The Spread of Buddhism Essay - 1149 Words

The Spread of Buddhism Buddhism is a philosophy, a moral code, and, for some a religious faith which originated in 530 BC in India. Buddhism evolved as a modification of Hinduism when Hinduism started to become very complicated due to too many sacrifices in the name of God. Today, an estimated 300 million people follow one of the many varieties of Buddhism. Budda, or Siddhartha Guatama which means the awakened one had the religion named after him because he founded the ideas behind Buddhism. Budda, a very wealthy man, was not fulfilled with his life. One day, he decided to leave his home and wondered through the forest, nearly starving himself to death, in search of the answer to his discontent. Nearing death, a woman found†¦show more content†¦The traditionalists, now referred to as Sthaviravada or way of the elders developed a complex set of philosophical ideas beyond those taught by Buddha. These were collected into the Abhidharma or higher teachings. But they, too, encouraged disagreements, so that one group after another left the fold. Ultimately, 18 schools developed, each with their own interpretations of various issues, and spread all over India and Southeast Asia. A significant development happened at the same time as the Buddhist movement began to spread and that was the opening of a new way through, from India to China. Today, we call this way the Silk Road, and we associate it with famous travelers like Marco Polo, whose journeys to China astounded the Europeans of his day. The route was first established by the Chinese in search of horses and trade. It dates back to the second century BC. From that time, it became a regular journey for traders seeking to make a small fortune. In the following centuries, the route fell under control of different political groups, but was always well used until the 15th century AD when sea trade dominated. From early days, silk was exported from China to Italy where it became immensely popular. Grapes and wine making were soon introduced to the East as well as perfumes, spices, unknown animals and birds such as peacocks. From China, we first encountered roses, oranges and pears. There was considerable cost to transport allShow MoreRelatedThe Spread of Buddhism776 Words   |  3 PagesIdeas of ethics; character ethics There are various ideas on the issues pertaining to ethics such as character ethics which is a philosophy that gives a description of success as being based on principles of effective living like humility, integrity, patience, temperance, simplicity, and justice. Female ethic Female ethics attempts to rethink, reformulate or revise ethics that have being in existence traditionally in an extent that devalues or depreciates the moral experience of women. BeforeRead MoreSpread of Buddhism in China834 Words   |  3 Pages Buddhism arrived in China by the first century C.E. by way of the Silk Road. Initially, the spread of Buddhism was met with positivity, but as the centuries passed, the Chinese began to view it in a negative light. Additionally, during a period of disunity and political instability, the Chinese peasants welcomed Buddhism, but as Buddhism became more popular, Chinese aristocracy and government saw it as a threat to their power and moved to discredit its movement. Documents 1, 2, and 5 positivelyRead MoreHistory of the Spread of Buddhism622 Words   |  3 PagesThe Spread of Buddhism While the Western World is largely familiar with elements surrounding the spread of Christianity, these people are inclined to ignore that Buddhism came to experience a similar progression in the East. Beginning approximately five centuries before Christianity, Buddhism emerged as an ideology contrasting harsher Hindu laws and made it possible for people to understand that it was actually necessary for them to follow a Middle Path in order to achieve Enlightenment. In spiteRead MoreThe Rise And Spread Of Buddhism954 Words   |  4 PagesThe rise and spread of Buddhism brought about many radical changes throughout Asia. This included many new styles and inspirations for Asian art. The influence of Buddhism affected many art forms, particularly sculptures and architecture. For those who adopted Buddhism, it became a way a life, it changed the way they wanted to live. This in turn, influenced the artistic aspect of life in Asia. This can be easily shown in several art pieces, such as the Lion Capital, the Bull Capital, as well asRead MoreThe Spread Of Buddhism And China1761 Words   |  8 PagesBy 100 C.E., Buddhism founded in India in the 6th century B.C.E was brought to China, gradually winning converts following the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220 C.E., but responses to the spread of Buddhism in China differed. Some faction of people didn’t see the spread of Buddhism as a threat they saw it as what it was, a religion brought to China even though it not an aspect of China,it still should be respected differed from faction of people who saw the spread of Buddhism as barbaric invasionRead MoreSpread of Buddhism in China Essay773 Words   |  4 PagesIt is believed that Buddhism spread to China through the Silk Road. When the Silk Road opened in the 2nd century BC, missionaries and pilgrims spread Buddhism to China. Chang Ch’ien was recorded to first bring Buddhism to China when he heard about India and Buddhist beliefs on his way back to Chi na. In about the 1st century BC, a Buddhist community is said to have been living in China. But the most well-known story of the spreading of Buddhism is when Han emperor, Mingdi, had a dream about BuddhaRead MoreThe Great Spread Of Buddhism For The East1048 Words   |  5 Pagestraversed by Marco Polo, the Chinese traveler Hsuan-tsang, and the Silk Route merchants. Afghanistan has also been the scene for the advance and decline of powerful religions. A muslim country today, it harbors the relics of the age of the great spread of Buddhism for the East. The people of Afghanistan, too, emerge as a study in themselves. Afghans prove to be friendly, hospitable, and full of perseverance and vitality, conquerors of the desert and jealous guardians of their unique culture and historyRead MoreEssay about The Spread of Buddhism and Christianity1551 Words   |  7 PagesThe Spread of Buddhism and Christianity Buddhism and Christianity were each founded by one person, and then eventually grew into two of the largest religions in the world. Each religion had different reasons for the success in the spreading of each respected belief. Although both faced many hardships, the two religions overcame and prevailed through their problems and continued to find ways to attract new believers every day. Buddhism was founded by one man, Siddhartha Guatama. HeRead MoreA Silk Road Legacy : The Spread Of Buddhism1529 Words   |  7 PagesIn the article, â€Å"A Silk Road Legacy: The Spread of Buddhism and Islam† by Xinru Liu, the author discusses the dominance of Buddhism in Central Asia and how the religion made its way from Central Asia into China, India, and other parts of Asia. Xinru Liu also discusses how the regions in Central Asia were divided into many city-states that never unified. Because of this, no region in Central Asia ever had an official religion and there was a variety of religions practiced by the people, such as ZoroastrianismRead MoreThe Founding And Spread Of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, And Hinduism1671 Words   |  7 Pagesinfluence each other. When analyzing the founding and spread of Buddhism, Sikhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism, it is evident that although there are many distinguishing differences between the four religions, there are multiple si milarities that link them all with each other. The word Buddhism is derived from the word â€Å"budhi†, to awaken, so it makes sense that the creation of the religion begins with its founder’s awakening. It is said that Buddhism started in the 6th century due to the actions of its

Blood Brain Barrier Essay - 3024 Words

The brain is permeated by a vast network of tiny blood vessels called capillaries- so tiny and thin that blood cells have to pass through in single file. In the brain alone there are enough capillaries that if you laid them all out end to end they would stretch from Tucson to Tijuana. These capillaries are surrounded by a single layer of cells. That layer of cells forms a barrier between the capillaries and the cells and fluid of the brain. These barrier-forming cells are called endothelial cells. You can think of endothelial as a synonym for lining or even just barrier. When we use the phrase Blood Brain Barrier, (which for obvious reasons well refer to as BBB from here on out!), were talking about all of these†¦show more content†¦The BBB also incorporates mechanisms to shepherd or transport certain substances *in*: GLUCOSE- the universal energy source, which is needed by every cell in your body... OXYGEN- electron acceptor par excellence, do without it and die... CERTAIN IONS- cations, anions, Chlorine, Calcium, etc.. involved in nervous system transmission... Finally, the BBB also lets various substances in because it either cant pump them out or its mechanisms cant tell the difference between them and one of the substances that it naturally tranports across: ETHANOL- enters by the same pathways that let glucose in, which is why drinking alcohol affects the brain... VITAMIN C... THC, NICOTINE, CAFFEINE... Obstacles For Scientists The BBB evolved as an extremely tight barrier to protect the brain from potentially toxic compounds. Though it is an indispensable part of the Central Nervous System, its tightness makes delivering therapeutic drugs to the brain very difficult. Question: What makes the BBB such a tight barrier? Answer: the three components- the phospholipid bilayer, influx pumps, and efflux pumps- discussed below. # Phospholipid Bilayer Phospholipid bilayer The endothelial cells of the BBB are surrounded by a phospholipid bilayer that is only permeable to very small and/or lipid soluble molecules. Lipid solubleShow MoreRelatedThe On Blood Brain Barrier967 Words   |  4 PagesBlood Brain Barrier One of the most important properties of BBB is that it separates the brain tissue from the blood circulation of the CNS. By that it consists of three parts: the layer of endothelial cells connected through tight junctions, basal membrane, and astrocytes and pericytes. Its main function is it only select molecules to pass from the bloodstream into the fluid that bathes the brain, whereas vital nutrients get in, toxins and pathogens are blocked. Formed by endothelialRead MoreThe Blood Brain Barrier2594 Words   |  11 PagesThe Blood Brain Barrier The central nervous system is comprised of many elements that help maintain a highly regulated environment for very specialized functions, such as communication throughout the entire body via nerve pathways (Engelhardt Sorokin, 2009). This compartmentalization of the nervous system was first introduced by Paul Ehrlich and Edwin E. Goldman in the 1880’s, where after injecting a coloured dye into the circulatory system, the brain and spinal cord were found to be devoid ofRead MoreBrain Disorders: Blood Brain Barrier Essay2006 Words   |  9 PagesBrain disorders are major concern of modern world in terms of economic liability and human suffering with the increased number of aged population as a result of the long life expectancy. The main challenge in the treatment of many of the neurodegenerative diseases is the presence of a polarized layer of endothelial cells that comprises the blood–brain barrier (BBB) which precludes access of systemically administered medi cines to brain tissue. Currently more than 98% of all small moleculesRead MoreSymptoms And Treatment Of The Blood Brain Barrier1948 Words   |  8 Pagesmouth (McCauley et al., 2009). Some drugs can affect the fetus by transferring to the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is a permeable barrier that allows some chemicals to pass through. It separates the circulating blood from the brain extracellular fluid in the central nervous system. The blood-brain barrier also transports molecules to the brain that are essential to function properly, like glucose and amino acids. Since capillaryRead MoreThe Role Of Cytokines On Immune Privilege3444 Words   |  14 PagesTHE ROLE OF CYTOKINES IN MAINTAINING IMMUNE PRIVILEGE IN THE BRAIN Review By Ifunanya Ezechukwu 1. Introduction Immune privilege sites are regions of the body which are able to tolerate the introduction of foreign antigens without producing an inflammatory response [1]. It is an active process and these sites are believed to have emerged in order to protect susceptible parts of the body which aren’t able to regenerateRead MoreEssay on Pathophysiology of Meningitis and Encephalitis1615 Words   |  7 PagesPathophysiology of Meningitis and Encephalitis Meningitis and encephalitis are two similar infections of the central nervous system that often lead to fatality of the host organism. Both diseases occur when pathogens enter the blood stream and gain access into the central nervous system. Stimulating inflammation within the cranial cavity, the pathogens continue to multiply and take harmful effects on the host. Inflammation, the body’s response to infection, ultimately causes all of the symptomsRead More Multiple Sclerosis Essay1620 Words   |  7 PagesMS sufferers. (2) MS usually strikes young adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years old. (8) There are even some cases of MS being diagnosed in childhood. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects the central nervous system, attacking the brain and the spinal cord. MS attacks myelin, the fatty material that acts as a protective coating to the bodys nerves. (1) The inflammation of the nerve tissues covering the nerves can affect any part of the nervous system and varies from person to personRead More1231349 Words   |  5 Pagesdisease in an infant. For older kids, the amount of daily ingested protein is calculated each day regarding how severe PKU of the patient. Although this method can effectively avoid biochemical abnormalities by high concentration of phenylalanine in blood steam resulting in the decrease mental retardation, it has a big disadvantage of not provide enough proteins for the normal development of the patient. Hence, patients with this treatment require take additional supplements, such as vitamins and mineralsRead MoreSymptoms And Treatment Of Multiple Sclerosis1605 Words   |  7 Pagesdisease s complexity (Mil ler, 2012). The different mechanisms are the blood brain barrier, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes/axons (Miller, 2012). The blood brain barrier is a selective membrane that transports blood to the brain and spinal cord tissue and allows diffusion of certain molecules due to the selective membrane (Miller, 2012). Astrocytes are star shaped glial cells that make up about 90% of the human brain (Miller, 2012). Astrocytes help maintain neuron survival and survivalRead MoreThe Use Of Nanotechnology On Other Types Of Brain Cancer930 Words   |  4 Pagesof brain cancer, and other types of brain diseases have been mostly untreatable due to the blood brain barrier (BBB). There have been drugs produced that are effec-tive in treating these diseases, but simply cannot bypass the barrier due to its special properties. It serves to restrict and control the movement of molecules in and out of the brain. In recent years, the use of nanotechnology show promise with their abilities to bypass the BBB to deliver drugs and small molecules into the brain. Gold

