The Salem Witch Trials Fact or Fake Example For Students

The Salem Witch Trials: Fact or Fake? The Salem Witch Trials were the most famous, most deadly, and most studied witch trials in the British colonies according to author Brian Pavlac.(138) What started out as innocent childs play ended with 19 deaths and one killed by being pressed to death with stones. The events were gruesome, tragic, and filled with irrational behavior. The people of Salem, who were mostly of a puritan background, were driven by fear, to stop those who were consorting with the devil, and cleanse their town of all evil. This however, remains to be seen as the true intention of all of those involved with the witch hunts. These trials, which took place over the course of the winter of 1691 through the summer of 1693 were a time of uncertainty, paranoia, and deceit. The question remains however, were these proclaimed â€Å"witches† actually consorting with the devil, or was this just a ploy to dissolve feuds among neighbors and families and to preserve the good name of the families with witch this all originated? The events began in the winter of 1691. â€Å"In order to cure their boredom, the young Paris children entertained the idea of Satan in the house of the Lord.† (Rice 17) These two girls were related to the pastor of the town. â€Å"One, nine year old Betty Parris, was the daughter of the pastor and the other, eleven year old Abigail Williams was the niece of the pastor.† (Rice 15) They were under care of a slave named Tituba. She would entertain the girls during cold winter nights with stories from her former life. Now these two girls were very different in personalities. Marion L. Starkey, from Rices book, describes the two: Nine year old Betty Parris was a sweet, biddable little girl,ready to obey anyone who spoke with conviction, including to her misfortune, her playmate Abigail† feared God – and worse, the devil and eternal damnation Eleven-year-old Abigail Williams was another matter. She was of a robuster sort, and though as relentlessly catechized as her small cousin, instinctively took damnation, death , and most other unpleasant things as something scheduled to happen to someone else, particularly to people she didnt like. (Rice 20) These two were completely opposite in character one, it seems, desiring a deeper look into witchcraft so she could curse those whom she did not like. The other was seemingly forced into â€Å"consorting with evil spirits,† and simply was a victim. These stories continued night after night, allowing the girls to delve deeper and deeper into a seemingly innocent endeavor, A picture show Tituba weaving stories into the air with the children watching her every move. Notice the details of the picture. First and foremost Tituba was not as old as she seemed in the picture according to Earle Rice.(21) Those stories could have routed into one of two paths. The first allowed for what would have been a psychological idea to develop in the girls heads. They took a fantasy that they wanted to be true and eventually their minds just interpreted it as reality. The other path that could have been taken was that the girls were actually beginning to develop a connection to a form of witchcraft, which in Puritan society was looked upon as an extreme evil. This begs the question as to whether witchcraft is real or not. Puritans and many cultures do believe in witchcraft. As devout puritans though, the girls soon felt angst against these meetings and stories with Tituba. Once more according the Marion Starkey in Rices book â€Å"One cannot pursue forbidden pleasures without suffering the consequences.†(Rice 22) why did they pursue something that was forbidden? â€Å"Puritans were taught to be pious and serene as adults, and children were expected to behave like small adults. Play was not allowed. In fact it was looked upon as a form of laziness.† (MacBian 10) Children were meant to act as adults with the utmost respect for society. However in any society, children arent meant to act like adults, to be trained like animals. The young are full of ideas, have a huge imagination, and the developing brains to believe in almost anything. Perhaps that is why they wanted to listen to these stories, as a way to escape reality and e xperience something fun. This â€Å"game† soon expanded to neighboring girls. â€Å"Titubas circle had rapidly expanded to encompass nine girls.† (rice 23) That is when the fits began. So it is known that Titubas stories did not cause the witch trails to begin but it was the girls choice to participate in fortune telling and future seeing that started the epidemic. â€Å"One February night in 1692, Betty Parris saw a picture of a coffin, and suddenly her body began to contort into odd shapes and she started screaming.† (Macbian 12) Did she really see a coffin? Was this an illusion or was she actually being shown the future? Once more the theory that her psychological status had changed could be the cause, and yet again it could be the result of demons. Either of those coupled with fear of her father could have caused those symptoms and in turn caused her to blame others and not her family. According to Stuart Kallen, â€Å" †¦ it was a disgrace for the devil to have a foothold in his house. Betty and the others would have to cry out and accuse those who were harming them. So they did. In February of 1692 Betty blamed three individuals for her illness, a beggar, an invalid and a slave.