Wednesday, July 31, 2019
How does Jane Austen ensure that Lizzy and Darcy are the most attractive couple in the novel? Essay
We are introduced to the character of Lizzy early on, and in such away that we are immediately given a positive impression of her. We first hear of her in a conversation between Mr and Mrs Bennet when discussing the arrival of Mr Bingley. ââ¬Å"I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzyâ⬠Mr Bennet says, ââ¬Å"Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sistersâ⬠This is the first impression that we have of Lizzy. To introduce her character in this way means that even before meeting her, we are already thinking of her character and already have an image of her in our minds. We see that Mr Bennet points out Lizzyââ¬â¢s ââ¬Ëquicknessââ¬â¢, showing that she is clever and not absent minded and dull. By hearing his praise of her, we can not dislike her unless we see something that we disapprove, which never occurs, as such. In order for Darcy and Elizabeth to be attractive as a couple, they also need to be attractive as individuals. Their attractiveness, not just of looks but of personality, are hinted to us throughout the novel. Lizzy is strong-willed, witty, bright and intelligent. ââ¬Å"Really, maââ¬â¢am, I think it would be very hard upon younger sisters, that they should not have their share of society and amusement, because the elderly may not have the means or inclination to marry early. The last born has a good a right to the pleasures of youth as the first.â⬠This is from the conversation between Lizzy and Lady Catherine about Lydiaââ¬â¢s marriage, which shows how Lizzy is happy to speak her mind and show her point of view. To the reader this is admirable, perhaps especially at the time when in society she would have kept it to herself due to her age, position and feminism. We see also, that various people, like her father, have much more respect for her due to it. This leads to influence us to see her in the same way. Darcy originally appears to us in a different manner. While the first impression we get of Lizzy is positive, the impression we get of Darcy is soon considerably negative. However, Jane Austen does not immediately influence us to dislike him. ââ¬Å"his friend Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a-year.â⬠The quote is taken from when Darcy first enters the story at the Meryton ball. He is talked of with much approval and very much admired. However, this view is soon altered when we witness his conversation with Bingley at the dance. Bingley is attempting to persuade Darcy to participate and to dance with Lizzy. ââ¬Å"She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.â⬠This insults Lizzy, being in her earshot, and yet she can laugh at how ridiculous his manner was. His rudeness also influences the reader of how we perceive him. With additional incidents similar, we are for a long time under the impression that Darcy is a very proud and rude man and so it takes a long time to change our views. However, with the image of the very first description of Darcy, there is something slightly attractive in his character to grow on. It is interesting to note that although Darcy is handsome and very rich, we do not base his attractiveness individually on this. There are also other attractive features of Darcy that develop later on in the novel. This is interesting as it is opposite to an incident in the book concerning Wickham. ââ¬Å"She could have added, ââ¬Å"A young man, too, like you, whose very countenance may vouch for your being amiableâ⬠.â⬠Here Lizzy has mistaken the good looks of Wickham for goodness. While Wickham is attractive in the face, his personality is not so. We are not only drawn to Darcy for his looks, however, but also look for something more attractive than physical attraction and wealth. ââ¬Å"He is the best landlord, and the best master,â⬠she said, ââ¬Å"that ever lived; not like the wild young men nowadays, who think nothing but themselves. There is not one of his tenants or servants but what will give him a good name.â⬠This report of Darcy from his housekeeper demonstrates the character we see developing. By such information, it is suggested that what we originally presumed of him to be proud and rude, may actually, in some ways, be misunderstandings of his character, as we learn that he is merely the strong, silent type. The improvement of Darcyââ¬â¢s character, as well as the less obvious improvement of Elizabethââ¬â¢s, is one of the attractive features of their partnership. The way that they work on their relationship is attractive because they do not just settle with an easy option but admit mistakes and amend problems. They both realise faults in themselves due to each other. Darcyââ¬â¢s pride and Lizzyââ¬â¢s prejudice. Darcyââ¬â¢s pride we have already seen at the ball. This is shown to us in an obvious manner and even stated and talked about. It is often Lizzy who complains about it and is the reason that she despises Darcy so much and for so long. This also demonstrates her prejudice. Although it is noticeable in many occasions, her prejudice is less public. However, she still learns from her mistakes. These two aspects of their characters do not mix and so is not until they can overcome them, that they realise how right they are for each other. The development of their partnership in this way is attractive, rising it above other couples in the novel. We can look at the marriage of Bingley and Jane, for instance, for comparison. Jane and Bingleyââ¬â¢s marriage is the only other in the book that we are happy for, however, the marriage of Lizzy and Darcy still improves on it. While the former is very simple and ââ¬Ëprettyââ¬â¢, the latter is a lot deeper, with the way it was developed forming interesting layers of characters. Other couples are a lot more obviously unsuited. Mr and Mrs Bennet are one such example. When their marriage took place, Mrs Bennet married up in society, while Mr Bennet married down. Mrs Bennet was attractive but vacuous and she didnââ¬â¢t improve in intelligence. We can presume that Mr Bennet regretted the marriage. We see an inclination of this when he is advising Lizzy on her marriage to Darcy. ââ¬Å"My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about.â⬠We can suggest from this that Mr Bennet is reflecting on himself, and the mistake that he carried out in marrying Mrs Bennet, as he appears to be talking from experience. We see many examples where he is not happy with his marriage and not happy with Mrs Bennet. ââ¬Å"My dear, do not give way to such gloomy thoughts. Let us hope for better things. Let us flatter ourselves that I may be the survivorâ⬠This is Mr Bennetââ¬â¢s reply to a conversation with Mrs Bennet about what would happen to their property when he died. We see how he has no respect for her as he is continually mocking her in this cruel way throughout the book. The amount of sarcasm and irony he uses suggests that he is merely taking it all as a joke, as if were he to take it seriously, he would not be able to handle it. We see also in the novel how, to get away from it, he spends a lot of his time by himself in his library where Mrs Bennet and the rest of the family can not disturb him. Lizzy and Darcyââ¬â¢s marriage however, already proves to be more successful. As a couple, they are good for each other. They can succeed in the development of each others character. They are both intelligent people, unlike Mrs Bennet, who can carry out intellectual conversations and discussions. We can see this in an earlier conversation. ââ¬Å"To yield readily ââ¬â easily ââ¬â persuasion of a friend is no merit with you.â⬠ââ¬Å"To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of either.â⬠ââ¬Å"You appear to me, Mr Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affectionâ⬠This is one such example of Darcy and Lizzy exchanging and debating opinions. We can also compare this to the marriage of Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins. ââ¬Å"When Mr Collins could be forgotten, there was a great air of comfort throughout, and by Charlotteââ¬â¢s evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must often be forgotten.â⬠This was taken from Lizzyââ¬â¢s visit to Hunsford to visit Mr and Mrs Collins. It shows how happier Charlotte is when her husband isnââ¬â¢t there, and that this is often the case. Lizzy and Darcy however, enjoy each otherââ¬â¢s company immensely and do not tire of it. We see that the Collinsââ¬â¢ marriage is a marriage of convenience. It is stable, they have money and their own space from each other, but there is no love. They would never sit and enjoy a conversation but would much rather be separate from each other, similarly to Mr and Mrs Bennet, but right from the start of their marriage. Darcy and Lizzy as a couple are attractive because they are so meant to be. Jane Austen has written us a Romantic novel where the well matched always end up living happily ever after. They are not bad like Lydia and Wickham and so we feel a great love for them and believe that they deserve to be happy together. By being able to compare them to many other couples in the book we see even more clearly how they, as a couple, are the most attractive.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Fading Nokia
Contents Contents Introduction 1. Glorious period 2. 1 Biggest market occupation 2. 2 Essential and successful merger and acquisition 2. 3. 1 Merger with Siemens 2. 3. 2 Acquisition to NAVTEQ 2. Sagging situation at present 3. 3 Severe competition in this area 3. 4. 3 Pressure from Apple and Samsung 3. 4. 4 No longer popularity of Symbian operational system 2. 2 Lack of cash flowing 3. Analyze the causes resulting in the depression of Nokia 3. 1 Failure investment 3. Losing the opportunity to achieve most value 4. Future and some suggestions 4. 1Transformation to windows systems 4. 2Get experience from other failed companies (Ericsson and Alcatel) Conclusion References Bibliography Introduction Nokia, the most well-known brand and biggest mobile company, once occupying over 60 percent sales in the market, has now dropped to less than 30 percent share of this area. Whatââ¬â¢s more, 90 percent of share price has evaporated since Apple launched the first iphone 5 years ago.Nowadays, its 15 years dominant position is totally taken placed by Apple and Samsung, in other words, the IOS and Android system are preferable to be chosen by customers rather than the old and past Symbian. What is worse, the news coming from official Nokia on June 14th shows that there will be 10 thousand staff fired by the end of 2013, causing the mobile phone area norm these days. It is truly the hardest time for Nokia now. As a result, this essay is aimed to describe the fading process of Nokia and explore the severe condition of it.In general, this project will be divided into 4 parts. Firstly, it will look at the glorious period of Nokia and give examples of some significant events, and the second part is going to analyze the sagging situation it is faced with, including the severe competition from Apple and Samsung, the falling trend in sales and the lack of cash flow. Thirdly it will explain the causes leading to the depression of Nokia, and I will give some constructive future sugg estions towards the end of the subject. Glorious period 1. Biggest market occupation It is really surprising that Nokia was originally built as a paper factory in 1965, and 2 years later, it became a form technology company after a serious of merge operations . The year 1987 meant a significant turning point to Nokia, which launched the first mobile phone in the world, opening a new window to the phoneââ¬â¢s development. This invention, actually, laid the foundation to Nokia to jump to the biggest mobile phone producer and helped to construct the Nokia destiny in the following 20 years.Until the year of 2007, Nokia still took the first place in market sale, stating officially that its profit surged 85 percent in the third quarter due to strong demand for low-cost phones in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, lifting its share of the global market to almost 40 percent. As Nokia profit soars near a half, while Samsung and Apple shared 13. 5 percent and 6. 5 percent occupations in the end of 2007. Figure 1 Worldwide converged smart mobile device market Market shares Q4 2007, Q4 2006 Source: Canalys estimates, à © canalys. com Ltd. 2008.From the figure above, it can be seen that Nokia was far away ahead of other rivals and it seems no one could construct potential threat to the ââ¬Ëmobile kingââ¬â¢ at that time. 1. 2 Essential and successful merger and acquisition All successful companies need creativity and business events to adjust it all the time, therefore there is no doubt that Nokia will also follow this rule, in order to expand its business scale as well as increase the avenue profit. In fact, several mergers and acquisitions were done by Nokia in history, all bringing unexpected great results to this huge company. . 2. 1 Merger with Siemens On June 2006, Nokia and Siemens were to merge their mobile and fixed-line phone network equipment businesses so as to create one of the world's biggest network firm. Although both companies contributed a 50% sta ke, it could not deny the prominent role of Nokia in the new infrastructure company. Additionally, Nokia and Siemens were even closer in 2008. A communication company based on them was proclaimed, achieving 4. 3 billion euros on net sales, which increased by 24% than last quarter. 1. 2. 