The Engineering Projects

How to Structure Your Essay like a Pro 

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am going to show you How to Structure Your Essay like a Pro . You’ll find essays in all stages of life. From elementary school all the way to work, especially if you end up in the business world. Although in the latter it’s called a report, but what is an essay?

In a simple description, an essay is a piece of writing which puts across some information including the writer’s stand on the issue.

Writing an essay can be simple, but there’re those who struggle to put the words on paper despite a raging flow of thoughts. This is where great planning comes in, but even more important are the guiding steps listed in this article which will go a long way in improving your essay.

Types of Essays

Before diving into how to structure your essay, it’s important to first understand the different types of essays:

• Narratives: Here, the essay writer is required to tell a certain story, but in a structured manner.
• Persuasive Essay: As the name suggests, the main aim will be to influence the reader to accept your stand regarding a certain matter.
• Expository Essay: This is an instructional type of essay where you have to explain a certain process of doing something. For example, you could write a guide on how to build a home windmill.
• Comparative Essays: In this essay, you have the task of putting out distinct differences on two items.
• Descriptive Essay: This essay will focus more on the details. For example, if you traveled to a national park, you want to make the reader feel as though they are in the park with you. Describe the road, the animals you saw, the adrenaline rush when you came across a lion.

Coming Up with the Topic

Brainstorming is critical before you start writing because you cannot write on what you don’t know. By brainstorming, you’ll be able to come up with a valid topic. This is how to do it:

• Make sure you put down anything that crosses your mind. Later on, you can trim down the ideas to what you think is viable.
• Another way is by mind mapping. This includes writing the main idea at the center of the page and then create arrows pointing outward to various relating points. This way you can create a well-knitted web of ideas.

Once you’ve come up with a list of potential topic ideas, start trimming down to the final topic. As you do this, keep in mind how wide or narrow the topic is. You want to go for something in between.

Research on Your Topic

After settling on your topic, it’s time to dig into the books to find out more about the topic. There are numerous ways to conduct your research including searching the internet or borrowing related books from the library.

You can also go a step further and interview various professionals in the field. While doing this, remember to record the events so that you have an easy time citing your references.

Coming Up with the Thesis

This is the most important part of your essay. It’s what introduces the reader to your essay. For example, your thesis could be, “Digital engagements are leading more sales in lending. “From this, you can branch out with various related points which explain more about the thesis.

As you can see, this thesis statement stands between wide and narrow. There’s just enough to talk about in the essay.

Structuring Your Essay

This includes putting down what you intend on talking about. Write down an outline to help you identify which point will start and which will follow to the end. This will help your essay flow.

Write down the essay, then the topic sentence for every paragraph. While doing this, write down some ideas for each paragraph, but be careful not to include too many.

Afterward, start filling the blanks for every point listed in the outline.

Writing and Reviewing

After you’ve come up with an outline, start writing. Craft the essay by allowing your thoughts to flow in a seamless manner with minimal errors.

After writing, it’s time to edit your essay. This includes going back to weed out grammatical errors, irrelevant information, and such errors.

Writing an essay might seem like an easy task, but if you’re among the many who struggle to put together their thoughts, then tips outlined in this article come as a knight in shining armor. Follow this step-by-step guide and you’ll be on your way to an ‘A’.

Why Investing in Solar Energy is a Good Idea

We live in a world that's increasingly power-hungry. Oil energy requirements are so massive that we’re having trouble keeping up with the demand by means of fossil fuels such as gas, coal, and oil. Things aren’t going to get easier anytime soon. Quite the opposite is to be expected, to be honest, as the world’s power consumption is projected to grow by 40% in the span of the coming 20 years. That’s where renewable energy sources can come to our rescue. Rather than deplete our world’s resources by trying to satisfy our energy appetites with the fast-shrinking reserves we have, renewable energy options are being explored more vigorously than ever before. At the moment, wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal energy sources seem like our best hope to match our supply to our needs going forward. This also makes it a perfect time to invest in solar energy solutions as well as any of the other green energy solutions we’ve mentioned. Let’s shine a spotlight no solar energy in particular, focusing on just what makes investing in solar energy a good idea. You should also have a look at Solar Panel Library for Proteus.

