Thursday, October 31, 2019

Marketing Plan 2007 for NESCAF Coffee (Nestle) Assignment

Marketing Plan 2007 for NESCAF Coffee (Nestle) - Assignment Example In 1996, Nescafe Kenjara was added to the range. (Nestle, UK) External Marketing Audit: In 1939 Nescafe was introduced in Britain and coffee production started at the Hayes factory. In 1954 Nescafe was made with 100% coffee. The company's technology in 1964 helped it to retain the coffee aroma in Nescafe. Nescafe Original decaf was launched in 1998, and today there is a whole range of instant Nescafe coffees available to suit every taste. (Nestle, UK). Nestle has been continuously improving its instant coffees using new technologies and much innovation. It was the first manufacturer in the UK to introduce coffee with a new rich aroma to enhance the coffee flavour. The market: Nescafe has been around for many years since 1937 and for many years it has been the number one instant coffee brand in the UK. Nescafe, of course, has to contend with competition from other brands. One such brand is the Good African Coffee (GAC), formerly known as Rwenzori Finest Coffee. President of Uganda predicted that one day Good African Coffee would become a household brand like "Nescafe". Another competing brand is Kenco Instant Coffee, one of the UK's leading coffee brands. ... During 1962 the company changed its name to the Kenco Coffee Company. Baby Milk Action, which campaigns against the aggressive marketing of baby milk in the Third World, blacklisted Nescafe Partners Blend, produced by Nestlewhose activities in the baby milk market have attracted most opprobrium from such campaign groups. In 2005, Kraft Foods, the world's second biggest food company, predicted that within the next decade, 60% to 80% of the coffee market would be taken up by products with independent certification for fairtrade issues. Ethical marketing: Nestle and its product, Nescafe, have to cope with this fact in their external environment facet of their marketing activities in 2007. Market share: In terms of market share, Nescafe is the nation's default coffee of choice valued at 375m. Internal Marketing Audit: Product development Packaging can be used to help in establishing product differentiation. Marketing Objectives: Generally, the objective of marketing a firm's product is to help the firm achieve its objective of maximising profit. Ethical marketing Marketing mix: One of the important concepts in marketing is that of the marketing mix. A product can be marketed on three levels. The core product is the benefit which the product delivers to customers. It is benefits which customers actually buy and not products, so benefits and not products should be marketed. A product's physical features represent the tangible product, i.e. quality, style, dimensions, packaging etc. This is the second product level on which a marketing strategy may be built. A Marketing technique: Sales of Nescafe have been growing ever since 1938 when Nestle launched the first commercially successful soluble coffee. The Group

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated Essay Example for Free

What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated Essay What it is that constitutes a well-educated person is a much-debated topic. The answer to this question has got to be more than simply the amount of time that a person has spent gaining knowledge. What use is that knowledge is the person is not able to use and apply it to their everyday lives? By looking at and defining certain terms we can come to a conclusion that people who exemplify the title of being well educate are able to show some level of success in the area of their learned knowledge. There are people that have had little formal education that could be considered well-educated, while there are others who have had extensive formal education who wouldn’t be able to carry that title. A person who is considered well educated shouldn’t be able to hold that title just because they have attended a large amount of schooling. Education should be near to the heart of every person on the face of the planet. Without education of some level we’d still be hunting caribou with spears and beating two rocks together and hoping to get a spark for a fire. But the question, though, isn’t â€Å"is education important†, but rather â€Å"what constitutes a well-educated person? † This is a highly discussed topic. But I believe the answer to it is quite clear. A well-educated person is someone who can be successful in real life application of what he/she has been taught. The dictionary defines well educated as being highly educated or having extensive information or understanding. (thefreedictionary, 2012. ) It would be presumptuous to claim to be more intelligent than a dictionary, but I disagree with this definition. The key to accurately defining this term is correctly understanding one word, well. In going back to the dictionary we see that the word well is translated as meaning satisfactory. (thefreedictionary, 2012. ) We have to say that the appropriate question then is not what is well-educated person, but does this person have satisfactory education. So how do we know is a person has a satisfactory education? It has got to be more than just the amount of education or information that the given person has received. Just because a person has been in a higher education course for 10 years doesn’t mean that when a task comes up the person proves to be satisfactorily educated. Well-educated means a person has a quality education and not just a quantity of education. Two close friends of mine prove this point. Bobby is an incredible seventy-five year old man in who much is to be respected. At first glance you wouldn’t know it, but his â€Å"proper† education level only reaches the eighth grade. He was forced to drop out of school to help provide for his struggling family as a teenager. He is one of the most well respected and honored leaders in our community. Through a series of events he started a company that was very successful. His net worth is over five million dollars. Bobby’s wisdom and knowledge would take a college degree to even begin to dissect. On the other hand I have a friend named Anthony. Anthony is in his thirties and is really an incredible person. He has committed much of his life to furthering his education and now has two masters’ degrees. If Anthony were to write you a letter you wouldn’t even recognize half the words because he is such a bad speller. Also, he often seeks the guidance of others in his job because he lacks confidence to do it well in spite of his vast education. There, then, is a big difference in the definitions of the words well education and highly educated. If being well educated is more than just a great amount of knowledge given to a person, what are the signs of a well educated person? The first indicator that a person is well-educated is that they have learned how to learn. Anyone can be force feed an immense amount of information, but what really makes someone successful is being able to be a life long learner. Douglas Everett said, â€Å"A mark of a well educated person is not necessarily in knowing all of the answers, but knowing where to find them†. This describes a person who doesn’t just know stuff, but instead knows how to learn and the process it takes to do so. Another way to gauge if someone is well educated is by looking at their competency in the area of their education. It is different to be able pass a written exam on a subject and to truly understand how to apply what is that has been taught to the real world. The term well educated alludes to competency while highly educated refers to the amount of education given regardless of the retention or pplication of that knowledge. If you don’t understand what it takes to use what has been learned, then the time spent gaining the knowledge was to no avail. The last thing that for me that exemplifies a well-educated person is by looking at their level of success in their area of study. It doesn’t matter how much you know if what you know isn’t useful to make you successful. This brings the last point to a higher level. It says that you are not just competent in your understanding of a subject but you are successfully implementing that in your life. What’s the point of education if it doesn’t help us succeed in life and how can we be considered well educated if that knowledge isn’t breeding that success? If this definition of well education were adopted, would that have to change the way that students are being taught? Students need to be taught by first looking through the filter of this definition. Are these students learning the art of learning? Do these students really grasp what is being taught? Do students understand what it takes to make this principal successful in real life applications? When answering these questions, I believe it’s safe to say that most high school graduates aren’t well educated, but have rather had a lot of information given to them over a long span in a â€Å"career† of education. The key is finding the way to bring students from just â€Å"knowing facts† to being well education and successfully performing tasks that reflect that. For me, the best was to learn something well is by doing while learning. The term for this style of learning is experiential learning. But that’s just it, it takes looking at the individual student and teaching to his/her learning style and that’s not going to look the same every time. So what really is it to be well educated? In order to have a satisfactory education you must be able to perform successfully in the areas that you have been taught, if you cannot, then the time and effort put into learning was of no use. Even in stating that, I agree with Alfie Kohn in his article â€Å"What does it mean to be well educated† (2003) when he states that its really more important to figure out the qualities of a school that gives a good education instead of debating what it is to be well educated.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Preformulation Studies: Analysis of Honey

