The High Tide †Second Day’s Battle at Gettysburg Essay Example for Free

The High Tide – Second Day’s Battle at Gettysburg Essay The first day at Gettysburg had seen the two great armies – the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee and the Union Army of the Potomac, led by newly appointed Major General George Gordon Meade – come together. The fighting had ended with the southern army in control of the town and Seminary Ridge, while the northern army possessed the high ground along Cemetery Ridge, a very formidable position dominated by two large hills – Round Top and Little Round Top on the southern end of the line; it will be around those two hills that the Confederacy’s effort of independence from the United States will reach its high tide; it will break upon, and around those heights and it will ebb and flow there. It will be on the Union left that Longstreet’s Corps will be broken, and it will likewise be there that the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac will see the south’s hopes break and recede and from whence it will gain renewed strength from having been the instrument upon which those hopes are dashed. The night between the beginning of the battle and its fiercest fighting found Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s I Corps hurrying toward the field. It had been delayed during the morning, left waiting as of part of Lieutenant General Richard Ewell’s corps passed by near the town of Greenwood; the I Corps had been moving throughout the day and evening reaching the main army about midnight. On the morning of the second day, Lee, Longstreet, A.P. Hill, Harry Heth, and John Bell Hood sat beneath a tree on Seminary Ridge and discussed plans for the day’s attack.[i] Longstreet had tried to convince his leader that the Army of Northern Virginia should move around the Union forces flank and position itself between Meade and Washington, and he had believed he and Lee had agreed upon this strategy, and he tried to get Lee to follow through on that strategy, â€Å"We could not call the enemy to position better suited to our plans,† he observed. â€Å"All that we have to do is to file around his left and secure good ground between him and his capital.†[ii] After the first day’s fighting, Lee had decided if Meade’s army was still found along Cemetery Ridge in the morning he would attack him and he told Longstreet so, â€Å"If the enemy is there tomorrow, we must attack him.†[iii] Longstreet had disagreed, â€Å"If he is there, it will be because he is anxious that we should attack him – a good reason in my judgment, for not doing so.†[iv] But the bit was between Lee’s teeth now and he would not, and could not, let go of the Army of the Potomac and move around it. There was too much at stake, and his army would never be able to survive for long as a group, and could not afford to spread out now in order to live off the land around them. Meade could wait them out and Lee knew this. This may not be the ground of his choosing, but here was where the enemy had gathered, and it was now here where he would have to fight him. Lee had been observing the enemy’s position and he believed its left flank was in the air and unsecured, but he had no cavalry to confirm this. Major General J.E.B. Stuart had been assigned the mission to screen the Confederate army’s move northward, but had become distracted with the idea of riding around the Union army, and had hence left Lee with no screen and with no reconnaissance capability, and he now had to use the tools he had at hand. To determine if Meade’s flank was indeed unsecured Lee had sent a small reconnaissance party to the right to verify Meade’s position. He had sent Captain Samuel R. Johnston, one of his staff, to scout out the enemy’s flank. Johnston led his party to the top of Little Round Top, and found no one there. He could see, looking through the trees below him, no Union troops. The flank appeared to be unsecured! He returned to the commanding general and confirmed Lee’s suspicion that Meade’s left was exp osed and opened to attack. But the empty flank Johnston had seen was only momentarily so, â€Å"†¦the reconnaissance party had taken a quick look at the enemy lines during the time when the Federals were in the process of shifting troops. In fact, the Union lines did extend south along Cemetery Ridge. Lee therefore had a complete misunderstanding of Meade’s position.†[v] With his suspicions confirmed, Lee was determined to attack, and he turned to his most trusted Lieutenant – to his â€Å"Old War Horse† – Longstreet. But the I Corps commander did not share Lee’s confidence; he too had been studying the Union defenses and he had â€Å"concluded that this line was too strong for an attack to succeed. He urged Lee to turn its south flank and get between the Union army and Washington. This would compel Meade to attack the Army of Northern Virginia in its chosen position.†[vi] Lee would not be swayed however, and ordered Longstreet to prepare for the attack; the attack that if it succeeded could drive the Union army from the field and win the war. But Lee’s battle plan â€Å"rested on two givens – first, that scout Samuel Johnston had spied not a single Yankee soldier from his vantage point on Little Round Top that morning; and second, that therefore General Meade lacked either the troops or the intellect to anchor his left flank properly.†[vii] The Union line had been established as the Army of the Potomac was driven from Gettysburg during the first day’s battle after Meade sent Major General Winfield Scott Hancock forward to take charge of the army on learning of I Corps Commander Major General John F. Reynolds death. Hancock had quickly determined the high ground south of Gettysburg running from Culp’s Hill on the north past Cemetery Hill and down the long stretch of Cemetery Ridge south to the Round Tops – could and should be held. He rallied the units on hand and established the defense, sending word to Meade of his disposition, who swiftly ordered the remainder of the army to converge on Gettysburg, and hurried to the site arriving around midnight. Hancock will be dubbed â€Å"Hancock the Superb,† by northern newspaper writers for his roll in the Union victory.[viii] As Longstreet’s corps made its way south it would soon discover that not only was the Union left soon to be occupied, but that â€Å"Meade finally had most of his 85,000 men present. Lee with approximately 75,000 soldiers, was facing a formidable line that stretched from Culp’s Hill, around Cemetery Hill, southward along Cemetery Ridge, and finally to the Round Tops.†[ix] Lee’s plan of attack called for Longstreets corps to position itself to attack the Union left flank, facing northeast astraddle the Emmitsburg Road, and to roll up the Federal line. The attack was to move en echelon from the right beginning with Hood’s and Major General Lafayette McLaws’s divisions, followed by Major General Richard H. Andersons division of Hills III Corps. The progressive sequence of the attack was supposed to thwart Meade from shifting troops from his center to bolster his left. At the same time, Major Generals Edward Johnsons and Jubal Earlys II Corps divisions were to make a demonstration against Culps and Cemetery Hills (again, to prevent the shifting of Federal troops), and to turn those demonstrations into full-scale attacks if a favorable opportunity presented itself. What Lee’s plan had not taken into account was the possibility of Union generals doing the unexpected, and as Longstreet’s corps moved into position its leaders were surprised to find Major General Daniel Sickles III Corps sitting right in their path well out in front of the entire Union line. It was both an opportunity and problem. An opportunity because in moving forward Sickles had left the Union left truly unsecured, and most especially he had left the Round Tops void of any Union forces; it was a problem because Sickles corps, blocking the expected path of advance would slow down the rebel assault. As Sickles had moved his corps into position on Cemetery Ridge, he looked toward the Confederate lines and decided – on his own that his corps was not in the best location. â€Å"Trees and boulders covered both the ground that he was to occupy and the area to his front seemed slightly higher. From there, Confederate artillery might be able to command his lines.†[x] As the afternoon wore on, and shadows began moving through the woods nearby, Sickles, sensing a crisis was approaching, sent skirmishers into the woods to find out what the Confederates were doing. Twenty minutes later, his men reported enemy movement toward the south. â€Å"Thinking he had to act promptly to prevent the high ground from falling into enemy hands, Sickles moved his corps forward. Back on Cemetery Ridge, Hancock, whose corps was on Sickles’ right, was astounded by the move. One of his division commanders suggested that perhaps Meade had ordered a general advance and that Hancock’s corps missed the order.†[xi] By moving his corps so far ahead of the Cemetery Ridge line Sickles not only forced Longstreet to modify Lee’s battle plan at the last moment, but he also greatly altered the strategic landscape. â€Å"Lee’s prospective battlefield was extended southward some three-quarters of a mile. Hood deployed his four brigades, newly designated as the outflanking division, along Seminary Ridge facing due east, toward Round Top and Little Round Top. The half mile or so of terrain between Hood and the two heights contained what military cartographers euphemistically termed ‘broken ground.’†[xii] As he moved forward, to occupy the high ground, Sickles had placed his III Corps into a salient extending his line to a length far greater than could be adequately defended by the number of men he had in his command, and the shape of his line exposed it to both Confederate fire and attacks from three directions. To make matters worse, â€Å"not only had Sickles disobeyed his orders to occupy Cemetery Ridge, but he had also left Little Round Top undefended.