It is a Profitable Investment

Far removed from the conditions prevailing in the average stock market found anywhere in the world, investing in solar energy is not a gamble where you could potentially lose all your hard-earned money. You might have to gamble as to whether a particular stock will see a rise in value tomorrow or not, but you will never have to bet on whether or not the sun will be coming up tomorrow. Basically, as long as we have our solar energy collecting infrastructure in place, we only need to sit back and let nature take its course as it has since the dawn of time.

It’s Easy to Make Green Investments

Investing in solar energy doesn’t require the financial muscle of a Bill Gates or Warren Buffet – today’s markets make it possible for the average earner to own some stock in renewable energy enterprises. Quite a few solar energy initiatives, for example, are crowdsourced – meaning that a large number of people each make a contribution towards the setup phase, and they all get a share of the returns once the plant is operational. All the legal, administrative, and technical aspects will be carried out by whichever team potential investors decide to back with their money, meaning that investors will have a say in where there money goes and for what purpose from the very beginning, something that’s rather rare when it comes to traditional investment avenues.

Solar Energy Offers Stable Returns

Another aspect of the gamble-free nature of investing in solar energy is the fact the government will readily purchase all the power that is generated by solar energy producing power plants. They do not have to look for consumers. Smart micro-grids, for example, will incorporate bi-directional communication tools and advanced inverter technologies to tightly regulate and minimize the chances of system failure, blackouts, and energy losses. The possibility of your investment coming to nothing is so remote as to be virtually impossible.

Solar Energy is Growing as an Industry

Back in 2003, the solar energy market was worth an impressive 4.7 billion U.S. Dollars. It’s well past the 9.1 billion dollar mark today, and all indications point to it hitting or surpassing the 158.4 billion dollar mark by the year 2023. It makes perfect sense to invest in a market segment that’s showing such consistent and seemingly ongoing performance. Society’s appetite for clean energy solutions, as well as the ever-increasing sophistication of the technology used to harness it, makes it all much easier to make use of renewable energy and make returns from investing in it. You should have a look at this wonderful industry action solar, which is bringing a revolution in solar field.

It’s an Investment in the Future

We’ve all heard the buzzwords to the point of exhaustion; carbon footprint, air pollution, global warming, and the rest. It can get to be a bit tiresome, if we’re to be honest. The fact is, we really can’t afford to let our fatigue blind us to the very real dangers represented by these nowadays commonplace terms. You should also have a look at this Homepage for Condos which is a practical application. By investing in solar energy, we will not only be making investments that will help secure our financial futures, but the future of the planet as a whole. Sounds like a good deal, whichever way you look at it.

What are Data Centers and How Much Do They Cost

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am going to show you What are Data Centers and How Much Do They Cost. A company's IT facilities are central to its operation. Data security is the first step in any IT facility. If any part of that system is compromised, the results can be catastrophic. This is why it's critical for companies to have a solid data center. Let's take a look at what a data center does for you.

What's a Data Center?

The data center is a centralized location where a company's IT activities are managed. It's in charge of storing, managing and distributing data throughout the IT system. Without a dependable data center, the continuity of daily operations would be compromised.

Image Credit via Hosting Canada

In the organization's early days, it may be possible to get away with a small data center. As the business grows, their need for a larger, more powerful and more secure data center will become imperative.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Data Center?

The cost of the data center largely depends upon the size of the facilities needed. A larger data center is more costly to build than a modest one. If you need to have a building constructed to house the data center, then you must pay for those design and construction costs as well. This is only necessary for really large organizations. Smaller businesses may be able to convert one of their offices into a data center. The cost to build a data center is frequently quoted on a price-per-square-foot basis. Depending on where you are, this cost could be as minimal as $200 per square foot, but it can range as high as $1,000 per square foot or more. Data Privacy should also be considered while implementing it.

Other Cost Considerations

You don't just need a place to put your data center. That place has to have adequate access to network connections, electricity and so on. Don't forget that you'll also have to purchase servers and storage units. Many of these may cost several thousand dollars. Any software that is installed in your data center will need to be licensed. If you will be acquiring new software as a result of building a data center, you'll need to factor this cost into your calculations. Electricity is another primary cost consideration. Data centers require a great deal of power, and some parts of the world may charge as much as $10,000 per megawatt. You'll need a battery backup or generator too so that your data is protected in the event of a power outage. Keep in mind that fiber optic connections also may need to be installed to cover the needs of your data center. A single mile of fiber optic lines can cost nearly $250,000. Additionally, you'll have to figure in the cooling needs of the data center. The servers generate considerable heat, and they can't function properly if they are allowed to overheat. The cost to build and maintain a data center can easily top $1 million. However, it's possible to keep the costs lower by sizing the data center to your operation. You can always make upgrades later as your business grows.

How Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) Works

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am gonna discuss How Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) Works. Online security is more important than ever. With hackers and brute force attackers, it feels like your private data is constantly at risk. One way to protect your security online is by using a VPN. VPNs may use several protocols. These protocols are like the language that's used by your computer and the VPN server as they communicate. Some protocols are faster than the competition while others prioritize security. One of the oldest, yet still popular, VPN protocols is Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol, or PPTP. It was introduced in 1995, and though newer protocols have since usurped its place as the greatest, many people and businesses still make use of PPTP. In comparison with newer protocols, PPTP has few data security features. This means that it offers better speeds because it's not bogged down by privacy and security rules. Depending upon how you use PPTP, this relative lack of robust security may serve you well. Privacy Australia illustrates how a VPN protects you with this useful diagram:

How Does PPTP Work?

PPTP incorporates factors of the even older Point-to-Point Protocol, or PPP. In this protocol, IP packets of data are encapsulated and transmitted to the VPN server. PPTP creates an encrypted tunnel between the VPN server and the customer's computer via TCP port 1723 as well as General Routing Encapsulation, also called GRE.

• Essentially, this is a client-server setup that utilizes Layer 2 within the OSI model.

Image credit to Privacy Australia

How to Connect to PPTP

PPTP connectivity is a basic component that's integrated into popular operating systems such as Windows, MacOS and Linux. It's easy to set up and exceptionally easy to connect. The user launches their PPTP client, which will connect them to their Internet Service Provider. The PPTP then sets to work, creating a Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, which manages the connection between the client and the server at the VPN. With the tunnel established, it is possible to transmit two categories of information. Control messages are used to manage and ultimately dismantle the VPN connection while data packets contain the information that passes through the tunnel.

When Is It Appropriate to Use PPTP?

As an older VPN protocol, PPTP has several well-known vulnerabilities. If you're doing any sort of high-risk browsing or transmitting lots of sensitive data, then it may not be the best protocol. However, PPTP remains a popular choice for certain applications. Corporations still rely on this protocol to establish private tunnels through the publically available Internet. This essentially involves the creation of a wide area network that serves as a local area network that's larger than the usual LAN. The advantage of this approach is that the business does not have to lease private lines for wide-area communication. Nonetheless, they get the enhanced security that they need when employees are working remotely. With reduced transmission and hardware costs as well as lower administrative overhead, this can be an attractive solution for the right situation.

Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing: Increase Input Pins

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am going to do an Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing and we will have a look at How to increase Input Pins of Arduino. 74HC165 is a shift register and works on the principal of Parallel In Serial Out. In my previous tutorial Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing: Increase Output Pins, we have seen How to increase the output pins of Arduino and today we are gonna do exact the opposite and we will increase the input pins. 74HC165 will take 8 parallel inputs from different sensors or buttons etc and will send them to serial OUT Pin, which will be connected to Arduino. So, if you are working on a project where you want to get data of 15 or 20 digital sensors then you can use this shift register and just using a single pin of Arduino you can read data of all those sensors. We can only get digital inputs, we can't get analog input through this shift register. So, let's get started with Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing:

Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing

• I will design a Proteus Simulation of Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing, I have given the files for download at the end of this tutorial, but I would recommend you to design it so that you could learn.
• I will connect simple Logic buttons with this shift register and will read their status on the Serial Port.

• So, first of all design a simple Proteus Simulation as shown in below figure.
• I have used Arduino UNO and have connected Virtual Terminal so that we could have a look at Serial data.

