Describe the challenge faced by John Proctor Essay

Describe a challenge faced by a character in the text. Explain how the character dealt with the challenge.  In ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Millar, many of the characters faced challenges. One character who was faced with challenge was the protagonist John Proctor. He faced the challenge of trying to keep his reputation intact in the face of a judgemental Puritanical community ruled by superstition and religious intolerance. The fact that he had an illicit affair with a young woman named Abigail was a major obstacle to clearing his ‘good name’ along with the fact that his wife Elizabeth lied under oath in court to try to protect him. John Proctor was faced with the decision between life and death to deal with the challenge of trying to clear this ‘good name’ John Proctor, the protagonist, had the major challenge of trying to deal with his adulterous affair with Abigail, the key anatagonist in the play. Abigail envied John’s current wife Elizabeth and she wanted to take her place. When Abigail had the chance to accuse people of being witches, Elizabeth was her first victim. Proctor however had to ruin his good name in order to accuse Abigail of faking her claims. To do this though was a challenge he faced as he was a man with high morals and didn’t want to ruin his name. A further challenge that John Proctor faced was when his wife Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft and had to testify to clear his name. When his wife Elizabeth was arrested after she was accused by Abigail of being a witch, Proctor knew he could have stopped this trial from continuing. He had the option of telling the court that the trial is a sham because he had an affair with Abigail and that she was out for revenge after Elizabeth kicked her out of the Proctor household and also because Proctor firmly rejected her saying â€Å"I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again†. The problem was if Proctor admitted his affair with Abigail, his reputation will be ruined. Eventually he finally admitted his affair saying â€Å"God help me, I lusted† implying that he regrets having an affair, but it was too little too late as the trials were no longer in his hands and was controlled by the court. The reason why it was difficult for John Proctor to clear his name Religious intolerance was rife in the Puritannical town of Salem and the court system was based on Biblical law. and you were either with or against God and like Danforth said â€Å"you are either with or against the courts†, you can only support one side. It is hard for Proctor to keep his reputation clean because of this reason. When he testified against Abigail, he put his reputation at stake. Eventually he is betrayed by Mary Warren and his final words â€Å" it is a whores vengeance† states that the court is based on myths not facts and Abigail is only doing this for revenge in Proctor’s final attempt to turn the courts. In the end, the final challenge that Proctor faced was whether to live or die to clear his name. When he was declared a witch by the religious court, he had the option of either signing a confession admitting to this or going to the gallows. Initially, he signed the confession but then ripped it up when he realised it would ruin his reputation and he felt guilt over the others who had been falsely accused. after his plea â€Å"give me my name, I have given you my soul† is rejected. At this point Hale the witch-hunter feels guilty about his actions and pleads to Elizabeth to make him confess; all she did was say â€Å" he’ll have his goodness now, god forbid I take it from him† stating that it was his choice and she can’t take it from him.  Therefore, through the circumstances that Proctor had, he dealt with the situations with courage and dignity. He managed to redeem himself from his earlier sins and keeping his reputation clean by choosing to hang rather than living in shame and having nothing to live for. In this way Proctor has ended his life full of pride and having his reputation clean.

To what extent are developmental states emerging within Africa and what policies could be adopted to support them?