†[xiii] Reporting to Meade’s headquarters for a meeting of corps commanders as he was dismounting, heavy artillery fire could be heard in the direction of his corps on the Union left. Sickles quickly remounted and rode swiftly back to his men. Just as quickly, Meade mounted his horse, and he and his chief of engineers, Major General Gouverneur K. Warren rode to ascertain the situation on the III Corps’ front. When they reached Cemetery Ridge, Warren said, â€Å"‘Here is where our line should be.’ Hearing the Confederate cannon fire to the front, Meade replied, ‘It is too late now,’ and rode in the direction of the fire. Warren, wanting to get a better view of the terrain, rode to the crest of Little Round Top.†[xiv] While the fire was spreading and intensifying, Warren and his aides raced up the rocky slopes of Little Round Top, and once there were stunned to find there were no Federal soldiers, except for a handful of signal-men on the heights, and it was further apparent, â€Å"from what the signal-men had seen and from Warren’s own observations, that Confederate attackers were less than a mile away and moving toward the heights even as they watched. That discovery, Warren later wrote, ‘was intensely thrilling to my feelings and almost appalling.’ Earlier in the day he had written his wife, ‘we are now all in line of battle before the enemy in a position where we cannot be beaten but fear being turned.’ Now that fear was upon him. To General Warren it was instantly clear that if Rebel infantry and artillery seized Little Round Top, they would utterly dominate the Potomac army’s position on Cemetery Ridge.†[xv] Understanding what would happen if someone didn’t occupy the heights and do so quickly, Warren sent one of his aides to Meade calling for troops to meet the emergency. He also dispatched another aide, Lieutenant Ranald Mackenzie, to Sickles and to have him order one of his brigades to the crest. By the time Mackenzie found Sickles, his corps was already heavily engaged and the General was beginning to realize the scope of his recklessness, and told Mackenzie he could not spare any of his men. Mackenzie rode back to Cemetery Ridge in search of other troops, and soon found Major General George Sykes, moving forward with his V Corps. â€Å"Without hesitation, without clearing the matter with headquarters, Sykes sent a courier to the commander of his lead division, James Barnes, with orders to answer Warren’s call. â€Å"Sykes’s courier, in his search for Barnes, encountered Colonel Strong Vincent, commanding the V Corps’ lead brigade. ‘Captain, what are your orders?’ Vincent demanded of the courier. He needed to find General Barnes, said the courier. ‘What are your orders?’ Vincent repeated. ‘Give me your orders.’ The captain answered, ‘General Sykes told me to direct General Barnes to send one of his brigades to occupy that hill yonder,’ pointing to Little Round Top. ‘I will take the responsibility of taking my brigade there,’ said Vincent. As the corps’ lead brigade, Vincent’s was the logical choice for this task, but in sensing the crisis and bypassing the chain of command, Strong Vincent, too rose to the occasion. His variegated brigade – Twentieth Maine, Eighty-third Pennsylvania, Forty-fourth New York, Sixteenth Michigan – was soon scrambling up the rocky face of Little Round Top.à ¢â‚¬ [xvi] Warren did not sit idly by while his aides were looking for troops; Warren also moved off searching for men to place on the exposed left. Noticing infantry moving up, he moved to the unit discovering it was none other than a regiment from the brigade he had earlier commanded. â€Å"As he started to explain the army’s plight to the regimental commander, Warren saw his younger brother, Edgar, approaching. Edgar Warren was an aide to Brigadier General Stephen H. Wood, commander of a brigade in the V Corps. The army’s chief engineer received promises that the entire brigade would send help. Next, Warren directed an artillery battery and the brigade’s lead regiment to move to the top of the hill. He then rode to see the V Corps commander and secure additional reinforcements. The ensuing fight for Little Round Top was a close contest. Federals ran up one side of the hill as Confederates ran up the other. The fight ended with the Army of the Potomac holding the positio n. Warren had taken action in time.†[xvii] Longstreet had repeatedly argued to have the army move around Meade’s flank, but he had been overridden by Lee. He was not happy about the planned attack, but he was a career soldier and he would obey orders. But after being rebuffed, he was determined to follow the letter of Lee’s instructions and it made him extremely inflexible. His division commander on the far right, Hood, recommended that the right wing of the attack should be extended around the Round Tops and into flanks of the Union army. â€Å"Longstreet replied that Lee’s orders were to attack up the Emmitsburg Road, and that everyone would obey the orders of the commanding general. Nevertheless, Hood extended his lines to the right to include Little Round Top, and his near success against Warren on that hill was proof that the Federal line of battle was vulnerable.†[xviii] Longstreet’s artillery fired a cannonade for more than an hour, and then his divisions charged forward, slamming into Sickles’s front and flanks. Sickles’s decision to move forward was a bad one, but his men fought bravely and made the Confederate I Corps pay dearly for each yard it advanced, and Sickles defended it well. â€Å"†¦the fight for the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield lasted almost four hours. Before being seriously wounded, Sickles skillfully plugged the holes in his lines almost as quickly as they developed.†[xix] As the I Corps continued its assault on the Union left it began to flow up and around the Round Tops, as it moved to the left and right enveloping Sickles’s Corps it began the long hard fight into and through the forbidding Devil’s Den. This area of the Union line was being defended by the One Hundred Twenty-fourth New York Infantry known as the â€Å"Orange Blossoms†. The fighting soon became some of the hardest of the war, and presently became desperate. â€Å"Some of the Texans later claimed that the muzzle flash of their rifles had singed the New Yorker’s uniforms. At the start of the fight, the regiment’s Colonel A. Van Horne Ellis and Major James Cromwell had been on foot. It was safer that way.† As the fight worsened, â€Å"Ellis had their horses brought forward, and he and Cromwell mounted up. To a captain who remonstrated at what good targets the colonel and major would make on horseback, Ellis replied, ‘The men must see us to day.’†[xx] The fighting became hotter, and as moment of immediate â€Å"crisis seemed to approach, Ellis gave the signal. He and Cromwell led their men down the slope in a counterattack. For a few moments all was glorious victory for the Orange Blossoms as the First Texas broke and fled before them. Then, near the foot of the slope, the Texans turned and blasted a volley into the faces of their pursuers. Cromwell, a magnificent figure on his iron-gray horse, crumpled to the ground. The Orange Blossoms surged forward to recover his body, and the rocky hillside became a fiery cauldron of battle. One participant recalled that all was ‘roaring cannon, crashing rifles, screeching shots, bursting shells, hissing bullets, cheers, shouts, shrieks and groans.’†[xxi] The Texas line receded and it looked as though the Orange Blossoms may have won a startling victory, but suddenly, â€Å"†¦emerging from the thick smoke and passing through the Texas’ line, strode a solid gray-glad line of battle, fresh and unbloodied, two ranks deep, shoulder-to-shoulder and stretching out of sight in the battle smoke in either direction. Brigadier General Henry Benning’s Georgia brigade had moved up from its reserve position and was going into action to renew the momentum of the Confederate assault. The Georgia line swept the scattered Orange Blossoms before it like the first chill blast of a violent spring storm. Colonel Ellis fell dead with a bullet in his brain, and the survivors of the 124th, now scarcely one hundred strong, fell back to the crest of Houck Ridge, struggling to delay the Confederate advance.†[xxii] As the Confederate assault began to flow over the top of the ridge it soon collided with the Fourth Maine Regiment. Its commander, Colonel Elijah Walker, realized very quickly that the Rebels would soon be able to turn his flank and continue to plunge through the Union line. â€Å"Walker responded with the sublime audacity that seemed almost commonplace on both sides this afternoon. He ordered his regiment to wheel to the right, fix bayonets, and charge. ‘I shall never forget the â€Å"click† that was made by the fixing of bayonets,’ the colonel wrote years later. ‘It was as one.’ â€Å"The Fourth Maine surged to the top of the ridge, but there it, too, met the onrushing wave of Benning’s Georgia brigade. The fighting became hand-to-hand on the ridge top and in Devil’s Den. The Maine men were soon joined by reinforcements of their own, one regiment from the other end of Ward’s line and another from de Trobriand. The oversized Fortieth New York took up the position the Fourth Maine had just left, covering the Slaughter Pen and Plum Rum gorge. The Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania, led by Major John W. Moore with the shout of ‘Pennsylvania and our homes!’ charged into Devil’s Den alongside the Fourth Maine and drove the Georgians and Alabamians out of the boulders and off the ridge. Meanwhile, the Fortieth New York charged the Confederates who were trying to press through the gorge and drove them back but could not dislodge them. One Confederate counted seven separate charges by the Fortieth. The two sides blazed away at each ot her there until the Slaughter Pen was more thickly strewn with bodies than with boulder.†[xxiii] Sickles’s salient had caused Hood’s division to move to the right of the assault, and it began to flow over and about the Round Tops, and the two right-hand regiments, the Fifteenth and Forty-seventh Alabama, under the Fifteenth’s Colonel William C. Oates, climbed up – and over the steep, heavily wooded slopes of Round Top, and then plunged down into the saddle separating it from Little Round Top to its north. â€Å"Oates’s instructions were to locate ‘the left of the Union line, to turn it and do all the damage I could†¦.’†[xxiv]