• As you can see in the above figure that I have connected four pins between Arduino and 74HC165, which are:
  • Pin # 8 of Arduino  ==> Shift (SH) of shift register.
  • Pin # 9 of Arduino  ==> Clock Enable (CE) of shift register.
  • Pin # 11 of Arduino ==> Serial OUT (SO) of shift register.
  • Pin # 12 of Arduino ==> Clock (CLK) of shift register.
• Now open you Arduino software and copy paste the below code in it:

#define NUMBER_OF_SHIFT_CHIPS   1
#define DATA_WIDTH   NUMBER_OF_SHIFT_CHIPS * 8

int LoadPin    = 8;
int EnablePin  = 9;
int DataPin    = 11;
int ClockPin   = 12;

unsigned long pinValues;
unsigned long oldPinValues;

void setup()
{
    Serial.begin(9600);

    pinMode(LoadPin, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(EnablePin, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(ClockPin, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(DataPin, INPUT);

    digitalWrite(ClockPin, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LoadPin, HIGH);

    pinValues = read_shift_regs();
    print_byte();
    oldPinValues = pinValues;
}

void loop()
{
    pinValues = read_shift_regs();

    if(pinValues != oldPinValues)
    {
        print_byte();
        oldPinValues = pinValues;
    }

}

unsigned long read_shift_regs()
{
    long bitVal;
    unsigned long bytesVal = 0;

    digitalWrite(EnablePin, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LoadPin, LOW);
    delayMicroseconds(5);
    digitalWrite(LoadPin, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(EnablePin, LOW);

    for(int i = 0; i < DATA_WIDTH; i++)
    {
        bitVal = digitalRead(DataPin);
        bytesVal |= (bitVal << ((DATA_WIDTH-1) - i));

        digitalWrite(ClockPin, HIGH);
        delayMicroseconds(5);
        digitalWrite(ClockPin, LOW);
    }

    return(bytesVal);
}

void print_byte() { 
  byte i; 

  Serial.println("*Shift Register Values:*\r\n");

  for(byte i=0; i<=DATA_WIDTH-1; i++) 
  { 
    Serial.print("P");
    Serial.print(i+1);
    Serial.print(" "); 
  }
  Serial.println();
  for(byte i=0; i<=DATA_WIDTH-1; i++) 
  { 
    Serial.print(pinValues >> i & 1, BIN); 
    
    if(i>8){Serial.print(" ");}
    Serial.print("  "); 
    
  } 
  
  Serial.print("\n"); 
  Serial.println();Serial.println();

}

• The code is quite simple but let me give you a quick explanation of  it.
• First of all, I have assigned names to all 4 pins of 74HC165 connected with Arduino.
• Function read_shift_regs() is used to read the eight input pins of 74HC165 and print_byte() function is used to display that data on Serial Monitor.
• So get your hex file from Arduino software and upload it in Proteus software.
• Run your Proteus simulation and if everything goes fine then you will get results as shown in below figure:

• If you change any input of your shift register then you will get the new value on your Virtual Terminal.
• Now let's add another 74HC165 and increase our input pins by 16.
• So, design a simple circuit as shown in below figure:

• Now, in the above code, simply change the first line and make #define NUMBER_OF_SHIFT_CHIPS 2.
• Simply changes 1 to 2, as we are using 2 shift registers now.
• Now get your hex file and run the Proteus simulation.
• Here's the output of our 16 increased inputs:

• That's how you can easily interface multiple 74HC165 chips with your Arduino board and can increase the input options.
• You can download these Proteus simulations and code for Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing by clicking the below button:

[dt_default_button link="https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/ArduinoProjects/Arduino 74HC165 Interfacing.rar" button_alignment="default" animation="fadeIn" size="medium" default_btn_bg_color="" bg_hover_color="" text_color="" text_hover_color="" icon="fa fa-chevron-circle-right" icon_align="left"]Download Proteus Simulation & Code[/dt_default_button]

• You should also have a look at this video in which I have shown How to run these simulations:

So, that was all for today. In my coming tutorial, I will interface both 74HC165 and 74HC595 with Arduino UNO and will show you How to increase both input and output pins at the same time. Thanks for reading. Take care!!! :)

Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing: Increase Output Pins

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am going to show you Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing and we will have a loook at How to Increase Arduino Output Pins with 74HC595. Suppose you are working on some project where you need to control 20 LEDs with Arduino UNO and you know we will 12 digital Pins so we can't control all of these 20 LEDs with Arduino UNO. We can use Arduino Mega as well but if we wanna stick to Arduino UNO then we need to increase its Output Pins and we will use 74HC595 for that purpose. You should read this basic Introduction to 74HC595, it will help you to better understand this shift register. It's a Serial In Parallel Out Shift register and we will give it value serially from single Pin of Arduino and it will output that data to 8 output pins. Moreover, we can also connect these registers in parallel to increase the output pins even further. So, let's have a look at Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing:

Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing

• As I told earlier 74HC595 is a serial In Parallel Out Shift Register and is used to increase the output pins of Arduino.
• I am gonna use Proteus software and we will design its simulation and then will check out How it works.
• So, design a simple circuit as shown in below figure:

• As you can see in above figure, I have done the following connections between Arduino and HC595:
  • Pin # 5 of Arduino ==> ST_CP
  • Pin # 6 of Arduino ==> DS
  • Pin # 7 of Arduino ==> SH_CP
  • All output pins of 74HC595 are connected to LEDs.

• Now upload the below Arduino code and get your hex file.

int RCLK = 5;
int SER = 6;
int SRCLK = 7;

#define TotalIC 1
#define TotalICPins TotalIC * 8

boolean Data[TotalICPins];

void setup()
{
  pinMode(SER, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(RCLK, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SRCLK, OUTPUT);

  ClearBuffer();
}              


void loop()
{
   for(int i = TotalICPins - 1; i >=  0; i--)
   {
      Data[i] = HIGH;
      UpdateData();
      delay(300);
      ClearBuffer();
   }

   for(int i = 1;i < TotalICPins - 1;  i++)
   {
      Data[i] = HIGH;
      UpdateData();
      delay(300);
      ClearBuffer();
   }
   
}

void ClearBuffer()
{
    for(int i = TotalICPins - 1; i >=  0; i--)
    {
       Data[i] = LOW;
    }
    UpdateData();
} 

void UpdateData()
{
   digitalWrite(RCLK, LOW);
   for(int i = TotalICPins - 1; i >=  0; i--)
   {
        digitalWrite(SRCLK, LOW);   
        digitalWrite(SER, Data[i]);
        digitalWrite(SRCLK, HIGH);

  }
  digitalWrite(RCLK, HIGH);
}

• The code is quite simple but let me explain it a bit.
• First of all we have given names to our 3 Pins connected to Arduino UNO.
• After that we have made all those 3 Pins as OUTPUT as we are gonna send the data.
• We are using single chip of 74HC595 that's why I have made it 1.
• In the UpdateData function, you can see we have to make RCLK Low and after that we have sent our data.
• But for sending each bit of Data we have to make SRCLK from LOW to High.
• SER is our Serial IN from Arduino to 74HC595.
• So, in loop section, I am simply sending HIGH from first Pin to Last and then from last Pin to first and we are getting below results:

• Now let's have a look at How to connect two 74HC595 chips in parallel to increase the output pins to 16.
• I have also given these Proteus simulations for download at the end of this tutorial but I would recommend you to design them on your own so that you got better understanding of this shift register.

Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing: 2 Chips in Parallel

• Now we are gonna place two shift registers in parallel and we will be able to control 16 outputs from single Arduino Pin.
• Although we are using 3 Arduino Pins but the data is sent through Pin # 6 of Arduino and Pin # 5 and 7 are CLK Pins.
• Now design a circuit as shown in below figure:

• Now in Arduino Code, you just need to change the TotalIC to 2 and as you have seen we have already multiplied it with 8 so now our for loop will move from 0 to 15.
• Pin # 5 and 7 will simply connected to same pins of second shift register but DS will be connected to Q7' of first shift register.
• Now get your hex file from Arduino software and if everything goes fine then you will get something as shown in below figure:

• Now let's make it a bit more complex by adding 4 shift registers in parallel.
• So, design a Proteus Simulation as shown in below figure:

• We have followed the same principal, Q7' of second chip is connected to DS to 3rd chip and goes on.
• I have placed these default Pins instead of connecting the wires, it works the same.
• If this image is not clear then open it in new tab and zoom out to check the connections.
• Now in your Arduino code, you need to change the TotalIC to 4, as now we are using four chips.
• Get your Hex File and run Proteus simulation and if everything goes fine then you will get similar results:

• So, that's How you can quite easily do the Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing and can increase Arduino outputs as much as you want.
• You can download these Proteus Simulations along with code by clicking the below button:

