Compare and contrasts of ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke and ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ Wilfred Owen Essay

Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke both share the similar themes within their poems, which are war and death. Although there is unconformity within their views due to their backgrounds and experiences. Brooke was very idealistic, which makes sense when he never actually got to fight in the war as he died shortly before where as Owen went through the genuine experience. Two poems that highlight these two contrasts are ‘The Solider’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum est’. In ‘The Solider’, Rupert Brooke illustrates how a soldier is reflecting on the possible death going away to war may bring. Although from his opinion his death if so was to happen shouldn’t be mourned and his death will be a tribute to his England. When compared to Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ the views are far from similar. Brooke states dying for your country is honourable where as Owen interprets dying for your country is not all glory and honour and more pain and suffering. Both poets desire different forms to present their poems. ‘The Solider’ is a sonnet which suits Brookes type of poems as he romantises the theme of war ‘The Solider’ is very much as well a love poem to his idealized England. Where as Owen opts for the more simple 8. 8. 11, Owen doesn’t seem to have a solid form as Brookes does. They both share the rhyming pattern of ABABCDCD which allow their poems to flow and create rhythm. The structure ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ can be broken down into three parts, an outsiders description and recollection of events featuring soldiers withdrawing from the frontline, a man within the battle himself, and a addressing to the reader of confrontation to those who share the idealistic view of war. Owens poem creates a build up towards his main point in which he finishes off with ‘The Old lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria mori’. From Owens experiences ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ acts as a warning and a hit of realism to those who are at home. ‘The Solider’ is a much more relaxed peaceful sonnet. Brookes use of natural imagery creates a more calm aspect of war. ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ features intense imagery as the key of Owens poem is to get across a point of the horrendousness of war. Within ‘The Solider’ Brooke recalls the memoirs of a fallen solider whom declares his patiotism to England by declaring that his death shall be the eternal ownership of England, of a small portion of land he has died upon, Brooke doesn’t have a main structure to his poem as his point is connoted though out the whole of the sonnet. This sonnet canbe split into two stanzas, the first stanza refers to the physical part of the solider and the second a more psychological point of view. Within the physical part the words used refer to things that can physically be touch ‘bore’ ‘shaped’ ‘made’ in the second is more things you cant touch ‘mind ‘thoughts ’ ‘sounds’ ‘dreams’. Both poets use different types of language to get across their ideas. ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ uses harsh and meaningful language. His uses of metaphors creates deeper impact and imagery ‘blood shod’. Owens opening stanza has caracterism of the language about ‘fatigue’, they ‘limped on’, ‘marched asleep’ this connotes pitiful language which intends to reveal the reality of war. Alliteration is used to reflect the agonising of the gas victim ‘And watch the white eyes writhing in his face’. Owen features a shift of register which grabs the readers attention ‘Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!’ this change of register adds more realism and switches the point of view to a soliders. Rupert Brooke uses personification to the word ‘England’, ‘gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given’. Brooke uses pure language within his sonnet such as ‘gentleness’ ‘heaven’ love’ ‘blest’.

Osim swot analysis Essay

Introduction to the segment of holistic lifestyle products and their need in today’s market Short intro to brand osim and its heritage A short study on what has been osim’s market standing in asia (this will help ease the swot analysis in the essay) Introducing what the essay will be about – will & How osim can survive in the market Starting with strength Asia’s no.1 preferred healthy lifestyle brand Since it already has top of the mind recall and customer trust (and loyalty) behind it, it can position itself in America just as it positions itself in the Asian markets. It can position itself as an Asian holistic brand in the American markets. Given its already numero uno status in asia – osim can increase its sales by changing up its method of advertising (tvc, print and more outdoor) and creating more brand awareness. Weakness & opportunity Luxury brand – expensive turn around and introduce a need to make it seem as a medically beneficial product needed by one and all It’s main weakness is that it is priced as a luxury product which ensures that biggest consumer base of middle class looks at it as a luxury rather than a necessity. To take care of this, osim can price itself competitively and concentrate on its product placements (example, residential areas – lobby’s) it can also try the free product use for a limited period, so people can first hand see the benefits of the product. Given its business model (u.s) osim can also innovate its products to suit the needs of the American consumer. Threats Cheap products which make use of the same technology that osim uses Less priced local products Any competitor who will sell the same array of products at a lower price. Long shelf life of its products (no one will buy a massage chair everyday) threatens the business model itself. Introduce the big question, whether or not you think osim will survive? Answer : yes, it will. Why? Because it places innovation and global market domination as one of its mission statements. A breakaway from the traditional advertising will suit its needs. Expansion of the brand will help with its evolution. OSIM – EXPANSION IS THE KEY TO SURVIVAL Technology ushered in the 21st century and with it came countless innovations and products aimed at our well being. With long working hours and even longer waking hours, the health of the average individual has been on a constant decline. This has resulted in a huge market opportunity for many health-based brands, world over, as people today want the comforts of the gym in their homes. And given the lack of products or brands that cover this field extensively has resulted in certain brands having a monopoly over this segment. But as we know, monopoly is no guarantee for a long shelf life in a constantly changing consumer market, so what do these leading brands do in order to survive and extend their brand life is highly imperative. A brand facing these very questions is OSIM – Asia’s leading health and lifestyle product brand. With monopoly over the health-based product markets in China, Osim rapidly captured markets all over major nations in Asia and established itself as a leading brand in the segment of holistic healthcare. Founded in the year 1980 by Ron Sim, it grew rapidly from its humble beginnings as an electric and household appliances company to a hugely successful health and lifestyle brand as we know it today. The brand underwent a lot of changes initially when founder Ron Sim having discovered the enormous untapped potential of health and lifestyle products in the Asian market, decided to abandon the original electrical and household appliance route of Osim and dove headlong into the health and lifestyle market in Asia. Consumers were very accepting of Osim’s product offerings and the stock of Osim rose very rapidly in this initial period. But as every coin has two sides to it, Osim’s business model is in itself a threat to its survival! With health and lifestyle based products having a long shelf life, people are unwilling to buy Osim’s product offerings repeatedly. An apt example of the same would be the signature massage chairs that they are renowned for, while this product is their no. 1 seller, it also has the longest shelf life, making the time period between a repurchase really long. Other similar weaknesses that threaten the brand’s very survival are market saturation. As other local products flood the market using Osim’s innovative technology, consumers are bound to be swayed by the promise of cheap price and good technology. While these problems are unavoidable and run parallel to the brand’s very nature there is a bigger problem that threatens Osim – limited market reach. As mentioned before, Osim leads brand markets all over Asia, especially in China. Enjoying a top of the mind recall value as being â€Å"Asia’s no.1 health and lifestyle brand†, Osim has all but saturated its own expansion opportunities within the Asian Continent. This fact coupled with the long shelf life of its products and a high price bracket make international expansion the only long term and viable solution for Osim to ensure its survival in the long run. Ironically, Osim recognized this very problem and they had also made a move to correct the very problem in 2005 when they acquired American national level specialty retailer Brookstone such brand is OSIM, asia’s leading health and lifestyle brand. Founded in the year 1980 by Ron Sim, it grew rapidly from its humble beginnings as an electric and household appliances company to a hugely successful health and lifestyle brand as we know it today. The brand underwent a lot of changes initially with Founder Ron Sim having discovered the enormous untapped potential of health and lifestyle products in the Asian market saw a huge reversal in Osim’s sales and revenues as people started buying Osim’s unique health based products. Based on this performance and the market’s reaction to his brand, Ron Osim officially launched brand OSIM in the year 1993. Riding high on its initial success, brand Osim opened up 60 new point of sale product distribution outlets within Asia. Further reaching out it opened up stores across Malaysia and Indonesia too. This aggressive expansion strategy combined with its business model saw brand OSIM garner the top spot in the Asian markets within a short period of time.

Employment law 3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Employment law 3 - Assignment Example In this case, Woolsey signed an employment agreement which contained Employee Confidentiality, Non-Disclosure and Non-Circumvention Agreement. In this regard, Woolsey committed himself to not disclose third parties information about MediLink such as trade secrets. Woolsey also committed himself not to work for a competitor of MediLink for a period of three years after termination of Woolsey's employment. Woolsey can be argued to have breached Non-Disclosure and Non-Circumvention Agreement by coping hundreds of MediLink documents on his laptop, which he carried to-and-from his office. These agreements protect the ideas of the business deal. In addition, the employer spends effort and money training employees, and this should remain privacy especially on the way the company does business. Question B As the HR VP of MediLink, I would advice MediLink to treat the nurses as its employees. This is important because as company employees, the nurses will enjoy all benefits accrued to company employees. This translates to better provision of services to MediLink customers. Some of the benefits of having the nurses as MediLink employees are directly or indirectly connected to incentives employees get from the company. Some programs such healthcare programs, reward systems, and employment law that protect employees from unfair treatment by the employer would motivate the nurses to continue working for the MediLink and offer quality services to MediLink customers. Conversely, an employer has the right of control. The employer can dictate the means and the manner in which the employee performs the job. In addition, since MediLink customers’ supplies with uniform and equipments and some fees, it means that the customers entrusts all this to MediLink. Therefore, it would be vital for MediLink to treat nurses as its employees. Shaw v. Zedco Employment law prohibits sexual harassment in a workplace and is considered â€Å"to be a form of sexual discrimination, and it is stipulated under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act† (M, Paludi, and C, Paludi 6). Carpenter, Newman, and Whatley were alleged to have sexually harassed plaintiff and subjected to a hostile work environment. However, in order to determine the case, it is vital to point out some deliberations and facts concerning the law and the case at hand. Under Title VII, apart from the employers being required to prevent sexual harassment, they are also supposed to take reasonable care to promptly correct sexual harassment that has occurred (M, Paludi, and C, Paludi 6). In this case, the plaintiff reported the matter to Persons about alleged case of sexual harassment committed by her colleagues. Persons fired Carpenter and held disciplinary conferences with Newman and Whatley. In this regard, it is correct to argue that took the appropriate measures against the accused persons. In addition, Persons wrote to Plaintiff, urging her to reconsider leaving her job and informing her that ZED CO had hired a new manager for the Stockton facility and assured her of fair treatment. This means that the employer took reasonable care. In fact, for the employer to be legally responsible for sexual harassment, he must be aware that the harassment occurred and that he failed to take reasonable care. On a different dimension, it is crucial for employees experiencing sexual harassment in workplace, categorically and clearly say no to it. For example, if the behavior of his or her workmate offends

