The aim of this thesis is to enrich existing knowledge concerning to the sun cult in the period of the Egyptian Old Kingdom when the cult of the sun god Ra was strongly connected with the ideology of the kingship of the ancient Egyptian state and also with the belief in eternal afterlife of king. On the basis of chosen writing, epigraphical and archeological documents the thesis will try to describe extent and effect of the sun cult on the ancient Egyptian society.

L’apparition de l’arme nucléaire et son utilisation par les Américains en 1945 sur les villes japonaises d’Hiroshima et de Nagasaki ont été assez largement comprises en Occident comme marquant la fin des guerres chaudes directes et l’entrée du monde dans des guerres froides indirectes et totales. Dès les années 1950, le sentiment s’est fait jour au sein des milieux militaires occidentaux que l’âge nucléaire nous éloigne, au moins partiellement, des conceptions stratégiques élaborées dans le cadre de la tradition clausewitzienne. De même, les revers que connaissent les armées occidentales au cours des guerres de décolonisation ont pu amener les stratèges de l’époque à s’interroger sur le bien-fondé de leurs réflexions sur l’action. Mais, plus que tout, la récente guerre contre le terrorisme, où ces mêmes armées suréquipées sont tenues en échec par un adversaire irrégulier qui évite la confrontation directe et cherche à user l’ennemi, sans qu’on puisse espérer jamais en venir totalement à bout, semble mettre carrément en question les présupposés mêmes de la « science militaire ». Par contraste avec l’impasse où les élaborations conceptuelles des Machiavel, des Clausewitz et, plus récemment, des John von Neumann, auraient conduit l’Occident, la tradition chinoise de réflexion sur l’action est perçue, dans cette même partie du globe, comme plus adaptée aux nouvelles conditions du monde contemporain. Beaucoup sont persuadés que se trouvent chez le théoricien chinois du Ve siècle avant J.-C. Sun Zi un certain nombre de solutions pour triompher infailliblement dans toutes les situations conflictuelles du monde actuel. À travers l’examen des grands textes par lesquels traditions occidentale et chinoise de réflexion sur l’action se sont construites, l’étude s’emploie à rétablir un équilibre, et si possible une certaine objectivité dans la façon de concevoir et d’estimer celles-ci. Elle dénonce certaines illusions – dont l’illusion idéaliste – dont sont parfois victimes ceux que fascine la tradition chinoise, et souligne en particulier que les choses tangibles tels que les territoires, les machines de guerre, la puissance de feu, ne sont pas entièrement relativisées par rapport à la connaissance, à l’information ou aux aspects plus ou moins virtuels de la guerre. En mettant en évidence les dynamismes qui structurent chacune des deux cultures stratégiques, l’étude montre surtout que la volonté de hiérarchiser celles-ci est vaine. / The invention of the nuclear weapon and its use by the United States in 1945 on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have generally been considered by Western countries as a shifting from direct hot war to indirect and total cold war. From the Fifties onward, there has been a growing feeling among Western military circles that the nuclear age strays, at least partially, from the strategic conceptions developed in the wake of the Clausewitzian tradition. Likewise, the setbacks experienced by Western armies during wars of decolonization led strategists back then to question the validity of their reflection on action. But most of all, the recent war on terrorism led by countries whose over-equipped armies are held at bay by an irregular adversary avoiding direct confrontation, and wearing down the enemy leaving no hope of a total elimination seems to throw into question the presuppositions of military science. Contrary to the dead-end where the conceptual elaborations of Machiavelli, Clausewitz, and more recently, John von Neumann, and their followers, would have led Western countries, the Chinese tradition of reflection on action is perceived, in this same part of the world, as more adapted to the new conditions of the modern world. Many among them are convinced that they can find in the writings of a 5th century BC Chinese theoretician, Sun Zi, a certain number of solutions to prevail unerringly in any given conflictual situation in the world. Basing itself on the study of great writings through which oriental and occidental traditions upon reflection on action have been built, this study strives to re-establish a balance, and if possible, a certain objectivity in its approach to conceive and estimate this reflection. This study also denounces certain illusions, among which include the idealistic illusion, sometimes affecting thinkers fascinated by Chinese tradition, and particularly stresses the fact that tangible things such as territories, war machines and fire power are not entirely relativized in relation to knowledge, information, or aspects of war more or less virtual. By highlighting the dynamisms structuring the two strategic cultures, this study shows above all that trying to organize them into a hierarchy is pointless.

