Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Methods to Assess Groundwater Potential by Spring Locations

Methods to Assess Groundwater Potential by Spring Locations Abstract Regarding the ever increasing issue of water scarcity in different countries, the current study plans to apply support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and genetic algorithm optimized random forest (RFGA) methods to assess groundwater potential by spring locations. To this end, 14 effective variables including DEM-derived, river-based, fault-based, land use, and lithology factors were provided. Of 842 spring locations found, 70% (589) were implemented for model training, and the rest of them were used to evaluate the models. The mentioned models were run and groundwater potential maps (GPMs) were produced. At last, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the efficiency of the methods. The results of the current study denoted that RFGA, and RF methods had better efficacy than different kernels of SVM model. Area under curve (AUC) of ROC value for RF and RFGA was estimated as 84.6, and 85.6%, respectively. AUC of ROC was computed as SVM- linear ( 78.6%), SVM-polynomial (76.8%), SVM-sigmoid (77.1%), and SVM- radial based function (77%). Furthermore, the results represented higher importance of altitude, TWI, and slope angle in groundwater potential. The methodology produced in the current study could be transferred to other places with water scarcity issues for groundwater potential assessment and management. Key words: Geographic information system, Ardebil, Iran, Support vector machine, Random forest, Genetic algorithm Introduction Water scarcity is regarded as one of the most substantial soicio-environmental challenges in different countries. The demand on groundwater is increasing, and the overexploitation of this valuable resource is threatening future generations (Todd and Mays 2005; Rekha and Thomas 2007); Thus, its management is believed to be vital. A better water resources management plan would be possible when there is enough knowledge about the resources (i.e. high potential and susceptible zones). In recent years, researchers have made use of a variety of models to map groundwater potential such as frequency ratio (FR), weight of evidence (WofE), logistic regression (LR), index of entropy, evidential belief function (Oh et al. 2011; Ozdemir 2011a, b; Pourtaghi and Pourghasemi 2014; Davoodi Moghaddam et al. 2015; Naghibi and Pourghasemi 2015; Naghibi et al. 2015). Also, some researchers used machine learning methods including boosted regression tree (BRT), classification and regression (CART), general linear model (GLM), and RF algorithms in this field of study (Naghibi and Pourghasemi 2015; Rahmati et al. 2016). Lee et al (2012) employed artificial neural network (ANN) to assess groundwater productivity. Their results showed satisfactory performance of ANN. Recently [M1]Naghibi et al. (2017) used four recently developed data mining models including AdaBoost, Bagging generalized additive model, and naÃÆ' ¯ve bayes for groundwater potential mapping. They have also introduced a novel ensemble method from combination of the mentioned models and FR. In addition, Magaji et al. (2016) used geographic information system and evidential belief function model to produce groundwater recharge potential zones map. Theodossiou (2004) investigated how climate change influences the sustainability of groundwater in watershed-scale in Greece. Furthermore, Thivya et al. (2016) conducted a study to identify recharge mechanisms of groundwater in hard rock aquifers implementing stable isotopes. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithm has been employed in different fields of study such as flood susceptibility assessment (Tehrany et al. 2014; Tehrany et al. 2015), and landslide susceptibility investigation (Brenning 2005; Kavzogluetal 2014; Tien Bui et al. 2012; Yao et al. 2008; Yilmaz 2010; Tien Bui et al. 2015; Chen et al. 2017) with suitable efficacy. Genetic algorithm is one of the most advanced and pervasive developed heuristic search techniques in artificial intelligence and its application has been done in many fields of study including urban planning, ecological, climatic modelling, and remote sensing studies (Hasegava et al. 2013; Termansen et al. 2006; Chang et al. 2006; Chen et al. 2009). In the current study, we aim to investigate the performance of a novel method for optimization of random forest and its results are compared with RF and SVM models in groundwater potential mapping. Based on the literature review, application of different kernels of SVM and RFGA in groundwater potential mapping are two main novelties of this study. Also, the importance of different effective factors in groundwater potential is discussed. The results of the current study could determine high potential and susceptible groundwater potential zones and be used by water resource managers. Material and Methods Figure 1 shows the methods and the flowchart implemented in the current study. Study Area: The study area lies from 48 ° 18à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ² 26à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ³ to 48 ° 