† (Fremon 53) Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba were all of the first accused. Two of these three women were seemingly random, but delving deeper into their lives reveals more. Sarah Good had not always lived a good life. In a summary Earle Rice says that â€Å"she was poorly treated after her father committed suicide and was cheated out of most of the land she was supposed to inherit. She married a poor indentured servant who soon after passed away, whereupon she Married William Good, was sued and lost all of her land. She became a sour homeless thirty nine year old women, that did not attend church.†(32-33) Sarah Osborne was much older Than Good. She was by all means the most illogical choice for a witch out of the three. Still according to Rice she wasnt the nicest person. â€Å"After the death of her first husband, she remarried, and fought a will that said that the land was to go to the children when they came of age. This was robbing land from the Putnams simply because they were extended family of the deceased husband. She had not been going to church but was to old to attend the meeting of the accused.† (36-37) Tituba was also put on trial with the other two. Now similar patterns do obviously appear in the brief description. Both women were low in social status, thought to be heathens and had some appeal and gain for others if they were convicted. These women were victims of their own choices, but were they really guilty. According to their answers, no they were not. Both women denied all accusations that were pinned to them. First in court was Sarah Good. Testifying against her was Ann Putman Jr. one of the daughters of the accusers, and also a â€Å"victim† of the accused. This is when spectral evidence was introduced into the court. Spectral Evidence is â€Å"testimony given that an accused persons spirit or spectral shape appeared to the witness in a dream at the time the accused persons physical body was at another location.† (Salem Witch Trials 1) In a court of law today spectral evidence would be deemed unfair evidence or and might even been seen as ridiculous and would be thrown out. However it was accepted during the time. Ann Putman Jrs statement is as follows. I saw the apparition of Sarah good, which did torture me most grievously. But I did not know her name until the 27th of February, and then she told me her name was Sarah Good, and then she did prick me and pinch me most Grievously, and also since, several times urging me vehemently to write in her book. (rice 33) As seen this evidence is absurd. Word of mouth is not enough to convict a person of torture. These women were not given a fair chance in the court of law, not just by testimonies of the girls that were â€Å"bewitched,† but also by those that were trying them. Also, the arguments that were used were begging the question, that is to say that they were trying to prove was used as a truth instead of an assumption. Take for Example Hathornes interrogation of Sarah Good. He asked her the following questions. â€Å"Sarah Good, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?†, â€Å"have you made no contact with the devil?†, â€Å"why do you hurt these children?† and â€Å"who do you employ then to do it?†(Nardo 46 -47) Questions of that manner were used to question all three of the accused that way. The first two Good and Osborne, denied all allegations against them, but then Tituba came to the stand. â€Å"At first she claimed that she had done no harm to the children. But then her testimony took a decidedly different turn, as she increasingly admitted her involvement in supernatural affairs.† (Nardo 48) Why would Tituba accept such heinous charges? It would most certainly result in death. Could it be that Parris or Putman had paid her to convict herself and the other accused? They could only gain from those women being tried and killed. â€Å"Thomas Putmans household became the center for witchcraft accusations. And, as some historians believe, Thomas became, if not the driving force behind the witch hunts, at least one of its chief instigators.† Rice also goes on to say that Putman also lead the campaign to appoint Samuel Parris as Pastor of Salem village. (Rice 58) So the two adults whose children were among the â€Å"afflicted† were also the first to jump in at whoever the girls accused? It would seem that neither would want a mark on their families name or that Putman would not want to be seen as voting for a bad pastor. Both had stakes in what I now believe to be a game. The girls were simply pawns in the the adults game, and although it goes unsaid, it would seem that they were coaxed into choosing those that they did. â€Å"A Pattern was emerging. Ann PUTMAN, Jr., was usually the first afflicted person to cry out on someone. Then, she was joined by the others Ann Putman, Sr., who some believed showed signs of mental instability even before the girls illness, sometimes cried out with the afflicted girls.† (Fremon 66) Putman was almost always the first to speak up against those deemed witches. Once more think of those accused and who they were. Marion Starkey points out in her book â€Å"the power of suggestion. In summary she says that almost all of the accused were suggested by the village elders, and they only asked about those strongly dislike in the community. Only after the village elders had mentioned them did the girls say they were the ones torturing them.