Thursday, October 31, 2019

How Western Civilization is shaped by what historians call 'others', Essay

How Western Civilization is shaped by what historians call 'others', - Essay Example Conquering new regions necessitated the formulation of new ways to hold the vast empires together. Machiavelli expounded upon how the rulers should incorporate the newly acquitted territories comprising of people belonging to distinct regions, usually having high expectations from the new ruler. According to Machiavelli’s views, newly acquired territories and foreign states can be regarded as the ‘other’. Machiavelli states that these states can be divided between principalities and republics and in ‘The Prince’, he elaborates on principalities. According to him, principalities can be divided between hereditary principalities and new principalities, with the former being the ones formerly ruled by the ruler’s ancestors, while the new being the new ones acquired or added to current state by the ruler.1He further states that it is easier to rule hereditary principalities because the society is already accustomed to the rule. However, in case of a new principality, the ruler has to be shrewd so that the people do not revolt against him, when he fails to fulfill all their expectations as a new ruler. Machiavelli proposes that a ruler should suppress such a revolt and then punish the conspirators severely in order to set an example and inhibit future revolts2. Machiavelli regards the upholding of a new principality as more difficult because if a ruler is unable to fully conform to their expectation, then people take up arms against him. It is much easier to rule a new principality, if people share the same language, culture and customs. The prince could assassinate the old ruler’s family and introduce new taxes and if he ensure that society’s prevalent customs and norms are upheld, people will not revolt. In new territories with strong linguistic and cultural differences, a ruler must live there to ensure the local rulers don’t revolt and foster close ties with the subjects. He could also form colonies whi ch would be cheaper than to have a widespread military existence, which may induce a revolt as well. However, it would negatively affect the poor and distant populations, but because they are unable to revolt, they should be crushed. Consequently, most people would ally with the prince and the rest will fear him. To support his argument, he gives the example of Louis X113. In order to maintain his presence in a foreign region, a prince must not only subjugate the people, but remain the strongest one and ensure no neighboring power takes over. He must suppress the strong powers and by default the weaker ones would ally with him and his will remain the most dominant state in the region. Princes must also be wary of new problems that could turn into a serious issue and must undertake preemptive measures.4 In newly acquired territories that were previously free, it is better for a prince to completely destroy, so that no threat of revolt remains, as otherwise traditional ties due to sha red history of freedom will propel them to revolt5. However, in a territory that was previously ruled by a prince, once the old ruler is killed, there is no threat of revolt as people are accustomed to blindly obey the ruler. In addition, a new ruler must strive to depend on his own prowess, rather than passively relying on fortune. Such a ruler is more successful in maintain order and introducing a new set of rules, as he uses force and accomplishes his goals6. According to Machiavelli, a prince chosen by nobles or people must strive to foster

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Braking History Essay Example for Free

