Na Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Na - Essay Example The main characters are described in the House behind a Weeping Cheery as people who come to America for freedom only to realise that it was a living hell in the cells. They find themselves slaves, predators and blood suckers. However, in the book, A Good Fall: their personal life is explained as being uneconomical. It argued that it is their own way of doing things in the prisons. The two books differ on personality of individuals as some choose freedom while others find themselves entangled in the freedom arena. The characteristics of the third eye in the book, the crossfire are evident. One of them is that the third eye is observant. He is able to observe that people still stick to their old ways of life. He quotes, â€Å"still thinking of your boyfriend or girlfriend ten years after breakup†. This statement shows a lot of observation and keenness is part of the third eye. He is also courageous as he shuns away the immoral things in the society. He is able to counteract a bullying boss at work and warning about procrastination of activities. This is simply to tell how the third eye is determined to bring things in order. The third eye is also a freedom fighter. He broadly fights the immoral things that take place in the society. The oppression from the governments, bosses and general administrators. The third eye is in frontline to explain the things that take place in the prisons where prisoners are

Memory Cost Essay Example for Free

Memory Cost Essay Over the past 30 years the cost of Electronics has steadily decreased. The cost of electronic storage has decreased greatly over the past 30 years as well. In this paper I will be talking about the decrease in the cost of RAM and Hard Drive Storage, how much will a 100TB HDD will cost when it becomes widely available in the future, and how much memory I will be able to buy with $100 in 10 years. In 1956, IBM created the first commercial Hard Drive called the IBM 305 RAMAC which held 5MB and cost a whopping 50 thousand dollars! Electronic storage started being more widespread during the early 1980’s, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that RAM and Hard Drive Storage begin to be cheap enough for the average person. Back in 1981 the price for one MB of Hard Drive storage space was $340! Most people couldn’t afford a computer back in the 1980’s because of the huge cost. Through the 1980’s the cost per MB fell from around $340 during 1981 then to $40 per MB in 1988, and finally to $9 per MB in 1990. The cost of one Bit of ram in 1981 was 0.000425 cents, in 1988 it was 0.000005 cents, in 1995 it was 0.000000158 cents, in 2000 the cost per Bit was 0.000000063, and in 2013 the cost per Bit was 7.910^-10 cents. To get an understanding of how much memory will cost in the future and when 100TB hard drives will become commercially available, we have to take a look at how the price for memory has gotten cheaper over the past 10-30 years, the ever increasing amount of storage space that can be squeezed onto a hard drive platter, and take in to account the rapid growth in the technology field. According to Chris Mellor in his article (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/01/hp_memristor_2018/) technology giant HP announced that 100TB hard drives could be available as early as 2018. I firmly believe that in 4 years by 2018 there will be 100TB drives for sale to the public but they will probably be very expensive till they go into mass production. In 10 years, we will be able to buy a hard drive with a phenomenal amount of storage space. From 1990 to  2014 the price has gone down exponentially from $9 per MB to under 150 MB per Cent! If we follow that exponential trend we are looking at hard drives that can hold over 100TB that cost fewer than 100 dollars, while the RAM will decrease in price slower. In conclusion, the cost of Storage such as RAM and Hard Drives has gotten very cheap, from over $500 per MB to 5 cents per GB! We will see a continual decrease in the cost of electronic storage and an increase in the amount of storage in smaller packages. Picture Citation: http://www.aei.org/publication/chart-of-the-day-the-falling-price-of-memory/ Citations http://ns1758.ca/winch/winchest.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/01/hp_memristor_2018/ http://www.jcmit.com/memoryprice.htm

Rappaccinis Daughter Essay: Finding the Heart in Rappaccinis Daughte

Finding the Heart in Rappaccini's Daughter         In Hawthorne's short story, "Rappaccini's Daughter", Rappaccini is ostensibly a cold, calculating scientist. A pure scientist who would willingly give his daughter, himself, or whatever else most precious to him "for the sake of adding so much as a grain of mustard seed to the great heap of his accumulated knowledge" (1641). This leads most to believe that Rappaccini lacks any emotion and concern for his "scientific subjects" and their desires. This assumption, however, is incorrect. Rappaccini cares dearly for, if no one else, one person and is willing to use his science to meet her needs. This person is his own daughter. Upon Giovanni's angry outburst to Beatrice, Rappaccini says, "My science and the sympathy between thee and him have so wrought within his system that he now stands apart from common men, as thou dost, daughter of my pride and triumph, from ordinary women" (1655). Rappaccini clearly cares dearly for his daughter and is willing to use his science to make Giovann i compatible with Beatrice because he recognizes her human need for companionship.    The conclusion reached by a cursory read of "Rappaccini's Daughter" is that Dr. Rappaccini is an evil, cold, and calculating scientist with only his scientific advancement in mind. This conclusion stems from Professor Baglioni's portrait of him. By Professor Baglioni's account, Dr. Rappaccini "cares infinitely more for science than for mankind" (1641). The hints of poison in Beatrice's person and the poisonous vegetation in Dr. Rappaccini's garden seem to support this assumption. There is an obvious parallel between the beautiful flowers, their wonderful scents and Beatrice's beauty and scented breath. Professor... ...and the love between her and Giovanni. He wanted only to be able to say, "My daughter, thou art no longer lonely in the world," and to see his beloved daughter happy, as is the wish of every parent for his child. Doctor Giacomo Rappaccini was not a cruel, bent, old man with an exclusive zeal for science and science alone. Rather, he was a "thunder stricken man of science" devastated by the horrible intolerance of one Professor Pietro Baglioni who, looking forth from the window of Dr. Rappaccini's house at the moment of Beatrice's death, "called loudly, in a tone of triumph [ . . . ] Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment!" (1655).    Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Rappaccini's Daughter." The Tradition in American Literature Ed. George Perkins, et al, vol. 1, 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Publishing Company, 1990. 1637 - 1655.

The Tv Era :: essays research papers

The TV Era   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The 20th century marked the beginning of a new era - 'the modern age.'; Some of the greatest minds the human race has ever witnessed lived and worked during the last several decades. These 'fathers of technology';, who arrived well ahead of their time, created the world as people know it. Car, airplane, rocket, are only few of the inventions that prepared mankind for the 180 turn. Some of the inventions found their usage in every day's life, such as: radio, toaster, washing machine…and finally, TV. The TV industry started its development with the invention of the first TV set, somewhere in the early 1950's, and has never stopped growing since.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Discussion whether or not television is a positive part of modern life, might seem arguable from several different viewpoints. Positively or not, the television has affected the life of almost every human being on the Earth…   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, people who lived before 'the television era'; could not hear the latest news at any time. The only source of news was the papers. However, without any significant technology involved, the newspapers could only report on the local events. On the top of that, usually such news offered information not accurate enough and too old to interest greater percentage of the population. All the people lived at the slower pace, by not knowing what was going on around them. For instance, a trading person who worked in the United States could hardly find out how British economy did. In the early presidential elections, the newspapers didn't inform enough those who worked on the farms. Therefore, they did not have credibility to vote. Nowadays, the TV campaigns allow us to know about every candidate's move and his beliefs and opinions towards foreign and domestic politics. More important than anything, with the television, ordinary people have a chance to keep track of world affairs. Today, an average person can come home from work, take off his shoes, lean back in the chair and turn on the TV. Then, he has the access to information about Bosnia and the children starving in Central Africa, both taking place thousands of miles away. On the other hand, the same guy maybe just wishes to watch The World Cup soccer match, or his favorite soap opera. The possibilities go to infinity. And how do we get the picture on the TV sets as the final product?