Introduction This essay is concerned with analysing what role, if any, the model of the ‘developmental state’ can play within Africa. The concept of the â€Å"developmental state† has origins in the fruitful development in Eastern Asia. This research will look to examine the relevance of the existing model to contemporary Ghana. The paper will also look at the extent to which the favourable conditions for growth that existed in East Asia could ever be replicated in Africa (for a brief summary of the contemporary debate see: United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESC), 2013). As a form of introduction to the topic, this study will start with a brief definition of a developmental state according to the literature before moving on to look at what characteristics make up a typical developmental state. A brief analysis will determine the extent to which there is agreement within the literature. From here, the paper will look at the origins of the â€Å"developmental state model† born out of the experiences in East Asia as well as exploring some of the major academic contributions to the developmental state debate. Here, the research will touch upon the relevance of these contributions within the African context. The second section will be the main critical analysis around the extent to which developmental states are emerging within Africa or whether the ‘impossibility theorem’ (Mkanadwire, 2001) continues to hold water. Following that, the paper will examine what policies are needed to support these fledgling developmental states, according to the literature. The third and final chapter will provide case studies from Ghana, examining whether this nation possesses any of the defining features that constitute a developmental state. The aim here is to show, via a practical example, that â€Å"developmental states† are possible in Africa but are also far from similar to East Asian examples. Here, the paper will also offer a critique to show the struggles and developmental threats for Africa as a counter argument that developmental states are emerging within Africa. Starting first with a definition of a developmental state, the study immediately encounter some points of contention. Firstly, as Mbabazi and Taylor (2005) point out, â€Å"the definition of a developmental state does not correspond directly with economic performance.† That is, a country which is performing well economically is not necessary ‘developmental’. Rather, the current accepted definition of a â€Å"developmental state† is one that is ideologically directed towards development, where the state â€Å"seriously attempts to deploy its administrative and political resources to the task of economic development† (Mbabazi and Taylor, 2005: 2). Traditionally. â€Å"developmental states† are associated with locations that have economic development as a leading governmental policy which has the potential to form bodies which can facilitate these policies and targets. To be classed as a developmental state, there must be a governmental ability to â€Å"weave formal and informal networks of collaboration† between civilians and public officials whilst promoting â€Å"macro-economic stability† and maintaining an â€Å"institutional framework that provides law and order, effective administration of justice and peaceful resolution of conflicts, ensures property rights and appropriate infrastructure investments, and advances human development† (Mkandawire, 1999, 2010; UNESC, 2013; 2). Others have added to the definition of a developmental state in that it must be willing to engage itself directly with the direction and pace of economic development using ‘market conforming’ mechanisms to allocate economic resources, rather than simply falling back on a uncoordinated, laissez-faire attitudes to market forces (Johnson, 1982: 319-20; Mbabazi and Taylor, 2005: 4; Meyns and Musamba, 2010 :13, UNESC, 2013: 2). Now that a clear definition of what a developmental state is, along with a taste of what key theoretical features need to be present has been established, this paper will take a step back to look at the origins of the developmental state in terms of East Asian experiences. Here, the study will see some of the main contributions made to the literature from leading scholars, which will shed some light on what are held to be the key theoretical features of developmental states. This will then be used as an entry point into the discussion about to what extent these theoretical features are feasible, and how it might be applied within the context of this research. As touched upon above, much of the contemporary discussion about developmental states has its roots in research conducted on the experiences faced by the East Asian tigers (for the original research see: Amsden, 1989; Haggard, 1990; Johnson, 1982). There seems to be a general consensus within the academic literate as to the key features that facilitate the Asian tigers to superior levels of growth and these are the following: Embedded autonomy of state bureaucracy: Put forward by Peter Evans (1989, 1995), he argued that strong state institutions have a significant influence towards the promotion of development in the Tiger economies because they avoided being ‘captured’ by vested interests. The East Asian states have professional bureaucracies, in which the employees had real opportunities for advancement so they avoided the temptation to engage in extra rent-seeking (income providing) activities. Simultaneously, Evans noted that the state administration remained attached to or embedded in society so that it did not become isolated and self-serving, so that it could continually redefine its policy goals and aims. Market conforming intervention Charlmers Johnson (1982), who studied Japan’s highly successful post-war recovery, found similar results to Evans. He notes that â€Å"small, inexpensive, professional and efficient state bureaucracies or pilot bureaucratic agencies†, like the Japanese Ministry for International Trade and Industry (MITI), which had authority over economic policy, allowed those states to promote civic interests whilst maintaining a high level of prestige and legitimacy (Johnson, 1982: 49). Most importantly for Johnson, however, was the fact that the government of Japan provided national administrators with the tools and authority to intervene directly in the economy under the condition that all work would stick to neo-liberal market principles (Johnson 1982: 315-316). Political primacy According to Adrian Leftwich; â€Å"politics is the dominant variable which determines the concept of the developmental state as well as the developmental success or failure in all human societies† (Meynes and Musamba, 2005:16). Leftwich (2000: 4) argues that developmental states possess the following six factors during their emergence: â€Å"The presence of development-oriented political elite who possess high levels of commitment and will to attain economic growth.† â€Å"A powerful, professional, highly competent, insulated and career-based bureaucracy† â€Å"Civil society is relatively weak and disorganised† â€Å"A high capacity for the effective economic management of both domestic and private economic interests† â€Å"An uneasy mix of repression and non-adherence to human rights† â€Å"Performance-based legitimacy of the governing political elite, and which takes precedence over procedural legitimacy† (Leftwich, 2000:174). It seems that Leftwich differs in his arguments from Evans, in that Leftwich observes an imbalance. Yet it can be seen that there exists a significant state body which has a powerful bureaucracy which can effectively take care of the interest of the private economic. Then, this leads to a frail society which has no way of influencing the ruling elite. Alternatives to neo-liberal economics: Conceptually speaking, the developmental state is often located in-between a â€Å"free market capitalist economic system† and a centrally-planned economic system â€Å"conjoining private ownership with state guidance† (Woo-Cumings 1999: 2). This means it is neither purely capitalist nor totally socialist. With regards to the relationship between the developmental state and â€Å"interventionism† is concerned, â€Å"the developmental state is an embodiment of a normative or moral ambition to use the interventionist power of the state to guide investment in a way that promotes a certain solidaristic vision of national economy† (Loriaux 1999: 24). Ha-Joon Chang, demonstrates that â€Å"economic development requires a state which can create and regulate the economic and political relationships that can support sustained industrialisation – or in short, a developmental state† (Chang, 1999:183). Therefore, the creation of the developmental state concept leads to the formation of a interventionist state. Are developmental states emerging in Africa Several African states have endured a surge in development across the independence years, that started from the early 1960s onwards (Woo?Cumings 1999: 19?20). However, subsequently, governance deteriorated and efforts to spread education stalled: â€Å"National armies discredited themselves through bloody coups and internal divisions along ethnic lines† (Woo?Cumings 1999: 19?20). Since those dark times, there has been increasing evidence to suggest that developmental states are now emerging in sub-Saharan Africa. However, existing literature expresses concerns with regards to if this the correct route for the African countries. For example, Woo-Cumings warns us that the developmental state can be â€Å"good in relation to its (economic) effectiveness but it can also be a grim model in terms of human rights and lack of democracy† (Woo-Cumings 1999: 19?20). After initial developmental optimism, by the 1990s, things had changed; â€Å"the African state had become the most demonised social institution in Africa, vilified for its weaknesses, its over-extension, its interference with the smooth functioning of markets, its repressive character, its dependence on foreign powers, its ubiquity, its absence† (Mkadawire, 2001: 293). The legacy this has left behind is an academic thesis that posits that the developmental state concept is â€Å"not feasible under prevalent conditions in Africa known as the impossibility theorem† (Mkadawire, 2001: 293). Lewis and Stein (1997) for example, when investigating the possibility of translating the Asian model and replicating it in the African context argue that â€Å"while greater political insulation of economic policy makers could reasonably be achieved in African countries, the extensive coordinated economic interventions of the East Asian states are far beyond the administrative capabilities of most African governments†. Scepticism has been widespread within the literature regarding the prospects for the formation of viable developmental states, owing mostly to the poor record of state-led development efforts during the immediate post-independence era of African governance. State intervention in the economy, according to Ake, became a way for the governing elite to accumulate wealth for themselves (Ake, 1996). Others have put forward that the African continent lacks â€Å"adequate political superstructure and the leadership necessary for implementing policy of a developmental nature† (Birdsall, 2007: 580). The ‘impossibility theorem’ is a collection of arguments that posits that the developmental state concept in Africa is not possible, and, in particular, demonstrates scepticism towards the East Asian development experiences and if these could act as a model for Africa (Mkandawire 2001) . Those who advance the ‘impossibility theorem’ also argue that this model is incompatible with globalization. They argue that the current â€Å"international regulatory architecture and the dominance of the neo-liberal paradigm† – supported by the World Bank, the IMF and the Washington Consensus – have created an environment that is largely â€Å"inhospitable for the viability of the developmental state approach† (Beeson 2006: 34-39). Yet, supporters of the emergence of African developmental states argue that â€Å"the poor performance and lack of potential for African countries to achieve rapid state-led development is due to a biased and unfair comparison of the achievements of the East Asian models† (Mkandawire, 2001, Chang, 2006, UNCTAD, 2007). The fact is, developmental states are emerging in Africa and there evidence for them to promote a developmental-state approach. It is now accepted that â€Å"market-based economies† need a successful state to function and develop. African nations are beginning to satisfy the fundamental needs of their people (Manzavinos, 2004). This journey of rediscovering the â€Å"role† of the state has been simultaneous with the recognition of that of economic institutions. Douglass North published a book in 1990 called, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, which argues against the idea that â€Å"institutions simply come about as a by-product of economic growth, and put forward that improvements in institutions are essential preconditions and determinants of growth† (Manzavinos, 2004). The final part of this paper now turns to the Ghana case-study in order to find out what policies could support the growth of African developmental states. Ghana was the initial nation in Africa to gain independence and has since undergone a stable transition since then. The Nkrumah were soon established as the popular legitimacy of the state, Ghana has since managed to escape the violence that has occurred in other Sub-Sahara states. As within all academic debates there are two sides to the argument: those that put forward that Ghana is a model of a developmental state and those who argue the contrary. Put simply, Ghana has failed to capture successful long-term development but that does not necessary mean it is not a developmental state. Ghana’s growth could be seen as a â€Å"mirage† rather than a â€Å"miracle† as some key structural changes as highlighted in the introduction of this paper have not occurred. However, Dzorgbo (2001: 5) observes that â€Å"it has confronted the challenge of increasing dependence on foreign aid, an exponential external debt, high rates of unemployment and poverty, and de-industrialization resultant from the elimination of protective measures†. In terms of what policies Ghana can implement to support itself as a developmental state; it could start with intervening with its fiscal and monetary policy as done by the East Asian tigers during their developmental phase. The main aim of this would be to reduce government spending; â€Å"The CCP adopted an exaggerated, bloated vision of development of which the crucial feature was the number of physical structures and general infrastructure that could be constructed rather than assessing the actual social and material needs of the people† (Osei, 1999: 6). This would mean that Ghana should instead rely on state monetary policy to restore macroeconomic balance and cease to continue along the path of government spending which is dependent on bank credit. This creates an environment which is â€Å"inhospitable to foreign and private investment because excess lending and inflation results in low (even negative) interest rates that further discourage future investment† (Os ei, 1999: 6). This paper puts forward that the policy that Ghana should adopt is one of state intervention in its monetary policy instead of a laissez-faire attitude to economics. However, in the case of Ghana it is easy to see why the over extension of the state could become a problem given that the Divestiture Implementation Committee, established in 1990 under the patronage of the IMF, â€Å"gradually auctioned off state enterprises to the highest bidder† (Rothchild, 1991; 206). As such, Ghana has an uncomfortable history of state interference within the economy. Once hailed as the frontier of Africa and in many ways similar to the Asian tigers, Ghana still must endure significant obstacles as such â€Å"formulas for success† set by the IMF and the Washington Consensus have continually failed to bring about change. Taking into account the dynamic and unpredictable periods of economic policy formation we must ask ourselves if it even possible to generalize a developmental theory for Ghana or even Africa as a wholeAke strongly disagrees; â€Å"because development paradigms largely ignore the specificity and historicity of African countries, it puts them in a position in which everything is relevant to them and nothing is uniquely significant for understanding them† (Dzorgbo, 2001:13). In conclusion, it can be seen that drawing on the experience of the East Asian tiger’s economies cannot be effectively applied to Africa as the contexts too different. As we have seen, developmental theory can be utterly misleading and inappropriate for Africa even if there is evidence to suggest that some nations of Africa ‘fit’ the developmental state model. References: Ake, Claude (1996). Democracy and Development in Africa. Washington, D.C. The Brookings Institution. Amsden, A. (1989). Asia’s Next Giant. South Korea and Late Industrialization. New York: Oxford University Press. Beeson, Mark (2006). Politics and Markets in East Asia. Is the Developmental State Compatable with GlobalisationIn, R. Stubbs., and G. R. D. Underhill (eds.), political Economy and the Changing Global order, 3rd edition, Ontorio: Oxford University Press Birdsall, Nancy (2007). Do no Harm. Aid, Weak Institutions and the Missing Middle in Africa. Development Policy Review, 25(5), 575-598. Chang, Ha-Joon (2006). The East Asian Development Experience. The Miracle, the Crisis and the Future, London: Zed Books. Dzorgbo, D. (2001). Ghana in Search of Development: The Challenge of Governance, Economic Management, and Institution Building. Evans, Peter B. (1989). Predatory, Developmental and Other State?Apparatuses. A Comparative Political Economy Perspective on the Third World State. Sociological Forum, 4 (4), 561?587. Evans, P. (1995). Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Haggard, Stephan (1990). Pathways from the Periphery. The Politics of Growth in Newly Industrialising Countries. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Lewis, P. and Stein, H. (1997). Shifting fortunes: the political economy of financial liberalisation in Nigeria. World Development, vol. 25, no. 1, 5–22. Loriaux, M et al (1999). Capital Ungoverned: Liberalizing Finance in Interventionist States, (Ithaca: Cornell), pp 57-91 Mantzavinos, C., North, D. C., & Shariq, S. (2004). Learning, institutions, and economic performance. Perspectives on politics, 2(01), 75-84. Mbabazi, P., & Taylor, I. (2005). Botswana and Uganda as developmental States. The Potentiality of Developmental States’ in Africa: Botswana and Uganda Compared, pp. 1-15. Meyns, P. and Musamba, C. (2010 [eds]). The Developmental State in Africa: Problems and Prospects. Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg?Essen INEF-Report, 101/2010). Mkandawire, T (2001). Thinking about developmental states in Africa. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 25 (3), 289-13. Osei, A. (1999). Ghana: Recurrence and Change in a Post-Independence African State. Peter Lang Publishing Rothchild, D. (1991). Ghana: The Political Economy of Recovery. Lynne Rienner Publishers United Nations Economic and Social Council (2013). ‘The Developmental State: What Option for AfricaAn Issues Paper’ in Economic Commission for Africa Governance and Public Administration Division Third Meeting of the Committee on Governance and Popular Participation (CGPP-III). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia , 20-21 February 2013 . UNCTAD (2007). Economic Development in Africa. Reclaiming Policy Space: Domestic resource mobilization and developmental states. Geneva: UNTAD. Woo?Cumings, Meredith (ed.) (1999). The Developmental State. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Practical book review Essay

