Dance of Life Essay Example for Free

Dance of Life EssayThe picture show Dance of Life, created by Edvard scranch in 1900, is a movie that portrays people in variant stages of breeding. It portrays two women who seem sad, a third woman who seems happy, and a bunch of other women dancing with men. The painting implies that animateness is difficult and that it can be depressing at times, but that it always goes on. The arrangement of the women in a half circle map outs the phases of demeanor. The women on the end of the half circle are both standing alone. The woman on the far left stands alone, representing youth, and wears white, representing innocence.The woman on the far right stands alone, representing the desolation of old age, and she wears black, representing death or loss. The women dancing in the background represent the different phases of life and the enjoyment that can be found in both phase of life. The woman in the perfume of the painting represents the persuasion of being out of step wit h the dance of life. She wears a red dress, different from entirely the others. Red represents danger or anger which can be perceived as negative, but by painting her in the center the artist prise her unique position in life and implies that her difference from the rest is a positive quality.The way that others are turned towards her represents how people in society center so much of their lives on attention to others decisions. More than half of the painting has a green background representing life and vitality. The top quarter of the painting is a blue body of water that simultaneously represent tranquility. The juxtaposition of these two represents the necessity of having balance in your life. The green, as well as the people dancing, represent the joy to be found in life. Most of life should be joyous, coupled with the tranquility, silence, and reflection represented by the blue and the three girls non dancing.The different colors characterd in this painting represent all t he different aspects in life and how important it is to acknowledge all of them. The artist doesnt use harsh lines or defined shapes in this painting. All the shapes are smooth and rounded. It really adds to the implication that life flows. The smooth shapes help the painting transition from left to right. The smooth shapes support the half circle shape and it all works together to create a path for the eye to follow. Theres not a large contrast of darkness and light nearly of the painting is dark except for one column where the sun is, which casts more light on the girl in white.This gives the idea that theres more light, more carefree-ness in the youth. The entire painting is two dimensional. Though there are clearly different rows and elements to this painting, the grass, water, and sky all seem to run together in a flat way. This gives the feeling that we are larger than life that we are bigger than the problems of the world around us. The painting has three central points of interest the three women in their different phases of life are aline up as the most significant points of the painting.It represents the phases of life and brings to mind the emotions associated with those phases. The young girl in the white dress stands next to flowers which only accentuate the idea of youth and imply that the girl, corresponding the flowers, will still continue to grow. The older woman on the end seems to have a morose, solemn look about her. It implies introspection and reflection on the long life shes lived. It gives pause to the earner and causes them to be solemn. One reason the painting conveys its message so well is because of the way the women are set up in contrast to each other.The harmony in the painting is created in the way that the women wear white and the men wear black. It creates a quieten background which sets up a better backdrop to set the three women apart. The sun setting over the water creates a smooth backdrop and adds an idea of resign ment to the painting as though its okay to accept this dance of life as a way of living. Unity is completely achieved in this painting as all of the people have something in common be it gender, clothing color, or disposition. This is a closed compositional painting and its emphasized by the circle closing off at the edges of both paintings.It represents the idea of the circle of life and ensures that every aspect of life is contained in the painting. The lines and structure of this painting seem unintentional. The lines of the grass and the separation between the water and the sky arent straight or harsh. Theyre smooth and blurred, creating an intentionally casual dynamic. The point of view of the painter is that life is short and that people are happiest in their youth. The older woman seems to have a look of remorse or wo on her face as she stares at the lady in red.The painter seems to be saying that we, as the viewers, should enjoy our youth and live without regrets. It also g ives implications about life and the human experience life is contained in a short circle and passes by quickly. In any phase of life, there are things to be enjoyed and apprehended because life passes by way in addition quickly. The painters view of the world is that theres good aspects of every part of life. He seems to work out that youth is the best part of life and that mistakes are central to life. The way that everyone circles around the woman in red represents that life circles around mistakes and trials but that its all surmountable.The painting accurately describes the way that the artist sees the way the life begins and ends the way that we start as the girl in whiteinnocent and smart and youngand that we end as the lady in blackfeeling morose and sad and as though life has slipped away all too suddenly. The way that she looks at the girl in red implies that the painter thinks that in our old age all we have to look back on is the choices we made, the friends we acqu ire to keep, and the happiness that we choose to create. Though this was painted in 1900, it very accurately represents our culture right now.Its a reminder to seize the day, to live for the moment, to thread the most of whatever phase of life youre in so that you wont look back at the end of life and regret choices or missed opportunities. This painting causes me to reflect on my life and the decisions that I make. It makes me want to focus more on being happy with the phase of life that Im in and to appreciate being youthful and carefree. It reinforces the desire to not make decisions that will keep me out of the circle. The painting gives the feeling that life is to be enjoyed, and that no matter what it will keep going.

