How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of Hamlet Essay Example

How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of Hamlet Paper To be or not to be that is the question Hamlet famously declaims in the third act of William Shakespeares longest drama, and one of the most probing plays ever to be performed on stage. Shakespeares Hamlet was written around the year 1600 in the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who had been the monarch of England for more than forty years and was then in her late sixties. The prospect of Elizabeths death and the question of who would succeed her was a subject of grave anxiety at the time, since Elizabeth had no children, and the only person with a legitimate royal claim, James of Scotland, was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and therefore represented a political faction to which Elizabeth was opposed. Hamlet and many other Shakespeare plays from this period, unsurprisingly, explore this theme of the transfer of power from one monarch to the next, particularly focusing on the uncertainties, betrayals, and upheaval that accompany such shifts in power, and the general sense of anxiety and fear that surround them. These themes of disorder, dilemma and indecision, madness and revenge and the discrepancy between appearance and reality are mainly explored through the main characters, principally Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia, and through the plot itself. We will write a custom essay sample on How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of Hamlet specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of Hamlet specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of Hamlet specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Therefore, the first two acts in this drama are paramount in introducing the characters, and thus also themes, of Shakespeares play Hamlet for it to be regarded as one of the greatest plays ever to be written and staged in universal drama. As one critic, T. S. Elliot, remarks in his book On Poetry and Poets, the opening scene of Hamlet is as well constructed as that of any play ever written . Immediately, from the opening of the play, Shakespeare establishes a mood of anxiety and dread by using fragments of conversation, for example, Nay, answer me, stand and unfold yourself and Long live the King! The verses do not flow and their broken rhythms generate an atmosphere of unease, apprehension and confusion; this, and the fact that the play begins with the question Whos there? and is followed by six more in the next twenty lines, reveals from this early point of the play the notion of distrust and uncertainty that is prevalent throughout the play. In addition, the supernatural appearance of the ghost on a chilling, misty night outside Elsinore Castle indicates immediately that something is wrong in Denmark. The ghost serves to enlarge the shadow King Hamlet casts across Denmark, indicating that something about his death has upset the balance of nature. The appearance of the ghost also gives physical from to the fearful anxiety that surrounds the transfer of power after the kings death, seeming to imply, as Horatio sees it, a dark and frightening future for all. In addition, Horatio in particular sees the ghost as an ill omen, an extravagant and erring spirit, boding violence and turmoil in Denmarks future. The introduction of this character in the scene is important in signalling to the audience that there can be no doubt of the Ghosts existence or of its striking resemblance to the last King of Denmark, the valiant warrior, King Hamlet. This is due to the establishment of this character as a good-honoured man who is also educated, intelligent and sceptical of supernatural events. Before he sees the ghosts, he insists, Tush, tush, twill not appear, and even after seeing it he is reluctant to give full credence to stories of magic and mysticism. However, on seeing the ghost, Horatios ability to accept the truth at once, even when his predictions had been proven wrong, indicates the fundamental trustworthiness of his character. His reaction to the ghost functions to overcome the audiences sense of disbelief, since for a man as sceptical, intelligent and trustworthy as Horatio to believe in and fear the Ghost is far more convincing than if its only witnesses had been a pair of superstitious watchmen. In this subtle way, Shakespeare introduces Horatio from the first scene of the play not only to inaugurate the themes of disorder and uncertainty but also to represent the audiences perspective throughout this dark and ghostly scene. In a seemingly stark contrast, the second scene of the play is devoted to the apparently jovial court of the recently crowned King Claudius. If the area outside the castle is murky with the aura of dread and anxiety, the rooms inside the castle are committed to an energetic attempt to banish that aura, as the king, queen, and the courtiers desperately pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary. Claudiuss opening speech appears relaxed, level-headed, eloquent and persuasive. In spite of this, Shakespeare signals to the audience, long before they hear Claudius confess it, that the Kings public mask conceals a troubled mind. The merriment of the court seems superficial largely due to the fact that the idea of balance Claudius pledges to follow is unnatural. Claudiuss speech is full of contradictory words, ideas and phrases, beginning with Though yet of Hamlet our late brothers death / The memory be green, which combines the idea of death and decay with the idea of greenery, growth, and renewal. He also speaks of defeated joy, an auspicious and a drooping eye and dirge (a lament for the dead) in marriage, ideas which are at unease with one another, theatrical means of hinting at the hypocrisy Claudius embodies. Consequently, as a result of this clear dishonesty, this scene portrays as dire a situation as the first scene does. While in the first scene Shakespeare illustrates the sense of disorder, fear and danger through the guards panicked and forceful exchanges and the appearance of the ghost, the second scene hints at the corruption and weakness of Claudius, through the incongruities in his speech and the fallaciousness of the setting around him. Contrary to the dishonesty of Claudiuss character is the way Hamlet is introduced through the first two acts. Prince Hamlet, devastated by his fathers death and betrayed by his mothers marriage, is introduced as the only character who is unwilling to play along with Claudiuss gaudy attempt to mimic a healthy royal court. His words to Claudius are cryptic so that he can be rude to the clever Claudius whilst giving little away to the court. His first words, A little more than kin and less than kind, suggest how Hamlet feels that he is neither kindly disposed towards his uncle, nor does he