Alcoholism as the Plot Builder of Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned Essay Example for Free

Alcoholism as the Plot Builder of Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned Essay To echo Fitzgerald’s postulation of Antony Patch’s messed up life, â€Å"†¦As winter approached it seemed that a sort of madness seized upon Anthony. He awoke in the morning so nervous that Gloria could feel him trembling in the bed before he could muster enough vitality to stumble into the pantry for a drink. He was intolerable now except under the influence of liquor, and as he seemed to decay and coarsen under her eyes, Glorias soul and body shrank away from himCITATION Fit02 p 111 l 1033 (Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 111)† This is a depiction of a desperate man’s life that has turned to alcohol after experiencing multiple frustrations in life all through his adulthood and a wife who is drawn away from him for this reason. How Antony Patch’s character is molded and developed in the novel is just but a reflection of the messed lives of many uber-rich adults who were lucky enough to be born in rich families but ended up blowing up lifetime opportunities in wasteful escapades of lavish spending during the excessive drinking and partying Jazz Era of the 1920s. Ideally, The Beautiful and Damned is about Anthony Patch who is married Gloria Gilbert and they are hypnotized with the party life. They lead an extravagant life where they enjoy throwing and attending parties which eventually develops to a habit of drinking o a daily basis. Such was the life of Anthony Patch who had mastered the art of laziness leading a valueless life only eager for his grandfather to pass on so as to inherit his multimillion fortunes .Patch’s drinking habits were picked while at school in Princeton where his initial life was tied around books but due to peer influence channeled through his schoolmates who thought of him as being dull and a hopeless romantic, he besought to drinking just like the rest of his peers and vowed to explore the world and party using his family fortune. At some point in life, Anthony Patch is enrolled into Camp Hooker during the war years but he proves to be mentally disoriented as he spends his days in the camp getting drunk and t o cap it all picked up a mistress. Though the move of enrolled into Camp Hooker is considered as a patriotic one, his friends at the camp are another worthless lot who gratify and support his drinking tendencies by indulging in the same with him. His drinking trysts make him a favorite among his camp buddies for he is treated respect for the incessant parties he throws while at camp thus putting to light contemptibility and stupidity of his friends CITATION Mau22 l 1033 (Maunsell, 1922). Patch then meets Gloria Gilbert who beauty is impeccable and he is quickly swept off is feet as he vows to pursue his romantic desires to his life’s death with Gloria. Gloria herself is a replica of Antony for her dogma is satisfaction of worldly pleasures as she selflessly puts it herself, â€Å"If I wanted anything, Id take it I cant be bothered resisting things I want†¦ (Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 235)† It is with the same creed that she detests her husband’s inability to continuously sustain her lavish and innumerable cocktails. Just like everyone else, this couple turns to alcoholism to camouflage their life frustrations to the extent that Anthony cannot do without a taste of the bottle described in Gloria’s own words, â€Å"Oh no, he doesn’t show it anymore unless he can hardly stand up, and  he talks alright till he gets excited. He talks much  better than he does when he’s sober. But he’s been sitting here all day drinking- except for the time it took him to walk the corner for a newspaper†¦ (Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 398)† This entry at towards the end of the novel shows how despicable and dependable Antony patch’s life has been on alcohol after missing out on his grandfather’s fortune and the same being directed towards a servant. Perhaps, Patch’s party and drinking habits were fueled by the fact that he was heir to a rich empire built by his rather strict disciplinarian grandfather who gave no room to unvalued morals. An event where he walks into one of Gloria and Antony’s raucous wild party at their apartment is a representation of his disgust and vilification for irresponsible behavior. His body language and events that transpire after this speaks volumes about his disciplinary antics; at the party, he stares at a white-faced Antony with disgust and in disbelief and utters five denouncing words to the young man in front of him, â€Å"†¦Well go back to Suttleworth..(Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 235)† The mood in the mood is all somber, both Gloria and Patch are frightened by Cross Patch’s presence but he silently walks out of the room after his works. Repercussions that follow are that gets disinherited of his grandfather’s fortune and it is directed towards a servant. They co ntest the decision after his grandfather’s passing but it only makes them more miserable as they entrenched deeper into alcoholism to drown their sorrows. The Damned and beautiful closes as tragic story of an individual who had it all but wasted the opportunity through lavish parties and alcoholism to end up in a wheel chair by age thirty three. References   Fitzgerald, F. S. (2002). The Beautiful and The Damned . New York : Simon Schuster . Maunsell, F. L. (1922, March 5). Latest Works of Fiction: The Beautiful and The Damned . Retrieved October 11, 2014, from The New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-damned.html Source document

Smart Transport System Based Upon Autonomous Road Vehicles

Smart Transport System Based Upon Autonomous Road Vehicles INTRODUCTION People have a high reliance on car for their daily travel to work, shopping, tour and many other places [1]. More than 50% of worlds population lives in cities and more vehicles are on the road causing congestion problems and accidents. Therefore, there is a need for more safe and efficient means of transportation. The new technologies are replacing decade old transportation frameworks and operators with computerization and automation. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is an innovative method that utilizes sensors movements, artificial intelligence, and human management together which will help the autonomous vehicle to drive without human intervention [2]. Autonomous vehicles will be seen soon on our roads communicating with nearby vehicles and warn each other by understanding the conditions ahead. Many cars, for example, the Tesla Model S and the Volvo XC90 has already started including propelled self-driving capacities, and this is expected to increase in coming years [3]. In this paper two use case scenarios of autonomous vehicles are discussed. The first use case discusses about an autonomous vehicle valet parking. Parking a vehicle is considered as one of the difficult task in driving. This includes finding the parking slot and park without collision. The proposed system will allow the driver to leave the vehicle when he/she reaches the destination and the vehicle will park itself in a parking slot. The second use case discusses an autonomous vehicle that can drive without human intervention in an unknown environment. The use cases included are obstacle avoidance, backward moving and overtaking. 2.USE CASE SCENARIOS 2.1 AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE VALET PARKING The number of vehicles on road is increasing rapidly causing congestion problems and pollutions. One of the main reasons for this is lack of car parking and time consumed to find the parking slots. This paper discusses the driving and parking of an autonomous vehicle to a car parking slot without human intervention. An autonomous valet parking will allow the driver to leave the vehicle when he/she reaches the destination and will park the vehicle in a parking slot. The sensors will sense obstacles in its way and will steer around them to avoid collision. It will also notify the driver after parking and locking the door automatically through an app. The proposed system will help the driver who is in a hurry to attend a meeting or watch movie, who doesnt want his/her time to waste checking for parking area and to drive and park there. There are three systems in the vehicle for the autonomous vehicle valet parking [6]. (i) Server System The server system will generate the different driving path to the nearest parking slot and will provide it to the driver through the mobile application. The driver can select the preferred path and vehicle will drive through that path. (ii) Mobile System The driver will be able to monitor the vehicle and check whether it is finding any difficulty to reach the parking slot. The vehicle will also notify the driver once when it has reached the parking slot. (iii) Vehicle Control System The control system will generate the control signals such as steering control, gear change, brakes and speed control required for the movement of the vehicle through the provided path. It should also generate control signals to help the car park in the provided slot. Figure 1: Autonomous vehicle parking system 2.1.1 DESIGN ANALYSIS AND ALGORITHM 2.1.1.a. PARKING SLOT SELECTION Once the driver has reached the destination the driver should request for the nearest parking and reserve the parking slot. The algorithm for this is shown in figure 1.1 [6]. Step 1: Driver request for the parking guidance. The parking slot availability in the parking garage should be updated every time in the data base. The parking slot can detect whether it is occupied with vehicle or not by using an IR sensor in the parking slot. The IR sensors will be connected to micro-controllers. The microcontrollers will communicate to the central server system using ESP8266 which contains the data base of the parking slot availability. ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi chip which will give micro-controller access to communicate with the Wi-Fi network. Along with the number of free parking lots, parking cost in different parking garage will also be stored in the database. The parking guidance is requested by the driver using the navigation system which will be embedded with sim cards inside the vehicle. BMW already have sim card embedded cars [8]. There will be GPS module inside the navigation system which will give the current location of the car. This location of the vehicle, will help to find the nearest parking fa cilities near it. The distance and time to reach each parking garage are calculated by the already programmed navigation device. It will also provide the parking fare for each parking garage. The driver can then select the appropriate parking slot based on his convenience. Step 2: Reserve the parking slot Once the parking slot has been selected by the driver, it should be reserved otherwise there are chances for the parking slot to be occupied by some other car before the vehicle reaches the selected slot. The central server system should be updated once the driver has reserved parking slot. The reservation should be done using the number plate of the vehicle. Sometimes, there might be more than one reservation request for the same parking slot at the same. So, there are chances to get the reservation declined for other customers. In that case the driver can select another parking slot. The vehicle can also go to the parking slot without reservation as well. But there will be a risk of the parking slot to be occupied before the vehicle arrives the parking slot. Step 3: Start the navigation to the parking slot. Once the parking slot has been selected by the driver, he/she can leave the car and the car will navigate to the selected parking slot. Figure 1.1. Algorithm for parking slot selection 2.1.1.b. PARKING PATH FOLLOWING Once the parking slot has been selected the next step is to guide the vehicle to the parking slot. In this paper [6], a graph data structure is used, which will generate driving path using 4D kinematics (i, j, ÃŽÂ ¸, R). The i and j represents the centre co-ordinates of the vehicle and ÃŽÂ ¸ is the heading angle value of the vehicle. To avoid the obstacles while following the path to the parking slot laser scanner sensors (LMS15) are used. These sensors can see the obstacles within 40 m distance and an angular range of 0-1900. The sensors are fitted on both sides in the front and rear side of the vehicle. The obstacle avoidance path is generated by the server system. The figure 1.3. [6] shows the obstacle detecting and avoiding path. Figure 1.3. Obstacle detecting and avoiding path [6] The path generated by the server system consists of location of the vehicle and its heading angle value (ÃŽÂ ¸). The vehicle control system will generate signals to control the steering of the vehicle depending on the heading angle value and location of the vehicle. The steering angle should be calculated for this. The formula for steering angle is shown below [6]. ÃŽÂ ¸s = ÃŽÂ ¸3 ÃŽÂ ¸2  ­- ÃŽÂ ¸1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2 ÃŽÂ ¸s = Steering angleÃŽÂ ¸3 = lateral error angle of vehicle location  Ã‚  Ã‚   ÃŽÂ ¸2 = look-ahead way point heading angle  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ÃŽÂ ¸1 = vehicle heading angle Figure 1.4. [6] shows the driving path followed by the vehicle and the location of the vehicle. Figure 1.4. Driving path followed by the vehicle [6] The speed will also be controlled by the control system. The speed will be reduced to 8 km/hr once the car has entered the parking garage. The car will be notified when it reaches the parking garage by the GPS module installed in the navigation system. The laser scanner sensors can detect the moving obstacles as well. When the vehicle has detected the moving object (e.g. pedestrian) it will stop and wait until it has crossed the road. 2.1.1.c. PARKING AT THE SELECTED PARKING SLOT The next step after reaching the parking slot is the parking at the selected slot. The vehicle control systems consist of two levels [7]. 1. Low level control Low level control is the control of motion which includes steering wheels control, speed control and moving in a proposed distance. 2. High level control High level control is computer vision based control. A trajectory path is formed showing the vehicle direction to park it in the selected slot. To describe the car parking, bi-cycle model is used [7]. This model is commonly used to describe four wheeled vehicles. Rear drive wheel of this model cannot be rotated. To control the vehicle movement the front wheel will be rotated about the vertical axis following the trajectory path. It is assumed that the vehicle is moving on a horizontal and flat surface. Figure 1.5. Bi-cycle model of four wheeled vehicles The figure 1.5. shows the bi-cycle model of four wheeled vehicles [7]. The co ordinate system is represented as V, where x and y represent the co-ordinate points in that system. L= distance between the front and rear wheels ÃŽÂ ³ = steering angle ÃŽÂ ¸ = angle between xv and x v = velocity of the vehicle ICR instantaneous centre of rotation of the vehicle Parking of the car can be done in two ways. [7] 1.Parallel parking method. 2.Perpendicular parking method. Parallel parking method A precise path should be generated to minimize the parking area. The vehicle should move along two arcs created by the high level control without straight-line section between them. A maximum rotational angle of the steering wheels is required to achieve this. The figure 1.6. shows the parallel parking method [7]. Figure 1.6. Parallel parking method [7] The circle radius is calculated using the steering angle (ÃŽÂ ³). Circle radius (R1) = L2tgÃŽÂ ³ Ls1 and Ls2 are the safety boundaries, so the vehicle will not hit the front and back corner of the vehicle while parking. L1, L2, L3 and L4 are the boundary dimensions. The trajectory parking length (S)can be calculated to park the vehicle in the parking slot without colliding on the obstacles. The formula to obtain the trajectory parking length is given below. S = Ls1 + L1 + L2 + L3 + L4 + Ls2 Perpendicular parking method Perpendicular parking method is almost like the parallel parking method. This method reduces the parking area required for parking. The figure 1.7. shows the perpendicular parking method. Figure 1.7. Perpendicular parking method [7] The centre axel wheel should steer along the arc with the radius (R2) value given below to park in a safe condition. R2 = When vehicle reaches point A,for successful completion of parking, the steering wheels should be controlled by the steering. The gear should be in reverse gear and continue until the safe region. There are safety zones LS as in the parallel parking method. The trajectory parking length (S)can be calculated to park the vehicle in the parking slot without colliding on the obstacles. The formula to obtain the trajectory parking length is given below. S = R1 + L2 + LS + 2.1.1.d. NOTIFYING THE DRIVER AFTER PARKING After the car, has been parked in the parking slot, the driver should be notified that the car is safely parked. The sim card embedded in the system will help to notify the driver through SMS or mobile app that it has arrived the parking slot safely. This will help the driver to track the vehicle and ensure that it has reached the parking slot safely. 2.1.2 CHALLENGES AND DESIGN ISSUES IN THE PROPOSED SYSTEM Challenges (i) One of the main challenges in the proposed system is that the driver can only access the parking garages which has been saved in the central server system. (ii) In the proposed system, the vehicle will not come to pick the driver. He/she should go to the parking slot to find the car. This can be included in the future development. Design Issues (i) Sometimes GPS might fail to work in that case the autonomous car might fail to find its direction. (ii) Infrared sensors are expensive and sometimes fail to work due to temperature change. 2.1.3. VEHICLES THAT HAS BEEN USING AUTOMATED VEHICLE VALET PARKING Using digital mapping technology, BMW i3 is about to launch their new car [9] that can park in multi-storey parking garages. This fully autonomous vehicle will drive until it detects a free parking space. Their new Remote Valet Parking Assistant will parks the i3 without any driver assistance. The new car can also detect the moving obstacles and falsely parked car using its LiDAR sensors and drive accordingly without colliding with the obstacles. The car will not notify the driver it has reached the parking slot is one of the drawback in their features. 