On the Road free essay sample

An analysis of Jack Kerouacs novel On the Road. The paper discusses the core theme and purpose of Jack Kerouacs novel On the Road which was published in 1957. The novel is essentially about the authors trips to various parts of the country in search of wisdom and truth. This paper focuses on the actual purpose of the journey and finds out if the writer was finally able to reach his destination or not. The paper also discusses the Beat generation briefly and explains why it was difficult for people to understand the theme of the novel when it first appeared in 1950s. On the Road is one of the most widely read books that emerged out of the Beat generation of the 1950s. To understand On the Road better, it is important to delve deeper in the society and culture of the time when Americans were increasingly looking for an alternative lifestyle and in their quest for something unique and different, they experimented with everything that appeared wild and adventurous. We will write a custom essay sample on On the Road or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Jack Kerouac was one important beats icon and in his book, he has essentially talked about the journey that took him to different parts of the country. The author has not discussed this journey as simply a vacation trip; there is something intensely deep and meaningful in his travel chronicles. He was not precisely interested in visiting various parts of the country but his journey actually reflects a disturbed soul and mind looking for some stability in unpredictable and uncertain times.

Influence of the Age Factor on Second Language Acquisition essayEssay Writing Service

Influence of the Age Factor on Second Language Acquisition essayEssay Writing Service Influence of the Age Factor on Second Language Acquisition essay Influence of the Age Factor on Second Language Acquisition essaySecond language acquisition is a complex processwhich depends on a number of factors, such as cognitive development, cultural background, personal abilities, motivation, socio-economic background, age and the level of native language acquisition. Age is one of the important factors which influence second language acquisition. In addition, the age has strong influence on the level of native language acquisition and thus has additional meaning for the study process. Multiple researches have been performed in order to trace the relations between the age and second language acquisition. All these studies agree that age has an extremely important influence on language learning and that different researches in this field may greatly contribute to the theory and practice of second language acquisition. A lot of authors such as Ellis (2008), Larsen-Freeman (2008) and Mayberry and Lock (2003) state that younger learners are more successful in language study than aged ones.   The interconnection between age and second language acquisition is evident and it is necessary to trace peculiarities of this connection. This study aims to trace correlation between the success of language acquisition and learners’ age.FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITIONIt is important to explain the notion of second language acquisition. Under this process specialists understand the process of acquiring other but foreign language. Studies in this field are concerned with the investigation of the process where learner acquires any other but his first language. This process can occur both – in the natural surrounding and in the form of the organized study process.   The time of the beginning of study may differ significantly and may thus influence the results of the learning.First of all, it is necessary to distinguish factors which influence the learning process when it comes to second language acquisi tion. Different specialists name different factors. For example, Yigiter (1988) distinguishes three factors which have influence on language learning. These factors include the role of teacher, the leaner and his position, and the learning method.   Collier (1988) named leaner’s cognitive style, progress in native language acquisition and social and economic situation as the most influencing factors.The age of learning is one of the most important factors in the process of second language learning. A lot of specialists believe that it has extremely important influence on the results of the study.CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESES  Lenneberg (1967), one of the pioneers of the researches in the field of second language acquisition, expresses the   idea that there is a certain period of language learning which should be considered by teachers and educators. His ideas got name Critical Period Hypotheses in language acquisition and expressed a thought that there is a period during w hich language acquisition is easy and natural. The Critical Period Hypothesis can be defined as â€Å"the period during which a child can acquire language easily, rapidly, perfectly, and without instruction† (Richards Schmidt, 2002, p.145). During this period leaning process goes more successfully and the learners are more likely to achieve good results. This is explained by the fact that learning language is an innate characteristic peculiar to all human beings. It is regulated by the biological factors and they determine the certain period when acquisition is the most effective.   This period lasts from two years to puberty. Starting from the age of two human brain becomes ready to acquire new things and to create new connections and correlations between things and objects. As Lenneberg (1967)   states in his famous book Biological Foundations of Language at the age of two or three years the period when the language can be acquired easier than in other time of life. Th is period lasts till the age of puberty. During this period language acquisition gives the best results and this is explained by the peculiarities of human brain.   So   according to this hypothesis during certain period of time human brain is naturally inclined to learn.This process lasts during childhood and youth and declines after puberty. Despite the fact that Lenneberg (1967)   himself names different time limits to this period, he still traces strong correlation between human activity and puberty. According to him after the period of puberty language abilities quickly become worse and the process of leaning becomes less effective. After puberty the functioning of brain changes in such a way that basic skill which are necessary for the successful language acquisition decline.   Ã‚  During this period learners show the best results in second language acquisition.   Lenneberg explains the duration of this period from biological point of view and uses the notion of late ralization. Lenneberg believes that language function is an innate characteristic of human brain and the process of language acquisition is not the process of learning new things but rather the process of the activation of the function which already exists.Lenneberg presupposes that during the childhood and early youth the right hemisphere takes part in the process of learning language. According to him, in the beginning both hemispheres take part in the process and it has got the name lateralization. Lateralization is a process when two sides of the brain develop special function. With the flow of time right hemisphere loses its language function and it passes totally to the left one.  Ã‚   As soon as this process is over, language acquisition become more difficult. Lateralization is usually finished by the age of puberty. So, after the age of puberty language acquisition becomes more difficult. Lenneberg made different research and spend much time to investigate the critical per iod of successful language learning. He compared pronunciation of people who started learning language before the puberty period and after it and came to the conclusion that people who start learning language later than puberty period can not acquire the right accent in contrast to children and teenagers who start second learning acquisition before puberty and speak with little accent or without accent at all. These argument are also supported by the study performed by Fathman (1975)   and Williams(1979).   Fathman summed up his research in the work called The Relationship Between Age and Second Language Productive Ability, Language Learning, and Williams in the article called The Modification of Speech Perception and Production in Second Language Learning. After several years of study of pronunciation they came to the conclusion that younger students were more likely to adapt the pronunciation of the language acquired while the older ones were more likely to speak with an accen t. These researches prove again the findings of Lenneberg about the critical period hypothesis. Later researchers have also proved his ideas about brain activity and connections between left and right hemispheres. Critical Period Hypothesis is an important notion in the study of   the influence of age on second language acquisition. Despite the fact Lenneberg made his investigation a lot of years ago his ideas are still up to date and most of them are useful nowadays. Knowledge about Critical Period can become a powerful tool for teaches of the second foreign language and for those who wants to acquire it. The functioning of brain and the structure of human psychics definitely have an extremely important influence on the process of language study and this knowledge can increase teaching results to a great extent.OLDER LEARNERS AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITIONA lot of researches started taking for granted Lenneberg’s studies about age limitation (12-13 years) in the second la nguage acquisition. However, still there are researches (Singleton) which show that older learners are also successful in the second language and able to reach the same level or even higher as the young learners do. Singleton states that language capacity of some immigrants improves with time. He refers to Ervin-Tripp which took place in 1974 as an example: â€Å"Ervin-Tripp conducted of 31 young English speaking children who had been exposed to French for a period that spanned nine months. The results of Ervin-Tripp’s research showed that the older students outperformed the younger learners in every field of the learning process† (Singleton, 2004, p.184). He also gives another example of Dutch learners who started learning English in the classroom after the age of twelve. These learners were able to gain native-like accent (Singleton, 2004).   However, these are single cases and more exceptions from the rule and even Singleton himself states that for the long run yo ung learners are able to reach more language proficiency than those who started learning the second language after twelve.Krashen (1979) also investigates this subject and presents short- and long-term results in the second language acquisition among children and adults. His conclusions are the following: adults and older children come through stages of morphological and syntactic development quicker than children, but early start or second language learning usually guarantees higher general language proficiency with the flow of time.STAGES of SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITIONThe process of Second Language Acquisition consitsts of 5 stages. Haynes (2007) marks out the following stages: Preproduction, Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency and Advanced Fluency. The Preproduction stage is also called â€Å"the silent stage† and the learner’s vocabulary is up to 500 words at this period. At the Early Production stage the learner’s vocabulary grows up to 1000 words and he/she is already able to build up simple phrases and use short language forms. At the stage of Speech Emergency the vocabulary is about 3000 words and the learner builds simple phrases and sentences here. The stage of Intermediate Fluency presumes the vocabulary of about 6000 words and at this stage the learner is able to make more complex sentences and his/her comprehension of the second language is great. The last stage called Advanced Fluency can be compared with almost native speaker’s language abilities, however, it takes time to achieve it – around 5-10 years in average (Haynes, 2007).Halgunseth (2009), a SLA researcher, states that children can learn the second language in two ways: simultaneously or sequentially. Simultaneous learners are children under three who learn their mother tongue at home and acquire the second language in the kindergarten or other close surrounding. Young children from multi-language families also learn two or even mor e languages simultaneously: mum speaks German, for example, and dad speaks English. The child makes no difference between the languages and does not choose the favourite one. He/she subconsciously knows what language to use with a particular member of the family and does not mix them up. Children’s brain allows them to learn more than one language. If children hear two different languages, they construct two different language systems in their brain. Each system corresponds to the one language. The construction of such systems reminds the process of language acquisition which occurs when the person stats learning not native language.   (Halgunseth 2009). If one language is more frequently used in the family and prevails over the second one, with time the child feels it and declines   it. The frequency of the language usage may also depend on the time spent with the member who speaks the particular language.The sequent learning presumes the usage of one language as the mot her tongue (the main language) and introduction of the second language at extra classes or language school, for example.   Halgunseth (2009)   insists that the age factor is crucial for the simultaneous learning, while it is not so important for the sequent learning. The factors which influence the sequent learning are motivation and language capacity.CONCLUSIONIt is generally believed that younger learners are more successfully in mastering the second language. A lot of specialists believe that the younger the learner is, the easier the study process goes. In reality the relationship between and success in learning second language is complex . From the one side Critical Period Hypothesis theory states that early age is the best age for language acquisition, from the other side mystery in native language contributes greatly to the successful acquisition of the second language. There are specialists who doubt The Critical Period Hypothesis and state that older learners show bette r results than the younger ones. For example, David Singleton (2003) expressed an idea that â€Å"younger learners to do better in the long run in the matter of second language lexical acquisition is no more than a tendency† (p. 22). In addition, other factors have also a very strong impact on language acquisition. A lot of authors state that surrounding and social factors have a very important impact on the study success. For example, if the person learns language in the class during lessons, his result will be different from the person’s results person who lives in the language environment and has an opportunity to hear the target language all the time. In addition, some specialists believe that older learners have better language competency and have better abilities for problem solving and thus can achieve better results in language acquisition. Different aspects of language are perceived differently by different age categories. Early learners show better results in learning pronunciation, while older students acquire grammar and syntax better. Language capacity is another factor which has an important impact on second language acquisition. Some people have natural ability to language study while others do not and these tendencies are only reinforced by age factors.