2 Acquisition to NAVTEQIn the same year as the communication company was established, a significant acquisition to NAVTEQ Company by Nokia was completed on July 10th. A wise leading strategy was so important to a company that this event directly resulted in 31. 2% business growth of NAVTEQ in the third quarter. According to the financial data in third quarter of Nokia, it remarked a decline trend in overall business profitability. The consensus could be mostly caused by huge market investments and fast rate to expand the trade chain. The table below presents the financial statements during 2007 and 2008. Figure 2 The financial statements during 2007 and 2008 uro(million)| 2008| 2007| net sales| 50710 | 51058| sales cost| -33337| -33781| gross profit| 17373| 17277| research and develop cost| -5968| -5636| cost of marketing| -4380| -4379| other income| 420| 2312| other cost| -1195| -424| profit| 4966| 7985| pretax profit| 4970| 8268| Source: Nokiaââ¬â¢s official avenue financial statements in 2007 and 2008. Based on the data provided, several figures were not as ideal as last year, as their profit decreasing was mainly due to the big expense on the merger and acquisition related to Siemens(28600million euros) and NAVTEQ companies(5million euros).However, no one accurately predicted that these huge costs generated to be the dominant reason to the present failure of Nokia, on the side of cost control, despite other potential threats to Nokia such as the cooperation with Android Company and the dramatic rise of Apple and Samsung. Sagging situation at present Once Nokiaââ¬â¢s slogan ââ¬Å"Human Technologyâ⬠is well-known in the world at the peaking time, who would care abo ut that the weak company like MOTOLORA and Samsung even Apple which lost its operation officer Steve Jobs 5 years ago could be the rivals today?However, just in that short period, Nokia dropped down so seriously that came out of our widest expectations. In a word, the competition from other companies as well as the shortage of cash flow and unsuccessful Lumia phones all contributed to the sagging condition of todayââ¬â¢s Nokia. 2. 1 Severe competition in this area In the first quarter of 2012, the position occupying the largest share in phones sales, which existed as long as 14years, was replaced by Samsung, At the same time, the shares fell to only 22. percent in total. 2. 1. 1 Pressure from Apple and Samsung When Nokia was still insisting on its original strategy to adjust appearance of phones rather than improve the hardware and operational details, Apple and Samsung silently changed the old style and headed to new target which were previous settled. It was a big well fare for normal people that Apple promoted the ââ¬Å"customer experienceâ⬠based on the touching screen and Samsung focused on the hardware modification.Under this pressure, changing appearance of Nokia gradually lost the attractions to technological customers who always wanted something new, and the effect brought by the ââ¬Å"low function, high priceâ⬠had totally departed from its objective to the middle and low market. For the general people who had spare money to buy phones, Samsung and Apple seemed to be their first choice. Figure 3 The shipped numbers of handsets and smartphones in 2012 1st quarter Source: Financial News, 27th April 2012By the comparison in the bar chart above, it can be seen that Samsung had overtaken Nokia in phone handset shipments, when it came to the smart phones, the numbers of Nokia were far more behind the other two. Although Apple had the least figure in quantity, it still was the richest handsets company over the world since its high profit of e very phone. Apparently, Nokia was facing the severest challenge from Samsung and Apple ever, and the sales gap was enlarging, due to the blank products in smartphones and the weak supports to application platform. 2. 1. 2 No longer popularity of Symbian operational systemIn recent years, Apple and Google were vigorously promoting the application service platform, and IOS and Android were hard working at inventing and launching to the market, while Nokia, unfortunately, paid enormous 27billion euros on dividends and stock buyback, and did nothing improvement on its OVI platform, which all pushed customers to prefer to try the new IOS and Android. As a result, there was no doubt that market share of Nokia smartphones experienced a sharp decline since Apple gave birth to the first iphone and the quick spread of Android in 2007, dropping from more than half at peak to nowadays 8. percent. Therefore, Symbian system was no longer popular and in fact, Nokia had announced to give up this sy stem in the early year which meant the original customers could never enjoy update again. Below was the present condition of IOS, Android and Symbian share. Figure 4 Smart phones share ranking Source: Andrew Munchbach, May 19th. http://www. bgr. com/2011/05/19/ A new report published by Millennial Media presented a picture of the global smartphone landscape in April of 2011. Obviously, Android continued its domination in pure market share, holding a 53% of impressions on the companyââ¬â¢s network.Appleââ¬â¢s IOS came in second with 28% and others including Symbian only had 4% of all. 2. 2 Lack of cash flowing As pointed out by Rich (2012), last three months (April-June) Nokia made losses of 1. 1billion pounds as networks saw no reason to push Lumia. Whatââ¬â¢s more, sales in smartphones fell 34% to 1. 2billion pounds although the cash reversed to gain about 18% in the second quarter. Due to a number of investments reaching to 27billion euros on dividends and stock buyback, and also the research and invention at largely untried Microsoft Windows platform, the company is now facing with financial crisis.What is worse, the sales downturn leads to little revenue to it. For example, the depressive phone-fancier saw sales fall by a fifth, with sales of Nokia Lumia Windows phones-latest smart phones by a third, rarely sold 4 million Windows phones in this second quarter, continued being less than one tenth of sales of Apple and Samsung. Just several days ago, according to the latest financial statement conducted by Nokia, the net income had 29percent decline compared to last year, as the total operational loss became 1. 1euros that present CEO Stephen Elop had to announce that there would be 10 thousand staff fired by the end of 2013, giving an unexpected shock to this area. Things were not going to improve in the following months, because Microsoft had made a decision to cut off current Lumia phones and remove the connections between Windows 8 system and pr evious Windows phones belonging to Nokia. That means the Windows phones cannot go far away without the back support of Microsoft update system and data.Furthermore, Nokia has forecast a similar loss in the next three months-an outlook that was worse than economists had estimated, just as JP Morgan analyst Deshpande (2012) stated ââ¬Å"The third quarter is going to be the most difficult quarter for Nokiaâ⬠. Analyze the causes resulting in the depression of Nokia 3. 1 Failure investment When the peak Nokia dropped down, it is necessary to analyze the potential reasons behind this phenomenon. Obviously, the dominant reason is the lack of cash flow, which is triggered by the following aspects: 1.It frequently allocates the cash such as paying enormous 27billion euros on dividends and stock buyback, and paid nothing to its OVI platform. 2. Increasing cost leads to the emergency of cash flow. Nokia plans to cut off the mobile phone production business cost by the end of next year to 3 billion euros, however, great cutting itself needs a lot of money ,which can reach to 0. 1 billion pounds, which still not contain the investments to construction transformation. Morgan Stanley analyst Francois (2012) pointed out that if they put these calculations above in all, before the end of 2012, Nokia needed 2. billion euro free cash flow to rescue. Therefore, Moody's and s&p and fitch ratings to Nokia credit fell to garbage level. If it has further deterioration, the situation of this company would be quite dangerous. It is possible to see Nokia collapse by 2040. 3. 2 Losing the opportunity to achieve most value As Rich (2012) stated, ââ¬Å"Samsung's ultimate victory shouldn't be very surprising; the company makes consumer electronics of all kinds, and as the mobile phone became a commodity product, the skills needed to make money out of manufacturing them have changed to the skills with which Samsung is well-equipped. It is why Samsung develops so fast these years, owni ng to the leap improvement in software and application platform, based on Android system. In 2010, after Elop taking charge of office, he sent to the company all a memorandum named ââ¬Å"combustion platformâ⬠and felt sorry for the company had missed the construction software platform for the good chance. Elop (2012) mentioned: ââ¬Å"our competition on hand is to use hardware to take our market shares, unlike them to use the software, with the new ecological system.We should make a decision that whether we should establish, promote or join the system,â⬠as to Nokia expansion of egoism, it concluded ââ¬Å"it is our own ruin ourselves, in this difficult time, we lack leadership and responsibility to unite the whole company, we have missed a lot of good opportunity, our innovation speed too slow and the internal cooperation mechanism is not perfect enough. â⬠So in these 5years, Nokia has already lost the opportunity to achieve most value. Future and some suggestions Nokia has recognized that they had a severe war to fight and to avoid themselves to be out of competition.However, honestly, if they want to still successfully alive in the market, they truly need to make great effort for surviving. 4. 1Transformation to windows system Nokia is now focusing on high-margin smartphones even if that means being dependent on the success of Microsoft, so the change in ranking by volume in America these days isn't surprising, even if it is a little unsettling. So focusing more on windows phones is the only hope for Nokia to stand up again in the smart phones area, and we can see there is an ideal beginning for Lumia sales in USA, although the percent is so small compared with Samsung and Apple. . 2Get experience from other failed companies (Ericsson and Alcatel) As there are two failure examples of mobile producers Ericsson and Alcatel well known in the world, people are paying much attention to Nokiaââ¬â¢s fading. What if the windows phone fail in the future, how can Nokia survive? Does the transformation to top smart phones really work? Therefore the most urgent thing for Nokia is to make extra efficient plans in case of window phone lost advancing position in final and obtain the experience from failure companies in view of future development of itself.In order to win the war, Nokia may need to: 1. Focus on clustered products such as launch more smart phone types which are little different from Lumia so that it will generate cluster effect. Just like Porter (1985) describes that clusters affect competition in three broad ways: first, by increasing productivities of the firm; second, by increasing their innovation capacities; and third, by stimulating new business information. 2. Sell patents. Nokia can depend on selling its 30000 patents to maintain the normal cash flow which can help for a while. 3. Concentrate on low-class products.Till now, the majority of Nokiaââ¬â¢s income and profit come from its low-class products. H owever, the biggest problem is basic functional phones no longer popular among customers since the smart phones took the place. As a result, for Nokia, it is also important to remain the low-class market when they decide to specialize it. Conclusion This paper has given an account for the fading process of Nokia, including its previous glorious history and on contrary the sagging situation at present, along with the severe competition from Samsung and Apple, showing a relatively complete timeline that it falls to decay to the readers.Whatââ¬â¢ more, causes lead to the fading are also examined. Finally, future prediction and contractive proposals to make Nokiaââ¬â¢s renaissance in handouts field are discussed. It is only 5 years that Nokia totally has fallen down from the peak. For Nokia, it is going through the hardest period, in which there are still a number of problems to tackle with, such as the lack of cash flow, the fierce competition from other rivals, the uncertainty o f the future of the Windows Phones.On the other hand, this difficulty may overweigh any scene of mergers and acquisitions, financing and listed in the past. However, actually, as Porter (1985) points out, strong competitors can bring about the strategic benefits to Nokia, for example, increasing competitive advantage, absorbing demand fluctuations and enhancing the ability to differentiate. Honestly, the prediction of development prospect for Nokia is not so optimistic that no one will know the outcome that whether it can go through the difficulty.However, just because of this painful experience I believe that Nokia will carefully concern about and profoundly rethink its failing past. Is it the too fast expanding speed, bigotry to the old Symbian system or the despising attitude towards the small role of Android system resulting in todayââ¬â¢s fading? But the reason cannot be important anymore, since MOTOROLA, Ericsson and Alcatel failed before, representing the clustered regular ity of different events in the long river of history.References Porter, M. (1985). On competition. Boston: Harvard business press Porter, M. (1985). Competitive advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers Munchbach, A. (2011). Android grabs 53% of global smartphone market share; iOS 50% of application revenues. Available from: http://www. bgr. com/2011/05/19/android-grabs-53-of-global-smartphone-market-share-ios-50-of-application-revenues/ [accessed 19 May 2011] O'Brien, K. (2007).Nokia profit soars as market share nears 40%. The New York Times. Available from: http://www. nytimes. com/2007/10/18/business/worldbusiness/18iht-nokia. 4. 7948524. html? _r=1 [accessed 18 October 2007] Chart: Bibliography ââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬â [ 1 ]. NAVTEQ is a Chicago-based provider of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data and is a major provider of ba se electronic navigable maps. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia but operates independently.