Die Arbeit beschreibt die Analyse von Beobachtungen zweier Sonnenflecken in zweidimensionaler Spektro-Polarimetrie. Die Daten wurden mit dem Fabry-Pérot-Interferometer der Universität Göttingen am Vakuum-Turm-Teleskop auf Teneriffa erfasst. Von der aktiven Region NOAA 9516 wurde der volle Stokes-Vektor des polarisierten Lichts in der Absorptionslinie bei 630,249 nm in Einzelaufnahmen beobachtet, und von der aktiven Region NOAA 9036 wurde bei 617,3 nm Wellenlänge eine 90-minütige Zeitserie des zirkular polarisierten Lichts aufgezeichnet. Aus den reduzierten Daten werden Ergebniswerte für Intensität, Geschwindigkeit in Beobachtungsrichtung, magnetische Feldstärke sowie verschiedene weitere Plasmaparameter abgeleitet. Mehrere Ansätze zur Inversion solarer Modellatmosphären werden angewendet und verglichen. Die teilweise erheblichen Fehlereinflüsse werden ausführlich diskutiert. Das Frequenzverhalten der Ergebnisse und Abhängigkeiten nach Ort und Zeit werden mit Hilfe der Fourier- und Wavelet-Transformation weiter analysiert. Als Resultat lässt sich die Existenz eines hochfrequenten Bandes für Geschwindigkeitsoszillationen mit einer zentralen Frequenz von 75 Sekunden (13 mHz) bestätigen. In größeren photosphärischen Höhen von etwa 500 km entstammt die Mehrheit der damit zusammenhängenden Schockwellen den dunklen Anteilen der Granulen, im Unterschied zu anderen Frequenzbereichen. Die 75-Sekunden-Oszillationen werden ebenfalls in der aktiven Region beobachtet, vor allem in der Lichtbrücke. In den identifizierten Bändern oszillatorischer Power der Geschwindigkeit sind in einer dunklen, penumbralen Struktur sowie in der Lichtbrücke ausgeprägte Strukturen erkennbar, die sich mit einer Horizontalgeschwindigkeit von 5-8 km/s in die ruhige Sonne bewegen. Diese zeigen einen deutlichen Anstieg der Power, vor allem im 5-Minuten-Band, und stehen möglicherweise in Zusammenhang mit dem Phänomen der „Evershed-clouds“. Eingeschränkt durch ein sehr geringes Signal-Rausch-Verhältnis und hohe Fehlereinflüsse werden auch Magnetfeldvariationen mit einer Periode von sechs Minuten am Übergang von Umbra zu Penumbra in der Nähe einer Lichtbrücke beobachtet. Um die beschriebenen Resultate zu erzielen, wurden bestehende Visualisierungsverfahren der Frequenzanalyse verbessert oder neu entwickelt, insbesondere für Ergebnisse der Wavelet-Transformation. / The publication describes the analysis of two sunspot observations in two-dimensional spectropolarimetry. The data was obtained with the Fabry-Pérot-interferometer of Göttingen University at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope on Tenerife. Of the active region NOAA 9516 the full Stokes vector of polarised light was observed in the absorption line at 630.249 nm in single scans. A ninety minute time series of circular polarised light of the active region NOAA 9036 was observed at 617.3 nm wavelength. From the reduced data results for intensity, line-of-sight velocity, magnetic field strength as well as several other plasma parameters are inferred. Different approaches to solar atmosphere model inversion are applied and compared. The significant influence of errors is discussed in detail. The frequency behaviour of the results and spatial and temporal dependencies are further analysed by Fourier and wavelet transformation. As a result the existence of a high frequency band of velocity oscillations with a central frequency of about 75-seconds (13 mHz) can be confirmed. In greater heights of about 500 km the majority of the corresponding shock waves are derived from darker parts of the granules in contrast to the dominant five-minute-oscillations. 75-second-oscillations can also be observed in the active region, especially in the light bridge. In the identified bands of oscillatory velocity power, distinct structures become visible in a penumbral dark structure as well as in the light bridge that move into the quiet sun with a horizontal speed of 5-8 km/s. They show an increase in power, mostly 5-minute-band, and may be related to the Evershed cloud phenomenon. Under the constraint of a very low signal-to-noise ratio and high error influence, magnetic field variations of a 6-minute period are also observed in an umbral-penumbral transition area close to a light bridge. To derive these results, existing visualisation methods for frequency analysis where improved or newly developed, especially so for wavelet transform results.

