own or after scanning or | |skimming, will give a global or general meaning. | |This web page then will first examine intensive reading. The second part will deal with extensive | |reading, with a focus on how it results in a general or global meaning. The fourth part gives a short | |comment on how intensive and extensive reading may operate in the same class. The fourth part examines | |scanning and the fifth, scanning. A final sixth part comments on how scanning and skimming may be used | |in the same reading. | | | |[pic] | |Intensive Reading | |In this section: | |What it is | |How it looks | |-Characteristics | |-Materials | |-Skills developed | |-Activities | |-Assessment | |When it is used | |Role of the teacher | |Advantages | |Disadvantages | |Questions sometimes asked | | | |What it is | |Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading â€Å"calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, | |and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, | |rhetorical relationships, and the like. † He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a â€Å"zoom lens† | |strategy . | |Long and Richards (1987) say it is a â€Å"detailed in-class† analysis, led by the teacher, of vocabulary | |and grammar points, in a short passage. † | |Intensive Reading, sometimes called â€Å"Narrow Reading†, may involve students reading selections by the| |same author or several texts about the same topic. When this occurs, content and grammatical structures| |repeat themselves and students get many opportunities to understand the meanings of the text. The | |success of â€Å"Narrow Reading† on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more | |familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having read other works by | |the same author, the more comprehension is promoted. | |How it looks | | Characteristics: | |usually classroom based | |reader is intensely involved in looking inside the text | |students focus on linguistic or semantic details of a reading | |students focus on surface structure details such as grammar and discourse markers | |students identify key  vocabulary | |students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving) | |texts are read carefully and thoroughly, again and again | |aim is to build more language knowledge rather than simply practice the skill of reading | |seen more commonly than extensive reading in classrooms | | Materials: | |usually very short texts – not more than 500 words in length | |chosen for level of difficulty and usually, by the teacher | |chosen to provide the types of reading and skills that the teacher wants to cover in the course | | Skills developed: | |rapid reading practice | |interpreting text by using: | | -word attack skills | | | | -text attack skills | | -non-text information | |Activities: | |Intensive reading exercises may include: | |looking at main ideas versus details | |understanding what is implied versus stated | |making inferences | |looking at the order of information and how it effects the message | |identifying words that connect one idea to another | |identifying words that indicate change from one section to another | | | | Munby (1979) suggests four categories of questions that may be used in intensive reading. These | |include: | |Plain Sense – to understand the factual, exact surface meanings in the text | |Implications – to make inferences and become sensitive to emotional tone and figurative language | |Relationships of thought – between sentences or paragraphs | |. Projective – requiring the integration of information from the text to one’s own background information| |Note that questions may fall into more than one category. | |. | |Assessment: | |Assessment of intensive reading will take the form of reading tests and quizzes. | |The most common systems of questioning are multiple-choice and free-response. | |Mackay (1968) , in his book Reading in a Second Language, reminds teachers that the most important | |objective in the reading class should NOT be the testing of the student to see if they have | |understood. Teachers should, instead, be spending most of the time training the student to understand | |what they read. | |When it is used | |when the objective of reading is to achieve full understanding of: | | – logical argument | | – rhetorical pattern of text | | – emotional, symbolic or social attitudes and purposes of the author | | – linguistic means to an end | | for study of content material that are difficult |.

1927 - 1928 Academy Awards

1927 - 1928 Academy Awards The very first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. More of a fancy dinner than the huge, staged ceremony of today, it was the beginning of a grand tradition. The Very First Academy Awards Soon after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927, a committee of seven members was given the task of creating an Academy Awards presentation. Though the idea was shelved for nearly a year due to other pressing Academy issues, the plans for an awards ceremony presented by the Awards committee were accepted in May 1928. It was decided that all films released from August 1, 1927 through July 31, 1928 would be eligible for the first Academy Awards. The Winners Were Not a Surprise The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. It was a quiet affair compared to the glamor and glitz that accompany the ceremonies of today. Since the winners were announced to the press on Monday, February 18, 1929 - three months early - the 250 people who attended the black-tie banquet in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel werent anxious for the results to be announced. After a dinner of Filet of Sole Saute au Buerre and Half Broiled Chicken on Toast, Douglas Fairbanks, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, stood up and gave a speech. Then, with the help of William C. deMille, he called the winners up to the head table and handed them their awards. The First Statuettes The statuettes that were presented to the first Academy Awards winners were nearly identical to those handed out today. Sculpted by George Stanley, The Academy Award of Merit (an Oscars official name) was a knight, made of solid bronze, holding a sword and standing upon a reel of film. The First Academy Award Winner Wasnt There! The very first person to receive an Academy Award didnt attend the first Academy Awards ceremony. Emil Jannings, the winner for best actor, had decided to go back to his home in Germany before the ceremony. Before he left for his trip, Jannings was handed the very first Academy Award. The 1927-1928 Academy Award Winners Picture (Production): WingsPicture (Unique and Artistic Production): Sunrise: A Song of Two HumansActor: Emil Jannings (The Last Command; The Way of All Flesh)Actress: Janet Gaynor (Seventh Heaven; Street Angel; Sunrise)Director: Frank Borzage (Seventh Heaven) / Lewis Milestone (Two Arabian Knights)Adapted Screenplay: Benjamin Glazer (Seventh Heaven)Original Story: Ben Hecht (Underworld)Cinematography: SunriseInterior Decoration: The Dove / The Tempest

