Dracula Coursework

TRAN5291M Traffic Network Modelling Assignment: [Dracula Coursework] Student ID Number: [200750558] Lecturer: [Dr. Ronghui Liu] Submission Date: [12/03/2013] Semester: [Semester 2] Academic Year: [2012-2013] Words: [1546] Table of Content 1. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3 2. Task coding for base scenario†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 Task C (Simulation for proposed bus lane scheme)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4 4. Task D (comparison of bus stop and bus lay by)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 5. Task E (Proposed Scheme)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 6. Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 7. Reference†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 0 1. Introduction Otley is a market town in the outskirts of Leeds having population of 14124(National statistics. 2004). Otley town council wants to patronage public transport service by improvin g bus services to market and improving local environment by traffic reduction. We as a transport planner have been tasked to measure the effectiveness of inclusion of bus lane on link 24-17 which is a two lane carriage way serving all traffic, also to consider a change of bus layby to a bus stop Figure 1 Otley NetworkThe bus service in on route from zone 105 to 109 with a frequency of one every 10 minutes. Data collected from Dracula after simulation for bus route which have 2 bus stop and one layby holds the base scenario for this report and also to which the proposed scheme is compared. 2. Task coding for base scenario 2. Simulation of the Base Scenario For base scenario, the network is coded with 2 bus stop on link 24-17 and 15-9 and a bus lay by on link 16-15, 5 iteration were done with random NSEED no which are shown in table 1 Day 1| Day 2| Day 3| Day 4| Day 5| NSEED| 12345| 23456| 34567| 45678| 56789| Table 1. Random NSEED NO. Data collected for this simulation in this report included average total journey time for cars and buses over the network for 5 days which was 90. 26 seconds with standard deviation of 2. 26 for cars and 354. 68 seconds with standard deviation of 7. 55 for buses. The total Journey time data was taken from . REB file Figure 1. Base scenario average journey time for 5 days 3 Task C 3. 1Simulation for proposed bus lane schemeSimulation for proposed bus lane on link 24-17 were carried with same NSEED no as in the base scenario with respective days. Figure 2. Average journey time with bus lane As the graph indicates average total journey time for cars is 89. 62 and for bus is 339. 48 sec ,which has decreased in comparison with the base scenario. When the average journey times for the base scenario is compared with the proposed bus lane scheme as shown in figure 3,it was observed that although the journey time with the inclusion of bus lane have decreased but the deviation from the mean is higher compared to base scenario.As from the fi gure 3 the maximum deviation for the bus lane scheme not much higher as in the case of base scenario but with a minimum deviation there is a probability that journey time with bus lane scheme can reduce further. Figure 3. comparison of avg. journey times for base scenario and bus lane journey time In case of cars the change in average total journey time does not have a significant impact as the journey time in the base scenario changes form 90. 26 hours to 89. 26 hours and also the error bar in both the cases is vey less.Figure 4. Average journey time for cars The average number of passengers in the bus lane scheme have decreased from 163 passengers to 158 and also the error bar in the bus lane scheme is high compared to base scenario, shown in Table 1 | Bus lane scheme avg| Error bar| Base scenario avg| Error bar| Npsg| 158. 2| 20. 5| 163. 6| 7. 68| Pdelay(m)| 761. 28| 110. 598| 777. 82| 57. 29| Tdwell(s)| 1082| 224. 9| 1100. 6| 98. 36| Table 1:Comparision of base scenario and bus lane scheme for busThe passenger delay and bus dwell time have rather decreased but the error bar in the respective cases for bus lane scheme are high compared to base scenario. Although the journey time, number of passenger, passenger delay and bus dwell time are decreasing in bus lane scheme compared to base scenario but the error bar are comparatively high, hence it is more appropriate to have a reliable system and inclusion of bus lane would not affect the overall current bus service of the otley network significantly, but its inclusion can improve certain parts of the network which are significant in improving public transport service . Task D (comparison of bus stop and bus lay by) Analysing the performance of lay by on link 17- 15 with no bus lane the average total journey time for cars almost remained the same and does not have any significant impact . But in case of bus the total journey time with layby was more when compared with the bus stop scenario, also the error bar i n the bus top scenario was smaller that of a layby scenario, as shown in figure 5 Figure 6. comparison of average journey time for bus layby and bus stop scenario.Comparing the average no of passengers ,passenger delay time and bus dwell time the bus lay by scenario was better than the bus stop scenario as the number of passenger decreased in bus stop scenario with bigger error bar compared to base scenario, passenger delay does not have a significant impact but bus dwell time was smaller than the base scenario but the value for error bar is just double in the bus stop scenario ,as shown in table 7. | Bus stop scenario avg| Error bar| Bus layby scenario avg| Error bar| Npsg| 158. 