State of the Union Address Essay Example for Free

State of the Union Address EssayState Of the Union Address 2013 While President Obama will primarily focus on discussing the economy and jobs for Americans, here are five hot topics you can expect President Obama to address in his annual State of the Union address.1. ImmigrationWith immigration reform picking up major traction, Obama will likely encourage continued bipartisan action to move towards comprehensive immigration reform. Current proposals by the Gang of Eight would bring about tough and fair reform for over 11 million undocumented immigrants to move towards citizenship. In 2007, the Congressional work out Office rated the plan as generating $48 trillion in additional revenue over 10 years, while costing about $23 billion in additional welfare and health care payments.2. Foreign constitutionFrom the security of U.S. diplomatic posts to the U.S. policy towards Syria, Obama should admit lot to say about the countrys external policy agenda. It will be interesting to see if Obamaa speechwriters will address the recent breaking news out of northbound Korea, where a successful tercet nuclear test was reported. President Obama called the action a highly provocative act that demands swift and credible action by the international community against northerly Korea. Of note are quick condemnations from Russia, Britain, South Korea and the United Nations. Will Obama use primetime to address the recent actions? Is the Iranian nuclear program of greater concern than North Korea?3. DronesObamas drone program came under fire since last weeks Senate hearing regarding counterterrorism adviser John Brennans nomination to become director of the CIA. Will Obama use tme to justify the administrations policy of deploying unmanned drones to kill Americans suspected of being Al-Qaeda allies?4. Gun violenceBackground checks have picked up significant momentum across society lines and Obama is well on his way to pushing for comprehensive gun control and gun violen ce prevention. The NRA has been very vocal about Second Amendment rights, and recent events have pushed gun violence into national spotlight. Is this issue big enough to address in his primetime address? Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, mother of slain Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton, and a young girl from Newtown, Connecticut will be present inside the Chamber when Obama delivers his address.5. Climate ChangeObama came out strong during his January inaugural speech on addresssing climate change. He expressed the need to deal with the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. However, his address tonight will likely cover climate change as it relates to energy technology, new industries, and economic growth.With all these issues that need to be addressed, you can expect more or less mention of the above. Count his words and see how many times Obama addresses the above topics. But expect it all to be overshadowed by t he big issue that has carried by dint of Obamas tenure as president the economy, jobs and economic recovery.

Development of Parallel Parking System

Development of line of latitude Parking SystemExecutive SummaryIntroduction/BackgroundTraditionally kick downstairsment of micro appendageor ground bear systems involved the following(a) steps. The date algorithmic ruleic programic rule was designed by a systems or a control engineer. The algorithm would then be coded in scheduling languages like assembly, C or C++ which would be employ on a microprocessor origind hardw be the restraint.The problem with this method was the verification of the algorithm would be possible only once the whole system was developed. Any errors in design would prove extremely costly. Also in converting control system of logic specification into software in that location is a high probability of translation errors that would lead to err nonpareilous results.m present creationd Design is a software methodology which addresses these issues and is gaining a lot of popularity currently in the industry.The scope of this project is to apply the influence Based Design methodology to develop a control algorithm that eases the double laying of a car problem for a novice driver.Aims and ObjectivesThe aim of this project is to develop a check park system use Model Based Design. The objectives are to understand the parallel park problem and methods to solve it, steps involved in Model Based Design and explore the accident of carrying out of a parallel parking algorithm on a Lego Mindstorms Robotics Kit.AcheivementsA fuzzy logic based parallel parking algorithm was advantagefully simulated. Model Based Design concepts were explored and implemented in the design. Programs developed in Simulink were prosperously tested on the Lego Mindstorms KIT using Real Time shop Embedded Coder, EC Robot Toolbox, nxtOSEK and other associated tools. finiss/RecommendationsThe parallel parking strategy implemented did show good results. However, real life scenarios may be diametrical than the iodin discussed. For example, the controller d epends on wall following. This implies there has to be 3 sides closed in a gap for the parking controller to work.The development of the algorithm was with the intent of being able to execute it on a Lego Mindstorms Kit. However, there were some issues regarding this. The main being lack of a afloat(p) channelize social unit on the NXT Brick. Though it is possible to execute floating point programs on the NXT, it causes severe performance issues.The controller developed use the fuzzy logic cylinder blockset which inherently uses a lot of floating point variables. adept method to overcome this draw back could be growth a fixed point mutant of the fuzzy logic blockset.Other parking strategies involving neoclassical control could be experimented with Lego Mindstorms. Complex tasks like travel guidebook planning could be executed on a computer communicating with the NXT via Bluetooth and the control tasks could be implemented on the NXT using fixed point math.IntroductionProble m DescriptionThe parallel parking period of play of a car has been a topic of academic and industry interest. The car or a car-like mobile robot hence referred to as CLMR has inherently a constraint known as a nonholonomic constraint. This is problem can be summarised as follows (Pushkin Kachroo and Patricia Mellodge, 2004.). If a system has restrictions on its velocity, but those restrictions does not cause restrictions in its inclineing the systems is said to be nonholonomically constrained. Viewed in some other way, the systems local movement is restricted, but its global movement is not.Mathematically, this means that the velocity constraints cannot be integrated. For e.g. during a parallel parking manoeuvre, when a driver arrives next to a parking space, he cannot simply slide his car sideways into the spot. The car is not capable of slew sideways and this is the velocity restriction. However by moving the car backward and forward and turning the wheels the car can be moved into the parking space. Ignoring the restrictions ca apply by the external objects the car can be located at any position with any orientation, despite the lack of sideways movement (Pushkin Kachroo and Patricia Mellodge, 2004.).The challenge in this project is to not only address the parallel parking problem but also to develop it using advanced software design techniques involving Model Based DesignLiterature SurveyThe parallel parking problem can be viewed as a subtask of robot motion planning and control. on that point is has been considerable research in this area. De Luca et al (1998) classifies all robot motion tasks into 3 subtasks as follows.Point-to-point motion The robot must happen a craved goal flesh starting from a given initial configuration.Path following The robot must reach and follow a geometric path in the Cartesian space starting from a given initial configuration (on or off the path).Trajectory tracking The robot must reach and follow a trajectory in the Ca rtesian space (i.e., a geometric path with an associated timing law) starting from a given initial configuration (on or off the trajectory)A parallel parking problem can then considered as a point to point motion task or a path following task and a feedback control law if proposed for the same.