Monday, September 30, 2019

Language and the Brain

Language and the brain Many people assume the physical basis of language lies in the lips, the tongue, or the ear. But deaf and mute people can also possess language fully. People who have no capacity to use their vocal cords may still be able to comprehend language and use its written forms. And human sign language, which is based on visible gesture rather than the creation of sound waves, is an infinitely creative system just like spoken forms of language.But the basis of sign language is not in the hand, just as spoken language is not based in the lips or tongue. There are many examples of aphasics who lose both the ability to write as well as to express themselves using sign-language, yet they never lose manual dexterity in other tasks, such as sipping with a straw or tying their shoes. Language is brain stuff–not tongue, lip, ear, or hand stuff. The language organ is the mind.More specifically, the language faculty seems to be located in certain areas of the  left hemis pheric cortex in most healthy adults. A special branch of linguistics, New medical imaging techniques such as  PET  and  fMRI  have allowed researchers to generate pictures showing which areas of a living brain are active at a given time. In the past, research was primarily based on observations of loss of ability resulting from damage to thecerebral cortex.Indeed, medical imaging has represented a radical step forward for research on speech processing. Since then, a whole series of relatively large areas of the brain have been found to be involved in speech processing. In more recent research, subcortical regions (those lying below the cerebral cortex such as the  putamen  and the  caudate nucleus) as well as the pre-motor areas (BA 6) have received increased attention.It is now generally assumed that the following structures of the cerebral cortex near the  primary and secondary auditory cortexes  play a fundamental role in speech processing: * Superior temporal gyrus  (STG):  morphosyntactic  processing (anterior section), integration of  syntactic  and  semantic  information (posterior section) * Inferior frontal gyrus  (IFG,  Brodmann area  (BA)  45/47): syntactic processing,  working memory * Inferior frontal gyrus  (IFG,  BA 44): syntactic processing, working memory * Middle temporal gyrus  (MTG):  lexical semantic  processing The left hemisphere is usually dominant in right-handed people, although bilateral activations are not uncommon in the area of syntactic processing. It is now accepted that the right hemisphere plays an important role in the processing of suprasegmental acoustic features like  prosody. Most areas of speech processing develop in the second year of life in the dominant half (hemisphere) of the brain, which often (though not necessarily) corresponds to the opposite of the  dominant hand. 8 percent of right-handed people are left-hemisphere dominant, and the majority of left-hand ed people as well. What can language disorders tell us about the brain's language areas? Tourette's syndrome, which produces random and involuntary emotive reflex responses, including vocalizations This type of disorder, which often affects language use, is caused by a disfunction in the subcortex. There is no filter which prevents the slightest stimulus from producing a vocal response, sometimes of an inappropriate manner using abusive language or expletives. These words are involuntary and often the affected individual is not even aware of uttering them (like â€Å"um† in many individuals) and only realizes it when video is played back.This syndrome is not so much a language disorder per se as a disorder of the filters on the adult emotional reflex system–a kind of expletive hiccup. True language is housed in the cortex of the left hemisphere, not in the subcortical area that controls involuntary responses. Certain types of brain damage can affect language production without actually eliminating language from the brain. A stroke that damages the muscles of the vocal apparatus may leave the abstract cognitive structure of language intact–as witnessed by the fact that right hemisphere stroke victims often understand language perfectly well and write it perfectly with their right hand–although their speech may be slurred due to lack of muscle control.We have also seen that certain disorders involving the subcortex–the seat of involuntary emotional response–may have linguistic side effects, such as in some cases of Tourette's syndrome. But what happens when the areas of the brain which control language are affected directly, and the individual's abstract command of language is affected? We will see that language disorders can shed a great deal of light on the enigma of the human language instinct. SLI. One rare language disorder seems to be inborn rather than the result of damage to a previously normal brain. I have said that children are born with a natural instinct to acquire language, the so-called LAD; however, a tiny minority of babies are born with an apparent defect in this LAD.Certain families appear to have a hereditary language acquisition disorder, labeled  specific language impairment, or  SLI. Children born with this disorder usually have normal intelligence, perhaps even high intelligence, but as children they are never able to acquire language naturally and effortlessly. They are born with their window of opportunity already closed to natural language acquisition. These children grow up without succeeding in acquiring any consistent grammatical patterns. Thus, they never command any language well–even their native language. As children and then as adults, their speech in their native language is a catalog of random grammatical errors, such as:It's a flying birds, they are. These boy eat two cookie.John is work in the factory. These errors are random, not the set patterns o f an alternate dialect:   the next conversation the same SLI-afflicted individual might say  This boys eats two cookies. These sentences, in fact, were uttered by a British teenager who is at the top of his class in mathematics; he is highly intelligent, just grammar blind. SLI sufferers are incapable of perfecting their skills through being taught, just as some people are incapable of being taught how to draw well or how to see certain colors. This is the best proof we have that the language instinct most children are born with is a skill quite distinct from general intelligence.Because SLI occurs in families and seems to have no environmental cause whatsoever, it is assumed to be caused by some hereditary factor–probably a mutant, recessive gene that interferes with or impairs the LAD. The precise gene which causes SLI has yet to be located. Aphasia We know which specific areas of the left hemisphere are involved in the production and processing of particular aspects of language. And we know this primarily from the study of patients who have had damage to certain parts of the left hemispheric cortex. Damage to this area produces a condition called  aphasia, or speech impairment (also called dysphasia in Britain). The study of language loss in a once normal brain is called  aphasiology. Aphasia is caused by damage to the language centers of the left hemisphere in the region of the  sylvian fissure.Nearly 98% of aphasia cases can be traced to damage in the  perisylvian area  of the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex. Remember, however, that in the occasional individual language is localized elsewhere; and in children language is not yet fully localized. SUMMARY Let's sum up three important facts about language and brain. First, humans are born with the innate capacity to acquire the extremely complex, creative system of communication that we call language. We are born with a  language instinct, which Chomsky calls the LAD (language a cquisition device). This language aptitude is completely different from inborn reflex responses to stimuli as laughter, sneezing, or crying.The language instinct seems to be a uniquely human genetic endowment:   nearly all children exposed to language naturally acquire language almost as if by magic. Only in rare cases are children born without this magical ability to absorb abstract syntactic patterns from their environment. These children are said to suffer from  Specific Language Impairment, or  SLI. It is thought that SLI is caused by a mutant gene which disrupts the LAD. The LAD itself, of course, is probably the result of the complex interaction of many genes–not just one–and the malfunction of some single key gene simply short-circuits the system. For example, a faulty carburetor wire may prevent an engine from running, but the engine is more than a single carburetor wire.Many thousands of genes contribute to the makeup of the human brain–more than to any other single aspect of the human body. To isolate the specific set of genes that act as the blueprint for the language organ is something no one has even begun to do. Second, the  natural ability for acquiring language normally diminished rapidly somewhere around the age of puberty. There is a  critical age  for acquiring fluent native language. This phenomenon seems to be connected with thelateralization  of language in the left hemisphere of most individuals–the hemisphere associated with  monolinear cognition  (such as abstract reasoning and step-by step physical tasks) and not the right hemisphere, which is associated with 3D spatial acuity, artistic and musical ability.Unlike adults, children seem to be able to employ both hemispheres to acquire language. In other words, one might say that children acquire language three-dimensionally while adults must learn it two dimensionally. Third and finally, in most adults  the language organ is the perisylvia n area of the left hemispheric cortex. Yesterday we discussed the extensive catalog of evidence that shows language is usually housed in this specific area of the brain. Only the human species uses this area for communication. The signals of animal systems of communication seem to be controlled by the subcortex, the area which in humans controls similar inborn response signals such as laughter, crying, fear, desire, etc.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Analyse the effects of domestic and global free trade Essay

