Kookai

The visual features which were found unacceptable or challenging to existing art conventions and social values were of many. During the 19th century, it was regarded improper for women to be alone with men who were not relatives, thus the concept of a nude female model working in an art studio was considered highly immoral.This was a time for revolution in art which related to science, a non-traditional European culture, the growing social concern for the common man and a woman's conservative self. Young artists found themselves rejected by art academies like the Paris Salon. From this conflict emerged Impressionism. Women were a frequent subject in Impressionist art and they were often depicted as objects of beauty, purity, and delicacy often in gardens, baths and home with children.Conceptual Framework Many new techniques and characteristics are found common In Impressionist art, this including; harsh strong lines, contrasted colors, sketch like paintings, broken color, subject mat ters exposed in broad areas of light, Chevron's color theory, eviction of light as color rather than tone, luminosity of color, Informal composition, rejected traditional techniques and Influenced by Japanese prints and photography.Frames Henry De Toulouse- Latter's ‘At the Million Rouge' has captivated an Immediate photo like artwork considering the Immediate and rapid capture of the movement and characteristic gestures of people. He has used lines to extenuate the movement of the characters, dramatic color contrasts to add atmosphere and a decorative quality to the composition. He has utilizes a deep emerald green and chrome orange- this further creating a strong contrast. Okay By Jennifer Many new techniques and characteristics are found common in Impressionist art, depiction of light as color rather than tone, luminosity of color, informal composition, rejected traditional techniques and influenced by Japanese prints and Henry De Toulouse- Latter's ‘At the Million Ro uge' has captivated an immediate photo like artwork considering the immediate and rapid capture of the movement

Problems of farmers in present day of Life Essay

We think of farms as always being there. Food will always be grown. Our countryside will be full of cows and crops just like it always has been. The fact is that this may not be true. Farmers are faced with the growing costs to run their farms. These costs include taxes, insurance, and regular farm costs. When we visited a farm, the farmer said that this was one of his main concerns†¦. and not the weather conditions like we thought. Farmers are being offered big money to sell their farms. Companies that are building lots of houses and condominiums buy up farm land so that city people can move into the country. They break up the farm land into smaller pieces of land. In the picture on the right, you will see an example of how housing developments are gradually taking over valuable farm land. With more people traveling and moving into the country, more roads need to be built. Roads take up land, too. Many times the land is farmland. So, the farmer is offered lots of money to sell their land. The high taxes and farm costs make this look good to farmers. Another big threat is roads that go around cities. These are called loops or bypasses. These use up farm land, parks, and green spaces edging our cities. This has had a terrible track record over the past few years, although many mayors and members of Congress now want to build more. As a nation, we should stop giant highways and promote new transportation that helps the economy and the environment. We interviewed former Congressman and former head of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority Neil Gallagher who said, â€Å"New Jersey used to make awful smells that would spread across the area from a major pig farm in Secaucus. A plan then was made by Governor Al Driscoll to run a highway through New York State to the crossing of the Delaware River to take out the traffic on Highway Number 1. In order to build these roadways, all the roads had to connect and pass through Secaucus which had to be the hub of the highway. In order to do this, the government had to buy all the pig farms in Secaucus.† Mr. Gallagher remembers that several laws were passed: A new organization was formed called the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Creation of an organization that would buy the farms at a fair price. Allowing the turnpike to sell bonds to raise money to buy the land and  build the road. The bonds would be paid for by the tolls that were collected on the turnpike. [Two thirds of the money came from out-of-state drivers.] The result of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority closing down the farms was that we lost the farm land, and the new use of that land resulted in the greatest economic boom that the state of New Jersey had ever seen. The road itself created all new jobs throughout the state and in Secaucus itself. Let’s use the New Jersey Meadowlands sports complex as an example. This land became some of the most valuable land in the metropolitan area when the Meadowlands [including Giant Stadium, the race track, and Continental Arena] was built where pig farms used to be. Mr. Gallagher feels that, â€Å"Sometimes the price of progress is finding a better use of land that benefits more people at the expense of a more rural and quiet way of life. The threat to farming had to be raised for the people of the state. This is one example, but a balance does have to be set from nature and a growing society.† Many people would agree with Mr. Gallagher’s statements and many others would not. No matter where you stand on the loss of valuable farmland to development, you need to always be concerned about the future of our farming communities.

Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt - Essay Example hin the book entitled â€Å"Devil Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.† In the first half of the book, readers are given an in depth look at Jesse Miskelley’s trial specifically, and from the evidence provided, the verdict returned by the jury does not appear to be correct. Although some elements of the crime remain shrouded in mystery, there are certain aspects that all parties regard as factual. The murders of three eight year old boys—Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch—occurred on May 5, 1993(Leveritt, 6). The details of the crime were particularly gruesome as the boys were found naked, beaten, hogtied with shoelaces, and floating in a bank within the Robin Hood Hills(Leveritt, 11-12). One of the boys was missing parts of their genitals, and it appeared that the primary cause of death was drowning. The murder shocked the close-knit, largely religious community, and there was a lot of pressure on the local police to find the murderers as quickly as possible. After a few leads that did not go very far, the police began to focus on the idea of a gang or cult perhaps having committed or been involved with the murder. This idea quickly took shape due to the disturbing nature of the crime. Additionally, in 1993, there was a certain kind of satanic panic spreading across the United States. Leveritt states, â€Å"By the late 1980s, interest in the suspected prevalence of satanic ritual abuse, or SRA, as it became known, had grown so intense in the United States†(Leveritt, 44). Basically, anyone who dressed in black, listened to heavy metal music, or was in any other way an outsider, was seen as someone who could potentially be involved with satanism. Ultimately, it was a combination of the crime and the satanic panic that pointed the police in the direction of three teenagers: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Miskelley. Although these boys were initially suspected due to their odd behavior and dress, there was not really

Critical Success Factors of Dell Inc Case Study - 2

Critical Success Factors of Dell Inc - Case Study Example Public relations efforts and programs help to quicken bringing about the required outcomes in both corporate goals and competitive edge. Thus Dell has invested a lot in such public relations efforts. Since Dell consists of a multicultural staff, social factors such as religious behavior which may not be essential to the situation at hand have to be accommodated. Â  Technological Influences: It is innovative novel technology that has given Dell an edge over the rest of its competitors. Due to Dell’s recent acquisitions of such firms as Alienware and EqualLogic, its ability to make use of their technologies too in manufacturing new products. Â  Economic Influences: The prevailing financial crisis has had a very negative effect on the ICT industry. At existing firm level cost-cutting practices were not very practical. By capturing emerging markets average and marginal costs could be brought down. Â  Legal Influences: Regulatory environment has had a major impact on Dell activities even though such rules have the desirable effect of quality improvement and cost reduction too. There is a high possibility that Dell’s competitors could come up with duplicate products infringing on its copyrighted and patent material. Â  Opportunities: There are many different opportunities that are available to Dell in the ICT market worldwide. In particular, its acquisitions of other firms, outsourcing, and e-commerce activities have played an influential role in determining its success.

Consultancy Management Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consultancy Management Techniques - Essay Example Such management techniques have led to high expectation in terms of making decisions at the corporate level (JLR, 2015). JLR has invested a lot of resources in research and development.The decision to invest resources of an organization requires contemplation.Information used to make decisions in JLR can be found in the internal systems of the company. Most organizations have been increasingly been relying on MIS to collect data on their employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders of the business. Consequently, transactions made are recorded in the systems of the company (JLR, 2015). The data collected will then be mined and translated into meaningful information that will be used to make decisions (Laudon and Laudon, 2004). To arrive at proper decisions, the data that is accustomed to the best alternative should be credible. The issue of quality data is very imperative since managers may settle for wrong decisions. Given the authority that has been bestowed to senior managers, they cannot afford to make bad decisions. Managers make capital investment decisions that require them to be very careful before making a step. As a result, the data that is availed to them to interpret so as to make decisions must be of high quality. Data can be termed to be of high quality it meets a number of standards. It should easily be interpretable. Further, there must be free from errors, must be reported in time for decisions to be made it time are among the standards used to assess the quality of data (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). The role of Management Information System is to provide managers with valuable information that can be used to make decisions. In most cases, the information collected must be properly organized. Usually, the data have been in a raw state making it necessary for it to be so that it can be easily interpreted. The most relevant information that is

Answer One Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Answer One Question - Assignment Example This implies that obtaining a substantial market share is the â€Å"holy grail† of entrepreneurial marketing. Penetrating a marketing on the other hand is always the daunting task. As such, marketers must always strive to acquire the pitching customer. This requires the development of a brand that will attract one major customer who in turn secures the longevity of the brand by enhancing its market share. The success stories of such leading entrepreneurs as Nike, Nestle, Heineken and Vodafone among many other similar entrepreneurships that operate and enjoy profitability globally continue to portray the importance of the target market in marketing and the need to acquire an anchor customer to help position the brand and safeguard its mass acceptance. Dong this requires the use of the various marketing principles and tools, marketers must always carry out extensive marketing researches and analyses thereby discovering appropriate companies to partner with and the effective marketing tools to use in order to win a substantial market share for the entrepreneurship. This requires the entire entrepreneurship to operate as a brand. The anchor-customers help create an entrepreneurial brand one that operates deficiently yet effectively. As stated earlier, marketing is a vital function of management mandated with the determination and cultivation of the market for a particular product or service. The market is the customers who purchase the product thereby sustaining the company’s profitability. This validates the need for the determination of a customer with the capacity to anchor the product to the target market (Molly 7). The anchor customer could be any corporate organization or a particular region that unilaterally accept a particular product. Achieving this requires the company to either develop an appropriate niche marketing that ensures that the brand wins over the specific portion of the market. Various global brands succeeded in