† (Starkey 47-48) These events would suggest that there was no such thing as witchcraft in Salem merely a town trying to clean itself up of all the lower class citizens it had held. Economics suggest the reason that they woul d have wanted to try and rid the town of these people would be for the purpose of attracting new individuals to their town. Another theory still resides. The theory that these girls were actually being tormented by an invisible, evil force. According to one of the girls â€Å" a Prominent businessman John Alden bewitched her, even though she had never seen him before.† (Fremon 70) This begs the question had she actually never seen this man before? If so and if the documents words are true, then it would be safe to assume that something was actually attacking her and it may have been that same person who she claimed. However, according to other authors theories it would be safe to assume that the elders may have actually phrased the question in a manner as to already have blamed him. Were these girl really being tormented? were they a product of their own fantasies and then manipulated by family member for their own gain? Or were they simply suffering from some sort of illness brought on by stress? Science would suggest the last of the three to be the truest. The science of their time limited doctors from properly diagnosing the girls with the theory of hysteria. The fits and convulsion of the afflicted girls would today be diagnosed as symptoms of hysteria. Hysteria is a clinical psychological condition whose victims may suffer from amnesia, hallucination, sleepwalking, and paralysis without apparent cause. Symptoms way also include convulsive movements, distorted postures, and loss of hearing, sight and speech. The condition is sometimes caused by extreme anxiety. (Fremon 26) So modern science may have unveiled the question that was the Salem Witch trials. These girls were listening to stories and were bored, their fantasies turning into innocent games and from there, guilt took over and anxiety ensued. The girls were tormented by the fact that they were dabbling in a forbidden practice, and did not want to get caught. This would result in fear, which would lead to extreme anxiety of being caught. However, one cannot dismiss the first two theories, one being that the parents did find out after the girls had entered this state of hysteria, and they may have even believed that the girls were actually being tortured. However they may have also used this to their advantage to address social issues among the community, by casting the blame on those who they saw fit, those who were social nuisances. Maybe there was someone or something that was disturbing the peaceful town of Salem, inflicting its wrath among its people, taking its chance when Tituba was tellin g those girls of witchcraft and another culture. There will probably never be a way to tell the true events of the Salem Witch Trials, although modern science has come up with a legitimate theory that would explain the events that occurred. The human mind likes to explain things logically, but there is always something new that is appearing in science, and we cannot dismiss the paranormal. In total 20 men and women were killed with one of those being pressed to death, and an infant of one of the accused died while in jail. (Kallen 78) These gruesome murders were all based on word of mouth, showing the power a society can have on its individuals. .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 , .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .postImageUrl , .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 , .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:hover , .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:visited , .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:active { border:0!important; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:active , .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5 .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u33ac6b72f48548aa488ef1816bdea7f5:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: New Look For New Fashion We will write a custom essay on The Salem Witch Trials: Fact or Fake? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Works Cited Fremon, David K.  The Salem Witchcraft Trials in American History. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1999. Print. April 2011. Kallen, Stuart A.  The Salem Witch Trials. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print. April 2011. MacBain, Jenny.  The Salem Witch Trials: a Primary Source History of the Witchcraft Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2003. Print. April 2011. Nardo, Don.  The Salem Witch Trials. Detroit: Lucent, 2007. Print. April 2011. Pavlac, Brian Alexander.  Witch Hunts in the Western World: Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition through the Salem Trials. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2009. Print. April 2011. Rice Jr., Earle.  The Salem Witch Trials. San Diego, Ca: Lucent, 1997. Print. April 2011. Salem Witch Trials FAQs.  Salem Witch Trials Page History of the 1692 Witch Trials in Salem. Web. 02 May 2011.  . April 2011. Starkey, Marion Lena.  The Devil in Massachusetts: a Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials. New York: Anchor, 1989. Print. April 2011.