2.2 AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE NAVIGATION IN UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENT. A fully automatic vehicle should be able to drive by itself and for that it should sense, control, observe and react to its environment. This paper describes an autonomous vehicle that can drive without human intervention in an unknown environment. The use cases included are obstacle avoidance, backward moving and overtaking. The car will reach its destination by avoiding obstacles and following the path lane. A fuzzy logic control technology is used in this paper which will receive the required information from the sensors which will sense the obstacles in its way and the environmental changes. A GPS module is also used to track the position of the vehicle. The system will also control the speed, brake and steering effectively. 2.2.1 DESIGN ANALYSIS AND ALGORITHM The proposed system is divided into two units [5] Fuzzy logic control unit Computer vision unit. The block diagram of the proposed unit is shown in the figure 2.1. [5]. Figure 2.1. Block diagram of the proposed system [5] 2.2.1.a. FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL UNIT Autonomous cars are very complex to design. In this system, fuzzy logic is used to generate logical control signals from the input analog signals. Fuzzy logic is widely used in artificial intelligence. There are many alternative approaches such as genetic algorithm and neural network, but fuzzy logic has the merit that, it can be easily understood by the human operators. The block diagram of the fuzzy logic control unit is shown in figure 2.2. Figure 2.2. Fuzzy Logic Control Unit [4] The proposed system consists of two ultrasonic sensors for recognising the obstacles and measuring the distance between the obstacle and vehicle. Ultrasonic sensors produce ultrasonic waves, which will not produce any sound pollution/environmental pollution. Its also inexpensive. A H-Bridge is used to control the steering motor and the back motor. Webcam is used to see and follow the road lane path. The steering angle is measured and controlled by a potentiometer. The GPS receiver senses the position of the vehicle and is given to the microcontroller. This will help the micro-controller to know whether the vehicle has reached its destination or not. The steering and speed commands are combined and based on this the vehicle will move through the lane. The speed of the vehicle is the most important part while driving. The speed of the vehicle depends on many external factors such as environmental condition, road condition and car condition. For a normal autonomous car, it should have an auto-braking system, auto-speed control system and auto-steering system. These systems depend on different factors like environmental condition, car condition, road condition and so on. The fuzzy logic control unit will control the speed, brake, and steering based on these factors. The figure 2.3. [4] below shows the fuzzy logic controller controlling the systems based on the environmental condition and car condition. Figure 2.3. Fuzzy Logic Controller [4] Auto-braking System The auto-braking system is provided in autonomous car to avoid collision. The ultrasonic sensors will sense the distance between the obstacle and the car and if it is not in a safe distance the car will either stop or reduce the speed. The normal speed limit is set as 0 60 km/hr and the minimum distance between the car and the obstacle is maintained at 5 10 m. This is selected as per the traffic safety authorities. Auto- speed System Speed of the car is controlled on various factors such as environmental condition and car condition. Environmental condition and car condition will be between the range shown below and the car should choose the speed accordingly. Environmental Conditions: Rains falling: (0 200) mm. Winds Speed: (0 150) km/h. Rain sensors are used to sense the rain. The sensors can tell when it is raining depending on the rain drops falling on the wind shield depending on the light reflected. If there are more rain drops on the wind shield less light will be reflected to the rain sensor. Car Condition: Weight (including passengers): (1600 1900) kg. Engine Heat: (-25 65) à ; c. A weight sensor can be used in the seats so that it will sense how many passengers are there in the seat and the vehicle can control the speed. All these factors are given a rating between 0 and 10 [4]. If the conditions are bad, the rating will be between 0-3 and if the conditions are good, then the rating will be between 7-10. The micro-controller will be pre-programmed in such a way that it will be indicated when its raining, or when the air content in the tire is less and the speed of the car will be controlled according to that. Auto-Steering control The steering control is the main part of the autonomous car. The steering is controlled in such a way that; it will follow the trajectory or path to the destination generated by the computer vision unit. Obstacle Avoidance The main feature that should be incorporated in an autonomous vehicle is obstacle avoidance to avoid collision. There are two type of obstacles static and moving obstacles. The obstacles are sensed by the ultrasonic sensors which are connected at the right and left side of the vehicle at an angle of +45o and -45o. The distance is measured using fuzzification. The fuzzy sets used are adjacent, medium and far. The range is set between 25 m and 85 m and is determined by the sensor and the dimension of vehicle [4]. Any measured value by the sensor that is below 25 m is set as minimum value and any measured value exceeding 85 m is set as maximum value. To determine in which fuzzy set (near, medium or far) the measured sensor value belong to is determined using triangular membership function. The equation for that is given below [4]. The speed control and steering control signals are got as an output from the controller which are then given to the steering motor and back motor. The steering is controlled by the steering motor. The steering will be turned according to the steering control signals. The steering angle is controlled by the potentiometer. The digitized value of steering angle decision is shown below. Large Left 120 Small Left 145 Straight 170 Small Right 195 Large Right 220 Figure 2.4. [4] shows the graphical representation of the steering angle decision. Figure 2.4. Graphical representation of the steering angle decision [4] Similarly, the speed is controlled by the back motor and three commands are used for this Slow, Medium and Fast. The values for this is shown below and is decided by the back motors duty cycle values for pulse width modulated signal. Slow 20 Medium 50 Fast 80 Figure 2.5. [4] shows the graphical representation of speed control decision Figure 2.5. Graphical representation of speed control decision[4] Destination Arrived A GPS receiver is attached to the controller to know whether the autonomous car has arrived its destination. The destination will be already decided and entered by the user to the micro controller by using a mobile app. The car and the user can communicate to each other using the 4G network. A SIM card will be already embedded inside the car. Once the car has arrived the destination the car will notify the user. 2.2.1.b COMPUTER VISION UNIT Computer vision unit does the decision-making process in the system. In this paper, overtaking and backward process are discussed. Computer vision unit extracts information from the images taken from multiple cameras and makes decision when to overtake other vehicles and when to reverse the car. Backward direction The figure 2.6. [5] shows the algorithm for backward process of the vehicle. Figure 2.6. Algorithm for backward process [5] Step 1: Decide whether the car should take backward direction or not. Step 2: If yes, the car should select the speed of the vehicle to move in backward direction. If not, then the car continues to move in forward direction. Step 3: After selecting the speed of the backward movement, the next step is to select the direction of the backward movement. If the car wants to move left, then steering should be turned to right and if the car wants to move right then the steering should be turned left. If the wants to move backward in a straight direction then the steering should be kept straight i.e., no change for the steering. Step 4: After the step 3 the car will check the backward process has been completed and the process comes to an end. Overtaking Overtaking is a difficult process normally done by human drivers. To overtake another car the vehicle should maintain a certain speed limit and distance between the two cars should be in a safe distance so that it will not collide. The algorithm for a safe overtaking is given in the figure 2.7. [5]. Figure 2.7. Algorithm for overtaking [5] Step 1: The autonomous car will decide whether to overtake the other car in front of it which will be moving slower than it. If yes, then it should select the overtaking speed. If not, then the car should continue the previous speed. Step 2: The autonomous car should change to the left lane after deciding the speed to overtake. It should check through the rear camera that no other vehicles are trying to overtake it in the left lane, otherwise the two cars will collide with each other. Step 3: After changing to the left lane the autonomous car should continue to move in straight direction. It should check whether it has overtaken the slow vehicle. If yes, then it should change to the right lane maintaining a safe distance. If not, it should continue to move in straight direction and keep on monitoring whether it has overtaken the slow vehicle. Step 4: After the change of lane the autonomous car should check whether it has completed the lane changing. If yes, then the process comes to an end. 2.2.2 CHALLENGES AND DESIGN ISSUES IN THE PROPOSED SYSTEM Challenges (i) In the proposed system, only the algorithm for overtaking and backward movement has discussed. Artificial intelligence algorithm has not been discussed. (ii) In the proposed system, there is detection of traffic signals which can be incorporated in the future development Design Issues (i) Sometimes GPS might fail to work in that case the autonomous car might fail to find its direction. (ii) Ultrasonic sensors can produce some errors when sensing objects which might result in collision. 