Tolstoys Anna Karenina Essay -- Tolstoys Anna Karenina

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina The world of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a world ruled by chance. From the very opening chapters, where a watchman is accidentally run over by a train at Moscow's Petersburg station, to the final, climactic scenes of arbitrary destruction when Levin searches for Kitty in a forest beset by lightning, characters are brought together and forced into action against their will by coincidence and, sometimes, misfortune. That Anna and Vronsky ever meet and begin the fateful affair that becomes the centerpiece of the novel is itself a consequence of a long chain of unrelated events: culminating Anna's sharing a berth with Vronsky's mother on her way to reconcile Dolly and Stiva in Moscow. And yet, as an epigraph to this seemingly chaotic world of chance event, a seemingly amoral world that would seem to neither punish sin nor reward good, Tolstoy chooses a quotation that comes originally from the book of Deuteronomy's song of Moses: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Originally (and s omewhat narrowly) thought to refer to Anna's final ostracism from the upper echelons of society that punish her for her misdeeds, the epigraph is the key to Tolstoy's subtle and philosophically complex conception of morality that denies the existence of a universal and unavoidable justice and derives responsibility from the individual's freedom to create and then bind himself to laws. Three of the novel's characters, Stephen Oblonsky, Constatine Levin, and Anna Karenina, all in some way connected to the Shcherbatsky family, serve to illustrate the various ways that Tolstoy's individual can be, or fail to be, "good," the various ways in which a character can be moral, immoral or amoral through the use of thought, or reason, to create necessity outside of the confused demands of a chaotic reality. Tolstoy's world is indeed a servant to chance, and the plot depends so heavily on coincidence that Anna Karenina, taking into account the many elements of Menippian satire and Socratic dialogue that are integrated into its structure, may well be considered in part a carnival novel. The steeplechase scene during which Vronsky breaks Frou-Frou's back is a perfect example of carnivalism -- the tragic yet somehow slapstick and cartoon-like injuries that befall the riders is a parody of the grand battlefield that the steeplechase is supposed to symbolize and the ... ...els." Anna is immovable in the face of the purely pleasurable and uninterpreted aspects of life -- "girlish delights" -- that are Oblonsky's daily bread. Anna is thus a tragic hero in the strict Aristotelian sense of being destroyed by the logical evolution of her personality. Yet it is also true that Tolstoy resists the tragic form in the overall structure of his novel by continuing into Part VIII and into Levin's life after Anna's death. While Anna fails to sustain a life centered in "romantic morality," the Goethian ideal of complete devotion, not to the loved one, but the condition of being in reciprocal love itself, Levin finds, at the end of the novel, a way to live that transcends the demands of reality. In the folk culture of the peasants that he encountered near the very beginning of the novel, he finds the peasant Theodore who understands Levin's need to leave the mundane, to live not for his belly, but for "Truth," a goodness that is beyond the chain of cause and effect that so binds the other characters in the novel -- Dolly, for example, who, unable to apply reason outside of pragmatic thought to her life, continues to l ive, pathetically, with her unfaithful husband.