think that he is of the same kind, meaning from the same honourable class. His next response, Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun adds more emphasis to this dark and mysterious side of Hamlet as he hints of his awareness of all the that is ongoing ever since his fathers death. The war of words is apparent in this scene between the two characters of Claudius and Hamlet as is the audiences sense that both of these characters know the truth but due to political concerns and fear of confrontation they do not openly say it, thereby highlighting a central theme in the play: that of the conflict between appearance and reality. While Claudius pretends to be unaware of the reasons for Hamlets anger and hatred, Hamlet in his uncertainty on how to exact revenge, is afraid to take decisive action and thus has to be content with making scathing comments in the hope of provoking some sort of admittance by Claudius of fowl play. His seven soliloquies are all centred on the most important existential themes: the emptiness of existence, suicide, death, suffering, action, a fear of death which puts off the most momentous decisions, the fear of the beyond, the degradation of the flesh, the triumph of vice over virtue, the pride and hypocrisy of human beings, and the difficulty of acting under the weight of a thought which makes cowards of us all. Thus, they probe his own situation, his mind and the problems attached to being human in a society characterised by duplicity and hypocrisy, and being an active agent in a moral universe. Hamlets first soliloquy in Act one Scene 2 opens with the emphatic line: O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, a cry of anguish and a longing for dissolution, which is however followed by an acknowledgement of the fundamental Christian injunction against suicide, thereby precluding escape from the burden of life. This question of the moral validity of suicide in an unbearable painful world haunts the rest of the play, reaching the height of its urgency in perhaps the most famous line in all of English Literature: To be, or not to be- that is the question. In this scene Hamlet mainly focuses on the appalling conditions of life, railing against Claudiuss court as an unweeded garden/ That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature/ Posses it merely. The listless tempo of the words How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable conveys his weariness. The speech contrasts dramatically with Claudiuss flowing lines as its verse starts and stops, punctuated by expressions of pain and confusion. This disjointed rhyme serves to reflect the dislocated progress of Hamlets thoughts which convey to the audience his inner turmoil. Moreover, in this soliloquy, Hamlets bewilderment and disgust at his mothers hasty remarriage and sexual depravity is revealed as he proceeds to a comparison in which his sanctified father is contrasted with his repugnant uncle, Hyperion to a satyr, the sun god is set against the mythical half-human, half-beast noted for sexual appetite. This disgust is not only apparent in the imagery but also in the sounds of Hamlets words. Hissing sibilants convey the young mans nausea as he imagines his other and his uncle in bed together: Oh most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets. The intensity of Hamlets disgust here underlines how impossible he finds it to come to terms with the incestuous union of his mother and his uncle and the indecent haste of his mothers re-marriage. In essence, Shakespeare uses this soliloquy to encapsulate and foreshadow several of the ideas, concepts and images that dominate this play: disillusionment so severe that suicide seems to be the only alternative, insincerity that leads to dramatic theatricality, Hamlets inability to express his feelings publicly or to replace his words with action which lead to further frustration, anger and passion, and a desperation and weakness that amounts to a betrayal of human decency, far beyond any religious considerations. Although the development of these ideas is gradual, the important role the first two acts play in illustrating the various concepts and in underlining their importance from early on, mainly through Hamlets soliloquies, cannot be exaggerated. A presentation of this can be seen through comparing Hamlets thoughts and actions in act one scene two to that of act two scene two, where he makes his second soliloquy. Again, Hamlet speaks in riddles, this time to Polonius. Although his words sound like nonsense, a thread of bitter satire runs through it giving the audience the impression that Hamlets remarks indeed are not madness, but forthright contempt, privileged rudeness in a court where no one speaks the truth. For example, importantly Hamlet declares, I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, that is, he is only mad at certain calculated times, and the rest of the time he knows what is what. And, although he presents himself as sounding mad, a closer look at the directions reveals they do in fact point in one and the same way. Furthermore, in this scene, the longest by far in the play, Hamlet makes his second soliloquy following his involvement with the players. The presence of actors and the idea of a play within a play points to an important theme: that real life is in certain ways like play-acting. Hamlet professes to be amazed by the player kings ability to engage emotionally with the story he is telling even though it is only an imaginative recreation. He berates himself for displaying less passion when overwhelmed with grief and outrage than that displayed by an actor who is merely producing a performance. His self-disgust is evident through the insults he hurls at himself, calling himself among other things a rogue and pleasant slave and through his questioning of himself: Am I a coward? As his indignation reaches its zenith, assonance, rhythm and repetition illustrate the intensity of emotion, portraying his ever-worsening inner turmoil that threatens to erupt in the climax Bloody, bawdy villain! / Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain! only to collapse into a state of exhaustion due to the continual failure to take action. The theme of dilemma and indecision is clearly dominant here, and it is due to Hamlets apparent lack of willingness to take action here that many view Hamlet as a play of words and emotion rather than action. One such critic, who takes this view, T. S. Elliot, remarked that Hamlet presented a character dominated by an emotion which is inexpressible because it exceeds the events that occur, the absolute opposite of Macbeth.   