FDI in Venezuela's Petroleum Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

FDI in Venezuela's Petroleum Industry - Essay Example At times governmental institutions make decisions based on erroneous information. Venezuela believed in the 1970’s and 1980’s closing the market of its petroleum industry was the best course of action. The governmental nationalism of the industry impeded access to foreign investors. Nationalism refers to the devotion to the interest or culture of one nation (Answer, 2009). A commodity in reality should not be categorized in that manner. Venezuelan made major changes after 1991 to revive its petroleum industry. The topics covered in the answers of the case study provide an analysis of the changes that occurred in the Venezuelan petroleum industry during the past 20 years. 1.In 1976 the Venezuelan government made the decision of nationalizing its oil industry in an attempt to keep this valuable resource away from the hands of greedy foreign oil companies. The plan seemed like a good noble idea at the time, but the reality was that the country made a serious error of judgment. The idea was to save the natural resource so that the Venezuelan people could reap the benefits of having its own crude oil for domestic purposes. The naive and inexperienced management team at the petroleum plant was so incompetent that they failed to develop new oil fields to replace the depletion of existing reserves. Venezuela thought it could become richer by running the operation themselves and keeping complete control. The idea that by keeping foreigners away from the oil would benefit the people of Venezuela the most was a nationalist egocentrism mentality that doomed the Venezuela oil industry.

Moral Living Synoptic Question Essay Example for Free

Moral Living Synoptic Question Essay In this essay it is my intention to examine the theme of moral living within the Old Testament and the Celtic Church. Morality refers to ethical issues. It is the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. It is a system of ideas of right and wrong conduct. There are two interlinked themes of religious morality and social morality under moral living. The foundation of moral living within the Old Testament is the Sinai Covenant. Whereas, the basis of morality in Celtic Church is Saint Patrick; his moral base was always routed in his scriptural beliefs. Moses, for example, made a covenant with Yahweh on Mount Sinai, the principles from which are the foundation for the Judah Christian faith today, where he received the Ethical Decalogue (10 Commandments). As Drane states, â€Å"the commands were essentially moral requirements. Honesty, truth and justice were more important to Yahweh than the performance of religious rites.† Love of God and Love of Neighbour were the two commandments at the core of the Ethical Decalogue. The first three commandments central religious morality however, the last seven focus on Love of Neighbour and Social Morality. Winward states, â€Å"no man could be in a right relationship with God who was not in a right relationship with his fellow men.† The people of Israel had an obligation as the chosen people to obey the Ethical Decalogue. Abraham was called by God to give up his polytheistic ways. God promised Abraham that he would never give up on him. As Heinsch states, â€Å"he had to journey to a foreign land alone trusting in God’s guidance.† If Abraham fulfilled this request God promised him three things, Great Nation, Land (which was Canaan) and Protection. At this time, Abraham worshipped the popular moon god, â€Å"sin† and was to break with idolatry and become monotheistic. Epstein stated that, â€Å"Abraham turned to the service of the one and only God whom he recognised as the creator of heaven and earth.† Abraham’s love of the one true God and his change from idolatry reflects similarities with Saint Patrick. Patrick arrived in Ireland to a pagan country. The people of Ireland were idolaters in that they worshipped as many as 400 gods, with the main god being the Dagda (the father). The Celts held such things as the sun, trees, groves, water and birds to be sacred. Joyce states that they had the tendency to â€Å"find the divine in all of created nature.† Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland to transform the pagan people to monotheism. He wanted them to worship and love the one true God. Patrick adopted pagan practice to Christian tradition, for example, he changed the worship of the â€Å"sun† to the â€Å"son.† Patrick wanted the people to become monks and virgins for Christ. He advocated that true worship of God required to be newly baptised (converted from paganism to Christianity.) Patrick wanted the people to convert freely; they were never forced as the decision to become a Christian had to come from the heart. When Patrick left a place he made sure he left a building (church) to be used for communal worship. Like the Old Testament prophets, Patrick expected his ordained to be good role models to the people. Unfortunately in the Old Testament the religious leaders did not always do this. Ezekiel, for example, was to inform the people that God was going to hold the religious leaders responsible as they had led the people astray instead of encouraging them to worship only Yahweh. God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the leaders, â€Å"shepherds have been feeding themselves, should not, you the shepherds feed the sheep.† In tandem with this, the prophet Elijah also had to deal with the people of Israel’s idolatry. He was aware that there was a lack of steadfast love due to the people worshipping both Yahweh and Baal (god of fertility.) Elijah challenged the people about this saying, â€Å"how long will you go limping with two different opinions?† The people needed to stop worshipping both Yahweh and Baal and were to only worship the one true God, Yahweh. Elijah had little sympathy for the people worshipping both Gods. He challenged King Ahab to a contest on Mount Carmel between Yahweh and Baal to determine who the true God is. Elijah had a great victory as Yahweh won, usually this would be celebrated but instead, Elijah went to Mount Horeb as he knew the people’s change of heart of Yahweh as the one true God was temporary and this was not good enough. True love of God was required. In line with this, Patrick also challenged the pagan people’s ways through their worship of Dagda and Lugh. It took a long time for the pagan people to convert to truly worshipping one God. Paganism continued to exist alongside early Christianity 100 years after Patrick. Amos spoke out about social injustices, he stated, â€Å"let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.† Amos spoke about respect for marriage, something which King David lacked. He had an affair with Bathsheba and committed the sins of lust, adultery and murder. He was punished for this as Yahweh was to â€Å"raise up evil against you out of your own house.† David’s son died as a result of his sins. Similarly, Patrick also showed a respect for life. He spoke out about injustices such as slavery and condemnation of wealth in his letter to Coroticus. Patrick respected women and this was reflected in the Letter to Coroticus. In L19 Patrick expresses his concern for women. The women were taken as captives, to be distributed â€Å"as prizes.† Patrick makes it clear that the fate of Coroticus and his men is to be â€Å"lorded over† for all eternity by those whom they regarded to be â€Å"barbarian Irish.† In L4, Patrick also speaks up against murder and slavery – he grieves for those captured and killed and calls the perpetrators themselves â€Å"captives of Satan† the punishment met out to them will be â€Å"external life in hell.† To conclude, Christianity is now one of the leading world religions and therefore the mission of both the prophets and Patrick was successful. There will always be a call for people to repent and convert to Christianity with a return to a moral life.

To What Extent Does Salinger Make You Sympathize With Holden Caulfield

To What Extent Does Salinger Make You Sympathize With Holden Caulfield The Catcher In The Rye By J.D.Salinger J.D Salinger has made the main character and narrator, Holden Caulfield, very complex. He has many good qualities that help the reader to sympathize with him. However throughout the novel the reader comes to realize that Holden’s behaviour around other characters often contradicts the opinions he has expressed to t he reader. This makes us see that, at times, Holden is no better than the characters he dislikes. It makes him seem â€Å"phoney.† However his use of colloquial language helps the reader to realize that Holden is still quite young and has a childish and immature view of life. You can see how immature he is because even though he is sixteen he still made a snowball and tried to get on a bus without realizing that the bus driver would make him throw it out. â€Å"The snow was very good for packing. I didn’t throw it at anything,† Holden then complains, â€Å"But he wouldn’t believe me. People never believe you.† This is a very childish thing to say, if he doesn’t get his own way then Holden believes that it’s the other person’s fault. He never considers that the bus driver is just doing his job or that eventually the snowball would melt on the bus creating more work for the bus driver who would probably have to clean it up. He instead immediately assumes that everyone is biased against him instead of maturely just accepting that you have to follow the rules and you can’t just create your own. Holden is disillusioned and sees everyone as being cynical and believes that everything is either black or white; Holden Caulfield sees childhood as being ideal and he thinks adulthood is filled with corrupt p... ...the windows on the station wagon.† Stradlater seems to make these repressed emotions resurface by insulting Holden through his lack of respect for Jane and the hard work Holden had just put into writing that essay for him. I think that Salinger is mainly successful in his attempt to make the reader sympathize with Holden. Although at the beginning of the book Holden appears to be fake and uncaring towards several of the other characters, as the book progresses the reader is shown how he has been through the tragic loss of his brother and suppresses any emotions he had about him, and how Holden really wants to fit in with the â€Å"Adult world† even if some of the things he is doing he disagrees with. Holden is just a normal person with flaws like anyone else, the difference is that Holden can admit his faults and doesn’t judge others immediately by theirs.