Film Critique on the movie Gladiator (Russell Crow) Essay

Film Critique on the movie Gladiator (Russell Crow) - Essay Example The film Gladiator was a hit at the box office fetching largely positive reviews. However, Elvis Mitchell from The New York Times did see the movie in a negative light and commented eloquently about the film as â€Å"grandiose and silly† (Mitchell, 2000). Nevertheless, the audiences and the fraternity completely disagreed with the cynical critic, and the picture won five Academy Awards at the 73rd Academy Awards including the Best Actor award for Russell Crowe in the leading role and Best Picture award, which was definitely a note of acceptance and accrediting for the entire crew and cast. Apart from captivating an adventurous life of a historical hero, for which the American audience have always shown a special fascination, the film had stolen the show for its â€Å"appealing plot, with distinctive characters, inspired acting, breathtaking cinematography, and a haunting musical score,† as Emily Albu very rightly commented in her epoch making essay â€Å"Gladiator at t he Millennium† (Albu, 2008, p. 185). ... The Final Critique: Gladiator Story Line Plot structure, narrative framework or the screenplay of a film, by whatever name it is called, mostly forms the basic ingredients enabling the success of a film. The narrative framework of a film therefore cannot be undermined at all. The film Gladiator is the brain child of David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson. The film Gladiator is conceived keeping in mind the 180 AD Rome; the film tries to admit historical personages. The presence of the historical figure such as Marcus Aurelius, who was an emperor-philosopher, and his son Commodus indicates much of the sources drawn from the history. However, it is evident that when the plot of the film Gladiator is judged on a comprehensive scale, it is inferred very easily that the film is a loose adaptation of the history and cannot be treated as a direct conversion of chronicle into drama. The plot of the film is tremendously fictional. Moreover, as the history of Rome or, on the contrar y, any ancient history bases upon the quest for power and throne, the elements of politics, romance, drama, emotion, and action become quite inherent in the stories developed keeping the ancient empires and their stories in the backdrop. The story of the Gladiator revolves around the protagonist of the story, Maximus Decimus Berilius, played by Russell Crowe. Maximus is one of the finest generals of the emperor and is the deserving candidate for the throne. Nevertheless, before the official succession, Commodus played by Joaquin Phoenix brutally murders his father and takes the position of his father and complete control over his throne ordering

The Missing Link in Conflict resolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Missing Link in Conflict resolution - Essay Example IGD also aims to identify differences across the groups brought together and to improve the capabilities of both individuals and groups to achieve social justice (Nagada and Gurin 2007, 35). This paper compares and contrast the conflict processes operative for Northern Ireland, South Africa and the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts. The object is to identify what if any of the IGD theories are reflecting in these three conflict resolution process. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is characterized as among the country’s â€Å"most effective† conflict resolution processes to date (Gibson 2006, 409). The TRC has contributed significantly to South Africa’s democratic reforms by influencing a â€Å"more reconciled society† (Gibson 2006, 409). The conflict resolution process in Northern Ireland takes a similar holistic approach in that the conflict resolution process is centered around policies and initiatives designed to foster equality and to â€Å"improve community relations† (Cairsn and Darby 1998, 754). The School of Peace approach to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict resolution is slightly different in that the process aims to heighten individual awareness of the conflict, their part in it and the facilitation of identities via intergroup interactions (Halabi and Sonnenschein 2004, 49). IGDs are built around bringing together between 12 and 16 students once a week for between ten and fourteen weeks. These students convene under the leadership of a â€Å"trained peer† who instructs from a plan that merges several learning initiatives which include â€Å"intellectual and effective engagement†; â€Å"individual reflection and group dialogue†; â€Å"individual intergroup and institutional analyses†; â€Å"affinity-based and heterogeneous groupings;† and â€Å"individual and collective action† (Nagada and Durin 2007, 35). IGD takes the position that the social justice education typically fails to implement tools of intergroup interactions

Bigamy & Alimony Essay Example for Free

Bigamy Alimony Essay If fact of first marriage was concealed from the spouse – term of imprisonment may extend to 10 years In Sarla Mudgal v UOI AIR 1995 SC 1531, the SC criticized the practice of conversion to Islam for the sake of contracting II bigamous marriage ‘coz that enables them to marry again without getting their first marriage dissolved. The ruling was reaffirmed in the case of Lily Thomas v UOI AIR 2000 SC 1650. Also held: plurality of marriage is not unconditional right conferred on the Muslim husband. There is a precondition that he should have the capacity to do justice between the co-wives. Under Hanafi Law – 5 marriages are not void but merely irregular and can be regularized by divorcing one wife. Exception – a Sunni taking a 5th wife is not guilty of Bigamy u/s 494, 495 of IPC ( Shahumeedu v Subajda ( 1970) But a Shia Husband who takes 5th marriage (where 5th marriage is void) can be prosecuted for bigamy. So, one who marries during the lifetime of his or her spouse commits an offence of bigamy – provided his first marriage is not null void. In M. M. Malhotra v UOI AIR 2006 SC 80, Husband married a woman whose marriage was in subsistence but was void. Hence, held subsequent marriage would not be bigamous. If former marriage is voidable, then also bigamy is committed. Varadrajan v State of Madras AIR 1965 SC 1964, Bigamy where requisite formalities of marriage have been performed at the time of the solemnization of II marriage. Priya v Suresh AIR 1971 SC 1153, held second marriage cannot be treated to be proved by mere admission of parties. Performance of appropriate ceremonies is to be proved. Dr. D.N. Mukherji v State AIR 1969 All. 486, held: performance of some mock ceremony is not enough and, therefore, prosecution of bigamy will fail. So bigamous marriage is void under H, Christian and Parsi laws. Under SMA – declaration of nullity of marriage can be obtained by either party. The spouse of 1st  marriage has no right to file a petition for nullity. Remedy is to file a declaratory suit to that effect u/s 34 of the Special Relief Act, 1963. Under Matrimonial law the spouse of 1st marriage may sue for dissolution on the ground that other party is living in adultery u/s 13 (1) (i) of HMA. Law Commission of India In 227th report, given on 5th Aug.’2009, recommended in HMA after S. 17 ( punishment) S. 17 – A be inserted that a married person, who is governed by this Act cannot marry again even after changing religion, unless- i. 1st one is dissolved; or ii. Declared null and void In accordance with law. And if such a marriage is contracted it will be null void; and Shall attract application of S. 494,495 of IPC. no defense can be taken in the charge of bigamy that it was a i. in good faith; or ii. mistake of law. Only aggrieved party can complaint But once case is filed State prosecutes the bigamous spouse. Should bigamy be permitted in some limited cases? In Goa, Daman Diu – during Portuguese rule Hindu Husband was permitted to take II wife during the lifetime of 1st one but – i. in specified cases ii. With the consent of wife Kane – (in History of Dharmashstra) suggested – it should be tolerated for some classes on economic grounds. Derrett also supports (Critique of Modern Hindu Law) Some arguments hold good for polyandry also, but present writers do not support this view. iii.

Gender Roles in United States Essay Example for Free

Gender Roles in United States Essay Gender role can be defined as number of professed personality trait and manners observed by males or females in a given society.   Different culture imposes a different set of expectations on men and women (faqs, n.d). Every culture has a different number of norms that they use to differentiate a perfect male or female with an imperfect one. Who sets these gender roles? What if one is unable to be the perfect male / female? Is it right to restrict people to grow out of the perceived roles into something that is entirely opposite? Why is it assumed that a female will stay home to cook and clean while a man will be the sole bread earner of the house? An extensive debate has been going on for years regarding this topic. Looking around us a commercial selling razor blade will show a man who is rugged and well built and in a shampoo commercial will have a female who couldn’t be any prettier yet she still does the normal things in life. A magazine will always cover a top model and not a housewife. Why does media always shows beautiful, perfect physique females and tall, handsome men, be it an advertisement of food product or a house or any cars? Though over the years, people are being acceptable towards deviation in gender roles. Men and women are working together to understand and adjust to the shift occurring in gender roles Women work hand in hand with men to support living, media shows program covering normal people from the streets and both genders of a family are involved in taking major decisions. This change will defiantly result in better environment at workplaces, better atmosphere at homes, better standards of living for the young generation and an air of equality will amongst the upcoming generation. References Faqs. â€Å"Gender Roles† (Internet), www.faqs.org (Accessed on January 11, 2009)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html

