This writing is attached with Logbook

(This writing is attached with Logbook) With the enormous improvements in the computers, software now pervades most facets of modern life. Software is now often the gating element in most branches of engineering and science. To formalize the developing of software and improving efficiency, the software engineering theory were rapidly developed in last decades years. Software process model is a framework, which defines a small number of activities applicable to all software projects, regardless of their size or complexity. This report describes one of software process model, Capability Maturity Model (CMM). CMM explains how to assess and improve software process maturity that based on 5-capability levels evolutionary path. It provides a framework for organizing these evolutionary steps into these maturity levels that lay successive foundations for continuous process improvement. These five maturity levels define an ordinal scale for measuring the maturity of an organization's software process and for evaluating its software process capability. The five levels in the improvement model for software are designed that the capabilities at the lower levels provide a progressively stronger foundation on which to build the upper levels. These five developmental stages are referred to as maturity levels, and at each level, the organization has a distinct process capability. By moving up these levels, the organization's capability is consistently improved. The maturity level is a well-defined evolutionary plateau toward achieving a mature software process. Each maturity level provides a layer in the foundation for continuous process improvement. Each level comprises a set of process goals that, when satisfied, stabilize an important component of the software process. Achieving each level of the maturity framework establishes a different component in the software process, resulting in an increase in the process capability of the organ...

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Modern Architects

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Modern Architects Jacques Herzog (born April 19, 1950) and Pierre de Meuron (born May 8, 1950) are two Swiss architects known for innovative designs and construction using new materials and techniques. The two architects have nearly parallel careers. Both men were born the same year in Basel, Switzerland, attended the same school (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland), and in 1978 they formed the architectural partnership, Herzog de Meuron. In 2001, they were chosen to share the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize. Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have designed projects in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, the United States, and of course, in their native Switzerland. They have built residences, several apartment buildings, libraries, schools, a sports complex, a photographic studio, museums, hotels, railway utility buildings, and office and factory buildings. Selected Projects: 1999-2000: Apartment buildings, Rue des Suisses, Paris, France1998-2000: Roche Pharma Research Institute Building 92 / Building 41, Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland2000: Tate Modern, London Bankside, UK1998-1999: Central Signal Tower, Basel, Switzerland1998: Ricola Marketing Building, Laufen, Switzerland1996-1998: Dominus Winery, Yountville, California1993: Ricola-Euope SA Production and Storage Building, Mulhouse-Brunstatt, France1989-1991: Ricola Factory Addition and Glazed Canopy, Laufen, Switzerland2003: Prada Boutique Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan2004: IKMZ der BTU Cottbus, Library at Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU), Cottbus, Germany,2004: Edifici Fà ²rum, Barcelona, Spain2005: Allianz Arena, Mà ¼nchen-Frà ¶ttmaning, Germany2005: Walker Art Center expansion, Minneapolis. MN2008: Beijing National Stadium, Beijing, China2010: 1111 Lincoln Road (parking garage), Miami Beach, Florida2012: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Kensington Gardens, London, UK2012: Parrish Art Museum, Long Island, New York 2015: Grand Stade de Bordeaux, France2016: Elbphilharmonie concert hall, Hamburg, Germany2017: 56 Leonard Street (Jenga Tower), New York City2017: La tour Triangle, Porte de Versailles, Paris, France2017: M Visual Art Museum in Kowloon, Hong Kong Related People: Rem Koolhaas, Pritzker Prize Laureate, 2000 I.M. Pei, 1983 Pritzker Laureate Robert Venturi, Pritzker Prize Laureate, 1991 Thom Mayne, 2005 Pritzker Laureate Zaha Hadid, Pritzker Prize Laureate, 2004 Commentary on Herzog and de Meuron from the Pritzker Prize Committee: Among their completed buildings, the Ricola cough lozenge factory and storage building in Mulhouse, France stands out for its unique printed translucent walls that provide the work areas with a pleasant filtered light. A railway utility building in Basel, Switzerland called Signal Box has an exterior cladding of copper strips that are twisted at certain places to admit daylight. A library for the Technical University in Eberswalde, Germany has 17 horizontal bands of iconographic images silk screen printed on glass and on concrete. An apartment building on Schà ¼tzenmattstrasse in Basel has a fully glazed street facade that is covered by a moveable curtain of perforated latticework. While these unusual construction solutions are certainly not the only reason for Herzog and de Meuron being selected as the 2001 Laureates, Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented, One is hard put to think of any architects in history that have addressed the integument of architecture with greater imagination and virtuosity. Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic and member of the jury, commented further about Herzog and de Meuron, They refine the traditions of modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and surfaces through the exploration of new treatments and techniques. Another juror, Carlos Jimenez from Houston who is professor of architecture at Rice University, said, One of the most compelling aspects of work by Herzog and de Meuron is their capacity to astonish. And from juror Jorge Silvetti, who chairs the Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, ...all of their work maintains throughout, the stable qualities that have always been associated with the best Swiss architecture: conceptual precision, formal clarity, economy of means and pristine detailing and craftsmanship.