Petersen breaks down the book in five parts . He starts off with part one the value of of communication balancing: listing awhile , talk until the other person stops hearing , Listen until the person calms enough to hear again. He furthers this in a another chapter. He then moves on to the Flat-brain theory . He uses diagrams to explain the different levels of Stomach functions which is where the our emotions are located . This area is were we experience our inner nudges . He also explains how the heart functions , the heart functions as a filter it gives and receives concerns , suggestions, and support. The next function is the head. The functions of the head is thinking, planning , remembering. The next couple of chapters begin to talk about he goes into a deeper understanding of the the flat brain theory until he reaches the flat- brain syndrome where he talks about how our brains function better in a short football shape. However when our brains are squished it creates a serious defect in our head fiction.he continues to talk about this concept . Part two starts off with the talker listener process taking turns talking and listening. This can and will determine the role of talker or listener. The talker-listener card was introduced and we were provided a actual card to put to use in our personal time. The purpose of this card is to create an atmosphere and role of each persons involved. The card provides instructions on when to talk and when to listen this the opportunity of the talker to without being interrupted and the listener to be attentive to what the talker is talking about. Chapters 8 through 15 go deeper in depth of the talker- listener card and its many functions from the talker prescriptive and the listener prescriptive. Part Three Petersen highlights the six communication traps, 1. Ritual listening, 2.Perry Masons( which made me chuckle ) 3. Why? 4. Not?5. I understand, he goes in depth to help the reader understand the difference between the five communications traps. He also talks about when trying new things and some of the thoughts that come long with that . When trying new skills you always have negative reactions such as: To much repetition grates, new skills often sound fake, friends and family co-worker get rattled by change. He further part three by discussing basic listening technique . He uses technique such as : para-feeling ( putting the talker’s feelings into your words), decoding . He futhers the conversation of why we don’t listen better in part five Where you can use TLC( talker-listener card) in group settings . The TLC card can help aide through difficult discussion as well help moderate a two person conversation . In conclusion in part five he states â€Å" how if you go beyond skill to increase empathy, genuineness and warmth you’ll tap into reservoir of healthy humanness that’ll out wheels on your technique( Pg 210). RESPOND! I remember growing up and my mother would ask me â€Å" how are you? what are thinking about?† I would have such a difficult time in expressing my feelings. I felt like when no one really cared about me , and my thoughts. In chapter eleven Petersen talks about the first talker goal: sharing your feelings. I immediately become more in tune with what I was reading. I recently had an encounter with a very close friend and she made the statement: Kia you listen to everyone else’s problems but you never seem to open as easy as we do to you. That’s unfair to us as friends. I thought to myself I trust them as friends but sometimes its easier for me to keep my thoughts to my self . However from reading this chapter I understand that it hinders my communication not only with my friends but with others . It puts a stumbling block on me to be open and receptive. So I went back to that friend and we went to dinner and I used skittles as props; we sat down and for every skittle in my hand I had to share my feelings or thoughts on questions she had or asked. I can honestly say that just by having this little prop it open the door and I was able to release so much that I was holding back from her. I now see the difference of talking and listening she listened attentively and this allowed me to be honest and not feel judged by her or her actions. REFLECT! Honestly the thought that popped in my head as I was reading this book was our relationship with Christ. I have said this before but it seems to be more imperative . We often talk to Christ and we tell Him all the troubles of our lives and how we need this or we need that.However we often neglect the fact that Christ has to something to say to us. I started to reflect on the stories of Jonah , Moses. They did not want to recognize the many clues that was present to them throughout their walk so it took spectacular things to happen to them before they got the message. Isn’t like God to speak to us In the loudest moments of our lives. In those times of anger and frustration and we miss the mark because we are so loud internally. He took Jonah inside of the fishes belly in order to get the message to him . It took a burning bush to get Moses attention and it took me reading this book ; to recognize that internally I’m so loud that I need to learn how to calm myself down and others to experience me. Could it be that God has to extreme measures sometimes for me to stop and recognize Him? I often am on the go and pray on the go but I have recognize that in the moments when I feel like giving up or fighting or screaming He speaks quietly and calms my mind , soul, and spirit. He speaks often I guess the question is how much are we really listening ?Silence keeps you bound , talking gets you free, listening brings understanding! ACT! Some of the techniques that I plan on using are the Talker- Listener card . I plan using this in my personal life ,when I have arguments and as well as in just simple conversations when trying to come to an agreement. I believe that this strategy will be helpful in my prayer time . The concept of talking and listening and really allowing God to minster to me as I minster to Him. Another technique I will use and will keep visuals of is the balancing scale of the emotions, heart, judgement or thoughts. Remembering the scale will help balance my conversations in the future especially when it comes to a misunderstanding. I really thank Petersen because I am a visual learner and the pictures put what he was saying in perceptive for me. Another technique that is really important to is remembering the pointing finger. In many conversations I often use my hands to communicate how I’m feeling . After reading this section of the book I understand how my hands and fingers can seem more offensive then helping . I will remember this and will try to not use my hands as much in explaining my feelings. I plan incorporating the talker- listener card in my youth groups and after school programs. Teaching our youth to the stages of communication now . View as multi-pages

Unwritten Laws of Engineering and Laws of Personality Assignment - 5

Unwritten Laws of Engineering and Laws of Personality - Assignment Example Skakoon asserts that these laws are like the norms of a society, which cannot be violated through impunity on a frequent basis.There are three major dimensions of unwritten laws of engineering that need to be taken into consideration. The first essence of unwritten engineering law that needs to be given consideration by engineers is: Lessons that need to be learned by beginners in the engineering field; these lessons cover three major issues, which are:   - Issues related to their work: Beginners in the engineering field are required to give their first duty, no matter how minor they may appear, a high sense of commitments and professionalism.   - Issues ascribed to their supervisors: According to Skakoon 2001, engineering supervisors have the right to know the level of progress of activities in their departments. In this regard, beginners in the engineering field are required to ensure that their supervisors are kept up-to-date on issues affecting their duties (10).   - An interpersonal relationship between them and their colleagues as well as their supervisors: In addition, Skakoon asserts that beginners in the engineering field should endure that they maintain a good inter-personal relationship between their colleagues and other stakeholders. This can be achieved through proper communication techniques and keeping an information update.Another dimension of unwritten laws of engineering is the chiefly relationship with engineering managers. The article explicates three techniques that can be applied to achieve this, they include:  Ã‚   - Technique and Individual Behavior: According to Skakoon 2001, the need to know about what is going on by a manager in an engineering department is another unwritten law of engineering. This can be achieved through collaborations and facilitating a positive relationship between the manager and their subordinate staff (23).   - What managers owe their employees: Skakoon notes that engineering managers are the face of their organizations. In this regard, they are required to facilitate a positive representation of their subordinate staff.

Messoud Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Messoud - Assignment Example There were several research papers written in this regard. One of the significant literatures in this case was that of Beverley R. Lord, titled as â€Å"Strategic Management Accounting: The Emperor’s New Clothes?† The title itself is a strong evidence of what the literature is actually aiming at. Inclusively, Beverley R. Lord in her literature intended to evaluate the theoretical aspect of the concept and compare its effectiveness with few real life examples. This was due to the fact that the author realised that despite numerous journals, essays and literatures based on the concept there were only a handful of examples related to the implication of the concept. Strategic Management Accounting with its given attributes, uniting the theory of management accounting with strategic planning makes it a complex and debatable concept. Thereby, gathering all the features of the concept and relating it with its implication in a single literature is indeed difficult. However, in the literature, the author, Beverley R. Lord has tried to bring all these aspects together (Lord, 1996). Advantages and limitations of any paper, especially research paper highly depends on the personal knowledge and belief of the author(s). In this context, the author, Beverley R. Lord is a professional acquiring the position of the Department Head of Accounting and Information Systems in the University of Canterbury. Her research interests are concentrated on the issues related to fresh management accounting approaches, the accounting techniques used in different organisations along with the history and education of the accounting concept. Her few recent publications include, ‘Assessing the Implementation of Institutional Change in Local Government: Christchurch City Council and the Long Term Community Council Plan’, ‘Management accounting change in a Chinese state-owned enterprise: an

What is CPD and how is this relevant to the PG student Essay

What is CPD and how is this relevant to the PG student - Essay Example The paper tells that from a business discipline perspective, Boud & Hager define CPD as ‘a variety of learning undertakings through which business professionals uphold and progress throughout their profession to guarantee that they maintain their ability to trade effectively, safely, and legally within their developing scope of practice’. In short, CPD is the process through which professionals continue to learn and develop continuously in their careers to keep their knowledge and skills up to date and are able to trade effectively, safely, and legally. Organizational modality mostly involves the entire organization. Through team CPD, HR managers can ensure that workers complete their CPD hours. There are numerous advantages to implementing CPD as a team. However, there are disadvantages to CPD as well. In organizational CPD practices, there is a massive emphasis on flexibility of provisions and a strong need for transparency and justification in making a judgment on pro vision and performance. From the perspective of an individual professional, the question that needs to be addressed is: what subjects CPD should address. The literature suggests: 1) circumstance and context, 2) knowledge, 3) practices and skills, 4) human factors, 5) Professional values and identities, 6) decision-making, 7) approaches to identifying learning needs, 8) performance and realization. CPD is a process meant to help professionals manage their individual development on an ongoing basis. It is mainly purposed to help professionals, reflect and review what they learn. It is not a tick-box manuscript documenting individual preliminary training. It goes beyond that. Training and development are often used interchangeably, although there is a distinction.