Analyse the effects of domestic and global free trade and protection policies on the Australian economy Free trade is the unrestricted purchase and sale of goods and services between countries without the imposition of protection such as tariffs and quotas. This enables economies to focus on their core competitive advantage(s), thereby maximizing economic output and fostering income growth for their citizens. Australian exports rose from $66.6 billion in 1990-91 to $300.4 billion in 2012-13, with an average growth in export volumes of 4.6 per cent per annum since 1990-91. This is reflective of Australia’s proactive actions to phase out protection since the 1970s. The major effects of domestic and global free trade and protection policies on the Australian economy are structural change, competitiveness and efficiency, unemployment, living standards and economic growth. A move to trade liberalisation since the 1970s in Australia has drastically changed the structure of the economy. Structural change involves changes in the patterns of production that reflect changes in technology, consumer demand, global competitiveness and other factors. Protection polices affect the natural change in the structure of an economy, often leading to a decline in globally competitive industries. In 2011-12 Australia’s net tariff assistance was $1.1 billion, a very small percentage of GDP (less than 0.1%). Tariff levels in Australia have fallen from a massive 36% in 1968-9 to 1.8% in 2011, thus illustrating why Australia is one of the most open economies in the world. However, this has caused both positive and negative effects; the positive being that Australian industries have become more competitive and efficient as they are forced to focus on their comparative advantage; the negative is that heavily protected industries have suffered decline and job losses. Australia’s rural and manufacturing industries have suffered sustained negative growth over the past decade due to a reduction in domestic protection policies. On the contrary, the minerals and metals industry has grown significantly over this period. The removal of protectionism can jeopardise employment, especially in import competing industries and low-skilled labour industries. For example, Toyota and Holden will close their manufacturing operations partly due to tariffs on imported cars being reduced from a previous 50% to 5% in 2010, ending Australia’s car manufacturing sector by 2017. However, removing protectionism should lead to new employment opportunities and up-skilling of  the workforce into new and emerging growth sectors such as Biotech and Green Engineering industries etc. Australia’s composition of exports was relatively equal in 1989-90 with 33% being minerals and metals, rural 23%, services 20% and manufacturing 13%. As of 2012-13, minerals and metals dominated Australia’s composition of exports at 57%, whilst rural exports dropped to 12%, with a general decline in others. This not only shows the large impact of the mining boom on the Australia’s composition of exports, but also how a move to free trade has influenced the structure of the economy, especially agriculture and manufacturing. Globalisation has been both a benefit and a hindrance as regional trade blocs and other agreements work on a ‘most favoured nation’ principle, making export-competing industries suffer all around the world in small economies, and limiting the advancement of global free trade. Because Australia has a high level of agricultural trade (12% of total exports), and is a relatively small economy, they suffer disadvantages as a result of protectionist policies of other nations and trading blocs. One of the most infamous trading blocs in relation to agriculture is the European Union. The EU for several decades has subsidised agricultural production through the Common Agricultural Policy. Additionally, farmers receive significant subsidies in other areas of the world, such as the US, Japan, Korea and Switzerland. In 2012, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) estimated that the removal of China and Korea’s wine tariffs would increase the export revenue of the Australian wine industry by $47 million. Unfortunately, there has been poor progress in reducing agricultural protection in recent years. In fact, if global trade liberalisation was achieved by the WTO’s Doha Round, it could have boosted Australia’s agricultural exports by US$9 billion by 2020; thus displaying how highly protectionist economies and trade blocs adversely affect the Australian economy. Since Australia’s first free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand in 1983, Bilateral and Multilateral FTA’s have been a great advantage and focus in securing economic prosperity for Australia. Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services was A$616 bn in 2012. Australia has seven FTAs currently in force with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, US, Chile, ASEAN (with New  Zealand) and Malaysia. Together, these countries account for 28% of Australia’s total trade, which displays the great benefit of bilateral FTAs to the Australian economy. Additionally, there are four bilateral FTA negotiations currently in place, two of which are substantial trading partners; China, being Australia’s largest export market (A$78.7 bn) and Japan, being Australia’s second largest export market (A$49.8 bn). The Japanese Free Trade Agreement has been negotiated, and will be a great benefit to the Australian economy, especially the agricultural sector, for example tariffs on beef and dairy exports will be reduced from 38% to 23.5% over 20 years. Australia’s main multilateral agreement is the AANZFTA which came into effect in 2010, and covers 20% of Australia’s trade in goods and services and effectively creates a free trade area of over 600 million people. This agreement is forecast to boost the Australian economy by US$19 bn during the decade following its implementation in 2010. These examples of Australia’s FTAs show the positive effects of global free trade on the Australian economy. As Australia continually lowers protection levels and trade barriers, there will be both positive and negative effects, leading to a long term decrease in the current account deficit. When protection is lowered, there will be a short term increase in the CAD, as tariffs and quotas wil l be waived leading to higher export volumes. However, since less protection leads to a more competitive economy, the CAD will decrease in the longer term as exports will generally increase. The government’s reluctance to lower trade barriers up until the 1970-80s is arguably the reason for Australia’s lower competiveness and higher CAD, being a deficit of $23 bn in 2012, and $10 bn in the fourth quarter of 2013. Australia’s growth in exports reached 6% in 2012, double the average rate over the last 10 years. However, this has not contributed to any decrease in the CAD, as export prices declined by 10.2%, and Australia’s terms of trade decreased by 10.7% mainly due to the slowing of the mining boom. As protection levels reduce, hopefully the competitiveness of the Australian economy picks up during this period of structural change, leading to a long term decrease in the CAD. The effects of domestic and global free trade, although mostly negative in the short term, will increase Australia’s competitiveness and benefit the Australian economy in the long term. Unfortunately, many regional and unilateral protection polices still remain in p lace, disadvantaging the  economy in many ways, and limiting the advancement of global free trade.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Discuss the Impact of Data Quality Problems

(Databases behind MySpace, CH-6) Discuss the impact of data quality problems on MySpace as described in this case study. How did they solve their data problems? What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed? 1) – Discuss the impact of data quality problems on MySpace as described in this case study. Since the Site was launched in 2003, the social network site â€Å"MySpace† has become the world’s leading social portal for connecting people who relate in connection with its content, and culture. MySpace projects an idea to its global community to experience the Internet through a social lens by integrating individual’s personal profiles, photo sharing, professional and entertainment videos, blogs, instant messaging, as well as one of the largest music community. MySpace. com has been one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet with 65 million subscribers and 260,000 new users registering each day. Yet with their unexpected growth along came the growth of other popular social networking sites such â€Å"Face book† and few other competitors which seemed to have gained ground, do to â€Å"MySpace† criticized performance. In its initial phases, MySpace operated with two Web servers communicating with one database server and a Microsoft SQL Server database. The site continued adding Web servers to handle increased user requests and demands, once the number of accounts exceeded 500,000 the site added more SQL Server databases; one served as a master database, and the others focused on retrieving data for user’s page requests. After two million accounts were activated, MySpace switched to a vertical partitioning model in which separate databases supported distinct functions of the Web site, such as the log-in screen, user profiles, and blogs. Yet at some point the separated functions will still share data which will create another problem to their list! After three million accounts were reached, rather than investing in more sophisticated types of servers that could eventually solve their problems, the site scaled out by adding many cheaper servers to share the database workload which became just another shortcut option and not a long term solution for the company. 2) How did they solve their data problems? The Company eventually switched to a virtualized storage architecture in which databases write data into any available disk, therefore eliminating he possibility of an application’s dedicated disk becoming overloaded. MySpace later installed a layer of servers between the database servers and the Web servers to store and serve copies of frequently accessed data objects so that the site’s Web servers wouldn’t have to query the database servers with lookups as frequently. Unfortunately, MySpace still overloads more frequently than other major Web sites. With a log-in error rate of (20 to 40%) on some days, the site is not effectively organizing or storing data at all, reason for which the site may have been losing subscribers. After the review of this case study, we can see the Importance of Database Technology and the Impact Data Quality provides to Websites and Social network sites and it can be determined that their existence depend on it.. (Information based on, MySpace Case study and www. forbes. com) 3) What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed? Some of the problems MySpace has encountered are the inadequate storage space on their database servers, slow access or no access through its log-in application, and the users’ inabilities to access data when requested. Over the years, MySpace has attempted to fix these problems by adding more Web/Database servers. Yet the main problem seems to be, adding the servers without restructuring the entire system in order to use their hardware and software more effectively. Another major problem â€Å"The MySpace Organization† has faced it’s been their management and personnel, It’s well known that they’ve had too many changes in personnel they were constantly hiring NET developers and losing them just as fast, which can create a definite unbalance for the company. In Jan, 2011 they announced a staff reduction by 47%. On the other hand they have dealt with numerous changes in management as well; many of the important people who helped create â€Å"The MySpace empire† are now gone. Few to mention are, former President â€Å"Tom Anderson who stepped down† while CEO â€Å"Chris DeWolfe was replaced† by former Facebook COO â€Å"Owen Van Natta†. The company’s most recent plan is to reinvigorate itself in the (social networking space) by going back to what made them popular in the first place â€Å"entertainment†. ith hopes that a new focus on the entertainment media including television, movies, & music will help in making the social networking site reclaim its place on the web. Despite efforts of redesigning the site their users have decreased, as well as their popularity. In November 2010, the company fully integrated with Facebook Connect calling it â€Å"Mash Up with Facebook† in an announcement widely seen, which in reality I believe is just the way of acknowledging Facebook is their # 1 competitor and is currently dominating the social networking industry. In my Opinion their main weakness was with strategy implementation, they concentrated in what came up day to day, like the additions of servers to support their users demand but they never really focused on priorities such as a solution to their Technical problems and the whole structural change it required. As time progresses business competitors will copy your product or service and a lot of times they won’t just copy, they’ll Innovate and overpass the quality of what’s already available therefore taking the place of # 1 and not a competitor.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Proffesional project report on leaflet ordering (to be edited) Essay

Proffesional project report on leaflet ordering (to be edited) - Essay Example These provide customers with comprehensive information regarding tenancy, ownership, entitlements, neighborhood plans, safety, security, and all supportive systems forming part of the housing scheme. www.k-h-t.org This report presents the findings from a project undertaken to meet the assessment requirements of the FDSC in Housing Practice. The project was undertaken for KHT, the organization that sponsored the project leader on the FDSC. The overall aim of the project was to put a new system in place for ordering leaflets within the workplace. This involved developing a new system for ordering, storing and displaying leaflets, and gaining feedback from staff and service users on whether the changes had enhanced the availability of leaflets. The project report that follows provides an explanation of the context and rationale for the project, an outline of the previous system for ordering and displaying leaflets and its weaknesses; a description of the changes introduced identifying how each has helped to overcome weaknesses in the previous system; an outline of how the project was undertaken (i.e. the methodology); and findings from the initial evaluation and recommendations. The purpose of this project was to investigate the process and effectiveness of changes implemented in the ordering and displaying of customer information leaflets at KHT’s six offices across the borough. It was picked up on a short notice inspection that some leaflets that were being displayed were out of date. A new system of leaflet ordering was required to ensure the provision of current and up-to-date information to customers. Furthermore, in view of the need for cost-cutting during the current recession, it was considered essential to order all leaflets at one time, specifying accurately the total number of each type of leaflet required by all the offices. Additionally, an effective review process was required to ensure that the

