The Battle Of Palo Alto - 3945 Words

The Battle of Palo Alto The Battle of Palo Alto was the first major battle of the Mexican-American War. The Mexican Army of the North engaged the United States Army of Occupation on a prairie near current day Brownsville, Texas. The conflict took place on May 8th, 1846 and was followed the next by the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, about five miles south. Both battles took place in an area of disputed ownership and, depending on the side, were on the only battles on American soil. Thousands of Americans, who changed citizenship and received large tracts of land from the Mexican government, rebelled in Texas in 1835 for several reasons, including Mexico’s abolition of the locally popular Texas provincial government and its inability to†¦show more content†¦In November of 1845, President Polk named Senator James Slidell of Louisiana as the new American minster to Mexico (Haecker, 1994), and was sent to secretly negotiate with Mexican President Jose Joaquin de Herrera. However, he was overthrown by General Mariano Parades y Arrillaga, Commander of the Army of the North, who denied negotiation with the Americans and demanded the return of the disputed area of Texas. During this time, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor, who was preemptively stationed at Corpus Christi, to move his unit down to Port Isabel at the mouth of the Rio Grande and Gulf of Mexico. This only increased tensions between the two nations, which came to a height with the construction of the U.S. Fort Texas on the north bank of the Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoros, a natural choke point (Carney, 2005). Up to the War, the American and Mexican armies were about as much the same as they were different. The American force, renamed the U.S. Army of Occupation, was led by General Taylor who had severed in the army since the War of 1812 and was known by his men as â€Å"Old Rough and Ready.† The American Army, organized based on European models, had a strength of 8,613 men and contained only regulars (Carney, 2005). These infantrymen enlisted for five years, and was made up of 42 percent foreign nationals, of which 50 percent were Irish. The U.S. ArmyShow MoreRelatedThe Battle Of Palo Alto1513 Words   |  7 PagesBattle of Palo Alto May 8, 1946 marks a crucial day for the American field artillery. On that day a significant battle was fought, in which is now Brownsville, Texas, due to a dispute over territory. That battle is known to as the Battle of Palo Alto. One of many battles won by the Field Artillery. It was the first battle of the Mexican-American war. During the first conflict, new and improved artillery was developed. The upgrade seemed to open up a window to new artillery with better capabilitiesRead MoreThe Mexican American War By Daniel Timi1492 Words   |  6 PagesHouston led the â€Å"Texians† in battle against Mexican President Santa Anna and his troops. The last victory emerged in the capture of President Anna who was compelled to sign the Treat of Velasco, leading Texas its independence. 2 During the war, Mexico and United States would engage in numerous of battles from the Battle of Palo Alto to the Battle of El Molino del Rey. The battles consisted of losing approximately 38,000 soldiers left alone, 1700 deaths were precisely battle-related. The others occurredRead MoreA Clinic Based Weight Management Program753 Words   |  4 Pageswellness and in effect, improve their quality of life. MOVE! Weight-Management Program To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan† Abraham Lincoln (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d.). I am employed at the Veterans Administration Palo Alto Health Care System in Palo Alto, California (VAPAHCS) as a physical therapist. One of the health promotion initiatives that VAPAHCS offer to our veterans is the Make Our Veterans ExerciseRead MoreThe American Of The Mexican American War Essay1470 Words   |  6 PagesHouston signed the Declaration of independence of Texas in 1836. Before the Mexican-American War and the Annexation, Texas had just gained its independence from Mexico. One of the pivotal moments in the war was the battle of the Alamo from February 23 – March 6, 1836. The battle occurred after a 13-day siege and General Santa Anna decided to attack the Texans at the Alamo. Santa Anna sought this moment to try to take back Texas for Mexico. While 100 Texans defended, about 1500 Mexicans attackedRead MoreMexican War/US Land and Territory600 Words   |  3 PagesMexico probably could have lost less land if they would have signed a peace treaty. During the Mexican American War, many battles happened. Palo Alto was one of the earliest battles of the war. On April 25, 1846, a group of Mexican Cavalry attacked a group of American soldiers. With reinforcements the American soldiers were able to beat the Mexicans at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. On May 9, President Polk received a message from his war department about the attack. After beingRead MoreThe Mexican American War Of Mexico1255 Words   |  6 Pagesopportunity to expand by seizing Mexico’s northern lands, and took it. They accepted Mexico s offer to live in Texas, and soon Texas became overrun with Americans. They influenced Texas to go against Mexico, and eventually Texas was won by the US in battle. After that, Mexico and America began having disputes. However, the Mexican-American War officially started when Mexican troops shot American soldiers in the disputed territory. In modern-day, many people take sides about whether it was right or notRead MoreThe Mexican American War, Spanish Guerra De 1847770 Words   |  4 PagesEisenhower simply and bluntly stated: â€Å"The fact is that Mexico stood in the way of the American dream of Manifest Destiny.† Manifest Destiny was just one of the causes that pushed us to war with Mexico. The first battle was at Palo Alto, a fort that was in the disputed zone. There were many battles in 2 years. The war finally grasped an end when Mexico signed a treaty in Mexico City. With the treaty, U.S and Mexico were able to reach terms. Each proceedings that happened, brought on the war that lastedRead MoreThe Legacy Of The Great Steve Jobs Essay1333 Words   |  6 Pagesand chairman for Apple Inc.. However, Jobs was not limited to Apple only, he worked with numerous inventors along his way, finding some of the most dominant pieces of technology to this age. Jobs established his company right here in California. Palo Alto, California to be exact. As a result, Steve Jobs has be en the grounds for vast development throughout California, as well as stemming economical growth. The American visionary was born on February 24, 1995 in San Francisco, California. UnbeknownstRead MoreMexican American War : The Structure Of North America1095 Words   |  5 PagesMary Juarez Professor: Andrew Hollinger History 1301 Class: 9:05 am – 10:00 am Mexican-American War, Discussing the Battle that Defined the Structure of North America. Mexican-American War was caused mainly by the priority from both parts to gain territory as well as the desire of Texas to become an independent republic. This topic does not spark many conversations in the U.S. However, states like California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico which were precisely involved in this conflictRead MoreThe History of Texas Essay746 Words   |  3 Pagesamazing story. The small number of American settlers moved to the land of Texas had led to the dramatic war with the Mexicans. The land of Texas was used to be owned by Mexicans. Due to the argument between Texans and Mexicans caused the battle of San Jacinto and Mexican War. In long ago before American settlers moved to Texas, this place was so rich and an abundance of land. Spanish settlers have lived there for many years. When American settlers have expanded in the United

This paper will explore the freedom of information and...