LPI Analysis Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

LPI Analysis - Research Paper Example On the other hand – which was a surprise to me! Observers rated me higher than I had rated myself in the following categories: â€Å"Paints big picture of group aspirations†; â€Å"Recognizes people for commitment to shared values†; â€Å"Describes a compelling image of the future†; â€Å"Asks for feedback on how his actions affect people’s performance.† (â€Å"LPI: Leaderships Behaviors Ranking†, p.3) â€Å"Develops cooperative relationships (9.0)†; â€Å"Follows through on promises and commitments† (8.5); â€Å"Sets a personal example of what is expected† (8.5); â€Å"Treats people with dignity and respect† (8.3); â€Å"Makes certain that people adhere to agreed on standards† (8.3); and â€Å"Gives people choice about how to do their work† (8.0). These, then, are, presumably, my strengths (all of them falling in the categories of â€Å"Enable others to Act† and â€Å"Model the Way†). (â€Å"LPI: Leaderships Behaviors Ranking†, p.3) â€Å"Experiments and takes risks† (6.8); â€Å"Searches outside organization for innovative ways to improve† (6.8); â€Å"Talks about future trends influencing our work† (6.5); â€Å"Asks for feedback on how his actions affect people’s performance† (6.5); â€Å"Seeks challenging opportunities to test skills† (6.3). These, then, are my weaknesses, which I need to focus on to improve. The pattern, here, is that most of these behaviors seem to be in the â€Å"Challenge the Process† category, with one in â€Å"Inspire a shared Vision†, and the other in â€Å"Model the Way†. Nevertheless, the â€Å"Challenge the Process† category seems to be that which I most need to focus on (â€Å"LPI: Leaderships Behaviors Ranking†, p.3). On the whole, the Observers perceived my leadership ability as being more average than I perceived it to be myself. The categories, â€Å"Encourage the Heart†, and â€Å"Challenge the Process† toggled the line between Moderate and Low; the latter according to both Co-worker and Others, the former

Myths to the Renaissance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Myths to the Renaissance - Essay Example The system was meant to check on excessiveness of a ruler. During this period, the empire was under Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus (son to Marcus Aurelius) and his adoptive brother and son in-law Lucius Verus1. He was a stoic philosopher2 who established himself as the more powerful of the two emperors. During his reign, the Roman Empire was full of all sorts of nefarious deeds. Led by the emperor himself, sexual sin was not a secret. In the film, we encounter concubines being depraved in his presence. He was a womanizer and a homosexual at the same time. The film gives us an understanding of the political system in ancient Rome. This was a political system structured a way that to reflect some sort of modern day democracy. It did not support tyranny. This was the main objective of the joint leadership by two consuls during the time of the ‘Republic’.3 The empire had other notable political entities apart from the monarchy. There was the senate made u p of senators, Plebian Tribunate and Comitia Centuriata. The entities, together with the two consuls constituted the form of political systems, which the Romans referred to as the ‘republic’. In the film, it is evident that the Roman Empire was ruled by militant monarchial leaders. ... He had an arena where he displayed his hunting skills. In this arena, euphemism is brought into play. The killing of ostrich by the emperor was meant to pass a message to the senators that the same could befall them if they disobeyed him. People who displayed reformist minds were assassinated by the regime5. The film depicts the Roman Empire as one full of people with greed for power. There area many instances where characters assassinate rulers to take power. It is claimed that the main character Commodus murdered his father to take power. Barely three months into his rule, there were plans to execute him too. After his death in the arena, the senate met and declared Pertinax the emperor. Some characters in the army could not warm to the idea of being led by a son to a former slave and ended up assassinating him. Tattooing was an in thing in the mercenary dominated Roman army. The deserters could easily be identified through the tattoos, hence are means of checking against deserters . The tattoos such as the one worn by Maximus in the film Gladiator were a reserve for the lowly regarded in society. In the army, they were meant for mercenaries, lowly ranked and miners during the reign of Emperor Constantine. The film portrays the tattoos as an epitome of paganism, superstition and marginalization in the Roman Empire. It was not just an ordinary practice but a law that was applied ruthlessly6. The film portrays a society that idolizes violent sports as a form of fun. Whenever the empire was peaceful, gladiators provided an alternative to war heroes for people to idolize. The gladiators were the heartthrob of many Romans girls. During the era in which the movie is based, the gladiators were a thorn

Minimum Wage in WA Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Minimum Wage in WA - Coursework Example The Supreme Court in the U.S. ruled out various attempts brought forth by labor unions in the view of establishing a minimum wage that would be mandatory for all employers. The court insisted that such a move would restrict the right of the worker to create a price value for his or her own labor. As a result, the workers continued to face exploitation from their employees throughout the 1930s when the Great Depression was at its peak. The employee wages dropped lower during the same period in response to the increased demand for jobs (Rayback, 2008). Due to the increase in national poverty, President Roosevelt vowed to offer protection to the workers through the constitution during his 1936 campaigns (Rayback, 2008). The president kept his promise when he went into office by assenting to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and signing it into law in 1938. The minimum wage had been instituted by the congress in 1938 as a component of the Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) with the minimum wage set at 25 cents for every hour. The last change in the national minimum wage occurred in 2007, where it was increased in steps by the congress from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour in 2009. However, different states, including Washington, have established their own local systems of minimum wage, which is higher than the rate established by the federal government. Case in point, Washington offers the highest rate of the minimum wage at $9.47 per hour. The table below shows the changes in the Washington State minimum wage since 1961 (Washington Sate Dep artment of Labor and Industries, 2015). In terms of inflation based buying power, there have been considerable variations in the minimum wage for the last over sixty years. In 2013, it averaged at $6.60 per hour in terms of purchasing power in dollars (Sherk, 2013). Nevertheless, it had ranged between $3.09 per hour as exhibited in

Response Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response - Case Study Example The same applies to meaning of literal in which an oversimplified meaning as well as one that considers conditions exist. For the oversimplified meaning, literal implies direct, factual, or reasoned meaning while non-literal implies that which is metaphorical, exaggerated, or inferred. Understanding literal from the non-oversimplified approach however identifies four different meanings whose application cause confusion. The meanings can be conventional, based on subject matter, based on metaphor implications, or based on truthfulness. An assumption however exist that the four meanings converge but this is the source of the problem. Only one of the meanings, for example, third meaning, associates with metaphor and use of literal in this relation should either be specified or avoided. The problem in using the word literal is common, even among professionals, but distinguishing the conditional definitions can help (Lakoff 291- 296). The article is significant to understanding of the creation story, based on Genesis 1. According to the article, the story can be understood from the oversimplified perspective of absolute truth or from conditional perspectives that could depend on a person’s condition such as religious affiliation or scientific knowledge. Alignment of the oversimplified understanding of meaning with one of the available conditional meanings also relates to the Genesis story that is consistent with some religions such as Christianity. This means that according to Lakoff’s perspective, unless a person subscribes to such faiths that hold Genesis’ creation belief, the belief should be either qualified or disregarded. The article also offers a base for resolving conflicts between people who hold different meanings on a subject matter because it crates awareness of sources of differences. This facilitates development of

MTV'S real life show does not present the true life of Saudi Arabia Essay

MTV'S real life show does not present the true life of Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The documentary as a whole does not portray the true picture of Saudi Arabia. Fatima represented herself as a woman who cannot have a job at all. She is shown to be working towards the launch of a new business of colored Abayas. An Abaya is a cloth that Saudi women wear on top of their clothes when they come out to work, schools, hospitals etc. Although she is not against the Abaya itself, she wishes to produce some in a variety of colors other than black. Fatima also highlighted some of the inhibitions of the culture saying that women are prevented from riding bicycles in the streets, despite the fact that a lot of places cater to bicyclists of both genders just like here in the United States. As will be seen, some of her contentions do not hold true. Firstly, colored Abaya has been in existence for a long time, and women have been wearing it for the length of its existence. Saudi women wear black for chastity similar to nuns in the United States. Nuns wear black clothes with white lines akin to Saudi women who make their Abayas black in color while matching it with others. Fatima seemed disinterested in finding the key to her problems. Her resolve was more towards simply being heard instead of actively seeking a solution. When she visited the American producer, she laid down false facts in front of them, facts that would shock them. Her aim was to make a commercial for her business for people who watch American TV. Her knowledge of the black Abaya is self-evident, she understands it to be part of her culture, but promotes it instead as a religious restriction, knowing full well that opposition to her colorful Abaya, as with anything out of the norm, would be expected. If she genuinely believed it to be a problem of the society t hat needed addressing, she would have spoken in the language of the people of her society, so that everyone receives the message and can communicate their assent or

In What Ways Can Film Be Seen as a Specific Art Form Essay

In What Ways Can Film Be Seen as a Specific Art Form - Essay Example The world is transformed first through the eyes of the director since he is the one visualizing, creating and re-creating a world for the public. Art centers on two ideas: beauty and life. Likewise, cinematic art focuses on aesthetics (the depiction of a portrait to appeal to the senses) and incorporates life images and themes. Through cinema, the author of the film production has the liberty to be unconventional and he can still adhere to the real by embracing a realist approach. improvisation, individual interpretation, reality, illusion, and entertainment of the senses. According to (Gazetas, 2008, 18), â€Å"the  art  of the  cinema  is the  art  of the mind insofar as movies are capable of transforming reality into an object of imagination that completely isolates the viewer from the real world.† Cinema has the ability to transform real objects into imaginative ones and to manipulate lighting, space, and color to explore different themes in-depth. Artists are bestowed with enviable liberties which renders them and their work very flexible. In other words, although the artist aims to give a true-to-life translation of an art piece (an episode in a character’s life), he is free to twist, distort and imagine facts in the real to simulate his own world and orchestrate the course of events. Chris Columbus, through J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, represents a transformed world which evokes a wonderland of childhood bliss and even  utopia. Set in a child’s paradise Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one sees through the lens of fantasy, an idealized childhood, illusion, and nostalgia. The possibilities are unlimited, unrestricted from the boundaries of reality. On this stage, the artist makes modifications to the real. Fantasy is the art of infusing the supernatural within the mundane. Columbus as film director fully exploits the power of fantasy in the film, recreating a world in w hich the wizards and witches have constant encounters with the spiritual world. As a result, one sees the intermingling of both imagination and reality in film and in the real world. They do not inhabit separate spheres anymore.