Observations of the surface of the Sun reveal multi-scaled, mixed magnetic features that carpet the entire solar surface. Not surprisingly, the global magnetic fields extrapolated from these observations are highly complex. This thesis explores the topology of the Sun's global coronal magnetic fields. The magnetic skeleton of a magnetic field provides us with a way of examining the magnetic field and quantifying its complexity. Using specialised codes to find the magnetic skeletons which were written during the course of this work, we first examine potential field extrapolations of the global solar coronal magnetic field determined from observed synoptic magnetograms from the Heliospheric Magnetic Imager on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The resolution of the PFSS models is found to be very important for discovering the true nature of the global magnetic skeleton. By increasing the maximum number of harmonics used in the potential field extrapolations and, therefore, the grid resolution, 60 times more null points may be found in the coronal magnetic field. These high resolution fields also have a large global separator network which connects the coronal magnetic field over large distances and involves between 40 % and 60 % of all the null points in the solar atmosphere. This global separator network exists at both solar minimum and solar maximum and has separators that reach high into the solar atmosphere (> 1R☉) even though they connect null points close to the solar surface. These potential field extrapolations are then compared with magnetohydrostatic (MHS) extrapolations of the coronal magnetic field which also provide us with information about the plasma in the corona. With a small component of electric current density in the direction perpendicular to the radial direction, these MHS fields are found to have a plasma beta and pressure typical of the corona. As this small component of electric current density grows, the heliospheric current sheet is warped significantly and the magnetic field, plasma beta and pressure become unphysical. Torsional spine reconnection is also studied local to a single null point. First using a dynamical relaxation of a spiral null point under non-resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) to a MHS equilibrium is form in which a current layer has built up around the spine lines. Then the reconnection under resistive MHD in this current sheet is studied. The current about the spine lines is dissipated and the magnetic energy is mainly converted into heat directly as the field lines untwist about the spine line.

Orientador: Lucila Chebel Labaki / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T10:20:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gutierrez_GraceCristinaRoel_M.pdf: 13332804 bytes, checksum: 2e59e6bab72a64cce872302835c70d3c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa avalia o desempenho térmico do brise-soleil, em relação à radiação solar incidente em ambientes com aberturas protegidas. Os dispositivos testados foram selecionados considerando as tipologias e materiais utilizados em edificações da arquitetura moderna brasileira entre os anos 1930 e 1960. O desempenho térmico do brise-soleil é reconhecido em estudos de geometria de insolação e simulação com software, porém são raras as avaliações experimentais sob condições climáticas reais. A metodologia utilizada é baseada em pesquisas de desempenho térmico de elementos e componentes construtivos realizadas em protótipos. Através de um sistema de aquisição de dados são verificadas: variáveis ambientais (temperatura do ar, umidade relativa, radiação solar, pluviosidade, direção e velocidade dos ventos), e variáveis medidas nos protótipos (temperaturas do ar e superficiais). Os ensaios de campo foram realizados em protótipos localizados em Campinas, SP. Foram testados brise-soleil horizontal e vertical em madeira e concreto, e elemento vazado (concreto), fixos, expostos nas fachadas norte ou oeste, durante uma semana em cada orientação, nos períodos próximos aos equinócios e solstícios de verão e inverno. Nos ensaios realizados, os resultados mostraram a redução pontual de até 4,14ºC na temperatura interna, sendo o melhor desempenho térmico o da tipologia combinada. O brise-soleil vertical fixo perpendicular à fachada apresentou os piores resultados na fachada oeste, contrariando indicações usuais da literatura arquitetônica / Abstract: In this work the thermal performance of shading devices regarding solar radiation in indoor spaces with protected openings is analyzed. The typology and materials of shading devices were selected considering the elements used in Brazilian modern architecture buildings between the 1930 and 1960 decades. Most studies about shading devices are based on geometric drawings and software simulation analyzing the efficiency of provided protection during specific periods, however there are few experimental works performed under real climate conditions. In this investigation, three different devices were evaluated in the most problematic conditions of exposure, by acquiring measurable data of external parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, rain, wind speed and