This paper will explore the freedom of information and privacy as it relates to social media postings with a particular look at Facebook (FB) and the issues that surround this social media giant. Social media in general and FB specifically have become an avenue to share ones thoughts and ideas, as well as daily events and plans much like people did years ago by using a diary. However, unlike notes in a diary, posts on FB may be seen by the masses. Today’s online posts can have serious ramifications if its content is controversial, or even ostensibly benign. While the old diary of events was memorialized after the events took place, and then later shared only with a select few, todays social posts are documented as they take place, and†¦show more content†¦We will look at how FB discloses records in accordance of applicable law, including the federal Stored Communications Act, and what type of data is retained and available when requested by authorities. In addition, we will examine how both local and federal law enforcement agencies monitor and use FB to solve and prevent crimes and will examine what type of information law enforcement, or others, can gain, from a persons FB activity. Additionally, we will look to see if FB protects its users privacy and we will look at the impact that these issues have on anyone with a stake in this subject and what the ramifications would be if there were a change in policy. Stakeholders on this issue are many and varied; from everyday social media users to FB employees and stockholders to law enforcement and government officials to prospective employers and employees. Stakeholder Assessment Background on Facebook Inc. FB is an online social networking service that was established in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg along with four Harvard University roommates. Before FB, Zuckerberg had created an online program titled Facemash which was a quasi-dating site that was accessible only to Harvard students. To upload student’s pictures to Facemash, Zuckerberg hacked into protected areas of Harvards computer system and copied private ID images. This site didnt last long as it was shut down days later by Harvard administrators who alleged, but later dropped, charges of breachShow MoreRelated Technology Today Essay2005 Words   |  9 Pagesconstructing our existence and understanding of reality. The Internet is one such piece of technology that influences our perceptions of our self and our surroundings. This essay will aim to explore the social implications of experimentation with identities online, as well as evaluating the ways in which new technologies may continue to shape this issue in the future. The self and self-identity is a continually changing entity, which is constantly being reconstructed throughout a person’s life. (SlevinRead MoreFreedom of Speech, Comparing Freedom of Expression in the Statutory Law and the Sharia Law19992 Words   |  80 PagesWestminster MA in International Journalism Freedom of Expression Comparing Freedom of Expression in the Statutory Law and the Sharia Law (Human Rights Act 1998 of The British law as an exemplar) Dissertation Submitted for The MA Degree in International Journalism University of Westminster By Motasem Ahmed Dalloul Copyright (2012), University of Westminster and Motasem Ahmed Dalloul Introduction Getting in touch with media law during the first semester of my Masters gaveRead More00002525 Develop A Media Plan4575 Words   |  19 Pages BSBADV507B (DEVELOP A MEDIA PLAN) STUDENT NAME : MOOI TING TAN (KAREN) STUDENT ID : 00002525 TRAINER NAME : Mr. Mo Sadique SCHOOL NAME : Australian learning ,Training and Education Centre (ALTEC) Assessment Task 1 AQWA Organization Profile Since 1988, AQWA has presented the beauty and wonder of this coastal environment and is Western Australia’s number one marineRead MoreSocial Media Business Model Analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace34799 Words   |  140 Pagesl Social Media Business Model Analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace Logistics Master s thesis Xiaoyan Hu 2011 Department of Information and Service Economy Aalto University School of Economics ABSTRACT The term of social media is becoming increasingly popular presently, the amount of social media users is growing dramatically, and the monetization of social media has been discussed in publications but not in details. Nowadays, the most frequently used approach to make money forRead MoreEngaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age12587 Words   |  51 PagesEngaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age (Free Executive Summary) http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11896.html Free Executive Summary Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age James Waldo, Herbert S. Lin, and Lynette I. Millett, Editors, Committee on Privacy in the Information Age, National Research Council ISBN: 978-0-309-10392-3, 456 pages, 6 x 9, hardback (2007) This free executive summary is provided by the National Academies as part of our mission to educateRead MoreSocial Media Business Model Analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace34799 Words   |  140 Pagesl Social Media Business Model Analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace Logistics Masters thesis Xiaoyan Hu 2011 Department of Information and Service Economy Aalto University School of Economics ABSTRACT The term of social media is becoming increasingly popular presently, the amount of social media users is growing dramatically, and the monetization of social media has been discussed in publications but not in details. Nowadays, the most frequently used approach to make money forRead MoreTeenage Struggle4860 Words   |  20 Pagesto name a few, are globally observable. Information superhighway is undoubtedly one of the most developed fields. Extensive researches have been done to improve this indispensable field. Social Networking communities are here to stay. Facebook has over 500 million users, while twitter has over 200 million. That’s not even counting blogs or Youtube video blogs. There’s no doubt that the students are actively engaged in online communities. Some of the social networking sites have a negative amp; discernableRead MoreCultural Considerations Remote or Robotic Surgery Essay4017 Words   |  17 PagesLAS432 Team Project Guidelines Objective This capstone course concludes with  a research Team Project that starts during the first week and continues throughout the duration of the class.   It  culminates with  the submission of a formal team report and an oral presentation by each team during Week 7, and Peer Reviews in Week 8. Each team will identify and explore an emerging technology. This will be a technology that may already exist, but is drawing attention because of new applications, anticipatedRead MoreSMSC12647 Words   |  51 Pagesï » ¿ Educating the whole child Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development January 2006 Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Spiritual Development 4 3 Moral Development 8 4 Social Development 12 5 Cultural Development 15 6 SMSC across the curriculum 19 7 Assessing SMSC in the primary school 27 8 Citizenship in secondary schools 34 9 The Christian ethos of the school and sex and relationships education 38 10 Resources and websites 39 1 Introduction SinceRead MoreYouth, Digital Media and Their Roles in Social Changes5494 Words   |  22 PagesYOUTH, DIGITAL MEDIA AND THEIR ROLES IN SOCIAL CHANGES Idola Perdini Putri Communication Science Program Study – School of Multimedia and Communication Telkom Institute of Management Jalan Telekomunikasi No. 1 – Dayeuh Kolot, Bandung Cell. +6285294258565 / e-mail: idola_perdiniputri@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION New Media And Youth Every day, a story runs in the news media that relates to teenagers and the internet or social networking or digital media. 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Controversy of the Exile Free Essays

