Saturday, November 30, 2019

To what extent can the scenic code be used to analyse the Withered Arm Essay Example For Students

To what extent can the scenic code be used to analyse the Withered Arm? Essay Thomas Hardy, the author of The Withered Arm is probably one of the most effective and to the point authors of his time. Every single person, every single place and every single object in the book has a point. Whether it is an obvious point, or a more cloaked and ambiguous point. Therefore person, place and object create a very effective example of the scenic code in this particular story by Hardy. The Withered Arm starts off in a simple and stable and somewhat controlled environment, however when Hardy throws in the bitter emotions of a betrayed lover and he super natural, the story becomes a lot more complex. One will also notice, even if the story is read only briefly, that Hardy, concentrates on two of the characters, despite there being several of importance in the story. They are Rhoda Brook and Gertrude Lodge, the ex mistress and his present wife. We will write a custom essay on To what extent can the scenic code be used to analyse the Withered Arm? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Rhoda and Gertrude are complete opposites as Hardy describes them. Gertrude being described as rosy-cheeked, tisty tosty little body enough This quote is taken from the opening chapter, when the dairy people are gossiping about Farmer Lodge returning with is new wife, Gertrude. Whereas Rhoda who is described soon afterwards by the milkmaids, as they glance over towards.. where a thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest.. This is our first insight on Rhoda. she has been described as fading, as though she is gradually becoming nothing. ust the fact that people are gossiping about this indicates that Farmer Lodge is a very material man, who is proud of his pretty young wife, for just those reasons. Perhaps he abandoned Rhoda when she began to age, and become less attractive? When Rhoda goes back to her house she is thinking only of Farmer Lodges new wife. As she thinks, she is playing with the fire when .. The radiance lit her pale cheeks Rhoda face becomes red. The colour red is the indication of danger. The way Hardy transforms her pale skin to what we can imagine as a brilliant red is a warning sign that Rhoda is a danger to someone. One can, I think safely assume that since she has just been thinking about Gertrude. It will be Gertrude who she is a danger to. At this stage in the story we do not know her name ,yet one can gather that she is an important character in his story. Which is already, on the first pages looking like a complicated love triangle. Rhodas son is one of the main charters yet Hardy seems to make him just blend into the backround. He plays apparently a minor role in the book, for example he is never called by a name, Hardy refers to him as speck, boy, corpse and several other similar labels. The name speck is also used at the end of the story when the man is to be hung, this gives us a clue of the identity of who is in fact to be hung. Yet the link with this boy proves a critical lement of the tale when he brings all the characters together by his death. His death by execution, is an execution which proves to not be the expected climax to the book. Rather, the climax is the scene after the execution where Gertrude touches thecorpse, and the subsequent violent verbal attack by her husband and Rhoda causes her to fall unconscious and eventually, to die. Davies is the executioner , however in his spare time he likes to garden. This man obviously likes power, to be able to control life and death. Taking human life and yet creating plant life. .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c , .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .postImageUrl , .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c , .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:hover , .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:visited , .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:active { border:0!important; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:active , .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u179b4128b91a0f335ca4db16b6aea98c:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Chaucers the House Of Fame: The Cultural Nature EssayDavies is therefore a contradiction between life and death. In a similar way that Rhoda and Gertrude become contradictions in the way that they compete for Farmer Lodges affections. shading a candle with one hand Davies was holding back the light form Gertrude, casting her into darkness. As I mentioned before Hardy only says things if it has relevance, so why start the book in a dairy? I think that Hardy choose to set this encounter in a dairy because a dairy is where a cow is milked of its life force, milk. Without milk the new-born calf would go hungry, wither away and die. This could be seen as a proleptic of what is to come in the story. The cows are the first thing mentioned in the story. Hardy, says and the cows were in full pail. this term can be seen in two different ways. It can just be seen as that the dairy is doing well because the cows are producing a lot of milk. However we can sense that Hardy does not just write things in a literal sense, each sentence has a profound meaning. In this case I think that Hardy choose to included this because of its connotations, for example milk is white, white as a colour is often associated with purity. Therefore I took this to be a further pre elliptic example of whats to come. Gertrude Lodges pureness being milked away. Another example of this transformation of the characters occurs when Gertrude reaches the White Hart pub When it was almost dusk,Gertrude reached the White Hart . Gertrude was originally a young and beautiful lady , but not only that she was also caring and charitable However gradually as her beauty has declines so has her kindness. This simple quote taken from the book displays this. The whiteness which can be taken to ean purity and the hart which one can gather to be like a human heart , so the pure heart is gradually becoming more and more shaded as darkness settles in until finally there will be no light and the pure heart will appear to have gone. This description can be linked to the changes happening in Gertrude. Hardy also uses mathematical terms to make us feel that the world Hardy is building up in the story is sturdy and secure. The hour was about six in the evening, and three-fourths of the large red, rectangular cows This type of narrative gives substance to a world of physical stability. Hardy later describes A handsome new gig with a lemon coloured body and red wheels This is of course some kind of of carriage, seemingly quite unimportant, however one can actually learn a lot from this brief description. These two adjectives,red and lemon can be deciphered as red, a warning colour and lemon a bitter fruit. This is our first description of Farmer Lodge and Gertrude, his new wife. From just these two, seemingly harmless colours one can gather already thats this is going to be an unhappy story. Lemon tells us that there is bitterness. Rhoda love for Farmer lodge has obviously turned our, and she has directed her bitterness toward her successor, and the red is a warning that things are going to go terribly wrong for Gertrude and her husband. I have used a number of examples which clearly demonstrate Hardys great skill in developing his characters and using his descriptive writing of objects and places to provide links and prolepticc clues on how the story is going to develop. I therefore conclude that the scenic code is very effective in analysing the withered arm, and by looking at the scenic code we are able to closely examine and debate over the true meaning of this book.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Free Essays on Byrnes Reinforcement Theory

