Theatre History in Grossmont College production and Terrence especially

Breach vs. Breech

Breach vs. Breech Breach vs. Breech Breach vs. Breech By Sharon Mind the gap! The famous London Underground announcement can help to remind us when to use breach. Although often confused with breech, breach has an entirely different meaning. It originates from old French and was used in a military sense to denote a gap in fortifications. These days it applies to any gap, break or violation. Examples are: To breach the enemys defenses A breach of the peace A breach of the wall In contrast, breech, which is of uncertain origin, refers to the rear. The better known but now little used breeches refers to the covering for that part of the anatomy. It is also used for the rear of a weapon in the term a breech loading rifle. By extension, the meaning of breech covers something that is facing the wrong way, hence a breech birth. Here are some quotations from newspapers that illustrate the usage: her patient, at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, an emergency caesarean section because the premature infant was in a breech position but instead attempted to carry out the delivery naturally, it was alleged. (www.theguardian.com) husband started in the 1970s. She pulled up to the community center, where she would be teaching a class on delivering breech babies. The class was part of a weeklong seminar Gaskin and her fellow midwives were offering to an eclectic (www.nytimes.com) The Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation following the three breaches and found that MD Anderson had, in fact, written encryption policies dating as far back back to 2006. The (www.chron.com) and a huge embarrassment for C.I.A. officials.Now, the prime suspect in the breach has been identified: a 29-year-old former C.I.A. software engineer who had designed malware used to break into the (www.nytimes.com) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" Email EtiquetteSit vs. Set

Wildes play The Importance of Being Earnest Essay

Wildes play The Importance of Being Earnest - Essay Example It is said that satire gives rise to emotions which are not the best of humans. Such emotions would be anger, hatred, indignation and malice, as well as shame, guilt, and anxiety (Test 1). But satire also gives light to such negative emotions in the sense that it is combined with comedy, so that audiences could swallow reality better. It is also a common fact that people who are portrayed in satire are such that is a chore to be with, especially during the times that there is no choice in whom to be in company with. One of the most famous people who portrayed satire at its best is Oscar Wilde. Known not just for the plays that he wrote, he was also an icon, to the point that he and his flamboyant personality were far more famous than his works (Van Kirk 2). He was born into an affluent Victorian family and was surrounded by intellectuals. Eventually, he showed promise as a writer during his days in Oxford. But his times there were also the factors that made him the flashy person that he was (3). Unfortunately, due to the scandals that Wilde committed, his works became devalued and he was sent to prison, having his spirit and body crushed. He was never the same again, and he died an unloved man in 1900 (Gregory 2). However, his works were revisited in the 1960’s, and he was regarded as one of the best when it came to portrayals of his time (Van Kirk 9). Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest was a hit when it first opened on February 14, 1895. While it did poke fun at the morals and values of the upper-class society, it was well-written in such a way that the elite believed the play was a glimpse of what they really do, for the middle-class and lower-classes to see (Gregory 7). This kind of style that isn’t bitter satire made Wilde’s plays successful and widely accepted by the Victorian Era, while at the same time exposing the hypocrisy of the elite. Also, aside from poking fun at the superficial concerns of the Victorian societ y (which he is quite very much familiar with), Wilde made his characters rather charming so that people can relate to them well and love them despite their traits (Quintero 465). The characters in the play are mostly members of the upper-class Victorian society, which consists mostly of people of aristocratic origin, those who were able to acquire immense wealth, as well as the middle class which had professionals. The poor and working-class people were only portrayed as lackeys and footmen but were still visible in the play. Exaggerations of trivial matters by the elite were emphasized while the acceptance of virtues such as hard-work and patience were showed well by the working and middle-class. In a way, the play mixes such values and at the same time shows that there is an eventual change in the way society works: that eventually the middle-class would be taking over and that the aristocrats would be losing their voices, while the lower-class would still be at the lowest rung (G regory 7).

Family Cultural Heritage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Family Cultural Heritage - Essay Example As Lowenfield observed, play involves application of all necessary activities in a child’s self-generated and spontaneous activities that are an end in themselves; implying that such development is best realized when a child initiates an activity out of their own interests, and leads to knowledge and development explained above. In such development process through paly, children are limited by their cultural expectations and roles; society encourages each child to play a game that is in line with their general expectations or the parent has to ensure the security of children during such games. During my childhood days, the park behind our house was always my favorite spot to play. I was a little different from other girls in my hometown because most of them played indoors due to a hostile weather. My parents knew that I was born with great energy; therefore they introduced me to playing with equipment such as a bicycle and basketball. This is in accordance with the cultural theory in play, which explains the family influence of play aimed at instilling more meaningful social interactions that individuals adopt in their social groups. With only one sibling in my family, my brother was always my best friend; I believe the interaction in our playing crated a unique configuration of individuality, leading to the strong bonds between us. He was always the one that I played with in my childhood days because we had the same interest in sport. Every afternoon after pre-school, I would go cycling around my house area and after my brother got back from school, he would ask me to pl ay basketball together. The first thing he would ask before we played was to get the rebounds after the shots that he was practicing. I was pretty frustrated as he would not let me play with him, but he made excuses such as asking me how to learn to catch and pass before I could play with him. This