Poverty in Africa

Poverty in Africa More than 800 million people fall asleep starving every day, and 300 million of those 800 are only children. Poverty is a global crisis, something that affects many in a horrible way. â€Å"Poverty is going empty, with no hope for the future. Poverty is like watching your mother father, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn’t get something to eat. † Poverty has been around for ages, and will always be around. It is always there and will always be a problem. It could have been avoided, and can be treated if we follow the Gospels.The Gospels have many parables and teachings about the poor, and we can link that to poverty today. Poverty affects many children in Africa. In Africa 40 to 70% of the population lives in slums, and the child mortality rate in those slums is 65% higher. The children in these slums live a terrible life. Here in Canada, we have houses and apartments, condos and duplexes; all of these living condit ions are fine. Some people complain their house is too small, or they have to share a room. Imagine having no room to share or no house at all.When people complain about having a small house, they should imagine living in an overcrowded shack with no floors, no water, and no electricity. People in Africa have to live in those shacks. The church teaches us many helpful things. Jesus stands on side of the poor, and so must we. If we all put the needs of the poor in front of our own needs, we would not have children starving to death in Africa. The Rich Young Man (Matthew 19:16-30) is about a man that asks Jesus for eternal life, and what he will have to do to get it. Jesus asks tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, the man sighs.Jesus also tells the man to follow the 10 commandments. The religious truth is to follow the 10 commandments and to be kind, and donate to the poor. The Judgement of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-46) is about the Lord separating th e good people from bad. He tells the good thank-you for caring about him, and he tells the bad they did not help him. Both groups question and say they did nothing to him. God then says the good people did something for the poor, and the bad people did nothing for the poor. The religious truth in this is to treat the poor as if they are God.Poverty is a huge problem and it can be treated, and could have been avoided. If we followed the Gospels, and we followed what God told us to do, we wouldn’t have this problem. People are very ignorant, and think for themselves. If we all gave 5% of our pay checks to starving children it would make a huge difference. Even if everyone follows the 10 commandments, poverty would improve. The world is full of billions and billions of people live in the world today, and if even a third of those billions tried to help poverty we would see a difference.People need to start thinking about the poor more. We should all treat the poor, as if they are God. We should act as if each of those starving children we’re a piece of God. If someone saw God starving and in pain, they would help him. With poverty, it should be the same way. We should see people who are hungry, or even know of people who are hungry, and we should help them in some way. The Gospels teach us this, and many people read the Gospels, so why don’t people do it. People should do what the Gospel’s say and we would have a lot less people who are dying, and starving. Poverty in Africa Poverty in Africa More than 800 million people fall asleep starving every day, and 300 million of those 800 are only children. Poverty is a global crisis, something that affects many in a horrible way. â€Å"Poverty is going empty, with no hope for the future. Poverty is like watching your mother father, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn’t get something to eat. † Poverty has been around for ages, and will always be around. It is always there and will always be a problem. It could have been avoided, and can be treated if we follow the Gospels.The Gospels have many parables and teachings about the poor, and we can link that to poverty today. Poverty affects many children in Africa. In Africa 40 to 70% of the population lives in slums, and the child mortality rate in those slums is 65% higher. The children in these slums live a terrible life. Here in Canada, we have houses and apartments, condos and duplexes; all of these living condit ions are fine. Some people complain their house is too small, or they have to share a room. Imagine having no room to share or no house at all.When people complain about having a small house, they should imagine living in an overcrowded shack with no floors, no water, and no electricity. People in Africa have to live in those shacks. The church teaches us many helpful things. Jesus stands on side of the poor, and so must we. If we all put the needs of the poor in front of our own needs, we would not have children starving to death in Africa. The Rich Young Man (Matthew 19:16-30) is about a man that asks Jesus for eternal life, and what he will have to do to get it. Jesus asks tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, the man sighs.Jesus also tells the man to follow the 10 commandments. The religious truth is to follow the 10 commandments and to be kind, and donate to the poor. The Judgement of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-46) is about the Lord separating th e good people from bad. He tells the good thank-you for caring about him, and he tells the bad they did not help him. Both groups question and say they did nothing to him. God then says the good people did something for the poor, and the bad people did nothing for the poor. The religious truth in this is to treat the poor as if they are God.Poverty is a huge problem and it can be treated, and could have been avoided. If we followed the Gospels, and we followed what God told us to do, we wouldn’t have this problem. People are very ignorant, and think for themselves. If we all gave 5% of our pay checks to starving children it would make a huge difference. Even if everyone follows the 10 commandments, poverty would improve. The world is full of billions and billions of people live in the world today, and if even a third of those billions tried to help poverty we would see a difference.People need to start thinking about the poor more. We should all treat the poor, as if they are God. We should act as if each of those starving children we’re a piece of God. If someone saw God starving and in pain, they would help him. With poverty, it should be the same way. We should see people who are hungry, or even know of people who are hungry, and we should help them in some way. The Gospels teach us this, and many people read the Gospels, so why don’t people do it. People should do what the Gospel’s say and we would have a lot less people who are dying, and starving.

Harveys brew - Emphasis

Harveys brew Harveys brew A Sussex-based brewery has upset fans of punctuation with its inconsistent use of apostrophes. Apostrophe Protection Society member Jonathan Cook has taken to Facebook to campaign for Harveys Brewery to sort out its style. While the brewery usually omits the apostrophe from its brand name, Cook was apparently incensed after seeing the apostrophe suddenly included on beer pumps for Harveys Best Bitter at a Hove pub. (One can only imagine the internal turmoil he suffered, torn between a desire for consistency and for accuracy.) According to the marketing boss at Harveys, Bill Inman, the name should be naked of punctuation, and the brewery takes no responsibility for errant apostrophes or vigilante pump-makers. There is no apostrophe in Harveys, he told The Argus. If one appears on a pump somewhere it is without official sanction and I want to see the evidence. In fact, the inconsistency is in evidence on Harveys own site, where the name on the Christmas ale label includes an apostrophe. Mind you, that might be a simple error that has something to do with the beer having an alcohol content of 8.1 per cent.

Annotated biography of James Baldwin - Smart Custom Writing Samples

Annotated biography of James Baldwin - Smart Custom Writing Growing Inequality in the Economic CircumstancesTopic: Growing Inequality in the Economic Circumstances of America's Children Who Are Raised In Single Parent Households Though the article under critique â€Å"Poverty and Inequality among Children† by Daniel T. Lichter (1997) does not only focus on single parent households as a primary reason for growing inequality in the economic well-being of American children; however it also takes into account many other variables that affect children’s economic well-being. Let’s analyze different aspects of this research article to have a deep look into it. Independent and Dependent Variables and their Relationship: Children poverty (children poverty rate in America) is the dependent variable in this study which, according to the writer, depends upon many factors. It totally depends upon one’s standard of comparison and will be decided according to the selected independent variables. Let’s have a look at the independent variables of the study. Lichter while talking about children poverty and inequality talked about single parent households in relation to three factors.   Thus the main independent variable is single parent households which is studied in relation to three factors identified as three main reasons of children poverty in America. These three factors can be categorized as three independent variables of the study. These three independent variables are â€Å"changes in family structure, changing patterns of employment and earnings, and changes in public assistance†; the major independent variable being changed family structure in which the main focus is on single parent households and how changing working patterns and changing public assistance is affecting single parent households.  Ã‚   Selection of Independent Variables: Since the study takes a comparison perspective thus the independent variables are selected on these lines. The variables: family structure, employment patterns and public assistance, are selected after a comparative analysis of several factors.   The writer compared several other factors from international, historical, and demographic perspectives to see how child poverty rate in America is affected; these factors which lead to the selection of independent variables are discussed below. First factor in this regard is whether a state is market-oriented or a social democratic welfare state. This factor is said to have an impact on child’s poverty and the child poverty rate will be decided depending upon whether the state is more market oriented or social. Within this dimension, a comparison is made between children poverty rate and the fact that whether the family is female-headed. Furthermore, within same comparison perspective public transfer income’s effect is studied on poverty rate of children in the given state. To elaborate it even further it is studied that what effects low earnings and low transfer incomes has on poverty rate and its effect if the family is female-headed.   Secondly, the effect on children poverty if the state used a means-tested welfare program or a Universalist social insurance programs is studied. This comparison of children poverty in America with other Western industrialized states, when studied on the bases of whether th e family is single parent or not, showed striking differences in poverty rates of different states. Even the states having higher number of unmarried child-bearing couples have lower children poverty rate (Smeeding et al, 1988); this makes ‘single parent households’ a weak independent variable.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Second factor from same comparison perspective is selected as ‘time’. The study takes into account several dimensions to study today’s poverty rate and compare it with past population. This facilitates the comparison of child poverty rate today with what it was years back. This comparison engulfs many other perspectives including income decline from past and present, rich and poor gap, welfare income dependency, changing family structures, age inequality, living conditions gap, changed consumption patterns and growing chronic poverty in today’s population; where all these factors stand as independent variables having drastic impacts on children poverty rate today. Third factor from same comparison perspective is selected as ‘racial or ethnic differences’. Though these differences are independent but they do have a great impact on deciding poverty rate of American children. Poverty and prosperity rates are studied on different levels depending upon  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   economic inequality among population  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   rich and poor people  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   education – educated and less educated  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   job skills  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   family structure - married-couple families and single-parent families  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   migrations - native-borns and immigrants  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   work patterns among women in single-parent and married-couple pattern  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   urban sprawl - city dwellers and suburbanites  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   welfare assistance from government and then the comparisons are made with racial and ethnic background of the population to know its impact on children poverty rate. Unit of analysis (Population being studied): In this study, the researcher has taken American children as population to study growing economic inequality and poverty. The reason of selecting this unit of analysis is the motive to identify what factors are contributing towards diminished economic future of America so that proper remedial steps could be taken so as to ensure a bright and economically strong society. The fact that â€Å"today’s poor children will become the future poor adults† made the bases for this study and an effort is made to identify the major reasons of inequality and poverty among children. Critical Analysis of Research Design and Methodology used in this Study: For this study the researcher has relied on secondary data which was collected via quantitative research thus the research design followed by the researcher is also quantitative. However as quoted by Miles Huberman (1994) that Donald Campbell once said that "All research ultimately has a qualitative grounding† due to the fact that they need to be interpreted according to the needs of the study. Thus even after using secondary data collected through quantitative means Lichter has to somehow apply qualitative methods to interpret the data according to the needs of this study. Second point to note when it comes to the research methodology and design used by the researcher for this study is that the researcher has also used the data used by other researchers for their research. This poses a potential threat when it comes to the reliability of the data because due to the fact that every research is conducted for a specific purpose and data collected and interpreted is mainly complementing that purpose, thus there is a possibility that the data is wrongly interpreted and lead to wrong results or at least some parts of the research may be invalid. This is one of the major weaknesses of relying completely on the secondary data for a research. Another notable point is the excess use of independent variables due to the combination of comparison perspective and etiology. Though this approach gives a broader assortment to the research however it confuses the reader at the same time. There are so many points to consider that relate different reasons with children poverty and inequality which diverts the reader attention from the main focus of the study. As for the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology used by the author, first point which becomes obvious is the use of information from varied sources. This makes the research stronger because there is much information to support an argument, however the researcher, at the same time, uses some conflicting views which confuses the reader and make it difficult for them to decide whether or not the point under discussion have an impact on child poverty and inequality. Another point to note is that the data used from governmental sources i.e. census etc is quite reliable but their suitability to this research study is questionable. The income-based measure which follows Orshansky criteria to study the prevalence of economic deprivation, used in this study, has many limitations. According to the researcher himself, the measure does account for inflation each year and is adjusted accordingly however many other factors remained unattended which gives rise to the questions regarding its reliability. This measure fails to account for many factors like increase in real family income and consumption by children, public assistance for children, geographic differences that alter the costs of food, clothes and shelter for children etc. Moreover, the income is not adjusted for taxes and also the equivalent poverty income depending upon family sizes and adult-children family composition is not taken into account. Similarly the increase in single parent househo lds and cohabiting partners are not taken into account. These shortcomings makes it difficult to rely on the results displayed thereof. Another point when it comes to analyze the research approach used by the author is that there are two things under consideration: relative economic deprivation and absolute economic deprivation. Now, there are so many factors and dimensions under discussion that affects and decides whether the economic deprivation is relative or absolute and that too with different further perspectives to account for which makes it difficult for the reader to decide what is the actual factor affecting the deprivation level and growing inequality among American children. For example, factors like reliance on welfare income, children belonging from minority, children living in single parent households and immigrant children etc. all affects and decides the level of economic deprivation which is not account for thus making the research results questionable. Specific Recommendation to Improve the Research: The conclusion part of the research leaves many questions in the minds of the readers. It doesn’t provide any specific solution to the issue under discussion nor does it give any solid reason why less progress is made in relation to growing children poverty and inequality. It leaves it up to the reader and the future researchers to decide what is lacking and what must be ensured to cope with the issue of growing children poverty in America. This study identifies that what could be the possible reasons that this issue is not yet addressed properly like it could   be ineffective social policy or inadequate research but doesn’t ends up selecting one. Leaving the debate open is good to encourage new thoughts on any subject however it is only recommendable when the current ideas are insufficient or have been disregarded as the possible solutions. Whereas in case of the current study under discussion there are already so many ideas and possible outcomes that leaving the choice up to the reader or future researchers will only   confuse the matter. Thus in my viewpoint this study somehow fails to contribute much towards the solution of the issue under debate. Future Required Research: This study have identified three independent variables as changes in family structure, changing patterns of employment and earnings, and changes in public assistance with regards to single parent households. However, there are contradicting researches as well that negate single parent households as a reason of children poverty. For example, the study by Smeeding et al (1988) shows that the states having higher number of unmarried child-bearing couples have lower children poverty rate like Sweden. This makes ‘single parent households’ as a weak choice to be taken as independent variable. This raises different questions in regards to what actually can be taken as an independent variable to study children poverty. As for future research requirement, there is a solid need to clearly identify what actually triggers childhood poverty and inequality and what is actually contributing to increase it. As also suggested by the researcher of this study, there is an obvious need to look for some sensitive measures that incorporates many of the affecting factors, as discussed in the previous heading, so as to able to reflect and decide what affects both relative and absolute economic deprivation for children. There is a need to identify what it is that can improve the growing inequality and poverty among children since it is very important to eradicate the problem from its roots. There is a need to see whether it is discredited cultural norms like marriage etc or it is the lack of government policies that can help make children become economically self-sufficient.   The conclusion of the study is really helpful in identifying several issues that can be taken as next approach or topic for next research. References:   Lichter (1997), Poverty and Inequality Among Children, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 23, pp. 121-145 Smeeding T, et al (1988) Patterns of income and poverty: the economic status of children and the elderly in eight countries. In The Vulnerable, ed. JL Palmer, T Smeed- ing, BB Torrey, pp.89-119. Washington, DC: Urban Inst Miles Huberman, (1994), Qualitative data analysis, an expanded sourcebook, sage publications, the University of Michigan, ISBN 0803946538, 9780803946538

