Find out in great detail about the quotes Research Paper

Find out in great detail about the quotes - Research Paper Example Capa was urging photographers to get near and feel the energy of their subjects, which is likely to deliver a more intimate and emotional image with considerable impact to the viewer. In the same token as cultural objects, photographers derive meaning from their context with the most essential aspect in photography being to interact naturally with the subject (Marien 281). The composition of photography can be dictated by the photographer’s position relative to the subject. Indeed, up close snap shots isolates and puts emphasis on the subject, but the photographer should live room for cropping without distortion of the subjects and the surroundings. James Nachtwey James Nachtwey has covered stories from a war zone in places such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, and South Africa. The images of destruction and slaughter inspired James to become a war photographer. The quote expresses the significance of pictures in bearing testimony for the photographer and all humanity, and the events captured by the camera lens provide irrefutable evidence, especially during war times (Marien 289). Pictures provided a living proof of events and a permanent proof that cannot be forgotten. Pictures capture both good and bad times can be employed as an advocacy tool, especially highlighting things that cannot be forgotten, and which must not be repeated. ... Pictures offer inferential anchoring and representation to enable the audience the experiences depicted, besides acting as a testimony (Warner 86). Robert Frank Frank’s photography gained prominence at a time when the sphere of American existentialism and Beat generation hauteur was at its peak, at a time when there was an emphasis on cool, self-absorbed rebelliousness within the face of narrow social conformity. As such, Frank can be considered as part of a wide artistic resistance movement seeking to use photography as a vehicle that expresses their creative self (Marien 340). The quote emphasizes the role of individuals to exploit photography as a potent tool that photographers can exploit to exhibit their creative self, but the photographer is not truly alone but in the company of his or her subjects. Photography provides a process of self-discovery and introspection; moreover, photography provides individuals with a stage on which they can share intimate visual experience s with others. Indeed, photography is an intensely personal journey, whereby in creating an image and disclosing the images to others, individuals are also disclosing a part of what is inside them. The images and descriptions aids individuals to gain insight into their own potential for generating own potential for creative and highly personal image making. Duane Michals Michals argue that the best part of individuals is not what they see, but what they feel. Individuals are not their eyeballs but their mind; hence, people have the capacity to define their medium, instead of waiting for the medium to define them. The most powerful aspect of photographs lies in making people see things in new ways. Photographers should pave  the way  by

Pasternak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pasternak - Essay Example In the writings of these two poets readers can see true reflection of the â€Å"shifting biographical, cultural, historical, and sociopolitical circumstances† (Hasty, 591) within which they developed their relationship. Ciepiela based his book on numerous authentic materials that have given the picture of how the two poets immensely influenced each other’s creativity along with the complexities in their relationship. Ciepiela has explored the way gender has been illustrated by the poets in their writing which provides a new perspective in the manner that the poets can be understood like their traditions and cultural backgrounds. One work of Boris Pasternak that was published in the year 1929 was The Tale. This prose is considered as one of the most complex short proses of Pasternak and hence has not been much studied by scholarly articles. While in the views of the scholar A. Livingstone the work is considered as â€Å"unfinished, untidy and confusing†, in the views of M. Aucouturier it is one of the most cleverly written works of Pasternak. However, the complicated structure of the prose is emphasized when it is studies in the backdrop of its literature and history. It was initially conceived under the title Revolution and the story was set in the period between pre-war summer of 1914 and before the beginning of 1917. The Tale is written in the style of â€Å"triple-frame narrative† in which there are two inner tales that act as counterpoint to the outer story. In the innermost tale, the story revolves around a young man who sacrifices all comforts of life as protest against all injustices in the world. Such careless sacrificial gesture of the protagonist â€Å"anticipates the compromised idealism of the coming era† (Swift, 114). In this way Pasternak has made the novel a reflection of the Russian revolution. One of the most popular works of Boris Pasternak outside Russia is Doctor Zhivago which was published in the

Consumer Behavior Essay Example for Free