How does God heal today Compare and contrast Christian approaches to Essay

How does God heal today Compare and contrast Christian approaches to wholeness and healing - Essay Example Coming in wholeness, with God Himself, was one way of bringing good health to your life. The Lord sent some Prophets to bring healing to the people. Miracles from God were rampant and obeying the Lord would bring healing. Reading the story of Jesus, it is notable that the most outstanding course of action he took, apart from teaching about the kingdom of the lord, greatly involved into the act of healing. He healed many people from the lame, blind to other members of the society who had leprosy. He healed people suffering from physical illness to those suffering from mental and spiritual illnesses, as well. He responded to people’s needs by offering healing and restoring wholeness to people’s lives. The Lord himself, Jesus Christ, performed a lot of healing through miracles. In the 2nd century BC, St Ignatius became the first priest who described the Eucharist as the medicine of immortality. A 4th century Christian apologist and poet, Prudentius, celebrated St Cyprian’s tongue’s healing power. The 15th century legendary, Bokenham, reported St Agatha’s healing power that came from the milk of her breasts (Wilkinson, 1998, p42). In the 19th century Natal, Zulu’s prophets petitioned Jesus to cured diseases that were caused by restless spirits. Mary Baker Eddy came up with the Science of Divine Mind as a weapon against harmful animal magnetism. Healing has played a vital role in the development of Christianity as a religion. The history of healing, in Christianity, can be mapped through transformation in the ancient, medieval and modern times. Initially, healing of sickness and disease had its origin from the Judean belief that the latter came from or li nked to evil and sin. They believed that the cure lied on prayer and repentance to earn Gods favor and divine forgiveness (Wilkinson, 1998, p68). Jesus’ activities that portrayed Jesus as an exorcist and a healer included his disciples carrying his combat against evil and sin and the manner in which

Service Activity Summary Report ( for Human Service Class) Essay

Service Activity Summary Report ( for Human Service Class) - Essay Example They prefer to do some routine things by themselves. I guess this is an element of pride and soon started to get involved when my help was necessary, or when they asked for it. There is a senior citizen that shared the pain of losing his wife and facing the rest of his life alone. From his story, I gathered that he was very lonely and the center offered him the chance to meet people closer to his age as well as people to talk to. There are times when is suspected that living family members had abandoned their elderly when they became too much of a burden. The disturbing thing is that they do not admit this. They claim that at the present times, all people are too busy to carry unwanted baggage. I learned that senior citizens have an element of pride and deserve to be treated in a manner where they feel dignified because sometimes, their dignity is all that they have left. I also learned about the value of social services in the community. There are many things that I took for granted and this activity enlightened me. I also learned that eventually, everybody would grow old and hence lose their productive ability (Midlam, 2004). It is best to make use of all the energy that comes with youth because I will miss it when I become a senior citizen. Their stories clearly show that some are satisfied with their achievements. I hope I can tell similar stories when I am their age. In addition, I have also come to appreciate the benefits of having a retirement benefit. I am likely to be very compassionate about the affairs of the elderly. In addition, I will make an effort to visit and take care of my own grandparents because I have realized that it is really lonely when a person is no longer able to work. The world is becoming busier, and sometimes an occupation is the sole reason to live for the senior citizens (Midlam, 2004). I will also ensure that I volunteer at these

