Dracula Essay Example for Free

Dracula Essay As Seward was called into the room, Renfield was found extremely injured, lying in a pool of blood that glistened under the light. His face was bashed and bruised, he had suffered severe damage to his head and it was evident that his back was broken as well. Renfield was kept in a straitjacket and his injuries left everyone wondering they could have been self-inflicted. As the story progresses, Seward sends the attendant to bring Dr. Van Helsing, who, after examination, later performs an emergency operation to the skull that would allow Renfield to regain consioucness and recount what had happen. As Renfield weakily began to recount the events that took place earlier that night. His story starts at the night Seward refuses to let him leave the asylum. Renfield admits to being visited by Dracula, who had appeared in a mist outside the asylum. After much attempt to resist the Count, Renfield was associated with Dracula for a period of time after he was promised several lives. Upon the presence of Mina Harker, Renfield notices that she appears extremely pale and seems to have lost alot of blood. This allows him to conclude and warn Seward and Van Helsing that Dracula had been visiting Mina. Prior to the moment Renfield was found on the floor, he explains that he encountered and tried to resist giving into Dracula, only to have been beaten up and thrown violently to the ground, crushing his head. The tale told by Renfield serves as new discovery that allows the characters of the book to carry out new ideas in order to bring down Dracula. His story seems to be the birth of a new discovery that represents the grande idea of resisting and going against Count Dracula. During his story, he appears to have been infuriated once he realized Mina was being violated by Dracula. This could represent how inaccepted actions that deteriorated purity were during the Victorian Era. Overall, his story serves as the final fuel that sets not only an ultimate goal but a time constraint as well, now knowing that Mina Harkers life was at risk. What can Mina see and hear when Van Helsing hypnotizes her? What does this indicate? Do you think Dracula can detect Minas interferance? Includes the October 11th entry of Dr. Sewards diary; the October 15th, October 16th, October 17th, and October 24th entries of Jonathan Harkers journal; telegram from Rufus Smith of Lloyds in London to Lord Godalming, dated October 24th; the October 25th, 26th, and 27th entries of Dr. Sewards diary; telegram from Rufus Smith to Lord Godalming, dated October 28th; the October 28th entry of Dr. Sewards diary. Mina makes the five men promise that if she becomes a vampire, they will kill her rather than allow her to be damned. She also asks her husband to read the burial service for her now, in case it should come to the worst. The heroes secure passage on the Orient Express from Paris to Varna, arriving there early to await the Count. Hypnotism of Mina brings the same news constantly: the sound of waves, masts, the movement of a ship at sea. Finally, they receive news that the ship has boarded at Galatz instead of Varna. The group takes the setback grimly, but they board the next available train to Galatz? knowing that they now may have to face Dracula on land. Van Helsing believes that the Counts unholy connection with Mina may have allowed him to discover their plans. He is optimistic, however, that the Count will not expect them to track him into his own country. A change comes over Mina, and Van Helsing believes that Dracula has released some of his hold over her spirit. The clue is in Draculas past, which Mina and Van Helsing analyze together: back when he was a mortal warrior invading Turkey, when the invasion failed he fled home and left his army to be cut to pieces. In the same way, he now thinks only of escape and has cut himself off from Mina? not realizing that because she has tasted his blood, Van Helsing can still hypnotize her and learn of Draculas whereabouts. Analysis Chapter 25 Although the Count is able to elude them at Varna, he makes a critical error when he cuts himself off from Mina (note, however, that Mina is still not free from the threat of becoming a vampire). He assumes that he is safe in his castle, and he does not understand that Van Helsings hypnotism, combined with Minas connection to the vampire, will give Draculas enemies a critical edge over him. Van Helsing and Mina both use the terms of physiognomy in this chapter, referring again and again to the Counts child brain. He is a criminal type (Mina even refers to two renowned physiognomists to back up her classification of the Count), and thus he has predictable limitations. He is selfish (he thinks of escape at all costs), and he uses the same strategy whether he is a mortal invading/escaping Turkey or an undead invading/escaping England. Here is another example of the heroes use of science as a weapon against the Count. It must be remembered that many intelligent people took physiognomy very seriously during Stokers time, and that for Stoker physiognomy was a viable tool for understanding and classifying human nature. Its racist/classist biases and unscientific methods are much easier to see in hindsight.

