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In order to understand the MIDI keyboard, we should know about the musical keyboard first. A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers on a musical instrument which cause the instrument to produce sounds.

Keyboards almost all share the common layout shown. Musical instruments with keyboards of this type include the piano, harpsichord, virginals, clavichord, organ, electric piano, digital piano, synthesizer, “arranger keyboard” or “home keyboard” (also called “electronic keyboard”), celesta, dulcitone, accordion, melodica, glasschord, and carillon. Since the most commonly encountered keyboard instrument is the piano, the keyboard layout is often called the piano keyboard.

The twelve notes of the Western musical scale are laid out with the lowest note on the left; the larger keys (for the seven “natural” notes of the C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B) jut forward. Because these keys are often coloured white on a keyboard, these are often called the white notes or white keys. The keys for the remaining five notes which are not part of the C major scale (namely C#/D#, D#/E#, F#/G#, G#/A#, A#/B#) are set back. Because these keys are often coloured black, these notes are often called the black notes or black keys.

The pattern repeats at the interval of an octave. The arrangement of longer keys for C major with intervening, shorter keys for the intermediate semitones dates to the 15th century. Many keyboard instruments dating from before the nineteenth century have a keyboard with the colours of the keys reversed - darker coloured keys for the white notes and white keys for the black notes.

A few electric and electronic instruments have had this feature. It should be noted that the reverse-colored keys on Hammond organs such as the B3, C3 and A100 are not playable keys; they physically latch when pressed like radio buttons, and serve as selector switches for preset sounds. There are 21 white keys on the keyboard and 15 black.

How to make a MIDI Keyboard
MIDI keyboard connects to computer sound card or synthesizer module to create MIDI code.

This Project is built around the 8031 microcontroller. Once keyboard circuit diagram is drawn out, one can construct scanning circuitry that continuously loops through a test of each key to see if it is open or closed.

Circuit Components
Microcontroller, memory, keyboard/switch interface, MIDI/RS232 interface and power supply

Software Algorithm

• The software loops through a check of each 1st switch for every key.
• If it finds that switch 1 is open it checks to see if it was open the last time it looked. If this is the case it continues scanning.
• If it finds that it is open but was closed the last time it looked then it stores info that it is now open and then sends the “note off value” for that key out the midi port.
• If it finds that switch 1 is closed then it checks to see if switch 2 for that key is open.
• If it is open then it increments the velocity register value and continues the scan. If it finds that switch 2 is closed then it checks a register to see if that note is already on. If so then it continues the scan.
• If not then it sends the “note on value for that key out the midi port and also sends a velocity value from the velocity table that is incremented for each key check loop. Therefore, the more times that the software loops the lower the velocity value sent.

E-commerce could well change your lot, provided you have some technical know-how and a desire for exploration. As the name implies, electronic commerce or e-commerce is an internet-based business scheme that does not require any particular location, space and other stuff to conduct the operation. That is why it is considered as a virtual platform that dramatically downsizes operation costs and eliminates common hassles.

Nowadays people are accustomed to moving with shopping cart in the marketplace but this will become history in the near future as widespread availability of the internet will make everything readily accessible from any place. Furthermore, the advancement of wireless devices and improvement in mobile internet services will add a new dimension to our lifestyle by making everything easily available.

Before entering into details, a few basics of e-commerce will help. It is a kind of online business that entails an assortment of things such as electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, e-marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, automated data collection systems and the like.

Today all e-commerce services operate using websites and sending emails. A customer can order items from a vendor’s website by making payment with a credit card (the punter enters their account information via the computer) or a previously established ‘cybercash’ account. The transaction information is transmitted to a financial institution for payment clearance and to the vendor for order fulfilment. The encryption technology keeps all personal information secure from unauthorised access.

The e-commerce trend began in 1968 when electronic data interchange gave companies the leeway to start electronic transaction. However, it was not until 1984 that a standardised format (known as ASC X12) provided a dependable means to conduct electronic business, and it was not until 1994 that Netscape introduced a browser program whose graphical presentation significantly eased the use of computer communication for all kinds of computer activity, including e-commerce.