The economic analysis of the U.S. Endangered Species Act Term Paper

The economic analysis of the U.S. Endangered Species Act - Term Paper Example An overview of the objectives and structure of the Endangered Species Act provides a very detailed and broad protection for many of the colorful species that inhabit this Earth. Wildlife and plants when listed as endangered fall under the net of this protection outlining procedures that federal agencies should follow and adhere to if there is the slightest chance the species are jeopardized. Not only does the Endangered Species Act of 1973, written by a team of lawyers and scientist and written into law by President Nixon, protects endangered species it also provides security for their "ecosystems upon which they depend" as well. The Endangered Species Act enables legislation for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, commonly known as CITES. Criminal and civil penalties provide for the violations of the Act and the Convention.

Before The Great Depression Essay Example for Free

Before The Great Depression Essay After the First World War, the United States entered into a period of relative prosperity. Actual GDP of the country exceeded potential GDP by about 15%. Almost all industries experienced high growth rates, as demand for every major product almost doubled in a span of 10 years. Financial institutions too enjoyed some measure of growth during this period. The available credit both to businesses and private individuals rose by 40% in a span of 6 years. Real wages increased by about 5% in two years. Agricultural products were exported to many countries at a relatively high price (especially in Europe). In general, the economy of the United States was all but in a state of growth. Much of the prosperity gained from this time period was due to the policies of the Republican government, specifically to the secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover. With his direction, some of the implemented policies were as follows: 1) Creation of powerful ties between the government and businesses. It was the intention of the Republican administration to improve its relationship with businesses as a means of maintaining economic stability; 2) Formalizing trade relationships with other countries such as the USSR. With the guidance of Hoover, formalization of trade relationship would eliminate wastage in export production and increase efficiency in the import sector of the US economy; 3) Subsidization of infant industries. Some of the infant industries in the country were heavily subsidized for almost 10 years. Afterwhich, these industries were expected to adapt to competition in the foreign market; 4) And, increased funding for social welfare. During the administrations of Harding and Hoover, funding for social welfare and health infrastructure were increased. This measure though was a means to increase Republican support in the 1928 elections (in which the Democrats won). The First World War had a lasting impact on the foreign policy of the United States. When the British prime minister and the French premier asked President Wilson to allow the United States as a major member of the League of Nations, the latter reluctantly agreed. In truth, many of the Americans at that time were not very eager to intervene in the affairs of other nations, as it might involve the United States into another major war. Here was the birth of isolationism. From the Wilson administration to that of Roosevelt before the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, the country remained indifferent with the affairs of Europe. The idea of isolationism was simple. If a country were to avoid a major war, then it must not intervene in the state of affairs of other countries (except when it was attacked). This was not the whole story. Many Americans felt that it was more rational to direct the energies of the country towards economic development rather than impinge on the sovereignty of other countries. The prosperity which the United States enjoyed for almost a decade was temporary. Early in 1927, there were signs that the economy was on its dead end. Production increased at a decreasing rate. Financial institutions invested much of their capital to risky assets. Industries which were heavily subsidized showed no improvements. Unemployment rate increased by about 5%. The United States began to experience the difficulties of having a trade deficit. Foreign borrowers of the United States failed to pay their loans. There was also a significant decline in consumption and a significant increase in savings. All these factors led to the Crash of 1929 which allowed Roosevelt to be elected as president of the country. Here, the period of the Great Depression began. Reference Morison, Samuel Eliot. 1964. The Oxford History of the American People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Case Study: Hearing And Visual Impairments

Case Study: Hearing And Visual Impairments This document discusses the most prevalent sensory impairments: hearing and visual impairments. The impact caused on academic and individual development are addressed as well as the significant role which educators of these special categories of people can play in the education sector in order to make learning possible. Visual impairment This refers to occurrences of partial or complete vision loss. Milder forms of visual impairment are treatable with glasses or even contact lenses while others require surgery or some medication. Severe cases of visual impairments are irreversible. Types and causes of visual impairment Four categories of visual impairment exist. Partially sighted refer to individuals with some level of difficulty in identifying information and as such special assistance in learning and reading is required. Low vision is a more serious visual impairment which does not permeate reading at normal distances. Supportive tools like the popular use of Braille assist people diagnosed of low vision to read. Legally blind is a vision which is less than 20/200 or characterized by limited range of vision. Totally blind refers to a person with no vision at all thus such individuals cannot process any images. They utilize non-visual resources like Braille in order to learn. Several factors cause blindness in individuals. Congenital blindness occurs at birth due to heredity or infection. Cataracts which are cloudy collections of protein in the eye lens cause light not to pass through the lens leading to the condition. Amblyopia is a condition of the eye which results into blindness due to the bra ins discontinued processing of images present in the misaligned eye. The degeneration of macular situated at the retina of the eye especially in older people results into visual impairment or even loss of vision (Webster Roe, 1998). Hearing impairment The disability Act defines hearing impairment as the limited ability to effectively detect process or differentiate sound. Types and causes Conductive hearing loss is exhibited when sounds are unable to go through the inner ear from the outer ear. This is as a result of blockage of the ear canal caused by build-up of earwax or fluid. Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by the percived damage to the hair cells located at the cochlea or auditory nerve. The damage would occur due to aging or perhaps injuries. Mixed hearing loss is present when the above two hearing loss types are present. Impact of visual and hearing impairments on a persons development Sensory Development A child born with hearing and visual impairment is negatively affected especially in regard to sensory development. This is because other senses appear to diminish. For instance, the child gets inconsistent, unverified as well as discrete fragments of information. Although hearing is usually the only sense available to the blind child, control over the available sound present in their environment is not present. Vision is vital in verifying sounds otherwise lack of verification means that the sound is noise emanating from a non-specified location (Webster Roe, 1998). Motor development A person who is sensory impaired possesses significant developmental delays in the ability to implement the functionality of hands. Even at 5months, a blind childs hands are normally held up in a fist at shoulder height. Mutual fingering as well as midline engagement with the hands common with sighted children of this particular age are not exhibited. Ultimately, delays in hand utilization results in delayed development of fine and gross motor skills. Achieving appropriate posture for the blind child takes considerable a longer duration of time. Developmental achievements requiring self initiated mobility like elevating arms in prone or walking alone are significantly delayed. Passive behavior like self-stimulation is exhibited in blind children due to the inability to move around the environment. Cognitive development The ability to coordinate elements in high levels of abstraction is limited. Thus a different construct of world and reality is developed contrary to that given by sighted persons. A blind person has problems in establishing the concept of defining attributes as well as relationships due to the limited guidance available (Webster Roe, 1998). Though the blind child is continually involved in problem solving, the activity is certainly difficult and less rewarding for her/him. The ability to obtain object permanence is achieved on sound clues only. Blind children achieve this almost a year later than the sighted children. Sensory impaired persons have difficulties in forming and maintaining casual relationships due to the inability to retain pleasurable stimuli. Social development Due to inexistent subtle clues and facial expressions, the social interactions of visually and hearing impaired persons are complicated. While a sighted child will signal attachment and recognition to familiar people through a smile, a blind child will smile upon recognition of his mothers voice after about 2 months. Sensory impaired persons have ambivalent emotional involvement with peers. They also appear non-communicative and disinterested on the on-goings thus they are overprotected or rejected by their peers, relatives as well as strangers. Language development is also limited in sensory impaired children (Webster Roe, 1998). Impact of visual impairments on a persons academic achievement Vision loss impacts negatively a persons academic achievement since special adaptations are required to steer the student to success. Vision is important in understanding the underlying concepts being taught in a classroom situation thus most visually impaired students often complete schooling without good mastery of skills and knowledge which is vital in enabling them further their education or gain employment (Sacks, 2001). Visually impaired students are taught using critical skills like Braille and travel skills like canes. Shortage of mobility specialists as well as qualified visually impaired teachers restricts dissemination of education. Visually impaired persons require the use of large print formats as well as audiotapes to learn. Making presentations from these materials slows down the learning process considerably. Impact of hearing impairments on a persons academic achievement Hearing impairments affect learning and teaching of the hearing impaired students thereby causing substantial difficulties in academic achievement. The deaf learners experience massive linguistic problems owing to the inability to develop spoken language and understandable utterances (Sacks, 2001). Many difficulties are exhibited in written work whereby glaring mistakes are seen in written work. For example wrong sentence structures, omissions of words as well as wrong tense and verb usage is prevalent. Due to the complexity of lip reading, most deaf learners find it difficult to undertake this task. Attributable to lack of hearing as well as auditory memory, hearing impaired learners are unable to adequately rehearse what they are able to write thus learning requires lengthy period. The syntax as well as the grammar of BSL is different from that of spoken English thus confusion arises in the course of disseminating the information. Deaf students take considerable long time to be abl e to read. The developed vocabulary is minimal thus understanding the message being communicated becomes difficult. Unfamiliar words cannot be lip read thus continued advancement of vocabulary becomes difficult. Deaf learners thus require to research on technical jargon as well as the perceived simple and commonplace language in order to effectively communicate. Thus a lot of time is spent in doing simple assignments as compared to the hearing students. Unlike the case of hearing learners who gather information from reading newspapers, discussions with peers or listening and watching television, the deaf students have to rely of their instructors to learn. Thus their written work largely lacks in-depth analysis and is marked by uninformed opinions (Sacks, 2001). Group work and discussions prove problematic to hearing impaired students due to their inability to contribute equally as the other students. What Educators can do In order for the hearing and visually impaired students to adequately fit in the learning situation, teachers and trainers need carefully structure the learning modalities, learning environment as well as putting in place necessary resources (Chen Downing, 2006). Classroom activities need be accessible to the hearing impaired students through incorporating tutorial groups as well as incorporating computer based learning. For the hearing impaired, course notes need be provided in advance so as to acquaint the learners beforehand what is expected of them. Through the use of visual aids like PowerPoint presentations will largely help in proper understanding of the spoken language. For the visually impaired, educators must ensure that all the visual materials given to the students are accompanied by verbal descriptions. Narrations need be emphasized at all learning stages in order to enhance understanding. Learners with some functional vision should be given handouts printed out in large print so as not to have learners strain as they read. Audiotapes as well as Braille formats of the class presentations and lessons should be given to students (Chen Downing, 2006). Conclusion Owing to the several challenges confronting sensory impaired persons, several adjustments need be put in place to ensure such learners adapt adequately to the learning environment. Hearing and visual impairments are quite prevalent and cause severe consequences during the development of language, speech as well as cognitive skills. Through proper education, effects associated with hearing and visual impairments are identified thereby advancing early detection and management strategies.

Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey

Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey A.ELomari, A.MAIZATE*, L.Hassouni# RITM-ESTC / CED-ENSEM, University Hassan II Abstract- As data volumes to be processed in all domains; scientific, professional, social à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc., are increasing at a high speed, their management and storage raises more and more challenges. The emergence of highly scalable infrastructures has contributed to the evolution of storage management technologies. However, numerous problems have emerged such as consistency and availability of data, scalability of environments or yet the competitive access to data. The objective of this paper is to review, discuss and compare the main characteristics of some major technological orientations existing on the market, such as Google File System (GFS) and IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) or yet on the open source systems such as Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Blobseer and Andrew File System (AFS), in order to understand the needs and constraints that led to these orientations. For each case, we will discuss a set of major problems of big data storage management, and how they were addressed in order to provide the best storage services. Introduction Todays, the amount of data generated during a single day may exceed the amount of information contained in all printed materials all over the world. This quantity far exceeds what scientists have imagined there are just a few decades. Internet Data Center (IDC) estimated that between 2005 and 2020, the digital universe will be multiplied by a factor of 300, so it will pass from 130 Exabyte to 40,000 Exabyte, the equivalent of   more than 5,200 gigabytes for each person in 2020   [[i]]. The traditional systems such as centralized network-based storage systems (client-server) or the traditional distributed systems such as NFS, are no longer able to respond to new requirements in terms of volume of data, high performance, and evolution capacities. And besides their cost, a variety of technical constraints are raised, such as data replication, continuity of services etc.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In this paper, we try to discuss a set of technologies used in the market and that we think the most relevant and representative of the state of the art in the field of distributed storage systems. What is Distributed File systems (DFS) A distributed file system (DFS) is a system that allows multiple users to access, through the network, a file structure residing on one or more remote machines (File Servers) using a similar semantics to that used to access the local file system. This is a client / server architecture where data is distributed across multiple storage spaces usually called nodes. These nodes consist of a single or a small number of physical storage disks residing usually in basic equipment, configured to only provide storage services. As such, the material can be relatively low cost. As the material used is generally inexpensive and by large quantities, failures become unavoidable. Nevertheless, these systems are designed to be tolerant to failure by having recourse to data replication which makes the loss of one node an event of minimal emergency because data is always recoverable, often automatically, without any performance degradation. A. Andrew File System(AFS) architecture AFS (or OpenAFS currently) is a standard distributed file system originally developed by Carnegie Mellon University. It is supported and developed as a product by Transarc Corporation (now IBM Pittsburgh Labs). It offers a client-server architecture for federated file sharing and distribution of replicated read-only content [[ii]]. AFS offers many improvements over traditional systems. In particular, it provides the independence of the storage from location, guarantees system scalability and transparent migration capabilities.As shown in Figure 1, the distribution of processes in AFS can be summarized as follows: A process called Vice is the backbone of information sharing in the system; it consists of a set of dedicated file servers and a complex LAN. A process called Venus runs on each client workstation; it mediates access to shared files [[iii]]. Figure 1 : AFS Design . AFS logic assumes the following hypothesis [[iv]]: Shared files are rarely updated and local user files will remain valid for long periods. An allocation of a large enough local disk cache, for example 100 MB, can keep all users files. Using the client cache may actually be a good compromise to system performance, but it will only be effective if the assumptions adopted by AFS designers are respected, otherwise this can make a huge issue for data integrity. B. Google File System (GFS) architecture Another interesting approach is that proposed by GFS, which is not using special cache at all. GFS is a distributed file system developed by Google for its own applications. Google GFS system (GFS cluster) consists of a single master and multiple Chunkservers (nodes) and is accessed by multiple clients, as shown in Figure 2 [[v]].Each of these nodes is typically a Linux machine running a server process at a user level. Figure 2 : GFS Design The files to be stored are divided into pieces of fixed size called chunks. The Chunkservers store chunks on local disks as Linux files. The master maintains all metadata of the file system. The GFS client code uses an application programming interface (API) to interact with the master regarding transactions related to metadata, but all communications relating to the data themselves goes directly to Chunkservers. Unlike AFS, neither the client nor the Chunkserver use a dedicated cache. Customers caches, according to Google, offer little benefit because most applications use large which are too big to be cached. On the other hand, using a single master can drive to a bottleneck situation. Google has tried to reduce the impact of this weak point by replicating the master on multiple copies called shadows which can be accessed in read-only even if the master is down. C. Blobseer architecture Blobseer is a project of KerData team, INRIA Rennes, Brittany, France[[vi]]. The Blobseer system consists of distributed processes (Figure 3), which communicate through remote procedure calls (RPC). A physical node can run one or more processes and can play several roles at the same time. Figure 3 : Blobseer Design Unlike Google GFS, Blobseer do not centralize access to metadata on a single machine, so that the risk of bottleneck situation of this type of node is eliminated. Also, this feature allows load balancing the workload across multiple nodes in parallel. D. Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is a component of Apach Hadoop project [[vii]]. HDFS is highly fault-tolerant and is designed to be deployed on low-cost hardware. As shown in figure 4, HDFS stores file system metadata and application data separately. As in other distributed file systems, HDFS stores metadata on a dedicated server, called the NameNode. Application data are stored on other servers called DataNodes [[viii]]. Figure 4: HDFS Design There is one NameNode per cluster and it makes all decisions regarding replication of blocks [[ix]]. Data Storage as blob The architecture of a distributed storage system must take into consideration how files are stored on disks. One smart way to make this possible is to organize these data as objects of considerable size. Such objects, called Binary Large Objects (BLOBs), consist of long sequences of bytes representing unstructured data and can provide the basis for a transparent data sharing of large-scale. A BLOB can usually reach sizes of 1 Tera Byte (TB). Using BLOBs offers two main advantages: The Scalability: Maintaining a small set of huge BLOBs including billions of small items is much easier than directly managing billions of small ones. The simple mapping between the application data and file names can be a big problem compared to the case where the data are stored in the same BLOB and that only their offsets must be maintained. The Transparency: A data management system based on shared BLOBs, uniquely identifiable through ids, relieves application developers of the burden of explicit management and transfer of their locations on the codes. The system thus offers an intermediate layer that masks the complexity of access to data wherever it is stored physically [[x]]. Data striping Data striping is a well-known technique for increasing the data access performances. Each BLOB or file is divided into small pieces that are distributed across multiple machines on the storage system. Thus, requests for access to data may be distributed over multiple machines in parallel way, allowing achieving high performances.Two factors must be considered in order to maximize the benefits of this technique: Configurable strategy of distribution of chunks: Distribution strategy specifies where to store the chunks to achieve a predefined goal. For example, load balancing is one of the goals that such strategy can allow. Dynamic configuration of the size of the chunks: If the chunks size is too small, applications would have to retrieve the data to be processed from several chunks. On the other hand, the use of too large chunks will complicate simultaneous access to data because of the increasing probability that two applications require access to two different data but both stored on the same chunk. A lot of systems that use this type of architecture, such as GFS and Blobseer use a 64 MB sized chunks, which seems to be the most optimized size for those two criteria. concurrency Processing concurrency is very dependent on the nature of the desired data processing and of the nature of data changes. For example, Haystack system that manages Facebook pictures which never changes [[xi]], will be different from Google GFS or IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) which are managing a more dynamic data. The lock method is used by many DFS to manage concurrency and IBM GPFS has developed a more effective mechanism that allows locking a byte range instead of whole files/blocks (Byte Range Locking) [[xii]]. GFS meanwhile, offers a relaxed consistency model that supports Google highly distributed applications, but still relatively simple to implement. Blobseer developed a more sophisticated technique, which theoretically gives better results. The snapshot approach using versioning that Blobseer brings is an effective way to meet the main objectives of maximizing competitive access [[xiii]]. The disadvantage of such a mechanism based on snapshots, is that it can easily explode the required physical storage space. However, although each write or append generates a new version of the blob snapshot, only the differential updates from previous versions are physically stored. DFS Benchmark As we have detailed in this article, generally there is no better or worse methods for technical or technological choices to be adopted to make the best of a DFS, but rather compromises that have to be managed to meet very specific objectives. In Table 2, we compare five distributed file systems: GFS, GPFS, HDFS, AFS and Blobseer. Choosing to compare only those specific systems despite the fact that the market includes dozens of technologies is led particularly by two points: 1. It is technically difficult to study all systems in the market in order to know their technical specifications, especially as several of them are proprietary and closed systems. Even more, the techniques are similar in several cases and are comparable to those of the five we compared. 2. Those five systems allow making a clear idea about the DFS state of the art thanks to the following particularities: GFS is a system used internally by Google, which manage huge quantities of data because of its activities. GPFS is a system developed and commercialized by IBM, a global leader in the field of Big Data HDFS is a subproject of HADOOP, a very popular Big Data system Blobseer is an open source initiative, particularly driven by research as it is maintained by INRIA Rennes. AFS is a system that can be considered as a bridge between conventional systems such as NFS and advanced distributed storage systems. In Table 2, we compare the implementation of some key technologies in those five systems. Analysis of the results of Table 2 leads to the following conclusions: The five systems are expandable in data storage. Thus, they cover one of the principal issues that lead to the emergence of Distribute File System. Only Blobseer and GPFS offer the extensibility of metadata management to overcome the bottleneck problem of the master machine, which manage the access to metadata. Except AFS, all studied systems are natively tolerant to crash, relying essentially on multiple replications of data. To minimize the lag caused by locking the whole file, GPFS manage locks on specific areas of the file (Byte range locks). But the most innovative method is the use of versioning and snapshots by Blobseer to allow simultaneous changes without exclusivity. Except AFS, all systems are using the striping of data. As discussed earlier; this technique provides a higher input / output performance by striping blocks of data from individual files over multiple machines. Blobseer seems to be the only one among the systems studied that implements the storage on blobs technique, despite the apparent advantages of such technique. To allow a better scalability, a DFS system must support as much operating systems as possible. But while AFS, HDFS and GPFS à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ supports multiple platforms, GFS and Blobseer run exclusively on Linux, this can be explained partly by the commercial background of AFS, HDFS and GPFS. Using a dedicated cache is also a point of disagreement between systems. GFS and Blobseer consider that the cache has no real benefits, but rather causes many consistency issues. AFS and GPFS uses dedicated cache à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹on both client computers and servers. HDFS seems to use dedicated cache only at client level. Conclusion In this paper, we reviewed some specifications of distributed file storage systems. It is clear from this analysis that the major common concern of such systems is scalability. A DFS should be extendable with the minimum cost and effort. In addition, data availability and fault tolerance remains among the major concerns of DFS. Many systems tend to use non expensive hardware for storage. Such condition will expose those systems to frequent or usual breakdowns. To these mechanisms, data striping and lock mechanisms are added to manage and optimize concurrent access to the data. Also, Working on multiples operating systems can bring big advantages to any of those DFS. None of these systems can be considered as the best DFS in the market, but rather each of them is excellent in the scope that it was designed for. Table 2 Comparative table of most important characteristics of distributed file storage GFS by Google GPFS IBM HDFS Blobseer AFS (OPEN FS) Data Scalability YES YES YES YES YES Meta Data Scalability NO YES NO YES NO Fault tolerance Fast Recovery.Chunk Replication.Master Replication. Clustering features.   Synchronous and asynchronous data replication. Block Replication.Secondary NameNode. Chunk ReplicationMeta data replication NO Data access Concurrency Optimized for concurrent   appends Distributed byte range locking Files have strictly one writer at any time YES Byte-range file locking Meta Data access Concurrency Master shadows on read only Centralizedmanagement NO YES NO Snapshots YES YES YES YES NO Versioning YES unknown NO YES NO Data Striping 64 MB Chunks YES YES (Data blocks of 64 MB) 64 MB Chunks NO Storage as Blobs NO NO NO YES NO Supported OS LINUX AIX, Red Hat, SUSE , Debian Linux distributions, Windows Server 2008 Linux and Windows supported , BSD, Mac OS/X, Open Solaris known to work LINUX AIX, Mac OS X, Darwin, HP-UX, Irix, Solaris, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD OpenBSD Dedicated cache NO YES by AFM technology YES (Client) NO YES []  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   John Gantz and David Reinsel. THE DIGITAL UNIVERSE IN 2020: Big Data, Bigger Digital Shadows, and Biggest Growth in the Far East. Tech. rep. Internet Data Center(IDC), 2012. [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   OpenAfs : www.openafs.org/ [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Monali Mavani : Comparative Analysis of Andrew Files System and Hadoop Distributed File System, 2013. [4]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Stefan Leue : Distributed Systems Fall, 2001 [5]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Sanjay Ghemawat, Howard Gobioff, and Shun-Tak Leung Google* : The Google File System. [6]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Blobseer: blobseer.gforge.inria.fr/ [7]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Hadoop: hadoop.apache.org/ [8]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Konstantin Shvachko, Hairong Kuang, Sanjay Radia, Robert Chansler Yahoo!: The Hadoop Distributed File System, 2010. [9]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Dhruba Borthakur : HDFS Architecture Guide, 2008. [0]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Bogdan Nicolae, Gabriel Antoniu, Luc Boug_e, Diana Moise, Alexandra, Carpen-Amarie : BlobSeer: Next Generation Data Management for Large Scale Infrastructures, 2010. [1]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Doug Beaver, Sanjeev Kumar, Harry C. Li, Jason Sobel, Peter Vajgel, Facebook Inc: Finding a needle in Haystack: Facebooks photo storage, [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Scott Fadden,   An Introduction to GPFS Version 3.5, Technologies that enable the management of big data, 2012. [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Bogdan Nicolae,Diana Moise, Gabriel Antoniu,Luc Boug ´e, Matthieu Dorier : BlobSeer: Bringing High Throughput under Heavy Concurrency to Hadoop Map-Reduce Applications, 2010.

