British Restoration Era English Literature

London in the age of Goldsmith was entirely different from the London as we know today. Great social, political and economical changes were in the air when Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer was enacted. These changes created a turning point of fortune of many families there by making some impoverished and many others prosper to become one among the middle class families of England. As a result, marriages and love affairs, instead of being the union of two people, the man and woman, both physically and mentally, it became union of money, land and titles.Hence the decreasing of wealth in the rural, old and titled families and an increase in the wealth in newly affluent commercial urban areas brought about various marriages of children from titled families, with those of untitled, cash-rich but land-poor commercial families. This balance is what Goldsmith tries to drive home in his famous play She Stoops to Conquer. Moreover, â€Å"the play also offers three types of marriage. O ne possibility: a loveless, parentally-enforced marriage, as that arranged by Mrs. Hardcastle between Tony and Constance.Another option: marriage for love, but against parental wishes, as seen in Hastings’s plans for eloping with Constance. Finally, the best solution, compromise between parent and child, as in Kate’s marriage with Marlow — a marriage based on affection but also sanctioned by paternal authority. † Schmidt, http://www. answers. com/topic/she-stoops-to-conquer-play-7) Passionate love existed definitely, but it was not directly linked to marriage. Love in those times is well explicated by Goldsmith through his varied characters as represented in the play.To start with, we have Mr. Hardcastle who loves everything that is â€Å"old†, including his wife. He is a loving husband who loves his wife most intensely in spite of the fact that there is a lot of difference in their natures. He is a very home loving person as we see his wife complai ning every now and then that they are not frequenting London to polish up their manners and acquire knowledge of the latest fashions. It is truly because of him that their life goes on uneventfully. He represents the gentle man of the society at that time.His good nature and generosity alone bring the two love stories to a happy end and the mistakes of the night are crowned with merry-making in the morning. Mrs. Hardcastle, greedy, self-centered, with no regard for the feeling, likes and dislikes of others, sees love and marriage only in terms of monetary wealth. She truly represents the attitude of love and money of those times in the so-called aristocratic families. To retain her orphan niece’s (Constance Neville) fortune in the form of jewellery in the family, she tries to get her married with her son, Tony Lumpkin, who is a person who cannot be spoiled more.She does not consider at all, that he is unworthy of his cousin and that he himself dislikes her and wants to marry another woman. Blinded by her greed and her infatuation for her son, she courts Constance on behalf of her son and tries her best to unite them in holy wedlock. The result is that she loses both, the jewellery and her niece. Her portrayal makes explicit the fact that women of her age in those days tended to be cruel mothers who never paid any respect to either the romantic or the ordinary feelings of their children if they did not have a monetary significance.Marlowe represents the well-to-do families of the day who thinks that in order to prove his worth he has to travel long and wide and thus understand more about manhood. He is the kind of man whom ladies in those ages are after. ‘Manhood’ is just in his thoughts not deeds as we see him shy and moody in the company of ladies of higher rank and status. In keeping with the age, for him too marriage is more related to social positions and monetary affairs than love.That is why he rejects Kate when he is still mistaking her for a simple barmaid instead of a lady: â€Å"But to be plain with you, the difference of our birth, fortune and education makes an honourable connection impossible; and I can never harbour a thought of seducing simplicity that trusted in my honour, or bringing ruin upon one whose only fault was being too lovely. † (p. 42). Whatever be his shortcomings, Kate falls in love with him as he satisfies all the demands that women of that age sought in a man. Hence his drawbacks are easily forgotten and even if there is any left, Kate resolves to cure him of that.His character develops in due course of the play and becomes worthy of Kate who has discerned his potential capacity to become a genuine love. No doubt, he represents the typical middle class man who gives equal regard to money, love and good manners. As a foil to him, we have Hastings, a well-dressed young man of considerable physical charms. He is presented as the most romantic and the most impractical man who has led an easy comfortable life like Marlow, but is not at all have a dual character like him. His love for Constance is true, deep and sincere.He loves her only for herself, and no mercenary conditions weigh with him. He presses her to elope with him leaving behind her fortune for his love is not tainted by monetary things. Their love affair can be said as the most straight forward one but we see that too as being conditioned by money. As Mrs. Hardcastle is the keeper of Neville’s jewels, to get back her wealth, Constance should marry the person whom she pleases, unless the person refuses. It is to keep the money in the family itself that she forces her son to marry Constance. But Constance and Hastings proclaim their love several times disregarding the money.During a conversation that both hold, Miss Neville states she would rather marry him once she owns all her jewels so that they can secure their future: â€Å"The instant they (jewels) are put into my possession you shall find me ready to make them and myself yours†. But Hastings exclaims: â€Å"Perish the baubles! Your person is all I desire† (p. 19). Even when the young lady assures that â€Å"in the moment of passion, fortune may be despised, but it ever produces a lasting repentance† Hastings insists on letting their feelings flow: â€Å"Perish fortune.Love and contempt will increase what we possess beyond a monarch’s revenue. Let me prevail† (p. 56). Kate Hardcastle is a lover who rises to the occasion whenever such a situation arises. She is presented as vivacious, young and very inventive. Instead of waiting meekly to make her lover change to a bold person, she takes things into her hands. If she remains inactive, she will lose Marlow. Hence she throws all her false modesty to the wind and decides to win a husband even at the cost of some maidenly modesty and delicacy.She chases and courts instead of being chased and courted. As her foil is presented Constance Nev ille, who is straight forward, sensible and determined. In her pretence of love to Tony to satisfy her aunt, her stooping is moral and not merely social as that of Kate. â€Å"She Stoops to Conquer is a beautifully constructed play where love conquers all, despite the combined efforts of a greedy woman, her inept son and an unfortunate case of ‘pedestalisation of women' in the young male lead! †( Henderson, http://www. cops.org. uk/reviews/she_stoops. htm). Hence in the play we see people loving and marrying for several reasons; for love, for money or just to follow patterns of the existing society. Works Cited: Henderson, Catherine, http://www. cops. org. uk/reviews/she_stoops. htm. Schmidt, Arnold http://www. answers. com/topic/she-stoops-to-conquer-play-7. Jeffares, Harman A. , Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’, Macmillan Co. Ltd, Great Britain, 1966. Wood R. J. , ‘She Stoops to Conquer’, Coles Publishing Company, Canada, 1968.