2.2.3 AUTONOMOUS CARS ALREADY IN MARKET Fully autonomous car will be on our road by 2021. Many car companies like tesla, google, BMW has already started developing such cars. Googles self-driving car has completed 1,500,000 miles in full automated mode on mar 2016 [10]. This car has no steering and brake pedal. It has laser and radar sensors to sense the obstacles and also have a back-up steering, braking, and computing system if any of these fails. 3. CONCLUSION To conclude, we will be able to see self-driving cars on our roads soon, addressing all the road problems like congestions, parking problem, accidents and so on. In this paper two use cases have been discussed. In the first use case, a server system, mobile system and vehicle control system are used for autonomous vehicle valet parking. The proposed system will drop the diver/user at his/her destination and will park the vehicle in the parking slot selected by the user. The future development of the system can be made by making the car to go and pick the user from the parking slot, when he/she is ready to leave. The second use case describes an autonomous vehicle that can drive without human intervention in an unknown environment using fuzzy logic. The use cases included were obstacle avoidance, backward moving and overtaking. The block diagram and algorithm of the proposed system are described in the paper. REFFERENCES [1] C. F. Lin, J. C. Juang and K. R. Li, Active collision avoidance system for steering control of autonomous vehicles, in IET Intelligent Transport Systems, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 550-557, Sept. 2014. [2] Mohammad Abdul Qayum, Nafiul Alam Siddique, Mohammad Abtiqul Haque and A. S. M. Tayeen, Control of autonomous cars for intelligent transportation system, 2012 International Conference on Informatics, Electronics Vision (ICIEV), Dhaka, 2012, pp. 377-382. [3] B. Brown, The Social Life of Autonomous Cars, in Computer, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 92-96, Feb. 2017. [4] U. Farooq, K. M. Hasan, M. Amar and M. U. Asad, Design and implementation of fuzzy logic based autonomous car for navigation in unknown environments, 2013 International Conference on Informatics, Electronics and Vision (ICIEV), Dhaka, 2013, pp. 1-7. [5] A. H. A. Widaa and W. A. Talha, Design of Fuzzy-based autonomous car control system, 2017 International Conference on Communication, Control, Computing and Electronics Engineering (ICCCCEE), Khartoum, Sudan, 2017, pp. 1-7. [6] K. W. Min and J. D. Choi, Design and implementation of an intelligent vehicle system for autonomous valet parking service, 2015 10th Asian Control Conference (ASCC), Kota Kinabalu, 2015, pp. 1-6. [7] D. M. Filatov, E. V. Serykh, M. M. Kopichev and A. V. Weinmeister, Autonomous parking control system of four-wheeled vehicle, 2016 IEEE V Forum Strategic Partnership of Universities and Enterprises of Hi-Tech Branches (Science. Education. Innovations), St. Petersburg, 2016, pp. 102-107. [8] The Economist (2014). The connected car smartphones on wheels Available: http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21615060-way-cars-are-made-bought-and-driven-changing-mobile-communications [Accessed 27/02/2017] [9] Autocar (2014). BMW reveals new self-parking autonomous technology. Available:http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/bmw-reveals-new-self-parking-autonomous-technology. [Accessed 01/03/2017] [10] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2017). Autonomous car Available:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car [Accessed 04/03/2017]

The Controversial Predicament Essay -- Social Issues, Abortion

A pregnant woman patiently waits in an office for doctors to call her up. As she is called up, she feels very nervous and tense. She is told by the doctors to prop her legs on the bed as they get out their surgical devices. Several minutes later, she finds herself being operated for an abortion and sees her newborn being pulled out of her. Unfortunately, it is dead, lifeless, and decapitated. It is later discarded into an incinerator and the mother leaves casually to her home. This situation happens every day and it is seen as a common action like taking a walk. This occurrence should be condemned for the countless lives it has taken away. Abortion is remorseful because it is morally wrong, has negative effects, and promotes racism. There are many reasons for which abortion is morally incorrect. For example, in the bible, Exodus 20:13 specifically states that â€Å"you must not murder† (Bible 104). Influencing the idea to this topic, anyone can conclude that murdering is part of abortion. When abortion is done, the life of an innocent person is taken away. Another reason for which abortion is immoral is because even doctors recognize that what they are doing is regretful. â€Å"Nerville Sender, M.D., who runs an abortion clinic [even stated] ‘we know it is killing, but the states permit killing under certain circumstances.’† (Williams 38). An abortion specialist mentioning that he willingly knows it is murder shows that something is wrong with this picture. The reason for abortion being approved is because of the court case Roe vs. Wade. It â€Å"effectively legalized abortion throughout pregnancy for virtually any reason, or none at all. It is responsible for the grief of millions of men and women, and the killing of millions of unborn childre... .... Besides their rights being denied, science is coming up with reasons so that they should not be born. â€Å"Prenatal testing has become so sophisticated that doctors can now identify many disabilities before birth. But since most have no cure, the only way to ‘prevent’ the disability is to prevent the baby’s birth† (Williams 149). There is no good reason to kill a baby just because they have a physical or mental defect. Infants should not be culpable for being created that way and they should not have to suffer just because he/she will have adversities as he/she grows up. It is for these reasons why abortion promotes racism. Abortion is a horrific action because it is morally wrong, has negative effects, and promotes racism. There is no need to see that abortion is a necessary evil. It should completely be banned so that the lives of future generations can flourish. The Controversial Predicament Essay -- Social Issues, Abortion A pregnant woman patiently waits in an office for doctors to call her up. As she is called up, she feels very nervous and tense. She is told by the doctors to prop her legs on the bed as they get out their surgical devices. Several minutes later, she finds herself being operated for an abortion and sees her newborn being pulled out of her. Unfortunately, it is dead, lifeless, and decapitated. It is later discarded into an incinerator and the mother leaves casually to her home. This situation happens every day and it is seen as a common action like taking a walk. This occurrence should be condemned for the countless lives it has taken away. Abortion is remorseful because it is morally wrong, has negative effects, and promotes racism. There are many reasons for which abortion is morally incorrect. For example, in the bible, Exodus 20:13 specifically states that â€Å"you must not murder† (Bible 104). Influencing the idea to this topic, anyone can conclude that murdering is part of abortion. When abortion is done, the life of an innocent person is taken away. Another reason for which abortion is immoral is because even doctors recognize that what they are doing is regretful. â€Å"Nerville Sender, M.D., who runs an abortion clinic [even stated] ‘we know it is killing, but the states permit killing under certain circumstances.’† (Williams 38). An abortion specialist mentioning that he willingly knows it is murder shows that something is wrong with this picture. The reason for abortion being approved is because of the court case Roe vs. Wade. It â€Å"effectively legalized abortion throughout pregnancy for virtually any reason, or none at all. It is responsible for the grief of millions of men and women, and the killing of millions of unborn childre... .... Besides their rights being denied, science is coming up with reasons so that they should not be born. â€Å"Prenatal testing has become so sophisticated that doctors can now identify many disabilities before birth. But since most have no cure, the only way to ‘prevent’ the disability is to prevent the baby’s birth† (Williams 149). There is no good reason to kill a baby just because they have a physical or mental defect. Infants should not be culpable for being created that way and they should not have to suffer just because he/she will have adversities as he/she grows up. It is for these reasons why abortion promotes racism. Abortion is a horrific action because it is morally wrong, has negative effects, and promotes racism. There is no need to see that abortion is a necessary evil. It should completely be banned so that the lives of future generations can flourish.

