Monday, September 30, 2019

King Priam of Troy

â€Å"Come inside the wall, child; here you may fight on to save our Trojan men and women† was the last attempt King Priam of Troy had in keeping Prince Hector from going out of their walls to go head to head with Achilles.He was speaking not only as a king but also as his father. This was the final plea of the king who already foresaw the doom that Troy was meeting. Priam had already declared that Hector would die if he went out there. He could only plead with his son not to go out and give Achilles the glory that he was seeking in his invitation for a battle between them.Priam used different arguments to keep Hector from going out to face Achilles. In this situation, the readers could feel the desperation of Priam that represented the desperation of the entire city. The readers, as they sense the desperation of Priam would empathize with the old king and rally behind the prince of Troy. The king basically presented the directions by which the story would go into.Priamâ€℠¢s argument included that if Hector did not go out to meet Achilles, he could still fight, together with the Trojan army, for the women and men of the city.He would not let Achilles have his glory. He would show his father pity by not going outside. On the other hand, if Hector went out, Priam already knew what would happen: â€Å"my sons brought down, my daughters dragged away, bedchambers ravaged, and small children hurled to earth in the atrocity of war, as my son’s wives are taken by Achaeans’ ruinous hands.†The final words a father could say to his son, who was about to meet his death, was something that moved the readers into rallying for Hector. Before, Achilles may have been the protagonist but this speech turned the tables around and the readers empathized for the fate of the Trojans and sees Prince Hector as significant in their lives.   This speech made Hector’s death more meaningful and heartbreaking for the readers. It was something that ma de the climax of the epic more dramatic and heart wrenching that was attributed to Homer’s storytelling.Book 23Achilles was seen as a brute that killed Hector in his animalistic rage. It was evident that before Hector died, Homer already depicted him as the prince, the son, the husband and the father.Hector was all these things to the Trojans and yet Achilles was just seen as a great warrior. The glory that was meant for Achilles could not be fully appreciated because he was not all the things Hector were. It seemed that the readers would think that it should have been Hector who had won the battle instead of Achilles.When the ghost of Patroclos appeared to Achilles, the readers were reminded of why Achilles killed Hector. It was to avenge his dear friend and cousin. It reminded the readers of the emotional side of Achilles who was also heartbroken when Hector murdered Patroclos. Even if it was accidental, this confusion provided for this epic a tragedy.Patroclos appeared and urged Achilles to retrieve his body from the Trojans because he apparently could not crossover without a proper burial. It showed the human side of Achilles more than emphasizing on the character of Patroclos.However, it did show him and how he depended on Achilles, even in the moments in his afterlife wherein he was crying out to Achilles to let his soul rest. He accused Achilles of neglect when he had died when in reality, Achilles mourned for him and even murdered Hector because of him.However, the bottom line of the passage served its purpose for getting the readers’ sympathy for Achilles. He was not just some prince-murderer. He was Patroclos’ avenger.The fact that it was Hector who had accidentally killed him was played a powerful part of the epic. It was further established when Patroclos made Achilles remember the depth of the consequence of his death: â€Å" Never again will you and I, alive and breathing, huddle side-by side, apart from loyal comrades, maki ng plans together—never.†AgamemnonAegisthus, the lover of Agamemnon’s wife Clytaemnestra, spoke the passage. It was in response to the recrimination of the chorus because of the joy he found in the murder of his cousin, Agamemnon himself. The chorus was made out of the elderly people in the council. They were rebuking him for his adulterous affair with Clytaemnestra.In the passage, he was going against the chorus with words and actions. He talked down to the elders in language and nonverbal manners. He felt that he had every right to considering what his family, especially his father had been through because of Agamemnon’s father.His speech expressed the rage he had and how he did not care nor was he afraid of the things that would follow as he saw this time as the time for avenging his family. Agamemnon’s family had put down his family in such a horrible manner and it was time for Aegisthus to put down everyone else because of it. He was showing ho w he had the upper hand now and it indicated his pride and confidence for the situation.The passage regarded the threats he had for the Chorus of Elders and for anyone who would come against him. He came like a bully who was willing to put down anything. During this time, it seemed that he had consolidated for himself the power that his father was fighting for. However, this time it seemed that he was going to rule with an iron hand.He was especially not going to make it easy on those who sided with Agamemnon and those who rebuked him, â€Å"You’ll learn, in your late age, how muck it hurts to teach old bones their place.† He threatened them with captivity and deprivation of food. He saw that it was fit for the chorus because of how they looked down on him, despite the fact that he was responsible for a murder.He was oblivious and contained a self-righteous image that he validated because of a past that had left him embittered. He thought that he was the one in control as he threatened to teach them a lesson the hard way. However, this was seen to be a foreshadowing of his own downfall in the end.While readers understand his rage, they were also turned off by his arrogance and disrespect. It showed how his bitterness had pulled him to the dark side and how it was understandable and acceptable if he did not get what he had always wanted.Pericles’ Funeral OrationThucydides revealed in Pericles’ funeral oration the casualties of war. It reflected on the humanity that was involved and affected because of war. In this passage, he was talking about a plague that overtook the area. People were dying everywhere and it just painted a devastating scenario, â€Å"sight of people dying like sheep through having caught the disease as a result of nursing others.† People could not help because it was an infectious disease and there was a sense of hopelessness that aroseThis passage was also heartbreaking in the manner by which human lives w ere at stake and no one could really do anything about it if they were not willing their own lives. It was a tragedy because of the number of the people who died and how no one could do anything about it because if they did they would also die.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