Battle of Little Bighorn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Battle of Little Bighorn - Essay Example oldiers lost during the battle to the Lakota Indians their defeat ironically was a win as it strengthened America’s nation building (Calloway, 2012). The changing images show who was either the victim or the victor of the â€Å"battle of the little bighorn† between the Lakota Indians and the American Soldiers at different times. Through the interpretations; the image, â€Å"Custer’s Last Stand† the Indians are depicted as victors, the image of â€Å"they died with their boots on† depicts the American Soldiers as the victims. On the other hand, in â€Å"little big man†, it can be interpreted that the victors are Clusters and the American soldiers; in the image â€Å"Lakotas Fighting Custer’s Command†, the Indians are the victors while in the image of â€Å"Custer’s Dead Cavalry† depicts how the American Soldiers were defeated (Calloway, 2012). The Americans and the Indians have portrayed the battle in different forms. The American images depict the Americans as the victors while the Lakota images depict the Indians as the Victors. The American images show General Cluster as the last man standing this is a clear indication that the Americans won the battle. However, the Lakota images depict the Indians as the victors, and they show many dead soldiers (Calloway,

International Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

International Finance - Essay Example However, there is no guarantee that it will limit the risks of foreign currency exchange. Therefore, losses or gains in the exchange of currency will impact on cash flows through reduced growth in global operations. Exchange rate movements as it causes changes in the value of the local currency of revenues subject to foreign currency. However, if parity in purchasing power is desecrated, risks of exchange rates will affect both multinational firms and other firm with no direct link to international trade activities. This is because some local firms which import capital goods encounter asset pricings affected by exposure to exchange rates in the global capital market (Sinclair, 2005). In that case, cost of goods and services will be subject to original cost of capital and this will have an impact on the cash flows. Firms involved with international trade may overlook the country’s imports and exports in a foreign currency. As a result, this will change the value in assesment to domestic currency’s value (Dechow et al, 1999). This then will affect the pricing of domestic goods and services rendering it subject to international market prices dertemination. Anticipated cash flows of firms can be affected by exchange rates movements as it leads to shift in stock prices and returns. In the case of domestic firms, change in value of currency has an impact on the firms ability to import capital goods. Rise in the value of currency will put the domestic firms at a better position to acquire inputs from international market (Beenhakker, 2001). However, low value of currency makes it difficult to acqure capital goods from foreign countries. In that case, the cash flows to the firms will be subject to the inputs of the firm. Adequate invest of inputs will amount to increased cash flows while decreased cash flow results from low inputs. Acquisition of modern technology is determined by the rate of cash flows of firms. However, exposure exchange rates movements

Influence of Corruption in Italian. Italian Soccer League Research Paper

Influence of Corruption in Italian. Italian Soccer League - Research Paper Example According to FIFA; which is the World Football regulation body, match fixing is an offense. In Seriea A, match fixing alongside other cases such as bribing of referees so as to influence a match in a way that benefits some other team have been common. This paper investigates how such actions are likely or have been able to influence the Italian Soccer league. Corruption and the Italian Soccer League In the recent past, Italy has had to deal with a series of match fixing scandals. Several people have been arrested, several club teams both at upper and lower levels have been held for impropriety with several other team officials and coaches being put under serious investigations. In 2006, Juventus suffered a heavy blow after it was temporarily demoted to Serie B and stripped of two Serie A titles, due to a match fixing scandal. It is important to understand how match-fixing scandal often takes place. One, it involves a pre-determined way of playing in a way that benefits some team (Hum phreys and Howard, 2008). ... However, one fact needs to be established that corruption has often affected the performance of not only selected clubs but also the Soccer League in general (Deloitte, and Touche, 2003). It has been established that corruption in the Italian soccer league in the Italian Soccer league is not just a current affair. There is a long history of corruption associated problems that has faced the league since its inception. For instance, in 1925 there was a national strike of referees following the suspicion that there was a ploy to mistreat and blacklist some members of the referees’ association (AIA)? It is believed that certain clubs were behind this supposed blacklisting, in order to eliminate some referees had remained reluctant to bow for the pressure and manipulation that these clubs had some times resorted to, in what has been referred to as winning at all cost (Deloitte, and Touche , 2003). To illustrate how this scandal had affected the credibility of the league, a match ha d to be declared null and Void in 1926 between Torion and Casale following the allegations that the referee had failed to officiate the match with â€Å"the correct serenity of spirit†. It was believed that the referee was completely biased awarding one of the teams most of the advantages. The reputation of referees then was put into question following a number of same incidences. The referees went on strike refusing to take any officiating responsibility due to the fact that most of them were victimized for no apparent reasons. In order to respond to these issues the Italian football had to set-up a commission that would identify and recommend reforms so that the once credible

Capstone Project Essay Example for Free

Capstone Project Essay There is no more need to fight crowds, find a parking spot, and deal with traffic. The high street and mail order systems still have a place in the mix of purchase routes; however it is no longer the only method of making purchases. The Internet revolution has seen a massive increase in the long distance purchases made by consumers, as geographical barriers are no longer as important as they were. The lack of geographical importance has influenced the strategy of Internet companies. One of the first companies that took advantage of this was the online bookshop Amazon. om. Amazon. com is an organization that offers a broad range of services to consumers and is considered an online leader of pure-plays pure online merchants. Amazon. com was founded in July of 1995 with a mission to fully utilize the Internet to make book buying fast, easy, and all in all, a very enjoyable experience. They currently have 29 million customers in 160 different countries, making Amazon. com one of the leading online merchants. It is rated third in business-to-consumer online revenue as of June 20, 2000. Amazon. com represents the ideal e-Commerce company. It was one of the first to demonstrate the potential for virtual upstarts and turned the market on end even leading the bricks and mortar companies. Analyze the company’s mission and vision statements against the performance of the organization. Then, evaluate how well the company lives out its mission and vision statement. Provide support from the organization’s performance in your evaluation. Amazon’s company mission and vision statement is to continue to offer quality products and services using the best technology available and at a reasonable price. This results in highly loyal customers, while maintaining shareholders interest and company profits in mind. We also want to expand geographically, increasing the number of customers and to keep improving our main competitive advantage infrastructure. By working hard and having fun we seek to offer the best working environment to our employees, promoting career opportunities, and to increase our responsibility towards environment and the society. (www. amazon. com). In basing that off of the performance of the company it can be concluded that they are living out their mission statement. As more retail categories get added, the opportunity will only expand Assess how the organization’s strategic goals link to the company’s mission and vision. The strategic goals of Amazon. com are very simple they work off of six basic principles which are the freely proffers products and services, the use a customer friendly interface, the company scales easily from small to large, they exploit its affiliate’s products and resources, the use existing communication systems, and finally Amazon utilizes universal behaviors and mentalities (www. arketingplan. com). Most of the marketing the Amazon does is indirect marketing where you probably will not see allot of ads for the company on billboards or during the commercial breaks of televisions shows, the company uses allot of online ploys and has very good relations with other partners they use these strengths to market themselves to a great amount of people. This goes hand in hand with their mission statement and vision which is increasing the number of customers and to keep improving our main competitive advantage, since the majority of society uses the internet for all of the business needs, this will work to the advantage of Amazon as they can link up with several of their business partners and even provide links on those pages that will take a potential customer directly to the website. Amazon rarely uses the offline marketing process; they use the motto â€Å"Since most people shop online that is where they will be†. (www. arketingplan. com). Also Amazon has a convenient way for customers to make their purchase more effectively and efficiently which is part of the marketing strategy of them focusing on being customer friendly. Amazon uses a streamlined ordering process that applies the most advanced technology to allow the customers to better navigate and explore online. Amazon uses a one click option once you have everything that you need, you place them in your basket and you pay for everything all at once without having to do multiple orders which make it convenient for the customers. Analyze the company’s financial performance to determine the link between the company’s strategic goals, strategy, and its financial performance. Detail your findings. One of the main strategic goals that Amazon has set with the company is offer quality products that bring in profits that sentiment is identified in the mission and vision statement and over time this company has been able to maximize their profits and minimize their expenses through the North American market as well as the international market as well. The earnings statement shows that Amazon has found a way to have increased sales performance through both of their selling markets. The North America segment consists of amounts earned from retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and subscriptions through North America-focused websites such as www. amazon. com and www. amazon. ca and include amounts earned from AWS. This segment includes export sales from www. amazon. com and www. amazon. ca. The International segment consists of amounts earned from retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and subscriptions through internationally focused locations.