Consumer Behavior Essay This section describes the roles of product appearance in the process of consumer evaluation and choice. For this aim, literature in the fields of product development, product design, consumer behavior, marketing, and human factors has been searched. The literature shows that the visual appearance of a product can influence consumer product evaluations and choice in several ways. Several authors considered the role of product or package appearance in consumer product evaluation or choice (Bloch, 1995; Garber, 1995; Garber et al. , 2000; Veryzer, 1993; Veryzer, 1995). However, they did not discuss explicitly the different ways in which appearance influences consumer choice and their respective implications for product design. In addition to these more recent contributions to the literature, the functions of a product in consumer–product interaction are described in earlier industrial design literature (Lo? bach, 1976; Pilditch, 1976; Schu? rer, 1971). Several of these functions concern product appearance. There are differences between authors in the number of roles (i. e. , functions) of product appearance they distinguish and the terms they use. For example, communication of ease of use was mentioned by Bloch (1995) and was described as part of the aesthetic function by Lo? bach (1976), while Veryzer (1995) called it the communicative function of a product appearance. If all the roles mentioned in the literature are considered as a whole, the following six roles of product appearance for consumers can be distinguished: (1) communication of aesthetic, (2) symbolic, (3) functional, and (4) ergonomic product information; (5) attention drawing; and (6) categorization. A description of these six roles and their implications for product design follows. Product Appearance and Aesthetic Product Value The aesthetic value of a product pertains to the pleasure derived from seeing the product, without consideration of utility (Holbrook, 1980). A consumer can value the ‘‘look’’ of a product purely for its own sake, as looking at something beautiful is rewarding in itself. When product alternatives are similar in functioning and price, consumers will prefer the one that appeals the most to them aesthetically (see, for example, Figure 1). Aesthetic responses are primarily emotional or feeling responses, and as such they are very personal (Bamossy et al. , 1983). Several researchers have tried to determine properties of products that are related to aesthetic appreciation. Innate preferences are proposed for visual organization principles, such as unity (i. e. , congruence in elements), proportion (e. g. , ‘‘the Golden Section’’), and symmetry (Hekkert, 1995; Muller, 2001; Veryzer, 1993; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998), and an inverted U-shaped relation is proposed between aestheticpreference and complexity (Berlyne, 1971). Another property influencing aesthetic judgments is color. The desirability of a color will change according to the object to which it is applied (e. g. , a car or a table) and with the style of the object (e. g. , modern or Georgian) (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In addition to (innate) preferences for certain properties of stimuli, prototypicality is found to influence the aesthetic response. Proto typicality is the degree to which something is representative of a category (see also the section about categorization). In several studies, evidence is found for a positive influence of visual prototypicality on aesthetic preference (Hekkert, 1995; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998; Whitfield and Slatter, 1979). According to Hekkert et al. (2003), products with an optimal combination of prototypicality and novelty are preferred aesthetically. As well as the product-related characteristics previously mentioned, there are cultural, social, and personal influences on design taste. For example, color preferences differ between cultures and in time (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In addition, personal factors, such as design acumen, prior experience, and personality influence the design taste of consumers (Bloch, 1995). The influence of an aesthetic judgment on product preference can be moderated by the perceived aesthetic fit of the product with other products the consumer owns, or his or her home interior (Bloch, 1995). Product Appearance and Symbolic Product Value Consumer goods carry and communicate symbolic meaning (McCracken, 1986). Symbolic value even can be the key determinant for product selection (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982) and can account for the selection of products that clearly are inferior in their tangible characteristics (Levy, 1959). An example of the latter is Philippe Starck’s Juicy Salif lemon squeezer (Lloyd and Snelders, 2003). The choice for a specific product or brand may convey the kind of person someone is or wants to be; consumers use products to express their (ideal) self-image to themselves and to others (Belk, 1988; Landon, 1974; Sirgy, 1982; Solomon, 1983). Symbolic meaning can be attached to a product or brand on the basis of, among other things, advertising (McCracken, 1986), country of origin, or the kind of people using it (Sirgy, 1982). But the productitself also can communicate symbolic value in a more direct way, namely by its appearance. A product’s appearance communicates messages (Murdoch and Flurscheim, 1983), as it may look cheerful, boring, friendly, expensive, rude, or childish (see, for example, Figure 2). In addition, a certain style of appearance may evoke associations with a certain time or place (e. g. , the Fifties). Furthermore, the product or package appearance can reinforce the image of a brand, as the identity of a brand is expressed visually in the appearance of products (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Consumers may attach the meaning of a brand to elements of the physical appearance of products. In this way, a brand image may transfer to different kinds of products (see the section about categorization). Many companies therefore make consistent use of certain design elements, such as a color combination, a distinctive form element, or style. For example, car manufacturers often try to keep different car models recognizable as belonging to the same brand. The distinctive radiator grill of BMW automobiles is an example of a recognizable design element. The linking of brand meaning to elements of the product appearance will be easier when the