53à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ² 16à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ³ eastern longitudes and from 37 ° 41à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ² 23à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ³ to 37 ° 09à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ² 26à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ³ northern latitudes in Ardebil Province, Iran (Fig. 2). It covers an area of 1,524 km2. The elevation in the study area ranges from 840 to 3,320 m above sea level with an average of 1,930 m. The mean annual precipitation of Khalkhal region is measured as 345 mm. The mean annual temperature of Khalkhal region is 12 degrees Centigrade. In the respect of land use, 89.69% of Khalkhal region is covered by rangeland, and other land use classes are forest, agriculture, orchard, and residential areas. In the respect of lithology, Khalkhal region comprises of 14 lithological categories. Eav class (andesitic volcanic) covers most of the study area. Khalkhal region is located in Ardebil province of Iran which includes 14 hydrological watersheds. The se watersheds are located in three main parts including central part, Khoresh Rostam, and Shahrood areas. In this area people exploit water resources by wells (42%), springs (47%), and qanats (11%); therefore, it can be seen that a high percent of the water requirement is obtained by springs. Data preparation Spring characteristics The springs location map was prepared for the study area using national reports (Iranian Department of Water Resources Management) and extensive field surveys in 1:50,000 scale. From 842 springs identified in the study area, 70% (589 springs) were considered for training purpose, and 30% (253 springs) were used as validation dataset (Fig. 2). Approximately ninety percent of the springs are permanent and ten percent of them are seasonal. Discharge of the springs in Khalkhal region alters between 0.1 and 100 liters per second having an average of 1 liter per second. It can be seen that there are different kinds of spring in the study area such as contrast, drainage, and fracture springs with 5.34%, 29.81%, 58.08%, and 6.77% of the springs, respectively. The average pH of the springs is measured as 6.68. The average electric conductivity (EC) of the springs is measured as 470 . Groundwater effective factors In this study, based on the literature review (Ozdemir 2011a, b; Oh et al. 2011; Naghibi et al. 2017), fourteen groundwater effective factors such as altitude, slope angle, slope aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, slope length (LS), SPI, TWI, distance from rivers, river density, distance from faults, fault density, land use, and lithology were provided and mapped. The digital elevation model (DEM) of the Khalkhal region was created using the 1:50,000-scale topographic maps in 20 m resolution. Groundwater effective-factors such as altitude, slope angle, and slope aspect were prepared using DEM in ArcGIS 9.3 and represented in Fig. 3a-c. Plan curvature describes the divergence and convergence of flow and discriminates among basins (Fig. 3d). Profile curvature shows the rate at which the slope gradient alters in the direction of maximum slope (Catani et al. 2013) (Fig. 3e). Slope length is the combination of the slope length and slope steepness that shows soil loss potential from the combined slope features (Fig. 3f). SPI is a measure of the erosive power of flowing water based on the assumption that discharge is relative to specific catchment area (Moore et al. 1991) (Fig. 3g). The TWI affects accumulation and movement of surface runoff over the land surface (Elmahdy and Mostafa Mohamed 2014) (Fig. 3h). Distance from rivers and river density were created using topographical map of Khalkhal region (Fig. 3i, j). Also, distance from fault and fault density layers were produced using geological map (Fig. 3k, l). The land use map was created using Landsat images (Fig 3m). There are five land use classes in the study area such as agriculture, forest, orchard, rangeland, and residential area. Most of the study area is covered by the rangeland land use class. The lithology map was acquired using a 1:100,000-scale geological map and the lithological units were grouped into fourteen classes (GSI 1997, Fig. 3n, Table 1). Support vector machines (SVM) SVM is known as a supervised machine learning technique that is performed based on the (SRM: structural risk minimization) principle and statistical learning theory (Tien Bui et al. 2012). SVM transforms original input space into a higher-dimensional feature space to find an optimum separating hyper plane. Marjanovic ´ et al (2011) affirmed that separating hyper-plane is built in the original space of n coordinates between the points of two distinct classes. If the point is situated over the hyper-plane it will be classified as positive 1, if not, it will be classified as negative 1. Penalty (C) controls the trade-off between margin and training errors, which assists to prevent the models over-fitting (Marjanovic ´ et al. 2011). The kernel width (É ¤) controls the degree of nonlinearity of the model (Tien Bui et al. 2012). Parameter (d) is the polynomial