(Dongbing and Huosheng 2000) thrust developed more advanced control strategies involving Generalized Predictive comprise and Neural Networks based predictive control.Fuzzy Logic based controllers have also been used to solve the parallel parking problem. Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng (2002) proposes a rule base based on the appearer space of the CLMR edges to the parking spot.Kuang-Yow et al (1999) proposes a fuzzy sliding mode controller to solve the parallel parking problem.Holve and Protzel (1996) suggest another fuzzy logic based controller and a parking algorithm based on human experience. It involves finding an appropriate space for parking, stopping at the right place, executing the parki ng procedure and to do so without colliding with any obstacles.SummaryThe classical control methods discussed above are generally more interlocking compared to other ones. Most of them rely on trajectory generation and then a control algorithm for trajectory tracking or path following. The success of the algorithm in a real time implementation also depends upon the accuracy of the positioning systems which increases the complexity and the hardware cost of this method.While the fuzzy logic based controllers are more intuitive and easier to design the performance is suboptimal compared to the classical controllers. But they are more robust to sensor uncertainties (Holve, R. Protzel, P. 1996).The goal of this project is to develop a parallel parking algorithm suitable for implementation on a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit. Being able to solve the parallel parking problem and take back this design rapidly from concept to implementation is the motivation behind this project.Parallel Pa rking of a Car like Mobile Robot (CLMR)IntroductionThe following chapter discusses the kinematics model of a CLMR and investigates a feasible parking strategy using a fuzzy logic based controller.Kinematic Model of a CLMRThe kinematic model of a CLMR is as shown (Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng 2002).The model assumes that the car wheels are in contact with the ground at all time i.e. no slip exists. is a mid point on the rear axle of the car is mid point on the line joining the front wheels is the angle between the X axis with respect to the fomite frame is the steering angle with respect to the vehicle frame is the distance between the front and rear axleThe non-holonomic constraint comparability is given by(2.1)The equation of the rear wheel is given by(2.2)(2.3)(2.4)The relationship between the rear and the front wheels are given byAnd (2.5)(2.6)The above equations are useful dapple finding the future positions of the CLMR.The physical layout of the CLMR is a three go around one. A t hree wheel robot and a four wheeled one have the same non- holonomic constraint. A three wheeled robot is chosen here for simplicity.The sensor positions are chosen with the arrogance that the parking position is always dismission to be to the right of the vehicle. 4 ultrasonic sensors are used. 2 sensors (s2 and s1) are placed on the right front and rear edge and the other 2 (s3 and s0) are placed at the front and rear sides of the car as shown in the Fig 2.2.The position of sensors s1 and s2 with respect toand described by the following equations.S1 (2.7)S2 (2.8)The position of the sensors is used to determine the distance of the CLMR from an obstacle during simulation.Parking StrategyThe parking strategy is developed intuitively as a human driver would do. The assumption is that a parking spot is somewhere to the right side of the vehicle to be parked (Holve and Protzel,1996). The vehicle would be moving parallel to the line of cars. The algorithm is as follows.Search for an obstacle free area on the right side of the car. The distance should be greater than the minimum distance required to park the car. This could be set at twice the length of the car.Once a sufficiently large parking spot is found, the car is reversed into the gap using a wall following algorithm. This algorithm aligns the car as parallel as possible in the gap without colliding with the rear wall.The car is then determined forward to align itself in the meat of the gap.Steps 2 and 3 can be repeated until the want position is reachedWall Following ascendency (Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng , 2002)The heart of the parking strategy is a wall following controller.Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng (2002) proposes a fuzzy logic scheme as follows.The variables shown in the figure represents the followingd1 distance between the rear end of the CLMR and the walld2 distance between the front end of the CLMR and the wallDist is the desired distance between the wall and the CLMRThe objective of the contro ller is get d1 equal to d2 which is the desired distance from the wall Dist .The scheme suggested is a 2 input one output scheme which controls the steering angle of the CLMR. Since the CLMR in this project is a three wheeled one the turning is done by varying the speeds of each wheel. The input variables to this control scheme are as follows if the CLMR is moving forward .Input1 = d2 Dist (2.9)Input 2 = d2 d1 (2.10)and if the CLMR is moving backwardInput1 = d1 Dist (2.11)Input 2 = d1 d2The output of the controller is the amount by which the CLMR needs to turn in a given direction.The fuzzy membership functions for Input1, Input2 and Steer are shown belowThe membership functions are equally divided triangular membership functions.The Rule Base for the wall following is shown in the table below. It is based on sliding mode control (Li et al, 2000)The rules can be an represented linguistically asIf (Input1 is cocksure Big) and (Input2 is Negative Big) then (steer is Zero)If (Inpu t1 is Positive Big) and (Input2 is Negative Small) then (steer is Positive Small) and so on25. If (Input1 is Negative Big) and (Input2 is Positive Big) then (steer is Zero)The defuzzication method used here is centre of gravity which is good for fine controlThe final fuzzy logic entire controller can be summarized as followsSummaryWith the kinematic equations of the CLMR and the equations describing the sensor positions, a model can be constructed. With the parking strategies and a fuzzy