Monday, July 29, 2019
On the Origins of Violence (SLP) Module 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
On the Origins of Violence (SLP) Module 1 - Essay Example nts such as bars, stores, hotels, movie theatres, museums, art galleries, sport venues, parks, and trails, the area is most under constant security patrols making criminal activity very minimal considering other states or nationwide. The population of the area is 20,774 for males and 23,053 for females based on 2010 population update. With reference to income per household, North Bethesda has a household income of $94,334 compared to the $70,004. Both of these household incomes place the residents as middle class earners with very minimal financial constraints. The national violent crime index is 387, the County of Maryland crime rate is 477, and that of North Bethesda is 204. Further information shows that there is 1 out 61 chances of a North Bethesda resident falling a victim of any type of crime. With this low crime rate, the relationship between violence and the health and/or welfare of the community is almost none existent. However, the fact that Maryland has a higher violent cr ime rate puts the residents of North Bethesda at risk of falling victims when outside their residential vicinity. However, having no confirmed cases so far, the health and welfare of the community is not under direct connection of violent crimes. The total population of North Bethesda is 43,828 as of 2012 and with a population growth rate of 18.11%. The cost of housing in the area is $335,900 for buyers and $1,686 for rentals. However, the living cost of North Bethesda is about 140% compared to the rest of the nation. When compared to Marylandââ¬â¢s crime rate index, North Bethesda has 48% less crime while Maryland is at the same crime rate index as the national index. A quick check of other data shows that North Bethesda is 51.3% safer than other cities within the nations, 67% safer than Maryland, one has 1 chance of being a violent crime victim in every 490 times, and property crime is about 1 chance for every 69 for a North Bethesda. The available resource in North Bethesda used for
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Cryptosporidium parvum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Cryptosporidium parvum - Essay Example The parasite is adapted to harsh way of survival. This is due to its outer layer that allows it to withstand harsh environment (CDC, 2013). This conveys it some resistance once it is exposed to chlorine disinfection. The organism exists in nature and causes disease. The organism is transmitted in different ways. However, water acts as the most common way of transmission (CDC, 2013). Such water may be for drinking or recreational facilities. The mode of transmission is through fecal-oral route (Health Canada, 2001). This may be from person to person, animal to person, or food and waterborne transmission (Health Canada, 2001). The organism prevalence has been on the rise in United States. For example, from 2009 to 2010 the number of cases of cryptosporidiosis has been on the rise (Yoder, T et al. (2012). Cases were most prevalent on children aged 1-9 years and adults in a category of 25-29 years (Yoder, T et al. (2012). Moreover, the number of waterborne diseases has been on the rise in the country. A number of factors contribute to the spread of the organism. However, there are factors that majorly contribute to the spread of the organism. They include accidental swallowing something that encounters the stool of an infected person (CDC, 2013). It may also be through drinking recreational water contaminated with Crypto (CDC, 2013). One may also be infected through eating of poorly cooked food contaminated with the organism. Likewise, one may get infected by touching of mouth with contaminated hand (CDC, 2013). It may also be spread in a laboratory by naturally and experimentally infected animals (Health Canada,
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Cultural Effects of Alexander's Conquests Essay
Cultural Effects of Alexander's Conquests - Essay Example The people of Asia were quick to adopt the culture of the conquerors. This situation set the stage for integrating Greek culture in the conquered territories and information from both ways. As a result artists, painters, musicians and writers flocked to these cities founded by Alexander in Persia, Egypt and in the later other cities also followed classic Greek city style, complete with baths, temples and public meeting places, a style directly borrowed from Greek, which was further spread along the Silk road in the conquered territories. It is a well-known fact that, the changes in cultures, which we know as history of the civilization, are the direct consequence of sweeping conquests. When Alexander's armies subjugated the known world by their military prowess, the result was Hellinization of the cultures in the centuries to come, and the impact was equal spread from Europe to Middle East and Central Asia. By 323 BC Alexander Empire was stretched from Greece to Egypt, Iran and India. As the Empire grew larger, so does the Greek influence in these new conquered territories. At every conquered territory Alexander setup a strategic military installations with complete Greek style towns, which imported the Greek culture and ideas. And these influences can even be observed even in today in central Asian art and architecture. Despite the enormous distance between the Asia and Europe, the two continents were in contact via Silk Road, which was famous and well-known route for travelers, merchants, pilgrims spreading trade and culture along the silk road from Rome to Central Asia .Without any doubt it was the conquering nations who brought this cultural change and diffusion allowing this diffusion of cultures. Alexander made conscious efforts to hellinize the world, which can be seen by his marriage to Persian princess, the daughter of Darius III .He also asked 80 of his officers to marry local women. During 324 B.C in a feast he offered 10000 of his men foreign women. Other than that he also built about thirty Greek style cities along the route of his conquest, an extension of Hellenistic empire, which continued long after his death. These cities, in the later years even though separated from Greek rule remained alive enclaves of Greek culture. The elite of these cities not only spoke Greek language, but also adopted Greek customs and traditions, including taking part in Greek athletics. Alexander conquests provided the chance for Hellinism to flourish with much greater force among these territories. As a result Greek culture became the culture of the rulers. Alexander used different techniques to consolidate these conquests. For example Alexander founded the colonial installations, even though some were mere military installations, mainly occupied by army to control the city. The important aspect of these cities and town was to acquire the status of Greek cities and able to imitate the Greek style of government. Greco- Macedonians, who lived like Greeks formed part of the local population, ruled these cities. Being conquered, it was natural for these conquered territories to follow the Greek culture and language. One of Alexander's general Peukestas learned Persian language and even became familiar with Persian culture and adopted their clothes, which was an exceptional case. Normally it was the conquered population, who followed the Greek traditions and tried to b ecome part of hellenized culture for
Friday, July 26, 2019
List the author's main point Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
List the author's main point - Essay Example Itââ¬â¢s not reallyâ⬠(837). The author further explains this argument by stating that even though these factors results into environmental calamities, they donââ¬â¢t deserve to be totally eliminated but rather safeguarded to balance the ecological and social state, this is backed up by the statement where the author says that ââ¬Å"economic, political and social systems have produced our current environmental calamities but they donââ¬â¢t deserve to be replaced rather they should be preservedâ⬠(837). The author also states that in pursuit towards a successful environment and culture, virtue and violence needs to be combined, this is supported by the quote where the author indeed feels that his readers wonder why he wouldâ⬠yoke together value and violenceâ⬠(838). Although the use of positive violence is encouraged when it comes to business and economics as supported by the quote ââ¬Å"How can one remove the claim of virtue from the behavior that is most habitual to people?â⬠ââ¬Å"The artful use of violence is obviously something that we admire in those sectors of the culture that we most associate with successâ⬠(838). The author states that our virtue is manifested ethically through the use of positive violence. The use of the expression ââ¬Å"we can move mountainsâ⬠(839) clearly supports this statement of pride. By presenting itself as a type of wisdom, sustainability acts as a mediator between our damaging values and truthfulness to democracy. This is supported by the quoteâ⬠Sustainability participates in the yearning and willingfulness to the Barbaric Heart despite of itselfâ⬠(839). The author states that to achieve sustainability, economists, politicians and scientists put their minds together to work and set a common goal .This is supported by the quote ââ¬Å"In short, sustainability assumes that the reasoning of the economics-or economics as thought of
Analysis of eBay ECommerce Models and Applications Essay
Analysis of eBay ECommerce Models and Applications - Essay Example It is used to evaluate the historical keys to victory and failure and modern progress. It identifies and assembles a commerce-enabled store website and observes what is considered necessary both to develop and sustain the conception store. It also studies suitable approaches and technologies for creating a flourishing e-shop business. It judges the suggestion of mobility on e-business value chains. From now on, you will be grateful for that 'e-commerce' is a rapid developing spot of both practice and research. A large amount of what you read will use the terms e-business model(s) and e-commerce model(s) interchangeably. The clarification that tracks makes a wide difference between the two. e-business model is a 'structure' for organizing e-businesses in terms of planned business objectives, and e-commerce model is a scheme for commerce, processes that give details, in familiar terms, where the supplies and capital flow. Companies are taking the little risk path. They are utilizing the source of internet for doing business on the same old strategies to attain lower cost expenses. The main risk is that e-commerce grows as an island in the customary business and the increasing gap between the two could compromise the entire business. The sites on internet are emerging as new market places for people. ... Fundamentally the business on internet is divided in to three areas, Business to business (also known as B2B), Business to consumer (also referred as B2C) and consumer to consumer (i.e. C2C). Amazon.com a famous domain which sells books over the world wide internet which sells books over the Internet, is an example of a B2C E-commerce initiative where the company gets in touch with its consumers directly. This is equivalent to the direct selling concept popularized by companies such as Amway. The only difference is that the selling is done via the Net. On the other hand, ChemConnect.com and Chemdex.com (which deal with chemicals) are B2B E-commerce initiatives that bring two firms together on the virtual market place. One of the ideal examples of the sites including all these features is "eBay." It is a small world of internet and trade itself and has developed as an important business model for e-commerce. When eBay first started on, the site instantly turned out to be a well-liked channel for auctioning figurines, but it soon merged into other markets as it was a part of them such as automobiles, business and industrial tools, and customer electronics, where the average sales price (ASP) is higher. Increasing the ASP was a dangerous component of increasing sales for eBay, as eBay's contract fees are based on a percentage of sales. The higher the ASP, the more money eBay earns on each of the million transactions it assists. EBay has found and internationalized computerized online person-to-person auctioning. Formerly, such commerce was carried out through garage sales, collectibles shows, flea markets, and classified advertisements. An online marketplace helps easy checking for buyers and permits sellers to record an item for sale within minutes of registering.