Recycling Essay -- Recycle Garbage Rubbish Papers

Recycling During the early 1970s, as communities across the United States saw their landfills filling up, attention turned to alternative methods of garbage disposal, such as incineration and recycling. While incineration proved to be a thorny issue due to its toxic ash byproduct, recycling was embraced by Americans as an effective way to offset rising garbage production rates. Today, demand for recycled products is beginning to match supply, and the percentage of waste going into landfills and incinerators is decreasing steadily. In 1970, when Americans produced 121 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), three-quarters went directly into landfills, one-fifth was incinerated, and less than one-sixteenth was recycled. Now, with nearly double the MSW (more than 210 million tons per year), recycling accounts for almost one-quarter and incineration for a little over one-sixth. Indeed, widespread application of recycling throughout American communities has proven to be one of the great environmental success stories of the last quarter century. Accordingly, the trend toward fewer landfills continues. In 1988, for example, 8,000 landfills were scattered across the US; today little more than 3,000 remain. Meanwhile, nearly fifty percent of all Americans now have access to curbside recycling programs, while others, mostly in rural areas, can drop recyclables off at one of the nation's 2,600 transfer stations for recovery and diversion. And an increasing number of commercial and industrial operations are finding that recycling as much of their waste as possible saves hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on waste hauling and l... ...ls. At this time, a plastic recycling only minimally reduces the amount of virgin resources used to make plastics. Recycling papers, glass and metal, materials that are easily recycled more than once, saves far more energy and resources than are saved with plastics recycling. Consider this example: polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bottles are hard to tell apart from PET bottles, but one stray PVC bottle in a melt of 10,000 PET bottles can ruin the entire batch. It's understandable why purchasers of recycled plastics want to make sure that the plastic is sorted properly. Equipment to sort plastics is being developed, but currently most recyclers are still sorting plastics by hand. That's expensive and time consuming. Plastics also are bulky and cumbersome to collect. In short, they take up a lot of space in recycling trucks.

