WK4 assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WK4 assignment - Essay Example The article explores all of the above mentioned technologies in great detail wherein the author takes care to cover all the possible dangers that these high-end technologies may be attached to. The style of writing is argumentative wherein at first it seems that the writer is dead against the rise of scientific advancement beyond what it is today because of his foresight that , the very technology that humans invent may be the primary reasons for human extinction in the coming centuries; however, as one diligently reads through the entire work, it becomes relatively clear that the article also embraces a certain extent of muted optimism, wherein the writer balances out his arguments with greater trust and hope based on ethical principles. This article is not merely based on the personal thoughts and arguments of the writer alone, the entire context takes into account ideas, words and thoughts of other well known scientists and researchers related to scientific fields and presents a f ew excerpts from books written by eminent authors on similar context. The article is a well thought out piece where each and every argument that has been neatly presented holds great value. Bill Joy has reasons to fear the power that man is now creating and his strong pessimism against the developing technologies is not without base. He first discusses about the robotic technology. In his article he presents an excerpt (the New Luddite Challenge) from a book written by Theodore Kaczynski which surfaces the fact that humans will create machines to make their tasks easier and to completely enable them to work independently sans human supervision, the robots will be enabled with the power to think and make decisions. The idea being that you should be able to give the robot a goal, a mission, and the robot should be able to take actions based on the mission and whatever information becomes available (Gupta, 2010), and the results of these actions are believed to be better than those of humans. Joy fears that humans would ultimately become so dependent on these machines that the very existence of human form will become questionable without the life support of robots. The case may reach such an extreme that exterminating the machines would just mean suicide for the human race. Reading Han Morovec’s book Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind, Joy’s pessimism is enhanced because this book too believes in the fact that the human race would fade as a repercussion to vigorous competition among robotic industries. In fact even Darwin’s principle of survival holds true here. In the eyes of Bill Joy, the advancement in the field of genetic engineering is another major reason for his pessimistic attitude. The immense power that a genetic engineer beholds in manipulating microorganisms and using them to alter the DNA makeup of anything that catches his fancy may fall in the wrong hands. Good things in the wrong hands can never be good, because the powe r maybe exploited to only cause harm and his fears are not completely untrue because emerging bio-terror is a major concern today. â€Å"It will soon be possible to synthesize the genome for smallpox; preventing access to samples will then no longer be a protection† (Caplan & Magnus, 2002) and once again a bio-terror maybe initiated and the case maybe the same with all other diseases. His third and last pessimistic view is about nanotechnology, the science of manipulating atoms, the basic constituent of life which when used in a controlled manner could solve all major problems ailing humans ranging from curing diseases to low cost of technologies. But, obviously something this powerful can be used as a destructive weapon too.

The secret life of walter mitty Essay Example for Free

The secret life of walter mitty Essay The Secret Life of Walter Mitty The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a story about an individual that constantly seems to be caught up in numerous daydreams and thoughts that have nothing to do with everyday matters. James Thurber treats Mittys actions very entertaining, and at the same time his humor catches our attention to the need of communication and the importance of human relationships. In marriage relationships is critical that we know how to communicate. Imagination is the human power that shapes artistic xpression; it enables a writers work to become an expression of meaning in our world, allow readers to engage in identifying with what the writers work has to say about things that matter (Clugston, 2010). Imagination is your sensation, and your ability to picture and dream about settings, people, or places in your mind. In this particular story The Secret Life of Water Mitty, imagination played a huge role and mainly showed the importance for communication in marital relationships. Mr. Mitty is a character who fills his mind with crazy fantasies, in which he always play the uper hero role, save lives, and makes sound decisions. Mr. Mitty uses the daydreams of exciting adventure to escape from his boring life with his wife. She is so boring to the point she is afraid to drive over the speed limit. Thurbers amusing depictions of Walter Mittys issues allow people to connect with the person in our lives who constantly daydream and once again live with everyday matters. Mrs. Mitty is Walters controlling wife. She is always harassing him about putting on his gloves while driving, buying overshoes, and to slow down. In the story Walters wife was ondering why he didnt put in his shoes. At this moment in time he was getting aggravated. Even though in this story it may seem his wife his somewhat dominating. Walter is lacking the ability and rejects the responsibility of being an adult. Honestly in this short story she prevents any type of accidents and helps Mr. Mitty focus on everyday lite in general. M tty is a daydreamer who constantly imagines himselt as a big hero with his fantasies as commander in the navy, a surgeon, accused witness, bomber pilot, and a victim of a firing squad. Walter is married to a woman ho actually treats him like a child than a husband. This is due to his childish ways and the crazy fantasies rather than live a normal life in the real world. He is continuously getting scolded by parking lot attendants, policeman, and his wife for his sidetracked behavior. James Thurber characterizes this man whose wife who basically controls him, who lives and daydreams all the time has became an ineffectual and lazy male fgure in American culture. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty tells a story of an older man who goes on numerous trips into town with his harassing wife, Mrs. Mitty. Mr. Mitty is very incompetent with many things; hes an absent minded driver, and he cant fix simple mechanical issues, and has a horrible memory. While Walter goes through a day of ordinary tasks and errands, he escapes into a series of romantic fantasies, each spurred on by some mundane reality. As he drives his car, he imagines he is commanding a Navvy hydroplane through a terrible storm (1). When he rides past a hospital, he imagines he is a world-famous surgeon saving a VIPs life. When he hears a newsboy shouting about a trial, he imagines he is crack shot being interrogated in the courtroom. As he waits for his wife to finish at the hairdressers, Walter sees pictures of German plane and imagines he is a British pilot willing to sacrifice his life for his country. Lastly, as Mitty waits outside against a wall for his wife to buy something in a drugstore, he fantasizes that he is a bold and brave man about to be shot by a firing squad. The story ends with the inscrutable Walter Mitty awaiting this romantic death. reveals a marriage in which his wife is dominating, controlling, mean, bossy, and efinitely wears the pants Walter is a humble, passive, and will not say anything to his wife about how he actually feels. A point of view that stood out to me the most was how James Thurber, gives the impression that Mrs. Mitty is a sexist individual. Its a strong possibility that he is saying all women are bossy and unloving at times. Form: Third Person Omnscient The Secret of Walter Mitty is told by an uninvolved third person narrator. In the story they are Just following Walter Mitty on his everyday duties and see only what he ctually sees or continue to do. Even though the point of view is in third person, Walterss character widens the influence in the narration. Plot: The short story deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut with his wife for their regular weekly shopping and his wifes visit to the beauty parlor. During this time he has five heroic daydream episodes. The first is as a pilot ofa U. S. Navvy flying boat in a storm, then he is a magnificent surgeon performing a one-of-a-kind surgery, then as a deadly assassin testifying in a ourtroom, and then as a Royal Air Force pilot volunteering for a daring, secret suicide mission to bomb an ammunition dump.

Communication And Stakeholder Issues In Requirement Engineering Information Technology Essay

Communication And Stakeholder Issues In Requirement Engineering Information Technology Essay Requirements Engineering starts with requirements elicitation. Requirements elicitation is a process of discovering, obtaining and expanding requirements for adopting a computer-based system. Requirements Elicitation process is challenged by different factors. After our research, we found poor communication and stakeholder issues are the most common factors which results the blockage of users needs. It is one of the most critical issues in RE which causes the delay and failure of the software projects. [1] Unsurprisingly, effective communication is very hard to achieve and is a repeating problem in the elicitation of requirements [2]. There are several reasons for less effective communication (i.e. different time zones, cultural differences, lack of awareness etc.) Wahab Hussain (Author) MS. Software Engineering (Reg. # 1071112) Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Inst. of Science Tech. Karachi, Pakistan [emailprotected] The two major sections discussed in this research paper are: Communication issues in Requirements Engineering Section 4 Stakeholder issues in Requirements Engineering Section 5 Later in Section 5, Conclusion is presented. Why Requirements Gathering We gather requirements to cut down the risk of common mistakes that grow from the lack of communication or understanding. We can discover real requirements if requirements gathering activity is approached in an organized way (we know who the stakeholders are likely to be and what kind of questions we need to ask from them). [3] Developing software and constructing building sounds similar. Lets take an example of constructing hotel instead of developing software. Dont you think that before starting foundation, you should have the complete design and architecture of the hotel that how its interior and exterior looks like after completion? Of course you would. In the same way in developing software, you gather requirements before the start of the project and looks into the architecture (i.e. ERD, class diagram, state diagrams, component diagrams etc) in more detail. While building a hotel, you go into several inspections to make sure the work carrying forward in the right direction or not (like we have inspections in software projects to ensure the requirements). [4] The other similarities between developing software and constructing hotel in terms of roles as listed in Table 1: Developing Software Constructing Hotel Project Manager Contractor/Builder Resources Developers SQA/Test Engineering Technical Writers Resources Electrician Carpenter Painter Plumber Problem Formulation: Communication between the system analyst and stakeholders can be described in term of communication between two parties as shown in Figure 1. [1] Four components are involved in this type of communication as shown in Table 2. [1] Communication issues in Requirement Engineering As discussed in previous sections that the major cause for