Beowulf Essay Battle Comparison - 1266 Words

Beowulf essay: Battle comparison In the poem â€Å"Beowulf† the protagonist encounters three enemies of large proportions: Grendel the serpent, Grendel’s Mother, and a Dragon. All these creatures pose a large and terrifying threat that need a special protagonist to fight what the land’s strongest warriors could not accomplish. Before monks wrote this fabled tale in the form of a poem, Beowulf captured the attention of its listeners and teach them lessons about their cultural society and how to act in the society all in an oral fashion. Each battle has many similar environmental, physical, Moral, and cultural elements, but also differ in what elements were better represented from battle to battle. The environment of the three battles depicted in â€Å"Beowulf† have both minor and major similarities in addition to differences. The environment in which Beowulf fights changes in more detailed settings (with the exception of Grendel’s Mother) such as the type of terrain and territory that Beowulf faces. When word of the Danes’ troubles reached Beowulf and he traveled to Hrothgar’s kingdom, he stayed in a place surrounded by people of the same species which added a form of comfort despite him existing in a completely unfamiliar territory. Circumstances change with the Dragon because Beowulf had become King and gained even more knowledge of his territory. Not only did he challenge the Dragon on the terms that they fight on the land that he knew, he ruled the land of his people which addedShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s The Epic Of The English 1113 Words   |  5 PagesMadison Zuber Beowulf Essay Over time Beowulf, the oldest epic poem in the English language, has seen itself recreated through literature, graphic novels, music, opera and theatre, comics, board games, video games, and movies including Beowulf and Grendel directed by Sturla Gunnarsson which features actors such as Gerard Butler, Spencer Wilding, Sarah Polley, Stellan Skarsgard, Tony Curran and Mark Lewis. While some similarities between the movie and the epic are evident, the differences betweenRead MoreCompare Contrast Gilgamesh and Beowulf1426 Words   |  6 PagesComparison and Contrast Essay Final Draft: Gilgamesh vs. Beowulf The epics of Beowulf and Gilgamesh are about a pair of heroes who had many common characteristics as well as characteristics that contradict one another. Beowulf is a Christian epic that roots from the Anglo Saxon culture. Throughout the plot, there are numerous biblical allusions. â€Å"Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild Marshes, and made his home in a hell not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair ofRead MoreA Critical Appraisal of: Beowulf and Gilgamesh Essay examples1640 Words   |  7 PagesA Critical Appraisal of: Beowulf and Gilgamesh There are many differences and critical comparisons that can be drawn between the epics of Beowulf and Gilgamesh. Both are historical poems which shape their respected culture and both have major social, cultural, and political impacts on the development of western civilization literature and writing. Before any analysis is made, it is vital that some kind of a foundation be established so that a further, in-depth exploration of the complex natureRead MoreTimeless Beowulf, Tireless Executives810 Words   |  4 PagesTimeless Beowulf, Tireless Executives The literary masterpiece Beowulf compiles the life of Beowulf as living the supreme military life. The concepts and themes of the story are considered timeless because comparisons can be drawn from Beowulf’s life to the lives of the people of today. Consider the fact that Beowulf lives a detached life, which validates him being a wise and strong leader. This also leaves him a man who must face his death grasping the fact that he has foolishly abstained fromRead MoreEssay on A Comparison of the Sea in Beowulf and The Seafarer1446 Words   |  6 PagesThe Sea in Beowulf and The Seafarer      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters in the Old English poem Beowulf certainly delighted in the seas. This essay seeks to compare their attitude toward the sea with that expressed in another Old English poem, The Seafarer.    In Beowulf there is one reference after another to the sea. When Scyld died, â€Å"his people caried him to the sea, which was his last request,† where he drifted out into the beyond on a â€Å"death ship.† In the Geat land Beowulf, a â€Å"crafty sailorRead MoreThe Absence of Women in Beowulf, The Wifes Lament, and the Battle of Maldon1941 Words   |  8 PagesThe Absence of Women in Beowulf, The Wifes Lament, and the Battle of Maldon It could be argued that women are indeed present in the minority in surviving Anglo-Saxon poetry, and that therefore, they are made conspicuous through their absence. The fact they may appear less frequently in Old English Literature does not necessarily mean that women were any less significant in society at this time, although this is the conclusion reached by some. It is assumed that women did, in general, have lessRead MoreGrendel And Beowulf1838 Words   |  8 PagesBasic Essay Plan Thesis: I propose that the distinction between hero and villain is limited, as the people in Beowulf are the reason for the heinous acts committed by monsters. Both human and monster alike greet each other with violence, making one no better than the other, leading to the belief that the portrayal of the monsters is unfair in order to glorify and justify the violence of humankind. Introduction: The introduction will establish my stance on who I believe the real monsters are inRead MoreThe Pessimism of Beowulf in the Epic Poem, Beowulf Essay2837 Words   |  12 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚   Anticipation of catastrophe, doom, gloom are present in Beowulf rom beginning to end, even in the better half of the poem, Part I. Perhaps this is part of what makes it an elegy – the repeated injection of sorrow and lamentation into every episode. In his essay, â€Å"The Pessimism of Many Germanic Stories,† A. Kent Hieatt says of the poem Beowulf: The ethical life of the poem, then, depends upon the propositions that evil. . . that is part of this life is too much for the preeminent manRead More Christian and Pagan Influence in Paradise Lost and Beowulf Essay4093 Words   |  17 PagesChristian and Pagan Influence in Paradise Lost and Beowulf  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In Paradise Lost, Milton is adept at drawing from both Christian and pagan sources and integrating them in such a way that they reinforce one another (Abrams 1075). Of course it is a commonplace for critics to believe that Milton valued his Christian sources more highly than the pagan ones (Martindale 20); this is most likely due to the fact that he regarded the Christian sources as vessels of the truth. His classical allusionsRead MoreAnglo-Saxon Heroic Poetry5673 Words   |  23 Pagesrelated in an elevated style, and centered upon a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race. The hero, usually protected by or even descended from gods, performs superhuman exploits in battle or in marvellous voyages, often saving or founding a nation or the human race itself. The main characteristics of the Epic Hero include the following: 1.The hero is introduced in the midst of turmoil, at a point well into the story; antecedent action

Analysis Of Homer s The Odyssey - 2311 Words

Odysseus plan worked; however, he later discovers a prophecy indicating that Troy s walls would never fall without the help of Philoctetes s magical bow – a weapon that once belonged to Hercules. As the play opens, Odysseus has therefore returned to the island – along with Neoptolemus – in order to retrieve the bow. This plan would allow Odysseus to leave Philoctetes in his exile while still getting what he wanted. However, Neoptolemus views Odysseus plan as simple treachery and reveals all to Philoctetes. Upon discovering his old enemy s new need for his bow and his plans to wrest it from him, Philoctetes flies into a rage, swearing never to help Odysseus even though a cure for his foot also awaits him at Troy. Until this point, the play s focus had rested firmly upon Odysseus Machiavellian scheming and upon his villainy. But after Neoptolemus s revelations, the main obstacle preventing Philoctetes from returning to Troy and to his health is no longer Odysseu s but Philoctetes himself. His stubbornness and his pride prevent him from abandoning old grievances, and it is his obstinance that now becomes the focus of The Cure at Troy. In fact, Philoctetes continues to rage throughout the latter half of the play, only ceasing when, finally, Hercules steps out of the Chorus and urges him to: Go, Philoctetes , with this boy, Go and be cured and capture Troy. Asclepius will make you whole. Relieve your body and your soul. Go, with your bow. Conclude theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Homer s Odyssey By Homer1202 Words   |  5 Pagescoping with the idea of losing his father and letting others to rule Ithaca. It is noticeable from the beginning of The Odyssey, written by Homer that Telemachus finds himself in a complicated situation where his life is seen to be in danger. He is a character of being distance from people. The idea of Telemachus becoming his own father, threatens suitor’s control in Ithaca. Homer describes Telemachus as a teenager who has not found himself and is on a mission to become an adult as his father. TelemachusRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s Odyssey By Homer1095 Words   |  5 Pagesused in Homer’s Odyssey is the digression. The digression is departure from the main storyline that does not alter the action of the story, but adds a layer of sentimental content to the plot which usually helps underscore themes central to the story. The digressions in the Odyssey are meticu lously written with great attention to detail just like the rest of the epic, and they truly help readers grasp the important aspects of the story. The liberal use of digression in the Odyssey helps build a vividRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s Odyssey By Homer2018 Words   |  9 PagesThe Odyssey by Homer is more light in tone than the Iliad, of the same author: The good wins while the evil is punished. Even though the gods are still strict, the relationship between Odysseus and Athena is a more sincere and equal a relationship than between God and Man in the Iliad. Odysseus is distinguished not only by his bravery, but largely by his intellect and cunning. He is the type of resourceful man whom never gives up, thinks of the causes, is reverent and never gives in. The Odyssey isRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s Odyssey, By Homer915 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout the Odyssey, the hero, Odysseus is portrayed in two different and contradicting lights: the wise hero and the capricious leade r blinded by his own pride. The epic writer, Homer, embodies the theme of hubris throughout Odysseus’ journey home. The idea of hubris, a trait of excessive pride, significantly develops personalities of characters within The Odyssey, and Homer ultimately creates a statement about excessive pride. The dual portrayal of Odysseus leads the reader to ultimatelyRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s Odyssey By Homer Essay1479 Words   |  6 Pages The word â€Å"Family†, according to Merriam Webster, is thought to be a group of people brought together by common affiliation. The same cannot be said for the culture in the Odyssey by Homer. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is trying to get back home from fighting in the Trojan War. He has been away from home for almost 20 years longing to just be reunited with his kinfolk. Along the way, he comes across many obstacles that hinders him from reaching his home and family in in Ithaca. Luckily, the memoriesRead MoreAnalysis Of Odyssey By Homer s Odyssey2253 Words   |  10 Pagesand Midwifery Council, 2006). The literature surrounding the subject of mentorship is vast and fails to provide a single definition, however the terms used are often similar. Colley (2000) writes that the word mentor originated in Homer’s poem ‘Odyssey’ in which the character oversees the development of Telemachus. Usually mentoring describes the process of an experienced team member using their skills and knowledge to educate and develop a junior or less skilled co-worker (Chartered Institute ofRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s The Odyssey 1483 Words   |  6 PagesViolence in The Odyssey Violence in Literature can take any form, whether it be natural disaster like and earthquake or a human based disaster like war (Campbell). In Homer’s The Odyssey both types are found†¦ whether it’s Odysseus’s hardships like making it home or dealing with the wrath of the god Poseidon. Every violent scene has its own reasons, some are more reasonable than others. For instance, the gods were angered by the disobedience of the mortals, this is more reasonable than the killingRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s The Odyssey 795 Words   |  4 Pages Odysseus Epic Hero In the Epic, â€Å"The Odyssey, spoken by Homer, conveys a heroic tale of an epic hero named, Odysseus, who faces many challenges as he sails to get home. One of the tasks Odysseus faces is, The Sirens, who challenge Odysseus s will power. Another challenge Odysseus encounters is, â€Å"The Cyclops, who torments and slaughters some of Odysseus s men due to his curiosity. One of the hardest threats he had to confront was, â€Å"The Land ofRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s The Odyssey1636 Words   |  7 PagesGreek society, Homer’s The Odyssey provides a detailed insight into the values of this intricate culture. In particular, this epic discusses the ways in which the deathless gods influence the fates of the mortals. The overall impact of the gods’ power is the mental straining that emerges from the unrelenting conflict of man versus immortal. Likewise, the actions and misfortunes of others also catalyze this extremely significant and powerful mental battle. Homerâ€⠄¢s The Odyssey reveals the values of ancientRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s The Odyssey 1128 Words   |  5 Pages The Odyssey shows a lot of different stereotypes for women throughout the book, taking action to get what they want. Odysseus is trying to get back home after ten long years since the fall of troy, and his son is going out to find him. Throughout the book Odysseus meets lots of woman who vary in personality. He meets woman with the stereotypes: â€Å"mantis†- dominant, eats its mate, destroys to gain power, feared by many. â€Å"Damsel in distress†- persecuted maiden, woman placed in a dire predicament requires