School Assemblies: How to Plan a Successful Event

School Assemblies – How to Plan a Successful Event! If you are given the task of picking school assemblies for your school, the job, though exciting, may have some questions that may be difficult for you to answer. How do you know which programs and how many presentations to do for your school? This is a question which comes up with any Elementary school or Middle School looking for ideas for school assemblies. Well, as famous detective Sherlock Holmes used to say: â€Å"Elementary, my dear Watson! , Elementary! † Have you talked to a twelve year old lately?Have you tried to read a bedtime story to them from a book designed to be read to a 6 year old? How did that work out for you? Not so good, huh? Kids minds change as they age. Well, that is a profound statement, right? Of course they do! And what appeals to and entertains the mind of a student in Kindergarten is radically different from what entertains a seventh grader. Even the differences from Kindergarten to 3rd g rade are profound. And yet, many schools think nothing of arranging a school assembly program for an audience of all grades, from Kindergarten through eighth grade!It always amazes me! Sure, there are presenters who can pull this off and the school may think that they had a good show. But what they do not realize is how much better the results would have been had they simply split the audience in half according to age. They might have had a great show instead! When all grades are combined, the performer of a school assembly has to become somewhat schizophrenic, addressing first the needs of one age group, then turning away from them to address the other half. The alternative is to simply present to one half and let the other half struggle.Or to shoot for the middle and ignore the extremes. Whichever way you try, it's basically a compromise that rarely please everyone. From the perspective of most school assembly performers, elementary school enrichment programs basically have three comfortably similar audience levels, with some overlap among them. The first, or Primary audience, starts with pre-K and continues up to roughly 3rd grade. The second, or Intermediate audience, can begin as early as 2nd grade and continue through 6th grade. The oldest, or Middle school, audience, begins at 4th grade and continues usually up through young adult.When audiences are split this way the presenter can change the style, vocabulary and content of the performance to best meet the needs and likes of that particular audience. It is one thing to consider whether a school assembly program is appropriate for all grades combined, but one must also ask if a particular program is indeed suited for a particular age group at all. For example, some school assemblies, when split into different performances, are quite good for all elementary school grades, but fare poorly in Middle Schools.Other school assemblies play wonderfully for Middle Schools but fly right over the heads of primary school audiences. It is wise to ascertain before scheduling a program whether or not the program is indeed appropriate for all the grades you wish to involve. Finally, one may also consider arranging different programs for different grade levels. For instance one might have a historical character for the 4th Grade, a science show for the 3rd grade, a live animal program for the 2nd grade and so on. This way everyone gets exactly what they want according to their needs.However, this supposes that cost is of little concern to you, and, sadly, we all know that cost is almost always a concern. Obviously, multiple performances will be more expensive than a single, all encompassing performance. But one should remember that â€Å"one size never really does fit all†! If you are going to spend the money to bring in a presentation it is worth making sure the experience is the best it can be. And most assembly companies and performers charge less per show for the second and third presen tations, and sometimes considerably less. It is worth checking.There is really nothing worse than having a program fail and realizing after the fact that a little extra planning and a few more dollars would have turned a sad experience into something great! Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where â€Å"Education Through Entertainment† has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas.In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING * School Assembly Presentations 1. Organized and presented four class assemblies with Grades 5 & 7 around environmental/spiritual themes using songs, chants, cir cle story telling, drama and poems. 2. Screened a short documentary ‘Give Us a Life Please' showing the dangers of toxic waste and other environmental pollution on Indian children's health. . Arranged the purchase, introduced and displayed ‘Herbotique', a herbal, multi-purpose floor wash and cleaner and the chemical cleaners our school has been using up to this time with a full-explanation of the environmental and health effects of both. Arranged for empty containers to be available at the Tuck Shop so teachers and staff can purchase it by using our bulk order. 4. Arranged and anchored a student-led visual presentation to educate the school body about garbage separation. 5.Organized and presented a four-day ‘Climate Change Week' to help inform the entire school body about this global threat and how it is connected to our daily lives. Five sets of six posters especially created for schools by TERI were placed on notice boards around the school including in the staff room. Four extended morning assemblies, each of 45 minutes duration, covered the following: (Saturday): First clue of ‘Climate Change Challenge' Treasure Hunt) was given at the end of the morning assembly. Attention was drawn to the 20 ‘True or False' statements placed on the walls around the assembly hall and to the posters around the school. Monday): Screening of a narrated Power Point Presentation introducing Climate Change and highlighting its cause and effects. (Tuesday): Screening of a video ‘Global Warning' which focused on the possible effects of Climate Change on various regions of India. (Wednesday): ‘Quiz Results Day'. a. Students were asked to raise their hands regarding the truth or falsity of the statements placed around the assembly hall giving reasons for their choices based on†¦ [continues] Read full essay Planning a School Assembly Checklist Planning a school assembly is fun but hectic at the same time for teachers.The dos and don'ts o f planning a school assembly are to be well considered before organizing one. No matter what the event is, the basics always remain the same. Therefore, every teacher must have a school assembly checklist to ensure the success of the whole event. Firstly, to organize a proper assembly it is imperative to classify the responsibilities into three categories; tasks to be undertaken before the event, tasks during the school assembly and activities to carry out right after the assembly. Categorizing your tasks will make it easier to organize the event.Checklist for tasks before the event: Here's a school assembly checklist for tasks you should perform before the event: * Choose a single theme for the event to get administrative approval if necessary. Select a date that is convenient for the staff and students. Make sure the date does not conflict with any other events held by the school. * Develop a set of rules for the event that should include the time limit, attire to be worn, the dos and don'ts for students and teachers, etc. * Make a list of guests – students, teachers, principal, and any outsider if permitted. Create invitation cards for special guests – You can have your students make them as a fun activity. * Create a management plan of how to carry out the activities on the day of the school assembly. Checklist for the day of assembly: The following is a list of tasks and considerations teachers need to make for the day of assembly: * Before the assembly starts, check whether everyone is ready for the activities they are carrying out. * Check the audio and visual equipment thoroughly to avoid any mishaps. * If any special guests are invited, make sure that you and the principal are ready to welcome them. Distribute lists of the activities to be held to parents, students and guests. * Distribute questionnaires to guests and parents afterwards to know their comments about the event. * Check if the refreshments are ready to be served on time. * Make sure the welcome speech is ready. Let the guests, students, and parents know in the welcome speech about the purpose of the event and the activities once again. After the School assembly checklist: It is important to create an after school assembly checklist to make sure that everything runs smoothly.Here are some tips for that: * Most important  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ make sure all the guests are taken care of properly once the event is over. * Make sure all the equipment used are unplugged and kept safely. * Make sure to acknowledge everyone – guests, sponsors, performers, etc. * Create a file of activities that were carried out, guests who came, sponsors, etc. for next year. * Take all suggestions in writing from guests, parents, and others involved. For More On School Assemblies Visit 1. Academic Entertainment- K-12 school assembly programs through quality entertainment. 2.Assemblies- Assemblies is a bank of over 100 resources written by teachers for teachers. They should save y ou time when creating and preparing assemblies for use with your class, year group or school. 3. The assemblies website- United Kingdom site. 4. Circus of the Kids- Provides programs for K-12 schools or organizations. 5. National Theatre for Children- Develops programs that tour elementary and middle schools teaching kids about societal issues. 6. The Puppet Showplace Theatre- A non-profit performing arts organization committed to excellence in puppetry for all audiences. 7.Royalty Theatre, Sunderland- Amateur theatre group site with information about their history and past and present productions. 8. School Assemblies for Busy Teachers- A site where teachers can freely download and submit assembly, ideas, scripts, and links. 9. SchoolGigs. com 10. School Shows. com- A nationwide directory of school shows, assemblies, workshops, and residencies. Please note:  The performers in this directory are solely responsible for the content of their listing. 11. Storyteller. net- â€Å"You can search here for a teller in your own neighborhood or even around the world!If a state or country is not listed we have no tellers from that state/country. † How to Set Up a Great School Assembly Program Over the last few decades school assemblies, or school shows have become a staple of the day to day life of many schools across the United States. Once a simple burst of entertainment to break up the year, usually in the form of a magic show or a juggler, school assemblies have blossomed into an entire industry, filled with a magnificent array of options ranging from entertainment to education and with pretty much everything in between. Knowing how to select what is right for your school can be a difficult job!It is important to decide what you are looking for, then track down the types of programs which will best serve your needs. Traditional â€Å"entertainment† shows,   while fun for the kids, have given way over the past few decades to educational programs whic h often provide a cost effective alternative to field trips. Newer programs are designed to strictly adhere to and support the educational standards of your state, and thus to augment the educational process, while providing every bit as much entertainment and fascination for the kids as do the shows which focus strictly on entertainment.There are many school assemblies available which focus on one or more areas of science. You may opt for a program on chemistry, or a visiting planetarium, or or a natural science assembly taught through the introduction of live animals. Social studies are also represented in the form of living history characters such as Abraham Lincoln or Harriett Tubbman. Fine Arts programs abound, and it is possible to schedule visits from dance companies, bands and orchestras, strolling individual musicians and various applied arts programs as well.And in the field of writing the option exists to arrange for a visit from an author or from a performing artist who will present performances of stories written by your students. Once you have determined which area is of interest, the next task is to locate the appropriate artist. If you live in a major metropolitan area such as Chicago or New York, you may have access to an assembly showcase. These are good options for getting ideas, but leave out many able presenters who may not have the option of traveling to the showcase, but who are, nevertheless, available to your school.The internet is a good place to start, and a simple search under â€Å"school assembly programs† or school assemblies† and including your state, will often yield good results. It is important to add your state, as many performers are only available on a local basis, though there are also major and very reputable companies that are available nationwide. Often your school will keep a file of brochures that have been mailed to the school. And you may also want to contact other schools in your area to see if they h ave recommendations.Some school show presenters are totally independent and must be contacted personally. This can be challenging as these independent â€Å"acts† are often busy performing when you call so patience is required. You may need to wait a day or two until they can reply to your inquiry. Others are represented by agencies or perform programs on behalf of companies. In these cases there is usually a staffed office available with customer service to assist you, on your schedule. Writers and authors are usually contacted through the auspices of a literary agent.Fees will vary widely. Programs may range from free up to thousands of dollars. Some authors can be very expensive. Science Museums often have outreach programs but these are also oftentimes very costly. On the other extreme, simple but effective programs can be found for free. Hospitals may provide a bike safety program. Ronald McDonald has programs in some areas for which the school pays nothing. But most pre senters will charge some kind of fee. A common price range may start at $200-300 but range up from there quickly according to the number of performances.This touches on another area needing planning. As anyone who has ever shopped for clothing will tell you, one size never fits all. If your school has 400-500 or more students, that is usually too many for a single performance. This is especially true when the performer is asked to address many different grade levels simultaneously. The needs of a first grader are different from the interests of a fifth grader. Skilled presenters know how to address these needs in different, age-appropriate assemblies. So make sure to schedule enough presentations.Be sure to also ascertain whether additional fees are involved. Many performers will tack on fees for travel or accommodation. Others will require non refundable deposits, and charge the school for weather cancellations. Some will even require you to convince other local schools to also boo k a date before they will allow you to schedule your own. Make sure you are clear on everything that is involved! Finally, you will be ready to schedule your dates. Try to obtain programs at times of the year when the content is aligned with what the students are studying at that time.Examples might include hosting an Abraham Lincoln impersonator during February, or a science program to kick off the period leading up to your science fair. Avoid bringing in programs just before or during state mandated test windows or you will certainly incur the wrath of your teachers! Parochial schools may want to have a program during Catholic Schools week. Some schools like to look for something to highlight anti-substance abuse issues during Red Ribbon Week. There are many options available to you. But don’t wait too long. Try to schedule far in advance!While it is sometimes possible to get lucky and be able to arrange a program at the last minute, more than likely if you wait you will be disappointed. The best programs will fill in. And often, programs may only be in your area of the country at certain times. It is wise to begin your planning for the upcoming school year during the previous Spring. Regardless of what you choose, prepare to have a good time. There is nothing as rewarding a the sound of a gymnasium full of students erupting with laughter and awe from a performance you helped to bring to them!