the project failure is the lack of effective communication. Mostly errors in the software system are due to poor communication. There are several reasons; sometimes the customer is unable to communicate the proper application knowledge to the analyst, sometimes development is done on Ad hoc basis due to unavailability of requirement document, sometimes requirement document is too long that no one can be able to read it completely. These all causes conflicts, confusions, false impressions and inconsistency in work. The main communication issues faced in Requirements Engineering are as follows: Problems within User The within roadblock is basically the individual culture limitation. It relates the behavioral boundaries within the individual users. In within problems, user fails as an information receiver, information processor and problem solver. [5] Problems Between Users The between roadblock is basically the organizational culture concerns with the interaction between customer and analyst. Every organizational culture is different from other organization (i.e. nature of work, organization hierarchy, management style and terminologies used within the organization) so confliction possibly will grow because business analyst perhaps may not familiar with the hierarchy of the organization and their operations. [5] Problems Among the users The among roadblock is basically the national culture limitations. In large complex system, people with different cultural backgrounds are involved having different languages, difference in attitudes and judgments and priorities. Problems occur when different users express their needs that are incompatible or invalid or conflicts either in contents or priority and they want a reviewer for resolution. [5] Requirement conflicts increases when several users present the same information in different and inconsistent manner. It is the demanding situation for the development organization to resolve such issues. [5] One Way Communication Channels In one way communication, we used to express information within the development team and with different stakeholders. In this way, the channel of communication sounds effective because all knowledge is shared but it results expensive and time consuming to support wide range of communication between professions. As per research, it looks that requirement specification document is the only way of communication between the development team and stakeholder. [6] The Notations War It is often difficult for the customer and development team to understand each other terms/notations (i.e. Business analysts and software engineers prefer to talk about the system in terms of it procedures and data structures, end users prefer to talk about the system in terms of its general behavior and functionality of software system). This causes the unfamiliarity of various people with various notations. For example, a customer must not want to learn formal specification language, but the programmer may require these to obtain an appropriate level of detail. [6] Organizational Barriers Requirement Engineering activities and software design activities are carried out separately. Each activity is discussed and presented by different sets of people. Requirement Engineering meetings include business analyst, developers SQA engineers and end uses. While in design review activity, end users are not included. Only development team is limited in design review activity because no one from outside organization is allowed to attend this activity. [6] Informal Communication Informal communication is usually used when face to face conversation is required with a friend. It is based on common interests and combined relations creating channels through which information is collected easily. Informal communication channels can be destroyed by rivals who can discourage the joint action which affect the normal flow of information. Telephonic conversations are also a part of informal communication but it is the least used method in exchanging information between the two professions. Such informal communication proved to be expensive and results time consuming discussions and meetings. [6] Nevertheless, there is no specific support for informal communication for software projects in the early phase of Requirement Engineering because in many cases business analysts and customers meet for the first time. [6] Traceability Problem Requirements Traceability is critical for all phases of SDLC to help concluding requirements and justify changes. The research shows that traceability problem is very serious in the later stages of RE (i.e. requirements review) when late requirements are brought in the project life cycle. Now it is necessary to re-establish communication with team mates in order to avoid conflicts with newly introduced requirements with existing one. This is very challenging and difficult because by this time business analyst may have halted or may have started working on any other project while programmers moved to later phases of the project. [6] Communication challenges representing through Quadrant Model in RE Refer Figure 2 which shows communication challenges taken from Davis et al. [14] Quadrant (a) correspond common knowledge between analyst and user. Quadrant (b) correspond knowledge that the user has but the analyst does not. It looks that there is unique business model of the user business. Quadrant (c) correspond that the analyst has the knowledge but user does not yet. The analyst would be looking for to teach the user. Quadrant (d) correspond new knowledge that will be produced from the interaction between analyst and user. It looks that analyst asks questions and tries to dig more information from the user. [14] Stakeholder issues in Requirement Engineering Stakeholder plays the most important role in the acceptance of a software product. After having research, we found there are different observations of who the stakeholders are? [11] Stakeholders are individuals or organizations who affect or are affected by the software product. In other words, a stakeholder