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Financial Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Financial Accounting - Assignment Example According to the financial indicators, it can be determined that returns on assets and fixed assets of the company have eventually decline during the period. This reflects that company remains inefficient to utilize it assets and fixed assets. the financial information of the company depicts that the 2008 had the highest asset and fixed assets turnover. On the other hand, 2012 is noted to have the lowest assets turnover. Though the profits of the company during the period have increased, this reflects that the companyââ¬â¢s has high turnovers on equities. The company remains more efficient in utilizing its equities, rather than its assets. It can also be determined that the company has been more inclined to increase its assets, but its utilization has remained inefficient. Analyzing the financial indictors of the company, it can be concluded the overall profitability of the company has eventually increased, whereas the assets turnover of the company depicts a declining trends duri ng the period. This means that much of the companyââ¬â¢s assets remain unutilized, therefore the management shall take appropriate measures to utilize its assets, which shall eventually contribute to the profit margins of the
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Stag Hunt Game Models Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1
Stag Hunt Game Models - Coursework Example The coursework "Stag Hunt Game Models" presents the comparison of the evolutionary game theory and the standard game theory and how they can be applied to a stag hunt game. In this kind of game, two players may choose to hunt a hare and a stag individually. Each player is however usually required to make their choices without letting it known to the other party. The two individuals must, however, seek the cooperation of each other in order to succeed in their game. For example, an individual can successfully hunt down and get a hare by hunting alone but a hare is considered to be worth significantly less than a stag. Consequently derived from stag hunt game is often used as one of the important analogies for social cooperation. There are also a number of other games that can also be effectively used to depict social cooperation. Some of these games include the prisonerââ¬â¢s dilemma and analysts believe it better than stage hunt with regard to its explanation of Social Corporation. The primary difference between stag hunt game and the Prisoners dilemma is that the game usually involves two Nash equilibria in the event that both the two players cooperate or defect at the same time. Prisoners dilemma as a game generally involves a Pareto efficient cooperation between two players but as opposed to stag hunt, Nash equilibrium is only present in the event that both the two players decide to defect. In a stag hunt game, there is usually one side considered to be risk dominant while the other side is regarded as payoff dominant.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Academic writting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Academic writting - Essay Example The challenge is that not everyone might know if they had experienced it. Anxiety can be described as a disorder that causes uneasiness, nervousness, worry and fear. It affects the way an individual feels and behaves towards everyday situation (DiMatteo et al. 2000). Learners often experience anxiety when confronted by a test or examination. Although anxiety is considered as normal, it can also be considered to be a problem when it brings symptoms such as lack of sleep or lack of ability to function normally. Anxiety occurs when a reaction to a situation becomes out of proportion or becomes overbearing for one to think or act normally. As a matter of fact, there are different types of anxiety. These include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder anxiety and Social Anxiety Disorder. To begin with, generalized anxiety is a chronic disorder that is excessive, long lasting and tends to affect how the sufferer responds to life events on a daily basis. It causes an individual to worry about nonspecific everyday life situations. A sufferer suffering from this type of disorder would often worry about things that are related to health, money, family and work. The sufferer also finds it difficult in making decisions. The sufferer may not know how to identify the actual fear or know how to deal or control their worry about a nonspecific situation, therefore believing that they will fail in that given situation. It may be possible that the learner may have spent limited study time in the preparation for a test or examination due to work commitments or family responsibilities, this in turn will affect the mindset of the individual making them to believe that they are likely going to perform badly on the test or examination. Also, their mind and body turns a normal emotion as worry that usually motivates one to accomplish a task to a feeling of helplessness that does not allow the learner to get motivated about the exam instead creating panic. As adults, we
Monday, July 22, 2019
Fairy Tale Gone Wrong - Snow White Essay Example for Free
Fairy Tale Gone Wrong Snow White Essay Most parents have, or will, tell their child a bedtime story that they may have heard when they were younger. These stories, otherwise known as fairy tales, are thought to be nothing but a mere story to entertain, but what if these fairy tales had an underlying meaning of their own? Fairy tales have been around for more than thousands of years and are passed on frequently from one person to another. Today, most are seen as harmless stories that were made up to entertain children; however, it seems that these fairy tales may actually hold meanings that are larger than the average child can grasp. Many have heard the well-known story Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; yet, few have read the gruesome, original version by The Brothers Grimm. Disneyââ¬â¢s child-friendly version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was written with the intention of making a successful animated movie for entertainment purposes, while the Brothers Grimm version tells a story in a more shocking and brutal manner. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a story that, when created by The Brothers Grimm, was actually made to entertain adults. As these stories became more and more popular people began to change the stories so that they were suitable for younger children to hear. One person who was exceptionally superior at changing fairy tales was the notable Walt Disney. He took Snow White and made it into his first full-length, animated motion-picture. But Disney wasnââ¬â¢t focused on portraying the original version but rather a loosely based version that would make a successful film, or in other views make him more money. While the two version are immensely different, the newer version does mimic the original in several ways. The fairy tale is still about Snow White being a beautiful young girl who is envied because of her beauty by her wicked stepmother, the Queen. Snow Whiteââ¬â¢s stepmother orders the huntsman to take Snow White out into the woods and kill her, but he is unable to commit the act and lets her runs away. While Snow White is off in the woods she finds a small cottage that her newly-made animal friends help her clean. Later she find out that this small home belongs to seven dwarfs. Then the Queen finds out that Snow White is still alive in the woods and sets off to kill Snow White herself. The wicked stepmother soon finds Snow White, kills her and later is reawakened from the dead by a handsome prince. Then later, the Queen dies and Snow White ââ¬Å"lives happily ever afterâ⬠. Therefore, the basic outline is kept the same as the original, but Disney changes what seem like minor details that actually have a larger impact. Although it may not seem like monumental to many, the changes that Disney made in his version actually changed the meaning of The Brothers Grimm version entirely. For example, in the original version Snow White is thought to be around seven years old, with the number seven having a symbolic meaning, ââ¬Å"referring to traditional superstitions about numberâ⬠(Stringham). Whereas Disney changes her age losing the many different connections and also the foreshadowing that the number has. Snow Whiteââ¬â¢s real mother is never mentioned by Disney, but holds an important part because when her real mother pricks her finger and the three drops of blood fall into the snow, it foreshadows the Queens three attempts at killing Snow White. In Disneyââ¬â¢s version, he only shows the Queens last attempt at killing Snow White instead of all three attempts made in the original along with that attempt being simplified. Disney also changes the orders that are given by the Queen to the Hunstman. Originally the Queen ordered him to bring back the liver and lungs, symbolically meaning ââ¬Å"the one containing the most blood, [ the liver ] was regarded as the darkest . . . the liver represented the darkest passions, particularly the bloody, smokey ones of wrath, jealousy, and greed which drive en to action. Thus the liver meant the impulsive attachment to lifeâ⬠(qtd. in Stringham). In the movie version, the Queen simply asks for the Hunstman to bring back her heart. Another aspesct that is greatly changed is how Disney represents the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney actually gives the dwarfs names and personalities and makes them seem like they are thankful that Snow White is there to help them when really the dwarfs were originally not helpers at all. They were portrayed as beings that only wanted Snow White there for her work, to clean, cook and do all the house chores. And finally, to make the film acceptable for children, Disney takes away the sexual meanings in almost every aspect of the story. As stated by John M. Ellis, writer of One Fairy Story Too Many: The Brothers Grimm and Their Tales, this is certainly a provocative story, and Disney eliminates it completely (qtd in Writers and Collections of Fairy Tales 85). These are a few examples of how different the film and the original have turned out to be. Disney clearly altered the story for the sole purpose of grabbing childrenââ¬â¢s attention and inevitably, for the money. It is nothing new that when something is said or written someone in the future will change things from the original and then someone else will continue to change the new version and so on. When stories are changed the meanings and symbolism also changes, inevitably changing the story as a whole. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a fairy tale that was taken by Walt Disney and changed for entertainment and seemingly money purposes, which resulted in losing the original meaning behind the story. Although Disney was successful with his version of Snow White, he has taken a story with hidden meaning and given it barely any.