degree in the PL kernel function and (r) is the bias term in the kernel function for two kernels of SVM including PL and SIG kernels (Tehrany et al. 2014). In the current study, the 10-fold cross-validation was used to select the optimal kernel parameters of SVM (Pradhan 2013; Zhuang and Dai 2006). Random forest (RF) model Random forests (RFs) are very flexible and powerful ensemble classifiers based on decision trees which were firstly developed by Breiman (2001). RF constructs multiple trees based on random bootstrapped samples of the training dataset (Breiman 2001). The algorithm runs random binary trees that implement a subset of the observations over bootstrapping approach, of the initial dataset a random choice of the training data is selected and implement to create the model, the data which is not included are described as out of bag (OOB) (Catani et al. 2013). The RF predicts the importance of a variables by looking at how much the error of prediction increases when out of bag data for that variable is permuted while all others are left fixed (Liaw and Wiener 2002; Catani et al. 2013). Random forests need two parameters to be tuned including the number of trees (ntree), and the number of variables (mtry). Genetic algorithm (GA) model A genetic algorithm (GA) is a search heuristic which mimics the natural selection process in the field of artificial intelligence. GA beings with a population of presented random solutions in some structure series. Then, a number of operators are repeatedly implemented, until convergence is obtained. As a matter of fact, the optimization strategy in GA could be described as a global optimization procedure with the benefit of not being dependent on the initial value to gain the convergence. Crossover and mutation are implemented to produce newer and better chromosomes populations (Yetilmezsoy and Demirel 2008). Random forest optimization methods In this study, we used two different methods for RF parameter optimization including caret package and genetic algorithm. Both of the models were applied in the R software. At first, we presented a hybrid RFGA model to predict groundwater potential which was firstly introduced by Hasegawa et al (2013) in the field of commute mode choice analysis. A simple method is trial and error, but there are many mixtures of parameters, and it needs much iteration to evaluate the options. Another method for optimization of these parameters is to use caret package. So, we proposed a practical method for optimizing the parameters of RF by meta- heuristic optimization using GAs. The rgenoud package of the R program (R Core Team 2012); Mebane and Sekhon (2011) were used to implement the optimizing process of RF parameters ntree and mtry. Input parameters of the RFGA model are subject to the GA-based parameter optimization process. Only that pair of parameters that minimizes the OOB error rate in this step is used as input to the RFGA model. For running RFGA, maximum number of generations was considered as 100, the population size was 300 and the domain of allowable valu es for each parameter of the function being optimized (mtry values between 1 and 14, ntree values between 1 and 2000). The run time of this process till the calculation is complete was approximately 2 h 20 min. Validation of groundwater potential maps (GPM) In the current study, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to determine the performance of the GPMs produced using the implemented models. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) shows the quality of a forecast system by representing the ability of the system to predict correctly the occurrence or nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ occurrence of specific events (Negnevitsky 2002). The area under the curve of ROC ranges from 0 to 1. The qualitative relationship between AUC and prediction accuracy could be classified as excellent (0.9-1), very good (0.8-0.9), good (0.7-0.8), average (0.6-0.7), and poor (0.5-0.6). Based on the reviewer comment, and in order to consider the discharge values of the springs, two weights were assigned to the springs to take their discharge into account in the evaluation process. For conducting this idea, median was calculated for discharge values of the springs. Then, weight 2 was assigned to the springs with greater discharge than the median value, while othe r springs were assigned to a weight of 1. Finally, for calculating ROC values, values of the springs with weight 2 were considered twice in the analysis, while other springs were considered once. This procedure enhances the influence of the springs with higher discharges in the evaluation process. Results Support vector machine In the current study, four kernels of the SVM model were optimized by cross-validation and GPMs were plotted in ArcGIS 9.3. Based on the results, the best SVM with LN kernel had a cost value of 0.001. The results of PL kernel showed that gamma=0.5, cost= 0.1, and degree= 2 had the best performance. In the case of SVM-SIG, best performance was gained by gamma= 1, and c= 0.01. The results of SVM-RBF showed that gamma= 0.5, c= 10 had the best performance. The resultant GPMs produced using different kernels of the SVM are