Save-A-Lot Case Analysis

In 1977, Bill Moran, was the Vice President of Sales for a food wholesaler in St. Louis. After recognizing how the weak economy had affected his customers during the most competitive time, Bill Moran decided to become a hero. He invested his times and finally developed a retail strategy that would generate an extreme value for his customers by providing limited assortments of SKUs of the most popular items and not every brands out there in the larger traditional supermarket chains.. By doing this over the years, Save-A-Lot has expanded to over 1,300 stores across the United States and are continuing to grow. Save-A-Lot is operates in a foodservice industry that serves as retailers within a niche marketing segmentation. Save-A-Lot target market consists mainly of value seeking and convenience oriented psychographic segment. These consumers usually seek quality products at lower prices. They want valuable low prices like Costco but without the bulk, and a convenience of a mama and papa stores but much bigger, meaning that it is small enough and convenience enough that consumers don’t need to park and walk as far. For this mean, Save-A-Lot’s retailing concept meets the shoppers’ needs and expectation with smaller grocery stores. Within a year, through word-of-mouth advertising, Save-A-Lot spread to 29 locations. — (Save-A-Lot ) The constraints of Save-A-Lot in the foodservice industry comparing to its competitive retailer is that they lack the wide assortment of products to choose from. Another is the friendly customer services that helped customers around the stores or bagged the things the buy. The necessary cut-back is because they aim to offer values to their customers by saving them 40 percent from traditional grocery shopping. Save-A-Lots’ consumers may choose to go elsewhere, but they most likely not find a better saving as they will with Save-A-Lot. Save-A-Lot Food Stores, the nation's leading extreme value, edited assortment grocery chain and the nation's fifth largest grocery banner, operates more than 1,150 value-oriented stores in all types of neighborhoods: urban, rural and suburban, and delivers up to 40 percent of savings compared to conventional grocery stores†Ã¢â‚¬â€(Fintland ) The issue here as mentioned before, they stock much less inventories than other retailers. Comparing to other traditional supermarket chain stores stock approximately 30,000 SKUs vs. Save-A-Lot inventory of only 1,250 SKUs. As a part of the retail format, they carry less items with the same or similar high quality but at a more affordable price. The stocking and pricing are just some of the many things in their retailing format strategy. Aside from that, their main focus is affordability, not some pretty organizing shelves that is why their inventory remains in cardboard boxes that are cut off and stacked onto the shelves. Due to not having to sort-out the inventory, Save-A-Lot are able to cut-back on shelves costs, and creating a relationship with their vendors. With the vendor relation , Save-A-Lot benefits from low prices in returns for free advertisement and shelves spaces. Save-A-Lot does in fact saves a lot since they don’t have the typical numbers of employees compared to traditional stores. Customers pay to bag their own items, or they can just carry out their items with empty cardboard boxes laying around. The last biggest factor that contributes to Save-A-Lot profitability is the location. With their tightly controlled operation expenses, they are able to find inexpensive property to open business.

Sumerian Views Of Death Essays - Epic Of Gilgamesh, Religion

Sumerian Views Of Death Essays - Epic Of Gilgamesh, Religion Sumerian Views Of Death Civilization is defined as a state that binds people together to transcend tides of family, clan, tribe, and village. (Woolf, H.B., 1974, p.141) By using this definition, one can compare and contrast the many different traits that the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations had. Both The Epic of Gilgamesh and the three Egyptian funerary documents are very good examples of written documents that show these two differences in civilization. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a long narrative poem which shows the many trials set before a young hero. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.8) This epic was discovered on twelve clay tablets in the remains of a library dated back to the seventeenth century before Christ. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.8) Within this epic, the reader will get an idea of how the Sumerians lived and communicated within their community. Similarly, the Egyptian traits of civilization can be explained when the Coffin Texts are analyzed. The three funerary documents, w hich will be discussed later, were found written inside wooden coffins of people could who afford expensive funerals. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.18) Many of these writing concentrated on death and disaster, and the miseries and fears that are associated with it. These three writings are also very helpful by giving the reader a very descriptive overview of how the Egyptian civilization worked. Although these four documents were written in different locations, they show many similarities and differences in traits of civilization, and thoughts on the afterlife. The Epic of Gilgamesh is known as one of the greatest works of literature from the time of the Mesopotamian Era. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.8) The hero, Gilgamesh, was the ruler of the city-state Uruk from 2700 to 2500 B.C. He was also very well known for his building of massive walls and temples. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.8) His epic follows the basic theme of the humans struggle with immortality. Although Gligamesh is known as being two-thirds a god and one-third human, he must face death someday. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.8) As the epic begins, it is clear that the people of Uruk are distressed at the fact that Gilgamesh is not yet aware of his duties as king. Enkidu is sent down from the heavens in response to the peoples cries for help. When Enkidu and Gilgamesh fight in a contest of strength and fighting skill, Gilgamesh wins, and the two heroes unite and set out on a series of adventures. In the midst of their adventures, Ishtar states that a life is owed because of an insult said towards him. Enkidu is chosen to die, and he is going to be brought to his fate. Within his time of waiting, he tells Gilgamesh of a vision he had of the land on no return. Within this story, the reader is presented with many different facts of how the Sumerians viewed the afterlife. It will become quite evident that the Egyptians view of the afterlife was fairly similar, but in some way was considerably different. The Coffin Texts were the Egyptians equivalence to the Sumerians epics, because they also give a very distinctive explanation of how their people viewed the afterlife. These Coffin Texts were modeled from the earlier Pyramid Texts, which included many details about the many dangers of earth. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.18) This writing also included the many feelings that the Egyptians had on the topic of the terrors of death. The Coffin Text is yet another short piece of work that is written in a two-part speech. In this writing, the sun god and the deceased speak upon the topics of good deeds and eternal life. Similarly, Negative Confession is taken from The Book of the Dead, and contains writing upon the topic of death. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.19) In this story, the deceased proclaims his purity to forty-two minor deities, who are set to judge the deceaseds fittingness to become an eternally blessed spirit. (Andrea, A.; Overfield, J.H., 1998, p.19) These th ree examples of writings from the Egyptians are very descriptive, and serve as a basis of explanation of death. When comparing the similarities of these four writings,

Flags Of Our Fathers essays

Flags Of Our Fathers essays This book was about the histories and achievements of the six men who raised the American Flag over Iwo Jima in WWII. Their names were John Bradley, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and Mike Strank. It is written by the son of John Bradley, the only flag raiser to live on a normal life after the war. There are three historical significances in this book and they are, for one, that there were 80,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese on Iwo Jima. Secondly was the tactics of the Japanese in WWII. And thirdly, of how the attack on Pearl Harbor had mobilized America. The fact that there were 80 thousand Americans and 20 thousand Japanese in the battle of Iwo Jima gives the impression that it was an easy battle, with such overwhelming odds. But the Japanese were heavily entrenched and the Navy refused to help the marines attacking. 2 out of every 3 marines died in the conflict. An example of the carnage in the book was when a soldier found his friend in the battle and greeted him, only to later notice that his friend was dead, blown in half. When fighting the Germans, such people as medics or "corpsmen" were overlooked because they held status as non-combatants. The medics would wear red crosses on their helmets in order for the Germans to know who not to shoot...but while fighting Japanese they tried to keep as low profile as possible. This is because the Japanese would aim for the medics, because they thought that the more medics dead, the more soldiers would lie bleeding to death in the sand. And with prisoners of war, the Japanese were ruthless in their torture. The book gave a statistic of POW death rates, and Germany had one of 1.1%...Japans was 37%. Much like the attack on the world trade centers today, a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor mobilized the American Population. Enlistment was high, and even fifteen year olds would fake their ages in order to join the Marines. People would drive their cars...

Comparatives and Superlatives in Spanish

Comparatives and Superlatives in Spanish In English we often use the suffixes -er and -est to indicate that something is or has more or most of a quality. But Spanish takes a different approach. Spanish Comparatives Spanish uses the adverbs ms and menos before an adjective to indicate that something has more or less of a particular quality. Such phrases are known as comparatives. Ms also is often the equivalent of the English suffix -er when applied to adjectives. Some examples: Él es guapo. (He is handsome.)Él es menos guapo. (He is less handsome.)Él es ms guapo. (He is handsomer.)Ella es inteligente. (She is intelligent.)Ella es menos inteligente. (She is less intelligent.)Ella es ms inteligente. (She is more  intelligent.) Such comparatives are explained more fully in the lesson on comparisons of inequality. Spanish Superlatives Superlatives are used to indicate that something has the most of a particular quality, as can be done with the English suffix -est. They are formed in Spanish much like above, except that the definite article is also used, as in these examples: Él es el ms guapo. (He is handsomest.)Él es el menos guapo. (He is the least handsome.)Ella es la ms inteligente. (She is the most intelligent.)Ella es la menos inteligente. (She is the least intelligent.) Plural definite articles can be used, as can the neuter article: Ellos son los ms guapos. (They are handsomest.)Ellas son las menos inteligentes. (They are the least intelligent.)Lo ms importante es amar. (The most important thing is to love.) The suffix -à ©simo or one of its variations is sometimes considered a type of superlative: Ella es altà ­sima. (She is extremely tall.)Él es guapà ­simo. (He is extremely handsome.) Irregular Forms of Comparatives and Superlatives The most common irregular comparatives and superlatives are those involving bueno (good) and malo (bad). The comparative and superlative forms are mejor and peor, respectively: Este coche es bueno. (This car is good.)Este coche es mejor. (This car is better.)Este coche es el mejor. (This car is best.)Esta casa es mala. (This house is bad.)Esta casa es peor. (This house is worse.)Esta casa es la peor. (This house is the worst.) The forms mayor and menor can also be used as irregular comparatives and superlatives when referring to age: Pablo es viejo. (Pablo is old.)Pablo es mayor que su hermano. (Pablo is older than his brother.)Pablo es el mayor de su familia. (Pablo is the oldest in his family.)Katrina es joven. (Katrina is young.)Katrina es menor que su hermana. (Katrina is younger than her sister.)Katrina es la menor de su familia. (Katrina is the youngest in her family.) Finally, pà ©simo is sometimes considered to be an alternate superlative of malo, and mximo an alternate for grande. Sample Sentences Mi principal compromiso es ms pragmtico que ideolà ³gico. (My main promise is more pragmatic than ideological.) El lago de Saoseo es ms azul que el cielo. (Lake Saoseo is bluer than the sky.) La nià ±a cuya belleza le dio el tà ­tulo de la nià ±a ms bonita del mundo ha firmado un lucrativo contrato. (The girl whose beauty gave her the title of the prettiest girl in the world has signed a lucrative contract.) Son ms baratos en otras tiendas. (They are cheaper in other stores.) No hay personaje ms o menos à ºtil; todos tienen su propio rol en el juego. (There is no character more or less useful; all of them have their own roles in the game.) No creo que sea menos importante. (I dont believe its less important.) Este aà ±o ser el mejor aà ±o de la historia de la humanidad. (This year will be the best year in this history of humanity.) De todos los posibles escenarios, ese me parece el menos probable. (Of all the possible scenarios, that seems to me to be the least likely.) Esta decisià ³n es la ms difà ­cil de toda mi vida. (This decision is  the  most difficult one of my whole life.) Gracias, abuelos, por esta divertà ­sima maà ±ana que nos habà ©is regalado,  ¡sois los mejores! (Thanks, grandparents, for this most fun morning you have given us. Youre the best!) Considerada por todos como la peor pelà ­cula de ciencia ficcià ³n de la historia. (It is considered by everybody to be the worst science-fiction film in history.) Key Takeaways Spanish uses ms before an adjective to indicate that someone or someone has more of the adjectives quality.Spanish uses menos before an adjective to indicate that someone or someone has less of the adjectives quality.To indicate that something has the most or least of some quality, precede ms or menos with a definite article such as el or la.

