Minds and Machines essays

Minds and Machines essays 1) Briefly describe Descartes view of the relation between mind and body. What, if anything, is wrong with this view? Rene Descartes view of the relation between the mind and body, is a very complicated one. However if one was to put it simply, Descartes view is that the mind and the body are separate substances (Grayling 2001 p, 1). This idea of the mind and body being separate entities is known as Dualism. Descartes claimed that because he could think of the mind and body as being apart from each other, then they could also exist apart (Mattey 2001 p, 10). Descartes also stated that human bodies are external in that they can be observed by others (Mattey 2001 p, 11). This ability to be observed, coupled with the thought that a body is a part of space, also labeled the body as extended and part of the physical world. Descartes also believed that the body was subordinate to mechanical laws (Ryle 1949 p,120). In contrast to the body being external, Descartes declared that the mind was internal, in that no one could observe the workings of the mind, aside from the person themselves (Mattey p, 11). The mind was said to be part of the mental world. By taking Descartes views into account, one could then conclude that a person is divided into two separate entities, the mind and the body. However Descartes definitions of the relationship between the mind and body, or more importantly the lack of, raised many problems for philosophers and people in general (Kihlstrom p, 1). One of the major problems for dualists, such as Descartes, to over come was initiated by the fact that the body and mind can interact (Kihlstrom p, 2). This interaction can be seen when one considers that the mind can control and cause actions in the body, for example the movement of ones arms or legs. It can also be seen that the body acts with the mind, ...

Writing Compare and Contrast Essays

Writing Compare and Contrast Essays Before you begin to draft a compare and contrast essay, you should brainstorm by creating a Venn diagram or a chart to list the ​pros and cons of each subject you are comparing to another. The first paragraph of your compare and contrast essay should contain references to both sides of your comparison. This paragraph should end with a thesis sentence that sums up your overall purpose or results, like this: While city life brings many social opportunities, country life can provide the best of both worlds. Comparison essays can be constructed in two ways. You can focus on one side of your comparison at a time, describing the pros and cons of one topic first and then moving on to the next topic, like the example here: Cities have lots of great restaurants.City life offers culturally diverse populations.Cities contain theaters, sporting events, and other activities.Country life brings fresh produce within easy reach.Country life is quiet living with the opportunity to travel into cities for cultural exposure.Entertainment opportunities exist in the country, as well.Summary paragraph You could instead alternate your focus, covering one after the other in a back-and-forth pattern. Cities have lots of great restaurants.On the other hand, country life brings fresh produce within easy reach.Cities contain theaters, sporting events, and other activities.But entertainment opportunities exist in the country, as well.City life offers culturally diverse populations.However, country life is quiet living with the opportunity to travel into cities for cultural exposure. Make sure that each paragraph contains a smooth transition statement, and end your essay with a sound conclusion. Country Life or City Life? City Country Entertainment theaters, clubs festivals, bonfires, etc. Culture museums historic places Food restaurants produce Some ideas for your compare and contrast essay might make your work easier. Think about the following topics and see if one feels right for you. middle school and high school experiencepizza and spaghettidoing household chores or doing homeworkprivate school and public schoolattending big university and attending small collegecomparing two gamescomparing two types of phoneslaptops to tabletscomparing two teaching stylescomparing English to Spanishowning a dog and owning a cattravel abroad and domestic travelgrowing up rich and growing up poortalking to dad and talking to momhaving a sister and having a brother If the list above doesnt appeal to you, it may spark an original idea that fits your situation. This type of essay can be a lot of fun!