No Child Left Behind and English Language Learners

No Child Left Behind ( NCLB ) was intended to be instruction ‘s reply to â€Å" divide but equal. † Between 1979 and 2007, the figure of school age kids who spoke a linguistic communication other than English at place increased from 3.8 to 10.8 million ( NCES, 2009 ) . This represents an addition from 9 per centum to 20 per centum for this clip period. Spanish is the first linguistic communication of about 12 per centum of all pupils in public schools. More than 400 different linguistic communications are spoken by the 5.5 English Language Learners ( ELL ) in the United States. 49 per centum of Hispanic 4th graders were classified as proficient in basic reading compared to 77 per centum proficient white pupils on the same trial. In math, 69 per centum of Hispanic 4th graders were adept compared to 91 per centum for white pupils ( NCES, 2009 ) . Merely 4 per centum of 8th class ELLs and 20 per centum of pupils classified as â€Å" once ELL † scored at the proficient or advanced degrees on the reading part of the 2005 National Assessment for Educational Progress ( NCES, 2009 ) . ELLs have some of the highest drop-out rates. They besides are more disposed to be placed in lesser accomplishment groups. Since NCLB was implemented in 2001, there appears to be an addition in the figure of high school ELLs non having a sheepskin because they failed high-stakes trials even though satisfactorily finishing all other graduation demands. The United States is going more and more diverse both ethnically and linguistically. The per centum of ELLs in schools is on the rise more fleetly than the existent Numberss. While the figure of pupils with restricted ability in English has grown exponentially across the United States, their degree of academic accomplishment has lagged radically behind their linguistic communication bulk equals. ELLs academic public presentation degrees are significantly below those of their equals in about every step of accomplishment. In the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, merely 29 per centum of ELLs scored at or above the basic degree in reading, compared to 75 per centum of non-ELLs ( NCES, 2009 ) . The Good The NCLB Act has drawn a good trade of coveted consciousness to the achievement spread of ELL pupils. Under NCLB, the academic advancement of every kid, including those larning English, will be assessed in reading, math and finally scientific discipline and societal surveies. This will supply parents and instructors with information as to how good the pupils are executing and provinces will be held accountable for consequences ( NCLB, 2001 ) . The jurisprudence has generated some benefits for ELLs by pulling attending to these pupils, and doing their public presentation count. NCLB requires that pupils are to be tracked as a subgroup and instructors and decision makers are more concerned about what is working and what is non working. They besides are more aware of looking for what could work with ELLS. Most provinces now have criterions for kids larning English as a 2nd linguistic communication. Annual appraisals based on those criterions and marks are to guarantee more pupils are come oning and making English linguistic communication proficiency over clip ( NCLB, 2001 ) . NCLB requires that all kids, including ELLs range high criterions in English linguistic communication humanistic disciplines and mathematics. In add-on, Title III of NCLB requires ELLs to make proficiency in English in several countries including reading, composing, hearing, and speech production and that their advancement be assessed yearly ( Abedi, 2004 ) . Schools and territories must assist ELLs, among other subgroups ; do changeless betterment toward this aim as measured by public presentation on province trials, or hazard austere effects. States and territories must guarantee that there are extremely qualified instructors in all schoolrooms, including those with ELLs. NCLB does non order a peculiar method of direction for larning English and other academic topics. Districts and schools have the privilege to take the methods of direction that best meets the demands of pupils, including methods of teaching in another linguistic communication or in English ( NCLB, 2001 ) . The jurisprudence is flawed but it does concentrate on English linguistic communication scholars and makes their achievement count. The Bad Ells are the fastest turning population in our public schools and many of them are really born in the United States, the kids of immigrants ( NCES, 2009 ) . The challenges for ELLs are hard. This population continues to swell quickly in volume, with mostly surging concentrations in a little figure of provinces. Accurate ELL designation remains a challenge. As presently implemented, ELLS are to be assessed under the same conditions in testable topics as adept English talkers. Many provinces and school territories are non tracking high school graduation rates for ELLs ; the fastest turning population of pupils ( Zehr, 2009 ) . NCLB was supposed to rectify this. Merely eleven provinces met their answerability ends for ELLs under NCLB in the 2007-2008 school twelvemonth ( Zehr, 2009 ) . NCLB intended to do teacher quality betterment by holding instructors attain â€Å" extremely qualified † position. But â€Å" extremely qualified † does non intend the instructor of ELLs is extremely qualified to learn ELLs ( Harper & A ; de Jong, 2009 ) . High bets proving is coercing direction to alter from enquiry, lifelong larning to learning to the trial by utilizing a method called â€Å" drill and putting to death † . Teaching to the trial is extinguishing the chance for instructors to learn pupils higher order believing accomplishments ( Ravitch, 2010 ) . This reduces clip that instructors are able to learn creativeness, self guided enquiry, and motivational subjects for all pupils. Ells are being taught trial taking schemes alternatively of content related aims. The usage of trial homework worksheets and â€Å" bore and kill † exercisings does non turn to the demand for direction in academic English. To do equal annual advancement ( AYP ) , each territory and school is required to demo that every subgroup has met the province proficiency end in reading and math. Accurately measuring these pupils in English, which is compulsory by jurisprudence, is really demanding, dearly-won, and clip consuming. The cogency of AYP is in hazard when schools inconsistently label English proficient pupils ( Abedi, 2004 ) . NCLB gives provinces authorization to categorise ELLs. Different provinces and even school territories within a province usage different ELL categorization standards. Besides, the ELL subgroup stableness remains inconsistent when ELL pupils reach proficiency degree and are moved out of this group. This straight affects the truth of AYP coverage ( Adebi, 2004 ) . States with high ELL pupil populations in their school territories face greater challenges when learning ELLs and doing AYP as compared to provinces with sparse ELL pupil populations ( Abedi, 2004 ) . ELLs need clip and readying to larn academic English. Unfortunately, in many ways, NCLB is increasing the accomplishment spread by puting greater demands on instructors to supply trial tonss that will lend to the school doing AYP. Possibly, the most toxic defect in NCLB is its legislative bid that all pupils in every school must be adept in reading and mathematics by 2014, including pupils with particular demands, pupils whose native linguistic communication is non English, pupils who are stateless and missing in social advantage, and pupils who have every social advantage but are non interested in school assignment ( Ravitch, 2010 ) . If they are non, so their schools and instructors will endure the effects. What Can Be Done? Teachers must concentrate on learning reading. Abedi ( 2004 ) states that ELL pupils who are better readers perform better. Reading is the key to all academic topics and without adept reading accomplishments, all pupils, including ELLs will make ill on all trials ( Abedi, 2004 ) . Teachers should be learning and non worrying about ways to do certain that they make the tonss needed in order to maintain instruction. Focus on ELLs public presentation, both for persons and groups to place forms of betterment or deficiency of betterment, ideally utilizing multiple steps ( Adebi, 2004 ) . The ELL subgroups must stay stable over clip. When a pupil ‘s degree of English proficiency has improved to a degree considered proficient, that pupil is moved out and non counted in that subgroup ( Abedi, 2004 ) . Testing must be just for all pupils particularly ELLs. Academic accomplishment trials are constructed for native English talkers. Modifying linguistic communication on trial inquiries to decrease the degree of gratuitous lingual and cultural prejudice could increase public presentation of ELLs ( Abedi, 2004 ) . Lack of academic English accomplishments topographic point ELLs at a greater disadvantage for understanding what is being assessed. Testing should be fair for all pupils. NCLB has placed undue trial public presentation force per unit area on schools with big Numberss of ELL pupils. This is particularly unrealistic when schools may still fight with the same limited school resources as earlier. We must hold a clear vision of what is considered a good instruction ( Ravitch, 2010 ) . Goals should be meaningful and come-at-able and non based on a apparently unapproachable ideal. As a state of immigrants, it is perfectly indispensable that we meet the demands of those pupils larning English as a 2nd linguistic communication. It has long been a challenge within the schoolroom to at the same time learn English alongside the other mandated topics such as mathematics, composing, scientific discipline, and societal surveies. Along with this, best pattern learning modes must be identified and used and instructors must be given appropriate preparation to implement these best patterns. Along with this, support must be provided to adequately implement these learning best patterns. Teachers must hold preparation in order to transport out these aims. Last, lawgivers must look at NCLB and find its achievability. Is the authorization for each pupil to be adept in English linguistic communication humanistic disciplines and mathematics by the twelvemonth 2014 idealistic or realistic?

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Individual Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Individual Assignment - Essay Example Nonetheless, in practice subsidiaries differ respectably in what they do and how they share in global techniques. This variety of subsidiary parts inside a MNE relies on upon both the MNE's global system and assets and the accessibility and character of assets gained entrance to by regional standards; at the end of the day on the cooperation of Firm-particular and nation particular focal points. . In this way, MNEs make linkages between their differing subsidiaries that thusly misuse chances in various types of nearby connections. Hence, subsidiaries shift as for the business sectors into which they offer: domesticated or worldwide. Subsequently, we propose to grow the plans of the IR skeleton to comprehend the determinants of subsidiary technique by including fare introduction as a third measurement in our IR system. Over here we will be discussing the IR framework of five individual companies, namely IBM, Google, Samsung Electronics, Huawei and Toyota as to where do they fall in th e framework and do they decide on their respective strategies accordingly. 1. Assuming you are a senior manager of the parent firm, below, in which cell of the integration/ responsiveness (I/R) framework would you place the corporate strategy of each of the following five MNEs: a)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   IBM b)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Toyota c)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Huawei d)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung Electronics e)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Google The Integrated- Responsiveness framework is used to explore and explain the management challenges of all types of multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, it was originally developed, and has predominantly been applied, to examine and explain strategic and organizational dilemmas in product-oriented manufacturing firms. The below given diagram makes it clearer. In the case of IBM, it is a widespread Information technology company. They need to follow a transnational strategy which falls in the third quadrant with high global integration and high resp onsiveness. The same should be followed by Toyota as it is a worldwide manufacturer of automobiles. Huawei and Samsung are both in into electronics and computers; even they will fall in the category of following the transnational strategy. Google is the most popular international search engine over the world. They have operations across all the continents. They also fall under the category of transnational organisation. 2. What is the appropriate organisational structure consistent with the strategy of each of the five firms in Question 1? As discussed above, IBM, Toyota, Google, Samsung & Huawei, all fall under the transnational technique, they need to design their organisational structure appropriately. The real issue confronting associations that utilize a transnational structure is unpredictability, which is prone to meddle with their deliberations to realize integration and coordination at different levels. To address the issue of integration and coordination concerns, they mig ht as well receive new organizational structures, for example, measured and virtual structures. Virtual Structure In a measured structure, one can differentiate centre and non-centre capacities of their business and keep tabs on centre capacities while outsourcing all non-centre capacities. In virtual organizations, representatives work comprehensively from distinctive

Friday, September 27, 2019

From Seeds to Civilizations Bruce D Smith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

From Seeds to Civilizations Bruce D Smith - Essay Example These factors influence the cultural macroevolution. Here the changes are determined by the environmental factors and not by the social economic and political ones. The important influence of these macro evolutionary factors has been brought to the limelight by Jared Diamond. These factors played a very pivotal role at the dawn of history especially when writing was first invented. For example the Inuit could not invent farming but people in the Middle East could do so because they were surrounded by wild animals/plants which could be domesticated. Cultural microevolution on the other hand generated a need for liquid fuels for industrialized nations. But it was the macro evolutionary factors which shaped the World War II, where Germany and Japan had to use all their efforts to obtain and defend their petroleum supplies since their own territories lacked them. Early historians did not give much importance to the evolutionary view of history. But seventeenth century onwards scholars like Voltaire, Comte and others visualized history as an evolutionary process that was moving towards a goal. Karl Marx was one of the pioneers of the first great theories of historical evolution. Marx tried to find an evolutionary pattern of history based on scientific analysis. Apart from historians even... We are all products of our social and biological backgrounds. It is due to this very reason that the human nature of citizens living for long under democracies is different than those under dictatorships. Evolutionary theory has converted biology into a logical discipline. Evolutionary theory, primarily its cultural aspects can do the same to social sciences. Although some aspects of such a theory can be overshadowed by the story of sociopolitical evolution from hunting and gathering through the establishment of states that can be put together today. Evolutionary theory thus can be formed without making assumptions about genetics. The change in human natures is essentially because of cultural and not biological evolution. Plant domestication i.e. agriculture has played a very pivotal role in human history. It first began in the Fertile Crescent which is now a part of Israel and Lebanon. Population pressure, declining game supplies and increased plant gathering are some of the reasons given for the origins of agriculture .It is believed that the key reason for the spread of farming was due to the episodic periods of scarcity- a discrepancy of the general population pressure speculation. This could explain the rapid spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent The second hypothesis is that agriculture developed due to the rapid end of the ice age. The agricultural revolution was accompanied by rising birth rates. This eventually led to the demand of more food and thus led to the pressure of technological change to make more intensive agriculture possible. Due to this intensification and division of labor human society underwent changes through villages, clans to ultimately modern nation states. Differences in the productivity of the physical

