Modern Microecon, Consumer Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Modern Microecon, Consumer Theory - Essay Example In raw economic terms, utility is a measure of consumer satisfaction, that is, how much satisfaction a consumer derives from the consumption of a good or a service. Budget constraint on the other hand represents the combination of goods or services an individual can consume or purchase in consideration to given prices with his or her limited income. Combining the two concepts forms the foundation of consumer theory. The utility theory provides a methodological framework whereby usually, all individuals, organizations and firms evaluate given options. Utility is a term used to describe the satisfaction that each of the given options provide to the one making the decision. Hence, the basis of the utility theory is that each individual will choose that option which tends to maximize utility, working on what is called the ‘maximization principle’. This principle states that the most desirable choice is the one with the highest level of satisfaction. However, while making the se decisions, the individual must also consider his income earned along with the respective prices of the goods and services in question. ... Total utility continuously rises as consumption increases. This rise becomes smaller as more units of a product are consumed, it can also decline after a certain level of consumption. On the other hand, marginal utility measures the change in consumption benefit as a result of consuming one more or one less unit of a product. In other words, marginal utility tracks the change in total utility as the number of units consumed changes. The behavior of marginal utility is such that it tends to fall continuously as consumption of a product increases. This is because the first few units consumed of a product provide a higher level of satisfaction than the later few. For example, the first drink of water is worth a lot more to a thirsty individual than his seventh one. For a consumer to be in equilibrium certain conditions need to be met. The consumers are assumed to be rational in their decision whereby they aim to maximize the utility derived from the consumption of any product. It is als o assumed that consumers have limited incomes and that the value of utility can be quantified in monetary terms. The equi-marginal principle states that a consumer will be in equilibrium if it is not possible to switch expenditure from good X in favour of good Y to achieve an increase in total utility. In other word this principle is satisfied when the marginal utility of every dollar spent on a good is equal to the price paid for that good. If a basket of goods is in question, an individual will continue to alter the mix of consumption of the products until the marginal utility of a dollar spent on each of the goods is equal. Therefore, the equilibrium principle can be expressed as MUx/Px=MUy/Py, where MU is the marginal utility and P is the price of the good. Consumer

Literature Review of the Industrial Wireless

Literature Review of the Industrial Wireless Industrial wireless infrastructure goes beyond a hand full of WSN in the field sending back information to a localised host system, the broader picture of a truly industrial wireless infrastructure envisages a system where the entire oil and gas facility is integrated wirelessly and all arms of the organisation can wirelessly access data from approved wireless devices from any location in the world. This provides a wireless platform for more efficient management, operation and maintenance of the oil and gas facility. This review focuses on WSN in the oil and gas industry, WSN resides in level zero of the ISA 95.01 hierarchy model. The oil and gas industry have utilised WSN for a number of years, up until the release of industry specific wireless technologies i.e. Wireless HART and ISA 100.11a, all of the oil and gas WSN install base were based on vendor proprietary technology, as a result there several operability issues with other vendors device and host systems [13]. Oil and gas facility operators and maintenance teams found themselves requiring multiple vendor devices and systems to meet the process application needs, resulting in high maintenance and operational costs defeating the purpose for having WSNs. The vast majority of the first generation WSN were based on basic office wireless technologies, as a result the first generation WSN where plagued with a number of issues namely; signal reliability, power usage, device processing capabilities, coverage area, suitability for use in hazardous areas, security and data latency issues. All these issues were a cause of major concern in the oil and gas industry towards the deployment of WSN. [14] Communication in the oil and gas industry demands the selected technology provides high availability, reliability, can coexistence with other networks on the plant, conform to an international standard, can operate in hazardous area, can transmit data in real time, is easily interoperable and is secure to outside intrusion and is cost effective [25]. All these requirements plus the ever changing RF environment and high levels electromagnetic noise from heavy duty machinery on an oil and gas facility has made it difficult over the years for WSN to prove