The Character of the Hitchhiker in The Hitchhiker by Roald Dahl Essay

'The Hitchhiker' by Roald Dahl is a short story that involves an interesting character. The writer makes this character very realistic. When I read this story I found the character had many good points but also many bad points. 'The Hitchhiker' by Roald Dahl is about the writer who has a brand new car. The writer heads to London in his new car. On the way, he picks up a hitchhiker. The hitchhiker is going to the horse racing. When their driving on the road, the hitchhiker encourages the writer to go faster and faster. They are then stopped by the police. The Policeman gives the writer a speeding ticket. The Policeman writes their names in his book. The hitchhiker then steals the books, so there?s no evidence for the speeding. The hitchhiker in this story, is a very unique and easily imagined character. This unique character has many characteristics. As the writer picks up the hitchhiker in the story, Dahl describes him very well. When I read this I thought negative thoughts about him. He had an unpleasant appearance. ? He was a small ratty-faced man with grey teeth? That line gave me a clear picture of him. The reason why he gave me negative thoughts is because rats are sneaky, annoying, evil rodents, so I compared that to him. After that Dahl had more unpleasant remarks about the hitchhiker, ?his eyes were dark and quick and clever, like a rat?s eyes, and his ears were slightly pointed at the top?, This gave me a better idea of what he looked like. ? A greyish - coloured jacket with enormous pockets?, when I read that line I thought immediately that he was a pickpocket, ?enormous pockets?. Dahl did write something positive about his appearance. In contrast to his awful appearance, the writer notices som ething pleasant ... ...lversmith. Reading through the evidence of him being skilful, I?m not sure sure if I should trust him or not. The hitchhiker may be skilful at what he does, but he?s still a criminal at the end of the day. Knowing the hitchhiker has an unpleasant appearance, strong opinions, clever knowledge, being perceptive and very skilful. I?m not sure if I should admire the hitchhiker or not. There are some good points about the character. He steals from the rich not from the poor. He also stole the policeman?s books. On the other hand, he takes the writer?s stuff firstly and he takes money from other people. At a push I think he?s a good character because everything he does he still helps the writer out at the end. Reading through the story again. I find Dahl is a great creative writer. He makes you understand the character really well. The Character of the Hitchhiker in The Hitchhiker by Roald Dahl Essay 'The Hitchhiker' by Roald Dahl is a short story that involves an interesting character. The writer makes this character very realistic. When I read this story I found the character had many good points but also many bad points. 'The Hitchhiker' by Roald Dahl is about the writer who has a brand new car. The writer heads to London in his new car. On the way, he picks up a hitchhiker. The hitchhiker is going to the horse racing. When their driving on the road, the hitchhiker encourages the writer to go faster and faster. They are then stopped by the police. The Policeman gives the writer a speeding ticket. The Policeman writes their names in his book. The hitchhiker then steals the books, so there?s no evidence for the speeding. The hitchhiker in this story, is a very unique and easily imagined character. This unique character has many characteristics. As the writer picks up the hitchhiker in the story, Dahl describes him very well. When I read this I thought negative thoughts about him. He had an unpleasant appearance. ? He was a small ratty-faced man with grey teeth? That line gave me a clear picture of him. The reason why he gave me negative thoughts is because rats are sneaky, annoying, evil rodents, so I compared that to him. After that Dahl had more unpleasant remarks about the hitchhiker, ?his eyes were dark and quick and clever, like a rat?s eyes, and his ears were slightly pointed at the top?, This gave me a better idea of what he looked like. ? A greyish - coloured jacket with enormous pockets?, when I read that line I thought immediately that he was a pickpocket, ?enormous pockets?. Dahl did write something positive about his appearance. In contrast to his awful appearance, the writer notices som ething pleasant ... ...lversmith. Reading through the evidence of him being skilful, I?m not sure sure if I should trust him or not. The hitchhiker may be skilful at what he does, but he?s still a criminal at the end of the day. Knowing the hitchhiker has an unpleasant appearance, strong opinions, clever knowledge, being perceptive and very skilful. I?m not sure if I should admire the hitchhiker or not. There are some good points about the character. He steals from the rich not from the poor. He also stole the policeman?s books. On the other hand, he takes the writer?s stuff firstly and he takes money from other people. At a push I think he?s a good character because everything he does he still helps the writer out at the end. Reading through the story again. I find Dahl is a great creative writer. He makes you understand the character really well.

Naive Macbeth :: Free Essay Writer

Naive Macbeth  Ã‚   Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth survive bloodied, but heroes.   They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades.   However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go.   Macbeth cannot let go.   Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement.   Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice.   What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder.   The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected.   Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature.   Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan.   However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him.   Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid.   Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters. The first person who influences Macbeth into his sin is not really a person at all.   The weird sisters, as is their art, wreak havoc with Macbeth’s mind and life.   From the moment they are introduced, their every word affects Macbeth’s actions.   They are the characters that put the idea of becoming king in Macbeth’s head to begin with: â€Å"All hail, Macbeth!   Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!   / All hail, Macbeth!   Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!   / All hail, Macbeth!   Hail to thee, that shalt be King hereafter!   (1.3.48-50).†Ã‚   By addressing Macbeth first as he is, then with a title that he is but does not yet know of, and finally with a title he must take action to attain, they encourage him to take the actions necessary.   Their words are a promise to him that he will succeed if he murders Duncan.   Of course, the weird sisters are not responsible only for the first blood that covers Macbeth’s hands.   It is the s isters’ prediction that puts Macbeth on the course to kill Macduff: â€Å"Macbeth!   Macbeth!   Macbeth!   Beware Macduff!   Beware the Thane of Fife.

Quick Thinking Saves the Day

It was a long day at work and I just could not wait to reach home. I had to walk a short distance to where my friends’ worked first because we decided that we would carpool for the week. Before we even approached the highway we could see the rush hour traffic from a distance, so we decided to take the Old Road to beat the traffic. This road has not been used very often by motorists as there were reports of car thefts, robberies and many other suspicious activities. But I just wanted to reach home quickly because I was exhausted and they had no problem with my idea.Entering a road that I assumed is the Old Road, it looked very mistrustful and mysterious but I still took it. If I was wrong I would just make a U-Turn and return to the major road. I have never used the Old Road before so I was a little afraid of what we might encounter on this journey, so I told everyone to wind up their windows. While making our way up the road, we spotted rusty old car parts, some burned cars an d heaps of garbage along the roadside. Ten minutes later down the road and I was fully convinced that I had taken the wrong road, so did my friends. I made a U-Turn in a side street.On our way back up the road we cud see a man wearing a yellow and orange striped shirt running towards the car. We did not know where he came from but it looked like he appeared from some nearby bushes. He threw a brick through the windscreen and it came caving in. The entire glass chattered and covered the front seat. My friend Abigail whom was sitting in the passenger’s seat got the worst of the fragments of glass. It covered her entire legs and when I looked down there was a lot of blood. Everyone was screaming and panicking and mostly in shock as to what just took place.The man then tried to open the back left passenger door. Luckily my friend Susan, who was sitting there, managed to close it back with speed. As soon as I saw that I knew that something had to be done quickly, so I put the car back in second gear and just drove. We don’t know what his intentions were, but we made a safe getaway, I looked in my rear-view mirror and cud just see him disappearing within the distance. I felt really lucky to be alive because he could have raped us girls or worse yet killed us and even could have taken the car and no-one would have known.We made it out of the â€Å"Old Road† and went to the Police Station to file a report. My friend in the front seat was telling me that she was glad that I was driving because it was my quick thinking that got us out of that situation alive. While in the Police Station my friends praised me for not stopping the vehicle even though they could have seen the shock in my face. I kept good composure and lead my friends away from the danger. I told them that I had to thank my mother for teaching me so well because she always said, â€Å"Never to stop for anything on the side of the road,† which turned out to be advice that saved o ur lives. (582 words) Quick Thinking Saves the Day It was a long day at work and I just could not wait to reach home. I had to walk a short distance to where my friends’ worked first because we decided that we would carpool for the week. Before we even approached the highway we could see the rush hour traffic from a distance, so we decided to take the Old Road to beat the traffic. This road has not been used very often by motorists as there were reports of car thefts, robberies and many other suspicious activities. But I just wanted to reach home quickly because I was exhausted and they had no problem with my idea.Entering a road that I assumed is the Old Road, it looked very mistrustful and mysterious but I still took it. If I was wrong I would just make a U-Turn and return to the major road. I have never used the Old Road before so I was a little afraid of what we might encounter on this journey, so I told everyone to wind up their windows. While making our way up the road, we spotted rusty old car parts, some burned cars an d heaps of garbage along the roadside. Ten minutes later down the road and I was fully convinced that I had taken the wrong road, so did my friends. I made a U-Turn in a side street.On our way back up the road we cud see a man wearing a yellow and orange striped shirt running towards the car. We did not know where he came from but it looked like he appeared from some nearby bushes. He threw a brick through the windscreen and it came caving in. The entire glass chattered and covered the front seat. My friend Abigail whom was sitting in the passenger’s seat got the worst of the fragments of glass. It covered her entire legs and when I looked down there was a lot of blood. Everyone was screaming and panicking and mostly in shock as to what just took place.The man then tried to open the back left passenger door. Luckily my friend Susan, who was sitting there, managed to close it back with speed. As soon as I saw that I knew that something had to be done quickly, so I put the car back in second gear and just drove. We don’t know what his intentions were, but we made a safe getaway, I looked in my rear-view mirror and cud just see him disappearing within the distance. I felt really lucky to be alive because he could have raped us girls or worse yet killed us and even could have taken the car and no-one would have known.We made it out of the â€Å"Old Road† and went to the Police Station to file a report. My friend in the front seat was telling me that she was glad that I was driving because it was my quick thinking that got us out of that situation alive. While in the Police Station my friends praised me for not stopping the vehicle even though they could have seen the shock in my face. I kept good composure and lead my friends away from the danger. I told them that I had to thank my mother for teaching me so well because she always said, â€Å"Never to stop for anything on the side of the road,† which turned out to be advice that saved o ur lives. (582 words)