associations these elements engender by themselves (e. g. , because they are innate or are determined by culture) correspond to the desired brand image. For example, use of bright colors and a large size, which is associated with aggression (Murdoch and Flurscheim, 1983), will make it easier to position a car brand as aggressive. Although there are large individual and time-specific differences in the experience of color and form, there are certain associations that seem to be relatively constant. Overviews of the influence of form and color on consumer perception of symbolic value (but also ergonomic and aesthetic value) can be found in Muller (2001), Murdoch and Flurscheim (1983), Schmitt and Simonson (1997), and Whitfield and Wiltshire (1983). For example, angular forms are associated with dynamism and masculinity, while roundness evokes softness and femininity (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Culture is an important determinant of the interpretations that consumers give and the associations they have with certain factors of a product’s appearance. For example, color associations vary from culture to culture (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In America and Europe, the color white stands for purity, and brides traditionally dress in white; in Japan itis a color of mourning. Furthermore, meaning is context dependent. The impression that colors give may change completely by combining certain colors (Muller, 2001). Also, the meaning of forms and colors may change in time, as meanings are continuously transformed by movements in art, fashion, etcetera (Muller, 2001). There is some debate about whether symbolic interpretation is part of the aesthetic experience. In most literature, aesthetic value is mentioned as botha hedonic impression and a result of interpretation and representation (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997; Vihma, 1995). It is acknowledged in this article that whether a product is conceived of as beautiful is affected by what it represents (Vihma, 1995). The same style can be considered ‘‘good taste’’ at one point in time, while being considered ‘‘bad taste’’ 10 years later, because the connotations associated with it or the interpretations given to it have changed. For example, orange was a modern color for clothes, furniture, and plastic products in the Seventies, generally was perceived as old-fashioned and ugly in the Eighties, and became used in products and clothing again in the Nineties. However, the view in this article is that aesthetic and symbolic value should be distinguished, as they may have opposite influences on preference. For example, someone who likes a colorful design may not buy it because it looks ‘‘too childish. ’’ Product Appearance and Functional Product Value

Efficient Prediction System Using Artificial Neural Networks

Efficient Prediction System Using Artificial Neural Networks Jay Patel Abstract- Predicting is making claims about something that will happen, often based on information from past and from current state. Neural networks can be used for prediction with various levels of success. The neural network is trained from the historical data with the hope that it will discover hidden dependencies and that it will be able to use them for predicting into future. It is an approach for making prediction efficient using best features on which prediction is more dependent. Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks; Feature set; Profiles INTRODUCTION Artificial neural networks are computational models inspired by animal central nervous systems (in particular the brain) that are capable of machine learning and pattern recognition. They are usually presented as systems of interconnected neurons that can compute values from inputs by feeding information through the network. For example, in a neural network for handwriting recognition, a set of input neurons may be activated by the pixels of an input image representing a letter or digit. The activations of these neurons are then passed on, weighted and transformed by some function determined by the networks designer, to other neurons, etc., until finally an output neuron is activated that determines which character was read. Mainly three types of ANN models are present single layer feed forward network, Multilayer feed forward network and recurrent network Single layer feed forward network consist of only one input layer and one output layer. Input layer neurons receive the input sig nals and output layer receives output signals. In a feed forward network the output of the network does not affect the operation of the layer that is producing this output. In a feedback network however the output of a layer after the layer being fed back into, can affect the output of the earlier layer. Essentially the data loops through the two layers and back to start again. This is important in control circuits, because it allows the result from a previous calculation to affect the operation of the next calculation. This means that the second calculation can take into account the results of the first calculation, and be controlled by them. Weiners work on cybernetics was based on the idea that feedback loops were a useful tool for control circuits. In fact Weiner coined the termcybernetics based on the Greek kybernutos or metallic steersman of a fictional boat mentioned in the Illiad. Neural models ranged from complex mathematical models with Floating point outputs to simple state machines with a binary output. Depending on w hether the neuron incorporates the learning mechanism or not, neural learning rules can be as simple as adding weight to a synapse each time it fires, and gradually degrading those weights over time, as in the earliest learning rules, Delta rules that accelerate the learning by applying a delta value according to some error function in a back propagation network, to