Big Data in Companies Essay Example for Free

Big Data in Companies Essay Big data (also spelled Big Data) is a general term used to describe the voluminous amount of unstructured and semi-structured data a company creates data that would take too much time and cost too much money to load into a relational database for analysis. Although Big data doesnt refer to any specific quantity, the term is often used when speaking about petabytes and exabytes of data. A primary goal for looking at big data is to discover repeatable business patterns. It’s generally accepted that unstructured data, most of it located in text files, accounts for at least 80% of an organization’s data. If left unmanaged, the sheer volume of unstructured data that’s generated each year within an enterprise can be costly in terms of storage. Unmanaged data can also pose a liability if information cannot be located in the event of a compliance audit or lawsuit. Big data analytics is often associated with cloud computing because the analysis of large data sets in real-time requires a framework like MapReduce to distribute the work among tens, hundreds or even thousands of computers. Big data is data that exceeds the processing capacity of conventional database systems. The data is too big, moves too fast, or doesn’t fit the strictures of your database architectures. To gain value from this data, you must choose an alternative way to process it. The hot IT buzzword of 2012, big data has become viable as cost-effective approaches have emerged to tame the volume, velocity and variability of massive data. Within this data lie valuable patterns and information, previously hidden because of the amount of work required to extract them. To leading corporations, such as Walmart or Google, this power has been in reach for some time, but at fantastic cost. Today’s commodity hardware, cloud architectures and open source software bring big data processing into the reach of the less well-resourced. Big data processing is eminently feasible for even the small garage startups, who can cheaply rent server time in the cloud. The value of big data to an organization falls into two categories: analytical use, and enabling new products. Big data analytics can reveal insights hidden previously by data too costly to process, such as peer influence among customers, revealed by analyzing shoppers’ transactions, social and geographical data. Being able to process every item of data in reasonable time removes the troublesome need for sampling and promotes an investigative approach to data, in contrast to the somewhat static nature of running predetermined reports. The past decade’s successful web startups are prime examples of big data used as an enabler of new products and services. For example, by combining a large number of signals from a user’s actions and those of their friends, Facebook has been able to craft a highly personalized user experience and create a new kind of advertising business. It’s no coincidence that the lion’s share of ideas and tools underpinning big data have emerged from Google, Yahoo, Amazon and Facebook. The emergence of big data into the enterprise brings with it a necessary counterpart: agility. Successfully exploiting the value in big data requires experimentation and exploration. Whether creating new products or looking for ways to gain competitive advantage, the job calls for curiosity and an entrepreneurial outlook. What does big data look like? As a catch-all term, â€Å"big data† can be pretty nebulous, in the same way that the term â€Å"cloud† covers diverse technologies. Input data to big data systems could be chatter from social networks, web server logs, traffic flow sensors, satellite imagery, broadcast audio streams, banking transactions, MP3s of rock music, the content of web pages, scans of government documents, GPS trails, telemetry from automobiles, financial market data, the list goes on. Are these all really the same thing? To clarify matters, the three Vs of volume, velocity and variety are commonly used to characterize different aspects of big data. They’re a helpful lens through which to view and understand the nature of the data and the software platforms available to exploit them. Most probably you will contend with each of the Vs to one degree or another. Volume The benefit gained from the ability to process large amounts of information is the main attraction of big data analytics. Having more data beats out having better models: simple bits of math can be unreasonably effective given large amounts of data. If you could run that forecast taking into account 300 factors rather than 6, could you predict demand better? This volume presents the most immediate challenge to conventional IT structures. It calls for scalable storage, and a distributed approach to querying. Many companies already have large amounts of archived data, perhaps in the form of logs, but not the capacity to process it. Assuming that the volumes of data are larger than those conventional relational database infrastructures can cope with, processing options break down broadly into a choice between massively parallel processing architectures — data warehouses or databases such as Greenplum — and Apache Hadoop-based solutions. This choice is often informed by the degree to which the one of the other â€Å"Vs† — variety — comes into play. Typically, data warehousing approaches involve predetermined schemas, suiting a regular and slowly evolving dataset. Apache Hadoop, on the other hand, places no conditions on the structure of the data it can process. At its core, Hadoop is a platform for distributing computing problems across a number of servers. First developed and released as open source by Yahoo, it implements the MapReduce approach pioneered by Google in compiling its search indexes. Hadoop’s MapReduce involves distributing a dataset among multiple servers and operating on the data: the â€Å"map† stage. The partial results are then recombined: the â€Å"reduce† stage. To store data, Hadoop utilizes its own distributed filesystem, HDFS, which makes data available to multiple computing nodes. A typical Hadoop usage pattern involves three stages: * loading data into HDFS, * MapReduce operations, and * retrieving results from HDFS. This process is by nature a batch operation, suited for analytical or non-interactive computing tasks. Because of this, Hadoop is not itself a database or data warehouse solution, but can act as an analytical adjunct to one. One of the most well-known Hadoop users is Facebook, whose model follows this pattern. A MySQL database stores the core data. This is then reflected into Hadoop, where computations occur, such as creating recommendations for you based on your friends’ interests. Facebook then transfers the results back into MySQL, for use in pages served to users. Velocity The importance of data’s velocity — the increasing rate at which data flows into an organization — has followed a similar pattern to that of volume. Problems previously restricted to segments of industry are now presenting themselves in a much broader setting. Specialized companies such as financial traders have long turned systems that cope with fast moving data to their advantage. Now it’s our turn. Why is that so? The Internet and mobile era means that the way we deliver and consume products and services is increasingly instrumented, generating a data flow back to the provider. Online retailers are able to compile large histories of customers’ every click and interaction: not just the final sales. Those who are able to quickly utilize that information, by recommending additional purchases, for instance, gain competitive advantage. The smartphone era increases again the rate of data inflow, as consumers carry with them a streaming source of geolocated imagery and audio data. It’s not just the velocity