Court Case Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Court Case Paper - Essay Example The second is the classic view of the laissez faire liberalism that government should have nothing to do with the process of communication. And lastly, the new theory that the basic or paramount concern of an approach to the First Amendment should make the pivotal interest that of the reader, the listener and the viewer† (Blanchard, 1974, p. 409) In the similar case of Red Lion Broadcasting V. FCC, 395 US 367 (1969), the Supreme Court held that the â€Å"Fairness Doctrine† did not violate the First Amendment. According to Justice Black, the imposition of penalties to the broadcasters did not transgress the spirit of the First Amendment. The Fairness Doctrine states that â€Å"broadcasters are given airtime to freely discuss matters which covers national interest, to present the opposing views in the form of news segments, radio talk shows, public affairs shows or even editorials. The Fairness Doctrine which includes the personal attacks and the politician editorializing ruled were all designed to provide a structure for dialogue† (Blanchard, 1974, p. 410). It is undeniable that there are also evils in the press. There are countless instances where in the broadcast media and the press is guilty of committing error and inaccurate reports. However, â€Å"the media, even if guilty of misrepresentation, must also be protected, if freedom of the press are to have the breathing space that they need to survive† (Blanchard, 1974, p. 414). In the case at bar, the Court ruled that Massachusetts law violated the First Amendment. It relied on the previous decision of Richmond Newspapers V. Virginia, 448 US 555 (1980), where the Court held the First Amendment covers the freedom to listen and to receive information and ideas. The Court also emphasized that the First Amendment guarantees the right of assembly in public places, which include court houses. The Massachusetts court relied heavily on the Massachusetts statutes which excluded the general p ublic from trials involving sexual offenses of victims who are under the age of 18 and ordered that the press and public be excluded from the courtroom during the trial of a defendant, who was faced with charges of rape of three minor girls. Globe Newspaper Co. Although the right of access to criminal trials is not absolute, there are circumstances when the press and public is denied to access are limited. The State must show that â€Å"denial of such right is necessitated by a compelling governmental interest and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest. The First Amendment allows the right of access to criminal trials to ensure that the constitutionally protected "discussion of governmental affairs" is an informed one. The right of access to criminal trials in particular is properly afforded protection because such trials have historically been open to the press and public and because such right of access plays a particularly significant role in the functioning of the judicial process and the government as a whole† (Globe Newspaper Co.). Justice Brennan pointed out that the only justification to disallow media and the press from attending trial which concerns sex-offense of minors is to serve a compelling state interest. The Court found that no such interest was present in the case at bar. According to J. Brennan, although protecting the psychological, mental and