The Truth About Online Plagiarism Checkers

The Truth About Online Plagiarism Checkers The Goal We decided to study three important questions: Are online tools safe? Are user privacy, data protection, intellectual property, and licensing of the content concerned? Does the free option hide any unexpected features? Is such software as reliable and helpful as advertised? How the Websites Have Been Selected First of all, we googled such keywords as plagiarism detection, plagiarism test, free plagiarism tools, plagiarism checkers, duplicate text search, plagiarism software, plagiarism scanner, etc. After that, we checked available reviews of online plagiarism services and added them to the list. We tested selected tools using free option, without registration, and removed services that didnt work. Finally, we had a list of 32 websites. How We Tested the Websites For each of the websites, we checked such sections as Disclaimers, Terms of Service, FAQ, Support Forums, Privacy Policy, and Warnings. We searched for information on licensing, use of submitted content, data protection, service location and governing laws, and liability limitations. We also compared the information on country location available on the website and information from the WHOIS database. We even visited professional forums and social media to confirm some data on the location of the service. Results According to results of our research, 25% of online plagiarism checkers save submitted content. 28% of such websites claim that they dont save the content, and for 44% its impossible to determine whether or not they save the content. 13% of websites admit that they use the submitted content for their own purposes (either commercial or non-commercial). For 54%, its impossible to determine whether they use the content or not. 31% of websites claim that they dont use the saved content. 34% of the websites are located in countries with proper laws regarding intellectual theft and copyright (USA, Germany, Australia, Hong-Kong, UK, Cyprus). 25% of the services are located in countries with weak legal protection (Ukraine, Pakistan, Russia). For 41% of the websites, we were unable to determine the location. Final Thoughts Many students, bloggers, teachers, and writers use online plagiarism services every day. According to the results of our research, the use of such services sometimes is very risky, because the submitted content can be unprotected against copyright violations. Most of the free online services dont provide users with clear information on what they do with the submitted content, and how they use it. Some services publish the submitted content as their own and use it in any way they want. However, such services want a stream of fresh content for a reason. They dont have many sources to determine whether or not a certain text is original. Thus, some complicated services use the submitted content to improve the effectiveness of their work. At the same time, such a use of the content creates an opportunity to steal the content. The Privacy Policies and the Terms of Use may be changed anytime, so users cannot rely on claims of such websites. The submitted content may be used for so-called content spinning software, which uses the original content to create many paraphrased copies of texts on the same topic. We can conclude that writers and students who use online plagiarism checkers risk giving their content to the content spinning software. We suggest not using online plagiarism checking websites. You can copy and paste sentences from your text into a search box of any search engine, and it will work just like plagiarism checkers, or even better. Do Online Plagiarism Detectors Work Honestly? You may have heard that there is nothing new under the sun. However, almost all colleges, universities, and MBA schools want their students to write an original content that will have nothing in common with works written before. Plagiarism isnt a new thing – even Shakespeare borrowed almost all his ideas from other sources, but the internet has raised plagiarism to a completely new level. Professors dont like when students steal their works from the internet. Given the large class sizes and fast pace of work, teachers dont have much time to consider each student individually, trying to figure out whether he or she have plagiarized the work or not. Plagiarism checkers are a perfect solution in such conditions; they allow teachers to check many papers fast and easily. Most plagiarism checkers compare texts to the available web pages, and already-uploaded texts (most teachers require all their students to use such online services). After that, plagiarism checkers provide users with an analysis of the content, taking into account the percentage of text that has been found in other sources. Such a method includes many drawbacks. For example, students may use quotes from various sources. Even if all the citations are written according to necessary standards, plagiarism checkers will flag these elements as plagiarized. Thus, if students have analytical papers assigned, and their works include many quotes from Shakespeare or Dickens, they can be accused of plagiarizing the content, even if they followed all the quotation rules. Another common problem related to the use of online plagiarism detectors is that many students use some common, trivial phrases, such as its easier said than done, in the heat of the moment, and so on. Of course, good academic writing implies avoiding such constructions, but the use of common phrases itself isnt plagiarizing. At the same time, some students just change the wording without changing the content, and their texts may pass plagiarism check because such algorithms are unable to detect paraphrasing. Computers are able to consider words and phrases, but not the meaning of the text. Plagiarism software also has its ethical side. Professors rely on online checkers instead of doing their job and checking all papers manually. Some students may not understand the concept of plagiarism. For example, why citing their textbook is considered plagiarism, while quotes from Shakespeare are not. Students from some foreign countries may even consider citing their professor as a form of respect. Thats why telling students what exactly is considered plagiarism, and providing them with examples is necessary. Professors have to create an environment that will motivate students to avoid plagiarism. They have to spend more time with students, helping them with assignments and learning each students writing style. Understanding capabilities of each student, teachers will be able to easily understand whether or not their content was plagiarized. Professors also have to figure out why certain texts are flagged as plagiarism and check if citations are written properly. Usually, common assignments produce more positive results, because students use citations from reliable sources and familiar ideas. Unique assignments are much more difficult for students because they are not sure where to find the information. Their citations may be formatted incorrect, which in turn, will cause a bad originality percentage for such a work. Finally, another problem with plagiarism checkers is that they add certain tension between students and professors, minimizing the trust. When students hear long speeches about how their papers will be checked for plagiarism, it doesnt motivate them to follow the honor code. In our opinion, professors must remember that policing their students isnt their main goal. Plagiarism checkers do their job, but they cannot solve such real problems as weak students skills and drawbacks of the educational system.