After reading 2 Kings 25 and the two articles, the main source of contrast between these two sourcs is the amount of detail they go into on different aspects of the Exile. The Biblical reading mentions King Nebuchadnezzar and his capture of King Zedekiah, the efforts of General Nebuzaradan and his detailed destruction and pillaging of Jerusalem and the Temple, the capturing and execution of Judah†s chief officers and priests, Judah†s revolt against Gedaliah and fleeing to Egypt, and the benevolence King Evil-merodach of Babylon demonstrated towards Jehoiachin. The articles, however, mentioned nothing of to do with any of these circumstances. We will write a custom essay sample on Controversy of the Exile or any similar topic only for you Order Now They concentrated, instead, on the life in Judah during the Exile. The Biblical picture of life in Judah during the Exile was expressed in only a few verses. One states, â€Å"But the poorest of the people were left to farm the land (2 Kings 25:12). † This gives us little information to work with, and all that can be assumed is that not many people were left in Jerusalem, and those that were, farmed. Whether they farmed for themselves, or for Babylon cannot be reasonably determined from this one verse. Later on, we see that some underground guerrilla forces were also left in Judah as they assassinated Gedaliah and fled to Egypt. Other than this, we know nothing from 2 Kings 25 about life in Judah during the Exile. The articles, however, give us much more light into life in Judah during these times. Graham illustrates that the people that worked in Jerusalem, Mozah, and Gibeon during the Exile were primarily vinedressers and plowmen. 2 Kings 25 does not give us enough information to have known that people worked in these three cities. Their work, however, was not for themselves, but for the greater power of Babylon, as can be illustrated in an engraving on a jar that read, â€Å"belonging to the lord† in reference to the work done by the people for the Babylonian king. This, also, was not explicitly illustrated in 2 Kings 25. The king of Babylon collected the goods produced and used them to better the Babylonian economy and the royal crown. Governor Gedaliah also was expected to have overseen people of Judah work to produce wine, fruit, and oil for Babylon. Outside Benjamin, people worked to make perfume, especially balm, for the royal crown of Babylon. The insight Graham gives us into the work done at Mizpah stresses an important point that 2 Kings 25 leaves out. Not only was work done to produce dyes for Babylon, but the choice of using Mizpah as the city for this work was important because it implies that Jerusalem was unihabited, and Mizpah was more ideal. This shows that Mizpah was saved, in order that this work could be done there, and that Jerusalem was desolate. Kings 25, however, states that workers were in Jerusalem. Additionally, the information from the Bible reveals that Gedaliah was appointed to watch over the people left in Judah, however, Graham adds that he was also in charge of royal estate management. Graham speaks of the area of Judah as being divided up into labor districts, and also notes that the transport of the goods to Babylon were illustrated on Erech tablets that were discovered. No information on these subjects were found in 2 Kings 25. Lastly, 2 Kings 25 says nothing about life for the inhabitants of Judah after the Exile under Persian rule, other than talking about how Jehoiachin was treated. Graham informs us more by saying that forced labor was engrained in the minds of the people because, under Persian rule, the prophet Trito Isaiah promised that there would be no more forced labor like that under the Babylonians. Thus, from Graham, we can tell that forced labor must have been a serious hardship for the people of Judah during the Exile, and that the Perisans appeared to rule in a more benevolent manner than the Babylonians. According to Williamson, a more archaeological view is taken in contrast to 2 Kings 25. Williamson says that, because of the discovery of tombs of wealthy Jews in Jerusalem, that there must have been more than poor people living in Jerusalem at this time. Based on these discoveries, Williamson goes on to state that the population of Jerusalem may have been more than 2 Kings 25 implies, and that religious liturgy was probably more productive, including people offering prayers at the site of the destroyed Temple. He also uses other pieces of Scripture to analyze the Exile. By using Ezra, Williamson speaks more of the Persian benevolence and God†s promises not to abandon His people than 2 Kings 25 does. Graham also believes that the book of Nehemiah was used as a prayed for restoration from the view of those in Jerusalem, and that Isaiah 40-55 was also from the view of those in Jerusalem during the Exile. These books support Graham†s belief that more people inhabited this city than implied by 2 Kings 25. It is thus inferred that the Levites in the post-Exilic period, when the books of Ezra nd Nehemiah were created, drew on their knowledge of these prayers when leading the people in confession. In Williamson†s opinion in light of Isaiah 40-55, it is impossible to suppose that Isaiah was not present with the people in the Exile, of which he speaks. Thus, Williamson agrees with the consensus of scholars that the work of Isaiah 40-55 was the work of another prophet, commonly referred to as deutero-Isaiah. Williamson goes on to examine a prayer in Isaiah that was written as a lament by the Jerusalem community who did not leave during the period of the Exile. Jerusalem is in ruins, as are the other cities of Judah, and the Temple had been destroyed. The entire passage (Isaiah 63:7-64:12) connects nicely with the passage from Nehemiah that Williamson spoke of earlier. Thus, if the conclusions about Nehemiah are true, they should give support that the passage from Isaiah is also a lament from Jerusalem during the Exilic period focussin on the destroyed and deserted Temple. In addition, several distinctive details suggest a relationship between the passage from Nehemiah and the passage from Isaiah. For example, only in these two passages in the entire Hebrew Bible is there a referenceto God†s Spirit (ruach) in connection with Israel†s wilderness wanderings. But beyond such details, Williamson believes that there is similarity in the overall shape of the two passages, especially in the last paragraph of each. Each, of which, contains an appeal to God which begins â€Å"But now†, and in each, a title for God is given that picks up a central aspect of His character. Both passages then hold up to God His people†s state of need, based on a previous recital of details, and both emphasize that â€Å"we† are failing to enjoy what â€Å"our fathers† once enjoyed. Additionally, in each case there is no specific request, only a laying before God of the source of the distress. Finally, each begins with a hymnic introduction, then comes a historical recital used as a vehicle for confession of sina nd faithlessness. Each then concludes with an appeal for salvation. In fact, this combination also occurs in Psalms 106. As a whole, Williamson†s proposal is that the three passages in Nehemiah, Isaiah, and Psalms should be taken together as giving us insight into the liturgy reciuted on the ruined site of Jerusalem†s Temple during the Exile. None of which was gleened from 2 Kings 25. Indeed, it is a testimaony to their religious insights and to the intensity of their expression that thesse passages were taken up again by the post-Exilic Jewish community and so given a wider application –one in a Nehemiah, another in Isaiah, and still another in Psalms. Harmonizing between the Bible and the articles is difficult. All the details that 2 Kings 25 did not address can be filled in with the articles. However, much criticism must be taken in weighing what is possible and what is Biblical. Only those things that accord with archaeology, like Williamson†s tombs and Graham†s Erech tablets, or other pieces of Scripture can be taken with much confidence in compilation with 2 Kings 25. Those assumptions from the articles that do not necessarily contradict, but add to what is already said in 2 Kings 25, must also be taken with caution. For example, the assumption that wealthy people lived in Jerusalem during the Exile adds to what 2 Kings says about poor people living there. 2 Kings never says that no rich people lived there, it only states that many poor people did. Thus, it is possible that some rich lived there also, and because it is supported with archaeological evidence of tombs, the assumption can be taken with much more confidence. The articles do not outright claim that 2 Kings 25 is false in any way, they instead add details to what is said there. Because these details are rooted in other passages of Scripture and archaeological evidence, they can be more harmonized with 2 Kings 25 with much confidence because their roots are in reliable sources. Based on the readings for this week, I tend to agree with Williamson†s conclusion and description of the literary activity in Judah during the period of the Exile. What was stated in 2 Kings 25, I believe is very credible evidence about the Exile, however I think it lacks in detail. Williamson made some very convincing arguments that filled in these gaps with details that seemed congruent with other Biblical passages. He made a very important point that the authors of the Bible used earlier sources in compiling their writings, which gave him justification to use other parts of Scripture to strengthen his conclusions on the Exile, as opposed to taking 2 Kings 25 by itself. The other passages from Nehemiah, Psalms, and Isaiah all seemed to be in the same context as that of 2 Kings 25. They made sense in how they fit into the historical timeline of the Exile, along with God†s ongoing provision for His people. These passages all added some important detail to Judah during the Exile, and I was convinced about his conclusion when I discovered that none of the passages were mutually exclusive. In addition, the archaeological evidence compiled about tombs of wealthy Jews in Jerusalem further supported my belief in Williamson†s view that more people inhabited Jerusalem than just the poor. Through Williamson†s archaeological and Scriptural arguments, I was convinced that the population of Jerusalem during the Exile must have been more than expected, that more people than just the poor lived there, and that religious liturgy was productive and prevelant in the city and on the ruins of the Temple. How to cite Controversy of the Exile, Essay examples