The communication theory that I will discuss is known as the Byrne’s Reinforcement Theory. I chose this theory because of all the options its seems to have the most relation to my day to day life. In researching this theory I have many ideas and aspects that are very important to building lifelong relationships. In outlining this paper I will discuss the history of the theory, analyze studies pertaining to the theory, and I will show how I perceive the theories to be applicable. In this theory of reinforcement it is evident in every new relationship that we encounter, we look for people to make us feel better about ourselves. In this search we are constantly changing values that we look in new relationships, but through various studies our patterns our search always come down to the theory of reinforcement. In this paper I will explain the reinforcement theory according to Byrne, is that we gravitate to those who show us positive reinforcement in interpersonal relationships . Donn Byrne, a well know psychologist, pioneered this theory. He spent his career studying why some people like and dislike others. A key component of his theory was that of the principal of reinforcement, which identifies why people are attracted to others. This principal says that we are attracted and will look for those who complement or pay dividends to us. These complements range from verbal or praise to tangible items. In following the idea of reinforcement we are also repulsed by those who chastise us. Punishment may take different forms from rude comments to awkward and or bad experiences. â€Å"Disagreement raises the unpleasant possibility that we are to some degree stupid, uninformed, immoral, or insane (Byrne, 1961, pg713) Interpersonal attraction is a result of the rewards that others send out during interaction. Nicholas believes that there is a strong relationship between attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction (Nicholas, 1982). Mr... Free Essays on Byrne's Reinforcement Theory Free Essays on Byrne's Reinforcement Theory The communication theory that I will discuss is known as the Byrne’s Reinforcement Theory. I chose this theory because of all the options its seems to have the most relation to my day to day life. In researching this theory I have many ideas and aspects that are very important to building lifelong relationships. In outlining this paper I will discuss the history of the theory, analyze studies pertaining to the theory, and I will show how I perceive the theories to be applicable. In this theory of reinforcement it is evident in every new relationship that we encounter, we look for people to make us feel better about ourselves. In this search we are constantly changing values that we look in new relationships, but through various studies our patterns our search always come down to the theory of reinforcement. In this paper I will explain the reinforcement theory according to Byrne, is that we gravitate to those who show us positive reinforcement in interpersonal relationships . Donn Byrne, a well know psychologist, pioneered this theory. He spent his career studying why some people like and dislike others. A key component of his theory was that of the principal of reinforcement, which identifies why people are attracted to others. This principal says that we are attracted and will look for those who complement or pay dividends to us. These complements range from verbal or praise to tangible items. In following the idea of reinforcement we are also repulsed by those who chastise us. Punishment may take different forms from rude comments to awkward and or bad experiences. â€Å"Disagreement raises the unpleasant possibility that we are to some degree stupid, uninformed, immoral, or insane (Byrne, 1961, pg713) Interpersonal attraction is a result of the rewards that others send out during interaction. Nicholas believes that there is a strong relationship between attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction (Nicholas, 1982). Mr...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Change Management in Semantic Web Services