Do tax cuts increase tax revenues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Do tax cuts increase tax revenues - Essay Example 1). This measure has led to increased investment and job creation in the American market over the past few years. Cutting taxes may lead to increased or decreased revenue depending on the duration in which the tax cuts are applied. During an economic boom, an increase in taxes leads to increased revenue for a country. A tax increase may, however, harm the economy in the long run as people may feel the burden imposed on them and shy away from doing business in the country as noted by Sowell (2012, p. 7), an economist and senior fellow at the   Hoover Institution Stanford University Stanford, . This implies that increased taxes will increase revenue in the short run but decrease revenue will do so in the long run. For instance, when President Clinton’s administration got rid of trade tariffs on Chinese goods, the American market were flooded with Chinese goods. This led to an increase in business and consequently tax revenues increased. However, taxes paid by Americans increased to a level that many of them got discouraged from risking their money in business. This led to a recession whi ch the American economy suffers to-date. When taxes are low, many people do not feel the tax burden and are, therefore, encouraged to risk their money in business and are encouraged to comply with tax laws (Hungerford 2012). If many people invest in business and earn dividends, they will contribute a lot in revenue to the economy as opposed to if fewer people were involved (Sowell 2012, p.5). With a lower tax burden, people grow richer faster and consequently move to a higher tax brackets which mean increased revenue for the government. Furthermore, when more people invest, many of them grow richer and consequently pay more taxes which translates to more revenue. A specialist in public finance, Hungerford notes that the revenue generated by an economy that has lower tax rates is often much higher than that that generated by higher tax rates (Hungerford 2012, p. 15).

Financial intermediation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Financial intermediation - Essay Example It is noted that the systemic stability contributes to the risk reduction. This is achieved through geographic diversification and this is analysed by the two/three of the cross-province merger and acquisitions. The empirical findings have been derived by applying a probabilistic theoretical model. This has supported the efficiency hypothesis rather than the imminent failure hypothesis. Thus journal contributes value to the readers as it not only shed light on the debate in the literature but also has policy implications for the merger and acquisitions today. These policy implications hold great importance as the economists and policymakers need to have a good look at them and follow them in all the policies that design. Economists and policymakers’ grave concerns about megabank failures and their consequences on financial markets and the economy are reinforced by empirical evidence on the concentration-fragility hypothesis. It is noted that the consolidation and systemic risk are positively related, although other factors also contributed to the increased risk. Moreover, it is stated that banking crises are less likely in more concentrated banking systems among 70 countries over 1980-97. However, this is not a hard and fast rule and there is a probability of concentration- fragility hypothesis which need to be analysed as well. ... New megabanks like the Citibank are also emerging. Thus, there is more concentration of banks thereby increasing the systemic banking risk. The importance of competitiveness is well known throughout the land but the Minister of Finance of the Canadian Government proposed bank mergers in 1998. However, there is a mixed result found after the mergers and acquisitions of the financial institutions have taken place. Moreover, the public policy implications are also very essential to be noted because they influence the allocation of the total amount of money available from the merged banks. This may involve conflicts of interests and the of objectives of the many stakeholders could be at stake. These regulations could be very different from commercial bankers’. They emphasize more on post-merger systemic risk than bankers. This is because of the costly banking crises; for example the financial tsunami of 2007. Thus these policies are given great importance by the economists and pol icymakers. There is a need to closely study the megabank failures, their consequences on financial markets and the economy and they must be supported by empirical evidence on the concentration. The scope of mergers and acquisitions has been manageable. The focus of this paper is on the relationship between banking consolidation and stability by examining the stability. The financial institutions under study are of the Canadian banking system. The time period under study is 1867-1935; from Confederation to the formation of the Bank of Canada. Hypothesis one says that these mergers and acquisitions are driven by market forces. They later become more efficient and stable banking system. The other hypothesis says that mergers and acquisitions have been

Fences by August Wilson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Fences by August Wilson - Essay Example lives of the black Americans in the 1950s into the limelight, most especially regarding the concept of discrimination, which faces the black American first hand, may it be in the employment or the sports sector (Bogumil, 34). The discrimination starts with Troy himself, who is an excellent baseball player, but owing to his race, he never gets to be paid well for his talents. Despite the fact that he is a bit older for a professional baseball player, at the age of 53, Troy Maxson is mostly discriminated against due to his black race (Wilson, 22). Consequently Troy harbors the resentment inside him throughout his life, and at some point the resentment towards other races that discriminated against the black makes Troy prohibit his son Cory from engaging in professional football, despite the fact that he has a talent (Menson-Furr, 98). It is Troy Maxson’s fear that his son will also be discriminated against, and he would not want his son to go through the same experiences that he had to go through as a baseball player. The play, Fences, portrays many aspects of the society refusing to play within the limits of the fences established around social morals, but rather the tendency to cross over the fence and invade the territory of others, in a way that serves to damage the lives of the individuals whose lives are intruded (Wilson, 36). The ethical, moral and even legal norms would demand that talent should be the basis of benefitting an individual, where an individual with a better talent will earn more out of the talent, than an individual with less talent in the same field. However, the society has crossed over these norms and invaded the boundaries of social talent, by introducing discrimination as a factor that defines the way individuals benefit from their talents. Thus, despite the fact that Troy has a good baseball talent, he only earns menial pay from his talent, which is not the same with other individuals from other races, who have access to good teams and

Conducting a Literature Review Data Collection (SLP2) Essay

Conducting a Literature Review Data Collection (SLP2) - Essay Example Knowledge of the possible effects of these methods could help prevent future such tragedies. Planned Parenthood is a good starting point for determining what types of birth control exist and their effectiveness, though they cannot be considered an unbiased source. While their mission is to help provide women with good information, they do tend to push the usage of hormonal methods to prevent pregnancy. The articles on their website written by physicians and other professionals can therefore be used, but carefully. A search of the PubMed Central database for "birth control" returned an extremely large number of hits, though many were unrelated to my research topic. One possible useful result is the article "New low-dose, extended-cycle pills with levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol: an evolutionary step in birth control" by Nelson, A. which is a longitudinal study of hormonal birth control pills in the last fifty years. Many other results are similarly helpful. A final database searc h for "birth control" of MedCentral provided 297 free journal articles and numerous other resources on birth control types and their safety.

Environmental Sustainability Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Environmental Sustainability - Research Paper Example In the article â€Å"Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability†, the author Nigel Melville (2010) discusses the relationship of information systems to environmental sustainability and how the relationship, in turn, affects society. According to the online business dictionary, Information systems (IS) are â€Å"combined hardware, software, infrastructure and trained personnel organized to facilitate planning, control, coordination, and decision making in an organization†, simply an overall information and resource management that make an organization function. In the aforementioned article the innovation in information systems showed direct effect for environmental sustainability wherein it plays a role in contributing change for shaping a better environment, for a better tomorrow. The article tackles about pioneering practices and processes in IS that improve environmental and economic performance. The article also discussed three types of relations included in the analysis provided namely macro-level variables such as social structure affect the psychic states (beliefs, desires, opportunities, etc.) of individuals; psychic states affect individual action and combined individual action affects macro-lev el variables such as the behaviour of the social system. All these belong to the social system construct which refers to both social and natural systems. These levels lead to the usage of Coleman’s model, which has been widely used in the sociological and organizational structures of analysis. This model fits the belief- action- outcome (BAO) framework which, after data gathering and analysis, research results intersecting information systems and environmental sustainability in organizations (Melville, 2010). Protectionism is defined in the online business dictionary as â€Å"government policy aimed at

Conducting a Literature Review Data Collection (SLP2) Essay

Conducting a Literature Review Data Collection (SLP2) - Essay Example Knowledge of the possible effects of these methods could help prevent future such tragedies. Planned Parenthood is a good starting point for determining what types of birth control exist and their effectiveness, though they cannot be considered an unbiased source. While their mission is to help provide women with good information, they do tend to push the usage of hormonal methods to prevent pregnancy. The articles on their website written by physicians and other professionals can therefore be used, but carefully. A search of the PubMed Central database for "birth control" returned an extremely large number of hits, though many were unrelated to my research topic. One possible useful result is the article "New low-dose, extended-cycle pills with levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol: an evolutionary step in birth control" by Nelson, A. which is a longitudinal study of hormonal birth control pills in the last fifty years. Many other results are similarly helpful. A final database searc h for "birth control" of MedCentral provided 297 free journal articles and numerous other resources on birth control types and their safety.