is a person who has a power to develop requirements. Identifying the stakeholders and getting them involved in the Requirements Engineering process helps to make complete set of requirements early in the software development life cycle. [7] The stakeholders can be categorized in three main parts which are: [7] The acquirers of the software product (who are customers and users/end-users) The suppliers of the software product (includes individuals or teams that develop the software product or part of the organization who are business analysts, designers, developers, testers, documentation writers, project managers and technical support) Other stakeholders (there are also other stakeholders who are interested in requirements are: Legal or contract management, Manufacturing or product release management, Sales and Marketing, Upper management and Government or regulator agencies) Table 3 summarizes the different ambitions and interests to different stakeholders in a RE process. [8] Stakeholder Ambitions and Interests Requirements Engineer Wants a tool that makes their job easier, more satisfying and more productive. Customer/User Wants usable system, with fewer errors. Project/Process Manager Wants to deliver on time with the right specification quality Quality Manager Wants to ensure that the delivered system specification is error-free. Senior Management Wants to see a return on investment and increased productivity. Requirements from all stakeholders are important; we can not ignore the requirement of any stakeholder but we can prioritize them. There are many stakeholder issues in Requirement Engineering which cause the project failure: [9] Stakeholders dont know what they really want. Stakeholders convey requirements in their own terms. Requirements may conflict in case of different stakeholders. Organisational and political factors may effect the system requirements. The main stakeholder issues faced in Requirement Engineering are as follows: The Yes, But Syndrome The Yes, But syndrome is simply human nature and the users ability to experience the software. The Yes, But syndrome is the frustrating and the most occurring problem in all of application development. It is observed in users reactions for every piece of software developed. As per research, there are two immediate and different reactions when the users look the software functionality for the first time which are: [3] Wow, this is so cool; we can really use this, what a neat job, and so on. Yes, but, hmmmm, now that I see it, what about this . . . ? Wouldnt it be nice if . . . ? Whatever happened to . . . ? The Undiscovered Ruins Syndrome In Undiscovered Ruins syndrome, the more you find, the more you realize still remain. It seems that the search for requirements is similar to a search for undiscovered ruins. No one feels confident as he/she has done with all the requirements or not, and possibly you never will. Without a doubt, development teams always struggle to determine when they are in requirements elicitation process; the requirements which are available are enough; whether they have found all the requirements or when have they found at least enough? [3] The User and the Developer Syndrome Communication gap grows between the developer and the stakeholder. In many cases, developers and stakeholders are from different parts of world, may have different backgrounds and objectives and may even speak different languages. [3] The problems are: [3] Users do not know what they want, or they know what they want but they are unable to express to developers. Analysts think they understand user problems better than users do. Users have trust to themselves. They know what they want, and when functionality is handed over to them, they claim what they said they wanted? The Living with the Sins of your Predecessors Syndrome Stakeholder and developers remember what happened in the past. Issues appear every time after the end of release. And then the development team and stakeholders sit together and ensuring trust with each other and make sure that existing issues will not arise in next release. The team prioritize the requirements and cut down the features which are less important. Try to build trust slowly. But after sometime, there is a huge pressure from stakeholder that he wants i.e. XYZ features in upcoming release. And from here the problem starts, the release delivered consist unclear requirements and short of expectations. [10] Introduced new stakeholders during analysis Requirements change during the analysis process is very common. After requirements gathering, analysis phase starts. During analysis, new stakeholders may be introduced which results the change in the business environment. Other challenges concerning stakeholders There are some very common challenges. These challenges are faced by those stakeholders who are technically weak. The problems are: [12] Users dont have a clear vision of their requirements. Different vision of the system under development [13]. Users are not very capable to participate in reviews. Communication with users is slow. Users dont understand the development process. Users dont know about present technology. Users are not wise in the ways of the world/unsophisticated. Too honest to promise more than he could deliver. Different involvements of stakeholders. For example, some stakeholders are allowed to make decisions and others arent [13]. Conclusion: The focus of this research paper was to find out the communication and stakeholder problems in requirement engineering. After having literature review and research, we have identified the most important communication and stakeholder problems faced in RE. It is found that lack of understandability is the root cause of all other problems, and poor communication is the first step towards project failure. These problems are significant important because they are related to stakeholders and stakeholders have various other limitations while expressing their needs. Beyond all these issues, there are also applicable solutions presented to get over these problems.