Preformulation Studies: Analysis of Honey Experimental work: Preformulation studies: Analysis of honey: Materials: Materials selected for the analysis of honey were procured from College of Pharmacy, IPS Academy, and Indore. Samples of Honey (Dabur honey) of different batches were selected and analysed where (n=3). Parameters studied: Sensory evaluation Foreign matter Ash value pH Refractive index Moisture content Acidity Standard procedure was followed for the analysis of different samples of honey. Determination of ÃŽ »max: For determination of ÃŽ »max, stock solution of drug (concentration 1000ÃŽ ¼g/mL) in water was prepared by dissolving 10 mg curcumin in 10 mL of distilled water .The working solutions in the concentration range of 2-10 ÃŽ ¼g/mL were prepared. Resulting solutions were scanned in the range of 400 to 800 nm with help of UV-visible spectrophotometer, and the maximum wavelength was determined. The ÃŽ »max of curcumin was found to be 420 nm. Preparation of Calibration Curve by UV-visible Spectroscopy: A. Preparation of Calibration Curve in distilled water: The stock solution of curcumin was prepared by dissolving 10 mg of curcumin in 10 mL methanol to produce concentration of 1000ÃŽ ¼g/mL. Preparation of standard solutions: Standard solutions were prepared in the concentration range of 2-10ÃŽ ¼g/mL by suitable dilutions of the stock solution in methanol and absorbance were taken at 420nm in visible spectrum (Shimadzu 1800). B. Calibration curve in PBS 6.8 Preparation of stock solution: The stock solution of curcumin was prepared by dissolving 10 mg of curcumin in 10 mL Phosphate Buffer Saline to produce concentration of 1000ÃŽ ¼g/mL. Preparation of standard solutions: Standard solutions were prepared in the concentration range of 2-10ÃŽ ¼g/mL by suitable dilutions of the stock solution in PBS 6.8 and absorbance were taken at 420 nm in visible spectrum (Shimadzu 1800). Formulation and optimization of gel: Materials: Carbopol 934p NF, triethanolamine, honey, glycerin, methyl and propyl Parabens and all other chemicals were procured from college of pharmacy IPS Academy, Indore are of analytical grade and used without further purification. Curcumin were procured as a gift sample from Ajmera Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Indore, India. Preparation of gel: The topical gel was prepared by soaking the Carbopol 934 in water for 24 h. Drug was first dispersed in small quantity of glycerin with gentle heating and then preservatives were dissolved in glycerin and then added to Carbopol solution with stirring the remaining ingredients were added to it and triethanolamine was added to the neutralize the Carbopol gel base. Preparation of topical gel base: Composition for the medicated formulation: Evaluation of gel formulation: pH: The pH of prepared gel formulation was determined by using digital ph meter. 1 g of gel was dissolved in 100 mL freshly prepared distilled water and stored it for 2 hours. The measurement of pH of each formulation was done in triplicate and average values were calculated. Viscosity: Brookfield digital viscometer was used to measure the viscosity of prepared gel. The T shaped spindle was selected (T3) was rotated different ppm range. The reading, near to 100% torque was noted down. A sample was measured at 30Â ±1Â °C. Spreadability: Spreadability was determined by wooden block and glass slide apparatus. Weight of about 2 g was selected and added to the pan and the time was noted for upper slide to separate completely from the fixed slide. Spreadability was calculated by the given formula: S= M.L/T Where; S= Spreadability M= weight tied to the movable upper slide L= length of a glass slide T= time taken to separate the slide completely from each other. Homogeneity: All the formulations were tested for this parameter by visual inspection after the gel have been set in the container. They are observed for any aggregation or their appearance. Drug content: A specific quantity of gel generally 1 g of gel was taken and dissolved completely in 100 ml of phosphate buffer 6.8. The volumetric flask containing gel was shaked for 2 h on a mechanical shaker in order to get uniform solution. The solution was filtered by 0.45Â µm membrane filter and estimated spectrophotometrically at 420nm using phosphate buffer 6.8 as a blank solution. Invitro release profile: In- vitro release studies was performed by using a diffusion cell with a receptor compartment capacity of about 20 ml. the egg membrane was mounted between the donor and receptor compartment of the assembly. The formulated preparation was weight up to 1g was placed over the membrane and the receptor compartment of the diffusion cell was filled with phosphate buffer 6.8. the whole assembly was fixed on magnetic stirrer, and the solution in the receptor compartment was constantly and continuously stirred using magnetic beads at 50 rpm and the temperature was maintained at 37Â ±0.50 Â °C the samples of 1 ml was withdrawn at time interval of 15, 30, .60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270 and 300 min., analysed for drug content spectrophotometrically at 420nm against blank. The receptor compartment was replaced with an equal volume of phosphate buffer at each time of the sample withdrawn. The cumulative graph was plotted against time. Determination of antimicrobial activity: Preparation of inoculums: For evaluation of antibacterial activity, 24 hours fresh culture of bacteria was suspended in sterile water to obtain a uniform suspension of microorganism. Determination of zone of inhibition: Antibacterial activity is checked by agar well diffusion method. in this method a previously liquefied medium was inoculated with 0.2ml of bacterial suspension having a uniform turbidity at temperature of 40Â °C. 20 ml of culture medium was poured into the sterile petri dish having a internal diameter of 8.5 cm. care was taken for the uniform thickness of the layer of medium in different plates. After complete solidification of liquefied inoculated medium, the wells were made aseptically with cork borer having 6mm diameter. In each of the plates gel solution was placed carefully. Plates was kept for pre-diffusion for 30 min. after that plates were incubated at 37 Â °C for 24 hr. after incubation period was over, the zone of inhibition was measured with the help of Hi-media. Stability studies: It is the most important component of any formulation the acceptance and the rejection of the particular preparation depends on this study. The international conference on harmonization (ICH) guidelines titled stability testing of new drug substance and product (QIA) defines the stability test requirement for drug requirement for drug registration application in the European, USA and Japan. Long term stability testing: 25 Â ± 2 Â °C /60 % RH Â ±5 % for 12 months. Accelerated testing: 40 Â ± 2 Â °C / 75 % RH Â ± 5%for 6 months. Stability studies were carried out at 40 Â ±2 Â °C /75 Â ± 5 % RH for the selected formulation for one month.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Hinduism Essay -- Hindu Religion

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions in existence (Srinivasan 66). It ranks as the third largest religion. Today there are about fifty million Hindus worldwide, majority of them living in India (Wangu 6). In order to understand the followers of the religion, you must first realize that Hinduism is more of a way of life than a religion (Srinivasan 66). Hinduism holds together diversity and not only for its own spiritual tradition, but for the entire subcontinent of India (Berry 3). All traditions within India are somehow associated with Hinduism. â€Å"The diversity which marks Hinduism begins with the notion of deity† (Boraks 14). â€Å"There is a strange kind of unity in the vast multiplicity of the Hindu pantheon† (14). â€Å"One never really is certain whether the Hindu religion is polytheistic or dualistic or even monotheistic: there are indications that are all of these and none of these† (14)!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hindus define sacredness as Brahman (Boraks 14). To Hindus, Brahman is external, is changeless, has no equal, and is infinite (14). Brahman expresses itself through creation, brought itself existence by Brahma, the creator (14). Brahma is the â€Å"sacred one† and is credited with creation, but Brahma creates and then abandons his creation to lesser gods (14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism was not founded by one individual, and it was not always the complex religion it is today (Wangu 14). â€Å"Indians call it Sanatana Dharma - the faith with no beginning and no end† (Srinivasan 66). â€Å"It developed gradually, as a merging of beliefs and practices of two main groups - the people of the Indus Valley in India and the Aryans of Persia† (Wangu 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like other religions, the Hindu religion has its own sacred literature. Hindu literature is not considered sacred because it has a Sacred Author, like in some western religions, but because they have sacred subject matter (Boraks 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There are two main categories of Hindu Scripture - shruti, ‘that which is heard’ and smriti, ‘tradition’ or ‘that which is to be remembered’† (Wangu 9). The Vedas and the Upanishads are shruti texts (9). â€Å"These sacred writings are considered to be inspired by God and to have been revealed to human kind by ancient sages called rishis† (9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each of the shruti texts provides a foundation for Hinduism. â€Å"The four Vedas are the oldest of the texts and are primary script... ...elp the deceased reach the homes of the ancestor safely† (115). â€Å"The prenatal, childhood, marriage, and death rituals are also performed for women belonging to the twice- born castes† (115). â€Å"During these times, Vedic formulas are not recited, since women are not allowed to read or hear the Vedas† (115).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is made up of several practices and rites. Hindus have the ability to choose their path because of the diversity of Hinduism. Hinduism has many faces (Boraks 14). It is like â€Å"an umbrella which shelters beneath its cover a whole panoply of religions ideas and expressions† (14). Hinduism may have originated in India, but its practices have spread throughout the world and it has had a profound influence on many other world religions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Cited Berry, Thomas. Religions of India. New York: Bruce Publishing Company, 1971. Boraks, Lucius. Religions of the East. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1988. Srinivasan, Radhika. Cultures of the World - India. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1993. Wangu, Madhu Bazaz. Hinduism: World Religions. New York: Facts on File Incorporated, 1991. Hinduism Essay -- Hindu Religion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions in existence (Srinivasan 66). It ranks as the third largest religion. Today there are about fifty million Hindus worldwide, majority of them living in India (Wangu 6). In order to understand the followers of the religion, you must first realize that Hinduism is more of a way of life than a religion (Srinivasan 66). Hinduism holds together diversity and not only for its own spiritual tradition, but for the entire subcontinent of India (Berry 3). All traditions within India are somehow associated with Hinduism. â€Å"The diversity which marks Hinduism begins with the notion of deity† (Boraks 14). â€Å"There is a strange kind of unity in the vast multiplicity of the Hindu pantheon† (14). â€Å"One never really is certain whether the Hindu religion is polytheistic or dualistic or even monotheistic: there are indications that are all of these and none of these† (14)!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hindus define sacredness as Brahman (Boraks 14). To Hindus, Brahman is external, is changeless, has no equal, and is infinite (14). Brahman expresses itself through creation, brought itself existence by Brahma, the creator (14). Brahma is the â€Å"sacred one† and is credited with creation, but Brahma creates and then abandons his creation to lesser gods (14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism was not founded by one individual, and it was not always the complex religion it is today (Wangu 14). â€Å"Indians call it Sanatana Dharma - the faith with no beginning and no end† (Srinivasan 66). â€Å"It developed gradually, as a merging of beliefs and practices of two main groups - the people of the Indus Valley in India and the Aryans of Persia† (Wangu 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like other religions, the Hindu religion has its own sacred literature. Hindu literature is not considered sacred because it has a Sacred Author, like in some western religions, but because they have sacred subject matter (Boraks 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There are two main categories of Hindu Scripture - shruti, ‘that which is heard’ and smriti, ‘tradition’ or ‘that which is to be remembered’† (Wangu 9). The Vedas and the Upanishads are shruti texts (9). â€Å"These sacred writings are considered to be inspired by God and to have been revealed to human kind by ancient sages called rishis† (9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each of the shruti texts provides a foundation for Hinduism. â€Å"The four Vedas are the oldest of the texts and are primary script... ...elp the deceased reach the homes of the ancestor safely† (115). â€Å"The prenatal, childhood, marriage, and death rituals are also performed for women belonging to the twice- born castes† (115). â€Å"During these times, Vedic formulas are not recited, since women are not allowed to read or hear the Vedas† (115).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is made up of several practices and rites. Hindus have the ability to choose their path because of the diversity of Hinduism. Hinduism has many faces (Boraks 14). It is like â€Å"an umbrella which shelters beneath its cover a whole panoply of religions ideas and expressions† (14). Hinduism may have originated in India, but its practices have spread throughout the world and it has had a profound influence on many other world religions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Cited Berry, Thomas. Religions of India. New York: Bruce Publishing Company, 1971. Boraks, Lucius. Religions of the East. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1988. Srinivasan, Radhika. Cultures of the World - India. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1993. Wangu, Madhu Bazaz. Hinduism: World Religions. New York: Facts on File Incorporated, 1991.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Summary Ben Carson Story