4| 16. 9| 163. 6| 7. 68| Pdelay(m)| 779. 87| 96. 64| 777. 82| 57. 29| Tdwell(s)| 1080. 4| 183. 63| 1100. 6| 98. 36| Table 2. Comparison of bus stop and bus lay by scenario In case of Queuing delay bus lay bay have larger queuing delay than bus stop queuing delay, as shown in figure 7 Figure 7. comparison of queuing delay for bus layby and bus stop More Queuing delay in bus layby than that in bus stop case is because once bus get off the road to pick passengers, bus have to face congestion because of other cars which are already in the route .Comparing the average speed for bus in both the scenarios buses on link 16 -15 with bus stop have higher average speed than the case of a layby, as shown in figure 8 Figure 8. comparison of average speed for bus Bus also create congestion for other vehicle while they are boarding or deboarding the passengers. Performance flow on link 16 -15 for cars is shown in figure 9 Figure 9. Comparison of performed flow for cars Figure above show that the performance flow for cars was better in case of bus stop than that of a layby.Analysing the simulation for both bus stop and bus lay by the average journey time for bus top was significantly smaller compared to bus lay by on link 16-15,other factors such as average speed ,no of passengers ,passenger delay ti me and bus dwell time does not have a significant impact . Hence replacing bus layby with a bus stop would be beneficial and would encourage more usage of public transport service. 5. Task E (Proposed Scheme) Improvement of public transport service can be done if passengers already have seasonal tickets, this will reduce the bus dwell time and would also decrease the passenger delay at the bus stop.Proposal is given for a bus lane of length on link 24-17 with a bus stop on link 16 -15 and encouraging 50 percent of the passengers to have seasonal tickets. Frequency of the bus is kept the same as in the case of base scenario Improving infrastructure could be helpful in improving public transport service as on the network there are sharp turns which cause manoeuvring difficulties and causes some of the time delay (e. g. turn from link 24-17 to 17-15) The average journey time for proposed scheme is shown in figure 10As shown in the above graph the average journey time have decreased con siderably after inclusion of seasonal ticket, bus lane and bus stop on link 16 -15. Although the error bar for the proposed scheme is double of the base scenario but the maximum error of the proposed scheme is lesser than the minimum error for the base scenario. In terms of environment the proposed scheme does not have a huge impact on environment, as the co2,NOx and hydrocarbon emission are nearly same in both the cases, as shown in table 3. | Pollutants emission and fuel consumption|   | Base scenario|   | Proposed scheme|   |   | | Avg| Error Bar| Avg| Error Bar|   | Co2 (Kg)| 33. 71| 1. 37| 34. 11| 0. 37|   | Nox(Kg)| 0. 694| 0. 03| 0. 7| 0. 007|   | Hc (Kg)| 2. 28| 0. 09| 2. 318| 0. 02|   | Fuel (L)| 158| 6. 45| 159. 5| 1. 7|   | Table 3. Pollutant emission in base scenario and proposed scheme Comparing the queuing delay for both the scenarios ,queuing delay for bus in proposed scheme was lesser as compared to that of the base scenario. Figure 11. Comparison o f queuing delay for proposed scheme and base scenarioWith inclusion of bus stop and bus lane the average speed for busses increases form 12. 23 kmph to 14. 95 kmph as shown in figure12 When comparing the average no of passengers ,passenger delay at bus stop and bus dwell time we see that the no of passenger at the bus stop have increased and bus dwell time have decreased which is beneficial in improvement of public transport services. 6. Conclusion In the proposed scheme for the otley network in Dracula the inclusion of bus lane on link 24-17 and a bus stop on link 16-15 is beneficial . lso 50 percent of passengers having seasonal ticket is an advantage as it is reducing the bus dwell time and also the bus total journey time. 7. Reference 1. Office for National Statistics. (2004). Neighbourhood statistics. Available: http://www. neighbourhood. statistics. gov. uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset. do;jsessionid=zqGzR8CX0hh2WhLzqnHLh6GKBsqNYD19kNYPFXyCkSQjL4BBM092! 1701030348! 1362936375 650? instanceSelection=03070&productId=7. Last accessed 10/03/2013. 2. Dr. Ronghui Liu (2005). Dracula manual. ITS,LEEDS: Handouts. 1-147.

