Diamond Trade in Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Precious stone Trade in Africa - Essay Example Relating this history shows how Africa and one f its most attractive assets have gotten caught in the qualities f a social multilingual f political economies, and the picture f the African endures afterward; a lessened capacity to guarantee political portrayal for some African people groups, and a decreased spot f support on the planet economies for African countries and Africa, as a worldwide substance is the outcome. (Sherman 600-615) As the picture f a riotous Africa endures in the recorded second to de-legitimize it as feasible specialist in universal political economies, separated from f its authentic conditions and left to the impulse f showcase powers and subjecting social practices, an ever increasing number of African people groups come to using power and savagery with an end goal to accomplish their investment, propagating this terrible picture. Jewels, as an item f Western tasteful qualities, through the conditions f history and topography, turns into a perfect mode for this propagation. (Olsson 1133-1150) In spite of the fact that jewels happen all over Africa, they are gotten to most effectively in riverbeds by means of alluvial mining. This requires far less genuinely escalated exertion; therefore, the streams start to fill in as fringes. Mapped as precious stone assets, they become instruments f power and at last, corruptive relations among the locale. In 1997 the NGO Global Witness distributed a record f the nearby respectful wars entitled Rough Trade. In Angola and Sierra Leone, where mined jewels were and are being utilized to subsidize vicious battles over land, assets and political portrayal, the waterways have become diagrammed as the social assets f different divisions under the support f military authorization. Worldwide Witness reason for existing was to uncover the deceitful endeavors f the genuine jewel exchange, recognizably the dealers for DeBeers and the shadow brokers in the middle. In spite of the fact that the design was to uncover and censure these arrangements f promoting blood precious stones, the distribution portrayed the battle just as an ethical one for Western business and customers contending in favor f not supporting the rough turmoil f Africa. Accentuation was made on the political battles, especially in Angola, where the effort for portrayal between political resistances UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence f Angola) and MPLA keeps on partitioning into battles over precious stones alone. Be that as it may, as of now the main political concern f the social groups included is the tremendous individual addition to be obtained through control f such rich and important assets, at last pointing towards the requirement for military nearness in mined territories. (Sherman 600-615) The precious stone as a prime example f Western worth turns into the ideal methods f ingraining financial disorder through the straightforwardness f misusing other social qualities. There size, accommodation, f transport and mining, just as their monetary worth, can make them a definitive source f money for an insurgency. This suits as a nearby model that is mainland in its impact. It is questionable that each African recognizes what a precious stone is, and what its value, less to them, however to the non-African, and as such turns into a window f monetary, and in this way conceivably political chance. The connecting f Africa with precious stones is a lot of a similar picture as the African with savagery. The treasure f the landmass is just so toward the Western

Marxist Analysis of the Hunger Games free essay sample

The Hunger Games happens after the annihilation of North America, in a country known as Panem, which comprises of an affluent Capitol and twelve encompassing, more unfortunate regions. Locale 12, where the book starts, is situated in the coal-rich area that was some time ago Appalachia. As discipline for a past resistance to the Capitol in which a thirteenth region was pulverized, one kid and one young lady between the ages of 12 and 18 from each region are chosen by yearly lottery to take an interest in the Hunger Games, a broadcast occasion in which the members (or tributes) must battle to the demise in a risky outside field constrained by the Capitol until just one remains. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a young lady from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th yearly Hunger Games instead of her more youthful sister, Primrose. Likewise chose from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a dough punchers child whom Katniss knows from school, who once gave her bread when her family was starving† (Wikipedia 1). There are solid scholarly subjects all through this work promptly loan themselves to different types of investigate. This paper will concentrate on two principle classes of scholarly analysis. The first is Marxist analysis, for which there is a lot of material that uncovers the novel’s unequivocally against colonialist plan. There is a solid mistreatment of the poor by the rich, and financial enslavement is liable for the gigantic divergence between the â€Å"haves† and the â€Å"have nots†. The Capitol overwhelms its areas by controlling instruction and the media, keeping the regions in a condition of appetite and destitution, and observing all parts of existence with a hawk eye. The second type of scholarly analysis applied to The Hunger Games will be women's activist scrutinize. Katniss is introduced as a solid, autonomous lady who appears to have risen above the limits of the customary female sex job, and she is at last effective because of her capacity to assume the qualities of either sexual orientation as required by her circumstance. She is her family’s supplier, having embraced regular manly obligations in chasing, bargaining, and ensuring her sister and mom. Nonetheless, there are times where she can be ensured or bolstered by a male character without feeling corrupted or compliant. Also, the female characters all through the set of three who make progress toward independently ladylike sexual orientation jobs are met with resistance and bleak mishap. At last, The Hunger Games is a fantastic work of youthful grown-up fiction that utilizes a cutting edge, tragic culture to offer perusers the opportunity to investigate and evaluate Marxist philosophies just as women's activist idea. Marxist Critique of The Hunger Games One of the most grounded subjects in The Hunger Games is its judgment of dominion, which is spoken to by the Capitol of Panem. All through its pages, the novel welcomes perusers to reprove the severe financial powers and harsh belief systems of the Capitol and its delegates. The Hunger Games unquestionably has a Marxist plan as it uncovers the devastating impacts of the abuse of the individuals by the world class not many. Residents of the Capitol are leading existences of extravagance and simplicity while the dedicated and ruined residents of different regions battle to get by. These are â€Å"men and ladies with slouched shoulders, swollen knuckles, numerous who have since a long time ago quit attempting to scour the coal dust out of their wrecked nails, the lines of their depressed faces† (Collins 4). They are the ideal portrayal of the Marxist working class, â€Å"the larger part of the worldwide populace who live in unacceptable conditions and who have consistently played out the physical work that fills the coffers of the rich† (Tyson 54). They have lost expectation and simply work under the mastery of the favored first class, the bourgeoisie who control the world’s characteristic, monetary, and HR. This control infests each part of their lives †they are continually viewed by â€Å"Peacekeepers† who guarantee that there is no trace of resistance among the individuals. Katniss and her closest companion Gale (a kid who additionally lost his dad at a youthful age) have only hatred for the Orwellian â€Å"big brother† meddling of the Capitol. â€Å"District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety,† Katniss murmurs. At that point she looks rapidly behind her. Indeed, even here, even in the center of no place, you stress somebody may catch you† (Collins 4). The areas are not unequivocally separated among themselves by religion, ethnicity, or sex, yet rather appear to work as strong networks all by themselves. They are kept from speaking with each other. Be that as it may, their capacity to gather as one and ascend against the persecution is seen toward the finish of the set of three, when the locale conquer their dread of control and consolidate as one to overcome the Capitol. Most of the residents of the regions stay docile. A Marxist knowledge would uncover that they are emphatically kept hostage by the severe belief systems working in their lives †philosophies