Thursday, November 28, 2019

The long history of puppetry Essay Example

The long history of puppetry Paper Prehistoric miniature stone figures have been excavated in many places. We can only guess what they may have been used for. Scholars try to attach cultural or mystical significance to these finds. Storytelling and play acting with dolls are invented spontaneously by children the world over. The making of miniature figures is basic to human nature. It is a fair guess that the main use is simply entertainment. In the fifth century BC Herodotus writes about ancient figures operated by strings. Xenophon of Athens refers to a travelling Greek showman putting on a puppet show. These men did not discover something new, they were just early-published writers, and they wrote about what was happening. A 12th century woodcut shows two youngsters playing with figures of armed knights on strings. In a 14th century illuminated manuscript we see three girls watching a puppet show. It looks a lot like Punch and Judy. Theatrical scripts have often made fun of authority and the injustices of life. In societies where the authorities had more power than we nowadays give them they often reacted angrily to deserved ridicule. The Commedia dellarte was an improvised popular comedy in Italian theatres of the 16th to 18th century. It was frequently banned and was often performed on the streets. The characters Harlequin, Columbine and Pulcinella originated here. Italian performers exported their art throughout Europe and further afield. In the French language Pulcinella became Polichinelle, in Russian Petroushka, and in English Punch. They also invented the slapstick, a stick that has two small paddles at the end of it or is divided at one or both ends to make a noise when it hits anything. We will write a custom essay sample on The long history of puppetry specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The long history of puppetry specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The long history of puppetry specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This is where we get the term slapstick comedy. Polichinelle was playing in France by 1630. Samuel Pepys was a civil servant who kept a diary. He wrote it for himself in his own private code but it was published after his death. It gives a fascinating personal view of 17th century England. In 1662 this diary records the first English mention of open-air puppet performances. Pepys writes that he watched the puppets a few times, once he stopped for a show in Hyde Park and it made him late for an appointment with the king. First known as Punch and Joan, the puppets became a popular diversion on beaches and in parks. The performers were often itinerants and were often mentioned in literature. As readers of Dickens the Old Curiosity Shop will know they were sometimes of not too respectable personality. Henry Fielding wrote his brilliantly satirical novel Tom Jones in the 18th century. There were concerns about violence in puppetry then as now. Tom Jones meets a travelling Punch and Judy man who claims to have cleaned up his show and made it into a moral and refined spectacle. The entertainer enjoys a couple of mugs of beer with the patrons of a wayside tavern and then physically assaults his assistant. Fielding has his hero comment that he much preferred the show in its old form. George Cruikshank, who made a name for himself by illustrating the writings of Charles Dickens was involved in the production of a book that preserved a street performance of a Punch and Judy show. Cruikshank and publisher John Payne Collier hired an Italian performer, Signor Piccini, to put on a private show in the Kings Arms, a tavern in Drury Lane, London. The show was stopped frequently so that Cruikshank could make drawings and Collier could record the dialogue. Both of these illustrations are by Cruikshank. Piccini may or may not have been an Italian. Then, as now, entertainers sometimes invented exotic names and backgrounds for themselves. He was a great puppeteer. He could have one of his puppets take off his hat with one hand, throw it to the other hand, and put it back on his head. Punch and Judy proliferated in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Shows were seen everywhere and some of the performers became prosperous.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Definition and Examples of Complex Transitive Verbs

Definition and Examples of Complex Transitive Verbs In English grammar, a complex transitive is a  verb that requires both a direct object and another object or an object complement. In a complex-transitive construction, the object complement identifies a quality or attribute pertaining to the direct object. Complex-transitive verbs in English include believe, consider, declare, elect, find, judge, keep, know, label, make, name, presume, pronounce, prove, rate, regard, and think. Note that verbs often belong to more than one category. For example, made can function as a complex transitive (as in Her thoughtless remarks  made  him unhappy) and also as an ordinary transitive verb (She made a promise). The  adjective  or  noun phrase  that qualifies or renames the object that appears before it is sometimes called an object predicate or object predicative. Examples During the night leprechauns painted the barn green.The judge declared the man guilty on two counts.Jack found his brothers behavior deplorable.Elena Kagan clerked for Thurgood Marshall and has long considered him a hero.When the Congress unanimously elected George Washington president, he accepted reluctantly.This man had made her happy and  made her miserable, but he was dependable. (Allison Brennan, Compulsion.  Minotaur Books, 2015)Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence. (Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora, 1842)We called him Mother Superior on account of the length of his habit. (Mark Rent-boy Renton, Trainspotting, 1996) Meaning in Transitives and Complex Transitives [M]any of the verbs that appear in complex transitive clauses will also appear in transitive clauses without an object complement; but when they do, there is a change of meaning. Think about the different meanings of the verb in the following pairs of sentences: (49a) Transitive: Ahmed found the professor.(49b) Complex transitive: Ahmed found the professor marvelous!(49c) Transitive: Hojin considered the matter.(49d) Complex transitive: Hojin considered the matter a waste of time. (Martin J. Endley, Linguistic Perspectives on English Grammar: A Guide for EFL Teachers. IAP, 2010) The Relationship Between the Two Complements of a Complex Transitive A  complex transitive verb  has two complements, an argument NP [noun phrase] direct object and either a predicate NP or an AP [adjective phrase]. (5a) We considered Sam [direct object] our best friend [predicate noun phrase].(5b) They elected Mrs. Jones [direct object]  president of the PTA [predicate noun phrase]. There is a special relationship between the two complements of a  complex transitive verb. The predicate NP or AP says something about or describes the direct object, just as the predicate NP that is a complement of a linking verb describes the subject. The predicate NP or AP is either currently true of the direct object or comes to be true of the direct object as a result of the action of the verb. Part of the meaning conveyed by (5a), for example, is that Sam is our best friend. Part of the meaning conveyed by (5b),  for example, is that Mrs. Jones comes to be president as a result of the action named by the verb. Thus, complex transitive verbs, like linking verbs, are either current or resulting verbs.(Dee Ann Holisky, Notes on Grammar. Orchises, 1997) Active and Passive As is the case with any type of object, the DO [direct object] in complex-transitive complementation can also be passivized. An interesting fact is that the co-reference between the OC [object complement] and the DO survives passivization. 59. They made him president.60. He was made president. Note, however, that it is the direct object and not the object complement that can passivize! 61. They made him president.62. *President was made him. (Eva Duran Eppler and Gabriel Ozà ³n, English Words and Sentences: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2013)

Thursday, November 21, 2019

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING AND ADVERTISING Assignment - 2