Three types of electronic commerce are available today — business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C). B2B scheme provides a direct interaction between two business activities. For instance, a wholesaler purchases one thousand units of printer from a manufacturer and deposits the payment to the manufacturer.

UN/EDIFACT is one of the most well-known and established B2B standards. ANSI ASC X12 is a popular standard in North America. RosettaNet is an XML based, emerging B2B standard in the high-tech industry. An approach like UN/CEFACT’s Modelling Methodology (UMM) might be used to capture the collaborative space of B2B business processes.

For firms in developing countries, B2B e-commerce scheme has emerged as a potential way to reduce costs substantially. It has also given them the opportunity to access global market. Internet-based B2B e-commerce should help producers in developing countries to obtain better information about global market and give them direct access to new customers.

Business-to-consumer or B2C gives businesses the room to sell their goods and services directly to consumers. Suppose you need to buy a book online and go to a particular website to place your order. The portal processes your request and after receiving the payment, ships the book to you.

Consumer-to-consumer or C2C involves electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is online auction in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it. The third party generally charges a flat fee or commission. Examples of C2C are eBay, amazon.com etc.

Starting a online business is a good decision for which you first need to develop a smart interactive website. Then you select commodities that you want to sell online. You should maintain a good network with others to market your products. Products for sale can be made by you or purchased from secondary sources. You can maintain a warehouse for product distribution.

A newcomer in the market, your first imperative should be building confidence. Collecting email IDs could be a smart a way to send product profile to others. For instance, you send in hundreds of emails to different firms and individuals. If five among them send feedback to you, it will be a breakthrough because you have made it possible with limited resources. The website that posts your advertisement should be intelligent enough. You have to take digital image of each entity and place them on the web. Adding a client interaction form is mandatory to receive order from the clients. Mode of payment can be online or direct hard cash. If online payment facility is not available, you can collect your payment after delivering the products.

Recently another technology called ‘m-commerce’ is gaining huge popularity. Mobile commerce has introduced payment without contact which in practice gives people the true touch of liberty. Today all cellphone manufacturers produce specialised phones with mobile internet facility and the rapid improvement in operators’ network has enabled people to download rich contents on their palm-held devices.

In Japan I-mode service, unveiled by DoCoMo in February 1999, is a lucid example of the resounding success of m-commerce. I-mode facilitates buying tickets, ordering books and getting news delivered to mobile handset. The service has become the largest internet access platform in Japan. In addition, I-mode users can carry out banking transactions with up to 280 banks and securities brokers.

In Bangladesh e-commerce has not yet gathered the momentum. Although there exists some e-commerce websites, they do not provide full-fledged services. The absence of online transaction facility hinders the entire process. The government should come forward and initiate and regulate this service in order to create a true e-business environment in the country.

Now folks who are newbie in the field of web design and development can enhance there knowledge to know what is CSS actually? From the wikipedia I have posted this brief overview of CSS

In web development, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any kind of XML document, including SVG and XUL.

CSS is used by both the authors and readers of web pages to define colors, fonts, layout, and other aspects of document presentation. It is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content (written in HTML or a similar markup language) from document presentation (written in CSS). This separation can improve content accessibility, provide more flexibility and control in the specification of presentational characteristics, and reduce complexity and repetition in the structural content. CSS can also allow the same markup page to be presented in different styles for different rendering methods, such as on-screen, in print, by voice (when read out by a speech-based browser or screen reader) and on Braille-based, tactile devices. CSS specifies a priority scheme to determine which style rules apply if more than one rule matches against a particular element. In this so-called cascade, priorities or weights are calculated and assigned to rules, so that the results are predictable.

The CSS specifications are maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Internet media type (MIME type) text/css is registered for use with CSS by RFC 2318 (March 1998).

I will write about different tips and techniques of working with CSS and CSS based design later

Still it is conceptual only. The idea is built around battery chargers instead of batteries. The trick would be to discover the materials and environmental cost of adding chargers to relatively simple items in the first place.It is one of the ideas submitted to the Next Generation competition 2007 featured in Metropolis Magazine was this Kinetic Energy-harnessing battery charger by Yael Miller. The concept is to take power from our daily life work - such as working out, flopping around in a baby rocker, vacuuming, or flushing the toilet - add the piezoelectric effect, and come out with batteries that are charged by “human power.”