Freedom and Equaity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Freedom and Equaity - Essay Example As this manifesto had influenced many of the communist countries such as Korea, Cuba, China, Vietnam and of course many countries in Europe, both Marx and Engel can be considered as two important people that shaped world history. Marx and Engels ideals and principles declared publicly evolved the Marxism principle which is now an interesting subject and topic under political science. The principles embodied in the manifesto had developed the so called communist form of government. Marx had considered communism in relation to socialism very closely. As an advanced form of socialism, communism is very near to anarchism, viewed freedom and equality as vain, illusionary and incomplete. Generally, the right to freedom is considered as equality. Engels and Marx had issued freedom as bounded with fullness of material considerations. Freedom in morality also considered the absence of alienation and that man is the only bearer of this so called freedom. The manifesto pointed out that freedom is achievable only in the community when a man submits his total will and desires to serve the community and its demands. â€Å"Society as a whole is more and more splitting into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Burgeoisie and Protletariat† (Marx and Engels). There are two classes of men stated in the manifesto: the bourgeoisie- the so-called owners of the production living off with man’s profit; and the proletariat- the one who labored and lived on their salary. These men live in a community where there is difference in their life style and status. There are men who labored hard to survive in this world while there are men belonging to chosen few who derives their means of living in behalf of the other working class. This capitalist world has been criticized by Marx and Engels. There are human struggles produced in the lower striving class which are demonstrated in strikes, riots, and other revolutionary actions in search for enlightenment. The manifesto criticizes this kind of society. Accordingly, there is the absence of equality and freedom among the two classes of men. Individuals make up the society. Engels and Marx are calling in behalf of the lower class in search for freedom, that is, the Marxist way, to liberate society from the capitalist way of living. As quotes from the Communist Manifesto: â€Å"The executive of the modern state is but a committee for the managing of the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie†¦..They are unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such a state, that is has to feed him, instead of being fed by him. Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, its existence is no longer compatible with society.† In the same manner, Engels pointed out in his book â€Å"The Condition of the Working Class in England† about his concerns of the citizens laboring themselves physically during the Industrial age. He considered the working class as being exploited and being subjected to societal crimes. In his point of view, there is no freedom and equality in the time of the industrialization period as these working men are being subjected to labor for the food the upper class of men. He even described the

Movie Indusrty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Movie Indusrty - Research Paper Example Indeed, The Economist (2010) noted that the industry â€Å"churns out about 50 full-length features a week, making it the world’s second most prolific film industry after India’s Bollywood.† In fact, the Hala Gorani reported that the industry was starting to catch up with Hollywood (Inside Africa, 2004). While the industry may be the most prolific, the quality of the movies is incomparable to the quality Hollywood produces. Jeff Koinange, reporting on location during a movie set, quipped that the â€Å"movie set hardly stands up to its wealthier and distant cousin (Inside Africa, 2004). In this regard, the distant and wealthy cousin is Hollywood, which indicates that Nollywoods budget is one of the cheapest used to shoot a movie. Furthermore, Koinange noted, â€Å"The props are cheap, the setup amateur, and the paychecks laughable† (Inside Africa, 2004). In conclusion, Nigeria’s movie industry has become one of the most productive in the world and especially in Africa. With the movies playing in clubs, restaurants, and in various other African settings, most Africans identify with the themes in the movies and effectively making the industry famous. In addition, it is evident that the industry employs mane Nigerians directly during production and indirectly during the sale of the movie. Nevertheless, the industry has gained fame, and it might catch up with Hollywood one

Thesis Enrollment Essay Example for Free

Thesis Enrollment Essay I.Introduction The system design project, Enrollment System that will provide the needed and storing information in a faster, more convenient way by storing file of the student enrollees in a computer system that will lessen the effort of faculty staff in storing files of each student every now and then. This will also serve as information especially for the irregular students, freshmen, transferee, and professor in able to get access in course, subject, professor, and student enrollees. This information here can be viewed in just a second without worrying that a single file is lost. The idea behind a enrollment system is not a new concept. As student enrollees increase every year, enrollment procedure become harder to deal. This will only serve to increase the problem facing enrollment that provides more easy way in enrolling. This will also be a big help to all the enrollment staff especially under the computer department because they are the one who are entitled to touch and read the information from here. It will help our institution to have another system that will upgrade the enrollment processes so as to meet the quality that our institutions are trying to meet. Today, the use of technology has been an effective tool on improving such kind of enrollment system. In this study, the use of Visual Basic 6.0 and database will help to improve the efficiency of the enrollment in the Caloocan High School. II. Statement of the Problem Caloocan High School is having problem in the enrollment process because of its current system which is manual with a generic enrollment system which is not compatible with the school’s requirements. III. Background of the Study The discovery of the computer was the great function of modernity for different application to make work easier, more capable, and more adaptable for the humanity. It has brought a new level of knowledge that became the new standard in the industry. It made the school works more efficient for students and provided path to communicate to entire earth. Nowadays, computer based system is commonly used by every company and institution and one of this is the computerized enrollment system. Computerize Enrollment System is the must have system in a school. It is a convenient way of storing and retrieving information of a student that provides easier way of enrolling. Caloocan High School is one of the public schools that used a manual method for enrollment system. Computerized enrollment system is now used by the universities, colleges and other establishments. The group decided to create an enrollment system to lessen the workload of the registrar and staffs and provide accurate information of students when necessary. Computerized enrollment system is very useful for both the firm and students because it rather give an effective and efficient approach for both the students and schools IV. PURPOSE The purpose of the Computerized Enrollment system is that they can enroll easier and faster than using a manual process to enrolled. V. TITLE Computerized Enrollment System for Caloocan high Shool