Prose Commentary, Pat Barker Essay Example for Free

Prose Commentary, Pat Barker Essay The title of the book from which this excerpt is taken, Regeneration, highlights what I see as the main theme in this thought provoking prose piece. This piece of prose raises images for me of the moist dampness, humid soil, death and the prospect of life arising from the continuation of the cycle of life and death. These Images are shown in phrases such as the final sentence, which says, Now they could dissolve into the earth as they were meant to. This sentence is the one which stuck out most to me in the whole excerpt; I found it very powerful in that it brings out the theme of regeneration to the reader and it is a sentence which sticks in your mind. I can see this as an overall whole picture, where Burns, who I view as a returning soldier, perhaps from the Gulf War given the date, experiences, and successfully faces one of his terrible fears, picked up from the war, of bloody, dead corpses, and through this finds the prospect of soul peace before him. I also see that nature and the cycle of life as a big theme in this excerpt as it shows up in nearly every line. Words such as, rain, mud, trees and wind support this. The narrative structure of this excerpt is also important, because it is as if the story of Burns is being told by someone else and so it is likely not subject to the bias of the actual persons account. In the first three paragraphs, rain and the wetness of the land is a large part of describing, setting the scene and the tone of the rest of the excerpt. The author creates a feeling about Burns, that he is somewhat stranded, for the writing states, He didnt know what to do and so long since hed been anywhere alone. As well as creating a lost feeling this sentence confirms the thoughts, though not directly, that Burns is a returning soldier. The use of the words, Raindrops dripped with the repeated d sound, creates the patter of large raindrops. Persistent and monotonous link up with each other to remind the reader of the continuity of the wetness. When Burns reaches a fence, he sees that, A tuft of grey wool had caught on one of the barbs. Perhaps an animal had once quite recently struggled to free itself from this discontinuity in nature as Burns does when he too gets caught on a barb just like an animal. The repetition of the b sound in Burns blinked, carries on the theme of the persistence of the rain. Throughout the whole of the third paragraph there is another repetition of the b sound, this time though it is used to bring out the sound of the thud and plodding of Burns in his mud encumbered boots. There is also a repetition of the s sound in words such as slipping and stumbling for exactly that, to create the sound of someone slipping in the wet mud. The writer also uses words such as cold, khaki and tight cloth to create a chilling stiff sound to make the reader feel the cold that Burns is experiencing. In the next two paragraphs, the author makes the wind and its severity, an impacting factor on Burns' progress toward the safety that he seeks. The wetness of the setting which surrounds Burns is also again a major influence in his quest. The tone of these two paragraphs is much more severe than the first three. The author says that the wind tries to scrape Burns off its side. suggesting that the situation has become more intense. That line is very effective literally because the word scrape is an onomatopoeic word and when joined together with side it creates an alliterating s sound. The fact that he has to keep his head bent and the Rain beat onto his head both confirm the increased severity of the weather. When the weather is so bad that the distance vanishes in a veil of rain, the alliterating v sound bringing out the hum of the constant rain, Burns' survival instinct kicks in and he decides to take shelter, running clumsily toward a clump of trees. But again he is slowed to a walk because of the dragging mud. The words mud dragged are effective here, for even to say them together takes effort and your reading is slowed by them, amplifying their effect. The sucking of your reading is again shown in the words mud-clogged boots, the d, g and b sounds all together make the reader have to pronounce each syllable in a drawn out way. Where the author talks about, the whine of shells he is referring to the sound that you hear when you put a shell to your ear and compares it to the noise of the wind through the trees. In paragraph five the author shows the exhausted Burns so tired he cannot even be bothered to wipe away the rain drenching his face. In the next three paragraphs, the tone of the extract becomes quieter; there is neither mention of the intense rain nor the sound of it. The tone of the setting becomes almost sinister amongst the trees. Burns now in what he thinks is the safety of the trees continues to stumble and the writer again uses the repeated b sounds in the words, began, stumbling, blindly and between to show us that Burns has still not quite got his bearings right yet. The author uses the repeated c sounds in the words catching, clumps and bracken to the same effect. Because he is stumbling blindly, something brushed Burns' cheek and when he tried to push it away, his hand touched what he first thought to be slime. On turning to see what it was, Burns discovered that there was a dead mole, suspended, apparently, in air. The use of commas in those few words are effective because they make the reader pause and thus put emphasis on a very important part of the extract, it begins the change in plot of the whole extract. Its small pink hands folded on its chest. suggests the authors feeling that the mole was innocent, but was still killed. The author provokingly compares the dead animals Burns sees to a fruit tree bearing, what the author makes you think are heavy fruit by using the word laden. Heavy fruit because they are generally more likely to smell of decay, which is what the dead animals are, decaying. The author quite interestingly uses animals from each part of the earth; the magpies from the sky; the fox from the ground and the moles from under the ground, this I see as a continuation of the regeneration theme carried on throughout the whole excerpt. I think that the fox scared Burns so much because it reminded of something that he saw in the war. Again in paragraph eight the trees are against Burns. The author uses the alliteration of the words twigs tore through the t sound to remind the reader of the snapping sound of twigs and the force that Burns was putting into getting away was enough to snap the twigs on his skin. It brings out how frightened he really was. The writers reference to dead leaves also fits in with the theme of Regeneration for dead leaves must dissolve into the earth to create nutrients for the trees from which they fell and thus continue the circle of life. In the short paragraph nine, the setting changes briefly once more because Burns goes out into the field once more. He splashes effectively through the alliterated flooded furrows, the f making the sound of the swishing water. Burns then hears a voice, probably the voice of a fellow soldier from the war. It is said to be the voice of a person named Rivers. I did find it quite ironic that the author of the book from which this excerpt is taken, would use the name Rivers for the voice which Burns hears because in Scotland a small river is called a burn. This brings out to me that the author is making the aspect of water very important to this particular scenario. I feel that the use of water here is important to the overall theme of regeneration because water is a key part in the cycle of life, it is the source of all life and so I think that this is why the author emphasises this point. The voice that Burns hears tells him that, If you run now, youll never stop. basically telling him to face his fear. This may be because perhaps Burns ran away from something before and did not face his fear. The last two paragraphs of the excerpt talk of Burns facing his fear, finding a peace amongst his dead companions and his finding a control which he did not have at the beginning of the excerpt. Burns turns back therefore facing his fears. The fact that the author talks about what the real Rivers might have said confirms that Rivers is a real person and he is probably still alive. When Burns lets down the dead animals he is allowing for the natural cycle of Regeneration to be complete. This seems to make him feel better for he sits down inside the circle of his companions who he no longer views as scary and is happy because, Now they could dissolve into the earth as they were meant to do. By facing his fear, Burns was regenerated in himself, this also made him content. The last line is the most important in the whole text; it sums up and puts into context the entire idea of Regeneration. In conclusion I would say that there is one main theme in this excerpt; it being the ongoing recurrence of the idea of Regeneration through the means of nature, water, the cycle of life and death and the facing of fear. It is also important to say that in order for regeneration to happen, something has to die.