Yet, in contrast to these interpretations, Hamlet by the end of the play evolves from a dreamer to a man of action. While the play begins with Hamlet contemplating his fathers death and later on, in the graveyard scene, death itself, in the key image of the play where he holds Yoricks skull, Hamlet by the end of the play is no longer just like a student of the concepts of death. Instead, he becomes the tragic action hero who finds a divinity working through action. Although it is true that the impulse for his actions is imposed on him by other characters or by events, another interpretation see Hamlet as nevertheless extremely active: he listens to the ghost (which his friends refuse to do), he adopts a coarse attitude verging on insubordination, he violently rejects Ophelia, he thwarts one after the other plots aimed at revealing his plans, he stages for the court a show which is nothing but a trap in which he hopes to catch the king, he confronts his mother in a scene of extreme violence, and he fights Laertes. Engaging further in pure physical violence he kills Polonius, sends his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths, kills the king, and is indirectly responsible for the death of Laertes. In conclusion, through the first two acts of the play, Shakespeare is very successful in introducing the main characters and themes of the play. While his introduction of Horatio and the ghost in the first scene is very important in establishing a mood of distress and anxiety, as well as touching on the themes of uncertainty and disorder, Shakespeares following scene builds on that to a great extent through the contrast between Claudius and Hamlet, the conflict between appearance and reality and through Hamlets first soliloquy of the play. In this soliloquy not only are Hamlets true emotions revealed to the audience but with it many of the central themes and concepts of the play are explored, such as the concept of severe disillusionment leading to the idea that suicide is the only viable option. It is thoughts and emotions such as these that are gradually developed in the novel; and which has led to Hamlet being regarded by many critics as the most powerful and probing play Shakespeare has ever written. The different interpretations of Hamlet and the play in general is only a natural consequence to the ambiguity and uncertainty that Shakespeare creates from very early on in his play. As one critic, John Dover Wilson remarks, Hamlet is very much like a dramatic essay in mystery; that is to say, the more it is examined, the more there is to discover. In that context, the first two acts of this drama have served not only as a very effective means of introducing the main characters and themes of the play, but also through the beautifully crafted soliloquies, Shakespeare probes the most daring aspects of the psychology of man and the history of human thinking through pieces of pure poetry, written in blank verse, sustained by a rhythm now smooth, now rugged, by a fast or a slow pace, offering his audience surprises in every line.

Were the Nazis Successful in Controlling the Lives of Women essays

Were the Nazis Successful in Controlling the Lives of Women essays During the 1930s, the Nazis were in power. They seemed to be in total control of the population, but was this actually the case? This essay will show you that although there seemed to be no chinks in the Nazi armour, there were actually a few loopholes that escaped Hitlers grasp, such as rebel teenage groups, unhappy women and children who ignored Hitlers autobiography, even though it was compulsory reading. It will also show how the Nazis dealt with these rebel teenage groups, and women who did not conform to the Nazi ideals of an Aryan child bearer and housewife. It will also include quotes from people at the time, providing more evidence that the Nazis were not as powerful as everyone seemed to think. So where did the Nazis succeed in controlling the lives of women and young people? First, this essay will look at how the lives of women changed during this time. Before 1933, many women had successful careers in the world of work. Some, however, did choose to stay at home and have children. It was mainly working women that Hitler saw as a problem. Although the Nazis said they believed in equality between the sexes, it was more obvious that they saw women as child bearers and men as the workers and soldiers. Women were encouraged to leave work and become mothers and housewives with interest-free loans and extra benefits. For example, loans were given to newly wed couples completely interest-free if both parties agreed that the woman would not go back to work. Many women agreed with this policy and readily agreed to give up their jobs in order to embrace a life in the home. However, some women were forced to give up their jobs against their will as careers in education, politics and the law systems were banned to German women. Women who did stay in work were forced to take low-paid jobs. Awards were also given to women who bore many children for the Fhrer. On 12th August every...

Laird Plc a Public Owned British Multinational Company Essay

Laird Plc a Public Owned British Multinational Company - Essay Example The solutions to protect the electronic devices of the users from any potential harmful Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and also safeguard from the heat that is generated during the operation of the device (Laird, 2014a; Laird, 2014d). The company leads in developing, designing and delivering innovative technologies that ensure organizations, applications, and people to stay connected effectively. Laird owns two divisions: Wireless Systems and Performance Materials. The products of Performance Material are distributed to wide markets that include Information Technology and telecom, smartphones, transportation and medical (Laird, 2014c). In this report, the international operation of the company along with competitiveness is examined by performing market and financial analysis. However, the risk associated with the company operations are also studied in order to understand the manner it combats against exchange rate, country, and political risks. The following figure highlights the financial performance of the two main divisions of Laird Plc. The financial performance is evaluated based on the revenue of the divisions over the period 2010- 2013. From the figure, it can be stated that the majority of the revenue during the four years in Laird Plc is generated from Performance Materials. This division accounts for more than half of total revenue that is incurred by the group as a whole. It is observed that the revenue from Performance material division has increased over the years due to the increase in demand for thermal management solutions, shielding materials for electromagnetic interference (EMI) and signal integrity products (SIP) (Laird, 2014c). Despite the growing revenue, the company is encountering challenge because of the highly integrated circuits related to thinner and smaller devices, which are becoming more innovative so as to protect the package devices (Laird, 2014c).

