Description of Nicaraguan Photo

Roosevelt Campbell Professor Finnegan English 111 (009) 7 October 2012 The death of the young man in the Nicaraguan war The photograph by Koen Wessing, â€Å"Nicaragua† (1970) shows a group of people around a dead body on a torn up street in a tragic scene. In the foreground, lies a dead young man on a bumpy road covered with a white sheet, looks like an army boot on one foot sticking out. In the foreground, at the head of the body blood stains are noticeable. A woman who seems to be the young man’s mother walks right up to the body, holding up a sheet to her mouth, and starts to shed tears.In the background four people stand in the street, who appear to be family members or friends of the deceased. A man, who seems to be the boy’s father or uncle, walks behind the body towards the mother. He does not confront or look at the body, with his head down and his hands together in front of him at his waist as a sign of grief. Behind the man, a friend of the family star es at the body with a handkerchief to her nose, protecting her from the stench. Alongside her is a family member who is partially hidden by the man.Only a little part of her hair, arms and legs are visible. A family member also stares at the body with a sheet wrapped across her arm. I also notice that behind these people is graffiti on the door of a building which says â€Å"FSLN† which stands for Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (Spanish). In English, this means Sandinista National Liberation Front which is a social democratic party in Nicaragua. On that same building I can see holes on a building behind the group of people maybe they are bullet holes, from the gun when they fired at the young man.Look like there is even a spent shell to the left of the head of the body. In this photo by Koen Wessing, it indicates how the family members and friends have been affected by the death of the young man, not only them but how the country as a whole has been deeply affected with the deaths and destructions which have been taking place in the country, seemed to have been caused by a war. Koen Wessing portrays how war destroys families and the struggle that people in this scene and the whole country has to go through.When looking at the young man’s mother, family members and friends, you can see by their facial expression and body language that they’re broken down mentally by the death of the young man, which deeply affects them. This can cause problems such as depression and anger. This can even continue to affect them later on in the future. To my assumption he may have been brutally murdered by Somoza’s National Guard (opposition to the Sandinistas), because of his affiliation with the Sandinistas, and he may not have been the only innocent person to be killed by them, so there would have been other families affected by this turmoil.This war has not only affected the people but the country’s infrastructure as well such as t he roads and buildings that were demolished. Homes might have also been wrecked leaving people homeless which might cause them and their children to be sleeping without a roof over their head which is not healthy. Some businesses may have been shut down, and with no businesses, people would be out of jobs and as a result of this, they wouldnot being able to provide for their family. Schools also might have been closed and this would have deeply affected the educational progress of the students and affect them in the future.In conclusion, this photo clearly states the suffering the people and the country as a whole had to go through, and how the dead are left to remind the people of fear and sadness. This image illustrates the devastating effect that a war can have on the people and its country. Koen Wessing is telling us that a war can cause a lot of problems in a country and it would be very difficult to reestablish all the aspects which have been affected. Works Cited Koen, Wessin g. Nicaragua. 1970. Photograph. English 111 Course Page. Web.

Aztec and Inca Civilizations

I think the Aztecs were more impressive, in one of the captions I read that one of their squares was twice as large as the city of Salamanca surrounded by porticoes daily sixty thousand people are buying and selling all kinds of merchandise that the world has to offer embracing the necessaries things of life. In the same square there are some people who constantly go around watching sells and the measures used for sales these people have been known to go around and stop unfair deals or break the measures completely. The men and women who agree to be sacrificed are thrown to their backs, so they can be sacrificed to their gods and without uttering a word and remaining perfectly still while a priest comes over with a stone knife to cut their heart out. This is one of the things as to why I think the Aztecs were more impressive because of the discipline they had, even when they are having their heart cut out while they are still alive. The boys and girls were brought up differently with a few similarities. The differences for boys were they were expected to have more responsibilities such as growing to become fierce some brave and warriors, fishermen, farmers and craftsmen, like their fathers. The daughters were expected to follow their mothers and work indoors managing the house and raise the children. Something similar both boys and girls had in common was they were taught their responsibilities from a very young age, they were also expected to go to school for at least a little time between the ages ten and twenty, the school the rich or the gifted were able to attend was called calmecac, there was another school that most of the population attended who were not rich or considered gifted, which was called tepochcalli. Their (was little difference) in (Aztec religion and civil society. The tlacatecuhtli or â€Å"chief of men† controlled all the religious ceremonies) who (was also the military leader under the tlacatecuhtli were several religious and other offices which included military generals. Priests and priestesses were very important in society they acted as) scientists (and) doctors, and (taught science, art, music, dance, history, and counting. They also knew astronomy and astrology. They had to perform) very (difficult ceremonies). (Religion played an important part in Aztecs lives and was very complicated because they adopted many of the) aspects of the (people they conquered. They had three dominate gods: Huitzilopochtli, (â€Å"Hummingbird wizard† the native and) the (chief god of the tenochca, Huitzilopochtli was the war and sun god), Tezcatlipoca (â€Å"smoking mirror† chief god of the Aztecs in general) and Quetzalcoatl (â€Å"sovereign plumed serpent† widely worshipped throughout Mesoamerica and the god of civilization, priesthood and learning). Below these three gods were four creating gods who kept themselves from the human world. Under these were a large number of other gods, the most important) was (tlaloc, the rain god); chalihuitlicue, (the god of growth and Xipe, the â€Å"flayed one† a god connected with spring. The Aztecs worshipped about) one thousand (gods, but the sun god was the most important. Religious ceremonies were held in a temple called a teocalli. The temples had pools for ceremonial cleansing, gardens, living quarters for a priest, and racks to hold the skulls of victims. The most prominent part of Aztec religious life was the role of human sacrifice. It was practiced in all of Mesoamerica but the) tenochca (used sacrifice on a grand scale. We don’t know a great deal about the details, but we can successfully reconstruct its character and justification with a high level of accuracy).

What Have You Found Interesting About Churchill’s Use Of Language In The Following Extract

The extract I have chosen to analyse is from the Methuen book, Top Girls, page 111 (When Mrs.Kidd enters) through until when she leaves towards the end of page 112. During this extract the audience is exposed to two major differing social classes. Mrs.Kidd is a vast contrast to Marlene, as she is very well spoken, whereas Marlene's language is a little less appropriate for the workplace. It is obvious that the two characters are of differing social classes, due to their names. Mrs.Kidd is the only person in the play given a surname, and her forename is Rosemary, which illustrates a middle class background. Marlene, on the contrary is a name more associated with working class backgrounds, as shown in a hit television series called, â€Å"Only Fools and Horses† in which a woman of working class background is represented. I think that the two woman represent the two main social groups of the nineteen eighties England, one a middle class housewife completely supportive of her husband and traditionalist views on ‘a woman's place' in society, and the other a working class career woman who has made her own way to success, without the aid of a man, she is in Mrs.Kidd's eyes anyway, â€Å"†¦one of those ball breakers/†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mrs.Kidd's intentions are unclear to Marlene until she comes straight with it, she says to Marlene, â€Å"The fact is he's in a state of shock. About what's happened.† Marlene is surprised and doesn't understand what she means, until she explains exactly what she means, â€Å"I'm referring to you being appointed director instead of Howard.† Marlene replies to Howard's sleeping problems with sarcasm, â€Å"Has he thought of taking sleeping pills.† I think that Churchill implies that Marlene doesn't really care and that it isn't her problem. Mrs.Kidd then goes on to say that Howard deserved the job, because he'd, â€Å"†¦worked all these years.† Experience, however isn't as important in the modern era of work, when qualifications bear more significance on a job application than experience. Marlene refers to this as one of business' ‘little setbacks'. I think that Churchill attempts to make this line into a very poignant moment, as Marlene herself had a setback in the form of her daughter, Angie, whom she gave up to her elder sister, which enabled her to bounce back. I think that the poignancy would be lost as the conversation would be acted at a furious pace and the audience wouldn't have sufficient time to react and sympathise with Marlene. Marlene takes a very professional approach to the conversation, using formal language and keeping her cool throughout the conversation, and ensures that Mrs.Kidd lowers the tone, so that she cannot be reprimanded by her senior colleagues, for dealing with the situation incorrectly. Mrs.Kidd comes across as being very discriminatory towards her own sex, when she says, â€Å"What's it going to do to him working for a woman?† This question implies that Mrs.Kidd doesn't believe in equality in the workplace and again reinforces her middle class traditionalistic views on a woman's place in society. Marlene's reply is a controlled sign of her frustration at Mrs.Kidd's ignorance towards the state of the modern workplace. I think that Mrs.Kidd's next lines show that Churchill doesn't wish to show her as an individual, but more as a part or possession of her husband, Howard. Marlene sympathises with Howard, saying that she'll be tactful and pleasant, but for Mrs.Kidd, this isn't enough, she takes it too far by saying, â€Å"I think it is different, because he's a man.† I think that this bold statement enrages Marlene, but she manages to bottle up her emotions. I think this is also used by Churchill to display to the audience Mrs.Kidd's naivety to the modern workplace. Marlene appears beleaguered in her response, â€Å"I'm not quite sure why you came to see me.† As she feels that Mrs.Kidd has not achieved anything positive and has merely made a fool of herself and her husband. Mrs.Kidd appears to have realised that she hasn't achieved anything, and is almost giving up, when she says, â€Å"I had to do something.† I think that Marlene attempts to sympathise with Mrs.Kidd, when she says, â€Å"I'm sorry he's taking it out on you. He really is a shit, Howard.† Because she uses derogatory language towards him, I think she is blaming Howard and trying to tell Mrs.Kidd that it isn't her problem entirely, and that Howard needs to deal with his own problems. Mrs.Kidd then tries to deploy another weapon, emotional blackmail, she says, â€Å"But he's got a family to support.† Implying that they need the money more than Marlene, who is a single woman. Then she suggests that Marlene gives up the job, saying, â€Å"It's only fair.† I think this inference sends Marlene into a state of shock as she replies, â€Å"Are you suggesting I give up the job to him then?† Mrs.Kidd thinks that Marlene has finally taken heed of what she has said and that she has succeeded in her quest to gain her husband the job. Marlene becomes confrontational and has no time for Mrs.Kidd, when Mrs.Kidd says, â€Å"I'm not asking.† Even though she blatantly is, to which Marlene replies sarcastically and goes on to tell her that, â€Å"If he doesn't like what's happening here he can go and work somewhere else.† Mrs.Kidd now becomes enraged and starts hurling abuse at Marlene, but the language has no effect on Marlene, who eventually says, â€Å"Could you please piss off.† Although this is abusive, I think that Churchill wants it to have the effect of displaying to the audience that Marlene is in control of the situation and is very calm and calculating in her response. I think that this scene bears great significance on the play as it displays Marlene's professionalism and ability to cope with the workplace and problems. The extract also illustrates intentions of satirizing the middle class of the time and the Thatcherists, like Marlene.

