What Does The American Flag Mean To Me Essays - Vexillology

What Does the American Flag Mean to Me? Freedom. Justice. History. The flag of the United States has a different meaning to it for every person. Whether it's just standing up in class everyday at school and saying the Pledge of Allegiance or if we really have respect for our countries flag. When you say the Pledge of Allegiance, do you really mean what you say? Do you even think about the words that are coming out of your mouth? While I was thinking about what to write for this essay, these questions got me thinking. What does the flag really mean? What was the purpose of it being made? I've always wondered why they chose the colors red, white, and blue to use in the flag and why only thirteen red and white stripes? I learned that the stripes represent the original thirteen colonies. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. There was an issue when two new states, Kentucky and Vermont, were added to the Union. They were debating whether to add two more stars and stripes to the flag or not. The result was that they did end up added the two new states onto the flag. Later, they noticed that for every new state that was made, they would have to add a new star and a stripe. Someone finally suggested that we change the stripes back to thirteen to represent the first thirteen states that the United States admitted in our country. They would only add a star or each new state admitted. That was successfully followed through. We now have thirteen stripes and fifty stars on the flag. I think that the history of the flag and what the symbols are really important to knowing what the flag represents. Many people may disagree with me and think that the history isn't the most important fact to know about the flag. Maybe you may think that it is all about who made the flag, if what the Pledge of Allegiance means, or what the flag was made for in the first place. Maybe you even think about what the Star- Spangled Banner really talks about when you sing it. These are all important things to think and know about. The flag is really valuable and should be respected by every citizen.

Pronouncing the Spanish K and Q in Spanish

Pronouncing the Spanish K and Q in Spanish The Spanish k is pronounced basically the same as it usually is in English, except perhaps a bit softer, often something like the c in scatter. The q is pronounced the same. As in English, the Spanish q is always followed by a u except in a very few words of foreign origin. Spanish is even more particular in the sequences in which the q is used: the qu is always followed by by an e or an i, and the u is silent. Thus que is pronounced something like keh would be in English and quien is pronounced something like kyen. The sound is also the same as the c sound except when the c precedes an e or i. In order to maintain the correct pronunciation, the Spanish cognates of English words with qua or quo are often spelled with a c in Spanish instead. Thus the Spanish word for quartz is cuarzo, and the word for quota is cuota. The k is rare in Spanish, used almost exclusively for words of foreign origin such as kilo and kayak. In the audio lesson on pronouncing the k and q  sounds  you will hear the phrase quà © tal and the number quince spoken by native speakers.

Brannigan Foods

Suggested Strategy 1) Raise Investments in Dry Soups / Healthier Soups / Fast Meals 2) Increase advertising investment in Fast Simple Soup meals and Heart Healthy Soup line. ïÆ'   Fast Simple Soup meals addresses the market demand created by professionals and working mothers looking for quick, healthy meal. Sales of this line are growing @ 12%. Interesting to see this is growing without advertising so why spend? ïÆ'   Heart Healthy Soup line with low-sodium is well positioned to address the concerns of the over-50 consumers. 3) Provide promotional couponing and sampling of hot new flavors, in particular dry mix Gazpacho and Teriyaki Beef Fast Simple meal. Why these two? ïÆ'   Gazpacho increases sales during warmer months, decreasing seasonality. ïÆ'   Teriyaki beef positions company in fast growing Asian soups category. 4) Continue to promote dry soups, even if they cannibalize Ready-to-Eat (RTE) soups. Bottom Line Srikant wants to increase advertising and promo spending by $18 million. He thinks this should help stop the slide in sales and market share, but this will also reduce next year’s profits. Whats wrong with this proposal? The CEO will not like that profits will be revised downward in 2013. Plus although the trend in the future was toward healthier options, it didn’t necessarily mean this will come to fruition as close to 70% of the US was overweight and interested in changing their eating habits so why chase a trend which may not even be working? Claire Mackey – Director of Finance Planning Suggested Strategy MA, Claire wants to buy a small competitor who offers healthy and more convenient soups as well as flavors that are gaining in popularity (Mexican, Southeast Asian) Bottom Line Claire likes Red Dragon Foods the best; they have $36 million in sales EBITDA $4.2million. Acquisition will probably add around 1.5 to 3.5% to sales within five years. Red Dragon will cannibalize less than 0.3% of total sales. Acquisition would be reasonably cheap in terms of hitting profit. Clark is looking for minimum ROI of 10% after five years of sales. What’s wrong with this proposal? The company acquired Annabelle’s Foods soups division five years ago and that acquisition had high hopes as well, the acquisition has been a nightmare since. It was only supposed to take two years to breakeven but it ended up taking five. Anna Chong Head of R D / Chief Innovation Officer Strategy Best option isn’t to buy another company with products they can easily duplicate Milk the cash cows and invest in rising stars. Increase ad and promo support spending for new products. Helps longer term. Develop new products internally instead of buying a company! Increased spending for the new Ready to Eat (RTE) products from RD including Raise RD budget to $19 million from $14 million to increase pace of new product creation and development. (Examples in case) Bottom Line Invest in the company, don’t buy another brand, focus on what you have and put $ into RD What’s wrong with this proposal? Many new products are bombs, as in the past. Low success rate for new products in the industry. However, Anna had some good ideas as the innovation was taking off from a customer standpoint. New RTE flavors were a good dieas as they can increase price per can to $0.10 which means net earnings will be increase of $12 million after spending 6% of the proposed advertising budget just for these specific new prodcuts. Bob Pugh, VP Sales Marketing Strategy Take a $0.05 cent price per can cut on the core RTE wet soups. These account for 64% of division sales and 71% of total profit. (This will eat into profits) Increase Advertising and Promo budget by $20 million to get back market share for the brand, as it was taken away in recent years due to slowdown in AP spend. Bottom Line What’s wrong with the proposal?