Field Programmable Gate Array based Digital Module

Field Programmable Gate Array based Digital Module Field Programmable Gate Array based Digital Module for Laser Frequency Stabilization A.Rastogi1, N. Batra, S.De2, S.Panja and A. Sen Gupta Introduction Frequency stabilized lasers are a crucial part in variety of atom-photon experiments such as atomic spectroscopy [1], laser cooling [2], probing the excited states of atoms [3] etc. Depending on the application, a stability in bandwidth from few MHz to sub Hz maybe required. It is therefore, essential to stabilize the frequency of a laser source to an absolute reference. Atoms or ultra stable fabry- perot cavities are used for this purpose [4]. Such stabilization schemes require electronic feedback / servo loops that allow for a correction in laser frequency deviation. At CSIR-NPL, we are developing the first optical frequency standard in India with a single trapped Ytterbium ion (171Yb+). The project aims at trapping a single Yb ion in a Paul trap, laser cooling the ion to about mK temperatures for a precise frequency measurement of the ultranarrow octupole transition at a wavelength of 467 nm. The 171Yb+ frequency standard will require a simultaneous operation of five lasers for photoionization (399 nm), cooling (369 nm), repumping (935 nm and 760 nm) and probing the clock transition (467 nm) [5]. All the laser lights for our experiment would be produced from extended cavity diode lasers (ECDL) which drift in their frequencies due to environmental factors as temperature fluctuations and mechanical vibrations. Such drifting renders them unstable and hence, incorporating frequency stabilization systems becomes an essential requirement for precise frequency standards. In general a frequency stabilization of a laser, as for example using saturated ab sorption spectroscopy [6], requires the use of a frequency synthesizer for scanning and modulation of the laser frequency , lock-in amplifier for phase sensitive detection, low / high pass filters, and servo electronics for feeding control signals to the piezo / current terminals of the laser. Instead of procuring these analog modules for each of the lasers used in our experiment, we have taken an effort of developing them indigenously with an all digital control using field programmable gate array technology(FPGA). Hence, the functionality of all the hardware components can be embedded inside a single chip. In this paper, we present an FPGA based laser frequency stabilization design and show some preliminary results of the performance of the FPGA design modules. An active laser feedback control loop mainly consists of a lock-in amplifier (providing phase sensitive detection) and a PID controller. As mentioned earlier, the controller generates correction signals that drive either a piezo attached to the laser cavity (as in case of ECDL lasers) or a current so as to adjust the laser frequency. Using FPGAs the entire functionality of a laser frequency locking system can be implemented in a single chip with an area of few mm2 . Moreover, the truly concurrent nature of FPGA processing algorithms results in the FPGA design modules behaving like dedicated hardware circuits. Minimal use of hardware leads to lesser probability of picking up noise from the surroundings and also reduces cost. The FPGAs could always be reprogrammed to incorporate extra adders, multipliers, filters i.e. they provide re-configurability. FPGAs are programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such as Verilog-HDL or VHDL. We have implemented the laser frequency locking modules using VHDL. A schematic of various VHDL design modules implementing a laser frequency locking setup is shown in Fig.1. In our module, the FPGA chip (Xilinx Spartan 6 XCSLX16) receives an input signal either from an atomic spectroscopy or from a fabry-perot cavity[4] [6] .As shown in Fig.1, the acousto-optic modulator (AOM) does amplitude modulations of the laser signal resulting in variations in the intensity of light at the photodetector output. This modulated signal at the photodiode output is the derivative of the laser absorption signal i.e. proportional to the slope of a resonant feature. At a resonant frequency, the derivative signal is zero and on both sides of resonance, the derivative signal is 180 degrees in phase. This signal is the input to the FPGA systemwhich is then digitised using a 12-bit A/D converter (AD7476) and then passed through a high pass filter component. High pass filtering extracts the high frequency modulated features from the input signal. The filtered signal then goes to the input of the lock-in amplifier component (that implements phase sensitive detection). The reference signal for the lock-in amplifier comes from a VHDL component that implements a square DDS generator. A phase shifted version of this reference signal can be used by the AOM to amplitude modulate the laser signal. The lock-in amplifier component demodulates the modulated photodiode signal by multiplying it with the reference signal followed by low pass filtering thereby generating what is called an error signal. The error signal contains information as to which side of resonance, the laser frequency is. This signal is then processed by a PID controller component. The control signals generated by the PID component adjust the laser piezo and current signals in such a way so as to ensure that the error signal is always zero (which corresponds to a resonant frequency).Many a times, it is needed to just scan over the complete laser spectrum or to zoom in on a particular spectral feature. In this case, the PID action is disabled and a slow triangular scan signal (generated by a scan generator component) is fed to the laser piezo.All signals coming out of the FPGA are converted into the analog form via 12-bit DAC (DAC121S101). Moreover, to aid in the flexible tuning of locking parameters such as the lock-in gain, PID parameters, modulation frequency and phase, scan amplitude and frequency ; we are working on developing a graphical user interface (GUI) that would allow easy access to and modification of the parameters values inside the FPGA registers. Figure 1: A schematic of an FPGA based closed loop laser frequency locking system. The experiment (atomic spectroscopy setup) and the electronic feedback servo (implemented using FPGA) are shown separately. On the right is shown the image of our FPGA development board with the Xilinx based FPGA chip at the centre. All the feedback components have been implemented as programmable VHDL modules . Results of Some of the VHDL design modules Operation of the individual VHDL modules as well as of the entire system as shown in Fig.1.have been verified, as for example, by observing the physical signals generated from the software implementation of lock-in amplifier, high pass filter , square DDS , scan generator etc. Here we are showing some of these results from our prototype setup. Function Generation:We have implemented the functional behaviour of a square DDS generator and a triangular generatorby developing VHDL components for them. The output of the square DDS module is used as a reference signal for the lock-in detection stage and a phase shifted version of the reference signal is used in the amplitude modulation of the laser frequency by the AOM. The output of the triangular generator is used as a scan signal that drives the laser piezo for observing the laser absorption spectra over a wide range of frequencies. The signals generated from these VHDL components are shown in Fig.2 (a-b). Figure 2 : (a) Shows a square wave of 20 KHz. This would be used as a reference signal for lock-in detection and for modulation by the AOM. (b) Shows a triangular scan of 10 Hz. This would be given to the laser piezo for scanning over a huge range of laser spectrum. (c) A sine wave of 100 Hz (red) was distorted by a high frequency pseudo random sequence resulting in a distorted signal (blue). The high pass filter module filters out the low frequencies and only high frequencies remain (green). For the response shown, the cut-off frequency was kept at 1 KHz. High Pass Filter:Our high pass filter implements a first order IIR digital filter. As shown in Fig.1.the high pass filtering is needed to extract the high frequency amplitude modulations of the photodiode signal superimposed over the slowly scanned doppler absorption profile. As a way of verifying the functionality of this component, a low frequency sine way (100 Hz) was added to a pseudo-random number sequence (10-bit maximal sequence) which was generated at 1 MHz. The result is a highly distorted sine wave comprising high frequency fluctuations superimposed over a slowly varying sine wave. When such a signal is passed through the high pass filter component, the slow sinusoid is removed and only the fast fluctuations appear at the filter output. The cut-off frequency determines the signal at the output. The high pass filtering is shown in Fig.2 (c). Lock -In Amplifier(Phase Sensitive Detector):Software implementation of a lock-in amplifier constitutes developing a binary multiplier in conjunction with a low pass filter. The binary multiplier multiplies an input signal with a reference signal The product is then passed to the low pass filter of a suitable cut-off frequency such that only the portion of the input signal that occurs at the reference frequency remain while the rest are filtered out. Moreover, the output of the lock-in amplifier (i.e. the low pass filtered signal) is directly proportional to the amplitude of the input signal and inversely proportional to the relative phase difference between the input and reference signals. Hence, for a given phase relationship, theoutput increases with increase in input signal amplitude. Similarly, for a fixed amplitude of input signal, the output is maximum when the reference and input signals are in phase (0 degrees) ; minimum when the two are out of phase (180 degrees) and averag es to zero when they are 90 degrees phase separated. In Fig. 3, we demonstrate the amplitude and phase dependence of a lock-in amplifier circuit whose behaviour we have implemented in VHDL. The input signal to this component was an internally generated sine wave (5 KHz) and the reference signal was a square wave (5 KHz). From Fig.3 (a) , it is clear that as the amplitude of input signal (red) increases, the output signal (blue) shifts in the upward direction. For very small input signals (near to zero) , the output is also close to zero. From Fig.3(b), it is clear that the outputs of the lock-in amplifier are equal and opposite for phase separation of 0 (blue) and 180 degrees (red) between the input and reference signals. Moreover, the output signal averages to zero (green) when the corresponding phase difference is 90 degrees. Figure 3 : (a),(b) and (c)show the dependence of the lock-in amplifier output (blue) upon the input signal (red). As the input signal amplitude increases from (a) to (c), the output level also shifts up(d) The mean of the lock-in amplifier is minimum when the phase difference between the reference signal and input is 180 degrees (red), maximum when the two are in phase (blue) and lies in the middle of the two extremes when the phase difference is 90 degrees (green). Implementation of Frequency Locking Using Simulated Atomic Spectroscopy Reference frequency from the laser driven atomic spectroscopy is currently not available due to in- availability of the laser.Therefore, to overcome this practical situation and test the FPGA based frequency locking modules,we describe an elegent simulation scheme for testing the closed loop FPGA based frequency control by simulating the atomic spectroscopy experiment described in [6] inside the FPGA chip itself. Essentially, inside the FPGA chip , there would be two main modules : (1) An experiment module that simulates a saturated absorption spectroscopy setup and (2) A feedback module that implements lock-in detection and a PID control action. The experiment module would include three components : A laser piezo scan / control block that receives a voltage at its input and generates a frequency as a predetermined function of that voltage ; an atomic spectroscopy block which generates a derivative intensity profile as a function of the frequency from the piezo block . This in effect results in a derivative feature as a function of the input voltage to the piezo block. In addition , there is a modulation block that mimics an AOM driver. The block modulates the derivative signal in a certain algorithm such that the positive and negative cycles of the derivative signal are 180 degrees out of phase. The modulated signal then goes to the feedback block. The functions for voltage to frequency conversion and for frequency to derivative intensity conversion can be carefully chosen such that over one complete scan cycle , the derivative is zero at a particular voltage. The frequency corresponding to this voltage is the desired freque ncy and the feedback loop should effectively generate a voltage corresponding to this frequency by making the error signal zero. In this sense, the feedback module includes the basic components as high pass filter (for removing the slow doppler profile features from the modulated derivative signal) , lock-in amplifier (for phase sensitive demodulation of the derivative signal thereby giving an error signal) , a PID controller loop that fixes the error signal to zero and a scan generator that is used for observing the derivative over a complete scan range. Also, the reference signal for lock-in detection and the modulation signal from the AOM block are generated from a square DDS (implemented inside the feedback module). The output of the feedback module is either a scan voltage or a PID control voltage. In either case, the voltage signal goes to the piezo component of the experiment module. In this way, a closed feedback scheme is achieved as shown in Fig.4 At the time of writing th is paper, the experimental module has been successfully implemented and we are able to simulate both the scan and lock conditions. In the scan mode, PID loop is disabled and the error signal is observed over a defined sweep span. Under the locking condition, the PID loop is enabled which pins the error signal down to the zero value. In this way, the system gets locked to the frequency corresponding to zero error voltage. After the first order confirmation of frequency locking , we next plan to charcterise the lock quality , add facilities of scan offset and error signal offset to the existing simulation scheme as well as introduce noise into the system . Figure 4 :(Left) A closed loop scheme simulating an atomic spectroscopy experimental setup and a feedback system both implemented inside the FPGA chip. (Right) A falling edge of scan signal (blue) with an error signal (red) simulating a spectroscopic feature is shown. A mirror image of the feature is observed on the rising scan edge . When in lock mode, the error signal falls flat to zero voltage (green) demonstrating that the system gets locked to a particular frequency. Conclusion We have developed an all digital laser frequency stabilization module using field programmable gate array technology as against traditional bulky and expensive analog controllers. The VHDL design modules developed, imitate the functionality of typical hardware electronics used in a laser frequency locking system. The design modules were tested both individually as well as end to end through different testing methodologies. Some of the results were presented in this paper.Also, before incorporating the design modules into locking an actual laser, we have developed a scheme that simulates an entire atomic spectroscopy experiment with an electronic feedback system, both implemented inside the FPGA chip. We have successfully shown the frequency locking action of our feedback modules through this scheme and plan to test them more rigorously by making enhancements in the existing simulation scheme. Acknowledgement S. De acknowledges support from Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) for funding this project under the project code :34/14/19/2014-BRNS/0309. References [1] K.B. Mac Adam, A Steinbach and C. Wiemann, Am. J. Phys. 60 , 1098 (1992). [2] D. J. Wineland and H. Dehmelt,Bull. Am. Phys. Soc.20, 637 (1975). [3] Chien-Nan Liu, Toru Morishita and Shinichi Watanabe, 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 194 032014. [4] W. Z. Zhao, J. E. Simsarian, L. A. Orozco, and G. D. Sprouse, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 69, 3737(1998). [5] S. De, N. Batra, S. Chakraborty, S. Panja, A. Sen Gupta, .Current Science 106, 1348 (2014). [6] Hall,J.L.;Hollberg,L.;Baer,T.;Robinson,H.G., ApPhL,39,680 (1981).

