Super Resolution Mapping To Determine Shoreline Position Environmental Sciences Essay

Coastal zone and shoreline monitoring is an of import undertaking in sustainable development and environmental protection. For coastal zone monitoring, shoreline extraction in different times is a cardinal work. Features of H2O, flora and dirt make the usage of the images that contain seeable and infrared sets widely used for coastline function Conventionally, photogrammetric technique is employed to map the tide-coordinated shoreline from the aerial exposure that are taken when the H2O degree reaches the coveted degree. On site study taken at these H2O degrees are more expensive to obtain than distant feeling imagination. With the development of distant feeling engineering, orbiters can capture high-resolution imagination with the capableness of bring forthing shoreline place. In recent old ages, satellite remote feeling information has been used in automatic or semi- automatic shoreline extraction and function. Braud and Feng ( 1998 ) evaluated threshold degree slice and multi-spectral image categorization techniques for sensing and word picture of the Louisiana shoreline from 30 m spacial declaration Landsat Thematic Mapper ( TM ) imagination. They found that thresholding TM Band 5 was the most dependable methodological analysis. Frazier and Page ( 2000 ) quantitatively analyzed the categorization truth of H2O organic structure sensing and word picture from Landsat TM informations in the Wagga part in Australia. Their experiments indicated that the denseness slice of TM Band 5 achieved an overall truth of 96.9 per centum, which is every bit successful as the 6-band maximal likeliness categorization. Besides multi-spectral orbiter imagination, SAR imagination has besides been used to pull out shorelines at assorted geographic locations ( Niedermeier, et A l. 2000 ; Schw & A ; auml ; bisch et Al. 2001 ) . While the really all right spacial declaration detectors ( e.g. IKONOS ) offers increased spacial declaration, the imagination from such systems is frequently inappropriate for many users, peculiarly if a big country is to be mapped ( Mumby and Edwards, 2002 ) . Therefore, if constrained to utilize fine-to-moderate spacial declaration ( 0.10 m ) imagination, there is a desire to map the water line at a subpixel graduated table. In such state of affairss the purpose is, hence, to deduce a map that depicts the characteristic of involvement at a graduated table finer than the informations set from which it was derived, which may be achieved through a super-resolution analysis ( Tatem et al. 2001, Verhoeye and De Wulf 2002 ) . 3.2 Test site The work focused on a 38 kilometer stretch of along a seashore off the North West Cape in the north west seashore of Western Australia ( Figure 3.1 ) . The shoreline was characterized by different beaches such as flaxen beaches, muddy and drop and facing to the Exmouth Gulf in the Indian Ocean. Exmouth Gulf is really shallow, with an mean deepness of about 10 m and northerly confronting drowned river vale in northwest Australia reverse estuarine embayment on the northwest shelf of Australia. The tidal scope is less than 2 m and varies little between neap and spring tides. The Exmouth part is exposed to preponderantly south to southeasterly air currents throughout the twelvemonth ( Bureau of Meteorology, 1988 ; Lough, J.M. , 1998. Coastal clime of northwest Australia and comparings with the Great Barrier Reef: 1960 to 1992. Coral Reefs 17, pp. 351-367. Full Text via CrossRef | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus ( 10 ) Lough, 1998 ) . During spring and summer by and large moderate ( 21-30 kilometers per hour ) southward winds dominate, and fall and winter records show by and large lighter ( 11-20 kilometers per hour ) air current velocities with fluctuations between the dominant sou'-east air current and north to northeast air currents. The air current government is controlled chiefly by the interplay of the southeasterly trade air current system and the west coast-generated sea zephyr, in concurrence with a local sea zephyr developed within the Gulf. australia1-edit.JPG Figure 3.1: Location of shoreline trial site ( shaded ) and selected as had scope of morphologies in a survey country. 3.3 Data sets The survey used a series of harsh spacial declaration National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) images over survey site to bring forth a ace declaration image. For this survey, the shoreline was defined as the place of the boundary between H2O and land at the clip satellite imagery acquisition. The NOAA series of orbiters which each carry the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer ( AVHRR ) detector. These detectors collect planetary information on a day-to-day footing for a assortment of land, ocean, and atmospheric applications. Specific applications include forest fire sensing, flora analysis, weather analysis and prediction, climate research and anticipation, planetary sea surface temperature measurings, ocean kineticss research and hunt and deliverance ( CCRS, 1998 ) . 3.3.1 AVHRR detector features AVHRR informations set is comprised of informations collected by the AVHRR detector and held in the archives of the Geoscience Australia. Carried aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration`s ( NOAA ) Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite series, the AVHRR detector is a broad-band, 4- or 5-channel scanning radiometer, feeling in the seeable, near-infrared, in-between infrared and thermic infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. It provides planetary on board aggregation of informations over a 2399 kilometer swath. The detector orbits the Earth 14 times each twenty-four hours from an height of 833 kilometer. In this survey, NOAA images acquired from Geoscience Australia and NOAA antenna in Alice Springs permits acquisition of twenty-four hours and night-time base on ballss. There are usually about two day-time base on ballss per orbiter and two night-time base on ballss per orbiter. The detector parametric quantities as shown Table 3.1. Merely informations acqui red in Channel 2 ( 0.725 – 1.00 Â µm ) was used for this survey because land H2O boundaries clearly seen on the image. Table 3.2 shows an AVHRR Spectral Characteristics. Table 3.1: Spacecraft Parameters Swath breadth 2399km Resolution at low-water mark 1.1km approx. Altitude 833km Quantization 10 spot Orbit type Sun synchronal Number of orbits per twenty-four hours 14.1 ( approx. ) Table 3.2: AVHRR Spectral Characteristics Channel No. Wavelength Typical usage NOAA-15, 16, 17, 18 ( Â µm ) 1 0.58 – 0.68 Daytime cloud and surface function 2 0.725 – 1.00 Land-water boundaries 3 N/A Night cloud function, sea surface temperature 3A 1.58 – 1.64 Snow and ice sensing 3B 3.55 – 3.93 Night cloud function, sea surface temperature 4 10.30 – 11.30 Night cloud function, sea surface temperature 5 11.50 – 12.50 Sea surface temperature 3.3.2 Reference Data Landsat TM information of the North West Cape, Australia was acquired on 24 August 2007 with a spacial declaration 30 m ( Figure 3.2 ) . The Landsat way was 115 and WRS Row 075 were geometrically corrected and georeferenced to WGS 84 ( universe co-ordinate system ) .o Georeference imagination is defined imagination which has been corrected to take geometric mistakes and transformed to a map projection. Georeferenced image rectification can take one of the two signifiers, systematic and preciseness. Systematic rectification involves utilizing orbital theoretical accounts of the orbiter plus telemetry informations to happen the approximate relationship between the image and the map coordinates. Precision rectification uses land control points to register the image to absolute geographical co-ordinates. In other words, in a geo-referenced image the pels and lines are non aligned to the map projection grid geo-referenced image the pels and lines are non aligned to the map projection grid . A Landsat 5 TM scene has an instantaneous field of position ( IFOV ) of 30 m by 30 m ( 900 square metres ) in bands 1 through 5 and band 7, and an IFOV of 120 m by 120 m ( 14,400 square metres ) on the land in set 6. Merely band 4 ( 0.76 – 0.90 Â µm ) was used for delineate a shoreline. landsat1.JPG Figure 3.2: Landsat 5 TM informations over study country. Acquired day of the month: 24 August 2007 3.4 Method In the context of ace declaration techniques, it is assumed that several harsh spacial images can be combined into a individual all right spacial image to increase the spacial declaration content. The harsh spacial images can non all be indistinguishable and there must be some fluctuation between them, such as translational gesture analogue to the image plane ( most common ) , some other type of gesture ( rotary motion, traveling off or toward the camera ) , or different screening angles. In general, ace declaration can be broken down into two wide parts: I ) enrollment of the alterations between the harsh spacial images, and two ) Restoration, or synthesis, of the harsh spacial images into a all right spacial image ; this is a conceptual categorization merely, as sometimes the two stairss are performed at the same time. In this survey, the aim is to bring forth all right spacial declaration image from multiple harsh declaration images. Fine spacial declaration image has been applied with object designation methods which may build with regard to image enrollment and super-resolution building. All parametric quantities are used iteratively and do object designation secured from mistake response and been processed in hardiness, accurate and preciseness manner. 3.4.1. Image Registration Image enrollment is the procedure of covering two or more images of the same scene taken at different times, from different point of views or by different detectors. Image enrollment is a important measure in all image analysis undertakings in which the concluding information is gained from the combination of assorted informations beginnings like in image merger. Image enrollment consists of following four measure ; characteristic sensing, characteristic matching, transform theoretical account appraisal and image resampling and transmutation. i. Geometric Registration The geometric deformations present in airborne remotely perceived images may be categorized into system-independent and system-dependent deformations. The system independent deformations are caused by the gesture of the detector and by surface alleviation. Figure 3.3 shows on instance of images which are related by a planar projective transmutation or alleged planar homography. There are two different state of affairss where ( a ) images of a plane viewed under arbitrary camera gesture and ( B ) image of an arbitrary 3D scene viewed by a camera revolving about its ocular Centre or zooming. Figure 3.3: Two imaging scenarios for which the image-to-image correspondence is captured by a planar homography ( Capel and Zimmerman, 2003 ) Under a planar homography, points are mapped as: ten ‘ = Hx, where ten ‘ correspondence point of mention points x in other image and H is a 9 transmutations projection. The different of planar homography based on transmutation matrix attack below: or equivalently ; ( 3.1 ) ten ‘ = Hx The tantamount non-homogeneous relationship is ( 3.2 ) The scenario depicts in which homography will happen when a freely traveling camera views a really distant scene, such instance in airborne remote sansing ( Forte and Jones, 1999 ) . ( two ) Photometric Registration Photometric enrollment refers to the process by which planetary photometric transmutations between images are estimated. This enrollment traveling to use a theoretical account which allows for an affine transmutation ( contrast and brightness ) per RGB shows below. 3.3formula3.GIF Where, r1, g1, b1 are RGB channel in image 1 while r2, g2, b2 indicate RGB channel in image 2. Matrix A is used to calculate the remainder of brightness and contrast ? . Image enrollment of homography image concludes in Figure 3.4, last two stairss iterate until the figure of itelaration is stable. method.GIF Figure 3.4: Procedure to gauge a homography between two images. In order to deduce ace declaration image utilizing multiple series of low declaration images, all images need to register at the same time and corrections may easy implemented. Block bundle accommodation traveling to be considered as the best calculator to calculate all braces of back-to-back frames in the input sequence. Parameters such as interlingual renditions, rotary motions, graduated table, contrast and brightness, characteristic base enrollment, RANSAC ( RANdom SAmple Consensus ) and fiting could be done at the same time in every image brace. Generative image formation theoretical account is the best image formation algorithms which may see geometric transmutation of n images, point spread map which uniting effects of optical fuzz and gesture fuzz, down-sampling operator by a factor S where trying rate traveling to be entree, scalar light parametric quantities and observation noise. This theoretical account is generalized as follows: formula4.GIF f = mulct spacial declaration image gn = nth observed harsh spacial declaration image ?n = geometric transmutation of n-th image H = point dispersed map sv = down-sampling operator by a factor S ?n, ?n = scalar light parametric quantities ?n = observation noise 3.5 Hard categorization To distinguish between land and H2O organic structure a difficult classifier was applied to the fake coarse spacial declaration orbiter detector imagination. The maximal likeliness difficult classifier used to sort the harsh spacial declaration imagination ( NOAA AVHRR ) . The same preparation sites used in sorting the all right spacial declaration image ( cite informations ) were used ( Figure 4.5 ) . Using these developing sets the 20 m imagination was classified to 2 categories ( land and H2O ) . The resulting image ( Figure 3.7 ) would subsequently be analysed to find the positional mistake between the predicted shoreline location and the existent location based on the land informations. densitynooa.jpg ( a ) densitylandsat.jpg ( B ) Figure 3.5: ( a ) 1100 m spacial declaration and ( B ) 30 thousand spacial declaration classified imagination 3.7 Soft Categorization Difficult categorization techniques have been popular in distant feeling but they merely assign one category to a certain pel ( Jensen, 1996 ) . As shoreline pels normally contain a mixture of land and H2O categories, information within a pel is lost. A major job for accurate reading of distant feeling informations is related to the fact that pels may incorporate more than 2 categories which would merely be realised from land activities ( Foody, 1992. To turn to this job research workers have developed methods to deduce estimations of the sub-pixel category composing through the usage of techniques such as mixture modeling and soft or fuzzed categorizations ( Foody, 1996 ) . Soft classifiers allow pels to hold variable grades of rank to multiple categories. Soft classifiers assign a rank class between 0 and 1 to each category in a pel. This allows a pel to be associated to multiple categories instead than merely to one category as in conventional difficult classifiers. The end product of the soft categorization for each pel was an indicant of the comparative rank to the two categories and, in the country where rank was greatly assorted, this was taken as an estimation of the relative screen of the constituent categories ( figure 3 ) . noaa.jpglegend.GIF Figure 3.6: End product of soft categorization. The gray graduated table indicates the grade of rank to the land category. 3.8 Super declaration Maping The water line was mapped from the ace declaration image generate from the series of harsh spacial declaration image.. The same preparation sites were used in all the categorizations. As a benchmark, a conventional difficult categorization was used to foretell the water line from the fake image. The water line was fitted to the derived end product of this categorization by weaving it between pels allocated to the different categories. sr.JPG ( a ) density_sr.JPG ( B ) sr.JPG ( degree Celsius ) Figure 3.7: Ace declaration technique ( a ) individual image ( B ) difficult categorization of ace declaration image ( degree Celsius ) water line word picture. 3.tif ( a ) 5.tif ( B ) 12a.tif ( degree Celsius ) 15a.tif ( vitamin D ) 20.tif ( vitamin E ) 20.tif ( degree Fahrenheit ) Figure 3.8: End product of ace declaration technique ( a ) 3 images ( B ) 5 images ( degree Celsius ) 12 images ( vitamin D ) 15 images ( vitamin E ) 30 images ( degree Fahrenheit ) 50 images. 3.8 Positional Error Analysis End product from a difficult and soft categorization produces images with pels values stand foring the proportion of a certain category within pels. But it does non bespeak where within a pel these categories are located. To turn to this job, methods of administering the proportion within each pel to different categories were explored. The truth of shoreline maps generated at each spacial declaration from application of the difficult categorization, soft categorization and ace declaration method from multiple images were analysed for survey country ( Figure 3.1 ) . For each infusion and coarse-spatial declaration image, the truth of the shoreline anticipation derived was determined by comparing the to the Landsat 5 TM informations for every meter of the shoreline ( Table 3.3 ) The positional truth along the 38km length of shoreline in each infusion is shown in Table 3.3: Positional truth of the each method. Method Hard Classification Soft Categorization Super Resolution RMSE ( m ) 72.2 m 32.1 m 1 image: 14.8 m 3 Images: 7.21 m 5 Images: 6.25 m 12 Images: 5.33 m 15 Images: 5.17 m 30 Images: 5.08 m 50 Images: 8.07 Measure RSME ( m )