Path Goal Theory Essay

I have chosen the movie â€Å" Miracle† as an illustration of an individual, Herb Brooks, fulfilling the parameters of Robert House’s Path-Goal Theory . There are events that one witnesses throughout one’s life that for various reasons leave an indelible imprint on one’s heart and soul. The unexpected victory of the US hockey over the heavily favored Russian team in the 1980 Olympic Games was one of those events. I was at a cocktail party and someone turned on the TV and soon the entire group was gathered around the set, small talk forgotten, as what has been described as the greatest sporting event of the 20th century unfolded. The country was still recovering from the negative effects of the Vietnam War, a weak Jimmy Carter presidency , and enduring a low point in national pride and optimism as Japan and Germany seemed to be gaining control of the world economy as our military dominance seemed to be slipping away. As the final buzzer rang and the â€Å" Do you believe in Miracles? â€Å" issued from the TV, you could feel the surge in national pride and optimism that swept through our little group and of course throughout the whole country. Herb Brooks supplies an extraordinary example of a positive example of Houses’ path -goal theory, which basically states that the leader’s, manager’s, or in this example the coach’s mission is to guide his subordinates to follow the best paths to reach their goals. According to the theory , the leader employs a variety of leadership behaviors( directive, achievement-oriented , participative, and supportive) to accomplish his mission. The theory also postulates that each behavior type was affected by contingency variables, environmental and follower characteristics. The movie afforded a clear picture of the flexibility required by a leader as he guides and inspires his group to achieve their common goal by successfully applying the following four diverse leadership behaviors: 1) Brooks employed directive path- goal leader behavior (â€Å"situations where the leader lets followers know what is expected of them and tells them how to perform their task†.-Wikipedia) throughout the majority of the film. After the tryouts Coach Brooks immediately sets the tone of his coaching regime by informing his assistant and eventually the Olympic Hockey advisory board that he would not consult either of them when deciding the make-up of the squad. He had basically done extensive homework  on all of the players, most of whom he was familiar with through his college experience. Brooks also makes it well known that he is â€Å"not looking for the best players but the right players.† This statement sets the tone for the rest of the movie. As a seasoned coach Brooks recognizes that the best path to success lies in building a real team, whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and clearly avoids choosing a dysfunctional dream team. This example also exemplifies the effect of an environmental contingency factor on leader behavior (directive) as Brooks recognizes and effectively chooses behavior that will deal with the formal authority system (Olympic hockey board) and allow him to im plement his coaching strategies without interference. A second example of Brook’s use of directive leadership techniques is demonstrated by his frequently asking the players , â€Å" Who do you play for?†. Early on in the film , they uniformly reply with the names of their college teams, demonstrating, as Brooks has recognized, that they are still a group of competitive young men and not a team. He continually challenges them, especially after a fight between former collegiate rivals , to start becoming a team and to depend upon â€Å"flow , passing , and creativity†-â€Å"Who do you play for?†. This example flows into the third example his strong directive leadership abilities when after an exhibition loss to the Swedish national team, he makes the players stay after the game to skate sprint drills. In between sprints he informs them that if they don’t want to work during the game, then they can work after it. He tells them that they don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone and that the name on the front of their jersey means a lot more than the one on the back. He repeats his message of win or loose, play like champions. Over and over Brooks shouts â€Å" Again â€Å", driving the players to exhaustion. He doesn’t stop, ignoring the pleas of his assistants, until the future team Captain, Mike Eruzione, states â€Å" I play for team USA. â€Å" Brooks lets them go and a turning point has been reached. They are finally becoming a team , one of destiny with a common purpose. This also is another example of Brooks employing directive leadership to reach a goal despite the effect of a subordinate contingency factor, locus of control. When the team first came together, they were group of highly competitive and independent group of young men hwho identified with their past institutions. Their locus of control was mainly internal and Brooks, with his concept of a cohesive tem, dependent  upon another and the coach for direction, gradually moving their locus of control toward a more external variety, â€Å" I play for team USA†. He has imposed his will on the team and he is now able to lea d direct them completion of their common goal. A third and clear example of directive leadership occurs during a session in the film room where he instructs the team on the tactics and strategy they will employ to be able to stay with the more individually talented Russians and eventually beat them late in the game .He tells them that they will be better conditioned than their adversaries and that they will attack instead of defending. This example also illustrates Brooks employment of Directive Leadership taking into consideration the effect s Of Environmental ( task structure)and Subordinate(Percieved ability) Con tingency Factors to enable the team to reach it’s ultimate goal. After the film session , Brooks has not only clarified the task structure but has defined the team’s perception of their abilities so that they are now gaining confidence that those abilities will be sufficient to achieve their goal. 2) Brooks also employed Achievement- Oriented Leadership (AOL) behavior(â€Å" situations where the leader sets challenging goals for followers, expects them to perform at their highest level, and shows confidence in their ability to met this expectation.†-Wikipedia) throughout the film in various appropriate situations. The first occurrence takes place when Brooks gathers his newly chosen squad sets and sets lofty goals for the team. He tells them they are not just going to the Olympics to show but to legitimately compete. He reinforces their already apparent confidence of having already survived a rigorous tryout and warns them that only 20 names will appear on the final roster and that more of them will be going home. I believe Brooks’ choice of this leadership type behavior was influenced by a Subordinate contingency factor-Experience. Brooks correctly recognizes that his new team’s experience is limited when compared to the other international teams and that confidence in their abilities is an important cornerstone in the team foundation and that the moment called for Achievement – Oriented Leadership Behavior. Brooks has correctly identified that his squad would need to be superbly conditioned if they could hope to achieve one of their major goals-being  able to stay close to the more individually talented and experienced Russians and then outskate them at the end and secure victory. To achieve this announced goal of being the best conditioned team at the Olympic games , Brooks once again employs AOL as he challenges his highly competitive group of players to reach this goal with frequent conditioning drills. His slogan of â€Å" the legs feed the wolves† becomes almost a battle cry and is heard frequently throughout the film as he encourages the players to meet the high physical standards he has set as their goal. Once again Brooks has chosen a leadership behavior pattern(AOL) in consideration Subordinate contingency factor, perceived ability as he reinforces the team’s confidence as they see their abilities increase with their improved conditioning. In one of the most dramatic scenes in the movie which occurs in the locker room right before the big game with the Russians , Brooks once again demonstrates AOL behavior as he sets the final challenging goal of defeating the Russian team and shows his confidence in their abilities-â€Å"You were born to be hockey players† and sends a highly inspired and confident team out onto the ice . 3) An example Herb Brooks exhibiting Participative Leader behavior(â€Å" leaders consulting with followers and asking for their suggestions before making a decision.