Yellow Womanand Hills Like White Elephants Essay

Yellow Womanand Hills Like White Elephants - Essay Example Leslie Silko, in her short story, â€Å"Yellow Woman†, has tried to explore boundaries between tradition and modernity, and between myth and reality. The narrator is a young, married woman, who enjoys a brief affair with a strange man named Silva in a faraway place near the waters. The myth of the Yellow Woman and the katsina spirit of the mountain is brought into question, as Silva calls her his Yellow Woman, luring her into going with him. When the woman returns to her home in Peublo, she finds herself meeting the reality, but she still waits for Silva to return to her one day and take her with him, like the katsina spirit of the mountain took the Yellow Woman with him. Silko has described how the modern day woman is in search of her sexual and gender identity, and how she uses her imagination to feel in love with a man dominating her, as we read, â€Å"You don’t understand, do you, little Yellow Woman? You will do what I want,† says Silva to her (Silko 370). T he woman is in search of a man who loves her, but comes back to reality much sooner than she realizes that it is all over. Earnest Hemingway, in the short story â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, has also made use of symbolism, like Silko did in her story. Silko symbolized the modern woman with the Yellow Woman, and the stranger named Silva with the katsina spirit. Likewise, Hemingway symbolizes the mountains with elephants. For the heroin of the story, Jig, mountains seemed like white elephants, slow and stable. She wanted to have the child so that her stable married life could start. The man did not want the child, as for him, life would become slow and stagnant just like the mountains. Jig was in search of her new identity as a mother, and the man wanted to reject this new identity by having the child aborted. Hence, we see that the two characters are faced with the dilemma of either choosing or rejecting their new identities as parents. But, Jig admitted to the man’s idea of abortion because

Eng 1010 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Eng 1010 - Essay Example In addition, it has superior display and graphics as compared to other phones in the market. The display options it provides are quite exciting because they provide the feel of using a computer, rather than just a phone. Its 6 Plus 5.5-inch monitor with high-resolution Retina HD display is remarkable, in addition to its protective capabilities. Apart from that, the iPhone has fast internet connectivity, which is convenient for intense web browsing and email applications. Excellent internet, coupled with a Dual-core 1.4 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based) processor, makes multitasking easy. IPhone 6 is undoubtedly a badly efficient and exceedingly powerful phone device whose stylish nature appeals to a great (but wealthy) section of the populace. Despite its advantages, the iPhone presents several imperfections, just like any other hi-tech device. Its main shortcoming is that it is considerably costly as compared to its competitors. Even so, its prestige lies on its expensive nature, so that only a few people can afford it and have boasting rights. In addition, its internal memory is non-expandable, and this means that an iPhone user can only use downloads that are originally available on the gadget. I dislike it because I am limited to downloading music from its music stores, rather than transferring my own music and movies. Its other notable disadvantages include the inability to remove its Li-Po battery for charging, and its lack of water resistance. Considering the iPhone 6 lacks some features that android phones have, it is still not a superior phone globally. In addition, considering there are phones such as Samsung Galaxy S5 that are certified as waterproof, the iPhone 6 is still at a disadvantage. Owing to its impressive features and prestige values, the iPhone is worth its price. As long as one can afford it, then it is worth the price. It is not advisable if an overzealous person has to save money to purchase one, merely to impress

