Bernini’s David

David The David, a popular art subject was a take from the biblical story of the young boy who heroically killed the over towering giant Goliath. Other artists such as Michelangelo and Donated have created their own versions of the David, with the exception of having sculpted them in different time periods. Tangelo's was in the early Renaissance, Michelangelo in the high, but Bering's took place in the Baroque era, a time characterized by dramatic movement and heavenly inspiration. David as depicted bent over in mid-action preparing to sling a stone giving the sense of climax.The implied diagonal lines of this marble sculpture further induce the feeling of movement; Bernie Juxtaposes the concrete media of stone with the visual of an arching, flexing figure. The realism portrayed persuades the viewer that this is an average sized man that shouldn't weigh more than one either, but we know different ?mass is an illusion. David is past the traditional contraption stance, and fully extend s his upper body to the side, probably balanced by the shed armor attached to he draping, clinging from his lower half.The artist does a tremendous Job at differentiating texture, from the smooth bare skin and organic hair, to the twining rope and scaly breastplate beneath him. The lighting of this sculpture allows for high contrast– shadows made by the extending appendages, adding to the intensity of what David is about to do. Represented in life size scale, this realistic shepherd looks like he will lunge his upper body in a second or two; the anticipation gives the viewer ensign.Interactive in presentation, it is easy to feel as if we are biblical bystanders of what David is about to accomplish or even the abhorred Goliath himself, depending where you stand. The statue can be placed freestanding in any venue and viewers can make their way around the piece, getting to know it is facilitated through its human realism and proportion. Although to begin, our attention is stolen by the Davit's potentially climactic pose, if we looked closer the face is one of the various ajar focal points.David has an extremely concentrated face as if he is making all the aerial calculations in his head to hit his target spot on. With a furrowed brow and his mouth bloated as if holding a huge breath, emphasizing the explosion of force to be unleashed. The David was commissioned by Cardinal Burghers to decorate his Galleria, where it stands to this day. During this time, Martin Luther publicized his 95 theses criticizing the wrong doings of the Catholic Church, like granting indulgences.The subsequent Protestant reformation stirred up a counter-Reformation, and in Italy where Catholicism reigned, churches cleaned up their act. Catholicism came back with vigor and heavily influenced the art world. This energy exploded through dramatic, intense and grandiose pieces to purposefully pierce the soul of viewers in an encounter with Godly power. Most paintings had biblical subject matter portrayed emotionally so the viewer could relate. Bernie was known for his interactive sculptures that stirred awe in those who â€Å"experienced† them. By marmalade

Bewitched Analysis

Evaluating Sitcoms – Bewitched Bewitched is a situation comedy, produced in the year 1964 and set in America. The main characters include Samantha and Darrin Stephens. The program Bewitched conveys the premise to not make assumptions about someone instantly – because there may be more to a person then what meets the eye. The pilot of Bewitched begins with the orientation, establishing the status of the newly wed couple. Darrin is portrayed as the breadwinner of the family, and Samantha is presented as the perfect wife, which fulfils all of the criteria of a typical suburban housewife.The complication is then introduced when Samantha reveals she’s a witch. The complication is followed by a series of events, which begin with an invitation to Shelia’s -Darrin’s ex-fiance- house. At arrival they are both greeted with a warm welcome, but soon things begin to get messy. Shelia starts to belittle Samantha’s appearance, making her uncomfortable and a nnoyed; but to make matters worse Shelia begins to flirt with Darrin whilst occasionally glancing over at Samantha, in order to her to make her feel insignificant and envious.Samantha comes into conflict with herself in whether or not to use magic, but she decides using magic is the only way to go –even after promising Darrin no more witch craft – Samantha uses her magic in order to teach Shelia a well learnt lesson, to keep her hands of her man. The complication is soon resolved with Darrin and Samantha returning home to discuss her behaviour and the use of magic. Darrin becomes upset with Samantha for breaking her promise, but as any wife would do, Samantha almost instantly apologises and tells Darrin she won’t use magic again.The coda is illustrated in the end of the episode, despite Darrin’s request Samantha finishes by saying, â€Å"Maybe I can tamper off,† hence staying true to herself and not letting anyone change who she is. There are aspec ts of this storyline, which are plausible where the audience sees the common character/figure of the seductive ex-fiance/girlfriend. The credibility is generated with the behaviour of Samantha and Shelia.In Shelia wanting to make Samantha jealous and herself the centre of attention the plot is made credible, but the audience is then drawn to feel that the plot is more relatable and convincing with Samantha’s response to the situation, feeling annoyed, envious and angry. The relationship between Darrin and Samantha portrayed in the episode is clearly strong and affectionate. The Bewitched pilot reveals numerous characteristics of both Darrin and Samantha. Darrin is seen as the stereotypical husband, with his strong and demanding personality, which demonstrates that he obtains the authority between the two.However the audience becomes aware of the love and affection Darrin has for his new wife, Samantha. Samantha is also portrayed as a stereotypical housewife, who follows her h usband’s expectations of a Good wife, by cooking, keeping the household clean and being Normal. Bewitched reflects the values of the time, including some now-dated ideas about men and women's roles in society. The main characters, Darrin and Samantha are featured as binary opposite characters in the sense that Samantha is not you would call normal, being a witch.However Darrin is just an ordinary typical man, who happened to fall in love with a not so normal woman. Wanting to use a bit of magic once in awhile and hoping for a one-day normal family, are expectation Darrin and Samantha both have for their relationship, which of course are completely different and contradicting. A situation comedy wouldn’t be one without any humour. Humour is an important component of a sitcom and like expected Bewitched definitely has humour.In this episode there are numerous techniques used to generate a humorous response. This is evident in the use of irony when only minutes before She lia had been commenting on Samantha’s appearance, focusing mainly on her â€Å"Hard-to-manage hair† and haughtily referring back to herself as having â€Å"Not a hair out of place† but ironically Shelia’s wig is ripped off and flies into the strong -magic made- winds, to reveal her very impressive hair, the use of the irony in this scene conveys a very humorous response from the audience.Furthermore the use of the visual scenes with Samantha using magic, creates a sense of humour as the audience witness strange happenings as do the characters, but the audience knows the cause of these strange happenings -magic- whereas the characters in the program seem not to. Hence the audience responds to the confused and perplexed state of the other characters with humour. Thus, the pilot uses numerous techniques in order to receive an entertained and humorous response from the audience.Bewitched is a fantastic example of a situation comedy as it obtains and fulfils a ll of a sit-com’s characteristics and criteria, having an orientation, complication, resolution, coda and most importantly family and humour. Bewitched evidently represents concepts referring to family and family relationships, through the status of the couple where the male figure, Darrin is seen to obtain the authority and the female, Samantha to simply be the perfect housewife.Family relationships are represented through affection, kindliness and compassion. The program exhibits ideas about family values, where without these values there would be no family; a family without forgiveness, honesty, generosity, curiosity, communication and respect isn’t a family at all. Thus the family representation in Bewitched obtains all of these values in order to create the perfect household and television sit-com.