Alice in Wonderland Essay

You may have thought Alice in Wonderland was just a children’s tale that everyone takes too seriously but there is more philosophy, metaphors, and spirituality in this revolutionary children’s book than you can fit into one teapot! It seems everyone from my generation and up has heard the story, read the book, or watched the movie at some point in their lives. Alice in Wonderland started as a book written in 1865 by Charles Lutwidge. It is about a girl named Alice who sees a little white rabbit in the woods and follows it down the rabbit hole. When Alice goes down the hole she finds herself in a fantasy world called Wonderland, which is populated by peculiar characters. A few of these characters include the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the caterpillar, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and the Cheshire cat. Alice in Wonderland was a good story that caught the attention of both the young and the old but what most people did not know is that there is a bigger picture behind the story; the bigger picture being the one that famous philosophers pointed out. The first idea or character from Alice in Wonderland that I want to cover is the Cheshire cat. Cheshire Cat is depicted as an intelligent yet mischievous, villainous character that sometimes helps Alice and sometimes gets her into trouble, the cat is know for its disappearing acts where is starts to fade leaving nothing but it’s smile. Plato argued that what ‘is not’ in some sense also ‘is’, therefore he also believed that a non-being did exist. Plato believed that the incompatibility of Being and Non-Being was false. The only real antinomy is that of a single object of consciousness and all other things from which it is distinguished. Some would argue that no cat could just disappear into thin air and leave behind its smile. One would ask, can a smile be on it’s own? Apparently it can. The Cheshire cat’s grin, too, is a non-material being which would be categorized as a grin, as just a Platonic Form – a nonmaterial being which has real existence. Another aspect of Alice in  Wonderland that I want to cover is the food items that Alice eats. Her character in this story is almost entirely defined by what she eats. Once Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole she is stuck behind a small door that she cannot fit into. This talking door tells her that there are snacks on the table that will help her fit thru the door so she looks on the table and magically there are food items and drinks with tags that say â€Å"Drink me!† and â€Å"Eat me!† that appear out of nowhere, so Alice eats one without questioning it. â€Å"Food has a constant tendency to transform itself into situation,† the French sociologist Roland Barthes said. For that quote Barthes was talking about foods in the aspect of having communion without bread or Christmas withou t turkey. We can also question what would Alice be without those treats? The food made its way into this certain situation. Alice never would have been able to go thru that small door had she not eaten that one treat that made her shrink. This specific food choice set the tone for the rest of the movie, it made the story able to move on and allowed Alice to officially enter Wonderland. Another part of Alice in Wonderland that made me think of Ronald Barthes was when, in his essay The Death of the Author he states â€Å"it is language which speaks, not the author: to write is to reach that point where language alone acts, â€Å"performs,† and not â€Å"oneself.† Lewis Carroll does just this in Alice in Wonderland. He creates his story with his knowledge of language with the puns and riddles in this story. An example would be his parody of traditional songs, which create a double meaning. Carroll does not project one meaning, he hands his language to the reader and allows them to analyze the story however they would like. Barthes quote says basically that the author is not the one that is spe aking to you but his language is. The language the author uses should speak to readers in the different ways that they hear it and Alice in Wonderland does just that, which is why there are so many different views and interpretations on it. In this book, Alice’s powers to reason are so distinct they seem unsuitable to a little girl’s character. According to Aristotle’s book Poetics, he insists that a character must be appropriate. For example, any intelligence in a woman would be considered inappropriate. Though Aristotle does not cover a child’s appropriate characteristic, we should assume that if intelligence in a female character is marked as inappropriate then it should be for a little girl as well. From this we argue that Alice’s fearless reasoning through out  the movie is uncharacteristic of a child. However, when Alice’s reasoning is used to draw attention to her, Alice’s childish nature is skillfully put into words when Alice claims that she â€Å"[doesn’t] care which happens.