Optimisation of Web Protocols and Services Research Proposal

Optimisation of Web Protocols and Services - Research Proposal Example Like many improved efficiencies in the business environment, optimisation of Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology by utilising Intelligent Energy Aware Networks in order to reduce carbon footprint can be achieved both quantitatively and non-quantitatively. The best way to optimise the quantitative function of cost efficiencies remains through Activity-Based Costing (ABC). ABC has become a prevalent cost method for many manufacturing and production industries since its inception. In addition, it has gained exposure in the service industry over the last decade. (Kocakulah, Mehmet, Diekmann, 2005, 10) Despite popular opinion, service companies are ideal candidates for ABC due to their minimal amount of direct materials. They maintain a high level of fixed costs based on personnel who supply indirect support to products and consumers. Fortunately, cost efficiencies from VoIP implementation apply to both manufacturing and service organisations. Hence, this study involves the eff ectiveness of innovation of the existing internet protocols and creation of the brand new protocol or service system for internet. Non-quantitative attributes are harder to measure than quantitative. As a result, they tend to provide confusing conclusions. Improvements not significantly increasing companies bottom-line are viewed as a poor investment decision when in fact they may improve efficiency. Such capital expenditures are best measured with a scorecard approach which reflects "cause and effect" relationships. (Travis, 2004, 137) Perhaps the easiest sell for VoIP systems remains their ability to save corporations money. Unlike many of VoIP's benefits, cost savings is quantitative in nature. There are several ways in which cost savings occurs. Most savings stems from the ability of offices geographically located in different states or countries to communicate with one another without incurring long-distance fees. This benefit occurs because traditional circuit switches do not carry the electronic signal. Instead, the signal travels through a web based connection and is reassembled at the termination point. Electronic signals travel over the web free of charge the same way e-mail is delivered. Since VoIP is classified as information or data service as opposed to communication service, no charge is incurred. Statement of the problem Achievement of optimisation of VoIP technology can reduce carbon footprints and improve business environment. Research Questions The study is meant to answer following research questions. Q1. How to establish an effective process to calculate the overall cost of the current PBX network and compare to the expense of optimising a VoIP networ

Blood Sports (Debate) Essay Example for Free

Blood Sports (Debate) Essay Blood sports should not be banned; whatever problems there are with the sport can be fixed with reforms. The World Health Organization has called for tighter regulation, including â€Å"Simple rules, such as requiring medical clearance, national passports to prevent players from fighting under more than one name, restricting fights for fixed periods after knockouts, requiring that ringside physicians be paid by the state and not the promoter, and making sure that the players are aware of the potential long-term consequence of blood sports, may help protect them to some degree. †The Australian Medical Association additionally â€Å"recommends that media coverage should be subject to control codes similar to those which apply to television screening of violence. †Finally, the World Medical Association suggests that all matches should have a ring physician authorized to stop the fight at any time. It has been reported that no safety regulations would be effective if head blows remain however such authors incorrectly apportion blame on boxing for a group of diseases known as Parkinson’s syndrome. Blood sports can result in chronic traumatic neurological conditions if fighters are not well matched, and fight without regulations in regard to their exposure. Boxing cannot cause Parkinson’s disease or other conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease as those are genetic conditions so to include them together as one set of conditions is incorrect and misleading. About 80% of deaths are caused by head, brain, and neck injuries, so the removal of the head as a scoring region may make a huge difference to the injury outcomes for this sport. However it would also change the very nature of the sport; and may mean people won’t participate in it. Ultimately, governments should do what they can to make blood sports as safe as possible, without losing the essence of the sport or banning it entirely. - (Banning blood sports would force people to channel their aggression into more harmful, violent activities) There is no conclusive scientific evidence linking increased contact sport participation with being more violent in social settings. Such statements make it sound as thought we would have not violence in society if all contact sport was removed and we all know that is untrue. Blood sports isn’t about violent aggression, it is about controlled aggression this is very different to violent behaviors. In a report on â€Å"violent† sports in schools, conducted by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a martial-arts instructor explained, â€Å"Contact and combat sports allow students to deal with their aggression in a safe environment, rather than in the context of the classroom or school hallway. †This type of outlet is not only important for youth, but for adults as well. Jason Brick said, â€Å"Positive Views on Violence In Sports,† Live strong, January 7, 2011, accessed July 13, 2011, With /proposition (The Effect of blood sports on the viewers) Blood Sports have been around for decades. Viewing violence generally triggers or serves in the increase of aggression of an individual. Sports such as wrestling (smack down) and Ultimate Fighter Competition (UFC) are bloody sports and have mostly negative effects on those who watch them. The objective of these two sports is to beat an individual into unconsciousness, make them tap out by inflicting pain, if none of these is accomplished within a time frame, the match is to be stopped and the judges decide who wins. Many children, teenagers, and even adults tend to try and imitate a knock out or combos that were seen performed at one of these fights onto an individual in an uncontrolled environment whether it is their sibling, friend, coworker, or a stranger for different reasons that includes but is not limited to a misunderstanding or horse playing. Watching this sport leaves the viewer psychologically aggressive. For example, if someone watches a match and gets into a fight with another person later on, that person is more likely to use a technique he saw during the fight, and since there is no referee to stop the fight in case of suffocation or tap-out, the victim is more likely to bleed, pass out or even dies. During the 1980’s, two men were in a bar discussing the Marvin Haggler and Sugar Ray Leonard fight that had occurred several days before, and in the process on trying to show exactly how one of the punch landed, both men went outside, drawing a crowd with them. The demonstration turned tragic when one of the men landed a punch to the jaw of the other, and such was the power of the blow, that the victim fell, hit his head on the pavement and started to bleed, and had to be buried a few weeks later. Seeing and permitting violence to be seen makes it seem normal and legal when in fact it is not normal and it is horrible, but here is where lies another problem which is called desensitization. Many years ago when a horrible scene was about to be portrayed on your television set, there would first appear a window saying the images that you are about to see might injure the sensibility of certain people or words to that effect. Well, have you noticed that now they no longer even bother showing that little window? Its as if the media know that human kind are used to everything by now. That nothing is going to affect them that much. So what does this show? It shows that us human beings are getting desensitized to everything and when that happens it also means that we dont get so emotional about anything anymore and so consequently dont fight any more either in order to strive for a change. We have all come to a point where nothing moves us that much anymore. (Pain and Injury as the Price of blood sports) Many people think about sports in a paradoxical way: They accept violence in sports, but the injuries caused by that violence make them uneasy. They seem to want violence without consequences— like the ?ctionalized violence they see in the media and video games in which characters engage in brutality without being seriously or permanently injured. However, blood sports are real, and it causes real pain, injury, disability, and even death (Dater, 2005; Farber, 2004; Leahy, 2008; Rice, 2005; Smith, 2005b; Young, 2004a). Ron Rice, an NFL player whose career ended when he tackled an opponent, discusses the real consequences of blood sports. The brutal body contact of the tackle left him temporarily paralyzed and permanently disabled. He remembers that â€Å"before I hit the ground, I knew my career was over. . . . My body froze. I was like a tree that had been cut down, teetering, then crashing, unable to break my fall. † Research on pain and injury among athletes helps us understand that blood sports have real consequences. Studies indicate that professional sports involving brutal body contact and borderline violence are among the most dangerous workplaces in the occupational world. The same could be said about high-pro? le power and performance intercollegiate sports in which 80 percent of male and female athletes sustain at least one serious injury while playing their sports and nearly 70 percent are disabled for two or more weeks. Research shows a close connection between dominant ideas about masculinity and the high rate of injuries in many sports. Ironically, some power and performance sports are organized so that players feel that their manhood is up for grabs. Men who de? ne masculinity in terms of physically dominating others often use violence in sports as an expression of this code of manhood. Until they critically examine issues related to gender and the organization of their sports, they will mistakenly de? ne violence as a source of rewards rather than a source of chronic pain and disabilities that constrain and threaten their lives.

