Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group Essay Example

Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group Essay Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group Conflicts arise between co-workers often and over many different matters. Mismanaged conflicts can damage relationships and stalemate group decisions. By learning conflict resolution skills, workers can seize opportunities for growth and open discussion. One can use conflicts that arise in group decision making to make more effective group decisions and a more cohesive group. Conflicts in Group Decision Making Tubbs (2007, p. 09), defined conflict management as The ability to manage conflict so that there is a healthy conflict of ideas without the unhealthy conflict of feelings. Conflict is often thought of as a completely negative event, when in fact it can have many positive effects. Without some form of conflict, problems would not ever be revealed or dealt with. Although there are many cost associated with conflict, there are also many benefits that are often overlooked. Personal Conflicts P ersonal conflict arises out of a sense of being wronged. The perception of inequality, scarcity, and moral or cultural differences gives rise to a emotional grievance (Brahm, 2004, para. 1). Acting out these conflicts is a way of addressing concerns. conflict can give rise to new norms and rules to govern conduct which can have long-term benefits conflict can lead to establishing new statutes meant to deal with the sources of conflict (Brahm, 2004, para. 8). Idea Conflicts Idea conflicts are a difference of opinion. People can have idea conflicts and have no personal conflict- as long as they respect other peoples point of view. Idea conflicts are necessary to create idea diversity. A homogenous set of ideas will not be as creative, comprehensive, or open to new ideas. Ideas conflict can also easily escalate into personal conflicts when workers become more loyal to an idea than to the group synergy. Make Effective Group Decisions With Conflict Building Collaborative Solutions, Inc. (BCS), defines conflict management as the opportunity to improve situations and strengthen relationships' (Tubbs, 2007, p. 315). By resolving disagreements before they turn into personal conflict, workers can keep their focus. We will write a custom essay sample on Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Conflicts are often easier to handle when put into proper perspective (Sherman, 2011, p. 52). An open exchange of ideas can contribute to organizational health by valuing honorable conflicts of ideas. Group member should expect and respect differing points of view, while maintaining personal sovereignty of thought. Conflict Solutions conflict can initiate a process through which individuals realize they have common interests and common enemies (Brahm, 2004, para. 10). New bonds can be made in conflict, even as others are being broken down. Outside conflict can bond and energize group members (Tubbs, 2007, p. 315). The challenge is to realize the benefits of conflict in such a way so as to minimize the many costs also associated with conflict (Brahm, 2004, para. 14). If a company provides conflict resolution training to employees, they can reduce the intensity and frequency of future conflicts. Groupthink The term groupthink was coined in the 1970s to describe a situation when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment within a board (Martyn, 2011, para. ). Groupthink can be effectively be mitigated by a healthy expression of the conflict of ideas. Members of a group guilty of groupthink are usually more concerned with group harmony than with effective decision making (Martyn, 2011, para. 3). When attention is drawn to the hazards of groupthink and benefits of idea diversification, then the group can focus on the best interest o f the organization. Cohesion When conflict resolution happens out of empowerment and collaboration, it allows for more growth and more positive opportunities to be presented. When personal growth is shared between team members it produces bonds learn positive ways of addressing conflict that will minimize hurt feelings, gossip, and a negative environment. Leaders should recognize that organizational level decisions can have an immense effect on both functional and dysfunctional conflict (Harris, Ogbonna, Goode, 2008, p. 453). Perspective be open to the other persons perceptions-instead of casting blame, explore how you both may have contributed to the situation (Freinkel,2004, para. ). Bringing the causes of conflict to the surface will allow for the root problem to be dealt with. No matter who youre dealing with, asking open-ended questions is a great way to create a dialogue (McCurdy, n. d. , p. 3). Discovering the best level of analysis requires a certain navigational skill, a nimble capacity to zoom in, out, and around to different perspectives (Sherman, 2011, p. 52). Conclusion A certain amount of conflict is inevitable, and it must be understood to be channeled. Conflict can be used as an opportunity to grow and improve group interaction. Conflict and resolution is not a zero-sum game; there are benefits when one looks for them. Group cohesion and decision making can certainly be enhanced through the conflict and resolution process. References Brahm, E. (2004). Benefits of Intractable Conflict. Retrieved April 26, 2011 from http://www. beyondintractability. org/essay/benefits/ Freinkel, S. (2004, July/August). can we talk? Health, 18(6), 135-138. Harris, L. C. , Ogbonna, E. , Goode M. H. (2008). Intra-functional conflict: an investigation of antecedent factors in marketing functions. European Journal of Marketing, 42(3/4), 453-476. doi:10. 1108/03090560810853011 Martyn, K. (2011, March). Governance groupthink. New Zealand Management, 58(2), 55-56. McCurdy, S. (n. d. ). 5 ways to resolve conflict at work. Retrieved April 24, 2011 from http://www. click2houston. com/money/24926751/detail. html Sherman, J. (2011, March/April). Zoom. Psychology Today, 52-53. Tubbs, S. L. , (2007). A Systems Approach to Small Group Interaction (9th ed. ). Ney York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Free Essays on The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. She is a very dark skinned black girl and is ridiculed, and hated by her community because of this. She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. She believes having bright, beautiful, blue eyes will make people love and care for her. Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. After being raped and impregnated by her father she is asked to leave school. The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest eyes of all. Morrison makes strong social statements about race, beauty, and abandonment in our society through the sad, sometimes exaggerated story of Pecola Breedlove. Morrison has stated that the book is about one’s dependency on the world for identification, self-value, and feelings of worth. While no one would argue this isn’t true, she is also placing blame on society for forcing a fixed image of beauty on an individual. It is very easy for one to make the argument that Morrison is making social commentary on the injustice white Americans have caused black people (i.e. forcing blacks to deny their natural beauty in order to placate white expectation.) However, in this novel Morrison is placing the spot light on African-Americans and how racism within the race accelerates their self destruction. In this story, postwar middle-American black communities use the image of Shirley Temple in the same way southern creoles created the infamous â€Å"paper bag test† to exclu de darker skinned blacks from the higher tiers of African American society. The story is about the unraveling of society... Free Essays on The Bluest Eye Free Essays on The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. She is a very dark skinned black girl and is ridiculed, and hated by her community because of this. She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. She believes having bright, beautiful, blue eyes will make people love and care for her. Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. After being raped and impregnated by her father she is asked to leave school. The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest eyes of all. Morrison makes strong social statements about race, beauty, and abandonment in our society through the sad, sometimes exaggerated story of Pecola Breedlove. Morrison has stated that the book is about one’s dependency on the world for identification, self-value, and feelings of worth. While no one would argue this isn’t true, she is also placing blame on society for forcing a fixed image of beauty on an individual. It is very easy for one to make the argument that Morrison is making social commentary on the injustice white Americans have caused black people (i.e. forcing blacks to deny their natural beauty in order to placate white expectation.) However, in this novel Morrison is placing the spot light on African-Americans and how racism within the race accelerates their self destruction. In this story, postwar middle-American black communities use the image of Shirley Temple in the same way southern creoles created the infamous â€Å"paper bag test† to exclu de darker skinned blacks from the higher tiers of African American society. The story is about the unraveling of society...