The Importance of Utilizing the Large Databases or Other IT Resources Essay

The Importance of Utilizing the Large Databases or Other IT Resources So As To Introduce New Types of Strategies - Essay Example The researcher states that now a day, existence is the essential requirement of an organization because of a competitive business environment around the globe. Along with this, enhancement of profitability is also important for the improvement of the organization in long run. So, most of the members of the management team desire to analyze the market situations and changing scenario, prior introducing or formulating the strategies of the organization. This is because strategies act as a positive source or ideas essential for the sustainability of the organization. However, it might be effective only if appropriate information or strategies are implemented within the organization. Otherwise, it might become an utter failure for the organization in terms of profit margin as well as brand value. If the strategies implemented or formulated are not as per the requirements, then it might lead to negative impacts. The brand image and reputation of the organization might reduce and resulting downfall of the reliability and trust of the brand within the minds of the customers. If the customers switch over to other rival brands, then the brand may never sustain in the market for a long time in the market. So, it is extremely imperative that the organization might attain or formulate accurate information to continue its supremacy or competitiveness. In this recent age, the most imperative process to formulate accurate strategies or information is by analyzing the databases. This is because it offers the highly reliable form of data and information that might facilitate for the betterment of the organization. Along with this, it might facilitate the enhancement of the value of the market shares leading to amplification of its profitability and market share. Along with this, if the profit margin increases, then more and more workers or employees might get engaged in the operations of the organizations thereby improving the rate of productivity.

An investigation on consumer perception and trust in e-banking Literature review

An investigation on consumer perception and trust in e-banking transactions through mobile phone.The case of Lloyds TSB - Literature review Example E-banking is also known as internet banking which is an extension of personal computer banking (Stair & et. al., 2009). E-banking utilises internet as a medium for conducting several banking activities such as money transfer, bill payment, balance observation and purchase of financial products among others. E-banking is the outcome of explored opportunity to utilise internet applications in several fields of banking (Bak & Stair, 2011). According to Fonchamnyo (2012), e-banking has experienced rapid growth and changed the traditional banking practices of customers. This growth can lead to massive shift in banking practices leading to advanced business performance. In fact, e-banking has become a major trend for banks to sell their products and services and is perceived to be an inevitable component or ally for banks to remain profitable and successful. However, the acceptance of e-banking is not even particularly between developed and developing nations. It is believed that the diffe rent perceptions of customers about the use of e-banking result in trust and adoption of e-banking facilities (Scribd, 2013). Mobile banking is a subsection of e-banking which has gained growing popularity amongst numerous segments of society. Mobile banking denotes the provision of banking services with the aid of telecommunication devices (Sarlak & Hastiani, 2010). With the use of mobile technology, banks can provide several services to the customers such as money transfer whilst travelling, obtaining online updates or even conducting stock trading and financial transaction activities while being caught in traffic. Therefore, mobile banking provides convenient, simple and timeless banking experience (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 2013). The mobile e-banking phenomenon which can expressively influence banks’ operational efficiency and services, is gaining status in developed nations. However, irrespective of its several advantages, the use of mobile phone in banking ac tivities is still in the beginning phase, particularly in developing nations (Burri & Cottier, 2012). Following the technological developments, mobile phones are permeating in every aspect of life. The quick propagation of mobile phone not only has transformed the manner in which people live, but also has created a new channel for service delivery. The elevated penetration rate of mobile phone has resulted in increased use of mobile devices for the purpose of banking as it adds more value to the customers (Kumar, 2009; IBM Corporation, 2011). The prospect of mobile e-banking relies on customers’ perception. Customers are only willing to conduct mobile e-banking transaction, if they acquire value from it. From the perspective of customers, this value can be defined with respect to customer perception of using a new technology (Yang & Ma, 2012). 2.2 Consumer Perception Theory 2.2.1 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) On the basis of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) model, the ov erall feeling or attitude towards the utilisation of technology oriented system is a key determinant of adoption of any

Corinthian College Annual Report for 2005 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Corinthian College Annual Report for 2005 - Essay Example The annual report is formatted to include an informational portion that need not follow any set format. The actual information required in the report to the SEC is found in the 'consolidated statements' portion of the annual report and contains information to satisfy 10K reporting requirements. The actual report is done by an independent accounting firm hired by the corporation. This firm performs the analysis and reporting functions required by the SEC. Often, the corporation submits an agreement, or disagreements, addendum to the report to explain anything out of the ordinary to the SEC. As stated earlier, the 'notes' section explains the 'consolidated' reports section of the annual report. It is the longest portion of the report and, in some ways, is the most important part of the report. Investors examine the annual report to determine whether or not the corporation is worth investing in. If this is a publicly listed corporation then investors interested in the corporation can purchase stocks and receive dividends from the corporation. The most important factor the investor would be interested in would be the profit/loss section of the report and the 'notes' section that explains that portion. In the annual report for Corinthian College, Inc. the profit/loss section of the report (the balance sheets) is located on page 57 of the 10K report. Its corresponding notes section is located on page 61. Investors would be looking intently at the notes section that explains the assets and liabilities of the corporation. These are explained in the notes section and are labeled 'taxes', 'comprehensive income', 'stock based compensation' and, 'income per share' section of the report. To determine whether or not the corporation is a good investment investors would be looking for how the stocks are valuated, whether the corporation is profitable, and the growth rate of the corporation. The 'balance sheet' of the corporation (the numbers) follows with a more detailed report than is found in the 10K report. The balance sheet for the previous year is provided for comparison. Investors will read this section of the report to help them decide whether or not to invest. Also, investment analys ts and financial advisors examine this section to decide whether or not to track and recommend the corporation for investment. A vital portion to the 'notes' section is the acquisitions page. This report lists Wyo-Tech Acquisition Corp. ("Wyo-Tech"), Learning Tree University, Inc. ("LTU", Career Choices, Inc. ("Career Choices"), East Coast Aero Tech, LLC ("ECAT")., and CDI Education Corporation ("CDI"), A.M.I., Inc. as acquisitions. All these acquisitions may be a liability for the corporation initially but may increase profits in the future. The investor would be interested to know what the future plans are for these acquisitions. Fair market value for the above acquisitions is listed on page 75 and provides a snapshot of how much the acquisitions added to the corporation. The corporation also assumed leases that the acquisitions had in place. One of the most important sections that corporation outsiders would be interested in is Note 7-Preferred Stock and Common Stockholders' Equity section. It explains such details as how much preferred