of the incoming data that’s the issue: it’s possible to stream fast-moving data into bulk storage for later batch processing, for example. The importance lies in the speed of the feedback loop, taking data from input through to decision. A commercial from IBM makes the point that you wouldn’t cross the road if all you had was a five-minute old snapshot of traffic location. There are times when you simply won’t be able to wait for a report to run or a Hadoop job to complete. Industry terminology for such fast-moving data tends to be either â€Å"streaming data,† or â€Å"complex event processing. This latter term was more established in product categories before streaming processing data gained more widespread relevance, and seems likely to diminish in favor of streaming. There are two main reasons to consider streaming processing. The first is when the input data are too fast to store in their entirety: in order to keep storage requirements practical some level of analysis must occur as the data streams in. At the extreme end of the scale, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN generates so much data that scientists must discard the overwhelming majority of it — hoping hard they’ve not thrown away anything useful. The second reason to consider streaming is where the application mandates immediate response to the data. Thanks to the rise of mobile applications and online gaming this is an increasingly common situation. Product categories for handling streaming data divide into established proprietary products such as IBM’s InfoSphere Streams, and the less-polished and still emergent open source frameworks originating in the web industry: Twitter’s Storm, and Yahoo S4. As mentioned above, it’s not just about input data. The velocity of a system’s outputs can matter too. The tighter the feedback loop, the greater the competitive advantage. The results might go directly into a product, such as Facebook’s recommendations, or into dashboards used to drive decision-making. It’s this need for speed, particularly on the web, that has driven the development of key-value stores and columnar databases, optimized for the fast retrieval of precomputed information. These databases form part of an umbrella category known as NoSQL, used when relational models aren’t the right fit. Microsoft SQL Server is a comprehensive information platform offering enterprise-ready technologies and tools that help businesses derive maximum value from information at the lowest TCO. SQL Server 2012 launches next year, offering a cloud-ready information platform delivering mission-critical confidence, breakthrough insight, and cloud on your terms; find out more at www. microsoft. com/sql. Variety Rarely does data present itself in a form perfectly ordered and ready for processing. A common theme in big data systems is that the source data is diverse, and doesn’t fall into neat relational structures. It could be text from social networks, image data, a raw feed directly from a sensor source. None of these things come ready for integration into an application. Even on the web, where computer-to-computer communication ought to bring some guarantees, the reality of data is messy. Different browsers send different data, users withhold information, they may be using differing software versions or vendors to communicate with you. And you can bet that if part of the process involves a human, there will be error and inconsistency. A common use of big data processing is to take unstructured data and extract ordered meaning, for consumption either by humans or as a structured input to an application. One such example is entity resolution, the process of determining exactly what a name refers to. Is this city London, England, or London, Texas? By the time your business logic gets to it, you don’t want to be guessing. The process of moving from source data to processed application data involves the loss of information. When you tidy up, you end up throwing stuff away. This underlines a principle of big data: when you can, keep everything. There may well be useful signals in the bits you throw away. If you lose the source data, there’s no going back. Despite the popularity and well understood nature of relational databases, it is not the case that they should always be the destination for data, even when tidied up. Certain data types suit certain classes of database better. For instance, documents encoded as XML are most versatile when stored in a dedicated XML store such as MarkLogic. Social network relations are graphs by nature, and graph databases such as Neo4J make operations on them simpler and more efficient. Even where there’s not a radical data type mismatch, a disadvantage of the relational database is the static nature of its schemas. In an agile, exploratory environment, the results of computations will evolve with the detection and extraction of more signals. Semi-structured NoSQL databases meet this need for flexibility: they provide enough structure to organize data, but do not require the exact schema of the data before storing it.

Learning importance and a example of essay in learning Essay Example for Free

Learning importance and a example of essay in learning Essay Learning is a major part of life. People tend to learn in every steps of their life. Learning does not necessarily involve complex terms, it can also be primitive things that keeps happening in day to day life of an individual. Everybody has different interest, likewise they have a different pattern of learning things. Some people learn faster through visual medium, some through audio, and some just writing down the things depending upon what the subject matter is. I believe that learning process does not start when one settles in a formal environment but it start right from the birth of an individual. Walking, talking, decision making etc. are some examples including every other primary things are the result of learning. Every time anyone has to acquire a new skills, they need to be focused and scrutinize the subject matter thoroughly, that is how learning happens. Learning affects the confidence of a person as well. If someone learn things quickly than they have higher confidence in doing things and learning new things as well. After going through the video couple of times I realized that one who puts hard work and devotion in learning new things can automatically adapt into the ways the things are done and will become successful. I myself am very much interested in music and vaguely inspired by the beauty of it. I think music can be the most influential thing in an individual life. Music can make a person relax after a hard day at work, cure the illness, provides maximum level of comfort to an individual. Being so much influenced on music I have managed to learn a very few instruments and it always gives me pleasure and comfort when I am playing them. But I do not want to stop here. I want to learn more about music. I want to be able to read the music and understand every keys and notation in it. I want to be a musician like David Gilmour from the greatest band ever, â€Å"Pink Floyd,† who is able to play any string musical instrument that exists in planet today. I am currently doing my major in Business with Information Technology however in order to fulfill my ambition in music I have also planned to take music as my minor subject and later on carry it as my profession along with my  Business major degree. It is very much important to me because of my vague interest in it, but mostly it makes me very happy. Finally, I am profoundly inspired from the video that I just watched and it helped me to boost up my morale. I do have much respect for the people attempting to make things happen and these people are just one of those few who dare to take the challenges and do something that makes difference to others.