According to the movie, Ben Carson grew up from the poor family with his mother is non-education. She is only a maid in the rich man's house. One day during cleaning his house, Ben's mother learned that reading a book is better than spending the time in front of television. She suddenly got back home to force her children to spend their time in the library every day. They also have to summarize what they got from the books. This is the beginning of pulling Ben's intelligence out.Another one day in is science class, the teacher asked his student about how to find the solution of the Log. There is no one can get the right answer, but Ben who know how to get the result of Log. He surprised everyone with realizing he is not a stupid boy. In the university life he got a scholarship from Yale University. He became very the youngest neurosurgeon doctor. After his first successful surgeon by separating conjoined twins joined at the head he is very popular in the medias. Reflection – ( A few lessons I learnt and how I can apply them to my degree at UNC)There is no final destination for studying In our life. It Is our choice to study In anytime and anywhere from the books. The more we read the more we get knowledge from the world. Books can open your mind and pull out your Intelligence and ability. From now on, I think the best way to Improve my own life Is reading more than yesterday. During my master's life In UNC, I will spend my time In the library more than another place. Keep going and keep reading might make my life here easier.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Editing on Requiem for a Dream Essay

This essay will be, in the first part, mainly talking about the role of film editors in the modern film industry, while during the second, presenting a complex of creative editing techniques the editor used in the film requiem for a dream, to further demonstrate the former topic. For quite long, film editors are deemed as people who do nothing more than cutting the film apart, taping them back together and threading them onto a Moviola. The common-sense views of the job of a film editor, therefore, seem to be naively oversimplified. To be sure, the editing work can be incredibly tedious in a way. It involves viewing miles of footage for hours over and over again and turning them into a coherent and enjoyable whole that will bring sound and sight together artfully to convey the director’s vision. The difficulties of the work, according to that definition, are hard to miss, which is what happens in between the art of editing. Firstly, as an editor, you need to not only know the art, the business and the technology at the same time, but also be well adept at all. Secondly, even though the magic is in your wand and curses to make the final story come to life, you cannot cross that line between a conveyer and a manipulator. After all, it is the director that â€Å"rules†. Thirdly, it means you have to stand the long and tiring hours of working in isolation. Yet you also have to work closely in collaboration with others such as the sound editors and musical directors as the film nears completion. Walter Murch, a preeminent Hollywood film editor, who has won the golden statue for three times, worldly-renowned for his masterful editing work in the English patient and the cold mountain, describes a film editor as a cross between a short-order cook and a brain surgeon. To rephrase his words, film editing requires the capability to do really delicate jobs to mainly assure the continuity of the movie, but also the routine ones—-cutting and assembling, just like a short-order cook flipping the burger. Editors are the invisible man whose wonderful work somehow often goes unnoticed while the general public perception grants way too much credit on the directors and actors. Indeed, they are undoubtedly essential to the play as a whole, but the editor, the dark artist who makes all the broken pieces into their best shape is indisputably no lesser in importance than either of them. Moreover, in some films, the role an editor plays can be so critical that it defines the overall style of the entire film. In the following part, I will try to illustrate this point by looking into the various creative editing techniques the editor of requiem for a dream employed to make the film a stylistic one as it is. The first and foremost editing technique is the one that runs through the entire film, termed as â€Å"hip-hop montage† by Darren Aronofsky, the director of this movie. It is a subset of fast cutting used in film to portray a complex action through a rapid series of simple actions in fast motion, accompanied by sound effects. One example is the recurring scene in which Harry, Tyrone and Marion shoot or snort the heroine in the room. A fast set of shots encompassing the movement of body cells, the magnification of pupils, the cutting of dollar note, the ignition of lighter, the sound of moan are put together swiftly and seamlessly, followed by the fast motion of their after-drug activities. This happens regularly throughout the film primarily to imply the frequency of such behaviors, and the fast motion followed simply indicates how boring and senseless these people are as if those reactions can be ignored. Fast motion editing is another one that used by the editor quite often in the film, usually trying to imply the high frequency of the action or, not to bore the audience with the routine and tedious scenes as long as they understand what is going on. Respective examples are when the mother Sara takes the pills every single time and when she does the housework afterwards. The fraction of the doctor-patient sequence is rather unique in such a way that a contrast of fast motion(doctor) and slow motion(mother) are brought together in the same shots, causing a distinctive yet unspeakable feeling to the audience. Split screen editing is used extensively as well, along with extreme close-ups. The most illustrative one is a set of shots where Harry and Marion caress each other on the bed. The screen is equally split into two parts with the left side on Harry and the other half on Marion. The reason this scene is carried out in this way is because it manifestly shows us the places on each character that the other person is focused on. At this romantic and somewhat psychedelic moment, they both lose a sense of self and are enraptured by their lover. The visual representation of this has to be split since an attempt to convey this in one shot would feel slightly cluttered and in disarray. Another editing/ shooting technique well-worth-mentioning, is the long take used in the film where Marion walks out from her psychiatrist’s place after having sex with him only in exchange for money—-from the doorway, all the way to the elevator, down to the gate, out to the street, then the rain falls and Marion pukes. To observe in more depth, you will find the usage of â€Å"dissolve†. The dissolve appears in the story when Sara dances weirdly and ghostly in her dark bedroom with the red dress partially on her plump body and the nearly scary makeup on her pale-white face. The dissolve allows the appearance of multiple images of Sara at the same time on the screen with different degrees of transparency, thus creating a creepy and spooky ambiance. In addition to all those mentioned above, there is a shot in which the conversations match in two shots with different locations and time yet the same people. The matching of conversation is between Marion and her psychiatrist. The last shot of the first scene is in the restaurant where Marion says â€Å"I need some money† and the first shot of the next scene is on the bed with the psychiatrist saying â€Å"May I ask what it’s for†. This is incredibly coherent while controlling the pace very well. To end this essay, Stephen Kings once says: To write is human, to edit is divine. From this quotation and the analysis above of the role of an editor as well as the in-depth exploration into requiem for a dream, we can at least paint a closer-to-reality profile of an editor and in the meantime gain deeper understandings of the crucial work he/ she does in delivering a masterpiece film.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Pay It Forward (Movie Review) essays

Pay It Forward (Movie Review) essays Pay It Forward is a movie based on a novel written by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It is a movie about a social studies teacher giving his class an assignment, encouraging them to change the world into a better place to live in, and to fill the world with love. Trevor McKinney proposes the idea of paying it forward, that is to do something good for three people. Instead of paying him back, these three people should pay it forward by doing a favour for three more people. There are several themes in this movie. Firstly, the world can be changed into a better place if people are generous, united and when they are willing to help the others and not expecting any rewards from them. In the movie, Trevor does his best to change peoples minds and the world. He offers food and a shelter to a homeless man. He also tries to fix his relationship with his mother, who has broken up with his father. The idea of paying it forward begins to spread in the town. Almost everyone is keen in taking part in this project and wanting to help the others. It reveals that love is growing among people. In our daily life, charity organizes activities to raise money and other materials so as to help people who suffer from poverty and starvation in poor countries. During the SARS period, volunteers gathered and visited old people. They helped cleaning up their places. These generous people and volunteers may not be paying it forward like the characters do in the movie, but they are trying their best to help others, e ven strangers. They change the world and spread love. Secondly, persistence and strong belief towards a certain thing always help us to be successful. We should always be confident in ourselves and to trust ourselves that we can make changes in our lives. In Pay It Forward, Trevor fails a several times in his project. He does a great job in helping people, hoping and believing them that they will pay it forward ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Being a Project Manager essays

Being a Project Manager essays I am a software project manager at a booming Fortune 500 company having just been promoted from a position as a software engineer. I have been assigned to an on-going software development project because the previous manager left the company to take a job with one of our competitors. After meeting with my new team and reading the project documentation, I have an overall picture of the problem that my boss wants me to solve: we are four months behind schedule and our customer is furious. Our company is in danger of permanently losing this corporate customer. Many team members are already staying late and coming in on Saturdays. Stress levels are skyrocketing. The project is largely finished, but testing is taking forever. The team keeps finding more defects in the software, and when they fix the problems that they know about, they unwittingly create new problems. The software needs to be cleaned up and shipped as soon as possible. In order to expedite the conclusion of this project, I will start out by holding a meeting to plan the rest of the project by addressing the following: the morale of the engineers and relations with the customer, the testing process, and the conclusion. The first thing I will deal with is the stress among the software engineers. By creating a working atmosphere with less stress and frustration, the team members will be able to think clearer, be more motivated, and work cooperatively. I will reaffirm our vision of completing the software and the impact it will have for our customer and our company. By reminding everyone of our goal, the team will be able to maintain focus in order to finish the project smoothly and within a reasonable time frame. To further reduce the frenzy, I will not require anyone to work extra hours or come in on Saturdays; it is optional. Next in the meeting, we will review the customer request and make sure all their requirements are honored. Once we have est...