Parts of Adobe Photoshop Essay Example For Students

Parts of Adobe Photoshop Essay It is where the tools you will apply directly to the canvas are found. Toolbox or the tools panel is likely the part tooth Photos workspace you will find yourself working the most, Palettes or panes ;The palettes or panes in ; Photos helps you monitor and modify image. All sorts Of information are displayed in panes. ;quickly change the view of ; Navigator Palette your artwork using a thumbnail display. The colored box in the Navigator (called the proxy view area) corresponds to the currently viewable area in the window. Provides a color ramp along the bottom ; Color Palette of the palette for quickly picking an approximate color. Displays the color values for the current foreground and background colors, using the sliders in the Color palette, you can edit the foreground and background colors using different color models, ;Undo or redo multiple steps. ;Temporary copy of the image, and use for experimenting. History Palette Layers Palette Can work on one element Without disturbing Others. Status Bar.. .. Displays the status of your created document or file. It also displays the settings you have done to your work as well as file properties tools used. ;Largest element of the ; Working Area/ Canvas workspace and is located in the middle of the application Space within the program window where a new or existing document appears and edited. The real power of Photos is in working with existing images. Typical task include treating and manipulation, composting, converting to different formats, printing, etc.

Womens Right Essay Example For Students

Womens Right Essay The peculiarly passive obsession with security as the ultimate happiness, the compulsive conformity of life styles (engenderedat least in part by the virulent anti-communism of McCarthyismin odd combination with the Eisenhower eras pacifying blandness),and the pervasive apathy of most of the 50s was replaced in the1960s with an extraordinary and even reckless social energy and political activism. First Blacks, then other racial minorities, students, the New Left, peace protesters, and finally women, emerged one by oneas forces demanding social change. Each group became inflamed with a passion for the possible. We will write a custom essay on Womens Right specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The momentum of the feminist movement of the earlier decades ofthe 20th century had waned in the post-World War II decades. Thoughwork for womens rights actually continued by core organizations, it had become almost an underground resistance to a nearly overwhelmingly negative media blitz that insisted on proclaiming the death of feminism and on writing its obituary as it celebrated the happy suburban housewife. As early as 1946, Doris Stevens, a long-time militant suffragist with the National Womans Party, wrote to a friend, wondering if those who were living at the beginning of the last Dark Ages. . . knew the darkness had descended!1However, hope for a revival of feminist momentum in the UnitedStates was stimulated in part by a curious series of events. On August 26, 1957, (the uncelebrated 37th anniversary of the womans suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution), the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. On October 4, it launched Sputnik I, the firstman-made space satellite, and on November 3, Sputnik II, which carried a live dog. This demonstration of a challenging superiority in space technology spurred what was immediately termed the space racebetween the U. S. and the Soviet Union. The demands in the United States for a skilled and educated workforce escalated to the point where even women-who, along with minorities, constituted the traditional reserve labor force summonedforth in national emergencies were worth serious consideration.

Essay on Yes Please

Essay on Yes Please Essay on Yes Please Sony Corporation of America, located in New York, NY, is the US headquarters of Sony Corporation, based in Tokyo, Japan was founded in 1964. Sony's principal US businesses include Sony Electronics incorporated,, sony Mobile Communications USA incorporated, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, Sony network entertainment incorporated, Sony Pictures Entertainment incorporated, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony dash ATV music publishing LLC, and Sony Online Entertainment LLC. with some 900 millionbSony devices in hands and homes worldwide today, a vast array of Sony movies, television shows and music, and the PlayStation Network and the Sony Entertainment Network, Sony create some delivers more in 15 minutes Berrien says to people than anyone else on earth. Sony is a company that inspires and Cecil's curiosity, and who's vision is to use the unlimited passion for technology, content and services to the liver groundbreaking excitement and entertainment. With honesty and integrity Sony s trive to create things for every kind of imagination in doing so, the company will continue to expand an emerging markets, develop new businesses and a separate innovation, all to generate new value for investors and new experiences for consumers. Top three competitors for Sony Electronics, INC. are Panasonic Corporation of North America, Philips Electronics North America Corporation, and SANYO North America Corporation. The comapny that was to become Panasonic started in 1918. Panasonic Corporation of North America is based in Secaucus, NJ, is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of its branding, marketing, sales, service, product development in the U.S. and Canada. For more than 50 years, panasonic has the delighted American consumers with innovations for home and business. Panasonic consumer electronics and technology products range from award winning VIERA High Definition Plasma and LCD TVs and LUMIX Digital Cameras. Philips Electronics North America was founded in 1981. Philips has got everything you need from an early-morning shave to a late night TV fix. The US on arm of Dutch company Royal

Meaning of Interpreted or Compiled in JavaScript

Meaning of Interpreted or Compiled in JavaScript Computers cannot actually run the code that you write in JavaScript (or any other language for that matter). Computers can only run machine code. The machine code that a particular computer can run is defined within the processor that is going to run those commands and can be different for different processors. Obviously, writing machine code was difficult for people to do (is 125 an add command or is it 126 or perhaps 27). To get around that problem what are known as assembly  languages were created. These languages used more obvious names for the commands (such as ADD for adding) and thus did away with the need to remember the exact machine codes. Assembly languages still have a one to one relationship with the particular processor and machine code that the computer converts those commands into. Assembly Languages Must Be Compiled or Interpreted Very early on it was realized that easier to write languages were needed and that the computer itself could be used to translate those into the machine code instructions that the computer can actually understand. There were two approaches that could be taken with this translation and both alternatives were chosen (either one or the other will be used depending on the language being used and where it is being run). A compiled language is one where once the program has been written you feed the code through a program called a compiler and that produces a machine code version of the program. When you want to then run the program you just call the machine code version. If you make changes to the program you need to recompile it before being able to test the changed code. An interpreted language is one where the instructions are converted from what you have written into machine code as the program is being run. An interpreted language basically gets an instruction from the program source, converts it to machine code, runs that machine code and then grabs the next instruction from the source to repeat the process. Two Variants on Compiling and Interpreting One variant uses a two-stage process. With this variant, the source of your program is compiled not directly into the machine code but instead is converted to an assembly-like language that is still independent of the particular processor. When you want to run the code it then processes that compiled code through an interpreter specific to the processor so as to get the machine code appropriate to that processor. This approach has many of the benefits of compiling while maintaining processor independence since the same compiled code can be interpreted by many different processors. Java is one language that often uses this variant. The other variant is called a Just in Time compiler (or JIT). With this approach, you dont actually run the compiler after you have written your code. Instead, that happens automatically when you run the code. Using a Just in Time compiler the code isnt interpreted statement by statement, it is compiled all in one go each time when it is called to be run and then the compiled version that it just created is what gets run. This approach makes it look a lot like the code is being interpreted except that instead of errors only being found when the statement with the error is reached, any errors detected by the compiler result in none of the code being run instead of all of the code up to that point being run. PHP is an example of a language that usually uses just in time compilation. Is JavaScript Compiled or Interpreted? So now we know what interpreted  code  and compiled code  mean, the question we next need to answer is what does all of this have to do with JavaScript? Depending on exactly where you run your JavaScript the code may be compiled or interpreted or use either of the other two variants mentioned. Most of the time you are ​running your JavaScript in a web browser and there the JavaScript is usually interpreted. Interpreted languages are usually slower than compiled languages. There are two reasons for this. Firstly the code to be interpreted actually has to be interpreted before it can be run and  secondly, that has to happen every time that the statement is to be run (not only every time you run the JavaScript but if it is in a loop then it needs to be done every time around the loop). This means that code written in JavaScript will run slower than code written in many other languages. How does knowing this help us where JavaScript is the only language available for us to run across all web browsers? The JavaScript interpreter itself that is built into the web browser is not written in JavaScript.  Instead, it is written in some other language that was then compiled. What this means is that you can make your JavaScript run faster if you can take advantage of any commands that JavaScript provides that allow you to offload the task to the JavaScript engine itself. Examples for Getting JavaScript to Run Faster An example of this is that some but not all browsers have implemented a document.getElementsByClassName() method within the JavaScript engine while others have yet to do so. When we need this particular functionality we can make out code run faster in those browsers where the JavaScript engine provides it by using feature sensing to see if the method already exists and only creating our own version of that code in JavaScript when the JavaScript engine doesnt provide it for us. Where the JavaScript engine does provide that functionality it should run faster if we use that rather than running our own version written in JavaScript. The same applies to any processing that the JavaScript engine makes available for us to call directly. There will also be instances where JavaScript provides multiple ways of making the same request. In those  instances, one of the ways of accessing the information may be more specific than the other. For example document.getElementsByTagName(table)[0].tBodies and document.getElementsByTagName(table)[0].getElementsByTagName(tbody) both retrieve the same  nodelist  of the  tbody  tags in the first table in the web page however the first of these is a specific command for retrieving the  tbody  tags where the second identifies that we are retrieving  tbody  tags in a parameter and other values can be substituted to retrieve other tags. In most  browsers, the shorter and more specific variant of the code will run faster (in some instances much faster) than the second variant and so it makes sense to use the shorter and more specific version. It also makes the code easier to read and maintain. Now in many of these  cases, the actual difference in the processing time will be very small and it will only be when you add many such code choices together that you will get any noticeable difference in the time your code takes to run. It is fairly rare though that changing your code to make it run faster is going to make the code significantly longer or harder to maintain, and often the reverse will be true.There is also the added benefit that future versions of JavaScript engines may be created that speed up the more specific variant even further so that using the specific variant may mean that your code will run faster in the future without you having to change anything.

