The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy An analysis Essay Example

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy: An analysis Paper One of the later works of Leo Tolstoy, the novella is preoccupied with the meaning of death, and by extension the meaning of life. The main character, Ivan Ilyich, is a sort of a symbol for common man in the industrial age. Outwardly, he has all the trappings of a successful life, but there is a persistent feeling of hollowness and ennui. As Tolstoy writes, his life had been â€Å"the most simple, the most ordinary and therefore most terrible†. This sentiment is all too common in the capitalist age, the rise which Tolstoy witnessed firsthand. It is basic human individual psychology to ward off the idea of their own death although everyone understands death in the abstract. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is not so much a work about death in the abstract, but death as a personal confrontation. It is ironic to note that even as he is terminally ill, Ivan cannot come round to grasp his own extinction. To the contrary he still believes that death is something that happens to other people and not to himself. Likewise, the mourners who turn up for Ivan’s funeral never acknowledge that one day they too would reach this state of lifelessness. They believe â€Å"as though death were a chance experience that could happen only to Ivan Ilyich and not to themselves†. (p.3) The syllogism he had learned from Kiesewetter’s logic – ‘Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal’–had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but by no means to himself. That man Caius We will write a custom essay sample on The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy: An analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy: An analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy: An analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer â€Å"represented man in the abstract, and so the reasoning was perfectly sound; but he was not Caius, not an abstract man; he had always been a creature quite, quite distinct from all the others†¦. Caius really was mortal, and it was only right that he should die, but for him. Vanya, Ivan Ilyich, with all his thoughts and feelings, it was something else again. And it simply was not possible that he should have to die. That would be too terrible.† (Bozovic, 2004, p.223) The main reason why Ivan Ilyich has such a hard time accepting his own death is because he has led an unfulfilled life. He led â€Å"the most simple, the most ordinary and therefore most terrible† sort of life. And it is this major failure during his most productive years that troubles him from accepting his life’s termination. Through the torment and tribulations of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy is probing a problem all too common to humanity, namely, how one can live a life uncompromised. Indeed, it is the least controversial lifestyles are the most compromised in terms of essence. In other words, it is extremely difficult to live for one’s own aspirations and to fulfill one’s true calling with complete honesty, liberty and integrity. The reason why Ilyich had attained high office toward the end of his career is in large part because he went along with the established social, cultural and political norms. Had he dared question the flaws in the system and ha d he tried to distance himself from corruption that is ubiquitous in society then he would have made a lot of enemies. As a consequence, his reputation and social goodwill will diminish. If he had chosen to be morally upright whenever confronted with the flaws inherent in society he would not have had a successful career. Hence, looking the other way is the basis for his material and social success. Tolstoy is unambiguous in his stance that such a life is not worth living. In many ways this authorial position is resonant with Plato’s famous claim that â€Å"an unexamined life is not worth living†. The story is also a metaphorical journey toward illumination, in that, Ilyich only truly understands the failure of his erstwhile existence upon the shock of facing death. In this sense his approach toward his finality is an awakening to his own repressed reality. In his case the repression is so internalized and automatic that he carried a feeling of living a successful and responsible life. This feeling was nothing but an illusion which gave respectability to the mundane and trivial existence. By not heeding to what his true calling in life is, Ilyich had lived â€Å"the most simple, the most ordinary and therefore most terrible† life. This individual experience highlights a broader social phenomena, namely, the refusal to accept death in a gracefully and pragmatically. We have, in our culture, â€Å"an unspoken agreement not to speak about our own death. Mention of it is withheld lest we appear tactless, self-indulgent, neurotic, morbid, or even cowardly. There is no precise language to name death, to accept death and our dead. Without such a language we cannot integrate it. Integration requires metaphor and ritual. When as a group we are confronted with an image of dread, the group mind clangs shut. It is through the symbolic, the metaphors and rituals, that a group is able to integrate its fate collectively and individually.† (Klement, 1994, p.73) Works Cited Bozovic, Miran. â€Å"Auto-Iconicity and Its Vicissitudes: Bentham and Plato.† Helios31 (2004): 223+. Klement, Vera. â€Å"An Artist’s Notes on Aging and Death.† Art Journal1 (1994): 73+. Tolstoy, 1981. The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Trans. Lynn Solotaroff. New York

The Most Important Characteristic Successful People †Communications Essay

The Most Important Characteristic Successful People – Communications Essay Free Online Research Papers The Most Important Characteristic Successful People Communications Essay There are many factors that people should remember in order to be successful. Making effort, trying hard, keeping up the positive attitude, and being intelligent can be included in those factors. Of all these requirements, I would say that having positive attitude is the most important characteristic of people who want to be successful. In the following essay, I will further explain as to why I think so. To begin with, being positive lets you be confident, which eventually leads to become what you want. For instance, lets say a middle school student failed her mid term exam. If she is not an affirmative person, she would probably give up and do not study anymore for her final test. However, if she has a positive attitude toward every situation she confronts, she will try harder and possibly get a better score next time. Which case will bring a brighter result? Next, having a positive attitude can let people be healthy, which is also essential to live successful lives. Negative people are subject to get tired and worried easily, which distract their healthy conditions. On the contrary, people who are affirmative will quickly forget about their problems and try a new attempt. Clearly, positive people are much healthier than those who are not and therefore are easier to become what they want. To sum up, I believe that the most important characteristic for people to be successful is having positive attitudes all the time. It can help people to be confident and healthy, which are two very important factors that determine people whether to achieve their goals or not. In reality, there are numerous people who easily give up just because they failed to do something. However, I think they should know that giving up is the worst thing they can do in order to be successful. I hope people will be aware of the importance of having positive attitude and take a closer step to their future dreams. Research Papers on The Most Important Characteristic Successful People - Communications EssayEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenStandardized TestingResearch Process Part OneAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andThree Concepts of PsychodynamicGenetic EngineeringThe Hockey GameQuebec and CanadaMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