Land Vegetation Ethiopia

Land Vegetation Ethiopia 1. Project Summary Land cover/use Study projects provide policy makers, industry and community interest groups, and landholders with accurate information on  woody vegetation cover, information on changes in the cover, mapping and providing statistical information. In earlier times the northern Ethiopian highlands were characterized by humid climate and denser vegetation (Bard et al., 2000). Significant human impact on the land resource resulted in 65 per cent of the total land mass to be a dry land. Land clearing for agricultural activity has become an increasingly main topic in the natural resource debate that contrasts the economic aspects of land development to the people dependent on it and with the ecological need to conserve. This project is a one of the initiative to investigate the land cover and its respective slope of the study site and to recommend technologies applicable to the overall land cover study projects in the dry high lands of Ethiopia. The study combines field verification  and computer processing using state-of-the-art remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. The study specifically applies and eexplore the potential of Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) bands of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer ASTER images to discriminate land use categories where the land is fragile with mixed uses villages, patches of forest, patches of grazing land, crop land, wasteland, etc. the study will also explore the potential of ASTER images to provide stereo images for DEM generation of the scene that can be used to generate the Slope. The DEM generation task will investigate developing a rational polynomial function model. At last integration of the land cover and the DEM together with other GIS data can be used as input data to classify the suitability of land for specific land use. 2. The Problem Statement and Justification for the Research More than 63% of all smallholders in Ethiopia have less than 1 hectare of land. Population is growing rapidly and, although in the northern parts of the country the average rural population density is only 33 persons per square km, the population density per unit of arable land is much higher (138 persons per square km). Land fragmentation is common and the more fragmented holdings are, the more time it takes to manage them, with potential consequences for productivity. The national average is 3.2 parcels per smallholder, though districts averages vary from a little over 1 to more than 5. The broadest areas of high fragmentation are in eastern Amhara and Tigray, although there are also districts with high average fragmentation in Gambella, parts of SNNP, and the eastern highlands. (Ethiopian Agricultural Sample Enumeration, 2001/02. Central Statistical Authority.). As a result of fragmentation, farm sizes are very small and the use of fallow is rapidly disappearing, causing problems of declining soil fertility and erosion. Population growth increases the demand for land and contributes to farming on steep and fragile soils, also leading to erosion problems. It increases demand for biomass as a source of fuel, leading to deforestation and increased burning of dung and crop residues, thus increasing the problems of erosion and nutrient depletion. Population growth increases demand for livestock products and therefore leads to increased livestock numbers, causing overgrazing and consumption of crop residues by animals. In such situation Land degradation is a great threat for the future and it requires great effort and resources to improve. The major causes of land degradation in Ethiopia are the rapid population increase, severe soil loss, deforestation, low vegetative cover and unbalanced crop and livestock production. Inappropriate land-use systems and land-tenure policies enhance desertification and loss of biodiversity. The balance between crop, livestock, and forest production is disturbed, and the farmer is forced to put more land into crop production. The government has envisaged long- and short-term strategies to reduce the pressure on land and land fragmentation. Among the short term strategies are providing technical and vocational training to the landless youth to enable them to find off-farm employment and encouraging emigration to urban centers and to other parts of the region for resettlement. These strategies recommended allocation and reallocation of land to be based on the land use classification to be done in detail study. Understanding the current status of land use is very important and this project will come up with important elements of current land use study using remote sensing technologies to provide reliable information that help to prepare a complete land use plan. Justification Land Cover/ Slope Study To approach the growing problems of natural resource management, spatially explicit information about physical, biotic, and human factors must be available in a variety of geographic and temporal scales (USFWS 1976). Local planners and managers require detailed knowledge of the region for which they have responsibility as well as information on the regional, state, and national levels. Land cover data are essential at several scales. Current land cover data are vital to many applications including: making basic habitat assessments, delineating specific vegetative communities, calculating soil loss, and evaluating water quantity/quality within and between watersheds. The list of categories to be mapped is determined through the objectives of the mapping effort. This thesis describes such a mapping effort, one of presenting a basic land cover/Slope map, along with methods useful for land use planning applications. The conventional methods in producing DEMs need large campaigns that result in land surveying teams using analogue or analytical techniques. In the last decades satellite stereo image based topographical map production is turned into operational state from its experimental state. Recently many local scale landscape or topographical monitoring requirements are maintained by high resolution satellite images (Kanab 2002, Zomer et al. 2002, Baily et al. 2003, Su ¨zen and Doyuran 2004a, b, Liu et al. 2004). Advantages of ASTER for land evaluation The ASTER sensor is carried on board the Terra satellite that was launched in December 1999. The sensor has 14 spectral bands; three for Very Near Infra Red (VNIR) at 15 meters resolution, six for Short Wave Infra Red at 30 meters resolution, five for Thermal Infra Red at ninety meters resolution. Graphic 1 (below) shows the band coverage of the ASTER sensor. Thus with such resolution and number of bands it is possible to discriminate small fragile lands typical of Ethiopian highlands. In addition ASTER imagery has an extra channel of image data that is created by the sensor capturing a backwards looking image for the third VNIR band. So for image band three there exists one (nadir) image channel and also a backwards looking (off nadir) image channel. This creates an along-track stereo effect that provides DEM generation capability to be used for slope study. Scope This thesis presents a small watershed land cover/Slope map representing for the northern region of the country. It will provide information just beyond the local watershed by demonstrating feasibility of using selected satellite imagery for regional planning as well. It is known that Land suitability analysis is the process of matching demand, crop requirement, and supply, the quality of the land. Where it is necessary to specify the type of specific land use (e.g for forest plantation, maize, rangeland, etc.) so as to match with crop requirement, basic land characteristics, such as depth of soil, climate, amount of pH, level of soil nutrient, depth to ground water, etc.. Thus the scope of this thesis is limited to generating parameters necessary for the land suitability analysis. Project Objectives General objective To demonstrate the feasibility of Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery to provide base line data for land use planning for sustainable land management Specific objectives Investigating discriminating power of ASTER Imagery in studying land cover in highly fragmented high lands of northern Ethiopia. To develop rational polynomial function model to generate a DEM that will be further processed to develop slope information. 4. Description of Project Activities and Methodology Selecting Study Area The landscape of Ethiopia is extremely diverse. In order to map land cover on a regional scale, it is necessary to understand the structure and dynamics of land cover on a local scale. To this end, the study area will be located to approximately represent throughout the northern part of the region. Thus the site will include major physiographic regions, i.e., predominantly mountains, valleys, and plains. On top of that the study site will be chosen on the following criteria: ease of access to allow comparison of actual land cover to images in hand, availability of current digital cover maps, and representation of regional land cover. Classification Scheme The first step in land cover mapping is to determine a classification system, i.e., to list the land categories to be mapped. Several items will be considered in this process: The objectives The characteristics of the data And the accuracy requirements. As in most well planned mapping efforts, the objectives determine the classes and the procedures used. Since the objective of this study is to identify fragmented land use types rather than classifying different vegetation types, emphasis will be placed on land impacted by human activities. The data available also determined the level of detail. ASTER imagery is assumed to be the best data currently available. The relatively high spatial resolution and the number of spectral bands of this imagery offers the best opportunities for discriminating a variety of cover types among any available satellite data such as Landsat. Imagery ASTER imagery with 15m spatial resolution, which is taken in the dry season of 2003, is the basic dataset from which land cover and Slope will be mapped. The data to be used for land cover study will be the VNIR bands (Band 1: 0.52-0.60 Lm; Band 2: 0.63-0.69Lm and Band 3N: 0.76-0.86Lm) of and 3N and 3B bands for the Slope study. A DEM created from ASTER level 1A (L1A) imagery can be expected to have a vertical accuracy of approximately 25 meters. Although in areas with less vegetation or man made features, this can rise to approximately 11 meters. It is therefore useful for small to medium scale mapping applications, 1:50,000 to 1:100,000. Only the near-infrared (NIR) channel of ASTER image has stereoscopic view capability as another NIR sensor is located as back view on board Terra satellite. Therefore, one NIR sensor collects image in nadir direction while another NIR sensor gets image in back-looking direction. Using two different looking directions, stereo imaging and DEM generation can be attained (Welch et al. 1998, Toutin 2002, Hirano et al. 2003). Training Data for image classification Since this study applies supervised classification, training data are needed at the start of classification. To this effect training data will be acquired from a variety of sources such as available maps, aerial photography of the same year and expert knowledge and review. Image Classification One scene for the land cover study and another nadir scene for the Slope study will be used for classification. To georeference the image, Ground Control Points (GCPs) will be collected from easily identifiable points using Geographic Positioning System (GPS). Image classification will be done either using pixel based supervised image classification or with object-oriented image classification depending on the accuracy to be achieved. ILWIS 3.3 software format will be the major image processing tools that will be used. Ground Truth and Classification Accuracy Assessment Before a map should be used, it is necessary to know its accuracy (Congalton1996). Accuracy assessment will be made using ground truth points to be collected from the major land use/cover types using GPS. It is recommended to have a ground truth at the same time of data acquisition, or at least within the time that the environmental condition does not change. A general rule of thumb is 75 to 100 reference points per category for a large image (Congalton 1996). However; for such a small scale study quite less number of reference points will be feasible. Statistics The Confusion Matrix In