[dt_default_button link="https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/ArduinoProjects/Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing.rar" button_alignment="default" animation="fadeIn" size="medium" default_btn_bg_color="" bg_hover_color="" text_color="" text_hover_color="" icon="fa fa-chevron-circle-right" icon_align="left"]Download Proteus Simulation & Arduino Code[/dt_default_button]

• I have also designed this YouTube video to give you a better understanding of Arduino 74HC595 Interfacing:

So, that was all for today. I hope you have enjoyed this Arduino 74Hc595 Interfacing. If you have any questions, then ask in comments and I will try my best to resolve them. In my coming tutorial, I will show you How to increase the Arduino Input Pins. So stay tuned and have fun. :)

Use of Silk Screen Technology in Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, we are gonna have a look at usage of Silk Screen technology in Printed Circuit Board (PCB). This article is written by PCBgogo ( a PCB Manufacturing company ) on our request and they have explained this Silk Screen technology in detail. It's always better to hear from the expert and as they are already working on this technology so they have explained it really well. If you have any questions or queries then ask in comments and I will try to resolve them all. So, let's first have a look at what is Silk Screening:

What is silk screening?

Silkscreen is a layer of ink traces used to identify components, test points, parts of the PCB, warning symbols, logos and marks etc. This silkscreen is usually applied on the component side; however using silkscreen on the solder side is also not uncommon. But this may increase the cost. Essentially a detailed PCB silkscreen can help both the manufacturer and the engineer to locate and identify all the components. The ink is a non-conductive epoxy ink. The ink used for these markings is highly formulated. The standard colors we normally see are black, white and yellow. PCB software also uses standard fonts in silkscreen layers but you can choose other fonts from the system too. For traditional silk-screening you require a polyester screen stretched on aluminum frames, a laser photo plotter, spray developer and curing ovens.

Methods of Silk Screening

There are three basic ways to apply silkscreen.

1. Manual Screen-printing

Manual screen-printing is done when the line widths are greater than 7 mil (0.007”) and the registration tolerance is 5 mil. For this method you require a stencil of the text and traces made of nylon. The ink is pushed through the stencil onto the laminate. Next the board is baked in a curing oven for the ink to cure. The application and set up is easy but the result is least precise.

2. Liquid Photo Imaging (LPI)

This method is used when the line widths are greater than 4 mil. Liquid Photo Imaging is quite similar to the process used for the application of solder mask. In this a liquid photo-imageable epoxy is coated on to the laminate and then exposed with UV light. After this the board is developed and cured. It is much more accurate than manual screening.

3. Direct Legend Printing (DLP)

DLP is the most accurate of all these processes but is more expensive. In this process an inkjet projector is used with acrylic ink that is applied onto the raw PCB directly from the CAD data. The ink is cured with UV light as it is printed. It should be noted though that the acrylic ink does not cure on boards with silver finishes.

Importance of Silk Screen Technology

A properly designed silk-screen can prove to be highly useful as it can reduce the chance of error and can reduce time taken to spot the error. The silkscreen can easily label the passive components of the PCB no matter how packed the board may be. There are a few things you should keep in mind regarding silk-screening. For example, the silkscreen epoxy should not be printed over pads or land PCBs that will be soldered as it will melt into the solder joint. This is why it should be applied over the solder mask. While designing you should keep the component outlines away from the pins (almost at a distance of 0.25 mm). Also you should check to see if the width of the silkscreen graphics is suitable to the design. Try to keep the line widths no less than 6 mil. Knowing more about PCB and silk-screening can help you to reduce your PCB costs. For example, applying silk screen on only one side and choosing the standard colors will give you better overall pricing and give you the same benefits.

---

------------------------------------------------------------------ This ARTICLE is Proudly Presented by PCBGOGO http://www.pcbgogo.com?code=y

PCBgogo: Placing Your Order Made Easy | Best PCB manufacturers

How Companies Can Protect Their Users' Data Privacy

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am going to show you How Companies Can Protect Their Users' Data Privacy. As data breaches become more and more common, it is imperative that companies go the extra mile to protect their users’ data to the best of their ability. Hackers today are not forcing their way into sites like they used to. Instead, engineers are thoughtfully and strategically sneaking their way in. In order to prevent this, companies needs to make sure they are aware of and educated on the potential threats and how they could prevent hackers from getting into their own data and the data of their users. Here are a few of the many ways a company can better protect themselves and their users from these breaches.