† This would restore her values as a character for Aristotle since he says, â€Å"too brilliant a diction conceals character and thought.† Alice in this book experiences a lot of things that the reader might think of as illusions or things that aren’t true or cannot happen. According to Nietzsche, the things in this book make perfect sense. Everyone is driven by a will to truth and knowledge on hand and a will to illusion and ignorance on the other hand. These components help make a worthy and happy existence for everyone. This book constantly makes the reader go back and forth between what is the truth and what isn’t. This book is the perfect demonstration for Nietzsche’s theory of having a middle ground between the place for realism and for fantasy in a well-ordered life. Alice’s willingness to accept the appearance of the white rabbit without question and follow it down the rabbit hole to continue her illusion fantasy is the perfect example of Nietzsche’s theory of the will of ignorance and the good use of illusions a person needs to balance their life. Opposed from Nietzsche’s theory about everything in Alice in Wonderland making sense, David Hume has another idea. Hume is another philosopher whose theories can be found within Alice in Wonderland. Hume brought forth the idea that until we know the necessary connection or cause of things, than all knowledge is uncertain. Everyone who reads or watches Alice in Wonderland is just as intrigued as she is on her new findings. This Wonderland is full of things that contradict our experience and expectations. While following Alice’s journey one does not know what comes next, as in our lives we usually do. We know that if you roll one ball and it hits another than that ball will roll too. Hume has a different idea. Hume would have thought, based on this theory, that Alice shows little evidence of being an expert on deductive logic. Alice would not have been able to make any reasonable decisions in Wonderland because she has never experienced anything like it before and therefore doesn’t know the outcome of anything she might do. Alice does use great inductive reasoning skills though when she learns how to change her size by drinking the bottle and  other foods. She uses this type of reasoning to make successful predictions. Her use of evidence about past events to predict and control the future course in Wonderland allows Hume’s theory to come alive within Alice and her choices. Time is also a big question in Alice in Wonderland and it shows up quite a bit. Though Plato may believe time to be just a mere illusion, Kant has his own point of view. Kant has three conclusions about time, one being that time is not something that exists by itself, time is actually a psychological sense by which the world is engaged in, and that time is prior to any particular engagement that one many have. Kant believes that time is an intuition of the mind and Alice would have needed that in order to have any type of adventure. One of the main points that the reader comes across time in Alice in Wonderland is when the white rabbit was running to his hole saying â€Å"Oh dear? Oh dear? I shall be too late.† Every time the white rabbit is in a scene he seems to be in a rush and saying he is going to be late. According to Kant, the white rabbit is experiencing an expectation of a time to come and understands that the present is prior to the future event, which would explain why the rabbit was always anxious. Out of all of these philosophers I believe that Alice in Wonderland connects most with Nietzsche and Barth. Nietzsche’s theory of illusions and the will of ignorance. When personally watching Alice in Wonderland, the movie, and knowing that people read the book, any one would be able to tell that it is all about illusions. I mean, at the beginning of the story she is talking to her teacher saying things like â€Å"if I had my own world the books would be pictures,† â€Å"if I had a world of my own everything would be nonsense, nothing would be what it is.† Then a few minutes later Alice falls asleep and ends up in Wonderland. This shows that Wonderland is Alice’s illusion. Nietzsche shows that one needs a good balance between what is real and what is fake. Barth also gets most of Alice in Wonderlands theory because he explains that story’s are not what the author says they are, they are what the reader sees them as and Alice in Wonderland has been interpreted in so many ways that Barthes theory is spot on. Everyone sees Alice in Wonderland differently because the author made it so it wasn’t just one meaning. Nietzsche and Barthes’s theory is exactly what the whole story of Alice in Wonderland is about.