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING AND ADVERTISING - Assignment Example Social media marketing entail the use of the virtual space and mobile applications. Transition of social media to marketing communications medium is been contributed by technological drivers like the bandwidth. Internet reaches the global target market leading to increased revenues. Social media is no longer the domain of the young generation (Ellison & Shulze 2007). Older generation has continued to participate in social network sites like face book. Social Medias influence promises a marketing revolution (Clow & Baack 2004). The use of social media sites and consumers searching online is capable of getting the particulars of the products. The environmental friendly cars are likely to attract all the social markets. The best social media is becoming effective through integrative marketing. Online relationship marketing requires facilitation often process of dialogue, interaction and communication (Clow & Baack 2004). The emerging social media tools for social media marketing include webinars and real-time video training. A compelling example is the marketing campa ign by the Toyota team. The company has used social media and internet marketing to address the consumer concerns. The company has made custom products for different markets to meet the market demands around the world. The brand has also build a strong reputation and brand identity over the years. Social media has been a strong marketing tool in presenting Toyota as a strong brand. Marketing in the hotel industry is about building relationships with an aim of attracting and retaining customers. Relationship marketing is defined as marketing to protect the customer base through attracting, enhancing and maintaining customer relationships. This style of marketing suggests a paradigm shift from the traditional 4P’s. This marketing is most applicable where there is ongoing and periodic consumer demand (Clow & Baack 2004). The consumer tends to control the selection

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Business case analyse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business case analyse - Essay Example In the assessment internal aspects of the partnership between Woolworths and eBay, the study focused on the utilization of SWOT analysis tool. This provides the opportunity to assess the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities in relation to business activities of the two major business entities in the case of Australia. The partnership will have the opportunity to enhance Woolworth’s market coverage through the integration of adequate resources to address consumers needs. Secondly, the approach will provide a new convenient and flexible approach for customers to handle their needs and preferences. Similarly, the approach will enable eBay to cut down logistic costs while enabling Woolworths to increase its stock, as well as number of customers for the products. One of the major weaknesses of the partnership is the likelihood of loss of employment for employees involved in the delivery of products, as well as increased competition for the retailers from Woolworths. Additionally, the partnership might affect the image and reputation of the entities in the global context. One of the opportunities to decrease the cost of transportation and logistics since customers will click and collect their products at appropriate destinations. The entities might use this platform to enhance their business relationship with the intention of increasing their market share in other locations within Australia. The Woolworths/eBay will have to deal with diverse lawsuits concerning violation of antitrust regulations. In addition, the damage to the image and reputation of the two entities might affect their global transactions, thus a massive reduction in the volume of revenues and profitability levels at the end of the fiscal period. In the achievement of this goal, the study focused on the utilization of the PEST analysis tool, thus assessment of the political, economic, social, and technological

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Pan-arabism and Pan-islamism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pan-arabism and Pan-islamism - Essay Example Pan-Arabism is a political theory of adopting unity of the North Africa and West Asia countries from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Ocean. This portion is known as the Arab World. Pan-Islamism on the other hand is a political movement recommending the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state, command, or leadership that is similar to International Organization. One common factor between Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islamism is the fact that Islam as a religion is founded on Arabic as a language. Most of the Pan-Arabic countries have Muslims as their occupant and they uphold the religion’s doctrines as part of the constitution of the countries. Arabic language is also the national language in the Pan-Arabic countries. However, there are some countries, which have Muslims but do not uphold Arabic as a national language. The two ideologies are completely different. Pan-Arabism has belief that there should be one nation in the Arabic world; similar to Umayyad Caliphate as in was in 750 C. E. when it had no Persia or Southern Spain. (Schmid) They believed that Turks, Europeans, and greedy rulers artificially drew Arab borders from Arab and that Arab people had a nature of being in a large nation like the United States.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Curvelet-based Bayesian Estimator for Speckle Suppression