Organization Theory and behavior-power and authority Essay Example for Free

Organization Theory and behavior-power and authority Essay Achievement of organizational objective depends on organization structure which is dynamic. Organization structure defines the flow of power and authority geared toward a particular course of action directed by organization’s objective. For organization structure to help to organization objective it is dependent on the employees. Employees operation are guided by the organization supervisors, whose their role is defined in the organization structures. Supervisor operations are dependent of power and authority which help to ensure things in an organization are done in the right way as well as achieving organization goals and objective. In organization management power and authority are very important as they help the organization to be able to direct organization employee toward organizational goals. Power and authority are dependent on the leadership model in an organization. Organizational managers are the leaders who employees report to hence their performance is dependent on the leadership offered by the manager. Achievement of organizational goal shall only be possible if power and authority are employed effectively. Authority and power helps the management to be able to create a productive culture through social process to guide employees’ capacity towards attaining organization goals and objectives. Power and authority helps the leader â€Å"†¦to create, maintain and improve a culture so that people will achieve objective (purpose) and continue to do so over time†¦Leadership in an organizations is a more specific process of influence since it involves goal that have been specified and can be measured or at least evaluated achieved only through employment of power and authority)† (Macdonald, Burke Stewart (2006) pp 80). To influence employees toward organization goal, management can employ three ways according to Macdonald, Burke Stewart (2006). That is force, manipulation and persuasion. Use of force by the management involves employment of force as well as real application of physical force to compel employees to work. Concept of force requires power to as it call for imposing one person against other employees, often referred to as coercion. Manipulation takes form of social distortion which direct requires the subject to do as they are told without asking questions. Manipulation is different force in that there is no coercion and employees are convinced that they are doing the right thing. Persuasion in an organization attempt to influence the employee to act in a certain way geared towards achieving organizational objectives without force or manipulation. It is dependent on will of the employee and mutual trust. Employment of force manipulation in an organization is dependent on the power and authority bestowed to the various leader or supervisors in the organizational operations. In an organization, authority is provided for by the organizational structure. Organizational structure grants an outline formal distribution of authority in an organization. Authority in an organization is largely provided for by formalization meaning standardized as well as rule and regulations that govern employee operations. Formalization defines the discretion in which an employee can act in his/her duties. â€Å"In an organization with high degrees of formalization, job descriptions and policies provide clear direction. Where formalization is low, employees have a great deal of freedom in deciding how to conduct their work†. In an organization different department exhibit different degree of formalization which may be base on the qualification of the employee to the organization affairs or rank of the employee. Authority is related to power in that it legitimizes supervisors to be able to direct and control subordinates to the intended course of action. Authority helps the supervisor to make decision geared towards organizational objective. Organization has three form of authority namely line authority, staff authority as well as team authority all distributed in the organizational structure. Line authority refers to straight supervisory form superior to subordinate organized such that it flows from top to the bottom of organization structure. Organization structure gives the chain of command which is unbroken line of command defining the decision, making process within an organization. Chain of command defining the authority of different personality in an organization helps employees to know who they are answerable to. This helps to avoid problem of duplication organization activities which comes due to more than one person assigning duties. Line of authority which is the basis of chain of command is linked to line department which are directly connected to production and sales of the organizational products. Examples of line department are marketing and production responsible for performance of the employees and reward. Staff authority as compared to line authority is more pegged to authority to advice base on the expertise and involves advising line managers. Employees help the line departments in coming up with the advices to be used for decision making but they lack authority to make the last decision. Staff supervision through suggestions made by line department decides on what is to be carried in the line department, coordinate as well as provide technical assistance. Team authority is executed by work teams responsible for daily operations in an organization. It comprises of groups of operating employees responsible for coordination of the organization operations. Team based structure as define under team authority in an organization organizes separate functions based on the overall organizational objectives. Authority is dependent to power such that for a supervisor to be able to get things done in accordance to the objectives of the organization power is required. â€Å"Everyone has power in one form or another and it is by exercising this power that organization get thing accomplished. Supervisors who are capable of achieving their objective independently of others are said to possess strength†. To be able to include people in the plan as well as organizational activities, supervisor requires power to get organizational things accomplished. Therefore, power is capability to apply influence in the organizational ahead of authority. This is gotten from the position as established by the organizational structure. In an organization a legitimate power bestowed to various leaders in an organization is established by individual position according to organizational hierarchy. Other forms of power include coercive power, reward power, expert power, referent power as well as information power. Supervisors’ power toward course of action depends on influence in the organization giving authority which may be centralized or decentralized. Centralization means the decision making power is concentrated on top of the management while in decentralization form of decision making authority is in lower level of employees. Relation of authority and power is that authority is the legitimate power of a supervisor to be able to direct employee to a certain course of action in accordance to organization goals. In a nutshell authority is a form of power delegated from the organization main authorities to subordinate.