Current Ethical Issues Paper

Current Ethical Issues Paper Heidi L. Hinckley XMGT/216 December 16, 2012 Dan Mitchell In creating this paper I have decided to use the Kudler Fine Foods organization, due to the fact that I enjoy trying new flavors from around the world. Kudler Find Foods is â€Å"a local upscale specialty food store† (Kudler website) located in California. Kudler Fine Foods currently has three locations in the state of California. There focus is to bring the finest foods and finest team members they can to their potential customers.They offer a wine steward at each location, as well as monthly classes for customers to lean about various wines in the store. Kudler Fine Foods wants to promote the best in food and service. The Kudler Fine Foods organization first opened their doors on June 18, 1998. The owner and creator, Kathy Kudler, decided to take her passion for gourmet cooking and turn it into a business that she could be successful at as well as enjoy doing. That success has been proven in the opening of two additional stores one in 2000 and another in 2003.Kudler Fine Foods offers a variety of ingredients, fresh baked goods, meats, local seafood, cheeses and wines. Kudler Fine Foods is a one stop shop for any gourmet cook or even want to be gourmet cook in the family. One large ethical issue is the lack of leadership on the part of the owner Kathy Kudler. She lacks interaction with her customers as well, spending most of her time doing all of the ordering for all three of her stores. This can create large ethical issues in that she is not in touch with what her customers really want.There is also the ethical issue of using family to when referring to legal issues. First is the issue of nepotism and secondly there is the advice to always settle on customer accidents. This action makes the business appear as if they are always at fault and not taking the customers safety into consideration. Another issue that jumped right out is in the wording of certain areas of he r website. If she truly wants to bring the best to everyone, then she needs to remove statements from her website that list herself as upscale.I understand that she is trying to create an atmosphere, but in that statement it would seem that she only want to work with certain kinds of customers. This could lead some consumers to think that they are not welcome in her stores. .Kathy Kudler has a moral and ethical obligation as a business owner to promote an atmosphere that is open and welcoming to all. There is also the questionable promotion on Kudler Fine Foods website on how they only hire the best employees.Although I personally understand the statement, it can be considered unethical in the terminology. There is an insinuation that in that way that terminology is presented. There should be a change there in that all Kudler Fine Foods employees are trained to assist customers with any questions they may have on the products that are available in the store. There is also an ethical issue in the description of the stores themselves. The website promotes the locations as â€Å"8,000 square feet of retail space in a fashionable shopping center† (Kudler Fine Foods).Again the terminology in that statement may be perceived as condescending as if certain individuals would not be welcomed within the locations. With a store like this it is important that if you are promoting the flavors of the world they you would also represent the people of those regions. A diverse workforce that is familiar with these ingredients and foods would also show that the owner take a strong diverse attitude with her business. This would also bring a welcoming atmosphere to all in the neighborhoods around these store locations.If Kathy Kudler makes that type of promotion that her store is diverse and open then her stores will be considered a gem in their neighborhoods and she will continue see more growth, and it may even be faster than she planned. Offering top services to her cust omers, by offering the best training and information for her employees, will help to lead to a business that Kathy Kudler can not only be successful at but that she can also enjoy doing. Reference: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/index. html https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/index. asp

Week 4 DQ 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 4 DQ 1 - Assignment Example Thus, this gives more than one solution to a problem which can help solve a problem requiring more than one overall solution. The massive unique ideas provide different angles of solving a problem. With the characteristics expected from a leader, being well liked can help achieve these traits (Baack, 2012). Just mentioning a few; interested in change, open minded, good communicator, and being open to change all go down to having a good relationship with the employees. This good relationship is also important between the employees. It helps the parties earn respect without necessarily having to demand it in whatever way. Though the results matter a lot, being well liked by the employees really is also critical it creates an excellent working environment, and this can add to the success of the organization. In conclusion participative leadership style is the most effective to use when running an organisation (DuBrin, 2001). This due to the level at which the team members are involved, and this makes them easily accept changes in an organisation since they feel they are part of the organisation due to the involvement. Results matter a lot in any organisation, but there is a need for the employers to relate well with their employees because it can help in the performance of the overall team. A good relationship can be achieved by ensuring the presence of a good

Why and in what ways did the Oxford Movement make an impact on Essay

Why and in what ways did the Oxford Movement make an impact on religious life in England - Essay Example Their influences were felt in the spiritual and doctrinal levels.1 The Oxford movement brought to the forefront some of the problems within the Church of England. One of the major forces that caused the movement occurred in the year 1832 where there was the passage of the Reform Act. This Act required that ten Irish bishops be eliminated from the Church. One of the major participants of the movement was John Keble. He voiced his objections against that reform and even described it as a form of apostasy by the nation. He voiced these complaints in a Sermon at Oxford during the year 1833. The leaders of the Oxford movement felt that adherents to the Anglican faith were not as devoted as they should be to the church and the clergy. Standards of worship had declined and something needed to be done in order to change this. They also felt that tradition no longer formed a central part of worship and there was a need to return to that. The movement protested against involvement of the government in matters of the Church. This was highlighted in the famous sermon of 1833. Newman asserted that the church was a holy institution and as such should be left to run its own affairs without interruptions from external bodies. He also spoke against the way the government had ruined the apostolic succession principle which required that bishops should be succeeded in a religious and not a political manner.2 Leaders of the movement were also instrumental in making the people of England realise that there were certain linkages between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. These beliefs caused the formulation of the Branch Theory in which The Orthodox, Anglicans and Roman Catholics were termed as branches of the real Catholic Church. These movement’s leaders compared some elements of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church to prove the latter fact. They asserted that the 39 articles of their church and the Council of Trent were one

International strategy operation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

International strategy operation - Coursework Example As a small-scale company in Austria, AGRANA had to compete with other larger and similar companies. Prior to 1989, AGRANA encountered a lot of business challenges before it was able to successfully compete in the global markets. Regional integration is referring to the process in which companies located in different regional states are actively interacting with one another in order to promote both economic and political security1, 2 whereas global integration is pertaining to the process in which the company is able to benefit from the act of combining the different business activities that are located in different countries around the world3. Through regional and global integration, AGRANA was not only able to gain benefits from economies-of-scale but also created more competitive advantage. Ever since the CEE decided to open its market to other regions and in the world market, the scope of AGRANA’s target market also increased significantly. Through foreign direct investment (FDI), AGRANA took the opportunity to expand its manufacturing plants in different regional and international sites4. Since AGRANA was selling homogenous products, its target buyers can easily purchase the same item from other companies. Back when the scale of AGRANA was small, the bargaining power of its buyers was high. Therefore, the company was determined in searching for ways on how they can effectively cut down its operational costs without sacrificing the quality of the products. To compete in the market, the company had no other choice but to improve its marketing and production strategies to create cost and differetiation advantages5. It means that through product differentiation, market segmentaion, the use of generic strategies, and continuous reduction in the actual fixed costs of the busienss6, AGRANA was able to keep up with the tight market competition. For example, instead of

Social Issues Regarding Digital Media in the Digital Age Research Paper

Social Issues Regarding Digital Media in the Digital Age - Research Paper Example As the paper declares the technological breakthroughs that been evidenced especially in the area of information and communication have had far-reaching consequences not only on the economic lives of individuals but also in the social behavior. Today, it looks like the oxygen people breathe is technologically purified. So much has been done with technology that its advantages remain to be challenged. On the same note, the myriad issues that have come along with this modernism have raised some social and ethical issues. According to the research findings the scholarly/academic meaning of the word ‘digital’ may differ from that which is known in the streets. In the ay today use, the word may be used to refer to social media or millennial technology that is commonly used by teens and youths for purposes of fun. Digital media has also been used to refer to all sorts of media that have visual capabilities. These terms and descriptions may not accurately represent the technical understanding of digital media. There are numerous examples of digital media starting from the most common one, the social media through video games, eBooks, digital audio, websites, digital videos to online newspapers and magazines. Currently, lots of people around the world use these myriad forms of digital media for fun, communication, jobs among others. The resounding transformation has been catastrophically felt everywhere around the globe.

The Education Systems of England and Saudi Arabia Essay

The Education Systems of England and Saudi Arabia - Essay Example 'The British government has set a national curriculum, which clearly defines different stages and core subjects for children ages 5 to 16 (The Education System in England, n.d.). It specifies the various subjects to be taught at different stages, the expected knowledge, skills, and understanding level for the various subjects, and how the children's progress should be tested (The Education System in England, n.d.).' (qtd. in University of Michigan, n.d.) THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM (ENGLAND) The National Curriculum consists of 11 subjects, including; English, design and technology, geography, math, information technology, music, science art, physical education, history and modern foreign language. The National Curriculum is split up into for stages, referred to as Key Stages, and are based on the student's age. The key stage of a child reflects what subjects will be studied and the method by which they will be taught. Key Stage 1 includes children ages 5-8, Key Stage 2 consists of children 8-11, Key Stage 3 is made up of children ages 11-14, and Key Stage 4 is composed of children 14-16. At the end of each Key Stage, students are required to take a standardized test, known as the SAT, associated with that particular stage. The achievement level Surname 3 obtained on each test is then reported to the parents and the public in two ways: the student's actual test grade and the teacher's individual assessment of each student (The Education System in England, n.d.).' (qtd in University of Michigan, n.d.) In Saudi Arabia, the educational system is structured with the same strict control by the government as it is strict in England, or maybe perhaps stricter. 'Government control... 'Government control of schoolbooks to guarantee they are consistent with Islam and devoid of anything conflicting with its principles. The Saudi government maintains control of every aspect of educational material:[15] "The government shall be concerned with the control of all books coming into the Kingdom from abroad or going out of the Kingdom to the outside world. No books shall be allowed for use unless they are consistent with Islam, the intellectual trends and educational aims of the Kingdom..."[16] The government policy also states: "All books should fulfill the aims of education and be devoid of anything conflicting with Islam."[17]Students also learn "how to face misleading rumors, destructive doctrines, and alien thoughts,"[18]The Saudi education authorities insist "the school textbooks should be in line with Islamic requirements."[19]'. (Stalinsky, 2002). Additionally, the British Council affirmed and posted 'After five years of secondary education, students take examinations in a range of subjects at the level of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a single-subject examination set and marked by independent examination boards.

