In the poem "Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot, what does the word "Shadow" mean in the context? http://www.blight.com/~sparkle/poems/hollow.html

I'll try my hand at answering this question, but I hope that others give it a shot as well.

I re-read the poem at the site that you gave, came up with my own interpretation of the Shadow, and then went looking for outside links only to find someone who answers the question better than I could. The link is given below.

Grover Smith writes:

With every effort to make the potential become actual a "Shadow" interferes. This, whatever its private value, has in the poem no clear conceptual reference. It implies Prufrockian inertia incapable of connecting imagination and reality, a defect of kinesis, in part a volitional weakness and in part an external constraint. Deathlike, it hinders even the attempt at prayer through which the speaker might come into the "Kingdom" of pure actuality beyond. Eliot's threefold grouping of contrasts between prospect and fulfilment comprehends three failures. The oppositions of potentiality and actuality are not the Aristotelian or Thomistic ones; they blur as the enumeration passes from "potency" and "existence" to "essence" and "descent," but each constitutes an antithesis compatible with Aristotelian dialectic. Even "motion," normally actual, can fit into the potential category through its special meaning of "initial impulse," by which it contrasts with "act:" Each of the three groups (by ambiguities) recapitulates the preceding, until by accumulation all three groups combine in the third, just as, according to Aristotle, the soul includes in its highest powers those of the inferior species. Perhaps the first group chiefly connotes sex; the second, sex and creation; the last, sex, creation, and salvation.

This interpretation makes complete sense to me. See, for example, the part of section V that reads:

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow

I understood this (before finding Grover Smith's statement) to mean that something is coming in between the cause and effect, the idea and the realization, the feeling and the reaction.

Before I end, I would like to add that, to me, Eliot (especially in the 1920s, when he wrote "The Hollow Men) frequently deals with death, both literal and cultural. He's not the only famous writer active in the wake of World War One, of course, but he's one of the best to present the war's lingering influence.

What instruction does Pontmercy leave Marius when he dies in Hugo's Les Miserables?

In Victor Hugo's epic Les Miserables Colonel Pontmercy is struck with a brain fever.  But, on the first day, he has enough presence of mind to ask for his son to come.  Having received his message, neither the father-in-law, M.Gillenormand nor Mariius, the son, think to inquire about quick passage to Vernon.  Had they done so, Marius could have reached his father before he died.  However, he did not; the colonel lay dead on the floor with a tear yet alive in his eye as the colonel had exclaimed, "My son did not come," sprang from his bed, and died.  A servant later finds a scrap of paper which she hands to Marius.

For my Son.- The emperor made me a baron upon the battle-fiedl of Waterloo.  Since the Restoration contests this title which I hae bought with my blook, my son will take it and bear it.  I need not say that he will be worthy of it....At this same battle of Waterloo, a serbeant saved my life.  This man's name is Thenardier.  Not long ago, I believe he was keeping a little tavern in a village in the suburbs of Paris, at Chelles or at Monfermeil.  If my  son meets him, he will do Thenardier all the service he can.

The irony to these instructions is that Thernardier came upon Pontmercy as he was plundering what he could on the battlefied.  When he came upon Pontmercy, the miserable and sometimes malevolent Thernardier believed him dead until he attempted to remove Pontmercy's boots.  Then, the wounded man stirred.  So, Thernardier was forced to act as though he were looking for survivors, and Pontmercy misinterpreted his actions.

What happened in the barn between Lennie and Curley's wife?

Well, what eventually happened is that Lennie killed her.  But let's look at what happened leading up to that.

Lennie is in the barn, hanging out with a dead puppy.  Curley's wife comes in and starts talking to him.  They talk about his and George's dream of the farm.  She talks about how she could have been in movies if it weren't for Curley.  She talks about her frustrations and her ambitions.  She criticizes Lennie some for being afraid to do things George tells him not to do.

Then comes the fatal part.  He talks about liking to touch soft things.  She has him touch her hair.  She starts to get mad because he's going to "muss" her hair.  She tries to pull away and he tries to stop her from struggling for fear George will be mad at him.  And he ends up breaking her neck.

Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 and Sonnet 130.

I don't know if this is what you have in mind, but to me, these poems have very smiliar themes.  They are both about how true love does not try to force the loved one to be some certain way.

In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare talks about how love does not seek to alter the person it loves.  It says that love does not really care about what the person looks like -- because that changes over time.

In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare is talking about the imperfections in his love.  He is rejecting the idea that one's love must be perfect (sort of like how people today should reject the idea that women must all look like supermodels).  Instead, he is saying that she is just as lovable as someone else who (people say) is perfect.

So both poems are about true love being happy with what it finds -- not wanting a perfect lover.

Describe the contrast in physical appearance between the two estates at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

Lockwood describes Wuthering Heights at the beginning of the novel. He says it is dark and forbidding, with a grotesque and Gothic atmosphere. The house has been allowed to deteriorate, and Lockwood feels it should belong to someone who hates all of humankind. It seems to have a tumultuous air about it, as if great trouble was a part of the house itself.

Thrushcross Grange is the opposite of Wuthering Heights. Before Heathcliff owns the house, it is a place of civilized, refined people. It seems to exude an air of nobility and high class. Once Heathcliff buys it, he allows the Grange to lapse into disrepair as well.

The atmospheres of both mansions seem to embody the personalities of their inhabitants. Once Heathcliff gained possession of these homes, his tortured angry soul imbued the spirits of them.  

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? In lines 3–8, the speaker continues to think about his comparison. What image does he use to show...

Concerning your question about summer's unpredictability in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, I'll quote the lines for you and put the imagery that answers your question in bold:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,

And every fair from fair sometime declines,...

Rough winds, heat, overcast skies, and fair days that lose their fairness make summer weather unpredictable.  I believe any one of the images answer your question, but if I had to choose just one, I would probably choose "too hot the eye of heaven shines," since it is more concrete than the other images, and specifically refers to summer, as opposed to the wind in May, which could be interpreted as referring to spring.

Incidentally, the only line above that doesn't contain imagery uses metaphor, comparing the length of the season to a rental lease. 

Define SWOT and give an overall description of this approach, differences between the internal and external factors associated with SWOT analysis?

SWOT approach takes its name from initial letters of four factors a firm need to examine, understand and deal for its effective management. These four factors are Strengths, Weaknesse, Opportunities and Threats.

Strenghts and weaknesses are factors that relate to the internal nature of a company, while opportunities and threats concern the nature of external environment faced by the company. These four factors have major impact on the strategic choices available of the company, and proper understanding of these is essential to achieve long term performance of the company.

Strengths of a company refer to the resources and skill available within the company that enable it to perform some of the business tasks better than others. A company needs to identify these strengths and find out ways of making best use of these strengths, including ways of improving in the areas of strengths.

The weaknesses are the opposite of strengths. These refers to the resources and skills that are important for the business but which are not available in the company in adequate measures. A company must find ways of minimising the negative impact of its weaknesses.

The strengths and weaknesses of the company influence the ability of a company to deal effectively with its environment. Examination of this environments in terms of opportunities that are offered by the environment, which can be used by the company for its benefit, and the likely threats faced by the company in future. helps the company identify decide on the future course of action that the company may take in coming times. Usually the opportunities available to a company are much more than a company can handle by itself. Therefor the company mus select the opportunities that it can best use in view of its strengths and weaknesses. Similarly the company mus take decisions on handling the likely threats in environment taking in consideration its strengths and weaknesses.