successful and be considered the norm when considering communication technologies. The release of process industry specific WSN technologies like WirelessHART and ISA 100.11a, has significantly increased the interest in WSN in the oil and gas industry, it is estimated that investment in wireless infrastructure in the oil and gas industry will more than double from 1.2 million devices to over 3 million device between 2009 to 2015 [30]. With the advances in WSN technology, the potential of WSN to deliver a reduced CAPEX and OPEX cost savings, and possible health and safety and environmental benefits [25], is proving too attractive to be overlooked by oil and gas industry looking to reduce cost and improve plant safety. WSN are primarily based on the IEEE 802.15 family of technologies, which are designated as WPAN, WPAN typically consist of low data rates and a short coverage area [17]. WSN utilise a range of frequencies in the ISM band of frequencies i.e. 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, these frequencies propagate through office cubicles, drywall, wood and other materials found in homes and offices but tend to bounce of large object like steel and concrete. Due to the high density of steel structures in an oil and gas facility, the first generation of WSN where plague by signal echo or multi path fading , high levels of signal echo and multipath fading lead to transmissions been cancelled [14]. Some of the wireless technologies used in Industrial applications include; Bluetooth, ZigBee, WirelessHART, ISA 100.11a etc. IEEE 802.15.1 AKA Bluetooth is a short range radio technology which operates in 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band; it was first introduced by the telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994 as a wireless alternative for RS232 communication [18]. Bluetooth is relatively low-power, low-rate wireless network technology, intended for point-to-point communications [19]. Bluetooth operates with three different classes of devices namely Class 1 devices which have a range of about 100meters, class 2 devices which have a range of about 10 meters, and class 3 devices with a range of 1m [20]. Bluetooth operates based on the features of Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) and Forward Error Correction (FEC), AFH detects the potential for channel interference and blacklists channels found to have interference, to handle temporary interference the scheme re-tries the blacklisted channels and if the interference is no longer present channel can be used [31]. For security and authentication purposes an acknowledgement is sent by the receiver to the transmitter before a connection can be made between devices, Bluetooth also uses FHSS which adds an inherent level of security, the hop sequence switches channels 1,600 times per second making capturing a single hop extremely difficult. Data transmitted using Bluetooth is encoded before transmission increasing the security of the transmission also password protection ensures only devices with identical passwords can participate on the network. Bluetooth also utilises a controlled device pairing process to determine which products can co mmunicate, making devices invincible so they cannot be discovered by other devices [22]. Bluetooth is limited to eight devices per network and also has a limitation on the packet sizes [21]. This limitation in the number of device per network makes the Bluetooth technology an impractical solution for WSN in the Oil and gas industry. Typically the quantity of nodes in an oil and gas application would be in the hundreds which would mean have several Bluetooth networks on the facility. ZigBee is based on the IEEE 802.15.4 and originally developed for home automation. It is a low-cost, low-power, short range, wireless, mesh network technology which operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and uses DSSS modulation. All nodes in a ZigBee network share the same channel and frequency hopping is not permitted, at start-up of a ZigBee network scans are carried to establish a channel with little or no interference, this channel is then used for its data transmission [23]. A ZigBee network is capable of supporting hundreds of devices, the network architecture can be star, tree or mesh topologies. The technology uses three different types of devices namely ZigBee end devices, ZigBee router and a ZigBee coordinator. ZigBee supports both non beacon and beacon enabled networks, non-beacon networks are allowed to transmit any time that the radio channel is open and idle. This creates a ‘free-for-all’ environment in which collisions occur regularly when two or more devices try to transmit at the same time. In this mode, the co-ordinator and routers must be active at all times, and so it is best suited to mains powered devices [24]. A beacon enabled network can transmit only in its designated time slot; this regulates transmissions making collisions less likely. All nodes in the network are expected to synchronize their on-board clocks to this frame. Each node is allocated a specific time-slot within this super-frame during which it, and only it, is allowed to transmit and receive its data [24]. ZigBee utilizes the security mechanisms defined by IEEE 802.15.4, it using counter with cipher block chaining message authentication