Stacey's view of Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stacey's view of Organisations - Essay Example All this stems from one concept, the concept of complexity. This affects the way managers approach strategic management, chaos in their organisation and in managing the complex responsive processes that form the basic interaction between the people. "Strategic management is the process of actively participating in the conversations around important emerging issues. Strategic direction is not set in advance but understood in hindsight as it is emerging or after it has emerged." (Stacey 2003, Ch:17, p 15). Stacey's approach to the organizational structure as a complex adaptive systems which are analogous to viewing them as a combination of complex responsive processes, modifies the approach of the manager to a great extent. According to Stacey, since the organisation is formed too many complex factors, the extent to which the happening in the organisation can be predicted is very low. Every organisation is individualistic. The self organising experience of the organisations tends to make them evolve into a form of their own. Every individual who make up the organisation responds in his or her own way making the organisation all the more complex. Therefore, Stacey suggests, that it is highly impossible for a manager to create a clear target for the organisation and move towards it (Stacey 2001). It is quite possible for the company to get affected by the varied factors and the target itself could get diluted. This concept is also reinforced by other writers. Strategy is structured chao s, says Shona Brown and Kathleen Eisenhardt (1998). Whether the manager looks at the organisation from an external position or from the internal position, the chaos in the company has influence on the way the work is done in the company. This also affects the decisions and the interactions, thereby making the strategy an evolving concept rather than one fixed strategy that would move towards an achievement. More often, according to Stacey, modelling theories tend to treat the number of factors that affect the chaotic behaviour in an impersonal way; whereas, all these are highly subjective and tend to vary with the people and their moods. This has to be taken into consideration when deciding on the strategy of the organisation that is to be worked out. There can possibly be an overall plan or objective or mission and the methodology to achieve the same could be evolved as the work progresses. Sometimes this evolution could also occur when a problem comes up. All this implies that there will continue to exist, the control and targeted m anagement in the organisation; however, organisations cannot survive by following a blue print. Instead, it is the spontaneous self-organisation that moves it forward. (Stacey 2003, Ch:13 p 19). Stacey's Alternatives Stacey suggests a number of alternatives to the managers. These alternatives under the chaotic condition that most of the organisations tend to be in, are the following: 1. In the ever changing context that the businesses are in, it is essential for the manager to take a different perspective on various common aspects that make up the world of change. 2. Stacey views, mind itself can be thought of as a set of complex responsive processes, making it a subset of the organisation. With numerous people making up the organisation and every person is a set of complex