Consider the contribution creative development Essay

Consider the contribution creative development may make to the education of young children, illustrating your discussion with explicit examples of an activity/activities you planned in nursery and making clear reference to the Early Learning Goals.  Critically analyse at least one activity giving attention to content, organisation, your role, the appropriateness of the activity and the quality of children’s experience in relation to your planned intentions. You should make clear and explicit reference to the response of at least one child if possible, identifying targets for their future needs. Contents  Essay p 2-6  According to HMI (DES 1985:17, cited in Rodger 1999, p. 128) creative development is concerned with,  Ã¢â‚¬  the capacity to respond emotionally and intellectually to sensory experience: the awareness of degrees of quality; and the appreciation of beauty and fitness for purpose.†Ã‚  Creativity allows children and adults to express ideas and feelings in a personal and unique way. Although being creative can be seen as a uniquely human characteristic, if children are to develop their abilities in this area they must be provided with the opportunities that allow them to explore and experiment helping them to gain confidence to express their ideas in a way which is uniquely their own. This is facilitated in the nursery classroom where a rich and stimulating environment is provided helping children to generate and develop their creative ideas supported by sensitive and responsive adults. The Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (2000) states how creative development contributes to the education of young children.  Ã¢â‚¬  Creativity is fundamental to successful learning. Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extend their understanding.† (p. 116)  Creative development covers variety of different subjects, including art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play. For the purpose of this essay I will be looking at the subject of art, and two art (creative) activities planned and taught whilst on placement in a nursery setting. Peter (1996) stated that in order for teachers to plan appropriate art experiences, contributing to the education of young children, they need to be able to identify the general stage of development in art, that their pupils are at. Peter suggested that there are four stages of development in art, the Scribbling Stage that occurs between the ages of six months and four, the Pre-Schematic/ Symbolic Stage between the ages of four and seven, the Schematic/ Emerging Analytic Stage that occurs between the ages of seven an nine and the Stage of Visual Realism/ Analytic Stage that occurs between the ages of nine and twelve. As we are focussing on art in the early years the stage of most relevance is the Scribbling Stage from six months to four years. The Scribbling Stage is the earliest form of artistic expression and is usually characterised by mark making which becomes more controlled as the child develops. At the beginning of this stage scribbling is random and is done with either hand and their concentration span is short. The value to the child is having the tactile experience and practicing the physical action from the shoulder. As the child develops the scribbling becomes more controlled and a ‘grasp and push’ action is used, rather than a whole arm movement. As children use smaller actions they begin to use a variety of marks, such as straight lines and curves when drawing and painting. When printmaking children will manipulate materials that will make impressions, make marks with body parts and print with objects and found sources. When making collages children will often observe and spread glue on to a surface and place prepared items in an irregular arrangement. Children in this stage are also developing sculpture and 3D skills, manipulating rigid and malleable materials, moulding simple shapes and sticking found objects together. As children’s learning and skills develop they move through the stages, but to ensure children are motivated a balance is needed between familiar activities in which they express themselves confidently and new activities to present them with fresh challenges.