Novel Great Expectations Essay Example For Students

Novel Great Expectations Essay Dickens uses setting in a variety of ways in Great Expectations. He uses it as a way to mirror the feelings of a character and to expand on the characterisation towards Pip. This allows him to create an environment that the reader can empathise with. In Chapter One, we connect with Pip in a graveyard. The dark, dismal feelings portrayed by the negative adjectives mirror the feelings within Pip specifically, the feeling of loneliness or abandonment that Pip is suffering from at this stage. The dead nature of the graveyard, and the subsequent introduction of Magwitch, could connate Magwitchs death further in the novel. As Dickens was an outspoken socialist, the graveyard could also be used to represent the high mortality rate as a result of extreme poverty within the 19th century in England. This is specifically represented by the reference to five little stone lozenges siblings of Pip who have already succumbed to the void. A distant savage lair provides the hint of an introduction to Magwitch. Magwitch could also be represented by the brittle, brutal nature of the landscape. We will write a custom essay on Novel Great Expectations specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now This is particularly reinforced by the uncultured, colloquial way in which he speaks, that shows his roots and the time he has spent in prison. However, as the chapter evolves, we see the perspective of Magwitch change. He is shown as limping and cut, which encourages us to feel pity for him and could hint at the battered existence he has had which has led him to crime. This could represent the view that Dickens had that being of one particular sect, whether good or bad, does not force you all to the same opinion. The entire novel is told from the point of view of Pip, which allows us to experience the actions from his perspective. This increases the empathy that we feel with the characters and allows a much greater range of tension and emotion to be used. Furthermore, as the story is told from this perspective and it progresses, we see Pip mature and get a much more adult opinion of the world. In Chapter Eight, Pip visits the house owned by Miss Havisham, who lives there with her ward Estella. As soon as Pip enters the house, we see the influence that Miss Havisham has extended upon it. Havisham was left standing at the altar on the day of her wedding, and this has had an enormous influence on her state of mind and her attitude towards humanity men, in particular. We see that as she has decayed, brooded and plotted, her abode has decayed with her. Her entire room displays a recurring theme of white, yet as Pip looks closer he sees that what was once white is now yellow. This represents the passage of time for Miss Havisham, and shows that she has faded over time, and is now a shadow of her former self. There is a repetition throughout the description of her as half: she has one shoe, her veil was half arranged, her trunks were half packed. This could be a reference to the fact that Miss Havisham is only half herself the other half of her being with her vanished, not-to-be partner. It could also suggest that she has been maddened, but it perhaps has a greater influence and shows her as a spider, twitching the webs of other lives to suit her purposes. This for example is shown when she allows Estella to practice on Pip, encouraging her to break him. We also see that Miss Havisham is used to being in control, as the offhand way that she uses imperatives to command Pip and Estella. However, we also see that she is old and broken, and Dickens encourages us to pity her. This is done by her having the appearance of having drooped under the weight of a crushing blow. This could serve the purpose of encouraging us to look deeper into the hidden meaning of a character or setting, to see the truth. This could be related to Dickens opinion of politics. We clearly see the future influence that Estella will have on Pip by the way that he introduces her. .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 , .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .postImageUrl , .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 , .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:hover , .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:visited , .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:active { border:0!important; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:active , .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1 .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2ede2a876d5fa6a51da063b266f4b3b1:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Courtroom Drama EssayShe is described as her light came along the passage like a star. This suggests that Pip is dazzled by her, and it also sets the scene for the future romance between them. However, we also see from a scornful young lady that Pip will have difficulty in attracting her interest. This is probably a reference to the opinion that Dickens has on the divide amongst the upper and lower classes, and the subsequent unhappiness that comes from it. In Chapter Twenty-Five, Pip visits Wemmicks household. Wemmick is in the employment of Mr Jaggers, a lawyer working in and around Newgate Prison. The significance of this is that when Wemmick raises the drawbridge to cut off the communication, it shows that Wemmick wishes to keep his work and home life very separate. This represents the belief that an Englishmans home is his castle. Dickens makes a mockery of this phrase by using Wemmick as a stereotypical Englishman. His house is describes as a childs copy of a castle, with compromises and illusions to aid the effect. This could show that Pip, and by extension Dickens, feels jaded and wishes to ridicule the mentality of the English people that if they ignore something and shut themselves off from it, it will cease to exist. This would be one of Dickens major concerns: as without the support of the rich who would need to open their eyes and look at the situation it will not be possible for the situation of the poor to change. In conclusion, there are a number of ways that Dickens uses setting in Great Expectations. It is primarily used as a way for us to empathize with the characters, which is particularly important for us because of the way in which Pip, our narrator, acts and matures as the novel progresses. However, the setting is also used to represent Dickens views on society, classes, and segregation, and he does so to great effect.

American Literature The Romantic Era (Part 1) Flashcard

American Literature The Romantic Era (Part 1)

Teenagers and Depression essays

Teenagers and Depression essays Teenagers experience a great deal of life changing events and some studies even suggest that the teenage years may be the most stressful time in people lives. Academics are the most effective in teenage depression; putting in effort to make exceptional grades, pass exams and having enough credits to graduate. Another cause of teenage depression is sleep deprivation, which consist of unhealthy sleeping habits due to studying late and fitting in a healthy social life. Teenagers also have worries about money as far as how they will pay for school events and keeping up with fashion trends to fit in to society are the most popular ways of money worries. Then there are relationship concerns with family, friends, and boyfriends or girlfriends. You have to maintain a healthy relationship and find solutions to relationship problems. Finally, the uncertainty of their future is a big worry and deals with a teenagers mental health. If these issues and worries are not balanced it causes depressio n and as a great effect on teenagers. The result of academic stress, sleep deprivation, money worries, and uncertainty about their future is depression that turns a teen to the use of tobacco, alcohol, other drugs, and unhealthy eating habits. Teens feel if they use these methods it will clear their minds and create a stress free life but it doesnt. Teens already have money worries and buying addictive drugs create more which drives a teenager to depression. The substances may make them feel as if the problems have cease but soon after the chemicals that relax the brain die off they begin to think about their problems. Drugs are not a solution but have many reasons why teens support their habits of doing it. The use of tobacco is common with teens in order to relieve their stress and take away the thoughts of not doing well in school or not having enough money to fit in to society popularity. Tobaccos consist of chemicals that can...

Answers to West Point Admission Questions Essay

Answers to West Point Admission Questions - Essay Example In addition to inspiration from the Army, I also draw inspiration from my country. This is a great nation and the whole world looks up to it. I’m a proud citizen of USA and I wish to express my gratitude to this great country by serving its citizens and protecting its land. I believe that the Army has multiple tasks. They are not just the defenders of a nation; soldiers are servants of the people of that nation. American soldiers are warriors and defenders; they are there to serve the people of USA. West Point’s Military Academy is a renowned name in preparing graduates who have an extreme sense of duty and honor for their country. In addition, the graduates are also well disciplined. I have always been inspired by discipline of cadets. I believe that’s the way life should be: organized and well planned; for discipline makes man superior to other creatures. Personally I’m a disciplined person; I like to organize my life whenever I can. I believe that disci pline is the key to achievement. If one goes well planned and disciplined, there’s nothing that cannot be achieved. In addition, I am persistent by nature. When I start something, I rarely give it up or quit on it and I like challenging tasks like problem solving in limited time. Once I do get the chance to attend US military academy, I’d definitely want to work as an active duty army officer. I’d prefer active duty since I want to devote my whole life to US Army, I long to be a part of it. I’m also inspired by the military life. Reporting daily, being posted at a base camp; where I can learn about Army life and its challenges. Going to the USMA will also be good for my health. Undergoing physical training and extensive exercise daily will make me physically strong and daily drills will develop more discipline within me.I believe that discipline is the basic and foremost quality needed to become a successful USMA cadet. At USMA, the academy and its dignified staff strive to groom young pupils into responsible and mature cadets; for this process to be accomplished, I believe the pupils required to display best discipline. Disciplinary education is unique to military academies; USMA is no exception. Discipline is actually the component of a cadet’s life that I appreciate the most.

West Africa the Atlantic Slave-Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

West Africa the Atlantic Slave-Trade - Essay Example As an outcome Africans were taken to North America, Central America, South America and Caribbean to offer slave labor in gold and silver mines and agricultural plantations growing crops such as cotton sugar and tobacco (Rodney 125). The tarnished commerce of the human being persisted for more than 400 years since the Atlantic slave trade did come to an end in the late 1870’s. Atlantic slave trade was systematized in Europe and about the huge profits made by countries such as England and France. Africans journey from Africa to America across Atlantic Ocean was a terrible one. Africans were crowded like sardines on the slave ships of the Atlantic full of oppression and brutality which they replied nobly (Rodney 125). The precise number of how many Africans were taken from their families to be sold as slaves is not known, but it is estimated that 15 million slaves reached the American continent and the Caribbean island because of Atlantic slave trade. The number of slaves who left Africa soil was much higher than 15 million since some were killed during the brutal process of acquiring the slaves and also some died on board. By the 19th century, there was a modification as people who took the leading role in ill-using Africa. The European Countries themselves were inactive in the slave trade; in its place European who had established themselves in Brazil, North America and Cuba were the ones who planned the trade. America had gained independence from the Britain and it was the new nation of United States of America which played the greatest role in the last 50 years of the Atlantic slave trade, by taking back slaves at a greater value than ever before (Rodney 126). In order to be in a commerce relationship with West Africa, most of the European countries decided to up factories on the coast. A factory in the trading language of the West African coast was a place where European and African products