Fire and Water Imagery in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane E

Fire and Water Imagery in Jane Eyre     Ã‚   Jane Eyre has to choose between the "temptation" of following the rule of passion by marrying Rochester, which would have made her dependent on him and not his equal, or of living a life of complete renunciation of all passions, by marrying St John Rivers. Fire and water imagery symbolizes the two forces competing for dominance in Jane Eyre, both on a personal and metaphorical level. Throughout the novel, such imagery is used by Brontà «, in keeping with her use of much poetic symbolism, to develop character, strengthen thematic detail and establish mood.    The general use of imagery requires mention. In most novels, imagery is commonly used to symbolise a certain idea or concept, such as the lightning imagery used in Wuthering Heights. Imagery can also be used to represent underlying themes of the novel, or to provide dramatic effect and mood. In Jane Eyre, fire imagery has a strong metaphorical significance, representing passion, sexual desire and the heat of emotion and feeling. On a very basic level, one can already note the underlying significance for Brontà «'s use of fire imagery - fire, as is with the passions, can provide warmth and comfort, but can also burn. With water imagery, it is useful to consider that such imagery includes natural imagery of ice, sea and snow, all common features in the novel. Water, the antithesis of fire, represents the extreme point of cool reason, without any trace of passion. As we see Jane wander between these two points of temptation throughout the novel, the accompanying imagery of fire and wat er is most significant to our understanding of the themes and concerns of the novel.    Fire imagery is used by Brontà « to develop Jane's ch... ...Lodge, Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Brontà «'s War of Earthly Elements Gates, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990.    Jane Eyre. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsborough, and Anna Paquin. 1996    Kadish, Doris. The Literature of Images: Narrative Landscape from Julie to Jane Eyre. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1986.    Kinkead-Weekes, Mark.   The Place of Love in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.    Lodge, Scott. "Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements." The Brontes: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Gregor. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 110-36.    McLaughlin, M.B. "Past or Future Mindscapes: Pictures in Jane Eyre." Victorian Newsletter 41 (1972): 22-24.    Solomon, Eric. "Jane Eyre: Fire and Water." College English 25 (1964): 215-217.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

John McPherson, which resulted in his wife getting out of bed and unfortunately causing her death. The next day at school, Mr. John McPherson shows up under the influence of alcohol, completely drunk and starts to insult the Jews and making extremely racist comments. This is Just a small example of Anti-Semitism during Duddys childhood. Another idea I found important in the text was selfishness as well as ambition and greed. Even though Duddy was making more money than a 17 year old should, he always wanted more.Nothing was more important to him than making money. When he heard that the last piece of land in Lac St. Pierre was up for sale, he took all the money he had, but still came up short. Duddy decides to forge a cheque from Virgil's chequebook. Virgil was a man who Duddy met in New York and helped him make money illegally by smuggling pinball machines. After Virgil and Yvette found out about what Duddy had done to them, they never spoke to him again. Discuss the author's style. Describe 2 iterary elements the author uses successfully and give a clear example of each. The author used a few techniques to deepen our understanding of the story. One of the techniques was using a teenager as the main character of the novel. I think this showed us the ambition of the young man because all teenagers want to make money and dream about becoming rich one day, but it's not all 17 year olds that want it as bad as Duddy Kravitz. Another technique used by the author was making the main character a Jew.As we all know, Jews have a reputation for wanting money so ad and I think that the fact that Duddy is Jewish makes the whole story about a young man chasing money more meaningful. Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not? I enjoyed this novel a lot and recommend it to everyone living in Montreal and who likes a story that may have many things in common with their own personal lives. I think it is an important part of Montreal history in our generation. I also think it's good for Jewish people to read this novel because we also see how racism has stronger racism against Jews was in the 1940s

Romantic Elements in Frankenstein and the Fall of the House of Usher

Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, and Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, although published in different periods, on different continents, have in common many of the main ideas that stood behind the literary movement of Romanticism (the sublime, the Romantic hero, imagination, isolation), combined with elements of the Gothic (the mysterious and remote setting dominated by a gloomy atmosphere, death, sin, pain, exotic elements, supernatural). One of the main elements that is integrated into the Romantic movement is the sublime. In his A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful , Edmund Burke defined the sublime as â€Å"Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. In Burke’s view, the typical qualities that characterize a sublime landscape are vastness of dimensions (especially in contrast with the limitations of the human body and mind), obscurity (that blurs the definition of boundaries), deep darkness or intense light. Through the impact that magnificent landscapes and violent storms produce, and in the midst of the terrors that nature creates, the characters experience the sublime, are overflown wi th dread, fear and a sense of astonishment, which eventually allows them to sense the divine. In Frankenstein, nature is a very powerful entity that can soothe and punish; this duality is especially obvious in the connection between Victor and nature that Shelly cultivates throughout the novel. More often than not, Victor takes sustenance from nature, which provides him with what could be described as personal therapy when he is subjected to stress or torment. When he falls ill, it is not the constant care and attention of his closest friends that ensure his recovery, but the beneficial influence of the fresh ir that he breathes: â€Å"We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress . . . I became the same happy creature who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care. When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled m e with ecstasy. â€Å" After his brother William is brutally murdered by the Creature, Victor falls into a deep state of despair, unable to find solace in the company of the rest of his family, or his best friend Henry. Once again, it is nature that heals him and allows him to maintain his sanity:  «I remained two days at Lausanne, in this painful state of mind. I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm, and the snowy mountains, â€Å"the palaces of nature,† were not changed. By degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva. The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I approached my native town. I discovered more distinctly the black sides of Jura, and the bright summit of Mont Blanc. I wept like a child: â€Å"Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake! How do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace or to mock at my unhappiness? †  » Aside from providing Victor with restoration and happiness when needed, nature prove to also be an omnipotent force of foreshadowing. The lightning shredding the tree in front of Victor’s eyes is a warning that his endeavors will ultimately bring destruction. When he is notified about William’s death, nature reflects his feelings of despair and suggests dark prospects of the future: â€Å"Night also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings. The night that Victor gives life to his creations is â€Å"a dreary night of November†, with rain patting â€Å"dismally against the panes†. This is similar with the gloomy nature described at the beginning of The Fall of the House of Usher, where the imminent destruction of this ancient family is foreshadowed by the atmosphere of melancholy and decay and the eerie semblance of the house, covered by minute fungi and weakened by the fissure that extends from the roo f to the foundations: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. † Poe’s description of the unearthly storm that takes place on the dreadful night that brings the ultimate destruction to the ancient House of Usher is strikingly similar with the ones described in Frankestein: It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. † Although both works present an overwhelmingly powerful nature, that can foreshadow future events, the nature in The Fall of the House of Usher lacks the vast landscapes that are often depicted in Frankenstein; the prevailing feeling that dominates Poe’s story is confinement, narrowness to the point of claustrophobia: the Usher estate is shut off from light and the initial description of the house, reflected by the tarn which is in turn mirrored by the windows creates the illusion of an enclosed space, from which escape is almost impossible. The house eventually becomes the tomb of Roderick and Madeline, collapsing onto itself and sinking into the reflecting pool. Supernatural, supported by the dark themes that are prevailing in both literary works, plays an important part in the plot development, both authors dwelling on the blurred boundary between the living and the dead, with an emphasis on the mysteries of life and the mysteries of existence. In Poe’s story, Madeline’s condition causing her to fall into a coma-like state that will lead to her being buried alive is highly unbelievable, especially in combination with the account of her incredible escape from the vault, which is presented in parallel with the plot of The Mad Trist. In addition to this, the destruction of the house in the storm on the night Madeline returns to the living only to be crushed together with her brother, thus ending the Usher bloodline is just as unrealistic, yet with a great artistic effect on the reader. As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell — the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, their ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust — but then without those doors there DID stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and from upon the threshold, then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated. † In Frankenstein, the major supernatural event (the creation of new life) is disguised under the appearance of a scientific experiment: Frankenstein manipulates nature in a bizarre and outlandish way, he uses electricity to animate a corpse composed of body parts collected from different cadavers. The result of his work is a creature so grotesque and uncanny, that it makes him run in fear and hide in his chamber: â€Å"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. The characters in both Frankenstein and The Fall of the House of Usher are deeply Romantic characters, with a strong propensity towards the Gothic. Roderick Usher is a strange figure, excessively reserved and somewhat mysterious, he lives isolated in a decrepit, dark and scary house. His physical appearance is quite shocking to the outside visitor, he looks dead even though he is still alive: A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a s urpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten. † He suffers from a mysterious â€Å"nervous affection†, with bizarre symptoms (his senses are incredibly heightened, he can only bear to wear certain types of fabric, he cannot stand light or the smell of flowers, and all music, with the exception of some stringed instruments inspire him with horror). He often oscillates between vivacity and sullenness, between reason and incoherence, between amazement and dread. Roderick’s interests lie within the field of Arts, he is skilled at music and at painting, and the narrator compares him with a real artist, Fuseli, stating that â€Å"If ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Roderick Usher†. Roderick’s artistic creations reflect his state of mind, his obsession with death, the one painting of his that is described by the narrator is that of a tomb, â€Å"an immense long and rectangular vault or tunnel†, while one of the songs he plays at his guitar is The Haunted Palace. Roderick shows signs of other intellectual pursuits, he develops the idea of sentience of all vegetables and even inanimate things, like â€Å"the gray stones of the home of his forefathers†, giving as proof of their sentience â€Å"the gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and the walls†. Unlike Roderick, who is portrayed as an artist, Victor Frankenstein is depicted as a scientist. He is animated with a â€Å"thirst for knowledge†, a passionate desire to learn the secrets of heaven and earth; however, these feelings, noble at first are distorted into a morbid obsession, a dark hope of becoming god-like, of being liberated of earthly law and limitations, obsession that will ultimately lead to his demise. In his quest to discover the â€Å"principle of life†, Victor undergoes the study of its inevitable counterpart, death, and immerses himself in midnight labors, pillaging cemeteries and charnel houses and torturing living creatures. His ambition to create new life affects his entire being in such a way, that he undergoes intense emotional and mental changes, and manages to transcend the limited condition of an ordinary mortal, achieving a status similar to that of Dr. Faustus: â€Å"After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter. (†¦)No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source (†¦) I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? † Although not typical, the Creature is also a Romantic figure, a troubled soul forced into self-isolation, that strives to overcome his own limitations and possesses surprising depth and sensitivity. He has a dual nature, both inherently good and capable of evil, and is compared to both Adam (the creature that has been forsaken by his creator) and Satan (the fallen angel turned deviant in the absence of his god, capable of unspeakable acts of cruelty). He is torn between compassion and vengefulness, between the desire to be integrated into human society and the desire to destroy humans for rejecting and shunning him based on his grotesque appearance. He proves his benevolence when he saves a little girl from drowning and when he helps the De Laceys by providing them with firewood, but he is also a â€Å"wretched† creature that lets himself overtaken by the thirst for revenge and kills all the members of Victor’s family, including his best friend, Henry Clerval. The destinies of creator and creation are inextricably connected, they are viewed as doubles of each other: they both suffer from an impenetrable solitude, feeling like a â€Å"miserable wretch† unfit for human society, they both continually oscillate between good and evil, between elation and despair. Their identities are intricately intermingled, at one point the creature calls Victor his slave, reminding him that :†You are my creator, but I am your master†. Moreover, the reader is not able to discern who the real monster is between these two characters: Frankenstein, that out of purely selfish reasons brings the Creature into this world and abandons it, refusing to assume any type of responsibility for his actions, or the abominably-looking creature that succumbs to the dark dimension of his spirit and seeks to achieve revenge for his sufferings, thus destroying many innocent lives in the process. The same motif of the double (Doppelganger) can be found in Poe’s story, where there is a strong connection between Roderick and Madeline Usher, the last descendents of the Usher clan, the twins that mirror each other as Poe places an emphasis on the â€Å"striking similitude between brother and sister†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The siblings share an inexplicable state of illness, they are both affected by a malady for which no remedy has been found: In the manner of my friend I was at once struck with an incoherence — an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy — an excessive nervous agitation. (†¦)It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy — a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations.  »  «The disease of the lady Madeli ne had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affectations of a partially cataleptical character were the unusual diagnosis.  » â€Å"Roderick and Madeline are not just brother and sister but twins who share â€Å"sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature† which connect his mental disintegration with her physical decline. † (Martha Womak, Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†). Moreover, according to Edward H. Davidson in his book Poe: A Critical Study, the fissure in the decaying mansion represents â€Å"an irreconcilable fracture in the individual’s personality†. Roderick represents the mind, the intellect, the conscious, while Madeline is the unconscious, the embodiment of the senses (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling). One of the conceptions that Gothic cultivated was that man was born basically evil, and that humans have to struggle throughout their entire lives in order to prevent their evil nature from overtaking them. In Poe’s story the two brothers visibly struggle against their psychological issues, the mental illnesses brought on by centuries of intermarriage in the family. He uses these characters to explore the human psychology, with a special mphasis on the perverse and self-destructive nature of the conscious and subconscious mind. In Frankenstein, the Creature seems to have been born evil based on his abominable appearance, yet later on his account of his first memories reveal his innocent nature, that is distorted by the hardships and constant rejections he is subjected to. Symbols play a significant role. The House of Usher refers both to the actual mansion and the last of the â€Å"all time-honoured Usher race†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and becomes an actual character, being presented with a humanized description, with â€Å"vacant eye-like windows†. The house seems to be an extension of the siblings’ souls, mirroring their state of mind, and Roderick develops a theory that the stones of the house have â€Å"sentience† and that they embody the fate of the Usher family . The fissure that is barely visible on its facade and the fungi that cover it are symbolic of the decay of the Usher bloodline. The collapsing of the house straight down into the tarn symbolizes the linearity of the Usher’s family tree, bereft of branches, and its inevitable collapse. The two main symbols in Frankenstein are light and fire. Walton expects to unveil the secrets of the universe in the North Pole, described as â€Å"a country of eternal light. † Nearly all of Victor’s epiphanies are under the sign of light. When he becomes interested in natural philosophy, he says that â€Å"A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind†, and when his ceaseless endeavors finally lead him to the discovery of the secret to creating new life, he describes his feelings as if â€Å"a sudden light broke in upon me. He compares the creation of a new species to pouring a â€Å"torrent of light into our dark world†. However, both Victor and Walton fail to understand that light that’s too bright is also blinding and they disregard the dangerous consequences of their quests for enlightenment. The importance of fire as a symbol is prefigured by the novel’s full title: Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the titan who gave the knowledge of fire to humanity and for his generous action he was severely punished by the Gods. In Frankenstein, Victor attempts to give the gift of the secret of life to humanity, but ends up suffering grave punishment as a result of defying God: his creation kills his entire family and destroys his life. Throughout the novel, fire is depicted as a powerful yet dangerous force that can be used both for sustenance (the discovery of the wonders of fire by the monster) as well as for punishment (the description of demons suffering in the lake of fire in hell). Concerning narrative techniques and point of view, both stories are told using first person point of view, but with significant differences. The narrator of The Fall of the House of usher is a character of whom we know very little, highly unreliable, as we have no proof of his sanity; moreover, he is called â€Å"madman† by Roderick twice at the end of the story. He is submerged into the underworld of the human mind, where irrationality prevails over reason, where fantasy suppresses reality, and he is the only one that manages to escape and tell the story of what had happened. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also written using the first person narrative, but from multiple perspectives, using a complex narrative structure, that combines the form of an epistolary novel with that of a frame story: the plot is completely encased in Robert Waldon’s letters, who he relates his encounter with Victor Frankenstein, who in turn gives an account of his terrible life story, including the confessions and lamentations of the creature. Each shift of perspective provides the reader with new insight regarding the facts of the story and the distinctive traits of the characters involved. In conclusion, both Frankenstein and The Fall of the House of Usher can be considered landmarks of Romantic and Gothic literature, the authors managing to combine standard and specific elements in a unique and captivating manner that has kept them relevant even almost two hundred years after they were first published.