Astronomers Count Galaxies in the Cosmos

Astronomers Count Galaxies in the Cosmos How many galaxies are there in the cosmos? Thousands? Millions? More? Those are questions that astronomers revisit every few years. Periodically they count galaxies using sophisticated telescopes and techniques. Each time they do a new galactic census, they find more of these stellar cities than they did before. So, how many are there? It turns out that, thanks to some work done using Hubble Space Telescope, there are billions and billions of them. There could be up to 2 trillion...and counting. In fact, the universe is more vast than astronomers thought, too. The idea of billions and billions of galaxies may make the universe sound much bigger and more populated than ever. But, the more interesting news here is that there are fewer galaxies today than there were in the early universe. Which seems rather odd. What happened to the rest? The answer lies in the term merger. Over time, galaxies formed and merged with each other to form larger ones. So, the many galaxies we see today are what we have left after billions of years of evolution. The History of Galaxy Counts Back at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, astronomers thought there was only one galaxy - our Milky Way - and that it was the entirety of the universe. They saw other odd, nebulous things in the sky that they called spiral nebulae, but it never occurred to them that these might be very distant galaxies. That all changed in the 1920s, when astronomer Edwin Hubble, using work done on calculating distances to stars using variable stars by astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, found a star that lay in a distant spiral nebula. It was farther away than any star in our own galaxy. That observation told him that the spiral nebula, which we know today as the Andromeda Galaxy, was not part of our own Milky Way. It was another galaxy. With that momentous observation, the number of known galaxies doubled to two. Astronomers were off to the races finding more and more galaxies.   Today, astronomers see galaxies as far as their telescopes  can see. Every part of the distant universe seems to be chock full of galaxies. They show up in all shapes, from irregular globs of light to spirals and ellipticals. As they study galaxies, astronomers have traced the ways they have formed and evolved. Theyve seen how galaxies merge, and what happens when they do. And, they know that our own Milky Way and Andromeda will merge in the distant future.  Each time they learn something new, whether its about our galaxy or some distant one, it adds to their understanding of how these large-scale structures behave. Galaxy Census Since Hubbles time, astronomers have found many other galaxies as their telescopes got better and better. Periodically they would take a census of galaxies. The latest census work, done by Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories, continues to identify more galaxies at greater distances. As find more of these stellar cities, astronomers get a better idea of how they form, merge, and evolve. However, even as they find evidence of more galaxies, it turns out that astronomers can only see about 10 percent of the galaxies they know are out there. Whats going on with that? Many more galaxies that cant be seen or detected with present-day telescopes and techniques. An astonishing 90 percent of the galaxy census falls into this unseen category. Eventually, they will be seen, with telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be able to detect their light (which turns out to be ultra-faint and much of it in the infrared portion of the spectrum). Fewer Galaxies Means Less to Light up Space So, while the universe has at least 2 trillion galaxies, the fact that it used to have MORE galaxies in the early days may also explain one of the most intriguing questions asked by astronomers: if theres so much light in the universe, why is the sky dark at night? This is known as Olbers Paradox (named for the German astronomer Heinrich Olbers, who first posed the question). The answer may well be because of those missing galaxies. Starlight from the most distant and oldest galaxies may well be invisible to our eyes for a variety of reasons, including the reddening of light due to the expansion of space, the universe’s dynamic nature, and the absorption of light by intergalactic dust and gas. If you combine these factors with other processes that reduce our ability to see visible and ultraviolet (and infrared) light from the most distant galaxies, these could all provide the answer to why we see a dark sky at night. The study of galaxies continues, and in the next few decades, its likely that astronomers will revise their census of these behemoths yet again.

Compare and contrast the ethical theories of Aristotle and Immanuel Essay

Compare and contrast the ethical theories of Aristotle and Immanuel Kant - Essay Example Man should be oriented by entities in his or her environment of the definition of what is morally good or not. However, if one should ask, what makes an ethical person? What are the characteristics that make him a good person? Aristotle and Kant’s ethical theories have laid out arguments claiming man’s ethics. However, there are significant ideas that make one theory triumph over the other. Aristotle and Kant speak of the highest good that man can do to society and his own – one that is not to be done just for the sake of being called ethical, getting material possessions or pleasing comments in exchange for it. It is done because it is â€Å"good in itself† (Johnson). Both also speak of happiness as ends of being virtuous. However, according to Aristotle, a virtuous life leading to happiness is not achieved without the possession of additional goods as well. A life perceived to be perfect by many, a life with wealth, power, acquaintances, and a physique h ighly appreciated by everyone. With this life also comes good upbringing, and good habits. Without these things, man will have the difficulty of reaching a virtuous