If Max Weber was living today, how would he analyzed the current Assignment

If Max Weber was living today, how would he analyzed the current fiscal situation from a public policy prospective - Assignment Example The main intention of coming up with this act was to prevent the emergence of a sovereign default which could have emanated from the 2011 US debt ceiling crisis. The main objective of this committee was for purposes of developing a deficit reduction plan over a 10 year period (Vanderveen, 2013). Any recommendations that the committee gave was subject to a simple vote of majority in the legislature. This is without an amendment. The main purpose of introducing these extraordinary provisions was for purposes of limiting a partisan gridlock amongst the members of the congress. The main aim of the 2011 Budget Control Act was to reduce at least 1.5 trillion dollars of the US debts over the next 10 years. This paper analysis the public policy views of Max Weber in regard to the current fiscal situation of the United States. Max Weber is an important scholar who has written extensively on bureaucracy (Edwards, 2007). This paper therefore analyzes the bureaucratic believes of Max Weber in re lation to the current fiscal situation of the United States. One of the major ideas that Weber and Weber (2012) believed is the notion of people acting as a basis of social inquiry. Weber believed that sociologists need to connect with social actors with the main intention of understanding a given problem and situation. The fiscal situation in United States is a social as well as an economic issue (Vanderveen, 2013). To understand the reasons why the US has a huge debt deficit, the government had to create the joint select committee on debt deficit. This institution was answerable to the congress, and it had to provide recommendations on how to solve the current US fiscal situation. This institution is a social actor, and it acted as an organization responsible for conducting social inquiry. The committee had a mandate until 23rd of November 2011. The mandate was to looks for methods and means

Human Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Relations - Essay Example These were all racist comments on a student as he was black and he belonged from other nation. I saw that no one stopped them from ragging him; whereas everyone displayed a sense of pride in what they were doing. They thought themselves to be superior, spotless, good guys and pious as they had the color white. Furthermore, a student of white origin threw water balloons on the other guy and humiliated and harassed him just because of his color. At that moment, I was surprised to see that such racism prevails even in the 21st century, when people project themselves to be modern and open minded. This racist act witnessed was a shame for every individual who states him/herself to be broadminded. I had a sensation of inferiority seeing such behavior and narrow-mindedness of the people. The white students did enjoy their act and were feeling proud of their action. I was numb to what I saw and my adrenaline rush was to the heights. My idea of free world, democracy and non-discrimination was all changing. I thought of challenging them and showing them the real picture of the world where black people are working hand-in-hand, and are at times also superior to the white people in their activities. I wanted to protest and save my friend from the torture but feared as I too had a dark color. Nonetheless, I went back to my place and wrote a letter to the college authority regarding the incidence, the racism that was being faced by the students who were there to study. I went to many individuals of the college who signed the letter to demonstrate their support towards anti-racism in colleges. The incidence in the college divided the students into groups, one who believed in the idea of superior and inferior and the other who perceived equality for the success of the individual and nation. The incidence displayed action of supremacy and racism in the college. INTERVIEW Questions Framed: 1. Should Racism prevail in this modern world? 2. What should be done to stop racism? I in terviewed my friends and my neighbor regarding racism. According to Respondent I, racism should not prevail in the modern world. Racism shows the backwardness of thought process, when the world is reaching new heights. Racism exhibits inequality, lack of education, cultural values and above all human values. He added that in modern world, people should believe in togetherness and not fight on a petty issue of color. In response to the second question, he stated that people should be punished if they pass racist comments or jokes. People should be educated on racism and coerced to change their views regarding racism and sexism comments. Respondent II was against racism, he presented an idea of a free world where people should be judged by their behavior and not color. He stated that togetherness and a sense of friendship should prevail in the modern world to encourage inter social behavior. He was very annoyed with the people who supported racism and commented that they should be veh emently punished and sent for mental treatment. According to Respondent III, he supported racism as he believed in supremacy. He stated that because they have a white color they should be treated in a superior manner. He believed that the color difference is because of the good behavior, superiority and spotlessness. SUMMARY REGARDING EXPERIENCES OBSERVING, CHALLENGING AND TALKING ABOUT RACISM Racism is believe, action or a mental state where people tend to be superior

Culture, Behaviour and Management in field of Construction Project Essay

Culture, Behaviour and Management in field of Construction Project Management - Essay Example The potential effectiveness of these ideologies is tested through the London Olympics 2012 construction projects. It is proved that such ideologies can be effective in the construction industry but only the terms that they are appropriately supported in all their aspects. 1. Introduction In the last decade, the rapid expansion of globalisation in countries worldwide has caused a series of changes in traditional organizational practices and frameworks. It is in the context of this trend that the recent credit crisis appeared. The specific crisis has been related to a series of mind-sets and ideologies. In this way, the management of the effects of the credit crisis is not an issue of organizational practices but rather of ideologies and behaviour. The role of mind-sets and ideologies in the development of the recent credit crisis is examined in this paper; emphasis is given on the potential use of these mind-sets for handling the effects of the crisis on the UK construction industry. The construction projects of the London Olympics 2012 are used as indicative examples for highlighting the potential value of mind-sets in handling problems related to the financial crisis – especially cultural and behavioural problems. ... It is recommended that project managers involved in the particular construction projects – those related to London Olympics 2012 – emphasize more on the use of mind-sets for resolving the cultural and behavioural problems of these projects. At the next level, these practices could benefit the construction projects developed in markets with different characteristics, such as the Thai market. 2. An explanation of the recent ‘credit crisis’ taking the perspective of ‘ideologies and mindsets’ to account for the phenomenon. The recent credit crisis proved the inability of leaders in organizations of all industries to take the necessary measures for increasing the strength of their firm towards the market pressures. As noted in the study of Dotlich et al. (2009) in order to be able to face the developments in the global market, modern leaders should ‘develop four mind-sets: a) a global mind-set, b) an innovation mind-set, c) a virtual mind-set and d) a collaborative mind-set’ (Dotlich et al. 2009, p.36). The above mind-sets could be further explained as follows: a) the first (global) mind-set would help leaders to understand the conditions in the global market and set the appropriate strategic priorities, aiming to help their firm improve its position in the international market, b) the innovation mind-set would refer to leaders who are able to identify and promote creative ideas; these ideas could help organizations to increase their competitiveness or, at least, to avoid major losses in periods of severe crises, like the recent one, c) the virtual mind-set refers to leaders who are able to communicate effectively with external providers established in other countries worldwide (Dotlich et al. 2009, p.36), d) the collaborative mind-set reflects the leader

Moral's in Modern Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Moral's in Modern Culture - Research Paper Example The end of this one man challenge would determine the victor, and those, who lost, would be subdued. The event is avidly described in 1 Samuel 17:41-58 where David approaches the battle line and upon exchanging a few words with Goliath, he hastens towards him, draws out his sling and a stone and with one swing, hits the giant on the forehead, stone sinks and he dies (â€Å"Bible Gateway passage,† n.d.-b). However, the text in 2 Samuel 21:18-22 is the primary source of contradiction. Verse 19 of the text states that a Jair’s son, Elhanan, killed the brother of Goliath. In the footnote of New International Version, it remarks that the original Hebrew text lacks the part â€Å"the brother ofâ€Å", which can then imply that the text originally read that Elhanan killed Goliath (â€Å"Bible Gateway passage,† n.d.-c). There may be a valid argument in that viewpoint, but the text in 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 can help clear the contradiction. The text in that excerpt briefly describes the same events described in 2 Samuel 21:18-22 but there are no footnotes indicating that the words â€Å"the brother of† was absent in the original text (â€Å"Bible Gateway passage,† n.d.-a). This impression is applied, therefore, in the interpretation of the verse in second Samuel. With such developments, it is pretty much clear that Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, and not Goliath. The event of Goliath being slain is well described in the text 1st Samuel that is convincing enough that David killed Goliath. In the readings provided, there are two people presented to have killed Goliath. The first one is David; son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite and the second is Elhanan, son of a Bethlememite man, Jair. In the 1 Samuel 17:41-58 text, David is vividly described to have killed Goliath, with a clear demonstration of events that took place during that day. This writing, therefore, supports the fact that David killed Goliath way better than

Miss Evers' Boys Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Miss Evers' Boys - Movie Review Example This paper illustrates that government policies compel the nurse in the film to defy their ethical principles while the actions of the single nurse in the film shows that she understands the nursing ethics, and she strives to maintain them even in the grim instances. The film is an adaptation of the Tuskegee experiment makes the ethical issues it raises of immense importance to the practice since it shows the possibility of a government forcing nurses to act against their wishes. The nurses and doctors who ran the experiment defined fundamental codes of ethics in nursing whose primary objective is to minimize the harm caused by either the patients or the nurses in the practice. The American Nurses Association explains that a nurse has a primary commitment to the patients and works to protect the rights, safety, and health of the patient. In the film, the government forces the nurses to defy such basic ethical provision as they run the inhumane experiments on unsuspecting subjects. De spite the laws that protect the experiment, Eunice Evers shows compassion and cares for the patients. The actions of the nurses conform to the ethical provisions of the practice. Doctors treat while nurses care for the patients. She strives to do this by showing compassion and caring for the subjects who endure immense pain while receiving no treatment for their disease. Nurses provide both physical and psychological needs of the patients. They do this in different ways including the consolation of the patients.

Freuds Ideas Remain Influential Even When They Seem Implausible Essay

Freuds Ideas Remain Influential Even When They Seem Implausible - Essay Example According to Freud, the ego comes about during the infancy stage of human development and the goal of this aspect of mental development is to find satisfaction for the desires of the id but in a manner which is safe (Freud, 2010). While the id is mostly dominated by the instincts of the individual, the ego is dominated by reality and despite the fact that it works towards the fulfilment of the desires of the id, the ego can be said to be based on the control of these desires so that they do not get out of hand. The ego, therefore, functions not only in the unconscious level but also in the conscious level and this ensures that there is a balance between the two. The superego, on the other hand, develops during early childhood when the child comes to identify with the parent of the same sex, and this parent becomes the compass for the child’s moral development. It is the superego which is responsible for the development and upholding of moral values among individuals as a means of ensuring that they behave in a manner which is in accordance with the values and norms of the society. Moreover, it is responsible for the feelings of guilt which afflict individuals when they commit acts which go against the values of the society (Freud, 2013), and this enables them to correct their mistakes. According to Freud, there comes a time when there are conflicts between the id and the superego and when this occurs, it is normally the role of the ego to act as a mediator and to decide the best course of action that can be undertaken to solve the conflict. It is because of this that in some cases, the ego puts in place defence mechanisms which are designed to ensure that it is not overwhelmed by anxiety and this enables it to make the right decision about what to do.  It has been declared that the theories brought forth by Freud, while very good at providing explanations for behaviour, are not quite good at making predictions for the possible occurrence of such behavi our. It is for this reason that there has arisen a belief that Freud’s theories are not scientific because they can neither be proven false nor true. An example of such a scenario is the determination of what takes place in the unconscious mind because of the fact that this is something which cannot be tested or measured in an objective manner (Levin, 2010). It is because of this that it is believed that the theories propagated by Freud are neither scientific nor do they have objectivity. Because of the relatively few samples that he used, it has been declared that Freud’s studies and results were unrepresentative of the general population since he mainly made studies of himself, his patients and only one child. Since most of the studies consisted of his patients, mostly women of middle age.  