represented in Fig. 5 and Table 2. According to the results, low, moderate, high, and very high classes in GPM produced by SVM-LN occupy 15.88, 36.05, 33.75, and 14.32% of the study area, respectively. Low, moderate, high, and very high classes in SVM-PL cover 3.38, 22.12, 47.52, and 26.98% of the study area, respectively. In the case of SVM-SIG, 22.87, 32.98, 30.50, and 13.64% of the study area were designated to the low, moderate, high, and very high classes, respectively. The results of SVM-RBF showed that low, moderate, high, and very high classes cover 22.01, 45.85, 22.39, and 9.74% of the study area, respectively. Random forest (RF), and genetic algorithm optimized random forest (RFGA) As mentioned in the methods section, two methods were used to optimize RF model including caret and genetic algorithm. Final model by RF-caret had ntree= 1600, and mtry= 2, while final model by RFGA had ntree= 1744, and mtry= 2. The results showed that out of bag error for RFGA (0.316) was lower than its value for RF-caret (0.35%). Also, the results of the ROC analysis showed better performance of RFGA than RF-caret by area under the curve of ROC values of 86.5, and 85.6, respectively. Considering the better performance of the RFGA model, its results about the importance of effective factors and final GPM were represented and the results of RF-caret were ignored. Figure 4 represents the mean decrease accuracy, and mean decrease Gini obtained by RFGA. According to the mean decrease accuracy, altitude had the highest importance, followed by TWI, slope angle, and aspect, while the profile curvature, and plan curvature had lowest importance. On the other hand, results of the mean decrease Gini depicted that land use, and lithology were the least important factors in groundwater potential mapping. The GPM produced using RFGA is represented in Fig. 5. According to the results, low, moderate, high, and very high classes in GPM produced by RFGA occupy 27.2, 32.4, 25.5, and 14.8% of the study area, respectively. Validation of the GPMs The ROC was calculated for all GPMs with springs validation dataset. The results of AUC-ROC are represented in Fig. 6. AUC-ROC for GPMs produced by the implemented methods in the current study ranges from 76.9 to 85.5%. AUC-ROC values for RF and RFGA were estimated as 84.6, and 85.5%, respectively. AUC-ROC values were estimated for SVM- LN, SVM-PL, SVM-SIG, and SVM- RBF as 79.3, 77, 77.7, and 76.9%, respectively. Discussion In this section, the results are discussed by three parts including (i) the performance of the models, (ii) the importance of the effective factors, and (iii) the precision of the GPMs. The performance of the models: The results showed that RFGA represented better performance than RF-caret. One of the advantages of GA is the capability to solve any optimization problem based on chromosome approach; another important characteristic of GA is its capability to handle multiple solution search spaces and solve the problem in such an environment (Tabassum and Mathew 2014). These advantages may have caused RFGAs better performance in the current study. Also, it can be seen that both RFs (i.e. RF-caret and RFGA) had better performance than different kernels of SVM model. The results of different SVM kernels showed that SVM-LN had the best performance, followed by SVM-SIG, SVM-RBF, and SVM-PL; However, their performance was similar. Based on the results, it is evident that SVM could be used as an efficient machine learning model in groundwater potential mapping. One of the drawbacks of the SVM relates to the needed time for the analysis. In addition, several criteria should be tested in order to find the optimum values for the modeling process (Tehrany et al. 2015). However, the efficiency of the SVM could be increased by making ensemble models. In a research, Tehrany et al (2015) used an ensemble weights of evidence and SVM model in flood mapping. Their results proved the efficiency and strength of the ensemble method over the individual methods. There are several potential reasons for error in the datasets implemented for groundwat er modeling, including measurement errors, limitations in field data collection, sampling bias, etc. The mentioned errors could affect the overall accuracy of the SVM models (Moisen et al. 2006). The importance of effective factors in groundwater potential mapping The importance of effective factors was determined using RFGA as the best model in the current study. Based on the results, in total, altitude, TWI, slope angle, and slope aspect were the most effective factors on groundwater potential. On the other hand, plan curvature, profile curvature, land use, and lithology were the least effective factors on groundwater potential. A growing body of literature investigates the importance of different effective factors in groundwater potential mapping (Naghibi and Pourghasemi 2015; Rahmati et al. 2016). The results of Naghibi and Pourghasemi (2015) showed that altitude, distance from faults, SPI, and fault density had the highest importance in groundwater potential mapping. In another research, Rahmati et al (2016) depicted that altitude, drainage density, lithology, and land use were the most influence