Case study of the Management and Organisation of ADIDAS

Case study of the Management and Organisation of ADIDAS Adidas is a Germany shoe, clothing and apparel company that also owns Reebok, Taylor Made and Rockport. Adidas is the largest sportswear company in Europe and is the second only to Nike as the largest sportswear company in the world. The company sports the recognizable logo of three slanted parallel bars of ascending height. Adidas was founded in 1924 by Adolf Dassler, but it did not become a fully registered company until 1940. Its headquarters are located in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the hometown of its founder. Although many believe that Adidas stands for All day I dream about soccer the true origin of the name comes from the amalgamation of Adolfs nickname, Adi, and the first three letter of his last name. Adidas specializes in the design and manufacturing of footwear, sportswear, sports equipment and, yes, even toiletries, most notably, deodorant. However, the company first gained international recognition in 1936 at the Summer Olympic in Berlin, where it outfitted U.S. track star Jesse Owens with its track shoes. Owens won four gold medals in the games. With a specifically stated Corporate Strategy, the company needs to ensure that their organizational structure will allow for and be flexible to this strategy being sought after. Their objectives outlined in the corporate strategy ensure the mission statement will translate into action, while also guiding and coordinating decisions. There is no purpose in having well thought out strategic objectives, but no structure and cohesion to attain these objectives. The Adidas Group comprises of a four person executive board, including one Chief Executive Officer and three board members representing the shareholders and six members representing the staff. The Supervisory Board advices and supervises the executive board in matter concerning the management of the company. It is the role of the supervisory board to ensure that the pathway and vision determine by the executive board is forthrightly followed by the rest of the organization from the top, all the way down to those entrusted with man ufacturing their products. The strengths of ADIDAS are strong management team and good corporate strategy in North American and overseas markets, brand recognition and reputation, diversity and variety in productions offered on the web (footwear, apparel, sporting, equipment, etc.), strong control over its own distribution channel, strong customer base, and strong financial position with minimal long term debts. Weakness of ADIDAS is negative image portrayed by poor working condition in its overseas factories, and E-commerce is limited to USA. Planning Planning is one of the most important project management and techniques. A plan is like a map, when following a plan, you can always see how much you have progressed towards your project goal and how far you are from your destination. Knowing where you are is essential for making good decisions on where to go or what to do next. The most important is to ensure that everyone is clear of what to accomplish. Planning meaning is how setting goals and defining the actions necessary to achieve the goals, in light of the situation. That is situation must be analyses or understood and the appropriate goals and actions must be determined in order to take advantage of opportunities and how to solve problems. Basic management function involving formulation more than one detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of needs or demands with available resources. First, the planning process is identifies the goals or objectives to be achieved and formulates strategies to achieve them. The Managers throughout the organization must develop goals, strategy, and operational plans for their work groups that contribute to the success of the organizations as a whole. Planning is also crucial for meeting your needs during each action with your time, money, or other resources. With careful planning you often can see if at some point you are likely to face a problem. It is much easier to adjust your plan to avoid overcome crisis, rather than to deal with the crisis when it comes unexpected time. Example Adidas plans to expand their operations in Europe, so they need consultation to the Government of Germany. They have been granted landing rights in Paris and are awaiting further details from authorities. In addition, planning has a different meaning depending on the political or economic context in which it is used. Two attitudes to planning need to be held in tension on the one hand we need to be prepare for what may lie ahead, which may mean contingencies and flexible processes. There is one thing on which every manager can expect to be appraised, the extent to which he or she archives his or her units goals or objectives. Whether its a work team or a giant enterprise, the manager in charge is expected to move the unit ahead, and this means visualizing where the unit must go and helping het there. Organization exits to achieve some purpose, and if they fail to move forward and achieve their aims, to that extent they have failed. On the other hand, our future is shaped by consequences of our own planning and actions. Planning in organization and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a program. In the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to set a desired target or goal on some scale. Business planning is like water to a thirsty plant. It keeps our business vital and thriving. Without business planning, business will never improve as it could may even loses or bankrupt. Many small business or stall owners dont have the business planning so they cant earn so much profit when their doing business. Their business unable further progress and stagnant it is, eventually as to close to close shop or behind other competitors. The rapid of change in todays business world and globalization is making it increasingly necessary that mangers keep their plans current. Strategic management is the application of the basic planning process at the highest levels of the organization. Through the strategic management process, top management determines the long-run direction and performance of the organization by ensuring careful formulation and strategies. For example, top management may ask middle and lower-level managers for inputs when formulation top-level plans. Once top-level plans have been finalized, different organizational units may be asked to formulate plans for their respective areas. A proper strategic management process helps ensure that plans throughout the different levels of the organization are coordinated and mutually supportive. The slogan of Adidas is Impossible is Nothing. The mission of Adidas is to be Best Sport Brand in the world. They had achieved the mission but in this strong competitive era, too many company like Nike and Reebok also want to be globally recognized brand, but they will work hard to achieve their goals. Adidas is passionate about all sports. So Adidas Company will try their best for planning new product or equipment for athletes. As part of their End-to-End Planning initiative they have been focusing on implementing an optimized demand planning process and system more than 20 countries in Europe. They standardized or partially automated certain planning functions to increase forecast accuracy. Following the first wave of implementations in 2008, they continued the roll-out to the remaining European countries throughout 2009. Hereafter, they expect to continue the roll-out to other key Adidas Group markets such as Japan. They set up a dedicated Profitability Management department to monitor macroeconomics trends, forecast the impact on product and supplier cost and devise their supply chain profitability strategy. In addition, their development teams also contribute significantly to this initiative by engineering their products with a stronger focus on price. Throughout 2009, they also engaged their supplier with the aim to increase transparency and predictability in costing. Such as, they closely tracked raw material costs and leveraged this information to consolidate volumes. This allowed them to negotiate more effectively and offset cost increase. In addition, their sourcing teams improved their products allocation process to better utilize suppliers capabilities and take into account of total supply chain cost. Moreover, by leveraging consolidated volumes, their Transport and Customs team success negotiated reduced transportation cost and optimized shipment routes with their service providers. In conclusion, planning is very important for the organization to achieve their goals and objectives. Especially, current globalization every organization is using latest technology to do the market analyses and compressive planning. In order for them to survive and growth, for example, in year 2008, financial crisis, many banks in US will decline bankrupt. This is because of their poor planning. Organizing Organizing (also spelled organising) is the act of rearranging elements following one or more rules. For a company organization is means to an end to achieve its goals, which are to create value for its stakeholders (stockholders, employees, customers, suppliers, community). The Study of organisations includes a focus on optimizing organisation structure. According to management science, most human organizations fall roughly into four types. They are pyramids or hierarchies, committees juries, Matrix organisations and Ecologies. Organising is the managerial function of making sure there are available the resources to carry out the plan. Organising involves the assignment of tasks, the grouping of tasks into department, and the allocation of resources to department Organising is the managerial function of arranging people and resources to work toward a goal. The purposes of organizing include but are not limited to determining the tasks to be performed in order to achieve objectives, dividing tasks into specific jobs, grouping job into department specifying reporting and authority relationship, delegating the authority necessary for task accomplishment, and allocating and deploying resources in a coordinated fashion. Managers must bring together individuals and tasks to make effective use of people and resources. Three elements are essential to organizing to develop the structure of the organisation. Organising are also acquiring and training human resources. In addition, organising are establishing communication patterns and networks. Determining the method of grouping these activities and resources is the organizing process. Organising is the process of defining and grouping activities and establishing authority relationships among them to attain organisation objectives. Organisation is the process of identifying and grouping of the works to be performed, defining and delegating responsibility and authority and establishing relationships for the purpose of ena bling people to work most efficiently. Organising can be viewed as the activities to collect and configure resources in order to implement plans in a highly effective and efficient fashion. Organising is a broad set of activities, and often considered one of major functions of management. Therefore, there are a wide variety of topics in organising. The following are some of major types of organising required in a business organisation. Organising is the structural frameworks within the various efforts are co-ordinated and related to each other. Organising is one of the basic functions of management. Organising is referred to a creating a structure of relationship for the efficient management of the enterprise. In other words organisation means a group of persons working together to achieve some common objectives. It is related with building up of a framework or structure of various inter related parts.This is the process of