Business Ethic (Case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Ethic (Case study) - Essay Example The term ethics loosely refers to a distinction that is made between something that is morally good from bad in the way individuals behave. On the other hand, business ethics refers to the values, principles and standards that operate within an organisation and these attempt to make a distinction between business practice that is morally good from bad (Rossouw 2004). From this assertion, it can be noted that the concept of business ethics mainly derives from the value system that is used by a particular organisation in its operations towards the attainment of its set goals. Thus, DesJardins (2006) defines values as â€Å"essential and enduring tenets that help define the company and are not to be compromised for financial gain or short term expediency,† (p. 5). In view of the above definition of ethics, it can however, be noted that at times there is no universal agreement on what constitutes something that is good or bad. Thus, certain incidences arise at times in business wh ere some people are no longer certain whether some actions should be considered as right or wrong (Hiti, 1999). People may look at the same thing but some may view it as morally bad while others will have a different view. This constitutes an ethical dilemma in business when people have conflicting views over a particular issue. In as far as business is concerned, it can be noted that the main objective is to gain profits and at times the issue of ethics is compromised for financial gains. Against this background, the ethical dilemma facing Gerald Smarten, CEO of Kaspa Financial Services is making a decision whether or not to offer assistance through providing the lobby and cafeteria of their building as temporary shelter for the victims of the fatal subway bombing as requested by the police department which is disputed by Ben and others. Ben the general counsel could not imagine the first floor of the Kaspa Tower being transformed into a shelter of bleeding victims and bodies of th e dead citing that the facilities will suffer bad damages and create a bad image to the investors who may pull out their money as there would be chances that they may link the firm to the terrorist attack. The dilemma here is whether they can be humane by offering the requested shelter against the need to safeguard the business interests of the firm with regards to the long term relations with the investors. Of notable concern is that the bombing has taken place very close to their office building and 23 of their employees are missing which entails that they may also have been caught up in the attack. Legally they may say no, but morally, they also ought to show a humane face by offering assistance during an unprecedented crisis. 2. The utilitarian, virtue, deontological and libertarian ethics perspectives will be used in this section to compare and contrast the dilemma(s) that have been identified in the given case study. According to the utilitarian theory, â€Å"the choice that yields the greatest benefit to the majority of people is ethically correct compared to the choice that only benefit the organisation as well as its financial gains,† (Rainbow, 2002). This ethical perspective actually encourages people to work towards the outcomes that will give an advantage to the majority o

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Applications

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Applications I. Introduction Artificial intelligence  (AI) is the  intelligence  of machines and the branch of  computer science  that aims to create it. Textbooks define the field as the study and design of  intelligent agents,[1]  where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.[2]  John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956,[3]  defines it as the science and engineering of making intelligent machines. The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence-the  sapience  of  Homo sapiens-can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine.  This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the  mind  and limits of scientific  hubris, issues which have been addressed by  myth,  fiction  and  philosophy  since antiquity.[6]  Artificial intelligence has been the subject of optimism,[7]but has also suffered setbacks[8]  and, today, has become an e ssential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult problems in computer science. AI research is highly technical and specialized, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other.[10]  Subfields have grown up around particular institutions, the work of individual researchers, the solution of specific problems, longstanding differences of opinion about how AI should be done and the application of widely differing tools. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.[11]  General intelligence (or strong AI) is still a long-term goal of (some) research. AI plays a major role in the field of robotics. The word  robot  can refer to both physical robots and  virtual  software agents, but the latter are usually referred to as  bots.[3]  There is no consensus on which machines qualify as robots, but there is general agreement among experts and the public that robots tend to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical limb, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behaviour, especially behaviour which mimics humans or other animals. There is conflict about whether the term can be applied to remotely operated devices, as the most common usage implies, or solely to devices which are controlled by their software without human intervention. In  South Africa,  robot  is an informal and commonly used term for a set of traffic lights. It is difficult to compare numbers of robots in different countries, since there are different definitions of what a robot is. The  International Organization for Standardization  gives a definition of robot in  ISO 8373: an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.[5]  This definition is used by the International Federation of Robotics, the  European Robotics Research Network  (EURON), and many national standards committees. The Robotics Institute of America (RIA) uses a broader definition: a robot is a re-programmable multi-functional manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.[7]  The RIA subdivides robots into four classes: devices that manipulate objects with manual control, automated devices that manipulate objects with predetermined cycles, programmable and servo-controlled robots with continuous point-to-point trajectories, a nd robots of this last type which also acquire information from the environment and move intelligently in response. There is no one definition of robot which satisfies everyone, and many people have their own.[8]  For example,  Joseph Engelberger, a pioneer in industrial robotics, once remarked: I cant define a robot, but I know one when I see one.[9]  According to  Encyclopaedia Britannica, a robot is any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort, though it may not resemble human beings in appearance or perform functions in a humanlike manner.