The Hurt Locker Essay -- Film Analysis

â€Å"The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.† This quote is the first thing that flashes across the screen as viewers begin their journey into The Hurt Locker, a critically acclaimed war movie written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt). The quote was written by former New York Times war correspondent, Chris Hedges and it perfectly sets the stage for a story that depicts just how potent and addicting war can be (Corliss). The 2008 movie won six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role (â€Å"Nominees & Winners†). The Hurt Locker is an exceptional movie that contains everything one would expect from an award-winning film: an intriguing plot, heart-wrenching tragedy, breathtaking visuals, top-notch acting, believability, and even a bit of controversy. An intriguing plot is the first thing people look for in a movie. War is a complicated subject so in a film about war, while it is important for the plot to be interesting, it is even more important that it is sensible and flows smoothly. This allows the audience to be entertained and keeps them from getting lost in too many complicated details. The Hurt Locker is the story of three men who are part of a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (E.O.D.) team stationed in Baghdad in 2004. Sergeant First Class William James is a daring specialist who knows everything there is to know about bombs, inside and out. He begins his rotation with Bravo Company after the former team leader is killed while attempting to disarm a roadside bomb. Bravo Company has just 38 days left on rotation and since James has arrived, those days are fraught with tension. James d... ...es." Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. . Ryzik, Melena. â€Å"A Lawsuit for ‘Hurt Locker,’ in Time for Oscars.† The New York Times. 04 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. Schmidt, Michael. â€Å"Fatal Bombs in Iraq Seemed Aimed at Militia.† The New York Times. 09 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. Seal, Karen H., Daniel Bertenthal, Christian R. Miner, Saunak Sen, and Charles Marmar. "Bringing the War Back Home: Mental Health Disorders Among 103 788 US Veterans Returning From Iraq and Afghanistan Seen at Department of Veterans Affairs Facilities." Archives of Internal Medicine 167.5 (2007): 476-82. Print. Zoroya, Gregg. "In 'The Hurt Locker,' war is like a drug." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.

Vincent Van Gogh Essay -- Essays Papers

Vincent Van Gogh The people back in the 19th century really didn’t accept Van Gaogh’s truthful and emotionally morbid way of expressing the way of art is to himself. It finally was seen as art through the people’s eyes. This set a stage of art that is now known as Expressionism. It is best characterized by the use of symbols and a style that expresses the artist’s inner feelings about his subject. His style of painting is exemplified by a projection of the painter’s inner experience onto the canvas he paints on. Van Gogh’s paintings are done with his feelings that goes on in his life. (Mark Harden’s Artchive) In Vincent’s own words he said, " What lives in art and is eternally living, is first of all the painter, and then the painting." (Mark Harden’s Artchive) A lot of people think that Van Gogh’s life had a lot of failure and that’s why his paintings are about his feelings, but his experiences demonstrate biological and psychological abnormality, causing behaviors that alienated those around him. He started to become isolated from the society, by working on his paintings all the time. He began to use all his energy and all the outburst into his paintings. This caused him to be institutionalized, due to working on his paintings all the time and nothing else. It became so serious that he committed suicide by shooting himself at the age of 37. (Shearer West) During his short life, he only sold one of his art works. He sold it four months before his death and sold it for 400 francs, It was titled "The Red Vineyard," even though he produced so many masterpieces that will go in history. Most art lovers see Van Gogh as a troubled person, but a successful artist. This is far from the actual truth of his turbulent life, which was fraught with failure in every occupational pursuit he attempted, including painting and was marked by intermittent episodes of depression, violence, and out going behaviors. ( Encyclopedia of Arts – Mark Harden’s Artchive) They have nearly completed t he understanding the feelings, experiences, and views Van Gogh had, by the notes that were preserved that he sent to his friends and family, especially the all the ones sent to his brother Theo. Mark Harden’s Artchive) Before Vincent became a painter, he was a Protestant minister and a art dealer. He failed at both of these and then started to study art world. His... ...ure. That’s it as far as I'm concerned†¦ I feel that this is the destiny that I accept, that will never change." (Mark Harden’s Artchive) One of the last paintings Van Gogh did was "Wheat Field With Crows." There's dark clouds in the background that seem hopeless and depressive. Psychologist say that Van Gogh might have had polar disorder, which means manic depression. On July 27, 1890 Vincent killed himself with a gunshot to the chest and then six months later Theo died of lung disease. (Encyclopedia of Arts) Van Gogh is considered one of the most powerful Expressionist. His paintings sell for millions of dollars today even though he only sold one during his lifetime. (Voyager) WORK CITED "Vincent Van Gogh." Mark Harden's Artchive http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/vangogh/vangogh_bio.html (7 April 99) "Van Gogh: Starry Night." Voyager http://voyager.learntech.com/cdrom/cataologpage.cgi?starrynight (7 April 99) "Vincent Van Gogh." Encyclopedia.com http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/13346.html (7 April 99) "The Bulfinch Guide to Art History." Shearer West Ref 700.9 B871gu page 475 "Encyclopedia of the Arts." Ref 703 En19 1966 pg 348

Regulatory Agency Essay

The role and responsibility of the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), most importantly, is to uphold the laws dictated by the government concerning products that include drugs, medical products, food, and non-health related products and to protect and promote public health across the country. This essay focuses on several aspects of the FDA, from the role of the agency and its effect on health care in the United States, to the authority this agency carries in relation to health care. There will also be an explanation of how the FDA carries out these responsibilities on a day-to-day basis. The FDA has held a strong presence in the realm of public health since 1848 when it began as a consumer protection agency (FDA, 2013). The FDA, formed after the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was put in place and inspired by the scientific work of Harvey Washington Wiley, who was the Chief Chemist at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Wiley worked to eliminate the dangerous practices of marketing unregulated drugs and food products to consumers (FDA, 2013). Since that time, the FDA has become a powerful force, monitoring and working to protect public health in the United States. FDA Role The FDA is an agency that works within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of the Commissioner takes the lead role with four other branches that manage other functions (FDA, 2013). The Office of the Commissioner takes â€Å"leadership of the agency’s scientific activities, communication, legislative liaison, policy and planning, women’s and minority health initiatives, agency operations, and toxicological research† (FDA, 2013). The four groups that work under the Office of the Commissioner are the Office of Foods, the Office of Global Regulatory Operations and Policy, the Office of Medical Products and Tobacco, and the Office of Operations. The function of these five entities of the FDA is to protect and promote public health in the U. S. and to uphold the laws dictated by the government regarding public health. This is accomplished through close monitoring and testing of regulated products used by U. S. consumers. These products consist of drugs, food, cosmetics, radiation-emitting products, vaccines and other biologics, veterinary drugs and products, and tobacco products (FDA, 2013). The FDA is also constantly looking for ways to advance public health by assisting other organizations to make medications safe and more effective (FDA, 2013). Not only does the FDA monitor the food supply coming into the U. S. to ensure its safety but also plays a role in counterterrorism efforts by developing products and medications to respond to a public health threat (FDA, 2013). Issuing and enforcing warning labels for drugs and other products is another function in the role of the FDA. The labels serve to educate the public and medical professionals on the use and hazards of using a specific medication or product. However, these labels do not always have the desired effect. Impact on Health Care The efforts of the FDA throughout its history, has created a much safer consumer environment as it relates to food products, cosmetics, and other non-medical items. Foods are carefully scrutinized before they are allowed on the market to ensure these products are safe for the public to consume. Strict guidelines are in place for all types of products that are available to consumers. However, there is some controversy concerning warning labels on prescription drugs. There have been recent reports that communications by the FDA regarding drug risks are not immediately effective (Hitt, 2012). It is the duty of the FDA to monitor and enforce warnings for prescription drugs involving the safety risks to public health. According to Emma Hitt, some of the warnings that recommended increased monitoring of a patient while taking a prescription drug or increase laboratory monitoring generally caused a decrease in the use of the drug and very low increases in monitoring (Hitt, 2012). These types of oversights in clinical practice likely cause adverse effects to patients by not heeding the proper warnings set forth by the FDA. This is just a minute area in which the FDA impacts health care. Just as the FDA is responsible for monitoring drugs, products, and foods, their communications to health care providers and consumers must also be taken seriously. As Hitt states, â€Å"as the goals of risk communication are to minimize potential harms, understanding the impact of an FDA communication’s intended (and unintended) consequences on patient health outcomes should be a priority† (Hitt, 2012). Duties of the FDA The FDA carries an enormous responsibility daily to monitor, investigate, and enforce the safety of the public in general. As discussed earlier, this includes products and medications used by consumers daily. There are times when the regulations and guidelines set forth by the FDA on specific products are not followed and thus the FDA must follow up with inspections, enforce compliance, and conduct criminal investigations (FDA, 2013). The Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) is the lead office in this function of the FDA. It is the duty of the ORA to carry out investigations if a breach in regulation is suspected. Once a questionable observation is made by an investigator of the ORA, a form entitled â€Å"Form 483† is filled out by the investigator (FDA, 2013). On this form, the investigator cites what the law or regulation is and proceeds to list the questionable conditions and what law or regulation is violated. These 483 forms are maintained and revisited periodically. Some of the areas investigated are biologics, drugs, human tissue for transplantation, foods, and radiological health, to name a few. This is a major function of the FDA to ensure compliance to laws and regulations. Regulatory Authority The FDA has regulatory authority provided in the â€Å"Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act† (FD&C) passed by Congress in 1983. The creation of this legislation was driven by an incident where more than 100 patients died due to improperly prepared sulfanilamide medications. It replaced the earlier Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 (FDA, 2013). The agency has authority to mandate preventative actions for food facilities to ensure food safety. They also have the power to conduct compliance inspections on facilities the scope of which include access to records and testing by accredited laboratories. The FDA also has several responses it can take to enforce compliance and ensure safety of consumers. It can enforce a mandatory recall of a product, and it can suspend the registration of a facility if it is determined to pose a threat of serious health consequences or the threat of death to humans or animals (FDA, 2013). Accreditation, Certification, and Authorization The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research is the division of the agency charged with the evaluation and approval of any drug prior to its release on the market. There are three phases in this certification and approval process. The research phase is conducted during the manufacture of a drug, along with the testing, then sent to a review board for recommendation (Writing, 2013). Once the recommendation is given, the drug can move to the second phase, the pre-clinical trials. Here the drug is tested on small groups of humans while measuring interactions and its effectiveness. Once this phase is complete with no adverse issues, the third phase can take place. This is a Phase 2 clinical trial that allows researchers to see if the drug works on a specific illness on patients and allows scientists to determine any side effects that may occur (Writing, 2013). The clinical phases are monitored closely, while working directly with patients to ensure that the testing remain within the standards of medical ethics. Once all of the trials are complete and all recommendations have been given, all of the results are analyzed and only then can be submitted to the FDA for approval to be sold on the market (Writing, 2013). The accreditation and approval process for all products that must be in compliance with FDA guidelines is a rigorous process but necessary for the common good. Conclusion The FDA carries so many responsibilities to provide high quality medications, foods, cosmetics, and many other products. The laws and regulations are complex and detailed. So much, in fact, most people are not aware when a regulation or guideline is being violated. The resources available to research the FDA and their functions and laws are many and well worth the time to gain education on how this enormous entity works to protect and promote public health and safety.