Airline Aviation Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Airline Aviation Safety - Essay Example To see an airplane fly was indeed unique to actually fly an airplane was a daring feat. The early pioneers did not take it lightly, for to do so meant flirting with death in these fragile unstable craft. Thus, the earliest aviation was restricted to relatively straight and level flight and fairly level turns. The flights were performed under visual conditions in places carefully selected for elevation, clear surroundings, and certain breeze advantages to get the craft into the air sooner and land at the slowest possible ground speed. The greatest problems with early flight were the reliability of the propulsion system and the strength and stability of the airframe. Many accidents and some fatalities occurred because of the structural failure of an airplane component or the failure of the engine to continue to produce power. Although human factors were not identified as a scientific discipline at this time, there were serious human factors problems in the early stages of flight. The protection of the pilot from the elements, as he sat out in his chair facing them head on, was merely a transfer of technology from bicycles and automobiles. The pilots wore goggles, topcoats, and gloves similar to those used when driving the automobiles of that period. Crash Of Valujet Flight 592: A Case Study Of Human Errors On the morning after the crash of ValuJet Flight 592, United States Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena appeared on television to re-affirm the safety of flying on ValuJet: "I've flown ValuJet. ValuJet is a safe airline, as is our entire aviation system" (Navarro, 1996, p. A1). Pena also added a strong endorsement for ValuJet's management team: "Whenever we have found any issues, ValuJet has been responsive, they have been cooperative, they have in some cases even exceeded the safety standards that we have" (Navarro, 1996, p. A1). Senior Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officer David Hinson echoed Pena's sentiments about the safety of flying ValuJet. Three days later, a preliminary inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that oxygen canisters being shipped in the cargo hold ignited a fire that brought the plane down shortly after its take off (Wald, 1996a, p. A1). Vincent, Crow, and Davis (1997) contend that an airline crash provides a compelling and visually powerful news story. Vincent et al. maintain that "the events which surround air crashes are inherently dramatic, involving life and death situations, heroic actions, fatal and fateful decisions, and unforgettable visual images" (p. 354). Part of the appeal of a crash occurs because it involves ordinary people. Part of the appeal of a crash occurs because of the very randomness of the act, and the potential for a similar random act to affect millions of other air travelers. Vincent et al. perceive an airline crash to constitute a rich text with three overarching story lines: (1) "The tragic intervention of fate into everyday life" (2) "The mystery of what caused the crash" and (3) "The work of legitimate authority to restore normalcy" (p. 357). In the case of ValuJet Flight 592, these themes were altered slightly by the recurrent

BusinessMGT Unit5 discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BusinessMGT Unit5 discussion - Assignment Example (â€Å"Competitive Advantage†, 2010) Smart Chips Company’s market share has been hurt by the clone microchips. Though the company specializes in developing first-of-its kind microchips, but the makers of clone microchips release microchips that are similar to the original but are sold at comparatively lower prices. To recuperate their market share, Smart Chips Company needs to redesign its product in a way that it has a competitive advantage over the cloning microchips. To bring about these drastic changes, the firm will have to determine how to incorporate the value chain activities to create value and competitive advantage. Smart Chips Company’s profit and market share depend on its efficiency of performing these activities, together with value chain support activities. The value chain support activities include: administrative infrastructure management, human resource management, technology (R&D) and  procurement. In order to develop competitive advantage, Smart Microchip Company must have resources that are superior and which cannot be replicated by the competitors. A cost analysis should be performed to assess the areas where the cost can be reduced. Company must create cost advantage either by reducing costs at each level of the value chain or by reconfiguring the entire value chain. Better marketing can also help in increasing the number of sales of the firm. Promotion and service plays an influential part in the marketing of a business. With effective marketing, Smart Chips can also use product positioning, and quality checking as means of gaining competitive advantages over clone microchips. This may lead the company towards the road to sustainable success. SWOT analysis will also be helpful to Smart Chips. It is a tool used by companies to assess their strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities and threats in the market. It is a simple way of evaluating firm’s current

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Case Study - Essay Example This paper will give an introductory overview and organizational structure of the company, explaining how the four principles of management are used in the company as expressed by a former employee of the organization. Formed in 1974 with the merging of British European Airways Corporation and British Overseas Airways Corporation, BA benefited in 1976 when the UK government changed the aviation policies to end competition from British Caledonian, which was the second largest British Airline at that time. BA was later privatized in 1987, and merged with Iberia in 2011 (Buckingham 14). At the beginning of 2010, the organization had over 41,000 permanent employees. Prior to the 2011 merger, BA was strategizing on how to create a leaner organization that had a distinctive and high-performing culture through their flagship programme of change, which they named Compete 2012. The programme was to transform the airline over a three year period and help them achieve their vision of the leadin g premium airline globally. It was to impact on their ways of interacting with each other, how individual performance would be measured and promotions conducted and create a platform for developing and rewarding talent. Coupled with BA’s commitment of being a responsible organisation, the programmes were also intended to achieve environmental targets while putting relationships with vital suppliers on a new scale and carrying on with the tradition of promoting communities in creative ways. To achieve the planned Compete 2012 strategies, BA restructured its top management in 2008 with a third of the team leaving under a voluntary retrenchment scheme. At the same time, the organization was redesigned to promote better leadership, governance and customer focus, making it more efficient. The restructuring also encouraged more employees to shift between functions and gain more experience while finding better outlets for their skills. With the understanding that a frontline global premium organization has to be effective and bold in developing potential and current leaders, the airline introduced the High Performance Leadership (HPL) system in the same year (Buckingham 23). The HPL was an integrated system that linked objective setting, business strategy, reward and development. Initially focused on top management, the system had a thorough assessment mechanism designed to identify gifted leaders and present them with appropriate support and tools to grow the development. The airline also outlined, communicated and started measuring personal performance of employees against three capacities thought to be essential in leaders, on top of operational excellence. They included communicating a shared vision, inspiring and motivating others and agreeing accountabilities. Leadership is executed from the top, which previously had nine directorate heads under the leadership of the Chief Executive (Johnson, Scholes &Whittington 11). It is presently split into two teams ; one under the Customer and Operations Executive, and the other under the Management Board. The Management Board, with weekly meetings, is charged with the organization’s strategic direction and vision. On the other hand, the Customer and Operations Executive team, also with weekly meetings, accounts for the day by day safety standards, operational performance and customer service. The director of security and safety as well as the legal director report to the Chief Executiv