factors on groundwater potential. Comparing the results of the current study and the results of the two mentioned researches shows that the impo rtance of effective factors in groundwater potential mapping is dependent on the indicator, methods, and hydrological, geological, and climatic conditions of the target area. The precision of the GPMs: With this assumption that a better model is the one which determines the high and very high classes more precisely, a model with lower percent of high and very high classes area could be more helpful in water resources planning and management. A more precise GPM could help water resources managers to make better and more accurate decisions about areas for exploitation and even water conservation techniques. According to the results, SVM-RBF, and RFGA models had the lowest percent of the high and very high classes with 32.1, and 40.3% of the study area, respectively. Conclusion In general, the water crisis in the 21th century is much more related to management and planning than to a real crisis of scarcity and drought stress. Lack of knowledge of water resources and inappropriate water resources management plans and strategies have made water crisis worse in arid and semi- arid regions. Therefore, the first step in appropriate planning of water resources is to know and gain knowledge of these vital resources. Groundwater is one of the most important water resource supplies, especially in arid and semi- arid countries with extreme lack of water, growing population, and successive droughts. Considering the mentioned problems and issues, in the current study, we evaluated the performance of different kernels of SVM model and two strategies for optimization of RF (i.e. caret and GA). The results of the current study showed that RFGA had the best performance, followed by SVM-LN, SVM-SIG, SVM-RBF, and SVM-PL. The RFGA was successfully implemented in the current s tudy. Also, different kernels of the SVM were used for producing GPMs with acceptable performances. However, their result was not as well as RFs performance. Furthermore, it can be seen that altitude, TWI, slope angle, and slope aspect were the most effective factors in groundwater potential assessment. The methodology produced in the current study could be transferred and tested in other areas for producing GPMs. As a final conclusion, GPMs could significantly help water resources managers and planners for better understanding of water resources conditions, exploitation, and conservation plans.

Monday, January 20, 2020

criminal justice Essay examples -- essays research papers

Tushnet's A Court Divided By R. Anastasia Tremaine - February, 2005 Tushnet's A Court Divided Tushnet (2005) takes an insightful look into the current Supreme Court and what it means for the future in his work entitled A Court Divided. Much has been discussed about the Court, particularly since the 2000 election ended up being referred to the judicial branch of government. Constitutional law has always been fascinating subject, as it broaches the areas of guaranteed legal protections. Landmark decisions change the course of history and determine which rights the people have and have not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The book addresses the obvious problems. First, the author identifies the division between liberal and conservative judges. These two divisions have played a huge role not only in the court systems, but in the political arena as well. Because the president is able to appoint judges, many people believe that he will appoint someone like himself. A Republican president will appoint a conservative and a Democrat will appoint a liberal. Although this is largely the case, all too often surprises emerge. It should really not be a surprise at all that judges have their own minds and are not stereotypical. Brilliant men seldom have one mindset, even though they may lean one way or another. Still, the idea that the president may appoint chief justices does suggest that, like a game of chess, the future of Constitutional law is to some extent contingent on who is president. Depending upon the makeup of the court at the time, one appointment can change a great deal and shift the court either to the right or to the left.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author does admit that the court is divided by party or ideology, but he does contest the argument that a particular type of judge will always go a particular way. Rather, he looks at each individually and notes each of their distinct prejudices. The idea that the conservatives and liberals are at odds is not necessarily true and instead the author vies for a theory that shows divisions in certain subject areas. It is not necessarily the case that conservatives will side one way or another. For example, the author points out that many social issues are not ruled conservatively and this is because some of the fiscal conservatives on board are really just fiscal conservatives.   Ã‚  ... ...in accordance with a party platform. That said, whatever happens in the future, it seems that the Court is in good hands. By the time a judge is appointed, he or she will have been scrutinized and again, there is little in terms of predictability on which one can rely.