Miss Evers' Boys Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Miss Evers' Boys - Movie Review Example This paper illustrates that government policies compel the nurse in the film to defy their ethical principles while the actions of the single nurse in the film shows that she understands the nursing ethics, and she strives to maintain them even in the grim instances. The film is an adaptation of the Tuskegee experiment makes the ethical issues it raises of immense importance to the practice since it shows the possibility of a government forcing nurses to act against their wishes. The nurses and doctors who ran the experiment defined fundamental codes of ethics in nursing whose primary objective is to minimize the harm caused by either the patients or the nurses in the practice. The American Nurses Association explains that a nurse has a primary commitment to the patients and works to protect the rights, safety, and health of the patient. In the film, the government forces the nurses to defy such basic ethical provision as they run the inhumane experiments on unsuspecting subjects. De spite the laws that protect the experiment, Eunice Evers shows compassion and cares for the patients. The actions of the nurses conform to the ethical provisions of the practice. Doctors treat while nurses care for the patients. She strives to do this by showing compassion and caring for the subjects who endure immense pain while receiving no treatment for their disease. Nurses provide both physical and psychological needs of the patients. They do this in different ways including the consolation of the patients.

Risk Management and Policy Decision-Making Essay - 1

Risk Management and Policy Decision-Making - Essay Example the fear of the resiliency of the breaks in the weather condition and even the managers of the manufacturers of the machine, Ferrari, refused but the persuasion by the officials ensured that the cars were launched according to the plans and previous schedules of launching. The decision to launch the first Ferrari was arrived at after numerous hours of debating which involved both the management of the rallying event, the makers and all the external political forces. All this were influenced by numerous bureaucracies in the handling of the actual decision of whether to proceed with the launch or not to proceed. Since the decisions were being made from a multifaceted approach, the heroic engineers tried to avoid the accident by cancelling the launch but the administrators due to their lack of the actual knowledge and evidence that could lead to disastrous outcome of the launch; they went ahead and initiated it. However there is the actual lack of evidence that portrays previous accidents correlating the slippery road surface and the rainy weather as having disastrous effects on the brakes of the super road machines. There is clearly a missing evidence of previous accidents in relation to the brakes resiliency due to variation in the rain drizzles. However the indication of the failure of the car breaks is explained as indicated by the Ferraris explanation using their chats does not show the evidence of similar accidents or disasters with a cause that is due to the correlation with drizzles variability and the physical conditions of the roads post the rainy event. Even though some of the previous launches under similar conditions indicated the possibility of the failure of breaks , but there was no evidence of cause in relation to the crushing of Ferrari one. This accident had an impact in the future management of the high speed rally cars launches in relation to the weather of the day. In relation to the management approaches and the ideologies of the engineers,

Tourism Issue Research Exercise and Essay Essay Example for Free

Tourism Issue Research Exercise and Essay Essay 1.0Introduction 1.1 Introduction to essay Tourism has increasingly grown as the economy develops well and the level of living style of human being improves, especially in China. (Jordon Ken, 2001)The dramatically growth of tourism has brought several benefits such as enhancing local economic development and the reduction of unemployment rate. (Philip D. Brian R., 1995) However, it is still questionable that whether it is absolutely profitable if the number of tourists continue to rise. The objectives of this essay are to emphasize the negative impacts of tourism to a Chinese destination. This essay is going to cover how the boosting tourism is affecting the quality of water and air in China. 1.2 Introduction to articlelu This article is discussing about the sudden influx of tourists throughout China during China’s National Day golden week and the negative environmental impacts that it caused. 2.0 Main arguments discussion 2.1 The general fact of tourism Over time, there is a significant growth in tourism all over the world. With reference to appendix A, it is significantly shown that the number of international tourist arrivals doubled from 435 millions to 940 millions from 1990 to 2010. Distinctively in the South Asia region, the numbers rose from 3.2 millions to 11.1 millions in the span of ten years, this relatively attracts a higher number of tourists among the strongest growing areas in 2010. As reported in UNWTO Tourism Highlight (2011), the position of china in tourism indicators moves up in both arrivals and receipts, reaching to the third position and the forth place out of the top ten, respectively. 2.2 The factors involving an increase in tourism It is evident that nowadays, more and more people prefer to choose China as their holiday destination, showing an obvious demand for tourism. It is  notable that there was a 20.8% growth of foreign tourists’ (about 85.4 million tourists) arrivals after the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo. (China Daily, 2009) However, there are several crucial reasons that push people to go out to an unfamiliar place and pull them to China, listed below are the push and pull factors respectively. 2.2.1 Push factors There are several factors involved in influencing the increment of tourism, such as economic expansion, social changes, demographic aspects and technological developments. (Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. 2000) Being rich and affluent allows most people to be able to achieve a better sense of purchase power. The availability of greater discretionary household income gains various choices rather than just spending on basic living requirement;( Agarwal and Yochum,1999) Moreover, nowadays people tend to travel overseas during their vacation, in order to escape their busy work schedules. Households have also become smaller, so family members can spend less in bringing up children, thus having more money for leisure activities. In addition, the advancement in technology makes it easier for travelers to reach their destination. To sum up, all these factors boost the demand of tourism. (Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. 2000) 2.2.2 Pull factors Referring to Appendix B, Asian tourists make up the majority of China’s tourism market due to their geographical advantage. For example, Japan is the biggest tourist-source market for China as both countries are situated near from each other. It is also cheaper for the Japanese to travel to China as it is relatively cheaper than to other countries. Besides, the 5000-year history of China is always attracting tourists all over the world. In addition, the complement of airline systems and expansion of high speed train are more comfortable, continence and efficient. The quality of service has also grown together with the influx of tourists. (Jeffrey, 2008) 3.0 The negative impacts of tourism to environment However, it is questionable whether it is absolutely good if the number of tourist constantly grow yearly. According to this article, it was a common  phenomenon that china was overly congested with people during the Chinese National Day. 20,000 tourists could not find a hotel to settle down in Pu Tuo mountain (a famous mountain in china); During the same period of time, San Ya beach was described to be a dump because 50 tons rubbish was abandoned along the coast, while vehicles were held up on the expressway, which looked like they were parking in car parks. (Lei, 2012) These events are apparently showing a sign that when the sheer number of tourists is overload for a destination, it will lead to a decline in both socio-cultural and natural environment. However, only natural environment will be discussed about thought focusing on two main pollutions that exit during the rapid development of tourism. They are water pollution and air pollution, respectively. 3.1 Water pollution With the boosting tourism, more water resources are developed to attract travelers. Those people who enjoy the natural attractions of beauty and peacefulness like to boat along the waterways and enjoy the scenery.(Jeffrey, 2008) Thus, an increase of water transports like motorboats, will in turn cause oil emissions which would pollute the water ways.( Jeffrey, 2008 ) Moreover, the rubbish dump by travelers is harmful to the quality of water. Furthermore, hotels resorts built along waterways or coastlines will produce a big amount of sewage as well. These series of events would be obviously harmful to local water system during the holiday and would certainly cost a loss in the economy. For example, a number of 360 million yuan(US $43 million) was invested to clean up the Lijiang River by government. (People’s Daily, 2000) 3.2 Air pollution Nowadays, with advanced technology, majority of people prefer to take air transport to their preferred destinations. Refer to Appendix C, half of the total (51%) tourists chose to travel by air in 2010, while the road transport rank at the second popular choice of all mode of transports. All vehicle transport create exhaust fumes. (Simpson et al., 2008) Air pollution caused by tourist transportation has spread to the whole human being living environment, especially from carbon dioxide production because of the usage  of transportation energy. (Majbritt, 2010) In fact, the air in China, especially in the city area, is suffering from heavy pollution. (Gregory C. Chow, 2008) Amongst 20 worst-air-cities around the world, 16 of them belongs to China. (Jeffrey, 2008) 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the negative impacts of tourism to Chinese environment such as water pollution and air pollution have been explained above. These are the consequences that booming tourism has to pay. Thus, it is worth noting that the substantial tourism is calling peremptorily. Increasing tourism does bring a lot of profit for economy, but it is a double-edged sword. If left uncontrolled, tourism can cause both social and environmental problems as seen from China’s case. However, although I believe that the Tourism industry in china reaps more positivity on the whole, although there is no concrete panacea to this issue. Methodology This research essay required gathering relevant facts and information from a vast variety of sources, including book literatures, journals, news articles, specified review and online sources, in order to deliver complete understanding of the main topic – Negative impact of tourism to China’s destination. This research paper focused on gathering crucial data from the most valid and credible sources as reliability and credibility were key concerns. The usage of online journals and articles which were accessible on University Of Newcastle Blackboard were definitely useful in gathering information such as essential Annals of Tourism Research and Studies. In addition to this, Google Scholar played an imperative role in providing relevant information on the topics of Tourism in China as well as statistics on relevant areas. Key words like inbound tourism of china, water pollution were used on Google search engine to obtain further detail figures such as the number of tourism to China in 2010. Other than the methods listed above, the Chinese government reports and UNWTO annual reports were also used to describe and further elaborate changing tourism trend and statistics. The main keyword descriptors used to complete the research include: negative impacts of tourism in China, water pollution and air pollution information Reference: Air Pollution in China. (n.d.). FACTS AND DETAILS. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392catid=10subcatid=66 China Daily. (2009) Tourism in beijing boosts after the olympic games. (2009, 7 29). Cultural China. Retrieved from http://news.cultural-china.com/20090729140321.html Gregory C. Chow (2008): China’s Energy and Environmental Problems and Policies, Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics Jeffrey, H. (2008). Facts and details. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392catid=10subcatid=66 Jeffrey, H. (2008). Water pollution in china. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=391 Jordon, S., Ken, W. (2001). Causality between trade and tourism: empirical evidence from china. (1st ed., pp. 279-283). Lei, B, (2012). Crowd throughout the great wall during chinas national day. Chong Qin Wan Bao (2012, 10 8). . Retrieved from (http://tour.rednet.cn/c/2012/10/08/2770150.htm) Majbritt, T. (2010). Tourism, transport and environmental pollution. Retrieved from http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/tourism-transport-and-environmental-pollution/ Philip D. , A., Brian R., P. (1995). An applied general equilibrium analysis of the economic effects of tourism in a quite small, quite open economy. (Vol. 27, pp. 985-994). Simpson, M. C., Gà ¶ssling, S., Scott, D., Hall, C. M. and Gladin, E. 2008. Climate change adaptation and mitigation in the tourism sector: Frameworks, tools and practices, Paris: UNEP, University of Oxford, UNWTO, WMO. Tourism, Transport and Environmental pollution – Views On Tourism. (n.d.).Views On Tourism Knowledge and inspiration to the Bangladeshi tourism sector.. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/tourism-transport-and-environmental-pollution/ UNWTO. (2011). Travel Biz Monitor: UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2011 Edition (Part -II). Travel Biz Monitor: India travel news, travel trends, tourism. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/unwto-tourism-highlights2011-edition-part-ii-14272 V.B. Agarwal, G.R. Yochum(1999): Tourist spending and race of visitors, Journal of Travel Research, (pp. 173–176) Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. (2000). Tourism management. Brisbane: John Wiley Sons Australia.(pp. 5-68) Wheeler, D., Dasgupta, S. and Wang, H. 2003. â€Å"Chapter 12: Can China Grow and Safeguard Its Environment? The Case of Industrial Pollution†. In How Far Across the River? Chinese Policy Reform at the Millennium, Edited by: Hope, N., Yang, D. T. and Li, M. Y. Stanford: Stanford University Press