Compostion article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Compostion article - Essay Example 547). With rapid advancements of and in technology, many fields have incorporated the Internet and its vast possibilities in their development. For instance, SOCR is an evidence of statistics utilizing online applications, programs, et cetera, to be a resource center for individuals interested with the field, wherever they may be. Because of the emergence of various tools in the integration of science, technology, and education, it is not impossible to have information technology (IT) methods of instruction. As a matter of fact, many academic institutions have provided online courses and programs in their curriculum. Statistics may be difficult for some students, and having options for education other than the traditional methods may have the possibility of facilitating easier learning and comprehension in the subject matter. The methods, results, and conclusions of the study will be discussed in this paper, as well as an analysis of the endeavor, looking into its strengths and weakn esses, including recommendations and implications for future researches. Review and Analysis I. Methods The researchers utilized â€Å"SOCR resources as instruments for IT-blended instruction in several courses,† where these courses included quizzes at the beginning of the quarter, Index of Learning Styles (ILS) assessment, standard quarter-wide learning evaluation quantitative measures through exams, quizzes, and homework, and beginning and ending attitude towards the subject surveys (p. 548). The design of the study is seen to gather both quantitative and qualitative data and is briefly described in the methodology portion of the paper, but one could notice that specific design traits are presented with the results, and in their corresponding statistical courses. The total number of subjects was not mentioned, but a portion in the paper states that there were 90 students involved in each section. Several variables were measured, including an assessment of background knowled ge on the first day of classes, learning styles, exam scores, pre- and post-attitude surveys, and satisfaction surveys at the end of the quarter. The setting for research conduction was not specified, but probably took place in statistics classes of UCLA. II. Results and Conclusions Outcomes of the study confirm gathered results of a previous study that indeed there is â€Å"technology-driven improvement of the quantitative performance in probability and statistics courses† (p. 557). In addition, findings suggest that learning styles and attitudes of students towards a discipline are important factors in their quantitative performance. The SOCR-treatment group shows a tendency in the increase of student satisfaction according to post-surveys, and standard assessment instruments revealed that there was quantitative performance improvement. Researchers thus conclude that complementing pedagogical methods with information technology positively affects the students’ academ ic performance and attitudes. With the use of technology-based instructional tools, students are able to understand and comprehend statistical concepts that are difficult to do so in the sole use of traditional classroom approaches. III. Strengths

School Budgeting Processes Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

School Budgeting Processes - Coursework Example For this reason, I would like to state that the District Superintendent of Schools and the School Management Boards should provide school principals with the following information about the budgeting process for their respective schools: Â  One of the most important lessons that each public school principal should have is the entire budgeting process. Therefore, the first thing that the District School Superintendent and boards of education should tell the school principals is about the type of budgeting strategy to be adopted in the school district. Having such information will definitely enable these school administrators to know the contributions which, as school administrators, they should be made towards a successful planning, drafting, and implementation of the school budget. Without a proper knowledge of this area, nothing much can be achieved so far. Â  However, given that the budgeting process is being devolved to the school levels, the District School Superintendent should adequately inform school principals about the on-site budgeting process. They should be told everything about this new approach and be challenged to take the initiatives to budget for their own schools. As school administrators, the principals should be informed that it is their responsibility to coordinate with the office of the school bursar in order to make the necessary budget approximations during each financial year. Once they get such important information, they will take the necessary steps to lobby their teams so as to initiate the budget-making exercise after thoroughly considering all the sources of school revenues and identifying the most necessary areas to spend on. Â  After informing the school principals that it is their mandate to oversee the success of on-site budgeting process in their respective schools, they should be challenged to be team players (Colander, 2007).

Accounting ratio analysis for Hysan Development Company Limited Essay

Accounting ratio analysis for Hysan Development Company Limited - Essay Example The company has three segments in operating as such in the industry. First, is has its Office segment, which is in charge of leasing of office space and related facilities to various customers from office users. Second, it has its Retail segment, which takes charge of the leasing of space and related facilities, this time to a wide range of retail of retail and leisure operators. Third, it has its Residential segment, which takes charge of the leasing of luxury residential properties and related facilities. The company has continued to expand over the years and as of December 31, 2012, its investment property portfolio has reached an approximate level of more than 4 million gross square feet of office, retail and residential space in Hong Kong. The Companys subsidiaries as of 2012 included HD Treasury Limited, Admmore investments Limited, Hysan China Holdings Limited, Hysan Corporate Services Limited, Hysan (MTN) Limited and Hysan Leasing Company, among others (Reuters, 2014a). Profits are created from the surplus of revenues over expenses. This would require a way to gauge revenues and expenses which are extracted from the financial statements of the companies under study. Various categories of expenses according to functions, get deducted from the revenues for purposes of computing profit or income. First is the direct cost or called cost of sales or revenues is deducted first from revenues to arrive at gross profit. From gross profit, operating income will be derived after deducting further selling and administrative expenses will be deducted to arrive at operating income. From the operating income, net income determination will follow after non-operating incomes or expenses are added/deducted accordingly from the operating income (Johnson, et al, 2003). After producing the various categories of income --- gross profit, operating income and net income, each result

Discussion board questions 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion board questions 1 - Essay Example 2-How do you define â€Å"power†? Do you agree with Realists in that power still matters most in the international system? Why or Why not? Power, as Russett, Starr, and Kinsella (2009, p. 106) defined, is the ability to have an impact on the behaviour of other actors, mainly to affect the opportunities available to others and their willingness to select specific courses of actions. Many politicians view ‘power’ as an ability to reduce uncertainty in an environment. Power is often compared with money as power can be saved or spent as is the case with money too. But, a rather different and yet acceptable view is that power is a psychological phenomenon because one may have it if others think he has. Tischler (2004, p. 344) quoted max Weber’s definition of power as it is the ability to carry out a person’s or group’s will even when there is resistance or opposition from others.

SOCRATES AND THE MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

SOCRATES AND THE MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY - Essay Example Socrates is the kind of man who will die for what he thinks is right. Plato’s Apology describes Socrates’ identity and philosophy through narrating his trial. Socrates dies for his philosophy because he knows that he is doing the right thing for society, not just for himself, where his interest is simply helping others to know the truth. He does the right thing for a society that needs a â€Å"gadfly† which will stir it to constant self-assessment (Plato, n.d., p.16). In the first section of the paper, I explain Socrates’ philosophy, specifically irony, method, and ethos, and how Socrates’ statement, â€Å"The unexamined life is not worth living,† is related to these three components. In the second section, I reflect on what I think philosophy is and why it is important. Socrates’ philosophy uses irony and logical methods to promote ethos, or the character of a good man with a good life, and his philosophy helps me define philosophy as the study of general and specific problems that can help people live a good life. Socrates’ philosophy is sometimes called Socratic irony, where the irony is that when a philosopher starts with the admission of his own ignorance, he actually exposes the ignorance of others. In Apology, Socrates criticizes the Sophists for using logos without examining the ethical value and consequences of their arguments. He says: â€Å"†¦but I know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was – such was the effect of them; and yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth† (Plato, n.d., p.3). He alludes to Sophists because they can be tremendously persuasive enough that some people overlook the weaknesses of their arguments. Forgetting oneself refers to forgetting one’s ability to think critically in response to the persuasive tactics of the Sophists. The verbal irony is that Socrates is not affected at all by the Sophists. Instead, the more that he ta lks to them, the more he exposes their ignorance through exposing the fallacies of their arguments. Socrates uses verbal irony to highlight that Sophists are not after the truth, and yet they ironically sound truthful to others who do not examine their lives anymore. Moreover, one of the greatest ironies in his philosophy is his argument on wisdom. Socrates does not claim to know everything, and yet by saying he does not know anything, he is wiser than the rest because it opens him to knowing more. He is right to compare himself to a â€Å"gadfly† because he exists for the main purpose of stirring the Greek society. He is like a gadfly that aims to stir the society which is â€Å"like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life† (Plato, n.d., p.16). When the prophecy says that Socrates is the wisest of all, it does not mean that Socrates holds the most knowledge of all fields, but that he is open to l earning more through his critical and inquisitive approach to learning. As a gadfly, he is ironically a small being in society in terms of wealth and social connections, and yet, he has the ability to stimulate deep philosophical questions amongst his people. Another example of irony comes from Socrates’ accusers. They accuse someone of something that they know little of. Socrates provides the example of Meletus. He says that Meletus is the â€Å"doer of evil,† wherein â€Å"the evil is that he makes a joke of a serious matter, and is too ready at bringing other men to trial from a pretended zeal and interest about matters in which he really never had the smallest interest†