Curvelet-based Bayesian Estimator for Speckle Suppression Curvelet-based  Bayesian  Estimator  for  Speckle  Suppression  in  Ultrasound  Imaging Abstract.  Ultrasound images are inherently affected by speckle noise, and thus the reduction of this noise is a crucial pre-processing step for their successful interpretation. Bayesian estimation is a powerful signal estimation technique used for speckle noise removal in images. In the Bayesian-based despeckling schemes, the choice of suitable statistical models and the development of a shrinkage function for estimation of the noise-free signal are the major concerns. In this paper, a novel curvelet-based Bayesian estimation scheme for despeckling of ultrasound images is developed. The curvelet coefficients of the multiplicative degradation model of the noisy ultrasound image are additively decomposed into noise-free and signal-dependent noise components. The Cauchy and two-sided exponential distributions are assumed to be statistical models for the noise-free and signal-dependent noise components of the observed curvelet coefficients, respectively, and an efficient low-complexit y realization of the Bayesian estimator is proposed. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed despeckling scheme in providing a signifi cant suppression of the speckle noise and simultaneously preserving the image details. Keywords:Ultrasound imaging, curvelet transform, speckle noise, Bayesian estimation, statistical modeling. Introduction Ultrasound imaging is important for medical diagnosis and has the advantages of cost effectiveness, port-ability, acceptability and safety [1]. However, ultrasound images are of relatively poor quality due to its contamination by the speckle noise, which considerably degrades the image quality and leads to a negative impact on the diagnostic task. Thus, reducing speckle noise while preserving anatomic information is necessary to better delineate the regions of interest in the ultrasound images. In the work of speckle suppression in ultrasound images, many spatial-based techniques that employ either single-scale or multi-scale filtering have been developed in the literature [2-4]. Earlydeveloped single-scale spatial filtering [2] are limited in their capability for significantly reducing the speckle noise. More promising spatial single-scale techniques such as those using bilateral filtering [4] and nonlocal filtering [3] have been recently proposed. This work was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and in part by the Regroupement Strategique en Microelectronique du Quebec (ReSMiQ). These techniques depend on the size of the fi lter window, and hence, for a satisfactory speckle suppression, they require large computational time. Alternatively, multi-scale spatial techniques [5], based on partial differential equations, have been investigated in the literature. These techniques are iterative and can produce smooth images with preserved edges. However, important structural details are unfortunately degraded during the iteration process. As an appropriate alternative to spatial-based speckle suppression in ultrasound images, many other despeckling techniques based on different transform domains, such as the ones of wavelet, contourlet, and curvelet, have been recently proposed in the literature [6-8]. Wavelet transform has a good reputation as a tool for noise reduction but has the drawback of poor directionality, which makes its usage limited in many applications. Using contourlet transform provides an improved noise reduction performance due to its property of fi‚exible directional decomposability. However, curvelet transform offers a higher directional sensitivity than that of contourlet transform and is more efficient in representing the curve-like details in images. For the development of despeckling techniques based on transform domains, thresholding [7] has been presented as a technique to build linear estimators of the noise-free signal coefficients. However, the main drawback of this thresholding technique is in the difficulty of determining a suitable threshold value. To circumvent this problem, non-linear estimators [6] have been statistically developed based on Bayesian estimation formalism. For the development of an efficient Bayesian-based despeckling scheme, the choice of a suitable probability distribution to model the transform domain coefficients is a major concern. Also, while investigating a suitable statistical model, the complexity of the Bayesian estimation process should be taken into consideration. Consequently, special attention should be paid to the realization complexity of the Bayesian estimator that results from employing the selected probabilistic model in one of the Bayesian frameworks. In this paper, to achieve a satisfactory performance for despeckling of ultrasound images at a lower computational effort, a new curvelet-based Bayesian scheme is proposed. The multiplicative degradation model representing an observed ultrasound image is decomposed into an additive model consisting of noise-free and signal-dependent noise components. Two-sided exponential distribution is used as a prior statistical model for the curvelet coefficients of the signal-dependant noise. This model, along with the Cauchy distribution is used to develop a low-complexity Bayesian estimator. The performance of the proposed Bayesian despeckling scheme is evaluated on both syntheticallyspeckled and real ultrasound images, and the results are compared to that of some other existing despeckling schemes. Modeling of Curvelet Coefficients The multiplicative degradation model of a speckle-corrupted ultrasound image g(i,j) in the spatial domain is given by g(i,j) = v(i,j)s(i,j)(1) where v(i,j) and s(i,j) denote the noise-free image and the speckle noise, respectively. This model of the noisy observation of v(i,j) can be additively decomposed as a noise-free signal component and a signal-dependant noise: g(i,j) = v(i,j) + (s(i,j) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1)v(i,j) = v(i,j) + u(i,j)(2) where (s(i,j) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1)v(i,j) represents the signal-dependant noise. Taking the curvelet transform of (2) at level l, we have y[l,d](i,j) = x[l,d](i,j) + n[l,d](i,j)(3) where y[l,d](i,j), x[l,d](i,j) and n[l,d](i,j) denote, respectively, the (i,j)th curvelet coefficient of the observed image, the corresponding noise free image and the corresponding additive signal-dependant noise at direction d= 1,2,3, ·Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ·Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ·,D. In order to simplify the notation, we will henceforth drop both the superscripts land dand the index (i,j). In this work, in order to reduce the noise inherited in ultrasound images, we propose exploiting the statistical characteristics of the curvelet coefficients in (3) to derive an efficient Bayesian estimator. Thus, one needs to provide a prior probabilistic model for the curvelet coefficients of xand n. It has been shown that the distribution of the curvelet coefficients of noise-free images can be suitably modeled by the Cauchy distribution [9]. The zero-mean Cauchy distribution is given by px(x) = (ÃŽÂ ³/à Ã¢â€š ¬)(x2 + ÃŽÂ ³2)(4) where ÃŽÂ ³is the dispersion parameter. The noisy observation is used to estimate the Cauchy distribution parameter ÃŽÂ ³by minimizing the function 2   Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  yyt (t) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬  (t) eà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ dt(5) where à Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  y(t) is the empirical characteristic function corresponding to the curvelet coefficients yof 22 the noisy observation, à Ã¢â‚¬  y(t) = à Ã¢â‚¬  x(t)à Ã¢â‚¬  E(t), à Ã¢â‚¬  x(t) = eà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ³|t|, and à Ã¢â‚¬  E(t) = eà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(à Ã†â€™Ãƒ ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½/2)|t| deviation à Ã†â€™Eobtained as with the standard à Ã†â€™E= MAD(y(i,j)) 0.6745 (6) In (6), MAD denotes the median absolute deviation operation. Now, in order to formulate the  Bayesian estimator, a prior statistical assumption for the curvelet coefficients of nof the signal dependant noise should also be assumed. From experimental observation, it is noticed that the tail  part of the empirical distribution of ndecays at a low rate. Hence, in this paper, we propose to use  a two-sided exponential (TSE) distribution given by 1 pn(n) =eà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢|n|/ÃŽÂ ² 2ÃŽÂ ² (7) where ÃŽÂ ²is a positive real constant referred to as the scale parameter. The method of log-cummulants  (MoLC) is adopted to estimate the parameter ÃŽÂ ², and thus the estimated ÃŽÂ ²Ãƒâ€¹Ã…“ is obtained by using the  following expression: ÃŽÂ ²Ãƒâ€¹Ã…“ = exp 1N1  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   N2 log(y(i,j))+ ÃŽÂ ¾ (8) N1N2 i=1j=1 where ÃŽÂ ¾is the Euler-Mascheroni constant and N1 and N2 defi ne the size N1 ÃÆ'-N2 of the curvelet  subband considered. Bayesian Estimator Due to the fact that each of the Cauchy and TSE distributions has only one parameter, one could expect the process of Bayesian estimation to be of lower complexity. The values of the Bayes estimates xˆ  of the noise-free curvelet coefficients xof a subband under the quadratic loss function, which minimizes the mean square error (MSE), are given by the shrinkage function: xˆ (y) =px|y(x|y)xdx P pn(yà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢x)px(x)xdx =P p(yà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢x)p(x) (9) It is noted that a closed-form expression for xˆ (y) given by the above equation does not exist. Thus, in order to obtain the Bayesian estimates for the noise-free curvelet coefficients, the two integrations associated with (9) are numerically performed for each curvelet coefficient. Since this procedure requires an excessive computational effort, the bayseian estimates are obtained by replacing the associated integrals in (9) with infi nite series as suggested in [10]. Accordingly, the Bayesian shrinkage function can be expressed as eà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y/ÃŽÂ ²[f (y)ÃŽÂ ¶] + ey/ÃŽÂ ²[ f(y) + ÃŽÂ ¶] xˆ (y) =(10) eà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y/ÃŽÂ ²[f21(y) + ÃŽÂ ¶2] + ey/ÃŽÂ ²[à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢f22(y) + ÃŽÂ ¶2] where f11(y) = f12 (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y) = sin(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) Im E( à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y+ jÃŽÂ ³)à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Si(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) + à Ã¢â€š ¬ 1ÃŽÂ ²2 à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y+jÃŽÂ ³ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢cos(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²)   Re   E1(ÃŽÂ ² + Ci(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) ,(11) f(y) = à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢f 1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y+ jÃŽÂ ³ (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y) = à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ sin(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) Re E()+ Ci(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) 2122ÃŽÂ ³1ÃŽÂ ² 1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y+jÃŽÂ ³Ãƒ Ã¢â€š ¬ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ³cos(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²)   Im   E1(ÃŽÂ ² à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Si(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) + 2 ,(12) ÃŽÂ ¶1 = lim f12 yà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾ (y) = sin(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Si(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) + à Ã¢â€š ¬ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢cos(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²)Ci(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²), and(13) ÃŽÂ ¶= lim f 11 (y) =sin(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²)Ci(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) +cos(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) à Ã¢â€š ¬ Si(ÃŽÂ ³/ÃŽÂ ²) + (14) 222 yà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾ In the equations above, j= à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1, Im{ ·}and Re{ ·}are the imaginary and real parts, respectively, of a complex argument, and E1( ·), Si( ·) and Ci( ·) are, respectively, the exponential, sine and cosine  integral functions obtained as in [10]. Experimental Results Extensive experimentations are carried out in order to study the performance of the proposed despeckling scheme. The results are compared with those of other existing despeckling schemes that use improved-Lee fi ltering [2], adaptive-wavelet shrinkage [6], and contourlet thresholding [7]. Performance evaluation of the various despeckling schemes is conducted on synthetically-speckled and real ultrasound images. In the implementation of the proposed speckling scheme, the 5-level decomposition of the curvelet transform is applied. From the experimental observation, applying a higher level of decomposition of the curvelet transform does not lead to any improvement in the despeckling performance. Since the curvelet transform is a shift-variant transform, the cycle spinning [11] is performed on the observed noisy image to avoid any possible pseudo-Gibbs artifacts in the neighborhood of discontinuities. In the proposed despeckling scheme, only the detail curvelet coefficients are despec kled using the Bayesian shrinkage function in (10). The peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is used as a quantitative measure to assess the despeckling performance of the various schemes when applied on synthetically-speckled images. Table I gives the PSNR values obtained when applying the various schemes on two synthetically-speckled images of size 512ÃÆ'-512, namely, Lenaand Boat. It is obviously seen from this table that, in all cases, the proposed despeckling scheme provides higher values of PSNR compared to that provided by the other schemes. To have a better insight on the despeckling performance of the various schemes, the results in Table 1 are visualized in Figure 1. It is obvious from this fi gure that the superiority of the proposed scheme over the other schemes is more evident when a higher level of speckle noise is introduced to the test images. In order to study the performances of the various despeckling schemes on real ultrasound images, two images obtained from [12] and shown in Figure 2 are used. Since the noise-fr ee images cannot be made available, one can only give a subjective evaluation of the performance of the various despeckling schemes. From Figure 2, it is clearly seen that the schemes in [2] and [6] provide despeckled images that suffer from the presence of visually noticeable speckle noise. On the other hand, the scheme in [7] severely over-smooth the noisy images thus providing despeckled images in which some of the texture details are lost. However, the proposed despeckling scheme results in images with not only a signifi cant reduction in the speckle noise but also a good preservation of the textures of the original images. Table 1: The PSNR values obtained when applying the various despeckling schemes on Lenaand Boatimages contaminated by speckle noise at different levels. 34 [2] 32[6] 30[7] Proposed 28 26 24 22 20 18 0.10.20.30.40.50.71 Standard deviation of noise (a) 32 [2] 30[6] 28[7] Proposed 26 24 22 20 18 16 0.10.20.30.40.50.71 Standard deviation of noise (b) Fig. 1: Quantitative comparison between the various despeckling schemes in terms of PSNR values: (a) Lenaimage; (b) Boatimage. Conclusion In this paper, a new curvelet-based scheme for suppressing the speckle noise in ultrasound images has been developed in the framework of Bayesian estimation. The observed ultrasound image is fi rst additively decomposed into noise-free and signal-dependant noise components. The Cauchy and twosided exponential distributions have been used as probabilistic models for the curvelet coefficients of the noise-free and signal-dependant noise components, respectively, of the ultrasound image. The proposed probabilistic models of the curvelet coefficients of an observed ultrasound image has been employed to formulate a Bayesian shrinkage function in order to obtain the estimates of the noise-free curvelet coefficients. A low-complexity realization of this shrinkage function has been employed. Experiments have been carried out on both synthetically-speckled and real ultrasound images in order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed despeckling scheme. In comparison with some other ex isting despeckling schemes, the results have shown that the proposed scheme provides higher PSNR values and gives well-despeckled images with better diagnostic details. (b) (c)(d)(e)(f) (g)(h)(i)(j) Fig. 2: Qualitative comparison between the various despeckling schemes. (a)(b) Noisy ultrasound images. Despeckled images obtained by applying the schemes in (c)(g) [2] ,(d)(h) [6] ,(e)(i) [7] and (f)(j) the proposed scheme. References Dhawan, A.P.: Medical image analysis. Volume 31. John Wiley Sons (2011) Loupas, T., McDicken, W., Allan, P.:   An adaptive weighted median fi lter for speckle suppression in medical ultrasonic images. IEEE transactions on Circuits and Systems 36(1) (1989) 129-135 Coup ´e, P., Hellier, P., Kervrann, C., Barillot, C.: Nonlocal means-based speckle fi ltering for ultrasound images. IEEE transactions on image processing 18(10) (2009) 2221-2229 Sridhar, B., Reddy, K., Prasad, A.: An unsupervisory qualitative image enhancement using adaptive morphological bilateral fi lter for medical images. International Journal of Computer Applications 10(2i) (2014) 1 Abd-Elmoniem, K.Z., Youssef, A.B., Kadah, Y.M.: Real-time speckle reduction and coherence enhancement in ultrasound imaging via nonlinear anisotropic diffusion. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 49(9) (2002) 997-1014 Swamy, M., Bhuiyan, M., Ahmad, M.: Spatially adaptive thresholding in wavelet domain for despeckling of ultrasound images. IET Image Process 3(3) (2009) 147-162 Hiremath, P., Akkasaligar, P.T., Badiger, S.: Speckle reducing contourlet transform for medical ultrasound images. Int J Compt Inf Engg 4(4) (2010) 284-291 Jian, Z., Yu, Z., Yu, L., Rao, B., Chen, Z., Tromberg, B.J.: Speckle attenuation in optical coherence tomography by curvelet shrinkage. Optics letters 34(10) (2009) 1516-1518 Deng, C., Wang, S., Sun, H., Cao, H.: Multiplicative spread spectrum watermarks detection performance analysis in curvelet domain. In: 2009 International Conference on E-Business and Information System Security. (2009) Damseh, R.R., Ahmad, M.O.: A low-complexity mmse bayesian estimator for suppression of speckle in sar images. In: Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 2016 IEEE International Symposium on, IEEE (2016) 1002-1005 Temizel, A., Vlachos, T., Visioprime, W.: Wavelet domain image resolution enhancement using cycle-spinning. Electronics Letters 41(3) (2005) 119-121 Siemens   Healthineers:   https://www.healthcare.siemens.com/ultrasound. Accessed:   2017-01-06.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Rhetorical in the Music of The Tempest Essay -- Tempest essays