code (CCM) and AES-128 encryption, giving the option to use encryption-only or integrity-only [23]. The technology permits the use of three keys namely Network key, Link key and Master key. To join the network the master key is required, for end-to-end data encryption the link key is required and provides the highest level of security, the network key is shared between all devices on the network and provides a lower level of security [23]. ZigBee networks offer no diversity in frequency since the whole network shares a single static channel, this makes the network highly susceptible to signal jamming. Frequency selective fading due to the high density of concrete and steel structures present in an oil and gas facility is also a major concern as this can stop all ZigBee communication. The use of a single static channel increases the chance of interference from other systems and increases delay as the network size grows. In non-beacon enabled networks collisions forces retransmissions and this increase latency time making the technology unsuitable for critical monitor or control applications [23]. ZigBee has existed for some time now and has been updated a number of times to improve features like reliability, latency and security which are of uttermost importance but ZigBee has still not been able to cope with the stringent requirements needed for reliable and secure data transmission on an oil and gas facility. Wireless HART is one of only two released open wireless technology specific for process measurement and control applications [25]. It is modelled on the OSI model with its physical layer bases on the IEEE 802.15.4 for low rate WPAN, it operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. The application layer is based on the oil and gas industry wide accepted HART protocol. The technology was released in 2007, and was developed on a set of fundamental requirements namely: it must be easy to use and deploy, it should be a self- organising and self- healing network and it should be scalable, reliable and secure [23]. Wireless HART employs TDMA where all devices on the network are time synchronised and communicate in a prescheduled 10ms fixed time slot, this reduces data collision on the network and also reduces the power consumption of network devices [23]. The Wireless HART network is made up of different devices which include field devices, network gateways which include network and security managers. Field devices are organized in either mesh or star topology with the gateway acting as a bridge between the field device network and the host system [20]. Mechanisms like DSSS, FHSS, CSMA/CA, channel hopping, channel black listing are adopted by the technology to improve coexistence with other wireless networks in the environs. WirelessHART adopts two routing mechanisms to ensure data reliability and availability these routing mechanisms are called graph and source routing. During graph routing the network manager establishes the different routes which form the graph, each device on the network stores these routes and uses the predefined routes to identify the next device to forward data to during data transmission. During source routing a definitive list of the devices from the source device through to the destination which the data is to be routed is included the data packet header [20]. Graph routing gives the WirelessHART the ability to self-heal if predetermined routes on the graph is unavailable an alternate route can be taken. WirelessHART adopts a mandatory security requirement, both the sending device and receiving device uses counter with cipher block chaining message authentication code (CCM) together with AES-128 as the underlining encryption methods. Session keys, joint keys and network keys ar e generated by the security manager and network manager to prevent intrusion and attacks against the network [23]. WirelessHART since its release has proven to be a reliable technology, it is well researched in both the academic and industrial fields with reputable instrumentation suppliers investing heavily the production and continued research and development of devices operating on the technology. The features and capabilities of the technology are addressed in more detail in section 4.1 of this report. ISA100.11a is the second of the two open wireless technology’s specific for process measurement and control applications, ISA 100.11a is a Low data rate wireless mesh network technology operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band, it is modelled on the OSI model and adopts IEEE 802. 