Phy 155 Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Phy 155 Assignment - Essay Example Another factor was the market monopoly for large computers held by IBM, which made the product only applicable to private computers. CISCO is a multinational corporation specializing in designing, manufacturing and selling network equipment. The company was started by a married couple, Sandy Lerner and Leonard Bosack , who both worked at Stanford University in computer operations (Schneider, 2010). The company managed to develop high standard routers although it faced lawsuits as some of their software were said to have been stolen from the university. The founding couple worked out of the company in 1990, when the company went public. The company went public and became the most valued companies at more than $500 billion. The company has extensively utilized acquisitions in achieving the tremendous growth it currently enjoys. Despite the acquisitions, the company captured the internet wave through production of modem access shelves and core GSR routers. Large capacity – fibre optics can transmit a large number of conversations simultaneously compared to other cables, fibre optics (up to 1million), coaxial cables (10,000 conversations, microwave radio (2000 conversations. There are approximately over 5 billion internet connection devices in the world today. The current world population is said to be about 7.2 billion people. The number of internet connection devices is expected to surpass the total world population as internet connections continue to increase. The effects of increased internet usage are expected to enhance communication and information transferring between the increased population. The increased usage and increased population is expected to increase the pressure on internet connections necessitating upgrades within short

Regulation in Mass Media Essay Example for Free

Regulation in Mass Media Essay The responsibility of the FCC and their regulations are often questioned if they are necessary or not. By examining Horwitz’s â€Å"The Evolution of the American Telecommunication System and the Origin of Communication Regulation. ,† one could take the side that the regulation of media is necessary. Regulation of media is necessary to prevent a monopoly which is one company controlling the entire market. If there was a monopoly on media then the company could charge and price whatever they want and only give service to those they wanted to. By having media regulations this is not able to happen. Natural monopolies in wired carriers, which are monopolies approved by the FCC, keep costs down and prevent a cluttering of wiring in the air or ripping up streets to install underground wiring. The first sign of natural monopoly was with ATT and the telephone. According to Horowitz, it states: â€Å"Under the leadership of Theodor Vail, ATT maintain the telephony constitution a natural monopoly. One policy, one system, and universal service’ was Vail’s ot-reapted slogan. † (Horowitz, Page 99) Vail argued that by having more then one provider there would be a waste of resources and if there was one provider pooling its resources they would be able to provide a better service to the customer. Though this might be true, unless there is regulation by the government this idea of natural monopoly would be horrible. Now the FCC regulates any kind of natural monopoly that exists within universal carriers of a media . The beginning of regulation began with the start of large scale communication, other then print, in 1835 when Samuel Morse proved a signal that could transmitted a message by wire. Morse used pulses of current to provide a written code on a strip of paper. This code became known as the Morse Code. Morse gave a public demonstration in 1838 to congress, but it took congress over five years to fund Morse’s experiment of the telegraph. Congress funded Morse $30,000 to construct a 40 mile experiment from Washington to Baltimore, using telegraph wire. It took six years before a message was sent and received over the telegraph wire. This was the first time a message had been transferred other then print or word of mouth. Western Union became the main provider of the telegraph service, and became a monopoly in 1867. The telegraph created the umbrella of commerce, which was the first time the government intervened with communications. According to Horwitz, a common carrier obligation was established for all carriers that provided service for the telegraph. Telegraph companies resemble railroad companies and other common carries, in that they are instruments of commerce and in that they exercise a public employment and are therefore bound to serve all customers alike without discriminations, they have doubtless a duty to the public to receive to the extent of there capacity all messages clearly and intelligible written and to transmit them upon reasonable terms but they are not common carriers, there duties are different and are perfo rmed in different ways and they are not subject the same liabilities. (Horowitz, Page 95, 96) What this law meant was that there could be no discrimination in who the provider wanted to extend service to. In 1895 the first radio message was transmitted by Marconi. Radio area waves were open to who ever could make a device to transmit messages to other people with the same device. Broadcasting became more and more popular. According to Horwitz, â€Å"broadcasting-the dissemination of electrical messages through the airwaves to an undifferentiated audience-may not have been contemplated, but it was inherited in the technology of radio. (Horowitz, Page 112) Radio became more and more popular and the government stepped in like they did with the telegraph and telephone and began regulating radio. The first major regulation was the Radio Act of 1912. Before this, radio waves were open to the public. The airwaves started to become too crowded and the U. S. government decided to take actio n. The Radio Act of 1912 established government control over the airwaves and created guidelines for issuing licenses and distributing radio airwaves. The Radio Act of 1927 was the second major act that was established to regulate the media industry. This act created the Federal Radio Communications (FRC), which was responsible for giving licenses to broadcasters. This act also made it so that the radio airwaves were a public resource. As a result, broadcasters were required to serve the public interest. The regulations of broadcasted media and the regulation of print media are different. The regulation of print deals with copyright laws. Anyone could publish anything they want but if some one uses someone else’s words without proper notation they could be sued. Print is regulated more when dealing with news print; for example the newspaper. Most print media would not use profanity or any kind of naked pictures. Print media is mostly written based on ethics. The writer tries not to take sides or out right seem bias towards one particular side. Broadcast media like radio have different kinds of regulations. In order to have air time on the radio one needs to have a license. Radio also must provide a public service toward the listener. Radio just like print media tends to stay away from profanity and over sexual connotations. Print media usually has a fee, whereas, radio is free to the public. Both of these media’s have regulations but have different kinds of regulations from the FCC. Overall, the world of mass media has many regulations that exist. These regulations are decided by the FCC, which is an independent government agency created under the Communications Act of 1934. At the beginning the FCC was responsible for regulating broadcast, telegraph, and telephone. Now the FCC has expanded its regulations to include new communication technologies such as: the satellite, microwave, cellular telephones, PCS service and private radio communications. As one could see, the responsibilities of the FCC are necessary in monitoring both the delivery system and the actual media itself. Overall, by using Horwitz’s â€Å"The Evolution of the American Telecommunication System and the Origin of Communication Regulation. ,† one could tell the history of regulation and how important it really is to the people.