The Conceptual Framework of Marketing Plan Research Paper

The Conceptual Framework of Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example The marketing plan, which is the key input to the business plan, will be able to identify the most promising marketing opportunities and outline how the company can penetrate, capture and survive in the identified markets. A successful marketing plan of a firm elaborates almost all important marketing activities, strategic marketing proceedings, firm’s situational as well as marketing-mix analyses etc. The Role and Nature of Marketing Plan Marketing Plan As Kerin, Hartley, and Berkowitz (2005,p. 53) defined, a marketing plan is a roadmap for the marketing activities of a firm for a specific future time period. According to Armstrong and Kotler (2005, p. 59), a detailed marketing plan can assess the current marketing situations and outline the marketing objectives, marketing strategies, action programs, budgets, and controls. The marketing plan is not just a template that every firm may be able to follow in a similar style, but a strategic tool for analyzing the marketing situa tions, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the firm as well as opportunities and threats, identify the competitors and their market roles and so on. The styles, structures, and contents of the marketing plan may vary from firm to firm depending on factors such as target audience and the purpose, the kind and complexity of the firm, the industry and market extent etc (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 53). As Westwood (2002, p. 6) noted, a marketing plan is similar to a map since it depicts the company related to where it is going and how it is functioning to get there. It is not just a written document but contains an action plan that helps the company identify the best promising business as well as marketing opportunities and outline who it may penetrate and capture the market proposed. The relationship between Marketing Plan and Business Plan A business plan, in contrast, is a roadmap for the entire firm for a specific future period of time. The marketing plan is a detai led plan the comprises of marketing activities and strategies, a situational analysis of the firm, financial projections, action plan, and control etc, but a business plan is a broader plan since it not only comprises of all these elements but also R&D and business operation etc. More specifically, the marketing plan is an integral part of the business plan. For most manufacturing firms, marketing plan represents 60 to 80 percent of the business plan, both marketing and business plan are almost identical for small businesses.

Land Law Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Land Law Question - Essay Example As per UK law there are two sorts of land a) registered and b) unregistered. Each has its own rules and regulations with regard to treansfer of land from one hand to another hand besides enforcement of third party proprietary interests1. The Land Registration Act 2002 which is in vogue came into being on October 13th 2003. New Act has more space for a) number of titles b) over riding interest and c) electronic conveyancing. This has simplified the land transfer system. Hence, buyer needs not to worry about the vendor’s entitlement to deal with the property2. Unlike unregistered land where the purchasor needs to go through the register himself in order to find out whether third party proprietary interest is binding or not. Kinds of Leases The basic leases are four in numbers a) Gross Lease b) Full Service Lease c) Gross Industrial Lease and d) Triple Net Lease. Each landlord has to decide which lease is best suited to him. It is the duty of the attorney to let his clientle (ten ant) know which lease is beneficial to him. In commercial type of real estate lease, interest of stakeholders (Landlord and the Tenant) is ensured. It would be in the best interest of mentioned parties if they chose right type of lease3. Tenancy Agreement In accordance with the Landlord and Tenant Law of UK, tenancy agreement is an agreement that executes between the landlord and the tenant for renting out the premises. By all means, it is a legal contract. It can be in two ways, oral or written. However, the written agreement is more viable option for both the stakeholders, i.e. landlord and the tenant since it provides more concrete evidence and binding in terms of law4. Yes, some of the tenancy terms are implied even if they are not mutually agreed upon. Implied terms indicate rights, obligations and the protective clauses in line with the Residential Tenancies Act currently enforced. The Residential Tenancies Act fully protects the rights of the tenant. If the tenancy agreement includes something mutually agreed upon by the landlord and the tenant, which is not allowed by the said Act, would be binding for either party to comply with it5. Sometimes people are a little bit confused with regard to the meaning of word â€Å"lease†. In fact, the mentioned word refers to the fixed term, say one year or more tenure. This is incorrect. It can be on a month-to-month or week-to-week basis. In order to avoid confusion, the term â€Å"lease† is not used frequently in such transaction. However, in the larger interest of the landlord and the tenant, the term â€Å"tenancy agreement† can be used for the rented property6. Fixed Term Tenancy In a fixed term tenancy, the tenant agrees to have the premises for a certain period of time against mutually agreed amount of rent and the security deposit. Under the mentioned situation, if the period of time ends, the tenancy agreement ends automatically. Here, no notice is required to serve by either party unt il and unless it was specifically incorporated in the tenancy agreement. If the notice period was incorporated in the said agreement, either party is bound to serve the notice accordingly. After the expiration of the fixed term of tenancy, if the tenant does not vacate the rented premises, the tenancy agreement turns into periodic tenancy agreement, according to which, the tenant has to pay the rent as desired by the landlord. Once a tenancy period starts, it