15.4 as its Physical layer. The technology was released in 2009 and is suitable for process applications where delays of up to 100ms can be tolerated [27]. ISA 100.11a technology aims to deliver Low energy consumption devices, easy scalable networks, interoperability with legacy infrastructure and applications, a secure and robust wireless network which is capable of coexisting with other wireless devices in the industrial work space [29]. An ISA-100.11a network is made up of non-routing and routing field devices, a system manager, a security manager, backbone routers and gateways. Non-routing devices are the field sensors / actuators, while routing devices could also act as field sensor/actuator or a router. Routing devices are important in the mesh network, data is transmitted from the source to the destination through a number of hops, with the routers responsible for routing the data to the right destination. They can also use alternative paths to improve reliability similar to WirelessHART network. Data packets are routed from one subnet over the backbone network to its destination, the backbone router is responsible for this routing function, the routing destination can be another subnet or the gateway. Thegatewayis the physical interface between the field network and the plant host network. The system manager is responsible for the administrative functions and communication configuration of the network [29]. ISA 100.11a supports frequency hopping and channel blacklisting, this eliminates faulty frequency bands and improves robustness against interference. The technology also uses DSSS modulation technique which divides the signal into small fragments and spreads it over the available frequency channels, this disguises the signal making it appear as noise to the other wireless technologies with in the range as a result overcoming interference and increasing communication reliability [28]. ISA.100.11a is a very robust technology, in addition to DSSS, the technology utilises three different diversity techniques, namely space diversity, frequency diversity and time diversity [28]. ISA100.11a utilises integrity checks and optional encryption to guarantee the security of the network, the technology also utilises AES-128 bits, message authentication and encryption codes. In addition to this a shared global key, a private symmetric key or certificate are required in order a for a sensor node to be permitted to join an ISA100.11a network [28]. The technology provides a synchronizing sampling mechanism, this mechanism provides reduction of reporting rates and transmissions can be configured to take place when the rate of change of the measured data exceeds a certain defined threshold. Adaptive transmission power control is also adopted by ISA 100.11a devices, this provides field devices the ability to dynamically select a transmit power level, thereby optimizing the power used by the device. Finally the routing capability of field devices can be turned on or off depending on the location of a device here by reducing the power demands of the device to suit the design requirements [28]. The application layer of ISA 100.11a is flexible and has tunnelling capabilities, this permits the user to maintain compatibility with oil and gas facility legacy protocols like Fieldbus Foundation, HART, Profibus, Modbus, and others [29]. ISA.100.11a adopts 6LoWPAN protocol for its network and transport layers, this offers interoperability with internet based hosts and sensor nodes in other WSN networks with IPv6 compatibility [20]. ISA 100.11a has proven to be a reliable WSN in the oil and gas industry, monitoring and alerting, asset management, predictive maintenance, condition monitoring are the application areas which have specific requirements and performance characteristics that can be covered by ISA.100.11a technology. ZigBee and Bluetooth are some of the technologies which have not really been accepted by the oil and gas industry as a means of wireless communication for process monitoring due to some shortfalls such as, ZigBee cannot provide the required QoS support for handling latency and message flow determinism required by industrial applications, ZigBee only utilizes DSSS hence its performance can easily degrade in case of continuous noise in the environs. Bluetooth on the other hand, isn’t sufficiently scalable to handle the vast number of measuring points on an oil and gas facility. However, WirelessHART and ISA100.11a technologies have been adopted for industrial applications due to their ability to deterministic data transmission, reliability, security, reduced data latency and low-cost features. WirelessHART does not support multiple protocols as ISA100.11a does, the transmission of HART messages are the only information specified and supported by WirelessHART while ISA 100.11a support most of the oil and gas legacy communication protocols like Foundation fieldbus, MODBUS, Profibus, HART etc. [28]. The extreme environments experienced on an oil and gas facility i.e. high temperatures, high level of EMI, large steel and concrete structures and constant movement of heavy machinery makes wireless communication highly unreliable in this environment. The release of industry specific technologies i.e. Wireless HART and ISA 100.11a has somewhat addressed the concerns over reliability, security, signal latency of a WSN, compliancy to the standards by wireless device vendors has also lead to operability across multiple vendor devices. Confidence has grown in the use of WSN since the release of industry specific technologies with a hand full of vendors and end users championing the way on WSN. The install base of WSN is continually increasing and this will aid the industry gain a better understand the technology. Till date majority of the install base are on purely monitoring only points due to latency concerns with WSN, further academic and industry based research is required in the use of WSN for fast acting closed loop control and safety critical applications with the aim resolving the latency issues associated with WSN.

