John Adams Defends the Red Coats

Although John Adams defended the British redcoats at the end of 1770, the Boston Massacre actually happened March 5, 1770. Furthermore, events that led to the culmination of that night dated back to 1767 (Timeline). Many factors went into the decision, by John Adams, to defend the British soldiers. The atmosphere of the times dictated much of that evening and of that trial. For the time it was a radical thing for a man such as John Adams to defend the British troops, however his respect of the law led to his defense of the British troops.John Adams was right in defending the redcoat in the Boston Massacre trial because he saw the actions of the redcoats as nothing more than men defending their lives. In 1767, with the passing of the Townshend Acts, the civilians began their resentment towards the British Parliament as well as the British troops stationed in Boston. The Townshend Acts were a series of Acts passed by congress on June 29, 1767 to increase taxes of commonly imported prod ucts on the Colonies.Having new taxes imposed by the British as well as their military presence in Boston angered the civilians. During this time John Adams was a local lawyer in Boston working case to case (Miller Center). In late 1768 more British troops came to reestablish order in Boston per order of the Crown. The climate of this time was a hostile one on the part of the civilians. â€Å"The civilians reacted to the redcoats like they were invaders by taunting them through name calling, spitting, and fighting† (Timeline). By the time March 5, 1770 occurred, an incident had been bound to happen.With the distress of the townspeople and the presence of British soldiers, a disaster like this was waiting to happen. When the dust settled, and the day was done, 5 civilians were killed at the hands of the redcoats. John Adams, a local lawyer in the Boston area and graduate of Harvard, defended in court the men accused of the Boston Massacre. With all of the social pressure, livi ng in Boston, it would have been easy to give up but John Adams saw the law for what the law was. He did not look at it as redcoat against Boston, but as man against man.In his closing argument for the defense of the British soldiers he questioned the jury; â€Å"Would it have been a prudent resolution in them, or in any body in their situation, to have stood still, to see if the sailors would knock their brains out, or not? † (Miss, 5). As a defense lawyer it is their responsibility to make a case for the accused party as reasonable doubt. With that quote John Adams did just that. He posed a question to the jury basically saying â€Å"what were they supposed to do, roll over and die? † He saw the redcoats’ behavior as defense.The entire time the British troops had been stationed in Boston they had not once had an incident such as the Boston Massacre; the only time they opened fire on the Bostonians was when the civilians came at them in a combative manner. John Adams had every right to defend the redcoats with the plausible â€Å"it was in self defense† defense. He was a Harvard Law graduate with a law firm to run and clients he believed were only acting in self defense. His action to defend the redcoats was the just thing to do. The British soldiers were put in a position where there were either going to die or they were going to fight back.The redcoats’ job was to be soldiers for the Crown. The Crown implemented more troops in Boston on October 1, 1768 to reestablish order in that area of the country. At that time the people of Boston were growing increasingly hostile and combative. By the time the Boston Massacre had occurred there was much history between the redcoats and the civilians of Boston. John Adams knew that history and did not choose sides based on loyalty. He interpreted the situation as a â€Å"do or die† situation on the part of the soldiers and defended them as such. He used his knowledge of the law in his closing statement for the defense of the redcoats.Ultimately his position on the Boston Massacre impacted the lives of the British soldiers in a positive way. His actions were noble because he pushed aside his personal history with the city and defended his clients according to the law rather than letting the atmosphere of Boston dictate his defense and his closing argument. Works Cited â€Å"American President: A Reference Resource. † Miller Center. University of Virginia. Web. 30 Oct 2012. . â€Å"Historic Timeline. † Boston Massacre Historical Society. Boston Massacre Historical Society, n. d. Web. 30 Oct 2012. . Miss, Angela. Boston Massacre Defense. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 4-5. Print.

Satirical Essay

11/19/12 English III Homelessness has been an issue of much dispute throughout time, regardless of whether it is in present day Portland, Maine or in the ancient city of Rome, Italy. People have been trying to aid the wanderers for a very long time, but clearly, have never found a good solution to the problem. People are sick and tired of walking out of their door in the morning and finding a vagrant, still reeking of alcohol which they purchased with a good Samaritan’s donation, on their stoop.The people fortunate enough to have a home and a good job should not have to suffer when they walk down the street past hobos begging for a few dollars. It is not fair that the wealthy have to interact with the dregs of society on a daily basis. This problem has to be dealt with. That is why I propose that our society is in much need of the program, Clean Up The Streets (CUTS). The program resolves many different aspects of the issue . If the homeless are sent to landfills to collect ca rdboard and other material in which they can build their own houses with, this gets them out of sight of the wealthy.In addition to removing the homeless from our lives, it also aids the environment. With this new program, hobos are given a job in which they remove materials from landfills which they can then use to build shelters with. Yearly, Americans throw away 30. 9 tons of good food; this will make wasteful people feel as if they are actually helping people when they throw away unappreciated food. This also means that there will be plenty of food for the newly housed and employed people. Also, about $1 billion dollars worth of medicine is thrown out each year, so illness will be quelled as well.The new CUTS program is flawless; it resolves the issues of Grinnell 2 vagabondage, employment, and environmental problems. In today’s society, the homeless only get in our way. This is why it is imperative that the CUTS program be accepted. The first step in cleaning up our stre ets is housing the homeless. We can do this without donating half of our yearly salary to some hopeless program that supposedly builds fancy houses for the lesser people. With the CUTS program, all homeless are sent to landfills where they salvage our waste. This is very beneficiary to both arties of society. The primary goal of the CUTS program is to house every single homeless person in America, and we can do this without taxing the rich to give to the poor. They (society’s privileged few) can now feel good about themselves when they throw away their trash, knowing it’s going to a good place. In our current economic state, it is more important than ever to improve employment rates. The homeless are to blame for a good portion of the unemployment rate. If the CUTS program was to be accepted, the unemployment rate would drop, drastically.A secondary goal of CUTS, which goes hand in hand with the other objectives, is to employ the homeless at landfills across America. T heir work would entail searching for waste products. They would only have to salvage 100 lbs of trash a week in order to stay employed and housed. Due to the age of technology, we are learning more and more about our planet. For example, we have learned about how bad America’s gluttony is. With only 6% of the world's population, Americans generate 35% of the trash and consume 35% of the world's resources.With the introduction of the CUTS program, who knows what those statistics will look like in just ten years. The program’s participants will be working, getting free Grinnell 3 food, and also helping save the world in the process. With hundreds of people in their own little community landfills sifting through trash and filth, unimaginable amounts of waste could be reused in the future. The CUTS program could resolve three very current issues if it were to be accepted; homelessness, employment, and environmental problems. Although the flawless solution could be consider ed inhumane, this couldn’t be further from the truth.The humanity comes in because the homeless are not equal to the citizens residing in the upper class, mostly because they do not pay taxes or work. Why should good tax paying people (who work hard for what they have) be forced to give money to people who have nothing and don’t work? Why should those who work hard have to suffer because of the slackers of society? They shouldn’t. They are much better suited working hard, just like the upper class does, and contributing to society, instead of bumming on the streets. Remember, â€Å"one mans trash is another mans treasure†.

Brazil As An Emerging Market Economy Business Essay

Brazil As An Emerging Market Economy Business Essay Globalisation has become the order of the day and as multinational companies are scouting for new avenues in the bid to achieve competitive advantage over rivals and have at the same time economic viability of operations, nations too are vying with each other for a significant share of the global economic pie to cater to the development of themselves and take care of the socio-economic conditions prevalent amongst the population. Whilst the dominance of the developed nations persisted for a significant period of time, with political conditions such as the cold-war, division of Germany, and the like, abetting it, the changed political atmosphere worldwide threw up many opportunities and challenges requiring an introspection of policies of the nations and a need for reinventing and refurbishing of existing laws and governing policies to make the nation more dynamic and competitive. This assignment is sequentially structured to analyse the nature of emerging markets, the role of multin ational organisations in emerging markets, Brazil as an emerging economy, the need for cultural familiarisation for working in such an environment. This study also takes into consideration the cultural analysis of Brazil done by the renowned Geert Hofstede in an attempt to familiarise managers with aspects they should expect, and practice whilst in Brazil. These are followed by a PESTLE analysis of Brazil and finally end with a summative conclusion. Critical Analysis and Discussion Whilst no one-liner definition exists of emerging market economies (EME), the characteristic features tend to determine what they really are. Rapid economic growth, increased and sustained foreign investment, coupled with significant international political influence are the main markers of this type of economy. These economies are not on par with those of advanced nations due to the difference in the level of development .Very often bad policies namely those that interfere with the efficient performance of economic factors, and fragile institutional structures that place an additional burden of transactional costs for domestic and foreign investors, tend to inhibit potential investors. The expansion of organisations spanning different countries is centuries old, the expansion of multinational companies and their relevant importance in world trade achieved rapid pace post 1980 era. The propensity of integration with the global economy, together with the decline in the importance of the economic role of the nation led to the tremendous expansion of MNCs, particularly in the developing nations of the world. The significance of the functions of transnational companies in the shaping of the global economy has manifested, in significant proportions in the 20th century, such that â€Å"any of the top 100 or so global firms exceed the GDP of many nations†Ã‚  [18] and as it stands today, multinational companies are responsible for most of the employment and output and t in the world . [19] They have a reciprocal relationship with the globalization process; whilst globalization has contributed to high FDI flows to nations, countries eager to acquire a share of these FDI flows have undertaken significant policy shifts towards liberalisation. [20]Additionally, multinational companies have made it possible for the creation of â€Å"the global village† by facilitating international amalgamation of markets.[21]