Review Article - Rheumatoid Arthritis & Il-6 Essay Example for Free

Review Article Rheumatoid Arthritis Il-6 Essay Introduction Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune condition principally causing synovial joint inflammation and cartilage erosion. The pathogenesis encompasses intricate cellular and humoural manifestations, and vascular reactions that result in the infiltration of the synovium by white blood cells, of which release inflammatory mediators, inclusive of Interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 serum levels of RA patients as shown by Capell et al. (1993) displayed a median of 55 IU/ml, as compared to that of healthy controls of 10 IU/ml. With a wide-ranging pleiotropy endorsed by both a membrane-bound (IL-6R) and soluble (sIL-6R) receptor, and by the relative omnipresence of the trans-membrane protein gp130, IL-6 endorses a pro-inflammatory effect via its influence on numerous cell types and signalling-pathways. As a result, heightened levels of IL-6 aids in the promotion of osteitis, sequential joint damage, pain/discomfort and impaired function in RA patients. Pleiotropy of IL-6 Interleukin 6 exerts effects on numerous pathways contributing to the pathophysiology of RA. IL-6 as it is called today has been known by several names that exemplify its pleiotropy for example, hepatocyte-stimulating factor known to cause the induction of C-reactive protein (CRP); due to IL-6 association with synovial fibril aggregation has been known as Amyloid protein; a thrombopoietin; both B-cell differentiation and stimulating factor 2; plasmacytoma growth factor; and cytotoxic T-cell differentiation factor. It also causes the differentiation of Th17 cells; is a causative factor in adhesion molecule expression on the surface of endothelial cells, and is involved in the differentiation to mature from precursor osteoclasts cells (REF!!). IL-6 Recptor binding IL-6 implements its influence via a protein complex primarily comprised of a membrane bound IL-6R and a glycoprotein comprised of two intra-cytoplasmic transducer sub-units, gp130. When IL-6 binds to membrane bound IL-6R (mIL-6R) it causes homo-dimerisation of the gp130 sub-units, of which triggers intra-cytoplasmic signal transduction. Whilst expression of gp130 is relatively omnipresent upon the surface of the body’s cells (Akil, et al., 2008), IL-6R is most prominently located on hepatocytes, macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils and select lymphocytes. However, (sIL-6R) of which is systemic also binds IL-6, and just as mIL-6R, can also engage with gp130 for sIL-6-gp130 trans-signalling (REF!). Synoviocytes, for example do not express mIL-6R but do express gp130. Raised levels of IL-6 in the synovium is a characteristic biomarker of RA (Attar, et al., 2010), and Kim, et al. (1996) states enhanced IL-6/sIL-6R in synovial fluid increased the risk of joint destruction, as IL-6 stimulates endothelial cells to express adhesion cytokines and other molecules of which attract inflammatory cells to synovial membrane (Romano, et al., 1997) thus could contribute to exemplifying the significance of sIL-6R in RA pathophysiology. sIL-6R is formed by either an incomplete proteolytic enzymic dissection of mIL-6R or alternative splicing of mRNA (REF!!). With the aforementioned ubiquitous nature of gp130, mIL-6R and systemic sIL-6R, increasing evidence REFERENCES SEE NOTES!! shows that a non-membrane bound, systemic, soluble gp130 (sgp130) found in higher circulatory concentrations than that of sIL-6, also binds IL-6/sIL-6R, thus functioning as a redundency factor inhibiting the cytoplasmic signal-transducing potential of mgp130 REFERENCES SEE NOTES!!, (IL-6/IL-6 receptor system and its role†¦) thus serving as a natural inhibitor of IL-6 signalling (IL-6/IL-6 receptor system and its role†¦). Intracellular signalling gp130 dimerisation brings Janus Kinases (JAKS), a receptor-associated protein complex, into close proximity causing a trans-activation of the two molecule types. Auto-phosphorylation of JAKS occurs, of which causes intracellular signal transduction by recruiting signal-transducers and activators of transcriptions (STAT) that form either hetro or homo dimers and migrate to cell nucleus effecting target gene transcription of various physiological processes (REF). IL-6 can be detrimental to human physiology (REF!), thus expression of proteins known as the suppressors of cytokine signalling (SOCS) function as a negative-feedback system, and are activated by STAT’s. The regulation of the JAK-STAT signalling pathway by SOCS is more specifically down-regulated by SOCS 3 (REF!). SOCS 3 binds JAK’s causing negative-regulation thus functioning as an auto-regulatory mechanism, by inhibiting JAK activity. IL-6 and the Adaptive Immune System The trans-signalling of IL-6 is known to cause the induction of pre-B-cell-colony-stimulating factor (PBEF) in fibroblast cells of the synovium (Bryant, et al., 2006), and since PBEF upon its discovery was considered a B-cell differentiation cytokine(McNiece et al., 1994), it could be considered plausible that IL-6-induced PBEF and the IL-6 maturation of B-cells, collectively contribute to RA. It has been found the effect of IL-6 on plasmablasts indirectly induces the production of B-cell antibodies by assisting elements of CD4+ T-cells (of which act upon activated B-cells) due to elevated IL-21 production (Bond, et al., 2009), thus IL-6 may potentially be a co-adjuvant to humoural immunity enhancement (Bond, et al., 2009). Enhanced levels of the RA associated Rheumatoid Factor are located in the IgA, IgG and IgM isotypes (Ahmed, et al., 2010), and citruline antibodies located in serum and joints, can be linked to the plasmablast-induced antibody production of IL-6 (Ahmed, et al., 20 10). IL-6 enhances T-cell proliferation where they have been mitogen stimulated (Mihara, et al., 2002). IL-6 also impacts T-cell development (Mihara, et al., 2002). Along with transforming growth factor (TGF)- ÃŽ ², IL-6 contributes to Th 17 differentiation, an effector T cell with pro-inflammatory elements, and is further compounded by Th 17 production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17 (Bettelli, et al., 2007). Interestingly, without IL-6, TGF- ÃŽ ² induces Treg production, of which are Th 17 cell suppressors (Hirota, et al., 2008). CD4+ Th cells have been considered Th 1 and Th 2 based upon their cytokine-producing characteristics (Diehl and Rincon, 2002). Th 1 and Th 2 produce IFN-á µ § and IL-13 respectively, of which are both pro-inflammatory molecules, however whereas IL-6 bolsters IL-4 induced differentiation of Th 2, it causes the inhibition of IL-12 induced differentiation of Th 1 (Diehl and Rincon, 2002). Acosta-Rodriguez, et al. (2007) found that in vitro levels of IL-1ÃŽ ² – induced Th 17 polarisation of naà ¯ve human CD4+ T-cells were heightened by IL-6 involvement. More research however, is required to make clear the full extent of IL-6 role in human Th 17 cell development, in vivo. During inflammation, neutrophils of which are essential inflammatory mediators, systemically increase substantially, resulting in relative neutrophilia. Endothelial cells, macrophages and monocytes all emit IL-6. Neutrophils are directly affected by IL-6 due to the expression of IL-6R. Filer, et al. (2005) found that co-cultured endothelial cells and fibroblasts extracted from synovial fluid of RA patients caused an increase in IL-6 and neutrophil recruitment. Adhesion molecules, of which it has been shown in the work of Woodfin et al. (2010) to be required in the transmigration of neutrophils, are augmented by IL-6 such as vascular cell adhesion molecule – 1 (VCAM) and intracellular adhesion molecule – 1 (ICAM) of which produce chemokine production. Thus neutrophils being the most numerous and systemic of leucocytes have a strong initial synovial presence and is bolstered by the amplification of the inflammatory cascade, contributing to the inflammatory escalation during acute-phase response; and findings from animal and human studies revealed that the blockade of IL-6 caused a reduction in neutrophil levels at inflamed sites (Hashizume, et al., 2008), as well as a reduction in systemic neutrophil counts in RA patients (Deguchi, et al., 2003 and Broll, et al., 2006),thus indicating a prominent role for IL-6 in neutrophilia. IL-6: Acute to Chronic Farnarier, et al. (2003) suggests the transition from acute to chronic inflammation as emphasised by a shift of biomarker from neutrophil to monocyte, is influenced by IL-6. It was found that if stimulated for a number of hours by inflammatory cytokines, neutrophils switched from the production of IL-8 and transitioned to monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) (Yamashiro, et al., 1999). sIL-6R is released from neutrophils of which in turn causes the chemokine release of endothelial cells, thus Romano, et al. (1997) suggests the IL-6 – sIL6R complex contributes to the release of MCP-1 from endothelial cells. As earlier discussed, neutrophil-count was found to be directly associated with the blockade of IL-6R?!; and endothelial cells expressing the gp130 but not the IL-6R, thus reliant upon the IL-6 – sIL6RÃŽ ± complex for induction of MCP-1 release, i.e. the release of monocyte, not neutrophil specific chemo-attractants (Gres, et al., 2001), it would appear IL-6 tran-signalling plays an integral role in the transition from acute to chronic inflammation via neutrophil and endothelial cells. *CHART SHOWING CELLS THAT RELEASE IL-6!!* IL-6 induces a disintigrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteinases of which are pivotal in the degradation of extracellular matrix. IL-6 more specifically, has been shown to induce ADAMTS-4 and MMP’s 1, 2 and 13 production in cells lining the synovium and chondrocytes (Hashizume and Mihara, 2009; Hashizume, et al., 2010; 2012). However, it has been suggested the IL-6 – sIL-6R complex has bearing on the extracellular matrix turnover, as it causes generation of tissue inhibitors of MMP’s (TIMP’s) in synovium fibroblasts and chondrocytes (Dayer, et al., 1998 and Hashizume, et al., 2012). The drug tocilizumab (TCZ), an IL-6 inhibitor reduces MMP-3 blood serum levels of RA patients (Garnero, et al., 2010), and has been show to restore biomarkers associated with cartilage turnover (Dayer, et al., 1998). Thus, in RA patients the reduction of IL-6 activity appears to be a mediatory factor in sustainment of healthy joint cartilage. Angiogenesis is a key process in the local inflammatory process. Neovascularisation of the synovium and other angiogenic processes such as hyperplasia of synovial cells and permeation by inflammatory cells are characteristic processes in pannus development and RA pathology (Ballara et al., 2001). In addition to notable constituents of the inflammatory process such as monocytes and T cells, both of which as stated previously have affiliations with IL-6 expression (CITATION OF A FEW), levels of a key angiogenic specific growth factor Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) has also been associated with systemic levels of IL-6, as demonstrated in the work of Hasizume, et al., 2009 and Hagihara, et al., 2003 revealing IL-6 induces VEGF production from synovial cells. VEGF induces proteins that contribute to the breakdown of endothelial basement membrane, including MMP’s, of which increases the permeability of blood vessels, thus allowing enhanced infiltration of inflammatory constituents (Delisle, et al., 2010). VEGF levels accordingly, have been shown to coincide with the articular severity of RA (Hagihana, et al., 2003), and has shown a reduction in response to TCZ (Hagihana, et al., 2003), of which correlates with findings of a semi-quantitative assessment by Akoi, et al. (2011) using ultrasonography that found TCZ responsible for a marked reduction in RA neovascularisation. Bone Remodelling Bone remodelling is a highly regulated process in which mature bone tissue is removed by osteoclasts and formation by osteoblasts. The pathogenesis of RA favours bone loss (resorption) via the excessive production of osteoclasts. Anecdotal evidence by Kazuto et al. (1996) revealed synovial fluid highly +ve for IL-6 –sIL6R complex from RA patients, stimulated increased formation of osteoclasts in mouse co-culture of osteoblast and bone marrow cells. This study coincides with research by Balena, et al. (1994) of which indicated that mice deficient in IL-6 displayed no significant changes in gross or trabecular bone structure. In human studies, biopsies of RA patients revealed that peri-articular bone loss was found to correlate with local excessive presence of IL-6 (Sugiyama, 2001), and work by Garnero et al. (2009) showed the administration of TCZ to RA patients in a multi-centre double-blind placebo-controlled study yielded an increase in bone-formation markers, with a decrease in bone-resorption markers. Collectively, research suggests IL-6 has a negative effect on bone mass. Acute-phase response Acute-phase response is an innate immune reaction in which IL-6 is notably involved via the stimulation of hepatocytes, and is a key inducer of the acute-phase protein CRP. CRP is considered a dependable biomarker of inflammation and RA activity as serum half-life remains constant due to its inflammatory-induced, hepatic-stimulated production being the exclusive systemic determinant and due to its noted increase in RA serum levels (Hirshfield and Pepys, 2003). Anaemia Approximately 1-in-4 RA patients will suffer symptoms of anaemia within the first year (Figenschau, Nikolaisen and Nossent, 2008). The hormone hepcidin, produced in the liver and integral in stemming the metabolism of iron, has been shown in vitro to increase in presence due to IL-6 stimulation of hepatoma cells (Ganz, 2003). This study correlates with Gabayan et al. (2004) in which IL-6 induced patients experienced a 7.5 fold increase in hepcidin production. Anaemia in RA patients, as a result of a hepcidin-IL-6 axis, has limited but supported credence. Osteoporosis has also shown a correlation with IL-6. As mentioned earlier, healthy bone metabolism requires adequate regulation of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, in which excessive IL-6 expression and the Th17 derived IL-17 (Gillespie, et al., 1999) both contribute to excessive osteoclast formation (Campbell et al., 2005). This has also been found to be the case in transgenic mice (De et al., 2006; and Choy and Dayer, 2009) in which bone formation was reduced, and negative ossification was reported. As shown, there are comparable cross-over aspects of IL-6 pathology between RA and osteoporosis. Treatment As highlighted throughout this review, IL-6 plays a pleiotropic pathophysiological role in RA, thus would make an ideal therapeutic target. The most promising and note-worthy of treatments at present, TCZ interrupts IL-6 induced trans-signalling. Numerous studies have shown promising results including a phase III clinical trial in 2005 using the ACR (American College of Rheumatology)* RA activity measure, which had improvement measures of 89, 70 and 47% at ACR’s of 20, 50 and 70 respectively at 52 weeks, in patients treated with TCZ. This multicentre, double-blind placebo-controlled trial by Hashimoto et al. (2004) showed bone resorption and joint destruction could potentially be completely prevented (Kishimoto, 2010), as exemplified when a culture of patient synovial and peripheral mononuclear cells, extracted from the same patients showed that osteoclast generation was completely prevented (Hashimoto et al., 2004; Kishimoto, 2010). At 6 weeks within this study, it was also found that IgG, CRP and serum amyloid A levels all normalised. It has also been suggested that TCZ aids in Th17 differentiation, hence IL-17 production, thus aids in the improvement of RA symptoms (Kimura and Kishimoto, 2010). Other notable studies such as the SAMURAI (Study of Active controlled Monotherapy Used for RA, an IL-6 Inhibitor) and LITHE (TociLIzumab safety and THE prevention of structural joint damage trial) served to enhance conscensus. This humanised, monoclonal antibody has now been approved in many countries^^. 286 With a wide-ranging pleitropy, IL-6 has the most profuse SF and systemic cytokine presence in RA pathophysiology, and coincides with cartilage erosion and disease activity. It has a role in elements of B-cell differentiation and increasing evidence suggests a definite yet ambiguous role in Th17 differentiation. IL-6 has several key positions in immune and inflammatory processes (recruitment, permeation and adhesion of inflammatory elements), and bone and joint degradation, of which over-expression causes adversity, such as release of hepcidin and CRP from the liver contributing to anaemia and inflammation, osteoporosis and pannus development. It plays a key role in the cross-over from acute-to-chronic disease. 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Relationship Between Law And Ethics In Islam