status. Aristotle insists that it is necessary to have these desirable things to be able to reach happiness. In a negative light, this is unfair for those who are born without much fortune. If a woman has unacceptable physical features and is not wealthy enough, this theory already forecasts her future or to narrow it, her ability to push for a virtuous life. Another weakness of the theory is the limitation of which it is applicable to. Although it does not claim that only fortunate people are developed to be virtuous, it gives them an advantage to such a life. He points out that if a person who has these things, he will be raised to have good habits and with good habits, he is able to learn how to be virtuous. In reality, unfortunate people also achieve a virtuous life. It is within their strategies in life on how to ge t there. It is not dictated on what a person owns but how people perceive how they life supposed to be and how they would be able to reach that kind of life. Also another argument of Aristotle, because of this kind of upbringing, man will not have any reason for being truthful, openhanded, and brave because it is how one is brought up. Well, unfortunate people can also have this kind of upbringing without material and even physically acceptable attributes. They do well without asking anything in return because of their misfortune but they do well because they feel that it is the right thing to do and doing such will lead them to some state of happiness. In all fairness to Aristotle, he provides an ideal state of virtuous life that one ought to pursue. Kant, on the other hand, does not provide a status for which virtue can be obtained. He does not give material possession and physical attributes importance when it comes to being a moral person. He said that virtue does not insure wel l being (Johnson). Kant proposes that man should be rational with his actions based on the standards of rationality. There should be universality in a sense that man’s actions should be widely accepted by others as well. Kant’s theory suggests that in order for man to achieve a morality that is powerful enough to compel one from doing injustice to another or to himself, man will undergo challenges in a sense that one can learn what is good and what is bad. He also proposes that there is an â€Å"

H.W Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

H.W - Essay Example This car was carrying around 125,000 litres of propane gas that had begun to escape through the leaks. The intention of the railroad employees was to convey the contents of the tank car to the storage tanks of the Williams Energy Company. In order to correct the leaks in the valves, one of the employees struck at the valve with a wrench. This proved to be the beginning of the catastrophe as the sparks that flew as a result of the friction between the two ignited a flame. Since propane is highly inflammable, the resultant flame quickly grew into a large fire. The forked fire grew to heights as large as seventy to eighty feet. By this time, the leaks had expanded to both vertical as well as horizontal directions. This led to further difficulties in the confinement of the perimeter of the fire. With an expansion in the amount of pressure that had been building up in the railroad car, there was an explosion that was felt by everyone who was within a radius of a little over eight kilometr es. The immediate impact was felt by the firefighters who were stationed near the site of the explosion. Including those who died later of burns, eleven deaths of firefighters have been recorded till date (â€Å"The Disaster Story,† 2011). Before a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) incident occurs, the fire grows to dangerous heights. The real hazard however, lies in the explosion that is caused by a sharp rise in pressure in whatever contains the fuel. During a BLEVE incident, the firefighters are faced with the twin-problem of quelling the fire and not allowing pressure to build up within the container. Needless to say, the damages that are caused to life and property in such a situation also arise from the above-mentioned twin sources. The part of the incident that could have been avoided, however, was the casualties that were caused by the large number of spectators. Many people gathered to watch the fire,

Research literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research literature review - Essay Example The clinical application of this property has been of much interest to biomedical researchers in the recent years. Though the potential of stem cell research has been confirmed to have much clinical relevance, many social and spiritual controversies have been raised due to the developments in this field. Pierret and Friedrichsen (2009, 79-87) have analyzed the sociological aspects of stem cell research. Their study has urged serious discussion, both among college students and other social elements, on the ethical issues pertaining to stem cell research (Pierret & Friedrichsen 2009, 79-87). The authors have developed a new course termed ‘Stem cells and Society’ to attract the attention of students towards scientific realities in the research and also to the moral issues related to it. (Pierret & Friedrichsen 2009, 79-87). The study has also critically analyzed the ethical controversies that had erupted in relation to similar scientific innovations (Pierret & Friedrichsen 2009, 79-87). The purpose of our study, though, is not to argue about one particular stand point but to discuss both the view points and finally to allow readers to draw their own opinions and conclusions. In addition the process has been facilitated by providing an integrative review that details previous research, theories, explanations and answers and then counteracting them with questions and objections so that at the end of our research readers can make their own rationalistic conclusion. Stem Cells, as defined by The National Institute of Health, are cells that have the ability to develop into different cell types within the body. Two facets make them incredibly important: Firstly, they can renew themselves during cell division and secondly, when grown under certain conditions, they can achieve specialised functions. These cells differentiate and form almost all the