Mrketing orienttion in reltion to sles orienttion nd production Essay

Mrketing orienttion in reltion to sles orienttion nd production orienttion - Essay Example Pillsbury on the bsis of vilbility of high-qulity whet nd proximity of wter power. Mjor concern ws with mnufcturing-not mrketing. ccording to compny executive, compny philosophy in the er of mnufcturing dominnce might be stted s follows: "We re professionl flour millers. Blessed with supply of the finest North mericn whet, plenty of wter power, nd excellent milling mchinery, we produce flour of the highest qulity. Our bsic function is to mill high-qulity flour, nd of course (nd lmost incidentlly), we must hire slesmen to sell it, just s we hire ccountnts to keep our books." The second er ws one of sles orienttion. In the 1930's, competition hd become more significnt nd the problems of reching the mrket hd grown much more complex. Compny officils becme somewht wre of consumer wnts nd needs, nd formed commercil reserch deprtment to develop fcts bout mrkets. More ttention ws given to strengthening the distributing orgniztion, consisting of wholesle nd retil grocers. Compny philosophy in this er is described s follows: "We re flour milling compny, mnufcturing number of products for the consumer mrket. We must hve first-rte sles orgniztion which cn dispose of ll the products we cn mke t fvorble price. We must bck up this sles force with consumer dvertising nd mrket intelligence. We wnt our slesmen nd our delers to hve ll the tools they need for moving the output of our plnts to the consumer."third er of mrketing orienttion did not begin until the erly 1950's. The compny hd experienced substntil post-World Wr II sles growth in new products, principlly cke mi xes. It relized tht it could produce hundreds of new products, nd fced the necessity of selecting the best ones. It ws considered essentil to build into the compny orgniztion new function which would coordinte the heretofore seprte compny responsibilities of selling, dvertising, mrketing reserch, nd product plnning, nd provide guidnce for other res. This function ws clled "mrketing," nd mrketing developed the criteri for determining which products to mrket. Emphsis shifted from mnufcturing nd mere sles considertions to determintion of which products would best fit the needs of the compny's customers. Compny policy for the 1950's ws stted s follows: "We mke nd sell products for consumers."mrketing oriented firm is now defined s n "orgniztion culture tht most effectively cretes the necessry behviors for the cretion of superior vlue for buyers nd, thus, superior performnce for the business." (Nrver nd Slter, 1990, p. 21) This definition implies tht the firm needs to understnd buyer nee ds nd competitive cpbilities nd weknesses, nd it needs to perform ctivities gered to chieving superior customer stisfction. The firm's corporte culture is systemticlly committed to creting customer vlue. The rtionle is tht the more compny understnds nd meets the rel needs of its consumers, the more likely it is to hve hppy customers who come bck for more, nd tell their friends. This process cn entil the fostering of long term

Eroding Local Control & The Influence and Climate of the Courts - 8 Essay

Eroding Local Control & The Influence and Climate of the Courts - 8 - Essay Example In a state where white flight is particularly prevalent, such as Texas, this disparity can cause massive difference in the amount of money spent, per pupil, in different educational districts, if each county is divided into many districts. Wealthier areas will thus provide more money per pupil, because the average property value per pupil will be higher, than other districts where those values are lower. This can create massive disparities in the facilities available – children of wealthy districts will get excellent gyms, music programs, laboratories and so on while children in less fortunate areas will get few if any of those things. Reducing the total number of districts in a state can correct for this problem by pooling money from wealthy and less wealthy areas together, reducing the disparity between money spent per pupil. Wealthier areas will still have advantages in terms of outside fundraising, but this can be diminished if districts are larger and more diverse. 2. The case in this Tennessee county is one of optimal size and scaling of costs. There are some costs that cost progressively more as the size of something increases (for instance, the larger the diamond the rarer it is, so a diamond that is twice the size of another one will often cost four times as much), while other costs go down (for instance buying products in bulk can reduce prices). As payroll is one of the most strenuous costs of school districts (Brimley et. al., 2008), the situation described here has some financial pitfalls, because some levels of administration will be repeated. For instance, the curriculum needs of each individual school district is probably very similar – it would be difficult to believe that students in one section of a Tennessee county need to learn different things from those in another, so that level of administration could be combined easily at significant savings. Furthermore, the upper echelons of administration would also not need to be