Avon Products Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Avon Products - Case Study Example The company faced a challenge of flattening revenues and even declining operating income. There were many factors that led to this decline, one of the issues was that the company had grown at a faster proportion than the infrastructure and talent could hold. This called for an immediate intervention to save the company from collapsing. The current CEO who was known as Jung and the executive team launched a basic restructuring of the organization in starting of 2006 (Effron, 2009). Question two Leaning and transparency model was one that was targeted to bring change in the organization. For an organization to bring in change, one of the ways to ensure that change does not impact negatively to the organization is through training of employees. By doing so, employees are able to learn new tactics to use in order to integrate with the new change. In addition, employees are able to acquire skills to enable them to cope with the new requirements of the change. The company investment in exe cutive talent is one way of implementing learning model. The company planned to refurnish new talents as a way of ensuring that the company keeps up with the latest growth of the company. The employee’s new knowledge was also to be used as a model of ensuring that they are able to sustain the current growth of the company. ... The company aim to transform the organization through establishing bodies that would oversee transparency process is another example that assisted me to identify the model. The company aim of changing the top management behavior through teaching them on how to maintain a good image of the company is an aspect that is in learning and transformation model. The company also went ahead to recognize every personnel behavior as critical to the overall success of the business. These transformations were supported by performance reviews that were aimed at keeping an eye on the individual performance (Harris, & Hartman 2001). Question three One of the evaluation information that was obtained is that there is a need to create an efficient communication channel which will ensure that organizations processes are carried out in an efficient manner (Zofi, (2011). Communication plays a great role in tackling problems that might affect the organization. Efficient communication also ensures that ther e is a good relationship between leaders and their subordinates. In addition, communication plays a great role in enabling the organization to solve any issue that might affect the organization performance. This evaluation problem was to ensure that poor communication was eradicated and leaders implement policies that would enable the top management and low ranked employees to communicate frequently an aspect that would positively impact on the performance of the employees. Lastly communication would enable leaders to assess the talent of their employees. This is an important move in ensuring that categorization of talents in the organization is done appropriately (Harris, & Hartman 2001).

Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature

Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature The era of Queen Victorias reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victorias reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This dissertation will explore how the term Victorian does or doesnt fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribute to what we know and understand as Victorian, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term Victorian. Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his dissertations in Criticism (Arnold 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnolds A Summer Night (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are silent and white, unopening down: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving their lives to some unmeaning taskwork and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnolds poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworths legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go. (http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Arnold_M/Buried.htm). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworths visionary acceptance: We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind. (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era using literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantics vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies The Story of My Heart (a spiritual autobiography) -occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mills dissertation on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is mans nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mills Richard Jennings also drew a line between the province of human nature and the external world. (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchards methods and Farfraes ciphering and mensuration in Hardys Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run them, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many. Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. However, city life was not all desolate based in cities, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyl e: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholtos person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting. (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his dissertations on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his dissertation Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies childrens story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomsons City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected Victorian like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomsons words to try to fashion our woe in living words although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil. (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that Victorian was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of butterflies and flowers. This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Miltons Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence (Huxley, 1893, Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/E-E.html), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos out of which they evolved . It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, its content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliots Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of Dorothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homers The Odyssey (1967)) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term Victorian concepts such as repression, old-fashioned and prudish. (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individuals perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potential when the manufacturers are unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce. (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life. (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novels organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubons books Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the books organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliots The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the web of peoples characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the rational talk, the kindly deeds in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are make-shift and chaotic. The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class Owenites to follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the new moral world. Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier. (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that Victorian was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category Victorian. In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term Victorian usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of societys awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (Richard Jefferies Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term Victorian which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing a figure with its eyes of fire and then suddenly becomes an uncouth black figure of a man. The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the forgotten horrors of childhood. This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles the idea of the fallen woman is tested when Tesss crucial lack of belief in herself causes her never to discover the paradise with Clare that might have been. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A Victorian man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the term somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term Victorian although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote we are living in an age of transition (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this dissertation it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in A Summer Night: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html). In this context the term Victorian can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) the term Victorian is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum. When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. Its territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as Victorian. Bibliography Arnold, M., Reprint of 1865 ed. dissertations in Criticism With the addition of Two dissertations not hitherto reprinted. London: Routledge. Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwins Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brantlinger, P, 1988, Rule of Darkness:British Literature and Imperialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bristow, J., 1991, Empire Boys:Adventures in a Mans World. London: Harper Collins. Brown, M., 2001, (ed) Picturing Children. Aldershot: Ashgate Bulwer-Lytton, E., 1853, A Strange Story. Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature The era of Queen Victorias reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victorias reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This dissertation will explore how the term Victorian does or doesnt fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribute to what we know and understand as Victorian, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term Victorian. Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his dissertations in Criticism (Arnold 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnolds A Summer Night (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are silent and white, unopening down: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving their lives to some unmeaning taskwork and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnolds poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworths legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go. (http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Arnold_M/Buried.htm). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworths visionary acceptance: We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind. (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era using literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantics vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies The Story of My Heart (a spiritual autobiography) -occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mills dissertation on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is mans nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mills Richard Jennings also drew a line between the province of human nature and the external world. (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchards methods and Farfraes ciphering and mensuration in Hardys Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run them, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many. Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. However, city life was not all desolate based in cities, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyl e: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholtos person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting. (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his dissertations on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his dissertation Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies childrens story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomsons City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected Victorian like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomsons words to try to fashion our woe in living words although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil. (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that Victorian was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of butterflies and flowers. This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Miltons Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence (Huxley, 1893, Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/E-E.html), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos out of which they evolved . It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, its content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliots Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of Dorothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homers The Odyssey (1967)) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term Victorian concepts such as repression, old-fashioned and prudish. (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individuals perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potential when the manufacturers are unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce. (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life. (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novels organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubons books Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the books organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliots The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the web of peoples characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the rational talk, the kindly deeds in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are make-shift and chaotic. The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class Owenites to follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the new moral world. Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier. (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that Victorian was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category Victorian. In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term Victorian usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of societys awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (Richard Jefferies Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term Victorian which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing a figure with its eyes of fire and then suddenly becomes an uncouth black figure of a man. The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the forgotten horrors of childhood. This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles the idea of the fallen woman is tested when Tesss crucial lack of belief in herself causes her never to discover the paradise with Clare that might have been. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A Victorian man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the term somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term Victorian although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote we are living in an age of transition (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this dissertation it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in A Summer Night: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html). In this context the term Victorian can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) the term Victorian is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum. When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. Its territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as Victorian. Bibliography Arnold, M., Reprint of 1865 ed. dissertations in Criticism With the addition of Two dissertations not hitherto reprinted. London: Routledge. Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwins Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brantlinger, P, 1988, Rule of Darkness:British Literature and Imperialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bristow, J., 1991, Empire Boys:Adventures in a Mans World. London: Harper Collins. Brown, M., 2001, (ed) Picturing Children. Aldershot: Ashgate Bulwer-Lytton, E., 1853, A Strange Story.

