A Critical Appreciation of Frost’s ‘The Oven Bird’

The Oven Bird is a pessimistic sonnet. The octave seems to describe mid-summer and how it is past its best. Whereas the sestet, which is marked by a rhyming couplet, brings a change, as Frost looks toward what will come in the future, and how to live with a life that is past its best. The bird sings ‘Loud' and predicts the inevitability of mid-summer turning into fall. Gloomy descriptions are used even though it's the middle of summer and everything should be bright and cheerful, ‘he says that leaves are old and that for flowers/ Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten'. The endstop after ‘ten', makes the fact that there are not as many flowers in summer as there are in spring, very definite and quite blunt. Even though winter is along way off, lots of nature is already past its best: The early petal-fall is past, When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers On sunny days a moment overcast The speaker constantly focuses on the shadows, although it is only a ‘moment', so much destruction seems to happen in it. While it's still mid-summer, the bird is already anticipating fall as he says ‘and comes that other fall we name the fall'. Perhaps in this poem Frost is talking about Darwin. The oven bird could be used to represent Darwin. Frost says ‘there is a singer everyone has heard'. Around the time Frost was writing, Darwin was teaching his theory, he was famous and everyone had heard of him. By placing ‘loud' at the beginning of the line and putting a comma after it, Frost focuses on this word, emphasising that Darwin is shouting and telling everyone about his theory. Frost then goes onto say the bird ‘makes the solid tree trunks sound again'. This could possibly be Darwin questioning all and bringing a new uncertainty to life. If we continue with the Darwin idea, perhaps when Frost refers to ‘that other fall we name the fall', he is referring to Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind. This is then followed by the bird saying ‘the highway dust is overall'. Read also Critical appreciation of the poem â€Å"Old Ladies’ Home†. The highway might represent mans progress and new scientific knowledge and how this now covers everything, nature and religion. Frost says, ‘the bird would cease and be as other birds/ but that he knows in singing not to sing'. I think this could mean that the bird is not as exuberant as other birds in spring, but he sings in mid-summer and knows the future isn't necessarily something to look forward to. With Darwin's new theory, the old certainty has been taken away and replaced by something new and radical that makes the future unsettling. The poem finishes on an unsure note as Frost says, ‘The question that he frames in all but words/ is what to make of a diminished thing'. Frost might be saying that, although life is past its best, like summer, how can we make the most of it? This is very characteristic of Frost's poetry, with Frost leaving the reader to make their own interpretation and decide for themselves. Although the tone of the last two lines is elegiac and ‘diminished thing' sounds very negative, Frost also asks ‘what to make' of it and this sounds more positive as though this is just a new, exciting challenge to face. The Oven Bird is also similar to Frost's other poetry because he uses nature to put across an idea. The Oven Bird is an unusual sonnet, Frost uses an old, accepted poetry style to express these new and bold ideas, the unconventional rhyme scheme also helps to emphasise these new ideas. This is another quality of Frost, to take a certain style of poetry and make it his own.

Anne Bradstreets `Before the Birth of One of Her Children` is written to her husband. What does the poem suggest about their relationship?

The woman speaking in the poem understands that the danger of giving birth could lead to death and â€Å"with death's parting blow†¦The sentence past is most irrevocable. † With the uncertainty of what the ordeal would bring her, she writes her final words through the poem. It is clear that the woman in the poem has a very good relationship with her husband. She says that the reason why she makes the poem is because she loves him too much: â€Å"love bids me/These farewell lines to recommend to thee.† In her love for him, she is even willing to give up some of the years God allots for her life to his husband when she says, â€Å"And if I see not half my days that's due,/What nature would, God grant to yours and you† Finally, the fact that the coming birth is not the first time for the couple suggests that they enjoy the experience of sharing life with their kids. She wants him to take care of them if ever she dies as much as he took care of her when she was alive: â€Å"Look to my little babes, my dear remains./And if thou love thyself, or loved'st me,/These O protect from step-dame's injury†. We do not hear the husband in the poem but we get the idea that he loves her, too, when she bids him to â€Å"kiss this paper for thy dear love's sake,/Who with salt tears this last farewell did take. † She knows he would take her passing very badly. Question 2: Describe and explain Mrs. Gearsons reaction to her sons death in William Dean Howells story `Editha. ` When Editha meets Mrs.Gearsons for the first time, the mother’s tone was reproachful of the young girl: â€Å"he told me he had asked you to come if he got killed. You didn't expect that, I suppose, when you sent him. † She knew why her son went to war in spite her bringing him up to think that â€Å"was (is) a fool thing as well as a bad thing. † Editha has influenced his son so greatly for him to do something that was against the values he grew up wit h. Mrs. Gearsons has read the letter Editha gave George before he left where she told him that she would only marry a man who â€Å"must love his country, first of all†.In mocking, she told Editha: â€Å"I suppose you would have been glad to die, such a brave person as you! † Mrs. Gearson looked at war as being not about soldiers fighting for the honor of their country, but of people killing each other and mothers and wives losing sons and husbands. Editha would neither understand her blame in George’s death nor the pain that Mrs. Gearson was feeling. She simply dismissed Mrs. Gearson’s outbursts as the consequence of ill health. In the end, she would continue â€Å"to live again in the ideal. †

Similarities of Different Styles of Writing

Title: Similarities of Different Styles of Writing Similarities of Different Styles of Writing Most recently, I have read many different short stories and poems. The three works that stuck out to me the most are, â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written by William Faulkner, â€Å"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day† written by William Shakespeare, and â€Å"The Cathedral† written by Raymond Carver. Although there are different writers and poets, we are able to find similarities in the text through interpretation. A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"The Cathedral† is told in third person. The third person point of view is when the narrator relates all information in third person. The short story will often use third person pronouns like â€Å"he† or â€Å"she. † The narrator in â€Å"The Cathedral† is consistently describing his wife and the blind man’s actions. Craver is also sure to provide great detail in the emotions that are supposed to be felt. Ignorance, for one, â€Å"My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed† (1977, Craver).A Rose for Emily† is told from the viewpoint of an unknown townsman. â€Å"When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the mean through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the woman mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no save an old-manservant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years† (1929, Faulkner). Besides being told in third person, the main similarity that I recognize is how people react to others.The narrator in â€Å"The Cathedral† was fascinated, for lack of a better description, about a blind man named Robert; to the point where he was not looking forward to the Robert staying in his house. When I was reading this story it seemed as if the narrator did not even understand how his wife coul d be friends with someone who cannot see. When Miss Emily passed away the women in the town went to her funeral because they had not seen the inside of her house. It also seemed as if Miss Emily did not leave her house for many years.Miss Emily seemed to be one of those scary neighbors that we have seen in the movies, not too sound like the narrator in â€Å"The Cathedral†. Both of these short stories are familiar to life. When Faulkner writes about Miss Emily speaking to the City Hall about taxes, this rang true to me. I, myself, have had to discuss taxes with the city hall. When the narrator in â€Å"The Cathedral† made an off color comment to his wife about Robert this also rang true to me, â€Å"maybe I can take him bowling† (1977, Craver). Growing up with my brother, there was always an off colored comment.He is ten years older than me always tried to ruffle my feathers. It is sometimes easier to interpret short stories. There seems to be more of a preface and description. When it comes to poetry, I feel that interpretation is using your imagination or creative side. â€Å"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day† is fourteen lines long but it says so much, as if it was a story about love. â€Å"But thy eternal summer shall not fade† or as I read it, my love will never die (1609, Shakespeare). To me, poetry is formed with non descriptive words that tell a story, mood, or feeling.The main difference between a short story and poem is the length of the reading or its format. â€Å"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day† is written in sonnet style. Most poets use rhyme in set form. From my understanding this can be called a sonnet. Authors who are writing a short story do not think about making anything rhyme; however, I can still find similarities in a poem and short story. For example, â€Å"A Rose for Emily† talks about feeling. I felt one of the points being made in A Rose for Emily† was n ot to judge.I also interpreted that just because someone is different does not mean that they cannot find love. Miss Emily found love. Does the title of Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† mean this is a memoriam of Emily’s life? William Shakespeare is timeless writer. Not only did he write poetry but he is also a Play Right. Shakespeare wrote plays that I remember acting out as a child or reading in school, such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. I personally feel that Shakespeare wrote a lot about love. Of course I am a sucker for love stories so I instantly gravitate to his work.Shakespeare, Carver, and Faulkner are all from different generations. Each writer has made a name for himself with words. These three men had a completely different up bringing; times differed morally as well. Similarities between these three gentlemen can also vary by person. I found that the two stories and poem had humanity in them. Everyone feels love, everyone is nosey, a nd unfortunately, everyone has stereotypes.References DiYanni, R. , 2007. Literature, Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. McGraw-Hill, Higher Education, New York, New York.