Thursday, September 26, 2019

WalMart Merger Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

WalMart Merger - Assignment Example The paper has been divided into two main parts: the first part mainly dealing with the Retail Industry, the major players, their production schemes, and their impact on the consumers and society overall. The second part deals with the advantages and disadvantages the firms might have because of the merger. PART I: INTRODUCTION Oligopoly is characterized as consisting of a small number of large sellers, being called the ‘Competitive Fringe’, with a few big firms dominating the entire industry’s production (Lipsey, 2004). These big firms, act as the trend-setters in terms of price and output, and are a major reflection of the entire Market. In this instance, the Retail market, is characterized by one big firm – Wal-Mart, with smaller firms either adhering to an acquisition or a merger, for their benefit. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Big Five Banks – Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and HBOS - dominate the Banking Sector. Si milarly, there are many small departmental stores, selling retail products, but a dominant few, like Sainsbury, Asda and Tesco, taking over the entire nation. The small firms, then, sometimes, find it profitable to merge, consolidate, co-operate or be purchased by the Big One. SALES, OPERATIONS AND FIRMS IN THE MERGER According to Forbes Global 2000 list, Wal-Mart is the world’s 18th largest public corporation, and the world’s largest corporation when it comes to annual revenue ($421.849 billion), with its international operations accounting for 26.1 % of its total sales, and a gross profit margin of 24.7%, running chains of discounted departmental stores and warehouse stores. With a total of 8500 stores in 15 different countries, with 55 different names, Wal-Mart extends its operations in nine different retail formats, including general merchandise, food and drugs, Super Center, small markets, cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, discount stores and restaurants (Holdings, 2011). VERTICAL INTEGRATION: REASONS TO CONSOLIDATE A lot of consolidation has been seen among retailers and retails chains, over the past couple of decades, with 40,788 mergers & acquisitions having been announced only between 1988 and 2010. The main reasons behind the consolidation of firms in the industry may be due to: 1. Economies of Scale: This refers to a significant decrease in the fixed cost of the merging firms by the removal of duplicate or extensive operations; 2. Economies of Scope: Economies of scope exist due to the alteration of method of the distribution and the marketing of products. For instance, two homogeneous products may have been advertised in a similar way previously, but now they are not; 3. Vertical Integration: This primarily means the merging of two or more firms from the same industry results in increasing profits and a larger consumer surplus than before, implying a decrease in the deadweight loss. This is done by the firms deciding on a particular amount of output, and then sticking to that output level; 4. Investment benefits: The merged firms have higher chances of receiving greater benefits when it comes to Investment, because of the name of the big firm attached to it. Sensing financial stability, the smaller firms, once a part of the big firm, are viewed as being stable, and thus attract a larger number of investors. There

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Changing the BIOS Clock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Changing the BIOS Clock - Essay Example Event logs in Windows 7 and Vista have a total default size of 20Mb while in Windows XP the total default size on event logs is 512 KB. The event logs work in the same way in Windows XP, Windows 7 and Vista as they tend to fill up according to the order of events. The log will go back to the beginning when it is filled up with events. In such a case, it implements an overwriting process based on the old events. In instances where the BIOS clock has been changed, discrepancies in the order of events will be evident. Logs are recorded according to the time they occurred. Ordering entries of event logs by file set and parsing the event logs is a practice that will determine whether system clock has been altered. When the dates jump backward and forward again, it provides evidence that the system clock has been altered. On the other hand, if no activity is recorded when parsing and ordering the events log entries, it indicates the system clock has not been altered. If the BIOS clock has been altered in Windows 7 or Windows Vista, the altered time will also be recorded in the event log as event ID 1. Evidence regarding the creation or accessing files during changing of the BIOS clock can be found in a computer within the link files. Link files usually contain recorded dates and time when files had been accessed. The values are recorded when the operating system starts to operate at the beginning of a session. All link files from the same session will have a similar sequence value (Whitfield 2012 p.4). Sequence numbers within object IDs will enable arranging of files in a chronological order. In cases where the computer clock has been altered, the times, as well as the dates, will be anomalous. In Windows XP, the sequence number will be recorded when the system is booted so, in instances where the clock has been tampered with and moved forward and backward, evidence may be obtained from the sequence value as the system would have recorded the order in which specific files had been accessed originally. The system records dates and times when a computer is booted at the beginning of the session. An object ID will be created, and a similar date will be recorded for all object IDs created in the boot session. The sequence value will also be the same in that booting session. In cases where the clock has been changed to an earlier time period, an increment will occur in the sequence value in the next booting session while the date in the object ID will appear out of synchronization (Parsonage, 2008 p 15). References Parsonage, H. 2008. The Meaning of Link Files in Forensic Examinations. Retrieved from http://computerforensics.parsonage.co.uk/downloads/TheMeaningofLIFE.pdf Whitfield, L. 2012. Detecting CMOS Clock Changes. Retrieved from http://www.forensic4cast.com/category/tech/ DQ 2: Honey Net Challenge Question 1: Who is Joe Jacob’s supplier of marijuana and what is the address listed for the supplier? Joe Jacob’s supplier of marijuan a is a person named Jimmy Jungle and his address is identified as 626 Jungle Avenue #2 Jungle, New York 11111. Evidence regarding the name of Joe Jacob’s supplier can be obtained from a letter in the floppy disk. The letter is a deleted word document from Joe Jacob to his supplier of marijuana. In the letter, the address and the name of the supplier can be clearly seen.  

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Fin Mgt Final Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Fin Mgt Final Project - Essay Example We found that, though the two companies are quite profitable, Blue Scope Steel Limited is more profitable as we recommend those currently holding its stock should hold or buy more. Our recommendation is for our company to invest in this particular company. Globalization, the new information technology, and deregulation of financial markets and the quest for market dominance have eased the provision and search of finance. Today, millions of shares are traded every day on the world’s stock markets. (Penman, 2003). Most often, investors see valuation as the first step toward intelligent investing. It has been argued (e.g. Penman 2003) that an investor can make informed decisions about where to invest once the value of shares are determine based upon the fundamentals. This is so because, without this value investors can either buy high or sell low Investors who trade on these stocks are often forced to ask themselves whether they are buying or selling at the right price. (Penman, 2003). Faced with too much information, Investors at times get confused with no clear indication of what the true prices of stocks should be. (Penman, 2003). Under such circumstances, the investor either make decision based on his or her instinct, such investors according to Penman (2003) are intuitive investors while others who make their decision based on capital market efficiency are referred to as passive investors (Atrill & Elliot2005). Penman, (2003) further argues that in making their decision, passive investors assumed that the market price is a fair price of the shares quoted. These investment mechanisms appear to be very simple, as they do not require much effort. (Penman, 2003: pp 3). How ever that is not the case as neither passive nor intuitive investor turn to be better off in the face of their decision. This is so because these sets of

Monday, September 23, 2019

Popular Culture (Paraphrase) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Popular Culture (Paraphrase) - Essay Example Myths can be generally categorized dualistically: myths of history, which represent the accumulated knowledge and superstition of generations and tend to be from more ancient cultures, and myths of example, which speculate about the future and are usually more recent. The first of these is intended to teach certain behaviors, the second to encourage, reassure, or warn. This essay will analyze the modern oral tradition of the American dream, expressed through drama and pop culture, to discern its status as 'myth' and show some responses to it. The ‘American dream’ is the somewhat fanciful idea that in the US (and only in the US) a person can achieve wealth and success through hard work, regardless of their other qualities. It suggests that the US socio-economic system is scrupulously fair and completely devoid of corruption or favoritism, and (more disturbingly) that those who do not succeed are personally to blame for their failures. It comes across as a little dated to the cynics of the twenty-first century, and it is true that the dream was not as solid as it may have seemed to its contemporaries. The playwright Arthur Miller recognized this, and made it the topic of his 1949 play Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, is one of the victims of the American dream.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Vaccinations Vs Autism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vaccinations Vs Autism - Essay Example Actually, these kinds of cases cannot fail to promote cognitive dissonance because they only take place at crucial age after children have received vaccination. Conspiracy theories Information concerning vaccination has been highly flawed thus bringing lots of issues. Information presented to the public was just part of the issue of vaccination that involved presence of mercury in the MMR. These arguments about autism were provoked by the fact that mercury content in the MMR vaccine was a major cause of autism and other related disorders. It seems that many people are especially the public are against scientific proposal of use of vaccination as a preventive measure in controlling diseases such as measles and polio. This universal disagreement with the scientific proposal may suggest that the medical experts are involved in major conspiracy to lie to the world. According to Haydn and Cook (2010), â€Å"If one disagrees with a view held by the great majority of the world's scientists , the most common response is to assume all those scientists are involved in a vast conspiracy to deceive† (43-45). This has made many scientists to be engaged in various investigations and tests to prove or disapprove the disturbing conspiracy in their field of study. Fake Experts Many people assert that scientists are not in agreement when it comes to the relationship between vaccination and autism. Some of the statements however, have been made by scientists such as Burton yet they are fake and misleading. Many people who claim to be scientists yet they are not such as Carrey and other celebrities have come out to condemn vaccination by claiming that it causes autism. According to Haydn and Cook (2010), â€Å"The challenge, rather, appears to be how to effectively communicate this fact to policymakers and to a public that continues to mistakenly perceive† (45-47). I believe that issues concerning health should be addressed by the real experts and professionals in tho se particular areas of concern. Not all experts and scientists understand what vaccination and autism is all about and therefore should not address the issue. It is indeed hard to convince politicians and the public that vaccination does not cause autism since the opposite have been communicated to the same people by people claiming to be experts. Cherry Picking Peoples’ opinions and ideas about autism have brought major concern thus pushing scientists to carry out investigations that is aimed at testing the claims. The proof that autism is not caused by vaccination has been disapproved via many scientists consensus that even the mercury content in the vaccine do not cause autism. Scientists also proved that children develop autism at different ages after vaccination thus showing clearly that vaccination causes autism. Deniers such as Burtons have instead come up with claims that only support part of the all issue by claiming that a child developed autism immediately he was v accinated. According to Haydn and Cook (2010), â€Å"Deniers often focus on narrow pieces of data while ignoring other evidence that does not support their viewpoint†(51-53). Other people have also used cherry picking by claiming that mercury content is responsible for autism among the children. There are also other claims that the number of vaccinations has increased thus causing the rise of autism. According