order to determine the errors in the classification, the following model called confusion matrix: (IDRISI module CONFUSE.) will be applied where: Matrix columns = ground data (assumed ‘correct) Matrix rows = map data (classified by the automatic procedure) Cells of the matrix = count of the number of observations for each (ground, map) combination Diagonal elements = agreement between ground and map; ideal is a matrix with all zero off-diagonals Errors of omission (map producers accuracy) = incorrect in column / total in column. Measures how well the map maker was able to represent the ground features. Errors of commission (map users accuracy) = incorrect in row / total in row. Measures how likely the map user is to encounter correct information while using the map. Overall map accuracy = total on diagonal / grand total Statistical test of the classification accuracy for the whole map or individual cells is possible using the kappa index of agreement www.sc.chula.ac.th/courseware/2309507/lec_content.htm). Users and producers accuracy measure the correctness of each category with respect to errors of commission and omission. Accuracy of each class cannot be completely stated in one statistic; both accuracies are needed for a valid assessment. Users accuracy is obtained by dividing the number correctly classified by the total number of pixels, within the classified image, of that class assessed. A low users accuracy represents a high error of commission. Producers accuracy is calculated by dividing the number of pixels correctly classified by the total number of reference points within that class (bottom row of error matrix). A low Producers accuracy represents a high error of omission. The Kappa statistic describes the degree of superiority (expressed as a proportion), that the classification results have as compared to a random classification. DEM Generation Developments in computers, broadening of visualization applications and the availability of geospatial data, made the use of digital elevation models (DEM) an indispensable quantitative environmental variable in most of the research topics. The landscape change and process-based studies in digital Earth sciences require the excessive use of DEM (Ka ¨a ¨b 2002, Zomer et al. 2002, Baily et al. 2003, Su ¨zen and Doyuran 2004a, b, Liu et al. 2004), for landslide susceptibility/hazard assessment, erosion susceptibility, glacier monitoring, geomorphological mapping, etc., in order to quantitatively represent or to analyse the morphology or the landscape. Within this study, the major steps that will be performed are (1) pre-processing and (2) The first step in pre-processing is the orthorectification of raw L1A images. The whole scene ASTER L1A image will be orthorectified using available 1: 50,000 scaled topographic maps. DEM generation from stereoscopic imagery is dependent on establishing the mathematical model relating the scene coordinates of conjugate points to the ground coordinates of the corresponding object point. Either rigorous or approximate models can be used to establish such a relationship. Rigorous modeling necessitates a full understanding of the imaging geometry associated with the involved sensor. Moreover, it involves the external characteristics (as represented by the Exterior Orientation Parameters EOP) and the internal characteristics (as represented by the Interior Orientation Parameters IOP) of the imaging sensor. Such characteristics are derived with the help of control information, which might take the form of a calibration test field, ground control points, and/or onboard navigation units (e.g., GPS/INS). However, the derivation of these parameters might not be always possible due to: the lack of sufficient control; weak imaging geometry (especially for satellite imaging systems with narrow angular field of view); and/or intentional concealment by the data provider (e.g., Space Imaging does not release the IOP and the EOP for their commercially available imagery). Therefore, there has been an increasing interest to investigate approximate models, which do not explicitly involve the internal and external characteristics of the imaging system. (A. Habib, E. M. Kim, M. Morgan, I. Couloigne, 2005). There has been an increasing interest within the photogrammetric community to adopt approximate models since they require neither a comprehensive understanding of the imaging geometry nor the internal and external characteristics of the imaging sensor. Approximate models include Direct Linear Transformation (DLT), self-calibrating DLT (SDLT), Rational Function Model (RFM), and parallel projection (Vozikis et al., 2003; Fraser, 2000; OGC, 1999; Ono et al., 1999; Wang, 1999; Gupta et al., 1997; El-Manadili and Novak, 1996). This thesis will apply RPF; it is based on the ratios of polynomials with different degree which can vary from 1 to 3. The coefficients are estimated using a large number of Ground Control Points (GCPs). In general, the procedure for DEM generation from stereoscopic views can be summarized as follows (Shin et al., 2003): †¢ Feature selection in one of the scenes of a stereo-pair: Selected features should correspond to an interesting phenomenon in the scene and/or the object space. †¢ Identification of the conjugate feature in the other scene: This problem is known as the matching/correspondence problem within the photogrammetric and computer vision communities. †¢ Intersection procedure: Matched points in the stereo-scenes undergo an intersection procedure to produce the ground coordinates of corresponding object points. The intersection process involves the mathematical model relating the scene and ground coordinates. †¢ Point densification: High density elevation data is generated within the area under consideration through an interpolation in-between the derived points in the previous step. The image orientation with rational polynomial functions involves general transformation to describe the relationship between image and ground coordinates. They provide a generic representation of the camera object-image geometry. The RPF provided with the high resolution satellite images connect image space and object space by: Row or column = rpf (ÃŽ », Ï•, h) Where row/column is the image coordinates and ÃŽ », Ï•, and h are longitude, latitude and ellipsoidal height in geographic coordinates of WGS84 datum (Grodecki et al., 2004). Direct solutions use rational function coefficients and sensor parameters information without any control points and refinement the original coefficients. Indirect solutions use ground control points for computing coefficients without using sensor parameters (Tao, Hu 2001). Our solution is based on ground control points without any initial values of coefficients. First approximate values of parameters extract and then precise values compute with using ground control points. Rational Function Model with 20 parameters (Valadan, Sadeghiam 2002) is used in this paper as follow: Where : are the normalized row and column of pixel in image. : are the normalized coordinates of the image point in the Conventional Terrestrial (CT) coordinate system. : Rational Function Coefficients (RFCs). Estimating the RFM coefficients The method by which the RFM coefficients are recovered depends on the availability of a physical sensor model. In cases where a physical model is provided a terrain independent scheme can be applied. This scheme is based on the generation of a 3D grid in object space, using the physical sensor model. The 3D grid should contain several layers of points and its characteristics are determined by the coverage of the image and the terrain relief differences. Then, a Least Squares solution of the RFM coefficients can be derived. Finally, an estimation of the quality of the derived RFM coefficients should be carried out based on an evaluation of the residuals in a higher density 3D grid. When a physical model is not available, a terrain dependent scheme is used. As in this scheme it is not possible to generate a 3D grid, the solution is highly sensitive to the terrain relief, as well as to the distribution, number, and quality of the GCPs used. Generation The generation process involves four steps: primitive extraction, primitive matching, space intersection, and interpolation. Primitive extraction: At this stage, a decision has to be made regarding the primitives to be matched in the normalized scenes. Possible matching primitives include distinct points, linear features, and/or homogeneous regions. The choice of the matching primitives is crucial for ensuring the utmost reliability of the outcome from the DEM generation process. In this research, point features are chosen. Fà ¶rstner interest operator (Fà ¶rstner, 1986) will be used to extract distinct points from the imagery. The operator identifies points with unique grey value distribution at their vicinity (e.g., corner points).The next section discusses the matching procedure of these points. Primitive Matching: The matching criteria deal with establishing a quantitative measure that describes the degree of similarity between a template in the left scene and a matching window, of the same size, within the search space in the right scene. Either correlation coefficient or least squares matching could be used to derive such a similarity measure Space Intersection: Following the matching process, conjugate points undergo an intersection procedure to derive the ground coordinates of the corresponding object points. The RPF equation will be used for such computation. Interpolation: So far, the ground coordinates of matched interest points, which passed the consistency check, are derived through space intersection. These points are irregularly distributed and are not dense enough to represent the object space. Therefore, they need to be interpolated. In this research, Kriging will be used to interpolate the resulting object space points into regular grid. The Kriging methodology derives an estimate of the elevation at a given point as a weighted average of the heights at neighboring points. 5. Project Milestones and Expected outputs 5.1. Expected output Following are the expected outputs from this research; Based on the success of ASTER imagery in demonstrating land cover classification and slope generation, the result herein may be used as basic data to assist slope management, land use planning, and other land management efforts such as land suitability, and landslide susceptibility mapping when combined with other GIS data. Provides a procedure based on the rational polynomial function model for generating DEM directly from a stereo ASTER images, and other experimental results. In particular, the method can be quickly and easily applied to areas with little map data, and at low cost. Based on the success it can be extended for all the northern high lands of Ethiopia. 5.2. Dissemination plan The immediate users of the research result are policy makers, teaching institutes and other planning and development organization in their programming of land use management. It will also assist the local government in the design and making of policy issues. The small holder farmers are the ultimate users of the research results through well designed land management projects that are effective in ensuring sustainable development of the resources they are dependent on. 6. Work Plan 7. References Fraser, C. S., H. B. Hanley (2003). Bias compensation in rational functions for Ikonos satellite imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(1): 53-57. Ganas, A. E. Lagios, N. Tzannetos (2002). An investigation into the spatial accuracy of the Ikonos2 orthoimagery within an urban environment. Int. Journal of Remote Sensing, 23(17): 3513-3519. Grodecki, J. and G. Dial (2003). Block adjustment of high resolution satellite images described by rational polynomials. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(1): 59-68. Hu, Y., C.V., Tao (2002). Updating solutions of the rational function model using additional control information. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 68(7): 715-724. MARCAL, A.R.S., BORGER, J.S., BOMES, J.A. COSTA, P.J.F. (2005) Land cover update by supervised classification of segmented ASTER images. International Journal of Remote Sensing 26, 1347-1362. www.sc.chula.ac.th/courseware/2309507/lec_content.htm YAN, G., MAS, J.F., MAATHUIS, B.H.P., XIANGMIN, Z., VAN DIJK, P.M. (2006) Comparison of pixel-based and object-oriented image classification approaches—a case study in a coal fire area, Wuda, Inner Mongolia, China. International Journal of Remote Sensing 27, 4039-4055.