The Rhetorical in the Music of The Tempest In the midst of a Shakespearean play, there has and always will be a ghost that hovers over the actors and the audience. This is a ghost with a purpose, a ghost I call rhetoric. In every Shakespeare play, there exists an energy that has the power to persuade the audience to feel or believe something that Shakespeare believed. This energy breathes through the dialogue, the props and especially the music. The audience and the play engage in an exchange of question and answer to assist society in working through human dilemmas. What I hope to point out in this paper is how that ghost, rhetoric, manifests in the music in Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. I assert that Ariel is a bridge, a sort of servant, not just to the character Prospero, but also to Shakespeare’s audience. In Peter Seng’s book, The Vocal Songs in the Plays of Shakespeare, he reflects upon the idea that Shakespeare use of song was to incite characters to action. As Ariel sings, he is causing the characters to move into a certain dramatic action. Seng says, "Ariel draws Ferdinand from the coast to Miranda’s presence, by singing, ‘Come unto these yellow sands,’ and that in the second song Ariel ‘persuades the prince of his father’s death, thus recalling his grief and preparing him for a new and unreserved affection" (248). The purpose of Ariel’s song in the play, to call Ferdinand forward unto the island, was the plan of Prospero to get Ferdinand and his daughter Miranda together. He enchants them with his magic to fall in love when they meet. This relationship serves a rhetorical purpose for the Elizabethans as S eng suggests, Ariel is here issuing an invitation to the dance. It is addressed to Ferdinand. Miranda, t... ...Theatre of Ben Jonson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980 Hagar, Alan. Shakespeare’s Political Animal: Schema and Schemata in the Canon. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1990. L’Engle, Madeleine, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1980. Montagu, Jeremy. The World of Baroque and Classical Musical Instruments. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 1879. Platt, Peter G . Shakespeare and Rhetorical Culture. Rpt. in Kastan, David Scott. A Companion To Shakespeare. Oxford: Blackwell. 1999. Seng, Peter J. The Vocal Songs in the Plays of Shakespeare: A Critical History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967. Schantz , Alan, The Arts in Christian Perspective and Selections from the World of Music. Dubuque: Brown and Benchmark, 1997. Vyverberg, Henry. The Living Tradition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The Last Of An Important Ecosystem Environmental Sciences Essay