Jack Kerouacs Road to Postmodernity

Jack Kerouacs Road to Postmodernity Jack Kerouacs Road to Postmodernity: Tracing the Beat Rhythm through Lyotardian Sensibility. Dr. Ashima Bhardwaj Abstract: Jack Kerouac was an author of the iconic text On the Road that gave birth to the Beat Generation in America. He was the spokesperson of this cult movement who also bugled the advent of Postmodernity in America much before than the claimed Euro-centric origins of the movement. The aim of the paper is to critique On the Road utilizing the critical equipment of Jean Franà §oise Lyotard, a thinker of the late 20th century. The clarity of his thoughts helped to define the postmodernist tendencies prevalent in the works of Kerouac. The text showcases that postmodernism did not emerge in the artistic or cultural arenas of European Sixties but was a product of much earlier American Post-war transitional years. His work remains an epilogue to Modernism and a prologue to Postmodernism. The paper would contend that the American Postmodernist in literature begins with Beat writings. Keywords Postmodernism, Beat movement, Paralogy, Metanarrative, Grand narrative, Differend, Sublime. Postmodernism has been a decisive instrument in the tool box of critical theory. Much before the coinage of the term Postmodernism in the criticism terminology, the Beat writer Jack Kerouac had bugled its advent by denouncing the rigid societal structures in his writing style, narration and even in the way he lived. The paper would scrutinize the text of On the Road from the perspective of Jean Franà §oise Lyotards critical framework. Lyotards philosophy highlights the postmodernist tendencies that have been an innate part of Kerouacs repertoire. Lyotardian concepts would be extremely relevant in interpreting the transitional Post-war phase in America. In the process the contribution of On the Road in establishing postmodernity in America would become visible. Kerouacs seminal work On the Road was a stimulus to the tremors of arriving postmodernity in America much before the European claims of the movements inheritance. The novel transformed the American literary landscape and a Bea t Generation raised its head from the sinister alleys, crowning Jack Kerouac- the King of Beatniks. Kerouacs works and life depicts an advent of Postmodernism much before it is registered in the European criticism. The Postmodernism as a phenomenon was prevalent in 1940s in America instead of the claimed decade of 1960s in Europe. Jack Kerouacs lifestyle and the body of his works bespeak of the transitional period where postmodernity began to emerge. The literary notoriety gained by Kerouac, the hyped image of him as the trendiest fashion icon by media and his being a writer for being famous are the effects of the postmodernist tremors in womb. Kerouacs work On the Road plays an important role in giving birth to Postmodernism. Kerouac has alluded to this changing era with his stylistic breakthrough, acuity and originality. Postmodernism, as a term, contains its own paradox. The word post refers to an aftermath as well as it includes the sense of being constructed on the base of Modernism. In Lyotards work The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, he differentiates between modernist and postmodernist art. He argues that the art forms of these periods incorporate Sublime and also express the inexpressible. Lyotard states that the modernist art reduces the enormity of an event to a recognizable form. But the postmodern work by contrast presents the un-presentable in presentation itself and in the process denies the work to have a recognizable form. Postmodernist art refuses to be contained by the accepted notions of art forms. In this vein, Kerouac has called his novel On the Road an Epos- falling outside the definition of an epic. Kerouacs writing style was the first shock to the accepted ways of book writing. The first version of On the Road was written in record twenty days, single spaced paragr aph of 175,000 words, typed on a 120 foot long taped paper scroll. It is said that Kerouac took the scroll to Robert Giroux, the editor of Harcourt Brace and rolled it out. But Giroux asked him how he could print that. Books could not be afforded to look like it. This novel became a legend. Kerouac was aware of the repercussions as he had given a voice to the silenced and the marginalized communities in the work. He had destabilized the hierarchical standards. Hereby compatibility can be observed with Lyotardss Postmodernism. For Lyotard, Postmodernism is not a chronologically demarcated period. It is a response to a changing culture. Lyotards idea of Postmodernism, stresses on the need of recognizing the failings in a system and resisting the dominant modes in practice. Kerouacs work gives the center stage to the marginalized forms that form the very crux of Beat life. The novel describes a trans-racial, transgendered countercultural backdrop. It defines those changes which surfaced up in the post-war generation. America was the only country to emerge as a leading power from the ashes of the World Wars. The Eisenhower era followed the dictum of least interference. The state absolved from an active participation in the lives of the citizens. The stability so achieved wa s temporal as insecurities were depicted in maniacal car journeys by the heroes of Kerouacs work. In Lyotardian terminology it can be seen as breaking of a grand narrative. Lyotards concept when applied to the novel magnified the areas depicting heterogeneity. In the novel On the Road, Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac) and Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady) journey across America and towards the end they undertake a trip to Mexico. The journeys of the two heroes emphasized on the multi-perspectives of viewing a nation and strengthened the notions of believing in the necessity of difference. The novel strongly rejected the defining narratives. In Lyotards sensibility, the Metanarratives fail in a postmodern world. In the post- industrial society, the grand narratives of Speculation and Freedom also collapse. Lyotard asserted that no effort should be made to conceive a universalizing narrative. This breaking of narratives was essential. It gave space to the multitudes of stories that were subdued earlier by the Metanarrative. The two American Beats are in the search of IT which is a fathomless ecstasy. They are poor and beaten down but the spiritual search in their c onscious minds elevates them. They gain beato the beatific existence in their journey. Sal and Deans friendship saw many ups and downs but it was always the road which joined them. Kerouacs text is the prophetic roadmap charting a search for life in the fellaheen world lying on the verge of the consumerist western civilization. The novel has an inbuilt tendency of non-conformism. The characters have offered resistance in their own unique way. They use drugs for getting ecstatic experience. Sex becomes a potent tool to shatter the traditional ways of thinking. The non-conformism displayed by the characters synchronizes with the concepts of Lyotard. His postmodernism involves an interrogation of the hegemonic structures set by the society. The journey taken by Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady) becomes a kaleidoscopic