Just A Pot Of Basil

At the age of eight one of my favorite things to do was dream about living in a time where gigantic beasts loomed over the earth. Form the gigantasaurus to the brontosaurus I enjoyed anything from the Precambrian period. I grew to appreciate the monstrous creatures even more after I took my first trip to the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh. I had never seen such elaborate displays of marvelous full-scale dinosaurs, since I was accustomed to seeing them no larger than the height of a book or television screen. I recall roaming through the many displays pretending that I was one of them. Usually, I pretended to be the Troodon, a species that is thought to have the largest brain in proportion to the rest of its body. Even though I was smaller than the rest of the dinosaurs, I always knew that I could outsmart them if I was a clever Troodon. Of course I would forget that they had been extinct for millions of years, as the plaques in front of the enormous exhibits reminded those who were tall enough to read them. But I carried on in my world of dinosaurs while I was in the museum, free to dream as I cared to. The distance and time between the real dinosaurs and I disappeared when I was in the museum, in my little world. Therein lies the significant difference between seeing and imagining, and being told or influenced, that is, being mystified. Mystification, as the art critic John Berger in Ways of Seeing explains, is the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident (Berger 112). I was instantly captivated from the moment I saw the tied-together skeletons stretching as high as my own house; should I have cared about the petty details that would have distracted me from my own imagination? Original paintings are silent and still in a sense that information never is (Berger 125). The skeletal remains of ancient beasts strung up give only a portion of what such creatures really were millions of years ago. The color of their skin, the texture of their bodies, or even the size of their internal organs are just a few of the endless questions that remain unanswered, lost over time. But museums give something more than any book could ever tell, and that is the real life experience of seeing what could never be perceived otherwise. When life breathed through the dinosaurs they were never frozen into a perfect stance like they are portrayed in museums. Our imagination allows us to fathom what it really may have been like, but the past remains where it is, and can only at its best be relived in movies or museums or our imagination. Museums have never made me feel awkward or uneasy, they come as second nature to me. I enjoy being enveloped by a different emotion each time I look at the skeleton of a dinosaur, or see a mummified pharaoh, or even a beautiful painting of a landscape. I have always been able to let everything go, and be consumed by a striking or stunning image. The wonderful thing about museums is that every few feet there lies an artist waiting to draw you into their world. Artists and their works contained within a single building span over centuries and continents. All contain different points of view and expresses it to the best of their abilities. Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way (Berger 112). History meets in a museum, and constantly forms new accounts through time. Each day that passes we have gained something which may add to our overall perception of the world around us. This is why Berger claims that we see things differently and therefore there exists no definitive account of exactly the way things were at any specific moment in time. It is lost forever, and at best, can only be saved in an altered form. There is something magical about the power of the atmosphere of a museum. The silence is filled with a sea of thoughts running through viewers minds. When I first saw John White Alexander s painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil I was immediately captivated. Even my first glance told me that there was something more to the large pot in the painting than meets the eye. In a painting all its elements are there to be seen simultaneously (Berger 121). What the eye can perceive in an instant may take pages to explain. There lies the beauty of art. One glance at Alexander s work captivated me instantly. There lives some hidden secret inside the woman s soul that lay next to the pot. And sure enough, the small plaque beside the painting described a story that told me that my assumptions were correct. The painting was written as a reflection of a poem written by John Keats. Here, briefly, is the story of Isabella and the Pot of Basil. Isabella had two brothers that expected her to marry a well-endowed man so they could collect a significant dowry from her marriage. But Isabella never married, and fell in love with a carpenter named Lorenzo, who was working for brothers. The two were madly in love, and visited each other frequently whenever they were certain that no one could find them together. Soon though, a brother learned of their secret, and the two brothers took Lorenzo into the woods, killed him, and buried him in a shallow grave. One night while Isabella was wailing in bed over the mysterious disappearance of her supposed runaway love, Lorenzo’s ghost came to her and described the occurrences and location of Lorenzo s body. Isabella went to Lorenzo s grave, cut off his head, and took it back home with her where she put it in a big basil pot and covered it with moss, soil, and basil seeds. She watered the seeds with rose water and her own tears and talked to her basil until it grew incredibly lush. After her brothers stole her basil pot, Isabella died of misery and heartbreak, singing a song about the loss of her basil and love. Alexander was able to condense this entire love story into a single painting. Without having read the 500-line poem or at least having some knowledge of the story, the average viewer would never have guessed that her lover s head was contained in the pot. The emotions contained within Isabella and her sacred pot reach beyond words. The pain that she felt consumed her to the point of her own death, where no words can exist. Depicted in the painting is not just a sad woman, but a woman who is about to die, sick and miserable with heartbreak, love, and loneliness. The meaning of an image is changed according to what one seen immediately beside it or what comes immediately after it. [It] is distributed over the whole context on which it appears (Berger 123). Only after reading the small plaque beside the work and continued research after visiting completed my perception on the almost life sized piece of art. These important clues added to what I could deduce from the painting. Without them I would merely have seen just a pot of basil and a woman lying next to it. History is a mystery that is continually being investigated. Without knowing the past no deductions can be made of the present. Alexander captures Isabella in a moment of perfect stillness. Perhaps she is already dead in the artist s eyes, lying beside her love, their souls reunited. The barren space below the pot could contain the spiritual body of Lorenzo. Alexander seems to have purposefully left the open space on the right side of the painting for his spirit next to her. Isabella has her eyes closed and her hand is gingerly extended. Her two fingertips brush against the side of the pot, as if she s imagining the pot to be his face. Her neck appears slightly extended as if she were giving the curved pot a gentle kiss. The stench that must have emanated from the pot would have been almost unbearable to others, yet somehow the power of love caused Isabella to ignore all reason and sanity as her soul sought for her love and mercy. White flowers contrast with the overall melancholy of the image yet also add just the right touch of beauty, innocence, and peace. There are several of these flowers directly under the pot and another at the base of Isabella s feet. This white represents the purity of their love that was so terribly destroyed by her evil brothers. The tear of her garment on her right shoulder shows her distress and her apathy towards her self-appearance. Isabella s soul can be at ease once she is reunited with her beloved Lorenzo; her physical condition no longer matters. There are of course many other paintings depicting Isabella and the Pot of Basil, but none seemed to capture the emotion as well as Alexander does. His art is powerful, captivating, and entices the viewer to look deeper, to learn more, and to almost feel the emotions raging through the canvas. The moment I saw the painting, I knew that there was more to it. The stillness that Alexander recreates reaches beyond words, and required only the same silence in return. The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe When in love, the sight of the beloved has a completeness which no words and no embrace can match (Berger 106). Perhaps my heart goes out to Isabella, for I myself am in love and can reconcile with what she may have felt. Even if Isabella was just a fictional character for both Keats and Alexander the emotional consequence of such a painting is undeniable. The love between a man and a woman knows no end, and its eternity continues through people of all time and nations. Of course we are all granted different perspectives, but there lies a central burning passion about love which can only be depicted as a fraction of its entirety. Thus, love in fact, [closes] the distance between the painting of the picture and one s own looking at it (Berger 125). The research that I completed on Isabella and the Pot of Basil introduced a different and more in depth perspective on the work. Without reading the corresponding poem, I would perhaps have seen only a woman standing next to her favorite pot, and be left to imagine what more was involved. My intuition told me that there was more to the painting than what first met my eye. The observations and assumptions that I made based on the picture and poem are based completely my own deductions and learned assumptions that I have acquired throughout my life. Therefore, if John Berger had looked at this image in the same atmosphere as I did, he could have seen something completely different. Therein lies the truest beauty of art, for art is capable of capturing and recreating a moment lost in time without regard to the opinions of those who will see it. Art is beautiful often because we make it beautiful. Big ugly dinosaurs are certainly not beautiful to most, but to me as an eight-year-old, they most definitely were. Being told what is beautiful and what meaning lies behind a painting is the epitome of mystification. According to Berger this lends [undeserved] authority (121) to the artist. The image now illustrates the sentence (Berger 122). And thus, whatever thoughts a viewer has conjured about a painting or work of art are lost, negated, or skewed, yet it provides a strong basis for interpretation. The painting by Alexander exemplifies the poem by Keats. In many instances, poetry is associated with a visual image, but provides only the framework from which a perception of an image can be formulated. Words help set the tone, yet can never deter from the heart of work. I prefer to say that sentences help to illustrate an image. And John Berger would most certainly agree that there is much more to Alexander s work than just Isabella and a pot of basil.

Solving Mathematical Problems Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Solving Mathematical Problems - Math Problem Example At the top of my diagram I had colored five colored dots represent each person in the room. The first person was the red dot. The first person can't shake hands with himself but can shake hands with everyone else. So under the red dot I put a blue dot, a green dot, a yellow dot, and a purple dot. The second person can't shake hands with themselves and already shook hands with the first person. Under the blue dot I put a green dot, a yellow dot, and a purple dot. The third person can't shake hands with themselves and they already shook hands with the first two people. I put a yellow dot and a purple dot under the green dot. The fourth person can't shake hands with themselves and they already shook hands with the first three people, so I only put a purple dot under the yellow dot. Now the fifth person shook hands with everyone, so I didn't put any dots under the purple dot. I counted the dots in each column under the 5 dots on top and added them together to get a total of 10 handshakes . This is what my diagram looked like. After I made this diagram I noticed a pattern. When there were five people in the room I added up all the numbers under 5, so it was 4+3+2+1. When there were six people in the room I added up all the numbers less than 6, so it was 5+4+3+2+1. ... I used this rule to see how many handshakes there would be with even more people. By looking at all these numbers I noticed a shortcut. Every time you go to find the number of handshakes for one more person in a room, you just add one less than the total number of people to the previous total number of handshakes. Using this rule to find the number of handshakes for 14 people you can add 13 to 78, which is 91. That's a lot easier than adding 13+12+11+10+9 and so on all over again. Another pattern I noticed is that the number of handshakes for 5 people was 5 times 2, the number of handshakes for 6 people was 6 times 2.5, the number of handshakes for 7 people was 7 times 3, and the number to be multiplied kept increasing by half. To find out how many handshakes would happen in a room with 100 people, maybe I could use this rule to see what number I should multiply 100 by, instead of adding 100+99+98+97 and so on all the way down to 1. I started another table to see what number I needed to multiply 100 by. Once I got to 21 I saw from the numbers in the table that you can get the number to multiply by subtracting one from the number of people then dividing by two. For 100 people in the room, then, you can subtract 1, which is 99, then divide by 2, which is 49.5. This means that to see how many handshakes would happen in a room of 100 people you just have to multiply 100 times 49.5. The total number of handshakes is 4950. Even though patterns make things a lot easier, they aren't good if they aren't accurate. To make sure my rule was right I used a calculator to add 99+98+97+96 and so on all the way down to 1. Sure enough, it added up to 4950.