direction) and internal parameters (air temperature and surface temperatures) to verify their efficiency. These experiments were conducted at School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design of State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The investigated devices were horizontal and vertical sun-breakers of concrete and wood, and concrete eggcrate sunbreaker, fixed, on north and west exposures, for a week in each façade, in equinox and summer and winter solstices periods. In these tests, the eggcrate typology showed the best thermal performance, with a punctual reduction of up to 4,14ºC on internal air temperature. The vertical fixed devices registered the worst results on west façade, in contrast with current Brazilian architectural literature recommendation / Mestrado / Edificações / Mestre em Engenharia Civil

L'étude des variations de l'activité solaire et de ses effets sur les environnements climatiques reste une question ouverte, en dépit des nombreux efforts des chercheurs dans les différents domaines de la science. Par ailleurs, l'activité solaire est notamment un aspect important pour comprendre les relations Soleil-Terre et l'espace interplanétaire. Son étude nécessite différents types d'approches basées sur de nombreux modèles physiques. Le sujet de cette thèse est l'étude des influences possibles des perturbations planétaires sur l'activité solaire.Dans cette thèse, on a d'abord rappelé quelques connaissances générales sur les observations solaires, qui consistent à compter le nombre de taches solaires observées à la surface du Soleil. Les observations ont commencé au début du XVIIème siècle et se poursuivent actuellement. L'activité solaire est ainsi mesurée par le nombre de taches solaires. La physique solaire et les différentes approches pour expliquer les relations entre les planètes et le Soleil sont aussi brièvement évoquées.On a ensuite tenté d'étudier le comportement de l'activité solaire à court, moyen et long terme en utilisant l'analyse en fréquences pour déterminer les principales périodes solaires connues. L'analyse en fréquences permet ainsi de reconstruire une solution pour l'activité solaire, qui reproduit son évolution à long terme. On a vérifié la correspondance de cette solution avec les données d'activité solaire ainsi qu'avec les relevés géologiques de radioisotopes. Les minima et maxima de l'activité solaire reconstruite par l'analyse en fréquences sont aussi en bon accord avec les évènements géologiques connus. De nombreux travaux ont cherché à expliquer les influences directes ou partielles, extérieures (planètes,...) ou intérieures (dynamo,...) sur les variations de l'activité solaire. Dans ce travail, on a cherché à voir si une partie des variations observées de l'activité solaire pouvait être expliqué par la théorie des perturbations planétaires. Les possibles marées planétaires, qui influencent les variations du cycle solaire, sont également étudiées. On a ainsi mis au point un modèle dynamique plus réaliste pour décrire l'effet de marée exercé par les perturbations planétaires sur la déformation de la surface non sphérique du Soleil et qui peut moduler partiellement son activité. On s'intéresse uniquement aux effets dynamiques des planètes sur le Soleil et le modèle ne prend ainsi pas en compte leurs processus physiques internes. Le Soleil a été considéré comme un corps triaxial homogène et les planètes comme des points matériels.La variation des coefficients du potentiel induit par l'effet des marées solides a été calculée en utilisant les dernières éphémérides planétaires INPOP, qui sont transformées pour correspondre au repère de référence ici considéré. Le calcul des expressions semi-analytiques des coefficients de déformation du potentiel a été effectué. Ainsi, les estimations des effets des marées planétaires de chacune des planètes ainsi que l'effet total résultant ont été comparées aux observations de l'activité solaire et à l'évolution de l'activité solaire obtenue par l'analyse en fréquences. Enfin, la corrélation entre les déformations de la surface du Soleil et les variations de l'activité solaire est discutée. / The causes of solar variations and their impact on climatic environments have been andstill are the subject of large debate. The possible influence of planetary perturbations on thesolar cycles have also been recently the subject of multiples controverses. The goal of thepresent thesis is to provide some insight on this problem by a new computation of the planetaryperturbations on the Sun, at short, middle and and long time scales.At first, we describe our current understanding of the physical causes of the solar activityand their major observable manifestations, such as the sun spots records. We provide somehistorical background for the numerous records of solar activity proxies. We also review thedifferent approaches to explain the solar planetary relationships through an analysis of thepublished literature.The main purpose of the present work is to study the possible influence of the planetarygravitational perturbations on the solar cycles. In a first part, we analyse the short, middle andlong term solar activity behavior by using the quasiperiodic approximations