Setting Anaylsis of Scarlet Le essays

Setting Anaylsis of Scarlet Le essays Settings often hold enormous roles in shaping a story. Whether it was a horror, a romance, a science fiction or a drama, settings affect how the characters emotionally felt, acted and thought throughout a novel. The places where the story revolved around revealed weaknesses, strengths, flaws and venerability within each individual character. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, there were three major settings that had a tremendous effect on the plot and characters. The story was moulded because the isolation from the community affected Hester Prynne's feelings towards her daughter, the forest was an escape route for the non-believers of the Puritan law, and how the Puritan community influenced the townspeople's mentality. After the revelation of Hester's adulterous sin resulting in the birth of Pearl, she moved to the outskirts of town. Alienated from the harsh Puritan community, Hester raised Pearl away from the ignorant daily comments and criticism, such as people's cold, disapproving stares and pointing at the bright, fancy, scarlet letter on her chest. Pearl became her sole companion and the centre of her life. As they lived under solitude, Pearl became more like a friend rather than a daughter to Hester. The separation from the community affected Hester's intense affections for Pearl. This was best illustrated in a conversation between Hester and Pearl concerning who Pearl really was. Although, little Pearl was too young to understand her mother, Pearl said with laughter "Oh, I am your little Pearl!" (98) The joyous words shared between the two demonstrated that as long as they had each other to comfort, to love and to confide in, their lives would be complete, even if they were outcasts to the community. The community was afraid that Hester would not raise Pearl properly, therefore they planned to take Pearl away from her mother. Once Hester heard the news, she immediately went to the governor's home to beg him to r...

Robinson Crusoe essays

Robinson Crusoe essays Books about voyages and new discoveries were exceedingly popular in the first quarter of the 18-th century and many stories of this kind had been written but while Defoe was busy with politics he did not think of also trying his hand at it. However a story that appeared in one of the Steeles magazines, The Englishmen, attracted his attention. It was about Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch sailor. He had left England for a voyage to the Southern Seas in 1704. The ship was not seaworthy, and Selkirk who had quarreled with his captain insisted on going ashore. He was put ashore on a desert island where he lived quite alone for 4 years and 4 months. In 1709 he was picked up by a passing vessel. Steel had heard the story from the captain of the ship that had brought Selkirk home. Selkirks story of the island of Juan Ferdinance interested Defoe so much that he decided to use the story for a book. His hero, Robinson Crusoe, however, spent 26 years on a desert island. The novel is a praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature. Labour and fortitude help Robinson to endure hardships. They save him from despair. The very process of hard work gives him satisfaction. Defoe was a great master of realistic detail. When reading his minute description of Crusoes life and work, one fells that the person who wrote it must have lived through all the adventures himself, because they are so well described, even though most of them are rather improbable. Defoes sense of contact with the reader is felt in the clarity of his style. The charm of the novel lies in Robinson as a person. Defoe shows the development of his hero. T the beginning of the story we see an unexperienced youth, a rather frivolous boy, who then becomes a strong willed man, able to withstand all the calamities of his unusual destiny. Alone and defenseless Crusoe tried to be reasonable in order to master his despondency (loss of hope and...