Can prison make people live better Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Can prison make people live better - Essay Example The prison system exposes convicts to more violence, hence making them more and more capable to commit more serious crimes once released or even in the prison itself. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has performed a study on nonviolent offenders and proves that nonviolent offenders are most likely to become more violent. Based on the statistics of the research, 95% of the nonviolent offenders have a prior arrest and about a third of them have become violent while in prison and even while they are released they show streaks of violence. This is what was seen in the prison at which Barcenas is being held at in Spain. Luis Barcenas has been in jail since mid last year while under investigation for multi-million euro tax fraud and has turned aggressive as the possibility of serving a long term started looking live (Dunham 8). On January 8, a driver was to take him to hospital for general checkups as he and fellow inmates had asked for. He shouted that he was not a criminal as he refused to be handcuffed to the back as mandated by law. After refusing to get in, he began banging and shouting complaints to the police officers. This simple misconduct eventually cost him 140 days without any courtyard time (Dunham 11). As seen from the case of Barcenas, it is quite evident that the mounting pressure of spending more years in prison caused a rather nonviolent man to crack and become aggressive. This may not be the case for other individuals, but the same would be experienced. With also the exposure to other harder criminals, they may pick up the need for aggression in order to survive. Not until they are released, are they able to go back to their normal selves. Because of being branded as convicts and criminals, the society discriminates against them. Branded as such, the ex-convicts face difficulties in the adjustment into the

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management Assignment - 4

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management - Assignment Example The business planning process consists in following some step by step processes which needs to be documented for an organization to have a clear insight and direction for work. Critical appraisal of the business planning process The business planning process has a lot of loopholes and most traditional business plans are criticized to be overtly formal and rigid. Here we will critically appraise a business planning process. Idea generation The first step of a business plan is the visualization of a new product or service which the enterprise desires to provide. In fact it outlines the key to future growth prospects. However, before taking a decision as to which product or service should be started, a thorough market research including customer’s preferences should be conducted. Most organizations rely on the traditional methods in order to research on the idea generation and come to a decision. The traditional techniques are usually based on the inputs provided by customers and these may be extremely biased. These techniques identify a target market for the product or service and randomly conduct a customer focused survey to come to a conclusion (Lilien et al. 2002). Another key barrier to the idea generation process is that firms may hurriedly decide and document a product or a service idea. In this case thorough research may not have been conducted probably due to lack of skill and knowledge and faulty processes (Flint 2000). Hence; most business ideas may never be implemented. Other constraints faced by firms may be with reference to garnering sufficient funds to start a business. If the firm is not able to procure funds then the business idea is scrapped and the top management has to again come out with a new business idea. Strategic objectives The next step in the business planning process consists in setting short term and long term goals and strategies. It is very necessary to set up goals so that a pre determined path can be chalked out to attain strategic objectives. However, most planners may come up with highly unrealistic and unattainable objectives. This is one of the principal reasons for the failure of the business planning process. This may occur due to the fact that the top management team has a divided opinion or is not wholly involved in the planning process (Mintzberg 1994). Also the planners have to work under uncertain market conditions and hence they need to monitor the goals from time to time. Most firms do not bother to discuss and make changes to the pre determined goals and this may lead to failure of the business plan. Market analysis and research The organization needs to thoroughly research the customer market by conducting a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a thorough research conducted with reference to identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat of the product market and the customer market. The main problem encountered in a market research is that the data collected may be outda ted or irrelevant for the purpose. In this case, the results generated on the basis of the research may be biased or flawed. Another problem organizations encounter is with the location

Business writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business writing - Essay Example This will impel the reader to read the manuscript. Additionally, short paragraph helps writers in organizing their work. The writers put their ideas in the form of short, unambiguous paragraphs. This also assists the reader in understanding the writer’s message, as it alleviates confusion (Scarry and Scarry 318). Besides, brief paragraphs depict precision. This shows that the writer clearly understands the topic he or she is handling. This in turn motivates the reader into reading the material, thereby enhancing the intended communication. While reading emails, one makes various conclusions, even before reading the text. Long emails seem uninteresting. As such, one feels that he or she will waste time in trying to understand the text. As a result, one reads the first few lines and loses interest. Long paragraphs also seem to contain many ideas (Scarry and Scarry 320). Moreover, long paragraphs show the disorganized nature of the writer. This makes one to draw uncomplimentary conclusions about the writer. As such, many readers will not go over such text. This will hinder communication, and the writer will not pass the intended message. Large paragraphs also depict irrelevancy. Writing emails with large paragraphs offers the reader the intuition that the writer has focused on numerous extraneous issues. Moreover, the reader will take time while unraveling the main

Peer review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 26

Peer review - Essay Example the matter of Chato’s son’s dead-body and the matter of Ayah’s children’s treatment, However, the no outside source has been used. I hear the writer’s voice best in the questions he puts forth in the article. The essay starts with a thought-provoking question and concludes with summarization of the theme of Lullaby. This essay revolves around the quotation, â€Å"We are together always. There never was a time, when this was not true† by Ayah in Lullaby. The writer’s question, â€Å"Ayah’s journey through life is filled with loss and hardships brought upon by her heritage and their struggles with the white man; but could it also said that acceptance is a theme that makes itself apparent as well?† relates to thesis in that it highlights Ayah’s acceptance. While the writer has tried to put forth several examples in an attempt to illustrate Ayah’s acceptance of the circumstances, some of them are not very strong e.g. path being covered by snow. Snow stands for coldness, lack of mobility, and lifelessness whereas the writer has interpreted as clarity and optimism. The essay has a good structure and the points discussed try to elaborate Ayah’s acceptance and healing, though some points have been interpreted very

International Management - Global business Essay

International Management - Global business - Essay Example Multinational companies willing to expand their operation in overseas have to face quite few challenges like regulatory environment of the host country, culture and so forth. In general, the advent of the modern Multinational companies was largely because of the fast industrialization in the western society. The industrial revolution accelerated new technologies of production and distribution that necessitated larger operations than firms had managed before. Conversely, mass production technologies demanded a constant and dependable stream of input, and the pursuit for new economical long term sources of materials and supplies was the incentive that drove many companies in the foreign countries.1 In fact, firms choose to operate in different countries of the world for a good many reasons, as an example, to reap the benefit of economies of scale, cheap labor cost etc. We can see today that extensive number of companies like Coca Cola, Volvo etc. are operating in different parts of the globe. In this paper, the author attempts to shed light on the activities of the multinational companies in relation to various international production theories. Companies want to expand their business base aboard for mainly "efficiency seeking" and "strategic asset seeking" reasons. ... intended to capture the benefits of disparity in the availability and cost of traditional factor endowments in different countries of the world 2) the second sort is that which takes place in those countries which have largely comparable economic structures and income levels and is intended to reap the benefits of the economies of scale and scope, and of distinction in consumer tastes and supply capabilities. For instance, many U. S. companies transferring production to lower-cost Mexico and then exporting finished products back to the USA. An example of the second is American investment in European countries. Europe's stable move toward economic integration over the preceding years has given U. S. firms bigger opportunities and scope for attaining increased efficiencies and rationalization. Among all the purposes for foreign direct investment over the 1990s, strategic asset seeking was amongst the most significant. The aim of the strategic asset seeker is to increase company's prevailing portfolio of assets in such a way that strengthens the firm's existing competitive advantage. Examples of strategic asset seeking investment include Ford's acquisition of Volvo of Sweden and Jaguar of the United Kingdom, and Land Rover from BMW in early 2000, three acquisitions that helped boost the Ford's product niche in the luxury automobile market.2 Global business is now driven by in excess of 60,000 multinational enterprises (MNEs) with over 800,000 subsidiaries in foreign countries. The world's top 100 non-financial MNEs are the main drivers of global production. Their foreign assets amounted to $2 trillion in 2000, with over 6 million employees across the world. They focus mostly in electronics and electrical equipment, automobiles, petroleum, chemicals, and