Relationship Between Law And Ethics In Islam I would like to start my analysis by posing a few questions about this relationship to stimulate our thoughts. Are law and ethics identical or non-identical in Islam? Are ethics derived from law or is this relationship vice versa? Are they both derived from the same sources? If yes, then are they separate or do they supplement each other? What I found after my analysis is that law and ethics in Islam are complementary. They come from the same sources and they serve to complete each other like a body and its soul. The main source of law and ethics in Islam is Allahs (s.w.t) will in the Quran, the exemplary life of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.), analogical reasoning and consensus. To analyze in depth the relationship between ethics and law in Islam, we should analyze the Fiqh and Sharia, in light of their connection with both ethics and law. Firstly, Fiqh relates the religious conduct with both law and the human moral life by stating that the human conduct should be understood through Quran and Hadith and then formulating moral and legal norms according to that. These norms, that have two joint components, the moral and the legal one, unite together to make what we call a Hukm in Islam. In this sense, the jurists and judges in Islam judge actions through Hukm which is basically based on morality and legislation. In other words, Quran places the acts in its proper moral context and informs the scholars about its Hukm. Hadith is the second source of law in Fiqh, and it represents the exemplary life of the Prophet, a life that has been lived in accordance with the best morals. From the exemplary moral acts and sayings of the prophet, a bunch of Islamic laws have been formulated. Secondly, when we hear the word Sharia, the first thing that comes to our mind is a bundle of rules and authoritative commandments combined together to make the law of God. However, when we deepen our study and sight into Sharia, we find that Sharia is not only a law, but it is a moral way that we should adopt in order to lead the ethical life. In addition, both civil and criminal justice, as well as the regulation of individual conduct (personal and moral), come under the rubric of Sharia. Thus it is evident that Sharia is a law and a code of ethics at the same time, and either of these individual components does not have any value on its own. Hence, law and ethics are extensively intertwined, compatible and complimentary i n Fiqh and Sharia. Historically, one of the most important questions in law and in ethics is what ought to or not to be done. The answers for this question would compose the largest part of ethics and law. The answers are also what comprise obligation in Islam. Let us analyze this obligation in the light of ethics and law in Islam. In order to determine the obligation, an employing of rules or law is needed. The duties in Islam in accordance to these rules are widely presented through the fivefold theory, which classifies acts in moral and legal way. In Islam obligation in morality and obligation in law come from the same grounds (Quran and Hadith) and they overlap in their requirements. According to the fivefold theory, some obligations derive their force from the laws (the required and forbidden categories) and others derive from an attractive ideal of human nature and virtue (the recommended and discouraged categories). In other word, the fivefold theory makes a blend of law and ethics and uses it t o judge the human act. Suppose, if we were to remove the recommended and discouraged acts or the required and forbidden acts from this model, then the model will become totally inadequate according to the facts of morality or to the necessity of the law respectively. In my opinion, the fivefold model of duty in Islam is the best model to judge actions and to answer the original question: what ought to be done? And here we see what is really distinctive about the relationship between law and ethics in Islam is that they conjoin to make the perfect model that humanity has been in search of since the time of Socrates. Both law and ethics in Islam deal with obligations, human character, and righteous actions. Allah (s.w.t.) sent down in the Quran a corpus of commandments and rules that identify the obligations of human beings. The collection of these obligations is the first and biggest source of law in Islam. These obligations shape the human character as well, and guide him towards righteous actions. Righteous actions come under the studies of normative action in ethics which is basically a practical science and less of a theoretical science. However, Islamic law transacts with human action within two domains-the theory and the practice. What is important here is to distinguish whether the Islamic law forms the heart of Islamic ethics or is it the opposite case. What I found from the readings is that the Islamic law is a heart inside another heart, which is the Islamic ethics, and vice versa. Both of them are interlinked to the point that they can never be separated or dealt with individually. Yo u need one to complete the other. There are many non-Islamic notions of law and morality. We will first take a look at the theory of positivism that asks for separating law from morality. The theory claims that law is not a code of morality and that legal obligation should be apart from the moral ones. However, in Islam, Sharia consists equally of law and morality. Secondly, the idea that started in the west first and has now spread worldwide is the notion of separating religion from the state. It argues that the state should have its rules and law distinctive from religion. The obligation in this case is to the law of the state. The law of the state mostly is man-made and is known as positive law. This notion cannot work in the Islamic world unless Islamic law and ethics step aside. Islamic law and ethics is not only a few obligations like prayers and fasting, but a law for life that guides the human acts and conduct in every aspect and involves total submission to God. In general, many people think that law controls the people. However law, while being very important, is not enough by itself to control human life. On the other hand, ethics, if understood deeply, can control the lives of people and lead them to happiness. The truly just and virtuous society is the one that is based on conscience and ethics before looking at the law. The ethical responsibility is more inclusive than the legal one. Furthermore, ethics are stable and immutable but law can be changed and modified according to the legislations. Also ethics control ones internal conduct whereas law dictates the external behavior. Additionally, in ethics people do self-examination and in law, the legal supremacy is the examiner and calls people to account. Therefore, if society builds only on law, it cannot reach its true potential. Law is essential, but, the real significance belongs to ethics. Therefore in Islam, both ethics and law compose the commandments which refer to the requirement s of Quran and Hadith, and they jointly constitute the Sharia which is important in our contemporary time. Thus, from the Islamic perspective, both law and ethics are equally important to lead the human life to the ultimate happiness. Finally, it can be said that although Islamic law and ethics are well-matched, a few recommendations need to be followed to make it well equipped to tackle contemporary issues in medical law and bioethics. In order to deal with this, I highly recommend the establishment of an International Islamic Medical Law and Bioethical Academy. Secondly, since many medical and bioethical issues are still subject to scholarly debate, therefore it requires further detailed research in the light of medical research and Sharia rulings. Thirdly, I encourage introducing Islamic medical law and bioethics into the syllabi of different institutes teaching the health care sciences, and incorporating it into the curriculum at graduate and postgraduate level. Thus, Islamic law and Islamic ethics stand together as an important instance of a moral and legal theory that composes an attractive ideal for all of human life.