search for life. Sal undertakes the journey to escape the monotonous life and to overcome depression from a failed marriage and illness. He takes four trips along with other beat figures across America. Hitch- hiking on his route, he wants to reach the Promised Land of Denver. On his truck ride he becomes aware of multiple narratives which go into the making of a nation. He receives a cultural shock in a Wild West Week celebration. In this event a simulacra of the pristine Texas glory is created. People imitate Texan life in cowboy hats and boots. This simulation is far way from reality. Sals stay at Chad Kings house in Denver reveals the downside of rising capitalism. Chads father had invented a spot remover that was now copied by a big firm. While Chads family lived in poverty, the company was soaring high in profits. Capitalism had made people subservient to its demands. In the name of progr ess, Lyotard says that system becomes a vanguard machine which is dragging humanity and de-humanizing it. People are hegemonized by totalitarian discourses, grand narratives and metanarratives. Kerouac shows how the upcoming Postmodernity is an incredulity displayed towards such metanarratives. There are two types of grand-narratives- the narrative of emancipation and speculative grand narrative. In the grand narrative of emancipation, knowledge becomes a liberating force. Kerouac thus attempts to provide an antidote to metanarrative and grand narrative constructions of prosperity under the garb of Capitalism. The speculative grand narrative ends in a realization of the state of non-progress. Similarly Postmodernist void becomes prominent as in the Wild West Week, and thus the grand narrative of emancipation breathes its last. Sal Paradise also declares that he can feel the world collapsing around him. He has understood the raggedness of America and thus the idealistic visions start evaporating. Sal meets Carlo Marx (Allen Ginsberg) in Denver. Carlo makes him realize through his poems that language itself has a linear progression and dreams are a mosaic of the figments of imagination. Sal witnesses the disintegration of myths thus upholding the advent of postmodernity. In LA he meets a Mexican girl, Terry. They make love and she tells him to believe in manana: tomorrow things would be better. Kerouac makes his protagonist feel the presence of the Grey myth of the West and dark myth of the East. Death becomes the ultimate reality that Sal is afraid of. Here one can see a parallel of Kerouacs beliefs and Lyotards philosophy. Lyotards Postmodernism is differentiated from Modernism as it exhibits a celebration instead of fear. This fear finds a vent in the make-up of Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady) for he is a performer who is not afraid of anything- not even death. Sal sees that Dean was mad in his movements that included: a shaking of the head, up and down, sideways; jerky, vigorous hands; quick walking, sitting, crossing the legs, uncrossing, getting up, rubbing the hands, rubbing his fly, hitching his pant, looking upand sudden slitting of the eyes to see everywhere (Kerouac, On the Road 110) Dean in his madness embodies the Lyotardian principle of Paralogy. Lyotard argues that in modern science the new discoveries that take place open up new language games. They defy the existing norms thus changing our former opinions. Paralogy- the fase logic has the potential to revert the existing understanding of the world. In the novel, Dean becomes the fountainhead of power that destabilizes logic. In Postmodern transitions, Paralogy of Dean helps to from new language games nullifying every other format. Postmodernism is not then an utterly hopeless era where anything goes, rather it is a continuum where resistance has to take birth. The pinnacle of Deans games is reached where he asks Sal to make love to his girlfriend Marylou in order to see how she makes love to another man. Sex here becomes a beatific experience where, three children of the earth try(ing) to decide something in the night and having all the weight of past centuries ballooning in the dark before them. (Kerouac, OTR 125). At one point Sal justifies Deans fulfillment of physical love. For him it becomes a medium to relish physical sensation of the source of life bliss, and a way of returning to innocence. For Sal, love becomes a refuge. Late in their journey, Dean shows the way to throw off every burden. He convinces Sal and Marylou to strip and run wild celebrating their existence. Sal and Dean visit Old Bull Lee (William Burroughs). They take drugs which become a mode to enter into ecstasy. Old Bull Lees drug intake has led him to an awareness of seven personalities within him, each growing worse and worse.The top personality was an English Lord, the bottom an idiot. Halfway he was an old negro (Kerouac, OTR 137). No authentic self is sustained by him and his body becomes a site of conflict. Lyotard claims that in postmodernism the authentic self ceases to exist. The identity crisis can also be witnessed as a deconstruction taking place due to an instability set in the post-war years in America. The drug induced hallucinations bespeak of cannibalization of real self in a post-industrial society. Old Bull Lees wife Jane (Joan Vollmer) enjoys reading the classified newspaper. When Sal asks her if she is looking for jobs she replies that she was reading the want ads as they are the most interesting component of a newspaper. The classified newspaper advertises the ads that are being produced by a system. In Postmodernist space, as Lyotard says the Denotative and Prescriptive principles fail to sustain themselves. Denotations prescribe the world whereas Prescriptions tend to change it. The classified space is a sheer mockery on the system. In the first instance, modern politics deals in Prescriptions which are based on Denotations, as Simon Malpas writes, if the good of society is X, we should do Y (Malpas 5). Secondly in the Totalitarian regimes as well as democracies, Prescriptions are not given down from any authority but are imbibed by people. In On the Road, Old Bull Lee and Jane challenge the Denotative and Prescriptive principles making every authoritative voice redundant. They thwart the system but Dean madness engulfs it altogether. In the next spring journey a new height is embarked by Dean and Sal. They give lifts to hobos, visit pubs, and listen to jazz. It becomes visible what is common between them- the Road. By living a ragged beat life they are participating in the void of Postmodernism. The void can be discovered in their lives when they discuss their roles in the family. Deans marriages, divorces and the kids from this experience do not curtail his exuberance for life. Through the application of Lyotardian philosophy, in Dean Moriartys case one can observe the formation of a Differend. It is a concept given by Lyotard which refers to a wrong occurring at a particular moment. Differend occurs when both good and evil occur at the same time. Sal sympathizes with Dean saying, Poor, poor Dean- the devil himself had never fallen further; in idiocy, with infected thumb, surrounded by the battered suitcases of his motherless feverish life across America and back numberless times, an undone bird. (Kerouac OTR 178 ) The presence of good and evil breaks the stereotype image