Research Paper on Network Devices Security

Research Paper on Network Devices Security Sample Research Paper on Network Devices Security: Many organizations today have large local area networks (LAN) and keeping track of all devices connected to the network is a hard task especially for the IT personnel. As new devices are added to the network and others removed, it is necessary to have an updated record of the devices that actively or passively access the resources of a certain LAN. This could be done by collection of information about these devices, and this process of collection of such information is referred to as network discovery. This information can be; the device’s MAC address, IP address and the services accessed or provided by the device. There are various steps that an organization should follow to determine the needs of an organization in discovering of all devices in a network. First, the organization should consider the resources that are being accessed at a certain time and by which people. This reduces security threats from hackers accessing the network resources or important information. Secondly, the organization should be in a position to monitor the network bandwidth and make sure that it is not slowed down by packets sent by unknown sources. Also an organization should consider easier implementation and assigning of different roles to different devices in accordance to the organization standards. This should include monitoring of softwares installed on different devices, their licenses and when they are due to expire in order to avoid legal problems, and the versions installed for these softwares. Lastly, an organization should consider network discovery devices that incase of a network failure will easily detect that of point of failure and correct the network problem in time. Management software is often used to discover and monitor performance of network devices. Common functions of these softwares are: Detecting the devices accessing a certain network. Monitoring the various processes performed by a device by waiting for the device to send information. This information could be an update or an alert. Keep track of those devices that are accessing the LAN remotely. Tracking the people using the network resources and restricting access of sensitive data. Managing softwares used in a certain organization by keeping track of their license and the current versions of softwares being used. These softwares could be open source or commercial software.Factors that determine the type of software to be used for network discovery are specific to the needs of each organization.Some factors that should be considered should be; the size of the network and the amount of money the organization is willing to set aside. TOOLS AND COUNTERMEASURES TOOLS IP Scanner This is an open source script that is written to automatically ping a range of certain ip addresses or ports and in turn updates the ARP table. This enables the network administrator to know the devices on the network. The tool sends an ICMP ECHO_REQUEST and records the replies in an orderly manner. The shortcoming is that some devices do not receive ICMP messages because of the firewalls installed. Nmap Nmap is an open source utility used to of scan ports of devices by use of their ip address or host name. By doing this, nmap is able to keep track of the devices in a network.It uses both ICMP and TCP ACK packets to scan port 80.The TCP ACK is able to get past devices that do not receive ICMP packets. Its other functionality are the ability to know which services are running on the network, the operating systems running on different devices and the firewall softwares in place among others.It is also discovers remote devices. The disadvantage of nmap software is that it discovers only devices that are operational when scanned. Arpwatch The arpwatch waits for ARP packets and notes the ip address associated to a certain MAC address and keeps this information in a database. Incase the information on the database changes the network administrator is notified by an e-mail. The problem faced by arpwatch is that it is only limited to devices on the LAN and not those accessing remotely thus it can only be used on one network at a time . COUNTERMEASURES Broadcast Sniffing This is a measure that is used to analyze a network traffic so that one can identify problems on the network. Sniffing is used by hackers to get information from a certain network.Sniffing techniques such as DHCP, ARP or WINS sniffing could diverge information such as the workgroup of the network, NetBIOS name of the device, MAC addresses and ip addresses. Creating a Virtual LAN(VLAN) within your network could be one of the best was to prevent hackers from sniffing your network. This is because the VLAN grants access only to authorized ip addresses thus making the broadcast domain smaller. The organization will have different virtual networks and certain information will be limited to only certain people (Mcclure, 2005). Denial of service(DOS) DOS occurs when the real users of a LAN are locked out from using their network. This happens when hackers send unsolicited packets that flood the network. The bandwidth becomes flooded with packets without valid destinations thus making the network slow or the resources inaccessible. This can be countered by filtering the requests that are accessing the network resources and controlling the broadcast messages. Spoofing Ip spoofing is the impersonation of a certain device by sending out a message with another device’s ip address. The destination address is indicated but the source ip is hidden and cannot be traced. To prevent the network from being spoofed,one could use ingress and engress filtering at the router to disqualify packets that are not legitimate. Another way is to use authentication by maintaining an access control list of the range of ip addresses that are eligible to access the network. Encryption of packets could also prevent spoofing (Tanase, 2010).