exposition :: essays research papers

Exposition: How Dating is Like Playing a Board Game   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dating can be looked upon as a game, a game that requires each player assume a role. By assuming roles they must stick to their role without rearing off. Each role must be played carefully. The role of the man must be giving to the woman, and the role of the woman is to be patient with the man. All this must be followed like a board game, step by step. When you follow the game and listen carefully it will build a strong relationship. First, the man rolls the dice to see exactly what topic he must discuss with the woman. Then he must ask a question that pretends to that topic. For example if he lands on the topic of future, he must ask all the questions, like what do you see your future to be? He must do this without offending her or he must go back to step one. As he goes through the whole game board he is trying to remember as much information as he can for the second part of the game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second, the woman rolls to see exactly what topic she must discuss with the man. Then she must ask questions to about the topic. For example, if she lands on sports she must ask all the questions, like what teams do you like and what are your favorite teams? She must also memorize all the team colors. She must do this without falling asleep or she must start from step one. As she goes through the whole game she is trying to remember, as much information as she can for the second part of the game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Finally, the second part of the game arrives in which they both must remember all the information from part one. First the man remembers exactly what she wants to do in the future, without missing a single thing. Then she must remember all the facts about sports without forgetting a thing. If he or she forgets one thing the game is over.

The Rhetorical Strategies of the Scarlett Letter

Grayce Byrnes Mr. Smith AP English 11-Period A 24 September 2012 The Passion of Pearl In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the hardships of a young girl named Hester forced to live with the letter A pinned to her chest in penitence for her sins in a strict Puritan town in the 1800s. The illegitimate daughter of Hester carries the same traits and qualities as Hester, making Pearl a double of Hester. Hawthorne defines Pearl with his use of abstract diction, whimsical tone, and his selection of detail.Pearl’s character functions primarily as a symbolic character that stands for her mother and the scarlet letter. Pearl becomes the Scarlet Letter brought to life. She is dressed in elaborate, scarlet garb as if to be a real-life scarlet letter. The narrator explains her as â€Å"the scarlet letter in another form: the scarlet letter endowed with life! †(Hawthorne 57). When Hester tries to discard the letter, she gets in a panic mode, as if Hester is ac tually discarding her. The author never really states the purpose of Pearl being the scarlet letter, but instead uses abstract ideas and prodigious vocabulary.Many people in the Puritan community believe that since Hester would not reveal the child’s father, that he must be the devil himself. Pearl has an uncanny perception of what goes on around her and constantly is seeking for the truth. The connection of Pearl to the letter and her constant obsession with finding truth leads us to believe that the letter means truth. Her excessively perceptive knowledge is almost supernatural. Hawthorne’s tone is one of a whimsical, mischievous, and capricious descriptions. Pearl’s main purpose seems to be to uncover the truth for the main characters.Once she completes her goal, â€Å"A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a party, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father's cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl's errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled†(233). Her capricious emotions and the fickle opinions of the author make it hard for the reader to decipher if the child is the evil embodiment of Hester’s sin or just the naivety and curiosity of a child.Overall, there are some striking similarities between Hester and Pearl. Even during Hester’s pregnancy, she could feel Pearl’s â€Å"wild, desperate, defiant mood, the flightiness of her temper, and even some of the very cloud-shapes of gloom and despondency that had brooded in her heart† (50). These emotions correlate with Hester. Her wild, desperate and defiant mood is emulated through her betrayal of the puritans through her sin. Her temper, gloom, and despondency is felt from Hester because of her forced isolation from the rest of the town and marked as an o utcast. Pearl is described as beautiful, imaginative, graceful, and impulsive.These traits are also seen in Hester. Pearl is a character of mystery and has an almost supernatural essence to her. The author talks about her like she is more than human although we never know if she heaven-sent or from the devil because the author plays both sides of the argument. Pearl is a symbol of the passion that is within every human heart, and as the story ends with her finding great success in Europe, she shows us that society should never define you. I Pledge My Honor That I Have not Received Aid on this Paper _____________________________________________