How to Write an Evaluation Essay on the Affordable Care Act

How to Write an Evaluation Essay on the Affordable Care Act You’ve already checked out our guides on 10 facts on Affordable Care Act for an evaluation essay, and 20 topics on Affordable Care Act for an evaluation essay, which also highlighted a sample essay on one of the topics, for your ease and convenience. Before you get started on the writing, you should check out this guide to better understand exactly how to write an evaluation essay on the Affordable Care Act. The entire purpose behind writing an essay like this is to make sure your point of view on the Affordable Care Act is properly presented with well-articulated opinions. You should start off with a brief summary of the topic, then proceed towards a conclusion while presenting carefully constructing paragraphs. Portray examples, facts and statistics so that your opinion on the matter holds water. You need to make sure that you present a thesis which is simple to understand yet, complex enough to showcase your knowledge. This thesis should reflect a unique criteria and the rest of the body needs to evaluate the topic while keeping the criteria in focus. Let’s do this step-by-step to make sure you understand everything thoroughly: Find a Topic which You Can Evaluate Properly Even though in a previous guide, we gave examples of interesting topics on the Affordable Care Act for an evaluation essay, it helps to list down your areas of interest in the general topic. Start Working on Your Thesis Statement This thesis needs to showcase your research and knowledge on the topic and helps you by giving direction and weight to your opinions. The thesis should hold a collective key to your arguments, whether negative or positive. Define your topic and arguments This is the part where you display the might of your command on the topic, dissecting it through statistics and facts to further prove your opinion. Make Sure Your Focus Remains on a Singular Criteria It is very easy to lose yourself in the information and research while writing an evaluation essay. You better understand this particular step, let’s assume you want to evaluate a book; you can evaluate the criteria based on several factors such as its storyline, characters or ending. This way, you can also create the criteria for a topic based on the Affordable Care Act, for your evaluation essay. Once the criteria is set, you need to level some form of criticism at it, whether negatively or positively. Every pro or con needs to be implored upon in depth. If you can, then it’s always interesting and impressive to see examples attached with each critique. These pointers should prove to be highly useful while writing a compelling evaluation essay on the Affordable Care Act. We wish you the very best!

Mixed Cropping Agriculture Technique

Mixed Cropping Agriculture Technique Mixed cropping, also known as polyculture, inter-cropping, or co-cultivation, is a type of agriculture that involves planting two or more plants simultaneously in the same field, interdigitating the crops so that they grow together. In general, the theory is that planting multiple crops at once saves space since crops in the same field might ripen at different seasons, and provides a wealth of environmental benefits. Documented benefits of mixed cropping include the balance of input and outgo of soil nutrients, the suppression of weeds and insect pests, the resistance of climate extremes (wet, dry, hot, cold), the suppression of plant diseases, the increase in overall productivity, and the management of scarce resources (land) to the fullest degree. Mixed Cropping in Prehistory Planting enormous fields with single crops is called monocultural agriculture, and it is a recent invention of the industrial agricultural complex. Most agricultural field systems of the past involved some form of mixed cropping, although unambiguous archaeological evidence of this is difficult to come by. Even if botanical evidence of the plant residues (such as starches or phytoliths) of multiple crops is discovered within an ancient field, it has proven difficult to differentiate between the results of mixed cropping and rotation cropping. Both methods are believed to have been used in the past. The primary reason for prehistoric multi-cropping probably had more to do with the needs of the farmers family, rather than any recognition that mixed cropping was a good idea. It is possible that certain plants adapted to multi-cropping over time, as a result of the domestication process. Classic Mixed Cropping: Three Sisters The classic example of mixed cropping is that of the American three sisters:  maize, beans, and cucurbits (squash and pumpkins). The three sisters were domesticated at different times but eventually were combined together to form an important component of Native American agriculture and cuisine. The mixed cropping of the three sisters is historically documented by the Seneca and Iroquois tribes in the US northeast and probably began sometime after 1000 C.E. The method consists of planting all three seeds in the same hole. As they grow, the maize provides a stalk for the beans to climb on, the beans are nutrient-rich