The Hatchie River is the lone staying of course weaving, undammed and unchannelized river of the Lower Mississippi Valley in Tennessee, doing it geographically and biologically important. The river flows through both Mississippi and Tennessee before eventually emptying into the Mississippi River. Hatchie River is fed by many feeders and flows through a comparatively level flood plain. Chemically, the river faces jobs from siltation and pollutants from industry, agribusiness, and other beginnings non easy identifiable. This river ‘s ecosystem construction is as dynamic and diverse as the workss, animate beings and people that reside in or base on balls through it. This river system, particularly its bottomland hardwood woods, has many maps some of which are wildlife home ground and a biological filter for the copiousness of foods that it carries. Hatchie River is a valuable ecosystem non merely because it exists but because of its importance to scientific discipline and wildlife and is a reminder of what used to be. Though Hatchie has managed to get away channelisation and impounding itself, many of its feeders have non which has led to many concerns affecting deposit, altering land usage and chemical pollutants doing an addition in both habitat loss and hapless H2O quality.A The undermentioned information will explicate the significant importance of Hatchie River as a unique and endangered species. Snaking through parts of Mississippi and Tennessee, the Hatchie River is more than 200 stat mis long ( â€Å" The Nature Conservancy † 2013 ) . The headwaters of the Hatchie are located in Mississippi sou'-west of Corinth in Union County and flows in an unreal drainage canal which continues about to the Tennessee State line ( Diehl 2000 ) . A From that point the river flows north and west through McNairy, Hardeman, Haywood, Madison, Tipton and Lauderdale Counties in Tennessee before emptying in the Mississippi River ( Steed 2002 ) . The Tennessee part of this river flows of course and unimpeded through the Gulf Coastal Plain. A The Hatchie River lies within the Southeastern Gulf Coastal Plain ( Nabb 1996 ) . A Harmonizing to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Hatchie River watershed prevarications within four ecoregions, but most of its length falls within the Northern Hilly Gulf Coastal Plains and Loess Plains ( TDEC 2009 ) . The Northern Hilly Gulf Coastal Plains are characterized by a steeper gradient and a sandier substrate than the Loess Plains which are gently turn overing with sedimentations of loess transcending 50 pess ( TDEC 2009 ) . Soils in this country are classified as Entisols and are prone to eroding and deluging due to the low alleviation and lift of the rivers class ( HNWR 2006, Steed 1979 ) .A A Though the chief channel of the Hatchie River has non undergone channelisation, many of its feeders have. Most of the river ‘s 36 feeders have been channelized and contribute important sums of deposit ( â€Å" The Nature Conservancy † 2013 ) . The hydrolog y of Hatchie River has been affected most by the changes made to its many feeders. Most of Hatchie ‘s 36 feeders have been channelized for agricultural and flood control intents ( Steed et al 2002 ) . The consequence of the increased deposit burden has led to the chief channel ‘s decrease in deepness found to be greater than three pess harmonizing to research reported by Elizabeth Nabb ( 1996 ) . As fluctuations in the bed degree of Hatchie River occur, fluctuations in the inundation happenings addition ( Nabb 1996 ) . Changes in the morphology and hydrology of this system non merely impact the river itself but the construction of the ecosystem it supports. A A A A A A A A A A A The ecosystem represented by the Hatchie River is delicate and its morphology, hydrology and chemical science are intertwined in such a manner as to do each and every portion a continuum of a mega-organism. It is impossible to discourse the rivers hydrology without besides turn toing the workss and animate beings that are dependent upon it. Because of this, as with any wetland system, the system ‘s dynamic nature can non be entirely represented by a individual species of dominant tree or bush. This river system is a combination of many classs of vegetive features while dependant on certain belongingss of the dirt and inundation governments at different degrees of lift and distance from the natural meander of Hatchie River. Studies conducted at Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge ( HNWR ) in Brownsville, Tennessee have shown that flora nowadays in an country is significantly related toA changing grades of streaking and/or gleyingA ( Steed 1979, Steed, Plyler, and Buckner 2002 ) .A In Steeds 1979 survey he indicated that forest screen can be separated into two wide types: hydroseric and mesic. The hydroseric type occurred in countries that remained saturated, sing extended anaerobiotic activity and included communities that were dominated by Tupelo Gum, Bald Cypress or Overcup oak based on increasing grades of gleying respectfully ( Steed 1979 ) . The mesonic type occurred in countries that were at times afloat but dry during the turning season and included assorted communities of Sweet gum, willow oak, cherrybark oak and many others ( Steed 1979 ) .A In add-on, in Steed ‘s joint research of 2002, he and his spouses indicated that there were definite relationships between dirts and dirt drainage categories, topography, and species of trees ( Steed et al 2002 ) . So the connexion between dirt, H2O and workss becomes evident. What of the animate beings that depend on Hatchie River for their support? A A A A A A A A A A A The Hatchie River is more than dirt, H2O and flora. This alone trace of bottomland hardwoods that one time covered huge countries of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley is home to many animals, common and rare. Volumes could be and hold been written on the many of import maps of the Hatchie River ecosystem and one would be distressed to state which is most important.A As it carries vitalizing foods down its unimpeded channel, the Hatchie deposits them all along its flood plain to organize alone dirts that are some of the richest in America. These foods create chiefly two major types of dirt, Amagon and Falayar, which are extremely productive for many species of bottomland hardwood trees, both land and aquatic workss, and are responsible for fertile croplands that are extremely prized by agribusiness. [ General dirt map Hatchie River Basin study, Tennessee and Mississippi. Writer: United States. Soil Conservation Service.Publisher: Nashville, Tenn. , 1969 ] The Hatch ie ‘s seasonal implosion therapy has for many 1000s of old ages brought life with its foods to the dirt of the flood plain, maintaining lands as fertile now as even before Native Americans foremost came to this land. Mankind and animate beings have long depended on the Hatchie ‘s being. Having birthed these exuberant home grounds all along its flow, the Hatchie provides amazing ecological benefits and services to each 1. The hardwood woods, cane interruptions, gangrenes, oxbows, boggy wetlands, and lakes it creates as it meanders are all place to pullulating life. A A major map of this system is wildlife home ground. Because of its singularity, parts of the riverine system have been preserved at both province and national degrees. Hatchie River National Wildlife Refuge, Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge, John Tully Wildlife Management Area and Fort Pillow State Park have all preserved small pieces of this great river and its surrounding landscape ( Nature conservanc y Mississippi river precedence site ) . Hatchie River and its bottomland hardwood woods support many species in many systematic orders. Included in this tremendously diverse group of animate beings, several species are considered to be vulnerable, in demand of direction, threatened, or endangered. The Hatchie Burrowing Crayfish is endemic to an country of merely under 20,000 estates on a individual feeder of the Hatchie River and considered to be critically endangered ( Crandall 2010 ) . The Hatchie River and both National Wildlife Refuges have been designated as one uninterrupted IBA ( Important Bird Area ) by BirdLife International. In this country the Mississippi Kite, Cerulean Warbler, and Swainsons Warbler are species designated as In Need of Management by the province of Tennessee ( www.tnbirds.org ) . The Prothonotary Warbler is a pit squatter in afloat woods and its outstanding genteelness country is within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley ( Prothonotary Warbler Web 2013 ) .A The Swainsons warbler, listed as a high preservation concern by Partners in Flight and on the Audubon Society ‘s ticker list, has, harmonizing to the Nature Conservancy, made slightly of a rejoinder to the Hatchie River country due to the Restoration of bottomland hardwood woods ( www.tnwatchablewildlife.orgA and the Nature Conservancy ) . Migratory birds utilizing the Mississippi flyway depend on the wetlands and the natural harvests provided by the Hatchie to prolong them as they travel each twelvemonth. Many species of birds, mammals and even insects and reptilians depend on the mast produced by bottomland hardwoods along the Hatchie ‘s length. [ U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Regional Office, April 2006 hypertext transfer protocol: //digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/document/id/655/rec/13 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.fws.gov/southeast/planning/PDFdocuments/HatchieFinal/Hatchie % 20Final % 20CCP.pdf ] A Hatchie River besides holds rare fish like the blue chump and northern madtom and is place to possibly more species of catfish than any other river in the north American continent ( nature.org ) . Though these species belong to different categories of taxonomy, they all have in common the loss of home ground whether it be in the H2O or in the trees or someplace in between. Hatchie Rivers map as wildlife home ground is valuable to these and many other species. That value does non stop with wildlife but continues on to all of those that appreciate in one signifier or another the rareness of the wildlife and the conglobation that is the Hatchie River wetland system. A A A A A A A A A A A What other valuable maps does the Hatchie River perform and how are the benefits realized? Wetlands hold H2O that from extra rain or possibly snowmelt in some countries and so easy let go of it to rivers and watercourses. A Hatchie River serves this map. However, the feeders that drain into the Hatchie have been channelized, there wetland-type countries have been destroyed ensuing in increased H2O speed through those feeders. The consequence is eroding of those stream Bankss which increases the sum of deposit they carry as they enter the chief channel of the Hatchie River. As clip base on ballss, increased siltation produces shoals and in utmost instances valley stoppers ( Diehl 2000 ) . While both of these consequences in altered hydrology of the wetland system, vale stoppers are much more damaging to the bottomland hardwood woods and the river itself. A vale stopper occurs when heavy deposit fills the river channel coercing back-filling across the inundation f ield until a new river channel is realized harmonizing to Diehl mentioning work by Stafford C. Happ in 1975 ( 2000 ) . Harmonizing to Diehl, without control of highland eroding, Hatchie ‘s flood plain may stop up a fen and a topographic point where hardwoods can non last. Wetlands have varied and legion maps. They purify H2O as it moves through the inundation fields and as this slow motion occurs some of the extra H2O percolates through to the aquifer, reloading it. Many countries depend on this map to provide their citizens with clean imbibing H2O. The filtration of H2O through the inundation plains helps to take drosss such as chemical toxins and extra deposit and in some countries wetlands are developed for that exclusive intent. Some chemicals are taken up by certain wetland workss, efficaciously taking them from the H2O and at the same clip the above-ground parts of these workss assistance in pin downing larger atoms. The Hatchie besides creates many types of recreational , fishing, and runing chances as it flows to the Mississippi. Because of its entreaty to migratory birds, duck huntsmans are drawn to the Hatchie ‘s wetlands, fishermen come to partake of the many assortments found in its Waterss, cervid and Meleagris gallopavo huntsmans vie for lands along the Hatchie. Hunters and fishermen, every bit good as leghorns, campers, tramps, bird spectators and nature lovers all flock to the Hatchie, making incomes for those who portion in supplying all these Hatchie visitants with entree. The Hatchie provides rich dirts in which local husbandmans raise bumper harvests, cognizing about anything can be good grown in Hatchie dirts. Farm/food animate beings can be grazed on both deep-rooted harvests, natural grasses and hardwood masts. The Hatchie maps as a supplier to worlds, wild and domestic animate beings, aquatic life, birds, reptilians, insects, trees, and workss, and even industry. A A A A A A A A A A A Although the Hatchie has flowed freely and infinitely for 1000s of old ages, it is non without menaces and jobs. The steady rise in deposit from its feeders and from agribusiness, of all time increasing contaminations, altered flow, every bit good as atomization of home grounds and loss of woods are all endangering the very life of the Hatchie. Heavy sediment tonss flow into the Hatchie from most of the river ‘s 36 feeders. It is this implosion therapy that has brought life in the signifier of foods to the dirt of the flood plain, sing it remains as fertile today as it has been for a thousand old ages, even before the yearss when Native Americans first began populating off this land. However, it is this really implosion therapy that has caused the human population to make inundation control undertakings, convert bottomlands to farms and spread out urban development. The invasion of civilisation has eliminated many full ecosystems in American history, and t he Hatchie is susceptible to the same destiny without sound direction and attention. In the past century, upseting wetland losingss have occurred in the Hatchie wetlands of the Lower Mississippi Valley.A [ hypertext transfer protocol: //designpathmedia.com/twrf/Conservation.cfm? uid=12092520112677465 Tennesse Wildlife Resources Foundation ( TWRF ) ] Hardwood woods have been reduced to 20 % of what they one time were.A Loss of wetlands narrows the cistron pools for migratory birds as some no longer happen ground to halt along the Hatchie to feed or engender ( Bonney et al. , 2000 ) . Chemical contaminations from industry, agribusiness and assorted other beginnings are another job faced by this river. Chemical contaminations were found in the H2O, deposits, and fish of the Hatchie River and included: Organochlorine pesticides, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and CUPs ( current-use pesticides ) which include weedkillers like 2,4 D and pesticides like Malathion ( HNWR ) . Mercury was besides detected and like the others was found to be within safe bounds ( HNWR ) .The Hatchie is losing cherished life as a consequence of these major impacts and has seen species of the Lower Mississippi Valley going earnestly threatened, endangered, or nonextant. Already the ruddy wolf and jaguar are gone, and the ivory-bi lledA peckerwood and three warblers that called the Hatchie place are now either critically endangered or genuinely extinct.A It may non be excessively late to change by reversal these jeopardies to the life of the Hatchie, but it will necessitate major preservation attempts, land and H2O direction with these rich home grounds uppermost in head, and better stewardship of this beautiful, rare hoarded wealth that is the Hatchie River and its home grounds. The Hatchie provides all who make usage of its presence with so many vitalizing maps that it deserves our protection to maintain it fluxing free and clean. A A A A A A A A A A A Protecting Hatchie River can non be accomplished by a individual entity or organisation. The continuity of this great wetland system will depend on continued partnerships between organisations of local, province and federal degrees every bit good as private land proprietors, husbandmans and users of the out-of-door infinite provided by Hatchie River. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Division of Water Pollution Control adopted what is calledA the watershed attack to H2O quality and preservation ( Lower Hatchie ) . This attack has brought partnerships on many degrees. The Natural Resources Conservation Service, the United States Geological Survey, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U. S. Army Corp of Engineers are involved on a federal degree harmonizing to the National Wildlife Refuges preservation programs. Federal partnerships provide changing services that enhance eroding control, wildlife direction, preservation attempts, plan ning, planing, building and runing high quality and moderately priced civil plants H2O resource undertakings, care of river navigability, monitoring of inundations and drouths, roll uping extended scientific information, and offering a broad assortment of federally-funded undertakings that conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and workss and their home grounds, every bit good as, advice to other bureaus and organisations. A On the province degree, TDEC Division of Water Supply, the State Revolving Fund, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, West Tennessee River Basin Authority, and Mississippi Department of Environmental QualityA A service to assist forestall H2O pollution, supply low-interest loans to metropoliss and counties for effluent intervention, offer grant plans to better H2O quality and educate the populace, aid continue the natural flow of the Hatchie by bettering impaired feeders or job countries in the Hatchie itself, and supply monitoring and informations t o province bureaus. On the local degree, Friends of West Tennessee Refuges, The Nature Conservancy, the Hatchie River Conservancy, The Chickasaw-Shiloh Resource Conservation and Development Council and The Friend of the Hatchie organisation and others provide voluntaries, fundraising, and educational plans to acquire the local populace involved in stewardship of all of the Hatchie ‘s home grounds. Some of the local spouses have invested in multimillion dollar plans to better H2O quality and halt eroding and to buy lands for saving of bottomlands and wetlands. A A A A A A A A A A A The maps and values of the Hatchie River are countless and unreplaceable, doing the Hatchie cherished by many. Its hydrogeomorphology makes it exceeding as one of a really few natural ecosystems left in America. Though Hatchie River is a wetland system, it is more than a individual home ground. It is a apogee of many that are so closely interlacing as to be identical from each other. Its uniqueness provides home grounds for animate beings that, in some cases, can be found nowhere else. Many obstructions must be overcome in order to continue what remains. Siltation, habitat loss and pollution are elephantine hurdlings but non unsurmountable if bureaus, organisations and the citizens combine forces to continue this invaluable gem of West Tennessee.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Free Essays on Role Of Greek Gods In The Illiad