Constructing a solar power plant Essay
Constructing a solar power plant Essay This is a report on the Andasol 1 Solar Power Plant located in Marquesado Del Zenete, Granada, Spain. The aim of this report is look at the technology involved; the construction of the plant; the operating capacity and environmental impacts on the area involved. The information contained in this report was primarily gathered from the internet and also Moodle notes from class lectures. To begin this report, we discussed what areas were to be researched and drew a plan of what needed to be done, ensuring the work was evenly distributed between us. Introduction: The Andasol-1 Solar power plant is situated in the Guadix plateau, Marquesado Del Zenete, Granada, Spain. This is an area at an elevation of 1090 to 1100 metres above sea level and is free from shading. The site itself is situated next to a motorway and has no residential houses in the immediate vicinity, The nearest HV line is approximately 7km away from the site. Solar energy is particularly suited to this area. This area is one of the sunniest in Spain, receiving approximately 300 days of sunshine a year. (See Fig 2-1). The type of solar collector used here is the Parabolic Trough Collector along with Molten Salt Heat Storage. Parabolic Trough Collectors are the most common type used in solar thermal plants one of the main reasons being they utilise a lens to focus the sunlight onto a cell, thereby reducing the amount of costly semi-conducting material PV material while collecting as much sunlight as possible.à [i]à Parabolic Trough Collectors work by using mirrored surfaces on a North-South Axis which then track the sun as it moves across the sky. The mirrors reflect the sunlight onto a tube which runs the length of the collector. This tube is known as an absorber tube and is filled with a fluid that absorbs the concentrated solar radiation and can reach temperatures of up to 400 Deg C. The Collector Field consists of hundreds of these collectors joined together in rows known as Loops and the collected heat is then passed to a steam generator or to the heat storage (molten salt).à [ii]à (see fig. 2-2) Using molten salt, the heat collected by the collectors can be used to ensure efficient use of the turbines during the day or indeed be used to continue powering the turbines for up to 7 hours at night. Molten salt is used to store heat for a number of reasons. It is capable of retaining thermal heat energy over a long period of time; it can be used at temperatures of 1000à °F which is inline with efficient steam turbines and it a non-toxic and readily available material.à [iii]à At the Andasol-1 plant, the heat storage system consists of two 14m-high tanks that are 36m in diameter and a have a capacity of 28,500tons of molten salt. The molten salt itself is a mixture of 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate. Both of these substances are currently used as fertilizers and preservatives in food production.à [iv]à (see fig. 2-3) Construction Phase: The construction of Andasol 1 began in July 2006, (see fig. 3-4), the work includes stripping the land to lay the foundations to affix the steel supports, and the parabolic mirrors are carefully mounted on the support structures in a specially constructed assembly hall on site. The complete collector devices are then mounted in the solar field. Steel pylons are then used to anchor the metal support structures. (see fig. 3-5) The 150m-long collector chains are set with hydraulic drives that have a precision close to a tenth of a millimetre. The 312 collector rows are fixed in a north-south axis and follow the suns path along a single axis therefore obtaining as much sun during one day.à [v]à The solar collectors for the plant total approx. 510,120 square metres (0.51 km2), which contains over 200,000 mirrors situated along 312 rows totalling up to an overall length of 24 km, also including 90 kilometres of absorption pipes. The total physical area of the plant including collector spacing, the storage tanks and turbine housing, etc. is 2 km2.à [vi]à The site is broken down into three different sections: solar field, storage and steam cycle/ power block. (see fig. 3-6) Solar field The Andasol power plant has a solar field that covers 510,120 square meters. The parabolic troughs are connected by pipes. The rows are set up on a north-south axis and follow the course of the sun from east to west. The parabolic mirrors are made of 4 millimetre thick, silver-coated, curved white glass. The silver coating has an additional protective coating. The specially designed absorption pipes absorb the solar radiation reflected to transfer the solar energy into a heat transfer medium located in the pipe, which in turn then transmits the heat into the steam circuit. Specialists assemble and check these collectors photogrammetrically to determine their precision in specially-constructed factory buildings before the collectors are brought to the field and anchored.à [vii]à Storage tank The Andasol power plants have a thermal storage tank allowing the power plants to provide scheduled power. In order to fill the tanks while simultaneously operating the turbines, the solar field must be larger than that of a power plant without a tank; therefore annual operating hours of the plant at peak loads can be nearly doubled this way. The liquid salt thermal storage functions under atmospheric pressure and consist of two tanks per power plant, measuring 14m in height and 36m in diameter. Solar Two in Barstow, California served as the reference project for the thermal storage tanks in the Andasol power plants because it had the same salt mixture even though the storage tank was smaller.à [viii]à Steam cycle/ Power block Turbines, generators and plant periphery are conventional power plant components, similar to those used in fossil fuel power plants. At Andasol, the plants turbine has a capacity of 50 megawatts and is specifically designed to ensure reliable operations during the daily start-up and shut down of the plant. Siemens in Sweden constructed the turbines for Andasol 1. A substation has been built near the town of Huà ©neja about seven kilometres southeast of the power plant site for feeding the electricity into the grid. The power supply contract includes general technical standards and conditions for electricity production.à [ix]à The power plant finished construction in December 2008 at a cost in the region of à ¢Ã¢â¬Å¡Ã ¬300 million. (see fig. 3-7) Operating Characteristics: The plant consists of 7,488 individual collector elements which each have a length of 12m and a width of 5.8m. Four of these elements are joined together in what are called loops and in total there are 156 loops of collector elements over an area of 1.3 X 1.5km. The total reflective surface are is 510.000mà ². The turbine capacity of the power plant is 49.9MW. The annual power generation for this plant, given the high rate of solar radiation in this area of Spain (2.1 2.2kWh/mà ²/a) is expected to be in the region of 179GWh. That figure approximates to the energy needs of 50,000 homes of 200,000 people.à [x]à The breakdown of the site is as follows: The parabolic troughs are set up in 312 collector rows which are connected by pipes. One row is made up of two collector units. The mirrors follow the course of the sun and reflect solar radiation onto the absorption pipe. The absorption pipes were conceived especially for use in parabolic trough power plants. Every unit has its own solar sensors and drives, in order to track the position of the sun. The units each have 12 collectors, which have 28 mirrors and 3 absorption pipes. The power plant requires 7,488 collectors. The storage tanks at the plants can operate even on overcast days or after sunset. A small portion of the heat that is produced from the solar field is kept as liquid salt. The heat required for this is stored in a molten salt mixture, 40% potassium nitrate and 60% sodium nitrate. Both of these substances are currently used as fertilizers and preservatives in food production. During the pumping process between the two tanks, the molten salt mixture can also absorb extra heat at a temperature of approx. 290à °C, where it is heated to a temperature of 390à °C. A full storage tank can be used to operate the turbine for about 7.5 hours. The thermal storage tank allows the power plants to supply electricity regularly into Spains high-voltage electricity grid. The Spanish energy supplier Endesa purchases electricity from the power plants in accordance with Spanish energy law, which states that the power plants are permitted to feed in a maximum of 50 MW into the grid. The power supply contract includes the implementation of programming and the after-sales service for electricity production Below is a further breakdown of some figures associated with the individual sections of the plant. (See Fig. 4-8) The power plant was officially connected to the grid in December 2008 and became operational in March 2009. The total cost is somewhere in the region of à ¢Ã¢â¬Å¡Ã ¬ 300 million. A grant was also given from the European Union, which amounted to à ¢Ã¢â¬Å¡Ã ¬ 5 million; this was giving as a funding aid for scientific research.à [xi]à Environmental Impact: The solar power plant will be able to cut carbon emissions in the region of 86,000t per year. The plant uses an unlimited energy source; no additional resources are needed for operation. It is CO2 and emission-free, therefore there is no air pollution (see Fig. 5-9).à [xii]à Environment and sustainable development needed to concentrate on some key areas: Sustainable management and water quality, global climate change, biodiversity, marine ecosystems, and the regions cultural heritage. Socio-economic aspects of environmental change with sustainable development in mind i.e. impact on, the economy and employment.à [xiii]à Another aspect is that when the plant is decommissioned, the salts from the storage tanks can be crystallized and removed in their raw state to be used thereafter in other applications e.g. in agriculture. One of the main reasons for erecting the plant in this location was that it is close to existing road and railway infrastructure, and that it had the disposal of a flat land floor without environmental protections, it was considered wasteland. Another reason was the advantages offered by solar-thermal power plants, the operator of Spains national grid, Red Elà ©ctrica de Espaà ±a (REE), classified Andasol power plants as predictable sources of electricity. This helped eased the permit process for granting access to the high-voltage grid, but it also made it possible to increase the percentage of renewable energy in the states energy mix because of the stabilizing effects of solar-thermal power plants.à [xiv]à Conclusions: Spain is highly dependent on imported energy. Almost all petroleum and natural gas, as well as 70% of its coal, have to be imported. However, it has more than enough of one of the most environmentally friendly and cheapest sources of energy in the world the sun. The Spanish governments support plan Plan de Fomento de Energà as Renovables (PER) envisions the expansion of solar thermal power plant capacity to 500 MW by 2010. Spains Ministry for Energy and Industry wants to increase the annual volume of electricity produced in solar-thermal power plants to about 4,000 GWh, which is the equivalent of the capacity of about 25 Andasol power plants.à [xv]à Andasol 2 followed in 2009 and Andasol 3 will follow in 2011. The Andasol location will result in a total of 150 megawatts of solar thermal power station capacity being connected to the grid electricity generated in an environmentally-friendly and sustainable manner.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Acting And Facial Expression In Animation