Criticism Of Practical Application Of Utopia In free essay sample

# 8220 ; Brave New World # 8221 ; Essay, Research Paper Criticism of Practical Application of Utopia in # 8220 ; Brave New World # 8221 ; Debra Ackerman Mrs. Eileen Waite Criticism of Practical Application of Utopia in Brave New World Aldous Huxley # 8217 ; s Brave New World illustrates the loss of morality when established criterions are replaced by amoral standards. In his novel, Huxley criticizes the practical applications of Utopia in existent society. Huxley # 8217 ; s word picture of love, scientific discipline, and faith support the ineffectualness of implementing Utopia in mundane life. In Brave New World, Huxley shows disdain for the human emotion of love. The people that make up his fanciful society have no construct of love or any other passion, and really contemn the thought. Huxley believes that along with passion comes emotional instability. The Utopian province can non afford any sort of instability and hence can non afford love. The devastation of the household is one illustration of the consequence of Utopia # 8217 ; s absence of love. In a universe of bottled-births, non merely is at that place no demand for a household, but the thought is really considered obscene. The footings # 8220 ; mother # 8221 ; and # 8220 ; father # 8221 ; are highly violative and are seldom used except in scientific discipline. Huxley uses Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, to portray the coarseness when he explains the lewdness of life before Utopia to a group of pupils: And place was as seamy psychically as physically. Psychically, it was a coney hole, a midden, hot with the clashs of tightly packed life, smacking with emotion. What smothering familiarities, what unsafe, insane, obscene relationships between the members of the household group! ( 37 ) In an earlier transition, Huxley shows the effects of Mond # 8217 ; s account on one male child, # 8220 ; The Controller # 8217 ; s evocation was so graphic that one of the male childs. . . turned picket at the mere description and was on the point of being ill # 8221 ; ( 36 ) . In world, the household unit is the nucleus of society. Huxley realizes the importance of the place and household. A place is where people learn to set up communicating and relationships. Without a household, a individual can non larn these relationships which are priceless in covering with mundane life in society. In Utopia, any attack toward monogamousness is out and long term sexual relationships are discouraged. In the courageous new universe, it is taught that # 8220 ; everyone belongs to everyone else. # 8221 ; Excessive sex with many spouses is considered normal and even expected. In a conversation between two of the female characters, Huxley illustrates Utopia # 8217 ; s positions on monogamousnesss through Fanny Crowne, # 8220 ; I truly do believe you ought to be careful. It # 8217 ; s such dreadfully bad signifier to travel on and on like this with one adult male # 8221 ; ( 40 ) . In Huxley # 8217 ; s Utopia, holding sex with merely one spouse is non acceptable. Sexual pleasance in this universe is greatly degraded. Promiscuity is considered a virtuousness, unlike existent society where promiscuous adult females are thought to be rubbishy and inexpensive. Children are taught at a immature age to be explorative in their sexual behaviour. Children who seem cautiouss and embarrassed about their organic structures are taken for psychological testing. Huxley criticizes the thought of the absence of love in Utopia. In existent society, love is a august emotion. Our society can non be without passion because it is the foundation of all relationships. Unlike Utopia, sexual relationships can non be degraded because they are the manifestation of love. Huxley # 8217 ; s representation of Utopia in footings of technological development is a universe that is enslaved by scientific discipline. Everything in this universe is owed to scientific discipline. Huxley refers to scientific use stating, # 8220 ; out of the kingdom of mere slavish imitation of nature into the much more interesting universe of huma N innovation # 8221 ; ( 12 ) . Not merely are people born, or in this sense created, by scientific agencies, but they are besides conditioned to believe and populate a certain manner through scientific discipline. Even before babes are born, they are treated to a specific sum of O, or a specific temperature in order for them to be conditioned to suit into a certain caste. In the novel, Henry Foster explains this procedure to the pupils stating: We besides predestine and status. We decant our babes as socialised homo existences, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewerage workers, or hereafter. . . Directors of Hatcheries. ( 12 ) In Brave New World, scientific discipline and engineering are used non to assist society, but to command society. From the clip that the embryos are in each bottle to the clip of decease for each individual, scientific discipline is moving as a accountant, governing over every single life. Although their universe is based on scientific discipline and engineering, the leaders of Utopia know that # 8220 ; scientific discipline is unsafe ; [ they ] have to maintain it most carefully chained and muzzled # 8221 ; ( 231 ) . In a universe where # 8220 ; Community, Identity, and Stability # 8221 ; is the chief aim, scientific promotion is unacceptable. As the World Controller explains, scientific discipline is # 8220 ; . . . another point in the cost of stableness. . . incompatible with felicity # 8221 ; ( 231 ) . Huxley knows that along with scientific discipline comes alteration and in his Utopia, no 1 can afford alteration. By giving alteration, the accountants of the courageous new universe are keeping stableness. In our society, adult male controls scientific discipline to profit and better the quality of life. Conversely, in Utopia scientific discipline controls mankind. In a universe where so much accent is placed on individuality and human enterprise, the applications of this policy are unrealistic. Huxley is cognizant of this absurdness and knock its practicality in mundane life. In Brave New World, Huxley shows how the forfeit of a God must be made in order for the stableness of Utopia to be maintained. Any spiritual book is considered to be adult. All old Bibles are locked off and out to be read. As Mustapha Mond provinces, # 8220 ; God in the safe. . . # 8221 ; ( 237 ) . The people who occupy Utopia can non be exposed to the Bibles because # 8220 ; . . . they # 8217 ; re old ; they # 8217 ; re about god 100s of old ages ago. Not about God now # 8221 ; ( 237 ) . In Brave New World, God is described as necessary when # 8220 ; vernal desires fail # 8221 ; ( 240 ) . Mond explains that these vernal desires neer fail, and hence there is no demand for a # 8220 ; replacement for distraction # 8221 ; ( 240 ) . Huxley illustrates the ground for the absence of a God through Mond # 8217 ; s account to the barbarian: Name it the mistake of civilisation. God International Relations and Security Network # 8217 ; t compatible with machinery and scientific medical specialty and cosmopolitan felicity. You must do your pick. Our civilisation has chosen machinery and medical specialty and felicity. That # 8217 ; s why I have to maintain these books locked up in the safe. They # 8217 ; re carbon black. ( 240 ) Peoples in existent society topographic point a enormous importance on faith and God. Not merely are beliefs formed and based upon spiritual instructions, but faith is besides the moral fibre of a community. Huxley is cognizant that society can non work without faith or a God. This belief is portrayed throughout the novel. Brave New World presents a awful position of a future civilisation which has forgotten current ethical motives and criterions. Alternatively of worlds commanding scientific discipline and their lives, scientific discipline controls worlds, and World Controllers decide all regulations which are intended to model society into a stable community. Huxley # 8217 ; s unfavorable judgment of this community portrays the impractical application of Utopia in existent society. Plants Cited Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Collins, 1989.