of hero-villain boy. Dean embodies the Differend himself. In a Differend one faces the situation where all that remains is injustice. One is prevented from having a role in the game of justice. Language is unable to explain the event and as a consequence the victim is thrown into silence. No one approves of Deans life and he cannot utter a single word to defend himself when a friend scolds him. For Lyotard: The Differend is a moment of silence, a stutter in the flow of language where the right words will not come. It marks a point of suffering where an injustice cannot find a space to make itself heard where an injury is silenced and becomes a wrong. Differends are a point of departure for Lyotards exploration of the politics and philosophy of language in the Differend. (Malpas 60). The Injustice in Lyotardian sensibility manifests in the novel as Dean is blamed by his fellows for being a selfish maniac. But they cannot understand that Dean Moriarty has stopped role-playing. He is only following his urge to MOVE on the road. He inquires, Whats your road man?holy boy road, mad man road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. Its an anywhere road for anybody anyhow. Where body how? (Kerouac, OTR 237). The next Mexico trip of Sal and Dean is a version of apocalyptic tone of postmodern. Together Sal and Dean challenge certain language games and create their own rules. According to Lyotard language is a medium to explicate the play of language games. There are three features of language games as given by Lyotard. First, the language games are an object of contract between the players. Second rules have to be sustained. Third, every utterance is a move of the game. The language games then decide the relationships and bonding in a society. The language game played in the void, has the ability to say the unsaid. This ability has been achieved by Dean for he is a hipster who has abandoned every responsibility. They traverse tracing the fellaheen civilization of Mexico that offers a contrast to the consumer culture hypocrisies. America has a sense of finite reality which is generated by the consumerist industry. Kerouacs reaction against this is a reverence for residue left in Mexican cul ture with is depthless signifiers. Kerouacs fellaheen world is the pure primitive humanity where ecstasy can be found. This raw ecstatic force is defined as IT. This IT can be treated as a version of Lyotards Sublime. Lyotards presumption is based on the notion of understanding how postmodernist art is empowered by Sublime. It demolishes the mediocrity of general opinion and employs the power of sublimity in analyzing the limit set by the society. The cause of Sublime remains un-deciphered yet it can be conceived. Lyotardian Sublime is understood in two ways: one termed by him as Modern and the other is Postmodern. One symbolizes modernist melancholia and the other is postmodernist jubilation. Modernist sadness is burdened with a longing for the world of stability whereas Postmodernist Sublime discovers new channels of expression. Postmodernist work breaks rules, challenges hierarchy and raises questions against hierarchy. In Kerouacs text, the IT becomes the epitome of Sublime. It is an ambiguous experience that cons tructs and demolishes itself. The aesthetic experience of Kant is bifurcated into the Beautiful and the Sublime. Whereas Lyotards Sublime occurs with a simultaneous existence of pain and pleasure. Sublime brings rapture and horrifies at the same time. The pain represents modernist nostalgia and pleasure embodies postmodernist celebration. The Sublime for Sal crystallizes in Dean Moriarty. Dean has the ability to enter ecstasy through sex, drugs and music. He imparts this wisdom to Sal. Nothing matters if one enters into the labyrinth of IT-the spastic power. Sal also becomes aware that Dean is the victim as much as he is a con-man. In Mexico, Sal gets dysentery and fever and becomes unconscious for many days. Dean deserts him and leaves for New York. A simultaneous existence of dark and light elements emerges in Deans character. The absolute goodness is countered by absolute evil. In such a situation no justice can be excluded. A residue of the feeling of injustice remains. Lyotard has elaborated the concept of Justice in a heterogeneous environment. His concept in context of the novel helps in understanding the injustice done to marginalized communities. Beats are the spokesperson of marginalized voices. They as a community include hobos, pimps, prostitutes, blacks, Hispanics, junkies and drug peddlers. Sal and Dean through their message of liberation provide justice to the down trodden victims of a Capitalist society. Based on Kants Critique of Judgment, Lyotard explains the injustice, by introducing the theory of genre of discourse. J udgment takes place when a specific genre of discourse is selected to understand the particular state of affairs. Judgments can thus be classified into two types- Determinate judgments and Reflective judgments. Determinate judgments take place when we fit in a given idea of a particular formulated context. Determinate judgments are made by the bourgeoisie on the Beats. In case of reflective judgment, a strange new event occurs and a search for context is generated. Lyotard gives an analogy of an archipelago where a navigator has to find his way linking various islands. Judgment becomes the basis of sailing among the islands. Reflective judgment sustains itself in the postmodernist philosophy as there are no pre-fixed laws of attributing justice. Dean becomes the crazy Ahab who then gives direction to the crew. Beats then indulge in Reflective judgments and give a new terminology to the system. Through their freedom they refuse to be judged by the norms of determinate judgments. Inst ead they pass on reflective judgments that initiate a role reversal between the dictator and victim. The quest motif takes the heroes of the novel to various places. This technique helps Kerouac to depict the transition taking place over the whole continent. In the end one realizes that there is no escape from reality. Dean says, No more land! We cant go any farther cause there aint no more land. (Kerouac, OTR 161). The road takes you back from where you started. Dean had come knocking at Sals door and their journey had begun. In the end the madman Dean comes again and leaves without Sal. Deans behavior though muted still carries a resistance. He symbolizes the Lyotardian Seed of Disruption whose impact remains on Sal and at a macrocosmic level, on the generations to come. Dean comes to meet Sal in New York from San Francisco, coming five weeks before the scheduled time. Sal has to leave him around a street corner as he has to go with another friend, but he continues to think of Dean who had come just to see him. WORKS CITED Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. Penguin, 1972. Lyotard, Jean Franà §oise. Le Differend: Phrases in dispute. Translated by Georges Van Den Abbeele. Theory and History of Literature. Vol. 46. University of Minnesota Press. 2002. . The Postmodern Tradition: A Report On Knowledge. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Theory and History of Literature. Vol. 46. University of Minnesota Press. 1984. Malpas, Simon, ed. Jean Franà §oise Lyotard: Routledge Critical Thinkers. Routledge 2003.