Non-visual Motion Tracking

Non-visual Motion Tracking Additionally, (Taylor et al. 2010) demonstrated that the OSSCA method, which employs a combined use of OCST, SCoRE, and SARA techniques to process marker data and allows the estimation of joint parameters from kinematic data alone, without the necessity to use generic anatomical relationship assumptions, returns more reliable, repeatable and reproducible results than a standard generic regression approach. Although the accuracy of the data acquired by means of optical motion capture systems is very high in the controlled environment of the lab, the ambulatory use of this type of equipment is cumbersome and presents significant limitations which can not only compromise the precision of the acquired data, e.g. dependency on line-of-sight, limited range and latency of data (Schepers et al. 2010), but also the practicability of the acquisition itself, e.g. necessity of power source, set-up time, outdoor calibration of the system. Non-visual motion tracking Non-visual motion tracking is a sensor based technique, which can be carried out, amongst others, with acoustic, magnetic, or inertial sensors, or with a combination of these methods. Ultrasound based acoustic systems, e.g. the Bat system (Ward et al. 1997), Vallidis (Hazas and Ward 2002), the Cricket location system (Priyantha et al. 2000) and WearTrack (Foxlin and Harrington 2000), are capable of tracking the locations of pulse emitting beckons by using the time-of-flight information of audio signals. This type of motion tracking system is wireless, however, as with visual motion tracking, occlusion of the signal emitter poses a significant limitation. In contrast, magnetic systems, e.g. MotionStar ® (Ascension Technology), are capable of estimating their position and orientation within the global coordinate system, by using information from the local magnetic environment, and are, therefore, not constricted by line-of-sight. However, these systems are very sensitive to ferromagnetic interferences. Inertial motion capture systems, e.g. Moven (Xsens Technologies) and Alert (Verhaert), employ the use of accelerometer and gyroscopes to measure inclination angles. These systems are highly accurate, however, sensitive to vibration and subject to integration drift over time. In fact, throughout the past decade, the use of inertial sensors has gained increased popularity within researchers (Foxlin 1996; Roetenberg et al. 2007a; Roetenberg et al. 2005; Roetenberg et al. 2009; Roetenberg et al. 2003; Roetenberg et al. 2007b; Roetenberg and Veltink 2005), as well as general population. Many people schedule their daily activity based on the data presented by certain applications on their smartphones (e.g. Health app, Argus, MyFitnessPal), their smartwatches (e.g. Sony, LG, AppleWatch, Fitbit Surge) or pedometers and wristbands (e.g. Fitbit Flex, Garmin vivofit, Polar Loop, Jawbone). However, in the field of research, there is a need for more complex systems, which can provide more comprehensive information, of a larger variety. For this purpose, hybrid systems, combine the use of different techniques to compensate for the shortcomings of individual systems. Such hybrid systems are represented by acoustic-inertial systems (Vlasic et al. 2007; Ward et al. 2005), e.g. Constellationà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (Foxlin et al. 1998), optical-inertial systems, e.g. Hy-Birdà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (Ascension Technology) and inertial-magnetic systems, e.g. MERG sensors (Bachmann 2000), MTw development kit (Xsens Technologies), MVN Biomech and MVN Awinda (Xsens Technologies). Combined inertial and magnetic sensing is currently one of the more popular choices in this area of study and will be discussed at length in the following paragraphs. The light weight, wireless and cheap, inertial sensors equipped with accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers enable, when positioned on the human body, the computation of angular orientation of the anatomical segments to which they are attached to (Bellusci et al. 2013; Roetenberg et al. 2003). The on-board gyroscopes measure angular velocity, based on the principle of angular momentum, according to the following fundamental equation: (1) Where: à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ torque on the gyroscope; L angular momentum; I moment of inertia; à Ã¢â‚¬ ° angular velocity; ÃŽÂ ± angular acceleration. The most commonly used gyroscopes for human motion studies are piezo-electric, capable of detecting vibration of mass. When an object vibrates while rotating, it is subject to the Coriolis Effect. This causes a second vibration to occur orthogonally to the initial vibration direction. The rate of turn can be calculated from this latter vibration. According to the following equations: (2) Where: m mass; à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚   momentary speed of the mass with reference to the moving object to which it is attached. The resulting gyroscope signals are then defined as being the sum of angular velocity à Ã¢â‚¬ °t, offset due to temperature of gyroscope bt, and white noise à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚  G,t (Eq. 3). (3) The gyroscope output is very accurate, however, it is subject to errors and drift caused by integration of the signal over time, and the gyroscope temperature which can produce small offset errors, leading to large integration errors when calculating orientation. The use of compensatory estimation algorithms, such as Kalman filters can reduce the inherent errors in the gyroscope output signal (Roetenberg et al. 2003). Kalman filters are mathematical algorithms used to efficiently minimize the mean of the squared error of a system output (Welch and Bishop 1995). Kalman filters are particularly useful for combining parameters of different measurement systems so that the advantages of one compensates for the weakness of the other, e.g. accelerometers are often used in conjunction with gyroscopes, in order to compensate for inclination drifts in the gyroscope signal. The accelerometers measure the gravitational acceleration g and the vector sum of acceleration a. The output accelerometer signals are defined as the sum of acceleration at, gravity gt and white noise à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚  A,t. (4) The inclination information provided by gt can be used to correct the orientation drifts of the gyroscope (Roetenberg et al. 2003). A further common example of Kalman filtering, is using magnetometer readings to correct for the gyroscopes vertical axis drifts (Roetenberg et al. 2003). Magnetometers have the ability to detect local magnetic north and adjust heading direction. The principles by which the magnetometers work are described by following equation: (5) Where: ym,t magnetic signals; mt earth magnetic field vector; dt disturbance vector; vm,t -white noise. In real life measuring conditions the distribution of the magnetic field is often more complex and other parameters, such as changes in magnetic flux and the magnetic inclination angle, which can affect the magnitude of the magnetic disturbance, should be taken in consideration. The major limitations of using inertial and magnetic sensing for motion tracking are represented by the following factors: Ferromagnetic interferences can distort the local magnetic field and affect the measurements for the orientation about the vertical axis (Roetenberg et al. 2003). The velocity and type of movement performed and the geometry of the body segment to which the sensor is applied can affect the accuracy of the measurements (Roetenberg et al. 2005); Distances between body segments cannot be assessed by means of numerical integration (Roetenberg and Veltink 2005); Previous studies in which this type of equipment was used report a high accuracy of the output data (Cutti et al. 2010; Ferrari et al. 2010a; Seel et al. 2014), however, the limitations in using this motion capture system are far from being overcome. The most important and challenging aspect of the study is to use the acquired information in a biomechanically meaningful manner, e.g. the parameters declared as joint angles, need to be as anatomically accurate as possible, for this purpose assuming the joint angles can be calculated as the angles of movement between two anatomical segments is not enough, a more complex mathematical model needs to be developed in order to address the biomechanical characteristics of the studied joint. There are a variety of protocols and algorithms