Internet Users Turn Addicts Essays (946 words) -

Internet Users turn Addicts Matchmaker.com: Sign up now for a free trial. Date Smarter! Internet Users turn Addicts If you're an Internet user, you know who you are. They are among all of us in society, although many may choose to not acknowledge that they too, frequently use the Internet. As I sit here and look across the street, I see a man in front of his own computer; the screen glowing against the window behind him. He does not use his personal computer for work, he is a farmer. He has become what is known as an "Internet Junky". The addiction begins innocently. At the start, you are not even aware of the possibilities that may form from your excessive computer use. You begin to take an avid interest in e-mailing with your friends and family. Once the novelty of keeping in touch with your colleagues wears off, and researching starts to bore you, you may possibly expand your computer usage to chatting. Yes, chatting. It is something that is becoming more acceptable in our lives, but it is still looked down upon by many skeptics. Chatting through the Internet involves choosing an appropriate nickname for yourself (IE: Fisherman), and then finding a room where you feel compelled to spend time in. Once you've entered the room, other fellow chatters may say, "Hello...a/s/l (age/sex/location) please." And so begins the addiction. Once you become involved in meeting people online, it is difficult to break such a habit. You may even make a daily habit of it. People have been found to carry out exactly the same behavior, not only across the nation, but across the globe. In any one room, you may come across people from five different countries of the world. Granted, not everyone who stays online for hours on end, are enveloped in chatting, but it is more often then not, the cause for Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). (Goldberg, MD) The prevalence of Internet Addiction Disorder has been increasing in number, hence a support group, among many, The Internet Addiction Support Group (IASG) has been developed. IAD, a "maladaptive" pattern for Internet use, is leading to impairment and/or distress caused by three (or more) of the following, at any time in a period of one year: "A) A need for markedly increased amounts of time on Internet to achieve satisfaction, B) Markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of time on Internet.", C) Reduction in Internet use which has been prolonged. (Goldberg, MD) Symptoms of Internet Addiction Disorder include: "A) Psychomotor agitation, B) anxiety, C) obsessive thinking about what is happening on Internet, D) fantasies or dreams about Internet, E) voluntary or involuntary typing movements of the fingers." These symptoms begin to cause conflict in "social, occupational, or another important area of functioning." People who become addicted, use the Internet to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms, which are similar to those brought on by the halt of drug use. The disorder is recognized by the "persistent desire" or "unsuccessful efforts" to minimize the Internet use. (Goldberg, MD) On June 14, 1998, ABC news reported that an "Internet crazed" Cincinnati woman was arrested for neglecting her three young children. The woman reportedly spent 12 hours straight online, while her hungry kids were locked away in a room so she could be online without interruption. (Associated Press) The Internet is rapidly becoming an addictive source to a lot of its users. Use of the Internet include: students, housewives, and business professionals. Some of these users spend a minimum of thirty-eight hours per week on the "net"; hence, losing touch with reality and reeking havoc on their studies, family lives, and even their careers. Based on level of addiction, there are three groups of Internet addicts: A) the "I'm-not-addicted-users", B) the "I-only-use-it-when-I-have-to-users", and C) the "Internet Junkies." (netaddiction.com) The "I'm not addicted users" are those who try to convince themselves that they are not addicted to the Internet. This group includes college students who don't go online during the day to prove to fellow classmates that they can do without getting online; only, to stay up all night in a chat room. College students are not the only people who fit in this category though. In general, these users are addicts but portray themselves otherwise in the presence of people. The "I only use it when I have to users", are those who make convenient excuses to go online. And finally, the "Internet Junkies" are unlike the addicts in the previous two groups, these users neither sneak online nor make excuses to get online. They put their lives on hold while

Figueroa Surname Meaning and Origin

Figueroa Surname Meaning and Origin The Spanish surname Figueroa is a habitational name from any one of several small towns in Galicia, Spain, named Figueroa, from a derivative of figueira, meaning fig tree. Figueroa is the 59th most common Spanish surname. Alternate Surname Spellings: Figuero, Figuera, Figarola, Higueras, Higuero, Higueroa, De Figueroa, Figueres Surname Origin: Spanish Where Do People With the Figueroa Surname Live? While the Figueroa surname originated in Galicia near the border of Spain and Portugal, according to  Forebears  it is no longer as prevalent in that region as it is in many other Spanish-speaking countries. The Figueroa last name ranks 18th in Puerto Rico, 38th in Chile, 47th in Guatemala, 56th in El Salvador, 64th in Argentina, 68th in Honduras, 99th in Venezuela, 105th in Peru and 111th in Mexico. Within Spain, Figueroa is still most prevalent in Galicia, according to WorldNames PublicProfiler.  In the United States, the Figueroa surname is found in greatest numbers in the states of Florida, Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and New York. Famous People With the Figueroa Surname Francisco de Figueroa - 16th century Spanish poetPedro Josà ©Ã‚  Figueroa - Colombian portrait painterCole  Figueroa - MLB 2nd baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates- Venezuelan television hostPedro de Castro y Figueroa - Spanish viceroy of New SpainJosà ©Ã‚  Figueroa Alcorta - President of Argentina, 1906–1910Francisco  Acuà ±a de Figueroa - Uruguayan poet and writerFernando Figueroa - President of El Salvador, 1907–1911 Genealogy Resources for the Surname Figueroa 100 Most Common Spanish SurnamesHave you ever wondered about your Spanish last name and how it came to be? This article describes common Spanish naming patterns and explores the meaning and origins of 100 common Spanish surnames. How to Research Hispanic HeritageLearn how to get started researching  your Hispanic ancestors, including the basics of family tree research and country-specific organizations, genealogical records, and resources for Spain, Latin America, Mexico, Brazil, the Caribbean, and other Spanish speaking countries. Figueroa Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Figueroa family crest or coat of arms for the Figueroa surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted.   The Figueroa DNA Surname ProjectThe Figueroa Family Project seeks to find common heritage through sharing of information and DNA testing. Any variant spellings of the Figueroa surname are welcome to participate. Figueroa Family Genealogy ForumThis free message board is focused on the descendants of Figueroa ancestors around the world. Search past queries, or post a question of your own. FamilySearch - Figueroa GenealogyAccess over 1.2 million free historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Figueroa surname and its variations on this free genealogy website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Figueroa Surname Mailing ListThis free mailing list for researchers of the Figueroa surname and its variations includes subscription details and searchable archives of past messages. Hosted by RootsWeb. DistantCousin.com - Figueroa Genealogy Family HistoryExplore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Figueroa. The Figueroa Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse family trees and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the last name Figueroa from the website of Genealogy Today.References Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David. Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph. Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H. A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Genotype vs Phenotype

Genotype vs Phenotype Ever since Austrian monk Gregor Mendel did artificial selection breeding experiments with his pea plants, understanding how traits are passed down from one generation to the next has been an important field of biology. Genetics is often used as a way to explain evolution, even if Charles Darwin did not know how it worked when he first came up with the original Theory of Evolution. Over time, as society developed more technology, the marriage of evolution and genetics became apparent. Now, the field of Genetics is a very important part of the Modern Synthesis of the Theory of Evolution. The Terms Genotype and Phenotype In order to understand how genetics plays a role in evolution, it is important to know the correct definitions of basic genetics terminology. Two such terms that will be used repeatedly are genotype and phenotype. While both terms have to do with traits shown by individuals, there are differences in their meanings. What Is a Genotype? The word genotype comes from the greek words â€Å"genos† which means â€Å"birth† and â€Å"typos† which means â€Å"mark†. While the entire word â€Å"genotype† does not exactly mean â€Å"birth mark† as we think of the phrase, it does have to do with the genetics an individual is born with. A genotype is the actual genetic composition or makeup of an organism. Most genes are made up of two or more different alleles, or forms of a trait. Two of those alleles come together to make the gene. That gene then expresses whatever trait is dominant in the pair. It could also show a blending of those traits or show both traits equally, depending on which characteristic it is coding for. The combination of the two alleles is an organism’s genotype. Genotype is often symbolized using two letters. A dominant allele would be symbolized by a capital letter, while the recessive allele is represented with the same letter, but only in the lower case form. For example, when Gregor Mendel did his experiments with pea plants, he saw the flowers would either be purple (the dominant trait) or white (the recessive trait). A purple flowered pea plant may have the genotype PP or Pp. A white flowered pea plant would have the genotype pp. What Is a Phenotype? The trait that is shown due to the coding in the genotype is called the phenotype. The phenotype is the actual physical features shown by the organism. In pea plants, like in the example above, if the dominant allele for purple flowers is present in the genotype, then the phenotype would be purple. Even if the genotype had one purple color allele and one recessive white color allele, the phenotype would still be a purple flower. The dominant purple allele would mask the recessive white allele in this case. The Relationship Between the Two The genotype of the individual determines the phenotype. However, it is not always possible to know the genotype by looking only at the phenotype. Using the purple flowered pea plant example above, there is no way to know by looking at a single plant whether the genotype is made up of two dominant purple alleles or one dominant purple allele and one recessive white allele. In those cases, both phenotypes would show a purple flower. To figure out the true genotype, the family history can be examined or it can be bred in a test cross with a white flowered plant, and the offspring can show whether or not it had a hidden recessive allele. If the test cross produces any recessive offspring, the genotype of the parental flower would have to be heterozygous, or have one dominant and one recessive allele.

Unemployment has significant implications for the individuals involved Essay

Unemployment has significant implications for the individuals involved and for society in general - Essay Example In certain cases and for certain professions an individual can have a duty towards society more than the duty they have towards their employer. Positions like doctors, lawyers, fire-fighters, police officers and the like have positions which are immediately recognized by their social standing and certain schemas, expectations and duties are immediately attached to them. On the other hand, the state of being unemployed or without work can also have significant implications for the individual where the most significant effect is the immediate loss of a large portion of the person’s income. While the loss in income may be mitigated to a certain extent by the welfare benefits provided by the state, the loss in social status and personal abilities may be more striking. It is considered a social stigma to be without a job and being jobless has a measurable negative impact on a person’s wellbeing and happiness. Moreover, while the individual would feel most of the burden of unemployment for themselves, society at large is also affected in a negative way if a large portion of the productive workforce is also left without work. While it can mean that the society is underutilizing its capacity to produce, it can also point towards other more significant problems. The case of Ireland is one such example where despite low unemployment there are still jobs which are unfilled and the economy is suffering because of underutilization. To better understand the implications of unemployment, an examination of consequences divided into consequences for individuals and consequences for society is necessary. Historically speaking, a study of the impact of unemployment on the individual was first conducted during the depression era where the shock of unemployment was seen to put a person through the mental states which are common to a shock experience (Ritchie et. al, 2005). Being employed gives a person

Why are organisations seeking to implement their chosen strategies Essay - 1

Why are organisations seeking to implement their chosen strategies through projects - Essay Example He can manage well and hence the reason that he is preferred over his colleagues for the post of the project manager. The key competencies of a project manager are immense but a few of them are mentioned within the length of this paper. Within the literature review for this topic, the emphasis would be laid on the fact that project managers commit their own selves whole-heartedly towards the cause of the project at hand and that they exhibit some of the very intrinsic traits within their professional duties and their personal capacities which make them stand head and shoulders with the rest of the employees within the organization. It is their single-ness in terms of management expertise which is given its due credit and thus they are appointed as the ones who will lead the organization towards success whilst accomplishing the results that are envisaged in the wake of a peculiar project. The literature review will explore the exact basis upon which project managers have achieved higher ranks, broke new grounds, taken care of new possibilities and in essence made their mark within this field of management itself. The key competencies of a project manager entail a number of strengths on his part and the time is right to make a clear cut understanding of the very same in the following paragraphs. (Frame, 2002) Decision making in science and indeed any other field of study is a difficult thing and for this, one needs to understand what are the basic ways in which a decision can be arrived at, without wasting much time and using the best tools and techniques in order to achieve the same. These decisions are very crucial to the outcome of a project and a project manager is accountable for the very same. At times, certain things should be kept in mind like the fact that information is the single most significant thing in this whole process. Decision-making is indeed a very