Eating Disorders Essay -- Health, Diseases, Anorexia Nervosa, Binge Ea

Introduction Eating disorders are psychological problems marked by an obsession with food and weight. There are four general categories of eating disorders these are; Anorexia nervosa, Binge eating and Bulimia nervosa. However this disorder affects individuals of various age groups; it has become more popular among teenagers these days. For the purpose of this research plan the writer will focus on age group of ages 15 to 19 because teenagers most vulnerable to eating disorders fall into this age group. Moreover, in doing so it will also be possible to determine the significance of this research and apply it to today’s lifestyle. Anorexia is a medical condition in which youngsters, mainly during the onset of puberty, begin to starve themselves thinking they are overweight, even though they are not. They remain under this illusion and as a result of being cautious they become extremely thin, bordering on ill health or sometimes death. Eating disorder in teenagers has become an area of con cern as it is a disease which is affecting the youth of today’s society. The purpose of this research is to identify the main cause of eating disorder in teenagers and help the young generation as they play a vital role for tomorrow’s future. Literature review Causes of anorexia The causes of anorexia are complex and no single factor has been identified. The actual cause of these disorder appear to result from many factors, including those that are genetic, media leading disorders, parental behaviours, psychological factors and negative family influence. Anorexia Nervosa Parentlink (2008) describes anorexia as a disease where the individual person starves himself/herself even though he/she is hungry and is seen to be very thin. Furt... ...d happy life themselves. If taken care of for instance proper care from the family, teenagers are less likely to suffer from the eating disorders. This then means parents can control teenagers eating habits with maximum supervision. Since family lifestyle tends to affect teenagers eating habits. In recent studies by Fornari and Dancyger (2003) notes that family whereby parents are overly controlling, a teenager tends to put on a lot of emphasis on looks, diet them or criticizes their body appearance can cause anorexia. In this case it’s the family’s duty to provide support and care to the general development of the teenagers for a better future. Yoon et al. (2005) argued that families, friends, and dating partners play a role in the development of anorexia and other eating disorders by the generation and transmission of different messages about the thin-ideal.

What Is An Education? :: essays research papers

What is an Education? According to the Oxford English Dictionary one of the definitions of the word "education" is: "The systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young in preparation for the work of life; by extension, similar instruction or training obtained in adult age. Also, the whole course of scholastic instruction which a person has received. Often with limiting words denoting the nature of the predominant subject of the instruction or kind of life it prepares, as classical, legal, medical, technical, commercial, art education." Although this is an accurate description of what an actual education may be, there is a great deal more to the process of becoming educated than the actual instruction and schooling one may receive. If you asked a person in high school or college exactly why he is in school his response would probably have something to do with "getting an education." Is that really why he is there? The next question you may ask is "what are you going to do with your education?" The response would undoubtedly include something about "getting a good job" or perhaps "to make a lot of money." Most of the people in the United States have been brainwashed to think that unless one has at least a high school diploma there is no future anywhere for him. This is completely untrue. There is no guarantee that getting a high school "education" is going to get you anywhere. A student may spend eight years between high school and college getting an "education." He can graduate from college with A's in every class, but still, this "education" means nothing. For example, suppose this "Straight A" student goes for a job interview. Obviously one of the first things to be looked at is the college diploma. Good grades, which by today's standards are an indication of an educated individual, are usually very helpful in getting a good job. But alone, good grades are a completely unfair indication of how a person will perform under the pressures of the real world. Instead of looking at a person's grades during a job interview and deciding whether that person is eligible for a particular position, why not try something realistic? To determine a particular person's "education" why not allow the individual to apply what he knows to his position in the workplace. This is the true test of what an education is. The application of knowledge acquired is a much better determinant of true education than whether or not a person got an A in Wood Shop or World History. A good percentage of people in the United States graduated from high school.

Lord of the Flies :: essays research papers

Lord of the Flies William Golding I. England II. Protagonist- Ralph is a rational boy who was elected the leader by the other boys. He tries to keep them civilized and plans to get them rescued. Antagonist- Jack is Ralph’s rival. He wants to be chief, so he gathers a group of boys and forms his own tribe. The boys are taught to b hunters and they act like wild animals. III. A plane carrying a group of schoolboys has crashed on an island. Ironically, the boys were escaping a nuclear war and being flown to freedom. Upon reaching this island they are overwhelmed by the fact that there are no adults and no rules. Ralph, a boy of twelve, is encountered with several male survivors. Him and the others decided to go in search of any other potential survivors. A boy named Jack and his troop then meets them. The two different groups don’t really seem to like one another and they are very different in matters of life. The boys are then faced with many obstacles and try to learn how to deal with it. At this point Jack does not like the way Ralph handles things and forms his own tribe. Ralph as the leader, does not feel that he has much control over the boys and that is why Jack formed his own tribe of hunters. Only two of the boys stayed and showed support to Ralph. Because of all the chaos Ralph no longer wants to be the chief and he knows that he can not change the way the other boys think or act. He doesn’t know what to do at this point and feels that he can’t make anyone civilized. Piggy and Simon are the two boys who stayed back with Ralph and because they chose to stay with him Jack’s group kills them. Everything just seems to be falling apart and no one is thinking straight. Through everything that has happened, Ralph struggles for survival against the â€Å"Lord of the Flies†, the other boys. There was an out-of-control fire meant to kill Ralph, but he did not die. He is then encountered with the boys and at this point they come to realize that they have to get a hold of themselves and move forward. The end of the novel shows that Ralph and the others are relieved by the fact that they no longer should act the way they did.