D. H. Lawrence Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is a divided issue whether D. H. Lawrence is to be considered a friend or a foe to the feminist movement. On one hand, he advocates an egalitarian man-woman relationship, on the other, his notion of equality seems rather subject to qualification. His reference to the ideal monogamous partnership as "phallic marriage" (Spilka 7) is certainly a cue that must be taken up. Why is marriage "phallic" unless the phallus is privileged in the expression of sexuality? (de Beauvoir 205) The idealisation of gender relationships leads to an essentialisation of gender, which is itself at the source of patriarchal domination. Is Lawrence really a liberator of sex, or only of patriarchal sex? Does he grant more independence to the women in his novels than his predecessors or just a little more freedom within the confines of established expectations? The answers to these will be that Lawrence is not a raving misogynist (as has been suggested), but is certainly a long way from perfectly enlightened.    Rupert Birkin, the Lawrentian leading male of Women in Love, extols a philosophy of "star-equilibrium" in which the partners of a love relationship remain separate and individual, not blurred into one another, but together in knowledge of their difference. (WIL 230)    "Why not leave the other being free, why try to melt, or absorb, or merge? One might abandon oneself utterly to the moments, but not to any other being." (WIL 269) These "moments" are where one falls out of personal concern and into the rhythm of the organic universe. "Because of his belief in the life-force, he has generally been called a 'vitalist.' But 'organicist' would come much closer to the mark, since the goal of life, for Lawrence... ...over. London: Mandrake Press, Ltd., 1996. _ _ _. Letters to Bertrand Russell. Ed. Harry T. Moore. New York: Gotham Book Mart, 1948. _ _ _. Women in Love. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, Ltd., 1996. Millett, Kate. Sexual Politics. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970. Ross, Charles L. Women in Love: a Novel of Mythic Realism. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. Spilka, Mark. The Love Ethic of D. H. Lawrence. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955. Tuma, Keith, ed. Anthology of Twentieth-Century British & Irish Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.          1[1] "The ordinary Englishman of the educated class goes to a woman now to masterbate [sic] himself. Because he is not going for discovery or new connection or progression, but only to repeat upon himself a known reaction." (Letters 33)

An Essay on Drug Addiction Essay

KV62 is the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings (Egypt), which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained.[1] The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, underneath the remains of workmen’s huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was spared from the worst of the tomb depredations of that time. KV is an abbreviation for the Valley of the Kings, followed by a number to designate individual tombs in the Valley. The tomb was densely packed with items in great disarray. Carter was able to photograph garlands of flowers, which disintegrated when touched. Due to the state of the tomb, and to Carter’s meticulous recording technique, the tomb took eight years to empty, the contents all being transported to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Tutankhamun’s tomb had been entered at least twice, not long after he was buried and well before  Carter’s discovery. The outermost doors of the shrines enclosing the king’s nested coffins were left opened, and unsealed. It is estimated that 60% of the jewellery which had been stored in the â€Å"treasury† was removed as well. After one of these ancient robberies, embalming materials from KV62 are believed to have been buried at KV54. The pharaoh’s solid gold funerary mask was interred with him in KV62. In 1907, just before his discovery of the tomb of Horemheb, Theodore M. Davis’s team uncovered a small site containing funerary artifacts with Tutankhamen’s name. Assuming that this site, identified as KV54, was Tutankhamun’s complete tomb, Davis concluded the dig. The details of both findings are documented in Davis’s 1912 publication, The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatà ¢nkhamanou; the book closes with the comment, â€Å"I fear that the Valley of the Kings is now exhausted.†[2] But Davis was to be proven spectacularly wrong. The British Egyptologist Howard Carter (employed by Lord Carnarvon) hired a crew to help him excavate at the site of KV62. Carter went back to a  line of huts that he had abandoned a few seasons earlier. When the first step was removed, they found a stone step. Carter’s foreman got Carter and told him about the step. Working carefully, they uncovered stairs. He sent a message to Carnarvon and in a week, Carnarvon came. He cleared the doorway and made his way down a passageway that had been cleared by robbers. It was then that Howard Carter made a hole in the door, struck a match, and after discovering that the air had oxygen inside, went in. The chamber that they found was bare, but Howard Carter was convinced that there must be a secret chamber. He searched the walls and found it; it was filled with all manner of treasures and statues. He had discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb (since designated KV62) in the Valley of the Kings on November 4, 1922, near the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI, thereby setting off a renewed interest in all things Egyptian in the modern world. Carter contacted his patron, and on November 26 that year, both men became the first people to enter Tutankhamun’s tomb in over 3000 years. After many weeks of careful excavation, on February 16, 1923, Carter opened the inner chamber and first saw the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. All of this was conveyed to the public by H. V. Morton, the only journalist allowed on the scene. Investigation [edit] Howard Carter and associates opening the shrine doors in the burial chamber (1924 reconstruction of the 1923 event) The first step to the stairs was found on November 4, 1922.