Role of Greek Gods In the Illiad With our view of God, it can sometimes be difficult to comprehend the actions and thinking of the Greek deities. The Christian God does not tend to take such an active role in the affairs of people's lives, where, on the other hand, the Greeks regarded direct involvement by the gods as a daily, uncontrollable part of life. Needless to say, divine intervention was a major variable in the equation of Homer's Iliad. The gods picked who they would favour for different reasons. Except Zeus: As the symbol of supreme authority and justice, he makes judgement calls as to the other gods' involvement in the war, remains impartial, and doesn't seem to get caught up in picking favourites. Even when his own son, Sarpedon, was about to die, Zeus chose to let the outcome go unaltered. On the other hand, Zeus's wife, Hera, displayed the more typical actions of a god. After Paris, a Trojan, judged Aphrodite the fairest over Hera, and, after her daughter Hebe was replaced as cupbearer to the gods by a young Trojan boy, she was quite resentful towards Troy and its people. Obviously she sided with the Greeks and would stop at no length to express her will. Scheming and manipulating she even dared to trick her husband, King of the Gods. Hera, along with Athena, who was also passed over by Paris, is seen as the chief divine aid to the Greeks. Being the god of the sea, Poseidon was another strong supporter of the ocean-faring Greeks. Whenever Zeus turned his back Poseidon tried to help the Greeks in the fight. Poseidon felt that he was somewhat Zeus's equal as his brother, but recognizing Zeus's authority and experience, he looked to Zeus as an elder. There were also Gods who favoured the Trojan side of the conflict. Both Apollo and Artemis, twin brother and sister, gave aid to the city of Troy. Although Artemis takes a rather minor role, Apo... Free Essays on Role Of Greek Gods In The Illiad Free Essays on Role Of Greek Gods In The Illiad Role of Greek Gods In the Illiad With our view of God, it can sometimes be difficult to comprehend the actions and thinking of the Greek deities. The Christian God does not tend to take such an active role in the affairs of people's lives, where, on the other hand, the Greeks regarded direct involvement by the gods as a daily, uncontrollable part of life. Needless to say, divine intervention was a major variable in the equation of Homer's Iliad. The gods picked who they would favour for different reasons. Except Zeus: As the symbol of supreme authority and justice, he makes judgement calls as to the other gods' involvement in the war, remains impartial, and doesn't seem to get caught up in picking favourites. Even when his own son, Sarpedon, was about to die, Zeus chose to let the outcome go unaltered. On the other hand, Zeus's wife, Hera, displayed the more typical actions of a god. After Paris, a Trojan, judged Aphrodite the fairest over Hera, and, after her daughter Hebe was replaced as cupbearer to the gods by a young Trojan boy, she was quite resentful towards Troy and its people. Obviously she sided with the Greeks and would stop at no length to express her will. Scheming and manipulating she even dared to trick her husband, King of the Gods. Hera, along with Athena, who was also passed over by Paris, is seen as the chief divine aid to the Greeks. Being the god of the sea, Poseidon was another strong supporter of the ocean-faring Greeks. Whenever Zeus turned his back Poseidon tried to help the Greeks in the fight. Poseidon felt that he was somewhat Zeus's equal as his brother, but recognizing Zeus's authority and experience, he looked to Zeus as an elder. There were also Gods who favoured the Trojan side of the conflict. Both Apollo and Artemis, twin brother and sister, gave aid to the city of Troy. Although Artemis takes a rather minor role, Apo...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Free Essays on Job Analysis