Antimicrobial Activity of Banana

The experience of human misery in the form of disease is perhaps as old as the inception of man on the earth. The history of medicine beyond record of human civilization is shrouded in the misery of obscurity; it almost touches the boundaries of mythology, both East and West alike. Several pharmacological industries have evaluated new era for the search of effective antibiotics throughout the world but on the other hand resistance to these an antibiotic by microorganisms has increased.The increasing failure of chemotherapeutics and antibiotic resistance exhibited by pathogenic microbial infectious agents has led to the screening of several medicinal plants for potential antimicrobial activity. They have a long evolution of resistance against microbial agents which has lead to alternative directions in drug development. The development of antibacterial agents derived from micro-organisms and chemotherapeutic agents from plants is a research area of the utmost importance. The present s tudy was designed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of banana (Musa sapientum Linn.)Blossom extract against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli). The appropriate extraction process with an outstanding antibacterial activity of the extract was the alcoholic extraction with 80% ethyl alcohol for 48 hours. The antimicrobial activities of the extract were evaluated using paper disc diffusion methods and assay plates. ?-sistosterol, 12- hydroxystrearic acid, palmitic acid and d-malic acid and tannic acid, the bioactive compounds isolated from Musa Sapientum Linn.can retain their inhibitory effect against bacterial growth in model media based on the inhibitory zone minimally. Contents Page Title Pagei Abstractii Table of Contentsiii I. Introduction1 II. Materials and Methods Flow Chart5 Preparation of Dried Samples6 Extraction of Fresh and Dried Banana Inflorescence6 Preparation of 0. 5 McFarland Standard7 Preparation of Nutrient Broth and 7 Adjustment of Turbidity Preparation of Assay Plates and Cotton-Swabbing7 Paper Disc Diffusion Method8 Reading the Assay Plates9 Analyzing the Results9 III. Results and Discussions10IV. Conclusions and Recommendations13 V. Acknowledgement14 VI. References15 VII. Appendices16 Introduction The experience of human misery in the form of disease is perhaps as old as the inception of man on the earth. The history of medicine beyond record of human civilization is shrouded in the misery of obscurity; it almost touches the boundaries of mythology, both East and West alike. Human or Animal sacrifices on altars of temples of god was a common practice even during the days when Indus, Nile, and Greek Civilizations were on their climax.Though these acts did not have any direct or otherwise bearing on the health of diseased or wounded, it had its own convincing or satisfying effects. In order to find remedy for illness and for providing relief to the wounded the man discovered its first res ort in plants. Several pharmacological industries have evaluated new era for the search of effective antibiotics throughout the world but on the other hand resistance to these an antibiotic by microorganisms has increased. It is known that microorganisms have the genetic ability to transmit and acquire resistance towards drugs.The increasing failure of chemotherapeutics and antibiotic resistance exhibited by pathogenic microbial infectious agents has led to the screening of several medicinal plants for potential antimicrobial activity. They have a long evolution of resistance against microbial agents which has lead to alternative directions in drug development. Most of green plants represent a reservoir of effective chemotherapeutants and can provide valuable sources of natural drugs, natural pesticides and bio-fertilizers.Therefore, extracts of plants and phytochemicals are getting more importance as they have the great potential sources for microbial and viral inhibitors during th e recent decade. Plant parts used for this purposes are bulb, gel, leaves, roots, barks, peels etc. Different class of plant family and their respective parts has been used to treat threat throughout human culture. Among the most ancient recorded uses of medicinal plants are those found in China and India, where historic approach to the treatment of human diseases is still practiced.Bananas are the fourth most important food crop in developing countries, after rice, wheat, and maize, with nearly 90% of the crops being grown for small-scale consumption and local trade. Banana plants are cultivated in more than 100 countries throughout the tropical and subtropical regions, occupying around 10 million hectares, with an annual fruit production of approximately 88 million metric tons. It possesses many curative properties and prevents many kinds of illnesses and conditions. Different parts of plant are used very 2frequently in different worship ceremonies by the Indians among them banana have many beneficial nutritional properties. They are a good source of vitamins C, B6, A, potassium, high content of carbohydrates and fiber, while they are low in protein. Several references have been reported for hot and cold extraction method of banana plant. Pharmacological investigations revealed that banana blossoms are screened for antidiarrhoeal activity (Rabbani et al. , 1999, 2001), antiulcerative activity (Pannangpetch et al. 2001; Goel and Sairam, 2002; Jain et al.2007), antimicrobial activity (Richter and Vore, 1989; Ahmad and Beg, 2001; Mokbel and Hashinaga, 2005; Alisi et al. , 2008; Fagbemi et al. , 2009; Mumtaz Jahan, 2010), Hypoglycemic activity (Ojewole and Adewunmi, 2003; Mallick et al. , 2006; Mallick et al. , 2007; Singh et al. , 2007); Hypocholesterolaemic activity (Vijayakumar et al. ,2009), antioxidant activity (Yin et al. , 2008), Diuretic activity (Jain et al. , 2007), Wound healing activity (Agarwal et al. 2009), Anti-allergic activity (Tewtrakul et al. , 2008), Antimalarial activity (Kaou et al. , 2008), Anti-snake venom activity (Borges et al.2005). Literature reviews indicated that banana fruits and flowers contain antibacterial principles and no reports available for antibacterial activities from corm of banana plants. 3 Phytochemical screening confirmed the presence of active compounds like glycosides, tannins, saponnins, phenols, steroids and flavonoids in the M. sapientum flower ethanolic extract. It was revealed that tannins have the highest concentration value of 88. 31 mg/ 100 g. This is probably the reason why banana blossom has a good antimicrobial and antioxidative activity (Sumathy et al. , 2011). 