Critically discuss the arguments for and against the current wave of Essay

Critically discuss the arguments for and against the current wave of globalisation - Essay Example In most cases, governments and institutions have had to take protectionists policies to shield their industries and fragile economies in worse situations. Benefits of trade: In the previous waves of globalization, the developing and emerging countries had little power, compared to the western rich countries in Europe and America. At a period marked by imperialism and diverse differences between countries and regions, trade existed but with tighter restrictions. The modern globalization is marked by increased liberalization in trade with more reduced trade barriers that enhance trade across national boundaries (FAO, n.d.). As a result, the more flexibility in trade allowed people and countries to acquire and consume goods and services at a cheaper price. Countries could now enhance their exportation and/or importation to reap the benefit of the trade. For quite a long period, the manufacturing industries in the western nations had flourished before, but the trade liberalization lifted majority of the manufacturing production in the current emerging countries and others in developing world. The presence of adequate aid from institutions (such as IMF and World Bank) in handling the global economic governance facilitates capital flow into diverse markets, and contains political and economic tensions that occur during the periods of transformation in the current wave of globalization (Globesec, 2012). Most of the countries have made efforts to specialize in activities they do best, increasing production of their goods or services, and selling them in the global market to multiple buyers. Most regions and countries, especially in the developing world have gone ahead to lower the non tariffs barriers ( legal prohibitions, import quotas, and export restraints ) and import tariffs to promote free trade, capital markets, and investments (The World Bank Group, 2004). China can be well identified for its increased production

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Research Paper

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Research Paper Example Under the new law, children are no longer denied of the coverage based on pre-existing conditions (NCSL, 2012). They will be considered beneficiaries of parents until they will reach the age of 26. The healthcare reform has nationalized its system at the cost of $940 billion (NCSL, 2012). Such amount is exacted from budget cuts, taxation and government funding (Gravelle, 2010). On a positive note, it was perceived to have reduced the national fiscal deficiency by $1.2 trillion (NCSL, 2012). This was perceived as the strategic resolution to provide remedy to the serious concern about 32 million Americans who have no health insurance (NCSL, 2012) notwithstanding critique from other stakeholders that changes will also potentially impact to medicare system and the need for hospitals to cope with the increasing demand of health consumers as budget for national services are rationalized by the state. Healthcare subscribers still need to realize though that preventive health measure remains necessary since Obamacare program is designed as a government’s response to bridge the gaps on financial resources in case of hospitalization. Its appreciable still to note that central to this healthcare reform is the gender non-discrimination clause in its policy; restriction enforced to pre-need companies to make them customer-centered in providing insurance benefits; obliging insurance companies to justify any increase of insurance fees; availability of option to avail healthcare in accordance to their income bracket and nature of employment (NCSL, 2012). The co-payments for domestic violence screening, birth control and related expenses are no longer allowed (NCSL, 2012). Annual and lifetime limits for caring for the patients are already removed and micro-businesses will enjoy tax credits if their workers are afforded with insurance. Notwithstanding these positive reforms, there are still those who categorized that the Obamacare remains favorable to the affluent or the moneyed middle class who could save more from the healthcare benefits. They opined that there are still about 25% of entrepreneurs that are uninsured, 50% are dependent on their respective family, and there are about 60% with private insurance enjoy incomes at about 400% above the poverty level (NCSL, 2012). These affluent will qualify for tax credits other than the fact that it can subsidize healthcare to 83% small business owners that are currently considered not insured (NCSL, 2012). Department of Healthcare and Family expectations of Obama care for state of Illinois The Institute of Medicine (IOM) have already provided directives for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Â  pertaining to essential benefits of mandatory insurance under the health reform law's insurance exchanges (NCSL, 2012). Medical experts observed that the report and directive did not listed specific medical services to be covered by premiums of insurers but it recommended a framework to define the minimum benefits that can be generated under the insurance policy (NCSL, 2012). DoH acknowledged that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was the most comprehensive changes to the provision of health insurance since the development of Medicare and Medicaid by requiring all Americans to have health insurance by 2016 (NCSL, 2012).

Domestic Terrorism Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Domestic Terrorism - Term Paper Example As a result, the disintegration of political, economic, and social functions occurs (McCann, 2006). Domestic terrorism continues to plague the USA because of the difference in perspectives between individuals partaking in acts termed as acts of terrorism and victims of these acts. Those involved in such acts use their ideologies as a basis of justification; however misguided their actions might be, they do not consider themselves terrorists. On the contrary, they view themselves as heroes ascribing heroic qualities to their actions. Despite this disagreement, all parties agree on the forms terrorist acts take, which include systematic or nonsystematic warfare covertly displayed. However, in some extreme cases, the display of warfare occurs openly, for example, in the cases of suicide bombing. Moreover, people also agree on the role played by political, religious, and, social ideologies as being the driving force behind acts of terrorism. This essay analyzes the historical context of domestic terrorism in America; compares and contrasts domestic and international terrorism and addresses the psychological impact of domestic terrorism (McCann, 2006). 2. Domestic Terrorism in America. ... stitution of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the official introduction of the American dream happened and with this came the introduction of hope among citizens. However, as time elapsed, many begun to distrust the core values outlined by the Declaration of Independence (Don, 2010). This happened when individuals noted the disparities in equality compounded by the differences in race, religion, and, political ideologies among other factors. Increasing levels of distrust resulted in acts of domestic terrorism. People resorted to inhumane warfare tactics with the aim of raising awareness on their frustrations. The acts of terror can be classified according to the period in which they occurred. These include; post civil war, 1920s communist and anarchist violence, and, domestic terrorism (1960s & 1970s). Post-civil war acts of terrorism begun as early as 1622 when Native Americans waged war on the Jamestown colony, where they ended up killing 30% of the population. The Powhatan Native Americans rebelled because of the encroachment and forceful eviction of their population by White settlers. Their actions served to highlight their displeasure with the White settlers who showed little regard for the ancestral occupants of the land. However, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) formed in 1967, represented the first officially recognized terrorist organization in the USA. Led by former Confederate Nathan Bedford, the KKK initially sought to represent social issues, however, their goals got misdirected in 1868, whereby, its followers turned to violence. The KKK represented white supremacist ideologies, which looked down upon Black Americans. The 1920s saw the communists, and anarchist acts of terrorism spread through the USA. The USA’s ideologies are individualistic in nature,

Human computer interaction (user interface ) Coursework

Human computer interaction (user interface ) - Coursework Example Reference: Chapman, Callum. "Common Elements Used in Interface Button Design."Â  Web Designer Dept. (2011): 4. Web. 20 Dec. 2011. . TYPOGRAPHY The fonts and typefaces are important elements of the user interface. It should be in proportionate with the design or else it will just look like a clutter. I learned that it should draw attention to the content taking in consideration its size, lines and shade. The overall appearance of the font is in conjunction with its readability which is highly essential for the end-user. Moreover, the amount of text in a given space should be kept to a minimum. The relationship of the font color and background is equally vital in achieving high contrast content which further adds to the readability degree of the content. Lastly, I also learned that appropriate spacing and the presence of empty fields are techniques to achieve visual relief, in this way; the viewer will not be distracted from the focal contents. Reference: Genkin, Namie . "Importance o f Great Web Typography."Onextrapixel. (2010): 1-4. Web. 20 Dec. 2011. ... I also learned that combinations with positive polarity such as the use of dark text on a light background are notably effective. This is particularly important when dealing with visually-impaired users. Reference: Hall, R. and Hanna, P. (2004), The Impact of Web Page Text-Background Color Combinations on Readability, Retention, Aesthetics, and Behavioral Intention, Behaviour & Information Technology, forthcoming VIRTUAL KEYBOARD DESIGN Inputting is the concomitant interaction the user performs. It should be simple despite the complexities of the keyboard’s overall features. In the case of virtual keyboards, wherein industrial design is left out in place of a touch interface, the tactile response time should be fast enough to let the user focus on inputting end and not worrying whether the characters has already been displayed. It is fairly important that the on-screen keyboard should be able to interact with the fingers and not merely by using the stylus. It is a fact that th e best pointing tool is our finger; the keyboard’s design should be able to accommodate the multitasking capability of a human hand. The spacing of each character should be accurately be considered to avoid erroneous inputting. Reference: Xiaojun, Bi, Barton Smith, and Zhai Shumin. "Multilingual Touchscreen Keyboard Design and Optimization."DGP. (2010): 1-34. Web. 20 Dec. 2011. . I learned that in an on-screen keyboard, screen clarity and size are important elements. The spacing between characters avoids unintended inputs. In line with this, the user should be able to perceive that

British Airway is a listed industrial company on the London Stock Essay

British Airway is a listed industrial company on the London Stock Exchange,obtain its published annual reports and aacounts - Essay Example The financial performance and position analysis of British Airways can be done with the help of profitability, leverage and liquidity ratios in comparison with one of its major industrial competitors i.e. Air France-KLM (banker.thomsonib.com). The analysis of Air France-KLM would serve as a benchmark for the evaluation of performance and position of British Airways plc. The profitability ratios presented in the above table highlight both the companies i.e. British Airways plc and Air France-KLM for the last 4 years 2002-05. The return on assets ratio for British Airways reveals that the company has been generating a declining return on its various assets over the last four years. This ratio has decreased by about 39% in 2005 as compared to the year 2002. For Air France, this ratio also shows that the return generated by the company on its various assets has been consistently declining over the four years. The ratio has decreased by about 50% in the year 2005 as compared to 2002. Despite this fact, Air France's return on asset ratio is about 12% higher than that of the British Airways plc for the year 2005. This suggests that Air France has been more successful in utilising its assets towards the generation of profit. The return on capital employed ratio indicates the extent to which a company generates return on the funds invested by its investors. According the above table, British Airways' return on capital employed ratio has been on the declining trend for the last four years suggesting a significant plunge in the company's net profits. The ROCE for British Airways has declined by about 30% in the year 2005 as compared to 2002. Approximately, the similar situation has been with its competitor Air France plc; its ROCE has also been declining but at a higher rate than British Airways i.e. 50% if the figures for the year 2005 are compared with 2002. Still, Air France's ROCE is much higher than that of the British Airways. The three profit margin ratios depicted in the above chart i.e. the gross profit margin, operating margin and net profit margin provide an insight into these companies' general profitability. The gross profit margin shows the revenue that is left with the company after accounting for various production and distribution costs. The operating margin reveals the extent to which a company loses its sales revenues in meeting its

Amazon Research Survey Background Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Amazon Survey Background - Research Paper Example Usability of Amazon was very simplified. The customers only needed to enter the title or any other relevant information of the book or the product they wished to buy. Amazon then searched its internet database and displayed the most relevant titles of the book or item. The customer was then expected to fill in the credit card payment details after which the item would be shipped and delivered to the customer’s location (Layton, 2008).Within two years time, Amazon becomes a public limited company offering 3 million shares common stock of share-subscription. The IPO was offered in 1997 (Doyl, 2008). Another growth area of the Amazon is successful â€Å"Association program† which was established in July 1996. The program allowed people to choose their own web site advertising on the book of interest. Amazon then allows customers to buy the book even when the book is featured in a different website. As the Customers buys the book through Amazon, which takes care of all orde rs, the associate website makes 3% to 8% commission from the books sold on their website (Bellomo, and Elad, 2006).Amazon expanded its business through acquisition of three groups in early 1998. Two of the companies made it possible for Amazon to expand its business operations to European markets.  Bookpages is one of the largest online retailers in the UK, which provided Amazon.com access to the U.K market.