Corporate governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Corporate governance - Essay Example After several events, the organization became the fourth largest investment banks in America. The organization filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008. Due to several reasons and controversies Lehman Brothers collapsed. Global financial crisis, inadequate management style and poor performance of the chairman and managing director, Dick Fuld are the major reasons behind the collapse. Objectively, the reasons behind the collapse can be divided into two groups, such as corporate governance failures and technical issues (Wearing, 2005, p.121). The organization was following very inadequate corporate governance arrangements. Corporate governance is an important and effective system that helps an organization to direct and control (Solomon, 2007, p.52). It helps to determine the activities of the board of an organization. Effective corporate governance practices help an organization to set and address the organizational value. Lack of effective corporate governance practices, lack of transparency, Dick Fuld’s inadequate leadership strategy and neglecting the significance of effective corporate governance drove the organization towards bankruptcy. Corporate Risk Management and Corporate Governance failure Risk was part of Lehman Brothers day-to-day business. ... In reality, the executive committee of Lehman Brother’s met only twice before the bankruptcy in the year 2006 and 2007 respectively (Choudhury, 2012, p.147). Moreover, the organization started to practice high risk business operations before its collapse. In this particular period the organization had to focus on the aggressive growth strategies in order to overcome the challenges. During 2006-2007, Lehman Brothers developed exposures to structured products, risky subprime lending, high-risk lending for leveraged buyout and commercial real estate but it did not considered the fact that the loans were not liquid. In addition, Lehman Brothers exceeded their internal risk limits and higher earning pursuit control. These facts are considered as the beginning of the collapse (Rosenberg, 2012, p.244). It is evident that the top level executives and officers of the organization violated their duties and responsibilities by exposing their firm to potential liability by wrong financial statements. Repo 105 was the specialty of the misleading transactions of Lehman Brothers. Through Repo 105 the organization could remove more than billions of liabilities from the balance sheet. The misuse and existence of Repo 105 is huge controversial and it goes beyond the corporate governance. The specific corporate governance structure of Lehman Brothers can be considered as the pre-programmed plan to collapse. Over mighty CEO, inefficient executive team, power struggle between the key players and top lieutenant exposed the risk factors. The board of the directors was filled with inexperience and non-executive individuals. This was a toxic combination. The major individual in the

Write a reports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Write a reports - Essay Example The audience should enjoy the event, be on the lookout for the most creative and interesting aspect of the performance (Bay-Cheng 67). Most importantly, they should be able to reflect on the performance as a whole. When criticizing the live performance the critic should always give proof of their approval or disapproval by backing it up with facts and evidences from the performance. When reviewing the performance there are points to be noted such as, the production team, the time and place of the production’s presentation. The lighting and sets should be discussed and how they contributed to the theme or mood of the performance (Bay-Cheng 65). One should mention the make-up and costumes used as part of the general design for the performance. The characters and the actors’ display of the costumes are important. They should be considered to assess if they were believable and if the actors’ analysis fits the theme. A check on the blocking and stage movement should be made as well as on the tempo and pacing of the production. How the performers use their voices, work together and interpret the script matters. An observation is made of the effect the performance had on the audience and discussion of highlights of the memorable parts of the

Chapter 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 4 - Assignment Example For this to succeed, communication must be present as it facilitates identification of goals, request making, and problem solving. Collaboration allows mutual support as well as the ability to share knowledge appropriately. The chapter maintains that the most important aspects of collaboration include parity, trust, respect, and establishment of common goals. We also learnt that there are several communication styles that can be used and incorporate unilateral, directional, and transactional where transactional method is preferred since it favors a two way mode of communication. However, there are several barriers that affect communication and collaboration. These include cultural background, gender, age, interests and experiences. To eliminate these barriers, both the teacher and the family need to exercise strong communication skills. It is more helpful to ensure that both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication are exercised appropriately so as to eliminate the barriers. The barriers are responsible for miscommunication. Specifically, the teacher should ensure that they avoid quick fixes to certain problems, avoid minimizing feelings by using false reassurances, and ask the most appropriate questions. When barriers emerge, problem solving strategies are used to retaliate. Such strategies include avoiding emotional responses and relying on a step to step procedure. This process incorporates identification of the problem, generation of potential solutions, evaluation of those solutions, implementation of the selected solution, and evaluation of the so lution. These steps also ensure that a conflict is resolved in a constructive manner. There are several myths thought to reduce miscommunication that include more communication being better, communication being a natural ability, and open communication being effective in solving problems. We also

Branding Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Branding - Research Proposal Example With a clear level of branding architecture, an organization can decide on the level of branding that will receive the greatest support and emphasis. In addition, the organisation can also establish and define the relations between the various brands in the organisation. Branding has moved into the daily lives of individuals in the Western societies affecting more sectors than ever before as the competition for audiences among companies intensifies (Owen, 1993). Branding is no longer a concept limited to companies, as there has been a rise of the practice in universities and other institutions. However, as branding becomes a mainstream practice and concept, it risks being misinterpreted and misunderstood. This is because branding is not only creating a logo and graphics to represent a company, person, or country (Healey, 2008). Branding is encompassed by the perceptions of the reputation as well as the tangible look and feel of the company, service, product, individual, or country (H estad, 2013). It relates to the behaviour of the company as well as the customer experience. Therefore, the concept of branding, applies to aspects that are within and outside the organisation. Consumers usually generalize their attitudes and perceptions across services and products based on two key factors (Hansen & Christensen, 2004). These factors are the impression they form on product attributes and the credibility of the country of origin of a brand or product (Hansen & Christensen, 2004). The product attributes include value of money and product quality while the credibility of the country of origin of a product is based on the individual’s familiarity of the country of origin of the product. These two factors are responsible for the creation of a favourable perception in a consumer that influences them to purchase and use a particular product or brand. The challenge, however, is the formation of stereotypes that are responsible for influencing individuals’

Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Question - Essay Example Due to the complex competitive and fast moving world, it is pivotal for organization to have the ability to innovate and install sooner. The role of leadership is vital for sustaining, creating and managing innovation. Leaders have the capability to be flexible in problem solving, intuition and possess the quality of curiosity to the drive the growth and success of organization (Posner, 2012). Leadership can change the climate of organization which can eventually help for innovation. Every successful organization has leaders who can use their head effectively, create open and supportive environment in workplace and finally facilitating idea with guts. Leadership role is also to inspire, collaborate and make creative process for the betterment of organization. Motivation of people in workplace, focusing on change management and setting direction are the critical role of leadership for sustaining innovation. Reward system for employee has been one method to motivate the employees. The beneficiary factor of this system is that it can motivate employees for the benefit of organization. Reward is completely different from salary. Individual reward system is providing employee higher pay rate or other benefits on the basis of skills and dedication towards the work. Certain employee provides every effort necessary to make the company successful. This individual employee is provided rewards for their effort and will power. The reason behind the use of individual rewards system to create a clear plan, motivate to perform better. Individual reward can give provide huge motivational factor than that of group rewards. It can simply boost the performance of single individual employee. The ethical implication of individual reward system can help other personnel in an organization to understand the reason behind the personal reward (Williams, 2012). This can effectively boost

Steve Jobs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Steve Jobs - Research Paper Example To illustrate, Steve always used to emphasis on the significance of product design. He is a perfectionist innovator who has the ability to foresee the changes in firm’s technological and environmental trends. It has helped the company to design new products according to the preference and requirement of the changing world. According to his vision, the esthetic appeal of a product is highly significant as it has considerable influence on people. Perhaps his aggressive and demanding personality is the latent of his leadership quality. His potential has been proven as he contributed reasonable part in the field of music, movies, and technologies while he was not the part of Apple. Jobs, for the first time achieved the concept of full-length animation movies on computer with the support of George Lucas, the film director. Apple iPod is the best example for his innovative ideas which his competitors could never envisage. Jobs always believed that the quality of product is the key f actor of business success. His comment on his resignation from Apple reveals his attitude; â€Å"getting fired from Apple was the best thing that ever could have happened to me† (Hughes, Ginnett, Curphy, 52). He also maintains a win-to-win business concept which gives greater importance to collaborative information sharing and problem solving. For instance, Apple with the collaboration of Motorola introduced ITunes phones. The victorious achievement in business has made him the icon of modern entrepreneurship. It was his leadership quality and positive attitude that led him to be the lead business tycoon among the computer companies. Soon after the invention of Macintosh, he was criticized for his ineffective management and leadership because his contract with Bill Gates had been a failure. His aggressive and demanding nature was a barrier to employee relation. However with his reentry, the Apple witnessed