that keep them from understanding the material/authentic conditions in which they live, in light of the fact that the individuals are delayed to recognize that these philosophies influence their lives. In any case, a couple of the fundamental characters do see this suppression, and they carry on against it. One noticeable model is in the strategy by which kids are gone into the lottery to become tributes in the Hunger Games. At the point when a youngster turns 12, they are entered once, at that point twice when they are 13, three times when they’re 14, etc. Be that as it may, poor and starving kids have the alternative to include their name in more occasions in return for â€Å"tesserae. Each tesserae merits a pitiful year’s gracefully of grain and oil for one person† (13). They may likewise do this for every one of their relatives. So the well off youngsters, who have no requirement for tesserae, have far lower odds of being picked to battle until the very end. By keeping the poor in a steady condition of dread and abuse and keeping the well off substance and glad, the Capitol guarantees that there is no resistance. Katniss elucidates this, talking about her companion Gale: â€Å"I’ve tuned in to him bluster about how the tesserae are simply one more device to cause wretchedness in our locale. An approach to plant scorn between the destitute laborers of the Seam and the individuals who can for the most part rely on dinner and accordingly guarantee we will never confide in each other. ‘It’s to the Capitol’s bit of leeway to have us isolated among ourselves,’ he may state if there were no ears to hear however mine† (13). Moreover, the Capitol uses its capacity the entire year between the Games, by giving the triumphant locale blessings of grain, oil, and even delights like sugar, while the remainder of the regions keep on fighting starvation. This facilitates the climate of separation between regions. The imperialistic Capitol additionally bolsters the industrialist thought of â€Å"survival of the fittest† in the Games. Be that as it may, like subjects obvious in today’s society, the tributes from specific areas have a particular bit of leeway, having been very much taken care of and prepared for battle for their entire lives. The less-special tributes from more unfortunate areas have needed to work the entire day to accommodate themselves and their families, and accordingly have an extreme shortcoming when set in opposition to the others. Furthermore, inside the Games, tributes are dependent upon well off â€Å"sponsors† who take them on, wagering that they’ll win. Patrons can send food, medication, and weapons to help the embraced tribute in their battle for endurance. In spite of any abilities that a tribute may have, the person is still only a pawn in a round of diversion, constrained by the speculation of the rich and kept alive (or not) exclusively for their beguilement. There is an overwhelming restriction of culture inside The Hunger Games. Opportunity of thought and the sway of truth take a rearward sitting arrangement to the Capitol’s urgent need to look after force. The training of the kids in District 12 (Katniss’s home locale) would be intensely denounced by Marxist pundits †the vast majority of the courses are identified with coal mining, which is the core of that district’s economy. â€Å"Except for the week after week address on the historical backdrop of Panem,† as Katniss uncovers, â€Å"It’s for the most part a great deal of blather about what we owe the Capitol. Be that as it may, I know there must be more than they’re letting us know, a genuine record of what occurred during the rebellion† (42). It’s uncovered in the later books that there is in reality another region, obscure to the residents of Panem, that endure the defiance and lives underground where it’s plotting to topple the Capitol. Also, while the Games are broadcast for â€Å"the citizens’ entertainment†, they are exceptionally edited to depict just pictures that are steady of the Capitol’s power. Katniss becomes a close acquaintence with another tribute in the field that is later murdered in the activity. As a little demonstration of defiance, to attempt to give her companion some poise in death, Katniss puts the girl’s body in a tranquil position, shuts her eyes, and encompasses her with wonderful wildflowers. Her endeavor to say something, in any case, is precluded from that day’s feature reel that’s communicate to the country, â€Å"because even that bears a resemblance to rebellion† (363). Another strategy for abuse of the low class by the bourgeoisie is the isolation of the regions. Residents are not permitted outside their own, and thus there is less danger of an uprising. In the Games, when Katniss converses with her partner from another locale, it’s a novel encounter for her to catch wind of life outside of District 12: â€Å"It’s intriguing, finding out about her life. We h

Editing Older Posts Good for SEO

Editing Older Posts Good for SEO Make Money Online Queries? Struggling To Get Traffic To Your Blog? Sign Up On (HBB) Forum Now!Editing Older Posts Good for SEO?Updated On 23/04/2017Author : Gautham NekkantiTopic : Featured SEOShort URL : http://hbb.me/2oz503h CONNECT WITH HBB ON SOCIAL MEDIA Follow @HellBoundBlogEarlier our guest authors shared about generating new traffic from old posts and powerful ways to repurpose your old posts, now our guest author Gautham shares his views about editing those old posts for search engines. I was always skeptical about editing my older blog posts buried deep below the other posts. I always received mixed opinions and suggestions regarding editing my older posts if it would promote or ruin my existing organic rankings.Is Editing Posts Safe for SEO? Google loves updated content. Technology rapidly changes with time, content comprising facts and news dated years ago wouldnt certainly impress your visitors. Eventually it leads to a higher bounce rate which can ruin your rankings. Changing Permalink Structure without redirection would be a disaster while editing your posts. If you are using WordPress and using date in Post Permalink Structure, make sure you have a good redirection plugin before re-publishing the post.Benefits of Editing Older Posts1. Updated ContentAs Ive mentioned above updating your content to match the latest facts and figures would be a great move indeed. The Top 10 articles would cite a perfect example. I had an year old article on Top 10 Social Networking Sites which Ive ignored to update until a reader pointed out Orkut (Ranked Second) is drop dead.It gives you time to Proofread your existing post and correct any grammatical mistakes and typos that may have crawled to your article.2. PageRank BenefitAlthough PageRank is considered virtually worthless to your blog, Google does consider it but gives a low priority in Search Results Rankings (SERPS), it is likely your blog has gathered some Authority and a good standing PageRank with time . Republishing enables your older posts to get featured on your homepage and most probably improves your SERPS.3. Wake Up the Dead PostsMy recent posts get indexed and ranked virtually in seconds, while some of my older posts are barely even indexed. As Ive already mentioned about PageRank and blog authority benefit above, revive your dead posts.READIncrease Your Blog’s Brand Awareness with Facebook Page3. Keyword TrendsNot every keyword is evergreen, Especially if you are Blogging in the Technology and Gadgets niche, most of the keywords are fly by night. You couldnt expect drawing traffic from the current keywords you are ranking now an year later. It would rather be smart move to harness the older post regarding the similar topic but targeting varied keyword.Its important to stay updated with current keyword trends if you want the Organic Traffic keep flowing in from the older posts. And most likely, you may not be SEO conscious during your budding days as blogger, you could ed it and improve On Page SEO parameters and keyword placements.4. Avoid Duplicate ContentCreating a new post and copy pasting content from your older posts to make minor tweaks could be a disaster. Google does penalize duplicate content issues on your own blog.Furnishing your older posts could perform better than writing a new one regarding a similar topic. So why waste countless hours on writing.5. ExposureHow many of your readers would dig into pages deep down to read your older posts.  If you wish to let your avid readers take a look at an excellent resource youve published before getting your blog into limelight, then republishing is your thing.ConclusionIf you are worried about putting your current search engine rankings in Jeopardy by editing your older posts, dont worry it is perfectly safe for SEO. You could manage to save few hours and witness the benefits mentioned above if you can effectively use Republishing.Let me know your opinions through comments.