Online Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Online Education - Essay Example This paper approves that the student responses published on the online message boards give the students a chance to share their views and ideas. The students can choose to have a virtual social life by forming online communities and groups. Considering the fact that the students pursuing online courses hail from diverse locations, belong to different age groups, have variegated professional backgrounds and are more diverse in their interests and affiliations, the online education certainly offers a more full bodied and enlightening academic environment to its students as compared to the regular classrooms. The online education system is also fast gearing up to the challenges imposed by the current job market. A number of online institutions do offer placement services to their students and many online courses are actively collaborating with the leading corporate concerns to upgrade and customize their courses so as to make their students more sought after and competitive in the real world. This essay makes a conclusion that with the ensuing advances in the telecommunication technology and the changing face of the society the world over, the online education system is expected to become more popular. It is the only way of taking education to each and every eligible aspirant. Definitely the standard modes of education are going to stay, but the real future of the world lies in the online dissemination of knowledge and facts

Explain the limitations of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Essay - 1

Explain the limitations of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the extent to which the multi-factors approach has overcome these limitations - Essay Example Under the efficient frontier the portfolio generally has minimum risk and it measures the variance of returns therefore it is known as the minimum variance portfolio with the minimum rate of return and the maximum return portfolio which includes maximum risk. The portfolio that stands below the efficient frontier mainly provides less return for the same level of risk (Nonaka, 2001). CAPM explains the extent to which the asset is priced in terms of the risk. The APT is considered as another equilibrium pricing model. The CAPM mainly faces criticism which is not testable. Therefore APT is considered as alternative to testable. The combination of the different factors is estimated for finding out the return on the asset that is risky which affects the return on the assets. The various possible portfolios are represented on the various indifference curves that generally do not yield high return for the same level of risk. These portfolios generally stand below the efficient frontier. The optimal portfolio can be defined as the portfolio on the efficient frontier that yields the best combination of the risk and return for the specific investors which will provide maximum possible satisfaction for the investors (Markowitz, 2008) CAPM model is mainly based on the various assumptions that differ from reality. This creates a problem in explaining accurately the Capital asset pricing model related to the investment attitude of the investor and the beta may not be able to determine the risk of investment. It is very difficult to calculate the project related discount rate. Beta measures and estimates the future risk of the securities therefore it is expected that beta must remain stable and constant. But under CAPM model beta does not remain stable therefore it creates problem for the investors in estimating the data. The main limitation of CAPM model is that only single time period horizon is taken into

Racial Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Racial Discrimination Essay Racial discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race such as skin color. Race here can mean that people belong to different countries, castes or different geographical regions within a country. It is unlawful to harass a person because of that person’s race or color. Harassment can include offensive or derogatory remarks about a persons race or color, or unfair treatment due to differences in race. Racial discrimination has existed for eons now and while we’d like to believe that it has reduced or is non-existent in the society we live in today, the fact of the matter is that it still exists and can be felt in different facets of the society even today. Mahatma Gandhi was a victim of racial discrimination years ago in Africa because he was an Indian despite the fact that he was a very well educated professional lawyer. He was thrown out of a train at midnight merely because he was an Indian. We, Indians, faced cruel and intense racial discrimination in our very own country at the hands of the Britishers only because we were Indians ! Racial discrimination prevailed at every step and every part while the British ruled us. Indians were not allowed to share the same space with Britishers. â€Å"Dogs and Indians† not allowed†¦well that is the kind of injustice Indians faced at the hands of the Britishers. There were schools where Indians were not allowed, In offices, Indians could never get to the top ranks and even at social gatherings, Britishers would not allow Indians entry. What’s ironic is that we still suffer the aftermath of this racial discrimination even 60 years after independence†¦we still believe that it’s a priviledge to be fair skinned†¦.companies in India make millions selling fairness creams not just for women, but even men ! This is not all. We have created and still live by the caste system which leads to discrimination on various accounts. Discrimination also exists due to people belonging to different states or geographies within our country. Racial discrimination has been the worst against the Dark skinned or Blacks as we know them in the Western world. The likes of Nelson Mandela have fought hard against it but it still exists today. God made us all the same. The blood that runs in our bodies is the same. Our brains think alike and our hearts feel the same too then why have we created a demon like racial discrimination, which even after years of education and civilization, we can’t get rid of ? Let Us, the future of this country pledge that we would free our minds and souls and never be a part of racial discrimination in any way. Thank You !