Chid Abuse

Chid Abuse In nineteenth century, American slaves were freed and animals were protected against cruelty while children were still considered their parents' chattel, to do with as they wished. Not until 1874 was the first court case of child abuse argued. The American Society brought the case, on behalf of a young girl named Mary Ellen for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA successfully challenged the court to recognize that Mary Ellen was covered under laws barring inhuman treatment of animals. Society thus accepted a moral responsibility to protect children, even from their parents.Eventually, many states responded to this moral responsibility by making child abuse illegal. Reporting child abuse, however, was still not required. Consequently, most child abuse remained unacknowledged. Finally in 1974 Congress enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. "This act provided federal funds to fight child abuse for states that passed laws requiring certain professionals, such a s teachers and health care personnel, to report suspected abuse"(Koster Swisher 12).Physical abuse in genogramThis financial incentive motivated every state to pass such a law. Now, many Americans had both a moral and a legal responsibility to report abuse.Child Abuse is a deviant act according to the normative perspective of deviance. This behavior violates the norms and rules of society. Many people feel that it is wrong to abuse a child. Whether it is physical or emotional a child is just supposed to be cared for. The cruel realization that parents and caretakers can kill their own children has been difficult for our nation to face. Indeed, many who make policies, direct programs, and deliver services to children and families have found it difficult to accept. Yet, this is reality.Williams 2Child Abuse has been a fact of life throughout history; however, recognition of abuse as a...

Reformation 101 - The Protestant Reformation in Europe

Reformation 101 - The Protestant Reformation in Europe The Reformation was a split in the Latin Christian church instigated by Luther in 1517 and evolved by many others over the next decade- a campaign which created and introduced a new approach to Christian faith called Protestantism. This split has never been healed and doesnt look likely to, but dont think of the church as divided between older Catholics and new Protestantism, because there is a huge range of Protestant ideas and offshoots. The Pre-Reformation Latin Church In the early 16th century, western and central Europe followed the Latin Church, headed by the pope. While religion permeated the lives of everyone in Europe- even if the poor focused on religion as a way to improve day to day issues and the rich on improving the afterlife- there was widespread dissatisfaction with many aspects of the church: at its bloated bureaucracy, perceived arrogance, avarice, and abuses of power. There was also widespread agreement that the church needed to be reformed, to restore it to a purer and more accurate form. While the church was certainly vulnerable to change, there was little agreement on what should be done. A massively fragmented reform movement, with attempts from the pope at the top to priests at the bottom, was ongoing, but attacks tended to focus on only one aspect at a time, not the whole church, and the local nature led only to local success. Perhaps the main bar to change was the belief that the church still offered the only route to salvation. What was needed for mass change was a theologian/argument which could convince a mass of both people and priests that they did not need the established church to save them, allowing reform to run unchecked by previous loyalties. Martin Luther presented just such a challenge. Luther and the German Reformation In 1517 Luther, a Professor of Theology grew angry at the selling of indulgences and produced 95 theses against them. He sent them privately to friends and opponents and may, as legend has it, have nailed them to a church door, a common method of starting debate. These theses were soon published and the Dominicans, who sold lots of indulgences, called for sanctions against Luther. As the papacy sat in judgment and later condemned him, Luther produced a powerful body of work, falling back on scripture to challenge the existing papal authority and rethinking the nature of the entire church. Luther’s ideas and style of preaching in person soon spread, partly among people who believed in him and partly among people who just liked his opposition to the church. Many clever and gifted preachers across Germany took on the new ideas, teaching and adding to them faster and more successfully than the church could keep up with. Never before had so many clergies switched to a new creed which was so different, and over time they challenged and replaced every major element of the old church. Shortly after Luther, a Swiss preacher called Zwingli produced similar ideas, beginning the related Swiss Reformation. Brief Summary of Reformation Changes Souls were saved without the cycle of penitence and confession (which was now sinful), but by faith, learning, and the grace of God.Scripture was the sole authority, to be taught in the vernacular (the local languages of the poor).A new church structure: a community of believers, focused around a preacher, needing no central hierarchy.The two sacraments mentioned in the scriptures were kept, albeit altered, but the other five were downgraded. In short, the elaborate, costly, organized church with often absent priests was replaced by austere prayer, worship, and local preaching, striking a chord with laypeople and theologians like. Reformed Churches Form The reformation movement was adopted by laypeople and powers, merging with their political and social aspirations to produce sweeping changes on everything from the personal level- people converting- to the highest reaches of government, where towns, provinces, and whole kingdoms officially and centrally introduced the new church. Government action was needed as the reformed churches had no central authority to disband the old church and instill the new order. The process was haphazard- with much regional variation- and carried out over decades. Historians still debate the reasons why people, and the governments who reacted to their wishes, took up the ‘Protestant’ cause (as the reformers became known), but a combination is likely, involving seizing land and power from the old church, genuine belief in the new message, ‘flattery’ by laypeople at being involved in religious debate for the first time and in their language, deflecting dissent onto the church, and freedom from old church restrictions. The Reformation did not occur bloodlessly. There was military conflict in the Empire before a settlement allowing old church and Protestant worship was passed, while France was riven by the ‘Wars of Religion,’ killing tens of thousands. Even in England, where a Protestant church was established, both sides were persecuted as the old church Queen Mary ruled in between Protestant monarchs. The Reformers Argue The consensus which led to theologians and laity forming reformed churches soon broke down as differences between all parties emerged, some reformers growing ever more extreme and apart from society (such as Anabaptists), leading to their persecution, to the political side developing away from theology and onto defending the new order. As ideas of what a reformed church should be evolved, so they clashed with what rulers wanted and with each other: the mass of reformers all producing their own ideas led to a range of different creeds which often contradicted each other, causing more conflict. One of these was Calvinism, a different interpretation of Protestant thought to that of Luther, which replaced the ‘old’ thinking in many places in the middle to late sixteenth century. This has been dubbed the ‘Second Reformation. Aftermath Despite the wishes and actions of some old church governments and the pope, Protestantism established itself permanently in Europe. People were affected at both a deeply personal, and spiritual level, finding a new faith, as well as the socio-political one, as an entirely new layer division was added to the established order. The consequences, and troubles, of the Reformation remain to this day.

Children with Tramatic Brain Injury Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Children with Tramatic Brain Injury - Term Paper Example These disabilities are manifested in an array of characteristics depending on the location and extent of brain injury. They may also be permanent or temporary in nature where they can either cause total or partial psychosocial adjustment or functional disabilities. For instance, students with cognitive impairments suffer from long or short-term memory deficits thus remembering things and facts become quite difficult. Such students also suffer from impaired concentration and limited attention span. Therefore, they cannot engage in any activity for a long period of time even concentrating in class becomes difficult. Moreover, these students suffer from impaired perception where sequencing, judgment and planning pose serious problem. In addition, such children gravely suffer from communication problems which inhibit both their writing and reading skills. This is as a result of damage that occurs on the frontal lobes of the brain (Aimaretti & Ghigo, 2007). TBI also manifests behavioral and emotional characteristics which include mood swings, lowered self-esteem, self-centeredness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, restlessness and nosedived motivation. They are also unable to control their emotions as at times they may excessively cry or laugh. As a result, they can neither self monitor nor relate well with others. This arises because of damage that occurs on the limbic system in the brain. ... Therefore, they cannot engage in any activity for a long period of time even concentrating in class becomes difficult. Moreover, these students suffer from impaired perception where sequencing, judgment and planning pose serious problem. In addition, such children gravely suffer from communication problems which inhibit both their writing and reading skills. This is as a result of damage that occurs on the frontal lobes of the brain (Aimaretti & Ghigo, 2007). TBI also manifests behavioral and emotional characteristics which include mood swings, lowered self-esteem, self-centeredness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, restlessness and nosedived motivation. They are also unable to control their emotions as at times they may excessively cry or laugh. As a result, they can neither self monitor nor relate well with others. This arises because of damage that occurs on the limbic system in the brain. On the other hand, the physical impairment characteristics include sensory impairments as well as vision, speech and hearing problems. Conversely, the students may suffer from constant headaches, paralysis or paresis of either or both sides, lack of proper balance, gait impairments, spasticity of muscles and seizure disorders. They also lack effective coordination especially the fine motor coordination. These physical characteristics arise due to imbalance that affects the brain equilibrium. This is because of the development of the midline shift syndrome which further affects the weight, posture and drift posture of patients with TBI. As a result, the patients do not see a straight horizon or wall they see them as tilted (Parikh, Koch & Narayan, 2007). 2 (a) Classroom Behavioral Management Strategies and Instructional Strategies However, in