Face Image Retrieval With Attribute Based Search

Face Image Retrieval With Attribute Based Search Implementation is the process of converting a new system design into operation. Implementation is the stage of turning the theoretical design into a working system. Therefore it is considered as most important stage in achieving a successful new system and in giving the user, confidence that the new system will work and be effective. It also entails careful planning, investigation of the existing system and it’s constraints on implementation, designing of methods to accomplish changeover and estimate changeover methods. Modules The project entitled as â€Å"Efficient Face Image Retrieval from Large Scale Database Using Attribute Based Search and Ranking† developed using Java and the Modules display as follows: Content based image retrieval Attribute based search Face Image Retrieval Modules Description Content-based image search Content-based image retrieval (CBIR), also called asquery by image content (QBIC) andcontent-based visual information retrieval (CBVIR) is the application of  computer vision  techniques to the  image retrieval  problem, that is, the problem of searching digital images  in large  databases. Present state-of-the-art solutions describe images using high-level semantic concepts which are promising for CBIR. CBIR system consists of several stages as follows: Image Acquisition: This stage acquires digital images from database. Image preprocessing: The image is first processed in order to take out the features, which portray its contents. This processing entails filtering, normalization, segmentation, and object identification. Like, image segmentation is the process of dividing an image into multiple parts. The output is set of important regions and objects. Feature Extraction: Shape, texture, color, etc are the features used to characterize the content of the image. Further these features are classified as low-level and high-level features. Here visual information is extracted from the image and collect them as feature vectors in a feature database. For every pixel, the image description is instigated in the form of feature value by means of feature extraction, later these feature values are used to evaluate the query with the other images during retrieval. Similarity Matching: Information of every image is stored in its feature vectors for computation process and these feature vectors are coordinated with the feature vectors of query image i.e. the searched image in the image database is present or not or how many are similar kind of images are exist or not, which helps in determining the similarity. This step involves the matching of features (e.g. shape, color) to yield a result that is similar to the query image. Resultant Retrieved images: This step investigates the earlier maintained information to find the matched images from database. It displays similar images having closest features as that of the query image. User interface and feedback: This step operates the display of results, ranking, and the type of user interaction with prospect of refining the search using some automatic or manual preferences scheme. Attribute based search However, the evolution of CBIR is overloaded by the semantic gap between the extracted low-level visual features and the required high-level semantics. Even if the images are annotated well through precise concepts, another disreputable gap still leads to unsatisfactory results. This gap is called the intention gap between the envisioned objectives of the users and the indefinite semantics delivered by the query, due to the lack of ability of the query to express the user’s objectives accurately. To bridge this gap, an approach called attribute based image retrieval is used. Here, attributes transfer properties that distinguish objects such as the visual appearances (e.g. shape, texture), functionalities and various other discriminative properties. On one hand, attributes acts as transitional semantics that clearly unites the low-level features and high-level concepts, leads to decline of semantic gap because attributes usually demonstrate general visual properties, which can be simply extracted and modeled contrast to high-level concepts that have higher visual inconsistencies. On the other hand, attributes improve active concept-based image semantic representation and offer more inclusive semantic descriptions of images. By using these attributes, users can allocate most important and accurate semantic description of images which leads to satisfactory results. Attribute detection has sufficient quality on different human attributes. Using these human attributes different applications like face verification, face identification, keyword-based face image retrieval, and similar attribute search have achieved promising results. Goal and approach of attribute based retrieval Previous techniques utilize descriptors on the image that capture global features like color, texture, frequency, etc. Images that have global descriptors return most similar images to query image but not correct matched images. The limitations of these methods are based on matching low-level features is that for many query images; they cannot perform retrieval in a satisfied way and methods based on local descriptors work only on objects. On other hand, methods that utilize global descriptors are not strong to most geometric transformations. In image classification and object recognition attributes are used to represent the images. An attribute has a name and a semantic meaning, but it is easy to recognize for a machine. Attribute names are like name, gender, race, etc. Attribute can be learnt automatically by image classification methods. The objective of this work is to use an attribute-based representation to restore or balance an image search engine. User will calculate various methods