Role of Play in the Curriculum

Role of Play in the Curriculum Assignment Three Task 1. Examine the statutory requirements for children to identify the role of play in the curriculum. What is the role of play in the curriculum? Justify your arguments using evidence from the statutory requirements. Task 2. Analyse the potential for play based development across the range of non-statutory contexts. Identify a range of non-statutory contexts eg. playgroups, day nurseries, child-minders etc. and analyse the ways in which children’s development can be advanced through the play opportunities provided. Play includes a diversity of activities, games and interactions which create enjoyment and satisfaction for children. With years of research and observation of the impacts from children embracing play, we can now understand that it is an indispensable part of learning and is also a crucial benefactor within Northern Ireland in regards to the National Curriculum including the Foundation stage. These observations and assessments regarding the usefulness of play in relation to learning within the Early Years sector has allowed us to update our Curriculum accordingly. The Foundation Stage in education located in Northern Ireland includes the first two years of compulsory education, which is primary one and primary two classes ranging from the ages of 4 years to 6 years old. In Northern Ireland, children begin education at the foundation stage at an earlier age than anywhere else in the world. As it is believed, in the earlier years of a person’s life, their brain is at its most active, meaning that the earlier a child begins education, the more they will know. The transition from nursery school is then needed to be taken in gentle steps practicing care and sensitivity, allowing the process to be easier on the child’s understanding as they move into a higher learning level. The Foundation Stage outlined within the Northern Ireland National Curriculum provides educators with the opportunities to teachers to build up children’s dispositions and also allows teachers to build on children’s social skills as they are interacting with other children of their age and learning new skills off their new friends. Children learn a great deal through play. In the Northern Ireland curriculum, play is a vital contributor as children recognise that as they play, they learn and develop. The children identify play with fun, excitement, exploration and enjoyment, which allows them to rapidly learn from what they are doing without taking away from the experience. Play allows for children to gain knowledge in a wide variety of topics, such as the arts, mathematics, the world around us and so on. As play varies from one person to another, this allows for no play experience to be the same, and as play is individual and original to each person, they will be continuous learning and progressing if provided with the appropriate resources that are age and capability appropriate. Throughout many years, practitioners have gained great insight on the value and importance of play within the early years, as it is a significant factor in promoting and influencing physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development and this can be witnessed through everyday observations of children at play in the early years. Play is a significant part of the early years foundation stage in northern Ireland as it allows younger children to access the curriculum in an age appropriate manner, throughout a variety of play contexts. The significance of play within our curriculum relates back to how we can allow all children, no matter their situation, whether they are poor, rich, disabled, Chinese, Asian and so on, learn in the early years, and play is an accessible resource to all children, leaving no individual without an education at a young age. An important document, provided by the Northern Ireland Curriculum, entitled â€Å"Learning through play† addresses how children learn effectively from a variety of play contexts, where a select range are targeted in depth within the text, these include: Learning through Dramatic Play Learning through Sand Play Learning through Water Play Learning through Dough and Clay Play Learning through Table Top Play Learning through Small World Play Learning through Construction Play Learning through Creative Play There are many benefits of these areas of play, such as with sand play, this can allow children to develop understanding and increase their knowledge through their senses. By exploring the different and changing textures of sand, children learn through their sense of touch, this area of play can also trigger mathematical knowledge as the children can discover capacity, volume, weight and aspects of gravity as the children manipulate different sand toys to gain mathematical knowledge. This is one simple, fun and effective way for children to access the curriculum. Within my current setting, which is a primary one class within a statutory school, there are sand play facilities indoors and outdoors with a range of tools children can use. With relevant topics in the curriculum, we are able to change these tools and equipment around to become more relevant to the current topic. One example was during the month associated around â€Å"People Who Help Us†, we implemented our indoor s and area into a construction side by providing the children with spades, shovels, toy diggers, I even printed off a range of construction site signs to make the experience more holistic and realistic for the children, enabling them to become more easily immersed. Experimental, free-flow and imaginative play are all included within this area, targeting many aspects of the curriculum, providing more information for early learning and targeting children’s development. Water play is extremely similar to sand play, developing logical thinking through the senses and providing knowledge of the world around us, early physics and early mathematics. The NI Curriculum explains that Water play benefits children in many ways, such as tackling and enhancing their personal, social and emotional development, physical development, creative development and knowledge and appreciation of the Environment. Personal, Social and Emotional development is influenced in this area of play by children working independently, co-operating with others, taking turns and sharing toys or equipment, enjoying the sensory nature of water by adding colours or other items such as glitter or various temperatures. Physical development is enhanced through developing fine motor skills by manipulating tools, filling, pouring, emptying, stirring, squeezing, pushing, pulling etc. and developing hand/eye co-ordination by filling and emptying containers of different sizes. Creative development improves through observing colour change through adding paint or food colouring, introduction of marbling techniques, and by creating sounds in the water by blowing or splashing. Finally, knowledge and appreciation of the environment is enhanced by children talking about water in local environment, home, rivers, pond, beach, adding equipment from local environment to stimulate imaginative play e.g. shells, sea weed, pebbles, rocks, fishing nets, hoses, watering cans talk about occupations where water plays a significant role e.g. fishermen, firemen, sailors, farmers, plumbers and talk about animals and creatures that live in water e.g. fish, crocodiles. Water play is an everyday occurrence within my placement setting, attracting a wide range of children who are all eager to play in this area. This is another beneficial and effective way for children to access the curriculum as through my experience, I have seen every child learn subconsciously and have fun at the same time. On the whole, the role of play within our curriculum is to simply enable children to learn effectively, through enjoyment and without realising they are learning as the child is distracted by objects, games, activities and tasks which interest them. Play is used within our curriculum to promote children’s development in a range of contexts, allowing them to grow at a specific pace by providing them with the educational and fun resources they need to do so. Play is an effective way to allow for a child’s exploration, which in turn promotes knowledge and skills they will require in adulthood. Play will allows for the provision of a range of experiences and opportunities for children to create the foundations for their learning and gain for this in the most beneficial and rewarding ways. Wood, E (2013) explains how â€Å"Playing and growing are synonymous with life itself. Playfulness bespeaks creativity and action, change and possibility of transformation. Play activity this reflects the very existence of the self, that part of the organism that exists both independently and interdependently, that can reflect upon itself and be aware of its own existence. In being playful the child attains a degree of autonomy sustained by representations of his inner and outer worlds.† This is a further representation of the importance of play and how it can provide a beneficial impact upon children by ensuring this is an everyday routine in their educational lives. Play is implemented within the Northern Ireland as it is a proven way to improve children’s effective learning amongst provision for many other aspects of their development. In conclusion, I believe throughout my own experiences over the past two years, alongside the permanent implementation of play within our Northern Ireland Curriculum, I believe play is an efficient, effective and inspirational way for children to access the curriculum and therefore, effectively learn. The role of play is to simply enable children to learn through enjoyment and in turn, promote their growth and development, sculpting their future, and is therefore, a crucial aspect of our curriculum. Analyse the potential for play based development across the range of non-statutory contexts. Identify a range of non-statutory contexts eg. Playgroups, day nurseries, child-minders etc. and analyse the ways in which children’s development can be advanced through the play opportunities provided. It has been recognised how play is implemented widely across our Northern Ireland Curriculum affecting the foundation stage of education, in place within statutory requirements (5 to 16 years old), however, there is great potential for play in non-statutory settings, such as playgroups, pre-school groups, afterschool groups, crà ¨ches and day nurseries etc. We have evaluated how successful play is for promoting children’s learning and development within the statutory settings, and it should be recognised that it can have similar effects within non-compulsory areas of child care. All of these non-statutory contexts provide a range of play activities with the aim of improving and increasing children’s opportunities to learn and develop. Whether these contexts a child attends is before compulsory education such as parent and toddler groups, or in sync with their statutory, like after school programmes, there is a significant emphasis on play within each. These settings recognise the needs of the child and promote many way for their development to be enhanced. In my experience, I have witnessed the potential of play within preschool groups. This is particular area in which I gained the most experience, the reason for focus upon this area. With pre-school programs, it can be argued that these settings provide the foundations for learning as the child is attending a setting which provides a minority of educational activities, mainly based upon play which introduce the child to concepts of play during the earlier stages of their life. This may potentially make it easier for them to settle into statutory settings as they have had some experience of a setting which provides set activities to initiate learning and create dispositions. Throughout the attendance to pre-school groups, children may bring with them a variety of personal and social skills, values and attitudes. The children have achieved from relationships and experiences within the home and the immediate environment and it is vital that these should be recognised and adopted within the setting. The needs of a pre-school child are defined within the textbook Curriculum Guidance for Preschool education (1997) which are as follows: â€Å"Young children require: †¢ A safe, secure, healthy and stimulating environment where there is adequate supervision; †¢ Opportunities to investigate, satisfy their curiosity, explore the environment inside and outside the playroom, extend their sense of wonder, experience success and develop a positive attitude towards learning; †¢ Appropriate periods of time for learning through sustained involvement in play; †¢ Interaction with sensitive and understanding adults.† Given these needs it follows that young children require a curriculum which: †¢ meets their physical, social, emotional and cognitive needs at their particular stage of development; †¢ motivates, challenges and stimulates them; †¢ is broad and balanced, allowing children to make choices and providing them with opportunities, through play and other experiences, to develop the learning associated with: These settings are completely non-compulsory but however, are a beneficial way of taking the stress of parents, providing effective care for children, and of course, providing an earlier structure for their education. The pre-school groups can include playgroups, nursery schools, parent and toddler groups and so on. Minett, P (2010) outlines the benefits of preschool groups in the book Child Care and Development explaining how a professionally effective and successful preschool group will contribute to a child’s early education by providing them with: Opportunities to socialise and learn how to mix with other children and adults and to enjoy their company; Facilities which include space to run around, apparatus to climb, toys, paints, paper, modelling dough etc; Activities such as stories, music, dancing, singing and games; Activities which encourage early familiarity with letters and numbers, to help children acquire pre-reading and pre-counting skills† This book helps to outline a variety of successful ways of promoting education and a good start into learning for a child during the earlier years of life. Play is the main contributor within many non-statutory settings I have worked within. For example, a Day Nursery in which I worked, the children were aged between birth and two years of age within the room I worked. Here, the children had a wide variety of play activities available to them, ranging from dolls, cars, musical and sensory instruments, treasure boxes attending to sensory development, and outdoor play with a range of resources available during the dry months. Outdoor play has a significant role within a child’s learning and development as it helps to take on the areas of imaginative, creative and exploration play, which introduce young children to new opportunities to learn and gain understanding of the world around them. The children’s routines from 7:30am to 6:30pm, which are the most common hours of preschool groups, revolve around a strong influence upon play, with the staff changing the available resources throughout the day so that children do have a change, meaning they do not get bored, leading to a lack of appropriate play provision and therefore, not promoting learning. By the rotation of different play activities, arts and crafts, games and creative tasks, this setting provides a successful way of implementing play into a daily routine providing learning for young babies and children. The setting I worked within cares for children of the ages birth to eight years of age, once again another commonly seen restriction within preschool groups. The rooms are usually a â€Å"Babies† room, â€Å"Wobblers† room, â€Å"Toddlers† room and an after school programme, which are implemented within my day nursery setting. Within this setting it was extremely important that chil dren felt secure in their relationships with adults and that felt that the adults are there to support them by ensuring adults who working within the setting understood to treat them as individuals and sensitively participate in their play. Justice, L et al (2008) explain some of the effects upon children’s development in which preschool groups’ target. Research was conducted over time involving two separate groups of children, some of which attended preschool groups, and others who did not. At the end of the term year, these children were assessed on their skills and abilities. These results have provided significant evidence of the effects of attending preschool for a short period of time. The findings suggested that â€Å"children who attended a Perry Preschool Program were more likely to graduate from high school on time and to own a home and less likely to be referred for special education, to receive Welfare as an adult, and to commit crimes†. These results show significant impact on a child’s life, as a child’s cognitive development will be enhanced as suggested by the results as they are more likely to graduate, showing logical potential and thinking being higher than those who do not attend preschool groups. Social and emotional development is also targeted, as suggested, those who commit crimes are more likely to be children who did not attend preschool groups, showing anti-social behaviour which in turn shows how their emotions have been affected more negatively than others, resulting in crime. In conclusion, I believe that these non-statutory settings provide children with broad play opportunities all contributing to their learning, growth and development. A child does not need to attend only compulsory to gain the most from a setting in terms of their experiences towards learning, in fact, I believe to promote a healthy and positive approach to learning, a child should attend some form of non-statutory setting to help them to embrace the younger years of life where learning is at its fastest and gain dispositions. Appropriate opportunities should be provided in throughout pre-school settings and afterschool programmes for children to develop personal and social skills, values and attitudes. References: Broadhead, P et al (2010) Play and Learning in the Early Years. SAGE. Else, P (2009) The Value of Play. Continuum. Fromberg, D (2012) Play from Birth to Twelve: Contexts, Perspectives and Meanings. Routledge. Justice, L et al (2008) Achieving Excellence in Preschool Literacy Instruction. Guilford Press. Lockett, A (2004) Continuous Curriculum: Planning for Spontaneous Play. CHYPS Learning. Minett, P (2010) Child Care and Development. Hodder Education. Northern Ireland Curriculum (2014) Available: http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/ Northern Ireland Curriculum (2014) Learning through Play. Available: http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/docs/foundation_stage/learning_through_play_ey.pdf Reifel, R (1999) Play Contexts Revisited. Greenwood Publishing Group. Sluss, D (2014) Supporting Play in Early Childhood: Environment, Curriculum, Assessment. Cengage Learning. Tassoni, P (2005) Planning Play in the Early Years. Heinemann. Wood, E (2013) Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum. SAGE. Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum (1997) Curricular Guidance for Preschool Education. Available: http://www.deni.gov.uk/preschool_curricular-2.pdf Courtney Hill HIL10173519