Has the UN Lived Up to the Ideals of Its Founders Essay

Has the UN Lived Up to the Ideals of Its Founders - Essay Example As the essay discusses the United Nations was formed with several aims; for instance, ensuring that peace prevailed worldwide and developing strong relationships among nations, among others. This essay will discuss the various objectives of the United Nations and whether it lives up to the ideals of its founders to date.From this study it is clear that the main aim of the United Nations was to ensure that peace prevailed throughout the world, that nations would develop friendly relationships, working together to assist people in living better lives through elimination of poverty, illiteracy, and diseases globally. In addition, the UN aims at bringing to a stop environmental degradation, as well as fostering democracy and respect for each other’s rights. Therefore, the United Nations is the main organization that assists countries in achieving the above aims.  Generally, the UN has several principles that guide its operations; first, member states are expected to obey the Uni ted Nations charter, and must have sovereign equality. In addition, the member states are expected to settle their differences peacefully and amicably; nation should also avoid use of force, however, the United Nations does not interfere with the affairs of any country. Nevertheless, the initial aim of the formation of the United Nations in 1945 was to foster peace among nations by ending wars between countries.... In addition, the UN aims at bringing to a stop environmental degradation, as well as fostering democracy and respect for each other’s rights (United Nations publications, 2000). Therefore, the United Nations is the main organization that assists countries in achieving the above aims. Generally, the UN has several principles that guide its operations; first, member states are expected to obey the United Nations charter, and must have sovereign equality. In addition, the member states are expected to settle their differences peacefully and amicably; nation should also avoid use of force, however, the United Nations does not interfere with the affairs of any country. Needless to say, these countries are expected to assist the United Nations in fostering a peaceful world (United Nations publications, 2000). Nevertheless, the initial aim of the formation of the United Nations in 1945 was to foster peace among nations by ending wars between countries. Has the UN lived up to the idea l of it founders? Today, the united nation has grown from the initial 57 states to 193 member states, fostering human rights and peace, which are its main focus globally. In 1945, the founders of United Nations responded to the effects of World War II, by emphasizing on the human rights in their charter, which was signed in June the same year (United Nations, 1996). As a result, respect for human rights is a major concern for the United Nations; therefore, this organization has formed an international criminal court that examines human rights issues. In addition, the United Nations has fostered awareness of human rights via mass communications; among the issues

Music assignments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Music assignments - Assignment Example By rigid vocal orchestration it is meant the seconds and thirds are 3rd (Me i.e., 3rd note from the root note) and 5th (So i.e., 5th note from the root note) derivatives. Instead the vocal harmony is created by the creative blending of different note progressions altogether. This kind of vocal symphony is more predominant in instrumental presentations for example a violin line playing on the background while a main instrument or voice is reciting the main composition. This secular motet is in many ways different from the sacred chants that we have listened to in the past. It has a polyphonic texture and also a varying duple, triple meter. Rather it doesn’t strictly follow a particular meter just sticking to a metronome rather. It has complex harmony sections giving rise to minor 7ths and minor augmented chords. It is also rich in melody and has a shifting root note, which means that not one root chord or root note can be identified, that stays as the reference throughout the song. It is less structured and more melodic having complex phrases, grace notes and touch notes. It easily falls under the category of sacred choir music rather than periodic and rhythmic chanting. The timbre is also quite different through the synthesis of multiple voices forming the instrumental base and giving the composition a reverberating and continuously flowing tonal background. The composition also has chromatic note progressions and chromatic tonic change of chords. Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is a Symphony Concerto involving the narration of a story musically through the drama and conversation of instruments created by different notes. Climax is brought out through the high pitched and rhythmic progressions of violins. The quick succession of notes or straight-through notes brings the effect of a drama and a peak of emotion. Smetana’s The Moldau on the other hand is a Symphonic Poem meant for

Environmental Economics Essay Example for Free

Environmental Economics Essay Agriculture has an instrumental role and close association in preservation and conservation of the environment and economic development. It promotes environment diversity and enhances the creation of artificial habitats. The green biomass that covers many fields forms a basis of aesthetic to the human emotions. Intensified uses of chemical in agricultural production threaten the above benefits that arise from agricultural fields. In the recent past, a growing concern has been raised with regard to the negative impact arising from agricultural related activities and policies. Legalization of substances such as pesticide and fertilizer enhance negative consequences on the environment. They contain toxic elements thus causes pollution of surface water and underground water, drainage of wetlands, air pollutions and loss of diverse life forms and habitats. Settlement scheme in implemented on fragile lands such swamps, disturbances the ecological balance in the area. Environmental issues can be resolve by promoting organic agriculture, establishing relevant institutions, formulation of legislation and policies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members agreed that reforms should, to the extent possible, simultaneously enable progress to be made on trade liberation and environment. They also agreed to uphold the need to integrate agricultural development with environmental issues. (OECD 1993, p, 24-50) The focus of this study is therefore to examine the risk of inorganic agriculture against organic agriculture on the environment and thereafter formulate alternative strategies to foster sustainability. Environmental issues are diverse and multi-disciplinary in nature since they cut across all sectors of the economy and cultures. Unsustainable agriculture and increase in populations in the world modifies environmental issues. Population increase exerts high pressure on the economic processes to stretch, in most cases beyond the natural sustainable limit, to accommodate the excess demand (Sandler, Todd. 1997, p, 34-73) In response, the world has embarked on intensified adoption to scientific invention and advancement in technological development to improve production. Organic means of production are therefore considered redundant and barbaric in favor of inorganic agriculture. Unsustainable means of production, consequently, have widened and continue to widen environmental global challenges that threaten to cripple and suffocate the world’s economy. Studies have shown that increased use of chemical, such as pesticides and fertilizers for production in farming activities perpetuates the environmental global challenges. This puts the future livelihood for mankind at a stake and uncertain. It is therefore important to examine environmental challenges attached to intensive use of chemical for agricultural production and thereafter provide an alternative strategy to enhance sustainability. (Dutch Committee, 1994, p, 30-50) Intensified use of chemical for production is largely attributed to agricultural and industrial revolution. Population has also influenced the need to use chemicals to increase food production to meet the ever growing world demand for food. Initially, the above means of agricultural production were common in Europe and Asian continent. Abject poverty in the world has created great desire and demand for technological innovation to increase food production. Globalization and scientific advancement has therefore provided a solution to the world food demand problem. However, the solution comes with a bundle of side effects. Technological and scientific information transfer, particularly, to African countries, where poverty is obsolete and unsustainable (Andersons, L. and Bruce, Yundle, 2001, p, 50-200) Over the last three decades there has been an increasing global use of chemicals for agricultural production. Traditionally, production was based on organic means thus less environmental concerns. Merchandised agriculture has raised the public concern over the nature of the problems that arises from agricultural production. These problems are diverse and wholly attributed to environmental pollution caused by intensified use of pesticide and fertilizers. (Uri, Noel, 1999, p, 23-123) The problems are aggravated by improper management of agricultural chemicals thereby causing serious environmental issues. These pose a great problem to the survival and well-being of humanity, particularly those living in developing world. This is because fertilizers and pesticides are agent of pollution to water bodies, food sources, land, air and vegetation. The development of agriculture production through specialization and intensification of land use in recent decades has given rise to a wide range of environmental effects, both within the agricultural industry itself and increasingly, externally to it. The recognition and understanding of these consequences of modern high technology agriculture developed in the 1970s and during the 1980s progress was made in addressing these impacts. Some problems still remain however and will be of increasing importance. (OCED, p, 177) The use of chemicals for agricultural production therefore will continue to compromise the environmental sustainability. The World Health Organization estimates that about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to prolonged exposure to environmental pollution. Most of these environmental related diseases are however, not easily detected and may be acquired during childhood and manifest later in adulthood. The indiscriminate and excessive use of agrochemicals for crop protection represents by far the greatest threat to human health, to the genetic stock of the population and to sustain agriculture and environment. At a United Nations seminar in Nairobi Kenya in 1984, it was reported that almost 370,000 people suffer from pesticide poisoning and about 10,000annually die due to poisoning. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated 500,000 fatalities due to pesticide poisoning in developing world. This WHO’s report further claims that another 400,000 cases of poisoning were due to pesticide handling and usage. (Mervyns, p, 12) From the quotation above, it is clear that the impacts of agrochemical increases with time and magnitude. This kind of trend is unsustainable and therefore threatens the future of humanity. The impact of pesticide and fertilizer on human health is crucial and therefore should never be under-estimated. The traces of these chemical causes inhalation problems. Accumulation of the elements in the body system affects the free circulation of blood in the body. Biodiversity forms a basis upon which the world’s beauty, emotional fulfillment and aesthetic appeal are based. Agriculture spices up the aesthetic-array of the world. It also creates artificial habitats that shelter migratory organisms such as birds, insects and animals. It therefore follows that agricultural production is a gene bank for scientific development. Intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers puts the existence of nature in it natural form at stake. This is because chemicals kill organisms that perpetuate natural fertilization processes thereby hindering the natural form of nature stabilization. Chemical enhances the process of mutation. This leads to evolution of hybridized species of pests which are resistant to natural mean of pest control and at times even resistant to pesticides. Loss of biodiversity as a result of chemical use in agricultural production is therefore eminent. It has been reported that, â€Å"The first sub lethal effect of a pesticide on a bird was probably the eggshell thinning phenomena first described by Ratcliff. DDE, the stable metabolite of DDE is reported to be the cause of eggshell thinning and consequent decline in the breeding success of birds of prey. † (Mervyns, p, 78) Equity is a controversial aspect of resource distribution in the world. The gap between the rich and the poor is quite disheartening. Economic processes and advancement also work towards widening the gap. Commercialization of agriculture with intensive use of chemicals, poses environmental degradation. This consequently deprives the land of its ability to naturally produce food thereby lowering its production yield. The poor depend totally on the environment for their livelihood. Inorganic agriculture is a world’s strategy to check the gap between the poor and the rich. It is widely believe that many people in the world sleep without food for many days. Increased food production, will therefore help to resolve one of the greatest challenges that is threatening to tear the earth a part. However, inorganic farming has failed to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. The efficiency of using chemicals to increase food production is questionable. Traditional means of production were more manual, labor intensive and time consuming with minimum negative impacts to the environment. Current means of agricultural production are merchandized and more efficient as compared with the traditional methods. However, with regard to the environmental challenges, the efficiency of inorganic production to address the abject poverty in the world is low. Ecology is defined as the domestic site of organism, knowledge and the sum of the relation of the surrounding world. It is a self sustaining environment. Ecology is always sensitive to changes. Introduction of foreign substances such as traces of pesticides and fertilizer modify the ecological characteristic and identity. Nutrients like nitrate and phosphate are normally washed down into water bodies when it rains. This initiates the process of eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process whereby the water experiences enrichment with nutrients of nitrate and phosphate. Consequently water lilies, phytoplasm and algae blooms to experience luxuriant growth. This phenomenon has negative impacts on the functions of the water body. In the first place, Algae bloom forms a green like layer on top of the water thereby hindering penetration of light to the water body. Due to high accumulation of substance in the water, decaying process increases. This causes a biological oxygen demand which leads to suffocation of aquatic lives in the water body. Bad smell arises from the water body as a result of decaying processes. The value of water for domestic use therefore reduces.