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The people motivated Essay Example for Free

The people motivated Essay There are many different motivation theorists who each with there own theory as to the way people are motivated, but do people actually behave the way these theories tell us they do or are the people motivated by other things. Elton Mayo conducted some experiments in 1927-32 and found that better lighting equalled high productivity. He set up to groups of workers; these included a test group and also a control group. When he turned up the light in-group one, but not in the other productivity rose in both groups. While in further experiments he reduced the lighting to its original level and turned the lighting up in the other group productivity still rose in both groups. The experiments showed no correlation so Elton Mayo changed the variables within his experiment. Working with a group of women, the experimenters made a number of changes, rest breaks, no rest breaks, free meals, no free meals, more hours in the work-day / work-week, fewer hours in the work-day / work-week. Their productivity went up at each change. Finally the women were put back to their original hours and conditions, and they set a productivity record. The reason for this was that both groups were being consulted and workers developed cohesiveness as a social group. This was mainly due to workers sensing belonging and the UN-weighted desire for higher pay and the need for many to reach productivity targets. This showed that workers were motivated by the carrot and stick theory that people would be motivated by bonuses. An example of these ideas being used in business today is the Volvo plant in Uddevalla, opened in 1989, was designed to allow workers to work in teams of 8-10. Each team built a complete car and made decisions about production. It was found that the absenteeism rates at the Uddevalla averaged 8 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in their Gothenburg plant, which used a production line system. Proving that workers performed better when they felt belonging to a group. Frederick Taylor took a more scientific approach to the way he felt people were motivated, but just like many other theorists he believed people were motivated by money. He believed that if output could be linked to pay then output could rise. So piece rates were introduced, an idea that meant the higher your output the higher your wage would be. However at the time this wouldnt work as many businesses didnt have management and therefor the employees were not always sure of what to do, so Taylor recommended they should have managers to have control over the work of the employees and therefor make the business more efficient. This is also a carrot and stick but the workers would be motivated to get a greater wage.