[10]  Merriam-Webster  describes a robot as a machine that looks like a human being and performs various complex acts (as walking or talking) of a human being, or a device that automatically performs complicated often repetitive tasks, or a mechanism guided by automatic controls. Modern robots are usually used in tightly controlled environments such as on  assembly lines  because they have difficulty responding to unexpected interference. Because of this, most humans rarely encounter robots. However,  domestic robots  for cleaning and maintenance are increasingly common in and around homes in developed countries, particularly in  Japan. Robots can also be found in the  military. II. HISTORY Mechanical or  formal reasoning  has been developed by philosophers and mathematicians since antiquity. The study of logic led directly to the invention of the  programmable digital electronic computer, based on the work of  mathematician  Alan Turing  and others. Turings  theory of computation  suggested that a machine, by shuffling symbols as simple as 0 and 1, could simulate any conceivable act of mathematical deduction.[23]  This, along with recent discoveries in  neurology,  information theory  and  cybernetics, inspired a small group of researchers to begin to seriously consider the possibility of building an electronic brain.[24] The field of AI research was founded at  a conference  on the campus of  Dartmouth College  in the summer of 1956.[25]  The attendees, including John McCarthy,  Marvin Minsky,  Allen Newell  and  Herbert Simon, became the leaders of AI research for many decades.[26]  They and their students wrote programs that were, to most people, simply astonishing:[27]  computers were solving word problems in algebra, proving logical theorems and speaking English.[28]  By the middle of the 1960s, research in the U.S. was heavily funded by the  Department of Defense[29]  and laboratories had been established around the world.[30]  AIs founders were profoundly optimistic about the future of the new field:  Herbert Simon predicted that machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do[31]  and  Marvin Minsky   agreed, writing that within a generation the problem of creating artificial intelligence will substantially be solved.[32] In the early 1980s, AI research was revived by the commercial success of  expert systems,[35]  a form of AI program that simulated the knowledge and analytical skills of one or more human experts. By 1985 the market for AI had reached over a billion dollars. At the same time, Japans  fifth generation computer  project inspired the U.S and British governments to restore funding for academic research in the field.[36] Stories of artificial helpers and companions and attempts to create them have a long history but fully autonomous  machines only appeared in the 20th century. The first  digitally  operated and programmable robot, the  Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today, commercial and  industrial robots  are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans. They are also employed for jobs which are too dirty, dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly and packing, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, and mass production of consumer and industrial goods.[4] The word  robot  was introduced to the public by Czech  writer  Karel ÄÅ'apek in his play  R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots), published in  1920.[16]  The play begins in a  factory  that makes artifici al people called  robots, but they are closer to the modern ideas of  androids, creatures who can be mistaken for humans. They can plainly think for themselves, though they seem happy to serve. At issue is whether the  robots  are being  exploited  and the consequences of their treatment. However, Karel ÄÅ'apek himself did not coin the word. He wrote a short letter in reference to anetymology  in the  Oxford English Dictionary  in which he named his brother, the painter and writer Josef ÄÅ'apek, as its actual originator.[16]  In an article in the Czech journal  Lidovà © noviny  in 1933, he explained that he had originally wanted to call the creatures  laboÃ…â„ ¢i  (from  Latin  labor, work). However, he did not like the word, and sought advice from his brother Josef, who suggested roboti. III. FIELDS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A. Combinatorial Search Many problems in AI can be solved in theory by intelligently searching through many possible solutions:[96]  Reasoning  can be reduced to performing a search. For example, logical proof can be viewed as searching for a path that leads from  premises to   conclusions, where each step is the application of an  inference rule.[97]  Planning  algorithms search through trees of goals and sub goals, attempting to find a path to a target goal, a process called  means-ends analysis.[98]  Robotics  algorithms for moving limbs and grasping objects use  local searches  in configuration space.[67]  Many  learning  algorithms use search algorithms based on  optimization. Simple exhaustive searches[99]  are rarely sufficient for most real world problems: the  search space  (the number of places to search) quickly grows to  astronomical  numbers. The result is a search that is  too slow  or never completes. The solution, for many problems, is to use heu ristics or rules of thumb that eliminate choices that are unlikely to lead to the goal (called pruning  the  search tree).  Heuristics  supply the program with a best guess for what path the solution lies on.[100]A very different kind of search came to prominence in the 1990s, based on the mathematical theory of  optimization. For many problems, it is possible to begin the search with some form of a guess and then refine the guess incrementally until no more refinements can be made. These algorithms can be visualized as blind  hill climbing: we begin the search at a random point on the landscape, and then, by jumps or steps, we keep moving our guess uphill, until we reach the top. Other optimization algorithms are  simulated annealing,  beam search  and  random optimization.[101] Evolutionary computation  uses a form of optimization search. For example, they may begin with a population of organisms (the guesses) and then allow them to mutate and recombine,  selecting  only the fittest to survive each generation (refining the guesses). Forms of  evolutionary computation  include  swarm intelligence  algorithms (such as  ant colony  or  particle swarm optimization) and  evolutionary algorithms B. Neural Network A neural network is an interconnected group of nodes, akin to the vast network of  neurons  in the  human brain. The study of  artificial neural networks[127]  began in the decade before the field AI research was founded, in the work of  Walter Pitts  and  Warren McCullough. Other important early researchers were  Frank Rosenblatt, who invented the  perception  and  Paulwerbos who developed the  back propagation  algorithm.[134]The main categories of networks are acyclic or  feed forward neural networks  (where the signal passes in only one direction) and  recurrent neural networks  (which allow feedback). Among the most popular feed forward networks are  perceptions,  multi-layer perceptions  and  radial basis networks.[135]  Among recurrent networks, the most famous is the  Hopfield net, a form of attractor network, which was first described by  John Hopfield  in 1982.  Neural networks can be applied to the problem of  intelli gent control(for robotics) or  learning, using such techniques as  Hebbian learning  and  competitive learning.