allocating and arranging human and non human resources so t o achieve organizational goals. Issues of organisational culture and human resource management are also related to this function. Furthermore, organising also includes the activity of acquiring the resources that the organisation needs to achieve its aims. In many organizations, staffing and sourcing of funds and raw materials take up much time and effort. Anything is commonly considered organized when it looks like everything has a correct order or placement. But its only ultimately organized if any element has no difference on time taken to find it. In that sense, organizing can also be defined as to place different objects in logical arrangement for better searching. Organizations are groups of people frequently trying to organize some specific subject, such as political issues. So, even while organizing can be viewed as a simple definition, it can get as complex as organizing the worlds information. Organising also means creating an organisation structure that is suitable for th e achievement of the agreed objectives. Work has to be allocated, lines of authority and responsibility defined, and a system of rules and procedures that guide the conduct of employees laid down. The structure should not be regarded as permanent but as constantly changing to suit the organisations needs. The organisation is where resources come together. Organisations use different resources to accomplish goals. The major resources used by organisation are often described as follow : Human resources financial resources, physical resources, and information resources. Managers are responsible for acquiring and managing the resources to accomplish goals. Organising will work towards maximum efficiency and minimum waste. Organising helps organisation to reap the benefit of specialization. Organising provides for optimum utilization of resources. Organising helps in Effective administration. Organising channels for expansion and growth. Organising achieves co-ordination among different departments. Organising creates scope for new change. The advantages of this include easy communication due to shared specialization, better performance evaluation within the team, and quicker decision making as they are all on the same perspective. The main disadvantage is that coordination between different departments become more difficult. Divisional, which is based on product, market or geography has the advantage of functions being able to focus on a specific good, service or customer. This promotes high quality products and customer service. The risk is in conflict arising between division if they begin to compete for organisational resources or pursue individual objectives. Other than that, organising plays a central role in management process. Once plans are created the managers task is to see that they are carried out. Given a clear mission, core values, objectives, and strategy, the relationship. It identifies who is to do what, who is in charge of whom, and how different people and parts of the organisation relate to and work with one another. All of this, of course, can be done in different ways. The strategic leadership challenge is to choose the best organisational form to fit the strategy and other situational demands. When organising, managers must take decision about the division of labour and work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of management, centralization, and formalization. Collectively, these decisions are often called organisational design. There is no standard formula for the best way to organise an enterprise. Several factors have been shown to influence organising decision. Among the most important of these factors are strategy, size, environmental conditions, and technology. Managers organise in order to achieve the objectives for the enterprise for which they work. Thus, the strategy of the enterprise affects organising decision. Change in strategy frequently necessitates changes in the way the enterpri se is organised. Small enterprise tend exhibit less formalization, centralization, and complexity in their organisational structure. Nevertheless, enterprises of the same size may be organised quite differently because of differences in strategy, environmental conditions, and technology. The key factor in the external environment that is relevant to organising is uncertainty. Some enterprises face competitive environments that change rapidly and quite complex, while others face relatively stable conditions. Generally, turbulent environments call for organising decisions that lead to less formalization and centralization in the organisational structure. The processes by which an enterprise transforms inputs into outputs may also affect organising decisions. Some research suggests that organising decisions that lead to high degrees of formalization, centralization, and work specialization are more appropriate for routine technologies and that the converse is true for non-routine techn ologies. Competition is tough but is steady and manageable, the handling of cost leadership is reasonable and such differentiation follows an organized pattern is such focused activities and events of the company. Adidas will be sustaining capital investment and access to capital and apply process engineering skills in such ideal supervision of labour in giving good brand value to such products being designed for manufacturing purposes as they have applied a structured organisation and responsibility driven business ways that narrow. Adidas ability to maintain enough of price differential to offset competitors brand image for differentiation. The need for strong coordination among functions in R D, product development and marketing and focus on company policies as directed in such strategic target. Leading Leading is organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal. The leader may or may not have any formal authority. Students of leadership have produced theories involving traits, situational interaction, function, behavior, power, vision and values, charisma, and intelligence among others. Leading has been described as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Leading is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen. Leading needs to be distinguished from posturing .The following sections discuss several important aspects of leading including a description of what leading is and a description of several popular theories and styles of leading. This article also discusses topics such as the role of emotions and vision, as well as leading effectiveness and performance, leading in diff erent contexts, how it may differ from related concepts of management, and some critiques of leadership as generally conceived .Leading as one of four functions of management, leading can be both extremely important and challenging. Along with planning, organizing and controlling, all managers will execute these four functions of management. From managing a local store to managing a large corporation, every manager will perform each of the functions at some point in their jobs. Ideally all managers should be good leaders; it is a way of establishing a cohesive group which moves towards organizational goals and objectives with spirit and vigor. While handling people a good leader will not only manage his own resources well, he or she also can motivation the worker, employee to complete their work that been given. A leader should strive to become an inspiration to the rest of the employees. Employees will follow a leader because the leader have the authority that given by boss to lead ing the employee. However, a leader that is an inspiration means that employees follow that person because they believe in what the leader is doing and they are trying to help the company achieve its goals. Finding ways to inspire employees means coaching them and motivating them to succeed as integral parts of the company. Significant relationships exist between leading and such individual traits as intelligence, adjustment, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and general self-efficacy. Considering the criticisms of the trait theory outlined above, several researchers have begun to adopt a different perspective of leader individual differences the leader attribute pattern approach .In contrast to the traditional approach, the leader attribute pattern approach is based on theorists arguments that the influence of individual characteristics on outcomes is best understood by considering the person as an integrated totality rather than a summation of individual va riables. In other words, the leader attribute pattern approach argues that integrated constellations or combinations of individual differences may explain substantial variance in both leader emergence and leader effectiveness beyond that explained by single attributes, or by additive combinations of multiple attributes. In response to the early criticisms of the trait approach, theorists began to research leading as a set of behaviors, evaluating the behavior of successful leaders, determining a behavior taxonomy and identifying broad leading styles. For example, Leading takes a strong personality with a well developed positive ego. Not so much as a pattern of motives, but a set of traits is crucial. To lead self-confidence and a high self-esteem is useful, perhaps even essential. The researchers evaluated the performance of groups of eleven-year-old boys under different types of work climate. In each, the leader exercised his influence regarding the type of group decision making, p raise, criticism and feedback , and the management of the group tasks project management according to three styles is : authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire. Authoritarian climates were characterized by leaders who make decisions alone, demand strict compliance to his orders, and dictate each step taken; future steps were uncertain to a large degree. The leader is not necessarily hostile but is aloof from participation in work and commonly offers personal praise and criticism for the work done. Democratic climates were characterized by collective decision processes, assisted by the leader. Before accomplishing tasks, perspectives are gained from group discussion and technical advice from a leader. Members are given choices and collectively decide the division of labor. Praise and criticism in such an environment are objective, fact minded and given by a group member without necessarily having participated extensively in the actual work. Laissez faire climates gave freedom to the group for policy determination without any participation from the leader. The leader remains uninvolved in work decisions unless asked, does not participate in the division of labor, and very infrequently gives praise. Positive reinforcement occurs when a positive stimulus is presented in response to a behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior in the future. The following is an example of how positive reinforcement can be used in a business setting. Assume praise is a positive reinforcement for a particular employee. This employee does not show up to work on time every day. The manager of this employee decides to praise the employee for showing up on time every day the employee actually shows up to work on time. As a result, the employee comes to work on time more often because the employee likes to be praised. In this example, praise is a positive reinforcement for this employee because the employee arrives to work on time more frequently after being praised for show ing up to work on time. The use of positive reinforcement is a successful and growing technique used by leaders to motivate and attain desired behaviors from subordinates. Used reinforcement to increase productivity and also increase in performance. Additionally, many reinforcement techniques such as the use of praise are inexpensive, providing higher performance for lower costs.