MEMS Accelerometer Based Hand Gesture Recognition

MEMS Accelerometer Based Hand Gesture Recognition MEMS ACCELEROMETER BASED HAND GESTURE RECOGNITION Meenaakumari.M1, M.Muthulakshmi2 1Dept.of ECE, Sri Lakshmi Aammal Engineering College, Chennai, 2Asst.Prof, Dept.of ECE, Sri Lakshmi Aammal Engineering College, Chennai, Abstract This paper presents an MEMS accelerometer mostly based on gesture recognition algorithm and its applications. The hardware module consists of a triaxial mems accelerometer, microcontroller, and zigbee wireless transmission module for sensing and collecting accelerations of handwriting and hand gesture trajectories. Users will use this hardware module to write down digits, alphabets in digital kind by making four hand gestures. The accelerations of hand motions measured by the accelerometer are transmitted wirelessly to a personal computer for trajectory recognition. The trajectory algorithm composed of information assortment collection, signal preprocessing for reconstructing the trajectories to attenuate the cumulative errors caused by drift of sensors. So, by changing the position of MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) we can able to show the alphabetical characters and numerical within the PC. Keywords MEMS accelerometer, gesture, handwritten recognition, trajectory algorithm. INTRODUCTION NOW A DAYS, the expansion of human machine interaction technologies in electronic circuits has been greatly reduced the dimension and weight of consumer electronics products such as smart phones and handheld computers, and therefore will increases our day to day convenience. Recently, an attractive alternative, a conveyable embedded device with inertial sensors, has been projected to sense the activities of human and to capture their motion trajectory information from accelerations for handwriting and recognizing gestures. The foremost necessary advantage of inertial sensors for general motion sensing is that they can be operated without any external reference and limitation in operating conditions. However, motion trajectory recognition is comparatively tough for different users since they have different speeds and styles to generate various motion trajectories. Thus, several researchers have tried to avoid the problem domain for increasing the  accuracy of handwriting recognition systems. During this work a miniature MEMS accelerometer based recognition systems which acknowledge four hand gestures in 3-D is constructed by using this four gestures, numerical and alphabets will be recognized in the digital format. MEMS are termed as micro electro mechanical system where mechanical parts like cantilevers or membranes have been manufactured at microelectronics circuits. It uses the technology known as micro-fabrication technology. It has holes, cavity, channels, cantilevers, membranes and additionally imitates mechanical parts. The emphasis on MEMS is based on silicon. The explanation that prompt that prompt the utilization of MEMS technology are for example miniaturization of existing devices, development of new devices based on principal that do not work at large scale and to interact with micro world. Miniaturization reduces cost by decreasing material consumption. It also increases applicability by reducing mass and size allowing placing the, MEMS in places where a traditional system. Instead of having a series of external components connected by wire or soldered to printed circuit board the MEMS on silicon can be integrated directly with the electronics. These are called smart integrated ME MS already include data acquisition, filtering, data storage, communication interfacing and networking. MEMS technology not only makes the things smaller but often makes them better. A typical example is brought by the accelerometer development. An accelerometer is a device that measures the physical acceleration. The physical parameters are temperature, pressure, force, light etc. it measures the weight per unit mass. By contrast, accelerometers in free fall or at rest in outer space will measure zero. Another term for the type of acceleration that accelerometers can measure is g-force. It works on the principle of displacement of a small proof mass etched into the silicon surface of the integrated circuit and suspended by small beams. RELATED WORK There are mainly two existing types of gesture recognition methods, i.e., vision-based and accelerometer and/or gyroscope based. Due to some limitations like ambient optical noise, slower dynamic response, and relatively large data collections/processing of vision-based method [1], our recognition system is implemented based on an inertial measurement unit based on MEMS acceleration sensors. If gyroscopes are used for inertial measurement [2] it causes heavy computational burden, thus our system is based on MEMS accelerometers only and gyroscopes are not implemented. Many researchers have focused on developing effective algorithms for error compensation of inertial sensors to improve the recognition accuracy. For few examples, Yang et al. [3] proposed a pen-type input device to track trajectories in 3-D space by using accelerometers and gyroscopes. An efficient acceleration error compensation algorithm based on zero velocity compensation was developed to decrease the acceleration err ors for acquiring accurate reconstructed trajectory. An extended Kalman filter with magnetometers (micro inertial measurement unit (ÃŽÂ ¼IMU) with magnetometers), proposed by Luo et al. [10], was employed to compensate the orientation of the proposed digital writing instrument. If the orientation of the instrument was estimated precisely, the motion trajectories of the instrument were reconstructed accurately. Dong et al. [4] proposed an optical tracking calibration method based on optical tracking system (OTS) to calibrate 3-D accelerations, angular velocities, and space attitude of handwriting motions. The OTS was developed for the following two goals: 1) to obtain accelerations of the proposed ubiquitous digital writing instrument (UDWI) by calibrating 2-D trajectories and 2) to obtain the accurate attitude angles by using the multiple camera calibration. However, in order to recognize or reconstruct motion trajectories accurately, the aforementioned approaches introduce other sensors such as gyroscopes or magnetometers to obtain precise orientation. This increases additional cost for motion trajectory recognition systems as well as computational burden of their algorithms. In this paper, a portable device has been developed with a trajectory recognition algorithm. The portable device consists of a triaxial accelerometer, a microprocessor, and an zigbee wireless transmission module. The acceleration signals measured from the triaxial accelerometer are transmitted to a computer via the zigbee wireless module. Users can utilize this portal device to write digits and make hand gestures at normal speed. The measured acceleration signals of these motions can be recognized by the trajectory recognition algorithm. The recognition procedure is composed of acceleration acquisition, signal preprocessing, feature generation, feature selection, and feature extraction. The acceleration signals of hand motions are measured by the portable device. The signal preprocessing procedure consists of calibration, a moving average filter, a high-pass filter, and normalization. First, the accelerations are calibrated to remove drift errors and offsets from the raw signals. The se two filters are applied to remove high frequency noise and gravitational acceleration from the raw data, respectively. The features of the preprocessed acceleration signals of each axis include mean, correlation among axes, interquartile range (IQR), mean absolute deviation (MAD), root mean square (rms), VAR, standard deviation (STD), and energy. Before classifying