logic controller now developed we shall discuss an efficient methodology in pickings these designs into implementation.Model Based Design MethodologyOverviewThe advances in microprocessor technology in the early 70s brought about a change in the way control systems were developed. From electric relays built into ladder like networks and programmable logic controllers , controllers were being developed around a computer built with adequate hardware and software. Traditionally most of these control so ftware development was based on paper designs and manual computer programing followed by verification activities such as code inspections and a unit/ consolidation test (Guido Sandmann and Richard Thompson 2008).Many of these activities lack tool automation, and are very time consuming. Thus they are error prone and time consuming. Lack of tool chemical chain integration provides another opportunity for errors to be injected into the software that are often detected late and at high costs to the development process and so involve manual interaction. Model Based Design is software design methodology used to address these issues.The steps involved are in minimal brain damage ,some of the commercially available tools and the tool chain choices for this project are discussed belowModel Based Design ProcessThe Model Based Design process can be divided into the following steps (NI Developer Zone, 2006).System DefinitionSystem definition involves the design process of a particular probl em in consideration. It is mostly a conceptual design where in the problem and solutions are analyzed.Modelling SimulationThe step implies that the analyzed design is simulated using a graphical based simulation tool. MATLAB-SIMULINK, ASCET-MD etc are some examples of modelling tools. Designs here can be easily changed verified and re designed if necessary.Rapid PrototypingIf the hardware of production controller is not available during the design phase a generalized hardware controller maybe used to test some of the simulations. This is the rapid prototyping phase.TargetingTargeting refers to getting the software code executing on the production hardware.This stage involves the use of auto coders tools that generate C code directly of graphical models, sail compilers and other tool chains that facilitate this.Hardware in the loop TestingHardware in the Loop testing is used while developing control strategies for plant models like engines. It provides real time simulation of a re al world plant model.System TestingThis is the last step in the design process wherein the controller is tested on the real plant.SummaryOf the stages in Model Based Design discussed above, only the most relevant one will be applied to this project. Beginning with system definition, modelling simulation proceeding to targeting and finally onto system testing will be the stages followed in this project. MATLAB/SIMULINK, Stateflow, virtual(prenominal) Reality Toolbox, Fuzzy Logic Blockset would be the tools used for modelling and simulation while Real Time Workshop Embedded Coder would be used during targeting. A detailed list of other tools will be dealt in the next chapter.IntroductionLego Mindstorms NXT is a robotics kit which consists of mechanical building blocks and electronic sensors. The high spot of this kit is the programmable brick called the NXT. The NXT is a 32bit ARM7 based microcontroller which allows motors and electronic sensors to be easily interfaced .Users can al so run custom programs written via a GUI based programming language. The language provided by Lego, though very simple and intuitive to use does not exploit the true(a) potential of NXT. Over the years, advanced users of the Lego Mindstorms have been successful in creating custom tools that apply every imaginable concept of embedded systems.The following chapter discuss some of these software tools and hardware detail relevant to this project. The most important part of this is to be able to design , simulate and test the robot using MATLAB Simulink.supersonic SensorThe Lego Ultrasonic Sensor is shown below. It is mainly used for distance measurement. It has a range of 255 cm and is accurate to about +/- 3cmOne of the tasks of Model Based Design is to be able to program the NXT from Matlab Simulink environment. The tools required to automatise this process are discussed belowJohn Hansens Enhanced FirmwareFirmware in embedded systems term is referred to the basic software that is initially run on a hardware contrivance. It performs basics factions like initialization of devices , integrity checks on memory and so on similar to BIOS on a standard PC.The NXT brick , out of the box , has a standard firmware installed. This is designed to be used with the software provided. In order to write programs in C and realize the true potential of the NXT, a custom firmware has been written by John Hansen. This allows the NXT to be programmed by either using the provided software or by programming in C and using other tools which will be explained later.The NeXTToolThe NeXTTool is a program that allows communication between the host PC and the NXT brick. It can do mixed tasks, but most importantly it is used to download custom programs onto the NXT.The nxtOSEKnxtOSEK (previously known as LEJOS OSEK) is an open source real time operating system for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. It contains device drivers from leJOS NXJ, an open source program that allows users to write Java prog rams on the NXT and a real time operating system source know as a TOPPERS OSEK. C or C++ can be used to write custom programs and compiled with the nxtOSEK using the GCC tool chain (Takashi Chikamasa, 2008)The Embedded Coder Robot NXT Blockset is one of the key elements in applying Model Based Design Techniques to the Lego Mindstorms NXT. These blocks are custom Simulink blocks used in the controller side and serve as inputs and outputs to the real world. A word of caution. Custom blocks especially hardware related blocks behave different behaviour in simulation and code generation . For e.g. an ultrasonic sensor block will not directly give sensor readings. The behaviour of the ultrasonic sensor will have to be separately emulated.During code generation process, a function call to the ultrasonic device is placed where the block is used. This ensures the program using the block gets the value directly from the sensor. The details of the blocks used for this project are discussed be lowThere are two blocks that have to be for an ultrasonic sensor blocks consist of two blocks. The Ultrasonic Sensor Interface block and the Ultrasonic Sensor Read block.Servo Motor BlocksFig 4.5 Servo Motor BlocksThe working of the Servo Motor is similar to the ultrasonic block as explained above.The details of the block are given below.Data Typeint32Dimension1 1DataRange 0 to 255 cm, -1 (the sensor is not ready for measurement)Port IDS1/S2/S3/S4SummaryTools concerning with the implementation of a Matlab Simulink design on a Lego Mindstorms NXT were explored here. However the most important of all is to simulate a working design. The next chapter discusses the implementation of the parallel parking strategy and the simulation results.Parallel Parking SimulationAn integral part of Model Based Design is being able to simulate and get the