John Denver plane crash Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

John Denver plane crash - Essay Example This report summarizes the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board and several reports on the probable causes of the accident that killed John Denver: human factors or aircraft design and integrity.Air traffic control records. At around 1640 of October 12, 1997, the pilot, a middle-aged male Caucasian arrived at the Monterey Peninsula Airport to conduct a practice flight on his plane, an Adrian Davis Long-EZ model with markings N555JD. At 1702 Pacific daylight time, the pilot contacted ground control and obtained a taxi-for-takeoff clearance from the hangar. At 1709, the pilot reported to the local controller that he was ready for takeoff on runway 28, and requested to stay in the traffic pattern for some touch-and-go landings. The plane was cleared for takeoff at 1712, and the pilot performed three touch-and-go landings before departing the traffic pattern about 1727. At this time the controller asked the pilot to recycle his transponder code and the latter did so.At ar ound 1728 Pacific daylight time, the plane was flying in a westerly direction when it began to lose altitude, went into a steep nose-down descent, and hit the water. Witnesses said they heard a strong "pop" and a reduction in engine noise level just before the airplane's impact with the water. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed from start to the end of flight.The point of impact was an area in the Pacific Ocean off Pacific Grove, California. The airplane was destroyed and the pilot, the sole occupant, received fatal injuries. Rescue workers from the area were dispatched to the site to recover the pilot's body, secure the crash site, and recover the wreckage. An autopsy on October 13, 1997 by the Monterey County Medical Examiner revealed that the cause of the pilot's death was multiple blunt force trauma. Investigation of the Accident This report summarizes the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB, 1999; AW, 1999) and several reports (CNN, 1998; CIR, 1999) on the probable causes of the accident that killed John Denver: human factors (Sumwalt, 1997) or aircraft design and integrity. Air traffic control records. The pilot did not file a flight plan. The Air Traffic Control (ATC) tapes revealed no distress calls from the pilot, who did not indicate any aircraft or engine malfunctions. A certified audio re-recording of the transmissions between the accident airplane and the Monterey ATC Tower local control position was subjected to audio spectrum analysis to identify background sound signatures that could be associated with engine trouble. Analysis of nine transmissions between 1714 and final transmission at 1728:06 showed engine speed harmonics between 2,100 and 2,200 revolutions per minute (rpm). Accident Witnesses. Of twenty witnesses interviewed: Four saw the airplane as it was flying west; five observed the airplane in a steep bank, with four of those reporting the bank was to the right (north). Twelve saw the airplane in a steep nose-down descent, of whom six saw the airplane hit the water near Point Pinos some 150 yards offshore. The airplane was flying at an altitude estimated at 350-500 feet over the residential area. Pre-flight Witnesses. Two pre-flight witnesses gave important testimonies related to the accident. The first was an aircraft maintenance technician who assisted the pilot in removing the airplane from a hangar. He observed the pilot perform a preflight check for 20 minutes and borrow a fuel sump cup to drain a fuel sample to check for contaminants. He did not observe the pilot visually verify the quantity of fuel aboard the airplane, nor did he see the pilot check the engine oil level. The technician and the pilot talked about the location of the cockpit fuel selector valve handle behind the pilot's left shoulder and its resistance to being turned. They attempted to extend the reach of the handle with a pair of vice grip pliers, but this did not work, as the pilot could not reach the handle. The pilot said he would use the autopilot in-flight to hold the airplane level while he turned the fuel selector valve. The technician observed that the fuel selector handle was in a vertical pos ition (meaning that the right tank was in

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 29

Research Paper Example However, the case was dismissed since Ali sued the human resource director rather than United States; therefore, the complaint was dismissed based on the deficiency of jurisdiction. Comparing the case of Ali v Rogers and Jack’s case both cases base complications on nationality issues. However, Jacks case base more ideas on employees rather than states. The case between Ali v Rogers base legal ideas on public vessels Act and Admiralty Act should have developed a case against United States rather than the human resource director. Therefore, both cases are dismissed because of insufficient jurisdictions in the two cases (Ali v. Rogers, 2015). Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Peabody 2001, alleging Peabody implementation of tribal hiring was illegal (EEOC v. Peabody, 2010). It was alleged that Peabody violated Title VII of Civil rights Act 1964. Additionally, Peabody had violated Title VII of record keeping requirements. In jack’s case, Jack was accused of violating the company’s records on laws touching policies of the Grocery just as EEOC case v Peabody. According to Zeinali v Raytheon business case, the court of appeal reversed the district court judgment (The Recorder, 2011). The court maintained federal precedent in excluding judicial evaluation of security authorization verdicts had no interest on employees’ and, therefore, discriminating against a private employer. Comparing, the case with Jacks, security issues have been addressed in Zeinali case by developing critical security issues for employees while Jacks case, security of employees is not taken into consideration. In July 2011, a black employee from South Africa called Jack secured recruitment as a chief security officer in a California grocery store. In the second week of work at the store, Jack spotted a white female customer robbing items from the store. Jack alerted Chris to assist her in stopping the theft at

Work Based Integrated Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Work Based Integrated Project - Essay Example As a young Muslim female growing up in the u.k, my parents always have been very protective and kept me grounded. Morals and values have had a huge impact on my life because my parents have been brought up in a traditional Muslim way, were they raised in Iraq they brought me up the same way their parents have been bought up the tradition Muslim way for example dressing in a modest way and wearing a scarf (the hijab). This is something that has come natural to me and I often have to explain to people what it is and why I wear it and to be honest its made me the woman I’m today, its part of my identity and I will never change it. Obviously being a Muslim girl, it usually restricts us to a certain way of life we live in and living in the UK is such an eye opener to everything. However I have such strong beliefs and challenging the western ideologies wasn't an issue growing up, under the influence of my parents i was on track with religion as well as being modernized. I have alway s wanted to make something out of me, it will be very common if i just accepted in getting married at the age of 16 to a young Muslim man but that was not what I wanted for myself, I’m a very confident and passionate young women wanting to be successful, its my goal to follow my dreams and be very wealthy and proud be able to say I did it, for taking radio after my degree is what I want to do for definite. Furthermore I want to be an inspiration to the young Muslim females that didn’t get a chance to finish education and follow their dream, because it’s very tradition in my culture to get married and have a family of your own. Without a doubt I do want to follow my tradition of getting married and having family, but for now I will take a step ahead to follow my dreams and what I really want to do quite funny I can imagine myself being on a radio station and people would want to tune in early hours in the morning on their ways to work sampling the radio I did for year 2 part of media communication course we studied radio module and produced a 10 minute radio show, I received a lot of positive feedback not only from my peers but also my lecturers told me to take this on. My passion for radio grew even more since I started my media communication course at university. This was an eye opener into taking on radio presenting as a career it’s my comfort zone and if I'm honest I do like the sound of my own voice. My main goal is to work Kiss 100 a British radio station in London since it’s my favorite London station and hopefully follow experience with having my own radio show named: ‘MunMun Radio’ but for now my main focus is work for kiss 100 and be successful. Self evaluation expressed as personal SWOT CV and cover letter should be included in this section Interpersonal sensitivity based on agreeableness encompasses the status of being considerate towards situations and events. Agreeable personality is marked by nature of being tactful, sensitive, as well as altruism qualifying leaders to be more agreeable. There is that sense of modesty and non-excessive affiliation to certain groups. Within the social set-up people tend to discover certain group affiliations, however, the need for affiliation appears to be negatively related to leadership. There’s some sense of ambiguity between agreeableness and leadership (Ellis and Harper, 1997). Leadership based on conscientiousness focuses on the end results whereby the leader ensures appropriate completion of tasks. Positioning of leadership within organizations determines the level of group effectiveness. Performances within organizations depend on the nature of individual conscientiousness which ultimately determines the

News Paper Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

News Paper Summary - Essay Example The biggest producers of coffee are focusing on their best customers, a move that is driving up prices. Coffee consumption is rising in Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam, the countries that produce 60% of the worlds beans. Brazil’s consumption of coffee is expected to reach 1.03 million tons this year. Rising incomes have enabled consumers in producing nations to not only consume more coffee, but also demand higher quality. Consumers are also switching from cheaper substitutes such as tea. Brazils coffee production has increased by 61% over the last decade, but its exports have only risen by 34%, with the rest consumed locally. U.S. importers are paying higher prices because they compete with Brazilian buyers. In the ongoing official unraveling of Espà ­rito Santo Saga, multiple threads have led to Eurofin, a small Swiss company. Eurofin Holdings SA was the only auditor of Espà ­rito Santo’s books, which were  discovered to be riddled with irregularities. The firm is also indirectly connected to Banco Espà ­rito Santo through its chief financial officer, Joà £o Moreira Rato. Mr. Ratos partner, Joà £o Poppe, is the nephew of Ricardo Espà ­rito Santo Salgado. Eurofin also helped Banco Espà ­rito in creating debt products that were sold to retail investors recently. Portuguese authorities suspect that the profits were used to finance other troubled Espà ­rito Santo entities. The authorities are seeking to establish Eurofins multifaceted relationship with Espà ­rito Santo. Goldman Sachs Group  is reconsidering its business with hedge funds; it is discarding less-profitable customers and increasing fees on others in an attempt to adapt to new banking rules. The regulations have forced the bank to allocate more capital, reducing profits from its business. The changes highlight the way Wall Street is trying to conform to the changing landscape. The bank also is pulling its cash from its internal hedge fund. Banks

