Saturday, January 25, 2020

Essay --

Furniture can enhance the appearance of any space and add value to the house while improving the function. Wall cabinet is one of a furniture range that can be used in a kitchen, living room, bedroom, office and many other spaces. Wall cabinets are built in a wide variety of designs, material, functions and sizes. Most wall cabinets are simply for storage but nowadays, people require durable, sturdy, long lasting yet affordable furniture with improved functionality. Modular furniture provides components that can be combined to meet individual needs and tastes which utilize all space where it can be interchanged and adjusted. In order to create a successful design of a modular kitchen cabinet, appropriate hanging mechanisms are needed. It is important to understand the properties of materials and design of the hanging mechanism so that proper utilization can be achieved to ensure efficient product design and user safety. Material selection is among one of the most important aspects that must be taken into account before any hanging mechanism is produced. This is because material plays an important role in determining the suitability and durability of the hanging mechanism design. Nowadays, more advanced materials have been used to replace conventional materials because advanced materials offer more advantages (Myrdal, 2009). For instance in furniture manufacturing, conventional material such as solid wood have been replaced with alternative lumber such as particle board, plywood, glulam, LVL or OSB because of their economic and production efficiencies. This study is aimed at discovering a better solution by providing an alternative material and design to make the most important part of a wall mounted cabinet which is the hanging... ...gs but could produce a higher strength product. Therefore, using this material as hanging mechanism could lower raw material cost and at the same time provide a strong and eco-friendly alternative hanging mechanism. Hypothetically, if the proposed design (French cleat) and material (LVL) has the same or better qualities than the existing design and material, it can be used as the hanging mechanism in modular kitchen cabinets. Therefore, the thesis is proposing a new design of hanging mechanism using LVL which could probably give similar or better loading capacity and mechanical properties as compared to existing designs used in kitchen cabinets. Due to the lack of natural resources, the alternative material which is engineered wood product offers additional advantages as it retains the structural properties of wood and may be used as a substitute for solid wood.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Peter Skrzynecki Poem Analysis Essay