the hand motion trajectories, we perform the procedures of feature selection and extraction methods. In general, feature selection aims at selecting a subset of size m from an original set of d features (d > m). Therefore, the criterion of kernel-based class separability (KBCS) with best individual N (BIN) is to select significant features from the original features (i.e., to pick up some important features from d) and that of linear discriminate analysis (LDA) is to reduce the dimension of the feature space with a better recognition performance (i.e., to reduce the size of m). The objective of the feature selection an d featureextraction methods is not only to eradicate the burden of computational load but also to increase the accuracy of classification. The reduced features are used as the inputs of classifiers. The contributions of this paper include the following: 1) the development of a portable device with a trajectory recognition algorithm, i.e., with the hardware module , can give desired commands by hand motions to control electronics devices anywhere without space limitations, and 2) an effective trajectory recognition algorithm, i.e., the proposed algorithm can efficiently select significant features from the time and frequency domains of acceleration signals and project the feature space into a smaller feature dimension for motion recognition with high recognition accuracy. III.HARDWARE DESIGN OF  PORTABLE DEVICE The portable device consists of a triaxial accelerometer (MMA2240), a microcontroller (C8051F206 with a 12-b A/D converter), and a wireless transceiver (nRF2401, Nordic). The triaxial accelerometer measures the acceleration signals generated by a users hand motions. The microcontroller collects the analog acceleration signals and converts the signals to digital ones via the A/D converter. The wireless transceiver transmits the acceleration signals wirelessly to a personal computer (PC).The MMA2240 is a low-cost capacitive micro machined accelerometer with a temperature compensation function and a g-select function for a full-scale selection of +_}2 g to +_}6 gand is able to measure accelerations over the bandwidth of 0.5 kHz for all axes. The accelerometers sensitivity is set from à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢2 g to +2 g. The C8051F206 integrates a high-performance 12-b A/D converter and an optimized signal cycle 25-MHz 8-b microcontroller unit (MCU) (8051 instruction set compatible) on a signal chip. The output signals of the accelerometer are sampled at 100 Hz by the 12-b A/D converter. Then, all the data sensed by the accelerometer are transmitted wirelessly to a PC by an zigbee transceiver at 2.4-GHz transmission band with 1-Mb/s transmission rate. The overall power consumption of the digital pen circuit is 30 mA at 3.7 V. The block diagram of the portable device is shown in Fig. 1. MEMS PIC ACCELEROMTER MICROCON ZIGBEE TX TROLLER PC RS 232 ZIGBEE RX Fig.1. Block diagram of the portable device. IV. TRAJECTORY RECOGNITION ALGORITHM The proposed trajectory recognition algorithm consisting of acceleration acquisition, signal preprocessing, feature generation, feature selection, and feature extraction. In this paper, the motions for recognition include Arabic numerals alphabets. The acceleration signals of the hand motions are measured by a triaxial accelerometer and then preprocessed by filtering and normalization. Consequently, the features are extracted from the preprocessed data to represent the characteristics of different motion signals, and the feature selection process based on KBCS picks p features out of the original extracted features. To reduce the computational load and increase the recognition accuracy of the classifier, LDA is utilized to decrease the dimension of the selected features. The reduced feature vectors are then fed into a PNN classifier to recognize the motion to which the feature vector it belongs. A. Signal Preprocessing The microcontroller collects the acceleration signals of hand motions which are generated by the accelerometer. Due to slight tremble movement of hand certain amount of noise is generated. The signal preprocessing consists of calibration, a moving average filter, a high-pass filter, and normalization. First, the accelerations are calibrated to remove drift errors and offsets from the raw signals. The second step of the signal preprocessing is to use a moving average filter to reduce the high-frequency noise of the calibrated accelerations, and the filter is expressed as where x[t] is the input signal, y[t] is the output signal, and N is the number of points in the average filter. In this paper, we set N = 8. The decision of using an eight-point moving average filter is based on our empirical tests. Then, a high-pass filter is used to remove the gravitational acceleration from the filtered acceleration to obtain accelerations caused by hand movement. In general, the size of samples of each movement between fast and slow writers is different. Therefore, after filtering the data, we first segment each movement signal properly to extract the exact motion interval. Then, we normalize each segmented motion interval into equal sizes via interpolation. B. Feature Generation The characteristics of different hand movement signals can be obtained by extracting features from the preprocessed x-, Fig 2 Block diagram of the trajectory recognition algorithm. 5) Correlation among axes: The correlation among axes is computed as the ratio of the covariance to the product of the STD for each pair of axes. For example, the correlation (corrxy) between two variables x on x-axis and y on y-axis is defined as where E represents the expected value, à Ã†â€™x and à Ã†â€™x are STDs, and mx and my are the expected values of x and y, respectively. 6)MAD 7)rms Y-, and z-axis signals, and we extract eight features where xi is the acceleration instance and m is from the triaxial acceleration signals, including mean, the mean value of xi in (6) to (7). STD, VAR, IQR [6], correlation between axes [7], MAD, rms, and energy [8] . They are explicated as follows. 8) Energy: Energy is calculated as the sum of 1) Mean: The mean value of the acceleration the magnitudes of squared discrete fast signals of each hand motion is the dc Fourier transform (FFT) components of the component of the signal signal in a window. The equation is defined as where W is the length of each hand motion. 2) STD: STD is the square root of VAR where Fi is the ith FFT component of the window and |Fi| is the magnitude of Fi. C. Feature Selection Feature selection comprises a selection criterion. The KBCS can be computed as follows: Let (x, y) (Rd ÃÆ'- 3) VAR Y) represents a sample, where Rd denotes a d dimensional feature space, Y symbolizes the set of class labels, and the size of Y is the number of class c. This method projects the samples onto a kernel space, where xi is the acceleration instance and m is and m i is defined as the mean vector for the I th class in the kernel space, ni denotes the number of the mean value of xi in (3) and (4). samples in the ith class, m denotes the mean vector 4) IQR: When different classes have similar for all classes in the kernel space, S B denotes the between-class scatter matrix in the kernel space, and mean values, the interquartile range S/ Wdenotes the within-class scatter matrix in the represents the dispersion of the data and kernel space. Let (à £Ã†â€™Ã‚ ») be a possible nonlinear eliminates the influence of outliers in the mapping from the feature space Rd to a kernel space data. ÃŽÂ º and tr(A) represents the trace of a square matrixA. 