Debt in Australia, Monetary Policy Essay Example for Free

Debt in Australia, Monetary Policy Essay Introduction It is imperative that the Australian households’ debt have noticeably risen over the past two decades, and is currently rated high according to international standards. The sharp increase in housing debt has been the reason for the rise in the household debt. Increased availability of housing finance, strong demand for debt from investors, and lower interest rates are the main drivers of the rising housing debt. The households’ net worth and servicing ratios will be discussed in this paper as the impacts on the higher household debt levels. The impacts of the instability in global capital markets will be discussed in this paper in relation to the housing finance market in Australia. Lastly, the implications of the rising household debt will be discussed in relation to the financial stability and monetary policy. Trends in household debt It is important to note that Australian households had a fairly stable ratio of debt to disposable income at approximately 45% during the 1980s. However, rapid rise in the ratio of debt to disposable income was recorded since 1990, with it reaching optimum of 157% in December 2007. The bulk of the increase was accounted for by the housing debt, that is, over the period, the ratio of the housing debt to disposable income rose to 134% from 31%. It was also recorded over the same period, a rise in the ratio of personal debt to disposable income to 22% from 13%. A sharp rise in the ratio of debts to assets was recorded at 17% in December 2007, from 8% in December 1989 (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). A sharp rise in household indebtedness in a number of advanced economies has been witnessed over the last two decades. It is however, noted that the increase in household debt in Australia is pronounced. The Australia’s ratio in household debt to income was recorded as the highest in December 2007 despite Australia recording as one of the countries with the household debt lowest ratio to disposable income among advanced economies in the late 1980s. It is also imperative to point out that among advanced economies; Australia rose from the bottom position to the middle number in terms of the ratio of household debt to assets over the same period (Berry Dalton, 2009). Housing finance market Focus on the housing finance market is emphasized in this paper because the housing debt in households’ total debt is dominant. An average of 15% in the annual growth in housing debt was recorded since 1990. In the periods, 1988-1989, 1994, and 2002-2004 strong growth in housing debt was recorded. This strong growth in the growth in housing debt was faster than the growth in the disposable income of households over the same period that stood at an average of 6% only (Berry Dalton, 2009). Significant growth in house prices accompanied the sharp increase in the housing debt. Over the period 1987 and 1988, the house prices doubled, however, during the first half of the 1990s the house prices drifted slowly higher, with the house prices doubling more between 1997 and late 2003. Continuous increase in aggregate house prices was recorded since late 2003; however, the trend varies markedly across the country, for instance, house prices in Perth increased strongly, while the house prices in Sydney decreased over time. The boom in resources supports the varied trends in house prices across the country (Berry Dalton, 2009). A number of factors accounts to the rising house debt in Australia over the past years, with lower interest rates accounting for high borrowing by the households whenever they take their housing loan out. This trend has been responsible for the rise in the average size of new loans, which results into the rise in the average size of outstanding loans over time. The availability of housing finance has resulted into the rise in the capacity of households to borrow finances (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). Financial health of households It is noted that the historic sharp increase in the Australia’s disposable income in December 2007 was accounted by the strong rise in the housing debt in Australia over the past fifteen years. It was however, pointed out that only a few households had difficulties in repaying their debt obligations, despite the historic sharp increase in the housing debt in December 2007 (Berry Dalton, 2009). Impact of the turbulence in global capital market It is significant to note that the housing finance market in Australia has suffered greatly as a result of the global capital markets’ turbulence. This is because half of the total funding for financial institutions in Australia is accounted for by the deposits. The foreign and domestic capital markets the balance in the Australian financial institutions. There has been significant rise in the mortgage rates, and significant change in the markets shares from lenders, due to this, there is limited restriction to the overall supply of housing finance (Berry Dalton, 2009). Significant reduction in some forms of capital market funding as well as significant rise in the most of the forms of capital market funding have resulted from the turbulence in the financial market. It is however, noted that the impact of the financial market turbulence have been felt in a number of securitization markets. Securitization markets over the past decade or so, have established itself into as a significant source of funding for housing loans in Australia. In mid 2007 for example, outstanding securitization housing finance loans had accounted for 23% (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). This was a significant rise from the mid 1990s 5% housing finance loans that were securitized. A number of loans from mortgage originators were being securitized. Institutions like credit union, regional banks, and building societies had adopted securitization of their loans since it was a cost effective way of wholesale funding (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). The onset of the global financial turbulence in July 2007, led to significant close of the securitization market. There were significant rise prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to 75 basis points in December 2007 from approximately 15 basis points in mid-2007. It is imperative to point out that Australia’s Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) accounted for the issuance of a number of Australian Asset-backed Securities (ABS) that extends on AAA-rated senior tranches (Berry Dalton, 2009). There was significant spread in the subordinated AAA-rated tranches that increased to approximately 110 basis points from approximately 20 basis points. It is significant to point out that despite the sharp increase in the spreads, investors in Australia has never encountered losses on rated Australian RMBS, coupled with the housing market in Australia remaining healthy. The investors have become more concerned with the product itself, as discounts are attached to all the sales of securitized products. The selling of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) by several structured investment vehicles (SIVs) has also created excess supply in the secondary market (Berry Dalton, 2009). Implications for financial stability and monetary policy It significant to point out the access to credit by the household sector has greatly increased courtesy of financial innovation and deregulation. The households in Australia have become more comfortable to take loans owing to the ongoing strong performance of the economy (Berry Dalton, 2009). Â  The balance sheets of households have remained in good health despite the significant rise in the household debt; this has resulted into significant rise in asset-value capable of offsetting the rise in debt. It is also significant to note that macroeconomic conditions in the economy are also favorable. References Berry, M., Dalton, T. (2009). Mortgage default in Australia nature, causes and social and economic impacts. Melbourne: AHURI. Wilkins, R., Wooden, M. (2009). Household Debt In Australia: The Looming Crisis That Isnt. Australian Economic Review , 42(3), 358-366.

Risk Essay -- essays research papers

(1) The following study discusses the risk & resilient factors in the life of Pauline, a 16 year old NZ European/Maori teenager. These factors involve her family life and its importance to her: the value of education and the consequences of leaving school without qualifications; how activities such as church participation can be helpful and the problems involved with having nothing to do; the effects of substance abuse; early sexual involvement and its risks; the risk of suicide, suicide attempts & ideation. The likely impacts of all of these factors on her current & future health status will be considered. Key words or concepts: resilience or protective factors: is factors that buffer young people from risks & promote positive youth development. Risk behaviours: dangerous behaviour that involves a threat to health & well being adolescence: the developmental period between childhood and adulthood mentor: someone whom the young person can trust connectedness: feeling cared for, close to and enjoying either family, school or an adult mentor. The study will follow the format using the HEADSS framework. This was d evised in 1972 by Eric Cohen, a Specialist in adolescent medicine in Los Angeles. It is a method used to interview & assess young people & is an acronym for the following; - (H) home environment (E) education & employment (A) activities & interests (D) drugs (S) sexuality (S) suicide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (2) Home Pauline has a number of risk and protective factors happening for her in her home situation. Until the age of three years she was the focus of her own two parents. At the age of sixteen she is positioned between her Father’s new family of a partner & three very young children (who Pauline lives with) and her Mother, partner and their two young children. She has expressed dissatisfaction regarding her irregular contact with her Mother who lives in another town. Early attachment in childhood sets the stage for acting out behaviours in adolescence (Brennan 1993). Pauline clearly felt nobody cared for her, that her Father was more interested in her stepmother and children, she felt this so strongly it led her to running away from home. She was at risk... ...bsp;(9) Summary This study indicates risk factors for Pauline including an unhappy home situation with her Dad’s new family where she has felt nobody really cared whether she was there or not, her unsatisfying relationship with her Mother, her alcohol binging, cigarette smoking & marijuana use, her limited activities, dropping out of school at a young age, early sexual involvement and low mood. Protective factors bringing some resilience to her life include adult trust with her Aunt Sarah and Tutor, awareness of her iwi links and whanau contact, her enjoyment and regular attendance to at Alternative Education and her goal of wanting to stay there until she gets a job, recent enjoyable church involvement, her ability to learn from situations and wanting to make positive changes in her life. The likely outcomes for Pauline’s health are hopeful but the significant concerns that could tip the equilibrium are firstly the early onset in her life of a relationship with Jack and their sporadic condom use, as a probable outcome for Pauline is pregnancy and wanting to keep the baby, and secondly her alcohol, marijuana and nicotine use and the level of addiction that may have built up.