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Book Summary

The book I chose to read was â€Å"When I Say No, I Feel Guilty† by Manuel J. Smith. The first thing to stand out to me in this book was it seemed a little outdated. Even though the writing style and the examples appeared to be from a different era, I was still able to see how different points were relevant today and to me personally. This title screamed my name when I was browsing the list of choices because no matter what I am saying no to, I always feel guilty. From the first moment that we can feel and translate emotions, we have been manipulated by others. We have grown up under the sense that we should feel certain ways about particular actions. We forget to a chore when we are young, we should feel guilty. We bring a bad grade home on out report card, we should be scared of getting in trouble. Many activities are labeled either good or bad and we should portray emotions to match. As a manager, you should try to keep commands or statements neutral. A neutral statement is one that doesn’t assign the label of good or bad to a behavior so the recipient will not feel manipulated. Everyday, people try to manipulate you into doing what they want by making you feel nervous, uninformed, or blameworthy. If you let them push you around you will feel frustrated, angry or depressed. When you permit others to control your actions, you renounce your sense of personal responsibility. Smith states that the first step in fixing the situation is to know that â€Å"no one can manipulate your emotions or behavior if you don’t allow it to happen. † Also, following the Bill of Assertive Rights will help lead to non-manipulative relationships in all situations. The rights are the basis for all healthy relationships and are listed as: You have the right to judge your own behavior, thoughts and emotions, and to take the responsibility for their initiation and consequences upon yourself. You have the right to offer no reasons or excuses for justifying your behavior. You have the right to judge if you are responsible for finding solutions to other people’s problems. You have the right to change your mind. You have the right to make mistakes and be responsible for them. You have the right to say, â€Å"I don’t know†. You have the right to be independent of the goodwill of others before coping with them. You have the right to be illogical in making decisions. You have the right to say, â€Å"I don’t understand†. You have the right to say, â€Å"I don’t care†. The first right is the foundation of all of the remaining rights. When you become your own judge, you help to build a barrier against manipulation. Judgements should be based on your values and not external systems of what is right or wrong. People base their manipulative actions on the belief that you should live up to their rules. If you are accepting of this situation, you open yourself up to a limitless variety of manipulation. Criticism is a common tool people use to get someone to behave according to their standards. Reactions to criticism can be negative with anxiety, denial, and defensiveness. Learning to take criticism in a constructive manner helps to avoid manipulation. Verbal coping methods to help accept criticism effectively are fogging, negative assertion, and negative inquiry. Fogging is when you only agree to the truths in a statement and respond to what someone has specifically stated rather than what is implied. A negative assertion is statement that takes responsibility for something you have done wrong. It takes courage to make a negative assertion and say, I’m sorry. Last, using negative inquiry encourages the critic to reply assertively instead of manipulatively. This tactic is typically used to ask for additional information about a critique. There are also different types of relationships that fall into three categories, commercial, authority, and equality. Basic verbal skills used to minimize manipulation do not change as problems are handled throughout these different relationships. Commercial relationships are clearly defined with a contract. Since this type of relationship follows a defined structure an assertive verbal skill works most effectively. In an authority relationship there is one person in charge while the other is not. Authority based relationships emphasize finding compromises that grow on existing interpersonal dynamic. Both parties are equal in an equality relationship. This relationship is the most informal and tends to have everything open for discussion. Thoughtful open communication reassures people that you will not hinder their decision making, even if you may disagree. The main concept I took away from this book is, it’s my life and what happens in it is completely up to me! I will not cower when I face manipulation. My reactions to particular situations can pave the way for a disaster or a triumph. We must always be in touch with reality to promote our own well-being and happiness. We also have to accept the possibility that changing our mind is completely normal and healthy. Keeping the Assertive Bill of Rights in mind will help to stand up against manipulation and keep our dignity, self-respect, and control over our own behavior.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Limited Foreign Exchange Exposure Through Hedging Research Paper

Limited Foreign Exchange Exposure Through Hedging - Research Paper Example The research paper discusses different kinds of hedging instruments employed by firms all over the world. The risk of the exchange rate is raised from the assets and liabilities or transactions dominated in foreign currencies or existing. The hedging activities of all firms are not alike and they may vary based on the core business of firms and kinds of their foreign exchange risk. The paper described the kinds of Hedging instruments including Natural Hedging and Foreign Exchange Derivatives. In order to evaluate hedging practices in Australia, data of up to March 2005 has been used apart from hedging surveys for Australia. The previous surveys show that the banking sector of Australia has always been well-protected from currency fluctuations. In the period following the floating of the Australian dollar, Australian banks had very little exposure to exchange rate risk because of the restrictions of regulations on international transactions. After the removal of these restrictions, banks have been financing their domestic assets through short term liabilities abroad. In order to limit their net exposures, the banks used to match foreign currency liabilities to their assets. For further eliminating the residual risk exposure, Australian banks have been using derivatives. The current market risk guidelines ask the Australian authorized deposit-taking banks to dete rmine their foreign currency exposure daily. The evaluation of adaptations of non-financial firms to exchange rate fluctuations show that these firms have been facing difficulties because of poor or little experience. In 1986, borrowers made 3000 foreign currency loans dominated in Swiss francs and they incurred huge losses when Swiss francs appreciated by 50% against the Australian dollar.

Iraq and afghan veterans Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Iraq and afghan veterans - Research Paper Example The emotions and images of war may remain in the souls and minds of returning soldiers for decades or even lifetimes after the wars. This is usually due to a fundamental reshaping of important human characteristics, especially those related to the soul. The characteristics include â€Å"how we perceive; how our minds are organized and function; how we love and relate; what we believe, expect, and value; what we feel and refuse to feel; and what we judge as good or evil, right or wrong† (1). As a way to deal with the emotions and images of war that still linger in the souls and minds of returning soldiers, most of them suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) and engage in substance abuse. This paper is a discussion on the effects of war on returning soldiers, with a particular focus on Iraq and Afghan veterans. The use and abuse of substances such as alcohol and narcotics for most soldiers usually begins with the beginning of military life. Ruiz and Strain point out that â€Å"the armed services have experienced problems with alcohol abuse from the earliest days of military service, in part because heavy drinking has been an accepted custom and tradition that continues today† (926).To this day, military outlets sell alcohol beverages at reduced prices. On top of this, alcohol is part of the work culture in the military as it is used to encourage camaraderie and unit solidarity, ease interpersonal pressures and reward hard work. Just like alcohol, illegal drugs or narcotics and nonmedical prescription drugs have been used by soldiers to help cope with panic or boredom, increase alertness and reduce fatigue, as well as to reduce pain from wounds. The use and abuse of these substances have over time been discouraged in the military and policies have been developed to help eliminate the problem. According to Ruiz and Strain, â€Å"urine tests, which are conducted randomly or when an individual is suspected of

ECommerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ECommerce - Essay Example It is evident that many companies now realize the importance of websites as a tool to gain market share and improve sales. Most flourishing companies like unique home decor, Paul Michael company, Bensons would not have reached the places they are without their websites (Plumley & Wyrostek, 2011). http://www.horchow.com/: The Horchow management structure consists of activities such as the allocation of tasks, supervision and coordination, which are directed towards the accomplishment of the aims of the company. The company structure mainly participates in the accomplishment of the company goals this is because the company has several dedicated employees whose main agenda is to assist the company to achieve his company's goals. Horchow has several supervisor is in each and every department, this ensures the employees work up to the required standard. This contributes to the making of designing high quality decor products because the management has catered everything governing the emplo yees work. The company uses various business models to make it distinct from other companies. The business models also help to describe the organizational architecture of capture mechanisms, delivery which are employed by the company's enterprise. The company has applied business models such as, collecting intelligence, user generated content, and improving the available systems. It also uses transport services such as airline and private courier services to ensure their products are available all over the continent. The goals of the business are primarily marketing the products on sale and making sure they increase their profits though online sale and delivery. The company also seeks to be capable of running consumer satisfaction surveys so as to assist they gauge their progress. Finally, the ultimate goal is to ensure that the company becomes a reputable and among the most respected and successful in this field of business The website will, therefore, be designed so as to make sur e the company achieves most of its goals in the most efficient way possible. The website will become a partial platform for the marketing department. This is because many people nowadays depend on the internet for many things, making it an easier place to access customers. The products will be marketed by posting them on the website and giving information on the latest home decors awaiting release and those already in the market. In order to enhance marketing, the company will have to alias with the most visited websites and have accounts in social platforms such as Facebook, linked in, twitter and MySpace among others. Secondly the company will should be able to give customers the ability to purchase items and request them to get delivered to supported locations. The products shall be priced ant the availability of a customer to purchase the items collectively using a virtual card. This will allow them to shop for many products easily. The third aspect of this website is customer s upport. This will be implemented through the creation on the FAQs section, including live customer care care support though chart or voice calls via Skype. This will help improve customer experience because they will be capable to do have choices about the products they purchase, hence improve the company’s reputation. The final part of the website will be the ability to run consumer satisfaction surveys on the website. This will be done by first examining the counter of customers who have signed up to the company’s website. The second method is through the website daily count of the number of individuals who search, or visit the website. The final method is through consumer satisfac

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Development of Bio Materials for 3-Dimensional Printing Research Paper