†-Wikipedia.) occurs when the coach is determining his various lines- groups of 3 players who play together and who substituted together in relief of other lines. He summons three players referred to as â€Å" The Coneheads† and instead of taking a directive approach , he takes a clear participative path as he involves the young men in the decision making process as he asks them if they would like playing together as a line and if they thought it was a good fit for them. The players agreed with Brooks and go on to be a very effective line. This shows Brooks once again choosing the correct leader behavior-participative- relative to an Environmental Contingency factor-work group-to achieve performance goals and group satisfaction. Brooks once again demonstrates participative leadership when well into the team’s development, he decides to add a new ,very talented college player to  the roster. On their own, 3 team members approach the coach and voice an opinion that this new player is not needed and should not take a roster spot of a player who has worked so hard to earn that spot. The coach argues that the new player is very talented and will help the team and asks why the 3 young men do not want him. They respond he is not â€Å"family â€Å". Brooks recognizes that he has achieved his goal of team and has clearly consulted with followers before making a final decision. 4) Coach Brooks also employs Supportive Leadership behavior ( â€Å" behavior directed toward the satisfaction of subordinate’s needs and preferences. The leader shows concern for the follower’s psychological well being.†- Wikipedia.) and his early interaction with goalie Jim Craig demonstrates this type of leadership behavior. Jim is an outstanding goalie whose play has been erratic since the recent death of his mother. Brooks knows that against the aggressive Russian team the goalie will play a deciding role. Jim had earlier refused to take a team test and had expected a tongue lashing from Brooks . Instead , Brooks , cognizant of the psychological aspects of the grieving process which are affecting Jim’s playing and his ability to fully commit emotionally to the team. In private sessions he recognizes and therefore validates Jim’s emotional issues. After the coach points out an erratic performance, Jim is benched and asks the coach is it because he didn’t take the test and Brooks replies, â€Å" No, I want that guy that wouldn’t take the test†. Jim is named the starter and against the Russians plays an outstanding game, turning back a deluge of shots on goal by the Russians. If the coach had chosen a harsher style, Jim may have very well shut down further and robbed the team of a valuable asset. Once again Brooks has chosen the right leadership behavior –Supportive- to bring out the best in his follower, enabling them both to reach a common goal. In doing so he had identified the relation between a subordinate contingency factor, locus of control, and the need for the proper leader behavior-Supportive-to achieve the goal. Jim was feeling isolated and distracted by his grief, leading to a more internal locus of control and Brooks was able to move him toward a more external perception involving the concept of team, discipline and conformity to leadership by employing that behavior style. In another demonstration of utilization of Supportive leadership, Brooks exhibits compassion and empathy when he drops Ralf Cox from the Olympic squad near the end of the training period. Since Brooks himself was in a similar situation, having been cut from the 1960 Olympic Hockey right before their run for the gold medal, he personally understands the psychological trauma after a rejection of this magnitude. He personally comforts and consoles Ralf and thanks him for his fine effort and tell him that he is a great player. This display of supportive leadership could not help but further strengthen the team’s belief in their coach’s leadership abilities and character. A final example of supportive leadership, occurs , when understanding the psychological and physical distress of the injured Jack O’Callahan, Brooks meets with him privately and assures him that he remains confident in his ability to perform and that he will not be , as Jack so desperately feared, be cut from the team. Jack goes on to heal and play an important role in the US victory, vindicating Brooks’ discision and use of supportive leadership. As presented, Herb Brooks clearly demonstrates in the movie â€Å"Miracle† the effective use of House’s Path-Goal Theory as he guides his team, the 1980 US hockey team on its historic journey toward the defeat of the supposed invincible Russian team and the winning of the gold medal. I doubt that Brooks was even aware of House’s work but, guided by experience and instinct he effectively employed the various leadership behaviors and the modifying effect of environmental and subordinate contingency factors to gain the trust and respect of his peers and his players, leading them to the ultimate prize. In doing so , Brooks demonstrates to all leaders the importance of flexibility in leadership techniques and of not only gaining the trust of one’s followers but the necessity of fostering trust between those followers. Part 2 The movie â€Å"Miracle† also illustrates examples of Victor Vroom’s Expectancy  Theory. As described in Robbins and Judge, pages 86-87, this a motivation theory which postulates there is a certain relationship between personal effort and outcomes and that employees and in our examples, team members, can be motivated to achieve favorable outcomes. ) Vroom describes three processes or links, 1) Effort –Performance , 2) Performance- Reward, and 3) Rewards-Personal Goals† and their relationships. In the first link ( Effort –Performance), the individual ascertains if effort will equate to performance. In the second link (Performance-Reward) , he or she determines whether there be a desired outcome following a good performance and in the third link (Rewards-Personal Goals) will those rewards satisfy my personal needs? I believe the following 3 players dynamically exhibited the 3 links or processes of Vroom’s Theory. 1)Jimmy Craig-A an extremely t alented goaltender who led Boston University to the 1978 NCAA Division 1 championship. Effort-Performance- Initially deemed the back up goalie, Jimmy makes it clear that he is only attending the try-outs because he promised his mother shortly before she passed away near the end of his college career to try out for the Olympic Team and win a gold medal.. After he makes the team, both Jimmy’s attitude and thus his effort increase throughout the early and middle parts of the film as he is shown practicing harder and engaging in extra drills to increase his hand eye co-ordination and conditioning. As these efforts pay off, his performance begins to improve as he obviously knew it would with increased effort, thus demonstrating the link between performance and effort. Performance – Reward- Recognizing his improved performance , Coach Brooks rewards Jimmy with the the starting goalie position which led to the further rewards of victories against the teams they needed to overcome in the 1980 Olympics . Against a veteran Russian team it was his outstanding perfor mance(36/39 saves) , especially late in the game , that preserved the US victory. Jimmy and the US team then went on to attain their ultimate reward-the Gold Medal. Reward-Personal Goals- These rewards were of course personally desirable as they led to the attainment of personal goals such as fulfilling his mother’s wishes and helping to improve his grieving father both emotionally and probably financial as the notoriety and exposure led to a professional Hockey career and eventually a successful long term profession as a motivational speake John J. â€Å" r, spokesperson, and marketing and sales strategist. 2) Michael  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Rizzo â€Å" Eruzione- Mike was a Boston University hockey standout who graduated several years earlier than his above teammates. He was described by his BU coach, Jack Parker as† Pete Rose on skates†-â€Å"Wikipedia†. Rizzo went to successfully play 2 years in the International Hockey League before trying out for the 1980 Olympic team. Effort-Performance- It is clearly apparent from the onset of the film, that Mike is a long shot to make the team and when he does , he is chosen last. It is also obvious that Rizzo is a natural leader as he is portrayed settling disputes between rival Minnasota and Boston players and is a critical factor in coalescing the group into an effective team, when as noted in part one is the player who shouts, â€Å" I play for team USA â€Å". He not only gives great effort in practice but also in his natural leadership and that led to success in performance in both areas Performance –Reward- Eruzione’s all around performance in rewarded by not only making the team but being appointed Team captain, a prestigious position. He is then further motivated to play to the limits of his ability and makes the winning shot against the Russians. He is the player that Coach Brooks was talking about when he stated â€Å" I don’t want the best players, I want the right players.