Change Management in Semantic Web Services Change Management in Semantic Web Services in Legal Domain using FSM & XXM Introduction With the new paradigm of Service Oriented Computing, many enterprises attempt to utilize services as fundamental elements for developing applications/solutions as an additive layer on top of existing components. The Web Service Controller Architecture (WSCA) for service-based, enterprise-scaled business solutions provides exactly this flexibility. The design, exposure and management of services can be accomplished through a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that supports the usage, composition and coordination of services in a loosely coupled manner. Web services appear to be particularly suitable for addressing these aspects of a SOA. Furthermore, composition languages such as BPEL add value by composing Web services and facilitating the implementation of business processes. As the SOA paradigm brings this big behavior change relying on loose coupling of services it raises new questions in the area of change management. Change management is a central aspect in any software design, but its complexity for Web services is increased by both composition languages and loose coupling. The resulting advantages like composability, autonomy, message-based communication, and the avoidance of combined compilation and binding prove to be deficiencies in this context. In this paper we discuss these elementary challenges of change management in the area of Web services (Web Service Change Management, WSCM). Currently there are no sound mechanisms and engineering principles for changing Web services and their related entities. Through analysis of a suitable scenario, specifically looking at the details of the Web service provider and consumer roles, one can identify the various problems that exist in this domain. Therefore we will start our approach with the consideration of an application scenario from the business domain of application and change management, the addition of Web servic es in private legal sector. An Overview of a WSCA A WSCA consists of several autonomous outsourced Web services, but acts as a virtually coherent entity. Business entities, in the form of Web services, are often geographically distributed and organizationally independent. While WSCA has a potential to introduce new business opportunities through dynamic alliances, the challenges of fully realizing a WSCA lie in managing changes during its lifecycle through Extreme X Machines (XXM). XXM: In this paper we explore the design changes as made to software projects by the use  of a formal model known as Extreme X-Machines (XXM) [5,6], which  are based on the work of Eilenberg and Holcombe [7,8]. An XXM model describes the functionality of the software without defining exactly how this functionality is achieved. This perspective allows an analysis of functional change whilst excluding specific implementation or requirements issues. XXM are a state based model, they are intended to be us ed by developers as a method to design  their systems from at the top level but here, XXM are used as effectively to analyze and incorporate changes in, even addition of new web services. Each model typically consists of a set of states which correspond to screens in the final system and functions which link the screens together. The functions are typically labeled with an enabling action such as â€Å"click_ok† which corresponds to a user clicking the OK button.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Relationship Between Athena And Odysseus To The Job And God Essay

Relationship Between Athena And Odysseus To The Job And God - Essay Example Athena had developed deep attachment for Odysseus and sought the permission of her father Zeus, according to the Iliad, to provide Odysseus with unconditional support and services. She undergoes hunger, thirst, and pains in order to help her beloved King Odysseus accomplish his tasks of winning the battles and overcome his rivals and enemies. Not only this that she protected the great warrior, from calamities, disturbances, and problems, during his war campaigns, but also, she guises herself many times in the form of a bird, a shepherd boy, a little lass and others to help him reach his destination safe and sound. Her valuable counsels turned the tables in favor of her beloved and the opponents had to lick the dust during bouts and fights. Her utter feelings of unabated, unwavering and unconditional love and affection have been described by Homer in his Iliad: â€Å"Two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both. Of all the men alive you are the best in plots and storytelling. My own fame is for wisdom among the gods - deceptions too. Would even you have guessed that I am Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, I that am always with you in times of trial, a shield to you in battle†? The Hebrew Bible, Old and New Testaments and the Quran also contain some personalities, which had rendered their services to their beloved. In the mythology of Abrahamic religions, holy prophets, noble saints, and pious men are the characters, who rendered their services out of their love for One and the Only i.e. Almighty God, the Supreme Being.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