Balance Sheets for the four quarters Essay Example for Free

Balance Sheets for the four quarters Essay To evaluate how I utilized both budgets and pro-formas to ensure the adequacy of funds for providing production capacity that was needed to achieve the businesses goals. I want to first start with the definition of both pro-forma and budget; A budget is a basic idea that covers more than a few areas, all in all its a financial plan that is made to control costs for operations and results. It can be expressed in a multitude of numerical terms, it also can cover a certain period of time, short, intermediate and long term goals. A pro-forma is also a financial statement but it is prepared based upon assumptions of specific events and transactions that will hopefully occur in the Future, so basically a projected estimate using historical data to form a hypothesis of A financial outcome. The importance of both the pro-forma and budget were huge. Knowing going into the simulation how much seed money was going to be issued and how much additional money was coming in future investments, gave me an idea of how aggressive or conservative I could be. I was able to to set with an initial idea of how much I could spend for each factor needed moving forward. I was able to understand how much to market, how much to hire and how much I could afford for each of these tasks, as well as how much was coming into pay for future marketing and hires. Without advertising there are no customers, without a good sales and service staff there are no sales, or an ability to take care of the customer. In the opening quarter of the company I had a 2 million dollar start-up fund. My upfront expenses were approximately $530,000. I also chose to invest in a 3 month CD about $880,000, I made sure in my first endeavor to keep money available and not to over indulge. I took similar approaches going into each additional quarter; thereafter I wouldreview what was spent and estimate what was coming in and at that point I would hire more employees, adjust and raise benefits and increase marketing. My sales force and marketing expenses doubled from quarter two to quarter three and rose another 49 percent from quarter three to quarter four. These two factors in my opinion are the biggest of a profitable company, as sales and marketing grow and increase your company will thrive. At the end of each quarter I would review the results in these areas and make assessments on how much additional advertising I needed based upon sales numbers of the individual computers Mercedes and the Traveler. Based upon production and the competition I would review to see if I was going to increase the sales force and the compensation plan. The overall outcome of both areas had my company in NWL as the top employers at 83 out of a maximum 84 Score; also in regards to marketing effectiveness in NWL my company had a 92 out of a 97 maximum Score thats how I used the budget and pro-forma to help NWL achieve its goals. B.2. To evaluate how I employed Just In Time or JIT and Lean Operations to improve operating efficiency in my manufacturing facility, again as part of moving forward I want to define these two strategies before I explain how I use them. A) Just In Time or JIT is a production strategies to improve a business return on investment ROI by reducing in-process inventory as well as the associated carrying cost. This is done by only receiving goods as they are needed in the overall process, this helps cut overall inventory costs. B) Lean Operations simply supplies a customer with exactly what the customer needs when and only when the customer wants it without waste with this constant improvement, the emphasis and focus is on understanding the customer. Both JIT and Lean Operations can help with the overall increase of return on investment or ROI. In regards to how my simulation for NWL worked with these strategies, I would say in NWL ran overly Lean to a fault. I ran my operation capacity at 65 and my fixed capacity at 75 which was the second lowest of my competitors on both accounts. This was a huge negative for my company since it cost me over 2100 in lost sales. This would have increased my sales by approximately 33 percent which would have lowered the overall production costs and increase profits. I finished number 2 in sales with thehighest average price of computer. With a 33 percent increase in sales had I run a better production operation I would have had a lager profitability for a already profitable simulation. I did not key into the right places when I reviewed the early production numbers which cost me when it came to changing Operating and Fixed Capacities. I was overly cautious and my end result was indicative of this and caused big loses for NWL. B.3. Work Cells vs Traditional Straight Line Production. A Work Cell is defined to be a arrangement of machines and personnel that focuses on making a single product or family related products. Traditional Straight Line Production Is the standard assembly line style of manufacturing. Work may start in one department until that phase is complete. Then the product moves onto the next department for the next phase and the next and so on. The major difference between the two is efficiency and cost differentials. In a work cell method there are a multitude of benefits, from a reduction in work area needed, speed of production completion and number of associates needed just to name a few. All of which are in line with the thought process of JIT and Lean Operations which in turn increases ROI (return on investment). Five distinct advantages in the work cell vs the assembly line (1)Tasks are grouped, therefore inspections can be immediate. (2)Fewer workers are needed because of cross training. (3)The workers can access more of the work area. (4)Work areas are more efficiently balanced. (5)Enhanced communication based upon the shape of the work cell. These advantages can help lead to fewer employees reaching higher production numbers. Which in the simulation could have led to smaller start-up companies making more cost efficient production goals happen along with how well a micro computer company could make a work cell arrangement payoff positively. B.4. Evaluation of decisions involving inventory management in the Marketplace Simulation Inventory is defined as raw materials, work-in-progress goods and completely finished goods that are considered to be the portion of the businesses assets that are ready or will be ready for sale. Inventory represents one of the most important assets that most companies possess, because the turnover of inventory represents one of the primary sources of revenue generation and subsequent earnings for the company. In the marketplace simulation NWL was not very successful at inventory management in the attempt to run Just-in-Time (JIT) and Lean Operations, I ended up with sold out product and a enormous loss in sales. The lost sales totaled 50 percent of the total sales, which meant there could have been an additional 33 percent positive sales increase if the inventory was managed properly. These were losses of 1000 Travelers units and 1103 Mercedes units, those totals losses of $3,312,730 in gross profit. That was based upon the final sales and not taking into account any production savings by the increased sales volume. That could have increased gross profit by a minimum of 47 percent, if I had it to do over again paying more attention to the inventories would have been a possible windfall. B.5. A continuous improvement program that could have been used to improve and achieve quality assurance goals could have been either Employee Empowerment or Bench-marking. Employee Empowerment involves employees in every step of the production process. Employees are on the front lines and know what is going on in every aspect and on all fronts. If employees find problems they can fix them or help fix them. Whom better in handling an issue then the ones most familiar with the process, if a shortcoming is found an experienced a periodic quality circle can address it. Its been proven that most quality issues are either material or the process, its not usually the employees performance. If a Bench-marking program were to be implemented, the first step would be to established what the benchmark would be. Examples of which are; Percentage of Defects, Cost per unit processing time, Lost sales due to Out-of-Stocks and Customer Satisfaction Rates. If these type of factors were used in my situation, I would have used either Lost sales due to Out-of-Stocks or Customer Satisfaction Rates. mainly because I would have found out possibly a better way of keeping product in stock which could have reduced lost sales as well as a negative customer satisfaction due to no product. The benchmark team can find out what and how benchmark partners were doing to achieve their sales goals by tracking and keeping product stock, whereas to assure customer satisfaction. Then we could analyze the data from the partners and take the appropriate steps to move beyond and keep the process continually improving. C. Sources Investopedia (2013) A Division of ValueClick â€Å"www.investopedia.com†

Machine Made Ghost Essay Example for Free

Machine Made Ghost Essay Chapter six of â€Å"The Matrix and Philosophy† provides the study of the significant contribution of philosophy applied in the film art. Jason Holt wrote his philosophical analysis regarding the movie â€Å"the Matrix† with a large consideration on its relation with the ideas from some key philosophers in history. He drew some arguments using the perspective of the fictitious characters of the screenplay while key points were given supported by mainstream schools of thought. One of the points he raised is the theory of Rene Descartes that is commonly known as the Evil Demon Hypothesis saying that all knows for sure is one thing that they exist. It says that everything can be conceived as results being determined by a demon who just wants to mess with the people. And so, as applied in the movie â€Å"the Matrix†, the only thing that cannot be denied is the fact that everyone has a thought. This is something that cannot be in an illusory form therefore, all the assumptions we have about ourselves are for real and that we are as we think we are. Holt also placed emphasis and pointed out the idea of Mind-body problem. This idea also came from Descartes. The inter relation between mind and matter was used in the story several times. For example, with the scene where Neo was put in the challenge of having the trust that he will not fall from the skyscraper. Neo fell for not believing that he can leap to the next structure. Neo fell for not controlling the matters through his mind (Irwin, W. 2002. P. 66-74). That is where the mind- body got its significance. Descartes distinguishes mind from matters as two separated substances and made them interdependent. The mind is attributed with thoughts while in the case of matter, it is attributed with spaces. Here started the mind-body problem in which the question about the nature of mind and matter were brought into consideration. How can these two distinct variables possibly correlate or influence each other or what links them and affect each other. In a way, there remained the expectation that the mind is so powerful that anyone can make the matter including the body act, move, and appear the way we think. Things cannot have anything in common, as per Descartes, for if it happened, the fundamental state of objects cannot be different. So it became a big question in Holt’s work on how mind and body will be able to interact if they have nothing in common. We can recall that there are some philosophers in modern times have different to say. They are not convinced that mind and matter are different substances. What remained convincing them is the realistic view about the mind in which the distinction between mind and the brain states was apparent. Let’s say, one of the brains most impressive powers is that it is incredibly capable of learning. The mind is reducible to natural processes that can be translated into the language of scientific thought process like math. Holt deals largely on what’s in the mind. More than the subtlety that’s in it; the approach on metaphysical aspects of the mind is the center of this study. It had been a quest to knock the way out of empirical science to analyze the nature of the mind thoroughly. One key terminology used by Holt is â€Å"Machine-made ghost† which gives the picture of a variable structured by thought, to refer to the word ghost, related to the characteristic of a machine. What does it suggest then? It shows a challenging question regarding the possibility of creating an artificial minds or artificial soul. The matter that resembles a body may refer and relate to robotics or AI as used in the movie. More likely, it is far beyond the present capability of human to make it realized but it will not change the fact that it is possible. The link between Mind and Matter doesn’t just go one way whereas the mind determines the condition and situation of the matter. We must consider the fact that nothing determines which instead it is a relationship. It can be done vice versa. This movie â€Å"the Matrix† is conceived by its creators from a materialist perspective. There is an obvious attempt to discuss and explain all phenomena including the feelings of characters from the real world setting of the movie to the characters inside the Matrix like the Oracle and the architect. Everything that they disagree, and all ideas that they embrace are based by the choices they are making as they go along. This is claimed by the Oracle in one of her conversation with Neo saying that he already made those choice that now, all he needs to do is to go along and understand why he made those choices (Wachowski, A. L. 1999). Inside matrix, they are just plain copy of their actual self but the involvements of all repressed wishes provide the best claims for the theories and ideas used by Holt. References Irwin, W. (2002) The matrix and philosophy: welcome to the desert of the real. USA: Carus Publishing Company Wachowski, A. L. (1999). The Matrix. USA: Warner Brothers Studio