Friday, September 20, 2019

An Introduction To Microblogging Information Technology Essay

An Introduction To Microblogging Information Technology Essay Fig 3.1 Microblogging is a shorter version of blogging that  allows  users  to write entries up to 140 characters.   The messages can be viewed by anyone, or users can choose to follow an individual or a company.  While Microblogging is concerned with thoughts from a given source and headlines of present activity, blogging is more related to larger stories, background information and research including Links Pictures. The term  lifestream  or  lifecasting  is  used  in  continuation  of  microblogging.   While Lifestream  presents  all  life  activity,  such  as  changed  IM  status  to: at coffee bar,   Services  like  FriendFeed  provide  this  overall  life   aggregation. Lifecasting  refers  to  micromedia  broadcast  such  as  video,  photos  or  audio  clips   transmitted online. Microblogging Services Providers There are several  web  services  that  provides  microblogging  like: Twitter Tumblr Yammer There are additional services that provides streaming of posts from your followers, like: Twitterrific which is a desktop application that uses to read and post entries to Twitter. Another application is Friendfeed that enables their users to keep up to date on web pages, photos, videos and music that friends and family are sharing. User Behaviour The User behaviour mainly includes posting updates in text possibly combined with links to pictures, videos or websites. The entries they make are usually a combination of their personal thoughts, professional subjects and replies to the users who follow him/her Companies also have accounts for posting company products news, customers feedback and follows users that mention company in their microblogs. As opposed to traditional blogs and newsfeeds, microblogs are far more foreseeable. Microblogging is light information that you can choose to dig into if it has your immediate interest. It ´s also a way to get an overview of what is present in your chosen network. Organizational potential Organisations have aways been a bit apprehensive in using blogs as they have a fear of loosing information. However microblogging involves lower risk as it reveals less information and is therefore more realistic for organisations to use and hence it is a good way to adapt overall blogging. Microblogging can be used in several ways, such as: For posting news related to company. Giving feedback to customers  . Link to other publicity sources. Realtime communication covering various events. Humanize an organization by communicating with individuals. Dialogue with stakeholders. Marketing, Recruiting and Stock updates. Internal knowledge sharing Many companies have made an attempt to adapt traditional blogs for internal knowledge platform. However sharing important information in blogs conflicts the challenge of many organnisations. On the other hand a lot can be said with 140 characters without revealing hidden information. And it is a universal fact that microblogs dont reveal information. It is in the best interest of the company to share knowledge which most of the times results in budget savings. But practically departments are focussed on keeping budgets, resources and assignments that conflict with the desired behaviour of knowledge sharing. Who all can and should Microblog within an Organization Whoever is interested in communicating with their stakeholders on daily basis should microblog. Be it sharing information or having a dialogue. It is more easier to adapt as it doesnt require the same amount of communication that is involved in a blog. Followers reply to their posts if they attract their attention. However what is important is their activity i.e. frequency and quality. Departments that can be benefitted from Microblogging Departments with an outward focus such as: Marketing Human resource Sales Logistics IT How to get started Create a user, company or topic name/account. Select the media or channel to publish from such as mobile phones, instant messenger or web. One should put together the team that is going to publish microblogs, educate them in this communication channel, consider topics, goals, ROI, opportunities and how to get a dialog with the followers. MICROBLOGGING TOOLS Fig 3.2 Micro-blogging is a term described as a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. Several start-ups have witnessed phenomenal growth with micro-blogging services, most notably Twitter. In addition, numerous social networks including Facebook and Bebo have integrated similar status update services. The space is hot and its still heating up. So lets take a look at 10 of the key players. Twitter Twitter is the key player in space and the company name is used synonymously with micro-blogging. The free service allows users to post status updates via SMS, e-mail, or web browser. Whats more, Twitter has an open platform allowing third party developers to build on top of it. TwitBin is one such third-party application that allows users to post updates to Twitter directly from their browsers. TwitBin is an extension for the Firefox browser, and like most Firefox extensions, it is free to download and use. Pownce Pownce recently launched a micro-blogging platform with added functionality. On top of messaging, users can quickly and easily share links, files, or events with any or all of his/her contacts. Tumblr Tumblr is a very clean, slick micro-blogging platform. Its focus is on simplicity and elegance. Similar to Pownce, users can share a variety of things, including text, photos, quotes, links, chats, or even videos. Jaiku Jaiku is considered by many to be Twitters closest competitor. Most features and functions are similar. It will be interesting to see how the company plans to emerge from the shadow of its main rival. MySay MySay is what it says. Instead of text updates, users call MySay and say how they are doing today. Then, friends or family can listen via phone, e-mail, or the web. Hictu Hictu is a service for video micro bloggers. A webcam and a mouse-click are all that is needed to create a video post. This streamlined solution saves time and effort for traditional vloggers. Moodmill Moodmill is a way to express your mood or current state of being. A sliding scale facilitates this process, while a quick text update completes the personalized service. Frazr Frazr is also very similar to Twitter. The main difference is one of language. Frazr is focused primarily on the French and German markets. I Rate My Day I Rate My Day allows you the ability to (yes, you guessed it) rate your day on a scale of Worst to Great. Users can also provide a short text update to accompany the rating. Emotionr Emotionr is a way to gauge your happiness on a scale of 1-10 (decimals included). As the name touts, it is a way to express and share your emotions and feelings with those around you. Conclusion Micro-blogging isnt a short-term trend it is here to stay. The evolution of blogging has spawned this new mini version of blogging and many are latching on. The simplicity and the ability to post frequently is what attracts the people most to this concept. We expect much faster adoption and mainstream penetration than blogging in general. MICROBLOGGING SERVICES IN INDIA Fig 3.3 Microblogging is a new form of blogging that has ramped up quickly and created various offshoots uses of itself apart from a common use of updating/publishing thoughts in form of text (usually less than 200 characters),evenmore, microblogging is said to be used as tool in communication, productivity, e-commerce, brand exposure and in many cases a serious business tool because of its instant information retrieval nature, thus nearly a real time info exchange. When Twitter was launched first, it was criticized by many bloggers as a useless startup, but Twitter was revolutionary, after launch of Twitter many similar services got launched. While on global scale brands like Twitter (need no intro) and Jaiku are main players along with Pownce (from Digg), India is also deliberately paving way in Microblogging, though Twitter remain the key player in India too, a lot of Micro blogging platforms were introduced in past few months in India. Below are major microblogging platforms in India; A web app from Indian mobile technology company Webaroo, Sms gupshup is major Indian micro blogging platform. It provide users to send/free free text SMS to any mobile device. Unlike to Twitter, it provides its users to create and join groups to send and recieve SMSs to and from users in these groups respectively. Sending and receiving SMS via mobile and online site usage seems to have 1:5 ratio thus the site doesnt appeal much sleek in User Interface. Vakow-It is the next major micro blogging and SMS based site in India after SMSGupShup, in terms of usage and site traffic. Vakow too provide SMS message from web to mobile devices plus other features such as tagging, to tag the messages and group them based on these tags to send Pictures from web to mobile devices although a light weight, low resolution black white pictures only. Moroever, Vakow has worked out a way, through Twitter API, so that one can send updates from their mobile devices to twitter via Vakow, reason being Vakow cost less twitter, when it comes to sending message from any mobile devices in India to twitter servers. Shockles is one another such service, its a mobile message board, in short functionality are similar to that of Twitter along with features it carry. The application however is different in product marketing in way that it provide Enterprise shockles which is a product in the social software for business category and as per the website amongst the worlds first on-demand and mobile enterprise solution for business social networking and collaboration. Kwippy is one of the most famous nanoblogging service including twitter in india, reason being you can post message from Gmail or GTalk directly to kwippy or integrate Gtalk and Yahoo messenger status, share links. Kwippy is thus a micro/nanoblogging webapp + IM status logger + social network. (A) In kwippy, the whole focus is on the Instant Messenger, right now Gmail address book(Gtalk) and Yahoo only. The friends list on the instant messenger is the most intimate friends list you can find, of all social networks as per Kwippy blog. The microblog app presently is in private beta, but one would get invite soon in a day or two. Rest is much similar to Twitter such as lingo like followers,following and tweets being Kwips here Scope of microblogging in India Microblogging is no longer unfamiliar to Indias young netizens . Twitter undoubtedly remains the most popular microblogging service, and theres more to come! So why are so many young Indians interested in micro blogging? The answers its easy ant its simple. But dig a little deeper and the following reasons the 5 Cs seem to be why microblogging appeals so much to the Indian youth. Communication: Microblogging allows you to communicate with thousands of people scattered all over the globe. The youth loves to stay connected and microblogging is just another way for them to stay in touch (apart from texting, emails, IMs, and social networking sites). Ever since the Bollywood brigade has taken to Tweeting, the allure of microblogging has only increased. Connectivity: Connectivity without restrictions of time and space is a great deal that technology has offered the bloggers. You can also use cell phone to connect to the microbloggers tweeting out there, Hence it is practically a mobile and internet combo pack! So there you are blogging from any corner of the world that too even without a computer, sharing the experiences there and then and staying connected to the blogging universe all the time. Content creation: Seeing your own content being read by wide audience is a great feeling which does prompt many bloggers to enter the blogosphere. Though the content many a times remains very basic and does not really have much of a literary value, one has to accept the fact that new media such as Twitter allows people to create their own content and share it proudly with the world. Crisp: The lengthy sagas on regular blogs have no place in microblogging universe. Microblogs are supposed to be less than 200 characters, that is why they are micro. Twitter allows maximum of 140 characters, and this restriction does make the post short and crisp. Any microblogger tries to make the post maximum interesting in minimum amount of words, just what the readers expect it to be. Just like their other choices, the youth likes it short, crisp and to the point. (Even though sometimes the post itself has no point altogether!) Cult: microblogging has become a cult. Just like Yahoo chat and Orkut were. There might be many of your peers who type away every little thing they do; and have 500 followers. And then there is our media who treats this new medium with equal enthusiasm. So you glance through newspapers, or just watch an entertainment channel and know that Shah Rukh Khan has got tons of followers within few days, and what did Priyanka Chopra write to her tweeple even if you do not know what exactly Twitter is. Of course, the movie stars or politicians many a times do it for their own promotion, but that just adds an it factor to microblogs. It makes the youth go after it more. That has suddenly become the aspirational and the thing to do you see. Microblogging is redefining what a conversation is all about, blurring the line between SMSing and blogging, and between the private and public. Blogging on the phone has no extra baggage that blogging on a computer carries: you dont have to be grammatically correct and your blog post could be just any stray thought. In Mumbai, Twitter inspired a tweetup, when Gaurav Mishra, a marketing professional and an early adopter of technology, wrote out a post saying Blog meets are so passà ©. I want a Mumbai Twitter meet. Webaroo Inc, which launched the free microblogging service SMSGupShup in India last April, claims to be growing at nearly 4 per cent every day purely through word-of-mouth publicity. they expect users in excess of 20 million before the end this year. Costs are recovered by placing contextual ads at the end of the SMS. MyToday MOBS, a microblogging service from Netcore Solutions that took off last July, sees nearly 25,000 people publishing on a daily basis again, with zero advertising and marketing costs.India has the worlds third-largest mobile base. If you create services leveraging the mobile as a platform . Its not even just text anymore phone companies are ringing in an era in which pictures, video and audio can be blogged instantaneously. Nokia Nseries introduced its M-Blog last year. When blogging began in the 90s, the only way to blog was to get to a computer and upload images, text and video. But not any more. Reliance has seen a four-fold increase in its m-blog usage since it started advertising the features. In Japan, five out of ten of last years best-selling novels were originally written out on cellphones . Microblogging is helping people release a lot of creative energy free of cost. They could be inspired to compile the microblogs as books eventually and this trend is quickly catching up in india.. Microblogging is definitely here to stay. Blog-camps and virtual get-togethers are already happening with bloggers all across the globe. Microblogging could surely reach lot more number of people. It will evolve more with the convergence of technology, and become a regular part of our lives, both real and virtual. Issues with MicroBlogging Threat   Web surfing is no longer a solo affair.  Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks have quickly become an integral part of the online culture, and with them come a whole new array of potential security threats. In this article, well identify some of the key dangers of  social networking/microblogging Concerns about Micro blogging The main concerns with micro blogging, as with other forms of social media, are privacy, security and integration. In the race to take the first mover advantage(in case of businesses) or just to be among the first to use of these new technologies many users do not consider the potential risks or the shortcomings of these upcoming technology. Nearly all the micro blogging sites gather information about users and some of them consider the personal information provided on account profiles to be their property. These services are reserved with the right to use personal information and to transfer it to third parties. Which are generally mentioned in terms and conditions. (Did you check the Terms of Agreement before you signed on?).Following are the three main key issues:- Privacy   concerns of broadcasting social or work information to everyone who follows your feed Security   concerns of the public seeing possible sensitive work information Integration   how to adapt micro blogging into the corporate culture. Privacy  is a major issue, because the users sometimes broadcast sensitive personal information, which can be viewed by anyone who views their public feed. Micro blog platform providers can also cause privacy issues, through changing or presetting users privacy options. An example would be  Googles Buzz platform, which incited controversy in 2010 by automatically publicizing users email contacts as followers. Google  later amended these settings. Security concerns have been voiced within the business world, since there is potential risk of sensitive work information to be published on micro blogging sites such as  Twitter.   Integration could be the hardest issue to overcome, since it can be argued that  corporate culture  must change to accommodate micro blogging. It helps to share information with potential clients in the most concise manner. They feel that employees might be distracted which might affect their productivity at work. One more issue is that business is not able to decide upon which website which they should use depending on the popularity in different areas A major issue for an organisation is the concern that employees might broadcast sensitive work information. Micro blog posts (unless sent as private direct messages) are searchable by other users and websites. An organisation will never want the public seeing possible sensitive work information on the public micro blogging sites. Just because people are using new means of communication does not mean that an organisation has any obligation or should really sanction or implement these upcoming technologies. However, micro blogging has become a popular and useful communication tool, which can be used to benefit some organisations. If an organisation allows the use of various public micro blogging service by employees, then there is a need to implement a policy with clear guidelines on appropriate usage. If, on the other hand, an organisation decides to integrate micro blogging into the corporate culture, they should investigate enterprise solutions and find one that will be easy to inte grate with their existing platforms. Define privacy Marrying privacy and social networking/micro blogging may seem unreal to some. How can you be social and open and yet protect your privacy? Well, just because you are choosing to share some of your personal/private information with a selected group of people does not necessarily mean that you want to share all of your information, or that you want this information to be visible to all. Facebook in particular has suffered from a number of issues related to privacy concerns. If you have used Facebook for a while, you may have noticed ads with your friends names or photos associated with them. Facebook does provide privacy controls for you to customize what types of information should be available to third-party applications. If you look at the Facebook Ads tab of the privacy controls, though, youll notice that it offers no way for you to opt out of the internal Facebook Ads. It merely states that Facebook strives to create relevant and interesting advertisements to you and your friends. Enterprise Microblogging Security Security:  This will probably be of paramount concern at least initially in most businesses. All businesses want to make sure that they keep internal communications safe from intrusive outside eyes. An enterprise microblogging solution must provide for fine-grained authorization and trustworthy security of communications. Management, through the IT department will try and want to restrict who can see certain posts and who cannot. Remember who your friends are When you write a Twitter tweet or post a Facebook status update, you have to keep people who will be able to see your post in mind. More and more these days, we hear stories of people who have forgotten that their boss is part of their network and have said things online that have gotten them reprimanded, even  fired. The consequences of inappropriate online comments have become so common that they have earned an entry in the Urban Dictionary:  Facebook fired. Saying something as obvious and seemingly innocent as Im tiredor things such asAny better paying job?Im available in a status update during work hours can have dire consequences if the wrong people see it.Or even posting some jokes about other community or religion can have some serious consequences. MICROBLOG VS EMAIL Google CEO Eric Schmidt had this to say about the microblogging service Twitter: Speaking as a computer scientist, I view all of these as sort of poor mans email systems. In other words, they have aspects of an email system, but they dont have a full offering. The question about companies like Twitter is: Do they fundamentally evolve as sort of a note phenomenon, or do they fundamentally evolve to have revocation, identity, storage and all the other aspects that traditional email systems have? Or do mail systems broaden what they do to take on some of that characteristic themselves? At first sight, it seemed like an example of Google not getting it when it comes to Twitter. But actually it is a new way of not only posting notes about what ones doing, but it also has a lot of communications usage via @replies and direct messages (DMs). Reflecting on Schmidts statement, it can be inferred that microblogging is slowly replacing a lot of email activity. As more companies are taking up microblogging with services like Yammer, Socialcast, Present.ly and SocialText Signals, employee communications amongst employees is both increasing and getting diverted away from email. Something like this: Fig 3.4 Socialcasts Tim Young had this to say about email: Email is dead. If your company is relying on email for communication and collaboration, your company is walking dead in this new economy. Being the CEO of Socialcast, it is not a very surprising statement. The shift described applies regardless of the microblogging application used. Features present in Social Networking sites Microblogging does not replace email. But these guys are advancing their product, and are rising up the performance axis. Here is what Yammer or any other social networking site now offers: Behind the firewall installation Public notes @replies DMs Groups Private groups File attachments Favorites (a form of bookmarking) Tagging Conversation threading Unlimited character length (i.e. not limited to 140 characters) Search Look at that list. When you think about your own internal email usage, whats missing? Folders or the Gmail equivalent of tags seem to be something for the down the road. Thus, Microblogging still has the insurgent, disruptor profile relative to corporate email. But dont underestimate that. Theres what IT knows is needed behind the scenes. and then theres what the users actually do when given the different applications. Expanding Communications, Marginalizing Email Microbloggings premise is that public proclamations of what youre doing and information that you find are a new activity for people, and they have value. Information is shared much more easily and in-the-flow of what were all doing anyway. This use case is what promises to dramatically increase communications among employees. As were seeing with Twitters explosive growth, it takes time for people to know why they should microblog. But once they get it, it takes off. So services like Yammer/Twitter etc. have your attention as you post updates and read what others post. In reaction to someone posts, you hit the Reply button. Youre having a conversation that others can see, and join as well if they want. You can decide to have separate conversation with someone in that context. Which starts the marginalization of corporate email. Why? Because a lot of whats going to generate interactions is occurring right on that microblogging app youre looking at. Its the most natural thing to act in-the-flow and use that application in lieu of email. Well-designed microblogging applications are also quite seductive in terms of ease-of-use. The logical end use cases of emails are: Notifications External communications This isnt something thats imminent. Email is quite entrenched in daily workflow, older generations arent likely to stop using it and internal microblogging is still nascent. COMMUNOTE AT COMMUNARDO ENTERPRISE MICROBLOGGING CASE STUDY Company information and case study background Communardo Software GmbH in Dresden, Germany offers software solutions and consultancy in the context of knowledge management and team collaboration. The company has been growing in robust during recent years .It has got an employee strength of 160+. For the most part the employees work in negeriads.com knowledge-intensive project contexts with one to one communication network. The internal IT environment contains group-supporting applications like an intranet wiki, blogs and project spaces. As Communardo itself is a consultancy firm in the area of Web 2.0 its employees are affiliated with the early adopters of new web services. Some of the employees tried Twitter and realised its potential to improve their collaboration at work and the quality of their input in the office. In 2008 they suggested using Twitter or a Twitter-like tool for the companys project teams. Until then broad email conversations or the usage of the wikis discussion pages were common and lead to a large number of unmanageable masses of information. The anticipation of the benefits of microblog- ging was that it would reconnect different parts of the company which were separated during its growth and that it would be the best tool for representing the flow of information in the project teams. The initial decision of the top level management was against using a public microblogging service like Twitter for internal use. The reasons for this were the perceived functional deficits (e.g. no rights management, few possibilities for search and filtering) and strategic reasons (data protection, security of investment and reliability). Since there were no solutions for enterprise microblogging available, the only fast and easy way to set up a microblogging-type communication system was the use of the blogging software WordPress enhanced with a special theme called Prologue. This setting was tested in a project team. The approach in general was found very useful in Indonesia Furniture Handicraft Wholesale Marketplace, and hence it was adopted company-wide. However, the modified WordPress could not meet functional expectations. Conceptualisation and Implementation Communardo formulated the following requisites for its internal microblogging tool: Topic-centred content structuring and rights management should be available. Various integration scenarios(LDAP, RSS, portlets, mobile client, XMPP, corporate identity) should be supported. Information management should be possible through tagging and filtering. Security features (like encryption, user management and robust software design) should be included. The first requirement showed a remarkable difference from the example of Twitter. It was argued that the so-called noise postings should be minimised. Noise postings are not relevant for the user but because of their quantity hide important ones. A topic-centred structuring was also seen as the condition for effective rights management. The assumption behind this was that each person acts in different roles, such as project manager. So it should be conceivable that project-relevant postings by each person would be accessible only to co- workers involved and are part of the same project. The possibility of establishing rights settings for every single posting, however, was rejected in favour of simplicity. Thus, the solution was the conceptualisation of multiple microblogs where single users could be added and then those users could follow that microblog. The approach was implemented in a non-functional user interface prototype. In this early stage of the project special usability consultants were asked to test the prototype including different versions of tagging. The aim of these tests was to find out if the handling would be intuitive. The findings were used to rework the first concept. After the conceptualisation phase Communardos top management decided to move on and started the implementation phase. The technological planning took place parallel to the screen design. The project team kept the iterative proceeding and published the resulting tool as quickly as was possible. This is what we are going to describe in the next paragraphs. The resulting software artefact The resulting software is a browser-based microblogging system which uses Web 2.0- typical technology (i.e. Ajax). Communardo chose the name Communote- a combination of the companys name and the word note. At first look Communote looks similar to Twitter. In fact the key elements are the same: like the posting stream is the major part of the system and a panel with filtering and navigation options is situated on the right. A major difference is the drop-down list on the top. This UI element is used to choose the microblog in which to post. The first page shows a combined view of all postings from one users microblogs. To post a message the user has to either choose a single microblog using the drop-down list or reply to an existing message. The panel on the right contains a dynamic tag mass and additional filtering possibilities. Filters are available for tags, free search, authors, microblogs and time periods. They could also be