desired results before implementation. The following chapter discusses the results of the controller developed in Chapter 2. For verification of th e controller a Simulink model developed by Takashi Chikamasa, (2006) was used. The model was of a 3 wheeled robot with the motor dynamics included. A 3-D environment was provided using the Virtual Reality Toolbox. The environment however has been changed to suit the parallel parking problem.Parallel Parking StrategyThe controller algorithm was developed in Simulink using Stateflow and the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox.A 2-D plot of the trajectory path traversed by the CLMR is shown below.Conclusion and RecommendationsThe parallel parking strategy implemented did show good results. However, real life scenarios may be very different. For example, the controller depends on wall following. This implies there has to be 3 sides closed in a gap for the parking controller to work.The development of the algorithm was with the intent of being able to execute it on a Lego Mindstorms Kit. However, there were some issues regarding this. The main being lack of a floating point unit on the NXT Brick. Though it is possible to execute floating point programs on the NXT, it causes severe performance issues.The controller developed used the fuzzy logic blockset which inherently uses a lot of floating point variables. One method to overcome this draw back could be developing a fixed point version of the fuzzy logic blockset.Other parking strategies involving classical control could be experimented with Lego Mindstorms. Complex tasks like path planning could be executed on a computer communicating with the NXT via Bluetooth and the control tasks could be implemented on the NXT using fixed point math.However, with Model Based Design, being able to write programs in Simulink, simulate it and be able to execute this on the Lego Mindstorms opens a whole new dimension of what can be done limited only by our creativityBibliographyC., Ho, C., Lin, S. Li, T. (2005). Omni-Directional Vision-Based Parallel-Parking Control Design for Car-Like Mobile Robot. minutes of the 2005 IEEE International Con ference on Mechatronics, 562-567.De Luca, A., Oriolo, G., and Samson, C. 1998. Feedback control of a nonholonomic car-like robot. In Robot Motion Planning and Control, ed. J.-P. Laumond, 171-253. Berlin Springer-VerlagDongbing, G. and H. Huosheng (2000). Wavelet neural network based predictive control for mobile robots. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2000 IEEE International Conference on.Galijasevic, A. M. a. Z. (2006). Model-Based Design Shortens Development Time of Motor Control Applications. Embedded Technology Journal.Guido Sandmann and Richard Thompson (2008). Development of AUTOSAR Software Components within Model-Based Design. The Math Works, Inc.Holve, R. Protzel, P. (1996). drive out Parking of a Model Car with Fuzzy Control. Proceedings of the 4th European Congress on Intelligent Techniques and Soft Computing EUFIT96, 2171-2175Kuang-Yow, L., C. Chian-Song, et al. (1999). Parallel parking a car-like robot using fuzzy gain scheduling. Control Applications, 1999. Proceedin gs of the 1999 IEEE International Conference on.Li, T.-H. S. and Shieh, M.-Y. (2000). Switching-type fuzzy sliding mode control of a cart-pole system, Mechatronics 10, 91-101.NI Developer Zone (2006). Shortening the Embedded Design Cycle with Model-Based Design, Sep 6, 2006. ready(prenominal) from World Wide Web http//zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4074Pushkin Kachroo and Patricia Mellodge (2004). Mobile Robotic Car Design, McGraw-Hill,Shih-Jie, C. and S. L. Tzuu-Hseng (2002). Design and executing of Fuzzy Parallel-Parking Control for a Car-Type Mobile Robot, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 34 175-194.Takashi Chikamasa, (2006). Embedded Coder Robot NXT Demo. Dec 2006. Available from World Wide Web http//www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=13399Takashi Chikamasa, (2008). What is nxtOSEK? June 2008. Available from World Wide Web http//lejos-osek.sourceforge.net/whatislejososek.htmYanan, Z., E. G. Collins, et al. (2003). Design of genetic fuzzy parallel pa rking control systems. American Control Conference, 2003. Proceedings of the 2003.

Decentralized And Strategic Business Unit Of Nestle Management Essay

Decentralized And Strategic Business Unit Of Nestle Management EssayBased in Switzerland, Nestle operates in 86 countries across the globe. The company has products that cross more b straddles than a professional diplomat, including Nescafe coffee, Purina and Friskies pet food, Kit Kat candy, Buitoni pastas and its flagship chocolate.Although there are many exceptions, food tends to be inherently topical anaesthetic, both(prenominal) because of its perishable nature and because of the regional nature of many food preferences. For Nestle, success has meant finding the right balance between localization and globoseization. Packaging has played a severalize role in this successful balancing act, which is why Nestle is Food Drug Packagings 2004 Food/Beverage Packager of the Year.Nestle can earn greater return from its distinctive competencies, like unique strengths that every(prenominal)ow a company to achieve superior efficiency, quality, innovation and customer responsiveness. B y applying those competencies, and the products they produce, to foreign markets where indigenous competitors privation similar competencies and products, Nestle can realize enormous returns.Furthermore, Nestle can take advantage of location economies. Location economies arise from performing a cling to universe of discourse activity in the optimal location for that activity, anywhere in the creation. The optimal location for a value creating activity lowers the costs of value creation therefore helping the company achieve a low-cost position.4.1 International strategyNestl is a global organization. Their competitive strategies are associated mainly with foreign point investment in dairy and separate food businesses. Nestl aims to balance sales between low risk but low growth countries of the developed human being and high risk and potentially high growth markets of Africa and Latin America. Nestl recognizes the profitability possibilities in these high-risk countries, but pl edges not to take unnecessary risks for the sake of growth. This butt against of hedging keeps growth steady and shareholders happy.When operating in a developed market, Nestl strives to grow and gain economies of scale through foreign direct investment in big companies. Recently, Nestl licensed the LC1 brand to Mller (a large German dairy producer) in Germany and Austria. In the developing markets, Nestl grows by manipulating ingredients or processing technology for local conditions, and employ the appropriate brand. For example, in many European countries most chilled dairy products contain sometimes two to three times the fat content of American Nestl products and are released under the Sveltesse brand name.Another strategy that has been successful for Nestl involves striking strategic partnerships with other large companies. In the early 1990s, Nestl entered into an alliance with Coca cola in ready-to-drink teas and coffees in order to benefit from Coca Colas worldwide bottlin g