Impact of Teratogens Affecting the Prenatal Child

Impact of Teratogens Affecting the Prenatal Child Tracy Morrissey The aim of this discussion is to explore the impact of teratogens affecting the prenatal child and the interventions available to assist in preventing teratogens. For the purpose of this discussion three particular and prominent teratogens are highlighted including malnutrition, drugs which include alcohol/cigarettes and lastly exploring sexually transmitted diseases. These teratogens are highlighted because of the effects of the recession on Irish society today. A report by The Economic and Social Research Institute (ERSI) tells us that 22% of people living in households are unemployed, double the average within Europe. (ERSI 2012). The effects of this crisis includes further poverty which can lead to malnutrition and often a reliance on substances for comfort in these difficult times. ‘’Knowing, is not enough, we must apply, willing is not enough, we must do. ‘’ (J.W. Von Goethe). A teratogen, a Greek word, meaning monster is anything that creates a birth defect. (Santrock 2005). Teratology is the study of such teratogens. Teratogens can include environmental toxins, alcohol, drugs, incompatible blood types, diseases, inadequate nutrition, stress and advanced paternal and maternal age. (Santrock 2004). Exposure to potentially hazardous agents throughout pregnancy is common. Many exposures are unavoidable, as pregnancy is often unplanned or unnoticeable for a period after conception. (Queenan et al 2010). Abnormalities in prenatal development can be an outcome from exposure to teratogens. Each organ structure is at its most vulnerable to harm when it is developing at its quickest, during the first eight weeks of pregnancy, carrying the greatest risk of exposure to teratogens during this critical period. If a teratogen interferes during a critical period, a certain body structure will not form correctly. (Boyd and Bee 2012). The first twelve weeks of foetal life is a time of remarkable cellular configuration and development that is not fully understood, even to this day. By the completion of this time, the main anomalies that can affect the foetus are already in place and the sooner they occur, the more extreme the damage. There are pregnant women with the belief that everything they do has an effect on the unborn child and there are others who assume that nothing, or little, affects the unborn child. In fact, the truth is, it lies somewhere in the middle of both of these extremes. (Santrock 2005). A substantial number of already pregnant women are compromised or at risk symptomatic of things such as inappropriate nutrition, smoking, consumption of drugs and alcohol, medications, genitourinary infections, inadequate dental health and anaemia (WHO 2002). The most important factor in development of the foetus is the mother’s diet. (Carlson et al 2004). Maternal malnutrition during gestation can cause foetal growth limitations. Changes in foetal nutrition can result in developmental variations that can permanently alter the physiology and structure of the unborn child, predisposing people to endocrine, pulmonary and cardiovascular illnesses in adult life. (Lee 2011). Under normal conditions, the prenatal environment supplies the foetus with ample nutrients, this is the foetus’s single source of nutrition. An insufficient diet alone can be a factor in abnormal occurrences in the developing foetus. (Carlson et al 2004). The growing foetus relies completely on its mother for the nutrients it requires. The nutrients are released from the mother’s blood. (Santrock 2004). The reproductive system and its hormonal control structures are mainly formed in foetal life. There is an arising concern if this prenatal compromise t ranslates into any major functional deficit in reproductive functioning in adulthood. Epigenetic and possible intergenerational effects signify an exciting section of interdisciplinary research for the development of novel nutritional methods during pre and postnatal stages ensuring reproductive well-being in adult life. Maternal malnutrition can have substantial results on the developing foetal lung, this goes through rapid cellular differentiation and multiplication just before birth. (Lee 2011). Foetal growth is affected by the amount and the quality of maternal nutrition and the ability of the mother to aptly absorb and dispense maternal cardiorespiratory function, digested micronutrients, uterine blood flow, placental blood flow, placental transfer and suitable delivery and treatment of oxygen and nutrients by the foetus. (Queenan et al 2011). Studies from Holland and Leningrad during World War II imply that when maternal calorie intake fell to 800 kcal per day, birth weight was reduced to 535g in Leningrad and 250g in Holland. In modern day, the urban war creates comparable stress through domestic violence, lack of social supports and drugs. In 2011, the same as 1944-5, the connection between pregnancy and maternal nutrition status relies on a moderate weak proxy for women’s nutritional status, BMI (Body Mass Index). (Queenan et al 2011). A malnourished woman during pregnancy has a larger chance of delivering a low birth weight infant who could have intellectual problems in childhood and can be an important risk factor for mental illness as an adult. (Bee and Boyd 2012). Children who are born to malnourished mothers are more prone to having malformed offspring. (Santrock 2004). The largest impact of malnutrition appears to be on the developing nervous system. Some studies have shown severe prenatal malnutrition can even cause death in the foetus or new-born. (Bee and Boyd 2012). Folic acid (a B-complex vitamin) is very important for normal prenatal development, insufficient folic acid can be associated with neural tube defects in the unborn child, such as spina bifida. It is advisable to consume a minimum of 400 micrograms per day. It is also advisable to take a multi vitamin prior to pregnancy. (Santrock 2004). It is important for the pregnant woman to take adequate calories and protein to prevent malnutrition. (Bee and Boyd 2012). Maternal medical conditions during pregnancy can have a vast effect on foetal development, this can be compounded by drugs, smoking and alcohol use in pregnancy. Parents using opiates or misusing alcohol may also have additional difficulties, predisposing them to their lifestyle of choice, which can include a range of mental health and neurodevelopmental health problems. Mothers abusing drugs and alcohol often do not look after themselves during pregnancy, and their chaotic lifestyles do not permit optimum health. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term for outcomes in pregnancy in relation to alcohol, including Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), partial FAS and Alcohol related Neurodevelopmental Disorder. (Pacey 2010). Alcohol during pregnancy signifies the typical form of behavioural teratogenesis which can cause not only bodily malformations but also interference with development of the brain, attention control, substantial impairments in behaviour and language development. There is also an increased risk of behaviour difficulties throughout life. (Preece and Riley 2011). Studies have shown that alcohol can adversely affect the ovum before ovulation or whilst on its journey down the fallopian tube into the uterus. A zygote can also be affected by alcohol even before implantation in the uterine lining. (Bee and Boyd 2012). Up to 50% of women in the UK continue to drink alcohol in pregnancy in spite of many advisory bodies recommending avoidance of alcohol use. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists state that binge drinking in early pregnancy may be of particular harm. The larger the consumption of alcohol, the greater risk. There is double the increase in small for gestational age (SGA) when the mother consumes more than 52g of alcohol per day and a 23% increase in premature birth with more than 36g of alcohol per day. A particular study of alcohol and the effects on pregnancy which included the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia showed that in Ireland and the UK 65-80% of the participants consumed alcohol in pregnancy in comparison to 38% in New Zealand and Australia. (McCarthy et al 2013). Mothers who drink heavily, or alcoholics, are at a much greater risk of delivering infants with FAS. These children are usually smaller than average, having smaller brains. They often have heart defects and loss of hearing. Their faces are characterised by a rather flat nose and a long space between the nose and the mouth. Their intelligence scores when older indicate mild mental retardation. They often have behaviour and learning difficulties that sometimes continue into adolescence and adulthood. (Boyd and Bee 2012). The estimated incidence of FAS in Europe is 0.4 per 1000 births. (Mullally et al 2011). According to the British Medical Association (BMA) in 2007 FAS is the primary known source of non-genetic intellectual disability in the western world. The BMA recommends nurses make formal diagnoses of FAS in order for early intervention and programmes for treatment. Early interventions from midwives, nurses, better education from the teaching professions and more support for the families will improve life and opportunities of young people, especially moving into adulthood. (Callanan 2013). Doctors have not identified safe levels of alcohol consumption, but experts do know that FAS is preventable by not drinking any alcohol during pregnancy. It is also advisable to refrain from drinking alcohol if trying to conceive and if there is an alcohol problem, to address this before conceiving. (Mayo Clinic 2011). According to the U.S. Surgeon General, it is recommended that no alcohol is consumed during pregnancy. (Santrock 2004). There is an association between smoking throughout pregnancy and low birth weight in infants. (Boyd and Bee 2012). The main problem with smoking is nicotine, it constricts the blood vessels, reduces nutrition and blood flow to the placenta. (Boyd and Bee 2004). The infants of mothers who smoke are on average about half a pound smaller than infants of non-smokers, the same can be said of marijuana users. (Boyd and Bee 2012). The older the smoking mother is, the higher chance of lower birth weight. (Boyd and Bee 2004). The exposure to tobacco can also have long term effects on a child’s development, with larger rates of learning difficulties and behaviour problems. Moreover, there is a likelihood to be diagnosed with an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Infants of marijuana users seem to have little interest in their surroundings for approximately two weeks after birth. At age six, these children are smaller in height than six year olds who were not exposed to marijuana. (Boyd and Bee 2012). Research shows the amount of nicotine and the severity of consequences for the unborn child. If a pregnant woman cannot quit smoking, she should at least cut back. (Boyd and Bee 2004). Some helpful ways to quit include, setting a quit date, use clove oil, this will reduce the need for a cigarette, rub a few drops onto the throat, the back of the neck or on fingertips and suck on a whole clove in order to lower cravings. The homeopathic remedy Nux vomica helps with irritability associated with the withdrawal from nicotine. (Kane 2009). Intervention programs devised to assist pregnant women discontinue smoking can help to reduce the negative effects of smoking, particularly in order to raise birth weight. (Santrock 2004). Cessation advice by health care providers, one to one, group and telephone counselling can all assist in the cessation of smoking. (Malarcher et al 2011). Use of cocaine All too often rubella and cervical cytology status is unidentified. Prenatal care and promotion is of significant importance. (WHO 2002). http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/131521/E79235.pdf 1

Byrons Don Juan Essay -- essays research papers

Byron's Don Juan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One writer who has not recieved nearly enough credit for his works is George Gordon, who later became known as Lord Byron. This is the man who wrote his own poetical version of Don Juan. Don Juan is a man who is known for being able to arouse the desires of women and to love every one he meets. This Don Juan can be viewed, however, as a loosely disguised biography of Byron.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lord Byron's father, Captain John, has ancestors that go back as far as the Buruns in the time of William the Conqueror. Back in this time it was very common for people to marry their own cousins. Captain John was married three times and was considered to be very smooth with the ladies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Byron was born on January 22, 1788 in London, and the following year he and his mother moved to Aberdeen, Scotland. His father soon followed, but it wouldn't be long before he would disappear to France and end up dying in 1791. It was just as well because his parents never got along very well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Lord Byron's early years he experienced poverty, the ill-temper of his mother, and the absence of his father. By 1798 he had inherited the title of 6th Baron Byron and the estate of Newstead Abbey. Once hearing this news, he and his mother quickly removed to England.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All of Byron's passions developed early. In 1803 he had his first serious and abortive romance with...