available for post processing of sensor data stemming from human motion studies. A common approach for solving a human kinematics problem is to compare the human body to a robot manipulator. Similarly to a robot manipulator, which forms a kinematic chain from links interconnected by joints, the human body can be considered a kinematic chain formed of anatomical segments connected by articulations. In theory, this is a very efficient manner to solve a biomechanical problem. Cutti et al., for example, use the Danavit-Hartenberg convention of robotics in their Outwalk protocol, which states that a kinematic chain with n joints will have n+1 links (Fig 2.4). To solve the kinematics, a coordinate system is rigidly attached to each link. In this case, when joint is actuated, the adjacent and its attached coordinate frame perform a motion. Whichever motion is performed by the kinematic chain, the coordinates of each point on are constant when expressed in the coordinate frame (Zatsiorsky 1998). The Danavit-Hartenberg convention has two conditions which need to be satisfied in order for the kinematic solution to be effective. The variables of a joint (e.g. rotation angles) are defined by the two coordinate systems of the links adjacent to the joint. So, for example, the coordinates of the frame are expressed in the frame. Firstly, the orthonormality of the frames needs to be established, meaning needs to be perpendicular to . Secondly, the projection of in the frame ought to intersect . Comparing the human body to a robotics model is a good starting point. However, using the, frequently associated, strap-down integration method when measuring human kinematics with sensing units poses a very important limitation (Seel et al. 2014). The strap-down-integration method is based on using sensing units securely fixed to the even surfaces of robotic elements. However, there is a significant difference between a robotic setup and an anatomical system. Firstly, aligning the sensor to an anatomical location, such that one axes of the sensor coordinate system coincides exactly with an axis of the anatomical joint, is nearly impossible (Seel et al. 2014). This issue has been addressed in different manners by researchers so far. In the Outwalk protocol, Cutti and Ferrari et al. define as many coordinate frames for each link as the joints they form. Each anatomical segment has, therefore, a distal and a proximal coordinate frame. The joint variables are defined by the distal coordinate frame of one segment and the proximal coordinate frame of its adjacent segment. Another issue that needs to be addressed, when discussing a human biomechanical model, is an almost certain misalignment of the thigh axis with the segments coordinate system. Some studies completely ignore the misalignment between the anatomical and the sensor axes (Seel et al. 2014). In the Outwalk protocol this problem is solved by expressing the flexion-extension axis of the knee in the coordinate system of the distal femur and defining the other revolution axes of the coordinate frame as being orthogonal with respect to the new axis. This is another promising approach, however, in order for this method to be effective, the knee flexion-extension axis needs to be accurately identified. In the case of hinge joints, such as the simplified model of a knee joint, it is possible to calculate data from inertial sensors attached to both ends of the joint. However, this resulting data still needs to be translated into joint related coordinate systems and although, it is impossible to determine the initial position of the sensors on the anatomical segment, there is a possibility to determine the direction of the joint axes, by using different approaches to identify a functional movement axis from a set of dynamic motion data (Cutti et al. 2010; Ferrari et al. 2010a; Seel et al. 2014). In their protocol Cutti and Ferrari et al. use Woltrings mathematical solution for determining the finite helical axis (reviewed in (Zatsiorsky 1998)) to identify the knee flexion-extension axis. Woltrings solution appears to be fitting at least for most motion capture systems (Seel et al. 2014). However, the sensing units used in our study cannot measure translation. This would pose a big problem and could potentially result in substantial errors. In order for the outcome of the study to be successful, it needs to satisfy a set of conditions: (1) it is very important that the resulting post-processed sensor data is biomechanically meaningful to the musculoskeletal system; (2) data acquisition needs to be user friendly, rapid and easy to complete; (2) sensor mounting is not allowed to restrict the participants movement in any manner; (3) the resulting data needs to relate to true anatomical joint angles; and (4) the resulting information needs to be comparable to the reference system (Vicon). Seel et al. offer a solution based on rotational angle estimates alone, which is not only more simple from a data acquisition and processing point of view, but also functions on principles similar to SARA and SCoRE. In the protocol proposed by Seel et al. the knee is assumed to be a simple hinge, with one sensor attached to each segment forming the joint. In order to compensate for the lack of information concerning the initial position of the sensors on the anatomical segments, the unit length direction vectors and the orientations of the two segments attached to the hinge joint (Fig 2.6) are estimated as described below. The Seel et al. solution only employs the use of what is considered to be raw accelerometer and gyroscope output data from the two sensors, the thigh sensor and the shank sensor. In reality, any output data produced by the Xsens sensors, used in Seel et al.s study and the current study, is pre-processed in real-time by the on-board Kalman filter. For the purpose of the summary of the following protocol, all data indexed with 1 refers to thigh sensor data and data derived there from, and all data indexed with 2 refers to shank data and data derived there from. Firstly, the unit length direction vectors of the flexion-extension axis of the knee , are identified in the local coordinates of the sensors, by using an optimisation algorithm to compute the values of . Where the spherical coordinates for are: (6) (7) With the following sum of squared errors: ; (8) A search function is then used to find which satisfy the following condition: (9) Where: angular rates recorded by the thigh and shank sensor, respectively, with the sample period: constant; Euclidean norm. The acceleration measured by each sensor is the sum of the acceleration due to movement around the joint centre and the acceleration due to the rotation of the sensor around the joint centre. In order to estimate the knee joint position expressed in the local coordinate systems of the sensors, the amounts by which are shifted in order to obtain the acceleration of the joint centre, are estimated first. Two arbitrary points along the axes are estimated using a Gauss-Newton optimization algorithm. These points are shifted as close as possible to the sensor origin by applying: (10) (11) The radial and tangential acceleration due to the rotation of the sensor around the joint centre is computed: ; i=1,2 (12) Where: are time derivatives for angular rate and (13) The following sum of squared errors is calculated: ; (14) A search function is used to find which satisfy the following constrain: (15) The knee flexion/extension angle based on the gyroscope information is calculated with the following equation: (16) The measured accelerations are shifted onto the joint axes by applying the following: (17) (18) Where, represent the same quantity in the two different local coordinate systems, which rotate with respect to each other around the flexion axis. The flexion/extension angle calculated according to acceleration data can be defined as the angle between the projections of . (19) Where, and are pairs of joint plane axes, defined by: ; The knee flexion/extension angle defined by fusing the accelerometer and gyro data is defined by: (20) Where: knee flexion extension angle calculated according to accelerometer data at time t; knee flexion extension angle calculated according to gyroscope data at time t; the weight of the accelerometer data. By using the most effective methods presented in the literature review, the current study will attempt to validate the inertial sensor protocol proposed by Seel et. al 2014 against a OSSCA method and to compare laboratory and non-laboratory based inertial motion capture.