[3] The following day saw the exposure of a complete staircase. The end of November saw access to the antechamber and the discovery of the annex, and then the burial chamber and treasury. On November 29, the tomb was opened, and the first announcement and press conference followed the next day. The first item was removed from the tomb on December 27.[4] On February 16, 1923 the burial chamber was opened,[5] and on April 5 Lord Carnarvon died. On February 12, 1924, the granite lid of the sarcophagus was raised.[6] In April, Carter argued with the Antiquities Service, and left the excavation for the United States. In January 1925, Carter resumed activities in the tomb, and on October 13, he removed the cover of the first sarcophagus; on October 23, he removed the cover of the second sarcophagus; on October 28, the team removed the cover of the final sarcophagus and exposed the mummy; and on November 11, the  examination of the remains of Tutankhamun started. An alabaster jar found in the tomb, symbolizing the union ofLower and Upper Egypt. Work started in the treasury on October 24, 1926, and between October 30 and December 15, 1927, the annex was emptied and examined. On November 10, 1930, eight years after the discovery, the last objects were finally removed from the tomb of the long lost pharaoh. [7] Layout of tomb[edit] Plan of KV62. In design, the tomb appears to have originally been intended for a private individual, not for royalty.[8] There is some evidence to suggest that the tomb was adapted for a royal occupant during its excavation.[9] This may be supported by the fact that only the burial chamber walls were decorated, unlike royal tombs in which nearly all walls were painted with scenes from the Book of the Dead.[9] Isometric, plan and elevation images of KV62 taken from a 3d model Stereo drawing of tomb viewed from northwest. Staircase [edit] Starting from a small, level platform, 16 steps descend to the first doorway, which was sealed and plastered – although it had been penetrated by grave robbers at least twice in antiquity. Entrance corridor [edit] Beyond the first doorway, a descending corridor leads to the second sealed door, and into the room that Carter described as the Antechamber. This was used originally to hold material left over from the funeral and material associated with the embalming of the king. After the initial robberies, this material was either moved into the tomb proper, or to KV54. Antechamber [edit] The undecorated antechamber was found to be in a state of â€Å"organized chaos† and contained approximately 700 objects (articles 14 to 171 in the Carter catalogue) amongst which were three funeral beds, plates in shape of  hippopotamus (the Goddess Tawaret), of lion (or leopards) and cattle (the Goddess Hathor). Perhaps the most remarkable item in this room were the components, stacked, of four chariots of which one was probably used for hunting, one for â€Å"war† and another two for parades. Many of the 700 objects were made of gold. Burial chamber [edit] Cross-section of shrines and sarcophagi in KV62 Decoration [edit] This is the only decorated chamber in the tomb, with scenes from the Opening of the Mouth ritual (showing Ay, Tutankhamun’s successor acting as the king’s son, despite being older than he is) and Tutankhamun with the goddess Nut on the north wall, the first hour of Amduat (on the west wall), spell one of the Book of the Dead (on the east wall) and representations of the king with various deities (Anubis, Isis, Hathor and others now destroyed) on the south wall. The north wall shows Tutankhamen being followed by his Ka, being welcomed to the underworld by Osiris.[10] Some of the treasures in Tutankhamun’s tomb are noted for their apparent departure from traditional depictions of the boy king. Certain cartouches where a king’s name should appear have been altered, as if to reuse the property of a previous pharaoh—as often occurred. However, this instance may simply be the product of â€Å"updating† the artifacts to reflect the shift from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Other differences are less easy to explain, such as the older, more angular facial features of the middle coffin and canopic coffinettes. The most widely accepted theory for these latter variations is that the items were originally intended for Smenkhkare, who may or may not be the mysterious KV55 mummy. This mummy, according to craniological examinations, bears a striking first-order (father-to-son, brother-to-brother) relationship to Tutankhamun. [11] Contents [edit] The outer golden shrine, now on display in the Cairo Museum Tutankhamun’s wooden chest The entire chamber was occupied by four gilded wooden shrines which surrounded the king’s sarcophagus. The outer shrine ([1] in the cross-section) measured 5.08 x 3.28 x 2.75 m and 32 mm thick, almost  entirely filling the room, with only 60 cm at either end and less than 30 cm on the sides. Outside of the shrines were 11 paddles for the â€Å"solar boat†, containers for scents, and lamps decorated with images of the GodHapi[disambiguation needed]. The fourth and last shrine ([4]) was 2.90 m long and 1.48 m wide. The wall decorations depict the king’s funeral procession, and Nut was painted on the ceiling, â€Å"embracing† the sarcophagus with her wings. This sarcophagus was constructed in granite ([a] in the cross-section). Each corner of the main body and lid were carved from stone of different colours. It appears to have been constructed for another owner, but then recarved for Tutankhamen; the identity of the original owner is not preserved.[10] In each corner a protective goddess (Isis, Nephthys, Serket and Neith) guards the body. Inside, the king’s body was placed within three mummiform coffins, the outer two made of gilded wood while the innermost was composed of 110.4 kg of pure gold.[12] The mummy itself was adorned with a gold mask, mummy bands and other funerary items. The funerary mask is made of gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli, carnelian, quartz, obsidian, turquoise and glass and faience, and weighs 11 kg.[13] Treasury [edit] The treasury was the burial chamber’s only side-room and was accessible by an unblocked doorway. It contained over 5,000 catalogued objects, most of them funerary and ritual in nature. The two largest objects found in this room were the king’s elaborate canopic chest and a large statue of Anubis. Other items included numerous shrines containing gilded statuettes of the king and deities, model boats and two more chariots. This room also held two mummies of fetuses that some considers to have been stillborn offspring of the king.