1889 www.ijarcet.org ISSN: 2278 1323 International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Engineering Technology (IJARCET) Volume 2, No 5, May 2013 The following two equations are used in the class separability measure: 1 2 3 4 The class separability in the kernel space can be measured as To maintain the numerical stability in the maximization of J à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ , the denominator tr(Sà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ W ) has to be prevented from approaching zero. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In this section, the effectiveness of trajectory recognition algorithm is validated. A.Handwritten Digit Recognition The acceleration signals after the signal preprocessing procedure of the proposed trajectory recognition algorithm for the digit 0. The calibrated acceleration signals acquired from the accelerometer module are shown. With the preprocessed accelerations, alphabets and numerical features are generated by the feature generation procedure. Subsequently, the KBCS is adopted to choose characteristic features from the generated features. We choose digits 0 and 6 to illustrate the effectiveness of the KBCS, since their accelerations and handwritten trajectories are pretty similar and difficult to classify. The IQR features of these two digits are closely overlapped. Thus, the features are not effective for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Fig. 4. Trajectories of four hand gestures. corrxy, meanz, energyx, energyy, and energyz selected by the KBCS. Finally, the dimension of the selected features was further reduced by the LDA not only to ease the burden of computational load but also to increase the accuracy of classification. Fig. 5.a Trajectories of alphabets Fig. 5.b. Trajectories of alphabets. Fig. 6. IQR features of (red star) digit 0 and (blue diamond) digit 6. Fig. 3. Generation of numerical 1890 www.ijarcet.org ISSN: 2278 1323 International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Engineering Technology (IJARCET) Volume 2, No 5, May 2013 Fig. 6.a. Mean feature of (red star) digit 0 and digit (blue diamond) 6. Therefore, the total testing samples were 100 (10 ÃÆ'- 10 ÃÆ'- 1) for the testing procedure, and the total training samples were 900 (10 ÃÆ'- 10 ÃÆ'- 9) for the raining procedure. Because there are ten digits needed to be classified, the maximum of the dimension of the feature extraction by the LDA was nine. To see the performance variation caused by feature dimensions, we varied the dimensions of the LDA from one to nine. In Fig. 10, the best average recognition rate of Fig. 7. Average recognition rates versus the feature dimensions of the PNN classifier by using the LDA. Fig. 8. Average recognition rates versus the feature dimensions of the PNN classifier by using the KBCS. V. CONCLUSION The development of a portable device, is used to generate desired commands by hand motions to control electronic devices without space limitations. The time and frequency domains of acceleration signals of motion recognition, which has high recognition accuracy. The acceleration made by the hand gesture is measured by accelerometer are wirelessly transmitted to computer. In the experiments, we used 2-D handwriting digits, alphabets by using four hand gestures to validate the effectiveness of the proposed device and algorithm. The overall handwritten digit recognition rate was 98%, and the gesture recognition rate was also 98.75%. This result encourages us to further investigate the possibility of using our digital pen as an effective tool for HCI applications. In this project, an additional button can be used to allow users to indicate the starting point and ending point of motion. That is, the limitation of the proposed trajectory recognition algorithm is that it can only recognize a letter or a number finished with a single stroke. VI. FUTURE ENHANCEMENT The algorithms can be developed for letters or words with multistrokes which involve more challenging problems. REFERENCES S. Zhou, Q. Shan, F. Fei, W. J. Li, C. P. Kwong, and C. K. Wu et al.,Gesture recognition for interactive controllers using MEMS motion sensors, in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Nano/Micro Engineered and MolecularSystems, Jan. 2009,pp. 935-940. S. Zhang, C. Yuan, and V. Zhang, Handwritten character recognition using orientation quantization based on 3-D accelerometer, presented at the 5th Annu. Int. Conf. Ubiquitous Systems, Jul. 25th, 2008. J. Yang, W. Chang, W. C. Bang, E. S. Choi, K. H.Kang, S. J. Cho, and D. Y. Kim, Analysis and compensation of errors in the input device based on inertial sensors, in Proc. IEEE Int. L. Wang, Feature selection with kernel class separability, IEEE Trans.Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 1534-1546, Sep. 2008. Z. Dong, U. C. Wejinya, and W. J. Li, An optical-tracking calibration method for MEMS-based digital writing instrument, IEEE Sens. J.,vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 1543-1551, Oct. 2010. J. S.Wang, Y. L. Hsu, and J. N. Liu, An inertial-measurement-unit-based pen with a trajectory reconstruction algorithm and its applications, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 3508-3521, Oct. 2010. S. Zhou, Z. Dong, W. J. Li, and C. P. Kwong, Hand-written character recognition using   MEMSmotionsensingtechnology,in Proc.IEEE/ASME Int. Conf. Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, 2008, pp.1418-1423. J. K. Oh, S. J. Cho, and W. C. Bang et al., Inertial sensor based recognition of 3-D character gestures with an ensemble of classifiers, presented at the 9th Int. Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, 2004. Conf. Inf.Technol.-Coding and Computing,2004, pp. 790-796. Y. Luo, C. C. Tsang, G. Zhang, Z. Dong, G. Shi, Y. Kwok, W. J. Li, P. H. W. Leong, and M. Y. Wong, An attitude compensation technique for a MEMS motion sensor based digital writing instrument, in Proc.IEEE Int. Conf. Nano/Micro Eng. Mol. Syst., 2006, pp. 909-914. Z. Dong, G. Zhang, Y. Luo, C. C. Tsang, G. Shi, Y. Kwok, W. J. Li,P. H. W. Leong, and M. Y. Wong, A calibration method for MEMS inertial sensors based on optical tracking, in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf.Nano/Micro Eng. Mol. Syst., 2007, pp.542-547. S. J. Preece, J. Y. Goulermas, L. P. J. Kenney, and D. Howard, A comparison of feature extraction methods for the classification of dynamic activities from accelerometer data, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. 56,no. 3, pp.871-879, Mar. 2009. L. Bao and S. S. Intille, Activity recognition from user-annotated acceleration data, Pervasive, Lecture Notes in Computer Science,no. 3001,pp. 1-17, 2004. Y. P. Chen, J. Y. Yang, S. N. Liou, G. Y. Lee, and J. S. Wang, Online classifier construction algorithm for human activity detection using a triaxial accelerometer, Appl. Math. Comput., pp. 849-860, Nov. 2008. L. Wang, Feature selection with kernel class separability, IEEE Trans.Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 1534-1546, Sep. 2008. Z. Dong, U. C. Wejinya, and W. J. Li, An optical-tracking calibration method for MEMS-based digital writing instrument, IEEE Sens. ,vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 1543-1551, Oct. 2010. J. S.Wang, Y. L. Hsu, and J. N. Liu, An inertial-measurement-unit-based pen with a trajectory reconstruction algorithm and its applications, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 3508-3521, Oct. 2010. S. Zhou, Z. Dong, W. J. Li, and C. P. Kwong, Hand-written character recognition using MEMS motion sensing technology, in Proc.IEEE/ASME Int. Conf. Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, 2008, pp.1418-1423. J. K. Oh, S. J. Cho, and W. C. Bang et al., Inertial sensor based recognition of 3-D character gestures with an ensemble of classifiers, presented at the 9th Int. Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, 2004. A. H. F. Lam, W. J. Li, Y. Liu, and N. Xi, MIDS: Micro input devices system using MEMS sensors, presented at the IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf.Intelligent Robots an