Strategic Information System Essay Example for Free

Strategic Information System Essay 1. Introduction Given the rise of competition in the modern business industry, it is essential for firms to apply strategic use of information system (IS) to achieve competitive advantage (CA). In the recent years, top management of firms have little interest in the relationship between IS functions and corporate strategy leading to many problems because of failure in achieving strategies. According to Holsapple (2000), modern organizations are increasingly seen as knowledge-based enterprises in which proactive knowledge management is important for competitiveness. One of the major factors in competitive environment is knowledge management and companies for achieving the competitive advantage should concentrate in its IS. IS plays an important role in business operations as well as financial and non-financial aspects of the firm such as decision making as a big role of management. There has a growing realization to make ISs of strategic importance to an organization in the 80’s and 90’s. Systems that shape or support business unit’s competitive strategy are known as Strategic IS (Callon 1996, an Neumann 1994). According to Turban et al (2006), SIS is the ability to significantly change the manner in which business is conducted in order to give the firm strategic advantage. Porter (1996) believes that competitive advantage is at the core of a firm success or failure, such advantage seeks lead to control the market and to larger-than-average profits. This research paper provides information on how organizations apply strategic use of IS/It to achieve competitive advantage over its competitors. This paper pays particular attention to factors influencing the success or failure of organization attempts at gaining or enhancing competitive advantages, and how competitive advantages can be sustained. 1.1Background IS is a set of interrelated elements that collect (input), manipulate (process), store, and disseminate (output) data and information and provide a reaction (feedback mechanism) to meet an objective (refer to Figure 1). Figure 1.1: The Components of an Information System IS is a combination of people’s activities and information technologies that supports organisation’s operation and decisions making and strategies for competitive advantage. IS plays a vital role in business operation and financial and non-financial aspect such as decision-making. IS are classified either operations or management information systems. They are being grouped this way to identify the major roles each plays in the operations and managements of a business. An Information System consists of five basic resources: i) People Resources (end users and IS specialist) ii) Software Resources (programs and procedures) iii) Hardware Resources (machines and medias) iv) Data Resources (data and knowledge bases) v) Network Resources (communications media and network support) SISs are systems used to supports or shape a business unit’s competitive strategy (Callon, 1996, and Nerumann, 1944). It is characterised by its ability significantly revamp the way in which a business is conducted in order to provide the firm strategic advantage. SIS is classified by its ability to change the manner a business is conducted, in order to achieve strategic advantage for the firm (Turban et al, 2006). SISs play strategic roles helping firm to gain competitive advantage or reduces competitive disadvantage by changing goals, products or processes through information systems. A competitive strategy is a broad-based formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what plans and policies will be required to carry out those goals (Porter, 1985). Through its competitive strategy, firms seek a competitive advantage in the industry advantage over competitors in measures such as cost, quality, or speed. The success or failure of a firm fully depends on its competitive advantage against its competitors (Porter and Millar, 1985, and Porter, 1996), such advantage seeks to lead to control of the marker and to larger-than-average profits. Through contribution to strategic goals of an organization and ability to increase performance and productivity, SIS aids an organization gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. SISs enable firms to gain competitive advantage and benefit greatly at the expense of those subjected to competitive disadvantage (Turban et al, 2006). SIS focus on improving the firm’s competitive position through increasing employees’ productivity, streamlining business processes and making better decisions (Turban et al, 2006). An organization can survive and succeed in the long run as long as it have effectively develops strategies to go up against the five competitive forces that shape the structure of competition in its industry. The Porter five competitive forces are: Businesses can counter the threat of competitive forces in which they face by implementing one or more of the five basic competitive strategies. The five basic competitive strategies are: i) Cost Leadership Strategy ii) Differentiation Strategy iii) Innovation Strategy iv) Growth Strategies v) Alliance Strategy An organization can counter the forces of competition from its competitors by implementing one, some or all the strategies in different degrees. 2.Companies using IS/IT to gain competitive advantages 2.1Cigna HealthCare CRM System In 1999, Cigna HealthCare decided to upgrade its outdated and almost extinct CRM system to improve the efficiency of business operations and then improving customer satisfaction. Cigna was operating nearly two-decade-old CRM systems to handle its daily operation needs. It had multiple units for different roles such as membership enrollment, processing medical claims and verifying customer eligibility and they were not interconnected. Furthermore, Cigna received numerous complaints from doctors as the old and disintegrating processing systems delayed their medical benefits claim payment and was heftily slapped with a US$ 300,000 fine on 29th January 2001. Cigna’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Andrea Anania planned to combine the information from the different information systems and develops a new integrated systems to handle all the process. Anania goal was for the CRM system to act like a â€Å"one-stop† portal, thus improving efficiency. Cigna awarded a budget of US$ 1 billion to develop the CRM system, which aims to reduce human intervention while speeding up the processing time of medical claims. During the implementation of the CRM, Cigna had a net loss of US$ 398 million for fiscal year 2002. This project had already exceeded the original budget of US$1 billion and had done substantial financial damaged to Cigna. 2.2Bank of America – MasterNet System Bank of America (BoA) developed Master Net trust accounting system in 1982 with a plan completion date of 31 December 1984. MasterNet consist of a large trust accounting system, TrustPlus, and eight smaller systems that augmented the core system. In 1986, migration process was greatly affected by technical problems such as poor response time and day long system crashes. In 1988, BoA announced that its trust business was being given to a subsidiary as it could no longer handle the operation requirements after a $78 million loss in the MasterNet project . 2.3 American Airlines – Knowledge Management System American Airlines understand the needs to analyze data collected through their computer reservation system, SABRE, an automated system with the ability to check flight and seats availability and making a reservation for customer developed in 1960s with IBM. In 1990, AA developed a knowledge management system, SMARTSTM (Sales Management and Report Tracking System) as a tool to leverage CRS reservation data and AA internal historical data on performance and bookings. SMARTS is able to run analysis for AA to develop finely tailored scheme based on AA’s market shares. The combination of SABRE and SMARTS creates the expertise exploitation capability for AA whose impact can be systematically assessed against the access to reservation system, which has become market-standard for competitive parity. 2.4 Wal-Mart – Point-of-Sale System Successful implementations of IS into daily practices have aided Wal-Mart in their quest to maintain the position of low cost leader (Thomas Wailgum, 2007). Wal-Mart had adopted the â€Å"point-of-sale† system; a computerized system which identifies sales of individual items, updates information into its server and modifies the on-hand quantity automatically. The system also analyzed data mined from the universal bar code and effectively transformed data collected from bar codes to useful information such as keeping track of sales trends for individual items as they are identified as an individual entity. 2.5Lesson Learned and Success Factors The author believed that the failure of Cigna CRM system was due to poor leadership and communication skills of Cigna’s CIO. Anania did not consulted professional to design the IT systems architecture required for transformation, instead she pooled 1400 employees from Cigna’s IT department and formed a team, made up of experienced project managers and new hires. Anania made an unethical decision to migrate 3.5 million customer’s data at one go instead of 10,000 per group to the new platform with out testing the integrity of the system due to pressing date lines leading to serious customer service problems surfacing immediately. As Cigna had lay off majority of its service center employee, believing that the new CRM will improved its productivity with lesser human input therefore leading to a shortage of experience staffs. Feedbacks and input from stakeholders was ignored by the managements during the development of the system, thus leading to the down fall of the CRM system and hitting Cigna with substantial financial damaged. The author feels if Cigna’s management culture had led to the failure of the IS. MasterNet have a leader who have a vision of technology but was not well versed technically and was too involve in other problems to focus on the project. BoA made two critical mistakes in handling of MasterNet. Firstly, BoA did not understand the difficulty involved and scope of MasterNet and sufficiently assess it risks when it was proposed. Secondly, BoA failed to take necessary fire-fighting actions when the project rolled out of control to minimize damage. The management only took notice of MasterNet when it performed so badly that it merited $23 million loss. Many mistakes made with respect to MasterNet were not specifically related to IS. The combinations of SMARTS and SABRE have assisted AA to become a market-standard for competitive parity. SMARTS is a system with ability to organize data by city, zone and territory of sales representative with analytical and presentation capabilities. SMARTS was design to provide reliable detailed information to sales representatives to influence travel agencies behavior strategically. Previously, sales representatives doesn’t have complete information about market shares and performance data of travel agencies in his territory and the job consisted mainly preserving a good working relationship with the travel agent. With the aid of SMARTS, the sales representatives are able to analyse market trends in detail and could easily identify opportunities than before, thus maximising productivity. Through the use of SMARTS system, AA’s intangible sales knowledge is enhanced as it is able to interpret movements in share and market. Aside to that, SMARTS help representatives highlight weak markets to the travel agency mangers to focus on. According to Mr. Jack Williams, Senior Vice-President of AA, SMARTS have introduced a huge culture change in their sales-force associated with the leveraging of the expertise as a result of the information in the system thus bringing an enormous advantage to AA, not easily copied by their competitors. The introduction of the barcode system have help Wal-Mart to maintain its low cost leadership. This system helped Wal-Mart to speed up its checkout cashier efficiency and eliminate problems of cashier keying in the wrong price for a product by scanning the barcode as previously the cashier have to manually key in the prices of all the goods according to the price tag. Aside to that, Wal-Mart was able to track its stock level and placed order when required. The system also has the ability to identify slow running products and prevents Wal-Mart from overstocking them. Through improving its information system, Wal-Mart has created a high barrier of entry for any company who wishes to enter the chain hyper-market industry. 3.Discussion Factors influencing organization to use IS as it business strategy are relatively dependent on internal and external forces of the business surrounding environment (Bob William, 2009). Internal forces that require considered and looked into are the current financial position of the firm. Budget required for IS implementation are considerably high, management allocating the funds for investment must be ensured minimal or perfect deployment of the IS. On top of that, employees capabilities also plays an important role during IS implementation. Firm needs to ensure that employees are at least computer literate and will have no problem operating or accessing the new system, else additional cost may be bared by the firm for training. The firm also needs to access the efficiency and effectiveness of its existing system and whether there is a need to upgrade or revise the current system to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Changes in consumer tastes, preference and purchasing pattern are external factors driving organization to implement IS. Consumers are becoming more IT savvy and surveys have shown customer swaying their purchasing pattern to electronic purchase due to convenient and time saving (James D. Gwartney, 2006). Companies need to understand and study consumer expectation and needs in order to analyse and implement business strategies to ensure business growth. Therefore, both internal and external factors are important consideration for implementation of IS to gain a competitive advantage as they complement each other. From the above examples, correct implementation of IS will give the firm a competitive advantage over its competition. Firms must understand their position from Porter’s five competitive forces and develop strategies and counter it to maintain competitive. As Howard et al, (1999) believed that competitive advantage could be gained if strategy development and ISs design are addressed simultaneously. Porter’s model identifies five competitive forces that affect competitive advantage in the market place. In order to establish a profitable and sustainable position, company needs to develop strategies of performing activities differently from its competitors to overcome these five forces. Strategy| Definition| Example| Strategic use of IS| Business Benefits| Cost Leadership| Produce products and/or services at the lowest cost in the industry| Dell Computer| Online build to order| Lowest-cost producer| Differentiation| Offer different products, services, or product features| Moen Inc| Online customer design| Increase in market share| Innovation| Introduce new products and services, put new features into existing products and services, or develop new ways to produce them| American Airlines| Analyse data| Market Leadership| Growth| Increase market share, acquire more customers, or sell more products| Wal-Mart| Merchandise ordering by global satellite network| Market Leadership| Alliance| Work with business partners in partnerships, alliances, joint ventures, or virtual companies| Wal-Mart/ Procter Gamble| Auto inventory replenishment by supplier| Reduced inventory cost/increased sales| Information systems can be used to help firms gain competitive advantage with the help of Porter’s competitive forces model for analyzing competitiveness and proper implementation of IS. According to Michael Porter, the main types of competitive advantage are low cost provider, differentiation and focus. Companies have use porter’s model to increase competitive edge and also demonstrated how IS can enhance competitiveness of corporation (Turban et al. 2006). Finally, firms need to sustain competitive advantages gained from the implementation of IS. In the real world, competitive advantage doesn’t normally last very long and is generally not sustainable over the long term (O’Brien 2011). When a firm gains competitive advantage over its competitors through innovation, competitors figure out how it was done through organizational learning. To neutralize the effect, competitors adopt the same or similar innovation and what was once a competitive advantage is now a competitive necessity. When these occur, firm needs to figure out new innovation to gain a competitive edge and the cycle starts. 4.Conclusion Technologies have changed the way business operates today. Manual processes in the past are now being automated and electronic communications have been heavily introduced in today’s business world. IS have evolved over the years and offer new possibilities to gain competitive advantage. Many businesses today have realized the important of technology and power it possess, but fail to understand the possible benefit achievable. The author learned that through proper planning and implementation of IS will lead to a competitive advantage gain for the organization. With the aid of IS, it will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of staff in the organization which in turn will save labor and consumable cost. 5.Reference Ahlemann Frederik. (2009). Towards a conceptual reference model for project management information system. International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 27, No.1, pp. 19-30 Ankit Bhatnagar. (2006). Strategic Information System Planning: Alignment of ‘IS/IT’ Planning and Business Planning, Unitee New Zealand. Amber S., Brooke W., Cheri E., Ismael M. Wesley B. (2011). Wal-Mart Information System Benjamin, R.I., D.W. Long, and M.S. Moron (1990). Electronic Data Interchange: How Much Competitive Advantage?. Long Range Planning, 23:1, pp. 29-40. Bruns, W,J, and F,W, McFarlan (1987). Information Technology Puts Power in Control Systems, Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct, pp. 89-94 Callon, J. D., (1996). Competitive Advantage through Information Technology. New York: McGraw Hill, USA. Christiaanse, Ellen., Venkatraman, N. (2002). Beyand Sabre: An empricial test of expertise exploitation in electronic channels. MIS Quarterly, Vol. 26, No.1, pp. 15.38. Davenport, T.H., M. Hammer, and T.J. Metisto (1989). How Executives Can Shape Their Company’s Information Systems, Harvard Business Review. H. Russell Johnston and Michael R. Vitale (1988). Creating Competitive Advantage With Inter-organizational Information Systems. MIS Quartely, Jun 1988, pp. 153-165. Ives B., and G. P. Learmouth (1984). The Information System as a Competitive Weapon. Communication of the ACM Jeffery. G. Szilagyi. Bank of America’s Masternet System: A Case study in Risk Assessment Jeremy A. (2011). Supply Chain Management at Wal-Mart Johnston, H.R. and Carrico, S. R. (1988). Developing Capabilities to use Information Strategically. MIS Quarterly, pp. 37-48. Mahmood Hemmatfar (2010). Competitive Advantages and Strategic Information System. International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 5, No 7, pp 158-169 M. Vinaya Kumar (2007). CRM Implementation Failure at Cigna Corporation, ICFAI Center for Management Research. Porter, M. E. (1996). What is a Strategy? Harvard Business Review, November – December 1996, pp 45-59. Porter, M. E. (2001). Strategic and the Internet. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp 62-74. Porter, M.E., and V. E. Millar (1985). How information gives you competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 149-158. Ross, J. W. et al. (1996). Develop Long-Term Competitiveness through IT Assets. Sloan Management Review, Vol. 60, No 4, pp. 132-148. Teo, T. S. H. (2000). Using the Internet for Competitve Intelligence in Singapore. Competitive Intelligence Review, Vol. 8 Issue 2, pp. 16-23.