† Reward-Personal Goals- Initially , recognizing his limited ability Rizzo’s personal goal was just to make the squad and continue to play hockey a little bit longer and he accomplished this and more, eventually winning a gold medal. It is obvious that his personal goals were different than many of his teammates whose personal goals were to go on and play professional hockey. I suspect he had other personal goals as he was able t o parlay his Olympic success into a rewarding business and TV careers. 3)John â€Å" Jack â€Å" O’Callahan – Another extremely talented college hockey standout who also played for and was Captain of the 1979 championship Boston University team. Effort-Performance- Jack was a highly competitive player who always gave 100% on the ice. He once stated in the movie that he had skated so hard he couldn’t feel his legs. He also had definite leader ship abilities and inspired his teammates to also go all out. His continued maximum effort lead to superior performance and a high scoring output. Performance – Reward- Jack’s outstanding performance led to rewards on several different levels. First, he was easily rewarded with a position on the team and granted significant playing time. Then, when he suffered a potentially season ending  knee injury during the exhibition game against the Russians, Coach Brooks rewarded him with a show of faith by keeping him on the team despite the fact he was not able to play the opening Olympic rounds. Jack was obviously highly motivated by this gesture and vigorously rehabbed and was able to return to play in the key game against the Russians, making a key play that led to a score that tied the game and eventually led to another reward –the Gold Medal. Reward - Personal Goals- When Herb Brooks stated in the locker room before the pivotal Russian game, â€Å" you were born to be Hockey players† one of the players that definitely fit that description was Jack. He exemplifies the Expectancy Theory by being able to convert the desired awards into fulfillment of his personal goal –to play professional hockey, playing 390 games in the NHL. I think this movie and the actual reality it depicts is an excellent example of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. This theory appears to be more applicable to sports than the workplace as there are clear and defined linkages between effort and performance and performance and reward. As compared to the average workplace , the endpoints of reward and personal goals can reach , as we know, extraordinary levels of financial success and notoriety.

Selection of College Major

Purpose 1 is to generate a personal analysis of personal behavior based on the responses that I have formulated and gathered from the Self-Analysis Worksheet. Purpose 2 is to develop critical thinking skills with the use of the available data and information with an integration of the lessons that are discussed in class. Questions Question 1 is about the capability of this assignment to bring out the critical thinking skills that I posses. Question 2 is about the relevance of this assignment in the development of my critical thinking skills. ConceptsAccording to the assignments, concepts are ideas that we use in thinking to be able to make sense of something. In line with this one can generate three basic types of concepts, cognitive concepts, behavior concept and affective concept. Cognitive concepts are ideas that helps us to become aware of the things the surrounds us. Usually these ideas compose the things that we learn through the use of our sense-perception. For instance the co ncept of finishing college in four years is a standard cognitive concept among students taking a four-year baccalaureate degree.Behavior Concepts on the other hand is composed of ideas that makes sense of our habits or those that are formed through everyday experience. Behavioral concepts includes the ideas that one use to justify his/her action. One major Behavior concept could be the optimistic behavior that I have towards finishing college through going to class everyday and taking notes during lectures. Affective Concepts are those that make sense of our fears, goals and ambitions. Somehow, affective concept s is responsible for the purpose of ones actions.Such is the case that one does not do bad things because it generates bad Karma or because it makes one to become hated. Information Study I found out that when I study for two hours for a subject, I anticipate that I could get high grades. This is a cognitive concept since these are information I gathered from observing my ac tion through factual data available in the surrounding. In relation to studying, I turn into behavioral concepts that reflect my study habits, which are taking notes and studying in bulk once a week or before examination.Affective concepts in relation to study can be seen in the way that I sense relief after studying and sense of enjoyment I felt when studying with the music turned on. Motivation to Complete College I have learned that my motivation to complete college basically arise from the changes that college can bring to my life. The commitment that I have, to finish college in four years is actually the main reason why I am striving so hard to finish my studies on time. Mainly, the idea of completing college and enjoying the life that it could open to me motivates me everyday into looking forward to do my best.Selection of College Major In selecting my college major I believe that it will dictate the course of my life and my career. Nonetheless, it is only now that I learned that it also hinders me to study other things besides my major subjects. It somehow limits my horizon and cuts off my other potentials. Family Responsibility and Support I found out that I am not yet ready for any family responsibility. I still enjoy my life as a child and a teenager. My family is very supportive of me and I want to help them in as much as I can. Thus, I seldom ask for financial support if I can manage my own expenses.Support from Instructors or Counselors Instructors and Counselors can really help one out in his or her assignments and the topics that he or she cannot understand. I found out that I do not really ask help from my instructors and counselor as much as I should, especially when I do not understand the lessons. Assumption Assumption 1 is about the reason why I am in college. Before answering the worksheet, I assume that I go to college simply because everyone is in college. But through thinking about it in a deeper sense, I have realized that it is reall y a personal want to finish college and start a new life.Assumption 2 is about taking my major course. Before, I assume that I take the major because it seems fine and I find it easier than other majors, now I realized that there are so many things that I cannot do anymore because I need to concentrate on my major. Thus taking a major is actually a matter of priority rather than of luck or chance. Inference Inference 1 is about the fact that after completing the worksheet I would try to give some more time to my studies. With respect to this, I would try to asked questions to instructors and counselor/s when needed.Inference 2 is about making more appropriate decisions through critical thinking. That is that this assignment will be able to help me practice critical thinking in dealing with ideas and concepts. Implications Implication 1 is if do study on time and if I consult with my instructors, if I will be able to utilize my time more effectively, I would be able to have higher gr ades and I will be able to finish my college degree. Implication 2 is if I do not develop critical thinking during this assignment, I might as well repeat the assignment and find out what might be the reason why I cannot develop critical thinking.Point of View I view myself as a student who is ordinary, I mean someone who is neither a high profile intellectual nor a retard. I study for the sake of having a degree not because I love the major or I dreamed of being successful in the field. As a student I often look into things with lesser depth and with a practical point of view. This assignment has helped me sort out my behavior and my ability to reason. It gives me an idea regarding how I see myself. It develops a deeper and more profound type of thinking that makes one realize that there are reasons behind things. Reference Person. Lecture Notes and Assignments. 2008

Analysis the Motorbike Market in Vietnam