Braking History Essay In a little over a hundred years since the automobile took hold of people’s imagination, technologies designed to make them accelerate faster and reach higher speeds have evolved with a fury. The brakes that were used to decelerate vehicles just over a hundred years ago (when cars were first invented) has evolved from plain wooden blocks to discs that are monitored by Anti-lock Brake Systems and Electronic Braking Distribution systems. The earliest braking system that used by vehicles consisted of nothing more than a block of wood and a lever system. The wood brake system worked fine in conjunction with early vehicles that were equipped with steel rimmed wheels. However, when the Michelin brothers started to replace steel rimmed wheels with rubber tires on most vehicles towards late 1890s, the wood block braking system just does not create enough friction with rubber. Since the need for a new method of braking was necessary in order to replace the old wood block braking system, inventors scrambled for new ideas. The French manufacturer Louis Renault took crude concepts of inventors before him and developed method: The drum based braking system. Basically, the system involved a single flexible stainless-steel band, wrapped around a drum on the rear axle. When the driver engaged the brake, the band would apply pressure to the drum and car to come to a stop. However, the drum braking system did have a number of problems. Since the drum brakes were external, the exposer caused a very rapid wear-out of the system and had to be replaced often. The band itself would sometimes unwrap on hills and proved to be very unsafe for the driver and passengers. Even though people came up with ideas to internally place the brakes, the era of mechanically-activated brakes was coming to an end. In 1918, A four-wheel hydraulic-brake system was invented by Malcolm Loughead. This system used fluids to transfer the force on the pressed pedal to the pistons and then to the brake shoes. In other words, it was the enhanced drum based system added with power support. The system quickly became popular due to the fact that it is much easier to operate and more effective than mechanical systems. Thus, it was adapted quickly by most of the automotive world. As the vehicles evolved to be heavier and faster, heat distribution started to become a major problem for the drum hydraulic-brake system due to increased friction. Disc brake system that was made from iron was invented to solve the problem. In order to stop the car, the brake pads are squeezed by a calliper which is pressured by the hydraulic, and then the discs are squeezed by the braking pads. Lining was placed on the braking pads to reduce the noise when the metal came in contact. This was as far as the braking system went in terms of mechanics. However, additional features such as the ABS (Anti-Lock Brakes), EBS (Electronic Braking system), and EBD (Electronic Braking Distribution) were implemented to further enhance the performance and safety of brakes. Since the industry was constantly seeking for replacements and innovations, achieving â€Å"the Minimum Winning Game† (MWG) is extremely important in not only the auto industry, but any high-technology ventures in general. By definition, the â€Å"Minimum Winning Game† is: Defining the first major market opportunity that is limited enough to provide a clear target for technology and product development efforts in the short-to-medium term, and sufficiently large that successfully pursuing it provides a foundation for long-term corporate development. Defining the â€Å"Minimum Winning Game† of any new breaking system is a difficult yet critical responsibility of management to keep the new innovation focused and able to learn from its ongoing efforts in the face of rapidly evolving technological and market uncertainties. Balancing a combination of the three drivers is essential in achieving the â€Å"Minimum Winning Game†. The drivers are: technology development, product development, and strategy development. Effectively pursuing these drivers will contribute positively, but allowing one to become the sole driver is likely to derail the venture from the path toward its Minimum Winning Game. Since braking technology is in such high-tech environments the pace of change is extreme. Instilling strategic discipline early on can prevent the new innovation of brakes to fall into the â€Å"Field of Dreams† trap: building the technology and it will become useful, while simultaneously increase the chances of its success.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Improving GPS Position with AGPS