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Medication error Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Medication error - Essay Example There was a patient who had been recently diagnosed with cancer. She was being moved into the operating room for a permanent placement of intravenous line inside her chest. The medical team had resolved to postpone the chemotherapy for a day or two in the morning rounds, but the doctor in charge decided to do the chemotherapy the very night. I was already taking care of three patients and nothing new was in my plan till then. The patient was soon to arrive from the operating room while I had several orders of chemotherapy to check on my part, not just once, but double-check before forwarding them to the pharmacy so that administration could be commenced. After completing the checks, I went to see the patient who had by the time come out of the operating room. The patient was feeling very hungry, but the hospital kitchen was closed. So I took jam and bread from the pantry to make a sandwich for her. I noticed an unusual leak in the IV line of the patient as she tried it. We had not en countered such a problem before. Even the surgeon had come back from his home to check if everything was alright. After the checkup, everything was found to be fine so I provided the patient with the chemotherapy that was scheduled for her. I was feeling very exhausted but deep inside, I was satisfied that I had made it. I felt like a Superman who could do it all. The next morning, I was awakened by a phone call that was too early for the regular calling time. Actually that there was still a chemo dose in the table in the hospital as I had provided the patient with just one dose instead of two that were supposed to be given. I could feel electric shocks run down my spine. In chemotherapy, the drugs’ timing can alter the treatment’s quality and effectiveness. I was very worried to have put the patient into such a compromising situation and she might even die because of lack of proper treatment in time just because of the mistake I had made.

Distribution Channels and Strategies Research Paper

Distribution Channels and Strategies - Research Paper Example Logistics manage and govern various supply functions. Several activities form a part of logistics such as material handling and warehousing, inventory management, fleet and transportation management and hosts of other activities. Logistics bottleneck at any point may affect and strangulate the free movement of goods and in this sense, efficient and workable logistics is critical and necessary to keep distribution channel flooded with the goods so as to service consumer on time. Geographic location and area of coverage does affect the selection of distribution channels. Smaller the territory, fewer members in channel distribution can serve the purpose; however, as territory goes larger and distances increase, it becomes necessary to have more intermediate channel members for the efficient flow of goods. This also depends upon the nature of product that how fast the product is being consumed or whether it is perishable kind. The distribution channel would need more channel members alon g with proper logistics if the goods are fast moving and needs to be replenished in shorter duration so that channel does not go dry ever. Answer 2 There are two kinds of promotional strategies in marketing management and they are known as push and pull kinds of strategies to enhance sales of product or services. Push strategy uses very little or no advertising to get the products in the hands of consumer. In a push strategy, the company deploys their sales force and myriads of trade promotional means and ways to create demand for its product. Trade shows are most suitable places to push the product to the buyer. Push strategy is good when product is new and does not enjoy any brand loyalty; the market is flooded with many substitute products. Push strategy is also good when impulsive and unplanned buying is quite prevalent in the given product category. Push strategy also works well when consumer is well aware about the product. Dish washing detergents and other low-value products are good examples of push strategy. A push strategy is employed to sell the products or services directly to the customers bypassing entire distribution channel. Accordingly, push strategy is very well used in selling insurance products too. The characteristic of pull strategy is that it is directed toward consumers using a lot of promotional efforts such as coupons, free samples, and contests. In fact, pull strategy relies on high spending on advertisement and promotional means to create high consumer demand. Pull strategy works best when it is possible to differentiate the product with high brand loyalty in the chosen field. Usually, consumer involvement is also high in this category of products. The best example that can be given for pull strategy is the marketing efforts put by Proctor & Gamble in the marketing of personal care products such as creams, shampoos, lotions, sanitary napkins by providing free samples and coupons. Answer 3 ‘Noise’ can be defined as when too many advertising messages arrive in the market place regarding a product confusing the buyers to make their buying decisions. Consumers terminate these messages as 'noise' because they do not get any reliable and meaningful information necessary for their buying decisions. It is important to identify the situation that what is being conveyed in the marketplace and how seriously consumers take these messages. Any further messaging in the similar line will not evolve any favorable results

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Disadvantages of examination- oriented education Essay

Disadvantages of examination- oriented education - Essay Example This raises concern that the focus on examinations in the education system may be defeating the very purpose of education. Disadvantages of Examination-Oriented Education The most-often faced criticism of an education-oriented system is that the examinations become the focal point of all the educational activities that a student goes through instead of merely being the means to an end. This focus on students’ performance in examinations has consequences on the curricula and the manner in which the curricula are taught to the children. The curricula in examination oriented education systems has become very rigid and based on a set of text books that become the Bible for the students. (1). The emphasis is more on imbibing this by the student by heart rather than understanding the subject matter. It will not be surprising that typo errors convert a chemistry textbook into a physics textbook and the physics examination taken by the student is actually a chemistry examination. Thin gs have come to such a pass that neither the educational education, nor the teacher, nor the student would notice it, for the concentration will be on the marks received on the paper. This situation gets even more aggravated, when the education administrators develop the content of the textbooks that are beyond the grasping ability of the average student and the teachers follow a uniform teaching approach. Interest in studies is lost, motivation to learn is absent and many students end up being labeled as low achievers owing to the poor marks they receive in their examination (1). The list of other demerits if attempted to explain like this could run into pages. In brief the disadvantages of examination oriented systems include the negative influence it has on the teaching of certain subjects and topics, on teaching and learning and attitudes of teachers, parents and students; and the neglect of more dynamic instructional methods. It leads to selective study habits in students and t he possible development of undesirable attitudes of amassing certificates through any means. This attitude also gets transferred to some parents. It offers the possibility of malpractices by students and teachers and others through copying and the leakage of pre-set question papers, and the like. Examinations test only the cognitive abilities of children, and ignore the affective and psychomotor domains of students. Students face stereo-typed questions allowing them to be selective in the study of topics in a subject to attain the level of marks desired. Higher objectives of education in the form of application, synthesis and analysis are ignored through the use of examinations and the sole deciding criterion of knowledge and skills attainment levels. Scoring low in examinations carries with the possibility of being looked down upon in peer groups and in student and other social circles. (2). Possible Solutions There are only two possible solutions. The first is to do away with eval uation process in education, through which the examination system has crept. Leave it to the students to attain their desired level of competencies in subjects of their choice, based on what they intend to with their lives after their formal education. Teachers, parents and friends can act as counselors and motivational mentors in this exercise. In case they find them short of knowledge

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 7

Case study - Essay Example ically Questionable Behavior in Sales Representatives-An Example from the Taiwanese Pharmaceutical Industry" by Ya-Hui Hsu, Wenchang Fang and Yuanchung Lee the idea of ethical behavior with salesmen in pharmaceutical companies is explored. The reason this was explored is because they saw "recent corporate disgraces and corruption" in business and they wanted to see whether this affected pharmaceutical sales. Unethical behavior in the pharmaceutical industry is something that has happened for many years. MedZilla Staff report that pharmaceutical companies are using a variety of "questionable" tactics to approach doctors and "lure" them into prescribing certain drugs to their patients. Some companies have taken steps to stop the larger perks like tickets to ballgames or financial incentives. As an example, PhrMA is one of the leading companies in the business and they sell 90% of the pharmaceuticals in the United States. In 2002, they chose to change their marketing approach and educate their customers instead of spending so much time trying to lure doctors (MedZilla Staff). This article also states that the best way to make sure you are behaving ethically is to sell the doctor on the positive aspects of the drug and give information about clinical trials. Although many people believe that their primary care physician gets "perks" and "financial incentives" to prescribe certain drugs, the y do not want to totally believe this because it makes them feel that they are vulnerable. Hsu, Fang and Lee studied this practice to find out exactly what makes this necessary for salesmen to create unethical behaviors in order to make the sales team look good. The researchers used four variables from human resource management in order to "explain the ethically questionable behavioral of sales representatives in the pharmaceutical industry" (155) Although unethical behavior exists it is an area where management studies have not been done extensively particularly in the areas of