Imagine all the television remotes we could power just from flushing!

Yael Miller’s “Kineticel” concept proposes to put small piezoelectric chargers inside common household furniture and appliances, trading a little extra effort in your endeavor for freeish power. Kineticel chargers in a set of dumbbells could make electricity while you’re just doing your daily works!

This computer-generated image released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on April 15 shows trackable objects in Low Earth Orbit (LOE) around Earth from the North Pole. There are now more than 12,000 objects that are monitored in orbit, 11,500 pieces of which are in low Earth orbit, which is at an altitude of between 800 and 1,500 kilometres, where there are many commercial, military, scientific and navigational satellites. In low orbit, debris can stay adrift for decades before they eventually burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. Another 1,147 pieces are in geostationary orbit, about satellite orbits in the direction of the Earth’s rotation, at an altitude of approximately 35,786 km, where telecommunications satellites are typically deployed.

Photo: AFP 

Most washing machines have a round drum that spins to wash the clothes. The clothes tumble over each other as it turns that helps the washing powder or liquid to clean the them. The cloths are rinsed in clean water to remove the soapy water.

The clothes may be washed and rinsed several times in the washing machine to get them really clean. Then they are spin very quickly to remove most of the water so that they will dry quickly.

You’ve got that killer outfit, those perfect shoes, and just the right amount of make-up. As you’re brushing your hair, you notice strands of hair in the comb. Your hair. Poof! You’re down in the dumps. Indeed, nothing kills self-esteem the way hair trouble can. While this may sound like a petty problem, studies have linked hair and self-image to confidence and performance. Women who feel good about themselves and their hair can be attentive, focused and present in the here and now (Tolle 2001, 2002, 2003). Women who feel unhappy with their hair, suffer. Through internalized social comparisons and real experiences of criticism from peers, partners or parents, they feel small and inadequate, unhealthy and unwholesome.

There’s more to the whole hair than self-confidence and self-image though. Let’s look at some interesting connotations related to hair:

Hairstyles and image

* Hairstyles are a medium of expression. Teenagers may adopt hairstyles that provoke shock, puzzlement, or even disgust as a means of indicating rebellion.

* New hairstyles indicate change (McAlexander and Schouten, 1989) while familiar hairstyles symbolise personal continuity.

* Women of mousy-coloured hair often choose to dye it blonde to signify sexiness, fun and availability.

* Blondes are considered more glamorous than brunettes and redheads (Heckert, Heckert, and Heckert, 2003)

* When making recruitment decisions for professional positions, it is often brunettes that are preferred and awarded higher salaries over women of other hair colours because they are seen as more capable (Kylie and Mahler, 1996)

Hair as a symbol of sexuality

* In many cultures, hair length and quality are indicators of reproductive ability, and thus younger women are concerned with displaying good hair, wearing longer hair than older women.

* Nuns cut their hair short and cover their heads as a symbol of renunciation of sexuality.

* In India, women make a pilgrimage to Tirupathi in South India, where they then shave their heads as a symbol of gratitude for favours received from God, thus signifying willingness for a time to become asexual persons.

Hair and Opposites (Synnot)

* Opposite sexes tend to have opposite hair (men have short hair, while women have longer)

* Head hair and body hair are opposites (Women keep longer hair, but depilate body hair; men keep shorter hair, but bodily hair is a symbol of masculinity)

* Opposite ideologies have opposite hair (Professional hairstyles are medium length and neat, alternative hairstyles are either very short (i.e. Skinheads) or very long (i.e. Hippies) or variously coloured (i.e. Punk)

Hair Politics

* In the late 19th and 20th century women were required to have long uncut hair, which could be moulded into elaborate shapes as a symbol of the family’s wealth and status.

* Beginning in the 1850’s feminists called on women to dress with freedom and have simpler hair.

* In China and Japan, bobbed hair was seen as a symbol of female promiscuity and a sign of defiance of the domestic ideal, and was banned. The state took control over women’s hair, and short-haired women were publicly executed or heavily penalised (Sun, 1997)

Condensed and adapted from “Living in the hair and now” -Dr Nimmi Hutnik.