University of Chichester Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

University of Chichester - Coursework Example Britain had been traditionally proud of her universities with good reasons. For centuries now British higher educational institutions had been applauded from every quarter and now with the changed outlook after the globalisation, and the need for higher education in the best universities of the world, the same universities, which were exalted portals of a great educational system, have changed with the time and have become education providers and the institutions that train tomorrow's business leaders. A study of one of the thus altered universities of United Kingdom, Chichester, is the topic of this brief research. The current study will go through the reasons why international students prefer this university, and what are the marketing strategies that the university offers etc. The study will have a closer look at the preferential decision psychology of the international students and the reasons behind such compulsions. As the number of international students keeps growing every ye ar, it becomes imperative to know their reactions, preferences, choice compulsions, and their assimilation capabilities with another culture and the satisfaction level. With the government laying stress on using the educational institutions that are now being treated as already made national investments, it is important for the universities to offer sought after courses with adequate academic back-up and run like well-managed business organisations. Universities today are functioning like any other business houses with impressive competition by other universities who would like to make it to the forefront. Hence, this study attains importance in the light of the above, because it is necessary to know why the international students, who are today treated as customers of the service providing universities, are interested in coming to Chichester more than most of the universities. It is also significant to understand what service Chichester provides that might not be offered by other universities and thus, the study is pertinent and important. METHODOLOGY Methodology of this study depends on primary research in the form of semi-structured questionnaires with connected informal questions that could be asked along with primary questions. There exists a sensible questionnaire with pertinent set of questions and these questions were presented for the student reactions. A group of 200 students was picked up and it had 92 males and 108 female students belonging to cross sections of courses. Out of them, seven had disabilities and three learning disorders. They are effectively managed and helped by the disability provider section and have no complaints owing to their situation. They came from all parts of European Union, including even the newest members of EU. Twelve of them are here on exchange programmes and will return to their mother universities after one year and they are highly enthusiastic about their Chichester experience and showed an obvious reluctance to leave the university. It looked as though the exchange students had only po sitive points about the university and were pleased by everything they saw and experienced. Even though research had no connection with sexual orientation, four students mentioned that they belonged to the homosexual crowd and have not countered any bias or prejudice either from the university or from the fellow students. They have their own choices of entertaining places, clubs, eateries and they seem to be very comfortable in and out of

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Tax Office Operation Transformation Essay Example for Free