Essay --

The Law and Communist Manifesto In the 1800’s, the social structure of Europe was changing. The industrial revolution brought new technologies and techniques that lead to more production, and a more prosperous European society. With these great changes to society and the way things were produced, changes in the government and how the society was run was imminent. Both The Law by Frederic Bastiat and Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx present new and fresh ideas on how society should be governed, Bastiat going into the concepts of liberalism and Marx the concepts of communism, both of which are oriented to the individual rights of people in these European societies. Both Bastiat and Marx believe that every person has individual rights and that every person should have an equal opportunity to lead a successful life. They believe that people should have the right to lead whatever life they chose to. Class structure and how individuals are placed into these classes is the biggest concept that Marx speaks about in Communist Manifesto. Marx believes that there should not be different social classes of people. During his time, there were two main classes of people; the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois were the modern Capitalist’s, who owned means of production and would employ wage-workers to operate these machines, generating huge profits for themselves. The proletariats were the wage-workers, who could not afford their own means of production, therefore relied on the bourgeois for work and income. The bourgeois had all the power in society. Marx believed that centralizing the means of production would take away the social power that the bourgeois had over the proletariats. He believed in the abolition of private property ... ...ety. Both authors believe that all people should have an equal chance to pursue the life that they want to lead. They believe that society should not be run by the wealthy. Marx argues against social classes, the sense of nationality and the idea that private property lead to social power and the bourgeois dominance in society. They had all the control. Bastiat believed that all people had a God given right to defend themselves, their property, and their liberties. He believed that law was necessary, but that it should be fair and consistent to all of the individuals in a society, no matter their economic stature. He argued that law was changing, and that it was actually going against what it was designed to uphold in the first place. These two authors presented ideas of government that at the time were unheard of, but are still very present across the globe today.

Case Study 6 Essay

Case study 6 Question 2 You have been hired as a consultant to a small clothing manufacturer who wants to emulate the success of Zara and Benetton. She wants advice on an innovation strategy which takes the key lessons from these successful firms. What would you offer? (Tidd 295) Within the entire business a change needs to be made in order to transition into a more electronically effective business, this can be done by growing Mechanization of operations. By introducing technological improvements such as a mobile app a website or possibly integrating online services not previously offered. Additionally the business can incorporate international trade which is has a huge upside since it saves money and allows the business to not only save money but also to increase its productivity. Another great way for the manufacturer to emulate the success of Zara and Benetton is to produce clothes which combine stylish designs with a strong link to current high-fashion themes with moderate prices (Tidd 294). Zara’s successful growth is not simply a matter of low prizes or of standardization, but rather of innovation that is complimented by providing their customers with variety and product innovation. The small clothing Manufacturer must increase its variety, in a ddition to providing the consumer with product innovation such as that of Zara and Benetton. Conclusion In conclusion it is extremely important for the small clothing manufacturer to incorporate, technology and technologically advanced systems and software, along with product innovation and a larger variety of great choices for customers to pick from. Lastly the business must improve introduce international trade in order to offset the costs of providing a larger variety of clothing. If this can be done successfully the small business could match the success of Zara and Benetton. References Tidd, John Bessant and Joe. Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, (UK), 04/2011.