Development of Bio Materials for 3-Dimensional Printing - Research Paper Example Prototyping Procedures In general, rapid prototyping (RP) is defined as the process of building or fabrication a physical part, layer by layer directly from its 3-dimensional computer aided design model (Choi and Samavedam, 2001). RP is also known in another term such as layer manufacturing, direct CAD manufacturing, solid freeform fabrication and rapid prototyping and manufacturing (RPM). From these several terms for RP it can be drawn that its basic principle is actually â€Å"additive manufacturing.† It is because the 3D object is being formed by building layer by layer through adding, depositing or solidifying one or more materials in a horizontal layer-wise process (Heynick and Stotz, 2006). Lam et al (2002) described the rapid prototyping (RP) as â€Å"the process of creating three dimensional (3D) objects through repetitive deposition and processing of material layers using computer-controlled equipment †¦ based on the 2D cross-sectional data obtained from slicing a computer-aided design (CAD) model,† (49). ...   The whole model is completed by printing successive 2D profiles on a fresh layer of powder. The profiles of each layer are joined using the printed binder and completed after the removal of the unbound powder and this has been used extensively for the fabrication of drug delivery devices (Wu et al, 1996). Tissue engineers soon caught up and started using 3DP to design and fabricate scaffolds (Wu et al, 1996). Developments include the use of the technology combined with salt leaching technique to fabricate polymeric scaffolds using copolymers of polylactide-coglycolide (PLGA, 85L:15G) and a suitable solvent. Cylindrical scaffolds (F O 8X7 mm) and managed to achieve interconnected porous channels of about 800 ?m and microporosities of 45–150 ?m by using salt leaching. They were able to attach large numbers of hepatocytes on the scaffolds. In a study that investigated cellular reactions to pore size and void fractions based on 3DP fabricated scaffolds, cell proliferation was observed on the scaffolds but varied between cell types and the experimental parameters. The scaffolds used in the experiment had varying pore sizes of 38–150 ?m and void fractions 75% and 90% (Zeltinger et al, 2001). RP is far different from traditional fabrication because this technology is only possible through the aid of the computer which controls all the mechanical system in fabricating 3D objects. Traditional fabrication technique could include solvent casting, gas foaming, fiber bonding/ meshes, phase separation, melt molding, emulsion freeze drying, solution casting, and freeze drying.

Business - Executive presence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business - Executive presence - Essay Example This charismatic personality of the individual makes him attractive to people, thus the people follow him. Ultimately, people trust the leadership of the executive and they are assured of the sense of self. There are five classes of executive presence, which contain the sixteen executive traits. These classes include business intelligence, risk taking, interpersonal relationship, performance improvement, and self-development characteristics. The business intelligence characteristics include strategic vs. tactical, whole company perspective, and financial framework. Risk taking characteristics entail capitalizing on change and ambiguity, leaping ahead in one’s career, and going beyond the comfort zone. Interpersonal relationship characteristics include clear communication, managing vs. leading, and sharing the limelight. Performance improvement characteristics are composed of prioritizing an individual’s projects, developing solid thinking skills, and developing discernm ent. Lastly, self-development characteristics include knowing thyself, seeking feedback, gaining confidence, and training. These executive traits are important for the creating the executive presence in any organization. For instance, effective communication in a clear and precise manner is crucial for the development of executive presence. Executive Presence Executive presence is possessed by an individual who has a confident and a powerful persona. The charismatic personality of the individual attracts people and makes them follow the individual. Then, people trust in the executive’s leadership and they are assured of the sense of self. The individual is a strong force within the organization. The individual does not hesitate; he or she takes immediate action. He is confident and decisive with the choices and he is not wavered by anything. Even if the individual is wrong, his or her outward demeanor is not affected. He just tries again because taking risks is his part of th e natural approach (Garfinkle, 2011). The individual is assertive and constantly moves forward with what he wants. He believes in something and directs all his force and energy towards it. He is not forceful but very firm with his opinions and ideas. The respective with which the individual treats others prevents them from seeing his or her aggressiveness and assertiveness. The individual creates consensus with the others so that they feel included in the concepts that he or she encourages. When he or she leverages his expertise and the areas in which he is experienced, executive presence follows. As individual develops executive traits, he or she builds executive presences into an important component of the current state (Garfinkle, 2011).There are five categories of executive presence which encompass the sixteen executive traits. These categories include business intelligence, risk taking, interpersonal relationship, performance improvement, and self-development characteristics. B usiness Intelligence Characteristics Strategic vs. Tactical Having tactical skills (that is, the capability to manage day-to-day tasks and actions) is crucial to the success of the career. However,

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

ECommerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ECommerce - Essay Example It is evident that many companies now realize the importance of websites as a tool to gain market share and improve sales. Most flourishing companies like unique home decor, Paul Michael company, Bensons would not have reached the places they are without their websites (Plumley & Wyrostek, 2011). http://www.horchow.com/: The Horchow management structure consists of activities such as the allocation of tasks, supervision and coordination, which are directed towards the accomplishment of the aims of the company. The company structure mainly participates in the accomplishment of the company goals this is because the company has several dedicated employees whose main agenda is to assist the company to achieve his company's goals. Horchow has several supervisor is in each and every department, this ensures the employees work up to the required standard. This contributes to the making of designing high quality decor products because the management has catered everything governing the emplo yees work. The company uses various business models to make it distinct from other companies. The business models also help to describe the organizational architecture of capture mechanisms, delivery which are employed by the company's enterprise. The company has applied business models such as, collecting intelligence, user generated content, and improving the available systems. It also uses transport services such as airline and private courier services to ensure their products are available all over the continent. The goals of the business are primarily marketing the products on sale and making sure they increase their profits though online sale and delivery. The company also seeks to be capable of running consumer satisfaction surveys so as to assist they gauge their progress. Finally, the ultimate goal is to ensure that the company becomes a reputable and among the most respected and successful in this field of business The website will, therefore, be designed so as to make sur e the company achieves most of its goals in the most efficient way possible. The website will become a partial platform for the marketing department. This is because many people nowadays depend on the internet for many things, making it an easier place to access customers. The products will be marketed by posting them on the website and giving information on the latest home decors awaiting release and those already in the market. In order to enhance marketing, the company will have to alias with the most visited websites and have accounts in social platforms such as Facebook, linked in, twitter and MySpace among others. Secondly the company will should be able to give customers the ability to purchase items and request them to get delivered to supported locations. The products shall be priced ant the availability of a customer to purchase the items collectively using a virtual card. This will allow them to shop for many products easily. The third aspect of this website is customer s upport. This will be implemented through the creation on the FAQs section, including live customer care care support though chart or voice calls via Skype. This will help improve customer experience because they will be capable to do have choices about the products they purchase, hence improve the company’s reputation. The final part of the website will be the ability to run consumer satisfaction surveys on the website. This will be done by first examining the counter of customers who have signed up to the company’s website. The second method is through the website daily count of the number of individuals who search, or visit the website. The final method is through consumer satisfac

Business - Executive presence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business - Executive presence - Essay Example This charismatic personality of the individual makes him attractive to people, thus the people follow him. Ultimately, people trust the leadership of the executive and they are assured of the sense of self. There are five classes of executive presence, which contain the sixteen executive traits. These classes include business intelligence, risk taking, interpersonal relationship, performance improvement, and self-development characteristics. The business intelligence characteristics include strategic vs. tactical, whole company perspective, and financial framework. Risk taking characteristics entail capitalizing on change and ambiguity, leaping ahead in one’s career, and going beyond the comfort zone. Interpersonal relationship characteristics include clear communication, managing vs. leading, and sharing the limelight. Performance improvement characteristics are composed of prioritizing an individual’s projects, developing solid thinking skills, and developing discernm ent. Lastly, self-development characteristics include knowing thyself, seeking feedback, gaining confidence, and training. These executive traits are important for the creating the executive presence in any organization. For instance, effective communication in a clear and precise manner is crucial for the development of executive presence. Executive Presence Executive presence is possessed by an individual who has a confident and a powerful persona. The charismatic personality of the individual attracts people and makes them follow the individual. Then, people trust in the executive’s leadership and they are assured of the sense of self. The individual is a strong force within the organization. The individual does not hesitate; he or she takes immediate action. He is confident and decisive with the choices and he is not wavered by anything. Even if the individual is wrong, his or her outward demeanor is not affected. He just tries again because taking risks is his part of th e natural approach (Garfinkle, 2011). The individual is assertive and constantly moves forward with what he wants. He believes in something and directs all his force and energy towards it. He is not forceful but very firm with his opinions and ideas. The respective with which the individual treats others prevents them from seeing his or her aggressiveness and assertiveness. The individual creates consensus with the others so that they feel included in the concepts that he or she encourages. When he or she leverages his expertise and the areas in which he is experienced, executive presence follows. As individual develops executive traits, he or she builds executive presences into an important component of the current state (Garfinkle, 2011).There are five categories of executive presence which encompass the sixteen executive traits. These categories include business intelligence, risk taking, interpersonal relationship, performance improvement, and self-development characteristics. B usiness Intelligence Characteristics Strategic vs. Tactical Having tactical skills (that is, the capability to manage day-to-day tasks and actions) is crucial to the success of the career. However,

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Foundation Essay Essay Example for Free