Feminism Portrayed In Movies

Feminism Portrayed In Movies Films have long been used as a tool to portray human imaginations and ideas that are sometimes deemed impossible in reality. The characters in films have had a huge impact, with regard to gender stereotype, on audiences of all ages (Neuendorf et. al., 2010). Though there have been debates of how female characters are being portrayed in films, from being submissive to hyper-sexualised and lately, adopting more dominant roles in films, has there really been a change in male characters in films instead (Gilpatric, 2010)? Have male characters in films adopt female traits like how the female characters have adopted manly traits? This paper looks into how the portrayals of male characters in films have changed or are changing and how they affect gender construction. The feminist movement has constantly fought for womens right and equality so as to place women on equal standing to men in the society. This revolution has since been translated onto the silver screens as films depict women playing prominent and dominant roles in films (Gilpatric, 2010; Neundorf et. al., 2010) which is a stark contrast to the past when women played a submissive and subservient roles to the male character. Furthermore, films mirror the changing nature of our society, expecting men to behave in accordance to societal expectations deconstructing the male stereotype. Thus, the increasing trend in films shifting away from portraying men as having the traditional masculine trait, reconstructing it to more what termed today as the New Age Men (NAM) has been a result of the increasing prominence and dominance of females in films and the evolving nature of the society. The NAM is thus seen as a fusion of having both the traditional traits of males and females, embracing both masculine and feminine traits. Here, masculinity is defined as having the size, physical strength, rejection to authority and the use of physical force (Eschholz and Bufkin, 2001). Along with those masculine traits, the NAM are also expected to have traits like caring and being able to handle housework. The birth of the NAM has been heavily attributed to the rise of females in films and the changing nature of the society. Men today feel there is a need to differentiate themselves from females in films to assert their dominance in the industry and to reintegrate into the society, deconstructing the male stereotype. Female Characters in Films Today. Male characters in films are moving away from having masculine traits due to the rise of female prominence and dominance in the roles they play by adopting those masculine traits. Female characters like Lara Croft and Kill Bill highlights the point that traits like submissive and subservient are no longer being associated with female character. The casting of the Bond girl character is as equally important, receiving just as much attention as the casting of James Bond himself, and though a Bond film may lack the innovative gadget, never has there been a Bond film without a Bond girl (Neuendorf et. al., 2010). This accentuates that the womens roles are equally important to the Bond character. Men, who relate closely to Bond who usually portray masculine traits, view this as a challenge to their masculinity as the Bond character is dependent on the female character. The lack of innovative gadgets also portrays a crisis in masculinity since men regard these technologies as macho (Neuend orf et. al., 2010). This is further amplified with female characters playing main characters in films being created with complex and enthralling personalities relative to male characters who are rather one-dimensional and are of minor interest (Russell-Watts, 2010). Women are also selected to play roles previously played and deemed suitable for men. Though Lara Croft and Kill Bill props to mind, the Hamlet by William Shakespeare is another example. Despite Hamlet being a male character, women have been manifesting their interest to play the role and there has been an increasing trend of women getting selected to personify Hamlet (Howard, 2007). Moreover, the Hamlet is known to be involved in violence as portrayed by the character Alexandra Tranda, who parallels the happenings of Hamlet to the events occuring in her life and ends up killing her father (Howard, 2007). Violence is defined as any intentional infliction of physical pain or harm (Eschholz and Bufkin, 2001) and has a positive correlation to masculinity (Eschholz and Bufkin, 2001; Neuendorf et. al., 2010; Gilpatric, 2010) thus proving an increase in violence equates to in an increase in masculinity. Men feel the idea of a women hamlet as unhealthy and feel ashamed for a woman to take th e Hamlet role (Howard, 2007). This is an indication to men that women are challenging their masculinity and dominance in the film industry especially in roles crafted for men. The rise of females in films adopting a more masculine nature and playing characters deemed more suited for men resulted men to feel challenged in their masculinity and has since led to a crisis in it. Men feel there is a need to differentiate themselves from the female characters and assert their masculinity and dominance within the society, re-constructing the gender stereotype to create the NAM. The Dynamic Nature of the Society. Films impact audiences (Gilpatric, 2010) and may portray a reflection of the society. The dynamic nature of the society portrayed through films has been a contributing factor to the deconstruction of the male gender stereotype to form the NAM. Relative to the past, women today are generally more educated, enabling them to take up jobs also held by men (Buchbinder, 2008). Accelerated by the feminist movement, women today are equally as likely as men to be casted to play professional roles and jobs like doctors and lawyers (Gilpatric, 2010). There is an increase of female characters holding major roles from 12% in 1960 to 32% in 1990 (Neuendorf et. al., 2010) and female characters in films can be a true representation of their position in the society as 51% US workers who hold high-paying management and professional jobs are women (Gilpatric, 2010). Similarly, most young man today expects to go through at least three major career changes in his life (Buchbinder, 2008). Also, improvemen ts in the economy have enabled both women and men to spend on luxury items. Narcissistic concern with ones look and body, traditionally marked as feminine are being linked to men, making it harder to comply with the traditional masculinity trait of a man (Buchbinder, 2008). There has also been a shift in the portrayal of men in films today. In the past, men have always adopted the central figure but roles recently played by men and women in films have been blurred as the gap between masculinity and feminity. According to Breillat, There is no masculine psychology in my cinema. They contain only what women feel and desire. Therefore, men must not try to recognise themselves in my male characters (Russell-Watts, 2010, p. 72). This shows that men play secondary roles to women in todays films restricting them to relate to the traditional male masculinity. Moreover, men are also increasingly portrayed in films as the figure of the schlemiel. Schlemiel is a Yiddish word which means a foolish personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a social misfit (Buchbinder, 2008, p. 228) and is unable to meet the performance and attitudinal requirements of traditional masculinity (Buchbinder, 2008, p. 230). For instance, Bond girls have been known to play independent and intelligent roles eve n outwitting Bond himself in the latest Bond movie. Despite Bond films representing Bond as having a chauvinistic persona (Neuendorf et. al., 2010), this places Bond in the Schlemiel category of a foolish character causing men to view this as a crisis to their masculinity. These factors when combined has resulted men to lose its masculine traits and restricted them to conform to the traditional masculine traits deconstructing the traditional male stereotype and reconstruct the NAM to help them assimilate back into society and be of an equal standing or higher to the women. Stereotypes Still Prevails. Some might argue that despite the rising prominence and dominance of women, the subservient and submissive nature of womens portrayal still prevail while mens masculinity are still confined to the traditional stereotype. Women in films are still regarded as subservient and submissive as the dominance exerted is based on a maternal motif, creating a stereotype of mothers or wives to save her child or loved ones (Gilpatric, 2010). Moreover, the societal movement of feminism is lacking, as women in films today still report to a more dominant male character (Neuendorf et. al., 2010), acting as a sidekick to a male character and getting involved in a romantic relationship with them (Gilpatric, 2010). Male characters though may have less masculine traits as portrayed by Robert in the movie Romance, his masculinity is emphasised through his occupation, being the boss of the main female character (Russell-Watts, 2010). This proves that despite being portrayed as dominant character in films t oday, women still conform to the gender stereotype of the traditional feminine traits of reporting to a more dominant male character. Some may argue also that films may not be a true reflection of society hence the portrayal of men as less masculine are not true. Films portray women as successful only when they are thin and attractive (Neuendorf et. al., 2010) when in fact, success is judged based on merit and not only looks. Building on, by showcasing one man as less masculine in the form of the schlemiel figure, subtly it provides a foil for other male characters to stand out, bringing out the masculine traits in the other male characters, (Buchbinder, 2008) indicating that male characters in movies still conform to the male gender stereotype of masculinity. New Age Man is the New Man. Despite the portrayal of women as subservient and submissive, women are still just as likely as men to commit violent acts in films. Presently, women are more likely to show acts of aggression (Neundorf et. al., 2010) and masculinity levels in male and females have increased (Eschholz and Bufkin, 2001). Though many may argue that the feminist movement may not have reached its promised desire, it cannot be regarded as a failure. Womens role in movies has since increased transcending the traditional feminine traits (Gilpatric, 2010). No longer women are being portrayed as one-dimensional who plays stereotypical female characters. Moreover, men today are unlikely to conform to the traditional form of masculinity although they may still hold superiority over the female characters as masculinity portrayed by men in films today is excessive in nature and something that men cannot relate to. The rugged masculinity shown through characters played by Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger is being described as a fantasy (Eschholz and Bufkin, 2001). Men feels there is a need to form a new identity something that they can relate to and has slowly since give rise to the birth of the NAM. Though portraying men as less masculine or as the schlemiel figure helps to bring out the masculinity in other male characters (Buchbinder, 2008), this very need has proved that there is a decreasing trend in films, which showcase men as masculine. Conclusion. Films have evolved tremendously down the years and will continue to do so at such rapid rate. As womens roles in films continue to rise and take centre stage, male characters in films have since taken steps in the opposite direction, adopting lesser of the traditional masculine traits but instead adopt more feminine traits. This has not being helped by the changing nature of the society where women continue to rise in status at workplaces challenging men for jobs. The birth of the NAM has been heavily attributed to the rising dominance and prominence of female characters in films and also the changing nature of the society. As the world become more globalized, womens status in society is also expected to improve and NAM may well form a new stereotype for men in times to come. (1996 Words)

freedol Pain of Freedom in Ibsens A Dolls House :: Dolls House essays

The Pain of Freedom in A Doll’s House Three Sources In Henrik Isben's play, A Doll’s House, the characters of Nora Helmer, Kristine Linde, and Nils Krogstad suffered to achieve their freedom. A woman of the Victorian period, Nora Helmer was both a prisoner of her time as well as a pioneer. In her society women were viewed as a inferior to men and were not provided full legal rights. Women of that era were expected to stay at home and attend to the needs of their spouse and children. Nora was a free spirit just waiting to spread her wings; her husband Torvald would constantly disallow the slightest pleasures that she aspired to have, such as macaroons. Nora lived a life of lies in order to hold her marriage together. She kept herself pleased with little things such as telling Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde; "I have such a huge desire to say-to hell and be damned!" (Isben 59) Just so she could release some tension that was probably building inside her due to all the restrictions that Torvald had set up, such as forbidding macaroons. The need for her to consume these macaroons behind her controlling husband's back was a way for her to satisfy her sense of needing to be an independent woman. Upon the arrival of her old friend Kristine Linde, Nora took it upon herself to find her friend a job since she had gone through a lot in her life. She asked her husband Torvald, who also happened to be the new manager at the bank if Kristine could have a job and he responded with an afirmative response. Mrs. Helmer had also stated that she had single handedly saved her husband's life when she took out a loan for his benefit. However, in those days women were unable to get a loan without their husband's consent or another male's signature, so Nora took it upon herself to forge her father's signature in order to secure the welfare of Torvald. She saw it as her obligation as a loving wife to break the law so she would be able to save a life, especially when it was the life of her husband. Others though saw it as a criminal offence; Nils Krogstad for example accused Nora of violating the law to which Nora replied: This I refuse to believe.