The Classification Of Learning Strategies English Language Essay

The Classification Of Learning Strategies English Language Essay Interest in the characteristics of good learners led researchers to identify learning strategies. Learners are different because of their internal differences and the role played by the external factors. Among these differences are the strategies used by learners (Griffiths and Parr, 2001, p 249). In some researches the terms strategies and skills are used synonymously à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦skills and strategies such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Drake, 2008, p 8), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦skills/ strategiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Lu, 2006, p ii). In other researches, skills are differentiated from strategies. Skills are defined as acquired abilities, proficiencies (Harris and Hodges 1981, 298) and a mode(s) or manner(s) in which language is used (Richards et al. 1985, 160) and they are used to perform well (Hudson, 2007, p 78). In (Griffiths, 2004) strategies are defined as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾devicesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (Ellis 1986; Rubin 1975), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾techniquesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (Rubin 1975), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾operations, stepsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (OMalley et al 1985), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾directionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (Stern 1992) and are used to acquire (Rubin 1975) to facilitate, (OMalley et al 1985), and to compensate (Ellis 1986). Strategies are also different from skills in that they are used consciously (Nuttall, 1996). Because they are tools, strategies are assumed to dominate over skills (OMalley et al., 1985, p 557). In this work, the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾strategiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ is used to refer to the systematic ways which are consciously used by the readers to guide and enhance their reading processes. 2.6.1 Classification of learning strategies Researchers have tried to produce lists of learning strategies. Classification of learning strategies has primarily followed the theory of cognition, which is concerned with the way the brain works to process and call information back (Macaro, 2001). Rubin (1975) defined learning strategies as the techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge. She divided these techniques or devices into Direct Learning Strategies and Indirect Learning Strategies. Direct Strategies are directly related to the items or issues being learned. They are clarification/verification, monitoring, memorisation, guessing/inductive inferencing, deductive reasoning, and practice. Indirect Learning Strategies are concerned with learning environment adaptation: creating opportunities for practice, and production tricks (Hismanoglu, 2000). Rubinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (1975) classification reflects an interest in the relationship between the strategies used on one hand and learning processes and learning-environment adaptation on the other. In a later study, Wenden and Rubin (1987) learning strategies were classified into cognitive strategies and self-management strategies (Gamage, 2003). While cognitive strategies are concerned with the procedure used by the learner to process the information received, self-management strategies involve controlling the learning process itself. Using the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾self-managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ highlights the conscious use of the strategies. Social and affective factors were introduced in the classification presented by OMalley and Chamot (1990). They classified language-learning strategies into Cognitive strategies, Metacognitive strategies and Social/ Affective strategies (OMalley and Chamot, 1990, pp 44, 45). Cognitive strategies are relevant to the learning activities used by the learners to process new information. Metacognitive strategies are the activities which reflect a learners knowledge and management of his/ her learning process. Finally, Social/Affective strategies account for the social and affective aspects related to learning such as interacting with other people or controlling oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s own feelings while learning. Oxford (1990) developed the so-called Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) which also apply to teaching. In this inventory, she divided strategies into main groups: Direct strategies and Indirect strategies. She divided these two major groups into six subgroups. 1) Direct Strategies: Cognitive Strategies (practicing, receiving and sending messages, analysing and reasoning, and creating structure for input and output) Metacognitive Strategies (centring learning, arranging and planning learning, and evaluating learning) Memory Strategies (creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing, and employing action) 2) Indirect Strategies: Compensation Strategies (guessing intelligently, and overcoming limitations) Social Strategies (asking questions, cooperating with others, and empathising with others) Affective Strategies (lowering anxiety, encouraging oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s self, and taking emotional temperature) (Oxford, 1990, p 17) This classification of strategies can be considered the most detailed one because of its headings and subheadings. 2.7 Reading strategies Reading strategies are defined as readersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ conscious use (Nuttall, 1996, p 40) of techniques, operations or steps a learner takes to conceive a task, what textual cues they attend to, how they make sense of what they read, and what they do when they do not understand (Block, 1986, p 465). Doing so, readers should be aware of the strategies used and how to control them when they read (Paris et al., 1986, pp 92- 108). L1 reading studies constituted the base of reading studies in general.and the results and procedures were extended to cover L2 studies. Grabe and Stoller (2002) point out that foreign language teachers should assist students to transfer L1 reading strategies and to gain sufficient L2 proficiency (pp 84, 85). Studies of L1 reading strategies have usually concentrated on describing and listing the characteristics and strategies that distinguish good readers from poor readers and on the factors or reasons that may affect the reading process. Olshavsky (1976/1977) studied the effect of reading material and interest in reading strategy use for 24 tenth grade students while they were trying to comprehend a short story. The results revealed that both good readers and poor readers used the same strategies; however, readers with high interest in the material used strategies more frequently than did readers with low interest. In relation to the material, readers used more strategies when engaged in abstract material. Thus, it can be concluded that the kind of material and readers interest affect the number of the strategies used. Hosenfeld (1977) compared the strategies used by good readers and poor readers. The subjects were 40 students out of the 210 students who administered MLA-Cooperative Test of Reading Proficiency in Western New York. Twenty of the subjects scored high (32-45), and the other twenty scored low (13-19). The researcher concluded that good readers are characterised by keeping the meaning of the passage in mind as they read, reading in broad phrases, skipping words that are considered unimportant and unknown, looking up words, correctly, in the glossary as a last resort, and having a positive self-image as a reader. This study reveals that good readers are strategic and make use of their working memory. Some studies investigated certain strategies rather than describing the general characteristics of the reader. Kavale and Schreiner (1979) compared the way reasoning strategies were used by eight average and eight above-average readers who were selected from sixth grade population in a suburban public elementary school based on their scores in the Comprehension section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. Although the two levels used similar strategies, above- average readers used strategies more efficiently and successfully. Moreover, they realised that the above-average readers used strategies flexibly and sought alternatives when they needed to. In this study, it seems that the difference between the readers is not the number or kind of strategies used rather it is a matter of efficiency and flexibility. Studies also investigated the use of a group of strategies to achieve one purpose. Afflerbach (1990) investigated the strategies used to construct the main idea of difficult texts, and the contribution of prior knowledge to strategy use. The participants were eight (four anthropology doctoral students, four chemistry doctoral students) who had relatively high background knowledge in their own field, and relatively low knowledge in the other field. The two texts used in this study were from two different knowledge domains: anthropology and chemistry. In this study, the topic sentences were removed from the texts. He noticed that four strategies were used: Draft-and-Revision, Topic/ Comment, Initial Hypothesis, and Listing. In Draft-and-Revision, the reader jots down an idea, judges it, then when it proves to be wrong, it is revised. The second strategy is Topic/ Comment, in which the reader highlights a topic and comments on it. The third is generating an Initial Hypothesis based on the title, the first sentence, or skimming the text; then testing the accuracy of th e hypothesis and modifying it. The final strategy is Listing where the related words, concepts, or ideas are grouped together. It was also noticed that familiarity with the text generated its automatic processing (Afflerbach, 1990, p 33). This may suggest a relationship between automaticity and prior knowledge. The strategies used can also be affected by level of difficulty. Kletzien (1991) compared the strategies used by good readers and poor readers as they were presented with texts that varied in difficulty. The 48 participants in this study were 10th and 11th grade students at a suburban high school in the U.S. Twenty four of these subjects were good comprehenders while the others were poor comprehenders. She observed that both groups used the same type and number of strategies when the text introduced suited groupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s level. However, poor readers used fewer strategies than the good readers as the texts became more difficult. Macaro (2001) also reported that good readers do not get anxious when they do not understand (Macaro, 2001, pp 86, 88). Kozminsky and Kozminsky (2001) explored the relationship between general knowledge and skills in applying reading strategies on one hand and reading comprehension on the other. The participants were 205 ninth-graders in two comprehensive high schools in a city in southern Israel. Thirty four subjects were expected to successfully complete the full high school programme and full course of the national matriculation examinations, 128 were expected to get the diploma and take a few of the national matriculation examinations, 21 students were expected to complete the high school programme and obtain a diploma, and finally 22 were expected to complete twelve years of schooling to obtain a diploma. In this study, the researchers concluded that general knowledge and the ability to apply reading strategies contribute to reading comprehension. However, this contribution varied because of the differences in the educational level of the students (academic, semi-academic, vocational, and learning disabilities). Through think-aloud protocol and interviews, Lau (2006) highlighted the difference in the reading strategies used by four good and four poor Chinese readers. These subjects were in eighth grade in Hong Kong. The researcher realised that good readers are characterised by their knowledge of vocabulary and strategies, their abundant use of the strategies, and their memory capacity whereas poor readers lack these characteristics. L2 reading proficiency can also affect metacognitive strategies. Koli -Vehovec and BajÃ…Â ¡anski (2007) explored comprehension monitoring of bilingual (Croatian native speaking) students at different levels of perceived proficiency in Italian. They noted that proficient students in a second language showed greater mastery of monitoring skills than the less proficient students, and that monitoring contributed to reading comprehension in higher elementary school. These studies show that good readers are characterised by their knowledge of vocabulary and their working memory capacity. These characteristics helped them use reading strategies more efficiently and flexibly than poor readers. Lack of these abilities and prior knowledge about the reading material, and textsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ levels of difficulty affected poor readersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ achievement negatively. The strategies mentioned in the above studies can be grouped into three categories: tools used in the reading process, manipulation of reading material and planning and monitoring of reading process. The following table summarises that.

Managements Achievement Claims Perspective :: essays research papers

Management's Achievement Claims Perspective It is to no one's surprise that Coca-Cola is one of the world's largest companies. Fourteen years ago, Coca-Cola began building credibility to its investors by never over-promising, just consistently hitting long-term growth targets. In Great Britain, Coca-Cola surpassed two leading teas of consumption per capita. People said it would not be possible, but Coke did it. That is just one example. Coca-Cola's management believes in the theory that people need 64 ounces of liquid everyday to survive. Right now, Coke only accounts for an average of less than two of those ounces. They believe that by adding strength to the world's strongest brand, it will help people make Coke a more frequent choice for those 64 ounces. The part of this Annual Report that I personally wanted to attack was the lack of sales in Canada and Coca-Cola's goals in improving them. Being native of Canada and a big Coke fan, I know that Coke has struggled in my homeland for several years. M. Douglas Ivester answered my concern by stating that Coke allowed the retail prices of their products to out pace their value in the eyes of our consumers. Since 1994-1995, Canada's unit per case volume increased 4%. Coke is expecting an even greater increase in 1996 because their Canadian bottler signed with two major grocery retailers. Coca-Cola used Canada as a lesson they can use as a guide worldwide never repeat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CEO, Robert Goizueta believes that there is no limit to your growth. He will not allow boundaries to be set. It is evident to me that Coke is not setting boundaries considering that they have a bottler in almost every corner of the world. Coke is focused on strengthening world wide markets and creating new ones. In this report, they state how the will improve sales in Nigeria, China, South Africa, and Canada.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of all the Financial Reports I have read (Anderson Consulting, Home Depot, Green Park, etc.), Coca-Cola is a company in which I believe what the management claims. Coke has a great responsibility of making investors, employees, and consumers happy all over the world. Why would they blow it Coke realigned their management team at the beginning 1996 to more accurately reflect the global nature of their business. That says growth all over it. Comparison to Industry Standards   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Coca-Cola  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Industry Standard 1.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quick Ratio  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  .2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  .7   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This states that Coke through these calculations is not   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  as liquid as the industry standard. 2.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Current Ratio  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1.0%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1.4% 3.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Profit Margin  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9% 4.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Return on Equity  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  55%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9.5%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is very good percentage, above industry standard. 5.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Asset Turnover  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1.2%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3.6% 6.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Return on Assets  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  20%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8.5% 7.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Debt to Equity  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  75.3%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  66.5%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A little high compared to industry, but still has not   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  peaked at 100%.

To Autumn by John Keats Essay -- To Autumn John Keats Poetry Essays

To Autumn by John Keats â€Å"To Autumn† is one of the most famous, and perfect odes written by John Keats, and any modern writer. It is quite fitting that his greatest piece was the last one that he ever wrote before he met with his unfortunate end. However, this ode has some significant differences to the other odes that he has written. Firstly, there is no flight from reality, or deviation into imagination or dream, in fact there is no narrative voice at all. Secondly, it has an unprecedented emphasis and commemoration of change and progress, not only through autumn, but through all mortal events. While the title implies a progression through autumn, the ode also has references to an aging day, and even personal maturity. The first stanza is brimming with specific vivid visual imagery. The first which relates to the change in the season and day is the â€Å"maturing sun.† This sun makes the fruit ripen and cause the burst of ripe food for harvesting. He then goes on to describe the outburst of ripening fruit to an excruciating intensity. The apples are so plentiful that... To Autumn by John Keats Essay -- To Autumn John Keats Poetry Essays To Autumn by John Keats â€Å"To Autumn† is one of the most famous, and perfect odes written by John Keats, and any modern writer. It is quite fitting that his greatest piece was the last one that he ever wrote before he met with his unfortunate end. However, this ode has some significant differences to the other odes that he has written. Firstly, there is no flight from reality, or deviation into imagination or dream, in fact there is no narrative voice at all. Secondly, it has an unprecedented emphasis and commemoration of change and progress, not only through autumn, but through all mortal events. While the title implies a progression through autumn, the ode also has references to an aging day, and even personal maturity. The first stanza is brimming with specific vivid visual imagery. The first which relates to the change in the season and day is the â€Å"maturing sun.† This sun makes the fruit ripen and cause the burst of ripe food for harvesting. He then goes on to describe the outburst of ripening fruit to an excruciating intensity. The apples are so plentiful that...