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Jesus, Gender and The Holy Bible :: Holy Bible Essays

Jesus, Gender and The Bible Sunday evening I attended my weekly Ecumenical Christians of Oberlin meeting. This is a group of generally open-minded individuals that get together on Sundays to have dinner and discuss topics related to Christianity. Topics range from "What is the Kingdom of God?" to "Pacifism: Turning the Other Cheek." Our topic this Sunday was "Women and the Bible." At first I thought that we might be studying Esther or one of the many Marys - prominent women in the Bible that are always mentioned whenever the subject is brought up. I was partly correct: we did mention most if not all of the Marys, although we did not mention Esther. Being primarily a non-fundamentalist Christian group, we tend focus on the New Testament. I also thought that this might end up being a discussion on the women who were important to Jesus and why they were important. Once again, I was partly correct: we did discuss them, but we ended up discussing much more. The first of two questions we considered was "How does my being male or female affect my spirituality?" I thought for a while and could not think of a single way in which it did. I often ponder how my being male affects my relationships with my biological father, the opposite sex, and society. But, before this meeting, I had never pondered how being male affected my spirituality. Most of the men in the room seemed to be in a similar state of confusion at the question. The women, however, had a more varied response. Some felt the same way I did - they had never really thought about it. A couple mentioned how being able to give birth to another human brought them closer to God, the creator of life. Several more mentioned sexism in the church and how it interfered with their spirituality. This got the discussion rolling, although in a slightly different direction from what the discussion leader had planned. We talked about how sexism in the church had affected our lives. The church ofte n seems to push men and women into specific roles. Women are not always taken seriously, and their spiritual gifts and needs are sometimes ignored. These shortcomings, caused by members of the church as well as tradition, are harmful to members of both genders because they can distort people's views of the world, the Bible, and God.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Bakkhai :: Classics

Bakkhai - Pentheus did not die within the house but his remains are taken inside at the end - Bacchic dancing is the ‘imitation’ of nymphs, Pans, sileni and satyrs; a form of mimesis - Dance as an aid to the spectators and pictorial clarification; complex metres of danced choral lyric vs. simple rhythms of sung lyrics, suggesting this complexity with its ‘resolutions, contractions and shifting rhythms, was first made possible by the interpretative power of dance - After Pentheus has departed for the mountains, the mood of the persecuted Lydian Bacchants is one of vengeance// strophe-refrain-antistrophe-refrain-epode - Refrain calls for Justice to kill Pentheus, and the epode calls upon Dionysus to manifest himself in his true form; strophe visualizes scene on Mount Citihaeron, while antistrophe is a credo of the chorus - Dominant metre is dochmiac (short long long short long), a metre associated with intense excitement - Strophe and antistrophe can be described in four movements: move within A from Pentheus to the vision of Agave, and within her from Pentheus to the vision of the chorus; correspondences are mimetically precise 1. Lines 1-5 Strophe evokes the hounds of Madness running to the Bacchants in the mountain and biting Pentheus; Pentheus in female garb starts to spy. Antistrophe evokes Pentheus going to the Bacchants on the mountain with a mad resolve, the madman attempts the impossible. The movement depicts running, the Bacchic orgy, and Pentheus’s madness. 2. Lines 6-8 Strophe represents Pentheus being seen by Agave. Antistrophe is syntactically obscure but is concerned with the idea of divine punishment. The movement represents a human being watched by someone stronger than a human, and the focus shifts from watched to watcher. 3. Lines 7-9 Strophe represents in direct speech the shout of Agave that someone has came. Antistrophe represents creed of the chorus ‘I reject rationality. I enjoy in the hunt. Other, greater, clearer things†¦ This is a public declamation about something seen, and the gestural action is deictic. 4. Lines 10-12 Strophe, Agave pronounces this is no human but is of a lion or a Gorgon. In antistrophe, the chorus conclude that they will reject an unjust way of life and reverence the gods. The focus shifts from what is seem in the vision: common humanity is contrasted with the divine or demonic - There is no way that an audience could grasp the intended symmetry without the medium of dance, which generalizes the concrete narrative of the strophe and concretizes the abstract lang of the antistrophe in order to draw action and thought together Idea of illusion Inside/outside * Tragic process puts insistent pressure on the faced of the masculine self in order to bring out that insistent pressure on