Describe the three major causes of soil erosion Essay

Describe the three major causes of soil erosion - Essay Example The formation of a 1 centimeter soil can take up to 400 years and the production of a sufficient depth of farming might take 3,000-12,000 years (Edwards, 2005, p. 36). Soils are easily and increasingly eroded but may take years to form, leading to ruining of land resources. Soil erosion rapidly occurs in mismanaged lands, lands where protective vegetation is removed, places with rapid population growth, steep lands, and places with extreme climatic conditions or rainfall is seasonal, downpour, and unreliable (Edwards, 2005, p. 36). In line with the rapid occurrence of soil erosion are major causes of soil erosion which the essay will discuss in detail. This includes overcultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation. Soil erosion is a natural process but most of the human interventions contribute to the increased incidences of soil erosion. The potential harm to the ecological balance, biological species, and human harm is insurmountable; thus, this paper will discuss in addition the ca use, promoting factors, effect, and examples of overcultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation observed within the society. ... In addition, overcultivation partly occurs due to introduction and use of mechanized machinery such as tractors and discs ploughs and the introduction of irrigation schemes (Park, 2001, p. 438). Overcultivation is one of the major causes of soil erosion. The constant use of land for crop production removes the protective soil covering and crops do not have the capacity to strongly hold the soil, which increase the risks of soil erosion. Likewise, the use of tractors and disc ploughs destroy native perennial vegetation, encourage soil degradation, and remove protective soil cover (Park, 2001, p. 438). Due to the removal of soil covering, topsoil is exposed to wind erosion and blown away, making the soil dry and infertile. Water irrigation is the proposed solution for dry lands but often increases soil salinity and water logging which may also increase the likelihood of erosion if left abandoned (Park, 2001, p. 438). Thus, it can be inferred that when there is overcultivation, the poss ibility of soil erosion is likewise to occur. Overgrazing Overgrazing is the most widespread cause of soil erosion and occurs when there are too many animals for the amount of grass available (Edwards, 2005, p. 36; Waugh, 2003, p. 254). Overgrazing is common among traditional farmers who rely heavily on grazing animals. Overgrazing can be attributed to a variety of factors such as status symbol, food security, food supply, rise of export agriculture, and veterinary care (Park, 2001, p. 438). Overgrazing makes the soil condition worse. Palatable plants are replaced by unpalatable plants, pressure increases on the less-grazed pasture, bare ground, sand sheets and dunes increases which