Acting And Facial Expression In Animation Our body never stop moving, no matter we are sitting, taking a rest or sleeping, our body and face keep doing different actions even it is small and unobtrusive. We have many different actions in our daily life. We can obtain different messages in these actions. For example humans feelings, characters, health, signal from others or even read peoples mind. There is so much information covert in acting and facial expression, but what about in animation? Animation started with no dialog and sound. To define animation, it imitates everything move in reality word, it can also create some things does not exist and even impossible by your imagination. To create a good animation, you need to study everything which can move no matter it is organic or inorganic. Also the speed of different objects: Speed up, slow down and the rhythm. That is the basic animation sense. Aim This study is concerned with a communication that beyond dialog in animation Acting and Facial Expression. Acting means all action, body language and facial expression. Animators always use them to present characters personality and the story in animation. The reason I choose acting and facial expression is because it is an international language in communication. Animation is always present with dialog, especially in long animation. Sometimes, facial expression and some small actions can express more messages to the audience and to deliver it faster than dialog. Without dialog, audience will focus on characters action and facial expression, it provides audience with more imagination and better in accordance with the animation significance. I will not say acting and facial expression can replace dialog, but I am going to prove that they are the better tools to communicate with audience in animation. Research Method The topic is closely related with my area of practice 3D animation. It is useful for me to produce and learn animation. From the research in this study, I can obtain more knowledge in human anatomy and the meaning and message in different action. These can support me to produce a more professional animation and improve my animation skills. I am going to research different animations, movies, television commercial which without dialog, to disassemble their script, characters acting and camera design, especially with the reference Tom and Jerry. In the other hand, I will compare them with some movies and animations which with dialog, for example: Ted, Mr. Bean and Pixars animations. Also I will research books about body language, facial expression and animation theory to support my study. Structure In my dissertation, I am going to divide it into five parts. After introduction, it is a chapter about acting in animation. I will start to define what are acting and body language first, to establish a basic knowledge with them. Second I will find out the relationship between acting and characters, storytelling and music. It is a very important part to research how acting affects these elements in animation. Third I will find out how animators animate inorganic things, how can acting gives them life and personality. Finally, I will have a case study of Tom and Jerry to research the relationship of acting and dialog, also compare their impact. In the next chapter facial expression in animation, I will research what is facial expression and how it talks. There are more than thousands facial expression we have, but what do they means? Can they show our minds? Besides, I will find out the relationship between facial expression and characters and storytelling. In chapter four communication beyond dialog, after studying acting and facial expression. I am going to find out what the impacts of dialog in communication are and compare it with acting and facial expression. Then I will prove how acting and facial expression give imaginations and demonstrate how they communicate with audience. Finally, I will find out in animation, are acting and facial expression an aid, strengthen or a necessary elements? And the final chapter is a summary. 2. Acting and Facial Expression 2.1. Acting and body language We express ourselves, communicate to others, show others our minds and ideas through action. Also, we always try to obtain and understand different meanings or messages through other peoples action, even our pets and other animals. Acting means all actions created by living things, a strong action can communicate a lot. To research actions, I start to study the nature of actions and I find out there are five basic actions we have since we are born inborn actions, discovered actions, absorbed actions, trained actions and mixed actions. When we are a baby, we already have our instinctive actions. A baby knows how to smile and suckle mothers breast to get food, even they never saw them before. These are inborn actions. Discovered actions mean we discover them from ourselves through our experience and our environment. People cross their arms or legs in the world, it helps us to keep warm, take a rest or protect ourselves. There is also an example of discovered actions sex. Absorbed actions are the actions we learn and copy from others. In a society, we want to get into a group no matter we are studying or working. We try to imitate their actions and the words they use. For trained actions, we need to practice and teach by the others, like swimming, dancing and cycling. Finally, mixed actions are special, we push further and mix the actions we learnt by discovering and studying new things. When we communicate to others, dialog is not the only way. Actions show our background, character and our inner thoughts. We can deliver messages to others, it is a body language. Body language is the earliest language we know, everyone know how to use it. We cry to draw our parents attention when we are a baby. We use body language everyday even sometimes we did not realize them. Following different peoples research, we can now discover many secret of our body and how they talks. For examples our body angles, body shift and when we touch ourselves. There are too many body languages and I cannot cover them all, but I am going to find them out in different animations and movies, see how those animators use them to create their characters and story. 2.2. Facial expression Acting means all body languages and facial expressions. Besides the research on acting, I want to analysis facial expression individually, because it is a main tool to communicate beside body language. We have come to know the face so well because it is so important to us; in fact, it is the center of our entire emotional life. From birth to death, the face links us to friends, to family, to everyone meaningful to us. (Gary Faigin, 1990s). Facial expression is the motion of our face muscles under the skin. There are many emotions we have and we always express them by different movement of our facial features. We less expressed our emotion by only use one facial features, it always comes up with mix. Do facial expressions universally recognizable? By Paul Ekman, he researched that there are six categories of facial expression are certain universal: sadness, anger, joy, fear, disgust and surprise. We can find these faces every day on the people we meet, but how much can we tell from our face? 2.3. How facial expression talks? This research will not cover all categories of facial expression, but I will analysis some of them which appear in animation and our daily life. On our face, eyes and mouth are the facial features that have the most movable range. Other than ears and nose, sometimes they can convey emotions individually. As the research of eyes, our eyes movement and angles have different messages in them, different angles show our feelings and thinking. Combine with our eyebrows, they can have so many changes. When we communicate to others, like we speak with our friends, colleagues or even in an interview, eye contacts become a very important tool. With our words, a firm eye contact can display our confidence, fascination, serious and respect. Opposite, hesitancy and unstable eyes will show that we are nervous and inattentive. It has the same effect when we listen to others. We will also use our eyes to give signal to others. For example: in a situation which we cannot speak or in a basketball game, eyes used to show our feelings or to direct others. In animation, we can only obtain messages from the image, we do not understanding the environment sometimes. Characters eyes will become the director for the audience in this moment. Certainly, eyes are the tool to show characters status like tired. Mouth is a special feature, besides eat and speak, it is the best facial feature to present joy. We can find joy or sadness for peoples mouth easily, but what else? When we feel nervous, uncomfortable and scare, we always tighten up our lips, it can let us relieve some of our pressure. And when we feel disgust, we will distort our lips, but everyone has different shape in this, it is always appear in comedy. Apart from that, a sinister smile is always a good characteristic for creating a bad character. After research on our facial features, I go on to find out more relationship of facial expression and animation. 3. Acting and Facial Expression in Animation 3.1. Acting with characters, storytelling and music In an animation, we receive messages from different elements such as characters, storytelling and music, but what are their relationships with acting. With the characters outlook, we can obtain much information of him, her or it- age, sex, work, power and physique. These are the basic information, but acting can gives more or makes different. For example: characters personality, attitude, status, ability and experience. Acting also shows the forces of gravity of the world in the story through characters movement. I found a short animation as examples One more beer! to show how acting and body language influence characters. In One more beer, it is a very short animation and only has one character, one scene and one camera. In the beginning, a man that looks big, boorish and strong sits down in the bar. He gives a fierce face and asks for something. We notice that he is a fierce man and want a big cup of beer immediately, but the bartender gives him a small cup and pink colours beer. The fierce man gets angry, the bartender gives him a small umbrella and put it in the beer. At that time, the fierce man change to a naive man and drinks that small beer like a child. A big man and a small pink beer form a big contrast. Audience got cheated from his outlook in the beginning, thought that he must reject that small beer. However, he loves that. All of these are depend on acting. Dont just do something, story is the difference between animating a character walking across the room, and having it walk the last mile to the electric chair. The story context will affect the way a character moves, acts and talks. (Nancy Beiman, Animated Performance, Page 4). Undoubtedly, acting and story influence each other in every animation. It delivers messages to audience. Sometimes a small action can leave thread or cheat audience. Also, acting can shows characters feelings, emotion and the relationship between characters. To research storytelling and acting, I found an animation Defective Detective. It does not have dialog, but it is good at storytelling. The main characters of this animation are a detective and an old woman. The detective is a hero of the city, but he is trouble in a case with a butcher. One night, he finds something wrong on his upstairs. He thinks that is the butcher, and the butcher is hurting the old woman. He clamps up and wants to shot down the butcher, but finally it is just his misunderstanding. The animation shows the situation of the detective and the old woman parallel, they have not seen each other until the end. The old women are just cooking tomato soups, but the detective thinks that the butcher are killing her, it is all come from his fantasy only. The animator use 2D animation to express his fantasy, we can find that the detective are stupid and impulsive. The most interesting and meaningful part I think is the end and I want to explain those small actions in detail. In the end, they drink the soup together, but someone scream from outside again. The detective stands up and pick up his gun to show he wants to help. However the old woman uses the spoon hit his hand and point to the chair, these actions mean she told him to sit down and do not get misunderstanding anymore. He sits down immediately and shake his hand and drink a spoon of soup, to show her do not worry and he will listen to her. In the final shot, he takes a look of outside, it shows that he still confusing. This time he is right, there are many crimes happening in the building. It is very meaningful in just these few seconds, the animator is good at acting and storytelling. Other than characters and storytelling, the relationship of acting and music is more special. Acting always follows the rhythm of the music, especially in animations which do not have dialog. Acting can strengthen and bring out the feelings of the music, and music can also strengthen characters emotion and acting. Both of them can be the lead. The most famous example is Fantasia from Disney. In Fantasia, there are seven animations in this film and this film created three relationships of music and animation. First kind, it use music to tells a define story. Second kind, it is no specific plot but just follow the rhythm and create the image. Third kind, to create an animation that exists for the music. The most famous part of Fantasia is The Sorcerers Apprentice. It only uses the original music for the animation, no any sound effects and dialog. It is just like a visual music concert. 