Understanding the Court System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Understanding the Court System - Essay Example This paper endeavors to help in understanding the United States of America court system. To achieve this, the paper will discuss the case of Riley v. California heard in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court determination in this case considered two individual cases. Both cases involved cell phone searches during arrest without a warrant of search. One case involved David Leon Riley stopped in San Diego by a police officer in 2009 for having expired car registration tags (Harvard Law Review, 2014). The police towed the vehicle and searched it. During the search, they discovered two handguns hidden under the boot of his car. The police seized his phone without warrant and searched it. The phone records showed that Riley was part of a gang known as the Lincoln Park gang the evidence from the phone also placed him at a crime scene three weeks before and his made the prosecution used this evidence to build a case of assault and attempted murder against Riley (Harvard Law Review, 2014). During the trial, the judge upheld that the evidence from Riley’s Smartphone was admissible because it fell under the exceptions provided by search-incident-to-arrest provisions. The trial led to the conviction of Riley and the California court of appeal upheld this ruling (Harvard Law Review, 2014). The second case involved Brima Wurie arrested by a police officer who observed him participating in drug trade. During the arrest, the police officers confiscated two mobile phones from him (Harvard Law Review, 2014). After searching the call log, they determined the location of a caller and traced it to a location where they seized drugs, firearms and cash. The prosecution charged Wurie with drug and firearm possession. The district court declined to declare the evidence from the mobile phone as inadmissible since the police acquired it without a warrant. However, the first circuit court overturned the decision by the district court citing that mobile

How has the financial crisis of 2008 affected the real estate market Essay

How has the financial crisis of 2008 affected the real estate market in Dubai - Essay Example The recent global financial crisis affected nearly every major developed economy.   While there were numerous causes precipitating this near economic collapse, the reality is that it may take a decade of more for many sectors to recover.   One of the areas hardest hit globally is the housing sector.   In most locations, there was a tremendous drop in housing and property prices.   A glut of supply hit the market almost instantly; at the same time the access to credit became severely restricted.   In many respects, even though the economy is slowly recovering, the residual effects of economic downturn are still being felt, particularly in its impact on housing prices and the tightening of lending guidelines.   These topics form the basis for this study as we look at one of the areas in the Middle East, Dubai, which was particularly hard hit by the global financial crisis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and analyze the economic conditions, particularly in terms o f the real estate market, present in Dubai during and subsequent to the global economic crisis of 2008.   This focus was on an analysis of these economic conditions on the real estate market, how the market was affected by the crisis, and how it is expected to recover and perform in the future.   The following research question guided this process: How as the real estate market in Dubai affected by the financial crisis, and how did the market recover in subsequent years?