Pre-synaptic/Post-synaptic rules based on biochemistry of the synapse and the firing process. Signals can be calculated in binary, linear, non-linear, and spiking values for the output. Figure 1. ANN Models Multilayer feed forward network consist of input, output and one more addition than single layer feed forward is hidden layer. Computational units of hidden layer are called hidden neurons. In Multilayer Feed Forward Network there must be only one input layer and one output layer and hidden layers can be of any numbers. There is only one difference in recurrent network from feed forward networks is that there is at least one feedback loop. In neurons we can input vectors taken as input and weights are included. With the help of weights and input vectors we can calculate weighted sum and taking weighted sum as parameter we can calculate activation function. There are different activation functions available e.g. thresholding, Signum, Sigmoidal, Hyperbolic Tangent. Phase ordering of optimization techniques In optimizing compilers, it is standard practice to apply the same set of optimization phases in a fixed order on each method of a program. However, several researchers have shown that the best ordering of optimizations varies within a program, i.e., it is function-specific. Thus,we would like a technique that selects the best ordering of optimizations for individual portions of the program, rather than applying the same fixed set of optimizations for the whole program. This paper develops a new method-specific technique that automatically selects the predicted best ordering of optimizations for different methods of a program. They develop this technique within the Jikes RVM Java JIT compiler and automatically determine good phase-orderings of optimizations on a per method basis. Rather than developing a handcrafted technique to achieve this, they make use of an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the optimization order likely to be most beneficial for a method. Our ANNs were automatically induced using Neuro-Evolution for Augmenting Topologies (NEAT). A trained ANN uses input properties (i.e., features) of each method to represent the current optimized state of the method and given this input, the ANN outputs the optimization predicted to be most beneficial to the method at that state. Each time an optimization is applied, it potentially changes the properties of the method. Therefore, after each optimization is applied, they generate new features of the method to use as input to the ANN. The ANN then predicts the next optimization to apply based on the current optimized state of the method. This technique solves the phase ordering problem by taking advantage of the Markov property of the optimization problem. That is, the current state of the method represents all the information required to choose an optimization to be most beneficial at that decision point. Most compilers apply optimizations based on a fixed order that was determined to be best when the compiler was being developed and tuned. However, programs require a specific ordering of optimizations to obtain the best performance. To demonstrate our point, we use genetic algorithms (GAs), the current state-of-the-art in phase-ordering optimizations, to show that selecting the best ordering of optimizations has the potential to significantly improve the running time of dynamically compiled programs. They used GAs to construct a custom ordering of optimizations for each of the Java Grande and SPEC JVM 98 benchmarks. In this GA approach, we create a population of strings (called chromosomes), where each chromosome corresponds to an optimization sequence. Each position (or gene) in the chromosome corresponds to a specific optimization from Table 2, and each optimization can appear multiple times in a chromosome. For each of the experiments below, we configured our GAs to create 50 chro mosomes (i.e., 50 optimization sequences) per generation and to run for 20 Generations. Technique for Implementing GA We ran two different experiments using GAs. The first experiment consisted of finding the best optimization sequence across our benchmarks. Thus, we evaluated each optimization sequence (i.e., chromosome) by compiling all our benchmarks with each sequence. We recorded their execution times and calculated their speedup by normalizing their running times with the running time observed by compiling the benchmarks at the O3 level. That is, we used average speedup of our benchmarks (normalized to opt level O3) as our fitness function for each chromosome. This result corresponds to the â€Å"Best Overall Sequence† bars in Figure 1. The purpose of this experiment was to discover the optimization ordering that worked best on average for all our benchmarks. The second experiment consisted of finding the best optimization ordering for each benchmark. Here, the fitness function for each chromosome was the speedup of that optimization sequence over O3 for one specific benchmark. This resu lt corresponds to the â€Å"Best Sequence per Benchmark† bars in Figure 1. This represents the performance that we can get by customizing an optimization ordering for each benchmark individually. Results The results of these experiments confirm two hypotheses. First, significant performance improvements can be obtained by finding good optimization orders versus the well-engineered fixed order in Jikes RVM. The best order of optimizations per benchmark gave us up to a 20% speedup (FFT) and on average 8% speedup over optimization level O3. Second, as shown in previous work, each of our benchmarks requires a different optimization sequence to obtain the best performance. One ordering of optimizations for the entire set of programs achieves decent performance speedup compared to O3. Figure 2.Results of experiments using GA However, the â€Å"Best Overall Sequence† degrades the performance of three benchmarks (LUFact, Series, and Crypt) compared to O3. In contrast, searching for the best custom optimization sequence for each benchmark, â€Å"Best Sequence for Benchmark†, allows us to outperform both O3 and the best overall sequence. Motivation Predict the current best optimization: This method would use a model to predict the best single optimization (from a given set of optimizations) that should be applied based on the characteristics of code in its present state. Once an optimization is applied, we would re-evaluate characteristics of the code and again predict the best optimization to apply given this new state of the code. For this we can apply Artificial Neural Network in this method and we will also include profiles for better prediction of optimization sequence for particular program. Automatic Feature Generation Automatic Feature generation system is comprised of the following components: training data generation, feature search and machine learning [5]. The training data generation process extracts the compiler’s intermediate representation of the program plus the optimal values for the heuristic we wish to learn. Once these data have been generated, the feature search component explores features over the compiler’s intermediate representation (IR) and provides the corresponding feature values to the machine learning tool. The machine learning tool computes how good the feature is at predicting the best heuristic value in combination with the other features in the base feature set (which is initially empty). The search component finds the best such feature and, once it can no longer improve upon it, adds that feature to the base feature set and repeats. In this way, we build up a gradually improving set of features. a. Data Generation In a similar way to the existing machine learning techniques (see section II) we must gather a number of examples of inputs to the heuristic and find out what the optimal answer should be for those examples. Each program is compiled in different ways, each with a different heuristic value. We time the execution of the compiled programs to find out which heuristic value is best for each program. We also extract from the compiler the internal data structures which describe the programs. Due to the intrinsic variability of the execution times on the target architecture, we run each compiled program several times to reduce susceptibility to noise. Figure 3. Automatic Feature Generation b. Feature Search The feature search component maintains a population of feature expressions. The expressions come from a family described by a grammar derived automatically from the compiler’s IR. Evaluating a feature on a program generates a single real number; the collection of those numbers over all programs forms a vector of feature values which are later used by the machine learning tool. c. Machine Learning The machine learning tool is the part of the system that provides feedback to the search component about how good a feature is. As mentioned above, the system maintains a list of good base features. It repeatedly searches for the best next feature to add to the base features, iteratively building up the list of good features. The final output of the system will be the latest features list. Our system additionally implements parsimony. Genetic programming can quickly generate very long feature expressions. If two features have the same quality we prefer the shorter one. This selection pressure prevents expressions becoming needlessly long. E. Motivation They have developed a new technique to automatically generate good features for machine learning based optimizing compilation. By automatically deriving a feature grammar from the internal representation of the compiler, we can search a feature space using genetic programming. We have applied this generic technique to automatically learn good features. Code Optimization in Compilers using ANN For ordering of different optimization techniques using ANN we must need to implement that in 4Cast-XL as it is a dynamic compiler. 4Cast-XL constructs an ANN, Integrate the ANN into Jikes RVM’s optimization driver than Evaluate ANN at the task of phase-ordering optimizations. For each method dynamically compiled, repeat the following two steps Generate a feature vector of current method’s state Generate profiles of program Use ANN to predict the best optimization to apply Use ANN to predict the best optimization to apply. Run benchmarks and obtain feedback for 4Cast-XL Record execution time for each benchmark optimized using the ANN. Obtain speedup by normalizing each benchmark’s running time to running time using default optimization heuristic. Figure 4. Code Optimization in compilers using ANN with Profiles Results Research work is aimed for optimizing code using artificial neural networks. In order to make this precise, better profiles generated from given set of features using Milepost GCC compiler with ten different programs. Experimental results demonstrate that profiles of program can be used for optimization of code. Motivation This section gives a detailed overview of how Neuro-evolution machine learning is used to construct a good optimization phase-ordering heuristic for the optimizer. The first section outlines the different activities that take place when training and deploying a phase ordering heuristic. This is followed by sections describing how we use 4cast-XL to construct an ANN, how we extract features from methods, and how best features called Profiles and ANNs allow us to learn a heuristic that determines the order of optimizations to apply. It motivates us to apply this approach for different types of predictions using Artificial Neural Networks. Prediction Using Neural Networks Neural networks can be used for prediction with various levels of success. The advantage of then includes automatic learning of dependencies only from measured data without any need to add further information (such as type of dependency like with the regression). The neural network is trained from the historical data with the hope that it will discover hidden dependencies and that it will be able to use them for predicting into future. In other words, neural network is not represented by an explicitly given model. It is more a black box that is able to learn something. 1