The Plausibility of Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Science Scientifi

The Plausibility of Artificial Intelligence Can mankind create intelligence? Can the dream of artificial intelligence ever be realized? Is it possible to formulate intelligence out of inorganic matter? In this paper, I intend to show that artificial intelligence is indeed attainable, that it is within the capacity of human intelligence to fashion intelligence out of non-living materials. Let me begin with one of the major theories concerning the philosophy of artificial intelligence: The Church-Turing thesis. The Church-Turing thesis is the brainchild of Alan Turing and Alonzo Church. It concerns the concepts of â€Å"effective† and â€Å"mechanical† in logic and mathematics. Both Turing and Church reached the hypothesis independently and in different forms. But both forms confront similar issues and the general form is known as the ‘Church-Turing thesis’. In general, the thesis asserts that a machine can execute all processes that are ‘mechanical’[1]. Clearly, there is some ambiguity in this statement. What is meant by mechanical? What is meant by machine? ‘Mechanical’ (or ‘effective’ as Turing sometimes uses) is used in a very strict sense. A process that is mechanical must satisfy the following four properties. First, it must be set out in terms of a finite number of exact instructions. Each instruction must in turn contain a finite number of symbols. Second, if carried out properly, it must produce the desired result in a finite number of steps (a finite amount of time). Third, in practice or in principle, it must be able to be carried out by a human being unaided by any machinery (except paper, pencil, etc.). And finally, it must not demand any insight or ingenuity on the part of the human bei... ...l> (visited 06 Dec. 2002) [4] P. Millican and A. Clark, ed. The Legacy of Alan Turing [5] Herken, Rolf, ed. The Universal Turing Machine: a half-century survey [6] P. Millican and A. Clark, ed. The Legacy of Alan Turing [7] Hofstadter, Douglas. Godel, Escher, Bach: and eternal golden braid. (pg 561) [8] see Hofstadter (pg. 18, 438, 561, 738-739) [9] Hofstadter (pg. 561) [10] Garson, James. â€Å"Connectionism† Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 19 Aug. 2002. < http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/connectionism/> (visited 06 Dec. 2002) [11] Garson, James. â€Å"Connectionism† Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [12] Srinivasa Rao, K. Srinivasa Ramanujan : a mathematical (East West Books, c1998) [13] Miller, Leon K., Musical savants : exceptional skill in the mentally retarded. (Hillsdale, N.J : L. Erlbaum, 1989.)

Chicken a La Carte Reaction

Reaction on Chicken A La Carte by Ferdinand DimaduraGuide questions:What affected you? Why?What are your realizations?What does it tell you as a student of Biology?What affected me was seeing how the less fortunate were so easily satisfied and happy with just having leftover food. The children could not wait to get their hands on the food brought by one man from their community. Seeing how they happily yet hungrily feasted on the chicken pieces that other people had already consumed made me want to wish I could go to them and be able to give them proper food.Being part of the better-heeled sector of the society, we easily get what we want. We have food on our tables everyday, three times a day. We have proper shelter and proper clothing. Our needs are well provided for, even greater than that of what is necessary yet we take them for granted. The scene wherein the family said grace before partaking of the leftover that their father brought home for them really touched my heart. The t hings that we most often take for granted is seen by others as a blessing. We demand a lot of things but it never crossed our minds that there are those who wish they had what we have.Have we even thanked the Lord for the things, how little it may be that he has given us? I am not sure what the short film should tell me as a Biology student, aside from that I am required to watch it and make a paper about it because it is a requirement in the ETAR class that is part of the curriculum. However, being a student in itself and being a part of a society where the situation showed is held true, part of the realizations it brought to me was that I can do something to make the situation better.I could start by being part of an outreach program that provides food, education, etc. It does not matter whether what I do may be big or small, whether I get recognition for it or not. What is important is that I am able to impart something in their lives and share the blessings that I have. I can on ly hope that my fellow students (and others who were able to watch the film) may also realize what I have realized and may also act upon their realizations. We are a part of a humanity that needs hope and healing and being as simple as a student is not a limitation to achieve it.