Implementation of the data gloves in various fields

Implementation of the data gloves in various fields Introduction This project is all about interfaces that are going to control the synthesiser called Midi. This project is useful in the real world in controlling visual effects in the present world. These Visual effects are kind of methods, practices and technologies relating to creation and manipulation of elements within moving images to elicit a desired emotional response. They often involve the integration of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and live-action footage to create realistic environments however it would be dangerous, costly and not easily accessible to the real life. In general these visual effects are controlled by the standard input devices like mouse, joystick, track balls, light pens, keyboards, however there are many virtual interfaces developed to interact the visual effects other than mouse, which is nothing but the Data Gloves. These interfaces are used in live concerts, DJs, medical applications, robotics, biomechanics, deaf and speech impaired community as a communication tool, 3d virtual design etc to make their life easier. Just with the few motions they could interact, control, and compose the music as they wish in a much improvised way. This way of interaction reduces the interface bottleneck between the artists and the music. This system also supports multiple artists to simultaneously control the audio. This interface prototype is built upon standard virtual reality software and user interface technology. Data gloves are used to manipulate audio objects and stereoscopic projection to display the virtual 3D sound stage. The aim of this project is to research on these virtual reality interfaces and control synthesisers. So I would conclude as, to make things easier and to improve the latest technologies we are going to find out how the interfaces and the synthesisers work to increase its real life applications by overcoming the difficulties and drawbacks. AIMS Aims of this project is to research on ongoing virtual reality interfaces i.e. P5 gloves which are nothing but Data gloves and its application in the real life .Data gloves can be defined as an inventive, glove like peripheral device which is based upon patented bend sensor and remote tracking technologies, that provide users total instinctive interaction 3d and virtual environments, such as games, websites and educational softwares. These kind of latest technologies are going to make our life easy. In this project we worked on p5 gloves, Glove pie programs and finally controlled MIDI music and audio files using data gloves. In earlier days musicians believed in human capabilities, so they struggled very hard to compose music and to manage live concerts as there was no effective mean source to implement to make their performances realistic and impressive .However they failed as its tough to play many instruments at a time so to overcome this they started operating computers for vario us purposes like multi tasking and to save time. However most of the times they failed in coordinating and synchronizing more number of computers at a time. Due to the complications in their musical life they started using virtual reality interfaces to create imaginative interactive environments that seems to be in the three dimensional real space and to achieve aesthetic effects. In this project we had overcome the problems they faced earlier and exploded more improvised technology to get better output, robustness and versatility. The goal of the project is to control the Midi, virtual and real world applications according to the user. This project is beneficial to musicians, animators, doctors, scientists and many more One sentence. OBJECTIVES The objective is to successfully study about the implementation of the data gloves in various fields like music, medicine, animation, education once it is well known ,have to start exploding on this because it is not going to be the end it is an ongoing music and performance art project and moreover it is not limited to particular settings. This project on novel interfaces is definitely going to help academic field as synchronizing the machines is an ongoing issue everywhere and its going to ease the teaching field because by producing dynamic 3D images or the environment we can make students understand the subject well, because practical knowledge is more important than theoretical knowledge. And I believe this is the correct time to work on this project to overcome the present issues as we can benefit more from this device. Because we have already started enjoying its benefits and this is an opportunity to overcome the drawbacks. Features of glove To produce outputs Identify Features controlling Identify all the drivers to consider for the software and configure Limitations and advantages DELIVERABLES To deliver the objectives of the project we need Data gloves to research with, Midi device, Midi software, visual jockey software, Glove pie programs. P5 midi allows controlling synthesizers and other midi programs using the movement of hand by converting the p5 gloves from essential reality into a Midi controller. P5 not only translates all the information i.e. coming from the p5 glove sensors into Midi messages but also helps us to choose the Midi port and Midi messages. This P5 glove can act as an interface between the computer and Midi or a game console. It easily fits over the hand and senses all its movements in three dimensions. It captures finger bends and relative hand position that enables intuitive interaction with three dimensional environments. It has got 6 degrees of tracking(X, Y, Z, YAW, PITCH and ROLL) with optical tracking technology, bend sensor, anti reflective lens to provide true to life mobility, infrared control receptor with scratch-resistant, and anti reflec tive lens to provide. Midi is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface which is defined as a music industry standard communications protocol which lets Midi instruments and sequencers talk to each other to play and record music. SCOPE In this project we worked on how we can make use of data glove using its various programs and how we can manipulate Midi files using Data gloves, however we are not bothered about how it is going to work in the other real time applications such as medical, virtual reality etc. We concentrated on how we can change the movements of the data gloves by using various factors however we never worked how it is going to work in the real time musical field as we have not tried to test it before any one. To show how dg can control data s/w And piece Chapter 2 PROBLEM STATEMENT RATIONALE FOR THIS THESIS In real life controlling a video on the personal computer using software can be done by the input device called mouse however a greater visual impact to the performer is given by the use of Data Gloves instead of mouse. And the synthesiser used is Midi keyboard which was designed for music input. In particular, Midi keyboard is a very good tool for controlling a large number of instruments in a real time animation system. In this project we had faced compatibility issues while testing the Data Gloves functionality. However we had overcome them using the other alternatives and achieved the outcome on time. PERCEIVED BENEFITS Recently Computer has made it possible to manipulate and operate larger and larger amounts of information, however humans are cognitively ill-suited for understanding the resulting complexity. All the information is readily available; however users are failed in accessing individual items or maintaining a global context of how the information fits together efficiently. Recent studies in virtual reality using Data Gloves technology suggest that encoding subsets of the information using multimedia techniques and placing the resultant visualizations into a perceptual three-dimensional space will increase the amount of information that people can meaningfully manage. Data glove plays a very important role in recognizing hand gestures (which is a complicated task as they are just temporal sequences of hand configurations) and in three dimensional animations. Data glove interaction improves flexibility, usability, and re-usability of 3-D environment applications because * It can be easily encapsulated to a variety of applications. * Can be used for both two dimensional and three dimensional even though the gesture methods are likely to be moderately different for both areas * It imposes easy navigation, navigation * Makes the techniques easily available for variety of users like adults, occasional users, professionals, naive users and children. Application areas of the Data Gloves are: * Virtual reality applications * Planning systems * Computer supported teaching (teaching), and self learning. * Music applications. * CAD architecture and design. * Test and simulation systems. * Scientific modelling As Midi is a hardware specification and standardised control language that makes it possible for electronic instruments processor controllers, and other device types to communicate control and performance related data in real world. It helps the beginning aspiring artists, musicians, composers or who are working professional because the Midi workstation can also act as a portable all in one keyboard instrument that includes a polyphonic synthesiser, built-in sequencers, integrated keyboard, percussion sounds, and audio recording capabilities in a single hardware package. Midi has become an indispensible live performance tool for many musicians because of its ability to serialise background parts and rhythm in advance, chain them together into a single, controllable sequence and play them on stage. Midi also provides the ability to control over inter active loops or pre programmed sequence over video play backs and on-stage visuals. Midi adds a varied and fresh feel to the musical per formance for those who are on the stage and in the audience. Apart from the control over on-stage music performance, pre produced sequencing and lighting; Midi can play a strong role in the execution and production of on-stage lightning special effects. Midi enables drum machines, samplers, sequencers, electronic drums, synthesisers, digital reverbs and delays, home computers and guitars and all sorts of other music and music related gears to be inter-connected so that we can control and play several pieces of equipment from central device. Midi also provides a common timing source for synchronising drum machines and sequencers. Apart from the benefits, Data Glove has some perceived problems in its usage. The movements of the Data glove are limited as it is connected to the receptor through wire and sometimes it exhibits delays in catching up the movements. Fingers can exhibit sporadic movements and can have bad effects if they fit the fingers badly. These are the common problems we are going to face with its usage in any other area or real time applications. Chapter 3 LITERATURE REVIEW SCOPE AND LIMITATION LIMITATIONS: Problems faced by Data Glove are reliability, both from physical and calibration point of view. Gloves become highly frustrating and non intuitive to use if they badly fit the fingers. Fingers can exhibit sporadic movement or even take on physical impossible shapes. The movements of the controller are limited because they are dependent upon the receptor which is picking up the location of the sensors. When the sensors cannot be detected by the receptor, then the movements of the Data Glove will not be registered. And as the Data Glove is connected to the receptor through the cable, it limits the users amount of movement and range. Sometimes Data Glove virtual controllers found slight delay in the movement time depending on the computer speed as well. Absence of left hand model and a tired arm after prolonged use of Data Glove are few more limitations of the Data Glove. SCOPE: The scope of this project is to work only on the functionality of the Data Gloves in the system control and Midi management by overwhelming the drawbacks; however we are not bothered about how the Data Glove is going to be used in other real world applications. And we dont have participants in this project to test because finally we just dealt with the expansion of Data Gloves applicability in controlling the Midi files. However the project quality is maintained by testing the results repeatedly in the virtual environment by me before the supervisor. So this is all about movements of Data Glove movements in terms of Midi. STRUCTURE OF REVIEW In this project we controlled the computer operations using the Glove movements and hand gestures. When we move the Data Glove in front of the receptor tower which has got two infrared sensors in its range, it receives the hand gestures. These 2 infrared sensors are going to detect the visible LEDS on the Glove (they are eight altogether) and convert them into an (x, y, z) position for the Glove and an orientation in terms of Pitch, Yaw and Roll. The Glove uses a 6 bit A/D converter with a resolution