Monday, September 23, 2019

Engine Management Systems Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Engine Management Systems - Coursework Example The FADEC controls the fuel injection and timing; hence, optimize engine power. This adds the considerable amount of wiring to the system due to the needed separate power supply for backup from the alternator. The extra weight of parts of FADEC system has to be checked and recalculated for adjustment. FADEC has cockpit controls and other extra switches added to this system to control the fuel pump. These systems are protected by the FADEC power supply (Gunston, 1990)). The ECU has a 3D memory map, which controls fuel injection under varied circumstances for instance, air pressure density and the air temperature, with respect to throttle settings and the RPM. The Electronic Control Unit can sense barometric pressure and respond by injecting fuel. The spark plug ignition timing is controlled depending on load for each throttle settings. The ignition timing variations yields faster engine starting and smoother operations with the variable loads. The FADEC engine does not need chocking d uring starting since the ECU controls fuel for every cylinder and assists in retarding the ignition. FADEC system does not use the carburetor and the ignition and does not also depend on aircraft electrical system (Guttman, 2009). On the other hand, in the hydromechanical control system, the driver is in control of the aircraft power plant using an internal combustion engine. The sensors and control are the alternator and the battery masters. The battery master activates the battery contractor that connects the battery to the electrical bus aircraft. Alternator master applies power to the field circuit of the alternator to activate the circuit. The two switches provide power to the aircraft systems. The throttle sets up the required power level and controls the massive air-flow rate in the carbureted engines that are delivered to the cylinder. Pitch control adjust the speed unit, which then adjusts the propeller pitch and controls the load required by the engine in maintaining the R PM. The mixture control will in turn set the needed fuel to add to the airflow intake. At high altitudes, the oxygen levels reduce and, therefore, volume of the fuel must readjust to the required air-fuel mixture. The ignition switch opens the ‘P’’lead circuit by activating the magnetos. The magnetron maintains the process of sending the output voltage to spark plugs and connects the engine through the gearing. Movement in the crankshaft causes the magnetrons to generate voltage for sparking (Hispano-Suiza, 2001). TASK 2: FADEC SYSTEM The FADEC system is connected to inputs and outputs as illustrated in the diagram 01 Diagram 01: INPUT AND OUTPUTS OF A FADEC FADEC system is the most current system used to control the aircraft engines. The computers form part of its components and have the ability to process more data than the hydromechanical control system. This, therefore. enables the FADEC to optimize the operation of the engine system, as well performs other f unctions. This includes fuel control, power management, Sourcing data for ECM controlling of thrust reverser, shutting down, detecting of faults for the system, monitoring all components of the engine, as well as sourcing data to be used for engine indication. In order to achieve these tasks, the FADEC has various components. These components include Electronic Engine Control (EEC) and the auxiliary components. These auxiliary components include the sensors, ignition systems the stator valves, the actuator controller, FADEC Alternator, the Reverser

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Ten Simple Ways to Improve My English Essay Example for Free

Ten Simple Ways to Improve My English Essay 1. This is what most people would advise: read. Read anything and everything in English. You can read storybooks, newspapers, magazines, blocs, comics, English textbooks, instructions and ingredients on food packages, advertisements, etc. For story books, don’t force yourself to read something too difficult or something you know you won’t enjoy. Make reading fun! Read books that you enrjoy eading. I hate to read books that bore me too. 2. Watch English movies with subtitles. This would be my favorite way of learning English. Not only do I get to have a fun time watching the movie, I’d be learning new words at the same time and knowing how to pronounce them! Usually, you can get movies with English subtitles on DVDs. 3. Listen to English songs. Read the lyrics as you listen to the songs. Listen to your favorite songs and sing along to them Actually, turning on the radio or putting on an English Music CD might just be one of the best ways to retain or remember vocabulary and grammar that you hear in the music lyrics . According to BPS Research Digest, as sighted in the May 2008 addition of psychologies  Magazine, the answer to the age old question of learning a language, might lie in a songThe researchers concluded that we find it easier to remember words if theyre set to music, partly because its more emotionally engaging, but also because the words are structured in a way that makes it easier for us to segment the information and store it in our memories. So turn up your speakers or put on your headphones and prepare to learn English with music. In addition, by combining the benefits of music with reading the lyrics simultaneous you will be able to learn English faster. Try it out with Perhaps , Perhaps, Perhaps by cake. The songs I have just said are clear, fun and usually focus on a specific form of grammar. . 4. Start a bloc in English. This is one way for you to practice your writing. Blog on something that you love. If you are a fan of movies, start a blog and write about your favorites movies, your favourite characters, what you think could be improved in the movie, what new movies to expect next year, etc. Besides blogging, try joining online forums, engage in online chatting and more. 5.If you don’t want to maintain a blog, why not write to a pen pal? It’d be even more fun to have a pen pal from a different country! I used to write to other people from the US, Germany, Mexico, and even Yugoslavia. I remember feeling excited when I see letters with foreign stamps on it in my mailbox. If you don’t want to spend too much money on stamps, then get a local pen pal. Perhaps Email will do. 6.Write in your diary/journal in English. This is where you can write anything in it. But if you do write something you wouldn’t want others to read, make sure you hide it somewhere safe! Or try not to write anything offensive at all in case someone does find it. You can also write about neutral stuff like the places you went that day, what you ate, who you met, what you did, etc. 7.Be best friends with a good English dictionary. You can use Oxford, Collins, Cambridge,. Buy a dictionary that you’re comfortable with and USE it at all times. Keep it next to you when you’re reading. I always put my favourite Oxford dictionary by my side when I’m reading. So when I stumble upon a word I don’t know, I don’t have to get up and look around for it. It’s right there by my side. Thus, I have no excuse for not looking the word up! 8.Speak the language whenever you can. Speak it with friends and family. You can also sing along to English songs! Try karaoke! Don’t be shy to try speaking the language. Don’t be afraid that others will tease you. In fact, they’ll admire you for your courage and confidence. I think that is the best way to improve in language skill is to use it!! Even if you have a problem with it, you should still keep on trying! Theres no better way than to practice, just like sports or art or any other skill that one tries to learn. Reading is also excellent, but when you talk to native speakers, it brings confidence and skill! I am also learning a language that is not my own, and I can say truly that the native speakers will usually for the most part help you and be encouraging; almost anyone appreciates a foreigner trying to learn their language. So, just keep trying to practice with people. Go out with friends, start up conversations, try out your grammar, and also listen to the native speakers. Try to mimic their grammar patterns and listen to what context the words are being spoken in. This is something that printed material can not give you. But remember the #1 thing: dont be afraid! You can do it! Dont let anyone tell you that you are not good. It takes time, and just keep trying! If people intimidate you too much, try listening to tapes, I know people that do this and get good results. But nothing will be better than just talking to people who speak english. Dont be afraid to ask the person, Can you explain? or I dont understand; can you repeat it? 9.Learn a new word a day. Keep your own vocabulary notebook and write a new word and its meaning in it every day. Refer to it as often as possible so that the new words will stick in your head. 10.You can also learn new phrases, idioms or proverbs a day. A kick in the teeth, sit on the fence, make a clean sweep, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, a man’s home is his castle, etc. When you come across a saying that you like, write it down and its meaning in your notebook! Actually, there are many more ways for you to improve your English. If you have extra money to spend, you can even sign up for English courses, English camps and so on. But why throw away your money when you can learn the language in cheaper waysLearn at your own pace. There’s no need to hurry when learning something especially a language. Make learning English fun. Don’t give up too soon or get discouraged. Don’t get stressed out when it becomes a little difficult.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Do You Call That Art? a Conversation