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development Chapter 4 Methodology and Implementation This chapter describes the methodology and implementation of the speaker independent speech recognizer for the Sinhala language and the Android mobile application for voice dialing. Mainly there are two phases of the research. First one is to build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer to recognize the digits spoken in Sinhala language. The second phase is to build an android application by integrating the trained speech recognizer. This chapter covers the tools, algorithms, theoretical aspects, the models and the file structures used for the entire research process. 4.1Research phase 1: Build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer for recognizing the digits. In this section the development of the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer is described, step by step. It includes the phonetic dictionary, language model, grammar file, acoustic speech database and the trained acoustic model creation. 4.1.1 Data preparation This system is a Sinhala speech recognition voice dial and since there is no such speech database which is done earlier was available, the speech has to be taken from the scratch to develop the system. Data collection The first stage of any speech recognizer is the collection of sound signals. Database should contain a variety of enough speakers recording. The size of the database is compared to the task we handle. For this application only little number of words was considered. This research aims only the written Sinhala vocabulary that can be applied for voice dialing. Altogether twelve words were considered with the ten numbers including two initial calling words â€Å"amatanna† and â€Å"katakaranna†. Here the Database has two parts, the training part and the testing part. Usually about 1/10th of the full speech data is used to the testing part. In this research 3000 speech samples were used for training and 150 speech samples were used for testing. Speech database Before collecting data, a speech database was created. The database was included with the Sinhala speech samples taken from variety of people who were in different age levels. Since there was no such database published anywhere for Sinhala language relevant for voice dialing, speech had to be collected from Sinhala native speakers. Prompt sheet To create the speech database, the first step was to prepare the prompt sheet having a list of sentences for all the recordings. Here it used 100 sentences that are different from each other by generating the numbers randomly. 50 sentences are starting with the word â€Å"amatanna† while the other half is starting with the word â€Å"katakaranna†. The prompt sheet used for this research is given in the Appendix A. Recording The prepared sentences in the prompt sheet were recorded by using thirty (30) native speakers since this is speaker independent application. The speakers were selected according to the age limits and divided them into eight age groups. Four people were selected from each group except one age group. Two females and two males were included into each age group. One group only contained two people with one female and one male. Each speaker was given 100 sentences to speak and altogether 3000 speech samples were recorded for training. The description of speakers such as gender and age can be found in Appendix A. If there was an error in the recording due to the background noise and filler sounds, the speaker was asked to repeat it and got the correct sound signal. Since the proposed system is a discrete system, the speakers have to make a short pause at the start and end of the recording and also between the words when they were uttered. Speech was recorded in a quiet room and the recordi ngs were done at nights by using a condenser recorder microphone. The sounds were recorded under the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz using mono channel and they were saved under *.wav format. Sampling frequency and format of speech audio files Speech recording files were saved in the file format of MS WAV. The â€Å"Praatâ€Å" software was used to convert the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency signals to 16 kHz frequency signals since the frequency should be 16kHz of the training samples. Audio files were recorded in a medium length of 11 seconds. Since there should be a silence in the beginning and the end of the utterance and it should not be exceeded 0.2 seconds, the â€Å"Praat† software was used to edit all 3000 sound signals. 4.1.2 Pronunciation dictionary The pronunciation dictionary was implemented by hand since the number of words used for the voice dialing system is very few. It is used only 12 words from the Sinhala vocabulary. To create the dictionary, the International Phonetic Alphabet for Sinhala Language and the previously created dictionaries by CMU Sphinx were used. But the acoustic phones were taken mostly by studying the different types of databases given by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Sphinx Forum (CMU Sphinx Forum). Two dictionaries were implemented for this system. One is for the speech utterances and the other one is for filler sounds. The filler sounds contain the silences in the beginning, middle and at the end of the speech utterances. The attachment of the two types of dictionaries can be found on the Appendix A. They are referred to as the languagedictionaryand thefiller dictionary. 4.1.3 Creating the grammar file The grammar file also created by hand since the number of words used for the system is very few. The JSGF (JSpeech Grammar Format) format was used to implement the grammar file. The grammar file can be found in Appendix A. 4.1.4 Building the language model Word search is restricted by a language model. It identifies the matching words by comparing the previously recognized words by the model and restricts the matching process by taking off the words that are not possible to be. N-gram language model is the most common language models used nowadays. It is a finite state language model and it contains statistics of word sequences. In search space where restriction is applied, a good accuracy rate can be obtained if the language model is a very successful one. The result is the language model can predict the next word properly. It usually restricts the word search which are included the vocabulary. The language model was built using the cmuclmtk software. First of all the reference text was created and that text (svd.text) can be found in Appendix A. It was written in a specific format. The speech sentences were delimited byandtags. Then the vocabulary file was generated by giving the following command. text2wfreq svd.vocab Then the generated vocabulary file was edited to remove words (numbers and misspellings). When finding misspellings, they were fixed in the input reference text. The generated vocabulary file (svd.vocab) can be found in the Appendix A. Then the ARPA format language model was generated using these commands. text2idngram -vocab svd.vocab -idngram svd.idngram idngram2lm -vocab_type 0 -idngram svd.idngram -vocab svd.vocab –arpa svd.arpa Finally the CMU binary of language model (DMP file) was generated using the command sphinx_lm_convert -i svd.arpa -o svd.lm.DMP The final output containing the language model needed for the training process is svd.lm.dmp file. This is a binary file. 4.1.5Acoustic model Before starting the acoustic model creation, the following file structure was arranged as described by the CMU Sphinx tool kit guide. The name of the speech database is â€Å"svd† (Sinhala Voice Dial). The content of these files is given in Appendix A. svd.dic -Phonetic dictionary svd.phone -Phoneset file svd.lm.DMP -Language model svd.filler -List of fillers svd _train.fileids -List of files for training svd _train.transcription -Transcription for training svd _test.fileids -List of files for testing svd _test.transcription -Transcription for testing All these files were included in to one directory and it was named as â€Å"etc†. The speech samples of wav files were included in to another directory and named it as â€Å"wav†. These two directories were included in to another directory and named it using the name of the database (svd). Before starting the training process, there should be another directory that contains the â€Å"svd† and the required compilation package â€Å"pocketsphinx†, â€Å"sphinxbase† and â€Å"sphinxtrain† directories. All the packages and the â€Å"svd† directory were put into another directory and started the training process. Setting up the training scripts The command prompt terminal is used to run the scripts of the training process. Before starting the process, terminal was changed to the database â€Å"svd† directory and then the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain –t svd setup This command copied all the required configuration files into etc sub directory of the database directory and prepared the database for training. The two configuration files created were feat.params and sphinx_train.cfg. These two are given in Appendix A. Set up the database These values were filled in at configuration time. The Experiment name, will be used to name model files and log files in the database. $CFG_DB_NAME = svd; $CFG_EXPTNAME = $CFG_DB_NAME; Set up the format of database audio Since the database contains speech utterances with the ‘wav’ format and they were recorded using MSWav, the extension and the type were given accordingly as â€Å"wav† and â€Å"mswav†. $CFG_WAVFILES_DIR = $CFG_BASE_DIR/wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_EXTENSION = wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_TYPE = mswav; # one of nist, mswav, raw Configure Path to files This process was done automatically when having the right file structure in the running directory. The naming of the files must be very accurate. The paths were assigned to the variables used in main training of models. $CFG_DICTIONARY = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $CFG_RAWPHONEFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.phone; $CFG_FILLERDICT = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $CFG_LISTOFFILES = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.fileids; $CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.transcription; $CFG_FEATPARAMS = $CFG_LIST_DIR/feat.params; Configure model type and model parameters The model type continuous and semi continuous can be used in pocket sphinx. Continuous type is used for continuous speech recognition. Semi continuous is used for discrete speech recognition process. Since this application use discrete speech the semi continuous model training was used. #$CFG_HMM_TYPE = .cont.; # Sphinx 4, Pocketsphinx $CFG_HMM_TYPE = .semi.; # PocketSphinx $CFG_FINAL_NUM_DENSITIES = 8; # Number of tied states (senones) to create in decision-tree clustering $CFG_N_TIED_STATES = 1000; The number of senones used to train the model is indicated in this value. The sound can be chosen accurately if the number of senones is higher. But if we use too much senones, then it may not be able to recognize the unseen sounds. So the Word Error Rate can be very much higher on unseen sounds. The approximate number of senones and number of densities is provided in the table below. Configure sound feature parameters The default parameter used for sound files in Sphinx is a rate of 16 thousand samples per second (16KHz). If this is the case, then the etc/feat.params file will be automatically generated with the recommended values. The Recommended values are: # Feature extraction parameters $CFG_WAVFILE_SRATE = 16000.0; $CFG_NUM_FILT = 40; # For wideband speech its 40, for telephone 8khz reasonable value is 31 $CFG_LO_FILT = 133.3334; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 200 $CFG_HI_FILT = 6855.4976; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 3500 Configure decoding parameters The following were properly configured in theetc/sphinx_train.cfg. $DEC_CFG_DICTIONARY = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $DEC_CFG_FILLERDICT = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $DEC_CFG_LISTOFFILES = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.fileids; $DEC_CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.transcription; $DEC_CFG_RESULT_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/result; # These variables, used by the decoder, have to be user defined, and # may affect the decoder output $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc; $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL = $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR/ ${CFG_DB_NAME}.lm.DMP; Training After setting all these paths and parameters in the configuration file as described above, the training was proceeded. To start the training process the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain run Scripts launched jobs on the machine, and it took few minutes to run. Acoustic Model After the training process, the acoustic model was located in the following path in the directory. Only this folder is needed for the speech recognition tasks. model_parameters/svd.cd_semi_200 We need only that folder for the speech recognition tasks we have to perform. 4.1.6Testing Results 150 speech samples were used as testing data. The aligning results could be obtained after the training process. It was located in the following path in the database directory. results/svd.align 4.1.7Parameters to be optimized Word error rate WER was given as a percentage value. It was calculated according to the following equation Accuracy Accuracy was also given as a percentage. That is the opposite value of the WER. It was calculated using the following equation To obtain an optimal recognition system, the WER should be minimized and the accuracy should be maximized. The parameters of the configuration file were changed time to time and obtained an optimal recognition system where the WER was the minimum with a high accuracy rate. 4.2Research phase 2: Build the voice dialing mobile application. In this section, the implementation of voice dialer for android mobile application is described. The application was developed using the programming language JAVA and it was done using the Eclipse IDE. It was tested in both the emulator and the actual device. The application is able to recognize the spoken digits by any speaker and dial the recognized number. To do this process the trained acoustic model, the pronunciation dictionary, the language model and the grammar files were needed. The speech recognition was performed by using these models in the mobile device itself by using the pocketsphinx library. It is a library written in C language to use for embedded speech recognition devices in Android platform. The step by step implementation and integration of the necessary components were discussed in detail in this section. Resource Files When inputting the resource files to the Android application, they were added in to theassets/directory of the project. Then the physical path was given to make them available for pocketsphinx. After adding them, the Assets directory contained the following resource files. Dictionary svd.dic svd.dic.md5 Grammar digits.gram digits.gram.md5 menu.gram menu.gram.md5 Language model svd.lm.DMP svd.lm.DMP.md5 Acoustic Model feat.params feat.params.md5 mdef mdef.md5 means means.md5 mixture_weights mixture_weights.md5 noisedict noisedict.md5 transition_matrices transition_matrices.md5 variances variances.md5 Assets.lst models/dict/svd.dic models/grammar/digits.gram models/grammar/menu.gram models/hmm/en-us-semi/feat.params models/hmm/en-us-semi/mdef models/hmm/en-us-semi/means models/hmm/en-us-semi/mixture_weights models/hmm/en-us-semi/noisedict models/hmm/en-us-semi/sendump models/hmm/en-us-semi/transition_matrices models/hmm/en-us-semi/variances models/lm/svd.lm.DMP Setup the Recognizer First of all the recognizer should be set up by adding the resource files. The model parameters taken after the training process were added as the HMM in the application. The recognition process was depended mainly on this resource files. Since the grammar files and the language model were added as assets, these two can be used for the recognition process of the application as well as the HMM. The utterances can be recognized from either the grammar files or language model. The whole process is coded using the Java programing language. 4.3Architecture of the developed Speech Recognition System