Colonies and Great Britain between 1763 and 1776 Article

Colonies and Great Britain between 1763 and 1776 - Article Example Ironically, even though there was political isolation between the colonies and Britain, a majority of the colonies remained loyal to Britain and the British Parliament was recognized as the only source of governmental authority. The close relations between Britain and the colonies led to economic prosperity for both Britain and America especially because all the colonies’ economies relied on the British trade; the colonies also relied on Britain for protection from their enemies. However, these relations gradually deteriorated with time between the period namely1763 to 1776 and eventually, a revolution was certain; this paper will analyze the breakdown of relations between the colonies and Great Britain between 1763 and 1776 that led to the American Revolution. The analysis will pay particular attention to all of the acts that Great Britain imposed upon the colonies that led to discontent among both â€Å"common† and â€Å"elite† Americans. ... All the lands that had been held by the French were ceded to the British through the Paris treaty of 1763, and Britain gained total control of the territory stretching from the East coast to Mississippi river. Events that took place in the aftermath are largely responsible for the drift in relations between the colonies and Britain; great dissatisfaction in the colonies after the war arose following these events and this eventually instigated the American Revolution. Prior to the American Revolution, an underlying philosophy that was gaining popularity in the colonies was the American Enlightenment; this philosophy played a critical role in arousing political awareness in the colonies that were initially content being under Britain. Some of the major ideological principles of American Enlightenment include concepts such as liberalism, republicanism, and fear of corruption; a majority of people in the colonies begun to accept these concepts and this was the beginning of a robust intel lectual environment. In this respect, the philosophy of American Enlightenment was very significant in paving the way for revolution; by embracing the values of American Enlightenment, a majority of people in the colonies acquired a new sense of political and social identity. One of the greatest proponents of American Enlightenment whose ideas on liberty greatly influenced the political thinking behind the revolution is John Locke; this scholar has been regarded as the mastermind of the American Revolution because his concepts of social contract, natural rights, and born free and equal have been very influential.  

Incident Command Structure Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Incident Command Structure - Case Study Example technology is available to streamline the incident management process for more efficient operations Procedures included gathering data through the learning Resource Centre (LRC) at the National Fire Academy, and obtained information by the use of telephone and physical site visits, and internet research in order to provide a solution to the research question posed. Results from this research indicated that the fire service had additional resources within its organization and available from outside agencies that could be used to help fulfill needed positions to conduct the necessary operation of damage assessment. Recommendations included additional in-house training of staff and integrating these positions into the Indecent Command structure as it relates to Damage Assessments. Utmost productivity and efficiency with the maximu... The complex incidents are not often managed by a great number of personals but able and efficient personals. It has been discussed by Oates (2006) in the modular system in which the span of control was achieved by quality leadership, effective management and proper counsel. The ability and efficiency factors are all the more important when the issue is concerned with human lives and their safety. People dedicating their lives professionally in service of saving the society are practice that existed down the centauries. The professionalism in doing it has become widely acknowledged in the present society more than ever.The fire service is historically been based on tradition and can be routed back throughout the century. Throughout history, the fire fighter as always been a figure one came to count on. Back in the 24 BC, Roman emperor Augustus is credited with instituting a corps of fire-fighting vigils called "watchmen". In the pre-industrial era most cities had watchmen who sounded an alarm at signs of fire. They became cornerstone of the community as a trusted friend. Today, it is not much different as today's fire fighters also watch out for and prevent such fires to protect their citizens. As the challenges come into light, the fire services accept these challenges and adapt their outlook as the servants of their community. This has been proven when the fire department was no longer just for firefighting but became the source to rely on for other actives such as medical rescues, high angel rescue, hazmat incidents. Whatever the challenge our fire fighting community has always accepted this challenge and have come out victorious.The times are in fact one of the most challenging and the hardest

Current Event Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Current Event - Assignment Example Obama’s administration actually declared a humanitarian crisis following the surge in migration of unaccompanied minors across the country especially in places with large immigrant populations. The government has therefore opened emergency centers on the Southwest part including California, Oklahoma and Texas to shelter the migrants who always fight back deportation orders. Places such as the New York where there is rise in child migrants have reported an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors who seek help in the past even as the migrants claim that they left their native countries because of violence and the threat of gang recruitment or economic necessity. The shelters that were created by the government have been at capacity in the recent months where they are detained before released to their relatives (Semple Web). In fact, the author explains that some minors such as Leo who has been highlighted in the article took almost two months in the shelters before being reunited with their relatives in the U.S. Semple has also indicated that most of the minors normally qualify for some form of immigration relief raising questions on the number of new arrivals who will be allowed to stay permanently in the U.S (Web). The greatest challenge faced by unaccompanied minors that require urgent needs such as health care, psychological counselling and ed ucational support that are not easy to offer hence exposing them to high risks. Immigration issues have been rampant in the recent issues even though it began it began several decades ago in America and across the world. American Federal System of Government have always tried to address the issue by instituting various policies on controlling and treatment of the migrants. For more than 150 years, federal government has been pre-eminent in immigration policy while Congress and

Managing Patient safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Managing Patient safety - Essay Example (I.O.M, 1999). Harm occurs if a patient’s quality of life or health is negatively affected by any element of their interaction with health care. This would be as a result of patient safety incident, which is any healthcare related event that is unexpected, unintended, and undesired and which could have or did harm the patients. It is, therefore, upon the NHS to ensure high standard, as well as safe clinical care is maintained and make sure they are in line with the current technology. According to the department of health, patient safety needs to be prioritized, as far as health care system is concern. The resulting patient safety management knowledge continually heighten improvement efforts to better patients’ welfare such as applying lessons learned from industry and business, educating consumers and providers, adopting innovative technologies, enhancing the error and the reporting systems, and finally developing new economic incentives (Fleming, M, 2000). Arguably, r esearchers ought to investigate and find out the effectiveness of patient safety in the health care system. This, in essence, can help ascertain the measures that can improve the conditions if need be. In this paper, my major concern entails patient care as practiced in any health care services with major focus on medication safety based on analyzing the current issues of patient safety management and understanding of systems and human factors in maintaining patient safety. It is evident from research that as far as patient safety is concerned, medication safety is one of the major issues that is quite disturbing. In this regard, human factors, which correlate with medication safety, play a major role, in so far as patient safety is concerned and cannot be overlooked when dealing with such sensitive issue as patient safety. Negligence, as a human factor, has increasingly become one major factor that affects medication safety basically because of lack of concern among the health care practitioners. For instance, I remember one critical instant when a health care practitioner, acting out of negligence, failed to rescue the life of Elain Bremonung, a young woman who was admitted in the hospital for routine sinus surgery. During the anaesthetic, she had breathing problems and the attending anaesthetist was slow at responding to the situation, thus became unable to insert a device to open her airway. The most distressing thing about it is that the affected patient was in a critical state. If not for the alarm sounded by one of the friends of the affected patient, the patient would have passed on. Arguably, there were no grave consequences reaped on this incident, however, one thing that is clear is that medication safety is up stake in many of the health care systems. This incident clearly shows that human factors, as well as organization factors play a role in medical safety. This, therefore, calls for need to investigate the link between organizational and human factors in relation to patient safety. I have considered such issues in my presentation. Hence in doing so, I would come up with an incident that reflects the role of organization and human factors in patient safety and finally outline recommendations to the situation. Patient safety. Patient safety is the prevention, avoidance and amelioration of adverse injuries or outcomes stemming from the processes of medical care. It is also freedom from healthcare associated, preventable harm. A

CV Creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CV Creation - Essay Example r the new joiner to ensure a smooth transition into the company; coordinate with the Line departments and employees on employee separation to collate all company items to be returned by the employee prior to leaving and coordinate with the concerned to ensure all items are collected back to ensure a smooth employee exit process; compile and maintain updated files, records and databases related to department activities for record purposes and to ensure easy retrieval of the same; prepare relevant and timely reports for Manager review and highlight areas of concern for decision making and corrective actions; check the pantry inventory and ascertain adequate inventory stock by replenishing them timely to ensure employee satisfaction Arrange summer training/ internal ship program for UAE nationals in the company as per requirement from various educational institutions to ensure DPG’s commitment towards the society in developing UAE nationals; prepare relevant reports/statistics/surveys related to Junior Trainees in order to provide management information; identify suitable platforms like career fairs, universities etc to source potential UAE national candidates for the company to develop them for future roles Over sixty trainings arranged for internal staff (sales people, technical training, upper management, etc); coordinating with experienced external trainers from various training companies; responsible for writing weekly progress reports for submission to top management; keep an up to date filing system includes proper attendance sheets, certificate copies, feed back forms and training evaluation after each training session as an ongoing basis; prepare summary of training attendees based on the database provided by service team at the end of every month to know the progress of training programs; make sure that the training venues are booked according to the calendar and the training materials are readily available for each session Wrote periodic reports to

