Casestudy Deepwater Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Casestudy Deepwater - Essay Example In view of a report by the National Commission with respect to the oil slick on fifth January 2011, it was found that these three associations made an endeavor to work significantly more efficiently; this set off the beginning of the blast and in this way resulting spillage. â€Å"Whether proposed or not, dominant part of the choices made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean heightened the danger of the Macondo victory while at the same time sparing them a lot of time and money.†The government alongside numerous different associations accountable for the case attempted to get the opportunity to make sense of reality with regards to who is truly to fault. All the previously mentioned associations, BP, Halliburton, and Transocean ought to surely be considered responsible for the Deepwater Oil Spill mishap. As far as anyone knows, it was not purposeful. In any case, there were extreme outcomes accordingly and every one of the three had a functioning task to carry out in it. Prior on, BP discharged an announcement expressing that, even preceding the fruition of the examination by the commission, BP had consolidated generous and satisfactory changes intended to improve wellbeing just as hazard the board. To this, Transocean reacted by accusing BP for showing up at choices before the genuine event of the blast and the administration authorities for yielding the choices. As indicated by Halliburton’s report, it was only executing the sets of BP when it really infused the concrete into the well’s divider. It went further to reprimand BP for its certain inability to complete a concrete bond log test. Accurately, BP was blamed for nine blemishes. As I would see it, they should all be considered liable for the episode on the grounds that each had a job to lay in it. The punishment ought to change dependent on the size of one’s deficiencies however. As I would see it, there is nothing more significant than security. Security assists with keeping people alive and solid. In each association, every activity or procedure should just be done if wellbeing is found out. For business, the issue of wellbeing

Definition of Japanese Hontou, or Really

Meaning of Japanese Hontou, or Really Those of us for whom English is our first language probably won't understand the amount we utilize the word truly in regular discussions. Frequently, somebody will reveal to us a frightening certainty or offer a to some degree amazing expression and the normal reaction is, Really? There are numerous approaches to state the word truly for speakers of Japanese. One of the most widely recognized ways isâ hontou. Composing and Saying Hontou Japanese Characters: æÅ" ¬Ã¥ ½Ã£â‚¬â€š (㠁 »Ã£â€šÃ£  ¨Ã£ â€ Ã£â‚¬â€š)Pronunciation of Hontou. Different Ways to Say Really? hontou ni: Really, be that as it may, there is a more grounded accentuation on the ni so it will in general be a more grounded rendition of the word in verbal and composed structure. Instances of truly in a Japanese conventional discussion are: Hontou ni hajimete desu ka? (Is it actually your first time?); Hontou ni yoku nite iru! (She’s truly like you!); Hontou ni sono saabisu wa tadadesuka? (So is your administration truly free?).hontou desu ka: Are you certain? could be utilized inâ place of hontou in formal situations. Hontou desu ka permits you to communicate more uncertainty when saying truly? in Japanese.sou desu ka: Is that so? or on the other hand Are you sure?hontoudesu: It is valid, or It is a fact.honki: Really. Hon implies valid, and ki implies soul or condition. Model: Honki desu ka? (Is it accurate to say that you are not kidding?) Assets and Further Reading â€Å"Hontou?† Nihongo De Care-Navi, Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, 2019.â€Å"Question to Teacher: HONTOU versus HONTOUNI.† Japanese From Zero, Yes Japan, 17 July 2009.

Blog Archive MBA Career Advice Mistaken Mistakes People Make, Part 1

Blog Archive MBA Career Advice Mistaken Mistakes People Make, Part 1 In this weekly series, our friends at MBA Career Coaches will dispense invaluable advice to help you actively manage your career. Topics include building your network, learning from mistakes and setbacks, perfecting your written communication, and mastering even the toughest interviews. For more information or to sign up for a free career consultation, visit  www.mbacareercoaches.com. Why do interviewers ask about mistakes/errors/setbacks, etc.? They ask because these are tough questions to answer. While that may seem obvious, we should note that they are not asking to stump you. They are, in fact, trying to get to know you betterâ€"they are asking because they want to force you to open up so that they can get to the “real” you. Real people are human; they err; they have moments of vulnerability. Many interviewers say the mistake question is the first one in the interview that really brings the candidate to life. That is why most of them ask some form of this question. Why can you not circumvent a mistake question? Simply put, if you do not answer a mistake question sincerely, you sound ridiculous. One of the silliest approaches people take to avoid answering is using a   “disguised strength,” typified by the clichéd answer: “I take on too much!” If you respond with a disguised strength, your interviewer will see through it and think that you are playing him/her for a fool. In short, don’t do it.   It won’t help youâ€"it will hurt you! So, what should your answer be? How about discussing an actual mistake that you made?   The key here is that you need to choose a mistake that hurts a little bitâ€"that leaves you a little bit exposed to criticismâ€"but is still consistent with the values of the firm at which you are interviewing. Let’s take a look at two answers: 1)           “At the beginning of my career, I was a little bit lazy, and I missed a few deadlines. My boss gave me a terrible review and cited laziness as the reason. This was a call to action for me, and I started to take my work more seriously….” 2)           “I needed a design project done in a hurry, and instead of asking for proposals, I hired a friend. In hindsight, it is clear to me that I should have set a professional tone for our working relationship, but I maintained a casual ‘vibe’ and thus struggled to get the project across the finish line….” In example number one, our interviewee not only reveals laziness, which is inconsistent with the values of any firm, but he also reveals a complete lack of awareness that laziness was even a problem, because he needed a performance review for it to register with him. Clearly, example one is as bad or possibly worse than “I take on too much.” What about example number two? Well, this individual acknowledges a mistake (a poor choice and poor management of a relationship, leading to problems on a project), which leaves him a bit exposed to criticism, but his mistake is relatableâ€"many of us have struggled with managing friends in some capacity. Our interviewer is human. He is fallible. And most of all, he is honest with his interviewer, which means that he has opened up and revealed his true selfâ€"which is exactly what the interviewer wanted! For more tips on how to use failures and mistakes to your advantage in interviews and in your personal growth, be sure to check out our fail upwards series on the MBA Career Coaches blog. Share ThisTweet MBA Career Advice

Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal - 1111 Words

In 1729, Ireland was at its worst, economically and politically, under the complete control of England. England had control over Ireland in every aspect: politically, militarily, and economically. Because England was tremendously profiting from Ireland’s dependency on them, they cared very little about the conditions that the Ireland people were having to live under. Jonathan Swift, an Ireland satirist, felt obligated to change the conditions that the people of Ireland and himself were living in. In a proposal, Swift uses extreme irony and exaggeration to bring attention to what he is truly trying to reciprocate to his audience. Through â€Å"A Modest Proposal†, Swift turns to the political leaders and the mistreated people of Ireland†¦show more content†¦(Swift 319) The expeditions that he writes about towards the end of his proposal are his true solutions to this problem of debt, overpopulation, and pride in Ireland. Swift gains the reader’s attention and curiosity through an absurd solution such as cannibalism of Irelands children, but then Swift reveals that there are simpler, more logical ways that Ireland can be helped. First, Jonathan Swift suggests that the people of Ireland should be taxing their landowner’s absences at five shillings a pound. Swift mentioned that most of the land that was worth owning in Ireland was owned by the people of England. Swift suggests that they should start taxing these owners while they are not using the property which would benefit Ireland’s economy tremendously (Moore). Swift also says that the people of Ireland should not being using clothes or any house-hold furniture that is not of Ireland’s own growth and development and should be rejecting any foreign luxuries. In other wor ds, Swift is telling the people of Ireland to buy from Ireland and to stop contributing to England’s economy by getting goods such as clothes, furniture, and other easy to make goods. He suggests throughout his proposal that Ireland depends on England forShow MoreRelatedRhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal722 Words   |  3 PagesA Modest Rhetorical Analysis Since its original publishing in 1729, Jonathan Swift’s pamphlet â€Å"A Modest Proposal† has endured for its rhetorical complexity (and sheer satirical absurdities). Through judicious use of ethos (ethical appeal), logos (logical appeal), and pathos (emotional appeal), Swift crafts a sarcastic, insincere, overly embellished argument to address Irelands food shortage and economic crisis meant to simultaneously entice and repulse readers. His audience is explicitly asked toRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal 1863 Words   |  8 PagesRhetorical Analysis: A Modest Proposal In â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† Jonathan Swift provides a satirical exploration of the attitudes of the wealthy people towards the underprivileged and poor children in the society. Laymen and intellectuals during the late seventeenth century distributed political pamphlets containing different ideas throughout Ireland. In his essay, Swift utilizes some of the overlooked pamphlets during this period and develops an ironic proposal. As a colony of the British, IrelandRead MoreModest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis745 Words   |  3 Pageshim to make a proposal for a solution to poverty, where he ignores the concern of human morale by displaying the lacking efforts of England to help. Swift uses methods that work to get or help better understand a situation, for example being sarcastic in a situation where a person wants something out of the situation by satire. The undeniable effect of satire catches the attention of England to further display the poverty of Ireland which is displaye d throughout Swift’s Modest Proposal with exaggerationRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Swift s A Modest Proposal1076 Words   |  5 Pages Mansoon Acharya Kayla Schreiber H1003 October 10, 2017 Rhetorical Analysis on Swift’s A Modest Proposal A Modest Proposal is a sarcastic humored essay that examines the attitude of the rich towards the poor starving children in their society. Swift uses many rhetorical devices. Swift uses logical metaphors, repetition, and humor, satire and sarcasm tone to point out the negative attitudes. He starts by blaming the mothers of the children by telling them they should work hard and work honestly insteadRead MoreRhetorical Analysis of a Modest Proposal Essay1216 Words   |  5 PagesAll the Wrong Things Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal† written in 1729 was his proposal â€Å"for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to he publick† (Swift, Title). This proposal included the selling, skinning and buying of babies at the age of one. This proposal that he has come up with is a very inhuman and controversial one when it comes to being socially acceptable. Swift begins his essay by describingRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift854 Words   |  4 PagesA Modest Proposal† is an essay by Jonathan Swift that gives some type of a solution to the hunger problem in Ireland. Swift espouse an ironic approach that guarantee a surprise ending. At the beginning of the essay, he cornerstones his proposal that will be good for the public and diminish economic troubles. The proposal that Swift advances concerns the selling of poor Irish children to the rich, so that they could suffice as food. In addition, he points out that this will ease the pressures on theRead MoreEssay on Rhetorical Analysis of a Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift639 Words   |  3 PagesJohnathan Swift wrote Modest Proposal with the idea to better humanity.. When you first read it you miss what the true message is. You think â€Å"Man this guy is a monster!† or â€Å"He’s sick!†, but once you reach the end the true mea ning of the proposal hits you. When Jonathan Swift wrote a Modest Proposal he tried to get his audience to see the problem by taking it and providing an unethical and inhumane solution then using rhetorical devices to bring out people’s emotions. Of the many devices he usedRead MoreThe Shock Factor of A Modest Proposal by by Johnathan Swift 789 Words   |  3 PagesRhetorical Analysis of â€Å"A Modest Proposal† â€Å"A Modest Proposal† by Johnathan Swift was intended to use shock factor as incentive to get the British Parliament to come up with a workable plan to deal with the multitude of poor children in Ireland (Swift). If logic is applied to the proposal, ignoring the fact that the proposal was not meant to be taken seriously and the blatant sometimes over-the-top sarcasm occasionally used, several parts of it would cause an uproar and quite possibly a revolutionRead MoreNotes On Reading : Https1593 Words   |  7 Pagesto turnitin.com by 11:59pm on Monday, March 14th. Your answers will then be shared and discussed in groups, where you will then turn in ONE answer key per group based on specific questions from below and/or questions using your answers for deeper analysis. We will then further discuss this piece of writing. How does Swift want the reader to view the speaker? What features best describe the â€Å"persona† he adopts? Give examples from the text. Jonathan Swift wants the readers to view him as a pragmaticRead MoreEffective Persuasive Techniques Used By John Donne s `` The Flea ``1480 Words   |  6 PagesEffective Argument Techniques Effective argumentative and persuasive techniques are a course of reasoning aimed at validating or falsifying the truth in an argument. With an in-depth analysis of literature, the perplex intentions of a writer that use such techniques can be revealed. Methods such as logical fallacies, rhetorical devices, and satirical devices are three approaches that construct a piece of work on a more compelling level. Behind these elements of writing, there are a multitude of purposes