Foundation Essay Essay B-boys and B-girl are in the Hip-Hop world. A lot of young people in the world are interested in hip-hop and that music. When we think of hip-hop, we are likely to think about: they are African American, aggressive and rap-music etc. Why do we consider the stereotype of hip-hop? What is based on our thinking about this stereotype? Before we discuss about them, we need to know what hip-hop is. Why do B-boys and B-girls interest in the hip-hop? We focused on the term: hip-hop. Foundation says that hip-hop is used to refer to three different concepts. When we understand the concepts of hip-hop, we are likely to understand about B-boys and B-girls as well as why they becomes to be B-boys and B-girls. Even though, they may break our society rule, they are likely to follow their hip-hop concepts. For better worse, people should follow their own rule. Hip-hop is established dance and music category. These idea is not based on anything so this is my hypothesis whether B-boy follow the concepts or not. The most important aspect of this variety of the hip-hop is that it is unmediated. In other words, the idea of hip-hop is happened B-boys and B-girls spontaneously. They just express themselves on the hip-hop. It seems to be the advertisement without no product. That reality became to be the hip-hop culture. These ideas often appear in the period of adolescence. In this period, young people do not make their identity so that they are stumped about themselves. In that time, when they meet hip-hop, they are interested in hip-hop because it is easy for them to express. They just dance using their body, and do not use specific tool. Second, the term hip-hop refers to a form of popular music that developed, or was developed, out of hip-hop culture. It means that rap-music came from the interaction between hip-hop culture and the preexisting music industry. Hip-hop is strongly related to the rap-music. A lot of people can connect to hip-hop to listen to rap-music. Thirdly, the term hip-hop is increasingly used as a kind of loose demographic designation for contemporary African American youth, regardless of whether or not they have any overt connection to rap music or to other hip-hop arts. These idea turns out to be phrases as the hip-hop attitude and the hip-hop generation. In view of this sense, hip-hop is usually invoked to emphasize age and class over race when singling out young African Americans, either for praise or criticism. As we know, the culture of hip-hop is related to young African American. However, some problems are likely to arise in our society. In one online cone column, Jason Whitlock blames hip-hop for the lack of discipline among contemporary football players. Hip-hop is the dominant culture of black youth. In general music, especially hip-hop music is rebellious for no good reason other than to make money. Rappers and rockers are no trying to fix problems. They create problems for attention. That philosophy, attitude and behavior go against everything football coaches stand for. They’re in a constant battle to squash rebellion, dissent and second opinions from their player†¦ what we’ re witnessing today are purposeless, selfish acts of buffoonery. Sensible people have grown tired of it. Football people are recognizing it doesn’t contribute to a winning environment. Whitlock2007) This column expresses well how hip-hop culture relates to our society. It seems to be biased this story by author, however, taking three hip-hop concepts into consideration; his statement is likely to be reliable. As he pointed out, hip-hop music is rebellious for no good reason other than to make money. I think that his opinion is the same as that of most people. Hip-hop culture, part icularly, black American culture is likely to be against our society. This culture seems to relate to the counter culture. Counterculture was popular from 1960 to 1970. Hip-hop culture began in 1970 so young people in around 60s and 70s were definitely affected by counterculture. To wrap out the term of hip-hop, black American lives in the hip-hop culture and then they become to be B-boys and B-girls. They are interested in the rap-music. Their idea about hip-hop seems to be the advertisement without promoting product. Their life is hip-hop culture and one of B-boy and B-girls way to express them. I consider the history of classic B-boy and hip-hop. We have already known about what the term: hip-hop is. It is good order to learn the history of classic B-boy and hip-hop. When we understand the history and the meaning of hip-hop, we will get what they want to dance, why they want to dance and how they dance on the hip-hop. Also, we should check whether my hypothesis is correct or not. In the early hip-hop era, they did not use hip-hop songs. These songs were the rock and funk songs. Their originators danced to in the half-decade between hip-hop’s emergences as a sociocultural movement around 1974 and the development of an associated musical gene rein 1970. By the mid-70s the musical breaking the song had taken on a new life as a historical break between the end of soul culture and the beginning of hip-hop culture. † The breaking in the hip-hop is important for them to dance on the hip-hop. The brake is the original essence of the dance and the seed of its tradition. In this case, these breaking do not lead to rebellion; Jason Whitlock talked, in our society. However, from point of view of the roots of hip-hop, breaking songs and creating problems, Jason pointed out, is the same thing. Without lack of information about the term of hip-hop, we do not reach their breaking idea. That’s why leaning the term of hip-hop first is the most important. â€Å"B-boys songs are valued as frameworks forth act of B-boying because they combine practical factors that facilitate the particular dance style with socio-historical associations that place any given performance in the context of b-boy history. †¦ The earliest B-boy danced to these songs in their entirety, saving their best moves for the break therefore the deejays began to focus on the breaks in the first place. The hip-hop is influenced by samba, mambo, salsa and Latin music. The syncopation of samba rhythms is fundamental aspect of the relationship between movement and suppressed elements of a composition. So, B-boy and B-girl’s dance is based on samba and then they arrange their dance to express themselves well. In view of Latin music, conga drums had become one of the important sounds to arise Afri can American musical nationalism. The instrument was an important part of the sound of another of America’s great cultural achievements: funk. The vibrant music relationship that b-boys and B-girls maintain with these songs belies easy stereotypes about the relative value of live versus recorded music. † In other words, without recoding of these songs –the way they seem to capture and time an place in which they were made is an important part of their appeal. Their emotion and dance expresses themselves at that time. So, recording their feeling and motion seems to getting decrease value. When we think of the concepts of hip-hop, it makes sense that no recording about them is more value than that of the recording. They just dance for expressing themselves. That reality became to be the hip-hop culture. It is generally accepted that reality is more important than recoding reality. For example, we think of rock concert and that video. Which one do you think that things of value are? It is needless to say that we choose the rock concert because the concert is definitely more valuable than that of video. In conclusion, B-boy and B-girl have followed by their rule. They have been adding some dance and music on the hip-hop and developing their skill of dance and music. I believe that their breaking will be potential for producing new dance and music categories in the future. After leaning the concept of hip-hop and their early activities, my image of hip-hop is dramatically changing to that of favorable impression. When we encounter the unknown thing, we are likely to regard that as bad thing. However, in most cases, it is too much biased by mass media. Most people in the hip-hop world are striving for developing their dance and music, and they follow the concepts of hip-hop. Their hip-hop world including dance and music is keeping for expanding our world. They will create their new way of expressing themselves.