The 19th century was a period of progress Essay

The 19th century was a period of progress - Essay Example There is no dearth of totalitarian states that are scientifically developed. Yet they extend to their citizens a subhuman life. Still, others regard 19th century to be progressive owing to the unprecedented extension of Western colonialism in large parts of the world. Colonial expansions definitely brought affluence and riches to the West. However, at least by the contemporary standards, colonialism could in no way be considered an essential attribute of progress. Especially, when one takes into consideration the brutality and rapaciousness of the colonial regimes those were dominant in the 19th century. If 19th century is to be labeled as being progressive, then the term 'progress' needs to be defined as something vibrant and humane. A cursory perusal of the literary and sociological works of 19th century reveal the rise of unprecedented, radical yet intense stirrings in the social and political environment, which blatantly questioned the existing order and scheme of things in the r eligious, political and social dimensions of human life. It is this very discontent and aversion to the existing state of affairs that qualifies 19th century as a progressive age. Mary Shelley's work 'Frankenstein' though superficially seems to be a Gothic tale relying on the supernatural, horrible and absurd to grab human interest and attention. However, this literary masterpiece no doubt points towards much potent interpretations, which bring to fore the general mindset and intellectual temperament of the 19th century man. 'Frankenstein' unravels a novel approach towards the understanding of creation and life, which is rebellious, unconventional, far from being conservative and orthodox and intrinsically irreverent at the same time. In fact, these are the very attributes that delineate the intellectual atmosphere in the 19th century and account for all the ensuing progress and development. The 19th century man was able to muster enough of essential heresy, which emboldened him to allocate within one's scope the matters of life and death, till now appropriated to the realm of divine and celestial. This is indicative of an approach towards life that is ration al, matter of fact, inquisitive and bold. In the words of Shelley: "Whence, I often ask myself, did the principle of life proceed It was a bold question, and one, which was ever been, considered as a mystery: yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice and carelessness did not restrain our enquiries (33)." Yet, this severing of the ties with predominantly theological and anachronistic values in no way means that the 19th century intellectual environment was bereft of any moral or ethical constraints. On the contrary, this is representative of an intellectual mindset that though being audacious was marred by lurking fears and apprehensions. 'Frankenstein' also gives voice to such societal fears by indicating that an ethically unrestrained intellect may give way to something monstrous and abominable.'My Bondage and My Freedom' written by From Douglas, takes this enquiry into ethics and morality into an entirely new realm. Slavery was no doubt, one of the most burning and controversial issue of 19th century. 'My Bondage

Sport and Society in Ancient Greece Essay Example for Free

Sport and Society in Ancient Greece Essay Ancient Greece is one of the most ancient civilizations in history and some historians say it is one of the greatest. They have survived many invasions and attacks from barbarians and Persians as well. The Greeks those times were divided into city states and they don’t have any form of alliance with each other. They don’t help each other on wars they except for times that they don’t have a choice. The Greek society is basically unique. Greece had never been united under one sole ruler. And even the city states are fought among each other on whom or which city-state should rule Greece. These qualities of the Greece made the Greek history interesting. Mark Golden’s book, Sport and Society in Ancient Greece, had elaborated the key points of the Greek society subjected on common theme. The book uses the Greek sport and games to give very good description of the Greek society. It expressively explained the sport as very important part of the society of Greece. In addition to this, he related the Greek sport to religion, social status, gender, age and other things that constitute to study of its society. Golden uses the sports arena to surface the differences among individuals and groups of the Greek society. The fact that it is theme-oriented made the book readers friendly. Most history professor uses this book as a very good guide to teach history. The themes use in the Golden’s book made it reader friendly. Identifying the themes of the book would be relatively easy. One of the themes he used is the Greek sport. In fact, it unites all ideas in the book. He used the Greek sport as a standpoint of the differences of the Greeks. He explained it using various events in the competitions and its competitors. He explained why most explained that in every event there is a kind of group that can participate. He also expressly give emphasize the difference of participants in the athletic events to the equestrian events. In virtue of this, he elaborated the tension between to the two types of contest. He explained that he sees the difference on the participants of the said events reflect on how the Greek society was comprised. Another theme he used in his book was the stories of Iliad and Odyssey. He uses explain the start of the games and the religious beliefs of the Greek society. The stories of Iliad and Odyssey was widely use in their religious activities. The fact that most of the games was done in tribute to the Gods of Greece. They do this by reliving the great stories of both Homer’s epic novel. They believe that Homer’s epic novel were very accurate about the Gods activities. They had lived with this belief with so many years. The next theme which Mark Golden used in the book was the historical background of Greece. He stated several historical events in Greece that influences the Greek culture and the games. He had explained briefly how some games had started and the changes that the Greeks had implemented to the games. He had emphasized the importance of these historical events to the Greek society. The last theme that I will list here is the relation of the social status to events a Greek can participate. He uses this theme through out the book. He basically discusses the social hierarchy the Greek have in their society as times came by. The book clearly differentiated the differences on how a group of Greeks or an individual can participate in the sport or the games. Golden stated that in the equestrian events slaves can only win as jockeys and other rules they applied in this event. The social discrimination in the Greek society was highlighted in the book. The themes he uses simply put the book in position that it is easy to read, can be use as teaching material because of its reliability, and its distinct use of other literatures of other historians. With this book, I could relive the moment the games had begun and gone on until today. I lived in Athens during the time Olympics had been established. It was a glorious moment for the Greeks. Everyone believed that these games can unite the whole of Greece where it could fight and function as one whole country. The start of the game signaled a turn in the history of the Greeks. The feeling of this glorious moment is very pleasing to me and to other Greeks as well. Imagine that a Greek won’t face another Greek in the battlefield again. I would join the games to prove the dominance of Athens over other city states. Joining the games as an Athenian is a privilege and a great honor for me. And befriending other Greek is as not bad as it looks in the past. Being at war with other Greek is pain that a soldier must overcome. Being a soldier, killing other Greeks is the most painful thing to do. It is as if it was killing your own brother. Nowadays that pain is nothing but a pigment of the past. I’m glad that my sons would not feel that pain that anymore. They will not go up against other Greeks except at the games. And it is for the gods after all. They had blessed us of something great. I thank our Gods that they found a way to stop the quarreling between city states of great Greece. After reading the book, I’ve come to think that the Greek games and sports are done to unify Greece and for entertainment. The world had mimic the Greek games and created Olympics. It symbolizes the unity of the nations participating in the Olympic Games. The fact that culture of Greek is carry out by the nations in the Olympics. It raises a sense of pride among the Greeks. Another thing is a realization that sports does come from religion. The games were held in religious festival in ancient times. The sports today are said to have a purpose of camaraderie, enjoyment, and battle of skills. It is shocking to know that it came from religion. The showing of facts in the book of Mark Golden had convinced me that sports started as tribute to the Gods. And that the relation of the religion and sports is undeniable. He presented reliable evidences that strengthened a claim made by a priest. The idea of classifying the participants that participate in an event was a shocking revelation. I thought at first that the classification of participants was done only to make the games fair. And that is invented after the world wars. It is shocking to know that these classifications were really done due to social status in ancient Greece. The structure of the games from those times to these days is very different. But to know that they have the same purpose is quite a relief. The most important idea that occurred to after reading Mark Golden’s book is that literature has something to do with sports. If you look at sports and literature at plain logic, they are very different because literature uses mental capabilities while the sports and games use physical abilities. The connection of literature and sports was established clearly in Mark Golden’s book. He clearly stated the relation of the two. The realization of the relation between the two is quite interesting and mind bugling. Mark Golden’s book clearly is one of a kind. Historians who read his book were very enthusiastic to discuss Greek history to his class. The reliability of the book make more convincing to historians or even to non-historians. The book is really a must read to people to who likes Greek history. Works Cited Golden, Mark. Sport and Society in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Emerging Technologies: Business And Society