Make sure your company is educated

Bringing in a cyber security team can be very beneficial in preventing future data breaches at your firm. It is important that employees are well-educated on the previous breaches the company experienced and know how to prevent them so that they do not repeat previous mistakes. The reality of it is no company, big or small, is ever fully protected from hackers, but the more careful you are and the more protection you have the better chance you have to avoid data breaches. Making sure you have the right security systems in place and know how to use them is extremely important. There are some programs you can use that can automatically protect you from these threats, a security system if you will. However, it is also helpful to teach employees how to encrypt data, store data, create strong passwords, and take all other preventative steps that they can.

Keep personal and business internet use separate

Encourage your employees not to use their work email, or even computer, for personal use. Most security breaches happen on accident. So the last thing you want to do is put your company and their users’ data at risk because an employee opened an email about homes for sale in NJ. Now I understand this is a hard thing to do because employees don’t always listen, but monitoring their email use and again encrypting data can help prevent this from happening. However, you should also have website restrictions in place and have network, data, and email protection to prevent unusual or potentially dangerous emails from being opened and report them.

Having an established plan

Not only do you want to have a plan for preventing breaches in place, but also a plan in case a breach does occur. Now, your prevention plan may be solid enough that you never have to act on your emergency plan, and that is the goal. However, even if you think you are taking all of the necessary precautions, encrypting everything, and that your company’s data is all air tight- it is not. Nothing is ever fully protected, and just in case, a plan B is always recommended. If a breach were to occur, you need to make sure there is a sense of urgency in correcting it and protecting your company and users’ information. So, that was all for today. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial on How Companies Can Protect Their Users' Data Privacy. Let me know if you have any questions. Take care. :)

Sound Sensor Library for Proteus

Update: We have created a new version of this library, which you can check here: Sound Detector Library for Proteus V2.0.

---

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. In today's tutorial, I am going to share a new Sound Sensor Library for Proteus. We are presenting this library for the first time and I would give the credit to our team, without their support it won't be possible. Proteus doesn't have this module in its library and it is used in a lot of Engineering Projects these days. This sound sensor is used to detect the sound in the surroundings and is normally known as the Sound Detector sensor. It won't recognize the sound. As we can't produce the sound in Proteus, that's why we have placed a TestPin. When this TestPin is HIGH, that means we have sound in the surroundings and if it's LOW then there's silence. Analog sound detector sensors are also available but our sensor is a digital one. So, now let's have a look at How to download & simulate this Sound Sensor Library for Proteus:

Where To Buy?
No.	Components	Distributor	Link To Buy
1	Arduino Uno	Amazon	Buy Now

Sound Sensor Library for Proteus

• First of all, download the Library files for the sound detector sensor by clicking the below button:

Sound Sensor Library for Proteus

• Open this downloaded zip file, and extract below three library files:
  • SoundSensorLibraryTEP.LIB
  • SoundSensorLibraryTEP.DLL
  • SoundSensorLibraryTEP.HEX
• Place these three files in the Library folder of your Proteus software.

Note:

• If you are having problems in adding a library in Proteus 7 or 8 Professional, then you should read How to add new Library in Proteus 8 Professional.

• Now restart your Proteus ISIS software and in the components section, make a search for sound sensor, as shown in the below figure:

• As you can see in the above figure, we now have 3 sound sensors in the Proteus database.
• So, now I am gonna place all of them in my Proteus workspace and here's how they look like:

• They are all similar in operation, I just changed the base color as there are different versions available.
• Now in order to make them work, we have to add the hex file.

• Double click the sensor to open its Properties panel and in the Program File section browse to SoundSensorLibraryTEP.HEX file.
• We have placed this hex file in the Library folder, here's the screenshot:

• Now click OK and our sound detector sensor is ready for simulation.
• So, let's design a simple circuit to test it out, as shown in the below figure:

• When the TestPin will get HIGH, that means we have sound in the surroundings. In that case OUT Pin will also go HIGH.
• In case of silence, OUT Pin will remain LOW.

• Let's run our simulation and test it out as shown in the below figure:

• So you can see in the above figure that LED is ON when the TestPin is HIGH and its OFF when the TestPin is LOW.
• So that's how you can detect sound in Proteus.
• I have also created this video which will give you a better understanding of How to download and use this Sound Sensor Proteus Library.