The internet is composed of many interconnected computer networks. Each network may link tens, hundreds, or even thousands of computers, enabling them to share information with one another and to share computational resources such as powerful supercomputers database of information. The internet has made it possible for people all over the world communicate with one other effectively and inexpensively. Unlike traditional broadcasting media, such as radio and television, the internet does not have a centralized distribution system. Instead, an individual who has internet access can communicate directly with anyone else on the internet, make information provided by others, or sell products with a minimum overhead cost.

The internet has brought new opportunities to government, business and education. Governments use the internet for internal communication, distribution of information and automated tax processing. In addition to offering goods and services online to customers, businesses use the internet to interact with other businesses. Many individuals use the internet for communicating through electronic mail (E-mail), for news and research information, shopping, paying bills and online banking. Educational institutions use the internet for research and deliver courses and material to students.

Use the internet has grown tremendously since its inception. The Internets success arises from its flexibility .Instead of restricting components networks to a particular manufacturer or particular type. Internet computer network>No network is too large or too small, too fast or too slow to be interconnected. Thus, the internet includes inexpensive networks that can span a continent and connect thousands of computers.

Internet service provider (ISP) provide internet access to customers ,usually for a monthly fee. A customer who subscribes to an ISP’s service uses the ISP’s network to access the internet. Because ISP’s offer their service to the general public, the networks they operate are known as public access networks. In the UNITED STATES, as in many countries where telephone service is a government-regulated monopoly, the government often controls ISP’s.

An organization that has many computers usually owns and operators a private network, called an intranet, which connects all the computers within the organization. To provide internet service, the organization connects its intranet to the internet. Unlike public access network, intranets are restricted to provide security. Only authorized computers at the organizations can connect to the intranet, and the organizations restricts communication between the intranet and the global internet. The restrictions allow computers inside the organizations to exchange information but keep the information confidential and protected from outsiders.

The internet has doubled in size every 9 to 14 months since it began in the late 1970’s. In 1981 only 213 computers were connected to the internet. By 2000 the number had grown to more 100 million. The current number of people who use the internet can only be estimated. Once survey found that there were 61 million internet users worldwide at the end of 1996, 148 million at the end of 1998, and 407 million by the end of 2000.Today, the number of internet users is estimated to be more than 800 million worldwide.

L-R: Typical forest full of natural resources (Tangabati, Chittagong). Tribal people collect natural water without any contamination just at the base of hills; w(Mirersharai, Chittagong).

In analysis of ecological studies, it is found that human activities are altering ecosystem on four basic point: by (a) selectively destroying species; (b) importing new species; (c) destroying habitats; and (d) introducing xenbiotics. But conservation of natural resources especially bio-resources appears most important in the present world. Conservation of natural resources is essential not only for maintaining natural balance but also for maintaining the economic soundness all over the world.

All natural resources are taken into two types in their category. One is renewable another nonrenewable. The nonrenewable resources are the sources that can be used up completely, or depleted, used up to the point that it is no longer economically feasible to obtain them. The most important nonrenewable resources are fossil fuels — coal, natural gas, petroleum. These fuels change life dramatically. The resources that are replaced by natural processes or essentially inexhaustible in their uses are called renewable resources. All animals and plants in the planet are renewable resources. Different trophic levels in any ecosystem stand as bio-resources in the nature in different forms. Identification of the resources and the technology-use depend on human intelligence and technology innovation. For example, the main resources for agricultural societies are wood, sunlight, streams of water, and draft animals. Though here sunlight and streams are abiotic factors but they are renewable resources also.

Biological resources in nature can be taken under the heading of forest resources, genetic resources, wildlife resources, and aquatic resources (marine, riverine and estuarine resources).

Forest resources
Forest shows its various resource in different ways. As resource, services of forest are important. Among the range of services the most significant ones are ecotourism, watershed protection, protective and habitat functions of mangroves, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. Forest is highly demanded for its non-wood forest products (NWFPS). The NWFPs comprise an important , though generally poorly monitored, aspect of forest products. Forest is the source of wood energy. Woodfuels are a basic need for more than 2 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region alone; While woodfuels’ share in total energy use is declining, the absolute volume of woodfuels used continues to increase. Besides this, in many countries wood energy is still largely considered a traditional “poor people’s fuel.”

