Intellectual Ambitions and Interests

Highly educated seventeenth-century noblemen and gentlemen frequently studied theology, history, and philosophy privately for pleasure; wrote verse; and acquired libraries, but rarely wrote books and treatises. Chapter 9 builds upon the literary, philosophical, and theological interests identified in earlier chapters and provides the intellectual context for Herbert’s emergence as a respected gentleman scholar and published academic writer. It introduces the scholarly circles with which he was associated in London and Paris, his membership of the European Republic of Letters, and his links with scholarly irenicism. It establishes his scholarly connections with John Selden, William Camden, Sir Robert Cotton, Hugo Grotius, Marin Mersenne, René Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Thomas Hobbes, Tommaso Campanella, Fortunio Liceti, Gerard Vossius, John Comenius, and others. It examines Herbert’s scholarly practices and rebuffs claims that he was a dilettante. It browses the collection of books he accumulated in his substantial libraries in London and Montgomery, which ranged across the academic spectrum from theology, history, politics, literature, and philology through the various philosophical and mathematical disciplines to the natural and physical sciences, jurisprudence, and medicine, but also included works on architecture, warfare, manners, music, and sorcery and anthologies of poetry and books of romance literature. It suggests that Herbert’s scholarship was motivated as much by intellectual curiosity and the need to reduce religious conflict as by a desire to secure personal recognition and approval.

Exploring the Motivation of Livestreamed Users in Learning Computer Programming and Coding

This article discusses the emerging presence of online livestreaming programs for computer coding education. The typologies of motivations from a user-gratification perspective were explored from live coding streaming platforms such as “Twitch.tv” and “LiveEdu.tv”. Categories of motivations were identified from the literature. Content analysis was used for analyzing the distribution of motivation categories in “Twitch.tv,” as well as blog posts on “LiveEdu.tv” guided by Gratifications Theory. From the literature, five types of motivations were identified: 1) Cognitive; 2) Affective; 3) Social Integration; 4) Personal Integration; and 5) Tension release. In live coding streaming communities, the content analysis of 256 streams and twenty six discussion posts indicated that the primary motivation is cognitive related information seeking, followed by social integration such as community outreach, and then personal integration such as personal recognition. Through content analysis, the authors found that the audience's psychological state while watching online livestreaming of coding practice is mainly focused on learning and information seeking, emotional connectedness, and social interactions. Based on the findings, an empirical motivation model in live coding streaming was also developed. The findings for researchers and practitioners alike in programming education can apply respective motivation characteristics in programming education.

Fingerprint Authentication

Biometrics refers to the automatic identification of a living person based on physiological or behavioural characteristics for authentication purpose. Among the existing biometric technologies are the face recognisation, fingerprint recognition, finger-geometry, hand geometry, iris recognition, vein recognition, voice recognition and signature recognition, Biometric method requires the physical presence of the person to be identified. This emphasizes its preference over the traditional method of identifying what you have such as, the use of password, a smartcard etc. Also, it potentially prevents unauthorized admittance to access control systems or fraudulent use of ATMs, Time Attendance Systems, cellular phones, smart cards, desktop PCs, Workstations, vehicles and computer networks. Biometric recognition systems offer greater security and convenience than traditional methods of personal recognition.

The Effect of Clustering with a minimum Pattern of Features Extraction for Person Recognition

In personal image recognition algorithms, two effective factors govern the system’s evaluation, recognition rate and size of the database. Unfortunately, the recognition rate proportional to the increase in training sets. Consequently, that increases the processing time and memory limitation problems. This paper’s main goal was to present a robust algorithm with minimum data sets and a high recognition rate. Images for ten persons were chosen as a database, nine images for each individual as the full version of the training data set, and one image for each person out of the training set as a test pattern before the database reduction procedure. The proposed algorithm integrates Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as a feature extraction technique with the minimum means of clusters and Euclidean Distance to achieve personal recognition. After indexing the training set for each person, the clustering of the differences is determined. The recognition of the person represented by the minimum mean index; this process returned with each reduction. The experimental results show that the recognition rate is 100% despite reducing the training sets to 44%, while the recognition rate decrease to 70% when the reduction reaches 89%. The clear picture out is the results of the proposed system support the idea of the redaction of training sets in addition to obtaining a high recognition rate based on application requirements.

MYTHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF THE BOXER PROTAGINIST ROCKY BALBOA

The purpose of this study is to characterize the image of the protagonist of the saga of the boxer Rocky through the prism of mythopoetics as a type of new cultural hero in the field of sports. Research methods are historical and cultural, mythopoetic, and comparative. Its application allows to outline the genetic connection of the image of the hero-boxer with the literary tradition; identify its main parameters as a mythohero; allocate the points of intersection of the author's myth with the myth of the American dream; consider the acquisition of the mytheme of Rocky the beginnings of the ideologeme.Results of the research: The genesis of the image goes back to the traditions of neo-romantic literature. The active appeal to a ritual and a myth, and a new wave of interest in sports as an embodiment of the principle of agony and, therefore, the popularity of sports drama, resulted in the mythologization of the boxer character in the culture of the 20th century. The distinct feature of the movie is a genre syncretism; it is a combination of sports drama, film-biography, action, and melodrama with typical for mytho-scenario archetypic situations. This determines the mass audience and the range of interpretation of Rocky’s story, formed as a mythological scenario. Rocky’s biography interweaves the facts of life of the real prototypes (boxers Rocky Marciano, Rocky Graziano), fictional characters (heroes of Hollywood sports movies), and autobiographical (Sylvester Stallone). The connection with sports as a ritual gives the film a mythological connotation. Simultaneously, it highlights the utilitarian aspect, inherent in the American tradition of Enlightenment and focused on the practical application of the context. The stories of Rocky’s boxing matches, and the stories of his relationships we perceive as “steps” of his initiation to a new cultural hero or a hero of mass culture. This occurs in a chronotope with characteristics of large (Philadelphia) and small (boxing ring) topos as places of professional and personal recognition. Rocky IV stands out among the films of the franchise; the protagonist embodies the athlete-defender of the national way of life that fights against a boxer from the “empire of evil”; and from the cult hero from of mass culture he turns into a mytho-ideology.Conclusions. The popular character of world cinema Rocky Balboa realizes the typical for the 20th century need for the new cultural heroes. Belonging to the two entertainment spheres – cinema and sports – the character created by Stallone gained immense popularity and a long screen “life”. Whereas Rocky’s assertion to the mytheme, and then ideologeme, led to a “fantastic” origin as a character, that is, a combination of biographies of real and fictional prototypes; connection of life scenario with rituals; correlation of moral and ethical beliefs of the hero with the ideas of the national myth of the American dream; his life trials as stages of initiation in the sacred chronotope.Key words: Rocky, mythohero, ritual, sports drama, chronotope, mytho-ideology. Мета цієї студії – схарактеризувати образ протагоніста кіносаги про боксера Роккі крізь призму міфопоетики як тип нового культурного героя із царини спорту. Методами дослідження є історико-культурний, міфопоетичний і порівняльний. Їх застосування дає можливість окреслити генетичний зв’язок образу героя-боксера з літературною традицією; визначити його основні параметри як міфогероя; вказати на точки перетину авторського міфу з міфом американської мрії; розглянути набуття міфологемою Роккі обрисів ідеологеми.Результати дослідження: з’ясовано, що ґенеза образу персонажа-спортсмена сягає неоромантичної традиції. Тоді як міфологізація кіногероя-боксера в культурі ХХ ст. зумовлена активним зверненням до ритуалу і міфу; новою хвилею інтересу до спортивних змагань як втіленням принципу агонічності; популярністю жанру спортивної кінодрами. Разом із тим масову глядацьку аудиторію і потужний інтерпретаційний потенціал персонажа Роккі забезпечував і жанровий синкретизм фільмів про нього: поєднання елементів спортивної драми, фільму-біографії, бойовика, мелодрами з типовими для міфосценарію архетипними ситуаціями. Визначено, що в екранній історії Роккі переплітаються факти з життя боксерів Р. Марчіано, Р. Граціано, героїв спортивних кінодрам і факти біографії самого С. Сталлоне. Зв’язок зі спортом як ритуалом надає фільмам про Роккі міфологічного підтексту і водночас окреслює його «утилітарний» аспект, притаманний американській просвітницькій традиції і орієнтований на практичне застосування переглянутого. Історії боксерських поєдинків кіногероя разом з історіями взаємин із «ближнім колом» сприймаються етапами ініціації на шляху до нового культурного героя у хронотопі, де великий (Філадельфія) і малий (ринг) топоси стають місцями здобуття ним професійного і особистісного визнання. Наголошено, що серед фільмів франшизи виокремлюється четвертий епізод, де Роккі втілює спортсмена-захисника національного способу життя, виступаючи проти боксера з «імперії зла». У такий спосіб герой масової свідомості переходить у міфоідеологему.Висновки. У культовому персонажеві світового кінематографу Роккі Бальбоа зреалізована характерна для людини маси ХХ ст. потреба в нових культурних героях. Завдяки приналежності до двох видовищних сфер – кіно і спорт – персонаж, створений С. Сталлоне, здобув величезну популярність і тривале екранне «життя». Тоді як утвердження Роккі у статусі пев-ної міфологеми, а потім й ідеологеми, зумовило «чудесне» походження як персонажа, тобто поєднання біографій реальних і фікційних прототипів; зв’язок життєвого сценарію з ритуалами; кореляцію морально-етичних переконань героя з ідеями національного міфу американської мрії; його життєві випробування як етапи ініціації в сакральному хронотопі.Ключові слова: фільм «Роккі», міфогерой, ритуал, спортивна драма, хронотоп, ідеологема.