Project Network Design Essay

The best network design to ensure the security of Corporation Techs internal access while retaining public Web site availability consists of several layers of defense in order to protect the corporation’s data and provide accessibility to employees and the public. The private-public network edge is considered particularly vulnerable to intrusions, because the Internet is a publicly accessible network and falls under the management purview of multiple network operators. For these reasons, the Internet is considered an untrusted network. So are wireless LANs, which-without the proper security measures in place-can be hijacked from outside the corporation when radio signals penetrate interior walls and spill outdoors. The network infrastructure is the first line of defense between the Internet and public facing web servers. Firewalls provide the first line of defense in network security infrastructures. They accomplish this by comparing corporate policies about users’ netw ork access rights to the connection information surrounding each access attempt. User policies and connection information must match up, or the firewall does not grant access to network resources; this helps avert break-ins. Network firewalls keep communications between internal network segments in check so that internal employees cannot access network and data resources that corporate policy dictates are off-limits to them. By partitioning the corporate intranet with firewalls, departments within an organization are offered additional defenses against threats originating from other departments. In computer networks, a DMZ (demilitarized zone) is a computer host or small network inserted as a â€Å"neutral zone† between a company’s private network and the outside public network. It prevents outside users from getting direct access to a server that has company data. A DMZ is an optional and more secure approach to a firewall and effectively acts as a proxy server as well. Security is the  heart of internetworking. The world has moved from an Internet of implicit trust to an Internet of pervasive distrust. In network security, no packet can be trusted; all packets must earn that trust through a network device’s ability to inspect and enforce policy. Clear text (unencrypted data) services represent a great weakness in networks. Clear text services transmit all information or packets, including user names and passwords, in unencrypted format. Services such as file transfer protocol (FTP), email, telnet and basic HTTP authentication all transmit communications in clear text. A hacker with a sniffer could easily capture user names and passwords from the network without anyone’s knowledge and gain administrator access to the system. Clear text services should be avoided; instead secure services that encrypt communications, such as Secure Shell (SSH) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL), should be used. The use of routers and switches will allow for network segmentation and help defend against sniffing Corporation Tech may want to have their own web or email server that is accessible to Internet users without having to go to the expense and complexity of building a DMZ or other network for the sole purpose of hosting these services. At the same time they may want to host their own server instead of outsourcing to an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or hosting company. Corporation Tech can use NAT (Network Address Translation) to direct inbound traffic that matches pre-defined protocols to a specific server on the internal or private LAN. This would allow Corporation Tech to have a single fixed public IP address to the Internet and use private IP addresses for the web and email server on the LAN. Network Diagram and Vulnerabilities Network infrastructure using Class C network address 192.168.1.0. The Main Servers using Virtual Machine software was configured with a static IP address of 192.168.50.1. This server controls DHCP, DNS and Active Directory. The Web Server is located outside the network in the DMZ. Internal network is configured on separate VLAN’s to separate department traffic and manage data access. Cisco Internal firewall was installed and configured to manage the internal network on the LAN. The Cisco firewall 2 implemented to manage remote traffic entering the LAN. This provides layered  security to the network. Several ports have been identified as vulnerabilities in the Corporation Techs network that allowed information to be transferred via clear text and as such they have been closed. Additional ports that could be used for gaming, streaming and Peer to Peer have been blocked or closed to reduce unauthorized access to the network. All ports known to be used for malicious purposes have been closed as a matter of best practices. All standard ports that do not have specific applications requiring access have been closed. The ports listed below are standard ports that have been blocked to minimize unauthorized packet transfer of clear text: Port 21 – FTP Port 23 -Telnet Port 110 – POP3 Port 80 – Basic HTTP Hardening Practices Develop a baseline Close all unused Ports Redirect traffic to secure ports example HTTPS (443) or higher Configure Firewall to allow or deny secure traffic Install IDS and IPS Review monitor logs on the network and compare to baseline for any intrusions Policies Develop and Implement network Acceptable User policy (AUP) which must be signed before using the network Assign Permissions and Rights Password Policy must be in place on all devices and enforce End Users must be trained about the different threats faced on the network Back Up must be done weekly and notify users Maintain Bandwidth speed and monitor peak hours Network Security realignment done using Class C network address 192.168.1.0. The Servers was configured on network address 192.168.1.216 static and 192.168.1.218 for simplicity. DHCP, DNS and Active Directory were install and configured on one of the server. The second server was use for the Application. Both PC’s were also configured on the same network address 192.168.1.0 for easy management on the switch. The switch was configured with 192.168.1.200 static IP address. Router network address was changed to  avoid conflicting addresses and easy management. Cisco Internal firewall 1 was installed and configured to manage the internal network on the LAN. The Cisco firewall 2 implemented to manage remote traffic entering the LAN. This provides layered security to the network. References Cisco. (n.d.). (Cicso) Retrieved 10 26, 2014, from Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/asa-5500-series-next-generation-firewalls/index.html HP Support document – HP Support Center. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay/?sp4ts.oid=412144&spf_p.tpst=kbDocDisplay&spf_p.prp_kbDocDisplay=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c02480766-2%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken HP Support document – HP Support Center. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=bps53634&ac.admitted=1413144875821.876444892.199480143 Network Access Control. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 26, 2014, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Access_Control Pascucci, M. (2013, Au gust 06). Security Management at the Speed of Business. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from algosec.com: http://blog.algosec.com/2013/08/the-ideal-network-security-perimeter-design-part-1-of-3.html Vaughan-Nichols, S. (2013, January 30). How to fix the UPnP security holes | ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-fix-the-upnp-security-holes-7000010584/ Wodrich, M. (2009, November 10). Vulnerability in Web Services on Devices (WSD) API – Security Research & Defense – Site Home – TechNet Blogs. Retrieved from http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2009/11/10/vulnerability-in-web-services-on-devices-wsd-api.aspx