Frequent Shopper Program

Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is a local upscale specialty food store that is committed to providing customers with the finest selection of specialty foods. In addition, KFF would like to reward their customers for their loyalty by incorporating a frequent shopper program. KFF is planning on developing a system that tracks customer purchases and awards loyalty points for redemption. The system will assist KFF in satisfying their most valued customers.Smith Systems Consulting Firm has been contracted for the development of the system. Smith Systems Consulting has been serving clients since 1994 with high value web and business application services. In this proposal, Smith Systems consulting will propose two alternative methods for completing the frequent shopper application. The advantages and disadvantages for each method and how the firm would conduct testing for each development method will be discussed.Regardless of which method is used, most software process models, follow a similar se t of phases and activities. The difference between models is the order and frequency of the phases. The specific parts of the software process are presented below: 1. Inception – Software product is created and defined.2. Planning – Resources, schedule, and cost are determined. 3. Requirements Analysis – Specify what the application must do. 4. Design – Specify the parts and how they fit 5. Implementation – Write the code 6. Testing – Execute the application with input test data 7. Maintenance – Repair defects and add capability (TechTarget, 2014)The first model that will be proposed is the â€Å"waterfall† process. The â€Å"waterfall† process is the oldest software process model and despite its weaknesses, it is still in widespread use today. The waterfall process requires following the phases in a sequential order where the output for one phase is used as the input for the next. The next phase in the process is not st arted until the previous one has been completed, although a small overlap between phases is accepted. Two advantages and disadvantages of using this model relative to the frequent shopper program will be discussed.The first advantage is the practicality of the process. We have been using this process for many years and have a great deal of experience with it. All individuals involved have and understanding of the process and its execution. The second advantage is the process is simple and easy to use. The criteria of each phase are set and completed sequentially. The order of execution is easy for everyone to comprehend. There is no question on what needs to be completed before the next phase can begin.The first disadvantage is that requirements need to be known up front. KFF currently has a broad range of requirements and every detail is not known. As the project progresses, more details may become known; which could cause the project to be stopped and re-imagined. The second disad vantage is that there is no feedback of the system by stakeholders until after the testing phase. KFF has no way of knowing if the program meets their requirements because the â€Å"waterfall† process does not facilitate intermediate versions.The second method that will be proposed is the agile methodology. The agile methodology proposes alternatives to traditional project management. Agile development focuses on keeping code simple, testing often, and delivering functional bits of the application as soon as they are ready (TechTarget, 2014). One goal of agile development is to build upon small-client-approved parts as the project progresses, as opposed to delivering one large application at the end of the project.One advantage to using agile methodology for the frequent shopper application is the ability to respond to changing requirements. KFF may decide to change the requirements of the project, which can easily be handled using the flexibility of the agile methodology. A second advantage is the face-to-face communication and continues input from customer representatives making sure that there is no guesswork (Buzzle, 2013). The result is exactly what the customer has required.The first disadvantage of the agile methodology is the possibility that the project can be taken off track. KFF is not one hundred percent clear on the final outcome that they want; therefore, the project has the potential to get off track because requirements are constantly changing. Another disadvantage is that it is difficult to assess the effort needed to complete this project at the beginning of the software development life cycle. Since KFF is not specific on the requirements for the project, we cannot plan how much time or the amount of resources we will need to complete the project.Regardless of the method that is used for the frequent shopper application, testing is a necessary component of the process. Testing is conducted differently depending on which software model is used. Since the waterfall method follows a sequential approach, the testing is done so also. The flexibility of the agile method also allows flexibility for the testing process.Using the waterfall method testing would begin during the implementation stage. The work would be divided into modules and the coding would begin after receiving the system design documents. The frequent shopper program would be developed into small programs called units. As an example, there would be a program that handles the input from the customer and another program that would track the employee’s reward points. Each unit is developed and then tested for functionality. Unit testing verifies if the units meet the specifications.The units are then integrated into a complete system during the integration phase and tested to see if all units coordinate between each other and the system functions as a whole per the specification (Onestoptesting, 2014). After testing of the frequent shopper program is successful, the software is delivered to the customer. If problems are found after deployment they are solved immediately. This is referred to be maintenance and sometimes that process is virtually never ending.Agile testing focuses on testing being an integral part of software development rather than a separate phase. (â€Å"Agile Testing†, n.d.) Testing from the beginning of the project and continually testing throughout the project lifecycle is the foundation in which agile testing is built. Agile testing is software testing based on the principles of agile software development.The combined team, including the testing team will take responsibility of analyzing the business requirements of the frequent shopper program. Together the team will define a sprint goal. The testing team will then begin work on the test plan that is validated by the entire team and KFF. As the development team starts the implementation, the test team will begin working on the test case design.Wh en the code is ready to test, the test team will do a quick test on the development environment, in order to identify the early stage defects. Developers will fix the defects on a priority basis. This iteration will continue until the end of the code implementation. In addition after approval from KFF, automated test cases will be run on a daily basis. Because of the frequency of testing using the agile method, automated tests are needed.Smith Systems Consulting needs to choose the methodology that works for them and the client. Since each project is unique, there is not a one-size fit all methodology. Two alternative methods for completing this project were presented and Smith Systems Consulting can make a decision on which to choose.

Psychology Post Labor Day

This Sync drone results in anxiety, lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating and a feeling of e emptiness during the first few weeks of returning to work. There is a lot of factual inform action that is used to back up this idea. Most of the research is professionally studied and scientifically proved. However, some evidence is stronger than others. This article provides a lot of evidence. This article is mostly scientific because almost all of the information comes from professional doctors, journals, or SST dies.For example, a study of 96 Dutch workers â€Å"found that health and wellbeing return De to pre vacation levels during the first week back at work. † This was conducted by pro fissionable and published in the journal Work and Stress. The article also states information on and then tells the readers where that information came from, weather it was a jog renal or a person. For example, after the article explains to be alert for symptoms of Pos t Vacation Syndrome, it refers to its source, â€Å"†¦ Says Katherine Mueller, assistant director o f the Center for Integrative Psychotherapy in Allentown, P. † The article gives a thou rough description of who the person is. Her occupation/ position and her location. Some evidence is slightly stronger scientifically than others because of its accuracy. Not all the people who are mentioned in this article are 100% correct but they are not war Eng either. Some evidence gives a more accurate description than others. For example, † An estimated 6% of the U. S. Population suffers from SAD† (Seasonal Affective Dies order) This piece of evidence gives a numerical value which makes it more accurate than the statements above.Most evidence in this article is factual however there are some opinions. Facts are pieces Of information that are scientifically proven while opinions are the way someone thinks and their viewpoint on a topic. For example, Emily Clicking has an opinion on children' s' and adults' mindsets on going back to school. ‘†General Y, kids can't wait to go back to school. For parents, that means months of purchasing , planning, nagging, chauffeuring, chaperoning and negotiating. † This is an opinion because SE it is not true for all children and parents to view going back to school that way.That SST atonement reflects more on Clinician's point of view than on scientifically proven facts. If Clicking would have mentioned a percentage of how many kids are excited to go back to school and how many parents are not excited for the school year to begin, it would b e a more reliable source. Findings in this article are trustworthy because it uses a lot of sources such as different people and different studies in different journals. This create s an unbiased argument.