Neural Vision System :: Essays Papers

Neural Vision System Researchers at the University of Houston in Texas have developed a neural vision system that allows a robot to adapt to a changing world. The machine is designed to explore, experience (for better or worse) and then make future decisions based on that experience: typical behavior for any neural device. What is unusual is its ability to "learn new tricks" if the rules it learned through experience no longer apply. In both simulated and hardware experiments, the robot was shown to be able to identify objects correctly, even if the value associated with them changed over time. Neural networks are computing devices based on the way our own brains work. They consist of many, usually simple, processing elements that are wired together in parallel. Unlike conventional computers, which are based on algorithms or rules to be followed in order to produce a result, neural networks act as adaptive filters. They are trained by feeding them inputs and the correct "answers" to those inputs. This information changes the way the network is connected so that the next similar input can produce a similar correct output. One of the issues that neural network designers have been struggling with over the years is how to structure the neural network without prejudging the situations that it is going to encounter. Other methods of creating artificial intelligence, such as building in so-called behaviors or creating expert systems, have the disadvantage of generally requiring some knowledge about the world before they start. In behavioral robots (those that have an automatic, preprogrammed response to stimuli from the outside world), that knowledge can be hard wired, whereas, in the expert system case, the knowledge is contained in the software. Engineers Ramkrishna Prakash and Haluk Ãâ€"gmen wanted, instead, for their robot to be able to learn on the fly the way people do, adapting as circumstances changed. The solution they came up with is the neural-network architecture, called frontal. Basically, the network allows a robot (in this case a robot arm with video cameras for eyes) to identify new objects and decide whether to pick them up, and learn from its previous good and bad decisions. The first part of the system (labeled spatial novelty) is an array of so-called gated dipoles, each of which addresses a different area in the robot's field of view. The gated dipoles basically performs a comparison between the incoming information about that point in space and what it was like previously.