Essay --

How Practitioners in Multi-Cultural College Environments Might promote the Changes Associated with College Attendance. There are a number of ways for practitioners in multicultural environments to promote changes associated with college attendance. It is very important to recruit minorities in our predominantly white institutions as it is crucial to present an inclusive and welcoming environment. Accommodating a diverse student body is also essential. Implementing programs to retain minority students is also imperative when it comes to promoting college attendance as it is important to retain the students that have been recruited. However, there are additional ways to promote changes associated with college attendance which involves: Implementing a culturally diverse curriculum to include a mandatory course in which students from diverse backgrounds meet and exchange ideas and information; creating a signature bridge program for underrepresented minorities who are becoming freshmen; creating a diversity symposium to get the institute leadership team behind the concept of promoting the changes associated with college attendance. Implement a culturally diverse curriculum to include a mandatory course in which students from diverse backgrounds meet and exchange ideas and information. The implementation of a course to accommodate students of diverse backgrounds will foster communication amongst the varying ethnicities and encourage or increase attendance amongst minority students. The racial and ethnic diversity that symbolizes the interpersonal environment provided by close peers clearly affects students in a distinctive manner. Compared to aspects of a student's interpersonal environment defined by academic ability, values, ... ... ethnic diversity. There are additional diversity related efforts to include the development of cultural awareness and racial understanding (such as taking ethnic and women's studies courses, participating in ethnic student organizations, and attending cultural awareness workshops), these interracial interactions are informal and relevant to all students on a diverse campus, not just those few who choose to participate in formal courses or workshops. The potential for student body diversity to positively affect cross-cultural knowledge and understanding, through the mediating interpersonal context of best friends, appears to be a promising effect of college within the reach of all students. Retaining minorities who are already students at these predominantly white institutions is very important and programs and initiatives should be implemented to make this happen.

Case 1.12:Madoff Securities

Case 1. 12: Madoff Securities Questions: 1. Research recent developments involving this case. Summarize these developments in a bullet format. 2. Suppose that a large investment firm had approximately 10 percent of its total assets invested in funds managed by Madoff securities. What audit procedures should the investment firm’s independent auditors has applied to those assets? 3. Describe the nature and purpose of a â€Å"peer review. † Would peer reviews of Friehling & Horowitz have likely resulted in the discovery of the Madoff fraud? Why or why not? 4.Professional auditing standards discuss the three key â€Å"conditions† that are typically present when a financial fraud occurs and identify a lengthy list of â€Å"fraud risk factors. † Briefly explain the difference between a fraud â€Å"condition† and a â€Å"fraud risk factors,† and provide examples of each. What fraud conditions and fraud risk factors were apparently present in the Mad off case? 5. In addition to the reforms mentioned in this case, recommend other financial reporting and auditing-related reforms that would likely be effective in preventing or detecting frauds similar to that perpetrated by Madoff. Answers: 1.Recent developments involving the case Madoff Securities: †¢Bernie Madoff’s son, Mark Madoff committed suicide on December 11, 2010. His suicide may have been influenced because there was an investigation on Mark’s children on grounds that Bernie transferred funds to their accounts. †¢Peter Madoff pleaded guilty to his involvement in the Ponzi scheme run by his brother. Peter Madoff served as the chief compliance officer. †¢Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of liquidating Madoff’s assets, has asked a New York court for approval to distribute an additional $1. 5 billion to investors who lost money in Madoff’s fraudulent investments.It is estimated that Picard has already recovered $9. 1 billion but has only been able to distribute $1. 1 billion so far. †¢In May 2010, about 720,000 Madoff investors outside the United States settled with their banks, receiving about $15. 5 billion in all, according to law firms representing them. †¢In June 2012, the Supreme Court said it would not take up a dispute over how the claims of victims of Mr. Madoff’s huge Ponzi scheme should be calculated. Without comment, the high court declined to hear an appeal from lawyers for investors who got back all the cash they had invested with Mr.Madoff before his December 2008 arrest. 2. If a large investment firm had approximately 10 percent of its total assets invested in funds managed by Madoff Securities, the audit procedures that the firm’s independent auditors should look very closely are some procedures that will help the auditor to identify inherent and control risks that contribute to misstatements in balance sheets. He/she should make sure that the detection risk is as lo w as possible and the key transactions are confirmed for its accuracy.By addressing issues of materiality, the auditor will eliminate misstatements to overstate the investment on the balance sheets. PCAOB AU Section 329A states that understanding financial relationships is essential in planning and evaluating results of analytical procedures and generally requires knowledge of the client industry. The auditor, by understanding the nature of the business can identify and categorize the types of risk that can be assessed. The auditor will have to do research about the business and how transactions are handled and processed.Knowing about the client’s business the auditor will better obtain sufficient, reliable, and relevant evidence to achieve his audit objectives. Analytical procedures are used as a substantive test where the auditor considers the level of assurance he/she wants from the substantive test for audit objective. The independent auditor main goal is to be able to es tablish the accuracy of major accounts and confirm that the assets the firm has recorded actually exist. For instance, the auditor should to take key transactions of the assets and make sure that those transactions are accurate and recorded properly.Also he may conduct bank reconciliations on pertinent accounts to make sure no discrepancies or misstatements are found. The auditor should also perform vertical and horizontal analysis for the income statements and balance sheets by the use of ratios. Moreover, the auditor should preform test for effectiveness of internal controls. He may interview management by asking questions on the process of the transactions and operational activities. He may discuss with management the process of some transactions from beginning to end and then test it by using sample testing.Also he/she should make sure that there is proper control of activities; policies and procedures for adequate segregation of duties are met. 3. A peer review is a process of subjecting research methods and findings to the study of others who are experts in the same field. The purpose is designed to prevent dissemination of irrelevant findings, unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations, and personal views. It relies on colleagues that review one another’s work and make an informed decision about whether it is legitimate, and adds to the large dialogue or findings in the field.A peer review of Frieshling & Horowitz would result in the discovery of the Madoff fraud because questions would have been raised about the resource capability of the firm to handle such a large account given that it only had one accountant. Moreover, the Standards for Performing and Reporting on Peer Reviews Section 1000 states that purpose is to provide standards for administrating, planning, preforming a good monitoring of the CPA firm’s accounting and auditing practice to promote good quality to serve the public interest. 4.The SAS 99 describes three conditi ons of fraud: incentives/pressures to commit fraud, opportunities that circumstances provide opportunities to commit, and attitudes/rationalizations which is an attitude, a character or set of ethical values exists that allows management or employees to commit dishonest act. Some of the fraud risk factors in Madoff Securities case include: Incentives/Pressures Greenness- Madoff always wanted more. He wanted to maintain a rich lifestyle for him and his family, as well as to stay as one of the top investment firm.Opportunities Madoff firm did not have proper monitoring controls as well as the ineffective accounting system, internal audit and information technology staff. Attitudes/Rationalizations No one understood his strategy; no one could communicate with him about investments SAS 99 requires the auditor to assess whether fraud risk factors exist. Fraud risk means that the likelihood of committing the fraud is high. For instance based on case some of fraud risk factors are: †¢ high degree of competition or market saturation, accompanied by declining margins. assets, liabilities, revenues, or expenses based on significant estimates 5. Other reforms recommended are for the victims of the fraud would be that the victims need to be more aware of whom they are investing their money with. The victims should perform more research the company in which they would like to invest their money. They should ask them self-questions if the business owner has a good reputation, is he/she have a criminal record, and if he/she has experience in operating a business. Also, today the economy is hard and if a return on an investment seems too good to be true probably here is something wrong going on (fraud class, prof. Edward Mann). Moreover, the other ways that would effectively prevent or detect fraud similar to Madoff are: †¢organizing the enforcement division that will monitoring unusual investment returns, †¢improving fraud detection procedures for examiners, â € ¢recruiting staff with specialized experience, †¢expanding and targeting training to improving internal controls procedures, †¢introduce firms with whistleblower program †¢increasing educational request for specific licenses †¢oversight management and employees