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Taoist Reading of Henry James novel, The American Essay -- Henry James

A Taoist Reading of  Henry James' novel, The American Henry James' novel, The American, tells the story of one man's journey in search of the Tao. Or, rather, the qualities of Christopher Newman are the qualities of a student of the Tao, following the teachings of the Sage described in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Each time Newman digresses from his path, the lure or object which he desires eventually pushes him back on to it. James's description of Newman as an American incorporates many tenets of the Tao, beginning with the sudden enlightenment on Wall Street that leads to the events in this novel. Likewise, James's Europe rings of Confucianism, the belief system that Taoism eventually replaced in 7th century BC China. As the Introduction to the Penguin edition states, Newman's American qualities can be taken in either a positive or negative light. Our class discussion revealed a resounding agreement with the negative side of Newman as an American, his uncultivated ignorance and unrefined audacity. Sadly, the class has accepted Europe's negative stereotype of the American. On the positive side, Newman's Taoist qualities make him the ideal American. Because of his near perfection, he is despised by those characters whose imperfections he silently reveals. It is perhaps this very interaction between Newman's Taoist American qualities and the more Confucian qualities of the Europeans which originally fostered these negative stereotypes. Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy dating back as early as the 6th century BC. Many Chinese philosophers have attempted to put the Tao into writing, the most widely known being Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching, loosely translated as the Book of Virtues, contains 81 poems assert... ... order of things. His lack of culture, social grace, and position allow him to enjoy what he finds aesthetically pleasing rather than settle for what he should; and communicate to others his true nature rather than one shrouded in applied labels and preconceived notions. Newman, and many Americans, are like the Taoist concept of the uncarved block. The most skilled sculptor carves the least. Our lack of strictly defined stratification and culture leaves us empty and thus open to whatever may fill us, rather than already full and closed-minded. Works Cited and Consulted Borus, Daniel. Writing Realism: Howells, James, and Norris in the Mass Market. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1989. Dalton, Jerry O., Tao Te Ching: Backward Down the Path. Avon Books, New York, 1996. Kaplan, Nancy. Essential Readings in Realism. Durham: Duke University Press,1997.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Homelessness in Sacramento

Social class in society, those who fall in the underclass are referred to as the poor. They typically live in areas with high rates of poverty and few opportunities to Improve their lives. But what about those who have less than the lower class. There Is d rising population of people who have lost everything and therefore must take shelter In the local parks, abandoned buildings, overpasses, and any other form of protecuon against the elements (Schutt, 201 1 | Homelessness Is a social problem affecting our nauon, which can only continue to grow If society does not make a hange.Eltzen, Zinn, and smith (2011) define a social problem as Inducing material or psychic suffering for certain segments of the population; there are sociocultural phenomena that preventa significant number of societal participants from developing and using their full potential; and there are discrepancies between what a country such as the united states Is supposed to stand for (equality and and democracy) and th e actual living conditions In which many ot its people live (PS). The population ot those who are homeless is difficult to specifically identity.Many are otten huddled in small areas and do not travel tar trom a location, but others may travel trom region to region causing the numbers to be skewed. Sacramento, Calitornia has many local and nationally run organizations and businesses dedicated to assisting those who have fallen on hard times. One organization particularly has provided many opportunities to not only provide assistance to the local homeless population, but also worked with local and statewide policy makers to reduce the rates of homelessness in the region. Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) is more than just a food bank.Providing both temporary and permanent housing for adults and families with children, providing access to employee training, and also advocating for community support are some of the services they do (SacramentoStepsForward, 2013). Sacramento Steps Forward also monitors and evaluates the services provided to those in need in order to ensure the diverse needs of Individuals experiencing homelessness are met _ They have created the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) which Is an electronic database used to store characteristic service needs Information of Individuals experiencing homelessness.Each year Sacramento Steps Forward conducts a Point- In-Time count of individuals on the streets in order to determine the number of homeless In the Sacramento region (SacramentostepsForward, 2013). The staff and volunteers take to the streets for one night throughout the Sacramento region to talk to Individuals experiencing homelessness In an effort to gather demographic and living condltlon data. using HMIS will help us to provide an accurate and more consistent representation of our regions homeless population.According to the ssF website, â€Å"overall, homelessness In our (Sacramento) region Is on the decline. However, we have seen a staggenng 41. 5% Increase In one population-tamlly homelessness. † The youth and young adults ages 14-24 make up nearly ot the total population experiencing homelessness in the Sacramento area (SSF, 2013). negative perception that follows the stigmas associated with being homeless can lead to social rejection for many individuals.When we look at people who are still in their teenage years, and are not fully developed mentally, these stigmas can lead the individual to follow the person-blame approach. The homeless are to be blamed for heir own living conditions because if they were to Just get a Job, then they would not be where they are. People are generally afraid of what they do not know. The economic elite and powerful who live in the upper class are not exposed to people who are homeless as often as those who belong to the lower-class of structured societies.It is easy for people who belong to the economic elite to look down on those who are homeless as view them as infe rior. Since the effects of homelessness may only catch their attention when they are driving on their way into work and see a man on the corner with a cardboard sign. Those in the upper class are less likely to be as tolerable towards these individuals. There opinions would lean on the side of the person-blame approach of attribution.When we consider that the majority of Americans live in the lower and middle class levels of society, the likelihood of acceptance for those who are homeless can be greater since they have more exposure in their communities to the homeless population. Individual interpretations suggest that homelessness is the result of personal deficiencies, such as substance abuse and social disaffiliation, whereas structural interpretations uggest that it is the result of systemic factors, such as lack of affordable housing and employment opportunities (Cronely, 2010).The lower class beliefs of homelessness can be directed towards the system-blame approach, feeling t hat the individuals are where they are as a result of a flaw in society. People who consider homelessness a structural problem are more likely to favor government action than those believing in individualistic causes (Lee, Lewis, & Jones, 1992). When analyzing homelessness, we can also use the sociological imagination. C Wright Mills describes the sociological magination as awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society (Eitzen, Zinn, & Smith, 2011, p. ). The sociological imagination allows us to look beyond our limited experiences and knowledge in order to see the world and it's people how they really are. Few people are willing to try to understand what the lives are like for individuals who are homeless. The people who are willing and able to help are limited in the resources available to them. Food banks are open and supported to provide a meal for the individuals and families that are homeless, but ewer Job assistance and training programs are availab le.The homeless will be kept alive with minimal meals, but little else is available to assist in the change of their conditions. Food banks serve a valuable purpose in keeping those in need alive, Society is only sustaining them by giving a little when what they truly need is teaching, coaching, and counseling on how to become a contributing member to society, and not someone tagged with a social stigma or considered deviant. One way to remedy the problem is reduce the economic inequality that exists in society.The tax breaks for the powerful which do not get redistributed to state funding are hindering the full potential that organizations like Sacramento Steps Forward are truly capable of achieving. By challenging the current social order and demanding the redistribution of wealth from the elite to the lower classes is one way to ease the homelessness is to offer and provide more counseling to those who may have a mental disorder and/or a drug problem. The longer that a stigma of deviant, loser, hopeless, and homeless are attached to an individual, the less self-confident that erson may become.Being treated like an animal that do not deserve to belong toa society can do mental and emotional damage that could leave damage that a trained professional may be required to assist that person. Experiences of homelessness negatively affect people's sense of identity to destructive proportions. Experiences of homelessness may have profound effects upon people's sense of identity both personally and socially (Williams ; Stickley, 2011). Homelessness is a social problem affecting our nation, which can only continue to grow if society does not make a change.