Animal Farm: a Story Based on Communism

The novel â€Å"Animal Farm† is a story based on communism, and revolves around the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union, showing this by the animal’s feelings, emotions and actions of communism eventually becoming corrupt. The novel is written by George Orwell and is told by a narrator in third person, and shows how communism operates and reflects upon the characters. The main characters in Animal Farm would make a list of: Napoleon (the big fat pig), Old Major (the boar), Snowball (Napoleon’s best friend, the white pig), Squealer (Napoleon’s side kick, the pig), boxer (the horse) and Benjamin (the donkey) as the rest being pigs and sheep etc.Napoleon would be the perfect specimen for being the key character to reveal George Orwell’s important warning or theme, which is that power, corrupts. Old major, gathers the animals of the Manor Farm for a meeting in the big barn. He tells them of a dream he has had in which all animals live together with no human beings to oppress or control them. He tells the animals that they must work toward such a paradise, and teaches them a song called â€Å"Beasts of England,† in which his dream vision is lyrically described. The animals greet Major’s vision with great enthusiasm.When he dies only three nights after the meeting, three younger pigs, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer, formulate his key principles into a philosophy called Animalism. Belatedly one night, the animals manage to overpower the farmer Mr. Jones in a battle, virtually forcing him to leave. They rename the property Animal Farm from Manor Farm and dedicate themselves to achieving Major’s dream. The carthorse Boxer devotes himself to the cause with particular fanaticism, committing his great strength to the success of the farm and adopting as a delicate maxim the support â€Å"I will work harder. Originally, Animal Farm prospers. Snowball is ever so determine to teach the animals to read, and Napoleon is the head of a group of youthful puppies to educate them in the ethics of Animalism. When Mr Jones shows unannounced to fight back for his farm, the animals defeat him once again, in what comes to be known as the Battle of the Cowshed, and take the farmer’s abandoned gun as a token of their victory. As time leads on, nevertheless, Napoleon and Snowball gradually hedge over the future of the farm, and they commence to find it hard with each other for power and influence amid the farm.Snowball concocts a scheme to build an electricity-generating windmill, except Napoleon firmly opposes the plan. When the meeting aroused for the vote on whether to take up the task, Snowball astounds everyone one with his speech. Even though Napoleon gives only a brief rejoin, he suddenly made a strange noise, and nine attack dogs, the puppies that Napoleon had confiscated in order to â€Å"educate†, rupture into the barn and hound Snowball from the farm. Napoleon ends up assuming leade rship of Animal Farm while declaring to that will be the end for any meeting.From there on, he asserts, the pigs alone will make the decisions now onwards for the good of everyone. Napoleon ends up shifting his mind about the windmill and especially Boxer, and of course with all the animals going along with it, to devote their efforts to completing it. The windmill ended up falling down from a storm. The human farmers in the area thought that the animals made the walls too thin, due to the end result. Napoleon claims that Snowball came back to sabotage the windmill.He stages a great wash out during which animals who allegedly participates in Snowball’s great plan. In other words any animal who opposes Napoleon’s uncontested leadership, convene direct death at the teeth of the attack dogs. With his leadership not answered (Boxer has taken up a second maxim, Napoleon always being correct. Napoleon begins growing his powers, rewriting history to make Snowball a villain. N apoleon begins to act more like a human being, sleeping in a bed, drinking whisky, and engaging in trade farmers.The initial Animalist principles exactly forbade such activities, but Squealer, Napoleon’s propagandist, justifies the actions to the others, whilst convincing that Napoleon is a handy leader and makes everything better for everyone, despite the fact that the common animals are cold, hungry, and pushed too far. A neighboring farmer called Mr Frederick scams some timber and then attacks the farm and dynamites the windmill, in saying that the repair was expensive.After the demolition of the windmill, a slanting battle, when boxer cops major wounds. The animals rout the farmers, but Boxer’s injuries weakened him. When he falls whilst working on the windmill. All of a sudden, Boxer is nowhere to be found. According to Squealer, Boxer is in peace after being taken to the hospital, admiring the Rebellion with Boxers very last breath. In realism, Napoleon has sold his most loyal and long suffering worker to a glue maker in order to earn money for whisky.As time passes on the farm, the pigs become and eventually act like human beings likewise, walking upright, carrying whips, and wearing clothes. In the long run, the seven principles of Animalism, known as the Seven Commandments and decorated on the side of the barn, ends up being reduced to a single principle reading, â€Å"all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others†. Napoleon entertains a human farmer named Mr. Pilkington at a dinner and declares his intent to ally himself with the human farmers against the laboring classes of both the human and animal communities.Eventually Animal Farm is returned to the name being Manor Farm, claiming that Manor Farm is correct. Looking through the farmhouse window, the common animals can no longer figure for who are the pigs or the human beings. Animal Farm is mainly famous in the West as a stinging critique of the history and rheto ric of the Russian Revolution. Retelling the story of the emergence and development of Soviet communism in the form of an animal fable.