Developments in european & pacific rim trade Essay

Developments in european & pacific rim trade - Essay Example However we there can be several exceptions to this first rule - which is the first article of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) - such as for example giving developing countries special access to a market or raising barriers against products being produced unfairly in other countries. The second part is the National treatment: treating foreigners and locals equally meaning that locally-produced goods should be treated equally when compared to imported goods once the imported goods have entered the national market. The same thing has also to be applied for services, trademarks, copyrights and patents. The second principle of WTO favors the lowering of trade barriers meaning customs duties and tariffs and measures such as import bans or quotas that restrict quantities selectively. Since the creation of the GATT, there have been eight rounds of trade negotiations to progressively abolish these barriers, the undergoing ninth round being the Doha Development Agenda. The predictability of international trade will guarantee a continuous stability. Therefore WTO encourages its members not only to lower trade barriers but also not to raise new barriers. When a country opens its market for products or services, it is considered as binding its commitment. However a country can change its bindings but only after a round of negotiation. With this principle WTO insists on the point that the organization i... WTO allows tariffs and some form of protectionism. Its true aim is to establish an environment with the help of specific rules to favor fair trade. These rules are for example the rule of most favored nation, national treatment or rules on dumping and subsidies. Encouraging development and economic reform Finally, WTO's last principle encourages development through flexibility for developing countries to implement WTO rules and special assistance and trade concessions in favor of these developing countries. (World Trade Organization, Principles of the Trading System) However as much as we can consider these principles being the best ground for efficient and fair trade, the reality is otherwise as we can see through the example of the Multi Fibre Agreement On January 1st, 2005, the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) expired. The MFA was a measure taken regarding the world trade of textiles and garment from 1974 to 2004 which imposed quotas on the amount that developing countries could export to developed countries. The WTO admitted that the MFA was a special regime outside the GATT rules and that WTO members have committed to remove those quotas by 1st January 2005 When the quotas from a country like China was reached, importers turned to less competitive suppliers located in countries that had spare export quotas and whose only advantage was low wage. Today, the less competitive developing countries are not called as back up because countries willing to import textile can only be supplied by one and only exporter, the most competitive: China. The importance of China in the textile market has not its boundaries set within developing countries. Since the beginning of 2005,

Toyota Motors Japan Essay Example for Free

Toyota Motors Japan Essay The mission theme of Toyota Motors Japan is Innovation into the Future – A Passion to Create a Better Society.   Launched and announced in 2004, this mission theme is the main influence for all of the programs of Toyota Motors Japan.   It basically follows four (4) basic guidelines which the company follows in order to achieve its goals in being able to create a more prosperous society.   These four (4) basic principles are as follows: Be a driving force in global regeneration by implementing the most advanced environmental technologies. Create automobiles and a motorized society in which people can live safely, securely and comfortably. Promote the advantages of cars throughout the world and attract more Toyota fans. Be a truly global company that is trusted and respected by all people around the world. These goals are the overriding objectives of Toyota Motors Japan and figure prominently in the formulation and implementation of its corporate strategies and plans.   Toyota Motors adheres to the principle of Monozukuri, which emphasizes the manufacturing of value-added products and technological innovation.   The company believes that while Japanese cars have been associated with low costs and quality it can change all of this by offering better quality for relatively the same price.   It also emphasizes the shifting trend into more environmentally friendly vehicles in line with the Tokyo Protocol. These implementing guidelines for the mission statement of Toyota Motors Japan, which help them maintain their focus on their goals, are the following: Honor the language and spirit of the law of every nation and undertake open and fair corporate activities to be a good corporate citizen of the world. Respect the culture and customs of every nation and contribute to economic and social development through corporate activities in the communities. Dedicate ourselves to providing clean and safe products and to enhancing the quality of life everywhere through all our activities. Create and develop advanced technologies and provide outstanding products and services that fulfill the needs of customers worldwide. Foster a corporate culture that enhances individual creativity and teamwork value, while honoring mutual trust and respect between labor and management. Pursue growth in harmony with the global community through innovative management. Work with business partners in research and creation to achieve stable, long-term growth and mutual benefits, while keeping ourselves open to new partnerships.