A Research Proposal on the International Branding

Elite branded products try to catch the attention of the public by attempting to sell a dream, which is done by attempting to discern the most common inner desires of the targeted consumer market; once this is done, the brand tries to enlist the services of a highly admired or a highly controversial individual to add effect to the aura or concept being portrayed by the brand.Hiring a celebrity is a venture that a known fashion brand has every capability of doing. Celebrity endorsement of luxury fashion is understood to be of great importance nowadays since when a celebrity is linked to a specific brand, the concept being created projects to have the approval of an icon, hence creating an image that it is classy; and any consumer who will buy that product will end up being closely similar to that particular icon or role model.The endorsement of luxury brands by icons is undoubtedly a trump card which could be used, if the said asset is efficiently utilized the resulting outcome almost always results to long term benefits like brand loyalty and brand equity. This phenomenon would in the long run produce a higher profitability and an increased brand value (Ukonkwo, 2007).However, it should be remembered that whoever the celebrity endorser the verdict of the consumer concerning their decision to buy or not to buy merchandise would all rest on the quality of the merchandise being sold.If the merchandise does not have anything that would sustain the initial impression created by the celebrity endorsement, like when the merchandise has poor quality or lacks the concept of genuineness then what would happen is that the clientele would no longer patronize the product. In order for a fashion brand to stay on top it has to be more than a symbol of greatness, it also has to be great if it is to withstand the stiff competition in the market.Statement of the ProblemFor the purpose of this research, the study aims to answer this question:What are the international branding st rategies of elite branded products in the United Kingdom?Definition of the Research QuestionElite designer brands are distinguished by their unique innovations which are almost always the first of its kind, their expertise, and their exclusive position in the market.   Elite fashion brands such as Giorgio Armani, Gucci, and the likes have a significant market share due to their clever marketing that allows them to present their merchandise in an attractive â€Å"must have† commodity.To maintain the continuity of   their   operations, famous clothing brands tend to attend to the concept of â€Å"customer focus† instead of concentrating on the idea of a timeless, spaceless and emotionally-charged ideas that fix meanings to intangible personal attributes like freedom, love, or family although these ideas have in their own right a universal functionality; known Fashion brands have the capability to somehow ensure the stability of current fashion trends by exerting co ntrol over consumer valuations.Research ObjectivesFor the purpose of this study, the research aims to:To provide a theoretical foundation of international branding. To provide a theoretical foundation of international branding strategies of elite branded products. To identify the international branding strategies of Giorgio Armani and Gucci. To provide recommendations in order to improve the international branding strategies of Giorgio Armani and Gucci. A Research Proposal on the International Branding Elite branded products try to catch the attention of the public by attempting to sell a dream, which is done by attempting to discern the most common inner desires of the targeted consumer market; once this is done, the brand tries to enlist the services of a highly admired or a highly controversial individual to add effect to the aura or concept being portrayed by the brand.Hiring a celebrity is a venture that a known fashion brand has every capability of doing. Celebrity endorsement of luxury fashion is understood to be of great importance nowadays since when a celebrity is linked to a specific brand, the concept being created projects to have the approval of an icon, hence creating an image that it is classy; and any consumer who will buy that product will end up being closely similar to that particular icon or role model.The endorsement of luxury brands by icons is undoubtedly a trump card which could be used, if the said asset is efficiently utilized the resulting outcome almost always results to long term benefits like brand loyalty and brand equity. This phenomenon would in the long run produce a higher profitability and an increased brand value (Ukonkwo, 2007).However, it should be remembered that whoever the celebrity endorser the verdict of the consumer concerning their decision to buy or not to buy merchandise would all rest on the quality of the merchandise being sold.If the merchandise does not have anything that would sustain the initial impression created by the celebrity endorsement, like when the merchandise has poor quality or lacks the concept of genuineness then what would happen is that the clientele would no longer patronize the product.In order for a fashion brand to stay on top it has to be more than a symbol of greatness, it also has to be great if it is to withstand the stiff competition in the market.Statement of the ProblemFor the purpose of this research, the study aims to answer this question:What are the international branding str ategies of elite branded products in the United Kingdom?Definition of the Research QuestionElite designer brands are distinguished by their unique innovations which are almost always the first of its kind, their expertise, and their exclusive position in the market.   Elite fashion brands such as Giorgio Armani, Gucci, and the likes have a significant market share due to their clever marketing that allows them to present their merchandise in an attractive â€Å"must have† commodity.To maintain the continuity of   their   operations, famous clothing brands tend to attend to the concept of â€Å"customer focus† instead of concentrating on the idea of a timeless, spaceless and emotionally-charged ideas that fix meanings to intangible personal attributes like freedom, love, or family although these ideas have in their own right a universal functionality; known Fashion brands have the capability to somehow ensure the stability of current fashion trends by exerting con trol over consumer valuations.

International Maritime Organisation

Transportation of goods over the world can be done by four modes which are railway, road, air and sea. Sea transportation is the one of the oldest transportation mode for many centuries. The number of ships and types increased rapidly in the last two centuries. For instance, the number of passenger fleets was 106 in 1972 but it is reached to 226 in 1998 (Alderton, 2004). This growth leads sea traffic busy with various types of ships carrying million tons of cargoes and passengers. As a consequence of this, unexpected accidents started to come out with fatal casualties. Some safety regulations must be taken both onshore or offshore to state the responsibilities and safety measures for the marine industry. Regarding to this, countries needed to establish an organization to promote Marine safety. IMO is the first international maritime organization and was established in 1948 (IMO, 20/10/2005). It was first entered into force in 1958 and its aim is to ensure safety, to prevent human injury or loss of life and to avoid damage to the environment (IMO, 1992). This essay will explore the IMO conventions and the effectiveness of IMO to the marine industry. IMO is concerned with the three important points: safety, prevention and control. In order to be effective in these areas, rules and regulations must be applied within the conventions. IMO has adopted various conventions but most significant are; SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea), ISM (International Safety Management), COLREG (Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea), MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), STCW (International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) and ILLC (International Convention on Load Lines). Adoptions of these conventions need to follow some procedures and long time to become valid. Six main bodies are involved within IMO to design, decide and offer the conventions and followed by a government acceptance to put into force. In addition to this, due to the rapid changes in shipping industry, conventions must be keeping updated to satisfy the conditi ons. SOLAS: the main objective of the SOLAS Convention is to specify minimum standards for the construction, equipment and operation of ships (SOLAS, 2001). It was adopted in 1974 and was entered into force in 1980. It was divided into 12 chapters, all requirements and certificates are controlled by the flag states. It is highly focused on * construction; stability, subdivision, fire protection and detection of vessels * life-saving appliances and arrangements; lifeboats and liferats * radiotelegraphy and radiotelephony * safety of navigation; radars, navigational aids, routeing of ships * safety management of ships operations which is ISM Code * Carriage of goods. ISM CODE It is known as the one of the most significant IMO invention which is a management system that controls work processes from the top level to lower, to stimulate safety organization both ashore and onboard. It is applied with quality management techniques to determine the responsibilities and principles of each action. System must provide safe working environment, to overcome against identified risks and continuous improvement of management and personal skills ashore and aboard (ISM, 2002). Figure 1.1 The safety management model (Bromby, 1995) As shown in Figure 1.1 management systems have some steps to be reviewed regularly in order to know that the system is working effectively. COLREG: It was adopted in 1972 and entered into force in 1977. COLREG determines vessels speed, risks and conducts of vessels operating in or near traffic separation schemes. The vessels which are navigating on the high seas or going to connect to the high seas must obey these rules. The other important areas of COLREG are; visibility of vessels, lights and shapes, sound and lights. STCW: It was adopted in 1977 and entered into force in 1984. Examination of the past accidents reports state that the majority of the accidents are caused by watchkeeping officers. This convention is concerned with the basic requirements on training, certification and watchkeeping. It is divided into six chapters which are; general provisions, navigational watch keeping, keeping an engineering watch, radio department, special requirements for tankers and proficiency in survival craft (IMO,20/10/2005). ILLC: It was adopted in 1966 and entered into force in 1968. Its aim is to reserve buoyancy, freeboard stability and avoid excess stress on the ship's hull (IMO, 20/10/2005). MARPOL: There was a tremendous increase in tanker production after Second World War II. These tankers were really complex to built and operate. According to this, some accidents occurred with thousands tons of oil split into water and damaged marine environment. MARPOL was established to prevent the marine pollution from oil splits, sewages, chemicals and other dangerous products. It introduces some measures, for instance; * Segregated ballast tanks are only used for ballast as cargo oil is prohibited to reduce cleaning problem, tank size limitation to limit potential oil outflow (Kristiansen, 2005). As mentioned before, all conventions aims are to reduce risks in marine industry. How the marine industry was before and how is it now? In order to find out the effectiveness of IMO conventions, comparison must be done between the past data and current data. The lost of ships are illustrated by Figure 1.2 between 1950 and 2000. Figure 1.2 Annual percentage of ships lost worldwide (Kristiansen, 2005). According to the Figure 1.2, it is clear that there is a sharp decrease in loss percentage that the ratio is reduced from 3% to 0.3% in fifty years. This is directly proportional to the growth in the number of safety regulations that have taken place between the years 1800 and 2000. Figure 1.3 will show the number of growth in safety regulations. Figure 1.3 Growth in safety regulations (Alderton, 2004) In addition to these improvements, there is a reasonable reduction of oil spill to the environment. According to the IMO, total oil spill in 2004 was 15000 tons comparison to the year 1975 was 2.13 million tons. On the other hand, Table 1.1 shows the annual casualties of world merchant fleet between the years 1993 and 2002. Table 1.1 (Alderton, 2004) Year 1993-1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 Total Casualties 107 85 73 99 97 Comparison to the 1950's, by the help of improvements, marine industry becomes safer but needs continuous improvement. Everybody who involves in this industry must always seek for zero defects. As shown in Table 1.1, although IMO has made great effort and reduced the rate of accidents in marine industry, casualties and pollution can still happen and remain constant. The reasons for these are; 1. Implementation of IMO Rules: In order to put the IMO rules into force effectively, all parties such as governments, shipping companies, flag states and port states have to make a reasonable effort. The mentioned parties have different responsibilities according to their positions while adapting and controlling these rules. These parties must have continuous collaboration and communication with each other but generally they can not. Lack of collaboration leads to misunderstandings and difficulties to put these rules into practice. 2. Continuous Revision of Rules and Regulations: The rules and regulations are updated periodically to keep up with the modern conditions. Although some rules have convenient level of safety, changed several times and become more complicated. The more complexity means the more problems. 3. The Gap Between Developed and Developing Countries: Developing countries have an important place in shipping industry. They own a reasonable percentage of world merchant fleet. Comparison to the developed countries, it is difficult to adapt the rules immediately because of their government procedures and financial situations. It is not just the IMO problem; it is one of the biggest problems in our world. Instead of offering temporary solutions such as loans; investments, guidance and assistance will be more effective. 4. Human Side: To manage marine safety, there must be an excellent co-operation between the people who are on board and ashore. Continuous improvement is needed for both management level and crew. Training and certification must be compulsory under the quality procedures. As mentioned before, ISM Code and STCW are established for this purpose but in the last hundred years, owners decided to flag out and wanted to work with low cost crew to get more profits. As a result of this, accidents appeared because of untalented crew. For this particular purpose, maritime training centres are highly important for safety. 5. Application Costs of Regulations: It is not easy to implement the rules and regulations because they need powerful financial situation. In addition to this, the average age of world vessel fleet is going old. Instead of investing money to these old vessels, owners prefer doing small improvements to the existing systems. Low cost high profit concept leads danger in this industry. At this point, new buildings come out and take an important part. Owners are now investing more money on technological improvements under construction phase with the societies control for safer life. Newly designed ships includes easily operated navigation techniques such as AIS, GPS and radars, stability calculations, tank cleaning systems, fire systems and etc. . In conclusion, mentioned conventions within IMO concept reached to a reasonable success in marine industry. On the other hand, continuous improvement by taking advantage of technology, collaboration and communication of involved parties are still needed to achieve zero accident targets and clean seas.

