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