Educating a Patient to Fight Leukemia Essay -- Leukemia Patient Educat

Currently, in the Unites States there are more than 250,000 Americans living with leukemia. Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells, which help your body fight infection. Your blood cells form in your bone marrow. In leukemia, the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells; these cells crowd out the healthy blood cells, making it hard for blood to do its work ("Leukemia," 2013). Fifty four year old Regina was just diagnosed with leukemia. Upon assessment I gathered that she has never smoked in her life, she has the occasional glass of wine and loves to go for walk and hikes in the mountains. After interviewing her I learned she is ready to learn and battle this new cancer diagnosis, including her family in the teaching process is very important to Regina and she is a very visual learner. She has a very positive attitude and lots of support from her friends and family. Readiness to Learn From the beginning Regina has been ready to tackle this new diagnosis and is ready to get better. Being so young for this diagnosis, the patient understands the disease and it doesn’t affect her ability to learn. To provide a more comfortable learning environment for my patient I would not choose to do my teaching in the examination room. I feel that those rooms do not have a very warm comforting feeling and they can also be very loud and distracting. It would be better to provide a quiet, welcoming and comfortable environment. Interruptions could interfere with the patient teaching process so I would hang a â€Å"DO NOT DISTURB† sign on the door to eliminate distractions. It would also be very important to have her family there for the teaching process since they will be the ones that will provide some of her care. Th... ...ailable to them to reference if they were ever unsure. The second goal was also met. She stated two of the risk factors that she could face contracting a virus and that she will take the needed precautions to avoid death. Lastly the patient confided in me and discussed her feeling identifying three of her emotions and asked for more information on the support groups she could join. Regina also wrote down the websites I referred to her and I gave her a pamphlet on coping with leukemia. Even though she has already learned a lot about her diagnosis there is always more to be taught. Works Cited Leukemia. (2013, July 29). Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/leukemia.html Suszynski, M. (2011, January 04). Cooking and eating to fight leukemia. Retrieved from http://www.everydayhealth.com/leukemia/cooking-and-eating-to-fight-leukemia.aspx

Expectations For Boys and Girls

Expectations for boys and girls are extremely high in today’s society. A lot of people feel pressure in today’s society and so much so that some people feel the need to take their own lives. Some people are able to rise above societies expectations, but that is incredibly hard to do and not everybody is strong enough to overcome that. The pressures of society follow everyone everywhere and different people must handle it in different ways. Expectations for girls are a lot higher and a lot more pressured than expectations for boys.Girls are expected to be pretty and nice and clean, but that is not always the case with every girl. They are expected to cook and clean as stated in Barbie Doll. â€Å"The girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons. † This really shows that girls are pressured into this kind of life from an early age. After she hits puberty, expectations start to change, especially with her peers. â€Å"Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs.† Within her own peer group she is being mocked and put down until she can’t take it anymore. â€Å"In the casket displayed on satin she lay. † Only then did the people in her life comment on how she was pretty, but it was too late for her. In the other poem, Good Girl, girls are expected to hold up the world. â€Å"Hold up the universe, good girl. † She also gets compared to Atlas, the Greek God who holds the world on his shoulders. â€Å"Sever yourself, poor false Atlas. † Unfortunately, this is true because some women have to cook and clean the house for her family.â€Å"You are the universe about its pole. God’s not fair. † Some women even have to work for their families also and it is true that some women hold the world on their shoulders. Expectations for boys however are much different. In the poem, Dylan, a mother talks about how her y oung son doesn’t have a worry in the world and is so happy. â€Å"On Monday he was Spiderman. All it took was red P. J’s, gluey palms and two spools of thread. † She then goes on to talk about how she wishes she could bottle up that happiness, â€Å"It seems if I could stash just one of these get-ups and the way your heart soars.† The mother than says, â€Å"Little boy, you could don it the morning some girl wrecks you. † She wants to give him his happiness when he is sad so he can immediately be happy again. This speaks to the expectations of boys in society because they are expected to never be sad but in truth, there will always be times when one is sad. In the other poem, Rites of Passage, the little boys at the party feel the need to compare themselves to one another to see who the alpha male is.â€Å"One says to the other How old are you? Six. I’m seven. So? † Boys are expected to be rough and tough and must appear that way espe cially to other boys. â€Å"I could beat you up, a seven says to a six. † Boys are not allowed to show their sensitive side and if they do then they will be ridiculed. Later in the poem the host of the party, speaks to the group as a whole, â€Å"We could easily kill a two-year-old. † And all was well between the boys again, because they all found a common interest.