Emerging Technologies: Business And Society Over the last decade, emerging technologies have no doubt influenced almost every sector of society and business. Whether by their promise of better society and business or by the curse of disquiet etched in their wings; Robotics and Nanotechnology, among a few other emerging technologies, have certainly played a part in shaping todays business and society for tomorrow. The emergence of Nanotechnology and Robotics was, to some extent, instigated and inspired by certain fundamental needs and pursuits of society and business. The business desire for cost-efficiency and societys pursuit of sustainability in the form of better health care, a cleaner environment, security, etc are just a glimpse of what may have triggered the emergence of these among other technologies. However, the technologies success, or lack of it, is to a large extent dependent on, the overall short and long term, how well they respond to the primary needs and pursuits of businesses and society. This report focuses on Nanotechnology and Robotics discussing some of their varied range of practical, theoretical and experimental applications. The report, in essence, draws from the diverse applications of these two technologies, their implications and impacts on businesses and society hitherto and perhaps in the near future. The analysis, also acknowledges and draws from lessons learnt in preceding and contemporary technologies such as genetic engineering and nuclear energy. The analysis shows that the success of the technologies depends on their close evolutionary interaction with their resident businesses and society which are also changing in response albeit at a different pace. Introduction The influence of emerging technologies on almost every sector of business and society cannot be overstated over the last decade. Whether by their promise of better society and business or by the curse of disquiet etched in their wings; Robotics and Nanotechnology, among other emerging technologies in the frontline, have certainly played a part in shaping todays business and society for tomorrow. The emergence of Nanotechnology and Robotics may, to some extent, have been instigated and inspired by certain fundamental needs and pursuits of society and business. The desire for greater efficiency cost or otherwise in business, better health care, a cleaner environment, security and etc for sustainable society are just a glimpse of pursuits that may have triggered the emergence of these two among other technologies. However, just as their preceding or contemporary counterparts such as genetic engineering, their success, or lack of it, is to a large extent dependent on the overall short and long term impact they portend for business and society. Robotics and Nanotechnology are two among the foremost of countless emerging technologies ushered into the new century whose impact on society and business is yet to be fully realised or determined. Determining the impacts of these two is no simple task. The range of applications for these two technologies, whether already practical or still theoretical, is quite enormous and diverse making it even more difficult for one to establish the full extent of their impact. There is however no doubt that these two have had their share of both positive and negative impacts on business and society and will continue to during their evolution. Whatever the impacts, their measure may be drawn from how businesses and society have responded so far. Many studies done on these technologies indicate enormous initial investments by businesses and more recently, measured but nonetheless important investments by society. Nano-scale technology or Nanotechnology has been defined generally as the creation of functional materials, devices, and systems through control of matter on the nanometer (1 to 100+ nm) length scale and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena developed at that scale. [1] Nanotechnology, just as many other technologies before, has especially pledged enormous benefits for businesses and society. Many studies indicate enormous initial investments by businesses and more recently, measured but nonetheless important investments by society anticipating mostly the benefits it promises. Nonetheless the studies also show that it bears its own brand of curses or threats alike especially for society. Some of the threats may well be known, anticipated and resolved in good time. Others may only be revealed later on in its evolution. Either way, it is imperative that its benefits and identifiable threats be reasonably considered and embedded in their evolution if these two, among others related, are going to succeed. On the other hand, a robot is generally defined as a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks (Robot Institute of America, 1979)[15]. Robotics is thus concerned mainly with the study, design, building and operation of robot systems for certain specialised tasks [14]. Business and societys desire for greater efficiency cost and better health care, a cleaner environment, security etc respectively also continue to inspire heavy investments in more cost-efficient technologies. Achieving these either by automation, miniaturisation or by the use of better building blocks or materials for technology and products are among the main approaches that converge research and development of Robotics and Nano-scale technology or Nanotechnology among other related technologies. Apart from the brief introduction above, this report is organized into two main sections. The first section covers a brief description on the fundamentals of Nanotechnology. This section is followed by discussions on some of the principle practical, theoretical and experimental applications tracing and focusing on their impact on business and society. The second section deals with robotics and likewise describing the fundamentals of robot systems. This section too is followed by an examination of the major applications of robotics with a focus on their impact on society and business. Nanotechnology As mentioned in the introduction, Nanotechnology generally involves engineering at the nano-scale level (1 to100nm) leveraging novel properties and phenomena of matter at this scale. The concept of engineering at this scale may well be attributed to Feyman (1959) [2]. Modern understanding of Nanotechnology as defined above was built on the initial concept by other eminent scholars like Drexler (1992) [3]. Merkle (1997) [4] also went on to propose additional concepts like building materials by specifically positioning each atom and cost effective mass-assembly of the atoms At the close of the last century in 2000, presented with the anticipated advances and subsequent benefits of Nanotechnology by proponents such as Drexler (1992)[3], Merkle (1997)[4] among others, galvanized leaders in technological research and development, cutting edge innovation and business to converge and discuss extensively the implications of engineering at this scale. At a workshop organized by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), leading experts gathered and to present their views on Nanotechnology and its implications focusing its potential applications in business and society. A resulting report on the proceedings of the workshop presents rather varied views and perpectives, perhaps due to the diverse applications of the technology or backgrounds of the participants. However, the urgent need for a foundational and comprehensive analysis of the technology and its implications seems to be the leading theme. This was a defining moment in the evolution of Nanote chnology. Below is a summary of nanotechnologys focus and principle applications as reported in the NSF (2001) [5] workshop and are being refined with time as shown in the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan (2007) [6]: Industrial Manufacturing Materials and products, Chemical Processing Electronics application in Information Technologies and Communications Medicine and Health applications in Medicine and Pharmaceuticals. Aerospace For aerospace and planetary exploratory applications. Transportation and civil infrastructure Lighter Materials Sustainability in Energy, Water, Agriculture Food, Materials, Clean environment Defence and Security applications. Even though the current and potential applications of nanotechnology reach deeper than revealed by the above summary, there is no doubt that the above applications have impacted both businesses and society over the last decade in one way or another. Some researchers have even suggested at the emergence of Nanotechnology signalling the entry into the Age of Transitions [6] [7] there would be profound waves of change whether in society or business. Impact of Nanotechnology on business Every category of application highlighted above is representative of a range of industries and businesses that have already responded to, or must soon do so, to the diverse and vast influences, potential or practical, wielded by Nanotechnology. Some of these influences are certainly not unique to nanotechnology and may have been wielded by contemporary and preceding technologies. Others, however, such as the rapid parallel advances in research and development hardly witnessed by preceding technologies have compelled many a business in any of the application categories to reconfigure itself and its approach. These cycles of reconfiguration will even be more rapid when Nanotechnology converges with other emerging technologies that portend similar characteristics. Good examples are traffic on the internet; wireless capacity and computing performance which are said to double every 6, 9 and 18 months respectively [7]. Industrial Manufacturing: Nanoscale engineering of materials and products forms the bulk of current and perhaps even future applications of nanotechnology in industrial manufacturing. This has witnessed the introduction of new materials and products and thus new markets for businesses over the last 10 years. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) forecasted the 2010 2015 Nanotechnology market at over 1 trillion US dollars as shown in the chart below. Chart 1: Estimates of the nanotechnology market by 2010-2015 USD trillions: 1.1 Source: National Science Foundation Subsequent research (RNCOS research) [8] has upwardly revised estimates within half the period settling at 1.6 trillion USD by the year 2013. The market estimates probably continue to inspire a steady increase in investment. Cientifica estimated the global government funding stood at a little less than 9.75 billion USD for nanotechnology. The US government alone invested 1.6 billion USD a steady increase from about 500 billion in 2001. [8] Apart from specialized materials such as nano-composite polymers and other nanoscale structured materials and chemicals; the inventory list of consumer products with a nanotech component currently stands at over 800 and will obviously continue to grow [9]. With this kind of diversity in terms of products and an expanding market, businesses, especially those in manufacturing, will do well to quickly adapt continue their success. Electronics: The potential application of nanotechnology in electronics is set to take the miniaturisation of computers to the next level. It is also set to improve the cost-efficiency and performance of electronic products even introducing product variation that have been hitherto unrealistic. [10] Figure 1: Manufacturing cost projection for logic at silicon-area and transistor levels as illustrated by Doering (2000) [5] As shown in Figure 1, the cost of achieving electronic function is on the decline thus inspiring the continued introduction of new electronic products and business and a consequent the market for the products. This will no doubt also augment advances in related areas such as telecommunications further opening up opportunities for business as illustrated in Doerings (2000) [5] projections in Figure 2 below. Figure 2: Illustrates projected growth of electronic market place with decreasing feature sizes and function cost. Doering (2000) [5] Medicine and Health: Nanotechnology has been applied in medicine, healthcare and pharmaceuticals to introduce better drug delivery and diagnosis mechanisms (targeted) [10] [11]. The resulting advances achieved hitherto continue to attract, not just government funding, but private businesses and organizations are also joining the fray investing themselves in nanotech medicine and healthcare. Of course theres the prospect, albeit some of it being still experimental, of resolving age old problems like cancer. Figure 3: An illustration of Nanotech funding Adapted from ETC Nanotech Report (2006) [11] There is also the prospect of making viable, products that have previously