[137]Jeff Hawkins  argues that research in neural networks has stalled because it has failed to model the essential properties of the  neocortex, and has suggested a model (Hierarchical Temporal Memory) that is based on neurological research. C. Approaches There is no established unifying theory or  paradigm  that guides AI research. Researchers disagree about many issues.[76]  A few of the most long standing questions that have remained unanswered are these: should artificial intelligence simulate natural intelligence, by studying psychology  or  neurology? Or is human biology as irrelevant to AI research as bird biology is to  aeronautical engineering?  Can intelligent behavior be described using simple, elegant principles (such as  logic  or  optimization)? Or does it necessarily require solving a large number of completely unrelated problems?[78]  Can intelligence be reproduced using high-level symbols, similar to words and ideas? Or does it require sub-symbolic processing?[79] D. General Intelligence Main articles:  Strong AI  and  AI-complete Most researchers hope that their work will eventually be incorporated into a machine with  general Intelligence (known as  strong AI),combining all the skills above and exceeding human abilities at most or all of them.[12]  A few believe that  anthropomorphic  features like  artificial consciousness  or an artificial brain  may be required for such a project.[74]  Eliezer Yudkowsky  has argued for the importance of  friendly artificial intelligence, to mitigate the risks of an uncontrolled intelligence explosion. The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence  is dedicated to creating such an AI. Many of the problems above are considered  AI-complete: to solve one problem, you must solve them all. For example, even a straightforward, specific task like  machine translation  requires that the machine follow the authors argument (reason), know what is being talked about (knowledge), and faithfully re produce the authors intention (social intelligence).  Machine translation, therefore, is believed to be AI-complete: it may require  strong AI  to be done as well as humans can do it.[75] E. Planning Intelligent agents must be able to set goals and achieve them.[56]  They need a way to visualize the future (they must have a representation of the state of the world and be able to make predictions about how their actions will change it) and be able to make choices that maximize the utility  (or value) of the available choices.[57]In classical planning problems, the agent can assume that it is the only thing acting on the world and it can be certain what the consequences of its actions may be.[58]  However, if this is not true, it must periodically check if the world matches its predictions and it must change its plan as this becomes necessary, requiring the agent to reason under uncertainty.[59]Multi-agent planning  uses the  cooperation  and  competition  of many agents to achieve a given goal.  Emergent behavior  such as this is used bye volutionary algorithms  and  swarm intelligence. F. Learning Machine learning  has been central to AI research from the beginning.[62]  Unsupervised learning  is the ability to find patterns in a stream of input.  Supervised learning  includes both  classification  and numerical   regression. Classification is used to determine what category something belongs in, after seeing a number of examples of things from several categories. Regression takes a set of numerical input/output examples and attempts to discover a continuous function that would generate the outputs from the inputs. In  reinforcement learning[63]  the agent is rewarded for good responses and punished for bad ones. These can be analyzed in terms of  decision theory, using concepts like  utility. The mathematical analysis of machine learning algorithms and their performance is a branch of  theoretical computer science  known as computational learning theory G. Motion And Manipulation The field of  robotics[66]  is closely related to AI. Intelligence is required for robots to be able to handle such tasks as object manipulation[67]  and  navigation, with sub-problems of  localization  (knowing where you are),  mapping  (learning what is around you) and  motion planning  (figuring out how to get there). H. Knowledge Representation Knowledge representation  and  knowledge engineering  are central to AI research. Many of the problems machines are expected to solve will require extensive knowledge about the world. Among the things that AI needs to represent are: objects, properties, categories and relations between objects;[45]  situations, events, states and time;[46]  causes and effects;[47]  knowledge about knowledge (what we know about what other people know);  and many other, less well researched domains. A complete representation of what exists is an  ontology  (borrowing a word from traditional  philosophy), of which the most general are called  upper ontologies. I. Natural Language Processing Natural language processing[64]  gives machines the ability to read and understand the languages that humans speak. Many researchers hope that a sufficiently powerful natural language processing system would be able to acquire knowledge on its own, by reading the existing text available over the internet. Some straightforward applications of natural language processing include  information retrieval  (or  text mining) and  machine translation. IV. APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTS Robotics has been of interest to mankind for over one hundred years. However our perception of robots has been influenced by the media and Hollywood. One may ask what robotics is about? In my eyes, a robots characteristics change depending on the environment it operates in. Some of these are: A. Outer Space   Manipulative arms that are controlled by a human are used to unload the docking bay of space shuttles to launch satellites or to construct a space station B. The Intelligent Home   Automated systems can now monitor home security, environmental conditions and energy usage. Door and windows can be opened automatically and appliances such as lighting and air conditioning can be pre programmed to activate. This assists occupants irrespective of their state of mobility. C. Exploration   Robots can visit environments that are harmful to humans. An example is monitoring the environment inside a volcano or exploring our deepest oceans. NASA has used robotic probes for planetary exploration since the early sixties. D. Military Robots   Airborne robot drones are used for surveillance in todays modern army. In the future automated aircraft and vehicles could be used to carry fuel and ammunition or clear minefields E. Farms   Automated harvesters can cut and gather crops. Robotic dairies are available allowing operators to feed and milk their cows remotely. F. The Car Industry Robotic arms that are able to perform multiple tasks are used in the car manufacturing process. They perform tasks such as welding, cutting, lifting, sorting and bending. Similar applications but on a smaller scale are now being planned for the food processing industry in particular the trimming, cutting and processing of various meats such as fish, lamb, beef. G. Hospitals   Under development is