Critical Analysis of Two Primary Schools Essay Example for Free

Critical Analysis of Two Primary Schools Essay A critical analysis of the All Saints Primary School and Liverpool College Prep School websites. All Saints homepage immediately stresses the importance of learning together and demonstrates the emphasis that is placed upon religion within in the school. Their mission statement is presented as being â€Å"All Saints is a community where God’s light in each individual is nurtured and loved, allowing his spirit to shine in each one of us within our Catholic environment†. This is in contrast with Liverpool College which instead chooses to focus upon academic attainment on its homepage, stating: â€Å"High academic achievement is our primary aim and our results in national tests show that our standards are some of the best in the city and far above average in mathematics and English†. Both websites are extremely informative to the browser and offer detailed information on issues such as admission and behavioral policies. There is also a message from both headmasters outlining their visions for the schools. The schools contrast however in their ethos, religion appears to play an integral role within all aspects of All Saints whereas there is no mention of it within the Liverpool College website. Although both schools place a great importance upon producing an environment in which every child matters and feels secure. Liverpool College Prep School also displays information concerning tuition fees, whereas All Saints website being a voluntary aided school is free of cost to prospective pupils. Both schools however do demonstrate the significance they place upon extra-curricular activities by dedicating pages on their websites to the opportunities that are available to pupils within their school. The websites of both schools also outline the curriculum the school adheres to as well display their anti-bullying policies so they are accessible to all. The two schools display information for parents and offer advice and support in how they can effectively support their child through primary education. On the All Saints website this page is accompanied by a behavioural policy which the children are expected to comply with. Liverpool College asks parents to contact the school if they would like to receive a copy of the behavioural policy.