Advanced system analysis

Many questions have been asked regarding what exactly systems engineering is and what the roles of systems engineers are. The questions mainly asked are if systems engineers perform general works or whether they specialize in specific tasks.The question of whether system engineering is the overall process of managing a project or a life cycle of roles such as program verification and validation. It is even worth to either define the system engineering process as an attitude or a discipline. This research will entirely look at the many definitions of systems engineering and the roles that are played by the system engineers.The research will mention eleven roles that are executed by system engineers and some of these roles will be described as life cycle rules while others will be described as project management roles and others will fall on either group. The paper will also try to distinguish the roles played by system engineers from those played by subsystem engineers.The Role of a S ystem Engineer at the System levelMany companies have system engineering departments and the department’s main role is to check the product delivered to the customers.Engineers who work on the subsystems (elements that combine to form the whole system) are not always referred as system engineers but are referred with names according to the subsystem they work on; for example a software engineer will work on developing the software subsystem of the whole system, a Hardware engineer deals with the hardware subsystem of the whole system.Requirements owner roleThis role requires the system engineer to translate the customer needs into a set of well structured requirements which aid in the development of the whole system and the subsystems. The requirements should capture the external interfaces and ensure that the functional architecture of the needs is captured as well (Roger1985).The role of the subsystem engineer at this point is to assess the impact of the requirements to the system as a whole and its subsystem and decide which requirements should be modified.Subsystem specifications creation and maintenance is the other role that is handled by the subsystem engineer with various factors playing a major role in the formality of determining the requirements required. The factors include the degree of the customer needs, the company’s culture and the size of the project. Large projects mainly involve intense communications processes with formal processes (Roger 1985).System designing roleAt this role the system engineer will create the high level system architecture and then select the its major components. The system designer (Subsystem engineer) then investigates the possible ways of developing the system from pieces he possesses.He then compares those ways with the system requirements to ensure that the system’s functionality captures all the requirements stated in the previous stage.The system designer fine tunes the design and also desc ribes in detail the needs of the other lower subsystems. And finally he confirms if the subsystems can meet the specifications available or if it is possible to develop them.Mainly the role of system engineers at this stage will be to focus on the architecture, high level design, integration and verification of the subsystem. The lower level development of the subsystem will be the role of the system designer (Matty1997).The system design role comes after the requirement engineer has come up with the requirements and the functional structure. The two tasks work together in the selection of the subsystems and the explanation of the subsystem requirements.System analysis role  System analysts (subsystem engineers) at this stage try to confirm if the system designed meets the system requirements stated. The things to be analyzed will be system throughput and output, memory usage, and the system response.The work of the system engineer is to model the complex parts of the system to in vestigate if they are able to work well and interface them with the outside world. Modeling will also assist the system engineers to understand the operations of the system.The system engineers carry out such modeling with various powerful simulation tools. The type of project will determine the extent of analysis to be carried out with complex and risky projects requiring higher levels of analysis.Validation and verification roleSo as to ensure that the developed system meets the stated requirements, validation and verification engineers develop a verification program and sometimes the system engineers also come up with the test plans and procedures and determine what’s supposed to happen during an event.Verification and validation engineers are responsible for answering such questions and should also be able to predict behaviour of the events in advance.Verification and Validation engineers are also able to fully understand the system design so that they are able to respond to any anomalies that may occur and incases of emergencies are aware of the experts to call (Fisher1992).The role of the verifications and validations depends on the organizational structure; in some organizations a system test group performs these roles while in others the roles are performed by both a group of system engineers and the system test group.Logistics and Operations (LO) Role.System engineers at this face will demonstrate to the customer of how the system will operate. They are also asked questions by the customers regarding the operation of the system, and will also settle any anomalies that will arise. Logistics engineers are to aid the design and development stage by bringing maintenance and logistics concerns to these stages (Roger1985).On the other hand logistics and operations engineers who at this stage are the subsystem engineers will be responsible for determining the logical operations of the system so as to ascertain if the system will satisfy the requiremen ts that were stated.They are supposed to understand the design and the operational aspects of the system and have clues on the instructions to be given to users on how to operate the system. All these operations are entrusted to the Logistics and operations engineers since they are responsible for developing a user’s manual (Webster 1994).

“I Stand Here Ironing” Through the Feminist Approach Essays

â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† Through the Feminist Approach Essays â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† Through the Feminist Approach Paper â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† Through the Feminist Approach Paper Tillie Olson’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† is a story told from the perspective of a young mother during the Great Depression. The woman reflects on the hardships she faced while raising her first-born child, Emily. The mother’s experiences were common to many women. The 1930s was a time when patriarchy was prevalent. Women were expected to adhere to domestic duties and pass these practices on to their daughters. Women strove to find husbands to care for them and start families with. Few women obtained the satisfaction of fulfilling their personal ambitions. After years of striving to fit the socially constructed role of a â€Å"woman,† the mother in the story regrets the decisions she made and feels a lack of accomplishment. Emily shares this realization as she witnesses and learns from the mistakes of her mother. She refuses to conform to societal norms in the hopes of achieving a fulfilling life. From the feminist critical perspective, I interpret this story as a depiction of women in a male-dominated society who progress from blind subjugation to realization, resulting in the desire for their daughters to accomplish the things they could not. The mother’s husband abandoned her, leaving her alone at a time when being a young, single mother was unconventional in society. The difficult circumstances led her to unknowingly accept subjugation in an attempt to fit her role in the patriarchal society. Because males were so dominant in the society she grew up in, the mother discredits herself and capitulates her power to the men in her life: â€Å"I had to bring [Emily] to [her father’s] family and leave her† (925). Society instils in her the idea that women are powerless. Rather than fighting it, she succumbs to societal norms and victimizes herself through her femininity. She describes how her â€Å"breasts ached with swollenness† (925), suggesting womanhood is painful and vulnerable. Women were given little autonomy, which is evident as the mother continually allows people she