John F. Kennedy Essay -- essays research papers

John F. Kennedy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Though John F. Kennedy was only president for a short time, he inspired American patriotism and united a nation behind a common goal for peace. Kennedy was an influential man and a great leader. His faith was tested by the obstacles he had to overcome, but President Kennedy always lead his country with dignity and pride.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. Known as â€Å"Jack†, he was the second child born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy. Jack was named after his grandfather, John Francis Fitzgerald. He had an older brother named Joe Jr.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Jack was one year old, his sister Rosemary was born. She was mentally retarded. Joseph and Rose later had six more children, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, and Teddy (Weidman 1). Jack was very sick as a child. At age three, he became seriously ill with Scarlet Fever. He remained in recovery for three months. Jack constantly suffered from allergies, colds or bronchitis. When he was ten, the Kennedys moved to Bronksville, New York to escape religious prejudice. They were Irish Roman Catholics and had faced many hardships because of their religion in Massachusetts. During this time he attended Riverdale Country Day School.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During his childhood years, Jack felt overshadowed by his older brother Joe. They constantly competed with one another. Whether it was sports or school, Jack and Joe always tried to outdo one another. They once had a bicycle race and collided at the finish line. Joe came out Hamner 2 without a scratch while Jack needed twenty-eight stitches.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jack became interested in politics at a young age. He and his family would discuss world events every evening at dinner. Jack learned a lot about politics from his grandfather John Fitzgerald. He was a famous lawyer and politician from Boston. Jack listened to his political speeches and attended political rallies. He also went with his grandfather as he campaigned. Jack read the newspaper everyday and many books dealing with history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Jack turned fourteen, he followed his older brother to Choate School for Boys in Wallingford, Connecticut. There he participated in many sports. Still, his allergies and other sicknes... ...focused on Jacqueline Kennedy. Still, she never faltered and her dignity was majestic. With her children in hand, she kissed the flag that was draped over her husband’s coffin. The next day, the president was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. As the coffin passed by the family, three-year-old John-John raised his right hand and saluted his father. That single image was stamped in the minds of all Americans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the days after the funeral, there were many unanswered questions. A book was written called The Warren Affair that described in detail how Lee Harvey Oswald might have shot the president. The investigations never ceased, as an accurate answer is still yet to be found (Stein 1-29). Hamner 8   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John F. Kennedy was a president that will always be remembered for his dedication and devotion to the United States of America. He believed that the forces that bring people together are much stronger than those that divide them. President Kennedy has gone down in history as being a president who never lost hope in his country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Chic Soap