to offset that taken out by the maize, and the squash grows low to the ground to keep weeds down and keep water from evaporating from the soil in the heat. Modern Mixed Cropping Agronomists studying mixed crops have had mixed results determining if yield differences can be achieved with mixed versus monoculture crops. For example, a combination wheat and chickpeas might work in one part of the world, but it might not work in another. But, overall it appears that measurably good effects result  when the right combination of crops are cropped together. Mixed cropping is best suited for small-scale farming where harvesting is by hand. It has been used to improve income and food production for small farmers and lessen the likelihood of total crop failure- even if one of the crops fail, the same field might still produce other crop successes. Mixed cropping also requires fewer nutrient inputs such as fertilizers, pruning, pest control, and irrigation than does monoculture farming. Benefits There seems to be no doubt that the practice provides a rich biodiverse environment, fostering habitat and species richness for animals and insects such as butterflies and bees. Some evidence suggests that polycultural fields do produce high yields compared to monocultural fields in certain situations, and almost always increase biomass richness over time. Polyculture in forests, heathlands, grasslands, and marshes has been particularly important for the regrowth of biodiversity in Europe. A recent study (Pech-Hoil and colleagues) was conducted on the tropical American perennial achiote (Bixa orellana), a rapidly growing tree that has a high carotenoid content, and a food dye and spice in small farming cultures in Mexico. The experiment looked at achiote as it is grown in different agronomic systems- intercropped polyculture, backyard cultivation including poultry farming, and a wide range of plants, and monoculture. Achiote adapted its mating system depending on which type of system it was planted in, specifically the amount of outcrossing that is seen. Further research is required to identify the forces at work. Sources: Cardoso EJBN, Nogueira MA, and Ferraz SMG. 2007. Biological N2 fixation and mineral N in common bean–maize intercropping or sole cropping in southeastern Brazil. Experimental Agriculture 43(03):319-330. Daellenbach GC, Kerridge PC, Wolfe MS, Frossard E, and Finckh MR. 2005. Plant productivity in cassava-based mixed cropping systems in Colombian hillside farms. Agriculture, Ecosystems Environment 105(4):595-614. Pech-Hoil R, Ferrer MM, Aguilar-Espinosa M, Valdez-Ojeda R, Garza-Caligaris LE, and Rivera-Madrid R. 2017. Variation in the mating system of Bixa orellana L. (achiote) under three different agronomic systems. Scientia Horticulturae 223(Supplement C):31-37. Picasso VD, Brummer EC, Liebman M, Dixon PM, and Wilsey BJ. 2008. Crop Species Diversity Affects Productivity and Weed Suppression in Perennial Polycultures under Two Management Strategies. Crop Science 48(1):331-342. Plieninger T, Hà ¶chtl F, and Spek T. 2006. Traditional land-use and nature conservation in European rural landscapes. Environmental Science Policy 9(4):317-321.

Organizational Ecosystem Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Ecosystem Case Study - Essay Example Although an ecosystem could be a source of many benefits, for organizations to thrive in their respective ecosystems, they must understand their individual ecosystems as well as how they function (Townsend, 2014). This is mostly important in avoiding ecosystem blindness. Business ecosystem has many benefits both for small and large businesses. The main aim of these ecosystems is to ensure that all companies stay in business by depending on each other. For a small business, functioning in an ecosystem provides a proprietary advantage that such a business needs so as to compete with larger organizations. Additionally, it provides the mechanism required to lever ideas of excellence in technology, research, marketing, and business in various industry sectors into a global competitive force. This is one of the goals that most businesses strive to achieve and that can be made possible through participation within an ecosystem. Ecosystems are also responsible for providing resistance to inv asions in business. Additionally, ecosystems also provide resilience that many businesses need against external changes especially in dynamic and unstable business environments. Furthermore, the type of adaptation that is necessary in surviving change is usually established and contributed towards by the rapid innovation, which is achievable under ecosystems. Wal-Mart is one of the largest retail companies in the world that have embraced ecosystem due to the benefits that it can gain and those it can pass to other businesses in the same ecosystem. By understanding the functioning of its ecosystem, Wal-Mart has managed to dominate its market. This is mostly because of the approach strategies that the company used in participating within its ecosystem. Ecosystem plays a critical role in Wal-Mart’s innovation efforts in two main ways. While taking the structure of its ecosystem in consideration, Wal-Mart managed to