4 Materials and MethodsThe procedure in conducting this research investigation consists of several steps. They are shown in the following methodology flowchart. Preparation of Plant Material Banana inflorescences were bought from the local market. The buds of the inflorescences were separated from the bracts, cleaned and sun -dried at under constant ventilation. Dried samples were diced finely. They were ready to be given at the Department of Science and Technology for extraction. Extraction of Fresh and Dried Banana Inflorescence The dried samples were weighed exactly 121. 57 grams in an Erlenmeyer flask.They were treated with sufficient 80% ethyl alcohol in order to completely submerge the sample. The Erlenmeyer flask was covered with the stopper and the soaked samples were homogenized for 24-48 hours. The soaked samples were filtered through Buchner funnel with gentle suction. The flask and the soaked sample were rinsed with fresh portions of alcohol. The washings and soaked samples were transferred to the funnel and the washings were combined with the first filtrate. Gentle suction was applied to complete the collection of the plant extract. The plant residue was discarded.The filtrate under vacuo at temperature below 50 °C to about 20 mL was concentrated. The concentrated extract was measured exa ctly 90 mL. It was then stored in a refrigerator at temperature 0 °C for further experimentation. 6 Preparation of 0. 5 McFarland Standard 0. 5 mL of 0. 048 M Barium chloride (BaCl2) (1. 175%w/v BaCl2 †¢ 2H2O) to 99. 5 mL of 0. 36 N Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) was mixed. 5 mL of solution was distributed into screw-cap tubes of the same dimension as those to be used in preparing the culture suspension. Screw-cap tubes were tightly sealed and stored in the dark at room temperature.Preparation of Nutrient Broth and Adjustment of Turbidity of the Inoculum The preparation of 1000 mL solution was prepared according to the indicated label. A loopful of bacteria, gram positive or gram negative, from the culture was taken and inoculated in 50 mL nutrient broth. The culture broth was incubated for 18-24 hours at 35 °C. The culture broth for turbidity was observed. 5 mL of the culture broth was aseptically transferred in the sterile screw-capped tubes. The bacterial suspension was agitated on a vortex mixer and was immediately compared against the 0. 5 McFarland standard prepared.Preparation of Assay Plates and Cotton-Swabbing The assay plates were prepared depending on the number of test organism and replications required. Approximately 15 mL of 7 melted nutrient agar was poured into dry and sterile petri dishes and let the medium solidify. A sterile cotton swab was moistened into the inoculum suspension. It was used with wooden applicator handles. The sterile cotton swab was dipped into a suspension of the inoculum. The moistened swab was pressed and rotated firmly against the wall of the tube just above the fluid level to remove the excess liquid.The inoculum was swabbed aseptically into a solidified nutrient agar by streaking the swab over the entire surface of the agar plate three times. The plate was rotated 60 degrees after each application to ensure an even distribution of the inoculum on the surface of the medium and then the swabbed plates were stood for 5 m inutes. Paper Disc Diffusion Method One paper disc was picked out using the forceps and immersed into the plant extract. The moistened filter disc was laid gently on the seeded agar plate. The disc was tapped gently with forceps to ensure maximum full contact of the disc with the agar medium.The inverted plates were then incubated. 8 Reading the Assay Plates The discs were observed and a halo was formed. This is the sign of the zone of inhibition. The plates were inverted and measured using the ruler for each inhibition zone in millimeters. Analyzing the Results 19 mm may also be expressed as very active. 9 Results and Discussion Table 1. 1 shows the zone of inhibition in millimeters and the parameter Parameter Zone of Inhibition (mm) Staphylococcus aureus Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average Rommel Joshua 22 25 24 24 Escherichia coli Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 AverageCarlo Allison 25 25 21 24 The result obtained in the antibacterial activity obviously indicated that the ethanolic extract s howed its antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. ?-sistosterol, 12- hydroxystrearic acid, palmitic acid and d-malic acid and tannic acid were bioactive compounds isolated from Musa Sapientum Linn. The zone of inhibition was more than 19 millimeters in diameter which means it is very active. According to this investigation, it could be indicated that antimicrobial activity of the ethanolic extract of Musa sapientum L.is due to the present of those bioactive compounds. Graph 1. 1 shows the zone of inhibition of E. coli 11 Graph 1. 2 shows the zone of inhibition of S. Aureus 12 Conclusions and Recommendation Based on the findings of the study, the researchers’ arrived at a conclusion: The appropriate extraction process with an outstanding antibacterial activity of the extract was the alcoholic extraction with 80% ethyl alcohol for 48 hours. The ethanol showed an antibacterial activity against the tested microorganisms. The study show that the natural antimicrobial compounds of Musa sapientum Linn.can retain their inhibitory effect against bacterial growth in model media based on the inhibitory zone. But, there is no significant difference of the banana blossom in inhibiting the growth of S. aureus and E. coli. Based on the conclusion drawn, the following recommendations are given: The researchers’ would like to recommend further analysis on the other parts of the banana plant that can display an antibacterial activity. 13 Acknowledgement Foremost to God Almighty, the greatest author of all times, for His guidance and blessings who gave the researcher the strength and determination to finish this piece of work. Mrs. Letecia S.Villanueva, our chemistry teacher, for her moral support and encouragement as well as his utmost understanding and consideration which led to the realization of this study; the SRC committee, chaired by Mrs. Julieta N. Garcia with members: Mr. Elmer F. Conde, Mr. Bernabe L. Linog and Mrs. Mari e Lou S. Paler for their constructive comments, relevant suggestions and valuable input and for their understanding which greatly and surely pushed the researchers towards the accomplishment of the study; the DOST personnel for their tools and equipments in experimenting the study which surely gave the results of the study accurately; and to Mr.Edmund Mendoza for the statistical analysis which helped to conclude the study. To the researchers’ parents, Mrs. Marlita B. Ongtico, Mr. and Mrs. Roman O. Oronan, and Mr. and Mrs. Agra, classmates, parents and friends, and all those who, in one way or another, helped in financing, realization of the study and encouragement, never ending support and knowledge of the study.