Assessing teachers by the quality of results they attain

Judging teacher quality on test marking is a extremely debated issue. Teachers are frequently assessed by the quality of consequences in which they attain. Policies and statute law in educational methods have changed dramatically throughout the 19th and 20th century. This is down to altering political parties being in power and their positions on how instruction should be taught, besides due to the economic alterations over the old ages. As new ideas and old pattern has been examined alterations have necessarily been made. Exam marking is a method which has been used for over a hundred old ages to judge teacher quality. However the inquiry which I intend to present is whether that is adequate to find how ‘good ‘ a instructor truly is. Should opinions on this be changed, have they started to alter and is it possible to alter the peoples view after a life-time of test mark being figure one? These are the inquiries that I intend to see through looking at old and current poli cies, international positions and policies and besides whether the course of study has a bearing on this position. History The method of tests and measuring kids was ab initio introduced in the 1870 Forster Act. This was besides when the authorities started to supply free instruction for all kids, nevertheless, with free instruction for all came the authorities saw that there needed to be a manner to turn out to the people of England that there money was being spent sagely: hence methods of proving the kids was instigated to demo that the kids were larning in schools. The manner in which kids were tested was via Her Majesty ‘s Inspectors, they would see schools in order to oppugn the category on how much they had learnt in their categories. The authorities besides gave instructors incentive to do certain that the kids could reply these inquiries as they were being judged every bit much as the kids. The better a category did in these reviews the more respectable the teacher wage would be. However this chalk and speak method was non without issue, as the kids were assessed merely on the inquiries tha t the inspector asked, which could be said to be an unjust proving method. Therefore schools jumped directly in with instruction to prove instead than learning to larn. ( Ward and Eden, 2009:87-88 ) Changes were brought approximately in 1902 with the Balfour Education Act, instructors were given more freedom to make their ain teaching method. The Early Old ages sector in peculiar was get downing to have more freedom within their instruction. There are many influences which supported this ideal. Possibly one of the earliest was Aristotle, his position that cognition came through experience was noted every bit early as 366BC ( Pound, 2008b ) . Followed on by Jean-Jacques Rousseau who believed that kids should believe otherwise about instruction, he believed in liberating up the kid ‘s head, promoting people to seek out new thoughts. ( Pound, 2008a:7 ) Maria Montessori believed that kids learned throughout their lives from the minute they are born. Montessori was another truster, like Rousseau, that observation was the key to a kid ‘s learning experience, besides she believed that kids should non be pushed to larn but excessively allow them larn at their ain gait. There fore from my position Rousseau and Montessori are opposing the thought of standardized testing as this is an impossible technique to verify good instruction if kids learn at different ages and phases. They believe in steering the kid in their acquisition instead than ‘teaching a kid ‘ what they need to cognize to complete scrutinies. Once once more the instruction system was changed dramatically ; the 1944 Education Act introduced the tripartite system, which in bend brought about the 11 plus scrutiny, one time once more proving the kids at certain age/stages to find what they have learnt. The 11-plus test aimed to find the intelligence of all 10s to eleven twelvemonth old kids, to set up which school they should go to, those kids that scored the highest would go to the grammar schools ; to learn extremely academic topics, where as the kids which scored the lower consequences would travel to either the secondary proficient schools ; for mechanical and scientific minded pupil or the secondary modern schools ; for kids taking for low skilled occupations and homecare. The kids that attended the grammar schools were seen to be the most intelligent ; the grammar schools brought in the better instructors therefore the kids that were in front were seen to be given the chance to acquire farther in front. Although, the in structor quality of the ‘best ‘ instructors should besides be up for argument, the instructor deemed the ‘best ‘ were merely so as they scored the highest on their tests. These tests did non integrate the aggregation of any cognition of the individual taking them. The testing does non enlist critical instructor quality issues such as whether the instructor has a good resonance with kids, nor does it prove if the instructor is considerate, sort or creative. Therefore it can be said that these kids are non truly accessing the ‘best ‘ instructors but simply being taught by an older coevals of in-between category people who has entree to the stuffs to win in tests. The 11 plus exam argument has many angles, it could be seen as carnival in some ways as the kids were tested on certain cognition, each kid was given the same trial with no exclusions, nevertheless did each kid have the entree to the same stuffs and the same chances to successfully take such tests? Social category is a large issue which should be taken into consideration when discoursing whether the test standards were a just proving method. Children from in-between category households ; kids of canvassers and physicians were more accustomed to the countries of involvement within the tests. Such things as anagrams would be tested seting some in-between category kids at an advantage as their parents are more likely to hold done things such as crosswords therefore the kids are more likely to hold come across this before, whereas the working category kids are much less likely to hold this experience. Reasoning that the authorities of the clip were still really much thought of doing the rich richer and the hapless poorer hence further spliting the societal categories. The 1967 Plowden Report one time once more changed the educational doctrines. The Plowden Report recommended that primary instruction became more like early old ages instruction, they called for more active scholars, kids should be larning through drama. The Plowden study besides called for the abolition of cyclosis, conveying about subject based larning for primary instruction instead than subject based acquisition. This was possible due to the abolition of the eleven-plus test therefore a broader course of study was possible, instead than the instructor to prove method. ( Ward and Eden, 2009:67/68 ) Parents protested the recommended alterations as they wanted kids to be taught specific lessons such as reading and authorship, the thought of kids traveling to school and playing was seen as unequal instruction. This position was one of which the parents were familiar, their instruction was one of command and work sheets, hence this is what the parents knew. This contention around the parent ‘s protests resulted in the authorities commissioning more research in the 1970 ‘s and 1980 ‘s. Even so, this testing was one time once more based upon exam tonss. Neville Bennett ( 1976 ) tested kids at the start and terminal of the academic twelvemonth. Bennett ‘s consequences found that the ‘traditional ‘ instructors produced better test consequences ; nevertheless Bennett ‘s consequences have been criticised as he merely tested the kids on the nucleus topic ‘s maths and English. Another unfavorable judgment of Bennett ‘s survey was his deficiency of detecting categories that he was researching. The bases of these consequences were strictly on the consequences they produced. This resulted in instructor quality once more being judged entirely on the consequences that they can bring forth. ( Ward and Eden, 2009:92 ) Course of study In 1988, the National Curriculum was introduced, it was at first really traditional but became more flexible with the debut of vocational topics. The national course of study was implemented with no authorities intercession in learning methods or teaching method, giving instructor ‘s freedom to make their ain teaching method and utilize their ain methods of learning. However the national course of study was to standardize school instruction to do testing and appraisal easier. Key Stage appraisals were implemented at ages seven, eleven and 16. These standardized trials have been used to categorize kids into ability groups. Ball ( 2003 ) claimed that the National course of study favoured in-between category groups, it has been said that it was besides bias against different cultural groups. For Example History lessons were based entirely on British history and the school twenty-four hours was covered in Christian traditions ; such as supplications before go forthing school and in school assemblies. The course of study has one time once more had a proposed alteration with the publication of the White paper 2010, this will be discussed subsequently on. Standards non Structures New Labour leader Tony Blair in concurrence with the educational curate Barry Gardiner recognised the demand to assist working category kids achieve. Blair believed in ‘standards non constructions ‘ . Rather than underscoring on grammar schools and school pick, Blair found it more of import to underscore acquiring good criterions out of all schools. Compulsory numeracy and literacy hours were introduced to do certain that all kids were ab initio being taught to read and compose decently, which in bend would foster their accomplishments in the hereafter. â€Å" Education should be about happening success in every kid. When I talk about elevation criterions, I do non merely intend what gets measured in external scrutinies. We have to be much more concerned about the quality and relevancy of instruction our immature people receive and with the scope of chances to let them to win in the universe of work in the twenty-first Century. † ( Gardiner, 2004 ) Standards non constructions is where kids are what affair, it is said that seting kids on the right way to lifelong acquisition is where they will see true success. Gardiner recognised that the procedure, in which the kid acquires these womb-to-tomb acquisition accomplishments, is much less of import than the devising certain the kid does achieve these accomplishments. Gardiner aimed for a more holistic attack to acquisition, besides a demand for more vocational topics in schools. Although the course of study was to be more holistic the kids ‘s accomplishments were scored on trial. ( Gardiner, 2004 ) International attacks In the United States, the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act stated that all instructors by 2005-2006 had to be extremely qualified, be a certified instructor and major in their specific capable therefore obtaining a certification. Thus the Centre of Assessment and Evaluation ( CAEL ) in pupil acquisition in America, noted in Tennessee, where there was an attack pioneered called the ‘value added ‘ attack. This was intended to measure the value teachers add to the pupils larning. Students are compared to their ain acquisition: pupil ‘s trial tonss are compared with their ain old tonss instead than being compared to other pupil ‘s tonss, therefore category or household income is non an issue. The instructors were judged on how the pupils they had had improved, besides they defined the instructors of best quality gained greater accomplishment from the lower achieving pupils, instead than the higher achieving pupils in which it is normally assessed. However it was stat ed that there ought to hold been some observation in schoolrooms to truly assess the pupil ‘s betterment. ( CAESL, 2004 ) In Wales conference tabular arraies were abolished in 2001, harmonizing to research workers at Bristol University this has severely affected the public presentation of pupils in Wales. In conformity to their research, this attack has decreased public presentation as there is no force per unit area for the pupils to better. GCSE consequences have been compared with England by comparing similar schools from each state ; this research showed that Welsh schools were acquiring up to two GSCE classs lower than the schools in England. Naming and shaming schools through conference tabular arraies in England is seen to hike overall classs due to the force per unit area to maintain league place. ( Loveys, 2010 ) However the NAS/UWT instructors brotherhood has clearly opposed this place in mentioning that Wales ‘s school public presentation is bettering twelvemonth on twelvemonth. ( BBC, 2010 ) â€Å" It handily fails to foreground the fact that overall school public presentation in schools in Wales additions during the period covered by the study. † ( BBC, 2010 ) These teacher Unions promote the abolition of League tabular arraies saying that schools are offering easier classs to better their conference place. Parents Choice It has been said that parents are non taking schools based on the school conference tabular arraies but are more interested in location for easiness of handiness, little category sizes and the attention that is given to the kids. John Bangs, the caput of instruction at the National Union of Teachers stated in an interview for The Times that parents choose schools for their ain grounds, he believes they would be better aided by a full position of school accomplishment instead than merely consequences of trials, public presentation tabular arraies and Ofsted reviews which merely focus on a few cardinal opinions. ( Sugden, 2010 ) The Departments for Schools has clearly set out to relieve this job, as a statement a interpreter at the Department for Schools has said in The Times interview, that they are presenting a new strategy which will present a new school study card, this aims to give a more clear and full position of the school including more than simply academic accomplishment. How ever, it is besides said that no apology will be made for seting a strong influence over academic consequences, as we have more good and outstanding schools than of all time before, giving parents a existent pick and the option to weigh out other factors. ( Sugden, 2010 ) Current ideals and statute law The alliance has brought about new ideals on instruction. Prosecuting new positions and combined positions of the conservativists and broad Democrats. OFSTED has upped criterions and the new authorities has publicised new thoughts of personality testing. First observing the recent OFSTED studies, that has stated that they are upping their criterions and have judged many schools as inadequate. This is due to the coming ideals that schools need now to be judged non merely on informations, as it was seen that OFSTED could merely phone in their consequences. ( Shepherd, 2010 ) It has been found that instructors are non good plenty equipped to learn pupils, their exanimate effort at learning pupils is go forthing pupils bored and unwilling or being inspired to larn. OFSTED have concluded that the hapless instructors that are fighting to hold on the pupil ‘s imaginativeness and are neglecting to animate the kids that they are learning, hence kids are being giving mundane undertakings, harmonizing to OFSTED ‘s main inspector Christine Gilbert. â€Å" There is excessively much instruction that is dull and uninspiring. This means that excessively many immature people are non equipped good plenty to do the best of their lives. † ( Gilbert, 2010 ) In correlativity with this the alliance has proposed alterations to the educational system. The White paper that has been published on the 24th of November is naming for more in-school preparation for instructors. The White Paper will besides get rid of clip bounds on the sum of clip schools are allowed to supervise schoolrooms, hence making more flexibleness, taking to make better instructors. ( Vasager, 2010 ) â€Å" The remarks came as the Coalition prepared to print a White Paper today that will toughen up tests, overhaul the national course of study, reform instructor preparation and give staff more power to train students. All schools will be forced to run into tough new marks or face being taken over. † ( Paton, 2010a ) Besides the White Paper has besides proposed that all manque instructors ‘ under-go personality showing and aptitude trials which all instructors must go through before modification, this method is already in usage in Finland. The national course of study is to be tightened up to halt forcing the ‘easier ‘ classs. The purpose of the new tightened up course of study is besides to set forward a more specific nucleus cognition, this go forthing more free clip for such things as humanistic disciplines, athletics and civilization. ( Paton, 2010b ) League tabular arraies are excessively be focused on the nucleus topics such as maths, English and Science so that schools can no longer acquire to the top of the tabular arraies by forcing pupils into the softer or easier topics, which are non found valuable by future employers. The focal point of future instructors will be that they have great capable cognition, and a love of learning and their maestro topic. ( Paton, 2010b ) Besides Broad Democrat leader Nick Clegg proposed the system of ‘Like-versus-like ‘ which the Tories have said to be unfastened excessively. This system will suggest that school conference tabular arraies will be compared to those in similar state of affairss for illustration hapless with hapless, in-between category with in-between category. ( Asthana & A ; Helm, 2010 ) Teacher quality is a construct which is difficult to specify, many factors such as observation, trial marking, personality testing and kid inspiring is needed in correlativity with each other to find if a instructor is truly a ‘good ‘ instructor. The history of instruction has evolved over the century, traveling back and Forth between ideals depending on the political party in power and the economic sciences of the clip. From the first oncoming of scrutinies, get downing from oppugning from Her Royal Highness ‘ Inspectors, to standardised proving. The eleven-plus tests were extremely respected in their clip, but as research continued it was found that these trials could be seen as favoring in-between category kids. The research has continually been extended until current thoughts that pupils need to be tested against pupils of similar backgrounds, which in bend provided more accurate histories of betterment and accomplishment. Through research of international ideal s of instruction, parts have begun to go intertwined within the English instruction system. International ‘failures ‘ ( harmonizing to some ) such as the Welsh schools get rid ofing conference tabular arraies has besides been taken into consideration. This research had the opposite consequence by turn outing the authorities with ground non to take on this attack. In decision throughout the last century instructor quality has basically been based upon scrutiny tonss, observation or kid inspiring yet none have put them all together, which could so give a better definition of the ‘good ‘ instructor. Quality of learning demands to be a holistic position, much like the instruction is taking towards.

pearl harbor a suprise or not essays

pearl harbor a suprise or not essays Knowledge that was not passed on and Miscommunication before December 7th Prior to December 7th there were many warnings and letters given to the military saying there was possible plan of attack on Pearl Harbor very few of these letters were actually received by the military. On November 27, the Chief of Naval Operations sent a letter to Lt. Layton concerning the possibility of imminent attacks on Pearl Harbor Refer to my 272338 {the naval sabotage warning}. Army has sent following to commander western defense command. Negotiations with Japan appear to be terminated to all practical purposes with only the barest possibilities that the Japanese Government might come back and offer to continue. Japanese future action unpredictable but hostile action possible at any moment. If hostilities cannot repeat not be avoided the United States desires that Japan commit the first overt act.... Prior to hostile Japanese action you are directed to undertake such reconnaissance and other measures as you deem necessary but these measures should be carried out so as not to repeat not to alarm civilian population...Undertake no offensive action until Japan has committed an overt act....1 This was one of the few letters that Layton received. Shortly after receiving this letter, Layton saw the Army begin to get ready, troops started moving as well as trucks: I though I saw weapons moving into the street and I presumed that they were going into full condition of readiness, including the emplacement of anti-aircraft and other mobile weapons around Pearl Harbor.2 Layton received other signals in addition to these, some confirming war within a few days and others saying war was going to happen in South East Asia. None of the signals, however, were passed on to military officials who could have used this information. One man who needed the information was McCollum. He received the above letter on December 1st 1941. Captain W.A. Heard...