Approaches to the study of Religion

Approaches to the study of Religion We can say that there are different approaches that can be taken when studying religion. For the last four decades universities and schools have been acting in response to a constant , steady demand for courses upon the study of religion .The people who take these courses are usually involved in religion themselves ,many are involved a in religious communities or, wishing to know more and learn regarding the religious beliefs of others. Others have no clear vision upon their religious identity and are searching possible traditions, ready to meet their spiritual exploration .So they start looking for different approaches to their study ,bringing along different opinions and whatever the process and methodology is, will bring them information from which eventually they will find answers or give opinion. (Peter Connolly,pp1-2Approche to the Study of Religion,Biddles L.T.D.) The author will attempt to evaluate the strengths and weakness of two approaches to religion and try to compare the work of the two representations and their methodology .The first is Professor Ninian Smart as he wrote widely, regarding different topics in religions, with papers and articles appearing in a vast range of publication sand television worldwide developing his own vision and philosophy of human progress and spiritual evolution. The other is Sri Aurobindo who brought a change to the vision of evolution of life into the divinity of life, In his own words: Man is on a transitorily passage . He is not final. The stage from man to super being is the next which depends from the approach of the achievement on the evolution on earth. It is the logic of Natures process. The works of both Sri Aurobindo and Ninian Smart shows two drastic and completely different approaches to religion. The author as part of his degree course has studied these two vastly differing approaches. Ninian Smarts approach to religion is described in his academic literature as a completely new way to the thinking of religion. He illustrate the introduction of Phenomenology saying, a lot of opinions have been written about not only the physical interchange of races but;, also ethnical and cultural, and especially upon values, so what take place when religions and their tradition convene? Will the globalization lead to a kind of universal religion, as prediction might lead, or it will be turned in a lively variety of many different beliefs? Smart contemplated these question for many years investigating various religions in the world. He explains that such experience definitely will change positions on previous views regarding religious tradition. It may perhaps intensify your religious experience. It all depends on the person you are and the personal period of life you are going through.(Scott London ,the future of religion an Interview with Ninian Smart June 1999 issue ofThe Witne ssmagazine. ) We can confirm that the method of study that Smart used in his approach comprehend both external and internal analysis of religion, characterized by phenomenological perspectives.(James L.Cox,p.159.A guide to the Phenomenology of religion .key figure ,formative influence and subsequent debate. Continuum International publishing group .2006.)Of course the phenomenological approach employed by Smart can be interpreted as an attempt of taking into consideration the individual experience of religion a at the same time trying to separate from it. The method used was to compare the subjective experience with the intent of shaping the arrangement of religion itself from within the structure. This approach can be better understood in his ritual dimension involvement with worshipping, meditations, pilgrimages, sacrifices and healing activities .Of course doctrinal and philosophical dimension is to be taken in consideration without living behind the experimental and emotional dimension and the important ethical and legal dimension.(Ninian Smart,pp10-12,Dimension of the sacred an anatomy of the worlds beliefs ,Harper Collins Publisher 1196) We see from Smarts classifactory account The Experiential and Emotional Dimension The Narrative or Mythic Dimension The Doctrinal The Philosophical Dimension The Ethical and Legal Dimension The Social and Institutional Dimension The Material Dimension The Practical and ritual dimensions (BBC.Religion) Smarts perspective in sustaining a phenomenological perception to the methodology of approach to the study, is far different from the approach that Sri Aurobindo use. First of all we have to say that both, Smart and Aurobindo have not defined religion from objective point of view but rather to determine religion in terms of its own value. Both methods tried to avoid the phenomenological approach. Personal experience is crucial to any understanding of religion .On this particular account Aurobindo discovers the relation or union, he favours, what he identifies as spiritual psychology and integral methods, but for both he confirms that the objective is to be understood and interpreted in terms of subjective.( D P Chattopadhyaya p1integral sociology and dialectical sociology,Shri Jainedra press 1976) From its approach, we understand that Sri Aurobindo begins his work clearly within religious prospect, particularly his own relation with yoga, he explains; the practice is not for ourselves alone, but for the Divine; The intent is to find occupation of good in the world, to outcome a spiritual conversion and to bring down a divine nature and a divine life into the mental, vital and physical nature and life of humanity. Its object is not personal, although is a necessary condition of the yoga. So with Aurobindo is clear the goal is more directly mystical ,to became one with the divine .(Michael T.Mclaughlin,p96, Editrice Ponteficia Universita` Grecoriana Roma 2003)In many occasions he confirmed that he does not intend to promote any old religion or to find a new one and he strongly oppose religious particolarism. So he is proposing a mystical goal and from his yogic teachings he guides,shows and achieves that.(Stephen H.Phillips.p79,Aurobindo`s Philosophyof Brahman,E.J.Brill Leiden 1986) The strength of Smart can be seen that he does not wish to strip religion or faith down to one or two elements say belief in The Virgin Birth and the dogma of out with the church there is no salvation but his classificatory account makes it clear that it has many elements and strands. A criticism of his approach is that it is far to scientific and while starting from the experiential and emotional he soon slips back into trying to seek common themes within all religions Aurobindo did not just stick to an immanental experience of a divine being but that there must be transcendence within the individuals life which is seen in Auroville with a lived approach to ones faith rather like that which is common within Charismatic and Evangelical Churches. A criticism of Aurobindos view may be seen that it seeks to remain within religion itself, similar to that of Smart as they both emphasise the importance of the experience of religion, a personal contact with God or Gods, however within Marxism we can see a move away from this religious experience. Aurobindo offers no guidance upon other religions as his account is purely personal. So how would Aurobindo address questions upon doctrine say within the New Testament? These questions within Smarts Classifactory account would help to define a religion. For example different opinions regarding the Trinity between Roman Catholics and Jehovah Witnesses. Also we can see the beliefs, symbolim and teachings of Aurovil le fitting weel within the above detailed classifacations of Smarts dimensions of religion Can we truly compare two totally different views religion one very internal the other very visual? Is Sri Aurobindo truly internal when we have the community of Auroville and a culture around him? Can we categorize all religions within Ninian Smart definitions? We may conclude saying that maybe religions will never combine in to one global faith ,but we do think that the society is moving towards a global ideology that have a space for religion and identify the contributions of the diverse ethnicity and traditions and bring a new way in helping us to work together for the support of human values and spirituality. What may be the way forward in the teaching and definition of religion is to accept the singularity of each religion and each individuals faith and seek ways in which they can be accommodated within a safe international environment that moves away from empirical definitions.

Stem Cells -- Ethics, Research, and Regulation Essay -- Embryonic Stem

Stem Cells -- Ethics, Research, and Regulation I. Introduction: â€Å"Embryonic stem cell research offers both great promise and great peril.† - President George W. Bush, Aug. 9, 2001 Stem cell research is not new but only recently has it become widely known to the public because the benefits of the technology are coming closer to reality; the field of stem cell biology is advancing at an incredible pace with new discoveries being reported in scientific literature on a weekly basis. Scientists first announced a method of growing embryonic stem cells in a laboratory in 1981, but the cells were from a mouse. It wasn’t until five years ago that James Thomson (pictured to the leftP3) at the University of Wisconsin- Madison announced that he was able to isolate cells from the blastocyst of an early embryo.5 From research he gathered in the fields of applied reproductive biology and mouse embryology, he was able to develop the first human embryonic stem cell lines. At the same time as Mr. Thomson, John Gearhart (pictured to the rightP4)reported the first derivation of human embryonic germ cells from the primordial germ cells located inside the fetal gonadal tissu e that is key in the development of eggs and sperm. Dr. Gearhart, working at Johns Hopkins University with other prominent stem cell researchers, was then able to develop pluripotent stem cell lines by isolating stem cells from early human embryos and grow them in culture. Most recent research is focusing on two types of stem cells: pluripotent cells and adult stem cells that have been in clinical use for use but just recently were discovered to be able to develop into cells that have many of the characteristics of neurons. But even with all the information known alrea... ... the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. 4. National Institutes of Health Online. 27 August 2001. National Institutes of Health Update. 5. National Institutes of Health Online. September 2002. Stem Cell Primer. Pictures related to topic may be foud at: P1. http://www.americanfieldguide.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec01/stem_cells.html P2. http://www.stemcellresearch.org/ P3. http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/people/aug01/jamie05080201.asp P4. http://www.stemcellresearchfoundation.net/Research/Gearhart.htm P5. http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/primer.htm P6. http://www.klaj.nu/bilder/glasyrkonst/embryo.jpg P7. http://organtx.org/images/stem%20cells%20022301.jpg P8. http://www.firstivf.com/ivf.htm

Delaying Childbearing: Why it is Important to Have Children While in Co

Like many other women, I was raised in a family that repetitively told me that I needed to finish school before thinking about getting married, and definitely before having kids. This made sense when I became an adult, why not put all my focus into my schooling. Yet, for me that would mean that I would be in my early thirties when I finished school. This has become the norm for women to marry and have children in there 30s, then in years past, where they were in their early to mid-twenties. After completing my first bachelor’s degree, I got engaged; I was in a perfect place, and I was not going to hold off just so I could finish school. Now that I have been married for two years, successfully working and going to school, starting a family is important to me. If I were to follow what my parents told me, from this day, I would still have to wait 4-5 more years to finish school, and then start that family. Even though having kids in college could keep your from completing a degr ee, you should have children in college because delaying childbearing could affect fertility and the likelihood of pregnancy complications. College is perceived as a time for young adults to have fun, and having children before or during college would provide an obstacle of completing a college education. Four million college students have children, which is roughly 25 percent of all enrolled college students (Nelson, Froehner, and Gault 1). Although this is a large number, many students would prefer to focus on themselves. Today women face the dilemma of if they even would want to have children. Focuses on getting a degree, and starting a career is ever so important for many women to create their lives on. Waiting until you are settled in your career puts ... ...n in school has many problems, as well as advantages. First, the obvious reason is that having kids in college is a financial burden, along with the stresses of maintaining family life with college life. Secondly, many students that do have children while in school, unfortunately, do not finish their degree. Works Cited Balasch, Juan, and Eduard Gratacà ³s. "Delayed Childbearing: Effects On Fertility And The Outcome Of Pregnancy." Fetal Diagnosis & Therapy 29.4 (2011): 263-273. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. Cnattingius, Sven, et al. "Delayed childbearing and risk of adverse perinatal outcome: a population-based study." Jama 268.7 (1992): 886-890. Nelson, Bethany, Meghan Froehner, and Barbara Gault. College Students with Children Are Common and Face Many Challenges in Completing Higher Education. Mar: Institute For Women's Policy Research, Mar. 2013. PDF.