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Will the future of the court be more conservative if a Republican president must select a new candidate? It does not matter. Again, Tushnet's (2005) premise is that the court is divided by Conservatives. Bush is a quasi-conservative president as he does support many liberal views. Immigration is one example and the topic is tied to Constitutional law to an extent. In conclusion, Tushnet writes an excellent review of the Court, and one that helps the reader understand the decisions that were handed down in recent years, and why they were made. His easy writing style and attention to detail makes for a marvelous read for any law student or layman who wants to understand what makes the Supreme Court justices tick. Reference Tushnet, M. (2005). A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional Law. New York: Norton, W.W. & Company, Inc.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Management of Patients With Structural Infectious Essay

1. Ariane Waters, 21 years of age, is a female patient who is admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of infective endocarditis. Ariane had her tongue and nose pierced 6 weeks ago. The drug screen is negative. She presents with tricuspid insufficiency murmur grade II, and a temperature of 104Â °F. The patient complains of extreme fatigue, and anorexia. The echocardiogram reveals vegetations on the tricuspid valve. a. What risk factors predisposed Ms. Waters to develop infective endocarditis? b. Explain the pathophysiology of infective endocarditis as it relates to this case. c. What additional clinical manifestations should the nurse include in the assessment of the patient? d. What medical management should the nurse anticipate for the patient? e. What nursing management should be provided for the patient and family? 2. Mrs. Robbins, a 58-year-old patient with suspected aortic stenosis, presents to the cardiac care clinic for evaluation. About 1 month ago she noticed that she was having increasing difficulty completing the 2-mile walk that she had been doing for the last 5 years. The cardiologist has ordered a Doppler echocardiogram to diagnose aortic stenosis definitively. a. On this visit, Mrs. Robbins states that she is having difficulty sleeping and has episodes of chest pain. How does the nurse correlate these clinical manifestations to aortic stenosis? b. The nurse assesses Mrs. Robbins for what types of heart sounds that are consistent with aortic stenosis?

Friday, January 3, 2020

Essay on My Musical Autobiography - 677 Words

Ever since I was a young kid, I was extremely fond of music. Music was all around me: on the television, in school, at the store, and especially in the car. Not only did I love to listen to music, but I loved to play it as well. I am not saying I was any good at playing music, because I was not. But to a young child, hitting their hand on anything could be music, and to me it definitely was. As a child, I was exposed to rock music and oldies. However, I grew up in Prince Georges county, so I started listening to rap, just like every other kid. But by the time I entered high school, I began to like rock music again. I became an avid rock listener. Once again, my music taste has changed. Now I only like to listen to trance and house†¦show more content†¦Throughout my life, the emphasis of music has changed. As I got older, less emphasis was placed on music. In elementary school, it was mandatory for every student to take music class every year until they graduate. When I got t o middle school though, we just had to take one semester of music. Then when I entered high school, music became optional. I think this is a tremendous mistake, because music plays such a significant role in everyones lives, whether we believe it or not. I am not that great of a singer, therefore, I have never sung outside of the shower. I do not play any musical instruments either, though I would not mind learning how to play the drums. I have received a little formal training in music when I was in elementary school. I used to be able to read some notes, but I probably have forgotten everything now. I do wish to perform music someday, if I could ever learn. I think the most valuable thing for me to learn in this course would be to understand the role of music in the world, and how it has come to shape the people in it. I would like to understand the different origins of music throughout the world. I feel like I already have a great appreciation for music though. This is what I hop e to get out of thisShow MoreRelatedThe Life Of A Slave By Harriet Jacob Essay1505 Words   |  7 Pageslearned differently if it weren’t for autobiographies. I believe that autobiographies are very important when it comes to American History. Since American History could be very difficult to understand at once, so autobiographies help break down personal story of certain people who lived through their specific time period and tell the story they saw through their own eyes. I believe that American History is so accurate because of autobiographies. Slavery, in my opinion, is the most studied and learnedRead