Monday, October 14, 2019

The Unethical Business Practices Of Shell Commerce Essay

The Unethical Business Practices Of Shell Commerce Essay Unethical practices by organizations are frequently increasing as the pressure to compete and succeed compels them to ignore the ethical and moral aspects of their practices and decision-making. In order to maximize value for its shareholders and gain profitability, Shell ended up bribing the Nigerian officials to  make it easier to import their goods and equipment, in order to avoid customs duties, extend contracts and lower tax etc. Therefore this report investigates and scrutinizes Shells unethical practices in context to its the moral code of ethics and recommends Shell to be more ethical in their practice. 1.3 Introduction As globalization increases many organizations indulge in unethical practices to achieve growth and profit maximization. Consequently, the examples of such companies include LOreal, Nike, Wal-Mart, Shell etc. Shell, is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. They have their headquarters situated in Hague, the Netherlands.  The parent company of the Shell group is Royal Dutch Shell plc, which is incorporated in England and Wales. Shells operated in more than 90 countries and has an approximate of 93000 employees. Their production mainly consists of forty eight percent of natural gas and around 3.3million barrels of gas and oil is produced per day. Shell has established forty three service stations worldwide. According to a survey conducted in 2010, theyve sold an estimated 145 billion litres of fuel. The Company has two main streams, upstream which explores for and extracts crude oil and natural gas and Downstream which refines supplies, trades and ships crude worldwi de, manufactures and markets a range of products, and produces petrochemicals for industrial customers. According to their financial report of 2010, with the capital invested of $30.6 billion and $1 billion in Investment in research and development, they had an income of $20.5billion with revenue of $368.1 billion (Shell, 2010). 1.4 Historical Background Shell was born during days of the oil boom and started out in the shadow of John D. Rockefellers Standard oil monopoly. Royal Dutch/Shell was the result of a merger in 1907 between the British-based Shell Transport and Trading Company, which pioneered the use of seagoing oil tankers and the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, which made its fortune developing new oil fields in Borneo and Sumatra. Marcus Samuel was an enterprising fellow who decided to greet ships returning to England from India, Japan, Africa, and the Middle East and offer to buy any trinkets and curious that sailors had collected abroad. In the 1890s, the French Rothchild family decided to go into business exploiting the oil fields opening up in Baku in Russia. Needing a partner to help them transport and sell the oil, they turned to Marcus Samuel the younger. After a brief trip to the Caucasus, Marcus Samuel decided that the only way to take on the near monopoly grip that Standard Oil held was to radically reduce oil tr ansportation costs. During that time kerosene was transported in crates of tin containers. Loading the fuel into these relatively small containers, crating them, and loading them onto ship as time consuming, expensive and inefficient, Samuel argued. It would be much preferable to just pipe the oil into a tanker ship. In 1907, Sir Marcus Samuel and Henri Deterding merged the Shell Transport and Trading Company with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company to create Royal Dutch/Shell. The company is owned forty percent by the Shell Transport and Trading Company and sixty percent by the Royal Dutch Petroleum (History of Business, 2010). In the 1980s, Shell sought to grow through acquisition. It bought out the remaining 30% shareholding in Shell Oil in 1985 to consolidate its American operations. The 1980s saw the development of offshore exploration projects, which were in much more challenging conditions than had previously been attempted.  The 1990s Shell saw the technology of biomass fuels and Gas to Liquids make giant leaps forward.  Shell was criticized over the Brent Spar episode in 1995, which centered on its plans to dispose of the storage platform. The Group learned that public opinion had become much more sensitive to environmental issues. In the next decade, the Group worked much harder to open a dialogue with interested parties regarding its environmental impact and to develop good relations with the communities affected by its work. Another problem to hit the Group arose from its presence in the Nigerian region of Ogoniland. The tribal minority in the Ogoni were aggrieved with the Nigerian government because they felt denied a proper share of federal revenues from the oil, and what they saw as other fundamental human rights. Their champion was the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. The oil companies were targeted as collaborators with the corrupt government. Shell was accused of environmental despoliation. The story achieved international notoriety when Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues were sentenced to death by hanging for their activities. Shell has since strived to follow a policy of demonstrating its community of interests and reciprocal good feeling with both the governments and the local populaces it deals with. The 1990s were notable for Shell for the development of the LNG gas business. Improved transportation and rising demand made this area of the Groups activities increasingly important and are expected to continue to do so in the first decades of the twenty-first century (Shell, 2010). 1.5 Report Preview This report examines various unethical practices of Shell. Firstly, it investigates upon the historical background of Shell. Moreover, we have related Shells immoral issues to the ethical theories. Along with these principles we also suggest some recommendations which could be reasonably essential for Shell to operate in a better and efficient manner. Finally, the report concludes with importance on ethics, corporate social responsibility and with our suggestion on its unethical action. 2.0 Shells Unethical practices: In 2010, Shell was accused of bribery practice with Nigerian officials in order to gain profit. Shell bribed Nigerian officials to make it easier for them to import goods and equipment, get lower taxes and avoid the customs. Shell said that it paid 2 million U.S Dollars to its Nigerian Workers in its deep water Bonga Project. Shell actually knew that part of the money will go to Nigerian officials whom will make shell avoid the customs process. This will give shell an obvious competitive advantage in the market. Shell actually gained $14million profit from this bribery of the Bonga project. Shell will pay $48.1 million dollars in order to settle probes by the U.S Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. In January 2004, fraudulent overstatement of proven hydrocarbon reserves by Shell in Form F20 returns filed with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission(John Donovan,2007). Shell has given misleading and wrong statements about its reserves. It paid a $120 million fine for this claims settlement. One of the famous unethical practices by Shell was causing the high levels of pollution in Nigeria.40% of shells oil spills worldwide was in Nigeria. The oil spill also caused water contamination. It caused oil pollution in the Ogoniland region for the past 40 years or so. The pipelines were built in front of the peoples houses and in their farmlands. They suffered oil leaks through the pipelines. This has totally destroyed the environment over there. It killed the aquatic life; killing many fishes. Also enveloped the land with oil. This has been really devastating for the Ogoni people, economically and healthy, since their economy depends mainly on fishing and farming. People suffered respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma; and cancer. Lots of vegetation is dying, especially Mangrove swamps, due to wastes of oil in the Niger River. The reason Shell has been successful in doing these unethical practices in Nigeria is because they used to bribe the Nigerian officials frequently to ease the process. Royal Dutch Shell Blames oil spills on sabotage to its equipment ( Chima Williams,2009). This explains how rude and unethically they take responsibility for their awful actions. According to the Covalence ethical ranking in 2008, saw Shell in the 510 position out of 541 multinational companies. Covalence s ethical quotation system is a reputation index based on quantifying qualitative data and It is a barometer of how multinationals are perceived in the ethical field(John Donovan 2009). The covalence ethical ranking is based on important issues such as Human rights policy, Waste Management, Labor standards and product social utility. A research done by Management and Excellence in 2005 sees Shell as the number 1 most ethical oil company in the world. But by the end of 2011, Shells position is expected to deteriorate much due to the bribery scandal it suffered for the last few months. 2.1 Conoco Phillips: Conoco Phillips is a Non-government owned American oil and Gas Corporation. Its the 3rd largest of the oil majors worldwide. It works in all different aspects in oil and natural gas industry such as Midstream, Petrochemicals, and Refining and Marketing. The company was formed as a result of a merger between Conoco and Philips in 2002. Its major competitors are Shell, British Petroleum and Exxon Mobil. Conoco Philips is one of the few Oil companies that suffer unethical issues. According to Conoco Philips, Our mission is to do more than to deliver energy. It has a long term commitment to achieve the top ethical standards and create a culture that encourages honesty and responsibility in everything they do. Conoco Philips values the importance of corporate transparency and ethics as they are a major drive for consumers and stakeholders confidence. A proof of ConocoPhillipss environmental concern is that it spent $80 million dollars to develop new technologies for unconventional and alt ernative energy sources. ConocoPhillips is a member of the U.S Climate Action Partnership, which is a group of businesses, major corporations and environmental organization with a goal to pressure the U.S Government to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. ConocoPhillips spent around $150 million dollars 2007 on research and development of alternative energy sources and new technologies- which is almost a 50% increase compared to the $80 million dollar spent in 2006. 2.2 Shell vs. ConocoPhillips Shell is the 2nd biggest company in the world in terms of revenue, which makes it more profitable than ConocoPhillips (16th). Actually, after the recent bribery issues about Shell, its position will eventually drop in the next few years. They will suffer from employee turnover, loss of company reputation and lots of other disadvantages which will not enable them to be more profitable like before. Whilst for ConocoPhillips, its very predictable that this company will get closer to Shell in terms of revenue and why not surpass it, due to its ethical practices! Thats why Shell should have good ethical policies like that of ConocoPhillips and actually adapt this policy and not violate it. 3.0 Recommendations and Facts: 3.1 Recommendations First of all if Shell wants to get back its reputation after the Nigeria bribery incident, they have to change their vision, not the written vision statement, in fact they have to change their insight toward the business they are doing and try to change their practices in a way that help and satisfy people instead of hurting them. They should keep in mind that business is not about gaining profit from whatever way, rather it is about gaining profit from providing services in a way that satisfies customers and if they act ethically eventually they will gain enough profit as they have satisfied people behind their back who support the company (Tempo, 2005). Shell should be considered guilty in this case and be fined for their unethical business practice. Furthermore, Nigerian government should be accountable and responsible for their action as well. The amount of fine that usually determined by courts should be either used for research purposes or as financial aid to help people around the globe. If they do so, Shell will force to do something that they escaped from and try to improve their instruments and facilities by doing research and development instead of trying to gain profit without thinking about safety and effects of their action on stakeholders (Tempo, 2005). More strict rules and regulations regarding the bribery issue and control of governments over their companies can lead to termination of bribery in long term. If Shell maintains a strict No Bribe policy, in long term bribe takers wont ask for it anymore. Then even if they fail in their business they wont blame themselves for paying bribes and they will know that there was something wrong with their facilities and services. 3.2 Facts The main reason that shell wanted to bribe Nigerian government was that they wanted to pay less taxes and easier import of their needed equipment, which eventually leads to higher profit. Thus they only looked for profit and to reach that, they choose bribery as an unethical practice. They shouldnt do that because even if we dont consider bribery as an unethical practice it was illegal and against law in Nigeria, however we know that bribery is an unethical practice indeed. The next thing is that bribery encourages corruption, and this action hurts the poor the most as they have to pay for something which is free and they get into trouble for paying the amount, because they cannot afford it. When a large company like Shell practices, in this case bribery, which is defiantly unethical, this act will spread to the whole society and affect the society in large (Tempo, 2005). Moreover when you start paying bribe for the first time it leads to demand for more bribes and work as a kind of temptation. So it is better never start it. Aid agencies trying to provide free services for those who need help and it is not morally accepted and expected from officials to try to make money from those services that supposed to be free. We believe and agree that Shell did something which is morally wrong and ethical person wont advocate it, but there is a positive point in shells case. Shell accepted that they did and unethical and wrong action and admitted their mistake, they also agreed to pay $48m in criminal and civil fines. However shell had to admit their mistake but still we can consider it as a positive movement from shell and we can hope that Shell try to be an ethical company from now onwards, stop their unethical business practices and try to gain profit while following ethical business practices (Temp,2005). 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, we all agree that bribery is an unethical business practice and it is not expected from large company such as Shell to practice such actions. It is not only the case that Shell paid bribe, the most important thing is that such actions, eventually leads to corruption of society which all of us believe to be destructive. Shell can follow Conoco Phillips and invest in research and development and try to improve its facilities, and by doing this they might earn less profit in the short term but they can be proud of themselves by being an ethical company and gaining more profit than their competitors in the long term as they will have new technologies and facilities in future because they invest in research and development today. Shell Should be accountable for what they did and be responsible for their unethical behavior and try to stop such acts in future if they want to build their reputation again as people and stakeholders wont trust Shell as long as they continue bein g unethical. However if Shell really wants to be changed and get back its reputation they can do it by clarifying their vision among themselves and act ethically.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Essay -- essays research papers