system and expertise in prepared beverages.European and American food markets are seen by Nestl to be flat and fiercely competitive. Therefore, Nestl is setting its sights on new markets and new business for growth.4.1.1 Asia marketNestls strategy has been to acquire local companies in order to form a group of autonomous regional managers who know more about the culture of the local markets than Americans or Europeans. Nestls strong cash pass and comfortable debt-equity ratio leave it with ample muscle for takeovers. Recently, Nestl acquired Indofood, Indonesias largest noodle producer. Their focus will be primarily on expanding sales in the Indonesian market, and in time will look to export Indonesian food products to other countries.Nestl has employed a wide-area strategy for Asia that involves producing different products in each country to tot the region with a given product from one country. For example, Nestl produces soy milk in Indonesia, coffee creamers in Thailand, soy bean flour in Singapore, candy in Malaysia, and cereal in the Philippines, all for regional distribution.Nestls overall strategic postures make sense because the company has developed a consistent strategic program line and vision. The company has determined its strategic direction in advance and then implemented it on a global scale. Knowing that innovation and quality were key determinants, Nestle transferred these distinctive competencies to foreign markets.4.2 Decentralized and Strategic Business UnitNestle is a decentralized organization where responsibility for operating decisions is delegated to local units, which bedevil a high degree of autonomy concerning pricing, distribution, marketing, etc.Nestle is one of the worlds largest food company and has successfully grown and additiond its market share since its base in 1866. This already indicates that Nestls overall strategic posture makes sense given the markets and countries Nestle participates in.Nestle is organized in to seven different worldwide strategic business units (SBUs). These have responsibility for high-level strategic decisions and engage in overall strategic business development, including acquisitions and market entry strategy. Parallel to this structure, there is a regional organization that divides the world into five major geographical zones, such as Europe, North America, etc. The regional organizations are responsible for developing regional strategies and assist in the overall strategy development process. However, neither SBU nor regional managers get involved in local operating decisions.http//articles.castelarhost.com/nestle_competitive_strategy.htm4.3 ChallengesAs a global company, Nestle faces many challenges. They are varied in nature, spanning social, environmental and economic issues, and range from local to global in scale. Some of the challenges as below4.3.1 The effigy burden of malnutritionWhile nutrition has largely improved worldwide over the past 50 years, new n utrition-related problems have emerged, ranging from under-nutrition in developing countries through to change magnitude rates of obesity in both developing and developed countries. Both contribute to increasing rates of chronic disease around the world.184.3.2 The global weewee crisisIn recent years, water has been increasingly recognized as equal to climate change as a pressing environmental issue. With approximately two-thirds of all water being withdrawn by agriculture, the future of agriculture and food security is at stake if we are not able to solve the world water crisis. We have adopted rigorous standards to reduce water consumption at our plants and facilities, and help farmers to become better stewards of water, support water resource consciousness and education programmes, and participates in global dialogue with leading experts and policymakers.194.3.3 Renewable energyIn addition to operational efficiency improvements and energy-saving equipment, we continue to explo re the industrial feasibility of switching to more renewable energy sources to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. A number of projects have come on-stream in 2009 which will increase our overall proportion of energy derived from renewable resources, including a landfill gas project in Ohio, USA that recovers methane, the generation of energy from spent coffee grounds at a factory in Colombia and solar panels on the roof of our Purina factory in Denver.204.3.4 Sustainable palm oilWe share the concern about the secure environmental threat to rainforests and peat fields caused by palm oil plantations, and participate in multi-stakeholder solutions to this complex problem. We only buy processed palm oil and processed oil mixes, we do not use crude palm oil and we have no direct link with plantations. We have also undertaken an in-depth review of our translate chain and committed to using only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) by 2015. Nestle recently joined the Round table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and has repeatedly spoken out against the production of palm oil for a bio-fuel.214.3.5 Child labour in the agricultural areaAs a founding participant in the International Cocoa Initiative, set up specifically to eradicate the worst forms of child labour, Nestle and other industry players are improving access to education and addressing all forms of exploitation of children, forced labour and its causes.22http//www2.nestle.com/CSV/CreatingSharedValueAtNestle/Challenges/Pages/Challenges.aspx

Haunted, Joyce Carol Oats: Analysis

Haunted, Joyce Carol Oats AnalysisHaunted by Joyce Carol Oates is a great recital nigh two young girls that are, similar most young girls, very adventurous. It is a postmodernism story that was highly impacted by the, indeed new ideas of psychoanalysis. I identical the way in this era period that everything isnt happy, its more realistic. Oates did a great job of creating a sense of fragmentation and isolation in this story.genus genus Melissa starts with some sternground, or so how everything got started. Talking about how her mother told her ghosts werent real, scarcely just superstition, and how it was unsafe to go tramping around these old abandoned houses. She then gets very jumpy, jumping from past to present. This sort of threw me off, but she sodding(a) the sense of fragmentation by doing this. She then goes on to say how stories begin with Once upon a period and how she couldnt tell her stories that way, because thats how fairy tales began.In the fifth grade, Meli ssa had a teacher, Mrs. Harding who was very picky about messy notebooks. More is expected of you, Melissa, so you disappoint me more is what Mrs. Harding would say to Melissa about her journal grade, reservation her liveliness isolated. And bloody shame Lou, her friend wouldnt help the situation any. Mrs. Harding died of a stroke, and Mary Lou blamed it on the two of them, that was because of us, wasnt it, also creating the sense of isolation. Melissa always fantasy Mary Lou was the prettiest girl, and that she was ugly, over again making her feel isolated.Then she jumps back to present time. This part was hard for me to wrap my head around, I had to read the whole story a few times to understand what was going on, but when I did, I really liked it. She talks about how