Tax Office Operation Transformation Essay Governments of developing countries are constantly scrambling to raise the revenues required to finance higher service demands expected by their citizens and the infrastructure (economic, social and environmental) that will enable them to grow the nation towards being industrialized. And to sustain the all imperative comparative advantage over neighbouring nations. Taxation revenues continue to be the main source of revenue for Government spending. This in turn requires well-designed tax policies (new taxes and tax reform) that are translated into clear legislation and are administratively feasible. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing these countries is to improve the effectiveness of their tax administrations.[1] Common Challenges Tax Administrations in developing country contend with the same range of challenges with developed nations, although the significance of typical collection issues may be greater. As a result these countries suffer significant losses in revenue collection. Introducing tax initiatives such as self-assessment and GST does alleviate the revenue leakages to certain extent, however the agencies capacity and capability to administer an effective and efficient taxation system is the ultimate determinant to maximizing collections. It has longed been realized that the existence of widespread tax evasion as part of the hidden economy is a critical concern to developing countries, as it is with developed nations. Hidden income can be defined to include legitimate earnings which are hidden actively or passively to evade tax, as well as illegal earnings derived from non-lawful operations and services. Without trivializing the complexity in dealing with the later type of evasion, the taxpayer’s perception of the administration influences their obligation behaviour. It’s more so evident in developing countries where the administration may not be seen by taxpayers as service organization nor as an active enforcer. For example, common trends include: Â  Inability for taxpayers to get information from or transact with the agency, either low responsiveness, inconsistent advice, multiple hand-offs, huge queues at the service counters etc. Assessments and refunds taking months to process, often taking over six months to make a refund No urgency for Taxpayers to get registered, especially with small to medium enterprise and self-employed Lodgments and payments not pursued actively by the agency, often resulting in over 30% of non-filers Accumulating Debt not pursued in a timely manner by the Agency. Over the years can amount to considerable loss in non-recoverable debt (ie. timing issue). Low level of compliance actively, in terms of education and enforcement. Taxpayer being audited is seen as just bad luck. The Problem The common complaint of the developing country’s tax administration is the lack of resources. In terms of priority, these agencies are more focused on transaction processing activities which are largely manually driven. They are constantly bogged down dealing with never ending processing back-logs, including low turn-around in assessments, refunds, audit cases, appeals, rulings and so on. A large portion of the administration’s staff would be devoted to these low-value activities, which actually does not grow the revenue. The executive management of these administrations is well connected to the best-practices being adopted elsewhere, and understands the positive application to their own environment. They are challenged by the expected rate of change imposed on their agency, constantly battling the needs of Government to collect more and implement new policies quickly, at a lower operational cost. Taxpayers who demand the same levels of services they come to expect from the commercial sector Employees who are frustrated no having the revenue-agency tools to deliver superior services or for effective compliance enforcement. In this hast to modernize the tax agency often turns to automation and Information Technology as the savior and try to implement large amounts of innovation in a short period. As examples, interactive internet service, imaging for data capture, data warehouse, mobile audit workbench, IVR/CTI. All of these are essential IT enablers for the business; however, they often fall short of delivering the benefits in improving service and compliance enforcement in developing countries. The solution Lesson learnt elsewhere tell us that certain characteristics of an agency are central to support business innovation (new ways of doing business) using IT. Without these characteristics, the agency would cripple its efforts to modernize. These characteristics are: Having the building blocks for tax processing, Registration, Lodgment, Payment and Policing. High level of data quality Effective Change Management ability Building Blocks for Tax Processing The main functions of a tax administration, in dealing with taxpayers, aside from actual tax collection or sanctioning non-compliance, largely involve gathering and processing information. The four interrelated blocks are: Registration: Identify potential taxpayers and register taxpayers. Each taxpayer would be identified via a tax identification number and contact details are maintained. This information is core all business activities and imperative to maintain accurate and completed details. Lodgement: Capture, quickly process and record information to assist taxpayers in meeting their tax obligation. Non-lodgment needs to be managed [1] Developing The International Dialogue on Taxation, A Joint Proposal by the Staffs of the IMF, OECD and World Bank, 13 March 2002.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Progressive Discipline Essay -- essays research papers

Independent Contributor Each Independent Contributor is accountable for reaching established performance objectives, and will be evaluated and reviewed on an ongoing basis. When an Independent Contributor’s performance falls short of his/her expected objectives, behaviors, or skills, a Performance Improvement Plan will be initiated immediately. During the implementation of the performance improvement plan, written documentation of discussions, counseling, and termination warnings will be maintained by the department manager and Human Resources; with copies given to the Independent Contributor. However, termination, if warranted, may occur at any time even if an employee has not been subject to or completed the Performance Improvement Plan. A review period will be specified in the Performance Improvement Plan. The length of this period depends on the type and nature of the performance deficiencies involved. If the Independent Contributor fails to meet minimum performance standards or shows unsatisfactory progress during the review period, or subsequently, disciplinary action including termination will take place. When an Independent Contributor does not successfully complete a review period within the Performance Improvement Plan, termination will result. Termination may still occur at any time during the review period. In addition, immediate termination may result for flagrant conduct such as, but not limited to, insubordination, poor performance, misconduct, or unethical behavior. If circumstances warrant, an Independent Contributor may be terminated without notice. IT Technician - Union Employee The union is committed to fair and effective policy through collective bargaining to maintain the safety and good health of our membership. Therefore this progressive disciple policy which was established by the company and the union; is being put into place to establish rules pertaining to IT technician conduct and performance so that all IT technician personnel can conduct themselves accordingly. These rules are not intended to restrict the IT technician’s legal rights; however they are being established to help IT technicians’ work together according to established company standards. The IT technician’s supervisor will keep him/her informed of all company rules and any changes that may occur. It is company policy that IT technician s will be given sufficien... ...eriod is up the employee will be terminated. Sales reps must comply with the standards of behavior set forth by the company in all aspects of their job. The use of company resources, including computer systems, telephones, electronic mail and internet services for personal use may occasionally take place, provided that such use is within the company’s Policy. However excessive use will result in disciplinary actions as appropriate. Conclusion These polices are all similar as they in force company policy, performance and ethical behavior. All policies are written and identify the variety of disciplinary actions that may be imposed in a progressive manner. The progressive discipline polices above are written with the intent of promoting a productive work environment. They are different in that the independent contributor focuses on accountably of established performance goals. Where as the IT technician focuses on improving job performance, and the overseas sales rep deals with meeting sales figures and corrupt activities. Bohlander, G., and Snell, S., (2004). Managing Human Resources. South-Western College Publishing / Thomson Learning. http://pmareintranet/intranet/empman.stm