Strategic Management Case Study: Apple

Strategic Management Case Study: Apple 1.0 introduction Strategic management is the art and science of formulating, implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives. Strategic management includes a systematic recognition of specifying the firm’s objectives, nurturing policies and strategies to achieve these objectives, and acquiring and making available these resources to implement the policies and strategies to achieve the firm’s objectives. Strategic management, therefore, integrates the activities of the various functional sectors of a business, such as marketing, sales, production etc., to achieve organizational goals. (Lamb, 1984) 1.1 Company background Apple Inc. is an American corporation that designs and manufactures computer hardware, software and other consumer electronics. The company is best known for their Macintosh personal computer line, Mac OS X, extremely loyal user-base, iTunes media application and the iPod personal music player. The company headquarters is in Cupertino, California, CEO and co-founder is Steve Jobs and the company boasts 284 retail locations spanning 10 different countries. Apple was established on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple I personal computer kit. Steve Jobs was said to own 45% of the company, Steve Wozniak with 45% and Wayne with the remaining 10%. While Jobs and Wozniak were young with little to no assets, Ronald Wayne was older with personal assets and was scared to put these at risk. Apple products have been able to achieve the highest rate of sales compared to its competitors in the world, and the company was able to significantly control the electronics market in the world throughout their products. 2.0 strategic analyses Strategic analysis is the process developing a strategy for a business, throughout researching about the business and the environment in which it operate. Strategic analysis involves two scenarios internal to organization and external to the organization. It is important to also remain focused on the destiny or goal and then make relevant analysis internally as well as externally, as the strategic analysis is something which is very wide in nature. (MiHyang, 2010, NCVO newsletter, 2009). The strategic analysis tools gives magical solutions for the company’s head office, so that they can analyze the current internal and external business scenario for advanced planning. The tools that Apple can use are as shown below. 2.1 General environment General environment are the factors and circumstances such as economic, legal, political and social. That affects everyone in the industry generally or the market more or less similarly. Although a business cannot control what takes place in the general environment, evaluating the general environment can allow businesses the opportunity to predict changes and identify future opportunities during a manager’s analysis of the general environment. General environment includes two theory branches. The SWOT analysis which detects the strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats an organization may face in the future or is facing in the present. The other theory is the PEST which may affect the general environment of the company. 2.2 PEST analysis As well as the internal factors that can affect an organization’s performance, there are also a number of external factors that affect the organization success in the business world. Many organizations use the PEST analysis in determining the impact of these factors on the organization. Pest analysis consists of four factors political, economical, social, and technological. To achieve the highest benefit from this analysis, organizations must understand the role of each factor. As a company apple Inc. concentrates a lot on PEST analysis and Porter’s five forces. Actually these two theories are considered very important for any successful company. As a company apple cannot control its relationships with other countries such as, china, and Korea. Any political conflicts between United States of America and any of these countries will cause horrible effects on Apple Inc. Since is producing many of its products outside America in Chinese and Korean factories. Any economical crisis will highly have an impact on Apple Company. Although inflation rates will also affect the company, as well as the U.S.D value in international market will also affect the company. Socially the world has changed a lot in the last 5 years with the help of Apple’s advanced technology. Apple contributed in this social change. Apple is required to improve and develop their technologies more and more, so that they can get the highest benefit from the social changes that occur in the world. Apple is a prestige for any high class person, so they should always stay like that. Nowadays technology is improving quicker than before. Apple is considered one of the innovative companies in the world right now, so they always should utilize any development in the technology to innovate and introduce more products to the world. 2.3 Competitive environment The competitive environment is the dynamic system in which your business competes. The status of the whole system controls and sometimes limits the amount of flexibility in your business due to the world economic status. Economical crisis, shortage, and unexpected disasters affect the competitive environment. There are two types of competitive environments direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors are competitors who produce the same products as yours. They compete with you directly in order to achieve higher revenue than your company. The other type of competitive environment is the indirect competitors. Most of the organizations face competition from suppliers of different products or services. 2.3 Value creating Activities Value creating activities is the set of actions that increase the value of the product, or the service. In order to gain a competitive advantage, throughout this process the product or the service of an organization will achieve a marginal value. If these set of activities are applied properly the organization will gain a competitive advantage on their product or service. 2.3.1 Value chain analysis According to Michael porter a value chain is the set of actions that build up worth at every stage in producing the product. The cost of the product settled by the company is the total of all the expenses paid throughout all stages of producing this product. Value chain analysis is a tool applied by organization, so that they can figure out how to create a great worth for their consumers. 2.3.2 Application to Company The value chain analysis will help in determining the rate of development in Apple Inc and will also detect how Apple uses their resources. This value chain component tends to prove apple’s abilities in the technological branch. Apple was the first company to introduce a digital lifestyle hub. The history of apple is full of technological achievements. Apple operating system is considered more safe and stable than windows. Apple tends to be the best and the first in the technological products achievements. Since Apple rejected to license its operating system to other organizations, the bundled packages of the company developed hardware and software that became the basis of Apple’s production process. Apple considers productivity as an important branch of the designing process. When apple achieved a good market share growth and had a base of loyal consumers who are waiting for apple to introduce a new product, so that they can replace their old product with the new one. Apple saw that it is time for expensive P.C to enter the market. Apple concentrated on achieving more growth than before, so that they can produce a better ‘mousetrap’ all the way through its history. Customer service is one of the main things that make Apple Inc. special in the market. Actually they tend to satisfy the consumer even after buying the product by giving the consumer after sale services and warranty. Apple’s efficient customer service is one of the reasons why loyal consumers never change to another companies selling the same technology. Legally in a changeable innovative market, it is well-known for apple company that it is important to protect their copyrights and maintaining the patent, so that no one of their competitors can use any of the inventions that apple have record it under their name. In the year 2012 Samsung company was fined about 1 billion$ in favor of Apple Inc. because they used two of the invention that apple have record them as a patent. This proves that apple as a company is able to protect their rights from the competitors’ utilization. 2.4 Resource based view RVB is a tool that is used to evaluate the value of organization strategic assets. The resource based view tool is based on the idea that the efficient use of all resources that an organization collects helps in determining its competitive advantage. 2.4.1 Resources Organization resources are all the resources that allow and help a firm to apply and perform its activities. All resources that a firm has may not be strategically related. There are specific resources that are capable to put a firm in position of competitive advantage. There are four components that an organization should have in order to achieve a competitive advantage. These four components form the VRN characteristics. 2.4.2 Core Competencies (Prahald Hamel) Core competencies are a group of supplementary information, abilities, attitudes, and resources in a firm which makes performing a critical process better than other process. 2.4.3 Distinctive capabilities According to john kay distinctive capabilities are a related aspect of organization resources. Organizations with distinctive capabilities have features which other cannot imitate. To achieve a competitive advantage a company must have three distinctive capabilities architecture, reputation, and innovation. 2.4.4 Application to company Apple main resources are its brand name and marketing strategies. Apple has a good reputation in the market, although their high quality products in the market results in having a big base of loyal customer. Apple software also is one of the most resources that the company has. In a nutshell apple as a company have both tangible and intangible resources, but the intangible resources is the main reason for the company success. Apple Core Competencies analysis Adapting a viral marketing strategy from social networking websites was a great step which achieved success in making apple closer to the consumers. Customer loyalty is one of the most important competencies in Apple Company. The company was able to manage keeping their customers loyal to them by attracting them through creating such innovative products, so that customers will always wait for the new products. What makes apple so special is their high ability in protecting their new product details, although there is no any information can be leaked about apple products before introducing them. This proves that apple employees are so loyal to their company by maintaining secrecy about any information regarding new products. 2.5 Organizational performance Organizational performance is tool used to analyze an organization’s performance compared to its goals and objectives. Organizational performance consists of three essential outcomes financial performance, market performance, and shareholder value performance. 2.5.1 Measuring Coo-prate Performance Measuring corporate performance tool is used to evaluate the accomplishments of settled goals in an organization. It also detects any failure in achieving a specific goal. This tool also predicts the future performance. 2.5.2 Meeting the Needs of Stakeholders Achieving success in applying a certain strategy is evaluated through the amount of satisfaction of stakeholders and whether there needs are met or not. To satisfy stakeholders there is a short term and long term success of any business. 2.5.3 Application to company (appendix) Throughout balance sheet a company can measure its coo-prate performance, so that they can get know whether they are gaining profit or not. 3.0 strategy formulation Strategy formulation is the course of action that indicates actions that should be taken by an organization in order to achieve a specific goal. There are some certain steps that should be applied in a chronological order. These steps are as following: value assessment, vision and mission formulation, strategy design, performance audit analysis, gap analysis, action plan development, contingency planning, and implementation. Using these steps in the chronological order shall help an organization in achieving their goals. 3.1 business level strategy Business level strategy concentrates on the position of the firm in the market in compare to its competitors. It also explains the steps and actions taken by the firm in order to value their customers in order to gain a competitive advantage by utilizing essential efficiencies they have in specific products or services markets. There are four main important strategies that are used by organizations in order to gain competitive advantage over competitors. The four generic strategies are as follows: cost leadership, differentiation, focused low cost, focused differentiation. Business strategy level gives a great opportunity for an organization to gain a competitive advantage on its competitors if applied correctly. 3.1.1 Generic competitive strategy In the year 1980 Michael porter developed three generic strategies that are used by an organization in order to gain competitive advantage. These three generic strategies are: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. 3.1.2 Corporate strategy Corporate strategy is the actions a firm takes in order to achieve business success in the future. It also concentrates on the company adaptations and anticipations toward changes in the business environment. In order to apply corporate strategy it requires concentration on the firm’s activities and the nature of the business it is doing. As well as its position in the market and how wild the competition is with its competitors. 3.1.3 Growth strategy Mostly organizations always have plans for expansion in their business in order to increase revenue. Although there are specific techniques a firm must use in order to apply their growth strategy. The technique an organization use in order to apply growth strategy mostly depends on their financial status, how strong is competition between their competitors, and the rules and regulations of the government in this country. The most common growth strategies are market expansion, market penetration, diversification and acquisition, and product expansion. 3.2.2 Application to Company Apple growth strategy depends on increasing its market demand on its products through product differentiation, through producing unique and attractive products to customers. The company was able to achieve success through this strategy by keeping its brand loyalty in its highest levels. Apple concentrates on certain level of customers. Customers who wish to pay more, so that they can receive high quality products. Through product differentiation apple was able to achieve success and become one of the leading organizations in the world’s market. 4.0 Strategy Implementation Strategy implementation is considered the toughest stage in the strategic management process. Strategy implementation requires managers to apply these strategies and convert it to actions that will achieve success and high performance. 4.1 International Strategy (Organizational and environmental factors) International strategy is a strategy in which an organization introduces and sells their product in other foreign markets. The main reason for applying this strategy is because of the new opportunities an international market introduces to an organization. 4.1.1 Globalization Framework MNC’ stands for Multi National Corporation. MNC’ are organizations that have assets in other countries within its original home land. These organizations may have factories and departments in other countries, although they have a specific main head office in which they manage the organization. MNC’ organizations main goal is to maximize the wealth of shareholders. 4.1.2 Entry mode Strategies Entry mode is a strategy that allows and helps in adjusting the proper time for an organization to introduce their product in another foreign country. Applying this decision is one of the hardest processes in an organization. It may affect the company either negatively nor positively in many ways. 4.1.3 Diamond of National Advantage Porter’s diamond national advantage strategy states that the national the national advantage of a country depends on certain factors. Porter used a diamond shaped diagram to explain and state his theory. He explains the role of the national field that governments create for their business advantage. 4.1.4 Application to company Apple expanded their business through opening many retail stores around the world, having partnerships with other telecommunication companies all over the world. One of the reasons apple expanded in the last years was because of their innovative products which met the customer’s needs Although the company was able to manage their product’s cost through concentrating on certain level of customers specifically high level customers. 4.2 Corporate Governance Corporate governance is rules and policies settled in which an organization is controlled and directed. It also draws structure for an organization to achieve its goals. Actually it includes all the branches of management from planning and controlling to performance evaluation and company disclosure. 4.2.1 Board of Directors Board of directors is a committee chosen by elections in which its main role is to take the responsibility for managing a nonprofit organization. This committee is responsible for holding the funds and assets and any other property that belong to others. Board of Trustees oversees management and counseling issues facing the organization. 4.2.2 Executive Compensation Actually compensation for executive manager is not the same as compensations for normal employees. This happens in mostly all organizations. The executive compensation includes the CEO, CFO, the vice president, and the upper- level managers. These employees are treated in a quite different way from other employees. Their salary and compensation are negotiable and are stated and recorded in the contract. The contract records their salary, compensation, and bonuses. 4.3 Application to company Apple’s board of directors main mission is to assure that the shareholder’s interests are being served. They set standards to ensure the company’s success through maintaining high standards of responsibility and ethics. 5.0 Conclusion Strategic management gives an organization a creative ability in shaping and drawing its future in the market. It gives an organization the ability to launch and create a plan rather than responding to actions, so that they control their destiny. Nowadays any manager or a business owner controlling an organization has recognized the importance of strategic management and the benefits gained from it. Organizations that apply strategic management in their company plans will have high performance levels than companies that aren’t applying this strategy.