Definition of fixed cost and variable cost

Definition of fixed cost and variable cost Fixed cost (FC): is a cost that remains constant, in total, regardless of changes in the level of activity. Fixed costs are not affected by changes in activity. Consequently, as the activity level rises and falls, total fixed costs remain constant unless influenced by some outside force. But fixed cost per unit decreases as the activity level rises and increases as the activity level falls. (Garrison etal., 2006, P49). Fixed costs include salaries of executives, interest expense, rent, depreciation, and insurance expenses. . Variable cost (VC): is a cost that varies, in total, in direct proportion o changes in the level activity. The activity can be expressed in many ways, such as units produced, units sold, miles driven, beds occupied, lines of print, hours worked and so forth. But variable cost per unit remains constant. ((Garrison etal., 2006, P48). Direct cost, indirect cost and overhead costs Direct costs: is a cost that can be easily and conveniently traced to the particular cost object under consideration. The concept of direct cost extends beyond just direct materials and direct labor. (Garrison etal., 2006, P50). Example: the salary of supervisor in marketing department is the direct cost for marketing department. The salary is likely the same each month not depend on the quantity of sales product. Indirect costs: is a cost that cannot be easily and conveniently traced to the particular cost object under consideration. (Garrison etal., 2006, P50).   Each business has its own method of allocating indirect costs to different products, sources of sales revenue and  business units.  Business managers and accounts should always keep an eye on the allocation methods used for indirect costs. Example: Depreciation on the production machine is also an indirect product cost, it stays the same each year not depend on the volume produced on the machine. Costs can be direct and indirect depending on the cost object: product, department,  and others such as division, customer, or geographic market. The total amount of the  cost remain the same as volume changes, it is fixed cost. It is a variable cost if the total cost change in proportion to the change in the activity or volume. Overhead costs: the indirect recurring costs of running a business that are not linked directly to the goods or service produced and sold. Overhead costs can include payments for the rent of premises, utility bills, and employees salaries. Controllable costs and uncontrollable costs Controllable cost: are those costs which can be regulated or controlled by specified member of an undertaking. Most of the variable costs are controllable costs. For example, direct material, direct labor and direct expenses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦are controlled by the lower level of management. Uncontrollable cost: can not be controlled by the specified member of the undertaking. Most of the fixed costs are uncontrollable cost. For example, factory rental expense, supervisors salary, depreciation. Evaluate the statement I have trouble with the terminology-direct costs, also called variable costs, are the ones that are controllable. Whereas indirect costs or overheads, also called fixed costs, are uncontrollable. Based on the definitions above, I strongly disagree with the statement because the delegate assumed wrongly about the cost. There are many ways to classified cost depending on the purpose of management. According to association with products, costs are divided into product costs and period costs. According to identifiably, costs are divided into direct cost and indirect cost. According to behavior, costs are divided into fixed cost, variable cost and semi- variable cost. According to controllability, costs are divided into controllable costs and uncontrollable costs. Direct cost can be fixed cost and variable cost depending on situations For example: the salary of supervisor in manufacture department is the direct cost for manufacture department. The salary is likely the same each month not depend on the quantity of product. It is a fixed cost of manufacture department. Raw material supply for manufacture department is a direct cost for department but it is a variable cost, total amount of supplies use in the department increases if the volume in the department increases. Indirect costs can be fixed costs and variable cost also: In opposition to direct cost, most of indirect cost is fixed cost. For example rental cost is indirect cost for part production, it is a fixed cost of manufacture department stay the same each month, its not depend on the number of product. But indirect cost can be variable cost also. The cost of electricity for administration of manufacture department is variable cost monthly depending on the number of electricity use more or less. Controllable cost and uncontrollable cost Most of variable costs are controllable. To illustrate: low level manager in manufacture product is the direct monitoring and control of production process. They can be managing the raw material use to create product and direct labors that mean control the number of employees needed to complete product. Management can organize the use of resources effectively in the short term. On the other hand, many of fixed costs are uncontrollable. They are imposed in terms of management such as business can not decide the rental fees of factory, the rent for his unit negotiated by higher management, or the rates dictated by the local authority. Question 2 1. Participative budgeting Budget preparation is the process by which organizational goals are translated into a plan that specifies the allocated resources, the selected processes, and the desired schedule for achieving these goals. There are two main types of budgeting: bottom-up budgeting and top-down budgeting. Participative budgeting is a method of preparing budgets in which managers prepare their own budgets. These budgets are then reviewed by the managers supervisor, and any issues are resolved by mutual agreement. Manager Marketing Manager Sales Vice President Sales Vice President Finance President and CEO Vice President Production Cashier Controller Manager Manufacturing Manager Distribution All level of an organization should work together to create the budget. Each level in organization should contribute in the way that it best can in a cooperative effort to develop budget. Lower level management is responsible for setting the estimate of budget data in a participative system and submits them to the next higher level of management. Before the budget is accepted, they must be reviewed and evaluated by middle management before they are transferred to the organization. Advantage of participative budgeting Participative budgeting is relevant to all member of particular project, it helps to encourage all participants contribute idea to built a project effectively. Budget information is given clearly and fairly accurate because it use of the data available at the project management level Working motivation is higher when an individual directly involved in setting goals rather than goals imposed from above. Self-imposed budget made commitments to implement the goals. If the budget has been setting from top management, managers can say that budget is unreasonable or impractical to start, could not be performed. With participative budget, it does not happen when the managers set a budget for themselves. Disadvantage of participative budget Time consuming and costly because too many participants involved in setting budget project. The influence of top manager is limited over the budget process. However, when the lower-level managers plan the short budgets and mid-range budgets, outlining organizational policies and goals, they can influence the outcome by issuing a statement. Individual tend to overstate the real resource needs because they think that all budget will be cut in certain proportion by top manager and set a goal lower than actual for easy to achieve the goal. 2. Budget variance a. Definition of budget variance: Total budget variance is simply the difference between the actual cost of the input and its planned cost. Total variance = Price variance + Usage variance In standard costing systems, the total variance is broken down into price and usage variance. Price variance is the difference between the actual and standard unit price of an input multiplied by the number of unit used. Usage variance is the difference between the actual and standard quantity of inputs multiplied by the standard unit price of the input. Total variance = (AP x AQ) (SP x SQ) ACTUAL COST (AQ x AP) STANDARD COST (SQ x SP) STANDARD COST (SQ x SP) ACTUAL COST (AQ x AP) > FAVORABLE VARIANCE (ACTUAL UNFAVORABLE VARIANCE (ACTUAL > STANDARD) AQ means the actual quantity of input used to produce the output AP means the actual price of the input used to produce the output SQ means the standard quantity SP means the standard price Favorable variance and unfavorable variance are not equivalent to good and bad variance. The terms indicate the relationship of the actual price or quantities to the standards prices and quantities. b. Budget variance investigation Managers responsibility is carefully calculated the variance because that is a part of effective control of organization. In general, it is difficult to manage external sources of budget variance (government policy, stock market, fluctuation of exchange rateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) rather than internal sources (raw material, cost per hour on direct labor). Management should know about the acceptable range of performance. If the budget has a favorable balance that means it has brought the profit to the company. Conducting an investigation to find out the reason why the variance of budget was favorable and it could be made more than in the future. If the variance is small, it should not be too worried. In fact, a little variance between actual budget and the projected figures is always happens. With the very small difference, the manager can ignore them, no need to adopt strong action because it does not bring terrible consequences for the business. So, with little difference, the best way to solve is simply putting it into stride. If the budget has unfavorable variance, head of department need to conduct an investigation to find out the main causes by external influence or internal influence. For example the increase of raw material usage per unit more than allowed standard because it was poor condition of machine or poor manufacturing. Find the cause and how to fix the problem; it is a good measure to prevent a similar situation may occur in the future. After having adverse variance the budget needs to rewrite or the budget needs to verify by internal audit. Question 3 Explain the term used in the statement 1. Committed fixed costs Committed fixed costs relate to the investment in facilities, equipment, and basic organizational structure. The two characteristics of committed fixed costs are that they are long term in natural, and they cannot be significantly reduced event for short periods of time without seriously impairing the profitably or long- run goals of the organization. Even if operations are interrupted or cut back, the committed fixed cost will still continue largely unchanged (Garrison etal., 2006, P190). For example: Vietnam airlines has total 80 aircraft, the company must pay money for depreciation, maintenance and insurance expense. The expense is not depend on the number of times the plane fly or the number of passenger in plane. It is a committed fixed cost. Decisions to acquire major equipment or to take on other committed fixed costs involve a long planning horizon. Management should make such commitments only after carefully analysis of the available alternatives. Once a decision is made to acquire committed resources, the company may be locked in to the decision for many years to come (Garrison etal., 2006, P191). For example the total committed fixed cost of renting the building for the hotel is very high and the company must commit to pay for it at least 5 years in Vietnam. Uneven revenue flows It is showed that the difference of demand (low or high) for product or service in different periods. At times the company is very busy and at others it suffers from very slack periods. The hospitality industry is often divided into two distinct seasons: high season and low season. The period time between two seasons can move and change each year. In high season, the hotel does not have enough room for customer and the room rate is very high that bring large of profit for the hotel. In contrast, in low season the hotel must reduce the price and apply promotion to attract tourist. It is a common situation of hotel and resort. The implication of the above situation for the company Many of our cost are committed fixed cost. Our revenue flows occur very unevenly. To be profitable we have to take a flexible approach to pricing The company in hospitality industry has large proportion of fixed cost for the initial investment so the break even point is also very high. Company will operate with high level of capacity before earning a profit. But when passed break even point the profit will increase rapidly. Committed fixed cost has a little effect to the level of costs in the short term. Revenue is the money the company receives for selling their product or service. It is calculated by taking the selling price and multiplying it by the number of units sold. Profit is the amount of money left over after costs have been covered. It is calculated by: total revenue minus total costs. Therefore, profits will not be improved by a greater emphasis on cost management of costs. The company will get profit if the revenue is maintained consistently above break even level. Due to the nature of leisure industry, the product is not in storage so the focus on revenue during the period low level of demand is the necessary task of this company. By adopting a flexible approach the company is adapting the price of the product or service to suit the situation of the company and the amount of money customers are willing to pay. But the given price must be greater than variable cost and above break event point. This pricing strategy is designed to attract as much business as possible when the company has spare capacity. The price will be increased for busy periods when the company can expect to operate near to full capacity. For example: In Vietnam, Da Nang has a long beautiful coastline. Seaside hotels have a high level of demand in the summer (from May to August), this time mainly to serve domestic tourist. The room rates are usually higher two times as much as normal. The hotels have maximum revenue in this period. In the low season from October to February next year, the hotel has launched promotions to attract tourist such as discount 30% room rate at Furama Resort or stay 2 night get 1 night free at Golden Sand Resort. In this case, at times of low volume an inflexible, cost orientated approach to pricing.