Basant Festival

Mela entertainment is widely recognized as a wholesome, complete events solution factory. It’s a team of young, creative, enthusiastic and dynamic professionals with a sparkling stream of ideas having vast experience in the field of Events & Entertainments. Our goal is to give each & every event a different Meaning, Identity and a Vision with true professionalism to chart the roads of informative & entertaining events.Mela entertainment is here to simplify & make things easier to provide excellent services to the clients. Every event organized / managed / coordinated by us is an excellent opportunity for entertainment, growth, personality development and confidence building. From our in-house staff to our many clients and participants; every one experiences the magic.Our Philosophy & Commitment is encapsulated in the following statement: â€Å"To provide & deliver event solutions & services with the highest standard of professionalism, creativity upholding at all times qualit y, integrity and innovation.†Our expertise covers all the aspects of Events: Planning, management, Coordination and Execution. We deliver cost effective events without compromising on the final outputs. And to say the least, we have a capability & ample of workforce to organize many events at a time without compromising on the quality of the event. Services we offer:†¢Corporate events †¢ Conferences & Seminars †¢ Product Launches †¢ B2B & B2C Events †¢ Networking Events †¢ VIP Visits †¢ Road Shows †¢ Facility Inaugurations †¢ Employee Motivation programs †¢ Residential Conferences †¢ Awards functions †¢ Media / Press meets †¢ Customer / Dealer interaction programs †¢ Brand Extension Exercises †¢ Celebrity Management †¢ Live Concerts & Stage ShowsEvent Production & Direction†¢ Integrated Communication / Event Strategy †¢ Budgeting †¢ Technical Consulting †¢ Multimedia Production †¢ Artiste, Dance Troops Management †¢ Creative ConceptualizationLogistical Planning / Production / Stage Management†¢ Public Relation Services †¢ CEO Visits †¢ PR †¢ CSR Projects †¢ Media monitoring †¢ Crisis Management †¢ Public AffairsPromotions†¢ Retail Visibility †¢ Product Awareness †¢ Product Sampling †¢ Consumer Insights †¢ Lead GenerationRetail Activation†¢ Exhibition †¢ Wedding PlanningLarge field force activation†¢ Market / Competition Intelligence & Analysis †¢ Sampling and Audits †¢ Mystery Shopper Programs †¢ Kiosks †¢ POP / POS †¢ Time bound Installations †¢ Permanent Installations †¢ RWA Activities †¢ BPO Activities †¢ Mall ActivitiesMissionWe love what we do†¦Our mission statement is:– to work with our clients for their long term benefit, – to constantly research and develop new strategies, technologies and skills, â₠¬â€œ to provide exceptional service, -to maintain constant communication.

To Fee or Not to Fee essays

To Fee or Not to Fee essays Like the old saying goes, "The best things in life are free." digital media is no exception. Digital media has lately been getting attention due to the legal accusations on a certain type of digital media, MP3s. MP3 stands for Mpeg (a common file compression format) audio layer 3 (which means it compresses any audio into 3 layers for about 1/15th the size). The lawsuits that have been springing up lately contain two arguments. In one corner, we have the argument that an artist should be able to put their music on the internet for everyone to retrieve freely. In the other corner we have the argument that musical artists are having their music "stolen" by ruthless, internet thieves hence the artist gets no "pay" for his work. Can you think of the last time you said to your friend, "you've got to read this book, it's so good!"? If your friend liked that book, he/she would probably go out and get the next book done by that author. This is the state that mp3s are in right now, except with mp3s, it's on a more convenient level. You download mp3s, through a program like napster, listen to them and if you like them, naturally, you'd keep them, if you don't, you simply press the delete key. The more songs you retrieve (download), the larger and more refined your library of songs gets. Then, another person sees your refined library of mp3s and adds their favorite songs to their refined list. Eventually you have every person on their computers listening and associating with their library of mp3s. This way only the best artists get spread across the internet, new artists are introduced instantly and of course your "friend" (in this case, whoever downloaded mp3s off of you), goes out and buys the next book by the esteemed author (in this case the next album released by the artist). This "natural selection" method is slowly revolutionizing the way that music is being spread and also bought. The antagonists point of view is ...