3.2. Facial expression with characters and storytelling Facial expression is an important element to help a character to create its personality and express their emotions. For me, a character which has the richest facial expression and most impressive, he must be Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson. He is not an animation character, but he is a really special performer which good at impress on acting. In 2002, Mr. Bean came up with an animated television series. It is based on the live action series of the same name and it is a minority example. Why Mr. Bean can success? I am going to find out some reasons with it. Mr. Bean is a comedy written and starring by Rowan Atkinson. Rowan Atkinson created Mr. Bean and described him as A child in a grown mans body. Bean less speaks, he always uses his body languages and facial expressions to convey himself. Sometimes he will speak something people do not understand, but within his voice tone and acting we can find out what he tries to present. He spends a lot of time with his best friend Teddy (A bear toy) and he helps Teddy to act. In both live action and animated series, Mr. Bean is a story around Beans daily life and some interesting incident. To describe Rowan Atkinsons face, he has big, clear and significant facial features. Also, combine with his changeable facial expressions, it impress on audience mind. In Mr. Bean animation, animators keep Beans characteristics and style. They even enlarge his facial features and exaggerate his acting. It shows that acting and facial expressions are identity of Mr. Bean. In the same time, that is one of a big r eason why Mr. Bean success. To research on the relationship between facial expression and storytelling, I found a special example Kuleshov Effect. It is a montage film editing effect and discovered by Lev Kuleshov which is a Russian filmmaker. It is an experiment to create reaction with editing, Lev Kuleshov wants to test if a face with no expression and fill in different objects or environment, what will audience think? He made a short movie with six shots. Also, he found three shots with different environment and put the same shot with one actor in front of them. The actors name is Ivan Mozzhukhin, he actually looking at nothing, he does not know what will they edit to when they are shooting at him. He did not express any emotion and that is what Lev Kuleshov wants, we cannot see any emotion on Ivan Mozzhukhin by only watching his face. Audience can only base on the environment along to infer his emotion. The viewers will think that the actor has different reactions and emotions, but actually they come from our own minds. We will admire the actors acting and do not realize it is affected by the scene. So does it mean facial expression is not important? Just the opposite, in Kuleshov Effect, audience will obtain different emotions of the actor only by their experience and imaginations. This effect just right to tell us where are the source of message that received by audience. Within facial expression and storytelling, audience can receive the messages exactly from the creator and understand the inter-relationships between characters. 4. Animation Comedy You get to be an impish God. You get to reform the world. You get to take the piss out of it. You turn it upside down, inside out. You bug out eyes. You put moustaches on Mona Lisas. You change the world and have for a brief moment a bit of control over it. At least you get to humiliate it for a moment, and thats what all cartoonists get their kicks from! (Paul Wells, interview in February 1995) Paul Wells described how to create a comedy. In creating comedy, we can become a naughty god and change the world to whatever we want. Comedy is a tool for people to relax and release their pressure from a custumal world. We must break and challenge the rules. After the initial study of Mr. Bean, I go on to research on animation comedy. I want to know more about how acting and facial expression influences animation comedy. 4.1. Case study Tom and Jerry Tom and Jerry is a famous animation start from 1940s, every chapter is short but expressing a story individually. It is just a story start from a cat and a mouse, but why can it success and enduring to show? With the research in last part, I start to analysis Tom and Jerry. Cats chasing mouse, everyone knows it, because it is the natural instinct of cats. It is a good and simple design in characters and story. However in Tom and Jerry, people always want Jerry wins and he does in the story. I think the reason is because their personality and relationships, it express from their acting. Tom is an arrogance cat and to be opinionated, he always thinks that he is the one. Jerry is cunning, but it is stems from the need for self-preservation, He is a kind mouse and always saves others who Tom is bullying. Tom always thinks he is the clever one and bully others, Jerry always takes him down because he is the real clever one. We will love to see this because to take down someone who is arrogance and to be opinionated is funny, as we want to do that in our reality society. Sometimes they are enemy, sometimes they are friend when they are facing difficulty or having the same enemy. We love to see that too. Storytelling is a big reason that why Tom and Jerry success. They have many reasons to fight in every chapter, not just about cats chasing mouse. Sometimes it is because Tom is hungry, the order from Toms master, revenge, misunderstanding, they want the same thing, enjoy to torture others or the third person get involved. Tom and Jerry less using dialog, it will be only used in they must need it to express or describe story to audience. Acting becomes the only way to communicate with audience. The master of Tom is a character who always have dialog, it is always used by the third person or radio too, Tom and Jerry almost do not talk. We can always find many exaggerated and violent acting in Tom and Jerry. Everything around the environment can be their weapons: tables, chairs, dishes, planks sometimes they even use guns, bombs and poisons. These become the way to attract audience and make them laugh, also the signature of Tom and Jerry. Music is an important character in Tom and Jerry too, it is always used to strengthen acting and deliver their emotions. Music can increase the atmosphere of comedy with the big contrast, for example: a classic music and an obtuse cat. In some case, Tom and Jerrys body will become a music instrument and play music with their acting. You can also find some chapters which are base on music to create their story. All of these are the basic analysis of Tom and Jerry. I also want to describe some examples which are impressive and creative to see how it has good use of acting. In Puss and Boats, Tom is a mariner. The story starts from Toms ship laying down their commodity. There is a big box of cheeses with a gap. In this time, Jerry is sleeping, but the smell of cheese becomes a hand and flies to find him. The hand removes Jerry from the bed and opens his eye, but Jerry is still sleeping and the picture in his eyeball shows he is eating a cheese. It shows Jerry is eating a cheese in his dream, and it is a special skill by using facial expression. Then, the hand wakes him up and shows him where are the cheese. When Jerry gets ready to get it, the hand stop him and point to somewhere because Tom is nearing there to protect those commodity. The acting of the hand is not just expressing the smell of cheese, it is only use useful to Jerry and only he can see this, because mice love cheese. The hand shows the natural of mouse, to find cheese and be careful with cats. The animator use a hand to present the relationship of cheese, mouse and cat, not just shows Je rry smell cheese and wake up. It is creative and well use on acting with character and storytelling. In a short section of Mice Follies, Tom is chasing Jerry and his friend in a small indoor skating rink. When Tom try to stop and catch them, he keeping slipping in the same place because of the ice. He keeps increasing his speed to move but still cannot move on. Coordinate with his acting, is a fast beat drums hit. With this situation, it created a very funny image. That is more effective by only using acting to present. It is a common comedy skill we can always find in Tom and Jerry. To describe other example of music in Tom and Jerry, I found The Cat Concerto. In this chapter, Tom is a pianist. He woke up Jerry when he was playing piano in a concert. Then they start to fight. The story is totally following the music to develop. In the whole animation, they never stop playing the piano while they are fighting. Even Tom gets hurt or stop to play, Jerry will keep playing to keep the concerto go on. Every part of the piano becomes their battlefield. Every time the music starts rapidly, they will have a strong conflict. It is a really accurate story design, the animator use music to imagine the story. Even a shears become a music instrument, Jerry want to cut Toms finger when he is playing piano. However, Tom hides it, the sounds of shears merges with the music. Finally, Jerry plays the piano from its inside to try to push Tom to follow it. Tom exhausts all his effort to follow, but his formal dress is totally rotten. In the end, Jerry wears a formal dress to curtain call. That presented a cat chasing mouse story with a very interesting and creative way. At the same time, it is a good example how acting cooperate To summarize, Tom and Jerry is an impressive and successful animation which use acting and the elements of animation effectively. It is a good example to shows us the importance of acting in animation. 5. Communication beyond dialog 5.1. Dialog in communication Actions speak louder than words, When we communicate only 7 per cent of the communication depends on verbal communication and the rest goes towards the non verbal communication. Of the 93 per cent- 38 percent is for voice modulation and 55 per cent is for body language.(ProfessorÃâà M. S. Rao, Soft Skills Enhancing Employability: Connecting Campus with Corporate, Page14). 6. Conclusions
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Psychology and Computers :: Psychological Technology Essays
Psychology and Computers For this paper I decided on the topic of how computers influence my chosen profession, and since I am a Psychology major this paper is going to be about Psychology and Computers. I plan to study School Psychology in particular. Where to begin? Computers affect so many aspects of Psychology. Let us start with the basic computer which is the calculator. We Psychology majorââ¬â¢s use the calculator all the time, particularly in the class of test and measurements, are shown how to administer a test to students, adults, etcâ⬠¦ Then shown to calculate the different results and the different formulas we use and what the formulas mean. We also use the calculator, especially a calculator with graphing functions, to make graphs and to see what the math formula actually did. We can see what it measures and actually what the formula means. In another class called Senior research, we are using the ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) which is a data analysis tool that is located in the Windows Excel Program, to see if the outcome of the ANOVA was statistically significant or if the outcome of the just had to do with interference of other variables. Also in the Excel Program, after the outcome of the ANOVA we use the Chart Wizard to make a graph to show the results of the ANOVA. Those are just some of the things that I use everyday which require a computer in Psychology, and this is just undergraduate work. I have not begun to tell all of the influences that computers have on Psychology. I plan on going to Graduate school after I graduate from Lake Superior State University with my Bachelors of Science in Psychology. In Graduate school I plan - 3 - to study School Psychology, but just to get into Graduate school I have to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). This is a Computer Based Test which measures a studentsââ¬â¢ verbal, quantitative, and analytical skills. By using the computer test you will be able to get your results right away after you take the test, unlike when I took the ACT (National College Admission Examination) to get into Lake Superior State. The ACT was a paper and pencil test which took two to three weeks to get my test results back.