Spiritual War :: essays research papers

War is any active hostility, contention, or struggle. Throughout our lives we wage a constant mental war. This 'spiritual'; war is a languid process that shapes our lives and engenders many journeys in life. Conflict arises within our vibrant minds through decisions and emotions that we make from a day to day basis. This battlefield promotes failure and success.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Decisions make up the main bulk of our inner conflict. In making a decision, two possible situations come to mind--one can either do this or that. The decisions can either be one of great complexity or a fairly simple one. An example of a complex decision can be the choice to take or refuse drugs if asked by a peer to use them. By refusing to take the drugs it shows self-confidence and strong character. A simple decision can be thinking of what to have for lunch. Complex or simple, regret accompanies the wrong choice. One fine example from the novel A Separate Peace comes when Gene made the decision to jounce the limb and make Finny fall from the tree. This, in the end, caused much of Gene's regret and ignorance because it finished Finny's athletic career and later causes Finny to die. Another decision in the novel came when Finny forgave Gene. Even though Gene ruined Finny's life, Finny made the hard choice to forgive and forget what Gene had done. The human mind is a cave swarming with a multifarious amount of emotions, from love to misery. Of all the emotions, misery becomes the greatest battle we wage in our war. We are most vulnerable to misery and depression. In one point in time we will come up against misery. Learning to cope with misery becomes one of the hardest stages in life. Misery is a hole that we must learn to climb out of. By continuing to remain miserable only digs this hole deeper and deeper until we are unable to get out. For example, in A Separate Peace, Finny dealt with his misery of a broken leg and no sports, by telling Gene to play sports for him. Another major fight going through our mind is against jealousy. Jealousy, no matter the amount, makes up the minds insidious side. The side that drives us to hurt others, like when Gene's jealousy drove him to cause Finny fall off the tree.

World Populations And Development :: essays research papers

World Populations and Development 1.) The Neolithic and Industrial Revolutions The two changes in the use of the earth's resources that had the greatest effect on the world population were the neolithic and the industrial revolutions. The neolithic revolution (a.k.a. agricultural revolution) was a change in the way of life of our ancestors. It took place about 8000 years ago among various tribes in Asia and the Middle East. It included a transition from foraging and hunting to the domestication of animals (most probably starting with the dog) and to farming. Tribes settled in fertile areas and formed agricultural communities many of which grew into villages and cities. This relatively stable way of life and the more reliable food supply (and surplus) led to the development of new professions, to labor specialization and ultimately to the stratification of these societies. Improved conditions of life led to somewhat longer life spans. Nevertheless population growth remained low due to high infant mortality rates. The impact of the neolithic revolution was not as much on immediate population growth (even though it did have a long term impact on population growth) as on the material and spiritual development of the human race. It is widely regarded as the beginning of civilization. Industrial revolution was another process of change. It was the process of substituting muscle power with machine power. It took place in the 18th century in Europe and is still happening in many parts of the world. In many characteristics it has been similar to the neolithic revolution: it increased production, it led to the use of resources that had been mostly unused until then and it improved the overall quality of life. It also led to changes in the structure of society. What was different, was its impact on population growth. It was quick and easily noticeable. Advanced sanitation, hygiene and medicine led to longer life spans and declining death rates, with the birth rates remaining high. This resulted in a high rate of population growth that still continues in many countries. The information revolution is the process of change that began in the second half of the 20th century in the developed countries of the world. It is the process of substituting "brain power" with "machine power". It leads to increased production and has the potential to create a more even distribution of the world's population on the surface of the earth. It also has the potential to decrease the differences between the less developed and the highly developed nations of the world. Then again it also has the potential to increase those differences. It causes changes in the structure of society.

community responsibilities :: essays research papers

Do you believe that our community should have leaders, or do you believe that everybody should be truly equal in our environment? The United States is living in an environment where there is a small group of leaders that make decisions for everyone else. When you hear somebody say they are going to make decisions for you, you might be thinking you would have to tale that decision no matter what. Well, that’s wrong, there is still an opportunity on weather you have to take the decision or not. There are votes, when you vote you either agree of disagree with any decisions. If there were more people that disagree than there were people that agree, then you were left with what you wanted. You still had the opportunity to choose what you wanted. Being with a group of leaders to make decisions for a society doesn’t necessarily mean that you would have to take the decision. No matter what you still have the chance to decide. A group of people needs to be over others to help g uide and make decisions because with no leader everything would be out of control, everybody’s decisions would not be heard, and a group with no leader would never be efficient. A group of people needs a leader because without a leader everybody would be out of control and nobody would be able to deal with them. Without a leader not everything would be controlled. Anybody in a society with no leader would not know what he or she is doing. They won’t know what doing because there is not one decision maker that has good reasons for those decisions. Groups of people would gather around making chaos about everything. Some people make chaos and act wild because they don’t have a leader to till them what is right and wrong. People would be wild because they wouldn’t be controlled and it is impossible to get a big group of people together at the same time to be dealed with. Being out of control is not the only problem with being equal, but everybody’s decisions would not be heard. Without having a leader not everybody’s decisions or opinions would be heard. A group of people or society always needs a leader so everybody’s decisions would be heard. Without a leader there would not be much communication. If a person comes up with a good decision or idea that person would not be able to let the whole society know about his or her ideas. community responsibilities :: essays research papers Do you believe that our community should have leaders, or do you believe that everybody should be truly equal in our environment? The United States is living in an environment where there is a small group of leaders that make decisions for everyone else. When you hear somebody say they are going to make decisions for you, you might be thinking you would have to tale that decision no matter what. Well, that’s wrong, there is still an opportunity on weather you have to take the decision or not. There are votes, when you vote you either agree of disagree with any decisions. If there were more people that disagree than there were people that agree, then you were left with what you wanted. You still had the opportunity to choose what you wanted. Being with a group of leaders to make decisions for a society doesn’t necessarily mean that you would have to take the decision. No matter what you still have the chance to decide. A group of people needs to be over others to help g uide and make decisions because with no leader everything would be out of control, everybody’s decisions would not be heard, and a group with no leader would never be efficient. A group of people needs a leader because without a leader everybody would be out of control and nobody would be able to deal with them. Without a leader not everything would be controlled. Anybody in a society with no leader would not know what he or she is doing. They won’t know what doing because there is not one decision maker that has good reasons for those decisions. Groups of people would gather around making chaos about everything. Some people make chaos and act wild because they don’t have a leader to till them what is right and wrong. People would be wild because they wouldn’t be controlled and it is impossible to get a big group of people together at the same time to be dealed with. Being out of control is not the only problem with being equal, but everybody’s decisions would not be heard. Without having a leader not everybody’s decisions or opinions would be heard. A group of people or society always needs a leader so everybody’s decisions would be heard. Without a leader there would not be much communication. If a person comes up with a good decision or idea that person would not be able to let the whole society know about his or her ideas.