Improving GPS Position with AGPS 5.1.2 A-GPS A technique which smartphones use to improve GPS precision and speed is called AGPS, or assisted GPS. When a GPS system is first used/turned on, it needs to find clock and orbit data for the satellites it is going to link to. This then results in what is known as TTFF or Time to First Fix which signifies how long it takes for the GPS receiver to acquire its exact location. Assisted GPS circumvents this problematic by using data from the cellular towers on the phones network in combination with the phones own GPS data to acquire location fix. The time taken to acquire a solution using AGPS is usually much faster as the cellular towers which the phone is communicated data from, are constantly getting GPS data from satellites and calculating the data, this then helps the GPS receiver on the perform tasks such as range capacities and place solutions much faster. 5.1.3. Indoor Positioning QR Codes          One of the major difficulties to overcome when emerging an app like Plotting UL campus is how to determine a users position when they are indoors/under cloud exposure. Although Assisted GPS somewhat alleviates this, GPS triangulation is still unclear at best within buildings so a system must be created to overcome that. QR codes would be an ideal way with which to avoid this problem. Inside every building and floor within the UL Campus there is a noticeboard so Plotting UL Campus could take benefit of this and place a poster with a QR code containing that building/floors GPS co-ordinates? When this is scanned by the smartphone it will open the Plotting UL application and show where you are on the UL Campus map. 6. Navigation Pathfinding There are a variations of pathfinding algorithms that could be considered for use in the navigation functionality of Campus mapping. These include straightforward point A to point B algorithms such as Dijkstras algorithm and more complex Travelling Salesman type algorithms which compute the route visiting every point on a graph such as Hamiltonian and Euclidian algorithms. Though, these can be very computationally intensive algorithms that would place a large clang on the smartphones CPU. 7. Google maps API Google Maps is the most recognised and used mapping context that is currently available. Google launched the Google Maps API in 2005, the API is free of charge for use by designers, provided the application is used in does not charge users, and it does not generate more than 25,000 map views a day, which would be appropriate for this project. As Google also develops the Android platform, Google Maps is proposed to be the most easily implementable mapping framework for this platform. The flaw of Google Maps, from Plotting UL campus perspective is that Google Maps does not display all the individual buildings within UL and this is a necessary module within the application. 7.1 Open street maps Open Street Maps an open-source plotting outline that is comprised entirely of location data supplied by its users. Meanwhile its formation Open Street Maps has relished increased popularity due to the essential for an unfiltered mapping services that shows all the geographical features of an area as well as a propagation in low-cost GPS-enabled devices. This detailed mapping of an area, fulfils the need of plotting UL campus to have a mapping basis which displays all the buildings within the university as well as all pathways and roads. The open-source nature of UL mapping also means the API could be deployed to give a lively display of the points-of-interest within the campus that can be tailored to suit specific users, which is one of the main project objectives. GIS Tools The varied set of tools which allow the user to create interactive queries, analyse spatial information, edit mapping details, presents the solutions of these operations. Sample List of tools include: Tools for overlay Proximity analysis tools Surface tools Table analysis and management tools Tools for selecting and extracting data 11 8. Specification 8.1 Mobile campus map Hardware and Operating system Equipment Smartphone -Lenevo P1ma40 CPU Quad core 1Ghz Ram 2.00 GB Rom 16.00 GB OS Android Version 5.1 GPS Yes Frontend Keyhole Mark-up Language Backend Java Database MySQL 12 9. Detailed Action Plan Detailed action plan for the project is shown below. Apart from this, weekly consultations will be held with the project supervisor and updates will be communicated on a regular basis. 9.1. Discussion Expended significant time in understanding the mapping layout and tracking of the buildings, the path, navigation, the tools used and the abnormalities which could occur through mobile or the web application. Currently reading the concept of Google maps, the softwares like KML, java, the android OS and the gps used to incorporate the application and working involved in it. I anticipate to come with the successful completion of the project as expected. Arising challenges is to frame the right prototype, implementing with captivating contents and the proper navigation incorporated with relevant GIS tools. 13 9.2. Requirements of facilities and materials. 1 Complete UL campus map 2 Smart phone Lenovo P1ma40 3 Traffic and Fire Sensors to detect anomalies 4 GPS-Global positioning system 5 Wi-Fi 6 Router 7 Laptop / Desktop 14 10. References IEEE-Design and Implementation of Campus Spatial Information Service Based on Google Maps Google Developers. (2016). Google Maps APIs Google Developers. https://developers.google.com/maps. Developer.android.com. (2016). Develop Apps | Android Developers. http://developer.android.com/develop/index.html Modo Labs. (2016). | Modo Labs. http://www.modolabs.com/products-youll-love/kurogo-mobile-campusfor-higher-education/ IEEE Landscape visualization on Google earth IEEE Creation of mobile search system for traffic enquiry https://thenewboston.com/videos.php?cat=6 http://www.androidhive.info/2011/11/android-sqlite-database-tutorial/ http://www.telerik.com/blogs/how-to-build-an-android-app-that-displays-live-accelerometer-data-using-a-line-chart-control http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/beginners-guide-location-android https://developer.android.com/studio/install.html https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/android-api/start