Use of Trademark Names in Fiction

Use of Trademark Names in Fiction Use of Trademark Names in Fiction Use of Trademark Names in Fiction By Mark Nichol A couple of years ago, a site visitor asked about the necessity of obtaining permission to refer to trademarked products by name in fiction. Here’s the specific query: How is copyright dealt with in fiction writing? For example, if I sell a story where I wrote that a character jogged to Burger King in his new Reeboks, would there be copyright infringement? Do I need to get approval from the holders of the copyright to use their names in my stories? And, how would I go about doing that? How do I find out what is copyright protected and what isn’t? And here, better late than never, is the response: Fortunately for the multitudes of authors who write fiction (and the innumerable publishing companies that print their books), writers are free, for the most part, to include trademarked names in their stories. The passage in question is especially innocuous, because the references to Burger King and Reeboks are benign: Nobody in the novel dies from eating a Whopper, and no character is fatally run over in traffic because his running shoes are defective. But even if the author had implicated one of these brands in someone’s death, legal retribution would be unlikely; the sheer volume of media overwhelms any one corporation’s efforts to monitor for and suppress defamatory references to their products. But risk is relative: If a writer with the stature of, say, J.K. Rowling had resorted to the plot device of a deadly hamburger or a dangerous pair of running shoes, her publisher would likely be sent a cease-and-desist letter. This terse request from the trademark owner would call on the publishing company to refrain from associating the company’s delicious and nutritious WhopperR brand beef-patty sandwiches or light but sturdy and comfortable ReeboksR brand athletic shoes with anyone’s death. (Side note: The registered trademark symbol is never required; in commercial publications, it is often inserted to imbue one’s products with a protective aura or to refer to those of others, as a courtesy, to encourage reciprocity.) To avoid such a consequence, an astute editor would likely request that Ms. Rowling excise such libelous references before submitting the final manuscript, thus avoiding the arrival of a letter referring to â€Å"possible recourse to further legal options to protect our valuable intellectual property rights.† But your editor would likely do the same, perhaps suggesting that instead, you call the fast food franchise Hamburger Prince or the shoes Teezoks. Interestingly, assigning closely similar names, or describing companies or products that resemble real ones but are not named in their honor (or, often, dishonor), is fair play. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Examples of Passive Voice (And How To Fix Them)Latin Words and Expressions: All You Need to Know35 Synonyms for Rain and Snow

To describe and assess the listeners experience of two different Essay

To describe and assess the listeners experience of two different compositions or two performances of the same composition - Essay Example Sometimes it is created by â€Å"mixing† of several parts of the original composition, superimposing various sounds on it, special effects, change the tempo, key, and so on. There are different branches of re-mix, so-called megamix (compilation of several pieces of music), and a re-make re-work. Looking at the pages of musical history, it is worth noting that the dawn of the era of the remix was at the end of the 20th century and nowadays. The fact is hat the technique is developing in parallel with improvement of remixing recording equipment. If person means taking as a basis the essence re-mix, reworking the melody, this trend has appeared in music long before the development of technology. One of the distinguishing features of the popularization of remixes, for example, the front direction of dance music, was the desire of musicians and DJs to return to the former popularity in some songs, giving them a â€Å"second birth†. In 1972, when songs like "Hey Jude" The Beatles and "Layla" by Eric Clapton and Derek and the Dominos paved the way long songs in the charts, re-issued it and â€Å"Nights in White Satin† quickly gained gold status. The song was written by Justin Hayward, when he stayed with a friend in Swindon in England on a bed with satin sheets. Experts find that the song is very autobiographical: the musician has just started a serious relationship (Manuel et al.56). Hayward was only nineteen at that time. Most listeners heard this song in the music collections and on the radio, so not everyone knows that the album called â€Å"Nights in White Satin† was significantly longer. The single cut the orchestral introduction and the final, as well as the poem â€Å"Late complaint† written by keyboardist Mike Pinder and recited by drummer Graeme Edge. It must be said that the record was really teamwork. The authors of all the songs were listed as

Large-Scale Biomass Combustion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Large-Scale Biomass Combustion - Essay Example It possesses a significant need in everyday life. For instance, energy is being used for various activities that include the execution of cars for moving one place to another and televisions for the purpose of entertainment among others. Moreover, energy is also used for producing electricity and heat for different purposes. It has been apparently observed that a large percentage of energy is obtained from the combustion of biomass (Need, 2012). Â  In this paper, a critical discussion about the use of sustainable energy will be taken into concern. Moreover, the determination of large-scale business combustion as one of the sustainable options for energy generation will also be discussed in this paper. Â  Biomass Combustion is principally described as the method of burning through which 90% of the world’s energy is released to supply heat and energy services like material processing that includes food preparation, electricity, and transportation. It has been viewed as the process through which fuels are burnt with the help of oxygen (Overend, 2004). Â  Biomass combustion is considered as the oldest type of combustion that largely exploited by human beings. It is also regarded as one of the most complicated forms of the combustion system. This process of combustion entails the use of solid fuels in a multi-phase reaction system interacting with different mass fluxes. The prime understanding of the solid fuel combustion system reveals with reference to the fact that only fuel can burn and release heat. It has also been viewed that solids and liquids do not burn by themselves but consume heat in the process of drying which is required to be chemically transformed into fuel gas. There are several different materials that can be considered as biomass. These materials include solid wood, fats, and proteins (Overend, 2004).

Government Economic Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Government Economic Policy - Essay Example Governments main objectives of using this type of policies is to stimulate the aggregate demand, reduce inflation, improve a recession, collection of revenue to provide public goods, improve on market failure caused by externalities or even steer the economy to achieve higher growth. as earlier discussed the main objectives of government policies is to improve on a recession, depression, inflation, solve on market failure caused by positive and negative externalities, collection of government revenue to provide public goods and to stimulate aggregate demand. These policies will also be used in case of a boom in the economy. The policies can be used together to improve a situation or one of them used. Inflation can be defined as the consistent rise in the general prices of goods for a fairly long period of time, the most used indicator of inflation is the consumer price index. Inflation is caused by demand push according to Keynes; he argued that inflation will exist when the aggregate demand exceeds aggregate supply. The excess demand can be from the real sector or the monetary sector. TheThe real sector consist of the model that is used to calculate the national output, Y = consumption + government spending + investment + exports - imports. if marginal propensity to consume increases then aggregate demand will increase leading to inflation, if government spending increases then this will increase aggregate demand also if the level of investment increases this will cause an increase in the aggregate demand and finally if the exports increase then aggregate demand increases and this can be seen when there is a boom caused by increased exports. The monetary sector means that in the case where the money supply in an economy increases this triggers inflation. The other type of inflation is the cost push inflation caused by an increase in the cost of production due to an increase in the price levels of Raw materials. an increase in the cost of production will lead to high unit cost of production, these high prices are passed on to the consumers, therefore their real wages decreases and trade unions come in and fight for high wages and if they are granted higher wages the cost of production further increases. In case of inflation the government will come in and interfere with the economy, in this case the government will simply use monetary policies to improve the situation, they will increase the rate of interests so that the amount of money in circulation in the economy reduces, the government will also improve this by reducing the supply of money in the economy, this can be achieved through increasing the bank reserve ratio held by a central bank. This can be diagrammatically shown as follows; When inflation increases from 0 to 1 then the real GDP falls from y0 to y1, if y0 was the potential output then the economy is operating below potential output, to improve this government will reduce the interest rates the interest rates