Problems In Remote Sensing †Graphic Arts Essay

Problems In Remote Sensing – Graphic Arts Essay Free Online Research Papers Problems In Remote Sensing Graphic Arts Essay The predicaments in most remotely sensed data is affected by several common factors, such as error, uncertainty and scale. â€Å"The goal of remote sensing is to infer information about objects from measurements† (Curtis Woodcock,2002) from various â€Å"locations†, however the process is not always perfect as â€Å"there is an element of uncertainty† concerning data results. Remote sensing studies have always shown various discrepancies as researchers have always identified errors and uncertainties in image interpretations. It also highlights that these properties can be human induced due to mis-interpretation of the data, miss handling of equipment (calibration problems, poor decision making in when to take data, if cloud problems. However, these issues can be technological problems in the sub-orbital and orbital craft; wrong flight path, poor sensor range. The objective of this essay is to highlight the certain types of errors, the causes of uncertainties and scale problems in remote sensing. The extent of this area of terms is substantial in terms. Background Error Error, according to Heuvelink(1991) is defined as â€Å"the difference between reality and our representation of reality†. Error produces ramifications, as â€Å"error is a bad thing†. However Heuvelinks definition does not account for subtle and random errors â€Å"in a statistical way†. The concept of error is illustrated by Jensen’s belief that error is based on two factors internal and external geometric error. Jensen (2005) backs this up by stating it is important to recognize the problem sources of internal and external error, â€Å"whether it is systematic or nonsystematic†. Apparently, geometric error of the systematic approach is generally easier to define and correct. The problems of internal geometric errors are caused by the Earth’s curvature characteristics and remote sensing system being used. Jensen breaks down where internal geometric errors happen 1. Skew 2. Scanning system 3. Relief Displacement Skew Skew effects happen because of the remote sensing data being affected by the earth’s rotation on the axis and the remote sensors orbit of the planet whether it is phased, sun synchronous or geosynchronous. This combination of factors causes the image of the IFOV being examined to be skewed, this was based on using the LandSat enhanced thematic plus using its linear array of 16 lines, which scanned 3 times. This skew effect could be the result of a faulty scanner. Jensen (2005, states if the image is not deskewed, the data will be displayed incoherently. The belief is that the image is skew in an eastwardly approach. The deskewed images being scanned will have an abrupt change on the pixels being read by the scanner. Every orbital sensor that collects image from the Earth will incur skewed images due the spectral curve of the land and also because of the overlaps in images. Scanning Systems Since a large amount of data is retrieved from various scanning sensors aboard orbital and sub-orbital craft. Jensen makes the comparison that multi-spectral orbital craft have minimal distortion to multi-spectral sub-orbital craft. This distortion is reduced in orbital craft because of their nadir equipment, altitude and IFOV in the terms of swath. Jensen(2005, p 227-235) places the problems of geometric distortion on aircraft because of there AGL and their operating height. The only way that this distortion is reduced is only by using the central 70% of the swath width, because scientists noticed â€Å"ground resolution elements have larger cell sizes the farther way from the nadir† Relief displacement The use of aerial photography illustrate that photographs are exposed to perspective geometry , where all the objects are displaced from their plan metric positions outwardly from the principal point. The greater planimetric distance the greater, the reliefs distance(Jensen, 2005, p 227-235). The displacement occurs because of the direction that is perpendicular to the line of flight of each scan. The problems of one-dimensional relief displacement cause objects from their terrain to be displaced from their true position. This causes maps created from imagery to contain plainimetric errors. External Errors Externals errors happen because of unexpected ramifications â€Å"in nature through space and time†. The widely known errors of this are; altitude alterations and attitude changes, which can be yaw pitch and roll. Altitude changes The majority of remote systems operate well above AGL so that images can produce a uniform pattern. If the orbital or suborbital craft changes any of its orbits along the designated flight path, this will result in the scale of the image to change. Jensen(2005, p 227-235)), points out that these changes happen due to the elevation of the aircraft and the terrain. The only ways these issues are corrected by are the use geometric rectification algorithms. Attitude changes The problem of sub-orbital craft are that they affected by issues of turbulence and wind. This happens when sub-orbital craft are collecting data and have to contend with up and down drafts, cross, tail and head winds. This results in the aircraft changing its flight path by rotating its various axes (roll, pitch and yaw. This intern causes geometric distortions to image by introducing compression and expansion of the image. Most satellite and aircraft used in remote sensing have gyro-stabilization equipment to offset these errors in their flight paths. The problem can also be located in mishandling of equipment, as sensors can be miss-calibrated for recording information. Uncertainty The remotely sensed data can attribute to uncertainties in the processing outcomes, which in turn can affect the sound decision-making. Uncertainty pertains to areas of inference and prediction (May,2001). Researchers often confuse these terms in remote sensing. Uncertainty plays a large part in remote sensing as it causes problems especially the classification of land types, Measurement of Sea Surface Temperature, Image interpretation, Image mapping and many other areas of remote sensing. Uncertainty comes from many sources such as ignorance, â€Å"through measurement of prediction†. Uncertainty relates to being not 100% sure of something. The problems in uncertainty are that sometimes it is the most exciting in remote sensing. This is where remote sensing can explored â€Å"to find things so that a base is made for better understanding of how the world operates. The problems of uncertainty can be located in AVHRR data used for measurements of vegetation can have levels of i naccuracy. The best example where uncertainty can cause calamities was the Kyoto protocol in 2000, which collapsed due to high levels of uncertainties