Personal Narrative Dream Come True - 1033 Words

Dream Come True? A family rule I had growing up was that you were not aloud to get your ears pierced until you were eight years old. I wanted my ears pierced so badly. I used to wear fake earrings to school all the time. I didn’t know much about ear piercings, other than the fact that I felt so grown up when I wore earrings. All I knew was that someone would use a special tool, I would feel a pinch, and then BAM! I would be a grown up in no time. I remember my eighth birthday felt like an eternity away. I could hardly contain my excitement when it was finally just around the corner. My family and I had traveled out of town to my grandparents house in the Gila Valley, that’s where I would be sending my birthday. I had lived in the†¦show more content†¦The woman looked down at me. She grabbed my hand. â€Å"Here, smell this,† she said, as she began dousing my hand in a strong scented oil, â€Å"it will help you calm down.† I’ve never been one that enjoys having my personal bubble space violated; a strange woman touching my arm and pouring oil all over my hand triggered my internal alarm. I began to freak out. I just wanted out of that building so desperately, but I stayed put. Then, as if one stranger wasn’t enough, another complete stranger entered the room. She was much younger that Ms. Spray Tan, maybe in her teens. She wore dark, exposing clothes, and had some crazy over-dyed hair. She approached me. I looked up and stared at her many piercings jumbled all over her face. The two strangers stood on each side of me. Needles suddenly appeared in their hands. My mom’s face filled with worry. Each woman grabbed one of my ears and the older boss lady started counting down, I closed my eyes, â€Å"3...2...1†¦.† My heart beat louder and louder as each second passed by. Here comes the pinch. I braced myself for what was about to happen. â€Å"It will only be a second,† I repeated over and ove r in my head. I opened my eyes. My mom’s face switched from worry to horror. â€Å"That earring is coming out of the bottom of her ear lobe!† She cried. The teen at my side looked down at the wretched job she had done. She looked at me unapologetically. The other woman stretched across my body, once again violating my space, and jabbed another hole inShow MoreRelatedEssay about Personal Narrative- A Seinfeld Addicts Dream Come True3295 Words   |  14 PagesPersonal Narrative- A Seinfeld Addicts Dream Come True My heart ached. As constant as the waves of the sea slap the rocks, so the emptiness lurked. The icy hand of desperation wrapped me up and constricted. I was suffocating in that dismal abyss of loathsome sitcoms. I lamented but nobody heard, my pain had no companions. No! Why? Why? Why? I cried. I dropped down on my knees and flailed my arms wildly. My lamentation sliced through the air like a blade through butter. Worry not MichaelRead MoreConfusion in War1394 Words   |  6 Pageswar that the U.S. has ever lost. Losing the war may have been a direct result of a draft that placed young men in Vietnam, many of whom had absolutely no personal goals other than survival. This sets the scene for Going After Cacciato and its main character Paul Berlin. The book is told in the form of three stories. Sixteen chapters are a narrative of the real war, focusing on the deaths of the men in Berlin’s squadron, another ten chapters depict a single full night when Berlin decides to take theRead MoreAn Analysis Of The Boat By Alistair Macleod1343 Words   |  6 Pagesis difficult to be happy with a career chosen in order to please someone else. In each story, the protagonists feel compelled to follow a path that is not their own, but rather one chosen fo r them by their parents who are blind to the protagonist’s true desires. The narrator in The Boat is conflicted throughout the story as he tries to reconcile his own ambition of attending university with the expectation he will continue the family tradition as a fisherman. At the beginning of the story, he describesRead MoreRomulus My Father - Belonging1451 Words   |  6 PagesIt is in human nature to strive towards a sense of Belonging, a process that incites the creation, or deterioration of a sense of personal and cultural identification. The memoir, Romulus, My Father, by Raimond Gaita; John Guare’s play, Six Degrees of Separation; and Tim Winton’s short story, Big World, from the collection, The Turning, explore the concept that Belonging is the driving force for the human condition. Each composer represents their varied perceptions of belonging in their texts, conveyingRead MoreAnalysis Of The Witch Of Atlas772 Words   |  4 Pagesrevealing world of dr eams. From the beginning of stanza sixty-three, Shelley continues the story of the Witch’s travels on her boat by contrasting the Witch’s graceful journey with the humanity of spontaneous, uncontrolled dreams. He compares these nightly adventures to navigating a â€Å"wide lake† full of dangers, and notes that humans are only â€Å"weak mariners† of that vast expanse (91). In essence, this is a reference to our inability to control the path we take in our nightly dreams. Often they takeRead MoreAnalysis Of The Film Sankofa 964 Words   |  4 Pagesexpress a narrative based in New World enslavement, the film Sankofa (Gerima, 1994), works to use both historic and culturally embodied experiences to advance questions of race, notions of selfhood, and political value, through the ideology of Sankofa. Sankofa is an Adinka term from the Ghanaian Twi language, ideologically meaning that people of African descent must â€Å"go back and get it,† with â€Å"itâ €  referring to an essential Afrocentricity necessary to achieve racial, social, and personal, wholenessRead MoreAnalysis Of The Of A Salesman And Millers And Williams Plays1102 Words   |  5 Pagesplays. I will use Fences, The Hungry Woman, Topdog/Underdog, Glengarry Glen Ross, Six Degrees of Separation, and The Heidi Chronicles to support my claim. To start off, I will come up with working definitions of modernism and post-modernism. Modernism is a movement in culture that seeks to set an ultimate grand narrative of society. It provides the lenses through which we should view and judge societal operations. Essentially, it creates sweeping definitions for everything in society that shouldRead MoreOld Testament Apocalyptic By Daniel. Daniel1176 Words   |  5 Pagesbecause in the Hebrew Bible, Daniel had dreams and visions which also involved angelic intermediaries Daniel s writings also involve a comprehensive view of prophetic history. This prophetic history begins with a young Jewish exile around the 600BC -586 who had experienced persecution, and intimidation, but once in Babylon impressed the leaders with his intellect and good perception. Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar s (the king of Babylon) dream (Daniel 2:31-33). A single great: statue;Read MoreAn Interview with F. Scott Fitzgerald964 Words   |  4 PagesDailyTimes Newspaper F Scott Fitzgerald has been one of the most recognizable authors out there today. Many people admire his work, but he’s hard to catch and follow due to his busy schedule and personal lifestyle being an alcoholic. On the 19th of November 1925 I was given a chance to meet up with F. Scott Fitzgerald, to discuss about the eminent novel written by him â€Å"The Great Gatsby† at his house in Los Angeles. The books about a poor turned wealthy man, Gatsby and his attempt on getting hisRead MoreGreat Performances Of Media Do Not Always Have On Involve Theatrical Acrobatics1147 Words   |  5 PagesGreat performances in media do not always have to involve theatrical acrobatics. An actor’s range or displays of genuine, emotional depth are necessary to build a character that is alive and multi-faceted. But, an actor’s ability to encapsulate a narrative within one’s own character is what is truly a display of an artist. Poetry has a phrase to describe the use of as few words as possible to encompass vast terrain of depth called the economy of language. Actors may not know it, but they operate on

Physician Assisted Suicide Should It Be Legal Or Banned...