of 64 intermediate positions between a fisted and a flat hand. The Glove is plugged in to the tower first, which is then connected to the pcs USB port. The Glove also has bend sensors in its fingers and four buttons on the top. The p5 is an amazing piece of hardware below shows the diagram of the Data Glove. Pitch is nothing but the rotation about the x-axis; Yaw acts around the y-axis; and Roll acts around the z-axis. A positive pitch rotates the hand upward; a positive yaw turns it to the right; and a positive roll turns the top of the hand to face right. The fingers bend data depends on the Glove calibration settings. (P5 is calibrated via its windows control panel, which comes as part of its installation software). An interactive Glove is made from a light weight material into which transducers are sewn to measure finger joint angles. These transducers can be fibre optics or strain gauges which changes their physical characteristics when they stretched. Gloves are mainly designed to use in the virtual environments. It monitors the assimilation of the fingers and an extra tracker on the wrist keeps track of the position and orientation of the hand. However together they enable a complete virtual hand to be animated within a virtual environment. There are four buttons on the top face o f the Glove, which are labelled as A, B, C, and D. When D button is pressed the Glove automatically switches off. A wired Glove is Glove-like input device for the virtual reality environments. Power Glove was first developed by Mattel Intellivision Company for entertainment applications. It is a most common hand measurement device which is based upon infrared remote tracking technologies and proprietary band sensors which are used to interact with 3D and virtual environments such as educational softwares, video games, websites and many more. Its a kind of USB peripheral device that captures the finger movements using optical system-infrared signals rather than sound waves. And various sensor technologies are used to capture physical movements like bending angles of the joints of the thumb and the lower and middle knuckles of the other fingers, also extended to measure abduction angles between the fingers. These movements are translated by the respective software which accompanies the Gloves because even one movement can mean any number of things. These Gloves can also be used as an output device by providing hap tic feedback, which is a simulation of the sense of touch. Motion trackers like magnetic tracking device or inertial tracking device is often attached to capture the global position or rotation data of the Glove. This Glove offers six degrees of tracking such as x, y, z, yaw, pitch, and roll. This is designed in such a way that it is compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system and Apple Macintosh operating system. The Data Glove was developed as a gesture recognition tool. This Data Glove is based upon fibre optic technology. Many types of Gloves like Digital Data Entry Glove, MIT LED Gloves, Super Gloves, Fifth dimension Technologies 5th Gloves, Sensor Gloves are also developed till now for the purposes of real time computer graphics, animations and gesture recognition, Design research, and robot control applications. We have got few IEEE papers from the internet where in they worked on the Data Glove in various fields. However we have considered only few papers that closely related to my project. In the paper titled Techniques for selecting and manipulating objects in the virtual environment by Yingzhen Liu and Gang Wan they tried to prove interaction with the virtual objects in virtual environment using Data gloves, is more natural, realistic and efficient than using a mouse to increase the users immersion. They tried to work on the human computer interaction by measuring the finger motions, finger flexure and abduction between the fingers to recognize the gestures from the raw data collected by the computer correctly. They first tracked all the data from the Glove, then constructed a frame by converting the data into gestures using glove sensors and compared it with the users real hand gestures. As the virtual gestures kept changing with the users they had set particular boundaries for the disp lay. Using these strategies they managed the selection and modification of the virtual objects in the virtual environment by the virtual hand i.e. human Data Gloves realistic. However further studies are going on this research based on various properties. The second paper which was accessed on 27th November from the website http://homepages.inf.edu.ac.uk was Motion Editing With Data Glove which was worked by Wai-Chun Lam, Feng Zou, Taku Komura. In this paper they proposed a new method to edit captured human motion data by using the Data Glove. This method is used not only for editing human motion, but also for controlling human figures in real time environments such as games and virtual reality systems. They generate a mapping function that converts the motion of the hand to that of the whole body by wearing the Data Glove and a new motion out of the existing motion captured data in database, and to apply the motion to characters with different hierarchical and retargeting methods and body sizes. In this paper they introduced a new dynamic editing method which is called data gloves to overcome the gap of the nature of editing methods and that of human motion. In this project they wear the Data Glove and display, mimic the human moti ons on the graphical display to generate the motion synchronous to the human gait appearing on the screen by moving the index finger and the middle finger. They followed two stages i.e. capturing stage and reproduction stage to work on this concept. Finally by capturing the human motions and reproducing them in a creative way they have succeeded in proposing a new method in editing human motions using the Data gloves. The third paper we have considered is Data glove Calibration with Constructed Grasping Gesture Database by Bin Wang and Shuling Dai. The main aim of this paper is to improve the precision of the human hand Data Gloves motion measurements and to construct a human hand model suit for general purpose instrumented Glove applications. This paper contributed to achieve grasping gesture database construction without the need of any external sensors, a reliable and discreet calibration routine that can handle cross coupling errors of the sensors. They presented a model based gesture construction technique for establishing calibration database and a calibration routine for the instrumental Glove that precisely and quickly adjusts the Glove to fit a particular user. After a few experiments using kinematics they finally succeeded in proposing a complete Data Glove calibration method, identifying the Data Glove impressions precisely without any help of external sensors, and also handling the cro ss coupling errors using calibration routine . REVIEW In this project we worked with the dynamic input device like Data Gloves to construct an interactive 3D virtual design with the use of software. Because standard input devices do not mostly resemble natural hand motions. This involves recognition of hand gestures and their implementation. In this way we created virtual environments according to the music in a dynamic, lively and sprightly way so that these creations can be used by the musicians, DJs and many more to make the audience feel and appear like in a real environment and succeeded in controlling Midi files in the virtual environment. Transmitting software is used here to track the motions of different parts of the body and changes the virtual environment accordingly. SUMMARY Finally we would like to summarise what we have done in this project is, we have used Data Gloves as an input device for the computer using various attributes in various ways and controlled the Midi files output in the virtual environment by taking the Midi files as an input through Midi devices which acts as a bridge between the Glove Pie software and Midi files CONSTRAINTS The equipment required to research in this project is Data gloves which is provided by the university and few softwares that are available online for free and as we have not practiced it before any one there is no need of participants in this project as we have not practiced the results before anyone. Chapter 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES DATA GATHERING TECHNIQUES Not clear To research and produce the results we followed a particular protocol, a methodology which helped us to achieve expected error free results on time. Analysis on this project helped us to achieve the target easily because in the phase of analysis we have designed what to do, how to do and started implementing them one by one by experimenting the data gloves and running various Glove pie programs by modifying their attributes. And then we started testing Midi files using data gloves in the SynthEdit software which is nothing but a freeware windows application that uses a modular Visual Programming Language to create music synthesizers and effects units. It Provides a GUI(Graphical User Interface) editing system with full of Midi interface for hardware controllers and allows users to create Visual Studio Technology(VST) effects and Visual Studio Technology instruments. All the audio and Midi plug ins for SynthEdit software are coded in C and C++ languages using SynthEdit Music Plug In Standard application programming interface i.e. based upon Generalized Music Plug In Interface. In order to test how we control Midi files using data gloves we have to install the Midi driver first, which acts as a connecting drive between data gloves and Midi software. We have installed Midi Yoke as the Midi driver. It is a Midis patch cable driver which is used to connect any applications output to any other applications input. After that we installed P5 Midi software which is used to transfer the P5 glove movements from essential reality into midi controller. It takes the hand movements coming from P5 glove sensors and converts them to Midi messages. This is used to control all the Midi programs and the Midi synthesizer using a single hand movement. It can be used either with Midi synthesizer or with Midi device and it allows selecting the Midi port to which the messages are sent by connecting the synthesizer directly to the Midi port. Midi is really a wired protocol specificatio n that describes the transmission of data from one Midi enabled device to another. Midi defines a set of messages that travel over dedicated, synchronous serial channels. There are two sorts of messages, Midi short messages and system messages. The short messages are made up of one to three Midi words where each Midi word consists of a start bit, data bits and a stop bit. They contain information such as note beginning and end, volume, and other sorts of music gesture information. The system messages can be broken down into system exclusive messages, which can be any length and are used to configure and manage Midi equipment, and active sensing messages. Active sensing messages are transmitted at a definite frequent interval to indicate that a controller is still alive and active. The Midi short messages include Midi channel information. Finally we require visual jockey software which is a three dimensional animation software, where we finally implement the procedure in real time. U sing this we finally play the Midi keyboard notes using the data gloves which is quite exciting. We follow a particular protocol to connect the data gloves, Midi software and the Midi drive to generate the anticipated outcome. All the software we require for this research can be found on the internet for free. METHODS CHOOSEN To bring out the expected outcome on time there is a need to follow a particular protocol which is nothing but a set of rules and regulations. Because disruptions in the project may lead to unexpected typical sequences which is going to affect time and final result. So the methodology used in this project is, first we collected all the data required to process further and then started working on the softwares downloaded one by one. Glove pie programs are easy to run and implement. We worked on various glove pie programs to know how the movement changes with various parameters changing, using the data gloves. A few Glove pie programs, variation in the output by changing the existing programs are presented below. // Grabbing the bow string: //var.GrabbingBowString = pressed(var.CanGrabBowString and p5.z > -700) var.TryingToGrabBow = pressed(var.CanGrabBowStr0ing) var.GrabbingBow = False if ((not var.HoldingBowString) and (var.ValidBowGrip) and var.TryingToGrabBow and (p5.z > -700)) then var.GrabbingBow = true var.HoldingBowString = true Debug = Grabbing Bow String end if // Pulling back the bow string var.DrawingBow = var.HoldingBowString and p5.zVelocity < -800 if var.DrawingBow then debug = Drawing Bow end if var.UndrawingBow = var.HoldingBowString and p5.zVelocity > 800 var.BowDrawnBack = var.HoldingBowString and p5.z