Jim Morrison Essay -- Religion, Culture, Elvis

I preface this paper by a consideration of why Jim Morrison can be discussed within the discourse of religious studies. I suggest four possibilities. The first is the place of religion in late modernity; that is, as individualized, subjectivated and deinstitutionalized. These factors contribute to the circumstances under which Morrison may be understood in religious terms because of the conditions they create. Religion may be deinstitutionalized (Luckmann 1967; Bibby 1990), but people are still religious (Chaves 1994). This enables religion to exist in other ways; one way is through dead celebrity. In an article entitled â€Å"Is Elvis a God? Cult, Culture, Questions of Method,† John Frow (1998, 208-209), after discussing the apparent failure of the secularization thesis,1 remarks, â€Å" . . . religious sentiment . . . has migrated into many strange and unexpected places, from New Age trinketry to manga movies to the cult of the famous dead . . . we need to take religion ser iously in all its dimensions because of its centrality in the modern world.† Further, religion as individualized and subjectivated (Hervieu-Là ©ger 2000) allows people to create their own systems of meaning and transcendence. Dead celebrity, using Morrison as an exemplar, is one system. The second possibility follows from the first. Regarding the changing nature of religion in the 1960s, religious studies scholar, Gail Hamner (2003, 447), wrote that â€Å"popular culture became subject to deification or at least spiritualization.† Although this paper does not intend to provide an account of the process by which some celebrities were sacralized in the twentieth century, it should be noted that literature on the subject does exist. A seminal work, in this regard, is The Work o... ... supplemented by relevant scholarly literature and popular biographies of Morrison. It is with these four possibilities, religion in late modernity, scholarship on religion and celebrity, the way we think of, and define religion, and Riddell (2008), that I consider Jim Morrison and religion. There is a paucity of academic literature on Jim Morrison, yet a reasonable amount of popular literature, which I am engaging in my evaluation. Scholarship on dead celebrity fandom has progressed in the last decade; however, in 1998, John Frow (1998, 200) claimed that â€Å"we lack almost completely the tools to make sense of [the process by which dead celebrities are sacralized].† My hope is that by outlining the role of Morrison in self-propagating his own myth, combined with a posthumous documentation of this process, I will contribute to literature on dead celebrity fandom.

Government Corruption Essay -- Corruption in Government

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the last few years, the issue of corruption--the abuse of public office for private gain--has attracted renewed interest, both among academics and policymakers. There are a number of reasons why this topic has come under recent inspection. Corruption scandals have toppled governments in both major industrial countries and developing countries. In the transition countries, the shift from command economies to free market economies has created massive opportunities for the appropriation of rents, excessive profits, and has often been accompanied by a change from a well-organized system of corruption to a more chaotic and deleterious one. With the end of the cold war, donor countries have placed less emphasis on political considerations in allocating foreign aid among developing countries and have paid more attention to cases in which aid funds have been misused and have not reached the poor. And slow economic growth has persisted in many countries with malfuncti oning institutions. This renewed interest has led to a new flurry of empirical research on the causes and consequences of corruption. Economists know quite a bit about the causes and consequences of corruption. An important body of knowledge was acquired through theoretical research done in the 1970s by Jagdish Bhagwati, Anne Krueger, and Susan Rose-Ackerman, among others. A key principle is that corruption can occur where rents exist--typically, as a result of government regulation--and public officials have discretion in allocating them. The classic example of a government restriction resulting in rents and rent-seeking behavior is that of an import quota and the associated licenses that civil servants give to those entrepreneurs willing to pay bribes. More recently, researchers have begun to test some of these long-established theoretical hypotheses using new cross-country data. Indices produced by private rating agencies grade countries on their levels of corruption, typically using the replies to standardized questionnaires by consultants living in those countries. The replies are subjective, but the correlation between indices produced by different rating agencies is very high, suggesting that most observers more or less agree on how corrupt countries seem to be. The high prices paid to the rating agencies by their customers (usually multinational companies a... ...e role of other forms of institutional inefficiency. Corruption is most prevalent where there are other forms of institutional inefficiency, such as political instability, bureaucratic red tape, and weak legislative and judicial systems. This raises the question of whether it can be established that corruption, rather than other factors correlated with it, is the cause of low economic growth. Regression analysis provides some evidence that if one controls for other forms of institutional inefficiency, such as political instability, corruption can still be shown to reduce growth. Nevertheless, it is hard to show conclusively that the cause of the problem is corruption alone, rather than the institutional weaknesses that are closely associated with it. The truth is that probably all of these weaknesses are intrinsically linked, in the sense that they feed upon each other (for example, red tape makes corruption possible, and corrupt bureaucrats may increase the extent of red tape so they can extract additional bribes) and that getting rid of corruption helps a country overcome other institutional weaknesses, just as reducing other institutional weaknesses helps it curb corruption.

Apush Brinkley Chapter 12 Terms

APUSH Chapter 12 Antebellum Culture and Reform Hudson River School – The first great school of American painters, based in New York. The painters portrayed that America’s â€Å"wild nature† made them superior to Europe. Cooper and the American Wilderness – James Fenimore Cooper was the first great American novelist (The Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer) His novels â€Å"The Leatherstocking Tales† were a celebration of the American spirit and landscape Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry D. Thoreau – rejected societal norms as a whole and supported individual independence. Controversial, though they gained many followers.Brook Farm – established by George Ripley as an experimental community in West Roxbury, MA. Individuals would gather to create a new form of social organization, permitting everyone to self-realization. Brook Farm failed but inspired many similar communities. The Oneida Community – one of the most enduring utopian communities. It was declared that all residents were married to all other residents. Women were protected against unwanted childbearing and children were raised communally. Shakerism – commitment to complete celibacy, openly endorsed the idea of sexual equality.Reform Movements – worked on behalf of temperance, education, poor, handicapped, etc Charles Finney – similar to Thoreau/Emerson, said that everyone could find salvation through individual effort. Gained support from women and eventually became very popular and gained a following. Temperance Crusade – against alcohol! Women were in favor. Access to alcohol was growing and with it was abuse. States started passing restriction laws. Phrenology – argued that the shape of a person’s skull determined their character and intelligence. Reforming Education – Horace Mann said that education was the only way to protect democracy.He lengthened the academic year, doubled teachers salaries, and his examples lead to similar institutions in other states. Rehabilitation Reforms – the creation of â€Å"asylums: for criminals and mentally ill. Prisons were also reformed, with tighter restrictions meant to reform the criminals. Many such institutions soon fell victim to over-crowding. American Colonization Society/Failure of Colonization – proposed a gradual manumission of slaves with compensation to their owners. Met resistance from slaved themselves – the antislavery movement was rapidly losing strength.Chapter 13 The Impending Crisis Racial Justification – manifest destiny cited the superiority of â€Å"the American Race† Opposition to Expansion – Henry clay and others feared that territorial expansion would reopen controversy over slavery and threaten the stability of the union Stephen Austin & Texas – A young immigrant from Missouri established the first legal American settlement in Texas in 1822. Mexicans in the region attempted to refute further American immigration but it was too late – by 1835 already 30,000 Americans were established there.San Jacinto – Sam Houston defeated the Mexican army and took Santa Anna prisoner, Mexican government eventually gave up on Texas Opposition to Annexation – Sam Houston offered to join Texas with the rest of the union, northerners opposed acquiring a large new slave territory and increasing the southern votes Oregon – Both Britain and the US claimed the territory but soon significant numbers of white Americans began emigrating to Oregon, outnumbering the British settlers. They killed much of the Indian population in part due to the measles epidemic.Oregon Trail – 2,000 miles from the Great Plains and through the Rocky mountains. Difficult journey – thousands of people died on the trail though Indians were often helpful. Families worked together, most people walked for most of the time. James K. Polk – expresse d â€Å"that the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period are great American measures. † Argued that if Britain did not cede all of Oregon to the US, war would be held, and neither party really wanted that, and so Oregon came to be.Slidell Mission – Mexicans in Texas rejected Slidell’s offer, war was declared after American troops were attacked. California Gold Rush – started around 1848 and increased the population from 14,000 to 220,000 in four years. Created serious labor shortage in CA and Indians were forced into work Kansas-Nebraska Act – divided one territory into two to keep the slave balance equal; it immediately destroyed the Whig party, divided the democrats, and parties who opposed the bill came to form the Republican Party Election of 1856 – Fremont v. Buchanan who was nominated at 65 Dred Scott vs.Sanford – Dred Scott, a slave from Missouri, owned by an army surgeon who ha d taken Scott into Illinois and Wisconsin where slavery was forbidden. Now, the surgeon’s brother was claiming ownership of Scott. The court was extremely divided but eventually declared that Scott didn’t have a case because he wasn’t a legal citizen. Lincoln – nominated in the election of 1860. Believed that slavery was morally wrong, but he was not an abolitionist – he could not envision an easy alternative to slavery in the areas where it already existed. He wanted to â€Å"arrest the further spread† of slavery