International Aid Or Development Assistance Essay

International aid or development assistance is defined in several ways. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines international aid to â€Å"include grants and loans to developing countries and territories which are: (i) with the promotion of economic development and welfare in the recipient country as the main objective and (ii) at concessional financial terms (i.e. conveys a grant element of at least 25 percent).† This definition is commonly accepted, however; some analysts include loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as the World Bank (concessional or not) in their definitions. The history of international development aid can be tracked down to antiquity, however, the modern era saw international development aid begin to evolve in the 19th and early 20th century (Kapur, 2003) but the true expansion of international development aid was in the aftermath of the Second World War. The most significant events in accordance with the establishment of international development aid were the creation of The United Nations, The Marshall Plan, and The Bretton Woods conference that established the World Bank and the IMF. The modern manifestation of international development aid is extremely widespread. There are countless international organizations and governments present which all contribute to international development aid as it is a moral responsibility, however, what is the effectiveness of the aid they provide? This paper arguesShow MoreRelatedAid to Africa: A Review of the Efficacy of International Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa1695 Words   |  7 Pagescentury in an effort to propel development, Africa remains by far the poorest continent in the world. Failure has arisen from the problematic nature of the administration of the aid. Traditionally, aid has come in the form of military aid, and large international financial transactions. 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Human factor failures - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 24 Words: 7237 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? 1.1Concept and objectives Explain the concept of your project. What are the main ideas that led you to propose this work? Describe in detail the ST objectives. Show how they relate to the topics addressed by the call, which you should explicitly identify. The objectives should be those achievable within the project, not through subsequent development. They should be stated in a measurable and verifiable form, including through the milestones that will be indicated under section 1.3 below. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Human factor failures" essay for you Create order Introduction From EU statistics is known that at least 50% of accidents on EU roads is caused by human factor failures. These human caused losses had represented in 2008 about 100 billion Euros and more than 20000 killed people. Unfortunately, these figures increase from year to year. They are caused by two factors mainly: Till now almost permanently acting increase of the road transport intensity (though some expectations were made last time that road transport intensity will decrease because the world financial crisis, this appears to be true), faults of the drivers interactions with vehicle and their incorrect reaction on the situation on road. The proposed project is focused on the second mentioned factor, which acts in all kinds of road traffic and concerns the drivers of all kinds of vehicles. There are various approaches how to diminish the negative influences of this factor. However, the analyses made in last few years say that significant decrease of these tremendous losses can be reached by development of more efficient methods of driver training for to be resistive against decreases of their attention, to attention splitting caused by influence of environmental factors and also to tendencies to non-tolerant and aggressive behaviour or stress influences when driving. The positive effect of such advanced training holds a considerably long time (several months and more). The wider scale application of such methods, especially on professional cargo truck drivers, drivers of long distance busses and drivers of dangerous goods transporting vehicles can bring besides the significant decrease of road accidents, saving human lives and money, also the not neglect-able decrease of fuel consumption, air pollution and time saving (estimated to 10% and more). These methods are dominantly based on bio-feedback approach, oriented on the use of advanced analysis of electroencephalographic EEG signals and of other selected brain activity indicators. The bio-feedback based methods are non-invasive in principle and in contrary to almost all on drugs consumption based approaches to attention enhancement (amphetamines etc.) do not include the danger of narcolepsy. The bio-feedback methods of advanced training is not restricted in age and sex, however in respective testing of developed advanced approaches the modelling of the real composition of driver population will be respected. 1.1.1 Goal The goal of this proposal is to develop and test novel advanced methods for training the of road vehicle drivers allowing to reach their improved resistance to attention decreases and failures (namely attention splitting and/or switching to aggressive style of driving) in interaction with vehicle. 1.1.2 Technical and scientific challenges The human machine interaction (HMI) is known for many years as most important, but very un-reliable and un-safety factor in all the activities in contemporary transportation, especially those, realized on roads. Human subjects made a lot of faults, react late, made wrong or incorrect decisions, forgot. In general, there are the following three main kinds of reasons for such human subject failures when driving vehicle: The natural subsequent decreases of attention, to which each human subject in course of any his/her activity is exposed, 2.The humoral negative influences on particular subject caused by abnormal high presence of alcohol and/or other drugs in particular subject body, 3.The sudden changes of respective subject behaviour from tolerant to aggressive character. As far as is known, the reason a) has to be considered as main cause of accident in about 50% of cases, while the two other share the rest approximately halve to halve. Besides these well known sources of human subject failures the attention has to be given also to splitting of driver attention from observing the fundamental stimuli (concerning the situation on road) to marginal stimuli(including various in car cockpit installed assistance systems and nomadic devices), invading the driver attention, influence of environmental factors, like the level and kind of illumination, temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure etc. psychical and general humoral conditions in which the driver starts driving and to their eventual changes appearing in the course of his/her driving activity. There is very problematic to fight with all these types of problems of driver car interaction reliability at once. Nevertheless, the advanced driver training for higher resistance to attention decreases and attention splitting have to be considered as key tool for it. This is the reason, why the project Attractions is focused before all at the minimizing of the negative effects of natural decreases of attention, to which each driver, providing his/her driving activity for longer interval of time has to face. 1.2Progress beyond the state-of-the-art Describe the state-of-the-art in the area !! concerned, and the advance that the proposed project would bring about. If applicable, refer to the results of any patent search you might have carried out. The project Attractions is oriented dominantly to development of methods and necessary tools (both HW and SW) for training the drivers to be significantly more resistive to decreases of their attention in the course of longer driving and to dangerous splitting of attention from the situation on road caused due the influences of on driver impacting disturbing marginal stimuli. Current projects are focussed on the development of technical tools based on sensor input to analyse the behaviour of car drivers and on the development of biofeedback measured by EMG and ECG devices. The innovative aspect of the cuurent project is the use of EEG devices and the combination with EMG and ECG devices. The attention level of cardrivers will be measured by bran activity. These methods are based on deeper understanding of driver brain activities in course of his/her driving the vehicle, namely on advanced analysis of appropriate combination of driver EEG, EMG, ECG, near-infrared transparency signals and other suitable indicators (skin impedance, breath temperature, face grimaces etc). They will use the bio-feedback oriented stimulation of increasing the driver resistance to human driving failures, namely to attention decreases and splitting due both the environmental and in-vehicle disturbing influences. As main tool for such advanced driver training the compact driving simulators equipped by adaptive 2- and 3D scenarios will serve. As training reward and punishment the use of adaptive modifications of simulator scenarios are expected. Because the applicability of bio-feedback based methods of training concerns in general only a part of driver population (estimated now at about 60%), the group of professional drivers (truck, busses, special vehicles, drivers of dangerous cargo) will stay in the focus of interest in this project. The efficiency of methods and tools, developed in the proposed project will be tested on reasonable large sample of such professional drivers, on which also the time duration of respective driver advanced state and possibility of repeated retraining will be