not been viable for business. The overall positive impact of nanotechnology on business related to medicine and health care is that it introduces a new range of products subsequently expanding the existing markets or even reconfiguring them all together [5], [10]. Some studies estimated the world markets expansion for these products from 1 billion USD in 2005 to be tenfold at 10billion USD by 2010 [11]. On the flipside, an expanding product base also means the introduction of products that carry along with them originally unintended effects or even products that are downright harmful to the business side of medicine and healthcare [10] [11]. Aerospace: Businesses and organizations in aerospace research and development have also invested themselves quite heavily with the intention of reaping some of the benefits of Nanotech application over the last decade or so. The introduction or potential introduction of lighter, stronger nanostructured materials or building blocks for aerospace equipment can only portend a positive outlook for this business since this ultimately implies an eventual reduction in costs e.g. in fuelling as well as wholesome aerospace projects [10]. Transportation and civil infrastructure: Lighter high-strength materials developed through nanotechnology implies a reduction of costs; whether in fuelling or maintenance in transportation and infrastructural developments. Impact of Nanotechnology on society The almost definitive nature of business, at least in objective makes much simpler the exercise of nanotechnologies impacts on business. This however, is not the case when it comes to determining societal implications and impacts brought about by technologies; nano or otherwise. Many attempted studies at this exercise acknowledge this difficulty [5] [10]. The period of time required for one to actually determine a certain technologys impact on society as well as the often unpredictable nature of society have been cited in the studies among major challenges to the accuracy of determining societal implication of technology; nanotechnology in this case. The impact of nanotechnology and its related advances on society hinges on certain major areas of life that are important to the makeup of that society. Below are some of the major areas cited by some studies like the NSF (2001) [5] report on Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the Royal Society Royal Academy of Engineering (2004) [10] report on Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties: Health care: Among the benefits pledged by nanotechnology, certain applications are meant to improve the quality of health care. Society at an individual level desires health and long life. New products and technologies such as targeted drug delivery mechanisms and diagnostics introduced by nanoscale engineering for health care promise a healthy and quality for individuals and society as a whole. [11] On the flipside, some products developed through nanotechnology also pose a threat to health. Some nanomaterials and particles have presented hazardous characteristics to human health and performance. Analyses and studies on some of the nano products and technologies which present unintended health hazards recommend responsible research and application of nanotechnologies [5]. Sustainability: Society looks for the sustainability of the resources that are its lifeblood. The current application and potential of Nanotechnology focusing on sustainable energy, water supply, agriculture food, materials and clean environment directly impact on the societys quality of life. Energy applications of nanotechnology pursue a parallel advance in achieving sustainable energy building on existing technologies. The threesome approach deals with: efficient energy conversion from primary form using a number of nanotech mechanisms e.g, nano-engineered solar cells, efficient storage energy storage through the use of supercapacitors developed through nanotechnology, and efficient energy saving mechanisms e.g. through the use of better thermoinsulators created using by nanomaterials [12] Sustainable energy is tightly bound with a clean environment. Achieving the former dramatically improves the later. Water supply is also an issue of concern for society where nanotech products and approaches are being used to improve the level of water supply either e.g. using nanotech for desalination. Agriculture and food production are also set to benefit from sustained research and development of nanotech application to agriculture. Defence and Security applications: Defence and security have long inspired the emergence of technologies perhaps because societies have often been reconfigured by conflict. The practical or even just the potential applications of nanotechnology to defence and security either in military weaponry and equipment or in intelligence continue to profoundly affect society. [5] A fundamental concern for society is who controls the resulting advances of nanotechnology thus raising legal and ethical issues. Studies show that society needs to respond at a quicker pace by being involved right from the get-go, putting in place and redefining policy mechanisms, regulation and control of these technologies [10]. Education and Culture: A combination of nanotechnology and other contemporary technologies such as Biotechnology and Information Technology portends a true Age of Transitions for society as has been argued by some experts [7]; a time when social structures and cultures are rapidly reconfigured and reengineered by a rapid technological evolution and eventual revolution. Robotics Robotics is area of emerging technologies that involves the study, design, construction and operation of robot system(s). Slightly variable definitions of a robot to encompass humanlike characteristics describe a broadened modern concept of robotics [13]. The application of Robotics, since the first practical realization of the concept in the early 60s, has increasingly worked its way into many sectors of todays business and society. The primary application of robotics has mostly to do with tasks that are either too dangerous or those that are too repetitive and too precise for humans. In essence, robotics seeks to enhance human performance. The general areas in business and society that continue to benefit from application of robotics in include [14]: Industrial, mainly in manufacturing either in precise or repetitive assembly repair among others so far the most established application of robotics. Healthcare performing complex and precise surgical procedures such as Radiosurgery, Tele-robotic surgery among other medical procedures. Aerospace, Military and security performance of dangerous and precise tasks relating to defence and security example of practical applications include the unmanned aerials and ground vehicles for surveillance, reconnaissance and exploration of hazardous environment. Agriculture Disaster Recovery and Infrastructure again, the use of robotics for the recovery and sometime repair of dangerous environments and difficult to reach areas of infrastructure respectively. Consumer Robotics for day-to-day tasks and service provision the least developed area of robotics but picking up pace. Impact of Robotics on business The robotics principle inspiration of enhancing human performance and the fundamental objectives of increasing productivity and quality in business foreshadow the impact of robotics in business. The application of advancing robotics to various areas of traditional business has and continues to compel change in business design and approach. Business and organizations trading in the primary areas of robotics application have had to reconfigure themselves inspired by this change. In many ways, the impact of robotics on manufacturing business foreshadows the impact of robotics on almost all other areas of industrial robotics application. Manufacturing thus may well be viewed as representative of other areas Infrastructure development, Agriculture and healthcare. Manufacturing: the extensive industrial application of robotics has, to a large extent, improved the efficiency of manufacturing businesses that have properly invested themselves in the potency of robotics. Case studies on some of these businesses show marked improvements in their performance, quality. Chrysler, for example, a leading automobile manufacturer was able to cut cost and improve its flexibility by remodelling its business for the market and by leveraging advanced robotics. Their application of robotics enabled them to cost-efficiently produce a wider range of products [16]. The increasing need for application of robotics in other manufacturing areas like packaging and processing is also opening up new business opportunities for robotics. The trend in manufacturing now is that more and more businesses are inclined to robotics and related automation for their existence. However, although the benefits of applying robotics are worthwhile on the long term for business, the initial investments are, more often than not, prohibitive. This has been the case and will probably continue to hound business into the next generation. Parallel advances in complimentary technologies however likely to mitigate problem. In healthcare, apart from the performance of repetitive tasks, the cutting edge application of robotics is mostly towards the performance of highly complex surgical procedures. However, robotics application here is tightly bound to the human in the sense that robots are not autonomous. Consumer robotics is a fairly new application area that involves a much smaller scale of applications compared to industrial. This might be at the product distribution level like dispensing machines Military and security: investments in robotics for military and security use are leading the advance in robotics as a technology through research and development. Often, the output of these advances translates to new business opportunities when converted or modified for civilian applications. Contemporary technologies such the internet and wireless telecommunication were first military and defence technologies before they became commercialized for business. Aerospace applications: Robotics application in exploratory research and development like aerospace are also contributing to the advancement of robotics and in turn inspiring fresh business area applications such as infrastructure maintenance and transport. Impact of Robotics on society As mentioned above, robotics portends to improve and enhance human performance. To some extent, this does impact society positively. A societys health and safety is improved for instance by the use of robots to perform dangerous and hazardous tasks. However, large scale industrial robotics application may mean job losses especially when robots begin to replace human workers. The implications here are far reaching. Apart from the short term effects of conflict, there is the long term reconfiguration of society to accommodate the changes. In the long term, education and training and other related areas have to be reviewed. There are also broader societal issues such as the need for environment sustainability where robotics portends both positive and negative impacts. The application of robotics in military defence, weaponry and security such as the use unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance revisits the concern of who controls technologies thus raising legal and ethical issues. Robotics and other complimentary technologies continue to influence social evolution by directly effecting change in education and social culture. In other worlds robotics has contributed to the change in the way we live our lives. There is an increasing societal dependence on technologies even though they dont resolve age old societal challenges such as poverty and justice. Conclusion Emerging of technologies often invite scrutiny in the interest of business and society the ultimate consumers of technology. Nanotechnology and Robotics are no different. This scrutiny, as has been illustrated in this report, often takes the form of assessments on the impacts of these technologies on business and society. Again, as shown, assessing and articulating the impacts of technologies is not a simple exercise especially when they are just emerging. It is often a process informed by diverse and sometimes opposing views from leading experts and representatives from society and business. In the end, the impacts identified, positive or negative, define the viability of an emerging technology. The assessment of Nanotechnology and Robotics in this report, perhaps because of the width and depth of their potential applications, yields an overall positive outlook for business and society and in turn for their success as emerging technologies.