Intuitions :: Philosophy Judgement Papers

Intuitions This paper examines two attempts to justify the way in which intuitions about specific cases are used as evidence for and against philosophical theories. According to the concept model, intuitions about cases are trustworthy applications of one’s typically tacit grasp of certain concepts. We argue that regardless of whether externalist or internalist accounts of conceptual content are correct, the concept model flounders. The second justification rests on the less familiar belief model, which has it that intuitions in philosophy derive from one’s (often tacit) beliefs. Although more promising than the concept model, the belief model fails to justify traditional philosophical use of intuitions because it is not clear a priori that the beliefs at issue are true. The latter model may, however, legitimize a less a prioristic approach to intuitions. If anything unifies different philosophical methodologies it's some sort of reliance on intuitions. It's remarkable, therefore, how rarely we attempt to justify their employment in philosophy. The intuitions philosophers care about are typically judgements about whether specific (hypothetical or actual) cases are cases of a certain kind. Some philosophical topic such as reference, knowledge or personal identity is under investigation. A theory is proposed and is then tested against our intuitions about specific cases that bear on the topic. In general, if our intuitions contradict what a theory implies about whether, say, S refers to x, or knows that p, or is identical to T, this counts against the theory. If on the other hand, our intuitions match what a theory tells us about particular cases, this usually counts in favor of the theory. All procedures of this sort rest on a principle like I: I Intuitions about specific cases can be used as evidence for and against philosophical theories. This paper is about whether I can be justified. We examine two models, the Concepts Model (CM) and the Belief Model (BM). In our view, neither of them provides a solid foundation for I as it is traditionally applied in philosophy. CM CM has four components: 1. A concept, C, determines what it takes for something to fall under that concept (what it takes for something to be a C). 2. Someone who possesses or grasps a concept, C, doesn't always know explicitly what it takes to be a C because some (maybe most) concepts are understood by us in part tacitly. 3. Intuitions about whether specific cases fall under C are reliably guided by, or generally "match" one's understanding, tacit or otherwise, of C.

Oprah Winfrey Eulogy for Rosa Parks Essay

This paper will evaluate the Oprah Winfrey Eulogy for Rosa Parks â€Å"†¦God uses good people to do great things.† The purpose of this speech to evaluate Oprah Winfrey speech utilizing the critical thinking skills that have been acquired during term. The paper explains the purpose of the speech as well as answers questions to why words or phases were selected. Given the General Education Assignment in my Critical Thinking class was to evaluate the famous eulogy that Oprah Winfrey had spoken on October 31, 2005 at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. for Rosa Parks. This speech was given in front of Reverend Braxton, family, friend, admirers, and the amazing choir. The purpose of this speech was for people to understand young Oprah’s Winfrey appreciation of Rosa Parks and what she did Oprah’s speech is about the effect that Rosa Parks had on her as a child growing up in the South, during height of the Civil Rights Movement. Oprah remembered as a child, how her father explained to her about this colored woman (Rosa Parks) who had refused to give up her seat and in her mind, she thought â€Å"she must be really big.† Oprah imagined that Rosa Parks must be at least 100 feet tall and must be a stalwart, strong, and carrying a shield to hold back all the white folks. This is especially significant, considering that unlike the few black public figures of the time who were ministers, athletes, and entertainers. Rosa Parks was a regular person, a house keeper who rode the bus like young Oprah herself. Oprah Winfrey began to state how it was an honor for her as a â€Å"colored person† to be able to present a speech for a well known African American female hero. I personally found it interesting that Oprah used the term â€Å"colored† to describe African American people considering it’s been deemed inappropriate for the better part of the last forty years or so. This term â€Å"colored† is offset by a set of quotations which relates back to Fundamentals of Critical Thinking by Burton Porter in Chapter 2, where he states that in the process of communication we usually employ wo rds to convey some meaning, but occasionally we refer only to the words themselves and not to what they convey. We know that in this case Oprah was using this word because it had a particular meaning which grouped all African American people. Oprah intentionally used this term that was looked at as negative at the time to exalt Rosa Park’s and her accomplishments This relates to how oppressed people has used terms to denigrate them and turn them around as terms of endearment or pride. Oprah’s speech went on to describe how Rosa’s sacrifices inspired her to become the woman that she became today. â€Å"Without that inspiration, after being raped at age 9 and having a baby at age 14, she may not have been able to work on the radio while still in high school or co-anchored the local evening news at age 19.† www.Oprah.com Oprah Winfrey was headed towards to the life of being a regular person just as Rosa Parks, living a normal life as many other African Americans, fighting for equal rights. Oprah also thanked Rosa for herself, and for every colored girl, and colored boy, who didn’t have heroes who were celebrated. Referring back to Porter in Chapter 10, this was an inductive generalization of Rosa Park’s impact on Oprah and the world in general. Inductive generalization tends to get us in trouble as if did for Oprah in this speech because there was only a few sample statements based on one or two instances where a conclusion was drawn. Porter quotes George Hegel â€Å"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking; to generalize means to think.† I would personally say this speech was very informal as it didn’t give specific examples of how Rosa actions impacted Oprah’s trajectory. There is no definitive evidence that what Rosa Parks did impacted Oprah going on to become the most successful talk show host in the history of broadcasting. Don’t tell that to Oprah because she stated herself that she would not be where she is today if it had not been for Rosa Parks. Overall, I believe that although this was an inductive speech, it highlighted Rosa Park’s impact on Oprah Winfrey and the Country in general. The language and terminology used in this speech does relate closely to the understanding of today’s literature. This speech was presented in a very straight forward way. The fact that Rosa Park’s did not give up her seat on the bus, to a white male, has made history for the Equal Rights Movement. Reference 1. www.Oprah.com 2.The Fundaments of Critical Thinking. Burton F. Porter Copyright 2002.

Are you ready boots

You Ready Boots is a short story about an English girl called Lulu and her black leather boots. The story begins in New York where Lulu, her good pal Spencer and another freind are on a four day trip. On a shoe sale she finds these marvellous boots that makes her feel fantastic, and she buys them. When shes back in England she can't bear to wear them bacause they were so expensive. Until one night six month later when she's going out with Spencer and he encourages her to wear them.She does, and that night she meets a very handsome man called Charlie. After a while she walks straight to him (in her boots), talks with him, and she ends up with dating him. They become lovers and he seems to be the â€Å"perfect† man. Only Spencer disapproves their relationship. After a while Charlie proposes and she accepts. The same night she decides to wear the same dress, including the boots, as the day the met. But then Charlie says that he hates the boots and he asks her to take them off. Th en she looks at her great boots, makes a decision and leaves†¦The main character is a woman called Lulu. I think she might be in the twenties because she's old enough to gets married and young enough to go out and get drunk with her freinds. She lives in England, and she seems to be like a typical city girl who likes shopping, going out with freinds and so on. She may be a little upper class for example bacause she drinks champagne when she's going out, but still she's not like a real richie, because of the way she's ashamed of the price of the boots and how she's very impressed of Charlie's Porsche.It also confirms my feeling of Lulu as a girl ho likes the â€Å"wealthy feeling† and that is also the reason that she in the beginning buys the boots even though they are too expensive. This leads to another of Lulu's traits; that she's pretty conscious about the way she looks, and others looks. When she finally takes courage to talk with Charlie for the first time, she's su re that it's because of the boots – she finds self-confidence in material things like the expensive boots. It's also notable how much of the text that the description of the boots and her thoughts about them fills.As well as the descriptions of Charlie's handsome look s described a lot of times. I think she's typical young and modern woman who likes a lot of â€Å"normal† things. The way she doesn't sees â€Å"the real† Charlie for such a long time, do I interpret as some kind of desperation sign. If she's in the late twenties many of her freinds may have really had a boyfreind†). Nobody wants to be the lonely old maid, when their freinds become parents and so on†¦ Two men have important roles in the story: Lulu's good pal Spencer and Charlie who becomes her boyfreind.Spencer is like a real freind who takes her out for fun, who orries about her and I think that he knows her very well. He is with her in New York when she buys the boots and he is the on e who tells her his actual opinion about Lulu and Charlie's releationship. At first she doesn't wants to listen to him, but she can't Just forgets what he said which shows us that she normally listens to Spencer's opinions. And in the end it's also like his the one who's proved right. Charlie is a totally different kind of man. He is not spontaneous funny like Spencer is – in fact I dont think he's spontaneous at all (or funny).But he walks straight in to Lulu's life, at a point when I think she needs a man. He's very good looking, seems to be the perfect man and Lulu is flattered because of the way he for example always remembers to call her. Her love for this man is not described anywhere in the text and it's tempting to doubt that she actually never loved him.. Fundamentally I dont think that you should Judge people's choices of clothes because you should be allowed to wear what ever you want to. But it is not always possible to escape if people ask you directly what you t hink of this and that- which girl freinds often do.And in such a situation I think that the only right thing to do is to tell the truth. But I still think that the whole truth may be a little too hard sometimes. And then it's okay to tell a tiny little lie. But there are cases where it's the best to tell the hard truth to kind of prepare the person you are talking with, bacause you can see that if you dont say anything other people, and maybe strangers, will do and that's a lot worse. So to what extent it is okay to Judge depends on the situation, how close you are to the person you are Judging and how â€Å"necessary' the Judgement is.