MoreWhat Is A Good Leader?930 Words   |  4 Pagesleader? What does it mean to be a good leader? Echoing the words of one of my mentors, Sean Paul Godeà ¡: â€Å"A good leader is a servant, one who steps back to help and inspire others to reach their full potential†. This philosophy is one that I embrace dearly. A leader is not the alpha; he creates the alpha wit hin others. The book ‘Learning To Listen’, written by Gary Burton, is an autobiographical account of his life and musical journey. In the book, Burton enlightens the reader, who is probably an aspiringRead MoreThe Autobiography of the Ex-Colored Man: The Ability to Pass Essay1120 Words   |  5 Pages The Autobiography of the Ex-Colored Man: The Ability to Pass The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man depicts the narrator as a liminal character. Beginning with an oblivious knowledge of race as a child, and which racial group he belonged, to his well knowing of â€Å"white† and â€Å"black† and the ability to pass as both. On the account of liminality, the narrator is presenting himself as an outsider. Because he is both a â€Å"white† and â€Å"black† male, he does not fit in with either racial group. In the autobiographyRead MoreAutobiography Of An Ex Colored Man Essay1449 Words   |  6 PagesThe Autobiography of an Ex-Colored, Still-Clueless Man The narrator of The Autobiography grows up his whole life thinking that he is white. It is not until one fateful day in school where a teacher indirectly tells him that he is black that he finds out. This revelation, which he himself describes as â€Å"a sword-thrust† (Johnson 13), suggests a transformation, a great change, a development in the Ex-Colored Man’s racial consciousness in the future. However, as M. Giulia Fabi says, â€Å"[The ECM’s] proclaimedRead MoreTanya Tucker : A Of Country Music s Finest Entertainers844 Words   |  4 Pagesloyalists. â€Å"Being back on the road is something I have wanted to do for a while. I have a new band, new management, and getting out on the road to see my fans is something I absolutely love. Being on stage, no matter what is going on is a special place. It is memorable and where I feel my best.† Tucker explains about being back on tour and entertaining. With My Turn (2009) being the last commercial release, the promise of new music and fans curiosity of what a new album would bring, Tucker mentioned whereRead MoreMiles Davis Essay1364 Words   |  6 Pagesjazz, and fusion. Miles was born on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois to Dr. Miles Henry Davis, a successful dentist, and Cleota Mae Davis. Miles developed an interest in music at the age of 13 when his father bought him a trumpet. Miles began his musical study with an accomplished local musician named Elwood Buchanan. In Davis’ beginnings, Buchanan discouraged Davis from using vibrato in his music, which was a characteristic that Davis carried throughout the entirety of his career. Funny enough, hisRead MoreRichard Wright : The Civil War1352 Words   |  6 PagesRichard Wright was born after the Civil War, but after the Civil Rights Movement. If he were writing an autobiography today in 2016, about a black child living in the United States, he would write about President Ba rack Obama earning the honor of being the first black man to be the head of the country, the frequent murders of black citizens by cops due to racial profiling, and the musical-political movement of rap and hip-hop and how the struggle of everyday life in black areas of the US and howRead MoreFirstly, Antidiva Is An Autobiography, By Carole Pope1406 Words   |  6 PagesFirstly, Antidiva is an autobiography, written by Carole Pope. Note: this book is not a biography. The key difference between a biography and an autobiography is that, in an autobiography, the author is telling a story about themselves, their own life. As opposed to a biography, where someone write an account of another’s life. Being aware this book is an autobiography is incredibly important if you consider the concepts of â€Å"truth† and reliable narrators. Antidiva is Pope’s account, memories, andRead More Racial Identity in The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man Essay1327 Words   |  6 P agesduring this period, one must take a look at its literature. James Weldon Johnson does an excellent job of vividly depicting an accurate portrait of the adversities faced before the Civil Rights Movement by the black community in his novel â€Å"The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.† One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own. In Johnsons novel, the young mulatto boy is at first completely unaware ofRead More1960s Cinema And Its Impact On Cinema1236 Words   |  5 Pagesreflected the good and the bad of the decade. 1960s cinema influenced many of the films we have today. 1960s cinema brought attention to movie musicals, which were movies that had many song and dance numbers along with dialogue and blocking. Three of the biggest hits of the decade were movie musicals. Some of the decade’s biggest hits, including the movie musicals, are still popular today. In the 1960s, there were many popular movies, both in theaters and on television, which were produced with money