Doc Holliday :: essays research papers

Few gunmen in history have been as notorious as the late John"Doc" Holliday. Part of the reason Doc has enjoyed such a famedhistory is because of the overall descent man he was, that is when hewasn’t gambling, drinking, and gunslinging. When Doc died he mighthave had a handkerchief, a pocket knife, a deck of poker cards, a flaskhalf full of whiskey, and a small essay entitled "My Friend DocHolliday" by Wyatt Earp. The most important item Doc would have had on him when he diedwas a handkerchief. Doc most likely had a handkerchief because of thesevere case of tuberculosis he had, which led to his untimely demise. Doc contracted this disease while traveling the west, staying up long hours, drinking, smoking, and gambling most of the time he was awake. This handkerchief would have helped Doc wipe up any blood, and ordead lung tissue he might have coughed up on his last day of life. Doc was not only a very sick man, he was also a very cultured man. Being cultured might have provoked Doc to wear a handkerchief as a fashion accessory, because rumor has it that although Doc was a mans man, he still liked to look as good as possible no matter where he went. This handkerchief in his eyes may have shown people his intelligent, well educated side. This educated side is a side of Doc that few people know about today. Usually when someone hears the name Doc Holliday, they think about fighting, drinking, and gambling, all of these are true of Doc, but these people had barely scratched the surface. As a young man Doc attended Valdosta institute where he became knowledgeable of the Greek, Latin, and French languages. Amazingly Doc’s favorite subject was rhetoric, his teachers claimed that Doc had a way with words unsurpassed by anyone in his class. All of these factors may have contributed to Doc having a handkerchief with him on his final day of life. A second item which might have been found in Doc Hollidays pocket on the day he died is a small pocket knife. Doc might have had a pocket knife first of all because he was a dentist by trade. Being adentist may seem like it has nothing to do with having a pocket knife,but being a dentist by trade helped Doc develop amazing skills with cutlery. Doc was famous mostly for his gunrunnig, but could rarely be found without a pocket knife.

Life vs. Death Penalty

The death penalty has been one of the most debated topics in America for years. It holds the same level of importance in politics as abortion or gun control because it is such a controversial subject. The stance that I currently hold with this debate is closer towards life in prison. Not because I don't fully believe that someone who kills a lot of people or does Just horrible acts should 100% be punished and possibly killed themselves, but because I find more benefits towards keeping someone in Jail for life. For example, the cost to keep someone in Jail is a lot cheaper than it is to kill them.A study in 2011 showed that it cost California more than $4 billion dollars to do executions since 1978. $1. 94 billion went towards the trails, $925 million towards Automatic Appeals and State Habeas Corpus Petitions, $775 million towards Federal Habeas Corpus Appeals, and $1 billion went towards Costs of Incarceration. And we can't forget how much it costs to pay for the security guards who look over these inmates. The total cost to pay these security guards a year comes up to $90,000 PER INMATE a year. It's also been said that the death penalty trails are 20 times more expensive than a trail for imprisonment without parole.If the Governor of California sentenced the inmates that are on death row to life in prison he could save almost $170 million a year! The Executive of the DPIC stated, â€Å"The death penalty in the U. S. is an enormously expensive and wasteful program with no clear benefits. All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. In a time of painful budget utbacks, states are pouring money into a system that results in a declining number of death sentences and executions that are almost exclusively carried out in Just one area of the country.As many states face further deficits, it is an appropriate time to consider whether maintaining the costly death pena lty system is being smart on crime. † Another reason that life in Jail is a better punishment is because it is an actual effective punishment. There is nothing that shows that the death penalty has been effective in lowering crimes. To be in a prison cell for your entire life with nothing to o but think, sit, sleep, eat, and maybe a recreational activity or two, that is actually worse than death.Being in prison sends some people crazy or can possibly change them completely, which I believe is a way better punishment because they are forced to live with the crime that they committed. Death would be an easy and quick way out. Granted, the death row inmates are doing nothing but sitting, thinking, and waiting. That is what they are doing, waiting. They are waiting for the end, because they, unlike the other inmates, have an end. And honestly how is that fair, we for hatever reason think that if we kill them that will teach them and others like them to never commit the bad acts ag ain, when in fact we are making it simple for them.The DPIC executive said, â€Å"The nation's police chiefs rank the death penalty last in their priorities for effective crime reduction. The officers do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder, and they rate it as one of most inefficient uses ot taxpayer dollars in tgnting crime. Criminologists concur that the death penalty does not effectively reduce the number of murders. † The death sentence is absolute, here is no reversing it so if we execute someone and more evidence comes up that later proves someone innocent, we can't take back the execution. 40 people were wrongly executed since 1973. The most common reason for people wrongfully being charged with the death penalty are false confessions, witness errors, government misconduct, faulty science, bad lawyers or snitch testimonies. Also believe it or not but race does play a factor in whether or not someone can receive the death penalty vs. life in pris on. Just about 68% of inmates that are on death row are non-whites. We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal Justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment. Senator Russ Feingold, 2003. In 1990, a report from the General Accounting Office said that 82% of the cases that were reviewed showed that if the criminal killed a white person they were more likely to be sent to death row than if they killed another minority. There are currently 1,822 minority inmates on death row and there has been approximately 394 minorities executed since 1976, comparing his to the 1,475 white death row inmates and the 643 that have been executed.Something interesting is the death rate by homicide in California varies sole by race. African Americans are six times more likely to be murdered than whites in California. While 27. 6% of murder victims are white, 80% of executions in California have been for those convict ed of killing whites. Lastly, the death penalty is Just morally wrong. How do we as a country Justify that someone is being punished for murder or something of that sort and to correct/ punish this behavior we execute them. That is o backwards.America is a country that frowns upon other countries who don't value life but we don't really know how to back up that thinking because we are a country who grew up knowing to fix problems with violence. After George W. Bush stated in the 2000 presidential elections, â€Å"l don't think you should support the death penalty to seek revenge. I don't think that's right. I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves other people's lives† Family guy retaliated with, â€Å"l support the death penalty to teach people killing is wrong† Brian on Family Guy.When you think bout it, how does killing the inmate keep us any safer than Just keeping them in Jail forever? At the end of the day no one is being harmed, and ev eryone who is outside of prison is safe. The families of the victims can have peace of mind that they know the person will rot in prison and everyone else no longer has to even wonder if that person will come for them next. It's a win win situation. Until someone comes up with a plan that is more cost effective, humane, and still effectively punishes people for crimes the same or better than life in prison does, that seems to be the best way to handle criminals.