Physician-Assisted Suicide: should it be legal or banned According to s. 241 (b) of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, it is a crime in Canada to assist a person to end his own life. People who are grievously and irremediably ill can not seek physician-assisted suicide in dying and may be condemned to a life of intolerable suffering. This bill makes the patients lose the right of independent choice and brings more pain to their families. It is no doubt that the legalization of physician-assisted death and euthanasia is beneficial to both society and family. The legalization of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia has a positive effect on the society, and it is more conducive to social stability. When the patients suffer from an irreversible physical and psychological pain, they face this prospect with two options: they can end their own life prematurely, often by suicide, or they can suffer until death by natural causes. If they choose suicide, it will be a negative effect on society. On the other hand, according to the World Health Organization, nearly 50 percent of Africans are not entitled to any medical services, so this fact has caused the social justice imbalance and serious social contradictions. If euthanasia is decriminalized, not only be able to let the sick patient end their own life with dignity, but also conducive to the conservation and utilization of resources. There are some legal experts take antithetical attitudes towards euthanasia; they believe thatShow MoreRelatedThe Euthanasia Debate1211 Words   |  5 Pagescontrolled medical environment. Similarly, physician assisted suicide (PAS) is when a patient requests a lethal prescription from a doctor or pharmacist to end their life before a fatal disease does. The two are akin to each other and are almost interchangeable in definitions. Being a highly controversial topic, there is a plethora of arguments surrounding PAS, all very emotionally driven and opinionated. There are those who firmly believe that euthanasia should be legal, pointing to morality and ethics toRead MoreThe Hippocratic Oath Of Medical Ethics Essay1579 Words   |  7 Pagesancient times in Greece. While, he was extremely knowledgeable about medicine and medical practices, he showed a profound insight in ethics. Because of this, doctors all around the world have looked to his oath as the guiding principles every docto r should strive to hold him or herself to. Moreover, some of the best doctors have held themselves to these standards. We have seen exceptionally passionate and caring doctors part in fact because they were guided by these principles. So, the sort of ethicalRead MoreEuthanasia Essay : Physician Assisted Suicide1566 Words   |  7 Pagesquestion of when? You ve said your farewells. Presently in the event that you had the opportunity to pick how your life finished, how would you choose it? In physician assisted suicide, the option to end a patient’s life is provided to a patient with knowledge of the patient s intention. Unlike euthanasia, in physician assisted suicide, physicians makes death accessible, but does not specifically regulate the death (Broeckaert 1). Euthanasia is putting someone to death who is suffering from a painRead MoreShould Euthanasia Be Legalized?1536 Words   |  7 Pagesimmunodeficiency syndrome (Back et al. 919). This study also uncovered that †Å"the patient concerns most often perceived by physicians were worries about loss of control, being a burden, being dependent on others for personal care, and loss of dignity† (Back et al. 919). Although some argue that euthanasia is the best way to die for terminally-ill patients, it should be banned because its regulation will yield complex and unwelcome ramifications. Euthanasia has a very complex and extensive historyRead MoreThe Controversy Of The Practice Of Euthanasia1605 Words   |  7 Pageseuthanasia is in my opinion a mercy and should not be banned because in reality it doesn’t physically hurt anyone. You could say it hurts the patient but then again that patient is already in tremendous pain or in an incapacitated state of no recovery, as in paralyzed or brain damage etc., so in reality it would actually help them by assisting ending their pain by assisted suicide. A doctors job is also always help their patients and the practice of assisted suicide in many ways is actually helping theRead MoreEssay about Outlaw Euthanasia and Assisted Suicides1472 Words   |  6 PagesEuthanasia and Assisted Suicides The people of the world today are constantly slammed with problems. There’s overpopulated countries, starving children, incurable diseases, and poverty. There’re drunk drivers on the road, burglars in our homes, and teenagers on the streets. No matter how many positive aspects you can think of for our world, these problems and many more exist. You can try to block them out, or you can strive to make them better. My proposal is to end euthanasia and physician assistedRead MorePhysician Assisted Death For The Terminally Ill1601 Words   |  7 Pages University Name Name of The Institute Course Title A Report on Physician assisted death for the terminally ill in US Student Name Introduction In United States, Euthanasia  is a highly controversial subject among politicians, legislators and society members. Just the mention of this issue polarizes different groups on opposing ends as some either support it and others want to keep it illegal and unlawful(Steck, Egger, Maessen, Reisch, Zwahlen, 2013). The main ideology that is discussedRead MoreThe Killer of Hope: Euthanasia1076 Words   |  4 Pagessolution when there is hope? Take a second and think about how will a one say goodbye to the ones he love? The answer is obvious, it is impossible to let go of those we love. Hence, one should keep an open mind to the following lines whether you are against or for Euthanasia. Euthanasia or so called physician assisted death stand for intended cessation of person’s life at situation of terminal illness. This is done by either by proposing a fatal drug or withdrawing life-supporting therapy in order toRead MoreEssay On Death With Dignity Act1398 Words   |  6 Pagesare given a list of steps that must be fulfilled. Once a patient in Oregon is granted permission to die via physician assisted suicide, they are given specific medication in which help them end their life quickly. Since Oregon has legalized this, over 70 patients have participated and the number continues to grow. More and more states are pushing to get the legalization of assisted suicide, in order for patients from all over the United States to be able to end their life with doctor’s assistanceRead MoreEuthanasia is NOT Ethical or Moral Essays1046 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to the Oxford Dictionary, euthanasia is a medically assisted death; painlessly killing a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease. Euthanasia usually allows the medical doctor to be in charge of giving the option of death to the patient or asking the patient’s relatives to euthanize the patient. Many victims of euthanasia involve the elderly or newborn infants. Euthanasia is unet hical, impacting negatively the lives of many people. Euthanasia is still performed, even

Integrated Supply Chain and Advantage †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Integrated Supply Chain and Advantage. Answer: It is an important part of business to have a set of efficient, responsive and fast supply chain. An organization can deliver better value by gaining competitive advantage. This can be done by running supply chain networks, evaluating and implementing the necessary changes which will respond to the dynamic business scenarios. Introduction of new product, changes in demand pattern, addition of new supply sources and change in tax rules and regulations are included in the dynamic business cases. Supply chain network is a strong approach which helps to provide a remarkable decrease in the supply chain costs and thus improves service levels by aligning with the supply chain strategies. As it is mentioned in the case study, the consultancy firm Accenture is able to increase the companys market capitalization above the industry average. For realization of these benefits, there are important investments done in the logistics system required at the level of supply chain networks. An efficient logistics system is essential to make the effective use of international sourcing strategies, specifically the large manufacturing capacity of Pacific Rim and China (Christopher 2016). It will be helpful for the organization to use supply chain managers in different sectors that are looking for better visibility of the whereabouts of the supply chains and access more appropriate data at a faster pace. Integrated supply chain allows a company to highlight the on those assets which would allow the organization to move forward by achieving rewards. These are considered as assets of the organization which deliver a strong impact on the revenue system. This, in turn needs to be enhanced as much as possible because it allows the companies to improve their products, gain profits and boost market share. ISC is also responsible for reducing the transactional costs. Without it, there would have been a possibility in delayed processes leading to unnecessary costs. Apart from these, supply chain also helps in ensuring quality throughout the process. Along with the financial advantages, the company will be able to fight in the competitive market and become the winner with this management (Mangan and Lalwani 2016). The disadvantages include excessive regulation where the integration of all the suppliers will become a challenge in the management of both internal and external supply. There might evolve a complex scenario where the resource can be wasted unnecessarily due to integrated supply chain management. A shortage of suppliers who will not permit in the renewal of contracts with respect to integrated supply chain management will violate the priorities of the specific business. Again, there could be damage in the balance and checks with the arrival of any kinds of lapse in the compliance checks. There are a number of key attributes involved in the logistics system. According to the case study the three significant aspects are integration, time/service and movement of product. The process of logistics interfaces and interacts with the total company and also with the external companies, vendors, customers, carriers and other stakeholders of the company. Logistics is responsible for the movement of products from the vendors to the delivery at your customers doors. This involves the moves through manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and third-parties, such as re-packagers or distributors. It is not only about shipping and receiving, nor is it traffic or warehousing but something more than that (Ross 2015). Movement of product is sometimes the way in which logistics is considered by many companies. It is considered as a complementary method of the corporate strategy, if the stress is put on the lower inventories, reduction of costs, customer service or others. Time/ service on the other hand, is a factor of competition, requirements of the customers, companys place and position in the industry and the corporate culture involved with it. Integration takes place within the company, between the company and the customers or between the customers and the vendors. It is one of the important processes in logistics. Supply chain information technology or SCIT is the prime force behind effective supply chain management activities. IT provides many opportunities for the companies to decrease the costs and enhance the responsiveness to the customers demands. Other services enabled by IT in the field of supply chain management are environment friendly and clean services; less capital intensive services; it is not dependent on location so cam be conducted from anywhere; it does not need any costly infrastructure facilities. The different IT solutions involved in the process are- communications, E- mail, electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning. With the booming IT industry and internet being the key driver, the suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are getting connected. Internet has a big influence on the total business strategy starting from policy to physical implementation. The area where the impact of IT is felt in a great way is communication, selection of vendors, cost saving, reduction in the lead time taken and improves the product promotional activities (Stevens and Johnson 2016). The three different ways in which technology can fulfill its roles is by using the best communication tools for the job, availability of good data and access to solid tools of analytics and staying updated with information. The process of supply chain is concerned with the flow of products and information from one supply chain member to another in the organization. In todays world, there is an immediate need for immediate communication always at an instant. It becomes convenient but at the same time there is a possibility of miscommunication. To see and listen to a person while communicating is considered as an effective communication. In the process of supply chain management, whether monitoring inventories or performance metrics, technology plays an important role. The main factor behind effective use of metrics is to have a hold of solid and reliable data. It is important to stay updated with the recent information through the use of technology which provides knowledge about the industry. Reference Christopher, M., 2016.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C., 2016.Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley Sons. Ross, D.F., 2015. Information Technology and Supply Chain Management. InDistribution Planning and Control(pp. 827-886). Springer US. Seuring, S., 2013. A review of modeling approaches for sustainable supply chain management.Decision support systems,54(4), pp.1513-1520. Stevens, G.C. and Johnson, M., 2016. Integrating the supply chain 25 years on.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management,46(1), pp.19-42.