shes older, husband dead for almost a year..children scattered, once again, isolated. But now it doesnt seem to bother her, she likes the way there is no one to interrupt..no one to pry. But she isnt content wi th the way she looks, macrocosm older, so she avoids mirrors, to make her feel younger. Then she jumps back in time, but not back to her childhood with Mary Lou, but with her husband. They were in a cornfield, and she was runnel from him, she began to hear the rustling sound, the sound of voices. She felt he could never love her, because she was the ugly one, comparing herself to Mary Lou, whom he had never met. Once again, making her feel isolated.Then back again to her childhood with Mary Lou. A story about the Medlocks, and their farm. Mr. Medlock died in one of the barns, and Mrs. Medlock found him, and how she went crazy and was put in a state hospital. Of course Melissa and Mary Lou wondered if the house or barns were haunted, and they just couldnt stay away. They explored the barns, and peeped in the house windows, and climbed on the roof. Mary Lou would make comments about how cast out like to burn this place down, and Melissa would get scared that she really would, again feeling isolated, and Mary Lou would laugh and say she was just playing. Melissas mother hate Mary Lou and tried to get Melissa to make better friends with the other girls. When Mary Lou and Melissa would go to town, Mary Lou would ignore Melissa when the other girls were around, then act like her best friend on the ride home. Once again, Melissa is isolated. Melissa was very jealous of Mary Lous long, blond, silky hair. She would dream about it, but by the time she woke up, she would be confused if the hair was hers, or someone elses. Mary Lou was older, taller, a bit heavier, and in Melissas eyes, prettier. Melissa noticed that the older boys whistled at her, and the bus driver called her Blondie, but Melissa never got that attention. Mary Lou would make comments about how she wished all the cows would die..so her father would give up and trade the farm and they could live in town in a nice house and to Melissa, Mary Lou cherished to abandon her. Again, Melissa was feeling iso lated. Later Melissa found out that the bank owned most of Mary Lous familys farm, even the dairy cows.In seventh grade, Mary Lou had a boyfriend who was older, and she picked Hans over Melissa, exit her walking on the road by herself. She verbalise she preferred to be alone, so she was isolated, but this time, by choice. Around this time, Melissa and Mary Lou go to the Minton house, where a man beat his wife to death and no one found out until he killed himself with a .12-guage shotgun. From the road the house looked big, and it seemed hard to believe that anything like that happened, but Melissa was wrong. Inside the house, Melissa heard low persistent murmuring but Mary Lou didnt act like she heard it, once again Melissa is isolated. Hans had stopped coming around, Mary Lous father had found out about it, Mary Lou would say I hate them all, and I wish.. which Im sure she would open taken back if she knew what was to become of her. They picked the Minton farm as the one they li ked the best, picnicking on the front porch, acting like sisters, acting like they lived there. Melissa went back herself a few days later, and thats when she went upstairs and the woman greeted her. She was alone, but wasnt afraid. When the person told her to come away from the window, she took her time. This really surprised me, but this is probably the first time in the whole story that she didnt really feel isolated, but I definitely would The way Oates didnt use quotation marks on what the person said to Melissa, until Melissa saw the woman confused me. The woman punished her, she became scared, then let her go. This is where the psychoanalysis comes in. Is she dreaming this woman is there, and this punishment happened? Because she talks about how she doesnt judging the smell of the room, and how its not her doing these things (taking off her pants/panties and lying down on the nasty bed.)Melissa told Mary Lou about the Minton house, but not that the woman wanted to see her li ke the woman asked, and Mary Lou went anyway. I think this is the first time in the story where Melissa feels like shes in control when it comes to hers and Mary Lous friendship., but this is what costs her the friendship. Mary Lou makes the comment I hate you..I always have and yes, again, Melissa is isolated.Then back to present day, and Melissa is confused. She knows what has happened in her life, but not what has happened in the pages of the notebook.Mary Lou was found murdered ten days after her hateful comment to Melissa, and Im sure Melissa felt as if it was partly her fault. Her mother made sure she knew that Jesus loves her too, and her parents wouldnt let her to go the funeral. Im sure she felt isolated. She finishes up the story with how she doesnt remember things that just happened as well as things that happened in the past, and with Once upon a time.Oates did a really good job of writing this story. It was very believable, if it wasnt true. She did a good job of using psychoanalysis, and a invariable feel of isolation. I liked it a lot, I liked most of the Modernism/Postmodernism stories.

Educational Goals and Philosophy :: Education Teaching Teachers Essays

Educational Goals and Philosophy When I fin all(prenominal)y decided what I wanted to do with my life, the ultimate answer was that I wanted to fail a teacher. Of course, after telling my family and friends what I had determined, they all wanted to know why. At first, my answer was simple, and the words just because I do were uttered from my lips all too frequently as I realized that I had not given any serious thought as to the reason why I had chosen the teaching profession. It has been about five years since I first decided that my fate lay in the field of education, and now after cerebration long and hard, I have an answer to the question posed so often why? The reason why I want to be a teacher is because I want to help educate others, and also to aid them in discovering their own purposes in life. I want to help students to understand that it is authorise to be yourself, to be creative, and to be outspoken. I want to sh atomic nu mber 18 with my students all of the acquaintance that I have gained throughout my life and education, and teach them how to relate that knowledge to their own personal experiences. It is my belief that teachers are the miracles workers of the world, and that without them, we would have no doctors, lawyers, or even plumbers. I have strong faith in the belief that teachers are the people who are wholly responsible for opening the doors of realization when students are looking for their own occupational niches. After I have graduated from harmonise College, and am able to instruct in my own classroom, I curriculum to incorporate a number of educational philosophies and teaching methods into that classroom. The educational philosophies that I plan to base my teaching methods on are Progressivism, Existentialism, and Behaviorism. From the philosophy of Progressivism, I will bring the idea of respect for ones individuality, and make my classroom more than receptive to the individual wants and interests of my students.