Free Essays on Abraham Lincoln A Great Leader

Abraham Lincoln - A great Leader In the year 1809, the future sixteenth president and the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks was born, and was named Abraham after his grandfather. He was born into a one room log cabin in Kentucky made form logs and clay, and it sat right on the hard cold earth, with just a fireplace on one wall to keep them warm. In 1811, at the age of two, Abraham and his family moved to Knob Creek, where he first learned to plant, husk corn, hoe, chop wood, and build hearth fires. Abe's first schooling came at the age of six, when his older sister, Sarah, brought him to the schoolhouse two miles down the road, where he learned to read, write and do arithmetic. Because there were no close neighbors during his earlier years in life, Abe got used to being alone, though he did not mind because of his fondness of nature and the outdoors. Even his later years as a politician, did he remember his knowledge of nature and of the differences in the trees that he passed by in Washington. In December of 1816, Thomas Lincoln moved the family to the backwoods of Indiana, but to get there they had to cut a trail themselves out of the wilderness in order to reach their destination. In the autumn of 1818 Abe's mother Nancy died from "milk sickness", and so young Sarah, who was only eleven, took over the chores of from her mother. A year later though, Thomas Lincoln found a second wife, in order to help around the house, named Sarah Bush Johnston, whom had three kids of her own. Abe and Sarah quickly grew to love their new stepmother, who kept an immaculate house and even pushed Abe to do his studies. At age eleven, Abe was to required to go to school regularly when there was a teacher, and whenever this was, Abe got to walk a beautiful four miles each way which he did not mind. Though his lifetime of schooling never amounted to more than a year, he was always reading, which kept him up at the pace of the oth... Free Essays on Abraham Lincoln A Great Leader Free Essays on Abraham Lincoln A Great Leader Abraham Lincoln - A great Leader In the year 1809, the future sixteenth president and the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks was born, and was named Abraham after his grandfather. He was born into a one room log cabin in Kentucky made form logs and clay, and it sat right on the hard cold earth, with just a fireplace on one wall to keep them warm. In 1811, at the age of two, Abraham and his family moved to Knob Creek, where he first learned to plant, husk corn, hoe, chop wood, and build hearth fires. Abe's first schooling came at the age of six, when his older sister, Sarah, brought him to the schoolhouse two miles down the road, where he learned to read, write and do arithmetic. Because there were no close neighbors during his earlier years in life, Abe got used to being alone, though he did not mind because of his fondness of nature and the outdoors. Even his later years as a politician, did he remember his knowledge of nature and of the differences in the trees that he passed by in Washington. In December of 1816, Thomas Lincoln moved the family to the backwoods of Indiana, but to get there they had to cut a trail themselves out of the wilderness in order to reach their destination. In the autumn of 1818 Abe's mother Nancy died from "milk sickness", and so young Sarah, who was only eleven, took over the chores of from her mother. A year later though, Thomas Lincoln found a second wife, in order to help around the house, named Sarah Bush Johnston, whom had three kids of her own. Abe and Sarah quickly grew to love their new stepmother, who kept an immaculate house and even pushed Abe to do his studies. At age eleven, Abe was to required to go to school regularly when there was a teacher, and whenever this was, Abe got to walk a beautiful four miles each way which he did not mind. Though his lifetime of schooling never amounted to more than a year, he was always reading, which kept him up at the pace of the oth...