Monday, November 11, 2019

Campare and Contraste

Julio Alvarado English 914 â€Å"Driving While Stupid† Summary In his article â€Å"Driving While Stupid,† Dave Barry shares his experience of bad drivers. He talks about many scenarios that are taking place in many places. He first starts by stating that downtown Miami is home to the worst drivers. He claims that although some may try to say otherwise, that there is no way to compete with Miami on the worst driver scale. Barry backs up his clam by giving examples of how he has driven in every major U.S. city as well as in Italy, where there is only one traffic law, in an Argentinean city of Mar del Plata, literally meaning â€Å"Cover your  eyes,† and in China, where buses ‘encourage' people to get out of the way. He says he has seen many insane drivers and situations, but that didn't stop him from being surprised with one of his own experiences; the night when a driver in a convertible on the interstate I-95 was weaving back and forth going maybe 600 mi les per hour.The observation Barry makes is that the driver was watching a music video on a video screen installed in his sun visor. Barry goes on to say that there are many drivers who distract themselves by cell phones, reading, eating, etc, while driving, but at least, unlike the guy on the interstate, they are able to see the road from time to time. The level of comedy that Barry used in his article is high. By using deliberate and obvious exaggeration and sarcasm to convey the fact that drivers should pay more attention to the road, and less to other crazy activities.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Erasmus vs Luther; Discourse on Free Will Essay