Stockhausen’s Gesang der Junglinge

Stockhausen became increasingly fascinated during the late ’50s with the spatial projection of music in the performance space. It can be said that Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge marked the beginning of the end of classic musique concrete. For Kontakte in 1958, using four-track tape, he devised a clever way make the sound of his tape music spin around the audience at various speeds. He did this in the studio using a rotating platform with a loudspeaker mounted on top. He could manually rotate the speaker up to four times a second.Stockhausen also used a specialized tape recorder called the Springer. Originally developed to lengthen or shorten radio broadcasts, it used a rotating matrix of four to six playback heads that spun in the opposite direction as the tape transport. As the tape passed the rotating playback array, one of the playback heads was in contact with it at all times. The output was equal to the sum of the rotating heads.It was characteristic of him that he could not be satisfied with Boulez's and Berio's derivation of music from verbal sounds and structure: there must be some general principle, which a single work would be enough to demonstrate completely – some system which a work could bring into being. Such a system he found in the organization of degrees of comprehensibility, across a range from the plainness of speech to the total incomprehensibility of wordless music.This would require electronic means. He needed â€Å"to arrange everything separate into as smooth a continuum as possible, and then to extricate the diversities from this continuum and compose with them†, and he found the way to do that through attending, between 1954 and 1956, classes in phonetics and information theory given at Bonn University by Werner Meyer-Eppler. Since, as he there discovered, vowel sounds are distinguished, whoever is speaking, by characteristic formants (emphasized bands of frequencies), it seemed it ought to be possib le to create synthetic vowels out of electronic sounds, so that synthesized music could begin to function as language. Working from the other end, the whole repertory of tape transformations was available to alter spoken or sung material and so move it towards pure, meaningless sound.Around the time that Stockhausen was formulating these criteria for electronic music, the nature of his work began to change dramatically. After completing the two electronic Studien, he returned to instrumental writing for about a year, completing several atonal works for piano and woodwinds, as well as the ambitious orchestral work Gruppen.Gruppen, written for three complete orchestral groups, each with its own conductor, marked Stockhausen’s first major experiment with the spatial deployment of sound. He positioned the separate orchestras at three posts around the audience so that their sounds were physically segregated in the listening space. The groups called to each other with their instrum ents, echoed back and forth, sometimes played in unity, and sometimes took turns playing alone so as to move the sound around the audience.Gruppen and his other instrumental experiments of that time were Stockhausen’s bridge to his next electronic work. By the time he embarked on the creation of Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge (Song of the Youths, 1955-56), his views on the control of dynamic elements of electronic music had broadened considerably.In this creation the synthesized electronic sounds are composed according to principles analogous to those operating in vocal sounds, and the recorded voice, that of a boy treble, is carried into the electronic stream by studio alteration and editing: superimpositions creating virtual choruses, reverberations to suggest great distance, scramblings of words and parts of words, changes of speed and direction.Nothing on either side, therefore, is quite foreign to the other, and Stockhausen invites his audience to attend to degrees of comprehen sibility by using a text with which he could expect them (the work was intended for projection in Cologne Cathedral) to be familiar: the German translation of the prayer sung in the Apocrypha by three young Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace (hence the title, Song of the Youths). Stockhausen's electronic composition Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge thus attempts to integrate its biblicalGerman text with all the other materials in the composition (Morgan 442). Even so, the choice of this particular prayer cannot have been uninfluenced by what Stockhausen could have envisioned would be the imagery of the piece, with the boy's singing surrounded by flames of electronic articulation.Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge is perhaps the most significant work of electronic music of the ‘50s because it broke from the aesthetic dogma that had preoccupied the heads of the Paris and Cologne studios. It was a work of artistic dà ©tente, a conscious break from the purely electronically generated music of WDR, in which Stockhausen dared to include acoustic sounds, as had composers of musique concrà ¨te in France.Yet the piece is entirely unlike anything that preceded it. Stockhausens' Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge draws on unorthodox audio materials (Bazzana 74).   Stockhausen’s objective was to fuse the sonic components of recorded passages of a youth choir with equivalent tones and timbres produced electronically. He wanted to bring these two different sources of sound together into a single, fluid musical element, interlaced and dissolved into one another rather than contrasted, as had been the tendency of most musique concrete.   Stockhausen created some stir with works of very new spirit and imaginative form (Collaer 395).Stockhausen practiced his newly formed principles of electronic music composition, setting forth a plan that required the modification of the â€Å"speed, length, loudness, softness, density and complexity, the width and narrowness of pitch intervals and differe ntiations of timbre† in an exact and precise manner. There was nothing accidental about this combination of voices and electronic sounds. At thirteen minutes and fourteen seconds, Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge was longer than any previous worked realized at the Cologne studio.It was a â€Å"composed† work, using a visual score showing the placement of sounds and their dynamic elements over the course of the work. The result was an astonishingly beautiful and haunting work of sweeping, moving tones and voices. The text, taken from the Book of Daniel, was sung by a boys’ choir as single syllables and whole words. The words were sometimes revealed as comprehensible sounds, and at other times merely as â€Å"pure sound values†. Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge deals with a much greater variety of sonic material than did the earlier studies (Morgan 466).Stockhausen’s assimilation of a boy’s singing voice into the work was the result of painstaking preparation on his part. He wanted the sung parts to closely match the electronically produced tones of the piece. His composition notes from the time explain how he made this happen: Fifty-two pieces of paper with graphically notated melodies which were sung by the boy, Josef Protschka, during the recording of the individual layers.Stockhausen also produced these melodies as sine tones on tape loops for the circa 3-hour recording sessions. The boy listened to these melodies over earphones and then tried to sing them. Stockhausen chose the best result from each series of attempts for the subsequent synchronization of the layers.Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge is historically important for several reasons. It represented the beginning of the end of the first period of tape composition, which had been sharply divided aesthetically between the Paris and Cologne schools of thought. The maturity of Stockhausen’s approach to composing the work, blending acoustic and electronic sounds as equivocal raw ma terials, signified a maturing of the medium.The work successfully cast off the cloak of novelty and audio experiments that had preoccupied so many tape compositions until that time. Stockhausen’s concept of â€Å"composing the sound†Ã¢â‚¬â€splitting it, making the changing parameters of sound part of the theme of the work—was first exercised in Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge. Rhythmic structures were only nominally present, no formal repetition of motifs existed in the work, and its theme was the continuous evolution of sound shapes and dynamics rather than a pattern of developing tones.Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge was composed on five tracks. During its performance, five loudspeakers were placed so that they surrounded the audience. The listener was in the eye of the sonic storm, with music emanating from every side, moving clockwise and counterclockwise, moving and not moving in space.Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge was originally prepared for five tape channels, later reduced t o four, and its ebullience is greatly enhanced by antiphonal effects. Stockhausen himself was to apply in many later works the discoveries he had made here in the treatment of language and of space, of which the latter was already claiming his attention in Gruppen for three orchestras. But perhaps the deepest lesson of Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge was that music of all kinds, whether naturally or electronically produced, is made of sounds rather than notes, and that the first task of the composer is to listen. â€Å"More than ever before†, Stockhausen wrote, â€Å"we have to listen, every day of our lives. We draw conclusions by making tests on ourselves. Whether they are valid for others only our music can show.† (Stockhausen 45-51).Stockhausen's Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge provided a major turning-point in the artistic development of the studio, for against all the teachings of the establishment the piece was structured around recordings of a boy's voice, treated and integrat ed with electronic sounds. In Stockhausen Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge electronic sounds take on a disturbing â€Å"otherness† when set in relief by the humanity of a boy's voice, racked at times out of intelligibility, but never out of recognition, by the dissection of its speech elements.Effects such as the distant murmur of multitudinous identical voices have a dramatic impact far more direct than Stockhausen's comments on the work would suggest; his concern is to incorporate vocal sounds as natural stages (complemented electronically) in the continuum that links tone to noise, vowel to consonant. His vivid imagination for broad effects is further revealed in the spatial direction and movement of the sound by distribution.Stockhausen was the most representative composers of a period which is still in its analytic phase (Collaer 48). Gesang der Jà ¼nglinge has subsequently become a crucial aspect of electronic composition and has helped to combat the faintly ridiculous sensatio n with which an audience concentrates on sounds emanating from a single â€Å"pseudo-instrument†. Stockhausen's fanatical devotion to this art is sustained by a vision of public music rooms (spherical ideally) giving continuous performances of spatial music. However reminiscent this may seem of some deplorable cinematic techniques, complex stereophony is an altogether natural development of machine music and may help it to achieve a persuasive idiom owing nothing to instrumental practice.Works CitedBazzana, Kevin. Glenn Gould: The Performer in the Work: A Study in Performance Practice. Oxford University Press, 1997.Collaer, Paul and Abeles, Sally. A History of Modern Music. World Publishing, 1961.Morgan, Robert P. Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America. New York. Publication, 1991.Stockhausen â€Å"Actualia†, Die Reihe, 1 (1955, English edn. 1958), 45-51, (see also his ‘ Music and Speech ‘).