Journey Motif Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In literature, the Journey is often a metaphor for discovery. The journey motif is used in Coleridge’s â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.† It is also shown in Hawthorne’s â€Å"My Kinsman, Major Molineux† and â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† In these stories, each main character changes sometime between the beginning and the end of the story. In addition, religion plays a part in each of these stories. Typically, in journey literature the hero encounters several obstacles that he or she must overcome. In Coleridge’s â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,† the Mariner shows negativity. The Mariners moral vision is so impaired that his comparisons are persistently pessimistic. This pessimism is seen repeatedly in the similes that he uses. He describes life-in-death whose skin is â€Å"...

Project Management Plan Essay

Projects in a business are always set up to bring some beneficial change or add value to what the business already have (Knutson and Bitz, 1991). They are therefore set with goals that have to be accomplished. In a business organization, there are staff members given responsibility by the manager or the human resource manager based on their qualification and experience, on the kind of job they are assigned. Project management is always given to a project manager. A project manager has the responsibility to ensure that the planning, organizing and management of the project resources, comes to an end with the successful completion of the objectives (Knutson and Bitz, 1991). One of the roles of a project manager as has been noted is planning of the resources available for a specific project. Project Management Plan A project management plan answers the four W’s. Why, what, when and who (Kimmons, 1990). LRH product company (who), intends to present a trade show (what), in Kansas City as a marketing strategy for the benefit of the company (why), in the quest to increase company sales. The project is due in ten weeks (when) from the start of preparations to the show. The project manager has been provided with all the resources required. This paper aims at giving the rest of the steps needed in a work breakdown structure of a project management plan, that the objectives and the requirements of its completion, are already provided. Completing the Project Management plan The first steps of the project management plan have been done. They are, identification of the project goal, which is to participate in a trade show for marketing purposes and what the project requires to ensure that the goal is met, which is already done. The next steps in a project management plan that have not been completed and need to be done are scheduling and development of support plans (Spinner, 1992). Scheduling: What the project needs to deliver, should be accomplished in order to consider the project as a successful one. For delivery purposes, tasks on the appropriate selected deliverables have to be identified and written down on a list to guide the planner. The tasks are identified while considering the amount of time or effort needed to complete the task and the qualified person to complete the task (Spinner, 1992). In the description given, these tasks and the relevant people needed for the project to deliver had already been identified, but the next steps in scheduling had not been done . The next step is to calculate the effort required for each deliverable plus the delivery date. It is important for the project manager to select an appropriate software for this kind of calculation. Normally it is PERT that is used, which is a software used to evaluate the total time the project will take to be completed and the total time the tasks will take to complete the project (Spinner, 1992). If in any case the project manager finds out that the provided time for project completion is not enough, he/she has to inform the sponsor/manager to get more time. In the case of this assignment, the project manager could ask to start the project earlier if the time allocated is found not to be enough. Support plans: The next step in the management plan is to develop support plans. These include plans that should be involved in the project management plan either included in it or not. They are such as, the human resource plan, communication plans, that indicate who should be informed about the issues of the project and risk management plans, that give identified risks to the project and how to deal with each. When preparing a project plan, a project manager can decide to select a tool of project planning that he/she feels appropriate for formulating the plan. This is where the Gantt charts, which gives a project schedule from the start to the end, showing the terminal and the summary elements as well as the structure used for the work breakdown, is used (Spinner, 1992).

Puerto Ricans as a Subordinate Group in America

We were walking to church when mamà ¡ told us to pray for a man named Harry Truman, el presidente de los Estados Unidos.   â€Å"He is going to let us finally become our own country,† mamà ¡ explained.   I had heard those stories before.   Abuela liked to tell stories about how Puerto Rico had never been free.   She said that first Christopher Columbus had come to the island and he had helped Spain to conquer los Tainos.   Abuela always spoke about the great injustices Columbus and Spain had done to los Tainos; she said her mother was a direct descendent of those early Puerto Ricans, which made us part native Taino. Mamà ¡ hated those stories.   Her parents had come to Puerto Rico from Spain; Puerto Rico was her home and she was always upset by the idea that her earliest ancestors might have enslaved my father’s ancestors.   She said to let the past stay in the past. At church, I prayed for Mr. Truman because my mother said to.   I prayed for him because he was going to make up for all the mistakes the Spanish had done to the country all those years ago.   He was going to make us free again.   Mamà ¡ said that Mr. Truman was como un savior. We read newspaper articles about the drafting of the new constitution.   We were our own country, but we were not.   We were part of the United States, while still being Puerto Rico.   We were protected, even while we were independent.   Walking down the street, I could hear people talking about what â€Å"commonwealth status† could mean for Puerto Rico’s future.   Some were against it, others thought it was the best way.   But the constitution did not solve everything; stores closed down, houses became decrepit, Papà ¡ lost his job. Three years after the Puerto Rican constitution was signed, Papà ¡ said we were going to move to America.   He had cousins who had gone and had found jobs immediately.   He said that more and more people were leaving Puerto Rico for places like New York City.   I had seen a picture of New York City once.   It was called the â€Å"Big Apple.†Ã‚   I had never seen buildings so tall; I had always thought that the people who could call New York City were the luckiest people in the world.   And soon, I would be one of them. We left in the middle of the night.   The ride was not long and I looked out the airplane window, watching the night sky.   We landed in an airport outside of New York and took a taxi in.   We drove across a large bridge; I could barely see the water.   It looked like another sky with all the buildings and lights reflected in it.   And then, we were inside the city.   There were people walking around.   I heard people talking to Spanish.   There were stores with familiar names and foods advertised in the windows. It was almost as though we had never left home. I couldn’t sleep that night; I was kept awake by the sound of taxis and car horns and people shouting from one building to the next.   Mamà ¡ tried to sing lullabies to me, the same songs she used to coo when I was a small child, but now, the songs did not induce sleep but kept my eyes more alert.   I thought of home.   I thought of palm trees.   I thought of the ocean.   I was afraid I would never see Puerto Rico again. But Puerto Rico came to me. More cousins and aunts and uncles and friends left the island for America.   They did not only come to New York.   They went to places like Texas, California, New Mexico, and Florida.   My best friend, Juana, went to Texas on vacation.   She sent me a postcard of a man riding a bull.   â€Å"He spoke Spanish to me,† she wrote. After my Tà ­a Felicia moved to Florida, she invited us to visit.   I could see the oceans.   I could see palm trees.   It was warm.   It was Puerto Rico in America.   Felicia made tostones y arroz y pollo asado.   I could have stayed in Florida forever but after two weeks, I was beginning to miss New York.   I had grown used to the traffic.   I was comfortable in Florida, listening to almost everyone speak Spanish and being able to understand them, but I couldn’t help but want to be back in the city, where I could walk from my neighborhood to Little Italy to China Town and eat something from every part of the world. Years later, I left New York for New Jersey to go to college.   I had children.   My husband was a Cuban man; his family had moved to Puerto Rico shortly after his birth.   We had Cuban and Puerto Rican flags hanging on the outside of our house.   When the very first Puerto Rican Day parade was announced, my husband took the Puerto Rican flag down from the front of the house and handed it to me.   We left early in the morning, with our children.   Flags were for sale at the many vendors lined along the street; food was also being sold, and little pieces of jewelry with the Puerto Rican flags on them. â€Å"Boricua,† the crowd shouted together.   I did not shout with them at first.   My children stood on their toes to look over the shoulders of the people standing in front of them.   They shouted with the crowd.   My husband reached out and held my hand.   I looked up and down the street, shocked by the thousands of Puerto Ricans gathered together.   Spanish was mixed with English; people danced together, music was being played from loudspeaker.   I felt at home. I leaned against my husband; together we screamed with the crowd, â€Å"Boricua!† References U.S. Census Bureau American Fact Finder.   (2004, April).   â€Å"Percent of People 5 Years and Over Who Speak Spanish at Home: 2005†.   Retrieved April 20, 2007 from   Ã‚  factfinder.census.gov. U.S. Census Bureau American Fact Finder.   (2004, April).   â€Å"Map of Spanish Speakers in the United States†.   Retrieved April 20, 2007 from factfinder.census.gov. CIA World Factbook.   â€Å"Puerto Rico.†   Retrieved April 20, 2007 from www.cia.gov.   

henry the jew essays

henry the jew essays Films that are based on novels when compared often have many similarities and differences. The Beach directed by Danny Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle and Virginie Ledoyen. The genre of this film is Adventure/Drama because of the intense moments in the movie and because the movie is one big trip to an island. I think this film is overwhelming because of the extreme details. For instance the starting of the film when Richard describes how travelling should be done, I also love this film because of the unique The Beach is about a traveller named Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) who sets off to Thailand searching for an adventure. Accepting every offer, he feels like nothing can stand in his way. When he is lying in his bed that night he hears an obnoxious Scottish man named Daffy Duck (Robert Carlyle) who breaks into his room and tells Richard about an exquisite beach. The following day he finds a map to this infamous beach; when going into Daffys room to thank him he finds him dead. Richard immediately accepting the offer of the map goes and asks two other people to join him on his trek, Francoise(Virginie Ledoyen) and Etienne(Guillaume Canet) who also accept the challenge. When getting there they discover a dope field run by Thai drug lords they manage to escape only to find a small village run by happy people. The village people easily accepted them as a part of the group. A leader runs them named Sal(Tilda Swinton) and everything is fine until a series of critical events happen; a shark attacks three village fishermen, Richard begins to go insane and the secret of the beach begins to be exposed to the world. This story takes place in Thailand and more specifically in the city of Koh Panhagen and in the isles of Likewise, to the book the movie has the same plot along with the same setting and most of the ...