The Algorithm of Gaussian Elimination

The Algorithm of Gaussian Elimination In linear algebra, Gaussian elimination is an algorithm for solving systems of linear equations, finding the rank of a matrix, and calculating the inverse of an invertible square matrix. Gaussian elimination is named after German mathematician and scientist Carl Friedrich Gauss. GAUSS / JORDAN (G / J) is a method to find the inverse of the matrices using elementary operations on the matrices.To find the rank of a matrix we use gauss Jordan elimination metod but we use gauss Jordan method in case we have to find only the inverse of the invertible matrix. Algorithm overview Algorithm of gauss Jordan method is simple. We have to make the matrix an identity matrix using elementary operation on it. It is firstly written in the form of AI=A We will firstly write the upper equation and then perform elementary operation the right hand side matrix matrix and simultaneously on identity matrix to obtain following matrix. I=A A-1 The process of Gaussian elimination has two parts. The first part (Forward Elimination) reduces a given system to either triangular or echelon form, or results in a degenerate equation with no solution, indicating the system has no solution. This is accomplished through the use of elementary row operations. The second step uses back substitution to find the solution of the system above. Stated equivalently for matrices, the first part reduces a matrix to row echelon form using elementary row operations while the second reduces it to reduced row echelon form, or row canonical form. Another point of view, which turns out to be very useful to analyze the algorithm, is that Gaussian elimination computes a matrix decomposition. The three elementary row operations used in the Gaussian elimination (multiplying rows, switching rows, and adding multiples of rows to other rows) amount to multiplying the original matrix with invertible matrices from the left. The first part of the algorithm computes an LU decomposition, while the second part writes the original matrix as the product of a uniquely determined invertible matrix and a uniquely determined reduced row-echelon matrix. Gaussian elimination In linear algebra, Gaussian elimination is an algorithm for solving systems of linear equations, finding the rank of a matrix, and calculating the inverse of an invertible square matrix. Gaussian elimination is named after German mathematician and scientist Carl Friedrich Gauss, which makes it an example of Stiglers law. Elementary row operations are used to reduce a matrix to row echelon form. Gauss-Jordan elimination, an extension of this algorithm, reduces the matrix further to reduced row echelon form. Gaussian elimination alone is sufficient for many applications, and is cheaper than the -Jordan version. History The method of Gaussian elimination appears in Chapter Eight, Rectangular Arrays, of the important Chinese mathematical text Jiuzhang suanshu or The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. Its use is illustrated in eighteen problems, with two to five equations. The first reference to the book by this title is dated to 179 CE, but parts of it were written as early as approximately 150 BCE. It was commented on by Liu Hui in the 3rd century. The method in Europe stems from the notes of Isaac Newton.In 1670, he wrote that all the algebra books known to him lacked a lesson for solving simultaneous equations, which Newton then supplied. Cambridge University eventually published the notes as Arithmetica Universalis in 1707 long after Newton left academic life. The notes were widely imitated, which made (what is now called) Gaussian elimination a standard lesson in algebra textbooks by the end of the 18th century. Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1810 devised a notation for symmetric elimination that was adopted in the 19th century by professional hand computers to solve the normal equations of least-squares problems. The algorithm that is taught in high school was named for Gauss only in the 1950s as a result of confusion over the history of the subject Algorithm overview The process of Gaussian elimination has two parts. The first part (Forward Elimination) reduces a given system to either triangular or echelon form, or results in a degenerate equation with no solution, indicating the system has no solution. This is accomplished through the use of elementary row operations. The second step uses back substitution to find the solution of the system above. Stated equivalently for matrices, the first part reduces a matrix to row echelon form using elementary row operations while the second reduces it to reduced row echelon form, or row canonical form. Another point of view, which turns out to be very useful to analyze the algorithm, is that Gaussian elimination computes a matrix decomposition. The three elementary row operations used in the Gaussian elimination (multiplying rows, switching rows, and adding multiples of rows to other rows) amount to multiplying the original matrix with invertible matrices from the left. The first part of the algorithm computes an LU decomposition, while the second part writes the original matrix as the product of a uniquely determined invertible matrix and a uniquely determined reduced row-echelon matrix. Example Suppose the goal is to find and describe the solution(s), if any, of the following system of linear equations: The algorithm is as follows: eliminate x from all equations below L1, and then eliminate y from all equations below L2. This will put the system into triangular form. Then, using back-substitution, each unknown can be solved for. In the example, x is eliminated from L2 by adding to L2. x is then eliminated from L3 by adding L1 to L3. Formally: The result is: Now y is eliminated from L3 by adding 4L2 to L3: The result is: This result is a system of linear equations in triangular form, and so the first part of the algorithm is complete. The last part, back-substitution, consists of solving for the knowns in reverse order. It can thus be seen that Then, z can be substituted into L2, which can then be solved to obtain Next, z and y can be substituted into L1, which can be solved to obtain The system is solved. Some systems cannot be reduced to triangular form, yet still have at least one valid solution: for example, if y had not occurred in L2 and L3 after the first step above, the algorithm would have been unable to reduce the system to triangular form. However, it would still have reduced the system to echelon form. In this case, the system does not have a unique solution, as it contains at least one free variable. The solution set can then be expressed parametrically (that is, in terms of the free variables, so that if values for the free variables are chosen, a solution will be generated). In practice, one does not usually deal with the systems in terms of equations but instead makes use of the augmented matrix (which is also suitable for computer manipulations). For example: Therefore, the Gaussian Elimination algorithm applied to the augmented matrix begins with: which, at the end of the first part(Gaussian elimination, zeros only under the leading 1) of the algorithm, looks like this: That is, it is in row echelon form. At the end of the algorithm, if the Gauss-Jordan elimination(zeros under and above the leading 1) is applied: That is, it is in reduced row echelon form, or row canonical form. Example of Gauss Elimination method!!! (To solve System of Linear Equations) One simple example of G/J row operations is offered immediately above the pivoting reference; an example is below: Below is a system of equations which we will solve using G/J step 1 Below is the 1st augmented matrix :pivot on the 1 encircled in red Row operations for the 1st pivoting are named below Next we pivot on the number 5in the 2-2 position, encircled below Below is the result of performing P1 on the element in the 2-2 position. Next we must perform P2 Row operations of P2 are below The result of the 2nd pivoting is below. Now pivot on -7 encircled in red Using P1 below we change -7to 1 Below is the result of performing P1 on -7 in the 3-3 position. Next we must perform P2 Row operations of P2 are below The result of the third (and last) pivoting is below with 33 ISM matrix in blue Step [3] of G/J Re-writing the final matrix as equations gives the solution to the original system Other applications Finding the inverse of a matrix Suppose A is a matrix and you need to calculate its inverse. The identity matrix is augmented to the right of A, forming a matrix (the block matrix B = [A,I]). Through application of elementary row operations and the Gaussian elimination algorithm, the left block of B can be reduced to the identity matrix I, which leaves A 1 in the right block of B. If the algorithm is unable to reduce A to triangular form, then A is not invertible. General algorithm to compute ranks and bases The Gaussian elimination algorithm can be applied to any matrix A. If we get stuck in a given column, we move to the next column. In this way, for example, some matrices can be transformed to a matrix that has a reduced row echelon form like (the *s are arbitrary entries). This echelon matrix T contains a wealth of information about A: the rank of A is 5 since there are 5 non-zero rows in T; the vector space spanned by the columns of A has a basis consisting of the first, third, fourth, seventh and ninth column of A (the columns of the ones in T), and the *s tell you how the other columns of A can be written as linear combinations of the basis columns. Analysis Gaussian elimination to solve a system of n equations for n unknowns requires n(n+1) / 2 divisions, (2n3 + 3n2 5n)/6 multiplications, and (2n3 + 3n2 5n)/6 subtractions,[3] for a total of approximately 2n3 / 3 operations. So it has a complexity of . This algorithm can be used on a computer for systems with thousands of equations and unknowns. However, the cost becomes prohibitive for systems with millions of equations. These large systems are generally solved using iterative methods. Specific methods exist for systems whose coefficients follow a regular pattern (see system of linear equations). The Gaussian elimination can be performed over any field. Gaussian elimination is numerically stable for diagonally dominant or positive-definite matrices. For general matrices, Gaussian elimination is usually considered to be stable in practice if you usepartial pivoting as described below, even though there are examples for which it is unstable. Gauss-Jordan elimination In linear algebra, Gauss-Jordan elimination is an algorithm for getting matrices in reduced row echelon form using elementary row operations. It is variation of Gaussian elimination. Gaussian elimination places zeros below each pivot in the matrix, starting with the top row and working downwards. Matrices containing zeros below each pivot are said to be in row echelon form. Gauss-Jordan elimination goes a step further by placing zeros above and below each pivot; such matrices are said to be in reduced row echelon form. Every matrix has a reduced row echelon form, and Gauss-Jordan elimination is guaranteed to find it. It is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Jordan because it is a variation of Gaussian elimination as Jordan described in 1887. However, the method also appears in an article by Clasen published in the same year. Jordan and Clasen probably discovered Gauss-Jordan elimination independently.[1] Computer sciences complexity theory shows Gauss-Jordan elimination to have a time complexity of O(n3) for an n by n matrix (using Big O Notation. This result means it is efficiently solvable for most practical purposes. As a result, it is often used in computer software for a diverse set of applications. However, it is often an unnecessary step past Gaussian elimination. Gaussian elimination shares Gauss-Jordons time complexity of O(n3) but is generally faster. Therefore, in cases in which achieving reduced row echelon form over row echelon form is unnecessary, Gaussian elimination is typically preferred.[citation needed] Application to finding inverses If Gauss-Jordan elimination is applied on a square matrix, it can be used to calculate the matrixs inverse. This can be done by augmenting the square matrix with the identity matrix of the same dimensions and applying the following matrix operations: If the original square matrix, A, is given by the following expression: Then, after augmenting by the identity, the following is obtained: By performing elementary row operations on the [AI] matrix until it reaches reduced row echelon form, the following is the final result: The matrix augmentation can now be undone, which gives the following: A matrix is non-singular (meaning that it has an inverse matrix) if and only if the identity matrix can be obtained using only elementary row operations. Example of Gauss Jordan method!!! (To Simply Find Inverse of a Matrix) If the original square matrix, A, is given by the following expression: Then, after augmenting by the identity, the following is obtained: By performing elementary row operations on the [AI] matrix until it reaches reduced row echelon form, the following is the final result: The matrix augmentation can now be undone, which gives the following:

Executive Summary of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. Essays -- Brewery