Thomas Edison - The Inventor With 1,093 Patents

Thomas Edison - The Inventor With 1,093 Patents Thomas Edison was one of historys most influential inventors, whose contributions to the modern era transformed the lives of people the world over. Edison is best known for having invented the electric light bulb, the phonograph, and the first motion-picture camera, and held an astonishing 1,093 patents in total. In addition to his inventions, Edisons famous laboratory in Menlo Park  is considered the forerunner of the modern-day research facility. Despite Thomas Edisons incredible productivity, some consider him a controversial figure and have accused him of profiting from the ideas of other inventors. Dates: February 11, 1847 October 18, 1931 Also Known As: Thomas Alva Edison, Wizard of Menlo Park Famous Quote: Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Childhood in Ohio and Michigan Thomas Alva Edison, born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847, was the seventh and last child born to Samuel and Nancy Edison. Since three of the youngest children did not survive early childhood, Thomas Alva (known as Al as a child and later as â€Å"Tom†) grew up with one brother and two sisters. Edisons father, Samuel, had fled to the U.S. in 1837 to avoid arrest after having openly rebelled against British rule in his native Canada. Samuel eventually resettled in Milan, Ohio, where he opened a successful lumber business. Young Al Edison grew into a very inquisitive child, constantly asking questions about the world around him. His curiosity got him into trouble on several occasions. At three years old, Al climbed a ladder to the top of his fathers grain elevator, then fell in as he leaned over to look inside. Fortunately, his father witnessed the fall and rescued him before he was suffocated by the grain. On another occasion, six-year-old Al started a fire in his fathers barn just to see what would happen. The barn burned to the ground. An enraged Samuel Edison punished his son by giving him a public whipping. In 1854, the Edison family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. That same year, seven-year-old Al contracted scarlet fever, an illness that possibly contributed to the future inventors gradual hearing loss. It was in Port Huron that eight-year-old Edison started school, but he only attended for a few months. His teacher, who disapproved of Edisons constant questions, considered him somewhat of a mischief-maker. When Edison overheard the teacher refer to him as addled, he became upset and ran home to tell his mother. Nancy Edison quickly withdrew her son from school and decided to teach him herself. While Nancy, a former teacher, introduced her son to the works of Shakespeare and Dickens as well as to scientific textbooks, Edisons father also encouraged him to read, offering to pay him a penny for each book he completed. Young Edison absorbed it all. A Scientist and Entrepreneur Inspired by his science books, Edison set up his first lab in his parents cellar. He saved his pennies to purchase batteries, test tubes, and chemicals. Edison was fortunate that his mother supported his experiments and didnt close down his lab after the occasional small explosion or chemical spill. Edisons experiments didnt end there, of course; he and a friend created their own telegraph system, crudely modeled upon the one invented by Samuel F. B. Morse in 1832. After several failed attempts (one of which involved rubbing two cats together to create electricity), the boys finally succeeded and were able to send and receive messages on the device. When the railroad came to Port Huron in 1859, 12-year-old Edison persuaded his parents to let him get a job. Hired by the Grand Trunk Railroad as a train boy, he sold newspapers to passengers on the route between Port Huron and Detroit. Finding himself with some free time on the daily trip, Edison convinced the conductor to let him set up a lab in the baggage car. The arrangement did not last long, however, for Edison accidentally set fire to the baggage car when one of his jars of highly flammable phosphorus fell to the floor. Once the Civil War began in 1861, Edisons business really took off, as more people bought newspapers to keep up with the latest news from the battlefields. Edison capitalized upon this need and steadily raised his prices. Ever the entrepreneur, Edison bought produce during his layover in Detroit and sold it to passengers at a profit. He later opened his own newspaper and produce stand in Port Huron, hiring other boys as vendors. By 1862, Edison had started his own publication, the weekly Grand Trunk Herald. Edison the Telegrapher Fate, and an act of bravery, handed Edison a most welcome opportunity to learn professional telegraphy, a skill which would help determine his future. In 1862, as 15-year-old Edison waited at the station for his train to change cars, he spotted a young child playing on the tracks, oblivious to the freight car heading straight for him. Edison leaped onto the tracks and lifted the boy to safety, earning the eternal gratitude of the boys father, station telegrapher James Mackenzie. To repay Edison for having saved his sons life, Mackenzie offered to teach him the finer points of telegraphy. After five months of studying with Mackenzie, Edison was qualified to work as a plug, or second-class telegrapher. With this new skill, Edison became a traveling telegrapher in 1863. He stayed busy, often filling in for men who had gone off to war. Edison worked throughout much of the central and northern United States, as well as parts of Canada. Despite unglamorous working conditions and shabby lodgings, Edison enjoyed his work. As he moved from job to job, Edisons skills continually improved. Unfortunately, at the same time, Edison realized that he was losing his hearing to the extent that it might eventually affect his ability to work at telegraphy. In 1867, Edison, by now 20 years old and an experienced telegrapher, was hired to work in the Boston office of Western Union, the nations largest telegraph company. Although he was at first teased by his co-workers for his cheap