Using Social Media to Dramatically Boost Your Efficiency [PODCAST]

Using Social Media to Dramatically Boost Your Efficiency [PODCAST] Reposting your best content on social media is a best practice: the conversions and conversations are like gold. You might be wondering about the best way to go about re-sharing content. Today, we’re going to be talking to Christin Kardos, the social media and community manager at Convince and Convert, the #1 content marketing blog in the world, according to Content Marketing Institute. Today, we’re going to talk about evergreen content, how to capitalize on incredible opportunities, and thought on whether social media automation is the right tool for you to increase productivity. You won’t want to miss today’s show! Information about Convince and Convert and what Christin does there. Evergreen content: What it is and how to leverage it to your advantage. How you can tweak and update your content to make it rank for certain keywords. Best practices when it comes to sharing previously published content. What content curation is and how Christin handles it at Convince and Convert. Thoughts on balancing your own content and others’ content, as well as why it’s important to focus on quality first and foremost. The benefits and potential downfalls of social media automation. Christen’s best advice for marketers wanting to get started with automation and reposting content. Links and Resources: Christin on Twitter Convince and Convert 105 Types of Content to Fill Your Editorial Calendar Feedly Pocket Send a Screenshot of Your Review Here If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud,  Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Christin: â€Å"Rule number one is if it’s not good, don’t share it.† â€Å"We focus on the â€Å"and therefore† aspect when we share content there are others who are actually the newsbreakers.† â€Å"Being useful is the best thing you can do.†

Critical analysis of client care practices , innovation and pathways Research Paper

Critical analysis of client care practices , innovation and pathways for rewarding healthy and productive behaviour among senior - Research Paper Example This will assist to recommend possible improvement strategies which will energize the employees to achieve the organizational target. Introduction In modern organizations, worker motivation is an issue of significant concern to the human resource managers due to its close association with employee satisfaction. Consequently, global research has considerably paid attention to employee satisfaction strategies in different organizations (Aizcorbe, Moylan & Robbins, 2009: Arthur, 2000). The reason why worker motivation has garnered a lot of interest is because research has proven that satisfied workers are productive workers (Braganza, Awazu, & Desouza, 2009). Since employees form the labour resources in a business environment, there is need to seek optimal utilization of their skills and knowledge towards the development of organizational goals (Borzaga & Tortia, 2006). Different organizations adopt different employee reward strategies but the common objective is to align the employees to the business goals and objectives (Carl & Patton, 2001). In the health sector, employee satisfaction is important due to the great sacrifice that this sector requires given the existing shortage of working personnel in this sector (Damanpour, 1991: Hong Lu, While, & Barriball, 2005). Hence, rewarding productive staff, both junior and senior, would significantly increase their contribution to client service. The aim of this research is to investigate the staff reward strategies that Ghana university hospitals have employed to maintain a high morale among their staff. Both qualitative and quantitative surveys will be conducted to examine for this research to come up with research based conclusions and recommendations. Problem statement Lack of effective employee reward schemes in organizations limits the utilization of the labour resource in a business (Commongood Careers, 2008). Poorly motivated employees work for money and have their goals misaligned with the organizational goals . The shortage of medical personnel in the health sector requires that the few be optimally utilized to increase ensure that service delivery is efficient (Greene, 2009 : Gruneberg, 2001). Therefore, there is a need to employ innovative and dynamic motivational strategies in the health sector in order to ensure that employees drive both short term and long term goals of the organization to a success (Heskett, Sasser, & Schesinger, 1997). In Ghana, the ration of the patients to doctor ratio is high and hence efficient services can only be achieved if the employees are adequately motivated. The essence of this research paper is to evaluate the policies that have been put forward in Ghana University hospitals, and to provide recommendations to improve these policies. Objectives Main objectives To evaluate the innovation and pathways that public university hospitals of Ghana employ to reward healthy and productive behavior among senior and junior staff. Specific objectives To examine th e different criteria used to assess the productivity of a staff in Ghana university Hospitals. To examine the staff-reward mechanism that is used to reward productive employees in these hospitals. To examine the degree of employee satisfaction that has been achieved in these public hospitals. To establish the quality of service that has been ach

Strategic Analysis Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Analysis Case Study - Essay Example Current paper focuses on the examination of the performance of a specific British firm, O2; this firm has achieved to keep its position in its market and further expand its activities through the continuous review and update of its strategies. The specific issue is analytically examined in the sections that follow; the position of the firm in its industry will be identified and evaluated taking into account the response of the firm to the challenges set by the global political and financial crisis. The position of competitors will be also examined while specific suggestions are going to be made regarding the potential improvement of specific parts of the corporate strategy. Appropriate theoretical models (like PESTEL analysis and ANSOFF matrix) will be used in this paper in order to show the changes in the firm’s performance through the years; in this way the choice of this firm as a ‘model’ for business analysis will be justified. In Stakeholder analysis all people or groups of people influencing the firm’s performance have to be identified. In order to understand and evaluate the role of various stakeholders in the performance of O2, it is necessary primarily to identify the firm’s stakeholders; at a next level, their role in the firm’s performance within its industry is going to be appropriately evaluated. The firm’s stakeholders can be listed as follows (a numeric scale from 0-10 [10 is the highest grade] has been used in order to identify the impact/ importance of stakeholders for the performance of O2 and their influence on the firm’s success). The influence of the above listed stakeholders on the performance of O2 has to be further assessed and evaluated taking into account the conditions of the British market but also the conditions of the international market. It is clear from the list presented above that the firm’s customers have a significant influence on the firm’s success within the British market (given the rank 9);

Attachment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Attachment - Research Paper Example nt scientific articles and reports on the influences of parents and caregivers on brain development, their relationship to theorist and application to ECE (Early Childhood Education), and how these relationships and applications help answer my question. The articles study brain development after birth from a socioeconomic, environmental, dietary, social class, and strata points of view. In 2004, researcher Brenda Jones Harden explores developmental procedures at cognitive levels in â€Å"Safety and Stability for Foster Children: A Developmental Perspective† (Harden, 2004). Phyllis Porter’s 2007 â€Å"Early Brain Development: What parents and caregivers need to know!† argues that children brought up in environmentally poor households like unmaintained orphanages become familiar to less sounds, colors, images, socializations, and visions. Jednorà ³g, et al, wrote â€Å"The influence of socioeconomic status on children’s brain structure† in 2012 to determine the effect of parental SES (Socioeconomic Status) on children’s brain development (Jednorà ³g, et al., 2012). Theresa Hawley and Megan Gunner 2000 edition of â€Å"Starting Smart: How Early Experiences Affect Brain Development† involves the latest developments in brain studies on children, which have shed light on how a child’s brain keeps on budding and developing â€Å"postnatally† (Hawley and Gunner, 2000). Michelle Loman and Megan Gunnar’s 2010 article â€Å"Early experience and the development of stress reactivity and regulation in children† theorizes that infants who spend early parts of their childhood in institutes, or endure abuses from their parents, caregivers, or siblings of origin are in jeopardy of building emotional and interactive issues echoing illnesses of emotion and attention control. Lastly, Daniel A. Hackman  Martha J. Farah say SES is related to mental accomplishments all through a child’s life in their 2009 research article â€Å"Socioeconomic status and the developing brain.† Hawley

The Grapes of Wrath Essay Example for Free

The Grapes of Wrath Essay There are two general groups of people at conflict in the novel the rich bosses and the labor force. Steinbeck writes heart wrenching characters of the lower class which are just barely surviving. These workers are victimized by the greedy upper classes, their bodies treated like commodities. The audience can feel nothing but empathy for these immigrant workers who toil the land drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, (10), while the men that own the land [sit] in their cars to talk out of the window, (43), making money on the backs of the poor folk. Steinbeck explains that these capitalists have never done a day of hard work in their life and their only motive in using big earth augers into the ground for soil tests (43) is to squeeze more money from the land they own. Steinbeck is also quick to point out that farmers and these land owners are different. While landowners corrupt the land leaving it near death with their iron penes [and] orgasms set by gears [rape] methodically, [rape] without passion. (50). Whereas the farmer works with the land keeping it healthy. He explains A bank isnt like a man. Or an owner with fifty thousand acres, he isnt like a man either. Thats the monster. (46). Steinbeck does offer an alternate choice to this capitalistic nightmare which is represented by the Weedpatch Camp. This a town in which folks elect their own cops (400), and everyone who lives and works in the town has say about the choices are made. It is within Weedpatch, that all people including immigrant are treated fairly and with kindness. Steinbeck asserts that it is socialism that ensures that there is respect, and equality between all its citizens. It is in Weedpatch that Joads family ends up and while their struggle is not over, at least their victimization is. Steinbeck fully explores the cruel experiences that many migrant workers had to face in the 1930s and continue to face today. Steinbeck accurately and historically portrays the perils which many family has to overcome in the newly capitalistic culture in the United States. It would hard to find anyone who could not sympathize with the farm workers during the depression. Steinbeck so intimately describes their situation that the audience finds himself hoping that the Joads and families like the Joads survive to find happiness and comfort. Steinbeck also does not overreach with his criticism of big business. The concerns of the 1930s are still the concerns today. Big businesses believe they have the right to anything they can buy up or sell, including the earth and the people inhabitating it. The novel created for me a real sense of humanistic history. The great depression is often read from a purely factual point of view with data and numbers. However, from the cold, hard facts Steinbeck creates warmth and a sense of unity by exploring the common human experience of struggle displayed in the Joads endeavors. I dont know that I fully understood the horrible conditions that migrant families live under during the great depression. I think that Steinbecks novel is also still relevant in todays modern society. The issue of immigration is at the forefront of legislation and public debate. The United States still takes advantage of poverty classes families who are not able to get legal working papers, allowing them to work â€Å"under the table† for less than minimum wage. He gives his audience an explicit view of exactly what life was like in the Dust Bowl. He carefully weaves a tale of emotional struggle, family bonding, and historical facts. He is careful not to sugar coat the topic and his real goal was to bring to light the long suffering and often forgotten migrant worker which America has used to build and maintain farms throughout the country. I thought it was appropriate that Steinbeck did not write a happy ending for the Joads. They were unable to achieve the supposed American dream that so many people in the United States are promised but never actually have. Steinbecks authorship is stunning and undeniable accurate. He utilizes several literary devices including vivid images, specific dialect, and historic fact. With the use of personification he brings the depression ear United States to life. His depictions of nature, character personalities, and the Joads adventure are heroic recounted to the reader. I believe that the Grapes of Wrath is a timeless piece of literature which is sincere and authentic. The Grapes of Wrath is the perfect piece of historic fiction which should accompany any course of study of the Great Depression in the United States. Works Cited Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath, 1939. New York: Viking, 1989.