Development of Language

The manner in which children learn to understand and successfully communicate through language is among the most important questions studied by psychologists. The appropriate use of language is central to virtually all aspects of learning and social development. Successful and appropriate language communication is also closely linked to the individual’s place in society, while the inability to communicate clearly hampers and may virtually eliminate a person’s ability to cope with even the simplest educational and social situations.The drawings produced by preschoolers can be channeled by parents and teachers so that they can print letters for a start. They will not be able to distinguish writing from drawing initially but around the age of 4, children will show distinctive features of print like forms arranged in a line on the page (Levin & Bus, 2003 as cited in Chapter 8). The studies of imitative language focus on children’s acquisition of grammatical rules by observational learning.Investigators have also been interested in whether the substance of a child’s language can be modified by exposure to social models (without any reinforcement to the child for appropriate responses). Numerous experiments have now disclosed that principles for generating novel responses can be acquired through observation of others (Bandura and McDonald, 1963). If principles of language usage, rather than mere words, can be shown to be acquired through observational learning, then, thus would provide at least a partial account of the process of language acquisition.Erik Erikson as psychoanalyst taught that any person, child or adult faces specific life crisis that they have to resolve in order to perform their tasks (Atkinson 1993). During early childhood or preschool, a child develops an ability to initiate activities (Atkinson 1993). teachers have to learn how to encourage or discourage them in order that the child would not feel inadequate (Atkinson 1 993).During middle child hood or elementary, children learn various skills such as reading and writing, but they have to interact socially with others in order to feel successful or competent, otherwise they would feel inferior (Atkinson 1993). During this time, a teacher should constantly but reasonably praise a child for a job well done. Another way of supporting the development of language in early childhood is through make-believe play. Piaget claimed that by pretending, young people can now practiced and strengthen newly acquired representational schemes (Chapter 9).

25 Adverbs That Get an A

25 Adverbs That Get an A 25 Adverbs That Get an â€Å"A† 25 Adverbs That Get an â€Å"A† By Mark Nichol You already know many adverbs that start with a-, a prefix that can mean, among other things, â€Å"on† (aboard) â€Å"in a state† (asleep), or â€Å"in a manner† (aloud). Here’s a roster of some of the lesser-known words in this class, many of which inspire vivid imagery, evoke an archaic or rustic tone, or conjure an amusing tableau, perhaps all at once: 1. Aback (â€Å"surprised†; usually employed in the phrase â€Å"taken aback† in a passively constructed sentence): â€Å"She was taken aback by his vehemence.† 2. Abaft (â€Å"at or toward the stern†): â€Å"They found the drunken sailor abaft, sleeping in a lifeboat.† 3. Abed (â€Å"in bed†): â€Å"He found his friend abed, felled by a high fever.† 4. Ablaze (â€Å"on fire†): â€Å"As they had feared, the shed was ablaze, the flames lighting the night sky.† 5. Afar (â€Å"at a distance†): â€Å"From afar, they descried the outline of a magnificent castle.† 6. Afield (â€Å"on the field,† â€Å"away from home,† or â€Å"lost†): â€Å"The absentminded fellow, engrossed in a scholarly volume, soon found himself far afield.† 7. Afire (see ablaze) 8. Aflutter (â€Å"agitated,† or â€Å"flapping†): â€Å"The ladies were all aflutter at hearing the stranger’s vivid imprecations.† 9. Afoot (â€Å"on foot,† or â€Å"under way†): â€Å"The conspirators, he noticed as he watched them sneak away from the house, were already afoot.† 10. Afresh (â€Å"again†): â€Å"Invigorated by the contents of the flask, we strode off afresh.† 11. Agape (â€Å"gaping,† or â€Å"exhibiting wonder†): â€Å"We stood staring at the spectacle, mouths agape.† 12. Aghast (â€Å"shocked†): â€Å"She stood aghast, rendered speechless by the destruction we had wrought.† 13. Agog (â€Å"eager†): â€Å"We kids were of course agog with excitement, for it was Christmas morning.† 14. Apace (â€Å"quickly,† or â€Å"keeping up with†): â€Å"The children kept apace with the marching band.† 15. Aright (â€Å"correctly,† or â€Å"in proper orientation†): â€Å"We set the fallen statue aright.† 16. Askance (â€Å"sideways,† and, by association, â€Å"with suspicion†): â€Å"Doubtful of the newcomer’s motives, she looked askance at him.† 17. Askew (â€Å"out of line,† or â€Å"disheveled†; the root word is skew, â€Å"oblique, slanted†): â€Å"His coat hung askew on his shoulders.† 18. Aslant (â€Å"at a slant,† â€Å"oblique†): â€Å"The sun’s rays struck the wall aslant.† 19. Aslope (â€Å"sloping,† or â€Å"slanting†): â€Å"The poorly erected tent tottered aslope under the tree.† 20. Astir (â€Å"active,† or â€Å"out of bed†): â€Å"She found the children, excited about the day’s celebration, already astir in their room.† 21. Astride (â€Å"with legs apart or on each side†): â€Å"He stood with his legs astride the struggling figure.† 22. Asunder (â€Å"apart,† or â€Å"in parts†): â€Å"The parchment had been rent asunder, and they painstakingly pieced it back together.† 23. Athwart (â€Å"obliquely across,† or â€Å"erroneously† or â€Å"unexpectedly†): â€Å"The rifle lay athwart the seat of the rowboat.† 24. Atilt (â€Å"tilted,† or, from tilt as a synonym for joust, â€Å"armed with a lance†): â€Å"The clumsily mounted knight charged, atilt in more than one sense.† 25. Awry (â€Å"turned† or â€Å"twisted,† or â€Å"other than correct or expected†): â€Å"To their dismay, they found that their plot had gone awry.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite Adjectives"Latter," not "Ladder"10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Astrology