How Titan Armoured Vehicle Launch Bridge Can Benefit Indonesian Army Engineers

AN ESSAY ON HOW TITAN ARMOURED VEHICLE LAUNCH BRIDGE CAN BENEFIT INDONESIAN ARMY ENGINEERS By Captain Yaenurendra Hasmoro Aryo Putro INTRODUCTION 1. Several characteristics of Indonesia’s environment seem to be considerable in determining the role of Indonesian Army Engineers (IAEs). Firstly, terrain that is predominantly seashore area with lots of volcanoes on every big island. Secondly, the large number of rivers in Indonesia including around 500 both large and small.Thirdly, the high risk of natural disasters caused by 128 active volcanoes and the location of its islands ‘on the edges of the Pacific, Eurasian and Australian tectonic plates’. Those three characteristics combine to give irregular but frequent supporting tasks for IAEs whether in calm normal situations or chaotic post-disaster evacuation ones. Many of these requirements need to be met only with bridging efforts. Hence, it is logical to deduce that Indonesian military engineers need a strong, yet r apid capability in bridging.One of the options is to possess a quantity of Titan Armoured Vehicle Launch Bridge (Titan AVLB). 2. This essay will briefly nominate the prerequisite of utilizing Titan AVLB as one of the main bridging vehicle in IAEs. CURRENT BRIDGING CAPABILITIES 3. The main task with which IAEs are burdened is to support the manoeuvre of infantries in the battlefield including to facilitate either river/lake or other gap crossing . Even, in the peace time IAEs frequently play a role in supporting low level development of the country as well as to contribute to rehabilitation efforts in disasters.To carry out this particular function, IAEs are equipped with three kinds of bridging systems: Bailey bridge, Acrow panel bridge, and pontoon bridge. Most of the combat engineer Battalions are resourced with Bailey bridges. Only a small number of battalions have the resources of Acrow panel bridges. Meanwhile, pontoon bridges can be found only in the training centre. Whilst th ose structures have been used effectively in many situations, nevertheless, there are several short-falls. The mentioned bridging structures are all heavyweight ones. For example, it needs more than 34 tonnes of materials to construct a triple-single Bailey ridge which can only connect 22 metres gap. The next problem is in transporting such a heavy materials. Another difficulty is with the time consumed and man power required to erect these bridge structures. The process of launching either a Bailey or Acrow panel bridges would previously take up to 1 platoon of soldiers to push the panels one by one. Nowadays, powerful heavy equipment (dozer, crane, etc) can be employed. Also, whilst the heavyweight problem is not the case for pontoon bridges, nevertheless, time and manpower are still complexities. 4.Facing this set of disadvantages, it seems that there has been little research published on the effort to substitute or at least strengthen the bridging capability of IAEs. Even in the training centre, other options of alternative bridge system are not yet introduced. SUITABILITY OF THE TITAN ARMOURED VEHICLE LAUNCH BRIDGE (AVLB) 5. AVLB is an armoured vehicle equipped with a set of folded bridge spans that can be launched and retrieved mechanically. There are various types of AVLB used by several countries. The focus in this essay will be on the Titan AVLB which is a most recent type. . The Royal United Kingdom Engineers (RE) is one of the national institutions using Titan AVLB. The RE explain that the Titan AVLB is modified from the ‘Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (MBT) chassis’. This kind of bridge was drafted to connect up to 60 metres of space by laying an assortment of three close support bridges. The AVLB operates in improved ‘ground manoeuvre formations’ which will enable dealing with an assortment of earth terrain. The other important thing is the short time required to lay the bridges. This vehicle can launch bridge no. 10 (26 m etres) in two minutes.It can also carry and lay two of no. 12 bridge (13. 5 metres) in 90 seconds. 7. Pictures and specification of the Titan AVLB are shown below. Titan Armoured Vehicle Launcher Bridge (AVLB) Specifications Weight (Estimated)62,500kg CarriesCarries BR-90 Close Support Bridges: No. 10 (length 26 m, span 21-24. 5 m); No. 11 (length 16 m, span 14. 5m); & No. 12 (length 13. 5 m, span 12 m) Road Speed59kmh Road Range450kms Enginecomprises Perkins CV12 diesel engine, David Brown TN54 enhanced low-loss gearbox and the OMANI cooling group: Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is also fitted Engine Power1,200bhpCrew3 Armament1 x 7. 62mm machine gun, Stowage for crew man-portable Light Anti-Tank Weapons, Fitted with NBC protection system. THE ADVANTAGES FOR IAEs 8. the capabilities and the specifications of the Titan AVLB are clearly apparent in the above table and explanation. The obvious deduction is that several advantages will be appreciated by anyone who utilizes this vehicle. I am optimistic that after graduating from the Capability and Technology Management Course (CTMC), I may be able and to access and to conduct further detailed research on this matter.Nevertheless, at the moment even given the limited scope of this paper, it is clear at least there are three advantages to discuss in term of benefits for IAEs by utilizing Titan AVLB. 9. One good point to start with is the ability of this vehicle to move by itself. The 62. 5 tonnes of weight can not be considered as light, however, since the vehicle can move easily and relatively fast, weight is no longer a problem. Even the transportation problem presented with Bailey, Acrow panel, and pontoon bridges is eliminated by this vehicle.This beneficial fact negates the requirement to use another vehicle and subsequently saving some amount of fuel and costs. 10. The second benefits can be identified is the minimum use of manpower. It is explicitly written in the specifications that this magnificent vehicle can be manned by only three personnel. For this reason, human resources in a company of engineers for instance, can be managed more efficiently and can undertake more parallel tasks. Particularly in a disaster relief, military personnel are vital to be involved in both evacuation and rehabilitation efforts. 1. The last but not least, the perfect integration of this equipment’s ability to operate on almost all terrain along with its rapid launching and retrieving, will be very valuable in providing assistance during periods of disaster relief especially when the permanent bridge facilities may have collapsed or are not in order. Subsequently, evacuation could be undertaken faster, more lives could be saved. In addition, the quick launch of the bridges will also assist the government as well as other concerned parties in conducting the rehabilitation process. CONCLUSION 2. The Titan AVLB is a heavy duty engineering vehicle which can move by itself, carrying a set of bridges which are ready to be launched within minutes, and operated by not more than 3 personnel. Its combination of advantageous capabilities is highly suited for IAEs in order to meet the challenges presented by the Indonesian environment, both in normal daily situations and post-disaster evacuation and rehabilitation periods. BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘Armoured Vehicle Launch Bridge’, Wikipedia, 6 November 2010 at 22:51, viewed on 21 November 2010, < http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Armoured_vehicle-launched_bridge> Central Intelligence Agency, ‘The World Factbook†, in Central Intelligence Agency, Oct 05, 2009 10:49 AM, viewed on 21 November 2010, . Partnership for Disaster Reduction South-East Asia Phase 4, ‘Monitoring and Reporting Progress on Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia’, in Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, April 2008, viewed on 21 November 2010, The Royal Engineers, ‘Titan Armoured Vehicle Launcher Bridge (AVLB)’, The Bri tish Army, viewed 19 November 2010, < http://www. armedforces. co. uk/army/listings/l0062. html>