provided by thefrequency map analysis method to determine the main periodicities of the solar cycles. Thisallows us to provide some reconstruction of the long timescale changes of solar activity variation.The reconstructed activity series are compared with the observed solar activity data and thelong term natural archives such as radioisotopes proxies. The reconstructed series still preservethe well recorded historical grand minima and maxima events and provide us some extendeddata for the study of the long timescale evolution of solar cycles.There has already been some attempts to explain the direct or partial influences of anexternal (e.g., the planets ) or an internal (e.g., its dynamo) effects on the solar changes. In thepresent work, we investigate the planetary tidal influence on solar cycle variations. We havedeveloped a realistic dynamical model for describing the tidal effect exerted by the perturbationof the planets of the Solar system on the deformation of the non-spherical Sun’s surface whichmay partially modulate its activity variations. The model is limited to the dynamical effects ofthe planets on the Sun and do not take account any physical interior process of the Sun. TheSun is considered as an homogeneous three axial non spherical body.The variations of the potential coefficients induced by the effects of body tides are com-puted, using the last INPOP planetary ephemerides and the long term solutions La2004. Thesemi-analytical expressions of the deformation coefficients of potential are derived. Thus, theestimations of the planetary tides effects of each planets and their combinations are comparedto the solar activity records and their reconstructed series. Hence, the correlations between thevariations of the deformation of Sun’s surface and its activity records are discussed.

L'évolution de notre compréhension des propriétés de la couronne solaire dépend largement de la détermination empirique ou semi-empirique des paramètres fondamentaux du plasma, tels que le champ magnétique, la densité et la température, mais pour lesquels il n'existe pas de mesure directe. L'intégration le long de la ligne de visée complique considérablement l'interprétation des observations, du fait de la superposition de structures aux propriétés physiques différentes. Pour lever cette ambiguïté, on dispose de plusieurs outils, dont la mesure d'émission différentielle (ou DEM; Differential Emission Measure), qui permet d'obtenir la quantité de plasma en fonction de la température le long de la ligne de visée, et la tomographie, qui permet, elle, d'obtenir la distribution spatiale de l'émissivité. Le couplage de ces deux outils permet d'obtenir un diagnostic tridimensionnel en température et densité de la couronne. A l'heure actuelle, le code utilisé dans ce travail est l'un des deux seuls au monde capables de réaliser ce couplage. Cependant, ces deux méthodes requièrent un processus d'inversion, dont les difficultés intrinsèques peuvent fortement limiter l'interprétation des résultats. La méthode développée dans cette thèse s'attache à évaluer la robustesse des diagnostics spectroscopiques par DEM, en proposant une nouvelle technique de caractérisation tenant compte des différentes sources d'incertitudes mises en jeu. En utilisant une approche probabiliste, cette technique permet d'étalonner a priori le problème d'inversion, et ainsi d'étudier son comportement et ses limitations dans le cadre de modèles simples. L'avantage de ce type d'approche est sa capacité à fournir des barres d'erreurs associées aux DEMs reconstruites à partir de données réelles. La technique développée a d'abord été appliquée à l'imageur SDO/AIA dans le cas de modèles de DEMs simples mais capables de représenter une grande variété de conditions physiques au sein de la couronne. Si l'inversion de plasmas proches de l'isothermalité apparaît robuste, nos résultats montrent qu'il n'en va pas de même pour les plasmas largement distribués en température, pour lesquelles les DEMs reconstruites sont à la fois moins précises mais aussi biaisées vers des solutions secondaires particulières. La technique a ensuite été appliquée au spectromètre Hinode/EIS, en utilisant un modèle de DEM représentant la distribution en loi de puissance des DEMs des régions actives, dont la pente permet de fournir des contraintes relatives à la fréquence des événements de chauffage coronal. Nos résultats montrent que les sources d'incertitudes sont à l'heure actuelle trop élevées pour permettre une mesure exploitable de la fréquence. La dernière partie est consacrée aux reconstructions tridimensionnelles obtenues par couplage tomographie/DEM, en s'intéressant aux structures polaires. Premières reconstructions réalisées avec AIA, nos résultats permettent d'étudier l'évolution en température et densité en fonction de l'altitude, montrant la présence de plumes polaires plus chaudes et denses que leur environnement. / Progress in our understanding of the solar corona properties is highly dependant of the emipirical or semi-empirical determination of the plasma fundamental parameters, such as magnetic field, density and temperature. However, there is no direct measurements of such quantities; the integration along the line of sight