How Has Physical Theatre Changed Over Time Essay

Physical theatre is a form of performance where movement and physicality of the body has the main part within a performance. There are several quite distinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term â€Å"physical theatre†, which has led to a lot of confusion as to what the definition of physical theatre actually is. The term physical theatre has been applied to performances consisting mainly of mime, contemporary dance, theatrical clowning and other physical comedy (such as slapstick), puppetry and mask work and theatrical acrobatics and lifts. One of the early practitioners of physical theatre was Artaud. His ideas included total theatre, wherein actors appeal to all of the audience’s senses; he rejected the idea of the proscenium arch and directed his actors to use the space in different ways. It was also his view that in performance, all expression was physical expression. Whereas Steven Berkoff’s style incorporates actors using their whole bodies, including facial expressions to tell the audience the story, and actors using their bodies to create sound effects. He is also a great believer in Le Coq’s seven states of tension, in this exercise the actor will move through seven different body states, starting off as exhausted and lazy and finishing in an the highest state of tension. The style of physical theatre can differ widely, but generally in a performance of physical theatre the audience would expect to see: elements of contemporary dance (fluid, graceful movements), detailed mime, as there are often limited props in physical theatre performances, complex lifts sometimes with several people, acrobatics and gymnastics and many fast-paced moments where actors will be stretching the limits of their bodies. One of the first instances of physicality being used within theatres was by the Greeks, as they used a lot of mime and pantomime acts within their performances. The performance of pantomime originates from Ancient Greece, the first recorded pantomime actor being TelestÄ“s in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus. Mime is u sed to give actors a way of portraying feelings, emotions, and entire stories through movement and expression, which helps in telling the overall story. It gives a focus on expression and movement, and it takes away speech, which makes performers use their bodies and their faces to show to the audience what is happening, therefore making it physical theatre as the body is used rather than the voice. Around the  16th century, Italian theatre developed, what they called, Commedia dell’arte, which is a form of theatre characterized by masked â€Å"types† which began in Italy in the 16th century. The Commedia dell’art characters first began to appear in English plays around 1660. This style of theatre has three important aspects to it; mask, music and costumes. The audience was able to pick up from each character’s dress the type of person he was representing. For example, loose–fitting garments alternated with very tight, and jarring color contrasts opposed monochrome outfits. Males would identify themselves with character-specific costumes and half masks and all the fixed character types, the figure s of fun or satire, wore colored leather masks. Today in Italy handcrafted theatre masks are still created in the ancient tradition of carnacialesca (carnival). Commedia dell’arte is classed as physical theatre as masks forced actors to project their characters’ emotions through the body. Leaps, tumbles, stock gags, obscene gestures and slapstick antics were incorporated into their acts. Pantomime (informally panto), is a type of musical comedy stage production, designed for family entertainment. The origins of pantomime go back to ancient Rome, and was developed in England to generally be performed during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, slapstick comedy and dancing, employs gender-crossing actors, and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale. It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. The development of English pantomime was strongly influenced by commedia dell’arte. This was a â€Å"comedy of professional artists† travelling from province to province in Italy and then France, who improvised and told comic stories that held lessons for the crowd, changing the main character depending on where they were performing. Pantomime mainly incorperated song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dressing, in-jokes, topical references, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo. The general movement within Pantomime creates physical theatre as the storyline is presented to the audience mainly through lifts, dance and slapstick, although performers also use their voice throughout. The Theatre of the Absurd is the name for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one  for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work expressed what happens when human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down, alerting their audiences to pursue the opposite. The Absurd in these plays takes the form of man’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning, and/or man as a puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces. Theatre of the Absurd consisted of horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichà ©s, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive. The term â€Å"Theatre of the Absurd† was coined by the critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of a book on the subject first published in 1961. The â€Å"Absurd† or â€Å"New Theater† movement was originally a Paris-based form of theatre, tied to extremely small theatres. There are many conventions of â€Å"absurd† theatre, such as words often appearring to have lost their denotative function, thus creating misunderstanding among the characters. Instead, language gains a certain rhythmical, almost musical quality; no plot, minimal staging, babbling; abstract setting, â€Å"It is sometimes said to express the ‘human condition’ in a basic or ‘existential’ way† (Worthen 1639 ). Pirandello, one of the first experimentalists, wanted to bring down the fourth wall that was created by Realism, thus creating more physicality and a deeper connection with the audience. Modern physical theatre has grown from a variety of origins. Mime and theatrical clowning schools, such as L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, have had a big influence on many modern expressions of physical theatre. Practitioners such as Steven Berkoff and John Wright received their initial training at theatre schools just like this. Contemporary Dance has also had a strong influence on what is regarded as physical theatre, partly because most physical theatre requires the performers to have a level of physical control and flexibility. This is rarely found in those who do not have some sort of movement background. Modern physical theatre also has strong roots in more ancient traditions such as Commedia dell’arte and some people suggest this links to the ancient greek theatre. Eastern Theatre traditions have influenced a number of practitioners who have then influenced physical theatre. A number of Oriental traditions have a high level of physical t raining, and are visual masterpieces. Antonin Artaud was fascinated with the energy and  visual nature of Balinese theatre and wrote extensively on it. He admired Eastern theatre because of the highly ritualized and precise physicality of Balinese dance performance, and advocated what he called a â€Å"Theatre of Cruelty†, which he used to create physical theatre within performances and to describe a form of theatre that he hoped would unleash unconscious responses in audiences and performers that were normally inaccessible. Another physical theatre practioner, Steven Berkoff, used techniques such as background movement, repetitive actions, and mime to explore further the ways in which he approaches exchanges between two characters. Berkoff said that it was important â€Å"to see how I could bring mime together with the spoken word as its opposite partner, creating the form and structure of the piece†. Berkoff also used a theory he called Total Theatre, which is key to him and stemmed from Artaud’s theatre style. Total Theatre maintains that every aspect of theatre must have purpose: every movement, that is chor eographed; to each line, that is learned perfectly; to each lighting effect, that is used to convey a mood or message; to each sound effect, that enhances the audience’s experience; to each prop that has a use. The aim of Total Theatre is to create extreme moods to give the audience an overwhelming experience and to shock, amuse, scare, or amaze them. As a result of Total Theatre, performances are often minimalist, with bare stages and little language so that the focus remains on the physical movement and not on all the effects or the creation of a scene. This serves to detach the audience from the play and make them think about what was being said. However, from 1911 to 1916 Stanislavski, proposed that actors study and experience subjective emotions and feelings and perform these experiences to audiences by physical and vocal means. While in the early stages his ‘system’ focused on creating truthful emotions and embodying them, even though he later worked on the Method of Physical Actions. Its focus was on physical actions as a means to access truthful emotion, and involved improvisation. The focus remained on reaching the subconscious through the conscious. In other words, he wanted the performer to focus internally to portray a character’s emotions onstage. Later, between 1934 and 1938, this technique evolved to a method of physical actions in which emotions are produced through the use of actions. From Greek theatre to modern day, physical theatre has been used by many different practitioners and theatre  groups for one sole purpose; to impact the audience. On one hand, the mime and Commedia dell’arte that the Greeks first developed is still used widely today; mime is still an extremely popular form expression within plays, and commedia dell’arte is still extremely popular in creating humorous performances using masks, and over-exaggerated costumes. Similarly, pantomime is still one of the most popular forms of theatrical entertainment used across the world, achieving physical theatricality by including slapstick, lifts and dances, occasional mask work and costumes. This is effective as it provides the audience with the storyline in a less conventional and, arguably, more interesting way. It intrigues the audience, and makes them feel more emotionally connected with the characters involved in the performance, especially when the performers break the fourth wall, which frequently happens during pantomimes. However it can also be argued that many things have changed as time passed in regards to physical theatre. As technology advanced, the use of lighting and special fx have made creating a dramatic and intense atmosphere easier. Breaking the fourth wall is also a new idea, as the Greeks and Romans believed that the audience should not be included in the performance, and should purely be onlookers, whereas Artaud and Stanislavski believed that by bringing the audience into the performance, it would not only make it more intense and engaging, it would also achieve the â€Å"attacking the senses† criteria that Artaud believed in, by using â€Å"in yer face† theatre to scream and shout in the audience’s face. Physical theatre as it is used today, is st ill very popular with both performers and audiences, as it is both entertaining to watch and perform.