Night And A Farewell To Arms: Eliezer And Frederic :: essays research papers

In Night and A Farewell to Arms, the reader follows the characters of Elie Wiesel and Ernest Hemingway through their personal struggles between love and war. In Night, Eliezer faces malnutrition, Nazis, and concentration camps, while Frederick Henry, in A Farewell to Arms, struggles with love, patriotism, and religion. Despite their differences, the journeys of these two young men are remarkably similar; they both are prisoners of war, they both lose the person they love most, and they both face a bleak and dismal fate.Frederic and Eliezer are both prisoners of war but in different ways. Frederic has a strong emotional attachment to the war. â€Å"Don’t talk about the war,† he says after abandoning the front, â€Å"it was over†¦but I did not have the feeling it was really over† (Hemingway 245). For Frederic the war captured his mind in a way that he cannot escape. Eliezer is also a POW but in a more concrete and physical way. Before being imprisoned, Eliezer is stripped of his clothes, his self-respect, and his identity, and he is forced into barracks. â€Å"The barracks we had been made to go into were very long†¦The antechamber of Hell must look like this. So many crazed men, so many cries, so many bestial brutality† (Wiesel 32). It is only love that allowed Frederic and Eliezer to survive their prisons. Catherine Barkley is Frederick’s true love. â€Å"I felt damned lonely and was glad when the train got to Stresa†¦I was expecting my wife†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hemingway 243-244). This quote shows the physical and emotional yearning that Catherine inspires in Frederic. This desire for her is what helps him through the war. Eliezer’s love, on the other hand, is directed towards his father. Eliezer feels that his father is his only possesion that the Nazis cannot take from him. â€Å"I’ll watch over you and then you can watch over me. We won’t let each other fall asleep. We will look after each other† (Wiesel 85). The loss of both Eliezer’s father and Frederic’s fiancà ©e ones is what inevitably leads to a dismal future. The tragic fall of these two young characters is directly related to the toll their prisons place on them and the absence of the ones they love. â€Å"I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror a corpse gazed back at me† (Wiesel 109). As Eliezer looks at himself, he sees that he is a hollow boy.

Public v. Private Life Essay

In Milan Kundera’s book, Testaments Betrayed, he contends that people act very differently when they are in public compared to their private lives. Milan appropriately emphasizes the need for separation between one’s public and private life, and asserts that the real criminals are the ones who attempt to break that boundary. Logically, people will say and do things when they are alone that would be beyond the realm of appropriate behavior when they are in public. Therefore, I agree with Kundera’s claim that the curtain between these two worlds should not be tampered with and that the curtain-rippers are the actual offenders. There are many times where national chaos and embarrassment has been created through people meddling in the private lives of other people. For example, the paparazzi are constantly trying to expose the personal experiences of countless celebrities. Recently they succeeded with the infiltration of the universal picture-messaging application, Snapchat, as well as Apple’s coveted web-based storage facility, the iCloud. These hackers were able to obtain numerous explicit photographs of renowned actresses, including Jennifer Lawrence and Victoria Justice, and distribute them for the world to see. This is extremely embarrassing to those women and, much to their chagrin, those pictures meant for somebody close and important to them are now being hungrily consumed by the eyes of some 12-year old kid on their laptop. Since this barrier between private and personal life was broken by meddlers, these celebrities are now viewed as indecent, and have lost much of the admiration they had before the incident. How could the exposure of one’s private life to the entire world possibly be considered just? These ladies did nothing wrong, yet they are harshly criticized for their actions because somebody wanted to interfere in their private lives. This incident clearly demonstrates that the insatiable paparazzi, not the innocent celebrities, are the true criminals here. Our nation’s history also holds many instances of interferers meddling in the private lives of our elected officials. One such example would be Bill  Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. Yes, he did cheat on his wife, but was it really fair to let the entire world know that he did that? When the government was informed about the situation, the president’s unfortunate predicament was broadcast to the entire nation. The situation escalated to the point of unjustified impeachment hearings, but fortunately Clinton was acquitted by the Senate. Clinton nearly lost his beloved wife and his job because his private life was exposed by those who had no right to be sticking their noses into his personal affairs. The peeping Toms that yanked open the curtain between Clinton’s actions backstage and his affairs in the public’s spotlight completely ruined Clinton’s life. If these felons hadn’t intruded, Clinton would have been spared a world full of ignominy and embarrassment. Therefore, it is indisputable that the ones truly at fault are the criminals who exposed Clinton, because his lives, both private and public, were devastated by their irresponsible actions. In summary, past invasions of privacy have shown that many negative effects may result from such rash and unprovoked actions. It is therefore only just and proper that the steel grate between one’s private and public lives remain forever and eternally sealed.

How Reality Telivision Promotes Teen Pregnancy Essay

Reality television often has the tendency to present an unrealistic view towards issues regarding real life situations. Teen pregnancy is one of the most misleading topics presented on reality television. Tabloids feed off of the shows’ popularity by plastering the pictures of the teens on magazines and online, making them seem more appealing. Teen pregnancy as presented on reality television shows is irresponsible, dangerous and misleading by promoting an unrealistic view of young parenthood, encouraging pregnancy and glamorizing the consequences that result from such issues. Parenthood is the leading cause of girls dropping out of school. More than 50% of teenage mothers do not graduate from high school. The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the western world. Bearing a child at any age can be difficult but for teenagers it can have substantial negative effects not only for the teen but also for their families. Since teenagers are mainly dependent on their parents or guardians this burden is pushed back on them as well. Studies show that 3 in 10 American teen girls will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year and about 25% of teen moms will have a second child within two years of their first child. In some cases, children born from parents who are adolescent will have more behavioral problem and poorer education than those children born to more mature aged parents. Childbearing also costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars due to increased public assistance programs, foster and public health care. Despite these unfortunate facts, between 1991 and 2013,  the teen birth rate has decreased from 61.8 to 26.6 per 1,000 teens. Although the birth rate has dropped, the U.S. still has the highest birth rate compared to other developed countries. According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, 82% of teen pregnancies are unintended. Teen Mom is a reality show aired by MTV that broadcasts the lives of teenagers who are dealing with parenthood. Besides their dealing with parenthood they also have to face the challenges of finishing school, moving out of their parents’ home, finding a job to support their child and possibly their higher education. While these are ultimately real life situations and challenges today’s society has a more lenient view towards pregnant women that are not married. Although majority of teens deal with the same issues once they are faced with having a child there are some pieces of reality television that is not much of a reality which can cause teens to be less concerned with how realistic theses shows are. Majority of the mothers on these shows have the full support of their parents whether it be finding them a home, watching the child while the teen is working or at school, and even monetarily. Not every parent will be supportive of their child having a baby nor will every parent be willing to assist their child in any way shape or form. Unfortunately it is not common for the fathers of the children to be uninterested in caring for the child or being financially responsible for their child. However, not every father is represented or acts like a â€Å"dead beat† father but the way they are represented on these shows does not realistically present the same outcome for each family. Aside from misrepresenting young parenthood the shows aired by MTV are often criticized of glamorizing teen pregnancy. The â€Å"stars† of the show are given extra publicity by having their names and faces on magazines and articles online with things regarding their lives outside of their pregnancy. A study found that the teens who watch shows such as â€Å"Teen Mom† and â€Å"16 and Pregnant† have a skewed idea of young parenthood. Teens who watch these shows heavily are led to believe that the young moms have supportive partners, substantial income and an enviable lifestyle which is a completely  untrue reality for other young parents who do not lave camera crews recording their every move. In a high school survey of 185, researcher were able to link teens who watched these reality shows with unrealistic views of what it is like to be a young parent. The teens seems to believe that being a young parent was easy which might increase the likelihood that they would be less cautious of having safe sex, not being so concerned with the consequences that can stem from unprotected sex. While talking about teen pregnancy majority of comment and conversations focus on the negative aspects, but there are certain aspects that people can consider when talking about such an important issue. Although teen parents are having a child it does not make them fully mature, this leaves room for the teens to grow and develop along with their child. Having a baby is a life changing thing and often it leads people to want more for not only themselves but also their child. This realization can lead to being more responsible not only with their lives and their baby’s life, but with what they have going on around them such as being employed to support their child and even gaining or continuing their education to make a better life for themselves. Balancing school with parenthood can be easier than balancing with a career. Since school often has flexible hours, or at least hours you can choose yourself, which allows you to give yourself more time. A full time college student has an average of 12-15 hours a week to take classes, with another 10-12 hours dedicated to studying there would be a max of 30 hours a week dedicated to school work. On the other hand a career takes up at least 40-60 hours a week without the luxury to have such flexible hours. In young parenthood there are some upsides that can be beneficial to the parents and the child but the cons outweigh the pros by far. Not only does the teen have to grow up faster and have greater responsibility than they usually would they are faced with a lack of socialization. Not being able to hang out with friends, going to prom and engaging in normal teenage  activities can cause young parents to feel more alone. After understanding pregnancy from either experience or an actual realistic experience teens will realize that pregnancy is a very serious thing and is even harder when you are young and cannot fully and independently care for yourself and your child. Unfortunately, reality shows like â€Å"Teen Mom† and â€Å"16 and Pregnant† only show partly what the teens have to deal with and even then it does not amount to the emotional aspects of dealing with such a life changing issue. Despite the seemingly positive results from teen pregnancy, there are more negative aspects in which reality shows try to glamorize which poses more levity to becoming a young parent. Should these shows be considered â€Å"realistic† when there are millions of teen parents who know what true parenthood is actually about?