clothes and countrified ways, he soon impressed them all with his rapid messaging abilities. Edison Becomes an Inventor Despite his success as a telegrapher, Edison longed for a greater challenge. Eager to advance his scientific knowledge, Edison studied a volume of electricity-based experiments written by 19th-century British scientist Michael Faraday. In 1868, inspired by his reading, Edison developed his first patented invention an automatic vote recorder designed for use by legislators. Unfortunately, although the device performed flawlessly, he could not find any buyers. (Politicians didnt like the idea of locking in their votes immediately without the option of further debate.) Edison resolved to never again invent something for which there was no clear need or demand. Edison next became interested in the stock ticker, a device that had been invented in 1867. Businessmen used stock tickers in their offices to keep them informed of changes in stock market prices. Edison, along with a friend, briefly ran a gold-reporting service that used the stock tickers to transmit gold prices into subscribers offices. After that business failed, Edison set about improving the performance of the ticker. He was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with working as a telegrapher. In 1869, Edison decided to leave his job in Boston and move to New York City to become a full-time inventor and manufacturer. His first project in New York was to perfect the stock ticker that he had been working on. Edison sold his improved version to Western Union for the enormous sum of $40,000, an amount that enabled him to open his own business. Edison established his first manufacturing shop, American Telegraph Works, in Newark, New Jersey in 1870. He employed 50 workers, including a machinist, a clockmaker, and a mechanic. Edison worked side-by-side with his closest assistants and welcomed their input and suggestions. One employee, however, had captured Edisons attention above all others Mary Stilwell, an attractive girl of 16. Marriage and Family Unaccustomed to courting young women and hampered somewhat by his hearing loss, Edison behaved awkwardly around Mary, but he eventually made it clear that he was interested in her. After a brief courtship, the two married on Christmas Day, 1871. Edison was 24 years old. Mary Edison soon learned the reality of being married to an up-and-coming inventor. She spent many evenings alone while her husband stayed late at the lab, immersed in his work. Indeed, the next few years were very productive ones for Edison; he applied for nearly 60 patents. Two notable inventions from this period were the quadruplex telegraph system (which could send two messages in each direction simultaneously, rather than one at a time), and the electric pen, which made duplicate copies of a document. The Edisons had three children between 1873 and 1878: Marion, Thomas Alva, Jr., and William. Edison nicknamed the two eldest children Dot and Dash, a reference to the dots and dashes from the Morse code used in telegraphy. The Laboratory at Menlo Park In 1876, Edison erected a two-story building in rural Menlo Park, New Jersey, conceived for the sole purpose of experimentation. Edison and his wife bought a house nearby and installed a plank sidewalk connecting it to the lab. Despite working close to home, Edison often became so involved in his work, he stayed overnight in the lab. Mary and the children saw very little of him. Following Alexander Graham Bells invention of the telephone in 1876, Edison became interested in improving the device, which was still crude and inefficient. Edison was encouraged in this endeavor by Western Union, whose hope it was that Edison could create a different version of the telephone. The company could then make money from Edisons telephone without infringing upon Bells patent. Edison did improve upon Bells telephone, creating a convenient earpiece and mouthpiece; he also built a transmitter that could carry messages over a longer distance. Invention of the Phonograph Makes Edison Famous Edison began to investigate ways in which a voice could not only be transmitted over a wire, but recorded as well. In June 1877, while working in the lab on an audio project, Edison and his assistants inadvertently scratched grooves into a disc. This unexpectedly produced a sound, which motivated Edison to create a rough sketch of a recording machine, the phonograph. By November of that year, Edisons assistants had created a working model. Incredibly, the device worked on the first try, a rare outcome for a new invention. Edison became an overnight celebrity. He had been known to the scientific community for some time; now, the public at large knew his name. The New York Daily Graphic christened him the Wizard of Menlo Park. Scientists and academics from around the world praised the phonograph and even President Rutherford B. Hayes insisted upon a private demonstration at the White House. Convinced that the device had more uses than as a mere parlor trick, Edison started a company devoted to marketing the phonograph. (He eventually abandoned the phonograph, however, only to resurrect it decades later.) When the chaos had settled down from the phonograph, Edison turned to a project that had long intrigued him the creation of an electric light. Lighting the World By the 1870s, several inventors had already begun to find ways to produce electric light. Edison attended the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 to examine the arc light exhibit displayed by inventor Moses Farmer. He studied it carefully and came away convinced that he could make something better. Edisons goal was to create an incandescent light bulb, which was softer and less glaring than arc lighting. Edison and his assistants experimented with different materials for the filament in the light bulb. The ideal material would withstand high heat and continue to burn for longer than just a few minutes (the longest time they had observed up until then). On October 21, 1879, the Edison team discovered that carbonized cotton sewing thread exceeded their expectations, staying