Characterization through Imagery and Metaphor in The Scarlet Letter Ess

Characterization through Imagery and Metaphor in The Scarlet Letter      Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals character through the use of imagery and metaphor.    In the first Chapter of The Scarlet Letter, "The Prison-Door", the reader is immediately introduced to the people of Puritan Boston. Hawthorne begins to develop the character of the common people in order to build the mood of the story. The first sentence begins, "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" (Hawthorne 45). Hawthorne's use of vivid visual images and his Aaccumulation of emotionally weighted details" (Baym xii) creates sympathy for the not yet introduced character, Hester Prynne, and creates an immediate understanding of the harshness of the Puritanic code in the people. The images created give the freedom to imagine whatever entails sadness and morbidity of character for the reader; Hawthorne does not, however, allow the reader to imagine lenient or cheerful people.    The above excerpt was provided so that the student would know the focus of the essay. The complete essay begins below.    Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. After his graduation from Bowdoin College in Maine, he quickly became a well-known author of literary tales concerning early American life. Between 1825 and 1850, he developed his talent by writing short fiction, and he gained international fame for his fictional novel The Scarlet Letter in 1850 (Clendenning 118). Rufus Wilmot Griswold... ...g and appreciation of qualities of characters, and hence, a deeper understanding of underlying motives and psyche. Intricate and methodical characterization is crucial to grasp the full meaning of a narrative.    Works Cited Baym, Nina. Introduction. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York City: Penguin Books USA, Inc. 1986. Clendenning, John. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1989 ed. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. "The Scarlet Letter." The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed. Charles Wells Moulton. Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith Publishing, 1959. 341-371. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1986. Smiles, Samuel. "The Scarlet Letter." The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin Tucker. New York City: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1962. 266.

The story of Ben Carson :: essays research papers

The Decisions of Ben Carson   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout his life Ben Carson faced many trials and tribulations. All of which forced him to make life altering decisions. Going from a â€Å"disturbed† child and adolescent to an outstanding surgeon society would think Dr. Carson made the right choices, but along the way Ben wasn’t so sure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the important decisions Ben was faced with was in the tenth grade. He had to decide weather or not he wanted to continue on his downward spiral with school and friends or if he wanted to get his act together and become high in rank in his school’s ROTC program. After seeing his brother in his ROTC uniform Ben was certain he wanted to follow in Curtis’ footsteps. He knew he would have to work tremendously hard if he ever wanted to be named colonel as a student. Carson decided to put his best foot forward and forgot about being in the â€Å"it† crowd with the â€Å"right† clothes and focused on his ROTC goal. Ben was honored when Sgt. Bandy put him in charge of the most rambunctious class. His strategy for whipping the class into shape was getting to know them individually and then â€Å"structured the exercises accordingly (65).† Sgt Bandy was pleased to see that Ben turned the worst class into the best class of the unit in a matter of weeks. Ben was then promoted to second lieutenant. By the time he graduated Ben not only reached his goal and was ranked colonel, but he had been offered a full scholarship to West Point. A whole new decision in its own, Ben turned the scholarship down to pursue his dreams of being a doctor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another decision Ben made came after his first year of college at Yale. He was put in charge of a highway crew that picked up trash along highways in Detroit. The crews were made up of mostly inter-city kids. Instead of allowing his crew to collect only 12 bags of trash a day like the other supervisors, Ben made sure his crew turned in at least 150 bags at the end of each day. He taught the young men in his group the idea of hard work and taking pride for the work that they do. â€Å"The principle goes like this: It’s not what you know but the kind of job you do that makes the difference (81).† By teaching these kids not to slack off even though it may have been hot outside or they may have been too tired, he more than likely changed their work ethic for the rest of their lives.

The Machine Stops

Machine Stops Draft 24 March 2010 The Machine Stop’s published in 1909 by E. M Forster is an amazing prediction of a future where humans live below the surface of the earth in â€Å"The Machine. †Connected by something similar to the internet and communicating only by webcam, their every need is met and physical contact has become obsolete. There is a lot in this story that can be compared with our lives now in regards to dependence on technology and the way that it controls our lives, I am going to discuss that in this paper along with how this story and David Strong’s article can be compared. I will try to analyze the time’s that Forster grew up in and the impact they may have had on his view of the future, also the benefits and downfalls of modern technologies and a quick summary of the novella by Forster. The story takes place below the earth’s surface in ‘The Machine. ’ The Machine does everything for the people from playing music to making their beds. For example if they dropped something they didn’t have to bend over to pick it up, because the machine would elevate the floor to their level. The Machine completely takes away the need for the people to physically do anything for themselves. Kuno is the son of Vashti, a woman who like the others worships the Machine. Kuno questions the machine and takes it upon himself to leave the machine without permission to go to the surface of the earth to explore. Once Kuno reaches the surface the mending apparatus of the Machine entangles him because on his journey to the surface he tears the machine. After Kuno’s experience on the surface of the earth he gets in contact with his mother on the other side of the world to convince her to visit him face to face so he can explain his adventure to her. Kuno convinces Vashti to take the airship to visit him in spite of the fact that Vashti does not enjoy seeing the surface of the earth because it gives her â€Å"no ideas†. Once Vashti arrives Kuno explains his adventure and tells her that he is being threatened with ‘homelessness’ which is equivalent of death and that is the reason why he wanted to see her face to face and let her know what happened. Vashti cannot believe that this man is her son because of his actions and beliefs and shortly after arriving she leaves telling him that they have nothing in common. Vashti does not talk or try to contact her son for a few years after. After sometime passes Kuno gets in touch with his mother and tells her that The Machine stops, and he believes the Machine is beginning to shut down. Kuno’s mother finds this quite funny and blows off his idea, but within a short period of time Vashti begins to notice that things are not working properly. Starting with Vashti noticing the sleeping apparatus was no longer working properly. The machine begins shutting down and falling apart. Kuno gets to Vashti and before she dies is able to touch her and let her know that there are people on the surface who will not make the same mistake of letting something like the machine happen again. The way that I see this story and David Strong’s article coming together is very clear, Kuno and Vashti are the perfect representation of good vs. goods life. I say this about Kuno because the way he is portrayed shows that even though he has all of his needs met by â€Å"The Machine† he is left unsatisfied. Not only is he left unsatisfied but he is also left lonely and detached from the natural world, to the point that he has lost his ability to physically support himself. Vashti on the other hand is a great example of a progress trap in the way that what she worshipped (technology) is what ended up killing her. The reason I compare her with a progress trap is because she was brought up in the machine it was all she knew and it ended up getting out of control and killed her and the rest of its occupants, when they blindly accepted it as a good thing not expecting faults. E. M Forster’s story the Machine stops is an unbelievably accurate prediction of modern times for when it was published. The technologies Forster creates we see now and also some of the problems. The dependence we have on technology now is to the point where it is questionable if some people could survive without electricity, what does this mean to our societies? Not to say that technology is completely a bad thing but if you look at medicine as an example painkillers began as a treatment for people with severe illness and are now being used as a recreational drug with many negative effects. It seems that you can look at most technologies and see where they are being exploited due to their flaws, should this be blamed on the technologies or us as the users and inventers of them. E. M. Forster asks his readers to imagine a life in which they are completely surrounded and enclosed in technology; enclosed in a small space such as a cell of a bee hive (Gunton and Stine 129). The short story is trying to illustrate what could possibly come from a â€Å"society ‘perfected’ by technology (Bryfonski 179). Although technologies do make our lives simpler in many ways we cannot let them take over our lives, and we should not solely rely on technology to do everything. Early on in The Machine Stops it is made clear that the machine creates its own politics, sociology, its own rationality and its own religion (Bryfonski 179). It is almost as though Forster’s creation of the machine was an outlook to what he thought technology could easily become The characters in the short story have allowed the machine to â€Å"deaden their senses and to dehumanize their emotions† (Gunton and Stine 129). The characters do not know how to function by themselves anymore because the Machine allows them to not have to think or care, it ‘takes care’ of that for the humans. If we let technology do everything for us we will lose our own ability to think for ourselves. Although technology is a significant part of everyday life for the average person and it is used to simplify life, it can become overwhelming. Technology, if used wisely can have enormous benefits: staying in contact with old friends and family, saving someone’s life, helping you travel around the world the possibilities are truly endless. Some organizations and people in society possibly need to realize that there are always two sides to everything and, that yes technologies are created to help us but if we use the technologies improperly the same technological world could destroy us that is trying to help us. The idea of E. M. Forster’s The Machine Stops illustrates very well the destruction that could be created if humans begin to rely solely on technology in a maybe not so dramatic way after all. Works Cited E. M. Forster (1879-1970). † Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 178-183. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 19 March 2010. E. M. Forster (1879-1970). † Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon R. Gunton and Jean C. Stine. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 129-138. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 19 March 2010.