[14] Annex [edit] The â€Å"annex†, originally used to store oils, ointments, scents, foods and wine, was the last room to be cleared, from the end of October 1927 to the spring of 1928. Although quite small in size, it contained approximately 280 groups of objects, totaling more than 2,000 individual pieces. Present day [edit] As of 2007, the tomb was open for visitors, at an additional charge above  that of the price of general access to the Valley of the Kings. The number of visitors was limited to 400 per day in 2008.[15] However, since 2010 the tomb has been closed to the public. Restoration work is being undertaken by the Getty Conservation Institute over a span of five years;[16] the future of the tomb’s availability to the public is unknown at this point. Tourists visiting[who?] in 2012 report that the tomb has indeed been reopened, but the additional fee to enter it remains.[citation needed] The tomb is expected to be definitively closed to public in 2013, but a reproduction will be placed nearby at the Valley of the Kings and will be available to the public.[17]

Mary Somerville, Mathematician, Scientist, and Writer

Mary Somerville, Mathematician, Scientist, and Writer Mary Somerville (December 26, 1780–November 29, 1872) was a mathematician, scientist, astronomer, geographer, and a gifted science writer, who in the era of burgeoning social and scientific change was able to convey both the substance of science and the scientific sublime. Fast Facts: Mary Somerville Known For: Scientific work in mathematics, astronomy and geography, and gifted science writingBorn: December 26, 1780 in Jedburgh, ScotlandParents: William George Fairfax and Margaret Charters FairfaxDied: November 29, 1872 in Naples, ItalyEducation: One year of formal education, but Somerville was primarily home-schooled and self-taughtPublished Works: Physical Geography (1848), Personal Recollections of Mary Somerville (1873, after her death)Spouse(s): Samuel Greig (m. 1804–1807); William Somerville (m. 1812–1860)Awards: Honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1833), gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society (1869), elected to the American Philosophical Society (1869)Children: Two sons with Grieg (one survived to adulthood, barrister Woronzow Grieg, d. 1865), three daughters (Margaret (1813–1823), Martha (1815), Mary Charlotte (1817)  and a son who died in infancy in 1815) with Somerville Early Life Mary Somerville was born Mary Fairfax in Jedburgh, Scotland, on December 26, 1780, the fifth of seven children of Vice-Admiral Sir William George Fairfax and Margaret Charters Fairfax. Only two of her brothers survived to adulthood and her father was away at sea, so Mary spent her first years in the small town of Burntisland being home-schooled by her mother. When her father returned from the sea, he discovered 8- or 9-year-old Mary could neither read nor do simple sums. He sent her to an elite boarding school, Miss Primroses School in Musselburgh. Miss Primrose was not a good experience for Mary and she was sent home in just a year. She began to educate herself, taking music and painting lessons, instructions in handwriting and arithmetic. She learned to read French, Latin, and Greek largely on her own. At age 15, Mary noticed some algebraic formulas used as decoration in a fashion magazine, and on her own she began to study algebra to make sense of them. She surreptitiously obtained a copy of Euclids Elements of Geometry over her parents opposition. Marriage and Family Life In 1804 Mary Fairfax married- under pressure from family- her cousin, Captain Samuel Greig, a Russian navy officer who lived in London. They had two sons, only one of whom survived to adulthood, future barrister Woronzow Grieg. Samuel also opposed Marys studying mathematics and science, but after his death in 1807- followed by the death of their son- she found herself with the opportunity and financial resources to pursue her mathematical interests. She returned to Scotland with Woronzow and began to study astronomy and mathematics seriously.  Ã‚  On the advice of William Wallace, a mathematics teacher at a military college, she acquired a library of books on mathematics.  She began solving math problems posed by a mathematics journal, and in 1811 won a medal for a solution she submitted. She married Dr. William Somerville in 1812, another cousin. Somerville was the head of the army medical department in London and he warmly supported her study, writing, and contact with scientists. Scientific Endeavors Four years after marrying, Mary Somerville and her family moved to London. Their social circle included the leading scientific and literary lights of the day, including Ada Bryon and her mother Maria Edgeworth, George Airy, John and William Herschel, George Peacock, and Charles Babbage. Mary and William had three daughters (Margaret, 1813–1823; Martha, born 1815, and Mary Charlotte, born 1817), and a son who died in infancy. They also traveled extensively in Europe. In 1826, Somerville began publishing papers on scientific subjects based on her own research. After 1831, she began writing about the ideas and work of other scientists as well. One book, The Connection of the Physical Sciences, contained discussion of a hypothetical planet that might be affecting the orbit of Uranus. That prompted John Couch Adams to search for the planet Neptune, for which is he is credited as a co-discoverer. Mary Somervilles translation and expansion of Pierre Laplaces Celestial Mechanics in 1831 won her acclaim and success: that same year, British prime minister Robert Peel awarded her a civil pension of 200 pounds annually. In 1833, Somerville and Caroline Herschel were named honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society, the first time women had earned that recognition. Prime Minister Melbourne increased her salary to 300 pounds in 1837. William Somervilles health deteriorated and in 1838 the couple moved to Naples, Italy. She stayed there most of the remainder of her life, working and publishing. In 1848, Mary Somerville published  Physical Geography, a book used for 50 years in schools and universities; although at the same time, it attracted a sermon against it in York Cathedral. William Somerville died in 1860. In 1869, Mary Somerville published yet another major work, was awarded a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Death By 1871, Mary Somerville had outlived her husbands, a daughter, and all of her sons: she wrote, Few of my early friends now remain- I am nearly left alone.  