Panic Attacks Essay

Beryl’s father had died 5 years ago and her mother had recently been diagnosed with having dementia. Beryl was seeing her GP on a regular basis, seeking re-assurance with chest pains. She had undergone a number of medical tests and her physical health was good for her age. The Assessment Beryl reported that she first experienced panic attacks as a teenager, and could remember difficult arguments with her father. Her GP prescribed medication for anxiety and panic attacks when she was in her early twenties, during a stressful time in her work environment, being married with 2 small children and running a home. The work situation was not resolved and Beryl was eventually made redundant. She remained at home, looking after the children and her husband. Beryl’s father died when she in her thirties, which left Beryl feeling responsible for her mother, who could not adjust to losing her husband. The Approach Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) was selected because it can teach the client how to replace negative thinking with positive thinking and uses cognitive exercises to dispel irrational beliefs. In the initial assessment, there was clear evidence that Beryl wanted to make a change and she was keen to engage in homework tasks. She was able to focus on the relevant issues for therapy and her treatment goals were discussed and agreed. At times of increased stress for Beryl, a vicious cycle was activated, involving fear, physical symptoms, catastrophic interpretations of bodily sensations, and safety behaviours. Treatment work addressed the panic attacks which, in turn, led to a shift with the agoraphobic symptoms. The validity of Beryl’s catastrophic interpretations was tested out through discussion and ehavioural experiments. Alternative non-catastrophic thinking was introduced and safety behaviours were identified and decreased. Throughout therapy, Beryl was encouraged to keep a diary to identify her unhelpful thinking which led to her negative feelings and behaviour. She was also encouraged to talk about her fears which enabled Beryl to see that they were unfounded. C onclusion Due to Beryl’s high level of motivation, therapy progressed well and only 8 sessions of REBT were appropriate to bring about lasting change.

Educational Orientation for African Americans Essay

â€Å"Reality depends on one’s perception of the world. Thus, although there is one school, each student perceives his or her experiences in that school differently. Reality exists in that individual perception† (Marcus, Gross, & Seefeldt, 1991, p. 364). Ensuring social justice and opportunities of achievement for all students, especially historically underrepresented groups, has been my mission in life for many years. Concerned with issues like equal opportunity and treatment for all students, regardless of students’ social class, ethnicity, or family structure, I have always attempted to be cognizant of students’ perspectives. As a counselor in a school that is predominantly white with a few African American students I would like to research intervention strategies that would make those African American students in my school be more successful. There are many factors associated with school failure, especially in African American males. The purpose of this research is to identify those factors and develop interventions strategies to apply to combat the school failure of those students. Examining their culture and of the causes of this phenomena and understanding how they experience school was critical in identifying the issues and influences on their educations. Students’ failures to learn and succeed do not occur out of thin air. More specifically, African American boys’ failures to achieve do not occur out of thin air. A review of literature on Black male achievement shows that not only do they lag behind their White counterparts in America, but also in Britain and Canada (Graham & Robinson, 2004; Smith, Schneider, & Ruck, 2005). Attention must be given to examining policies, practices, attitudes, and experiences that create such failure in schools (Christle, Jolivette, & Nelson, 2005; Kagan, 1990; Nieto, 1999). Educators have many responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is to examine the reasons for the failure of students. Marian Wright Edelman (1992) sums up the purpose of education and echoes my belief of the responsibility of educators: â€Å"Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it† (pp. 9-10). The decision to study African American males in middle school arises from personal interest in equity and social justice issues. Tied to that is my experience in middle schools where I have been witness to struggling students, particularly African American males from low socioeconomic neighborhoods, who have demonstrated a lack of success in school. One cannot help but wonder why being Black and male puts students at risk for school failure (Davis, 2003; Noguera, 2003). For these reasons, my research is focused on a group of African American who are not successful in school; those who are struggling academically, demonstrating inappropriate behavior at school, and not putting forth effort to meet their academic potential. The research will seek to identify the influences, or the lack thereof, impacting these students’ success. When factoring in other issues that potentially result from a lack of educational attainment, such as involvement in illegal activity and incarceration of African American students, it is easy to see that we cannot afford to gamble on whether or not these students will make it on their own. Alarming statistics create a sense of urgency and responsibility for educators in reaching African American students in particular. Predictions based on steady incarceration rates reveal that 32% of African American males will likely serve time in state or federal prisons during the course of their lifetimes (U. S. Department of Justice, 2002). We are living in a country where twice as many African Americans live below the poverty line than Caucasians and where 40% of jail inmates are African American (U. S. Department of Commerce, 2002; U. S. Department of Justice, 2002). African Americans have held the lead in the percentage of people unemployed for three years consecutively (U. S. Department of Labor, 2003). Such statistics, when coupled with economic consequences of failing to adequately educate all students, paint a bleak picture for a large segment of our population. Gibbs (1988) goes so far as to say that African American males are an â€Å"endangered species. † She uses a dictionary definition to define this term as â€Å"a class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name [which is] in danger or peril of probable harm or loss† (p. 1). It is critical that struggling African American students are identified early to help avoid the dismal scenarios. The implications of failing to identify and assist struggling students at the earliest point possible not only have an immediate effect on students but also carry long-term consequences for students, communities, and the nation (Gibbs, 1988; Lee, 2002; President’s Committee, 1997). The educational and societal implications of not reaching this group of students are worthy of great concern. The lack of both academic progress and motivation to learn are symptoms of a larger problem. Without getting to the root causes for the underachievement of African American males, another year goes by and they fall further behind their academically excelling peers, lowering their chances of passing their grades or scoring at proficiency on the required yearly standardized tests. On a larger scale, this â€Å"silent catastrophe,† as a member of the London Parliament refers to the underachievement of Black male students, lays the foundation for impediments to quality of life, earned income, and other obstacles in these individuals’ lives, as well as implications for the greater society (Graham & Robinson, 2004, p. 654). behaviors children exhibit and failing to see the real problems. Conversations may take place between the teacher and the student or the student and an administrator on a superficial level inquiring as to why they are misbehaving or failing, but the deliberate search for the root causes is often set aside to deal with the immediate problem of behavior or unwillingness to learn. Students who are not succeeding academically often become â€Å"casualties of the educational systems that cannot see them because their problems remain invisible† (Nieto, 2004, p. 17). Classroom interventions, parent contacts, disciplinary consequences, counseling, and tutoring are a few of the strategies educators have implemented to improve student learning and chances of success. However, with some students it does not appear that we have scratched the surface of the underlying issues. Without getting to the root causes for the underachievement of African American males, another year goes by and they fall further behind their academically excelling peers, lowering their chances of passing their grades or scoring at proficiency on the required yearly standardized tests. On a larger scale, this â€Å"silent catastrophe,† as a member of the London Parliament refers to the underachievement of Black male students, lays the foundation for impediments to quality of life, earned income, and other obstacles in these individuals’ lives, as well as implications for the greater society (Graham & Robinson, 2004, p. 654). Irvine and Irvine (1994) suggested there are two perspectives that sum up the critical factor analysis on African American students’ failure in school. The first they call the achievement problematic, which suggests that Black students’ school failure is related to their cultural beliefs, perceptions and values about education. The second, cultural problematic, suggests that indifference to African American student culture is responsible for African American student school failure. The cultural vs. structural argument with regard to minority education is a common theme within sociology of education research. Empirical studies often highlight one or the other as contributing the under-achievement of African American. An examination of the various cultural and structural theories will put this debate into context.

Does Trainspotting Glorify Heroin and Drug Taking?