What is teaching machines

What is teaching machines What is Teaching machines and Adaptive Learning Teaching machine is a device that presents series of problems and provides immediate â€Å"reward† or reinforcement to students when they give the correct answers to the posed questions (Holland, 1960). The first teaching machine was invented by Pressey in 1925. It was a device that asked a single question to the student. If the student knows the answer, he moved to the next question. If not, the question was presented again on the screen until he found the correct answer. This machine allowed students to proceed at their own rate (Skinner, 1958) and recorded their progress (Seattler, 1990). Although this machine was designed for teaching, it was developed against a background of psychological theory (Skinner, 1958). The main disadvantage of this machine was being against the psychological theory. Although he understood that students had different pace, he did not do anything to change it. His device was designed to avoid forgetting. They were testing device, they should be us ed after the some amount of learning had been taken out of somewhere. (Skinner, 1958). The popularity of teaching machines was increased with programmed instruction movement proposed by Skinner (Saettler, 1990). Based on his experiments conducting in laboratory with animals, Skinner propsed an idea that â€Å"by arranging appropriate contingencies of reinforcement, specific forms of behavior can be set up and brought under the control of specific classes of stimuli† (Skinner, 1958).however, the reinforcement have to be given immediately to the students. Because, the delay between the response and reinforcement of a few second reduce the effectiveness of the reinforcement. Moreover, it eliminates the undesirable forms of responses that would be successful in obtaining the right answer (Holland, 1960). It was difficult for teacher to provide reinforcement just after the correct responses were given. Thus some kind of machines was needed to help the teachers. This machine is an attempt to obtain the kind of behavioral control shown possible in the laboratory (Holla nd, 1960). Skinner describes the teaching machine incorporating the following principles of learning; Practice of the correct responses, knowledge of results and reinforcement of the right answer, minumum delay of reinforcement, successive small steps with hints (McKeachie, 1974) Teaching machines brought advantages to the educational environment. First of all, it provided an opportunity for students to study at their own pace (Skinner, 1958).According to Skinner (1960), it inspired the students and gave high degree of competence and confidence. the students were provided buttons in terms of â€Å"guessing†, â€Å"maybe†, â€Å"sure† so by pressing those buttons after giving the answers, they estimated their level of confidence. By this method, they learnt to evaluate their confidence and adopt a useful strategy. Thirdly, unlike the other media such as tv, students were active while they were using teaching machine during their learning process (Skinner, 1960). It was such kind of private tutor which alert students and kept them busy during the learning process (Skinner, 1958). Since it gave immediate feedback, students were able to see where they stood without waiting for an hour test or final examination. Finally, teaching machines prov ided opportunity for teachers to analyze the responses of the students. By this, they see what students understand item by item (Skinner, 1960) Teaching machines also brought some disadvantages to the educational environment. First of all, they were inconvenient and poorly designed (McKeachie, 1974). They were designed in frames that all students had to go through in linear sequence. (Seattler, 1990). The machine was designed in a way that the steps identified by the instructor were taken by students in a prescribed order (Skinner, 1958). And it was assumed that for human being, just being right is the sufficient reinforcement (Holland, 1960). The machine did not motivate the students to go on studying. Teaching machines locked so that neither the students see the correct answer until he responded correctly or altered his answer after he saw the correct answer (Calvin, 1969). For all of these reasons, most of the students found teaching machine boring and destructed their machine. In addition, it was seen that some of the students were unable to pass tests after successfully completing the program (Seattler, 1990). For teach er side, most of teaching machines were not readily portable and required maintenance (Calvin, 1969). Difficult to prepare programs, they are time consuming thus, teacher must be clear what they want to teach at the beginning of the program preparation (Skinner, 1960). Due to these problems, by the late 1960s, the popularity of teaching machines was decreased. Despite its problems, teaching machines had great contribution in educational environment. It revived the early ideas of individualizing instruction. Moreover, it fostered the growth of sounder technology in the development f instructional programs and influenced number of programs in 1960s, 1970s. Finally, it promoted computer assisted instruction and system approach to instruction ( Saettler, 1990). Adaptive learning is a usage of technology to help the students in their learning process (Francois, 2011). It provides content and services to meet individual or group learning needs with improved learning achievement and efficiency (Martine, 2003). Adaptability in learning has became very important issue in educational area. As stated by Nguen and Do, learning environment is complex structure that includes many students who has different characteristics. They physically and mentally are different, so their preferences are various. Thus, adaptation in educational environment is necessity (Nguyen Do, 2008). With the help of technology, the adaptive learning environment have become more efficiently and effectively. Especially, development in computer hardware and software allow creating those kinds of adaptive environments. These computerized learning environments allow immediate feedback and adaptation to students learning curves. These programs pace curses using sophisticated tracking of skill development, instant feedback, and help levels based on mastery of concepts by providing game like interface. (verilen makaleeee) The advantage of adaptive learning environment has taken the educators attention. Especially, e-learning professions have given their attention on adaptive learning and created adaptive e-learning environments. An adaptive e-learning environment is an interactive system that personalizes and adapts elearning content, pedagogical models, and interactions between participants in the environment to meet the individual needs and preferences of users if and when they arise(Stoyanov Kirschner, 2004 ). There are lots of factors to contribute the popularity of adaptive e-learning; the diversity in the access media and modalities that one can effectively utilize today in order to access, manipulate, or collaborate on, educational content or learning activities, alongside with a diversity in the context of use of such technologies, the anticipated proliferation of free educational content. (Paramythis, Loidl-Reisinger, tarihi bul) There are lack of research about adaptive learning. But according to †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ there are lots of opportunities those environment provides both students and teachers. They are cheap and can be given both online or blended form. The order of instruction is defined by the students not instructor. Everyone have different experience so their knowledge and needs are different Especially large classes prevent instructors from deviating much from the syllabus. Adjust course to the student Present every topic, a series of skills and building block concepts. Animation, videos, interactive diagrams and other web based features entered while needed. Interactive tutor help students to master of each skill, give short quizzes, score them, and offer additional help. Software adapt, keep students personal profiles. Students do not move until develop proficiency. Instructor decides the proficiency level. Instructor weight the material Instructors were informed about the students process. Increase motivation Game like enviroment informs what have left to do thus motivate to go on. Research shows students completed the course in shorter , performed better Cons: Few studies conducted to assess the outcomes Research problems: effectiveness of these programs are not done in isolation Researchers examine the effects of multifeatured environment, not isolate one element. Are teaching machines and adaptive learning similar or different things? Teaching machines and adaptive learning are different things although they have similarities. Firstly, both of them aim to help students in their learning process. Furthermore, they acknowledge the fact that students have different pace and it was difficult to adapt traditional classroom environment to the pace of all students. Both of these try to create an environment in which students study at their own pace and be active during the learning process. In addition, both of them keep the students progress and inform the teacher about it. Teacher analyzes their progress and help students to reach the desired goals. The first difference between teaching machine and adaptive learning is their technologies. Teaching machine was designed in 1920s and spread out in 1950 when technology was not advanced as it is now. Thus, teaching machines was not portable and it was difficult to modify it for teachers. Thus teachers had to participate in the design process and decided what he wanted to teach at the beginning. In contrast, systems in adaptive learning creates flexible environment for teachers. They can modify the system based on the needs that may not be predicted at the beginning of the course. The second and the main difference between teaching machine and adaptive learning was the learning theory underlying them. Teachingmachine usesbehavioristapproach whereas adaptive learning is more suitable for constructive approach. Teaching machine was designed for modifying the behaviors of the students. Although teaching machines was designed in 1920s, its usage in educational area was spread out by its modification by Skinner. Skinner designed the teaching machines based on the operant conditioning and its aim was to provide a small unit of information to the students and wanted their response. Since the instructional sequence is so simple, the students hardly make a mistake (Saettler, 1990). Students responded to the questions posed by teaching machines and getting reinforcement, they gained the desired behavior such as pronouncing a word or saying the results of a mathematical equation. There is a logical order in the teaching machine and all of the students have to follow the same path. Although the students are active, the teaching machine decides what question is posed in which order. On the other hand, adaptive learning met the assumptions of constructivism. According to Ertmer and Newby (1993), constructivist learning environment emphasis on learner control and provides opportunities for learner to manipulate information. In addition, the information is presented in a variety of different ways in terms of its order, modes, perspectives etc. Adaptive learning does not aim to change the behavior of the students by giving reinforcement or force them to follow the start at the same where and follow the same path. Instead, an adaptive learning provides a personalized learning environment for each learner, by both adapting presentation and navigation through the course materials (Retalis Papasalouros, 2005). It acknowledges the differences between the students and create learning environment based on these differences. It can dynamically reorganize learning resources in order to achieve specific learning objectives by analyzing learners profile or learning portfolio (Brusilovsky, 2001). It offers opportunity to uniquely address the specific learning goals, prior knowledge and context of a learner so it improves learners satisfaction with the course and motivate them to complete that course (Dagger, Wade, Conlan, 2005). For all of these, adaptive learning systems are beyond the teaching machines. Strengths and weaknesses of technology supported adaptive learning Adaptive learning environment provides opportunities for teacher to apply range of methods. Teacher can either use problem based instruction, case reasoning etc. Moreover, it acknowledges the differences between the students. All students have different experience, background so their needs are different. Adaptive learning aims to recognize these differences and offers personalized learning that is determined based on these differences. Students take the control of their learning process, access the resources appropriate to their needs and study them at their pace. Although the ideas behind the adaptive learning systems are dream of all educators, the implementation of these ideas is difficult. While the idea â€Å"adaptation based on individual differences† is good, it may cause problems if these differences are not identified correctly. Nguyen and Do (2008) states that the system must gather information and data about user and create a user model based on this information. But which information should be gathered? Adaptive systems have to decide this. Moreover, it should decide what to adapt. It has to identify the differences such as background, pre-knowledge about the content, learning style and offers a learning environment to suit these differences. The maintenance of these systems is additional weaknesses of adaptive system. Technological knowledge of the teachers may not adequate to maintain such kind of systems. For this reason, an expert should control the system and intervene if there is any problem. Finally, there is lack of research about the implementation of this system. What it offers and how it accomplishes this should be analyzed and the learning results should be investigated deeply. Moreover, it should be investigated what should be adapted, when and how it should be adapted and what should be kept constant in adaptive learning systems. Suggestions to instructional designers Adaptive learning is just includes system that create an effective and efficient learning environment. So without a good design, it will not help either instructors or students in the learning environment. First of all, the instructional designer should decide which learning theory he will apply in adaptive learning. Based on the learning theory, he needs to identify the overall goals of the course, which method he will use. Moreover, he needs to consider the possible needs of students from different backgrounds experiences and knowledge. To achieve this, he should get knowledge about his students. Since adaptive learning keeps the students progress, the instructor should monitor each students progress and see where they are, what problems they face etc. If adaptive learning is used by different instructor, instructional designer should inform the teacher about the benefits and weaknesses of it. Moreover, it provides guidance and help when needed and support the adaptation process of instructors to use adaptive learning. In addition, these systems are complex and should be designed carefully. There should be multiple modes of presentations; the resources should be prepared for different background information etc. Motivation components eklemeli 1. Learner-led adaptation. Learners should be able to find both what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. 3. Learner self-management. They can see where they are in the curriculum or competence map and what learning task or activity to carry out next, consult course-tracking data, and monitor their learning. They have an opportunity to prebrowse and search for learning content. 5. Learner auditing.learners should have possibilities to test the level of their knowledge and learning styles, and to be able to see their learning results. Discussion 14. Learning communication. This second communication cluster emphasizes interaction between learners and instructors. An LMS should support instructor-learner, instructor instructor, and learner-learner communication. 15. Collaboration. Instructors should be able to use different modes of group discussion and be able to collaborate with learners synchronously on group learning tasks. Experts also emphasize the possibilities of peer learning. 17. Socialization. Experts underline the need for an LMS to provide a social context for learning and professional socialization of learners.