Friday, October 25, 2019

American History X :: Movies Film

Recently we watched a movie called American History X. It touched on a lot of major subjects such as gang violence and racism, which has been passed on from generation to generation. It also asked questions like, what were their racist ideas really based on, how did racism effect the community, can racism be reshaped by actual experiences, and how or why racism to begin with? Racism has been the main topic in the judicial system, police affairs, and racially divided communities for years but it's neither disappearing nor growing to this today. In this movie the main character was a man named Derek. After the death of his father, due to gang violence, he became a racist to all others but white people. He blamed the lack of jobs and poor wages on the blacks and immigrants. In an interview he had after the death of his father he stated that, it's all the blacks fault for all the violence in their neighborhood. He also said that, they brought all the diseases like AIDS and it's their problem and why did they have to bring it to the white people. Before he vandalized a store, owned by a Chinese man, with his other racist friends he told them why they were doing this. He told them that these immigrates come here an instead of looking for the American dream they come and take advantage of it and by firing those who worked there before and hiring Mexicans and blacks, that are willing to work at a low-wage, they make more money. So he and his friends need to show them that they indeed don't belong here and no one wants them her e. After brutally killing two people, in cold blood, Derek was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. In prison, there were some like him and had the same thoughts but didn't stay true to their beliefs. He wondered why did his fellow skin-heads had confrontations with others outside of the group for product and merchandise and then turned around and sell it to his own. This kind of activity puzzled Derek who later in the movie came to the realization that there is nothing wrong about talking to blacks and others. Slowly, as the months passed, in jail he started developing a new found respect for everyone no matter their color or race, he started talking to his black laundry folding partner, and stopped hanging or talking to his Nazi friends . American History X :: Movies Film Recently we watched a movie called American History X. It touched on a lot of major subjects such as gang violence and racism, which has been passed on from generation to generation. It also asked questions like, what were their racist ideas really based on, how did racism effect the community, can racism be reshaped by actual experiences, and how or why racism to begin with? Racism has been the main topic in the judicial system, police affairs, and racially divided communities for years but it's neither disappearing nor growing to this today. In this movie the main character was a man named Derek. After the death of his father, due to gang violence, he became a racist to all others but white people. He blamed the lack of jobs and poor wages on the blacks and immigrants. In an interview he had after the death of his father he stated that, it's all the blacks fault for all the violence in their neighborhood. He also said that, they brought all the diseases like AIDS and it's their problem and why did they have to bring it to the white people. Before he vandalized a store, owned by a Chinese man, with his other racist friends he told them why they were doing this. He told them that these immigrates come here an instead of looking for the American dream they come and take advantage of it and by firing those who worked there before and hiring Mexicans and blacks, that are willing to work at a low-wage, they make more money. So he and his friends need to show them that they indeed don't belong here and no one wants them her e. After brutally killing two people, in cold blood, Derek was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. In prison, there were some like him and had the same thoughts but didn't stay true to their beliefs. He wondered why did his fellow skin-heads had confrontations with others outside of the group for product and merchandise and then turned around and sell it to his own. This kind of activity puzzled Derek who later in the movie came to the realization that there is nothing wrong about talking to blacks and others. Slowly, as the months passed, in jail he started developing a new found respect for everyone no matter their color or race, he started talking to his black laundry folding partner, and stopped hanging or talking to his Nazi friends .