Huck, Emma, and Asher: Studies in the Theme of Self-Actualization Essay

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jane Austen’s Emma, and Chaim Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev readers are presented with three characters that of different time periods that each possess similar psychological traits.   They each strive to attain self-awareness as they learn the lessons of life through Huck’s journey down the river, Emma’s experiences in the art of match-making, and Asher’s conflicts with his family’s Hasidism.   Each novel uses the theme of psychological struggle for self-actualization of its youthful protagonists to explore growing up in the different periods.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is a young, immature boy at the beginning of the novel living by the Mississippi in the nineteenth century.   Huck observes his situation as one that is the design of others, not himself: â€Å"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time [†¦]; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out [†¦] and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back† (Twain, 1953, 11). This statement evidences Huck’s undying love for the freedom and escape he finds in nature, and also his desire for Tom’s approval.   Huck is forming his own personality, growing through his personal observations and realizations that civilization is not all that it appears or that he desires.   During his trip down the river on the raft with Jim Huck observes, â€Å"Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft† (118).   It is this recognition of value that ultimately allows Huck to leave Tom and â€Å"civilization† behind, as he sets out for the west to pursue his own independence and maturity. Twain utilizes several literary techniques in order to convey Huck’s maturation to the reader.   Firstly, by telling the story from a first person perspective, we see Huck’s development as it occurs, from his own mouth.   Rather than being told by an external narrator that Huck is growing up, we see it evidenced in his speech and perceptions.   Also, the recurring theme of hypocrisy that occurs in Huck’s encounters with the civilized world and in the views on slavery that emerge from the text, a framework of repetition is established so that readers might see Huck’s growth, when comparing it to a constant.   Finally, Twain utilizes the symbol of the Mississippi River—a thing that is in constant flux—to illustrate Huck’s own movement toward adulthood and self-awareness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like Huck, we see the theme of great personal maturation in the character of Emma, the Victorian English middle class girl.   Austen introduces her as a girl used to having â€Å"rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself† (Austen, 2000, 1).   As a result, Emma spends the bulk of the novel meddling in other people’s lives and circumventing her love for Mr. Knightley.   When Emma finally admits to herself her true feelings, it is the result of the lessons she has learned along the way and her own self-actualization. Because of the near ruination of Harriet’s romance, her insults to Miss Bates, and Mr. Knightley’s gentle guidance throughout the novel, Austen writes, â€Å"Emma’s eyes were instantly withdrawn; and she sat silently meditating, in a fixed attitude, for a few minutes. A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress; she touched, she admitted, she acknowledged the whole truth† (268).   Like Huck, Emma found out her true nature through personal observations, and was able to advance into maturity with her own independent wisdom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With as much acuity as Twain, Jane Austen utilizes rhetorical techniques to convey the theme of self-actualization in Emma.   By structuring the story around social class, Austen creates a framework through which Emma moves.   Also, Austen utilizes word games throughout the text, such as Mr. Elton’s riddle meaning ‘courtship’.   Emma’s solution to the puzzle poses a double entendre, as she correctly guesses the answer, but does not see its meaning, just as she does not see the implications of her feelings for Mr. Knightley.   Finally, Austen uses Mr. Knightley as a static character, in order to emphasize Emma’s dynamic nature.   In Mr. Knightley’s steadfast character we see a yardstick by which Emma’s maturity is measured. Like in the previous two novels, in Chaim Potok’s novel My Name is Asher Lev, the theme of a youth struggling to achieve self-actualization is relayed.   Readers are presented with the title character, a Hasidic Jew growing up in Brooklyn, and an incredibly gifted artist.   Through Asher’s struggle with this staunch religious sect, that views his paintings as a sacrilege, he learns ultimately to accept his art and himself.    â€Å"Away from my world,† Asher states when living in Paris, â€Å"alone in an apartment that offered me neither memories nor roots, I began to find old and distant memories of my own, long buried by pain and time and slowly brought to the surface now† (Potok, 1972, 322).   Because he has survived the hardships imposed upon him by his family’s strict fundamentalism, Asher is now able to emerge from his past as an individual, apart from the culture, community, and family that produced him.   Like Huck and Emma, Asher achieves maturity and independence by the end of the novel. Potok conveys this development of character through several literary techniques.   Like Twain, he utilizes a first person point of view to demonstrate Asher’s movement from boyhood to maturity.   Also, in the figure of Asher’s mythical ancestor we see a reflection of the protagonist’s development.   As a child, the image of his ancestor invokes fear in Asher, but at the conclusion of the novel he acts as an embodiment of Asher’s own struggles with his heritage.   Finally, Potok creates powerful images throughout the novel, using Asher as a mouthpiece.   Through these beautiful descriptions we see Asher’s ability to comprehend and appreciate art, and, ultimately his growth as an artist. In each of these three individual’s stories we see the theme of a youthful journey into mature self-actualization.   In Huck’s trip up the river, Emma’s gallivanting through the social circles of Highbury, and Asher’s banishment from the Ladover community and excursion through Europe, there is a great and inspiring parallel: that of the human capability for change, growth, and enlightenment.   Whether the young characters come of age in the rural Midwest, Victorian England, or Brooklyn, the result is similar and includes the greatest gift a person can give to his or her self: thoughtful independence. Bibliography Austen, J. (2000). Emma. New York, New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Potok, C. (1972). My Name is Asher Lev. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Twain, M. (1953). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London, England: Puffin Books.   

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Springville Herald Case

The first data we analyzed was which errors occurred most frequently. The above Pareto chart serves to separate the â€Å"vital few† errors from the â€Å"trivial many†. The first 7 types of errors (from left to right) account for 78% of the total service errors. Concentration on eliminating those types of errors is a good first step in minimizing customer service errors and boosting revenue. If you can eliminate less than half of the error types you can eliminate more than 2/3 of the total errors. Next we looked for correlations between the data above and which errors were most costly. We again chose Pareto charts to express the relationships between the types of errors and how much they cost the company. The use of Pareto to express the total cost of each error type is valuable to identify which error types are costing the most cumulatively and also offers some correlations. Again we see the first 7 error types (from left to right) make up a large majority of the money spent correcting errors. 79% in fact. We find that 5 error types: Typesetting, Wrong position, Ran in Error, Wrong ad, and Wrong date occur in the â€Å"vital few† data of both frequency and total cost of errors. Further concentration on these 5 error types will not only go a long way in eliminating the frequency of errors, but will also eliminate a large portion of the total cost associated with service errors. Another important finding in this data is that while copy errors occur most frequently (17% of total errors) they are relatively inexpensive to fix (only 6% of the total cost of errors). So eliminating copy errors will go a long way in improving customer service, but will not have the same impact on the cost of fixing service errors. Examining the cost data further we can see which errors are the most expensive to fix on a per error basis. While Pareto was not necessary to express cost per error (cumulative % is not important in this case), it is the easiest type of chart to read with this much data and serves to show (from left to right) which errors are the most expensive to fix per occurrence. These findings reveal that Ran in Errors are the second most expensive type of error per occurrence. That combined with the fact that we already know Ran in Errors account for the highest total cost of errors (20. %) and are the 4th most frequently occurring (9%) tells us that concentrating most heavily on eliminating Ran in Errors would be the most efficient way to simultaneously improve customer service and cut costs. So let’s took a closer look at Ran in Errors. As you can see, Policy Ran in Errors are the most frequently occurring (53% of total) and by far the most expensive (82% of total). Eliminating these e rrors as quickly as possible would be the most efficient way to achieve the goal of improving customer service and cutting costs. Some information that would be useful to examine would be how the errors interact with each other. Do some errors cause others? Even if no error directly causes another it would be useful to know if eliminating errors that occur at the beginning of the publishing time line would prevent others from occurring due to the nature of publishing them. Also, observe the histogram below. As you can see the number of help desk calls per day is concentrated between 40 and 70 per day. It would be useful to know what errors these calls are in regard to. With the average calls per day known, the Herald can also streamline their customer service department to be able to handle this volume efficiently.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Alan Bennet’s “Talking Heads” – A monologue commentary

After reading a selection of monologues from Alan Bennett's â€Å"Talking Heads†, I was inspired to right one of my own. In my monologue the focus is on a young girl who lives alone with her father, who abuses her. The title, ‘A father's love', is ironic because if her father loved her, then why would he abuse her? This links to the monologues written by Alan Bennett as he also uses the technique of irony to engage the audience. The opening stage directions show some aspects of the character's lifestyle, â€Å"Emma sits on a battered leather armchair in a plain living room† From reading this, the audience will be able to identify the poor lifestyle that the girl experiences; this is also shown in a further set of stage directions â€Å"Emma is washing dishes in a basic, untidy looking kitchen.† In both instances there are hints of poverty, yet her father finds enough money to go to the pub at night. This helps to reveal her father's character and his priorities. In the first section of the monologue there is no clue as to what the problem could be, but as the monologue progresses the clues become clearer and the audience may have more of an idea of what the girl is experiencing. For example, â€Å"I said I was sorry about the medication but it really wasn't my fault, there wasn't a need for the way he reacted.† There it becomes obvious to the audience that the girl's father has a bad temper. This idea is developed in the next section of the monologue as the girl debates whether or not to go to school. It now becomes apparent that he has hit her. To create a more obvious clue I had to re draft my monologue in order for the audience to pick up on the problem, â€Å"How can I go to school with a face like this†¦ I could just tell everyone I fell down the stairs.† The clues are really subtle at first but do become more obvious as the monologue progresses. I tried to create tragedy in the monologue by portraying the young girl as feeling alone in the world; she lives alone with her bad tempered father who drinks a lot. The tragedy is that she doesn't want to walk out on her father but she knows that it's not safe for her to stay. I think that the audience could identify this in the monologue. In my monologue, it shows the father suprising the young girl with a shopping trip; this was only through guilt. It's tragic that he has to show his love for his daughter by buying presents and not through affection. By the end of the monologue we can see that there has been no change in the attitude of the father, although he promises his daughter that things will change, they don't. Emma says, â€Å"He promised me that he wasn't going to do this anymore†¦ I just hope he isn't drunk again.† This demonstrates her fear of her father. The last set of stage directions shows that the girl is frightened and that her father hasn't changed. The young girl knows what is going to happen when her father comes home. â€Å"A door slams and a man is heard shouting from off stage†¦ He's home! (Frightened)† I have tried to end my monologue on a tragic note, but leave the audience in suspense. It shows that the father has broke his promise and come in drunk again, but there is no indication as to whether he will beat his daughter.