Executive Summary of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. continually seeks opportunities to maximize shareholder value and increase efficiency. Through their extremely effective marketing strategies A-B has gained control of over 47% of the global market share. In the process of doing this, Anheuser-Busch has become one of the most recognizable trademarks. This is not without its faults though. Anheuser-Busch’s aggressive advertising campaign has targeted more than who they bargained for. Through A-B’s catchy advertisements, they have attracted customers other than the 21+ age group, and recreational drinkers. It is the opinion of many researchers that Anheuser-Busch is negligent in their advertising, and insists that changes need to be made. Through proper regulation of their advertising, consumers would be allowed to make choices free of media persuasion. Situation Analysis Environment: Cooperative Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. continually seeks opportunities to maximize shareholder value and increase efficiency. As noted in the Annual Report for 1999, Anheuser-Busch remains focused on three major objectives to enhance shareholder value: ï  ± Increasing per barrel profitability which, when combined with continued market share growth, will provide solid long-term earnings per share growth. ï  ± Profitable expansion of international beer operations by building the Budweiser brand worldwide and making selected investments in leading brewers in key international beer growth markets. The company has made significant marketing investments to build Budweiser brand recognition outside the United States and operates overseas breweries in China and the United Kingdom. The company also has a significant equity position in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s largest brewer and producer of the Corona brand. ï  ± Continued support of profit growth in packaging and entertainment operations. Packaging operations provide significant efficiencies, cost savings and quality assurance for domestic beer operations, while entertainment operations enhance the company’s corporate image by showcasing it’s heritage, values and commitment to quality and social responsibility to 19 million visitors annually as well as adding their profit contribution. The company’s strong commitment to achieve these objectives benefits a... ...th the regulations. Works Cited 1999 Annual Report, Anheuser-Busch Companies â€Å"Anheuser-Busch Announces Record Sales and Earnings for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 1999; Worldwide A-B Brand Shipments Exceed 100 Million Barrels.† Business Wire, 2/2/2000. Online. Electric Library. Atkin, C.K., â€Å"The Role of Alcohol Advertising in Excessive and Hazardous Drinking.† Journal of Drug Education 1993, p.313-325 Best, Kathleen. â€Å"Simon Wants Warning on Liquor Ads.† St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/31/93, p. 15A. Online. Electric Library. Fox, RichardJ.;Krugman, Dean M.; Fletcher, James E.;Fischer, Paul M., â€Å"Adolescents’ attention to beer and cigarette print ads and associated product warnings.† Journal of Advertising, 9/22/98. vol. 27. p. 57. Online. Electric Library. Gerbner, G., â€Å"Stories That Hurt.† Journal for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1990, p. 53-57 Saffers, H., â€Å"Alcohol Advertising and Motor Vehicle Fatalities.† Review of Economics and Statisitics. 1993, p.431-442 Sellers, Patricia. â€Å"Selling: How Busch Wins in a Doggy Market.† Fortune Magazine, 6/22/87, p. 99. Electric Library. â€Å"Tax and Sin in Moderation.† St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/26/98. Electric Library.

Shakespeares Presentation of Love in a Midsummer Nights Dream Essay

Shakespeare's Presentation of Love in a Midsummer Nights Dream A midsummer nights dream was originally supposed to have been performed at a wedding. Therefore the theme of love would have been a suitable theme for the play. In this play, as in many of Shakespeare's plays the main theme is love. Shakespeare presents many different aspects of love in the play. He shows how love can affect your vision of reality and make you behave in irrational ways. He presents many ways in which your behavior is affected by the different types and aspects of love. The main types of love he presents are; true love, fake love, unrequited love, young and irrational love and platonic love. Shakespeare tries to show what kinds of trouble, problems and confusion, love can get you into. The different interpretations of love are aimed at showing what being in love could lead to. When you think that you are in love and not really, how easily emotions can be confused and changed. For example, Demetrius's love for Hermia is fake and easily changed in one night to Helena. Hermia and Helena share a platonic love between them; but Lysander, turning to loving Helena by a drop in his eyes, disrupts it. Helena and Hermia fight and feel betrayed by each other because of Lysander talking about loving Helena. Helena thinks that Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius are playing a practical joke on her. Lysander and Hermia share young, but true love. The both act irrationally. When Hermia's parents refuse to allow her to not marry Demetrius she and Lysander decide to run away together and then get married. Just just a drop in Lysander's eye disrupts their love easily. They are ... ...lay was written for a wedding but was not performed for that purpose. This could be because of the ideas he shows that could have gone wrong and how it could be false even if you think its true. Shakespeare also makes a point of how quickly situations where you think you are in love, or where here you are good friends, can changes around and prove otherwise. It would for the reasons that he shows how complicated and how false love can be, be an inappropriate theme for the play to be performed at a weeding. He could of upset the couple with his imagery and references to what trouble love can lead to. Shakespeare shows how he feels about love. The play demonstrates his perception of love by using imagery and language. He presents love as being irrational, blinding and obsessive. He shows that it can be very misleading.

Hunting laws essay Essay

Why are people likely to break hunting laws, whereas the people with the license are the ones that suffer? Over the years people have violated hunting laws. There has been little research for motivations for poaching. Illegal taking of wildlife is a serious problem in today’s society. Questions such as these prompted are discussed in the two following articles: â€Å"Illegal Hunting and Angling the Neutralization of Wildlife,† by Stephen L. Eliason, and an article by Bob Hood â€Å"Rules of the Game. † At first it may appear that only way these two writers might meet in  common ground would be in a head on collision. Nevertheless after reading their articles more carefully, one can realize that Eliason and Hood are actually saying two different things. Initially, these articles seem to be very little in common. Although their titles, for example, convey the same image: Eliasons aggressive â€Å"Illegal Hunting and Angling the Neutralization of Wildlife† versus Hoods passive â€Å"Rules of the Game. † Their subject matters and these authors reasons for writing make them very dissimilar, Eliason states how the very impact  of poaching has affected our society by contrast Hood is merely stating the facts of our local Texas game laws. Between Eliasons use of his method of trying to inform the reader what poaching can do and Hoods general statements on how to follow Texas game warden laws, readers have difficulty recognizing a neutral meeting ground between these persistent writers. Villasenor 2 This strong insistence by each writer that hunting laws should be followed, however, helps the readers see the two differences between these two articles. For both authors, the proposition that â€Å"hunting laws should be followed† is their way of trying to reach out to the general public. For instance Hood states local Texas hunting laws and gives you basic information on how they should be followed. Eliason however is stating on how poaching affects the country as a whole and has enough data and facts to prove his cause. Regarding the similar topic though, we find Hood and Eliason expressing very different views. According to Hood he is stating the dos and don’ts every hunter should know before  hinting predators and non-game animals. Eliason cites a much more informative article stating the affects of the ecological impact of poaching and much more evidence to support his view point. Although Eliason and Hood write about the differences in hunting laws, readers can not see a common ground. Upon close analysis, their articles reveal more then several points of dissimilarity. Both writers have two totally different viewpoints about hunting laws. Readers can recognize that Eliasons and Hoods statements prove to be different.

The management of medical emergencies Essay

The management of medical emergencies at initial stages has many impacts in the development of the medical situation. By being proficient enough in managing medical emergencies in primary care setting, one has comprehensive and first-hand information. This information is very helpful to help the medical practitioners implement the most relevant measures to the situation. In the case of sexual assault, proper medication will be prescribed to the victim of the assault immediately before the situation grows very critical and complex to handle. Taking for instance, sexual assault where the victim risked contracting sexually transmitted infection. In this scenario, the most appropriate post exposure measures will be prescribe to the person to prevent the enhancement of the disease. Proper management of emergencies is the main determiner of the future progress in the situation. In emergency cases at primary care setting, it is possible that professional trainees will not have the opportunity to contemporaneously experience an emergency in which they learn and practice skills during the General Practitioners part of their training; therefore not fulfilling a major part of the every medical college curriculum. Some may feel that the Specialist Trainees will get sufficient experience in managing acute emergencies during the secondary care part of their training, but there are several reasons why is felt that specific training for primary care setting is essential. With the expansion of training in General Practitioners from 12 to 18 months at the expense of secondary training, specialist trainees will be exposed to fewer opportunities to experience acute emergencies due to the lower prevalence in primary as opposed to secondary care. Moreover, with the move to create, secondary care posts located predominantly in outpatient departments or future polyclinic facilities, the opportunity for emergency care experience will decrease even more over the full scope of General Practitioner training (Amorosi & Thorn, 2012, p. 77). In contrast, in primary care, though the materials are usually available and maintained in case an emergency situation should arise, these skills are rarely used. Moreover, the supportive practitioners (nurses, receptionist and fellow clinicians), though receiving yearly training; may wait years before they get to practise their skills on a real case. Furthermore, the specialist trainee, being transplant from the relatively standardized and familiar context of the hospital or outpatient department to a new and much more variable care setting, will be disoriented and relatively isolated if he or she is confront with a patient having a life-threatening event. Finally, many Specialist trainees while having participated in the provision of emergency care will never have taken the responsibility for directing the care, to lead the clinician during the emergency (Goldfrank, 2010, p. 86). Evidence based plan of care is very beneficial in an emergency. The evidence in the emergency provides medical practitioners with information about the cause of the emergency. This data not only ensures proper medication to the affected, but also gives nurses and clinicians confidence in approaching the emergency. Confidence in the clinician motivates in their effort to assist the affected person. The victims of the emergency stand a better chance to acquire quality and proper medication. Proper medications that come with the evidence to the emergency facilitate the chances of survival to emergency victim. In most situations, emergency victims are very critical and, therefore, they deserve a high attention to safe (Queenan, 2012, p. 112). By provision of evidence about the cause of their ailment, their chances of survival are increase by proper administration of medication. Evidence based plan of care is cost effective in an emergency. A lot is a waste through trying to minimise a situation that lacks evidence of its rise. Through provision of the causes that result to an emergency, many resources that could be used in search for evidence are saved. In evidence base plan of care, there is both subjective and objective information that is available. Subjective information comprises of all material facts about causes of the ailment. These may information of the real causes of the ailment that led to ailment.in the case of an accident, the subjective information is that the emergency result from sudden impact of the accident. Objective information, on the other hand, entails all those details about an emergence that would guide medical practitioners in treating the victim of an emergency. Such information includes information such as the time when the emergency occurred and how the victim was affect by the situation. It helps the medical practitioners to judge the victim biologically and try to help him as from the information acquired. For instance, in a situation where the victim was involve in a road accident the interest about the evidence that a medical practitioner may wish to know, are details like how long it has taken the victim since the occurrence of the accident. The levels of blood loss, if any and the intensity of the result of an accident to the victim’s body are amongst the important facts for a medical practitioner. These goal Facts would guide the medical practitioner in describing the most appropriate medication to the victim. Proper medication would mean high chances of recovery to the victim. Evidence based plan of care is the most reliable for effective medication. References Amorosi,  E., & Thorn,  G. (2012). Managing Medical Emergencies. New York: The Author. Goldfrank,  L. (2010). Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies. Norwalk, Conn: Appleton & Lange. Queenan,  J. (2012). Managing Ob/gyn Emergencies. Oradell, N.J: Medical Economics Books. Source document

Can Virtual Communication Substitute Human Relations?