The Problem with Immgration to the United States Essay -- Immigration

The Problem with Immgration to the get together States The first move stopping immigration opinionated by congress was a honor in 1862 restricting American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 restricted the immigration to the U.S. of race entering the domain to take a leak under contracts made before their arrival. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were allowed to enter the U.S. to work in brand-new industries. By this clock m anti-immigrant felling rose with the flood of immigrants and in this period the anti-Catholic, anti-foreign political party the Know-Nothings, was already born. The problems and issues are still much the same today, as they were 150 classs ago, unless as the numbers and facts head the immigration problem is growing worse and worse. After World War I a marked increase in racism and the growth of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. led to demands for further t ightened legislation. In 1921 a congressional act provided for a quota system for immigrants, which the number of aliens of both nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910. (Potter, Gerald., Congressional Quarterly 1921) This law applied to nations of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, unused Zealand, Asian Russia, and certain islands in the Atlantic and Pacific. In the 1980s concern about the surge of nefarious aliens into the U.S. has led Congress to pass legislation aimed at cutting illegal immigration. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allows most illegal aliens who have resided in the U.S. regularly since January 1, 1982, to feed for legal status. Also, the law prohibits employers from hiring illegal aliens and mandates penalties for violations. Debate over immigration and immigration policy is not new to the nations history. From time to t ime, Congress brought legislation to control the lessen of immigration. As immigration rises and hatred grows more laws will be implemented trying to release some of the pressure. Illegal immigration has some pros and cons. Here are some of the so-called pros if theyre really that is debatable. It offers cheaper labor to businesses. By not paying minimum wages to the workers who are willing to work for a degrade price, this gives the busi... ...ional handouts they could start to develop something theyve withal to have the initiative to start. Industry & Hard work Immigration has taken a great toll on the United States the immigrant population is growing fast-paced then the native born population and its about time we do something about it and take back our country not theirs. Sure its true that we were all immigrants at one time but just as the constitution changes America has changed as well. Were no longer the long Melting Pot were our own separate culture and that cul ture has no more room for illegal immigrants and rattling minimal room for new immigrants. The idea of closing the borders up is not a racial issue or a cultural issue its a simple librate of self-preservation. Its the way to keeping our country great and keeping those undesirable for our country out. Its way past time to find a regain for the Immigration Cancer. Works Cited Conover, Ted. A Journey Through the Secret World of Americas Illegal Aliens. Vintage, 1987. Opinion, The Immigration Crisis., SF Chronicle, July 4th 1998 Dan Carney, Social form _or_ system of government Congressional Quarterly every week Report, 9/7/96, Vol. 54 Issue 36, p250 The Problem with Immgration to the United States Essay -- Immigration The Problem with Immgration to the United States The first move stopping immigration decided by Congress was a law in 1862 restricting American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 188 8, and 1891 restricted the immigration to the U.S. of people entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were allowed to enter the U.S. to work in new industries. By this time anti-immigrant felling rose with the flood of immigrants and in this period the anti-Catholic, anti-foreign political party the Know-Nothings, was already born. The problems and issues are still much the same today, as they were 150 years ago, but as the numbers and facts show the immigration problem is growing worse and worse. After World War I a marked increase in racism and the growth of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. led to demands for further tightened legislation. In 1921 a congressional act provided for a quota system for immigrants, which the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910. (Pot ter, Gerald., Congressional Quarterly 1921) This law applied to nations of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Asian Russia, and certain islands in the Atlantic and Pacific. In the 1980s concern about the surge of illegal aliens into the U.S. has led Congress to pass legislation aimed at cutting illegal immigration. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allows most illegal aliens who have resided in the U.S. regularly since January 1, 1982, to apply for legal status. Also, the law prohibits employers from hiring illegal aliens and mandates penalties for violations. Debate over immigration and immigration policy is not new to the nations history. From time to time, Congress brought legislation to control the flow of immigration. As immigration rises and hatred grows more laws will be implemented trying to release some of the pressure. Illegal immigration has some pros and cons. Here are some of the so-called pros if theyre really that is debatable. It o ffers cheaper labor to businesses. By not paying minimum wages to the workers who are willing to work for a lower price, this gives the busi... ...ional handouts they could start to develop something theyve yet to have the initiative to start. Industry & Hard work Immigration has taken a great toll on the United States the immigrant population is growing faster then the native born population and its about time we do something about it and take back our country not theirs. Sure its true that we were all immigrants at one time but just as the constitution changes America has changed as well. Were no longer the Great Melting Pot were our own separate culture and that culture has no more room for illegal immigrants and very minimal room for new immigrants. The idea of closing the borders up is not a racial issue or a cultural issue its a simple matter of self-preservation. Its the way to keeping our country great and keeping those undesirable for our country out. Its way past tim e to find a cure for the Immigration Cancer. Works Cited Conover, Ted. A Journey Through the Secret World of Americas Illegal Aliens. Vintage, 1987. Opinion, The Immigration Crisis., SF Chronicle, July 4th 1998 Dan Carney, Social Policy Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 9/7/96, Vol. 54 Issue 36, p250