An Overview Of Learning Three Theoretical Perspectives Education Essay

There are countless positions on the acquisition procedure, understanding the mechanisms of and our apprehension of larning as theory and the practical application of methodological analysis has evolved well over clip. Each theory contributes to our apprehension of how scholars integrate information and experiences from their environment. This has deductions for single growing and besides for institutional policy and pattern. In this paper I will reexamine three theoretical positions on acquisition, viz. the Constructivist/Cognitivist position, the Phenomenographic position, and the Socio-cultural position, I will depict the salient characteristics and features of each theory, and compare the similarities and differences across positions. This will include a treatment of how learners entree information, make sense of that information, and act on it in deliberate and purposeful ways as a agency of prosecuting with the universe. From there I will look into what these larning theories emphasize or give relevancy to the constructs of context, significance, and experience. The assorted positions each have something to state about the relationship between context, significance, and experience as they relate to acquisition, nevertheless the importance of these nucleus constructs differs in how each theory conceptualizes acquisition, and the importance of the function of context, significance, and experience. Finally, I will reason with illustrations that bring these positions to life in my mundane experience, and I will adhere these theories together within a cohesive apprehension of acquisition and instruction as it relates to the interrelatedness of the constructs of intrinsic motive, fluctuation, and transportation.Three theoretical positions on larningThere are legion theories of acquisition, each stressing a peculiar characteristic of the learning experience. Assorted theories of larning besides depict larning in different ways depending on the point of view of the perceiver. Each theory emphasizes thoughts related to context, significance, and experience in different ways as they relate to acquisition, both from the position of the scholar and from the instructor/teacher/coach/mentor.Constructivist/Cognitivist Perspectiveâ€Å" Objectivity is the psychotic belief that observations could bemade without an perceiver † ( von Foerster, 1995, pg. 5 )The Constructivist theoretical orientation holds that cognition is acquired experientially, is mediated by our anterior apprehension, and is based on the belief that we learn by making instead than detecting, and that cognition is built upon old acquisition. â€Å" The indispensable nucleus of constructivism is that scholars actively construct their ain cognition and intending from their experiences ( Doolittle, pg 1 ) Piaget was chiefly concerned with cognitive buildings that occurred as a consequence of interactions with†¦ Constructivism emerged from early surveies of acquisition, behavior, and depth psychology, and the behavioral point of views of Watson, along with Kohler and Koffka ‘s Gestalt psychological science. ( Tools pg. 7 ) Constructivism as theoretical apprehension exists along a continuum from â€Å" weak † to â€Å" strong † signifiers constructivism This is an adaptative procedure whereby behaviors evolve to run into the altering demands of the environment, and knowledge serves to makes sense of subjective experience. ( Doolittle, 1999, 1 ) Constructivism emerged from schools of behaviorism and objectivism, which held that there was a cognizable nonsubjective world that existed independent of the person. Constructivism takes the position that meaningful personal experience is the footing of cognition and acquisition. Persons construct intending within a context of personal experience that is rooted in linguistic communication, civilization, and the societal experiences of each person. There can be no objectively verifiable truth or cognition within constructivism, as each single brings a alone position grounded in their ain old cognizing. Much of this cognition is silent and resides in the inexplicit memory of the scholar, but it exerts its influence and acts as a filter through which the person â€Å" sees † new information and relates it to their apprehension of the universe. Knowledge and therefore acquisition is constructed within the head of the person. Constructivism rejects the impression of an nonsubjective and cognizable world independent of the perceiver, and holds that cognition of the universe is constructed through the active cognitizing on the portion of persons. Constructivism rejects the impression of an oberver-independent universe in favor of cognition reflecting the subjective worlds of the perceiver. ( Glaserfeld, 1989, p. 3 ) Knowledge is non a representation of world, but alternatively a â€Å" aggregation of conceptual constructions that turn out to be adapted or, as I would manner, feasible within the cognizing topic ‘s scope of experience. ( Glaserfeld, 1989, p. 4 ) Within Cognitive constructivism ( account of strategy theory, accomodation, assimilation ) . Cognitive constructivism adheres to theoretical accounts of cognition building that consider the function of memory, cognitive concepts, and scheme without sing to the full the subjective nature of cognition as occupant within the head of the topic. Knowledge in this sense implies an internal representation that accurately reflects an observer-independent external world. ( Doolittle, 1999, 2 ) Extremist constructivism differs from cognitive constructivism by progressing the thought that larning is an adaptative procedure, and that it is observer-dependent and resides in a fluid and dynamic knowledge that considers the subjective experience of cognition building. Extremist constructivism, like societal constructivism, besides accepts societal interactions as informing cognition building. Social constructivism takes the position that societal interactions contribute to cognize, and views the societal and cultural context as grounding cognition â€Å" to a specific clip and topographic point. ( doolittle pg 4 ) These assorted positions exist on a continuum, nevertheless the most cardinal apprehensions are shared. We all hold memories of old experiences ; those collected memories and experiences, both tacit and explicit, go the lens through which we view our current unfolding world. Emerging grounds within the kingdom of neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology may foretell farther homogenisation of constructivist doctrine and apprehension. Interpersonal neurobiology views the encephalon as a societal organ built through experience. This insight displacements Cognitive Constructivism farther along the continuum in the way of extremist and societal constructivism by imparting back uping grounds to the two staying epistemic dogmas, viz. that â€Å" knowledge organizes and makes sense of one ‘s experience, and that â€Å" knowing has roots in both biological/neurological building, and societal, cultural, and language-based interactions. † ( Doolittle, 1999 ) Learning is transactional, with experience act uponing cognitive building and the fictile cognitive buildings act uponing o ur experience in a dichotomy of experience and subjective world. As Carr provinces, â€Å" †¦ the turning organic structure of grounds makes clear that the memory inside our caputs is the merchandise of an inordinately complex natural procedure that is, at every blink of an eye, finely tuned to the alone environment in which each of us lives and the alone forms of experiences that each of us goes through. † ( Carr, 2010, P. ? ? ) Carr recounts some of the current research on memory and experience, and expands on the thought that our encephalon construction continuously changes with experience ; encephalon malleability, the turning and pruning of synaptic connexions over clip, changes our very memories and our remembrances of experience based on new experiences. ( Carr, 2010, p. 190 ) Researcher Kobi Rosenblum farther describes how memory, which in a sense is our recalled experience, can be a fictile and traveling mark. As he explains, â€Å" ..the human encephalon continues to treat information long after it is received, and the quality of memories depends on how the information is processed. † ( Carr, 2010, p. 191 )Meaning within Cognitivist/Constructivist PerspectiveMeaning as significance for each position, but it is built-in to an apprehension of constructivism. Meaning is cardinal to the intentionality of scholars ; relevancy and significance enhance a scholar ‘s ability to associate with th eir universe. It besides relates to constructs of motive as it relates to a scholars sense of bureau and battle with their experience, ad it highlights the importance of civilization and linguistic communication as societal go-betweens of larning? ? ? ? â€Å" The importance of these memory mechanisms to the development of cognitive psychological science is that, one time understood, they make it really clear that a individual ‘s ability to retrieve points is improved if the points are meaningfully related to each other or to the individual ‘s bing cognition. The cardinal word here is meaningful. â€Å" Wynn pg.4 â€Å" What is meaningful to people is determined by what they can retrieve of what they have already learned † . Wynn pg 4 Opportunities for larning within a constructivist model occur most readily when what is being learned has relevancy or high emotional valency for the scholar ; in other words when information or experiences are meaningful. In order for larning to be meaningful it should be relatable to old cognition and experience. This building-block theoretical account of cognition and experience is wholly consistent with a scholar as meaning-maker. The deductions for learning and educational teaching method are that undertakings that have significance and relevancy tend to be of greater intrinsic involvement to scholars. Research on the experience of larning speaks to the importance of significance as it relates to knowledge building, and speaks of the importance of liberty, bureau, pick, and coaction in driving our instrinsic motivational desires to prosecute in meaningful undertakings, retrieve and remember information, self-organize, and be funny. A larning context rich in significance is important.Context within Cognitivist/Constructivist PositionsLearning occurs most successfully at the intersection of a scholar ‘s old cognition of the universe and the experience of socially mediated interactions with others, and is influenced by all accumulated societal and cultural experiences. ( Bodrova & A ; Leong, 2007, p. 9 ) The context for larning resides within the experience and imaginativeness of the scholar, and is rooted in anterior experience and is mediated by teachers/facilitators and the ecological scene or context. Within this larning context, Feuerstein describes the function of mediation. â€Å" The go-between creates in a individual an attack, a signifier of mention, a desire to understand phenomena, a demand to happen order in them, to understand the order that is revealed, and to make it for oneself. † ( Feuerstein, Feuerstein, & A ; Falik, 2010, p. 37 ) Mediators can take many signifiers, but they portion in common an ability to potentiate a scholar ‘s ability to profit from larning experiences. In the absence of a go-between, even in instances where persons get cognition, they may non â€Å" understand its significance. † ( Feuerstein et al. , 2010, p. 37 )Experience within Cognitivist/Constructivist PositionsAs scholars construct their ain experiential world within a societal and cultural context, the dyadic interactions that unfold connote a grade of coaction and battle with acquisition that is per se motivated by a meaningful context within which larning occurs/unf olds. Collaborative acquisition is by its nature socially constructed acquisition, where the involvement of scholars is cardinal, meaningful, and contextual. Decontextualized acquisition by contrast deficiencies a sense of connexion to the experience of acquisition. Prior experiences of larning are diminished when there is no meaningful context, and reliable experiential acquisition suffers. When pick around construction and content is collaboratively negotiated, scholars are granted a degree of liberty around how and what they learn, and experiences that are meaningful topographic point larning within a context more suited to the acquisition manner, ends, and precedences of the scholar. Kohn emphasizes these conditions of coaction, content, and pick, as making the conditions necessary for reliable and per se motivated larning to emerge. ( Kohn, ? ? ? )Phenomenograpy/Variation Theoryâ€Å" There is no larning without understanding. And there is nounderstanding without fluctuation. † ( Marton, Trigwell, 2000 )The theory of phenomenography is connected with the survey of human experience, peculiarly as it relates to educational research. Phenomenography examines believing and larning within the context of educational research, and seeks apprehension of â€Å" the different ways in which people experience, interpret, understand, perceive, or gestate a phenomenon, or certain facet of world. † ( Orgill, ? ? ? ? ) Marton defines phenomenography as â€Å" a qualitative research methodological analysis, within the interpretivist paradigm, that investigates the qualitatively different ways in which people experience something or believe about something † ( Marton, 1986 ) . One of the cardinal epistemic dogmas? ? ? related to Phenomenographic theory relates to constructs of fluctuation, understanding, and transportation. Marton postulates that in order for larning to happen, â€Å" †¦ at that place must needfully be a form of fluctuation nowadays to see, and this form must be experienced † . ( Marton, fluctuation, pg.1 ) . In order for larning to happen, scholars must see a broad scope of fluctuation in experience, with sameness or similarity lending small to our apprehension of experience. Variation and difference create a broader context for understanding experience, and besides spread out our repertory when meeting fresh state of affairss or fortunes. This transportation of acquisition is built-in to variation theory and a cardinal underpinning of phenomenography. Experiencing difference or fluctuation may be likened to experiences of cognitive disagreement within constructivist theoretical accounts of acquisition, where an single experiences disagreement and a disturbance and must set their construct of this new information within their existing paradigm. How we categorize, makes sens e of, or place with that difference relates to our understanding accomplishments. Discernment allows a topic to see or feel an experience â€Å" against the background of his or her old experiences of something more or less different. † ( Marton, pg.386 ) . In kernel, as topics experience greater fluctuation they become more attuned to progressively subtle differences between the â€Å" physical, cultural, symbolic, or animal universe † that they inhabit. ( Marton, pg 386 ) Every phenomenon that is experienced merely in contrast to jump experiences of the same phenomenon ( marton, pg 387 ) The deductions for teaching method centre on the use of the objects of fluctuation in order for scholars to see fluctuation, go expert at discerning, and reassign larning across state of affairss. â€Å" Excellence in instruction has really much to make with what facets of the object of larning are subjected to fluctuation, and what facets of the object are capable to fluctuation at the same time. † ( Marton, pg. 391 ) Subjects learn to pull off freshness as a consequence of holding experienced freshness through fluctuation. ( Marton, pg. 394 ) . Transportation is concerned with how â€Å" what is learned in one state of affairs affects or influences what the scholar is capable of making in another situation. â€Å" ( Marton, pg. 499 )Meaning within Phenomenographic/Variation Theory PerspectiveContext within Phenomenographic/Variation Theory PerspectiveA construct that illuminates thoughts of context within the phenomenographic position relates to constructs of located acqui sition. Situated in this case â€Å" refers to what surrounds the learning event ; that is, to the socially constructed life-world in which a peculiar case of larning occurs. † ( Sameness in transportation, pg. 511 ) Sameness and difference in larning and experience are acknowledged, nevertheless â€Å" †¦ the extent to which we can do usage of something we have learned in one state of affairs to manage another state of affairs is a mom Decision Learning is non merely geting new information and hive awaying it on top of the information we already have. It involves run intoing something unexpected ( what? ? ? might depict as a disturbance ) , something that can non be easy explained by those theories or apprehensions we have already developed. To decide that struggle we have to alter what we antecedently believed ( kohn, pg 187? ? ) This account is the tie that binds constructivism, fluctuation, theory and strategy theory to societal acquisition, along with thoughts of motive and personal bureau.