A Haunting Past in Faulkners A Rose of Emily Essay -- essays research

A Haunting Past In William Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† Miss Emily Grierson holds on to the past with a grip of death. Miss Emily seems to reside in her own world, untarnished by the present time around her, maintaining her homestead as it was when her father was alive. Miss Emily’s father, the manservant, the townspeople, and even the house she lives in, shows that she remains stuck in the past incapable and perhaps reluctant to face the present. At the beginning of the story, the reader learns that Miss Emily â€Å"is portrayed as ’a fallen monument,’†¦ because she has shown herself susceptible to death (and decay) after all† (West 264). The house can also be perceived as a â€Å"fallen monument†(Faulkner 81) as the narrator proceeds to describe the house, magnificent as it once was, and how it has become dilapidated through the years. The same can be said about Miss Emily, as time passed she â€Å"looked bloated like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue†(Faulkner 82). In her younger days however, she was â€Å"a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her clutching a horsewhip†(Faulkner 83). One of the many indications that Miss Emily is stuck in the past is her refusal to accept that her father is dead after holding on to his body for three days. â€Å"She wants to keep him as she has known him instead of allowing him to return to dust†(Kurtz 40). Miss Emily’s father had such an impact on her life, that she was left powerless in every aspect, thus her decision to live in the past where she knew she could be in control. The reader also learns that Miss Emily continued to retain a manservant long after slavery had ended. This â€Å"old m... ... Among them lay a collar and tie, as if they had just been removed, which, lifted, left upon the surface a pale crescent in the dust. Upon a chair hung the suit, carefully folded, beneath it the two mute shoes and the discarded socks. The man himself lay in the bed†¦ Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron- gray hair.(Faulkner 86-87) Up to the very end of Miss Emily’s life, her father was in the foreground watching and controlling, and Miss Emily unrelentingly held on to the past. She went as far as keeping a loved one’s body locked upstairs in her home for years. While admiring her loved one’s body from up close and afar, she managed to maintain a death grip on the past.

Self-Assessment Marybeth Adkins

I have always thought of myself to be outgoing. I have equal regard for the value of others as well as how I value myself. I also believe that I am assertive in a manner wherein I am able to handle the situation effectively and to produce the best possible outcome given the circumstances present.I uphold my rights as well as the rights of others. It does not necessarily mean I need to win all the time, but it has always been important to be to do my best.I had perceived my communication style to be effective in terms of being an active listener. I have limitations and expectations that I always want to clearly state. I am able to express myself with an acceptable degree of honesty and directness, especially when it comes to my feelings and desires.The characteristics I always knew I had were confidence and self-awareness. I am also proactive and initiating as well as decisive.   I knew that I had a sense of humor and that I was open and flexible as well as versatile.In terms of beh avior, I operated from choice. I also find comfort in knowing what was required and developing a plan to achieve it. This showed that my behavior was action-oriented as well as firm. Just like the way I want to create plans, I am also realistic, just and fair, along with being consistent in the things I do.  I had been evaluated to be an extraverted, intuitive, feeling and judging type (ENFJ) that showed I was a moderately expressed extravert, a slight expressed intuitive personality, a distinctly expressed feeling personality as well as a moderately expressed judging personality. I was evaluated to be a feeling personality, more than the rest.This is Expected of meIn this area, my response was evaluated according to how I thought people expected me to behave. It represented the guarded or masked behavior that I had. I was an â€Å"S† which meant I was a steady specialist. This meant that I had a passive and people-oriented temperament.The â€Å"S’s† like me w ere considered to be stable and shy types. We are the ones who disliked changes. We can survive doing the same job consistently. This was also seen with my ENFJ profile that showed handled consistency well. I am also a people-pleaser. I value secured surroundings in relation to my stable behavior.   I was also evaluates to be forgiving, while others were said to take advantage of it. Since I seem to like to please other people all the time, this made it difficult for me to say â€Å"no† to friends. I always look forward to opportunities to help others.While this can be perceived as weakness, in another perspective from the Book of Psalms, it said, â€Å"But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace† (Psalm 37:11 NIV).This is Me  The assessment for my â€Å"This is me† evaluation was C/I/S. This area referred to how I responded according to how I felt and thought during times wherein I was under pressure. It was my unguarded behavior. C/I/S meant c ompetent, influencing specialists.Similar to the â€Å"this is expected of me† evaluation, I was evaluated to have a liking for doing things right, in impressing others and in stabilizing situations. I was not seen to be aggressive no pushy. I was also shown to enjoy crowds, regardless of size. I was also evaluated to be good with people with high regard for quality. I also seen the high regard y personality type had for what others thinks of myself and my work.I was also observed to lack some determination and dominance. While I can perform tasks well, I was said to need quicker decision-making skills. My capability to work and do great things with people was mentioned in relation to the fact that I needed to become more self-motivated and assertive. Sincere and enthusiastic approvals as well as logical explanations were things that were said to stimulate me.Discovered Communication Style and PersonalitySpiritual Gifts. I discovered the spiritual gifts I had in relation to m y communication style and personality. They were considered as supernatural motivations that were given to every believer. As everyone did not have exactly the same communication style and personality, spiritual gifts also differed. They usually reflect in the personality, behavior and communication style of the individual.The top spiritual gift I had was mercy. This was the gift the enables a person to demonstrate genuine concern and sensitive to suffering. There are a certain something in me that compel me to reduce the pain in other people. There is more concern for me for the person hurting that for the reasons of their suffering.Another gift that was seen in me was the gift of serving, ministry or the helps. This gift was seen to help others and be motivated by serving behind the scenes. Such gift enables me to do things that no one else likes to do. It also enables me to be flexible and to adapt to challenges.Administration did not go far behind and it was related as it is the gift that gives the strong sense of duty as well. This gift was seen to concentrate on team participation. People with this gift see the bigger picture and keeps everyone on track. They were also seen to delegate tasks and to be very organized.Leadership Style. I was considered to be an â€Å"I† leader. This referred to leaders who were inspiring and enthusiastic. Since â€Å"I† stood for influence, the kind of leader that I was evaluated to be was one who loved to lead and influence others. Such leaders were seen to be great presenters. They were also seen to have the tendency to talk too much.They were seen to need to listen more and not be too sensitive to rejection. However, â€Å"I† leaders were also positively considered to be impressive and positive leaders. While the kind of leader I was classified loved to be in crowds, there was also a need for me to be interested in individuals.Follower Style. The â€Å"I† followers have a tendency to follow t heir hearts. They were seen to be impulsive as followers. They also want and need opportunities wherein they would be noticed and would look good. Even as followers, they were seen to carry a certain degree of influence.They need constant approvals. It was attributed to their high egos. They also make good first impressions. The influences they inherently possess often turn them into leaders who rise up to the top. Such followers can have a difficult time simply being in follower roles as they have a tendency to lead.Conflict Resolution by FujishinAccording to Fujishin, one must evaluate his or her own interpersonal styles. This effort would enable the individual to understand one’s self (Fujishin 1997). This leads to self- acceptances that have a significant impact in how one accepts others. This factors holds a critical role in the success of group related communication and work.He upheld how important it was to know one’s self and be familiar with it before entering in any communication that involves other people, especially in a group. Since time was already taken in the examination of one’s own self and weaknesses, there is little need for the individual to look towards the approval of other people in the group in order to function well (Fujishin 1997).Self-assessment was also important when it came to conflict management. When one already knew one’s self, there is more time attributed to examining and discussing the problem. It also equips the individuals to listen actively to the other people within the group in conflict. Irrelevant discussions would be avoided.Fujishin’s principles on conflict management provided for effective tools and strategies that could guide and direct group discussion in a very effective manner. The he had promoted self-awareness could also be used in professional and personal affairs under conflict. He quoted Emerson regarding this saying, â€Å"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us†Controlling Communication and Behavioral BlendIt was pointed out that I needed to increase my confidence in terms of how what others expect of me (UniquelyYou.net 2007). I have to speak out more often and avoid being abused because of my tendency to please people all the time. I also needed to be more outgoing and assertive. I had to grasp the fact that security was possible (UniquelyYou.net 2007).I found the importance of being cautious when it came to being judgmental (UniquelyYou.net 2007). As I believed that others have rights the same as I had, they also had the right to be judged for who they were and not for first impressions or other superficial criteria.I also had to avoid being bitter and harboring resentment. It may have come from my tendency to be oversensitive. I had to learn to just be thankful for everything and see things in a positive and constructive light.I also learned about the utilization of my communication s kills and behavioral blends in relation to developing my Spiritual Gifts. The sign of true development was the maturity and involvement I had in the Body of Christ (UniquelyYou.net 2007).They were to be seen as combinations that helped to understand how the unique blends that I had discovered through the evaluations were related to the role I had to play in doing God’s Work. The Word of God exhorts this truth, â€Å"So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church† (1 Corinthians 14:12, NIV).God never makes mistakes and creates the gift in each individual in order to work for His glory (UniquelyYou.net 2007). I also realized how such natural and supernatural qualities could get out of hand when I don’t use them for God’s glory. It would be best if God was the one to control them and for everyone to submit their own personalities, styles, and gifting to God’s will.My highest spiritual gif ts were those of mercy, serving, and administration. I tend to constantly volunteer for the works of the Church, even if they have no hint of glamour in them.Overusing such gifts make me seek for approval or please people more than pleasing God.   Since my highest personality profile plotting was â€Å"I† this makes me more of a leader than a follower. Abuse of this personality type would make me overpower people in leadership and make me less of a team player.It was an evident match that I had mercy as my serving as one of the top spiritual gifts because my personality was one who aimed to please people and to do jobs consistently.This was intended for service because of the fact that I can be good with people and influence them well.   While I saw that I was expected to be more passive, I realized that my behavior and Spiritual Gifts had given me the capacity to be active and people-oriented. Despite the fact that I did not want to be in the spotlight, I still wanted to serve people. I realized how I also wanted to receive approval for the things that I do. I needed to be more secured with the job I was doing.Leadership needed qualities like humility, development, commitment, focus, compassion, integrity, peacemaking, and endurance (Hastings & Potter 2004). Based on the results of the evaluation, I had these qualities; more in some than the others. Commitment, focus, compassion and endurance were those that would stand out with my behavior and personality.Compassion, my highest value as seen with my Spiritual gifting and behavioral type, should be reflected in communication. It’s not merely about delivering the message but in doing so in the best possible and effective manner that forges relationships that were based on trust (Hastings & Potter 2004).Genuine concern and love has always reflected Jesus Christ. It is something that can be foundational in the way I would hone my gifts and control my behavior. The Scripture said, â€Å"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort† (2 Corinthians 1:3, NIV). This assessment provided significant insights into my behavior and communication styles. Most of them, I already knew I had possessed. However, this activity enabled me to see them in a new light. It gave me a look as to how I had been misusing my gifts as well as how I was not able to control my behavior because of certain personality types I had.I agree with the results of this evaluation as they described me as accurately as can be. I also saw how my behavior had been related to closely to the Spiritual Gifts that I was bestowed with. It was enlightening because it showed how specific God had made me in line with how He wanted to use me in the work He cut out for me; â€Å"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do† (Ephesians 2:10, NIV).Evaluation of Activity EffectivenessOverall, this assignment had been more than helpful in developing self-awareness in a person. As Fujishin stressed, self-awareness p layed an important factor when it came to group dynamics as it enables the person to focus on the group instead on one’s self because there is already security that came from this value.The activity enabled me to realize my strengths and uniqueness in order to use them for the benefit of my development as well as for the contributions I could provide for God’s work. This activity also establishes a stronger sense of purpose.ReferencesCombining 7 Spiritual Gifts with 4 (DISC) personality types.† (2007).UniquelyYou.net.Fujishin, R. (1997). Discovering the leader within. USA: Acada Book.Hastings, W. & Potter, R.(2004).   Trust me: Developing a leadership style people will follow. Canada: Waterbrook.International Bible Society (1984). The Holy Bible New International Version. USA: Zondervan,