a robotic suit that will enable nurses to lift patients without damaging their backs. Scientists in Japan have developed a power-assisted suit which will give nurses the extra muscle they need to lift their patients- and avoid back injuries. The suit was designed by Keijiro Yamamoto, a professor in the welfare-systems engineering department at Kanagawa Institute of Technology outside Tokyo. It will allow caregivers to easily lift bed-ridden patients on and off beds. In its current state the suit has an aluminium exoskeleton and a tangle of wires and compressed-air lines trailing from it. Its advantage lies in the huge impact it could have for nurses. In Japan, the population aged 14 and under has declined 7% over the past five years to 18.3 million this year. Providing care for a growing elderly generation poses a major challenge to the government. Robotics may be the solution. Research institutions and companies in Japan have been trying to create robotic nurses to substitute for humans. Yamamoto has taken another approach and has decided to create a device designed to help human nurses. In tests, a nurse weighing 64 kilograms was able to lift and carry a patient weighing 70 kilograms. The suit is attached to the wearers back with straps and belts. Sensors are placed on the wearers muscles to measure strength. These send the data back to a microcomputer, which calculates how much more power is needed to complete the lift effortlessly. The computer, in turn, powers a chain of actuators or inflatable cuffs that are attached to the suit and worn under the elbows, lower back and knees. As the wearer lifts a patient, compressed air is pushed into the cuffs, applying extra force to the arms, back and legs. The degree of air pressure is automatically adjusted according to how much the muscles are flexed. A distinct advantage of this system is that it assists the wearers knees, being only one of its kind to do so. A number of hurdles are still faced by Yamamoto. The suit is unwieldy, the wearer cant climb stairs and turning is awkward. The design weight of the suit should be less than 10 kilograms for comfortable use. The latest prototype weighs 15 kilograms. Making it lighter is technically possible by using smaller and lighter actuators. The prototype has cost less than  ¥1 million ($8,400) to develop. But earlier versions developed by Yamamoto over the past 10 years cost upwards of  ¥20 million in government development grants. H. Disaster Areas   Surveillance robots fitted with advanced sensing and imaging equipment can operate in hazardous environments such as urban setting damaged by earthquakes by scanning walls, floors and ceilings for structural integrity. I. Entertainment   Interactive robots that exhibit behaviours and learning ability. SONY has one such robot which moves freely, plays with a ball and can respond to verbal instructions. V. ADVANTAGES OF ROBOTS A. Business Benefits Robots have the ability to consistently produce high-quality products and to precisely perform tasks. Since they never tire and can work nonstop without breaks, robots are able to produce more quality goods or execute commands quicker than their human counterparts B. Management Benefits Robot employees never call in sick, never waste time and rarely require preparation time before working. With robots, a manager never has to worry about high employee turnover or unfilled positions C. Employee Benefits Robots can do the work that no one else wants to do-the mundane, dangerous, and repetitive jobs. Common Misconception about Robots : Introducing robots into a work environment does not necessarily mean the elimination of jobs. With the addition of robots comes the need for highly-skilled, human workers. D. Consumer Benefits Robots produce high quality goods Since robots produce so many quality goods in a shorter amount of time than humans, we reap the benefits of cheaper goods. Since the products are produced more quickly, this significantly reduces the amount of time that we are forced to wait for products to come to the marketplace VI. SHORTCOMINGS Fears and concerns about robots have been repeatedly expressed in a wide range of books and films. A common theme is the development of a master race of conscious and highly intelligent robots, motivated to take over or destroy the human race. (See  The Terminator,  Runaway,  Blade Runner,  Robocop,  the Replicators in  Stargate,  the Cylons in  Battlestar Galactica,  The Matrix,  THX-1138, and  I, Robot.) Some fictional robots are programmed to kill and destroy; others gain superhuman intelligence and abilities by upgrading their own software and hardware. Examples of popular media where the robot becomes evil are  2001: A Space Odyssey,  Red Planet, Another common theme is the reaction, sometimes called the uncanny valley, of unease and even revulsion at the sight of robots that mimic humans too closely.[99]  Frankenstein  (1818), often called the first science fiction novel, has become synonymous with the theme of a robot or monster advancing beyond its creator. In the TV show, Futurama, the robots are portrayed as humanoid figures that live alongside humans, not as robotic butlers. They still work in industry, but these robots carry out daily lives. Manuel De Landa  has noted that smart missiles and autonomous bombs equipped with artificial perception can be considered robots, and they make some of their decisions autonomously. He believes this represents an important and dangerous trend in which humans are handing over important decisions to machines.[100] Marauding robots may have entertainment value, but unsafe use of robots constitutes an actual danger. A heavy industrial robot with powerful actuators and unpredictably complex behavior can cause harm, for instance by stepping on a humans foot or falling on a human. Most industrial robots operate inside a security fence which separates them from human workers, but not all. Two robot-caused deaths are those of Robert Williams and  Kenji Urada. Robert Williams was struck by a robotic arm at a casting plant in  Flat Rock, Michigan  on January 25, 1979.[101]  37-year-old  Kenji Urada, a Japanese factory worker, was killed in 1981; Urada was performing routine maintenance on the robot, but neglected to shut it down properly, and was accidentally pushed into a  grinding machine. VII. CONCLUSIONS If the current developments are to be believed then the next wave of robots will have a supernatural resemblance with humans with the help of AI. The Indian automotive industry has finally awaken to the fact that robotics is not just about saving labour, but it also helps companies significantly to step up productivity and quality to meet the demands of international competition. Industrial robots can be involved in production industry because of its less time consumption, accuracy of work, and less labour. As globalization accelerates, robotics is increasingly vital to maintain the health of the industrial sector and keep manufacturing jobs at home. Now more than ever, the need to stay competitive is a driver for investing in robotics. Companies in all over the world are often faced with difficult choices: Do they send their manufacturing to low-cost producers overseas? Or, do they invest in robotics to continue making products here? We conclude that more companies are realizing tha t robotics is the better option.