Language Acquisition and Learning Essay

There are several theories as to how people acquire and learn the intricacies of language not only to communicate but also to communicate their ideas across an audience. As a matter of fact, most of these theories if not all of them contends with each other. The two famous contending ideas are that of the Behaviorist Theory purported by B. F. Skinner which argues that language learning is a matter of â€Å"imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habit formation (Author, Year)† and the Innatist Theory posited by Noam Chomsky which presents the notion of a Universal Grammar found in every human being’s mind that made them cognitively capable in learning a language (Author, Year). While both of these theories account for the similarities and differences in first language and second language learning, it is Stephen Krashen who first made a basic distinction that first language is acquired while second language is learned (Author, Year). According to Krashen, to acquire a language is to understand the language just like that of a child acquiring his/her first language without any conscious attention to the language form. On one hand, learning a language is to focus on the form and rules of a particular language. Aside from these basic differences there are also other factors that affect both first language acquisition and second language learning such as the cognitive and environmental aspects. In the cognitive aspect, Chomsky said that humans in terms of language learning have The Critical Period Hypothesis, a genetic program that contains the kinds of knowledge and skill necessary for the learning of a language in a specific period of every human’s life. This further suggests that most of human’s first language endeavor happens in this period which makes it easier to learn as opposed to second language learning that will happen beyond CPH. It is argued that beyond these critical periods, it is already difficult if not impossible to acquire those language learning skills as supported by the case study of a 12-year old boy Victor who grew up in the wilderness of France without any contact with any human language but the sound of the animals and the woods (Author, Year). It is believed that second language can no loner access the innate acquisition they have when they learn their first language which lead them to rely on their other cognitive skills. The second cognitive aspect is the knowledge of a prior language. Second language whether children or adults have already acquired a first language on their own that works both as an advantage and a disadvantage. It is an advantage because of the fact that they have a prior language on how languages work. It is a disadvantage in a sense that this prior knowledge would affect and influence the learner’s knowledge of the second language that would inevitable lead them to make incorrect guesses on how the second language works. Second language learners already have cognitive maturity and metalinguistic awareness that a first language learner does not have which allows them to solve problems and engage themselves in language discussions. Moreover, there are also attitudinal and cultural differences involve in between first language acquisition and second language learning. First is the willingness to use and experiment the new language. For instance, children learning their first language would try to express themselves in different ways sometimes in erroneous ways even when their proficiency in the language is limited. However, adult second language learners would find it stressful to not able to express themselves which inhibits them to endeavor with the language. Lastly, there is an environmental differences involved in language learning acquisition and learning. For instance, first language learners are exposed in an informal environment where parents respond to their children’s language in a natural way such as a correction based on meaning as opposed to a correction based grammar accuracy. Correction is often made through reaction as opposed to a second language learning setting where every wrong utterance is corrected. In this way, second language learners are deprived of the experiencing language in a real communication set- up which is hazardous in their learning.