Hiroshima. Nagasaki. From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to D-day, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be a triumph for the US by nuclear achievements and ending a war, but a tragedy for the all of the innocent Japanese victims. I decided to research this topic because I was interested in what happened in World War Two and wanted to learn more about this special occurrence. I believe this topic is important in history because when we need to make a decision of war, where thousands maybe millions of lives are at risk to prevent even more from being ended or even destroyed from the effects of it, we may look at this event and make a decision that will change history forever. The war in Europe soon affected Asia. Although it was not part of the European war Japan was an ally of the Nazi-Germany and Italy. The three countries had signed an agreement in 1936, called the Anti-Communist International Treaty. By 1949, the Japanese government was largely dominated by militarists, extremists in the army and navy and their supporters who wanted the armed forces to control Japan and organize Japanese society along military principles. They believed Japan had a sacred mission to conquer new territory to provide the natural resources that Japan lacked. In May 1941, the United States extended its â€Å"Lend Lease† program to China. In effect, this meant that China could buy arms and supplies from the United States on long-term credit. By doing this, the United States was confirming that it would continue to support China in its war against Japan. At the same time, talks between Japan and the United States began in Washington, D.C: they continued for months. Mo st historians agree that the negotiations never had any chance of success because ea... ...econd atom bomb, Fat Man, was sped up, and on August 9 it was ready to be dropped. Bad weather over the primary target of Kokura forced Major Charles W. Sweeney, the pilot of Bock’s Car, which was carrying the atom bomb, to divert the secondary target of Nagasaki. Clouds also obscured Nagasaki, but at the last minute, the clouds broke open and the second atom bomb known as Fat Man was dropped on Japan. Fat man exploded 1,600 feet above the city with an estimated force of 22,00 tons. The target seen through the clouds was several miles upriver from the original aiming point. Although the damage at Hiroshima, an estimated 50% of the population, died from the bomb in the next five years. Early in the morning of August 9, the Japanese was council met once again to discuss the possibility of surrender. The war council was evenly split over surrender. The war was over.4

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Closer to a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis Essays -- Proteasomes Cystic Fibr

Overcoming Proteasomes: One Step Closer to a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis Take a deep breath and consider how easy it was to do so. Now picture struggling and gasping for air everyday; normal, easy tasks to the average person prove to be quite challenging to a patient of cystic fibrosis. Scientists have always been daunted by this fatal genetic disease that affects the body by excreting a â€Å"thick mucus† in the lungs, making breathing difficult and blocking the â€Å"ducts† leading from the pancreas, causing â€Å"poor digestion of food† (1). Until recently, there was nothing that scientists could do to provide a long-term cure, but even though scientists cannot cure patients one hundred percent, they can increase their life expectancy. Despite having discovered the cystic fibrosis gene’s location in 1989, numerous underlying obstacles prevent complete success (2). The primary obstacle that prevents scientists from making gene therapy an effective cure is the placement of the healthy genes into long-term cells, the cells that remain long enough to be replicated. The replacement of the healthy gene into long-term cells is necessary because these cells make the new cells, thereby distributing the healthy DNA throughout the body. The properly functioning gene is attached to a vector or â€Å"carrying molecule† that will transport â€Å"the therapeutic gene to the patient’s target cells† (2). Currently, the most common vector is a virus because it can easily capture the gene and deliver it into the cell; the virus infiltrates the corrupt cells and places the healthy gene into the nucleus which then transforms the corrupt cell into one which operates properly (2). The only difficulty is that the body’s natural immune system provides many b... ...t-education/tips/ccysfibr.html>. 2. Institute NHGR. Gene Therapy [Internet]. 2007 [2007 September 18]; Available from . 3. Stefano Ferrari DMG, Eric WFW Alton. Barriers to and new approaches for gene therapy and gene delivery in cystic fibrosis. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 2002;64: 1373-1393. 4. J Kim C-PC, KG Rice. The proteasome metabolizes peptide-mediated nonviral gene delivery systems. Gene Therapy 2006; 12: 1681-1690. 5. Neil Campbell, and Lawrence Mitchell (1999). Biology. New York, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 6. Institute NHGR. Learning About Cystic Fibrosis [Internet]. 2007 [2007 September 18]; Available from: . 7. U Griesenbach DG, and EWFW alton. Gene therapy progress and prospects: cystic fibrosis. Gene Therapy 2007; 13: 1071-1077.

Friday, October 11, 2019

The Thin Red Line

Essay on †The Red Line† by Charles Higson Society contains a vast majority of different types of people, and all of them look, act, and think differently. How we as individuals do these things, are greatly influenced by the people around us, as our differences makes us judge others. In creating our own identity, our reliance on others is consequently grand, which can be either a fine or a dreadful matter. For some, the prejudice in the perceptions of others can cause the truth to be exceedingly twisted. It can be disturbed to such a degree, that the image of others is completely opposite of how it is in reality.This is what each character in Higson’s short story The Red Line experiences. Higson questions and plays with the role identity have in our postmodern society by using irony in the characterization and by the use of a dynamic point of view. Berto and the nameless man each have contradictory personalities and looks. This is seen because the reader and the cha racters are introduced to different sides of the people in the story. As the reader gets a sense of the characters looks, personalities and thoughts, the persons in the story only get to see each other from the outside.Denise’s descriptions of the two men could not be more wrong, and therefore displays the contradictories perfectly. She sees the nameless man as someone innocent, child-like and defenseless, and she sees Berto as one who has â€Å"the look of a hunter. Cold, superior, in charge. †[1] She thinks Berto will hurt her, but he is actually the one who assumes fondly of her and the nameless man in reality dislikes her. None of that is played out though as the characters do not interact with each other, as their narrow-mindedness stop them.The characters are prejudiced towards each other, which prove to be wrong, making the situation ironic. Denise’s thoughts of the two indicates the dramatic irony in the story, because we as readers know that Berto is th e naive and innocent one, while the nameless man is the hunter, who kills Berto in the end. Berto sees the nameless man as someone harmless, but as he kills him, it creates situational irony. He had hoped that the man would have helped him find his way around London, and in a way he does, since Berto’s blood trail reminds him that he needed to take the red line – It was ot the preferable outcome Berto could have hoped for though, of course, as he dies. The nameless man deems very negative of the two, mostly Berto that is so contrary himself, both in appearance and personality. The nameless man considers Berto to be iniquitous, while we as readers know the opposite is true. He also supposes that Berto and Denise are â€Å"eyeing each other up across the aisle†[2], but none of the two has romantic interest in each other, and Denise even ends up running from the former.The reader must question each character, based on their view on the others and how this changes t heir persona, and how each one of them is considered by our selves. The point of view shifts in a way that it both creates suspense, and plays with our impression of personality. With each chapter, titled by a train station name, we follow a different character’s day. In Goodge Street, a chapter towards the end, the characters stories intertwine, but the shifting continues. The composition is therefore not linear, which is typical of postmodern literature, as it creates suspense.There is dynamic and a sense of reflection in the story, which are also postmodern traits. Differing at all times, the point of view creates a sense that nothing is settled, especially because of the conflicting information we obtain of the characters. We must therefore reconsider the story and the characters all the time, thus forcing us to reconsider the personas constantly. The role identity plays in the story is a reflection of how it functions in postmodern society. This is part of the authorâ₠¬â„¢s intention, as Higson wants us to question what we see, as not everyone/everything is what it seems.He also questions and makes us think about our own prejudices towards others, and how we view each other. He plays with the role appearance have in our society, and how important it can be. Berto gets murdered solely because of the way he looks. Higson also critiques the emphasis society puts on perception of others, as too much prejudice can kill the ingenuous and righteousness in life. The nameless man is also extremely narcissitic, as he â€Å"took to staying in, standing in front of the mirror for hours on end, shaving and looking at his reflection†[3], thus he is an archetype of someone in society Higson critiques.Alas, appearance plays an incredibly important role, as Denise run away from Berto and the nameless man kills the latter because of it, even though we as readers know Berto is a respectable guy. The situation in the story is of course extreme, but Higson doe s this to get the point across more clearly and create irony. The contradictions are solar clear and the prejudices have serious consequences for the characters. It goes gravely wrong for the guy the reader sees as kind of a protagonist, and the characters see the antagonist as the innocent and harmless one.We get different impressions of Denise, Berto and the nameless man based on their thoughts on each other and their life situation. These are obtained in a dynamic way, because the point of view shifts and the composition is not linear. Thus, we must reconsider the story at all times, and sense how we ourselves perceive each other. As Higson questions the concept of identity, he also makes us question ourselves, how we view others, and on what grounds we judge each other by. ———————– [1] Higson, Charles. The Thin Red Line, p. 69 l. 4 [2] Ibid. p. 69, l. 25 [3] Ibid. p. 66, l. 30-31

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Church and Government Essay

According to Article II, Section 6 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution states that, the separation of Church and State shall be inviolable and Article III, Section 5 states, No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall be forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. Given the articles of the constitution regarding the relationship of the church and the state, is the Catholic Church violating the principle of the Separation of Church and State by daring to speak out against certain bills? First, what does the separation of the church and state really means? The separation of the state means that the state does not have an official religion. It means that the people are free to choose in what religion depending in their own belief. It also means that there should be no laws that shall be pass that favors a religion over the other. It also means that there should be no discrimination of the religion and belief of the people. In short, what the union of the church and the state really means is that the citizens should be forced to follow a particular doctrine and those that do not follow should be penalized. We can see from banners outside of cathedrals the popular phrase â€Å"No to RH Bill, Yes to Life.† But can we consider this action as a violation of the constitution? The separation of the church and the state does not mention that church officials cannot speak or try to influence the state policy. Since the Philippines is a democratic country, every person, group and organization is free to express their own opinion regarding certain issues. The church does not force people to go against a certain bills; the decision still lies in the people according to their conscience and understanding. It means that the church is not violating the constitution since it is only expressing its right to speak in order of its belief. Given the reasons above, that the Philippines has no state religion and given that the state does not subsidize the church, and that no church has any official access to the instruments of state power, I believe that the church does not violate the constitution and that there is really a separation of the church and the state.