Aristotle and Aurelius Essay

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics goes to show that he believes that the end goal of all human actions is eudaimonia, or happiness through success and fulfillment. Following this concept Aristotle goes on to explain that through virtuosity a human being can lead a happy life. He defines virtue as a disposition to make the correct decisions that lead to the chief good of happiness. A perfect example is when he describes someone who does an action well as being good, but they are only considered good because of their distinctive activity. The distinctive activity for human beings can be considered our rationale. This is where virtue comes into play in the matter, but this translation could also be deciphered as excellence. Human beings do every single thing they do for a reason and that reason is to help towards an end goal. Although it may seem like the end goal might be something good like eating lunch, it is actually a chain to the ultimate good which is being happy. Happiness in Aristotle’s view is not second-by-second or even minute-by-minute but an entire lifetime. This is because we view happiness as and end goal which we hope to achieve by death and that way you can look back on a person’s life to see if they succeeded in their goal, through virtuous moral character and virtuous intellectual character and through the act of temperance. A life-time of that act can guarantee a happy, fulfilling, and successful life. Being virtuous come through two different ways in our actions as said by Aristotle, â€Å"Excellence being of two sorts, then, the one intellectual and the other of character, the intellectual sort mostly both comes into existence and increases as a result of teaching whereas excellence of character results from habituation†¦ † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1103a15). Intellectual virtue comes from teaching, experience, and time while character virtue is formed through the habit of repeated virtuous actions and constant practice. This allows for every human being to potentially have a virtuous moral character for the fact that it cannot be learned but only practiced, and not one person can be born already virtuous. The only problem with this concept is that there is no exact guideline in which to follow in order to become virtuous and, ultimately, happy. Basically Aristotle explains that you can find virtue in the middle ground of your actions, for xample, he says â€Å"For to arrive at one of the two extremes is more erroneous, to arrive at the other less; so, since it is hard to hit upon intermediate with extreme accuracy, one should take to the oars and sail that way, as they say, grasping what is least bad of what is available†¦ † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1109a35) There is no teaching as to why, for example, courage is preferred over cowardice or rashness but that you need to practice being courageous in order to understand the reasoning for being courageous. This is true for all virtuous traits and merits of the human character and by combining the moral and intellectual teachings and habits can you start on the path of a virtuous disposition. The key to virtue is keeping within a balance between the vices. For an excessive vice there is excessive pleasure but also excessive pain and for the opposite there is no pleasure and no pain. The key is in a state of temperance in order to feel the correct amount of pleasure for a healthy lifestyle and choices. Aristotle’s views show that someone with a virtuous disposition should automatically or naturally choose the best action or behavior in any circumstances without having to rely on reason because the virtuous habit has been already learned. In response to someone arguing against an accidental choice, these views only perceive the deliberate and voluntary choices made by the person of virtue. Also a virtuous moral character will always aim for the good while unjust character will try to aim for what is their perception or the â€Å"apparent† good as said in â€Å"That wish is for the end, we have already said; but to some it seems to be for the good, whereas to others it seems to be for the apparent good. The consequence, for those who say that the object of wish is the good, is that what the person making an incorrect choice wishes for is not wished for.. † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1113a10). A virtuous person will always do the right thing and will never be surprised by their actions, nor will they do it the right thing with an ulterior motive. Though you cannot live a happy life just with a virtuous disposition because you still need to act within accordance to virtue, you absolutely cannot live a happy life without virtue. Having virtue in your actions will lead to the final goal of happiness because it far outweighs the happiness found in pleasure, awards or merits. II. Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher-king and emperor of the Roman Empire and was considered of of the most influential Stoic philosophers of all time. His greatest work Meditations is an honest portrayal of Aurelius’ thoughts as they were found in journal form, never meant to be publicized. He wrote these books for himself as a sort of guideline and thought-provoking inner voice. In his works of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius doesn’t use arguments as a way to get his point across but rather states his words as truths and seems to be very confident in his uses. It seems he is prying at the meaning of life, the why’s and how’s of it all on the idea of living. He is very blunt in his use of understating the human existence in the world and compares them to specks in the grand scheme, but the point of this is to provide a sort of carpe diem lifestyle. By letting yourself let go of the things you cannot control, you begin to gain a better understanding of the things you can control and act accordingly. â€Å"We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions. † (Meditations, 17). This quote goes to show how you cannot allow yourself to get angry at another person for what they have done, but to continue your existence and recognize what you need to do. He advises in his writings â€Å"To shrug it all off and wipe it clean-every annoyance and distraction-and reach utter stillness. † (Meditations, 54) and once you can do that you can realize what is natural. Stoicism being a very popular philosophy in ancient Rome for it called for a â€Å"cosmic determinism† in relation to â€Å"human freedom† by a parallel will to that of Nature . Aurelius,himself, was a firm believer in the Logos, which can be identified as a principle a guiding force for the universe, human beings and all matter. In fact, it is one of the most important concepts in Stoicism for the ancient Romans of the time. The stark and â€Å"manly† belief that every single citizen had a duty, whether they were a king or a peasant, were expected to follow it to the best of their abilities. The term utter stillness is used to acknowledge the state of no distractions. By achieving this you can focus solely on appropriate actions and how to follow your own road by the way of Nature on an unconscious level. Not by thinking about it but by acting naturally should you continue to help others, work for yourself, never stopping but continuing to reply to Nature’s demands. To do this all under the Logos, in order to find our common sense and avoid the annoying distractions all the while by controlling these actions through your inner unconscious/conscious self. III. The Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Roman philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius can be compared and contrasted in their similar and different ways of thoughts. First you can compare Aristotle’s ideas on eudaimonia and Aurelius’ use of utter stillness to help follow the logos, also the final step of death as the end of one’s journey towards a life of fulfillment. Contrastingly, they have different outlooks on purpose of human life and how to lead to the fulfilling of that said life. Stoicism was developed within the framework of Greek theory and philosophies from Plato and Aristotle so obviously there are bound to be many similarities. Both of these men were truly brilliant and ground-breaking in their respective ways of thought and led centuries of intellectuals to search for more fulfillment and happiness’s in their lives. Some big differences between Aristotle and Aurelius were there views on mortality or death. While Aristotle concludes that our lives are given to us and as valuable as human beings want to make them, the Stoics view on life is that is shaped by death and that the thoughts, choices and actions are just based on the knowledge of death. Eudaimonia is a subject in which Aristotle and Aurelius were familiar with in their writings about philosophical life. Aristotle thought of eudaimonia as an activity done with virtue performed rationally and consciously. Aurelius and the other Stoics insist that the way for eudaimonia is to live a morally virtuous life, in regards to the fact that virtue is good, vices are bad and most everything else is neutral. A popular argument for this where a death in the family would be involved, according to Aristotle, that would rob the most virtuous person of their eudaimonia while the Stoics would consider that neutral. Another interesting fact about Aristotle is how he acknowledges how â€Å"dumb luck† can aid or block the journey for eudaimonia, for example being born beautiful or losing close friends and family. Basically, they agree that eudaimonia is self-sufficient; the chief goal in life and that eudaimonia is the most complete end result. Virtue is very important to both philosophers and their ways of thinking and considers it absolutely crucial for eudaimonia. Aristotle and Aurelius can agree that no one is born just virtuous as it must be an act learned. Virtue is believed to be how one can control their emotions for it helps them to stay stable and in moderation. Overall, living life virtuously is living a life full of dignity. Marcus Aurelius’s view is a much more justified view because it is more modern and more adaptable. As the stoicism wants people to better themselves within reasonable goals and change values into something that will bring upon an unconscious change so that they may make better decisions consciously. Aristotle instead relies too much on a proper upbringing and calls the loss of good and friends as a prevention of eudaimonia. Stoics learn to realize what is out of their control and move on to what they can control. Aristotelian views also say that if a person dies early that it is a tragedy and that they were taken away before they reached their prime which in the Stoics eyes, a virtuous person should never be afraid of death because their life is sufficient when living a virtuous life. The difference continues when viewing the topic of emotions for Aristotelian that emotions are not good nor bad, only bad when expressed inappropriately while the Stoics think the whole point of eudaimonia is to be free from emotion. Finally the stoics don’t see a difference between the rich, poor, slaves or free men, because in their views bodily and external things can no impact on their dignity, whereas Aristotle believes that a life based on virtues along with enough material and external goods like freedom, wellbeing, and close friends lead to a life of dignity. Overall, Aurelius and the Stoics have built upon and modified Aristotle’s view to be more realistic and to try and be more optimistic in leading the best possible life no matter the circumstances.