to compare attributes, including metric learning. Comparisons will be carried out on standard datasets. Then attribute-based retrieval will be combined with existing retrieval methods. Face Image Retrieval Current face image retrieval methods reach impressive results, but deficient to refine the search, mainly for geometric face attributes. Users cannot find faces easily with slightly more specific leftward pose shifts. To address this problem, a new face search technique is proposed that is complementary to current search engines. The proposed facial image retrieval model deals with a problem of searching similar facial images and retrieving in the search space of the facial images by assimilating (CBIR) techniques and face recognition techniques, by means of semantic description of the facial image. This aims to lessen the semantic gap between high level query requirement and low level facial features of the human face image, such that the system can be ready to meet human needs in description and retrieval of facial image. An efficient content based face image retrieval system is proposed to retrieve the face images. Attributes from face are used to further improving the retrieval performance. Finally inverted index is used in retrieval stage. It has applications in automatic face annotation, crime investigation etc. For large scale datasets, it is essential for an image search application to rank the images such that the most relevant images are sited at the top. This work analysed top results related to a query image with existing method. Experimental results shows that proposed method have better top results compared to existing methods. Experimental Setup Installation of JDK 1.6 and Tomcat Server JDK 1.6: Step 1: Double click on the JDK 1.6 setup file then we will get the following window. A window with License Agreement will be displayed. Then press â€Å"Accept† button. Step 2: Now a custom setup window will be appeared. Then Clickâ€Å"Next†to continue. Step 3: AProgresspanel will be appeared that takes a few minutes to go through the installation. Step 4: A custom setup window for Runtime Environment will be appeared. Then Clickâ€Å"Next† to continue. Step 5: A Progresspanel will be appeared that takes a few minutes to go through the installation. Step 6: When the installation is completed, clickâ€Å"Finish†to exit the wizard. Step 7: To set the environment variables for java, Right-Click mycomputer and click properties. Then, the below window will be appeared and Click Environment variables. Step 8: Now, click new in the System variables section. Step 9: After clicking new button, a box will appear containing with variable name and variable value. Give the variable name as â€Å"PATH† and variable value as the java bin file path. Step 10: Finally click OK. Now, we can successfully run java programs. Tomcat server: Tomcat is an open source web server developed by Apache Group. Apache Tomcat is the servlet container used in official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies. The Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages specifications are developed by Sun under the Java Community Process. Web Servers support only web components while an application server supports web components as well as business components. To develop a web applications with jsp/servlet install Tomcat. A web server is, of course, the program that dishes out web pages in response to requests from a user sitting at a web browser and returns vibrant results to the user’s browser. This is an aspect of the web that Apache’s Tomcat is very good at because Tomcat provides both Java servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) technologies. Ultimately Tomcat is a good option for many applications as a web server. Step 1: First double click on the Apache Tomcat setup file and then click Next button. Step 2: Now a window with License Agreement will be displayed as above. Then press I Agree option. Step 3: Now select type of the install as Full and then click on Next. Step 4: Now select the destination where the Tomcat has to be installed and click on Next. Step 5: Now set the configuration, connector port as 8081 and set the username and password as admin and click on Next. Step 6: Now a window with Java Virtual Machine will be displayed and click Install option. Step 7: Now the window with installation process will be displayed and might take few minutes. Step 8: Select the Run Apache Tomcat option and click on Finish. Setting the Java Environment Variable: Here are the steps for setting the environment variable on mycomputer. These steps are similar for all windows. Open the control panel under the start menu. 1. Double-click on System. 2. Click on the Advanced tab. 3. Click on the Environment Variables button. 4. Under System Variables, click on the New button. 5. For variable name, type:JAVA_HOME 6. For variable value, type:C:j2sdk1.4.2_01 7. Continue to click OK to exit the dialog windows. Now set the following in Variable and value: 1. Variable name: CLASSPATH; Variable value: C:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 6.0bin; C:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 6.0libservlet-api.jar; C:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 6.0libjsp-api.jar; 2. Variable name: PATH; Variable value: C:Program FilesJavajdk1.6.0_21bin; and then click on OK. Now for checking whether the Tomcat has installed successfully or not, open the browser and type http:/localhost:8081/. If it is installed successfully the following page will be displayed. After clicking the Tomcat Manager then will ask to enter username and password. After clicking the login option the Tomcat Web Application Manager page will be displayed. Installation of MySQL and SQLyog MySQL is definitely the most admired and widely-used open source database, simple to set up and use and is recognized as one of the fastest database engines. Manual installation offers several benefits: Backing up, reinstalling, or moving databases can be achieved in seconds. MySQL can be installed anywhere, such as a portable USB