American Graffiti Essay -- essays research papers

American Graffiti (1973) This classic move focuses on a single night in the early Sixties, the hopeful future of the main characters is followed by the events which occur. Steve (Ron Howard), and Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) will be leaving for college the very next day, the build up of years of hard work. Finally they'll be able to leave their small hometown and "spread their wings", experiencing life in ways they never have. Curt is unattached to anyone, but Steve will be leaving behind his longtime girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams), who happens to be Curt's sister. Also remaining at home are Terry (Charles Martin Smith), a fumbling nerd, and John (Paul Le Mat), an older kid with "the fastest car in the valley". The two main things that kid's focused on in 1962, it was cars and music. Everyone who's anyone cruises the strip in their shiny automobiles and while they're doing that they're listening to Wolfman Jack on the radio. Music is an integral part of this group, defining its moods, fears, desires and feeding from the same emotions. Curt, a scholarship winner, is filled with doubt regarding his future. Everything that he's ever done has been aimed at college, yet now the moment is upon him Curt wonders if instead he should take time off. Symbolic of this uncertainty is a blonde in a white T-bird; elusive and enchanting she always slips away from Curt when he nears. In contrast, Steve is (if a...

Cyprus - History Of The Conflict :: European Europe History

Cyprus - History Of The Conflict Cyprus, an island in the Eastern Mediterranean, at the cross-roads of three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - has one of the oldest histories of the world, dating back 9000 years. Its strategic position, its wealth in forests and mineral deposits, as well as its skilled craftsmen, made it the prized possession of the powers of the day. Cultural influences came from all directions - all major regional civilisations left their mark on the island, contributing to the development of a very rich and diverse cultural heritage. ANCIENT TIMESThe Stone Age The first signs of human life on the island date back to c. 8500 BC during the Palaeolithic period. Evidence of human activity was found in cave dwellings near Liopetri, though it is not known whether they were just hunting parties passing through or permanent settlers. The first undisputed settlements are believed to have been established towards the end of the 8th millennium BC. Vestiges of such early communities are found all over the island, such as at Khirokitia, Kalavasos-Tenta, Apostolos Andreas-Kastros, Phrenaros, Petra tou Limniti. Neolithic Cypriots built circular houses with small undressed stones for the lower structures and sun-dried mudbricks and clay for the middle and superstructure. The Khirokitia neolithic settlement in Larnaca district stands out as a striking example of prehistoric architecture. The Bronze/ Copper Age Large copper deposits brought fame and wealth to the island and may have even given it its name. It has been documented that during the bronze age Cyprus had intense commercial relations with the main commercial and cultural centres of that time. During this period metallurgy and pottery flourished while close relations developed, particularly with Crete, which are also expressed in the Cypro-Minoan script which appeared in Cyprus around 1500 BC. Of special significance for the future of Cyprus was its colonisation around 1200 BC by Mycenaean and Achaean Greeks, a migration process that lasted for more than a century. They brought with them to the island the Hellenic language, culture and religion. Legend has it that the first Hellenes who settled in Cyprus were heroes of the Trojan war. The arrival of the Achaeans greatly influenced town planning, architecture, and pottery. Since then Cyprus has remained predominantly Greek in culture, language and population despite influences resulting from successive occupations. Iron Age More and more people from the Greek world came to live in Cyprus.

Thomas Jefferson Essays -- essays research papers

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 on his family’s plantation in Shadwell, Virginia. The third of six children his parents raised him modestly and his father schooled him to be a gentleman. The young Jefferson suffered an emotional shock, when at the age of 14 his father Peter Jefferson died. The young Jefferson was the first male of the family and so he received the bulk of his father’s assets, leaving him with a sizable fortune. He received his early education along with his sisters and cousins near the family farm, and later was sent away to be tutored by a professional teacher in foreign languages and more advanced sciences and math. Beginning in 1760 Jefferson began attending the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While there he began studying such enlightenment thinkers as Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke. His admiration for these men became even greater as he began to make his way in life. Once he finished his college education Jefferson decided he wanted to pursue a career in law. To achieve this he began studying for the bar exam under a practicing lawyer George Wythe. After completeing his studies he began establishing a law practice out of his home in Shadwell. Then in 1768 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses where from the very start he made his presence known. If first proposal to the body was to establish procedures for the emancipation of slaves, an idea quickly shot down. He remained a member of the house until its dissolution in 1774 by the colony’s British Governor Dunmore. The same year plans were made to hold a continental congress of all the colonies. In preperation for this meeting Jefferson wrote an essay called A Summary of the Rights of British Americans, in which he voiced his thoughts on the rights of men. Due to illness he was unable to attend this meeting, but its widespread publishing lead to his nomination to the second Continental congress. During the 1776 meeting of the second Continental Congress Jefferson wrote one of the most famous documents in American history, the Declaration of Independence. This document would become the basis for the writing of the Articles of Conferderation and eventually the United States Constitution. Another document written by Jefferson that would become an integral part of the federal Constitution would be ... ...umed the office of vice-president. Jefferson’s first act as president was to tell Secretary of State James Madison to withhold the midnight appointment of William Marbury to the office of Justice of the Peace of the District of Columbia. Marbury sued for the appointment President Adams had given him and Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in his favor. The case Marbury vs. Madison set the precedent of the courts right to judicial review of the other branches of government. Jefferson went against his belief in strict Constitutional interpretation several times during office as president, the first time was when he authorized the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Though the power to purchase the land was not given to him as president in the Constitution he went ahead with it because he felt that it was in the best interest of the nation. He went against his beliefs two other times when he went along with the 1804 impeachments of Federal district judge John Pickering and Supreme court judge Samuel Chase. The constitution states that â€Å"treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors† must be committed to warrant this, but both men were impeached by the Senate due to erratic behavior.