10 Tips for Getting Rid of Fruit Flies

10 Tips for Getting Rid of Fruit Flies Fruit flies are one of the most persistent kitchen pests. These tiny winged marauders procreate quickly and stick around long after youve tossed the fruits and veggies that first attracted them. If youre at your wits end with these nuisances, dont despair. Getting rid of them requires patience and smarts but these tips will help you eliminate any potential fruit fly breeding grounds in your home so youll be able to make them go away- and keep them from coming back. 1. Dispose of Any Rotting Fruits and Vegetables First things first: The minute you see even a few fruit flies, its time to purge your unrefrigerated produce. Anything thats beyond ripe, oozing liquid, or has been cut or broken open must go. Dont just throw things in the garbage or compost bin, either- unless your compost bin is outdoors and located a distance from your house. Bag everything up and take it outside to the trash. And be sure to clean up any residual mess left behind on countertops or in containers. 2. Scrub Your Recycling Cans Anything thats sweet or fermented or has a little moisture is a suitable habitat for fruit flies. Empty soda cans, wine bottles, and beer cans completely and rinse them out. After youve taken all bottles and cans out for pickup, give the bin a thorough scrubbing to remove any beer, wine, or juice residue. 3. Take Any Compost Scraps Outside If you compost kitchen scraps and find you have fruit flies buzzing about, its time to clean out the compost bin. Until you get the infestation under control, youll need to take produce scraps directly to your outdoor compost pile. Empty any indoor compost containers and give them a good scrubbing, too. 4. Replace Old Sponges, Mops, and Dishrags Did you know that fruit flies can breed on sour sponges, mops, and dishrags? If you havent changed your kitchen sponge or your mop refill recently, replace them. Throw any reusable dishrags in the wash and put disposable ones in a sealed bag. 5. Clean Your Dishes Immediately Dont wait until the end of the day to wash your dishes, especially if they have residue from things like jelly or wine. At the very least, give the dishes a good rinse to remove any food or beverage remnants. When you scrape leftovers into the garbage, be sure to take the trash outside promptly. If you have a dishwasher, rinse food particles from your dishes and run the load as soon as you can. 6. Check Potato and Onion Storage Bins Most people store potatoes, onions, and other root vegetables in a cool, dark bin or cupboard. If fruit flies persist, be sure to check these storage areas for old, rotting produce. Just one old potato is all it takes to keep a fruit fly population going. Dispose of any soft or mushy potatoes or onions, and give the bin a cleaning before putting in fresh ones. 7. Set Vinegar Traps in Problem Areas Sometimes the quickest way to eliminate a population of insect pests is to wipe out the reproductive adults. Fortunately, fruit flies arent all that smart. If something smells remotely like fermenting fruit, theyll dive right in. Place a few cider vinegar traps around problem areas in your home, and you can quickly get rid of large numbers of fruit flies. You can make a vinegar trap in just a few minutes with things you probably already have in your home. 8. Fix Slow Drains and Keep Plumbing Clean Fruit flies arent above living in the muck, and that includes the muck inside your plumbing. If you have any slow-moving drains in your house, there may be enough organic matter hanging out inside your pipes to support a breeding population of fruit flies. Tape some plastic wrap over suspect drains for a few days to check for fruit flies. If you see adults on the underside of the plastic, theyre breeding in your drain. Fix any drainage issues. Pour boiling water down problem drains to help loosen accumulated deposits. If accessible, you can also use a firm brush to scrub the inside of the pipe to free it of debris. 9. Give the Kitchen a Thorough Cleaning Youd be surprised where food bits can accumulate in a kitchen. If you have a particularly stubborn fruit fly infestation, it may take some elbow grease to eliminate all of their food sources. Check the lip of your kitchen sink. There could there be food bits underneath it. Clean the burner drip pans and lift the stovetop, if possible, to remove spilled food, and check under the refrigerator for sticky spots where juice may have spilled. 10. When Canning, Make Sure Jars are Sealed Securely Not everyone is into home canning but if you are, you should know that a fruit fly infestation can sometimes be traced to even one improperly sealed jar of fruit preserves. If you keep a supply of homemade jellies or sauces on hand, take some time to doublecheck that all the seals are closed tightly. As much as a fruitfly would take delight in supping on something youd inadvertently left open, you wouldnt want to dine on anything that came from an improperly sealed jar anyway, right?

Plan and Design a Small System Project Research Paper

Plan and Design a Small System Project - Research Paper Example ut at the center the System Development Life Cycle is resilient in its testing and implementation in the business, government and industry architecture. Actually, the System Development Life Cycle has been termed as one of the two dominant application development techniques in today’s world together with prototyping. Thus learning about System Development Life Cycle is still very crucial to students of all centuries. This article outlines System Development Life Cycle application in a real world health care environment entailing a core component of a sectional hospital care facility. The article may be used as pedagogical equipment in system analysis and design course, or even in an upper division or graduate course as a scenario of implementation of the System Development Life Cycle in practical application. Several aspects have been discussed that include the entire System Development Life Cycle in health care setup. SDLC has always been part of the information Technology family since the inception of modern digital computers (Wager, Lee, Glaser & Wager, 2009). Systems Analysis and Design course is requisite in various Management Information Systems application programs. Even though such lessons avail an overview of several means of acquiring or developing a software application, at their core such applications still contribute a significant amount of time to System Development Life Cycle as they ought to. As this paper will demonstrate, chronological steps and phases adherence is still an acceptable way of insuring the successful software development. Generally, SDLC has really evolved but at its core it still remains a vast technique used for developing software applications. Early dissertations of the SDLC upheld the arduous delineation of vital steps or stages to adhere to for any type of software development project (Loretz, 2005). The Waterfall Model is one of the common well-recognized forms of development. In this classic architecture, the technique

Sustainbility and Renewable Technologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sustainbility and Renewable Technologies - Essay Example Discussion The Benefits of Sustainable Construction According to the UK’s Strategy on Sustainable Construction published in June, 2008, sustainable development can only be achieved if the construction industry also engages in sustainable construction practices. The strategy laid down several initiatives aimed at achieving sustainable construction. It focused mainly on effort that would ensure the United Kingdom construction sector engages in long-term sustainability efforts that would ensure the UK meets its sustainability targets. It emphasizes on the need to build new homes that are free from carbon and new commercial buildings that are rated, zero carbon. It proposes amendments to the regulations that govern building and construction which will see CO2 emissions from new homes reduced significantly. The policy requires those new houses are constructed in such a way that they are water efficient and have standards for minimum efficiency. It also emphasizes on the use of rene wable energy and effective management of wastes by encouraging reuse and recycling. Being a joint government and industry policy to ensure sustainability in construction, it is imperative that the company considers sustainable construction. This will be within the regulations of the country and local authority. The benefits of sustainable construction to an ISO 14001 certified insurance company that is committed to meeting high environmental standard are many. This discussion aims at explaining these benefits and their implications to the business at large. As opposed to standard building approaches, sustainable construction employs practices that give emphasis to efficiency, quality and long-term affordability. The quality of life and comfort increases as a building is developed using sustainable construction best practices. This leads to a decrease in the negative effects on the environment and a substantial increase in the projects ability to sustain itself. Less raw materials, w ater, land and energy are consumed if a building is sustainably constructed. The negative impacts on the environment by the building and construction sector are far reaching. This severely damages the earth’s ecosystem that is currently at a critical stage. The damages are irreversible and rob the ecosystem of its critical life supporting function. It is a known fact that more than more than 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions globally, 40% of energy used, 40% of generated solid waste and 30% of used raw material are due to building and construction in OECD countries. Sustainable construction reduces these adverse effects on the environment by a much greater percentage. It helps minimize pollution, waste and energy use. Re-cycling and reuse is also maximized thus reducing costs. This helps preserve the earth’s ecosystem that is currently threaten. Most people spent about 90% of their time in buildings. This has seen the rise in sickness related to buildings thereby inc reasing the cost related to treating such sicknesses. Sustainable construction practices emphasizes use of less toxic paints for indoor paintings and construction of big, wide windows that allow natural light and fresh air into buildings. This ensures confortable and healthy indoor environments. Such environments significantly contribute to human well-being and health. Diseases and sicknesses caused by poor and unhealthy indoor env