Do You Call That Art? a Conversation T: Do you call that art? I just dont see how something like could be called art, I just dont see it. Where is the form, where is the beauty? Is that not what art is for; to hint at universal truths, to uncover answers to fundamental questions about our human condition? To make us experience a kind of immortal truth, Beauty is truth, truth beauty that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. (Keats, 1908: 14) Is that not what Keats said? To be honest I fail to see how an unmade bed surrounded by the detritus of a good night out can be classed as either. It is just sensationalism, pure sensationalism and should not be allowed into an art gallery. S: I suppose it has some merits doesnt it? T: No, none at all as far as I am concerned. What does it say? What does it mean? Where is the skill in its construction? Why, anyone could make that, look, it is only made out of every day items, theres no paint, no clay, no stone, none of the traditional tools of the artist. My six year old child could have made that, in fact he does every morning after a restless night. S: I read some interesting reviews on it. T: What do reviewers know? Listen to this: La Giaconda is, in the truest sense, Leonardos masterpiece, the revealing instance of his mode of thought and work. In suggestiveness, only the Melancholia of Durer is comparable to it; and no crude symbolism disturbs the effect of its subdued and graceful mystery (Pater, 1948: 264) That is both a reviewer and artist coming together in a perfect symbiosis of artistic appreciation, Walter Pater was a man of great intellect and understood the genius of Da Vinci in an intimate way. What is spoken of here lifts the everyday into the world of aesthetics and art, it transforms the daily life, it consoles and palliates, it makes the hardships seem worthwhile and the little pains of life worth bearing. S: Yes, I see that, but does that not apply to artists like Tracey Emin and Damian Hurst too? T: Do you feel palliated by this unmade bed? Do you feel as though your pain is soothed by a bisected sheep? These images serve only to make us feel worse, to highlight our pain, to capitalise on our misfortunes. These are the things that modern art work on, these are the emotions that they stir up; depression, sadness and alienation. Is that art? Is that worth bothering about, buying or funding? S: I dont know, perhaps if we were to look at them more carefully. Isnt art just a matter of taste anyway? T: Ah but taste is a complex thing and has been hotly debated in art history and philosophy. In some ways it goes right to the heart of our experience of art and literature as a whole. Two of the most interesting and most important theories concerning taste come, of course, from the English thinker David Hume and Immanuel Kant, both of these philosophers, in their own way, asserted the existence and importance of the notion of taste and aesthetic judgment. Hume saw that education and experience would enable men (and women) to acquire taste; the more art we see, the more books we read, the more films we see and the more music we listen to the more we learn about what is good and what is bad in art. For instance, if I had only seen one picture in my entire life, say of a cottage in a mountain glade surrounded by pink and blue flowers, then it goes without saying that this must be the best painting I know and, ipso facto that I must be of the opinion that this is the best painting in the world. The same, I suppose, goes for a situation where the only sculpture I had seen was this unmade bed, then I would naturally think it was masterpiece and hail it as the finest work of art ever made. Well, according to David Hume, the more I see the more educated I become, the more my taste develops. Therefore if I were to view, say, Eugene Delacroixs Massacre at Chios, that depicts a scene from the Greco-Turkish war of 1824 and is painted with both subtlety and strength, I would automatically think this was better than an unmade bed. If I then chanced to view a Renoir or a Rossetti then I might think that these were better. You see how this works? You see how, through education and experience my taste broadens and becomes more refined. S: But I still do not see who defines what is good and what is bad for the rest of us? Taste is relative isnt it? T: To an extent, says Hume, but taste as a benchmark and as a standard is set by those who are educated most. It stands to reason, does it not, that those who are educated and experienced most will know the most about a particular given subject. When your car needs a service what sort of mechanic do you choose? S: A good one? T: Yes, a good one, but what is a good mechanic? Is it a good mechanic someone who has had no or very little experience with cars, is it someone who has only ever seen or worked on one car the whole of their lives? No, you would choose the mechanic with the most experience, the mechanic who has worked on hundreds, perhaps thousands of cars. S: Yes, I suppose I would. T: So, could we not say that that mechanic is an expert, at least over the other mechanic who has seen very few cars? S: Yes. T: Well, it would that mechanic who sets the standard. What if he told you your engine needed replacing? S: I would believe him. T: Exactly, and if the inexperience mechanic told you it didnt, who would you believe? Who would you think was telling you the right thing? S: Probably the experienced mechanic, he after all is more educated and more experienced so he must know what he is talking about. T: So why is it so different with taste? Why is it so difficult to believe that those with most experience set the taste for the rest of us? Taste is intersubjective, it is founded on agreement and consensus. This was Humes great notion. It does not exist as an objective notion nor purly subjective but somewhere in between. Joshua Reynolds encapsulates it well when he says The arts would lie open for ever to caprice and casualty, if those who are to judge of their excellencies had no settled principles by which they are to regulate their decisions, and the merit or defect of performances were to be determined by unguided fancy (Reynolds, 1992: 182). Although, of course, Reynolds himself saw taste as being intrinsically fixed and established in the nature of things. S: So, what about Kant? How did he see taste and aesthetic judgement? T: For Kant, taste came secondary to the notion of beauty. There was, he thought such a notion as intrinsic beauty; a beauty that existed outside of taste, outside of the capriciousness of fashion, a beauty that is, to quote Keats again A Joy forever. Kants philosophy extended far and wide, his works like The Critique of Pure Reason and The Critique of Practical Reason sought to classify and quantify exactly what it was to be human, not just in an ontological sense but in the sense of how we experience the world; how we perceive things and, most importantly, how we reason about these things. In fact Bertrand Russell says in his A History of Western Philosophy that According to Kant, the outer world causes only the matter of sensation, but our mental apparatus orders this matter in space and time, and supplies concepts by means of which we understand experience. (Russell, 1979: 680) In order to experience the world, thought Kant, we label many of the things we sense, often in ways that are unconscious or arbitrary. Take this bench, for instance, we both know this is a bench and that it is for sitting on but we only know this because it has certain characteristics as distinct from, say, that fire extinguisher over there. It is made of wood, it is flat, it has four legs etc. etc. The bench is out in the world (Cummiskey, 1996: 78) and thus our experience of it informs our idea of what it is. For Kant there was no such thing as an a priori knowledge; nothing, he said could be divorced from our experience of it. S: But how, then, if we know this is a bench through our perception of it out in the world can we ever know beauty. Beauty, after all is not out in the world, it is surely a priori? We must have an idea of beauty before something can be classed as beautiful. I understand that, for Hume this is based on consensus, but this does not fit in with Kants ideas. T: For Kant, beauty does exist in the world but not, perhaps in the way that we might assume. He noticed that we classify and label things according to the purpose they have for us as human beings. We have a notion of the bench because it is good for us to sit down on and take a rest every now and then. Beauty on the other hand can not be eaten or smelt or even touched, however it is in every culture every civilisation known to man so, in some ways at least, it must be intrinsic to our needs. Beauty and art have a purposeless purpose. S: How can a purpose be purposeless? T: Let me explain: when I see a picture by Monet for instance, it inspires feelings in me of contemplation and of emotion. I am touched by the delicate brushwork, I am moved by the images. If I see a beautiful flower I feel the same thing. I do not find the flower beautiful because I want to eat it or because it gives me an actual benefit in the real world but because it promotes a kind of internal pleasure, a psychological harmony. This is what Kant thought of the beautiful. If we begin to attach meaning to art by deliberately making it ugly or adapting it for our own psychological or socio-political ends we ruin its initial purity and lose a valuable part of its nature. Kant said Taste is the faculty of estimating an object or mode of representation by means of a delight or aversion apart from any interest. The object of such a delight is called beautiful(Kant, 1972: 479). This is why Kant regarded Nature as representing a higher plain than man made art, simply because it does not have the other aspects, the poetic, artificial meaning. This unmade bed is neither of these situations, it is neither a depiction of the sublime in Nature not does it evoke a universal response. It simply is, like the unmade bed that it mirrors, because of this is can not be art. However, if we take a picture from the Romantic movement of Nineteenth century, for example, such as Turners The Fighting Temeraire (1838) or Landscape with a Distant River and Bay (1840) we can see that what the artist is striving for is a universal achievement of beauty; a beauty that is invested in the very paint he uses, a beauty that arises from the purity of the image; the colours, the brushwork, the setting. S: So, for Kant, the artist is the translator of that sense of beauty? T: Yes, for Kant, only the artist or the man of genius can truly be said to be a translator of these universal truths. His theories gave way to the march of the Romantic movement in Europe and artists like Turner, William Etty and Landseer and writers like Wordsworth, Coleridge and Shelley. Let us think, for example, of the painting The Leaping Horse by John Constable (1825). What do we see in this painting? We see the majesty of Nature, not only in terms of the visual images of the sky, the clouds and the trees but in the way that this is translated through the human experience. The figure in the foreground is pictured not merely against Nature but in it, existing within it and being a part of it. There is a directness of vision here that reflects Kants assertions on the place of the artist within society. The artists role, he said, was to translate the experience of the sublime, of the beauty of Nature, into the synthetic medium of art. This unmade bed, or the bisected sheep of Hurst or even the daubings of Jackson Pollock do not attempt to do this and so, in my opinion at least, are not art in the slightest. A: I beg to differ with you. They turn to see A standing behind them. A: What do you see there? S: I see an unmade bed, I see rubbish, I see magazines, tissues, cigarette butts. A: I see an idea, a concept, a representation of truth. As you said, truth is beauty, right? T: No, actually what I said was Beauty is truth and truth beauty there is a world of difference between those two ideas. A: Yes perhaps, and I would agree with you, maybe this work is not about beauty in the Kantian sense, it is not about a universal notion of what is beautiful, what is sublime but it has everything to do with what the world means to us and how we interpret our own experiences of life. In his first manifesto on Surrealism, Breton says The marvellous is not the same in every period of history: it partakes in some obscure way of a sort of general revelation only the fragments of which come down to us: they are the romantic ruins, the modern mannequin or any other symbol capable of affecting the human sensibility(Breton, 1990: 16). All we have now are shards of aesthetic philosophy that have made their way down to us. S: So you are saying Kant and Hume were wrong? A: No, I am saying they were right in their time. We have been let down by their structures; the notions of truth and beauty no longer mean anything to us in this postmodern age. T: Postmodern? Does that word even mean anything? A: Well, yes, Modernism as a philosophical construct can be seen to stem from the Enlightenment of the mid Eighteenth century. S: I thought Modernism happen just after the First World War? A: Yes in a way, the artistic and literary movement hails from then but, in terms of philosophy and, of course, aesthetics, Modernism can be seen to be founded much earlier with thinkers such as Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes, Bishop Berkely and others. Later, of course, this manifested itself in philosophies of Kant, Hegel and Marx. S: So, what do these thinkers tell us about what art is and why this work should be called art? A: Well it was not so much what they said about art that is of importance as how they say it. Modernism, as Jean Francois Lyotard says in his study The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, relied on metanarratives, all encompassing notions like truth, beauty, the body and even the self to provide a foundation for its philosophies. The Enlightenment is considered the birth of the modern because it asserted the primacy of the individual consciousness and the reason upon which it was based; it signalled a split from the religious dogma and the superstition of the Renaissance and Middle Ages. The art, the music and the literature all reflected the birth of this new idea. Postmodernism is not so much the rejection of this as a melancholic outcome of its demise and failures. I am sure there is not one thinker in the whole postmodern canon who would not find it agreeable to rely on concrete notions like beauty and truth, but what are they? That is what postmodernism asks us, they have failed us. Foucaults poetic evocation at the end of his history of human sciences is as good as any at expression this idea: As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end. If those arrangements were to disappear as they appeared, if some event of which we can at the moment do no more than sense the possibility without knowing either what its form will be or what it promises were to cause them to crumble, as the ground of Classical thought did, at the end of the eighteenth century, then one can certainly wager that man would be erased, like a face drawn in the sand at the edge of the sea.