Free Argumentative Essays: The Ethics of Euthanasia :: Free Euthanasia Essay

The Ethics of Euthanasia      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Euthanasia, also mercy killing, practice of ending a life so as to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering. The term is sometimes used generally to refer to an easy or painless death. Voluntary euthanasia involves a request by the dying patient or that person's legal representative. Passive or negative euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death-that is, allowing someone to die; active or positive euthanasia involves taking deliberate action to cause a death.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Euthanasia has been accepted both legally and morally in various forms in many societies. In ancient Greece and Rome it was permissible in some situations to help others die.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With the rise of organized religion, euthanasia became morally and ethically abhorrent. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all hold human life sacred and condemn euthanasia in any form.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Following traditional religious principles, Western laws have generally considered the act of helping someone to die a form of homicide subject to legal sanctions. Even a passive withholding of help to prevent death has frequently been severely punished. Euthanasia, however, occurs secretly in all societies, including those in which it is held to be immoral and illegal.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Organizations supporting the legalization of voluntary euthanasia were established in Great Britain in 1935 and in the United States in 1938. They have gained some public support, but so far they have been unable to achieve their goal in either nation. In the last few decades, Western laws against passive and voluntary euthanasia have slowly been eased, although serious moral and legal questions still exist.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Critics point to the so-called euthanasia committees in Nazi Germany that were empowered to condemn and execute anyone found to be a burden to the state. This instance of abuse of the power of life and death has long served as a warning to some against allowing the practice of euthanasia.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The pro-euthanasia, or "right to die," movement has received considerable encouragement by the passage of laws in 40 states by 1990, which allow legally competent individuals to make "living wills." These wills empower and instruct doctors to withhold life-support systems if the individuals become terminally ill.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The medical profession has generally been caught in the middle of

Censorship of the Internet for Children Essay -- Computers Technology

Censorship of the Internet for Children The Internet is one of the most profound and important technological advancements of this era. It has touched the lives of hundreds of millions of people all over the world. The Internet has become so embedded into our everyday life that for many, life would almost be unbearable without an internet connection. The Internet has enabled so many people who are so far away from each other a means of communication. It eased the burden of contacting loved ones across the world from each other. Not only does the Internet provide a digital communication playground for users, it also provides them with a sea of invaluable resources. The wealth of information that is available on the Internet is both overwhelming and incredible. Almost everything imaginable to the human mind can be found on the Internet. Whether or not some of this information is legitimate, it still exists and is available to anyone who wants to access it. The Internet has empowered the individuals who are connected t o it with an abundance of resources and information. The Internet has brought about a new means of doing business. It seems that all business models today include the Internet some how. On the surface, the Internet may seem great, wonderful and ingenious however, the ability for everyone to access the Internet is both a blessing and also a curse. It is beautiful that the Internet and its contents are available to everyone, but that â€Å"everyone† includes children who are under the age of 18. The implications of this type of access are extremely problematic both socially and ethically. According to Internet World Stats, the estimated population of the world is about 6.45 billion people with approximately... ...itehouse.com/ â€Å"Whitehouse.com† [11] http://www.craiglist.com â€Å"Visit the Best in Adult Sites† [12] http://www.snapshotspy.com/stats.htm â€Å"Child Computer Usage Statistics† [13] http://www.utilitarianism.com/utilitarian.htm â€Å"Utilitarianism† [14] http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031025-1.html â€Å"Protection From Pornography Week, 2003†, President of the U.S, Oct. 25, 2003 [15] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58610-2002Nov15.html â€Å"Congress Approves ‘Dot-Kids’ Measure†, David Maguire, Nov. 12, 2002 [16] http://www.kids.us/sitelist.html â€Å"Current Site List† [17] http://www.icra.org/ â€Å"Internet Content Rating Association† [18] http://www.icra.org/_en/about/ â€Å"ICRA At A Glance† [19] http://www.isc.meiji.ac.jp/~sumwel_h/links/linkJ04.htm â€Å"Laws of Japan† [20] http://www.ageofconsent.com/japan.htm â€Å"Age of Consent for Japan†