Free Essays on at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society

Fat People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society With nearly twenty percent of the U.S. population falling into the category of obesity, is this country being faced with a widely spread epidemic? Or are those individuals just another facet of American society? Some see overeating as a disease that has plagued our society with no hope of being cured any time soon, while others see it as another aspect of American culture. Authors Greg Crister, Mary Ray Worley, and Hillel Schwartz touch upon these topics in their works, â€Å"Too Much of a Good Thing,† â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,† and â€Å"Fat and Happy?† respectively. Due to the recent wave of obese individuals, much of society looks down upon those who overeat. However, the general public should stop worrying about body image and learn to be happy with what they are given, particularly because such worrying can be physically and emotionally dangerous. The current mentality of the average American is that those who are overweight are a kind of second class to those who are of ideal weight. But what is ideal weight? Ideal weight is what is portrayed in magazines and on television as being beautiful and what everyone else should look like. The slim and sexy are highly glorified in the media making those who are not exactly beauty queens feel unattractive. In addition those who are not of ideal weight are looked down upon and treated as different people, solely based on their eating habits. Author Greg Crister argues these issues, and suggests that we as a society should stigmatize overeating, while being careful to stigmatize the act of overeating, as opposed to the person. His focus is mostly directed towards obesity and its impact on children; that being the most pivotal issue of our time. Moreover, if one is going to stigmatize overeating, than one needs to begin at the source where the eating begins: with children. Eating habits are taught when a child... Free Essays on at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society Free Essays on at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society Fat People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society With nearly twenty percent of the U.S. population falling into the category of obesity, is this country being faced with a widely spread epidemic? Or are those individuals just another facet of American society? Some see overeating as a disease that has plagued our society with no hope of being cured any time soon, while others see it as another aspect of American culture. Authors Greg Crister, Mary Ray Worley, and Hillel Schwartz touch upon these topics in their works, â€Å"Too Much of a Good Thing,† â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,† and â€Å"Fat and Happy?† respectively. Due to the recent wave of obese individuals, much of society looks down upon those who overeat. However, the general public should stop worrying about body image and learn to be happy with what they are given, particularly because such worrying can be physically and emotionally dangerous. The current mentality of the average American is that those who are overweight are a kind of second class to those who are of ideal weight. But what is ideal weight? Ideal weight is what is portrayed in magazines and on television as being beautiful and what everyone else should look like. The slim and sexy are highly glorified in the media making those who are not exactly beauty queens feel unattractive. In addition those who are not of ideal weight are looked down upon and treated as different people, solely based on their eating habits. Author Greg Crister argues these issues, and suggests that we as a society should stigmatize overeating, while being careful to stigmatize the act of overeating, as opposed to the person. His focus is mostly directed towards obesity and its impact on children; that being the most pivotal issue of our time. Moreover, if one is going to stigmatize overeating, than one needs to begin at the source where the eating begins: with children. Eating habits are taught when a child...

Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Essays

Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Essays Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Paper Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Paper Essay Topic: Literature Seamus Heaney Poems In this essay I will be analysing two poems on the theme of death, Out, Out by Robert Frost, a poet from rural America and Mid-Term break by Seamus Heaney an Irish poet. I will be looking at the effects created by the poets. I will explore how their respective cultures affect their poems. I will first examine Robert Frosts Out, Out-. Robert frost lived from 1874 to 1963 and is regarded as of Americas best poets. He won the Pulitzer Prize four times for his contribution to literature. Robert Frost grew up on a farm; this obviously influenced the setting of this poem. The poems title is Out, Out- and is an extract from Macbeths last soliloquy, Out, out brief candle Lifes but a walking shadow. This indicates that the poem will be about death as Macbeth knows that death is inevitable. It suggests that death will take place in this poem. The hyphen in the title suggests that it is from a larger quote and when we discover its meaning, it creates a fatalistic atmosphere in the poem. The theme of the poem is death. Frost also employs the theme of time but commentates without love or emotion when he is narrating, so this is conspicuous by its absence. The poem is in one long stanza. This increases the feeling that it is in prose. This also moves the story along faster. There is no rhyme scheme which is also like prose. The rhythm differs in each section of the poem. The poem is written objectively and even though it seems as if Frost is watching the story unfold, he shows a lack of concern for the victim. In the first line of the poem Frost personifies and makes the buzz saw animalistic. This quote proves that, The buzz saw snarled .. This creates a sinister atmosphere and instantly makes the saw seem evil. Frost then attempts to distract the reader from the evil saw by describing the saw dust, using sibilance, Sweet scented stuff. This changes the mood of the poem for the next four lines. It goes onto describe the dramatic Vermont scenery. This quote shows that the boy is not concentrating on the task, Lifted eyes could count, Five mountain ranges one behind the other. This shows that he is not concentrating. The description makes the atmosphere very relaxed and the tension from the first lines is lost. The tension is then restored though in the seventh line as Frost uses repletion to make the saw scarier. Then Frost describes the mundane atmosphere of the day, this creates the feeling that something bad will happen. Then Frost subtly suggests that the boy will die, The day was all but done. I think that day is a metaphor for life and that it indicates that the boy will die. He states it like it is inevitable and unavoidable. Frost obviously foresees the accident as he says that they should have finished earlier, then the accident would have been avoided. Frost then personifies the saw once again as he describes the actual accident. He states that the saw leaps as the boy is surprised by his sisters cry. Frost describes the accident as a meeting between the boys hand and the buzz saw. This is a really impersonal thing to write. There is no real gory description of the accident. This leaves the image to the readers imagination it is horribly effective. Frost then states that the boy, Must have given his hand. This indicates that the boy knew that he knew that he was going to chop his hand off, strange as this may seem. The Poet then describes the boys reaction to the accident, Frost describes the boys initial as a Rueful laugh this shows that the boy has some idea of what trouble he is in and that he is nervous. He instinctively holds his arm up clenching his hand in place. Frost then describes the folly of child doing a mans work. This changes the poem to a mood of pathos. He then describes the boys death in the last ten lines. Frost never puts in any emotional attachment to the boy. The boy then sees that his injury is very serious. He asks someone to tell the doctor not to cut his hand off. He refers to the person as sister. This person can be interpreted as his sister or a nurse; I like to think that it is nurse as it explains her distinct detachment from the boy. Frost then says that his hand was already detached and there was nothing that the doctor could have done. The doctors then put the boy in, The dark of ether which means a crude form of anaesthetic, ether is also linked strongly with death, which might suggest that the doctor put him to sleep. Frost portrays the boys innocence by describing, Puffed out lips with his breath. Dark also represents death as contrast to day. Frost utterly understates the death forcing you to imagine it. The doctors are shocked at the boys failing pulse and his death. The most shocking line in the poem is the last, Since they were not dead, they turned to their affairs. This illustrates the detachment between people and suggests that death often takes place. This poem confuses and makes me wonder more about the characters. It does make me read in between the lines and it uses metaphors when describing death and life to very good use. This poem is quite obscure. I now move onto Mid-Term Break. The poet Seamus Heaney wrote this autobiographical poem in the twentieth century. Heaney describes his wait to go home at the start of the poem. We dont know what he is waiting for but we have an indication of death when Heaney says that he was Counting bells knelling Funeral bells knell so that indicates death has taken place. You get the idea that has died when his neighbours come and pick him up from school. This shows that his parents cant face him. This strongly indicates that something bad has happened. Another sign of this is when he sees his, Father crying, in the porch this must be a sad thing to greet you as you enter your house. This empathised again as he states that his father, Had always taken funerals in his stride the mention of a funeral certifies the death. Heaney then uses very effective contrast by describing his baby brothers reaction. The first four stanzas are written as if in a daze, he is aware of what is going on around of him but doesnt describe his feelings deeply. He is obviously shocked. He then describes the embarrassment as he is greeted solemnly by old men. It is if they treat him as one of them now that he has suffered a tragedy. Heaney uses enjambment to link together verses to great effect. The old men arent blunt about the death saying that they are, Sorry for my trouble. This builds tension and makes you wonder who has died. In the fourth stanza you learn that Seamus has been away at boarding school. The family are obviously very close to each other. The mother, Coughs out angry tearless sighs this suggests that she has been crying for some time and that the death was violent. In the middle of the fifth stanza Seamus comes out of his daze and describes the arrival of the corpse at his house. Heaney is still building tension in the poem as he still does not name the body. His parents obviously prevent going into the room where the corpse is. His parents are obviously making it as nice possible for him. Heaney finally names the corpse as his brother. This makes more sympathetic for him. It is the first time he has seen his brother in six weeks. This is also very sad. The only way that he describes is that he is paler this shows that he is still a child. The only wound that Seamus can see is, A poppy bruise. This is a reference to the Second World War and the poppy is often associated with death. Heaney finds it difficult to accept that his brother is dead and says it is similar the way his brother looks dead with sleeping. On the last line of the stanza it reveals that his brother was run over with a reference to a bumper. The last stanza is one line long for effect. It reads, a four foot box, a foot for every year. This is shocking as you dont know how old the brother is until this point. This poem makes me very sad and the enjambment is used to great effect. This is a timeless poem as the sadness of death is felt by people every day and you can relate to it. I will now compare and contrast the poems. Both poems are on the theme of death. The layouts are a lot different as in Out, Out is written in one stanza to increase the speed of reading and to show the mood, whereas Mid Term break is eight stanzas long to show the differing emotions of Seamus Heaney. The titles also differ in their help in predicting the theme of the poem. Out, Out- is an obvious reference to death whereas Mid Term break is more obscure. Out, out- is written in first person narrative like Mid Term Break but Mid Term Break is emotional. So it is more subjective. The use of the senses is used in both. In Out, Out- the use of sight is used when he describes the scenery as in Mid-Term break as Heaney describes his dead brother. They use sound in both as Frost describes the saw and in Mid-Term Break when Heaney describes his naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve baby sibling. The sense of smell is used in Out, Out- as Frost describes the saw dust as Sweet scented stuff. The writing techniques are different as personification is used in Out, Out-. The techniques are similar as enjambment is used in both poems and alliteration are used as Frost describes Sweet scented and in Heaneys poem as he describes his brothers coffin as a Four Foot box I conclude that I preferred Mid Term Break as it is a timeless poem with a tear jerking mood. It is easy to relate to and you really feel for Seamus Heaney.