(Foucault, 1997: 387) The postmodern condition recognises no hierarchy of taste; it does not see taste as being universal or being classifiable in any meaningful way. With technological advances like the internet and reprographics what now is beautiful? What can even be considered original? This is the point that Walter Benjamin makes in his seminal essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. S: So, the Modernist artists were the beginning of this, after all they experimented with style and content didnt they? As Ezra Pound said, they sought always to Make it new. A: Could we not see artistic Modernism as not so much the beginning of something new as the end of something old? Its theoretical foundations are clearly based in a number of thinkers all of which assert the importance of teleological thinking: Freud, Marx, Hegel etc. If we examine, for instance Guillaume Apollinaires series of essays and articles on the Cubists, we can see that we characterises both Cubism and Apollinaire is the sense of revolution; in both art and in conceptions of beauty. He says Greek art has a purely human conception of beauty. It took man as the measure of perfection. The art of the new painters takes the infinite universe as its ideal, and it is to the fourth dimension alone that we owe this new measure of perfection.(Harrison and Wood, 1997: 178) We can see here how, even though the nature of the artists vision has changed, his or her place hasnt. The Cubists and, indeed the Moderns as a whole (especially in terms of its literature) asserted the validity of the artist in exactly the same way as our friend here has pointed out that Kant did. T: Which I see as being a testament to the correctness of Kants vision. A: It was this that the Moderns desperately strove to cling on to, all of their experimentation, all of their theorising, all of their invention can be seen as merely an attempt to cover up the fact that what was dying, what was losing its validity was them; their special place as artists, writers and thinkers. In the postmodern age all things are equally valid as art, all things are equally worthy even an unmade bed. How does a painting like David Bombergs The Mud Bath (1914) or even Picassos Guernica (1937) reflect the ideals of Kant? They are obviously beautiful pictures and yet they have the power to terrify and to inspire awe, they do not palliate or console so much as remind us of our own death and mortality. How do they fit in with your scheme? T: You have answered your own question, they are sublime paintings. They remind us of our own place as human beings. I agree with you, times change and so does art but the notion of the artist as a translator of human emotion is an important one. Picasso was a visionary, his art was beautiful, it made one think, to cogitate, to realise ones own humanity. OK, not in the same representative way as, say Constable or Rossetti but, then again, neither did Turner, Monet or any of the Impressionists. The subtle play of colour and light, for instance in La Promenade (1875) or even the famous Waterlilies (1905) is nothing but the distillation of experience both in terms of the artists heightened sensibility and training. The same can be said of Picasso or Braque or any of the so called Moderns that you speak of. The form is of no importance, forms and fashions change, what matters is the importance of the artist. There are recent artists who manage to combine both an artistic brilliance with a clear understanding of exactly what art means. Take someone like Lucien Freud, for instance, his paintings do not inspire one in the traditional sense of the word. They do not remind one of beauty in the same way Botticelli does or Poussin, however he asks questions about the human condition whilst displaying an artistic talent, or skill if you will. Freuds pictures are about what is like to be human, about what it is like to have a body that is constantly dying, that is betraying the young person that you still are on the inside. His naked self portraits are concerned with my point exactly: with the place of the artist in society. It is their role to exorcise the ghosts. A: Art should not be a religious experience. T: You are wrong, thats exactly what it should be. A: Art is about reflecting whats here and now not what is eternal. The work of Tracey Emin is as valid as Lucien Freud, as valid as Picasso as valid as Turner and as valid as Rembrandt because it is a product of a time that recognises no universal truths, no absolute hierarchies and no metanarratives. T: But how, then do you judge? How do you decide what should be in an art gallery and what isnt? Do you simply open the doors and let everyone in? A: Yes. T: But thats absurd, where would that led us? A: What are you afraid of? What have you got to lose? S: What is there to lose by the destruction of the discourses of truth and beauty? A: Well, this is at the heart of the question of whether this work is a work of art. What is there to lose by saying it isnt? We have seen the failure of realism in describing the truth about the human condition and we have seen the failure of abstraction in describing the truth about human emotions and mind. The only thing left for us to do is to suggest that it is the truth itself that is non-existent. S: So there is no truth left. A: There is no universal truth, the same as there is no universal sense of beauty. What is beauty after all? The Japanese have a notion they call Wabisabi, it makes up almost all of their aesthetic appreciation. Roughly translated it means imperfect or incomplete, modest or humble. It is as far from our traditional notions of Western aesthetics as we could get. There is none of the grandeur of the sublime, none of the intricacies of Vermeer or Zoffany just the simplicity of line and the imperfection of creativity. S: You mean Wabisabi actively encourages imperfection? A: Yes, it is an intrinsic ingredient of the Japanese aesthetic, but the important point is that aesthetic notions change from country to country from time to time, therefore it is an impossibility for them to be a universal ideal as our friend here seems to think. S: But is it art, this unmade bed? A: Is it in an art gallery? S: Yes. A: It must be art then. T: So you are saying anything that is in an art gallery is art, how ridiculous. That means anything I bring into this gallery could be called art. My dog? The shoes on my feet? The flask I have in my bag? At least we know where we are with the universal notion of beauty. It may not be perfect, in fact it may far from perfect but it is solid, it is not ever-changing or open to this mumbo jumbo that you are talking of. You speak as though everyone were an artist, as though everyone could lay claim to being a Picasso or a Matisse. A: Well, in a way, yes, I am. For postmodernism to work we must adopt a number of responsibilities and positions as well as reject old ones. We must be aware of our actions, Of course that means realising that, perhaps, the whole system of aesthetics needs re-evaluating. Media such as the Internet and increased access to cheap means of publishing means that it is becoming easier and easier to publish ones work and get it to a wide audience. Many musicians have found this out and have started making their work available for Internet downloads and many artists are using technology to challenge the boundaries of the traditional routes into the art world. This has got to be a good thing hasnt it? S: So, what you are saying is that because of changes in society, because of this postmodernism thing the old ideas about what is beautiful, what is true, what is art become irrelevant. In their place is a series of individual judgements based on context. If I put a light switch into a gallery a s a light switch it is not art, if I put it in as art then it is? A: Exactly. S: So it has a linguistic base your argument? If I say something is art, it is? T: This all sounds like rubbish to me. Art has a function in the real world, to be beautiful or at least to make us realise our own humanity or humanness. If we do not draw boundaries, if we dont make distinctions between art and the rest of the world we cheapen art. A: Or we elevate life! T: Take for example Hegels aesthetics theory. For Kant, existence, and along with it art and culture, could only be witnessed in a subjective sense, in other words only bits of the larger picture could be seen by anyone at any one time. It would be impossible to see the whole. Hegel disagreed with this and stated that, if we used reason, we could look at the entire universe at once. S: But thats clearly impossible isnt it? How can we look at anything other than through subjectivity? T: Think about the philosophy of science, physics, chemistry, do they not claim to be able to look at the entire world at once? There is no suggestion in medicine, for instance that we find a cure for TB in a subjective way. An integral part of the truth of the discovery is that it is reproducible, objective and quantifiable, in other words that it is being viewed in some kind of universal way. Israel Knox has a fine quote about Hegels method Hegel exalted reason to an eminence from which it could have an adequate and coà ¶rdinated knowledge of the whole of reality of reality as the incessant temporal forward march of the Absolute, of Spirit, of God.(Knox,1958: 81). It is reason that is at the basis of scientific discovery so why can not reason be at the heart of Aesthetic theory? A: Because reason is an outmoded construct. T: Let me finish! For Hegel, art is a reflection of Geist, which can be translated as either spirit or mind. In Hegel the two are much the same thing the mind and the spirit could be thought of as the defining entity in man; it is the thing that distinguishes him from anything else. His humanness, if you will. Geist is a manifestation of the order of the universe, the phenomenology of Geist is existence and its highest expression is art and philosophy. In this Hegel disagrees with Kant who, as we saw, thought that Nature was the most beautiful of all things. If art is an expression of Geist and Geist itself is a manifestation of the orderliness or reason of the universe, then it follows that the greatest art must be that which mirrors most succinctly this universal sense. For Hegel, art transcends nature precisely because it is a manifestation of mans spirit. You see, Hegel believed in a system he called dialectics. In the Preface to his Phenomenology of Spirit (1977) (or mind, of c ourse) he outlined his grand scheme of things and one that he was to go on to relate to art in his Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics (1993) of the 1820s. The dialectic is the grand working of history, it describes how progression can be achieved by thesis, antithesis and synthesis rather than relying on the idea of a continual advancement. In art, as in everything, first an antithesis establishes an idea, say the classical period of art; here we have a number of philosophies, ways of seeing and ideas that go up to making what we know about the world. However this is very rarely enough, this is never would we call exhaustive. Our culture, in order to progress, needs an antithesis. The classical period of art then, gave way to a period of Romanticism whereby artists and writers developed startling new ideas and notions that would transform art into something completely new. This second notion is the antithesis, it describes not a backward movement but a negation that can propel things forward; that can ensure a synthesis is formed that unites the two and causes forward momentum. For Hegel, this happens in all walks of life, from ideas and science to art and literature. He takes the great periods of art and shows how they interacted with each, succeeding schools challenging preceding schools and so on until eventually there will be an end to art where we have reached a final stage of enlightenment and there is no longer any need for dialectics. Hegel sees that reflected in his own age, with its use of reason and beauty and its synthesis of ideas and notions. Look at this bed, I see no spirit in this, I see no manifestation of Geist here, I see a manifestation of damp and mildew but very little else. This is not art because it does not conform to any of the notions I have been talking about, there is nothing here of the majesty of the universe nothing that lifts us above our everyday experience, in fact it is our everyday experience. S: I can see how Hegels philosophy makes art seem reasonable and structured, I can see that there is a progression from one idea to another. After all, if you look at a painting of the classical period it looks nothing like a painting of today, does it? Hegel must be right; art must be a reflection of some universal spirit that finds its expression in an ever progressing artistic movement. A: But, of course, if that is the case where is the end point? S: The end point? A: Yes, according to Hegel and the other philosophers of Modernism like Marx, the dialectical process inevitably advances, it has to lead to some end point. In Marx it was the glories of revolution and a Marxist state, in Hegel it was the enlightened mind. For their philosophies to have any form of truth in them this end point needs to taken into account but, where is this end point? Where has it gone? We have had almost 150 years of Marxism and over 200 hundred years of Hegelianism but still there is no sign of reaching the end point that they speak of. Consider this, for Hegel the crowning glory of civilization was his own, and therefore our, age. This was the time at which art and literature, music and culture reached its highest point, the point at which Geist was reflected most in societys artifacts. T: Yes, that is what I said. A: According to that philosophy there can only be progression, there can only be forward motion through dialectics; art, literature, culture can only get better. T: Yes, surly. A: But where is this enlightened society? If anything, society is getting more dangerous, more violent. The canonical image is that of Auschwitz, how can Auschwitz be a symbol of a society getting more enlightened and reflecting the reason of the universal unity? If anything it is a sign that it is getting less enlightened. What about the Russian Gulags, they challenge both Hegel and Marx and the same time! On the one hand they make us question the idealist dialectic of Hegel by suggesting that, far from getting more and more enlightened, society is getting more and more barbaric and, on the other, it questions Marxs dialectical materialism by asking where is this glorious revolution that was promised? What we have is not a series of structured progressions based around thesis and antithesis at all but an ad hoc collection of ideas that are organised retrospectively by history. S: So what does this mean for art? A: Well it means that, not only are the ideas in Hegels aesthetics challenged but also that his very methodology is as well. It was this failure that Adorno and Horkheimer traced in their ground breaking work The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1997). It is not so much that postmodernism negates modernism or reason but that it shows up its failings. In an interesting reworking of Odysseus and the Sirens in their book, Adorno and Horkheimer suggest that there is forever a socio-political aspect to art that precludes it from ever being a universal given. Odysseus plugs the ears of his sailors with wax so that they can not hear the song of the Sirens but he ties himself to the mast, fully able to hear. S: What does this mean for art though? A: Well, it means, for one thing that the experience of the Sirens song (a clear symbol for art) depends upon who you are in the ship. If you are a sailor you only know the dangers of the song, you are blissfully unaware of its terrible beauty and alluring qualities and if you are Odysseus you are know the beauty and the terror but you have the pain and responsibility of denial. The song remains the same, only the listeners change. S: So the value of art,