The forest is also used as the source of industrial products-trading. In the region of Asia-Pacific alone nearly about 280 million cubic metres of industrial roundwood is produced annually. Besides all the above, the forest is also directly used as “forest and tree resources” under different headings. They are different types of services of forests, socio-cultural roles and nature-based ecotourism, agricultural services of forests and trees, watershed services of forests, carbon sequestration, conservation of wildlife habitats and biological diversity values, and services of mangrove ecosystems.

Genetic resources
Genetic resource is the key functional point and ethics of origin of all natural and modified bio resources. Man plays a great role on the genetic-flow. Genetic resources are used in the field of variation and variability to protect biodiversity as well as environment by utilizing biotechnological application. The subject biotechnology and its application are not new, but changes in the application are. Biotechnology based on biological systems still plays a dominant role in enhancing the quality of life and livelihood. Recent developments in the biotechnological tools and their application have opened up wide opportunities to boost agriculture, medicine, livestock production, forestry, fisheries, health and nutrition as well as management and protection of environment. Bangladesh has not yet been able to use this opportunity to considerable extent. But this frontier technology can provide substantial benefits to the society in a wide range of sectors for improving the quality of life.

Wildlife resource
Wildlife resources are important natural bio-resources. Wildlife may be defined as the community of the non-domesticated species of plants, animals and microbes growing under wild conditions, excluding those who have been recently introduced. The wildlife management is the science and art of making decisions and taking actions to manipulate the structure, dynamics and relations of populations, habitats and people to achieve specific human objectives by means of the wildlife resource.

The concern for wildlife is, however, the concern for man himself. All forms of life — human, animal and plant — are so closely interlinked that disturbance in one gives rise to imbalance in the others. Decomposers release the energy back into the ecosystem, completing the cycle. Producers, consumers and decomposers are linked together in food chains. Various food chains are again joined at different trophic levels forming complicated food webs.

Description of any particular link in the chain of different strands in the web may lead to imbalance which may threaten the existence of man himself on this planet. Nature maintains this vast diversity of animals and plants in a complex organization in which various life processes of production, consumption and disposal of waste are maintained in well balanced cycles. Plants and animals constitute the world’s living resources and the various food chains and cycles constitute life support system essential for their survival, including survival of man.

Aquatic resources
Water is essential for life on Earth. Within organisms, water provides medium in which the complex metabolic processes necessary for life take place. Organisms simply cannot function without water and if deprived would rapidly die. Streams and rivers provide us with water, electric power, agricultural soil, waste disposal, and valleys that are convenient routes for highways. The stream-sites in many tropical regions act as the breeding ground for aquatic animals including the fishes.

The ocean fuels the water cycle, which provides us with fresh water. It supplies oil, minerals, energy, much of oxygen, and 15 per cent of our dietary protein. The foundation of the ocean’s food chain is phytoplankton. They produce their own food by photosynthesis. The world’s major fisheries lie on continental shelves that receive minerals washed down the rivers. Other fisheries lie in parts of the open ocean where upwelling currents carry minerals up from the bottom. Wherever phytoplankton occurs, we also find zooplankton. Fish and similar large animals in the ocean make up the nekton.

Coral reefs are among the most productive of all ecosystems, and they have a diversity of life forms rivaled only by the tropical rain forest. A reef is an area where a rocky out-crop rises from the sea floor. Many prized commercial fishes are inhabitants not of the open ocean but of reefs. Rocky shore supports much more life than a sandy shore.

In some parts of the world, the ocean’s tide may rise and fall far up a river or in a coastal marsh. These areas where the ocean penetrates are the coastal wetlands, important for their ability to absorb and disperse pollutants from the land and because many organisms breed in them. Coastal wetlands include mangrove swamp, found in tropical and subtropical regions, and salt marsh. These wetlands are hatcheries and nurseries of many important species of marine life. In the United States, it is estimated that half of the commercial harvest of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico depend on the coastal wetlands and estuaries. From the worldwide seafood catch, it is found that, in 1950, 21 million tons of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and mammals were harvested from the sea. Thereafter, the harvest increased by about 7 per cent each year to 70 million tons in 1970, a rate of growth faster than increases in farm production on land. Most experts believe that the oceans could sustain an annual harvest of 100 million tons, but this would require better management than we have so far achieved.