Madame du Barry: Louis XV’s Favorite Mistress

It has often been said that it is the mistress who truly wields the power on the throne. According to the BBC article The King's Mistress – A Royal Tradition (2005), â€Å"†¦ for centuries, kings across Europe have turned to mistresses for sex, advice and conversation† (BBC News, n. pag. ). In exchange for the sex and companionship that they provided to their respective paramours, these women were able to obtain â€Å"great personal wealth, security and a rare chance of political power† (BBC News, n. pag.). But in the case of Madame du Barry (1743-1793), a king's mistress can also bring about the end of his regime (BBC News, n. pag. ).Madame Jeanne Becu Comtesse du Barry was born as Marie-Jeanne Becu at Vaucouleurs, Lorraine on August 19, 1743 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). She was the illigitimate daughter of Anne Becu, who was said to have worked either as a seamstress or a cook in Paris (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Marie-Jeanne's biological father was believed to be Je an Baptiste Gormand de Vaubernier, a friar who went by the name of â€Å"Brother Angel† (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). However, it was Anne's lover, Monsieur Billard-Dumonceaux, who paid for her education at the convent of St. Aure (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).Marie-Jeanne left the convent at age 15 and moved to Paris, where she assumed the name Jeanne Rancon (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). She held various jobs during her stay in Paris, which included being an assistant to a young hairdresser named Lametz (with whom she was rumored to have a daughter), a companion to Madame de la Garde (known to be a lonely aristocrat) and a miliner's assistant in A La Toilette, an enterprise of a certain Monsieur Labille (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). In 1763, her beauty caught the eye of well-heeled pimp and casino owner Jean du Barry (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).He then proceeded to turn her into his mistress and groomed her career as a courtesan that catered only to the Parisian elite (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Marie-Jeanne becam e a courtesan for four years (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ), working under the alias of Mademoiselle Lange (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Although several of her wealthy customers eventually became her benefactors, Du Barry wanted to use her to control King Louis XV (1715-1774) (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Du Barry's ambition was realized when Marie-Jeanne and his brother, Comte Guillaume du Barry, were married in 1769 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).Marie-Jeanne's marriage to a nobleman qualified her to become Louis XV's official royal mistress (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). On April 2, 1769, Madame du Barry was formally intoroduced to the family of the king and the French royal court (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). In sharp contrast to Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), another of Louis XV's mistresses, Du Barry had minimal political clout over the king (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Her only participation in politcs was her membership in the faction that deposed Etienne Francois de Choiseul from his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1770 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).Du Barry instead spent her time â€Å"having new gowns made and ordering jewelry of every shape, size and colour† (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). She also took the place of De Pompadour as Louis XV's favorite mistress (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ). However, Du Barry's genteel life in Versailles Palace was not without problems. She had a bitter feud with French Dauphine Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) primarily because of the latter's support of De Choiseul (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Marie Antoinette also refused to have anything to do with Du Barry due to her disgust with the latter's personal background (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ).Furthermore, Louis XV requested prior to his demise in May 1774 that Du Barry be banished to the Abbey of Pont aux-Dames, where her letters and visits were strictly monitored (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ). Historians believed that the king's relationship with Du Barry might have hindered him from receiving an absolution before his death; hence, his decision to send her away (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Du Barry lived in the convent for two years, before moving to the Chateau de Louveciennes (Wikipedia, n. pag. ) in 1776 (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ).Although Du Barry was noted for her â€Å"her good nature and support of artists† (Wikipedia, n. pag. ), the French people despised her due to the lavish lifestyle that the king subjected her to (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). By the late 1780s, France was in the midst of a severe fiscal crisis (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Its economy suffered due to the monarchy's tedious and archaic bookkeeping system (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Furthermore, the country also did not have a national bank (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Even if the majority of France's nobility and clergy were extremely well-off, they were taxed considerably less than the poor peasants (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ).The royalty likewise had to take on crippling debts just to finance the very expensive wars it got itself in to – the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and the American Revolution (1775-1783) (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). While the country's upper classes wallowed in wealth and the monarchy engaged in one expensive hostility after another, ordinary French citizens starved due to skyrocketing prices of bread (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ).The increasing animosity between France's nobility and bourgeoisie resulted in the French Revolution (1789-1799) (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Under the Revolution, â€Å"France was temporarily transformed from an absolute monarchy, where the king monopolized power, to a republic of theoretically free and equal citizens† (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Simply put, the French Revolution served as the retribution for all the injustices that the French royalty inflicted upon its people. At the height of the Revolution, revolutionaries guillotined nobles, their allies and anyone who opposed the uprising (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Du Barry went to England several times in 1792 to supposedly recover stolen jewelry (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ).As a result, she was accused of secretly providing financial assistance to the England-based opponents of the new French republic (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). The Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris apprehended Du Barry on treason charges in 1793 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Following a premeditated trial, she was finally guillotined at the Place de la Concorde on December 8, 1793 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Mistresses like Madame du Barry lived lives of wealth, comfort and power. But their affluence and prominence did not come without a tragic price, as they attained these at the expense of so many impoverished citizens.The hedonistic existence of these women sickened their countrymen to the point that they finally rose up and demanded change for their resepctive countries and governments. It would be fair to say that mistresses can serve as the ultimate warning to any leader who will use his po sition to enrich himself and his associates. The people may tolerate corruption for a remarkably long time. But once they take power into their own hands, there is no government on earth that they cannot overthrow. Works Cited â€Å"French Revolution. † 2007. MSN Encarta.22 April 2008 . â€Å"Madame du Barry. † 2008. Marie Antoinette. 22 April 2008 . â€Å"Madame du Barry. † 9 April 2008. Wikipedia. 22 April 2008 . â€Å"Marie Jeanne Becu du Barry. † 2007. MSN Encarta. 22 April 2008 . â€Å"The King's Mistress – A Royal Tradition. † 27 April 2005. BBC News. 22 April 2008 .

Fast Food in HK

McDonald's VS KFC Fast Food culture In the worldwide Fast food, as you can understand Is the term referring to food that Is prepared and can be delivered In a fast time. It Is traditionally American style meal that always included French fries, burgers and soft drinks. Restaurants store precooked ingredients, once the customer gives an order, take-away can be ready In a while. To be called as â€Å"Fast food†, these foods must meet a few standards: good time management, quality stability and fixed price. It is a very popular meal style in some well-developed cities, since the people have a totally busy life.The first recorded fast food restaurant A;W is founded in 1919 at the united States of America, and the second one is the famous company White Castle in 1921. In this century, fast food restaurants develop and most of them become chains suppliers. US people spent billions on buying fast food every year. The fast food globalization had now become a huge social issue. Nowaday s there are over 500,000 fast food restaurants and thousands brands in the whole world. And today we are going to focus on the two head quarters in Hong Kong- McDonald's and KFC. Introduction of McDonald's McDonald's Is definitely the biggest fast food chain In the world.It founded In 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald. Nowadays, over 33,000 McDonald's restaurants were established in the worldwide. The products of McDonald's are In various types, mainly hamburgers, French fries, chickens and soft drinks. Sometimes, they will provide seasonal meal to attract customers such as ‘Shake Shake French fries'. Following differences of choices, McDonald's would also offer vegetarian food too. In order to fit the culture, they may change the meal a little bit for example not providing beef in India. You can always find one on the street, because there are in total 200 stores in Hong Kong.McDonald's became popular all the time due to busy life schedule of Hong Kong people. Introduction of KFC On the other hand, the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is the largest fried chicken shop in the world, and the second largest fast food chain after the McDonald's. Harland Sanders founded KFC in 1930 at Kentucky in the United States of America. KFC practically sells fried chicken pieces, coleslaw and drinks. The popularity of KFC's chicken comes trom its original secret recipe which mixed with 11 herbs and spices. Not Ilke the McDonald's, KFC has a smaller scale with only 63 stores In Hong Kong.However, the numbers didn't affect the KFC's second largest place of fast food chain In Hong Kong. Advantages and disadvantages of Fast Food always in busy life schedule. Facing the hard workload, they may only have half an hour to have a meal and rush beck to their work. Thus, these quick service restaurants help to solve to lack of time problem. Meals can be prepared within ten minutes. No matter how delicious other food are, Hong Kong people have not enough time to buy ingredients, co ok or enjoy. Second is the stability of food within one chain of fast food restaurant.Tastes are ainly the same in any store. You will never taste bad with the same meal. And the prices are predictable and affordable too. One fast food meal is always cheaper than you cook alone at home. However, fast food as called as Junk food, affecting people's health. Restaurant usually uses a lot of additives such as salt, flavorings and preservatives. The large amount of calories and additives are harmful to human body. Since the fast food is all pre-cooked, the nutrients of the ingredients are lost. Therefore, some people may say that fast food is only for surviving.Eating fast food in a long term may cause arious diseases such as diabetes and heart attack. Comparison of McDonald's and KFC In Hong Kong, McDonald's is obviously in a larger scale than KFC. Except the differences on the food kinds, the way they run the company are a bit different too. Apart from fast food restaurant, McDonald's have McCaf ©s to provide desserts and coffee like Starbucks. Besides, McDonald's have works in different area of society such as charity, children health affair. But the KFC is Just only a restaurant in Hong Kong. Therefore, people would called McDonald's as a better company than KFC in Hong Kong.