The Crysanthemums Essays -- Literary Analysis, John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck uses his unique literary style to write the short story â€Å"The Chrysanthemums,† where he brings his readers to a society of inequality amongst the genders. â€Å"The Chrysanthemums† depicts the challenges of Elisa Allen, a thirty five-year-old woman who is expected to be a traditional housewife. Her ongoing transformation throughout the story portrays the life of a woman trying to gain meaning in her dull life during the 1930’s. John Steinbeck's, â€Å"The Chrysanthemums,† shows the true feelings of the protagonist, Elisa Allen, through the use of femininity, self-awareness, and weakness. Elisa’s character undergoes a complete transformation of femininity, due to her conversation with the tinker. The story initially describes Elisa’s appearance using words associated with manliness, as Steinbeck states, her face is â€Å"strong, eager, and handsome,† and her figure is â€Å"blocked and heavy† (228). Furthermore, she wears a man's hat, heavy leather gloves, and a big apron that hides her printed dress (228). As a result, she is depicted as a woman with greater masculine qualities than feminine qualities. However, as soon as she encounters the tinker and notices his interest in Chrysanthemums, â€Å"the irritation melted from Elisa’s face† (232), and eventually reveals her womanly side. After the tinker left, she â€Å"scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice, legs and thighs, loins and chest and arms, until her skin was scratched and red† (236). She then bathes and puts on a dress to make herself look mor e feminine (237). For the first time, Elisa feels valued and special by the tinker. As a result, she puts more effort into beautifying herself than the house or garden. Therefore, one can see that although Elisa is i... ...ouse wives, and mothers who are fragile and insignificant. Instead, she is to remain in a â€Å"closed pot† (228), just as she is expected to do. As a result, she cries at the truth that she will always be reminded, that she is a â€Å"weak† and â€Å"useless† woman, which only increases her frustrations and dissatisfactions about her marriage (238). In conclusion, Steinbeck’s â€Å"The Chrysanthemums† illustrates the life of Elisa Allen, who struggles with womanhood, self-recognition, and impotence. Although, she is described as a modern house wife of the 1930's, it is clear, that she is far from the average traditional spouse. Rather, she yearns to be represented in the masculine world. However, through Elisa’s tribulations and limitations, she has unfortunately lessoned her stature. Therefore, one should learn to make the best use of our present rights of equality.

I Am America, Too

The poem I, Too is a reflection of the nature of American society during the time it was written by Langston Hughes. It does not only speak for the feelings and insights of the writer himself but also to all people subjected to discrimination, especially the â€Å"black† people, who were the I in the poem. â€Å"They send me to eat in the kitchen, when company comes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  speaks of the inconsiderate treatment to black people being sent away every time they got near or in close contact with them. â€Å"But I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong†¦Ã¢â‚¬  shows the writer’s positive thought on being discriminated – getting enough courage and resources to be stronger, and finally be recognized as part of America. The visions of Hughes on a bright future for the black people in America and be at the table when company comes came true with the emergence of Condoleeza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Denzel Washington, Beyoncà © Knowles, Williams sisters, among others. They already made themselves big in every aspect of American life. The Americans have finally recognized how beautiful the black people are and nobody could just tell them to â€Å"eat in the kitchen† because they, too, are Americans. Reference: Hughes, L. 2006. I, Too. In Concise Anthology of American Literature. G McMichael & JS Leonard. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. 1086.      

Alcohol- Drug interaction Essays - Hepatology, RTT, Drinking Culture

Alcohol- Drug interaction Essays - Hepatology, RTT, Drinking Culture Various drugs can interact with alcohol, along these lines conforming the absorption framework or effects of alcohol and/or the medicine. Some of these interactions can happen even at moderate drinking levels and result in hostile wellbeing effects for the customer. Two sorts of alcohol-medicine interactions exist: (1) pharmacokinetic interactions, in which alcohol interferes with the assimilation arrangement of the medication, and (2) pharmacodynamic interactions, in which alcohol enhances the effects of the pharmaceutical, particularly in the central tangible framework (e.g., sedation). Pharmacokinetic interactions generally happen in the liver, where both alcohol and various drugs are metabolized, a significant part of the time by the same mixes. Different classes of doctor supported medicines can interact with alcohol, including against microbials, antidepressants, antihistamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, histamine H2 receptor adversaries, muscle relaxants, nonnarcotic torm ent prescriptions and quieting administrators, opioids, and warfarin. Besides, over-the-counter and regular meds can realize negative effects when carried with alcohol. Alcohol is essentially metabolized in the liver by a couple of impetuses. The most vital mixes are aldehyde dehydrogenase and CYP2E1. In people eating up alcohol just unexpectedly, CYP2E1 metabolizes only a little parcel of the ingested alcohol. Interestingly, unending overpowering drinking can develop CYP2E1 development to ten-fold, achieving higher degree of alcohol being metabolized by CYP2E1 instead of alcohol dehydrogenase. In this manner, on occasion, the effect of alcohol on the interacting medicine may be differing depending upon interminable or serious alcohol use. Impacts of taking acetaminophens, for example, (Tylenol, Paracetamol, and so forth) to relieve migraines: Chronic alcoholics are more powerless to acetaminophen incited hepatotoxicity. Acute alcohol inebriation may decrease the development of lethal acetaminophen metabolites. Prolonged admission of a lot of alcohol may bring about chemical prompting and improve the arrangement of hepatotoxic metabolites of acetaminophen while bringing down serum acetaminophen focus. As a rule, liver capacity will come back to typical if the culpable medication is ceased early. Furthermore, the patient may require strong treatment. In acetaminophen danger, be that as it may, the starting affront can be lethal. Fulminant hepatic disappointment from medication actuated hepatotoxicity may require liver transplantation. Before, glucocorticoids in hypersensitive elements and ursodeoxycholic corrosive in cholestatic cases had been utilized; however there is no great proof to bolster their viability. A height in serum bilirubin level of more than 2 times ULN with related transaminase rise is a dismal sign. This demonstrates serious hepatotoxicity and is liable to prompt mortality in 10% to 15% of patients, particularly if the culpable medication is not halted (Hy's Law). This is on the grounds that it requires huge harm to the liver to disable bilirubin discharge, subsequently minor hindrance (without biliary impediment or Gilbert disorder) would not prompt jaundice. Ot her poor indicators of result are seniority, female sex, high AST. References Hansten PD, Horn JR. Drug interactions analysis and management. St. Louis, MO: Facts and Comparisons Publishing Group. 2007. Tatro DS. Drug interaction facts. St. Louis, MO: Facts and Comparisons Publishing Group. 2007. Gordis E, Alcohol-medication interactions. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. No. 27 PH 355 January 1995. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa27.htm. (Accessed December 2, 2007). Alcohol-drug interactions. UHS health Promotion Office. University of Rochester. rochester.edu/uhs/healthtopics/Alcohol/interactions.html. (Accessed December 2, 2007). Weathermon R, Crabb DW. Alcohol and medication interactions. Alcohol Res Health 1999;23:40-54 Reuben A (2004). "Hy's law". Hepatology 39 (2): 5748. Arora N, Goldhaber SZ (2006). "Anticoagulants and transaminase elevation".Circulation 113 (15): e698702. Andrade RJ, Lucena MI, Kaplowitz N, et al. (2006). "Outcome of acute idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury: Long-term follow-up in a hepatotoxicity registry". Hepatology 44(6): 15818. Bjrnsson E, Olsson R (2005). "Outcome and prognostic markers in severe drug-induced liver disease". Hepatology 42 (2): 4819.