Improving Performance & Effectiveness of your Company

A year ago, the administration has met the top eight managers of the company for a thorough departmental evaluation. The conference yielded outstanding overviews of where the company is, where it should be going, and how it can get where it should be. Each department head devised a plan on how to contribute to the vision of the company, which each department was able to materialize.A year later and the goals have been met. However, the overall state of the company stayed the same. If it moved forward at all, the move was too little and subtle to affect the company vigorously.This is why the management has decided to create an action plan which will homogenize the departmental plans that were created and now being observed so that the positive effects aid the company in moving forward. EXAMINATION OF THE VARIABLES The initial evaluation made by the managers is sufficient to zero in on department-specific issues and concerns. Initially, these issues and concerns of the individual emplo yees and the small group (departments) were considered the best determinant of the company’s progress meter. From these evaluations, the managers identified the problems and devised ways of solving them.Likewise, they uncovered opportunities that were not used before. Lastly, action plans have been created. While the managers succeeded in their implementation of their action plans, it did little for the company. The company remained stagnant as a whole even if the departments soared at meeting goals and exploiting opportunities. Solving problems, Meeting goals One important aspect of the process was identifying the problems in detail by specifying those which bothers each department. By looking into the details, the managers ensured building a strong foundation for the company.It is also by looking at these minute problems that the bigger ones are avoided. With a better foundation, a company is stronger and small problems are sure to not affect it. The identification of probl ems led to an evaluation for coming up with solutions. This further resulted in slating several goals which will keep the employees focused. Goals are important as it unites all the different activities that happen in the background of the company. The goals of the company became the guide line for the employees and managers alike. Opened opportunitiesThe evaluation also enabled the opening of opportunities which the departments have not identified before. By looking at these opportunities and exploiting them, the company was able to minimize the wastages. The opportunities also helped maximize the advantageous edge that the company already enjoys. Heterogenous However effective the departmental initiatives were, the problem was that the initiatives were definitive. Instead of helping the company as a whole, each department strived at achieving their own goals which were rather specific for their areas rather than focusing on the goals of the company as a whole.Thus, the positive re sponse received upon the action plan of the managers did little to grow the company. CONCLUSIONS The process, recommendations, and actions were good, but they were not good enough. The managers were effective on the task given to them, but putting off the focus on the company and concentrating on the areas was a bad choice. Instead, the vision and mission of the company as a whole should be a chief consideration for all initiatives big and small. With this, every little inch in which the company grows will be monumental and evident. RECOMMENDATIONSIt is worth for the initiatives of the managers to be carried on. Given that they have been effective in their respective areas, they should also be introduced in other departments in which they may also be needed; even though the need might not be obvious or immediate. To do so, another meeting with the managers should be called to order. Then, the managers will be prompted to share to the group the successes of their respective departmen t. From these sharing, the managers will be encouraged to adapt the initiatives of another department that are not yet applied in their own area.However, the initiatives that will be adapted should be fit to the department who is also adapting it. Meanwhile, marketing and advertising should be made available as well to boost sales which is primarily important for the business. EVALUATIONS A twelve-month recourse will be put into place, after which an evaluation will be made as to the progress of the company. If the company improved, the initiatives will be continued and even propagated with new ones. If not, a new proposition should be looked at.One would be evaluating for problems in the company as a while instead of by-area. The managers should also introduce new breakthroughs. Employee participation may also be encouraged later on, where the employees will be given the chance to voice out what they think and feel about improvements that can be made to the company. Employee welfar e will also be considered. With all the follow-up initiatives, a focal vision will give every action plan the effectiveness it needs. In return, it will also give the company the effectiveness it deserves.

Essentials of a Valid Contract Essay

To be enforceable by law an agreement must possess the essential elements of a valid contract as laid down by Sec. 10 of Contract Act in the following terms; ‘All agreements are contracts if they are made by the free consent of parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and are not hereby expressly declared to be void. ’ Following are the conditions for validity of the contract in detail. 1. Offer and Acceptance: There must be an agreement based on a lawful offer made by one party and a lawful acceptance of that offer from the other party. The adjective lawful implies that the offer and acceptance must satisfy the requirements of the Contract Act in relation thereto. 2. Legal Relationship: The parties must have intended their agreement to have legal consequences and legal obligations. Agreements of a social or domestic nature do not contemplate legal relations, and as such they do not give rise to a contract. 3. Lawful Consideration: Consideration means something in return (quid pro quo). For a valid contract both parties must have provided consideration, i. e. each side must promise to give or do something for other. However, it must be legal, real, harmless and not immoral. 4. Competent Parties: The parties to an agreement must be competent to contract. The contracting parties must be of the age of majority and of sound mind and must not be disqualified by any law to which they are subject. (Section 11) 5. Free Consent: Free consent of all parties is another essential element. Consent means that the parties must have agreed upon same things in the same sense. Consent is said to be free if it is not obtained by coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation or mistake. (Section 14) 6. Lawful Object: Object means ‘the purpose of entering into a contract’. For the formation of a valid contract it is also necessary that the parties to an agreement must agree for a lawful object. According to Sec. 23 the object of an agreement is lawful, if it is Not forbidden by law; Not fraudulent; or Not involves or implies injury to the person or property of another Not regarded immoral by the Court Not opposed to public policy. Not immoral. 7. Not Expressly Declared Void: The agreement must not have been expressly declared to be void under the Act. Sec. 24-30 and Sec56 specifies certain types of expressly declared void agreements: Agreement in restrain of marriage, trade, or legal proceedings. (sec. 26,27,27) Agreement by way of wager. (sec. 30) Agreement to do impossible acts. (sec. 56) Agreement the meaning of which is not certain. (sec. 29) 8. Writing and Registration: The prescribed legal formalities of writing, registration, etc. necessary for the agreement to be enforceable by law must have been observed. It must be in writing, properly attested by witnesses and registered if so required by law. The absence of any of the essentials explained above will not result in a valid contract but a void contract.