verified. This will be done by double-blind testing before and after the training of satisfactory large volunteer cohort. Finally, the methodology for wider application of such advanced driver training will be proposed with respect to national and regional specifics existing in on project participating European countries. Project expected deliverables consist in: Methods for driver training for higher resistance to attention decreasing Methods for driver training for higher resistance to attention splitting Special simulator scenarios in virtual reality for bio-feedback training of driver higher resistance to attention decreases and splitting Compact publication (book) on bio-feedback application to driver training 1.2.1 Natural mechanisms of attention decreases As is well known, the level of human subject attention can be expressed by various indicators. As most suitable for practical application we recommend restrict on following three: the reaction time RT, considered as time interval between appearing of some stimulus (usually of visual nature) and driver reaction, the probability Pcorr of driver correct response on certain stimulus, the size and shape of the actual driver visual field, measured usually by simplification on horizontal observation angle. From these indicators the figure of merit of attention level LA can be expressed, e.g. as LA = |RT-1, Pcorr, |. I dont understand this formula The value of LA is influenced by many factors, but in any case it changes with time. An example of such changes is shown in Fig. 1. In the course of longer driving exposition, the attention level of each driver decreases, as is idealized shown in Fig.1. While the phase of full attention (yellow) and of relaxation (green) can be considered as acceptable with respect to driving safety, the other three (somnolence blue, hypnagogium and micro-sleep red to dark violet, awaking light violet) have to be considered as dangerous. Of course, in some cases the sequence of phases can be shortened. Naturally, there is a need to train the drivers so, that the appearances of these dangerous phases in his/her attention development come as delayed as possible. 1.2.2 Mechanisms of attention splitting Besides the natural decreases the driver attention is influenced almost permanently by various stimuli, detouring its focusing from the situation on road in front of his/her vehicle to marginal events. Such stimuli spit the effective level of the actual disposal level of driver attention so that only the minor part, often too small for safe driving remains for safe driving. Though the length of influence of these marginal stimuli is usually not too long, even the short splitting of driver attention can be dangerous, especially in high speed and in dense traffic. There are two main ways how to diminish this danger: Limitation of the number, density and intensity of marginal stimuli influencing the driver, Training the driver for higher resistance to marginal stimuli influence. The second one stands in the focus of interest in this project, because the EEG and near infrared light brain transparency oriented biofeedback can be considered as good tool for the improving driver resistance to such marginal stimuli influences. 1.2.3 Principles of advanced training One of the most prospective advanced methods of driver training to be more resistive to attention decreases is based on biofeedback (BF). Biofeedback methodology itself is known for about 20 years as treatment technique in which human subjects are trained to improve their physiological functions by using some suitable significant signals from their own bodies. Usually the EEG signals are used for such purpose. BF is till now used mainly for attention improvement of children and student, in some special applications also for pilots. Till now it was not used for vehicle drivers. (This not true, BF is used for many years for improving driving behaviour but using EEG is innovative). Its application in this area opens an approach to reach significant gain in road accident decreasing. For such purpose the BF based approach will be extended besides the EEG on using the wider combination of human brain and body activity characterizing signals, namely coming from skin, heart (ECG), muscles (EMG), brain (besides EEG also the transparency of neat-infrared light) etc. The respective subjects are learned how to understand the information hidden in these signals and are forced (by suitable rewards and punishments) for modification of these signals by their will in the form, corresponding to vigilant stage and eventually also to tolerant behaviour. The most common is the use of electroencephalographic signal for this purpose, but some novel results reached in investigations of near infrared analysis of human brain seem to open the hope that also in this base the efficient BF could be developed. Some psycho-therapeutic experts use at present the BF methodology to decrease intra-psychic tense in anxious and depressive patients and epileptics or learn to relax students who suffered from attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. The main system for consciousness (thalamo-cortical reverberation circuit) generates whole brain electromagnetic oscillations permanently, during all the considered person life. These oscillations project as very complicated electric or magnetic field on surface of head, usually of frequencies 0,5-30 Hz and more. With respect to technical applicability, the electric component of this electromagnetic field is usually preferred. From the EEG signals one chooses certain significant frequency band e.g. the so called SMR (Sensory Motor Rhythm = 13-18 Hz). The appearance of SMR episodes in particular trained person EEG signals is rewarded in appropriate manner (e.g. by success in simultaneously watched game or by another suitable form). The respective person is so stimulated to repeat SMR still more often. Similar, the absence of SMR is punished. This brings into the trained person brain function the factor of electro-genesis and into his/her psych the tendency which projects its own property, which is motor inhibition and attention increasing. This is aim of therapeutically and/or learning oriented processes, in which people are trained to improve their physiological functions by using suitable (e.g. electrical EEG) signals from their own bodies (one can use magnetic component of brain electromagnetic field too, but the necessary equipment is much heavy and expensive). Neurologists use the EEG biofeedback to put down the epileptic attacks [29] or to help stroke patients regain movement in paralyzed muscles. Psycho-therapeutists and psychiatrists use it to decrease intra-psychical tense in anxious and depressive clients [22, 24], schizophrenic patients [13] and learn to relax boys who suffered from ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorders) syndrome [17, 19, 23]. PET (positron emission tomography) shows metabolic reduction in some brain structures, e.g. superior prefrontal and premotoric areas, fMRI shows hypoactivity in gyrus occipitotemporalis and in both amygdalae, see Fig.2. Fig. 2: Longitudinal section of the brain. AA area adolfactoria or septal nuclei, rhythmic generator for hippocampus (HI). AM -amygdala, part of limbic system. HI and AM are structures where are very often localized epileptic foci (EF). ARAS ascendent reticular activation system, centrum for vigilance maintenance. BO bulbus olfactorius, odours perception. CO neocortex, 95% of all cortex, logical, rational, kognitive, speech centra etc. GC gyrus cinguli, attention and perception of pain. HI hippocampus, old cortex, emotional and memory functions. HT hypothalamus, the highest neurovegetative centrum. HY hypophysis, gland with the highest neurohumoral endokrinne functions. LBF lobulus parietalis, part of neocortex for touch, pain and attention. LC locus caeruleus, nucleus for paradoxical sleep regulation. MES.- mesencephalon, midbrain, superior part of brain- stem. NR nucleus ruber, motor centrum. M.oblong. medulla oblongata, inferior part of brain stem. NRA nuclei raphe, c entra for synchronnous sleep regulation. PF prefrontal cortex, rational function, operating memory, attention, psychic Ego. PM premotorr cortex, area for movement preparation. Pons Varoli middle part of brainstem. The results suggest that EEG BF has the capacity to normalize the functioning of the brain structure (left superior parietal lobule), mainly of right anterior part of gyrus cinguli, the key neural substrate of selective attention. There is therefore recommendable to use the EEG BF technique for increasing attention and for improving the resistance to attention decreases and for elimination of somnolence stages of drivers, pilots etc.. Anatomical and functional substrate of consciousness is thalamo-cortical reverberation circuit which permanently products electromagnetic waves during the day and night in frequency between 1 30 Hz. Every narrow band from this whole spectrum has its own property. SMR activity (13 -18 Hz) accompanying the motor inhibition and better attention is used as training for calming and quietness. SMR, like another EEG activities comes at the beginning of observation quite randomly. But if every SMR episode is rewarded in appropriate way, the trained person brain becomes to be positively stimulated. These situations represent for trained person a pleasure. Thanks to such motivation the previous situations are implemented in thalamo-cortical circuits and in memory. This mechanism activity is than repeated many time. SMR time index increases and SMR activity is transformed into electro-genesis and later on into psychic tendency to keep it for longer time. The aim of BF is reached. Therefore anxiety, hyperactivity, epileptic attacks decreases and resistance to attention decreases rises. This probably can concern also the changes of driver behaviour. Measurements show that most effective for tasks coupled with EEG attentiveness is stimulation in area around electrode C3 (in the system 10/20), while subjects effort is to maximize SMR and suppress variance and aggression (theta and beta activity respectively). The therapeutic tools allow setting up different biases for SMR activation, which gives the possibility of progressive training. Next two graphs show analysis of the SMR, beta and beta2 activity of one subject in the beginning and by the end of the short (10 rounds) biofeedback training. It is possible to see that SMR activity is higher (testify for higher concentration abilities) meanwhile beta activity is relatively lower after training . 