The Benefits Of Genetic Engineering - 1001 Words

The article is based on the fact that microbes are capable of changing carbon dioxide into biomass. In most cases, the organism derives energy from sunlight, photoautotrophy and also from inorganic electronic donors, chemolithoautotrophy. It is by this that the authors claim that the potential for this organism to be used for the large-scale industrial production of biofuels and other useful chemicals remains largely untapped. The employment of genetic engineering to augment the autotrophic hosts productivity pathways offers hope for improved and increased productivity. Other techniques entail the transfer of the processes to heterotrophic organisms. Autotrophic production is said to be more efficient as a source of fuel than that from†¦show more content†¦This has given rise to microbial electrosynthesis where chemolithoautotrophs are used to generate chemicals and biofuels are generated from electron donors. Non-carbon electron donors include H2, Fe2+, NH4 and all are produced and mobilized by electrical energy. A suitable host physiologically, genetically and biochemically forms the basis for efficient autotrophic production. The heterotrophs Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have so far been ideal. However, these organisms will have to be transformed to full autotrophs using sophisticated and complex engineering methods. The use of mixotrophy where autotrophs systems are incorporated into heterotrophs seems to give better outcomes. The natural photoautotrophic microorganism is categorized into oxygenic and anoxygenic groups. Oxygenic photoautotrophs such as Cyanobacterial Synechocystis species and Synechococcus species have been used in conjunction with metabolic engineering to produce isobutyraldehyde, l-lactic acid and 2,3-butanediol. Eukaryotic microalgae such as Chlamydomonas reimnhardtii can produce lipids and alkanes. Oxygenic photoautotrophs possess water splitting oxygen producing photosystems. These systems can produce reducing power and a proton gradient for ATP energy production. The photosystems of anoxygenic photolithoautotrophic microorganisms cannot split water. They rely on inorganic electronic donors to generate reducing power. An example is RhodabacterShow MoreRelatedBenefits Of Genetic Engineering711 Words   |  3 PagesShould genetic engineering be allowed? â€Å"With genetic engineering, we will be able to increase the complexity of DNA, and improve the human race.† - Stephen Hawking. Genetic engineering is the genetic modification of an organism’s phenotype, also known as an organism’s genetic makeup. Genetic engineering can have its advantages and disadvantages, but I believe there are more advantages than disadvantages. There are a number of benefits that we can only discover if scientists consider to study andRead MoreBenefits Of Genetic Engineering1115 Words   |  5 Pageswill be talking about genetic engineering. What is genetic engineering? Genetic engineering is the process of directly manipulating an organism’s genes or DNA in order to change its characteristics. Over the years, genetic engineering and modification has been trialled on many different things, (CHANGE SLIDE) including food such as creating seedless grapes, CHANGE SLIDE and animals such as dolly the sheep, the first cloned animal in the world. However, genetic engineering, especially on humans hasRead MoreGenetic Engineering And Its Benefits1930 Words   |  8 Pagesprocess, genetic engineering provides more benefits that far outweigh the harms. 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This has led to advances in industry, medicine and agriculture. Newer techniques in genetic engineering have enabled scientists to clone more complex mammals and opened up the possibility of cloning humans. Although there are many potential benefits to this technology, the prospect of cloning humans has raised many practicalRead MoreThe Potential Benefits Of Genetic Engineering2181 Words   |  9 Pagesapplication of new techniques in genetic engineering to produce human clones. Up until now genetic engineering and cloning has been used to clone plants, unicellular organisms, amphibians and simple mammals. This has led to significant advances in agriculture, industry, and medicine. Newer techni ques in genetic engineering have enabled scientists to clone more complex mammals and opened up the possibility of cloning humans. Although there are many potential benefits to this technology, the prospect