Extended commentary of ‘The Convergence of the Twain’ by Thomas Hardy Essay

On the Title: Hardy uses two interesting words: ‘convergence’ and ‘twain’. A convergence is a meeting of two paths, or entities – in this case, a collision! ‘Twain’ is an archaic word for ‘two’, i.e.; both the ‘Titanic’ and the iceberg. Such a title immediately positions the reader to the direction in which the poem will go. Hardy is not, as many elegiac poems of the day were, preparing to mourn the loss of the ship and the lives upon it but rather proceeding to examine the philosophical nature of the collision; perhaps it was fated? The other current use of â€Å"twain† was in the pseudonym â€Å"Mark Twain,† made famous by the publication – initially in England – of â€Å"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† in 1886. Clems adopted the nom de plume to suggest â€Å"uncomfortable waters† or â€Å"tight navigation,† since two fathoms (â€Å"twain,† the sounding of a Mississippi deck-hand measuring the depth beneath the keel) would be dangerous for a steamboat. Background Information: The ocean liner ‘RMS Titanic’ famously sank, at two o’clock in the morning, upon the 15th April 1912. The disaster claimed 1,502 lives. Hardy was asked to write a poem to be read at a charity concert to raise funds in aid of the tragedy disaster fund. It was first published as part of the souvenir program for that event. Overall Structure: Hardy writes eleven regular triplet stanzas, with an AAA rhyme scheme throughout. The use of triplets allows for a more thorough exploration of ideas in each stanza; unified by the use of the rhyme scheme. Perhaps he also does this to create the effect of inevitability, for the rhymed words form their own â€Å"paths coincident† that lead to a preset conclusion – the reader knows, that is, with which sound each stanza will end after he or she has only read the first line of that stanza. However, that knowledge only appears are having read the first few stanzas or so, echoing the idea that knowledge of those coincident paths of which the poem speaks is not always immediately discernible. Themes: The Vanity of Man, The Relationship between Man and Nature, Fate, Classical Entities. Difficult Language Notes: â€Å"The Immanent Will† – a force of fate. â€Å"Salamandrine† – associated with the salamander (a mythical creature) The poem runs in straight sets but I wish to divide in two for ease of analysis. ‘Part I’ exists from Stanzas I to VI, whilst ‘Part II’ takes the form of Stanzas VII to XII. Part I Notes: First Stanza Notes: Hardy introduces his poem in medias res – the ship has been sunk and lies silently at the bottom of the ocean. He creates a calm effect over his poem through the consonance of the ‘s’ sounds: â€Å"In a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity, And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.† Particular elements of diction are worthy of note: * â€Å"Deep from human vanity† – this line points to the emerging theme of man’s failed vanity, in creating such a grand object to rule over the natural world, only to have Nature smite it. The phrase â€Å"Pride of Life† accentuates this principle. Note how Hardy uses capital letters to make otherwise simple abstract nouns definitive. Although this is pre-emptive, I will now examine the theme of vaingloriousness (and point out notable pieces of evidence throughout the remainder of the poem) which Hardy presents. He uses irony to evoke the ridiculousness of man’s plans. In stanzas I through to V, he juxtaposes images of the ships opulence, such as its â€Å"mirrors meant / To glass the opulent† and the ship’s â€Å"gilded gear† with images of the â€Å"cold currents†, â€Å"sea-worms† and â€Å"moon-eyed fishes† that now flow, crawl and swim through those former interiors. This creates a tangible image of the human vanity referred to in this first stanza; what people design for greatness ultimately ends up in a place of abasement. * â€Å"Stilly† is a highly unusual adverb. Hardy uses it to create a sense of ‘peace’. This is furthered by â€Å"solitude† and â€Å"couches†. ‘Couches’ suggests restfulness, or an equanimity. S.L.S considers an image of a ‘death bed’ upon the sea floor. Second Stanza Notes: Hardy focuses upon images of death and change in this stanza: â€Å"Steel chambers, late the pyres Of her salamandrine fires Cold currents third, and turn to tidal rhythmic lyres.† The furnaces of the ship, which contained the â€Å"salamandrine fires† of her engines (a form of LIFE), now have â€Å"Cold currents thrid† (note the a contrast in temperature – and consequently, a contrast in living state) running through them. ‘Thrid’ itself is another reference to the title, as an archaic word for ‘two’. Where there was once heat and life driving the engines of the ship, there is now coldness and death. A further juxtaposition within this second stanza is the use of the word â€Å"pyre†, as it connotes funerals and death, while the use of â€Å"salamandrine† insinuates a certain tenacity for life (as salamanders were said to live through fires) that could be associated with the ‘Unsinkable Ship’ idea – there was a theory prior to the sinking, now tragically ironic, that the Titanic was unable to sink. Yet, for all of the tragic (or formerly energetic, given the nature of fire) nature of the ship, Hardy once again returns to ideas of peace and harmony. â€Å"Rhythmic tidal lyres† are reminiscent of the classical entities – such as Apollo’s lyre and his place in Arcadia – and consequently calming images. The distinct iambic meter in this phrase aids the calming lilt of the lines. Hardy presents the Titanic’s corpse in a peaceful light, however chilling and panicked her death. Third and Fourth Stanza Notes: I have above described the idea of vanity. I will pick out key phrases from these stanzas which support this idea – their key point is to achieve the above: * â€Å"mirrors meant to glass the opulent† CONTRASTED TO â€Å"grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent† sea worms. Note the cruelty and emphasis on â€Å"indifferent†. * â€Å"Jewels in joy designed† CONTRASTED TO â€Å"lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind† Note the use of polysyndeton. * â€Å"gilded gear†. Note alliteration. Fifth and Sixth Stanzas: Thus far Hardy has thoroughly examined the idea of vanity and the sunken ship itself. At stanza VI, Hardy changes his focus to the process by which the ship sank, in reference to Hardy’s ‘question’ formulated in stanza V. V â€Å"Dim moon-eyed fishes near Gaze at the gilded gear And query: ‘What does this vaingloriousness down here? VI Well: while was fashioning This creature of cleaving wing, The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything† It is obvious that Hardy engineers the explanation of the collision as a response to the â€Å"fishes’† question – although one would initially expect the final line of stanza V to be rhetorical. Before diverging upon the analysis of Hardy’s response, note some key elements of this stanza: * â€Å"moon-eyed† (white and dull) contrasts with the shiny, golden nature of the â€Å"gilded†. This accentuates the differences between the metallic (man-made) ship and the natural world. Also note the alliteration used in this line. Question why? * In an final assault on the vanitas vanitatum, observe that Hardy utilises anthropomorphisation to allow even the fish to question Man’s will in creating such ‘vaingloriousness’ – a Natural force (perhaps a personification of Nature itself?) labels the ship a vanity. What consequence does this have? This query, although appearing rhetorical, is answered by Hardy. Denoted by the use of ‘Well’, he switches to a colloquial register – this again adds to the sense of a Volta at stanza VI. Also note the sudden introduction of prominent enjambment at the end of the poem. The sense of stanza VI rolls into the VIIth, in direct opposition to the previous use of ‘poetic closure’ to end all previous stanzas – Hardy normally uses a form of punctuation. Now it’s gone. Apart from being a ‘change’ in its innate self, the enjambment aids in increasing the pace of the poem. This is highly significant. Seeing as, from this point forth, Hardy creates a ‘convergence of the twain’ within the poem itself – i.e.: he brings the two entities together (I will later explore this process in detail) from obscurity to the point of their collision – then increasing the pace at which the two entities move (which is obviously determined by the pace of the poem) must bring them together faster. This adds to the sense of movement, of fast movement and of dramatic effect. Well done, Mr. Hardy. Note some language details: â€Å"Creature of cleaving wing† is a very interesting phrase. â€Å"Cleaving† has multiple meanings, all of which are appropriate to Hardy’s imagery. Primarily, he may be imagining the ship as it ‘cleaves’ through the water, as all good ships should do. Remember, in its day the Titanic was the fastest liner afloat. â€Å"The cleaving wing† may therefore be the iron bow of the boat. Notice how Hardy is utilising additional anthropomorphisation, in referring to the ship as both a â€Å"creature† and one with â€Å"wing[s]†. The iceberg, however, remains inanimate. I doubt that there are any really deliberate poetic techniques to be synthesized from this but perhaps Hardy encourages a larger empathic response from the animate ship than from the inanimate iceberg? However, we must also acknowledge the metallic â€Å"knife-like† associations with ‘cleaving’ – like ‘cleaver’. This has a highly inanimate connotation. [Another weak point, acknowledged.] There also exists an archaic definition in the verb ‘to cleave’ – as in a Biblical usage – meaning ‘to join in matrimony’. This is of enormous interest. Hardy later plays a great deal upon the idea of the twain being marital (and even sexual) mates. Throughout the poem he refers to them with terms connotating a â€Å"confirmed relationship†. We may be â€Å"reading into† the phrase a little too deeply but it is a comment worthy of note. Perhaps Hardy is using the archaic definition of the verb to further advance his marital imagery? He is certainly no stranger to using such odd vocabulary; observe â€Å"The Darkling Thrush†! Finally, I wish to examine ‘The Immanent Will’. â€Å"Immanent† is not an archaic spelling of â€Å"imminent† – do not get confused in terms of these different words! â€Å"The Immanent Will† is somewhat comparable, in terms of a philosophical idea, to the Christian concept of the â€Å"Holy Spirit† or â€Å"Holy Ghost†. It is a spiritual, but existent, entity within every object which determines its fate or actions. Christianity has branches – notably in Catholicism – which believe in a pre-determined plan, of God’s design. In other words, we are all on a plan set out by God. The Holy Spirit helps us to achieve what God wishes; it provides inner strength and resolve. Hardy did not have an easy relationship with religion; born a Christian, he went through multiple tumultuous periods of atheistic belief. That’s probably why he hasn’t gone and just written; â€Å"God, or some deified entity, has allowed and planned for the demise of this here ship. And that’s why the iceberg, which could have been anywhere in a 3,000 mile radius of the vast Atlantic Ocean, just so happened to strike the ship. Deal with it.† So, instead, he has substituted a strictly non-religious term to his idea of Fate. Indeed, he later refers to the Classical ‘Fate’ entities to again replace any otherwise religious terminology. Remember also that Hardy is not aiming to criticise Christianity in a poem intended to raise money for the victims’ families. Thus, clear religious controversy was not a good idea. Stanzas VIII and IX Notes: â€Å"And as the smart ship grew In stature, grace and hue, In shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too. Alien they seemed to be: No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of the later history,† Again, Hardy invites further comparison through the use of juxtaposition; he now places the two entities in a relative time scale. The use of the word ‘as’ creates this effect, as it brings almost a simile-esque comparative sense to the stanzas. We must focus on the idea of the twain ‘growing’ – as that is the image which Hardy evokes – and the way in which both are joint in the use of the same verb. The obvious mental image is one of a familial relationship; they grow simultaneously but are fatally unaware of each other. Indeed, the distance between them is made explicitly clear and further emphasized by the alliteration used with â€Å"shadowy† and â€Å"silent†. Observe, in the phrase â€Å"In stature, grace and hue†, Hardy returns to the original theme of the ship’s grandeur. He appears, in this occurrence, to be rather more commending (or perhaps simply more mournful) of the ship and its purpose. Stanza IX further dwells upon the notion of fate. Indeed, Hardy utilises some more imagery worthy of note, full of oxymorons. â€Å"The intimate welding of the later history† It takes little to see that this further advances the ideas of both the twain’s ‘marital intimacy’, of the metal-related imagery associated with the ship, but also, in the final few words, the idea of Fate. If one can know, in the present, the details of the future’s past – in other words, the near future – then surely one is saying in an oddly convoluted way that a certain action is destined to soon take place? It’s an oxymoronic (â€Å"later history† is oxymoronic in my book!) way of saying the same as before; the twain are destined to collide. Stanzas X and XI Notes: â€Å"Or sign that they were bent By paths coincident On being anon twin halves of one august event, Till the Spinner of the Years Said ‘Now!’ And each one hears, And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres. Very little needs to be said about the action in these stanza. The Twain collide, bringing together the long wait in both metaphorical and poetic terms. Hardy’s precise choice of words and imagery is somewhat more interesting, however. For example: * â€Å"Paths coincident† does not point to a coincidence, as one might initially assume, but rather to a â€Å"co-incident† (i.e. â€Å"together†) act. The Twain are, on reflection, on a course which emulates two graphical lines, in the way that they bisect. Does this then also reflect a sense of Fated entity? Graphical lines do not change, thus their ‘collision’ is determined and sealed. * â€Å"Twin halves of one august event† reminds the reader of the action and precise existence of the collision. In the end, the act was a very physical, not philosophical one. Hardy acknowledges this, but attempts to draw out the unified nature of the Twain, in the intrinsic act of their collision. Note that the usual use of â€Å"august† to mean â€Å"awe inspiring or admiration; majestic† is not intended by Hardy here in a positive way. He merely wishes to express wonder at the grand, if tragic, culmination of two great forces. And yes, it is rather melodramatic. * Hardy at lasts then returns to his Fated theme with the phrase â€Å"The Spinner of the Years†. Reminiscent of the Classical Greek Moirai or the Roman Parcae (three old hags who would run, spin and cut the threads of life), Hardy refers to the middle of the three – the Spinner. Spinning a mortal thread has always occupied a position in mythology. Hardy utilises it to draw out a sense of fate. Fate itself conducts the affair, it seems, given that the Twain act upon the word â€Å"Now!† to converge. * Emerson Brown, scholar of medieval literature, pointed out that the poem is 33 lines long, whilst line 33 echoes the 33-year-old Christ’s last words: â€Å"consummatum est.† In any case, when â€Å"consummation comes†, Thomas Hardy sends 1,500 souls to the bottom with an obscene pun. To â€Å"come† has borne a sexual connotation since the 17th century, at least, while consummation traditionally means the fulfilment of the marriage contract by intercourse. The image of the ‘Titanic’ and the iceberg copulating is hard to take seriously – therefore we must question whether Hardy truly intends it. Nevertheless, it advances the idea of the twain existing in a marital bond. Note the sudden use of speech, in the present tense. Very dramatic. Brings the Twain together in Time for the last time!