Can it be legalize of the sale of human organs Essay

Can it be legalize of the sale of human organs - Essay Example Thus, it is unnecessary for the sale of human organs to be legalized because it will lead to the loss of many lives. Organ donors, as well as families to the deceased donor, believe that they are obliged to benefit from the organs. However, the governments, brokers as well as hospitals are the ones that benefit from the organ donated by a deceased or a living donor. Thus, legalization of the selling of human organs will only benefit the rich few in the society. Additionally, it is evident that some people are involved in the illegal sale of human organs (This House Would Legalize, 2011). For instance, the Chinese hospitals involve themselves in the sale of the organs of the executed prisoners. From this assertion, it is evident that politics will influence the sale of the organs and, as a result, many people will be convicted and executed in order to meet the demands of the few in the society. Additionally, it is evident that many debtors will be abused by their lenders. It is possib le for the organ lenders to be taking part in the selling of the organs belonging to their debtors in order to quench their demands. Thus, it is crucial to the sale of human organs not to be

Cold and Green in Gawain and the Green Knight. How does the season and Essay

Cold and Green in Gawain and the Green Knight. How does the season and the color green convey some of the themes in Gawain and the Green Knight - Essay Example This goes well on the first two days, but on the third, the Lady hands him a girdle which will prevent Gawain from being harmed during the return blow. Gawain is tempted into keeping the girdle, when he should have handed it over, and when the Green Knight comes to give the blows, makes two feints with the axe, and then strikes Gawain with the blunt end of the axe. The Green Knight reveals himself as the Lord of the Castle, and explains that the two feints stood for the two days when Gawain kept his promise, and the small cut was for the third day, when Gawain was tempted into keeping the girdle. The poem itself contains a number of symbolic sequences, the most commonly noted being the number three (three nights at the castle, three kisses, and three swings with the axe). The beheading game itself is part of an older tradition which celebrates the symbolic killing of the Holly King by the Oak King, and the Holly King's return of the favour with the next season. Indeed, although this is an outwardly Christian allegory, there are plenty of references to pagan and nature religions as well. Many commentators have associated the Green Knight with one element of nature worship, the Green Man. Traditionally, this figure is a 'wild man' deity, closely tied in to nature and the changing seasons. The Green Man represents all that is wild and awesome in nature. The Green Knight clearly symbolises this element when he gatecrashes the King's Christmas party to lay down his challenge: The butterflies and birds embroidered thereon In green of the gayest, with many a gold thread For much did they marvel at what it might mean That a horseman and a horse should have such a hue Grow green as the grass, and greener, it seemed Than green fused on gold more glorious by far. (Abrams, page 237-239) However, as well as nature, ancient texts associated green with death and magic, two other unpredictable forces which the medieval audience would be familiar with. The Green Knight's association with Morgan Le Fay emphasises his connection with magic, as does his appearances during the Christmas period: During the twelve days of Yule the forces of death and chaos Were unleashed upon the earth.We see himas the force Of both, life and death which intrudes into the human world. (Rowan 1995) In this interpretation, the beheading contest is a test of Gawain's courage and mettle, a knightly adventure which ends with Gawain's symbolic death and rebirth - a ritual with meanings in European societies far into the Christian period. Green is mentioned more than fifty times in the poem, and is the most frequent colour used by the poet. The Green of the Green Knight would bring to mind all of these issues to medieval listeners; and his role as a tester of Gawain in order to initiate him into the mysteries of life and death. Gawain returns to Arthur's court wearing a green sash, emphasising that he has passed the test and become a member of the Green Knight's court. In this interpretation, the meaning of Gawain's journey through the winter wastelands is clearly associated with the test. If the Green Knight is the lord of Life and Death, then the wasteland is the symbol of Gawain's moving from the reality of