Lorna Simpson: Manipulation of Spectatorship

Lorna Simpson is a highly recognized African-American artist who has expressed her creativity and skill through photography, and more recently, movies. She did her graduation in the School of Visual Arts in New York and her post graduation at the University of California in San Diego (ArtFacts.net, 2007). Her work is somewhat abstract and has a very subtle meaning. She usually uses literary elements such as metaphor, biography, portraiture and narrative fin her work. Many of her works deal with concepts of ‘blackness’ and ‘feminism’ (Armendi, 2001). Lorna Simpson became popular in the mid-1980s with her large scale black and white photographic works of art that combined photo and text in a novel manner. What is most characteristic about her work is that she always makes the spectator think, self-reflect, and finally arrive at the meaning of the work. This gives the viewer the thrill of having solved a puzzle. In the words of Marianne Kurylo-Litvak, â€Å"Simpson manipulates spectatorship by utilizing the Brechtian method of distanciation that relies on audience participation through speculative detachment†. (Kurylo-Litvak, 1998) General Style: Laura Simpson uses a technique commonly known as photo text, which combines figurative or nonfigurative photos and text. Usually, in the works of Lorna Simpson, the figures have their backs turned towards the viewer. Even when it is not so, they do not make eye contact with the viewer. Her female figures are simply dressed and do not follow evoke any open feelings as most figures in photography do.   But the author in a manipulative manner uses these obscure figures as a screen to portray the discrimination in our society of the black woman. She presents them with a sort of curious detachment that can be seen in investigative films. Sometimes, she uses pieces of texts along with the mural-size huge black and white images that give only partial meaning to her work. The rest of the meaning has to be pieced together by the thinking viewer. More recently, in her work that is being exhibited at Sean Kelly, one finds that Simpson has also given up the use of the human figure. Instead, she presents empty, urban and natural settings. The emptiness of these works seems to express human loss and desire in a very effective and powerful manner (Heartney, 1995). One finds that most of the works of Lorna Simpson focus on sadness. The texts seem to talk about the emptiness and loneliness in urban life. The totally unknown places in the photographs seem to symbolize the emptiness of relationshions in urban settings. The lack of color and polish in the black and white photographs creates a sense of mystery and helps to dig out faded memories within the viewer. Simpson often removes the background or the faces of her subjects so that she can remove any kind of identity to the image (Morgan, 1990). The power of the artist in bending the viewer to her angle is clear in the way she uses the black female body in her works. There is nothing much revealed about the model in the photographs. Even faces are hidden and this underlines in a subtle manner, the way black women have been seen across the ages – as de-faced bodies. Again, Simpson uses fragmented bodies to indicate vulnerability and domination. The viewer can see only some part of the body such as the back of the head,   or back of the body or an arm or a knee. This shows that the black women has never been fully portrayed to the extend that a viewer can understand her (Lorna Simpson for the sake of the viewer). Analysis of Specific Works: There is â€Å"The Car† showing a narrow street that is stretching beyond and arch-covered pathway. Somehow the included text makes it clear to the viewer that the narrator must be sitting within the auto that is parked clearnly in the foreground. The words â€Å"small cramped room within a room† together with other text suggests that maybe these random thoughts are coming to the author just before sex in the car (Heartney, 1995). There is   a series of black-and-white photographs titled â€Å"9 Props,† each of which focuses on a single object in an empty room – a solitary vase, cup or goblet. The text in each photograph refers to figures that are missing around these solitary objects. This allows the reader to understand that these images refer to earlier photographs by James Van Der Zee. Simpson, in a very fine and yet powerful manner indicates that the black middle class continues to be invisible. Lorna Simpson's photograph Waterbearer was reproduced in 1987.   A black woman with shabby hair is seen fro the back, pouring water from a jug and a plastic bottle, one in each hand. The text included in the photograph says: â€Å"She saw him disappear by the river They asked her to tell what happened Only to discount her memory†. While the figure of the woman is calm and lacks emotion, the language shows the emotional disturbance that this woman may be carrying. Here, Lorna Simpson allows the reader to consider the history of the black people and how the history can reveal subconsciously hidden memories. (Hooks, 1993). In 1989 Lorna Simpson made Guarded Conditions. It depicts a   braided black woman in working shoes. She is shown in three images with minor changes in her body position. This is then repeated in a serial manner. The work seems to indicate the model’s changing notions of her own identity (Marshall, 1989). The position of the feet and hair are slightly rearranged in these images and in the middle row of photographs, the right hand alternately embraces, then caresses the left arm. Along with the photo, there is a rhythm of the words â€Å"sex attacks skin attacks,† which titles the prints. Guarded Conditions has been intellectually interpreted by various artists (Copeland, 2005). In a December 1989 review, an art critic found a link between a newspaper article reporting the brutal beating and rape of a black woman by two white securing guards and the work â€Å"Guarded Conditions†. Three years later, a curator wrote that this picture portrays â€Å"a double-sided metonym of racial sufferance†(Copeland, 2005). In his view, the isolated body of the woman invokes â€Å"slave auctions, hospital examination rooms, and criminal line-ups,† while the duplication â€Å"of the turned-back figures †¦ calls up images of those women who stand guard against the evils of the world on the steps of black fundamentalist churches on Sunday mornings† (Copeland, 2005) Stack of Diaries, 1993, portrays a black and white photo of a stack of diary books; in the foreground tehre is a multileveled metal stand that holds stacked glass panels, with black-lettered text-fragments rendered in subtly distinct styles (bold script, italics, etc.) pressed into the glass. The different styles seem to imply the presence of different voices. The viewer is encouraged through these phrases to explore why the writer of the diaries has so much confusion in identities. In Twenty Questions   (A Sampler), Simpson shows a woman's back, her features hidden and masked by a lush har that is long enough to cover her neck revealing only the vulnerable shoulders and the upper back which is covered by a simple calico chemise. The questions included in the photo are: â€Å"Is she pretty as a picture† â€Å"Or clear as crystal† :Or pure as a lily† â€Å"Or Black as coal† â€Å"Or sharp as a razor†. Though the subject does not face the viewer, the viewer is forced to look at her judgmentally and the text is specifically aimed at encouraging the viewer to dig up recorded history and   past experiences in his brain to come up with an answer (Lorna Simpson by Okwui). Conclusion: Overall,   one finds that Simpson’s photo-text constructions are like puzzles inviting interested viewers to solve. There are clues provided by the text. Maybe the author was stifled in trying to express the subtle thoughts through text form. By including both picture and text in the imagery, Lorna Simpson grasps the viewers attention for a while, allows him to reflect on all possible meanings in the context of history and contemporary society and give unique interpretations that might also be based on his own personal experience. Her new works attract the viewer to dig out meanings that are hidden between symbolic pictures and fragments of text. Some people may accuse the author of allowing too much freedom to the viewer in interpretation. However, it cannot be denied that her works invite the viewer to examine closely, think deeply and finally give directions to arrive at conclusions that orient the viewer towards her own opinion. This is the effective manipulation of spectatorship as found in Lorna Simpson’s work of art Bibliography: Online Sources: Marshall, Peter (2007). More Work and Selected Links† ‘Guarded Conditions' (1989). http://photography.about.com/cs/photographersaz/a/aa021604_2.htm ArtFacts.net (2007). Lorna Simpson.http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/artistInfo/artist/2932 Print Journals: Copeland, Huey (2005). â€Å"Bye, Bye Black Girl†: Lorna Simpson's figurative retreat. Art Journal, Summer, 2005. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0425/is_2_64/ai_n15338133 Heartney, Eleanor (1995). Figuring absence – Lorna Simpson, photography, Sean Kelly gallery, New York, New York. Art in America, December 1995. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n12_v83/ai_17860708 Marianne Kurylo-Litvak, The Art of Lorna Simpson: Challenging Preconceived Notions with Invisibility Imagery, thesis, Queens College, City University, 1998, 17. Decter, Joshua (1994). Lorna Simpson – Josh Baer Gallery, New York, New York. ArtForum, January 1994. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_n5_v32/ai_15143646 Hooks, Bell (1993).Lorna Simpson: Waterbearer – photograph. ArtForum. September 1993. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_n1_v32/ai_14580117 Morgan, Joan (1990). Lorna Simpson: words of art – photographer uses technique known as photo text. Essence, December 1990. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n8_v21/ai_9132098 Books: Smith, Roberta (1990). Review/Art; Linking Words and Images Explosively. The New York Times. July 20, 1990. Armendi, De Nicole (2001). Lorna Simpson’s Public Sex Series: The Voyeuristic Presence and the Embodied Figure’s Absence. ATHANOR XIX. Rivelli’s Books. http://www.fsu.edu/~arh/events/athanor/athxix/AthanorXIX_armendi.pdf Lorna simpson by okwui Lorna simpson by for the sake of the viewer. Files used: Simpson-resourcepacket (Lorna Simpson by okwui) AthenorXIX_armendi Art_Journal_Summer_2005 Lorna Simpson for the sake of the viewer ;