A porters 5 forces analysis of Microsoft Corporation Essay

A porters 5 forces analysis of Microsoft Corporation - Essay Example The following figure represents computer OS market share. Threat of new entrants is extremely high in the computer software industry. Faster product developments and technological innovations allow a new entrant to easily capture the market. The current industry trends indicate that people are highly attracted towards new software developments as they always try to replace the existing technology with more improved ones. It is obvious that a number of new market players have entered the software industry over the last two decades. However, higher entry costs reduce the threat of new market entrants to some extent. Nowadays, majority of the governments invests heavily in research and developments. Therefore, new entrants are overcoming the fund deficiency issue. Availability of substitutes raises potential threats to the Microsoft Corporation. Studies show that software design ideas are widely copied and most of the people and business are interested to use pirated software versions. According to Claburn (2011), it is expected that millions of people are using pirated Microsoft operating systems. Majority of the duplicated software provide full features to their users exactly as the original software do. Since such pirated or duplicated software are easily available at cheaper costs, many of the users are not interested to buy an original Microsoft version. Even though governments give great emphasis on the enforcement of intellectual property laws, software piracy and duplication cannot be prevented completely. While evaluating the marketing activities of Microsoft Corporation, it is clear that the firm exercises great control over its buyers (Levy, 2005). It is a known fact that Microsoft products are of supreme quality and thereby have a well market reputation. Furthermore, they are branded products. Hence, buyers

News Paper Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

News Paper Summary - Essay Example The biggest producers of coffee are focusing on their best customers, a move that is driving up prices. Coffee consumption is rising in Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam, the countries that produce 60% of the worlds beans. Brazil’s consumption of coffee is expected to reach 1.03 million tons this year. Rising incomes have enabled consumers in producing nations to not only consume more coffee, but also demand higher quality. Consumers are also switching from cheaper substitutes such as tea. Brazils coffee production has increased by 61% over the last decade, but its exports have only risen by 34%, with the rest consumed locally. U.S. importers are paying higher prices because they compete with Brazilian buyers. In the ongoing official unraveling of Espà ­rito Santo Saga, multiple threads have led to Eurofin, a small Swiss company. Eurofin Holdings SA was the only auditor of Espà ­rito Santo’s books, which were  discovered to be riddled with irregularities. The firm is also indirectly connected to Banco Espà ­rito Santo through its chief financial officer, Joà £o Moreira Rato. Mr. Ratos partner, Joà £o Poppe, is the nephew of Ricardo Espà ­rito Santo Salgado. Eurofin also helped Banco Espà ­rito in creating debt products that were sold to retail investors recently. Portuguese authorities suspect that the profits were used to finance other troubled Espà ­rito Santo entities. The authorities are seeking to establish Eurofins multifaceted relationship with Espà ­rito Santo. Goldman Sachs Group  is reconsidering its business with hedge funds; it is discarding less-profitable customers and increasing fees on others in an attempt to adapt to new banking rules. The regulations have forced the bank to allocate more capital, reducing profits from its business. The changes highlight the way Wall Street is trying to conform to the changing landscape. The bank also is pulling its cash from its internal hedge fund. Banks

Gender attribution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gender attribution - Essay Example The system is pretty straightforward, blue for boys and pink for girls. Even parents who opt to know their baby’s sex through ultrasound allows for an early determination of purchasing choices for the birth of their child. The moment the doctor informs them of the sex creates stability in their mind that will allow for easier choices in the things they will have to buy and the atmosphere they will have to create. It determined the color of the room, the crib, the clothes and the toys just to name a few. For those who wish to wait till actual birth, they will have to settle for neutral colors just to ensure they will not look foolish if they get the gender wrong. These practices of gender referencing through color is a major issue in stereotyping gender roles that start very early on in a person’s life. The young child’s life is bounded by specific categories pertaining to their gender that has consequent effects to their future. Katrin Bennhold’s â€Å"Toys Start the Gender Equality Rift† starts off with an anecdote that took place at Hamleys. A mother looks for a gift for her niece and specifically asks the attendant where the girls section is and even remarks on the need to categorize the store properly. This incident reflects how starting from toy stores, labeling is important to emphasize gender roles. The article cites Laura Nelson, a neuroscientist and head of Breakthrough which addresses stereotyping, who remarks that â€Å"Gender-specific-color-coding influences the activities children choose, the skills they build and ultimately the roles they take in society† (Bennhold par.7). ... This will be all well except that there also exists a pay gap where women earn approximately 16% less than their male counterparts from male-dominated industries. This also affects leadership as high positions are seen to be more appropriate for male employees. â€Å"Leadership is associated with ‘male’ qualities like aggressiveness and risk-taking† (Bennhold par.10). This can be seen even in politics and other areas of society where males usually take high positions faster than do women. To date, the country is yet to elect a female president. Nevertheless, there are toy stores and countries that aim to address the elimination of gender stereotyping through toys. Sweden has implemented governmental measures which foster neutrality in order to prevent gender stereotyping. Harrod’s toy department, Toy Kingdom, has also established â€Å"gender-nonspecific zones† that aims to deal with the issue. Apart from toy stores, another child-related business wh ich seems to propagate gender stereotyping is greeting cards. These cards given by friends and family when a child is born also specify gender roles. Though they are not accepted directly by the child, they demonstrate how parents play a vital role in their child’s future. Lynda Willer’s â€Å"Welcome to Your World, Baby† is a study of greeting cards and the greeting cards industry in the sale of cards that celebrate the arrival of a newborn. The study was conducted by visiting 10 greeting card stores and examining 30 cards from each to a total of 300. The 30 cards consist of 10 boy-identified, 10 girl-identified and 10 non-gender specific (338). The study focused on two research questions as follows: Research Question 1: What are the differences in language usage in boy-specified birth

Genetically Modified Food Should Be Limited Essay Example for Free

Genetically Modified Food Should Be Limited Essay Cigarettes and alcohol belong to the products with unhealthy substances which annually kill thousands people over the world. Many countries try to solve this global problem through the various campaigns or controversial advertisements. Governments attempt to make people conscious of all negatives of these products. However, this is not a case of genetically modified food. A lot of people are unaware of the content of genetically modified food, which they have been buying and eating every day for several years. New kinds of allergies or various types of diseases star spreading in some countries and a lot of people can not find any reason for getting them. Genetically modified food should belimited because of negative effects on environment, economy, people and society. Lack of information about genetically modified food causes that people do not have any possibility to make the same informed choice; therefore, this nontraditional food should have some limits. There are still a lot of people who have no idea about products which they buy and consume. When people go shopping to supermarkets, they can find great looking fruit, vegetable or meat; however, they can not see a label of GMF. For example, the US is one of the countries which do not require labeling. According to Britanny Shoot (2009), â€Å"the governmental and industry opposition to mandatory labeling has long been rooted in several arguments:† that production cost would be rapidly raised by labeling because of other monitoring of facilities; â€Å"that GM labels will signal safety or nutritional problems for consumers only accustomed to seeing nutritional information on labels and should therefore not be included† and that other labels â€Å"GM† and â€Å"GM-free† would be required. Therefore, production of genetically modified food should have some boundars if there are still countries in which people are not informed about this harmful food. Another point is that, genetically modified food could trigger a lot of different kind of diseases. When scientists have discovered GMF, it was progress in not only science but also sociaty. However, the first illnesses have appeared, since selling of genetically modified food spread over the world. For example, different kinds of allergies or cancers are the most dangerous diseases which could be caused by genetically modified food. According to Myron Stagman, PhD (2006), genetic modification avoid Evolution`s safeguard and can lead to growth of pathogens which often cause recorded, but unpublicized fatal disease epidemics. So people can suffer from some disease without consciousness that it could be caused by GMF. There is an untested virus gene in some GMF that could be toxic and harmful to not only people but also animals. (cited in Virus in GMF, 2013). Therefore, people could not be sure of effects of genetically modified food which they eat. In summary, this nontraditional food should not be without limits. It is also remarkable that genetically modified food could have negative effects on economy. There is a decrease in United State maize exports to the European Union from the beginning of production of GM crops. â€Å"Experts went a high of 2.8 million tons in 1995-96 to virtually nothing during 2000-01. That is a dramatic economic impact on U.S. farmers.† This is information from the source (C. Frompovich 2010). So production of genetically modified food could be slack and incapable to bring yield in some countries. GE crops, which are used commercially, do not support growth of the yield potential of a variety. They might even decline. â€Å"Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of GE crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative.† This is information from the source (GMF – renewed, 2008). Thus, genetically modified food should disappear from the market or be limited. Another claim is that genetically modified food may cause environmental dangerous changes. These shifts are related to not only people but also other organisms. An increased level of estrogen is caused by glyphosate, which is used in crops as resistance to weed. It could have harmful and long term effects on all mammals, including people which are very sensitive to the raised rate of estrogen. This is information from the source (Top 10 dangers of GMF, 2009). So, this nontraditional food can contain toxic substances which could cause to some animals harmful effects or deaf. According to Deborah B. Withman (2002), a lot of butterfly caterpillars die because of pollen from b.t. corn. The problem is that butterfly caterpillars which do not eat corn, but milkweed plants, could die because â€Å"pollen from b.t. corn is blown by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields.† Thus, genetically modified food and his production should be limited. However, the low cost of production and lower selling prices for more food stimulate a lot of people to consider this nontraditional food as the potential solution to the lack of food or even hunger. Therefore, there are still a lot of exponents, who believe that genetically modified food is very beneficial for human beings. While they can be right, there are still a lot of negatives of this controversial food. Some studies have shown that this nontraditional food can cause problems with human digestive system. The incorporation of some substances can interact badly with one another in food. In addition, GMF could cause poisoning, because the modification of certain genes could produce plant substances whichare difficult to digest at all. It is true that genetically modified food could be a solution of hunger and can help in case of the lack of food, but actually this nontraditional food could have several negative effects. Therefore, it should be limited because of negative impacts on humans, their health, environment and economy. It is usually good to invent something new but an advance for scientists do not have to be an advance for all humans. Reference Brittany Shoot (2009, November 25). GMO or No: Problematic Intersections of Religion, Biotechnology, and Food. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from Religiondispatches: http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/2018/gmo_or_no__problematic_intersections_of_religion__biotechnology__and_food__/ Stagman, M. Phd. (2006). GMO Disease Epidemics: Bt-cotton Fiber Disease. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from Portland: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/344305.shtml Virus in GM food could be dangerous. (2013, February 8). Retrieved February 12, 2013, from Unknowncountry: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/virus-gm-foods-could-be-dangerous Catherine J Frompovich. (2010, June 23). Economic Issues Surrounding Genetically Modified Foods. Retrieved February 15, 2013, from Infowars: http://www.infowars.com/economic-issues-surrounding-genetically-modified-foods/ Genetically modified (GM) foods renewed threat to Europe. (2008, December). Retrieved February 16, 2013, from Bangmfood:http://www.bangmfood.org/publications/4-short-leaflets/1-10-reasons-why-we-dont-need-gm-foods Top 10 dangers of genetically modified food. (2009, April). Retrieved February 15, 2013, from Invigorate306: http://www.invigorate360.com/reviews/top-10-dangers-of-genetically-modified-food/ Deborah B. Withman. (2000, April). Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? Retrieved February 15, 2013, from CSA: http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php.