LUXEMBOURG Location Luxembourg Is Located In Europe And Is Bordered By

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Sports in The Man Who Would Be King essays

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P300-based Brain-Computer Interface Performance Enhancement

P300-based Brain-Computer Interface Performance Enhancement Enhancing Performance and Bitrates in a P300-based Brain-Computer Interface for Disabled Subjects by Phase-to-Amplitude Cross-Frequency Coupling Stavros I.Dimitriadis1,2*, Avraam D. Marimpis3 1Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK 2Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Center, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK 3Brain Innovation B.V., Netherlands Abstract A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a communication system that transforms brain-activity into specific commands for managing a computer or other home or electrical devices. In other words, a BCI is an alternative way of interacting with the environment by using brain-activity instead of muscles and nerves. For that reason, BCI systems are of high clinical value for targeted populations suffering from neurological disorders. In this paper, we present a new processing approach of a well-known P300-BCI system for disabled subjects. Estimating cross-frequency coupling (CFC) and namely ÃŽÂ ´-ÃŽÂ ¸ phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) within sensor, we succeeded high classification accuracy and high bitrates for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. The system is tested with four severely disabled and four able-bodied subjects. The bitrates obtained for both the disabled and able-bodied subjects reached the fastest reported level of 10 bits/sec. The new preprocessing approach based o n recordings from the single-sensor Pz while the classification accuracy is tested also for others electrodes. Keywords: Brain-computer interface; P300; Disabled subjects; cross-frequency coupling; accuracy *Corresponding author: Dr.Dimitriadis Stavros Research Fellow School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK CUBRIC Neuroimaging Center, Cardiff,UK Introduction From the very first work of Farwell and Donchin [1] the majority of P300-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems focused on developing new application scenarios [2,3], and on developing and testing new algorithms for the reliable detection of the P300 waveform from noisy datasets [4-8]. For a review of P300, an interested can read the [9-10]. Ten years ago, two pioneer studies have been first published presenting a P300 BCI system on disabled subjects. Piccione et al. (2006) [11] design a 2D cursor BCI control system where subjects had to concentrate on four arrows flashing every 2.5 sec in random order occupied the peripheral area of a computer screen. Five disabled and seven able-bodied subjects were participated on this experiment. For controlling this cursor, this four-choice P300 flashing arrow cursor was used. EEG signals were recorded using four EEG sensors and electro-oculogram. Using independent component analysis and neural networks, Piccione et al. [11] demonstrated that P300 can be a valuable control signal for disabled subjects. However, the communication system was too low compared to state of the art systems [5,8]. Sellers and Donchin (2006) [12] designed a four choice BCI experiment with four stimuli (YES, NO, PASS, END) that were presented every 1.4 s in random order, in two different modalities either visual or auditory or in a combined mode. Three subjects suffering with ALS and three able-bodied subjects performed the experiment. EEG recordings from three sensors were classified using a stepwise linear discriminant algorithm (LDA). They demonstrated that communication via a P300 system is possible for subjects suffering from ALS. Additionally, they demonstrated that communication is possible in different modalities like the visual, auditory, and also in a combined auditory-visual mode. However, both the classification accuracy and the communication rate were low compared to the state of the art results. One of possible explanations of low accuracy and communication rate could be the low number of EEG sensors, the long inter-stimulus intervals and the low number of trials. McCane et al., demonstrated a BCI system where both accuracy and communication rate did not differ significantly between ALS users and HVs. Although ERP morphology was similar for the two groups, the target ERPs differed significantly in the location and amplitude of the late positivity (P300), the amplitude of the early negativity (N200), and the latency of the late negativity (LN) [13]. Hoffmann et al.,, demonstrated a six-choice P300 paradigm which was tested in a population of five disabled and four able-bodied subjects. Six different images were flashed in random order with an ISI of 400 ms [7]. They tested how the electrode configuration can influence the accuracy in order to detect the best channel selection. For four out of five disabled subjects and for all the able-bodied subjects both the communication rates and the classification accuracies were higher compared to the aforementioned studies [11,12]. The datasets in Hoffmann et al., study can be freely downloaded from the website of the EPFL BCI group (http://bci.epfl.ch/p300). In the present study, we used the dataset from Hoffmann et al., study to demonstrate an alternative algorithmic approach with main scope to improve the bitrates up to the limits. For that occasion, we adopted a cross-frequency coupling (CFC) estimator namely phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) to quantify how the phase of the lower frequency brain rhythms modulates the amplitude of the higher oscillations. The whole approach was followed in a trial basis and within sensors located over parieto-occipital brain areas. PAC proved to be a valuable estimator in many applications like the design of a biomarker: for amnestic mild cognitive impairment subjects during an auditory oddball paradigm [14], for dyslexia [15], for mild traumatic brain injury [16]. The layout of the paper is as follows. In Section 2, we described the subject population, the experiments that were performed, and the methods used for data pre-processing steps of the proposed pipeline and the classification procedure. Results are presented in Section 3. Discussion is devoted in Section 4. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental setup Users were facing a laptop screen on which six images were displayed (see Fig. 1). The images showed a television, a telephone, a lamp, a door, a window and a radio. The images were selected according to an application scenario in which users can control electrical appliances via a BCI system. The application scenario served however only as an example and was not pursued in further detail. The images were flashed in random sequences, one image at a time. Each flash of an image lasted for 100 ms and during the following 300 ms none of the images was flashed, i.e. the inter-stimulus-interval was 400 ms. The EEG was recorded at 2048 Hz sampling rate from 32 electrodes placed at the standard positions of the 10-20 international system. A Biosemi Active Two amplifier was used for amplification and analog to digital conversion of the EEG signals. [Figure 1 around here] 2.2. Subjects The proposed methodology was applied to P300 BCI-oriented recordings derived from five disabled and four healthy subjects. The demographics of the four disabled are presented in (Table 1). Disabled subject 5 as excluded from further analysis. Subjects 6-9 were Ph.D. students that were recruited from EPFL BCI groups laboratory (all males, age 30 ±2.3). None of subjects 6-9 had known neurological deficits. For more information regarding the subjects, an interested reader should refer to the original paper [7]. Table 1. Subjects from which data was recorded in the study of the environment control system S1 S2 S3 S4 Diagnosis Cerebral palsy Multiple sclerosis Late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Traumatic brain and spinal-cord injury, C4 level Age 56 51 47 33 Age at illness onset 0 (perinatal) 37 39 27 sSex M M M F Speech production Mild dysarthria Mild dysarthria Severe dysarthria Mild dysarthria Limb muscle control Weak Weak Very Weak Weak Respiration control Normal Normal Weak Normal Voluntary eye movement Normal Mild nystagmus Normal Normal 2.3. Experimental schedule Each subject completed four recording sessions. The first two sessions were performed on one day and the last two sessions on another day. All subjects were recruited within maximum two weeks between the first and the last session. Each of the sessions consisted of six runs, one run for each of the six images. For further details about the protocol followed on this experiment see the original paper related to this dataset [7]. The following protocol was used in each of the runs. (i) Subjects were asked to count silently how often a prescribed image was flashed (for example: Now please count how often the image with the television is flashed). (ii) The six images were displayed on the screen and a warning tone was issued. (iii) Four seconds after the warning tone, a random sequence of flashes was started and the EEG was recorded. The sequence of flashes was block-randomized, this means that after six flashes each image was flashed once, after twelve flashes each image was flashed twice, etc. The number of blocks was chosen randomly between 20 and 25. On average 22.5 blocks of six flashes were displayed in one run, i.e. one run consisted on average of 22.5 target (P300) trials and 22.5ÃÆ'-5 = 112.5 non-target (non-P300) trials. (iv) In the second, third, and fourth session the target image was inferred from the EEG with a simple classifier. At the end of each run the image inferred by the classification algorithm was flashed five times to give feedback to the user. (v) After each run subjects were asked what their counting result was. This was done in order to monitor performance of the subjects. The duration of one run was approximately one minute and the duration of one session including setup of electrodes and short breaks between runs was approximately 30 min. One session comprised on average 810 trials, and the whole data for one subject consisted on average of 3240 trials. 