Castle Life Essays - Knight, Feudalism, Castle, Tournament, Nobility

Castle Life Supported by the brawn and taxes of the peasants, the feudal baron and his wife would seem to have had a comfortable life. In many ways they did, despite the lack of creature comforts and refinements. Around the 12th century, fortified manor dwellings began to give way to stone castles. Some of these, with their great outer walls and courtyard buildings, covered around 15 acres and were built for defensive warfare. Even during the hot summer months, dampness clung to the stone rooms, and the lord and his entourage spent as much time as possible outdoors. At dawn, a watchman on top of the lookout tower blasted out a note on his bugle to awaken everyone in the castle. After a small breakfast of bread and wine or beer, the nobles attended mass in the chapel at the castle. The lord then went about his business. He first may have heard the report of an estate manager (a manager of plot of land). If a discontented or badly treated serf had fled, without a doubt, the lord would order special people called retainers to bring him back. This is because serfs were bound to the lord unless they could evade him for a year and a day. The lord would also hear the petty offenses of the peasants and fine the culprits, or, he might even sentence them to a day in the pillory. Serious deeds, like poaching or murder, were legal matters for the local court or royal "circuit" court. The lady of the castle had many duties of her own. She inspected the work of her large staff of servants, and saw that her spinners, weavers, and embroiderers furnished clothes for the castle and rich robes for the clergy. She and her ladies also helped to train the pages, who were well-born boys that came to live in the castle at the age of seven years. For seven years pages were taught in religion, music, dancing, riding, hunting, and some reading, writing, and arithmetic. When they turned 14, they became squires. The lord directed the training of the squires. They spent seven years learning the practices of chivalry and, above all this, of warfare. At the age of 21, if they were worthy enough, they received the distinction of knighthood. Sometime between 9 AM and noon, a trumpet called the lord's household to the great hall for dinner. Their, they wolfed down great quantities of soup, game, birds, mutton, pork, some beef, and often venison or boar slain in the hunt. In winter, the ill-preserved meat tasted fiercely of East Indian spices, bought at enormous cost to hide the rank taste. Great, flat pieces of bread called trenchers served as plates and, after the meal, were tossed to the dogs around the table or given to the poor. Huge pies, or pasties, filled with several kinds of fowl or fish, were greatly loved. Metal, or wood cups, or leather "jacks" held cider, beer, or wine. Coffee and tea were not used in Europe until after the Middle Ages. Minstrels or jokers entertained at dinner. Hunting, games, and tournaments delighted nobles. Even the ladies and their pages rode into the field to loose falcons at game birds. Indoors, in front of the great open fire, there was chess, checkers, and backgammon. Poet-musicians, called troubadours, would often chant and sing storied accomplishments of Charlemagne, Count Roland, or Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Dearest to the warrior heart of the feudal lord was the tournament, an extravagant contest of arms. Visiting knights and nobles set up their pavilions near the lists, or field of contest. Over each tent, a banner fluttered to show the rank of a contestant--here a count, there a marquis or a baron. The shield of each armor-ridden warrior was emblazoned, or decorated, to identify the bearer. The first day of the tournament, or tourney, was usually devoted to single combats, in which pairs of knights rode full speed at each other with 10-foot (3-meter) lances. The tournament's climax was the melee, when companies of knights battled in adventurous mimic warfare. A tournament cost the lord a fortune for hospitality and rich prizes given to the victors by the "queen of the tournament". Tournaments had a cold and forbidding value--as practice for feudal warfare. Some battle or raid erupted almost daily, since medieval nobles settled their quarrels simply by attacking. If a lord coveted land, his couriers called his vassals to make a foray, or raid, of it. The peasants, in quilted battle coats,