Anderson And Hemingways Use Of The First Person Essay -- essays resear

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."At one point in his short story, "Big Two-Hearted River: Part II", Hemingway's character Nick speaks in the first person. Why he adopts, for one line only, the first person voice is an interesting question, without an easy answer. Sherwood Anderson does the same thing in the introduction to his work, Winesburg, Ohio. The first piece, called "The Book of the Grotesque", is told from the first person point of view. But after this introduction, Anderson chooses not to allow the first person to narrate the work. Anderson and Hemingway both wrote collections of short stories told in the third person, and the intrusion of the first person narrator in these two pieces is unsettling. In both instances, though, the reader is left with a much more absorbing story; one in which the reader is, in fact, a main character. With the exception of "My Old Man", which is entirely in the first person , and "On the Quai at Smyrna", which is only possibly in the first person, there is just one instance in In Our Time in which a character speaks in the first person. It occurs in "Big Two-Hearted River: Part II", an intensely personal story which completely immerses the reader in the actions and thoughts of Nick Adams. Hemingway's utilization of the omniscient third person narrator allows the reader to visualize all of Nick's actions and surroundings, which would have been much more difficult to accomplish using first person narration. Nick is seen setting up his camp in "Big Two-Hearted River: Part I" in intimate detail, from choosing the perfect place to set his tent to boiling a pot of coffee before going to sleep. The story is completely written the in third person and is full of images, sounds, and smells. In "Big Two-Hearted River: Part II" Hemingway exactly describes Nick's actions as he fishes for trout. Details of his fishing trip are told so clearly that the reader is almost an active participant in the expedition instead of someone reading a story. He carefully and expertly finds grasshoppers for bait, goes about breakfast and lunch-making, and sets off into the cold river. By being both inside and outside Nick's thoughts, the reader can sense precisely the drama that Hemingway wishes to bring to trout fishing.... ...art of the story. The entire book is a dialogue between narrator and reader. The effect is that the reader becomes even more involved in the stories. Both of these works are unlike others from the same time period which are told completely using first person narration. Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas and Anita Loos' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes are both written wholly in the first person. But both of these read like diaries, of which the reader is just that - a reader. Neither one has a point at which the reader is so definitely brought into the story consciously by the author. By jumping abruptly into first person instead of using it all along, Hemingway and Anderson more effectively do this. Anderson's and Hemingway's sudden switches to first person narration of course could not have been mere mistakes, and their reasons may have been even more convoluted than imaginable to late twentieth century readers. What is left are two collections of short stories in which the reader plays an actual role. The intrusion of first person narration makes these stories come alive in a way that a third person narration cannot, a tribute to the skill of both of these authors.

Outline from may 31- june 12, 1864 :: essays research papers fc

May 31 - June 12, 1864 In the overland campaign of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant with the Army of the Potomac battled General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia for six weeks across central Virginia. At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna and Totopotomoy Creek, Lee repeatedly stalled, but failed to stop, Grant's southward progress toward Richmond. The next logical military objective for Grant was the crossroads styled by locals Old Cold Harbor. May 31, 1864 After sparring along the Totopotomoy northeast of Richmond, Grant ordered Major General Philip Sheridan's cavalry to move south and capture the crossroads at Old Cold Harbor. Arriving near the intersection, the Union force ran into Major General Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate horsemen. A sharp contest ensued, soon joined by Confederate infantry under Brigadier General Thomas Clingman of Major General Robert Hoke's division. After a short battle, Union cavalry drove the Confederates beyond the crossroads. The Rebels then started digging new positions a half-mile to the southwest. June 1, 1864 Lee wished to retake Old Cold Harbor and sent Major General Joseph Kershaw's division to join Hoke in a morning assault. The effort was short and uncoordinated. Hoke failed to press the attack and Sheridan's troopers, armed with Spencer repeating carbines, easily repulsed the assault. Grant, encouraged by this success, ordered up reinforcements and planned his own attack for later the same day. If the Union frontal assault broke through the Confederate defenses, it would place the Union army between Lee and Richmond. After a hot and dusty night march, Major General Horatio Wright's VI Corps arrived and relieved Sheridan's cavalry, but Grant had to delay the attack Major General William Smith's XVIII Corps, Army of the James, marching in the wrong direction under out-of-date orders, had to retrace its route and arrived late in the afternoon. The Union attack finally began at 5 p.m. Finding a fifty yard gap between Hoke's and Kershaw's divisions, Wright's veterans poured through, capturing part of the Confederate lines. A southern counterattack however, sealed off the break and ended the day's fighting. Confederate infantry strengthened their lines that night and waited for the battle to begin next morning. June 2, 1864 Disappointed by the failed attack Grant planned another advance for 5 a.m. on June 2. He ordered Major General Winfield Hancock's II Corps to march to the left of the VI Corps. Exhausted by a brutal night march over narrow, dusty roads, the II Corps did not arrive until 6:30 a. Outline from may 31- june 12, 1864 :: essays research papers fc May 31 - June 12, 1864 In the overland campaign of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant with the Army of the Potomac battled General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia for six weeks across central Virginia. At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna and Totopotomoy Creek, Lee repeatedly stalled, but failed to stop, Grant's southward progress toward Richmond. The next logical military objective for Grant was the crossroads styled by locals Old Cold Harbor. May 31, 1864 After sparring along the Totopotomoy northeast of Richmond, Grant ordered Major General Philip Sheridan's cavalry to move south and capture the crossroads at Old Cold Harbor. Arriving near the intersection, the Union force ran into Major General Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate horsemen. A sharp contest ensued, soon joined by Confederate infantry under Brigadier General Thomas Clingman of Major General Robert Hoke's division. After a short battle, Union cavalry drove the Confederates beyond the crossroads. The Rebels then started digging new positions a half-mile to the southwest. June 1, 1864 Lee wished to retake Old Cold Harbor and sent Major General Joseph Kershaw's division to join Hoke in a morning assault. The effort was short and uncoordinated. Hoke failed to press the attack and Sheridan's troopers, armed with Spencer repeating carbines, easily repulsed the assault. Grant, encouraged by this success, ordered up reinforcements and planned his own attack for later the same day. If the Union frontal assault broke through the Confederate defenses, it would place the Union army between Lee and Richmond. After a hot and dusty night march, Major General Horatio Wright's VI Corps arrived and relieved Sheridan's cavalry, but Grant had to delay the attack Major General William Smith's XVIII Corps, Army of the James, marching in the wrong direction under out-of-date orders, had to retrace its route and arrived late in the afternoon. The Union attack finally began at 5 p.m. Finding a fifty yard gap between Hoke's and Kershaw's divisions, Wright's veterans poured through, capturing part of the Confederate lines. A southern counterattack however, sealed off the break and ended the day's fighting. Confederate infantry strengthened their lines that night and waited for the battle to begin next morning. June 2, 1864 Disappointed by the failed attack Grant planned another advance for 5 a.m. on June 2. He ordered Major General Winfield Hancock's II Corps to march to the left of the VI Corps. Exhausted by a brutal night march over narrow, dusty roads, the II Corps did not arrive until 6:30 a.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman

The film Diary of a Mad Black Woman depicts a situation that many people find themselves in every day. Helen McCarter is a successful wife who has everything it seems she could possibly ever want- a fantastically beautiful home and a well-off husband.Her husband literally throws her out of the house when he admits to having an affair so that his mistress and her children can move in. She relies on her family, close friends, and God to help her through the ordeal. When Helen’s husband is ironically maimed in a car accident, she cruelly torments him, the way that he abusively tormented her throughout their marriage.In one scene, Helen torments her husband because he can not bathe himself, and then literally throws him into a bathtub, rescuing him only seconds before he would have drowned. The film Diary of a Mad Black Woman depicts a fair amount of spousal abuse. In one of the opening scenes of the film, the husband (Charles) throws his wife out of the car and tells her that he hates her. Not only is this an extreme example of physical abuse, it is also an excellent example of the lesser known, and therefore lesser addressed, verbal and emotional abuse.However, Helen is for some reason completely blindsided by this turn of events, although it seems as if she has been enduring this abuse for the past eighteen years of their marriage. It certainly seems as though her sense of self worth has reached such a low that she could not even see how her husband leaving her was a possibility. I felt that there were many mixed messages showcased throughout this film. That is not to say it was not a good movie-I believe that it was. Diary of a Mad Black Woman took on a ridiculously Christian, preachy tone.When Helen begins dating a new man, she claims that he’s a â€Å"good Christian man,† as if this were a deal breaker. Helen apparently finds Jesus, become a devout Christian, and attends church religiously. Once her husband is injured in a gun fight, not only does she refuse to turn the other cheek, the audience is left to feel as if they should be cheering on her decidedly unchristian values. Helen takes advantage of her husband, which seems to be the farthest thing a true Christian would do. I think that there certainly was a lesson and a moral to this film, although I’m not sure that it came across in the correct way.The director was obviously trying to show that regardless of one’s past, it is possible to overcome horrific tragedy. Was this done about in the correct way? I believe not. I feel as if the writer and director of this film used â€Å"Christian values† as a crutch in order to get away with both a mediocre storyline and directing. Obviously, this was not an accurate portrayal of this specific type of phenomenon. It would take much more than â€Å"the power of Jesus† to restore one’s psyche after eighteen years worth of abuse.In addition, the fact that any behavior is alright, as long as it’s done in the name of Jesus, is completely disgusting, but this is how the film seems to justify Helen’s quick recovery. But, there certainly is something to be said for such strong message. Although the heroine’s plight was filmed as if she were extremely naà ¯ve in the first place, ultimately, the audience is left to assume that Helen has overcome the abuse she was dealing with. This film was, in my opinion, a good example of something that could happen in anyone’s life. It reminds me of a woman that used to attend our church with her family.The relationship she had with her husband was obviously strange, but no one could quite decide what was wrong with it. The husband was the associate pastor, and the wife volunteered in the church nursery almost every Sunday. Therefore, it seemed as if this couple could do no harm.Suddenly, one day she left her husband, and took her kids with her. People within the church immediately began blaming her for the abuse, claiming that she obviously did something wrong, and that she hadn’t â€Å"submitted to her husband† as the Bible demands. Later, people said that the only way she could be healed was through Jesus.Of course, this is ridiculous. Not to take anything away from religion, but most would agree that overcoming abuse requires therapy in different forms, and this is assuming that no other psychological disorders have stemmed from the abuse, such as depression, anxiety disorders, of post-traumatic stress disorder.Ultimately, I feel that this was a very strong movie, and that it depicted what abuse and its effects have on a person. While it was grossly understated, the audience certainly had a very good idea of what an abused person, especially an abused wife goes through during a recovery process.

The Isis-Aphrodite

This figure of Isis-Aphrodite is currently on exhibit in the Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum. It is displayed alongside several other artworks of deities from the ancient Mediterranean, each individual object incorporating aspects from a myriad of religious systems and cults. The Isis-Aphrodite figure dates back to the Roman Empire sometime between 150-200 CE. It is made from a copper alloy and would once have been a burnished orange, but now appears a dark green-gray. It is 29.9 cm tall and 15.3 cm wide. The figure stands with her weight on her right leg and her left leg slightly bent, in a relaxed contrapposto, her right foot slightly forward. Her arms are outstretched but bent at the elbows. In her left hand she holds a small pedestal upon which a miniature figure sits; in her right hand she grasps a handle, though the body of the object has come unattached. She is naked, but wears an array of jewelry: two armbands, round earrings, a necklace, and a crown. Her hair is parted down the middle and pulled back into a knot at the nape of her neck, with a coil of hair across each shoulder. She looks directly toward the viewer, her expression neutral. Her eyes sockets are large and round but empty, and might once have contained inlays. The figure embodies the goddesses Isis and Aphrodite, two foreign deities that were adopted by syncretic religious cults of the Roman Empire. Isis was one of the primary deities of the Egyptian pantheon, fulfilling a myriad of roles and responsibilities. As a wife and mother, magical healer, and protector of the dead, she was one of the most diverse deities of ancient Egypt. She was the wife and sister of Osiris, god of the dead and the afterlife, and the mother of Horus, god of the sky and the pharaohs; thus, Isis was closely associated with the afterlife, resurrection, fertility, and kingship (1). Even before the Romans conquered Egypt and adopted its gods, the Egyptians themselves had blurred the lines between their individual deities. Isis, notably, was closely associated with several deities, and dabbled in many domains. Most pertinent here is her association with the goddess Hathor, who was the personification of love and sexuality. It may have been the close tie between Isis and Hathor that allowed Isis to be so easily associated with the goddess Aphrodite during the Hellenistic and Roman eras, as Hathor served as a parallel to Aphrodite (4). As Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of love and sexuality, Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She was the daughter of Uranus, the primeval god of the sky, and wife to Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire. As the goddess of sexuality, Aphrodite was often depicted nude – more so in later eras. She was also often portrayed with her sacred animal, the dove, or one of her many symbols, such as a mirror, apple, or shell. When Alexander the Great, and later the Romans, conquered Egypt, they adopted the Egyptian Pantheon into the Greek one; some cults merged Isis with Aphrodite, and worshipped Isis-Aphrodite as a goddess of their combined realms. They also combined the two goddesses' iconography, as in the figure from the Archeological Museum. It would be difficult to identify the figure by its physiognomy alone, but it is made recognizable by its adornments and their symbolism. Several details help to identify the figure as some version of Aphrodite. The figure is unclothed, as Aphrodite was commonly depicted by this era. As the goddess of love and sexuality, she was often portrayed naked, and represented an ideal of beauty. She was also believed to have risen from the sea fully naked, born from seafoam when Uranus's genitalia were cut off by his son Kronos and thrown into the ocean. Her very origin reinforces the notion of her sexuality and lends credence to later depictions of her in the nude. The figure of Isis-Aphrodite is, however, adorned with lavish jewelry, as images of Aphrodite sometimes are. Of special note is the crown she wears – a Greek stephane, a metal headband that rose in the center and tapered down toward the temples. Greek female deities were often shown wearing a stephane, and sometimes a veil, which marked their divinity. The figure also holds two objects in her hands. In her right, she grasps a handle, although the upper part of the object is no longer attached; it is thought, however, to have once been a mirror. Mirrors were one of Aphrodite's many symbols, and represented her unmatched beauty. Nonetheless, this is only a postulate, and one cannot be sure what the missing element actually was. In her other hand, though, she still holds a small pedestal surmounted by a sitting figure. This component is what identifies the figure as Isis-Aphrodite. The pedestal resembles a lotus blossom, a sacred flower of the Egyptians that represented renewal. The flower would close at night and reopen at the dawn, and thus represented the daily cycle of the sun; it also represented rebirth, and was thus closely related to Osiris – Isis's husband – and the realm of the dead (3). Accordingly, the lotus was also associated with Isis herself. Sitting on the lotus is an image of the infant Harpocrates, who was a manifestation of Horus and the young sun (2). Harpocrates has a finger in his mouth and wears a disk on his head, a symbol of the sun. The details limn a very comprehensive image of Harpocrates, identifying the miniature figure as a canonical depiction of the young Horus, Isis's son. One of Isis's roles was that of a mother, and she was a fierce protectress. She is sometimes depicted with him, as in the Isis-Aphrodite figure.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Isis-Egyptian-goddesshttp://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=169http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=225http://www.academia.edu/5011152/The_Hellenistic-Roman_cult_of_Isis