Motivation and Organisational Behavior

What is motivation? Motivation is define as the stimulus that drives, direct and maintaining the human behavior to reach goals (Wood et al. , 2006). In the context of workplace, motivation will be the one that drive the employee to perform and give more effort to contribute in the company or organization growth. Hence, it is crucial that manager keeps their employee or workers motivated. In this essay, one out of four content theories and one out of two process theory will be defined out and compared out. There are 2 types of motivation theory: Content and process theory. While content theory looks to factors within the individual and attempt to answer most of the â€Å"what† question in the context of motivation, process theory emphasize more on â€Å"how† does someone gets motivated. (Vincent Gabriel, 2003). A few theorists that have contributed to the few famous theories are Maslow, Herzberg, Atkinson, and McClelland (Vincent Gabriel, 2003). In theory, there is a continuous relationship between need (drive), tension, action and satisfaction (Reduction of drive). But in reality, it might be more complex than just those 4 actions. These are because: People’s needs are changing over time, and how people react to failure plays a part too. For example a failure to someone will demoralize him, and yet it might push another person to strive for to be better. Hence, their varying needs translated into varying actions of each individual. (Vincent Gabriel, 2003). One of the famous theories in terms of motivation is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. In this theory, Abraham Maslow defined out human needs in 5 steps, with each lower step must be satisfied or fulfilled before advancing to the further steps. He identify higher order needs, such as self esteem and self actualization and lower order needs such as social, safety and physiological needs (wood et al, 2006). Maslow rank these needs up by assuming which needs are more important, hence the need to satisfy it before other needs can serve as motivators. (Wood et all, 2006). According to Maslow himself, once the lower needs have been satisfied, it will not serve as the motivator anymore (Udechukwu, 2009). For example, for a normal human, the most basic needs include food, water and a place to live. Once this eeds have been fulfilled, he will then move on to the next hierarchy: safety. To put it in rough term, he will then want to be able to continue to eat and drink, hence he will find a job and a source of income to do so. Once that is satisfied too, and then he will be able to move on to the next level, so on and so forth. Hence, as you can see, a person will continue to climb the â€Å"pyramid† until he reaches the top of the scale: self actualization. From here onward, he then will think on how to expand himself further, and start fulfilling other aspect of needs. As what have written previously, while content theory like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains out on what are the factors that motivate people, there’s process theory that explain on how does the motivator motivate people, or even, whether is the motivator effective or rather counter-productive instead? In this essay, for the process theory, we are going to look at Adam’s equity theory. Equity theory suggests that employee must develop a sense of fairness after comparing themselves against their peer or others. Huseman et al suggest that there are three types of individuals (Shore, 2004). They are: ‘Benevolents’, who are described as â€Å"giver†, who prefer to have given more input than output. There’s also ‘Entitleds’, who are the â€Å"getter†, who on the contrary to the â€Å"giver†, will feel discontent and unfair when their input is larger than their output, and finally, the third type of individual is the one that what Huseman called Equity Sensitives, who will adhere to the old equity theory and will just stick with the balance of input and output (Shore, 2004). With all the individuals defined, Equity theorist starts to predict that benevolent, entitled, and equity sensitives will respond differently to fairness in workplace. For example, benevolent (giver) will feel more satisfied when they feel that they are under-rewarded than when they were over-rewarded. On the contrary, Entitleds (taker), will feel unsatisfied when they were under-rewarded. On a field study done by Huseman, what have been found out about these 3 individuals is that, indeed that both entitleds and equity sensitives are behaving like what was predicted, but on the contrary of the expectation, enevolents do get more satisfied when they were over-reward (Shore, 2004). This strange phenomenon happened too on other studies by King et al (1993), Alien and White(2002), and also Sauley and Bedeian(2000). Even though all those studies have their own limitation, we can safely conclude that the benevolents are the most tolerant to the under-reward and also more satisfied than the other 2 types of individuals (Shore, 2004). To compare and contrast both the content and process theory mentioned above, we can rather say that they both must be practiced in the workplace instead of only choosing either one. As what have been mentioned earlier on, the content theory is only explain out the â€Å"what† factor of a human motivator. For this, Maslow basically theorized based on what does one needs that haven’t been fulfilled and arranging them up in a hierarchy order (Harris et al, 1993). Whereas process theory will be dwelling on the nature on how or what problem does human see and perceived and whether it will motivate them. To put it simply, what have been explained above about equity theory is that even with a reward, it may affect different individuals differently. Before we look into how a job design actually helps in motivating an employee in a company, let’s take a look on what actually is a job design and what are some of the characteristic first. A job design is basically a planning and specification of a job task so that the job are done like how we want it to be (Wood et al, 2006). Under the job design itself, there are four major areas that we will want to cover later on. Those four are: job simplification, job enlargement, job rotation, and job enrichment. To explain these four aspects better, let us examine a short and simple case of a pirate ship (Rao, 2010). In a pirate ship, there are a lot of jobs involved. It can be as small as normal pirate crew, to the extent until the captain of the ships. Different job have different scopes that need to be fulfilled. Now if we were to design a job in this ship, how will we be able to design it up then? A group of people in MBA have actually grouped them up into two categories: the star tasks and the guardian tasks. The star tasks job scope include target identification, command in the battle until the negotiation for alliance between fleet. Whereas, the guardian task job is rather more operational, such as allocating crews, solving conflicts, executing punishment, distributing loot evenly until the role of medic (Rao, 2010). The question is, is it really efficient then, to lump all those tasks into two groups only? Well, the answer is most probably quite obvious: No. In such setting of the pirate ship, it will be rather hard for one individuals to be able to have the skills to be the Great Star or Great guardian, since both of them require a totally different set of skills. What will happen is that with this kind of job design, it will discourage a crew member to apply for the position of the star or guardian position. In this case, we will want to use job simplification to analyze and solve this issue. Job simplification is meant to make someone excel in a job(wood et al, 2006), for example, a crew member of the ship will be task to do a specific job only (eg. Negotiating with other fleet). In the long term, the crew member will get better and better in that area of job. The strength of this job design approach, however, is its biggest weakness also. This is because, since that the job have been simplified, the crew member will get bored doing it again and again for so many years already. This is when we will want to other approach such as job enlargement, job enrichment and job rotation. Job enlargement involves combining two or more skills that were assigned to separate workers previously (Wood et al, 2006). The only difference between this and the job simplification is that now the worker are responsible over different areas and also have more jobs to do (eg. Negotiator can also be tasked to manage the navigation). The other approach that involves equipping the crew or worker with more skills is job rotation. This approach can be defined as working different tasks or in different position for a set of time (Kaymaz, 2010). This approach focus more on the flexibility of the worker, decreasing the monotony, supporting career development, enabling high level of adaptation, and also to decrease stress (Kaymaz, 2010). With all those advantage, the most obvious disadvantage will most probably that the crew or worker will spend too much time to adapt and learn different sets of skills. Last but not least is the job enrichment approach. This involves in adding responsibility to the worker, making their job is more in depth. (wood et al, 2006). With all those job design approach been defined out, it will then enable us to combine and come up with a set of approach that we can use so that our employee are motivated. An appropriate job design can always motivate the employee up if we identify out, each and every single needs of an employee. A new employee that recently joined the company will most probably want to fulfill his physiological needs; hence he will want to have the appropriate salary. If his performance is good most of the time, and the company wants to retain him, the company must takes in the account on whether he is â€Å"benevolents† type or the â€Å"entitleds† type to measure the tolerance level on deciding his pay. Once all of those approach has been made, company must also keep close look on the employee, so that they can react fast to apply other approach such as job enlargement or even to the extent of job enrichment and empowerment if the employees begun to show signals that they are not motivated anymore. And now, we have covered the content theory of Maslow, the Adam’s Equity theory for the process theory in the context of motivation theory, and we also have covered job design approach and how to apply it in the company and organization. Hence it will be pretty obvious, that to motivate people, we will want to know what’s the key motivator is the person, whether he will be motivated with the changes that have been made and also how can the company change to motivate him better.

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WRITE-UP ON CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY AWARDS - Essay Example As our organization has grown, we've thought about it not like a challenge but as just another thing to plan and construct. Most companies worry about growth: Idealistic founders are afraid that, as the company grows, their influence will decline or their values will be forgotten or that they will become the new Enron. But we at TeamBuild think that this is an engineering problem just like building a house. A solid foundation is one that can endure building across all sorts of sizes, and our business and organizational model makes us capable of that challenge. TeamBuild prioritizes teamwork and camaraderie at every stage of its processes and every part of its internal culture. This is the most important way we enhance productivity: By making sure that every single one of our members is providing their own unique skill set, we guarantee that the whole is far, far greater than the sum of its parts. Our corporate social responsibility initiatives are a source of great pride, and we also think that they're just good business. Our team-building philosophies are integrity, teamwork, environmental care, commitment and quality. Our recent changes to our business model demonstrate this ability to change, adapt and create new options for growth. In 2006, we formed a High Performance Team or HPT with senior management and top members. The idea was to expand our organizational house by dividing into three teams and embrace three initiatives: Strategic alliances, people and in-house subcontractors. Top management set the stage by putting down the vision, the mission to complete it, the goals to complete that mission and to provide benchmarks to measure that success, and a model (attached as the figure, 'Teambuild House'). Our vision is to become a leading integrated service provider through process innovation and strategic alliances. For the communities we serve, the customers who seek out our assistance, and the people who will end up living in or working in the buildings we provide, we feel that we owe being as integrated as possible and providing as many different services as possible: A one-stop-shop. Our work on projects like Cerelia Vista, the Canadian International School and the Marina Bay Golf Course show that appeal of that mission. By being integrated service providers, we were able to create architecturally appealing designs. We were able to make sure that each of our customers got the exact solution for their needs and organization. Productivity is guaranteed when the producer is capable of handling every element of a project in-house. We avoid the â€Å"mythical man-hour† this way too: All of our team members are up to date on all of our projects. We are proud that we were able to design complex buildings for complex needs without needing to bring in excessive outside help. By aiming to be the best integrated service provider, we guarantee long-term productivity and profitability. Why hire many companies when you can hire one? Why risk worrying about each new contractor and sub-contractor being qualified, bonded, and ready for the task? If one company can handle the task, how much easier is that for the customer? We feel that, when the customer only needs to worry about one thing, providing us with the information to complete their goals, we serve their needs to the utmost. Our mission is threefold. First: We aim to deliver quality products and services to our customers. Many people think of construction and project design as a â€Å"hard† task, with very little need for interpersonal skills. We instead think that the process of providing products, the completed building, is inextricable from and intertwined with the process of providing services. We provide our customer many services. We give them ease of mind. People don't just want a good