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong

James Loewen’s book entitled ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong’ speaks of criticism against twelve American history textbooks that mislead readers by representing facts and viewpoints that are actually far from truth. There is often a hitch of bias in the way history is being presented nowadays, what Loewen (2008) defined as heroification or â€Å"a degenerative process that makes people over into heroes†¦ turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest† (p.19). From the Pilgrims up the occurrence of the Vietnam War, this Eurocentric method of formulating the teaching of history bears thoughts and issues, which appear to be very irrelevant to the views of everyday lives. Main Body Loewen (2008) has inserted in his book the words of W.E.B. Du Bois when he said: â€Å"One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over†¦ The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history†¦ paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth† (p.18).   In Loewen’s book, it is emphasized how history textbooks, which are used today in education, proclaim misleading evidences and details that abuse ‘heroification’ and put the angle away from truth. It emphasizes too much on positive qualities that give an overly-emphasized meaning that reflect significant lessons, while distorting the negative characteristics of history and its heroes.   By this, students usually find significant lessons in them, such as, for example, Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller.   As Loewen (2008) stated, Wilson was usually pictured as an important president, while Keller was an inspiration to the blind and deaf students of this century (pp.19-20). However, as Loewen (2008) stated, â€Å"Heroification so distorts the lives of Keller and Wilson (and many others) that we cannot think straight about them† (p.20).   It takes away the truth behind real people and events by presenting them in a way that leads to a specific objective and design.   It fabricates people’s minds after a certain framework that would theoretically lead to a basic viewpoint, picture, or assumption. Questions that are raised in Loewen’s book consist of the following: (1) How true and accurate are the details that are being presented in educational textbooks in the field of history?   (2) How much morality do the authors, publishers, adoption committees, and teachers nowadays possess in presenting facts and issues that should reflect fair, non-bias, and factual details of history?   (3) What are the exact causes why most elementary and secondary students find the lectures of history bland, boring, and almost senseless?   (4) How can the process of heroification lead to more positive, truthful, fair, yet fruitful results?   Lastly, (5) what can authors, publishers, and teachers do to highlight the truth behind Loewen’s statement that history is an ongoing process that is influenced by specific events, environments, and characteristics of the past.   My general perception after reading the author’s viewpoints or perspectives is that, Loewen (2008) has failed to analyze the other end of the pole, which reflects that, prior to a youth’s desire to be one of the great men of his time, there first has to be the episode of mental and psychological stimulation and inspiration, before one can project positive results and actions that make history a lot more worthwhile. Conclusion I feel that this book of Loewen (2008) is the very thing needed to emphasize the truth behind the statement that history is an ongoing process that is being lived by on the account of one’s everyday life.   The reading has helped me to formulate my own ideas regarding education, as it reflected the issues of accuracy, morality, and the different tactics used in trying to come up with a structure that makes heroes appear like what the readers would expect them to appear: all faultless, perfect, and absolute.   It is, however, far from the truth. Reference Loewen, J.W. (2008). Lies my teacher told me: everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York, NY: New Press.   

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Meursault in “The Stranger” by Albert Camus Essay Essays