Advertising And Its Effect On Advertising Essay -- Advertising, Marketin

Thesis: Pollay’s statement about the negative consequences of advertising should be noted as it provides discussion whether or not advertising and its consequences are beneficial or detrimental. This essay will discuss Pollay’s statement through the limitations of advertising in relation to Lynx’s use of sex appeal within their advertisements and campaigns. However, I will go further to argue the benefits of advertising through the discussion of the consumer and their interpretation of advertisements and how advertising and branding can overcome the information mountain. Finally, I will discuss the benefits of advertising and how it forces creativity for product advertising and branding through the example of Lynx. Within this essay I will use Yeshin’s article, Sex in advertising perspectives on the erotic appeal (2003) as my primary source for discussion. Neg. Para 1: Within Yeshin’s article, Pollay suggests that one of the reasons to why advertising has profound consequences for consumers is its use of sex appeal. Take for example Lynx’s marketing campaign in 2006 (The Lynx Effect). The advert illustrates several thousand woman in bikinis running through a forest and swimming throug... ... middle of paper ... ...gative consequence can be true to a certain extent. Throughout the history of advertisement, the use of sex appeal and its ability to manipulate consumers to buy products still remains evident in today’s production of advertisement. However, to say that advertising has profound negative consequences such as being manipulative and persuasive through the use of sex appeal is just one side to the critical discussion of advertising. The use of branding within advertisement has beneficial consequences as it allows the viewer to overcome the information mountain. Furthermore, advertising forces creativity within the company’s brand and image, and possibly allows financial backing for non-profit organisations and causes such as ‘peace-one-day’. It seems that both the limitations and benefits of advertising lie with the consumer and their interpretation of the media text.

The Haitian revolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Haitian revolution - Research Paper Example The population at that time consisted of whites, mixed race, and blacks. Since Haiti was under the control of the French government, it took all the profits from the farms. The Haitian revolution rose in 1791, at this time, the slaves wanted to become free citizens. The entire population in Haiti desired change at the time (Ott 15). Oppression by their colonizers was becoming unbearable. In addition, they needed to have their rights. At about the same time, the French government was undergoing the French revolution that gave Haitians the inspiration to fight for their rights. The French revolution involved a rebellion of the locals who wanted an end to the oppressive monarchy system (Bryan 41). They demanded their rights as citizens. The population of Haiti in the colonial era consisted of distinct classes of people. There were French white divided into two classes. Some were planters and therefore very rich. These owned plantations in Haiti and were masters to some slaves (Geggus 23). Other whites were middle class and were majorly artisans and shopkeepers. These were the petit Blancs. A different group resulted from the intermarriage between the whites and the blacks and these were the free colored individuals. This group owned slaves and discriminated them more. They were full of prejudice against the pure blacks, associated themselves with the whites, and were the mulattos. Some of them were wealthier as they could own farms. Either they earned their freedom or their fathers granted it out of mercy. They supported slavery strongly and contributed to the highest mistreatment of slaves. The other population comprised of the slaves. There were two classes of slaves namely; domestic and field slaves. The field s laves experienced the worst treatment and were the first ones to rebel. The domestic slaves were not harshly treated and therefore not too ready to fight for their rights. Other slaves could not hold onto slavery any longer and therefore escaped.

The British Thought about Colonialism Literature review

The British Thought about Colonialism - Literature review Example In the colored community, very less skill level people are there and job opportunities are more in the manufacturing sector, women and racial or ethnic minorities are less to possess the human capital and its characteristics are associated in its job opportunities. To get a job one has to be skilled in a particular area. Every company looks for an ideal candidate who should be an asset to the company and should not become a liability. Colored groups (immigrants from Asia and Africa) earn less compared to whites. So which is different wages for each category or group? In cultural context colored women are not allowed to grow in their career life or in personal life, they prefer not to work outside the home. Compared to colored the Whites are more liberal and enjoy gender equality provided by the European countries constitutional laws. Whatever the reasons there still exists inequality among these groups. The Morant Bay issue shows how the English tend to show their prevalent masculinity and representations in the ascension to power of the middle class whose concept of gentility was based on religion and dignity. In this case, Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill stood up to for those who are oppressed under the whites.

The Contract Law of Australia Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The Contract Law of Australia - Article Example In the meantime, a typhoon hit Hong Kong during those two days and many of the boxes of porcelain vases got wet and after arriving of MV Bardon in Brisbane Aussie Dcor, only 2500 out of 3000 boxes with vases inside were delivered and 100 of these were in very bad condition and not suitable for sale. But other 500 porcelain vases were not delivered by the Porcelain Vases Company of Hong Kong. For the delivery of only 2500 out of 3000 porcelain vases is the violation of the contract, in this matter, the Aussie Dcor will get remedy under Article 51 of the Convention of the International Sale of Goods (CISG). Article 51 says that if the seller delivers only a part of the goods or if only a part of the goods delivered is in conformity with the contract, articles 46 to 50 of the Convention apply in respect of the part which is missing or which does not conform. Since the Porcelain Vases Company of Hong Kong did not fulfill all part of the contract for non-delivery of the 500 porcelain vase s, the Aussie Dcor may declare the contract voided under Article 49 of the CISG. The Aussie Dcor Company will notify the Porcelain Vases Company of Hong Kong about the part delivery of porcelain vases. The Aussie Dcor Company loses the right to rely on the provisions of article 41 or article 42 if Aussie Dcor does not give notice to the seller specifying the nature of the right or claim of the third party within a reasonable time after he has become aware or ought to have become aware of the right or claim.1 So, the delivery of the 3000 porcelain vases do not conform with the contract and the price has already been paid, the Aussie Dcor Company may reduce the price of 500 porcelain vases equal to 10000 Australian Dollar. Would the use of an alternative Incoterm affect the outcome and if so, how The INCOTERMS 2000 bears for the trade contract responsibilities and liabilities between buyer and seller. It is invaluable and a cost-saving tool. The exporter and the importer need not undergo a lengthy negotiation about the conditions of each transaction.

Disciplinary Literacies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Disciplinary Literacies - Research Paper Example ghlight how finance as a field provided a framework for explaining and solving economic issues and approaching problems in a systematic and efficient manner. The first is a scholarly paper entitled, The Role of Financial Innovations in the Current Global Financial Crisis written by Yoon-Shik Park. It was published in 2009 and was an immediate discourse of the global economic crisis that began two years earlier. The trade journal is entitled Prospects in the Global Financial crisis. Both of these articles revise how the financial crises are perceived. Being of scholarly extraction, it is mainly descriptive in nature, opting to use secondary sources or a wide array of prior literature and theorizing in order to depict the financial dilemma. The article introduced some sort of model to solve its identified problem. The writer directly stressed the need to address the issues of securitization and regulation to prevent a similar crisis from happening in the future. The author took pains in presenting empirical evidence, albeit all secondary, to support his positions. There was a good number of theories and statistical figures to support assertions. The revisionist argument centered on the need for financial innovations and reform. The trade journal article focused on a different angle of the financial crisis. It devoted a good amount of space and content on specific points that would appeal to its readers most. For example, it talked about the impact of the financial crisis on the Western market. It also outlined the likely short- and long-term effects on the Asia Pacific region. It has also proposed very specific solutions, according to specific stakeholder, such strict regulation so that the effects of crisis are either mitigated or diluted. The information provided seeks to revise regional attitudes towards the financial crisis. It cited that those less affected by the meltdown should not be content with the existing conditions that cushioned their economies but

Discussion on Modes of Arguments Research Paper

Discussion on Modes of Arguments - Research Paper Example He seems to be of the opinion that Native Americans deserve the positions and the American economy would survive and even improve without immigrants. But when we read the topic further, it seems something different from where it was started. He seems to argue over the low wage rate in his writing. He argued that since the Americans after graduating do not indulge themselves in learning technical skills, they are not able to contribute to the technical fields. They are also not able to earn high for that very reason. The argument seems too vaguely discussed that one may relate his assertions to America’s incapability of taking on management and technical roles. Does the author argue on having immigrants at higher level managerial roles then? Certainly not! The author seems to support America’s capability of providing low skilled labor insufficient supply to meet the demands. The argument posed a bit negative and was not formulated carefully. Chiswick supports his claim f or the eradication of immigrants by referring to students, housewives and the retired population of America, who would gladly take on the roles requiring low-skills to meet their needs. The author intentionally pointed towards housewives and students to rise up an emotional appeal for the rights and needs of these weak, sensitive and apparently dependent groups. This is an excellent example of a ‘pathos’ element of writing used in the content under discussion. He further states that there is a concentration of low-skilled workers in America due to legal and illegal immigration. The supply of low-skilled labor is more than its demand which results in lowering of the wage rates. He used the case of a farmer to evidence the needlessness of immigrants. He uses the logos element by reasoning that using machines and the latest technologies, the costs can be reduced and efficiency improved in almost every field. The apparently logical and practical reason, however, seems flawe d as the machinery, latest technologies and its use require much more capital investment that could be afforded by farmers, small-scale businesses and sole- proprietors etc. In the last paragraph, the author seems to persuade the American nation by putting forward emotional arguments. He uses ethos to some extent by using proper tone, developing a sense of unity and motivating the Americans by identifying their strengths. In my opinion, the author has not developed a sound case. This writing starts from one direction and ends on another making the topic and discussion confusing. The writer is not able to maintain harmony throughout his writing. The absurdity of his reasoning is apparent in the last few paragraphs where he offers the reduction in changing of sheets and towels. The American economy does not need low-skilled workers for changing sheets and towels only. Reducing consumption or changing patterns would not only reduce the quality of services provided by hotels, restaurant s and other businesses but would also threaten the existence of many businesses.  Ã‚  