considerably complicates the interpretations of the observations, due to the superimposition of structures with different properties. To avoid this ambiguity, there exist several tools, including the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) and the tomography reconstruction technique. The former provides the quantity of emitting material as a function of the temperature, whereas the latter is able to reconstruct the three dimensional distribution of the coronal emissivity. Coupling these two techniques leads to a three dimensional diagnostic of the temperature and density. The inversion code used in this work is currently one of the two codes in the world able to perform this coupling. The method described in this work has been developed in order to estimate the robustness of the spectroscopic diagnostics using the DEM formalism, using a new characterisation method taken into account the different uncertainty sources involved in the inversion process. Using a probabilistic approach, this technique is able to calibrate a priori the DEM inversion problem and thus allows to study the inversion behavior and limitations in the context of simple DEMs models. The advantage of this method is its ability to provide confidence level on the reconstructed DEMs computed from real data. First applied to the SDO/AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) imager in the case of simple models able to represent a variety of plasma conditions, our results show that DEM inversion of isothermal or near-isothermal plasmas is robust, whereas the multithermal solutions are less accurate but also biased to secondary solutions. We also applied the method to the Hinode/EIS (EUV Imaging Spectrometer) spectrometer, using a power law DEM, typical of active regions DEM, from which the slope provides important constraints related to the coronal heating frequency. Our results point out that the different uncertainty sources are currently too high to allow exploitable measurements of this frequency. The last part is dedicated to the three-dimensional reconstructions obtained by coupling tomography and DEM tools, focusing on polar structures. First reconstructions obtained using AIA data, our results allow to study the evolution of the temperature and density as a function of altitude, showing polar plumes denser and hotter than their surrondings.

A wireless sensor network consists of small, limited-resource embedded systems exchanging environment data and activating controls. These networks can be deployed in hostile environments to monitor wildlife habitats, implemented in factories to locate mobile equipment, and installed in home environments to optimize the use of utilities. Each of these scenarios requires network security to protect the network data. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is designed for WSN communication, yet the standard states that it is not responsible for defining the initialization, distribution, updating, or management of network public keys. Individuals seeking to research security topics will find that there are many 802.15.4-compliant development hardware kits available to purchase. However, these kits are not easily compared to each other without first-hand experience. Further, not all available kits are suitable for research in WSN security. This thesis evaluates a broad spectrum of 802.15.4 development kits for security studies. Three promising kits are examined in detail: Crossbow MICAz, Freescale MC1321x, and the Sun SPOT. These kits are evaluated based on their hardware, software, development environment, additional libraries, additional tools, and cost. Recommendations are made to security researchers advising which kits to use depending on their design needs and priorities. Suggestions are made to each company on how to further improve their kits for security research.

No description available.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Gurdip Singh / The Patient Monitoring System is a wireless sensor network application used for dynamically tracking a patient’s physical activity using 3D Accelerometer Sensors in the Sun Small Programmable Object Technology (SPOT) platform. The system is able to detect different postures of a person and recognize high-level actions performed by a patient by monitoring different pattern of postures. This activity can be monitored remotely from a nurse station or a handheld device. The monitoring system can be used for alerting the nurse station in a hospital, if a patient performs some abnormal action. In the proposed system, the Sun SPOTs are affixed on a person's chest, thigh, leg and arm. The application determines the posture of a person by sensing the acceleration and tilt values of the SPOT in the direction of X, Y and Z axis. Based on these values the application can determine the postures of a person such as Lying Down, Sitting, Standing, Walking, Bending, and Arm Moving. We provide user mechanisms to define high level actions such as “attempting to get up from Lying Down position”, in terms of patterns of lower-level posture sequences. The system detects these patterns from the posture sequences reported by the Sun SPOTs, and reports them at desired locations.