DOES TRAINSPOTTING GLORIFY HEROIN AND DRUG TAKING? Danny Boyle’s outstanding adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s stunning novel â€Å"Trainspotting† has managed to stir some trouble since its release in 1996. Most reviews call it shocking but no matter how shocking it still ranks as one of the best Scottish movies. The film caused debates about drug use, specifically heroin, as it neither condones the use of heroin nor shuns those who have become addicted to the drug. There are many valid arguments stating that the movie glorifies heroin and other drug usage.Take, for example, during the opening scenes of the movie, Renton (the main character) tells the audience that he wouldn’t choose life, and that he has no reason for this and continues – â€Å"who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin? †. He’s telling the audience that life is nothing compared to heroin, he’d rather choose to rot his life away and throw his money away on an i llegal, life destroying drug and that he can’t justify it. He’s glorifying heroin by stating that heroin negates any reason for choosing a responsible and safe life.It is clear how people believe that the movie glorifies heroin as this is not the only point in the movie that heroin is said to be better than life. Later on in the opening scenes, Renton lists some of the things you worry about in life (bills, food, football and relationships) but finishes by saying – â€Å"all the things that really don’t matter when you have a sincere and truthful junk habit. † This list includes things that are relatively essential to a healthy life – food for the obvious reasons, football or other hobbies so that life isn’t all work and relationships that make people happy and sane.Apparently, however, a junk habit is worth so much more than things that can make humans happy. â€Å"Junk†, a word used to describe filth or garbage, is better for your life than food or relationships. This clearly glorifies heroin as it’s taking human needs and saying that heroin is much better and more important. On the contrary however, the film is not biased. It does not just glorify heroin and other drugs, in fact, at some points the film even shows the extreme damage that drugs can do.Take the scene where Renton is going cold turkey for instance. In this scene, Renton has a frantic dream in which he is threatened by Begbie, he visualises Spud in a prison outfit and Tommy is shown to look sick and weak. He also visualises baby Dawn, the infant that died earlier in the movie, crawling along the ceiling before twisting her head and dropping on his face. This sort of dream can cause great psychological damage, Renton could suffer from recurring nightmares due to his hallucinations and end up mentally ill.Not only does Trainspotting show the psychological effects of drugs but also the dangers of heroin use. Later in the film, Tommy co ntracts HIV from a dirty needle. This isn’t the end of Tommy’s sicknesses. He buys a kitten for his ex who declines it and Tommy has to keep it. He takes terrible care of it as he is drugged up most of the time and the cat begins to defecate all over his flat. This causes Tommy to get toxoplasmosis which causes him to have a stroke and he dies in his flat. His lack of sobriety was the problem.If he hadn’t have been using heroin, he could have got his girlfriend back, avoiding the kitten issue and not getting toxoplasmosis but unfortunately he was using heroin which shows how heroin can swiftly destroy a life. In conclusion, Trainspotting finds the perfect balance and neither glorifies nor condemns those that use heroin or any drug. The arguments on one side are negated by arguments on the other so it is not possible to say that Trainspotting is biased when it comes to the glorification of heroin and drugs.

Distance Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Distance Education - Essay Example Today's distance education encompasses all courses, except pure medicine, that too till now. With education being revolutionised almost by the day, there is no guarantee that medicine too would not be offered as a course in distance education. Distance education has opened new vistas and new dreams. People, who had found it difficult to continue or complete their education owing to various reasons, have been offered another opportunity to do so through distant education. ""The prominence of education and learning within the post-industrial, information society analysis was in no small part responsible for the high-profile reassessment of education and training by education and politicians in developed countries over the latter half of the 1990s," (Selwyn, 2006, p.5). Open learning offers greater flexibility to study, with the student's own pace, in whichever place, at whatever time, supported by Internet or intranet and all the choices are of the student alone. But without the academic support of Universities, distance learning cannot function. It needs greater efforts from universities and faculties to improve quality of learning experience while providing greater flexibility of study, and encourage easy access to programmes. Main purpose of this new trend has been to add value to flexibility. It had always been noticed that a great amount of rigidity prevailed in the educational scene of the country, in the name of tradition, discipline and educational highhandedness. Distance education's main purpose was to lessen this rigidity in the field of education so that it could be evolutionary and reachable. University's learning and teaching strategies should lay out a path through which accessibility of programmes could be extended. For people who are unable, or unwilling to attend classes, this includes up a new region of possibilities by offering full award bearing and accredited programmes and short courses. Learners could be local and distant; but usually, full programmes will be particularly relevant for international students, Distance education does not come cheap. It needs development of substantial and high cost materials and support mechanisms that are expensive. It cannot be done unless it is an adequately funded venture. Design and delivery of programmes has to take account of recent research and this, sometimes, means additional expenditure. Universities have to be confident that there is an adequate market to repay the hopeful spending. Programme should be appropriate, and improve the quality of learning experience. They also have to ensure that quality should be equivalent to any campus programme. Particular concern has to be taken to ensure that e-programmes are delivered in the most pedagogically effective way possible. Educational research has been going on full swing and emerging results have brought up many theories of learning and these have to be taken into account while preparing the material. Students need

Is there any relation between change of auditors and the client's Dissertation

Is there any relation between change of auditors and the client's stock price - Dissertation Example As the performances and financial transactions of a company have direct effect on the stock prices, hence choice of auditors is considered as an essential factor for every business. Depending on the individual needs and the performances of both the business and the audit team, change in auditors is also performed by several businesses, which in turn has either a positive or negative effect on the stock prices. This particular research has been focused on understanding the relation that change in auditors has with stock prices of a company. And, it could be obtained from this particular study that agency theory can be well associated with the employment of auditor agencies and that the change in auditors has a direct relation with the prices of stocks. 1. ... ry researchers on role of auditors, the relation between change in auditors and stock prices of client companies, and the positive and negative impacts of share prices on change in auditors. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected and analyzed to determine the reasons for change in auditors. Stock prices of client companies and characteristics of the firms significantly determine the relationship of the companies with their auditor firms. Different business organizations having different characteristics and processes in their businesses result in varying demands for the quality of audits. This is particularly in association with external auditors that perform an audit over the companies. Some of the common determinants of business firms for choosing the quality of auditors include their membership in the finance sector, leverage, size, profitability and their market-to-book ratio. Thus the choice of auditors by an organization is related to the above mentioned fact ors (Aksu, Onder and Saatcioglu 2007). The role of auditors takes place in a business environment that is highly regulated. Both the audit firms and the individual auditors have certain independent requirements along with ethical fulfillment that they need to encounter and follow (Great Britain 2011). Quality auditing is what is expected by every business organization and hence the choice and selection of quality audits is considered as essential for business firms. Specific skills are essential for quality audit works to be performed by auditors. This includes personal talents of the auditors, dedicated training, and wide range of experiences. It is often considered as similar to police work and based on the audit, a company’s performance in terms of financial dealings and achievements

Techniques available for Resource allocation and aggregation in Essay

Techniques available for Resource allocation and aggregation in Construction Project Management - Essay Example Resource management is more important in construction Management because common resources are utilized for different projects and it is essential that Project Scheduling be done keeping the resources availability into consideration. The project planning should be resource oriented scheduled. When we talk about resources for construction industry we will confine ourselves with human resources, financial resources and machinery and equipments. It is a common phenomenon that all projects suffer from resource constraint, abundant resources are not available at the disposal of the managers, nor is it desirable. The management skill lies with the optimum utilization of resources and that is possible only in case of resource constraints. Take example for an organization where simultaneously multiple projects are into operation, the available manpower, Machinery and Equipment needs to be properly deployed and needs to be planned along with the project plan so that same machineries can be used in all the projects. Skilled manpower also can be shared by the projects by simply proper planning of the projects. The activities of each of the projects needs to be scheduled in such a way that deployment of the skilled manpower and machinery is synchronized. The project scheduling exercise should include the resource scheduling also. Here we will first discuss the process of decision-making followed by the techniques available for resource allocation and aggregatio

The Homeless Policy in New York City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Homeless Policy in New York City - Essay Example In addition, the viability of community policing as an efficient strategy in augmenting the policy will be addressed from a social and historical perspective. a. A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); As a general overview, homelessness is on the rise all over the country. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in as study spanning 24 major cities , the demand for different forms of emergency shelter "had increased by 13% in 2001, and had swelled to 25% in 2005.. All in all, 71% of the cities registered an increase from the previous year." (Mayors, 2005) Aside from that, people were homeless for an average of seven months, a very disturbing figure which only continues to grow annually. In New York, Port Authority had banned panhandling in PATH subway stations and bus terminals nearly two decades ago, and this was a ruling that has been repeatedly been upheld by the Supreme Court. With dwindling funding and inadequate support from the local government, the common perception is that these big cities have turned their backs on the homeless. It is a pressing problem that is constantly looking us in the eye, and yet is continually ignored. Historically, homelessness started its rapid rise in the 1980's, when the Reagan administration cut public funding for low-cost housing in half. To further illustrate this, "between 1980 and 1989 the Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget was slashed from $74 billion to $19 billion". (Dreier, 2004) This resulted in an a shortfall in the availability of low-cost housing, just as the population in the concerned areas was increasing. It is widely believed that a lot of those displaced by these measures ended up in the streets, resulting in an exponential jump in the national homeless numbers. Coupled with the deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals which also displaced a lot of mentally ill patients, the city was being faced with a chronic and nagging problem that was turning critical by the day. New York was at the center of this social unrest in 1988, "when a riot erupted in Tompkins Square Park as police forcibly attempted to enforce a freshly-signed curfew on the park"(Purdum, 1988) This curfew was widely viewed as a thinly veiled attempt to evict the homeless residing in the park., and it quickly turned into a human rights snafu as numerous innocent bystanders were caught up in the fracas. Civic-minded organizations within the city tried their very best to assist the