In the years ahead, employers face an unprecedented set of challenges. To remain viable or to grow and prosper, they must be efficient. At the same time they must be seen by the users of their goods or services, and by the public who keeps them in business, as productive and responsive to consumer or public needs (Bemis, 1983). Furthermore, they must meet legal and social demands to employ a diverse and representative work force, which often means employing member of minority groups or women in jobs traditionally held by whites or men, and vice versa. In short, organizations must be more productive while meeting complex, often contradictory, legal social, administrative and economic demands (Bemis, 1983). There is no single or simple solution to these interacting pressures on employers, but a focal point for addressing them is at the level of the jobs that people perform in the organization. An understanding of how a job is designed, how people are sought and selected for a position and how they are evaluated and rewarded by an organization is critical for efficient human resource management (Kimeldorf, 1997). The first step in looking at jobs for human resource management purposes is job analysis (Bemis, 1983) Job Analysis is â€Å"the process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. It is the determination of the tasks which comprise the job and of the skills, knowledge, abilities and responsibilities required of the holder for successful job performance.† (Byars, 1994) Put another way, job analysis is the process of determining, through observation and study the pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. Job analysis serves as the cornerstone of all human resource functions. Jobs must be analyzed before many of the other human resource functions can be performed. For example, effective recruitment is not possible unless the recru... Free Essays on Job Analysis Free Essays on Job Analysis In the years ahead, employers face an unprecedented set of challenges. To remain viable or to grow and prosper, they must be efficient. At the same time they must be seen by the users of their goods or services, and by the public who keeps them in business, as productive and responsive to consumer or public needs (Bemis, 1983). Furthermore, they must meet legal and social demands to employ a diverse and representative work force, which often means employing member of minority groups or women in jobs traditionally held by whites or men, and vice versa. In short, organizations must be more productive while meeting complex, often contradictory, legal social, administrative and economic demands (Bemis, 1983). There is no single or simple solution to these interacting pressures on employers, but a focal point for addressing them is at the level of the jobs that people perform in the organization. An understanding of how a job is designed, how people are sought and selected for a position and how they are evaluated and rewarded by an organization is critical for efficient human resource management (Kimeldorf, 1997). The first step in looking at jobs for human resource management purposes is job analysis (Bemis, 1983) Job Analysis is â€Å"the process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. It is the determination of the tasks which comprise the job and of the skills, knowledge, abilities and responsibilities required of the holder for successful job performance.† (Byars, 1994) Put another way, job analysis is the process of determining, through observation and study the pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. Job analysis serves as the cornerstone of all human resource functions. Jobs must be analyzed before many of the other human resource functions can be performed. For example, effective recruitment is not possible unless the recru...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Finding a paper for my final project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Finding a paper for my final project - Essay Example Consequently, organizations have a chance of minimizing their IT based capital expenditures. Cloud computing services ensure that large and small organizations have the potential of attaining optimum IT based functionalities. These occur as the organizations face stiff competition and different government regulations on data-storage needs and computing. However, market factors and the management of the organizations may hinder or influence the engagement of the organizations in the cloud computing strategies. Such contributes in the reduction of the ability of organizations to engage in IT related infrastructure for business growth and improvement on competitive strength. Another key issue is the technical ability of the organization, which determines the potential of the organization to handle its cloud computing. This entails information sharing, cost savings, in-house degradation performance and the other associated performance over the in-house. Such depicts the trust level for the deployment of the effective cloud computing infrastructure, which makes the organization have the potential of achieving its success in the competitive business