in the measurement and understanding of carbon emissions. Woodcock(2002) relates uncertainty to three areas Accuracy Accuracy is often described as the closeness of results, observations that correspond to values being accepted as being true Bias Bias is often seen as an over-estimation of a true value. Bias is often model based. Precision Precision is often the exact value expressed whether the value is right or wrong. These three terms are often seen in projects of measurement of changes in ice sheets, Tropical forests and land classification. Grant Leavenworth (1988) emphasis â€Å"during the life cycle of remotely sensed data, uncertainties are introduced and propagated in an often unknown way†. By constructing a listing where an uncertainty occurs provides the factors of how uncertainty is found in remote sensing. The sensor system. Using the landsat as an example, the velocity of the scanning optical mirror, the number of spectral bands, orbit and altitude height are, parameters that determine the signal noise and â€Å"goodness† of the measurement. In addition to this, all these factors are translated in the terms of resolution; spatial, spectral, temporal. The data gathered from the sensor are affected by these characteristics. This happens in multi temporal systems, especially tropical regions, where there is high cloud cover, this results in incomplete data sets. Coverage Area The problem relates to a sensor trying to correctly capture areas with high complexity. The detection of objects in mixed classifications can be difficult with areas of land and urban together. These objects can affect the area being examined as spectral influence could offset sensors reading in IFOV, although this can be improved by high spatial resolution. In all, this causes the image to become fuzzy and results in uncertainty if the pixels values in the image do not correspond to the classification structure, as two pixels of different values represent the same type of land cover. Geometric and atmospheric distortions. Jensen (2005) illustrates that geometric cause many errors in raw data interpretation especially when affected by the height and altitude of a sensor or by the ground control points(GCP). The concern with atmospheric distortions is that electromagnetic radiation interaction with the atmosphere can diminish information signal of a sensor. This happens, as radiation is subjected to back scattering and absorption. This causes some uncertainty in capturing a truly perfect image of a flat representation. Image distortions The processing of data causes a lot of uncertainty as the amount uncertainty allowed in data is based on Success of the radiometric and geometric corrections The loss of data during conversion Scale Scale variations have long been a thorn in remote sensing, as scale can be constraints for detail in which information needs to be observed and analyzed. Altering the scale in image causes the representation of patterns to differ from the actual size. Scale (Maher, 1997) is used as a basis for measurement as a scale of 1:1,000 means for every one unit on the map, you would need to measure one-thousand of those units on the earth. For example, 1mm on the map represents 1,000 mm on the ground and 1 metre represents 1,000 metres. Although these relations of unit measurement can cause problems as some users may miss-interpret a measurement unit, as 1:10000 is a large scale in comparison to a 1:100000(l. Lillesand(2004, p 617-622) belief is that scale can be very problematic in remote sensing as the definition and understanding varies from researchers. Lillesand breaks down scale in to two areas temporal and spatial. In remote sensing scale is an ambiguous term and is often defined as the relationship between the size of feature on a map or image to the corresponding dimensions on the ground. However ecologists understanding of spatial scale is based on two factors, grain (finest resolution of data) and extent (area under observation). Other problems of spatial scale are the understanding of large and small scales in an image. This is evident as small scale represents coarser spatial objects while large scale represents clearer objects, however individualist (ecologists) reverse the meanings of small and large scale for image analyzing. The only way ensuring the scale of the image is correct for research is using the three principles that Lillesand(2004,p 622) created. 1. Spatial resolution of the sensor 2. The spatial area under observation 3. The nature of information sought in any given image processing operation These key factors should always be relevant in deciding which type of sensor to be used for image analyzing of an area in spatial scale. However, scale varies have changed since the deployment of imaging systems on satellites. Sabins (1997) show this. Small scale 1:500,000 as 1cm= 5km or moirà © These descriptions are different from the aerial photography. However, Harvey and Hill (2003) see that detailed large-scale date extracted from aerial photography was superior as similar scale data could not be extract from the Landsat TM, SPOT XS satellite. This was due to errors of spectral data found in the classification for different vegetation covers. The best available photographic data are panchromatic and at scales of 1:25 000 or 1:50 000. It is generally believed that all environmental processes are scale dependent. The different scale measurements manifest a homogenous side to one scale and a heterogeneous to another side(Atkinson Tate,2000). This can be evident as scale dependence on spatial variation can be problematic in the processing of data, as the techniques of averaging, smoothing and extrapolation can be dangerous for replacing missing datasets. In spatial scale it is often desirable to focus on the particular scale of spatial variation (mean and sample of data), as not all scales need to utilized for specific process(Atkinson Tate,2000). However that can problem if using a specific scale such as the drainage basin scale to represent contours on a topography map, however it would be useless for sheet flow on a hill slope. The general belief is, that it is widely accepted that scales of measurement are determined by the sampling strategy, the sampling generally refers to spatial pattern of the sample obse rvation. Unfortunately, all samples of spatial data are not stationary and can affect the spatial scale of the area under study(Atkinson Tate,2000). That is the fundamental reason for the continuing interest in scale in remote sensing is that spatial resolution is the primary scale of measurement (Atkinson and Aplin). Discussion Zhou Liu(2004) says that classification of land produces errors in multi- temporal data acquisition. The use of classification causes many problems in mapping of land and urban areas which results in uncertainty of accuracy. Using spatial resolution, a