1.3S/T methodology and associated work plan A detailed work plan should be presented, broken down into work package(WPs) which should follow the logical phases of the implementation of the project, and include consortium management and assessment of progress and results. (Please note that your overall approach to management will be described later, in section 2). Please present your plans as follows: Describe the overall strategy of the work plan (Maximum length one page) Show the timing of the different WPs and their components (Gantt chart or similar). Provide a detailed work description broken down into work packages. Work package list (please use table 1.3a). Deliverables list (please use table 1.3b). List of milestones (please use table 1.3c) Description of each work package (please use table 1.3d) Summary effort table (1.3e) Provide a graphical presentation of the components showing their interdependencies (Pert diagram or similar) Describe any significant risks, and associated contingency plans Note: The number of work packages used must be appropriate to the complexity of the work and the overall value of the proposed project.The planning should be sufficiently detailed to justify the proposed effort and allow progress monitoring by the Commission. This project is focussed on the realisation of the following goals: The creation of a set of tested methods for advanced training of drivers for higher resistance to attention decreases, attention splitting and to sudden conversions from tolerant to aggressive behaviour. This will be realised by the use of existing tools and technologies from the car simulators, PTW simulators, virtual reality scenarios and bio-feedback methodology.. The verification and testing of the wide scale applicability of developed methods respecting some specifics of age, sex, skill and locality of drivers. Test experiments. In the course of the project the virtual environment and learning methodology and material will be tested. 1.3.1 Software design methodology As was mentioned above a lot of considerably new software has to be developed in the course of this project solution. At the start of the project the requirements on it have to be formulated. This software tools will be oriented into following main areas: Software modules for special virtual scenarios Software modules for car-simulator and PTW-simulator control and providing of measurements Software modules for bio-feedback training Software modules for training efficiency and enhanced driver attention duration. Because this software toolsmodules will be developed by various participants of the project, they will have to fulfil all new software modules need to require the compatibility requirements. To develop the such ssoftware modules an incremental and iterative approach will be used (: a sequence of successive prototypes of increasing complexity and maturity) will be used. This approach allows the availability of preliminary software modules in early stages of the project and the necessary feedback to refine requirements and designs. After that, the evaluation of these modules with respect to their applicability will be provided. Finally the .integration of the respective well tested and in operation verified software modules will be made. 1.3.2 Project Methodology The project is composed of a number of steps. These steps will be translated in work packages (WP). Because of the relations between the successive WPs, they will be executed both in a sequential and in parallel way. In the following description the main successive steps will be mentioned before all. The steps solved in parallel are mentioned secondly. Step 1 The main goal of the project is to design and develop a tool for improving the resistance of road vehicle drivers to failures of attention and of their behaviour character. For that: a) the improved knowledge of attention decreases and attention splitting mechanisms is necessary. For this, the interest will be focused in the WP 1. Because of the very high individuality of human subjects, considerably high number of tested persons (probands) has to be investigated (at least 24 probands for each experiment, by respecting the division of each such proband cohort with respect to age and sex). In parallel various approaches to training of drivers to improved resistance to attention failures will be tested with special regard to those, based on bio-feedback methodology. Step 2 The actual state of driver attention level driver can be estimated and measured by the use of various attention indicators differing in their suitability for advanced driver training, the speed and specificity of particular indicator will be taken into account as two dominant criteria. Because at present no universal indicator is known, the interest will be given to selection of their proper combination. A special interest will be given to indicators based on brain signal analysis, which are probably the most specific and fastest. However their practical applicability is limited because of the necessity to install some special sensors on driver head. Therefore in parallel the interest will be given also to those indicators which are easier for practical use (based on analysis of face grimaces and eye movements and on various signals of driver body). Because of their lower specificity and speed, they have however to be calibrated by the indicators based on brain signals. Step 3 When a suitable set of driver attention and behaviour indicators is found, the methodology of its use for bio-feedback training of driver to improved resistance to attention and behaviour faults will be developed. The respective software will be installed at disposable driving simulators and the efficiency of respective training methods will be tested. Step 4 The best methodologies will be specified and the respective software tolls will be integrated. In parallel the wide size applicability of such training methodology will be investigated, with special regard to enhanced driver stage durability and to his/her retraining possibility. The eventual negative effect of such advanced training of drivers will be taken under investigation. Step 5 The analysis of expectable economic effect of wide size application of such advanced training of special driver categories will be provided. The eventual social aspect for society health will be also taken into account. Second Life is already hosted by the Linden Company. Nevertheless the pros and cons of such hosting still need to be investigated before adopting a final virtual environment. The posed objectives will be achieved following these steps and completing the activities, described in the proposed work packages 1 6. The work package 7 will be oriented to project management. The work-plan is given in Table 1, which exhibits the systemized work packages, the expected outputs, which activities will lead to these outcomes, duration of these activities (start and end), which partners will be involved and how many man-months are needed. Work package list Work package No Work package title Type of activity Lead partic no. Lead partic. short name Person-months Start month End month6 WP1 Investigation of driver attention decrease mechanisms and of the advanced methods for driver training RTD 1 CTU FTS / LCPC 60 1 12 WP2 Analysis and recommendation of suitable indicators for driver brain actual stage representation with special regard to possibility of use for bio-feedback based training RTD 2 TRL 45 6 18 WP3 Development of methodology for bio-feedback based training of professional drivers by the use of the set of indicators specified in WP 2 Development of special simulator scenarios for combined positive and negative driver stimulation of drivers for improved resistance to attention failures RTD 3 TUD 55 16 30 WP4 Development of special simulator scenarios for combined positive and negative driver stimulation of drivers for improved resistance to attention failures RTD 1 CTU FTS 38 18 34 WP5 Testing the efficiency, durability, and re-trainability of such bio-feedback training on statistically significant sample of driver population. Analysis of eventual negative effects. R TD 5 LCPC / CHU Bdx 38 18 30 WP6 Estimation of economic and ecologic effect of such advanced driver training application. RTD 5 D 45 25 35 WP7 Management RTD 1 IDS 11 1 36 TOTAL 294 List of Deliverables Del. no. Deliverable name WP no. Nature Dissemi-nation level Delivery date (proj. month) 1.1. Report on literature survey containing a list with a state of the art and a comparison of driver education methods WP1 R CO 5 2.1. Report on the study on the attention indicators. WP2 R CO 16 2.2. Evaluation reports of suitable attention indicators and their recommended set WP2 R CO 18 3.1. Evaluation report on bio-feedback driver training to increased resistance to attention decreases WP3 R CO 28 4.1. Package of simulator scenarios WP4 R RE 30 5.1. Evaluation report on bio-feedback methods applicability WP5 R CO 30 6.1. Report on the bio-feedback methods efficiency and gained driver improvement duration. WP6 R CO 35 7.1. Partner agreements between coordinator and each partner. WP7 O CO 1 7.2. The rules for maintaining the partnership established. WP7 O CO 2 7.3 Detailed progress reports (Report on the organized conferences and participation in scientific conferences, a list of presented papers and publications) WP7 R RE Milestones Milestones are control points where decisions are needed with regard to the next stage of the project. For example, a milestone may occur when a major result has been achieved, if its successful attainment is a required for the next phase of work. Another example would be a point when the consortium must decide which of several technologies to adopt for further development. Milestone number Milestone name Work package(s) involved Expected date Means of verification 1 Recommended set of attention indicators WP2 Month 12 Attention indicators methods and software package. 