Cultural Frame Essay Picasso

Evaluate the view that art reflects the social values of a particular time and place. â€Å"Painting isn’t an aesthetic operation; it’s a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our terrors as well as our desires† this quote by Pablo Picasso allows the audience to delve deeper into his emotions and what has finally persuaded Picasso to enter the art world. Art reflects the social values of a particular time and place; this can be seen throughout many of Picasso’s artworks throughout time, and how he and his techniques have changed over the period of his career.Pablo Picasso was one of the twentieth century’s most famous artists. Picasso was born in Spain in 1881 and died in South France aged 92. During his life time Picasso had an enormous impact on the Western Art world. Guernica is a grey, black and white painting which reaches 3. 5 meters tall and 7. 8 meters wi de. The painting shows images of people and animals suffering as well as buildings destroyed by the violence and chaos. The painting is depicted within a room where there are animals and people all over the place, at an open end on the left a bull can be seen standing over a woman who is grieving over a lost child.The centre of the painting is occupied by a horse that is falling as it has just been struck. Picasso’s art work Guernica is one of the most well-known artworks he has completed; created in 1937 this picture depicts an image responding to the bombing of Guernica by the Germans and Italians during the Spanish Civil War. Throughout the work of Guernica we see images which connect Picasso to his homeland, Spain. One of Spain’s most well known icons is the use of the bull; the bull is seen as a brave animal and is used often as a symbol of struggle, courage and victory.Bulls have been seen throughout a number of Picasso’s works as they have close relations to his past, since his childhood he has loved the figure of the bull and has used it in many images throughout his career. Picasso uses the use of the bombing in Guernica as the main theme of his artwork, using history in his art making. Throughout Picassos painting career he went through a number of periods, Picasso’s Blue period (1900 – 1904) shows a time when Picasso painted mostly in shades of blue, these works were inspired by Spain even though they were painted in Paris.These works all seemed to reflect Picasso’s experience with relative poverty and instability. Picasso’s blue period represents him at a time when he was dealing with his depression after the shocking death of his friend, although he was not there to witness this event it still had a large impact on Picasso, the drama from this event emerged throughout several of his works. One of Picasso’s early works from his Blue Period was the Blue Nude created in 1902; this painting is a part of his blue period, it shows the talent that Picasso possesses as it still managed to highlight deep feelings with the use of only one colour pallet.Blue Nude depicts the image of a woman who is sitting with her back towards us holding her knees as if she is in the search for security and comfort. These artworks allow the audience to have a deeper understanding on how Picasso has changed over the course of his art life and how issues have impacted him on his painting styles and techniques. Picasso has used his memories and feelings in his art making to show the deeper meaning of society, throughout his blue period he painted a lot of the real, raw people of Paris (e. g. prostitutes, beggars and drunks) which shows what influenced him at the time.Another one of Picasso’s artworks is Bullfight: Death of the Toreador this artwork shows a clear indication to how Picasso has progressed and moved though his periods. The artwork is full of colour and incorporates his love of bu llfighting. Picasso often painted bullfights which were held on Sundays when he was unable to attend them. Interestingly this work was not painted in his home town, Spain, but painted in Paris. The painting depicts a grey house in a panicking state, the horse is painted with heavy brushstrokes which show a tonal contrast which enhances the moment we see the bullfighter’s death.The grey tones used on the horse makes the horse less obvious to the viewing audience. The presents of the horse and the man is taken up by the mass of red cape which twirls in between the bull and the fighter. The colour in this painting creates a powerful scene of energy, violence and death. This picture shows an influence to the Spanish culture, as mentioned before, the bull is an important part of the Spanish culture, the bull represents struggle, courage and victory, bull fighting was seen as a way to prepare for the war.By including the bull fighting scene in this artwork Picasso has added somethi ng which is important to him and his cultural background. Art reflects the social values of a particular time and place, Picasso show’s this through a number of his works. He has emphasised his values towards his culture by the symbols he uses in his artworks to make them personal (e. g. the bull and the use of blue tones) the personalisation of his works enable us to have a greater understanding of the message Picasso is trying to convey to the audience.