Friday, September 20, 2019

Comparison Of RC5 And RC6 Block

Comparison Of RC5 And RC6 Block Due to rapid growth in Internet and networks applications so the needs to protect such applications are increased. Encryption algorithms play a main role in information security systems. So it is desirable to develop a systematic understanding of database security concerns and their solutions and to come up with a framework. Ideally, such a framework should give some assurance that all relevant security problems have been addressed, and it can possibly point out new security issues not previously considered. It is a goal of this extended abstract and the corresponding talk to contribute to developing such framework and identifying new research directions for fruitful collaborations of the database The information database security is dependent on many different mechanisms and techniques, such as data and user authentication, encryption, time-stamping, digital signatures, and other cryptographic mechanisms and protocols. access control, information flow control, operating system and network security. The cryptographic algorithm RC6 is an evolutionary improvement of RC5 and designed to meet the requirements of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Like RC5, RC6 also makes essential use of data-dependent rotations. RC6 also has the feature of the use of four working registers instead of two, and the inclusion of integer multiplication as an additional primitive operation. The use of integer multiplication greatly enhances the diffusion achieved per round allowing for greater security, fewer rounds, and increased throughput. Keyword:cryptography,data security,secret key length ,block size,block cipher Introduction The word cryptography comes from the Greek word kryptos meaning hidden and graphia meaning writing. Cryptography thus literally means the art of secret writing. Cryptography is the science of devising methods which allow for information to be sent in a secure form in a way that the intended recipient would be able to retrieve the information so provides means of hiding (encryption) and recovering (decryption) information. A cipher in cryptography is an algorithm used for performing encryption decryption a series of well defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. In non-technical terms a cipher is the same thing as a code; however, the concepts are distinct in cryptography. The modern cipher work on either a fixed size of blocks of symbols, which is referred to as block cipher or the one which works on continuous stream of symbols called Stream cipher. Variety of encryption algorithms are available and used in information security. They can be classified into Symmetric (private) and Asymmetric (public) keys Encryption. In Symmetric keys encryption a key is used to encrypt and decrypt data. The key is to be distributed before transmission between entities. The role of it is very important for such system. If weak key is used in algorithm then data can be decrypted by anybody. Strength of Symmetric key encryption depends on the size of key used. For the same algorithm, encryption using longer key is harder to break than the one done using smaller key. There are many examples of strong and weak keys of cryptography algorithms like RC2, DES, 3DES, RC5, RC6, Blowfish, and AES. In Asymmetric key encryption method two keys are used one is private and another is public. Public key is used for encryption and private key is used for decryption. Public key is known to the public and private key is known only to the user. This removes the need of distribution of keys prior to the transmission. However public key encryption is based on mathematical function, computationally intensive and is less efficient for smaller mobile devices. Many encryption algorithms are widely available and used in information security. They can be categorized into Symmetric (private) and Asymmetric (public) keys encryption. In Symmetric keys encryption or secret key encryption, only one key is used to encrypt and decrypt data. The key should be distributed before transmission between entities. Keys play an important role. If weak key is used in algorithm then every one may decrypt the data. Strength of Symmetric key encryption depends on the size of key used. For the same algorithm, encryption using longer key is harder to break than the one done using smaller key. Commonly Used Encryption Techniques DES: (Data Encryption Standard), was the first (National Institute of Standards and Technology).DES is (64 bits key size with 64 bits block size). Since then, many attacks and methods recorded the drawbacks of DES, which made it an insecure block cipher [2] ,[4]. 3 DES: is an advanced version of DES; it is 64 bit block size with 192 bits key size. In this standard the encryption method is similar to the original DES but applied 3 times to increase the encryption level and the average safe time. But it is found that 3DES is slower than other block cipher methods [2]. RC2: is a block cipher with a size of 64-bits and have a variable key size that varies from 8 to128 bits. RC2 is vulnerable to a related-key attack using 234 chosen plaintexts [2]. Blowfish: is block cipher 64-bit block can be used as a replacement for the DES algorithm. It takes a variable length key, varying from 32 bits to 448 bits; default 128 bits. Blowfish is unpatented, license-free, and is available free for all uses. Blowfish has variants of 14 rounds or less. Blowfish is successor to Twofish [3]. AES: is a block cipher .Its key length ranges from 128, 192, to 256 bits; default 256. It encrypts data blocks of 128 bits in 10, 12 and 14 round depending on the key size. It is the fast and flexible encryption technique and can be explored on various platforms especially in small devices [6]. Also, AES has been carefully tested for many security applications [2], [4]. RC5: is a block cipher with a 64-bits block cipher with a variable key size that varies from 8 to128 bits. It is the fast and flexible encryption technique and can be explored on various platforms especially in small devices. While this is fast compared to most block ciphers, it is disappointingly slow compared to what might be expected, again pointing out the danger in estimating the speed of an algorithm from a high-level language without understanding the underlying processor limitations.[5] RC6: is block cipher derived from RC5. It was designed to meet the requirements of the Advanced Encryption Standard competition. RC6 proper has a block size of 128 bits and supports key sizes of 128, 192 and 256 bits. Some references consider RC6 as Advanced Encryption Standard [2].[7] In the present work, a comparison is carried out between RC 5 and RC 6. In the later part an attempt is made to compare different encryption techniques based on energy, change of packet size, change of key size. Performance Comparison between RC5 and RC6 symmetric key algorithms: RC5 is a parameterized algorithm with a variable block size, a variable key size, and a variable number of rounds. Allowable choices for the block size are 32 bits (for experimentation and evaluation purposes only), 64 bits (for use a drop-in replacement for DES), and 128 bits. The number of rounds can range from 0 to 255, while the key can range from 0 bits to 2040 bits in size. Such built-in variability provides flexibility at all levels of security and efficiency. There are three routines in RC5: key expansion, encryption, and decryption. In the key-expansion routine, the user-provided secret key is expanded to fill a key table whose size depends on the number of rounds. The key table is then used in both encryption and decryption. The encryption routine consists of three primitive operations: integer addition, bitwise XOR, and variable rotation. The exceptional simplicity of RC5 makes it easy to implement and analyze. Indeed, like the RSA system, the encryption steps of RC5 can be written on the back of an envelope. The heavy use of data-dependent rotations and the mixture of different operations provide the security of RC5. In particular, the use of data-dependent rotations helps defeat differential and linear cryptanalysis. As technology improves, and as the true strength of RC5 algorithms becomes better understood through analysis, the most appropriate parameter values can be chosen. The choice of r affects both encryption speed and security. For some applications, high speed may be the most critical requirement-one wishes for the best security obtainable within a given encryption time requirement. Choosing a small value of r (say r = 6) may provide some security, albeit modest, within the given speed constraint RC6 is a block cipher based on RC5 and designed by Rivest, Sidney, and Yin for RSA Security. Like RC5, RC6 is a parameterized algorithm where the block size, the key size, and the number of rounds are variable; again, the upper limit on the key size is 2040 bits. The main goal for the inventors has been to meet the requirements of the AES. There are two main new features in RC6 compared to RC5: the inclusion of integer multiplication and the use of four b/4-bit working registers instead of two b/2-bit registers as in RC5 (b is the block size). Integer multiplication is used to increase the diffusion achieved per round so that fewer rounds are needed and the speed of the cipher can be increased. The reason for using four working registers instead of two is technical rather than theoretical. Namely, the default block size of the AES is 128 bits; while RC5 deals with 64-bit operations when using this block size, 32-bit operations are preferable given the intended architecture of the AES . However, RC6 may remain a trademark of RSA Security. RC5 using 128-bit encryption is still considered one of the safest encryption methods. A comparative analysis between the block cipher RC5, and RC6 is performed to provide some measurements on the encryption and decryption. Effects of several parameters such as number of rounds, block size, and the length of secret key on the performance evaluation criteria are investigated. Table No. I shows the results of a study between RC5 and RC6 block cipher for different design parameters such as word size, block size, number of rounds and secret key size. It is already known that as the no of rounds and the secret key length increases the security of encrypted data is more. Here the RC6 have a clear upper hand. Parameters Rc5 Rc6 W (word size in bits) 16,32,64 16,32,64 R (no. of rounds) 0,1,2,..255 0,1,2,..255 B (key length in bytes) 0,1,2,..255 0,1,2,..255 Block size in words 2w 4w Block size in bits 32,64,128 64,128,256 Max block size in bits 128 256 No. of keys derived 2r + 2 2r + 4 Used operation +,-,Ġ¦,>> +,-,Ġ¦, *, >> Table no. I Comparison between RC5 RC6 block cipher at different design parameters.[1][6] A comparison for the throughput of encryption and decryption as a function of secret key length is shown in Table II Also as far as throughput in a encryption algorithm is concerned, it depends upon the length of secret key length used for encrypting the data. It is also very clear that RC6 gives more throughput .The table shows the throughput for both RC5 and RC6 algorithm at various key lengths with 32 bit word size and 20 no. of rounds kept constant but high security requires large number of rounds, so there is a trade off between high security and high throughput. [1],[6] The effect of number of rounds on both the throughput (Th) for RC5 and RC6 is given in Table no. III. The block size and secret key length are both constant, w = 32 and b = 16 and same is shown on graph. The result shows that with a constant word size and constant key length RC6 has more throughput than RC5 . However the throughput of encryption and decryption decreases with increasing number of rounds and vice versa. High throughput requires less number of rounds, Conclusion The article describes about a detailed comparative study for the well-known block ciphers RC5 and RC6. The comparison is made based on several design parameters of the two algorithms among which are word size, number of rounds and length of secret key. Effect of number of rounds, secret key length and data block size on encryption time and system throughput is also studied. The comparison also shows that RC6 cipher achieve maximum throughput and minimum encryption time compared with RC5 The RC6 block cipher offers a simple, compact, and flexible block cipher. It can be easily implemented for encryption. We believe that on all counts RC6 is most suitable to be chosen as the AES