You are asked to help formulate the IMC approach for the entrepreneur starting Chic Soap. The concept behind Chic Soap is simple; it sets out to incorporate fashionable perfumes such as Obsession, Raffinee and Opium into a high quality white soap base. The product would then be packaged using the logo of the perfume plus a Chic Soap common background. The advantages for the perfume supplier are: a guaranteed outlet for its perfumes at full retail prices; and a low cost trial route for potential customers.The advantages for Chic Soap are: the use of already established perfume concepts to promote the soap; and access to the distribution achieved by the perfumes. You are asked to identify the segment towards which the product is directed, the product benefit that is on offer, the way in which the segment will be serviced; how the distribution channel will be supported, what promotional planning will need to be included and an outline cash flow. The distribution channels available for t he sale of toilet soaps of various qualities are independent chemists, department stores, multiple chemists, supermarkets, and grocers.There were an estimated 200,000 outlets selling soap in the United Kingdom. Most of these sold mass market products which retailed at 0. 25 per 150 gm bar. Premium soaps made up only a small proportion of the market and were available in a limited number of outlets which included independent chemists and department stores. The main competitive products in the premium sector were soaps such as Roger and Gallet, Penhaligon range, Yardley, Morley and three internationally available premium soaps. The prices for the 150gm bar for the 5 main ranges were: 1. 60, 1. 75, 1. 85, 1.95, 1. 45.There was some evidence that the price elasticity of the premium product sector was fairly low. Consumers bought the product primarily on perfume and image rather than any other product attribute. Very high prices were charged for soaps that were part of ranges such as Riv e Gauche; around 5 00 for the 150 gram equivalent. As the companies sold very little soap in these ranges they were not particularly worried about the effects of other products cannibalising brand sales. They were prepared to see Chic Soaps take on the sales of perfumed soap to a wider market.The size of the total toilet soap market was around 190 million at retail. The top quality premium soap market was estimated to be 7 per cent of the total; it was growing slowly as the deodorant market came under pressure because of the environmental problems associated with aerosol sprays; other growth factors included the expansion in showers, and the expansion in the number of single homes. Retail outlets made about 20 per cent gross on premium soaps. They tended to hold only limited stocks, and did not therefore want the product in as large a quantity as mass market products which were available in cartons containing 50 or 100 bars.Many of the independent chemists were serviced through whol esalers. Such wholesalers accounted for about 70 per cent of the market. Wholesalers expected to make around 8 per cent. There were about 100 wholesalers that serviced the independent chemist; of these around 20 national chains accounted for 80 per cent of the total business. The national department stores (around 350) bought product direct. Research suggested that the main consumer of premium soaps was female 35+, socio-economic group A, concentrated in the South East of England and in large cities elsewhere.The average purchase of the 150 gramme soap was once every 3 weeks. An increasing proportion of the soap was bought as gifts, especially at Christmas. In the previous year, around 25 per cent of the total premium soap sector was purchased during the period early November to late December. Most advertising in the sector was in women's magazines. It was estimated that it would cost around 100 to reach every 2000 consumers in the appropriate socio-economic group. The competition a dvertised heavily; average expenditure for the leading companies was around 400,000 per annum.8. A sales representative would cost around 12,000 per annum; a company car would be 3,000 per annum. Such a sales representative could visit either 500 outlets direct or deal with 15 chains of wholesalers. The costs of packaging would be high. High quality packaging with the appropriate perfume design on the label would cost 0. 14 per unit; with a minimum print run of 40,000 units. It was anticipated that gift packs of the five perfumed soaps for the Christmas season would be an additional 0. 45 to produce with a minimum production run of 25,000 units.The company had access to five of the leading perfumes in the country. These accounted for approximately 20 per cent of total fragrance sales – the market has been and will remain highly fragmented. The costs of incorporating the perfume in the soap was 0. 40 per unit based on a minimum annual quantity of 300,000 units; 0. 65 per unit based on an annual quantity of 200,000 units, and 0. 80 on an annual quantity of 100,000 units. The soap base was widely available from a number of alternative suppliers.Costs varied considerably from year to year depending on the commodity market; in the year of the plan the base costs for a 150 gram bar were 0. 08 for the highest quality. Filling, molding and packing machinery could be bought from a variety of sources. A small but complete production line would cost around 25,000; it would be able to produce 1200 units per hour, and would occupy 2000 square feet of factory space. Changing the perfume and the packaging for each new production run would take around 2 hours. The production process would require skilled staff to monitor quality.It was estimated that three individuals would be needed, with an annual base salary of 35,000. 14. Research showed that the typical consumer perceived premium soap as ‘a touch of luxury'; an element of sophistication in an otherwise borin g existence; a low cost way of giving a gift which would be appreciated. The main consumer interested in a changing range of exotic soaps was the working woman aged 25 – 45; over that age purchase patterns tended to become static. The company could use national parcel carriers to distribute the products to the customer. It would cost on average 0.50 per kilo; though deliveries outside the immediate area would be considerably more expensive.The company had initially decided to locate near to the main source of demand in the South East of England. There were a number of sites that had proved suitable for the location of the factory. The costs for the required 4000 square feet were on average 25000 per annum. The new business rate would add 5000 to these costs. Variable production costs per soap bar – in excess of raw materials and labor – were estimated to be 0. 02, consisting of energy and maintenance costs.