Belonging is a fundamental aspect of humanity, It is a subjective concept that can be positive or negative, based on experiences. Positive belonging offers individuals a sense of identity, security and bond to either a person, place or object. Whereas, negative belonging limits ones sense of identity, security and ultimately incites one to feel marginalized, unsociable and alone. This notion is extensively explored within Peter Skrzynecki’s poem, St. Patrick’s College, from the anthology Immigrant Chronicle, and Richard Kelly’s 2001 film Donnie Darko as both texts illustrate the protagonist’s limited and negative experience of belonging through their interaction with others resulting in acts of insubordination. Contrary to negative belonging, Peter Skrzynecki’s poem, 10 Mary Street- also from the anthology Immigrant Chronicle-explores the notion that it a positive sense of belonging can be achieved through interaction with others. Peter Skrzynecki’s St Patrick’s College, a semi-autobiographical poem explores the idea of negative interactions within a class dynamic resulting in a poor sense of belonging. St patricks college conveys a reflective and lethargic tone in which the persona describes his negative experiences of social segregation throughout his schooling years as being tedious and not â€Å"for the best†. The lack of belonging is emphasized metaphorically in the persona’s description of his schooling experience as being one of â€Å"darkness†, the technique of irony is evident as the school’s motto, ‘Luceat Lux Vestra† latin for ‘Let your light shine’ acts as a contrasting device as the schools mission is to allow students to evolve and shine, however the persona communicates a school life of darkness where he faced troubling emotions of insecurity and isolation. This further reinforces the concept that the personas lack of interaction with those around him, specifically with his school environment resulted in a negative sense of belonging. The second stanza of St. Patricks college demonstrates the limited experiences of belonging within the school community. The personas mother ‘said a prayer’ for her sons ‘future intentions’, which emphasizes the lack of control in which the persona had over his fate but also raises a religious element in which it is seen that the personas mother demonstrates her reverence toward the school and it’s religious base. The mutual relation of religion is what allows the personas mother to experience a sense of belonging as she is able to interact positively with the other members of the St..  Patricks college community despite the various differences. The technique of Juxtaposition challenges the mothers belonging as her truculent son acts out in a violent manner as noted as he â€Å"stuck pine needles into the motto’’ of his school uniform. The act of using pine needles to puncture the surface of the motto displays the rebellion and lack of pride the persona had for his school. This further reflects how negative interaction with ones surroundings ultimates in the personas feelings of aggression and self doubt that therefore denies him a sense of belonging. The concept that negative interactions with surroundings will subsequently result in a lack or limited understanding and experience of belonging is further explored in Richard Kelly’s 2001 film Donnie Darko as the protagonist Donnie suffers with schizophrenia and is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit named Frank who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes that further disperse him from reality and display his inability to belong to society due to his sadistic actions he imposes on his surroundings and people. It is evident that donnies personality has slowly dissolved as the scene where his mother enters his room after he disappeared and says ‘‘What happened to my son? I don’t recognize this person today? †. This line emphasizes the barrier of understanding between Donnie and his mother due to his mental illness becoming a wall between both characters and the lack of interaction in which they share therefore disabling them from truly affiliating with each, causing donnie to feel more alienated and unable to endure a positive experience of belonging in his home and with his family. This ultimately leads him to gravitate further toward Frank who is the personification Donnie’s fear of death. Donnie’s sense of self is challenged when he and his girlfriend are in the cinema, the silhouettes of Donnie and his girlfriend are briefly seen in contrast with the dark surroundings. Orchestral sound plays a significant role in this scene as frank appears next to his girlfriend who is asleep in the theatre. The cinematic technique of Swish pan is significant as Frank and Donnie are never scene together in one shot, they are always opposite, acing each other like a reflection. This scene emphasizes the barriers between fantasy and reality as his girlfriend represents the concept of reality and being that she is asleep, it displays the loss of logic or normality in donnies experiences and the suffocating grip that fantasy and hallucination now has on his life. Donnie attempts to rebel against this force when he says â€Å"Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit? † in which frank abruptly responds â€Å"Why are you wearing that stupid man suit†? This challenges his role as a human in the film and further destructs donnies sense of security and belonging to himself. This therefore contributes to him feeling further displaced from humanity and ultimately preventing Donnie from experiencing positive interactions with other humans and Frank. Moreover, it is known that positive experiences of belonging are endured and enrich ones sense of identity, security and bond to either a person, place or object. This is seen in Peter Skrzynecki’s poem, 10 Mary Street where the concept of family and place is significant when seeking a sense of belonging. An example of a positive experience of interaction in this poem is through the garden, skrzynecki uses symbolism and imagery to describe the significance the garden had in each member of his families life; My parents watered/ Plants- grew potatoes/ And rows of sweet corn. † This quote identifies that the parents felt a sense of belonging through growing and nurturing the garden in which represented a fragment of their Polish culture. In addition to that, the persona incorporates metaphorical symbols such as the â€Å"key† in the stanza; ‘Inheritors of a key, That’ll open no house, when this one is pulled down†. This further elaborates on the concept that the persona is the key to his culture and background of poland birthed by his parents past, in which he struggles to adapt to harmoniously. The poet ‘inherits’ his past but yet it fails to open any doors to him which therefore push him to feel temporarily at a loss with himself but this is challenged as the idea of pursuing a new australian culture is introduced and allowing himself to let go of what was not his and grow what can now be his. This allows the persona to establish a sense of belonging through the preservation of the garden in which he and his parents belong to but also his own sense of identity in Australia in which he seeks individually. Overall, an individual’s interaction with others, whether that interaction is positive or negative, can influence their attitudes and understanding of belonging. The idea of negative experiences and interactions between individuals causes an inadequate experience of belonging is captured and conveyed within Peter Skrzynecki’s St.  Patrick’s College and Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, as the protagonists in both texts battle against their predictive and desolate sense of self due to their negative interactions. Contrary to this is the idea that positive experiences and interactions can enrich ones sense of belonging, as seen in Peter Skrzynecki’s 10 Mary Street. Regardless, belonging is a core component of humanity and offers individuals either a positive or negative experience.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Realization in quot;the Open Boatquot; Essay - 1473 Words

The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is a factual account of his adventures at sea, or as he declares, the Experience of Four Men from the Sunk Steamer COMMODORE (48). He and three other men--the ships captain, oiler, and cook--escape the sinking steamer in a small dinghy, and spend thirty wretched hours on the rough sea before reaching the Florida coast. Despite undergoing these events firsthand, Crane narrates the story in third person, indicating his presence in the dinghy through the character of the correspondent. As time passes during their perils at sea, Crane, or the correspondent, creeps ever closer to an impending epiphany: the realization of the indifference of nature and the relative insignificance of men--essentially,†¦show more content†¦Notice that Crane uses personification to give the sea a conscious, purposeful, ill-tempered quality, characteristics further evidenced in the lines, there was a terrible grace in the move of the waves, and they came in silence, s ave for the snarling of the crests, and later, there was a preparatory and long growl in the speech of them (50, 57) The words snarling and growl here denote a malicious, hostile intent in the waves, traits that exists, of course, only in the minds of the four castaways; and all of the imagery up to this point attributes characteristics to the sea that actually represent skewed, frightened embellishment on the part of the men in the boat. The apex of Cranes exaggerated personification of the sea can be seen in an ironic description of the water: Occasionally, a great spread of water, like white flames, swarmed into (the boat) (53). By likening water to fire, Crane again insinuates that the men in the boat have a false, biased impression of the sea, because it poses such a threat to them. This misconception on the part of the men takes on more meaning later. The men fourShow MoreRelatedEssay on heart of darkness1844 Words   |  8 Pages Various parallels can be drawn when comparing and contrasting Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Frank Coppolas quot;Apocalypse Nowquot;, while taking into consideration Heart of Darkness is a novella and quot;Apocalypse Nowquot; is a film. These differences and similarities can be seen in themes, characters, events and other small snippets of information including anything from quoted lines to strange actions of the main characters. Both pieces follow the same story line but they are presented