Meursault in â€Å"The Stranger† by Albert Camus Essay Essays Meursault in â€Å"The Stranger† by Albert Camus Essay Paper Meursault in â€Å"The Stranger† by Albert Camus Essay Paper Essay Topic: The Stranger Life is fantastic. but besides hard. We struggle to happen the significance in our lives. but we can non carry through it. There are many sorts of ideas or doctrines of life ; some think that life is already determined by God or destiny when they were born. while others think that they decide what they do by themselves. In â€Å"the stranger† . Albert Camus creates Meursault as a supporter. who does non believe about anything profoundly. Because of that. he can non truly bask his life. However. eventually. he thinks about his life when he faces decease ; he genuinely realized how to confront to the absurd universe. and therefore becomes Camus’ perfect experiential hero. Meursault is apathetic. and he thinks he absolutely enjoys each minute ; nevertheless. the world is he merely wastes clip and does non even know that. Meursault thinks that emotion is pathetic because people are controlled by it. and repent or experiencing sorry is a waste of clip. Therefore. even when he faces his mother’s decease. he does non experience anything. He does non hold involvement in his mother’s decease. so he does non even cognize when his female parent died. â€Å"Maman died today. Or yesterday possibly. I don’t know† ( 3 ) . Normally. one’s mother’s decease important and people think about their lives through her decease. Even though it is non his. and he knows that he can non happen it. he should believe about what his life means from the relationship between decease and life. However. it is possible that he does non care about it excessively much because he can non make anything in her decease. but he does non care about his matrimony. excessively. He has a girlfriend. named Marie. and when she asked him to acquire married with her. he was still apathetic. â€Å"Then she pointed out that matrimony was a serious thing. I said ‘No† ( 42 ) . He dos non cognize what is of import in life. It is non because he has different sense of values but because he does non care about anything earnestly. He has non had a large job in his manner. but his manner to populate is now job. When he takes Arab’s life off. he does non truly recognize what he did. Even when he was in the constabulary station. he does non understand what he did. therefore. † degree Celsius I was even traveling to agitate his manus. but I remembered that I had killed a man† ( 64 ) . He treats everything as a fact. so he does non truly hold an emotion. He thinks it is the manner to bask his life. but it makes his life more meaningless. He does non believe profoundly. Besides. he thinks decease is decease. so there is no hereafter after decease. Then. he shot the Arab four times more. but he does non cognize what it means. â€Å"Then I fired four more times at the motionless organic structure where the slugs lodged without go forthing a hint. And it was like strike harding four speedy times on the door of unhappiness† ( 59 ) . He does non experience good about hiting four more times. but it is non deserving decease at all. Taking human life is same as strike harding the door of sadness for him ; his manner to populate. which is without emotion makes his life atrocious subsequently. but at this clip. he does non understand anything. Life without emotion is easy because an emotion does non do sense. so he can do sense with everything in his life. However. it besides makes his life colorless. Because he is different from others. the society beats him ; the universe does non assist him. so he now has to make significance in his life by himself. When he is on test. he testifies candidly because he ever follows his bosom and does what he wants ; nevertheless. it does non suit the society. so people judge him from their subjective justness. @ @ When he candidly testifies about why he killed Arab. people did non listen earnestly. † curie blurted out that it was because of the Sun. Peoples laughed† ( 103 ) . Peoples do non understand him. and so they do non handle him as usual. They beat the alien ; there is cipher to assist him. Furthermore. they think they are right. so people rid from the society and do him look worse. The prosecuting officer does non desire Meursault to populate in the society. which the prosecuting officer lives and to hold the same human bosom. â€Å"He stated that I had no topographic point in a society whose most cardinal regulations I igno red and that I could non appeal to the same human bosom whose simple response I knew nil of† ( 102 ) . He denies Meursault’s human right. He should be in problem. but in the test. there are merely people who think they are normal and right. so they are the same as him. Therefore. they do non detect that the prosecuting officer is incorrect. Their personality is atrocious because there is no exclusion. Meursault thinks about this judgement and the â€Å"machinery of justice† ( 108 ) . It is precisely right. They follow their ain common sense. and treat him as a alien. The effect is a decease punishment. However. ironically. this state of affairs. which makes him confront decease and being cognizant that cipher helps him. makes him believe about his life and notice that he has to happen it by himself. Right before his decease. he realized the significance in life. Peoples do non cognize why they are populating. but they laugh at him because they think he is stupid and better than him ; nevertheless. ironically. he understands his life. When he accepts the absurd universe. he can make significance of his life ; there is no hereafter. so he has to believe about every individual minute carefully and bask it. Ironically. he does non hold clip any more. However. he thinks. â€Å"I had been happy and that I was happy again† ( 123 ) . Actually. he enjoys his life because he did non cognize that he has lived indifferently. His life is difficult for ordinary people to understand. but for him. it wholly makes sense. Furthermore. he understands everything now. so he feels felicity once more. Besides. he feels a sense of high quality because he knows that people who look down on him do non cognize. There are many thought about universe. and he wants to see the absurd universe. and demo them his manner to populate. â€Å"I had merely to wish that at that place be a big crowd of witnesss the twenty-four hours of my executing and that they greet me with calls of hate† ( 123 ) . He notices that cipher earnestly cares about him. but still they come to his executing. Playing the game is pathetic for him. but people can non populate without it. Cipher truly has a score against him. but they follow the others. Bing apart from society is chilling and entirely. so normally people can non make that. He besides feels that. so he wanted to decease in the crowd. Besides. he is proud of his life. so he wanted to demo how he lived. Now. he truly enjoys his life. The life is meaningless ; he realizes it when he faces decease. If people know that. they give up everything ; nevertheless. for Meursault. everything makes sense. There is no hint in the universe. so what he can make is making the significance by himself. Life is difficult because cipher helps him. but he decides everything and what he does has significance. He can bask his life to the full. so his life is fantastic. He has to bask his life while he is populating because there is nil after decease. There is no significance in the universe. so he creates it. Everything is to be happy.