Non-visual Motion Tracking

Non-visual Motion Tracking Additionally, (Taylor et al. 2010) demonstrated that the OSSCA method, which employs a combined use of OCST, SCoRE, and SARA techniques to process marker data and allows the estimation of joint parameters from kinematic data alone, without the necessity to use generic anatomical relationship assumptions, returns more reliable, repeatable and reproducible results than a standard generic regression approach. Although the accuracy of the data acquired by means of optical motion capture systems is very high in the controlled environment of the lab, the ambulatory use of this type of equipment is cumbersome and presents significant limitations which can not only compromise the precision of the acquired data, e.g. dependency on line-of-sight, limited range and latency of data (Schepers et al. 2010), but also the practicability of the acquisition itself, e.g. necessity of power source, set-up time, outdoor calibration of the system. Non-visual motion tracking Non-visual motion tracking is a sensor based technique, which can be carried out, amongst others, with acoustic, magnetic, or inertial sensors, or with a combination of these methods. Ultrasound based acoustic systems, e.g. the Bat system (Ward et al. 1997), Vallidis (Hazas and Ward 2002), the Cricket location system (Priyantha et al. 2000) and WearTrack (Foxlin and Harrington 2000), are capable of tracking the locations of pulse emitting beckons by using the time-of-flight information of audio signals. This type of motion tracking system is wireless, however, as with visual motion tracking, occlusion of the signal emitter poses a significant limitation. In contrast, magnetic systems, e.g. MotionStar ® (Ascension Technology), are capable of estimating their position and orientation within the global coordinate system, by using information from the local magnetic environment, and are, therefore, not constricted by line-of-sight. However, these systems are very sensitive to ferromagnetic interferences. Inertial motion capture systems, e.g. Moven (Xsens Technologies) and Alert (Verhaert), employ the use of accelerometer and gyroscopes to measure inclination angles. These systems are highly accurate, however, sensitive to vibration and subject to integration drift over time. In fact, throughout the past decade, the use of inertial sensors has gained increased popularity within researchers (Foxlin 1996; Roetenberg et al. 2007a; Roetenberg et al. 2005; Roetenberg et al. 2009; Roetenberg et al. 2003; Roetenberg et al. 2007b; Roetenberg and Veltink 2005), as well as general population. Many people schedule their daily activity based on the data presented by certain applications on their smartphones (e.g. Health app, Argus, MyFitnessPal), their smartwatches (e.g. Sony, LG, AppleWatch, Fitbit Surge) or pedometers and wristbands (e.g. Fitbit Flex, Garmin vivofit, Polar Loop, Jawbone). However, in the field of research, there is a need for more complex systems, which can provide more comprehensive information, of a larger variety. For this purpose, hybrid systems, combine the use of different techniques to compensate for the shortcomings of individual systems. Such hybrid systems are represented by acoustic-inertial systems (Vlasic et al. 2007; Ward et al. 2005), e.g. Constellationà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (Foxlin et al. 1998), optical-inertial systems, e.g. Hy-Birdà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (Ascension Technology) and inertial-magnetic systems, e.g. MERG sensors (Bachmann 2000), MTw development kit (Xsens Technologies), MVN Biomech and MVN Awinda (Xsens Technologies). Combined inertial and magnetic sensing is currently one of the more popular choices in this area of study and will be discussed at length in the following paragraphs. The light weight, wireless and cheap, inertial sensors equipped with accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers enable, when positioned on the human body, the computation of angular orientation of the anatomical segments to which they are attached to (Bellusci et al. 2013; Roetenberg et al. 2003). The on-board gyroscopes measure angular velocity, based on the principle of angular momentum, according to the following fundamental equation: (1) Where: à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ torque on the gyroscope; L angular momentum; I moment of inertia; à Ã¢â‚¬ ° angular velocity; ÃŽÂ ± angular acceleration. The most commonly used gyroscopes for human motion studies are piezo-electric, capable of detecting vibration of mass. When an object vibrates while rotating, it is subject to the Coriolis Effect. This causes a second vibration to occur orthogonally to the initial vibration direction. The rate of turn can be calculated from this latter vibration. According to the following equations: (2) Where: m mass; à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚   momentary speed of the mass with reference to the moving object to which it is attached. The resulting gyroscope signals are then defined as being the sum of angular velocity à Ã¢â‚¬ °t, offset due to temperature of gyroscope bt, and white noise à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚  G,t (Eq. 3). (3) The gyroscope output is very accurate, however, it is subject to errors and drift caused by integration of the signal over time, and the gyroscope temperature which can produce small offset errors, leading to large integration errors when calculating orientation. The use of compensatory estimation algorithms, such as Kalman filters can reduce the inherent errors in the gyroscope output signal (Roetenberg et al. 2003). Kalman filters are mathematical algorithms used to efficiently minimize the mean of the squared error of a system output (Welch and Bishop 1995). Kalman filters are particularly useful for combining parameters of different measurement systems so that the advantages of one compensates for the weakness of the other, e.g. accelerometers are often used in conjunction with gyroscopes, in order to compensate for inclination drifts in the gyroscope signal. The accelerometers measure the gravitational acceleration g and the vector sum of acceleration a. The output accelerometer signals are defined as the sum of acceleration at, gravity gt and white noise à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚  A,t. (4) The inclination information provided by gt can be used to correct the orientation drifts of the gyroscope (Roetenberg et al. 2003). A further common example of Kalman filtering, is using magnetometer readings to correct for the gyroscopes vertical axis drifts (Roetenberg et al. 2003). Magnetometers have the ability to detect local magnetic north and adjust heading direction. The principles by which the magnetometers work are described by following equation: (5) Where: ym,t magnetic signals; mt earth magnetic field vector; dt disturbance vector; vm,t -white noise. In real life measuring conditions the distribution of the magnetic field is often more complex and other parameters, such as changes in magnetic flux and the magnetic inclination angle, which can affect the magnitude of the magnetic disturbance, should be taken in consideration. The major limitations of using inertial and magnetic sensing for motion tracking are represented by the following factors: Ferromagnetic interferences can distort the local magnetic field and affect the measurements for the orientation about the vertical axis (Roetenberg et al. 2003). The velocity and type of movement performed and the geometry of the body segment to which the sensor is applied can affect the accuracy of the measurements (Roetenberg et al. 2005); Distances between body segments cannot be assessed by means of numerical integration (Roetenberg and Veltink 2005); Previous studies in which this type of equipment was used report a high accuracy of the output data (Cutti et al. 2010; Ferrari et al. 2010a; Seel et al. 2014), however, the limitations in using this motion capture system are far from being overcome. The most important and challenging aspect of the study is to use the acquired information in a biomechanically meaningful manner, e.g. the parameters declared as joint angles, need to be as anatomically accurate as possible, for this purpose assuming the joint angles can be calculated as the angles of movement between two anatomical segments is not enough, a more complex mathematical model needs to be developed in order to address the biomechanical characteristics of the studied joint. There are a variety of protocols and algorithms available for post processing of sensor data stemming from human motion studies. A common approach for solving a human kinematics problem is to compare the human body to a robot manipulator. Similarly to a robot manipulator, which forms a kinematic chain from links interconnected by joints, the human body can be considered a kinematic chain formed of anatomical segments connected by articulations. In theory, this is a very efficient manner to solve a biomechanical problem. Cutti et al., for example, use the Danavit-Hartenberg convention of robotics in their Outwalk protocol, which states that a kinematic chain with n joints will have n+1 links (Fig 2.4). To solve the kinematics, a coordinate system is rigidly attached to each link. In this case, when joint is actuated, the adjacent and its attached coordinate frame perform a motion. Whichever motion is performed by the kinematic chain, the coordinates of each point on are constant when expressed in the coordinate frame (Zatsiorsky 1998). The Danavit-Hartenberg convention has two conditions which need to be satisfied in order for the kinematic solution to be effective. The variables of a joint (e.g. rotation angles) are defined by the two coordinate systems of the links adjacent to the joint. So, for example, the coordinates of the frame are expressed in the frame. Firstly, the orthonormality of the frames needs to be established, meaning needs to be perpendicular to . Secondly, the projection of in the frame ought to intersect . Comparing the human body to a robotics model is a good starting point. However, using the, frequently associated, strap-down integration method when measuring human kinematics with sensing units poses a very important limitation (Seel et al. 2014). The strap-down-integration method is based on using sensing units securely fixed to the even surfaces of robotic elements. However, there is a significant difference between a robotic setup and an anatomical system. Firstly, aligning the sensor to an anatomical location, such that one axes of the sensor coordinate system coincides exactly with an axis of the anatomical joint, is nearly impossible (Seel et al. 2014). This issue has been addressed in different manners by researchers so far. In the Outwalk protocol, Cutti and Ferrari et al. define as many coordinate frames for each link as the joints they form. Each anatomical segment has, therefore, a distal and a proximal coordinate frame. The joint variables are defined by the distal coordinate frame of one segment and the proximal coordinate frame of its adjacent segment. Another issue that needs to be addressed, when discussing a human biomechanical model, is an almost certain misalignment of the thigh axis with the segments coordinate system. Some studies completely ignore the misalignment between the anatomical and the sensor axes (Seel et al. 2014). In the Outwalk protocol this problem is solved by expressing the flexion-extension axis of the knee in the coordinate system of the distal femur and defining the other revolution axes of the coordinate frame as being orthogonal with respect to the new axis. This is another promising approach, however, in order for this method to be effective, the knee flexion-extension axis needs to be accurately identified. In the case of hinge joints, such as the simplified model of a knee joint, it is possible to calculate data from inertial sensors attached to both ends of the joint. However, this resulting data still needs to be translated into joint related coordinate systems and although, it is impossible to determine the initial position of the sensors on the anatomical segment, there is a possibility to determine the direction of the joint axes, by using different approaches to identify a functional movement axis from a set of dynamic motion data (Cutti et al. 2010; Ferrari et al. 2010a; Seel et al. 2014). In their protocol Cutti and Ferrari et al. use Woltrings mathematical solution for determining the finite helical axis (reviewed in (Zatsiorsky 1998)) to identify the knee flexion-extension axis. Woltrings solution appears to be fitting at least for most motion capture systems (Seel et al. 2014). However, the sensing units used in our study cannot measure translation. This would pose a big problem and could potentially result in substantial errors. In order for the outcome of the study to be successful, it needs to satisfy a set of conditions: (1) it is very important that the resulting post-processed sensor data is biomechanically meaningful to the musculoskeletal system; (2) data acquisition needs to be user friendly, rapid and easy to complete; (2) sensor mounting is not allowed to restrict the participants movement in any manner; (3) the resulting data needs to relate to true anatomical joint angles; and (4) the resulting information needs to be comparable to the reference system (Vicon). Seel et al. offer a solution based on rotational angle estimates alone, which is not only more simple from a data acquisition and processing point of view, but also functions on principles similar to SARA and SCoRE. In the protocol proposed by Seel et al. the knee is assumed to be a simple hinge, with one sensor attached to each segment forming the joint. In order to compensate for the lack of information concerning the initial position of the sensors on the anatomical segments, the unit length direction vectors and the orientations of the two segments attached to the hinge joint (Fig 2.6) are estimated as described below. The Seel et al. solution only employs the use of what is considered to be raw accelerometer and gyroscope output data from the two sensors, the thigh sensor and the shank sensor. In reality, any output data produced by the Xsens sensors, used in Seel et al.s study and the current study, is pre-processed in real-time by the on-board Kalman filter. For the purpose of the summary of the following protocol, all data indexed with 1 refers to thigh sensor data and data derived there from, and all data indexed with 2 refers to shank data and data derived there from. Firstly, the unit length direction vectors of the flexion-extension axis of the knee , are identified in the local coordinates of the sensors, by using an optimisation algorithm to compute the values of . Where the spherical coordinates for are: (6) (7) With the following sum of squared errors: ; (8) A search function is then used to find which satisfy the following condition: (9) Where: angular rates recorded by the thigh and shank sensor, respectively, with the sample period: constant; Euclidean norm. The acceleration measured by each sensor is the sum of the acceleration due to movement around the joint centre and the acceleration due to the rotation of the sensor around the joint centre. In order to estimate the knee joint position expressed in the local coordinate systems of the sensors, the amounts by which are shifted in order to obtain the acceleration of the joint centre, are estimated first. Two arbitrary points along the axes are estimated using a Gauss-Newton optimization algorithm. These points are shifted as close as possible to the sensor origin by applying: (10) (11) The radial and tangential acceleration due to the rotation of the sensor around the joint centre is computed: ; i=1,2 (12) Where: are time derivatives for angular rate and (13) The following sum of squared errors is calculated: ; (14) A search function is used to find which satisfy the following constrain: (15) The knee flexion/extension angle based on the gyroscope information is calculated with the following equation: (16) The measured accelerations are shifted onto the joint axes by applying the following: (17) (18) Where, represent the same quantity in the two different local coordinate systems, which rotate with respect to each other around the flexion axis. The flexion/extension angle calculated according to acceleration data can be defined as the angle between the projections of . (19) Where, and are pairs of joint plane axes, defined by: ; The knee flexion/extension angle defined by fusing the accelerometer and gyro data is defined by: (20) Where: knee flexion extension angle calculated according to accelerometer data at time t; knee flexion extension angle calculated according to gyroscope data at time t; the weight of the accelerometer data. By using the most effective methods presented in the literature review, the current study will attempt to validate the inertial sensor protocol proposed by Seel et. al 2014 against a OSSCA method and to compare laboratory and non-laboratory based inertial motion capture.