Close Reading of the Two Holes Passage of Toni Morrisons Sula :: Sula Essays

A Close Reading of the Two Holes Passage of Sula   Ã‚  Ã‚   Toni Morrison’s novel Sula is rich with paradox and contradiction from the name of a community on top of a hill called "Bottom" to a family full of discord named "Peace." There are no clear distinctions in the novel, and this is most apparent in the meaning of the relationship between the two main characters, Sula and Nel. Although they are characterized differently, they also have many similarities. Literary critics have interpreted the girls in several different ways: as lesbians (Smith 8), as the two halves of a single person (Coleman 145), and as representations of the dichotomy between good and evil (Bergenholtz 4 of 9). The ambiguity of these two characters allows for infinite speculation, but regardless of how the reader interprets the relationship their bond is undeniable. The most striking example of their connection occurs right before the accidental death of Chicken Little. In the passage preceding his death, Nel and Sula conduct an almost ceremonial co mmitment to one another that is sealed permanently when "the water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank" (Morrison 61): Together they worked until the two holes were one and the same. When the depression was the size of a small dishpan, Nel’s twig broke. With a gesture of disgust she threw the pieces into the hole they had made. Sula threw hers in too. Nel saw a bottle cap and tossed it in as well. Each then looked around for more debris to throw into the hole: paper, bits of glass, butts of cigarettes, until all the small defiling things they could find were collected there. Carefully they replaced the soil and covered the entire grave with uprooted grass. Neither one had spoken a word. (Morrison 58-59) The image of the girls working together to dig holes in the dirt begins with each girl digging her own hole, but symbolically the two separate holes become one, representing the merging of Sula and Nel into a deep and meaningful relationship. The imagery of a "hole" is used to describe the "whole" of Sula and Nel, indicating the completeness of the two when they are together. When the girls concurrently throw their twigs into the hole it is as if they are throwing themselves into each other’s consciousness, making a permanent connection with one another. Each twig represents their independent selves being joined with the other when they are thrown together into the hole to be buried.