For Whom the Bell Tolls Plot :: essays research papers

For Whom the Bell Tolls; Synopsis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Jordan is the protagonist of this novel and the plot revolves around him, his conflicts, and his newfound love as I will reveal. Robert Jordan is an American, who lived in Spain for ten years, he is an expert in dynamite, and he is devoted to the Republican cause in the Spanish civil war. A Russian officer, General Golz, send Jordan on a dangerous mission to blow up a key bridge in an offensive behind enemy lines, in the Sierra Mountains. Anselmo an old Spaniard, guides Jordan past enemy lines to see the bridge, which was guarded by fascists on both sides. After that Anselmo takes Jordan to meet the guerilla band he will be working with on this mission.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The leader of the guerilla band is a man named Pablo. Pablo once was a feared an honorable man but throughout the book his respect diminishes. Pablo is against Jordan's mission right from the start because he thinks Jordan is there to get their band out of the mountains. Pablo is important to the plot because he provides a challenge for Jordan that results in the death of Anselmo, Jordan's friend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When they get to the guerilla cave, they sit down to eat and drink wine, then Maria enters, bearing food. Maria is a Spanish girl who was rescued from the fasicists by the guerilla band when they were on a mission to blow up a train. Jordan notices Maria and is instantaneously attracted to her. Jordan also meets Pilar, Pablo's woman, who fights alongside the band. Pilar is a strong woman and her leadership ability is displayed later when she takes over the band. Pilar encourages Jordan to pursue Maria, but she warns him to take care of her, for she has undergone tremendous trauma.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jordan and Anselmo leave to inspect the bridge. Jordan sketches it and takes notes on the best way to place the explosives. On the way back to the cave the two men discuss war. Anselmo believes it is a sin to kill even in war, but he claims he will kill for the cause. Jordan says he is fully prepared to kill the enemy. When they are not far from the cave they encounter Agustin who was on guard. Agustin warns Jordan to protect his explosives from Pablo.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Everybody hushes up when Jordan enters, indicating they had been talking about him.

Music as Clay :: Composers Musical Essays

Music as Clay In our study of Bach, we have seen how he was able to take traditional, sacred texts and write accompaniments for them that capture the meaning of those texts in a very unique way. Bach had the power to write music that was so expressive that it could actually make the listener feel what the text was saying. This power of Bach's music is often overlooked in our society, because the modern human culture it quick to judge the beauty of music. By doing this, we fail to hear the truths Bach wrote. The following is a close study of how Bach was able to combine text and harmonies in one specific movement of his Cantata No. 78 to express certain messages. Bach's tenor aria (movement 4) in Cantata No. 78 is a good example of how Bach uses the expressive power of text, harmonies, and instrumentation to speak to his audiences and really say things through his music. This way, he was able to make music not only more powerful, but more accessible. One way Bach uses Movement 4 to speak to the audience is through the form and tonal structure of the piece. Movement 4 is a binary aria with the text split evenly into a three-line A section and a three-line B section. The opening ritornello is in g minor, and the piece stays in g minor until the last cadence of the A section. The second ritornello is in Bb major followed by the B section, which moves from Bb major through many other keys and eventually ends up back in g minor. Then the final ritornello is also played in g minor. The form Bach has chosen seems, from the conventions mentioned by Crist, to be an irregular form for the text given. It is a very short text that could easily be repeated in the da capo form, but Bach must have chosen this form for another reason. Perhaps he was trying to accentuate more on the meaning of the words rather than portray its poetic sound. The actual meaning of the words do not really seem to fit well with a da capo form. The first three lines talk of how Jesus makes the heart light and the spirit free. Thus, a freer style makes sense. Also, the last three lines talk of how Jesus brings victory over the "Lord of Hell", so ending the song after that last line can somehow be paralleled to the victory.

Ernest Hemingway and Zelda Fitzgerald :: Biography Biographies Essays

Ernest Hemingway and Zelda Fitzgerald Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was born July 24th, 1900 to Anthony Sayre, a judge of the Alabama Supreme Court, and Minnie, a once aspiring actress. She was considered a sought-after Southern belle who had a collection of soldiers' insignia pins by the time she met Scott Fitzgerald at the age of twenty. However, Zelda refused marriage until 1920 when the publication of This Side of Paradise gave Scott the wealth and economic stability, which she demanded. The first few years of their marriage were characterized by extravagant spending, but shortly after the birth of their only child, Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald, the couple began frequent arguments usually triggered by alcohol (http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html). In 1924, when the Fitzgeralds went to France, Zelda became smitten with a French naval aviator named Jozan, who unlike Scott was tall and athletic. Although it is not known whether the two consummated their affair, many suspect that it was Scott who demanded tha t the two stop seeing each other that summer (Milford 110). In Paris, Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway with whom he formed a friendship based largely on his admiration for Hemingway's personality and genius. The Fitzgeralds remained in France until the end of 1926, alternating between Paris and the Riviera. Although Scott and Ernest were very close at this time, they usually only included their wives, Zelda and Hadley, in social gatherings as "wives of writers" (Milford 116) rather than in their intellectual and literary discussions. Ernest became upset when Zelda said to Hadley at this time, "I notice in the Hemingway family you do what Ernest wants"(Milford 116). Thus, Ernest who always did things his way, was greatly disgusted over the amount of influence that Zelda had over her husband (Bruccoli 21). Legend also has it that at Ernest and Zelda's first encounter in the summer of 1926, Hemingway took Fitzgerald aside saying that Zelda was crazy when she asked "Ernest, don't you think Al Jolson is greater than Jesus"(Bruccoli 22). Zelda, on the other hand, thought Hemmingway was a "bogus," a "phony he-man," and a "pansy with hair on his chest". Scott was disappointed by their mutual dislike as he had hoped Zelda would admire Hemingway as much as he did. Hemingway recounts his 1921-1926 Paris years in A Movable Feast. In "Hawks Do Not Share," he introduces Zelda at "a very bad lunch" in the Fitzgerald's "gloomy" apartment.

Critic Analysis of How the Grinch Stole Christmas Essay

This story by Dr. Seuss is one of the classic children’s stories of all time, which is about a cave monster, Grinch, who hated Christmas because of all the festivities. Because of this, he wished to ruin it by stealing all the gifts from the inhabitants of the nearby Whoville. He thought that through this, he could end all the happiness that the people were feeling during Christmas, but he was wrong. He found out that Christmas is not just about gifts and special presents, but it’s more on the spirit of giving and love. He had a change of heart, and was later accepted in the community (Kowalski). Using the Psychoanalytic school of criticism, we try to define the how’s and why’s of the Grinch’s action (Bressler). We can see that he is the stereotypical monster/villain, who lives a solitary life in his cave, with no one to mingle with except his dog. We see a grumpy character in Grinch, who would hate everything that is fun in the context of a normal person. So Grinch is the typical antagonist, who evilly plans on how to take away the happiness from the people in the Christmas time. But as the story continued, we found that the villain had a change of heart and became good, a typical happy ending, considering it is intended for the young audience (Kowalski). We could see that the Grinch, as well as the inhabitants of Whoville are not humans, though we still give them human characteristics. This is an effective way to relate what you feel in the story, as well as learn new things from it. It is intended for the young ones, so the content is not really complex, and it is easy to understand. The story had the bad guy gone good ending, which suits the story well, since Grinch has a very unique personality, someone you’d want to go along well with. Works Cited: Bressler, Charles. â€Å"Psychoanalytic Criticism†. 1994. April 4 2008. . Kowalski, Frankie. â€Å"How the Grinch Stole Christmas . . . And My Heart†. 1996. April 5 2008. .