The Necessity of Art Essay Example for Free

The Necessity of Art Essay What is art? There are many definitions that can be given to art depending on the person talking about it and by these definitions; the following questions can be answered. Why is art necessary? What does it benefit us if art is applied in our lives? What can it do for us? What is its importance? These are the questions some people think of when they hear the word art. I have learned some things in my GREATWK class especially the definition of art and how to answer these questions. To give a heads up, I got a quote from Fischer, a writer and it says: Art is necessary in order that man should be able to recognize and change the world. But art is also necessary by virtue of the magic inherent in it. Art in capitalist society may appear as a discrete area of leisure or luxury, but this is wholly exceptional for human society. Art was humanity’s attempt to control the world. Art and magic were the same thing: ‘The newly acquired power to grasp and control objects, to prompt social activity and bring about events by means of signs, images, and words, led him to expect the magical power of language to be infinite. Fischer, 2012). In relation to Fischer’s idea of why is art necessary, it is because in today’s time, more and more people often use art as a form of communication, expression, imagination, exploration and many more. Art is important in viewing things differently, and the world where we live in, in general. People, specifically, young people or the youth use art for their own creativity and expression. People use art to express what they are feeling about things which other people tries to understand what it conveys to them especially in social reality or in society, rather. One of the things why art is important in our society is that art can show how change and improvement may be brought about with a mixture of creative imagination. It may be considered as a guide to our society as well but more of that later. We will be discussing what I learned through this subject in the course of this paper. Art and Its Importance What is Art? First of all, what is Art? This question had been and is still asked and at the same time answered by several human minds ever since ancient Greek philosophers had lived. Many may argue that art cannot be statically defined, in as much as that art is a very complex and dynamic term which can be proven by the drastic changes of the definition of the term over the years. To better understand its importance, we must first know its definition. Art stimulates different parts of our brains to make us laugh or incite us to riot, with a whole gamut of emotions in between. Art gives us a way to be creative and express ourselves. For some people, art is the entire reason they get out of bed in the morning. It is something that makes us more thoughtful and well-rounded humans. Art is such a large part of our everyday lives that we may hardly even stop to think about it. Art is something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing to our eyes. For some students Art is their motivation for coming to school and an area where they have success or excel, providing an important balance in their total educational experience. These are some of the definitions of art. Art has its own distinctive and indispensible features. It has the ability to convey messages and emotions; †¢It is a mere combination of man’s own cognitive and creative attitudes to reality recorded in words, colours, plastic forms, or melodically arranged sound; †¢It also has an ability of having profound communicative function; †¢It also contains the cognitive, moral and social substance; †¢It makes use of different styles like paintings and poems. There are many definitions of art but to simply put it, art is a diverse range of human acts and what it produces. Art is created by man and man alone. It has been characterized, specifically, in terms of expression, communication and emotion. There are other values that characterize art but these 3 specifically characterize it. Another main definition of art is that it is form and content, meaning all art consists of form and content. Form simply means the elements of art used, its design principles and the physical materials used. Content, on the other hand, is idea-based and it means that what the artist meant to portray, what the artist did portray and ow we, individuals, react to both the intended and the actual messages. Additionally, content includes ways in which a work was influenced by something like politics, religion, society or sometimes even the artist’s use of hallucinogenic substances at the time it was created. All of these factors, together, make up the content side of art. Why is Art Necessary? Art is born of necessity to a world of imperfection. In a sense, we all live within ourselves, within our own cons ciousness, within our perceptions. In this simple fact of human psychology art is born. Through the arts, we have the capacity to consciously shape our perception and the perception of others. The sensations created by an art form are called aesthetics. Beauty is a part of aesthetics, but only a small part. Often the reason an artist is compelled to create has nothing to do with capturing beauty or perfection. The need to create, the creative imperative, is more primal and infinitely more subtle than the cliche of beauty. (Gregson, 2005). There are many, different reasons why art is important. Some of those reasons were already mentioned. There are other reasons of why art is important and these are the following: †¢They are languages that all people speak that cut across racial, cultural, social, educational, and economic barriers and enhance cultural appreciation and awareness. †¢They provide opportunities for self-expression, bringing the inner world into the outer world of concrete reality. †¢They develop both independence and collaboration. †¢They make it possible to use personal strengths in meaningful ways and to bridge into understanding sometimes difficult abstractions through these strengths. They improve academic achievement enhancing test scores, attitudes, social skills, critical and creative thinking. †¢They exercise and develop higher order thinking skills including analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and problem-finding. †¢They provide the means for every student to learn. (DoSomething. org, 2012). Importance of Art as discussed in our GREATWK Course Our GREATWK course, pro vided us, students, a chance to develop cognitive skills and at the same time creative skills and helped us develop our imaginations through the discussions made by our professors. Individually, it also helped me grasp the definition of Art through the works of four, not alike famous Philosophers or Artists. The course defined art through the specific works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Aristotle, Leo Tolstoy, and Frida Kahlo. Nietzsche focused more on Tragic Art through the Birth of Tragedy, Aristotle on Tragedy and Mimesis through Poetics,, Tolstoy on â€Å"What is Art† and Frida Kahlo on Visual Art through her famous paintings. The four combined and created a quadrumvirate form of definition of what art is and helped me grasp a better and scholarly perspective on