2.4 Offline Analysis The impact of different single-sensor recordings on classification accuracy was tested in an offline procedure. For each subject four-fold cross-validation was used to estimate average classification accuracy. More specifically, the data from three recording sessions were used to train a classifier and the data from the left-out session was used for validation. This procedure was repeated four times so each session served once for validation. 2.4.1. Preprocessing Before learning a classification function and before validation, several preprocessing operations were applied to the data. The preprocessing operations were applied in the order stated below. Referencing. The average signal from the two mastoid electrodes was used for referencing. Filtering. A third order forward-backward Butterworth bandpass filter was used to filter the data.. The MATLAB function butter was used to compute the filter coefficients and the function filtfilt was used for filtering. The predefined frequencies were : ÃŽÂ ´ {0.5-4 Hz},ÃŽÂ ¸ {4-8 Hz},ÃŽÂ ±1 {8-10 Hz}, ÃŽÂ ±2 {10-13 Hz},ÃŽÂ ²1 {13-20 Hz},ÃŽÂ ²2 {20-30 Hz} and ÃŽÂ ³1 {30 45 Hz}. (iii) Downsampling. The EEG was down-sampled from 2048 Hz to 512 Hz by selecting each 4th sample from the bandpass-filtered data. (iv) Single trial extraction. Single trials of duration 1000 ms were extracted from the data. Single trials started at stimulus onset, i.e. at the beginning of the intensification of an image, and ended 1000 ms after stimulus onset. Due to the ISI of 400 ms, the last 600 ms of each trial were overlapping with the first 600 ms of the following trial. (v) Electrode selection. We applied our analysis to recordings from single-sensor activity and mainly, PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7 and P8. (vi) Feature vector construction. As appropriate feature for each trial, we used the phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) which already has been shown its potentiality in building reliable biomarkers (Dimitriadis et al., 2015,2016). PAC was estimated for each frequency pair (see ii)). The description of PAC is given in the next section. As a complementary feature that can separate the counted stimuli from the non counted stimuli, alpha relative signal powers have been estimated. Alpha power level can give us a valuable and objective criterion when a subject attends or not attends to the stimulus. Our idea is to create an initial binary classifier that will cut-off the attended from the non-attended stimuli for each subject prior entering the main multi-class classifier. CFC metric computation CFC estimates the strength of pairwise interactions and identifies the prominent interacting pair of frequencies, both between and within sensors [17-19]. Among available CFC descriptors, phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), which relies on phase coherence, is the one most commonly encountered in research [20]. The PAC algorithm as adapted to continuous MEG multichannel recordings is described below. ÃŽÂ ¤he within-sensor CFC version is described. Let x(isensor, t), be the EEG activity recorder at the isensor-th site, and t=1, 2,. T the successive time points. Given a frequency-limited signals x(isensor,t) , cross-frequency coupling is estimated by allowing the phase of the lower frequency (LF) oscillations to modulate the amplitude of the higher frequency (HF) oscillations. The complex analytic representations of each signal zLF(t) and zHF(t) are derived via the Hilbert transform (HT[.]). Next, the envelope of the higher-frequency oscillations AHF(t) is bandpass-filtered within the range of LF oscillations and the resulting signal is submitted to an additional Hilbert transform to derive its phase dynamics component à Ã¢â‚¬  '(t) which expresses the modulation of the amplitude of HF-oscillations by the phase of the LF-oscillations. Phase consistency between the two time-series was measured by means of both the original definition [21] and the imaginary portion of PLV, as synchronization indexes to quantify the strength of PAC. The original PLV is defined as follows: and the imaginary part of PLV as follows: The imaginary portion of PLV is considered to be less susceptible to volume conduction effects in assessing CFC interactions. While the imaginary part of PLV is not affected by volume conduction effects, it could be sensitive to changes in the angle between two signals, which not necessarily imply a PLV change. In general, the imaginary portion of PLV is only sensitive to non-zero-phase lags and is thus resistant to instantaneous self-interactions associated with volume conductance [22]. For further details and applications, an interested reader can read our previous work [14,15]. In the present study, as was already mentioned we used 8 frequency bands which means that PAC is estimated for 7*6/2=21 cross-frequency pairs e.g. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A ,ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ±1Awhere à Ã¢â‚¬   and A denote the phase and amplitude of each frequency band. Figure 2 demonstrates the pre-processing steps of the PAC estimator for a trial of subject 6 at target image 6. [Figure 2 around here] Signal Power We estimated the relative power of each band-pass frequency signal segment with the following equations: The first equation quantifies the signal power (SP) of each frequency as the sum of the filtered signal squared per sample (3) while equation (4) divides the SP by the sum of the SP from all the frequencies which gives the relative signal power (RSP). The whole approach was repeated for every trial, sessions and subject. 2.4.4. Machine learning and classification Training data sets contained 405 target trials and 2025 non-target trials and validation data sets consisted of 135 target and 675 non-target trials (these are average values cf. Section 2.3). Adopting sequential feature selection algorithm, we detected the characteristic cross-frequency pair via PAC value that gives the highest discrimination of each target images compared to the rest based on the training data set. Additionally, we used the same feature extraction algorithm to detect the relative signal power that separate the counted flashing images from the non-counted images. We trained a multi-class SVM classifier based on the selected PAC estimate from specific cross-frequency pairs and then we tested the classifier to the validation data to get the response tailored to each target image [23]. The training test consisted of the first session while the rest three sessions were used for validating the whole analytic scheme. A k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier was applied to differentiate the attended from the non-attended flashing images prior to multi-class SVM classifier. 2.4.5 Performance Evaluation Classification accuracy and ITR were calculated for the offline experiments separately. The method for calculating ITR (in bits per second) was as follows (5): Where N is the number of classes (i.e., 6 in this study), P is the accuracy of target identification, and T (seconds per selection) is the average time for a selection. Results ÃŽÂ ´-ÃŽÂ ¸ Phase-to-Amplitude Coupling as a Valuable Feature for the BCI-P300 System We estimated both PAC and relative signal power (RSP) for the first 32 samples (60 ms) increasing the window up to 500 ms (256 samples) with a step of 12 samples (5 ms) . The sequential feature selection algorithm detected only one PAC feature from the 21 possible cross-frequency pairs as the unique candidate feature to separate the six classes of images-stimuli. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A was the selected feature for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. The group-averaged classification performance was for each sensor location using the first 100 ms for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. The errors were detected on the trials where the subject missed the flashing image. The classification performance with the use of a kNN-classifier prior to the multi-class SVM was 100 % for every subject and for all the pre-selected sensors namely PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7,P8 EEG sensors. Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrates the trial-related (grand-averaged) PAC-connectivity patterns (comodulograms) for subject 6 (able-bodied) and subject 1 (disabled) correspondingly from target and non-target trials for each flashing image. Comodulograms differed by contrasting target vs non-target within each subject and target image but also between the two images. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A was the unique feature for both disabled and able-bodied subjects that can clearly predict the target image for both groups. [Figures 3 and 4 around here] Attention and Alpha Power Prior to multi-class SVM, we applied a kNN-classifier based on ÃŽÂ ±1 signal power which was selected as the feature that can discriminate counted from non-counted flashing images. The kNN-classifier performed 100 % clear filtration of attended from non-attended trials for each subject and further improved the performance of multi-class SVM to 100 %. We achieved this performance using ÃŽÂ ±1 signal relative power estimated from the first 100 ms for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. The classification performance with the kNN-classifier was 100 % for every subject and for all the pre-selected sensors namely PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7,P8 EEG sensors. Table 2 summarizes the group-averaged relative signal power (RSP) of ÃŽÂ ±1 frequency band for attended versus non-attended images. Table 2. Group-averaged ÃŽÂ ±1 signal relative power for attended and non-attended images. Attended Non-Attended Able Bodied Disabled Performance Evaluation In the present study, we succeeded bitrates of 10 bits/sec for both disabled and able-bodied subjects correspondingly for all the sensor locations used on the whole analysis. The time for estimation of PAC and testing the trial was 0.00001 sec on a Windows 7 -Intel 7 8-core machine. Discussion A novel approach of how to analyse single-trials in a BCI system was introduced based on the estimation of cross-frequency coupling (CFC) and namely phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC). PAC was estimated within EEG sensors from single-trials recorded during a visual evoked experimental paradigm. The proposed analytic scheme based on the extraction of unique features from the CFC patterns on a single-trial basis and namely the ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A coupling, as a unique feature for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. Our experimentations showed a high classification rate (99.7%) based on the proposed PAC feature. Additionally, the superiority of our approach compared to alternative popular methodologies like the use of the original recordings was evident from the succeeded bitrates (10 bits/sec) and also of the response time of the classification system (0.00001 sec). Complementary, using a binary classifier trained with ÃŽÂ ±1 relative signal power prior to the multi-cl ass SVM, we differentiated the attended from the non-attended stimuli which further improved the classification performance up to 100% in both groups. Compared to many other P300-based BCI systems designed for disabled users, we succeeded the highest classification accuracy and bitrates higher than the original presented dataset [7]. In previous studies like the one of Sellers and Donchin (2006) [12], the best classification accuracy for the able-bodied and ALS subjects was on average 85% and 72% correspondingly [12]. Hoffmann et al., succeeded absolute classification accuracy for both disabled and able bodied subjects for the first demonstration of the current dataset. However, he used longer time series of over 15-20 secs by concatenating trials in order to train better the classifier. Additionally, he used one classifier per image per each of the twenty block and the final outcome derived as the majority voting of the twenty classifiers. Here, using phase-to-amplitude coupling as the appropriate descriptor of the evoked response in the parietal brain areas and a multi-class SVM classifier, we performed almost absolute accuracy ( 99.97) on a trial basis. Using an additional binary k-NN classifier and ÃŽÂ ±1 relative signal power prior to multi-class SVM, we separated the attended (counted) from the non-attended (not counted) trials leading to zeroing the misclassified trials from the multi-class SVM classifier for every subject. This procedure further improved the classification performance from 99.97 to 100% for each subject. We succeeded bitrates faster (10 bits/sec) than any other BCI system including the fastest spelling system presented recently (5.32 bits/sec ; [24]). In a previous study of Piccione et al. (2006) [11] average bitrates of about 8 bits/min were reported for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. Hoffman et al., 2008 [7] reported average bitrates obtained with electrode configuration (II) (8 electrodes) 12.5 bits/min for the disabled subjects and 10 bits/min for the able-bodied subjects. According to Klimeschs ÃŽÂ ± theory, on the early stages of perception, ÃŽÂ ± directs the information flow towards to neural substrates that represent information relevant for the encoding system (e.g. visual stimulus to visual system, voice/sound to auditory system). The physiological main function of ÃŽÂ ± is linked to inhibition. Klimeschs ÃŽÂ ± theory hypothesizes that ÃŽÂ ± enables to have access to stored information by inhibiting task-irrelevant neuronal substrates and by timing/synchronizing the cortical activity in task-relevant neuronal systems. A lot of research findings showed that both evoked ÃŽÂ ± and phase locking are evidence of a successful encoding of global stimulus features in an early post-stimulus interval of about 0-150à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ °ms [25]. Besides the cross low-frequency/high-frequency coupling (e.g.,ÃŽÂ ¸-ÃŽÂ ³; 26,27), there are many evidences [28-31] that CFC exists also between the low-frequency bands (e.g., delta-theta, delta-alpha, and theta-alpha). Lakatos et al. (2005) [29] introduced a hypothesis about the hierarchical organization of EEG oscillations suggesting that the amplitude of the brain oscillations at a characteristic frequency band can be modulated by the oscillatory phase at lower frequency. In particular, they found that ÃŽÂ ´ (1-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-10 Hz) amplitude, and ÃŽÂ ¸ modulates ÃŽÂ ³ (30-50 Hz) amplitude in primary auditory cortex of awake macaque monkeys [29]. This multiplex coupling or nesting of brain rhythms might reflect a general brain organizational principle, as evidence of coupling (mainly ÃŽÂ ¸-ÃŽÂ ³) has also been observed in animals (e.g. rats,cats) and humans [32]. For instance, in auditory cortex, ÃŽÂ ´-band modulates the amplitude of ÃŽÂ ¸-band ICMs, whose phase in turn modulates the amplitude of ÃŽÂ ³-band ICMs [33]. This indirect enhancement effect uses the ongoing activity of local neural activity in the primary auditory cortex. Their hypothesis supports the notion that neural oscillations reflect rhythmic shifting of excitability states of neural substrates between high and low levels. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that oscillations can be predicted by visual input such as the auditory input arrives during a high excitability phase and is amplified. In the present study, we demonstrated that ÃŽÂ ´ (0.5-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-8 Hz) amplitude over visual brain areas due to flashing images, their content and mainly was observed on parietal EEG recording sites. We should also mention that the reason why ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A coupling discriminates the six flashing images can be directly linked to the content of the images. Visual attention samples image stimuli rhythmically demonstrating a peak of phase at 2 Hz [34] while flashing images induced rhythmic fluctuation at higher frequencies (6-10 Hz) [35] here within ÃŽÂ ¸ frequency range [4-8 Hz].Finally, the work of Karakas et al., ([36]) showed that the ERP represents interplay between the oscillations that are mainly in the ÃŽÂ ´ and ÃŽÂ ¸ frequencies and directly linked to P300 [37]. Conclussion In this work, an efficient algorithmic approach was presented to a P300-based BCI system for disabled subjects. We have shown that absolute classification accuracies and the highest reported bitrates can be obtained for severely disabled subjects under the notion of cross-frequency coupling and namely phase-to-amplitude coupling. Specifically, ÃŽÂ ´ (0.5-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-8 Hz) amplitude proved to be the candidate feature from PAC estimates that supported the highest classification accuracy, the fast bitrates and the fast response time of the multi-class system. Due to the use of the P300, only a small amount of training (trials from 1st session as a training set and 100ms per trial) was required to achieve good classification accuracy. Future improvements to the work presented could be the design of useful BCI applications adapted to the needs of disabled users. Also it might be useful to perform exploratory analysis on larger populations and on real-time to further validate the results found in the present work. Acknowledgements SID was supported by MRC grant MR/K004360/1 (Behavioural and Neurophysiological Effects of Schizophrenia Risk Genes: A Multi-locus, Pathway Based Approach) References Farwell LA, Donchin E. Talking off the top of your head: toward a mental prosthesis utilizing event-related brain potentials. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1988;70:510-23. Polikoff J, Bunnell H, Borkowski W. Toward a P300-based computer interface. In: Proceedings of the RESNA95 Annual Conference; 1995. Bayliss JD. Use of the evoked P3 component for control in a virtual apartment. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehab Eng 2003;11(2):113-6. Xu N, Gao X, Hong B, Miao X, Gao S, Yang F. BCI competition 2003 Data Set IIb: Enhancing P300 wave detection using ICA-based subspace projections for BCI applications. IEEE Trans B