Mary Somerville died in Naples on November 29, 1872, just before turning 92. She had been working on another mathematical article at the time and regularly read about higher algebra and solved problems each day. Her daughter published Personal Recollections of Mary Somerville the next year, parts of a work which Mary Somerville had completed most of before her death. Publications 1831 (first book): The Mechanism of the Heavens- translating and explaining Pierre Laplaces celestial mechanics.1834: On the Connection of the Physical Sciences- this book continued in new editions through 1877.1848: Physical Geography- the first book in England on Earths physical surface, widely used as a textbook at schools and universities for 50 years.1869: On Molecular and Microscopic Science- about physics and chemistry. Major Awards and Honors One of the first two women admitted to the Royal Astronomical Society (the other was Caroline Herschel).Somerville College, Oxford University, is named for her.Dubbed Queen of Nineteenth-Century Science by a newspaper on her death.Organizational Affiliations: Somerville College, Oxford University, Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Geographical Society, American Philosophical Society. Sources Neeley, Kathryn and Mary Somerville. Mary Somerville: Science, Illumination and the Female Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Somerville, Martha. Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age of Mary Somerville, with Selections from her Correspondence. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1874.OConnor, J. J. and E. F. Robertson. Mary Fairfax Greig Somerville. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 1999.Patterson, Elizabeth Chambers. Mary Somerville and the Cultivation of Science, 1815–1840. Springer, Dordrecht, 1983.

Intangible Assets in Finances

Intangible Assets in Finances Intangible assets are those assets that cannot be seen, in the past it has been difficult to value them since they lacked production cost and their value was not quantifiable. Either way, these assets are ever present in the many organizations, both profit making and non profit making.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Intangible Assets in Finances specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is crucial for intangible assets to be measured since they play a major role in a firm’s aggressive sustainability. Also, some scholars believe that these assets are the backbone for a company’s growth. That being the case, there is a challenge of valuing them. Companies like CPA/ABVs have been created to specifically measure intangible assets. Examples of these assets include trademarks and copyrights (King Wiley, 2006). There are about four ways of measuring intangible assets, but the one that is commonly used is the disco unted cash flow method. In this method, intangible assets are valued according to how much money these assets will generate when put in use. This value should include taxes arising from the implementation of the asset, the risks involved, the cost of acquiring the assets, roles played by auxiliary intangible and tangible assets and finally the discount fee. This method is particularly used to measure the value of assets like expertise, computer programmes and franchises. The reason why this method is popular is because it does not require volumes of paper work to figure out the value and also it does not require highly skilled accountants to compute. Also, judging from other methods, this one appears to be more accurate and more focused on the future (King Wiley, 2006). However, since valuing of intangible assets is subjected to biasness, it is of at most important that more than one method be used. Using more than one method will lead to a more believable and a convincing value. T o give an example, the avoided cost method takes into consideration of what the value of an asset might have been in the past, but it does not include what its value will be in the future. To do that you will need to use the discounted cash flow method (Reilly Schweihs, 2004). The importance of valuing of intangible assets has been rapidly realized by companies all over the world. This is because the methodologies applied can be used to calculate the historical advancement value, potential value in the future and the economic value on tangible goods. Also, it justifies companies to charge consumers the cost arising from using intangible assets (Reilly Schweihs, 2004). Due to the application of methods of measuring intangible assets, it has brought some changes in the way trade is carried out. At the moment, intangible assets are recognized from a consumer’s viewpoint. Nevertheless, in the recent times, the viewpoint has changed from a consumer’s viewpoint to that of a market accomplice.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This means that the consumer will have to appreciate the cost arising from using various goods and services. This is irrespective of whether the consumer intends to use the intangible asset or not. It also means that consumers will have to pay for intangible assets which were once regarded as of having no value. In the end, consumers will be able to see charges of intangible assets in their pay slips and receipts (King Wiley, 2006). Even though this paper has been written by an accountant to another accountant, it is important that the general public reads it. By reading this paper, they will come to understand some of the charges that are imposed on them when they buy various goods and services. References King, A., Wiley, J. ( 2006). Fair Value for Financial Reporting: Meeting the New FASB Requirements. New Jerse y: McGraw-Hill. Reilly, R., Schweihs, R. (2004). Handbook of Business Valuation and Intellectual Property Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.