what art is to me. By the discussions made by our professors in our class, art was defined and was discussed thoroughly with the help of the specific works made by some of the greatest artists in history. It was also discussed why it is really significant in our lives. In the following sections, each of the four artists will be discussed, what is art for them and why art is necessary for us. Frida Kahlo defined Art mostly through her paintings which conveyed her biographical features to the audience. Through Visual Art, Frida freely expressed herself through the paintings, her experiences, ideas, and the significant happenings that happened in her life. One famous artist, Leo Tolstoy, who pretty much defined what art and beauty should be and composed of to be considered as real art and beauty. According to Tolstoy, art must form some kind of emotional link between the artist and his/her audience, one that emotionally affects the viewer. With respect to Kahlo, whose work represented a lot of experience and/or events within her life, it is quite very important for us viewers to know the story behind the art more than about the creator for us to understand the deeper meanings behind the figures. Tolstoy shows how the works of Frida can be considered as perfect examples of art and beauty. For Tolstoy, Art can only be considered as art only by the artist’s emotions through his/her creations, the form, and the intentions in creating such artwork. Art is considered beautiful only if the art portrays the sincerity of the artist, clearness or clarity of what the artist wants to express to his/her audience, and how the artist’s individuality is visibly shown to his/her audience. Freidrich Nietzsche In Nietzsche’s ideology, man is the main structure of this world. He believed that without man, life is useless and meaningless. In order to attain meaning in this world, man should live life dangerously, one of his famous lines, regardless of any consequences that may happen. He believed that there is no God and that it is through art that man may find path to becoming an ubermench. In Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche developed an idea of art and nature using the two ancient Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus as metaphors for these two fundamental principles. The Apollonian principle is most clearly expressed through the arts of painting and sculpture which, Nietzsche states are representations of the world. But these representations are fantastical in nature and, therefore, allow us to escape from the reality of the world, rather like a pleasant dream. The Dionysian principle, however, is more in touch with the cruel realities of nature and is most clearly expressed through ecstatic music and dance. It is also a form of forgetting or drunkenness. For Nietzsche, dreams represent the realm of beautiful forms and symbols, an orderly place of light and appearance. Drunkenness, on the other hand, is that state of wild passions where the boundaries between self and other dissolve. If we are to be truly human and experience any form of genuine understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. Ultimately, a person should strive to find a balance between the Apollonian and the Dionysian forces. In relation to art being a necessity in life, according to Nietzsche, Art sustains life. Art is what makes life endurable and thus possible. Art is what make life worth living. Nietzsche depicts this through a beautiful metaphor: Once again we may see the artistic buoyancy and creative joy as a luminous cloud shape reflected upon the dark surface of a lake of sorrow. Hence, this is another basic role of art: art as a metaphysical solace. Nietszsche, analyzing the Greek tragedy writes: The metaphysical solace (with which, I wish to say at once, all true tragedy sends us away) that despite every phenomenal change, life is at bottom indestructibly joyful and powerful. (Quesada, 2009). Leo Tolstoy and Aristotle In Poetics, Aristotle proposed that the origin of Art for the likings of Human existence was Imitation. Based from Aristotle himself, Poetry, which is a form of Art, imitates life through harmony, rhythm, and language. Tragedy is one form of poetry that deals with feelings of pity, fear and of Catharsis, or the purification of emotions. The poet is the one who serves as the writer and narrator of the tragedy who in a way in which imitates life through pity and fear. The poet is also the one who takes the recipient into a lampoon type of worldview within the tragedy. With that in mind, the recipient evokes in himself/herself the idea of criticizing the tragedy and thus recollects once again and tries to recall whether he/she really did felt pity and fear towards the tragic hero. For Tolstoy, on the other hand, he described art and explained why art is necessary in different ways in his work entitled â€Å"What is Art? †. First, he described and explained how art can be considered as a work of art. It is based on these three: †¢On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted; †¢On the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is transmitted; †¢On the sincerity of the artist, i. e. , on the greater or lesser force with which the artist himself feels the emotion he transmits. (Tolstoy, 1986). Then he also explained why art is necessary. Art acts as a message for the viewers to see and feel. It is based on the fact that a man, receiving through his sense of hearing or sight another mans expression of feeling, is capable of experiencing the emotion which moved the man who expressed it. Conclusion In conclusion, with all the definition of art given by the artists/philosophers aforementioned, I now know how complex and dynamic art as a subject is. Art is a diverse range of human acts and what it produces. It can be something that can be expressed through individual thoughts, emotions, feelings and senses. Art evolves in a way that when expressed properly with the correct criteria used in judging if it is a work of art or not, it is transformed into creative forms through creative and cognitive skills like novels, paintings, dramas, plays, etc. Every person has its own perspective and understanding of art. There are many definitions of art. We can define art based on our own understanding and our own experience. Art is really necessary for us because it can bring about change and improvement. We, as human beings, we are always subject to change no matter what because it is who we are and it is how we grow and improve to become better. By becoming better citizens, we can create a better society and by doing so, we can create a better world where we can live peacefully and in harmony. Art can be really important in our lives because it can be a form of communication, emotion, expression, creativity, imagination and many more. Through art, we have the capacity to consciously shape our perception and the perception of others. Art can be considered as way to connect tragedy with our lives (Nietzsche), a way to pour out our emotions and feelings through our paintings (Kahlo), or as an imitation of one’s life (Aristotle) and that it is in our own selves how we criticize and create a life perspective based on the decisions we make that could either lead to a misfortune or contentment in life.