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Nine

â€Å"†¦ And so, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the class of '92!† Bonnie threw her cap into the air along with everyone else. We made it, she thought. Whatever happens tonight, Matt and Meredith and I made it to graduation. There had been times this last school year when she had seriously doubted they would. Considering Sue's death, Bonnie had expected the graduation ceremony to be listless or grim. Instead, there was a sort of frenzied excitement about it. As if everyone was celebrating being alive-before it was too late. It turned into rowdiness as parents surged forward and the senior class of Robert E. Lee fragmented in all directions, whooping and acting up. Bonnie retrieved her cap and then looked up into her mother's camera lens. Act normal, that's what's important, she told herself. She caught a glimpse of Elena's aunt Judith and Robert Maxwell, the man Aunt Judith had recently married, standing on the sidelines. Robert was holding Elena's little sister, Margaret, by the hand. When they saw her, they smiled bravely, but she felt uncomfortable when they came her way. â€Å"Oh, Miss Gilbert-I mean, Mrs. Maxwell-you shouldn't have,† she said as Aunt Judith handed her a small bouquet of pink roses. Aunt Judith smiled through the tears in her eyes. â€Å"This would have been a very special day for Elena,† she said. â€Å"I want it to be special for you and Meredith, too.† â€Å"Oh, Aunt Judith.† Impulsively, Bonnie threw her arms around the older woman. â€Å"I'm so sorry,† she whispered. â€Å"You know how much.† â€Å"We all miss her,† Aunt Judith said. Then she pulled back and smiled again and the three of them left. Bonnie turned from looking at them with a lump in her throat to look at the madly celebrating crowd. There was Ray Hernandez, the boy she'd gone to Homecoming with, inviting everybody to a party at his house that night. There was Tyler's friend Dick Carter, making a fool of himself as usual. Tyler was smiling brazenly as his father took picture after picture. Matt was listening, with an unimpressed look, to some football recruiter from James Mason University. Meredith was standing nearby, holding a bouquet of red roses and looking pensive. Vickie wasn't there. Her parents had kept her home, saying she was in no state to go out. Caroline wasn't there either. She was staying in the apartment in Heron. Her mother had told Bonnie's mother she had the flu, but Bonnie knew the truth. Caroline was scared. And maybe she's right, Bonnie thought, moving toward Meredith. Caroline may be the only one of us to make it through next week. Look normal, act normal. She reached Meredith's group. Meredith was wrapping the red-and-black tassel from her cap around the bouquet, twisting it between elegant, nervous fingers. â€Å"Be careful with that; you'll ruin it,† she said aloud. Meredith's look of thoughtful melancholy didn't change. She went on staring at the tassel, kinking it up. â€Å"It doesn't seem fair,† she said, â€Å"that we should get these and Elena shouldn't. It's wrong.† â€Å"I know; it's awful,† Bonnie said. But she kept her tone light. â€Å"I wish there was something we could do about it, but we can't.† â€Å"It's all wrong,† Meredith went on, as if she hadn't heard. â€Å"Here we are out in the sunlight, graduating, and there she is under that-stone.† â€Å"I know, I know,† Bonnie said in a soothing tone. â€Å"Meredith, you're getting yourself all upset. Why don't you try to think about something else? Look, after you go out to dinner with your parents, do you want to go to Raymond's party? Even if we're not invited, we can crash it.† â€Å"No!† Meredith said with startling vehemence. â€Å"I don't want to go to any party. How can you even think of that, Bonnie? How can you be so shallow?† â€Å"Well, we've got to do something †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm going up to the cemetery after dinner. I'm going to put this on Elena's grave. She's the one who deserves it.† Meredith's knuckles were white as she shook the tassel in her hand. â€Å"Meredith, don't be an idiot. You can't go up there, especially at night. That's crazy. Matt would say the same thing.† â€Å"Well, I'm not asking Matt. I'm not asking anybody. I'm going by myself.† â€Å"You can't. God, Meredith, I always thought you had some brains-â€Å" â€Å"And I always thought you had some sensitivity. But obviously you don't even want to think about Elena. Or is it just because you want her old boyfriend for yourself?† Bonnie slapped her. It was a good hard slap, with plenty of energy behind it. Meredith drew in a sharp breath, one hand to her reddening cheek. Everyone around them was staring. â€Å"That's it for you, Bonnie McCullough,† Meredith said after a moment, in a voice of deadly quiet. â€Å"I don't ever want to speak to you again.† She turned on her heel and walked away: â€Å"Never would be too soon for me!† Bonnie shouted at her retreating back. Eyes were hastily averted as Bonnie looked around her. But there was no question that she and Meredith had been the center of attention for several minutes past. Bonnie bit the inside of her cheek to keep a straight face and walked over to Matt, who had lost the recruiter. â€Å"Good.† â€Å"Do you think the slap was too much? We didn't really plan that; I was just sort of going with the moment. Maybe it was too obvious†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It was fine, just fine.† Matt was looking preoccupied. Not that dull, apathetic, turned-in look of the last few months, but distinctly abstracted. â€Å"What is it? Something wrong with the plan?† Bonnie said. â€Å"No, no. Listen, Bonnie, I've been thinking. You were the one to discover Mr. Tanner's body in the Haunted House last Halloween, right?† Bonnie was startled. She gave an involuntary shiver of distaste. â€Å"Well, I was the first one to know he was dead, really dead, instead of just playing his scene. Why on earth do you want to talk about that now?† â€Å"Because maybe you can answer this question. Could Mr. Tanner have got a knife in Damon?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Well, could he?† â€Å"I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bonnie blinked and frowned. Then she shrugged. â€Å"I suppose so. Sure. It was a Druid sacrifice scene, remember, and the knife we used was a real knife. We talked about using a fake one, but since Mr. Tanner was going to be lying right there beside it, we figured it was safe enough. As a matter of fact†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bonnie's frown deepened. â€Å"I think when I found the body, the knife was in a different place from where we'd set it in the beginning. But then, some kid could have moved it. Matt, why are you asking?† â€Å"Just something Damon said to me,† Matt said, staring off into the distance again. â€Å"I wondered if it could be the truth.† â€Å"Oh.† Bonnie waited for him to say more, but he didn't. â€Å"Well,† she said finally, â€Å"if it's all cleared up, can you come back to Earth, please? And don't you think you should maybe put your arm around me? Just to show you're on my side and there's no chance you're going to show up at Elena's grave tonight with Meredith?† Matt snorted, but the faraway look disappeared from his eyes. For just a brief instant he put his arm around her and squeezed. D..j. vu, Meredith thought as she stood at the gate to the cemetery. The problem was, she couldn't remember exactly which of her previous experiences in the graveyard this night reminded her of. There had been so many. In a way, it had all started here. It had been here that Elena had sworn not to rest until Stefan belonged to her. She'd made Bonnie and Meredith swear to help her, too -in blood. How suitable, Meredith thought now. And it had been here that Tyler had assaulted Elena the night of the Homecoming dance. Stefan had come to the rescue, and that had been the beginning for them. This graveyard had seen a lot. This graveyard had been the beginning, and the end as well. And maybe there would be another end tonight. Meredith started walking. I wish you were here now, Alaric, she thought. I could use your optimism and your savvy about the supernatural-and I wouldn't mind your muscles, either. Elena's headstone was in the new cemetery, of course, where the grass was still tended and the graves marked with wreaths of flowers. The stone was very simple, almost plain looking, with a brief inscription. Meredith bent down and placed her bouquet of roses in front of it. Then, slowly, she added the red-and-black tassel from her cap. In this dim light, both colors looked the same, like dried blood. She knelt and folded her hands quietly. And she waited. All around her the cemetery was still. It seemed to be waiting with her, breath held in anticipation. The rows of white stones stretched on either side of her, shining faintly. Meredith listened for any sound. And then she heard one. Heavy footsteps. With her head down, she stayed quiet, pretending she noticed nothing. The footsteps sounded closer, not even bothering to be stealthy. â€Å"Hi, Meredith.† Meredith looked around quickly. â€Å"Oh-Tyler,† she said. â€Å"You scared me. I thought you were-never mind.† â€Å"Yeah?† Tyler's lips skinned back in an unsettling grin. â€Å"Well, I'm sorry you're disappointed. But it's me, just me and nobody else.† â€Å"What are you doing here, Tyler? No good parties?† â€Å"I could ask you the same question.† Tyler's eyes dropped to the headstone and the tassel and his face darkened. â€Å"But I guess I already know the answer. You're here for her. Elena Gilbert, A Light in Darkness,† he read sarcastically. â€Å"That's right,† Meredith said evenly. † ‘Elena' means light, you know. And she was certainly surrounded by darkness. It almost beat her, but she won in the end.