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Astrology Astronomy and astrology are two distinct subjects: one is a science, and one is a parlor game. However, the two topics are frequently confused. Astronomy, as well as the related field of astrophysics, covers the science of stargazing and the physics that explains how stars and galaxies work. Astrology is a non-scientific practice that draws connections between star positions to make predictions about the future. The work of ancient astrologers formed the basis for the star and navigational charts used by the ancients, as well as some of the constellations we know today. However, there is no scientific basis in todays practice of astrology. Key Takeaways: Astronomy vs. Astrology Astronomy is the scientific study of the stars, planets, and galaxies, and their motions.Astrophysics uses principles and laws of physics to explain how stars, planets, and galaxies form and function. Astrology is a non-scientific form of entertainment that draws connections between human behavior and the alignment of the stars and planets. Astronomy and Astrophysics The difference between astronomy (literally law of the stars in Greek) and astrophysics (derived from the words Greek words for star and physics) comes from what the two disciplines are trying to accomplish. In both cases, the goal is to understand how objects in the universe function.   Astronomy describes the motions and origins of the heavenly bodies (stars, planets, galaxies, etc.). It also refers to the subject that you study when you want to learn about those objects and become an astronomer.  Astronomers study the light emanating or reflected from distant objects.   in astronomy, the bright star Alpha Centauri and its surrounding stars are studied by both astronomers and in astrophysics in order to understand their characteristics. . This is a main sequence star, just as the Sun is. NASA/DSS Astrophysics is literally the physics of the many different types of stars, galaxies, and nebulae. It applies the principles of physics to describe the processes involved in the creation of the stars and galaxies, as well as learning what drives their evolutionary changes. Astronomy and astrophysics are definitely interrelated but are clearly trying to answer different questions about the objects they study. Think of astronomy as saying, Heres what all these objects are and astrophysics as describing heres how all these objects work.   Astrophysics tells scientists about how stars, such as the Sun, work. Astrophysicists may also study how the solar wind interacts with the planets, as shown here. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center Despite their differences, the two terms have become somewhat synonymous in recent years. Most astronomers receive the same training as astrophysicists, including the completion of a graduate program in physics (although there are many very good pure astronomy programs being offered). Others begin in mathematics and gravitate to astrophysics in graduate school. Much of the work done in the field of astronomy requires the application of astrophysical principles and theories. So while there are differences in definitions of the two terms, in application it is difficult to distinguish between them. When someone studies astronomy in high school or college, they first learn purely astronomy topics: motions of celestial objects, their distances, and their classifications. A deeper study of how they work requires physics and eventually astrophysics. Astrology Astrology (literally star study in Greek) is largely regarded as a pseudoscience. It does not study the physical characteristics of stars, planets, and galaxies. It is not concerned with applying principles of physics to the objects it uses, and it has no physical laws that help explain its findings. In fact, theres very little science in astrology. Its practitioners, called astrologers, simply use the positions of stars and planets and the Sun, as seen from Earth, to predict  people’s individual characteristics, affairs and future. Its largely akin to fortune-telling, but with a scientific gloss to give it some kind of legitimacy. In truth, theres no way to use stars and planets to tell anything about a give persons life or loves. Its all very imaginary and fanciful, but some people do derive a lot of satisfaction from fiddling with it. The Ancient Role Astrology Played in Astronomy While astrology has no scientific basis, it did play a preliminary role in the development of astronomy. This is because early astrologers were also systematic stargazers who charted the positions and motions of celestial objects. Those charts and motions are of great interest when it comes to understanding how stars and planets move through space. Astrology diverges from astronomy when astrologers attempt to use their knowledge of the sky to predict future happenings in peoples lives. In ancient times, they did this mostly for political and religious reasons. If an astrologer could predict some wonderful thing for his or her patron or king or queen, they might get to eat again. Or get a nice house. Or score some gold.   The IAU constellation designation for Pisces includes the main pattern plus numerous other stars. The early astrologers used the green outline of the stars as a way to divide the sky up into houses, through which the planets would wander. Pisces is a Zodiac constellation, meaning a region of the sky that the Sun and planets appear to wander through. To astrologers, where a planet or the Sun was on the day of a persons birth had some meaning. But, today, there is NO measurable link between those objects and the person being born. IAU/Sky Telescope   Astrology diverged from astronomy as a scientific practice during the years of the Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century, when scientific studies became more rigorous. It became clear to scientists of that time (and ever since then) that no physical forces could be measured emanating from stars or planets that could account for the claims of astrology. In other words, the position of the Sun, Moon and planets at a persons birth have no effect on that persons future or personality. In fact, the effect of the doctor assisting with the birth is stronger than any distant planet or star.   Most people today know that astrology is little more than a parlor game. Except for astrologers who make money off of their art, educated people know that the so-called mystical effects of astrology have no actual scientific basis, and have never been detected by astronomers and astrophysicists. Edited by Carolyn Collins Petersen.