Vietnam by motorbike take 61% of the total and by 4 times comparing with people who use car as main vehicle. Thus, motorbike market is an important part of Vietnam economy and considerable contribution to economic growth in recent years of Vietnam. Therefore, in this report are going to analyze the Motorbike market in Vietnam in both aspects: microeconomic and macroeconomic and bring out some conclusion about this market. Microeconomics: In this section, it will be analyzed into three elements such as demand, supply and price. Demand of consumer: In recent years, the demand of motorbike always grows up.According to the Vietnam Registry Department, until a half of 2011 Vietnam has about 17 million registration motorbikes and became one of countries has the ratio of people who use motorbike highest on the world. Table 2: Number of motorbike was registered Source: Vietnam Registry Department, 2010 Following above table, it can be seen that number of registered motorbike is increasing dr amatically year by year. In 2006, Vietnam had 1. 5 million of motorbikes but 5 year later this figure increased twice with 3 million motorbikes in 2010.These figures are shown that demand of Vietnamese people in buying motorbike very large ND this Is a complex market for Investors to Invest their capital as well as extend production. The main reason leaded to growing up of motorbike is reduced price of this product. For example, 10 years ago, a Honda dream motorbike was 30 million VEND (equivalent 2,000 USED at the same time), however after 5 year Honda was opened a industry in Vietnam and now price of a Honda motorbike is just from 10 million VEND (equivalent KUDUS at the present time). Price of produce changes, therefore demand of consumers change too.On the other hand, the second factor making demand of consumer raise Is national Income. According to General Statistics Offer, average per capita income in 2010 was approximately 1000 SAID, increasing 2. 5 times compare with income in 2004. Slogan (2010) is mentioned that to normal goods when income increases, the demand about it increases. Motorbike is a normal goods. This is sigh to show that when income of people increases, their demand increase too and they will spend more money for necessary goods, such as Vietnam is one of countries where is the most of using motorbike in the world.Thus, Vietnam is a large market and more potential for motorbike brands. Honda is brand which has most of market share in motorbike market because Honda is leader of this market when they were the first production at Vietnam over 10 years ago and they are always on the top of choice of consumers. According to General Statistics Offer, until 2009 there are two industries of Honda in Vietnam and the total of productivity of those is 1. 5 million produces per year.However, in 2010 Honda has invested 70 million USED to expend these industries, and improvement productivity to 2 million produces each year. Look back on the table 2, the number of registered motorbike in 010 was 3 million produces. Therefore, Honda was taken over a half of share market of motorbike market in Vietnam. Yamaha, Suzuki, SUM, Pigging†¦ Are the rest of brands in the motorbike market. In these brands, Yamaha is the most competitor of Honda with productivity each year is 1 million produces.In first years when motorbike has Just come to Vietnam, motorbike brands have set a high price because at that time demand of consumer was increasing highly and the main reason that time was taste. In recent years, with expanding on industries of old brands and setting up new brands of domestic production makes competition violently in motorbike market. As a result, reduce price is the optimal choice of producers. Domestic brands have exposed new produces with lower price, conformity with people who have low income.Therefore, other brands must to reduce price of their produce to competitive if they do not want to lose share market. Producers emul ate reducing price make demand of consumer increasing significantly. However, at this present, the supply of producers is over than demand of consumer, making surplus through the years, so in the future the price of produce will be continue reduce. On the other hand, producers must be kept productivity stability and in next some years reduce productivity to avoid surplus by yearly.

Devotion of Love

Love is unreasonable. It makes us suffer and leads us to unexpected decisions. Love gives us enough power to fight, making us powerless against our desire to produce an impression on others. Whether we love our parents or our friends, we nevertheless feel the need to prove the relevance of our feelings to others. James Joyce’s Araby and D. H. Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner teach us to be more attentive to what we usually call love.The two stories shape the two different visions of love: while Joyce’s love borders on arrogance, Lawrence’s feelings border on insanity, both leading to spiritual frustration and physical self-destruction. Love is always surrounded by illusions. In both Araby and The Rocking Horse Winner, love is associated with frustration, which comes as a result of dreams which never come true. â€Å"Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen.When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped† (Joyce). Really, is there anything better than seeing a wonderful girl across the street and dreaming about her beauty? These dreams however, are shaped in ways that do not provide the protagonist with a single chance to make them true. The situation is similar with Lawrence’s boy Paul, who vainly tries to protect his mother from financial problems. â€Å"He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to ‘luck’.Absorbed, taking no heed of other people, he went about with a sort of stealth, seeking inwardly for luck. He wanted luck, he wanted it, he wanted it† (Lawrence). In his trying to find consolation in gambling, Paul looks very similar to Joyce’s character. In the bazaar or during a horse race, both position love as the object of trade, and the success of their spiritual strivings depends on their ability to earn or purchase a certain amount of material values. That these materialistic strivings are initially doomed to failure neither Joyce, nor Lawrence can conceal.They turn these material sensations into an effective literary instrument with the aim to prove and confirm the eternal truth: love cannot be bought; nor can it be sold. The tragic mistake which Joyce’s impersonal character and Lawrence’s boy Paul make on their way to love is replacing the value of true feelings with the value of money. Their failures are not in that they cannot earn or buy enough to satisfy the material needs of others. Their failure is in that they initially agree to play this material game and silently accept the rules set by others.Their love makes them blind, and they obviously overestimate their strengths, efforts, and abilities to realize their dreams and hidden desires. â€Å"Paul’s mother touched the whole five thousand. Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a choru s of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings and Paul had a tutor† (Lawrence). Not the tutor and not the new furnishings, but the inner voice was telling Paul that something was wrong – the voice which Paul consciously refused to hear.The same unknown voice might have been telling Joyce’s character to keep from making an unnecessary purchase. There, in the middle of the bazaar, the young boy is gradually realizing that love does have its limits – the social and material limits, which society has imposed on him against his will. Joyce and Lawrence are similar in a sense that they re-evaluate simple human feelings through the prism of social complexities. The latter make love impossible and unachievable to those, who do not have financial capital.Both characters are the victims of their own feelings. Regardless whether these feelings border on arrogance or on material insanity, they inevitably lead to moral or physical self-destruction. Conclusion For years and centuries, love was the source of literary inspiration. In case of Joyce and Lawrence however, love has become the mirror of the major society’s flaws. Limited and decreased to an object of social trade, in both stories love appears as the instrument of one’s spiritual and physical self-destruction.Both stories position love as the object of gambling, and those who love do not have any other choice, but to accept the rules of this tragic materialistic game. The two stories form the two different pictures of one feeling and teach us a good lesson: when replaced with materialism and combined with arrogance or material insanity, our feelings turn us into the prisoners of our own unbelievably unrealistic desires; and how virtuous these desires may seem, they do not give us a single chance to be loved.