Philip Webb, About the Architect of Arts Crafts

Philip Webb, About the Architect of Arts Crafts Philip Speakman Webb (born January 12, 1831 in Oxford, England) is often called the father of the Arts Crafts Movement, along with his friend William Morris  (1834-1896). Famous for his comfortable, unpretentious country homes, Philip Webb also designed furniture, wallpaper, tapestries, and stained glass. As an architect, Webb is best-known for his unconventional country manor homes and urban terraced houses (townhouses or row houses). He embraced the vernacular, choosing the comfortable, traditional, and functional instead of conforming to the ornate Victorian ornamentation of the day. His homes expressed traditional English building methods- red brick, sash windows, dormers, gables, steep-sloped roofs, and tall Tudor-like chimneys. He was a pioneering figure in the English Domestic Revival Movement, a Victorian residential movement of grand simplicity. Although influenced by medieval styles and the Gothic Revival movement, Webbs highly original, yet practical designs became the germ of modernism. Webb grew up in Oxford, England, at a time when buildings were being remodeled with the latest machine-made materials instead of being restored and preserved with original materials- a childhood experience that would influence the direction of his lifes work. He studied at Aynho in Northamptonshire and trained under John Billing, an architect in Reading, Berkshire, who specialized in traditional building repairs. He became a junior assistant for the office of George Edmund Street, working on churches in Oxford and becoming close friends with William Morris (1819-1900), who also was working for G. E. Street. As young men, Philip Webb and William Morris became associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, a brotherhood of painters and poets who defied the artistic trends of the day and championed the philosophies of social critic John Ruskin (1819-1900). By the mid-19th century, the anti-establishment themes expressed by John Ruskin were taking hold across Britains intelligentsia. The societal ills resulting from Britains Industrial Revolution inspired the backlash, expressed by the likes of author Charles Dickens and architect Philip Webb. Arts and Crafts was a movement first and not simply an architectural style- the Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction to the mechanization and dehumanization of the Industrial Revolution. Web was among the founders of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner Company, a decorative arts hand-crafting studio founded in 1851. What became Morris Co., the anti-machine-age supplier specialized in handmade stained glass, carving, furniture, wallpaper, carpets, and tapestries. Webb and Morris also founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) in 1877. While associated with Morris company, Webb designed household furnishings and, no doubt, contributed to the evolution of what became known as the Morris Chair. Webb is particularly famous for his table glassware, stained glass, jewelry, and his rustic carvings and adaptations of Stuart period furniture. His interior decorative accessories in metal, glass, wood and embroidery are still found in the residences he built- the Red House has hand-painted glass by Webb. About the Red House: Webbs first architectural commission was the Red House, William Morriss eclectic country home in Bexleyheath, Kent. Built with and for Morris between 1859 and 1860, the Red House has been called the first step toward the modern house- architect John Milnes Baker has quoted German architect Hermann Muthesius as calling the Red House the very first example in the history of the modern house. Webb and Morris designed an interior and exterior that was unified in theory and design.  Incorporating contrasting materials such as white interior walls and bare brickwork, natural and traditional design and construction were modern (and ancient) ways to create the harmonious home. Many photos of the house are from the backyard, with the homes L-shaped design wrapping around a cone-roofed well and natures own garden. The front is on the short side of the L, accessed from the backyard by walking through the rear red brick arch, down a corridor, and to the front hallway near the square stairs in the crook of the L. Webb defied using one architectural style- is it Tudor? Gothic Revival?- and combined traditional building elements to create a simplified, livable space, inside and out. Architectural ownership of both interior and exterior space would in time influence the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and what became known as the American Prairie Style. Built-in furniture and hand-crafted, custom-made furnishings became hallmarks of British Arts Crafts, American Craftsman, and Prairie Style homes. Webbs Influence on Domestic Architecture: After the Red House, Webbs most notable designs of the 1870s include No. 1 Palace Green and No. 19 Lincolns Inn Fields in London, Smeaton Manor in North Yorkshire, and Joldwynds in Surrey. Webb was the only Pre-Raphaelite to design a church, St. Martins Church in Brampton, 1878. The church includes a set of stained glass windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed in the Morris companys studios. The Arts Crafts movement in the United Kingdom had a great influence on American Craftsman architecture as well as furniture makers such as Gustav Stickley (1858-1942) in the United States. Stickleys Craftsman Farms in New Jersey is considered the best example of original architecture from the American Craftsman movement. One look at Webbs Coneyhurst on the Hill, built in 1886 in Surrey, reminds us of Americas Shingle style homes- the simplicity of domesticity had become gentrified; the grandness contrasts with the small cottages inhabited by the working class. The Clouds House in Wiltshire, finished by Webb that same year, 1886, would not be out of place as a summer cottage in Newport, Rhode Island. In West Sussex, England,  Standen House with Morris Co. interiors could have been another Stanford White design like Naumkeag, an American Shingle Style summer home in the hills of Massachusetts. The name of Philip Webb may not be well-known, yet Webb is considered one of Britains most important architects. His residential designs influenced domestic architecture on at least two continents- in the US and Britain. Philip Webb died April 17, 1915 in Sussex, England. Learn More: John Ruskin, Todays 19th Century CriticTextiles of the Arts and Crafts MovementPhilip Webb: Pioneer of Arts Crafts Architecture by Sheila Kirk, 2005Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England by Maureen Meister, 2014Clouds: Biography of a Country House by Caroline Dakers, Yale University Press, 1993 Source: American House Styles by John Milnes Baker, Norton, 1994, p. 70

Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Operations Management - Essay Example They get all their ship manufacturing outsourced therefore we cannot say that its operations are concerned with manufacturing of ships. Management of RM at beginning economic downturn determined that time of market decline will last for about three-month. These assumptions were wrong and management does nothing to prepare the company for a new market situation. Financial statements for 2009 do not indicate company’s 711 million USD outstanding because this project is being financed by Mother Company instead of RM. In the following chapter we discuss and analyze how strategic vision of RM combined with its operational strategy and quality of people has proved to provide a sustainable competitive advantage; enabling RM to make right decisions at the right time. The focus will to understand RM focus on quality and different aspects of its operations. Rickmers has always emphasized on quality from the very initiation of its operations. There is a Quality control department which has a number of responsibilities. The quality assurance is not only limited to conduction of operations but the emphasis on a stable financial performance and conduct of sound operations are also important quality variables. The most important aspect of operational performance at Rickmers is certification of quality from highly respected authorities. On 20th February 2008 Rickmers received the Singapore award organized by the Business Times in affiliation with Singaporean government. This was a merit commendation in the best investor relations category. This award signifies the long standing corporation disclosure transparency of Rickmers. Increasingly the quality of operations is being judged by the affect on environment. This is usually termed as the corporate social responsibility. This category of disclosure is usually used as a marketing tool by companies but in fact is an operational aspect of doing business. Rickmers Marinetime has displayed

Role of Auditor in Public Sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Role of Auditor in Public Sector - Essay Example It can exist in the form of direct administration through tax systems; it can also be represented by publicly owned enterprises, which have more commercial freedom. Nowadays the role of audit and audit committees in public sector plays greater and greater role. Audit is the check of accountant documentation to prove its authenticity. But in more general sense audit is just a check of any phenomenon or activity by an independent expert, who is called auditor. Speaking about the statutory role of auditor in the public sector it should be said that there is an ethic codex for the auditors in public sector. And here we will refer to this codex as the brightest statutory document which singles out the main features of auditors in public sector. An ethic codex is a detailed official list of values and principles which auditors should use as ruling in their activity. There are high demands towards auditors in public sector. The behavior of an auditor must always remain above any suspicion. The wrong behavior presents all auditors in the disadvantageous light. Honesty is the basic demand of the ethic codex. Auditors must keep to the high and worthy standards of behavior in the process of work and their relations with the checking organizations. Auditors are also to support the public trust. There are recommendations as for using auditors in checking any enterprises of public sector. And any government body should choose an audit organization to maintain and fulfill the financial oversight. The system of financial control and reporting can be increased and strengthened through using an effective audit. This can also make the audit process more integral. According to Mayhew, 'auditor is an integral part of public accountability and governance. He plays a crucial role in making all financial processes and documentation integral, and also directing the system of internal control and the control of employee management.' (Mayhew, 2001) The role of an auditor depends on the size, sphere and kind of activity of the specific establishment. The main functions of the auditor in the public sector are: approving the general audit scope, financial planning, performing audit in a cost-effective manner. Risk management is also another function of the auditor. There are the three main features which should be peculiar of the auditor in order to fulfill the necessary functions in the public sector. The first of them is independence. In the public sector, the structure of entities does not separate the governing authority and oversight responsibility from the day-to-day management. For example, a public university president may be both the chief executive officer and a board member. (Hollingsworth, 1999) The auditor must be independent, and he must provide the necessary processes for supporting this independence. He is an independent expert, first of all. Communication is another trait of auditor. He must be capable