The Perseverance of Odysseus Essay -- The Odyssey, by Homer

In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus goes through many trials while trying to return home from the Trojan War. On his voyage home, he must visit the Land of the Dead, evade the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis and when he does arrive home, participate in a tricky reunion with his wife, Penelope. All of these examples show that Odysseus has extreme determination and perseverance. Perseverance is an excellent quality that few possess which can spark achievement. In the â€Å"Land of the Dead†, Odysseus has to make a complicated potion to bring out the profit Teiresias. While waiting for Teiresias to come, he has to hold back the ghosts of the dead. While holding them back, he sees his dead mother. Odysseus did not know she was dead, and grieved, but still held her off to accomplish his obligations. While in the land of the dead, he sees his fallen shipmate, Elpenor. Elpenor tells him that he must backtrack back to Aeaea Island to bury his body and give him an honorable funeral. Odysseus promises to do this and he later does. The strength that he has to hold back ... The Perseverance of Odysseus Essay -- The Odyssey, by Homer In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus goes through many trials while trying to return home from the Trojan War. On his voyage home, he must visit the Land of the Dead, evade the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis and when he does arrive home, participate in a tricky reunion with his wife, Penelope. All of these examples show that Odysseus has extreme determination and perseverance. Perseverance is an excellent quality that few possess which can spark achievement. In the â€Å"Land of the Dead†, Odysseus has to make a complicated potion to bring out the profit Teiresias. While waiting for Teiresias to come, he has to hold back the ghosts of the dead. While holding them back, he sees his dead mother. Odysseus did not know she was dead, and grieved, but still held her off to accomplish his obligations. While in the land of the dead, he sees his fallen shipmate, Elpenor. Elpenor tells him that he must backtrack back to Aeaea Island to bury his body and give him an honorable funeral. Odysseus promises to do this and he later does. The strength that he has to hold back ...

How to succeed in the first semester: Guide for the freshman Essay

Succeeding in a freshman’s first semester is a challenging task as it presents a whole new level of academic inquiry, excitement, adventures, and challenges. The independence acquired in college is never an assurance that it would be a smooth sailing. Rather, it would give the student a topsy-turvy ride and the first semester is a whole big loop that is with more twirls than the rest of the journey.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are certain steps that a college student may take to ensure that the first semester will do well as this would determine how far a student could go in the next years and semesters to come. Though this would not bring magic but, at the very least, it would help in making the students see this experience as an exciting one.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First, one should be able to discipline oneself with regard to matters relating to academics. The act of attending to classes is important and strict adherence to such would contribute towards academic achievement. One should look at the classes similar to that of a favorite television series. Once the student misses one episode, he/she misses out on the opportunity to learn what was taught in the class, is unable to participate in the class discussion, losses the opportunity to interact with his/her fellow students, and does not have the chance to earn points on pop quizzes and recitations. In addition to all these, there would be some difficulties following the next lecture especially if the past and present lectures are related. Second, be familiar with the rules and guidelines maintained by the university or the college. These are the things which would serve as the general guide of the student in surviving through college. It is important to familiarize oneself with these and ensure that it is fully understood. These rules are to be seen simply as recommendations made by the university as they would want their students to become the best they could ever be. These are not punitive or a prison that should be followed strictly. Rather, these are things that would make life easier and would maintain peace and order and understanding between the faculty, the students, and the staff. Third, know the right time to study and know when is the right time to reward the self for a job well done. It is helpful to have good study habits because the regularity of events would make learning easier and recall of ideas a lot faster. Being prepared for anything, even without any quizzes, exams, or graded recitations, would facilitate the discussion of the future lessons and would even be helpful for long exams as it has already been read. In doing so, one would only have to scan the required readings and lecture notes and would also have the time to relax and rest the mind a day before the examination. Just as much as you would work hard in studying, it should be the same for the reward for doing all the hard work. It would also serve as a good motivation when the mind and the body could not keep up with the difficulty of the task or when boredom hits. For a short-term reward, it would be good to reward the self with a movie and a sumptuous dinner after an examination that was passed with flying colors. On the other hand, a long-term reward would have to be an expensive item that one longs to have when a certain average is met. However, one should also remember the expenses needed for such and this is where discipline would come in again for saving money for the rewards. Lastly, meeting people and making good friends would make the experience a lot better. This is because of the fact that friends who go through practically the same subjects as you do would make the burden lighter by having someone understand you and would lend a helping hand a listening ear.