I hope you will like this Proteus Library. If you have any suggestions regarding this Proteus Library then ask in the comments and we will try our best to resolve them. Thanks for reading. :)

Enqueue Scripts Files in WordPress Plugin

Hello everyone, I hope you all are fine and having fun with your lives. In today's tutorial, I am gonna show you How to Enqueue Scripts Files in WordPress Plugin. It's the third tutorial in this series of WordPress Plugin Creation. In our previous tutorial, we have seen How to Add Basic Functions in WordPress Plugin, so now the next thing we need to add is our scripts .js files and style .css files. As I told you in my previous tutorial that we can add these codes in a single file as well but it will make the file too heavy and complex. But if we divide our code in separate files then it will be quite easily to handle and debug in future. So, let's have a look at How to Enqueue Scripts Files in WordPress Plugin:

Enqueue Scripts Files in WordPress Plugin

• Let's first create a sample .js and .css files.
• So create a new folder in your main folder and rename it to assests.
• In this assets folder, create two files and rename them to:
  • mystyle.css
  • myscript.js

• Here's the folder and files tree which we have created so far:

• Today, I am not gonna add any code in .js or .css files, we will only include them in our Main PHP File.
• In coming tutorials, we will add codes in these files.
• So, now we have created our files, let's Enqueue Scripts Files in main PHP file.

/* Main class code ends here */

if ( !class_exists( 'NamePluginTEP' ) )
{

	class NamePluginTEP
	{

		public $pluginName;

		function __construct()
		{
			$this -> pluginName = plugin_basename(__FILE__);
		}
		
		function activate()
		{
			require_once plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ).'inc/Activate.php';
			Activate::activatePlugin();
		}
 
		function deactivate()
		{
			require_once plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ).'inc/Deactivate.php';
			Deactivate::deactivatePlugin();
		}
                
		function enqueue()
		{
			wp_enqueue_style ('mypluginstyle', plugins_url('/assets/mystyle.css' , __FILE__));
			wp_enqueue_script ('mypluginscript', plugins_url('/assets/myscript.js' , __FILE__));
		}

	}
 
	$namePluginTEP = new NamePluginTEP();

}

/* Main class code ends here */

• In the above code, you can see I have added a new function named enqueue().
• The method used to include css file is wp_enqueue_style, which is a predefined WordPress method.
• I have provided it with the path of our newly created css file, placed in assets folder.
• Same goes for the js file with a slight change in predefined WordPress method, for script it is wp_enqueue_script.
• We have successfully created the files and then the enqueue function, now we also need to call this function.
• We can call it in the construct function as construct is automatically called on class initialization but it's better to not add much load on the construct function.
• So here's how we are gonna do that:

/* Main class code ends here */

if ( !class_exists( 'NamePluginTEP' ) )
{

	class NamePluginTEP
	{

		public $pluginName;

		function __construct()
		{
			$this -> pluginName = plugin_basename(__FILE__);
		}
		
		function activate()
		{
			require_once plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ).'inc/Activate.php';
			Activate::activatePlugin();
		}
 
		function deactivate()
		{
			require_once plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ).'inc/Deactivate.php';
			Deactivate::deactivatePlugin();
		}
                
		public function init_func()
		{
			add_action('admin_enqueue_scripts' , array($this , 'enqueue') );
		}

		function enqueue()
		{
			wp_enqueue_style ('mypluginstyle', plugins_url('/assets/mystyle.css' , __FILE__));
			wp_enqueue_script ('mypluginscript', plugins_url('/assets/myscript.js' , __FILE__));
		}

	}
 
	$namePluginTEP = new NamePluginTEP();
	$namePluginTEP -> init_func();

}

/* Main class code ends here */

• You can see in the above code that I have created a new function called init_func() and I have simply called enqueue function there.
• I have highlighted another line at the bottom where I have used the variable having new instance of our class, and then triggered the init_func() method.
• It's like an initialization function so if we need to call some other functions at start, we will simply place them in this init_func().

So, that's how we can easily Enqueue Scripts Files in WordPress Plugin. I hope you guys have enjoyed today's tutorial. In the next tutorial, we are gonna have a look at How to insert custom Links in WordPress Plugin. Till then take care and have fun !!! :)