2 Software package of simulator scenarios WP4 Month 33 Remotely accessible with client software 3 Recommended methods of bio-feedback based driver training for improved resistance to attention decrease and splitting WP3 Month 30 Remotely accessible with project partners and clients 4 Bio-feedback training effect durability testing complete WP5 Month 30 Report and recommendation 5 Bio-feedback re-trainability testing complete WP5 Month 30 Report and recommendation Work package description Work package number WP1 Start date or starting event: M1 Work package title Investigation of driver attention decrease mechanisms and of the advanced methods for driver training Activity type RTD Participant number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Participant short name CTU TRL TUD TU D LCPCINRETS CHU Bdx Person-months per participant 25 15 10 5 5 5 15 70 Objectives Formulate the requirements on driver attention level in the course of his/her driving activity. Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 1.1. Identify requirements for the level of attention of road vehicle driver in the course of his/her driving activity in different driving conditions and for different kinds of vehicles. Identify the environmental influence and influence of on-board assistance systems. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7. Task 1.2. Study of attention decreases mechanisms, with special regard both to natural decreases caused by driver fatigue and to attention splitting caused by marginal stimuli. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P7. Task 1.3. Selection of the most suitable method for driver education and training. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2 P3, P5, P6, P7. Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery 1.1. Report on literature survey containing a list with a state of the art and a comparison of driver education methods (M5) Work package number WP2 Start date or starting event: M6 Work package title Analysis and recommendation of suitable indicators for driver brain actual stage representation with special regard to possibility of use for bio-feedback based training Activity type RTD Participant number 1 2 3 4 5 7 Participant short name CTU TRL TUD TU D INRETSCHU Bdx Person-months per participant 10 15 10 5 5 10 55 Objectives Analysis and recommendation of suitable set of driver actual attention level indicators Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 2.1. Analysis of the specificity and speed of attention indicators oriented to driver brain activity, with special regard to EEG signals, EMG signals and brain transparency in near-infrared region. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P7. Task 2.2. Analysis of specificity and speed of attention indicators oriented to eye-movements and face grimaces. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P5, P7. Task 2.3. Analysis of specificity and speed of attention indicators oriented to humoral signals of human body (namely temperature of skin, temperature of breath, ECG signals). This task will be performed by partners P1, P2 P3, P4, P5, P7. Task 2.4 Recommendation of the set of indicators suitable for bio-feedback oriented methods of driver training for enhanced resistance to attention decreases and splitting. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2 P3, P4, P5. Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery 2.1 Report on the study on the attention indicators. (M16) 2.2 Evaluation reports of suitable attention indicators and their recommended set. (M18) Work package number WP3 Start date or starting event: M16 Work package title Activity type Participant number Participant short name Person-months per participant Objectives Evaluation report on bio-feedback driver training to increased resistance to attention decreases. Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 3.1 Evaluation of bio-feedback driver training methods oriented to increasing of driver resistance to attention decreases and attention splitting This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P4, P5. P6, P7. Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery 3.1 Evaluation report on bio-feedback driver training to increased resistance to attention decreases (M28) Work package number WP4 Start date or starting event: M18 Work package title Development of methodology for bio-feedback based training of professional drivers by the use of indicators specified in WP2 Activity type RTD Participant number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Participant short name CTU TRL TUD TU D INRETS CHU Bdx Person-months per participant 15 8 8 5 5 15 5 61 Objectives Software package of simulator scenarios. Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 4.1 Specific simulator scenarios in 2D and 3D allowing punishment and rewarding for improved resistance to attention decreases This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P5, P6, P7 Task 4.2 Specific simulator scenarios for improved resistance to attention splitting This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P5, P6, P7 Task.4.3 Specific simulator scenarios for deleting the tendency to aggressive behaviour methods oriented to increasing of driver resistance to attention decreases and attention splitting This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 Task.4.4 Simulator experiments compatibility Definition of common measurement protocol, development of common scenario definition for simulator experiments, validation on all simulators used within the project This task will be performed by partners P1, P6, P7 Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery 4.1 Software package of simulator scenarios (M30) Work package number WP5 Start date or starting event: Work package title Testing of the efficiency, durability and re-trainability of bio-feedback training on statistically significant sample of driver population. Analysis of eventual negative effects. Activity type RTD Participant number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Participant short name CTU TRL TUD TU D INRETSLCPC CHU Bdx Person-months per participant 10 10 5 5 15 5 10 60 Objectives Analysis of bio-feedback driver training methods applicability. Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 5.1 Analysis of training applicability with special regard on wide scale use and gain effect durability This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P5, P6, P7 Task 5.2 Analysis of the probability of successful application in wide scale applications This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P5, P6, P7 Task 5.3 Analysis of eventual negative effects of developed methods This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P4, P5, P6, P7 Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery 5.1 Evaluation report on bio-feedback methods applicability (M30) Work package number WP6 Start date or starting event: M25 Work package title Estimation of economic and ecologic effect of such advanced driver training application Activity type RTD Participant number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Participant short name CTU TRL TUD TU D INRETSLCPC CHU Bdx Person-months per participant 10 10 5 5 15 10 5 60 Objectives Analysis of the bio-feedback methods efficiency and duration of driver resistance to attention decreases and splitting improvement. Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 6.1. Analysis of the economic and ecologic gain of wide-scale application of developed methods This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 6.2. Analysis of conditions and requirements for wide-scale application of developed methods This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P5, P7 Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery 6.1 Report on the bio-feedback methods efficiency and gained driver improvement duration. (M35) Work package number WP7 Start date or starting event: M1 Work package title Management Activity type MGT Participant number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Participant short name CTU TRL TUD TU D INRETS CHU Bdx Person-months per participant 5 2 2 1 1 1 1 13 Objectives Tocreate an efficient management structure, applying the most modern information and communication technologies. Description of work (possibly broken down into tasks) and role of partners Task 7.1. The rules of reference for maintaining the partnership established. This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 Task 7.2. The infrastructure of the project established and developed This task will be performed by partners P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 7.3. The evaluation procedures and performance indicators developed. This task will be performed by partners P1 7.4. Work meetings organized. This task will be performed by partners P1 7.5. Project coordinated. Report elaborated This task will be performed by partners P1 Deliverables (brief description) and month of delivery Summary of effort A summary of the effort is useful for the evaluators. Please indicate in the table number of person months over the whole duration of the planned work, for each work package by each participant. Identify the work-package leader for each WP by showing the relevant person-month figure in bold. Partic. no. Partic. short name WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 WP6 WP7 Total person months 1 CTU 30 10 15 15 10 10 5 95 2 TRL 15 15 10 8 10 10 2 70 3 TUD 10 10 15 8 5 5 2 55 4 TU 5 5 5 5 3 5 1 29 5 D 5 5 10 5 15 15 1 56 6 LCPCINRETS 5 0 5 15 5 10 1 41 7 CHU Bdx 15 10 15 5 10 5 1 61 Total 65 45 55 41 43 45 11 304 Section 2.Implementation (Maximum length for Section 2.1 five pages) 2.1Management structure and procedures Describe the organisational structure and decision-making mechanisms of the project. Show how they are matched to the complexity and scale of the project. 