† â€Å"Maybe,† Tyler said, and worked his jaw meditatively, squinting. â€Å"But you know, Meredith, it's a funny thing about darkness. There's always more of it waiting in the wings.† â€Å"Like tonight,† Meredith said, looking up at the sky. It was clear and dotted with faint stars. â€Å"It's very dark tonight, Tyler. But sooner or later the sun will come up.† Just like he showed Elena, Meredith thought. In a way she was enjoying this verbal fencing, but she never lost sight of what she had come here for. Her cold fingers dipped into her jacket pocket and found the tiny sprig of vervain there. â€Å"That's all right, Tyler. I think I'd prefer to stay here.† â€Å"You sure about that? A cemetery's a dangerous place to be alone.† Unquiet spirits, Meredith thought. She looked right at him. â€Å"I know.† He was grinning again, displaying teeth like tombstones. â€Å"Anyway, you can see it from here if you have good eyes. Look that way, toward the old graveyard. Now, do you see something sort of shining red in the middle?† â€Å"No.† There was a pale luminosity over the trees in the east. Meredith kept her eyes on it. â€Å"Aw, come on, Meredith. You're not trying. Once the moon's up you'll see it better.† â€Å"Tyler, I can't waste any more time here. I'm going.† â€Å"No, you're not,† he said. And then, as her fingers tightened on the vervain, encompassing it in her fist, he added in a wheedling voice, â€Å"I mean, you're not going until I tell you the story of that headstone, are you? It's a great story. See, the headstone is made of red marble, the only one of its kind in the whole graveyard. And that ball on top-see it?-that must weigh about a ton. But it moves. It turns whenever a Smallwood is going to die. My grandfather didn't believe that; he put a scratch on it right down the front. He used to come out and check it every month or so. Then one day he came and found the scratch in the rear. The ball had turned completely backward. He did everything he could to turn it around, but he couldn't. It was too heavy. And that night, in bed, he died. They buried him under it.† â€Å"He probably had a heart attack from overexertion,† Meredith said caustically, but her palms were tingling. â€Å"You're funny, aren't you? Always so cool. Always so together. Takes a lot to make you scream, doesn't it?† â€Å"I'm leaving, Tyler. I've had enough.† He let her walk a few paces, then said, â€Å"You screamed that night at Caroline's, though, didn't you?† Meredith turned back. â€Å"How do you know that?† Tyler rolled his eyes. â€Å"Give me credit for a little intelligence, okay? I know a lot, Meredith. For instance, I know what's in your pocket.† Meredith's fingers stilled. â€Å"What do you mean?† Meredith backed away a step. â€Å"You think that's going to help you, don't you? But I'm going to tell you a secret.† Meredith's eyes measured the distance between herself and the path. She kept her face calm, but a violent shaking was beginning inside her. She didn't know if she was going to be able to pull this off. â€Å"You're not going anywhere, babe,† Tyler said, and a large hand clasped Meredith's wrist. It was hot and damp where she could feel it below her jacket cuff. â€Å"You're going to stay right here for your surprise.† His body was hunched now, his head thrust forward, and there was an exultant leer on his lips. â€Å"Let me go, Tyler. You're hurting me!† Panic flashed down all Meredith's nerves at the feel of Tyler's flesh against hers. But the hand only gripped harder, grinding tendon against bone in her wrist. â€Å"This is a secret, baby, that nobody else knows,† Tyler said, pulling her close, his breath hot in her face. â€Å"You came here all decked out against vampires. But I'm not a vampire.† Meredith's heart was pounding. â€Å"Let go!† â€Å"First I want you to look over there. You can see the headstone now,† he said, turning her so that she couldn't help but look. And he was right; she could see it, like a red monument with a shining globe on top. Or-not a globe. That marble ball looked like†¦ it looked like†¦ â€Å"Now look east. What do you see there, Meredith?† Tyler went on, his voice hoarse with excitement. It was the full moon. It had risen while he'd been talking to her, and now it hung above the hills, perfectly round and enormously distended, a huge and swollen red ball. And that was what the headstone looked like. Like a full moon dripping with blood. â€Å"You came here protected against vampires, Meredith,† Tyler said from behind her, even more hoarsely. â€Å"But the Smallwoods aren't vampires at all. We're something else.† And then he growled. No human throat could have made the sound. It wasn't an imitation of an animal; it was real. A vicious guttural snarl that went up and up, snapping Meredith's head around to look at him, to stare in disbelief. What she was seeing was so horrible her mind couldn't accept it†¦ â€Å"I told you it was a surprise. How do you like it?† Tyler said. His voice was thick with saliva, and his red tongue lolled among the rows of long canine teeth. His face wasn't a face anymore. It jutted out grotesquely into a muzzle, and his eyes were yellow, with slitlike pupils. His reddish-sandy hair had grown over his cheeks and down the back of his neck. A pelt. â€Å"You can scream all you want up here and nobody's going to hear you,† he added. Every muscle in Meredith's body was rigid, trying to get away from him. It was a visceral reaction, one she couldn't have helped if she wanted to. His breath was so hot, and it smelled feral, like an animal. The nails he was digging into her wrist were stumpy blackened claws. She didn't have the strength to scream again. â€Å"There's other things besides vampires with a taste for blood,† Tyler said in his new slurping voice. â€Å"And I want to taste yours. But first we're going to have some fun.† Although he still stood on two feet, his body was humped and strangely distorted. Meredith's struggles were feeble as he forced her to the ground. She was a strong girl, but he was far stronger, his muscles bunching under his shirt as he pinned her. â€Å"You've always been too good for me, haven't you? Well, now you're going to find out what you've been missing.† I can't breathe, Meredith thought wildly. His arm was across her throat, blocking her air. Gray waves rolled through her brain. If she passed out now†¦ â€Å"You're going to wish you died as fast as Sue.† Tyler's face floated above her, red as the moon, with that long tongue lolling. His other hand held her arms above her head. â€Å"You ever hear the story of Little Red Riding Hood?† The gray was turning into blackness, speckled with little lights. Like stars, Meredith thought. I'm falling in the stars†¦ â€Å"Tyler, take your hands off her! Let go of her, now!† Matt's voice shouted. Tyler's slavering snarl broke off into a surprised whine. The arm against Meredith's throat released pressure, and air rushed into her lungs. Footsteps were pounding around her. â€Å"I've been waiting a long time to do this, Tyler,† Matt said, jerking the sandy-red head back by the hair. Then Matt's fist smashed into Tyler's newly grown muzzle. Blood spurted from the wet animal nose. The sound Tyler made froze Meredith's heart in her chest. He sprang at Matt, twisting in midair, claws outstretched. Matt fell back under the assault and Meredith, dizzy, tried to push herself up off the ground. She couldn't; all her muscles were trembling uncontrollably. But someone else picked Tyler off Matt as if Tyler weighed no more than a doll. â€Å"Just like old times, Tyler,† Stefan said, setting Tyler on his feet and facing him. Tyler stared a minute, then tried to run. He was fast, dodging with animal agility between the rows of graves. But Stefan was faster and cut him off. Stefan was dragging Tyler back. â€Å"I always knew you were a jerk,† he said, shoving Tyler against a headstone, â€Å"but I didn't know you were this stupid. I'd have thought you would have learned not to jump girls in graveyards, but no. And you had to brag about what you did to Sue, too. That wasn't smart, Tyler.† Meredith looked at them as they faced each other. So different, she thought. Even though they were both creatures of darkness in some way. Stefan was pale, his green eyes blazing with anger and menace, but there was a dignity, almost a purity about him. He was like some stern angel carved in unyielding marble. Tyler just looked like a trapped animal. He was crouched, breathing hard, blood and saliva mingling on his chest. Those yellow eyes glittered with hate and fear, and his fingers worked as if he'd like to claw something. A low sound came out of his throat. â€Å"Don't worry, I'm not going to beat you up this time,† Stefan said. â€Å"Not unless you try to get away. We're all going up to the church to have a little chat. You like to tell stories, Tyler; well, you're going to tell me one now.† Tyler sprang at him, vaulting straight from the ground for Stefan's throat. But Stefan was ready for him. Meredith suspected that both Stefan and Matt enjoyed the next few minutes, working off their accumulated aggressions, but she didn't, so she looked away. In the end, Tyler was trussed up with nylon cord. He could walk, or shuffle at least, and Stefan held the back of his shirt and guided him urgently up the path to the church. Inside, Stefan pushed Tyler onto the ground near the open tomb. â€Å"Now,† he said, â€Å"we are going to talk. And you're going to cooperate, Tyler, or you're going to be very, very sorry.†