Sustainability In Material Production

In recent years, more and more people pay much attention to fashion as they consider that wearing trendy clothes can help them be equipped with a greater fascination. However, with the rapid increase of the fashion production, a wide range of industrial materials and wastes which are strongly detrimental to the environment are producing every day. How to dispose of this problem? Considering this, many experts and environmentalists tend to hold a viewpoint that a higher level of sustainability is the key solution.This essay will demonstrate how the fashion industry makes against the environment and how a higher standard of sustainability can solve this problem. First of all, diversity of materials is hard to find in the modern fashion and textile industry. It is dominated by a large number of similar, ready-made products in a limited range of fibre types. Indeed, cotton and polyester together account for over 80 percent of the global market in textiles (Simpson, 2006). The more demand s of fashion, the more fibre will be produced.However, it is a high energy-consuming process in the production of fibre. It needs a lot of oil, insecticides and water. Furthermore, large quantities of chemical wastes and toxic industrial water will be discharged into the environment. Secondly, manufacturers always produce fur and leather material. Thus, it can lead to a wide range of animals being killed. That is quite cruel to animals. According to the research by environmentalists, almost 3528 species of animals are in danger (Langley, 2009).If manufacturers continue to produce more fur and leather, the biodiversity and the balance of nature will be broken seriously. It seems quite difficult to prevent the threat of fashion industry entirely. However, many experts have put up with a concept of sustainability in materials production. Manufacturers can try to use some environmental materials instead of traditional unsustainable materials. To ensure a high standard of sustainability, the government should limit the production of unsustainable materials and products.For instance, the government can try to improve the tax rate of detrimental materials. For another thing, the government should make unsustainable products illegal. At the same time, the punishment should also be strict. To sum up, the fashion industry indeed poses a serious threat to the environment and a high standard of sustainability in materials production can solve this problem effectively. To some extent, the government plays a significant role in protecting the environment.

Coco Chanel Essay

Coco Chanel Coco Chanel was one of the most prominent fashion designers of the 20th century. Her contribution in the development of fashion can hardly be underestimated. In fact, she revolutionized fashion in a way, since she was one of the first fashion designers who made women think of themselves first rather than think how they look for their men, which was a traditional view on female fashion at the epoch. In actuality, the significance and her great contribution in the development of fashion as well as 20th century culture at large was marked by her contemporaries as well as modern specialists. For instance, she was the only person in the field of fashion design to be named on TME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century (Charles-Roux, 145). In such a way, she gained a public approval and popularity which made her name one of the most recognizable in the fashion world. At the same time, her life was quite difficult, especially during her early years and war time periods. In fact, she witnessed two world wars but she kept working regardless of all the problems and challenges she faced in her life. In fact, her work was her true passion she remained devoted to from her early life until the end. Gabrielle Bonheur â€Å"Coco† Chanel was born on August 19, 1883. She was a second daughter of travelling salesman Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle in a small city of Saumur, France (Orecklin, 49). In fact, her family was poor and she was raised in poverty stricken neighborhood along with her five siblings. Remarkably, when she got her birth certificate her name misspelled â€Å"Chasnel† because nobody knew how to spell Chanel correctly. As a result, the mayor of the city had to improvise and added the letter â€Å"S† in her name, which later became a serious problem for her biographers, who could not trace her origin and define genealogical tree because of such an error in her name (Orecklin, 51). However, the misspelling of her name was definitely not the biggest misfortune that happened to her in her early life. She lived in poverty and was practically of an opportunity to get a good education. Moreover, when she was twelve, her mother died of tuberculosis that provoked a serious psychological trauma for the child. At the same time, her father could not stay with the children all the time. He had to work to earn for living and to maintain the family, in which he was the only breadwinner. This is why Coco Chanel was sent to the orphanage of the Catholic monastery of Aubazine, where she spent seven years and where she received her basic education. In fact, it is in the monastery she learned the trade of seamstress. However, she did not spend all the time in the monastery. During the vacations she went to her relatives in a provincial city, where her female relatives taught her to sew with more flourish than the nuns in the monastery were able to demonstrate. In such a way, her interest, her passion to design had started to develop since her childhood as she learned to sew and gradually she became very skilful in this field. At this point, it should be said that she was apparently a gifted person since she managed to develop her skills and abilities to the extent that she became able not only to create traditional wear, but she proved to be able to experiment and find new, original solutions, which were unusual for her time (Dwight, 119). However, at the early started to demonstrate her talent, which though was immature at the epoch. Nevertheless, her professional knowledge, to a significant extent, defined her further life, as her first job was the work at a local tailor, where she was employed at the age of eighteen as she left the orphanage. In fact, it was her first step in her professional career insignificant it seems to be, but still it was very important in regard to her future professional career since she could have hardly find a different work. Moreover, it was the only work where she could realize her full potential and implement her creative ideas while developing new wear. At the same time, it should be said that she could not afford working at a tailor for a long time because she needed to realize her ideas and she wanted to create clothes of her own. However, she could hardly start her own business, if she had failed to meet Etienne Balsan at the tailor’s shop where Coco Chanel worked. In fact, it was an occasional encounter which though outgrew into a love affair which opened Chanel the way to a new, different and better life. Etienne Balsan was rich and quite influential. It is during her life with Balsan, Coco Chanel started to design hats. At first, it was just a hobby which gradually transformed into a true passion for designing new clothe items, especially hats, where she grew more and more skillful. Her early works were characterized by high originality since they were quite different from traditional hats. At the same time, the high quality of her products attracted a lot of customers, while her acquaintance with Balsan allowed her to engage customers representing the upper-class of the French society (Charles-Roux, 210). Nevertheless, her love affair with Balsan failed to evolve into a true love. At any rate, their relationships did not last for a long period of time and Coco Chanel left Balsan, moved to Paris and took over his apartment in the French capital. In 1913, she opened her first shop, where she sold fashionable raincoats and jackets. Remarkably, the originality and quality of her wear contributed to the huge success of her shop which allowed her to maintain relatively high standards of life and she became very popular in Paris, which, at the epoch, was one of the world’s centers of the fashion industry. However, the development of her business in Paris was overshadowed by the outbreak of World War I, which started in 1914 and affected the life of the entire country dramatically (Charles-Roux, 219). Nevertheless, Coco Chanel had never stopped working and continued designing new products which still remained popular and the demand for her wear was traditionally high. But she had to stop her business in Paris because she was deprived of all her properties. Nevertheless, Coco Chanel was not discouraged and carried on her professional work and designing became an essential part of her life. On the other hand, she could live with her ideas only. She needed money to earn to maintain living. In this regard, the assistance of Balsan’s friend, Arthur â€Å"Boy† Capel proved to be very helpful for Coco Chanel. Their friendship evolved into a love affair which made them very close and Capel helped Coco Chanel to open a new shop in Brittany, France, which, similarly to the shop in Paris, became very popular among local customers (Weber, 35). It is worth mentioning the fact that celebrated French actresses buy wear in Chanels’ shop which was very important for the promotional campaign of her shop. In fact, the interest of celebrities to her shop contributed to the growing popularity of her products and her design in France that contributed to her professional recognition, while the popularity allowed her to expand her business steadily. Due to her popularity, she managed to introduce new women’s sportswear at her new boutique in Deauville. In such a way, she could expand her business, but, what was even more important, Coco Chanel changed the philosophy of women’s wear. To put it more precisely, her new design and new wear made women confident of the fact that they were supposed to dress for themselves but not for their men. In fact, it was a revolutionary philosophy for France as well as the entire world at the epoch of World War I, when the ominance of men was unchallengeable, while the development of feminism was still insignificant (Charles-Roux, 248). Nevertheless, the design and new philosophy of Chanel produced a significant impact on the development of fashion and the 20th century culture at large. Remarkably, as Coco Chanel grew more and more popular she attempted to change some facts from her past. For instance, she pretended to be born in 1893, instead of 1883, while she insisted that she lo st her mother at the age of six, instead of twelve. In such a way, she created a kind of tragic image of an orphan girl, who managed to achieve a tremendous success due her talent and hard work. At the same time, such manipulations with her past evoked numerous controversies which were insurmountable for her biographers. This is why some details of her biography are still quite controversial and unclear. The 1920s were the epoch of the fast progress of Coco Chanel as a designer and her business developed successfully. Her design was really unique and her wear was very popular in France as well as in other countries. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that her acquaintance with Vera Bate Lombardi, a daughter of Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge and Duke of Teck, became of a paramount importance for Chanel’s empire. In fact, Vera Lombardi became Chanel’s muse and public relations liaison to a number of European royal families, including the British royal family. Her acquaintance with representatives of royal families and upper-classes contributed to her empire growth in power. As a result, before World War II, Chanel’s was one of the most influential designers in Europe as well as the world, because Europe, especially Paris, where Coco Chanel resided in the Hotel Ritz Paris, was the heart of the world’s fashion design (Barringer, 28). However, World War II forced Coco Chanel to stop her work and business. Nevertheless, she remained in Paris even during the German occupation. This period in her life was probably the most controversial because, after the war, she was repeatedly accused of collaborationism. For instance, she was suspected of having a love affair with a German officer and Nazi soy Hans Gunther von Dinklage. Moreover, she was even arrested after the war but she escaped the t rial after the interference of the British royal family, but she was forced to move to Switzerland where she lived until 1954. In 1954, she returned to Paris where she renewed her work and her business, but her new collection did not have much success with the Parisians and French because they believe Chanel to be a collaborationist, which produced a negative impact on her public image. Nevertheless, in spite of the failure in France, Chanel had open a new market, the USA, where her wear became extremely popular and the USA became her main market in the post-World War II period. On the other hand, even though the USA was the main market for Chanel’s Empire, Coco Chanel, herself, had never left Paris and stayed in this city until her death on 10 January 1971. She died at the age of 88 in her private suit in the Ritz Hotel Paris and she was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland (Charles-Roux, 341). Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that Coco Chanel was a very influential fashion designer. She had changed the traditional view on women’s wear and she had changed the women’s philosophy in regard to the wear. She was one of the first designers who made women think of themselves above all, instead of thinking of their men when they choose the clothes. At the same time, her personality is still quite controversial because, in spite of a huge popularity before World War II, she failed to regain the popularity in France after the war.