Cream Cracker Under The Settee

The name of the play that we are studying is ‘Cream Cracker under the Settee'. This play was written in 1987 by a middle aged Alan Bennett who was born in Leeds in 1934. He grew up through the Second World War and in his play he writes about how views on life have changed over the years. The play is part of the ‘Talking Heads' series of plays in the 1980's. ‘Cream Cracker' is a dramatic monologue in which Doris, a 75 year old â€Å"lady of leisure†, speaks throughout. Doris is played by Dame Thora Hird who has just recently passed away. The play explores the changes within society from when Alan Bennett was a child, through the sixties and to the 1987. In the 1960's, the younger generations were getting most of the love and care from the family but the elderly were beginning to be seen as a hindrance. The play also explored how people had changed with the feeling that it was necessary to lock their doors and to be very secure rather than leaving the door open like they did in the ‘olden days'. Doris' personality changes throughout the play, as in the beginning, Doris wants to be independent but Zulema, Doris' care worker, has forbid her from doing any housework. This enrages Doris as she believes Zulema doesn't clean her house properly as she says â€Å"Zulema doesn't dust. She half dusts†. This is pointing out that Doris is quite fussy with the help that she receives from Zulema and doesn't seem to be grateful for any of it. There is proof that Doris is correct about the way Zulema dusts when she finds an old cream cracker under the settee. Doris intends on keeping the cream cracker to send off to social services to show that Zulema doesn't dust her house. This shows that Doris is quite spiteful. Later on in the play, Doris seems to be quite dull but she also recites quite a few conversations that her late husband Wilfred and she had. An example of which is when she spoke about the garden and that Wilfred wanted to have a bush but Doris wanted concrete. Wilfred argued about it having non character but Doris wanted it because of the hygiene. This shows that Doris is quite obsessive about hygiene and now she has to try and keep her house tidy otherwise she believes she will be put in Stafford House, an elderly home, but in fact, it is the other way round. By cleaning Doris is putting herself at more risk of being put in Stafford house as she is not very good on her feet and suffers from dizzy spells and has a pacemaker. This will make the audience feel sorry for her and will make them hope that she doesn't fall or be moved to Stafford House. The way in which Doris speaks makes her seem very realistic and can help people in the audience relate to her in many ways e.g. you could relate to someone you know such as an elderly relative when she's breathless. This makes it feel as if you know Doris more than you actually do and makes her seem like a real person who would be very easy to like. She also brings up past conversations she has been a part of as I mentioned before which help the audience to become more interested in the play as they are finding out what Doris is like and what kind of things she chatted about with her husband. Doris' life story is quite a moving, involving and very emotional journey. Alan Bennett makes the story very interesting and even more involving by making the actress look directly into the camera and making her seem like she's upset and choking through her sentences. She tells the audience about the way that, when Wilfred and she were younger, they were trying for a baby and when they were having the baby, it was a still birth. The midwife then wrapped the baby boy, who Doris wanted to call John, in newspaper and Doris was horrified by this. She saw this action as saying that the baby was dirty and that it was worthless. By the time Doris had awoken, the baby had gone. This makes this part of the play very sad and distressing. There are many unseen characters in this play which Doris interprets in her own special way. She mimics a lot of the characters, especially Zulema, and she is also talks quite sarcastically about Zulema in the way she talks to her. You see this when Zulema says about Doris being unable to run around with the Ewbank and all Doris says in reply is â€Å"Yes, Zulema.† This would make the audience feel sorry for Doris but in the same way happy that she isn't going to let Zulema boss her around. Another character that is introduced by Doris is Wilfred. We first hear of Wilfred when Doris knocks the photo of the two of them from the mantel piece when she attempts to dust and falls off the buffet. This would make the audience gasp in shock and feel sympathetic for her when she says â€Å"we're cracked Wilfred†, which means she is referring to her leg as she may have broken it and that their marriage is cracked. There are a few other characters used in the play such as the little boy who pees in the garden, which shows how disrespectful young children are nowadays, the neighbours whose leaves blow onto Doris' garden and the policeman who comes to check on her at the end of the play. These characters are all well timed to come into the play as it breaks the scenes up nicely and is like a chapter in the story being broken by turning the page. If Alan Bennett hadn't put these breaks in the play could have become a bit boring. Alan Bennett uses his genius and past experiences to make the play realistic by making Doris very able to relate to. A lot of old people from the same era as Doris are very reluctant to change like when Doris is in her own home and Zulema mentions Stafford House, she becomes all defensive and wary of what might happen next. This will create a lot of interest as people may be threatening their elderly relatives with being placed in a home if they cannot cope on their own and then the people will be able to see how it could be affecting them.