Physiological Aids in sport Essay

Physiological aids are banned substances and methods that athletes use within competition and training to improve their performance. Physiological aids are used in sport as they help an athlete’s performance. Some aids help to increase heart rate, adrenaline rate and stimulate the body but other aids lower the heart rate and change the growth of muscles and bones. Sport is suppose to help us learn from defeat and victory, encourage us to participate in team sports, encourage a spirit of co-operation, and interdependence, and mainly encouraging moral and social values. It also means that an individual person can lead a healthy lifestyle while performing and also helping the individual to bring about a healthy, integrated society. There are many influences on drug use, the media, the money their performance can bring in, the sponsorship and many other critical factors in an athlete’s career. There can be no justification for athletes to cheat in order to win or that the pressures and temptations are all the same for the athletes. Most athletes turn to drugs because of pressure, it all comes down to pressure really but some feel greed and wealth. The main reasons are usually:  ·Winning can bring millions of dollars in sponsorship and endorsement;  ·Society places great emphasis on success in sport, which puts more pressure on an athlete to win;  ·Some banned drugs can speed recovery from injury, which means athletes can be back training, competing and winning more quickly;  ·Some athletes believe their competitors are using drugs and that to be competitive, they need to take drugs as well;  ·Some athletes’ desire to win is so great that they are willing to use any means, including cheating to gain success;  ·Some coaches may push drug use to enhance their athlete’s chances of winning, which boosts their profile as a successful coach. Prohibited physiological aids Anabolic agents- there are two types of these agents- there is anabolic androgenic steroids and beta -2 agonists. Anabolic androgenic steroids are substances that contain anabolic and androgenic properties. The anabolic properties help to increase the growth of the muscles and bones. The androgenic properties help the male’s reproductive system, helping to release more testosterone. Anabolic steroids are used to increase the strength of an athlete and also their muscle size, they also help to decrease the time the body takes to recover after exercise. So because of this the athletes train harder and for longer the extra training gives them an advantage over other athletes. This drug can cause many physical problems like heart problems, liver damage, jaundice, euphoria and there are also mental effects like mood swings, improved self esteem, depression and aggression. Male athletes can suffer from effects like baldness, the development of breast tissue and even infertility. Female athletes can suffer from effects like menstrual problems, foetal damage, clitoral enlargement, increased facial and body hair and also a permanent deepening off the voice. They can be detected by using gas chromatography in an athlete’s urine. Beta -2 agonists are normally used medically to treat asthma, therefore when they are taken they can increase lean muscle mass and also help to reduce body fat. The side effects of beta -2 agonists are dizziness, muscle cramps, headaches, palpitations and some nausea. Beta -2 can also be detected through the urine. This drug is one of many that are banned but in some forms this drug can be taken but only for medical reasons and that will not give unfair advantages to the performer. Diuretics This type of drug helps an athlete with a certain weight category in sport, it helps the body to produce more urine so the body weight can drop significantly so they fall into a certain category. Such sports like judo, horse racing, and weightlifting, when these drugs are taken give the athlete an unfair chance of beating their competitor(s). These also help an athlete to reduce the chances of detection of other drugs by diluting their urine. The main side effect of diuretics is dehydration but they can also cause headaches and dizziness and a loss in coordination or balance. This drug is also detected within the urine. Before, during and after exercise, it is essential that sportsmen and women take in a considerable amount of fluid, this is because dehydration can occur resulting in other side effects and also excessive loss of water effects the heart and kidneys, they could fail which mean this could be fatal to the athlete. Narcotics Narcotics help an athlete to push himself harder and further because his pain threshold is bigger, it helps him to continue exercising/ competing even when injury has occurred. Narcotics have similar effects to heroin or morphine. Narcotics are strong painkillers and they are usually competitors are tested for them when they compete. Many narcotics are illegal substances and not just in sport, these drugs are potentially addictive. Side effects from these drugs can seriously put an athletes performance in jeopardy because if the athlete continues to exercise, whilst injured it can cause further injury, even though narcotics stop the pain once they wear off the pain will be worse, like all other drugs they also cause loss of balance, lack of concentration, nausea and even vomiting, constipation and breathing/ respiratory problems. These drugs can become addictive. Detection of these drugs is also through the urine by gas chromatography. Peptide hormones There are many different substances within this class of drugs: Chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) Pituitary and synthetic gonadotrophin (LH) Corticotrophins (ACTH, tetracosactide) Growth Hormone (hGH) Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF-1) Erythropoietin (EPO) Insulin Chorionic gonadotrophin Chorionic gonadotrophin is a drug that when in a males body can help produce testosterone at a much faster rate, it is mainly used to overcome effects of testicular damage and sometimes it is also used as a masking agent. This drug is normally produced during a pregnancy and increases natural male and female steroids. This drug can cause many side effects just like the effects of most other anabolic steroids but this can also cause gynaecomastia. Immunoessay is the only way to detect this drug and this drug is only prohibited in men. Pituitary and synthetic gonadotrophin The pituitary gland produces pituitary hormones, and the hormones released consist of many different types, including the leutinising hormone. Hormones act as messages from one organ to another, these hormones stimulate growth, a person’s sex drive, pain threshold and a person’s behaviour. The leutinising hormone stimulates the male’s testis or the female’s ovaries. If used in a male this drug (also like hCG) helps to stimulate the production  of testosterone, if used in a female this drug stimulates the ovaries. The synthetic gonadotrophin helps the body to regulate gonadotrophin production or use. This drug has no real side effect it depends on the drug used. An immunoessay test is the only way of detecting this drug as well, this is done through the urine. Both of these drugs are only prohibited in males. Corticotrophin Corticotrophin is a drug that helps to increase the levels of endogenous corticosteroids (cortisone) in the blood. This drug is normally used as an anti-inflammatory drug. This drug has many side effects both long and short term ones. The short-term side effects are ulcers of the stomach or stomach irritation and even psychological effects like irritability. The long-term effects of this drug are weakening of muscles and connective tissues of area of injured muscle, tendon or n ligament and even osteoporosis or cataracts. Corticosteroids, are drugs that are used for therapy or treatment of injuries, there usage is legal but only for these purposes. Blood doping Blood doping is a way an athlete removes blood from their bodies. An athlete will do this about a week or two prior to competition, and then they will replace it just before the competition. After the blood is taken the body has to replace the missing blood, the athlete will then replace the blood they have taken from their own body resulting in the body having additional blood. The additional blood results in additional haemoglobin and therefore a greater ability for oxygen uptake. Many things can go wrong with this method, un-sterile needles can be used, the blood is not stored correctly or another person’s blood can be accidentally used. Athletes can receive AIDS/HIV hepatitis and many other diseases. If their blood is not stored right then that can have major effects on the body and if the blood used is different to their blood group the body will reject this blood causing more problems in the body. Growth Hormone (hGH) The growth hormone is a hormone that is also released from the pituitary gland and is necessary for the growth of bones and muscles and also for the growth of children. The growth hormone is used by athletes to increase their muscle mass size and also their strength. This drug can cause the overgrowth of body parts such as hands, feet, the face and it can also cause soft tissue swelling and increased sweating. The most fatal effect of this drug is it causes heart disease. Insulin- like Growth Factor (IGF-1) This type of drug is often used to increase protein synthesis and reduce muscle cell breakdown in the body. When the muscle cell breakdown occurs it leads to an increase in muscle bulk and helps to reduce body fat. This drug also occurs naturally from a mother’s milk. The side effects of IGF-1 are headaches, joint pains, and enlargement of internal organs, changes in musculoskeletal shape and size e.g. enlargement of the jaw, hypoglycaemia (which is low sugar in the body) and also acromegaly (which is the overgrowth of certain organs like the feet, face and hands). Muscles also become stronger from this drug but taking this drug also results in the muscles getting weaker because of degenerative changes in the joints. Erythropoietin (rhEPO) Erythropoietin is a drug that helps to increase the production of red blood cells in the body. When the red blood cell amount increases the amount of oxygen able to be carried around the body increases meaning the muscles gain more oxygen, this helps the athlete’s performance. When the drug increases the production of red blood cells it also increases the risk of the blood clotting because it is thicker. This is very dangerous for athlete’s that perform endurance events because their blood is much thicker due to dehydration. Insulin This drug is normally used to treat diabetes; it increases the amount of  sugar in the body and also increases the metabolism of foods. If this drug is used alongside other drugs like anabolic steroids and clenbuterol it can increase muscle growth and increase muscle definition. But these drugs used together can cause severe side effects and even death. Insulin can also cause hypoglycaemia, this causes shaking of the body, drowsiness, increases in respiratory rate, weakness, it can also cause the body to be comatose, it can cause brain damage and can also cause death. Stimulants Stimulants are usually only tested for in competition circumstances, but in some causes the drug can be tested for in other sports. Stimulants consist of substances such as amphetamines, caffeine (prohibited in large concentrations) and a number of the active ingredients in cold and flu preparations (i.e. pseudoephedrine). The side effects of stimulants include an increased heartbeat and can have an impact on the body’s natural ability to regulate its temperature. Stimulants are used to reduce tiredness, increase their alertness and arousal levels and also to boost their confidence. Sports such as endurance, fast moving sports and contact sports are the main events in which this type of drug is used. Stimulants can cause many risks to the body, it can cause possible collapse and even death, it increases the blood pressure, and makes the athlete dehydrated and can cause hypothermia. The athlete can also become dependant on this drug, appetite can be lost and the person can also become very anxious and aggressive.