Environmental Policy and Sustainability Essay

According to the EPA, â€Å"environmental justice† refers to that people regardless of their caste, creed, religion, race, place of origin, socio-economic status, etc, should be given fair treatment and equality with regard to the development, execution and enforcement of environmental rules and regulations. Based on environment issues, no group or religion should be given preferences or abused. The negative or positive consequences of the environment that may develop out of municipal, commercial or industrial strategies should be borne proportionately by all the groups and people. The federal, state, local and other policies meant to protect the environment should not affect a particular group adversely (Maryland Department of Environment, 2009). In the state of Maryland, the Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities has been organizing a dialogue session with citizens, groups and the local leaders to address any environmental issue. Special importance is given to the needs of the minorities and the low family income groups in the state of Maryland. Four such programs were held in different parts of Maryland in the October-November 2003. Importance is given to sustainable environment development, protection of the communities and programs that would benefit the community and the environment. The EJ Commission has strong relationships with the state and federal governments and discussions held during the meeting would be reflected in the state and federal policies. The EJ has also prepared a list of environmental indicators that could help to improve the environmental status (Maryland Department of Environment, 2004). b. Why are finding solutions to environmental problems so complicated? Frequently, it has been seen that the environmental problems may not be simple ones. If the environmental problem is a simple issue, it would be having complex mechanisms behind itself that involves several processes and structures through strong interrelationships. As the environment problems are complicated themselves, finding a solution to them is also complicated and advanced. One way of sorting out environmental problems and reducing their complexity would be to utilize flow modeling solutions which can consider several horizontal, vertical or parallel processes or structures. Based on the flow diagram and the various issues that may arise, the reality can be visualized and modified appropriately. References Cone, J. D. (1980). Environmental Problems / Behavioral Solutions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Maryland Department of Environment Justice (2009). What is Environmental Justice? Retrieved on June 25, 2009, from Web site: http://www. mde. state. md. us/Programs/MultimediaPrograms/Environmental_Justice/ej_intro/index. asp Maryland Department of Environment Justice (2009). Public Dialogue Executive Summary, Retrieved on June 25, 2009, from Web site: http://www. mde. state. md. us/assets/document/environmental_justice/Public%20Dialogues%20Exec%20Summary. pdf

How extensive was african culture on colonial america essays

How extensive was african culture on colonial america essays From as early as the mid 16th century Africans were being involuntarily taken to colonial America to provide labour as slaves as what came to be known as the slave trade. It is believed that by 1775, the time of the American Revolution that slaves made up 1/5 of the American population, a figure that had risen to 1/3 by 1860. The demographics of the slave trade in the fact that vast numbers of Africans were being taken to America meant that there was definite and almost inevitable influence from African culture present in colonial America by 1860. Naturally African culture lived on in America through Afro-American salves. This culture was evolved and adapted over time as the slave population reproduced itself developing its own culture which held continuity with their ancestral African roots as well as holding continuity with colonial white culture from which emerged a hybrid society. A predominant example of this can be seen in religion, whilst many slaves adopted Christianity, a white religion, the presence of African influence in their religious practice is undeniable such as call and response sermons as well as music and dance being common place. It can also be argued that African culture influenced colonial whites but the extent of this influence is open to debate. However, it is the hypothesis of this essay that African culture was heavily influential in three major areas of colonial life; the church, family and folklore. This influence was predominantly within Afro-Americans but colonial whites were also influenced by African culture to considerably extent but rarely acknowledged this. The colonial society that was born out of this period was symbiotic; a fusion of African culture with the values and principles of the old world gained from European settlers in America. To answer this answer this question in its entirety it is important to understand the slave trade and the ethnic diversi...