The coastal area of Bangladesh is estimated as 710km long on the basis of the geomorphological conditions and hydrological feature of the country. This area has been broadly divided into three distinct. These are the eastern, central and the western. Our country has 25.151 sq km of internal water up to base line. The territorial water of Bangladesh is 9,065 sq km from base line. The Bangladesh’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is 14,0915sq km. The estimated total marine water area is 1,66,066sq km. Bangladesh is uniquely endowed with a wide variety of economically important coastal resources. Bangladesh has a vast network of rivers numbering about 230 — about 24,000 km in length and covering an area of 9,380 sq km (6.5% of the total area of the country). Most of the major rivers have linkage with the estuary and finally meet the Bay of Bengal. Fish is the most important fauna of these rivers and considerable number of fishermen community depend on river fishing for their livelihood. Bangladesh has one of the largest mangrove eco-systems in the world. Mangrove ecosystems also provide a valuable physical habitat for a variety of important coastal species. Waterfowl, shore birds are well known and highly valued inhabitants of wetlands, as are alligators and muskrats. Equally important are crabs, shrimps, sport fishes along with numerous other fish and invertebrates.

Conservation of resources
Conservation is the optimum rational use of natural resources and the environment, having regard to the various demands made upon them and the need to safeguard and maintain them for the future. It is the protection, improvement and use of natural resources according to principles that would assure their highest economic or social benefits. In ecology, conservation includes those measures concerned with the preservation, restoration, benefaction, maximization, reutilization, substitution, allocation and integration of natural resources. In the present time, the term conservation has become an integral part of our everyday vocabulary. The term conservation absorbs principles from multiple directions of basic science and social sciences. This theme includes conservation of history, environmental trends, environmental ethics, ecological economics, policies for conservation, management of natural resources, culture and development and conservation of biodiversity.

Why bio-resource conservation in Bangladesh is urgent and essential? The answer is very important and significant both for environmental and economic considerations. In Bangladesh, bio-resource is characterized by ’species richness’ and ‘population-size shortness’ features. The population-size per species is very low at present almost in all the cases. If we can go quick for conserving species and their population size, still there is possibility of keeping the ecosystems ‘rich in biodiversity’. Then the value of biodiversity could be utilized for the benefit of the nation.

Bangladesh is rich in wide variety of flora and fauna as compared to the rest of the world: Five thousand flowering plants; 199 mammals; 567 birds; 120 reptiles; 734 amphibians. Besides, we have large number of unidentified flora and fauna. Bangladesh is uniquely endowed with natural resource. So, it is highly necessary to conserve both renewable and non-renewable natural resources for the sake of present and future generations. So the management of both renewable and non-renewable resource has to be given top priority. Under the circumstances, any one may like to suggest the following:

1. Comprehensive survey needs to be made to know the exact status of the natural resources. This will help in management of the resources and in promoting environment friendly activities in development intervention.

2. Preserving, protecting and developing the natural resource are the main tools for sustainable development. As such promoting participatory, community based environmental resource management and environmental protection (considering the poor access, equally as well as gender issues); ensuring active participation activities; strengthening the capabilities of public and private sector to address environmental concerns; conserving non-renewable resources and sustaining auto eco-generation of renewable resources; promoting sustainable environment management in pursuit of quality livelihood and alleviation of poverty are needs of the hour.

Dr. M.A. Bashar is Professor, Department of Zoology and ex-Dean, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Dhaka.

Japan’s electronics giant Sony unveils the world’s first digital noise cancelling headphone “MDR-NC500D”, which enables to cut train, plane and automobile sounds by up to 99 percent and enjoy hi-fi quality audio reproduction at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo on March 13, 2008. Sony will put it on the market on April 21, 2008. Photo: AFP