8051 Microcontroller Based Essays

8051 Microcontroller Based Essays 8051 Microcontroller Based Essay 8051 Microcontroller Based Essay RF BASED REMOTE CONTROL INTODUCTION-: The Project Long Range Remote Control can be used to remotely control a number of Electrical or Electronic Gadgets connected to it. Unlike Infra Red remote control, this Project employs FM transmission and Reception, and hence it can be used for comparatively longer range. Any gadget can be switched on/off by keying the number allocated to it. The Receiver is made up of the famous 8 bit Microcontroller from Atmel. The Microcontroller is used as the Master in the receiver end which is used to control all the devices. It decodes the Signal from the transmitter and control the relays according to the signal. For transmission we are using frequency modulation at the frequency of 433. 92Mhz. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO 8051 MICROCONTROLLER-: When we have to learn about a new computer we have to familiarize about the machine capability we are using, and we can do it by studying the internal hardware design (devices architecture), and also to know about the size, number and the size of the registers. A microcontroller is a single chip that contains the processor (the CPU), non-volatile memory for the program (ROM or flash), volatile memory for input and output (RAM), a clock and an I/O control unit. Also called a computer on a chip, billions of microcontroller units (MCUs) are embedded each year in a myriad of products from toys to appliances to automobiles. For example, a single vehicle can use 70 or more microcontrollers. The following picture describes a general block diagram of microcontroller. AT89S52: The AT89S52 is a low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcontroller with 8K bytes of in-system programmable Flash memory. The device is manufactured using Atmel’s high-density nonvolatile memory technology and is compatible with the industry-standard 80C51 instruction set and pinout. The on-chip Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed in-system or by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By combining a versatile 8-bit CPU with in-system programmable Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel AT89S52 is a powerful microcontroller, which provides a highly flexible and ost-effective solution to many, embedded control applications. The AT89S52 provides the following standard features: 8K bytes of Flash, 256 bytes of RAM, 32 I/O lines, Watchdog timer, two data pointers, three 16-bit timer/counters, a six-vector two-level interrupt architecture, a full duplex serial port, on-chip oscillator, and clock circuitry. In addition, the AT89S52 is designed with st atic logic for operation down to zero frequency and supports two software selectable power saving modes. The Idle Mode stops the CPU while allowing the RAM, timer/counters, serial port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down mode saves the RAM con-tents but freezes the oscillator, disabling all other chip functions until the next interrupt The hardware is driven by a set of program instructions, or software. Once familiar with hardware and software, the user can then apply the microcontroller to the problems easily. The pin diagram of the 8051 shows all of the input/output pins unique to microcontrollers: The following are some of the capabilities of 8051 microcontroller. ? Internal ROM and RAM ? I/O ports with programmable pins ? Timers and counters ? Serial data communication The 8051 architecture consists of these specific features: ?16 bit PC data pointer (DPTR) ?8 bit program status word (PSW) ?8 bit stack pointer (SP) ?Internal ROM 4k ?Internal RAM of 128 bytes. ?4 register banks, each containing 8 registers ?80 bits of general purpose data memory ?32 input/output pins arranged as four 8 bit ports: P0-P3 ? Two 16 bit timer/counters: T0-T1Two external and three internal interrupt sources Oscillator and clock circuits THEORY-: Radio Frequency remote control) A handheld, wireless device used to operate audio, video and other electronic equipment using radio frequency (RF) transmission. Unlike the more common infrared (IR) remotes, RF remotes do not require line of sight and do not have to be aimed at the equipment. In fact, RF remotes can be operated. RF Receivers (Base Stations) Are Required Since most equipment is IR based and comes with an IR sensor located on the front panel, the RF must wind up as IR. This is accomplished with an RF receiver, which is a base station and antenna, that accepts RF signals and converts them to IR. For use inside equipment cabinets, the receiver typically has an IR blaster that showers IR signals to all components by reflecting off the closed cabinet door. The RF receiver also has sockets for several IR emitters (IR flashers) that are wired to, and pasted directly over, the IR sensors in the equipment for precise aiming. See IR remote control and RF. References-: The 8051 microcontroller and Embedded systems using assembly and C Muhammad Ali Mazidi, Janice Gillespie Mazidi 1. Keil Software, dScope Debugger, keil. com/ 2. National Instruments Multisim 10. 0 www. ni. com/multisim 3. www. 8051projects. info 4. www. 8051projects. net 5. www. dnatechindia. com 6. AT89c51 datasheet available at www. alldatasheets. com

Logistics - FedEx Distribution Systems Coursework

Logistics - FedEx Distribution Systems - Coursework Example The company is observed to use a distribution system of its own known as the ‘FedEx International DirectDistribution’ which is said to be an easy and cost-effective process, resulting in the distribution of various shipments in proper time along with decreasing its operational cost. This mechanism thereby facilitates to ensure that low cost is charged from the customers. This, in turn, plays a vital role in ascertaining the preference of FedEx amid consumers. With reference to the above graphical representation i.e. ‘FedEx International DirectDistribution’, it can be viewed that the distribution system of FedEx comprises three steps that include packaging of the shipment received from different sources, making transportation of goods with the help of different means, as well as the concluding step is to deliver the shipment to the final customers or retailers. The different steps have been elaborated below: The packaging of the shipment received: In the first step of the distribution process of the company, the shipments received are packed according to their requirements. The packaging process is considered to be a vital part of the distribution process of the company as the shipment of the goods in proper order or quality is reliant on the way in which the packaging is done. FedEx does have different packaging policies for diverse forms of products. The different packaging policies comprise stacking the shipment received in order to have a proper estimation of the width, length, and breadth of the boxes that would be needed to pack the product. The next step is the process of cushioning and bracing, resulting in the proper handling of the products while transporting the shipments from one location to another. And, the last step is banding and wider packaging so that no damages occur owing to an inadequate stacking of the products (FedEx, 2013).