2.2 Individual participants (Maximum length for Section 2.2: one page per participant. However, where two or more departments within an organisation have quite distinct roles within the proposal, one page per department is acceptable. The maximum length applying to a legal entity composed of several members, each of which is a separate legal entity (for example an EEIG), is one page per member, provided that the members have quite distinct roles within the proposal.) For each participant in the proposed project, provide a brief description of the legal entity, the main tasks they have been attributed, and the previous experience relevant to those tasks. Provide also a short profile of the individuals who will be undertaking the work. 2.3Consortium as a whole (No maximum length for Section 2.3 depends on the size and complexity of the consortium) Describe how the participants collectively constitute a consortium capable of achieving the project objectives, and how they are suited and are committed to the tasks assigned to them. Show the complementarity between participants. Explain how the composition of the consortium is well-balanced in relation to the objectives of the project. If appropriate describe the industrial/commercial involvement to ensure exploitation of the results. i) Sub-contracting: If any part of the work is to be sub-contracted by the participant responsible for it, describe the work involved and explain why a sub-contract approach has been chosen for it. ii) Other countries: If a one or more of the participants requesting EU funding is based outside of the EU Member states, Associated countries and the list of International Cooperation Partner Countries, explain in terms of the projects objectives why such funding would be essential. 2.4Resources to be committed (Maximum length for Section 2.4 two pages) Describe how the totality of the necessary resources will be mobilised, including any resources that will complement the EC contribution. Show how the resources will be integrated in a coherent way, and show how the overall financial plan for the project is adequate. In addition to the costs indicated on form A3 of the proposal, and the effort shown in section 1.3 above, please identify any other major costs (e.g. equipment). Ensure that the figures stated in Part B are consistent with these. Section 3.Impact (Maximum length for the whole of Section 3 ten pages) 3.1Expected impacts listed in the work programme Describe how your project will contribute towards the expected impacts listed in the work programme in relation to the topic or topics in question. Mention the steps that will be needed to bring about these impacts. Explain why this contribution requires a European (rather than a national or local) approach. Indicate how account is taken of other national or international research activities. Mention any assumptions and external factors that may determine whether the impacts will be achieved. 3.2Dissemination and/or exploitation of project results, and management of intellectual property Describe the measures you propose for the dissemination and/or exploitation of project results, and how these will increase the impact of the project. In designing these measures, you should take into account a variety of communication means and target groups as appropriate (e.g. policy-makers, interest groups, media and the public at large). Describe also your plans for the management of knowledge (intellectual property) acquired in the course of the project. Section 4.Ethical Issues (No maximum length for Section 4 depends on the number and complexity of the ethical issues involved) Describe any ethical issues that may arise in their proposal. In particular, you should explain the benefit and burden of their experiments and the effects it may have on the research subject. The following special issues should be taken into account: Informed consent: When describing issues relating to informed consent, it will be necessary to illustrate an appropriate level of ethical sensitivity, and consider issues of insurance, incidental findings and the consequences of leaving the study. Data protection issues: Avoid the unnecessary collection and use of personal data. Identify the source of the data, describing whether it is collected as part of the research or is previously collected data being used. Consider issues of informed consent for any data being used. Describe how personal identify of the data is protected. Use of animals: Where animals are used in research the application of the 3Rs (Replace, Reduce, Refine) must be convincingly addressed. Numbers of animals should be specified. State what happens to the animals after the research experiments. Human embryonic stem cells: Research proposals that will involve human embryonic stem cells (hESC) will have to address all the following specific points: the necessity to use hESC in order to achieve the scientific objectives set forth in the proposal. whether the applicants have taken into account the legislation, regulations, ethical rules and/or codes of conduct in place in the country(ies) where the research using hESC is to take place, including the procedures for obtaining informed consent; the source of the hESC the measures taken to protect personal data, including genetic data, and privacy; the nature of financial inducements, if any. Identify the countries where research will be undertaken and which ethical committees and regulatory organisations will need to be approached during the life of the project. Include the Ethical issues table below. If you indicate YES to any issue, please identify the pages in the proposal where this ethical issue is described. If you are sure that none of the issues apply to your proposal, simply tick the YES box in the last row. Notes: For further information on ethical issues relevant to ICT, see annex 5 of the Guide for applicants. Only in exceptional cases will additional information be sought for clarification, which means that any ethical review will be performed solely on the basis of the information available in your proposal. ETHICAL ISSUES TABLE YES PAGE Informed Consent Does the proposal involve children? Does the proposal involve patients or persons not able to give consent? Does the proposal involve adult healthy volunteers? Does the proposal involve Human Genetic Material? Does the proposal involve Human biological samples? Does the proposal involve Human data collection? Research on Human embryo/foetus Does the proposal involve Human Embryos? Does the proposal involve Human Foetal Tissue / Cells? Does the proposal involve Human Embryonic Stem Cells? Privacy Does the proposal involve processing of genetic information or personal data (eg. health, sexual lifestyle, ethnicity, political opinion, religious or philosophical conviction) Does the proposal involve tracking the location or observation of people? Research on Animals Does the proposal involve research on animals? Are those animals transgenic small laboratory animals? Are those animals transgenic farm animals? Are those animals cloned farm animals? Are those animals non-human primates? Research Involving Developing Countries Use of local resources (genetic, animal, plant etc) Impact on local community Dual Use Research having direct military application Research having the potential for terrorist abuse ICT Implants Does the proposal involve clinical trials of ICT implants? I CONFIRM THAT NONE OF THE ABOVE ISSUES APPLY TO MY PROPOSAL A work package is a major sub-division of the proposed project with a verifiable end-point normally a deliverable or a milestone in the overall project. Workpackage number: WP 1 WP n. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium Number of the participant leading the work in this work package. The total number of person-months allocated to each work package. Measured in months from the project start date (month 1). Deliverable numbers in order of delivery dates. Please use the numbering convention WP number.number of deliverable within that WP. For example, deliverable 4.2 would be the second deliverable from work package 4. Please indicate the nature of the deliverable using one of the following codes: R = Report, P = Prototype, D = Demonstrator, O = Other Please indicate the dissemination level using one of the following codes: PU = Public PP = Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services). RE = Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services). CO = Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services). Measured in months from the project start date (month 1). Measured in months from the project start date (month 1). Show how you will confirm that the milestone has been attained. Refer to indicators if appropriate. For example: a laboratory prototype completed and running flawlessly; software released and validated by a user group; field survey complete and data quality validated. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. Please indicate one activity per work package: RTD = Research and technological development; DEM = Demonstration; MGT = Management of the consortium. See CORDIS web-site, and annex 1 of the work programme.