Phase 4 Discussion Board Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Phase 4 Discussion Board - Assignment Example My career aspiration is to manage the Administrative Staff over the Emergency Department and Main Admitting Area of the hospital I work at. Hospital is a place where the patients are your first preference. My job would be to oversee full-time, part-time and PRN employees who handle several different roles within the Department. Being a manager I would assign tasks to the related employees and every employee would update me with the performance status. This would be a straightforward projects management which will occur as the situation arises. Project management mostly helps for the work done effectively, but in a hospital efficient working is required. So the project management does not seem to be very helpful to be used for the job of managing administrative staff under an emergency situation (Pmi.org) I would also handle the projects that decide upon how to use the budget for new hire training, quarterly meetings, training when new procedures and policies are put into effect, and how to provide awards and recognition for my employees. Use of project management technique would be appropriate for such projects. This would help me to meet the dead line for meetings, effectively allocation of resources, adopting the appropriate methods for trainings for assessing the performance of my employees. The first step in project management is to develop a project plan. The project plan gives us a guideline to follow and helps to measure the project related risks. It includes the process that should be followed to meet the customer requirements (Hyperthot.com). A project plan specifies that when, how, how much and by whom what task would be performed. Project planning helps to manage the risk and to reduce its effect on the desired outcome. It also helps to assess the problems that may arise in the future during processing and gives directions for problem solving. Project planning requires a lot of time and efforts. In an emergency department at a hospital, a does not ha ve much time to think and evaluate the options. Quick and straight decisions are to be made as the situation arises. Under an emergency situation a manager has to manage all the employees and their activities sharply without any delays. It would not be better to wait for a plan to be completed when we need the solution urgently. The other managing jobs like decisions regarding using the budget, quarterly meetings and training for the new procedures and policies may have time to write a project plan (Projectconnections.com).Project planning would be useful for new hiring and their training. It would help to cut the budgets when required and to use them efficiently when there will be some new procedure and polices to put into effect. Project planning makes the instructions easy for employees they would know what steps are to be followed when and this would help to improve the administrative activities of organization. Project management is a time consuming process. It involves lot of paper work and brainstorming. When it is not done in a proper manner it may give the unexpected bad results. An organization doing the project management

Movie Critique on Gothika Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critique on Gothika - Movie Review Example Movie Critique on Gothika She is paid a lot of money and to her, the patients are just crazy. She is doing her usually routine of a morning swim and working her normal case load but one day she travels down the highway and meets a woman in flames. She almost runs over this woman but has stopped the car to see what happened to her. The woman in flames is in turmoil. The next thing that the psychiatrist knew is that she is in a psych ward prison cell for the murder of her husband. The story revolves around trying to discover who murders this girl on the road and clearing her name. She is in a frantic battle with the psychiatric prison facility staff to clear her name. The psychiatrist clears both her and one of her main patients when she discovers that the patient was actually raped by one of the guards who is responsible in murdering the girl in flames and the many other girls at the ward. The guard and the psychiatrist's husband had been raping women for a long time in the facility. The story presented in thi s movie had so many twists and turns and interwoven pieces that it made for a great story while being a horror film. The characters in the story were portrayed wisely delivering an outstanding performance. Halle Berry is a remarkable actress in most movies she is in and she won an oscar in some of her film Monster's Ball so it is no surprise that she is capable of a brilliant performance. Halle Berry played the psychiatrist and she is incredibly rich and famous. It is important to recognize that if she was not famous, she would have still delivered a great performance because we see the flawless acting with an elegant flow. She is unlike any other actress because she draws her audience in effortlessly. She is incredibly beautiful but somehow conveys such an ordinary character position. Robert Downey Jr is also in the film and his role is more subdued but it still delivers quite an impact because it is Robert Downey Jr. When he is forced to go against Halle, we see a performance that is quite honest and genuine in its delivery. The prison guard has a poor performance only in the reason that I found he had an annoying persona and did not play evil enough like other people play evil. He is far from being an Anthony Hopkins type character from The Silence of the Lambs. Penelope Cruz plays crazy and beautiful extremely well and holds her own and goes beyond that in this film. Her acting ability is outstanding and her delivery of portraying most characters is quite powerful. The cinematography has quite an impact because the woman in flames is so tortured and is also quite good at acting. The flames and the blood scenes are quite remarkable in terms of how esthetically pleasing and horryifying they are all at the same time. The thunder storm on Halle's way home and the swim scene is incredible as well because we all like a good thunderstorm in a movie. The editing had quite an impact and I felt that the scenes that were in the movie delivered such an awesome film an d nothing was left out. We see the many great qualities in this film with the editing job because there was nothing in it that needed to be added or left out. All the scenes belonged and brought the film to a position of greatness that we have to pay tribute to the editor for doing such a good job. The sound was good but not much more impressive as compared to any other film. We see the woman in flames screaming and the scenes where Halle has fits and outbursts in her reflection of memories

The Conflict Between the Arguments for Determinism and Free

The Conflict Between the Arguments for Determinism and Freedom Essay 1. Discuss the conflict between the arguments for determinism and freedom. Everyone in this world has asked this very old question: Are we humans really free in our willing and choosing, or are we predetermined to be and to do what antecedent â€Å"programmingâ€Å" dictates? We feel great for the things we go correct but we feel guilty and blame ourselves for bad decisions. How can we be sure the existence of freedom exists and not that its just a plain illusion. We also find ourselves in a dilemma we have to sides we have the feeling of being free and on the other side we have a feeling of being etermined to accomplish something. In reality we come to the real human dilemma we are both determined and free; and somehow work around the contradictions until we achieve a viable understanding on how both can be true. We as humans operate on the assumption that human beings can be morally and legally responsible -if our assumption of freedom is false, then life as we live it is a cruel joke founded upon a tragic illusion. We are not what we think we are; life is not what we think it is; the rules of the game are not what we thought. Skinner’s way of thinking, â€Å"freedom is a myth, and a dangerous yth because we have invested the myth and its symbol (â€Å"freedom†) with something close to sacred qualities. Freedom is an emotion that is a conditioned response, conditioned (cause) response. If we can’t explain human choice by cause and effect, then there is no answer. There is no other way to explain human choice. No explanation for what freedom means . By selecting specific causes and (stimuli), desire effects (responses) will result. Sartre is convinced that there is no determinism of any kind . Nothing tells me what to do, I decide; I myself decide, I cannot blame God, or others or y past environment , I am now what I make myself to be, I have to accept the consequences of my own freedom, take the responsibility for my decisions, and face the consequences thereof. Environment influences my freedom. Confuse my freedom with uperconditioning. Sartre claimed that man is condemned to be free. A person is the center of freedom. We exist in a world without guidelines. Nothing = no meaning. We live in two realities objective which is real and the subjective not real. Its choose what I want to be and become- so human meaning is nothing. Meaningful things in life would be: ultural norms, what u was brought out to be, and social norms. But to live means to dream a million dreams and forge ahead to catch the fullness of our being. There is nothing to help us, because the moment we became conscious of what we are, then we became responsible for everything we are and do. Freewill: the human consciousness is not subject to the same casual principles that the scientists assumes to operate in the rest of the physical world. A human is free, absolutely and unconditionally free; â€Å"there is no determinism-man is free, man is freedom†. Sartre: human life is inescapably tragic. Live life without myth: means for an explanation for life, getting through life with the human condition and living with that. This can have self cons to make yourself feel better. Sartre wants us to be accountable for our doings, what we do is our responsibility, we assume the consequences for our doings. He doesn’t want us to loose our freedom. Self deception becomes the center of consciousness that becomes and ties with the egocentric predicament. We have to be authentic in our minds choice becomes ours, our actions our own, and the consequences ours. We see how freedom becomes more of a choice, eterminism as the definition defines it: the assumption or doctrine that every event in the universe has a prior cause and that all effects are at least theoretically predictable in all the causes are known; becomes conflicting with freedom, because freedom as I mentioned is more of a choice, because every choice we make comes with a consequence. Its not predictable as determinisms explains. 3. Discuss Toynbee’s â€Å"organismic interpretation† of history. How is it different from that of Marx and Hegel ?  Arnold Toynbee’s Study of History was a research program where he discovered he meaning of history and of the western civilization. In his study he discovered patterns. Consistent, clear patterns of birth, growth, maturity, decline, disintegration, and death for each and every civilization in the world. To him the patterns were unmistakable, and he tried to study the movements of civilizations without prior doctrinal commitment. He believed that the patterns he was were real, not subjective. He gave labels to the stages of development; a â€Å"primitive society†, â€Å" creative minority†, and the â€Å"dominant minority†. Toynbee’s philosophy of history runs something like this: individuals experience a state f peace and contentment, then disillusionment and suffering, after that comes salvaging of values, then again a period of contentment and peace and the cycle repeats itself again. What Toynbee was saying in general was that people don’t get down to the business of assessing life’s values until their loss compels them to do so. In other words individuals learn by suffering, and only by suffering. But they learn and thereby alter the pattern of their civilization. Friedrich Hegel’s and Karl Marx way of thinking is way different that Toynbee’s history view. Friedrich Hegel stated that the thought process moves in a three beat rhythm that he called the â€Å"dialectic†. It begins with an idea, thesis, then proceeds to develop into its opposite, the anti-thesis; after that the mind sees the relatedness of the thesis and the antithesis and weaves them together into a synthesis. This synthesis, in turn, become another thesis, and so the dialectic repeats itself. The dialectic effects comprehension of the connections of the content of thought. Hegel was quite sure that that was the way Gods mind works. He said that God is pure thought or in his own words the Absolute Mind. He is no love or compassion, just pure thought. The Absolute Mind of God manifests reason through the human mind and therefore in human history. He mentioned that whenever people think and act more rationally, they are actualizing God’s will, and this progressive manifestation of logic is the theological purpose underlying human history. Human kind is a crucial part of the program, that man was becoming more reasonable. All of this would end in a state that Hegel described as â€Å"pure thought thinking about pure thought† or in other worlds Absolute mind contemplating itself. Karl Marx as one of Hegel’s students but as other students found the whole Absolute Mind thing was just dispassionate. He believed in Hegel’s â€Å"dialectic† and he believed it was real. But Marx saw it more as a â€Å"materialistic dialectic† an in his vision is was a dialectic of social struggle determined by man’s economic needs. Class struggle creates the three-beat rhythm. Marx interpretation is contrast to Hegel’s theistic dialectic. All Marxists know that history has purpose; it follows â€Å"inexorable law† toward a goal-the classless society where equality, justice, and plenty will prevail. Each individual is a part of history’s drama.