Development a brain controlled prosthetic hand Research Paper

Development a brain controlled prosthetic hand - Research Paper Example The recorded brain signals are then used to control a physical or virtual device that carries out a task according to the user's intent. The first step we took when designing the prosthetic hand was to decide on the best control mechanism for finger movement. The goal for our design was to minimize the number of actuators necessary to control the movement of the finger and simplify the equations needed to describe the motion of the finger. The first proposal, which was the tension controlled model, consisted of the three joints of the finger, with a cable attached to a fixed point on each link of the finger which was run back through the finger to an actuator mechanism at the hand or behind the wrist. For this model, each joint would have a compliant mechanism which forced the resting state of the links to be in the bent position. The second approach for this design has the complaint mechanisms such that the resting state for the links is in the straightened positions. A second design proposal included the use of pneumatic systems to drive the bending or unbending of the fingers. In this proposal small tubes could be used to fill with either air or liquid to actuate the finger. The noise would create the same discomfort for the user as non life-like prosthetics. The third proposal for the finger design wa... In this proposal small tubes could be used to fill with either air or liquid to actuate the finger. The noise would create the same discomfort for the user as non life-like prosthetics. The third proposal for the finger design was a pulley system to control each joint independently. Pulley's would be placed at each joint in the finger, and would be independently controlled by its own wire. Therefore, when the actuator is active, the fingers will bend and hold their positions. When the actuator becomes inactive, the compliant mechanism would return the fingers to their straightened positions. In the designs described above, a pulley at each joint in the finger would have a cable wrapped around it just enough for it to actuate the exact number of degrees of rotation required at that joint. It may be possible to use flexinol in place of the motors, but testing would need to be completed to confirm that overheating does not occur and that temperatures of the prosthesis do not rise above the melting point of the prosthetic skin covering. One aspect of this design that we later incorporated into our final design was the knuckle joint. This piece had to be designed so that it could provide space for the pulley to rotate as well as allow the finger to rotate side to side. This piece also had to allow for the actuating cables to pass through it on its path to the motors. The third, and final, approach to the design of the finger uses a four bar mechanism to control the movement of the finger, and compliant mechanisms to move the finger back to its resting state at the straight position. In this design, the four bar linkage is placed between the two upper joints on the finger. From our preliminary research, we had determined the

The Metamorphosis- Gregor's Sarcasm and Irony Essay

The Metamorphosis- Gregor's Sarcasm and Irony - Essay Example He despised his boss, but in spite of that he imagined staying in his job for a long time, in order that he may pay the debts that his parents had incurred towards the boss. In a way he was working for his parents and for his sister, and is that not the mark of a good man, to be self-sacrificial? Yet viewed another way, one can make a case for reading the text from the perspective of how sarcasm and irony can be a means to understand what is happening in the story, given the fantastic nature of the change that happened to Gregor, and given the way Gregor seemed to have reacted to the whole change not so much with a sense of shock and horror but more with a kind of surreal acceptance. The same goes for his family. The rest of the paper examines these lines of thinking as they relate to understanding Gregor from the lens of irony and sarcasm (Kafka). An argument can be made for instance to view Gregor’s thoughts about his job in the light of its sarcastic and ironic overtones. He hates his job, but has to keep it because his parents owe his boss a lot of money. Sure he is the breadwinner, but does not that come with Gregor resenting his work, and secretly resenting the life that he is living? When he says, for instance, that he has maybe five or six years left before he can fully pay his parents’ debts, does not that sound like he is being sarcastic? From experience, if you hate your job, even a day can seem like an eternity. Six years on the other hand, is sheer torture, in comparison to which maybe turning into an insect is more acceptable? Is this why he turned into an insect in the first place, as a kind of wish fulfillment and a way out of his dreary existence? Taking a step back, is not there something ironic and sarcastic in the way Gregor reacted to the fact that he had turned into an insect? One moment, he was shivering at the sight of his body, his legs, the white spots where he itched, and the next