Lynching Visual Analysis

In the photo â€Å"Lynching 1930† there is a crowd of people gathered around a tree, two African-American men are hanging from that tree, they are both dead. Lynching of African-Americans began to spread after the American Civil War and it was most popular in the South. Lynching African-Americans was used as a punishment usually carried out by a mob of white people to intimidate African-Americans, â€Å"black† people suffered from violence of white people for many years they had no freedom and no citizen rights; they were considered as slaves.Between 1860 and 1890 almost 5,000 African-Americans were lynched in front of large crowds of white people. When I first saw the photo, I focused on the two men hanging from a tree, the reason I first saw this is because they are both in the middle of the picture and everything else in the picture is directing towards these men. The other people in the picture are smiling and they all look happy and relaxed at the sight of two dead men. I was shocked when I saw the photo, what happened to these men including many others like them is unfair, cruel and immoral.The photo shocked me and I also felt disgusted by the cruelty and cold-heartedness of people looking at corpses while looking like they are about to have a celebration. In the crowd the people who are standing nearest to the photographer are all looking at the camera, one man is pointing at the corpses with a proud look on his face as if he just accomplished doing something important. Near this man, there is a young couple holding hands both smiling as if it were the happiest moment of their lives. Two other men seem careless at the horrible sight and are smoking cigars.People of all ages are gathered around the big tree, there is even a little girl who looks like she is 10 years old who is smiling. I feel horrified looking at all these smiling faces that have all seen the same thing and are joyful about it; murder. No one in the picture looks sad or disg usted after seeing two men who have just been murdered, it is worrying to see how proud and happy people are to be taken in a picture in front of dead people. Not one person in the photo looks shocked, not the men, not the women and not even the little girl. There are people of all different ages in the photo, but the all have he same reaction to racism. Men are wearing suits or dress shirts with ties, some of them are wearing hats while the women are all wearing dresses and have short hair. People in the crowd look like they are mixed between the middle class and rich people, the person who stands out the most in the photo is a man who looks like he is in his 50’s, he is wearing a white dress shirt and dark trousers, he has a thin mustache on his upper lip and he is pointing at the man hanging on the right side of the tree with a look of accomplishment on his face.An old woman is standing beside him, she seems distracted by someone else and her eyes are looking in the direct ion of a young man who is at the right side of the photo only half his face is showing in the picture, the other half is cut out. I think this photograph was taken on a summer night because people are wearing light clothes. Women are wearing dresses with prints on them and most men are only wearing shirts without jackets.The dark sky is visible behind the tree; there are also two streetlights that appear in the picture behind the dead men. Focusing on the two dead men, they both look poor because their clothes are ripped and do not look as expensive as the clothes of the people in the crowd. The man on the left has his head looking down; he is wearing an unbuttoned shirt and trousers. I can see stains on his shirt and trousers, they looks like blood. I think the man was tortured in before being hung to the tree.The man on the right has his head tilted to the side he is wearing a shirt but instead of trousers there is a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist, the hemline is uneven a nd he is barefoot. He also has bloodstains on his clothes. I think this photograph is one of the most famous ones because it isn’t only a picture of the dead men but you can also see the crowd’s reactions to this scene. You can see how intolerant people were and not accepting people for their skin color.I think that people’s view and feelings from this photo has changed over the years, in the 1930 this photo would be pleasant for white people to look at and it would evoke a feeling of happiness and pride when seeing the huge crowd gathered around the tree but nowadays this photo would shock anyone even white people. People’s acceptance of different races and skin colors has evolved during the years, if this happened today it would not be acceptable like it would have been at the time the photo was taken. I am glad I do not have to see this sight nowadays because I think it is unfair to judge a person by their looks, skin color or race.

Strictly Ballroom Belonging

Belonging or not belonging is the feeling of being included or excluded by a certain group, person, place or community. This is conveyed very well in the film â€Å"strictly ballroom† produced by Baz Luhrmen and the picture book â€Å"The Sneetches† by Dr suess. In stictly ballroom, this concept is primarily conveyed by Scott Hastings struggle with the dance community to find where he truly belongs. In ‘The Sneetches is refers to the group belonging of the two seperate types of sneetches and their journey to belong as a community and individually. In â€Å"Strictly Ballroom† the beginning scenes of the film Baz established the conventional, elegant atmosphere of the ballroom dancing world. Using a combination of techniques such as graceful music, the traditional â€Å"blue Danube†, the silhouette and highly illuminated shots of the dancers waltzing, dressing in exaggerated and ostentatious costumes, hair and make-up along with big cheesy smile and facial expressions as they dance gracefully around the floor. However, the sense of community and belonging is soon fractured as it switches to a shot of Shirley screaming â€Å"Come on team 100!†. Scott and Liz become blocked in by another dance couple and Scott chooses to dance his own steps to escape, deviating from the usual steps that the judges are programmed to. The reaction of the judges and audience shows that Scott's actions were not excepted by the federation. Barry fife leans over to Lez and mutters â€Å"what the hell is going on here?† representing the shock of the judges. The restrictive and competitive nature of the â€Å"strictly ballroom† world is further shown by Barry Fife, the president of the dance federation who is conveyed as an ugly, evil man ruling the dance community. His irrational and controlling nature is emphasised in the scene of the first competition here we see there is no true loyalty or belonging because when Ken and Pam cheat and block out Scott and Liz in the corner they are rewarded and are still given first place. Clearly conveying that the individual or group who wishes to belong to this specific world must be prepared to follow orders and conform to their rules. To find a true sense of belonging within a set world, one must have the courage to stay true to themselves. The protagonists in this film Scott and Fran gradually challenge and redefine the order of this community. Scott â€Å"the up and coming star† of the ballroom world becomes frustrated with only dancing the old traditional steps and wants permission to introduce his own kind of steps. In the illustrated story ‘The Sneetches' illustrated and written by Dr. Suess he demonstrates individuals within a group desperately seeking approval of another group they are made to believe are more elite. Not belonging may not be a permanent state. Doug, Scott's father is portrayed as a very quiet charter who rarely speaks. He is often seen in the dance studio improvising his movements, which is similar to what Scott did earlier on in the film. However he is often captured through a high angle shot and very limited lighting making it appear as though the audience is secretly overlooking his dancing which no one is meant to see. This image suggests that he too wants to express his passion through dance, but he can only do it in the dark alone as if he is too afraid of confronting those who oppose it. The darkness around Doug lets him express himself as an individual and shed his previous conformed life. This is clearly conveying the main idea, that it is very important to belong but only if an individual can first belong to oneself.

How to Spot a Scam or Fraud in the Medical Field? Essay

There are many way to spot a scam or fraud in the medical field. Medical frauds range from people posing as doctors and practicing without a license, to useless supplements, worthless or dangerous diet aides, fake medicines and cures for cancer. Making good health decisions is hard and sadly some immoral people make it even more difficult by attempting to deceive and cheat the sick. Not everyone knows enough about medicine to spot a medical fraud or scam but this essay will give you some places to start. Avoiding medical fraud is important because a delay in real treatment can create potentially deadly complications. You should know that some medical frauds are simply con artists. Some medical fraud is simply a con artist looking for a quick pay off, so  you must know how to spot a con man. You also have to understand that many medical frauds are victims themselves. Many people who push bad medicine believe that they are actually helping because they have been fooled themselves by someone else. With these people the standard methods of spotting a con artist will not work because they honestly want to help. You should always check for the phrase â€Å"cure-all†. If a person tells you something is a cure-all 99% of the time it is actually a cure-nothing. Real medicine recognizes that each disease is unique and so there is no single procedure or substance that can cure all. Check for a single cause theory will also help. The corollary to the cure-all fraud is the single cause theory. This is simply the claim that all diseases and conditions can be explained by a single cause. Common examples of this fraud include unbalanced energy or toxins. Asking about side effects is important. Anything that has an ability to affect your body positively could also affect it negatively. If a person tells you that their treatment never has any side effects, you are likely dealing with a fraud or scam. You must listen for conspiracy theories. Since they lack scientific evidence to support their practice many medical frauds resort to wild-eyed conspiracy theories regarding other medicines. A popular example is the claim that scientists have cured all cancer, but they keep it secret so that they can make more money selling medicines for the symptoms. Obviously false as a patent on the cure for cancer would be the most valuable commodity the world has ever known. Listen for spiritual claims will also help. Spirituality is great, but it has no place in medicine. If a person claims a spiritual mechanism for how their treatments work, you might be dealing with a fraud of some type. While there  are  links between emotional well-being and physical condition, there is no medically-proven program for treating physical symptoms with mental or spiritual techniques. Pay for it at your own risk. Listen for claims regarding â€Å"toxins†. A popular fraud right now is the claim that everyone’s body accumulates mysterious toxins, usually in the colon or liver but sometimes throughout the entire body. Frauds claim that these mysterious toxins need to be removed because they are the cause of all diseases and ailments. This process often involves enemas, fasting, or ingesting a wide variety of herbs. There is no scientific evidence that the toxins exist, or that the cleansing process is at all beneficial. In many cases it is actually harmful. You should never take any medical advice from a person who recommends this treatment. Ask for their official title and look it up. Real medical professionals have what is called a â€Å"protected title†. This means that laws do not allow just anyone to call themselves by that title, you must first complete recognized training. Many frauds create a title that closely resembles the legally protected title and hope that average people do not know the difference. For example, dietitian and nutritionist. Only dietitian is protected, which means that anyone may call themselves a nutritionist if they wish. People without legally protected titles are not always frauds and scam artists, but they are much more likely to be. You should ask for their opinion on vaccinations. If someone opposes vaccinations it is a sure sign that they are some form of a medical fraud or quack, or at the very least uneducated. Ask a doctor that you trust. If you ever aren’t sure about something get a second opinion from a doctor that you know well and trust.