Definition and Examples of Overwriting

Definition and Examples of Overwriting Overwriting is a wordy writing style characterized by excessive detail, needless repetition, overwrought figures of speech, and/or convoluted sentence structures. For writers striving for color, advises author and editor Sol Stein, try, fly, experiment, but if it shows strain, if it isnt accurate, cut it (Stein on Writing, 1995). Examples and Observations Overwriting is the failure to make choices. . . . Linguistic bric-a-brac is literatures Elvis on velvet.(Paula LaRocque, Championship Writing: 50 Ways to Improve Your Writing. Marion Street, 2000)[Andrew] Davidsons approach is scattergun: for every lovely image (the unholy yoga of his crash), there is a horrible, almost parodic piece of overwriting (a cheese strand dangled from her mouth to the edge of her nipple, and I wanted to rappel it like a mozzarella commando).(James Smart, The Gargoyle. The Guardian, September 27, 2008)Even Great Writers Can OverwriteNote that some critics deeply admire the following passages by John Updike and Joan Didion. With uncommon perception, says Thomas L. Martin, Updike offers the beauty of these several figures which, lined up, converge in a significatory pattern as do these dropsin a single figurative mosaic (Poiesis and Possible Worlds, 2004). Likewise, the excerpt from On Self-Respect, one of Didions best-known essays, is frequently quoted approv ingly. Other readers, however, argue that Updikes images and Didions figurative comparisons are self-conscious and distractingin a word, overwritten. Decide for yourselves.- It was a window enchanted by the rarity with which I looked from it. Its panes were strewn with drops that as if by amoebic decision would abruptly merge and break and jerkily run downward, and the window screen, like a sampler half-stitched, or a crossword puzzle invisibly solved, was inlaid erratically with minute, translucent tesserae of rain.(John Updike, Of the Farm, 1965)- Although to be driven back upon oneself is an uneasy affair at best, rather like trying to cross a border with borrowed credentials, it seems to me now the one condition necessary to the beginnings of real self-respect. Most of our platitudes notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most difficult deception. The tricks that work on others count for nothing in that very well-lit back alley where one keeps assignations with oneself: no winning smiles will do here, no prettily drawn lists of good intentions. One shuffles flashily but in vain through ones marked cardsthe kindness done for the wrong reason, the apparent triumph which involved no real effort, the seemingly heroic act into which one had been shamed.(Joan Didion, On Self-Respect. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968) Weltys WordinessSometimes writers get so excited about specificity and description that they begin to confuse them with mere wordiness. This is called overwriting and is a common early malady in apprentice writers. . . .Heres one of Eudora Weltys early first sentences: Monsieur Boule inserted a delicate dagger in Mademoiselles left side and departed with a poised immediacy.The solution to overcoming overwriting . . . is simply to exercise restraint and to remember the notion of immediacy. Weltys sentence, short of its too-fancy verbs and its excess of adjectives, might simply have read, Monsieur Boule stabbed Mademoiselle with a dagger and left the room in a hurry.(Julie Checkoway, Creating Fiction: Instruction and Insights From Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs. Writers Digest Books, 2001)Daniel Harris on OverwritingEven as my prose congealed into epic similes that grew more and more outlandish, I displayed absolute intolerance for the overwriting of others whose prose all owed me to study my own shortcomings at several removes, from a vantage point far above the vendetta I was waging as the self-appointed hatchet man of minority fiction. Often I was so blind to my tendency to write purple prose that I overwrote in the very act of criticizing overwriting, as . . . when I praised Patricia Highsmith, who, unlike other American writers, was so committed to telling her story that she never had any time to single out something for its own sake, to pluck it up from its context, and pet it from head to toe with long, voluptuous strokes of adjectives and metaphors. Far from being smug about my skills as a writer, I was bitterly frustrated, divided between my need to entertain my audience and my abhorrence of the prose that resulted from my acrobatic efforts to maintain my readers interest.(Daniel Harris, A Memoir Of No One In Particular. Basic Books, 2002) Do Not OverwriteRich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating. If the sickly sweet word, the overblown phrase are a writers natural form of expression, as is sometimes the case, he will have to compensate for it by a show of vigor, and by writing something as meritorious as the Song of Songs, which is Solomons.(William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 3rd ed. Macmillan, 1979)