Original Writing – A Short tale

A few miles south of your usual city packed with loud, noisy, busy people lay a small village of friendly folk. It was Spring in the land and in that one rural village the orchards blossomed, birds sung and the sun did not want to stray from this peaceful green valley. Only one particular person could hear the sound of trickling water at that precise moment, a Master Will Briscoe. He lay peacefully against one of the white blossom trees. His tatty breeches and white shirt flickered around in the wind. His toe poking out of a hole in his sock felt light blossom brush against it tenderly touching the surface. He was drifting off into a deep sleep until â€Å"Ahoy there!† called a certain Tom Davis. He stood around 5 foot 5 inches tall with brown, curly hair tied up in a ponytail that was blowing in the breeze. His shirt was a perfect white and had a pendant poking out the top which looked to be a sharp tooth of some kind. His friend who had arrived with him was of the larger sort of size, so as to speak. He had what looked to have once been food down the front of his shirt. He had chubby cheeks, and wild black hair. His eyes were a friendly kind of brown and he wore odd socks having not been fully awake when dressing that morning. â€Å"Tom, Brown,† Will replied while nodding at each of them in turn. Brown as he was called was the second, larger and grubbier of the two boys, his actual name was Tim, Tim Brown. But his friends felt the name Tim just didn't suit him and with not much brains between the lads Brown seemed like an easy and suitable name. So Brown it was and they had stuck to that name since their first meetings of each other. â€Å"Will, you got a moment?† Tom asked. â€Å"They're wanting hands to help prepare for the festival tonight,† he finished. â€Å"Sure,† Will replied, â€Å"I was only down here to get away from the house.† Brown who was watching the bees fly from flower to flower turned towards Will and asked with a soft tone, â€Å"Trouble at home again?† â€Å"Nah just the landlord being a jerk that's all.† â€Å"Nothing new then, † Tom added. They chuckled on while walking back towards town, the trip from town to the orchards was short, which may have been why Will spent so much time there. Or maybe he just preferred the peace compared to the hustle and bustle of town. As the boys approached the town they could see the outline of another friend of theirs Ray Staines, Ray wasn't small but he wasn't really very tall either. He had short blonde hair and to be honest just usually tagged along with the group. â€Å"Hi Will! Hi Tom! Hi Brown!† Ray shouted enthusiastically. â€Å"Going to help with the festival?† â€Å"Yes,† Will replied while casting quizzical looks at the others. â€Å"We can all go together right?† asked Ray. â€Å"Sure,† Will answered. By the time they had arrived there was only a few hours till the festival begun. They moved over towards the man who seemed to be directing everyone about. â€Å"Hello there,† the man boomed. He was large, balding and his only other distinguishable feature was his button nose. His name was Riordan, Captain Riordan when addressed. â€Å"Sorry lads we've just finished setting up for the evening, so you can't get any discounts for helping to set up, so go home freshen up and spend lots of money tonight,† he said while chuckling to himself. Will, Tom, Brown, and Ray split up. â€Å"See you later guys!† Will called while walking home to prepare for the night's festival.

People Led District Disaster Management Essay

Soon after the Orissa Cyclone and thereafter the Gujarat earthquake the Government of India prioritized a national policy on disaster management and advocated a change of direction from a post disaster reactive approach to a proactive stance before the occurrence of disasters, provided a new legal framework and greater harmonization of disaster management efforts. The policy set forth principles (including significant community role and active civil society participation), objectives (including emphasis on prevention, DRR and promoting regional and national cooperation), strategies and provisions for promoting inter-sectoral complementarities. The Disaster Management Act 2005, mandates National, States and district authorities to develop policy, guidelines, plans for proper implementation of Disaster management plans to reduce adverse impact on communities and to facilitate timely and effective response. It stresses upon inclusion of mitigation, preparedness and DRR measures into development. As a result SDMAs in various states initiated development of district disaster management plans. However, some plans were merely a collection of contact phone numbers of important authorities and departments from the district. There were significant gaps in these operational plans mainly due to non availability of a standard framework, lack of expertise and dedicated resources. Lack of community participation and that of relevant stakeholders in the preparation process has resulted in lack of ownership among intended users and beneficiaries. Disasters tend to happen to people at risk. People are at risk because they are vulnerable to hazards. This vulnerability can be best reduced by increasing people’s capacities to deal with underlying social, cultural and physical factors. The key to successful disaster management plan is to ensure involvement of people who are victims and who are at risk or could be potential victims. If this is not practiced it is often unsustainable, costly and ineffective. Most DDMPs in the country lacked participation of affected communities and civil society. A participatory community level disaster management involves a cross section of people in the design and development process of the plan. When local people develop these plans there is more interest, greater ownership and understanding resulting in successfully reducing suffering and losses. The key principles of this approach thus are: * Community themselves are best placed to prioritize threats and take effective risk reducing actions. The best time to reduce the impact of disasters is before the next disasters occur. Hence, preventive actions should be integral part of the effective disaster management plan. * The identification and mapping of hazards along with who and what may be affected is necessary before risk reduction plans can be made. * Progress has to be well publicized to maintain interest and strengthen the culture of disaster reduction. An example of this is found in the recent NDMA/SDMA collaboration with civil society coming together to develop community led DDMP in Madhubani. One of the basic highlights of the Madhubani DDMP process is that though it oriented towards response but it also incorporates reduction and prevention thrust. Incidentally, prevention has been recognized as an important aspect of DDMP by the district and state/SDMA but also in the poverty reduction strategy. As a result of DDMP several agencies/departments in Madhubani have shown willingness to incorporate prevention measures in their regulations, such as the building codes by the town planners that regulate development of settlements. It was encouraging to note high level of commitment from various stakeholders to improving DRR mechanism. Tearfund has been working along with its partners to lobby with governments at all levels for influencing the policies and development of effective people friendly plans. The Madhubani DRR project implemented by its partner organisation EFICOR in 30 villages in Madhubani was instrumental in development of pilot District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) along with support from SPHERE India. The strength of this pilot has been the process it has embarked upon wherein involvement and participation of all level of stakeholders from community to district/state/national government authorities in development process of this DDMP. In view of intensive involvement of all relevant stakeholders the pilot has received good response and acceptance from the NDMA and SDMA. This is considered as the first ever attempt in developing a DDMP which has come up from the active involvement of first respondent in any natural disasters. As mentioned above the thrust of development of DDMP is that it is being developed involving affected community, hence, the approach has been bottom-up, however at the same time, all relevant stakeholders, be it government departments or the NGOs and other actors have been involved and participated at all stages of development of the plan. This is truly a plan developed by the people and for the people. This plan has also influenced many other civil socieities to take up similar preparations for other districts and states with the support of NDMA.

Does the (apparently) Value-Laden Nature of Science give us Reason to Essay

Does the (apparently) Value-Laden Nature of Science give us Reason to Doubt the Objectivity and Reliability of Science - Essay Example In the paragraphs that follow I try to identify salient arguments put forward by leading scientists representative of the epistemology under review. Science may be defined as the human endeavour to explore, investigate and understand the physical universe. Scientific method used to gain knowledge of natural phenomena includes observation, forming hypotheses or theories, conducting experiments to test hypotheses, and drawing conclusions in accepting, modifying, or rejecting hypotheses. In antiquity, philosophy encompassed all knowledge. In modern times, science has become the repository of almost all knowledge, completely epistemic and objective. Physics, from Newton’s Laws, to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity led to many technological advances, and continues to be the paradigmatic science given exact mathematical expression. Until quite recently, scientists believed that they were engaging in a value-free, positivistic and Cartesian enterprise untainted by nonepistemic v alues. Gregory Mikkelson introduces the subject of ‘Values in Ecology’ by pointing to the historical link between modern science and colonialism, an unlikely outcome given the much vaunted scientific criterion of impartial objectivity. To enhance the objectives of cultural and biological diversity he advocates ‘value-frankness’ instead of the outdated ideal of ‘value- freedom’. He identifies the links between ethics and science and critiques the trend towards ascribing monetary value to ecosystems. He also argues for a ‘foundational concept in ecology – that of an ecological community’ echoing other contributors to the debate. He views ethics as a branch of science examining what is ‘good’ and what is ‘right’ and also the relation between the two concepts. Ethics is about objective properties like ‘richness, diversity and harmony’ and not merely our subjective opinions of them. Even the old ideal of a value-free science was founded on ethical-subjectivist notions promoting that ideal. By openly announcing the ethical foundations of scientific inquiry, it allows for better critical assessment of its conclusions. He shows how the attempt to free ecology from values has resulted in privileging the rich with adverse effects on conservation. Next, Mark Sagoff critiques the current trend to place an economic value on ecosystem services. He says that nature has no economic value. Wind, soil, water, and the pollination services of insects are provided free, but their economic ‘non-value’ has no bearing on their intrinsic value to human beings. He even places timber in this category. Biodiversity cannot be defended on economic grounds as some economists have done in putting the cost of future environmental pollution in monetary terms. Advances in technology have compensated ‘more than adequately’ for the depletion of natural stocks. Biotechnology continues to produce better products and helps lower prices. An example cited is transgenic trees with ‘fast growth, cold-hardness, uniform and predictable quality, disease resistance, etc.’ He asserts that ‘price does not correlate with value, benefit or utility.’ He wants us not to ‘regard nature as a resource to exploit’ but ‘a heritage and an endowment to maintain’. Sagoff makes a clear value statement in defence of new thinking in ecology. I now come to Elliott and McKaughan’