UCTA Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UCTA - Case Study Example The delivered car was found to be seriously defective and it evidently required repairs that would cost around a 1000. The practice prevailing in Thomas Co was that it always offered its customers the opportunity to purchase a two years service contract covering parts and labour on cars purchased from them. Smith Co had always declined such offers from Thomas Co. The remedies available to the Smith Co, under the statute, are discussed hereunder. A contract is an agreement giving rise to obligations which are enforced or recognised by law. The factor which distinguishes contractual from other legal rights is that they are based on the agreement of the contracting parties. It is important to bear in mind that every breach of a contract allows the plaintiff a remedy at law. The Sale of Goods Act states that consumers have been defined as people purchasing for purposes unrelated to their trade, business or profession. Section 12(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, defines a consumer and this has three elements, the party dealing as a consumer must neither make the contract in the course of business nor hold himself out as doing so; the other party must make the contract in the course of business and finally, if the contract involves the transfer of goods, then they must be of a type ordinarily supplied for private use or consumption. The burden of proving that a ... Several similar purchases had been made before. The contract excluded liability for breach of certain statutory implied terms and the exclusion clause was subject to section 6 of the UCTA. The Court of Appeal held that the purchase of the car was only incidental to the company's business activity, which meant that the purchase was not made in the course of business and so the plaintiff company was dealing as a consumer. Thus the defendant could not exclude liability for the breach of implied terms1. Similarly, in our case the car was purchased for both private and business use. Hence, the status of the claimant can be considered as that of a consumer according to this act and the judgment in the above case. In Stevenson v Rogers the Court of Appeal held that a sale to a person who had no business connection to the seller would be considered a consumer2. Hence, in our case Smith Co can be considered as a consumer, since they had purchased the car for the private and business purposes of its director, this is in conformity with the broader view taken by the Appellate Court in respect of the term consumer in the case Stevenson v Rogers. Section 3 of the UCTA covers a number of different types of exclusions or restrictions in respect of liability and makes them all subject to the test of reasonableness. These tests are of four types and apply to the different types of exclusions. These are, first, in relation to a contract term the clause should have been fair and reasonable to have been included, having regard to the circumstances, and which could reasonably be expected to have been known to the parties. Second, contracts in relation to goods (section 6 and 7 UCTA) and section 11(2) and schedule 2 of the UCTA have specified five matters

Revolt of 1857 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Revolt of 1857 - Essay Example On 10 May in 1857, the sepoys matched to Delhi with the intention of taking control over the city. The 1857 revolt introduced numerous changes in India as will be highlighted in this paper. In addition, the paper will give attention to the causes of the revolt, its representation in British sources, and Chowdhury view of how photography represented the revolt. The British rule in India had established economic policies that were unfavorable to the Indians. Notably, the colonialists focused on exploiting the natural resources available in India. The exploitation of the resources in India by the colonialists only served to reap India off its stability in trade and industry. Over time, the British rule had transformed India into a colonial economy that served the interest of the British. In accordance with the existing economic policy, the British ruler exported resource to London. The British had a cheaper way of supporting their industries. The export of India’s resources to London served to increase the poverty levels in India. Many of the Indians relied on trade and industry in an effort to earn a living. However, the British colonial rule had taken over the industry, leaving many Indians jobless. The British economic policies demanded the Indian peasants to pay high revenues. Demanding high revenues from the peasants served to br ing down the agrarian sector. There was an increasing pressure for the peasants to register increased production. Despite their increased production, the Indian peasants did not benefit. The landowners in India faced the compulsion of paying a specified amount to the British government. If the landowners failed to meet the requirements, the British colonial rule dispossessed them of their property. Therefore, economic causes were a primary trigger of the 1857 revolt. As highlighted above, the British colonial rule imposed every taxation and