drive. MYSQL installation steps: Step 1: Download MySQL fromdev.mysql.com/downloads/. FollowMySQL Community Server,Windowsand download the â€Å"Without installer† version. Step 2: Extract the files install MySQL to C:mysql, so extract the ZIP to C: drive and rename the folder from â€Å"mysql-x.x.xx-win32†³ to â€Å"mysql†. MySQL can be installed anywhere on your system. If lightweight installation is needed then remove all sub-folders except for bin, data, scripts and share. Step 3: Move the data folder (optional) placing the data folder on another drive or partition is recommended to make backups and re-installation easier. For example, create a folder called D:MySQLdata and move the contents of C:mysqldata into it. Now two folders are there, D:MySQLdatamysql and D:MySQLdatatest. The original C:mysqldata folder can be removed. Step 4: Create a configuration file MySQL provides several configuration methods but, in general, it is easiest to to create a my.ini file in the mysql folder. There are several options to squeeze MySQL to exact requirements, but the simplest my.ini file is: [mysqld] # installation directory basedir=C:/mysql/ # data directory datadir=D:/MySQLdata/ Step 5: Test installation MySQL server is started by running the command C:mysqlbinmysqld.exe. Open a command box (Start > Run > cmd) and enter the following commands: Cd mysqlbin Mysqld This will start the MySQL server which listens for requests on localhost port 3306. Now start the MySQL command line tool and connect to the database. Open another command box and enter: cd mysqlbin mysql -u root This will show a welcome message and the mysql> prompt. Enter â€Å"show databases;† to view a list of the pre-defined databases. Step 6: Change root password MySQL root user is an all-powerful account that can create and destroy databases. In shared network, it is advisable to change the default (blank) password. From the mysql> prompt, enter: UPDATE mysql.user SET password=PASSWORD(my-new-password) WHERE User=root; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; Prompted the password for next time you start the MySQL command line. Enter â€Å"exit† at the mysql> prompt to stop the command line client, now shut down MySQL with the following command: mysqladmin.exe -u root shutdown. Step 7: Install MySQL as a Windows service The easiest way to start MySQL is to add it as a Windows service. From a command prompt, enter: cd mysqlbin mysqld install Open the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then Services and double-click MySQL. Set the Startup type to â€Å"Automatic† to ensure MySQL starts every time pc is booted. Alternatively, set the Startup type to â€Å"Manual† and launch MySQL using the command â€Å"net start mysql†. Note that the Windows service can be removed using: cd mysqlbin mysqld –remove SQLYog Installation: SQLYog is a freeware and download it at:http://www.webyog.com/en/.Click on â€Å"Download† in the SQLYog Community Edition (freeware). First click on SQLYog Community Edition 5.2(stable). A window is opened, asking what you want do.Choose â€Å"Record†. A new window will open and asking where you want to record this files.Make one click on â€Å"My documents† on the left, next click on â€Å"Record†. When download is finished choose â€Å"Execute† for launching the installation. If this window is not there then go to â€Å"My Documents† and make 2 clicks on the file that you have just downloaded. Then click on â€Å"Execute†. Installation of sqlyog: Step 1: After click on â€Å"Execute†, just click on â€Å"NEXT† button. Step 2: In this page about the licence, choose â€Å"I accept† button and click on â€Å"NEXT†. Step 3: Then asks where to record the program on computer. Choose a destination directory, and click on â€Å"Install† shown in below window. Step 4: Then click on â€Å"NEXT†. Step 5: Click on â€Å"Finish† for finishing the installation in the following window. Set SQLYog Step 1: When SQLYog is opened for first time set the program to which database you want to connect. For that, make 1 click on â€Å"New† button. Step 2: Enter a name for the connection. It is just about a means of differentiating a connection for a base to another, it is neither the identifier of connexion, nor the password. Step 3: Next, click on â€Å"OK†. SQLYog will open a connexion window to the database. Enter the following settings: MySQL Host Address: It is about the address on the network of server, either return an address IP or an address URL. If the server is on the same computer that SQLYog, put â€Å"localhost†. Username: It’s the username, corresponding to â€Å"id† of the user. For example: â€Å"root† Password: It’s the password associate to Username Port: it’s the port number using by MySQL. Default: 3306. Database: It’s the name of the database witch you want to connect to. If don’t put anything here, SQLYog will show the entire database on the server. After finished entering the information, test them by clicking on â€Å"Test Connexion† then click on the â€Å"Save† button for saving.

Essay --

Impact of oil prices on world economy 1. Increased financial indebtedness of oil importing nations due to constant rise in oil prices Oil importing countries budget primarily comprise of oil cost which increases the indebtedness of these countries towards oil producing nations. The prolonged indebtedness may give rise to insolvency of these counties in long term. 2.Increase in oil price has a direct impact on both micro- and macro economics of oil importing countries. Oil price increases are generally linked to increase in inflation and reduce economic growth. Increase in oil prices increases the cost of supply chain. This causes the inward shift in aggregate supply curve and hence the price level goes up. The fluctuations in oil price leads to speculation in the market. This is also a major reason for short term price rise of the commodities in a country. Apart from the direct impact, the indirect impact could be the price rise of commodities which use oil as their input in some form or other. Increasing oil prices in oil consuming nations reduces the purchasing power an...