Martin Luther King Jr. Essay

Two of his accomplishments were the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ended racial segregation starting with Rosa Parks being arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus which was illegal due to racial segregation laws. Qualities that made him a great leader was that he had the ability to shape a vision that was compelling enough to make others believe in it and participate in it. He had a strong system of values and morals. He was also courageous, decisive, bold, and strong. The path that led him to being a great leader started when he became a pastor. Afterward he became a civil rights activist, a humanitarian, and was involved in the African-american civil rights movement. Qualities of Martin Luther King Jr that I would want to emulate would be having the courage to stand up for what I believe even if it meant being hated by many people. Ultimately he was courageous enough to die for what he believed and I would hope to want to do the same if I truly believed in something that much. A world leader that I think was bad for their followers is Fidel Castro. Qualities that made him a bad leader was that he was power hungry and did whatever he wanted to retain that power even if included suppressing his own people through violence. He exerted power over others by using brutal punishment if people did not obey his every command. He used coercion in order to rule. He also used his position as president to withhold resources from his people. His leadership skills that contributed to bad results were using brute force  and severe punishment to gain control over his people. He would use firing squads to prove his severity when punishing those who stood up to him. References Fidel Castro’s greatest atrocities and crimes – Introduction | Babalà º Blog. (2014, June 7). Retrieved January 26, 2015, from http://babalublog.com/fidel-castros-greatest-atrocities-and-crimes/ Martin Luther King Jr. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 05:43, Jan 25, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086.

Organisation culture

So often when we think of a company's strategy, organizational culture is the missing puzzle piece. Instead, attention is focused on customers, competitors, and financial resources. The neglect of organizational culture is unfortunate since leaders are responsible for so many other demands, but an understanding of the organization's culture and its potential for enabling a positive deviant strategy is important.Organizational culture is the shared beliefs, principles, values, and assumptions that hape behaviour by building commitment, providing direction, establishing a collective identity, and creating a community. It manifests as the organization's behaviour that has endured over time and allowed the organization to adapt to the environment. Therefore, culture is the glue that holds together an organization's strategy and becomes institutionalized as members repeat patterns of successful behavior. The effectiveness of culture depends on its alignment with the organization's environ ment, resources, values, and goals.Moreover, it requires lea ders to understand how the culture can be a vehicle for creating positive deviance. Steve Jobs excels at aligning Apple's culture with its strategy. Jobs has built a culture that is driven by a vision to make great products. Innovating is the dominant value of Apple's culture. Employees are rewarded for experimenting, risk taking, and creativity. As Jobs describes in an interview, the challenge to innovate is a norm of Apple's culture: It was a great challenge. Let's make a great phone that we fall in love with.And we've got the technology. We've got the miniaturization from the iPod. We've got the sophisticated operating system from Mac. Nobody had ever thought about putting operating systems as sophisticated as OS X inside a phone, so that was a real que stion. We had a big debate inside the company whether we could do that or not. And that was one where I had to adjudicate it and Just say, ‘We're going to do it. L et's try. ‘ The smartest software guys were saying they can do it, so let's give them a shot. And they did. Going beneath the surface of Apple's culture, Jobs has infused the quest for excellence as a mantra. Jobs has purposely created a culture where employees are encouraged to treat their work as a calling that is worthwhile and to pursue excell ence in their endeavors. Therefore, a large role for Jobs and his leadership teams is creating processes to recruit and socialize employees into Apple's culture. When recruiting for Apple senior positions, Jobs contended that intelligence organisation culture. Organisation culture So often when we think of a company's strategy, organizational culture is the missing puzzle piece. Instead, attention is focused on customers, competitors, and financial resources. The neglect of organizational culture is unfortunate since leaders are responsible for so many other demands, but an understanding of the organization's culture and its potential for enabling a positive deviant strategy is important.Organizational culture is the shared beliefs, principles, values, and assumptions that hape behaviour by building commitment, providing direction, establishing a collective identity, and creating a community. It manifests as the organization's behaviour that has endured over time and allowed the organization to adapt to the environment. Therefore, culture is the glue that holds together an organization's strategy and becomes institutionalized as members repeat patterns of successful behavior. The effectiveness of culture depends on its alignment with the organization's environ ment, resources, values, and goals.Moreover, it requires lea ders to understand how the culture can be a vehicle for creating positive deviance. Steve Jobs excels at aligning Apple's culture with its strategy. Jobs has built a culture that is driven by a vision to make great products. Innovating is the dominant value of Apple's culture. Employees are rewarded for experimenting, risk taking, and creativity. As Jobs describes in an interview, the challenge to innovate is a norm of Apple's culture: It was a great challenge. Let's make a great phone that we fall in love with.And we've got the technology. We've got the miniaturization from the iPod. We've got the sophisticated operating system from Mac. Nobody had ever thought about putting operating systems as sophisticated as OS X inside a phone, so that was a real que stion. We had a big debate inside the company whether we could do that or not. And that was one where I had to adjudicate it and Just say, ‘We're going to do it. L et's try. ‘ The smartest software guys were saying they can do it, so let's give them a shot. And they did. Going beneath the surface of Apple's culture, Jobs has infused the quest for excellence as a mantra. Jobs has purposely created a culture where employees are encouraged to treat their work as a calling that is worthwhile and to pursue excell ence in their endeavors. Therefore, a large role for Jobs and his leadership teams is creating processes to recruit and socialize employees into Apple's culture. When recruiting for Apple senior positions, Jobs contended that intelligence organisation culture.