Friday, July 19, 2019
Sleep Deprivation And Business :: essays research papers
In this age of increased technology and globalization enormous stress is being placed upon the business traveler. In order to stay competitive, business executives must commit to brutal schedules and frequent travels. Increasingly, business travelers are relying upon air travel as their primary form of transportation. This constant movement through different time zones is exhausting and can lead to jet lag. 'Technically called circadian dysrythmia, jet lag is a disruption of the body's intricate biological inner-sleep cycle caused by crossing multiple time zones quickly.'; The mental and physical ramifications of jet lag can be detrimental and potentially dangerous to the individual's health. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, 'Fatigue is the No.1 factor that detrimentally impacts the ability of pilots.'; Footy ' According to a PBS television documentary 'Sleep Alert,'; a Boeing 747 captain noted:'; It is not unusual for me to fall asleep in the cockpit, wake up t wenty minutes later and find the other two crew members totally asleep.';footy In another report, 'A Boeing 757 captain told how his forehead hit the control column on his approach to New York's Kennedy Airport as the need for sleep became overwhelming.';footy Of course, the consequences of sleep deprivation in most cases will not be as severe as the in previous examples, but it does illustrate the importance sleep plays in job performance. The lodging facility of the traveler is in the best position to reduce and alleviate the negative affects of jet lag. In order to provide the best possible service to the guest, hotels will be forced to recognize this problem and create solutions for it. As it stands right now, the best solution to this problem is education. Recognizing the symptoms of jet lag is the first step in the education process. In his book, Power Sleep, Dr. James Maas of Cornell University describes the symptoms of jet lag as follows. Daytime Sleepiness. Ninety percent of travelers report experiencing daytime fatigue and sleepiness. If you give in to the urge to sleep during the day at your destination, you may not be tired enough to sleep at bedtime. Insomnia. The next most common symptom of jet lag is insomnia. You experience difficulty falling asleep at night. Once you do get to sleep you'll have less deep sleep and less REM sleep. The nights sleep is often fragmented by frequent awakenings. Poor Concentration. More than two thirds of air travelers report having poor concentration, or in severe cases of jet lag, temporary amnesia.
King Solomons Mines Essays -- Henry Rider Haggard
Henry Rider Haggard sets out to create an epic tale of courage, a breathtaking drama that attempts to capture, within its limits, the universal spirit of adventure. He appeals in particular to the proverbial young male that seeks an audacious inspiration in life by which to model his own. He entices his readers because his motives lie simply in his desire to entertain, to delight, and to enthrall anyone with a prolific imagination. However, this purely entertaining account of an eclectic and adventuresome trio clearly manifests its motives by the simple elimination ambiguity, leaving little or nothing to the whims of infinite interpretation. As it is, everything within the novel seems to have the intention of being taken ââ¬Å"with a grain of salt.'; Haggard knew his audience, a pretentious and nationalistic society bent on world domination or at the very least determined to reduce the rest of the world to nothing more than a means to meet their desires. And with these precepts in m ind, Haggard creates a fantastical tale, taking heed of what is socially acceptable and what is not, all the while maintaining western superiority over the rest of the world. à à à à à ââ¬Å"The fact of the matter is, that I thought that the best plan would be to tell the story in a plain straightforward mannerâ⬠¦I cannot help thinking that simple things are always the most impressive, books are easier to understand when they are written in plain language, though I have perhaps no right to set up an opinion on such a matter.'; (Haggard 6). à à à à à In this introduction/disclaimer, Allan Quatermain as our narrator, comes clean with his intentions, providing a stabilizing retrospective for the ensuing epitaph. He seems well aware of the vague line between words intended for fiction and those intended for controversy. And by designating the jolly old Quatermain as narrator, Haggard vicariously endear himself to his readers by exuding a simple humility in light of his grander than grand exposà ©, all the while disposing of the pretense intrinsic to most literary works. Haggard, due to the relative sensitivity of his subject matter, has no desire to have his novel the target of unwarranted and unwanted social and literary criticism. In that, he makes certain that he reaffirms his intentions of entertainment rather than controversy. In addition, despite Haggardââ¬â¢s prevalent use of juxtaposition throughou... ... complexion Twala is described as ââ¬Å"Twala the One-eyed, the Black, [and] the Terrible'; (Haggard 118), not coincidentally the only true ââ¬Å"Black'; among them. The plot is action-packed, carried along by one dramatic scene after another in which we as readers are witness to amazing feats of strength, bravery, and guile, leaving little or no time for readers to dwell much on any aspect of the novel except the plot. Haggard even goes so far as to implement a divisive source of comic relief in the form of Good, whom we see deified by the Kukuanas, who delight in the sight of his ââ¬Å"bare legs,'; ââ¬Å"transparent eye,'; ââ¬Å"half-haired face,'; and ââ¬Å"vanishing teeth'; (118 Haggard). By the end of the novel we see all strings tied, imparting a sense of conclusive triumph without controversy. Haggardââ¬â¢s audience gets exactly what it wants, the black evil doers are vanquished; peace, justice, and tranquility are returned to Kukuana land; our deserving white and pseudo-white heroes are the benefactors of the plunders of Solomonââ¬â¢s fabled mines; and we as readers are left thoroughly entertained. Work Cited Haggard, H. Rider. "King Solomon's Mines." 1989. Oxford, New York: Oxford World Classics 1998
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Justice vs Mercy
Justice is the most fundamental requirement of a properly functioning, civilized society. An unwavering system of cause and effect that apply to all members is exactly what human beings need to ensure peaceful living. As the events and characters of Shakespeareââ¬â¢s King Lear clearly indicate, mercy is extremely important in dealing with problems in society, but justice should be the standard by which people are governed in dealing with crimes, however harsh it may seem.Man needs to fear the consequences of his actions because if there are no undesired repercussions, he will follow his baser desires to no limit. When there is a strict system of justice in place that applies to all members of society, fewer crimes will be committed as a result of public punishments. Also, there is a system of karma that we already see in place. If justice is not served by the law, some form of justice comes around to the perpetrator from a higher power. Therefore, in dealing with crimes in society as a whole, the use of justice should dominate the use of mercy.I believe that human nature is to be content with virtue. However, there is also a part of us that is desirous of evil. It is that lower, deeper part of our desires that gives us pleasure in doing things that we know are harmful to ourselves and those around us. Most people will tell you they follow a certain moral conduct because of the virtue of their character, but only a certain percentage of those people actually speak the truth. The rest, only do so for fear of consequences.This is exactly the reason why people behave well in front of others, while they do many undesirable things when they are alone. If there is no fear of the legal repercussions of oneââ¬â¢s actions, the majority of the population will not be able to control that inner monster who is only satiated with evil and destruction. As Albany, the son-in-law of King Lear so eloquently puts it: ââ¬Å"If that the heavens do not their visible spirits | Send quickly down to tame these vile offences, | It will come,| Humanity must perforce prey on itself, |Like monsters of the deep. (IV, ii, 46-49). He is saying that if some form of justice is not dished out, the world would turn into a wild and savage place. Therefore, a system of justice that allots punishments that are equal in degree to the crimes committed is needed to keep people in check. Also, the system of justice that we just spoke about should be unwavering for each and every individual in society, no matter the rank or position of that person. King Lear himself says, ââ¬Å"â⬠¦Through tattered clothes small vices do appear; /Robes and furred gowns hide all.Plate sin with gold, /And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; / Arm it in rags, a pygmyââ¬â¢s straw does pierce itâ⬠(IV, vi, 167-169) Here, he is complaining of the sad state that the justice system is in. There is a huge amount of unfairness that happens when judging the rich and the poor for the same offence. Poor people suffer a lot more for their petty crimes, while the rich can get away with the worst things by paying off the right people. What King Lear concluded hundreds of years ago, is still the sad state of our society today.The justice system is so corrupt that people in higher positions of power that are tried and proven guilty of horrendous crimes sometimes get the same amount of prison time as a small scaled armed robbery. An example of this is when pictures leaked of physical and emotional torture and sadistic killings conducted by a certain general and the 6 other people on his team in a prison in Iraq. A lot of the people that were there were taken from the streets and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and had no knowledge of the terrorist forces.These people were detained and every time they were to be ââ¬Ëquestionedââ¬â¢, they would be taken to a room, stripped naked, beaten, put into stress positions and have a number of other thin gs done to them that are too gruesome to speak of. These American soldiers took pictures of all the things that went on. These pictures were ultimately how they got caught. Even with all that proof, the largest sentence that was given out was for 10 years to the general and sentences ranging from 6 months to a couple of years to the 6 other members that were involved.This is how unfair the justice system is in North America. If a society was to be created where all members are actually treated the same, there would be less crime in that society as a whole as everyone would know they cannot get away with anything. Lastly, justice is such that what goes around, comes around. I believe in karma as it is often apparent in life. Sometimes, the return is not of equal degree to the action, but in the end, you reap what you sow.This is what Albany means when he says, ââ¬Å"This shows you are above,/ You justicers, that these our nether crimes/ So speedily can vengeâ⬠. (IV, ii, (78-80) He is expressing his gratitude to the Gods for the death of Cornwall for his horrible crimes. I am also of the opinion that God will even out the forces of evil when He sees fit. Therefore, we should establish the ideal system of justice and stick with it in the correct manner. If crimes are committed by us, we should accept the punishment agreed on by the society or a stronger and worst punishment may come our way from someone else.In conclusion, to ensure a society in which crime is curbed as much as possible, a proper, strict justice system needs to be established that is equal in its dealings with all classes of people. This is the only way to ensure the control of human desire as there is no telling what a person might do to harm themselves and others without rules to govern them. References: 1)Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Toronto: Signet Classic Shakespeare, 1998. 2)Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. dir. Rory Kennedy, 2007.
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