Friday, November 1, 2019

Is Existentialism Nihilistic Why or Why Not Essay

Is Existentialism Nihilistic Why or Why Not - Essay Example It is always linked with extreme skepticism and pessimism that condemns existence. Existential nihilism is based on the belief that the world is meaningless and has no purpose in that all existence in it such as pain or feelings are senseless. Therefore, existential nihilists such as Camus and Nietzsche regards feelings and thoughts as merely influence of prior causes (McBride 89). In a more elaborate sense, free will is denied. Further, they argue that existentialism is nihilistic because they believe that on this world, misery and suffering has dominated over pleasure while happiness has been elusive thus leaving mankind with the option of suicide as the only course to take. Existentialism can be said to be nihilism because it presents human life as ultimately meaningless and trivial. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that forceful effects will eventually destroy all religious, metaphysical beliefs, morals and accelerate the greatest crisis in history of human beings. Other existentialism nihilists such as Camus and Soren Kierkegaard argued that individuals had the responsibility of giving meaning to their lives despite of many struggles and distractions such as alienation, boredom, despair and absurdity (Cox 27). According to Nietzsche, there is no objective structure or order in the universe or world except that the order human beings give it. In addition, he argued that all values have no meaning and that human rationality is impotent. In this manner, he meant that every human belief is not true because there is no true or real world. Therefore, he proposes that in order for the world to exist, nihilism should be destroyed. Nietzsche argues that existential nihilism is absolute in that further scrutiny shows that highest values eventually devalues themselves. Inevitably, existential nihilism will present all loved and cherished convictions and truth as valueless. Therefore, such lack or collapse of relevance meaning and value of life will be the most destructive power or force in history, comprising a total assault on truth and nothing less than the crisis of humanity. Nietzsche analysis was real and accurate in that studies conducted on some cultures depicts some patterns of nihilism which shows some features of collapsing civilizations (McBride 57). Existential nihilism has the convictions that the life has no meaning in this sense; it argues that the world has no purpose by stating that existence in itself such as suffering, feeling and all actions is ultimately empty and senseless. For instance, it is argued that existential nihilism is a form or another and that has part of western realm from the beginning. It states that the life of deaths or mortal is so mean a thing or form as to be virtually un-life. For example, embodies similar type of extreme pessimism linked with existential nihilism. In ancient times, such pessimism may have reached its peak with Hegesis due to the fact that miseries outnumber pleasures, happiness is not possi ble to attain, and therefore, the philosopher argues that the best thing to do is suicide. In his argument, Jean-Paul Sartre ponders that existence precedes essence whereby he rules out any platform for establishing an essential or significant self or human nature. When illusion is abandoned, life is recognized to us as nothing thus leading to nothing else but existential horror and emotional anguish. In addition, existential nihil