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Cantebury Tales Essay Example For Students

Cantebury Tales Essay Canterbury Tales In discussing Chaucers collection of stories called The Canterbury Tales, an interesting picture or illustration of the Medieval Christian Church is presented. However, while people demanded more voice in the affairs of government, the church became corrupt this corruption also led to a more crooked society. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as just church history; This is because the church can never be studied in isolation, simply because it has always related to the social, economic and political context of the day. In history then, there is a two way process where the church has an influence on the rest of society and of course, society influences the church. This is naturally because it is the people from a society who make up the church. and those same people became the personalities that created these tales of a pilgrimage to Canterbury. The Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England was to take place in a relatively short period of time, but this was not because of the success of the Augustinian effort. Indeed, the early years of this mission had an ambivalence which shows in the number of people who hedged their bets by practicing both Christian and Pagan rites at the same time, and in the number of people who promptly apostatized when a Christian king died. There is certainly no evidence for a large-scale conversion of the common people to Christianity at this time. Augustine was not the most diplomatic of men, and managed to antagonize many people of power and influence in Britain, not least among them the native British churchmen, who had never been particularly eager to save the souls of the Anglo-Saxons who had brought such bitter times to their people. In their isolation, the British Church had maintained older ways of celebrated the major festivals of Christianity, and Augustines effort to compel them to conform to modern Roman usage only angered them. When Augustine died (some time between 604 and 609 AD), then, Christianity had only a precarious hold on Anglo-Saxon England, a hold which was limited largely to a few in the aristocracy. Christianity was to become firmly established only as a result of Irish efforts, who from centers in Scotland and Northumbria made the common people Christian, and established on a firm basis the English Church. At all levels of society, belief in a god or gods was not a matter of choice, it was a matter of fact. Atheism was an alien concept (and one dating from the eighteenth century). Living in the middle ages, one would come into contact with the Church in a number of ways. First, there were the routine church services, held daily and attended at least once a week, and the special festivals of Christmas, Easter, baptisms, marriages, etc.. In that respect the medieval Church was no different to the modern one. Second, there were the tithes that the Church collected, usually once a year. Tithes were used to feed the parish priest, maintain the fabric of the church, and to help the poor. Third, the Church fulfilled the functions of a civil service and an education system. Schools did not exist (and were unnecessary to a largely peasant society), but the Church and the government needed men who could read and write in English and Latin. The Church trained its own men, and these went to help in the government: writing letters, keeping accounts and so on. The words cleric and clerk have the same origin, and every nobleman would have at least one priest to act as a secretary. The power of the Church is often over-emphasized. Certainly, the later medieval Church was rich and powerful, and that power was often misused especially in Europe. Bishops and archbishops were appointed without any training or clerical background, church offices changed hands for cash, and so on. The authority of the early medieval Church in England was no different to that of any other landowner. So, the question that haunted medieval man was that of his own salvation. The existence of God was never questioned and the heart-cry of medieval society was a desire to know God and achieve intimacy with the divine. Leading a life pleasing to God was the uppermost concern, and the wide diversity of medieval piety is simply because people answered the question, How can I best lead a holy life? in so many different ways. Beginning with The Pardoners Tale, the theme of salvation is truly paramount. Chaucer, being one of the most important medieval authors, uses this prologue and tale to make a statement about buying salvation. The character of the pardoner is one of the most despicable pilgrims, seemingly along for the ride to his next gig as the seller of relics. For myn entente is nat but for to winne,/ And no thing for correccion of sinne, admits the pardoner in his prologue. As a matter of fact, the pardoner is only in it for the money, as evident from this passage:I wol none of the Apostles countrefete: I wold have moneye, wolle, cheese, and whete, Al were it yiven of the pooreste page, Or of the pooreste widwe in a village Al sholde hir children sterve for famine. Nay, I drinke licour of the vine And have a joly wenche in every town. In his tale, the Pardoner slips into his role as the holiest of holies and speaks of the dire consequences of gluttony, gambling, and lechery. He cites Attila the Hun with, Looke Attila, the grete conquerour,/ Deide in his sleep with shame and dishonour,/ Bleeding at his nose in dronkenesse. The personification of the deadly sins, along with his story of the three greedy men that eventually perish at the hands of their sin is a distinct medieval device. The comic twist that Chaucer adds to the device, though, is that the Pardoner in himself is as the personification of sin, as is evident from the passages of his prologue. At the conclusion of his tale, the Pardoner asks, Allas, mankinde, how may it bitide/ That to thy Creatour which that thee wroughte,/ And with his precious herte blood boughte,/ Thou art so fals and unkinde, allas?. He then goes on to offer each pilgrim a place Nelson Mandela Essay Both monks as well as martyrs were looked upon as holy men. In relating this solitary world to readers, there is also a monk in Chaucers work He is someone who combined godliness and worldliness into a profitable and comfortable living. He was the outrider or the person in charge of the outlying property.. ..which lead him to enjoy hunting, fine foods, and owning several horses. Monks renounced all their worldly belongings and by taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, joined a community of monks. Their lives were spent in communal worship, devotional reading, prayer and manual labor all under the authority of the abbot of the monastic house. Particular monks often had particular jobs- the cellarer or the infirmarer for example, and these like every aspect of monastic life were laid down in the Rule. Monks were nearly always of noble extraction (one had to have wealth in order to give it up) but could also be given to the monastery as children (called oblates) to be brought up as monks. Hindsight has blurred our vision of the Medieval monk and the result is that the modern Christian mindset has condemned him for his selfish escapism from the world and for his apparent neglect of those who needed Christ outside of the cloister. The Medieval mindset was very different. The monastery was an integral part of the local community it probably owned most of the farming land in the area- and the fortunes of the people in any area were bound up with the spirituality of its monastic house. The monks were on the front line of the spiritual battle-it was they who did battle in prayer for their community, who warded off devils and demons and who prayed tirelessly for the salvation of the souls of those in their community. Rather than being the cowards of Christianity unable to take the strain of living a Christian life in the real world, the monks were like spiritual stormtroopers interceding for an area against its supernatural enemies in mudh the same way as a local lord in his castle protected an area against its physical enemies. The people gave gifts to both lord and abbot in return for a service. The Pardoner also represents the tradition of faith in respect to the church of his time. The Pardoner is representative of the seamy side of the corrupt church and a broken or twisted (if you will) faith. The faith of a bureaucracy, which is what the church had become. The Pardoner was a church official who had the authority to forgive those who had sinned by selling pardons and indulgences to them. Although, the Pardoner was a church official, he was clearly in the church business for economic reasons. The Pardoner, a devious and somewhat dubious individual had one goal: Get the most money for pardons by almost any means of coercion necessary. A twisted and ironic mind, has basically defined himself through his work for a similarly corrupt church. In contrast, the Plowman has nothing but a seemingly uncomplicated and untwisted faith. The Plowman has the faith of a poor farmer, uncomplicated by the bureaucracy of the church. The Pardoner is probably on this journey because he is being required to go by the church or he sees some sort of economic gain from this voyage, most likely from selling forgiveness to the other pilgrims. The Plowman on the other hand is probably on this voyage because of his sincerity and faith in its purpose. While this was the story of religion at grass-roots level, at the organizational and hierarchical level, the church developed along a different line. It became more organized, more bureaucratic, more legal, more centralized and basically more powerful on a European scale. This process was spearheaded by the papacy and reached its pinnacle under Pope Innocent III in the early 13th Century. He embodied what became known as the papal monarchy a situation where the popes literally were kings in their own world. The relative importance of spiritual and secular power in the world was a constant question in the middle ages with both secular emperors and kings, and the popes asserting their claims to rule by divine authority with Gods commands for Gods people proceeding out of their mouths. The power of the church is hard to exaggerate: its economic and political influence was huge, as its wealth, movements like the crusades, and even the number of churches that exist from this period truly show its greatness. By the early 10th century, a strange malaise seems to have entered the English church. There are comments from this time of a decline in learning among churchmen and an increase in a love for things of this earthly world. Even more of these lax standards had begun a decline in the power structure of the church which included a decrease in acceptable behavior amongst churchmen and a growing use of church institutions by lay people as a means of evading taxes. Christianity affected all men in Europe at every level and in every way. Such distances however, led to much diversity and the shaping of Medieval religion into a land of contrasts. One can also see how mans feelings of extreme sinfulness and desire for God are quite evident in these tales. Still, we are told that history repeats itself because nobody listens to it, but more realistically history repeats itself because man is essentially the same from one generation to the next. He has the same aspirations, fears and flaws; yet the way that these are expressed differs from age to age. This is why each period of history is different. The fact that man is the same yet different is what makes the study of the people who formed the medieval church directly applicable to Christians lives and experiences today. Book Reports