Envy and Beauty in Snow White Essay examples -- essays research papers

Envy, Beauty, and Snow White Few people can grow up within today's society without knowing the tale of Snow White. From the Grimm Brothers to Disney, it has been told and retold to children throughout the ages. However, what is often overlooked are the true meanings within the story. Fairytales typically have underlying messages that can be found written between the lines, generally in terms of the key themes. Snow White discusses the themes of envy and beauty, and shows how humans' obsessions can lead to their own downfall as well as the harm of others. When focusing on the relationship between Snow White and her step-mother the Queen, it is evident that the combination of these two themes results in a power struggle in which beauty is seen as a commodity and is the basis for the step-mother?s envy towards Snow White. From the very beginning of the tale it is obvious that the Queen is obsessed with beauty, ?the King took another wife, a beautiful woman, but proud and overbearing, and she could not bear to be surpassed in beauty by anyone(Grimm and Grimm 166). Further evidence of her narcissism is her daily ritual in which she consults her magic mirror on who is the most beautiful person in the kingdom. As she repeatedly expects the answer to be in her favor, she is outraged when it appears that Snow White has surpassed her. This information drives the Queen to hate Snow White and soon she orders her death. By looking at beauty as a commodity through which power can be gained, this action can be interpreted as a means for the Queen to preserve her power through beauty. The fact that Snow White was beautiful may not have been reason enough alone to kill her, but the fear that Snow White could use her beauty in orde... ...intertwined as main themes within the story. The Queen?s fixation with her own beauty, and then her envy over Snow White?s, was the main component in causing her death. As she attempted numerous times to murder Snow White, she was in effect writing her own death sentence, because her obsession drove her beyond rational thinking to the point where her triumph over Snow White was more important than her own life. Works Cited: Grimm, Jacob, Wilhelm Grimm, Edgar Lucas, Lucy Crane, Marian Edwardes, and Fritz Kredel. Grimms' Fairy Tales. Illustrated junior library. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1945. Haase, Donald, ed. The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales : Responses, Reactions, Revisions. Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 1993. Sale, Roger. Fairy Tales and After: From Snow white to E. B. White. Harvard University Press, 1979.

Causes Of Climate Change

Climate change is when the climate changes by warming up or cooling down over a period of time. Climate change is occurring now, the climate is warming up dramatically, and this is known as global warming. In the past the temperature has gone up and has gone down, and the climate has warmed up and then after a period of time cooled down. The first way that climate changes naturally is by the amount of energy produced by the sun and how much we receive. This varies over time, sometimes more energy is produced by the sun and sometimes less is produced.When the sun produces more energy the climate warms up and when the sun produces less energy the climate cools down, this is because when the sun provides more energy the earth receives more heat, and warms up the climate and when the sun produces less energy the earth receives less heat so the climate cools down, this all happens over a long period of time. The second way the climate changes naturally is by how the earths orbit around th e sun changes. The earths orbit can change from orbiting the sun in a spherical way to an elliptical way.When the earth orbits the sun in an elliptical way the earth is often warmer, because at some points to earth comes closer to the sun in its orbit, and when the earth gets closer to the sun the energy has got less distance to travel, and when the sun and the earth are close together the suns energy has a smaller area to spread over so the energy warms up the climate in that part. The third way that climate changes naturally is by the change in the earth’s axis. At the moment the tilt of the earth is at 23.5 degrees.When the earth tilts away the earth gets less energy, and makes the climate cooler, but when the earth tilts the other way the earth gets more energy and warms up the climate. This takes place over 41,000 years. The fourth way that the climate changes naturally is as the earth wobbles as it spins on its axis, as the earth wobbles, one side tilts closer to the su n than the other, so the side that gets closer to the sun, receives more energy from the sun, and the  energy only has a small distance to travel so it heats up that part of the earth and warms up the climate, and the other side of the earth that wobbles away from the sun has less energy received by the sun and the energy has more distance to travel, so the side that wobbles away from the sun gets cooler and then the climate cools down, as some of it gets lost in space.The fifth way that the climate changes naturally is by all of the Co2 in the air, all of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is trapping all of the heat, produced by the sun, and this causes temperatures to rise.Records show that temperatures rose from 8000 BC dramatically even though there were few people on the earth, the earths population was around the population of London. This shows that the climate can warm up with very few people on the earth producing Co2 In conclusion people don’t always produce al l the Co2 in the atmosphere or cause the climate to warm up; it could sometimes just be our earth itself.

Health Promotion Plan For A New Framework Health Care...

Y.L.’ Health Promotion Plan Yanin C Lopez Excelsior College Introduction Jarvis (2012) noted the purpose of Healthy People 2020 and pointed out the determinants of health and health disparities in the creation of a new framework health care delivery that maintain and promote healthy communities. An Individuals’ health status is influenced by constellation of personal, social economic and environmental factors, collectively kwon as the Determinants of Health. Social factors such as poverty, occupational status, the quality of the neighborhood and environment; lifestyle factors and individual behaviors; biology and genetics together with the model of health care services are the points need to be evaluated and suggested to change and†¦show more content†¦Her health promotion plan will have active family and patient involvement because of the importance of the family in the clients ‘life. Y.L.’ Health Promotion Plan Identification of Issues: Y.L. Health history Y.L. is a female, Hispanic 44 year’s old patient who also speaks and read English, but it is her second language. She and her ancestors were born in Cuba; she was raised in Cuba and immigrated to the United States as an adult, and she is closely associated with her ethnic group of origin, but she had melt well with the American values and beliefs. She is a reliable source of information and knowledgeable; she is a Register Nurse. Y.L. has medical insurance, and she didn t have advance directives and never had thought about it, but she is willing to discuss and prepare it. Y.L. reached the primary physician because she is feeling fatigued, headache, moist cough and shortness of breath; she is using the rescue inhaler more frequently and feels without energy despite her efforts and the use over the counter medication to relief cold like symptoms, in the last two weeks. This client sees health as a wellbeing of mind and body, but she barely perform activities to promote and maint ain health, she devotes herself to the nursing profession and her family with little and none time for her to practice stress reduction interventions to improve and promote the well-being of her body and mind. Y.L. believes that illness is the