The Erasmus-Luther Discourse on Free Will begins with the Diatribe concerning free will, written by Erasmus. Luther then refutes Erasmus’ Diatribe with The Bondage of the Will. The question being debated is whether man is in control of his own will, or whether everything is preordained by God, thus leaving man without free will. Their diverging philosophies have been interpreted as being the basic difference between Catholic and Protestant positions regarding free will. This debate offers two very conflicting views, although both philosophies were basic principles in their respective religions. Erasmus builds his argument without a solid foundation; like building a house without a foundation, it can easily crumble. Thus, Luther convincingly attacks Erasmus’ Diatribe. Erasmus holds that man is left with the choice of doing either good or evil. It is man’s choice and therefore, free will exists. In the opinion of Erasmus, the freedom of the will in Holy Scriptures is as follows: if on the road to piety, one should continue eagerly to improve; if one has become involved in sin, one should make every effort to extricate oneself, and to solicit the mercy of the Lord. Two conclusions concerning Erasmus’ beliefs can be drawn from this statement; firstly that man can himself find repentance and secondly that God is infallible, meaning that a person engages in evil acts with his own will. The definition of free will given by Erasmus is â€Å"the power of the human will whereby man can apply to or turn away from that which leads unto eternal salvation. â€Å" While addressing the topic of Adam and Eve, Erasmus states, â€Å"In man, will was so good and so free that even without additional grace it could have remained in a state of innocence, though not without help of grace could it attain the blessedness of eternal life, as the Lord Jesus promised his people. † Erasmus, therefore, believes eternal salvation is attainable with the help and mercy of God, but Erasmus also believes that Adam and Eve caused man to have original sin. Erasmus goes on to write, â€Å"In those without extraordinary grace the reason is darkened, but not extinguished. Probably the same occurs to the power of the will: it is not completely extinct but unproductive of virtuous deeds. † In short Erasmus believed that man has free will and therefore is punished or rewarded according to the choices he makes. He backs his argument with many quotes from the scripture but so does Luther, thus the argument shifts, and the sense of scripture is the debate. Luther, who wrote The Bondage of the Will to refute what Erasmus had written in the Diatribe, disagrees; stating that man does not have freedom of the will. In the first few pages, Luther proclaims â€Å"The Holy Scripture is no skeptic, and what He has written into our hearts are no doubts or opinions, but assertions more certain and more firm that all human experience in life itself. † Furthermore, he goes on to say â€Å"The essence of Christianity which you (Erasmus) describe†¦ is without Christ, without the Spirit, and chillier than ice†¦ † Luther immediately implies that Erasmus has not been saved. Luther abhors those who claim to be self-reformers, once again contradicting Erasmus. â€Å"You say: Who will reform his life? I answer: Nobody! No man can! God has no time for you self-reformers, for they are all hypocrites. The elect who fear God will be reformed by the Holy Spirit. † Perhaps the quote that best exemplifies Luther’s position is as follows: Thus the human will is like the beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes whence God wills; as the Psalm says, â€Å"I was a beast of burden before thee† (Psalm 72:22) If Satan rides, it wills and goes where Satan wills. Nor may it choose to which rider it will run, nor which it will seek. But the riders themselves contend who shall have and hold it. † This philosophy contends that both good and evil are worked by a higher being. Both authors in this work make reference to Judas and his betrayal of Christ. Both parties acknowledge the foreknowledge of God, but Luther proclaims that God willed it. Thus the Protestant faith grew on the principles of predestination and the absolute belief that the scriptures are to be interpreted literally. At no point does Luther ever stray from the central point of his refutation, proving Erasmus wrong by presenting the conclusive evidence needed. Erasmus, on the other hand, never really plants his feet in this argument. Erasmus covers his tracks by changing the terms of the debate throughout his work. For example, Erasmus fails to define the limits within which the reader should think that the will is being acted upon. One can not conclude that Erasmus does not fully believe what he states in his Diatribe, but he admittedly discloses â€Å"I have always preferred playing the freer field of the muses, than fighting ironclad in close combat. † Erasmus proclaims that their debate is in the sense of scripture, yet how can one who defends free will pigeonhole the interpretation of the reader? Luther is much more direct in laying out his arguments and criticizes Erasmus for stating a bare definition without explaining its parts. The debate has very much become a personal matter by the time Luther’s discourse commences. There is no mutual agreement whatsoever, thus it is easy to see why the views of Catholics and Protestants were so divergent. Erasmus is clearly trying to convince his readers, most particularly Luther, that free will does indeed exist. Luther continues to stay his course and states that God wills all. Everything is preordained, evil included. Of the assertions, Luther simply states â€Å"one must delight in assertions to be a Christian at all! † While Erasmus seems leery to take a firm stance in his debate, he is changing the circumstances of the debate, which clearly is an attempt to prevent Luther from pinning him down in Luther’s The Bondage of the Will. After thoroughly refuting everything Erasmus has stated, Luther proclaims that Erasmus has â€Å"asserted nothing but made comparisons† . Whether there be complete merit in either man’s philosophy, Luther has quite convincingly made Erasmus’ position appear flawed.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Information Management System and the IT Steering Committee Essay