lit for nearly 15 hours. Now they began the work of perfecting the light and mass-producing it. The project was immense and would require years to complete. In addition to fine-tuning the light bulb, Edison also needed to consider how to provide electricity on a large scale. He and his team would need to produce wires, sockets, switches, a power source, and an entire infrastructure for delivering power. Edisons power source was a giant dynamo a generator that converted mechanical energy into electric energy. Edison decided that the ideal place to debut his new system would be downtown Manhattan, but he needed financial backing for such a grand project. To win investors over, Edison gave them a demonstration of electric light at his Menlo Park lab on New Years Eve, 1879. Visitors were enthralled by the spectacle and Edison received the money he needed to install electricity to a portion of downtown Manhattan. After more than two years, the complex installation was at last completed. On September 4, 1882, Edisons Pearl Street Station delivered power to a one square mile section of Manhattan. Although Edisons undertaking was a success, it would be two years before the station actually made a profit. Gradually, more and more customers subscribed to the service. Alternating Current Vs. Direct Current Soon after the Pearl Street Station had brought power to Manhattan, Edison became caught up in the dispute over which type of electricity was superior: direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). Scientist Nikola Tesla, a former employee of Edisons, became his chief rival in the matter. Edison favored DC and had used it in all of his systems. Tesla, who had left Edisons lab over a pay dispute, was hired by inventor George Westinghouse to build the AC system which he (Westinghouse) had devised. With most of the evidence pointing to AC current as the more efficient and economically feasible choice, Westinghouse chose to support AC current. In a shameful attempt to discredit the safety of AC power, Edison staged some disturbing stunts, purposely electrocuting stray animals and even a circus elephant using AC current. Horrified, Westinghouse offered to meet with Edison to settle their differences; Edison refused. In the end, the dispute was settled by consumers, who preferred the AC system by a margin of five to one. The final blow came when Westinghouse won the contract to harness Niagara Falls for the production of AC power. Later in life, Edison admitted that one of his biggest mistakes had been his reluctance to accept AC power as superior to DC. Loss and Remarriage Edison had long neglected his wife Mary, but was devastated when she died suddenly at the age of 29 in August 1884. Historians suggest that the cause was probably a brain tumor. The two boys, who had never been close to their father, were sent to live with Marys mother, but twelve-year-old Marion (Dot) stayed with her father. They became very close. Edison preferred to work from his New York lab, allowing the Menlo Park facility to fall into ruin. He continued to work on improving the phonograph and the telephone. Edison married again in 1886 at the age of 39, after proposing in Morse code to 18-year-old Mina Miller. The wealthy, educated young woman was better suited to life as the wife of a famous inventor than had been Mary Stilwell. Edisons children moved with the couple to their new mansion in West Orange, New Jersey. Mina Edison eventually gave birth to three children: daughter Madeleine and sons Charles and Theodore. West Orange Lab Edison built a new laboratory in West Orange in 1887. It far surpassed his first facility at Menlo Park, comprising three stories and 40,000 square feet. While he worked on projects, others managed his companies for him. In 1889, several of his investors merged into one company, called Edison General Electric Company, the forerunner of todays General Electric (GE). Inspired by a series of groundbreaking photos of a horse in motion, Edison became interested in moving pictures. In 1893, he developed a kinetograph (to record motion) and a kinetoscope (to display the moving pictures). Edison built the first motion picture studio on his West Orange complex, dubbing the building the Black Maria. The building had a hole in the roof and could actually be rotated upon a turntable in order to capture the sunlight. One of his best-known films was The Great Train Robbery, made in 1903. Edison also became involved in mass-producing phonographs and records at the turn of the century. What had once been a novelty was now a household item and it became very lucrative for Edison. Fascinated by the discovery of X-rays by Dutch scientist William Rontgen, Edison produced the first commercially-produced fluoroscope, which allowed real-time visualization inside the human body. After losing one of his workers to radiation poisoning, however, Edison never worked with X-rays again. Later Years Always enthusiastic about new ideas, Edison was thrilled to hear about Henry Fords new gas-powered automobile. Edison himself attempted to develop a car battery that could be recharged with electricity, but was never successful. He and Ford became friends for life, and went on yearly camping trips with other prominent men of the time. From 1915 until the end of World War I, Edison served on the Naval Consulting Board a group of scientists and inventors whose goal it was to help the U.S. prepare for war. Edisons most important contribution to the U.S. Navy was his suggestion that a research laboratory be built. Eventually, the facility was built and led to important technical advances that benefited the Navy during World War II. Edison continued to work on several projects and experiments for the remainder of his life. In 1928, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, presented to him at the Edison Laboratory. Thomas Edison died at his home in West Orange, New Jersey on October 18, 1931 at the age of 84. On the day of his funeral, President Herbert Hoover asked Americans to dim the lights in their homes as a way of paying tribute to the man who had given them electricity.