According to UN’s telecommunications agency one of the three people is involved in the internet. Cyberspace has created a means for people to come closer together. Rather than spending money on phone services, people in different cities or even different countries can use messenger services, social networking or email to communicate. The Internet allows people to find old friends, classmates, and family members, or meet new people. Many people treat Internet as an enjoyable way of spending their free time.The most significant feature of internet is the possibility of global communication which gives a lot of opportunities to find a related soul or even a true love; however it does have certain drawbacks that people tend to forget about. In other words, despite the fact that internet is convenient tool of communication; people should not forget about big value and advantages of real conventional relations. One of the benefit from building relationship, people are able to talk w ith thousands of people all over the world.In real life it would not be possible, even if they would spend all their life traveling and having new relationships. While using the computer a person can have a friend in Russia or talk with tango dancers from Argentina. What is more online friends do not judge weight, skin color or clothes. Despite the pluses which were mentioned above, one of the major disadvantages of virtual communication, especially at the beginning of new acquaintance is that anyone can enhance the truth as much as he wants.Not all sites require a photo, and even those that do cannot guarantee that the photo is a real one. Clear signs that the photo may be a fake are strange backgrounds that might indicate a stock image, photos that appear professionally taken and photos that seem old rather than current. Unfortunately some people are not able to identify counterfeit images therefore the internet makes it easy to lie, thus in some cases almost impossible to discern whether the ad is honest or the truth is being embellished.Furthermore, relations through the internet reduce or eliminate face-to-face socialization. Due to the autonomy afforded by the virtual world, individuals are free to create a fantasy persona and can pretend to be someone else. Besides that it is hard to say no, be rude, or ignore someone when you are looking them in the eye. Also, it's incredibly easy and quick to unfriend or unfollow someone or simply block their efforts to make a connection. In other words, just one click of the mouse and your problems would be finished.Unfortunately, this feature of online socialization cheats people of the opportunity to learn how to resolve conflicts in the world outside the Internet and it could retard or cripple one's social skills developments. A report from the National School Boards Association shows that 41 percent of teenagers spend their time posting messages instead of face-to-face interactions with their peers. In conclusion , although the extension of virtual influence is increasing day by day, the real human interactions will not be replaced among society.

Buddhism: Religion or Philosophy?

Whether or not Buddhism is a religion revolves around the contestation of whether or not it is a philosophy instead. This presents myriad problems of logic, as even the definitions of religion and philosophy are themselves a point of contestation. There is the school of thought that defines religion as a belief system, a firm ascription to a set of rules and utmost truths that therefore make religion of whatever kind dogmatic. To use this definition is to make Buddhism anything but a religion, as Buddhism essentially discourages any sense of rigidity in any belief system.It even does not advocate the supremacy of its own doctrines – the 4 noble truths, the 5 Skandhas, the eight-fold path. There are no parameters. The other thought line on religion defines it as a search for transcendence; a quest for an existence, purpose and authority higher than oneself, as advocated by the likes of Karen Armstrong. In this sense, Buddhism is a religion because it seeks to bring those who pr actice it to a new, profound realization of themselves and the world around them; to ‘see the world as it is’, which is the Buddhist idea of ‘realization’.This probably explains why there are quite a number of brands of Buddhism. Still, others wonder why anyone should be distinguishing between religion and philosophy. According to some, this distinction is a fairly new phenomenon, as recent as the 18th century. Throughout history, it is argued, philosophy and religion have been intertwined; take Plato’s Euthyphro for example. In it, the virtue of piety is inextricably argued from a standpoint of what ‘the gods’ believe is right or wrong, even though the whole discourse follows logic.Similar observations can be made in the Epistles of Apostle Paul in the New Testament. Distinguishing the two, it is said, betrays our own biases rather than clarifies things. Dogmatism v. Reason In following up on the more popular definition of religion bein g a set of beliefs, and therefore inherently dogmatic, religion has been criticized as being irrational – that one is required to have faith in absolute truths that not only make little sense to him, but provide no means through which they can be proven factual or otherwise.I this sense, religion is superstitious and irrational, throwing a spanner into attempts at objective human reasoning. Religions after all, have been the source of the greatest conflicts in world history, more fierce than quests for imperialism or economic dominance. In contrast to religion by popular definition, Buddhism encourages objective discourse through reason in a quest for truth, i. e. it is philosophy, just like Plato and Aristotle practiced it.This is however complicated by the fact that while some brands of Buddhism, such as Zen, do not ascribe to a deity, others actually do have absolute truths. But then again this might only fuel the argument that it is not a religion, seeing as there is no u nifying commonality as is common in other religions – Christ in Christianity, Mohammad in Islam, etc. Mysticism Allowing someone to find their own truth wherever they will is to tell them that whatever direction will take you to your destination, and most Buddhist practices have inevitably ended up in mysticism.Hence, when one asks what Buddhism is, in many cases they are told that they have to experience it, as words cannot sufficiently explain it. This trait is inherently religious rather than philosophical. In the latter, one must be unambiguous, while in the former, things like faith, revelation and prophecy are cornerstones. Being mystical, therefore gives Buddhism the appearance of religion rather than philosophy. All in all, I guess Buddhism is what one makes it.

A Practical Guide to Successful Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

A Practical Guide to Successful Teaching - Essay Example To do this, facilitating the learning process becomes vital. This is because it is the role of the teacher to interact and professionally relate with the students in a manner that enhances their educational welfare. In so doing, the teaching-learning roles of a teacher are met. To complement this process, teacher responsibilities are factored in. This is done by ensuring that the teacher constantly monitors changes in the teaching and learning environment so that any vital changes are adopted in a timely manner. Most importantly, ethics and professional conduct crown the teacher’s responsibilities. The discharge of the teacher’s role and responsibilities inform the completeness of the teaching cycle. Of course, the cycle is characterized by critical boundaries that have to be observed at all times. While the teaching-learning environment requires student-teacher interaction and professional relations be maintained, the process is subject to boundaries that outline the extent to which such interactions and relations can go. Striking a balance between the issues, concerns, interests, goals, and objectives of teaching and learning maintains a professional perspective of the role, responsibilities and boundaries of a teacher in terms of the teaching cycle (Ingleby, Dawn, & Powell, 2011, p.92). The educational setting is broad in scope and practice. As a result, the applicable legislation and codes of practice vary across differentiated fields of specialization. The education fraternity is made up of numerous subjects, all of which contribute significantly to the success of the education sector. The education organizational setting is regulated and/or governed by numerous current legislation, among them: Equality Act 2010, Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, Data Protection Act 1998,  Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (LSC, 2007). Moreover, in specific fields like social sciences, there are applicable legislation that regulates, monitor, and govern the training and execution of examinations.

The effect of financial crisis on Islamic banking Compared with Essay - 1

The effect of financial crisis on Islamic banking Compared with non-Islamic banking in Gulf council countries (GCC) - Essay Example The paper will also discuss the key features of GCC economy, and that one of Qatar in particular. The economic features of this region will be tied to the factors that led to a better performance of IBs in GCC, during 2008 financial crisis. The largest Islamic banks (IBs) belong to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The 2008-2010 global financial crises brought a fresh perspective on the relationship between financial stability and Islamic banking, especial in relation to the flexibility of such an industry during financial crises. Some specialists have argued that the Islamic banks were less affected by the financial crises because of their risk-sharing and asset-based nature as well as the fact that they do not deal with the kind of assets associated with most of the losses that non-Islamic banks suffer during financial crises. Still another section of experts argue that the Islamic Banks, just like the non-Islamic banks, have depended on leverage and have taken on considerable amounts of risks that expose them to the second phase impact of the global financial crises (ÄÅ'ihà ¡k & Hesse, 2008). By and large, Islamic Banks suffered less risk compared to non-Islamic banks during the 2008 financial crisis, especially considering that the non-Islamic banks suffered the largest losses in Europe and the US. A close study on 2008 financial crises shows that Islamic Banks did better, in terms of profitability, than the non-Islamic banks. This situation, however, retracted in 2009 as the impact of the crises became more real. Islamic Banks from GCC continuously showed a growth in assets and credit that surpassed the non-Islamic banks in all countries, apart from UAE (ÄÅ'ihà ¡k & Hesse, 2008). The nature of Islamic banks business model played a key role in containing the unfavorable effect on their profitability during 2008 financial crisis. Additionally, some Islamic banks