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

Instruments For The Financial Manager Intel is one of the leading companies in the world and amongst the top ranking companies in the Fortune 500 of the world. It was a big blunder on their part but at times minor things are overlooked and lead to higher costs. Since the company of the stature of Intel cannot afford to compromise on its repute it decided to recall all the defected motherboards and as a result the burden on its income statement was very pronounced due to the shipping and re-structuring costs. Although the company is huge and funds are enormous but the catch was that most of their funds were either committed elsewhere or they were running short on cash flows and the senior financial management had this Herculean task of coming up with the 725 million dollars in order to service this recall. This course of action was the call of the hour and was required to complete this shipment in order to safeguard the name of the company and the interest of the shareholders. Due to the commitment of the cash flows elsewhere the company will need to raise an additional sum of 675 million dollars from various sources and the purpose of this research is to find out the most suitable and apt sources of fund considering the interests of all the concerned parties. As the financial manager for the company I would like to suggest that the desired levels of funds be raised from a number of sources, which would include raising part of it via equity, through part of accounts receivables, and some of it will have to financed internally. Though the company of this stature can afford borrowing from external sources but why drain away the funds elsewhere when we can do the same thing internally. Similarly part of it will have to come from o... ...inion the only options available to us are to use a mix of all of these. We should allow for the major chunk to come from the public as equity whereas the partial financing may come from the other assets as well as from the trading assets. What matters at the end of the day are that we are able to live up to the name of the company and deliver what we so staunchly promise to deliver. The only way to recover from the blunder made at some point in time is to recover the funds from the sources mentioned earlier on and when the time comes to repay these dues with diligence. As a finance manager I believe that these measures will enable us to sail through this problem with ease and in the longer run we will be able to stand more cohesively if we choose to settle this problem internally rather than going to outside and exposing the company to various other forms of risks.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

John Lennons Use of Writing in Lyrics Essay -- English Writing Gramma

John Lennon, the late Beatle, and immortal Walrus, said, â€Å"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. See how they run, like pigs from a gun, see how they fly-I’m crying.† And, the strangest thing about it is, after A Hard Day’s Night of typing this into my computer’s grammar checker, the program didn’t indicate a single error. Imagine, three decades before the age of the word processor, Lennon made his words Come Together. Think back to secondary school. What would many of your teacher’s reaction have been had you written what John Lennon did? I think I have an idea how some of my teachers might have reacted. I’d likely have been referred to the guidance counselor for drug counseling, and I’d have been sent home with a note to my parents. Granted, things have changed over the past twenty-five years, and many of today’s teachers realize that â€Å"good† writing consists of more than three-sentence paragraphs and single-subject-single-verb sentences. Where educators could once refer to a universal writing ideology, they must now recognize social diversity as a factor in critical evaluation of students’ work. Understand, I have never taught children in a school environment, and my only insight into what it is like is through reading books and essays, my discussions with friends who teach, you, my classmates, and, of course, my own memories of secondary school. So, when I offer my opinions, I do so humbly. Having said this, you’ll excuse me while I rant about the topic of our October 9th classroom discussion of what makes â€Å"good† writing and how to teach it. I found our discussion of â€Å"If I Learn It’s a Mircal,† by John, the â€Å"remedial† first year community college student, engaging. We talked about â€Å"voice,† and we... ...rtant as making sure he remains long enough to receive what he is asking for. His voice is honest and politically relevant. The teachers who assist him in refining his language and writing skills can take pride knowing that they share a certain part of his successes. I think John Lennon would agree: As this student heads down The Long and Winding Road, he will be grateful to the teachers who have given him his Ticket To Ride. Works Cited Brodkey, Linda. â€Å"On the Subjects of class and gender in ‘The Literacy Letters’†. Cross-Talk In Comp Theory. Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr. NCTE, Illinois. 639-658. John. â€Å"If I learn it’s a mircal.† ENG 521 class handout. Lennon, John and Paul McCartney. I Am The Walrus. The Beatles. Comet Music Corp. 1967. Whitman, Walt. â€Å"Song Of Myself.† Anthology of American Literature. Ed. George McMichael. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 2037. John Lennon's Use of Writing in Lyrics Essay -- English Writing Gramma John Lennon, the late Beatle, and immortal Walrus, said, â€Å"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. See how they run, like pigs from a gun, see how they fly-I’m crying.† And, the strangest thing about it is, after A Hard Day’s Night of typing this into my computer’s grammar checker, the program didn’t indicate a single error. Imagine, three decades before the age of the word processor, Lennon made his words Come Together. Think back to secondary school. What would many of your teacher’s reaction have been had you written what John Lennon did? I think I have an idea how some of my teachers might have reacted. I’d likely have been referred to the guidance counselor for drug counseling, and I’d have been sent home with a note to my parents. Granted, things have changed over the past twenty-five years, and many of today’s teachers realize that â€Å"good† writing consists of more than three-sentence paragraphs and single-subject-single-verb sentences. Where educators could once refer to a universal writing ideology, they must now recognize social diversity as a factor in critical evaluation of students’ work. Understand, I have never taught children in a school environment, and my only insight into what it is like is through reading books and essays, my discussions with friends who teach, you, my classmates, and, of course, my own memories of secondary school. So, when I offer my opinions, I do so humbly. Having said this, you’ll excuse me while I rant about the topic of our October 9th classroom discussion of what makes â€Å"good† writing and how to teach it. I found our discussion of â€Å"If I Learn It’s a Mircal,† by John, the â€Å"remedial† first year community college student, engaging. We talked about â€Å"voice,† and we... ...rtant as making sure he remains long enough to receive what he is asking for. His voice is honest and politically relevant. The teachers who assist him in refining his language and writing skills can take pride knowing that they share a certain part of his successes. I think John Lennon would agree: As this student heads down The Long and Winding Road, he will be grateful to the teachers who have given him his Ticket To Ride. Works Cited Brodkey, Linda. â€Å"On the Subjects of class and gender in ‘The Literacy Letters’†. Cross-Talk In Comp Theory. Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr. NCTE, Illinois. 639-658. John. â€Å"If I learn it’s a mircal.† ENG 521 class handout. Lennon, John and Paul McCartney. I Am The Walrus. The Beatles. Comet Music Corp. 1967. Whitman, Walt. â€Å"Song Of Myself.† Anthology of American Literature. Ed. George McMichael. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 2037.