decrease in pixel size can cause major ramifications in an image being inferred for a prediction model (H. Liu Q. Zhou). This is evident as pixels being inferred in a spatial swath may represent more than one classification. This can found by comparing different satellites spatial resolution. As landsat TM uses a 30 * 30 metre resolution that is acceptable for some classifications, however if the resolution was needed for small buildings (5 x5 metres), it would fail. This also highlights that uncertainties can enter in to classification of land types as distinguish uncertainties can happen (Atkinson Foody), Page 14). The occurrence of ambiguous definition of classes The problems of land transitions over period due to rapid changes of building into new land types. There also more sources of uncertainty that can occur during the post classification stage as different users can create different conclusions from the IFOV under observation. This is a result of their map reading skills, understanding of raster information and the ability to distinguish significant objects. Neels (2005) defines that uncertainty is found in most of the big ice sheets. This happens due to poor observation of spatial coverage of measuring their variable changes in changes in surface elevation. This was due to the implementation of the budget method. This method is insufficient because of the fluctuation changes in ice sheet volume are determined by the snakk residual alterations in the large terms. This causes temporal and spatial fluctuations, which then cause uncertainty in measuring the ice sheet volume. Not all these measurements in high accuracy and dense data can provide a reliable estimate of ice sheet volume and this highlight errors in analysis of the surface elevation measurements. It also manifests the scale problem of obtaining this volume of data. However Harvey and Hill (2003) notice, that errors are common in image acquisition in remote sensing studies of wetland areas. They believe that spectral overlap may cause a reduction in the utility of imagery collection of a certain season, although spectral classification can be enhanced by image optimizing. This is manifested by their work in tropical wetland environments, as tropical wetlands have large variations in the nature of rainfall. These factors can affect the overall classifications and cause various errors to the image been inferred. Errors can be found in most areas as Czaplewski (2003) questions the methods used in remote sensing especially in monitoring the of global deforestation trends. He manifests this by agreeing with the arguments of Townsend and Tucker over the 10% stratified random samples used by FAO to estimate tropical deforestation. These samples are quite questionable as tropical deforestation is spatially concentrated. The belief here is that these samples can have significant problems for estimations for the FAO. This was seen in study models of dense tropical regions and showed that some regions are less spatially concentrated. Therefore this provided that sampling errors from Landsat sensor scenes in these studies are higher that other regions. In Rajeev and Saxena (2004) argument, they conclude that large scale soil mapping of different scales are dependent upon the requirements of the user. However the uses of satellite have being problem for large scaling mapping because of their coarse resolution. The only way this scale of operation was feasible was to employ conventional methods, which were costly and time consuming. This has changed with the introduction of high resolution PAM and LISS III data from IRS-1C/CD satellite. Although scale is seen mostly as a measurement, scale can be used as a term in remote sensing as the area of data to be analyzed .This was seen with the central America dataset as the scale of coverage was 619 048km2 and includes the countries of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. However the assessment of this scale of mapping proved to be difficult, as it show the limits of AVHRR data for classification of NDVI in comparison to Landsat TM data, which has higher classif ication accuracies (Friedl et al, 2000). It also evident that the temporal scales of these studies have been relatively short (days, weeks, months), and few studies have exceeded years in duration. Despite this, researchers are now being called upon to lengthen their studies to longer temporal scales. Conclusion The use of these terms illustrate the problems that are found in remote sensing and highlights the problems they cause to images being taken from orbital and sub-orbital craft. It demonstrates the issues of pixel classification of data in images for the representation of land, woodland, urban and water classes. It also raises the concern about the understanding of these terminologies in remote sensing as some individuals lack the true meaning of what these terms are. That is why Woodcock (2002) states that â€Å"where relevant, adopt the terminology used within statistics and otherwise should adopt terms that convey clearly the authors meaning.† Scale apparently has being problem for researchers as they are concerned in deciding which scale will provide the most accurate measurement in spatial. The problems of uncertainty and error is also seen as new techniques such as using different types of sensors, prediction models are still not capable of yielding the trends of ice sheet mass balance, unless decades of observation are made. Error can also be human induced to poor understanding and misinterpretation of data, technology and the area of observation. It appears that it is by far unfeasible to assess all errors , uncertainties and scale problems as they will always appear in studi es, observations and new types of equipment in remote sensing, as nothing can be 100% perfect in any environment. Finally the biggest concern is the constant changes of electromagtic radiation as this causes major problems to remote sensing when attaining information on a large scale region of interest. these changes in the spectrum will cause uncertainties for the researcher and the scientist. 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Websites May Robert, Risk and Uncertainty, nature, 21 june 2001,vol 41 Grant Leavenworth,Heuvalink, library.uu.nl/digiarchief/dip/diss/1903229/c4.pdf#search=Uncertainty%2C%20remote%20sensing Visual Exploration of Uncertainty in Remote-sensing Classification, 1997, Frans J.M. van der Wel, Linda C. van der Gaag, library.uu.nl/digiarchief/dip/dispute/2001-0226-133022/1997-29.pdf Research Papers on Problems In Remote Sensing - Graphic Arts EssayIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalResearch Process Part OneRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanThe Project Managment Office SystemBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseOpen Architechture a white paperMind Travel