Turkish Lobby in the European Union Case Study

Turkish Lobby in the European Union - Case Study Example Such a situation arose because rulers cannot be expected to know all the problems faced by their subjects. Hence, people have used various methods by which their views can be heard and understood by whatever power that governs them. This process developed to a situation where a group of influential persons were able to make a ruler comply to their wishes. This process known to the modern world as lobbying has been going on ever since a structured form of governance has existed. At present, lobbying plays a powerful role in influencing decisions of governments across the world. This process has developed to such an extent that a powerful lobby can influence even the governments of other countries. This paper is an attempt at studying the lobbying process that exists in Turkey with regard to the European Union. Turkey, has been trying to get full membership in the Union for a long time. In fact, the process started way back in September1959 when Turkey applied for an associate membersh ip in what was the European Economic Council (EEC). (EU Turkey Relations 2004). The timeline for the accession process is given here. After four years, in September 1963, the Ankara Agreement came into force where Turkey is to be taken into the Customs Union and also for full membership in the EEC. A financial protocol is also signed during this period. In 1970 an Additional Protocol and a second financial protocol is made and signed. This was in September of that year in Brussels. Both these were regarding the setting up of the Customs Union. Before accession could take place, Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and this created problems for accession since Cyprus was also a part of Europe. A military coup in the country on September 12, 1980 worsened the relationship between the Community and Turkey still further. Even so, the Community agreed to decrease customs duties gradually until it was to be removed totally, on Turkish agricultural products by the year 1987. The membership proces s came to a standstill until it was revived by the Turkish EEC Association Council in 1986. On April 14th 1987, turkey applies for full membership in the council instead of an Associate member. It took two years, until December 1989 for the

Business Law Patent Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Law Patent Rights - Essay Example An instrument can be protected as utility patent or even a design patent if it has any unique ornamental feature. Primarily patentability of the invention needs to be determined, which cane be dome by conducting a through patent and non patent literature (prior art) search. Once the patentability established a patent application should be drafted and filed at the respective patent office. The inventor can file a National Application in the parent country or an International Patent Application with WIPO. The international patent application is called a PCT application proves to be cheaper if the invention is desired to be protected in a number of countries. Patent application goes through examination at patent office and eventually the patent gets granted. In the present case if the safety tests conducted on the instrument enhance any feature of the instrument it should be protected. The enhanced feature of the instrument can be protected by filing a continuation in part patent application for the same. Once the patent is granted the assignee can commercialize his invention or in other case assign rights. The rights can be granted completely, by assigning the patent to a single individual/ organization, or territory specific licenses can be given out for commercialization of invention to various interested parties. Patent Infringement is said to have occurred when a patented invention is used, sold, manufactured or offered for