Information Management System and the IT Steering Committee Essay Information Management System and the IT Steering Committee – Essay Example ï » ¿INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The IT Steering Committee plays a major role in the allocation of resources and funding for IT projects. The management of these resources by the IT steering committee must follow certain principles. First, all It projects considered must support the long-term business aims of the department. This means that business and IT must work hand in hand. Second, the new IT initiative must be supported by a business case tackling the main concerns as determined in the informatics strategic and operational plans. Furthermore, all IT projects are subject to the governance process, as well as those related to application improvement, infrastructure adjustments, key projects and/or procurement of hardware or software (Ditsa 153). There are a number of roles that the steering committee plays including overseeing the work of the project team. Overseeing the project team involves a number of duties and these include ensuring that the project remains on schedule. This ensures that the project is completed in due time and all the team members do not slack in their duties and perform them to the latter. The steering committee also ensures that the project remains within its budget. This is an essential part of their job ensuring that the resources assigned to the IT project are reasonable and well used. If there was an oversight in any of the planning and the project requires more or less resources the steering committee would make recommendations to the management (Lucey 79). Lastly, the steering committee also ensures that they keep the project in sync with the business requirements it is meant to address. In the course of monitoring the IT projects underway, the steering committee resolves any problems related w ith the IT project. There are a number of ways to manage investments in corporate IT when the rate of change in the underlying technologies dictates that new systems are obsolete almost as soon as you can get them implemented. It is imperative for any institution to develop rational and viable financial strategies to accommodate technological change for effective information technology management. Due to short life cycle of many technologies, management need to determine the wisdom of investing and managing new technology systems. Management must recognize the economic life cycles of new information technology (Oz 212). Management also needs to know about asset management. This helps them to evaluate the risk of using new Information technology that may lose its life cycle in a short time. Furthermore, management needs to evaluate the financial pressures that come with new technology. This is because institutions expect that investing in information technology should bring about continual improvement in their returns. In order to be competitive in the market, institutions need to invest more of their budget in information technology today in hopes of better dividends tomorrow (Ditsa 152). To make well-informed decisions as regarding new information technologies decisions, investment ought to be viewed as an expense matter. In truth, it is a cost/benefit matter whose main goal is to improve the IT system. This is the business side in investing in new information technologies. The management also needs to assess the competitive economics of the new information technologies (Lucey 19). This means evaluating the potential impact of the technology on inter-institution competition. Work Cited Ditsa, George. Information Management: Support Systems & Multimedia Technology. Chicago: Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2003. Print. Lucey, Terence. Management Information Systems. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2004. Print. Oz, Effy. Management Information Systems. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Solve thes problem Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Solve thes problem - Speech or Presentation Example From a table, the probability of a value being to the left or equal to this z-score is .8962; so the probability to be to the right of z = 1.2649 (or to the left of z = -1.2649) is: For 99% confidence intervals, 99% of the area under the curve will be shaded when the endpoints are 2.5758 standard deviations away from the mean. The endpoints for this confidence interval are found by: Adding a sample size m = 75, find the sample mean (m2) of the added sample that would lead to a p-value > 0.05 for the combined sample. Find the probability of obtaining a sample mean from the added sample within the needed range. To calculate the probability that Type 1 error occurs, we want to calculate what is the probability that the null hypothesis is correct ( the p-value is greater than .05 significance level) and the mean of the sample is in one of the tail ends 12. This would result in an interval (6.9 to 13.1). The probability that there is a Type 1 error when the original rejection criteria is used: mean 12, is the probability that the mean falls within the intervals 6.9 to 8 and 12 to

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Virginia Slims Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Virginia Slims Advertising - Essay Example This is the marketing thrust of Virginia Slims to induce women to smoke by inducing anxiety among its target market then later provide Virginia Slims cigarette as the panacea to relieve the women of its distress through the use of beautiful images in their advertisements. As a product, without the gloss and twist of advertising, Virginia Slims was really nothing but just a cancer-inducing tobacco which causes bad breath, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. But with the fuzzing or altering of the target market’s perception, the product suddenly became desirable where its smokers became an epitome of class, sophistication, confidence and seem to be happier. Virginia Slims does this by distorting reality through the use of beautiful images in their promotional campaigns whereby they associate that such beauty, class and sophistication can be achieved by smoking their product of which we know to be untrue. It is an unhealthy advertising because it creates discontent to make or induce the market to become receptive to its harmful product. The pervasiveness of this kind of advertisement that uses beautiful images of men and women to sell harmful products lowers the self-esteem of the target market. It is because the audience of these idealized beauties inadvertently compare themselves to these images that are unrealistic where the models themselves will have a hard time achieving without the aid of computer enhancement. It also makes the audience frivolous because these idealized images inadvertently make an individual tie up his or her self-worth to the physical appearance which is not a healthy gauge of one’s sense of self. It is also unhealthy because it makes the audience strive for an idealized concept of beauty that has no other value than its aesthetic worth. It benefits none except those who purvey that idealized beauty because they profit from it. It also breeds discontent and unhealthy personal disposition because it induces its audience, men and women, to strive for something that is not only unrealis tic but also of no use to better one’s life, society nor does it contribute to a common good except to enhance the profit the client of the advertiser. This idealized concept of beauty that advertisers capitalized on can even be used to manipulate one’s psychological make-up to serve a particular end that does no good to an individual.